"Ah? He ran away? If he runs away, won't all my hard work be lost? That's not possible! This is absolutely not possible!" Honjo Fanchang stuffed the soup cake into his mouth in a few mouthfuls and gulped.
After drinking the fish soup, he threw away his hands and stood up to lead the troops in pursuit, but luckily he was stopped by Uesugi Teruhora's shout.
Uesugi Teruhu took out a handkerchief to wipe the soup stains at the corner of his mouth, then slowly stood up and said: "There is no need to chase. This is the west bank of the Sagami River and has entered the heart of the Hojo family. If we pursue it, it will easily fall into the Hojo army's conspiracy. It is better to let them go."
Go back!"
"Isn't it a bit of a loss to just let them retreat safely?" Honjo Nobunaga waved his arms in annoyance to vent his dissatisfaction. He sat back angrily and asked for fish soup and soup cakes while eating and complained: "
A big victory turned into a blank shot. If I had known, we should have crossed the river at the same time."
Kakizaki Keike patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "You kid, don't talk nonsense. If you divide your troops and cross the river in advance, you will easily be discovered by Fuma ninjas. The Hojo army will only withdraw faster and more urgently. If you join forces to cross the river, it will be a disaster."
It will take two or three hours to transport the troops. If the Hojo army bullies us and comes to attack us, wouldn't it be playing into their ambitions?"
The Hojo Army retreated so quickly that the reconnaissance cavalry sent by Teru Uesugi chased the Hojo Army to the outside of Odawara Castle only to see the dark army waiting to enter the city. In order to run faster and more conveniently, the Hojo Ujimasa
He simply abandoned the main camp of the Hojo Army. This decisiveness and decisiveness were enough to defeat 99% of the contemporaries of the samurai clan.
In the abandoned Hojo camp, there were still tens of thousands of stones of food and grass, as well as all kinds of weapons and equipment for camping. The soldiers' tents contained various living utensils and useful weapons. The small treasury hidden by the samurai was not taken away.
In addition, the ingredients prepared the night before to prepare for the soldiers in the morning were left where they were without attention. The entire camp was free of charge for the Kira Army.
At noon that day, more than 35,000 troops had a feast in the Hojo Army camp near Muryangji Temple, and stayed overnight before dismantling the entire camp, including wooden stakes and ropes, and loading them into flatbed trucks.
Take it away, this style of eating everything and wiping it clean is an authentic iron rooster style, which can reflect that Uesugi Teruhu's style and habits are quite stingy.
This is consistent with his past development of the green ramie tax and his advocacy of saving money first. Samurai who grew up hungry and cold always have some frugality in their bones, even with Kira Yoshitoki, a living god of wealth.
Let the days get better and better. But some living habits still won't change easily.
Hojo Ushimasa's retreat in the face of battle still dealt a huge mental blow to the people of Sagami Province. When Musashi Province was lost, Hojo Ushimasa said that there was absolutely no problem in Sagami Province. When Higashi Sagami was lost, he said that the Hojo army could defend the Sagami River. Now the Sagami River has been penetrated.
, Hojo Ujimasa withdrew to Odawara Castle with an army of 20,000 men, which was only slightly damaged. How could the people of Sagami Province continue to support him with peace of mind.
At this time, it happened to be the most important autumn harvest of the year. The samurai of the Sagami and Izu clans all ran home to harvest the autumn harvest with their ashigaru. There were only more than 7,000 troops left in Odawara Castle.
The Hojo troops who came down were either die-hard supporters of the Hojo family because conditions did not allow it, which means that the Hojo family's current control is constantly declining.
The atmosphere in Odawara Castle Town was changing, forcing Hojo Ujiyasu to send out Hojo Genan to contact the Sagami Clan and the Izu Clan, and through various means such as promises of appeasement, to re-pacify the hearts of the 21 Sagami Clan and the 14 Izu Clan, and obtain the autumn harvest.
Promise to return aid to Odawara Castle when it is over.
On the other hand, the Hojo Ujimasa decided to give up the territory in the Kamui Kingdom and return to aid Odawara Castle. The 7,000 Hojo troops from Kururi Castle and Kamui Kingdom left the Fusui Peninsula by boat overnight. In this way, they scraped together another 14,000 to be able to conquer the war.
The elite division of Hojo Ujiyasu successively severely punished several low-level samurai who deceived the public with their lies, and appeared in person in Odawara Castle Town to conduct communication and facilitation work. Only then did he win back the hearts of the people to himself.
With the Sagami Lions back in charge, Odawara Castle has once again returned to its impregnable level. As the most impregnable castle in Tokaido, and in the hands of Hojo Ujiyasu, who is good at defensive counterattacks, Odawara Castle can indeed be called the most impregnable city in the world.
Of course, this is also related to the weird shape of Odawara Castle that is very different from other fortified castles.
Odawara Castle is a Hirayama Castle. It is neither a water castle like Sakamoto, which is surrounded by water, nor a mountain castle like Kasugayama Castle, which occupies the entire mountain. This overall structure Hirayama Castle is built on a relatively high platform.
Odawara Castle was not originally built by the Sagami Hojo clan, but Kobayakawa Enpei, one of the Bando Hachihei clan in the Genpei era.
During the Uesugi Zenhide Rebellion in the 23rd year of Uesugi (1416), the Toi clan who was affiliated with Uesugi Zenhide was uprooted. Omori Yoriharu, a native of Suruga, was awarded the title of Odawara in the 24th year of Uesugi (1417).
city, and expanded its power in the two countries of Sagami and Izu.
Later, it was suddenly captured by Hojo Soun named Ise Moritoki. One day after he took control of Izu Kingdom in the fourth year of the Meiji Period (1495), he openly led his army into Sagami Kingdom pretending to hunt wild deer. Suddenly,
Launching a surprise attack on Odawara Castle and taking the opportunity to seize Omori Fujiyori, I have to say that this Omori clan has something wrong with his head. Such a weird method really allowed Hojo Soun to do it.
Hojo Soun's capture of Odawara Castle marked the beginning of the large-scale expansion of the Hojo family. Over the past sixty years, Odawara Castle has undergone renovations again and again, gradually forming a special design similar to the master structure designed by Kyoto Shikakuchi. The so-called master structure is to use the city
The combination of the city and the village surrounded it to form a satellite city guarding the main city in a pattern of stars holding the moon.
There are complete sets of living facilities such as a castle town inside. Outside the city, defense facilities such as water gardens and stone walls are set up near the castle town. The entrances and exits are designed with more complex tiger mouths and horses to form a more rigorous and rigorous castle structure. This is very similar to the seven gates of Kyoto.
The structural meaning of the structure means that Doichi Kui relied on mastering the seven mouths of Kyoto to force the imperial court and the shogunate to finally compromise. However, Kyoto was not a fortified city for military purposes after all. Although the internal system was well organized, it did not have the high military role of the general structure.
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The area of Odawara Castle is very large and completely different from ordinary Japanese castles. The area of nearly ten square kilometers is many times larger than Kasugayama Castle. The first phase of Edo Castle that was being built during the Kira era was only twenty square kilometers.
This shows the unique ingenuity of the Hojo family in renovating Odawara Castle. They were definitely unique talented people in this era.
The city has reserves of food for tens of thousands of people for two years, as well as abundant water resources. The main reason is that this Hirayama Castle is located on the west side of Sagami Bay. The actual distance from the seaside is not more than two hundred meters.
, there is a pier and a small port town on the seaside that can provide necessary support to the Hojo family.
This also means that if you want to surround Odawara Castle, you must seal all the openings outside the city. Otherwise, the Hojo family can rely on the support of external forces to transport a steady stream of food, medicine, and anything else they need. But if you want to seal Odawara Castle, you must seal it.
It is absolutely impossible to seal Odawara Castle without an army several times larger.
After comprehensive consideration, Uesugi Teruhora led an army of 35,000 and did not immediately blockade Odawara Castle. Instead, he set up camp on the west bank of the Sakazaka River on the Ashigara Plain and sent 15,000 troops to attack Kakizaki Keiie and Saito Asanobu.
, Ota Shimasei led various attacks to clear out the Hojo family members in the country.
The farmers of Sagami Province were frightened to death by the ferocious Kira Army. People from all over the country saw that the food had just been harvested to be dried and before it was sent to the barn, they were hit by a large-scale invasion and raid by the Kira Army. In desperation, they led their own gangs to gather strong men.
It was necessary to open up a posture to confront the Kira Army, but how could these Japanese people who had separated from the command of the Hojo Army to collect grain in the countryside be the Kira Army's opponents?
aspect of massacre.
Eliminating the resistance forces has basically completed the deterrent mission assigned by Terutora Uesugi. Next is the time to demonstrate a "civilized division". The envoys of the Kira Army will act as subordinates and go to villages to do persuasion work. If they cooperate with the Kira Army, they will ensure their money and food.
It was a lot of money, and it could compensate for the economic losses caused by the war. The farmers in Sagami Country were a little excited.
In the final analysis, this war is a war between lords. For the peasants at the bottom of society, it does not matter which lord is in power. It is not as important as having enough food, clothing, clothing and reproduction. However, there are still many peasants who are dissatisfied with the "Hojo Ujiyasu"
The "Kanto Minsei" reciprocated favorably, and the "Kong-Soku Minsei" he created greatly benefited the peasants. However, the Kira family's still "King-Soku Minsei" seemed a bit harsh and unacceptable, but the Kira family's efforts in Echigo
The economic and agricultural miracle that came out made these farmers reluctant to leave, and they were conflicted and didn't know which person to choose better.
As the general of the army, Teru Uesugi cannot change his basic nature as a general even if he is the head of the family. He basically does not interfere with the specific strategies that the people should implement against Sagami Country. The farmers of Sagami Country
Being able to hesitate to move forward with a heart-warming thought is a victory. As an invader, it would be too harsh to achieve this step and it is not a victory. After all, the Hojo family has experienced four generations of painstaking efforts in Sagami Country for more than 60 years. If it were not for the Kira family,
Tai Su's own influence is so powerful, the cohesion of the Sagami Hojo clan is not in vain.
This sweeping strategy worked quickly. All the large and small castles on the Ashigara Plains were plucked out one by one. He ignored the mountain castles on the Ashigara Mountains and the Hakone Mountains. Those mountain castles were hidden on the tops of the mountains for purely military purposes.
Its function is to serve as homeland defense and block attacks from the Izu and Suruga countries. It has basically no effect on the domestic war in Sagami. Instead of wasting time and effort to attack these mountain towns that are on high alert, it is better to think about controlling Sagami as much as possible.
The Ashigara Plains in Japan are more realistic.
ps: What a great reward. Wu Mei has to thank the book friends for their rewards, Hattori Masashige, Jane Eyre the Devil, and Xiao Zimu. For such great rewards, Wu Mei will definitely fulfill her promise this month!