Under Qingzhou Castle, there used to be a lively castle town. The streets and alleys are no longer filled with shouting merchants.
The townspeople closed the stalls, closed the door, and shook themselves in the cracks of the door to observe the comings and goings of Ashigaru.
The Ji warrior on the horse scolded those who were a little slow, and some of them were impatient and already fired several shots.
What a sin, this is another military disaster, the good times have only been over for a few days. Cover the mouths of the noisy children at home.
If he screams again, he will be thrown out to the vicious Ji Warrior to sharpen his knife. The white knife will go in and the red knife will come out. See if you still scream.
Yoshigami and his men drove all morning, and after more than ten miles of riding, he and Ben were fine, but the fully armed Ashigaru was very tired.
Generally speaking, the food, grass and armaments are carried by farmers and soldiers behind the vehicle, and they move forward lightly. This time, they gathered in a hurry to seize the time, and all the dry food and weapons were hung on their bodies.
Looking at the appearance of the ashigaru behind him, he had to quickly find a place to repair. At this time, if the enemy was engaged, the team would collapse immediately.
He asked Li Yi to report to the city first, and he took the ashigaru to rest for a while while waiting for accommodation arrangements.
"Lord Yoshigan, here comes the envoy with the order, saying that all the incoming troops should go to Inagahara to meet up."
When Yi Da Ma came back to find out the situation, Yi Yin frowned upon hearing this.
"Your Highness, are you going to give up defending the city and choose to fight in the field? You shouldn't. The enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered. The enemy troops have come from afar. Isn't it good to assemble the army and wait for work? What happened?"
Yiyi glared at the ashigaru who were staggering and unable to stand up, scolded him a few times, and whispered to Yoshigan.
"Rumors are spreading in the city. It is said that His Highness Nobuyuki has already attacked, and His Highness Nobunaga is determined to go to war."
"So fast?"
Yiyin said unexpectedly.
In fact, Owari is not that big. It was a large prefecture in the previous life.
The most prosperous place in Shimo-Owari is Kiyosu Castle, and the best land nearby is naturally divided into the hands of several important family members.
Speaking of Owaki, Yoneno, Arako, and Suemori, they are just the villages with larger villages nearby.
The area to be fought was equivalent to the size of a township in the previous life. Otherwise, why would only the standing ashigaru with weapons and equipment and dry food be dispatched?
It is very tiring for modern armed forces to run ten kilometers. In feudal society, these malnourished soldiers had to run to death.
But marching and fighting is not a simple matter. In ancient times, even the elite could not cover many miles in a day. The rebels came so quickly, which is said to be a very fast force. Nobunaga was caught off guard.
"So you already know where we are stationed?"
"Well, I got the station permission sign, near the lower reaches of the Shouchi River, behind the Kawajiri reserve team."
Profits began to drive the Ashigaru people to set off, and Yoshigan looked in the direction of Qingsu Castle with some worry.
Several tributaries of the Nakagawa Canal bring necessary water sources to plain agriculture. Most of these tributaries are shallow and slow, dividing the plain into small areas, and Inahara is one of them.
It is located to the east of Qingsu Castle and to the west of Shouchi River. It is this tributary that Nobunaga wants to block, blocking the rebels to the east of the river.
Shibata Katsuie on the pass looked in the direction of the sun. The troops of the Lin family and His Highness Nobuyuki had already arrived in the morning, led by Lin Xiuzhen's sister Lin Gutong.
Almost all of his reserve troops had arrived, and by the time the army passed the border, it was already afternoon.
"Master Shibata, all the troops have passed the pass, can we set off?"
Lin Gutong respectfully asked Shibata Katsuie. When she came, her sister sternly warned her that she must obey Shibata Katsuie's orders in everything during the battle.
Lin Xiuzhen and Oda Nobuyuki were still preparing for the follow-up force of peasants and soldiers in Suomori City, and the entire front was entrusted to Shibata Katsuie.
"Then let's go."
The team formed a long snake formation along the road. Under the supervision of the Hime Samurai, the ashigaru warriors silently carried the weapons and equipment on their way. This was by no means an easy task in the winter.
There is less snow in Owari than in the north, but the biting cold wind and the slippery ice are not so easy to bear. Looking at the small Oda family flag carried behind Shibata's ashigaru, Shibata Katsuie suddenly felt something.
Ancestor, the elite you have formed will eventually destroy the family governor you established.
Oda Nobunaga's shogunate was set up behind the Mori corps and Kawajiri corps, and the two front corps guarded the upper and lower reaches of the Shouchi River respectively.
However, during the dry season in winter, the water in the river can barely cover the ankles, and the soles of the shoes can barely be wet.
The weather is not cold enough to freeze the surface of the river, and the water below is only a humid lowland, which has no effect on blocking the enemy.
Soon after setting up camp, spies appeared on the other side of the river, and soon the rebels also set up camp not far from the other side.
Shibata Katsuie expressed contempt for Nobunaga's move to abandon the city and attack. His Highness Nobunaga was really a fool. He chose to fight in the field instead of defending the city.
What she brought this time was not 1,500 people, but a full force of 1,700 troops. If Nobunaga chose to defend the city, he could still survive for a few days. The field battle would be defeated tomorrow.
So they set up camp and repaired. The army was tired from marching and had a good rest, waiting for the battle to begin tomorrow.
It was getting dark, the armies on both sides had rested except for the sentry posts, and the military meeting in Nobunaga's shogunate had also dispersed.
We have to go into battle tomorrow. Even if the situation is not optimistic, we must be mentally prepared for tomorrow's battle.
Mori Katsunari and Kawajiri Hidetaka walked out of the shogunate worriedly, greeted each other and returned to camp.
Niwa Nagahide sighed, he still had to focus on preparing the army rations for tomorrow morning before taking a break.
The Maeda Toshi family went on patrol, and Nobunaga was left with only his sister Ikeda Tsuneki.
After drinking some sake, Nobunaga fiddled with a set of pockets on the rack with great interest. This was her armor for tomorrow.
"Hengxing, do you recognize this suit?"
"do not know."
Although he was worried, Ikeda Hengxing still looked at it carefully, recalled it, and shook his head.
"If you don't know me, this suit is not mine. It is my mother's outfit. I always wore it a little ill-fitting before, but I didn't expect it to be suitable when I took it out this time."
Looking at Nobunaga who was in high spirits, Hengxing was stunned for a moment and took a closer look. This set of pockets was indeed a well-made top-grade product. Some traces of post-war repairs could be seen, and it was not a decoration.
"Do you also think I did something wrong?"
"NO, I have not."
Nobunaga suddenly asked, Hengxing responded reflexively, and Nobunaga snorted.
"You, Mi Guniang, and Inuchiyo all look like they are hesitant to speak, but Mori Katsunari and Kawajiri Hidetaka's worries are written on their faces."
"We were brought out by you yourself, unlike those two adults."
"What's the difference? It's not that I think I will lose."
Nobunaga carefully straightened the pockets on the rack and spoke.
"Everyone knows that my father has not liked me since I was a child. He likes Xin Xing. And my mother...
What about your ancestors? When I was six years old, I was appointed the Lord of the Furuno Castle and drove me to that rural place. When Nobuyuki was enjoying family happiness by his mother and father's side and learning the rules of the martial arts.
I, the eldest daughter of the Oda family, was playing in the mud with a group of wild children in the countryside."
"Nanny...among those wild children, I am one of them..."
Hengxing said with a wry smile, and Nobunaga chuckled.
"Not only you, but also Migoniang and Inuchiyo. Everyone calls me Owari a fool, saying that I have disgraced my mother by my dissolute behavior.
But I’m just a wild child, I’m used to being wild and I can’t change it.”
Nobunaga saw that the arrangement was almost done, clapped his hands with satisfaction, turned to Hengxing and continued.
"Finally, my mother remembered me and called me home. Before she died, she made me the governor of the Oda family. But did she really choose me?
The Mori Katsunari left to me and Kawajiri Hidetaka are immigrants from Mino, and you grew up with me.
What about those important ministers? Lin Xiuzhen, the family’s old writer? Katsuie Shibata, the top general? Is it really just their choice that they chose Nobuyuki?”
Nobunaga's speaking speed became faster and faster, and his expression became cold.
"It was she who told them that Nobuyuki was a good master.
It was she who gave the Lin family the knowledge of three cities.
It was she who left the most elite troops of Shibata Katsuie and the Oda family.
And what about me? The Oda family has 270,000 stones from Owari... I only have 50,000 direct leaders... and two foreign generals...
Ridiculous or not. Can I stabilize the situation? Tell me, who did she choose?"
Hengxing did not dare to look up at her face with her heart-wrenching words, but lowered his head to listen.
"A family governor in troubled times needs iron and blood to stabilize his position. And I am probably the stepping stone she left to Nobuyuki.
In the past few years, I have been reluctant to give up food and clothing. I have plundered 50,000 direct troops, reorganized the army, expanded the elite, and actively prepared weapons.
for what?
I have endured it for so long just waiting for this day to come. I want to take a breath, not to prove that I am great.
I just want to tell her and tell them that I am not a big fool, I am not a stepping stone, and I don’t want to be stepped on.
The Oda family that Oda Nobhide left to her Nobuyuki, I, Oda Nobunaga, will definitely take it with my own hands!"
He pointed at Oda Nobuhide's body on the rack, then turned around and pointed at the rebel camp in the distance on the other side. Nobunaga's face was filled with ferociousness.