The funny thing is that as chess players, Terutora Uesugi and Ujiyasu Hojo are unable to determine where the chess pieces in their hands will go.
The entire Kanto Plain is mainly divided into two parts, west and east, and the Boso Peninsula extends overseas in the middle, showing an OIO shape.
The Ueno, Musashi, and Sagami Three Kingdoms in the west, the Chichibu Mountains, Musashi Mountains, and Tanzawa Mountains extending from the Kanto Plain on the back of the Kanto Mountains, and the Tokaido and Koshinobu Mountains in the west.
The Tone River, Watarase River and other rivers in the central part divide the west and east parts. Geographically, the three parts of Shimoso, Kamisou and Boso that extend along the coastline become the Boso Peninsula.
Shimono and Hitachi Province in the east are isolated from north to south by geographical mountains such as Mount Akagi, Watarase River, and Kinugawa, forming a relatively independent northeastern plate of the Kanto Plain.
Shimono and Hitachi are separated by the Bagou Mountains. The relationship between Shimono and the core area of the Kanto Plain is relatively close.
Hitachi Province is the main channel from the Kanto Plain to Ou and Ou in the northeast. It has been the bridgehead for the central government to develop the Ou region since ancient times.
From a high altitude bird's eye view, southeastern Ueno, southwest Shimono, northeastern Musashi, and northwest Shimotsou, these areas form the core area of the Kanto Plain.
In particular, the Tone River basin where the four countries meet is the focus of competition among the samurai families, such as Ueno Tatebayashi Castle, Shimono Ashikaga Castle, Shimotsou Furukawa Castle, and Musashi Ninja Castle.
The Utsunomiya family, the Satake family, and the Satomi family seem to be famous in the Kanto Plain, but their territory is too far away from the core area of the Kanto Plain and their strength is insufficient. It is possible to strive for hegemony, but it is difficult to become the leader.
There are only two big names that are truly competitive.
Terutora Uesugi made a comeback under the name of the Yamauchi Uesugi family, because the traditional territory of the Yamauchi Uesugi family is in the northern part of Ueno country and Musashi, and they have a deep relationship.
She has cultivated Izu and Sagami Ryogoku for three generations and has a solid foundation. She steadily captured Hojo Ujiyasu in the southern part of Musashi, and she firmly occupied part of the core area.
But the problem is that the territories of the two families are far apart and have no adjacent borders. This makes the confrontation between the two parties quite strange before it even begins.
The Uesugi family's base is in Echigo country, and the Hojo family's base is in Sagami country. The place where the two families fought was in Ueno Musashi Ryogoku.
The buffer zone between the two territories is composed of large and small national leaders. No one knows what these two-faced warriors who are facing Qin, Mu and Chu will do.
What the two sides were playing was not the chess of the Chu-He-Han realm, but the black and white game of Go.
Today I will give you a robbery, and tomorrow you will give me an eye. Dozens and hundreds of national leaders, white and black, can't figure out who is the enemy and who is the ally.
For example, Uesugi Teruhora's march south went smoothly, and the samurai led by the Kokumons surrendered one after another. Then, the Hojo family instigated several rebels behind her, and the black spots on the road behind them instantly turned white. What should she do?
Another example is that Hojo Ujiyasu arranged the defense so perfectly that all the core areas of Kanto seemed to be white. But when Terutora Uesugi came, most of the white stones turned black, so she couldn't vomit blood?
The most interesting thing is that Uesugi Terutora and Hojo Ujiyasu are not sure whether these things will happen. The relationship between the people is too complicated, and loyalty and betrayal can only be determined by a thought.
The Guandong Plain has been in chaos for more than a hundred years, and all the honest people have died long ago. The world has deteriorated, and people's hearts are not as good as they used to be. The atmosphere that has been bad for more than a hundred years cannot be corrected in a short time.
No one knows how the numerous citizens will choose. But if the two sides want to go to war, they have to rely on these absolutely unreliable local martial arts.
Terutora Uesugi will not just watch as Hojo Ujiyasu completes the territorialization of these bastards and turns the territory into his own strength.
Hojo Ujiyasu would not retreat to Sagami and wait for Terutora Uesugi to train these bastards into Uesugi warriors with comprehensive development of moral, intellectual, physical, artistic and physical skills.
Since they both refuse to give in, we can only hold our noses and beat each other with these bastards.
The result is what it is now. Both sides have planned their strategies and are ready to play their cards, but they are still worried.
Isn't it ridiculous that the big guys at the top have no idea yet they have to fight this foggy battle?
Hojo Ujiyasukai agreed to his daughter's request to send troops because of this helplessness.
For the Hojo family, the best way to deal with Uesugi Terutora is to defend. With Echigo's army rushing thousands of miles away, the best way is to defeat the Hojo family in one go.
If the Hojo family can hold on and wait until the Echigo army is dragged down by the stretched supply line and becomes impatient and the morale of the army is shaken, this will be the most advantageous strategy.
But the reality is that once the Hojo family appears to be too cowardly, those in the Kanto Plain who are weak and afraid of the hard will immediately turn their backs on each other.
At that time, the Hojo family will return to the dangerous situation before the Battle of Kawagoe, and will be pinned to the ground and beaten to death by the anti-Hojo samurai alliance united by most of the Kanto Plain.
This time, the Hojo family may not be able to usher in the miracle of the Kawagoe night battle. They may be beaten to the point of paralysis and the family fortune will be ruined.
Hojo Ujiyasu glanced at the excited Hojo Ushimasa and sighed in his heart.
Weighing the pros and cons is easy to say. But there are a few people who can really understand what the pros and cons are. If you can't figure it out, but you still weigh it, that's called gambling.
Hojo Ujiyasu didn't know whether she would lose or win if she continued the bet. But she had to bet, which was helpless.
———
Echigo, Central Etsu Sakado Castle.
Kawada Nagauchi had just arrived with his troops, and went to the city in person to pay a visit to Uesugi Keishin, who was in charge of the city for the Ueda Nagao family. Also present at the banquet were Numata Kenyasu's mother and daughter.
Numata Kenyasu is contacting Numata's cronies here, preparing to make plans for the army to enter Numata Territory and lead the way.
The summer harvest was not yet over, and the eldest relative from Hetian had just arrived. The three parties only met for a ceremonial purpose. Naturally, it was a happy time, and the host and guest enjoyed themselves.
After receiving logistical guarantees from Uesugi Kagenobu and Kenyasu Numata explaining some internal information about the Numata family, Chief Kawata returned to his station outside the city.
At this time, in the shogunate of her main formation, Yoshie Ziken and Haosaka Nagano had been waiting for a long time.
Kawada Nagachi sat down and sighed, and said to the two capable officers with a wry smile.
"My face froze with laughter."
The two laughed loudly, and the low atmosphere relaxed a lot.
Yoshie Shiken and Hazaka Nagamin were not Kawada Nagauchi's retainers, but Yuli sent by Uesugi Teruhora to assist.
However, the three of them were all from Omi, so they felt that they were developing together as a team, and together with the samurai under their command, they became the emerging Uesugi Omi sect in the eyes of outsiders.
Among the three, Nagachi Kawada has the strongest ability and the highest status. He is undoubtedly the leader of the Omi faction.
This time, Kawada Nagauchi's troops were sent to attack the Numata family. He was the vanguard general that others envied. The Numata family was so small that it could not withstand the attack of the Echigo samurai family. Their military success was very reliable.
But Kawada kissed him, but he really didn't want to come.