The situation in Yinma City has become increasingly difficult after two failed breakouts.
Hikima Castle, as the main city of Enji, has a total population of more than 20,000. This time, about one-third of the people ran into the city to take refuge, and the rest fled towards the Asahina clan. And all this time,
They are both the residences of Iio Renryu, an important wealthy family in Toe. After the Imagawa family took full control of Toe, the Sena clan Toshiya moved to nearby areas as relatives of the Imagawa family who controlled the overall situation in Toe. The Iio family and the Sena family
They all have a strong influence on Hima Castle. Most of the castle town residents who took refuge in the city have lived under the jurisdiction of these two families for more than ten years. On the contrary, the Okabe family can be called the
It has no basis at all.
At this time, both the Sena family and the Iio family were part of the surrounding army, and the Okabe family on the defensive side was faced with the problem of unstable public sentiment. A large number of people were against Okabe Motonobu's occupation of Hikima Castle and the Asahina family.
Expressing dissatisfaction, they fully hoped that the Iio family and the Sena family would quickly regain Hima Castle - so that they could return to normal life. With such a mentality, the people of Hina Castle were dissatisfied with all the actions of the Okabe family.
With an attitude of passive resistance, some civilians who had served in the Sena family's army even tried to find ways to secretly send news to the Sena family outside the city.
What makes the situation even worse is the increasingly tense food crisis. The breakout on June 11th and 12th further consumed the few remaining supplies of food and grass. The Okabe family has been trying to conceal the news of the food shortage in Hima Castle -
—Otherwise, the people who are originally opposed to the Okabe family may act excessively. The city has become overcrowded due to the large influx of people. Small conflicts continue among residents, and the atmosphere in the city has become not very friendly.
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Since the siege, villagers have gone to the rice warehouses and granaries in the city to buy food every day, and the Okabe family has never interfered. However, on June 13, Okabe Motonobu still saw no hope that the siege would turn around. He continued to whitewash peace.
Although he insisted on tightening the grain budget for a while, he, who was always pragmatic, chose the latter. That morning, Okabe Motonobu sent people to quickly take over several rice warehouses in the city, and also closely guarded the grain warehouses.
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However, something unexpected happened. When the samurai of the Okabe family went to seize the second granary, they unexpectedly encountered resistance from the owner of the granary. The Okabe family had to take violent measures and forcibly captured the rice granary.
——It was then discovered that the owner of the rice warehouse had the Sena family's masterpieces hidden in his warehouse. The owner of the rice warehouse did not expect that the Okabe family would suddenly make such a move, so he was caught off guard and had to prevent the Okabe family from entering, but in the end it was difficult.
Escape from the fate of being executed by everyone in your family.
However, this farce greatly changed the situation in the city and intensified the conflicts between the Okabe family and the people. The original plan of the Okabe family to quickly seal off the five rice warehouses was also shattered. Due to the failure of the second rice warehouse
After a long delay, when the people got wind of the Okabe family's control of food, they immediately rushed out of their homes and went to the remaining three rice warehouses to grab food - after all, there was not much food left at home before the autumn harvest. They realized the situation.
Although Okabe Gennobu immediately sent troops to suppress the seriousness, it was still a step too late. Most of the grain in the three rice warehouses had been bought or robbed by the people. Okabe Gennobu was furious and imprisoned the three bosses.
prison.
The original plan of the Okabe family was for the Okabe family to centrally control the food distribution in the city, thereby reducing the people's rations and ensuring the army's supply while also holding on for as long as possible. However, the situation at this moment is terrible. The army's
The rations are guaranteed by the granary next to the castle tower. If there is no problem, the rations for the residents are different.
Originally, every resident would buy food every day - since it was in the siege stage, everyone would buy more or less, but there was no large-scale hoarding of food. However, because the Okabe family intended to control the operation of the rice warehouse,
The common people were worried that they might not be able to get food from the Okabe family in the future. Therefore, some people who got the news earlier immediately rushed to hoard food that was much more than what their families needed. Others who were farther away from the rice warehouse
Then nothing is gained, and their remaining stock may only be enough for three days.
The common people had no choice but to flock to the castle tower and the rice warehouse, asking the Okabe family to provide some food. The food the Okabe family had on hand now was for the army, so naturally it would not be given to these common people. For a time,
Rumors that Yinma City had run out of food spread throughout the city, which led to even greater chaos. Although Okabe Motonobu emphasized many times that food could still last for a long time - but he had concealed the news before.
He was no longer credible, and the chaos in the city was getting worse.
On June 14th and 15th, most people could still live on rations and wild vegetables and weeds. However, by the 16th, some families had no rice to cook with. Some people had no choice but to take risks. Some people had no choice but to take risks.
He stormed the city gate and asked the guards to let him go back to his home in the castle town to get food. Of course, he was rejected. This might not only lead to traitors taking the opportunity to sneak in, but also lead to an attack by Asahina's family. Some people also used their hands to
Reaching out to other residents who were also crowded in the city, a large number of cases of food theft, robbery and murder emerged that night, and the order in the city began to get out of control.
On June 17, the Okabe family sent troops to suppress the entire city and restore order, but with little success - because the Okabe family had to take into account the defense of the city and could not invest too many troops to maintain law and order. There were many shortages.
The people who wanted to fight for food demanded that the Okabe family's army immediately seize the families who had previously looted the food and divide the food equally - which of course led to a fierce backlash. Two or three large-scale fights over food broke out in the south of the city.
It only subsided after Qing arrived at the scene. At the same time, more people pointed the finger at Okabe Motonobu, accusing him of ignoring the life and death of the people of Yinma City for the sake of army rations. That night, there were actually some people from Sena Toshi and Iio Renryu.
The old tribe instigated the hungry people and attempted to seize the southern city gate. Although the rebellion was put down in time, Okabe Gennobu completely turned against the people of Yinma City. That night, the Okabe family had several military camps in Yinma City.
was burned. Although Okabe Gennobu was very angry, he also understood that this was not the time to suppress the people - the turmoil in the city would only provide opportunities for the troops outside the city.
On June 18, out of desperation, Okabe Gennobu was forced to open the army's granary and distribute food to the hungry people. However, the number of people who came to receive food far exceeded Okabe Motobu's imagination - it was obvious that there were
Some people who were not short of food also came to fish in troubled waters. In order to identify this group of people, fierce conflicts broke out between the warriors of the Okabe family and the common people. Many hungry people were mistakenly identified as people who had food. Angry, they began to rob
Food, the situation was out of control again. With only more than 200 people maintaining order, Ashigaru was unable to control the situation and was forced to ask for help from the castle tower. In desperation, Okabe Motonobu withdrew 400 people from the guards at Shimon, and finally
The rioters were suppressed.
Although Yu Qiuping outside the city noticed the changes in the city, he, who has always been relatively conservative in personality, did not immediately send troops to try to attack. Sanada Masayuki, who had been responsible for intelligence penetration in the city before, guessed that it was most likely that the people in the city were dying due to lack of food.
A riot broke out, and Okabe Gennobu was busy suppressing the civil strife. Therefore, he and Amano Keitoku jointly suggested that Yu Qiuping immediately launch a general offensive. However, Yu Qiuping did not like to attack and preferred to defend this conservative old man.
The mistake happened again. He felt that as a temporary commander, he did not have enough prestige and qualifications. He rashly launched a general offensive of the entire army, which might not be resolutely implemented by other armies. In addition, the situation in the city was still unclear, and Okabe Gennobu had previously
Yu Qiuping was deceived many times, making Yu Qiuping unable to make up his mind. He hesitated and was delayed for a long time.
At noon that day, when Asahina Yasuhiro and Okudaira Sadakatsu sent messengers to request an attack, Yu Qiuping was a little shaken. But he then thought, since he had missed the best opportunity in the morning, he should attack now.
, will inevitably increase casualties. The longer you hesitate, the more opportunities you miss. In the end, Yu Qiuping still failed to make up his mind and finally gave up the plan to attack - which also saved Okabe Motobu's life.
On June 19, after yesterday's second robbery of food, Okabe Motonobu had very little food left. However, this relieved his burden, and the people no longer forced him to open a warehouse to release food.
Instead, he turned to his companions who seemed to have a lot of food. Theft and robbery reached a new peak again after the 16th. The food provided by Okabe Motonobu to the army was only enough for three days.
Okabe Motonobu originally planned to take the opportunity to launch a defensive counterattack when Yu Qiupei attacked on that day, and then lead the entire army to break through. However, Yu Qiupei was like a bastard, determined not to attack, and just defended there honestly.
, intending to trap Okabe Motonobu to death. Okabe Motonobu has no tricks at all, and can only wait eagerly for the arrival of the mediator - this is also something that Yu Qiupei is confused about. Sena Ujitoshi and Asahina Yasushi
It has been several days since I went to Junfu, but no mediator arrived as promised. Yu Qiuping sent a messenger to inquire, but did not receive any reply.
On the evening of June 19, Okabe Motonobu had already begun to formulate a plan to break out of the siege. If he did not do anything, he would really sit back and wait until the food ran out. Even if he tried his best, he would still have to rush out of the city.
Even if he couldn't take away the entire army, at least he and his core retainers would have to break through. Late at night, he once again personally urged the ninjas of the Okabe family to patrol the city to prevent the ninjas of the Asahina family from sneaking into the city from the castle town while it was dark.
Chapter completed!