"Main Hall, why did you come so quickly this time?" Sena Ujitoshi and Imagawa Yoshimoto asked curiously after finishing dinner.
"After receiving the alarm, I rushed over with 100 cavalry, and they arrived in a few days." Imagawa Yoshimoto said with a smile, "There are two main purposes for arriving so quickly."
"The first one, because I heard that the battle situation was very strange, I wanted to come over and take a look." Imagawa Yoshimoto raised his eyebrows, "The Oda family actually crossed the mountain road from Kodu to Okezama to attack.
Apparently he knew the itinerary of our baggage team so well that he dared not carry any baggage and relied on robbing our food and grass to maintain the troops."
"So the main hall is curious about why the Oda family got news about our baggage train?" Sena Ujitoshi took over, "I have been thinking about this issue in the past few days."
"Sena, what do you think?" Imagawa Yoshimoto took a sip of tea.
"There is a traitor, and he's still at a high level." Sena Shitoshi lowered his voice and said quickly.
"The judgment is correct." Imagawa Yoshimoto raised the corner of his mouth, "I don't know what method he used to leak the information about our transport team to the Oda family, but our ninjas and intelligence personnel had no idea. The most likely reason is that the senior personnel
, this is also the reason why I came to the battlefield this time."
"The main hall would like to observe the movements of the senior generals?" Sena Ujitoshi asked.
"That's right," Imagawa Yoshimoto took another sip of tea, "I originally thought the people in the Matsudaira family were the most suspicious. They just heard that I was coming and they knelt at the door."
Imagawa Yoshimoto took a sip of some warm tea and continued, "The second reason is that I want to come and see if the bait I left has caught any fish."
"Bait?" Sena Shijun was a little confused for a moment.
"It's Chitate Castle." Imagawa Yoshimoto clapped his hands and laughed, "Sure enough, the Oda family took the bait."
"Even if our total military strength at the Owari Mikawa border is equal to that of the Oda family, once a war breaks out, it is very likely that the Oda family will invade the hinterland." Imagawa Yoshimoto explained, "Because the Oda family has the advantage of attacking first."
"Whether we surround Narumi Castle or Takake Castle and then forcibly infiltrate, or we cross a small road and attack by surprise like now, no matter how we defend, it is very likely that the Oda family will attack Mikawa and cut off transportation lines and connections. At this time, we are in
The troops in Takake Castle, Narumi Castle and Odaka Castle will be unable to respond to each other, and will lose contact with Okazaki Castle. If the Oda family storms any of the castles at this time, there is a risk of losing it."
"So, in order to prevent the fish from biting the precious coral, I left the bait," Imagawa Yoshimoto pointed to the location of Chidate Castle on the map. "Chidate Castle is a strategic location on the border between Owari and Mikawa. It controls
With it, the situation is under control. The three border cities that have been completely cut off cannot respond to each other. And the defense of Chirit Castle is so weak that Oda Nobunaga will definitely not be able to bear this piece of fat and will swallow it in one bite.
Down."
"But here comes the problem. The Oda family only has about 2,000 troops that can be mobilized to attack the hinterland. They have to ensure the back road, Okehazama, and stay at Chili, so the remaining mobile forces will be greatly consumed and they will be unable to go further.
We attacked effectively. The time it takes to attack Zhili City is enough for troops from three rivers far away to gather for reinforcements."
Imagawa Yoshimoto smiled slightly, "Just like now, the Oda family, which is in a dilemma, has no choice but to withdraw its troops in the end, because Chiri Castle is isolated in the hinterland and cannot be defended. It is far less practical than taking down Takake Castle and Narumi Castle."
"Is this the reason why the main hall refused to strengthen the defense of Chiritate Castle at that time?" Sena Ujitoshi suddenly realized, "If Chiritate Castle was heavily defended and the Oda family felt that there was no chance to take advantage of it, they might attack Narumi Castle and the
The city is in ruins."
"Then why didn't your Excellency explain it clearly at that time? It caused a lot of opposition from below."
"Isn't there a traitor now? Fortunately, I didn't tell you at the time." Imagawa Yoshimoto clapped his hands and laughed, "I just wanted to test you at the time. I didn't expect it to be of such great use."
"Originally, we just need to stay here quietly, watch the Oda family being in a dilemma after defeating the Chitoku, and withdraw the troops ourselves." Imagawa Yoshimoto frowned, "It's a pity, Sena, you sent my favorite youngster to
We went to Zhilicheng, the place of death, to defend it."
"This..." Sena Shitoshi felt a little embarrassed for a moment, "He was the one who took the initiative to ask for help. He wanted to send home letters to the more than two hundred slaves, and also wanted to save their lives."
"That kid is just a bad guy." Imagawa Yoshimoto thought of Yu Qiupei, "But this is one of the reasons why I like him." He put down the tea cup and looked at Sena Ujitoshi solemnly, "Although our Imagawa family
It is extremely powerful now, but the next generation is not as good as expected. Although Ujima is extremely talented, the Leshi Le seat order he proposed to me last time was beyond my reach. But he is arrogant and willful in his own way.
, If you indulge too much in literature and art, you may not be happy to deal with political affairs in the future."
"The eldest son of the Asahina family is quite good. Although he is not as heroic as his father, he is steady and down-to-earth and is also a talented general. The second eldest son of the Asahina family has some of his father's talents, but he is too idle and has poor concentration. Okabe
The Okabe boy in our family has become arrogant because of his little cleverness. His behavior is far inferior to the two Asahina boys, and it will be difficult for him to become a great person in the future." Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at Sena Ujitoshi again, "Your son Ujiyoshi..."
"I don't know how to teach my son, and I am making everyone laugh." Sena Shitoshi sighed.
"That's not true. I am a decent and diligent person, and I will be a talented person for one country and one city in the future. I just don't have the magnanimity like you." Imagawa Yoshimoto said with a smile, "Look at the important ministers of our generation, there are many capable people.
Who would have thought that the next generation would not be able to do this."
"So we need to select new blood, so that some talented young people can enter the Imagawa family and become the new generation. I am very optimistic about Yu Qiuping. I did a brief investigation before and found that he has not been active in other families.
His record is that he was not in Japan before, he came from the Ming Dynasty, and his identity is very clean." Imagawa Yoshimoto rotated the tea cup slightly, "He has a unique charm in his way of dealing with people, and his way of looking at many problems is very insightful and profound.
He's only seventeen years old! What impresses me the most are his two characters, one is compassion, and the other is his ability to do what he says." Imagawa Yoshimoto rubbed his chin, "If he has compassion, he will do it.
He will not be rebellious, but will worry about the world. If he does what he says, he will be very trustworthy and very motivated."
"The only drawback is that his character is a little too cautious, lacks the spirit of decision-making and adventure, and is too kind to be decisive in killing. This is a bit like you. I will help him change it in the future." Imagawa Yoshi
Yuan straightened up and stretched, "It's good now. You sent the young man I focused on training to this abandoned son in Zhili City, but I believe that according to his cautious character, it will be okay to defend him for a while.
"
"Early tomorrow morning, we will set out for rescue." Imagawa Yoshimoto said.
"Main Hall, do we need the troops assembled below to set off together?" asked Sena Ujitoshi.
"Come if you want, but I still say the same thing," Imagawa Yoshimoto said with a smile, "With only 100 of me, I can still defeat Oda."
"Then we need to contact the troops from Narumi City, Takake City and Dagao City to attack together?" Sena Ujitoshi reminded again uneasily.
"No, we will terminate contact tonight and there will be no more messenger exchanges." Imagawa Yoshimoto waved his hand, "We will set off at 00:00 tomorrow, go straight to Kariya Castle, and then go to Chiritsu."
"Why don't you go from Anxiang City? It's closer there."
"No need, there must be more Oda Army scouts there, and it's closer to the south, which is not conducive to me carrying out my plan."
The next day, in the early morning of August 1st, at 4:00 p.m., Zhili City was established.
Yu Qiuping fell asleep this night, but he still woke up early. He had just gotten up and was blown by the cool breeze in the morning, and suddenly became energetic. The night watch ashigaru at the head of the city were handing over, and Yu Qiuping himself looked to the east.
, the rising sun rising from the horizon.
This might be the last time I watch the sunrise. Yu Qiuping's heart sank.
"No, we can't be so decadent!" He rubbed his face vigorously, "If a general is so courageous, how can I boost morale if I am scared and worried?"
He strode out of the castle tower, and the Ashigaru people were gathering in the center of the barracks to have breakfast. After yesterday's fierce battle, 19 of the original 236-man team had died, and 22 were seriously injured and unable to participate in the battle. The available troops
It is already less than 200, and the casualties are close to 20%. Omaezaki Nakahide's team is no longer able to take on important tasks and can only be used as a reserve team. After another linear planning and hard work yesterday afternoon, the defense transformation task of Chili Castle was finally completed.
It was completed. Except for the west city, the city walls were dug into pits and filled with various simple roadblocks, and a lot of straw was also laid. Before eating in the morning, the guards directed their hands to pour a layer of oil on the city walls.
, convenient for ignition.
The four city gates are blocked with stones and will never be opened for a while. Many defense facilities have been set up in the city according to Yu Qiuping's sketch.
Originally, everyone meant layers of obstacles and trenches. However, Yu Qiuping felt that this was inappropriate. A complete defense line would only make the Oda family want to attack by force. For this reason, he specially used the terrain and houses in the city to
A complex maze was created using equipment such as fences, wooden fences, trenches, and horses. As long as the road was not blocked, Yu Qiupei felt that the Oda family's Ashigaru would still tend to take detours through the maze to pass the defense line instead of directly destroying it.
Wooden fences and other defensive facilities. At this time, just a little interference can greatly slow down the Oda family's attack speed, blocking them on the tower like last time, in a dilemma, and exposed to the firepower of the archers.
This time, in addition to using archers as long-range firepower, Yu Qiuping also gathered the extra bamboo guns and planned to use them as javelins. In addition, many stones were also collected, and when the bamboo guns were used up, they would throw stones as a supplement.
.
At eight o'clock in the morning, the huge Oda family troops slowly left the camp. From the exit of the camp, they split into two torrents. One of them surrounded the North City, and the other split into two, all the way to the gate of the South City. Finally, Oda
Nobunaga's horse seal stayed outside the west city gate. The east city gate was left empty.
"Besiege three but one is missing." Amano Keide explained to Yu Qiuping, "Traditional siege tactics allow the defenders to have a way to escape without having to resist desperately. Wait for the defenders to escape from the city before pursuing them. If
If the garrison unfortunately collapses, then the number of people annihilated will be similar to the result of a comprehensive siege and annihilation, and the cost of casualties will be reduced."
The overwhelming strength of the Oda Army made all the defenders in the city feel the pressure of despair. For a moment, everyone was silent, cold sweat flowed down their cheeks, and their bodies were trembling slightly.
"They definitely don't know that we have blocked all the city gates. This is just to show the blind man." Omaezaki Nakahide's words made the people around laugh, and the extremely tense atmosphere before the war also eased a little. "
Sir, why don't you come forward and fight with Oda Nobunaga alone! Oda Nobunaga will definitely accept it out of the dignity of the samurai family! If you beat him, we will win!" Omaezaki Nakahide's sinister tone once again
It made everyone laugh.
"Screw you, don't you know that your adults don't know anything about martial arts?" Yu Qiuping scolded with a smile, and he was actually not so nervous anymore.
"Gentlemen, although the number of enemies is unprecedentedly huge, we are only one step away from victory." Yu Qiuping shouted, "We have been holding on for two days, and the troops assembled by Lord Sena will come to rescue soon.
We! We don’t need to win to survive this last moment! Let’s all go home triumphantly!”
"Before the battle ahead, everyone felt that death was inevitable!" Yu Qiuping raised his arms and shouted, "Didn't we all survive? It's the same this time, it seems there is no chance of winning, but as long as we persist until the reinforcements arrive, we will win!
"
"Hey! Hey! Oh!" The Ashigaru raised their weapons and shouted the traditional Japanese Ashigaru chant.
At three o'clock in the morning, the huge team of the Oda family finally completed their formation. Outside the West City, there were a total of eight watchtowers with powerful firepower, and nearly twenty ladders. In the South City and the North City, there were three watchtowers and
Cross ladder. Outside the west city gate, there is the horse seal of Oda Nobunaga, 600 Oda family soldiers, and nearly a thousand auxiliary soldiers. Outside the north city gate, because the Oda army knew that the north city gate had been blocked, they
Only Mori Katsunari's 100 combat soldiers and 200 auxiliary soldiers were used as a containment. Outside the southern city gate, there were 200 Oda family combat soldiers and 400 auxiliary soldiers. The commanding general was Takigawa Kazumasu, and Oda Nobunaga's direct general Ikeda Tsuneki
, and a group of members of the Ma Zhong. The other members of the Ma Zhong were scattered around Zhili City. Half of them were responsible for investigating the direction of Anxiang City, and the remaining people paid attention to the direction of Tongzhajian, Dagua City and Kagu Valley.
In the direction of the city, there are still 200 soldiers and the remaining auxiliary soldiers left to guard the camp.
At four o'clock in the morning, as the heavy and powerful drum beat sounded in the Oda family camp, the siege officially began.