On July 15, the third year of Tensho (1575), when the autumn harvest of Kii Kingdom had just begun, Yu Qiupei led the army southward and began the Kii strategy. However, he left all his artillery at Kishiwada Port to guard against the Miyoshi family water.
At almost the same time, Shibata Katsuie's attack on Kaga Country, Hashiba Hideyoshi's attack on Harima Country, and Akechi Mitsuhide's attack on Tanba Country also started at the same time. The Oda family was like an octopus extending its tentacles in all directions.
The journey of expansion in all directions began.
In Akihira's territory, Hanoi, Izumi and Kii Province are separated by the long Izumi Mountains. If you want to attack Kii Province, there are three ways to go. The first is along the coastline of the Seto Inland Sea, from the west to the sea.
The road bypasses the Izumi Mountains and enters Nagusa County. This is also the most common road from Kinki to Kii, because it is flatter and more open than other mountain roads in Kii. The second road is from Hanoi Province to the south, from
The east side bypasses the Izumi Mountains and enters Ito County through Koyaguchi. The third road is the most difficult and dangerous mountain road - it goes directly through the Izumi Mountains and reaches Naga County.
Although the entire Kii Country is huge, in fact most of the land is occupied by mountains and there are very few plains. The valleys have abundant rain, warm climate, and rich forest resources. It has been famous for its rich timber production since ancient times. Itami Yasukiyo is
For the fleet being prepared, a lot of wood was purchased from Kii Country.
Most of the few plains are distributed along the Ki River, the largest river in Kii Province. The Ki River flows through the four counties in the north of Kii Province, namely Kaifu County, Nagusa County, Naga County and Ito County.
.Although the area of their four counties is only about a quarter of the entire Kii, the height of people and the number of stone heights are two-thirds of the entire Kii. And the target of Yu Qiupei's battle - the people of Kii,
Most of them have also settled in these four counties. The other counties are densely mountainous and sparsely populated, so there is no value in fighting. In other words, Yu Qiupei's expedition this time only needs to take the northern part of Kii Province - close to Hanoi
The four counties of Izumi are enough.
However, Yu Qiupei understands that this seemingly simple task is actually very challenging. Because the mountainous terrain of Kii Country is so complex, the complexity is comparable to the mountain road Yu Qiupei traveled through when he supported Tokugawa Ieyasu last time. Due to the narrow road
, the traffic volume is very low, and it is difficult for the attacking troops to move and can easily be blocked on the mountain road. In addition, the food and grass are constantly being transported on the mountain road, and the troops will be in a state of food shortage.
The mountains of Kii are densely covered with forests, which are simply natural bunkers for the defenders. Armed with iron cannons and familiar with the terrain, the people of Kii can easily sneak through the complex mountains and forests, and surprise and kill the attackers' troops. What's even more unfortunate is that
Yes, there are a large number of believers in the Ichijo Sect in Kii, which is why the people of Kii have repeatedly supported Honganji Temple. These believers are firm-willed and are not afraid of death in order to resist the invaders, which has brought extreme consequences to the attacking side.
Big trouble. The Miyoshi family had attacked Kii several times, but they were defeated in the face of never-ending surprise attacks, the tenacious Ichijo followers, the fortified mountain fortress, and the crisis of food shortage.
Therefore, Yu Qiuping made full preparations for this battle. Not only did he repeatedly emphasize how to use bunkers to protect himself from iron cannons during military exercises, he also taught many techniques for attacking mountain cities and fighting guerrilla warfare.
Due to the limited traffic on the road, Yu Qiupei had to divide his troops. Ikeda Hengxing and Omaezaki Nakahide's Hosoryanagi Bei, with a total of 8,000 people, marched from the Takanoguchi line on the east road. Yu Qiupei himself defeated Tokiwa Bei, Naibei Bei and
The cavalry company, with a total of 9,400 men, marched from the western coast. As for the middle road over the Izumi Mountains, not only was the road difficult and difficult, but it also had to face the Thousand Stone Dig Castle and other fortified cities. It was really not a reasonable march route, so Yu Qiuping took it
give up.
Before the expedition, Yu Qiupei had asked Hatakeyama Takamasa for help. As the former guardian of Kii, he had a huge influence in the Kii area. In his previous confrontations with the Miyoshi family, he relied on the people of Kii country
Only with support from behind can he make comebacks again and again. Yu Qiupei hopes that he can come out and rely on his past friendship to mobilize the people of Kii Country for him. However, after Oda Nobunaga heard about this, he asked him to
Yu Qiupei issued a stern warning: It is strictly forbidden to negotiate with any Ikki sect forces. This is the consistent bottom line of the Oda family, and the people of Kii who believe in the Ikki sect are naturally included.
However, the "reasonable" Oda Nobunaga also left a window for negotiation for Yu Qiupei: If all the people of Kii Country are willing to lay down their weapons and leave the territory to surrender, he, Oda Nobunaga, will not interfere. Yu Qiupei knows
, Such a condition is nothing more than a dream. The people of Kii country have always been strong, so it would be crazy if they could agree to such a condition. And those who were firm were not only Oda Nobunaga, but also Hatakeyama Takamasa. The latter heard about Oda.
After Nobunaga made such a harsh statement, he immediately left Maple Leaf Mountain Castle and returned to his Wakae Castle, stating that he would never provide any help to Yu Qiuping again.
In desperation, Yu Qiuping had to give up the plan of mobilizing troops, and planned to use force to compete with Ji Yi's people.
·
On July 17, the West Route Army, led by Yu Qiupei, arrived at the junction of Izumi Country and Kii Country. As early as yesterday, the army had entered the mountainous area of Izumi Mountains. The road simply followed the coast, and there were
It's fairly flat. But the spacious official road only ends here. Once we enter Kii territory tomorrow, the road will become narrow and winding.
In the evening of that day, the senior commanders of the Hongye Army gathered in the main tent and held the last evaluation meeting before the war. Since this expedition to Kii required a lot of intelligence from Crow, Amano Keitoku also went out with the army again after a long time.
, attended together with Masayuki Sanada of the Military Intelligence Division.
"How is it? How is the enemy's distribution?" Yuqiupei got straight to the point and asked the two of them directly. The most important thing in foreign battles is intelligence. The last time he fought against the Takeda family in Toga, Takeda Shingen, who was fighting away from home, was actually there.
The intelligence completely suppressed the Yuqiu family, making everyone terrified.
Therefore, after this battle, Yu Qiuping finally applied for a budget from Congress to expand the establishment of the Military Intelligence Department and Crow. The Military Intelligence Department recruited and trained many ninjas, and Crow also spent heavily on recruiting ninjas.
He recruited many retainers from surrounding forces and continuously obtained information for Yu Qiuping.
However, this time, Sanada Masayuki was in trouble. He bowed slightly apologetically, and then whispered: "Your Highness, we have only found the location of Suzuki Shigei's headquarters. As for the other people of Kii Country,
I don’t know at all.” After that, he moved the chess pieces symbolizing Suzuki Shigei’s troops on the sand table in front of him to the place where the latest information showed, while the other chess pieces of the people of the country were not moved at all.
The total strength of the Kokumin in the entire Kii Province is about 10,000 people. The largest of them are the Zaga clan and the Nerai clan, with a total of about 5,500 people. The leader of the Zaga clan, Suzuki Shigei, also
At the same time, he is the nominal commander-in-chief of the entire Kii Kingdom.
In other words, except for Suzuki Shigeki's 3,000 people, the remaining 7,000 people are currently missing - how can this battle be fought?
"Weren't things going well before?" Yu Qiuping found the previous documents from the file bag handed over by Mori Ranmaru. Five days ago, the Yu Qiu family's Military Intelligence Department could still keep track of the movements of nearly 9,000 people."
Why are so many people suddenly off surveillance?"
"Because..." Sanada Masayuki whispered with some embarrassment, "Their troops seemed to have evaporated and suddenly lost their traces. The ninjas below searched everywhere and could only find a small team of dozens or at most hundreds of people.
.As for the main force, they are all gone. The people of Kii Country also have a large number of skilled ninjas. In order to obtain further information, many of our ninjas have been discovered and sacrificed."
"Why..." Yu Qiuping let out a sigh of relief, "I spent a lot of effort to sneak into Jiyi before, just to obtain information to avoid the surprise attack of the Chinese gods, but I didn't expect that I still lost him."
"Go and investigate all the surrounding mountains, forests and hills that can hide large-scale troops." Yu Qiuping issued an order to Sanada Masayuki, "If active tracking fails, we have to passively defend."
"Wait a minute." Just when Sanada Masayuki was about to accept the order and leave, Takenaka Shigeharu, who was silent at the side, suddenly interrupted and said, "Your Highness, I think this may not be the case."
"Hanbei, what do you say?" Yu Qiupei immediately turned his expectant eyes to the most powerful think tank in his army - he has always had a regret, that is, Takenaka Shigeharu was not present during the battle of Mikazuki Town. If he had been present
, can we see through Takeda Shingen’s plan?
Takenaka Shigeharu did not answer directly, but straightened his sleeves, then reached out and picked up all the chess pieces symbolizing the people of Kii Country on the sand table, and placed them in the chess box next to the sand table.
"Hanbei?" Yu Qiuping asked in confusion, "Where do you want to move them?"
"No need to move, they have all disappeared from the chessboard." Takenaka Shigeharu shook his head and whispered.
"Disappeared, what do you mean?" Yu Qiuping was stunned again.
"That's what he meant." Amano Keitoku on the side seemed to have figured out Takenaka Shigeharu's thoughts. He silently grabbed a handful of small beans from the sand table to symbolize the unknown situation, and scattered them randomly on the sand table with a crackle.
"Crow, you guessed it right." Takenaka Shigeharu glanced at Amano Keitoku with disdain - the conflict between the two did not fade away as time went by, but intensified. However, the two dedicated people never stayed together because of personal grudges.
There have been conflicts on official business, but the names in private are always so cold.
"According to the information given by Crow, it is speculated that except for Suzuki Shigei's troops, all the people of Kii Kingdom have been reduced to pieces." Amano Keide said to the stunned Yu Qiuping in a low voice, "With a hundred people, count
A group of ten or even several people lurked into the mountains of Kii, preparing to attack us."