"After passing the Daishoji Castle, we will enter Kaga."
In the early morning of November 21st, at the top of the Daishoji Castle, Ikomachi, who was staying here from the Oda family, was reporting to Amakihei. Almost all the important ministers of the Hokurikudo Army were surrounded in Takaoka Castle.
Zheng is already one of the highest-ranking people among those who stayed.
"Is there still no news from Jinjiang City, Songren City, Helai City, and Weishan Yufang?" Yu Qiuping asked helplessly, looking at the white snow and the white snowfield hidden in the snow.
"There is no news, not since five days ago." Ikoma Oikasa replied in a low voice, "At least there is no bad news, isn't it, Your Highness?"
"No news is worse than bad news." Yu Qiuping shook his head, obviously more frustrated by the situation at hand, "If there is bad news, at least we can know what happened ahead. If there is no news, then I will be disappointed with everything.
I don't know anything about what happened inside." Yu Qiuping held on to the wall and stretched out his hand toward the white wall. He could see nothing in the distance, only endless heavy snow.
"And... the lack of news means that the Uesugi family has blocked the information. The entire territory of Kaga may be filled with Uesugi family detectives and ninjas, which makes it impossible for our frontline troops to send even a single messenger back." Yu Qiuping added.
One sentence.
"It's all the fault of the heavy snow... Otherwise, I would have gotten some news anyway." Ikoma raised his head and looked at the gray sky, "I don't know when it will stop."
"I can't wait any longer when it will stop. There are so many people in front of me pointing at me for rescue." Yu Qiuping shook the snowflakes on the red leaf shawl, said goodbye to Ikoma, then strode down to the city, commanding
Continue to advance with Junling Bei and Wanjun Bei in the Great Holy Temple City.
At this time, Naruhei Bei, the vanguard of the Hongye Army, had already advanced to a place ten miles northeast of Daishoji City. In order to reduce the pressure on the official road, another vanguard, Tokiwa Bei, took the small road east of Daishoji City.
They also arrived ten miles away. Yu Qiuping had to follow them quickly. Tongqiang Bei and Liaoyuan Bei had not yet arrived at the Great Holy Temple City. Due to the heavy snow, many of Tongqiang Bei's horses were frostbitten and sick.
Yes, but such a scarce resource as horses could not be replenished immediately. The auxiliary soldiers of the Tongqiang Guards carefully served the horses, and their speed was also much slower.
At 7:00 on November 21, in a forest thirteen miles northeast of the Daishoji City, ninjas from the Military Intelligence Division were exploring the situation. The leading chuunin was Narita Kocho, the newly promoted captain of the Military Intelligence Division.
"Sir, the snow is too heavy and I can't see the road clearly." His deputy ran back from the hillside and whispered apologetically, "I don't know where the outline of the official road is."
"There is nothing we can do about it... Previously, on the roads in Echizen Province, there were civilians from the Oda family who helped us shovel the snow in advance. Now that we have entered Kaga, we can't contact any friendly forces, and no one is shoveling the snow..." Narita pointed.
In the vast white wilderness in the distance, "You can't tell which area is the official road."
"Then how should we repay Mr. Sanada? What about the sand table of the Military Intelligence Department?" The deputy hesitated a few times uneasily. The Hongye Army has always had a habit of getting a preliminary understanding of the terrain before marching and drawing a sand table to facilitate command.
.
"There is no other way. Let's collect the information we can collect first. For example, there is a forest here." Narita adjusted the position of his felt hat so that the snowflakes would not face directly.
His face was confused. However, the moment he adjusted his felt hat, he saw a white shadow flash in the distance.
"Everyone is on alert!" Narita Kocho shouted fiercely, and at the same time he stretched his hands to his waist to touch the shuriken and kunai. Before he could take out the kunai, he saw the snow-covered sword not far away in front of him.
The pine tree shook violently, and a man in white who had been lurking in the snow suddenly jumped out and threw two kunai at him. Narita Zichang hurriedly tried to avoid it, but the thick snow on the ground prevented him from doing so.
His feet suddenly lost strength, and his left arm was severely scratched, and blood immediately sprayed on the snow.
"Damn it!" Narita Kocho hurriedly threw out his kunai to fight back, and the attacker immediately jumped away. Narita Kocho tried to pursue him, but the snow that was one foot deep and one foot shallow made it impossible for him to move quickly, and that
The attacker's figure was much more flexible, and he actually killed another subordinate of Narita Kocho.
"Are you a ninja in the Uesugi family's sanctuary?" Narita Kocho took a breath of cold air, "Have you reached the westernmost point of Kaga?"
At this moment, many ninjas hiding around them came out of the white snow. Narita realized that something was wrong and immediately called his subordinates to retreat. However, their movements in the snow were not as fast as theirs.
Not as good as the Xuanyuanli ninjas who were familiar with heavy snow, one after another was chased and killed.
"Go back and report the news!" Prince Narita had already understood this and was enlightened. He shouted to his deputy with great determination, "They are going to intercept and kill us! There has been no news from the Oda family for so many days. It must be because of these ninjas.
It's been intercepted! Go and report the news! Others, come with me!"
"Yes!" At the critical moment, none of the ninjas hesitated for a moment. Except for the deputy who escaped, everyone turned over and rushed to kill the Xuanyuanli ninjas. But in the snow, the famous Red Leaf Army ninjas were not Xuanyuanli.
The ninja's opponents, a small team of ninjas, were killed one after another.
"ah!"
At this moment, a scream came from the direction behind him. Narita turned around and saw that the deputy who had just escaped had stepped on a trap in the snow and was hung up by a rope. Then there was a flash of a knife in the snow.
Flashing means that the body and head are in different places.
"Damn it." Narita cursed, turned over and rushed back desperately. However, he accidentally stepped on a snowdrift in the void and almost fell. The Xuanyuanli ninja in front of him followed up with a knife.
, ended the resistance of this Red Leaf Army ninja team.
At the same time, not far outside the woods, a cavalry squad of Ming Dybei, led by Sergeant Inuyama Okaka, was conducting reconnaissance.
"Is there the sound of fighting in the woods to the north just now?" Inuyama Gangtaka vaguely heard some movement in the north, but it was not so clear in the howling north wind.
"I don't know." The wind was so loud that several subordinates had no choice but to shout at the top of their lungs.
"Want to go down and take a look?" the deputy squad leader in the team asked Inuyama Okayaka.
"You take two people...forget it, let's go together." Inuyama Okayaka hesitated and changed his order, "Let's go together, otherwise the snow will be too heavy and we won't be able to see you after you pass.
, you can’t find us, and it will be troublesome if we can’t make peace.”
"Just follow the horse's hoof prints and come back." The deputy squad leader shook his head disapprovingly.
"Look where there is a ding
Make some horse hoof prints." Inuyama Gang laughed twice and pointed at the way they came with his riding crop. Everyone looked back and saw that the heavy snow had erased all traces of their journey.
"Let's go." Inuyama Gangtaka rode away first, leading his men to the woods to the north. They were running through the flying snow, as if they were flying in the clouds, and there was nothing else around but snow.
The sudden sound of horse hooves broke this artistic conception, and it came from the northeast.
"Many people, at least hundreds." The experienced Inuyama Gangtaka immediately judged the approximate number of enemies. "There are no more than 50 Red Leaf Cavalry patrolling nearby today. They must be the scouts of the Uesugi Army."
"Evacuate immediately." Inuyama Gangtaka ordered decisively, and the horses were ready to retreat to the southwest. However, at this moment, the sound of horse hooves was also heard from the southeast and due south, and there were also hundreds of people.
"Is there anyone over there? How many Echigo cavalry are here?" Inuyama Oka was a little flustered for a moment, "With such a large number and such a dense concentration of cavalry, they are definitely not Tanma..."
"Could it be that the main force of Echigo's cavalry is here?" Inuyama Okayaka looked back to the east in disbelief, "This is the border between Kaga and Echizen...How could the Uesugi army penetrate so deep?"
At the moment when he was separated, the horse that was sitting down suddenly jolted. Inuyama Gangtaka hurriedly hugged the horse's neck and almost got rid of the horse. It turned out that his horse stepped into a soft snowdrift and almost knocked it over.
Turn over. There were many cavalrymen who encountered the same situation as him, and one man was thrown off his horse. Reason told him that the snow in front of him seemed to be very slippery, and there were many soft places, but the drumming sound of horse hooves behind him
But he was not given time to take a detour, so he had no choice but to rush westward.
In this complicated snow, the Red Leaf Army cavalry could not go any faster. And the horses they brought from Kinki did not adapt well to the severe cold climate and were not as fast as before. And Echigo
The cavalry was obviously very skilled in running in the snow, and the horses were all bred in the cold climate of Echigo, so they were not affected at all. Not long after, the Echigo cavalry of the Uesugi Army appeared in sight from all directions.
inside.
Inuyama Ganggao turned around and looked, and saw a group of Echigo cavalry passing by the snowy field where they had just been trapped. However, the Echigo cavalry with black armor and black horses seemed to be familiar with this road, and they pranced around easily without slowing down their horse speed.
He drove through the potholes and soft spots that were almost indistinguishable, and chased Inuyamaoka Gao. Inuyama Okagao tried his best to urge his horse to sit down, but he could not increase the speed. The gap was getting closer and closer, and the cavalry from the south was outflanking.
He has also been killed beside him.
"It's over. The Echigo cavalry are cavalry in heavy snow. You can't outrun them by running." Inuyamaoka swallowed, knowing that he probably couldn't run away from the current situation. "He was actually touched under the nose by the Uesugi army.
"
"The whole army charges south! Every replacement counts!" Inuyamaoka drew his sword in his hand, the blade reflecting the snow light, and shouted at his subordinates at the same time. The red leaf cavalrymen drew their swords out of their sheaths one after another, and followed their squad leader
They rushed south. The Echigo cavalry in front of them was getting closer and closer, and their outline became clearer and clearer. A high flag was flying in the formation. When they rushed out of the snow and fog, they came to Inuyama Hill and stood tall above them.
When the horses crossed each other, Inuyama Gangtaka finally saw clearly the words on the flag.