While the "Eastern Army" and the "Western Army" on both sides of Ishikawa were struggling to deal with the "water attack", the princes with different positions in various places were also involved in fierce battles.

For example, Echizen Asakura Keiken and Asakura Keigami announced to each other that they had "won a decisive victory" and asked for credit from Hinobu and Oda Nobunaga respectively, asking for recognition of their status and financial and material support.

Takeda Katsuyori deployed 2,000 men in Tokaido as a test, and Uesugi Kenshin also crossed the Echichu situation again, and their battle between Kita-Shinano and Nishi-Ueno was over again, and now all of them are playing the banner of "Shangluo Crusade against the Rebel Party".

Accordingly, Tokugawa Ieyasu in Enoe and Ichimune in Kaga showed a tough defensive posture and severely condemned the enemy's breach of promises.

Of course, everyone knows that since the autumn harvest is approaching, it will take more energy to organize an army, and they are not expected to really fight easily.

The Maori family in the west of the country moved the real character, Yoshikawa Motoharu 13,000 men attacked Tajima, menacing, the sword pointed at Ikuno Ginzan, Bessho Nagaji led 7,500 soldiers, went to Myoken Mountain, borrowed the terrain to hold on, but also did not give in.

Unexpectedly, Kobayakawa Takakei had secretly persuaded Bizen's Ukita Naoya that seeing that the enemy's heavy troops had left, he waved 20,000 troops and advanced by land and water to take Harima.

Staying in Murozu Castle was a relative of Bei Nagaji, Tanhe Dingfan, who was in a hurry, and there were only more than 2,000 soldiers available, and the disparity was huge and precarious, but he learned that there were many knights outside the city, so he had a plan to release twenty young and healthy mares, and used the "beautiful horse strategy", so that the mounts of the attacking side lost control, broke off the reins, and the soldiers were chaotic without a fight, trampled on each other, and retreated in embarrassment.

As soon as the Ukita family saw the news, they fled back to Bizen as soon as possible, and then prepared the camp food with considerable margins, and responded to the defeated army of Kobayakawa Takakei, who was furious but had nothing to say.

The Maori family's offensive along the way to Sanyo collapsed in this way.

On the San'in side, Yoshikawa Motoharu faced the terrain that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and he could only vent his anger on the surrounding circle of branch cities, and all of them were burned down. Beshoji's main forces were barely damaged in battle.

This battle made Danhe Dingfan famous, and the overall momentum of the "Eastern Army" was slightly higher.

and then to the Kyushu heroes, they also expressed a clear position. And it's not just by virtue of righteousness.

Otomo Sorin, apparently very concerned about the expansion of Hirate Honhide in Nankaido, sent 300 ships and 5,000 elite soldiers to Shikoku Island despite being embattled, intending to assist his sister-in-law Ichijo Kaneji to restore his rule, and incidentally supported Miyoshi Nagaji, whose future was uncertain.

Correspondingly, Shimazu, Ryuzoji Temple, and others only verbally blamed the Otomo clan, but in fact they were busy expanding their territory on other fronts, and it seemed that they were sitting back and watching the "disaster flow."

Similarly, the Kono clan, which is subordinate to the Mori family, is unlikely to actively oppose the Otomo family.

Due to the transfer of Kawada's chief relatives and the absence of the head relatives of Nagamune's department in Tosa, when the dragons were leaderless, Ichijo Kanada gained a certain degree of popularity, and soon gathered a "righteous army" of two or three thousand people.

The one in charge of staying in the western part of Shikoku was Nakamura Kazushi, who naturally did not have many soldiers in his hands, and because he had only served for a short time, he was not a hero who was good at winning people's hearts, so he could not compete with the enemy.

However, Nakamura's ingenuity, with the help of the Great Friendly Army's fighting in different places, plundering everywhere, and disgusting things, cleverly moved the local powerful people Saionji Gonghiro, so that this powerful "civil and military all-rounder" attitude turned into a temporary ally of the Hirate clan and became the core of the resistance.

The former daimyo who was also kicked out of his home, and unlike Ichijo Kaneda, Miyoshi Choji was not popular with the people of Awa and Sanuki countries.

On the one hand, the expectations of others are too poor, and on the other hand, the prestige of the Tie Army is too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

With the help of the Otomo family, Miyoshi Nagaji tried to contact more than a dozen wealthy families, and then the next day, all the dozen or so families went to Asano Nagayoshi to ventilate and report the news to show their loyalty.

Although Asano Nagayoshi only brought a very small retinue, and there were less than 100 soldiers around him, and he seemed to be no threat, the countrymen and ground attendants were still fearful.

Four landings and sweeps in five years have caused the wealthy families of Awa and Sanuki to lose their armor and be terrified, and the tie has always been an indirect notice as a "South China Sea exploration", and it is difficult for everyone to have the idea of resisting. However, Shihe Depository, Miyoshi Yasunaga and others resolutely drew a line with the past out of consideration for the future of their individuals and families.

Miyoshi Changji was busy for a long time before he found two or three supporters, so he had no choice but to lower his body and beg Otomo Zonglin to increase his investment, which was of course not so easy to achieve.

With the Seonji Gong of Uwa Prefecture as the backbone and Awa and Sanuki as the back-ups, Nakamura Kazuji and Asano Nagayoshi also mobilized thousands of troops to resist the invasion of the Otomo Army.

The two sides then engaged in a tentative battle at Iyo Province's Fuki Prefecture, and after two hours, Saionji Gonghiro was outnumbered and forced to retreat. In the early morning of the next day, Toi Kiyori, a retainer of Xiyuan Temple who entered the ambush in the forest in advance, only took 100 iron artillery men, and shot everywhere in the fog, creating the illusion of an ambush on all sides, and then took advantage of the chaos to attack the enemy's own formation, capture one and one alive, and make his soldiers collapse without a fight.

……

By the time he received the news, Hirate had already built several sections of earth on the west bank of Ishikawa to ensure that he could cope with the flood.

During this period, the two armies across the river have either exchanged firearms or skirmished skirmishes, and unilateral casualties have exceeded four figures, but the commanders on both sides have not yet engaged in the main battle.

The wise hideman of the Eastern Army once took advantage of the night to successfully smuggle in the downstream, attacked around the rear, and burned a small amount of military rations and material warehouses, but was discovered by Sanyun Chengzhi in time, and the lost troops retreated in embarrassment.

Yamauchi Kazutoyo of the Western Army also led 600 men across the river with the help of friendly fire, and gained a firm foothold on the opposite bank, but unfortunately the follow-up reinforcements were a little slow, and they were pushed back by Shibata Katsuie.

It has been a month since the start of the joint war, and it is still a situation of confrontation with each other, unable to advance an inch, and fighting a war of attrition.

During this time, the water level in the upper reaches of the river has not risen too unusually – at least not enough to cause a torrent.

The temporary water storage project built by Ikoma kinmasa and Niwa Katsu seems to have become useless.

Of course, the earthen fortress that the tie took three times more effort than the enemy will most likely not be useful. But his financial strength is far more than three times that of the enemy, so he still does not lose money.

The strategy of storing water for the army failed, and the Shikoku one-time and three-good long-term rule was not effective enough, and the western army, which controlled the benefits of sea transportation in the Seto Inland Sea, seemed to be in an advantageous position.

The Eastern Army, which had 60,000 or 70,000 men, had no way to cross the river to attack the car formation, which was tantamount to seeking a dead end, and it was difficult to give full play to its numerical superiority. Instead, logistics became a problem.

The Western Army, which is less than 40,000 people, can eat big white rice every day without any scruples.

It was not until mid-August that the topic of the flood attack and the chaos in Shikoku was about to cool down, and another news broke out that the local branches of the "Sanluya" suddenly received a large amount of "military ration coupons" in exchange for rice, which was suspected to be a deliberate run.

At the same time, Koyayama Neraiji Temple, one of the main suppliers of "Sankaya", sent an apology saying that it may not be able to fulfill the 60,000-stone grain contract originally scheduled for this autumn.

This is even worse in the context of the war and the likely impact on production, which has had a certain impact on the credit of the Hiteji business group.

When merchants and townspeople see similar rumors, they are sure to actively purchase and hoard food to avoid risks, especially after the lessons learned last year.

If not properly disposed of, the Western Army may face the dilemma of having money to buy food.

For one off-the-market move after another, the tie finally decided not only to deal with it, but also to fight back.

First of all, he sent people to spread the word in the business circles: "Oda Danmasa received help from merchants in Kyoto, Nara, and other places because he promised to expel the people of Kai Town after victory, and to reward the land and concessions to the meritorious officials." ”

I don't know if it's true or not, but it's a very reasonable rumor, which made the wealthy merchants of Kai Town sit on pins and needles, and the neutrals have moved closer to Tsuda Munekazu and increased their support for the Hirate family. Even Imai Munehisa and Senmune, who had always had a good relationship with Kinoshita Hideyoshi, had to express everything in order to maintain their position among the "rendezvous".

After receiving more support, Hirate further announced that he would openly purchase grain from merchants from foreign countries at a high price of 800 wen per stone for brown rice, 300 wen per stone for brown rice, and 300 wen per stone for white rice.

This is especially true for small and medium-sized grain merchants in Yamashiro, Yamato, Omi, Owari and other countries, as well as villagers' self-governing groups. They were promised that if they had signed a contract with the merchants in Kyoto, it would not matter, and that they would regret the matter and that they would transport the grain to Izumi and sell it for a high price. The liquidated damages incurred will be compensated by the drawer.

The merchants of Tamagotsuya, Sankaya, and Harutaya, as well as the monks of the Rinzai sect and the Ichijo sect, received orders and brought the instructions of Heite Honhide to the territory behind the Eastern Army.

Within 10 days, the position of the two sides in the economic war had fundamentally changed.

Now it was the turn of the soldiers of the Eastern Army to worry.

Chiyomaru didn't quite understand this, and he questioned it: "Not all merchants are bound by prices and contracts, there are always people who choose sides for reasons other than business, and no matter how much effort we put into it, it is impossible to really make Oda Danmasa unable to buy food." ”

Pingshou Tsuyoshi smiled and said nothing, so that he could think again.

However, it didn't take long for Kawada Naga to answer this question in private, unable to hinder the young master's request: "It's really impossible for us to really make Oda Danmasa unable to buy food. We only need to make the soldiers of the Eastern Army feel that they may not be able to buy food, and it is enough. ”

。 m.