On May 17th, within three quarters, nineteen bars.

"Aren't there any reinforcements yet?" Oda Nobuyoshi gasped as he leaned against the inner wall of the rock.

The Saito army had already arrived at the outskirts of the nine-jou bars more than an hour earlier, catching Oda Nobuyoshi by surprise. And the three wealthy families along the way, as well as the surrounding Kawanomi people, also responded to the Saito family immediately as agreed in advance and regained their lost territory. Oda Nobuyasu was suddenly faced with a situation of being alone, and the 4,000-strong army of the Saito family besieged his 500 men in the nineteen-jou bar.

Oda Nobuyosu is the younger brother of Oda Nobukiyo, the lord of Inuyama Castle. Oda Nobukiyo was both Oda Nobunaga's cousin and married Oda Nobuhide's daughter, so he sided with Oda Nobunaga in the previous series of upheavals in Owari. However, the relationship between the two families was not very close, and there was even a gap because of the division of the spoils. Therefore, when Oda Nobunaga asked for reinforcements this time, Oda Nobunaga only sent 150 soldiers and 350 auxiliaries led by his younger brother to help Oda Nobunaga build the rock barricade. And Oda Nobunaga did not take this Oda Nobuyosu, who was very likely to listen to the tone and not listen to the announcement, to go west, but let him stay behind - who would have thought that such a situation would be encountered.

Oda Nobuyasu didn't want to fight hard for Oda Nobunaga, but after seeing the strength of the Saito family's army, he had a plan to escape. Unfortunately, when Hineno Hiroshi sensed Oda Nobuyoshi's intentions, he immediately ordered Saito Ryuko's stables to go around the flanks of the nineteen-jou and stand by. Seeing so many cavalry appearing on the battlefield, and seeing that the nineteen bars were nearly two hundred zhang away from the Kiso River pontoon bridge and the ferry, Oda Nobuyoshi had no choice but to give up his plan to escape and hold on to the four gates.

The more than 1,300 soldiers of the Saito army did not delay much, and after a little rectification, they slaughtered the nineteen soldiers. Due to the haste of the attack, the Saito army was unable to prepare enough siege equipment, only three rams. The archers of the Saito clan did not have a lookout to rely on, and they stood on the flat ground and shot at the castle, and it was difficult to cause too many casualties. The soldiers of the Saito family held rattan cards and covered the auxiliary soldiers to carry the battering ram and crash towards the gate.

Oda Nobuyasu faced a siege on three sides and had to throw all of Ashigaru near the three gates. The archers were responsible for attacking the ram, and the soldiers stood by at the gates and walls, while the auxiliaries threw rocks and sassalwoods down the city. Due to the temporary construction of the nineteen bars, the wall is not very high. Many Saito soldiers even climbed the city wall by stacking arhats, which caught Oda Nobuysu off guard. So, he hurriedly transferred the troops who were standing at the gate to the wall to stop the infiltration of the Oda family, and he himself even went into battle with his attendants twice in person, and was hit by an arrow in the shoulder.

Now, he had just retired from the front and was getting an attendant to help him bandage the wound on his shoulder. Probably involving the sore spot, he gasped, and then scolded:

"Damn, where are the reinforcements..."Oda Nobuysu practiced inhaling quickly to endure the pain, "It's been an hour!" How come there is not a single reinforcement! Is Oda Nobunaga blind? ”

Suddenly, there was a loud and continuous sound of wood breaking from the north gate. Immediately after, shouts of killing, cheers, and screams rang out together.

"What's the situation!" Oda Nobuyasu hurriedly got up, climbed up to the top of the inner wall, and looked towards the north gate - only to see that the original north gate had been broken through a big hole, and a large number of ashigaru with wave patterns and flags on their backs were pouring into the rock from the north gate, and a small number of Oda family soldiers in the north gate could not resist the surging Saito family Ashigaru, and they were retreating.

"Quick! Follow me! Oda Nobuyosu, who had not rested for long, once again greeted him with his own guards, and at the same time beckoned the troops on the north gate wall to immediately abandon the guards of the wall and come down to resist. Under such a joint force, he reluctantly blocked the Saito family at the door. However, such an order caused a series of confusion, and many Saito family ashigaru took the opportunity to climb the north gate wall and attack the east and west gates along the north gate wall, causing a chain reaction - the east and west gates also fell soon after. The Saito family, who swept from behind, attacked Oda Nobuyosu, who was resisting at the north gate, and Oda Nobuyasu was killed on the spot by one of the Saito family's flag samurai. The remaining Oda army scattered like birds and beasts, and fled from the empty south gate in a hurry, but was slashed and slaughtered by the long-awaited Saito family's horseback team, and none of them ran to the Kiso River alive. The desperate remnants of the army had no choice but to kneel and beg to surrender, and the Nineteen Pillars fell.

·

At six o'clock, the rain stopped. After repairing the pontoon bridge, the Oda army, who had crossed the river, found that it was too late, and the nineteen banners were already fluttering with the Saito family's wave pattern. Most of the grain and grass brought by the Oda family across the river also fell into the hands of the Saito family, and only the grain that had been transported to the front line yesterday and the day before yesterday was left on the grain route, which was estimated to be only enough for three days of the army. Saito Ryuko also sent someone to send the head of Oda Nobuysu to provoke Oda Nobunaga.

Annoyed and angry, Oda Nobunaga ordered Yuakihei, who was still in Sumamata, to burn the camp and the bridge over the Nagara River, and the whole army fought to the death in Jujujo. However, due to the late day, the Oda family's attempt to recapture the nineteen bars had to be stopped before the sun had set.

·

After this stop, Hineno Hiroshi and Naomitsu Takewaist were convinced of their new lordship. Although he was only 15 years old, he was so resolute and scheming that he had the style of his father and grandfather.

"Young master, do you want to dismantle the pontoon bridge south of the nineteen bars on the Kiso River?" After nightfall, Hineno Hiroshi asked, "In this way, we can ensure that no one in the Oda family can sneak back!" ”

"There's no need," Saito Ryuxing shook his head, "The art of war is cloudy, and the siege must be querced." If the Oda family's escape path is blocked, it may instead arouse their determination to fight to the death. Leave a gap here, and when the decisive battle breaks out, many Oda family Ashigaru may be mentally shaken and run away! ”

"Yes!" Hineno Hiroshi looked at the sharp-eyed Saito Ryuxing, slightly moved, and unconsciously, changed his name to Saito Yoshiryu, "Obey, lord!" ”

·

In the early morning of May 18, inside the camp of the Oda family. Saito Ryuko's prophecy came early, and in one night, more than a dozen Oda family ashiki quietly deserted from nowhere. Oda Nobunaga was furious and immediately demanded that he immediately form a formation and attack the Saito family's position.

"As the saying goes, anger does not raise soldiers," Yu Qiuping looked at the furious Oda Nobunaga at the evaluation meeting, but there was a burst of joy in his heart, "This battle is eighty percent impossible to win." He silently pondered in his heart: "I don't know how the pro-soldier guards are prepared." ”

At six o'clock, after the Oda family had finished breakfast, they left their auxiliaries in the camp, and nearly 1,700 soldiers began to line up on the plain. Among them were Oda Nobunaga's 100 horsemen and cavalry, Amaakihei's 20 cavalry, Shibata Katsuie's 30 cavalry, and Mori Kasei's 20 cavalry. And the Saito family also formed a formation around the nineteen pieces of cloth. Saito Ryuko personally led 400 soldiers to sit in the nineteen bars, and the more than 2,000 auxiliary soldiers of the Saito family also stayed in the rocks. On the south side of the rock, that is, the left flank of the Saito family, which is also the direction of the Kiso River ponto, 600 Saito soldiers led by Hioneno Hiroshi strictly defended it. And the north side of the rock, that is, the right wing of the Saito family, is the 300 soldiers of Naomitsu Takegi.

Oda Nobunaga made targeted arrangements for this. The inconsequential northern battlefield, the left flank of the Oda family, was left to Akihei's more than 200 soldiers to pin down the enemy—it seems that Oda Nobunaga was still not at ease with handing over important tasks to Akihei, the newly returned former minister of Imagawa. The central front was handed over to the 500 soldiers of Shibata Katsuie and Mori Kasei. Oda Nobunaga personally led 800 men as the right flank on the south side, which was also the main direction of attack of the Oda family. And left Maeda Toshiya and a few other mothers to lead the remaining 200 soldiers as reserves.

On the battlefield, the 1,700 soldiers of the Oda family had an advantage in strength over the 1,300 soldiers of the Saito family. However, all the auxiliaries of the Oda family have been left in the camp, and the 2,700 auxiliaries of the Saito family are still in the nineteen-jo fort, which may come in handy when defending.

At four o'clock, the battle began. Oda Nobunaga himself led 800 soldiers to attack Hioneno Hiroshi's defense line in a formation of fish scales. The 200-man reserve team at the front of the fish scale formation was the flag team led by Oda Nobunaga himself. The next three reserve teams followed the flanks and rear of this reserve team. Hineno relied on the trenches and fences he built to resist Oda Nobunaga's attacks. Since there were no archers in the team, they were unable to fight back when they were attacked by the archers of the Saito family, so they had to rush forward in a muffled voice. Although this caused the three reserves behind him to be a little out of touch with them, it also caught Hineno Hiroshi a little off guard. When the archers hurriedly retreated, they disrupted the formation of the reserves, allowing Oda Nobunaga to find an opportunity to rush into the formation fiercely, and beat Hineno Hirosa's formation deep into it.

At the same time, the northern front was calm. Takewaist Naomitsu understood that he was only playing a leading role, and did not give the order for his subordinates to fight to the death. After the first temptation, Naomitsu Takeyo realized the super combat effectiveness of Tokiwabei's pikemen, and no longer forced his subordinates to attack. And Yu Qiuping, who has a ghost in his heart, is still counting on the defeat of the Oda family, and he will take advantage of the chaos to escape, so naturally he will not fight with all his strength. The ashigaru of the two armies, separated not far from each other, slapped each other's spears with their spears. The archers threw weakly, unable to inflict damage on the well-armored troops.

On the central front, Shibata Katsuya and Mori Kecheng faced nineteen bars and were at a loss. The 500 men carried only battering rams as equipment. However, due to the friendly cover of the nineteen bars on both sides with slightly behind them, Shibata Katsuie and Mori Kasei were unable to attack the West Gate and were unable to deploy their forces. The archers of the Saito family kept shooting at the Oda family troops who were trying to attack the gate, causing great trouble for Mori Kaseru and Shibata Katsuie.

The battle continued until two o'clock, and Oda Nobunaga, who was located on the south side, finally made a breakthrough. He finally broke through the trenches and fences of Hineno Hirosa, and forced Hineno Hirosa's troops to retreat, exposing the nineteen southern gates to the Oda family's troops. And as long as you attack thirty zhang further, you can touch the pontoon bridge on the Kiso River!