Known as the "Battle of Ishikawa", the battle has been going on for more than 20 days. After this period of tentative confrontation, the two sides have a clear understanding of the layout of the front line of the river, but neither of them can go deep into the rear.

It is impossible to defend the waterfront of more than 100 towns (11 kilometers) in total, and there must be a priority and priority.

After three years of seclusion, with little to do but look up at the sky, and the joint wounds were particularly sensitive to rainy and cold weather, Oda Nobunaga now had a lot of research on the climate of, and he anticipated the possible cooling and heavy rain, planted suspicious troops from four different locations, feigned an offensive, and then personally took the most trustworthy troops to the fifth real breakthrough.

In the lower reaches of the river, along the gap between the left flank and the center of the "Western Army", the "Eastern Army" waved 7,000 troops and crossed the Ishikawa River with the help of a temporary pontoon bridge that had not yet been completely completed, and landed at an abandoned monastery called "Ryuoji".

This place was supposed to be secretly garrisoned by 150 men led by Noguchi Nagatoshi, a member of Awaji Province. But this guy saw that the wind and rain were very great, he was too negligent, and he couldn't bear it, so he went back to the ruined temple and fell asleep.

The soldiers went up and down, and they were as lazy as possible.

The ninjas of Ishikawa Goemon's department still maintain a certain frequency of attendance, but they are attracted too much attention by a few suspicious soldiers and do not pay much attention to this area.

It wasn't until Hirate felt a hint of worry from his instincts, and found something wrong in the clues of complex information, that he temporarily sent someone to issue a new order.

Oda Nobunaga led his army across the estuary, and saw that hundreds of steps away, the view was excellent, and there was no movement in the abandoned temple at a glance. If we set up troops here, how can our army have a surprise attack? ”

In order to prevent the homeless people who were sheltering from the rain in the ruined temple from leaking accidental news, they still ordered Kinoshita Hideyoshi, Nakajima Hidemasa, Kanamori Nagakin, and others to lead their troops to rush forward, surround the road, enter the temple to search, and ordered to "kill all suspicious people".

The guards in the temple were awakened by the sound, panicked, wanted to resist but did not have time to put on their armor, and the way to break the door and jump out of the window was also blocked, and the whole army was wiped out in an instant, and the remaining twenty or thirty people trembled and knelt down to beg for mercy.

Kinoshita Hideyoshi was also taken aback when he saw it, and hurriedly reported back.

Hearing this, Oda Nobunaga's expression was slightly different, and then he sneered: "Originally, the Pingshou Punishment Department was not ignorant of soldiers, but of unknown generals!" What do such derelictions of duty and useless people do when they stay in the army? ”

Then Tie Qing said with a solemn face: "There is no need to worry about the head in this battle, and there is no time to take care of the prisoners, and the enemy troops in the temple will be wiped out!" ”

Kinoshita Hideyoshi replied "yes" without hesitation, and moved his hand neatly.

Then they rested around the ruined temple for a while, allowing the troops to regain their strength, tidy up their clothes, and eat a little dry food soaked by the rain to satisfy their hunger.

It was impossible to set up camp, and there was no open fire. But the soldiers didn't complain, just silently gathered and sat together in a team, ready to go.

Oda Nobunaga counted the number of people slightly, and learned that of the 7,200 people who set out, about 5,000 still retained the system, and the rest did not know whether they were left behind or scattered.

Everyone knew about it, and they were uneasy.

Only Oda Nobunaga smiled and said: "In the past, there were only 2,000 strong men in the barrel narrow, but now there are several times, which is enough!" ”

Wise Guangxiu suddenly became full of spirits, and said: "It seems that now we should also take the enemy chieftain directly!" ”

Oda Nobunaga shook his head: "At that time, I knew where the Imagawa main camp was, but today it is difficult to determine where the tie flag is." It is advisable to act on the opportunity and choose another way. Not to mention ......"

"What's more," he didn't say the words that followed, but turned around and began to give orders, letting Shibata Katsuie, Beeya Yoritaka, Nonomura Masanari, Fukutomi Hidekatsu and others attack south along the river.

And rarely explained to the retainers: "It was known a while ago that there was a formation of the Miyoshi general Matsuyama Shigeji. This is the weakest link of the Tieshou Banner, and it is bound to be unable to take care of the side. When you succeeded, you drove them to flee and scatter, which naturally shook the morale of the Western Army. ”

The generals agreed.

At this time, the heavy rain gradually decreased, and the sky gradually became brighter, and I was able to roughly distinguish the situation before and after. The soldiers who were named roared away in the direction of Oda Nobunaga's blade.

Although we have successfully crossed the river, the next journey is still very difficult. The river called "Ishikawa" is a rural area on both sides, and there are no well-maintained, slightly decent roads, which can easily turn into large swamp-like mud fields when washed away by heavy rains.

However, the Lang party on Oda's side was alive and vigorous, and their morale was bursting, and they were walking on the ground as if they were stepping on the mud.

The only enemy they encountered along the way was the more than 100 Awaji people in the abandoned Ryuoji Temple, all of whom were punished and failed to leak the news. Extrapolating from this, the surprise attack plan should not have been exposed.

Many soldiers and junior officers encouraged each other with the phrase "this is another bucket room". I feel so honored to fight with Oda Danmasa, and I am convinced of the upcoming promotion and reward opportunities.

Of course, the higher-ups knew that Hitezu was cautiously defending the main camp and did not leak any weaknesses, so it was very different from Imagawa Yoshimoto's time. But there's no need to convey this kind of thing.

What's wrong with letting the soldiers go into battle with the belief that they will win?

With this in mind, Shibata Katsuie took the lead. Although he had difficulty breathing and his legs were numb, he was still in good spirits, and refused to admit that he had exhausted his strength.

After all, he is over fifty years old, and it is impossible to compete with young men.

Because the journey across the river was too troublesome and difficult, basically a horse could not be carried, and Shibata Katsuya refused to accept support, let alone be carried on a sedan chair, and would rather fight for his life and persevere.

If it weren't for Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Akechi Mitsuhide, who were worse and more embarrassed, and the symbolism of the others was not enough, Nobunaga would not have named him.

In the previous continuous trial process, Shibata Katsuya had already understood the frontline layout of the Western Army. He used his willpower to move his legs as he calculated the direction and distance of the march.

In total, about two quarters of an hour in less than a minute, it should be possible to attack the camp of the enemy general Matsuyama Shigeharu, hoping that the opponent is really defenseless and can win with one blow. Then drive the rout, and further disintegrate the front built by the Western Army on the shore. Then the follow-up troops of the Eastern Army can calmly cross the river and advance, giving full play to their numerical superiority.

——Maintaining optimistic expectations, Shibata Katsuya felt that his steps were a little lighter, and he dropped from "pouring 1,000 catties of lead" to "pouring 500 catties of lead".

But suddenly the movement ahead broke his imagination.

"There is an enemy!"

A sharp-eyed soldier saw that something was wrong from afar, and immediately reported it loudly, and then Mao Shou and the guards hurriedly notified him and asked how to deal with it.

Although the rain was light, the sky was still gloomy, and the time was only early in the morning, so it was not bright, but the two large armies could still recognize each other. Even if you can't see the flag clearly, you have a rough idea of whether it is an enemy or a friend.

The tie side did not take precautions as expected, waiting for you to sneak attack, but sent a patrol team!

The soldiers were a little confused when they saw the unexpected enemy, but the junior officers were very effective, restrained their subordinates, took out their weapons to stay on guard, and waited for orders with full spirit.

Shibata Katsuya was suddenly shocked, panicked, and lost his square inch at once, thinking that he had leaked roughly, and he had fallen into the trap of the plan, and he would definitely lose.

In an instant, there was even the idea that the will of heaven was difficult to disobey, and the manpower was exhausted, so he simply killed himself.

But after all, he is an experienced veteran of the battlefield, and he has seen a lot of things about victory and defeat, and after only a short period of chaos, he forced himself to sober up and take a closer look.

At this glance, I was puzzled at first, and then I breathed a deep sigh of relief, and laughed out loud with joy.

It turned out that the troops subordinate to the "Western Army" in front of them were extremely chaotic, procrastinating, sparsely formed, and had no will to fight, and before they had yet to meet the enemy, they already had different orders, some of them were blankly moving forward, some were subconsciously retreating, and some were standing in place and not knowing what to do.

Seeing this, Shibata Katsuya gave birth to the last bit of strength and shouted, "Kill the enemy!" He took the lead and rushed forward with a sword.

The soldiers and close ministers around him immediately followed.

In this rainy weather, iron cannons, large barrels, strong bows, baking and so on are not used, and it is difficult to deploy the gun array in the mud, only the white soldiers are least affected by hand-to-hand combat, Shibata Katsuya takes the lead, charging ahead, trying to overwhelm the opponent with momentum, in fact, it is very safe and appropriate. It is in line with the great principle of the art of war that "if you sacrifice your life, you will live, and if you are afraid of death, you will die".

The tie army on the opposite side seemed to have been cursed, and no general came out to organize a response.