On July 15, 1575, at the beginning of the autumn harvest in Kii Province, Yu Qiuhei led a large army south and began the Kii Raid. However, he left all his artillery at Kishiwada Port to guard against a possible attack by the Miyoshi Navy. Almost at the same time, Shibata Katsuie's strategy against Kaga Province, Hashiba Hideyoshi against Harima Province, and Akechi Mitsuhide against Tanba Province also began at the same time. Like an octopus with tentacles reaching out in all directions, the Oda family began a journey of expansion in all directions.

In Hanoi, the territory of Yuqiuping, between Izumi and Kii Province, there is a long mountain range. If you want to attack Kii, there are three paths. The first is along the coastline of the Seto Inland Sea, bypassing the Izumi Mountains from the official road facing the sea to the west, and entering Nakusa-gun. It is also the most common road to enter Kii from, as it is also a bit flat and open compared to other mountain roads in Kii. The second route is to head south from Kawachi Province, bypass the Izumi Mountains from the east, and enter Ito-gun through Takayaguchi. The third road, the most treacherous, is to pass directly through the Izumi Mountains to Naga-gun.

Although Kii Province is a large country, in fact, most of the land is occupied by mountains, and there are very few plains. The valley is rich in rain, warm in climate, rich in forest resources, and has been known for its abundance of timber since ancient times. A lot of the timber for the fleet that Itami Yasukiyo was preparing was purchased from Kii.

Most of the few plains are located along the Kigawa River, the largest river in Kii Province. Kikawaru is in charge of the four prefectures in the northern part of the country, namely Kaibe-gun, Nagusa-gun, Naga-gun, and Ito gun. Although the area of their four prefectures is only about a quarter of the size of the whole of Kii, the number of people and stones is two-thirds of the total of the whole of Kii. Most of the people of Kii, the target of Yuqiuping's campaign, also settled in these four counties. The other counties are densely mountainous and sparsely populated, so there is no value at all. In other words, Yu Thu Ping only needs to take the four counties in the northern part of Kii Province, which is close to Hanoi and Izumi.

However, Yu Qiuping understands that this seemingly simple task is actually very challenging. This is because the mountainous terrain of Kii Province is too complicated, and the complexity is comparable to the mountain road that Yuakihei traversed when he last supported Tokugawa Ieyasu. Due to the narrowness of the roads and the low volume of traffic, it was difficult for the troops of the attacking side to exert themselves and they were easily blocked on the mountain roads. Coupled with the constant transportation of grain and grass on the mountain roads, the troops will fall into a state of lack of food.

And Kii's mountainous terrain is densely forested, which is simply a natural shelter for defenders. Armed with iron cannons and familiar with the terrain, the Kii people can easily stealthily shuttle through this complex mountain forest, and surprise attack the attacker's troops. Unfortunately, there are a large number of believers in the Ichijo sect in Kii, which is why the people of Kii have repeatedly supported Honganji. And these believers were determined to resist the invaders and did not fear death, causing great trouble to the attacking side. The Miyoshi family attacked Kii several times, but they were defeated in the face of never-ending surprise attacks, tenacious Ichikoshi sectarians, strong mountain castles, and food shortages.

Therefore, Yu Qiuping made full preparations for this battle. In addition to repeatedly emphasizing the use of bunkers to avoid being killed by iron artillery, he also taught many techniques for attacking mountain cities and fighting guerrilla warfare.

Due to the limited traffic on the road, Yu Qiuping had to divide his troops. Ikeda Tsuneko and Hosoyanagi of Nakahide Omaezaki, a total of 8,000 men, marched from the Takanoguchi line on the East Road. And Yu Qiuping himself threw Chang Panbei, Ming Di Bei and the cavalry company, a total of 9,400 people, and marched from the coast of the Western Front. As for the middle road over the Izumi Mountains, not only was the road difficult and difficult, but it was also necessary to face fortified cities such as the Thousand Stone Digging Castle, which was really not a reasonable route to march, so Yu Qiuping gave it up.

Before setting out on the expedition, Yu Qiuping had asked Hatakeyama Takamasa for help. As a former guardian of Kii, he has a huge influence in the Kii region. In the repeated confrontations between him and the Miyoshi family before, he relied on the support of the people of Kii to make a comeback again and again. Yu Qiuping hopes that he can come forward from this, relying on his past feelings, to transfer the people of Kiyi for him. However, after hearing about this, Oda Nobunaga issued a stern warning to Akihei: It is strictly forbidden to negotiate peace with any of the Ichisuzu forces, which is the consistent bottom line of the Oda family, and the people of Kii who believe in the Ichijo clan are naturally included.

However, the "reasonable" Oda Nobunaga also left a window for negotiations with Akihei: if all the people of Kii were willing to lay down their arms and leave the territory and surrender, Oda Nobunaga would not interfere. Yu Qiuping knows that such conditions are tantamount to a fool's dream, and the people of Kii have always been strong, and if they can agree to such conditions, there will be ghosts. And the resolute attitude is not only Oda Nobunaga, but also Hatakeyama Takamasa. After hearing Oda Nobunaga's harsh statement, the latter immediately left Maple Leaf Mountain Castle and returned to his Wakae Castle, stating that he would never provide any help to Yuakihei again.

In desperation, Yu Qiuping had no choice but to give up the plan of adjustment, intending to use force to compete with Kii's people.

·

On July 17, the Western Route Army, led by Yu Qiuping, arrived at the border between Izumi Province and Kii Province. As early as yesterday, the army had already entered the mountains of the Izumi Mountains. The road is along the coast and is fairly flat. But that's where the wide official road ends, and as soon as you enter Kii tomorrow, the road will become narrow and winding.

In the evening of the same day, the senior commanders of the Red Leaf Army gathered in the main tent and held the last evaluation meeting before the battle. Since this expedition to Kii requires a lot of information from the crows, Amano Keitoku also went on the expedition again with the army after a long time, and he attended with Sanada Masayuki of the Military Intelligence Division.

"How, what is the distribution of the enemy?" Yuqiu Ping got straight to the point and asked directly to the two. The most important thing in foreign warfare is intelligence. The last time he fought against the Takeda family in Yuanjiang, Takeda Shingen, who was fighting away, actually completely suppressed the Yuqiu family in terms of intelligence, which made everyone tremble.

Therefore, after this battle, Yu Qiuping finally applied to the Congress for a budget to expand the establishment of the Military Intelligence Department and the Crow. The Military Intelligence Department recruited and trained a lot of ninjas, and while Raven recruited ninjas, he also spent a lot of money to buy off many retainers of the surrounding forces, and continuously obtained information for Yu Qiuping.

This time, however, Sanada Masayuki made a mistake. He bowed slightly apologetically, and then said in a low voice: "Your Highness Qiqi, for the time being, I only found the location of Suzuki Shigei's department. As for the rest of Kii, I don't know anything. With that, he moved the chess pieces symbolizing Suzuki's Shigei troops on the sand table in front of him to the place where the latest information showed them, while the chess pieces of the other countrymen did not move at all.

The total strength of the entire Kii Province is about 10,000. Among them, the largest of them are the Saga and Nerai, which together have about 5,500 people. And the leader of the Saga people, Suzuki Shigeyi, is also the nominal commander of the entire Kii Province.

In other words, except for the 3,000 people of Suzuki Shigei, the remaining 7,000 people are nowhere to be found at the moment - how can this battle be fought?

"Wasn't it okay before?" Yu Qiuping took out the previous documents from the file bag handed by Mori Lan Maru. Five days ago, the military intelligence department of the Yuqiu family could still grasp the movements of nearly 9,000 people. "Why are so many people suddenly out of surveillance?"

"Because," Sanada Masayuki whispered in embarrassment, "their troops seemed to have evaporated, and suddenly they had lost their trace. The ninjas under scouted around, and could only find a small team of dozens of people, at most hundreds of people. As for the main force, it is completely gone. There are also a large number of skilled ninjas in Kii Province, and many of them have been discovered and sacrificed in order to gain further information. ”

"How..."Yu Qiuping let out a sigh of annoyance, "I deliberately went to great lengths to infiltrate Kii before, just to obtain information to avoid the surprise attack of the gods of the country, but I didn't expect to lose it." ”

"Go and investigate all the surrounding mountains and hills that can hide large troops." Yu Qiuping issued an order to Sanada Masayuki, "The active tracking failed, so I had to defend passively. ”

"Wait." Just as Sanada Masayuki was about to take the order and leave, Shigeharu Takenaka, who was silent on the side, suddenly interrupted, "Your Highness, I think this may not be the case. ”

"Hanbei, what do you say?" Yu Qiuping immediately set his expectant eyes on the most powerful thinker in his army - he had always had a regret, that is, Shigeharu Takenaka was not present during the Battle of Mikkaimachi. If he was there, would he be able to see through Takeda Shingen's plan?

Shigeharu Takenaka did not answer directly, but straightened his sleeves, and then reached out and picked up all the chess pieces on the sand table that symbolized the people of Kii and put them in the chess box on the side of the sand table.

"Half-guards?" Yu Qiuping asked puzzled, "Where are you going to move them?" ”

"No need to move, they're all gone off the board." Shigeharu Takenaka shook his head and said in a low voice.

"Gone, what do you mean?" Yu Qiuping was stunned again.

"That's what he meant." Amano Keitoku on the side seemed to have seen Shigeharu Takenaka's thoughts, and silently grabbed a handful of small beans from the side of the sand table to symbolize the unknown situation, and randomly scattered them on the sand table.

"Raven, you guessed right." Shigeharu Takenaka glanced at Keitori Amano disdainfully - the contradiction between the two did not fade with time, but intensified. However, the dedicated two have never clashed in official affairs because of personal grudges, but the private address is always so indifferent.

"According to the information given by the crow, the people of Kii have been reduced to zero, except for the accident caused by Suzuki Shigei." Amano Keitoku whispered to the stunned Yu Qiuping, "In units of hundred, dozens, or even several people, they have infiltrated the mountains of Kii, preparing to attack us. ”