"Clever plan." Asahina Taichao was the first to speak, and said, "His Royal Highness the Governor of the family is planning this very well, if Oda Nobunaga comes to make a surprise attack, there is no chance that he will be spared." If we don't come to attack, we will divide our forces and advance together, and have the advantage. ”

"What if the Oda Army turns to attack our Einsatzgruppen instead of the main camp?" Matsudaira Motoyasu was worried about the safety of his troops and asked.

"Then please rely on the defense of Datakao Castle and Narumi Castle, and wait until the troops of this formation arrive, and then flank the front and rear. Your Highnesses' strength is not inferior to the entire Oda Army, so don't worry. "Yu Qiuping has already made a plan.

"It's just... Let His Royal Highness the Governor be the bait... It's always dangerous. "Sena still thinks it's inappropriate.

"His Royal Highness Sena, although rest assured, he has prepared a perfect plan for him." Yu Qiuping smiled slightly, and said confidently, "But it's a matter of confidentiality, after the meeting is over, His Royal Highness the Family Governor will personally inform a few family elders." ”

"Still have questions?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked with a smile. The crowd was so impressed by this plan that they leaned down to obey the command.

"If you don't have any problems, please go and get some rest tonight." Imagawa Yoshimoto clapped the road; "Tomorrow morning, all according to plan!"

After the evaluation meeting, Imagawa Yoshimoto left behind four confidants, Akihei Yu, Toshi Sena, Asahina Taichao, and Okabe Masatsuna (as Okabe Motonobu's representative), to inform everyone of the secrets of the perfect plan. After everyone left, Yu Qiuhei and Sena Shijun were asked to stay again.

"Sena, tonight, the ninjas are fully dispatched to monitor everyone!" Imagawa Yoshimoto said in a deep voice, "I still don't believe it, that traitor hasn't acted until tonight!" ”

After Sena Shijun left, Yu Qiuhei was left behind again.

"Your Highness, I don't know what else is going on?" Yu Qiuping asked with some confusion.

"In two years, Yuqiu has become a great guy!" Imagawa Yoshimoto smiled with some relief, "Entrusting my daughter to a responsible person like you, Kaede will definitely be happy." ”

"Your Highness... Why do you say this all of a sudden? Yu Qiuping smiled dumbly.

"It's nothing," Imagawa Yoshimoto also smiled, "old, old, sentimental." Once again, at all times, remember to make choices without regrets! ”

On the evening of May 17, Owari Province, inside the Cheongju Castle Tower.

Since four days ago, Hosaku, who was lurking in the territory of Mikawa, has not returned with a message, and the Imagawa family castle on the border of Mikawa-Owari has also been put under martial law. Even several wealthy families such as Tsutada Masada, who has always been close to his family, have no news. The Oda family couldn't help but be a little nervous, worried about whether the Imagawa family would make any moves. To this end, Oda Nobunaga also strengthened the siege of Narumi Castle and Odaka Castle, and repeatedly ordered the defenders of Goshen to refrain from attacking without authorization, so as not to happen again last year when the Imagawa family broke the defenders of Zenshoji Temple and transported grain into Narumi Castle.

This evening, Oda Nobunaga once again convened a meeting of the elders of the important retainers to discuss how to intensify the siege of Narumi Castle and Ōtaka Castle. Everyone has arrived, but Takigawa Kazuki has been delayed. The meeting, which was originally scheduled to be held at seven o'clock in the Shen hour, had to be postponed again and again, and it was not until three o'clock in the hour that Takigawa Kazuyi hurried to the assessment hall.

"Hikoemon, you're getting more and more disagreeable." When Oda Nobunaga saw Takigawa Kazuki coming to the door, he angrily scolded: "It's okay to always violate the rules of the industry, even for important evaluation meetings, do you dare to be late?" ”

Takigawa Kazuyi's face turned pale, and without saying a word, he knelt in front of Oda Nobunaga and kowtowed to plead guilty.

"Well, it doesn't have to be that way." Oda Nobunaga snorted coldly, "Get up." ”

However, Takigawa Kazuki still didn't get up, but his body kept shaking.

"What's wrong?" Oda Nobunaga's face tightened, as if he realized why Takigawa Kazuki, who was in charge of the family's intelligence, was panicked like this.

"My lord..."Takigawa Kazuki tried to maintain the stability of his voice, and said in a low voice: "Imagawa Yoshimoto personally led more than 30,000 people, set out on May 12, raised troops in Shangluo, and has now arrived at Okazaki Castle. ”

As soon as these words came out, the entire assessment room exploded instantly. The Imagawa family's intention to impose martial law on the border for several days turned out to be to hide the actions of the army!

The entire army of 30,000 is more than three times the number of people in the Oda family! Tokaido's first bow to take Imagawa Yoshimoto was even more pro-Owari, and such an overwhelming posture scared everyone at a loss. Such a difference in strength is definitely not something that the Oda family can resist. The Oda family is already facing extinction.

After a moment of panic, the important ministers in the assessment room immediately shouted and made a noise. Some people asked for a desperate gamble to storm Narumi Castle before the Imagawa family attacked, and fight to the death after taking Narumi Castle. There are also people who shout that resistance is no longer realistic, it is better to temporarily attach to the Imagawa family, and leave Qingshan without worrying about the lack of firewood, in fact, they are planning to surrender. The vast majority of the people demanded that the whole country be assembled at once to hold on, but they were at odds over where to hold on. Some wanted to defend the border Goku, some wanted to defend Nakono Castle, many more advocated Kiyono on the strong wall of Kiyono, and some even asked to flee to Oda Nobukiyo's Inuyama Castle for defense.

For a while, the scene was very chaotic. Niwa Nagahide, Shibata Katsuie, Takigawa Kazuki and other important ministers have their own opinions and are at a stalemate. The sound of quarrels mixed with shouting and scolding was heard in the room. After arguing for a long time, someone gradually discovered that Oda Nobunaga, who should have been the most anxious, was sitting on the main seat at the moment, holding his chin with his hand, watching everyone quarrel meaningfully without saying a word. So, the retainers slowly quieted down, and they all silently turned their eyes to Oda Nobunaga.

"Please make a decision." Lin Xiuzhen, who had also been silent and was sitting on the side, said: "It's war, it's defense, it's peace, everyone is waiting for the lord's words." ”

However, to everyone's surprise, Oda Nobunaga suddenly laughed a few times, straightened up, and casually said "dismiss", and then left the assessment room with the little surnames.

At that moment, a deep despair and sorrow surged in the hearts of everyone present. In the face of the great enemy, they, the big fool lord, refused to make any decision, and instead waved their sleeves away. The retainers have lost their backbone, whether to fight or defend, and they don't know what to do. They probably already felt that the Oda family was going to perish here. Except for Niwa Nagahide and a few others, they were unwilling and wanted to stay and ask to see the lord again. The others shook their heads, sighed, and left the assessment room.

"Your Highness Lin, what do you command?" Several people dressed as ninjas were immediately recruited by Lin Xiuzhen after he returned to the mansion. Lin Xiuzhen is the elder of the Oda family, and he is also the old minister who has followed the Oda family since the time of Oda Nobuhide, and he is also the only remaining minister of Nobuhide. He himself was also a teacher of Oda Nobunaga. However, for some reason, in the battle between Oda Nobunaga and his younger brother Oda Nobuyuki, he sided with Oda Nobuyuki. After the defeat, he was forgiven by Oda Nobunaga and re-adopted as a retainer.

"What's going on with the three people I asked you to watch?" Lin Xiuzhen asked in a low voice.

"As soon as the Arao Zenji evaluation meeting was over, he slipped away towards Mikawa." One of the ninjas whispered, "The other two are business as usual, nothing has changed. ”

"Keep an eye on it, don't let up." After Lin Xiuzhen admonished, she thought for a moment, and then spoke: "Starting tonight, you will transfer all the hostages sent by the wealthy families in Cheongju City to Tsushima, and hide them in the few secret shops left by the old lord. ”

"Yes, Your Highness." Several ninja leaders took the order and left.

At this time, in the castle tower of Kiyoshu Castle, Niwa Nagahide took Hidetaka Kawajiri, Naomasa Tsukasa, Ikeda Tsuneko and other retainers from Oda Nobunaga's close attendants, knelt outside the door of Oda Nobunaga's room and asked Oda Nobunaga to meet him.

"His Royal Highness Niwa, the lord said that he has fallen asleep and is no longer in sight." Soon after a small surname went in to report, he came out and said apologetically to Niwa Nagahide and the others.

"Please be sure to inform the lord! This is the time when the Oda family lives and dies! You must not be as willful and casual as you were when you were a child! Niwa Nagahide said bitterly, "When the lord gets up, we will kneel down!" ”

"His Royal Highness Niwa..."The little surname shook his head, feeling very sorry for this senior, "The lord also said that if His Royal Highness Niwa insists on not leaving, let him kneel, he will definitely not get up anyway." ”

It was also at this time that Shibata Katsuie was riding his horse back to his territory in a sullen manner. As soon as he arrived at the territory, he immediately issued a convocation order for the whole territory.

"Your Highness, what's the matter!" Several retainers asked in surprise.

"More than 30,000 people from the Imagawa family's army have attacked." Shibata Katsuya snorted angrily, "The lord didn't care about anything and broke up." ”

"Your Highness! This... How can we do that! Several retainers were also frightened, and asked with a look at each other.

"Our Shibata family has been the Oda family tree for generations, and the old lord has treated me like a mountain, and Quan Liuji can only repay me with death."

On the evening of the 17th, all the troops that had set out in advance had sent a messenger back to Okazaki Castle, indicating that they had successfully arrived at the target location and that everything was planned as usual.

In the early morning of the 18th, before sunrise, the Imagawa army in and around Kariya Castle began to move. Asahina and Matsudaira were the first to set out, and the army marched westward, crossing the Tsumasa River towards Nawa. Katsuyama Beiya left Okazaki Castle and headed north, making a detour to Tsukake. At the same time that the vanguard of Asahinabei and Matsuhira Bei left Kariya, the troops of more than 2,000 people from Miura Bei, Okupeibei and many other small wealthy clans also set out from Ansho Castle and turned northwest and headed straight for Chitachi. After that, the team that set off was part of the 1,800 people led by Okabe Masatsuna, escorting a large number of transport baggage teams, and slowly departed towards the west. When the baggage team also passed through Anxiang, more than 13,000 people of the Imagawa family's main team, under the leadership of Yuakihei and Sena Shitoshi, surrounded a sedan chair and embarked on a journey through Anxiang, Zhili, and to Hanhang.

In the whole team, it is Yu Qiuping's Chang Panbei who is the most dazzling. The identical feet reflect the cold light in the sun, the red leaves overhead, the red leaves behind the flag, and the maple bird and horse prints fluttering high all announce the pride of this army. The surrounding allies were all amazed by the ashigaru people who were prepared by Tokiwa.

Before nightfall on the 18th, the Imagawa family's main team finally arrived at Owari Castle in the territory of Owari. Yu Qiuping had already moved the troops forward a day earlier in order to maximize the capacity of the road on the 18th, but there was still some congestion. Yu Qiuping simply left enough margin, and all the troops arrived at the location smoothly on the 18th.

After nightfall, the troops who had worked all day were asleep in the barracks, but Yu Qiuping lay on the tatami mats, sleepless for a long time, tossing and turning. The heart is full of mixed flavors and complex emotions. There is both anticipation and worry about the war, and the excitement that he was able to use history to set an unassailable trap and ambush Oda Nobunaga, and gratitude for the trust of Imagawa Yoshimoto. There is also great nervousness and anxiety about the burden that will be carried tomorrow. Finally, there is also the lovesickness for his wife who misses him from afar.

In the early hours of the morning, Yu Qiuping still couldn't sleep, so he simply got up and walked to the cloister of the castle tower, looking at the barrel room fifteen miles to the west—the magnificent battlefield tomorrow. Yu Qiuping looked at the sky, the moon was very round and bright today, and faintly, dark clouds in the sky could be seen.

It's going to rain tomorrow.

The 19th, the 19th of May, the 19th day of the fifth month of the third year of Yonglu.

I can't be mistaken.

"Nobunaga, what are you doing now?" Yu Qiuping looked to himself to himself, in the direction of Cheongju City. "Are you going to dance that song, the famous Dunsheng?"

At the beginning of the evening of May 19, as soon as the sky was light, the Imagawa South Route Army left the camp of Nawa and marched towards the Great Takao Castle. Asahina prepares to attack Washitsu, and Matsudaira prepares to attack Marune. Asahina has a whopping 3,000 people, while Matsudaira has 1,500 people. However, the defenders of Washizu and Marune were only more than 500 people, and they had to deal with the attack of more than 1,000 people from the Uchiden in the city, which was really unbearable. Oda Genbo and Iio Dingmune, who were defending Washizu, and Sakuma Morishiro, who was defending Marune, immediately sent messengers to Cheongshu Castle for help.

At four o'clock, the messenger arrived at Cheongju Castle.

"It's finally started?" Oda Nobunaga was awakened from his sleep, looked up to the sky and sighed, and ordered, "Anon, send a maid to call Lady Ikoma, Lady Harada, Aichi, and all the brothers and sisters of Yu, as well as Wonder Pill and Tea Whisk Pill, to the lobby." Then I instructed the back kitchen to prepare the food and drinks. ”