However, it didn't take long for Kohata Jiesheng to come out before he hurried back and rushed to the camp to meet Yu Qiuping.

"What's wrong, Jiesheng?" Yu Qiuping watched in surprise that it had not been half an hour since Xiao Wan Jiesheng went out and came back, and his hands still happened to be holding his trouser belt, "Why did you come back so quickly?" ”

Yu Qiuping's words caused the other brothers in the camp to laugh, and then Kohata Jiesheng had a solemn face. Seeing this, Yu Qiuping also knew that things might not be simple, so he solemnly asked again: "Jie Sheng, what happened?" ”

"Your Highness, I'm in some trouble." Kohata Jiesheng said in a solemn voice: "There is a big flood, the water on the Kiso River is turbulent, and our cavalry has no way to transport horses to small boats to cross the river. ”

"Nani?" Yu Qiuping stood up in surprise, "Take me to see it!" ”

The group hurriedly rode their horses and braved the heavy rain to rush to the river, only to see the raging river baptizing the land on both sides. After nearly a day and a night of heavy rain, the water level of the Kiso River has risen several feet, and a large number of dead branches and broken stones and wood are flowing down with the river, colliding with each other from time to time to make a violent sound.

The sky was gloomy and terrible, and the dozens of ferries of Yuqiu's family were huddled on the shore and in the small harbor by the flood, and nearly a hundred auxiliary soldiers were pulling the cables deadly, and the anchors had already fallen, so they barely guaranteed that they would not be washed away by the flood.

"Is it such a big water?" Yu Qiuping suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart, "That is, the path of our retreat has been blocked?" And the lord and they probably can't cross the river, and we have lost all support. Now, if the Mino army returns to fight us, won't it be a big trouble?

Yu Qiuping gasped and hurriedly rushed back to Momata Castle with his subordinates.

"Jiesheng, Keiji, you two immediately each take two cavalry squads and go south to reconnoiter along the west bank of the Kiso River." Yu Qiuping quickly ordered, "Find a place where the water is gentler and suitable for crossing the river, or find a bridge!" ”

"Your Highness is preparing to retreat?" Keiji Maeda took a deep puff of his cigarette, then turned his gaze to Yu Qiuping and said, "Do you really want to make such a decision?" This Sumamata Castle was built by our brothers with great effort! ”

"Yes, Your Highness." Yoshioka Katsumasa was also dissatisfied and said in a loud voice: "If Your Highness withdraws, won't we just build a city on the opposite side in vain at the strategic point, and the next time we attack, we will be blocked by the city we built, it's too annoying!" ”

"That's it," Mizenzaki Nakahide also waved his hand and gestured at the outline of Sumamata Castle, muttering: "Your Highness, if you can do it hastily, but you still build it so strongly, then we don't know how much it will cost when we come next time, aren't you going to add to yourself?" ”

"That's right, Your Highness." Sanada Masayuki also reminded in a low voice, "And if we withdraw our troops here, our plans will be impossible to mention." ”

Sanada Masayuki hit this code word, and Yu Qiuping naturally understood it - that was the plan to use the castle tower of Sumamata Castle to blow up Oda Nobunaga.

"I didn't say that I had to withdraw, and if I can, I definitely won't withdraw." Yu Qiuping shook his head, opened his mouth to stabilize the army's heart, and said: "It's just that we are in danger now, and we must leave a way to retreat first." The city is dead, but the man is alive. ”

"But if conditions allow, I'd love to use Sumamata Castle to defend a wave." When Yu Qiuping said this, he smiled confidently, "The city guarded by me is by no means so easy to take. ”

Just as Yu Qiuping had just finished saying this, a lookout on the bank of the river rushed into the tent in a hurry.

"Your Highness, come! Oh no! ”

·

After Yu Qiuping led everyone to ride their horses to the Kiso River again, the scene in front of them suddenly shocked everyone.

The raging waters of the Kiso River not only carried branches and gravel, but also washed down a large number of corpses and struggling people who had fallen into the water. The water, which had originally looked a little yellowish due to the flood, has now been dyed with a hint of bright red.

"It's!" Yuqiu looked at the river steadily, and most of the corpses and people who fell into the water in the river were Oda family ashigaru with papaya flags, and there were also a few Saito family ashigaru among them. They were swept downstream by the current, and there were many corpses hanging on the shore and on the reef, and some people who had fallen into the water struggled to swim to the shore, trying to grab onto the branches on the shore or the reef in the water to save themselves, but most of them were unsuccessful.

"A big war broke out upstream!" Yu Qiuping immediately made a judgment, "The scale is not small, and it is the Oda family that has been defeated!" ”

"Save now!" Yu Qiuping hurriedly sent all the auxiliaries and some of the soldiers to the river to save people. They used the wood, ropes and other equipment left over from the previous construction of the city to stretch into the river, hoping that the person who fell into the water would catch it and get away with it. Or just throw a large number of planks towards the center, let the drowning people grab them and barely float, and then it will only depend on their creation.

"It doesn't matter if it's the Saito Army or our people!" Yu Qiuping ordered again, "The people of the Saito family are also a life, don't be so ruthless!" No matter how bad it is, you can still use it to ask for ransom! ”

Thanks to the efforts of Yu Qiuping, nearly hundreds of soldiers from the Oda and Saito families who had fallen into the water were rescued. The Oda family was sent to the camp to warm themselves by fire, and the Saito family's Yuakihei treated them humanely, lit a few bonfires, and imprisoned them.

However, Yu Qiuping did not dare to delay too much, and immediately went to the Oda family's overboard and asked what had happened to the army upstream.

·

It turned out that early this morning, Oda Nobunaga was already ready to move after receiving the news that Yu Qiuping had completed the construction of the city. Because the Saito family on the other side of the river was obviously shaken by the construction of the castle by Yu Akihei at Sumata Castle, and there seemed to be signs of retreat, Oda Nobunaga took advantage of the situation to brave the heavy rain and force the Kiso River. In addition to crossing the river by ferry and building pontoon bridges, he also ordered his subordinates to wade directly across the river from the shallows near several Kono Islands.

Oda Nobunaga's surprise attack did catch the Saito army by surprise, as all the high-ranking generals gathered in Saito Ryuko's main tent to argue over whether or not to immediately retreat and besiege Sumamata Castle. When the troops of the Ximino Hao clan heard that nearly 1,000 troops from the Changpan Beiyuqiu family had advanced to Ximinon, they were also in turmoil. They were eager to rush home immediately to ensure safety in their territory.

Just when they were undecided, Oda Nobunaga launched a surprise attack across the river. No one in Mino expected that Oda Nobunaga would take advantage of the heavy rain to force his way across the Kiso River. The Saito Army, which was not ready, did not take advantage of the half-crossing attack at all, but allowed the Oda family's nearly 3,000-strong troops to quickly ascend to the north bank of the Kiso River, and took up a solid beachhead with little decent resistance. The Saito army, which had finally completed the build-up of troops, immediately launched a counterattack, but was firmly blocked by Shibata Katsuie and Sakuma Nobumori, who had already crossed the river. As a result, more and more Oda family troops poured up the north shore along the gap that had been opened, and the Saito family was about to be overwhelmed.

"If it went so well, then why did it suffer such a fiasco!" Yu Qiuping anxiously continued to ask.

As soon as he spoke, the little soldiers immediately wept and mourned, and told their story of what happened to them.

It turned out that just when Oda Nobunaga was playing smoothly, the water level of the Kiso River also rose rapidly due to the heavy rain. When Oda Nobunaga, who had been killed, finally noticed that something was wrong, the flood suddenly came. The troops of the Oda family, who were crossing the river, were immediately swept away by the flood, and were swept downstream with pontoons and ferries. And the Saito family also took advantage of the chaos in the Oda family to launch a counterattack.

The rest of the matter, these little soldiers don't know, they just desperately fought against the flood, and were finally rescued by Yu Qiuping and picked up a life.

However, even if they didn't say it, Yu Qiuping understood the reality of the Oda family's fiasco.

In addition to the heavy casualties suffered by the troops crossing the river, the nearly 4,000 troops of the Oda family were also isolated on the south bank and could not be reinforced. The army of the Oda family on the north shore suddenly fell into a situation of isolation and helplessness. The 3,000 people who crossed the river were estimated to be more than lucky, and it is difficult to say how many of them would escape back to Owari, and Oda Nobunaga himself would even suffer an accident - which made Yu Qiuhei's heart snicker. The situation of the Oda army in front of him is very similar to the battle of Weishui between Han Xin and Long Ji during the Chu-Han War in China. When Long Ji was also crossing the river to attack Han Xin, the Chu army was crushed by the flood formed by Han Xin's removal of the sandbags upstream, and Long Ji, who had crossed the river and was isolated, was also beheaded by the Han army.

·

Seeing that the battle situation was out of control, Yu Qiuping immediately began to prepare for retreat. However, just before he could order his troops to retreat, a herald from Oda Nobunaga arrived at Sumamata Castle! Still from the north bank of the Kiso River!

The news he brought surprised everyone in Yuqiu and others, it was good news that the Oda family had repelled the Saito family! Oda Nobunaga actually turned defeat into victory! It turned out that this time it was Kinoshita Hideyoshi who made a great contribution!

The Einsatzgruppen led by Mori Kecheng was originally responsible for threatening Inabayama Castle and containing part of the Saito family's forces. When Oda Nobunaga launched a surprise attack, he simply sent a herald to inform them, not asking them to join the war, but letting them continue to contain and disperse the Saito family's army.

However, as the heavy rain became heavier, Kinoshita Hideyoshi suddenly felt that something was wrong. Although he is still just a fledgling, he has already shown the battlefield sense of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who will be feared by all of Japan in the future. He strongly advised Mori to immediately abandon the order and lead the whole army closer to Oda Nobunaga. Mori Kecheng was unwilling to disobey, and Kinoshita Hideyoshi actually personally led his team of more than 100 people to break away from the army and march towards the battlefield. In desperation, Mori had no choice but to lead the army to take advantage of the heavy rain to get rid of the Saito army that was holding them back, catch up with Kinoshita Hideyoshi and rush to the battlefield - just in time for the flash flood and the Oda family suffered a crushing defeat on Kono Island.

So, this Miyawgruppen came out of the rain curtain and rushed straight to the flank of the Saito family. Saito Ryuko did not expect the enemy to rush towards him so decisively, and in order to ensure that the troops would not be routed from the flank, he had to retreat to the northwest. Oda Nobunaga took the opportunity to reorganize and reluctantly pulled the troops back from the brink of collapse, evacuating Kono Island without danger.