The defection of Yamamoto Yamashiro caused a huge gap in the defense line of the Asai family to appear all of a sudden. Oda Nobunaga immediately led his army to break through, and Asai Nagamasa had no choice but to abandon a large number of rocks and castles on the periphery, and led the whole army back to Kotani Castle to hold on. Oda Nobunaga left Akechi Mitsuhide, Kinoshita Hideyoshi, and Niwa Nagahide to besiege Otani Castle, while he himself led a large army around Otani Castle and advanced northwest to Mt. Yamada, blocking the way from Asakura to Otani Castle.

Although the Asakura family knew that this decisive battle might be related to the life and death of the two families, they did not dare to slack off. But at the moment, they could not join forces with the Asai family, and the Oda army on the opposite side was twice as strong as theirs, which made them feel deeply dangerous. Seeing that the Oda family had conquered Mt. Odake, and even the communication lines between the Asai family and the Asakura family were cut off, the Asakura family was completely panicked. Due to the lack of a leader who could subdue the crowd, a fierce quarrel broke out among the Asakura family over the issue of strategic deployment, and finally broke up.

On April 12, the Asakura family, which was riddled with internal contradictions, decided to withdraw their troops and leave the Asai family behind. However, Oda Nobunaga had already anticipated the evacuation of the Asakura family and immediately pursued him. The Asakura army acted in a hurry, and the army was scattered, and it was unable to march quickly because it was drawn by the vanguard led by Shibata Katsuie, and was finally caught up by the main force of the Oda army at Toyaban. After a great battle, the Asakura family was completely defeated, and the Asakura family's cavalry was defeated by the Oda family's cavalry. Under the pursuit of the Oda family, the 20,000 troops of the Asakura family left more than 3,000 corpses on the mountain road that spread for dozens of miles, and more than 10,000 people were captured. It is worth mentioning that Saito Ryuko, who had defected to Echizen and vowed to fight Oda Nobunaga to the end, was also killed in this battle.

This battle directly broke the backbone of the Asakura family. Not every unit is the Red Leaf Army, and it can fight to the death after losing more than half of it. The morale of the Asakura army had completely collapsed at this moment, and the organization was chaotic and could not be reorganized, and the death of a large number of retainers and samurai had caused the chain of command to collapse. A large number of defeated troops fled in confusion, and together with the fleeing defenders of various castles, they ransacked the surrounding villages and castle towns, and made a mess of Echizen. Asakura Yoshikyo now has the army at hand that can be mobilized, and only his more than 1,000 banners are left.

On April 16, Oda Nobunaga's troops, who had barely met any resistance, approached Ichijo Valley Castle. The Thousand Banners of the Asakura family were not opponents at all, and after only one day of resistance, Oda Nobunaga broke the Honmaru. Subsequently, Oda Nobunaga burned down the famous city, which was one of the three major cultural centers of Japan's Warring States period, and carried out large-scale indiscriminate hunting and plundering, almost flattening the area around Itsunory Valley Castle, completely cutting off any hope of any revival of Itsunori Valley Castle.

Desperate, Asakura Yoshikage fled to Echizen Province's Ono County and wanted to defect to Asakura Keigami. However, Asakura Jingjing saw that the general trend of the Asakura family had gone, and there was no hope of continuing to resist, so he directly sent someone to arrest the family governor Asakura Yoshikei who came in distress, and forced Asakura Yoshikage to commit suicide. Subsequently, Asakura Keigami presented Oda Nobunaga's head and the heirs of his family and surrendered, but Oda Nobunaga flatly refused. Oda Nobunaga unceremoniously launched an attack on Asakura Keigami's army, slaughtering the only remaining formed troops of the Asakura family who were not prepared at all, and executing all the adult males of the Asakura family, leaving only Asakura Keigami to escape to Koga.

Oda Nobunaga's perverse actions aroused the dissatisfaction of a large number of Asakura samurai in Echizen, who were deeply favored by the Asakura family for many generations, and had no choice but to surrender when they saw that the Asakura family was gone. But seeing Oda Nobunaga treat the former lord like this, those samurai couldn't sit still and gathered together to start a rebellion. Oda Nobunaga seemed to want this effect, and directly suppressed all uprisings with a thunderbolt and bloodily, and almost wiped out the foundation of the Asakura family in Echizen.

Oda Nobunaga's violent performance made Yu Qiuping's heart more and more cold - Oda Nobunaga still treated the Asakura family, who was already an enemy and didn't have too many festivals; Then what kind of means should he use to deal with the Asai family who betrayed him and beat himself to the ground on the battlefield!

Thinking of this, Yu Qiuping didn't dare to imagine what might happen later, so he hurriedly called Uchiha Aooka to a secret meeting with him in a mountain forest where no one was watching, and assigned him a task.

"Your Highness?" After listening to Yu Qiuping's orders, this ninja, who has always been silent and only knows how to obey when ordered to obey and ignores others, couldn't help but whisper and suggest, "In the lower voice, Your Highness's order... Under-considered. ”

"First of all, the difficulty of planning is too high. Even if he personally led the team and sent the highest level of Shangnin, he was not sure of success. Not only do you have to infiltrate the enemy city surrounded by a large army, but you also have to escape with a 5-year-old child who can't be guaranteed whether that child will act irrationally. This is equivalent to fighting against the ninjas of Oda and Asai at the same time. Moreover, it is still unknown whether His Highness Asai will be willing to cooperate with this plan. ”

"If it fails, it will also bring great trouble to His Highness." Uchiha Aooka then added in a low voice, "I know that these are not things that a ninja should pay attention to. But the tone of the Oda Hall is more or less known. His Royal Highness wants to rescue His Royal Highness Asai and hide his young son again, once it is exposed, the consequences are unimaginable. ”

"It's the last thing I can do for him. If I could, I really wanted to save him, send him to China or send him to Europa, and let that hot-blooded idiot live well. Yu Qiuping sighed, shook his head and said, "But with his temperament, he will definitely not agree." But I can't look at him. ”

"Has Your Highness made up your mind?" Uchiha Aooka didn't say much, just confirmed indifferently.

"It's decided." Yu Qiuping nodded, looking at Uchiha Aooka with some guilt, "Please, Aooka." ”

"It's just an order." Uchiha Aooka did not accept Yu Qiuping's request, but saluted as always, turned and disappeared into the shadows.

·

On May 3, Oda Nobunaga, who had returned to Kita-Omi, cooperated with the original besieging forces and turned around and attacked Kotani Castle. The Miyoshi family had consumed too much grain and grass in the previous mobilization, and there was no way to send a large army to the expedition this time, and they were blocked by Sakuma Nobumori and Shigeharu Takenaka, who were left behind by the Oda family, and could not advance further eastward. The Asakura family and the Ashikaga family had just been destroyed, the Matsunaga family had surrendered, the small wealthy clan of Sanyo San'in was unable to do anything, and the Takeda family had temporarily turned to the defensive on various fronts due to the death of Takeda Shingen, and it was only a matter of time before the Asai family, which had been cut off from foreign aid, was destroyed.

The Asai family and Asai Nagamasa themselves should have understood the current situation, but they did not send people to negotiate peace (of course, Oda Nobunaga had no intention of making peace), but remained steadfast in Kotani Castle. The day after the siege of the Oda family's army, Kotani Castle opened the gates of the eastern castle and released more than 2,000 people. After Oda Nobunaga asked them, he learned that Asai Nagamasa announced to all the soldiers in the castle that he was willing to let everyone go and would not pursue anyone who did not have the consciousness of death.

In other words, the remaining 8,000 soldiers in the city are all determined to die.

Among the troops that surrendered from the city, the leader was Haibei Gangqin, one of the three generals of Hai Chiyu. In the Asai family coup d'état and the battle of Norada back then, Yu Qiuping cooperated with this veteran many times. He couldn't believe that this veteran general would not have the determination to live and die with the Asai family, but went out of the city and surrendered.

But whether Yuqiu Hei believes it or not, Haibei Tsunajin is really kneeling in the camp of the Oda Army at this moment, waiting for Oda Nobunaga's questioning.

"That's what the lord means." Haibei Tsunako calmly recounted the words conveyed by Asai Nagamasa to Oda Nobunaga, "Please also ask His Highness Oda to start attacking the castle after placing those surrendered troops." ”

"Oh?" Oda Nobunaga suddenly sneered disdainfully, "Placement? Why did Yu place people for you? ”

Haibei Tsunade did not reply, but continued to maintain a saluting posture.

"Didn't you see what happened to the Asakura family?" Seeing that Haibei Tsunako ignored him, Oda Nobunaga couldn't help but be a little amused, "It doesn't matter if you surrender or not, you will all be executed!" ”

"The lord said that he has always treated His Highness with the courtesy of a samurai, and His Highness will naturally respond with the courtesy of a samurai." Haibei Tsunami put a high hat on Oda Nobunaga without being soft or hard, and if Oda Nobunaga continued to be aggressive, it would be an admission that he was not a samurai. "Since those people have no intention of dying for the Asai family, then after the destruction of the Asai family, they can also contribute to His Highness Oda, why should His Highness hurt himself and his siblings?"

"You know you're going to perish, huh?" Oda Nobunaga laughed a few times, and then scolded with a slap in his face, "Contributing to Yu is contributing to Yu!" Wait for the Asai family to perish! Yu is going to let them contribute to Yu now! ”

"Kotani City is a fortified city, and with so many guides who are familiar with the terrain, it is much easier to fight." Oda Nobunaga looked at Haibei Tsunami as he spoke, "Haibei people, as an old minister of the Asai family, you must know everything about the defense of Kotani Castle!" Please draw a map of the defense of Kotani Castle for our army. ”

"Sorry, it can't be done." Kaibei Tsunako didn't look up at Oda Nobunaga, just silently stared at the ground in front of him, and said in a deep voice without hesitation.

"Oh? Didn't they all decide to surrender? What else can't be done? Do you still want to set up a torii? Oda Nobunaga said sarcastically in a playful tone.

"It's not like them down there." Haibei Tsunade personally looked at the surrendering team, and then turned his head to look directly at Oda Nobunaga, "I have the determination to die for the Asai family, but it was only entrusted by the lord's order that he was forced to go out of the city and be humiliated." ”

"Give it to him!" Seeing this, Oda Nobunaga seemed to lose interest in the toy in his hand in an instant, and motioned for a small surname to hand him a handful of ribs. Haibei Tsunade knelt down without hesitation, untied his shirt, and then took out his ribs and aimed them at his abdomen.

"If you don't want to paint, someone will." Oda Nobunaga glanced at Tsunami Kaibei with contempt, and then pointed to the mighty flow of people behind him, "There are so many people, someone will do it." ”

The expression on Haibei Tsunada's face was still very indifferent, and he stabbed the ribs into his abdomen with meticulous standard movements, and at the same time whispered out the last sentence soaked in samurai blood:

"I'm sorry, I can't do that."