At eight o'clock on May 16, an envoy sent by Yu Qiuping rushed to the territory of the four small wealthy clans and informed them of the news of the Oda family's attack northward. The sudden attack left the four wealthy families with no choice but to honestly do not fight like last time and give way to the Oda family.

After these four small wealthy families honestly gave up resistance, the path of the Oda family was immediately unimpeded. Instead of crossing the Nagara River and heading west into Sumamata as they did last time, they rushed north directly to Inabayama Castle.

The first to bear the brunt is the territory of the Hibino family. After the death of Kiyomi Hibino as the main officer, the strength of the Hibino family plummeted, and they were unable to resist the attack of the Oda army. As the vanguard, Shibata Katsuie conquered the 14 districts, reinforcements led by Yuakihei, Mori Kasei, and Ikeda Tsuneko also arrived, and an army of 3,000 troops assembled on the east bank of the Nagara River, fourteen miles southwest of Inabayama Castle.

Yu Qiuping went out this time, and the number of auxiliary troops was stretched. He relied on the conscription system to recruit 400 soldiers, but the auxiliaries could not always spend a lot of money to become full-time soldiers, but could only call peasants from the territory. Yuqiuping's 14,000 stone territory, with a population of just over 2,000, made up 500 auxiliary soldiers to go out on the expedition. Yu Qiuping had no choice but to order all the soldiers to go forward directly in armor, and only let the auxiliaries carry grain and grass, tent cloth, siege equipment and other baggage.

As soon as the army had finished lunch, Shibata Katsuie, as the vanguard commander-in-chief, asked the whole army to continue to march northeast to conquer the castle of Ghana in front of them, which was also the last barrier of Inabayama Castle.

"Your Highness Shibata," Yu Qiuping suggested in the main tent, "our department has only 3,000 men in total, and the strength is not very strong. Why don't you wait for the main force of the lord to arrive before continuing the attack? ”

"Rainy autumn autumn leaves, just carry out the order," Shibata Katsuie did not consider Rain Akihei's suggestion at all.

"Your Highness Shibata, we are weak, what if we are ambushed?" The conservative Yu Qiuping still suggested uneasily.

"Where did they ambush us?" Shibata Katsuya Urn replied angrily: "There are less than 2,000 people in Inabayama Castle in total, and the wealthy family of Nishimino has already sat back and watched the success or failure, so what is the danger?" ”

Seeing that Yu Qiuping was going to persuade again, Shibata Katsuya shook his hand and signaled that Yu Qiuping didn't need to say any more. "Fearful, Suruga's female samurai can't make a big deal." Shibata Katsuya said coldly: "Because I am timid and afraid of death, I refuse to take advantage of the situation to attack." Do you have to wait until the fighter plane is lost and the Saito family army returns to help you before you dare to attack? ”

Yuqiu, who was reprimanded in public like this, naturally didn't look good, he shook his head and expressed his opposition, but he didn't say more. In the final analysis, this is not the Imagawa family, and the life or death of the Shibata Katsu family, the old Oda family, has nothing to do with Yu Qiuping.

"You man! I also kicked my nose in the face! "Yu Qiuping doesn't open his mouth, but it doesn't mean that Ikeda Hengxing can endure it. After seeing Shibata Katsuya reprimanding Yu Qiuhei so rudely, he blushed and retorted, "Is this your attitude towards your colleagues!" ”

"Your Highness Shibata, it was indeed inappropriate just now." Mori Kecheng, who has always not spoken much, also added in a low voice, looking at the arrogant Shibata Katsuya with dissatisfaction. The latter saw that the scene was a little embarrassing, but he only shook his head disdainfully.

"Have you forgotten how badly you lost in Ghana before!" Completely enraged by Shibata Katsuie, Ikeda Hengxing unceremoniously turned over the old accounts, "It's in Ghana!" There it is! At that time, the army of the old lord was beaten by the third boss of the Dao and fled, all the way back to Owari! Didn't you run away with your tail between your legs at that time? Why don't you learn a long lesson! ”

"Shut up!" Shibata Katsuya also has blue tendons on his forehead, and it seems that he is also worried about the fiasco in Ghana many years ago. The reason why he was so anxious to take down the city of Ghana may also be to wash away the shame of the year.

"Let's go, it's my order." After a moment, Shibata Katsuie emphasized unequivocally.

·

At seven o'clock in the afternoon, the army of the Oda family left Shijo and marched towards the city of Ghana in the northeast.

"What's going on, is there any new information coming back from Aooka?" Yu Qiuping asked nervously when he saw Sanada Masayuki hurriedly riding his horse.

"Back to His Highness, Nishimino is also under martial law, and it is not easy to pass on the news," Sanada Masayuki shook his head regretfully and said, "Although Uchiha-sama led his men to try their best to investigate, there is still no effective information. The only thing that can be known is that the main wealthy families of Ximino have already assembled their troops. ”

"Gather the troops," Yu Qiuping muttered to himself. After a long time, he still couldn't come up with any conclusions on his own, so he looked at Sanada Masayuki and asked, "Kibei, what do you think?" Will the wealthy people of Simino come to beat us? ”

"Is Your Highness asking?" Sanada Masayuki frowned when he heard this, "I don't think it's easy to say." Now the relationship between the wealthy family of Nishimino and the Saito family has become bad to a certain extent, and the majesty of the main family has been wiped out. In the next speculation, Saito Ryuko must have dreamed of weakening the power in the hands of the Nishimino wealthy clan, right? ”

"Even outsiders like Zai Xia know that the wealthy family of Ximeino will not not understand." Sanada Masayuki continued to analyze: "If a master is so wary of disgusting his retainers, the retainers will naturally not die for him, right? Now Inabayama Castle is in danger. Why did the wealthy family of Nishimino send troops to the Saito family to take advantage of the fire? ”

"You're right." Yuqiu nodded slowly, "But I still can't rest assured." ”

"Your Highness can't rest assured, in fact, it may not have much to do with the current situation, but from His Highness's own style." Sanada Masayuki spoke: "Your Highness has always been a cautious person, and safety comes first when marching and fighting. As long as it was such a hasty attack order issued by the Oda Palace, His Highness would definitely instinctively feel that it was inappropriate. Prudence can sometimes avoid disaster, but it also restricts His Highness. ”

After hearing Sanada Masayuki's evaluation, Yu Qiuping is also a pleasure. After thinking about it for a moment, it seems that this is really the case. "That's right," Yu Qiuping smiled, "Maybe I'm too cautious." With a character like me, I can't make the decision of the soldier Han Xin to secretly Chen Cang and fight against the odds in my life! Even as his lieutenant, he will definitely persuade him to be safe! ”

·

Along the way, Yu Qiuping, as the second team, has always sent scouts to the west and east to search, expanding the scope of his reconnaissance. However, neither the horsemen who crossed the Nagara River to reconnoiter on the west bank nor the riders who explored more than ten miles to the east did not find any sign of the Saito family coming to attack. Several large forests, hills, and mountainous terrain, Yu Qiuping also sent reconnaissance cavalry to take care of them one by one, but still no so-called ambush was found.

"Maybe it's really me who is too careful," Yu Qiuping breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ghana City had appeared in his field of vision. "Shibata Katsuie judged well."

After Shibata Katsuya arrived at the castle, he was unequivocal and immediately ordered his subordinates to start climbing the castle. The 400 soldiers of the Shibata family besieged the castle from all sides, and the samurai of the Saito family who defended the castle could not cope with it at all. He only had a few dozen soldiers and more than a hundred auxiliaries at his disposal, and he didn't last long before Ninomaru fell. After he led the remnants to retreat to Honmaru and the castle tower, Shibata Katsuya immediately advanced again, and completely occupied the castle of Kana with Shin Shichi.

And when the dust of the battle settled, the reinforcements from Inabayama Castle were belated. Saito Ryuko waited until noon today to learn the news of the Oda family's large-scale invasion, and in his panic, it was hard to imagine that Oda Nobunaga had launched a surprise attack. When he finally confirmed the accuracy of the news, he immediately realized that Inabayama Castle was in danger! He personally sent a letter of apology to the Nishimino Hao clan, hoping that they would come to their aid. At the same time, the remaining troops were hastily mobilized to the south to support, but they were still one step too late. Seeing that the city of Ghana had fallen, he had to retreat to Inabayama Castle in disgrace.

Yu Qiuping now has to admire the courage of Shibata Katsuie. If he hadn't overruled the crowd at noon today and demanded that the whole army immediately attack north, he might not have been able to take the city of Ghana before the reinforcements arrived. Then the Saito family's reinforcements can rely on the fortified city of Ghana to resist the Oda family, waiting for reinforcements - and the situation will get out of hand.

For this reason, Yu Qiuping personally apologized to Shibata Katsuya at the battlefield meeting that night. However, Shibata Katsuya didn't seem to appreciate his feelings at all, so he ignored him and continued to discuss the battle situation.

·

Not long ago, the army of the Saito family, which is located in the direction of Inuyama Castle, has just received an alert. Hineno Hiroshi and Nagai Michitoshi who led the army could have imagined that the Oda family's army, which was still confronting them at Komaki Mountain Castle yesterday, had now gone straight to Inabayama Castle. When the two panicked, their opinions also diverged.

Hioneno Hiroshi, as Saito Ryuko's teacher and a direct minister of the Saito family, was very worried about the safety of Saito Ryuko and Inaba Castle. He advocated that the whole army immediately return to Inabayama Castle and repel the attacking Oda Nobunaga.

Michitoshi Nagai, on the other hand, has a different view. He was not so close to the Saito family, but advocated besieging Wei to save Zhao. The large army that had been assembled near Inuyama directly entered the territory of Owari and joined forces with Oda Nobukiyo's forces to attack the line of Komakiyama Castle and Kiyoshu Castle, forcing Oda Nobunaga to return to help.

This proposition was immediately endorsed by the Toyama family, the Endo family, and the Inuyama Oda family. If the Toyama family and the Endo family rush back for reinforcements after all the hard work, not only will they not get any benefits, but they may even have to fight with the main force of the Oda family. However, if you avoid the real and attack the weak, the attack on Komakiyama Castle and Cheongju Castle, which are outnumbered, can not only plunder the castle towns and villages on a large scale, make a good profit, but also avoid casualties. The Inuyama Oda family is even more so, and their thinking is not how to protect the Saito family, but how to minimize the threat of the Oda family to Inuyama.

In this way, the two sides are deadlocked, and neither is willing to compromise, which delays precious time.