On May 17, Oda Nobunaga led the main force to the Shijo area, while the vanguard led by Shibata Katsuie had already reached the town of Inoguchi under Inabayama Castle. When the residents of the castle town saw the Oda family's army coming, they fled to the castle or the deep mountains and forests to the north for refuge, and the castle town was immediately occupied by the Shibata Katsuie.

Excited, Shibata Katsuya burned down the town of Inoguchi and challenged Saito Ryuko in the castle. Saito Ryuxing was annoyed, but he did not lose his cool and resolutely closed the door. The total strength of the Saito family in the castle was only 2,000, of which less than 700 were soldiers. While auxiliaries can also play a huge role in defending the city, these forces are still somewhat stretched - because Inabayama Castle is one of the best in the entire Nomi region, and there are so many places to defend. 2,000 people can keep a small city airtight, but for a large city like Inabayama Castle, it is a bit overwhelming.

However, Big Cities also have the benefits of Big Cities. The current forces of the Oda family are completely unable to encircle Inabayama Castle. What's more, Inabayama Castle is a mountain castle, built on a mountain, and the terrain is dangerous and complicated. Therefore, it was difficult for the Oda family to cut off the connection between the inside and outside of Inabayama Castle, giving Saito Ryuko an opportunity to communicate with the outside world.

At three o'clock in the morning, Shibata Katsuie led his troops to launch a tentative attack on the west gate of Inabayama Castle. However, there are a large number of feather arrows, sassal wood, rolling stones and other tools for defending the city stored in Inabayama Castle, and it is obviously impossible to hit it next to the simple ladder. Although Shibata Katsuya is a fierce general, he is not stupid. After realizing that Inabayama Castle was difficult to conquer immediately, he immediately set up camps at several important intersections to prevent the Saito army from going out of the castle to counterattack. Then, he ordered the auxiliary troops to start demolishing the houses in the castle town and cutting down trees in the forest to build siege equipment.

After lunch, Oda Nobunaga's main force also arrived at the castle of Inabayama, and the army of the Oda family, which numbered nearly 9,000 people, surrounded several gates of Inabayama Castle. Construction of a huge camp began, and thousands of auxiliaries were busy making siege equipment and preparing for a thunderous blow to Inabayama Castle.

Saito Ryuxing was really panicked at this moment, and he hurriedly sent an envoy to leave from the path and go to ask for help. Among them, there were envoys who sent in the direction of Inuyama Castle and ordered Hineno Hiroshi, Nagai Michitoshi and others to immediately return to help; There were also messengers sent to Simino to apologize to the various wealthy clans and beg for reinforcements; There were even people who rushed to the hospital when they were sick and sent messengers to the Takeda family, the Asai family, and the Asakura family for help.

However, Saito Ryuko was rewarded with a more pessimistic look. After receiving Saito Ryuko's handwritten letter, Hineno Hiroshi immediately angrily demanded that Nagai Michitoshi and other wealthy families immediately return to help. Although they reluctantly agreed to his request, they refused to leave immediately, apparently not wanting to have a hard time with the Oda family. Hineno Hiroshi estimated that it would be possible to return to Inabayama Castle at least on the 19th.

And the messengers sent to Simeno were treated coldly. The wealthy families of Nishimino not only scoffed at Saito Ryuko's request for help, but instead accused Saito Ryuko of trusting his cronies and villains, alienating them from these loyal ministers, and refusing to follow the fine old tradition of Mino's "collegiate system of important ministers". Even though the messenger struggled to accompany the smiling face, it was still to no avail. In the end, the wealthy clans of Nishimino sent Shigeharu Takenaka as a representative to return to Inabayama Castle with the envoy to show Saito Ryuko the attitude of the wealthy clan of Nishimino.

On the afternoon of May 17, the Oda family was slow to attack. Watching the sun sink into the horizon, Saito Ryuko breathed a sigh of relief—it seemed that Oda Nobunaga had no intention of attacking today. However, looking at the piled up of siege equipment under the castle—siege turrets, ladders, a large number of lookouts, carts and rams, and a large number of sandbags to fill the moat, Saito Ryuko only felt that his heart sank little by little—the Oda family was constantly accumulating strength, and once an offensive was launched, it would be a one-hit onslaught.

And in the big tent of the Oda army under the castle, the atmosphere was just as serious.

Although the surprise attack was successfully completed according to plan, there was not much time left for the Oda army. The main force of the Saito family in Higashimino will also arrive on the evening of the 19th at the latest, leaving only one day for the Oda army to attack the castle on the 18th. Preparations for retreat began on the 19th.

However, to everyone's relief, it was the reaction of the Nishimino wealthy family. According to Oda Nobunaga's ninja report, Saito Ryuko sent another emissary to the wealthy clan of Nishimino for help, but was still rejected by the wealthy clan of Nishimeno. It seems that they have made up their minds to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, as long as they can ensure the safety of their territory. More information about Simino could no longer be transmitted, as many of the wealthy clans of Simenon had also imposed mass martial law in their territories. The ferry crossings and bridges on the Nagara River, which divided Nishimino and Misono Nagashi, were all controlled by the forces of the Nishimino Hao clan to prevent the ninja and Hosaku from passing on the message.

"Success or failure is here!" Oda Nobunaga waved his hand proudly, "As long as I can take Inabayama Castle tomorrow!" Mino is ours! ”

·

At the same time, inside the castle tower of Inabayama Castle.

"Your Highness, can't you make up your mind?" Shigeharu Takenaka looked at Saito Ryuko, who was sitting at the table, and reminded in a low voice.

Shigeharu Takenaka's voice seemed to wake Saito Ryuko from his dream, making him realize once again what kind of treaty he was holding. When he came back to his senses, his hands trembled with anger, as if he wanted to tear the treaty in his hands to shreds at any moment.

"These old thieves!" Saito Ryuxing scolded fiercely in a low voice: "You dare to make such a request as a threat to send reinforcements!" How dare you do such a thing! Do they still regard the Saito family as the main family! ”

"This is also an inevitable thing," Shigeharu Takenaka's voice was still indifferent, without a trace of waves.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Saito Ryuxing raised his voice and smashed all the wine bottles on the table to the ground, "Even if I, Saito Ryuxing, die, I will never agree to such a request!" ”

·

In the early morning of the 19th, as the trumpet sounded, the Oda army, which had been preparing for a day of recuperation, lined up in an overwhelming array outside the three gates of Inabayama Castle. The warriors crowded around the auxiliaries, who pushed dozens of rushing carts, ladders, and a large number of lookouts full of archers, slowly approaching the walls of Inabayama Castle. And the archers of several siege turrets standing on the mountain have already begun to suppress the fire of the city.

Inabayama Castle has three gates, the West Gate, the North Gate, and the South Gate. Among them, the West Gate Otemon Gate is the most open, and it is also the main attack area of the main force led by Oda Nobunaga himself. The north gate and the south gate were handed over to Mori Kosei and Sakuma Nobumori as the main ones to feint and contain in the future.

Komaki Genta is a general of the Saito family, and at this moment he is supervising the battle at the head of the castle. Unlike the Nishimino clans who refused to come to their aid, he was a samurai who was loyal to the Saito family. Because of his excellent marksmanship, he is well-known in the entire Mino. In the Battle of Nagara River almost ten years ago, as a samurai of Saito Yoshiryu, he relied on marksmanship to win over Saito Yoshiryu's father, Saito Michizo, in the battle, and laid the foundation for Saito Yoshiryu. Relying on this great achievement, he was promoted to the general of the Saito family, and he was also one of the closest samurai to Saito Yoshiryu and Saito Ryuko.

This time the surprise attack of the Oda family caught everyone up and down the Saito family off guard, and the Oda family directly hit Inabayama Castle in only two days. The main force went out to fight, the wealthy clan disobeyed, and it was rumored that the governor was also drunk and dreamed of dying, and the people in Inabayama Castle, which was almost an empty city, were panicked. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Komaki Genta, who was supposed to stay in the command of Ninomaru safely, personally came to the walls of Sannomaru and took the lead in boosting morale.

He is 37 years old this year, and he has been fighting for almost 20 years. The battle of the Oda family attacking the castle in front of him was even bigger than the battle when Oda Nobuhide besieged the city of Ghana. With only 2,000 people on hand, Komaki Genta knew that the Saito family might not be able to resist for long, but as a glorious samurai, he would definitely not admit defeat. Instead, he will resist to the end for the sake of the lord's family, in order to repay the kindness of the lord.

The archers of the Oda family had begun to shoot at the head of the castle, but they did not pose much of a threat to the archers at the head of the castle. Komaki Gentai knows that this is the unique advantage of Inaba Mountain Castle. The mountain castle was built on the slopes of the mountain, and the feathered arrows fired by the archers of the Oda family who feinted to attack had lost much strength when they flew to this height. On the contrary, the attacks of the Saito archers, who shot condescendingly, were more aggressive than usual.

Komaki Genta asked the archers of the Saito family, who were not numerous, to save their physical strength and not to shoot in waves. He sat on the wall with his back against the battlements, tilting his head to observe the distance between the Oda family's siege equipment and the city wall through the crack in the female wall, and muttered something silently. The surrounding bow-footed generals couldn't hold their breath several times and wanted to launch a counterattack, but they were all rejected by Komaki Yuantai with a wave of his hand.

It wasn't until the Oda family's troops approached 100 meters away from the mountain castle that Komaki Genta waved his hand violently and suddenly got up. The archers of the Saito family, who had been signaled, rose from behind the battlements where they were hiding, filled their bows and arrows, and tilted their feathered arrows towards the castle. Condescendingly, the feathered arrows fired straight at the auxiliaries carrying siege equipment, inflicting considerable casualties on them. The auxiliaries of the three ladders at the front were almost all shot by arrows, and the archers of the Oda family on the two watchtowers also suffered heavy losses due to the dense rain of arrows, and basically lost their combat effectiveness, so they had to be replaced.

However, dozens of people were shot, but hundreds of people had already walked within 80 meters of the city walls. At this point, the archers of the Oda family also have the ability to kill and injure the castle. Two archers on the siege tower and the lookout that were pushed forward began to shoot at the archers of the Saito family at the head of the castle.

At the same time, the arrow of the Oda family attacking the city wall was a huge rushing car. The exterior of this wooden cart is covered with a thick layer of fur, which is used to resist the impact of bows and arrows and sassal wood. And many of the Oda family's Ashigaru hid behind these two rushing carts, pushing the rushing carts hard, and rushing towards the city gate under the rain of arrows. Behind them were a large number of auxiliaries carrying sandbags and rushing to the moat.