On April 2, after receiving news that the Asai family was about to declare war on the Oda family, the Oda family abandoned Kanesaki Castle and began to retreat south. On the same day, the Asakura army stationed in the bowl immediately moved westward, and in the early hours of the morning, the Aakura army with torches recaptured the empty Kanesaki Castle.

On April 3, the Asai family announced that they had broken their alliance with the Oda family and raised troops to aid the Asakura family and crusade against the treacherous Oda Nobunaga. And Sakuma Nobumori, who received the news, immediately gathered troops and prepared to march eastward to attack Kita-Omi of the Asai family.

Unfortunately, however, Ashikaga Yoshiteru secretly instructed the Hatano family to launch an attack on Yamashiro Province. And Yamato's Matsunaga Hide, in the name of "aiding the defense of Kyoto", drove the army of the Matsunaga family to the border between Kyoto and Yamato.

In the afternoon of the same day, after receiving the news that the Asai family and the Oda family had broken the alliance, Miyoshi Nagaitsu and Miyoshi Masayasu, who had remained at Takaya Castle in South Hanoi and Minami Izumi, began to assemble troops. Charlie and Yoshioka Katsumasa, who were left behind, were unable to cope, so Kaede Imagawa asked for reinforcements from the Oda family troops stationed in Yamashiro Province.

At the same time, Ashikaga Yoshiteru himself gathered thousands of troops under his command in Nijo Castle, and had the momentum of black clouds crushing the castle for a while. Sakuma Nobumori saw that things were not good, and he had to retreat to the mountain castle, not daring to continue eastward. However, this information could not reach the Oritoku coalition in time, and Oda Nobunaga continued to prepare for a decisive battle with the Asai-Asakura coalition as originally planned.

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On April 4, the Oda army arrived at Chohoji Temple. Since the Asai family was holding back the main road back to Minami-Omi from the eastern shore of Lake Biwa, Oda Nobunaga sent his troops to make a feint towards the Kuchigi Valley area on the western shore of Lake Biwa, making a gesture of retreating along the western shore of Lake Biwa. Oda Nobunaga also sent an envoy to contact the wealthy Kuchigi Mototsuna of Kuchigi Valley, asking for passage from his domain. After receiving Oda Nobunaga's letter, Mototsuna Kuchigi immediately informed the Asai family and the Asakura family of this information.

When Asai Nagamasa and Asakura Yoshikei received the news, they all decided that the Oritoku coalition army was in a hurry to withdraw to Kyoto to stabilize the situation, so they launched a pursuit from two directions: east and north. On the evening of April 4, 15,000 people and 5,000 soldiers from the Asai family arrived at Mt. Shidake. On the official road of 20 miles west of Mt. Zhida to Changfa Temple, the Oda family successively laid eleven lines of defense with a total of 5,000 soldiers to defend it. Since this official road is bordered by the mountainous area at the junction of Omi and Echizen to the north, and Lake Biwa to the south, it can be said that it is an important road that cannot be opened by one man. If the Asai family wants to hit the main camp of the Oritoku coalition army, the only way to attack is to attack along the official road.

The 25,000 people of the Asakura family also pursued to the mountainous area 15 miles north of Chohoji Temple on April 4. However, due to the narrowness of the mountain road, all the 8,000 soldiers of the Asakura family could not be deployed, and they could only be stationed in the form of company battalions.

Let's look at the deployment of the Oritoku coalition army - 5,000 soldiers led by Niwa Nagahide, Mori Kosei, Ikeda Tsuneko and others were stationed on the official road from Mt. Shidake to Choboji Temple, defending the attack of the Asai army layer by layer, with the purpose of blocking Asai Nagamasa. The main force of the Zhide coalition army was thrown into ambush in the mountains north of Changfa Temple. Tokugawa Ieyasu's 1,700 soldiers lured the enemy on the official road in front, while tens of thousands of Oda soldiers hid in the hills and valleys on both sides of the official road, waiting for an opportunity to ambush the main force of the Asakura family.

And Yu Qiuping, at the moment, was under house arrest in the camp tent, and 1,400 people from Changban were also left in the main camp of Changfa Temple, responsible for protecting the nearly 30,000 auxiliaries of the Zhide Coalition Army. This arrangement actually shows Oda Nobunaga's inner thoughts - he did not suspect that Yuqiu Ping was collaborating with the enemy, otherwise he would not have arranged for Tokiwa to guard the main camp. He was just very dissatisfied with Yu Qiuping's many confrontations with him, and wanted to kill his sharpness.

The purpose of the Oritoku coalition was to prevent the Asai and Asakura coalition forces from converging and blocking them to the east and north. First of all, rely on the dangerous terrain to block the attack of the Asai family. Then, the Tokugawa army led the lightly enemy Asakura army into an ambush circle, and the main force of the coalition army routed the Asakura army first. Subsequently, the troops who resisted the Asai family were pulled back, and the Asai family was also led to the area of Nagaji Temple. After defeating the Asakura army, the main force of the coalition regrouped and moved south, cooperating with the troops resisting the Asai family, flanking the Asai family, and solving the Asai family as well.

And the careless Asai-Asakura coalition did not expect Oda Nobunaga to make such a bold move. They knew better than Oda Nobunaga that the Oritoku coalition was isolated at the moment, with no way to retreat, and their morale was weak, so they decided that the Oritoku coalition army must be in a hurry to retreat. The troops who stayed behind were all left behind to cover the withdrawal of the main force. Therefore, after getting in touch, the two sides agreed to start an offensive early tomorrow morning, and flank the Zhide coalition forces on both sides.

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In the early morning of April 5, the Asai army at Mt. Shidake came out of battle and launched a fierce attack on the position of the Oda family to the west, and the battle of Mt. Shidake between the Asai-Asakura coalition and the Oritoku coalition army began.

At the forefront of the eleven defensive fronts of the Oda Nobunaga Coalition was Masanoshi Sakai, the commander of Oda Nobunaga's main team. The latter was commanding 800 troops directly under the Oda family, stationed on the front line. Oda Nobunaga sent his fierce general to take the lead, hoping that the defense in the east would contain the Asai family's offensive from the beginning.

"Father, what kind of banner is this?" Sakai Masao's son, Sakai Hisazo, stared at the Asai family's troops for a long time, "I've never seen this kind of flag..."

"That's the Eagle Preparation." Sakai Masasho took a look at it and understood that it was Asai Nagamasa's direct army. You don't need to look at the flag, you only need to look at the skillful and fast formation change of the eagle and the square formation like cutting tofu. It is said that this reserve team was established by Yu Qiupei with the help of Asai Nagamasa, so it is no wonder that it is so similar to Tsukiwa Bei.

"But this is by the flag..."Sakai Masanori glanced at the flag after his son's reminder, but found that he could not recognize it, and immediately fell into deep thought. The eagle is prepared to be light, and the samurai are stuck on their backs, not the Asai family's three-life tortoiseshell rhombic flag in the past. Instead, there were two white flags, one on the left and one on the right, each with four characters written in black pen. It's too far away to see clearly.

When the Eagle Bei slowly pressed towards the Oda family's reserve under the command of Asai Nagamasa's White Eagle Horse Seal, Sakai Masanori finally saw the eight big characters written on the back of each ashigaru and samurai.

"Where Righteousness Goes"

"Life and death go hand in hand"

I also saw clearly the tenacity and determination on the face of each eagle warrior.

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"The warriors of the Eagle Guard, the enemy before us is now the most formidable enemy in all of and even in all of Japan. The Oda family, he owned more than 2 million stone of land, more than 70,000 troops. And our Asai family, the territory is only more than 400,000 stones, and the soldiers are only more than 10,000. What we have to do now is to hit the stone with an egg! Asai Nagama walked in front of the Eagle Formation and shouted to his soldiers: "I can't speak, so I have to apologize to all of you first." Originally, we were allies of the Oda family, and I took the initiative to break the alliance and bring you to this battlefield of death! In fact, this battle could have been avoided. ”

"But I don't want to run away!" Asai Nagamasa's words changed, and he suddenly shouted in a deep voice: "The Oda family has betrayed its promise, disregarded the alliance with our Asai family, and entered our territory without authorization to attack our ally Asakura family. The Asakura family and the Asai family have been friends for generations, and in the past few decades, every time the Asai family suffers a catastrophe, the Asakura family will spare no effort to lend a hand, and the Asai family is where it is today! This grace of reconstruction, even if our Asai family is broken, we must repay it! ”

"I ask you!" Asai Nagamasa clamped his horse's belly, and the war horse slowly paced towards the middle of the phalanx, facing his loyal subordinates, these hot-blooded men from Kita-Omi.

From the day they can remember, and even from the day their fathers can remember, the Asakura family has been a close friend and solid support of the Asai family. Whenever the Asai family fell into a desperate situation under the invasion of the Rokkaku family: the head of the family fled, the army collapsed, the territory fell, and the people in the territory were captured and enslaved by the Rokkaku family's troops; The samurai and ashigaru from Echizen would always travel far and wide to help expel the hateful invaders, help the Asai family get back on their feet, and help the people of Kita-Omi escape the war. This kindness is not only remembered by the relatives and retainers of the Asai family, but also deeply imprinted in the hearts of every hot-blooded young man in Kita-Omi.

They will not forget how, when they were still young, they rumbled through the streets of villages and towns to the front line to support their father's and brother's Echizen army. I will not forget the banner that bravely resisted and expelled the Hexagonal invaders when they were in the midst of war. I won't forget that the brightly armored Asakura troops who surrounded the return of their old lord Ryomasa Asai didn't take anything afterwards.

And now, the mercenary and arrogant Owari people are crossing their territory to attack their Echizen friends. The number of the Oritoku coalition was so large that the Asakura family was simply unable to resist and faced annihilation. The samurai and civilians of Echizen were about to be swept up in a hellish war.

This time, it's our Omi's turn to help you! This time, it's our turn to repay the favor! This time, it's our turn to save you from the war!

"I ask you, are you willing to follow me and fight to repay the kindness of the Asakura family!" Asai Nagamasa pulled the reins of the horse, and the war horse stood up instantly, he also clamped the horse's belly, held the white eagle horse seal in his hand, and shouted with the greatest strength in his life: "Fight for the righteousness of the world!" ”

"Yes!"

The warriors of the Eagle Guard, with a loud roar of their lives, responded to their commander. Then, I don't know if it was rehearsed in advance or from the heart, all the warriors of the Eagle Preparation took a deep breath and shouted in a deep voice again:

"Righteousness! Life and death go hand in hand! ”

"Good!" Asai Nagamasa himself has also been infected by the atmosphere of the military formation, and the blue tendons on his forehead have flareed up, and his eyes are red. He turned over and dismounted, handed over the horse seal and horse to his guards, and ordered him to return to his camp. And he himself, with a knife in his hand, personally stood in the first row of the phalanx. With his subordinates, and with all the Omi people who have received the favor of the Asakura family.

"In this battle, you don't need command and strategy, all you need is courage and determination to repay your kindness!"

"The whole army obeys the order! Charge with me! ”