On May 7, 1564, Yu Qiuping completed the assembly of troops in the territory. This time, the Yuqiu family dispatched a total of 600 soldiers, and 400 auxiliaries recruited in the territory - Yuqiuping's 20,000 stone territory, among which many people have been selected into the battle team, and the rest can probably only recruit so many auxiliaries. Due to the serious disharmony in the ratio of soldiers to auxiliaries, Yu Qiuping's soldiers still had to wear full clothing to march to relieve the logistical pressure of the auxiliaries. A total of 1,000 ashigaru and 50 cavalry approached the border with Oda Nobukiyo's domain from the west.

This time, in Yu Qiuping's army, there are two completely new troops. First of all, it was the cavalry platoon of Anayama Faithfulness that was officially established. When he became rich, he expanded the cavalry unit to 50 people, and selected some highly decorated veterans to join the cavalry unit - because in the Japanese general concept, to be a cavalryman is to become a symbol of samurai.

However, for the training of cavalry, Yu Qiuping was still blind, so he had to let everyone practice the same phalanx march and queue change as the infantry. Keiji Maeda brought some small methods of training, and this guy seems to be quite proficient in cavalry. He was able to teach other horsemen how to try to see a scarecrow standing on the road, or how to slash on a horse. Yu Qiuping gave him a position as a cavalry instructor to assist him in training the troops.

The other unit is the iron artillery team that Yu Qiuping thought about in the evening. Under Yu Qiuping's strong insistence, he withstood the pressure of Charlie and many archers, and let the oldest bow platoon start to learn how to use iron cannons, and selected the 20 people who learned the fastest to change iron cannons to equipment. However, this caused strong dissatisfaction with Sena Shiyoshi. Because the training of archers costs almost nothing, and the arrows shot can be used again after being pulled out. However, the gunpowder of the Iron Gunner is a one-time consumable, and it is too expensive to train. However, Yu Qiuping insisted that the iron gunners train a lot with Tsuda Kazukichi and shoot gunpowder without money - his theory is that if you don't train, you can't fight people on the battlefield, and it makes no sense to spend as much money as possible. With his training at any cost, the Iron Gunner's crosshair quickly approached the level of the bow and arrow.

·

However, he still has one more important thing to solve before he goes on the expedition - that is, Shigeji Takenaka's physical problems.

After kneeling with Yuqiu for an afternoon without eating last time, Takenaka became tired and sick, and it took a long time to recuperate. Yu Qiuping then remembered that Takenaka's health has always been bad. In the history of his previous life, he died of illness in 1579 before he could show his talent on the battlefield in the western kingdom. Yu Qiuping didn't want such a tragedy to happen to his friend, so he took it upon himself to formulate a dietary care plan for Shigeji Takenaka.

At this moment, he was sitting on the edge of Shigeharu Takenaka's bed, reading to him the health regulations that needed to be taken care of.

"Eat less pickled food, eat less greens and cucumbers for breakfast, and eat more fresh vegetables and fruits. Every day for breakfast, you must drink a bowl of porridge and eat half an egg. ”

"Chinese food...... Dinner ......"

"No drinking, no staying up late. I have to go to bed before seven o'clock every night..."

"Get plenty of exercise every day, walk for two quarters of an hour in the morning and two quarters of an hour after dinner."

"There should also be a limit to the working hours, every day..."

…

Yu Qiuping meticulously read the health regulations for Takenaka's heavy treatment word by word, making the latter lying on the bed cry and laugh.

"Momiji, I'm only 20 years old." Shigeharu Takenaka shook his head with a wry smile, "Although my body has not been very good, I don't need to be treated like this." ”

"Don't take your body for a treat, Hanbei!" Yu Qiuping frowned and said angrily, "I said that we will practice our dream of correcting the world together, you don't want to break your word!" I don't want to wait until I'm old, after the world is settled, I don't have a good friend with whom I can talk about my old ideals. ”

Shigeji Takenaka was stunned when he heard this, slightly moved, and his eyes flickered.

"If you don't do it obediently, I'll send you a few maids to supervise you every day." Yu Qiuping threatened angrily, "For the sake of your health, I will do whatever it takes." ”

·

On May 8, the Oda family's army began to approach Niwa Prefecture from all directions, Oda Nobukiyo's domain. Due to years of war, the Oda family could not recruit enough troops, and this time only 7,000 people were sent to fight Oda Nobukiyo. However, without the assistance of the Saito family, Oda Nobukiyo also knew that this time was fraught with danger. Therefore, he was extremely militant in his territory, urging almost all his retainers and samurai to gather every man of appropriate age in his territory, and the total number of men reached about 3,000, and prepared to resist Oda Nobunaga's army.

However, his approach made his subordinates complain from the elders to the ashigaru. These Owari people were related to each other before, and they were unwilling to meet each other in battle. After Oda Nobukiyo's rebellion, many people have fallen because of the civil war. This time, it is really disappointing and dissatisfied to send almost every adult male to the battlefield.

On May 9, 1564, the Oda family's army began to approach Oda Nobukiyo's territory from three directions: Kuroda Castle, Komakiyama Castle, and Okusa Castle. Among them, Oda Nobunaga led the main force of 4,000 men to march northeast from Komakiyama Castle and surrounded Oguchi Castle, which had been unable to attack for a long time. And Niwa Nagahide, as the general of the Eastern Route Army, led 2,000 people to surround Okusa Castle. Yu Qiuping set out from Cheri County and led more than 1,000 people under his command east to a village 10 miles west of Inuyama Castle to contain Oda Nobukiyo's main force and prevent him from easily supporting. And Mori Kecheng, as a good partner who has cooperated with Yu Qiuping many times, once again led his troops to station in the land ceded north of Kuroda Castle and Kiso River, and guarded against a possible attack on Mino for Yu Qiuping.

Due to the threat of Yuakiping's subordinates, Oda Nobukiyo had to leave the main force of 1,500 men behind Inuyama Castle. The 900 people in Oguchi Castle and the 600 people in Okusa Castle were surrounded by Oda Nobunaga's army after they occupied the castle town. At the behest of Oda Nobunaga, the Oriwa and Madai clans, as well as the samurai on horseback from the various retainers of the Oda family, continued to patrol Niwa Prefecture to cut off all possible communication between Inuyama Castle and its two branch towns. At the same time, Oda Nobunaga sent Shibata Katsuie and Sakuma Nobumori as a special force and began to attack the villages around Oguchi Castle and Okusa Castle. Unable to resist, the villages had no choice but to express their loyalty to Oda Nobuga.

And many of the strong men and ashigaru who were recruited in Koguchi Castle and Okusa Castle came from those villages. Seeing that his hometown was conquered and his family fell into the hands of Oda Nobunaga, he was not only worried, but also worried that his resistance would cause trouble for his family. And because the connection between the inside and outside of the city was completely cut off, the two branches were like two small boats on the ocean, lonely and helpless, as if they could not wait for any rescue. Under such circumstances, morale in the two branches began to waver.

Oda Nobukiyo understood the danger facing the branch city at this moment, and unwilling to sit idly by, he bravely sent troops out of the city, trying to support the two branch cities in order to boost the morale of the city. And Yu Qiuping, the special force assigned to contain Oda Nobukiyo's main force, naturally would not let him go easily. In order to avoid the capture of Inuyama Castle by Yuakihei after the departure of the main force, Oda Nobukiyo had to lead an army of 1,500 to leave from the west gate of Inuyama Castle and attack Yuakihei's troops. He planned to defeat Yuqiuping first, relieve the danger of the flanks, and then go south to support the branch city.

But this, but it is in the arms of Yu Qiuping.

Oda Nobukiyo's 1,500-strong army, because it was already a trapped beast, and it was a local close-range battle that did not need auxiliaries, so nearly 800 people wore carcasses and stepped on the battlefield as soldiers with weapons in hand, and there were also 80 cavalry, including the horses. Oda Nobukiyo originally thought that among Yu Qiuping's more than 1,000 people, it was estimated that there were only more than 300 soldiers, and his number of soldiers had a two-fold advantage. However, he didn't know that Yu Qiuping, the rich man who recruited troops, had 600 soldiers and 50 cavalry in his hands, and was waiting for his arrival.

At four o'clock on May 10, Oda Nobuyiyo's army left the west gate of Inuyama Castle and marched along the southern bank of the Kiso River toward the camp of Yuakihira. Yu Qiuping also left the auxiliary troops in the camp, and the soldiers sent the camp to line up. Oda Nobukiyo also left the auxiliaries behind, and sent 800 soldiers out of formation.

The terrain in the northwest of Niwa Prefecture is very flat, almost flat. With the exception of the Kiso River, which serves as the border between Mino and Owari, there is no terrain that can affect the outcome of the battle. The camp of Yuqiuping was set up on the north side of the official road, on the edge of a village between the official road and the Kiso River. Oda Nobukiyo also led his army to leave the official road and went to the wasteland to the north to compete with Yuakihei's troops.

On this kind of plain, which is almost not affected by the terrain and fortifications at all, there is no strategic layout, strategic contest and complex battle situation, and it is the first time that Yu Qiuping has experienced one-on-one array battle. Oda Nobukiyo's number was slightly more than his men, and Inuyama Castle's troops had always been a strong force in the Oda family, so Yu Qiuhei was a little nervous. In this battle, who wins and who loses, has nothing to do with the contest of strategy. Rather, it is simply a competition between the combat power of the two armies and the ability of the commanders of the two armies to dispatch battle formations.

Due to the small number of people, Yu Qiuping also prefers defense, so he lists a regular horizontal formation. 600 ashigaru and 50 cavalry, as well as a small number of guards and heralds, a total of 13 platoons. Among them were 3 platoons of archers, 9 platoons of infantry and 1 platoon of cavalry. Yu Qiuping made 3 bow and arrow platoons lined up and stood in front of the whole army, and 6 of the 9 infantry platoons were lined up in a line, forming three horizontal formations, side by side. The remaining three infantry platoons and the cavalry platoon were detained by Yu Qiuping as reserves.

And Oda Nobukiyo's 800 men and nearly 80 cavalry men listed a rather large crane wing array. On the left flank was a reserve of 300 men under Yoshitoshi Mita, and on the right flank was a reserve of 300 men led by Taro Tado, also with a total of 300 men. The wings are pressed forward to make a gesture of outflanking Yu Qiuping. Oda Nobukiyo's main camp, located in the middle of the two wings, was garrisoned by 200 ashigaru and 80 cavalry.

At eight o'clock, both armies had already finished their armor. Since it was located on the plains and there was no vantage point from which to look out at the opponent's formation, Yuakihei and Oda Nobukiyo also sent out their cavalry to try to scout the opponent's formation, numbers, and possible offensive intentions. The big war is about to break out.