In the early morning of October 6, before the sky was fully light, Yu Qiuping was woken up from his sleep. He opened his eyes in confusion and found that Ryuko was already sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a basin and towel, anxiously waiting to help him wash.

"Dragon, why did you wake me up." Yu Qiuping stretched his waist and looked at the sky roughly, and it was estimated that he only looked like Yin Shi. However, before the dragon could answer, the sound of dense and chaotic footsteps, shouts, and horses' hooves had already reached his ears. Yu Qiuping's eyes widened suddenly, and he sat up from the bed all of a sudden, and asked anxiously, "What do you mean?" Miyoshi retreated? ”

"That's right, Your Highness!" Ryuko nodded his little head, and he took a warm towel and began to wipe Yu Qiuping's face, while saying softly: "Just now, the Oda Palace personally sent an order for all troops to immediately gather and pursue, and the Miyoshi family has begun to retreat." ”

"The lord is coming in person?" Yu Qiuping was shocked when he heard it.

"That's right, Oda Hall doesn't seem to have slept all night, and they are all staring at the Miyoshi family from the watchtower." Ryuko remembered Oda Nobunaga's appearance, and laughed out loud, "So after seeing that His Highness was sleeping soundly, he seemed to be so angry that he threatened to give His Highness a little color to see." ”

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Whenever it comes to temporarily assembling troops, the performance of the Yuqiu family is always eye-catching. Chang Panbei got up in the early morning to assemble, and the time of the armor formation can be said to be the best in the whole army, and the 850 soldiers were the first to rush out of the camp and rush towards the camp of Miyoshi's house.

Behind Yu Qiuping, 1,000 people from Shibata Katsuya, 700 people from Takigawa Kazuki, and 800 people from Sakuma Nobumori also followed. After that, there were 5,000 soldiers of the Asai family and nearly 8,000 soldiers left in the Oda family. Minami Omi and Asakura's forces followed last. Due to the possibility of a fierce battle at any time, all the soldiers who set out were already armored. The auxiliaries were all left in the camp, and the retainers of each family were behind them to direct the carrying of the baggage.

When Yu Qiuping approached the camp of the Miyoshi family, the troops left behind by the Miyoshi family immediately began to fight back. However, due to the huge number of coalition soldiers, the soldiers left behind by the Miyoshi family seemed to be only about 2,000 people, and they were unable to resist at all. Yu Qiuping climbed the commanding heights to look out, and found that the team of the Miyoshi family was dragging on the official road for a long time, and was retreating in the direction of Kyoto, and the end of the line was about two or three miles away from the Oda family.

Oda Nobunaga didn't say much, and immediately ordered the various departments of the Oda family to withdraw the cavalry of the department and hand it over to the unified command of Shibata Katsuie. A cavalry force of nearly 1,000 people, under the command of Shibata Katsuie, headed straight for Miyoshiya's troops. Seeing this, Asai Nagamasa personally commanded all the 800 cavalry of the Asai family to rush to the Miyoshi family, and cooperated with the cavalry of the Oda family to cover each other. The troops after the breakdown of the Miyoshi family seem to have been commanded by Toyasu Ataka - although he was a well-known expert in naval warfare, he was never known for his land warfare. Under the harassment of the cavalry of the Oda family and the Asai family, the speed gradually decreased, and it was about to be overtaken by the vanguard troops of the Oda family.

Miyoshi Nagayi, Miyoshi Masayasu and others, who were evacuated in front of him, could not sit idly by, so they had to order the soldiers to put on armor and attack the cavalry of the Oda family and the Asai family backwards to cover the evacuation of Aya Fuyasu. However, since the entire rearguard force had been stuck by the Oda family, the speed of the Miyoshi family's troops had to slow down, and the whole army was armored and the auxiliaries went first to deal with the general attack that the Oda family might launch at any time.

In this way, nearly 19,000 soldiers of the Miyoshi family and 25,000 soldiers of the coalition army continued to pull on both sides of the official road and official road from Seta to Yamashina.

"The Lord has given the order for you to continue the pursuit! But don't go to war right away, just stick to the Miyoshi family! Oda Nobunaga sent out the mother-clothed people to convey the following order to each of the Oda family's reserves: "Before arriving at Yamashina, the official roads were all small roads between the valleys and hills in the Hira Mountains, and there was no way to deploy troops, and it was impossible to give full play to the superiority of troops. Keep pursuing like this until you enter the plains in the middle of Yamashiro Country, and then make plans! ”

"Please also report back to the lord, so that the lord must be more careful!" As one of the pioneers, Yu Qiuping was keenly aware of the danger, and repeatedly instructed Yoshiyuki Sawaki, who had come to give orders: "The terrain in front of our army is like a trumpet that changes from thin to wide, and we will suddenly enter a plain from a narrow official road. At that time, if the Miyoshi family, who was ahead of us, took advantage of the wide plain to line up and deploy all the troops, our vanguard would face the dilemma of attacking the crowd with a small number. Moreover, with such a flare terrain, it is easy to enter and difficult to exit, and it may be directly defeated and then constantly roll back the friendly forces behind it, causing turmoil in the whole army. ”

"I see." Although Yoshiyuki Sawaki is usually no big or small with Yu Qiuping, he has a lot of respect for Yu Qiuping when he arrives on the battlefield, "I must tell the lord." ”

Under the persevering pursuit of the coalition forces, that night, the Miyoshi Army only retreated to Yamashina, that is, the sudden enlargement of the horn mouth that Yu Qiuping had said before. Today, after a whole day of tossing and turning from the early hours of the morning, I only evacuated 25 miles, and I am still 13 miles away from Kyoto and the Nijo Imperial Palace. The camp of the coalition army spread along the official road from Yamashina to Otsu for nearly ten miles.

And after this day's tail-of-the-line pursuit, the losses of the Miyoshi Army, as the retreating side, were really not small. Not only did they abandon a large amount of baggage, but there were also about 1,000 casualties among the soldiers and auxiliaries. On the other hand, the coalition forces, as the pursuing side, were almost unscathed. Now it is still because of the narrow official road, and the retreating side does not have to face entrapment and detours. By tomorrow on the plains, the casualties of the retreating side will be even heavier. It is conservatively estimated that by the time Miyoshi is evacuated to Settsu, the number of staff will be reduced by at least more than 10%.

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That evening, the coalition forces gathered again in the Oda family's tent and held an assessment meeting. In the big tent, there is a rather fine map of the mountain city country, which was seized from the camp of the Miyoshi family, and the labels of various hydrographies are very clear.

The allied forces were aiming for Kyoto and Nijo Castle, which were 13 miles away, and Nijo Castle was less than 4 miles southwest of Kyoto. The Kamogawa River, which runs to the east of them, was a natural barrier for Kyoto and Nijo Castle to resist the armies to the east. If you want to enter Kyoto from the east, you must cross the Kamogawa River. The Kamogawa River originates in the mountains of northern Yamashiro Province and flows from north to south, flowing almost vertically from the east of Kyoto and Nijo Castle to the south, and then to the southwest at the location of Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine in the south.

To the east of the Kamogawa River, there are three large mountains. Further east of the three mountains is Yamashina, where the armies confront, that is, the eastern end of the Yamashiro Plain. These three mountains, from north to south, are Mt. Omonji, Mt. Otoba, and Mt. Higashi. Among them, Kiyomizudera Temple on the mountainside of Mt. Otowa and Tofukuji Temple at the foot of Mt. Higashiyama are both famous temples. The location of Mt. Otowa is particularly important, and it can be said to be the throat of Kyoto. It is located in the middle of the eastern plain of Kamogawa, and its altitude is so high that if you occupy it, you can suppress the vast area around it. Unlike Mt. Otowa and Higashiyama, which can be used by the army, Mt. Omonji is part of the Hira Mountains, and it is rugged and difficult to navigate, and the area is so vast that it is almost impossible to climb.

There are three ways to get into Kyoto and Nijo Castle from Yamashina on the eastern side of Sanza Mountain. The north road is the official road between Mt. Omonji and Mt. Otoba, and there is the famous Nanzenji Temple on the official road. This road leads northwest past Okazaki Shrine and Chionji Temple to Kyoto's ferry port on the Kamogawa River. This road is also the closest way to enter Kyoto.

The second road, the middle road, runs from Yamashina to the west, crosses Mt. Otowa in the middle of the plain and heads west, crossing the Kamogawa River after passing the famous Rokubalomiji Temple, and crossing many temples such as Honnoji Temple to the northwest. During the Kamakura shogunate, the shogun set up a Rokubora probe near the Rokuparamiji Temple to monitor the movements of the imperial court.

The third road, the South Road, is more remote. It is a southwesterly journey from Yamashina, passing through Higashiyama and Tofukuji Temple, taking the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, crossing the Kamogawa River from the southern section, and heading north to Nijo Castle and Kyoto.

Of these three roads, the south road is too far and not the point. The important North and Middle Roads are closely related to Mt. Otowa. The narrowest part of the northern road is the valley between Mt. Omonji and Mt. Otoba, where Nanzenji Temple is also located. Mt. Otowa has a firm grip on this main road, and it can be blocked as long as it attacks condescendingly and takes Nanzenji Temple.

And the middle road, itself is to pass through Mt. Otowaba. At the same time, due to its high altitude, Mt. Otowa provides the conductor with a wide view of the surrounding plains. Although it may not be possible to see as much as on the plains due to the many temples around Kyoto, it is a very important strategic location.

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Most of the people in the assessment room had been in the field for a long time, and after a few glances at the map, they realized the importance of Mt. Otowa and the Kiyomizu-dera Temple on it. If the Miyoshi family is not willing to endure huge casualties and continue to retreat, but intends to fight a field battle with the coalition forces to repel the coalition forces and then evacuate, then this Otowa Mountain is the key to the contention between the two sides. It can be said that whoever captures Mt. Otowa wins half of it.

"There is a high probability that the three good families will not blindly withdraw it." Oda Nobunaga made a judgment at the evaluation meeting, "If he withdraws again, not only will his casualties increase further, but Kyoto and Nijo Castle will also be surrendered." Yu didn't believe that the Miyoshi family would give up Kyoto without a fight, and the Miyoshi and four brothers were not such spineless breeds. ”

"But even if the Miyoshi Army stays to fight us, it will definitely not be our opponent." Oda Nobunaga confidently tapped the center of his hand with a folding fan, "Yu's ninja has received the news, and the news of Ashikaga Yoshiei's death has spread, and the entire Yamashiro country is now aware of it. When the Miyoshi army learned of this, they must have been demoralized and had no intention of fighting. Coupled with the fire in their backyard, they must not have much energy to fight to the death, and what they are thinking about must be to retreat quickly. ”

"We have the advantage of troops, our morale is like a rainbow, and against such an army that is like an arrow, this battle is nine times out of ten," Oda Nobunaga assured Ashikaga Yoshiteru in a sworn tone: "Yu promises to the Imperial Palace!" At this time tomorrow, let Gongkata be the master of Nijo Castle! ”

"Good!" At this time, the war was going well, and seeing that he would soon be able to fight back to Nijo Castle, Ashikaga Yoshiteru also left all the unpleasantness with Oda Nobunaga behind, "It's all about the loyalty and hard work of Your Highness!" The revival of the shogunate is promising, and you are all loyal ministers who will go down in history! ”

"Okay, let's lay out tomorrow's battle plan next." Oda Nobunaga tapped the map with a folding fan, and after a pause, he spoke.