Hearing Hideho say this, Nishio Mitsukyo couldn't help but be surprised: "Your Highness said to beware of the Tokugawa family, does it mean that you suspect that the Inner Mansion is also involved in it?" ”

"That's not true," Hideho didn't want these Tokugawa Ieyasu pawns to suspect him, and hurriedly explained, "The absence of the Inner Prefecture's flower on this crusade order is enough to show that the Tokugawa family is not involved in it, and besides, Major General Yuki is also with us on the expedition to Aizu, so you don't need to worry." The reason why I say this is because the attitude of the Inner Government has not yet been obvious, and it is not clear whether it is friend or foe, so for the sake of safety, you should try to choose the mountain road when you return, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble. ”

"I see." Nishio Hikaryo was not suspicious, but decided to return to Mino via Ueno and Shinano in accordance with Hidebo's instructions.

Although Hidebo knew that Tokugawa Ieyasu had bad intentions, the four families of Asharai, Asano, Ikeda, and Gamo who were placed around the Tokugawa family all wrote to him, saying that there was no large-scale military build-up on the border adjacent to the Tokugawa family.

On April 21, the day after receiving the crusade order, the seven heads of the Nishimino clan, led by the Nishio Kokyo, left Fukusenji Temple in the early morning and headed south to return to Mino, while the Ichikan daimyo headed by Mototsuna Kuchigi who were returning to were packing their bags and preparing to return to Japan the next day.

Looking at the Nishio Light Sect and the others happily on the road, a wicked smile appeared at the corner of Xiubao's mouth. Three days later, he was in the Tokugawa domain five miles south of the border between Ueno and Musashi provinces. The bodies of the seven daimyo and the forty people who accompanied them were found, all of whom were killed by ninja weapons without exception, and shuriken engraved with the Hattori family crest were found on some of the corpses, which was used by Ikeda Teruma and Asano Nagamasa as an excuse to ask the Tokugawa family for their crimes, and by that time, the Toyoshi had torn their faces with the Tokugawa family and launched a battle against Hibara at the foot of Mt. Kohino.

After the 20th military conference was over, everyone returned to their respective camps and continued the attack on the Uesugi family according to the plan. At this time, Wakamatsu Castle was already unrecognizable after two days of baptism of war. The strongholds outside the castle were all captured by the Toyotomi army, except for Ikebo. Nishinomaru's Shibe Mitsucho and Kurokawa Weimi struggled to defend the inner gate with 2,000 troops, trying to stop the more than 10,000 troops of Otani Yoshitsugu; Ninomaru's situation should be slightly better, after all, in addition to Naoe's 3,000 soldiers, there are also 2,000 sergeants led by Shida Yoshihide and Shimoyoshitada. But because of the ambush soldiers can not be exposed. Kagan Kei succeeded this Jindai and had no choice but to use the Nanzhuang Inner Army of Shida Yoshihide as the main force to oppose the 10,000 troops of Kobayakawa and Tian Yoshimasa. The situation is also very critical; However, compared to the east and west two pills, Ikega, which was attacked by 25,000 troops, was even more unsustainable, and fought a defensive battle like a meat grinder. Haruyen Tadashi and Kokuni Minori (Naoe Kanesu's younger brother) were killed in battle, and Yasuda Nomoto, who was the commander-in-chief, led only 1,000 troops to support it, and the eastern, southern, and western gates of Ikefang were conquered one after another, while Uesugi Keikatsu was still reluctant to put the defenders of Ikefang from the north gate into Honmaru.

Surprisingly, in the evening of the same day, when the sun was about to set, Uesugi Keikatsu actually opened the north gate and let the remaining more than 300 Ikebo defenders enter the city, this change of attitude made Yasuda Nomoto grateful, but after entering the city, he realized that Uesugi Keikatsu's mercy was also a last resort: under the strong offensive of the Toyotomi army and the suppression of artillery fire, Nishiidemaru and Ninomaru were successively broken at 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and Kurokawa was really unbearable at the successive defeats in Minamimachi, Hirayamaso, Jonansho, and Nishiidemaru. Yu Otani Yoshiji committed suicide by seppuku in the palace at the same time as attacking Nishidemaru, and Mitsunaga of the Nishiidemaru Formation Daishibe was unable to return to the sky, so he had to lead the remnants of the army of 500 people to return to Honmaru; The battle situation of Ninomaru was more complicated, although it broke into Ninomaru, but the ambush of the ambush soldier Naoe Kanesu, but the Kobayakawa Hideaki team fell into confusion, but fortunately, Tayoshimasa who came later attacked Naoe Kanesu's flank, so that the Uesugi army gave up breaking into Kobayakawa and the main team instead gathered their forces and retreated to Honmaru. In order to cover the retreat of the large army, the remnants of the army were led by Kanra Keitsugu and Shida Yoshihide to attract the Kobayakawa army to the east gate of Ninomaru, during which Shimoyoshi Tadashi of Nanzhuang Nei Shuangbi was killed in battle, while another Shida Yoshihide felt that he had done his best after receiving the news that the Naoe army had withdrawn into Honmaru and drew his sword and committed suicide; Kanya Keitsugu did not choose to commit suicide as the intermediary of Shida Yoshihide, but in order to save the lives of the remnant sergeants, he opened the east gate after receiving the guarantee of Kobayakawa Hideaki, and led the remaining 150 people to surrender, so that Ninomaru completely fell into the hands of the Toyotomi army.

After the fall of the two flanks of the defense line, there was also news from the Goken Ding side that Fukushima Masanori had filled in several four-man wide dirt roads, so that the army could reach Honmaru's Ishigaki, in this case, it was no longer necessary to hold on to Ikeban, so Uesugi Keikatsu ordered Yasuda Nogen to withdraw to Honmaru.

At this point, the Wakamatsu defense line of the Uesugi army completely collapsed, and the remaining 1,300 men were stubbornly defending Honmaru and Kitademaru under the command of Uesugi Keikatsu, intending to make a dying struggle.

It was evening, and it was already dark, so Hideho decided to suspend the attack and let the sergeants who had been fighting for a day rest well, while still sending people to shout to the castle, hoping that Uesugi Keikatsu would see the situation clearly and surrender Kaejo. At this moment, Uesugi Keikatsu has understood that Hidebo's promise of "200,000 stones" is now a great luxury, from Hideho's shouting, Uesugi Kagekatsu did not hear a promise of "allowing to keep the name of the family and the status of the daimyo", but "for the sake of the soldiers and the people" was frequently read out, these words greatly shook the will of the Uesugi army in the city, and a considerable part of the Uesugi army usurped the castle in order to save their lives.

However, most of the retainers and superior samurai who retreated into the city were stubborn, and their direct solution to the weak-willed ones was to make an example of them, and in front of the corpses of dozens of their comrades, the poor peasant soldiers had to accept the reality that although there was heaven outside the city, they could only live in hell.

Since the shouting had no effect, in the second half of the night Hideho stopped his futile efforts and let most of the soldiers go to rest and prepare for the final battle to capture Wakamatsu the next day.

After receiving Hidebo's order, the soldiers on the front line went back to the camp to take a nap, but the soldiers on patrol did not dare to relax at all, and strictly patrolled and probed between the barracks under the leadership of the samurai, but they did not notice that on the eve of this victory, some ninjas were also busy shuttling between the various heroes.

Ninomaru's Kobayakawa Hideaki and Ta Yoshimasa, Ikebo's Shimazu Yoshihiro, Goken Choban's Kuroda Nagamasa and Hosokawa Tadashi, Omomachi's Mabe Clan, Kohiyama's Yuki Hideyasu, Yoshikawa Hiroie, Mori Hidemoto, Furukawa Shrine's Nagamune Ibe Morikin, Tokeiji Temple's Akaza Yoshiie, and others all received a secret letter written by Tokugawa Ieyasu himself.

"The rebels have arrived, and you will do what you do." After reading the letter, Kobayakawa Hideaki immediately threw it into the fire, looking at the small flame that had disappeared in an instant, and the corners of his mouth revealed the same evil smile as Hideho, which seemed to be unique to the Toyotomi clan. (To be continued.)