Chapter 338: Invasion of Kaga

At the same time that the allied forces of the Noto Kunitude such as Nagarenlong were defeated in Okunoto, more than 4,000 troops led by generals Kakizaki Keike and Kanri Keichi also broke into the Hebei Prefecture of Kaga Province and successively captured the important towns of Takamatsu Castle, Kamiyamada Castle, Riki Castle, Mori Castle, Tsuhata Castle, Asahayama Castle, Masune Castle, Tsuhata Togoshi Castle, and Kiriyama Castle. Okumasa, the lord of Riki Castle, Shiro Yamada, Saemon Yamada, the lord of Kamiyamada Castle, Sadakiyoshi Hirose, the lord of Matsuhata Castle, Aisoten Kogoro (Aoyama Kogoro), the lord of Matsune Castle, and the defenders of Takamatsu Castle, Urakami Kubei, Makai Kihachiro, and other powerful generals of Kaga were all killed by the Uesugi army.

Subsequently, Kaga Naganori, Kameda Munetoshi, Kameda Takatsuna (Kameda Munetoshi's son) and other Kaga have always been a powerful military general, and under the guidance of Nanori Yorishu and Fujimaru Katsutoshi, they raised troops in their own territory to respond to the Uesugi army.

In the third year of Yonglu, February 10. Kakizaki Keijia and Kagan Kajichi will invade Kaga Province with more than 4,000 troops in more than four months, and seize the entire county of Hebei Prefecture. At this moment, Shimoma Yorikiyo, Shimoma Yorisho, Chaokatsuji Kyoyoshi, Miyake Gonjo, Saikoji Shinkyo and others were still tired of coping with the Asakura family's offensive against Enuma and Nomi, and they could not draw more troops to resist the attack of the Uesugi army.

"See Jing Jiagong, the criminal is late, and I hope that Jing Jiagong will forgive his sins." Kameda Nagashiri, Kameda Mutoshi, Kameda Takatsuna and others rushed to the Kamisaki Keika family as soon as they heard that the Kakizaki Keike family had set up their main camp in Limu Castle, for fear of leaving a bad impression on the Kakizaki Keijia.

"Kameda Osumi Mamoru and Kameda Gonbei, you raised your troops just right a few days ago, and it would have been better if you had fallen to the Uesugi family earlier after the Battle of Kamikawa." Kakizaki Jingjia forced a smile and smiled.

"What you said is extremely true, but at that time, the criminals and others were closely monitored, and they couldn't raise troops!" Kameda Nagashiri, Kameda Mutoshi, Kameda Takatsuna and others immediately defended themselves.

"That's it, now that Noto guards Usami Surugamoru has pacified the rebellious people such as Changlianlong, he will soon be able to lead the army to Hebei County to join our army." Kakizaki Keijia didn't bother to pursue the matter.

"At present, the number of troops in Kanazawa Imperial Castle has increased to more than 20,000 people, and the surrounding branch cities such as Nagaya Castle, Wakamatsu Castle, Tomizu, Takao Castle, and Eagle's Nest Castle have also prepared to defend the cage castle. I'm afraid that our army will not be able to easily take Kanazawa Gobo down. Kameda Mutoshi was a little worried about this, he was afraid that Kaga would launch a counterattack at the moment.

"What's so fearful?! The old man had already ordered the generals of Juemon, Koma, and Yoshie to lead 2,000 troops to come, and at this time it should be stationed in Asahi Mountain Castle. Kakizaki Keijia sneered and said. He had long expected that Kaga Ichichi would mobilize troops to defend Kanazawa Gobo, so he transferred reinforcements from Kakizaki Kenya, Koma Tsunemitsu, and others, who were originally used to pacify the Chinese in East Vietnam. First, it will reassure the Kaga national lords who have fallen to him, such as Kameda Nagashiri, Kameda Sotoshi, and Kameda Takatsuna, and secondly, it will also make Shimoma Yorisho, Chaokatsuji Kyoyoshi, Miyake Gonjo, Seikkoji Shinkyo and others in Kanazawa Gobo not dare to act rashly.

On the other hand, Kakizaki Keike and others began to omit the original Kaga to protect the Tomiken clan. Because the residence of the Fujian clan happens to be southwest of Kanazawa Gobo, once the Fujian clan falls to the Uesugi family, it will undoubtedly be the biggest blow to Kaga.

At the same time, a military commander dispatched by Asakura Yoshikei to Asakata Prefecture and Asakura Keitsuna, the lord of Oda Castle (in charge of the naval army), led 5,000 troops to successfully capture the important towns of Enuma Prefecture, such as Daishoji Castle, Matsuyama Castle, Taetsu Castle, Yamanaka Castle, and Hitani Castle. Kaga Ichijo and other powerful generals such as Kawahara Shiro Saemon, the commander of Kingo Castle, Kawahara Ukyo, and Katsura Nakanomisuke, the lord of Taetsu Castle, were successively killed by the Asakura army.

However, in order to stabilize the western front and avoid being attacked from both sides, Shimoma Yorisho, Kyokyoshi Shoji, Miyake Gonjo, and Saikoji Shinkyo sent troops to attack Daishoji Castle in an attempt to counterattack the Asakura family. Asakura Keiken immediately led his army to Mount Shikiji to meet Kaga's Ichi-Ichi army, and he successfully defeated Kaga's Ichi-saki army and killed more than 500 people. Subsequently, Asakura Keitsuna led the army to Tenjin Mountain to set fire, and fought with Kaga Ichiken Rokuro Saemon, Hayashi Shinrokuro, Funda Matayoshi, Koguro Genta and others, Asakura army took advantage of the victory to pursue, and once again defeated Kaga Ichi's army, begging for death of more than 300 people, and begging for the death of Kaga Ichiro Tomiyatsuro Saemon, Hayashi Shinrokuro, Funda Matayoshi, Koguro Genta and other powerful generals.

Because Wakabayashi Ieyoshi, the lord of Komatsu Castle, had already been shunned by Shichiri Yorishu and Fujimaru Katsutoshi, when Kaga's Ichichi army was attacked by the Asakura army, he did not send a single soldier to the rescue, and refused to contain the defeated and wounded soldiers of the Ichichi army who had retreated to Komatsu Castle on the grounds of 'strictly preventing the Asakura army from entering the city in the midst of the defeated army'.

Wakabayashi Ieyoshi did not arouse the suspicion of Shimoma Yorisho, Tekatsuji Kyoyoshi, Miyake Gonjo, Seikoji Shinkyo and others, because he himself had a certain degree of autonomy and was not entirely a retainer or monk of Ishiyama Honganji. Echizen, Kaga, Ise-Nagashima, and other areas where the Ichi-su sect flourished, there were Ichi-sujong temples, and the rulers of these temples were generally approved by the Honganji master for the control of the disciples in and around the area. For example, Zhenghui, Lianchun and others, and many of these are the descendants of Lianru. In addition, there are monks sent by the main mountain Osaka Ishiyama Honganji Temple to provide on-the-spot guidance for local activities such as the Ichikatsu. For example, Shimoma Yorisho was sent to Echizen, Shichiri Yorishu and Shimoma Yorijun were sent to Kaga, Shimoma Yoritan was sent to Ise Nagashima, and so on. There are also some powerful lords in the land, who are affiliated with the Ichijo clan and have quite independent powers, such as the Kaga clan of Kaga Province, the Kameda clan, and so on.

Under the onslaught of Asakura Keiken, Asakura Keixuna and others, Kaga's army was forced to retreat and go to Miyukitsuka to build a defense. Asakura Keixuna then led his army in pursuit, but was defeated by the desperate resistance of the army. Asakura Keixuna was forced to lead the army to withdraw to Tenjin Mountain to build a defense, and the area around Baishan was quickly supported by a group of troops, and the two armies fought fiercely again. After several days of fierce fighting, the army of Asakura Keizuna was exhausted, and the Tenjin Mountain was finally attacked by the Ichiyi army, and Asakura Keixuna was forced to lead the remnants to retreat to Daisage Temple Castle for cage defense.

After seeing that the battle situation was becoming more and more unfavorable, Asakura Keiken, Asakura Keixuna and others immediately sent envoys to Echizen Ichisei Valley Castle to ask Asakura Yoshikei for help. After receiving the request for help from Asakura Jingjian and others, Asakura Yoshikyo immediately dispatched Aoki Keiyasu, the lord of Fuchu Castle, Kurosaka Keihisa, the lord of Kuromaru Castle, Xiang Jingyi (a gate of the Asakura family, the same name), and the lord of Beizhuang Castle, Kitazhuang Keizan (a gate of the Asakura family, the same name) and other generals to lead an army of more than 5,000 to the rescue.

On 15 February, Aoki Keiyasu, Kurosaka Keihisa, Mukai Keichi, and Kitasho Keiza entered Kagaenuma Prefecture to join forces with Asakura Keiken and Asakura Keizuna, and successfully defeated the Ichichi army and recaptured Tenjin Mountain. The Ichichi Army, which was defeated by the Asakura Army, used Miyukizuka as a stronghold to defend the castle, and the 8,000 Asakura Army then continued to storm Miyukizuka, but under the strict defense of the Ichichi Army, the Asakura Army was unable to capture it in a short time.

At the same time that the Asakura clan was actively expanding in Kaga Province, the monk Shimoma Yorihiro, sent by Honganji Shunru, arrived at Echizen Ichijoya Castle in late February, preparing to coordinate and negotiate peace with the Asakura family. And Asakura Yoshikage saw that Honganji Xianru took the initiative to send monks to Echizen, so he was ready to buy his face, and he could just talk to Ishiyama Honganji about the conditions.

Subsequently, Asakura Yoshikei made a condition that the two counties of Enuma and Nomi in Kaga Province would be ceded to the Asakura family in order to negotiate peace. However, Shimoma Yoriyun did not agree, because Honganji Xianru could only accept the cession of the land of Enuma County. Once Kaga Ichijomune ceded the two counties of Enuma and Nomi, then the Kaga Kuni Asakura family accounted for one-half, and after that, what did Kaga Ichimune do to continue the struggle against the Uesugi family?

Seeing that Shimoma Yoshimi only agreed to cede one county of Enuma County, Asakura Yoshikage also knew that the Asakura family could not get bogged down in the quagmire of Kaga now, so he prepared to accept the successful armistice and peace with Ishiyama Honganji Temple when he saw it, and sent an envoy to Enuma County to inform the generals that they should not continue to attack Kaga Ichijo.

When Kenshin learned that Asakura Yoshikei had negotiated an armistice with Ishiyama Honganji, he immediately expelled all the 1,000 reinforcements and retainers Horie clan relatives sent by Asakura Yoshikei from the Uesugi domain and sent them back to Echizen.