After that, Hosokawa Nobumoto turned to the north and south, and the momentum was like a bamboo, uprooting one hostile stronghold after another, and the wealthy clans in Yagami Castle could hear the bad news almost every day, and suddenly people thought about their homes and worried about the destruction of their territory.

On this day, I came to Kuroi Castle, the home city of the Akai family. Kuroi Castle was originally built by Akamatsu Sadafan during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but Akai Naomasa expanded the size of the castle during the renovation, greatly increasing the length of the east and west walls, and adding three pills. Kuroi Castle Ichigoshi became one of the three major castles in Tamba (the others are Yagami Castle and Yagi Castle), and it was a powerful country.

The current head of the Akai family is the Akai Tadashi family, and the "red ghost" Akai Nao, who is the mighty Tanba, is the one who assists him, but the real controller of the Akai family is Akai Naomasa, and the specific thing has to start from twenty years ago.

Akai Naomasa's elder brother Akai Ieqing was the last generation of the family governor, and led the Akai family to complete the domination of the entire Ice County, Naomasa, as the second in the family, naturally succeeded to the Ogino clan of the Akai clan, and became the adopted son of the lord of Kuroi Castle and his maternal uncle Ogino Akikiyo. Later, with the support of the Akai family, he killed his adoptive father, Ogino Akikiyo, and became the lord of Kuroi Castle, which is a typical example of Shimokagami.

In the first year of Koji (1555), the Akai clan and the Ashida Ashikaga army of the Hosokawa clan fought a decisive battle at the Karagawa River, and Iegyoshi was seriously wounded and died two years later.

Akai Naomasa supported his young nephew Akai Tadashi in Kuroi Castle and served as the head of the Akai family, while he restored Akai's original surname and served as a posterior servant to handle all affairs in the family.

After the Akai Tadashi family became an adult, Akai Naomasa did not return power to him, so he maintained it until now.

"Siege!" Hosokawa Nobumoto gave an order, Dinghai Bei bore the brunt, the city was already empty, and the elite soldiers were all taken away by Akai Naomasa, even if it was a strong city, it was only the share of hatred and falling into the city.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The sound of the city gate slamming into the hearts of the defenders.

"Hold on! The enemy must not be allowed in! "Akai Yukiya commanded the peasant soldiers to defend as best they could, and he was the younger brother of Akai Naomasa.

"Kill!" Oura led Saga Bei to take over the attack of Dinghai Bei, leaving Kuroi Castle under constant pressure.

"Lord, it's been almost a month since we came out, and the transmission of intelligence from our skills is getting slower and slower, and it's been five days since we heard from each other." Honda Masanobu stood behind Hosokawa Nobumoto's side, and as the chief military advisor of the Hosokawa family, he shouldered a great responsibility.

"Oh? Could it be that you got lost halfway through? Hosokawa Nobumoto had a rule to contact his family every three days, but this time he was not sure where the next direction would be when he switched to Tanba, so it was completely random, so it was not surprising that the correspondent could not find them.

"Maybe—" Honda Masanobu frowned, he didn't like this kind of out-of-control scene.

"Kill!" Suddenly! From the mountains and forests behind the Hosokawa army's main formation, there were bursts of shouts and killings, and a group of unknown ashigaru appeared.

"Oh? And a trick? Whose flag is it? Hosokawa Nobumoto was a little surprised, he had been crisscrossing for so many days, and it was the first time he encountered an enemy army in formation, wasn't it all in Yagami Castle.

"My lord, it's Akai Goose Pattern, it's the military strength of the Red Ghost Akai." Honda Masanobu carefully discerned it, and finally answered in the affirmative.

"Dinghai is ready to defend the lord to the death!" Gamo Fuxiu stood in front of the formation, and Dinghai immediately formed a circle formation, protecting Hosokawa Nobumoto tightly in the middle.

"Rush! Take down Hosokawa Nobumoto! "Akai Naomasa actually sneaked out of Yagami Castle a long time ago, and for this reason, he did not hesitate to disobey Hideharu Hatano's insistence order, and he will inevitably be severely reprimanded in the future. But for the sake of his own family leader, he can't take care of it anymore, since three days ago, he has been lurking nearby, waiting for today's opportunity, the Hosokawa army has been fighting fiercely for half a day, and most of his physical strength has been consumed.

But... The Hosokawa army has a strict management system, not only does it not have any panic, but can quickly and effectively enter the combat state.

When Akai Naomasa saw this scene, his heart gradually sank, and what he thought was a surprise attack turned into a head-to-head confrontation, and it seemed that it would be a vicious battle for a while.

Whoosh! "Ugh!" "Ahh Suddenly, countless hidden weapons flew out from above, and they shot at Akai Ashigaru, who had fallen a lot.

Whew! Countless ninjas jumped from above the forest, and the ninja knife in their hands quickly slashed, blood splattered, and the Akai army suffered a sudden blow.

"What!" Akai Naomasa didn't expect that he was actually ambushed, which made him even less confident. In fact, he misunderstood, each siege of the Hosokawa army is not only two standing alternate attacks, even the ninja army is divided into two teams to attack each other, and the resting team is on guard around the Hosokawa army.

"Kill!" The leader of the ninja army, Ban Naganobu, was in charge of the place today, and when the enemy entered the forest, he led his army to launch a surprise attack.

"Withdraw! Fall back! The alert Akai Naomasa hurriedly led his troops out of the woods and gradually disappeared into the distance.

"Lord!" At this time, the siege of the castle was also withdrawn in an orderly manner, and Oura and others also gathered around Hosokawa Nobumoto.

"The enemy has retreated, and it seems that Akai Naomasa is also a famous general, and he can't do it in one blow, so he doesn't entangle it anymore, which saves his strength and threatens us from time to time." Honda Masanobu nodded approvingly, the name of the red ghost is not only brave, but also deceitful.

"Hmm... It's kind of interesting..."Hosokawa Nobumoto looked up at Kuroi Castle, and tilted his head to estimate the number of people who had just been Naomasa Akai, and there were probably nearly two thousand people, which was about the same as his own number.

"My lord, let's go find Akai Naomasa first, as long as we destroy them, we can continue to attack Kuroda Castle, otherwise we will be attacked on our backs." Gamo Fuxiu suggested.

"Hmm... The subordinates also agreed with Uraso-sama. "Oura also thinks that he should destroy the red ghost first, otherwise he will be too much of a threat to himself.

"Good! Tell the order to go down and find the enemy's main force! Annihilate Naomasa Akai! Hosokawa Nobumoto didn't think much about it and agreed to this tactic.

Soon, the Hosokawa army began to move around the ice county, looking for Akai Naomasa for a decisive battle.

However, even though Hosokawa's Monomiban was able to easily find the Akai army, the cunning Akai Naomasa relied on his familiarity with the terrain and repeatedly escaped Hosokawa Nobumoto's roundup.

"Damn! This guy is really tough! Hosokawa Nobumoto stomped his foot angrily, seven or eight days have passed, and every time he finds the shadow of Akai Naomasa, when he leads the army past, it is already gone, and he will be in a hurry to get angry.

"Lord, if you go on like this, it will only waste time, so it's better to go elsewhere, right?" Honda Masanobu also frowned, no matter how he tempted, Akai Naomasa just didn't take the bait, like a difficult catfish.

"Then..."

"My lord! Someone out there asks to see you! Said he came from Harima Country! Side Kondo Takatora hurriedly ran over and interrupted Hosokawa Nobumoto's words.