Chapter 372: Oda Kamiraku

In the third year of Yonglu, on the tenth day of October. At the same time that Takeda Nobuyoshi led more than 22,000 Takeda troops to invade Sagami Province, Asadachi soon learned of this, and he immediately ordered his retainers in Boso Ryogoku to set up a defensive line near the Sagami River to prevent the Takeda army from going further into the hinterland of Sagami.

At the same time, in order to eliminate his worries and fight on two fronts, Oda Nobunaga quickly reached a peace agreement with Takeda Shingen, who was sending troops to attack the wealthy clan of the Oda family in Nishimikawa. The Mizuno family, which occupies most of Bikai-gun, is under the Oda family, the Tokugawa family, which occupies Noda-gun, returns to the Oda family and becomes a subordinate daimyo, while Kamo-gun, Shiraku-gun, Hachiga-gun, Hohan-gun, Hato-gun, and Atsumi gun are owned by the Takeda family. This also announced that the war between the two countries, which had been running for several years, could finally come to an end temporarily.

Shortly after the more than 5,000 Takeda troops led by the generals of Minami Shinano, such as Ogasawara Nobury, Shimojo Nobuji, Kiso Yoshimasa, and Chihisa Yorimoto, returned to Minami Shinano, Oda Nobunaga sent more than 2,000 troops led by Fupo Mitsuji, Naito Katsuya and other retainers to meet Ashikaga Yoshiaki from Kyuhuaiji Temple outside Kita-Omi Kotani Castle.

On the other hand, Asai Nagamasa also sent important ministers Uesaka Castle lord Uesaka Yoshinobu (the Uesaka clan was originally Omi to protect the Kyogoku clan, and Uesaka Yoshinobu succeeded the Uesaka clan governor and became a retainer of the Asai family), Yamamoto Yamajo Castle lord Ashisha Sadashi and others led more than 1,500 troops to escort them to Minosekihara. For the "head of the shogun's family", who had been wandering around for a long time, this trip gave him an absolute sense of security, so Ashikaga Yoshiaki was very happy.

Subsequently, Ashikaga Yoshiaki moved into a temporary residence in Ritsushoji Temple in the western part of Mino. Just after Ashikaga Yoshiaki had spent a period of peace in Ritsusaji Temple, Oda Nobunaga came to Ashikaga Yoshiaki Temple on October 20 to see Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and at the same time presented a large number of gifts to Ashikaga Yoshiaki: a national tsunabe sword, a reed-haired horse, two sets of large armor, 100 catties of agarwood, 100 pieces of shrinking cloth, 30 forgings, and 2 tiger skins······

Ashikaga Yoshiaki kept nodding his head after seeing so many gifts from Oda Nobunaga, and even burst into tears with excitement. Ever since Ashikaga Yoshiaki regarded himself as the head of the shogun's family, no daimyo had ever given him so many gifts, and even the Uesugi family, who were important ministers of the shogunate and occupied most of the eastern country, ignored him, and most of the letters sent were lost without response. He felt that Oda Nobunaga would definitely be able to fulfill his dream of becoming a general.

On November 1, Oda Nobunaga was recruited on a large scale in Mino, Owari, Nishimikawa, Ise, Shima and other countries, and his troops reached more than 40,000. Before the official dispatch of troops to Kamiraku, Oda Nobunaga led more than 500 people from Gifu Castle to Sawa Yamajo Castle to negotiate with Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu father and son, hoping that the Rokkaku family would participate in supporting and escorting Ashikaga Yoshiaki to join the battle of Joraku, and offering hostages to exchange affidavits and so on. However, Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiji, father and son, who had already had an agreement with the Miyoshi San, always refused to support Li Yoshiaki to participate in the battle of Shangluo in the negotiations.

After many fruitless negotiations with the Rokkaku, Oda Nobunaga immediately consulted with Asai Nagamasa to prepare to declare war on the Rokkaku family and prepare to attack Misaku Castle, one of the Rokkaku's branch cities, and fight against the Miyoshi Trio. At the same time, Miyoshi Nagaitsu, Miyoshi Masayasu, and Iwanari Tomochi then went to Minami Omi Ishibe Castle on November 5 to meet with Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu father and son, and the two sides again discussed matters such as preventing Oda Nobunaga from leading his army to Luo.

At this time, the Rokkaku family has experienced the fiasco of Norada and the commotion of Guanyin Temple is at a low ebb, and the Rokkaku family is full of chaos, up and down centrifugal and detached, and even one-fifth of ten years ago is not as good, if it is compared to the heyday of the Roxagonal family twenty years ago, it is even more different than enough, and it is not the opponent of the Oda Army at all. If it weren't for the secret assistance of the three of Miyoshi, where would Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiji, father and son, have the courage to start a war with the Oda family and the Asai family at the same time?

In order to delay the Oda family's westward march to Joraku as much as possible, the Rokkaku family carried out a large-scale large-scale construction of eighteen castles, including Hachimanyama Castle, Chokoji Castle, Misaku Castle, Wadayama Castle, Sayu Castle, Aragami Yama Castle, Megada Castle, Tatori Castle, Toshimanji Castle, Yamazaki Castle, Tayama Castle, and Hino Castle around Kannonji Castle, with the intention of using the Cage Castle Battle to allow the Oda army to divide and attack, so as to gain more time to merge with the Miyoshi family's army and repel the Oda army.

After confirming that the negotiations had broken down, Oda Nobunaga and Asai Nagamasa met up on November 8 outside Minami-Omi Sawa Yamajo, and the Oda army then marched to the vicinity of Aichigawa after a two-day rest in the Takamiya area. The total number of coalition troops swelled to more than 50,000 in an instant, and the morale of the coalition army was greatly boosted, the camp stretched like a long snake, and bonfires burned everywhere like a starry sky.

When Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu father and son learned that the Oda army had entered Minami Omi, in order to resist the attack of the Oda army, they immediately made the decision to divide their troops to strengthen the defense in important towns such as Kesaku Castle and Wadayama Castle. With Yoshida Shigetaka (a tributary of the Sasaki clan, son of Yoshida Shigemasa), Yoshida Shigemitsu, Yoshida Shinsuke, Yoshida Yasui Mamoru (lord of Taioyama Castle), Kenbe Hideaki, Kenbe Toshitoku, Kenbe Hinata Mamoru (Rokkaku Yoshiji side near) and others led more than 3,000 troops into Misaku Castle to assist the castle lord Kenbun Cage Castle, Tanaka Jibu Daisuke (Wadayama Castle lord), Tanakayama Castle and others led more than 6,000 troops to guard Watayama Castle, and the Rokkaku genealogy Daishigetomi and Omi guardian Daigamo Kenhide were responsible for holding Hino Otoha Castle. Kamo Kenhide thought that the number of defenders of Misaku Castle was still too small to resist the attack of the Oda and Asai coalition forces, and originally he wanted to send troops to reinforce Misaku Castle, but Rokkaku Yoshiken thought that there was no need for further reinforcements, so Gamo Kenhide had to return to his home city Hino Otowa Castle to continue to prepare for the cage castle to defend to the death.

On 12 November, Oda Nobunaga sent his retainers Mori Kasei, Shibata Katsuie, and Sakai Masashi as the vanguard to engage the Rokkaku Army stationed outside Kannonji Temple, killing more than 100 people, and achieving the first victory of the Oda Army since entering Minami Omi. Originally, Oda Nobunaga wanted Asai Nagamasa to lead an army to monitor Kannonji Castle, the base of the Rokkaku family, and then the Oda army would be responsible for attacking Wadayama Castle. However, Asai Nagamasa rejected Oda Nobunaga in order to gain as much territory as possible and increase the Asai family's influence on Minami Omi. Subsequently, Oda Nobunaga had no choice but to change the retainer Sakai Masasho to lead the army to monitor and contain Kannonji Castle, and the Mino trio (Inaba Ryotsu, Ando Morisho and Clan Naomoto) were responsible for leading the army to monitor and contain Wadayama Castle, and prepare for a feint attack on the castle.

Oda Nobunaga then sent his retainers Sakuma Nobumori, Kinoshita Toyoshiro (Kinoshita Hideyoshi), Niwa Nagahide, Asai Masada (Owari Asai clan) and others to attack Misaku Castle. More than 2,300 troops of Kinoshita Toyoshiro were deployed to the north of Misaku Castle, and more than 3,000 troops of Niwa Nagahide's department were deployed to the east of Misaku Castle, with Sakuma Moriji and Wasuka Masakatsu as the vanguard attackers, and Matsudaira Shinichi of the Tokugawa Army also participated in the advance and attacked the castle with the Oda army. Subsequently, although the Minasaku Castle generals Yoshida Shigetaka and Kenbe Hideaki intended to resist stubbornly and attacked the Oda army with bows and arrows and foreign guns, they were still broken through by the Oda army, and the Tokugawa retainer Matsudaira Shinichi took the lead in leading the army into the castle, followed by the Hayashi Tong clan (Niwa Nagahide retainer), Sakuma Moriji (Sakuma Nobumori's brother), Takenaka Shigeharu, Kimura Shigezi and others attacked the castle together and made a joint achievement, and Maeda Toshiie, who was incorporated into Kinoshita's Toshiro department, also took the lead in rushing into battle to kill the enemy. The city general Kenbu Kenfumi, the castle general Hideaki and Yoshida Shigegao led the remnants to break through and flee, and the castle general Jianbu Shoude was incorporated into the Niwa Nagahide after surrendering to the Oda army, and the soldiers of the Kesaku Castle were killed by more than 500 people. When Wadayama Castle learned that Misaku Castle had been attacked by the Oda army in a short period of time, the castle soldiers were terrified and began to flee in large numbers before they could engage the Oda army. The Oda army did not divide the forces into eighteen parts, as Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu father and son had expected.

After discovering that the main force of the Oda army had been transferred, the father and son of Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu who were sitting in the castle of Kannonji Temple immediately went out of the city to attack Sakai Masasa's department, but they were repelled by Sakai Masasa, and Sakai Masasa's son, Sakai Hisazo, fought for his meritorious service in this battle, and then received a commendation from Oda Nobunaga and Ashikaga Yoshiaki. On the second day after the fall of Misaku Castle, the Tokugawa retainer Matsudaira Nobuichi was praised by Oda Nobunaga for his bravery in battle, and Oda Nobunaga also rewarded him with a kimono of paulownia leather. Niwa Nagahide's retainer Hayashi Tong clan was also praised by Oda Nobunaga for his bravery in battle.

Soon after the fall of Misaku Castle, Oda Nobunaga set up the main camp in the Misaku Mountains, and launched a general attack on the Rokkaku family's main Kannonji Temple Castle the next day, Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu father and son knew that the Rokkaku Army was demoralized and outnumbered, and it was difficult to resist the Oda Army's troops, so they immediately abandoned the original Kannonji City and fled, and took the old path of their ancestors with ease, preparing to run into the deep mountains and old forests to start a guerrilla war with the Oda Army. Subsequently, Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu father and son fled to Koga Prefecture, and even fled to Iga Province to avoid the Oda army. However, what the father and son of Rokkaku Yoshixian and Rokkaku Yoshiji did not expect was that the current situation was no longer as protracted and consumed as it was at the beginning. At that time, the Rokkaku family faced the weak Muromachi Shogunate, but now the enemy of the Rokkaku family is the newly rising Oda Nobunaga, so the Rokkaku family was not able to restore the old domain until the fall of the Oda family.

Shortly after Kannonji Castle was captured by the Oda army, Kamo Kenhide, a major retainer of the Rokkaku family, continued to defend the castle against the Oda army while he was still in the castle of Hino Otowa Castle. However, Oda Nobunaga did not intend to attack Hino Otowa Castle, and immediately sent Kobe Gumori (former retainer of the Rokkaku family, son-in-law of Gamo Dingxiu, seventh generation of the Kobe clan, accepted Oda Nobunaga's son Oda Nobutaka as his son-in-law and adopted son) to persuade Gamo Kenhide (son of Gamo Dingxiu) to persuade him to surrender. Under the persuasion of Kobe Gomori, Gamo gave up his resistance, surrendered his son Kamo Tsuru Chiyo (Gamo clan) as a hostage, and surrendered to the Oda family. Just after the Omi guardian Yogamo family surrendered to the Oda army, Minami Omi was quickly pacified by the Oda army, resulting in fewer casualties and more time savings.

Eighteen castles around Kannonji Castle, including Nagakoji Castle, Hachimanyama Castle, Misaku Castle, Wadayama Castle, Sabu Castle, Aragami Castle, Megata Castle, Takatori Castle, Toshimanji Castle, Yamazaki Castle, and Tayama Castle, were successively captured or persuaded to surrender by the Oda Army. Yamazaki Katake, Yamaoka Keitaka, Ogawa Yutada and others surrendered to the Oda family one after another. Oda Nobunaga only learned why Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu were so arrogant when they negotiated at the time of the negotiation, and it turned out that they had the backing of the Miyoshi trio who held the ears of the Miyoshi family.

After hearing that Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu father and son had transferred to the cage castle of Catoe Castle to defend it, Oda Nobunaga asked Asai Nagamasa to lead more than 6,000 troops into Kesaku Castle and Kannonji Castle to garrison to prevent the Rokkaku family from counterattacking. After Oda Nobunaga quickly defeated the Rokkaku family, he sent his retainer Fupo Mitsuji as an envoy to return to Mino Ritsushoji Temple to report Ashikaga Yoshiaki's victory, and to welcome Ashikaga Yoshiaki's troops.

On November 20, Oda Nobunaga and Ashikaga Yoshiaki entered Mitsuiji Temple in Lake Biwa, while the Oda and Asai coalition forces set up positions in Matsumoto and Baba in Otsu, and then used Kosei-in Temple in Mitsui-ji Temple as Ashikaga Yoshiaki's temporary residence. Subsequently, Oda Nobunaga led a large army to Kyoto, preparing to fight against the Miyoshi family.