In the second year of Yonglu, on the ninth day of August, it was late at night.

As soon as Langai Yincheng returned to Shibukawa Castle, he immediately gathered more than 20 ronins under his command in his house. In order to avoid long nights and dreams, Lang Heyincheng planned to act immediately.

Since the Oteemon Gate of Shibukawa Castle Ninomaru was the most important defense of the entire castle, Nagano Yekuni still kept an eye on it, and he ordered his brother Nagano Yoshimiri to send him to guard it together with Ri Tone Mu Masayasu and Nanai Yinnari and other ronin. However, this is not a difficult thing for Lang Heyincheng.

As the saying goes: 'There is a policy above, and there is a countermeasure below'. Although Toneki Masayan was stationed near the Otemon Gate, Nanaii Yinsei soon had a countermeasure - to make the ronins under his command set fire everywhere in Honmaru and Ninomaru.

Taking advantage of the dead of night, Lang Heyincheng's actions were not hindered. Soon, flames burned all over the Honmaru and Ninomaru in Shibukawa Castle, and the fire spread rapidly.

At the same time, the Numata people, as the spearhead of the Uesugi army, took advantage of the cover of night and no one was paying attention to their movements, and soon transported 500 troops by ship to the ferry port on the edge of Shibukawa Castle.

"Honglin Ji Yishou, you immediately lead a hundred horsemen and horses to guard the ferry. Mikami Hyogosuke, Ishimo Heima Yoshi, Morishita Mikawa Mamoru, Minamizaemon Sasa, and Katei Shobe, you and others immediately lead the army to seize the Otemon Gate of Shibukawa Castle. I can't wait for the Shangshu samurai to be underestimated by the Echigo people who came from afar! "Numata Yumitsu himself does not compete with the samurai who are worthy of the land and the limelight, and is willing to take the initiative to give them the merits of the battle.

"Yes!" Six warriors from the surrounding areas of Numata led the way and left.

Nagano Yokoku in Shibukawa Castle Honmaru was awakened when he heard the commotion outside, and he immediately picked up the sword erected next to him and got up and walked quickly to the door of Ohiroma. When Nagano Yekuni walked to the door of Ohiroma, he was choked by the smell of smoke.

"What the hell is going on?! What about Tonegi Kurasuke?! What about the Langhe Preparation?! Nagano immediately walked to a clearing in Honmaru and grabbed a samurai who was putting out the fire and asked loudly.

"Back to the Omori Palace, Lord Tonegi is organizing people to extinguish the fire in Ninomaru, and Lord Nanaibei is nowhere to be found!" After answering Nagano's question, the samurai immediately went to the well to fetch water, leaving Nagano to dry.

"The hateful Lang is ready to defend him, and I trust him so much! Come on, come with me to Ninomaru! Nagano Yekuni immediately gathered more than fifty samurai and ashigaru, and he had already vaguely guessed that the fire in the castle was the work of Nanai Yinsei.

Just when Toneki Masayan led his troops to put out the fire elsewhere in Ninomaru, Nanaii Yincheng had already gathered more than 20 ronins and came to the vicinity of Otemon. He immediately ordered Otemon to be opened, but the two ashigaru guards Otemon did not carry out Nanai's orders.

"Lord Langhebei Qianshou, the Otemen can't be easily opened without the order of the Omori Palace, so you might as well get the tokens or documents of the Omori Hall and come again." A ashigaru shook his head at Nani Yincheng and said.

"It seems that you don't want to be rewarded by the Ruler Hall and the Town Lord! If you don't value your lives and want to live and die with the Takatori Nagano family, I won't stop you. Come on, do it! After Nanai Yincheng finished speaking, he immediately pulled out the saber at his waist and slashed at the ashigaru, and let the ashigaru's head move on the spot. And the ronins behind Langhe Yincheng quickly slashed the other guard of the door to Ashigaru.

After a while, the big gate of Shibukawa Castle slowly opened. Outside the castle, Mikami Masaaki, Ishito Shoyuki, Morishita Mikawa Mamoru, Katei Punishment Department, Minamizaemon Zo and others, who had been slowly marching outside the castle and did not want to attract the attention of the defenders of Shibukawa Castle, immediately led their troops to rush towards the Shibukawa Castle Otemen in three steps and two steps.

At this time, Nagano Yoshikuni happened to come to Ninomaru, and when he was gathering troops, he found that the Uesugi army on the other side of the Shibu River was coming across the Shibu River in a steady stream, and there were many local lords and miscellaneous servants of the Uesugi army who were quickly building pontoon bridges. Nagano knew that something was wrong, and immediately found Toneki Masayasu, who was leading his troops to extinguish the fire.

"Tone wears Inner Zosuke, why did you leave your post without permission?! Didn't you notice that the Uesugi army was heading in the direction of Otemon?! You immediately lead your army to defend the Otemon, and I will come later!" Nagano had no choice but to order Toneki Masayasu to immediately lead his army to Otemon, and he himself first went to extinguish the fire of some important facilities of Honmaru and Ninomaru before going to support Toneki Masayasu.

"Yes!" At this time, Toneki Masayan also realized that the sudden fire in the city was not a coincidence, it must have been premeditated. Then, without saying a word, Toneki Masayan led more than 100 people from his headquarters to run towards the Otemon.

However, Toneki Masayan was still a step slower, and under the response of Nanai Yinsei, more than 400 people from the Numata group had already come to the vicinity of Shibukawa Castle's Otemon, and several ashigaru had already erected the Uesugi family's bamboo finch flag near Otemon.

"Take back the Otemon now! The Retreater, Slash! Toneki Masayan panicked when he saw that the hundreds of Uesugi troops were about to enter Ninomaru, and immediately ordered more than 100 troops under his command to rush forward to start a melee battle with the Uesugi army, and he didn't care about the absolute difference in strength and numbers between the two sides.

"The Kanto Governor Kenshin Gong is watching from outside the city! If we are driven to the Shibu River by the enemy, how will we have the face to go to the palace of the commander?! Come with me, everyone! Ask for the Eagle Stay Nagano family, the famous samurai, and the reward! Looking at the approaching Eagle Retention Nagano Army, Langai Yincheng immediately shouted and led more than 20 ronins around him to take the lead in a melee with Toneki Masabe. And the Numata samurai such as Ishitome Shoyuki, Mikami Masaki, Kagai Shobu, Morishita Mikawa Mamoru and Minamizaemon Sasa were not far behind, and immediately led the army to rush into Shibukawa Castle Ninomaru and joined the melee.

At this time, Kenshin and the generals of Echigo, Ushiwa, and Iwaku were waiting for the pontoon bridge to be completed on the other side of the river.

"Imperial Palace, the minister also wants to participate in the war! Only about 500 of the Numata generals crossed the Shibukawa River, and according to reliable information obtained by Hosakusa, there were at least 700 defenders in the city. Even if there are our insiders in the city, I am afraid that they will not be able to achieve further results. Uesugi Keimitsu was a little worried about Numata.

"Juro, your Ushiwa people lost and lost in the battle against the Ronin clan such as the Shiri Taka clan, the Shirai Nagao clan, and the Iwaki Saito clan, and this time you went with me to fight in Higashi-Azuma County, your troops are already unbearable to fight, so let the generals of the Numata clan behave well." Kenshin said that, he actually didn't want Uesugi Keimitsu to rush to the front line. After all, he is the only son of his uncle who can inherit the family business, and if he has any mistakes, then the Qiji Nagao family (Guzhi Nagao family) will really have no successor and cut off the family name.

"Yes." Uesugi Keimitsu Kenshin was reluctant to let his army go to support Numata and could only watch the battle from the same place.

"Report to the Imperial Palace, the pontoon bridge has been built and can be passed!" At this time, Arakawa Nagami ran up to Kenshin and reported good news to her.

"Well, General Katori Yaheita, Nagao Enoemori, and Shimohira Repair Ryo immediately lead their troops to Shibukawa Castle via the pontoon bridge, and the remaining five hundred troops of the Numata people should also speed up and cross Shibukawa by boat!" When Kenshin learned that the pontoon bridge was ready for use, he immediately ordered the three generals of the Echigo group to lead an army to support the Numata people, so that the Numata people would not be left alone.

At the same time, Nagano Yoshikuni finally organized men to extinguish most of the fires in Honmaru and Ninomaru, and also gathered more than 400 troops to come to the vicinity of Otemon, and also made a lot of efforts to suppress the Uesugi army that attacked the castle. However, Nagano soon realized that his actions were in vain - at least a thousand Uesugi troops had already crossed the Shibu River to line up outside the castle.

"Omoriden, you'd better retreat quickly! The Uesugi army is huge, and now it has been pouring into the city in a steady stream, and our army can't support it with 700 city soldiers alone, not to mention that the big gate has been lost! At this time, Toneki Masayan finally managed to fight his way out and came to Nagano Yekoku.

"My brother hasn't replied to me yet, if I abandon the city at this time, I am unwilling!" Nagano said with a sigh.

"The matter has come to this, our army should withdraw from Shichuan City as soon as possible! The castle was still some distance away from Minowa Castle, and friendly forces were unable to come to their aid in time. "Toneki Masayan began to persuade Nagano Yoshikuni to abandon the city.

"Understood, those who can withdraw from Shibukawa City will withdraw with me!" After Nagano Yekuni shouted, he left Shibukawa Castle without looking back, and he was accompanied by more than 100 people including Toneki Masayan.

By the time Nagano Yoshikuni, Tonegi Masayan and others had already left Shibukawa Castle, Nanai Yinsei felt that there were still some defenders of Shibukawa Castle who hadn't heard what Nagano Yoshikuni said, and he immediately shouted: "Omori Yesuki, Toneki Sanosuke and others have abandoned the city!" You'd better save your lives and surrender! ”

With this shout of Nanai Yincheng, some of the Takaru Nagano troops who did not hear Nagano Yekoku's retreat order laid down their weapons and surrendered to the Uesugi army. There were also a very small number of Takano troops who fled out of the city to find Nagano Yekuni and others.

In this way, the Uesugi army obtained a bridgehead before they could use all their strength, and Nagano Yetsuri in Minowa Castle had not yet seen the envoy sent by Nagano Yekuni.