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Saito Asanobu is known as "Echigo Zhong Kui", the origin of this name is because of his bravery, or because of his appearance, this is impossible to verify, because later generations did not leave his portrait, "Taizu Generation Military Records" and "Kenshin Family Records" and other books were written by later generations, and no one can say whether the authenticity is geometric.

"You are all battle-hardened old-timers, and if I say too much, it will be rude, so for the war ...... I just want to say it once, I can trust your bravery, but don't go deep alone and chase after you. In addition, do not set off beacon fires, otherwise the enemy will see the movement of our army! ”

In this way, in early October, when the weather was clear and cloudless, Uesugi Keitora of the northern country finally decided to take advantage of Shibata Katsuie's absence and began to attack his army in the Kurigara Valley.

On the same day, the young lord Uesugi Keitora gathered all the soldiers on Tonami Mountain to discuss the big tent of Nakao Mountain. At the meeting, it was decided that Honjo Shiganaga and Kawada Nagato, who had been stationed at Mt. Nanbo, would move their troops to Doosan in case of Shibata Katsuie's men stationed at Mt. Ogata and Niwa Nagahide at Mt. Kasama. At the call of Uesugi Keitora in the vicinity, the pro-Uesugi people forces of Mt. Sase, Mt. Kurotiya, and Shiratorihara, Ogasawara Sanbei, Saito Shinhachiro, and Hisamura Yaemon announced that they would "defect to the revolution" and join the Uesugi Army, and were incorporated into the troops of Saito Asanobu and Chisaka Keikin, who were the vanguard, and attacked the front line of Shibata Katsuya at dawn on the 12th.

It was night, and the night sky was particularly charming, and the moon rose from the green mountains, and the soft silver light withdrew from the mountains.

After returning to the camp on Mt. Nanbo, Saito Shimonono Mamoru Asanobu immediately issued a battle order to the generals: "It's really beautiful. Even the moon shines the way for us. When tomorrow is ugly, act on time! ”

I really didn't expect it, I, Zhong Kui, am almost fifty-four, and I can still be the vanguard of the army, if Qian Xingong was still alive, he would definitely not give me such an important task to be a bad old man...... I think when I was on Kawanakajima, the pioneer officer was obviously applied for first, but in the end it was snatched away by the guy from Izumi (Kakizaki Keijia), hum, thanks to this guy who died early, otherwise I would have to be pressed by him all the time, I don't want to, hurry up and prepare......

In addition to the new Ogasawara, Saito, Kumura and other people who joined his command, plus the men and horses of Chisaka Keikin, Saito Asanobu's army reached 15,000 people.

Before going to war, Saito Asanobu paid homage to the portrait of King Bishamon as usual.

At this time, the habit of the Echigo samurai before going to war, since Uesugi Kenshin, the king of Bishamon replaced other gods and became the only faith of the Echigo people, and at the same time, because Uesugi Kenshin always claimed to be the king of Bishamon, so the image of the king of heaven unconsciously coincided with himself.

"Kenshin, you can probably see my Zhong Kui fighting Oda Nobunaga's people today. You must take a good look, it is best to win, if you can't...... Haha, I have to meet you in the kingdom of Bishamen...... But before that, I only ask you to light the mountain path for me in the spirit of heaven. ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, before the end of the day, wrap the horse's hooves well, and unknowingly surround me with Sasa Seimasa and Bu Po Koji, who are stationed in the Kuligara Valley! Then we will defeat the enemy who is sleeping in a daze, and if it goes well, we will be able to further defeat the enemy in the west, and lunch will be eaten at the base camp of Shibata Katsuya! ”

After speaking, Saito closed the military fan with a swipe of the letter, took the lead, and headed straight to the south.

"This old guy is obviously overconfident!" Chisaka Keijin sighed and followed as a lieutenant.

Saito Asanobu's main force pressed down the slopes from Mt. Nanba towards the Kurigara Valley, while the other led by Chisaka Keiko headed south from the mountain, bypassing the valley and crossing the Oyabe River, heading directly at the inevitable Mt. Tsuhata. Uesugi Keitora's large army headed north out of Mt. Tonami in an attempt to suppress Kanamori Nagakin in Kuwabara.

Sure enough, as Saito Asanobu wished, when the group of people and horses were quietly moving, the bright moonlight had been silently illuminating the way for them. In the second half of the night, a thick fog continued to pour out of the valley, wrapping their whereabouts tightly. By the time the first shots echoed between the valleys, the thick fog at the top of the hill had long since disappeared.

Stationed in the Kurigara Valley are Sasa Naimasa and Bupo Mitsuji, Akechi Mitsuhide on Kokata Mountain, and Niwa Nagahide on Mt. Kamaka, which is closest to them. Tens of thousands of soldiers were guarding both mountains, and even in the valleys, there were thousands of men and horses.

In the blink of an eye, the iron cannons rang out in unison, and ten thousand guns were fired in unison, each gun aimed at the defenders in the Kuligaro Valley, and then there was an earth-shattering shout of killing from heaven and earth. This sudden attack really caught the Oda army guarding here by surprise. Even so, Sasa Naruma and Bu Poji are also battle-hardened generals.

"Hurry to Xiaofang Mountain and Kabe Mountain. The enemies that came over were seen from the family crest on the banner...... Well, that's right, this kind of 'three-wave head', a family crest that only the Saito clan, a descendant of the Fujiwara clan, will use, and the enemy is most likely Saito Asanobu...... Let's work together to defeat the enemy! After sending the envoy, Sasa Narumasa immediately organized an iron artillery team to fight back, and ordered the pikemen to be the vanguard and attack the mist at the foot of the mountain, trying to find out the flaws of the Uesugi army.

However, he miscalculated, and Uesugi Keitora had already completely severed the connection between the three fortresses. The envoy sent out had to return halfway with a lot of color, and report the situation to Sasa Narumasa and Bu Poji, who had a very bad face.

“TMD！ Uesugi Jinghu, a milky little bastard, dares to calculate me! See if I don't take a gun and crash him all at once! ”

Annoyed and angry, Fupo Guangji grabbed an iron cannon and asked, "What is the enemy's strength?" But his questioning voice sounded a little funny.

"But Kawachi-sama," Sasa Naimasa frowned, "from the top of the mountain to the valley...... All the mountain roads are full of enemy soldiers and banners, and I am afraid that there are at least 10,000 or more ......"

"Uzumui-sama! It looks like there are 10,000, but in fact there are only seven or eighty percent of them. I was still in a panic, and I didn't expect the enemy to come and die. While talking to himself, he climbed the lookout to observe the situation. At this time, even the mist at the foot of the mountain was gone.

"Oh-" Suddenly, shouts erupted from all around the mountain.

"Oh, come up, come up." Bu Guangzhi put his hand on the pergola and narrowed his eyes.

The gunfire of "tom" "tom" and "tom" was deafening, and the enemy's flags poured like a flood of broken banks to the top of the mountain.

Whales shake the earth, wolf smoke in the sky.

"The momentum of the enemy's attack is really like a flood of beasts. Although he is our enemy, his momentum is extremely magnificent, and he is truly worthy of the soldiers left behind by Kenshin Uesugi. ”

With that, the two generals moved their gaze to the small square mountain to the north.

There were also several bands of fog on the hill - no, it was not a strip of fog, but white smoke, and there were also white smoke from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain, and flocks of small birds rushed into the air from the valley from time to time.

"It seems that the Wise Ministry has also handed over the Uesugi Army."

"Well, not only that, but the Niwa Department was also attacked. Strangely, the officers and soldiers on the top of the mountain were silent......"

Sasa Seimasa turned his gaze to the southern side of Mt. Kasama again. Among the greenery, many bunting looms.

"Oh, this time the enemy is militarily strong. Maybe...... It's time to cut a bloody path and abandon the mountain. ”

"Well, this was originally the order of the general, and we don't need to fight the enemy."

According to Shibata Katsuie's original idea, the mission of Fupo Mitsuji and Sasa Naimasa was to act as a bait to lure the enemy.

"The big picture is decided!" While talking to himself, he nodded and went down to the lookout.

He gathered the people around him and gave a simple and clear order, as is customary; "Now, urgent news is flying from the base camp on the west side to the general's camp.

You have to do your best to gain time. Don't rush to death, even if you want to throw yourself into battle or escape, try to delay as much time as possible, our goal is not only to guide the enemy to the general's base camp, but also to protect the base camp from being occupied by the enemy...... If you get the enemy in front of you, you will immediately get into a scuffle and you won't be able to command it at all, so I hope you can do your best to deal with it. Iron cannons and bows and arrows must be discharged before the enemy presses in. Well, if we don't have a long enough shipment...... Haha, let's meet in the Netherworld! ”

"Hahaha, we have already killed the battle to repay the general's preparation!"

After laughing, everyone immediately followed the previous discussion, "Once you fall into a heavy siege, you will never defend it", lit the three-pillar wolf smoke, and then ran to the west exit. At this time, the enemy was already less than four or five towns away from them (how long a town is, I have introduced it earlier, so I won't talk nonsense here), and the soldiers have long been unable to hold it back, and they hurriedly opened fire and arrows.

"The enemy is still far away, don't let it go yet!"

Bu Guangzhi got out of the gate, dismounted, waved a spear, and suddenly froze there.

It has been decades since he fought with Saito Michizo when he was a teenager and now he has been working for Shibata Katsuie, and in retrospect, it is rare to be alive today. I thought that when the Saito family perished, he would also die to thank the Lord for his kindness...... Unexpectedly, Oda Nobunaga's appreciation brought his life and career to a higher level, and then because of the love of Shibata Katsuie, he was reused as a foreign samurai in Mino and was ranked among the three people in the house...... It seems that this time I am afraid of dying for these two nobles. Life is unpredictable.

In the face of thousands of enemies, he already had the consciousness of seeing death as if he were at home, and he laughed out loud.

The most important reason why Shibata Katsuya was so bad-tempered and still able to gain the respect of so many samurai was that he never treated people who were truly loyal...... Therefore, he firmly believes that after his death, in the heart of Shibata Katsuya, he will definitely respect himself more!

"Echigo's mongrels! Come! It's all against Lao Tzu! ”