Chapter 366: Hexagon Defeated

In the third year of Yonglu, on the fifth day of the seventh month, late at night. At that time, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, who was the general of Seiyi and concurrently served as a lieutenant general of the left guard, was attacked by the Miyoshi Sanren and Matsunaga Tsunaga at the Nijo Imperial Palace. Shortly after Ashikaga Yoshiteru was killed at the Nijo Imperial Palace, Miyoshi Sanren and Matsunaga Tsunaga quickly dispatched Hirata Owari Mamoru and several people to Kyoto's Rokuen Temple, the closest to the Nijo Imperial Palace, with the intention of killing Ashikaga Yoshiteru's brother Zhou Hui (Zhou Gao). At the same time, the Miyoshi Sanren and Matsunaga Tong and others immediately set out to lead their troops to Kofukuji Temple in Nara, intending to kill Ashikaga Yoshiteru's third brother Kakukei (then the young monk of Kofukuji Temple in Nara).

For the Miyoshi Sanzhong, Matsunaga Tong, Ashikaga Yoshiei and others, the existence of Ashikaga Yoshiteru's own brothers Zhou Hui and Kakukei is undoubtedly an invisible threat, so the Miyoshi Sanren and Matsunaga Tong and others intend to cut off the bloodline of the Ashikaga shogun family of the Horikoshi Gongfang family in one fell swoop, so that Ashikaga Yoshiei can smoothly succeed to the shogun and sit firmly on the throne of the general.

However, Ashikaga Yoshiki, who survived by luck, approached Hosokawa Fujitaka (Hosokawa Mototsune's adopted son, Mibuchi Haruka's second son) did not want the Miyoshi Sanren and Matsunaga to succeed, and immediately united with Yoshitoshi of Daikakuji Temple (son of Konoe Natsuri), Yoshimasa Yoneda (Ashikaga Shogun's family physician), Ishiya Mitsumasa (Ashikaga Yoshiteru's retainers, Mikosleeve Gobanzhong), Matsuda Yorytaka (one of Ashikaga Yoshiteru's ministers), Wada Hidemasa (Koga Yau Hitoshi clan, Iga people) and others to rescue Kakukei from Nara Kofukuji Temple. And hid in the Omi Rokkaku family's family of Wada Yumasa's residence in Wada Castle.

In an attempt to fulfill the unfulfilled dream of his brother Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the re-establishment of the Horikoshi Prince's authority, the authority of the Ashikaga shogun's family, he was officially reinstated on August 15 and renamed Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Under the mediation of Omi Guardian Rokkaku Yoshiji (in the second year of Eiroku, his father Rokkaku Yoshiken succeeded as the governor of the Rokkaku family after his seclusion), Iga Province Guardian Nishiki Yoshimasa, Wada Tsumasa, and Kuchiki Fujitsuna (Imperial House) and others, Ashikaga Yoshiaki was appointed to the left horse head from the fifth position.

Subsequently, Ashikaga Yoshiaki sent letters asking for assistance to powerful daimyo such as the Uesugi family, which occupied the 17 eastern provinces (Kaga, Noto, Echichu, Echigo, Sado, Anbo, Kamiso, Shimoso, Ueno, Shimono, Hitachi, Musashi, Sagami, Shimo, Hitachi, Musashi, Sagami, Iwashiro, Iwaki, Rikuzen, and Rikuchu), the Takeda family who occupied Junen, Sanko Shinto, the Shimazu family that occupied Minami-Kyushu, the Asakura family who occupied Echizen, the Takeda family who occupied Wakasa, the Rokkaku family who occupied Minami-Omi, and the Asai family who occupied Kita-Omi. He also called on the daimyo from all over the country to support him as the successor to the post of general of the Seiyi. In addition to the Gyeonggi daimyo such as the Wakasa Takeda family, the Asakura family, the Asai family, and the Rokkaku family, the Uesugi family, the Takeda family, the Shimazu family, and the Nagamune Ibe family were far away from Kyoto, and there were strong enemies in their respective neighbors, and they were too busy to take care of themselves, let alone send troops to help Ashikaga Yoshiaki. However, most of the daimyo in the Gyeonggi area showed weakness and were not enough to rely on.

After that, although Ashikaga Yoshiaki often interacted with the envoys of the daimyos, the road to Wada Castle was very narrow and the traffic was very inconvenient, so Ashikaga Yoshiaki decided to move the imperial palace to Yajima near Lake Biwa.

However, Hosokawa Fujitaka, Daikakuji Yoshitoshi, Wada Hidemasa, Ishitani Mitsumasa and others tried their best to save only Ashikaga Yoshiaki, while Zhou Hui was deceived by Hirata Izumi Mamoru out of Kyoto's Rokuen Temple on the grounds that 'the Kyoto Gongfang held a singing party at the Nijo Imperial Palace', and was killed on the side of the Kamiya River.

After learning that Ashikaga Yoshiki had been killed at the Nijo Imperial Palace, in order to keep their family name and their own territory, they took the initiative to send a new general - Ashikaga Yoshiei, which was prepared by Miyoshi Sanren and Matsunaga Tong, to be supported by Ashikaga Yoshiei. Not only that, but the shogunate in various parts of Gyeonggi, such as Hatakeyama Izu Mamoru, Hatakeyama Sunrokuro, Hatakeyama Noshihiro, Hosokawa Suruga Irimichi, and Arakawa Saburo, all supported Yoshiei as an alternate for the general of Seiyi.

After Hidetsuna Kamiizumi, Keikane Kisada and others escorted Ashikaga Yoshiki's Imperial Observatory Konoe clan into the Konoe Mansion, they quickly entered Sakamoto Castle and informed Akechi Mitsuhide that the Miyoshi family had raised an army to counterattack the Nijo Imperial Palace, and Ashikaga Yoshiteru was killed in the Nijo Imperial Palace, and hundreds of public samurai were killed in battle.

Akechi Mitsuhide had only recruited more than 1,500 troops at this moment, so he had to temporarily hold on to the domain and contact the countrymen lords of Tango, and sent his brother Akechi Sanemon to Kasugayama Castle and Koetsu Castle along the Hokuriku Province to inform Kenshin and Asadari that the current shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, had been attacked and killed by the Miyoshi family.

However, while Ashikaga Yoshiaki sought the help of the major powers of Gyeonggi and Engoku, the Rokkaku and Asai families, who occupied the southern and northern parts of the Omi River, respectively, fought a great war in Ryota Omino. Kenmasa Asai led an army of 11,000 against an army of 25,000 led by Yoshiken Rokkaku at Uso River.

Before the war with the Rokkaku family, Asai Kenmasa separated the daughter of the main room Hirai Dingwu and sent it back to the Rokkaku Collar, and at the same time officially married Oda Nobunaga's sister Oda City as the main room, and also gave up the word 'Xian' given by the previous Rokkaku Yoshiken and changed his name to Asai Nagamasa.

Although the Rokkaku Army outnumbered the Asai Army, it was not stable internally, which led to Asai Nagamasa easily rebelling against Takashi Takashi, the lord of Hita Castle, who was dissatisfied with the Rokkaku family. As a branch of the northern part of Kannonji Castle, the Hetakaku Castle also guarded the retreat and grain route of more than 25,000 Hexagonal Army, and the father and son of Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiji had to divide their troops in front of the enemy to return to surround Hitian Castle in order to eliminate their worries, and launched a water attack on Hitian Castle.

Rokkaku Yoshiharu quickly ordered the local people to build a dam around Hida Castle, and diverted water from the Aichi River and Uso River on the north and south sides of Hita Castle into the embankment, intending to attack and kill Hidetaka Takanose, who was trapped by Asai Nagamasa.

However, the water attack did work on Hida Castle, and Hita Castle suffered a lot of damage, except for some of the high ground of Ninomaru and Honmaru that were not flooded, and most of the rest of the area was submerged. Although Hidetaka Takanose has been driven to a dead end by the Hexagon Army, he knows very well that once he surrenders to the Hexagonal Army now, then what awaits him and his clan will definitely be a dead end. Therefore, Hidetaka Takanose decided to continue to resist stubbornly in Hita Castle.

While Hidetaka Takanose continued to resist stubbornly, a heavy rain saved him and his family's lives. The heavy rain caused floods that broke the dikes, which were not very strong, and the water that besieged the city flowed out. At the same time, Asai Nagamasa received an urgent request for help from Hita Castle, and immediately led an army of 11,000 to the north bank of the Minami Omi Uso River to set up a camp.

Subsequently, the Asai army and the Rokkaku army Nozo Ryoda launched a joint battle, and the two armies fought for nearly two hours but still failed to distinguish the victory and defeat, and they were evenly matched. However, after the two divisions of the Rokkaku Army, Narazaki Iki Mamoru and Tanaka Jibe Daisuke, who were outnumbered, the outnumbered Asai Army, the vanguard of Hyakubachi Sasuke, Isono Motomasa, and Dingno Wakasa Mamoru began to lose and were defeated by the Rokkaku Army for a time. The Hexagonal Army launched an even more fierce attack on the Asai Army after defeating the Asai Army's advance, and it seems that the defeat of the Asai Army was already quite obvious.

However, what Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu father and son did not expect was that Asai Nagamasa did not give up, but instead put Onoki Shigetoshi, Anyoji Shihide, and Uesaka Punishment Department into the frontal battlefield to fight against the army of the Rokkaku Army, and he personally led a team of partial divisions mainly composed of horses to raid Rokkaku Yoshiken's main formation.

Asai Nagamasa fought with the main team of the Hexagon Army and tried to flank the central front of the Hexagonal Army. Subsequently, the strength of the Rokkaku Army's main camp and the Akee people and the Iga Kuniren who were on standby on the flanks of the main formation (the Shield Oka clan, the Joto clan, and the Shimozae Ueki clan of the Rokkaku family) were defeated by the troops of the Asai Army, and were successively defeated by the Asai Nagamasa, and the horseback warriors of the Asai Army attacked Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiharu father and son.

Seeing that the Asai army was gradually approaching their own formation, the father and son of Rokkaku Yoshiken and Rokkaku Yoshiji found that they had fallen into danger, and they jumped on their mounts in fear, and under the cover of the horses under their command, they frantically fled for their lives to the castle of Kannon Temple, abandoning the more than 20,000 troops who were still fighting in the field. After the first and second formations of the Hexagonal Army, which had originally shown local advantages, saw that the commander was defeated, the situation was out of control, and the whole army began to collapse in an instant, and General Onoki Shigetoshi, Anyoji Shihide, and Uesaka Punishment Department immediately led the Asai Army to pursue the Hexagonal Army. In this battle of Norata, the Asai family won a great victory, killing more than 1,500 of the Rokkaku Army, and captured the two counties of Inougami and Aichi, which originally belonged to the Rokkaku family.

Due to the defeat in the Battle of Norada, the retainers of the Rokkaku family were shaken. In addition, in the first year of Eiroku, the Rokkaku family was defeated by Kenshin many times, and even the family governor Rokkaku Yoshiken had to bow his head to Ashikaga Yoshiteru and surrender to his guilt. Counting the battle of Norada this time, the majesty of Rokkaku Yoshiken was completely lost, and at the same time, the face of the Rokkaku family was completely swept away. Even many of the family's genealogical ministers began to further separate themselves from the new family governor, Rokkaku Yoshiji.