Chapter 40: The Great Rebellion in Aizu
After Ashina Moriyuki got most of the Uesugi army to go to Minamihara Castle, he let 600 of the 1,000 troops who had gone to Takada Castle return, and he also left Muhamabaya Castle. Chaoding did not let his army stay in the city, but took the initiative to send Namba Tian Hiroyoshi to set off with four hundred white-robed knights to directly raid the four hundred mountain troops near Takada Castle. And the old department of the Ashina Mori clan is also constantly defecting to Ashina Moriyuki, and in just six days, Ashina Moriyuki's army has increased by three hundred.
Ashina Moriyuki couldn't wait any longer on March 10, and he sent his retainer Tsukako Ichi to lead his 800 troops to the castle town of Minamihara Castle to prepare for the sack. Asada knew that this was a decoy, so he asked Omori Fujiyori to send 600 troops to fight. Omori Fujiyori inherited his father's name, and in order to always remember that Sagami Kuni was lost when his family was careless.
As soon as Tsumagako saw that he had just walked outside the castle town, a group of troops rushed out of the castle, and he immediately let 600 guns and 200 bows and feet slowly advance behind. On the contrary, Omori Fujiyori had one hundred saber ashigaru in front, three hundred spear ashigaru in the back, and two hundred bowed ashigaru standing by near Otemon.
"The Uesugi army has a plan, as long as Uesugi Asadai is defeated here, the family will be able to regain the lost territory!" Ashina Moriyuki sneered after standing on a hill outside Guanshan City and looking at the more than 1,400 people who were fighting outside Nanyuan City. At this time, Omori Fujiyorabe gradually drove the Tsumagako City Department out of the Joshita Town of Minamihara Castle more than a hundred paces.
"Report! Yamauchi's right near the doctor's hall is ready! At this time, a flag behind the back of the three and two messengers ran to the back of Ashina Moriyuki to report.
"Yes." Ashina Moriyuki is already looking forward to the next battle.
As the wolf smoke lit up, a thousand troops instantly appeared in the rear of the Tsumagako City Division, including a hundred samurai on horseback! In an instant, most of Omori Fujiyori was surrounded, except for the bow and foot light in the castle town, even Omori Fujiyori himself fell into the siege.
"What's going on with this?!" After seeing this scene on the tower of Honmaru's pavilion, Asadachi grabbed Kato Duanzo's collar.
"Yes, ten ninjas in my family have lost contact, and there is nothing the minister can do!" Kato Duanzo hasn't even come back since he sent out ten ninjas under his command, who knew that Ashina Moriyuki would also play ambush!
"Enough! You find a way to assassinate the general of the enemy reinforcements. Chao Ding turned around and walked to the side of the stairs, "Zizheng, you go and rescue Omori Fujiyori with a thousand troops." ”
"Yes." Ota Shimasa is not clear about the situation on the battlefield now, and this is the only way. He then left Honmaru with the two samurai who were waiting on the side.
"Damn! Come with me, everyone! "When Omori Fujiyori saw that he was surrounded, he had no other way but to continue to fight, and it was best to kill the enemy general.
"Bow foot light cover! The samurai on horseback is in front, and the spear is in the back! "Ota Shimasa did not take the bow and the head of the city, but took a hundred horseback warriors and nine hundred gunashigaru men out of the city.
When Ota Shimasa saw that there was a gap in the Ashina army behind the encirclement of Omori Fujiyorabe, he immediately rushed into the encirclement with a samurai on horseback.
"Lord Omori continues to attack forward, and I, Mino Ota, are here!" Ota Shimasa could only yell at the Ashigaru of Omori Fujiyobe to restore his morale, and then he took his military strength to help him clean up the Ashina army behind him.
"Oh! The elders of the family are here in person, and you will continue to advance with me! "Omori Fujiyori is now surrounded by ten samurai under his command, and the outside circle is the Ashigaru team.
"Report! A thousand reinforcements from the Uesugi army have entered the encirclement! Yamauchi is right near the doctor's hall for help! So Fan hurriedly ran to the back of Ashina Moriyuki to report.
"Now our army on the battlefield has two hundred more troops than the Uesugi army! Why support?! When Ashina Moriyuki looked at the battlefield again, he found that Omori Fuji Yoribe was fighting with Tsumaratakoshi and Yamauchi Shigekatsu, while Ota Shimasa used horseback samurai to harass the back of the Ashina army, and hundreds of ashigaru attacked the Ashina army outside the encirclement from both sides.
"My lord, report urgently! The 400 cavalry of the Namba Hiroshi Squadron has attacked the Karuizawa Silver Mine of the Chan! At this time, Yamauchi Shikatsu was a little discouraged when he learned that his silver mine had been lost.
"Then go and get it back!" Ashina Moriyuki no longer has a good temper, and the battle between the 1,800 army and the 1,600 army can still be completely suppressed! Wasn't the Yamauchi family able to compete with the Ashina Mori clan's military strength before? Now it's like this with the Uesugi army!
"Yes." As soon as the Yamauchi clan saw that he could return to his territory, he quickly withdrew with his own 1,000 troops. And at this time, Nambada Hiroyoshi had already marched to Mukai-Kuroyama Castle, which was only garrisoned by a dozen ashigaru!
Later, Kato Danzo found Yamauchi Shigekatsu in the crowd and threw three shuriken at him, but unfortunately hit his horse, causing him to fall off his horse and be rescued by his retainers. Thankfully, the rest of Yamauchi's Shigekatsubu forces withdrew like this.
Nambada Hiroyoshi had previously received instructions from the court to focus on areas where the enemy was weakly garrisoned, and to retreat when there were too many enemy troops. He first bypassed Karusawa Castle and went to take down the silver mine and killed twenty ashigaru members of the Yamauchi family. However, the silver mine was temporarily destroyed, and Namba Hiroyoshi blew up the hole in the mine after giving ten silver sentences to each of the knights.
The Yamauchi army that fought with the Uesugi army this time was different from the previous one, and it was completely fighting to the death! After Omori Fujiyoribe had already paid 200 casualties, the forces of Ota Shimasa's army replaced them and continued to fight to the death against the Yamauchi army and the Ashina army. The situation of the Ashina army is not much better, and after Tsugumatako Koshi was injured by a stray arrow, he is still commanding the battle. The Ashina army also withstood the offensive momentum of the Uesugi army after paying 400 casualties. The army of Yamauchi's Shigekatsu Division was also attacked by the Ota Division, and stabilized the formation after suffering 300 casualties. After the failure of Kato Danzo's assassination, the remnants of the 700 troops of the Yamauchi clan withdrew, and Tsuguma Koshi saw that he could not be left alone.
After this outpost battle, Ota Zimasabu lost 300 troops, and Omori Fujiyori lost 200 troops, which is still a little better than the 700 troops lost by the Ashina and Yamauchi coalition forces.
The bad news had just begun, as Nikaido Teruyuki was defeated by the Yuki family at Inamura, and the 300 army was annihilated; Uesugi Nagabei raised troops in the castle of Okukawa Castle in response to Ashina Moriyuki, gathered 500 troops and closed the city to defend itself. Although the Namba Kenji Department surrounded Okukawa Castle with 1,200 troops, it was unable to attack the castle with insufficient troops and siege equipment.
In just ten days, Nambada Hiroyoshi continued to attack the rest of the lax fortifications after successively taking Muhaguro Castle, Yokota Castle, Ouchi Castle, and Shiobu Castle without defending the castles. However, on the way back, they encountered a thousand troops of the Yamauchi clan near Mukai Haguro Castle. When Nambada Hiroyoshi saw that he could not retreat, he rushed towards the enemy with the four hundred knights of the Kawagoe Knights. After several hours of fierce fighting, the Nambada Hiroyoshi defeated the Yamauchi clan after paying the death of 200 white-robed knights. However, the surviving knights were all wounded. The Uesugi army slaughtered the Yamanuchi army Ashigaru and the number of samurai outside Mukai Haguro Castle reached 600! Katsu Yamauchi was also slashed by Hiroyoshi Nambada in the melee. The Nambada Hiroshi team then had no choice but to leave the corpses of the white-robed knights who had died in battle, and left with all their swords. A few days later, Yamauchi Katsu died in the castle of Nakamaru Castle.
"Your Excellency, the minister is guilty! The minister made the army of the Knights cut in half! "Hiroyoshi Namba Tian limped into the Ohiroma of Minamihara Castle with the help of a samurai dressed in a carcass. And the blue featherweave on his body has been completely stained red with blood.
"I've also heard about the situation in Duan Zang, the Yamauchi clan died in Jucheng after being hit by your sword, and one of the seven horsemen is missing from the family, so I can take a breath." Asadaki walked in front of Namba Hiroyoshi, took down his piece of Jinhaori, and gave his white Jinhaori with bamboo and finches on his back to Namba Hiroyoshi.
"Thank you, lord!" Nambada Hiroyoshi trembled and couldn't help crying after taking over the warbana weaving of the Asada.
"It doesn't matter if the corpses are not brought back, the family will build a cemetery for them in the future." After seeing the hundreds of swords placed behind Namba Hiroyoshi, Asada clenched his fists.
The Uesugi family and the surrounding daimyo and wealthy clans stopped fighting, and after half a month, the reinforcements of the Nagao family also left Matsushiro Castle under the assembly of the dragon maiden. Unbeknownst to her arrival, the 1,000 troops led by Hojo Takamasa and Momoi Yoshitaka also united with Namba Tian Kenji on the 25th to begin the siege of Okukawa Castle.
Since the people of Okukawa Castle were all subject to the policies of the Uesugi family, the 'Four Princes and Six People' have become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. There are only a few people who really follow Uesugi Nagabei to rebel, and most of them are coerced. Therefore, when Namba Tian Kenji besieged Okukawa Castle, many of the lords took the initiative to join Namba Tian Kenji's army and assist Namba Tian Kenji in the encirclement.
After the arrival of Hojo Takamasa and Momoi Yoshitakabe, the 2,700 troops began to attack the city. However, the ashigaru people in the castle, who were reluctant to follow the Uesugi Nagabei to raise troops, took the initiative to open the gates of Otemon and Ninomaru during the siege. Uesugi Nagabei and six retainers saw that they had betrayed their relatives and left, and their families all took matters into their own hands in Honmaru.
After the Uesugi family eliminated the worries of Uesugi Nagabei, the two divisions of Hojo Takamasa and Namba Tian Kenji gathered the Okugawa Castle Surrender Army and reached 3,000, and they then headed for Takada Castle.
At the same time, Date Harune, at the suggestion of Nakano Sotoki, sent 500 troops of Endo Kinobu to Iwayama Castle, and their purpose was to take the opportunity to seize the territory of the Anazawa family and then use it as a bridgehead to take the territory of the Inawashiro family.
The news of the Date family's dispatch of troops was also reported to Asadawa in a timely manner, and Toshimitsu Anazawa, Shunji Anazawa and others were notified, so that they could be fully prepared. Usami Dingkatsu of Toyama Castle even cut down some trees in the collar, cut off all the branches, and transported them to Iwayama Castle as rolling logs to defend the castle.
Endo Kinobu is the younger one in the Date family, and the reason why the Date Haruzong did not send the Oni Court Satsuki to come was to test the Uesugi family's defense in the Hibara area. Then, Endo Kinobu, who had fought several battles, was 'entrusted with a heavy task' by Date Harune, and left the capital with the 500 troops of the headquarters, and after passing Yonezawa Castle, he went to the path to Iwayama Castle.
The Hibara area can be said to be easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the mountain roads are rugged and difficult to walk. Several of the Samurai on Endo Keshinbu fell down the cliff due to carelessness. Seeing this, Endo Keshin could only order his samurai to abandon all their horses and go to Iwayama Castle on foot.
The pressure on Inawashiro Mori was not small, and after several battles between the forces of Reshio Castle and Tayama Yoshikuni, the retainer Osaki Dewa was killed. After the failure of the siege, Tayama Yoshikuni left behind 500 corpses and withdrew to his home city, Nihonmatsu Castle. And the pig seedling generation Sheng Guobu also suffered more than 300 casualties and repelled the invasion along the way. However, the Nikaido family in the south is not so powerful. Yoshiharu Yuki led his troops all the way to the foot of Suga River Castle! The four Heavenly Kings under the command of Nikaido Teruyuki were also wounded, and after his own army suffered heavy losses, he asked Yuki Yoshiharu to surrender. He completely ignored the fact that his second son was still in Wakamatsu Castle and surrendered to the Yuuki family. The long reinforcements of Honjo had just set off, and after learning the news, they could only stomp their feet in anger and return to the castle of Bagou to defend it. Hojo Takahiro was originally going to send troops, but after he reported to him that the Nikaido family had defected, he decided to start preparing to defend the castle in a hurry.