In July of the first year of Eiroku, just after the Uesugi army captured the entire territory of Anbo and Joso, the Hojo clan appointed his younger brother, the Hojo clan, who was only 14 years old, as the lord of Misaki Castle, an important town in Sagami Province. And the Hojo clan didn't say anything, because he knew that it was an eventful time for the Hojo family, so he could only obey his brother's dispatch. The Hojo clan took his retainer Asahina Taisu and brother-in-law Chiba to the already dilapidated Misaki Castle alone.

Chiba is the son of Chiba Toshiyin and is married to Oki, the daughter of the Hojo clan. He is also the twenty-sixth head of the Chiba family, who was recognized by the Kamakura Prince's Ashikaga Yoshishi and Hojo Clan's Yasu and Hojo Clan's father and son. Although he has fallen from the status of a daimyo to a yori, he still stands on the same front as the Hojo family in order for him to return to his old domain as soon as possible.

The first thing Hojo did when he entered Misaki Castle was to strike a laborer to repair the dilapidated Misaki Castle. Because he knew very well that as long as Mizaki Castle was there, then he would be able to make the Uesugi army's eyes not only stare at the direction of Odawara Castle, but also need to defend Misaki Castle. Moreover, the port near Misaki Castle was still used by the Miura Navy that used to serve the Hojo family, although the Miura Navy was heavily damaged by the Suruga Navy Army, and the Miura Navy under the command of Miura Shigemasa only had five Kohaya, even if you add one ship and three Koza of Kajiwara Keizune that Hojo Shiyasu invited from Kii, the contrast between the sea power of the Hojo family and the Uesugi family is still very large. However, the Hojo clan still allowed the necessary military and trading ports to be renovated and expanded.

Misaki Castle was originally Arai Castle, but it became Misaki Castle as a castle built near the coast for strategic purposes. The old city of Shinjing Castle was abandoned. This time, the Hojo clan not only renovated Misaki Castle, but also rebuilt the former site of Arai Castle in the northern part of Misaki Castle. Not only that, but he also began to renovate Wada Castle, Uraga Castle, Kinugasa Castle, Oyabe Castle and other places to varying degrees. The Hojo clan did not expect the Hojo clan to come up with much in terms of funds, so he could only take out all his savings, including a part of it from his retainers.

In this way, the Hojo clan began to make drastic preparations for the battle around Misaki Castle. At the same time, he also asked his retainers and Yori to move his family to Ninomaru in Misaki Castle, so as to make up his mind to live and die with Misaki Castle. The Hojo clan understood that the Uesugi family had swallowed the entire territory of Kamiso and Anbo, and it was not possible to invade the coastal line of Sagami, so it was all the more necessary to seize the time to prepare for war during this time. At the same time that the Hojo clan was trying to build a defense line on the Miura Peninsula, Kasuga Ieyoshi, a former retainer of the Ota family, and Miyaki Shiro Bei immediately sent his cronies to inform Ota Shimasa of Iwatsuki Castle about Hojo Clan's every move, and Ota Shimasa reported it to the court.

Hojo's actions, but the court was unmoved. On the one hand, he ordered Namba Tian Kenji to lead 8,000 Kamisu soldiers to Tokura Castle in western Musashi to threaten Kai Province, the capital of the Takeda family. In addition, the territory of the Takeda family and the clan of Koyamada Nobushige is in the eastern part of Kai Country, once he is deterred, then Takeda Shingen has to consider the territory and interests of the people of Kai Country.

At the same time, Chaoding also transferred Itaya Mitsuyin to Shiizu Castle and let him receive 10,000 koku. He was also asked to rebuild the port of Shiizu Castle and restore the local economy. Even the Okamoto naval army returned to Okamoto Castle under the arrangement of the court, and Okamoto Yasutai served as the lord of Okamoto Castle and received 8,000 stone from Okamoto Castle. Kasawara was the Tateyama Castle Dynasty, and his territory was governed by his son Kasawara Terushige.

All the efforts made by the Hojo clan at this moment are for the survival of the Hojo family's family name. However, what he didn't know was that the so-called 'Hojo family' where he worked was just a fake, not the real thing. The Ise family who entered the Kanto region was only Shin Jizhong, who was subordinate to the Kyoto shogun, and this branch was still a common stream, and the Ise family of the drip stream had long held important positions in the shogunate such as deacons of the government office. In the heart of the Hojo clan, the Hojo family is a famous family in the Kanto region, and they must not bow to the Uesugi family, who was born as a minister of Kyoto.

Unfortunately, Hojo did not know that the Uesugi family had moved to Kanto since the middle and late Kamakura shogunate, hundreds of years before their Ise family. The mother of the first shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Takashi, was the daughter of the Uesugi family, Uesugi Kiyoko. As a member of the Ashikaga family, the Uesugi clan eventually received the hereditary Kanto Governor (Kanto Deacon) after serving as the Shogun of the Ashikaga clan, and their domains were Echigo, Ueno, Musashi, and Sagami, and they held hereditary guardian positions.

The court is attached to the duties of Musashi Guardian and Sagami's Guardian, and for him, the power of the guardian can be used in Sagami. Therefore, since the Hojo family lost most of the territory in Kanto, they can only be beaten passively. Even if the Hojo clan found Ashikaga Yoshiteru, it would be useless, because the real power of the guardian was here in the court, not in the Hojo family, who had no shogunate service.

Let's take a look at the situation in the middle of Shimonono.

Since the Ashikaga Fuji clan and others raised their troops at the 'Utsunomiya Imperial Palace' on June 29 of the first year of Eiroku, they waited for the 20,000 Uesugi troops who came to attack at the 'Utsunomiya Imperial Palace', while the Furukawa Ashikaga army had only 10,000.

Originally, after Honjo Shiranaga gathered a large army in Sano, he was ready to find a way to open the passage to Nasu County. However, the Ashikaga Fuji clan gathered all the troops into the 'Utsunomiya Imperial Palace', wanting to have another 'Yuki Battle'.

This result is an excellent opportunity for Uesugi Jun. After Honjo Shiranaga and others led 20,000 Uesugi troops into Mikawa Castle, they stopped their march first, and let the 2,000 troops of the Sano Army enter Hibiyama Castle.

The main reason why Honjo was so prosperous that Sano Nobutsuna led the Sano army into battle was that some of the retainers of the Sano family entered the 'Utsunomiya Imperial Palace', and the court in Koe Castle no longer trusted the Sano family. Once Sano Nobutsuna does not agree to send troops to assist, then he is on the same front as the Ashikaga Fuji clan, and if he sends troops, then let the Sano army serve as the vanguard, and the Uesugi army still needs to be prepared for their defection.

On July 5, after Akechi Mitsutada, who was in the northern part of the field, led an army of 4,000 troops to the clan castle northeast of Utsunomiya Castle, Honjo Shiganaga was still not ready to act. He just asked Gomi Takashige to lead his 2,000 troops to occupy Onodera Castle, and took the castle lord Onodera Nagsunada.

At the same time, Akiyama also led an army of 4,000 generals to conquer the western cities of Shimono. Among the supporters of the Ashikaga Fuji clan, Minagawa Tadamune, the lord of Minagawa Castle, Watanabe Tsunori, the lord of Kaen Castle, and Watanabe Toyotsuna (Watanabe Tsunatoshi's brother) were all courted successively. In less than three days, the Uesugi army pacified all the empty garrisons outside Utsunomiya Castle, leaving Utsunomiya as a lonely city.

"Honjo Musashisuke Hall, can you launch an attack on the puppet palace next?" Wise Guangzhong was a little anxious, he was very eager to make a war exploit, otherwise he could only be the acting official of Wise Guangxiu forever.

"The Akiyama team (3,500 men) attacked the castle from the west side of the puppet palace, the Sano team (2,000 men) attacked the castle from the east side of the puppet palace, the wise team (4,000 men) attacked the castle from the north side of the puppet palace, and my own team (5,000 men) attacked the castle from the south." Honjo Shigeraga immediately assigned the task, and asked five acting officials, Xuanyuan Weishigeru, Hirota Naoshige, Kido Tadashito, Kido Nomihide, and Kido Shigeto, to secretly go to Takahashi Castle to the east of Tobiyama Castle, where the Sano family was stationed, to secretly go to Takahashi Castle, which was garrisoned by the Sano family.

In order to alleviate the pressure on the Akiyama team, Honjo Shigenaga specially merged the 3,000 troops of the Asahina Shinoki Division, who had arrived from Musashi, with the Akiyama Seitsuna Division. Because Akiyama had suffered nearly 500 casualties when he captured the castles occupied by the puppet shogunate in various places, and they still needed to prepare for the siege now.

In the face of Uesugi's crusade, the Ashikaga Fuji clan and others were determined to stick to Utsunomiya Castle and prepare for a protracted battle with the Uesugi army, and they dug a trench about five meters wide outside the castle in a short time; The panels were covered with mud to prevent fire; They stockpiled a large number of arrows in the city; They also built Izumaru to the north and west of the castle to attract the attention of the Uesugi army. It is truly one of the most impregnable castles in Shimono Country.

When Honjo Shiganaga and others led the army to Utsunomiya Castle, they found that this castle was no longer easy to capture. Immediately, Honjo sent someone to inform the Asada, who was in Musashikawa-goshi Castle, of the current situation. The only thing Honjo could do at this moment was to cut off all the main roads near Utsunomiya Castle and build some wells several feet high to besiege Utsunomiya Castle.

Due to the previous imperial decree Akiyama Dingzuna, Xuanyuan Weishi, Hirota Naoshi, Kido Tadatomo and others implemented the 'Banji Order' in various parts of Shimono, so the puppet shogunate army did not have much food in stock, and it can even be said that it was overstretched.

"That's right! By the way, the Kyoto Imperial Support Public, the Public Minister, and the Horse Stables entrenched in Shimono are all stewed in one spoonful! "When the court learned that the Ashikaga Fuji clan and others had abandoned most of the castle, they had put the main force in Utsunomiya Castle, and they were very happy. He also sent 5,000 people from Okabe Motonobu and Asahina Tai Chao as reinforcements to Shimono.

When Utsunomiya Castle was surrounded, the head of the Koyama family, Koyama Hidetsuna, began to be unable to sit still. Because he hastily led his army into the city in order to avenge his younger brother Yuki Harumo, his family was in Koyama Castle. The tanma under the command of these **** successively reported the news of the loss of various places, which caused Xiaoshan Xiugang to be in a state of confusion all day long.

"Lord Tomioka, I heard that you took the initiative to ask to come and see me? I don't know why? "Honjo Shigenaga was worried that he couldn't find a breakthrough to Utsu Miyagi, and at this time, Koyama Hidetsuna's younger brother Tomioka Hidetaka took the initiative to ask to meet him.

"Honjoden, the sinners ask that you leave the family members of the Xiaoshan clan behind and don't let them go to Chichibu to dig for gold." Tomioka Hidetaka himself was one of those who was being detained, and he knew very well that once he was sent to the mine outside Chichibu Castle, he would basically not be able to get out.

"But Xiaoshan Danzheng is now the general of the rebels, and his family, including you, Lord Tomioka, is also a sinner to be exiled. If there is no meritorious service, I'm afraid that even I, a member of the public, will not be able to convince the town government. Honjo immediately showed a look of embarrassment.

"Musashisuke, rest assured, the sinner is willing to infiltrate the puppet palace and let his brother open the gate to let the Uesugi army enter." Hidetaka Tomioka immediately expressed his willingness to be a lobbyist.

"It's not enough to just open the gates." Honjo Shiganaga immediately added that he didn't want the unfamiliar Uesugi army to blindly rush into the castle and suffer heavy losses.

"The sinner understands, and the sinner will try his best to persuade his brother to be the vanguard and enter the Sannomaru." Tomioka Hidetaka had to run an errand for the survival of the clan.

However, Honjo Shigenaga also gave Tomioka Hidetaka some benefits, and his eldest son Tomioka Hidecho followed him to Utsunomiya Castle first, while his second son, Tomioka Hidetaka, stayed in Mikawa Castle.

The 3,000 members of the Koyama Army were stationed at Kitanomaru in Utsunomiya Castle, and Sannomaru was garrisoned by 2,000 people, including the retainers of the Sano family, Shigeru Hisayge (former lord of Fujioka Castle), Tadayuki Takase (Rabbit Castle Castle), and the traitors of the Utsunomiya family, Yasumitsu Imaizumi and Mashiko Katsumune; Nishinomaru was garrisoned by 1,000 men of Motegi's Shigebu; Mibu Tsunao and Mibu Tsunabi led 2,000 people to garrison Ninomaru. The remaining 2,000 rebels are on standby in Honmaru, ready to support friendly forces everywhere.