In April 1574, no matter how angry Tokugawa Ieyasu was, and no matter how frightened the Minami Shinano clan was, the Takayama family had more than 5,000 troops left in addition to the 1,500 troops of the new group, and went straight to Kiso-Fukushima Castle.

Although the Takeda family was prepared, they were unable to send a flag to prevent the Tokugawa family from attacking, so they had to order Minami Shinano to go to Kiso-Fukushima Castle to help, trying to block the Takayama family's attack here.

However, the Takeda family is self-aware, most of them are peasant soldiers, although the total strength reaches 15,000, but this combat power, there is really nothing to do, and although the army of the Takayama family is only 5,005, but it is the elite of a hundred battles, if you go out of the city to fight, then it is absolutely impossible to win, it seems that there is only a cage city, maybe you can still block its soldiers.

The Takayama family had been sparing no effort in building the road to Shinano, so the 5,500 troops did not spend much effort to come to Kiso-Fukushima Castle. If this road is opened early, I'm afraid that Shingen Shangluo will not take the Tokaido way.

Outside Kiso-Fukushima Castle, Maeda Toshiie and three other leading generals only gave their troops a short rest before ordering the siege of the city. But what they didn't expect was that the enemy's resistance in the city was very strong, and the army attacked for half a day, not only did not break the city, but lost more than 100 people. This made the mountain generals frown.

The reason for this situation is entirely because they ignore the fact that although the peasants in the city make up the vast majority, the number is three times that of their own family, and the peasants do not care about any tactics, and they have more people on their side than the enemy, which is enough to give them courage. Courage for a lifetime. and there was a fortified city to defend. It's not an easy task to break through.

After the battle that night, as the lord of the city, Kiso Yoshimasa held a feast in the city to reward his men and reinforcements, Kiso Yoshimasa knew very well in his heart that whether he could escape this disaster this time depended on these ashigari in the city, not to mention that they did not sell their lives, even if their morale was low, they might not be able to hold the city.

Of course, while rewarding the whole army. He hadn't forgotten the three thousand ninja troops outside the city, so he had to do it in batches.

And outside the castle, the faces of the three main generals of the Takayama Army, Maeda Toshiie, Wasuka Masakatsu, and Watanabe Moritsuna, as well as Omiya Keiren, Sugitani Zenjubo, Yamanaka Kanosuke and other generals are not so good-looking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am afraid that Kiso-Fukushima Castle will be difficult to take in a short period of time, so I have the great trust of the lord, so I don't know if you have any suggestions. Can you go down to this city? Although all three of them are the main generals, the Maeda Toshiya was the first to serve. So he was the first to speak.

"Maeda-sama, I think that this matter should be reported to the lord immediately, and with the wisdom of the lord and the military advisor, I will definitely be able to come up with a solution to it." Nakagawa Kiyohide couldn't help but speak.

"No, this time the lord did not formulate tactics, and the second did not send a military division to go out with the army, it is obvious that he wants to test the school, but at present, he has only encountered some small difficulties, and I will have to worry about the lord, which is really a disappointing expectation. Don't mention the matter of reporting to the lord for the time being. Everyone knew that Watanabe Moritsuna's words were true, so the proposal was abandoned, but then everyone fell silent again, but from this point on, everyone really began to think about how to break the situation.

It didn't take long, but I only heard Yamanaka Kanosuke say: "Everyone, I just received a report that at present, a feast is being held in Kiso Castle to reward the army, if the ninja army of this family steals the city at this time, as long as it can be killed into the city, only those peasant soldiers can't resist it at all, I don't know what everyone thinks of this?" ”

When he finished speaking, several samurai present couldn't help nodding, but before they could echo the voice, they heard the leader of the ninja army, Wasuka Masakatsu, shake his head and said: "This plan is not appropriate, not to mention that Kiso Yoshimasa is quite strategic, only to say that the tactics of attacking the city with the ninja army are no secret, since he dares to reward the sergeant at this time, it shows that he is fully prepared, maybe he has set up a big net to wait for the ninja army." ”

Several more samurai then made suggestions, but they were quickly rejected one by one, and even the tactics used in the war with the lord were recalled, but there was still no good way.

Everyone was really upset, after all, they were samurai, and samurai had always fought in a dignified manner, even if they died, they had to die uprightly, and this trick was really not what everyone was good at. But the problem now is that if you don't have to plan to take the city, then I'm afraid that it will be impossible to take the city for a few months.

When everyone was at a loss, Kotaro, the wind demon who had not spoken, suddenly said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the reason why we have not thought of a strategy to break the city is probably because we have focused all our attention on Kiso Fukushima Castle, and if we broaden our horizons, I am afraid that it will be easy to break this city." ”

Everyone is not stupid, it's just that they have fallen into a routine and need someone to wake them up, and what Wind Demon Kotaro said just now has such a role.

Sure enough, after he finished speaking, everyone became active again. But some people expressed their worries, and only heard Nakagawa Kiyohide say: "Ladies and gentlemen, at the evaluation meeting before the battle, the lord personally decided that the three armies would jointly attack Kiso-Fukushima Castle first, and then divide the troops. ”

"I said Lord Nakagawa, when the lord was setting the strategy, could he have thought that this city had gathered a large army and was ready to fight, the battlefield is changing rapidly, if I stick to the rules, I don't think I have to sit here, just go back to the army." If you can talk like this, you don't need to ask to know that it must be Keiji Maeda.

"Shut up. Is the wisdom of the lord something you can say casually? Maeda Toshiya first reprimanded Keiji, and then changed his words and said: "Although Keiji has a number of faux pas, but there is some truth in this, I think it is better to send someone to explain to the lord after we have set a strategy, presumably the lord will not be blamed, I don't know what you think?" ”

"Maeda-sama has a point." Everyone is definitely the safest to do this, so they can't help but say in unison.

"In this case, let's talk about the idea first, now that the wealthy clans of Nan Shinano have concentrated most of their troops here, and the territory must be empty, I might as well bypass this city and seize other places first, if the enemy goes out of the city to chase after him, he can destroy the enemy in the field, if he doesn't chase, then after capturing South Shinano, he will pull out this city, I don't know what you think?"

"I think something is wrong, what if the enemy doesn't chase me but cuts off my food route?"

"This ......" For a while, the Maeda family really couldn't refute it.

"What is this called, even if the enemy cuts off the grain route, as long as a few cities are captured, are you still afraid that there will be no food?"

"Lord Maeda, if the soldiers are divided into three routes, each road has a lot of people, and a few castles are captured, I am afraid it will not be enough for the three-way army to eat." Sugitani's Zenjubo really can't listen to it anymore, and Maeda Keiji's idea is too child's play, so he can't help but say it.

"I said, Lord Sugitani, you still haven't been able to take a step out of the strategy formulated by the lord, why do you want to divide the troops into three ways, I think it can be completely broken into zero, and each person will lead one hundred and eighty people to attack in multiple ways, if you are short of manpower, the samurai under my command can be borrowed from you."

"Keiji ......" Maeda Toshiya just wanted to reprimand, only to hear Watanabe Moritsuna say: "Maeda-sama, what Keiji said is not unreasonable, if you really act like this, what can the enemy do, if you only chase all the way, it is completely meaningless, if you divide the army and chase it, how can it be your own opponent, if you cut off our Liang Dao, then you don't have to worry, we can completely fight to support the war, as for whether to take the city, first see how the enemy acts, even if it can't, it can turn Minami Shinano upside down, so that the enemy is exhausted, and then defeated in one fell swoop." ”

Seeing that everyone had no opinion on Maeda Keiji's proposal, Maeda Toshiya and the other three lords finally made a decision after a brief discussion.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have decided to take Keiji Maeda's suggestion and attack it separately, but the goal of this operation is to disrupt the situation in Minami Shinano, so once it encounters a fortified castle, it cannot be attacked, and the main target is Minami Shinano Castle and Tsuna. And if the enemy army comes back, there is no need to be soft-hearted, and if you can't annihilate it, you should return here at once to assemble and capture Kiso-Fukushima Castle, and once the enemy is scattered and returned, it will not be so easy to gather, and then it will be the time for us to take Minami Shinano completely. ”

"Maeda-sama is right, but I think the meeting army should set a date, so that the army can be assembled in the shortest possible time."

"Watanabe-sama is right, then you will lead the army to assemble here in ten days."

"Obey the orders of the three adults." After the discussion was over, I only heard everyone present speak in unison.

"Someone, report this matter to the lord as soon as possible."

It is easy to divide the army, but it is not so easy to do, the country of South Shinano is everywhere in the mountains, but there are many wealthy families, more than 100 large and small cities, if you do not formulate a detailed strategy, I am afraid that this matter will be difficult to carry out effectively, so on the second day, in order to confuse the enemy, still to Kiso Fukushima Castle to see the offensive.

Kiso-Fukushima Castle and Takayama Castle were not far away, and since most of the roads had been built, it only took a few hours for fast horses to arrive, so the news had already been sent to Takayama Castle before dawn the next day.

"Report to the lord, Maeda-sama sent someone to send a war report, and ask the lord to decide." Outside the living room, the Otaemon of the Sho Hiko spoke.

"Zhilu said, let him wait in the ashram." This night, the clan did not sleep soundly, although there was nothing to worry about with the strength of his own army, but after all, this time it was the retainers under his command who led the troops to fight independently, so he couldn't help but care. When he heard that the battle had arrived, he immediately got up, put on a simple dress, and walked out of the house quickly. (To be continued......)