I walked out of the tent and looked up at the sky, although it was the end of the moon and there was only a small bud left, but there were still stars in the sky. "Ahh The weather had cooled down for almost October, and I had just woken up, so a cold wind blew and I sneezed. After going back to the tent and adding a cloak, I stepped out again, looked around and walked forward. This is a mountain forest on the border between the north and the south of Hanoi, and my sleeping tent is in a small clearing in the middle of the forest, where my army has been stationed for three days!

After Tanshita Morichi left, I handed over Kikuchiyo to Senshiba for the time being, and I began to nervously discuss the detailed plan of this operation with my retainers. There are about 5,000 troops in Nanhanoi or the original Hatakeyama family, and this part of the people is now basically controlled by the Yuzo religion, strictly speaking, they are far inferior to my team in terms of quantity and quality, and they are not monolithic, and there are many people who support Hatakeyama Takamasa. But firstly, I can't bring all the troops out, and secondly, I may have to face a siege, so how many men and horses to use becomes a big problem!

In the end, at the suggestion of Nagano Yoshimasa, I decided to sneak into the mountains with 4,500 troops, and Nagano Yoshimasa himself led the remaining 2,000 men to defend the city. Although my troops consist of all cavalry and iron artillery, I still have to try to move the main force of the enemy out of the city for a decisive battle. In order to prevent someone from stabbing in the back, all the ninjas under Ishikawa Tadsuna were scattered to the surrounding forces, and the companion Naganobu was responsible for assisting in the rescue of Hatakeyama Takamasa and this battle.

The forest was densely populated with troops, and tents of various sizes were set up between the crevices of the trees. I walked through the crowded woods, followed by Gamo Fuhide and a few attendants, answering the sentinels' questions about passwords from time to time. Since they had rested for two days in a row, everyone was in good spirits, and no one slept at midnight, and because the lights were not allowed, soldiers sitting outside the tents were everywhere wiping their weapons. According to the plan, Hatakeyama Takamasa will arrive in the middle of the night today, and at that time, we will take advantage of the enemy's panic to search for and fail to defend, and take Takaya Castle in one fell swoop.

"Lord!" Seeing my arrival, Shimakatsu immediately put down the half-wiped Kikuchi gun and stood up. "It's still a while before the appointment, why don't you take a break anymore?"

"Can't sleep anymore!" I smiled and stretched, and threw another punch into the air. "It's almost time, I have to get up and sober up first!"

"You can rest assured!" Shimakatsu said confidently: "You must have noticed when you were at Honnoji Temple that those armies of the Hatakeyama family are really vulnerable!" Now they are internally unstable, and defeating them is just a matter of effort. ”

"Even if you deal with a rabbit, you have to be as cautious as you are with a wild boar!" I am really happy that my soldiers can maintain such high morale at all times, but for a commander, it is sometimes like a scale, the role is to maintain the balance between the two ends of the scale, not only to encourage his subordinates when they are discouraged, but also to prevent them from becoming a "proud army". "Any news from elsewhere?"

"Back to my lord, there is no return yet!" Shima Katsu replied seriously.

"Hmm......" I nodded. I'm very relieved about Shima Katsuto, and an important reason is that he never messes up three points like Keiji Maeda and Keer Caizo.

"Lord!" At this time, the half-guard of Takenaka hurriedly came, and next to him was Ishikawa Tadsuna. They were followed by Keiji Maeda, Kanosuke Yamanaka, Yosmori Nagano, Philips and Shinhachiro, in other words, all the generals who came out this time were all there.

"Is something wrong?" Seeing the melancholy look on Takenaka's half-guard's face, I judged that something new had happened, and that Ishikawa Tadsuna shouldn't be here at this moment. "Is Yamato changing?" I asked him.

"Yes!" Hanbei Takenaka nodded. "Let's let Tadatsuna report to you!"

"Lord Qiyu......" Ishikawa Tadatsuna bowed on one leg. Very bad news, Matsunaga Shu has already participated in a conspiracy against you! ”

"What?" I was taken aback by the fact that the balance of power had completely changed in several ways. "Is the message accurate?"

"Yes, I verified it myself!" Ishikawa Tadatsuna nodded solemnly. “…… One of my ninja reported seeing Miyoshi's Iwata Yoshibata appear in Yamato, and by the time I arrived, he had already entered Nobukiyama Castle. I knew that the stakes were high, so I infiltrated the castle and met Iwata in person at the residence of Hidekatsu Takeuchi, a Matsunaga Shigetomi. I don't know if he'd seen Matsunaga Show before, but he left on the third night. During this time, Matsunaga Shu did not meet Iwata, but his son Matsunaga had a secret conversation with Iwata twice! I couldn't get too close because of the many ninjas on guard, and I could tell from the staccato words that they were negotiating. It seems that Matsunaga has put forward some condition, and he can only act if Miyoshi achieves some kind of advantage! ”

"Damn!" I scolded hard. Although the information is not very sufficient, it is enough, and it seems that the backbone of the back of Matsunaga's head is about to attack again, but he may still be observing, trying to buy the most favorable opportunity for himself. "What happened?"

"I was afraid of startling the snake, so I didn't go to investigate Matsunaga's situation. That Iwata Yoshidan has a lot of guards, and there are ninjas on Matsunaga's side who are secretly protecting, and I didn't act rashly! ”

"Well done!" I affirmed his caution not to let them discover that I had mastered their plot until they were prepared. "Chongji, what do you think!"

"Judging from the current situation, we still have a period of time, and the main thing about whether Matsunaga shows anti or not is to see the effect of our next action!" Takenaka Hanbei said slowly. "But Matsunaga is an extremely cunning man, and we can't be unprepared for him."

"Hmm......" I nodded wordlessly. Send someone to the teacher and send them a letter saying that there may be a change in the east, telling them to be more careful! ”

"Lord ......" Takenaka Hanbei took a few steps forward and said, "Our action this time is even more important, and we must win it with one drum!" Even so, the ...... between us below and Miyoshi"

"Lord!" Suddenly, a voice sounded in the distance, and when I looked back, it was Changxin running from far and near. "Lord......" His usually cold face was also a little nervous. Takamasa Hatakeyama has been killed! ”

"What?!" Exclamations poured out of the mouths of several people at the same time.

"What's going on?" I asked eagerly.

"It is said that he was discovered by the guards when he was absconding, and the retainers who rescued him and the people who rescued Yusa fought...... "There was a slight sweat on the head of the companion Changxin, and it seemed that he kept running all the way." Although they escaped in the end, Hatakeyama Takamasa was seriously injured and died before he could reach the place where he could be answered! ”

"What about the others?" I continued to ask. "How's Tange-sama?"

"Tange-sama has been slightly injured, but it's fine!" He finally said something that struck me a little bit. “…… They're all on their way here, and it's not far away! I was afraid that the lord would be in a hurry, so I came first! ”

"That's pretty good......" I sighed. With this old minister Hatakeyama here, I can find a crack in this egg in Nan Hanoi. "What's new in the religion?"

"They are purging people who are loyal to the Hatakeyama family, and there is a lot of panic everywhere...... "The men and horses of the company have all been scattered in the South Hanoi area recently, so they know a lot about the situation here." But maybe they sensed something, and they all cowered in a few cities and didn't dare to move! At present, You Zuo Faith personally led 3,500 men and horses to garrison Gaoya Castle, and his son You Zuo Jijiao led 600 people to protect his family in the ebony city! Judging by the deployment, they did not find out the exact location of our army! ”

"Map!" I shouted a command to the attendant who was following me.

A three-foot-square Goryeo paper map was laid out on the large bluestone in front of me, and I and all the generals surrounded it, and my companion Changxin pointed and explained on it. At this time, the map was very simple, the mountains were irregular circles of different sizes, the rivers were solid lines, the roads were dotted lines, and the cities were small squares, with names on the sides marked with Chinese characters.

"Is there any way?" I turned my head and asked the Takenaka half-guard.

"You Zuo's main force must be transferred out!" Takenaka Hanbei tapped his hand on the map. "We are not sure about storming Gaoya Castle, and if it is a field battle, there is no problem!"

"If it's on the plains, they won't be enough to stuff my teeth!" Keiji Maeda gritted his teeth fiercely.

"There are Youzuo's sons and family members in the Ebiko City......," Shinhachiro suddenly said excitedly: "If we attack there, Yuzuo Religion will not be able to die without help!" ”

"Huh?" I looked at him with some surprise and some relief. Shinhachiro actually started to use his brain, although this plan has a lot of loopholes, but after all, it shows that he has grown. "What do you guys think?" I glanced around at the others.

"It's a good plan......," Nagano shook his head. He comes from a family of famous generals and is extremely sensitive to such strategies. "You Zuo Xinjiao knows very well the strength of our army, and if our army attacks him personally, he may not dare to go out of the city to rescue! Moreover, our army's attack on the Ebony Castle will expose its behavior, and immediately the surrounding Miyoshi and Matsunaga will know that Wakae has become an empty city, and once our army can't take Takaya Castle and is stuck in Namkawachi, the situation will be dangerous! The others nodded in agreement.

I nodded in agreement, and muttered, "If only someone could attack the Ebony City for us...... ”

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Bear in Winter: Historically, it was Hatakeyama Akitaka who was killed by Yusa Shinko, but because his identity was "special" and more suitable for the development of the following plot, I changed the fate of the two brothers a little!