At 10:30 a.m. on September 27, 1573, I arrived at Ishiyama Town in Settsu Province with my troops and horses. From a distance, I saw the scattered camps under the city, with more than 40,000 people and horses.

Ishiyama is a very commercial city, and although it is not as good as Sakai Town, the difference is very limited. Although Ishiyama Honganji Castle had been besieged by the Oda Army for several years, there was still a distance of more than ten miles between the castle and the town, so it was not actually affected by anything, but rather brought about a distorted prosperity due to the supply of military supplies. In addition, I unconsciously felt a sense of intimacy with what I saw and heard here, as if Sakai Town had a monopoly on trade with the Nanban, and this was the largest base for smuggling to the Ming Dynasty, and almost all the bulk goods came from China.

In fact, there is a very "accidental" reason for the good impression of this place, that is, I walked on the street, although there was no martial law and no forced people to welcome me, but I saw the worship from the heart in the eyes of the two-phase crowd! Of course, they may also be the horse prints that worship the "brilliant" behind me.

The army was resting in the suburbs outside the town, and I myself led a guard of 2,000 men into Ishiyama Town, where I had lunch at the house of my old acquaintance, Sueyoshi Sunshiro, and talked about some business matters. During this time, the ninja sent a copy of the latest defense map of Honganji Castle, which roughly showed that the "monkey" was in the northwest, Sakuma was in the southwest, Araki Village was due east, and the other small forces were in the north and south respectively.

"And where am I?" Holding this fluttering piece of paper, I couldn't help but feel a little flustered. It seems that Honganji Castle has been surrounded on all sides, and although some parts are quite weak, it is already quite complete on the surface. This time, Oda Nobunaga's order only said that Oda Nobutada was the commander-in-chief and controlled all kinds of soldiers and horses, but it did not mean that anyone should be responsible before he came. It stands to reason that Sakuma Nobumori has the highest status and is the "landlord" here, but since there is no explicit order for me to listen to him, why bother to find it boring. In fact, I would like to camp outside far away, but this is also suspected of grinding foreign workers, which is very likely to become disrespectful to the future lord in the mouth of those with ulterior motives. That's not a good thing, it's very bad! Since I don't want to meet Sakuma, I have to meet the "monkey" first.

"It's rare!" I unexpectedly met Ikeda Tsuneko in Hideyoshi's barracks, but he was not in the defense map just now. "You've been mixing well lately, haven't you?" Looking at his radiant look, I know without asking.

"I can't catch up with you!" He walked over and gave me an intimate crutch on my little stomach with his elbow. "The lord originally only said that he wanted you to take down Tanba, but I didn't expect that now even Urakami Zongjing has been destroyed! This time you can make a fortune, and the harvest of the sheep is always 200,000 stones, right? ”

"How can there be so many!" I grumbled with one hand on his neck. "I thought this time it was really a 'big deal', but I didn't want to be put on a show by the Ukita family in the end!" I had to mention this incident again, which directly affected my mood.

"If you want me to say it, you'll completely clean up this bastard of the Ukita family!" Asano Nagamasa snorted angrily and held the grievances for me, and the increase in age did not make him more mature. "In terms of strength and strategy, he is not your own, dare to take food in the mouths of our buddies, and turn against him!"

"Don't be ugly, Brother Zhuxing still needs your tricks!" The "monkey" seemed to understand me quite well, and said to me earnestly: "In this case, I can only endure it first!" I also know that you're not afraid of a mere Ukita Nao, but it will take a bit of effort to deal with him. Diverting to attack will expose the flanks to the main force of the Maori family, and this consequence should be carefully considered! ”

"Yes! That's what I thought too...... "I'm also with a "heart-to-heart" expression. "Now my battle line is a little long, and the road in San'in is not very smooth! I really don't have any plans to expand further at the moment.,Misaku still wants to shrink a little.。 ”

I noticed that he breathed a sigh of relief, but said in a regretful tone: "I thought you could contain Yoshikawa Motoharu from the side, but now it seems that I have to do it alone again!" ”

"You don't mind if I squeeze your territory in Shanyang!" I'm kind of a haha when I say that, and at the same time, I want him to stop complaining in the future. "It's really impossible to say what you gain or lose, Shikanosuke went back to the Niko clan! Anyway, he has been with me for so many years, so he let him take 2,000 people, which can be regarded as indirectly under you. ”

"This is the most direct 'help'! Ha, ha, ha......" Hashiba Hideyoshi laughed heartily and his eyes flashed red, but at this time I didn't care, thinking that he was just happy because of the surge in power.

"And you kid, congratulations!" Now that the greeting has passed, I have turned to Ikeda Hengxing, and he has also taken a big step forward recently.

In the past few years, because Sakuma Nobumori has been in charge of besieging Honganji Castle, he has nominally commanded all the men and horses of Settsu, Kawachi, and Nishi-Omi, but this is only in name, and in fact, he can no longer suppress the growing power of Araki Murashige!

A few years ago, Araki Murashige completely eliminated the forces of Itami and the late lord Ikeda Shinmasa, and because Wada Yushimasa was exterminated in response to Adachi Yoshiaki's actions last year, Settsu is actually Araki Murashige's world! Although I don't have much direct contact with this person, I don't have a lot of information about him, whether it's internal affairs, diplomacy, or strategy, he is much stronger than Sakuma Nobumori. Sakuma Nobumori is useless except for martial arts and qualifications, so he was gradually overtaken by Araki Village in Settsu.

Oda Nobunaga was quite pragmatic in dealing with this issue, on the one hand, he promoted Arakimura Shige to guard Settsu, recognized his position as commander of the legion, and repeatedly allowed him to enjoy the honor of deacon at small tea parties; On the other hand, in the name of strengthening the attack on Honganji, they "mixed sand" into Settsu Province as a means of balancing. Just in time for Ikeda Tsuneko to make another contribution in the campaign against Wada Yuimasa, Oda Nobunaga made this cheap brother-in-law the lord of the 27,000-stone castle of Settsu Hanakuma Castle. Ikeda's identity is quite delicate, as the little daimyo here has to listen to Araki Murashige's greetings, but it is not his strength to accept the dispatch.

"Contemptible people are not as good as you 'old-timers'!" Ikeda has been surprisingly enthusiastic since marrying Aichi, and although he still looks like a fool on the surface, he is very motivated at work, so getting promoted is not an accident. “…… Don't say that you can't look down on this territory of less than 30,000 stones, just the position you guard is still 108,000 miles away, why bother to make fun of me again! ”

"It's already a group of people in the near branch, and this is not a matter of three days and two mornings!" "Monkey" patted Ikeda Hengxing on the shoulder intimately, at least I didn't see what kind of mustard could be in the heart of such a "generous" person, maybe it was really just that I was thinking too much about myself, and Ah Shi had completely let go of it in his heart.

"I'm still too late to get here, what's the situation here?" After some salty and light, I talked about the business of this time.

"You see that, too? I don't think it's right either! Before the "monkey" could express his position, Ikeda Hengxing rushed to say: "It's really a strange strategy to set up such a formation!" How can it be effective to spread all the forces and surround them on all sides. If the enemy army in the city really wants to counterattack, it will easily tear our army's formation apart at any point, whose 'mastery' is this? ”

"It's not me anyway!" Yushiba Hideyoshi spread his hands and made a helpless expression. "Sakuma Nobumori is not a fool, he has also concentrated his troops at a few intersections in the past few years, everyone knows that with such a small number of men and horses is not enough to fully encircle, as long as the main force of the enemy army is not separated!"

"Isn't that nice?" Although I don't have a good impression of Sakuma Nobumori, I can't tell lies with a clear conscience.

"But as soon as I came, he immediately shrank his troops to the south, and said that he would divide his troops and deploy them!" He said this with a look of indignation. "The intention of this battle is clear to everyone, so there will be no big move until His Highness Xinzhong arrives! But that guy said that it must be completely blocked, so that the enemy chief does not slip through the net, but you say that this is possible? ”

"Actually, as long as you take down Honganji Castle, it doesn't matter if those guys like to go wherever they like!" I followed his words considerately. Sakuma is a little out of office for personal purposes this time, and the "monkey" side is closer to the waterway, and the slightest carelessness is a crime of "arsoning with the enemy without permission". "Then I'm not going to see Sakuma. His Highness Xinzhong will arrive in a few days, so divide your defense line for me! ”

"You've done me a great favor!" Hideyoshi Hashiba let out a long breath, as if he had finally put his mind at ease. "This time I brought 3,000 of the team, and the rest of the 3,000 Harima Hao clan, such a long front is really a little overwhelming! If it's convenient, please ask your brother to garrison due north, where the lord of Miki Castle is now defending Besshoji. Now that you're here, I can breathe a sigh of relief! ”

"It's okay, then I'll go directly to him for a handover!" I'm okay with this kind of thing, and I don't want to be in the limelight. "But after all, it's the front line, and you still have to send someone to report it."

"What about me? Don't forget me! At this time, Ikeda exclaimed as if he had been ignored. I don't want to see Sakuma Nobumori anymore, so you can give me a piece of land too! However, my city is small and outnumbered, and this time I only brought 1,500 people, and the area is too large to take care of! ”

"This ......," I said with a slight sigh, "you go to the northeast and bridge the gap between me and Araki Murashige!" What do you think? "The last sentence I said to Hideyoshi Hashiba.

"This ...... That's a good idea! ”