"Kara! …… Rumbling ~ Rumbling ......" A thunderstorm rolled over in the sound of the rainstorm, and the roar seemed to be close at hand. I unconsciously shrunk my shoulders and subconsciously glanced towards the door.

The Gamo clan and Keiji Maeda, who were discussing the military situation with me, both noticed my expressions, and after forgetting each other, a trace of worry flashed on their faces. If it's cloudy and rainy, it's nothing, but it's worth worrying about what will happen tonight.

"Your Highness don't worry, today is to take advantage of this rare thunderstorm to achieve great things!" Gamo said to me as he straightened the papers on the table.

"It's not really a 'big deal', but it's not far off......" I looked at the door of the tent, and my words couldn't help but carry a sense of worry.

At that moment the curtain on the door of the tent was blown open, and a strong wind blew in, and the veil of the lamp on the table was not enough to resist the attack, and the candle flame shook violently. The Gamo clan hurriedly pressed the papers on the table, Keiji Maeda hurriedly protected the lights, and Sakurai Sakichi rushed over to fix the door curtain.

Today is the 19th day of September in the 8th year of Tensho (1580), and I have been waiting in front of Tianwang Mountain for three days, and I have not done anything during these three days.

The rain in the past three days is indeed large and small, but the smallest must be the size of a mung bean grain, as dense as a spider's web. In this case, even the cavalry has limited combat effectiveness, let alone artillery. My plan to bombard Tianwang Mountain was naturally soaked in the rain, and I fell into a dilemma for a while.

I've been getting a lot of news these days, and new news is still coming in, and a lot of things are happening, both good and bad, which makes me even more uneasy. "How's the situation in Settsu, and are there any new developments?" To distract myself from the "big event" of the night, I asked the most inconsequential thing.

"There has been some small progress, but on the positive side!" At this time, the Gamo clan had already sorted out the things that had been disturbed by the wind, and stood up and said to me. Araki Murashige still has the upper hand, but because Setzu was also affected by the rain, the offensive was greatly curbed. The two Highnesses, Inaba and Ando, who had retreated north after His Highness Nakayan's martyrdom, had already followed His Highness Niwa south again and joined His Highness Ikeda. Now that the gap in strength between the two of them is not big, and with Lord Kerr stationed in Ishiyama Town, there is no need to worry about the situation! ”

"Now Araki Murashige is no longer the point, his ending depends on the success or failure of others!" I leaned back on the back of the chair and said a few words, and my mood was relieved. "Yesterday you said that His Royal Highness Yuchai won two more battles in the Western Kingdom, so according to your guess, is it possible for him to return to the division quickly?"

"Unlikely!" The Gamo clan shook his head slowly but resolutely. "After the martyrdom of the independent prince, His Royal Highness Yuchai rushed forward, probably in order to be able to achieve a big victory and then return to the army. However, this time, Yoshikawa Motoharu has changed his previous style, holding the slow plan steadily but defeating but not retreating, and it seems that it is impossible for His Royal Highness Yuchai to quickly get rid of him! ”

"Maori and Matsunaga must have colluded beforehand, and now I think it must be wrong!" I picked up a cup of tea on the table and took a small sip. "His Royal Highness Hashiba blocked Maori, and Arakimura fell deep in the mud foot in Settsu again, this is the best situation for me!"

"Yes! There's nothing to worry about in the west, and this guy has just sent a good news! Keiji Maeda said as he picked up an envelope and shook it at me excitedly.

"What's the matter?" My heart moved, didn't I not let Ke'er hide the initiative?

"Because it wasn't marked urgent, I haven't had time to see it yet!" Keiji Maeda replied as he tore open the seal of the letter. "Let me see...... Oh, it was Honganji Temple, which was blocked from advancing westward, and retreated to Ishiyama Gosumi Castle in defeat, and Caizo led his army to block it outside Ishiyama Town. After the Honganji army was defeated again, the more than 10,000 troops who left the city returned less than a thousand! ”

"If he had come close to Araki Murashige, I'm afraid it wouldn't have turned out like this...... "I shook my head with a look of regret and sighed for Honganji." I have to go and fight with Maori to fight Yuchai, this time I lost it all! ”

"Neither strategy can be said to be wrong in terms of strategy alone!" The Gamo clan took the letter from Keiji Maeda, and after reading it, he analyzed it only from a theoretical point of view. "However, it is a pity that this army was not commanded by a general like Araki Murashige, but on the way west, it encountered an opponent like Kuroda Kanwei. Providence is like this, the Honganji family is now finished! ”

"This group of Honganji Temple negotiated with the lord to surrender a month ago, which shows that they are the first group to collude with Matsunaga, not only ambitious but also greedy, and they deserve to fall to this point today!" I stroked my beard and said hatefully, as if the scene of the previous siege of Ishiyama Imperial Castle had returned to my eyes. "This time, the strength of Honganji Temple has been greatly damaged, and Ishiyama Gozumi Castle has become a toothless tiger, let's see whose hands he will end up experiencing!"

"Your Highness is right!" At this time, the Gamo clan had already finished reading the last word of the letter, raised his head and said with a sparkling gaze: "Kore-sama said that in the team of Honganji, he saw the traces of Sugitani's Zenjubo, and the collusion between Honganji and Matsunaga is a certainty!" ”

"Oh!" I was stunned when I heard this, and immediately asked urgently, "Did you catch it?" ”

"Let him run!"

"It's a pity!" I sighed regretfully. "Let the ninjas and spies who are monitoring Ishiyama Honganji take a closer look and make sure to find his whereabouts!"

"Yes!" The Gamo clan agreed, and then said with a smile: "Tonight, with this storm, the follow-up troops of Matsunaga will be severely damaged, but I am afraid that he will also flee without a fight!" ”

"I hope so!" My eyes drifted in the direction of the door again.

Matsunaga Xiu couldn't hold on, and in the case of drinking porridge, the military rations could only be supported for two more days, and the army's morale was weakened and defeat was imminent. After I had rejected his two more envoys for peace, he decided to take a risk, planning to quietly detour the troops of Yodo Castle, Katryuji Castle, Hachimanyama Mountain, and Dongyuan tonight, with a view to moving behind me without knowing it and attacking me at noon tomorrow.

The ninja found out the news, but I still have to admire Matsunaga Xiu's secrecy work, and even the general around me didn't know about this plan, which shows how suspicious he is. As for my intelligence channels, it is the result of some calculations from the trajectory of the miscellaneous troops leaked from the Dian City and the Shenglong Temple City.

Rain and wind are the best environment to hide military operations, and many signs that could have been detected will also be obliterated, and there are many examples of such battles in history. But now that I already know this plan, they no longer have an advantage to speak of, and the way of mountains and rivers under the rainstorm and thunder has become their burial place.

My ninja strength is stronger than that of Masunaga Shu (although he also has a lot of Koga and Iga under him), and there is a special combat ninja army, the Stars Special Reserve. At nightfall, Kusunoki Mitsunari and Ishikawa Tadazuna led their men to sneak out separately and rushed to several previously identified bridges, canyons and other places, and would complete the task of completely defeating Matsunaga's reinforcements tonight. When the news reaches Matsunaga's team on Tenwang Mountain tomorrow, he won't have that morale anymore!

I don't think this plan will be a bad one, and there is no strength in the Matsunaga army that can ambush our ninja army in this environment. But tonight's wind and rain were particularly fierce, and the thunder that I could barely hear a few days ago was also incessant, and it may be for this reason that my mind was a little disturbed.

"This should have already begun, right?" I said to myself.

"It's going to be over in half an hour!" Gamo answered me with a skillful answer.

"You really ......," I laughed and wanted to praise his "spirit of revolutionary optimism."

"Hula!" The fastened curtain rang, presumably because the people outside didn't want the wind to blow in and pulled it tightly, and one of the attendants put his mouth on the crack of the door and shouted on the opposite side: "My lord, Lord Kato is back!" ”

"Invite him in!" I immediately stood up and took two steps towards the door, this time the news he brought should have made the situation clear.

"Lord, I'm back!" Kato Danzo immediately came in from the outside, and the water on his head and body fell on the carpet. All his clothes were so wet that they were crumpled and clutched around his body, but there was no trace of fatigue or discomfort in his expression.

"It's been hard all the way, has the situation in the eastern country been confirmed?" I pulled him to the table and sat down, and the Gamo clan told Sakurai to find clean clothes.

"I don't dare to talk about hard work if I am loyal to the Lord, and the affairs of the Eastern Kingdom have basically come to an eyebrow!" Kato Duanzo took a sip of the hot tea handed by Keiji Maeda, and then said. "His Highness Shibata in Hokuriku in the eastern country and His Royal Highness Akechi in Koshin, their situation is very different......"

"Lord!" At this time, the companion Changxin suddenly ran in from outside, because he was responsible for the real-time grasp of the battlefield intelligence this time, so he didn't need to be reported. "I just got the news, Matsunaga Xiu is ready to act in advance!" Seeing that there was no "inappropriate" person in the house, he hurriedly reported for duty.

"In advance? When! My attention was immediately pulled back.

"It's dawn today, and there are still two hours left!" He said as he wiped a handful of the rain running down his cheeks.

"That means he doesn't want to wait for reinforcements from behind!" I reached the tent door and tore open the curtains, and the wind mixed with the raindrops hit my face, bringing a heavy chill. It was still pitch black outside, except for the golden glow of thunder and lightning flashing from time to time on the distant hills. This situation is not so easy for both offense and defense, so the result can only be a tough battle. "Immediately call all the generals above the general to me, especially His Royal Highness Oda Nobutaka, and go immediately!" I turned around and ordered.