The more China is the city, the city is born.

The warm light of early spring broke the winter of snow and dust in the North Continent.

The head of the Shenbao family, who has entered the Dao Dharma and is named Zongchang, is looking at the flag fingers with the moon double pattern on the head of the city, and a smile appeared on his face.

On the main formation of the Shenbao army, the curtain is covered with strips of cloth with two vertical and two patterns.

In the midst of the curtains, the chief of the priesthood withdrew his gaze from the city, turned his head and sat down on the horse in front of the long table.

Shenbao Changzhi was dressed in a monk's robe, and the monk's bald head was straightened, holding a folding fan, and said to the retainers of the Shenbao family on both sides of the long table: "The ancestors of my Shenbao clan are the descendants of the first emperor of the Great Qin Dynasty in Middle Earth. ”

After the chief of the god protection finished speaking, the retainers on both sides raised their heads and laughed.

ps: Shenbao's original surname is Weizong courtier, Weizong's family, one says that he is a descendant of Qin Shi Queen, and the other is a descendant of Qin Fujian. The Shimazu family, the Nagazong family and the family are all from this branch.

The old man of the Shen Bao family, Kojima Zhizhen said with a smile: "The lord is too high to promote this Li Xiao, the lord is the first emperor, and Li Xiao has never said what he is from, I heard that he was just a general at the level of a general in the Ming Kingdom before, and there is nothing to talk about side by side with the lord." ”

The Jimbo chief raised his hand, stopped Kojima's words, and said, "Kojima, don't underestimate this opponent because of this. According to my meticulous work in the Takeda family, this person is the fierce general that Shin Xuan Gong attaches the most importance to, although His Royal Highness also attaches great importance to him, and regards him as the most feared opponent of the Takeda family after Shin Xuan Gong. Therefore, we must not underestimate the enemy. ”

At this time, a young samurai with a half-moon head at the end of the retainer's seat said loudly: "My grandfather, this time to attack the castle of Seongseijo, please let me Shinri attack the city gate as a formation, in order to avenge Li Xiao's revenge for killing his father and the hatred of seizing the foundation of my Saito family." ”

This samurai, who has just been in the Yuan service, is the son of Saito Riki, the lord of the former castle of Shobu Castle, Saito Nobuyoshi.

After Josheng Castle was captured by Li Xiao half a year ago, he fled to his maternal grandfather, Jimbo Nagana, to take refuge under the protection of a group of loyal Saito retainers.

Nobuyoshi Saito is more famous in history than his father, and in the Oda family's Hokuriku raiders, the Saito family fell to the Oda family, and as its pioneer, attacked the Uesugi family.

The chief of the god looked at his grandson and hesitated, he sent troops to the city this time, not to revive the name of the Saito family, but this banner and call must be fought, after all, there are still two hundred Saito family's 'reinstate' troops in the army.

Occasionally, the title still needs to be used as a fig leaf, so the Divine Protector must rely on their strength. The Divine Protector thought so.

Shenbao Changzhi smiled and said: "Xinli, you have this brave heart, so I am even more proud of your dead father, but this battle is your first battle, how to learn the way to lead the army from the generals, is the key, understand?" ”

"Oh." Nobuyori Saito's face was calm, not in the slightest discouraged by the rejection.

This scene was under the eyes of Jimbo Nagashi, and he glanced at Saito Nobuyoshi unconsciously, and then he turned his eyes to the first military general on the right side of the long wooden table, and asked, "Terashima, how is the siege going?" ”

Another important retainer of the Jimbo family, Terashima said: "My lord, the task of attacking Waimaru has been completed a lot, such as the previous report of the ninjas of the Uesugi family, the other party has a lot of iron cannons to defend the city. Therefore, in the process of filling and cutting, our army was subjected to intensive fire from the opponent's iron artillery. ”

"But fortunately, our plan to fill in the excavation is just a feint, in fact, I have secretly sent my subordinates to dig two tunnels from the ground, leading directly to the outer pill, it is expected that a sneak attack operation can be carried out in the early morning of tomorrow, and then the outer pill can be taken in one fell swoop."

The chief of the divine protection nodded and asked, "Even if you are digging underground, you must not take it lightly because you are close to the city, and you need to beware of the enemy generals finding out." ”

Terashima Zhiding smiled and said: "Please rest assured, the most feared of the generals of the Takeda Army, Shima Katsutoshi, is now in Kamioka Castle, if this person is in the city, because of his long-term combat formation and bravery, he does not dare to rashly adopt the excavation method of warfare, but now Kinoshita Koichiro, who is stationed in Josheng Castle, as far as the intelligence knows, is only from Owari Kunashigaru, not even a samurai, Li Xiao let such an inexperienced general to guard the castle, it is definitely a mistake. ”

Kojima Zhizhen also spoke: "Lord, besides, according to the intelligence, Li Xiao, the snake tail who is stationed in Chengsheng City, is newly recruited, and his combat power is far from comparable, and he defeated the Saito family's reserve team last time, so we will focus more on how to attack the city, without worrying about the other party attacking out of the city." ”

Kojima Vocational Town, Terashima Vocational Determination, these two people are known as the heads of the retainers of the Shuangbi of the Divine Protection Family, and you and I will analyze the general military situation of the city.

Surprisingly, the Jimbo family knew a lot about the situation in the city.

It can be seen that in terms of intelligence work, the excellent espionage ability of the Xuanyuan people subordinate to the Uesugi family, as well as the counter-infiltration work of Yokotani Yukishige against the enemy ninjas, were not implemented in place.

As a Xuanyuan people who have been based in Vietnam for many years, they are still better than the ninjas who Li Xiao has not long established.

While the retainers of the Jimbo family were discussing how to attack the city.

Suddenly, a person from Ashigaru came to report, "My lord, there is an abnormal situation in the castle. ”

When the general of the rank of chief of the god protection heard this, he hurriedly walked out of the curtain and walked to a high ground to look.

Standing on the highest rock, the priest raised his folding fan to block out the light that was shining down, and looked out at the castle.

When the chief of the god protection saw the light on the city, he only felt a dazzling eye, and suddenly his body shook and he took a step back slightly.

Jimbo Nagashi turned to look at Kojima Town, pointed his folding fan at the castle, and asked unhappily, "You told me what was going on?" ”

Kojima Zhizhen showed a somewhat puzzled expression, and when he carefully saw the scene above the castle, he was also surprised, and said loudly: "How is this possible? ”

"With at least nearly a hundred samurai on top of this city, how can you say that they are all a rabble?" The chief of the jimbo shouted at Kojima Jobtown.

Xiao Daozhen bowed down and said, "My lord, it is your subordinates who have neglected to observe. ”

"Since there has been a mistake in judgment, we must be cautious," said the chief of the priesthood, looking back at the head of the castle, "immediately re-investigate the information in the city, and after confirming it, then go back to the court, and do not attack the castle at will until the information in the castle is detailed." ”

"Oh." All the retainers of the Jimbo family agreed together.

Above the head of the city.

Kinoshita Koichiro stood on the arrow oar, looking at the position of the Jinbao family under the city, and the two flags and two flags were inserted all over the place, and his face showed a sad face.

At this moment, he also saw the retainers of the Jibo family who were standing in a row under the castle.

Kinoshita Koichiro was a little uneasy in his heart, and glanced back at the castle, thinking that he hoped that this plan could be hidden from the other party.

"Kinoshita-sama, is this idea you came up with feasible?" Kohata Xiaoxian also came to the arrow oar at this moment.

He looked at the city life city generation appointed by his brother-in-law himself.

To be honest, he was still a little unconvinced by Li Xiao's appointment at the moment.

This thin and short, man from the countryside, is actually worthy of being a samurai, and he was entrusted with the important task of guarding a city by his brother-in-law.

And the most unwilling thing was that Li Xiao told him before leaving, everything must be more obedient to Kinoshita Koichiro's words, and major decisions must be made by Kinoshita Koichiro and Youshan Tiger before they can be implemented.

This made Kohata Xiaoxian, who was born in a serious samurai family, feel unfair, and in his eyes, he would not be able to compare with this Kinoshita Koichiro.

However, half a year since Li Xiao left, during the period when Kinoshita Koichiro served as the lord of Josheng City, although he did not have too outstanding political achievements, he was stable in handling things, and no one could see that there was too much difference.

This point is in the eyes of Xiaohan Xiaoxian, which shows that the other party still has some ability.

In the face of Kohata's inquiry, Kinoshita Koichiro still maintained his usual humble appearance, and said loudly: "Kohata-sama, how the results are, we will know in a while." ”

Xiaohan Xiaoxian shook his head and looked at the head of Chengsheng City, where the golden light was shining, and the sunlight reflected by the iron pieces on a large piece of armor was dazzling.

The armor, armor, feet, and belly rolls on the head of this city are all available, including the old-fashioned large armor, and the various head pockets with strange shapes in front of the city, such as Tang head, Tianchong, erect, and antlers.

This is the clever plan that Koichiro Kinoshita came up with?

Let the ashigaru, who have been recruited for a few months, put them in the treasury, and the last time they carried out the sword hunting order, they collected the mustashi and large armor from the locals, and pretended to be elite samurai, so as to deceive the Jimbau's family, so that they would not dare to attack the castle at will.

Is this possible?

Xiaoxian Kohata just typed this big question mark.

I heard Kinoshita Koichiro whisper: "It's done." ”

Xiaohan Xiaoxian turned his head to look at the city, and saw that the Shenbao Army, which was originally surrounded by the three outer triches under the city, had begun to slowly retreat and loosen the encirclement.

Kohata Xiaoxian couldn't help but be surprised, he turned his head to look at Kinoshita Koichiro, his little trick could actually deceive the samurai of the Jimbo family and win more time for the defense of the city.

Thinking of this, Kohata Xiaoxian looked at Koichiro Kinoshita again, and now he is making a new estimate.

And Kinoshita Koichiro saw that his plan succeeded, but he did not feel a little complacent, and whispered: "Although the plan was successful, it didn't buy much time, and the people of the Jimbo family spent some time to find out the truth." It's a pity that the snow covers the mountain, and Lord Shima Katsu can't lead troops to help. Hey, if only the lord was here. ”

A thunderstorm fell on Kai.

Rumbling thunder, resounding non-stop.

The black forged horse's hooves were trampling in the mud, Li Xiao, Shioka Kazuha, Honda Masanobu, and Tsuchiya Masahiro, who was newly accepted as a retainer, and a few people who were riding horses in the rain in the dirt road.

The rain continued to wash over their robes and horses, and as the whips swung by, the samurai struggled to push the horses under them.

Li Xiao's face was grim, looking at the blurred street in front of him that was obscured by heavy rain, but in his heart he thought about the scene that had just come out of the Tsugasaki Pavilion.

Hearing about the attack on the city, yesterday Li Xiao rushed back to the Kuzuzaki Pavilion overnight and reported to Takeda Shingenyu that the Jimbo family had attacked his territory.

Although Takeda Shingen was sick, he also attached great importance to this matter and summoned Li Xiao overnight.

However, Takeda Shingen admitted to Li Xiao frankly that the current turmoil of Yoshinobu had just passed, and the Takeda family had not yet stabilized, and before the Imagawa family's attitude was unclear, they were unable to send troops to support Li Xiao in the battle.

Li Xiao understood this, he came to Takeda Shinxuan, and he had no intention of borrowing troops from him at all.

"It's raining so hard and it's getting dark, so you can't see the road if you go on like this." Li Xiao suddenly stopped fighting and said to his subordinates.

"But the Lord City is over there." Someone in the subordinates advised.

Li Xiao raised his horsewhip and said, "It's not bad for this meeting." ”

Li Xiao and the others walked to an abandoned house at random to live.

The house is now a long-abandoned house, and the roof of the house is dripping with water.

The accompanying warriors then led the horses to feed them with water and graze, and picked up brushes and began to wash the wet mud from the horses.

Li Xiao looked at the heavy rain that was falling outside the thatched roof, revealing a thoughtful look.

"My lord, this time, Lord Gokan, how do you show if you can deploy reinforcements into Hida. The snake tail has not yet formed a combat force, you must know that our current military strength is not enough to resist, this time the Divine Protection Family will attack with all their strength. Honda Masanosin said to Li Xiaoyan.

Li Xiao nodded and said, "I know, but the lord really didn't deploy reinforcements to follow me into Hida." But this doesn't bother me, don't forget, I'm the temporary general of the Echichu Hida Legion of my family. ”

Honda Masanobu immediately grasped Li Xiao's meaning, and said: "My lord, what you mean is to use the identity of the general to order the transfer of troops to the Jiangma family, the Uchijima family, and the sister Xiaolu family. ”

Well, Li Xiao nodded.

"But they shouldn't agree to be so cheerful, especially from the position of the sister Xiaolu family and the Uchijima family, they should hope that our army will be defeated in Vietnam."

"That's right," Li Xiao smiled slightly, and said, "That's why I deliberately went to the Hesaki Pavilion this time, and asked the lord for the seal of the order for these three families to send troops, and directly issued an order to them as the lord and asked them to lend me troops." ”

"Not only that, I led the army of the Hida Hao clan out of Echichu, which is likely to cause the peep of the Uesugi family, in order to guard against the possibility of Uesugi Teihoku going out of Echichu, I also asked the lord of the lord to ask the lord of Iwa Castle Lord Okuma Asahue, and the lord of Kaizu Castle Takasaka Masanobu respectively sent troops to Echigo to contain it, and the lord has agreed to my request."

Honda Masashi couldn't help but smile and said: "My lord, it's really clever, my sister is good, no matter how stubborn the Uchijima clan is, it will not go against the will of Lord Mikan, otherwise my Takeda family will have enough excuses to directly crusade against these two forces." And with the containment of the two adults of Takasaka and Big Bear, Uesugi Teruhu did not dare to leave the mountain castle easily. ”

Li Xiao nodded, and said: "But the lord will not print the judgment every time to help me, this time in Vietnam, the lord has already granted me the power of the country of Vietnam, Zhengxin, to tell the truth, without the help of the lord, do you think that with my current strength, it will take a few years to conquer the country of Vietnam?" ”

Honda Masanobu frowned, shook his head and said: "My lord, from the bottom of my heart, although the Echichu Jimbo and Shiina families are not as powerful as the Uesugi family, they were personally appointed by Kongo Hatakeyama back then, and together with the Yusa family, they were the three guardians of Echichu. ”

"In terms of righteousness, the local wealthy families, large and small, have served for generations and have served the two families, and they are also accustomed to the rule of the two. If you are in a hurry, it will be difficult for the forces of the Takeda family to enter Vietnam. ”

Li Xiao sighed and said, "Zhengxin, what you said is good. I'm not strong enough. If it is according to the previous plan, the strategy of attacking city by city will inevitably be resolutely resisted by the wealthy clan, and in my opinion, ten years is still not enough time for me to pacify half of Yuezhong, so the opportunity will be delayed. ”

"Therefore, we must not be caught up in the struggle for the territory of the Jimbo and Shiina families, but must concentrate our forces, force them to engage in a joint battle, and after several victories, crush the morale of the Vietnamese Chinese, and finally use various tactics to force the Vietnamese Chinese to surrender to us."

Li Xiao's decision was to conduct a surname battle to determine the winner.

After the fourth battle of Kawanakajima with Uesugi Kenshin, Takeda Shingen turned to avoid a tactical surname decisive battle with the surname of gambling luck, and instead relied on the territorial strategy to suppress the Uesugi family with a three-way aggressive strategy.

In the way of attacking the territory, he fought steadily and steadily, slowly encroached on the Uesugi family, and finally accumulated small victories into big victories, and won tactics with strategy.

This style of play is steady, and it is most suitable for a strategic master like Takeda Shingen, who was the first good fighter in Shinano back then, after giving Takeda Shingen Uedahara and Toishi Castle two fiascos, Takeda Shingen changed his strategy, using various tunes and various skirmishes to fight, and finally played Murakami Yoshikiyoshi slowly to death.

However, its disadvantage is that it takes too long, and the strategy of attacking Vietnam in three directions has been implemented for more than two years, not to mention Vietnam, and even Nishiueno has not been able to capture it.

And Li Xiao can't wait now, he has a tick-tock-tock, timetable on his head, like an upside-down sword.

He must make himself strong enough to turn the tide of the battle and become a turning point in this historical event before the Oda family is strong enough, before the Takeda family and the Oda family's key battle, Nagashino.

Therefore, Li Xiao can't waste any time now, and he must strengthen his power as quickly as possible.

Hearing that Li Xiao was preparing to fight with the Jimbo family and the Shiina family to determine the victory, Honda Masanobu was taken aback, but as a retainer, he still felt that he still needed to speak up.

"My lord, please forgive me for saying that although the Western Kingdom of the Honkoku Warfare won a big victory in the joint battle with the Saito family last time, the training of the two reserve teams of Kamioka and Snake Tail is not yet mature, and relying on this is not enough to make up for the gap between our army and the strength of the Jimbo and Shiina families."

"I see, in fact, it's not just Jibo, Shiina family, the target of the decisive battle, but also the Echigo Kaesugi family. After defeating Jimbo and the Shiina family, I must also completely expel the Uesugi family's forces from Echichu. ”

When Honda Masanobu heard that Li Xiao was even preparing to fight with the military god Uesugi Huihu, even the moment he had always been calm was stunned and unable to speak.

(To be continued)