The Hakuo family of Azuma-gun and the Sanada family are from the same Shino clan, and the Shino clan belongs to the descendants of Emperor Kiyokawa. Therefore, Shino and Takeda also belong to the descendants of the Kiyokawa Genji, and the original surnames and surnames of both families are Gen courtiers. The Shino clan was a small prefecture clan that ruled all of Shinano and Ueno Azuma at its peak, and its clans also branched out here.

PS: In the famous Nakuru Castle Incident, the Hojo family seized Nawalnut Castle in Azuma County. It is said that Sanada Masayuki wrote a letter to Toyotomi Hideyoshi complaining that according to the name Walnut Castle, which was the domain of his ancestors, and his ancestors were buried near it, he refused to give it up. Sanada Masayuki's words are a fallacy based on the fact that the Shino clan ruled the region hundreds of years ago.

Later, the Shino clan divided into three branches, namely the Umino clan, the Mochizuki clan, and the Yatsu clan, which were called the three Shino clans. The Sanada family, the Hamao family, and the Kawara family are all from the same tributary of the Umino clan, which can be seen from the fact that the names of the three men all use 'luck' as a common character.

At the beginning, after the Umino Hei Tsuki, the Sanada family lost their territory, and Sanada Yutaka also went to the Hawei family to seek refuge, so the two families had a deep friendship. But when Sanada Yutakatoto asked Yukiquan Hatao to submit to the Takeda family, he was refused.

Between the Takeda family and the Nagano family, Yukiquan Yuki, the head of the Hawei family, still chose the latter, one of the reasons is that his wife, the eighth daughter of Nagano Yoshimasa. (Well, it's the Nagano family's son-in-law party again)

In the face of the Takeda family's upcoming invasion of Nishi-Ueno Azuma-gun, Yukiquan Yukiquan had already made adequate preparations, and he had previously carried out a comprehensive mobilization of troops in the territory, recruited men over the age of fifteen and under fifty, and gathered an army of 500 people for the cage battle.

It is important to know that although Feathertail Castle is not a large city, it is built on a steep mountain, which is very easy to defend and difficult to attack. Before, there was enough grain and grass in the city, and there were iron cannons to defend the city, so the soldiers in the city were stable. Even if the Takeda Army attacked with all its might, Yukiquan Yukiquan was confident that he would hold on and give the Takeda Army enough damage.

In fact, after Takeda Katsuyori's army came to the castle, it only took half a day to capture the castle that refused to surrender.

In fact, the Kawara clan of Azuma Prefecture was recruited by the same clan Sanada Yutaka and secretly surrendered to the Takeda family.

Then, according to Sanada Masayuki's proposal, when the Takeda army besieged Habi Castle, he ordered Kawara Yukishige, the head of the Kawara family, to pose as if he was going to lead the army to reinforce Hawei Castle, and tempted the head of the Hawei family, Yukiquan Hao, to lead the army out of the city to receive him, and then the Takeda army feigned defeat and retreated, luring the Hawei army to Naganohara, which was far away from Habi Castle.

The Takeda Army and the Kawara Army immediately turned around and counterattacked, annihilating the Hawei Army on Nagano Plain, and Li Xiao's subordinate Samurai Island Katsu Matsu went into battle to kill the head of the Hawei family, Yuo Yukiquan.

Under the strategy of Sanada Masayuki, the Takeda army took the opportunity to occupy Hawei Castle. Yukio Yuki's previous hard work to accumulate grain and grass was all cheaper than Takeda Katsuyori, and he also harvested more than a dozen iron cannons for nothing.

Takeda Katsuyori was overjoyed, and rewarded half of these dozen iron cannons to Sanada Masayuki as a reward for his plan to take Feather Tail Castle this time.

After the capture of Hamao Castle, Takeda Katsuyori united with the Kawara clan and some of the forces of the small wealthy clan of Azuma County, who had been returned by Sanada Yukitaka, and combined 1,500 troops to besiege Iwakujo Castle, the main castle of the Saito family, the largest force in Azuma Prefecture.

The year of the construction of Iwaki Castle is unknown, but during the Kamakura period, it was an important castle and controlled the streets of Azuma. The castle was built on the eastern side of Iwaji Mountain and towered over a mountain 800 meters above sea level.

In the tenth year of Tensho, when the Takeda family was about to fall, Sanada Masayuki invited Takeda Katsuyori to come to Iwaki Castle to avoid the Oda family's soldiers, in order to make a comeback, the reason was that the location of this castle was close to Echigo, and it was easy to get the support of the ally Uesugi family, and secondly, Iwaki Castle itself was a strong city, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The current occupants of Iwaki Castle, the Saito family, were once the important ministers of the Kanto Governor Kaminai-Uesugi, and the head of the Saito family, Saito Kenhiro, also succeeded the Hayo family as the head of Azuma-gun for a time, and governed the entire county on behalf of the Uchi-Uesugi family. After the decline of the Uesugi family in the upper area, the Saito family, as a semi-reading force, tended to be between Echigo Uesugi Kenshin and the Nagano family.

When Takeda Katsuyori's army first arrived at the castle of Iwaji, the old trick was repeated, and the same trick was repeated under the castle of Hao, luring the Saito army out of the fortified mountain castle and annihilating its 300 men in the field in one fell swoop.

After the Saito family suffered this big loss, no matter how they fought against the Takeda army, they just stuck to the city.

As a result, the Takeda army had to start the arduous siege of Iwaki Castle.

Three days before the siege began, the Takeda army was barried under Iwaki Castle, and the Ashigaru general Maba Masabo was still injured by an arrow during the siege, but even so, the Takeda army could not even break through the outer pills of the castle.

At this time, the ninjas in charge of intelligence came with news that Saito Kenmune, the eldest son of Saito Kenhiro, the head of the Saito family, had gathered thousands of troops in Songshan Castle and was preparing to come to reinforce Iwaki Castle. As a result, the Takeda Army will face a situation of being attacked on the back of the enemy under the castle of Iwaji.

At this time, either the Takeda army can force the siege of Iwakujo Castle, or it can only withdraw from the siege and give up attacking Iwakujo Castle.

At this moment, Sanada Masayuki contacted the two brothers Umino Yukimitsu and Umino Teruiyuki of the same clan in Iwaki Castle, and they promised to give the Takeda Army an internal response, and Sanada Masayuki also returned to Saito Norishi, a relative of the castle lord Saito Kenhiro, and the two sides agreed to join forces in the middle of the night to capture Iwaki Castle in one fell swoop.

That night, Takeda Katsuyori, Li Xiao, Hoshina Masatoshi, Okuma Ashide, Sanada Masayuki and a series of retainers attacked Iwaki Castle at night with 500 Takeda soldiers.

The night was dark, and Li Xiao and the soldiers of the Takeda Army lay in ambush under the empty hori under the castle. Li Xiao's eyes saw that the bonfire in the city was bright, and it was obviously very well guarded.

At this time, Iwaki Castle was holding the gate of the gate, and suddenly two Saito soldiers were killed on this side, and their bodies were thrown from the castle and fell into the empty hori. The defenders of the city immediately realized that something was wrong, and there was a shout of killing from the hand gate, but at this time, the gate on this side of the hand gate suddenly opened.

Takeda Katsuyori, who had been in ambush in the empty hori for a long time, jumped up first, and rushed into the hand gate with a spear in hand.

Masatoshi Hoshina, Okuma Asahide, Sanada Masayuki and others, seeing that the lord is so brave, he doesn't dare to slack off, and bravely follows Takeda Katsuyori to fight together, and the new retainers Nakaru Masataka, Akiyama Kinhisa, Abe Munesada, and Ohara Zhaozhong are now one of the close crowd on Takeda Katsuyori's side, so they naturally don't dare to let the lord take the risk of arrows and desperately guard Takeda Katsuyori's side.

The soldiers of the Takeda Army, under the personal leadership of the murderous Takeda Katsuyori, entered the gate like wolves and tigers, and all the way was like chopping melons and vegetables, and the soldiers of the Saito family were cut down all over the ground.

At this time, Li Xiao saw that in the night, there were fires burning in several other places in the city, and it was obvious that the inner responders were setting fires elsewhere in the city.

"Outer pills are on fire!"

"The city is broken!"

"There is a slenderness in the city!"

Panicked voices filled the air, accompanied by shouts of killing as the Takeda army attacked the mountain, and the Saito defenders had begun to disarray themselves, and the soldiers were in disarray, scurrying like headless flies. The Takeda army was unstoppable all the way to the Honmaru castle tower.

That night, the Takeda army successfully attacked Iwaki Castle at night, and the defenders of the Saito family were either annihilated or fled out of the city, and the head of the Saito family, Saito Kenhiro, fled out of the city overnight with only a few cronies and went to Songshan Castle to join his son Saito Kenmune.

Under the planning of Sanada Masayuki's strategy, two castles were connected, and Sanada Masayuki, who was only 16 years old, became famous. After Takeda Katsuyori captured Iwakujo Castle, a fortified castle on Azuma's streets, the forces of the Takeda family had taken control of most of Azuma-gun.