"It really helped!" I sighed and walked to the riverbank. There are a large number of corpses of red cavalry and war horses, some of which are not dead, lying on the ground and wailing, trying to arch the body of their master with their mouths, the situation is very emotional.

"These were killed by iron cannons, right?" Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but sigh a little sadly, "Then the cavalry is really outdated, and Takeda Akabei, who is famous in the eastern country, will inevitably be restrained by iron cannons in field battles......"

"I think the opposite," I shook my head, "in this battle, I took advantage of the terrain and used the latest iron cannon against Chibei, but they still managed to break into the formation. If you hadn't arrived in time, the formation would have almost completely collapsed, and the 800 Iron Artillery Corps would not have been spared...... It's because I don't know enough and underestimate the power of the cavalry! ”

"His Royal Highness Captain Saemon is too harsh," Tokugawa Nobuyasu admired me, "With less than 4,000 men, he was able to fight against the formidable Takeda army, and he was able to kill more than half of them, which is really an incredible feat." ”

"His Royal Highness Okazaki has won the award." I replied casually, trying to find the body of Changjing, Yama County.

"Here it is! Father! Jing Yi Xuanzhi shouted loudly.

Our group hurriedly walked over, and then saw the body of a general who had lost the battle, which was obviously Changjing of Shanxian County. He was dressed in red mighty armor and wore a spade-shaped front ghost-faced star pocket, and the forehead of the star pocket was decorated with a gold pill flower ling, which was the family crest style of the Shan County family. On top of him, there were two squires dressed in red feet, who seemed to be the last to block the iron cannon for him. Even so, there were still seven or eight bullet marks on Changjing's body, two of which hit the vital point in the chest.

I took off the star pocket from his head and handed it to Naotora Ii.

"Is this for a concubine?" She didn't pick it up, just looked at me strangely, "However, the concubine didn't make a contribution to Changjing in Shanxian County." ”

"It's almost...... I'm sure you had this chance," I put the star pocket in her hand, "and I've decided to use this cavalry of yours as a team to form a thousand-strong cavalry called 'Iyi Chibei'...... This star pocket will be your horse print! ”

"Yes! Your Highness! Jing Yi Naohu nodded solemnly.

"Remember, this Iyi Chibei was formed after the destruction of a Takeda Chibei!"

……，…… In the afternoon, we held the head of Yamaprefecture Shokei with our naginata, and gathered the forces of Higashimikawa Yoshida Castle, Noda Castle, Fukagou Castle, Fujii Castle, and other places, as well as hundreds of Okazaki Castle men and horses that had been temporarily gathered, and went directly to Nagashino Castle, the Takeda family's stronghold in Higashimikawa. The garrison of this castle was the son of Yama Prefecture Masakai Yamataro Masaji and the lord of the castle, Suganuma Masasa, who probably had received the battle report of the Battle of Yasaki River from the mouth of Ashigaru, who had fled back, and the defenders at the head of the castle were like facing a great enemy, and the atmosphere was very tense.

I didn't want to fight in vain, so I directly put forward the condition of retaining the lives of the whole city and returning the body of Changjing in Shan County, and asked them to withdraw from Changxiao City. Faced with the 4,000 victorious divisions led by me, and Tokugawa Nobuyasu, who was the young master of the former lord and led the 4,000 Mikawa army, Suganuma Masada first gave in and retreated to Minami Shinano with Yama Shoji. The Tamine Suganuma family and the Okuhei family, who had joined him, heard that the Yamaprefecture Shokei had been defeated and that the Takeda family had withdrawn from Higashimikawa, and hurriedly sent hostages to Nagashino Castle to surrender to me and Tokugawa Nobuyasu.

Since the castle was located on the main road from Minami Shinano to Nishimikawa, and was close to the Enoe, less than 20 kilometers away from Hamamatsu Castle in a straight line, Tokugawa Nobuyasu and Hiraiwa Hirakishi accepted my suggestion to move Suganuma Tasayi of Noda Castle downstream of Toyokawa to the upper reaches of the castle and lead hundreds of ashigaru headquarters to guard this important castle.

After pacifying the northern part of Higashisanga, Tokugawa Nobuyasu and I returned to Okazaki with more than 7,000 allied troops. Knowing the fall of the Yama Prefecture Shokeibu, Baba Nobuharu had already led his army away and headed to Enoe to join Takeda Shingen's main force. At this point, the entire Mikawa Province returned to the control of the Tokugawa family.

However, with the addition of 5,000 Hojo reinforcements, the total strength of the Takeda family was still as high as 25,000 men, so the situation was still not optimistic. According to the intelligence of the naval army, Takeda Shingen had already led his army to the west, entered Higashimikawa Atsumi-gun, and surrounded Yoshida Castle of Sakai Tadaji, the head of Higashimikawa. Located at the confluence of the lower reaches of the Toyogawa River and the Asakura River, the castle is an important point from the Enoe River into Nishimikawa, and from Yoshida Castle up the Toyogawa River, you can reach Noda Castle in the middle of Higashimikawa, Nagashino Castle in the north, and then into Minami Shinano Province.

Due to Sakai's departure to Hamamatsu Castle, and his son-in-law Honkaji (Ieyasu's cousin) was nine years old, Yoshida Castle was currently garrisoned by Honda Hirotaka, the lord of Tahara Castle on the Atsumi Peninsula in the south and the 22,000-stone territory of Atsumi-gun. Honda Hirotaka is a Tokugawa genealogy surrogate general, with outstanding ability, and his status in Higashi Mikawa is second only to Sakai Tadaji. The strength of his troops, including one hundred and fifteen horsemen such as Doi, Kira, and Tahara, as well as hundreds of ashigaru of his own family, plus the wealthy clans in and around the city, the total strength was about 2,000 people. Tokugawa Nobuyasu believed that his troops were insufficient to stop the Takeda family's army, so he entrusted Okazaki Castle to me again, and together with Hiraiwa and Hirawa Koyoshi, he led 5,000 reinforcements from East and West Mikawa to support.

By this time, the Tokugawa family had five support points, and the situation was stabilized at once, with Hamamatsu Castle in Nishienoe, Yoshida Castle and Nagashino Castle in Higashi-Mikawa, and Okazaki Castle in Nishi-Mikawa and Takatenjin Castle in Higashi-Enoe as depths.

Thinking that Nobunaga was about to draw his troops...... I think if I were Shingen Takeda, I would have thought about withdrawing troops.

In fact, Takeda Shingen Shangluo was already very reluctant, and it could even be said that it was almost impossible to succeed. The journey from Kai to Kyoto was long and difficult, as the irony of the time was recorded in the "Inuzukuba Collection" of the time, "都より甲菲への国へは程遠し, おいそぎあれや曰はTakedaden" (which can be understood as the meaning of fishing for the moon in the water). In this case, even if the Oda family is successfully defeated, control of Kyoto cannot be guaranteed. Perhaps, Ashikaga Yoshiaki took a fancy to this and chose to cooperate with him, after all, he was trying to control the countries of Kinai, and he was definitely unwilling to have other forces intervene in it.

I even think that Takeda Shingen's trip, as he declared, was really just to "crusade against the enemies of Buddhism" and defeat the Oda family. He probably saw Katsuyori's lack of prestige and talent, and sensed Nobunaga's ambition, so he wanted to get rid of the biggest threat around him before he died, so as to win more chances for the Takeda family to survive and develop! As for Shang Luo Yunyun, it should not be in his consideration. He already knew that there was not much time left, and with his wisdom, he would definitely see the difficulty of the Takeda family controlling Kinai, and he would definitely think that even if he was lucky enough to subdue Kinai, once he himself died, it would immediately fall apart.

I don't know what Shingen will do...... Soon, news came from Higashi-Mikawa that the Takeda Army began to besiege Yoshida Castle.

This attack was nearly half a month, from the third year of the Yuan Turtle to the fourth year of the Yuan Turtle, but the progress was very limited. Watching them waste their time and rations like this, I felt very strange, with Takeda Shingen's surname and strategy, he would not play such a slow move. The only explanation is that Takeda Shingen is playing the "dark Chen Cang" again, attacking Yoshida Castle openly, but in fact he has other ideas, and the most likely target is Nagashi Castle, which is holding the East and West Rivers and Minami Shinano Passage.

For this reason, I sent a messenger to Suganuma to ask him if he had found any trace of the Takeda family, but he replied that there was no movement.

Combining all this information, a bold guess suddenly surged in my mind: Could it be that Takeda Shingen is sick!?

After thinking about it for a while, I think this may be a huge surname. It is precisely because Takeda Shingen cannot be a director, Takeda Katsuyori and the rest of the important ministers cannot make a decision, and they cannot withdraw their troops rashly, so they will be so consumed under Yoshida Castle.

Perhaps, I can send troops to test it? This thought flashed through my mind, and then I quickly rejected it: If Takeda Shingen was not sick, wouldn't I have thrown myself into the net? This possible surname is not nothing, the opponent is a person like Takeda Shingen, so you must always keep an eye on it and can't act rashly.

Moreover, this is a matter for the Tokugawa family, so I really don't need to work so hard, and I don't need to risk it with my own strength. The previous battle in Dongsanhe was a last resort for me, mostly for the safety of myself and my own army. As a result, although the Changjing Department of Shan County was destroyed, it paid a lot of price, and even his most trusted guards and horses suffered dozens of losses. Such a bloody battle, one is enough, and it has greatly helped the Tokugawa family.

In that case, let's stay in Okazaki Castle...... I stayed like this, and from time to time I contacted Mie-gun or Awaji Province, and sometimes I accepted Tokuki's invitation to meet her with Naoto.

News from Nobunaga's side is also coming constantly, and most of it is bad news: Nobunaga's aunt, the widow of the late Iwamura Castle lord Toyama Keiren, Iwamura Dian, in order to save her life and her adopted son Mibo Maru, married Akiyama Torashi, who captured the castle, so that the Takeda family gained a foothold in Higashimino; Yamaoka Keitomo, the guardian of Yamashiro Bankoku, received orders from Ashikaga Yoshiaki to gather forces at Minami-Omi and attack Shibata Katsuie, who was left behind; The guardian of the Hanoi half-country, Miyoshi Yoshitsugu, also strengthened his attack on Hatakeyama Akitaka, and the guardian of the Hatakeyama family, Yusa Nobu, saw Nobunaga's bad luck and directly killed Hatakeyama Akitaka, the head of the family who was Nobunaga's righteous brother; Ikeda Toshimasa, a wealthy family in Settsu, accepted Hosokawa Fujitaka's persuasion, and also sided with Yoshiaki, declaring war on his knenaga Wada Yuenaga, and then the Wada family was divided into two factions, Nobunaga and Yoshiaki, and the head of the family, Wada Yuenaga, fearing that he would be treated like Hatakeyama Akita, preemptively killed his uncle Wada Yuzen, who was the second servant, and had a fight with the Takayama family, the first important minister in the family, and as a result, he was seriously injured and fled to Sakai Town; In addition, the Tango Isshiki family hid the monks who had escaped after the burning of Mt. Hiei, and responded to the call of the Takeda family and went against Nobunaga...... Fortunately, at the end of January, the remaining three cities on Long Island ran out of military rations, and a large number of believers starved to death, and finally were completely pacified. When I heard this, I didn't agree with Nobunaga's approach, but I couldn't help but rejoice that Nobunaga was finally able to draw the main force.

At the beginning of February, Nobunaga left Oda Nobutada and Inaba Ryotsu to garrison Gifu, and personally led 30,000 troops into Mikawa Province, and when he passed through Okazaki, my 10,000 troops also joined, and 40,000 men marched towards Yoshida Castle.

Hearing this news, the Takeda family, who had besieged Yoshida Castle for a month and a half, reluctantly retreated. They withdrew from the siege of Yoshida Castle and returned to Futamata-jo via Hamamatsu. Not only that, but the Hojo family even broke away from the coalition forces and went directly back to their own territory.

At this time, I could finally be sure that Takeda Shingen was indeed terminally ill and could no longer command the army smoothly. The long-term siege of Yoshida Castle was probably the result of discussions between Takeda Katsuyori and his retainers, in order to maintain the positive momentum that Shingen had won and to continue the attack after he recovered—but this was no longer possible.

Returning along the way you came like this is tantamount to admitting that the strategy failed, and not only could you not subdue the Tokugawa family, but was forced back by Oda Nobunaga. Compared with the historical active route of capturing Noda Castle and taking Nagashi Castle back to Shinano, it is undoubtedly much more humiliating. However, now that Nagashi Castle and the northern part of Higashisanhe have returned to the Tokugawa family, that route has been blocked, and in this case, the Takeda family admits defeat and withdraws, which is also a helpless move!

……，…… Before leaving Yoshida Castle for Hamamatsu, Nobunaga summoned me to the main castle tower of Honmaru.

"It's been a hard time for you," he first affirmed my results, and then added, "I have a few questions, and I'd like to hear your opinion." ”

"The lord inquires, and he should know everything." I replied.

"Hmm," he nodded, "what do you think about the Battle of the Triparta?" ”

"Your Majesty thinks that there is no need to fight this battle at all." I replied frankly.

"Oh? Do you mean to say, there is something wrong with Ieyasu's vision? Not as clever as you? Nobunaga's tone was tinged with mockery.

I owe: "Your Majesty dare not be so arrogant...... It can only be said that everyone's position is different! ”

"What do you mean by that?" Nobunaga seemed to be in some interest.

"His Majesty's meaning is that from the standpoint of His Majesty and his own family, it is most advantageous to hold on to Hamamatsu Castle and hold off the Takeda Army, which is also a matter for His Majesty to wait for before leaving, so His Majesty sent a naval army to reveal this expectation of the lord to Mikawaden, and took the initiative to enter Okazaki Castle to relieve Mikawaden of worrying about Nishimikawa and his son-in-law...... However, from the position of Mikawaden, he naturally did not want the Takeda army to march into Mikawa Province, and he might not necessarily pin all his hopes on his family. ”

"In other words, Ieyasu doesn't believe in me or you?" Nobunaga's understanding was very sharp.

"This ......" I hesitated. Is it possible to take the opportunity to give Tokugawa Ieyasu some eye medicine? For this cunning tanuki who finally seized the world, as a traverser, I can't help but have some nostalgia.

However, in the end, I still chose to take matters into account, "Your Majesty thinks that Sanhe Palace's move is still understandable. As a daimyo of reading, it is natural to have his own position, and it is impossible to ask the other party to think completely for his own family...... In addition, His Majesty believed that how to gather the hearts and minds of the daimyo was exactly the problem that the lord needed to face in order to rule the Kinai and pacify the world. ”

(To be continued)