Ueno, Azuma-gun, on a dirt road leading to Hamao Castle.

In a basin surrounded by mountain passes, there are endless paddy fields as far as the eye can see, and there are only three or four families scattered around the paddy fields, two of which have a forest nearby. You can see the torii arch and it is a shrine of the town guard.

Most of the paddy fields on both sides of the road have been planted, and each field is filled with water, reflecting the early summer sunset. The peasants in the paddy fields, holding white cloth on their heads and sticking their feet in the fields, saw the neat army all showing surprise in their eyes.

Ashigaru soldiers dressed in cargo gear were marching, stepping over puddles on the road, leaving mud on their straw sandals. This army, both ashigaru soldiers and samurai on horseback, carried the flags on their backs, and marched silently.

The setting sun shone obliquely through the treetops, and the surroundings were extremely silent except for the sound of birds and cicadas.

Three miles further ahead is Feathertail City!

Murakami Yoshikiyo, dressed in a red background gold and platinum paper inlaid with a formation of Haori, rode his horse across a ditch, and now he and another Echigo general, Takemata Kiyotsuna, are leading 1,300 troops as the first formation of the Uesugi family's attack on Azuma-gun's troops, and attack Hazuo Castle at night. Just yesterday, it was Murakami Yoshikiyo who attacked Kamaharahara Castle, and the castle lord Kamaharara Yukishige and the following 200 people were all killed.

The second formation was the Nagano family's 800 troops led by Nagano Yegu, trailing five miles behind Murakami's Yoshikiyo team.

The third formation was a 600-00 army led by the head of Fudoyama Castle, Yamamoto Temple, six miles behind the Nagano army, and was in charge of the rear of the hall.

In addition, Uesugi Kenshin also sent Honjo Shiranaga to send troops from Echigo Honjo Castle to take Songshan Castle and contain the military strength of the Takeda family.

And Saito Asanobu, who had just pacified the ninja castle Narita Nagatai, and the main army of the Uesugi family led by Katsunaga Sebe were rushing to Azuma-gun, and finally Uesugi Kenshin's main camp in Stablebridge Castle would also be dispatched, and the Uesugi army, which had a total strength of more than 10,000 troops, decided to encircle it on three sides and annihilate the Takeda Katsuyori army in Azuma County in one fell swoop.

In the face of the military strength of more than 1,000 Takeda families and local wealthy families, mobilizing so many people, Murakami Yoshikiyo felt that it was too exaggerated, and it was a bit like killing chickens with a knife.

But despite such a big advantage, the Echigo general Takemata Kiyotsuna next to him looked solemn, and then kept reminding Murakami Yoshikiyo not to be careless and to be cautious.

In Murakami's view, this is somewhat fearful of the enemy. And it's not just Takemata Kiyotsuna, who was the first to attack Azuma County at the military meeting of the original stable bridge castle.

The famous Echigo generals served tea to those who drank water, those who drank water continued to make soy sauce. But no one should take it.

When Uesugi Kenshin personally named Nagano Yegu or Uehonji Temple, the two chose one of the two.

Whether it was the famous general of the Nagano family, Nagano Yegu, who was famous in Ueno Ichikoku for his brave martial arts, and the head of Yamamoto Temple, who was a member of the Uesugi family, all had a difficult expression on their faces, and then shook their heads neatly together in a very similar manner, and finally firmly rejected the proposal to let their men and horses be the first battle.

This is very puzzling to Murakami Yoshikiyo himself, which is simply a shame for a samurai!

When he heard Nagano Yegu and Yamamoto Temple explain a bunch of reasons that were not reasons, Murakami Yoshikiyo was furious, stood up on the spot and scolded the two for being cowards, and then took the military order to go to the first battle of Azuma County without hesitation.

However, when he took over the military order, Nagano Yegu and Yamamoto Temple Dingchang both breathed a long sigh of relief, and then looked at themselves with a complicated look.

For a traditional martial artist, Murakami Yoshikiyo is not very good at reading words and feelings, but he seems to think that their eyes seem to contain a kind of sympathy.

However, for Murakami Yoshikiyo, the most incomprehensible thing is that even the dragon of Echigo, Uesugi Kenshin himself, has repeatedly explained that he must capture the Ming native Li Xiao alive and not hurt his surname. Looking at Uesugi Kenshin's appearance, it seems that he wants to use Li Xiao greatly.

"Humph! A Ming countryman, what's the big deal. ”

Murakami Yoshikiyo whipped his whip heavily, he glanced back, Takemata Kiyotsuna behind him, this person was still very courageous, but when he heard that he was the first to attack, he took the initiative to ask for help to help.

Along the way, Takemata Kiyotsuna sent enough cavalry to the fields and mountains to make sure that there were no enemy troops ambushing him, a caution that Murakami Yoshikiyo appreciated. But Takemata Kiyotsuna's overly fearful mentality of being like a tiger was very angry in the eyes of Murakami Yoshikiyo.

As the former Shinano Mamoru and Takeda Shingen and fought for Shinano's hegemony, Murakami Yoshikiyoshi naturally would not take Takeda Katsuyori and Li Xiao in his eyes.

Murakami Yoshikiyo does have the capital worthy of his pride, the Murakami family, as a descendant of Kiyowa Genji, based in Shinano for many years, Murakami, Ogasawara, Kiso, Suwa these four families, and called Shinano the four wealthy families.

When Murakami Yoshikiyo himself served as the governor of the family, the Murakami family reached its most glorious time, fought in the south and the north, expanded the territory, defeated the former Shinano Mamoru Ogasawara clan, and achieved Shinano's supremacy, and in the Battle of Umino Taihei, the Umino clan of Oyama Prefecture and the Sanada Yukitaka family were driven to Ueno, and even Shingen's father Takeda Nobuta was defeated at his hands.

In the end, when Shingen invaded Shinano, Murakami Yoshikiyo gave Takeda Shingen two unforgettable defeats in the two battles of Uedahara and Toishi, and a series of fierce generals of the Takeda army, such as Itagaki Nobukata, Ganli Toratasu, and Yokota Takamatsu, were killed in these two battles.

But in the end, Murakami Yoshikiyoshi was defeated by Takeda Shingen's strategy, his retainers rebelled one after another, and the castles were captured one by one.

This also gave Uesugi Kenshin an excuse to send troops to Kawanakajima four times. And Murakami Yoshikiyo's hatred for the martial tigers is needless to say, and every time the battle of Kawanakajima was the vanguard of the Echigo army, and the Takeda army killed you to the death.

So in the eyes of Murakami Yoshikiyo, no matter how strong the other generals of the Takeda family are, can they compare to Takeda Shingen? Even the Tiger of Kai, known as the unparalleled Takeda Shingen, has been defeated under his own hands twice, not to mention Yu Zi.

Murakami Yoshikiyoshi glanced at Takemata Kiyotsuna, his overly cautious attitude really made him appreciate and disgusted, he couldn't wait to march faster, immediately attack under Yuwei Castle, and wait for himself to capture Takeda Katsuyori and Li Xiao alive. In front of Uesugi Kenshin and the Echigo generals, I asked them to see that these two people did not have three heads and six arms.

Just when Murakami Yoshikiyo was thinking about his own thoughts, at this time, the person in charge of reconnaissance in the army saw Fantou, rode a fast horse to Murakami Yoshikiyo, and said loudly: "Report to Murakami-sama, the gate of Feather Tail Castle is wide open, and the defenders don't know where to go?" ”

"What?"

Murakami Yoshikiyoshi was taken aback, the spy information given by Takeda Yoshinobu was very detailed, it said that Hawei Castle not only guarded the retreat of the Takeda Army in Azuma County, but also stored most of the military rations and military funds of the Takeda Army, Takeda Katsuyori sent the general of the Takeda family, and the gun and ammunition of one of the three bullets were stationed with three hundred people, and how could it be empty at the moment.

Murakami Yoshikiyoshi was suspicious, and then asked, "Is the castle really empty, even in the castle town?" ”

"Yes. It was empty, and the road in the town was littered with debris, and it seemed to have been pulled down during a hasty retreat, and it was a mess. ”

It's strange, where are the defenders of Feathertail City, and did they really abandon the city and flee?

After hearing this, Takemata Kiyotsuna was beside Murakami Yoshikiyo and said, "Lord Murakami, beware, this is likely to be a trick of the Takeda Army." ”

Murakami Yoshikiyo looked at Takemata Kiyotsuna's cautious appearance, and sneered: "What tricks can there be, even if the Takeda Army lays down an ambush on ten sides, I am not afraid." ”

After a pause, Murakami Yoshikiyo shouted loudly: "The whole army is speeding up!" ”