The forces of each legion soon converged around Settsu and successfully reached the offensive position, and only after Nobunaga's order, they could attack the castles under the reallocation of Araki Village. Zhou Jing came across the sea, and the target was Hanakuma Castle on the edge of Akashi Ura, and the guard was Araki Motokiyo of the Araki family; The goal of the Yura family was to defend Araki Shigeken, the commander of Mita Castle in Arima County, which was adjacent to the southern part of Harima, and was given the surname Araki (later given the surname Kinoshita by Hideyoshi, renamed Kinoshita Shigeken, and committed suicide after defeat in the Battle of Sekigahara); The goal of the wise family is to Noshi Castle, which is adjacent to Tanba. At the same time, Oda Nobutada also joined up with Ikeda Tsuneko and arrived in Saijo-gun, north of Honganji, and surrounded Owada Castle, where the Araki family's old Abe Niemon was stationed.

Takayama Shigetomo and Nakagawa Kiyohide were not stupid people, and in the face of such a situation, they knew that the Araki family would not be able to cope with it, so they handed over the hostages one after another, and Kaejo surrendered to Nobunaga, making way for Kyoto to the hinterland of Settsu.

In mid-October, Niwa Nagahide of Wakasa was ordered to come to Settsu Province as the military supervisor of the Nakagawa and Takayama families, leading the two armies to join Oda Nobutada's main camp. At the same time, Hosokawa Fujitaka also led an army to join Oda Nobutada's command. Oda Nobutada's army was strong, but he left the headquarters of Ikeda Tsuneko to continue to besiege Owada Castle, and personally led the Mino, Hosokawa, Nakagawa, and Takayama families to take Araki's Araki Arioka Castle.

When Arakimura heard this information, on the one hand, he had to punish the rebels Nakagawa and Takayama to save his frustration caused by the defection of the two in his home, and on the other hand, he was also worried that the Oda family would gather more and more, so he took advantage of Oda Nobutada's unstable foothold and took the initiative to go out of the city to attack Oda Nobutada. The two sides fought around the abandoned Ikeda Castle, but Araki was defeated and retreated back to the castle, leaving morale even more depressed; And Oda Nobutada took advantage of the situation to march and garrisoned Arioka Castle.

Nobunaga was very pleased to receive the report of the Battle of Ikeda, and gave special rewards to Hosokawa Tadashi and others for their great achievements. Tadashi is the eldest son of Fujitaka, and once succeeded to the Hosokawa Terutsune of the Hosokawa family in Oshu as his heir, but after Ashikaga Yoshiaki was exiled, Hosokawa Terutsune also left with Yoshiaki, and Tadako naturally returned to his family. He's only fifteen years old, but he's already a great fighter, and he's done an excellent job in this battle.

Perhaps inspired by the Battle of Ikeda, Nobunaga, who had always been unexpected, ordered each legion to launch a general attack with another order: each legion must have its own sons and nephews as the main generals, so as to see the prowess of the next generation of samurai in the Oda family. And whoever of the four families falls first will be the first merit in this battle outside Arioka.

For Nobunaga's habit, a few of us have long been surprised. Since he said so, then he did it, fortunately, the four cities that were the target of the raiders were not too strong, and the number of defenders was limited, so it was just right for the juniors to practice. Especially me, who originally intended to let Zhou Jing take the main attack, was not used for any adjustment at all; And Yura Hideyoshi's adopted son Yura Keihide, and Ikeda Tsuneko's eldest son Ikeda Motosuke are also well-known samurai in the army. The only one who was a little hesitant was Akechi Mitsuhide, his sister-in-law Shishiro (Akechi Mitsukei), who was not yet nine years old, so it was naturally impossible for him to go into battle, so he had to choose his uncle Miyake Mitsuryo (Akechi Mitsuri), the same clan and the elder of the family who is already in his forties this year. Counting the seniority, he can almost be regarded as a person of the generation of Guangxiuzi's nephew, and he has been in war for a long time, and he is both wise and brave, and he will definitely not fall into the name of the wise family.

When the war began, not only did the retainers of each family hold their breath and try their best to overwhelm the other three, but even the commanders of each family showed their best spirit, wanting to make the first contribution in front of their predecessors, other allies, and Nobunaga, so as to show their bravery. Therefore, the strategies of each city were carried out very intensely, and almost from the beginning, it entered a white-hot state. The main generals and samurai, of course, fought with the mood of winning the name and glory of the martial arts; Ordinary soldiers, because of the urging of the samurai and the promised rich rewards, each desperately launched round after round of fierce attacks on the city.

The first to fall was Zhou Jing, who captured Araki Motokiyo's Hanakuma Castle in just one day and one night. In addition to his own bravery and the elite of his army, this is mainly thanks to the support of the navy. The defenders of the city, after the fierce battle during the day, originally wanted to have a good rest, but the arrival of the Dinghai frigate broke their extravagant expectations, and the twelve naval guns on one side of the ship poured artillery fire into the city in turn, not only shattering their sleep, but also the city wall, the castle tower and many defenders' limbs.

At that moment, the Dinghai showed her most glorious posture, the roar and fire of the ship's guns, and the huge body looming under the firelight, left an indelible impression on the hearts of our soldiers, and also gave them infinite courage to defeat the enemy. However, in the eyes of the defenders of Hanakuma Castle, the Dinghai is probably a demon from the netherworld, pouring out death and destruction! And such an enemy is obviously impossible to resist...... Their morale soon dropped to the bottom, from the castle lord to Ashigaru, they all dispelled the idea of resisting, and when the sky was just dawning, Araki Motokiyo took the initiative to open the city gate and surrender to Zhou Jing.

Araki Shigeken of Mita County to the north was the second to subdue. After hearing the news of the surrender of Hanakuma Castle, he didn't care about the feelings of the small surname, and dispelled the idea of dying for Araki Village, so he accepted Toda Katsutaka's persuasion to surrender and joined Hideyoshi's command, and abandoned the "Araki" seedling character given by Murashige, and changed his name to Kinoshita Shigeken.

Miyake Yaheiji of the Ministry of Wisdom has much more experience in battles than Zhou Jing and Jing Shige. It's a pity that the target of his strategy is Noshi Castle, and the lord of Noshi Castle, Noshi Yoriji, is the person who followed the Miyoshi family before, his father Noshi Yorido and his uncle Yoriyuki, both died in the battle of Katsurui Castle, if it weren't for Arakimura Shige's intermediary, it is estimated that he would not have taken refuge in the Oda family. And this time, he is determined to fight to the end for the Araki family's knowledge and his family's dignity. So, when Miyake Yahei captured Noshi Castle, it was already five days later. The next day, hearing that the remaining three castles had all been subdued, the Araki family's old Abe Hitoemon also gave up resistance and handed over Owada Castle to Motosuke Ikeda.

At this time, the outer attack was successfully completed, and Araki Murashige's forces were compressed into Kawabe Prefecture, leaving only the three strongholds of Arioka Castle, Amagasaki Castle, and Tada Castle in the county, which would soon be completely wiped out if nothing else. The armies of the various legions came one after another, and joined Oda Nobutada's main camp outside Arioka Castle and surrounded the castle.

At the beginning of November, Nobunaga personally went to the front to reward those who had made meritorious contributions to the Settsu outskirts. When several of our corps commanders heard the news, they naturally went to greet them. The Imperial Court also sent an envoy to express goodwill to Nobunaga. The envoy is the god of Kyoto Yoshida Shrine Yoshida Kanami (the author of "Kanami Seki"), currently serving as the imperial court from the two gods of the first mate and Saemon governor, on the relationship is Hosokawa Fujitaka from the brother, and Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide have a cause, the relationship is not bad, when the fire burned Mt. Hiei, he came forward for Oda, Asakura two lords and is he.

Perhaps for Kanami's sake, Nobunaga accepted the court's consolation, and then announced the content of the reward: the Battle of Ikeda, a spear Hosokawa Tadashi, a famous sword, a famous horse, and the imperial Kuyao family crest, and a marriage with Akechi Tamako, the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide; The merits of the peripheral war were auspicious and good, and the guards were allowed to use Tu Yu, Zhu Caipei, Tang umbrella bags and Mao Zhan saddle covers; The second merit of Yura Jingxiu, gave him a personal territory of 5,000 stones, plus the previous Hideyoshi was awarded the Harima country, and the 5,000 stones that were awarded together with Toda Katsutaka, Mikoda Masaharu, Oto Chinobu and other elders of the Yura family, a total of 10,000 stone territory, second only to Yura Hidecho in the family; Sanban Gong Miyake Miheiji, gave a famous sword and a famous horse, and became attached to the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide, who was the second main room of the village of Araki Village's heavy sister-in-law; Ikeda Motosuke was the last, and only the merit of completing the strategy task was counted, and no additional reward was given.

Although his children did not show their faces in a big way, Ikeda was still very happy. Because Nobunaga had promised him that once Araki Murashige was eliminated, he would take over the Araki family's Arioka Castle, the former head of Settsu Province, and the Setzu guardianship, and he would also become an important town of the Oda family. Compared to this reward, a single effort and a gun are nothing.

"Naturally, you can't compare with you. However, the details of his own family know that he can reach this step, and he has already entrusted the lord to take care of him. "While entertaining me and Hideyoshi Hanara in the Ikeda family's tent, Ikeda Tsuneko said contentedly as he drank sake.

"Don't be presumptuous! With your qualifications and merits, you have been awarded the title of Settsu One Country and Settsu Guardian, which is well deserved. I said in passing.

"That's it," Yura Hideyoshi took over the conversation, and his tone was both flattering and showing off, "I think that at the beginning, when Xuanjing and I Hideyoshi first came out, you were the general who led the army alone...... After fighting for so many years and making so many achievements, it is deserved to be given to such a country. ”

"It can only be regarded as most of the country," Ikeda Hengxing stretched out his hand and gestured, his words seemed a little unclear: "The two counties of Honganji Temple should naturally belong to the Sakuma family, and they have been attacking for more than two years, so they must have a little harvest...... It's not that I look down on him, if I had replaced you, I would probably have beaten it down a long time ago! ”

I smiled and didn't deny it, and Hideyoshi didn't defend him.

In the Oda family, from the Owari period, there were factions among the retainers. In the beginning, it was roughly divided into the Owari faction and the non-Owari faction, but when the territory became larger, and Nobunaga's policies such as the unity of Nobunaga's Obi faction were bridged, they were divided into the Shogunate, the Shogunate faction, and the Shogunate faction according to their origins, until they developed into super-large factions that successively served several legions. Among them, the military commander faction, roughly the traditional genealogy of the Katsuhata Oda family, has been loyal to the Oda family since the Nobuhide era, headed by Hokuriku Shibata Katsuya and Kinai Sakuma Nobumori, the relationship between the two of them was very close before Nobunaga's career, Sakuma Nobumori's younger brother, married the sister of the Shibata Katsuya, and gave birth to four children, the eldest son Morimasa (the culprit of the defeat of the Shibata family in the Battle of Mt. Shiba) and the third son Katsumasa, both adopted by the Shibata Katsu family as adopted sons and played important roles in Hokuriku, and the fourth son Katsuyuki was the son-in-law of Sasa Narumasa; In the Pursuit School, it is basically the new generation cultivated by Nobunaga himself, who controls the internal affairs of the family, which is not only the driving force for the rise of the Oda family, but also with the Oda family reaching a considerable height, this group of people, who used to be led by me and Harada Naomasa, is now me and Yura Hideyoshi, Yura Hideyoshi's adopted son Keishide, is not only my younger brother Hidekei's son-in-law, but also my adopted son-in-law; The other shogunate faction was formed after Nobunaga Kamiraku, mainly related to the Ashikaga shogunate, mainly responsible for the diplomacy of the Oda family, and assisting Nobunaga in controlling Kinai affairs, and is currently led by Akechi Mitsuhide and Hatakeyama Yoshishu, plus Hosokawa Fujitaka and others, and Matsunaga Hide and Arakimura Shigemi before the rebellion, can also be counted in this faction.

In addition, there are also Nobunaga's retainers and Harada Naomasa and Sasa Naimasa, who can also be regarded as a faction. Among them, the first is Niwa Nagahide, who married Nobunaga's adopted daughter and niece, and Nobunaga's brother-in-law Ikeda Tsuneko, who is now about to serve as the guardian of Settsu, and can be regarded as the main figure, and the rest of Maeda Toshiie, Sawaki Yoshiyuki, Beeya Yoritaka, Kawajiri Hidetaka, Nakagawa Shigemasa, etc., are respectively stationed in various regiments to serve as Yori or military supervisors. They were Nobunaga's cronies, and they were the most loyal to Oda Nobunaga himself, largely neutral among the factions.

Among the various factions, the shogunate faction and the shogunate faction, the positions of the two sides are relatively close, and there are many friendships with each other; The military generals boasted of their seniority and were not accustomed to these people who later took refuge and obtained high positions. So, in general, it seems that they are divided into these two camps, and although there is no open dispute between them, it is inevitable that there will be some competition in secret.

So, now that Ikeda Hengxing is complaining about Sakuma Nobumori, Hideyoshi and I naturally let it go, without adding oil and vinegar, which is already a show of kindness...... Ikeda was still talking about his drunken words. He filled the bowl for us and bowed his head to us: "In short, in the future, I will be neighbors with you in Settsu, so I will have a lot of trouble to take care of it." If you want to help, as long as the lord orders it, we will not be ambiguous...... I can't say, in the future, Yuanzhu will inherit the family business, and he will have to rely on the two of you a lot, this time Zhou Jing and Jingxiu performed really well...... What a child of the Kira family! ”

Hideyoshi kept smiling and nodding his head frequently, apparently enjoying Ikeda's compliments. However, when he heard the last sentence, his face suddenly changed.

This unintentional remark really rubbed his sore spot. His only son, Ishimatsumaru, died at the age of three or four, and his younger brother Hidecho only had a daughter, so he could only adopt a son from another family. Among the two current adopted sons, Jing Xiu is his aunt and nephew, and Xiuji is his aunt and nephew, neither of them is his own bloodline, and with his current age of more than forty years old, it is estimated that it will be difficult to have any more children. It may seem like nothing to Ikeda, but for Hideyoshi, who came from a farming family and did not have the traditional thinking of the samurai, it was a great pity.

(To be continued)