At the joint military meeting the next morning, our side and Hosokawa discussed the operational policy. Hosokawa was present at Hosokawa Shinyuki, Kume Yoshitoyo, Shichijo Kaninaka, Himeda Jinzaemon and others, all of whom were wealthy families he relied on, and one of them, Shichijo Kannaka, was the young samurai who supported him when he came back before, only seventeen years old this year, and the lord of Shichijo Castle in Itano County. His strength is very outstanding, and the defeat of Hosokawa Shin two days ago, thanks to his hard work, he finally safely joined up with Hosuka Masakatsu, and he was also trusted by Hosokawa Shinyuki because of this exploit.

The focus of everyone's discussion was naturally the question of how to use to fight against the 18,000 troops of the Miyoshi family. Our Gamo Fuhide and Maeda Toshiya proposed that they might as well hold on to the castle first, and then defeat them in one blow after the Miyoshi family's army lost its sharpness. Hosokawa Shinyuki, on the other hand, hopes to fight a decisive battle immediately and drive the Miyoshi family's forces out of the territory as soon as possible.

Purely tactically, I support Gamo and Maeda's opinions. The three good sides came with victory, and it was at a time when morale was high, and the decisive battle at this time would undoubtedly cost more casualties. But I can't ignore Hosokawa's mood and opinions, and Hosokawa Mayuki has a last resort: Katsurui Castle is not a big problem to accommodate 13,000 troops, but his food, grass and savings can't support it for long.

Originally, when I took Shengrui City last year, there were a lot of materials in the city, but in order to win over the wealthy families, I gave a lot of rewards, and then took some away when I left, so Hosokawa Mayuki didn't fall too much, and this year, it has basically been used to repair Shengrui City, recruit horses, and establish a system of worship. And he is new to power, and he has no savings, and now he is supported by this year's 30,000 stone direct annual tribute and monthly castle town taxes. Therefore, if the Miyoshi family besieged the castle, although they would not rob and destroy the castle town for their own sake, Hosokawa Mayuki had no hope of income, and after a long time, he might have to go bankrupt.

This reason was something I didn't expect in advance. After all, he is not obligated to disclose his financial situation to me, and it is impossible for me to check his inventory...... "It's a pity that it's too late to temporarily mobilize from Sumoto Castle and Mie Castle now, and the Miyoshi family's army is almost outside the city. Xiujing sighed.

"Then let's fight as soon as possible!" I had no choice but to make this decision.

Then, after some discussion, I decided on the sequence and tactics of this operation.

In terms of sequence, since the crab river and Awaji were not able to use the navy to set up an iron cannon array in the river, I simply left all the iron gunners of the reserve and the navy in the city, and at the same time stripped the horseback warriors of each reserve team, leaving only a spear and gun array of 1,000 people; These four gun arrays, together with the 3,000 men of Awaji, the 1,000 Awa people who originally defended the castle, and the other 1,000 Awahao troops who entered Katsurui Castle, were the 9,000 main forces used for field battles. The other hundreds of horseback warriors and 1,200 elite sailors are ready to be used as a surprise force, first breaking through the formation with horseback teams in wartime, and then letting the navy use their skills in chaotic warfare.

After dividing the sequence, I then decided on a specific strategy. I am going to leave all the raiding forces and iron artillery groups in the city, such a force of nearly 4,000 troops is enough to block the first few attacks of the Miyoshi family, and give considerable damage; As for the main force of the Nine Thousand Field Army, I am going to let them retreat to the east and line up, on the one hand threatening the strength of the Miyoshi family army besieging the city, and on the other hand, luring them to seek a decisive battle to the east, and fall into the middle between Shengrui City and the field army. When the time comes, the raiding forces in the city will be able to launch a surprise attack at the right time to determine the outcome of the battle in one fell swoop.

"Your Highness, I'm going to take charge of the battle formation outside the city. How about you and Xiujing take charge of the defense of the city, and choose the opportunity to release the surprise force? After thinking about it, I suggested to Shinyuki Hosokawa.

"Your Highness Xuanjing, according to your arrangement, the surprise forces in the city are the key. Isn't it? Hosokawa asked.

"Exactly," I nodded, "after the two sides engage head-on, with the strength of our side, the Miyoshi family will not be able to keep their hands, and there should be no one left to continue to besiege the city, and the vigilance in the rear will inevitably be relaxed." When the time comes, the raiding forces will be able to win the battle by attacking the Miyoshi family's main camp in one fell swoop. ”

"So, can you ask His Royal Highness Xuanjing to personally sit inside the city and let me be in charge of the outside of the city?" Hosokawa Shinyuki suggested, "I heard that His Royal Highness Xuanjing is extremely good at capturing fighters, this is an extremely critical winner, or is His Highness Xuanjing in charge of anything?" ”

"That's fine," I agreed to his proposal, "it's just that it's hard work, Your Highness!" ”

"His Royal Highness Xuanjing is polite," Hosokawa Shinyuki smiled, "Now is the time to work together!" ”

I smiled and nodded. I can guess a thing or two about what he thinks.

In fact, I also intend to ask him to be the general of the battle, so that he can gain considerable fame. In this case, once our side is victorious, there is no need to fight, and the people of Awa Province will also abandon the Miyoshi family in Bo Xishan and turn to Hosokawa Shinyuki without any burden, because he has enough fame. But going into battle is a dangerous job after all, especially when you have to face double the military strength, which is far less safe than being in the city, so I am embarrassed to bring it up.

As for ability, then there is nothing to worry about. The lieutenant I assigned to Hosokawa Mayuki was Hidekei, who had served as my deputy many times, and he had no problem commanding it. And Hosokawa Mayuki is not a person who doesn't let go, and his long-term puppet career has taught him to do what he can, so there is no need to worry that he will try to take power. As far as I know, after the last invasion of the three western prefectures, he basically entrusted the specific command matters to Masakatsu Wasuka...... Soon after the end of the military discussion, Hosokawa Shinyuki and Kira Hidekei left with Wasuka Masakatsu, Maeda Toshiie, Sawaki Yoshiyuki, and Ikoma's parents. With the assistance of samurai of all ranks, they quickly prepared their troops and went to the predetermined positions to camp and build fortifications. Before leaving, I handed over a full set of military flags and horse prints to Xiujing, which I didn't need during the raid, just for him to confuse the Miyoshi family. As for Katsurui Castle, it was under the banner of Kume Yoshitoyo, and the specific matters were assigned to Gamo Fuxiu, Tsubouchi Toshidai and Kume Yoshitoyo.

On the morning of the 7th of October, the Miyoshi army, which had gathered with the Sanki people, arrived at Shengrui City. They set up camp in the west of the city, a few hundred meters away from the city, and stationed near the Shinmei Shrine under the banner of the three-order rhombic nail with a white background and black pattern on a white background of the Miyoshi sect. Looking from the city turret, the eyes are full of dense military flags and flags.

Soon, about 2,000 people left the camp and launched a tentative attack on the Datemen Gate of Shengrui City.

"It's from the two prefectures of Katsuura and Naga in the south," Kume Yoshitoyo explained, "and there are banners such as Shinkai Minitsuna, Tojo Minotsu, Saijo Nagaoka, Sakube Shigemasa, Kuwano Yoshiaki, and Oji Matsu Taisuke, and the leader is Shinkai Minitsuna, the son-in-law of Miyoshi Toyoshima Mamoru (Yoshiken)......"

"Well," I stood in front of the open window and nodded, "It seems that it is just a tentative attack, otherwise, even for the honor of the vanguard, the people of Miyoshi Nagaji's own team, or the Shihe Depositor who lost this city, will personally launch the first attack, and it will not be the turn of the new opening of the real gang...... Kitaro, call me back cleanly, let them retreat in the face of difficulties, and honestly go to His Highness Mano. ”

Tsubouchi Liding beside him answered the order, and also carefully observed the actions of the enemy below. Seeing that the enemy army was about to arrive at Otemon, he raised his hand and threw out a lit roast. It exploded ten meters in front of the gate, causing a burst of screams and loud exclamations, and then the iron cannon roared, shooting more than 400 projectiles from the Wangdou at the head of the city and the double-layer iron cannon oars on each side, bringing up blood flowers among the enemy troops under the city.

Hearing the roar of the iron cannon, the new Kaishigang in the distance gave an order, and another reserve rushed up, outnumbering the first reserve. After thinking for a while, he threw out three roasts, and then three bursts of iron cannons sounded one after another, and the newcomers and those who had not yet withdrawn fell a lot. This time the survivors learned wisely, and immediately quickly retreated, leaving only those who were hit. Some of them missed the shots, and each of them grabbed the corpses of their comrades and crawled back screaming.

After only two attempts to attack the city, nearly two hundred people were killed and wounded, and it is impossible for the vanguard of the new opening of the real gang to attack again, and the three people should also be enlightened, right? They should seek to defeat Hosokawa Mayuki first, then besiege the castle, using the winning streak to force our side to back down or abandon the castle...... I thought to myself.

Sure enough, Xinkai Shigang led the army back to the camp, and then no one came to attack the city rashly.

It was not until the afternoon that the Miyoshi army moved again, and the whole army was divided into two, most of them passed around the city and continued to move eastward, while a small part remained and moved closer to Otemon, as if to monitor the movement of the city.

"What is left is the Sanki people of the Ten Rivers Depository, then the number should be six thousand. They don't seem to be willing to fight with us, or the Ten Rivers Depository himself still has a grudge against the loss of Shengrui City. "It was Fuxiu Gamo who spoke. The last time he sent troops to Sanki Country, he did a lot of homework as a military officer, and he was already very familiar with the military flags and flags of each family.

"Then if we want to launch a surprise attack, we must first defeat them...... That's a bit of a hassle! Tsubouchi shook his head.

"However, in this way, the pressure on His Highness Shin's side will be much less," I am more optimistic, "The trio may have been misled by the last victory and underestimated the strength of our army...... Perhaps, without our raid, we can win in the field! ”

Later, after making sure that the Sanki people had no intention of attacking, I left Tsubouchi Toshijo to continue to be on guard, and took Gamo Fuhide and others to the castle tower to observe. Xiao Xia and Jing Yi Xuanzhi are here, Xiao Xia is cleaning up my room, I have never been used to letting the attendants do these things; Jing Yi Xuanzhi is sorting out his qualifications, and I have promised him that this raid will let him participate in this raid as his first battle after the Yuan Serving.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, the three of Miyoshi and our Hosokawa Shinyuki officially began to fight. The three of Miyoshi used the fish scale array, the left wing was 5,000 people from the three counties of West Apo, the right wing was nearly 4,000 people from the three counties of South Apo, and in the middle were the 3,000 elites of the three people of Miyoshi and the main team of Miyoshi Changzhi; Hosokawa Shinyuki, or Hidekei, put on a half-moon formation, in the middle of the front is Awa and Awaji's 5,000 ashigaru, the left flank is behind Maeda Toshiie's Tsushima Bei and Sawaki Yoshiyuki's triple preparation, and the right wing Wasuka Masakatsu's Kanie Bei and Ikoma Parent's Awaji Bei are also lagging behind, and the front row is roughly parallel to the left flank.

I nodded, this configuration is more reasonable. The relationship between Toshiie Maeda and Yoshiyuki Sawaki on the left wing is very good, and they have a very tacit understanding with each other and can cooperate well, and the Ikoma parents on the right wing have not performed brilliantly, and I can rest assured that the experienced Masakatsu Wasuka is in charge of the front.

The two sides gradually approached, and soon the engagement began. The first to come into contact was the Miyoshi trio and Hosokawa Shinyuki's Awa people, the trio were very brave, and Hosokawa Shinyuki tried hard to resist. Subsequently, the two wings of the two sides also began to fight, and our spear formation was very easy against the Hao clan of the three good sides.

"Our gun array shouldn't be only to this extent!" Xiao Xia said strangely.

"Maybe Xiujing has other arrangements." I said with a smile. For Xiujing, I am still very relieved, because he is my acting officer and has been responsible for specific matters for a long time, so he is extremely cautious and calculated. In this kind of righteous battle, he will never make any mistakes.

However, as time passed, Hosokawa Shinyuki slowly showed signs of exhaustion. The Apohao clan under his command has a very ordinary combat power, and he just suffered a defeat a few days ago, and he really can't bear it in the face of the elite of the three people.

"It's broken, the house is going to be bad!" Kume Yoshitoyo sighed anxiously.

"Don't worry. Just take a look at it again. I reassured, and at the same time I saw a clue.

Dealing with the elite of the three people with the mediocre Apo crowd is likely to be a deliberate arrangement made by Xiujing. It was precisely because the Awa people were forced to constantly retreat and gradually lagged behind the gun formations on both wings, so the half-moon array slowly began to reverse, and finally changed from an N-shape to a U-shape, and the three people of Miyoshi had gradually fallen into the center of the formation.

This may be the goal of Xiujing...... Suddenly, the Awaji people behind Hosokawa Makoto blew all the more than a dozen conchs, and the attendants held my military flag and horse seal high, and rushed forward with the Awaji people under the leadership of Hidekei, taking over Hosokawa Shinyuki's defense line, and quickly stabilized the frontal battlefield situation.

Hearing the sound of the conch, the gun arrays on both wings suddenly let out a loud shout, and the sound was extremely excited, and even the castle tower was enthusiastic when he heard it. Then they suddenly exerted their strength, and launched a strong attack forward in waves. Their attacks were extremely neat and resolute, and the wealthy clans of the three western and southern counties could not resist it, and they retreated one after another.

"Well done!" I couldn't help but praise it, and at the same time, I completely understood what Hideki and Hosokawa Mayuki were thinking. The two of them wanted to use Hosokawa Mayuki's defeat as bait to surround the Miyoshi trio and Miyoshi Nagaji's main team. And the three of them were also misled by the previous victory, or they were too eager to win, and they actually fell directly into the trap.

With the advance of Tsushima Bei and Xiejiang Bei in the front section of the two wings, the Miyoshi and three people fell into the center of the U-shaped formation. In front of them, there is the main team directly under Awaji Zhong and Hidekei, and on either side of them, there is the triple preparation of Yoshiyuki Sawaki and the Awaji preparation of Ikoma's parents. Mie Bei and Awaji Bei changed direction together, shouting and attacking the Miyoshi trio in the middle.

Seeing such a situation, everyone knows that the victory or defeat of the battle has been decided. The three of Miyoshi and the more than 3,000 people of Miyoshi Nagaji could never resist the three-sided attack of the three heavy preparations, the Awaji Bei, and the 6,000 troops of the Awaji people.

(To be continued)