Just a few days after the main force of Hida Echichu appeared in the prefecture and annihilated the 2,000 men of the Oda army, Li knew that he was unforgiving, and continued to advance southward, from Ichiyanagi Castle to Kajida Castle.

Li Xiao mobilized the five standing armies of Kamioka, Snake Tail, Qimoto, Horseback, and Big Tube, plus the county of Shima Katsumeng, and dispatched 4,800 troops to Kajida Castle.

Kajida Castle is close to Tangdong Castle, Seki Castle, and was built by the Sato family during the Eiroku period.

When Nobunaga attacked Mino Mino, the Sato family rebelled for Nobunaga, and Kaji Tajo fell into Nobunaga's grasp.

In the eighth year of Eiroku, during the battle between Seki and Kajida, the head of the Sato family, Sato Tadayasu, was killed in battle, and later Nobunaga ordered Saito Michisanko to surrender to the side of the Oda family, Saito Toshiji, as the adopted son of the former head of the Sato family, Sato Tadano, inherited the name of the Sato family, so he also became the lord of Kajida Castle.

Historically, the Kaji Fields led by Saito Toshiji have always served as Nobunaga's powerful army, and have made great contributions to his unification of the world in the southern and northern wars, so their combat power is also good.

It takes only half a day from Ichiyanagi Castle to Kajida Castle, and the Nobi Plain along the way is surrounded by rivers and rivers, and the Mino River flows from north to south, or from east to west, from Hida Takayama down to the sea in the direction of Owari.

Along the way, the Takeda army was brightly armored, neat and orderly, slowly approaching Kajida Castle.

Li Xiao rode on the black forging, and at this time, a ninja had just come to report, just yesterday, Iwamura Castle was breached, and Akiyama Nobutomo captured this Dongmino Heavy Castle, which was several months earlier than in history.

As soon as Iwamura Castle was broken, the Akiyama Legion began to attack, and the Toyama clan was in Higashimino Castle, and these castles included Naeki Castle and Myochi Castle. Amu City, including Qiandan Forest City, is known as the branch city group of the eighteen branches of the distant mountains.

After listening to this, Li Xiao asked, "What about Gifu City?" ”

Yokotani Yukiyoshi replied, "In the direction of Gifu Castle, the army of the Oda family has been standing still. ”

Li Xiao breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and said, "Tell your brother to closely monitor the Oda Army in Gifu City, and if there is any slight change, come and report it immediately." ”

Li Xiao's biggest worry at the moment is that he is halfway through the attack on Kajitian City. It was attacked by the main army of the Oda family led by Nobunaga.

So in the direction of Gifu Castle, a large number of ninjas were dispatched. Conduct reconnaissance carefully, and if the news is not good, immediately lead the army back to the county.

Then Li Xiao asked, "What is the situation in Kaji Tian City?" ”

Yokotani Yuki remarked: "The other party has sensed the intention of our army to attack, and now the other party's 1,500 city soldiers from the city lord Saito Toshiji and his head have all retreated into the city. The intention should be to prepare for a cage battle. ”

"Cage City Battle?"

Li Xiao smiled slightly, although the city walls of Kajitian City were high and thick, it was not too much in the eyes of Li Xiao, who had a big cylinder.

Li Xiao waved his horsewhip forward and said, "Pass the order to speed up the march!" ”

"Oh!"

Before noon, Li Xiao's army arrived at the foot of Kajida Castle.

The location of Kajida Castle in Fuka-cho, Gifu Prefecture.

The site of the city is located on the mountain of the ancient city at an altitude of 270 meters, and the terrain is on the two rivers of Tsuho River and Chuanpu River. One north and one south sandwiched Kajida Castle in the center.

Li Xiao's army temporarily built a bridge, and Ashigaru waded across the Tsuho River from the bridge, arrived at Kajida Castle, and prepared to set up a formation in the east of the city.

Gucheng Mountain is surrounded by steep slopes and rapids on three sides. Only the east side was the only access to the siege.

The castle's Demaru Kiyomaru is located on the east side of the foothills, north of the Kawaura River, and is guarded by the famous samurai Yuasa Shinroku, who is known as the master of spears among the Kajida people.

In addition, there is a hill on the north and south sides of the castle, and there is a castle tower built on it, which is supported by the main castle tower, and the two turrets are guarded by the elder Naganuma Santoku and the Nishimura Jiro Guard.

Li Xiao saw the deployment of the city clearly in the Qianli Tube, and talked about the Warring States City. Kajida Castle can be said to be very well garrisoned, and there are 1,500 city soldiers stationed there. If there is enough food and grass and water, such a city can be besieged by an army of 10,000 for a month. It may not be possible to win it.

However, Li Xiao did not have this worry, just as he was about to order the troops who were crossing the river to set up a formation in the south of the city, and then cover Rui Costa to attack the city with a large cylinder.

At this time, he saw Kajida Castle, but suddenly the city gate was opened, and in the city gate, a large number of ashigaru gushed out, and lined up in the open space in front of the city.

Immediately, the banner seal of the city lord also appeared outside the city, and the city lord Saito Toshiji actually led the army out of the city on his own initiative and lined up behind the city.

Seeing this situation, Li Xiao and the others were all dumbfounded, could it be that Saito Toshiji actually had this self-confidence, and was ready to defeat the Takeda army of nearly 5,000 people with 1,500 people in the field battle. …,

After seeing clearly that the Saito army did not go out of the city to surrender, but to go out of the city to form a decisive battle.

All the generals of the Takeda army couldn't help but laugh angrily, you must know that although the Takeda army on the besieging side has a big tube, the opponent can still hold it for a while, but if it is a field battle, only in terms of troop advantage, the Takeda army, which is three times the opponent, can defeat the enemy in less than an hour.

It's a death-defying act.

Tsuchiya Masahiro immediately rode his horse to Li Xiao to ask for battle, and said: "My lord, taking advantage of the enemy's army is still in formation, your subordinates are willing to lead the cavalry to prepare for an attack and kill them before they have a stable foothold." ”

Li Xiao listened to Tsuchiya Changheng's words, but he didn't answer.

Seeing that Li Xiao didn't answer, Tsuchiya Changheng thought that Li Xiao was worried and unwilling to take advantage of the danger of others, so he said at the moment: "My lord, this is not the time to talk about the way of the samurai, the enemy army is so big, it is the time to teach them a lesson." ”

After Tsuchiya Changheng finished speaking, several generals asked Li Xiao to fight.

At this time, Li Xiao's face changed, and he suddenly said: "Pass the order, and order the cavalry to reconnoiter the west to see if there is any movement of the enemy army." ”

As soon as Li Xiao's voice fell, the three horsemen in front of the formation screamed, stepped on their horses and galloped towards the west.

Everyone was surprised when they saw Li Xiao's uncertain face.

Li Xiaoshen said: "You see where our army is arranged, the north and south sides are the Jinbao River, the Chuanpu River and the rivers are interspersed, and they cannot be treked, and the east is Kajida City. ”

Listening to Li Xiaozhi's reminder, Honda Masanobu suddenly realized: "Yes, the east of the city is the only place to attack the city, if the enemy army will deliberately set up an ambush, he will definitely choose this place." ”

"Or maybe I'm overthinking." Li Xiao said with a bitter smile.

Amid everyone's speculation, a herald had already returned.

This person galloped in front of Li Xiao and said loudly: "Report to the lord, I found a large number of unknown enemy troops in the west. ”

The generals of the Takeda army were immediately shocked when they heard this, and everyone looked to the west together, and sure enough, a large puff of smoke and dust rolled up in the distance, which was obviously a sign of the advance of the cavalry.

"How is it possible, there are at least nearly a thousand people in this cavalry team," Fujitang Gaohu put down the Qianli Cylinder and said incredulously, "My lord, the enemy army obviously had a premeditated plan for a long time, so he wanted to rule the people of the field and dare to go out of the city for a decisive battle, so it turned out that he had planned to do so. We are at war with the enemy on our backs. ”

Li Xiao's face turned pale when he heard this, and he didn't say a word.

At this time, the second Chuanchuan rode a horse and galloped in front of Li Xiao and said: "Report to the lord, I have seen the enemy's military momentum behind me. ”

"Who is it?"

"It's the Golden Banner of the Twin Geese, and it's the army that Shibata repairs brightly."

"Shibata Katsuie!"

Li Xiao shouted angrily, waved the horsewhip heavily, and said, "It's really him." ”

Li Xiao's anger is justified, since the battle, he has always been the one who ambushed others, but he didn't expect that today he was actually inferior in wisdom and fell into the trap of Shibata Katsuya.

It's really feng shui in turns, Li Xiaocai just ambushed the Inaba First Iron Army, but he didn't expect the retribution to come so quickly, and he was attacked by Shibata Katsuya.

The sudden appearance of Shibata Katsuie's army in the rear immediately caused a moment of panic among the Takeda army.

Not only ordinary soldiers, but also Li Xiaojun's warriors, and his retainers were also flustered.

Shibata Katsuie has always been the chief general of the Oda family, known as Oni Shibata, and his legion is also known as the First Oda Army.

Now that Shibata Katsuya came in person, all the generals of the Takeda Army changed their faces.

At this time, the third herald arrived, bowed to Li Xiao, and said: "Tell the lord that the enemy army is all of the Shibata Legion, and according to the previous information, the Shibata Legion is between 5,000 and 6,000, and more than half of the army is on standing, and it is the elite soldiers of the long-term battle, and there are 1,000 of them in the cavalry team alone, all of whom are the elite samurai of the Oda family. ”

"More than 5,000 troops! Why didn't such a large force of troops find out? Honda Masanobu immediately looked at Yokotani Yukiyoshi and said angrily: "Bastard, why didn't you detect the movement of the Shibata Army before, and let the other party approach us at such a distance, before you noticed." ”

"It's not to blame that they didn't have a good reconnaissance," Li Xiaoshen said: "My intention to send troops to Kajida Castle to open up O'Mino and Higashimino was too obvious, so Shibata saw through it, so they had already set up an ambush here to lure me into this trap." ”

Only then did the generals wake up.

However, the current situation is very unfavorable for the Takeda Army, as Li Xiaofang said, two rivers block the north-south road, while the east and west sides are flanked by the opponent's superior military strength.

At present, the Takeda army is in a disadvantageous situation of being attacked by the enemy on the back of the abdomen, and the sudden appearance of the Shibata army has also dealt a great blow to morale.

And in terms of physical strength, the Shibata army waited for work, while the Takeda army marched for half a day, and had not eaten lunch, which was at a disadvantage.

Fortunately, Li Xiao sent the cavalry to reconnoiter in time, otherwise if the Shibata army attacked again when the siege was time, the Takeda army would be extremely bad.

At this moment, even Li Xiao didn't admire and said: "Shibata Repair is worthy of being a famous general of the Oda family, and he actually saw through my military strategy, and the annihilation of Inaba Ichitetsu before was too smooth, which made me careless for a while, and I underestimated that there was no one in the Oda family." ”

Speaking of this, Li Xiao's annoyance disappeared, and he looked at the generals and said with sparkling eyes: "But if you hit the plan, you will be hit, and it doesn't matter if you are attacked on your back." The order was sent down to the prefecture to set up a formation in the direction of Kajida Castle, while Kamioka, Snake Tail, and Banner were lined up against the Shibata army. ”

Speaking of this, Li Xiao looked at the Shibata army pressed by the Zhengda army in the west, and sneered in his heart and thought, since the Oda army wants to wipe out my Li Xiao and annihilate all of them under this Kajida City, since this is the case, I will fulfill them, and let the Oda family see the combat power of the Western Kingdom phalanx that I have sharpened my sword for ten years! ”