In Owari Province, the Guardian Spo family has long been set aside by the Oda family, and the Oda family itself is also divided, and it has been a bunch of Odas fighting back and forth since the Onin Rebellion.

In the Nobuhide era, there were five forces in the Oda family, among which Iwakura's Oda Ise Moriichi line was the clan family, Nobuhide's Katsuhata Oda Danmasada's family was the closest branch, and the other Odai Oda Fujizaemon family was a little further away, dating back to Nobuhide's great-grandfather Oda Hisada's generation...... The relationship was more estranged from the Oda Yamato Shouyi line in Kiyoshu and the Oda Inaba Moriichi line as its branch, and the last head of the Yamato Mori family was the successor of the Oda Nobutomo from the Inaba Morichi line.

For a long time, the Yamato Shouichi family has always held the guardian Spo family in their hands, so it has a more righteous name. During the Nobuhide period, the Oda Danmasa Tadashi family, the Oda Fujizaemon family, and the Oda Inaba Mori family all served the Yamato Mamoru family, and they were known as the "Kiyoshu Three Priests".

In addition, the Tsuda family and the Iio family in Owari are also separate families of the Oda family, and further afield, there are the Kinoshita family and the Hattori family......

Until now, the Yamato Mori family has been destroyed by Nobunaga of the Danmasa Tadashi family, and the Fujizaemon family and the Inaba Mamoru family have surrendered in the Nobuhide era, and only the Ise Mamoru family of the Oda clan is left in front of Nobunaga.

And the next battle was the last key battle to unify Owari.

After entering May, Oda Nobunaga issued a mobilization order in the territory. As more and more ashigaru converged under Cheongju Castle, the atmosphere of war grew stronger.

The Oda family had 3,000 sets of ashigaru imperial loan equipment and matching refined spears, 800 longbows, and 500 iron cannons. The cost of preparing these weapons is not small, and it is also due to the fact that Owari Province has a very advantageous geographical location and abundant production, and has always been very rich. During the Oda Nobuhide era, the excellent economic conditions that led to the strength of the Owari Shimo-gun clan against the Matsudaira, Saito, and Imagawa clans were an important reason.

However, in the Nobuhide period, the Oda family fought almost every year, and many young and strong men in the territory were killed and wounded, and by the time of the Second Shodozaka War, the rear strength was already seriously insufficient, and finally all the territories of Nishimikawa were lost. After Oda Nobunaga inherited the family business, not only did Mikawa's enemies have to deal with, but there was also a rebellion within himself. Therefore, although he controlled the territory of 230,000 koku in the four lower counties of Owari, Oda Nobunaga only gathered 2,000 people at this moment. Among them, in addition to 1,000 spears, 300 iron cannons, and 200 bows and arrows, nearly 100 were Nobunaga's horses, and the remaining 400 were mainly wealthy warriors and local samurai, and they were also all cavalry, commanded by Shibata Katsuie.

The iron cannon group and the bow and arrow group were in the hands of Oda Nobunaga himself. The leader of the Iron Artillery Team was Takigawa Kazuki, and I was in charge of assisting him in training, and Hidekei and Konatsu assisted me, and the leaders of the three Iron Artillery Hundred Team were Sasa Uchizosuke Naimasa, Kuro Saemon Naomasa, and Fukufuhei Saemon Hidekatsu. All three of them were from Nobunaga's Mada, and they were people who showed a certain talent for iron cannons in the previous wars of the Oda family. The archery team was commanded by Asano Nagakatsu and Horita Sunshichi, two of whom were listed as "Bow Sanzhang" among the so-called "Six Members", and both were masters of archery.

By June, Nobunaga had brought Lady Yoshino, Wonder Maru, and Cha Whisk Maru from Koori Village to Kiyoshu Castle, and he was frequently seen in the city's barracks. Kawajiri, along with Hidetaka Hidetaka and Oda Echizen Mamoru Kiyonobu as messengers, went to Inuyama Castle to deliver orders. Inuyama Oda Nobukiyo also had a messenger coming, and after he entered the castle, Nobunaga received him in the castle barracks, and I happened to be in the main tent. The messenger put forward several conditions, such as supporting the replenishment of some ordnance, the supply of grain and grass from the Cheongju side, and the equal division of the spoils of war afterwards, but Nobunaga agreed to all of them, and his face remained very calm. But after the messenger went out, he immediately scolded Oda Nobukiyo in a huff.

Blood-wise, Oda Nobukiyo is Oda Nobunaga's cousin. Nobukiyo's father, Nobuyasu, and Nobunaga's father, Nobuhide, are brothers. However, in this day and age, when it comes to power and interests, blood ties are never a safety line to maintain friendship, and many times, the closer the relationship, the more often it means the greater the threat. Nobunaga's younger brother Nobukatsu and his cousin Nobuhiro rebelled one after another, and this cousin was initially disobedient to Nobunaga, until Nobunaga married his sister to him, and the relationship between the two parties eased.

Even Iwakura Oda Nobuxian, whom they regard as enemies, is also very close to their blood relationship. Nobuyo's father, Oda Nobuyasu, the former head of the Iwakura Oda family, was the nephew of Nobunaga's grandfather, Oda Nobuta, and Nobunaga's cousin. However, since he married Nobunaga's aunt, he was also Nobunaga's own uncle. Nobuyyoshi's father, Nobuyasu, was once Shinyasu's Houjian (Baofu), and the 15,000 stone of Okuchi Zhixing that he received during this period was the cause of the rivalry and contention between Inuyama and Iwakura.

During the reign of Oda Nobuyasu, he strongly advocated friendship with Nobunaga of the Danmasa Tadashi family, and Nobuyasu's second son, Nobuyasu, once presided over the Motofu ceremony of the Maeda Toshiya family, and gave the word "family" to be biased. As a result, Oda Nobuyoshi exiled Nobuyan and Nobuya, and became hostile to Oda Nobunaga.

I think that when it comes to dealing with Nobunaga, Oda Nobuyo's approach is understandable. After all, after Oda Nobunaga unified the four lower prefectures of Owari, it was bound to clash with the Oda Ise Mori family in the upper four prefectures, after all, there was only one highest position in Owari Province......

And for the position of Owari Guardian, it is difficult to say that Oda Nobukiyo has no idea at all. Judging from today's situation, the two parties are really not close.

……，……

On July 12, Oda Nobunaga finally decided to go into battle. After the conch was blown at the head of the castle, the entire Cheongju Castle immediately became busy, and the samurai who lived in the castle town also dressed up and went to the military camp in the castle.

Yu Jia put on my full fit, carefully tidied up, then hugged me from behind, rested his head on my back, and sobbed softly.

"It's okay, I'm in command of the iron artillery team, and there is a pikeman team in front." I comforted her.

"Please take care ......"

"Okay, Xiujing and Xiaoxia are still waiting outside the door." I turned around and hugged her, "Wait until I'll get back." Then he strode out of the house.

For this war, the entire Cheongju has long been prepared.

In contrast, the situation of Iwakura is less rosy. Although Oda Nobuken exiled his father and younger brother, he did not enjoy the unanimous support of his family's ministers. In this case, it is okay to defend the city, and if he forcibly sends troops, Shinyasu, who was forced to live in seclusion, is likely to return to Iwakura Castle and regain control of his family. So after getting the news of the mobilization in Cheongju, he could only gather troops in the territory to prepare for the cage city. In addition, although he also gathered some reliable wealthy clans, Oda Nobunaga did not move throughout June and early July, and the wealthy clans dispersed one after another to prepare for this year's autumn harvest. Under such circumstances, Oda Nobuyoshi had no position to stop it, and could only firmly grasp the 3,500 troops gathered from his ability.

Cheongju is only a dozen kilometers away from Iwakura Castle. After receiving the news of the ninja's departure from Kiyoshu, the Shibata Katsuya 400 Cavalry, as the vanguard, had advanced to a distance of five kilometers from Iwakura Castle. And what Oda Nobuyoshi had time to dispatch was the strength of the 3,500 troops in the city. He hurriedly sent 3,000 men to meet Nobunaga, leaving the remaining 500 men to guard the city, and at the same time sent messengers to gather the help of powerful clans nearby.

About two kilometers out of the city, Shin-hyun's army met the vanguard of Ukinohara and Shibata Katsuie. Shibata Katsuya didn't say a word, and launched a charge first.

Facing this No. 1 general of Owari Province, Oda Nobuyoshi hurriedly dispatched more than 450 horsemen, including Qimoto. He didn't have much confidence in a frontal cavalry battle, so he just relied on his own spear brigade to isolate Shibata and his own ashigaru. After paying more than eighty casualties, he finally stabilized the situation. Seeing this, Shibata Katsuie immediately divided the forward army into two teams and went around to the rear of the Nobuxian army. Oda Nobuyo's banner team also spread out to both sides, suppressing the formation and protecting the Ashigaru brigade.

The two groups of cavalry converged behind the Shinhyun army. After holding each other for a while, perhaps feeling that there was no good opportunity, Shibata Katsuie commanded the cavalry to run towards the west side of Shingen's army and occupied a hillside.

After some thought, Oda Nobuyoshi decided to line up on the spot and meet Nobunaga's army with ease. In order to prevent a sneak attack by Shibata Katsuie's horse team, he had to continue to defend the west side with a cavalry team.

About half an hour later, our brigade finally arrived at the battlefield. As soon as Oda Nobunaga waved his hand, our troops immediately stopped advancing and began to line up on the spot.

With part of the army guarding the western flank, and with Shibata Katsuie's 400 cavalry eyeing him, Oda Nobuyoshi could only watch us line up and slowly press towards him. At the front are two rows of spears, each carrying a bundle of straw nearly two meters high and tied tightly with a wood core as a shield. Our iron cannon crew was lined up behind them, and the arquebuses were all lit and hung on the arquebuses. Behind us, there were two teams of archers and arrows, and then a large group of spears, commanded by Sakuma University Morishige, Oda Sake Brewing Joshinbo, and Sasa Hayato Masaji, and at the back of the battleground led by Nobunaga.

When the distance between the two armies was about eighty meters, the archers in Oda Nobuken's formation began to fire arrows, but they did not inflict any casualties on us, and naturally they could not stop our advance. As the distance continued to close, someone on our side finally fell. In the iron cannon under our command, there were also four or five unlucky people who were shot in the throat by arrows that fell diagonally, but most of the arrows were shot at helmets and feet, and could not pose much of a threat.

After about thirty meters of continuous advancement, Nobunaga's horses and Pegasus gave an order to stop, and the spears in the first row immediately stopped and pestled the straw shield with the wood core in front of him. If someone is unfortunate enough to fall, someone in the second row will immediately fill in the place. Then, it was our turn to come out on the iron cannon crew. Three detachments of 100-man iron artillery stepped forward one after another, leaning on straw shields and shooting on their knees. In the process, the archers of the two sides rained arrows from time to time, but the results were far less abundant than those of the iron artillery teams.

Seeing this, Shin-hyun had to order the cavalry team to take the initiative to entangle the Shibata Katsuke team, and then gave the order for the whole army to assault, and commanded the spear ashigaru of the brigade to rush towards us. Takigawa Kazuyi hurriedly mobilized our iron artillery team to quickly retreat along the reserved passage behind him, and the archers then also retreated to the middle of the formation, and gathered forward, the first row of pikemen abandoned the straw bundle shields, and the people behind quickly gathered forward, lined up in a dense formation to meet the opponent's attack.

The spear teams of the two sides engaged three or four meters apart, hundreds of spears picking each other and plucking each other, from time to time a stab, and from time to time someone fell. And as soon as the people in the first row fell, someone came up to replace them. Sometimes, several people fell in succession, and after a slight hesitation to fill the position, a nearby battle line was immediately forced to retreat a few steps. In this way, the two parties come and go, advance and retreat, forming a situation of dogs and teeth.

At this time, Nobunaga's horses were dispatched. The spears with light spears in the Xinxian army are about three meters, and our side is about the same, but the personal combat power of the Ma Xia people is more prominent, the spears used are more sophisticated, and at the same time they occupy a condescending advantage, so as soon as the Ma Xia people go up, they immediately gain local advantages at several holding points. In the end, at the point where Maeda Toshiie, Asai Shinhachiro Masadada, Ito Takebei and several others attacked, our side finally reached a breakthrough. Maeda Toshiya and others drove their horses and forcibly crashed into the formation of the Shingen army, and the spearmen around them were immediately killed and wounded. Using them as arrows, more than 100 spears near us slammed into the formation, causing chaos in the Xinxian side for a while.

The chaos continued to expand, and finally turned into a full-blown melee. At this time, it is the turn of the samurai to show their skills. Many of our horses jumped off their horses and drew their swords to frantically slash the nearby enemy troops. Due to the perennial preparation for war, in terms of the number and combat power of the samurai, our side was greatly superior to the Shinken side. Shibata Katsuie's team with 400 men against Shin Kenka's 450 cavalry gradually gained the upper hand. The situation is tilting in our favor.

Under the leadership of the horses, a pikeman has already broken through the opponent's spear defense. Seeing that Yoshiyuki Sawaki beheaded the head of a group leader samurai of the opponent's archery team, Nobunaga praised left and right with satisfaction: "Fujihachi, this kid is good!" He then ordered the Iron Gun Ashigaru and Archer Ashigaru to put away the iron cannons and replace them with short guns to join the battlefield.

Despite this, we are still at a disadvantage in terms of overall numbers. This may be the spiritual pillar that supports Shin Hyun's side to continue to resist!

At this time, on the hillside occupied by Shibata Katsuya's team, another army suddenly appeared with neat appearance and banners.

Seeing the banner of this army and the horse seal of the main general in the army, many people in the Nobuken side immediately recognized that it was Oda Nobukiyo, who took Kuroda Castle last year and killed the elder of the Iwakura Oda family, Kuroda Castle Daiyamauchi Moritoyo and his eldest son Yamauchi Juro!

Inuyama Castle is twenty-three kilometers from Iwakura, but Kuroda Castle is only fifteen kilometers away. Oda Nobukiyo had previously transferred the main force to Kuroda Castle, and when they were out in Kiyoshu, they were also marching towards Iwakura at about the same time. After more than two hours of engagement between our main force and the Shin Xian side, they have now finally arrived at the battlefield. And seeing Oda Nobukiyo's army rushing down the hillside, anyone who understands it can probably think of why Shibata Katsuya kept blocking that hillside before.

With Oda Nobukiyo joining the battle group, Nobuken no longer even had a numerical advantage, and as the side that was being beaten, his morale was also greatly damaged. As the deserters grew, Oda Nobuyo's main camp finally began to retreat, and then it turned into a rout. On the other hand, our morale has increased greatly, and everyone in the battle circle is excitedly chasing the enemy, slashing and cutting off the head. Some wealthy families who originally received a letter asking for help and planned to support Oda Nobuyoshi changed their minds after seeing the tragic situation of Nobuyo's army. Most of the wealthy clans immediately retreated the same way, and some even immediately joined us to participate in the pursuit of Xinxian's army.

After paying a huge price, Oda Nobuyoshi finally fled back to Iwakura Castle, and a team in charge of the broken siege was wiped out outside the castle town, and many of his retainers, including the elder Fukui Daizenmasa, were killed in battle. When Inuyama and I entered the castle town, the ashigaru men began to loot on a large scale, and only Nobunaga's main team remained near the castle gate.

At this time, if Iwakura can make a desperate bet and go out of the city to face the battle, maybe there will be a lot of results. However, this is too demanding for Iwakura, who is panicked and has become a frightened bird. Even if Shinhyun himself had this opinion, now that his prestige was greatly lost, he was unable to organize an offensive at all. Perhaps, Oda Nobunaga did not restrain the actions of the Ashigaru people because of this.

The looting lasted for nearly an hour, and the entire town of Iwakura was almost ransacked. Nearly three hours after Iwakura went out of the city to meet the rout, most of the people in the town fled here, leaving behind almost all the slaughter, and the corpses were seen in the town from time to time, some of them were still full of **, and the streets were full of fragments, strips of cloth, broken rough messengers, and so on. This kind of tragic situation, Xiujing and Xiao Xia and I have seen it for the first time, and the three of them looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Towards dinner, the army finally regained control. The ashigaru gathered near the city gate one after another and took out the rice balls they had brought with them or the dry food they had looted. All the houses near the city gate were demolished, and a large area was vacated for various fortifications. Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobukiyo set up camps, divided the quarters and defense areas of each unit, and arranged sentry posts, city gates, and perimeter guards. We, the guards of the stables, were released and patrolled the streets with a few ashigaru.

Walking down the street with a team of ashigaru, looking at the mess and many crumbling wooden houses on the street, I sighed to Xiujing and Xiaoxia: "I really can't imagine if the castle of Cheongju becomes like this......"

"Keijiro, what are these words? I won't let the enemy hit Cheongju City! Ryoyuki Sariba also came in front of him with a team of ashigaru. He walked up to me and patted me on the shoulder with his left hand, "I'm really worried about Yujia, let's just keep winning!" ”

"Fujihachi! I heard you're hurt? What about the injury? Didn't the lord arrange for you to stay with you? I asked, looking at the cloth tape around his right elbow.

"The injury is not too much of a problem, no one can die," Ryoyuki Sariba grinned, "The patrol mission is my own initiative, and it is better to come out to breathe than to stay in the main tent!" ”

"And you're now?" I gestured to pat him on his injured elbow, but he immediately turned sideways and pulled over with a smile: "This...... Behold, of the three of you, I am one. So, I want to borrow someone from you. He said as he glanced at Natsu with his eyes.

This remark is also a bit of a head. The young retainers of the Zori family, almost all of whom died in battle with his adoptive father Fujizaemon the year before last. However, for us, Iwakura is very safe at the moment, and I know what he means.

"No problem, who is with whom!" I agreed very generously, "Xiujing, you go and help His Highness Liangzhi!" ”

"Yes, brother!" Kira Hidekyo walked up to Ryoyuki Zoriba very cooperatively, and smiled and owed, "Your Highness Ryoyuki, please just give orders!" ”

"Keijiro! You know what I mean! Zaroryo was greatly dissatisfied, "You kid! If it weren't for my Fujihachi, would you know Yu Jia! ”

"Didn't I lend this to you! Xiujing's martial arts are the best among the three of us, and you're still not satisfied? I couldn't help but smile and put on my face, playing tricks on him like this made my mood a lot happier, "Your Highness Liangzhi, please go back to your respective areas as soon as possible, it's too long to be out of the way, it's not good to let the lord know!" ”;