Hida, Kamiokanda Castle.

Because before Takeda Shingen issued a mobilization order to the three wealthy families of Hida Sister Koji, Uchijima, and Jiangma in the form of a printed judgment.

So at the beginning of March, Li Xiao arrived in Shengang City, and the armies of the three wealthy families had already gathered under the city.

As soon as Li Xiaofang arrived, he immediately inspected the military strength of the three wealthy families, among which the Jiangma family was personally led by the head of the family, Jiangma Huisheng, and a total of 500 troops were dispatched.

The Jiang Ma family has recovered most of its vitality from the turmoil in the family the year before last. And Jiangma Huisheng used an iron fist to pull one faction to fight another, and eradicated all the factions in Jiangma's family that were not subordinate to him, and now he has firmly sat in the position of the governor of Jiangma's family.

This time, at the call of Takeda Shingen, 500 troops were dispatched, and Jiangma Huisheng used all his strength.

This made Li Xiao quite satisfied, and he gave the Jiangma family 500 stone military rations and 100 yuan as a thank you on the spot.

As for the mobilization of the Inner Island family and the sister Xiaolu family, it undoubtedly made Li Xiao feel gray and gray.

When Li Xiao inspected the military situation of the inner island and the two families of Sister Xiaolu, he really felt that his temper was as good as a saint, and he didn't have a seizure on the spot.

Back in the camp, Li Xiao held a military meeting in the name of the general general.

The leading leader sent by the sister road family is Sister Xiao Lu Lai Gang.

On top of the military discussion, Li Xiao held back his anger and asked his sister Xiaolu Lai Gang: "Sister Xiaolu Wei Menzuo, can you explain to me, what is the situation with Your Excellency's two hundred troops?" ”

Although Sister Xiaolu Lai Gang is young, this person who has the ability to unify Hida in history, faced Li Xiao's angry questioning, but he was very calm, and said: "But Lord Ma Shou, I don't understand what you mean. Although our 200 troops are not many, they are completely mobilized in accordance with the orders of Lord Dashan, with a minimum ratio of 50 stone per person. ”

"Your Excellency is really eloquent." Li Xiao sneered, and then glanced at the leading general of the Uchijima family, who didn't even say a word.

Compared with the sister Xiaolu family, the Uchijima family had fewer troops in battle this time, only a hundred people.

And Li Xiao inspected the quality of the soldiers of the two families, well, the problem is no longer how many people can be described, to be specific, the people of these two families are simply a combination of old comrades in nursing homes and kindergarten children, all of them are a group of old and weak soldiers.

Li Xiao felt that it was very difficult for this group of people to commit suicide collectively, and it was needless to mention that they wanted to kill people.

Sister Koji Yoritsuna said calmly: "Actually, since last year, Lord Tajima Mamori has implemented a monopoly on grain and salt in Josheng Castle and Kamioka Castle. In my sister's family, the price of food and salt skyrocketed. The people lived in poverty, and it was not easy to be able to go into battle with an army of 200 since then. Therefore, please also ask Lord Tajima to sell food and salt to my sister Koji's family and the Uchijima family at a low price with the people's livelihood in mind. In this way, we have the strength to contribute to the Takeda family. ”

Li Xiao laughed and said, "Sister Xiaolu, you misunderstood, the rise and fall of grain prices in Your Excellency's territory was not intentional on my part. ”

Li Xiao said this on the surface, but in his heart, he said that the price of your sister Xiaolu's food has skyrocketed, but it is self-inflicted.

In fact, since the beginning of this year, under the covert solicitation and persuasion of Chang'an, Tibet, with the support of cultivated land and grain and grass, many people living in difficulty in the territory of Sister Xiaolu's family and the inner island family have fled to Li Xiaoling.

The people are the cornerstone of the territory, and Li Xiao's actions are definitely a taboo for the two families.

Under the elimination of the other, the strength of the sister Xiaolu family and the inner island family has weakened even more, so it is no wonder that Sister Xiaolu Lai Gang faced Li Xiao with a look of anger and did not dare to speak, it turned out that they were the victims.

Therefore, Sister Xiaolu, the Uchijima family's order to the Takeda family to go out is also perfunctory, and it is not surprising that Li Xiao and them secretly dismantle each other.

"In any case, I would like to thank the two families for their assistance." Li Xiao smiled slightly.

Li Xiao thought to himself, this sister's path, it is better for the Uchijima family to come than not to come, but their samurai and elites stayed in the territory and did not go out with the army.

In this way, Li Xiao had to secretly guard against them, and he couldn't fully mobilize the military strength of Shengang City and go to support Chengsheng City.

Li Xiao made the following arrangements, Shima Katsu Meng led Kamioka to prepare a battle of 300 people, while Dazang Chang'an led the rest of the people, and then mobilized a part of Ashigaru from the territory to stay in Kamioka Castle to garrison.

And Li Xiao sent an additional Yokotani Yukiyoshi to lead fifty temporary recruits to Ashigaru to Gaotang Castle to strengthen the strength of Hirose Sojo, a native of the Hitoda Kingdom.

The Takado Castle garrisoned by Hirose Sojo is the front line for the defense of the sister Koji family, and the Uchijima family is out of Kamioka Castle, so it is necessary for Li Xiao to strengthen the defense here.

In the end, Li Xiao thought that it was still necessary to stabilize the military morale of the sisters and the inner islands, so they each allocated two hundred stones and one hundred stones of military rations to the two families as a sense of comfort.

After preparing these, Li Xiao gathered the 1,100 troops that had been cobbled together from all over the Hida Country to go out into battle.

Before going out of battle, the sisters of the Xiaolu family, the Jiangma family, the major generals of the Uchijima family, and the samurai were all suspicious, so could the army be defeated, and the first force in Vietnam, the Jimbo family?

Everyone was at a loss, but when Li Xiao heard this, he didn't care at all, in fact, he also arranged another backhand.

At the beginning of March, it was already a bright spring in Jiafei Yuezhong, but the snow was still in the snow and had not melted, and Li Xiao's journey to rescue Chengshengcheng was not smooth.

The mountain road is still covered with snow and is suitable for the passage of large armies, but this cannot stop Li Xiao's determination to rescue the city.

Li Xiao is now following the example of Shibata Katsuya when he attacked Hokuriku, shoveling snow and marching decisively, and ordered his subordinates to shovel snow all the way through the mountains.

This journey was extremely hard, and Li Xiao's army took three days to release it to the foot of Chengsheng City.

What is slightly comforting is that when Li Xiao and the others arrived, Li Xiao's moon double-patterned flag was also erected above the head of Chengsheng City, and the city did not fall.

At this moment, it has been nearly a month since Chengsheng City was besieged by the Jimbo family.

The siege of the city was quite fierce, and the Shenbao family had already captured the pill outside the city, so it can be said that if Li Xiao's reinforcements arrived a few days later, the defenders of Chengsheng City would not be able to support it.

Seeing that Li Xiao's reinforcements arrived, the head of the Shenbao family, Shenbao long-term, decided to fight Li Xiao in a decisive battle under the city in line with the principle of never spitting out the fat that was about to reach his mouth.

The reason why he made such a decision was not reckless and greedy, first, Li Xiao did not have many reinforcements.

Second, during the siege of the city, the Shenbao chief also received the support of the new force led by the lord of the ancient kingdom of the Shenbao family.

So the chief of the god sent 1,000 troops to continue the siege and monitor the defenders of the Takeda family in Joseijo.

And he mobilized 1,200 troops to meet Li Xiao's 1,100 troops.

Li Xiao saw that as the number one force in Vietnam, the Shenbao family was really powerful, and its troops were not only enough to encircle the point, but also to send reinforcements.

So Li Xiao had to turn from offensive to defensive, and immediately set up a position, and the Shenbao army fought.

Shenbao Changzhi himself is a famous general in Vietnam, experienced dozens of battles of all sizes, although he is not victorious in a hundred battles, but he is also an excellent general, and his own strength is also overwhelmed by Li Xiao, and the small island town known as the double wall of the Shenbao family, the two generals of the Terashima Job, and a gate of the gods Bao Zhang, Shenbao Zhiguang are all generals who can fight.

And Li Xiaofei's combined army of the country was not strong or weak, and the generals and commanders had their own ideas and were not in good shape, so they fought very passively under the battle with the Shenbao family.

If it weren't for the three hundred gods led by Shima Shengmeng, who were very good at fighting, coupled with Li Xiao's determination to insist, the first to take the battle, this road came from Hida, and the reinforcements from Chengsheng City would have suffered a big loss.

Li Xiao couldn't help but be shocked when he saw the combat strength of the Shenbao family, he had no choice but to support it at the moment, if he retreated, there was no doubt that the military spirit in the city would be difficult to support, even if Kinoshita Koichiro, Kohata Xiaoxian, and Youshan Tiger were all his most trusted generals, and there was only one way to surrender in Kaejo.

As soon as Chengsheng City was lost, Li Xiao's plot in Yuezhong was completely abandoned, and everything he had painstakingly managed, that is, most of the loss, was likely to collapse, and even Shengang City could not be saved.

Therefore, Li Xiao must not retreat.

In the early morning of the second day, Li Xiaojun's sister road, the two armies on the inner island, had already started their own small calculations, and they had already packed up their burdens, preparing to run away immediately as long as the war was slightly unfavorable today, and the Jiang Ma family also secretly had the intention of retreating.

After yesterday's fierce battle, no one is optimistic about this decisive battle.

But to everyone's surprise, the army of the Divine Protection Family, which had the upper hand in the battle yesterday, actually took the initiative to retreat and give up its position.

What's even more incredible is that the Shenbao family also gave up the siege of Chengsheng City, which had been besieged for nearly a month, and took the initiative to withdraw their troops.

Jiangma Huisheng, sister Xiaolu Lai Gang and other generals came to Li Xiaojun's tent to discuss, and many generals thought that the Shenbao family retreated like this, and there must be some tricks, which may be to ambush the soldiers and horses to attract Li Xiaojun's pursuit.

However, Li Xiao seemed to have expected this, and did not answer the generals' questions.

At noon, the Jimbo clan army consolidated the forces of the original siege and officially began to retreat.

And Li Xiao's Hida United Army drove directly into Chengsheng City.

Standing on the head of Chengsheng City, Li Xiao raised his eyes and looked over, only to see that although the army of the Shenbao family was retreating, it was orderly and not panicked at all, and the palace army responsible for blocking the pursuit in the direction of Chengsheng City was actually the chief of Shenbao himself who led his own banner army as the queen of the palace, and the rest of the wealthy troops belonging to the Shenbao family retreated first.

Li Xiao, Masanobu Honda, Koichiro Kinoshita, and the generals of the Combined Army ascended to the castle tower to observe the military situation of the Jimboo family, and Eima Fraser couldn't help but praise Jimbo Changshi on the spot for being a magnanimous general.

Seeing that the wealthy clans of Hida had no confidence to fight again, Li Xiao had to give up his plan to go out of the city to pursue.

Also after yesterday's battle, Li Xiao knew that with his current strength, he was far from being the opponent of the largest wealthy family in Yuezhong and the guardian of the Acting God Protector.

In the future, this divine protector will really be said to be a fierce opponent for him to dominate Yuezhong, and he will have to overcome the obstacles.

After entering the city, Kinoshita Koichiro, Kohata Xiaoxian, the generals under Li Xiao and others such as Yama Huding, as well as the defenders in the city all looked like they were desperate.

Looking at these people, Li Xiao was very pleased, after this siege, Kinoshita and Kohata did not disappoint their performance, they all showed enough ability.

This battle gave them the experience of taking on one side alone, which is a rare wealth, and in the future, Li Xiao is convinced that these people can definitely grow into their own generals.

In the afternoon, the scouts sent out of the city had already found out that the army of the Jimbo family had indeed withdrawn from the area of Chengsheng Castle, and was now marching in the direction of Masuyama Castle.

Hearing this news, many of the generals in Li Xiaojun's army who were originally worried were relieved at this moment.

However, everyone was puzzled as to why the Shenbao family would make such a move and suddenly withdraw their troops from the city.

At this moment, someone from the city suddenly came to report that there was a messenger from Shengxing Temple in Yuezhong.

All the generals were surprised, they had only re-entered Chengsheng City today, why could such a monk from Shengxing Temple get the news so quickly.

Li Xiao immediately met with the envoy of Shengxing Temple in the castle tower.

The envoys of Shengxing Temple entered under the escort of four monks with cloth wrapped on their heads, holding naginatas, and wearing high and low burdens.

The other party was a fang official, and when he saw Li Xiao, he handed over a letter from Xuanzong of Honganji, the abbot of Shengxing Temple, to Li Xiao.

According to the letter of Xuanzong of Honganji Temple, Honganji Temple has decided to mobilize believers to crusade against the gods and protect the family, destroy the evil and show the righteousness, and shine in the Dharma in Vietnam. Therefore, the followers of Echichu, Hida, and Noto Sango, with a total of 80,000 troops, entered Zengshan Castle, and decided to pull out the cancer that hindered Buddhism, and then go east, along the way, to destroy the Shiina family, and the final target was directly aimed at Echigo Uesugi Kenshin.

And Xuanzong's intention in writing to Li Xiaozhi was to hope that he could raise troops and fight in Zengshan City with the army of Honganji Temple, and attack the Shenbao family together.

After reading Xuanzong's letter, Li Xiao's group of retainers exploded, and there were many discussions, all of them were surprised by the 'far-sightedness' of a monk like Honganji, not to mention the destruction of the Shenbao family, but they were still destroyed together with the Uesugi family.

But when they heard that the other party had dispatched 80,000 troops, everyone gasped.

Li Xiao was also secretly surprised, although there may be some moisture in the numbers, and what the actual combat strength of these 80,000 people is, Li Xiao also knows it.

But these 80,000 troops are such a terrifying force for a country in Vietnam and China. At that time, with this crowd tactic, Honganji had captured the entire country of Kaga, and it was not impossible to repeat this scene in Vietaka now.

Li Xiao was a little unsettled at the moment, and the official of Honganji was not very respectful to Li Xiao, and it was true that compared with the 80,000 troops of Honganji, Li Xiao's thousands of people were far from enough.

It's no wonder that the other party is a little arrogant.

The official also said that the reason why Honganji sent troops to Echichu this time was also partly because of the fact that Takeda Shingen had written to Honganji a month earlier, asking them to mobilize the Echichu clan to relieve the Takeda family's crisis in Vietnam.

At this time, the generals understood why Li Xiao was fearless when facing the Shenbao family, and it turned out that he had already asked for help from Honganji Temple.

It's just that none of them could have imagined that Honganji would give face like this, and 80,000 rescuers would be dispatched at once.

Li Xiao, the face of Honganji, could not help but sell, so he immediately replied to the official of Honganji, saying that he would immediately send troops to Zengshan Castle to assist Honganji in attacking and destroying the Shenbao family.

(To be continued)