Sakurato Castle.

The army of the Takeda family, the sister road, and the Uchijima family have been facing off against the city for several days.

The Takeda Army's main formation was surrounded by layers of anti-horse fences, which were heavily defended.

Before evening, Li Xiao, who had driven from Shengang City, and five hundred reinforcements from Jiangma Huisheng, had already arrived.

In terms of troops, the Takeda family has 4,000 troops, and the sister Koji and Uchijima families have 2,500 troops, occupying an advantage.

As soon as Li Xiao and Jiangma Huisheng arrived, Changjing, Shanxian County, held a military meeting in the military tent to discuss the decisive battle with the sister Xiaolu army.

In front of a long wooden table, Changjing of Shan County, as the general general, was dressed in armor, holding a military ration in his right hand, with a solemn expression.

Takeda Shingen has always had the habit of letting the heavy ministers of the spectrum who he picked up single-handedly serve as the general general.

For example, the four ministers of Takeda were all pulled out of his side by Takeda Shingen, and then entrusted with important tasks, of course, these people's generals and military strategies are quite outstanding.

However, Yamaguchi Masakei, who was the first general in general, was quite elbowed in this battle to command the Hida expedition.

The reason is not because of the embarrassment of the superintendent Sone Masayo, Sone Masayo and Yama County Masakai were both drawn from the left and right of Takeda Shingen, Yama County Masakai was once Takeda Shingen's small surname, and Sone Masayo was born close to the public, and Tsuchiya Masaji and Mieda Mamoru were also among the six people of Okujin Xi.

So the two have a good relationship.

However, the real trouble for Yama County Changjing was from the two reserve generals in the army, Kiso Yoshimasa and a Nobunyu.

A Shinlong is Takeda Shingen's younger brother, and he usually acts quite his own way, so he doesn't buy the account of Yama County Changjing, and Kiso Yoshimasa is even more famous after holding a famous family, and he is the son-in-law of Takeda Shingen, a public identity, so his attitude is even more arrogant.

After Li Xiao entered the military tent, he immediately felt the discordant atmosphere in it, and the last time he was in the military meeting in Shengang Castle, he felt that there seemed to be a unstable atmosphere within the Hida Expeditionary Army.

The current Iitomi Gengoro is not the Changjing of Yama Prefecture in the future, and his qualifications, military exploits and family are not enough to suppress these two people.

In the army, there are many contradictions between the general and the subordinates, and it is impossible to make the upper and lower levels unanimous, which is likely to cause confusion in the morale of the army, so that before the decisive battle begins, the momentum of the own side has been weakened by three points.

Li Xiao, after Jiangma Huisheng entered the military tent.

Changjing of Shan County expressed his gratitude to Li Xiao and Jiangma Huisheng for coming to help. Because Takeda Shingen had previously let Li Xiao and Jiangma Huisheng serve as a reading force, and in addition to Li Xiao's position as the military commissariat, his military strength could not be transferred by Changjing in Shanxian County.

Therefore, Li Xiao has the right to refuse the dispatch of Changjing in Shan County, and not to come to Sakura Cave City to participate in the decisive battle.

However, outside of Changjing in Shanxian County, other people in the military tent were not enthusiastic about Li Xiao and Jiangma Huisheng's attitude towards coming to help.

Li Xiao knows this very well, this is because he is on the side of Takeda Shenglai.

In the military tent, a Shinryu is a family, and he doesn't care much about the battle for the succession between Takeda Yoshinobu and Takeda Katsuyori, and Aoyagi Kiyocho is only the uncle of the former head of the Nishina family.

And Masayo Sone and Yoshimasa Kiso can both have a label on their faces as 'tide file'.

Sone Shubo, the son of Sone Shoyo Shoyo, and Nagasaka Masakuni, are both close attendants of Takeda Yoshinobu, and Kiso Yoshimasa has long been recruited by Takeda Yoshinobu.

And when it comes to the Kiso family, Li Xiao is angry, the last time he went to Kiso Fukushima Castle to find the Kiso family to borrow troops, but it was the castle town that ate all night and closed the door, the same encounter and the Jiangma Huisheng around him.

At the moment, Li Xiao has almost relied on his own efforts to lay down such a good situation in the Hida country, but Kiso Yoshimasa is swaggering into the country with the Takeda family army at this time.

Thinking of this, Li Xiao looked at Kiso Yoshimasa, and under the eyes of the two, Li Xiao also felt that the other party's gaze contained unkindness.

The military conference begins.

Sone Masayo, as the overseer, was the first to speak: "Today, my sister Koji Yoshiyori has sent someone to ask us for peace, saying that he can subdue my Takeda family, and agrees to write an oath to cede three territories and hand over hostages. Do you think you can agree to such a condition? ”

As soon as Sone Masayo said this, the generals were in an uproar, but they didn't expect that the sister Koji family, the first name of Hida Country, would be willing to subdue my Takeda family before the decisive battle.

However, this decision was not unexpected, the Takeda army was strong and strong, and had the advantage of troops, and it was wise for the sister Xiaolu family to sue for peace at this time.

If a decisive battle is held, both sides will inevitably be damaged, and although everyone here is a battle-hardened general, they are not willing to let their subordinates die in vain.

Therefore, it is naturally best to be able to subdue the sister Xiaolu family without spending a single soldier.

"It's absolutely not going to work!"

As soon as Masayo Sone finished speaking, one person spoke out against it on the spot, but everyone looked at it as Kiso Yoshimasa of the Kiso family.

At this moment, Changjing of Shanxian County, as the commander-in-chief, frowned, and before everyone in the military council made a clear statement, the other party hurriedly stood up to express his attitude, obviously to replace other people's judgments with his own decisions.

Shan Shan Changjing asked, "Your Highness Kiso, why are you against it?" ”

Kiso Yoshimasa is twenty-five years old this year, although he is young, but he has already shown extraordinary talents, not ordinary incompetent, and entrusted himself with the mediocrity of his family, otherwise his father would not be at ease to hand over this thousand Kiso people to him to lead the expedition alone.

During the last military meeting, Kiso Yoshimasa often used the word I as an opening in his tone, supplemented by exaggerated gestures, which left a deep impression on Li Xiao, according to modern psychology, such people are generally extremely confident and self-righteous.

Kiso Yoshimasa stared at Shan Shan Changjing, and then said in an unquestionable tone: "Lord Shan County, can't you really see it? This was a ploy by Sister Xiaolu to shake the hearts of our troops before the war. ”

Yama Shan Changjing was slightly stunned after hearing this, Kiso Yoshimasa's statement means that although he is a general, he does not have the ability to judge alone.

After Kiso Yoshimasa questioned Shan Shan Changjing, he immediately looked at everyone, waved his hand horizontally and said: "No one knows the surname of Sister Xiaolu Lianglai better than me, he is an ambitious hero, and he will never be willing to be subservient to anyone. ”

"So his subjugation is a conspiracy, if I guess correctly, he will not surrender sooner or later, but on the eve of this decisive battle, he will put forward this news to shake the military heart of our army in a decisive battle."

"But His Highness Kiso," Masayo Sone said, "the conditions offered by the other party are acceptable to us, and the previous lord's decision to let us go to Hida Province to conquer the army, we only need to meet the conditions of the sister Koji family, the Uchijima family to subdue, cede the territory, and hand over the hostages, not to completely pacify these two families, you must know that our army's military rations are not enough, and if we want to truly capture these two territories, our army will not have enough time." ”

"And if our army's methods are too hard, in case it arouses the dissatisfaction of the people of Hida and rises up to riot, our army is likely to gain more than it loses."

Kiso Yoshimasa shook his head and said unceremoniously: "Sone-sama is wrong, Sister Koji Yoshiyori is a repeated hero, even if he temporarily subdues on this condition, he will definitely rebel when the situation changes in the future, and then my Takeda family will spend more strength to quell the rebellion."

"This is what my Kiso Yoshimasa dares to guarantee with his surname, relying on my Kiso family's understanding of my sister Xiaolu's family for nearly a hundred years. Therefore, it is the best decision to raze the sister Xiaolu family in one fell swoop. ”

Listening to Kiso Yoshimasa say this, the righteousness is awe-inspiring on the surface, but everyone here knows it in private.

Why did Kiso Yoshimasa want to eradicate the sister Xiaoji family in such a hurry.

One reason for this is that in the first year of Eisho, Kiso Yoshimoto, the sixteenth head of the Kiso family, was killed in battle with Miki Shigeyori (the father of his sister Koji Yoshiyori).

But this is one of them, and the real reason is that Takeda Shingen promised the Kiso family that if he attacked the Hida family, half of it would be owned by the Kiso family.

If the sister Koji family was subdued, then the little land they ceded would not be able to satisfy Kiso Yoshimasa's appetite at all, so his purpose was to raze the sister Koji family in one fell swoop, gain more territory, and let the Kiso family's power infiltrate from Shinano into Hida Province.

This is Kiso Yoshimasa's true wishful thinking.

Most of the people here know this little bit of Kiso Yoshimasa's thoughts, and Li Xiao also understands it.

But in Li Xiao's view, Kiso Yoshimasa's decision is likely to be also in the calculation of Sister Xiaolu Liangyori, because once this condition is rejected by the Takeda family, in this attitude of no turnaround, the Sister Xiaolu family learned that their request to surrender was rejected, and for their own survival, they had to do their best to fight to the death with the Takeda family.

The fighting will of the soldiers on both sides is completely different between the strategy battle and the desperate battle for survival.

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sima Yi scolded Gongsun Yuan's classic saying: There will be five virtues, if you can fight, you will fight, if you can't fight, you will defend, if you can't go, if you can't go, you will surrender, and if you can't surrender, you will die.

Just as if you can't surrender, you will die, Kiso Yoshimasa will definitely surrender, forcing his sister Xiaolu family up and down, in order to survive, he has to do his best, and on the other hand, on the Takeda family's side, Kiso Yoshimasa is still jumping up and down for his own small profit, which makes other generals feel cold in vain.

And Li Xiao knew that Takeda Shingen's original intention was not to decide on Hida in a fight.

Whether it is the sister Xiaoji family, the Jiangma family, or the Uchijima family, they are not the most important positions in the strategic goals of the entire overall situation of the Takeda family.

The purpose of this Hida country strategy is to open up the way to advance to Echichu and finally threaten the flank of Echigo. Therefore, this goal is as long as the Hida forces can subdue the Takeda family and do not send troops to attack and disturb, and the Takeda army can march to the rear of Etsuchu.

In Takeda Shingen's eyes, as long as Takeda Ling's banner appeared in the Echichu Plain, there was no need to conquer the city, and the symbolic meaning was far greater than the substantive meaning.

Because this means that the Takeda family has achieved the strategic goal of sending troops to Echichu and detouring to the rear of Echigo, Uesugi Kenshin has to shift his goal to Echichu, distract his efforts, and strengthen the defense on this side with more troops.

This not only greatly benefited the Takeda family's Ueno country strategy, and realized the advantage over Echigo in the overall situation, but also strategically dealt a blow to Uesugi Kenshin's psychology.

As for the domination of Hida Country, it will definitely be implemented, but it will not be achieved overnight, and the Takeda family can slowly encroach on the territory of Hida Country in the next few years.

Defeat and occupation are completely two definitions, just as the US military can quickly defeat Saddam's regime and occupy the entire territory of Iraq, but it has been unable to stabilize the situation on the ground, so that the army has been mired in it for several years.

If the occupation policy is pursued now, such a move will undoubtedly be too fast, but it will backfire, and it will provoke the resistance and hostility of the local wealthy clans, and if the army is caught in a bitter battle in the Hida country, but cannot advance or retreat, and is deeply trapped in it, it will miss the opportunity to make a detour to Vietnam.

Therefore, the previous way of Changjing in Shan County to coerce and coerce with a large army, and to transfer Li Xiao's reinforcements to participate in the war was a tactic of coercion and peace, and a tactical decisive battle was only the last choice.

On the same sister path, the Uchijima family cobbled together troops on one side and put on a decisive battle posture, and on the other side sent people to sue for peace, which was not just a trick, they also used this way to increase their bargaining chips on the negotiation table.

However, on top of the military discussion, the opinion of Kiso Yoshimasa for a decisive battle was echoed by a general such as Ichichi Shinryu.

It's not that Noshiryu didn't understand what Takeda Shingen meant, but with his conceited point of view, he felt that with the elite soldiers of the Takeda family, he could casually fight an indigenous like Hida, and what strategic and tactical significance he played, which was completely superfluous.

According to the Takeda family's usual practice of military deliberations, the commander-in-chief generally does not participate in the deliberations of the military councils, but the generals of each reserve unit report the results of the deliberations in a unified manner and make the final decision.

Even when Takeda Shingen himself was the commander-in-chief, he generally did not interfere with the results of the collegial deliberations of the retainers, and his duty was only to make decisions and judgments on the results of the military deliberations.

At the insistence of Kiso Yoshimasa, and with the support of a Shinryu, Li Xiao, Eima Frasei, and Aoyagi Kiyocho did not express their positions, which was equivalent to abstaining from voting, and Sone Masayo, the only one who held an opposing opinion, was powerless to hinder this decision.

Therefore, Changjing of Shan County finally decided to fight a decisive battle between the whole army and the sister road and the inner island family.

The next day, under the sound of the drums, the 4,000 troops of the Takeda Army went into battle.

As for the sister road, the 2,500 troops of the Uchijima family's coalition army are arrayed along the mountain, setting up a formation to meet the Takeda family's army.

The 1,000 Kiso troops led by Kiso Yoshimasa, who was determined to fight in a war that day, were deployed in front of the front army as the assault knife of the front army, and he would face the main formation of the sister Koji family.

Since Kiso Yoshimasa was clamoring for a battle at the military meeting yesterday, Yama County Changjing naturally would not be polite and handed over to him the most arduous task of attacking the enemy's main formation.

In addition to Kiso Yoshimasa, the 800 troops of the Takekawa clan led by Ichichi Shinryu were to attack as the left flank, and in front of him was the position of the army of the Koji family.

This wealthy clan attached to the sister Xiaolu family, with the lord of Xiaodao City, Xiaodao Shishi, as the main general, the strength of this wealthy clan is quite weak, and it is obvious that the proposition of Changjing in Shanxian is ready to use the left wing of the other party as a breakthrough.

The 700 troops of the Nishina family led by Aoyagi Kiyocho faced the Uchijima family's army, and the Uchijima family's army, which was on the side of the coalition army, was 800 people.

And Shan County Changjing, Sone Masashi sat in the rear of the main formation, and Li Xiao, Jiangma Huisheng's 500 army was only used as a rear cross-examination, in the rear sweeping formation.

In the morning, under the sound of the earth-shattering drums, Kiso Yoshimasa, as the general of the front formation, first issued an order to the main camp of the sister Koji army on the opposite side.

(To be continued)