In the fifth year of Eiroku, Uesugi Kenshin once again went out to the Kanto region, sat in the town of Mabashi Castle, gathered the allied forces of the princes of the Kanto, and prepared to attack the Hojo family for the second time.

However, under the strategy of Takeda Shingen and Hojo Shiyasu, Uesugi Kenshin was caught in the quagmire of rebellion among the wealthy clans of the Kanto region. These wealthy Uesugi Kenshin surrendered as soon as they arrived at the castle, and rebelled again as soon as they left. In May, Uesugi Terutora was finally exhausted and exhausted, and returned to Echigo with his father, the former Kanto governor and his father, Uesugi Kenmasa.

Uesugi Kenshin had just left Echigo on his heels, and the Takeda family and the Hojo family issued a mobilization order to go out to Ueno Province at the same time.

High Castle, under the castle tower.

With the beating of the taiko drums, three long bamboo spears are erected like a forest.

An envoy on the horse road galloped past on horseback and said loudly: "The spear foot light group set off." ”

"Oh."

The gunashigaru who were waiting on the ground stood up and lined up at the command of the head of the ashigaru group to advance towards Ninomaru, while on the side of the gate, the small lotus cart was loading bags of military rations onto the back of the pack horses.

Under the stone wall of the huge stone wall of Takato Castle, the flag holder holds the Sanskrit flag of the Suwa surname, and the Kajiba flag is at the top of the list, and the flag group has just left the Otemen Gate of Takato Castle.

After the flags, the clanging armor collided, and the ashigaru soldiers wore hats on their heads, wore imperial loans, wore straw sandals, and trotted all the way with spears on their shoulders, following behind the flags, and running out of the gate.

The brightly colored Takeda flags behind them swayed in the wind, and from a distance, it looked like flames were dancing in their eyes.

Takeda Katsuyori sat high on horseback, wearing the red silk armor and five-colored bird feather weaving that symbolized his surname, and his antler head pocket was held behind him by a close hand. Right now, he was riding a horse along the horse path in the city, and Li Xiao, Sanada Masayuki, Hoshina Masatoshi, Daxiong Chaoxiu and other retainers were one or half a horse behind him, following behind.

"Changxing, how about I ask Lord Yidezhai to do?"

Hearing Takeda Katsuyori's words, Sanada Masayuki immediately jumped off the horse, followed Takeda Katsuyori's side, and said respectfully: "Lord Lord, my father has always done his best to do the affairs of the lord, and now several small wealthy families in Azuma County have agreed to take refuge in my Takeda family, but the head of the Hawei family, Yuki, is very stubborn, and he refuses to surrender for a long time, and claims to advance and retreat together with the Saito family in Iwaki Castle. ”

Takeda Katsuyori snorted, struck the air with his horsewhip, and said: "Since he is stubborn, don't give him a chance, this time out of Azuma County, I will first set foot on the Hakuo family." ”

"Oh." Sanada Masayuki agreed to step back.

"My lord," said Okuma Ashide, who rode close to Takeda Katsuyori and said, "Azuma-gun is adjacent to Echigo, so you must be careful that Uesugi Terutora is out of Harumayama Castle. ”

Takeda Katsuyori nodded, turned his head and asked Li Xiao, who was following him, "What do you think should be done?" ”

Li Xiaoyan said: "Lord Bizen, what you said is right, with the current military strength of our army is far from enough to fight against Uesugi Teruto, we must pay close attention to Echigo's movements, and once we hear the news of Uesugi Teruto's battle, we will immediately withdraw our troops without hesitation, withdraw to small prefectures and counties, and rely on the Sanada family's Matsuo Castle to protect ourselves." ”

Matsuo Castle, also known as Sanada Honjo, has been operated by Sanada Yutaka for many years. Matsuo Castle is also a group of branch castles with Senma Castle, Isesaki Castle, Tenhaku Castle, Tenjo Yama Castle, Inner Huts Castle, Yokoo Castle, and Toishi Castle as the system, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Historically, Sanada Masayuki succeeded the Sanada family governor and built Ueda Castle in the Sanada Honjo branch castle group. In the First Battle of Ueda Castle, Sanada Masayuki defeated the Tokugawa family's 8,000 army with 2,000 men under the castle like a chicken and a dog.

In the second Battle of Ueda Castle, Sanada Masayuki once again used the complex terrain to firmly nail the 38,000 troops of Tokugawa Hidetada, the second Tokugawa general, so that he could not catch up with the Battle of Sekigahara, so that he was so angry that Tokugawa Ieyasu was furious before the Battle of Sekigahara, and then Tokugawa Hidetada was almost ordered to commit suicide by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Therefore, it is foreseeable that if Uesugi Kenshin goes out to Ueno again, Takeda Katsuyori can lead the army to retreat to Matsuo Castle in advance, unite with Sanada Old Fox, and use the terrain here to give Uesugi Kenshin a wonderful memory that will last a lifetime.

Hearing Li Xiao say this, Takeda Katsuyori nodded and said: "That's the only way, it's not every time there is Shirane Mountain, so good luck, to be honest, if I can, I really don't want to meet an opponent like Uesugi Teruho." ”

Li Xiao was very surprised when he heard Takeda Katsuyori's words, and he always felt that Li Xiao was a young man who tried hard to prove his strength in front of his father and all the retainers, and was a little bit of a child's stubborn temper.

In the past, when Takeda Katsuyori had no achievements, he could speak wildly, hoping to do something amazing and gain the affirmation of others, so Takeda Katsuyori could lead 800 people to block nearly 10,000 troops behind the temple of Shirane Mountain.

Now that Katsuyori Takeda has crossed this threshold and has truly built up his self-confidence, he already knows the limits of his abilities and can evaluate himself more correctly, and this is his progress.

This step in history, Takeda Katsuyori did not cross, so that Nagashino was defeated by the Oda Tokugawa coalition army, the elite of the Takeda family was lost, and the retainers lost confidence in him, and finally Takeda Katsuyori also became a laughing stock, otherwise if there is another ending, he has a great chance to become a man of the world, and this history has been rewritten.

It seems that Li Xiao has a hunch that the current Takeda Katsuyori is also the same as Oda Nobunaga's experience, and the life trajectories of the two have begun to be somewhat similar.

Li Xiao also smiled and said, "Your Highness, to be honest, if I can, I don't want to meet Uesugi Huihu." ”

After listening to the conversation between Takeda Katsuyori and Li Xiao, the retainers behind him burst into laughter, and Takeda Katsuyori also sat on the horse, raising his head and laughing unscrupulously.

In May of the fifth year of Eiroku, Hojo Shiyasu once again led more than 10,000 troops to surround Musashi Matsuyama Castle, and the location of Matsuyama Castle was like a fishbone in the throat of the Hojo family, blocking the way for the Hojo family to enter and exit Ueno, so the Hojo family had the momentum of not taking Matsuyama Castle and vowing not to give up.

On the side of the Takeda family, Takeda Shingen controlled the overall situation in the Kusaki Pavilion, and the Takeda army fought again in Nishi-Ueno in two ways.

The South Route Army was rich in Huchang, and Takeda Yoshinobu had a total of 5,000 troops and invaded Ganle County, and the local wealthy families surrendered. After taking Ganle County without much effort, Iitomi Huchang and Takeda Yoshinobu turned their troops to Dohu County and Midorino County.

The Takeda family's army was headed, and the Nishi-Kamino clan surrendered either defeated, while the Nagano family in Minowa Castle did not dare to send troops, so they could only sit back and watch the Takeda family attack the nearby territories. After a few days, the three local nobles of Ueno Province, Wada, Takayama, and Urai, delivered hostages and sent an oath to express their submission to the Takeda family.

Among them, the head of the Wada family, Wada Yeshiro, is also one of the twelve sons-in-law of Nagano Yesasa, and this blow is very huge for the Nagano family.

Seeing that the battle was going so well, Takeda Yoshinobu couldn't help but be ecstatic, on the one hand, he ordered the Chuan Cavalry General to send the good news to the Kuragakikan one by one, and on the other hand, he surrounded Kurakano Castle, an important branch of Minowa Castle, again.

Kuragano Castle Kuragano is still in good shape, and under the siege of the Takeda army of Iitomi Huchang, he can only lead the army to defend hard, and he can no longer support it. On the side of Nishi-Ueno South Road, the battle situation sided with the Takeda family.

At this time, on the side of the Takeda Family's North Route Army, Takeda Katsuyori led 1,200 troops had just arrived, under the castle of Hawei Castle in Azuma County.