In the castle, the military council of the Imagawa army was dispersed, and the volunteers left behind two retainers, Anhara Tadamasa and Yamaguchi Kyotsugi.

The Anhara clan is a genealogy retainer of the Imagawa family and is trusted by Yoshimoto, while Yamaguchi Kyotsugu is the lord of Narumi Castle who rebelled from the Oda family in Taiyuan Yukisai last year. After the defection of the Yamaguchi sect, Imagawa Yoshimoto generously expressed his trust in him, but he also sent the fierce general of the family, Okabe Motonobu, as the lord of the castle to monitor him.

Today, Yiyuan left these two retainers together, I don't know why?

While the two were puzzled, Yiyuan had already asked with a smile:

"Since Yamaguchi-sama can be reused by the Oda clan, he knows a lot more about the details of the Oda clan, and Yamaguchi-sama thinks that how should Nobunaga deal with the offensive of our army?"

Yamaguchi Kyotsugu slandered in his heart, and secretly said that what I know was not reported to you a long time ago...... But his face still showed a look of sincere fear, and he said respectfully:

"Oda Nobunaga is very domineering, and he does not accept the king, so he will probably gather all his troops to go out of the city to fight."

"Oh? Did Yamaguchi-sama think Nobunaga would lead his troops to meet him? ”

A hint of appreciation flashed in Yi Yuan's eyes, if it were him, he would not sit idly by.

"Yes, but even if he goes out of the city to face the battle, there is no possibility that our army will get Cheongju City. It's just that Nobunaga is a very fierce man, and if he is sure that he can't win, he will definitely let the people who stay behind burn the castle. ”

"I see...... Oda Nobunaga is also a ruthless person. ”

Yoshimoto frowned, and began to think about how he could preserve Cheongshu Castle, Owari Province was the famous crossroads of the Tokaido trade route, and he didn't want to cause too much damage if it could.

"Xuezhai, what do you think?"

He couldn't help asking, but before the words came out, Yiyuan remembered that Zen Master Xuezhai was now recuperating in Junfu due to illness and had not come with the army.

Since Zen Master Xuezhai is not there, Yiyuan can only rely on his own resourcefulness.

"Having said all this, Yamaguchi-sama still hasn't told me about the Oda clan's hole cards."

His voice was a little cold.

Yamaguchi Kyoji was anxious in his heart, but he couldn't answer, just because he had already told Yiyuan what he knew, and what hole cards were still hidden?

"The loyalty to His Royal Highness can be seen by the sun and the moon, and the villain knows it, and it has already been prepared and presented, I hope the lord will know it!"

"Oh...... It seems that you don't know either. ”

Yoshiwon sighed softly,

"The bottom of the Oda clan is money!"

"Money?"

Kyotsugu Yamaguchi and Tadamasa Anhara were puzzled.

"The purpose of the Imagawa Kana Catalogue and the addition of the Imagawa Kana Catalogue is to calm the people of the country, to appease the displaced people, so that the common people can live in peace and produce, and if they have enough food, they will be able to sustain a long war. But the Oda family is different, the Oda family relies on money! ”

"Owari is a small country, and it is already a great thing that it is self-sufficient in food. However, the Oda clan has two major merchant gatherings, Tsushima and Atsuta, and I don't know if there is a shortage of food, but there must be no shortage of money. If it weren't for this money, how would Nobunaga recruit standing guns, and how would he have purchased expensive iron cannons from Neraiji Temple and Sakai Port? ”

"Oh...... The Lord is wise! ”

Yamaguchi Kyotsugu and Anhara Tadamasa listened to the clouds, and although they didn't understand it very well, they also pretended to understand a little and complimented the lord.

Yi Yuan couldn't see their disguises, but his teacher Xue Zhai didn't go out together, where did he find a soulmate?

"That's it...... Having said all this, in order to cut off the Oda clan's financial route, I want the two of you to contact the merchants of Tsushima and Atsuta. ”

It was only at this time that Yiyuan slowly revealed the strategy of Chengzhu in his heart.

The two of them, Anhara Tadamasa and Yamaguchi Kyoji, also had a sense of sudden enlightenment.

"It doesn't matter if you can't get the merchants to turn against us, if you can keep them neutral, even if it's a victory for our side."

"Hay!"

Immediately after the agreement was made, Yamaguchi Kyotsugu sent his confidant merchants and monks to Tsushima and Atsuta, while Anhara Tadamasa sent his samurai to accompany him to oversee it.

And dozens of miles away in Kiyoshu Castle, Sasa Narumasa also came to Honmaru to ask for a meeting with Oda Nobunaga.

Narumasa was reluctant to help Nobunaga anymore, but if he didn't do anything, maybe the Oda clan would be destroyed and the Sasa family would cease to exist.

In order to protect the Sasa family, who treated him so kindly, and to preserve the inheritance of Sasa's lineage, he had to help Nobunaga again.

Seeing Nobunaga, Narumasa also sat down unceremoniously and said straight to the point:

"I'm here today to offer a strategy to defeat Yoshimoto Imagawa."

Oda Nobunaga was overjoyed, but his face became colder:

"There are more than 20,000 people in the Imagawa clan's army, how can it be defeated if they are defeated."

Sasa Narimasa, who knew Nobunaga's temperament well, was not in a hurry to explain his strategy, but asked rhetorically:

"So Mr. Kamisuke-sama is going to prepare for Cage City?"

"How is that possible!"

Nobunaga snorted coldly.

"So Sosuke-sama is about to prepare to surrender?"

Cheng Zheng asked with a grin.

"You...... Don't talk too much nonsense. ”

Nobunaga was a little angry, his eyes as sharp as falcons narrowed slightly.

"In this case, the only way to change is to go out of the city to fight."

This time, Nobunaga was silent. Of course, he also wants to go out of the city to fight, but how to fight to win, there is a gap of nearly 10 times in the strength of the two sides.

"First of all, tomorrow I will disguise myself as a priest in the area of Tian Lewa and take the peasants to offer local products to the volunteers, on the one hand, to paralyze the Imagawa army, and on the other hand, to delay a little.

"Secondly, I hope that Lord Kamisuke-sama will select elite soldiers, gather all the mounted samurai who can be mobilized, wait for the opportunity on the edge of the battlefield, and once there is an opportunity, you can surprise the Chinese army of Imagawa Yoshimoto, if possible, please go to the head of Yoshimoto!"

Listening to Kanmasa's statement, Oda Nobunaga said disdainfully:

"Ridiculous! How can a little local product make Imagawa Yoshimoto paralyzed? Although the Yiyuan army was scattered, the Chinese army was all elite, and there were 5,000 of them. If I select 2,000 elite sergeants, how can I kill the Chinese army that has reached Yiyuan through the encirclement? Even if I were able to get close to his Chinese army and fight 5,000 against 5,000 men, what would be the chance of victory! ”

The "Barrel Attack Surprise" seems to be an example of a surprise attack that will definitely succeed, but in reality, all surprise attacks are extremely risky and easy to fail.

Based on this surprise attack plan alone, Oda Nobunaga's rebuttal is very reasonable. Neither Sasa Narumasa nor Oda Nobunaga himself could have formulated a detailed and complete route for the surprise attack before the war.

Sasa Narumasa, who also understood the risks of this battle in his heart, was not moved by Nobunaga's reprimand, but asked calmly:

"What Mr. Kamisuke said is true, but what can you do if you reject my proposal?"

Nobunaga was stunned.

yes, even if he could avoid the risk of a surprise attack, what could he do?

Shrink into the city and wait for the Imagawa clan's army?

No!

He, Oda Nobunaga, is by no means a person who sits idly by.

"Hmm...... I know! You go and prepare now, and set out overnight, while I gather my elite forces and set out early tomorrow morning. ”

"Hay! Then I'll set off first, and I wish the general manager a prosperous martial arts! ”

Sasa Narumasa left suddenly, and Oda Nobunaga also sent an order to his henchmen, ordering them to gather troops and prepare supplies for tomorrow's battle.

Nobunaga had planned to leave early tomorrow morning, but Ichimasa, the younger brother of Ichimasa, rushed from Tsushima to Kiyoshu Castle overnight and reported an important piece of news to Nobunaga:

Imagawa Yoshimoto sent envoys to Tsushima and Atsuta at the same time, hoping to gain the support of the merchants!

This news was a thunderbolt for Oda Nobunaga, because the merchants were not only the source of wealth for the Oda family, but also an important part of the source of soldiers.

The fact that Izumasa had come to Cheongju Castle on behalf of the Tsushima merchants to report the news had already shown Tsushima's attitude that they still supported the Oda family.

But...... What about the merchants of Atsuta?

Why didn't Kato Shosuke, the head of Atsuta's merchants, send someone over?

A cold sweat suddenly broke out on Nobunaga's back, if Imagawa Yoshimoto succeeded in persuading Atsuta, then the defensive line he deployed around Narumi Castle would be completely worthless, and Kiyoshu Castle would be exposed under the iron hooves of the Imagawa clan's army!

"Get out of the battle now! Go to Atsuta! ”

Nobunaga yelled.