In the autumn of the third year of Eiroku (1560), rumors spread from Mino to Owari that Saito Yoshiryu had contracted leprosy due to the revenge of the three evil spirits of the Tao. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

In winter, Oda Nobunaga ordered Ikeda Tsuneko to attack Mino Ota Castle, but the Saito family did not have time to react due to the surprise attack of a small elite force.

But after the incident, Yilong, who has always been tough, did not organize a counterattack.

He changed his high-profile posture and began to live in seclusion.

This move did not allow the wealthy families and daimyo of Mino to raise a counter-flag, but it gave the people of Owari courage.

At the beginning of the spring of the fourth year of Eiroku (1661), Oda Nobunaga carried out a large-scale mobilization, and the Oda family crossed the Kiso River and launched an attack on Nishimino Ogaki Castle.

Yoshiryu simply sent his son who had just been Motofu, Saito Ryuko, with a dozen samurai to organize the defense of the Oda army as the formal commander of Nishimino.

However, the "three people" of Nishimino each considered their own interests and had reservations when fighting, so they were defeated and retreated under the attack of the Oda army, and there was a group of elite soldiers under the command of the lord of Nishimino Bupo Koji, and Bupo Koji himself was also very strategic, but he did not have enough say in it.

Ogaki Castle was once taken by the Oda army, and although it was taken back by the Oda army when the Oda army was paralyzed, the Nishimino clan suffered heavy losses and their morale was declining.

It was at this time that Oda Jun saw a fire burning in the direction of Owari.

It turned out that Saito Yoshiryu himself led a force from northeastern Owari and burned down the castle town of Kiyoshu Castle.

Oda Nobunaga, of course, was furious, and after hastily withdrawing his troops from Nishimeno, he began to build a new castle between Kiyoshu and Inuyama, called Komakiyama Castle.

The following year, it was reported that Yoshiryu Saito was seriously ill.

The Oda family carried out a general mobilization within the territory, gathering 20,000 troops to set out from Ozakiyama, and the direction of the attack was Mino Toki County.

Toki County was originally the territory of Sasa Seimasa, and in recent years, it has been handed over to Guidie to take care of, although Toki County is not a big place, but the prosperity is no less than that of Cheongju.

On September 16, the two armies faced each other on both sides of the Nagara River.

The Oda army used a geese march formation that was conducive to shooting, while the Saito army was a defensive square formation.

The battle was fierce from the start, with both sides winning on the first day, with Takakikawa Kazuyoshi on the Owari side and Mori Kasei on the Mino side being the most eye-catching.

The next day, Oda Ieyong's Shibata Katsuie led a detour to attack the flank of the Saito army, and captured the Toyama Keiren, the Daimyo of Higashimino.

Toyama Keiren was the lord of Iwamura Castle, and had previously married Oda Nobuhide's sister, Nobunaga's aunt. As a result, the Toyama family was not so active in the war against the Oda clan.

The accidental death of Keiren Toyama in battle deprived Nobunaga of the opportunity to transfer to Higashimino.

Keiren's wife, Lady Yan, seems to regard Nobunaga as an enemy because of this, and left Mino half a month later.

On the third day of the battle, the Saito army appeared to be weaker, and Oda Katsuie's fierce general Shibata launched another fierce attack, successfully breaking through the three lines of defense of Saito and approaching Saito Yoshiryu's main camp.

But the weakness of the Saito army in the past two days was a show for Oda to see.

- Shibata Katsuie and his reserve are encircled.

Faced with such a situation, Oda Nobunaga could not sit on the sidelines and command the whole army to launch a general attack.

The lines of both sides were intertwined, with flag fluttering and broken blades stuck diagonally in the dirt.

Blood stained the murky waters of the river a dark red.

In the stalemate front, there is a reserve team that is particularly strong.

It was a standing ashigaru from Jade Butterfly Castle in Toki County, and Yumori Ke became a general, but those who knew them well knew that this was once the elite of Sasa's training for Naimasa.

In this way, this reserve team with a bellflower pattern and a flag killed through the layers of Oda Fang's defenses, and actually killed in front of Oda Nobunaga!

It was only at this time that Oda Nobunaga realized that the actual commander of this reserve was Saito Yoshiryu!

I saw Saito Yoshiryu riding a tall Michinoku horse, leading nearly 100 horseback warriors to serve as subordinates, stabbing straight like sharp knives!

However, Saito Yoshiryu's risky blow did not kill Oda Nobunaga, leaving only Oda Nobunaga's right arm.

The battle ended in the defeat of the Oda army, and Oda Nobunaga was sent back to Komakiyama Castle overnight, where he was saved by the rescue of the Nanban missionary Floys.

The Saito army was able to triumph, but only a few days later, news came that Saito Yoshiryu had died of illness.

Due to the news that Yoshiryu was sick and seriously ill many times in Minokata, the Oda family began to become numb to the matter of "Yoshiryu died of illness".

"Maybe it's fake again."

Everyone thinks so.

Under this big news, there is also a small thing.

That is, the Saito family finally sent their retainers and troops to take over Jade Butterfly Castle in Toki County.

Saito Guidie, the actual controller of Jade Butterfly Castle, led all the retainers and more than 300 standing ashigaru to enter Hida through the prefecture.

Along with Guidie and the others, there is also Shigeharu Takenaka, the son of the Nishimino Takenaka family, who is currently living in Jade Butterfly City as a hostage, and the widow of the former Iwamura castle lord Toyama Keiren, Mrs. Yan. (To be continued.) )