Because the turmoil in dragged down the Kira family's attack plan, and coincided with the Owari Oda clan's request for an alliance marriage, Kira Yoshitoki simply slowed down the pace of preparation and patiently waited for Oda Nobunaga's reply, taking this opportunity to establish the family's government affairs, compared to a few years ago only Echigo one country's territory, now the Kira family's five countries have to deal with the government affairs are simply unimaginable.

The problems that Kira Yoshitoki had to face were very thorny, first of all, the floods and snowstorms caused by excessive rain and snow for three consecutive years, and the various negative factors brought about by the droughts that appeared from time to time brought various negative factors to agriculture, and the direct and indirect losses caused by the snowstorms were as high as 100,000 yuan.

Lords from all over the country sent piles of requests for disaster relief, asking for money and food, and exempting some taxes and benefits, and sent them like snowflakes, and the followers of the Kira family took on the responsibility of determining the losses and identifying which ones could be rescued and which could be given tax exemption and preferential treatment, and none of the lords who wanted to steal and take advantage of the Kira family escaped.

Even if it is strictly determined, it is still impossible to organize the losses caused by the disaster, and when the spring flowers bloom and it is another year of spring sowing, the affected people in various places will sow the only grain stock into the land in the hope of a good harvest this year, which will inevitably face the season of green and yellow, and more and more hungry people in various places will die on a large scale if they do not provide disaster relief.

Land and population are the two most important indicators of the lord, no matter how much land is developed, there are not enough people to cultivate, it can only be wasted, among the five countries under the Kira family, except for Echigo, which has developed smoothly and has the largest population, the other five countries are facing the embarrassing situation of population decline under the influence of war and famine, in order to preserve the vitality of the other four countries. Kira Yoshitoki decided to implement a large-scale aid program.

It is expected to start in early March. Millions of stone of grain were delivered to the rest of the countries in five batches. With a large amount of reserves, it attracted non-Kira farmers from nearby countries to move into several countries to live, and requisitioned and issued general labor on the spot to solve the survival dilemma of the green and yellow season, and this million stone grain only accounted for one-third of Echigo's existing grain reserves, which was not enough to cause Echigo's food crisis.

If it weren't for Echigo's strong foundation, there was really no way to deal with this disaster for three consecutive years, and in comparison, the Kanto, Hokuriku and even some of the Tokaido lords were extremely difficult, and the disaster of last year halved the grain income of their territories, and even if the lords were exempted from tax service, they could not change the predicament of food shortage after the disaster.

Besides, the lords were unwilling to give up the pitiful annual tribute that was half reduced, and if they were to pity the peasants, they would have to starve themselves to death. The peasants had no food to eat and could flee to seek the protection of the rich lords, and the samurai had no food to eat and were unwilling to give up the land, so there was only a way to make a fuss, and the lords weighed the pros and cons and chose to let the peasants fend for themselves, and the samurai class must be fed first.

The natural disasters that have been sweeping through the Kanto region for nearly a decade have made them feel the hardships of life, and the natural disasters and constant military fire have forced the peasants to pack their bags and leave for help in early February, when a large number of refugees from all over the Kanto and Tokai regions poured into the Kira domain from different directions, putting tremendous pressure on the lords in various places, further forcing them to ask for help from Kasuga Mountain Castle.

And precisely because of this unsolvable dilemma. The lords are more eager to expand, and if the land is not enough to eat, then they can only choose to grab other people's territory and eat other people's food. While the Kira family was busy dealing with requests for disaster assistance from various places, a wave of war surged again in Kanto.

The Hojo clan led 20,000 troops to fight again, this time with the Hojo clan as the vanguard general all the way to the Kamiki country, along the way by the people who had just been successfully rebelled by Satomi Yoshihiro fell into the arms of the Hojo family again, Masaki Tokitada and Toki had already fled to the lower country in the last defeat for a while, this time following the Hojo army back to the Fangsu Peninsula, and immediately acted as a loyal leader along the way to give great support.

Satomi Yoshihiro gritted his teeth with hatred for these two dogs, but he couldn't move lightly in Sakan Castle, because he knew that the Sagami Naval Army was like a group of wild wolves on the grassland, cruising near the Fangwei Peninsula and waiting for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Sakan Castle, as long as he dared to leave Sakan Castle with a large army, he would welcome the Hojo Army carried by the Sagami Naval Army to land from Isogenesaki at any time, and raid Sakan Castle through the familiar Mifune Mountain.

Obviously win a war but still don't dare to move, this unspeakable grievance makes Satomi Yoshihiro very uncomfortable, annoyed he decided to teach the Hojo family another lesson, but found that the unlucky ghost Hojo clan coup suddenly became very smart, he did not choose to besiege Sakan Castle, which suffered a big loss last time, but chose to surround Satomi Yoshiyao Kururi Castle, where he lived in seclusion.

Kurusato Castle is the traditional residence of the Satomi clan, but after Satomi Yoshiyao gave up the governor to his son-in-law Satomi Yoshihiro and lived in seclusion again, Satomi Yoshihiro set the new castle close to Edo Bay Sakan Castle, and now the soldiers and horses in Sakan Castle are strong, and Satomi Yoshihiro has proved through his own strength that he is not a wasted person, so he forced the Hojo family to be cautious about the attack of the Satomi family.

The Hojo clan chose Kururi Castle, which was relatively weak in the defense network built by the Satomi family, as a breakthrough, and the cunning Hojo clan led 5,000 troops to sit in Masato Valley Castle, handed over 15,000 troops to Hojo Kanan as the commander of the army, and set up the main camp on Mount Atago not far northwest of Kururi Castle, and Kururi Castle, which had only 3,000 defenders, could not stop the attack of 20,000 troops.

Coinciding with the impact of this terrible natural disaster that affected three years, the agricultural harvest of the Fangsu Peninsula was also hit hard, and the food stored in Kururi Castle was completely unable to support the consumption of long-term defense of the city, and the siege of the city was only a month before facing the embarrassing dilemma of not enough food to eat, which forced Satomi Yoshihiro in Sakan Castle to take the lead, otherwise the sunset of Kururi Castle would not be too far away.

Satomi Yoshihiro and Masaki Toshigeru discussed and decided to launch an attack, making the illusion that the Satomi family was pouring out to help Kururi Castle, but in fact, Masaki Toshigeru attracted the attention of the Hojo family with 8,000 troops, and waited for an opportunity to drag the main force of the Hojo Army to buy time, and Satomi Yoshihiro himself led 5,000 troops to raid the Hojo camp on Atago Mountain, and staged a good show of the night attack on Mifune Mountain.

Early in the morning of 16 March, Masaki Shigeru led 8,000 troops from Daki Castle and moved to Dafuku Mountain in the evening of the same day to set up a position of long-term resistance. Daifukuyama is less than 10 kilometers from Kururi Castle. If the Satomi army chooses to raid, it can be done at noon. Hojo Mirage was very cautious about this, and he ordered the Hojo Army to shrink and return to the Atago Mountain Camp without leaving.

The Hojo army shrank for half a month without being moved, no matter how provocative the Satomi army in Kururi Castle was, he was unmoved, and Masaki Shigeru sold a few flaws and failed to deceive the main force of the Hojo Army out of the Atago Mountain camp, and the 5,000 troops of the Hojo clan also turned into a shrunken turtle, hiding in Masato Valley Castle all day long, dancing in the wind and the moon and singing tea ceremony, and constantly being unhappy all day long, seeing that his posture was not to fight at all, but to bring 5,000 elites to the Fangsu Peninsula for vacation.

Masaki Shigeru's anxious heart was on fire, but there was nothing he could do, and Satomi Yoshihiro, who was huddled in Sakan City waiting for a surprise attack, was also anxious to curse. The Hojo family's great business can not care about this food loss, but the Satomi family now only has half of the Kamiku country and the small Anfang country left, but they are supporting nearly 20,000 troops, and the small horse-drawn cart is no problem for a short time, but it is definitely impossible to delay it for a long time.

Seeing that the grain and grass of Kururi Castle were about to run out, Satomi Yoshihiro couldn't sleep all night, and at this time, another unfavorable news came from the Bosu Peninsula that was unfavorable to the Satomi family, and Manki Castle Toki and Katsuura Castle Masaki won the support of the local lords, and launched attacks on Ono Castle and Jotani Castle on the flanks of Daki Castle respectively.

The two branch cities were small and lacked soldiers and food, so they could not stop the rebel army with soldiers and food and the support of the Hojo family. The two castles were successfully breached after three days of hard work, and the eastern front of the country was completely exposed to the Hojo Army. Most of the cities that lack a large army could be attacked by arms at any time.

Masaki Shigeru who received the bad news was shocked, and he no longer had the calm mood of sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai, most of the Kijo Castle is the nest of the Masaki Shigeru, and it is also the basis for the Masaki clan to be able to gain a foothold on the Fangsu Peninsula and be reused by the Satomi clan, and the eight thousand sons he is equipped with are all the lords of the people near the Akari Castle, and when they learned that their territory was about to face the crisis of loss, where was they still in the mood to resist the attack of the Hojo Army, and they all ran to ask for the hope that Masaki Shigeru would immediately withdraw and return to help.

The morale of the army is shaken and the morale is irreversible, and Masaki Shigeru agreed to the request of the people without much thought, without the support of the people, there would be no prestige for him Masaki Shigeru in the Kanto region of the "gun meal", before leaving, he can still think of sending a message to Satomi Yoshiyao, who is holding on to Kururi Castle, and Satomi Yoshihiro of Sakan Castle as an explanation.

With the silent retreat of Masaki Shigeru, Kururi Castle also lost its last barrier, when Satomi Yoshiyao learned that most of the castle was in crisis and forced Masaki Shigeru to withdraw his troops and return to the city, he knew that Kururi Castle was really unable to defend this time, and he held on for seven days to eat up the last grain and grass in the city, and on a dark and windy night, Satomi Yoshiyao withdrew to Owadayama Castle with 3,000 troops, announcing the complete loss of Kururi Castle.

Hojo Hanan only sent 3,000 troops to garrison Kururi Castle early the next morning, and at the same time sent 5,000 troops to the Daifukuyama Hara-Masaki Army Camp to camp as an offensive posture to continue to oppress Oki Castle, and at the same time personally led 7,000 troops to slowly move to Onodai and attack Koito Castle, which served as a barrier to Owadayama Castle.

This series of offensives was not in a hurry or impatient, and it seemed to be a good arrangement without smoke and fire, and it was surprising to achieve an absolute dominant position in suppressing the Satomi clan, especially the Kururi Castle that had caused the Hojo clan to be politically distressed without a single soldier, which was a great inspiration to many young samurai of the Hojo family.

Although the Hojo family never lacked the support of elite generals, they were still under heavy pressure compared to the Kwantung samurai, who were still under heavy pressure every time they fought a war with absolute superiority.

This is why the Hojo clan followed the Hojo clan to fight Uesugi back then, and the five-color preparation that fought Takeda was always unable to achieve a frontal battlefield advantage, the roots of the Hojo family are still the Kyoto samurai retainers who followed Hojo Hakumo to Izu back then, such as the Ise clan of the same clan, and the genealogy is mainly concentrated in the Ogasawara clan of the twenty-one Izu and the fourteen Sagami clans, the Yamakaku clan, the Toyama clan, the Matsuda clan, the Tominaga clan, the Daido temple clan, the Ishimaki clan, the Shimizu clan, the Ando clan, the Tame clan, Most of the retainers such as the Kasawara clan were born with the Kyoto samurai.

The retainers relied heavily on the support of the original Kyoto cast, but it was impossible for each generation of these families to produce many outstanding retainers, and with the change of the three generations of Hojo Sakumo, Hojo Clan Tsuna, and Hojo Clan Yasu. The originally powerful lineage inevitably fell into a state of decline that could not support the power when the descendants were replaced.

And the Hojo family is in need of more powerful retainers to support the expansion. Beginning in the Hojo clan period, the campaign to win over the people of Musashi Province lasted for 30 years. In the end, in exchange for the ruthless betrayal from North Musashi to South Musashi, he was ruthlessly betrayed again and again, forcing the Hojo clan Yasu to replace himself with a large number of family genealogies to serve as the lord of the castle to stabilize Musashi's territory.

In recent years, with the end of the Kanto Astronomical Rebellion, the Hojo family has entered a new round of rapid expansion, if there is no interference and influence of the Echigo Kira family, the Hojo clan Yasu would have eaten the entire Ueno country and took advantage of the situation to launch an attack on the Shimono country and the Kamiki country, although there were many detours in vain because of the Kira family, but it still played a good role in the personal experience of the Hojo clan.

Just like the battle of Kururi Castle led by Hojo Phantom this time, it looks like a simple garrison as if it was a mess. Neither sending troops nor ignoring the provocations of the Satomi army, the general only needs to do a good job of morale encouragement to win half of the victory, through the oppression of his main force, the nearly 20,000 troops of the Satomi army do not dare to act rashly, and with the attack of Masaki Tokitaka and Toki on the side, the surprise attack plan of the Satomi army can be easily broken.

Hojo clan Masato watched the trend of the whole war in Mazato Valley Castle, as an insider, he saw the changes in the battlefield clearly, although he made a gesture of an incompetent family governor to spend his vacation, but in private he was not willing to waste any time, and the assistant service next to him was such a wise and resourceful person as the Hojo Three Army Division, how could he teach a stupid apprentice.

Under their earnest teaching, the Hojo clan soon touched the threshold of the true meaning of military strategy. He sighed, "Is this the so-called crushing war? Even if you don't have to fight a joint battle, you can easily force the enemy to submit, and similar tactics include the tactics used by the Shinano general of the Kira family, Sanada Danshoden......

It's just that his tactics are a little more complicated. The heavy cost of the Battle of Okayazaka was caused by the heavy cost of the Battle of Okayayazaka caused by the fact that the Takeda Warden who was defending the Suwa Basin had to divide the troops of Ina County in the case of gaining a defensive advantage, although it was only a result of no victory or defeat, but it still forced the Takeda family to finally make the decision to cede Ina County in exchange for peace, this is the strategy! ”

Yamato Qingtong said with a smile: "This is the crushing of national strength, I heard that the town government once said a word, but there are joint wars fighting for land and resource rationing, those with strong national strength can fight again after repeated defeats, and those with weak national strength have repeatedly won but are becoming more and more embarrassed, there was once a Western Chu overlord in the history of Tang State, whose courage was ten times that of General Asahi, and he was also an invincible general, and he was more powerful than General Asahi in dozens of battles in the southern and northern wars, but he was weaker and weaker because of the lack of wisdom and lack of national strength, and finally ended up in defeat and self-harm in Wujiang. ”

The Hojo clan realized the mysteries of the marching method, and muttered to himself, "I see, these are all examples that have happened in history!" It is no wonder that His Majesty Emperor Taizong of the Tang Kingdom once said that taking copper as a mirror can be a good dress, taking people as a mirror can know the gains and losses, and taking history as a mirror can know the rise and fall...... In the past, I never thought about the wise words of the sages, but now I understand that the wisdom of the predecessors is deeper than ours! ”

Seeing that the Hojo clan was a little too deep, Ise Sadaun was worried that he would fall into a demonic obstacle and not be able to get out of it, so he explained: "The lord doesn't have to be arrogant, these sages are the elites of the Tang Kingdom, and it takes a hundred years to meet the last one. ”

"Not necessarily! Isn't there a hero in Kasuga Mountain City? Ogasawara Yasuhiro said very casually: "From ancient times to the present, there have been a few people who can become famous generals at the age of ten, and the Kuro Judge Yoshitsune-den has not yet entered Kuramaji Temple at that age...... Speaking of the changes in Kasuga Mountain City, did you ever expect it? Sanada Danzheng and Murakami Yubayashi led 5,000 elites back to Echigo, I don't know what to do! ”

Ise Sadaun thought for a while, still shook his head and said: "I don't know, Echigo's defense of the Kanto region is very strong, and the wind demons have not obtained effective information from many parties, but they have found out that there have been a lot of military changes in the past six months, and it seems that they are reorganizing the army on a large scale. ”

"Shinano only has one county left in Suwa, and the Takeda family will definitely not be able to support it for long! Maybe there will be no problem in the short term, but if it is extended to three or five years, it will endanger the status of Takeda Daizen, but I don't know how Takeda Daizen will deal with it. Ogasawara Yasuhiro said coolly.

The Hojo clan frowned and thought for a long time, and always felt that something was not right, and hesitated: "Where are the Kira families going to use their troops when they gather troops?" Looking at the entire Eastern Kingdom, it seems that there is no place to use troops, has the town government already realized that the Miyoshi family has launched a strategic action against the Eastern Warrior Family? ”

"Huh!" Yamato Qingtong was suddenly stunned: "It's still very possible to say it!" Leaving aside the people of Mutsu Dewa, the predicament of the Kai Takeda clan is very much in need of the Kira family's forgiveness, and perhaps they will take advantage of the opportunity to reach harmony to reveal this news! (To be continued......)