The 3,000 Shiina Army, the 4,000 New Army of the Hao Clan in Vietnam, and the 5,000 Kira New Army totaled 12,000 people, fighting against an army of more than 75,000 people, and the disparity in strength was so great that no samurai had the courage to say that he would win, and the samurai who dared to speak big could not live long in this troubled era, and Yamamoto Tokiyuki happened to be a samurai who hated to talk big.

Yamamoto Toshiyuki most often said that there have always been many problems in the army, and the sharp internal contradictions are their chances to win, but he knows very well in his heart that his own defenders are not easy to serve, 5,000 recruits have not seen blood, 4,000 new troops who have just learned to be obedient cannot be taken seriously, and the 3,000 Shiina troops only nominally support each other without command, let alone have no command, this war is destined to be difficult to fight

What's worse is still to come, the ability of the army to pull the strong men is fully opened, and the monks of the sect from all walks of life have used their top skills of incitement ability to forcibly fool the strong men they have brought in into basic believers, and in the past two months, they have not only fooled countless new believers, but also successfully incited the ordinary believers of the sect.

It is said that in the past month, the number of soldiers has been rising upwards by increasing by 300 to 500 per day, which is a bit frightening.

Unarmed and untrained peasants are not terrible, but as soon as the number of people increases, it will lead to a process of quantitative change to qualitative change, as the saying goes, a good man is hard to defeat the four-armed evil tiger and is afraid of wolves, a generation of martial saint Guan Emperor has also been defeated and taken away from Maicheng, not to mention their 12,000 defenders in this remote place.

What's even more unexpected is that the army has always made new changes, and some time ago, it completely ignored the garrison of Matsukura Castle, and destroyed the city everywhere according to its own temperament. Now they have 30,000 main forces and an army stationed in Xiguang Temple. The defenders of Matsukura Castle across the Morning Moon River were nailed across the river. The defenders in the city were completely unable to move.

Matsukura Castle is located on the top of the mountains northeast of the Sagetsu River, with a peak of 430 meters, and there are only three paths to climb the mountain, mainly around Matsukura Castle, which is mainly surrounded by three passages up the mountain: Shogata Yamajo Castle in the northwest, Mizuoyama Castle in the southwest, and Akasaka Castle in the south.

There are also more than a dozen branch cities around these cities, each of which is built on the top of the hill and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are secret passages connecting with each other, and there is another hidden path behind the mountain that leads directly to Pingfeng, but that road has always been a pinch, and it is impossible to bypass and climb the cliff.

This was originally a set of perfect castle defense network created by the ancestors of the Shiina family using several generations, and this is also the only way to resist the Shiina clan to resist the Jimbo clan.

Soon the sweep of the Yiyi army entered the final stage, and more and more troops gathered towards Xiguang Temple, and the number of Yiyi army increased to more than 80,000 in late June, and soon exceeded 90,000 in early July. It's like a giant snowball, getting bigger and bigger as it rolls. It easily broke through the 100,000 people mark, and an army full of wilderness rushed in the direction of Xiguang Temple.

By the end of July, the believers from all walks of life had basically gathered together, and all the troops had gathered to more than 108,300 people, and the momentum was so great that you could even glimpse one or two from Matsukura Castle, a few kilometers away.

It is conceivable that the defenders in the city have any taste, if it were not for the fact that the 5,000 troops trained by Yamamoto Toshiyuki himself were professional enough, and the morale and fighting spirit were maintained well, and they could barely act as gendarmes to calm the panicked Yuezhong wealthy clans, otherwise the morale of the defenders in the city would have fallen all the way to the bottom.

Within a few days, a large group of monks lived in Xiguang Temple, the old abbot and the little novice of the original Xiguang Temple were driven to live in the firewood room, and the monastery was full of monks and soldiers wearing clothes and belly rolls, and their feet were on wooden sandals, they wore a head wrap and robe, and only a pair of eyes that sometimes showed a vicious look were exposed, carrying a long sharp naginata, more like bandits than monks.

This cadre monk soldier is always the main force, the monks of the sect do not believe much in the local people from the fang officials, just like the people do not regard them as their own family, the monks do not think that the fang officials are hardcore henchmen, by their own monks and soldiers to surround the Xiguang Temple is the safest, good Buddhism quiet place is the black smoke miasma stirred by this group of flower monks, the so-called dove occupies the magpie's nest is nothing more than that.

Entering the long rainy season in early autumn has also gone through most of the time, this day Vietnam and Central China ushered in continuous rainy days, more than 100,000 troops coarsely set up a camp with a face of several miles, and the heads of the major armies in the army gathered in Xiguang Temple, and held a grand banquet in this brightly lit temple.

"This has always been unpredictable, and there is no good feast!" The face of the chief of the god is very bad with the wine cup, his rest has been very poor recently, and he can't eat, and he doesn't even have a little appetite when he sees a full plate of chicken and fish dinner, and since the army has always responded to it, this day has not been smooth again.

Shengxing Temple Rong Rong held a chicken leg and feasted, and inadvertently caught a glimpse of the expression of the Shenbao Changzhi Tea and Rice, and mocked in a strange manner: "What's wrong with the Shenbao Palace?" Is it disgusted that our temple dishes are poor, and the coarse tea and light rice can't get into your mouth? I heard that your samurai eat better than us, do you have chicken thighs to eat at every meal? ”

When the chief of the divine protection saw the little monk's father looking at him, he stabbed back with a smile: "I'm sorry, I'm going to disappoint the Venerable Master Rong, I still don't like meat food very much, and I can't eat so much meat food at this age, and I am still too old to have a good appetite for the Venerable Master Rong." ”

A trace of embarrassment and embarrassment flashed on Shengxing Temple's face, it was still embarrassing to be faintly pointed out to offend Meat, where would he have thought that the Shenbao chief would be so bold and dare to imply that he had violated the precepts, and when he saw his father's angry eyes and warning, he hurriedly shrank his head and said perfunctorily: "Eh! That's a shame! ”

Ruiquan Temple raised the wine glass and said with a smile: "Today is an auspicious day for my hundreds of thousands of brothers to gather, come to you to hold the wine glass, and drink this cup together on this auspicious day!" "No matter how dissatisfied he is, he has to cheer up and accompany a group of flower monks who have broken the vows to pour yellow soup.

A big feast was drunk until midnight, and a light rain outside mixed with a cold breeze blew into the Buddhist hall. A pile of scraps was coldly thrown in place. The drunken monk didn't know which gentle country to get into. There is a retreat behind the Buddhist hall, which is the room of the abbot's meditation residence, just like the solemn and sacred Buddhist hall has become a banquet place for the flower monks, and it has also become a place for them to hold meetings, and there are more than 20 drunken monks and officials sitting loosely in the ashram.

Guangdeokji Chengxian stopped and slowly picked up the teacup and drank the bitter matcha, carefully admiring the expressions of the thoughtful people in the house, and after a while, Ruiquanji Rongxiu seemed to come back to his senses. His face looked quite displeased: "Does the great monk of Guangde Temple mean that he will attack the city with all his strength if the wind and rain are less?" But I've always been bad at attacking the city, but how can it be good, compared to this, the poor monk thinks it's better to attack Yujin City first. ”

"Don't be afraid of this, we have a secret weapon, and we will definitely teach them a lesson." The appearance of Kotokuji Shingen was full of confidence, which made the monks of Echichu Ichika even more dissatisfied, but the other party was the main force appointed by Kaga Ichika, and his troops were heavily armed, and they were from the front-line army against the Noto Hatakeyama family, which was completely different from the rabble of Echichu Ichi.

"Oh? The monks are still in the secret weapon? Let's hear it. ”

"Iron cannon! An iron cannon from Kishu Nelaizhong! You must know that the Tsuda family of Kii is good at making iron cannons, and I have always retreated to Kii for a few years because of the unjustified disasters of the previous years, and because of the blessing of misfortune, I have developed a sect in Kii called the Saga people. And establish contact with this root to the people, and in the future, this Kishu iron cannon will give priority to our sect. Last year, when the Venerable Master learned that the progress of the North Continent had always been very important, he specially allocated 1,000 iron cannons, and the senior monks sent me this time, so he brought 500 of them. ”

"So we have five hundred iron cannon monks, don't we? Sure enough, that's good news! ”

All the officials were rejoicing, the power of the iron cannon had long been spread to the world with the war in Kinai, as a sharp weapon for killing people at close range, it was easy to squeeze out the bow and arrow and became the first choice of the samurai daimyo, but because of its high cost and inconvenient transportation, the effect of popularization was greatly reduced, such as the wealthy customer of Yixiangzong would allocate a thousand iron cannons in one go, and I am afraid that I would not be able to buy a hundred for other samurai daimyo.

"Shouldn't we attack Uozu Castle in this way? It is located in a safe place on the plains, and it can be relied on, and the capture of Uozu Castle is equivalent to opening up the passage to Echigo. Benjue Temple Dingyun pointed out a point, which means that it is reminding you not to forget the purpose of abandoning the roots, fighting Vietnam is the slogan of their troops, and it will be a joke if you don't fight in Vietnam.

"Uozu Castle can't be fought, the ships coming and going on the Morning Moon River are all under the banner of the Kira family, and we may not be able to return to the Fish Castle across the Early Moon River to besiege the Fish Tsu River." Born in Kaga Province, Hebei County, Ishiguro Kakuzaemon, he didn't feel anything about the so-called Echichu clan, whether it was the Ishiguro family or the powerful Ishiguro Zuo near the Kokan Tsunamu, or the powerful Ishiguro Left near the Tsunade of the angry eyes of the people, everyone is a samurai, each for their own master, there is nothing to say.

Ishiguro left near the Kura snorted angrily: "According to the theory of Kakuzaemon, we can't attack Matsukura Castle, if you want to attack Matsukura Castle, you have to force the Hayakatsuki River, if you want to cross the Hayakatsuki River, you have to defeat the Kira Naval Army, and if you spare a circle of gentlemen, you don't have to do anything if you can't defeat the Kira Naval Army, right?" ”

Ishiguro Satoru's face changed, and he defended: "This is all the words of the left near Kurashi, and I haven't said that before......"

Seeing that the situation was not good, the chief of the divine protection half persuaded and half sarcastically said: "Okay! Don't make any noise, no matter which city you attack, you have to cross the river and attack, if I am afraid of the Kira water army, how can I continue to fight? Don't forget that there is not only one Sagetsu River in Echichu, but there are the Shiraiwa River, Toganji Boat, and Jintsu River in the south, and the Fushi River, Katabe River, and Kurobe River in the north, so don't think of each river as your enemy, and don't forget that the main forces of Echigo fell into Shinano Province and Ueno Province. ”

The poor monk also agrees with the judgment of the shrine, although the Kira naval army is difficult but not invincible, the main force of the Kira naval army does not dare to move lightly in the territory of Echigo, and there is my 100,000 army in front of this special force does not dare to approach, but the poor monk still does not agree with the attack on Uozu Castle, for three reasons.

First, Uozu Castle is the throat of the Echigo streets, located between the coast and rivers easy to attack and difficult to defend the position is extremely important, if I move Uozu Castle is equivalent to telling Echigo that it is about to fight, you don't forget that there is a danger of blocking the road without knowing the son, and it is too late for the enraged Echigo to transfer the army, just send a thousand elites to guard the pass that the relatives do not know the son does not know, let me wait for the dilemma. Even if we have an army of 100,000, can we still fly from the sky to Echigo? ”

A cadre of the workshop was amused by the humorous words of the Guangdeok Temple Chengxian and laughed out loud. On the contrary, the heads of the Yue Zhong were grim. From time to time, they exchanged heads and didn't know what they were exchanging ideas.

"Second, the geographical advantage of Uozu Castle is not inferior to Matsukura Castle or even exceeded, west of the sea and south leaning on the Hayaetsuki River, this special team of the Kira Naval Army is stationed in the port next to the lower town of Uozu Castle, as long as we attack Uozu Castle, we will have to face the head-on conflict of the Kira Naval Army, the time and place are favorable and the people are on the side of Uozu Castle, but the strategy of Matsukura Castle is different, it is true that the Hayakatsuki River is on the verge of Matsukura Castle, but the city is on the mountain and not by the river. What else can Kira Suijun do besides harassment behind his back? Landing operations? No way! ”

Saying this, most people nodded subconsciously, Guangde Temple Chengxian smiled slightly, and squinted at Shengxing Temple Yuncheng and Ruiquan Temple Rongxiu's faces were even more heavy, and the two of them looked at each other to understand that the guy sent by Chaosheng Temple was not simple at all, just these few words

It's not something that a literary monk can say, it seems that they are still too underestimated.

"Third, there are more than 10,000 defenders in Matsukura City, tens of thousands of inhabitants, and in order to fight against my army, they have hoarded a large amount of enough food and grass to eat for several years and countless armaments...... In the view of the poor monks, this year's strategy should be based on the capture of Yuezhong, once the rebels in Yuezhong are eliminated, the next step into Yuezhong will have room to play, what is the point of going to great lengths to capture Yujin City?

The next step is to rush directly to Echigo or turn around and besiege Matsukura Castle? If you choose to go straight to Echigo. More than 10,000 defenders in Matsukura City rushed out to intercept our retreat, what should we do? Wouldn't it be redundant if we chose to turn back and fight Matsukura Castle again, but it would be different if we took Matsukura Castle first.

The Shiina family in Uozu Castle became a pool of scattered sand, and the defense naturally collapsed. The Kira naval army, which has lost the meaning of support, will definitely be evacuated, and Echichu will be in our hands, so if you let you choose, will you attack Matsukura Castle or Uozu Castle first? ”

Half after the end of the speech of the Kwangtokuji Temple, several officials jumped up and shouted, "Of course it's Matsukura Castle!" What are you working so hard for? Of course, for the sake of the territory, it is a pity not to eat the fat of Songcang City in front of us! No matter what you think, we're going to fight Matsukura Castle! ”

Seeing that the situation was not good, Dingyun of Benjue Temple hurriedly said: "Stay together, in fact, Yujin City is also a piece of fat!" Facing the sea and backed by the Sagetsu River, the transportation is convenient, and there are well-developed castle towns and harbors, so we actually eat meat and drink soup when we hit Yuzu Castle! ”

Yuncheng of Shengxing Temple waited for the two bull's eyes to stare at the official of Yuezhong, half threatening and half co-opting: "Yes, yes! There is a port and a castle town in Yujin City, and everything will come when the port is laid, I think it is better to fight Yujin City, everyone is a townsfolk who must know that Yujin City is richer, and the Venerable Master said yes, right? ”

"The old monk thinks that what the great monk said is very good, and it is better to Yujin City!" Ruiquan Temple smiled and agreed.

Ruiquan Temple is thin like an old monkey, laughs like an old fox, Shengxing Temple Yun Cheng is like a big bear, acts like a bull with crazy hair, Guangdeokji Chengxian is not a reckless man in the countryside like them, and he has been resident in Ishiyama Honganji Temple for more than ten years and is very uncomfortable with this rough way.

In his early years, he was an elegant man when he walked around Kyoto and Sakai Town, and as a scholarly monk, he learned to be clever and eloquent, and won the trust of the Dharma.

The Yuezhong Fang official suddenly hesitated, Shengxing Temple Yuncheng and Ruiquan Temple Huanxiu are equivalent to the two generals of the Yuezhong Yixiangzong, the two smell of each other and are in causf, and they have been powerful in Yuezhong for more than 20 years, so that the Yuezhong Fang officials have changed their color, and now they are using the usual intimidation methods How can they not worry.

Seeing that the two old monks in Yuezhong did not cooperate, Xiaozhu Saburo of the wealthy clan in Hebei County was not satisfied, compared to the arrogance of his Yuezhong is a bird's egg, except for the Echizen Asakura family is a threat, no one in this world can bully them Kaga Ichi, so he stood up and pointed at the two old monks who were scaring people and scolded: "You two do not respect the orders of the general general, and have repeatedly embarrassed the general of our army, do you think that I Kaga is a crowd less than you and easy to bully!" Tell you two old things, we have the general Sugiura Xuanren, as long as the general gives an order, the 200,000 army will rise up in an instant and wipe out the two of you, just like we destroyed the little one back then, believe it or not! ”

"Wow! The poor monk hates being threatened in his life, and the second hates being raised in person, and you have committed two precepts in a row, and the poor monk is going to tear you apart today! Shengxing Temple jumped up with a whoosh. With a big stride, he rushed towards Saburo Kotake. The latter's face was blue with fright, his legs were weak, and he almost knelt down.

Suddenly, two big men rushed out from outside the fine house and blocked in front of Xiaozhu Saburo. The two of them were as strong as two bisons, with big waists and huge round heads, and two pairs of bull's eyes like copper bells stiffly held the punch that Shengxing Temple Yun Cheng was bound to get, and both hands simultaneously held his arm, and at the same time kicked him in the crook of the leg to press him to kneel and subdue him.

Shengxing Temple Yuncheng was still struggling like crazy, but the two warrior monks were really powerful, let Shengxing Temple Yuncheng struggle with brute strength, his face was almost distorted and deformed, and he still held it down and didn't let him move, Ruiquan Temple Rongxiu didn't care about the safety of his old friend, and asked urgently: "...... the two of them Isn't it the head of the personal warrior monk next to the general general? How could it be here. ”

"Yes. It is indeed the head of the warrior monk of the general general, these two are the victory wisdom of the Chaosheng Temple, the victory of the Chaosheng Temple, and the two adopted sons adopted by the Master of the Chaosheng Temple in his later years. ”

There was a gasp in the house, but the Chaosheng Temple was a general who crisscrossed the Hokuriku decades ago, and with his own strength, he forcibly cut off the arrogant Kaga Sanji, and under his onslaught, the small army was defeated and could not be defeated, and it was Kaga's famous general Kawai Nobuhisa who took it with his own hands. The three leaders of the three temples of Koichi Kaga committed suicide one after another, Matsuoka-ji Lotsuna, Kokyoji Lotus Oath, and Honsenji Ringo.

This achievement made Chaosheng Temple Miyo become a well-deserved general of the Hokuriku First Army, and he was a strong man in terms of military merit, ability and skill. If you want to say that the defeat was only forty years ago, he was defeated at the hands of Asakura Soto, who was at the height of the Spring and Autumn Period at that time, and then came to Kaga to wash away the shame of defeat with a series of victories.

Chaosheng Temple Mi Yu has only passed away for less than ten years, as the saying goes, the tiger dies and the aftermath is in, the successor of Chao Katsuji Mi is still a ruthless character, Kaga Ichi's army under his command and the head of the main mountain Ishiyama Honganji Temple has close contacts, and no one dares to touch his tiger whiskers in the entire Hokuriku.

"Let go of the two masters! I believe that the monk Yun Chengqiao must have figured it out. Guangde Temple Chengxian smiled and signaled, the twin brothers hesitated or let go, they knew that the young scholar monk who followed closely on the main bus generation was not an ordinary person, and the premise of completing this task still needed the cooperation of this person, so he still had to sell a few points of face.

Shengxing Temple Yuncheng really didn't make trouble, rubbed his two shoulders and glared at Xiaozhu Saburo fiercely, sat back in his seat angrily, and didn't look at the two brothers from beginning to end, he didn't know whether to cast a hateful gaze or other expressions, the dignified monks, the generals who have been in Vietnam for more than 20 years, it is a shame to be held down by two young warrior monks and unable to move, but he didn't dare to offend these two people, so he could only knock out his teeth or swallow blood.

Ruiquan Temple Rongxiu quietly swept over the crowd in the field, and knew from their envious eyes that most of the plans this time were going bankrupt, so he coughed and said with a smile: "I am equivalent to a case, why make such an unpleasant trouble, and the little contradiction will be revealed!" Hehehe...... But then again, we still have a lot of choice, so why don't you divide the army into two halves and attack Yuzu and Matsukura Castle respectively? ”

"Sounds like a good idea, so let's do it!" Shen Bao Chang was busy expressing his support, and the officials of Yuezhong Fang saw that he was the first to jump out to support and also agreed, and Guangdeji Chengxian thought for a while and agreed to this strategy, and finally this plan with the mud was accepted by both sides, and the army has always been divided into two strategies.

After the meeting, the monks from all walks of life went back to rest, and the chief of the shrine sat in his own house in a daze, and now his situation is very embarrassing, the dignified Yuezhong guardian generation is unwilling to huddle together with these local tyrants to be a fang official in Yuezhong, and the Jinbao family is also serving the Ashikaga Yoshinori who has been in trouble, and it is not appropriate to put the dignified and upright samurai, and it is the head to be a lackey of a group of monks.

But he is a guardian of Yuezhong and is not an official of Yuezhong, how awkward it is to be sandwiched among the monks of the Yizong sect, just like a little green in the thousands of flowers is always the most eye-catching character in the crowd, especially in the face of the infighting between Kaga and Yuezhong, the awkwardness and the fear from the heart are even stronger.

He was really afraid that Kaga and Echichu would really stand up, because he, the guardian of Echichu, was likely to be forcibly coerced into the Ichijo army by Katsukoji Yuncheng and Ruiquan Temple to fight against Kaga Ichijo, so that the cooperative relationship would change from a cooperative relationship to a master-slave relationship, and the relationship that originally used each other became a unilateral envoy, which he did not want to see.

Jimbo began to regret that he believed in Takeda Harunobu's words in the first place, and deepened the relationship between Jimbo and Echichu to the extent of an alliance, and now it is very difficult to break away, he is not Shiina Keiyin, and his home city is Masuyama Castle in Tonami County, and the distance from Tonami's old nest is very close.

The chief of the god clenched his fists and said viciously, "No matter what, we must move the city to Toyama Castle as soon as possible!" Be sure to get rid of this bunch of maniacs! (To be continued......)

PS: Yesterday's change of word count was a bit unkind.,This chapter deliberately made up some free word count.。