On the fifth day of the fifth month of May, on the afternoon of the seventh day of the battle, Odate Haritada looked at the dark clouds in the sky and said softly: "The finishing work of the evacuation of the money house and the pipa house is completed, and the remaining few commercial houses only need to be burned down, but it is not yet known whether this heavy rain will bring more variables!" ”

The entourage was speechless, and Masayuki Matsui said worriedly: "The Oda family has been waiting for the opportunity to come!" When you wait for the day of rain, as long as it rains, the gunpowder will return to moisture, and the power of the iron cannon will plummet if you use it reluctantly, and even the rain iron with the powder pot lid cannot be avoided, and the iron cannon cannot be used in heavy rains......"

"It's the same, this is the way Miyoshi Changqing dealt with the high-rise hall in the battle of Kyoko Temple...... "Ninagawa said indignantly: "It must be the plan of the Miyoshi family, the Miyoshi family relied on this despicable means to survive until the rainy season came, and a storm destroyed everything!" ”

"Yes! So there should be a storm this evening! Nakajo Tokihide sighed: "There is not much time left for us, I have already asked someone to invite the Emperor of Masaki Town to take refuge in Enryakuji Temple on Mt. Hiei, hoping that the shogunate army can see the face of the ancient temple of the holy mountain, so that the emperor can avoid this disaster, and Sakamoto Castle is ......finished."

Ninagawa asked, "Is Mt. Hiei Enryakuji safe?" Didn't Hosokawa Masamoto and Ichizo all set fire to the mountain? ”

"Prince Jue Shufa is the emperor's concubine." Yanagisawa Motomasa hesitated: "There should be no problem!" ”

Matsui Masayuki frowned and said: "The madness of killing his brother and mother with Ashikaga Yoshiaki and deposing the emperor, as well as his villain Oda Nobunaga and other minions. Do you think the army will let go of Mt. Hiei Enryakuji Temple? What if you really set fire to the mountain? ”

"Then it's just a fight to the death!"

Nakajo Shixiu shook his head and denied: "You can't fight to the death." We must protect the safety of the Emperor. Try to give the Lord the opportunity to go to Luo, and retreat! Pushed to Tango Maizuru Port, Isshiki Yoshimi took so many benefits from us, but when the matter came, he turned against the water and took refuge in the shogunate, so I don't have to leave him much affection! ”

"Tango to Sakamoto is separated by mountains, so how do you get there?"

"Only a breakout! And there is only one chance tonight, taking advantage of tonight's rainy night to go north! We're going to have a big break! Nakajo Tokihide drew a semi-circular arc on the map of, and a confident smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Let's let the miracle of the year repeat again!" ”

……

In the evening, dark clouds drifted and heavy rain poured down. Unsurprisingly, the heavy rain made the shogunate army particularly excited, and Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who was sitting in Kyoto, hurriedly sent an envoy to send an order to the legions to attack at dawn, implying that he was still imitating Miyoshi Chokei's strategy, but the time was relaxed from midnight to dawn, and the intention was to avoid the influence of the weather in order to let them attack in the rain.

The generals of the various armies who received the news gathered in the big tent to discuss the detailed strategy for the next day's march, the atmosphere in the camp was not very friendly, it was still an old problem of unity, and if we could not trust each other, we could not talk about helping each other. In addition, the daimyo of all walks of life are very resistant to fighting in the rain, and it is not uncommon to complain and complain. In the final analysis, he was still not happy to be called by the puppet of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, even the deputy general Oda Nobunaga.

"His Royal Highness is getting smarter and wiser? No! That's just a little trick! Oda Nobunaga stood in the tent and stared at the silent Sakamoto Castle and muttered, "What a great city!" A magical city, three years to create a miracle, twenty years to keep a legend, how do you do it? ”

Miyoshi Masayasu said excitedly: "Soon this miracle will be over, how about burning Sakamoto?" ”

Yoshikawa Motoharu pretended to be surprised and said, "Fire? It wasn't raining outside! ”

Miyoshi Masakasu said angrily: "What do you mean by this? ”

"The meaning of the big truth." Yoshikawa Motoharu hugged his arms and sneered and said: "A fire burned Sakamoto, how to raise the salaries of the coalition army, and what does the army eat and drink outside?" Of course...... If the Miyoshi family is willing to bear the military salary, I, Yuanchun, will not object to burning Sakamoto. ”

"You...... Swear black is white.! I've never said anything like that! ”

Yoshikawa Motoharu smiled contemptuously: "You didn't say that everyone knows, don't you?" Ladies and gentlemen! ”

The daimyo from all over the country laughed unscrupulously, they didn't care about the dignity of the Miyoshi family, but they were just the existence of the defeated dog who lost power yesterday, at least the Maori family didn't care about the dignity of the Miyoshi family, Miyoshi Yoshitsugu glared at Miyoshi Masaysu angrily, and explained with a smile: "It is indeed a bit inappropriate to burn Sakamoto, and it is ...... to divide Sakamoto's property."

"We'll talk about that later! It's not too early, and tomorrow at dawn we will march to Sakamoto, so you will go back and prepare for an early rest! Oda Nobunaga ignored Miyoshi Yoshitsugu's statement and issued an eviction order to the samurai present, and the samurai got up and left with great interest, and the Miyoshi family only followed along.

Just after the first shift, the sky is as dark as ink, the pouring rain is getting more and more urgent, the thick rain curtain will cover the hazy night, and the dense raindrops fall to the ground like the roar of a waterfall, so that the loud shouts of the opposite side can not be heard from a few feet apart, all this forms a perfect natural barrier, a perfect environment conducive to night raids and escapes.

At this moment, Nakajo Tokihide took three thousand elites to quietly touch into the woods near the coalition camp of Asakura, Asai, Isshiki, and Wakasa Takeda, quietly monitoring the movements of the coalition army, he had to deal with it carefully, behind him was the fugitive army quietly marching in the rain, it was an army of 15,000 people and thousands of skilled craftsmen,

Thousands of carriages and countless gold and silver artifacts and the most valuable technical resources, that is one of the essence of Sakamoto's countless efforts accumulated in the past twenty years, these things cannot fall into the hands of Oda Nobunaga, originally they planned to use a fire to burn these efforts and the city, but unfortunately this rainstorm interrupted all illusions, and at the same time created a chance for them to survive, maybe it was the will of heaven to make people worse!

Just like the words that the Nanban missionaries often said when they were preaching in Kinai: "When God closes this door, he will surely open another door for you." ”

The retreat of the money house and the biwa house was very hasty, and as soon as the battle of Lake Biwa was over, the Sakamoto priests had already foreseen that Oda Nobunaga would not give up. Dressed up as an ordinary business traveler, he hollowed out Sakamoto's wealth day and night. This process is very complicated and dangerous. Fortunately, Oda Nobunaga's attention was quickly diverted by the rebellion in Kinai, and he didn't notice the quiet transfer under his nose, of course, the ninjas' careful cover and intelligence support also played a crucial role.

Most of the supplies were transferred to other safer areas within a few months, but there were always many materials that were not suitable for carrying too late to be transported, and these materials became an important part of Nakajo Tokihide's escape operation. It looks like it's done perfectly, and it is.

Under the heavy rain curtain, the patrol soldiers of the Asakura army obviously did not notice, and on the street dozens of steps away from the main camp, a long procession passed by them, and several samurai who took the lead complained in a low voice: "Who came up with this trick, put on the carcass coat, he must not know how uncomfortable it is to wear armor and put on the coat in such a hot and humid weather!" I'd rather get caught in the rain than put this thing on! ”

"This is the twentieth time you've repeated, so let me say it's better to do it in moderation! No matter how hot it is, aren't you still wearing it? The samurai walking beside him was dripping with muddy water. Smacking his lips and saying, "It's a pity that I have these little calfskin boots!" Usually reluctant to wear it once, I finally took it out to show off and encountered this ghost weather. It must be the gods and Buddhas who are making me laugh! ”

"You just burn a bun, how can you wear cowhide boots in the summer, and even if it doesn't rain, you can't see what you're wearing in this black light! It's better to wear cool straw sandals like me and pull it down! ”

"Clogs are fine, anyway, as long as it's not a leather foot belt!" The warrior suddenly stopped, took a few steps towards the rain curtain and looked around for a moment, and said with a puzzled expression, "Did you hear any strange sounds just now?" ”

"What sound?" Several samurai shook their heads and said, "There is no sound!" ”

The warrior hesitated for a moment, frowned, and said, "Could it be my hallucination?" That's not right! I heard the sound of the wheel hub falling into a puddle, and the same sound of my carriage falling into a puddle......"

"Huh! You must have heard the difference! There will definitely be no business travelers passing by in this ghost weather, except for us unlucky patrol warriors, who else will come out of this ghost weather and walk blindly, they will definitely hide in the bed and sleep! ”

"That's right......" The samurai couldn't help but smile, shook his head and said, "It must be me who is too careful, let's continue patrolling!" ”

"I can still squint for a while after this trip, I'm almost tired of playing around these days!"

Nakajo Shixiu wiped the rain off his face, and secretly said that it was dangerous, and the reason where he was was was not far from those patrolling samurai, and the samurai might be able to see him if he walked a few more steps, but fortunately, they didn't have more eyes to come and investigate carefully, otherwise this matter would definitely be exposed, and the patrol soldiers were all counted, and suddenly there was a team of patrolling samurai, and it would not take an hour to be discovered.

"Hurry up! Let them be faster, and waste more moments to be more dangerous! Nakajo Tokihide took a deep breath and instructed the envoy behind him: "Immediately give the order to let the brigade move with all its strength, and be sure to leave Takashima County within an hour." ”

This escape operation was a temporary operation, and before the evening, he suddenly ordered to leave Sakamoto and retreat northward, and for the sake of secrecy, he also specially restricted the black sheep in the legion from transmitting news, and the subsequent torrential rain further created a good opportunity for them, and after a hurried dinner, all the 15,000 troops who could be taken away were withdrawn, and the newly recruited military service was disbanded on the spot and returned to the town as townspeople.

Just when Nakajo Tokihide gave the order, the chariot and horse team happened to leave the vicinity of the camp of the northern coalition army, which was thanks to the negligence of the general of the coalition army, full of thought that the next day to launch a general attack, and even the routine secret sentry was too lazy to set up, which set up a relaxed environment for Nakajo Toshihide's big escape strategy, and learned that all the horses and horses had left, Nakajo Tokihide did not hesitate to retreat, leaving the 35,000 troops of the four-nation alliance far away.

This road is very dangerous, you have to pass by the large camp of the coalition army overnight, and then you have to go all the way north into the enemy-controlled area of Asai and Ika, fortunately all the samurai of Omi do not need to ask for guides, at the second watch the striker has already left the boundary of Omi, stepping on the Hokuriku street to the port of Tsuruga, where they will draw an arc to the west, rubbing the southwest corner of Tsuruga to Wakasa Province.

I have to say that the timing of this night is really ingenious. The allied forces of Echizen Asakura, Omi Asai, Wakasa Takeda, and Tango Isshiki were all concentrated in Takashima-gun. In the stormy night, he received the next day's general attack order from Oda Nobunaga. Without much thought, I went to bed early, recuperating and preparing for the war the next morning.

No one expected that Nakajo Tokihide would secretly cross Chenkura, and at such a clever time, he chose a bold way to escape in front of the defenders, and the troops of Omi, Echizen, Wakasa, and Tango were all on the front line, so that the defenders in the rear were empty, and the defenders in various places did not expect someone to escape under their noses, so they successfully escaped.

When Oda Nobunaga led an army of 150,000 troops into Sakamoto early the next morning without resistance, he thought that Sakamoto's defenders had broken down in confidence and had completely given up resistance. Laughing and breaking into Sakamoto Castle to climb the famous castle tower, he suddenly couldn't laugh when he found that there was still no one in the castle.

"What's going on! What about people? What about Tokihide Nakajo? What about Masayuki Matsui? Where are Haritada Odate, Ninagawa kinaga, and Yanagisawa Motomasa? Where is the surrender that is good? Yes! Answer me! Oda Nobunaga turned into an enraged dinosaur, roaring angrily to destroy everything he could see, and even Oda Nobunaga's new favorite, the chief of the small family, Hidemasa Horikutaro, did not dare to come close to persuade him.

Ikeda Hengxing hurried over, and when he saw Oda Nobunaga, he shouted, "The treasury is empty!" The grain depot is empty! There's nothing in it but rats! We were scammed! ”

"There are no defenders, not even a small surname and a maid, this is an empty city." Akechi Mitsuhide turned his head and suddenly found that the case that had been kicked over was pressing a letter several times, and he bent down to pick it up and handed it to Oda Nobunaga. said: "This may be a letter from Nakajo Dewa Mamoru ......"

As soon as Oda Nobunaga read the letter, his face immediately turned black as the bottom of a pot, and he tore the letter to shreds. Throw it on the tatami mat and stomp on it a few times, scolding: "Nakajo Tokihide, this bastard should be killed!" He actually mocked my Oda family, and my family must catch him and finish him off with his own hands! Immediately ordered to search up and down Sakamoto and capture the remnants of the hidden party! ”

The retainers bowed and retreated, and Akechi Mitsuhide followed them down, but his expression became very strange, and Ikeda Hengxing happened to walk up to him, and asked curiously, "What's wrong with the Hyuga Shouden?" Is it unwell? ”

"Oh! It's nothing...... I was thinking about arresting the remnants of the party just now. ”

Ikeda seemed to understand his feelings, and sighed: "Speaking of which, I still don't understand how Tokihide Nakajo escaped, but it was still there yesterday afternoon, so why was there no one left overnight?" ”

"I don't know! Probably some special way! Akechi Mitsuhide smiled, of course he didn't say that he glimpsed a single word on the fragment, and probably understood how Oda Nobunaga was mocked, nothing more than scolding him, an Owari fool, for not being able to measure himself, and for not having enough people's hearts to swallow the idea of beating Sakamoto, and relying on the banner of the shogunate to bring in a group of thugs to rob the city.

He could probably guess Nakajo Tokihide's way of escaping, in the dark rain of the dark night, he fled north at the moment of the paralysis of the coalition army, and did not go south because the road to the south was blocked by the coalition army, and a large number of naval troops were stationed and it was very difficult to detour, compared to the four-nation coalition army in the north, it was much more lax, and it was obviously less risky to go north.

It turned out that he was right, and when Oda Nobunaga came out of his anger, he immediately realized the possible escape route of Nakajo Tokihide, and in the name of the general general, he ordered Asakura, Asai, Wakasa Takeda, and Isshiki to immediately turn around and search for the remnants of the fleeing Sakamoto.

For Oda Nobunaga's command, these four families are very dissatisfied, Asakura Yoshikage is a self-proclaimed existence of Echizen famous families, and is very familiar with Oda Nobunaga, a samurai from the Echizen priest family, when the Oda family fled back to Owari as the remnants of Spo Yoshitoshi, expecting him to see Oda Nobunaga is a very difficult thing, and his displeasure is written on his face.

Asai Nagamasa was also very unhappy, as a brother-in-law, he treated the Imperial Servants like this and was a little unkind, but fortunately, he still knew that he couldn't tear down the stage in person, his unhappiness was hidden in his heart, and Isshiki Yoshido was sick in bed because of a sudden cold, and he didn't show up from beginning to end, and the Oda envoy didn't know what his attitude was.

Wakasa guards Takeda Yoshitomi is different, he is the brother-in-law of Ashikaga Yoshiteru and Ashikaga Yoshiaki, that is a powerful member of the pro-shogunate, his displeasure falls on his lips, and he is very unhappy and says: "It's raining heavily outside, and I'll wade through mountains and rivers all the way to Sakamoto just after dawn." Now the soldiers are tired and need to rest. Your envoy went to report it to the general general. Said we'd rest for a day and wait for the rain to light down before we set off. ”

The Oda envoy is a small surname next to Oda Nobunaga, and he has always been arrogant and arrogant and looks down on others, seeing that this middle-aged uncle in his forties still dares to disobey the yang and the yin, he immediately said unhappily: "Is this the ruling hall to disobey the order?" ”

Seeing this, Asai Nagamasa hurriedly smiled and interrupted: "It shouldn't be disobedient!" The rain outside was so heavy, most of the soldiers didn't even have clothes, and they hurried in the rain at dawn this morning, and they were soaked and needed to dry their clothes and rest, and then they would go out of the city to chase them down, and the soldiers would be sick. Therefore, for the sake of your family's face, how about a grace day? ”

The Oda envoy avoided the move of letting go of Asai Nagamasa's approach, and said proudly with a cold face: "Asai Beizen guards the palace, please respect yourself!" Don't think that if you are the lord, you don't know the severity, let me ask again, do your highnesses want to ignore the lord's military orders and resolutely disobey them? ”

Asai Nagamasa's face turned red and purple, his cheeks seemed to be pumped with hot pain, and he glared at the messenger angrily and said, "Hmph! Your envoy is really polite! The family will enter the city and talk to the general about ......"

The Oda envoy only realized that the expressions of several people were wrong, and he was worried that he would let Asai Nagamasa go to Sakamoto Castle to say bad things about himself, so he hurriedly blocked Asai Nagamasa's way. Sneered: "No need to work in vain! Just ask you whether you obey or disobey! ”

Asakura Yoshijing asked with a blushing face, "How about obeying orders?" What about disobedience? ”

"It's easy to say anything if you obey orders, but it's ...... to disobey orders"

"I won't disobey! Please rest assured, Your Highness! Akechi Mitsuhide suddenly walked in. He pushed away the Oda envoy who was in the way, and said with a smile: "The lord has just found out that the Enryakuji Temple of Mt. Hiei is harboring the Emperor of Masa Town, and has decided to hold a military meeting in Sakamoto Castle to discuss the siege of Enryakuji Temple on Mt. Hiei, and the task of pursuing the Sakamoto army has been cancelled, so please rest assured that there will be no disobedience." ”

"That's good! Do you think that the general general is going to cut us down? Asai Nagamasa saw the little surname retreat to the corner in a panic, and said with a gloomy face: "The tone of this messenger who just delivered the message is arrogant and rude, and it is very disrespectful to samurai with status such as us. ”

Ignoring the envoy's pleading expression, Akechi Mitsuhide smiled and said, "It's easy to say!" As long as you can make a few palaces breathe, it's worth it......"

A crisis was saved by Akechi Mitsuhide coming in time, in fact, giving up the pursuit was also persuaded by the genealogy of the Oda family, and the heavy rain was pouring down to let the Northern Four Nations Coalition Army go after Nakajo Tokihide's department was too much, and Oda Nobunaga also punished them a little bit when he gave the order, which was nothing more than annoyance that the four families were negligent and let Nakajo Tokihide escape.

But he didn't think about how inappropriate it was for him to do this at the time, on the surface, the general who commanded the 150,000 army, and it seemed natural to establish a military law to arrest the head and punish the canon, but after all, he was only the nominal general of the coalition army, which was equivalent to the status of the alliance leader rather than the relationship between the lord and the minister, and the daimyo did not need to listen to his orders, if they wanted them to act, they had to invite people over to discuss it carefully, saying that only by moving these daimyo could they jointly send troops, and it was by no means an edict that you could not go west if you went east.

Fortunately, Oda Nobushi woke up quickly, and even better was that there was a step to step down at this time, and the search team learned the whereabouts of the Emperor Masaki-cho from the mouths of the captured remnants, and Nakajo Tokihide distracted Oda Nobunaga from sending the Shokin-cho Emperor to Mt. Hiei Enryakuji Temple for refuge, which was simply a good reason given to him by God, so the previous edict was abolished in such a high-sounding manner.

The purpose of the original design to attack Sakamoto was two, one was to pull out the nail buried in Minaichi when Genyoshi was in the country, and the other was to snatch back the Emperor Masakincho who escaped from Kyoto.

At this point, it can already be declared a complete success of the Sakamoto crusade, and it doesn't make much sense to continue to entangle where Nakajo Tokihide fled, it doesn't matter whether he flees to Etsu and escapes to Kaga, or goes to other places to occupy the mountains as kings, the important thing is to know that it is enough to know that they escaped from Kinai.

"It is unreasonable that the Enryakuji Temple of Mt. Hiei actually knocked out the negotiation envoy sent by the general out of the mountain gate, and dared to call us and other coalition troops thugs with contempt! Hopeless! Oda Nobunaga pulled out his ribs and slammed them into the sign of Enryakuji Temple on the map, and said viciously, "So Nobunaga wants to make the next battle plan!" Target, Hieiyama Enryakuji Temple! (To be continued......)