In the afternoon of the same day, Hattori Hocho rushed back to Himeji Castle and handed the letter to Kuroda Yoshitaka. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Kuroda opened the letter, and it was Manyoshi's handwriting.

Father's Father:

This time, the troops will be sent to protect the county, as long as one word is done: fast. Quickly dispatch troops and fall into the city before Takino Hall can react. There are three ways to quickly fall into the city, and I hope that my father will use it reasonably.

First, the defenders are sparsely attacked, and the whole army is directly attacked, increasing the attack points of the attack, so that the enemy cannot defend;

Second, the sparsely garrisoned city, send people into the city in advance, ambush the army in advance, and light the fire at night to open the door;

Third, the well-guarded big city sent the ninja army into the city in the middle of the night, attacked and killed the defenders and then opened the door.

Before Takino Hall returned to the army, he must capture a large castle as a place to defend the cage castle. At this time, you can order the Hattori security commander to attack and disturb the food road of the Takino army, burn the grain and grass of the army, disturb the rest of the army, and retreat the enemy army in a few days.

The key to the success or failure of this battle lies in the ninja army, and he has promised Hattori that he will be the commander of the ninja army of his family, serve the general, lead 500 stone land, and be responsible for intelligence, operations, and bodyguards. All Shinobi Shogun and Ashigaru Commander are appointed by Hattori-sama, and all those killed in battle are treated as soldiers of the army. Father must give Hattori-sama more opportunities to make meritorious contributions, and fulfill the above promises, Wanji guarantees that in the future, the ninja army will become the second combat force of the family.

Wanji

"I've understood what Wanyoshi meant, Hattori-sama."

"Hey!"

"All the promises that Wanji made to you are the promises made to you by my Kuroda family, and this battle is related to the future of my Kuroda family, so please Hattori-sama." Kuroda said solemnly.

"Thank you for the trust of the lord and the young master, and I will gather the ninjas in the next step, and at least fifty people can be gathered before the expedition, and go out with the army together, please rest assured that the matter of falling into the city and harassing the enemy army will be handed over to the next, and all the rewards will be left after the battle, and the hope of the two adults will not be disappointed."

"Wanji believes in you and has his own reasons, so as long as you serve your public service wholeheartedly, my Kuroda family will definitely not hesitate to reward. You go and get ready first! If you need money and food support, go directly to Lord Matsui Shigetaka, I will greet him later, and gather as many people as possible, adults should be people who have seen wind and rain, and they are not afraid of adult jokes, but this time is a big battle that my Kuroda family has never had! ”

"Hey! Please feel free to leave it to you. ”

On March 6, the 23rd year of astronomy, the Kodera family went out to Yancheng to make peace with the army of Akamatsu Yoshiyu, and the Harima Kunibessho family, the Kamiyoshi family, the Takasago family and other wealthy families sent reinforcements, with a total of 3,500 troops. The next day, at the junction of Katama and Iho, a hill called Kayama took root in the camp. On the same day, the Takino family went out into battle, set up a position at the foot of Lushan Mountain, and confronted the salt house.

At the beginning of the confrontation between the two sides, the scouts on both sides did not notice it, and not far from the camps of the two sides, there were eyes watching the movements of the two sides at all times. This is one of the ninjas who has been following Hattori Hocho, and now he is the eye of the Kuroda family, transmitting all the information he can see back to the Kuroda family through his companions.

On the 7th, both sides were estimated to be resting their armaments and building fortifications, so they were safe. In Katama County, the Kushihashi family's army has passed through the Kuroda family's territory and is stationed on Earthen Mountain, while the Kuroda family's army continues to rest on Earthen Mountain.

Early in the morning of the 8th, the Kuroda family's army handed over its position to the Kushihashi family's army, and the army, led by Kuroda Totaka, moved towards Iho-gun.

On the 8th, the weather was sunny, and although it was still a little cold, it was at least a suitable day for combat. When the Kuroda family officially went out into battle, Kayama and Akamatsu Yoshisuke called a meeting of everyone in the camp to discuss strategy.

Akamatsu Yoshisuke is not very old, and as a lord who has just grasped power, it is indeed a humiliating thing to be beaten to his own land by a split family. But fortunately, he knew that without the support of the local wealthy families in Harima Country this time, he would not be able to win Akamatsu Masahide at all.

But he himself felt that it was different now, and the retainers and wealthy clans of all parties had more or less sent some troops to support him, and the number of troops was already larger than that of the other party, and Akamatsu Yoshisuke, who was now raising his head from humiliation, was eager to defeat Akamatsu Masahide in order to increase his prestige.

Akamatsu Yoshisuke put his military equipment on the table and said passionately: "Everyone, Akamatsu Masahide, a rebel minister, openly confronts his own family, and he is heinous. Now that the enemy is on our side, what can you do to break the enemy? ”

Hearing Akamatsu Yoshiyu's words, everyone sitting in the big tent fell silent for a while. To put it bluntly, the wealthy clans came to help in the war, but they ostensibly supported and recognized the Harima Kingdom of Akamatsu Yoshisuke, which was guarded, that is, everyone just came to make a familiar face and tell you that I was a loyal minister. Akamatsu Masahide's army is a daimyo who fought bravely, but Harima Province, Misaku Province, and Bizen Province are famous, so no one in the audience thought that with the same number of people, Akamatsu Masahide could be defeated head-on.

After a long time, seeing that no one answered, the political office of Koji hesitated for a long time and said: "Your Highness, I, I think we should rely on Kayama to hold on, and I have already sent the retainers Kuroda clan and the Kushihashi clan to jointly send troops to Iho County together with the Eiga Miki family to attack the rear of the Takino Palace, so our army only needs to hold on, and once the time comes, once the retainers have made gains, the Takinoden will inevitably retreat." ”

"Oh! Kotera-sama, is this true? A samurai from Bessho asked.

"Yes, this is the strategy set by this family, to encircle Wei and save Zhao." Xiaoji Zhengzhi said solemnly, getting such an opportunity to show his face, Xiaoji Zhengzhi was still very excited in his heart.

"The Koji family uses the art of war, it's amazing" "It's a good way" "Then it's good to stick to it" Many people of the wealthy clan with their own ghosts agree with the statement of Koji's political position, at least sticking to Lushan can reduce their losses, and if they really fight in the field, it is possible for the whole army to be annihilated. They still come

"No, everyone gathered here just so that I could defeat the traitor Akamatsu Masahide on the opposite side in one fell swoop. What's the point of sticking to it? Therefore, I decided that the army should be prepared, and I would put the salt people as the main formation of the central army, and His Royal Highness Kotera would lead the people to the left wing, and the rest of the people would be the right wing, and after an hour, I would attack Akamatsu Masahide. ”

"Hey!" After that, the crowd dispersed, and although the crowd agreed, it is not known how hard these people would work if they really handed it over.

When the Akamatsu Yoshisuke side began to reorganize the army, Akamatsu Masahide's main formation, a soldier entered the big tent, "The main hall, the army of Lord Akamatsu Yoshisuke on the opposite side has begun to arm, and it may come back to attack us." ”

"Oh! Come and attack us, all right, go down! Keep exploring. ”

"Hey!"

"It seems that Yoshisuke Akamatsu doesn't know how to write dead characters yet!" Akamatsu Masahide's fierce general, Yajuro Shibahara, said with a smile.

"Exactly, it seems that we only need to wait to defeat Akamatsu Yoshiyu's army in the field battle, and we can really occupy Zhiyan City!" Yazaburo Bono said excitedly.

"Salt City?" Akamatsu Masahide muttered to himself.

"Yes, my lord, why don't we take this opportunity to directly capture Zhiyan City, so that we can replace Akamatsu Yoshisuke as the guardian of Harima Country."

"In that case," Akamatsu Masahide narrowed his eyes and said loudly: "Everyone is ready to fight, and they will definitely defeat Akamatsu Yoshiyu, as long as there is merit, I will definitely be rewarded." Kill the enemy a lot and go into battle. ”

After everyone left, Akamatsu Masahide said to himself: "It seems that if you win this time and can enter Yancheng, Akamatsu Harumasa will be useless." ”

Before Akamatsu Yoshiyukata was ready, Akamatsu Masahide had already set up a position in the field facing the side of Kayama. But Akamatsu Yoshisuke had no time to estimate this, and when the whole army was ready, he immediately gave the order for the whole army to attack.

But if you look at it from the sky, you will clearly find that only more than 1,000 people of Akamatsu Yoshisuke are struggling to move forward, while the Kotera family and other wealthy clans are very far behind, and everyone is not optimistic about the outcome of this battle, and no one will really fight for Akamatsu Yoshiyu's own power.

Akamatsu Yoshiyu's army soon collided with Akamatsu Masahide's army, but Masahide's side had a complete formation, while Akamatsu Yoshiyu's side had high morale, but there was no formation at all, and it was extremely chaotic before and after. As soon as the two swords and soldiers came into contact, more than a dozen people fell on Akamatsu Yoshiyu's side. And Akamatsu Masahide's formation was not chaotic at all, and he stabilized his position in an instant, and then began to move forward slowly.

A samurai on Akamatsu Yoshisuke's side saw that the situation was not right, and immediately rushed out of the formation, "Under the command of Lord Shimoakamatsu Yoshiyu, the samurai and Saburo are on the side, I don't know who dares to have a fight with Zaixia?" ”

Masahide Fang Shibahara Yajuro came out of the crowd, "Shibahara Yajuro participated." After speaking, he waved the scythe in his hand and rushed towards Matasaburo, Saburo held the katana and slashed at Shibahara Yajuro head-on, Shibahara Yajuro chuckled lightly, reversed the sickle in his hand, and the handle of the sickle was just against Masaburo's katana, Shibahara Yajuro was extremely strong, and his hand gently pushed the knife to the side. Before Saburo could react, the sickle turned around and slashed the opponent's head easily.

"Shio-Matamaburo has been taken from Shimoshihara Yajuro."