The Hijikata family was one of the first wealthy clans in Harima Province to submit to the Kuroda family, and it was a wealthy clan belonging to the Ako County of the Takino Akamatsu family at the earliest, and after the Kuroda family defeated the Takino Akamatsu family, they surrendered to the Kuroda family in the process of the Kuroda family's Ite-tomo clan army capturing Ako County, and it has been until now.

At the beginning, the Hijikata family only had 200 stone of land, and the troops that could be mobilized were only more than 50 people, and most of them were still the Hijikata family's own clansmen, who were basically ordinary peasant soldiers with no combat effectiveness at all.

After years of fighting, the Hijikata family has reached 3,000 koku, and the number of clansmen who can participate in the battle has now grown to as many as 70 or 80, and the number of soldiers who can be recruited is also nearly 100. Even if they encounter the attack of the enemy side, with the resistance of more than 200 people from the Hijikata family, they can at least resist until the Kodera clan knows the news and organizes the people.

The head of the Hijikata family, Hijikata Suizo (you read that right, this is the bad taste of Kuroda Vocational High School), is the first batch of students to graduate from the Kuroda family training class, because only martial arts are passable, so he was put back into the Hijikata family, and after graduation, he has replaced his father and became the head of the Hijikata family.

Because when Hijikata was in the training class, all other aspects of learning were very ordinary, but only martial arts were reasonable, so Tohata Sadataka, who was the same age and could only fight, had the best relationship.

Before the arrival of the Oda family's army, there were already members of the Kuroda family who came to tell Hijikata that the Oda family's army was coming under the leadership of Oda Nobunaga, so he immediately carried out the maximum conscription and prepared for the defense of the cage castle.

The small Hijikata family, facing the attack of more than 30,000 troops of the Oda family, of course, can only choose Cage City, otherwise Hijikata Sushizo will go out with 200 people to meet the battle, and it will definitely be drowned in one round of attack. Even if he is simple-minded, he knows what to do now, and this is what the training class has given him.

Under the rule of the Kuroda family, the people in the vicinity were far from being well-off, but at least their lives were much better than before, there were no harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, there was no need to be responsible for heavy labor without any income, and although there would still be a shortage of food, at least they would not starve to death.

Because of the many benefits of the Kuroda family, life is getting better and better, so these people in Tanba Province support the Kuroda family from the bottom of their hearts, and this is the cuteness of ordinary people. They may not know much, but they know who is good to me, and I will try to repay him. (This is the general situation, the forest is big and there are all kinds of birds)

Therefore, when the Hijikata family began to recruit peasant soldiers as cannon fodder to defend the city, the five surrounding villages responded very enthusiastically, and almost everyone who could stand took the initiative to stay and help the Hijikata family defend the city together to resist the attack of the Oda family. Because they have all heard that Oda Nobunaga is not only an enemy of the Buddha, but also the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, it is said that he has eight hands, three heads, and uses human heads when drinking. (Let you make a wine cup out of a human head, and you will be punished!) ）

Whether others believe it or not, these simple people believed.

The five attached villages, old and young, women and children, were guarded by several relatives of the Tufang family and moved to a relatively safe place to the west, where the congruent congregation would notify the small temple family in advance to meet them to ensure the safety of the people. At the same time, after the destruction of Shiyama Castle, these old and weak women and children will be slaughtered by the Oda family.

You read that right, although the number of people on his side is very small, and the situation is very dangerous for Hijikata Suizo, but from the moment he heard about the number of the Oda family's army, he was already mentally prepared to be loyal to the Kuroda family, but he still prepared bravely.

All the preparations for defending the city that Hijikata learned before the third year have basically been arranged outside the city, but of course they are just things that draw gourds in the same way, but they will definitely have some effect.

He also asked a concentric group to go to Yagi Castle and inform the Kodera clan to come to the rescue, and after that, he sat calmly in the palace with his eyes closed, waiting for the arrival of the Oda family.

The news of the concentric people was not wrong, and sure enough, in less than a quarter of an hour, the front team of the Oda family had already arrived outside the castle, and the 8,000 Echizen national army led by Shibata Katsuya slowly lined up under the castle, and after a short rest, they began to attack the castle.

The front of the castle was not wide, and even though Shibata Katsuie had an absolute numerical advantage of 8,000 men, it was difficult to calmly deploy, so he could only send a group of soldiers first, and began a tentative attack under the leadership of Kanamori Nagakin.

Kanamori Nagaku was originally a relative of Ando Morisa, but he took refuge in the Oda family early in the morning, and became a subordinate of the Shibata Katsuya with his outstanding martial arts.

At this time, he took the lead and rushed towards Zhishan Castle with his sword, because of the protection of the wooden city wall, the people of the Kuroda family could attack condescendingly on the not high city wall, which was a great advantage for the defending side.

After Kanamori approached, Hijikata Suizo noticed him directly and greeted him without fear.

Compared with Kanamori Changjin, Hijikata Suisan is definitely incomparable in martial arts, but the difference in strength between the two is not large, at least the wooden wall of Zhishan Castle perfectly leveled the difference in strength between the two.

Now the two of them are facing each other across the not high city wall, using a short katana, and the scene is different, unless it is replaced by a samurai like Musato Takatomo, who uses a spear and a quasi-sword hero junior level, he can ignore such a wall defense!

By the way, there is also the most important point, that is, the attacking samurai must be tall enough, Musato Takayu is 1.8 meters tall, and in addition to himself, the entire Kuroda family can compare with him no more than ten people.

If it's a short child, don't talk about Takayu Musato, even if Tsukahara Buchuan is here, he will be helpless against this wall that is one and a half meters above the ground!

Kanamori felt very aggrieved for a while, he had fought hard, and he could only reach the opponent's katana, but this level could not cause any damage to the opponent.

When the Oda family's attack finally retreated, Zhishan Castle only paid the price of six or seven casualties, and these people were all farmers recruited nearby, and the thirty or so elites of the Hijikata family did not need to go to the battlefield for the time being, just need to recuperate.