On April 7 of the first year of Koji, Niko Keihisa, a good brother who competed with Niko Seihisa for the position of head of the Shingu Party, not only did not flee during the attack of the Date Army, but instead showed the integrity of the samurai, turned into a drop of dust in Otaka Castle and disappeared forever.

Otaka Castle and Yonago Castle are only two miles apart, and if you walk back and forth faster across the Hino River, it will only be a cup of tea, and in the middle of the Flat River, you can see the smoke of Otaka Castle from a distance, and the roar of iron cannons.

Before Niko Seihisa decided whether to rescue his younger brother, who had always been at odds with him, Odaka Castle fell, and after the news of Niko Keihisa's martyrdom came, Yonago Castle immediately strengthened its defenses, and the castle was heavily guarded, and the samurai and ashigaru in the city also packed up their belongings and were ready to flee to Izumo Province for temporary refuge when the situation was not good. For a time, the wind was loud, and the grass and trees were all soldiers. Nizi Chengjiu has no choice but to wait for someone to come out and then make an example.

At the head of Yonago Castle, a group of patrol soldiers, Niko Seihisa stood on the castle tower of the castle tower, peeking down, and found that the soldiers defending the city lacked spirit one by one, and they did not have much courage to lift their feet and move, and they were obviously frightened by the momentum of the fall of Odaka Castle in the first battle.

A team without self-confidence is useless at all, and a frightened soldier can't even win. With his hands clutching the railing and his face gloomy, he turned back to the castle tower chamber as far as his eyes could see. All the party members also looked lost and depressed.

There are party members who support Nizi for a long time, and of course there are party members who support Nizi Chengjiu, the eldest son of Nizi Guojiu, and a party member of Xingong who was originally brave and good at fighting. After a series of setbacks and tribulations, it has long since ceased to be the weather of the past.

Date marched north with the momentum of swallowing mountains and rivers, broke into the Boqi Kingdom, captured Otaka Castle in the first battle, and attacked the hinterland of the Xiboqi Kingdom. The Shingu party actually didn't fight against the Date family in the real sense, and the last time Niko Haruhisa went out to prepare for the war, the Shingu party didn't follow. Originally, there were still some doubts about the name of the Date family's good war. However, Niko Haruhisa, who defeated the Shingu Party in a series of defeats, was a defeated subordinate of the Date family, and the Date family won consecutive battles. After defeating the Bizen Expeditionary Force of Niko Haruha, he fought against the powerhouses of the Chinese region, such as Mori Motosashi and Ouchi Yoshinaga, and in the previous months, he had won a hand with Miyoshi Chokei, one of the world's leading overlords, in Harima Province.

Whether it is to defeat the Bizen Expeditionary Force of Niko Haruha. still beat Maori Yuan and died. Ouchi Yoshicho's embarrassment and escape back to Zhoufang and Nagato, or Miyoshi Nagakei's loss of a hand in Harima Country, are not enough to make the Shingu Party have the most direct impression.

The battle of Odaka Castle that happened just now made the Shingu Party members in Yonago City see the strength and good fighting of the Date Army more intuitively, especially the information they got after the return of Tanma once again made them feel incredible, and they were deeply afraid.

The vanguard of the Date army was about 15,600 soldiers and horses, and more than 500 soldiers and horses were deployed in Hinogawa, and the number of troops invested in the attack on Otaka Castle was about 1,000. However, of the 1,000-strong or so troops, only two or three hundred were actually engaged in the battle, and the rest were all arrayed outside the city without moving.

Two or three hundred men conquered the castle of Oda, which was garrisoned by four or five hundred men. It is enough to show the strength of this Date army, and what makes the generals of Yonzi City feel even more terrifying is the number of iron cannons in this army, you must know that iron cannons are expensive weapons, equipped with three or four hundred iron cannons, which is enough to crush the confidence of anyone who dares to fight against it.

The Tanma is just a distant spying, not daring to approach the troops, and can only rely on the perception to explain the situation, this Xingong Party Tanma is still very dedicated, and after paying a small price, he got quite correct information, which is of little significance to a force of 1,500 or 600 people, 200 iron cannons, and 3400 iron cannons.

Nizi Makoto sat paralyzed in the first seat for a long time, he tried to adjust his chaotic breathing, everything was fate, he had never been so panicked as he was now. He never dreamed that his good brother would be in a different place, merging with the dirt.

Instead of gloating, but with deep sorrow, Nizi Makoto looked at the generals for a long time, not knowing what to say or how to deal with the upcoming battle in front of him, as a pillar of support, he understood that everyone was waiting for his answer.

Fight or surrender.

For the Shingu party members who completely offended Niko Haruma, not to mention that Niko Seihisa once whipped Niko Yoshihisa, the current lord of Tsukiyama Tomita Castle, and abandoned Yonago Castle and fled back to Izumo Province, the soldiers may still have a way to live, and they, the Shingu party members, have only one way to die. Returning to Izumo Country is a dead end, holding on to Yonago Castle is not a dead end for them, Odaka Castle has learned from the past, where do they have any reason to block the advance of the Date family. The only way left is to surrender.

The innocent Date family may take in the members of the Shingu Party and come to buy bones to recruit more Izumo Kuniko, but for Niko Seihisa and his family, there is only a dead end.

There is indeed such a tradition in the troubled times of the Wa Kingdom, if the city lord and the city lord's family can bravely take responsibility, then the people below will be able to live. If the city lord dies, the people below will bravely take responsibility according to their status.

Niko Seihisa suddenly felt that the eyes of the people around him were strange, and once he made the decision to hold on to the city, he was afraid that he would be immediately besieged and placed under house arrest by them, and then went to hug the thighs of the Date family and gave him and his family to the Date family as a vote.

Niko Seihisa suddenly felt that his good brother was a complete waste, and if Niko Keihisa could hold on for three or two days, he would be able to recruit more soldiers to turn Yonago Castle into an impregnable castle. However, Nizi Keihisa turned out to be such a waste, and it only took an hour for the Date army to conquer Odaka Castle, and they didn't even give him time to recruit peasant soldiers into the city, and now even if they have more time, they are afraid that they will not be able to recruit any peasant soldiers. Peasants and soldiers are also human beings, even if they are bold, they are not without brains, and they see the nearby Otaka Castle fall in a battle. Yonago Castle, where the defenders are few, will be the opponent of the Date army. In the troubled times of the Warring States, life is no longer valuable, and there is only one.

The farmers near Yonago Castle have long since fled. For farmers in the troubled times of the Warring States Period, it is already a common thing to flee into the mountains and forests whenever there is a war, not to mention that there are many mountain ranges in Boqi Kingdom, and there are many stone houses in the mountains and forests to take refuge.

Nizi Chengjiu has a fiery temper, but he is not a brainless person, he also has no strong temper, and he has the courage to die with the city. Suddenly, he felt that it was not unreasonable for his old father Nizi Kunijiu to favor Nizi Jingjiu, and shook his hand to throw these thoughts out.

Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps coming from far and near, and Niko Seihisa immediately got up. Rushing out of the castle tower, the generals rushed out one after another, regardless of etiquette, only to see a forest of feathered bamboo finches and flags outside the city, crowded with people. It's 5,000 people. It is a semi-circle that surrounds Yonago Castle in the center.

When Kiyokawa Henghide heard that Otaka Castle had fallen, he immediately quickened his pace, and rushed to Otaka Castle when Yoshida Masanari and Kawasaki Yorihiro made the decision to oppress Yonego Castle, and the number of 3,000 Date troops plus the 2,000 Xibo elders who came to surrender suddenly reached 5,000.

For them, who had participated in many battles commanded by Date Masahiro, five thousand men were enough to turn the Boqi Kingdom upside down, and even suppress the Izumo Province, Kiyokawa Henghide listened to the decision of Yoshida Masanari and Kawasaki Yorihiro. Put it into practice now.

Five thousand people rushed towards Yonago City, crushing all the confidence of the defenders in Yonago City at once. Four hundred against five thousand. Outnumbered, the other retainers around immediately erupted into a commotion. Seeing the powerful opponent, Niko Seijiu once again felt deeply that he really couldn't fight.

Qinghe Hengxiu and the others are all close retainers of Date Masaki, and their work and rest habits are more or less influenced by Date Masaki, and the rules of siege warfare are really limited, and there is no idea of sending envoys to persuade them to surrender before the city battle, and even if they know, they have no intention of doing so. Date Masaki often forgets to salute before he attacks when he launches siege warfare, and he goes to persuade him to surrender before attacking, which is one of the reasons why his opponents scold him for being a turtle.

The fall of Otaka Castle gave the Raiders of the Boqi Kingdom great confidence, and Kiyokawa Henghide first ordered Nagao Keori to suppress Yongo Castle with iron cannons, and let Yonago Castle taste the taste of iron cannons before nightfall. Yes, before the night, when Qinghe Hengxiu arrived at Odaka Castle, it was already halfway through, and Odaka Castle had just fallen and the fire had not yet been extinguished. After the whole army, it took an hour to come to Yonago Castle, and when they reached the outside of Yonago Castle, it was the end of the Shen hour on April 7, and the sun was already setting in the west.

The hurried iron artillery attack did not cause many casualties, but it put great pressure on the defenders of Yonago Castle. Nizi Chengjiu shouted angrily: "Damn, he didn't send a messenger to persuade him to surrender and went to war directly, a group of turtles in the countryside." But no matter how much he scolded, it didn't help.

The Date Army's unruly manners put even more pressure on Yonago Castle.

The members of the Shingu Party felt that they would continue to follow Nizi Chengjiu, afraid that there were only one or two days left to live, and the saddest thing was that after the sun rose tomorrow, they were afraid that it would be their desperation, and they staggered under the intersection of their eyes, and secretly someone suggested that it would be better to tie up Nizi Chengjiu and then surrender in Kaejo. This suggestion was unanimously opposed and suppressed by everyone, and they felt that the future was slim, but over the years, the father and son of Nizi Kuniku had treated them very leniently, and they could not make the decision to kill the king.

At that hour, the night was dark, the wind and waves were calm, and outside the Uchizenmaru, a dilapidated small morning boat was moored here, and more than 30 figures hurriedly boarded the small morning boat, and then crossed the middle sea and sailed towards Izumo Province.

For the general of the Raiders of the Boqi Kingdom, Kiyokawa Henghide, or the vanguard officer Yoshida Masanari who captured Odaka Castle and killed Niko Keihisa, or Kawasaki Yorihiro, Hosokawa Tsumasa, and Takenoi Clan, it can be said that it is the first time to lead troops to fight alone. Planning and execution are very different things, and some people often think that planning and execution are the same thing, but when they really get started, they find that planning is more than ten times more difficult than execution.

In terms of actual combat, Date Shoheng can often win big victories, but behind the big victories is deep planning. Without good strategy and planning, there are often many unnecessary casualties. After Kiyokawa Hengxiu led 5,000 troops across the Hino River to Yonago Castle, the soldiers in the city were already in a commotion. Before the siege was dark, the roar of the iron cannons made the defenders of the city so frightened that they had no intention of defending. Nizi Chengjiu even took advantage of the night to secretly leave Yonago City by boat with his relatives.

The next day, early in the morning of April 8, the defenders of the city found that their lord had disappeared, and his relatives had disappeared without a trace.

When the troops of the Date army entered the city, Qinghe Hengxiu was a little overwhelmed, he understood that with Yonako City and Odaka Castle, they had fallen within two days, and the Xiboqi Kingdom would soon fall into their hands, and their lord Date Zhengheng gave them a three-month strategy period, but it only took two days to complete it successfully, according to his estimates, the people of the Dongboqi Kingdom learned the news of the Xiboqi Kingdom, and they were afraid that they would immediately be frightened and obediently sent to the table, which made him feel a little unsure of what to do next.

Yonzi City fell without a fight, although there were some surprises from everyone, but Qinghe Hengxiu was quite happy except for some gains and losses, and said to the generals who followed all the way: "I didn't expect that the personalities of the two brothers Nizi Chengjiu and Jingjiu are different from the rumors, Nizi Jingjiu had a calm temperament but died of martyrdom, and Nizi Chengjiu had a temperament and exploded but fled cowardly. ”

Kawasaki Yorihiro smiled faintly: "Niko Seihisa was frightened by the battle of Otaka Castle, in fact, we only need to fire iron cannons into the sky, and the war will end soon." "Yonago Castle is indeed as he said, the iron cannon team fired a total of two iron cannons outside the city.

Yoshida Masanari also has some gains and losses, in fact, everyone is smiling, but in their hearts, there are more or less gains and losses, the war ended too quickly, and they didn't react quickly, whether the Date army was too strong, or the enemy was too weak. You must know that what they are facing is the most powerful legion of the Nizi clan, the Shingong Party, but in front of them they are as incompetent as chickens and dogs, Otaka Castle is not dead and the city is broken, and Yonako Castle is even more unharmed.

Yoshida Masanari calmed down a little, and then said, "What should I do next?" (To be continued......)