Honganji Xianru and Honda Masanobu focused on repairing the Koshisui Castle to defend against the Date Legion was so vulnerable, which was really beyond everyone's expectations, but it was also a matter of course, in fact, the final siege of Date Shangluo's army was also lackluster.

Date Kamiro's army was also taken aback by the sound of its own artillery, and the siege of the castle could have been described as lackluster, if it were not for the fact that the garrison in the castle had been demoralized by the burning of Mt. Hiei and the death of the emperor and the shogun, and then bombarded again, the garrison would have been unimaginably weak.

After the war, the number of casualties was counted, a castle of 10,000 people, and more than 130 people died, nearly half of whom died directly or indirectly at the hands of artillery. Killed more than 130 enemies, and the total number of minor and serious injuries in their own homes was only a dozen, and most of them were still frightened by their own artillery and broke their legs.

On the hill, Zhengheng did not enter the city, listening to the various statistics counted by the retainers, he shook his head and said: "The news of Yueshui City has spread, Arima Shigeno of Arima City and Araki Murashige of Itami City, those who know the times are Junjie, they should have made a decision early." ”

Miyahara Masashi sighed heavily and said, "My lord, the combat troops almost lost the final fruits of victory, if they hadn't just hit Shimoma Yoryu. He felt a little hopeless about the lackluster siege troops, but he was not kind, you must know that he was a civilian official, and he was a natural opposition to the generals, and he was mixing eye medicine for the generals.

Zheng Heng smiled: "It's inexperienced!" The first time the iron cannon was used, it was also frightened, and this time the bronze cannon was also used for the first time, and people always had a sense of awe for the unknown. As long as you experience it often, you will get used to it. ”

Miyahara did not answer. Instead, he talked about the captives in the city. He asked, "My lord, there are more than 10,000 captives in the city, what should we do with them?" "Some of the captives are from the wealthy clans from all over the world, some are the remnants of the Miyoshi Army, and most of the rest are followers of the Pure Land Shinshu, and they are a group of scourges wherever they are.

Zheng Heng thought for a moment and said, "Let it go!" ”

Miyahara Masashige didn't expect Masahiro to say such a thing, he didn't understand. The rest of the generals didn't understand it, and they knew what would happen if they returned and took up arms to continue the resistance against the Ida's Shangluo army, as long as it was more than 10,000 young men.

Zheng Heng smiled: "A group of teams without self-confidence are useless at all, and the soldiers who are scared of a male can't even win, they can easily surrender today, and they can still survive after surrendering, what do you think will happen next time?" ”

After a pause, Zhengheng continued: "What I'm worried about now is not whether they will take up arms and continue to resist if they are released, but whether they are willing to leave here, knowing that we have food here. Even if you are a captive, you will not starve to death. ”

The generals were suspicious: "No! ”

Unfortunately, he was once again hit by the political balance, when the news of the release of all the prisoners spread throughout the army. Most of the Date Shangluo army naturally did not understand, but what they did not expect was that the captives were also unwilling to return to the dire Kinai.

The reason is very simple, in order to appease the emotions of the captives, Date Shangluo opened a porridge shop, although they were not full, but it also made them late for the first time in several months, and the rice porridge was no longer more kelp shellfish than rice porridge.

Only three or four hundred of the tens of thousands of people chose to leave in the end, and most of these three or four hundred people dared to ask if they could come back, because they wanted to return to their hometown and come to beg for food with their families, which made the soldiers of the Ida Shangluo army look at each other.

The captives were reluctant to leave, and Masahiro could only order Miyahara Masashige to lead a reserve army to appease the people, temporarily place these captives, wait for the end of the war, and assign them to various regions to open up wasteland, yes, open up wasteland, and the prosperous Kinai became a wasteland.

When Date was about to embark on the journey again, Arima Castle, which was close to Yuesui Castle, also heard the thunder from Yuesui Castle, and Arima Castle, the lord of Arima Castle, did not sleep all night, and the next day the rooster crowed, so he got up in his clothes and walked towards the conference room.

As soon as I came to the conference room, I saw a group of retainers waiting like lost dogs, and Arima Chong just wanted to reprimand and boost morale, but he heard the bad news of a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and the city of Yueshui was lost in a battle, and the whole army was wiped out.

Arima Chongze's ears were ringing and buzzing, and he thought he was dreaming, so he directly grabbed the man's neck and asked: "What, how is it possible, are you lying, it is a big city of tens of thousands of people, how could it fall in one day." ”

The retainers' faces turned red, and they nodded again and again, and the rest of the retainers also reported that it was indeed the truth.

Arima threw down the retainers, looked at the front sluggishly, his face became extremely gloomy, he clenched his fists, and then let go dejectedly, and said: "Kaesong surrender, wait a while, I will take Sun Shilang and the surrender table to the front of the army to wait, you are so good to be on guard, don't let the foundation be taken away." ”

Everyone really couldn't find any reason to oppose it, although they knew that it would be a loss of the spirit of the samurai, but for the sake of the continuation of the family, the spirit of the samurai could only stand aside, and the relationship between them and Honganji was not very harmonious.

Arima Shigenori once followed Miyoshi Shikyu to invade Bessho's house, but now Bessho's house has disappeared, and Miyoshi Shikyu ran to Shikoku, he is considered an outcast, and he shouted twice behind Matsunaga Shu and Miyoshi Sanren.

Arima chose to surrender without any burden, and hurried to follow Date Shangluo with his son and hundreds of subordinates, as long as he could show his little face in Date Shangluo Army, he could keep his territory safe, why not.

Arima's behavior is actually very much in line with the choice of a weak family caught between powerful forces, and if you want to fight, not only the vassals and vassals will suffer, but the people in the city will also be implicated and fall into the Infernal Hell, or choose to surrender safely.

Arima Shige, who had a very stable relationship with Honganji, was able to choose a new way out, but Ikeda Katsumasa and Araki Murashige, two good friends who had a complicated relationship with Honganji, were completely panicked and uneasy, and Araki Murashige hurried to Ikeda Castle to contact his former lord Ikeda Katsumasa to discuss countermeasures when Date Kamiroku arrived.

Araki Murashige had just exchanged pleasantries with Katsumasa Ikeda for a while, and there was no time to formally discuss countermeasures. The spy ran back in despair. The news of the fall of Yueshui City was announced. There is also the nonsense of how strong the Ida's Shangluo army is.

The two of them changed color in shock.

The collapse of Yueshui City, you must know that most of the defenders in Yueshui City are staunch Honganji believers, but the news of the sudden collapse can be described as earth-shattering, and the two of them were stunned in an instant, making them almost suffocate and almost collapse. The first thought of the two was disbelief, and the spies continued to talk nonsense, which turned to deep fear.

The words of the spies could not have been lies. There is no need to tell this kind of lie, you must know that this is a siege battle of more than 50,000 on both sides, and it will not be long before the exact news will spread throughout the world, and as long as Date Shangluo's army continues to advance, the lie will be destroyed.

After the spy's words were not lies, Katsumasa Ikeda tentatively asked, "You should surrender to Date." "This is also normal, because once you go to war, you will definitely lose. However, surrendering to Date would also mean betrayal of Honganji, and Katsumasa Ikeda was able to return to Ikeda Castle. I relied on the help of Honganji.

Araki Murashige was able to become the lord of Itami Castle because of the support of Honganji. Without the support of Honganji, he is still the retainer of the man in front of him, but it is really difficult for a strong man to resist, and he replied: "If I don't surrender, the Date Army will not let me wait until the attack on Ishiyama Honganji." ”

Katsumasa Ikeda and Shige Arakimura relied on Honganji to gain power, and now they have also chosen to betray when they are at stake, and in the face of extreme passivity, there is no way for them to reverse the crisis? The only way to protect yourself is the most important thing.

The defection of Arima Shigenori means that the grass in the middle of the country in Settsu has fallen, and the counterattack of Katsumasa Ikeda and Araki Murashige shows the collapse of the Honganji system in Settsu, in fact, after successive wars, the wealthy families in Settsu have withered seriously.

This phenomenon occurred not only in Settsu, but also in the five provinces of Kinai, where the initial battle between Miyoshi Chokei and Honganji Temple led to a large number of wealthy clans who followed Miyoshi Chokei, but later the division of the Eastern and Western armies, the lack of food, and the collapse of the small collar system.

Masahiro didn't have much interest in paying attention to the thoughts of the local tyrants in Settsu, and he had already entered the Osaka area, entering the Honganji Temple's old nest Ishiyama Honganji Temple, and a magnificent castle complex appeared in front of him.

The sky above Osaka is filled with the sound of conch one after another, long, short, rapid, melodious, low, high, and all kinds of sounds are intertwined, showing the tension and busyness before the great war.

The area is surrounded by rivers and flows into the Kamo, Shirakawa, Katsura, Yodogawa, and Uji rivers to the north, forming a large river, and the Domeiji and Yamato rivers to the southeast. On the hill northwest of Ishiyama Honganji, a dense army began to appear, and they began to set up their tents in a tense and orderly manner. Five or six hundred warships, large and small, appeared on the sea, and the sound of conches echoed from afar, and the small boats were lowered from the big boats, and then poured into the river and scattered in all directions.

The main force of Date Shangluo's army finally appeared on the horizon, and the white flag fluttered in the wind. Zheng Heng rode his war horse and inspected the officers and soldiers assembled inside and outside the camp tent, in his opinion, this army was strong and reliable, and with the powerful bronze cannon, it was invincible.

Standing on the top of the hill and chatting about Ishiyama Honganji, Masahiro couldn't help but praise: "It's really a magnificent castle, compared to my Okayama Castle, Himeji Castle, Hiroshima Castle, and Fukuoka Castle, the monks of Honganji Temple are really the moths of the world." ”

Miyahara Masashi saw that the castle of Mido was much stronger than Okayama and Himeji, so is this still a Buddhist temple? With a disgusted expression in his eyes, he said: "Yes, the place where a group of extremely evil people hide filth and filth, called the Buddha Hall, is really a den of thieves, and such a place is still burned down." ”

The castle of Mido is unusually strong, and you can see the natural moats under the blue sky and white clouds, and at the confluence of the rivers, it is full of people and has a vibrant atmosphere. Unlike the capital, and far from the sacred capitals of Uji, Yamada, and Nara, the capital of Buddhism, it does not have elegance or grandeur, but it has a vigorous vitality that can be restored immediately no matter how it is destroyed.

Ishiyama Honganji Temple can be said to be a paradise on earth, even when the tension with Miyoshi Chokei was at its highest, Miyoshi Chokei's army did not appear on the periphery of Ishiyama Honganji, and it can be said that the people who lived nearby were all followers of the Pure Land Shinshu.

The villagers on the outskirts of Ishiyama Honganji Temple watched from the streets, some of them couldn't help but cry, and some even took out their weapons from their houses and brandished them to join the resistance against Date Kamiro's army, and those who dared to resist were all enemies.

There is only one fate for the enemy.

Masahiro did not let his guard down because Ishiyama Honganji Temple is a Buddhist temple, this is an organization that regards the riot as its own responsibility, this is a hiding place for the thieves **** who burned down Mt. Hiei and killed the emperor and the general, he has no sympathy, only murderous intentions.

Ishiyama Honganji seems to be empty under the appearance of the seeming brilliance, Masahiro can be said to have picked an excellent time to attack this castle, Honganji Temple is as good as Shangluo did not return, Honda Masanobu and Wasuka Masakatsu's elite troops did not return, and at the same time followed by nearly 300,000 believers, and now the city is defending the city with 3,000 monks and 30,000 believers, that is to say, 33,000 people guarding such a huge castle complex, the original self-confidence has long disappeared after the fall of Yueshui City.

The monks and soldiers in the city didn't know what to do. How to resist? They clearly felt the cold sweat oozing from their foreheads, wiped the sweat off with their sleeves, new beads of sweat quickly appeared, and they found that their backs were also soaked.

The monks and soldiers kept hypnotizing themselves, "Calm down, calm down!" "The bad news of Yueshui City became more and more fierce under the spread of the defeated army, and they were at a loss for what to do, and the defenders who remained in the city were fighting one by one, and the swords and guns in their hands were not stable, and it was impossible for them to fight against the wolf-like Date army.

The monks invited the only remaining member of the Elder Corps, who was also the Honganji Shōruru who stayed behind to watch his family, and Shimoma Yorisho did not expect that he would regain his position at the forefront of the battlefield in this way, appearing as the guard of Ishiyama Honganji.

Shimoma Yoriteru learned about the fate of his cousin Shimoma Yorilong from the mouth of the defeated soldiers, and he didn't have the courage to go out of the city to fight back like his cousins, but he couldn't afford to let him bear the burden of defending the city. After thinking about it, Yorisho decided to invite the closest relatives of Honganji Temple to come out.

Honganji's dearest grandmother, Jinyongni, and mother, Xiannengni, stepped out of the house arrest nunnery. (To be continued.) )