War is not determined by human will, and when Masahiro pondered how to delay the time and personally end the battle, Honganji Xianru looked at the approaching enemy, and the anger in his heart surged up, and he did not care about the dissuasion of the old monks, and resolutely led the army himself.

Honganji Xianru personally led the army out of the battle was just a gimmick, he still sat in the Ishiyama Honganji remote command, with Honda Masanobu as the vanguard commander, and Wasuka Masakatsu as the deputy general, leading 30,000 to the crowd to fight back against Ibaraki Castle.

Honda Masanobu will still fight, he knows that this is now the last chance, once Ashikaga Yoshiteru calmly controls the influx of 780,000 Eastern Army, as long as he settles in Ibaraki Castle to tens of thousands of miscellaneous soldiers, the hope of winning a counterattack is really slim.

Ibaraki Castle was filled with an aura of slaughter.

The battle began on the 10th of July, and according to the method devised by Honda Masanobu and Wasuka Masakatsu, an iron artillery team with more than 100 iron cannons was organized outside Ibaraki Castle, and began to shoot at Ibaraki Castle endlessly, and the iron artillery bombarded it for a day and a night, and the night sky was full of bullet marks, one by one.

It takes a lot of time to build a catapult, and the most important thing to do nowadays is time, and it is impossible to transport the ready-made ones from Ishiyama Honganji, so they have to attack with low-range weapons such as iron cannons to intimidate the defenders of Ibaraki Castle and reduce the morale of the defenders.

A day later, the group climbed out of their position and began a strong assault on Ibaraki Castle, where they were to capture Ibaraki Castle before the Eastern Army came to their aid, and then use Ibaraki Castle as a bridgehead to engage the Eastern Army in a protracted battle on the east bank of the Yodo River.

However, Masanobu Honda and Masakatsu Wasuka underestimated the determination of Ibaraki Castle's defender, Ibaraki to regain his dynasty. Ibaraki Shige's surrender to the shogunate army was a repeated villain in the eyes of others. Honda Masanobu came with an army of 30,000. Ibaraki Shigetsu will definitely be frightened and make a new choice. Where did you think that Ibaraki Chongchao was not only not frightened, but had to fight to the death with Ibaraki Castle.

Yesterday's one-day and one-night iron cannon fire caused a lot of losses at the beginning, but Ibaraki Shigetsu was not frightened, but became more and more courageous, and made up his mind to be with the city, which will be the courage of the soldiers.

On the morning of July 11. Charge the crowd one by one. On this day, about four or five thousand people marched side by side towards Ibaraki Castle, some of them were willful, the first row was the elite soldiers with bamboo shields, behind them were the slightly trained Gang Yizhong, and finally the overseers with swords. The outside of Ibaraki Castle had already been muddy by the defenders, not to mention running, it was very difficult to even walk, and the pace of their attack was very slow, and they could not move quickly at all.

With a little training, the combat effectiveness of the crowd is not high. However, there are bamboo stakes in front to guard against bow and arrow shooting, and there are overseers to prevent unprovoked rout. The slow pace of walking did make them seem to be moving in an orderly manner, and the counterattack of the defenders of Ibaraki Castle was insignificant to such neatness. Hundreds of arrows are often only able to hit about twenty unlucky eggs, all of which are the result of stray arrows flying through the gaps.

The strong bow is not as long as an iron cannon shoots for a long time, and it will not get damp because of rainy days, as long as people have enough strength to fire, the results are not large, but it is the only effective long-range weapon in Ibaraki Castle. The 1,500,600 defenders in the city were divided into two groups, one group of shots for a while and then a rest, and the other group went into battle.

When the crowd flocked to the moat, less than 100 people fell, most of them were wounded, and as long as they were treated a little, they could go back to battle again, and these wounded soldiers who had been on the battlefield would soon become the elite of the crowd.

The time of the construction of Ibaraki Castle is the Jianwu period, and the legend is that it was built by Kusunoki Masari, of course, the legend is a legend, it can be explained that this Ibaraki Castle has been repaired for more than 220 years, and it still maintains the original flavor, but there are more moats, and the rest has not changed much.

This is also the reason why Honda Masanobu is confident that he will succeed in the first battle, and even a fortified castle like Miki Castle can be determined by Date Masaki in the first battle, and he does not believe that even the small Ibaraki Castle, which is built on the plain, cannot be captured, yes, Ibaraki Castle is a flat castle.

Ibaraki Castle surrounded by 20,000 legions is like a small sailboat in the sea, and there is a danger of capsizing at any time, and the defender of Ibaraki Castle is still desperately resisting and waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

After arriving at the moat, the bamboo stakes separated the three gaps, and the people who were carrying the dirt bags hurriedly threw the earth bags into the moat, and more and more earth bags divided the moat into several sections, and then put more earth bags in the middle of the sections, forming a road that could be passed by more than 30 people.

The battlefield is always the best place to learn, and Honda Masanobu learned from Date Gun's body how to use smoke to attack the castle, and he put torches into Ibaraki Castle, yes, into the castle, which shows that Ibaraki Castle is a fairly old castle.

There was no need to narrate the war at this point, and Honda Masanobu attacked Ibaraki Castle in the evening, and more than 2,000 people from Ibaraki Castle followed the orders of Honganji Temple, and killed the population to deter the lords of the city.

Honda Masanobu broke through Ibaraki Castle, and almost at the same time, another attacking force led by Wasuka Masakatsu also broke through Miyake Castle, but the defender of Miyake Castle saw that the situation was not good, and led more than 100 personal soldiers to flee, and the more than 1,000 people left behind were also killed.

Within two days, Ibaraki Castle and Miyake Castle fell, and nearly 3,000 heads rolled down, and Honda Masanobu also learned from Date Masahiro the ability to set up a Kyoto temple, and even placed a huge Kyoto Temple on the east and west banks of the Yodo River overnight to deter all walks of life.

I have to say that Honda Masanobu and Wasuka Masakatsu still have a hand in marching and fighting, learning from Date Masaki's good example, Date Masaki fought all the way, what kind of castle has not been fought, what kind of thing has not been done, after the two of them succeeded repeatedly, they did not attack Takatsuki Castle again, but built flat castle camps all over the banks of the Yodo River. I started the plan to fight a dumb battle. Then the cavalry was used to fight around the guerrillas. and the Eastern Army to fight for internal friction. If you really rely on the people who have stayed in Settsu to fight a decisive battle with the Eastern Army, I am afraid that the chances of victory are not very good.

Honda Masatin was convinced of this, and he knew that if he only relied on the strength in his hand to defend Ishiyama Honganji Temple, it would be enough to attack Ibaraki Castle and Miyake Castle, and if he went to attack Takatsuki Castle again, it would not be bravery, but death.

The only thing to worry about now is Date Masatosa in Harima Country, as long as Date Masatosa doesn't go crazy. The balance of victory is still on the side of Honganji. Honda Masanobu looked back in the direction of the west and muttered in a low voice, "The only thing to think about now is the Date family." ”

Miyake Castle and Ibaraki Castle set two sunsets, Ibaraki Castle defender Ibaraki Shigemasa was killed in battle, and Miyake Castle Keeper Miyake Asaya fled to the desert, which can be said to make a cadre in Katsuryuji Castle so shocked that they exclaimed repeatedly, Ashikaga Yoshiaki urgently summoned Akechi Mitsuhide, Hosokawa Fujitaka, and Wada Yumasa to come to discuss politics.

Akechi Mitsuhide pouted a little depressedly and muttered: "Honda Yahachiro is a general!" "Akechi Mitsuhide sent his cronies to investigate before recalling, and only then did he learn that the enemy general was a samurai from Mikawa Province, whose name was Honda Yahachiro. In his opinion, Honda Masanobu did make a good move, although he made a ruthless move and killed people's heads. However, it also stopped the centrifugal thoughts of many local tyrants and people, and it may no longer be easy to persuade the other party to surrender in the future.

Ashikaga Yoshiteru listened wisely and Mitsuhide praised the enemy general. His face was gloomy for a while, he was originally full of ambition, although it was the battle of Yamazaki planned and commanded by Wise Mitsuhide, but in his opinion, it was his reuse of Wise Mitsuhide that led to the victory of the Battle of Yamazaki.

Unexpectedly, the situation took a turn for the worse, and the joy of the victory in the Battle of Yamazaki was still in my heart, followed by an unexpected fiasco, and the gap between the two moods was like falling from heaven to hell. Although most of the defenders in Ibaraki Castle and Miyake Castle were not directly under his control, he was wiped out within a few days of surrendering, which really made his face hang, as if he had been slapped dozens of times by someone, making him dizzy and his face swollen like a pig's head.

Wada Yumasa turned into a person close to Ashikaga Yoshiki within a few days of Akechi Mitsuhide's expedition, and he was jealous and hated Akechi Mitsuhide, when it came to following Ashikaga Yoshiki, he was much earlier than Akechi Mitsuhide, and when it came to resourcefulness and military strategy, he was confident that he was no worse than Akechi Mitsuhide.

Wada Yumasa has been sowing discord in front of Ashikaga Yoshiaki every day these days, and he can hear Akagi Mitsuhide praise his opponent, which causes Ashikaga Yoshiaki to show dissatisfaction, but he doesn't make up the knife, he understands a truth, and now Akechi Mitsuhide is a rare general in Ashikaga Yoshiaki's mind because of the victory in the Battle of Yamazaki, and it's okay to slander behind his back, but he still has to give him some face on the surface. Once he falls out with Akechi Mitsuhide, he will suffer in the end, and Ashikaga Yoshiki will definitely choose Akechi Mitsuhide in the end.

Wada Yumasa looked at the map and said: "Now our army can control 15,000 troops, and there are 670,000 people who can indirectly influence, and there are only 1670,000 people in Settsu, of which 30,000 or 40,000 people have to guard against Harima Province, and the remaining nearly half have to stick to Ishiyama Honganji, and only 60,000 or 70,000 people can be used for field battles, and we have at least 80% of the chance of winning, general, I think we can fight." As long as the 60,000 or 70,000 field troops that have always been in one fell swoop are smashed, the generals who have always been in one place can only shrink to Ishiyama Honganji, and Settsu, Izumi, Hanoi and other places are the territory of the shogunate! In his opinion, in the battle of Yamazaki, Akechi Mitsuhide only relied on the two thousand men in his hands to fight seven or eight thousand people and fled in embarrassment, so Wada Yumasa is now full of confidence and feels that he can fight a decisive battle.

Akechi Mitsuhide squinted at Wada Weizheng, a hint of mockery appeared in the corners of his eyes, and then said: "General, if Honganji Temple is willing to leave Shishan Honganji Temple and fight, it will naturally be defeated, but it will not be easy to deal with if you stick to the village, if you want to fight hard, the casualties will definitely not be small, it is better to wait a little longer." ”

Of course, Ashikaga Yoshiteru had learned that after the fall of Ibaraki Castle and Miyake Castle, he had always been unusual, and instead of attacking Takatsuki Castle and Akutagawa Mountain Castle to drive them out of Settsu Province, he overhauled the walled castles on both sides of the Yodo River and started to stick to the idea.

Although these walled cities are small, there are only one or two hundred people, and there are only forty or fifty people, but they are too dense, and the number of sieges is small, and I am afraid that they will be eaten by the elite guerrillas who have always been in the same place.

Wada Weizheng has a different opinion, now he is still young and vigorous, originally envious and jealous of Akechi Mitsuhide, Shun Yu said the thoughts in his heart: "General, now we are extremely short of time, there are nearly 1780,000 people in the direction of Yamato, among which there are still two elites of Miyoshi and Hatakeyama Takamasa, Yamato is afraid that they will not be able to withstand their attack, once they make a detour into Yamashiro Country and copy our lair, I am afraid that it will be very unfavorable to us under the panic of the people." ”

Ashikaga Yoshiki seemed hesitant, this is also what he is most worried about, you must know that the people who have always been divided into two branches are now divided into two branches, once the two branches merge, and they are still caught in the front and back, the most terrible thing is that he was hit by Wada Yumasa's crow mouth and copied the Kyoto lair, and the army is afraid that it will immediately mutiny.

Wise Mitsuhide smiled lightly, with a confident and unfathomable posture, he had already seen Ashikaga Yoshiteru's careful thinking, otherwise he would not have let Wada Yumasa enter the core of the shogunate, you must know that it was usually Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Akechi Mitsuhide and Hosokawa Fujitaka who was knocked on the side.

Akechi Mitsuhide was introduced to Ashikaga Yoshiki by Hosokawa Fujitaka, and only Hosokawa Fujitaka present could ask Akechi Mitsuhide, he glanced at Akechi Mitsuhide who was holding Tomo-bead, and he asked, "I don't know what strategy the Ten Guards have to resolve the current crisis?" ”

After Hosokawa Fujikoichi finished speaking, Ashikaga Yoshiki looked at Akechi Mitsuhide, and Akechi Mitsuhide finally spoke, and he said: "General, I just said that I would wait for a while, not as an excuse after the poverty, but to wait for the statement of the Harima country. ”

As soon as these words entered his ears, Ashikaga Yoshiteru's heart beat faster, and a feeling of suffocation suddenly appeared. Wada Yumasa was in a red mess, he just didn't even take Date Masaki of Harima Province into his strategy, and he was eager to fight to the death with Honganji.

Akechi Mitsuhide continued, "The current situation is very delicate, and we have always attacked Ibaraki Castle and Miyake Castle from all sides, which has shocked people's hearts, but instead of continuing to attack Takatsuki Castle and Akutagawayama Castle to drive us out of Settsu Province, we have taken a defensive position. (To be continued.) )