In June of the second year of Eiroku, the fire of Horyuji Temple had not been completely extinguished, and Tsutsui Castle had already fallen, and the retainers left behind by Tsutsui Shunaki retreated to Koriyama Castle with his son-in-law as a last resistance, and in the distant Tango Province, with Matsushima Hengkatsu leading 1,500 troops and ten huge catapults over the many checkpoints, when they arrived in Tango Province, Katayama Morinaga had already surrounded Kenbu Yamajo.

The defender of Kameyama Castle was killed in battle, and Inatomi Naohide broke out with Isshiki Takanobu's son-in-law, winning a buffer time of more than half a month for Jianbu Yamashi, and the soldiers of Jianbu Yamajo used the buffer days to dig deep ditches, repair stone walls, and store military rations, so as to make full preparations for defending the city. When the reinforcements of Matsushima Hengsheng arrived, a total of 7,000 troops besieged the city, there was no panic in the city.

Kenbu Mountain Castle is located on the summit of Mt. Kenbu between Maizuru Bay and Yura River, and the castle was built on the top of Mt. Kenbu at an altitude of more than 300 meters above sea level, and there are ridge defenses along the ridge. Standing on the mountain, you can overlook Maizuru Bay to the east and the Yura River to the west.

Maizuru Bay has long been an important harbor between the mountains and Hokuriku, and it is also located in the three kingdoms of Tango, Tanba, and Wakasa, and there are many traders from all walks of life, but there are more arms merchants and itinerant dealers, and there are not many people who actually set up shop here.

Katayama Moricho stood on the lookout and swept past the mountain castle of Kenbe, looking at Maizuru Bay, there was no one on the pier for a long time, and he fled into the mountains and forests, and the sky in the distance of the vast sea crane was integrated, quietly listening to the rhythmic call of the sea tide, and muttered in a low voice: "This castle is probably suitable for attacking." ”

Katayama Moricho was a battle-hardened warrior with extraordinary eyesight, and Kenbe Yamajo Castle was built over decades by the Isshiki clan. It will not surrender easily without absolute crushing. The only way to break the psychological defense line of the defenders in the city is to break it. in order to achieve the ultimate victory.

Matsushima is a few years older than Katayama Hirocho, but he is two generations from Katayama Moricho. However, Matsushima Hengkatsu is a real genealogy retainer under Date Masahiro, and he can also be ranked with Katayama Moricho, but he is much more cautious and steady than before, standing slightly beside Katayama Moricho, and said: "You need to make a platform out, otherwise there is no place for the catapult!" ”

Kenbu Yamajo Castle is located between Maizuru Bay and Yura River, and there is no flat land to do. If you attack from the side of Yuragawa, it will be difficult to attack the castle from a distance of two or three hundred meters. He believed that in order to conquer the city, there must be a platform on which catapults could be placed.

Although Matsushima Hengkatsu's words seemed difficult, he was very optimistic, and it would not be difficult to capture Kenbu Mountain Castle.

People have appearances, and cities have city appearances. No matter how dangerous the building is, as long as you can grasp the weak point, you can also make it fall. On the contrary, there are examples of generations of peace in the peaceful city without danger and obstacles. Kenbe Mountain Castle is a steep mountain castle, and in history, Hosokawa Fujitaka hit his head and bled out. I had to ask Oda Nobunaga for help, and it took more than half a year to take it under the strategy of Akechi Mitsuhide, who was reinforcing the army. It is enough to show that Jianbu Mountain Castle has an amazing defensive force.

Katayama Moricho looked at Kenbe Yamajo, shook his head slightly, and said, "It is difficult to seize a platform from the direction of Yuragawa, but there are many places from the direction of Maizuru Bay that can be used as attack points, but in this case, it is necessary to establish a strong stronghold to protect the safety of the catapults. ”

Matsushima Hengsheng knew the weakness of the catapult, if there was not enough defense, I was afraid that a counterattack would have to be reimbursed in full, and he suddenly said: "The current situation is so obvious, I'm afraid that the guys in Jianbu Mountain Castle have already despaired, whether to use strategy." ”

Katayama shook his head and replied, "If you want to use strategy, I'm afraid that the city is full of old stubborn people who can't be accommodated. Guishan City had no food and no water source, and several persuasions to surrender were ineffective, and finally they could only choose the stupidest way to break through the west branch of Guishan City, and when only the city was left, the city lord committed suicide by seppuku, and the defenders in the city surrendered. ”

The chance of success in the strategy lies in the enemy's fear of defeat or mercenary. The people of the Isshiki family consider themselves to be noble and famous, and they are not afraid of defeat, but they have a strong antipathy to the Date army, and if they want to lure them with profit, they are afraid that it will be difficult to reach the sky.

Matsushima Hengsheng sighed and said, "It seems that we can only build a solid array rock to protect the safety of the catapult first, and I'm afraid it will take ten days and a half months to conquer the Jianbu Mountain City." ”

Goto Katsuki, who was not far behind the two, suddenly remembered something and asked, "Wakasa Province Dai-gun Daiyi saw that Suruga Mori sent an envoy to negotiate with my family Ying Tango and Wakasa border, I wonder what the two adults think?" ”

Matsushima Hengkatsu said "oh", indicating that he knew, but he did not express any opinion, he looked back at Katayama Moricho, wanting to hear Katayama Moricho's opinion. Katayama Moricho thought for a moment and said, "The task entrusted to us by the main bus is to crusade against the people who are not subordinate to the Tango Kingdom, and it is better not to do anything that exceeds the authority without permission, well, tell Tsurugamu Mamoru to send a person who speaks to Okayama Castle." ”

Katayama Moricho looked at Matsushima Hengkatsu, and Matsushima Hengkatsu nodded and said, "Good!" ”

The incident of Yimi Shojing is just a small episode, for them the matter of attacking Kenbu Mountain Castle is the most important thing, once the victory of Kenbe Mountain Castle is achieved, the Date family will turn to attack Tanba Province, and a complete break with Honganji Temple will be approaching.

The Horyuji Incident made the situation in Kinai even more turbulent, and news of Tango Province reached Honganji through Tanba Province, and at the same time, Harima domestic movements also entered Honganji every once in a while, so that some Honganji people knew that the day was approaching when the sharp blade hanging over their heads would slash at them.

Honda Masanobu, known as the Mikawa strategist, and his best friend, Masakatsu Wasuka, soon after following Yorisho Shimoma into Honganji, showed his incredible strength, not only in terms of force, but also in wisdom and strategy.

Honda Masanobu and Bee Suga Masakatsu can be said to be an incomparable match, under the action of Honda Masanobu, after using Shimoma Yorisho, the two switched to Honganji Xianru, and became Honganji Xianru's adviser and fierce general, which made Shimoma Yorizhao grit his teeth with hatred but was helpless.

What the next Raitsu can give, Honganji can also give, but Honganji can give. The next Raizhao may not be able to give. When he was in Hanoi and Izumi, Yorisho Shimoma was still able to speak. But enter Settsu. Especially after Ishiyama Honganji, Shimoma Yoriteru lost all his role after driving out Shimoma Yoriyu. Honda Masanobu could see clearly that after using Shimoma Yoriteru to drive away Shimoma Yoryu, he hesitated for a moment before turning to Honganji Temple.

Honganji Apparent has Honda Masanobu and Wasuka Masakatsu, and suddenly empties the military advantage that Shimoma Yorisho can rely on, making Shimoma Yoriteru a loner, although he did not rush to Tanba Province to preach like Shimoma Yoriyu, life is also quite sad.

After a series of infighting. Shimoma Yoriren was killed, Shimoma Yorilong temporarily went to Tanba, Shimoma Yorisho lost power, and the important pillar of Honganji collapsed, Honganji Temple looked around as if he was looking around, and all those who hindered his power disappeared.

On the one hand, Honganji Xianru has supreme power, and on the other hand, Hongda Masanbu is also able to "coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes", in the eyes of Hongda Masanobu, compared with those heroes who have grown up through a hundred battles, Honganji Xianru is just a Chinese asset, a puppet in his hands.

The difficulty of Horyuji Temple is nothing more than a trivial matter for Honganji. As long as it doesn't cause a big disaster, it's a small thing. Now there are two major events in front of Honganji, the first of which is that Ashikaga Yoshiteru of Sakahonkan led 3,000 troops into Kyoto. shouted the words "go straight to Nanbojin and drink with all the kings", and there were countless responders. The second event was that Date Masaki of Okayama was inspecting Harima Province and residing in Himeji Castle, and he was accompanied by 8,000 troops, and the follow-up soldiers and horses were being assembled.

The so-called "go straight to Namhatsu and drink with the kings" means to go straight to Ishiyama Honganji, Ashikaga Yoshiteru has already said that he has moved the Enryakuji Temple and other anti-Ichikozong forces, and began to assemble troops in Kyoto, the number of which is about 25,000 people, these are elite soldiers, and the number of people who follow them is more than 200,000.

Another thing is equally troublesome, nominally patrolling Harima Country, but in fact gathering soldiers and horses. There were more than 8,000 soldiers and horses following Date Masahiro, and the speed of the subsequent assembly of soldiers and horses was amazing, and every day that passed, there would be more than 1,000 men and horses, and by the time they arrived in July and August, there would probably be more than 40,000 or 50,000 Date troops gathered at Himeji Castle, and a large amount of food from the territory into the ports of Himeji Port, Okayama Port, and Ako Port by sea. At the time of the assembly of Himeji Castle, Tango Province was also stepping up its strategy.

Honganji Xian looked at the people under the seat, with the castration of the lower family, most of the old monks in the meeting room were some old monks, and the old monks were naturally some monks who had more time to settle than to speak, so he had to pass these people and said to Honda Masashi who was sitting in the lower position: "What is the situation in Kyoto?" ”

Honganji Temple is in the eyes, and Kyoto, which is close at hand, is the trouble on my mind. But in the eyes of Honda Masanobu, Kyoto's Ashikaga Yoshiteru is just some ringworm scabies, and he has great ambitions but mediocre abilities, and Date Masahiro is a big problem.

However, Honda Masanshin would not refute Honganji to his face, he pondered for a moment, organized his speech, and replied in a loud voice: "Originally, Ashikaga Yoshiki secretly visited the forces that stayed in Kyoto, and there were countless responses, and even the old temple forces such as the Tendai sect also intended to attack Ishiyama Honganji Temple, but after the disaster of Horyuji Temple, the old temple forces were divided. Ashikaga Yoshiteru lobbied everywhere and spoke out, and there seemed to be many responders, but in fact, most of them were timid and fearful, and they were not enough to be afraid. ”

Honda's words elicited a reaction from some people, but they were mostly strange voices that were not nutritious, and they fell on the ears of Honganji Xianru, who felt more and more about the importance of small meetings. Honganji Xianru frowned, for the difficulty of Horyuji Temple, he also had an objection from the heart, you must know that Horyuji Temple is a sacred place in the minds of Buddhists, and the ancestor of the sect has always studied at Horyuji Temple, but he never thought that it was the difficulty of Horyuji Temple that caused the various forces in Kyoto to hesitate, so that Ashikaga Yoshiteru had to shout "Straight to Nambatsu and drink with the kings" to encourage the forces to respond.

Honda Masanobu saw that everyone was paying attention to the affairs of Kyoto, and a trace of sharpness flashed in his eyes, but he quickly relented and spoke again: "Lord of the Law, masters, the destruction of the Tango Kingdom is imminent, and the Date family will gather 40,000 to 50,000 troops in the near future, so many troops, it will take a lot of manpower and material resources to assemble them, and the ports of Okayama, Toothho, and Himeji will continue to import grain, are they really just patrolling Harima Country?" That's what we're all about. The last sentence can be said to be a shout.

Honganji is like a tree, his expression is solemn, of course he knows who this sharp blade has been hanging over his head all along, although he is nervous about Ashikaga Yoshiteru in Kyoto, but to say that he forgot the sharp blade hanging on his head is to deceive himself.

Today, if you talk about the great power, the first to recommend the western country of Date, two or three million stone high, control several silver mountains, support 100,000 troops, this is still the strength on the surface, secretly I don't know how many troops I have.

Honganji Xianru has always tried his best to avoid breaking with the Date family, that is, he is afraid of the strength of the Date family, and what makes him even more jealous is the lack of disciples of the Western Kingdom Sect. The reason why he was able to easily defeat the Miyoshi Chokei regime was not due to the strength of Honganji's troops. The battle of Takaya Castle woke up many people, including Honganji Temple. The Miyoshi Chokei regime was flooded with a large number of followers from the superstructure to the lower classes, and once these people threw themselves into Honganji, the Miyoshi Chokei regime suddenly lost sixty or seventy percent of its strength.

However, the Date family has almost no followers from the top to the bottom, and even if there is, it is a general faith, which makes Honganji even more jealous of the Date family, because once the Date family launches the battle of Shangluo, there will inevitably be countless responders. Honganji looked gloomy, and his face was also clouded, obviously he had already considered the situation after breaking with the Date family, and the situation was not optimistic, even bad.

Honganji Xianru looked up at Honda Masanshin, Honda Masanshin glanced at everyone, and then lowered his head and said no more, Honganji Xianru knew that once Honda Masanshin said it, he would inevitably be opposed by everyone, so he decided to dismiss the meeting.

After the meeting was dismissed, Honganji Shoshi left Honda Masashi as usual.

Honganji Xianru first voiced his concerns, and then asked Ji Shoya. Honda Masanobu replied, "My lord, although Ashikaga Yoshiteru will not be able to get everyone to respond to his call, if he insists on going his own way, the minister predicts that he will invade Settsu Province in mid-July. At the same time, the Date family will also be assembled by mid-July, and once it is activated at the same time, will Ishiyama Honganji Temple be able to resist it? ”

Honganji Temple appears to be discolored. (To be continued.) )