Qinghe Hengxiu is worthy of being the general appointed by Date Zhengheng, the head of the dogs for three days, and the name of the prudent general is not nonsense, he pondered for a moment and said: "Don't be impatient!" Excessive impatience can lead to unnecessary sacrifices, and since this situation is extremely favorable to us, it is better to do it leisurely. ”

Although the situation was very favorable to the Date family, some people even had the idea of attacking Izumo Province in one go, but this idea was quickly suppressed by Kiyokawa Hengxiu and others, who knew that once they entered Izumo Province, it would be impossible to win so easily.

Once the casualties are excessive, this expeditionary force will not only have the ability to enter and exit the cloud country, but also have to lose the territory of the Xiboqi country, and they will not do anything that outweighs the loss. Nowadays, there are still some small cities and castles in the Xiboqi Kingdom that have not surrendered respectfully.

Kiyokawa Henghide personally led 1,000 Date troops and 500 vassal troops to Yonago Castle, and on the one hand, he sent Kawasaki Yorihiro and Takenoi Shitaka to lead 1,500 Date troops along the coastline into Toboqi Province to capture Yatsuhashi Castle, which was garrisoned by Yoshida Genshiro, a general of the Nizi Division, and on the other hand, he raised ships to prepare for going north to seize Mihokan.

Eight Bridges City is located in the center of the East and West Boqi Kingdom, the geographical location is quite important, after the Eight Bridges City is the Tianshen River Plain of a horse Pingchuan, under the deterrence, you can slowly adjust the forces of the people of the East Boqi Kingdom, as long as you hold the Eight Bridges City, you can attack and retreat.

Kiyokawa Yoshihide sent Kawasaki Yorihiro and Takenoi Clan Taka, because Yoshida Masanari had great achievements in the battle of Otaka Castle, and he wanted to sit in Yonago Castle to see the overall situation, and Hosokawa Tsumasa was the cheap uncle of Date Masaki, of course, he couldn't take the lead. But it's not easy. He had 500 Ida troops and 1,500 vassals to sweep the small cities and castles of the Xibeqi Kingdom that had not yet surrendered. At the same time, it is necessary to sweep away the mountain bandits and thieves caused by the turmoil in Izumo Province and restore peace to the world.

At noon on April 8, Kawasaki Yorihiro and Takenoi Clan set out for Yatsubashi Castle, and it was clear that the news of the fall of Otaka Castle and Yonago Castle had not yet reached the Higashiboqi Province, also because most of the defenders of Otaka Castle and Yonago Castle were either annihilated or taken prisoner, and the few defeated generals who were lucky enough to flee to Izumo Province like Niko Seihisa fled to Izumo Province instead of to Higashibogi Province. Coupled with the inadvertent military action of the Date Army, the road to the Eastern Boqi Kingdom was blocked.

The mountain road is difficult, and it is obviously a very difficult task to spread the changes that happened in the Xiboqi Kingdom to the Dongboqi Province in a short period of time, anyway, when Kawasaki Yorihiro and the Takenoi clan marched all the way with the Takefeather Bird banner of the Date family.

Seeing the arrival of the Date army, most of the small towns and contractors on the way chose to surrender in Kaesong, of course, there were also one or two diehards who chose to close the city and defend themselves, and these two diehards were mostly mountain and wild turtles who did not know about outside affairs, and they did not know how huge the power of the Date family was, but they only remembered the remnants of the Nizi clan's rule for twenty or thirty years.

Kawasaki Yorihiro and Takeno Ichika can't look down on these two diehards, and they don't listen to the outside world. How many soldiers and horses can be used, only a small city with less than a hundred people to garrison. It only takes a charge to break through, and obviously they don't want to waste time on them.

Kawasaki Yorihiro snorted: "Leave them alone, arrive at Yatsuhashi Castle before night, give the people of Dongboqi to announce the arrival of the Date Army, and on the one hand do not give Yahashi Castle time to recruit peasant soldiers, and on the other hand preach the fact that the Date family has defeated the Shingu Party." ”

Of course, the Takenoi clan is aware of the importance of time to them now, they have a total of 1,500 men, and they have been allocated a hundred iron cannons, if they have such an advantage, they can't take Yatsuhashi Castle lightly, and they are afraid that they will be left behind when the results of the battle are distributed after the battle. Takenoi Clan Takashi immediately agreed with Kawasaki Yorihiro's words, and said viciously: "Spare their lives first, and wait for the destruction of Yatsubashi Castle, and then settle this account with us, so that they know the price of offending the Date family." ”

Kawasaki Yorihiro also nodded and said: "Of course, but I don't agree with Qinghejun's suggestion to accept the people of the Eastern Boqi Kingdom, you must know that this Boqi Kingdom will be distributed by the five of us in the future, if the people of the Eastern Boqi Kingdom are easily accepted, we are afraid that we can only nest in the Xiboqi Kingdom." ”

Takenoi obviously agreed with Kawasaki Yorihiro's words, but in fact, before the war, Kiyokawa Hengxiu did not expect that the attack on the Xiboqi Diet occupied by the Shingu Party would be so smooth, so he put forward the idea of stabilizing the people of the Dongboqi Kingdom.

The Takenoi clan also believes that the East Bolqi country should be integrated, and the integrated opinion is to deprive the people of the country of land, he said: "Now that the powerful Takeda Takanobu in the Inaba country is taking advantage of the defeat of the Yamana clan to sweep away the domestic forces, and it is a good time to integrate the Hiroki country, once the rear is stabilized, you can go to fight with Takeda Takanobu for the ownership of the Inaba country." ”

While Yorihiro Kawasaki and Takenoi were talking about how to sweep away Higashihaki and advance into the Inaba Kingdom, Yatsubashi Castle, the only castle still under the jurisdiction of Genshiro Yoshida, a retainer who respected Niko Haruma. Genshiro Yoshida was the second lord of the castle, and the previous lord was Yoshida Sakyoryo Ryo, and in the fourth year of Oei (1524), Izumo Kuniko led an army to conquer Yatsubashi Castle and brought Yoshida Sakyo into the castle.

Yatsuhashi Castle is actually not very far from Yonago Castle, but the gravel land along the coast is not a smooth road, and it is difficult to move, plus there is a delay on the way, so it is not an overnight rush, and it is already the ninth hour of April when it arrives at Hachihashi Castle.

Genshiro Yoshida was fond of prostitution, and was lying on the back of his favorite twelve or thirteen-year-old prostitute boy, and from time to time he would say a minor key that was out of tune, apparently enjoying himself, completely forgetting the bad effects of daylight prostitution.

Just as Genshiro Yoshida reached his climax, suddenly there was a shout outside, Genshiro Yoshida erupted in advance under the stimulation, and just wanted to be angry, a soldier rushed in, and said anxiously: "The killing is coming, the Xibo Qi Kingdom has fallen, and the Date army is coming!" ”

Genshiro Yoshida didn't care about his anger, he was shocked, and rushed out of the bedroom without clothes, and the inside and outside of Yatsubashi Castle were already in chaos, and looking west from the castle tower, you could see a clearly bannered Date army. It's coming towards Yabashi City step by step.

Most of the guards of Yatsubashi Castle were members of Genshiro Yoshida's clansmen. At that time, his father, Yoshida Sakyo Ryo, followed Niko to invade the Boqi Kingdom for a long time. Because of his military exploits, he became the lord of the Eight Bridges, and after twenty or thirty years of birth, the family has thirty or forty adults, and there are forty or fifty minors.

This is also where Yoshida Genshiro's confidence lies, the defenders saw their city lord go out naked, and they didn't feel a little gloomy in their hearts, seeing that the loss of Yatsubashi Castle was imminent, their city lord was still so absurd. Get along with child prostitutes in broad daylight.

Yatsubashi Castle has always been a very important castle in the Hachiki Kingdom, and it has been used as a major bridgehead to deter the Eastern Boqi Kingdom since Niko captured Hachihashi Castle during the Daei period and made his retainer Yoshida Sakyo Ryo become the lord of Yatsubashi Castle.

Xiboqi is subordinate to the Shingu Party, and when the Shingu Party has not yet been revealed, it has always been the basic plate of the Nizi clan, and it is also the main road to enter and exit the Misaku country, and this is also the road taken by Nizi Qingjiu's expedition to prepare for the former country. The large number of people in the Eastern Boqi Kingdom is that some wall grasses are leaning on both sides, and when the Niko clan is strong, they throw themselves to the Niko clan, and when the Inaba and Tajima Yamana clans are active, they lean towards the Yamana clan. From time to time, I challenge the bottom line of the Nizi clan, and so on. The status of Eight Bridges City has increased rather than decreased.

As the grievances deepened, the grudges between Yatsuhashi Castle and the people of the Higashiki Kingdom gradually deepened, and the hands of Yoshida Sakyo Ryo and Genshiro father and son were stained with the blood of the people of the Higashikoku Kingdom. Genshiro Yoshida knew that once the people of Higashiki saw the weakness of Yatsubashi Castle, it would be swallowed up immediately, and he would not be left with even the slightest chance of peace negotiations.

Kawasaki Yorihiro and Takeno Ishaka led the troops to the outside of Yatsubashi Castle, and the two of them happened to stand on a small hill outside Yatsubashi Castle and set up a camp, standing on the hill, looking at the main body of Yatsubashi Castle, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

The two of them did not come blindly, they had already learned about the role of Yatsushi Castle from the mouth of Ishimatsu Fumigo before the operation, and sure enough, seeing is believing, and hearing is false, and they originally thought that Yatsuhashi Castle, which would shock the Eastern Boqi Kingdom, would be such a strong castle.

When you really see it, it is not like this, Yabashi Castle was built on a small hill about ten meters above sea level, and it was not built of stone, but all of them were made of wood, and most of the castles in China have abandoned the use of wood in favor of stone strips.

The only thing that made the two of them feel a little pressure was that since the city of Eight Bridges was located not far from the coast, the sea water was led into a moat around the castle, the moat was more than a zhang wide, and it had to be one zhang deep, and there was a small wooden bridge on the moat, and there were two castle towers on one side of the wooden bridge, and the dense cold light on it was obviously full of archers. Outside the walls without a moat, there is a dense forest. As a result of the investigation, the woods were full of trenches, traps, and bamboo sticks, and there was only a winding mountain path to communicate with the castle, and it was obviously not easy to pass through here.

Kawasaki Yorihiro looked at Yatsubashi Castle, frowned and said: "If it is a strong attack, I am afraid that it will have to pay a certain price to achieve victory, once the casualties are large, I am afraid that the credit will be much smaller, but there is no need to worry about someone coming to rescue Yatsuhashi City." ”

The grievances between Yoshida and his son in Yatsubashi Castle and the people of the East Boqi Kingdom are very deep, and the West Boqi Kingdom has fallen into the hands of the Date family, so naturally no one will come to the rescue of Yatsushi Castle, maybe the construction of Yatsuhashi Castle is so simple, it is a consideration of the Nizi clan.

The role of Yatsuhashi Castle for the Niko clan is more to monitor the movements of the Higashiboqi Kingdom and Inaba and Tajima, and once there is a problem, you can report it to Tsukiyama Tomita Castle, so naturally you don't need to build it strongly, if it is built strongly, once Yatsubashi Castle has a different heart, it's not asking for trouble.

The Takenoi clan was full of hideousness, pointed to the forest on the back of Yatsubashi Castle, and gritted his teeth and said: "The direction of the moat is obviously the key defense area of the other party, and it is obviously a heavy price to pay if you want to break through it, it is better to burn that forest, yes, burn it." ”

Kawasaki Yorihiro seemed to see the fire raging in the woods, and the wooden Yatsubashi Castle obviously could not avoid the result of being burned, and the men, women, and children of Yatsubashi Castle struggled and shouted in the fire, and he couldn't help but say: "This, should we slow down, after all, the burning of the castle will have a very bad impact, and there are not only men but also old and young women in the city, which is not appropriate." ”

Takenoi Taka glanced back at Kawasaki Yorihiro, and was puzzled by Kawasaki Yorihiro's sudden soft-heartedness, although the two did not distinguish between superior and inferior, but according to seniority, Kawasaki Yorihiro, who followed Date Mashiro earlier than Takenoi, was naturally the leader.

Takenoi sneered in his heart, but with a serious expression on his face, he said: "Kawasaki-kun, the first thing to confirm is that we are first of all His Highness's retainers, and there is only one owner of this land, that is, His Highness. Takeno Clan Takashi obviously saw farther than Kawasaki Yorihiro, he had recovered from the excitement of going alone at the beginning, knowing that this was another test for Date Masaki, and if he could get into Date Masaki's eyes, then the future would have a more ambitious future.

He also knew that Kiyokawa Hengxiu was born in the Date family, Yoshida Masanari killed people in Otaka Castle, and Hosokawa Tsumasa was naturally able to get ahead with his sister's Jiri light, but Kawasaki Yorihiro and the two of him did not show anything, they saw it in their eyes, they were anxious in their hearts, and they heard that Kawasaki Yorihiro actually had the kindness of a woman, so he naturally wanted to warn.

Kawasaki Yorihiro's heart sank, and he took a deep look at Takenoi Shigao, he understood that once he insisted on his own opinion, he would have to bear all the consequences alone, and after the war, I was afraid that his own words would reach the ears of Date Masaki, and the consequences would not be optimistic.

Seeing Kawasaki Yorihiro's solemn expression, Takenoi Taka knew that his words had entered Kawasaki Yorihiro's heart, so he suggested: "Then try the reaction in the city with a bow and arrow, if it is like Yonago Castle, it will be better, and if you stubbornly resist, you will set fire to the mountain." "Yonago City Nizi Cheng escaped at night for a long time, and Yonago City opened the city without blood.

Although Yatsuhashi Castle is not large, it is obviously an impossible task for more than 1,000 Date troops to surround Yatsuhashi Castle in groups, so they put the main force on the front, and only put a hundred-man team on the other side of the woods. If the enemy is cowardly and breaks through from now on, it is better to let him go. (To be continued......)