In this era, although there were weapons such as the collapse of the country, the iron cannon has gradually spread, but the collapse of the country has not yet been popularized, for siege warfare, the power of the iron cannon is really insignificant, and the only way to break the city is to attack it with people.

Miyoshi Shixiu is known as a wise general, and it is impossible to conjure up siege weapons to break the city easily, and can only take human lives to attack when he cannot persuade him to surrender, and after three days and three nights, and pay nearly 500 lives, he finally broke through the dojo city.

When the breakthrough of the dojo city was fruitless, Matsuo Dingyu led the thirteen horsemen to shout "decisive death" and "decisive death", and the whole land was wedged into the Miyoshi Shixiu main formation. Miyoshi's main formation field is only three or four hundred meters away from Matsuo Dingyu, and the formation is of course quite close.

Shinohara, the pioneer under Miyoshi Minoru Nagafang, was on the offensive path of Matsuo Dingyu, and when he saw Matsuo Dingyu attacking straight forward, he was shocked, and in order to protect the main general, he shrank his position to the main formation. The two sides began to fight fiercely, and Matsuo Dingyu signed up for his own number: "I am Matsuo Dingyou!" Martial arts is only, not afraid of death, come to see the true chapter of the samurai! Then after slashing Shinohara Nagabo three times, Shinohara Nagabo rolled off his horse and escaped under the protection of his attendants, and Matsuo Dingyu also reached the point of exhaustion. Finally died under the sword of the brother Shinohara Sakishi Bei of Shinohara's long house.

Matsuo Tadaitomo's head fell into the hands of Sakishi Shinohara, and Miyoshi Minoru saw that a small city was so difficult to fight, and he inevitably felt a little shaken in his heart about this battle, but he understood that he had a reason why he had to fight.

After conquering Dojo Castle, the army continued to advance, and Miyoshi Minoru stood on top of the Okōzo Pass. Looking down at the ranks of the Vale of the Tama River. A group of pro-soldiers under the command of Shinohara Nagabo. Spread out around, carefully guarding Miyoshi Shixiu. Miyoshi Minoru looked back at Shinohara's long room, which was tied with bandages and didn't have a good rope, and said, "Sun Shiro, do you know that now that the time, place, and people are all in the other side and not me, why do you still use troops against Miki Castle?" ”

Shinohara, Nagabo, who followed Miyoshi Minoru after he killed his lord Awa Province Guardian Hosokawa Mochitaka, gradually showed his brilliance and became the most important retainer under Miyoshi Minoru Miyoshi Minoru and listened to Miyoshi Minoru ask questions. He asked tacitly, "Why?" ”

Miyoshi Shixiu sighed and said: "This is also a matter of no choice, if you don't sweep away Miki City with a thunderous force at this time, and break the Date family's Harima strategy, once the Date family has a firm foothold, I'm afraid it will be difficult to be sure of victory." You must know that the Date family has no enemies to restrain us, and we are surrounded by enemies, and if they are united, they will form an encirclement of us, and if they want to break it, they will have to pay a heavy price. This is very detrimental to our rule. ”

February 3rd, the twelfth day of the first month, night.

Bessho Anji sat at the head of the city. He pursed his lips and looked at the firelight outside the city.

A soldier was helping him with an arrow wound on his arm. Although the position of the arrow was blocked by a guard, it was obvious that the person who shot the arrow was not an ordinary Maruki bow, but a heavy bow, which pierced through the guard, but most of the strength had been reduced, and the arrow he was hit was only an inch into the flesh.

The arrowhead was removed, washed with salt water, and the wound medicine was applied to stop bleeding, and the wound was bandaged without even stitching up. Besho is sitting in the castle tower, and several sons are each guarding a checkpoint, and Bessho Anji, as the heir, naturally has to stand at the forefront.

Besho Anzhi pounded the city wall angrily, looked at the soldiers of the Miyoshi Army who had just retreated outside the city, and said indignantly: "It's been the seventh day, and the intensity of the attack has not weakened by half a minute. ”

Miyoshi did not rest for a minute after breaking through Dojo Castle, and came to Miki Castle along the valley of the Tamhe River.

The Tamhe Valley is an important passage connecting Settsu Province to Harima Province, and for thousands of years, the Bifun Pavilion www.biquge.info of Sanyo Road is located here, and the Dojo Castle is located at one end of the Tamhe Valley, and after conquering the Dojo Castle, you can directly follow the Tamba Valley to Miki Castle.

Of course, there is also a castle in the valley of the Tamhe River, called Tamkawa Castle, but the lord of Tamkawa Castle is not as hard as the dojo lord Matsuo Dingyu, and he surrendered before he arrived, and now it has become an important transit station for Miyoshi Shixiu.

Danhe City is ten kilometers away from the dojo city, and it is also ten kilometers away from Miki City, which is just in the middle, and after controlling Danhe City, although the road is not very smooth, like hills and valleys, but Danhe City is a flat river when it reaches Miki City.

Bessho Anji originally wanted to take advantage of the unstable foothold of the Miyoshi Army to go out of the city and rob the camp, if Miyoshi Shixiu was so easy to deal with, he would not be called a wise general with both wisdom and bravery, and he was able to guess in advance and set up an ambush, causing him to retreat into the city with more than half of the casualties.

Then Miyoshi Minoru began to attack Miki Castle endlessly, starting from the fifth day of the first month, until now seven days have passed, and the injury on the arm of Besho Yasushi is caused by negligence. For six days in a row, he shot arrows with a Maruki bow, and the guide was bravely at the forefront of the war, and on the seventh day, he suddenly used a heavy bow, killing and wounding more than 30 people, and was almost defeated by three pills, but fortunately, Honmaru's preparation to attack and save the defeat.

Despite the huge losses, the losses of the Miyoshi army were several times that of their own, and Miki Castle is still in the hands of the Besho family. Bessho Anji looked at the sky, and another day was about to pass, and snorted heavily at the enemy camp outside the city, wanting to breach his castle at a sufficient price.

At the same time, under the cover of night, an army wrapped in cotton clothes and pants appeared on the banks of the Kagu River, holding torches in their hands to dispel the solemn chill in the mountains. They were a thousand soldiers led by Ueno Masasa, led by Inoue Tomoji, and managed to evade the surveillance of Gojo Castle and reach the Kako River.

The leading Ueno Masachiro let out a sigh of white air, pulled out his feet from the snow, stood on a rock, and said viciously: "It's really cold, aren't the people of the Miyoshi family afraid of the cold, and they actually came out to fight in this weather, what a bunch of bastard things." ”

The lieutenant general, Keito Akashi of Kitasone Castle, sneered and said, "Who knows? ”

Masaga Ueno didn't have much affection for Akashi Keikin, and he asked officially: "Has Captain Kakuro Shichiro Saemon arrived, and in this weather, if you swim across the Koga River, you will definitely get sick, and even if Noguchi Castle on the other side provides hot water, it will not help." ”

At this time, a personal soldier ran over and reported: "Lord Gelong's ship has arrived. ”

Masaga Ueno turned back to Akashi Keijin and said, "Go!" River! ”

Noguchi Castle was originally the front stronghold of the Bessho family at the top of the Kodera family, it was a stone castle, and the castle was defended by the Nagai clan belonging to the Bessho family, and after repeatedly confirming that it was the aid of the Date family, they opened the castle and provided hot water and hot tea and hot rice to welcome the reinforcements.

Ueno Masacho was originally a reckless person, but after repeated battles and injuries, he became much calmer and more cautious, and Akashi Keijin was also a cautious person, and he had already sent capable men to explore the road before he set off. Coupled with the full cooperation of Himeji Castle, the progress of the Date army was quite smooth, and it was a stone's throw away from Miki Castle without encountering many obstacles.

Inoue Tomoji, who was following Masaga Ueno, suddenly remembered the scene of following Kuroda Kanbei that day, which was seven or eight days ago.

At that time, although Kuroda Kanbei was young and his mind was not small, he knew that the only thing he could do now was to hug the thighs of the Date family tightly, and only in this way could he have the day to rise again and avenge his father.

The Warring States period was an era of heroes, and Kuroda Kanwei was also one of the brightest stars in history, if it weren't for bad luck, Tokugawa Ieyasu's luck, I am afraid that it would have grabbed the greatest fruit after the Battle of Sekigahara.

It's just that now, Kuroda Kanbei suffered the biggest setback in his life in advance, and his father, who was supposed to shelter him from the wind and rain, died, and Himeji Castle was in turmoil. If he couldn't get the protection of the Date family, Kuroda Kanbei would have thought about the result with his toes, and he would have died unexpectedly, and no one could save him.

Kuroda Kanbei glanced at the equally sad Inoue Tomoji, he clearly saw the change in his expression when he was on the roof, and knew that if nothing progressed, the first person to stab him was the uncle in front of him who doted on him.

In short, the most important thing now is how to get the protection of the Date family, if it was before yesterday, he was 100% sure that he would be able to win the protection of Date Zhengheng. But after meeting the envoy of Koji's political position, Kushibashi Zuo Jingliang, he no longer has the confidence he used to have.

In this world, there is nothing that can last for no reason, and there is no need for one's own efforts and struggles, which is the first lesson that my father taught to Kuroda Kanwei when he was alive. In a sense, he needs to become valuable, as long as he still has the value of use, he can get something in return, and once this value is gone, he has no need to save it.

Kuroda Kanbei knew that his only value was Himeji Castle, and as long as he was alive and Himeji Castle was still in the hands of the Kuroda family, then he would have the value of being protected by the Date family. This qiē all depends on whether he can go to Tsurushou Castle to meet Date Masahiro this time.

When the Kuroda Kanbei arrived at the commissioner's hall outside Tsurushou Castle, they also met Kushibashi Sakyyoryo's entourage.

This made him frown involuntarily, he was still small, and the frown on his immature face made people feel a little funny. Kuroda Kanbei still had a trace of reason, he glanced at Inoue Tomoji, who should have been full of sadness, but there was no resentment on his face, as if it was not him who insulted, which made Kuroda Kanwei's heart slightly cold, ignoring the provocation of Kushibashi Sakyo Ryūryū's entourage, and went to the concierge of the Kankyōkan to report to the Kuroda family to ask for a meeting with the diplomatic commissioner of the Kankyūkan, Miyahara Masashige. Foreign ministers who wish to see Date Masahiro need to go through the Governor's Hall, and then obtain the permission of the Diplomatic Minister, before they can go to Tsurushou Castle to meet Date Masahiro.

Fortunately, Kuroda Kanbei met the head of the Date family, Masahiro, and at the same time was protected by Masahiro, so he led the way this time. (To be continued......)