Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 579
Baoyuan City is not a particularly important city in Yida County, but it is not small.

Before the rebellion, Nakajima Zongqiu took advantage of the time gap when the Date family retreated and the Nakagawa family did not settle in, and wantonly built city defenses here. Now there are 3 circles of city walls and Demaru, and there are Mizubori barriers around the Sannomaru.

This kind of city defense is already a strong enough city in Ou, but it seems a bit insignificant to Toyotomi Banner, the standing army formed by the Kinki Army after decades of high-intensity combat. .

In the entire Toyotomi banner of 1.2 people, there are more than 1000 light iron gun ashigaru, divided into three teams, and pouring projectiles at the head of Baoyuan Castle in the east, west, and north.

The iron bullets fired by the iron cannon, mixed with the residue of gunpowder, passed through the fence of the pill at an extremely fast speed, and shot into the body of Ashgaru who was hiding behind the castle.

Even the ashigaru, who was hiding behind the wooden screen in Sannomaru, was not spared. He was still slightly injured by the iron bullets, and he was afraid that the iron bullets mixed with sawdust would cause extensive injuries.

The defending soldiers who had nowhere to hide, who were shot by the iron cannon balls, hid behind the cover and cursed, "Bastard, you launched an attack just after you came back. The Toyotomi family is too ignorant of martial arts!"

Seeing that the top of the city was almost suppressed, following the shouts of the ashigaru generals from all directions, "Go out!", 8 ashigaru carrying the bumper, under the leadership of their respective samurai, began to attack each city. Going to the door, on both sides of them there is an ashigaru holding a wooden escape to block the arrows.

After the battle of Baoyuan Castle, one of the two Chumaru built before the war has fallen. Although the other has not fallen, the trenches outside have been basically filled.

This is the area under the charge of Banner on the west side. Facing the shout of their own ashigaru general attacking the city, the ashigaru raised their spears and rushed towards Demaru, poking through the fence and the defenders inside the fence.

At the same time, Kamashigaru from the outside began to pour arrow feathers at Demaruchi, and after only a moment, dozens of people fell down in Demaruchi.

As the fence was pushed down, a breach appeared in the defense line. The samurai of Toyotomi's family took the lead, shouting long live, and rushed into the city, stabbing left and right with long spears, driving the defenders back into the main city defense line.

Not long after, the centipedes who reported the victory galloped into the interior of the shogunate, and said to the Xiu family and others inside, "His Royal Highness, the western outer pill has been controlled by us! Yu Mian (farewell)."

"Oh~!" Hearing that a circle of city walls had been captured in just a short while, everyone in the shogunate sighed, "As expected of Nakamura Shikibu Shaosuke, he won the first battle so quickly."

However, after driving people from Demaru to Zhuguo, the real difficulty just came.The first thing to be solved is what to do with Mizubori outside?
In fact, a few days ago Toyotomi Hideji had already ordered people to fill in the soil, and now it is considered to be somewhat effective. There is basically a passage filled on the south and east sides, but such a narrow passage is really too few to pass through. Instead, it will become a place where the enemy will focus on sniping.

In order to fill up the water hole faster, Mr. Nakamura ordered people to dismantle the surrounding roofs, throw all the rubbish such as stones, and finally put the wooden planks of the houses on them as ladders for soldiers to step on to cross the river.

Kazushi Nakamura spent a little time filling up the water hole, but he finally finished it before noon.

There are 1.2 people in Toyotomi Banner, including the nearly 1.5 people of the Nakagawa Corps. The number of people is enough to rotate and fight without stopping. If they retreat 1.5 steps, they will be tired. [-] people came to the top.

The number of people occupies an absolute advantage, and the pressure on the defensive side is infinitely magnified. This is why Baoyuan City wanted to open the city conditionally at the beginning.

"Attack!" While the Hidekas in the shogunate were enjoying their lunch, the third batch of troops who replaced Hohara Castle began to attack Sannomaru under the order of General Ashgaru.

Now that the military order has been issued in front of the Xiu family, both Nakamura Kazushi and Toyotomi Hideji will desperately attack, this time they are really desperate, sending people to break through without any hesitation.

However, the city defenders took advantage of the location and used scull towers and turrets, bows, arrows and iron cannons to design against the soldiers who attacked the city.

Xiujia Jiuzao saw that the situation was too late to start in the formation, so he invited Ogasawara Xiuzhen to play Go with him.

But Toyotomi Hideji saw that it was too late for Sannomaru to break through the gate, so he asked his old Kumagai Naosumi to pass down the password, and the first to break through the castle would be rewarded with 50 taels of gold.

As this reward was passed to the front of the formation, the morale of the attacking side was boosted again, and the first and second servants stepped forward to take the place.

In order to solve the problem of shooting arrow feathers and iron cannons from the turrets and scull towers, killing and injuring the soldiers of the attacking side, Kazushi Nakamura specially ordered bow masters to hold heavy rattan bows and wait opposite these key points to snipe and kill the enemies in the towers.

At around 2:[-] p.m., the Oteguchi Crown Gate on the east side was broken, and Toyotomi Banner, who was leading the team here, rushed into the castle with a gun and shouted loudly, "The first climber is the Yoshino Heibei Gate!"

However, before he finished speaking, he was shot in the eye by an arrow shot from the top of the city, and fell to the ground, mourning.

After all, it was only a few people in the front row on the east side who saw him lying on the ground. His act of attacking the city without fear of death inspired other soldiers on the periphery, shouting "Long live" to boost morale.

The sound spread to the west and north sides, and the offensive here also began to intensify, and the sound of breaking the door was also heard from the north side soon after.

As mentioned above more than once, the main defensive force of Pingcheng is all on the outermost city wall. When the city wall is broken, the countdown to the fall of the city has already started.

Sure enough, not long after, centipede fans came to report, "Kimura Shimomori (Kimura Shigetsu's eldest son Takashiro) has led people to break into the Ninomaru, and the chaos along the way is watching the wind!"

Just at the right time, the Xiu family holding the white had already made the last piece on the chessboard. Looking from the top down, the two white dragons strangled the black dragon in the middle like a rainbow.

(It is a Japanese rule to hold black first. In Japan, white is respected. Those who hold white are masters or high-ranking people, so novices are allowed to hold black first. Hideka’s status and Go attainments are higher than Ogasawara Hidetada, so they hold white. )
"I lost" Xiuzhen's chess strength is not as good as Xiujia's. After thinking hard and failing to make progress, she throws two pieces on the board to admit defeat.

"Your burden is too heavy, Xiuzhen. In fact, you still have a lot of opportunities." Xiu Jia said with a light smile, and after speaking, she took the teacup from the attendant, took a sip of the tea leaves.

Unlike the big figures in this battle, the battle in Hohara Castle is still going on. Many of the core of Ichiku here are the samurai and local servants from the Ashina, Nikaido, and Date families in the past, unlike Sukagawa Castle. Most of them are ordinary farmers, so their combat effectiveness is slightly stronger.

Even after the attack on Ninomaru, there were still a small number of samurai who fought stubbornly, and the faces of both the attacking and defending soldiers were covered in smoke and blood.

The side defending the city is fighting for their own lives, but the side attacking the city is working hard for the group of big shots in the rear of the city, so ironic.

"Oh, my brother's chess skills are still superb. Compared with you, I really pale in comparison." Ogasawara Xiuzhen packed the chessboard and complimented Xiujia.

Hearing his compliment, Xiujia smiled, held up a sunspot in front of him and said, "A chess board? A chess player? Or a chess piece?"

Listening to Xiujia's reply, Xiuzhen looked at Xiujia without knowing why, and Xiujia put the sunspot in another position, the whole black dragon seemed to be alive again.

Watching the Xiu family turn from death to life, Xiuzhen marveled at the Xiu family's chess strength, and said in amazement again: "Elder brother really has the ability to bring the dead back to life? If the elder brother plays chess in the future, who can be the elder brother in the world?"

Ogasawara Xiuzhen's answer was beyond Xiu's expectations. When he talked about the chessboard, chess players and chess pieces at this moment, he felt that Xiuzhen couldn't see through the inside story, but Xiuzhen's answer seemed to have a A hint of connotation.

"Does he really understand what it means? Is his answer showing his affection to me?" The Xiu family was suddenly confused, especially with his harmless smile, he suddenly couldn't see through this little brother. feeling.

"Maybe this boy really grows up and understands. I can no longer treat him like a child."

The central officer Xiujia did not talk to Xiuzhen, but pulled him aside affectionately and said, "I want to send you to Deyu to supervise the evaluation of Yuhou by Mogami and Uesugi's family."

Speaking of this, he pointed at Xiuzhen and said softly, "You will be the chief general, and you will receive the credit."

"Then Uesugi's attendant." Hearing that the Xiu family asked me to be the general, I was actually very happy in my heart. This thigh is really thick, and every time something good happens, I think of myself.

But this time is not like the first time at Ou Shiki. I have guys like Anto, Mogami, and Nanbu under my command. Now I am in charge of the Deha evaluation, but Echigo and the daimyo Uesugi family with more than 60 koku.

Xiuzhen was still a little flustered to take credit from the Uesugi family.

Hearing his doubts, the Hide family called Tsusue Sanzhicheng, handed him the things they had prepared before, and said to him, "I heard that Uesugi's servant and Naoe Yamashiro met in the village. You give this thing to Naoe The guard of the mountain city, he will definitely understand how to do it."

Ogasawara Xiuzhen took a stack of parchment packages sealed with wax oil from the Xiu family, and asked the Xiu family curiously: "What's in it, my brother actually sealed it up and gave it to me."

Hideka leaned into his ear and whispered, "Evidence that Uesugi's retainer Honjo Shigecho participated in the disturbance in the village."

"?!!!"

Hearing this answer, Xiuzhen stared at Xiujia with wide eyes. He didn't know if what was said here was true. If it was true, how did Xiujia get it?

He was curious about a lot of things, but at the end he took a look at the seal and asked Xiu's question, "Since the seal has been sealed, I definitely don't want others to see it. Why did brother tell me the inside story?"

"Sealing is for the guards and attendants of the mountain city." Xiujia blinked and said, "If you are asked to be the general, you will naturally take the initiative, but I don't need to say more about what you should say when you get there."

Xiuzhen put this thing away carefully, nodded and said, "I'm sober about this matter."

Xiujia patted the younger brother on the shoulder, showing a childish expression, "Prepare well, and I will ask you for credit after Deyu calms down."

"By the way, the last time you went to Juledi to see your father, you asked to transfer Ishikawa Shuzheng to you. How is it going? Why didn't you see Ishikawa-sama on the return trip?"

"Father agreed. Ishikawa-sama is in Yamato. Father said he would send someone to inform Ishikawa Hoki."

Everything is going in the direction that the Hide family had previously expected. With the arrival of Ishikawa Kazumasa, the elder who is at odds with Tokugawa, it is bound to balance the balance of power within the Ogasawara family.

But that's not enough!
The Xiu family took Xiuzhen to the top of the city of My Wife, looked towards Baoyuan City not far away, and said, "There are still many good warriors over there. Let's look for them later, and fill up our family to form a group."

Hearing what Xiujia said, Xiuzhen looked at Xiujia in surprise, "Don't you want to punish them severely?"

"Severe punishment must also keep talents."

While the two were talking, Nakagawa Kiyohide had already brought his samurai back to the Azuma Castle headquarters, and Hideka looked at him and said, "Nobuo County has now been pacified, and Hohara Castle, the biggest enemy in eastern Date County, has also been taken.

In the past few days, Setjin Shou has used Baoyuan City as his base to sweep out the surrounding bandits and stabilize the territory.As for the captives in Baoyuan City, after you and Ogasawara have discussed and selected them, you will tie them up and string them to Luqian Lifu City according to the requirements of one out of ten.

There is a special fleet at Shiogama Port on the side to transport people to Ezo. After Osaki, Kasai Kazuki and Dewa Kazuki are evaluated, all exiled prisoners will be transferred here. "

Hideka's tone of voice was very calm, but there was no possibility of rejection. Nakagawa Qingxiu knew very well that the deportation of Ezo by the ten draws was certain.

The biggest favor that the Xiu family can give him is that he first selects a wave to leave some useful talents. For this reason, he also arranges all the jobs in the last ten draws for himself, and there is a lot of room for manipulation in this.

Baoyuan Castle was broken, and the largest fulcrum in the southern part of the Ichikui Army in Date County was broken, and the faces of those who participated in Ou's re-establishment of daimyo were filled with smiles.

When Xiu's family arrived at Baoyuan City, Kazushi Nakamura was already holding two heads and waiting for Xiu's inspection.

"Your Highness, this is the head of two thieves, Ouchi Jotsuna and Otsuna, who were beheaded by the banner samurai Hirano Kazunosuke and Kunitomo Tesaburo, and request an inspection of the heads."

How can the Xiu family inspect the heads? It is said that this work is handed over to the general for inspection, but in fact it is all done by the military division/military head.

Not to mention that Xiu's family is not the general of Baoyuan City now, even if he is, he will be in charge of his old lady Tian Zizheng.

The Nakamura Kazushi would not fail to understand this truth, Toyotomi Hideji was the general general in this battle, the reason why the head was presented to the Hide family was just to sell the Hide family's favor and want to draw in the relationship.

Hideka signaled his attendants Shigehiro Hojo and Keisuke Ota to take over the head, and then handed it over to Toyotomi Hideji's family elder, Maeno Nagayasu, who would be in charge of the inspection of the head, so that neither side would be offended.

(End of this chapter)