Great name!

Chapter 296 Honganji: Stop fighting!
The news of Oda Nobuo's defeat in Iga could not be concealed at all. As soon as he arrived at Azuchi Castle, he was scolded by Oda Nobunaga in Hiroma.

He was also unwilling to give up, and pleaded in front of Oda Nobunaga: "Father, please give me another chance. Give me 20,000 soldiers and I will definitely defeat the Iga ninja."

When Nobutora heard this, he said, "You are going to send 20,000 troops, then what can I use to attack Honganji? If I don't take Honganji, how can I take over the two fiefdoms of Izumi and Kawachi?"

He immediately questioned, "How do you think you can take down Iga with these 30,000 troops, Lord Nobuo? Iga is a small country with few people, and they are all ninjas. As for the number, we have no idea. If we rashly lead a large army into Iga, I think we will just repeat the same mistakes."

When Oda Nobuo saw that it was Tsuda Nobutora who opposed him, he was so angry that his teeth were itching. After all, the Tsuda family was a supporter of Oda Nobutada!
He quickly looked at his father Nobunaga. After all, Tsuda Nobutora was the best warrior in the family, and his words still carried a lot of weight.

However, Oda Nobuo is Nobunaga's son after all. Even though his son is a waste, Oda Nobunaga still wants to give Nobuo a chance.

"Nobuo, is there anything else you want to say?"

Oda Nobuo was overjoyed and said quickly, "In fact, I have another plan. Iga mainly follows the lead of Baichi Santaifu.

These ninjas love money. I plan to bribe Baidi Santaifu and others with a large sum of money to let them agree to let me build a castle in Maruyama, Kobe, and recruit local people to work. "

When Nobutora heard this, he sneered and said, "Lord Nobuo is so naive. You are about to invade Iga, how could Momochi Santaifu agree to you building a fortress on the border of Iga?
Even if Baidi Santaifu agrees, it will be a trap. I estimate that the fortress you built will only be a cage full of traps. Once the troops are sent in, they will be wiped out.

Although those ninjas love money, they are not stupid when they see money."

Oda Nobuo was unable to refute for a moment and could only glare at Nobutora.

Oda Nobunaga was also a little embarrassed. After all, Nobuo was his own son, and it was embarrassing for him as a father to be described as useless by Nobutora.

Nobunaga asked, "What do you think about the situation in Iga?"

Nobutora replied, "The Iga clan attacked Nobuo-sama's troops, which shows that they do not take the Oda clan seriously. We must send troops to suppress them.

However, the issue of Iga is not the most important thing. The most important thing now is to deal with the Honganji. Once the issue of Honganji is resolved, with the strength of the Oda family, wouldn't it be easy to deal with Iga?
Furthermore, we don’t know the details of the situation in Iga yet, so we need to send people to find out the situation in Iga, and it would be best if we could recruit the ninjas inside to work for us.”

When Oda Nobunaga heard this, he realized that what Nobutora said was the right choice.

He looked at Oda Nobuo with some disgust and said, "Don't worry about Iga's affairs. Wait until Honganji is dealt with first."

Oda Nobuo did not dare to refute and could only bow his head in agreement.

Nobutora slowly stood up, walked to Oda Nobuo, squatted down, and whispered: "Sir Nobuo, I advise you to do less and make fewer mistakes, hahahaha."

Oda Nobuo raised his head and glared at Nobutora, his teeth chattering.

Xinhu chuckled, stood up and left.

Oda Nobuo shouted in a low voice: "Tsuda Nobutora, I cannot coexist with your Tsuda family!"

Several slow-moving elders looked at Oda Nobuo and shook their heads slightly. Akechi Mitsuhide muttered, "Except for the status of Lord Nobunaga's son, what else can you compare with Lord Jingzhao Yin?"

Akechi Mitsuhide shook his head slightly. A mediocre person wanted to be an enemy of Tsuda Nobutora? How funny! Akechi Mitsuhide was so outstanding, but he was no match for Tsuda Nobutora!

The matter of Oda Nobuo was just a small episode for the Oda family. The really important thing was the war against Honganji.

This time, the Oda clan assembled an army of 40,000, with Tsuda Nobutora as the commander-in-chief to attack Honganji.

Faced with the aggressive Oda army, Akira immediately asked for help from the Mori family. The Mori family also urgently sent navy to Osaka Bay. At the same time, Ashikaga Yoshiaki sent letters to various lords, especially Echigo.

However, Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo had died of a sudden illness in March, and the Onate Rebellion broke out within the Uesugi family, greatly damaging their strength. Uesugi Kagekatsu, who had taken over the throne, had no spare energy to advance westward.

This is also the reason why Oda Nobunaga dared to send a large army to attack Honganji. Now that Uesugi Kenshin is dead, he no longer has any worries!

Now, Tsuda Nobutora led a large army to surround Honganji on three sides on land, but did not order a general attack. He was waiting for the situation at sea.

The key to the attack on Honganji this time lies in the sea. As long as the Oda navy defeats the Mori navy, Honganji will be isolated and helpless. In this situation, even if Honganji fights hard, it will be dead.

On the sea, the Oda clan navy, led by Kuki Yoshitaka, marched towards Osaka Bay with great momentum!

Kuki Yoshitaka led the Yano clan, the Eba clan, Kudo Yusuke, Chizakuji Kyuemon-no-jo and others into battle.

The main force was seven large ships, one of which was a white Antaku ship and the other six were iron-clad Antaku ships.

The Oda navy set out from Kumanoura with the wind, heading straight for Osaka Bay, and fought with the Kii navy of the Honganji faction that sailed from Saigaura and Tanawaura in the Tanawa area.

The Kii navy sent out many small boats to surround and attack the Oda clan's ironclad ships with arrows, but failed to cause any effective damage. Kuki Yoshitaka ordered the ironclad ships to fire back with cannons in all directions, and then sailed seven large ships into the Kii navy's formation, deliberately approaching the enemy, and then took the opportunity to bombard the enemy ships with the large barrels on the ships, successfully sinking most of the Kii navy's ships.

The Kii navy suffered a crushing defeat and fled in all directions.

Now the Kii-Shima Channel from Ise Bay to Osaka Bay was unobstructed, and the Oda navy soon arrived at Sakaimachi in Osaka Bay.

The Oda retainers who stayed behind in Sakaimachi conveyed the news of the arrival of Kuki Yoshitaka's navy to Tennoji Castle.

After receiving the news, Nobutora immediately reported it to Oda Nobunaga.

Afterwards, Oda Nobunaga, together with Konoe Maehisa, Hosokawa Akimoto, and Isshiki Yoshisada, went to Sakai to inspect the ironclad ships.

After returning to Sumiyoshi, Oda Nobunaga summoned Kuki Yoshitaka and rewarded him with 20 gold pieces, 10 sets of royal robes, and two Hishibaki origami boxes. He also gave Kuki Yoshitaka and Takigawa Ikmasu 1,000 men to support them. The three generals on Takigawa Ikmasu's white ship, Inukai Sukezo, Watanabe Sane, and Ito Magoto, also received 6 gold pieces and royal robes.

When the Mori family learned that the Oda navy had blockaded Osaka Bay, they no longer delayed and immediately sent Kodama Norihide and others to lead 600 warships to attack, vowing to completely destroy the Oda navy.

The Mori clan's navy came in a mighty force, and Kuki Yoshitaka immediately led the Oda clan's navy to fight. The two sides met in the sea south of the Kizu River mouth.

When Kuki Yoshitaka saw the enemy warships, he arranged his fleet in a line.

The Mori army continued to deploy the "Butterfly Formation", and led by Kodama Norihide, they began to use the tactics of dividing and encircling the Kuki navy.

Kuki Yoshitaka seemed unable to resist the enemy, and the attacks of the matchlock muskets on the ironclad ship were unable to stop the approach of the swift-moving Murakami navy. The slow-moving ironclad ship was soon surrounded by the Murakami navy.

After Kodama Norihide's fleet surrounded the Oda army, Murakami Takeyoshi moved southwards, attempting to directly cross the blockade. At this time, Kuki Yoshitaka led his ships to attack the Mori fleet. Due to the shallow draft of the Kobaya ship, several of the Mori army's warships were directly knocked over. Murakami Takeyoshi was shocked.

The Mori navy tried to repeat the tactics of the first Battle of Kizugawaguchi, using "roasted fire arrows" to attack the Oda army with fire. However, because the ironclad ships were tall and covered with iron sheets, the fire arrows could not penetrate the hulls and fell into the water. The bullets fired by the iron cannons were also bounced off. Murakami Takeyoshi's plan failed, so he had to change his tactics and use his advantage in numbers and speed to approach the ironclad ships in an attempt to board and engage in a battle.

Murakami Takeyoshi sent five fleets to attack the Oda army. Just as the Mori navy approached, the Oda army used large cannons to attack the command ship where the Mori navy's general was.

Under the command of Kuki Yoshitaka, Oda adopted a concentrated fire tactic, concentrating all firepower on one ship, and a single salvo directly destroyed several of the Mori navy's advance command ships.

The admirals on the ship, including Murakami Takeyoshi, were so frightened that they dared not approach any further.

Kuki Yoshitaka looked at it and laughed, "The Mori navy is nothing to be afraid of, my men, kill them!"

He personally led the fleet to advance and sank dozens of Maori warships in succession. The Maori navy had no strategy to deal with the enemy and could only watch their warships being destroyed one after another.

In the end, Murakami Takeyoshi and Kodama Norihide had no choice but to order a withdrawal.

The Mori navy suffered a crushing defeat in Osaka Bay and lost hundreds of warships. Afterwards, they fought with the Oda navy in the waters near Harima and were defeated again with heavy losses.

Now, the Mori navy did not dare to go to Osaka Bay at all. The navy retreated to the west of Iyo and no longer advanced eastward.

The Mori family lost its naval advantage and its prestige plummeted.

When Oda Nobunaga learned the news of the great victory in the naval battle, he even clamored that he would destroy the Mori clan and unify the world within five years!

Now, the Oda clan has once again blockaded Osaka Bay, and Honganji is completely isolated and helpless.

Only then did Nobutora take action and arrange a siege on Honganji Temple.

Nobutora commanded the Oda army to clear all the strongholds at the foot of Honganji Mountain, trapping Honganji on the stone mountain.

Honganji Nobunaga obviously did not want to surrender. While he was defending Ishiyama, he sent people down the mountain and into Kyoto to try to negotiate peace with Oda Nobunaga.

However, Oda Nobunaga was not satisfied with the conditions proposed by Honganji, and Honganji Nobunaga would not give in easily, so the two sides continued to be deadlocked.

Nobutora has received Nobunaga's letter and is doing everything he can to defeat Honganji.

Nobutora did not delay any longer. He ordered his men to pull the artillery to the foot of Honganji Mountain. Then the Oda army dug the earth and built the mountain day and night, and soon built a small hill dozens of meters high.

The artillery was then transported to the top of the mountain. Tsuda Naganobu personally supervised the battle. He pointed his sword at the Ishiyama Honganji Temple and shouted, "Fire it!"

Under the command of Tsuda Naganobu, the artillery team fired shells without hesitation and hit the temple directly.

Inside the Oda clan's main camp, family elders such as Niwa Nagahide were extremely surprised when they saw this scene.

Niwa Nagahide said in horror: "Jingzhao Yin Palace, there will be divine punishment for bombarding the Buddha."

Nobutora smiled and said, "I have never seen divine punishment, so I don't know if it exists, but I know the punishment of Lord Nobunaga. Lord Niwa, whose punishment do you think I should worry about?"

When Niwa Nagahide heard this, he was speechless for a moment and could only watch silently.

Inside the Honganji Temple, shells continued to fall into the temple, many rooms were destroyed, many monks were killed or injured, and even some monk officials came to cry and complain that some golden Buddha statues were destroyed.

Xianru, who was hiding in the main hall, shouted angrily: "Tsuda Shintora, this evil man is unforgivable! He will definitely be punished for destroying the Buddha's golden body like this!"

The monks below cried out, "Master, what should we do?"

Xianru gritted his teeth and insisted: "We should not be afraid, the Buddha will protect us. We must persevere and pray to the Buddha to punish us!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a shell shattered the eaves and directly hit the Buddha statue in the hall. Xianru was so frightened that he was stunned. Xiajian Zhongxiao hurriedly shouted: "Hurry up and take people to the secret room!"

The monks hurriedly carried Xianru and others to the secret room for refuge.

Xianru, who was pinched on the philtrum, screamed and came back to his senses. He turned pale and trembled all over. He said hurriedly: "Xingcheng, go outside the city and tell Jingzhao Yindian that our Honganji is willing to negotiate peace with the Oda family unconditionally. As long as we are saved, any conditions can be agreed to!"

Upon hearing this, Jiao Ru burst into tears and said, "The glorious Honganji Temple is now destroyed in an instant!"

When everyone heard this, they all covered their faces and cried.

Shimomana Nakataka ran down the mountain holding a white flag, and when he saw Tsuda Shintora, he cried out, "Your Majesty, Jingzhao Yin, stop fighting, stop fighting!"

When Nobutora saw Shimomura Nakataka like this, he felt a little sad. This guy was indeed a talented person.

He said bluntly: "Xiejian Zhongxiao, what are you talking about? You said you don't want to fight, so don't fight!"

Xia Jianzhong Xiao did not dare to be stubborn, he quickly said: "Master is willing to surrender, as long as you can save your life, we can agree to any conditions!"

When Nobutora heard this, he knew that Honganji had been defeated.

He said directly: “Since you all said so, let’s not fight for now.

Go back and tell Kennyo to abdicate and give the position of the head of Honganji to Kyonyo. At the same time, Honganji will be moved to Kyoto and divided into two parts. Kennyo's second son will inherit the other half of Honganji."

Shimomama Nakataka looked at Tsuda Shingen in astonishment, thinking that this move was too cruel. From now on, the Buddhist kingdom on earth envisioned by Honganji would probably become a luxury.

But what else could he say now that things had come to this? Honganji was already a fish on the chopping board, waiting for the Oda clan to slaughter it.

Heartbroken, Nakataka Shimomura returned to Honganji in a daze and proposed the conditions proposed by Nobutora Tsuda to Kenshin.

Xianru yelled, "Damn you Tsuda Shintora! You thief, you thief!"

Shimomana Nakataka reminded, "Master, Jingzhao Yin Palace has only given us half an hour. When the time is up, continue to attack the city."

Xianru shuddered, then closed his eyes and waved his sleeves, saying, "What else is there to say? Go tell Jingzhao Yindian that I will lead people to leave Honganji and go to Kyoto to pay homage to Nobunaga-dono."

(End of this chapter)