Pillars of the Wu family

One autumn rain and one cool, the last light rain in September hastily dissipated after two days. Compared with the torrential torrential rain in July and August, this level can only be regarded as drizzle.

In Asahiyama Castle of Shinano Kingdom, Takeda Noburen sits straight in a wide room with hundreds of samurai sitting side by side on both sides of him. One ring, Yoshitoki Kira, the governor of the Ashikaga family.

Suzuki shook his head deliberately again and said disdainfully: "You mean to discuss a truce with the two sides, and to exchange oaths and never fight in this Shinano country? Is this a request made by the Takeda family? I'm not dazzled. ? Or did Takeda Taizen not wake up when he made his decision, and he used his random instructions to fool me?"

Kato Koaki then joked: "It would be worse if I didn't wake up! The dignified guardian of Kai wrote a post and handed it to me at Kira's house without waking up. This is a big joke! Don't you think so?"

"Hahaha..." A group of samurai burst into laughter, making Nobuda Takeda tremble with anger but he dared not get angry. As a diplomat in the territory set by the enemy, he must be prepared to be insulted by cold violence.

Noburen Takeda lacked experience, but fortunately he was still clear-headed. He suppressed the flames in his heart for a while, and then took a deep breath and said, "Please respect yourselves, Kira warriors! My lord is the descendant of the Kai Genji family and is responsible for more than four hundred guardians of Kai. For this year, no matter what the reason is, you should not speak disrespectfully to my lord, and I would like to express my strong dissatisfaction and anger on behalf of the Takeda family for the frivolity in your words!"

This time, Kira's retainers didn't laugh, but changed to deal with him in another way, and Takikawa Tokmasu suddenly went up against the crime.Angrily taunted: "Your Takeda family is really good. The last battle at Hachimanhara hasn't taught you enough lessons! It was you who invaded Shinano. You were beaten and had no power to fight back, so you were forced to ask the Imagawa family to ask for peace. It’s also you, it’s you who turned around and assassinated me, and it’s you who were attacked by me and were unable to fight back. It’s you who created the anti-Echigo alliance again this year, and now you are sitting in Asahiyama Castle to discuss peace, tell me , where is your face? Why should we save face for your Takeda family?"

"You...you are simply hateful!" Takeda Noburen stood up with a whoosh.

Reluctantly, the dagger at his waist was taken away early, and he could only glared at Takikawa Shimao with those slender eyes.Only then did he realize that the height gap between the two was a bit big. Takeda Noburen's height was only about 1.5 meters five, which was more than a head shorter than the tall and burly Takikawa Tokimashi, especially his iconic moon. Taking the lead is completely different from hundreds of people in the hall.

Kira's family forbids shaving the weird hair of the moon head. If the samurai think that the hair is too long and it will affect the wearing of the pocket, they will simply shave all the hair. The samurai family didn't really like the crescent hair style popular in the West, and they still insisted on the traditional hairstyle of combing one hair bundle.

"Is this the legendary unparalleled fierce general Takigawa Keijiro? He really is a ghost-like figure!" Takeda Noburen was frightened by this huge monster, and his aura was immediately suppressed by Takikawa Tokimashi.One of his arms is thicker than his thigh, and his small body is simply courting death to resist such a monster-level existence.

"Takeda Daizen was two months ago. The offering of prayers at Sarake Hachimangu Shrine in Gengaki County, and the Punishment Palace also participated in it, must be a fresh memory?" Ben was staring at him for a long time, his eyes flickering With a cold light like a knife.

As soon as he entered Xia Takeda's house, he brought a large army into Beixinano. After ten months, the confrontation was established, and he ran to the Sarake Hachimangu Shrine in Gengaki County to pray for the end of the war. In the article, he wrote that the people of Shinano attacked each other. Harunobu Takeda couldn't bear the misery of the people, so he raised his army in anger and determined to unify Shinano to solve the crisis. Now, the ruler of Hokuriku invaded Shinano with his own desires, destroying the country and destroying the people. Therefore, I pray to the Hachiman Bodhisattva to defeat the invading enemy and return to Xinnong Qingping Paradise.

When Takeda Harunobu's behavior angered Kira Yoshitomo, he also angered tens of thousands of Echigo's soldiers. In Kira Yoshitoki's eyes, Takeda Harunobu was a brazen villain, and every word and deed revealed despicable behavior. This world belongs to the Ashikaga family The world is not the private territory of any family or country. The Kamiso Ashikaga family is the royal family of the Ashikaga family. Even if he does not have Shinano guards to occupy the Shinano country, the shogunate will not have much opinion, let alone Shinano in terms of law. Guard the right to control the Shinano country as a matter of course.

"Ministry of Criminal Justice, restore and tell Takeda Dazen that our family has no intention of negotiating peace with him in any form. It is unforgivable to repeatedly violate Shinano. How dare you dare to assassinate your family. This year, in order to deal with your family, you have concocted such an anti-Echigo alliance. Such behavior Let the family hate Takeda Dazen's capriciousness, and we are ashamed to talk to you unfaithful people! Get out!" Yoshiki Kira's disgust for the despicable behavior of the Takeda family is obviously extremely disgusting, so he doesn't Give him a chance to speak, and as soon as he finished speaking, two samurai escorted Noburen Takeda out of Asahiyama Castle.

As the envoy of the Takeda family, Nobuhiro Takeda was humiliated unprecedentedly. This slap hit Takeda's face and another layer of skin was peeled off. The blood dripping made the Takeda family samurai both hate and fear. He simply refused, and without even a chance to make a show of reasoning, he was driven back to Chajiu Mountain in despair.

Hearing the humiliation suffered by his younger brother, even Takeda Harunobu, who was unusually tolerant, couldn't help but change his face: "The Kira family is so ruthless! Kira Yoshishi did not leave a way for my Takeda family to survive at all. This is his use of actions. Tell us, has he made up his mind about the Takeda family?"

He expected it to be right, and then the Kira family issued a general order, to the effect that this time they would go all out to deal with the untrustworthy Takeda family. As long as there is the power of the Takeda family in Shinano, the war will continue regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The guard whose information fell into the hands of Takeda Pudai's vassals had a wonderful expression on his face.

The Kira Legion is in the name of standing, but it implements an out-and-out policy of separating soldiers from peasants. It is a trivial matter to support thousands of standing reserves with a strong economic foundation. However, the organization is not as strict as Nagao Jinghu's latest military service system.This kind of full-time army, which is extremely close to standing, has extremely high morale.As long as the climate permits, it can be played at any time of the year.

Shinano's autumn harvest is coming to an end.At the last moment, Takeda’s army still cannot end the war. According to the usual practice, the two sides should find a decent place to strike and go home for the New Year, and wait for the next spring to bloom or a warmer summer before going out to fight. This is the Warring States Period Everyone follows the unspoken rules of war.

This time, Yoshitoki Kira made it clear that he would reject this unspoken rule, calling out that Takeda would not fall down and fight endlessly, elevating the Takeda family to the level of a life-and-death enemy, showing the strong sentimentality of the general guarding the government.The character of clear likes and dislikes, and the extreme demands on the virtues of the samurai, have placed a great psychological burden on many unscrupulous Chinese people.

Since the birth of the samurai civilization, what has been emphasized is loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and courage. We can see one or two from the common characters. Also with "loyalty", it can be seen that the samurai society attaches great importance to the four characters of loyalty, faith and bravery.

But the actual situation is exactly the opposite of the expectation. Since the Genpei era, the most likely to emerge in the samurai group is the unfaithful, filial, benevolent and unrighteous people.The descendants of the Genji family in Hanoi were jointly exterminated by the royal family, and the Kamakura shogunate was destroyed in the internal struggle between the royal family and the Hojo Tokuzu clan.Now the Muromachi shogunate has messed up the good shogunate because of a disaster, and it is not far from the end.

A daimyo like Takeda Harunobu who started his career by overthrowing his father, is inherently contemptuous of the so-called loyalty and bravery. It is common sense for his allies to be betrayed and betrayed. Whether he believes in this set of "dross" or not, he has to talk about "" Favor is a friend, hatred is an enemy" routine, but this time, Kira Yoshitoki's words peeled off the skin to reveal bloody flesh and blood.

The friendship between the monarch and his ministers is deeper, and the brothers of the Takeda family are not as good as Kamiyoshi Yoshitoki and Nagao Keigora. They are not brothers, but the relationship between brother-in-law and brother-in-law. The abnormal system of Echigo’s duopolitical system is not known by Takeda How many times have you made jokes on behalf of the crowd, but there has never been a bloodbath, let alone drawn swords.

Kira's vassal regiment is famously stable, and the Mikawa samurai's "boring" temperament has also become famous all over the world. Since the Kira family rebelled in Shangluo eight years ago, I have never heard of any retainer who was killed by Kira Yoshi. For more than a year, he directly participated in the suppression of the rebellion, and when dealing with rebels such as Honjo Shigehiro, Hojo Takahiro, and Kurokawa Kiyomi, they were only punished by confiscating their territories, and turned around and took them as direct retainers. It is more like pardon than punishment .

The only other commanding country that the Kira family has sent to Echigo so far is the Shinano country. The official title of the guardian of Shinano from the shogunate further strengthens the legitimacy of his expedition to Shinano. Don't say that the Shinano country belongs to the shogunate. The 66 countries in the world are all owned by the Ashikaga family. It is not a new thing for the shogunate to change the guardian. The Shinano guardian is not always controlled by the Ogasawara family. It is not a big deal to change the guardian.

When Shinano was the guardian of Kirayoshi, the former guardian of Ogasawara was in the Echigo side. The Takeda family had absolutely no reason to fight Shinano in terms of legal principles or morals. Guardian, compared to the imperial court shogunate in Kyoto, not the Kai family in the nest of Toriyama, his advantage is only a few allies in the countryside.

"Don't be afraid of them! The Kira family has no allies, and it's our advantage to be surrounded by enemies. It's not a fake plan to go up and attack him, but he can't do it well." Takeda Harunobu could only try his best to find reasons to persuade himself not to panic, He himself knows why the Kira family doesn't want allies, and what allies does he need?Does the Ashikaga family have any allies?No!The dignified Genji doesn't need allies, because all the warriors in the world are his retainers.

Does the useless Furukawa (Furukawa Ashikaga) have allies?There are two Uesugi families who are considered allies. One family was exterminated and the other was almost exterminated in the Kagoe night battle with the Furukawa family. The Hirashima family (Awa Ashikaga family) is just a canary. Big plus never mentions automatic ignore.

The Kamiso Ashikaga family is not as good as the General Ashikaga family, but it is better than the Canary Awa Ashikaga family and the useless Furukawa Ashikaga family. How many people does he need to be allies with?Being an ally is tantamount to pulling the other party to the same level as oneself. The dignity of the Kamisakashi family does not allow them to bow their knees and negotiate an alliance with the little daimyo of the Eastern Kingdom.

Therefore, the Kira family has been lacking in interest in the so-called alliance from the beginning to the end, and there are some similar things in the information held by the Takeda family. Feeling humiliated, the Ashina Mori family would be so direct to the Anti-Echigo Alliance.

Takeda Noburen was very annoyed at being humiliated, but he still had to say something: "Brother, I didn't expect the Kira family to reject it so simply. Are we really going to be dragged here and can't leave? This news will be known by Jiro sooner or later." , when the time comes, the morale of the army will be unstable, please make a quick decision, brother!"

Fan Fu Huchang caught sight of the Pudai crowd wanting to speak, and immediately said first: "No matter what, the morale of the army must not be disturbed! We must strike back with dignity and return to Kai. This is the bottom line that must never be given up. Let the Kira family start a unilateral war. If we go back to Jiafei, Kira's family will be able to follow suit, the only plan for now is to fight to the death to be afraid of Kira's army, and let them take the initiative to negotiate peace, I wonder what Gao Baizhai thinks?"

"Afraid of fighting the Kira Army? The Ministry of War is not joking with us! If we could defeat the Kira Army, we would have fought it long ago. Why wait half-dead on Kawanaka Island..." Nagasaka Mitsuken suddenly found that he could not continue.

The next thing to say is that the Takeda family advocated the Anti-Echigo Alliance. In the end, when they hit Kawanakajima, they found that they were still unable to fight. Even though they were outnumbered, they still attacked abruptly for two or three months, and the Takeda family, which had the advantage in strength, became the defensive side.

The countermeasures of the Takeda family passed at an extremely fast speed, and the attack on Kaizu Castle was to be strengthened. Takeda Harunobu ordered [-] Shinano national troops to go to Kaizu Castle to help in the battle. They hoped that by capturing Kaizu Castle, they would deal a major blow to the Kira Legion and force them to give up. The idea of ​​the Takeda family is very clear about the attempt of unlimited war. Will you Echigo people go home when the mountains are blocked by heavy snow in winter?As soon as Haijin City is lost, there is only a piece of land south of Xichuan. Do you still want to fight?

At the end of September, the weather was getting colder. The samurai took off their thin autumn clothes one after another. When Ji Liangyi heard the latest information in the castle tower of Asahiyama Castle, he sneered and said, "Isn't this a trick to promote peace? I didn't expect my family to use Takeda Haru trusted my Kira family with the previous method, but do you think this is really useful? Do you really think that the family cares about Haijin City? A joke!"

Nobushige Takeda received the support of [-] troops, and the division expanded to more than [-]. Compared with the less than [-] defenders in Kaijin Castle, there was an absolute gap again. Conscripted into the army to build simple siege equipment, they were driven by the Takeda army to undertake the most dangerous work as civilians in the engineering army.

Thousands of peasants pushed flatbed carts full of mud and stones, and under the cover of the Takeda army rushed to the bottom of the city to unload the mud on the carts, and fled back desperately with the flatbed carts, but the peasants were naked on the top with no armor and no cover. The armored Takeda army is so conspicuous, the defenders on the city will not be merciful just because they are civilians, as long as they meet the civilians pushing carts to the city, they will greet them with a rain of arrows, and when they encounter arrows with no head and no face Yu only had time to scream and collapsed to death.

The Takeda army dared not be exposed to the rain of arrows with their rifles, and hurriedly ordered the trembling civilian husbands who hid behind the formation to fill up and continue pushing the carts. The civilian husbands who came up to push the carts were shot to death again and again, sometimes mixed with The screams of the unlucky Takeda Army being shot to death by Ruya through the gap. (To be continued..)

ps: ps: It is true that Harunobu Takeda sent a prayer at Sarake Hachimangu Shrine.In many literary works, the two generals are described as heroes and cherish heroes. The model of mutual appreciation is wrong. The two are enemies who want you to die. Including Kenshin Uesugi, who later did not ban the sea salt transportation of Kai, it is not a serious relationship. , but there are deeper reasons.