Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

"The Sawayama Chamberlain has sent five hundred reinforcements." The Sawayama Chamberlain was none other than Oda Nobuhiro, who had obviously heard the news and wanted to come and help Shichibei.

Even though Oda Nobuhiro was the successor force to the Kii Province campaign, sending 500 men wasn't a big deal. Moreover, to ensure that Shichibei had capable men under his command, Oda Nobuhiro directly dispatched Higo Ieyoshi, a fierce and fearless general who always rushed to the front lines in sieges.

"Good!" Nobunaga clapped his hands in agreement. Oda Nobuhiro was Shichibei's father-in-law, so it was only reasonable for the father-in-law to stand up for his son-in-law after he was beaten.

Shichibei's own forces were a motley crew from Echizen, Omi, Mino, Ise, and Owari. The news spread like wildfire, and every Oda clan commander scattered across the land heard that Shichibei had been beaten.

No, I have to go and help out.

Since you're coming, so am I. Hideyoshi, who was building Nagahama Castle, directly dispatched Hachisuka Koroku and Yamauchi Kazutoyo, bringing four hundred elite samurai and foot soldiers. He clearly understood that when going to war with Shichibei, there was no need for any logistics personnel; they were all combat soldiers, the kind you could count on.

After that, Takigawa Kazumasu, Niwa Nagahide, Mori Yoshinari, Sakuma Nobumori, and even Hanawa Naomasa, who was fighting at Honganji Temple, and Oda Nobutada, who was reorganizing his troops in Gifu, each sent several hundred men.

When Shichibei's army of over four thousand men had assembled, Tokugawa Ieyasu of Okazaki in Mikawa surprisingly ordered Torii Mototada to lead three hundred men to reinforce him. They claimed they were willing to pave the way for Kawamura-dono, clearing paths through mountains and building bridges over rivers.

Oh my!

He was truly popular; everyone knew he was Kawamura Shichibei, the kind-hearted man from Owari. Even Nobunaga himself hadn't expected that his senior retainers would completely set aside their factionalism, with both new recruits and Owari veterans coming to assist Shichibei.

Firstly, Shichibei is kind-hearted, even willing to lend a hand to a scoundrel like Kitabatake Nobuo; the key is to avoid offending anyone. Secondly, Shichibei is the Oda clan's biggest source of wealth, and it's a rare opportunity for them to demonstrate their power. Who wouldn't be happy to help Shichibei?

If Shichibei were a brave and skilled warrior, knowledgeable in weaponry and armor, he might have aroused suspicion. But as everyone knows, Shichibei couldn't even kill a chicken; he was utterly useless.

He was mediocre at everything – spear, bow, and sword – and even trembled when firing a cannon.

In the words of Gamo Ujisato, this person lacked the magnanimity to seize power. It's not that he lacked generosity or decisiveness, but rather that he lacked the leadership qualities of a ruler or monarch.

In the Warring States period, a man who was even anxious about firing a cannon could not gain the support of a group of valiant warriors. It was said that killing one was a crime, slaughtering ten thousand made one a hero, and slaughtering nine million made one the hero among heroes.

Nobunaga was not ashamed of being called the Demon King; on the contrary, he was pleased with the title and slaughtered countless people, who were all terrified. He was the ruler of the land.

"Who will lead the army?" Nobunaga asked the samurai kneeling on either side of him, pointing to a rough sketch of Tanba Province.

Chapter 337 The younger brother gets punished

Good question. When Shichibei heard that Ikuno Ginzan was in danger in Sakaimachi, he quickly mobilized a large army to Sakamoto Castle. At the time, his plan was to relieve the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao; as long as he could bring Akai Naomasa's troops back from Takeda Castle in Tajima, the problem would be solved.

But Nobunaga's thoughts now clearly go beyond that.

If we only consider Shichibei's 4,000-plus men, and add up to Nobunaga's current ostentatious entourage of about 2,000 men who travel with him wherever he goes, the total would be around 6,500.

Although Akai Naomasa is just a country bumpkin, he is quite powerful, with territory spanning Tanba-Hyoukami District, Amada District, and Kero-ro District. He could easily mobilize four or five thousand men, and if he really wanted to defend a castle, six thousand men wouldn't be an exaggeration.

After all, in the Western Regions, apart from the coastal areas where trade flourishes, the remaining mountainous areas are places where poverty breeds wickedness. The poorer they are, the more combative they become, and apart from war, which offers a quick path to advancement, it is extremely difficult to escape the mountains through other means.

I still remember that Mimura Motochika, a wavering vassal state of Bichukuo with a total population of only about 100,000 koku, managed to muster 20,000 men. It was truly a remarkable sight during the Warring States period.

Nobunaga and Shichibei now have over six thousand men, and another six thousand have come from various places to support Shichibei. Although this is very small compared to the Oda clan's total force of over 120,000, these are all people who sent them specifically to help Shichibei protect the Ikuno Silver Mine out of respect for him.

Even Asai Nagamasa sent Endo Naotsune with 500 men to embolden Shichibei. His words were the same as Tokugawa Ieyasu's: "Be the first to storm the castle, the first to rush into battle. If you need our help, just say the word, and we'll be there without batting an eye."

Thus, the army numbered 13,000, plus Mitsuhide and Hosokawa Fujitaka's 7,000 men, making a total of 20,000.

Are you going to hand over 20,000 men to Shichibei? That's ridiculous! That's ridiculous! That's ridiculous!

Although everyone came out of respect for Shichibei, it was absolutely impossible to entrust so many people to his command. Even if Oda Nobunaga didn't say anything, Shichibei himself wouldn't be happy about it.

They weren't really planning a fight; their only goal was to force Akai Naomasa to retreat. They also wanted to tell Akai Naomasa not to provoke Ikuno Ginzan. Although Oda Nobunaga was far away, Ikuno Ginzan's chief steward, Tsukikawa Shichibei, was right there.

When it comes to attacking Takeda Castle, I'll keep my eyes wide open and figure out if I can even move.

Yamana Hirotoyo handed over the Ikuno Ginzan mine so that he could retire peacefully and die in his hometown of Tajima. It must be said that his move was very successful. He first mobilized Shichibei, then Akechi Mitsuhide, and finally, as expected, alarmed Oda Nobunaga.

If Nobunaga were to take action, several high-ranking officials would inevitably die as a sacrifice to the heavens.

"Since our lord has arrived..." Although Akechi Mitsuhide was the commander-in-chief of the Tanba campaign, since Nobunaga had come, what else was there to say?

"Shichibei, you..." Nobunaga didn't answer, but stared at Shichibei.

"Your Majesty?" If Shichibei goes by himself and doesn't fight, but just threatens Akai Naomasa, then Shichibei has some confidence.

If I were to command such a large force to besiege Kuroi Castle, I wouldn't be confident. This Kuroi Castle is no ordinary castle either. It was built during the Kenmu era by Akamatsu Sadenori and has been expanded and reinforced over the generations. Currently, it completely surrounds Kuroi Castle Mountain (elevation 356). The mountain is the castle, and the castle is the mountain.

Layer upon layer of curved walls, endlessly repeating, covered the main gatehouse at the summit. Stone walls and open moats were also constructed, and to reinforce weak points, three-meter-high earthen ramparts were built, topped with deer walls. The entire mountain was fortified, with virtually no weaknesses.

Two hundred meters west of the main castle, there is a smaller castle protected by earthen ramparts on all four sides, called Nishinomaru Curved Wheel. The ramparts are very steep and difficult to climb. Objectively, this protected the western side of the much deeper Kuroi Castle, forming a series of defensive structures.

In addition to the main castle and the Nishimaru, there were five branch castles, starting from the residences below the main castle and extending to the fortified outposts in the surrounding mountains. This formed a dense defensive system, and Akai Naomasa himself was renowned for his bravery.

Back then, Naito Munekatsu had the idea of ​​killing him, and even borrowed tens of thousands of reinforcements from his brother Matsunaga Hisahide and his lord Miyoshi Nagayoshi, but in the end he still couldn't do anything to Kuroi Castle.

Historically, when Akechi Mitsuhide first attacked Kuroi Castle, he was besieged for two months, and had almost no effective means of attacking the castle.

The second attack on Kuroi Castle involved first capturing Yagami Castle, belonging to the Hatano clan, an ally of the Akai family, thus cutting off the Akai family's external support. They then invited Hashiba Hidenaga to build Kaneyama Castle in the western part of Hikami District to prevent reinforcements from the Mori clan.

It took a year and five months of attack to force Kuroi Castle to surrender.

By the way, as an aside, Kasuga no Tsubone, a powerful figure in the early Edo period, was born in Kuroi Castle. After Saito Toshimitsu helped Mitsuhide conquer Kuroi Castle, he was granted a fief of 50,000 koku in Hikami District and became the lord of Kuroi Castle.

Now, if Shichibei were to take the castle, he knew he didn't have the ability of Akechi Mitsuhide, nor the time and energy to besiege the castle for a year and a half.

"If we're going to attack the city..." Nobunaga scratched his head, a rare occurrence for him.

Siege warfare was a difficult problem throughout Japan, and Nobunaga himself was not particularly skilled at it. Everyone hoped to engage in open battle, annihilate the enemy's manpower, and then easily capture the castle.

Hideyoshi was skilled at both building and attacking castles; no wonder he eventually conquered the country. He truly had the ability. Without some tricks up his sleeve, how could he have subdued all the feudal lords of Japan?

"I am not skilled in attacking cities." Shichibei finally decided not to compete for the position of commander-in-chief.

"Very well, I'll go with you." Nobunaga knew Shichibei's skill level, and in the end decided to go himself.

Yamana Hirotoyo is not a particularly capable general, and he probably won't be able to hold Takeda Castle for long. Including the time for sending messages and assembling, nine days have already passed. Takeda Castle is likely already on the verge of collapse; we must send troops immediately and cannot hesitate any longer in Sakamoto.

At Nobunaga's command, the 20,000-strong army immediately set off. However, the first stop for Yamashiro upon entering Tanba was Naito Joan and Utsu Yorishige in Kuwata District. Originally, it might have taken some detours, but they sent someone out of the castle to say that since they were going to fight Akai Naomasa, as long as the Oda army did not commit any offenses, they would not attack the Oda army.

Good grief, they've really gone too far.

It's understandable, though. They were still quite ambitious in their fight against Akechi Mitsuhide and his forces. But when they saw Oda Nobunaga's Yongle Tongbao horse emblem and his seemingly endless army, they wondered why he would stand up for his mortal enemy, Akai Naomasa, when the enemy wasn't after them.

They'd love for Naomasa Akai to die quickly; his death would be the best outcome.

After passing through Kuwata District, they entered the territory of the Hatano family. At this time, Hatano Hideharu and Nobunaga had a very good relationship. The two were friends who exchanged New Year's gifts and wrote letters to each other. Although they couldn't be said to be as close as gold, they were at least drinking buddies.

Upon hearing that Nobunaga was personally leading the troops, Hatano Hideharu did not hesitate to open the castle gates and rush out to greet Nobunaga by the roadside. At least for this moment, the Hatano family was still on Oda's side.

To be honest, Nobunaga was quite bold. That very night, he chose to stay at the Yagami Castle residence arranged by Hatano Hideharu, and even held a banquet with Hatano's retainers. Hatano Hideharu even said that the Regent's arrival was too sudden. If he had been notified in advance, he would have mobilized a large army to follow him and held a grand banquet to entertain the generals of the Oda army.

Good, good, good. We're practically brothers at this point. I wonder if we'll have one more wine glass to make in the future.

Thinking about it this way, Shichibei hasn't seen the three sake cups of this dimension yet, namely Asakura Yoshikage, Hori Hidemura, and Higuchi Naofabu. He wonders if Nobunaga has already done it or not.

The army continued its advance, and needless to say, Akai Yukiie, the younger brother of Akai Naomasa who remained at Kuroi Castle, immediately sent an urgent report to his brother. Oda Nobunaga personally led an army to Kuroi Castle, numbering at least twenty to thirty thousand men.

His entire family numbered only a few thousand, while Nobunaga's force numbered twenty to thirty thousand. It would be a lie to say that Akai Naomasa wasn't panicked. However, he was a figure of considerable influence, and since he couldn't capture Takeda Castle, he gradually withdrew his troops and retreated back to Kuroi Castle.

"First published on 705u.com - Book Club"

He also thought that the Oda army was an outsider, unfamiliar with the roads of Tanba, and that he could quickly return to Kuroi Castle and defend it. Unfortunately, he completely underestimated Akechi Mitsuhide, this hardworking and ambitious man.

After receiving the mission to conquer Tanba and Tango at the end of last year, Mitsuhide constantly tried to win over the powerful clans of Tanba. Oda Nagaaki, whom Shichibei met earlier, was from Tanba. Mitsuhide didn't leave his mark on history for nothing; he sent out many yabushi (unofficial spies) to investigate and understand the terrain and roads of Tanba.

If he hadn't been so familiar with the roads, how could he have miraculously escaped from Kuroi Castle and returned to Sakamoto after being betrayed by Hideji Hatano?

He hadn't properly scouted the route he took back to Sakamoto after his defeat at the Battle of Yamazaki, and was hit on the head with a hoe by an old farmer halfway there.

Tut tut...

Thus, the impressive scene unfolded: Oda's army had already arrived at Kuroi Castle, while Akai Naomasa had yet to return to the castle. After casually capturing a few peasants and learning that their wicked lord had not yet returned from battle, Oda Nobunaga, who had initially hesitated about attacking the castle, suddenly displayed a surge of arrogance.

Because Hosokawa Fujitaka's 1,500 men and Nobunaga's main force of 1,000 men remained at the foot of Yagami Castle as a supply line maintenance force, Mitsuhide's several thousand men were intact and directly assigned to western Hikami District to intercept Akai Naomasa on his return.

Nobunaga himself took over Shichibei's 600-man cavalry unit. Since it wasn't the first time he had used it, he was quite comfortable with it and used it as a envoy and personal guard.

Horse archers played a relatively minor role in sieges or attacks on mountain fortresses. After all, Black Well Castle was located on a mountain 356 meters high. It wasn't that we looked down on the Japanese archers, but the Japanese archers simply couldn't reach such a high place.

It was far inferior to a musket. Although it couldn't hit anything, at least by raising the muzzle, it could fire wildly at the city walls, making them unable to raise their heads.

Gentlemen, show yourselves! Your lord sent you here, and you're all quite impressive.

So Hachisuka Koroku and Yamauchi Kazutoyo attacked Tada Fortress, Endo Naotsune attacked Noba Fortress, Torii Mototada attacked Higashiyama Fortress, and Haigo Ieyoshi attacked Senjuji Fortress—all were attacked. Taking advantage of the Akai clan's main force being absent, these fortresses were each garrisoned by only a hundred or so men. Even if it's on a small hill, do you all think you can't take it?

Upon hearing that there were hardly any soldiers in the city, the generals were filled with courage and high spirits, and they all set out with their troops.

Chapter 338 Akai Naomasa is good at martial arts

Sure enough, no matter how impregnable your city is, how strategically important or fortified it is, it's all for naught if no one is defending it.

The brave generals who came to support Shichibei, with their elite troops, launched a fierce attack on the fortresses that were only defended by a few dozen men. The fastest to arrive were Hachisuka Koroku and Yamauchi Kazutoyo, after all, both of them were Nobunaga's vassals, Hashiba Yoshiki, and it was necessary for them to make a good impression on the spot.

In particular, Yamauchi Kazutoyo, carrying his own cypress-patterned banner, led more than twenty retainers and foot soldiers to be the first to scale the wall. Nobunaga seemed to recognize the cypress-patterned banner and, pointing at it, asked if the man's name was Inoemon.

Yes, yes, yes, Shichibei and Yamauchi Kazutoyo are quite close. He immediately identified himself as Yamauchi Inoemon Kazutoyo. He used to be your lord's centurion, having been promoted several times and risen through the ranks by accumulating merit.

"After the war, the amount will be increased to two thousand koku," Nobunaga instructed his attendant who had come with him.

First, it was copied into Nobunaga's schedule, then informed of Hideyoshi Hashiba, who had 120,000 koku of land in Nagahama, and then Hideyoshi found a territory of 2,000 koku for Yamauchi Kazutoyo.

"My lord is so kind!" Shichibei quickly expressed his gratitude on behalf of Yamauchi Kazutoyo.

While Kazutoyo Yamauchi's fame was partly due to his good wife, it was his younger brother, Yasutoyo Yamauchi, who truly reaped the benefits without any effort. If Yasutoyo Yamauchi got a wallet for free, then Kazutoyo Yamauchi at least had to bend over several times to find it.

Moreover, although he fell in love with Chiyo, who was more than ten years younger than him, the deep affection between the two was genuine. Besides Chiyo, Yamauchi Kazutoyo had no concubines and therefore left no direct descendants.

"That's done too." Nobunaga ignored Shichibei and pointed in the direction of Endo Naotsune of the Asai army.

Upon hearing this, Shichibei spurred his horse and turned around, and sure enough, he saw that the banner of Asai Mimori's armor had already rushed up the hill on the other side of the castle. The Asai soldiers were throwing fire arrows into the fortress; although they might not burn anyone, they might just set something on fire.

While firing fire arrows, several samurai were ramming the wooden door. The door teetered precariously before collapsing. The Asai soldiers roared and charged into the fortress.

Clearly, within a single day, these branch castles of Kuroi Castle would fall swiftly due to their weak defenses. Akai Naomasa never imagined that his fight against the half-dead Yamana Hirotoyo would attract the attention of a formidable figure like Oda Nobunaga.

This is a huge loss, really!

No, Akai Naomasa probably didn't have a maternal grandparents' family; his grandmother died long ago from anger caused by him. Even during Japan's Sengoku period, Akai Naomasa was considered a ruthless, heartless, and unreasonable person. After his elder brother, Akai Iekiyo, died in battle, he assisted his nine-year-old nephew, Akai Tadase.

And then what? He sidelined his eldest nephew, imprisoned his own father, and seized control of the Akai family. If that were all, one could call him a ruthless and ambitious leader.

The key point is that, as the second son in the family, he was originally adopted by his mother's younger brother, Ogino Akiyoshi. What he did was, after being adopted into the Ogino family, he killed his adoptive father and wife, and ruthlessly purged the entire Ogino family. Even his current residence, Kuroi Castle, was taken from his adoptive father, Ogino Akiyoshi.

He had committed countless murders, but he was truly brave, even killing Naito Munekatsu, who was known for his bravery.

In just a few years, they built the largest sphere of influence in the Akai family, taking over almost all of the three districts of Hijō, Kōro, and Amada in Tanba. They also basically suppressed the Ashida and Adachi clans, becoming a regional power.

What would happen if such a person encountered the hard-working Mitsuhide Akechi in the field?

If Mitsuhide were ten years younger, he would truly be an unparalleled warrior. But now, Mitsuhide is nearly fifty years old and no longer possesses the bravery of wielding his broadsword on horseback with lightning speed, cutting through the crowd like grass.

They ran into Naomasa Akai, who was equally talented and several years younger. The two fought a fierce battle, with neither able to gain the upper hand.