Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

This doesn't seem like Takeda Katsuyori, who, to prove he was superior to his father, led the Takeda clan's personal foot soldiers to attack Takatenjin Castle. In the end, Takatenjin Castle was captured, but the Takeda clan's direct military forces suffered heavy losses, and the new territories gained in Tōtōmi were insufficient to compensate for these losses.

When it comes to war, it all comes down to whether it's worthwhile or not.

To sacrifice hundreds of regular foot soldiers for the sake of Takatenkami would be utterly insane. But to sacrifice two hundred regular foot soldiers for Inabayama would be entirely worthwhile. After all, once Inabayama falls, the resistance forces in Mino will completely collapse, making Nobunaga's rule over the entire Mino region inevitable.

Having established the preconditions, the subsequent inferences become quite logical. Nobunaga detached half of his standing army to attack the castle, leaving him with only one or two thousand standing troops.

If you were Long Xing, would you take a gamble tonight?

At this point, we're not really talking about military strategy or tactics. We're mainly discussing the psychology of a gambler—whether they'll bet everything at once, going all in.

The key point is that the so-called standing army for sieges is just a hypothetical scenario. Nobunaga could simply find someone to attack a castle under his own banner, while reducing the number of banners in his own main camp by half, deliberately luring Tatsuoki into a trap.

If Long Xing is a gambler and willing to take a gamble, he might be able to leave the city.

After leaving the city? That's your problem, Nobunaga. I, Kawamura Shichibei, won't kill anyone.

In any case, this won't harm Nobunaga's elite main force, allowing other reserve units to attack the castle under Nobunaga's banner. Whether it succeeds or fails, the dead are just common soldiers, and as we mentioned before, common soldiers are even less than foot soldiers if you break them down. It doesn't matter how many of these soldiers die; in fact, if more die, the rewards to be paid after the battle will be much less.

As for whether the grunts could break through Inabayama?

Not to mention that it is almost impossible, if it were possible, it would be best to break through. After gaining the entire Mino province, would Nobunaga still lack the territory of a few miscellaneous soldiers?

"So you're using me as bait, huh?" Nobunaga's tone didn't suggest any urgency; he was simply considering the feasibility of the idea.

In any case, for Ryūshō, only Nobunaga's main force outside the city was a worthwhile target to attack. As for the others, his forces alone were simply not enough to sweep them away.

This was a truly magnificent battle for Nobunaga. Besides the 20,000 troops from Owari and Nakano, there were also 5,500 from Seino and 2,000 from Mikawa. The total force was approaching 30,000, surrounding Inabayama Castle like an iron barrel.

Even if Ryūshō launches a night raid outside the city and defeats any three to five thousand men in any given unit, it will be to no avail. Only by killing Nobunaga, or at least causing Nobunaga's main force to collapse, will he have a sliver of hope.

Apart from Nobunaga, no one was able to mobilize Ryūshō, who had only a thousand or so soldiers left.

“That’s right!” Shichibei immediately agreed.

The plan I just mentioned, with Nobunaga's main force of 3,000 regular troops remaining inactive, is merely a temporary halt. To be honest, with those 3,000 men, if they encounter a motley crew of peasant conscripts, miscellaneous soldiers, and ronin, even 10,000 men would be utterly useless.

When we met at Shotoku-ji Temple, Nobunaga had 500 arquebuses, and now our forces have a thousand. You think you can deliver a thunderous blow with just three or five hundred men? You'll learn your lesson when you're bombarded by a thousand arquebuses.

"Let's do it this way." Nobunaga hesitated for only a moment before ordering his soldiers to take down their banners and hand them over to other soldiers.

The only potential weakness is that the troops sent to attack the city are not very strong and do not seem to be Nobunaga's standing army. Therefore, it is necessary to find someone willing to sacrifice themselves to drive the soldiers to fight.

Who would be suitable to go?

Shichibei instinctively said that Hideyoshi was suitable.

Upon hearing this, Nobunaga smiled, a meaningful smile, and then came over and patted Shichibei on the shoulder, saying that Shichibei and Hideyoshi were truly "good friends".

Yes, Shichibei and Hideyoshi are genuine relatives, and their relationship is indeed quite good. What does Nobunaga mean by saying this?

Without time to think it over, Nobunaga ordered someone to summon Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi's eagerness is well-known; upon receiving the order, he rushed over like a whirlwind. Following him, many of his generals arrived one after another. Nobunaga explained Shichibei's idea, and since Nobunaga's own troops hadn't moved at all, there was naturally no objection.

Give it a try; if you can bring up Longxing, that's a success.

Hideyoshi, however, had another plan. He said that he had recently met a samurai who was originally from the Horio family, a retainer of the Iwakura Oda clan. After the Iwakura clan fell, the samurai fled to Mino and lived near Mount Inaba. Because of his long stay there, he knew that there seemed to be a trail that could be climbed on the back of Mount Inaba.

Therefore, Hideyoshi requested Nobunaga's permission that if Ryūō was transferred out of the castle and the main camp at Zuiryuji Mountain began fighting, he should immediately attack Inabayama from the rear. Regardless of the situation at the main camp, he should send men to attack Inabayama from the front to relieve the pressure on him to sneak up on the castle from the back mountain path.

At that time, attacking Inabayama from both sides will make it easy to break through the castle.

Oh! Nobunaga highly approves of this strategy, saying that Hideyoshi has done a great job. If this strategy can be successfully implemented, Hideyoshi will be the one who achieves the greatest success in the Battle of Inabayama.

After all, Inabayama Shiro and Ryuko's heads are tied for first place, with no clear order of priority. Whoever obtains either one will be credited with the greatest achievement.

Meeting adjourned. Let's begin preparations immediately.

"Brother, who is that samurai?" Shichibei immediately asked Hideyoshi after the meeting.

Hideyoshi really struck gold; he actually managed to run into someone who knew the trail behind Inabayama Mountain and even recruited him. You really have to be a chosen one; you get a whole package of talented people along the way.

"Hori Yoshiharu, whose father is Horio Yasuharu, a retainer of the Iwakura family, do you know him?" Hideyoshi stated the name directly.

"Oh... I don't recognize him." It turns out to be "Buddha's Heart Mosuke". I should have made my move first.

Why didn't I think of this when I accepted Takenaka Hanbei? What a pity. Horio Yoshiharu was quite a figure; among Hideyoshi's early retainers, very few could reach the rank of 120,000 koku.

None of the Four Heavenly Kings of Hashiba survived to the Battle of Sekigahara. Among those who had formed a bond of brotherhood with Hideyoshi in the early days and were relatively loyal, very few lived long and died peacefully.

"Alright, I'll get back to work now." Hideyoshi was indeed busy these next few days because he had to disguise his troops as Nobunaga's regular foot soldiers.

Moreover, it's highly likely that it won't be the Hachisuka faction or the Tsubouchi faction that are involved, but rather his own foot soldiers and retainers. At most, the two factions will provide some assistance. With his small number of retainers and the thirty-odd foot soldiers that Nobunaga assigned to him, a wave of them is bound to die.

Sigh, if you want to climb up, you have to step on other people's blood and flesh to get there.

After two days of this clandestine maneuvering, the Saino troops had indeed put in the effort, suffering over a hundred casualties, which could be considered a token of their loyalty. Finally, their offensive faltered, and they were replaced by the "enraged" Nobunaga.

Nobunaga's regular foot soldiers were also encouraged and went to the front of the castle, preparing to attack. In order to make it look more convincing, Nobunaga still provided support with two hundred arquebusiers.

They fired lead bullets at Inabayama Castle like they were free, until the gun barrels got hot and they had to rest. Otherwise, the people inside the castle might not have believed that the attackers were Nobunaga's personal guards.

After being bombarded by two hundred arquebuses, Ryūō finally confirmed that this was half of Nobunaga's main force.

He observed Nobunaga's main camp from within the castle and noticed that half of Nobunaga's troops and banners were missing. The other half was clearly below the castle. Although Nagai Michitoshi advised him to observe further, Tatsuoki couldn't wait any longer.

Because some people had already fled the city overnight, it's unknown whether they surrendered to Nobunaga.

With such a fierce attack, and knowing that Inabayama Castle had no reinforcements, the morale of the soldiers would waver within a few days, and eventually a large-scale exodus would begin.

Historically, after the Battle of Yamazaki, Akechi Mitsuhide originally planned to use Katsuryuji Castle to hold off Hideyoshi's allied forces for three to five days, so that he could escape back to Sakamoto Castle, recruit soldiers, and make a comeback.

As a result, the seven hundred soldiers of Katsuryuji Castle did not defend the castle at all. Upon hearing that Mitsuhide had lost, they opened the gates and fled. Mitsuhide even worried that if he entered the castle, he would be captured and handed over to Hideyoshi. Therefore, he could only flee to Sakamoto with three or five attendants.

Since Ryūshō had made up his mind, Nagai Michitoshi and Hineno Hiroshi didn't say anything more. They decided to take a gamble and hope that they could replicate the Okehazama surprise attack.

The Oda clan's 28,000-strong army was spread across numerous independent hills and key roads. To the Oda army, this might have been a very tight encirclement. But for the native Ryuko and his companions, every inch of the encirclement was an opening, offering plenty of opportunities to infiltrate.

As night fell, Nobunaga sat upright in his main camp, closing his eyes to rest.

Seeing how calm he was, Shichibei didn't dare ask him if Ryūkō would be coming that night. However, Sasa Narimasa and Maeda Toshiie knelt beside Nobunaga like Vajra protectors, with long spears polished to a gleaming shine beside them that afternoon.

It was more like two sharpened daggers mounted on a wooden handle than a spear. The spear was almost half the length of the shaft, and only a strong and fierce samurai like Maeda Toshiie could wield such a weapon on the battlefield.

They waited and waited, and it was past midnight, but Long Xing still hadn't appeared. All around was extremely quiet; even the birds and beasts had been frightened away by the army and couldn't make a sound.

Just as he was feeling dazed, Shichibei suddenly heard a soft click as a sword was drawn from its sheath. It was faint, but strangely jarring. He then abruptly opened his eyes and saw that Sasa Narimasa and Maeda Toshiie were fully armed and holding spears, with dozens of samurai foot soldiers standing guard on either side of them.

At the same time, my ears, which had regained consciousness, heard a faint rustling sound. Then came a deafening order to fire, and hundreds of arquebuses roared to life, and many figures suddenly appeared on the hillside.

It was already three or four in the morning, a time when people are usually sleepy. The sun hadn't risen yet, but it wasn't too dark around anymore. The shouts of battle, accompanied by the roar of arquebuses, filled Shichibei's ears completely.

As expected, Saito Tatsuoki still went to the gambling table, deciding to lead two or three hundred of his most elite samurai foot soldiers in a surprise attack on Nobunaga's main camp at Zuiryuji Mountain in an attempt to turn defeat into victory.

85. Robbery and Counter-Robbery

"You little brat, you dare to rob me!"

Sailing two boats, carrying swords, weapons, and provisions, they had only been on their way from Tsushima for a short time. They were about to disembark at Inuyama and be transported to Inoguchi when they saw four or five samurai on a small boat opposite them.

They're clearly defeated samurai; two of their helmets are missing. They're trying to escape by boat. They saw my two ships full of military supplies halfway there and were planning to pull off a heist, hoping to get some initial capital before becoming outlaws, right?

The samurai on the small boat shouted and brandished their swords and spears, threatening Kotaro. If he were facing a proper samurai, Kotaro would have knelt down and kowtowed.

The defeated samurai...

"Hey guys, wanna make a little money?" Besides Kotaro Kaiso, two of Shichibei Shinchi's retainers also carried swords and spears.

The other five or six men from the family carefully considered the situation. They saw five men on the other side, one of whom was clearly injured and not considered a serious fighter. So they decided to go for the four decent ones. With nine of them and two boats, they decided to pull off a heist.

Today it's my turn to go out and hunt warriors!

The defeated samurai opposite him clearly had no cannons or bows and arrows, only a sword in his hand. "Then I'll definitely bully you a bit," Kotaro So commanded his ship to slowly approach, then raised an oar and smashed it down on one of the samurai.

The samurai hadn't expected that the lowly merchants would not only refuse to surrender but also attack him. He was immediately beaten half to death by the oars and collapsed, exhausted. The samurai behind him then realized their mistake and prepared to board the boat to kill Kotaro, but little did they know that two of Kawamura's men were already wielding long bamboo poles, thrusting them at him in a crisscross pattern.

One poke and they were thrown into the water. The small boat was practically a canoe, with five people sitting in a straight line, making it impossible to turn around. Otherwise, they wouldn't have had the idea of ​​stealing the boat after seeing Kotaro's.

With this small boat, if they reached the mouth of the Kiso River, a wave could very well sweep them all into the sea.

They had barely met when one was knocked down and another fell into the water, leaving only two standing. They were immediately in a panic. But panic was no use. Although the two samurai from Kawamura-ya were mediocre killers, they had some experience in battle. They instructed their men to ram the boat. The samurai rammed the canoe, and the standing samurai on board immediately began to rock violently.

"A good opportunity!" the crowd shouted. Zong Xiaotaro used his oar again, knocking the older samurai overboard and into the water. The last samurai suddenly opened his mouth.

Upon hearing the name, Kotaro and the others were almost incredulous and immediately stopped. They even sent some men to retrieve the two samurai who had just fallen into the water, since the samurai who served this person must be valuable.

........................

"Where is Ryushin? Where is Ryushin? I only ask where Ryushin's head is!" Nobunaga demanded of Sasa Narimasa.

Three thousand men fought three hundred men in the night, flanking them from both sides, and killed more than two hundred. Why didn't they kill Saito Tatsuoki? Did Saito Tatsuoki grow wings and fly away?

"We are searching. Once found, we will present it immediately." Little did Sasa Narimasa know.

The hillside was littered with the corpses of Saito's and Oda's armies. Even Ryūō's elite soldiers managed to kill several dozen of Nobunaga's men before finally collapsing.

However, Long Xing chose a good time to attack; by the time he was defeated, it was still dawn. Long Xing, being a native of Daoye Mountain, rolled into the ditch and vanished instantly.

It might only be a fleeting moment before it's gone forever.

Without finding the source of the dragon's power, Nobunaga's conquest of Mino was only half successful. After all, the source of the dragon's power was the best claim to Mino. Any lord who supported the source of the dragon's power could easily attack Mino.

At that time, the people of Mino will definitely be in turmoil. After all, in the chaotic Warring States period, one must always choose sides and make choices. If a powerful and influential daimyo supports the rise of the new dynasty to fight against Mino, then the unsettled local lords in Mino will surely find their supporters.

"Could they have escaped by boat across the Kiso River?" Shichibei blurted out this jinx without thinking, after all, he was the one with the foresight.

"You, you go find one too!" Nobunaga was unusually anxious, pointing at Shichibei and ordering him to run and find a ship.

Sasa Narimasa searched on land, while Shichibei searched in the water; they wanted to see him alive or dead. At the same time, they immediately sent a messenger to Takikawa Kazuyoshi of Kanie Castle, ordering him to mobilize his network of connections in northern Ise to search for any possible whereabouts of Ryūgen.

Knowing he had run into trouble, Shichibei shrank back and ran away, but halfway there Nobunaga called him back. Nobunaga ordered Shichibei to also search for the merchants scattered throughout northern Ise, and not to give up until he found the Dragon's Origin.

Yes Yes Yes.

Nobunaga then kept a close eye on the battle situation at Inabayama Castle. Hideyoshi, who had taken a detour through the back mountain last night, had now begun his siege of Inabayama.

Meanwhile, Mori Yoshinari, the lord of Sekijo, led his troops in a fierce attack on the main gate of Inabayama Castle, dispersing the already limited forces inside the castle and making it difficult for Inabayama to defend itself.

Clearly, Ryuuichi hadn't escaped back to Inabayama Castle. If he had, the shouts of battle wouldn't have been so subdued. Presumably, some of Saito's samurai had already begun their escape, abandoning all resistance.

Both the north and south sides of Inabayama Castle were under crisis, and soon the banners of the Oda clan appeared inside the castle. When Mori Yoshinari entered the castle, someone with a dozen soldiers opened the siege tower for him, welcoming him in and allowing him to occupy the high ground.

Upon inquiry, he learned that he had already communicated with Nagayoshi-dono, Shichibei of Kawamura, and even possessed his handwritten letter. Mori Yoshinari thought to himself, "You brat, you won't open the gate, leaving me only an arrow tower; you're just a fence-sitter." But he only ordered his retainers to escort the man out and continued the attack on the main citadel of Inabayama Castle.

Inabayama Castle has fallen.

When the sounds of fighting in the Honmaru Palace subsided, Nobunaga knew that Inabayama had now been taken over by the Oda clan. However, he had examined all two hundred heads of Saito's soldiers on the hillside, and even had Saito Toshiharu examine them as well, but none of them belonged to the Oda clan.