Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

"Come on, come on, follow me!" Shichibei hadn't expected to go into battle, but now that the city gates had been breached, he had to lend a hand.

Since Shichibei had already made a move, the others naturally had no choice but to follow suit. People like Tsuchida Chikakiyo and Kuwayama Shigekatsu were proper samurai who went into battle every year. If Takenaka Hanbei were here, it would be perfect. He could bring his dozens of retainers and charge, and Shichibei wouldn't even need to go himself.

By this time, the battle at the city gate was nearing its end, with only a few dozen men remaining to guard it at night. The remaining fresh troops had been redeployed to defend against Hideyoshi's attack. Yoshida Izumo-no-kami had not expected the Oda army to employ so many tactics.

Seeing Shichibei rushing over from outside the city, Xiao Liu first composed himself, then gave Shichibei a look, the meaning of which was probably, "I've already pledged my love to you, and I'll definitely repay you if I have the chance."

He then led the troops originally intended to remain behind and swiftly attacked the residences within the castle. The reason he didn't go to support Hideyoshi but attacked the residences instead was most likely because the families of the castle soldiers were inside. The best way to undermine the morale of the castle soldiers wasn't necessarily to brandish knives in front of them, but rather to brandish them in front of their families.

At the same time, Hachisuka Koroku ordered all torches to be lit and thrown everywhere to start fires, burning as many as possible. With only two hundred men attacking, beheading them would be difficult; creating chaos was the only way.

In the chaos, Shichibei didn't spot Hidenaga. After securing the castle gates, he immediately searched the ground and found that most of the dead were wearing the armor of the Rokkaku army; thankfully, Hidenaga wasn't among them.

"What should we do?" Zong Xiaotaro looked around, fearing that the Six Corners Army would come to retake the city gate.

"Let's set it on fire, shall we?" Shichibei was actually afraid too; with fires raging all around and shouts of battle, he was terrified.

“I think it’s a good idea!” Kotaro immediately agreed.

With 260 soldiers coming now, Shichibei and his few dozen men and soldiers definitely can't hold the city. In that case, let's just burn down the gate of Minosaku Castle. We'll retreat to the gate, which will prevent the Rokkaku army from retaking it, and the burning down of the gate will also make it easier for reinforcements to enter the city.

In summer, it gets light early. Judging from the situation, it will be dawn in about three hours. By then, the fire will probably be almost burned out, which will be a good time to call the teammates into the city.

"Get moving, set it on fire!" Shichibei shouted.

Seeing a log that Hachisuka Koroku had just used to ram the city gate, Shichibei, just in case, called over a few more men. They carried the log on their backs and rammed it against the fortified city wall several times. The city gate couldn't withstand the ramming, let alone the fortified wall.

Alright, that's good now. Even if Hachisuka Koroku wants to retreat when the city gates are burned, there's an opening for them to escape. They can go in or out as they please.

134. The Six-Cornered Father and Son Abandon the City and Flee (Zhu Xiucai's Three-Jin Crown)

The crumbling gate of Jizuo Castle was quickly engulfed in flames by arson. The massive fire pierced the dark night, becoming a striking sight on the Guanyin Temple plain.

As a castle built specifically by Rokkaku Masayoshi to compete with Rokkaku Takayori, the gate of Minasaku Castle is quite durable, after all, the wood used is quite solid.

The sight of the raging fire at the city gate simultaneously appearing before the eyes of Rokkaku Yoshikata and his son Rokkaku Yoshiharu of Kannonji Castle, as well as Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Oda Nobunaga of Aichi River, was quite different.

The fact that the city gates were set on fire speaks volumes.

The Rokkaku father and son were horrified that Oda's army had breached Minosaku Castle, defended by 3,000 men, in a single day. Nobunaga, on the other hand, was delighted, wondering which of his generals was so valiant, launching a night attack on the castle.

Was it Takigawa Kazumasu? Niwa Nagahide? Kinoshita Hideyoshi?

In short, with the city gates burned to this state, it was clear that Jizuo City could not be defended. The displeasure caused by the loss of a thousand men during the day—the city had been breached in a single day, and three thousand of the defending soldiers had been defeated—had now dissipated.

Capturing Minasaku Castle would create a major breach in the defense system of the eighteen branch castles of Kannonji. Nobunaga's army could then directly pass through Minasaku Castle and besiege Kannonji Castle, forcing the garrisons of the other branch castles to leave their castles and fight in the open to rescue Kannonji.

Field battle? Field battle is great! Nobunaga has 60,000 heavenly soldiers, so he's not afraid of field battles.

Even the Oda army generals who were deploying troops in other branch cities got up to watch the deadly cluster of large spiky flowers in the night.

Perhaps because he had set the fire so perfectly, Horio Yoshiharu arrived panting with twenty men. Maeno Nagayasu had summoned him to check on the siege, wondering how they had managed to burn down the city gates without sending a message back.

It wasn't that they didn't want to send a message, but Hachisuka Koroku rushed in and killed Kuku, so he didn't have time to deliver it. Shichibei arrived but didn't know the details either, so he just "guarded the gate."

Well, the best way to guard the gate is to have no gate at all.

Without gates, defending the city gates becomes a truly challenging task. In short, once a fire breaks out, those inside cannot escape, and those outside cannot enter; the defenses are impregnable.

Also, do you want to go in? There's a gap that's been knocked open on the side. Can I show you the way?

After hearing Shichibei's explanation, Horio Yoshiharu was no longer out of breath and clapped his hands repeatedly, saying that Shichibei was truly a remarkable person. He then dispatched someone to run back and inform Maeno Nagayasu that nothing had happened at the castle gates and that Hachisuka Koroku had already stormed in.

Now all we need to worry about is Kinoshita Hidenaga's situation. How did such a fine young man end up fighting with a gun? What if he loses his life in Minosaku Castle?

With over two thousand men under his command, it's not impossible that Hideaki died at Minosaku Castle.

As dawn broke, fires began to ignite within the castle, accompanied by screams and cries of alarm. Clearly, Hachisuka Koroku had finally stormed the castle and started slaughtering the families, women, and children of the castle's soldiers.

In war, even women, children, and infants cannot escape tragedy.

The father of Yoshida Izumo-no-kami Takashige, the lord of the castle, was Yoshida Shigemasa, the sole inheritor of the renowned Hioki-ryu archery style. However, this gentleman was already eighty-four years old and had long since retired. He did not live in the castle, but rather in Kawakami-no-mura, which was granted a residence by Rokkaku Yoshikata.

It's a bit of a shame; I wonder if the Hioki-ryu archery style will be lost because of this. All four of Yoshida Izumo-no-kami's brothers lived in Minosaku Castle. If history had changed, there probably wouldn't have been much of a tradition of Japanese archery in the future.

As expected, the moment the heads fell upon the families of the city's soldiers, the soldiers, who had been resisting, finally collapsed. Yoshida Izumo-no-kami, who was holding off Hideyoshi on the other side of the city wall, retreated in resentment, with no time to linger.

With his departure, the troops within the city scattered in disarray. Even their commander had fled; who would remain to serve Rokkaku and his son to the death?

Hideyoshi finally breached the castle walls and led his troops into the city. Two sections of the Minasaku Castle walls were breached, and the gates and residences were ablaze; barring unforeseen circumstances, the castle would be abandoned. The stones from the stone walls would have to be dismantled and used to build other castles.

At this point, Hachisuka Koroku finally sent someone out. He thought he had set fire to the castle gates by setting fires everywhere. When he asked, he learned that it was Shichibei who had started the fire. He clicked his tongue twice, jumped over the embers of the fire, and ran like the wind towards Nobunaga's main camp.

You're pretty good at handling things, buddy.

The entire field grew increasingly bright. Takigawa Kazumasu and Niwa Nagahide both sent men to the castle gate to inquire. Meanwhile, inside the castle, Nagahide emerged, covered in soot and sweat. Hideyoshi and Koroku had joined forces, and together they numbered four or five hundred men, completely fearless. They were currently capturing prisoners within the castle.

To put it bluntly, it's kidnapping people; the families of famous samurai can be sold for money. Killing people during battle is done to demoralize the enemy. Now that they've won, they'll stop killing and wait to send people to demand money from the families of these captives.

If they could capture a Yoshida clan samurai, they might be able to directly demand money from Rokkaku Yoshiharu. After all, if a daimyo doesn't redeem a wounded or captured samurai, it's easy for them to lose popular support.

Well, Hideyoshi and Koroku aren't exactly murderers, but they handled this common Warring States period matter very efficiently and professionally.

"Hey, it's a coincidence that Xiao Liu didn't even think about breaking in," said Hideaki while asking Shichibei for a drink.

"What?" Shichibei haphazardly handed over a kettle.

"He was thinking of attacking the city gate and having Yoshida Izumo-no-kami divide his forces. But he found that there were not many people guarding the city gate, and they actually broke in..." Kinoshita Hidenaga obviously did not expect this either.

Got it, no wonder Hachisuka Koroku said he'd bring Hidenaga along. Shichibei's idea was for Hideyoshi to launch a feint attack while Koroku took the main offensive. But in Koroku's mind, Hideyoshi's troops were all samurai foot soldiers recruited with money, and their fighting strength was high. His own troops were water pirates, and their fighting strength was so-so, just passable.

Perhaps a different approach would be for him to launch a surprise attack on the city gate. The gate is undoubtedly crucial, and Yoshida Izumo-no-kami will likely divide his forces to defend it. Then Hideyoshi could break through the walls and storm the city.

Thinking that he was going to launch a feint attack, he brought Hideyoshi along so that Hideyoshi could also share in the credit, or perhaps even take a head or two.

To our utter surprise, the city gate of Jizuo City was defended by only a few dozen men, and most of them were even dozing off. The city collapsed as soon as we charged in. Without further ado, we charged in and started fighting.

That's good. What were the results?

"We killed about 1,500 people, and more than 200 of them were taken as heads." Xiu Chang finished his water and pondered for a moment.

"Oh my, tsk tsk tsk..." Shichibei was indeed astonished to hear that there were more than two hundred heads among them.

Come to think of it, there are 3,000 soldiers in the city. Starting from the lowest-ranking foot soldier who commands a dozen or so men, and counting up to the lord's brothers and family members, there are 300 to 400 samurai.

Hideyoshi and Koroku killed more than two hundred named samurai. The defenders of Minosaku Castle had no choice but to collapse, because most of the officers were dead and no one was organizing the battle.

As the two were talking, Maeno Nagayasu arrived with his troops and quickly entered the city. Climbing the slope into the city was indeed difficult, so it would be better to go through the city gates and control the key passes within the city.

The first Oda family flag with a papaya pattern was erected on the still-standing arrow tower.

"Then the next step is to attack Kannonji Castle." Shichibei thought to himself that Hideyoshi had worked hard and won the first victory in the battle, so he should be satisfied.

"Definitely, they might launch an attack today." Xiu Chang washed his face with water again, finally revealing his human form.

With the passage through Minozuki Castle, Nobunaga would surely lead his troops to besiege Kannonji. The remaining task was to dispatch troops to support Inaba's forces and intercept Tanaka Harube Daisuke's 6,000 cavalry at Wadayama Castle. Then, a full-scale attack on Kannonji would be launched, killing Rokkaku and his son.

At that time, hundreds of thousands of koku of land in southern Omi will belong to Nobunaga, which will not only be enough to reward the meritorious soldiers who participated in this battle, but also increase Nobunaga's own direct territories.

It sounds wonderful.

"Eh!" Xiu Chang suddenly exclaimed.

"kindness?"

"Look, look!"

Following the direction of Xiu Chang's finger, Guanyin Temple City in the distance suddenly became chaotic, and a large number of people could be seen fleeing from the city.

As the main castle of the Sasaki Rokkaku family in southern Omi, Kannonji Castle, although situated on a mountain about 400 meters high, actually lacked both a fortified pass and a vertical moat, making its defenses quite weak. Furthermore, Kannonji Castle had not been attacked by any external enemy for over seventy years, and many parts had fallen into disrepair.

The Rokkaku clan's strategy was to strengthen the construction of their outer outposts, while the main castle, Kannonji, served only as the seat of the state government. With harmonious relationships among their retainers and unity between the ruler and his subjects, this strategy of placing battles on the outer lines, wearing down the enemy through various means, and even voluntarily surrendering Kannonji to force the enemy to divide their forces in four directions, proved very effective.

Historically, the Rokkaku clan also abandoned Kannonji Temple and retreated to Koga to wage guerrilla warfare. Through their loyal retainers and samurai groups, they attacked enemy forces entering southern Omi from all sides, exhausting their strength and gradually wearing them down before finally delivering a fatal blow.

Do the Hexagonal father and son think they can repeat this operation this time?

"No way, no way, no way," Shichibei thought to himself.

Previously, the Rokkaku clan's retainers were united and fought together against the shogun without splitting apart. But now, due to the turmoil at Kannonji Temple, the Rokkaku clan's retainers have scattered, and some have even gone to join their arch-rival, the Asai clan. People like Kondo Kazumori and Goto Takaji, as well as others like Nagata, Mikami, Ikeda, and Hirai, have all wavered.

Who would help him wage guerrilla warfare and harass Oda's army every day? No one would.

"I have to get into the city immediately," Xiuchang suddenly realized.

If Rokkaku and his son really did abandon the castle, then Hideyoshi should immediately send someone to inform Nobunaga and send troops to block the gates of Kannonji. Who enters the castle first is Nobunaga's decision; if Hideyoshi helps guard the gates, that will be Hideyoshi's achievement.

135. If the city gate burns down, you have to pay for it.

Around 10 a.m., Nobunaga arrived with several hundred cavalrymen. He first surveyed the burned and ruined Minosaku Castle, and then asked where Hideyoshi was.

Hideyoshi personally led troops to block the gates of Kannonji Temple, leaving Hachisuka Koroku and Maeno Nagayasu behind. Hard work was one of the hallmarks of Hideyoshi's success; Nobunaga was not at all dissatisfied at not being able to see Hideyoshi, and instead praised him for his dedication and diligence.

Nobunaga wasn't interested in seeing the two hundred heads that had been chopped off inside the castle. He simply ordered his clerk, Murai Sadakatsu, to inspect them and moved on. He was more concerned with how Minosaku Castle had been captured. During the day, Takigawa Kazumasu and Niwa Nagahide's eight thousand men hadn't managed to take the castle, so how had Hideyoshi's two thousand three hundred men succeeded?

Actually, it was thanks to those two that Hideyoshi was able to take advantage of the situation. Those two attacked Minasaku Castle for seven hours, exhausting the castle's soldiers, which gave Hideyoshi an opportunity to strike.

Shichibei remained completely hidden here, not even participating in welcoming Nobunaga. He led his men safely back to Aichi River and continued to oversee the supply lines.

Originally, Shichibei didn't really have any credit for this; it was just a matter of talking. We're all brothers. In reality, it was Hideyoshi and Koroku who went in and killed people. They risked their lives to earn their credit, so why should we argue about it?

However, Shichibei didn't seek out Nobunaga, but Nobunaga did. After Nobunaga entered Kannonji Castle, all the Oda army troops that had been stationed north of the Aichi River crossed the river. The various armies gathered at the foot of Kannonji Castle, and Shichibei had to follow them.

On one hand, Nobunaga ordered Kondo Kasumori, the lord of Kurita District who had already surrendered, to send people to search for the whereabouts of Rokkaku and his son. On the other hand, he began to send people to persuade the castle lords and soldiers of the remaining seventeen branch castles to surrender.

It was predicted that before entering Kyoto, the Miyoshi Triumvirate would inevitably bring tens of thousands of troops to the vicinity of the Uji River to confront Nobunaga. Who would easily surrender Kyoto? Especially since one of the Miyoshi Triumvirate was a shogun who had already received a decree.

Therefore, Nobunaga intended to incorporate all the foot soldiers and miscellaneous soldiers among this group into his own ranks, keeping them in place if necessary. If they won, they could cheer for them; if they lost, they could be left to Miyoshi to kill, thus preserving Nobunaga's main force.

If they actually marched into Kyoto and seized hundreds of thousands of koku of land in southern Omi, along with three to five thousand foot soldiers and miscellaneous troops, Nobunaga could afford to support them.

Historically, Mori Motonari did exactly the same thing. After defeating Sue Haruka at Itsukushima, he took in two to three thousand of Sue's foot soldiers. Then he drove these troops to attack the defense headquarters. If he won, he expanded his territory; if he lost, so be it—it was Sue Haruka's soldiers who died anyway.

This isn't Oda's domain; it's the domain of Akechi Mitsuhide and Hosokawa Fujitaka. After all, the Sasaki Rokkaku clan has long had ties with the Ashikaga shogunate, possessing a large following and significant influence. They need to rely on these shogunate retainers to persuade these potentially related Rokkaku retainers to surrender and resist the imperial army. Forget about losing their territory; at least their families and lives will be safe.

As long as they're alive, there's always a chance to rise again. At worst, they can just seek refuge with Azai Nagamasa. Azai Nagamasa is currently recruiting talented individuals from all over the country to strengthen his retainers and further expand his territory. The Azai clan, which declined during the Hisamasa era, once only had about 100,000 koku of actual control; now it has around 300,000 koku.

Later accounts suggest that Nobunaga's reward for inviting Azai Nagamasa to fight was two counties in Hunan, but Shichibei in this world has not heard of such a claim. Nobunaga simply provided money and provisions, and, under the pretext of supporting Ashikaga Yoshiaki's march to Kyoto, summoned Azai Nagamasa to battle.

To put it somewhat mysteriously, Nobunaga and Nagamasa seemed to have a tacit understanding. Nobunaga's idea was probably to gradually turn the Azai clan from allies to vassals. But at the same time, he needed to help Azai Nagamasa elevate his status and enhance his prestige.

Everyone knows the situation of the Asai family; they were a very powerful local council. Local strongmen like Akao, Hori, Obi, Momo, Endo, and Anyoji wielded considerable influence within the Asai family. They were powerful enough to depose Asai Hisamasa and install Asai Nagamasa in his place.

Despite Azai Nagamasa's apparent possession of nearly 300,000 koku of land, he actually only directly controlled half of Azai District and Ika District. The other three districts were merely alliances of various powerful factions that supported Azai Nagamasa in surviving the chaotic Sengoku period.