Great name!

Chapter 305: Mingzhi must die, and the world will change again

Although Akechi Mitsuhide didn't want to admit it, he could already see fire in the distance and a fire dragon was moving forward quickly.

Akechi Mitsuhide could only force himself to calm down and deploy the main camp towards Settsu.

"Go to Kyoto quickly and have Guangchun lead troops to support us."

"Quickly send someone to investigate and see who is leading the troops here!"

Several mounted warriors immediately charged into the night.

Not long after, a mounted samurai with an arrow in the back ran back and came in front of Akechi Mitsuhide, and several samurai stepped forward to help him down.

The warrior barely raised his head and gritted his teeth and said, "Master, the enemy has a Yabusame team, and our scouts can't get close!"

Akechi Mitsuhide slammed the table and cursed: "The Yabusame of the Tsuda family only fights with the head of the family. Before it was Tsuda Nobutora, now it is Tsuda Nagatobu! Tsuda Nagatobu did not go to Shikoku, this is treason!"

Akechi Jurozaemon, Saito Uchizosuke and others looked at the angry Akechi Mitsuhide and didn't know what to say.

"My attack on Kyoto was a last-minute decision. How did Tsuda Nobutora know about it?"

After scolding, Akechi Mitsuhide calmed down and noticed something unusual.

Akechi Jurozaemon said, "Master, it is useless to think about these things now. Let's think about how to deal with the Tsuda family's army."

Akechi Mitsuhide took a deep breath and said, "The Tsuda clan is marching here in a hurry and cannot fight for long. Our army relies on this place and fights with our backs to the river. As long as we wait for Mitsuharu to come to rescue, we can defeat the Tsuda clan."

"You will go and lead the various units immediately and hold out until Guangchun comes to rescue us!"

Saito Uchizosuke, Okuda Miyauchi, Mimaki Sanzaemon and others stood up and left the main camp.

Akechi Mitsuhide did not find out the situation of the Tsuda army clearly and could only make judgments based on past experience.

However, Akechi Mitsuhide ignored the previous speculation that Tsuda Nobutora had already been prepared for this matter.

This time, the Tsuda army came along the main road, with all their weapons and equipment loaded on horse-drawn carriages.

The other soldiers followed lightly equipped and galloped along.

Ahead there were Yabusame troops, cavalry troops, and ninjas scouting the way and keeping watch.

A distance of one hundred miles would take at least ten hours of forced march. Tsuda Naganobu was ready on the morning of June 1st. After receiving the letter in the afternoon, he marched towards Kyoto.

"Hurry up, speed up, we'll be in Kyoto soon."

Tsuda Naganobu rode his warhorse, waving and shouting.

At this time, Tsuda Nobukatsu came running with several samurai on horseback and shouted, "Brother, Akechi Mitsuhide has set up an array on the street leading into Kyoto to block our way."

Tsuda Naganobu replied: "Tell Keiji to lead the cavalry and yabusa with Tokinaga to harass the enemy and buy time for our army to deploy its battle array!"

Nobukatsu Tsuda nodded, immediately turned his horse around and ran to the front to give orders.

Tsuda Naganobu looked towards the direction of Kyoto. Flames shot up into the sky, illuminating it red.

"Father, hold on, I'm coming to save you!"

Tsuda Naganobu's eyes became more determined, and he continued to loudly urge the 5,000 Tsuda troops to keep moving forward.

He sent more than 10,000 miscellaneous soldiers to Shikoku, led by his sworn brother Tsuda Nobuyasu.

As for these five thousand elite soldiers, three thousand were the elite Ise clan, who followed Nobutora and migrated to Settsu.

The remaining two thousand were the Settsu people in training.

These five thousand soldiers are the result of many years of hard work by Nobutora Tsuda.

Soon, the two armies were less than 500 meters apart, and Akechi Mitsuhide could see the fully armed Tsuda army. He felt relieved when he saw this scene.

"No matter how powerful the Tsuda Army is, they are probably at the end of their strength after running all the way from Settsu to Kyoto fully armed. Tell all the troops to defend their formation immediately!"

As Akechi Mitsuhide's military orders were conveyed, the various small formations of the Akechi army became more closely connected.

Tsuda Nobutora did not care. He waited for all the troops to form the Crane Wing Formation before launching a fierce attack on the Akechi army. At the same time, the cavalry and the Yabusame troops launched surprise attacks on both sides.

The Akechi army had only about 2,700 troops in formation, but Tsuda Naganobu led more than 5,000 men to attack, and Saito Uchizosuke and others were stunned by the charge.

Akechi Mitsuhide did not expect this situation, as the Akechi army in front had already begun to retreat.

Akechi Jurozaemon quickly pulled up the stunned Akechi Mitsuhide and shouted, "Retreat, retreat quickly, retreat to Kyoto!"

Hundreds of soldiers from the main camp quickly protected Akechi Mitsuhide in his retreat to Kyoto.

When Tsuda Naganobu saw Akechi Mitsuhide's flag moving towards Kyoto, he shouted, "Don't worry about them, rush to Kyoto, quickly!"

The various units of the Tsuda army immediately turned around and headed towards Kyoto.

Akechi Mitsuhide fled in panic. After running for a while, he met Akechi Mitsuharu who came to support him. Akechi Mitsuharu asked in surprise: "Why is the master of the family so embarrassed?"

Akechi Mitsuhide pulled himself together and said, "Mitsuharu, the Tsuda army has more than 5,000 troops. Their attack is too fierce. Our army was defeated in one wave. You quickly form a battle line and stop them here!"

Akechi Mitsuharu immediately gave the order for the more than 3,000 people heading to the headquarters to form a battle line.

Just when the battle line was halfway formed, the Tsuda army arrived. The cavalry team first attacked the Akechi army, which had not yet formed a battle line, and the other infantry teams directly attacked the Akechi army's various battle lines.

Akechi Mitsuharu gave a loud shout and led his team forward to provide support.

"Master, please go first. I will cover your rear!"

Akechi Mitsuhide did not dare to refute and just walked away.

But he didn't run far before he heard many people shouting, "The enemy general Akechi Mitsuharu has been killed!"

Akechi Mitsuhide was so frightened that he could not help but look back. He saw a red-armored mountain devil hooded general holding up a spear with the head of Akechi Mitsuharu with ox-horn hood on it.

"It's over!"

Akechi Mitsuhide knew that he had suffered a crushing defeat this time, and he only hoped to escape and take his wife and daughter to the Mori family.

However, Ogasawara Tokinaga came with the Yabusame team in pursuit and shouted, "Don't let Akechi Mitsuhide go!"

He drew his bow and shot down a wise mounted warrior with one arrow.

Akechi Mitsuhide became even more terrified when he heard the shouts and cries of the pursuers behind him.

When Akechi Jurozaemon saw this, he had no choice but to call on some of the mounted samurai to stay behind to cover their retreat, but in just a moment, they were all shot to death by the Yabusame team.

Akechi Mitsuhide had already fled to Fushimi Street in the southeast of Kyoto. Just as he was about to escape, he saw ninjas standing on the rooftops of houses on both sides of the street with cannons in their hands.

Taro Mitsutoshi shouted, "Akechi Mitsuhide, I've been waiting for you for a long time!"

"shooting!"

"Bang, bang, bang..." A burst of cannon fire rang out, Akechi Mitsuhide was hit by several bullets, and his horse stumbled and fell to the ground.

Akechi Mitsuhide fell to the ground, spitting blood from his mouth. He looked ahead, his body trembled a few times, and then he lost his voice.

Taro Mitsutoshi jumped down quickly, grabbed Akechi Mitsuhide's head and cut it off: "Akechi Mitsuhide has been taken by me, Taro Mitsutoshi!"

Ogasawara Tokinaga, who caught up with them, felt a little regretful. He quickly shouted, "Tara, go to Nijo Palace!"

The Tsuda army attacked Akechi Haruemon's troops who were attacking Nijo Palace with the head of Akechi Mitsuhide. Haruemon resisted for a while but was beheaded by Oniwa Masaaki who rushed over.

Nobutora, who was standing on the top of the city, was relieved when he saw his army defeated the Akechi army. He put down his cannon and said to Shima Sakon, "If Naganobu comes, let him come to the backyard to find me."

Nobutora immediately rushed to the backyard and met Oda Nobutada.

Nobutada was so angry that he vomited blood and fainted on the city wall. Nobutora had him sent back to the bedroom to rest.

At this time, Nobutada had barely recovered some of his spirits with the help of the doctor, but he still looked very sad.

When Nobutora arrived in front of the bedroom, the doctor stepped forward and said, "Jibu-dono, the master of the family is not in good condition."

Xinhu nodded and walked straight in.

Xinzhong heard the footsteps and turned his head to look. When he saw who was coming, he got up excitedly and asked, "Father-in-law, what's the situation?"

Nobutora smiled and said, "Master, Akechi's rebels have been defeated. Fortunately, Nagatoshi arrived with his troops in time. Akechi Mitsuhide has been killed. Now we need you to go and take charge of the situation."

Nobutada was a little puzzled and asked, "Shouldn't Nagatoshi be in Shikoku?"

Shintora shook his head and said, “Nobunaga-dono is too impatient. He asked me to retire and exiled old ministers such as Hayashi Hidetada. Lord Shibata and others are in a panic.

Nobunaga repeatedly beat Akechi Mitsuhide and even threatened to exile him, so I was always worried that Akechi Mitsuhide would rebel, so I asked Nobunaga to pretend to go to Shikoku, and the main force hid in Osaka. "

Oda Nobutada asked: "Since you already know, why don't you tell father!"

Nobutora shook his head and said, "I have already reminded you, but Nobunaga-dono just won't listen to me this time.

Doesn't the head of the family know that Nobunaga-dono has become even more aggressive after the Takeda family was quickly wiped out? "

Oda Nobutada sighed: "I have advised you before."

He thought of his father's actions in recent months, sighed, and shouted, "Come on, get ready, I'm going to Honnoji Temple."

Nobutora helped Oda Nobutada up, and Tsuda Nagatobu just happened to arrive.

A few people then brought a team to Honnoji Temple. There was still fire in the temple, but the place had been burning for several hours and was almost burned out.

When Oda Nobutada saw the Honnoji Temple which was almost in ruins, he burst into tears again.

Oda Nobunaga was dead, deader than dead. The remains of some of his attendants were cleared out, and the black samurai Yasuke was found dead in the front yard, stabbed several times.

Mori Ran Maru was also found, with only a few wreckage left, right at the backyard entrance. It was affected by the fire and was almost burned beyond recognition.

Although Mori Ranmaru was young, he had a high status in the Oda family. He was originally Nobutora's favorite candidate for son-in-law, but unfortunately he died in Honnoji Temple.

At this moment, the sky was bright, the fire in Honnoji Temple had been put out, and the Tsuda army was already guarding key points in Kyoto.

At the same time, Tsuda Naganobu went to the Imperial Palace, explained the situation to the court, and brought Adong and Sanboshi back.

Oda Nobutada and Tsuda Nobutora returned to Nijo Palace. Nobutada was not in a good mood as he was still immersed in the grief of the death of his father Nobunaga.

Ke Xinhu knew that the news of Nobunaga's murder must have spread, and perhaps there was also news that Oda Nobutada and Ta Nobunaga were both dead.

He had to say to Oda Nobutada: "Master, the news of Nobunaga's death has spread everywhere. The Koshin region that we just pacified will definitely revolt, and other forces will also change their hearts. We must prepare early."

Oda Nobutada's voice was a little hoarse, and he said in a low voice: "My father is dead, how can I care about these things? Let's deal with my father's affairs first, and we can talk about other things later."

When Xinhu saw this situation, he had no choice but to stop speaking.

Anyway, the biggest problem has been solved. What follows will just be a few more twists and turns, but they will not affect the overall situation.

The size of the Oda family is there. Although the news of Oda Nobunaga's death will have an impact, when the local governors come back and see that Oda Nobutada is still there, they will stabilize the morale of the army and the Oda family will still be able to sit back and relax.

Nobutora then began to cooperate with Oda Nobutada to handle Nobunaga's affairs after his death.

The imperial court began to posthumously confer official titles on Nobunaga, and at the same time announced Oda Nobutada as the Shogun, and the Oda family was officially established.

It’s just that this time is not suitable for the opening, so this matter will naturally be postponed.

Within a few days, all the elders and retainers of the Oda family gathered in Kyoto to attend the memorial service for Oda Nobunaga.

Everyone had different thoughts and expressions.

The memorial service for Oda Nobunaga lasted for a long time. However, on June 17, the fifteenth day after Nobunaga's death, Saito Kicho finally arrived.

Guidie found Oda Nobutada and asked, "How long do you plan to remain depressed? Do you plan to watch the Oda family fall and your father's life's work be destroyed in your hands?
If that is the case, I will die in front of you today to avoid being humiliated in the future."

Faced with the powerful Saito Kicho, Oda Nobutada did not dare to stab him. He finally cheered up and took charge of the Oda family.

Oda Nobutada immediately convened a meeting of the Oda family, and all the elders and retainers of the family attended.

At the meeting, Oda Nobutada said: "Now my Oda family has been opened, but the position of the shogunate has not been determined. Today I am here to announce this matter.

First of all, there is the shogunate organization. My father had already discussed and finalized this matter with me before.

Under me, I will set up an evaluation committee, a year-end committee, and a consultation office. "

As soon as Xinzhong waved his hand, a young man immediately came with a pile of papers and distributed them to everyone.

Soon everyone understood what Nobutada meant by the three institutions.

Shibata Katsuie, Hashiba Hideyoshi, Niwa Nagahide and others all looked up at Oda Nobutada.

Oda Nobutada took out a list and said, “This is what my father and I discussed, and now I am announcing it.

There are seven people on the council, and the chief one is Tsuda Jibu. "

Nobutora didn't expect that Oda Nobutada and Nobunaga still listed him as the chief, so he quickly saluted to show his respect.

The remaining six are Mori Yoshinari, Niwa Nagahide, Shibata Katsuie, Hashiba Hideyoshi, Ikeda Terumasa, and Oda Nobukatsu.

As for the Council of Ministers, there were thirteen people, namely Oda Nobunaga, Murai Sadakatsu, Sakai Masanari, Kawajiri Hidetaka, Tokugawa Ieyasu and others.

Tokugawa Ieyasu fled on the night of the Honnoji Incident, but halfway through his escape, Hattori Hanzo came to tell him that Akechi Mitsuhide had been defeated and Kyoto was still in the hands of the Oda family, so he returned to Kyoto.

Because Tokugawa Ieyasu failed to escape, Anayama Nobukuni did not die and lived well.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who attended the meeting, did not expect that he could get a high position in the shogunate, and he was very happy.

There was only one exception, and that was Takigawa Kazumasu. He lost to the Hojo family in the battle of Kamirugawa and lost his territory in Kanto. It was lucky that he was not killed.

(End of this chapter)