Pillars of the Wu family

"My brother is right. Honma Takanobu of the Yumo Honma Clan is a loyal minister, but it is an indisputable fact that the Honma Clan is involved in pirates. As long as Honma Takanobu and the Honma Clan remain neutral, the Honma Clan does not intend to Make things difficult for them, but Kawaharata Honma, who is in charge of the Sado Navy, must not let it go, and pirates are absolutely not allowed in the seas near Hokuriku."

Yoshitoshi Kira had already made up his mind to deal with the navy of the Honma family, and even thought up a strategy to imitate Nagao Jinghu to obstruct it. Honma's.

The Kawarada Honma Clan has always been disrespectful to the Zatai Honma Clan because of the advantage of the navy, and with the decline of the Zatai Honma Clan, they abandoned most of their territories, resulting in two branches of Kawarada and Yumo in Sado Island. The situation of confrontation between the North and the South.

Mitsunobu Honma, the lord of Kawaharata Castle, had been side by side with Takanobu Honma, the lord of Yumo Castle, many times. Ma Takanobu, but Honma Takanobu has the support of Nagao Jinghu, which makes Honma Mitsunobu dare not act rashly.

On May [-]th, the Kira Navy came out in full force and in the evening ambushed in the reeds near the mouth of the Shinano River. At midnight, taking advantage of the bright moonlight, Kuki Shigetaka sneaked into Sado Port in the dark, and the Sado Navy resting in the port Still ignorant that a disaster is about to come. [

As the cooperation of the corresponding Kira family, the lord of Zadai Castle, Honma Yamashiro Mori, Hideji Honma, the lord of Ota Castle, the lord of Kuchi Castle, Homma Yojuro, the lord of Yoshida Castle, Mikawa Masuo, the lord of Sawane Castle, Sawane Takahide, and the lord of Sagegami. The lord of the castle, Hidemitsu Shigeru, and other Sado people assembled an army of [-] troops and launched a surprise attack that night to attack Kawarada Castle in Honma Mitsunobu.

This time, most of the people on Sado Island united to attack, attracting most of the army in the northern part of Sado Island. Minobu Honma, who was sleeping soundly in Sado Port, still didn't know about it. At this time, Takanobu Honma had led [-] troops As soon as I touched the outside of the port, I saw beams of fire suddenly lit up in the dark port, and the dark and turbid sea water illuminated a fiery red and strange reflection under the moonlight, like clusters of evil spirit flames floating in hell.

"Ah!" A dozing sentry had his throat sealed with a sword, and sounded the horn of the night attack. The sleeping Honma army was awakened by the chaotic shouts, and the red flames engulfed many houses in the port. The goods looted in recent months are stored.

"It's a rocket! Enemy attack!"

Honma Shinnobu put on his clothes in a hurry, not caring about the naked woman in the room screaming loudly, and eagerly called the Banner warrior and asked, "What's going on? Who's going to beat us?"

"My lord! We don't know! But there are many ships! They have rockets and iron cannons, and they are attacking our port!"

Honma Shinnobu gritted his teeth and cursed: "Bastard! It must be them! Only they have iron cannons!"

At this time, a tall and strong warrior hurried over and said, "Brother! What should we do?"

"Kane! It's good that you came! Our family wants to fight back against them! They must be beaten back! Even if the troops are transferred from Kawarada Castle, we must beat them back!"

"Yes! I'm going to dispatch troops!" Honma Mikan turned around and was about to leave, but was stopped by Honma Mitsunobu, who smiled and said, "Didn't Mikan always want to be a general? I order you to serve as a general to resist this invading army, and my family can go to Kawarada Castle to transfer troops."

"This bastard wants me to die!" Honma Mikan cursed secretly, but he had to bite the bullet and pretend to be grateful and thanked: "Brother, please rest assured, I will never let them break through Sado Port, please hurry up, Brother!" Send reinforcements!"

"Well, thank you for your hard work!" Honma Shinnobu turned around and winked at Banner behind him. The latter sneaked back to the room and took the woman back on the horse. This woman was from a few days ago. A noble woman robbed on a passenger ship bound for Dewa could make Honma Mizuno forget her, and taking hostages in disregard of the rules was still very rare.

Honma Mitsunobu never expected that the firepower of the Kira Navy was so fierce that they breached Sado Port in about two quarters of an hour. Mitsunobu Honma, who was carrying a woman, also fell into Takanobu Honma's ambush circle and was shot to death. From the beginning to the end, he didn't realize that he would die on the small road outside the port.

In the early morning of the next day, the Kira navy and Takanobu Honma combined into an army of [-] troops and launched an attack on Kawarada Castle. The city surrendered, and the Kawarada Honma clan, the most powerful family in Sado, disappeared, and a great change in Sado Island came to a successful conclusion.

The head of the Honma family was annexed by several families. Takanobu Honma won half of the territory with his outstanding performance, and the other half was shared by the other families who participated in the war. Ownership of the Hyakuchobu land, and at the same time, as the lord of the country, he will naturally obtain the ownership and mining rights of all mines in Sado.

The Honma family has no objection to the Kira family's judgment. It has long been rumored that there is gold on the mountain in Sado Island, but the hard mining and smelting technology can't mine or smelt it. A few years ago, Honma Misun heard this rumor and occupied the Crane Gold Mountain. , Using the people caught at sea as slaves to dig randomly, and finally dug out some things that looked like silver ore but couldn't smelt it, so they had to throw it back to block the news.

In the end, the Kira family had no choice but to be cheap. At any rate, it is not too bad for them to be comforted by the increase in territory. Kira Yoshitoki promised to give them better treatment as soon as possible, and Sado Island can also be under the guidance of the Kira family. Plant new crops.

Soga Taibei, who was over [-] years old, came out of the mountain again, and was ordered to go to Sado Jinshan with a few newly recruited apprentices to do prospecting work. In recent years, Soga Taibei has not been idle, and the copper house and blacksmith house are used Don't worry about it, he took a few apprentices to search all the mountains behind Yue, and roughly figure out where there are mineral veins.

In his words, Echigo is a treasure land of geomantic omen, he didn't dare to talk big about the treasure land, he just said that after a few years, there will be results. [

From early spring to midsummer, the whole of Echigo was busy with land improvement. A small water battle on Sado Island did not change people's attention. Soon Li Ding's new plan was freshly released. Two excavations were made in Shinano River. The Agano River excavated a tributary to divert water for irrigation, and at the same time dug a canal between the two rivers to connect them to undertake the heavy responsibility of water transportation.

This plan is very large, including building canals, digging tributaries, building polders, cleaning dry drains, improving soil desertification, and many other complex projects. It is estimated that more than 5 people will be employed, and the possibility of expanding employment in the future cannot be ruled out xng .

The construction period is divided into three phases. The first phase is to excavate the canal named "Shinborikawa" and build the polder at the same time. The second phase excavates the tributaries to divert floodwaters and continue to build the polder. The third phase clears and improves the land. The first and second phases will It will be completed successively within five years, and the third phase is expected to take ten to twenty years.

The scale of this project is far beyond the imagination of Ji Liangyishi. The initial investment is as high as 50 kanwen of Yongle money, and the total investment is expected to exceed [-] kanwen of Yongle money. It does not rule out adding additional budget possible.

The investment in this project is huge, and the number of people mobilized is huge, far exceeding all projects in the Warring States Period. Only the construction of Kyoto in the Heian Period can exceed this scale. Once completed, the entire new area will form a huge farmland network of more than 20 town feet. The fertile land is rich in resources, and rice, wheat, soybeans and various new grain crops can be grown.

Once this project is completed, nearly 200% of Echigo's land improvement will be completed, and the stone height of Echigo will steadily exceed [-] million shi, and more land will be left for planting cash crops, so as to realize the goal of agricultural diversification. Imagine the route.

……

In the assessment room of Minowon City Lord of Ueno Kingdom, dozens of powerful people from Nishi Ueno gathered together, and an old man with white beard and hair was sitting on the main seat. Yes, the old man is now 65 years old, but he is still fierce.

River fish and poultry become his daily meal and never stop. He claims that he must eat meat every day. Occasionally, he will show the boldness of eating meat and fighting wine. Although his strength is greatly weakened compared to when he was young, he is still no match for the three. A strong man, one can see some ancient and honest spirit just from his bearing.

There were two letters in front of Nagano Yazhasa. The styles of the two letters were different but the content was similar. There were hundreds of words on them. It must be that Ueno was exhausted and surrendered our army. The two letters were stamped with different monograms. Covered with the Zhulong seal, and the other with the tiger seal. It can be seen from the monograms that these are personal letters from Takeda Harunobu and Hojo Ujiyasu respectively.

Nagano Karmasa's half-closed eyes sparkled, he glanced at the Nishi Ueno people in the hall, and suddenly said: "What do you think of the surrender letter from Hojo and Takeda?"

"Did you bully my Ueno country's human resources?" Shangzhou's first shot, the future great swordsman Nobuzuna Shangizumi, and now a strong man named Hu Xiugang said angrily: "With my Xiugang together, I will never let Takeda, Hojo takes half a step!"

"I think..." Xiao Banxian murmured for a long time and wanted to say something, then suddenly turned to look at his son Xiao Ban Nobuzhen and closed his mouth tightly again. His son and Nagano Yezheng's prostitute just met at the beginning of the year, and now he is also Nagano Yezheng In-laws, this young couple is at a time when they are like glue, which makes Xiao Ban Xianzhong very embarrassed.

"Takeda Harunobu was newly defeated by the Kira family last year, and this time he personally led an army of 16 troops to storm Ueno. What is his intention?" He is much older. At the age of 25 this year, he is already the lord of a city. He has 350 horse-riding samurai and a [-]-member ashigaru team. His strength is quite impressive.

A member of the Nagano family, the lord of the Stable Bridge City, Nagano Xianzhong, sneered: "The intention was not to see the Hojo clan invade Ueno and easily surrender to the Nabo clan, but they naively thought that the people of my West Ueno country were also made of mud, how would they know? I hate that Uesugi Constitution can..."

"Shut up for me! Is the lord's fault something that we and other officials can talk about?" Nagano Yezheng stared at the younger brother's gift, and Shangzhou Huangban did not forget to stare at the samurai present.

Last year Hirai Castle fell into the city and refused to save him, which already made Nagano Karmasa feel dissatisfied. No matter how bad Uesugi’s constitutional government is, he is still the lord.

The more I thought about it, the more angry Nagano Yezheng couldn't help scolding: "It's all you people who are eager for quick success and quick profits, and indulged the Hojo army's wanton attack. How much benefit will it do us to squeeze the lord away now? What we Ueno people want is the right to self-government, not Exile the lord and then submit to Hojo and Takeda, what good will driving the lord do for our self-government? Tell me! Why don't you say it?"

The faces of the people of Nishi Ueno who said these words were hot, and another son-in-law, Xiao Banjing, the lord of Guofeng City, had to justify everyone's actions: "But I have been fighting for the Guanling Palace for many years. The Battle of Kagoe and the Battle of Odaihara brought us huge losses, such a lord is really useful!"

Nagano Yezheng was furious, and the filming table made a "bang bang" sound, and said angrily, "No matter how much you can be the master, what can we do to unite without the protection of the master?"

Xiao Ban Xinzhen had a flash of inspiration, and blurted out: "The cypress fan is one heart! The Minwheels!"

"Hinoki fan one heart?" Ueno people were all startled, secretly said: "Isn't this tantamount to recognizing the Nagano family's position as the leader of West Ueno?" [

Kibe Dingchao, the lord of the famous mountain city, was the first to react and responded loudly: "Okay! I support it!"

"Hinogi Isshin! Minowa! That's it! Let's fight with Takeda and Hojo!" Kanai Hidekage, the lord of the wild city, glanced at the crowd with a firmer expression. Almost all the powerful lords of Nishi Ueno are the sons-in-law of Nagano Yasho, Kibe Sada The same is true of Chao and him, he does not believe that there are still people who will object.

Nagano Kentada was overjoyed when he saw this, he stood up and persuaded him, "Brother! Just make up your mind! We all support you!"

"Okay!" Nagano Yezheng, who had half-closed his eyes, suddenly opened his tiger's eyes, slapped his body up and shouted: "Then get up the cypress fan! I, Yezheng, swear to the gods and Buddhas to defend the dignity of our Minoru people from being violated. Do not surrender or betray, work together to defeat Hojo and Takeda's invading army!"

"Yes! We will all be dispatched from the Shinano Shouden!" Ueno countrymen generously agreed.

Nagano Yezheng laughed loudly and said: "From now on, we will build the city walls, and the horns of each other will be connected together. We must make Nishi Ueno into the enemy's nightmare! I don't believe that Hojo and Takeda can still have three heads and six arms! Come into my Nishi Ueno and count them as him." It is the incarnation of the gods and Buddhas that will put him in a dilemma of life and death!"

Since the beginning of April, more than [-] Hojo Army under the leadership of Hojo Ujiyasu marched northward, and since many people from the three counties of Kanabo, Sao, and Luye rebelled, the entire Ueno situation has shown violent turmoil. Now six In the second ten days of the month, Takeda Harunobu ushered in and led [-] troops out of Saku, and entered Usui County via Usan Usui.

The confident Takeda army did not expect to encounter such a great difficulty. The united Minowa people gathered [-] troops under the leadership of Nagano Yezho. The two sides fought fiercely in Matsuidahara in early July. Nagano Yezho Iitomo Toromasa, who was leading his own team to break into the Takeda Army's vanguard, retreated steadily. Finally, his younger brother Iitogenshiro Masakei led his own clan to fight desperately to stop the Nagano Army's invasion.

The follow-up Shangzhou Sixteen Guns, under the leadership of Da Hu Xiugang, divided into four groups and attacked simultaneously. This unexpected attack pattern caused the Takeda Army to be in chaos. , Cypress Fan will win with all his heart!"

The Takeda army's main formation saw a bearded and haired veteran rushing forward at the head of the army. Murumi Toden, who was guarding the main formation, was furious when he saw this, and rode his horse to meet the veteran. A few cracks appeared in the middle, and they were separated from each other to maintain the formation method.

Takeda Harunobu, who is well versed in military strategy, made decisive adjustments: "Order Baba Nobuharu, Naito Masato, Hara Tomono, and Oda Toromari to go out and cut into the gap between the Nagano Army's two wings to separate their forces!"

The simultaneous attack of these four routes happened to be inserted into the gap between the Nagano Army's march. The entanglement of the coalition forces immediately showed the disadvantage of having different orders. Facing the rapid advance of the Takeda Army, some of the warriors of the Minawa group chose to continue charging, and some chose to continue to charge. Stalemate in place, and some decided to retreat temporarily to avoid the sharp edge.

This chaos wiped out all the advantages that the Nagano Army had achieved so hard. Seeing that the situation was becoming more and more unfavorable, the Nagano Army, which was advancing alone, was also facing the danger of being surrounded. Not caring about the missed opportunity, he stabbed the samurai Takeda to death with a single shot, pulled his horse back and shouted three times: "Our army is in chaos, nothing can be done, retreat quickly!"

Hu Xiugang, who was covered in blood, hurriedly shouted: "Let me wait to end the rear for the coalition forces!"

"Okay! You lead the sixteen guns to kill the queen! You must stop the pursuit of the Takeda army! Pay attention to your personal safety!" Nagano Yezheng didn't bother to explain a few words, and gave a "careful" look, and led the team to bow his head When he returned, he was asked to rescue the Jilun people who had been entangled several times, and he could not hesitate at all on the battlefield where life and death were at stake.

Watching the brave and tough veteran gradually go away, Masao Komai sighed: "It's still a little bit close! It's almost possible to keep Nagano Karmasa! If we deploy the counterattack later, we must be more sure! "

"It's too dangerous. My family would rather give up the chance to keep him. My Takeda family can't afford any more losses." Harunobu Takeda shook his head. Unable to afford failure, and unable to bear high losses, they could only hastily arrange a counterattack strategy, striving to inflict more heavy damage on the Ueno coalition forces.

Nagano's Sixteen Spears are all top-notch generals in Ueno. Da Hu Xiugang not only has superb swordsmanship, but also has a pistol that is also well-known in Kanto. He is known as the number one shooter in Shangzhou. A talented and persevering warrior, he and the other members of the Sixteen Spears each led the Langdang to form an army of more than [-] Duanhou, and stubbornly blocked the main force of the Takeda Army from advancing an inch.

And Nagano industry was escorting the last friendly army to retreat, and then personally led his team to rush back to meet the broken army. A counter-attack disrupted the Takeda army's position, and it retreated suddenly before the Takeda army organized an offensive. The battle-weary Takeda Army could only watch the Nagano Army retreat calmly.

Seeing the fat from their mouths flying away, the samurai of the Takeda family cursed angrily: "Bastard! Why did you let go of the broken army! What happened to us? This kind of broken army would definitely be eaten in the past!"

Regarding the complaints from the retainers, Takeda Harunobu could only remain silent. The battle at Kawanakajima was too traumatic. The main forces of the Takeda Army suffered heavy injuries to varying degrees. It would be difficult for the newly added samurai Ashgaru to form With sharp combat power, a serious injury to vitality cannot be recovered in a year or two.

Now that the Nagano Army is fighting so hard, it has to be said that the combat power has dropped too much. If it were last year when the army was in full swing, the cavalry team's hedging could also suppress the Nagano Army's offensive rhythm.

"Perhaps it was a wrong decision to fight Kita Shinano..." At this moment, Harunobu Takeda regretted his reckless decision. If he had attacked Nishi Ueno a year earlier, he might have had a chance to increase his strength. Unfortunately, this There is no if in the world, and it is impossible for him not to fight Kita Shinano.

This time the battle was fought quickly and quickly, and the casualties of hundreds of people on both sides could only be regarded as minor losses. The Nagano army retreated to the inner cage castles of their respective mountain castles, relying on the defense of Yingliu Castle and Minirun Castle. Resisting to the death, entangled from midsummer to after autumn.

Takeda's army hunted like locusts wantonly, not only money, food, food and drink, but also pots, pans, pans, and clothes. It was not in the hope of inspiring the Nagano army to go out to fight in the city, but no matter what the battle was called, it would be on the cliff of Takaru Castle. Looking back at the cliff, the price of attacking upwards is heavy. The bows and arrows on the city were shot slowly and suffered heavy casualties.

Nagano industry was able to resist the attack of the Takeda army with only two cities and less than [-] troops. The Takeda army wasted a summer in Nishi Ueno but gained nothing, and finally had to retreat disgruntled.

On the other hand, the Hojo Army’s attack was also gradually lost in the densely packed castles in West Ueno, as if the exhausted fortresses were located on every hill in West Ueno, and some hills were like Minowa Castle. The head of the snake and the tail of the snake echoed on both sides. The Takeda Army suffered a great loss under this kind of Wubao tactic, and the Hojo Army was not much friendlier than the allies. They could only hastily harvest their food and retreat at the end of autumn.

"We won! We won!" The Ueno people who drove off the invading army cheered the hard-won victory, and soon they couldn't laugh again. After last year's famine, the Ueno country suffered a serious population loss. The saved seeds are scattered in the land in anticipation of a harvest in the autumn.

In the end, the farmland that has been working hard for a whole year has become an invader, and it was burned, killed and looted by Takeda and Hojo. How did they survive this cold winter?Thinking of this, the people of Nishi Ueno could not help but itch their teeth with hatred: "Takeda and Hojo insulted us and the Ueno people, they really deserve to die!"

"Be patient, wait until next year..."

The owner of Yingliu City, Nagano Yegu, became the lord of the first city at a young age. He has always been known for being smart and decisive in the Nagano family. He seemed to be very contemptuous of the old-school conservative warriors, and said with a sneer: "Huh! They won't come to attack next year. Is it? Two families are enough for us, don’t forget that the two of them are allies, if we agree to come together for a year each, how should I bear it? After a long time, people’s hearts will disperse sooner or later!”

As the nephew of Nagano Yemasa, and married another daughter of Nagano Yemasa, this year's Nagano Yegu can be said to be proud of the spring breeze. He was originally the second son of Nagano Takaru, and his elder brother Noyetsu was not in good health. He lived in seclusion in the city all year round and did not go out, so the young Nagano Yegu inherited his father's Nagano Yegu's family business and became the family governor of the Takadome Nagano family.

Young and energetic, he spoke ruthlessly, and Minowa's complexion changed after some words, and Nagano Kentada hurriedly scolded: "Sorijiro, what nonsense are you talking about! You are talking about unlucky things at the celebration banquet... ..."

Nagano Yegu argued strongly: "Am I wrong? The generation of Takeda and Hojo Tiger Wolf! How long can I wait for the people of Ueno to lose the protection of the lord? All the lords are my elders. Don't you see Shinano? What happened to the people of the country? The hero Yoshiki Murakami was also defeated by the iron hooves of the Takeda Army..."

"Shut up!" Nagano Yezheng yelled angrily and interrupted his long speech: "I know it's your elders who are still doing it here!"

Another son-in-law of Nagano Karmasa, Yoshitaka Yoshida, the lord of Banbi City, said with a smile: "Although Iyo Shouden is a little impulsive, there is nothing wrong with that! The Takeda army is indeed difficult to deal with, especially Yukitaka Sanada is even more difficult to deal with. You should have heard of this rumor, right? It was this person who broke up the Northern Shinano Powerful Clan Alliance, and he did everything possible to win over and destroy the alliance of the people of the country. There is always a hidden danger in our West Ueno with this person!" (To be continued. ..)