Chapter 302 35. The Ghost Shinano Is Famous in the East
Kaizu Castle was the predecessor of Matsushiro Castle, one of the 100 most famous castles in Japan. There must be a reason why Mori Nagayoshi chose Kaizu as his castle after he was granted 200,000 koku by Kawanakajima.
Kobayata looked at the terrain and ran to tell Yamanouchi Yoshiharu, "If you can't rely on the mountain, rely on the water."
Yamanouchi Yoshiharu only took a look at the Chikuma River and immediately understood what Kobayata meant. He turned around and claimed that this method was his own, and then took it to Takanari Masayasu to sell favors.
It's not like we are going to dig a canal, so there is no need to consider the conditions for navigation and set up gates for water diversion. Takanari Masayasu also reacted after listening to Yamanouchi Yoshiharu's suggestion.
Then Takanari Masayasu took a strong bow and fired several arrows to the left and right, and then asked people to hold large wooden sticks and drive piles directly where the arrows landed.
Sure enough, the scope of truth is only within the range of cannons. No, no, the scale of building a city is only within the range of bows and cannons.
Then they dug a moat around the area fixed by the wooden stakes. Since there was no place to defend, the moat had to be more than ten meters wide and three meters deep. With this moat, thousands of people would be able to defeat them.
So the soldiers who had just held guns and knives became engineering teams and were all sent to dig pits. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu was also willing to help Takanari Masayasu to quickly build the city defense.
On the other hand, Murakami Yoshikiyo took a short rest and was then driven on his way. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu and Uesugi Terutora each gave 500 kan of money to Sanyuan Fujitaka, and Takanari Masayasu also gave ten war horses, 100 pieces of colored silk, and 12 swords as a thank you gift to the general.
These properties were enough for Ashikaga Yoshiteru to hold a grand ceremony of surrendering captives. For Ashikaga Yoshiteru, who valued face and feudal etiquette the most, it was another great opportunity to strengthen the prestige of the shogunate.
He would certainly publicize that under his wise and brave leadership, the campaign against the evil Murakami clan was a huge success, the samurai of the eastern country came to serve him, and the shogunate's decrees were passed everywhere. Blah blah, bragging.
Moreover, Murakami Yoshikiyo had a silver lining in misfortune. All his adult sons died, but his retainer Deura Morinori escaped with his young son Murakami Takemaru on his back in the chaos.
This person was probably the famous Uesugi Kagekuni later. Murakami Takemaru, who was only twelve years old, paid a respect to Yamanouchi Yoshiharu without being humble or arrogant. He neither begged for mercy nor got angry. At least he was very strong in his heart.
Yamanouchi Yoshiharu liked him at first sight. The son of Murakami Yoshikiyo was indeed not a bad chicken. Not only did he give him a war horse, armor, and a long sword, but he also asked Mitsugu Fujitaka to look after him, and he must let Ashikaga Yoshiki show mercy.
Due to the fall of Katsurao Castle, the retainers of the Murakami clan who were unwilling to surrender to Takeda Harunobu also came to surrender one after another after hearing the news that Murakami Yoshikiyo was alive.
Kiyohide Kiyohide, who was detained by Yamanouchi Yoshiharu, was soon released, and had a good show with Murakami Yoshikiyo.
Then the son-in-law Murakami Yoshimitsu and the family elder Yashiro Masakuni also surrendered with dozens of remnants of defeated generals. In just a few days, more than 200 soldiers and dozens of samurai gathered around Murakami Yoshikiyo. If it weren't for the Murakami clan elder Rakuganji Masakata surrendering to the Takeda clan, there might be more people.
On the one hand, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu was afraid. The Murakami clan was indeed famous in northern Shinano. Even at this point, there were still so many diehard members. On the other hand, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu also wanted to annex such a strong group of retainers. It can't be said that he was salivating, but it was true that he was happy to see the prey.
Kobayata knew that Yamanouchi Yoshiharu was so concerned about Murakami Takeomaru that there must be a conspiracy, but this matter still needs to be considered for a long time.
Murakami Yoshikiyo lost four sons and one son-in-law in one day, and lost all his family business, which hit him hard. But at least he still had a son who escaped. Although he still had some ambitions, his ambitions were now all about saving his son's life and preserving the family name of the Murakami family.
After asking his good relative Takanari Masayasu to "borrow" 200 kan and dismissing most of the miscellaneous soldiers, Murakami Yoshikiyo took his son, son-in-law and the most loyal thirty or forty retainers to the capital to apologize.
As for his treatment, it depends on the final decision of our wise and powerful, magnanimous, and fair and just shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
The progress of the trenches of Kaizu Castle was also very fast, and Takeda Harunobu in the south also discovered the construction of Kaizu Castle. A lot of troops were sent to test it, but they were fiercely repelled by Isshiki Miyauchi, so they stopped fighting temporarily. Takeda Harunobu needed to suppress the Murakami old party in the Keikyu County and Ueshina County, and digest these two counties, and he was also busy.
When the outer moat project of Kaijin was basically completed, the news from Kanto also came.
Uesugi Terutora joined more than 2,000 people of Usami Sadami, and then the Hirai people of Kanzasa Kagemochi and the Minowa people of Nagano Yoshimasa, and then they pulled up an army of more than 30,000 people.
He observed the situation and found that the attack on Tatebayashi Castle was not too strong, but Hachioji Castle had been besieged for 20 days and was somewhat critical.
So he immediately moved his troops to Musashi Province. After all, Tatebayashi Castle was under his control and could not be robbed, but Musashi Province could rob without restraint. Why Hachioji was saved first is self-evident.
Narita Nagayasu, the first local snake in northern Musashi, welcomed the king's army. Not only did he send troops and food, but he also helped Uesugi Terutora persuade the shameless Matsuyama Castle Lord Ueda Asanao to surrender again.
This time, Uesugi Terutora directly exiled Ueda Asanaao and appointed his son Ueda Sadanori as the lord of the castle, but in fact he appointed his good friend Kawada Nagachika as the supervisor of northern Musashi, thus undermining the Ueda clan and completely taking control of Matsuyama Castle.
The Hojo soldiers of Hachioji could not sit still, and the Hojo brothers dragged and dragged 25,000 people north to fight against Uesugi Terutora.
Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. Hojo Tango-no-kami Takahiro and his son, who were forced to surrender to the Hojo clan a few years ago, turned against their own side in the battle, revolted, and joined the Uesugi clan.
The whole Hojo army was in turmoil, and was beaten violently from the flank by the assault cavalry of Yamauchi Yoshikatsu. Nagano Yoshinori, who was in the front, showed his power and led the Minowa people to make a fierce charge. Uesugi Terutora did not even make a move. The Hojo army was beaten and cried for their parents, and fled all the way to Kawagoe Castle.
Yamauchi Yoshikatsu is now famous in the East. His brother chose a military branch that emphasizes firepower, and he chose a military branch that emphasizes fast mobility and powerful assaults, and they took two different paths.
In this battle, he killed Dewa-no-kami Nobuari of the Takeda clan and Iwatsuke Ota Ujisuke, the rear guard of the Hojo army. Everyone in Kanto knew him. The young master of the Yamanouchi family was very fierce and had begun to call him "Oni Shinano".
Uesugi Terutora then used a trick of swinging his tail like a dragon, letting go of the panicked Kawagoe Castle and sneaking into Shimosa, gathering Mizutani Masamura, Tagazuma Shimosa-no-kami, Kobumune, Nakajo Fujisuke and Satomi Yoshiyasu, and caught Yuki Haruta and Chiba Tanetomi and beat them up.
All the younger brothers grabbed a lot of money, and their awe of him as the leader increased greatly, recovering from the riots last year.
This is not the end. After the people of Boso settled down, Uesugi Terutora moved to Hitachi. With an arrow piercing the clouds, Satake Yoshiaki, Edo Shigemichi, and Otsu Sadakuni all rushed over.
Everyone worked together to catch the lord of Hitachi Oda Castle, Oda Ujiharu, and attacked him like crazy. They robbed and took everything, and beat Oda Ujiharu so hard that he directly abandoned the city and fled to Tsuchiura Castle.
Now all the big and small lords of Ueno, Shimotsuna, Shimotsuna, Kazusa, Awa, Hitachi, and Musashi have confirmed that Uesugi Terutora is very powerful and can make a fortune by following him!
Even Ota Sukemasa re-entered Musashi Province under the auspices of Uesugi Terutora, recovered a lot of territory, and began to disgust the Hojo clan.
Uesugi Terutora returned to Echigo with satisfaction and countless spoils of war, ending his victorious expedition to Kanto this time.
The Yamanouchi army had no regrets, so they naturally returned.