Chapter 498 57. Insufficient Food and Rice Makes It Difficult to Continue

The troops of Hosokawa Saione and Nagano Yoshimasa, who had been trapped for nearly 20 days, finally joined Kobayata.

They would stop and do the same as in the TV series, you hold my hand, I look at you with tears in my eyes. We would tell each other our heartfelt feelings, pointing to the sky and the earth, saying that this favor is so great that we will never forget it.

Dream on!

Both Kiso Yoshimasa and Nagano Yoshimasa knew that Kobayata was now desperate to open a passage for them, but there were still more than 50,000 enemy troops and countless enemy castles on all sides, and only a fool would stop.

After dark, there was still a short period of time before the sky darkened, and everyone ran forward. They could not disperse the team while running, and Kobayata did not win a big victory, but just a mutual victory. If Naito Masatoyo knew the situation of the battle and chased after them, there might be some bad chaos.

When they ran to Ikunoyama, the battle basically came to an end. No matter which army it was, they slowly retreated and left the battle. It was obvious that Takeda Harunobu's delaying tactics were successful. The Yamanouchi army did not do anything to him, and of course he could not trap Koshihata Castle.

Presumably, watching more than 10,000 people escape from the siege, neither Takeda Harunobu nor Oishi Ujiteru would be happy.

Before it got dark, the armies retreated to the Tone River in turn, and the 1,000 people left behind by Minowa were very smart. Two more floating bridges were built, and three floating bridges were used to cross the river. It was crowded but not chaotic. Finally, all of them withdrew across the Tone River and returned to the north bank camp.

After a day of continuous fighting, people were tired and horses were exhausted. The camp was full of resting foot soldiers.

The most surprising person was naturally Nagano Yoshimori. His father brought him several brothers-in-law, and nothing happened. He ran back in one piece. Although he was surrounded and attacked by several times the enemy army, he was worried. But as long as people were fine, there was still hope.

What's the saying: The poorest is begging, and if you don't die, you can always get ahead!

The warriors of Nagano Minowa and others bowed before Koyata, saying that they would never forget Koyata's life-saving grace.

"The grace of Tanzheng, the old man and the generals of Nagano will never forget." Nagano Yoshimasa, who had escaped from the dead, tidied up his appearance and came over in person to pay homage to Koyata.

"Old man, please get up quickly, there is no need for this, there is no need for this."

How could Koyata accept Nagano Yoshimasa's kneeling? He immediately helped him up. The two had known each other for ten years. Koyata should have helped him, not to mention that Koyata's main purpose was to save Hosokawa Saejo, and saving him was really a pleasant surprise.

After sending this group of people away, they were able to settle more than 9,000 people of Hosokawa Saejo. They were all family members, so there was no need to say thank you. Instead, Hosokawa Harumiya and Hosokawa Saejo came to the shogunate in person.

"Koyata, your father and your brother-in-law were saved by your help. I really don't know what to say."

"Father, we are a family and we should not say two things. Besides, they are all from the same village in Yamanouchi. How can I not save them?"

"I was negligent to you in the past. It's my fault." Hosokawa Saiyume actually knelt down.

"My brother-in-law is dedicated to the public. How can I be negligent?"

"Alas, Koyata, please accept my bow."

Even if Hosokawa Harumiya didn't say anything, he looked at Hosokawa Saiyume kneeling down and bowed respectfully to Koyata.

This kneel, he finally knelt down!

After gathering people's hearts, Koyata began to listen to Heiroku's report on today's losses. There were relatively few people, with 70 dead and more than 100 injured. For the Yamanouchi army, it was just a mosquito bite and could be ignored.

"Tanzheng, there is something I need to pay attention to."

"What?"

"Originally, the army could have enough food for one month (thanks to the three thousand stones of rice sponsored by the masters of Honshoji), but His Highness Kanrei borrowed seven hundred stones. Now that the Cai Nu has reunited, I'm afraid it can only last for ten days at most, or even seven or eight days."

"Only ten days? (Only enough for the return trip)"

Kobayata grabbed the book and read it over and over again. It took eleven days to come from Hamamatsu. The food in Hamamatsu was already exhausted. Without looting Honshoji, there was no food to set off.

Later, the people of Yamanouchi and Ina County donated nearly a thousand stones of rice and beans, which gave them the confidence to march to the front line of Musashi with 17,000 troops.

But they didn't expect that after they arrived, Uesugi Terutora suffered a great defeat and lost all the food and supplies. After meeting, the other party asked to borrow food, and Uesugi Terutora had to give face and definitely lent it to the other party. So there was another seven hundred less, and there was nothing he could do.

"Can the rear raise some more?"

"I'm afraid not. It will take another month for the summer wheat to come (the wheat in Shinano comes later than on the plains), and there is no food at home."

"What about purchasing with money? Can Joshu and Noshu find a way?"

"Didn't Danzheng see the military rations of His Highness Minowa?" Heiroku used his eyes to signal the Nagano army in the next-door barracks. They were so poor. If Nagano Yoshimasa was not poor, he would not have personally come to Musashi to rob!

"If it really doesn't work, arrest them indiscriminately?"

Kobayata asked like a devil.

"Hehe, His Highness Kanrei has one round, Takeda Daizen has one round, Danzheng, do you have the ability to dig three feet into the ground like them?"

Heiroku laughed awkwardly twice. These two great seniors were role models before him. With Kobayata's ability, how could he compare to them? His robbery skills were not fully upgraded, so he could not help.

Looking at the Tone River, Kobayata was also unable to cook without rice. He could not conjure rice out of thin air.

"Tanzheng, I have an idea." Aji, who was born in Ueno, suddenly spoke up.

"Tell me!"

"The banks of the Tone River are full of weeds, which are actually edible."

"Are you sure?"

"When I was a child, I had no food in the spring, so I often ate it."

"Go get two and I'll come over to take a look."

When Aji broke off two stems, Xiao Pingtai immediately recognized it. Isn't this the Totoro!

There is a scene in Hayao Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" where Totoro and the heroine are waiting for the bus at the bus stop, and the heroine's sister is holding an umbrella. And the thing that Totoro holds up looks like a lotus leaf, but it's not a lotus leaf, it's a water hyacinth.

Now is the time to pick and eat it, and I don't know if this thing is born to grow for people to eat. The stem of water hyacinth is two meters long, and the grass leaf is one and a half meters long and wide. No wonder even the Totoro in the animation uses it as an umbrella. This thing is really big, there are many and it is easy to pick.

The two-meter-long stem, boiled in boiling water, peeled, tastes like celery, and even has a little sweetness. No wonder Aji ate this thing when he was a child, it's really good.

One water hyacinth can fill a hungry mouth, and there are more than tens of thousands of plants on the north bank of the Tone River, free of charge.

Xiao Pingtai ordered the soldiers and servants to quickly collect the rice and make it on a first-come, first-served basis. The other soldiers who had no food to eat might also be staring at it.

"Tanzheng! A man came from the other side of the river, claiming to be your old friend, and came to stop the war."

"My old friend? Please come in."