Chapter 613 19. Disharmony Among the Generals Before the Battle

Hojo Ujinao was the general commander, Oishi Ujiteru was the military commissioner, Daidoji Masaharu was the military governor, and Matsuda Kenhide was the Ogado commissioner. Thirty-four thousand people, the most elite troops of the Hojo clan, gathered at Hatagata Castle.

After joining the army at Matsuyama Castle, Hojo Ujinao only sent a detachment of 2,000 people to threaten Oshi Castle. The lord of Oshi Castle, Narita Nagatsuda, was just supported by Uesugi Kenshin, and he would definitely fight to the death against the Hojo clan to keep his 10,000 kan territory.

After all, if the Hojo clan won, his eldest brother Narita Ujinaga would come back with the returning group to counterattack. Who would be willing to give up the territory and power that has been obtained?

Oishi Ujiteru was a wise general, and he would not do anything that would be thankless. After a slight weighing, he was ready to let go of Oshi Castle and go to Nokura Kano instead. As long as Nagano Yoshimori can be defeated, then we can enter Echigo and respond to Honjo Shigenaga of Shimogoshi and Odagiri Sonshichiro of Nakagoshi. With the combined efforts of the three parties, Kasugayama is in sight!

What about Oshi Castle at that time? That's a small problem, no need to mention it!

The only target is Nagano Yoshimori, who has 15,000 cavalry!

Going north from Hatagata Castle, you will face the Kuragano area of ​​Ueno Province, and where is the center of Kuragano? Of course, it is in Hirai Castle!

The original Kanto Kanrei Uesugi Kenshin lived in the castle, and now the general of the Uesugi faction, Kanzasa Kagemochi, serves as the castle lord, and the nominal lord of the castle is still Uesugi Kenshin. Moreover, behind Hirai Castle are the Kuragano Kanai clan and the Kunimine Obata clan (Nagano Yoshimasa also supported an Obata from the common stream), and these two powerful national people can support Hirai at any time.

In the past, when Matsuyama Castle was still the territory of the Uesugi clan, Hirai belonged to the rear, but now that Musashi only has Oshi Castle on the Uesugi side, Hirai has become the front line.

As the former governor and pensioner of the Uesugi clan in Ueno, Kanzasa Kagemochi naturally could not take risks. At this moment, he had evacuated to Umabashi Castle and joined Hojo Takahiro. Together, they held on to the eastern Ueno area and resisted the Hojo clan.

The Uesugi clan in Ueno mobilized 10,000 cavalry, of which 2,000 were stationed in Hirai, guarded by Fukazawa Toshishige. There was only one request, to hold on and wait for help, and wait for the army to gather and come to rescue him.

Under this circumstance, Nagano Yoshimori with 15,000 cavalry, Hojo Takahiro and Kanzasa Kagemochi with 8,000 cavalry, and Hosokawa Saemon with 10,000 cavalry, a total of 33,000 cavalry, all arrived at Umabashi Castle.

The general commander was naturally Uesugi Kenshin's son-in-law, and Nagano Yoshimori, who also had the most troops.

But unfortunately, the three deputy generals were older than him, not only older but also with better troops. Especially Hojo Takahiro, that was the "old general" who had competed with Uesugi Kenshin for the rule of Echigo. If it weren't for Nagano Yoshimori's noble status, the three would never be willing to be his second-in-command.

However, Nagano Yoshimori has also grown up, because his ten brothers-in-law (Obata Nobumasa ran away, Narita Nagatsugu in Oshi Castle) have been particularly obedient to him recently. Everyone knows that Uesugi Kenshin has no son, and Nagano Yoshimori is a legitimate son-in-law. If he becomes a son-in-law and adopted son one day, then everyone will suddenly become the brother-in-law of the Kanto Kanrei.

Do you think they will take good care of their brother-in-law Nagano Yoshimori?

So now the shogunate's tent is naturally divided into three factions. Nagano Yoshimori sat on the main seat, and his old master Kamiizumi Hidatsuna stood beside him in good health. Hosokawa Saejo and the Yamanouchi generals sat on the left, and Kanzasa Kagemochi and Hojo Takahiro sat on the right. Those who sat on the small stools below and did not sit on the long table were Ueno's sons-in-law and the middle-level samurai of the three armies.

"Hojo Sagami-no-kami is attacking Hirai very urgently. What can you teach me?" Nagano Yoshimori tried hard to imitate his two fathers.

"In theory, we just need to hold on. The Hojo clan will not be able to last long if they come with all their strength. But..." Kanzasa Kagemori has always been steady and cautious, otherwise he would not have been entrusted with the important task of defending Ueno.

"But the military rations are difficult to sustain?" Hosokawa Saimie only talks about fighting, and she is proficient in everything. She knows everything without being exposed.

"A large army of 10,000 can last for a month!"

"One month?" Hojo Takahiro was too lazy to talk, but when he heard that there was only one month's food, he had to speak.

"How much military rations does Minowa-dono have?" Hosokawa Saimie saw that the Uesugi family could not be relied on, and turned to look at Nagano Yoshimori.

"15,000 people can last for a month." The old swordsman next to him answered for him.

"This... our army only brought 20 days of military rations this time, minus the march on the road, there are only more than 10 days." Hosokawa Saimie had a headache.

Well! It turns out that the three groups of people are all poor and have no surplus food. Either they are planning to eat their friends, or they are hiding their food and refusing to pay out.

"Then what are we going to discuss? Go to Hirai, defeat Hojo Sagami, and eat his food!"

Hojo Takahiro was too lazy to think of a solution, nor did he want to argue with the generals in the camp. He directly proposed that since the troops of both sides were evenly matched, it would be better to go to a head-on battle. As long as they win, everything will be fine.

"The morale of the Hojo people is high, and the army is coming in full force. The outcome is unpredictable!" Ganza Kagemochi was a little doubtful.

"I dare not advance, and I can't defend! What does Omi-no-Kami mean!"

As soon as this sentence came out, Hosokawa Saime knew that it was bad. Hojo Takahiro said this, which was equivalent to calling Ganza Kagemochi a coward. And he scolded him in person! Even if Hojo Takahiro was more experienced, he couldn't spray him in person like this.

"Everyone knows that Hojo Sagami-no-kami across the street is your adopted son..." No matter how easy-going Kanzasa Kagemochi is, he can't let others take advantage of him!

This is about when Kenshin Uesugi conquered Odawara Castle, in order to cut off the Hojo clan, he ordered Hojo Takahiro to adopt Hojo Ujinao. This changed the origin of the Hojo clan from the Hojo clan of the Kamakura shogunate to the Mori clan, the descendants of Hiromoto Oe, and lost the legal basis for the Kanto region.

To put it bluntly, in the daimyo records of the Muromachi shogunate, Hojo Ujinao is really the son of Hojo Takahiro!

This is also one of the reasons why Kenshin Uesugi placed Hojo Takahiro in Musashi to monitor the Hojo clan. It is convenient for the father to watch his son.

And now, the deeper meaning of Kanzasa Kagemochi's words is that Hojo Takahiro once committed himself to the Hojo clan and surrendered during the Hojo rebellion.

The masters cursed people without using dirty words, one called a coward, and the other called a traitor!

"Two, two!" Uizumi Hidatsuna hurried up to persuade them to stop fighting.

Hosokawa Saime also stood up and came to block Nagano Yoshimori to prevent the generals of the three armies from being affected.

"Everything should be decided by Minowa-sama!" Seeing that the two people were appeased, Hosokawa Saime hinted at Kamiizumi Hidatsuna and asked him to tell the idea of ​​the Nagano family, the landlord of Ueno.

The Nagano family originally wanted to wait for the attack and did not want to fight head-on, but now they are in a dilemma.

The two generals of the Uesugi family cannot coordinate, and now the military rations are not continuous, they can't really go out of the city to fight!