Chapter 718 1. Hear the Good News From Nongzhou First

The situation in Mikawa Province has not been stable in the past few decades, especially in the past ten years, with several parties fighting here, and there are almost battles every year.

More than ten years ago, the Oda family sent Oda Nobunaga's half-brother Oda Nobuhiro to Ansheng Castle to manage the western Mikawa area. Later, the Imagawa family's strategist Taiyuan Xuesai Zen Master and the Oda family fought several battles in Azuzaka, and Mikawa roughly entered the era of the Imagawa family.

In a surprise attack on Okehazama, Imagawa Yoshimoto and Imagawa Ujizane both died, and Mikawa fell into large-scale chaos and power vacuum. Finally, when everything settled down, Mikawa became what it is today.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was assisted by Oda Nobunaga, entered Okazaki Castle, and at the same time, Oda Nobunaga's good brother Hirate Hanhide entered Ansheng Castle, forming the rule of the Tokugawa family (Oda family) in the four counties of Aoi, Okada, Kamo, and Hatazu in the western Mikawa.

Due to historical reasons, the national heroes of East Mikawa turned to the Yamanouchi family under the integration of Udono Nagateru in order to resist the invasion of the aggressive Oda clan.

When the Yamanouchi and Oda clans were in harmony, the two sides signed an alliance with each other, one to attack Mino and the other to conquer Koshin. With the efforts of Yamanouchi Yoshiharu, the national heroes of East Mikawa basically completed the externalization of Yamanouchi.

The three counties of Atsumi, Hohan, and Yamei basically all turned to the Yamanouchi clan and became the external heroes of the Yamanouchi clan. They responded to the call of the Yamanouchi clan and went to war during the slack season.

Only Shitara County was isolated from other areas of Mikawa due to the undulating mountains in the geography. The Yama family three-party group was relatively close, self-contained, and formed its own independent small kingdom.

If everything evolved according to the normal situation, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu would continue to put pressure on the Yama family three-party group in Shitara County, and finally force them to become the external heroes of the Yamanouchi clan like Udono Nagateru.

However, things never go as planned. Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu was attacked and killed by the Three Miyoshi in Luoyang, and Yamanouchi Yoshiharu died of a stroke a year later. The Yamanouchi family was in a precarious situation for a while, and had no time to care about a mere Shitara County.

At that time, Tokugawa Ieyasu did not relax his efforts to win over this place. Under constant efforts, the Yamanouchi Sanfangshu split. Take the Okudaira clan, the lord of Nagashino Castle, as an example. Okudaira Sadano and Okudaira Sadamasa married Tokugawa Ieyasu's daughter Kamehime through marriage. Okudaira Sadamasa became Tokugawa Ieyasu's son-in-law and completely turned to the Tokugawa family.

And another small part of the Okudaira clan, headed by Okudaira Shinkuro Sadatsuna, in line with the way of survival in troubled times not to put all eggs in one basket, turned to the Yamanouchi clan.

Obviously, the main clan members turned to the Tokugawa clan, and a small number of side branches turned to the Yamanouchi clan. The Yamanouchi Sanfangshu actually made the choice they thought was appropriate.

Because Higashikamo County and Shitara County all belonged to the Tokugawa clan, they formed a relatively stable mountain defense system. With Nagashino Castle as the center, Okudaira Sadamasa was the flag bearer. It was equipped with branch castles such as Suganuma Sadatasu of Noda Castle, Suganuma Masasada of Shitara Castle, Suganuma Sadatada of Tabine Castle, and Okudaira Sadano of Sakute Castle.

Relying on mountains and mountain waterways such as Toyokawa, perhaps inadvertently, a deep defense against the Shinano area of ​​the Yamanouchi clan was formed.

But unlike the time when Takeda Shingen went to Kyoto in history, since Totomi was completely in the hands of the Yamanouchi clan at this moment, and Yoshida Castle Lord Udono Nagateru also belonged to the Yamanouchi clan's outer-style forces, with the Yamanouchi clan now in a powerful position, Udono Nagateru's loyalty was completely beyond doubt.

In essence, Tokugawa Ieyasu's main castle, Okazaki Castle, was attacked from both sides. On one side was the Shinano area directly facing Kamo County and Shitara County, and on the other side was the Yamanouchi clan's outer-style forces in Higashi Mikawa, which was bounded by the remnants of the Chubu Mountains.

Therefore, in his early years, Tokugawa Ieyasu built Nagasawa Castle to guard against the power of the Higashi Mikawa people in Hohan County. And formed another line of defense against Higashi Mikawa with Kaminosato Castle and Tojo Castle on the remnants of the mountain road.

Those who understand the geography of Mikawa Province should know that Mikawa is actually divided into two by the continuous mountain system in the central region of Japan. The West Mikawa is centered on the plain formed by the Yahagi River, and the East Mikawa is centered on the Toyohashi Plain formed by the Toyo River.

The remnants of the central mountains go all the way to the sea until Mikawa Bay. Objectively, the geographical factors that have formed the current division of the East and West Mikawa are formed, and the West Mikawa Plain is larger and the farmland and water conservancy conditions are more favorable.

Now the Yamanouchi Army is moving south along the Inauchida Street, and must destroy any of the two lines of defense arranged by Tokugawa Ieyasu on both sides of Okazaki to achieve the attack on Mikawa Okazaki Castle and Ansho Castle.

"What are the actions of Tokugawa Mikawa-no-kami and Taira Nakataka in Okazaki?" Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who was sitting on the main seat in the shogunate, asked about the enemy's movements.

"Tokugawa Mikawa-no-kami has asked for help from Gifu Dansho-dono in Gifu four times, and the nobles of the western Mikawa states are slowly gathering in Okazaki." The one who knelt below to answer was Okudaira Sadatsuna.

With his Mikawa-accented Japanese, he sneaked into the Tokugawa territory of the western Mikawa state before the war. Now that the army has crossed the Aobengdai and entered the eastern Kamo and western Shitara counties, he naturally has to rush back to report the details.

"Yoshida-dono, do you know anything about the nobles in Shitara County?" Kota held up a bamboo stick, pointed to the map centered on Nagashino Castle, and roughly drew a circle.

The meaning of this question was naturally very clear. These small mountain castles on the mountain are too disgusting. Although there are only a few hundred people in a castle, there are really no good means of attack.

The mountain roads are rugged and many castles only have a narrow path in front of the gate. If we really mobilize troops to attack, it will be a tactic of adding fuel to the fire. Too many people will die, which is not cost-effective.

The best way is, needless to say, Udono Nagateru, you should use the influence of the local people to persuade them to surrender with courtesy, and the Yamanouchi family will guarantee the safety of their territory, and they just need to be cannon fodder seriously.

If you really can't persuade them to surrender, it's also good to get two traitors to help them from the inside. When the Yamanouchi family attacks, the insider can set a fire in the city or open a door, which is also very good.

"The lord of Shitara Castle, Suganuma Hyogosuke, is an old friend of mine." Udono Nagateru brought his son Udono Ujishinaga with him this time, and he indirectly hoped to send Udono Ujishinaga to Ashikaga Yoshiaki as a close aide.

If the Yamanouchi family succeeds in going to Kyoto, then the close aides of the general will be soaring, and the Udono family will soar to the sky in the future. Even if it fails, he still has a son, Udono Ujitsugu, so he is not afraid of the extinction of the family.

The calculations are also very loud!

"Report! Iwamura Noshu has reported!" Just as he was about to ask Udono Nagatsuru to try and see if he could get Suganuma Masamasa to surrender, an envoy knelt outside the tent.

"Deliver!" Hosokawa Saijo shouted.

The envoy stood up and walked to the tent, then knelt on one knee and presented a letter.

"Iwamura, open the city!"