With a wave of Takeda Harunobu's military commander, the Takeda army immediately began to move at full strength. The Ogasawara Army seemed to be aware of the Takeda Army's actions, and detached a small team to the ferry on the Tenryu River, trying to hinder the Takeda Army's eastward crossing to return reinforcements. However, under the leadership of Takeda Army generals such as Iito Toramasa and Yokota Takamatsu, the Takeda Army easily broke through the Ogasawara Army's interception and headed east.
At the same time, the main force of the Ogasawara army also arrived at Takato Castle. They came all the way lightly and did not carry much siege equipment. Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Koyasu stood at the top of the city and looked at the strength of the Ogasawara army, and couldn't help but feel a little puzzled - 3,000 troops - including 1,000 combat soldiers. With 2,000 auxiliary troops, trying to conquer Gaoyuan City guarded by 1,200 people without relying on a large number of ladders and siege oars is tantamount to wishful thinking - not to mention that there are still surrendered troops from the Gaoyuan family in Gaoyuan City that can be used. Although Takeda Harunobu has disbanded the Takato family's troops, leaving only more than 200 samurai in the city, it is enough to be of great help - after all, the Takeda army only has 400 soldiers.
Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Koyasu thought of this at the same time, and then they both looked solemn after being stunned for a moment.
These samurai from the Gao Yuan family will indeed help, but who are they helping?
At this moment, there was already a huge clamor under the city wall. Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Koyasu looked back and saw the Takato family samurai in the city revolting. They suddenly rushed to the west gate of Takato Castle and killed the auxiliary soldiers of the Takeda family in Sannomaru who were carrying rolling stones and wood. This caused an uproar. Massive chaos. The hastily fleeing auxiliary soldiers blocked the narrow streets in the city, and the rolling stones thrown everywhere hindered the arrival of other Takeda family reinforcements.
At this moment, the Ogasawara army outside the city also launched a fierce attack and headed straight for the city gate. The Gao Yuan army in the city also cooperated with others and killed the Takeda army guarding the west gate. Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Koyasu knew very well that once the city gate was breached, the 1,200 Takeda troops in their city would no longer be spared. They immediately rushed down the city wall with their Hatamoto guards and fought against the Gao Yuan army who came to seize the city gate. Fight.
"What on earth is my lord doing?" Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Koyasu cursed in their hearts as they drew their swords and went into battle, "Didn't he always be in charge of the Toubori ninja in the family when he was still the young master? I have never failed. What happened this time? Something went wrong in such an important task as supervising the Gao Yuan family's surrender of troops? It's just that they didn't keep an eye on the Gao Yuan family. They didn't even get the slightest hint of the Gao Yuan family's rebellion? Hardly. We don’t know until someone rebels?”
However, Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Koyasu soon had no time to complain, because the samurai of the Takato Army were already in front of them. The leader, Masatoshi Hoshina, danced his spear with great force, and no one of the Takeda Army warriors around him could get close. The spears used in combat formations are of different lengths. Soldiers who formed a spear formation like Imagawa Yoshima's banner unit used longer spears, while samurai defending alone preferred short spears that were more flexible and lighter. Because although the spear has a long range, it is helpless once it gets close. Compared with long guns, short guns have more room to move around, and they can still fight even in close combat.
However, Masatoshi Hoshina is clearly a one-man spearman, but he wields a giant spear that is slightly longer than a war spear. But he relied on his extraordinary wrist strength, arm strength and skills to dance this huge spear as delicately as a short spear. The switching between thrusting, sweeping, and blocking can be done in one go, and one person can defeat many people with overwhelming momentum.
Under the leadership of Masatoshi Hoshina, dozens of pioneers of the Gao Yuan family marched towards the north gate of Gao Yuan City to build the camp, and they were already twenty steps away. The sound of banging on the door was also heard outside the city gate at this moment. The Ogasawara army held up the logs they got from nowhere and hit the city gate. The ashigaru of the Takeda family desperately blocked the door, but the wooden door was still gradually crumbling.
The Takato family's samurai were still advancing, but the Takeda family's reinforcements were blocked in the blocks on both sides and couldn't get through. The road was full of obstacles and escaping teams. The Takeda Army who wanted to take a detour was also ambushed and blocked by the Takato Army who was more familiar with the bottom line. Several generals tried to lead their men up the city wall to come for support, but they were immediately greeted by random arrows from the Ogasawara army below the city wall. The Ogasawara family's archery skills have always been world-famous, and the archers under their command were also trained very systematically, causing a lot of casualties to the Takeda army.
Reinforcements cannot arrive, and the fall of the city gate is only a matter of time. When the time comes when we are attacked from both sides, everything will be over. Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Koyasu looked around the desperate battlefield, looked at each other, and felt a sudden change in their hearts. They both waved their swords to face Masatoshi Hoshina, intending to take the lead in boosting morale, desperately repel this Gaoyuan army, and save the battlefield. situation. However, as soon as these two samurai, who looked like they were seniors in their clothes, entered the battlefield, Masatoshi Hoshina's idea aroused, and without saying a word, he greeted them with a set of guns and naughts. Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Koyasu were already very young, and their martial arts skills were already weak. They were not as good as the young and strong Masatoshi Hosuka, and they were beaten to a pulp in just a few rounds.
Seeing an opportunity, Masatoshi Hoshina suddenly stepped forward and made a straight thrust. The blade that was blocked by Itagaki Nobukata broke apart, and the tip of the spear penetrated straight into the chest and abdomen. Then he suddenly put away the gun and twisted it, and blood burst out on Itagaki Nobukata's chest, and he fell down without a groan. Amari Kotaei was shocked when he saw this. He wanted to take advantage of Masatoshi Hoshina's flaw to expose his flaw, but he was knocked to the ground by Masatoshi Hoshina's gun and was shot to death.
Seeing that the two most important officials in the family were killed in battle, the ashigaru of the Takeda family immediately dispersed like birds and beasts, but the samurai of Kai were all red-eyed and fought hard to take back their master's body. Just when Masatoshi Hoshina was about to step forward to challenge, the sound of gold suddenly came from behind. On the castle tower that had just been recaptured by the Takato family not long ago, Takato Yoritsugi's horse seal was swinging wildly, signaling for the troops to withdraw. Masatoshi Hoshina thought that the castle tower was in danger, so he quickly let the Takeda army go and retreated.
Although the Takeda army was leaderless, they still blocked the city gate again under the leadership of several samurai. The Ogasawara army, which lacked siege weapons, was in a hurry and had nothing to do with the high wall of Takato Castle. They just kept circling under the city.
"Damn it!" Ogasawara outside the city was so angry that his chest was tight for a long time, and his old body almost couldn't breathe. "Why is there suddenly no movement in the city? What happened to Gao Yuanjun who promised to cooperate inside and outside?"
·
At this time, Masatoshi Hoshina and other samurai from the Takato family had just hurried back to the castle tower. They only saw a group of ninjas from the Takeda family, led by a one-eyed man in black, tightly surrounding Takato Yoritsugi in the center. ——The surrounding people and guards were also controlled. The one-eyed man held a kunai around Takato Yoritsugi's neck. He smiled bitterly with a pale face and signaled to his subordinates not to resist. Obviously, this group of Takeda family ninjas had been ambushing the city for a long time, waiting for the Takato family to raise troops to seize the city gate. They kidnapped Takato Yoritsugi, who had no one around, and then forced him to order the gold to retreat.
"You have been waiting for a long time..." Takato Yoritsugi finally realized what was happening in front of him, "I deliberately let the ninjas of the Ogasawara family come to attack me from both inside and outside..."
"I'm not yours, and I have no obligation to explain to you." The one-eyed man shook his head, then glanced at a circle of vigilant Gao Yuan family warriors around him, and said with a dry smile: "It doesn't matter, but please surrender, my master promises Let bygones be bygones. It doesn't matter to you or your Highness Gao Yuan."
"We just killed two important members of the Takeda family, do you think I will believe your nonsense about 'let's forget the past'?" Masatoshi Hoshina licked his chapped lips and stared at the one-eyed man and shouted.
"I, Yamamoto Kansuke, am my master's dog. I only act according to my master's instructions. I am not qualified to speculate on my master's intentions for you. As for whether you believe it or not, it is your business." The one-eyed man Yamamoto Kansuke seemed too lazy to explain, and just said He shook his head, moved the kunai slowly on Takato Yoritsugi's neck, and cut a long opening. Blood began to flow out slowly. He lowered his head slightly, came close to Takato Yoritsugi's neck, stuck out his tongue, licked a large mouthful of blood, and sipped it with relish, which frightened Takato Yoritsugi until his face turned pale.
"Let go of our lord!" The samurai who were not from the Gao Yuan family were all cold-blooded and shouted sternly. However, Yamamoto Kansuke remained the same as before, savoring the taste of blood and watching the reactions around him with interest.
"Hurry! Surrender quickly! Put down your weapons! Didn't you hear what this gentleman said? His Highness Takeda promised to forget the past!"
Takato Yoritsugi, who was already frightened out of his wits, ordered hastily. The warriors of the Gao Yuan family were helpless, and after struggling for a while, they finally put down their weapons.
"Choose wisely." Yamamoto Kansuke smiled with satisfaction and called on his men to escort them into the dungeon for guarding. He himself called a confidant, bent down and whispered in his ear: "Go and repay the master."
"Itagaki and Ganli have been eliminated. The plan of killing with a borrowed sword has been successful. We can return to the army to relieve the siege of Gaoyuan City."
