"My military strength is only about half of Saigo Bei's, and I have never been known for being good at fighting. I'm afraid I may not be Saigo Bei's opponent. The route back to the west of Mikaka Castle and Hizen's Yoshida Castle has also been cut off. , there is no way to fight back. There is no danger to defend on the plain, and there is no camp. We must retreat to the southeast before Saigo Bei starts to attack." Uden Nagamochi made no secret of his disadvantage and said frankly to Imagawa Yoshimoto: " To the southeast of us is Hamana Lake. Either go east and go around the north side of Hamana Lake, or go south and go around the west side of Hamana Lake. Please make your decision."
"Hmm..." Imagawa Yoshimoto once again tried hard to mobilize his memory about the geography of Yuanjiang and the situation of the wealthy family - he actually knew very little about it, and he was not sure whether he remembered it correctly.
If you go south and go around the west side of Hamana Lake, you will encounter Maisaka Castle in the south of Hamana Lake - the residence of the Horikoshi family. The Horikoshi clan and the Sena clan were both descended from the Toe Imagawa clan, a member of the Imagawa family. The Toe-Imagawa clan and the Suruga-Imagawa clan had a very unhappy relationship in the early years. However, as the Toe-Imagawa clan's territory was gradually usurped by the Shiba family and lost power, the Toe-Imagawa clan also split into two branches - the Sena clan - due to disagreements. and Horikoshi.
The Sena family chose to actively approach the Imagawa clan and cooperate with the Imagawa clan to take back the Toe that originally belonged to the Imagawa clan from the Shiba family. The Horikoshi clan has always kept a distance from the Imagawa clan and adopted a confrontational attitude. They even joined forces with the Shiba clan, their land-grabbing enemies, to resist the Enji expeditionary force of the Imagawa clan's relatives. During the previous Hanakura Rebellion, the Horikoshi clan also sided with Imagawa Yoshima and started a war with Imagawa Yoshimoto. Although he was forced to surrender after the defeat, his territory was also cut off a lot, and he held a grudge.
Now we are facing a situation where Imagawa Yoshimoto is missing and alone, and many wealthy families such as the Okudaira family and the Kanuma family have rebelled and besieged Imagawa Yoshimoto - the Horikoshi family will be involved in this without even thinking about it, right? Even if he doesn't rebel, he certainly won't help Imagawa Yoshimoto.
If you go east and go around the north side of Lake Hamana and then go south, you can come to Horie Castle built on Lake Hamana - the residence of the Osawa family. The leader of the Osawa family, Motoki Osawa, was deeply favored by the Imagawa family. He clearly supported Imagawa Yoshimoto during the Hanakura Rebellion, and defended the isolated city of Yuanjiang to resist Imagawa Yoshima's troops. His son Osawa Motoin was also promoted to one of the captains of the Imagawa Banner by Imagawa Yoshimoto, and the Osawa family's territory was more than doubled by Imagawa Yoshimoto.
But if you go east towards Horie Castle, you have to pass by Iidani Castle and go around it under the nose of Iidani Castle - the straight-line distance from Iidani Castle is estimated to be only about a land. If the powerful Ii family suddenly sends troops to intercept, then Imagawa Yoshimoto will be in trouble.
On the contrary, if he goes south, Imagawa Yoshimoto can also choose not to go to the Maisaka Castle of the Horikoshi family, and directly escape to Yoshida Castle by taking a detour to the west. Saigo Bei probably won't be able to catch up. But if the Horikoshi family goes out of the city to intercept, then Imagawa Yoshimoto will be attacked from both sides and be desperate.
Which way to go? If you choose the wrong one, you may not only lose your life, but also get Ginkgo, Takeda Harunobu, and Uden Nagamochi involved.
Imagawa Yoshimoto took a deep breath and finally made a decision:
"Go east. Ii Ibi must have cooperated with Okhei Bei to go north to search the mountains. We all saw it just now. There shouldn't be many people in Ii Valley City now. We can take the opportunity to rush over!"
·
On May 7, the twelfth year of Tianwen (1543), at seven o'clock in the hour, a group of people crossed to the southwest of Ii Valley City in fear. There were obviously not many troops left in Iidani Castle. They waved flags wildly and lit up smoke, signaling the troops searching the mountains to the north to come back quickly, but Imagawa Yoshimoto had already fled with Uden Bei. Saigo Bei followed from behind, but did not launch an attack for a long time.
"What does this mean?" Imagawa Yoshimoto felt very confused.
At this moment, a messenger came on horseback from Saigo's army and asked to see Imagawa Yoshimoto. Imagawa Yoshimoto did not dare to delay at this time, so he did not dismount and directly asked the messenger to report verbally:
"Reporting to the main hall, my highness has come to suppress the rebellion in the name of Obara Hizenmori. Where are the rebels from Okudaira and Kanuma?"
"It should be in the north." Imagawa Yoshimoto was also confused by the Saigo family's messenger - judging from their behavior not long ago, they were clearly rebels who came for Imagawa Yoshimoto himself. How could they come instead? What about counterinsurgency? .
Could it be that the Saigo family, seeing that their plan to attack Imagawa Yoshimoto was unlikely to succeed, wanted to find a way out for themselves, saying that the Saigo family had mobilized troops to quell the rebellion?
, were not here to attack Imagawa Yoshimoto - in fact, they had not taken action yet, leaving some leeway. If we only look at the performance so far, it is indeed impossible to convict the Saigo family.
"Yes! Please also ask the family governor to come and command our army in person!" After hearing this, the messenger immediately leaned over and invited.
"The order is for you to go north to quell the rebellion." Imagawa Yoshimoto replied calmly, while looking at the expressions of the messengers, "This is an order, do the Saigo family want to disobey it?"
"How dare you do that? It's just that the Jingyi family seems to be in danger of rebellion now. How can the family governor's palace not be protected by heavy soldiers?" The messenger spoke sincerely and remonstrated with "loyalty": "Your Highness, please allow Xixiang to prepare guards!"
At this point, Imagawa Yoshimoto finally understood - the Saigo family are complete wallflowers. They were afraid that they would not catch Imagawa Yoshimoto after raising the flag of rebellion, and would be liquidated by the Imagawa family afterwards. Therefore, they refused to rebel openly and only dared to approach Imagawa Yoshimoto secretly, hoping to control Yoshimoto Imagawa before declaring rebellion. Until victory is certain, the Saigo family will probably not actually meet Imagawa Yoshimoto in battle - in this way, even if the rebels are defeated, the Saigo family can explain afterwards that they just want to help suppress the rebellion.
"In that case, please ask Saigo Bei to follow Uden Bei." After weighing the two, Imagawa Yoshimoto made a safe arrangement. Udenbei's strength is not as good as that of Saigobei. It would not be good if he completely fell out with Saigobei at this time and the irritated Saigobei took the risk and rebelled directly. It is better to stabilize them first and wait until Imagawa Yoshimoto is safe before questioning the head of the Saigo family.
"Yes!" The messenger took the order and left, while Imagawa Yoshimoto continued to lead Udonabi around the northeast corner of Hamana Lake and headed towards Horie Castle of the Osawa family. Horie Castle is surrounded by water on three sides, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. At that time, Osawa Kiso relied on only a few hundred soldiers to resist Imagawa Yoshima's thousands of troops in Horie Castle for two years. As long as you escape into Horie Castle, you no longer need to be worried.
·
At three o'clock on May 7, the twelfth year of Tianwen (1543), Horie Castle.
In the past few days, the Osawa family also received a letter from the Okudaira family urging the wealthy families to rebel together, and an order from Ohara Zhenmi requesting the wealthy families of Yuejiang to suppress the rebellion. Naturally, they knew what was happening in front of them. However, the letter from the Okudaira family said that Imagawa Yoshimoto was living in exile in the mountains at the junction of Toe and Mikawa, while the letter from Ohara Zhenmi said that Imagawa Yoshimoto had arrived safely at Kakegawa Castle - this contradictory information made Osawa Moto Prime Minister For a moment, he didn't know where to send troops, so he led his troops to stay in Horie Castle.
As luck would have it, I happened to meet Imagawa Yoshimoto coming with Udonabi.
"Your Highness, please come into the city!" Kisang Osawa rode his horse to the city gate in person, and anxiously almost took Imagawa Yoshimoto's reins and pulled him into the city.
"Introduce the Uden Bei and stop Saigo Bei outside the city." Imagawa Yoshimoto whispered the order to Osawa Kisho, "I don't know Saigo Bei's enemy. It is very likely that he will be rebellious."
"Understood, please wait a moment, your highness, and I'll help you get it done right away!" Kishou Osawa accepted the order and left. Osawa Bei's soldiers took action, letting Udono Bibgo go, and immediately showed their intent to Saigo Bei. No matter what Saigo Bei said, he would not let them in. There were more than 450 people in Osawa and only about 300 in Saigo. Naturally, they did not dare to force their way in. They had to watch helplessly Imagawa Yoshimoto escape into Horie Castle, and then watch helplessly as the gates of Horie Castle were opened in front of them. close.
After Imagawa Yoshimoto entered the city, he immediately arranged for Ginkgo to take the injured Takeda Harunobu to the castle tower to rest. Before Imagawa Yoshimoto could take a breath, Osawa Motozo called him to the top of the city again. On their way from the north, I saw the troops of the Ii family coming in a hurry.
"Your Highness, are you considering taking the lead in breaking out?" Osawa Momo pointed at Saigo Bei under the city and Ii Ibei coming from a distance, "Before Ii Ibe arrived, we relied on the strength of more than 600 people from Osawa Bei and Udono Bei. The military is fully capable of covering your departure."
"Why, Osawazaemon doesn't have confidence in the guards of his city?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked with a smile.
"No, I have the confidence to guard you until the end of the world." Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Da Zeji said seriously, then paused, and decided to persuade: "It's just that the most dangerous situation at the moment is that the ministers in the family can't contact you, so I It will cause chaos in Dongsanhe and Xiyuanjiang. The top priority is for you to leave the isolated city and restore contact with your retainers as soon as possible.
Peace of mind. "
"It makes sense." Imagawa Yoshimoto understood that Osawa Motozo was right. Just as he was preparing to prepare troops and horses to break out, he found that two armies suddenly came from the southeast. The total number of people was about 800, and they were directly blocked. The route taken by Imagawa Yoshimoto to break out of the encirclement was Horie Castle's waterfront. There were dense swamps nearby, and there were only a few roads for war horses to pass through.
"The reamer has a gold pattern of wild geese, two leads to two - the Iio family and the Horikoshi family." Osawa Momo recognized his two neighbors, "What is the purpose of coming here? Is it to counter a rebellion? Or to rebel?"
Just when Imagawa Yoshimoto was trying to recall the position of the two families, Kira Usei walked over quickly with a young man.
"Your Highness, they said they were from the Horikoshi family, rowing a boat from Hamana Lake." Kira Usei pushed the man, but the man couldn't stand still, staggered and knelt directly in front of Imagawa Yoshimoto - - He was not discouraged and took advantage of the situation and gave a big salute.
"The Horikoshi family?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked in a low voice.
"Yes, I am Horikoshi Sadatoyo, and I will pay my respects to the family governor at the main hall!" Horikoshi Sadatoyo kowtowed as if he was pounding garlic. "Please be careful, your highness. The Horikoshi family has come to visit with bad intentions! At the evaluation meeting of the Horikoshi family, my brother (Horikoshi Nobuhiro) strongly advocated Rebel, but my father (Horikoshi Sadaki) was hesitant, and finally the family decided to march north with troops and wait and see the situation. If your situation in the House Governor's Hall is good, the Horikoshi family will help put down the rebellion. If you are in danger, the Horikoshi family will take advantage of the situation to capture you! But now that the House Governor’s Palace is trapped in the isolated city, there is probably going to be trouble! Even if the Horikoshi family won’t fight you, they certainly won’t help you put down the rebellion! They will probably block your retreat and prevent you from leaving!”
