Imagawa Yoshimoto put his hands behind his back, stood majestically at the top of the city, took a deep breath, and yelled at the densely packed rebels below:
"I am the eleventh generation governor of the Imagawa family, Yoshimoto, the chief assistant of the Imagawa administration! Are you soldiers going to cause trouble?"
Imagawa Yoshimoto's roar immediately threw the soldiers under the city into chaos - did their family heads and warriors tell them that they were here to suppress the rebellion? Aren't there rebels in Horie City? Why is Yoshimoto Imagawa at the top of the city instead?
"The House Governor's Hall was held hostage by traitors from the Osawa family and the Uden family, so he was threatened to say these words! Don't mess up! Let's rush into the city and rescue the House Governor's Hall!" The rebel warriors hurriedly suppressed them. , finding excuses to vigorously scold those soldiers who were wavering. But these ordinary people are not stupid either. They all feel that the situation in front of them has a strange atmosphere. However, these rebel warriors do not dare to show their cards directly and say, "We just want to rebel."
Because although Imagawa Yoshimoto did not have a very good reputation among these foreign retainers and samurai, he enjoyed high popularity among the people. His deeds of rescuing civilians in Shinano and Mikawa Sanban, and personally breaking up the enemy for his subordinates in Azozaka, have made him an object of praise and admiration among ordinary people. In the army of a wealthy family, the proportion of samurai is often only about one-fifth, and the remaining ashigaru are common people recruited from conscripts. If you want to order these common people to rebel and attack their beloved family governor Imagawa Yoshimoto - I'm afraid there will be a risk of mutiny.
"The Osawa family and the Uden family are loyal members of the family, how can they be rebellious? If they were rebellious, how could I dare to take refuge in Horie Castle in times of crisis? The real rebels are the samurai under the city! You must be Make a clear distinction between right and wrong, and don’t let Xiaoxiao deceive you into committing a heinous crime! If you pursue him afterwards, wouldn’t it bring disaster to the family?”
Imagawa Yoshimoto at the top of the city was still shouting loudly and righteously, while the Ashigaru people below the city began to whisper and whisper to each other more and more:
"what is going on?"
"The look of the housekeeper's hall doesn't look like he's being held hostage?"
"What did you say when you were drafted into the army?"
"ah?"
"We said we were going to attack the rebellious Okuhira family."
"We also said we were going to fight Sanheguo."
"But look at those Sanhe guys, aren't they lining up with us now? Why don't we fight them, instead of attacking the city with them?"
The rebel samurai were all covered in cold sweat as they listened to the ashigaru discussions around them - yes, everyone is not a fool, so how could they not see what the truth is?
"If this continues, the morale of the army will be in chaos." Okuhira Sadakatsu felt that the ashigaru people around him were looking at the Oudaira family with more and more complicated eyes. He could no longer sit still, and said in a deep voice to the guard beside him: "Take the bow. Come on, shoot Imagawa Yoshimoto to death at the top of the city, how dare you stand in such an obvious place!"
"Your Highness?" The guards were dumbfounded when they heard this. "Shooting the governor to death in public is absolutely unkind..."
"Is there any possibility of getting better now? My brother has already been hanged outside the city!" Okudaira Sadakatsu's teeth itched with hatred, and then he bent his bow and arrow without hesitation, aiming at Imakawa who was twenty feet away. Yiyuan, when the bow string is fully drawn, he will shoot with one arrow.
Imagawa Yoshimoto at the top of the city saw a flash of cold light in the distance, and saw an arrow coming towards his face. He just tilted his head with ease and let the arrow pass, listening to the "thunk" sound of it being nailed. On the tower behind me,
When the soldiers under the city saw someone shooting Imagawa Yoshimoto, they immediately went into an uproar. Amid the noisy shouts, Imagawa Yoshimoto calmly took off the bow and arrow from his back, briefly checked the direction of the arrow, then leisurely shot an arrow with his backhand, and nailed it directly to the flagpole of the Okudaira family's horse seal.
Okudaira Sadakatsu was so shocked by this terrifying shooting skill that he could not speak, while the clamor of the ashigaru on the side became even more intense.
"We can't delay any longer. The longer we delay, the more trouble we'll get. We'll take the lead with our trustworthy samurai and force the ashigaru to attack. The total number of available soldiers in the city shouldn't exceed a hundred, right? Even if the morale is low, we can still win!" Asahina kissed! Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Toku personally rode his horse to the Okudaira army. "The Ii family has agreed. We will send people to inform Saigo Bei, Horikoshi Bei and Iio Bei and ask them to bring samurai over. When will they come?" Are you still thinking about both sides? Could it be that after Imagawa Yoshimoto ran away, he would really let them go?
"
"Okay." Okudaira Sadakatsu happily agreed. He took his flag book and mobilized all the samurai in the family. He gathered the elite and prepared to break through.
At the same time, the samurai warriors of Asahinabei, Okuhirabei and Iibei also played the role of supervising the battle team. They drew their samurai swords at the ashigaru, scolded the wavering ashigaru, and forced them to attack the city wall.
"Whoever dares to look back will die!"
"If you can't attack the city, just wait for your own head to fall!"
"Don't ask too much, don't think too much, just listen to me!"
"Behead the one who whispers to each other! Behead the one who hesitates!"
Forced by the samurai, hundreds of reluctant ashigaru were driven towards the castle and launched a fierce attack on the gates and city walls. The number of remaining soldiers in Horie Castle's honmaru was already in jeopardy. Even the remaining auxiliary soldiers and civilians had to go to the city with bamboo spears to help defend, and were instantly suppressed by the rebel arrows. It doesn't matter even if the Ashigaru's fighting spirit is low, because the rebel samurai only need them to be the first wave to board the city like human shields, attract the firepower of the defenders, and cover the samurai's climb to the city.
In the battle at the top of the city, the ashigaru, auxiliary soldiers and civilians of Horie Castle were no match for the powerful warriors with strong armor and strong martial arts. They were quickly killed and were about to be driven off the city.
·
However, at this moment, the sound of horse hooves could be heard faintly on the official road in the southeast. Everyone turned around and saw horseshoe dust rising in the distance. Soon after, you could faintly see the flags of the incoming guests - Asahina, Miura, Sena, Matsui - all the family members of the COSCO family arrived. Beside them, you can also see the Imagawa family flag, Motoyasu Enbei's festival flag.
The rebels immediately went into an uproar, and the main force of the Imagawa family tree appeared behind them, which reduced the success rate of all siege attempts to the bottom. In a few minutes, they would be surrounded, attacked and killed at the foot of Horie Castle. The ashigaru of these rebels didn't have much fighting will. Seeing that the situation was so bad, all of them refused to move forward.
"How come it's so fast? It will take at least noon to arrive, right?" Asahina Chitoku suddenly felt that something was wrong. "I also specially arranged for people to go to Kakegawa Castle to lie about the military situation, saying that the situation was under control and delaying their reinforcement time. Why? Are they all here? It’s impossible to cover dozens of miles so quickly!”
At the same time, reinforcements were arriving.
"Go forward, go forward, go forward, throw all your whips at me, even if you beat the horse's butt to pieces, you still have to catch up with me!" Asahina Yasuno looked at Horie Castle in the distance and the densely packed rebels under Horie Castle, anxiously De's eyes were already blood red, and he whipped his horse hard with the riding crop, constantly urging his subordinates to rush forward!
"It's too risky, brother!" Asahina Taishou was frightened by Asahina Tainou's command. "How could there be any reason to abandon all the Ashigaru and attack with only the cavalry? The number of rebels is almost 2,000. !”
"With those lagging infantry, we can't reach it until the afternoon. Horie Castle is lost, and what should we do if His Highness the Governor of the House is killed?" Asahina Taino continued to charge forward with his head down regardless, and at the same time roared loudly amidst the roar of horse hooves. Said: "Come on for me!"
"You are risking your life!" Asahina Taihe let out a long sigh, looked at Asahina Taino, and then looked at the Miura family, Sena family, Matsui family and An Yuanbei behind him - they were in Asahina Taino's house. Under pressure, he also abandoned all the infantry and rushed forward with only the mounted warriors, "not only playing with the lives of our Asahina family, but also playing with everyone's lives."
·
Among the various rebel armies, the insiders arranged by Taiyuan Xuezhai saw that the situation had changed, and they have become active one after another.
"Father, our people are currently being discouraged by the House Governor's Hall, and the reinforcements from Asahina Bichushou are about to arrive. This rebellion will definitely fall short!" Horikoshi Sadatoyo was pulling Horikoshi Sadanobu's horse at the moment. Rein, waving his sharp tongue, "We are sending troops and besieging the city. We absolutely cannot stay out of it. The Imagawa family will definitely pursue us afterward! If we don't do something to atone for our sins, then... It’s going to be troublesome!”
"Then what do you think we should do?" Horikoshi Sadanobu glanced at Horikoshi Sadatō.
"Hurry up and attack the troops of Okuhei Bei, Ii Bei and Tanba Mamoru (Asahina Chitoku)! It's just that we didn't understand the situation before and didn't know which side was the rebels. Now we see the House Governor's Hall at the top of the city. Finally it became clear that it was
No, I helped put down the rebellion! Horikoshi Sadatoyo pointed at the flags of Okuheibei, Iibei and Asahinabei and said, "Hurry up and take action, father. If we are overtaken by other wealthy families, our first victory in suppressing the rebellion will be lost!" "
·
"Lord, our morale is completely depleted. The opposite side of the river has arrived again. Under the circumstances, the situation is now uncontrollable. It is better to prepare early!" Ono Masanao came to the side of Ii Naohei, the old head of the Ii family, and said: "We, Ii No matter what happens, I can't escape this time. I must cut off some flesh to make up for the failure of this rebellion! Now, while the Okuhira family and Tanba Mamoru have not woken up, we can take the lead and attack them to atone for our sins. ah!"
"Then what's our reason? It can't be justified anyway..." Ii Naohei showed a bitter look and was sweating profusely, "We cooperated with Okubei to attack the city. This is a definite act of treason. ah!"
"If you can't help it, just put the blame on the two young masters (Naomichi Ii and Naoyoshi Ii)!" Masanao Ono got the opportunity and immediately launched a "slander" without any politeness, hoping to get rid of the two "rebellious people" in the family. "The backbone of the Imagawa faction", "let's just say that you and His Highness (Ii Naomori) were coerced by them to rebel, and you immediately put things right after seizing the opportunity!"
·
"What can we do?" Okudaira Sadakatsu saw helplessly that the other rebels around him were obviously very active and seemed to want to take action against Okudaira. He suddenly panicked and started looking for his younger brother, "Third brother? Human beings?" Woolen cloth?"
"Brother, I'm here!" After hearing this, Yoshimasa Okudaira rushed over on his horse and came behind Sadakatsu Okudaira. However, before Okudaira Sadakatsu could speak, he felt a heavy blow on his back, and fell off his horse as soon as his vision went dark.
"Brother, I'm sorry. For the sake of the survival of the Okuhira family, I have no choice but to wrong you." Okuhira Yoshimasa felt cruel and knocked Okuhira Sadakatsu unconscious to the ground with his scabbard. Then he attacked Okuhira's soldiers on horseback. The arm shouted: "All the treasonous actions were taken by Okuhira Sadakatsu, who was good at making decisions and coercing the tribe! Now that the traitor has been captured, we, Okuhira, will immediately turn around and continue to dedicate our loyalty to the Imagawa family!"
·
Seeing the rebels defecting and returning one after another, and the reinforcements of Yoshimoto Imagawa getting closer and closer, Asahina Chitoku's heart was already icy cold. None of the Ashigaru who were still attacking the city had escaped, leaving only dozens of samurai gathered around him.
"Damn, how could Asahina Yasuno be so fast... When he is needed to lead the Asahina family to make the right decision, he always looks forward and backward like a girl. Why is it his turn to support that loser Imagawa Yoshimoto? He's so fast?" Asahina Chitoku was so angry that she hit her thigh with her hand, "If he is two hours late, I can rush down this fragile Horie Castle. !”
Just as he was thinking about how to deal with the aftermath, the sound of horse hooves rushing from a distance came very close to him. He looked up and saw that the stubble-faced Asahina Tenno had already slashed in front of him with a sword, followed by the Hatamoto knights of the Toe Asahina clan. Although they were all breathing heavily, they were full of killing intent.
"Why are you here to show off your power?" Asahina Kintoku pointed at Asahina Tenno's nose and yelled.
"Come to clean up the family." Asahina Tainou's face was uglier than that of a ghost. He almost said a few syllables through his teeth: "You are a traitor who has tarnished the family name."
