As soon as Oda Nobunaga said this, everyone was shocked.
Everyone stared at Oda Nobunaga in stunned silence, recalling the sentence they just heard, and confirming whether they had heard a certain grammar or word wrong - and finally found out that they had not.
This idiot wants to burn down Kyoto? Burn this thousand-year-old capital?
Although Kyoto has been damaged by war many times in history, no one has ever tried to gain an advantage in battle through systematic arson.
Before everyone could react on how to scold Oda Nobunaga, Taiyuan Xuezhai had already spoken first. He first played the rosary and recited a few lines of Buddhist teachings for Oda Nobunaga to explain the gods and Buddhas. Then, in the tone of an elder educating a younger generation, he followed the instructions:
"Oda Saburo, these ancient temples and shrines are thousand-year-old cultural relics. They are the places where the souls of gods and Buddhas in the sky return. How can we touch them lightly? I am afraid that I will offend the power of God and destroy the merits. Moreover, Kyoto has a large population. If it is burned down by fire, How many lives are going to be harmed? It’s really a sin... You can’t do it, you can’t do it.”
"What do you mean by Master Yixuezhai?" Oda Nobunaga snorted coldly and looked at Taiyuan Xuezhai with his nostrils raised.
Taiyuan Xuezhai took his time and said with a smile: "This Kyoto is blessed with all things. It stretches for the last year. It is a big city with a population of more than 100,000. There are really a lot of people eating every day. But In the urban area of Kyoto, we don’t produce much food. Most of the food is transported from the surrounding Omi and Yamato. At the moment, these two countries are in our hands. And Kyoto and the surrounding areas transport food in the four directions of southeast, northwest and northwest. , and three of them are under our control."
"Go north to Katanda, to Wakasa and Echizen. Wakasa and Echizen are both our territories. Head east out of Yamashina and go to Omi, which is also our territory. Go south to Makishima, where our main battle formation is..."
"Isn't there another way to go to the west? Setsu and Tanba in the west are both areas belonging to the Northern Army. You can go to Tanba by walking through Katsuryuji Temple, and you can go to Settsu by walking through Yamazaki." Oda Nobunaga choked and said, "Photograph Tsu is also a large granary and a distribution center for grain transshipment in the Seto Inland Sea..."
"Wait a minute." Takeda Harunobu suddenly raised his head, interrupting everyone's conversation, and then looked at Taiyuan Xue Zhai with a sudden realization: "Master Xue Zhai's 'bad move' that day..."
"It's just for the 'center strategy' at this time." Taiyuan Xuezhai and Takeda Harunobu played a riddle, and everyone else in the tent was confused.
"During the battle a few days ago, Master Xue Zhai would rather let us leave the worried Yuanjiao Temple alone, and let us go southwest to occupy the East Temple and Suilin Temple, just for this plan." Takeda Harunobu was convinced. He couldn't help but admire, then stood up and pointed hard to the southwest of the hanging Kyoto map:
"With control of Toji Temple and Suirin Temple, we can control the official road from Settsu to Yamazaki and then to Kyoto at any time. Cut off this official road, and then block all surrounding official roads to Kyoto. Kyoto wants to transport To get food in, the only way is to take the mountain road from Tanba to Shoryuji Temple. That mountain road is rugged and difficult to travel, and the transportation of food and grass for the Northern Army is already at its limit, let alone the hundreds of thousands of people in Kyoto."
"Then why don't you go northwest immediately and cut off the road to Shengryuji Temple?" After hearing this, Hojo Tsunari suddenly felt that a war opportunity was coming. He did not care about the relationship with the Imagawa family, and waved his fist and said solemnly: "One Block all the food routes of the Northern Army in one breath!"
"If all the food and grass in Kyoto is really cut off, the Northern Army will inevitably burn everything, and even incite the people of Kyoto to become enemies with us, which will cause a lot of trouble. But if only one mouth is left, the food and grass brought in by the Northern Army can meet their needs, but Unable to meet the needs of the people, the hungry people in Kyoto will definitely target the Northern troops from other places, and riots and riots over food will be just around the corner." Taiyuan Xue Zhai hid the rosary in his sleeves and said with a smile: " Compared with the inferior strategy of storming Kyoto, this middle strategy of jumping out of Kyoto can completely destroy the enemy's army without wasting troops."
The daimyo in the tent swallowed their saliva one after another, frightened by this plan to cut off food, which was more cruel than Oda Nobunaga's fire plan.
"Teacher, didn't you just say that Oda Saburo's strategy is bad for merit?" After hearing this, Imagawa Yoshimoto hurriedly sat cross-legged and meditated and began to recite the Buddha's name. He was afraid that if he spoke slowly, Taiyuan Xuezhai's poisonous plan of killing a thousand swords would kill the Buddha. He was so angry that he was almost dead, "Monks are compassionate, but you are good...aren't you afraid of being thundered down by the Buddha?"
"At least the Buddhist temples don't have to be burned down, and the Buddhas will be happy. As for all living beings, they will die sooner or later. How can the Buddha care? If he really cared, so many people would die miserably every day in this troubled world? Besides, if he really wanted to kill someone, , those were also the samurai of the Northern Army suppressing the common people who were snatching food, and they were not killed by me for my master." Taiyuan Xuezhai laughed twice, and patted Imagawa Yoshimoto lightly on the back, "When the time comes, I will kill you for my master. I will recite sutras for them to be saved and be reborn in bliss."
·
On May 3, the 14th year of Tenmon, the Hexagonal Army transferred back from Chisekiin and the Wakasa Takeda Army left the frontal battlefield southward. Crossing the river quietly at the lower reaches of the Kamogawa River, they easily occupied the official road from Settsu to Kyoto - during the tug-of-war of more than a month before, no one had paid attention to this official road, which was far away from the main battlefield. The Confederate army immediately set up roadblocks to block the official road, stopping all merchants, couriers and pedestrians coming and going.
After the Northern Army first learned of the news, they were not yet alert. After all, the Miyoshi family also had a certain number of defenders left in Settsu, and they were not afraid of harassment by the Southern Army. If the Southern Army really wanted to give up attacking Kyoto and march westward to Settsu, the Northern Army could go directly south from Kyoto and capture Makishima Castle, the residence of Harumoto Hosokawa.
But the battle situation immediately began to develop in an unexpected direction.
Shortly after the Confederate Army blocked the official road in the direction of Settsu, the Yamato official road to the south of Kyoto, the Omi official road to the east, and the Wakasa official road to the north were completely blocked one after another, and all communication was cut off, and subsequently the There is also the supply of food and grass in Kyoto. Kyoto has a large population and has never been self-sufficient in food and grass since ancient times, let alone now after years of war.
The people of Kyoto soon discovered that the grain merchants who used to come and go to the market in Kyoto were missing. They immediately fell into panic and began to hoard food. The grain stocks of various rice banks also quickly bottomed out. On May 10, the 14th year of Tianwen, not a single grain of rice could be bought in the entire Kyoto market.
The Northern Army also tried to reopen the official road from Settsu to Kyoto, but to advance in that direction, it had to pass under the eyes of the Kashun coalition forces in Toji Temple and Suirin Temple. Only by suppressing these two armies can we reach the official road. The problem was that the strength of the Northern Army was inferior to that of the Southern Army. After they made the move to march southwest, the Southern Army immediately launched a full-line attack, forcing the main force of the Northern Army to return to defense. In the end, there were only a handful of offensive troops that the Northern Army could use, and there was no way to defeat the Roxagon Army and Wakasa Takeda Army, which had already built fortifications on the official road for less than half a month.
Fortunately, Kyoto still retains the last channel to communicate with the outside world - the road heading west to Tamba. Miyoshi Nagakei urgently arranged for the Hatano family in Tamba to transport grain to Kyoto, while the Miyoshi family in Settsu stayed behind to transport the grain stored in Settsu north to Tamba. There are two difficult mountain roads to go back and forth, and transportation efficiency is difficult to guarantee. If the Northern Army does not conduct military operations, the food transported can cover all military food expenses. But once the Southern Army took the initiative to provoke a battle, forcing the Northern Army's soldiers to continue to consume physical strength and increase their food intake - the food costs would immediately exceed the supply capacity.
Taiyuan Xuezhai also obviously discovered this. After noticing that the Northern Army had ceased its activities and did not take the initiative to open up communication lines, but instead began to hold on, he judged that the Northern Army wanted to use this to reduce food and grass consumption. So under his instruction, various units of the Confederate Army began to attack in turns, not only to achieve a big breakthrough, but also to make the soldiers of the Northern Army tired to deal with it every day. Even though I sit still every day, I can still use gruel for my meals. But if the soldiers are all wearing armor and going into battle, it can't be justified if they don't get some food, right? If you withhold food at this time, you will have to wait for a mutiny.
What is even more frightening is that no matter how frugal they are, by June of the 14th year of Tianwen, the food reserves in the homes of the people in Kyoto are on the verge of being exhausted, and there is a large-scale fleeing wave. However, the raging wave of escape was blocked by all the checkpoints set up by the Southern Army. Whenever any civilians try to flee by force, they will be robbed and stabbed back—soldiers from other places will not give the people of Kyoto a good look. In desperation, the common people tried to pay bribes to buy off the soldiers - but this was also expressly prohibited by the senior leaders of the Confederate Army. The soldiers did collect money, but few of them really dared to let the people go. Only occasionally, when they were on duty, would they let a few people go from the trail.
The desperate people began to try to escape by crossing mountains and ridges on wild roads. However, once they encountered the Confederate cavalry patrols and ninja teams, they would have their luggage plundered and then be driven back to Kyoto. After several days of struggle, the vast majority of the fleeing people had to leave the checkpoint in despair, and all rushed to the Tamba-Kyoto official road, which was still open normally. However, this narrow and rugged official road was responsible for supplying the Northern Army with food and fodder, and there was no excess traffic for the fleeing people. As a result, the Northern Army also made the same choice - closing the official road to the people, only allowing the food transport team to come in, and not allowing the people to go out.
These hungry people watched as cart after cart of food was transported into Kyoto under their noses to be eaten by foreign soldiers, while they could only wait to starve to death beside the closed official road. Even the docile and cowardly grassroots people will burst out with terrifying energy when they reach this point.
First, some people tried to pick up the grain scattered on the ground despite being whipped and driven away. Subsequently, food theft began to occur frequently. In the end, it directly evolved into a common people attacking the transportation team and the guarding Northern Army soldiers, just to snatch a bite of food to survive...
Without wasting a single soldier, the Northern Army was almost forced into a desperate situation.
