Kunyoshi Castle is located in the easternmost part of Wakasa Mikata County, close to Echizen, and is the only way from Echizen to Wakasa.
Kuniyoshi Castle is a mountain castle built on the top of a mountain with an altitude of 200 meters. It also has ridge defense facilities along the ridge. Standing on the mountain, you can see Mihama to the east and Mikata County to the west, which can be described as a military strategic point.
In the entire Kuniyoshi Castle, there were more than 200 local samurai mobilized by the Awaya clan and 600 miscellaneous soldiers.
Kuriya Mototaka himself sits in Kasami Castle to defend against the threat from Gozeyama Castle, while Kuniyoshi Castle is entrusted to Kuriya Mitsuwa for defense, always keeping an eye on the Asakura family's movements.
Kuriya Mitsuruo has been tensing his nerves during this period, and the detective squad sent to Echizen has not stopped.
Although the investigation did not return the news of the Asakura family sending troops, Kuriya Mitsuwa's heart did not relax at all. At this time, the Kuriya family is already at the forefront of the crisis, and if they are not careful, they may lose everything. Kuriya Gentaka entrusted himself with the important task of guarding Kuniyoshi Castle. Kuriya Mitsuwa naturally could not live up to Kuriya Gentaka's high expectations.
Throughout the whole day today, Kuriya Mitsuruo was always feeling agitated, always feeling like something was going to happen.
Sure enough, just as the sun was about to set, a detective quickly entered the imperial palace of Kuniyoshi Castle.
As soon as he saw the anxious look on the detective's side, Kuriya Mitsuwa's heart skipped a beat, and then he quickly asked, "But does the Asakura family have something?"
"ha!"
"The villain found traces of the Asakura family's troops near Kurino Hall. They numbered about three thousand people, led by hundreds of elite cavalry troops!" Detective replied affirmatively.
Hearing the detective's affirmative answer, Kuriya Mitsuruo's face panicked, but he quickly regained his composure.
It is only right for the Asakura family to send troops. It would be strange if the Asakura family really did not move.
"Do you know who the leader of the Asakura family is? Have you ever seen Asakura Sotechi's flag seal?"
"The flag seal of Asakura Sotechi was not found. The flag seal held by the Asakura family soldiers should be owned by Asakura Sotechi's son, Asakura Keiki!"
Hearing that Asakura Sotechi was not among them, Kuriya Mitsuwa felt a little calmer.
"Kurinokan is only more than thirty miles away from Yoshi Castle in our country. According to the Asakura family's marching speed, we can reach the castle within two hours! Sound the alarm immediately, and all the troops in the city will immediately assemble to prepare to meet the enemy!"
"ha!"
The sudden sound of the alarm bell broke the original calm in Kuniyoshi Castle. Some Ashigaru who were sitting on the ground chatting did not react at first when they heard the alarm bell ringing, but they soon understood that this was a signal that the enemy was about to attack. , suddenly stood up nervously, as if facing a formidable enemy.
Kuriya Mitsuhiro dressed up and quickly appeared in front of the ashigaru. Seeing Kuriya Mitsuru's appearance, the peasants and soldiers who were originally confused suddenly found their backbone, and the surrounding area gradually became quiet.
"Don't panic, everyone. It's just the Asakura family's front line that is attacking. Asakura Sotechi himself hasn't left the line yet!"
"According to the report of the reconnaissance team, the enemy's front line has passed through Kurino Hall and is heading towards our country Yoshi City! Everyone, be prepared and follow me out of the battle!"
Kuriya Mitsuwa's words shocked the samurai present. Several samurai immediately asked in confusion: "Izumi Shouden, shouldn't we be encircling the city here? Why should we go out to meet the enemy?"
"Yes, how can we defeat the Asakura family?"
Guoji City is a mountain city that is extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack. Although there are not many defenders in the city, there are nearly a thousand people. Even if faced with the siege of tens of thousands of enemy troops, it is easy to hold on for ten days and a half.
In the absence of siege equipment, attacking such a mountain city usually involves encirclement, and the purpose of siege is achieved by consuming the food reserves of the defenders in the city. Therefore, even if they are facing the Asakura family, as long as they are caged in the city, the samurai present are relatively confident.
However, Kuriya Mitsuru wanted to go out of the city to start a joint battle with the Asakura family, which puzzled the samurai.
"I grew up in Guoyi City, and I am very familiar with the terrain here!"
"From Echizen to Kuniyoshi Castle, you must pass through the Mihama Township area. There are mountains to the north and south, and there is only a mountain road in the middle for passage! I have ordered people to prepare rolling logs and rocks there in advance!"
"The Asakura family came here relying on strength and didn't take us seriously at all. They must be arrogant in their hearts!"
"Arrogance leads to unpreparedness. This time we must let the Asakura family know how powerful I, the Kuriya clan!" An inexplicable light flashed in Kuriya Koruo's eyes, and his face was filled with a confident smile.
Seeing that Kuriya Mitsuhaka had made up his mind, the samurai present had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow Kuriya Mitsuhaka out of the city.
There is a question in everyone's mind. Can Kuriya Mitsuwa's plan really succeed?
.........
Goze Mountain Castle.
Compared with the tense atmosphere in Kuniyoshi Castle, Gozeyama Castle was full of laughter at this time.
Today is the wedding of Nobuo Takeda, the head of the Wakasa Takeda family, and Kyogoku Takamasa is the wedding host. After the wedding, a group of Kyogoku family retainers and Takeda family retainers sat in the palace and started eating and drinking.
Many of the retainers were not familiar with each other before, but on the occasion of Takeda Nobuo's wedding today, the two people became quite familiar with each other.
Uesaka Munanobu is extremely keen on drinking. He is the person with the best drinking ability in the Kyogoku family except Kyogoku Takamasa. At this moment, Uesaka Munanobu is surrounded by several Takeda family samurai, who are competing for their drinking power.
Kyogoku Takamasa was already well-known, and no one of the samurai present dared to find "trouble" with Kyogoku Takamasa. Only Takeda Nobuo was cautiously accompanying him, but his face was red after drinking.
Kyogoku Takamasa looked around and frowned when he saw the retainers acting like they were neither drunk nor returning.
"Dashan Dafu Hall, order it until it's over!"
"The current situation is tense. The Asakura family may send troops at any time! If you are all drunk, what will you do if the Asakura family invades?"
Takeda Nobuo was already seventy percent drunk at this time. Although he felt very reasonable after hearing Kyogoku Takamasa's words, his brain was no longer in control. I struggled to stand up and say a few words, but I couldn't find the strength.
Seeing Takeda Nobuo's miserable state, Kyogoku Takamasa shook his head helplessly.
Just as he was about to stand up, Hatayama Chaobu quickly ran in from outside the hall.
"My lord, Inuhachiro reports that Echizen has sent troops to the Kura family!"
Kyogoku Takamasa suddenly felt nervous and asked quickly, "Where are the Asakura family's troops?"
"The Asakura family's front line has entered Wakasa, but they seem to have encountered trouble when attacking Kuniyoshi Castle!"
"what happened?"
"According to the information sent back by Inuhachiro, the Asakura family's front line consisted of about 3,000 people. They arrived near Wakasa Mihama Township in the evening! Then Asakura Shi launched an siege, but after attacking along the mountain road through Mihama Town On the way to Kuniyoshi Castle, we encountered an ambush from Kuriya Kazumori, the lord of Kuniyoshi Castle.”
"Rolling logs and rocks on both sides of the mountain road sloping down like raindrops, catching Asakura Shi by surprise!"
"Asakura Shi was stunned for a time and his armor was shattered. The ashigaru and the samurai fled one after another, trampling on each other, and countless people were injured by their weapons. In short, this first attack on the city was an attack on the city. The Asakura family was defeated, and it is initially estimated that more than 200 Asakura family members died in the battle." Hatayama Chaobu replied with a flushed face, as if he was the one who directed the defeat of the Asakura family.
"Well done!"
Kyogoku Takamasa slapped his thigh and couldn't help but give Kuriya Mitsuru a thumbs up in his heart!
