Chapter 12 third quarter

"It will be done soon, Koichiro-sama." At the end of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, when the rainy season was about to enter, my brother came back from the city, his sunken eyes widened, and he exclaimed ecstatically. "What's the matter, brother?" Koichiro asked in dismay.Just taking care of the ashigaru in the group has already made him burnt out, and there is still something "coming soon", of course he can't be happy. "Fight, we are going to attack Meinong again." Brother said happily. After overthrowing the mighty enemy Imagawa Yoshimoto with a surprise attack in Ozazama the summer before last, Oda Nobunaga sent troops to Nishi Mino several times last year.After the death of Saito Yoshiryu in May last year, Mino was succeeded by his son Long Xing, and the political situation was quite unstable.The twenty-eight-year-old Nobunaga intends to take advantage of this occasion to expand the territory, so he has sent troops to attack again and again, but so far, the results of the battle have not been fruitful.In June last year, they once attacked near Inabayama Castle (later Gifu Castle), the main stronghold of the Saito family, but were repelled in the end.This year he probably still wants to attack Meinong again before the rainy season comes.

"This time, Lord Nobunaga personally appointed me to be the vanguard. This is a great honor. You should be happy too, Koichiro." After entering the longhouse, my brother proudly puffed out his thin chest and said.When only the two of them are present, the word "adult" after Xiaoichiro's name will automatically disappear.This strange way of deliberately calling his younger brother "adult" in front of people reflects his brother's mentality of wanting to raise his status anytime and anywhere, which makes Koichiro feel a little sad. "Being a pioneer? Great."

Koichiro tried to look happy, but he was actually very worried.Anyway, this is his first time on the battlefield.It was indeed a bit late at the time when he played for the first time at the age of twenty-two.In modern terms, it is as if a man started working in a company in his thirties, and ended up taking over a big business in the third year of his tenure.A few months ago, he was just a farmer, so there is nothing wrong with that.But now that he acts as the head of the group, he must perform better than his subordinates. However, he has neither kung fu nor extraordinary arm strength.After he came to the city, he tried to use the gun several times, but his skills were far from those of the group's ashigaru.Therefore, although he is afraid of being killed by the enemy, he is even more afraid of killing people with a gun, and of course he will not be happy because he wants to be a pioneer.

(Let's practice guns tomorrow.) Koichiro thought so in his heart, but his brother made a completely different request. "So, Koichiro, pick four or five smart guys for me to go to the Kisogawa River tomorrow. You will follow." "By the Kiso River? What are you going to do?" Koichiro tilted his head in confusion and asked. "You'll know when you go." The older brother replied succinctly. As soon as he reached the banks of the Kiso River, he immediately understood his brother's intentions.My brother asked the ashigaru to disperse and go to the nearby villages to find out if anyone had crossed the river recently, and then asked them where the ford was.

After a while, two or three people came back and reported the location they had found out.Immediately, my brother borrowed a boat, disguised himself as a farmer and paddled across the river, and then crossed three or four times on foot.At first he would go deep into the water from time to time and be carried away by the river, but he finally found easier shallows. "Remember the route we just crossed the river." After my brother explained this to everyone, he specially piled stones by the river as a memory. "The rainy season is approaching, and the rural samurai in Mino are busy planting rice seedlings. Lord Nobunaga wants to attack when they are inseparable."

On the way home, my brother finally explained the whole story. "I expected this situation, so I first found a route to cross the river. Whether you can cross the river quickly will be the key to the success of this battle." "I see." Koichiro admired his brother very much.To put it simply, my brother also wanted to use his "eyesight" to get credit on the battlefield. However, on the day of the battle, that is, May 3rd, my brother's efforts did not have any effect.Because Nobunaga was marching from a completely different direction, he ordered everyone to cross the river about a mile from the river they were investigating.In other words, Nobunaga thought carefully and also investigated the location and route of crossing the river, which disappointed Koichiro.Moreover, they lost miserably in battle.When Oda's army marched to Qinghai, they were flanked by Saito's army, and they were defeated in an instant.

Fortunately, Koichiro did not encounter any major enemies.He did not deliberately avoid the enemy's vanguard and fled, but because the Kinoshita group was the vanguard of our army, gathered in front of the army, far away from the flank attacked by the enemy. The Oda Army's team was defeated by the enemy's attack, and soon retreated in an all-round way.The vanguard of the Kinoshita group also retreated vigorously, crossed the chaotic middle army, joined the main army led by Nobunaga, and retreated south.Ironically, my brother's hard work came in handy during the retreat, and the river crossing they had explored earlier became the best retreat.However, preparing the way out in advance is not a credit.Because after the war, those who returned safely would often put the guns behind the horse, saying that it would have been better if they hadn't escaped at that time.

Fortunately, although the Oda family was defeated, the casualties were not heavy, because Saito's army was insufficient in strength, so they did not take advantage of the victory to pursue fiercely.Even so, the number of soldiers in the Oda family has been greatly reduced, and there are only six members left in the Kinoshita group of nearly thirty people—it seems that they fled in fear of the battle and refused to return to the team. "It's too much." Koichiro was both angry and unbelievable, but his brother said indifferently: "It's a regular thing, and it's going to be coming again soon."

The Oda mercenary regiment, which is composed of homeless people or rebels, is inherently undisciplined, cowardly and unable to withstand combat.However, as my brother said, eight newcomers joined in less than ten days, and soon the Kinoshita group had more people than before.As long as they are willing to pay, it is not a problem to find as many tramps or punks who are willing to participate in the battle. Following last year's attack on Mino this year, they failed again, and the morale of the members of the Oda family was inevitably low.This time the Oda army was outnumbered and lost to the sparsely populated Saito family, which showed that the soldiers of Owari were weak in combat power, and the tactics of the Mino samurai were ingenious. The enemy's Oda family suffered great damage to their self-esteem.

Among them, only Nobunaga is still in high spirits.Although he was defeated, Saito's army was small, which made him very satisfied.This man, whose resourcefulness is comparable to that of a demon, has devised an astonishing new strategy, which is to use money to raise mercenary groups, let them attack continuously, and make the enemy tired of preparing for battle. The peasants and soldiers in Meinong are indeed brave and good at fighting, but they can't just fight. They have to go back to plow the fields when the farming season is busy.In contrast, the only job of the Oda family's mercenaries is to fight, and they can send troops again and again.As long as they are used to "continuously attack", the enemy's soldiers will definitely complain and refuse to cooperate with the leading mobilization.This is the purpose of Nobunaga's formation of a low-end mercenary group.

In this battle, the number of Saito's army is extremely small, which proves that their mobilization power has weakened.Although Oda Nobunaga suffered a defeat, he felt that the day when Mino fell into his hands was not far away.However, in order to really achieve the goal, Nobunaga's family still has a lot of areas that need to be improved, and Nobunaga decided to start with these things first.