Chapter 122 10. The Kingdom of God on Earth Is Just Around the Corner

Amid the astonishment of the Yamanouchi clan retainers, the cold wind from the Sea of ​​Japan blew across the coast of Hokuriku, but this cold wind could not blow away the flourishing spring.

On the narrow dirt road, teams of hurried horses trampled carelessly on the green grass that had just emerged, and the slight green seemed to be submerged under the feet of countless people.

These people looked like soldiers but not soldiers. Some of them were wearing cheap armor, and some were wearing simple domaru. Everyone held a cheap plain gun in their hands. The rust on the tip of the gun could not hide the essence of this plain gun as a killing weapon.

Some of these teams were 20 to 30 people in a team, and some were 400 to 500 people in a team. Most of them looked like villagers from the same village. Looking at their flags, the pure white cotton cloth was written with Namo Amitabha and Buddhism as the basis.

The people walking often chanted the name of Namo Amitabha, which gathered into a Sanskrit sound that shook the heaven and earth.

Finally, more than 20,000 Ikko-ikki troops from Echigo, Noto, Hida, and Kaga, inspired by Buddhism, arrived at Fudoyama Castle, an important town in Echigo that defended Echigo. They surrounded the castle with only 800 soldiers and 10 or 20 layers. The castle commander Yamamotoji Sadanaga anxiously asked the envoy to report to Uesugi Terutora in Kasugayama.

The peasants, who were already oppressed by the endless taxes and labor of the feudal lords and could not survive, strengthened their determination to resist fate and established their faith in Amitabha's original vow after they received the religious organization of Ikko-sensei. The organization of Ikko-sensei greatly influenced and strengthened the religious life of poor peasants. The believers gathered together to vent their dissatisfaction with the feudal lords. In the end, the believers took up arms to fight for worldly happiness and resist the heavy feudal oppression.

The peasant believers who believed that they were the sons of Amitabha, firmly believed in the power of Buddha and had the support of religious organizations, were greatly liberated in their thinking and began to take positive actions without any scruples. They denied the various doctrines of other sects, despised the power of the feudal samurai such as the guardian of the province and the lord of the shogunate, refused to pay annual tribute and refused to perform corvée.

Finally, at the beginning of the year, the Ikko sect of the Hokuriku Kaga Province, Kanazawa Gobo, sent countless officials and monks holding the banners of the name of Namo Amitabha, inspiring countless devout believers to launch a thorough Ikko Ikki in order to resist the cruel feudal oppression of the Kanrei Uesugi Terutora and establish a "Buddhist country on earth" and a "country owned by the people".

Especially in Kaga area, 10,000 battle-hardened "kumi" (referring to local lords, most of whom were from the class of jisuma, with considerable combat effectiveness and organization) and "ko" (the grassroots religious organization of the Ikko sect, sometimes with three to five households in a ko, sometimes with one or two hundred households in a ko, rooted in the grassroots villages, directly mobilizing peasant soldiers and foot soldiers) soldiers, led by the district officials and local lords, entered the Hasunuma area in Echigo. The believers in Echigo, Hida, Noto and other countries spontaneously armed themselves, wearing simple equipment, and gathered into the Ikko Ikki army with their faith in Buddha. The monks of Hida Province Jorenji Temple (the followers of Hida Province Jorenji Temple were also very strong, and fought against several local tyrants in Hida, and survived until the time of Toyotomi Hideyoshi) and the followers even armed hundreds of warriors on horseback, holding the banner of Namo Amitabha and summoning devout believers along the way.

The entire Ikko Ikki Army was no longer like a mob armed force. They had both organizations and officers, and the morale of the whole army was extremely high, and the desire to fight was also strong. It was simply a rare strong army in the world, no wonder it became a powerful force that stirred up the Warring States period.

At the same time, the head of the Ikko Sect in Echigo, Yoshizaki Gobo, finally made up his mind to issue a manifesto to the people and lords of the country who believed in Ikko Sect throughout Echigo.

The amazing appeal of religion was vividly demonstrated. The samurai who had sworn to Uesugi Terutora and prayed for lifelong loyalty abandoned their vows and sacrificed everything for the Buddha they believed in.

The large-scale Echigo Ikko Ikki, which was in full swing, broke out suddenly in an instant. The samurai and foot soldiers who had gathered under Uesugi Terutora a few months ago raised the banner of rebellion without hesitation in order to overthrow the rule of the feudal guardian and overthrow the great nobles and feudal system that oppressed them.

Even the hatamoto samurai group belonging to Uesugi Terutora had samurai fleeing at night and going to Yoshizaki Gobo to join their Buddha. Uesugi Terutora's direct military forces suffered a heavy blow and weakened, and even lost the support of a large number of locals and powerful families.

On the other hand, the Ikko Ikki army gathered from all over Hokuriku launched a general attack on Fudoyama Castle. However, after holding out for just one day, Fudoyama Castle fell as expected under the fierce attack of the Ikko-ikki army who shouted "Namo Amitabha". Yamamotoji Sadanaga retreated to Kasugayama Castle with dozens of defeated soldiers.

As Yamamotoji Sadanaga fled miserably to Kasugayama Castle, the news of the Ikko-ikki in the Hokuriku region against the Echigo Uesugi clan, that is, Uesugi Terutora's Ikko-ikki, spread like wildfire, and the whole Kasugayama was in panic.

Fortunately, Uesugi Terutora had a strong control over the Kyojo County, which gave him time to collect a large amount of necessary resources such as food and weapons into the city, and also avoided the critical situation of riots under the city. However, even so, the Hokuriku Ikko-ikki army quickly attacked the Kasugayama Castle, and did not give Uesugi Terutora the opportunity to recruit farmers and foot soldiers to enter the city to assist in defense.

In the Chugoku region, Yoshizaki Gobo's Yuban Castle was the first to bear the brunt. Naoe Kagetsuna, who had returned to his base to mobilize soldiers in preparation for the battle in Kanto, was caught off guard and only had four or five hundred people to defend the city. Many of his samurai servants and foot soldiers also defected to the Ikko Ikki army, and Yuban Castle looked more shaky than ever.

Moreover, since the old warrior magistrate Naoe Kagetsuna of the Uesugi family was surrounded in Yuban Castle, it was difficult to elect a general who could take charge of the defense of Chugoku for a while. The samurai in the castles loyal to Uesugi Terutora in various parts of Chugoku could only fight on their own. Soon the whole of Chugoku was in flames. Except for Tochio Castle guarded by Honjo Sane and Ueda Sakado Castle guarded by Nagao Masakage, most of the small castles fell in the blink of an eye. The castles of other powerful lords in Chugoku and Shimogoshi were just self-protection. The Ikko Ikki army that swept half of Echigo in a short time and the reinforcements that broke through Fudoyama Castle successfully joined forces.

Although it was not the first time that Kasugayama was surrounded, it was the first time since Uesugi Terutora took over. This greatly undermined his authority as the Kanto Kanrei (although the Kanto Kanrei had long lost face), and even the Yangbei people in Joetsu began to get agitated.

In this way, the Ikko Ikki army of nearly 40,000 people surrounded Kasugayama Castle in ten or twenty layers, and almost all external aid was cut off. There were only a mere 1,000 soldiers guarding the city, and Kasugayama Castle was in danger.