Chapter 190 33. After Uesugi Retreated Back to Vietnam

When Murakami Yoshikiyo was attacked, it was time to disarm the camp. The food and fodder for 8,000 people in the camp, as well as flags, armor, livestock, money and other things were all thrown on the bank of the Kamikawa River. In addition to food, most of the financial items were allowed to be freely taken by Uesugi Terutora.

The soldiers naturally grabbed a lot of money, and many of them replaced their guns with cannons. It directly saved Uesugi Terutora a year's money for weapons and equipment, and also made Uesugi Terutora, who was worried about food, breathe a sigh of relief.

With such a batch of food, Uesugi Terutora also stabilized the hearts of the nobles in Shinano Ueno. Everyone saw that our governor was still invincible in Kanto, and Murakami Yoshikiyo, the "Shinano Giant", was also beaten by our governor and ran away crying for his parents.

The people of Uesugi, who were originally panicked by the sudden counterattack and bullying of the Hojo army, once again strengthened their determination and made it clear that they would go all the way with Uesugi Terutora.

There was a kind of loyalty that was hard to explain between the two. The people would fight hard to defend the city for their own territory. Since they belonged to Uesugi Terutora in name, they were defending the city for Uesugi Terutora. At the same time, since the people "submitted" to Uesugi Terutora, he would send troops to rescue these people and help them recover their territory.

This model is the most important manifestation of the so-called "loyalty" in the Warring States Period. Because you are strong, I will follow you, raise your flag, and I will send people to fight when you fight. On the surface, it seems to be very loyal, but in fact, it is just a little bit. This kind of loyalty is maintained on the premise that the daimyo can fight. If the successor does not do anything, these peripheral people's forces are very likely to suddenly fall apart.

The clearest example is the Nagao family. Nagao Tamekage can fight and can let his younger brothers follow him, so the huge territory of 300,000 stones is relatively easy to maintain. But Nagao Harukage can't fight. When everyone sees that you are not doing anything, they immediately scatter. When Nagao Kagetora can fight again, everyone will come back to continue to be "loyal".

The people are not loyal to your Nagao family, but to you, the awesome daimyo. Similarly, when Imagawa Yoshimoto died, the people of Mikawa Owari immediately rioted. When Takeda Shingen died, the people of Shinano Mikawa Totomi were also rioting. Not to mention the western part, when Amago Haruhisa died, even Izumo Province could be rioted by you.

So how important is a prestigious and capable daimyo to a family? The country is suspicious when the lord is young! The words used by the ancients are extremely accurate. What you get in exchange for the loyalty of the people is to follow you and not suffer any loss. If the daimyo himself has problems, then you can't blame others for being disloyal.

In this deformed master-servant loyalty relationship, Uesugi Terutora must be strong and decisive in front of his younger brother. How could Uesugi Terutora stop? He soon led his troops into the Oshi Castle of Musashi Province. I have to praise that the vision of Oshi Castle Lord Narita Nagayasu is really good. Whoever he supports will prosper. Last time, almost all the people of Musashi betrayed Uesugi Terutora. This old-timer who also participated in betrayal in history suddenly had a surge in IQ and EQ. He was determined to get along with Uesugi Terutora, closed the gate of Shinobi Castle, and defended the city to the death, which preserved the bridgehead of Musashi for Uesugi Terutora.

Uesugi Terutora then easily entered Musashi again, and then he set his position and asked the people from all directions to send troops to help. Unfortunately, there were few responses this time. Everyone felt that this time Uesugi Terutora would not be as smooth as last time.

Okay, Uesugi Terutora was not discouraged, and praised Narita Nagayasu and Narita clan father and son. Then, with 500 people from Shinobi Castle as the vanguard, he rushed to the lost Matsuyama Castle first. 【Note 1】

The mayor of Matsuyama Castle at that time was Ueda Asanao, who had just taken office. He was quite single. The Matsuyama clan had been a branch clan with great independence during the time of Ogigayatsu Asada. When Uesugi Terutora arrived this time, he did not even pretend to defend the Hojo family to show his loyalty. He directly changed the king's flag on the top of the city and knelt in front of Uesugi Terutora and called him daddy.

Well, Uesugi Terutora did almost nothing and just marched armed. Almost all of northern Musashi surrendered. They casually fought to the foot of Kawagoe Castle. The mayor was the old Hojo clan elder Daidoji Masaharu. He hated Uesugi Terutora so much that he was vengeful to him. He called on an army of more than 1,500 people to enter the city and defend it.

The happiest person at this point was Yamanouchi Yoshiharu. Hosokawa Harumiya saw that his old boss had returned with a large army, so he came with 500 people to join the battle. It is said that the two hugged each other and cried bitterly. When fellow villagers meet, their eyes are filled with tears.

So the 16,000-man army surrounded Kawagoe Castle with a ten-fold advantage. The ten- and twenty-layer encirclement ensured that not even a fly could fly out. Even Hojo Ujinao and his two uncles, Fujita Ujikuni and Oishi Ujiteru, who were in the Odawara Residence, had to wait for several days before they received the exact news that Kawagoe Castle was surrounded.

Fight, what else can they do? The two big brothers held their little nephews who were a few years old and led 6,000 Sagami people to Kawagoe Castle to confront Uesugi Terutora.

The consequences of the shitty things that Uesugi Terutora did in Kanto last time were revealed. First of all, the resistance in Kawagoe Castle was very resolute. 1,500 soldiers fought hard to the death. Even if the Echigo people climbed the city, they were counterattacked and drove out of the city.

Then, the Hojo army that confronted the Uesugi coalition army continued to have volunteers join because of the support of the people. After experiencing the two extremes of ice and fire, the people who didn't like the Hojo family so much stood on the side of the Hojo army without hesitation.

It had only been a few days, and the Hojo clan's volunteer army had reached 2,000 people. That was not all. When Nakajo Fujisuke of Shimosa led the Kobumus and 800 Satomi reinforcements, totaling 2,500 people, to support Uesugi Terutora, the Hojo Sakukura of Shimosa (the group of Chiba, Hara, Takagi, Yuki, etc. that had been weakened by Uesugi Terutora before) actually pulled 3,500 people to support the Hojo army.

After a month of siege, the Hojo army outside the city actually increased to a full 12,000 people. Uesugi Terutora's soldiers were forced to withdraw their troops and leave with hatred because they ran out of food and could not capture the city for a long time, and most importantly, the only remaining rice in Echigo could be harvested in a few days.

So much so that he forgot to deal with Fukaya Shizukata in front of him.

[Note 1]: Why go to Matsuyama Castle? This is one of the most important branch castles of Musashi. Due to years of defeat, the Ogigayatsu family retreated from Edo Castle to Kawagoe Castle, and then from Kawagoe Castle to Matsuyama Castle. It was the fulcrum castle of the entire region. It was the fall of Matsuyama that led to the complete collapse of the situation in northern Musashi. Castles such as Hachigata and Tenjinyama surrendered without a fight, and the Ogigayatsu family lost even the chance to continue resisting with a child.