Chapter 213 17. Two Heroes Fight for Imagawa

Suruga was beaten into a pot of porridge, and Xiaoheita's side was not too smooth. Although the conditions were thought to be excellent, there seemed to be some doubts in the city.

It is true that the great god Imagawa Yoshimoto would only turn against Yamauchi Yoshiharu after his death, even though he has not been seen alive for more than ten days, nor has his head been seen. However, the city has also estimated that Imagawa Yoshimoto must be dead, otherwise the pack of hungry wolves from all directions would not dare to pounce on him like this. But who knows whether Asahina Taitomo is dead or not?

You Yamauchi family said that he was dead, but he did not go to the battlefield alone. Asahina Taichao brought a full two thousand people to Kakegawa. With Japan's level of bad fighting, it is impossible to say that so many people were wiped out in a large movement and encirclement. It has been more than ten days, and the general has been focused on and asked to be killed. What about the miscellaneous soldiers and warriors whose heads are worthless? Actually, no one escaped.

Therefore, there is hesitation in the city. The three generations of Taiki Asahina, Asahina Taino, and Asahina Taitomo have excellent reputations. They have a high position in the Imagawa family and are the elders of the family. If the city surrenders now, whether it is Asahina Taito himself or not, the reputation of this loyal minister will be compromised.

As for the marriage contract between Taromaru Asahina and Uncle Tsunara's daughter, the Asahina family's re-confession of part of the territory, the letting of some soldiers from the Yamauchi family into the city to help defend it, and the fact that Taromaru's two cousins ​​were named as guardians before Taromaru came of age, the city basically accepted it.

After going back and forth like this, everyone finally compromised. If the Asahina clan did not join the Yamauchi family, their family would recommend Imagawa Yoshiuchi to go to Suruga to seize the throne, and the Yamauchi family would count as the foreign aid they invited. The Asahina clan is still a loyal retainer of the Imagawa clan. No matter whether they win or lose in the future, they will have a justifiable reason to leave themselves a way out.

Yamauchi Yoshiharu had been anxious for a long time, and that night he sent 500 people under the leadership of Uncle Tsunara to occupy Kakegawa Castle Omotomaru. Accepted the Asahina family's request to surrender Imagawa Yoshiki but not Yamauchi Yoshihiro.

The next day, Asahina Carpenter supported Taromaru Asahina and became the pioneer of the Yamauchi family under the banner of Asahina Sanyinryo, and the army crossed Oigawa that day. The Imagawa retainers in Shimada, Fujieda and other places in Shitai County of Suruga Province were already panicked, and the most loyal group of people had already rushed to Suruga Province to support Shouguini in the war against Takeda Hojo. The rest are either old, weak, sick or disabled.

As soon as they saw the most trusted elder of the Imagawa family, the Asahina family's flag horse flag appeared in front of the battle, and then heard that Imagawa Yoshichichi announced that he would inherit Imagawa Yoshimoto's family business as his son-in-law and adopted son. The court had already Imagawa Yoshiki was granted the title of Suruga Shou.

As a result, the grand occasion was followed by a flood of descendants. Almost all village chiefs from every village and samurai samurai in charge of the castle came respectfully to Yamauchi Yoshiharu and Imagawa Yoshichichi to express their loyalty. They all expressed their willingness to support Imagawa Yoshichichi in inheriting the Imagawa family business and donated a lot of food.

At the same time, the battle situation in Junfu has become more and more clear. Shouguini's side finally exhausted its efforts and withdrew from Junfu. More than 5,000 Takeda clan troops have completely occupied the city, and have received support from the Katsurayama family and some other Imagawa retainers. Imagawa Hikoro has arrived at Sunfu under escort.

The Takeda family and the Hojo family seemed to have reached an agreement on the distribution of Suruga, and Shouguini was in retreat and was not allowed to participate in the affairs of the Imagawa clan again. The two counties of Jundong County and Fuji County were completely assigned to the Hojo clan, and the Imagawa clan accepted a group of surrendered Imagawa retainers as the lords of Kokokuji Temple. It's like having a good time with the Takeda family, and everyone is happy.

Of course, they also knew about Imagawa's adopted relatives. After all, after the Oigawa defense line was breached, no news could be concealed. Takeda simply joined forces with Hojo, and with Suruga leading the party of 2,000, a total of about 15,000 troops came to confront them.

The confrontation took place in Tanaka, Masuzu County. The 14,000 troops of Yamauchi Yoshiharu and the 15,000 Takeda Allied Forces were evenly matched. At this time, Yamauchi Yoshiharu also knew that the opportunity had been lost, and he hesitated to fight head-on.

Takeda Harunobu was full of confidence. Theoretically, the Takeda clan and the Yamauchi clan still had a one-year armistice agreement, but the guarantor Yoshimoto Imagawa was dead, so this covenant was almost useless. Now he has finally managed to completely clean up the chaos in Kai, put down the turmoil in Kamisuwa and Saku, rest and recuperate, and does not want to go to war. All he wants is to regain his place.

Although the Hojo clan was a reinforcement in this battle, the Suruga people had lost too many samurai and their combat effectiveness was already weak. However, the number of Haoyai has exceeded that of the Yamauchi family, and the glorious records of the A army with one against two have greatly improved his confidence.

In addition, Imagawa Hikoro has secured Sunfu Castle and has been recognized by a large part of the Imagawa family's retainers. The balance of victory is considered to be in his favor.

And since Takeda Harunobu did not intend to destroy the Imagawa family this time, nor did he enter into an alliance with the Oda family, the Imagawa family's blood feud, he was still nominally safeguarding the existence of the Imagawa family. This made Takeda Yoshinobu, who was close to the Imagawa family, greatly agree. After all, his father-in-law and brother-in-law died. Rather than letting others perish, it would be better for me to protect them personally. There is no psychological burden at all, and I work very hard on things.

As for his precious son being given to Imagawa Yoshimoto as his son, it doesn't matter. A few years ago, the great name of Date Harumune's little Shimankan, because he married Iwaki Shigetaka's daughter, he gave his eldest son Iwaki Shigetaka to someone else to be his son. How old is the Iwaki family? A famous family with more than 10,000 gold coins. The eldest son, the legitimate son, is considered a hammer. As long as he can manage to expand his family's power, he will be given away!

Anyway, Takeda Yoshinobu is still young. As long as he works hard, he can have a second child if he can have one. If he has one, the second child will inherit the Takeda family and the eldest child will inherit the Imagawa family. It will be a happy life.

Then the question comes back to whether to fight or not. Both sides are not afraid of the consequences. After all, it is not their own territory, so they can fight in any way they want. Secondly, the status. The shogunate has not yet appointed the Suruga guardian, and everyone is just talking to themselves. Even Imagawa Yoshichika's Suruga guardian is self-proclaimed. Although it has been spread everywhere, Ogasawara and Shiro, who actually bought the position, have not returned.

As for the support of the Imagawa samurai, except for the death of Okehazama, the Takeda family received support from the Katsuyama family, and the Yamanouchi family received support from the Asahina family. They are evenly matched. Each has a group of people waving flags and cheering to encourage and cheer.

Then there is the blood relationship. Everyone is from the Minamoto clan, so let's not talk about it. Imagawa Hikogoro is the grandson, and Imagawa Yoshichika is the son-in-law. Imagawa Yoshichika is a little worse, but Imagawa Yoshichika is of a more noble origin. The Takeda family is not even the Ashikaga Domonshu, and can only be called the Minamoto clan. Imagawa Yoshichika was the cousin of Ashikaga Yoshiteru, and a member of the Ashikaga clan.

So both sides were ready to fight, but they did not start fighting immediately. They were restrained for the time being, and envoys kept going back and forth. It was impossible to exchange interests, and mutual threats and bragging were almost the same. First, use verbal attacks to test the other party's strengths and weaknesses, and buy time for the next step.