Chapter 63 22. Bloodless and Injured Genin Castle
The Oshi Castle, which now stands in front of the 50,000 soldiers of Nagao Kagetora, is a solid castle built on the swamp where the Tone River and the Arakawa River meet. It was built by the former head of the Narita clan, Narita Shinyasu, in the second year of Entoku (1478), and is one of the most important branch castles in northern Musashi.
Oshi Castle is called Turtle Castle and Floating Castle. From the name, it can be seen that Oshi Castle is inseparable from water. The castle is surrounded by paddy fields and low-lying wetlands. Even if there are millions of troops, they can only attack along the road with very few troops.
In addition, the entire castle is not located on a flat ground, but more than ten flat lands in the swamp are artificially reinforced, and then castles are built on all the flat lands, which are linked together. Each small fort is connected by a small path in the swamp. Attacking a Oshi Castle is equivalent to attacking a large-scale fortress group that is connected to each other.
After the castle was built, it was attacked by the Kanrei Uesugi and the Hojo clan. As expected, neither of these two giants was able to conquer the Oshi Castle, which was defended by only a few hundred people. Theoretically, this castle has never been conquered by force since it was built. This is the reality.
"This is really a strong castle that is difficult to attack!" The generals stood around Nagao Kagetora, and apart from this sigh, there was almost no constructive opinion. Everyone stood on the Marutoku Kofun Mountain and observed the situation around the castle. Nagao Kagetora quickly distributed tasks and each designated a battle zone. Prepare to attack Oshi Castle from ten sides and take it down as soon as possible.
There is no good way for the time being, but Nagao Kagetora has a lot of people, more than 50,000 people, even if he attacks the city with human flesh, it is just a matter of words. If you want to attack the city head-on, just attack head-on. Anyway, everyone has used it to attack the city, and it is the most common method.
Nagano Yoshimasa waited for Nagao Kagetora to finish assigning tasks. It was really disgusting to see the human flesh attacking the city. So Nagano Yoshimasa took the initiative to suggest that he could try to persuade the surrender. "Danshōden, I have some connections in the city. Can I send someone to negotiate?"
Hmm~~~~? You have acquaintances. You are indeed well-connected. You are the local bosses in Kanto. Your network of connections is huge.
Kobayata stepped back a few steps and saw Nagao Toukage smiling but not saying anything. He pretended to ask him casually: "What kind of marriage do Shinano no Kami (Nagano Yoshimasa) and Shimosoma no Kami (Narita Nagayasu) have? Or are there any connections among the retainers?"
Nagao Toukage casually introduced that Shinano no Kami's sister was Nagao Kayehira's wife, Nagao Kayehira's daughter was Shimosoma no Kami's wife, and Shinano no Kami's daughter was Shimosoma no Kami's wife, Narita Nagatsuda's son, Shimosoma no Kami's wife. Anyway, Kobayata didn't understand this relationship. But it seems to be quite close. No wonder Nagano Yoshimasa said that he could try to persuade them to surrender.
Nagao Kagetora was not willing to fight such a disgusting battle. It would be best if someone could try.
He immediately said, "Since Shinano no Kami is willing to give it a try, I'll leave everything to Shinano no Kami." Then Nagao Kagetora turned around and called the generals to discuss.
Kobayata silently observed the Kanto generals. When Nagao Kagetora assigned the siege mission, they all agreed loudly, but Kobayata didn't see from their faces what they were thinking.
After Nagano Yoshimasa took the initiative to go into the city to persuade them to surrender, Kobayata saw that a few of them were obviously relieved. On the surface, it was still calm, but in his heart, he must still hope that Nagano Yoshimasa would succeed.
Facing the expectant eyes of many people, Nagano Yoshimasa did not hesitate and sent people with flags into the city to negotiate. Surrender can actually be divided into surrender after defeat and surrender without fighting, and surrender after fighting a battle to show muscle. The treatment they enjoy must be different. It depends on how Narita Nagayasu and his son choose.
However, Nagano Kagetora himself is obviously ready to fight to promote peace. After all, it is the first time in his life that he has fought a rich battle with more than 50,000 people. It would be a pity if you don't show off your large number of soldiers and generals!
The next day, the armies entered their starting positions, but before the battle began, someone in the city came out with a flag and shouted for a temporary ceasefire.
The person who came was indeed the head of the Narita clan, Narita Taiji (the old man who had a stroke in the puppet city, the father of the male protagonist Narita Yoshihiko), who said that the Narita family was originally a retainer of the Uesugi Kanrei, but was forced to be subordinate to the Hojo clan because of the oppression of the Hojo clan. Now they are willing to rebel and are willing to be taken in.
Nagao Kagetora looked at him with amusement. Narita Taiji kept talking, but Nagao Kagetora didn't express his opinion. It was still Nagano Yoshimasa who had a look of interest. After all, he was his relative, so he came out and said that the Narita clan surrendered with courtesy, which was a model for the people of Musashi, so that others could rebel in the future.
It was easier to deal with someone taking the lead. Nagao Toukage of Ashikaga Nagao also immediately came out to persuade, saying that the Narita clan also resisted the attack of the Hojo clan at the beginning. It is true that the Ogigayatsu family was destroyed later, and the Kanrei had no foothold in Musashi Province, so they surrendered to the Hojo clan.
Others also said something, one after another, just to give face to the Narita family. Feng Shui turns around, and no one knows when a family will fall into trouble, so leave a token of affection.
After everyone finished speaking, Nagao Kagetora tapped the back of his hand with a whip, stood up, looked at Narita Taiki who was kneeling on the ground, and said: "I feel the intention of Shimosoma-no-kami, let Shimosoma-no-kami and his son provide 2,000 stones of military rations, and bring 1,500 people to join the expedition."
This condition is not harsh. No matter how small the Narita family is, it is a powerful lord with nearly 10,000 kan. It is normal to mobilize 1,500 people casually. As for food, it may cost the Narita family a lot of blood. But who told you to follow the Hojo? This punishment is for all the people of the Hojo clan to see. It is also to maintain Nagao Kagetora's face. You can't just forgive you without asking for anything. Only by giving some rice to the younger brothers can they continue to follow me.
Narita Taiki breathed a sigh of relief, without even considering it, and directly expressed his willingness to accept it, so the city of Oshima opened without bloodshed. Nagao Kagetora was a little reluctant to leave, but the generals in Kanto were secretly glad that no one died and the spoils were shared for free.
The battle had not been fought for a few days, but a lot of rice was already earned for free, and it was not in vain. The good thing of eating for free without working is not available every day, and it is a blessing to encounter it once.
On the other hand, the Narita clan of Musashi Oshima Castle is indeed the leader of the people of Wuzhou. They just saw the change of flag of Oshima Castle, and the scales of Hojo Sankai thrown on the ground were not yet cold. Turning around, the Oda clan in the west came with food and troops, and Matsuyama Castle, which was a little further away, surrendered immediately.
Speaking of this Matsuyama Castle, Ueda Asanao was also a semi-independent and powerful person. He had a very good vision when he sold Ogidani Asada, and now he sold Hojo Ujiyasu cleanly and neatly, without any dragging. He is a fence-sitter, he will go wherever the wind blows.
In this way, the army opened up the road to Kawagoe and Edo without any obstruction.
The advance was really smoother than ever before.
The 30-day new book period is over, 133,000 words.