As mentioned in the previous issue, at Hideyoshi's repeated invitations, Takenaka Hanbei finally agreed to the monkey's request, and began to serve the monkey as a doorman and began to serve Owari Kuni. Although the important strategists were harvested, the problem in front of the monkeys still did not seem to have changed much: Inabayama Castle was still indestructible!
Although the Half Guard once seized control of the castle, it was soon returned. Monkey's Sumamata Castle is located at the junction of the two countries, and if you want to continue to build a contribution, the next step is naturally to capture Inabayama Castle.
Hideyoshi of course has his own style of doing things, since the arrival of the half-guard, the monkeys have gone to give the half-guard fruit to eat every three to five years, and the two talk very happily, but they never mention the attack on Inabayama Castle. Hanbei grew up in Mino and has deep feelings for his country, and when he rebelled against Saito Ryuko, he only expressed dissatisfaction with his contempt, and if he turned his gun to attack the old lord now, it would still be difficult for Hanbei to make up his mind. The monkey naturally saw his subtle psychology, so he did not force him, and each time he just talked for a long time and expressed his sincerity to the greatest extent.
Monkeys eat melon
In fact, since the Half Guard moved into Momata City, the monkeys have spent most of their time on the go, and the task of defending the city has been entrusted to the Half Guard. This move made the half-guard secretly admire and sigh at the monkey's extraordinary courage. Although Hanbei has now been attached to Owari, after all, it has not been long, and now that he has full control of Sumamata Castle, it is easy to capture the castle for Mino.
On the monkey's side, it is precisely because of his character and great confidence in his ability to recognize people that he dares to make such a move. Of course, the monkey will not bet all the treasures on the half-guard, these days running east and west, it is also making another hand preparation.
Ando Iga Mori, the head of Nishi mino's three giants and the father-in-law of Hanbei, has been persuaded by Hideyoshi to secretly express his willingness to submit to Owari, so these days he is frequently consulting Saito Ryuko.
He made it clear that Nobunaga was currently stationed at Komakiyama with heavy troops, and that he was once again eyeing Mino and would soon attack Inabayama Castle again. At present, the main force of the Mino army is in Inabayama Castle, and once the main city falls, there will be no reinforcements available, so the main force should be dispersed to all parts of Mino and take care of each other.
Long Xing, who was blinded by the wine, was like a fool, completely without his own judgment, and he did what his subordinates said. Later, Ando suggested that all the people in the town of Castle be taken to the castle, which were all the people of Ryuhei, and Nobunaga could not be cheapened. This strategy was actually made by monkeys, and the purpose was to make the non-combatants run out of surplus food in the city as soon as possible.
Town
These measures are typical of Hideyoshi's tactics: mobilize all resources before the war, maximize their own advantages as much as possible from a strategic point of view, and do not attack strongly if they can be separated, and do not rush to act if there is internal friction. Compared to other samurai of the same period, the monkey's view of war was obviously several notches higher.
At that time, the playing style of other military generals was mainly focused on the level of fighting bravery and gambling luck, even if there was strategy, it was mostly similar to "sound east and west", this kind of tactical level thinking. Objectively speaking, the combat effectiveness of the Owari soldiers was not strong, and even somewhat weak, and the reason why Nobunaga was able to stand out in the late Sengoku period was to a large extent relying on this strategic plan.
In fact, before encountering monkeys, Nobunaga's playing style also relied on the mobility of the troops, believing in the concept of the speed of the soldiers, coupled with some tactical strategies learned from his father-in-law (Saito Michizo), and gradually unified Owari. Since Hideyoshi joined, Nobunaga appreciated the monkey's merchant sense of smell and genius coordination. In the later period, Nobunaga's terrifying war qualities and flexible tactical use were probably inspired by monkeys.
Of course, it is not that the monkey taught Nobunaga, but the two complemented each other, cooperated with each other, and won most of Japan hand in hand.
In the seventh year of Nagatoshi (1564), Nobunaga officially sent troops to Mino. Unlike in the past, the attack was very smooth, and the villages along the way were almost welcomed by the middle of the road, thanks to the monkeys' early counter-offensive work. The day after departure, Owari's soldiers and horses arrived at Inabayama Castle, and Nobunaga immediately gave the order for a general attack.
Attack Mino
On this expedition, Nobunaga took 12,000 soldiers and horses, which was almost all of Owari's troops, and Nobunaga vowed to take Mino. However, Inabayama Castle is worthy of being the first castle in the Eastern Kingdom, and the whole city is located on the top of the mountain, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. After three days of siege, the main castle was still unable to be attacked for a long time, and Nobunaga began to be a little anxious, because Owari was now almost empty, and if it was outside for more than ten days, the rear would be very dangerous.
Nobunaga once again called the half-guards to him and asked if there were any other siege paths. Of course, with Nobunaga's identity and personality, his attitude is still condescending. Hanbei said there was no other way, and then returned to Momata Castle. When the monkey saw this, he did not ask Nobunaga and quietly returned to Sumamata Castle.
Back in the city, the two were still drinking and chatting, and the monkey still did not ask Inabayama Castle what he meant. After another day, the half-soldier guard softened: there is a small road, called Nagara Road, which can climb from the cliffs on the side of the Nagara River to Inaba Mountain Castle, but at most it can only pass a few people, even if the night attack is nine deaths, you weigh it yourself.
Hearing this, the monkey was like a long drought, and he gathered ten wild samurai as a death squad overnight. The monkey, of course, knew the danger, and he regarded the night raid as his own "battle of the barrel slits."
Seventy percent of Nobunaga's victories in the barrel were won by luck, so that Nobunaga never made such a dangerous move in the second half of his life. The monkey also had to fight for his future, after all, if Nobunaga lost, he would have no way out, and he would never want to go back to his former poverty, in that case, he would rather die.
Wading through the mountains, several monkeys finally touched the outer city of Inaba Mountain. In the early hours of the morning, they infiltrated the cooking room in the outer city, killed the miscellaneous soldiers, stripped off the armbands, disguised themselves as Mino soldiers, and placed special gunpowder outside the kitchen that could spontaneously combust after a while.
In the early morning, when Dongfang had just seen white, Hideyoshi carried rice and entered the main city. Soon the kitchen was on fire, and the surrounding miscellaneous soldiers were looking for water to fight the fire, and the monkeys took advantage of the chaos to remove the latch, and then climbed to a high place to shake the bamboo pole, which was the code they had set earlier. The vanguard of the Shibata Katsuya family slashed all the way into the city gate and went straight to Honmaru.
At this time, Long Xing was not in Honmaru, but in the mansion at the foot of the mountain, seeing that the main city had been occupied, he was so frightened that he was scared and rushed to announce the surrender of Kaesong, but he ran to Omi Country to take refuge in a smoke.
The Monkeys' "Battle of the Barrel Gap" also ended in victory, after which the Monkeys' position in the Oda family was further consolidated. For Nobunaga, the annexation of Mino can be said to be the long-cherished wish of their father and son for more than twenty years, and now that it has finally been achieved, how will he reward Hideyoshi?
Pay attention to me, here is the front of Japan, let's continue to talk about the next issue ~