War has always been cruel, especially in the age of cold weapons, when two opposing armies spent their time and energy before the war, making what they thought were sufficient preparations, and then a conflict of iron and blood broke out on the battlefield.

, the previous preparations exploded in an instant, like fireworks. Although the scene was magnificent, it was also cruel and outrageous.

Ashikaga Yoshisai and Ashikaga Ikki made countless efforts for the rise of their own family. Ashikaga Yoshisai endured the humiliation and was deposed as a shogun twice, but still devoted himself to accumulating strength for the family's revival. Ashikaga Ikki

Hui went overseas and opened up another world with his bare hands, but in order to get

With the support of the Ming Dynasty, he resolutely gave up the merchant guild that he had worked hard to accumulate and returned to Japan to start over, in exchange for various urgently needed supplies. It was precisely with the efforts of Ashikaga Yoshisai and Ashikaga Ikki over the years that this

Only then did the Ashikaga family, which should have been eliminated long ago, regain a different kind of glory.

The battle of Shinkiyama Castle can be seen as the battle for the rise of the Ashikaga family. Ashikaga Yoshisai and Ashikaga Ikki personally led 5,000 elite soldiers and fought a decisive battle with the 4,000 elite soldiers of the Hosokawa clan outside the city. Because the Hosokawa clan was too

He was arrogant and took the initiative to attack when he did not have superior strength. As a result, he fell into passivity at the beginning of the war. The Ashikaga family's army was much stronger than the Hosokawa clan expected.

At the beginning of the war, Ashikaga Yoshisai personally commanded five thousand troops to fight with the Hosokawa clan's army. Due to the superiority in numbers and equipment, the Ashikaga army had the upper hand at the beginning, and actually gained ground step by step.

Compressing the Hosokawa clan's army into a small area, although

At this time, the Hosokawa clan's army still has the possibility of turning defeat into victory, but the possibility is too small. If he were a wise general, he would definitely choose to retreat as soon as possible. After all, in this case, continuing to fight will only bring disaster.

If you bring greater casualties to yourself, it is better to retreat in time for the consequences.

But it is a pity that one of Hosokawa Takakuni's sons is leading the army this time, and this guy is eager to prove his talents to his father, but now he is watching his army fall into a disadvantage, which makes him no matter what

He couldn't accept it no matter what, so even if he saw an unfavorable situation on the battlefield, he still gritted his teeth and refused to retreat.

It was the Hosokawa clan's misfortune to meet such a general, but it was the Ashikaga clan's great fortune. In excitement, Ashikaga Yoshisai ordered all the troops in the rear to press forward, and even used the troops he bought at a sky-high price from Shushuge.

The two artillery pieces that came back, although he knew the power of these two artillery pieces,

In fact, the force of the artillery is not great, but the deterrent force they create on the battlefield is very powerful. At least when the artillery shells fall into the Hosokawa clan's army, they immediately cause a commotion in the opponent's army. After all, this may be the Japanese weapon.

It was the first time such a powerful firearm was used in the war.

Taking advantage of the formation of the Hosokawa clan's army being bombarded by artillery, Ashikaga Ikki personally led a group of brave Japanese who were fully armored. They wielded long swords and charged in from the side of the Hosokawa clan's army. As a result, this brave Japanese finally finally

It played a decisive role at this critical moment, or it was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Wherever the long knife passed, the flesh and blood were flattened. This is the best portrayal of Ashikaga Ikki's massacres. The heavy armor they wore was also bought at a high price from Shuzo. There were only a hundred sets in total, and ordinary weapons were used to chop on it.

, at most it can only leave a scratch, and even the sharpest Japanese sword can only make the scratch deeper. As for the Hosokawa army, a considerable part of which uses bamboo spears as weapons, facing such an enemy

There is only one thing to be slaughtered.

It was the ferocity of people like Ashikaga Ikki that finally caused the Hosokawa clan's army to lose the last bit of courage. Those soldiers at the bottom were the first to collapse. These people began to put down their bamboo spears and surrender to the Ashikaga clan. After all, they would no longer be able to fight.

I don’t want to face these terrible enemies anymore.

The first one led to the second one. At first, the soldiers were surrendering, and soon some generals of the Hosokawa clan also threw down their weapons and surrendered. Although the Japanese are fierce, don't imagine that they would rather die than surrender. They also

They will be afraid, and they will become cowardly when they are afraid. Especially now in the early Warring States period, the Bushido spirit that the Japanese are proud of has not yet been formed. Coupled with many years of war, the Japanese have long been accustomed to surrendering to the strong, so surrendering and

It's not something to be ashamed of.

It was only at this time that the young son of Hosokawa Takaguni suddenly realized that he had been completely defeated, and precisely because of his stupidity, he was now in a dead end. After all, the four thousand troops in his hands now had no choice but to die in battle and surrender.

Yes, there are less than a thousand people left. With such a huge loss, even if he escapes back to Kyoto, he will probably be killed by his father, Takakuni Hosokawa.

It may also be that he was about to die, so the son of Hosokawa Takakuni suddenly burst out with extraordinary decisiveness. When he personally put on armor and went into battle, he led nearly a thousand of his remaining men to break out of the siege, and then escaped without looking back.

I arrived at Iimori Castle, but this is where

When the remnant soldiers had just arrived at the gate of Iimori Castle, Hosokawa Takakuni's son committed suicide by caesarean section to atone for his family's sins. Several close retainers also committed suicide, which also marked the suppression of the Ashikaga clan by the Hosokawa clan.

The plan to rise again failed completely.

In the battle of Shinkiyama Castle, Ashikaga Yoshisai used 5,000 men against the 4,000 men of the Hosokawa clan. As a result, nearly 1,000 of the Hosokawa clan's 4,000 troops died in the battle, and more than 2,000 people surrendered. In the end, only a few hundred people were killed.

After escaping back to Iimori Castle, although Ashikaga Yoshikai himself suffered heavy casualties, and after all, the elite soldiers of the Hosokawa clan were not vegetarians, Ashikaga Yoshikai finally won the war.

The Battle of Shinkiyama Castle marked the reorganization of the Ashikaga clan after losing the power of the shogunate during the Onin Rebellion decades ago, allowing the Ashikaga clan to once again use their strength to enter the political arena of Japan. At the same time, this battle was won.

Later, the Tayama clan and Hatano finally recognized the equal relationship between the Ashikaga clan and them, which also made their three-party alliance become closer. At the same time, they began to actively prepare to conquer the Hosokawa clan entrenched near the capital.

In addition, the impact of the Battle of Shinkiyama Castle was not limited to the above. After the news of the Ashikaga victory spread, Ouchi Yoshiki, who had been staying in Kyoto, finally made a move, that is, to leave with his own people.

Kyoto returned to its home base to defend itself, and even withdrew its garrison from the mountain city. Such actions are really thought-provoking.

Although Ouchi Yoshihiro and Hosokawa Takakuni are allies, in fact the relationship between the two is not as harmonious as it seems. When Ashikaga Yoshisai was still in Kyoto, the relationship between Ouchi Yoshihiro and Hosokawa Takakuni

There are some conflicts because of the struggle for power, but their attitude towards Ashikaga Yoshiki is out of the ordinary.

They were surprisingly unanimous, so a weak alliance was formed. It was precisely because they suppressed Ashikaga Yoshisai too much that Ashikaga Yoshisai finally made up his mind to get rid of their control, so he secretly cooperated with Tianshan

The family contacted the Hatano family, and that's how things happened.

However, Ouchi Yoshihiro is different from Hosokawa Takakuni. The Hosokawa clan was originally one of the three leaders of the Ashikaga Shogunate, and their territories were in Kyoto and nearby countries. Especially after they seized the power of the Ashikaga Shogunate, Hosokawa

The Ashikaga clan completely took over the power of the Ashikaga clan in the capital and nearby countries. Therefore, if the Ashikaga clan wants to regain the power of the shogunate, it must defeat the Hosokawa clan. There is absolutely no possibility of reconciliation between the two clans.

But Ouchi Yoshihiro is different from the Ouchi clan. He was originally the head of the Zhoufang Kingdom. Shufang was located at the westernmost end of Honshu Island, quite far away from the capital. And after Ouchi Yoshihiro became the king, Ouchi

The clan continued to expand outwards, and finally occupied Nagato, An Yun, and Iwami Sankuni on Honshu Island, as well as Bunzen and Chikuzen on Kyushu Island. It can be said that they were the largest force in the west of Japan.

Ouchi Yoshihiro was very powerful, but he was far away from Kyoto, so his influence was originally far from comparable to that of the Hosokawa clan. However, Ashikaga Yoshiki was deposed as a shogun for the first time. As a result,

He fled to the Ouchi family and was in charge of internal affairs by Zhou Fang at that time.

Hiroshi, the father of Ouchi Yoshiki, warmly entertained him, and Ashikaga Yoshiki and Ouchi Yoshiki also got along very happily at that time, so in a sense, there is nothing between Ouchi Yoshiki and Ashikaga Yoshiki.

There is direct conflict and even some friendship.

It's just a pity that although Ouchi Yoshihiro later helped Ashikaga Yoshisai regain the position of shogun, and he himself also obtained the Yamashiro Kingdom near Kyoto, he began to unite with Hosokawa Takakuni out of his own interests.

They rose up to suppress Ashikaga Yoshitai, which led to the split between the two, but this was only a split in interests. At least Ashikaga Yoshitai would not hate Ouchi Yoshiki as much as he hated Hosokawa Takakuni.

It is precisely because of this that Ouchi Yoshihiro saw that Ashikaga Yoshisai defeated Hosokawa Takakuni's army in one fell swoop, and saw that the two ambitious families of the Tayama clan and the Hatano clan also began to deal with the Hosokawa clan.

In addition, his forces are in the peripheral defense areas far away from Kyoto, and the Yamashiro Kingdom is small in size.

Xiao, and being surrounded by the forces of the Hosokawa family, had no interests at all, so he decisively gave up the interests near Kyoto. It seemed that he was preparing to sit back and watch the fight between tigers. Even which side would be stronger in the future, he

Will join the powerful side, with a standard attitude of being a wallflower.

Ashikaga Yoshiki and Hosokawa Takakuni can also guess some of Ouchi Yoshiki's plans, but they have no way to deal with the Ouchi clan, because the strength of the Ouchi clan is not weaker than any of them.

, even if both of them lose in the end, I am afraid that the Ouchi family will swallow them both in one go. Based on their understanding of Ouchi Yoshihiro, the other party definitely has such an appetite.

However, Ouchi Yoshihiro's departure also allowed Hosokawa Takakuni to finally let go. He no longer had to worry about being disrupted by Ouchi Yoshihiro in Kyoto, and Ashikaga Yoshisai did not have to worry about Ouchi Yoshihiro sending troops to join forces with the Hosokawa clan.

Together, this strengthened his confidence in regaining the power of the shogunate. Coupled with the warmer weather, a war that will determine the future of the Japanese country is about to begin. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!