Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

So Tsutsui Junkei didn't hesitate to lead his army in a retreat. Regardless of whether Nobunaga was dead or not, the Oda army had already lost the battle. If it were daytime, a moment of panic could have been turned into a rallying cry to salvage the situation. But it was nighttime, and forget about salvaging the situation; the infighting would have resulted in countless deaths and injuries, and even if the Oda army was well-organized, it would have been impossible.

As soon as the Tsutsui army withdrew, the Ikko-ikki from all directions began to gather in the area from which the shouts had come, subconsciously wanting to see what the slain Oda Nobunaga looked like.

"My lord, retreat immediately! We cannot linger any longer!" Shichibei turned his horse around and shouted loudly in Nobunaga's direction.

If they retreat to Tianjue Temple, with its walls and pagoda for support, and two or three thousand garrison troops, it would be impossible for three to five thousand men to take it down under normal circumstances. Once dawn breaks, the uprising will surely retreat.

"It's the Saiga faction!" Shichibei turned his horse around, but Nobunaga did not.

"Saiga?" Shichibei looked back in surprise and indeed saw the banner of Saiga's general, Tsuchibashi Wakadaibu Morishige, fluttering from the north.

"Damn Saiga thief, let's go!" Nobunaga cursed, preparing to turn his horse and ride away.

Shichibei could see Tsuchibashi Morishige, and Tsuchibashi Morishige could naturally see Shichibei and Oda Nobunaga. Although the Yongle Tongbao horse emblem had been put away, Nobunaga's own silver-plated armor was truly dazzling, shining brightly in the firelight.

"That man is Oda Nobunaga's right general!" Tsuchibashi Morishige shouted at Oda Nobunaga, ordering his guns to be fired.

Dozens of Saiga arquebuses fired in response, and Nobunaga's pagemen rushed forward, using their bodies to shield Oda Nobunaga from the bullets. But it was too late; the arquebuses fired straight at him, and dozens of lead bullets instantly killed the warhorses beneath Nobunaga and Shichibei, who unsurprisingly fell from their horses.

Fortunately, the Japanese cavalry at that time were not using stirrups, but rather something more like riding slippers, so even if the warhorse fell, it wouldn't drag the samurai on horseback. Nobunaga moved extremely quickly, dismounting the moment the horse tilted. Shichibei, needless to say, had been collecting horse manure since he was three years old, and was more adept at handling horses than women.

There were no horses available at this time, and with Tsuchibashi no Kamishige right in front of them, they couldn't wait for the horses to arrive. Nobunaga grabbed Shichibei and ran away as fast as he could.

Before he could run more than a few steps, Sabu Iga no Kami arrived with about a hundred Saiga men. Although they couldn't tell which way to go, they just kept firing at the point where Tsuchibashi no Kami was attacking.

"The one wearing silver foil armor is Oda's right general!" Sabu Iga no Kami shouted to his men, ordering his soldiers to search for Oda's military officers wearing silver armor.

Another volley of arquebus fire came, and the Oda soldiers surrounding Nobunaga were thrown into chaos. Only a dozen or so men remained to follow Nobunaga and Shichibei as they retreated.

As for Mori Yoshinari? He was already being carried back by his three personal guards. The sooner he ran, the better. Besides, the Saiga clan wanted to kill Nobunaga, so he was a smaller target.

In his desperate escape, he had even abandoned his torch, relying solely on his eyes. The darkness was so thick he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face, making it difficult to move quickly. Aside from clinging tightly to the silver-clad Nobunaga, nothing else occupied Shichibei's mind at that moment.

To my utter surprise, the Saiga clan rebelled again so soon after their surrender. They deserve to die!

After running for about half an hour, the sounds of people around were still frequent, but they seemed to be getting closer. Nobunaga found a hut. It was probably a simple shelter built by farmers when they were planting melons, to prevent wild animals from coming out at night to eat them. There was no one in the hut. Nobunaga sat down heavily, leaning against a pillar and panting heavily.

Looking around, including Shichibei, there were only nine people left. Mori Ranmaru, however, was in excellent physical condition. He had followed Nobunaga all the way here and was even carrying a gourd.

He immediately took it off and offered it to Nobunaga. Nobunaga didn't stand on ceremony; Mori Ranmaru and he were "close friends," a relationship that went beyond mere formality, so what was wrong with him drinking some water?

"My lord, we can't tell which way to go right now, so it's best to rest a bit." Shichibei's feet were still okay, after all, he came from a background of collecting horse manure, but he was still panting heavily.

Ten years ago, if Nobunaga had been running, Shichibei wouldn't have been able to catch him. It was only in the last two years that Nobunaga had gotten older, while Shichibei had been busy with military affairs, so he hadn't given up his running skills.

"Have a sip too." Nobunaga handed the gourd to Shichibei, who took several small sips without hesitation.

Just as Shichibei handed the gourd to Mori Ranmaru, he heard footsteps. Mori Ranmaru had obviously heard them too, and immediately threw down the gourd, drew his sword, and pointed it in the direction of the footsteps.

No one was calling out, and it was impossible to tell whether they were friend or foe. The best course of action at this point was to avoid any confrontation. Everyone went their separate ways, and we'd talk about it again after daybreak.

Nobunaga also leaped up from beside the wooden pillar, drawing his sword as well. At such close range, the katana proved quite effective. Of course, in a large-scale battle, the spear would certainly be more suitable.

The slightest movement here caused the footsteps across the way to suddenly stop. The newcomers were clearly worried and trying to determine whether Shichibei's group was friend or foe.

After about a minute of silence, when both of them felt a chill run down their spines, Shichibei suddenly noticed Nobunaga standing up. His silver-plated armor reflected a faint light in the moonlight.

Just as Shichibei was about to remind Nobunaga whether to remove the silver foil covering him, he keenly noticed two small, flickering lights on the opposite side, like tiny dots of fire.

Firearms!

Shichibei was immediately terrified. He then looked at Oda Nobunaga, who was still listening to the enemy's movements. The moment the two arquebuses on the other side opened fire, he pounced on Oda Nobunaga.

Two bangs.

The sharp roar of the cannon fire pierced the night sky, clear even in the midst of the chaotic battle, its target Nobunaga, clad in silver foil armor.

In a flash, one arquebus shot struck a wooden post in the lair, veering at least half a meter off course. Another arquebus shot hit Shichibei directly in the back, right before Nobunaga's eyes.

Nobunaga's attendants on either side immediately shouted and rushed towards the opposite side. They're even firing arquebuses now, are they still friends?

Nobunaga immediately examined Shichibei's injuries. The bullet had struck Shichibei right in front of him. Given the destructive power of arquebuses, Shichibei was surely doomed.

"Shichibei, Shichibei, Shichibei." Nobunaga dared not shake Shichibei, for fear of causing further injury, but simply held Shichibei close and called out his name loudly.

Unfortunately, Shichibei had already fainted from the pain and didn't hear Nobunaga's calls at all. Seeing that Shichibei was still breathing, Nobunaga didn't say anything and carried him on his back. At 1.7 meters tall, carrying the 1.4-meter-tall Shichibei was no different from an adult carrying a child.

There were five men on the other side, two of whom were armed with arquebuses. They were all killed in a flurry of blows from the eight or nine men surrounding Nobunaga. It turned out to be the Saiga troop who had been pursuing them. Two servants took the arquebus and ammunition, called to Nobunaga, and left. The Saiga troop had caught up.

Nobunaga knew that it was not a good time to stay, so he carried Shichibei away. As he walked, he continued to call out to Shichibei.

Chapter 358 One failure of Zhizheng harmed three virtuous men

Akechi Mitsuhide, who had just finished resting and was dozing off in the middle of the night, suddenly heard thousands of people in the distance shouting, "Oda no Ueshiro has been captured!" He was struck dumb and jumped up on the spot.

And then what?

Crazy!

Akechi Mitsuhide immediately shouted for battle and mobilized his troops, summoning all the soldiers of his Akechi army who had only rested for half the night. Together, they charged towards the direction from which the shouts came. All previous speculation, doubt, worry, and anxiety were merely possibilities. The only thing the uprising had ever shouted for was to take down the Oda daimyo.

They've clearly shouted out their demand to take Oda Nobunaga, which means either they've actually killed him or they've found him and are attacking him. They're loudly proclaiming their demand to demoralize the Oda army.

The soldiers also heard the shout and were all surprised. Many of them, along with Mitsuhide, stood up and looked towards the direction from which the shout came. Unfortunately, it was the middle of the night, and they couldn't see anything clearly at all.

"Send troops! Send troops! Immediately send troops to the direction from which the shouts came!" Akechi Mitsuhide donned his armor, his bloodshot eyes blazing, and charged out like a madman.

Meanwhile, Naomasa Hanawa, who was guarding the castle within the Tennoji Fortress, also heard the cries for Oda Nobunaga's execution. His reaction was not much different from Mitsuhide Akechi's; his eyes widened in shock as well.

In the past few days, after Hanawa Naomasa fled to Tennoji Fortress after his defeat, he was only terrified and did not actually fight. This was because the fortress was surrounded by a group of believers, with only a small number of monks and soldiers.

Shimoma Yorihiro knew that the troops inside the fortress were only enough to defend it, not enough to launch an attack. So, apart from the believers and rebels occasionally firing sniper shots and arrows into the fortress, Tennoji Fortress actually became a "paradise" on the battlefield.

Naomasa Hanawa was initially very anxious, but after waiting for half a day and seeing the situation gradually stabilize, he quickly adjusted his mindset. After all, there were over two thousand standing foot soldiers and Hanawa troops at Tennoji Fortress, with enough food and supplies to last a year. His defeat at Kizu Fortress was a fait accompli, and he would certainly be punished.

It would be better to hold Tennoji Fortress and atone for our mistakes with our merits. With so many Oda troops on the outskirts, what good are the 20,000 monks of Honganji? When the Oda army commanders and lords arrive, 40,000 to 50,000 men will strike with lightning speed and scatter the ashes of Shimoma Yorihiro and Kennyo Shonin.

So Hanazato Masaru turned a deaf ear to what was happening outside and focused solely on defending the fortress.

Just now, he suddenly heard the rebels shouting that they had captured Oda Nobunaga. Hanawa Naomasa knew that if he sacrificed Nobunaga to save him, then even if Oda Nobutada was magnanimous, he would still have to kill his entire family to pay for Nobunaga's death.

If a subject is incompetent and suffers a defeat, asking his lord for help, only to have the lord die in battle as a result, then in any place in the world, according to current morality and law, the subject's entire family should be executed.

"Forget about guarding Tennoji Fortress! Forget about the supplies worth tens of thousands of kan. Leave two hundred men to watch the warehouse, and the rest will follow Hanawa Naomasa out to fight their way out. If they can retrieve Oda Nobunaga's head, at least they won't have to be buried with his whole family. Hanawa Naomasa can commit seppuku alone."

The regular foot soldiers guarding the fortress were all sent by Nobunaga. Many of their hundred foot soldiers were former pageboys of Nobunaga. They had a relationship with Nobunaga that was far more intimate than that of ordinary people.

They were all filled with righteous indignation and rage, vowing to kill all the Ikko-ikki. Some of them didn't even need Hanawa Naomasa's prompting; they had already donned their armor and prepared to charge out alone, thinking that killing one would be enough, and killing two would be a bonus.

The sounds of conch shells and taiko drums from inside the Tennoji Fortress startled the rebel followers surrounding it. All the lights were lit, illuminating the path out of the fortress for Hanawa Naomasa and his men.

More than two thousand people, almost in a state of self-sacrifice, split into several groups and launched a fierce attack on the place where the shouts came from.

Meanwhile, Saito Rizo, who was still near Yodogawa, also chose to launch a fierce attack on the direction from which the shouts originated. Coincidentally, the three groups of men, from three different directions, completely annihilated the Ikko-ikki members scattered around Tennoji Fortress.

Unfortunately, Saiga Magoichi, Tsuchibashi Morishige, Sabu Yoshimasa, and others from the south all spotted Oda Nobunaga's Yongle Tongbao horse emblem. Driven by their hatred for Oda Nobunaga and the prospect of achieving the "Nation's Number One" title by killing him, these men abandoned the positions Shimoma Yorihiro had set up for them and scattered everywhere, intending to capture Oda Nobunaga.

The more than 10,000 Honganji monks, who had been fighting all day, did not pay much attention when they first heard the sound of cannons, because their commanders knew that there was a force of several hundred elite soldiers to the south that had once attacked the Honganji monks.

Firing cannons now would simply mean that Oda's elite force of a few hundred men had run into the Saiga forces, who were all armed with arquebuses. They'd be fed lead bullets in one fell swoop and all of them would die.

As the fighting progressed, the shouts grew louder and louder. By the time Lai Ren sensed something was wrong in the air, Akechi Mitsuhide had already charged in like a madman. He was hacking and slashing wildly, almost recklessly, determined to carve a path through the enemy lines.

During the day, they had already encountered a fierce attack from Akechi Mitsuhide's most elite troops, which prompted Shimoma Yorihiro to mobilize monk soldiers from other directions. Now that Mitsuhide was launching a desperate attack, they were even more unable to withstand it.

Before Shimoma Yorihiro could make a decision, news of Hanawa Naomasa's night battle at the fortress and Saito Rizo's equally fierce attack reached him.

Oda's army launched a three-pronged attack, the number of which was unknown, but their fighting strength was extremely formidable. The soldiers were like they had been injected with chicken blood, and they frantically attacked the monks of Honganji Temple.

It was another night battle, and the monk soldiers were still disorganized. Although the Oda army fought haphazardly, the monk soldiers were even more disorganized. It was a complete mess, and the entire deployment of the Honganji army was disrupted by these three groups of Oda troops.

Returning to Nobunaga and Shichibei, although some of them panicked and lost their way, they were all samurai and not night-blind. They finally found their way back to Tenkaku-ji Temple in the middle of the night.

There were still some Oda soldiers left behind at Tenkaku-ji Temple, mainly soldiers wounded during Shichibei's attack on the Ikko-ikki. It was still dark, and they were loudly asking who it was when they saw someone. After Mori Ranmaru showed up first and spoke in Owari dialect for a while, finally exchanging slang, the temple gate was opened.

As for the other Oda troops who retreated, they were first allowed to rest around Tenkaku-ji Temple. Once it was light and they could see clearly, they were allowed to enter the temple.

Only then did Nobunaga put Shichibei down from his back. He immediately summoned a doctor. There was an old Japanese doctor in the village near Tenkaku-ji Temple; his skills were mediocre, but he could treat external injuries. Otherwise, he wouldn't have kept the hundred or so wounded soldiers around, leaving them to be cared for by this old doctor.

Upon seeing the great benefactor Shichibei lying on the ground with a bright dent on his plate armor back, surrounded by blood, the old doctor knew it was a gunshot wound.

I almost blurted out that he was beyond saving and should be buried.

These days, if you get hit by a cannonball, especially in the back, the lead pellet has most likely penetrated your internal organs. Internal bleeding alone is incurable; if organs like the heart or lungs are damaged, there's little chance of survival.

Nobuyuki Nagatoshi said that Shichibei was still breathing, so why didn't he save him? First, he personally helped Shichibei remove his plate armor, which had a large hole in it. That arquebus shot was really close; it pierced right through the plate armor.

But everyone discovered some very good news: the lead bullet did not shatter upon impact and scatter into Shichibei's flesh. If that had happened, then, as the old doctor had said, there was no hope.

After all, it's extremely difficult to remove lead pellets piece by piece once they break apart inside human tissue, and there's a high chance that some will remain. If these remain inside the tissue, it could lead to lead poisoning and localized tissue necrosis.

At this point, everyone, including Nobunaga, noticed that Shichibei was wearing a "cotton armor." It had a silk lining and a cotton-padded jacket. The layers of tightly packed cotton absorbed most of the force of the lead ball, preventing it from breaking.

After carefully cutting open the padded armor with a knife and removing it from Shichibei's back, everyone was delighted to find that Shichibei did indeed have a wound on his back and had bled quite a bit, but it clearly hadn't penetrated his internal organs. At most, it would only result in a fracture; with proper rest and recuperation for three months, he would most likely recover.

As for Shichibei's unconsciousness? He was shot at such close range; the pain would be excruciating. Of course he would lose consciousness and activate his self-preservation mechanism.

"call……"

Nobunaga breathed a sigh of relief and immediately sent someone to find Mori Yoshinari. Mori Yoshinari had been shot twice in the right calf and right foot, which was a difficult situation; he might really become a one-legged "Oni Sanzai".

The shouts of battle outside grew increasingly intense, and no one knew exactly how the fighting had progressed. The entire battlefield was in chaos, a complete mess, and even Nobunaga was unable to effectively command the battle.

As dawn broke, Mori Yoshinari was finally carried back. He too was unconscious. He had likely held on to his last breath on the battlefield, probably fearing the collapse of his troops, but now, after the retreat, he could no longer hold on. His right leg injury had been given some basic treatment; now it was up to the old doctor to see if he could amputate his calf.

The rest of Oda's army retreated to Tenkaku-ji in droves. Last night's battle resulted in many deaths, but also many escapes. Of the more than two thousand who went into battle, approximately four or five hundred were lost.

Those who didn't come back most likely won't be coming back.

"How hateful! I almost lost two of my generals!" Nobunaga said this fiercely, looking towards Tennoji Fortress. It was unclear whether he was hating Shimoma Yorimitsu or Hanawa Naomasa.

No sooner had he finished speaking than several Mori soldiers led Akechi Mitsuhide all the way to Tenkaku-ji Temple. Akechi Mitsuhide, on horseback, immediately shouted, asking where Oda Nobunaga was. Nobunaga climbed over the courtyard wall, saw that it was indeed Akechi's army, and then ordered his men to let Akechi Mitsuhide in.

Mitsuhide ran and jumped all the way, afraid that he would be too slow and miss seeing Nobunaga for even a second. When he saw Nobunaga sitting on the steps without any injuries, Mitsuhide's anger immediately dissipated.

With a thud, he fell straight to the ground.

Nobunaga was so shocked that he jumped up on the spot. What the hell was this battle? Was they going to make Akechi Mitsuhide, who had worked so hard, lose everything here?

The attendants and soldiers on either side were also greatly alarmed, because they had just seen Mitsuhide and it seemed that there were indeed many bloodstains on his body. Could it be that he had suffered serious injuries somewhere and had only breathed his last at this moment?

They hurriedly carried Mitsuhide into the house, removed his armor, and found that he had been hit by two arrows and had cuts from swords and spears, but none of them were fatal. Actually, he hadn't slept for three days and three nights, and his mind completely relaxed the moment he saw Nobunaga, after which he fainted and fell into a deep sleep.

Commonly known as a system crash, it's something that can't be woken up for a while.

"Aaaaaah!" Nobunaga cursed inwardly in desperation. This battle had almost cost him three trusted generals, something that had never happened before.

However, with the arrival of Akechi Mitsuhide, the battle came to an end. The Saiga forces searched all night but found no trace of Nobunaga, and at dawn they slowly retreated to Kizu Fortress.