The smoke of the retreat from Kanesaki had barely cleared when a chilling force, colder than defeat itself, pierced Oda Nobunaga's heart—from his own ally, his brother-in-law, Azai Nagamasa.
The alliance forged through marriage contained a clause Nobunaga hadn't truly heeded: no attack on the Asakura clan, with whom the Azai had maintained a long-standing alliance. When he marched into Odani Castle in Omi Province, this clause became, in Azai Nagamasa's eyes, the most utter betrayal. Meanwhile, Rokkaku Yoshikata, fleeing Koga, like a wolf smelling blood, immediately rallied his former troops and conspired with the Azai clan; a noose was quietly tightening around Oda Nobunaga.
When news of Azai's betrayal first reached the army, Nobunaga couldn't believe it. Only a series of urgent military reports, like cold hammer blows, shattered his last shred of hope. He decisively ordered Kinoshita Hideyoshi to cover the rear while he led the main force in a swift retreat to Kyoto. He left a portion of his forces to guard Kyoto and the Shogun, then immediately returned to Gifu, his heart burning with rage and determination—traitors must be crushed!
Nobunaga swiftly deployed troops, sending men to guard key points in Omi Province such as Shiga and Nagahara, constructing a defensive line. Ieyasu's reinforcements arrived as expected. Nobunaga personally led an army of 23,000, like a thunderbolt of vengeance, straight towards the heart of the Azai clan—Odani Castle. However, this formidable castle, built against a mountain, was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Azai Nagamasa held firm, and the battle reached a stalemate.
To break the stalemate, the Azai and Asakura resorted to a feigned surrender, launching a surprise attack on the Oda army on the banks of the Anegawa River. A fierce battle erupted instantly, and the Oda army, initially demoralized, struggled. At the critical moment, Matsudaira Ieyasu's forces valiantly defeated Asakura Kagekage's troops, while Nobunaga personally led his elite forces, like a sharp dagger piercing the flank of the Azai army. Azai Nagamasa's army collapsed completely, and the Anegawa River was stained blood red. Although victorious, he failed to capture Odani Castle, forcing Nobunaga to temporarily withdraw. However, the Azai and Asakura factions were severely weakened and no longer possessed their former strength.
With the threat from the east temporarily averted, the flames of war rose again from the west. The dormant Miyoshi Triumvirate, like an inextinguishable wildfire, seized the opportunity of Nobunaga's eastern campaign, launching a surprise landing in Settsu, defeating Ikeda Katsumasa, and advancing directly towards Kyoto! Kyoto was shaken, and Ashikaga Yoshiaki panicked, sending urgent reports to Gifu.
Nobunaga once again demonstrated his astonishing mobility, quickly mobilizing a large army from Mino, Owari, and Mikawa to advance westward, with lords from Harima and Kii also coming to his aid. The army pressed towards Settsu, forming a stalemate with the Miyoshi army defending Noda Fukushima. However, even worse news arrived: the vast religious power of the Ikko-shu Hongan-ji sect had openly sided with the Miyoshi clan. Besieged on both sides, Nobunaga was forced to retreat to Kyoto once again to stabilize the situation.
The real storm was just beginning. The remnants of the Asai and Asakura forces joined forces with the Buddhist monks who harbored deep hatred for Nobunaga. It turned out that Akechi Mitsuhide and others under Nobunaga had seized temple and shrine lands, creating a deep-seated grudge. Now, these monks, wielding prayer beads and swords, joined forces with the defeated generals and launched a fierce attack from the east of Kyoto, causing the city's defenses to crumble instantly!
Kyoto was now truly in dire straits, attacked from both east and west, and on the verge of collapse.
Nobunaga displayed the true colors of a ruthless leader in a desperate situation. While deploying troops to continue defending against the Miyoshi clan in the west, he personally reorganized his forces and marched east, decisively defeating the combined forces of the Asai, Asakura, and monks at Sakamoto.
Then, he made a final attempt. He sent envoys with conditions to the monk-soldier leaders: if they submitted, all their land would be returned; if they remained neutral, peace would be maintained; if they insisted on resistance, the mountains would be set ablaze, and everything would perish!
However, the fervor of their faith overwhelmed any consideration of reality. The monks resolutely rejected Nobunaga's conditions.
Last mercy had been exhausted; only ruthlessness remained. Nobunaga's army surrounded the mountain castle held by the monk-soldier, cutting off their supply lines. Under siege, the monk-soldiers' morale crumbled, and fear gripped them. Finally, at the frigid Shirakawa-guchi north of Kyoto, the two sides clashed in a final, decisive battle. On the battlefield, the lamentations of faith mingled with the shouts of warriors, and the biting wind carried an increasingly heavy stench of death and decay.