While Haruyasu Hattori was in trouble in the castle town, Hirate Haruhide was meeting with several people in Kishiwada Castle according to the scheduled process. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

It's not a big deal, it's just a daily deal with a few small disputes, and by the way, pull the relationship and soothe the feelings. But before he could say a word, he was interrupted.

Asano Nagayoshi, who was sent to be in charge of the auction, hurried into the city, saying that he had something important to see.

Thinking that something was wrong with the auction, Fan Xiu hurriedly said goodbye to the people of the country and went to the small reception room to meet Asano.

Asano Nagayoshi's speech was: "My lord, today I found a somewhat familiar face at the auction, and after finding Omi people to identify it, I think that person is very likely to be Lord Akao Kiyozuna of the Asai family!" Is there something that should be done? ”

This stunned the even.

Isn't Akao Kiyotsuna and Kaibei Tsunade one of the two elders of the Asai family? (Hai Chiyu three generals, Yusen Qingzhen died early) why did he suddenly run to Hequan country? And why don't you disclose your identity? Has he run out into the wilderness, or has he been chased out? Could it be that something happened to the Asai family? How come I haven't heard of such a big thing?

After thinking for a moment, he did not rush to meet with Kiyotsuna Akao, but immediately opened the official letters of the past few months, found all the passages that mentioned the Asai family, or the Omi area, and compared them in detail one by one.

Since his arrival in Izumi, Hirate has been in regular correspondence with Nobunaga in Gifu Castle, and many of his colleagues in Kinai have sometimes written to ask for assistance or to report important information.

There is a lot of information about Omi Province or the Asai family, and most of the letters are about the war with the Rokkakuyo Party.

Nobunaga and his colleagues obviously did not send a detailed analysis report, but if they read it carefully, they could still read the implicit message from their words and tone. With this in mind, many details that were originally overlooked began to unfold in front of us.

Honshu immediately summoned someone to get a map and check the details of the Omi Province area to confirm his thoughts.

Before Oda Kamiraku, the remaining part of the Rokkaku family was about the territory of the six counties of Minami-Omi. Then, after a fierce battle, five of them were lost, and Rokkaku Yoshiken retreated to the mountains of Koga and lurked.

Among them, Oda occupies Shiga and Kurita counties, Asai occupies Kanzaki counties, and Nosu and Gamo counties each occupy a part. In addition, Takashima County, which was originally left to the people of the country on their own and had a high degree of independence, was annexed by Asai.

However, from recent letters, he found that the current distribution of these "spoils" does not seem to be quite the same as the post-war occupation.

It all started with Miyoshi's counterattack eight months ago, when Rokkaku also sent thousands of troops from Koga Prefecture, claiming to be 10,000, in an attempt to take advantage of the chaos to regain the territory of Minami Omi. However, due to the strategy of the tie Tsunohide, the three of Miyoshi were defeated, and the isolated Rokkaku could only retract to Koga.

This change made Nobunaga realize that Rokkaku, which was transferred to Koga County, still had a huge hidden strength, so he sent several generals to various places in Minami Omi to guard it.

Mori Kesei was stationed at Usayama Castle and was in charge of Shiga Prefecture; Sakuma Nobumori was stationed at Eihara Castle and was in charge of Kurita-gun. These are all reasonable appointments.

But Nobunaga sent Shibata Katsuie to garrison Nagakoji Castle and take charge of Yasu County; and Gamo Kenhide, who had just defected to the Oda family, was based in his ancestral Hino Castle and was in charge of Gamo County.

This situation is intriguing.

Since the two counties of Yasu and Gamo were jointly occupied by Oda and Asai, isn't it tantamount to embezzling the fruits of the allies' victories by now that Nobunaga alone has given these feudal titles to his retainers? It's morally untenable.

However, Nobunaga, who made good use of his position, moved out of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, temporarily included Shibata and Gamo in the shogunate's "public service", and asked the newly appointed Omi guardian Hosokawa Fujiken to join forces with Shibata.

In this way, Shibata and Gamo received the land of the two counties under the banner of the new guardian of the shogunate, and the name was justified and fair, and no one could find fault with it.

At the same time, the wealthy clans of Takashima County, who were originally conquered by the Asai family, suddenly changed into the Ashikaga family's roster and became the direct ministers of the shogunate, so they no longer needed to serve the Asai family.

Obviously, this was an exchange of interests between Oda Nobunaga and Ashikaga Yoshiaki, but it made Asai Nagamasa a the wrongdoer.

Asai originally sent 9,000 troops to help Oda Kamiraku, and grabbed nearly 200,000 gypsum sorghum land. But when the elder brother-in-law and the general were in such a pit, two-thirds of them had to be vomited.

In the past, Fan Xiu's energy was only focused on his own one-acre and three-point field, so he didn't pay much attention to the changes in the surrounding allies. Looking at it now, there are actually many obvious signs.

For example, Takashima Prefecture's Kuchigi Mototsuna, in the March battle record, shows that he played as the general of the Asai family. In September, he appeared in the list of officials and knights as a courtier.

There is also Shibata Katsuie, who has already begun to issue land inspection orders, Rakushi orders, and Tokuchi decrees in the territory of Yasu County, as if he has already regarded himself as the acting official of Yasu County. He was a bit reckless, but he was definitely not really stupid, and he would not have done this without Nobunaga's instructions.

The most interesting thing is that the guardian of the three counties of Kita-Omi many years ago, the former boss of the Asai clan, and the Kyogoku family, who have long lost their authority, don't know which corner Nobunaga turned out of!

Asai Nagamasa has not yet been recognized by the imperial court and the shogunate, and he is nominally only a retainer of Kyogoku. But now that Kyogoku has surrendered to Oda, where should the Asai family go? Isn't he a vassal far below Oda?

After Fan Xiu clarified his thoughts, he could probably guess why Akao Kiyotsuna wanted to travel incognito. At the same time, I was a little puzzled, how could Nobunaga, this guy, do this kind of thing that pits his teammates?

However, in retrospect, in the original history, it seems that he cheated Tokugawa a lot of times......

However, no matter how Tokugawa was cheated, he was always conscientious and did not dare to hold grudges—at least not on the surface. In the end, everyone in the world felt that he was actually no different from Oda's retainers, and he was not an independent force at all.

But Asai Nagamasa is not such a character!

With such worries in mind, Hirate Honhide decisively decided to meet with Akao Kiyotsuna in person.

……

In order not to attract attention, Fan Xiu did not make a big fanfare, but only ordered the guards to secretly set up guards in the town to protect them, and he only took a few entourages, went out of the city from the back door in simple clothes, spared half a circle, and came to the street.

At this time, Akao Kiyotsuna also seemed to find someone following, and he came to a high-end liquor house alone and entered the compartment. Fan Xiu went in along the road, and after looking at it through the dark window for a while, he could recognize that this was indeed his old friend Akao Kiyotsuna.

So I decided to go and meet him.

The two have met more than 10 times on diplomatic occasions, and they are still relatively familiar with each other's faces. But except for the first time that Fan Xiu went to the Asai family, there was no opportunity for in-depth communication, so this "old friend" was actually reluctant.

Fan Xiu stood at the door of the cubicle, knocked lightly on the paper door, and called:

"Hirate Honshu came to visit, Akao-sama is okay?"

This Akawei Kiyotsuna originally sat in the cubicle with a serious face and a hesitant face, until he heard this, he suddenly realized, smiled embarrassedly, and then got up to salute.

"Omi Akao Kiyotsuna, I've seen Lord Heite!"

Immediately his smile and the wrinkles on his face became more and more obvious.

"How dare you work Akao-sama to be polite!"

Fan Xiu also politely replied to the etiquette, but there was some emotion in his heart. The deceased is like a husband, reluctant to give up day and night. It seems that in a blink of an eye, the people around me have grown old. Even if I am approaching the age of standing, I often feel that my energy is not as good as before.

Nine years ago, Hirate Honhide sent an envoy to the Asai family, and he made a bold statement in front of Akao, claiming that he could solve Imagawa within three years. After the barrel narrow, Akao was greatly impressed by the tie, so he became a hardcore pro-Oda faction within the Asai family. In turn, Fan Xiu also appreciates his style of being a man of his word. If there is really some friendship between the two sides, then it is this kind of sympathy.

"Alas, I thought that when I left Omi Country, there should be no acquaintances, but I didn't expect the subordinates of the Heite Supervisor to be so extraordinary that he recognized the old man."

There seemed to be a bit of surprise in Akao's words.

"Actually, it was an accident."

It's not a lie, it's really Asano Nagayoshi who discovered it accidentally. Speaking of Changji, although his ability to be both civil and military is so-so, he is really quite smart in such a small place.

The two exchanged a few casual greetings, and they didn't wait for each other's invitations, and sat opposite each other.

This sake house is the most upscale and expensive in Kishiwada Castle, and the cubicles are very luxuriously decorated, but in the eyes of Honhide, they are not very spacious.

After sitting down, Fan Xiu pretended to think of something inadvertently, and asked casually:

"Akao-sama, why are you suddenly interested in visiting Izumi Province? I look at Omi Asai and I can't do without you for a while. ”

Hearing this, Akao Kiyotsuna's expression remained unchanged, shook his head slightly, and replied indifferently:

"After all, the old man is old, and the family business has been handed over to the dog, and now he is traveling the world. I've always heard that the country of Izumi is rich and rich, and there are many things that I can't see anywhere else, so this time I'm here to see it for a long time. ”

Fan Xiuxin said, "That's really the case", but pretended to be surprised, and lost his voice:

"Your family business has been handed over to Ling Lang? You don't feel like you're at the age to retire! Could it be that something has changed? ”

"Haha, since the new public office, Jingping in the four seas, how can there be any changes......"

"Could it be that the accident is related to the Oda family, so you don't want to tell me?"

The prepared Tieshou Fan Xiu deliberately made his words direct and clear.

In fact, Honhide had already guessed that it must be because Asai was pitted too badly by Oda, which led to a reversal of the internal perception of the Oda family, so Akao Kiyotsuna, who advocated an alliance back then, became the target of public criticism and was forced to live in seclusion.

Sure enough, Akao was stunned when he heard this, and then suddenly lowered his eyebrows, his face was full of sorrow, and his back was bent, as if he had a pile of invisible bricks on his back.

He has lived in the position of the elder of the Asai family for a long time, and he has a lot of political experience, and when he heard the words, he knew that Fan Xiu had seen the clue of the matter. Akao Kiyotsuna's reaction to this was to lower his head, drank the wine on the plate fiercely, and then looked up and smiled bitterly at Fan Xiu:

"Now that you can see it, what is there to hide? Indeed, it was because I advocated friendship with Oda that I was criticized by the public and forced to go into hiding. ”