On the evening of October 7, when Yu Qiuhei returned to Yamashi's main camp with torches, it was already nearly midnight. The raging fires in Kyoto, which had not yet been extinguished, were particularly visible in the night sky, as if mocking the defeat of the coalition forces.

However, none of the high-ranking samurai in the entire camp fell asleep, but all of them waited outside the camp gate with their own flags, and greeted the triumphant return of Joban with enthusiastic cheers and thanks. They understood that if there was no Tsuneban to turn the tide in the end, the coalition forces would be completely annihilated.

Yu Qiuping, of course, received special "preferential treatment". As soon as he left the army with his front foot, he was grabbed by Asai Nagamasa, Maeda Toshiie, Ikeda Tsuneko and others with his back foot, contacted a group of good brothers, and threw him high into the sky together, then caught him, and threw him again, repeating countless times without stopping. It seems that they can't express their heartfelt gratitude without leaving it for one night.

After they finally put Yu Qiuping down, Yu Qiuping hurriedly patted them on the shoulder, lowered his voice and said, "I said, have you seen the lord?" Why did all of you come out to meet me, but the lord didn't come? ”

"Don't say it, the lord is already mad." Ikeda Hengxing also lowered his voice, leaned next to Yu Qiuping's ear and whispered: "The lord has already sorted it out, from beginning to end, he has been put on the side of the Miyoshi family, and the good situation has been buried, can you not be angry?" ”

"But if it weren't for my brother this time, I'm afraid no one in the coalition would have been able to return to Yamashina. Although our army collapsed, with nearly 30% casualties, we were not annihilated. The Miyoshi family is really powerful, but the brother is even better. Asai Nagamasa sighed helplessly, and patted Yu Qiuping's shoulder with great admiration: "I don't know how my brother judged the actions of the Miyoshi family?" When everyone is rushing to Kyoto, why don't you turn around and hold the back road? ”

"Thanks to the half-guards, how dare I take credit?" Yu Qiuping smiled bitterly and told everyone about the analysis of Takenaka Shigeji, and everyone suddenly realized.

"The three good and four brothers have been crisscrossing the four countries and for many years, and it is really not simple, and this battle is convincing." Yu Qiuping admired the command of Miyoshi Changqing in his heart, and also admired Miyoshi Yoshixian's courage to burn the imperial palace and Kyoto against the world's condemnation.

"But although we barely escaped, we have to retreat at this moment." Niwa Nagahide said in a very sad voice: "The loss of our main force is more than thirty percent, and the losses of His Royal Highness Sakuma and the three of Nishimino have already lost more than half, and almost all the troops have collapsed in the flight, and they have not yet recovered their formation, and they have slept in the camp in a mess." When the establishment is restored and morale is restored, it is estimated that it will take several days. His Royal Highness Asakura, the only one who did not suffer losses, returned to the camp in the afternoon, and without saying a word, he led his auxiliaries and food to withdraw, and it is estimated that he has already withdrawn to Minami Omi. ”

"Miyoshi won't wait for us for so many days. Tomorrow we may take advantage of the situation to attack and expel us from the mountain city. Asai Nagamasa also shook his head with great regret and said, "This time Shangluo has completely failed, wait for us to recover, let's come back next year." ”

"The question is, what about Minami-Omi?" Yu Qiuping said what he had been worried about, "Minami Omi is not attached to the people's hearts now, in case the Miyoshi family enters Minami Omi in the name of supporting the return of the Rokkaku family, those wealthy families of Minami Omi will not be able to be trusted." How do we guard Minami Omi? ”

While everyone was busy discussing this, the mother-clothed people suddenly came and called all the dignitaries back to the camp.

·

When everyone returned to the big tent, they only saw Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Oda Nobunaga and Hayashi Hidesada all with solemn faces. And next to them, there was also a man dressed in the costume of the Matsunaga family.

"In Shimomatsu Nagadori, I've seen your highnesses." When Matsunaga saw the high-ranking samurai of the coalition army, he saluted respectfully.

"Everyone is together, can you say it?" Oda Nobunaga glanced at Matsunaga angrily and asked in a deep voice.

"Yes, naturally I don't dare to snub His Highness Oda." Matsunaga said with a smile in a very flattering tone, "The family has prepared a big gift and is ready to offer it to His Royal Highness Oda, but I don't know if His Highness Oda is willing to accept it." ”

"What do you mean?" The samurai of the coalition army were stunned when they heard this. The Matsunaga family was originally an alliance of the Miyoshi family, but they were previously defeated by Akihei Amake and Nagamasa Asai in Minami Omi and suffered heavy losses. Not only was he invited out of Yamashiro Province by the Miyoshi family, and he lost control of Kyoto and the Nijo Imperial Palace, but he was also unable to join in the subsequent joint war, so that everyone almost forgot about the existence of Matsunaga Hide.

"Don't sell it, let it go if you have a fart." Oda Nobunaga was already in a very irritable mood today, and Kyoto flew like this, and his troops were still being beaten like dogs. Today's defeat of the coalition forces is estimated to become a laughing stock in the whole world, and it will be passed down by future generations to continue to laugh at it.

"Yes, yes, listen to His Highness Oda." Matsunaga still smiled with his face. However, Yu Qiuping felt that things were not simple, and generally only people with confidence would have such a good temper.

"It's not a secret, Jia Yan has now taken over Iimori Mountain City."

·

Matsunaga's first sentence made the whole camp explode. Iimoriyama Castle is the main castle of the Miyoshi family and one of the largest and most important castles in. If the information is correct, there is still all the grain and grass of the Miyoshi family stored in Iimoriyama Castle. Such an important city was actually captured by Matsunaga Shu?

"Why should Yu believe you?" Although Oda Nobunaga also had a warlike face, he had already pretended to be calm and asked and refused to fall behind.

"The main force of the Miyoshi family is in Kyoto, and the only one who stays in Iimoriyama Castle is Miyoshi Yasunaga. Previously, after the Matsunaga family's troops were defeated and retreated to the territory, they were not disbanded, but the whole army was on standby. Since the Matsunaga family used to be allies of the traitor Miyoshi family, the Miyoshi family did not pay much attention. Jia Yan led the army over the King Kong Mountain Range from the trail this afternoon, and defeated the Iimori Mountain City, which was almost an empty city, so why was it difficult? Matsunaga spread his hands and said as a matter of course.

"Then why did Matsunaga Xiu come to find Yu? Aren't you allies of the Miyoshi family? Why turn your back on the alliance to help Yu? Oda Nobunaga asked again in a cold voice.

"Because if the Miyoshi family wins, the general trend of has been decided, and the Matsunaga family will only be left with Yamato, and there will be no chance to turn over. But if it was the Oda family that won, would still be in chaos, and the Matsunaga family would also be profitable. The Matsunaga family will always be on the side of the weak, it's as simple as that, His Highness Oda. Matsunaga's face was calm, and he said very calmly: "This is a gift from Jiayan to His Royal Highness. As long as His Royal Highness nodded, Jia Yan immediately burned all the grain and grass of the Miyoshi family. The Miyoshi family's army only carried no more than three days' worth of grain, and neither Settsu nor Yamashiro had enough granaries to support their army. If they wanted the army to keep food, they could only retreat to Harima, and Kyoto could only give up. ”

"The Honganji Temple in Ishiyama Gobo has broken with the Miyoshi family due to its support for the remnants of the Ikeda family in Settsu Province, and the passages near Ishiyama Gobo have been closed to the Miyoshi family. In addition, Iimori Mountain Castle also fell into the hands of our Matsunaga family. With a grin, Matsunaga took out a map from his bosom, connected a horizontal line from west to east between Ishiyama Gobo and Iimoriyama Castle with his finger, and whispered, "In other words, as long as the Matsunaga family falls to the coalition forces, the Miyoshi family's Kawachi and Izumi will be cut off from Settsu and become enclaves." The Miyoshi family is worried about internal and external troubles, and it will not be able to go to Luo again in a short time. ”

"What does Matsunaga want?" At this point, Oda Nobunaga didn't say much, but simply asked.

"The family is strict and humble and light-hearted, but he is dedicated to the public palace." The Matsunaga family, who had expelled Ashikaga Yoshiki not long ago, said to Ashikaga Yoshiki with a villainous attitude at this moment, "I heard that the palace of the princess is not smooth, so naturally I want to help, how dare I ask for a return?" ”

"Don't talk nonsense." Oda Nobunaga was a little breathless, after all, this time Shangluo could not succeed, and now it is completely in the hands of Matsunaga Hide. If he burns down Imoriyama Castle, then the Miyoshi family can only retreat from Kyoto, and even Hanoi and Izumi will become enclaves, and the coalition forces can also succeed in Shangluo. If Matsunaga Shu did not burn grain and grass, but turned to use this to blackmail the Miyoshi family and negotiate peace with the Miyoshi family. Then the Miyoshi family can send troops to the east and drive the coalition forces all the way back, and even Minami Omi can be taken away.

I didn't expect that Matsunaga Xiu, the old fox, had been silent for so long, and it was a killer move as soon as he made a move! pinched the Miyoshi family and the coalition army in the palm of his hand.

Seeing that Matsunaga was still silent, Oda Nobunaga couldn't help but be a little anxious and said, "What are the conditions for Matsunaga Hide?" ”

"I don't dare to say that the conditions are not appropriate, I just need some help." Matsunaga smiled and recounted the conditions offered by Matsunaga Hide: "First of all, the family is strict with the shogunate and is eager to do his best for the revival of the shogunate. In the position of leader, Jia Yan is willing to share the worries of the general. ”

The shogunate is in charge, but only the former "three stewards" are qualified to do it. Matsunaga said that the lion opened his mouth and came up to ask for the position. But at the moment, neither Ashikaga Yoshiteru nor Oda Nobunaga has the strength or reason to refuse.

"Secondly, the country of Yamashiro was handed over to the control of the general's family. His Royal Highness Oda has a heavy task in the collar, so there is no need to be distracted. Matsunaga very lightly threw out the second condition, but it suddenly made the atmosphere in the coalition camp very delicate.

Oda Nobunaga's goal this time is to control Kyoto, and Matsunaga Hide's natural understanding is also very clear. However, the Matsunaga family is not strong enough to control Kyoto. Rather than this, it is better to ask that Kyoto be handed over to the weak Ashikaga shogun. In this way, the Matsunaga family can slowly infiltrate from the side. And this suggestion can also drive a wedge between Ashikaga Yoshiteru and Oda Nobunaga, so that the two can conflict, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Sure enough, Ashikaga Yoshiteru and Oda Nobunaga glanced at each other, and both saw wariness and suspicion in each other's eyes.

In the end, Ashikaga Yoshiteru glanced at the Oda family generals who occupied more than half of the tent, and thought that his loyal supporter Asakura Yoshikage had retreated, so he had to make a compromise: "His Royal Highness Oda has worked hard and is loyal, without His Royal Highness Oda, this general is really difficult to sleep." But I'm also embarrassed to bother His Highness Oda too much, why don't Your Highness leave one or two thousand deployments to help General Ben defend Kyoto? ”

Ashikaga Yoshiteru meant that Oda Nobunaga was allowed to have influence in Kyoto, but not too much. At this moment, the Matsunaga family must not allow the Oda family to completely control Kyoto. Although Oda Nobunaga was so angry, he could only nod his head and accept it.

"Third." When Matsunaga said this, the smile on his face became even stronger, "The strength of the Matsunaga family is insufficient, and the important town of, Iimoriyama Castle, may not be able to defend it, so I asked the Oda family to defend it on my behalf." ”