When Akechi Mitsuhide saw that it was someone from the Oda family who came, he picked up the chest cloth and hair rope and hurriedly began to arrange his clothes, and Akihei walked to the side knowingly, not to disturb Akechi Mitsuhide.

Before the boat could get close to the shore, Longzi, who was standing at the bow of the boat and was almost hoarse, jumped out of the boat in a hurry and ran from the waist-deep lake to the shore. Yu Qiuping hurriedly ran to the edge of the island and reef to pick her up, and Ryuko buried himself in Yu Qiuping's arms and cried loudly.

"Okay, okay, don't cry, Longzi, I'm not fine?" Yu Qiuping smiled and patted Longzi's back, but when he heard Longzi trying to speak in his already hoarse voice, but he couldn't cry, his eyes were slightly moist.

"Your Highness is in distress, and you deserve death for your crimes." Honda Tadakatsu also jumped on the island and reef after him, knelt directly in front of Yu Qiuping, and said in a deep voice with great guilt and shame: "After escorting His Highness back to the barracks, I will immediately apologize." ”

"What kind of belly are you cutting!" When Yu Qiuping heard this, he said in a hurry, and struggled out of Ryuko's arms, and tried to hold Honda Tadashi up with both hands, but Honda Tadashi refused to get up, and Yu Qiuping held it several times without success.

"Your Highness doesn't have to be like this, this is the dignity of a samurai." Honda Tadakatsu was unmoved by Yu Qiuping's persuasion, and said in a deep voice with unusually firmness: "Let Your Highness suffer this calamity, as your bodyguard samurai, you have no face to see. Only one death can wash away his own stigma, and I hope that His Royal Highness will not let Zai Xia live in shame. ”

"Nabe Nosuke, don't give me this set." Yu Qiuping saw that he couldn't pull Honda Tadakatsu, so he simply squatted down angrily, stared into Honda Tadakatsu's eyes and said, "Let me ask you, are there any samurai in my guard who are more capable than you?" ”

Honda Tadakatsu was stunned for a moment, speechless.

"Nope." Yu Qiuping replied on behalf of Honda Tadakatsu, and then continued to ask, "You are the most powerful and experienced in my guard, if you have a seppuku, who will protect my safety in the future?" Are you relieved? In case I have an accident on the battlefield without you, isn't it your selfishness that kills me? ”

Yu Qiuping's words made Honda Tadashi not know how to respond for a while, and Yu Qiuping took the opportunity to pull the burly samurai up and patted the latter's shoulder.

"I'll just say, this kid will be fine, he's watery." At this time, another voice came from the ship, it was Maeda Toshi's family. He and Ikeda were standing at the stern of the boat, one paddling and the other rocking, and they walked down with the lantern in a hurry. "Don't say that you escaped, didn't you save His Highness Wise?"

Maeda Toshiie's words drew everyone's attention to Akechi Mitsuhide, who had not said a word since just now, and she was very worried that her secret would be discovered because she didn't have her usual loose samurai uniform and armor to cover her at the moment, and the makeup on her face had been crossed out by water. Yu Qiuping saw Akechi Mitsuhide's predicament and handed Akechi Mitsuhide a heavy coat that Ryuko had brought to him. Akechi Mitsuhide raised his eyes and gave Yu Qiuping a quick grateful glance. Then he took his coat and draped it over himself.

"Guangxiu is not feeling well, she just got cold in the water." Yu Qiuping smiled and explained to Akechi Mitsuhide, "Let's go, let's go back quickly, the night is long and dreamy." ”

After Akihei and his party came ashore, Akihei first sent Akechi Mitsuhide back to his camp, and then Ikeda Tsuneko and Maeda Toshiie went to Oda Nobunaga to return to their lives. Oda Nobunaga collected almost all the boats that could be collected near Lake Biwa and sent them to Biwa to search for Yuakihei and Akechi Mitsuhide, so that the entire Lake Biwa was lit up with stars. It is said that Asai Nagamasa also sent people to join the search operation.

However, Oda Nobunaga looked for Yu Qiuping to return to Yu Qiuping, but he was already very dissatisfied with his continuous disobedience during this time. He ordered the confiscation of Yuqiuping's 70,000 stone territory in the Ono area, and the handover to be completed by September this year. Yu Qiuping was informed of the news by Maeda Toshiya on the ship, and he was not surprised. According to previous information, Oda Nobunaga had long wanted to confiscate Yuakihei's territory, and this disobedience was just a reason. Because Yu Qiuping's territory is indeed a lot more than his colleagues at the same level. The new castle built by Naoe Tadahei had already been completed, and Yu Qiuping was not too worried about the secret of Sumamata Castle being discovered, so he was not too nervous.

After learning the news of Yu Qiuping and Akechi Mitsuhide's safe return, the entire military camp of the Zhide Coalition Army was full of joy, and the brothers who were familiar with Yu Qiuping rushed to Yu Qiuping to set up a drink for him. However, Yu Qiuping's mind is not on this, but on the life experience of Wise Guangxiu. What exactly should he do with Akechi Mitsuhide in the future? Don't you just don't know what to do? Or how should it be?

·

However, what is more important in front of him is the issue of military affairs, and Yu Qiuping has no leisure to think about this.

Although the Oritoku coalition was defeated in the Battle of Shidake and was broken by Asai Nagamasa for eleven battles, although it was lucky enough to retreat along the western shore of Lake Biwa to Kyoto, and escaped the pursuit of the Asai-Asakura coalition army, and did not completely annihilate the army, it suffered heavy losses and lost its reputation. Ashikaga Yoshiteru and other anti-Oda forces in the region did not dare to act rashly because the Oritoku coalition was in Kyoto, but they still made the Oritoku coalition army suffer from many sides. They were unable to draw their hands to a decisive battle with the Asai-Asakura coalition, nor were they able to devote all their strength to suppressing the opponents of.

An "Oda encirclement network" against the controllers has gradually taken shape under the covert planning of Ashikaga Yoshiteru: the Asai family, the Asakura family, the Hatano family, the Isshiki family, the Rokkaku family, as well as the Miyoshi family, which was already hostile to Oda Nobunaga, and the Matsunaga family, who had an ambiguous attitude, and the Oda family was suddenly surrounded by many people. Seeing that there was no way for the Oda family's army to continue fighting, it was even difficult to return to Ono - several important official routes from Kyoto to Ono were under the control of the Asai family. If you want to go back, you will probably have to take a detour to the mountains.

On May 26, the Weaving-German coalition army, which was in a dilemma, began to retreat from Kyoto in batches in order to avoid needless consumption of grain and grass. Akihei Yuaki, along with Akechi Mitsuhide and Hideyoshi Hashiba, were ordered to guard Kyoto and stabilize the situation in - because the news from the western country was also very bad for the Oda family.

In the recent joint battle, the Miyoshi family won a big victory. Miyoshi Chokei and Jukawa Ichiku easily destroyed the Akamatsu family's military formation, and the naval forces of Azuku Dongyasu blocked Himeji Castle from the sea. Under the mediation of Miyoshi Yoshiken, there were people in the Akamatsu family who continued to defect, and some rebels even tried to open the east gate of Himeji Castle to let the Miyoshi family enter the castle. At the end of the mountain, the Akamatsu family, which had struggled for many years, was forced to surrender to the Miyoshi family. The family that had once been glorious during the Muromachi shogunate eventually lost its qualification as a Sengoku daimyo.

And the Urakami family, who reaped the benefits of the fisherman, originally wanted to take advantage of the power vacuum in the border area of the Akamatsu family to surrender and Harima and Bizen, but they took over the castle of the Akamatsu family. However, what Urakami Munekyo didn't expect was that just when the situation was getting better, the Ukita Hide, a major minister in the family, suddenly raised the flag of rebellion and fell to the Maori family. He took advantage of the fact that Urakami Zongjing led the main force to the fullest, and the territory was empty, and he seized most of the territory of the Urakami family in one fell swoop. Urakami Sokyo hurriedly prepared to return to the army, but he didn't want to take advantage of the situation and pursue the Urakami family's troops. Urakami was overwhelmed by the Miyoshi Army, and by the time he fled to the borders of Bizen Province, there were less than 100 remaining retinues around him. He wanted to call on the rest of his retainers to fight back against the Ukita Hideya, but he was defeated by the Ukita Hideya and fled again in embarrassment.

At this juncture, Miyoshi Yoshiken suddenly sent an invitation to Urakami Munekei, promising him to retake the country of Bizen for him. Urakami Sokei understood that what the Miyoshi family wanted was just an opportunity to invade Bizen, but in desperation, he had no choice but to surrender to the Miyoshi family, and the Urakami army, which was still resisting in Harima, surrendered to the Miyoshi family one after another, and Harima was completely pacified.

·

However, this is not the news that worries Yu Qiuping the most. What really caught him on fire was the news from Maple Mountain City - that was where his foundation was.

Yu Thu Binh set out on this expedition, leaving two companies in Hanoi and Quan, led by Charlie and Yoshigang Katsumasa respectively. However, the two men clashed over their previous strategic deployments.

When the Miyoshi family of Kishiwada Castle and Takaya Castle gathered and headed north, threatening the southern border of the Yuqiu family, Charlie advocated dividing troops to garrison the line of Otori County and Yamato River, and at the same time asked the small wealthy clan of Hanoi to help keep the Miyoshi army out of the territory. However, Yoshioka Katsumasa demanded that he concentrate his forces, put the Miyoshi family into the territory, and solve the crisis in one fell swoop with a field battle.

Charlie thinks that Yoshioka Katsumasa's plan is too dangerous, but Yoshioka Katsumasa feels that Cha Li wants to keep troops everywhere, and in the end, he can't hold anywhere. However, these two are of the same rank, and they are also the same in rank - they are both majors and generals, and no one can command anyone. Although Charlie is no longer as isolated as before, he is not good at socializing, and Yoshioka Katsumasa is even more hot-tempered, so it is very unpleasant. Imagawa Kaede originally wanted to come forward to persuade the two to reconcile, but during that time, the area around Maple Mountain Castle was not peaceful, and Imagawa Kaede did not dare to leave Maple Mountain Castle for too long to go to the front line, so he gave up. She could only order the two of them to be cautious and not to act in Meng Lang.

Who would have thought that two days earlier, Yoshioka Katsumasa had wanted to lead his troops across the river to launch an attack because he had discovered that Miyoshi Masayasu on the south bank of the Yamato River had a heavy battalion lacking protection—he did have the authority to command his troops to do so, and asked Charlie to follow. However, Charlie did not leave his position - because he was in front of Miyoshi Nagayoshi's main force, and Charlie, who was worried about the loss of Sakai Town, refused Yoshioka Katsumasa's request and asked him to exercise restraint.

Yoshioka Katsumasa turned a deaf ear to Charlie's refusal and stubbornly crossed the river for a surprise attack. His actions did catch Miyoshi Masakasu off guard, and the camp was burned by Yoshioka Katsumasa. However, when the reinforcements of Miyoshi Masaysu and Miyoshi Nagaitsu were assembled, they immediately overwhelmed Yoshioka Katsumasa's company in numbers. Yoshioka Katsumasa was forced to retreat, but was chased across the river by Miyoshi's troops, and the defense line was about to be breached. At the critical moment, Charlie arrived in time and forced the Miyoshi family to retreat to the south bank of the Yamato River with a crisp side attack.

Although this crisis turned into a disaster, Yu Qiuping couldn't sit still. If Charlie and Yoshioka Katsumasa, who are not subordinate to each other, make any more trouble, his territory will be finished. So, after bidding farewell to Akechi Mitsuhide and Kinoshita Hideyoshi, he hurriedly led his headquarters back to Maple Leaf Mountain Castle.