In Gifu Castle, a central part of the country, the meeting has been going on for 12 consecutive days.

But there is still no conclusion at all.

People go from initial worry or excitement (depending on their position) to calm down, and then gradually start to get tired and feel ridiculous.

"The lord is discussing important matters with his ministers again."

This has become a joke in the circle of guardsmen.

There are many types of sentences, such as "Sake is drunk for a thousand days, Gifu is a thousand days", "I specially instructed my son, when the old men are done, give me some incense to celebrate", and "The meeting is a characteristic of Gifu Castle, so I have to taste it", and so on.

Oda Nobutada is not stupid, and it is not that he can't see this.

As Nobunaga's first heir, whether intellectually or emotionally, he must not hesitate to help his father.

The retainers of Owari and Mino also supported this view.

At least in public, it is supportive.

However, whether to send troops, how many troops, when to send troops, how to support money and food, how to select generals, and what course of action to take when they arrive at the front...... On this series of issues, everyone's opinions are completely different, and all parties refuse to give in to each other, and every time they are arguing with each other, attacking each other, and arguing into a mess.

To put it simply, if you ask me if I should fight, I definitely say yes. If you want me to pay for it, then I'm sorry, Zhang San said that his old injuries have not healed, and Li Si said that his land has failed, and there are always a hundred reasons to be perfunctory.

It is not entirely possible to say that they are shameless excuses. Indeed, in last year's war, everyone suffered heavy losses. In particular, Cheongju Castle was seized by Takeda Katsuyori, and the surrounding area was plundered and burned, and the agricultural and commercial economy was dealt a heavy blow, and many retainers were stretched to the point of being overstretched.

In this case, Oda Nobutada has exhausted his mental strength just by controlling the minimum order and keeping the people on both sides from fighting.

Maori Nagahide secretly suggested that he might as well break the kettle and take advantage of the meeting to take down the unreliable ministers in one fell swoop and enforce the order.

Oda Nobutada also had a little bit of motivation in his heart, but he never had the courage.

And he vaguely felt in his heart that if he really wanted to make a ruthless move, the consequence would not necessarily be a successful "killing chickens and setting an example", but it might become the fuse of civil strife.

Therefore, the strategy of Maori Changxiu was rejected.

But I couldn't think of anything else.

At meeting after meeting, Oda Nobutada tried his best to coordinate, understand with reason, move with emotion, induce with benefit, and scare with intimidation, and wore out his mouth, and always made limited progress.

Hidenari Sasa has become a rising star since he "performed well" against Takeda. This time he was going to conflict with the Pingshou family, and he should have been suspected as someone's son-in-law. But this guy resolutely showed his loyalty, and sent his new wife to Gifu Castle as a hostage, and handed it over to Oda Nobutada to be imprisoned.

Such a decisive move makes it no longer possible to question its position. However, he was very radical in demanding that "Omi be mobilized and send 30,000 troops to Beijing to help the old lord", and this plan was silently resisted by a large number of colleagues.

Even his father, Sasa Chengzheng, didn't quite agree.

Maeda Toshiie, on the other hand, clearly pointed out: "The Hirate Punishment Department is a powerful person, and if we want to fight him, I am afraid that a long-term stalemate will be formed." Judging from our current food and salary reserves, it is more realistic to send 15,000 troops, or no more than 18,000 troops. If there are too many, I am afraid that I will face a shortage of supplies, and I will do bad things with good intentions. ”

On the issue of "slow" and "urgent", the opinions of the two sides are obviously very different.

And Oda Nobutada was undecided.

That's not bad, at least it belongs to motivated retainers.

And others......

The Niwa clan of the Owari Daihao clan is crying poor all day long - he is indeed really tossed by Takeda Katsuyori, and he is really too poor to send troops.

Since Lin Xiuzhen's adopted son Lin Tongzheng, whom he had high hopes for, died in battle, it seemed that everything was disillusioned and saw through the red dust, so he simply dozed off at the meeting.

The three of Mino were cold-eyed bystanders. No matter what we say, we definitely don't object, but once we are asked to do things by name, then I'm sorry, stomach pain, stomach swelling, backache, leg cramps are coming, please be smart.

The crowd is even less assertive.

These negative attitudes did not do any good to the atmosphere of the meeting.

In addition to Omi, Oda Nobutada was nominally the lord of Minami Omi, Higashi Yamato, and Kita Ise.

However, Minami Omi now prefers to listen to Takenaka's reogues.

Higashiyamato's Tsutsui sent someone to ask Oda Nobutada what to do, but that attitude was more about shirking responsibility than asking for directions.

Takigawa Kazuki of Kitaise did not hesitate to go to Kyoto to support Nobunaga without first asking Gifu Castle's opinion.

- The emotions in this are very delicate, of course Oda Nobutada also wants to support his father, but seeing that Takigawa Kazuyi went directly to Kyoto without any application and approval, he couldn't help but feel a little unspeakably angry in his heart.

He really wanted to prove himself to his father and the world.

Perhaps it was with this in mind that Nobunaga did not immediately send someone to issue an order on behalf of Oda Nobutada, but only made a notification and let Oda Nobutada make his own decision.

All in all......

Oda Nobutada seems to have experienced the feelings of Saito Ryuxing back then!

It's just that except for Gifu Castle, there seems to be selfishness in all other places, and they are all yang and yin. You can rest assured that the trust is basically some waste wood, and the few loyal and brave people around you are completely insufficient to support the situation.

……

"The decision must be made in three days! Even if the final solution is not the best, it is still much better than no solution! After twelve days of arguing, Oda Nobutada finally couldn't hold it back.

Sasa Hidenari and Maeda Toshiie, who couldn't convince each other, also nodded in agreement with a look of worry and helplessness.

There are some supporters on each side, and the rest is indispensable.

Many retainers gradually withdrew in silence.

Some of them were arranged to live in various places in Ninomaru and Sannomaru in Gifu Castle, while others stayed in nearby towns and temples.

There were dozens of mid- and high-ranking samurai who participated in the meeting, plus thousands of attendants and guards, and the narrow roads of Mt. Inaba were bustling with people.

The guards in the city were very aware of the identities and intentions of these people, and after more than ten days of repeated and useless efforts, they had habitually relaxed their surveillance and censorship.

When everyone was retreating, Sasa Hidenari applied and said that he wanted to see Chiyo Yuki, who was under house arrest, and said: "Although the position is subtle now, after all, it is not the fault of Clumsy Jing himself. Besides, maybe in the future, I will have to negotiate peace with the Equal Hands Criminal Department, and I hope to communicate with her as much as possible. ”

Oda Nobutada thought for a moment and agreed.

Sasa Hidesei, who was allowed to do so, only took a few retinues with him and hurried to Honmaru.

Yukichiyo spends these days in a secluded annex in the corner of Honmaru.

None of them were armor-piercing, and there were no other weapons except the sword, so the guards were not vigilant in the slightest.

Oda Nobutada, on the other hand, returned to the Imperial Pavilion and racked his brains to think about how to balance centralized rule with controlling people's hearts.

It was a painful and confused process, so much so that he didn't even want to eat dinner, and before he knew it, he sat quietly alone until the top of the moon.

Then Oda Nobutada finally felt hungry and wanted to come out and ask someone to get some food.

But I heard a loud noise outside, and then there was an uproar and hurried footsteps.

Hurriedly opened the door to look, and just happened to see Liang Tian Hiromasa, who was guarding the Honmaru, hurrying over, and reported in shock: "Lord, someone threw a baked jade towards the Imperial Pavilion!" Luckily, it didn't hurt you, but the house where the lady was dressing and dressing was on fire......"

Oda Nobutada was stunned when he heard this, and he was at a loss for a moment.

There was indeed a room around it that was burning and smoking, and the maids and the little ones were already in a mess, shouting "there is an assassin" and "help" and the like, which made people's hearts tense in the dim light.

Immediately, Mori Nagahide hurried to the city with the guards in the city, guarding the door of Honmaru and preventing people from entering or leaving.

Oda Nobutada was relieved at this time, and hurriedly instructed his cronies and subordinates to quickly arrange manpower to search for prisoners, extinguish fires, treat the wounded, count losses, and so on.

All the male and female servants were required to come to the square and gather to be guarded by special personnel.

The fire was not large, but it didn't take long for it to be completely extinguished through the well water in the middle of the main pill.

The "Assassin" did not act again, and it is unknown whether he had escaped or was still lurking. But in any case, the hearts of the people have gradually settled down.

In a short time, Maeda Toshiie, Sasa Naimasa, father and son, Takei, Sugaya, Otsu, Nonomura and other people who lived in the city rushed to hear the news, and the guards of Ninomaru also gathered to defend the lord together.

Oda Nobutada stood up and said that he was fine, calmed the emotions of his retainers, and ordered everyone to stay put, wait for new instructions before acting, and be sure to find out the truth of the matter. At the same time, he also sent his cronies to Sannomaru and the two outer pills to inform the guards there to stick to their posts and be vigilant against foreign enemies taking the opportunity to approach.

In an instant, everything seemed to be gradually getting back on track, and nothing happened except for the roasted jade that had been thrown into the courtyard of the Imperial Pavilion.

Fragments of clay pots and ropes, as well as a small amount of gunpowder powder that failed to fully burn the explosion, were quickly recovered from the "crime scene".

However, no clues were found that would deduce the identity of the assassin.

Fortunately, no one died, except for a few servants who suffered some injuries in the panic. The loss of property was also negligible, and some furniture and decorations were burned, totaling less than fifty pieces.

The most serious thing may be that Oda Nobutada's side room scared the pear blossoms with rain.

It seems that the enemy ninja should have infiltrated while there were many people, but they couldn't get close to important targets, so they could only cause some chaos.

- The crowd made such a judgment.

However, Nonomura, who was the head of the Flag Iron Artillery Reserve, was a little interested in gunpowder powder, so he wiped some and put it under his nose for a long time and smelled it carefully, and judged: "There is a special smell in it, but I think it is really ......strange that it was handled by a contemptible person himself."

Speaking of this, Maeda Toshiie suddenly thought of something, and exclaimed: "We only care about guarding Honmaru, but we forgot for a while that the ammunition and food in Gifu City are all kept in Ninomaru!" ”

As soon as these words fell, I saw the sound outside the wall like thunder, and the flames soared into the sky, making a sound ten times more powerful than the last time.

After the "boom", the sky above Gifu Castle was already like daylight.