January 6, 1570.

After Yu Qiuping returned to the territory, the first problem in front of him was the budget of Yu Qiu's family this year.

When the Diet was drafted last year, consisting of merchants from Sakai, Ishiyama, and Izumi in Hanoi, they were threatened by the imperfection of the constitution and various tax laws, as well as the threat of a comeback by the Miyoshi family. Therefore, the National Assembly basically approved the various budgets proposed by the Yuqiu family, whether it was the maintenance of Maple Mountain Castle, the construction of armaments, the construction of fortifications around Maple Mountain Castle, the military expenses needed for military training, or other budget expenditures.

However, after nearly a year of running-in, the congressional businessmen have also become emboldened. As spring ploughing was approaching, the forces of the Miyoshi and Oda families assembled in dispersed, and the threat of war disappeared. Without the danger of life and death, the greedy nature of the merchants began to be gradually exposed. Congress amended the provisions on taxation and trade a year ago, further easing restrictions on merchants and lowering taxes. Last year, businessmen were worried that if they didn't give Yu Qiuping enough taxes, they wouldn't be able to stop the Miyoshi family. But this year, their mentality has changed, and they have begun to work for themselves.

Under such circumstances, when the Tsuaki family's treasurer, Sena Shiyoshi, proposed a budget for the second quarter of the first year of Motokame to the Diet, it was rejected by the Diet - this was the first time that the Diet had directly rejected a quarter's total budget. They felt that Yu Qiuping had spent too much money, and the merchants refused to approve it. The budget can't be reached, and the Yuqiu family is like a beast that is tied to their hands and feet, empty of energy but powerless. In desperation, Yu Qiupei could only draw up a new budget with Sena Shiyoshi, Tomita Nobuhiro, Masuda Nagamori and others, and cut all the budgets for the expansion of the army and the construction of water conservancy, leaving only basic expenses such as maintaining basic defense and daily training of Tokiwabi.

Even such an honest budget was once again rejected by Congress. According to Imai Munehisa, businessmen in the Diet were generally dissatisfied with the Yuqiu family's lavish spending last year. After all, the money in the treasury that the Yuqiu family is spending now is all the money earned by their businessmen, but the Yuqiu family rightfully regards it as their own treasury. The businessmen in the Congress were so angry that they planned to teach Yu Qiuping a lesson and let him spend more honestly in the future.

The attitude of the Diet angered many hardliners in Yuqiu's family, and many samurai in the Tokiwa army even suggested that Yuqiuping directly take advantage of the fact that the Miyoshi family's army was not assembled, march into Sakai Town, arrest all these merchants, and take money out of the treasury himself. However, since Yu Qiuyu was still in the hands of the Sakai Town merchants, Tokiwa prepared a rat trap, so he had to give up.

And Amano Keitoku sniffed out the conspiracy, and the secret organization he formed last year, the Raven, also launched its first operation. Amano had long arranged for the members of the Raven to infiltrate the Diet, the courts, and even the Yuqiu family's own system in various ways to get close to some important figures. Large and small intelligence stations and liaison offices have also been established in Maple Leaf Mountain Castle, Sakai Town, and Wakae Castle, and all kinds of secret information will be sent to Amano Keitoku every day, and he will monitor Yuqiu's every move in the house.

This time, Amano Keitori secretly gave an order, and the members of the Raven immediately launched an investigation. It didn't take long to discover that three members of the Diet had had secret contacts with Miyoshi's people. Amano Keitoku immediately instructed the ninja to break into the trio's home and seize a number of important correspondence materials on the spot, revealing that Miyoshi Yoshiken had bribed them to stir up discontent within the Diet and boycott the Yuqiu family's budget.

Amano Keide wanted to directly ask Crow to arrest the three people, but he didn't dare to irritate the merchants of Sakai Town too much because he cared about the safety of his apprentice Yu Qiuyou. As a result, Amano Keitoku handed over the information he found to Hatakeyama Takamasa, who immediately impeached the three parliamentarians and imprisoned them as bigwigs after trial. In accordance with the provisions of the law, their family property was also confiscated.

Amano's crow's actions frightened the Diet - they thought that they would be able to stay away from Maple Leaf Mountain Castle and keep an eye on the two companies stationed outside Sakai Town. Unexpectedly, right under their noses, there were many people from Tianye Jingde secretly lurking, monitoring them at any time. Although they wanted to protest against this, this time there were indeed some merchants who were in contact with foreign countries, and they could not say anything. In the end, they reached a compromise with Yu Qiuping. The responsibility behind these two repealed budgets will not be pursued, but Amano's crows will not be evacuated from Sakai Town.

After revisions, the third budget of the Yuqiu family was finally passed. However, this did not make Yu Qiuping happy for long - because bigger events had already come from Kyoto.

·

On January 19, Oda Nobunaga presented the Gojo Book to the shogunate, which he had prepared long ago. As soon as the "Five Articles Book" was published, was in an uproar. At the request of this "Book of Five Articles", the shogunate almost became a retainer of Oda Nobunaga. This is no longer a political struggle, but a naked insult to Ashikaga Yoshiteru. The fierce Ashikaga Yoshiteru naturally could not accept such an offer and angrily rejected it. Oda Nobunaga then signaled Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Akechi Mitsuhide to assemble troops in Kyoto and threaten Ashikaga Yoshiteru's Nijo Imperial Palace from afar. Ashikaga Yoshiteru also showed no weakness, and also gathered troops in Nijo Castle. Yamashiro was tense for a while, and even Kawachi Province's Yuakihei and Minami Omi's Shibata Katsuie, Sakuma Nobumori and Mori Kosei were asked to prepare to send troops.

However, at the most critical moment of this situation, Matsunaga Xiu stood up and became a peacemaker. He had been in the shogunate for many years, had extensive contacts and prestige in, and because he was a powerful country in Yamato, his words carried a lot of weight. Through his mediation, Oda Nobunaga and Ashikaga Yoshiteru reached a compromise. Ashikaga Yoshiteru still accepted the Gojo Book, but the points "all rewards and punishments of the shogunate were to be carried out on behalf of Oda Nobunaga" and "Ashikaga Yoshiteru's previous orders were null and void" were deleted.

Although the conflict was resolved peacefully, Ashikaga Yoshiteru's dissatisfaction with Oda Nobunaga could not be suppressed. He wanted to rely on Oda Nobunaga to regain the authority of the Ashikaga shogunate and restore the glory of the Ashikaga shogunate, but Oda Nobunaga's actions shattered his dreams - Oda Nobunaga was only quite the second Miyoshi Nagakei, and even more than Miyoshi Nagakei.

But now that the Oda family is powerful, Ashikaga Yoshiteru asked himself if it was difficult to compete with his own strength. So, under the persuasion of Hosokawa Fujitaka, he withheld it and turned to contact the daimyo who were dissatisfied with Oda Nobunaga, and tried to organize a siege network to eliminate Oda Nobunaga. On the night he received the Gojo Sho, he sent an envoy to the Asakura family, the Matsunaga family, the Hatano family, the Isshiki family, the Takeda family, and the Miyoshi family, asking them to jointly crusade against Oda Nobunaga.

·

On March 24, spring ploughing in the and Shikoku regions was basically over. The army of the Miyoshi family once again gathered in Settsu and Harima, and Oda Nobunaga once again led an army of nearly 40,000 troops from Owari, Mino, and Ise to Shangluo, on the one hand, to suppress Ashikaga Yoshiteru's recent small moves, and on the other hand, to be wary of the Miyoshi family. And this time, even the Tokugawa family of Mikawa was invited out by Oda Nobunaga. Tokugawa Ieyasu himself led 5,000 men to follow Oda Nobunaga's army to Kamiraku. The main force of the Oritoku coalition combined with the Minami-Omi and Kyoto forces that Oda Nobunaga had originally left in, and the total strength reached nearly 65,000 men. Yu Qiuhei was also asked to lead his army to Kyoto to rendezvous, so he left two companies of Charles and Yoshioka Katsumasa to stay behind, and he led the remaining three companies and cavalry companies with a total of 1,400 soldiers and 2,400 auxiliaries to Kyoto.

However, as if they had made an appointment, the Miyoshi family and the Oda family passed by again, and the main force of the Miyoshi family went straight west to cooperate with the naval forces of Azuku Fuyasu to attack the Akamatsu family in Harima Province. Knowing that they were invincible, the Akamatsu family had no choice but to ask for support from their former enemies, the Urakami family, and Urakami Munekei agreed to the request for reinforcements at the suggestion of the retainer Ukita Hideya. However, after advancing to Komayama, the Urakami family's troops stopped moving, and they were reluctant to rush to the area around Himeji Castle to engage the Miyoshi army, but they had the momentum to reap the benefits of the fishermen. The Akamatsu family can't say what they are suffering about, but they can't spare their troops to guard against the Urakami family.

At the same time, Oda Nobunaga left nearly 20,000 troops to defend, beware of the Miyoshi family killing a horse pistol, and he personally led 45,000 troops to the east, but did not continue to return to Ono after arriving at Minami Omi, but suddenly went north and entered the North Omi territory of the alliance Asai family. The important ministers of the Oda family were very puzzled by Oda Nobunaga's actions, and they came to see Oda Nobunaga, but Oda Nobunaga turned them away. Yu Qiuping had a bad premonition in his heart, and he was anxious, but he was helpless.

The Asai family was at a loss when they saw the Oda coalition forces that had suddenly entered the country, and sent an envoy to the Oda family's camp to ask Oda Nobunaga what he wanted. Oda Nobunaga did not hide much, convened an evaluation meeting, and in front of many old and important ministers, he bluntly informed the envoy of the Asai family of his intentions, which was to use the channel to eliminate the Asakura family. The reason is that the Asakura family did not come to Oda Nobunaga's tea party last year, ignoring the shogunate's invitation to Kamiraku and being lawless. As a righteous man in the world, Oda Nobunaga will personally crusade. At the same time, he also asked the Asai family, who was an ally, to send troops to assist.

Echizen and Wakasa, which belonged to the Asakura family, are located in Hokuriku Province, geographically to the north of Omi Province. If you want to conquer the Asakura family, you must pass through the territory of the Asai family. The messenger of the Asai family was taken aback when he learned what Oda Nobunaga meant, and hurried back to report.

However, after the meeting, Yu Qiuping suddenly broke out. Before the samurai who participated in the evaluation meeting were finished, seeing that Oda Nobunaga was leaving, Yu Qiuping rushed forward with a sword step, stopped in front of Oda Nobunaga, and asked in a deep voice with great annoyance:

"My lord! Didn't you promise that you would never use troops against the Asakura family without the consent of the Asai family? Why is it that the army has already set out for the battle, and the retainers below have no idea? Why didn't the Asai family know about it? ”

"Oh?" Oda Nobunaga glanced at Yu Qiuping rather playfully, and the corners of his mouth also raised a cynical smile, "Momiji, you know Yu so well, don't you know?" ”

"Yu's promises have never been counted."