When Akihei walked out of the castle tower, he found Tokugawa Nobuyasu and Tsukiyama waiting outside with some uneasiness. After seeing Yu Qiuping come out, he immediately won.

"Uncle... My father fought Meng Lang before, and the Yuqiu army suffered heavy losses, so I'm really sorry. Tokugawa Nobuyasu saw Yu Qiuping's red eyes, and immediately knelt down apologetically and gave Yu Qiu a big gift, "I am making a vow to apologize for my father." ”

"San Lang, it's not your fault, it doesn't have to be like this. Ling Zun has Ling Zun's considerations, you are still young, and you don't understand those yet. Yu Qiuping tried to squeeze out a smile, helped Tokugawa Nobuyasu up, and patted him on the shoulder, "You are a great good boy, righteous and responsible, you must stick to your original intention and nature in the future, and go all the way." ”

You are a good boy with a good nature, don't become like your father.

Yu Qiuping said silently in his heart.

"Is Uncle leaving?" Tokugawa Nobuyasu heard the meaning of Yu Qiuping's words, and asked with some surprise, "Our Tokugawa family hasn't entertained our uncle well, thank you uncle for his kindness to the Tokugawa family for rebuilding it again and again?" ”

Thanks for what? Waiting for Tokugawa Ieyasuen to take revenge?

Yu Qiuping still smiled and shook his head, "It's time for spring ploughing, I'm going to rush back, how can so many people stay abroad for a long time." ”

"Okay, Saburo, His Royal Highness Momiji has his own opinions, you can stop." Mrs. Tsukiyama saw that Tokugawa Nobuyasu still wanted to persuade again, so she stopped her, and at the same time smiled at Yu Qiuping and said, "His Royal Highness Momiji has returned to Maple Mountain Castle, remember to say hello to Kaede Er for me." I haven't seen her for a long time, next time I'm free, bring her along. ”

"That's natural, Feng'er also specially asked me to say hello to you." Yu Qiuping returned the salute with a smile, and wanted to say goodbye and leave. Before leaving, he seemed to suddenly remember something, turned around again, leaned into the ears of Tokugawa Nobuyasu and Mrs. Tsukiyama, and said in a low voice: "There is one more thing that needs to be told, the two of you keep it in your heart for better, don't talk nonsense." ”

"It's natural to be measured." Tokugawa Nobuyasu saw that Yu Qiuping was suddenly so formal, and nodded hurriedly.

"Since the Tokugawa family is an important ally of the Oda family, Saburo and Lady Tsukiyama's backgrounds are inextricably linked to the Imagawa family, and some people in the Oda family have a lot of complaints about this." Yu Qiuping said coldly in a voice that was so subtle that it was almost inaudible, "Don't have anything to do with the Takeda family, otherwise I can't guarantee that the Lord Guild will do anything." ”

"Do you mean the Five Virtues?" Mrs. Tsukiyama frowned when she heard this, and the resentment on her face was instantly revealed. As the princess of the Imagawa family, she naturally has an unforgettable grudge against the Oda family, who have a grudge against the ruins of the country. In order to consolidate the alliance with the Tokugawa family, the Oda family married the princess Oda Gotoku to Tokugawa Nobuyasu many years ago. The interweaving of family hatred and the contradiction between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law makes the relationship between Mrs. Tsukuyama and Princess Gotoku very bad, and it is very difficult for Tokugawa Nobuyasu to be caught in the middle.

"Mother!" Tokugawa Nobuyasu whispered in some horror, for fear that Yu Qiuping, as a retainer of the Oda family, would realize the contradiction between Oda Gotoku and Tsukiyama Lady - in fact, Yu Qiuping had known about it for a long time. Not only through the history of her previous life, but also because Oda Gotoku wrote back many times to Oda Nobunaga to complain about Mrs. Tsukiyama's bullying of her. Oda Nobunaga had already spoken about this several times at the meetings of his ministers, and it seemed that he was also very dissatisfied.

"It's okay, I'm not an outsider, so I won't talk too much." Yu Qiuping shook his head, and at the same time patted Tokugawa Nobuyasu on the shoulder, signaling him to feel at ease, "Identity limitations, so far, please pay more attention." ”

·

By the time Yu Qiupei led his army back to, it was already February of the fourth year of Motokame (1573). During the more than two months that he had been training in Mikawa, the situation in had changed dramatically.

First of all, it is the Miyoshi family - after they entered the spring ploughing, they once again had to withdraw their troops because they could not delay the spring ploughing. After withdrawing most of, the Miyoshi family no longer had enough farmland and grain producing areas to sustain the army's long-term overseas expenditures, and they did not dare to delay their farm work at all. Honganji Temple also faced a similar dilemma, relying mainly on the common people for their fighting ability, and they had to withdraw from the army when the farming was busy.

The Oda family, on the other hand, controlled the Ono Plain, the largest grain producing area in Japan, and together with Minami Omi, the annual supply of grain to the troops was continuous. Coupled with the fact that Oda Nobunaga was gradually implementing his plan to separate soldiers and peasants from the standing army, all the Oda families were already able to keep their troops outside the country for a long time and delay spring ploughing.

Originally, Nobunaga's plan to encircle the network was for the Miyoshi family, the Honganji family, the Asai family, the Asakura family, the Matsunaga family, and Ashikaga Yoshiteru and others to raise troops to kill, dragging down all of Oda Nobunaga's troops, leaving an empty Ono behind. Then, Takeda Shingen sent troops to Shangluo, all the way to the weak back of the Oda family, thus crushing the Oda family in one fell swoop. However, who would have expected that Shingen Takeda would die unexpectedly? As soon as the Takeda Army withdrew, all plans were out of the question. Because compared to the war of attrition, these coalition forces cannot consume Oda Nobunaga, and it is pointless to drag Oda Nobunaga's troops here.

The Miyoshi family and the Honganji family withdrew their troops; The menacing and prestigious Takeda Army was repelled by Yu Qiuping, and Takeda Shingen also unfortunately died; Even the world-famous Akabei was destroyed head-on by the Momiji cavalry. The successive bad news caused the morale of the participants in the Nobunaga siege network, which was still in full swing before, to plummet, and many small wealthy families fell back to the side of the Oda family.

As the Asakura family had to withdraw their troops due to spring ploughing, the Asai family, who had been unable to support themselves, were forced to cede the-Ono passage that they had controlled for many months, and Ono grain was able to be transported to in a steady stream, allowing Oda Nobunaga's army to regain the ability to attack strategically.

Seeing that the situation was so sinister, the Isshiki family and the Hatano family, the small daimyo wallgrass, withdrew their troops one after another, and wrote to Oda Nobunaga to apologize. And when the old fox Matsunaga Shu saw that something was wrong, he immediately betrayed Ashikaga Yoshiteru, presented tea to Oda Nobunaga and surrendered and attacked the granaries and families of the Ashikaga army, and tied up all Ashikaga Yoshiteru's wives and children to Oda Nobunaga. For the sake of such a good performance of Matsunaga Hide, Oda Nobunaga once again forgave him generously - everyone didn't understand why Oda Nobunaga had such a good temper towards Matsunaga Hide.

At the end of last year, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, who was still calling for wind and rain by relying on the Nobunaga siege network he organized, and had a faint tendency to revive the Ashikaga shogunate, became a loner again in just two months. And the turning point of Nobunaga's siege this time was when Akihei Akihei repelled Takeda Shingen in the Battle of Mikachi-Machi - after that, everything went in favor of the Oda family. Of course, people of this era did not know that in the middle school history exams of later generations, what was the turning point of the first Nobunaga siege, which had become a mandatory question in the big exam.

In March of the fourth year of Motogame (1573), Ashikaga Yoshiteru, who was outnumbered by the Oda army, which numbered nearly a dozen times his number, was defeated by the Oda army, which was nearly a dozen times his number, and was forced to surrender most of the Yamashiro Province, which he had managed to control, and surrender the Nijo Imperial Palace. Ashikaga Yoshiteru was embarrassed and tried to move out of the emperor's mediation. This time, however, Oda Nobunaga did a great deal, not only refusing the emperor's request, but also blocking all the passages around the Nijo Imperial Palace afterwards, so that Ashikaga Yoshiteru could not send even a single messenger.

Due to the heavy losses in the previous combat effectiveness of the Momiji Army, Oda Nobunaga did not ask them to participate in this series of joint battles, but allowed them to return to Hanoi to recuperate. As for Yu Qiuping, Oda Nobunaga asked Yu Qiuping to lead the Momiji cavalry, who had just become famous for defeating Akabi, to rush to the Yamashiro Province to suppress the formation—in fact, it was to shock the surrounding Xiaoxiao.

Yu Qiupei then entrusted his troops to Shigeharu Takenaka, who had just recovered from a serious illness, and led his guards and cavalry to the Nijo Imperial Palace to make peace with the Oda family's army. By the time he arrived, the Oda army had already launched an onslaught on the Nijo Imperial Palace. Due to the disparity in troops, the banners of Ashikaga Nichibi on Nijo Castle fell one after another. Eventually, Ashikaga Yoshiteru and his few dozen remaining members of the public were surrounded in his residence.

·

"Momiji, tell Yu, how did you get rid of that Chibei?" Oda Nobunaga's first words after seeing Yu Qiuping were to wave his hand very vigorously, "Those mountain monkeys are invincible, and they finally cleaned them up!" ”

"Lordship." Tamakihei walked half behind Oda Nobunaga and stood with Oda Nobunaga on the walls of Honmaru to watch the progress of the siege of Ashikaga Yoshiteru's residence. I don't know if it was because of Oda Nobunaga's perverse behavior, and there was a slight drizzle in the sky. "Chibei is indeed brave, and he is not an opponent at all in the cavalry hedge. So, under the line, all the cavalry was lined up in two dense rows, and they crashed directly into it like a wall, exchanging their lives with Chibei. The morale of the red reserve couldn't stand it first, so they were killed by the subordinates. ”

"Poof!" Oda Nobunaga burst out laughing directly when he heard this, "It's a shame that you kid can think of it, are you using cavalry as infantry?" Seeing your infantry arrayed like tofu blocks, I didn't expect your cavalry to do the same. ”

"It's really helpless, my lord. If you can win in hedging, you won't make this move. Yu Qiuping noticed that Oda Nobunaga's mood seemed to be unexpectedly good. Originally, in the previous few years, he had a lot of trouble with Oda Nobunaga because of various things, but Oda Nobunaga didn't seem to pay attention to it at all. However, according to Ikeda Tsuneko, Oda Nobunaga had quarreled with almost everyone except Hayashi and Niwa Nagahide in the past few years, and he was not inferior to Yu Qiuhei. However, since Oda Nobunaga can even accept the rebellious Shibata Katsuya, he may really not take the confrontation of his subordinates to heart.

"When is the lord going to fight to negotiate peace with the palace of the princess." Yu Qiuping pointed to Ashikaga Yoshiteru's residence, "Isn't it too much to beat the Gongfang Hall to such an embarrassment?" Why don't you want to save some face for him? No matter how fierce the Miyoshi family and the Matsunaga family were before, they have never forced the Gongfang Hall into such a situation. Otherwise, if we talk about peace in the future, we will meet again, and it will not look good. ”

"Who told you that Yu is going to meet him again?" Oda Nobunaga snorted coldly, took out the folding fan on his waist, and tapped it lightly on the battlements.

"The lord is going to be replaced as a general?" Yu Qiuping was stunned when he heard this, "Is it the eldest son of the Gongfang Palace, Hui Ruomaru, or the younger brother of the Gongfang Palace, His Royal Highness Yoshiaki?" ”

Ashikaga Yoshiaki was under the control of Oda Nobunaga for a long time, while Ashikaga Teruwakamaru had been tied up by Matsunaga Hide. Whoever is chosen seems to be excusable. But Yu Qiuping knows that Ashikaga Yoshiaki is a person, and it is he who single-handedly built the Nobunaga siege network in history, and he will definitely make things bad in secret. And this Ashikaga Terukamaru didn't seem to be born in his previous life, and Yu Qiuping didn't know anything about him.

"Who told you that Yu is going to continue to keep the general?" Oda Nobunaga snorted coldly again. This time, there was a murderous aura in his eyes.