On March 12, 1574, Mapleyama Castle Tower.

The guest sitting in front of Yu Qiuping was an elegant middle-aged man in a purple samurai suit, named Xiangzong and my department Qintai. He is the third son of Changzong and my country, and the younger brother of Changzong and my family, and he inherited the territory of Xiangzong's family. As the right-hand man of his elder brother, the Komunsu Ibu pro-Tai has made great contributions to the unification of Tosa and the confrontation between the Chomune Ibu family and the Miyoshi family over the years. Therefore, the relatives of Changzong and my department relied on him very much, and almost obeyed him in foreign affairs.

And this time, the arrival of Xiangzong's own pro-Tai was to ask the Yuqiu family and the Oda family, the head of the Yuqiu family, to form an alliance and deal with the two common enemies, the Miyoshi family. However, it is not so much an alliance as a plea for help from the Changzong family.

The current Miyoshi family is still a behemoth in western Japan. It controls the three Reiki provinces on the island of Shikoku, the Iyo Province in the northwest, and the Sanuki and Awa provinces in the northeast. In addition, it controls the Kotami Province in the Seto Inland Sea, parts of Settsu Province and Izumi Province in, and Harima-Province in Sanyo Province. It has a huge territory of about 1.5 million koku, more than 60,000 troops, and the most powerful navy in Japan, the Awaji Naval Force with more than 800 large and small ships. And the other behemoth of the Western Kingdom, the Maori family, is his ally at the moment.

Such an enemy is obviously not something that the Changzong family in a remote corner can deal with alone. Although the Tosa Province under the control of the Chosō family was huge, the land was barren, and the number of stones was only 200,000 koku. Relying on a large mobilization force, the Changzong family can only barely scrape together a miscellaneous force of 10,000 people when fighting on the mainland, which is completely disproportionate to the strength of the Miyoshi family. In the past, the Chosho family was able to unify Tosa, and even went north to harass the Miyoshi family, mainly because the Miyoshi family did not pay attention to Tosa Province.

Now it's different, and it seems that the Miyoshi family intends to solve the problem of Shikoku once and for all. More than a decade ago, Miyoshi Chokei and the others unconsciously woke up to the importance of a solid foundation - but they focused on the rich Iyo, Settsu, and Harima, rather than the barren Tosa. However, with the unity of the fragmented Tosa, the strength of the Chozong Ibu family is enough to make some waves, which is something that the Miyoshi family cannot allow to happen in their back garden. Therefore, after leaving Miyoshi Nagayi in Izumi, Miyoshi Yoshiken in Harima, Ataku Fuyasu, and Arakimura in Settsu, the Miyoshi family transferred the rest of the main forces back to Shikoku Island.

The Miyoshi family expected to attack Tosa Province from three directions: the Western Route Army, led by Miyoshi Yoshiko, attacked the Nakamura Imperial Palace in Nishi-Tosa from Iyo Province, with a force of about 9,000 troops; The Eastern Route Army, led by Tokawa Ichiku, adhered to the coastline east of Tosa Province and attacked Aki Castle in East Tosa, with the same strength of 9,000 men; The Middle Route Army, under the personal command of Miyoshi Chokei, went straight from Shiraji Castle to the core of Tosa Province, the main castle of Chosamune's family, Okatoyojo Castle, with a strength of about 20,000 troops. With such a large number of troops, it seems that the Miyoshi family is determined to eliminate the Changzong family, and they will not retreat due to various unfavorable factors.

The general attack was expected to begin in mid-April, after the end of spring ploughing, and the Chosamune family knew that they were no opponent, so they had to ask the Oda family for help. It is hoped that the Oda family will take advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Miyoshi family are in Shikoku to attack the territory of the Miyoshi family on the island of Honshu and force the Miyoshi family to return to the division.

After expressing this long paragraph, Xiangzong and my pro-Tai fell silent, waiting for Yu Qiuping's reply. According to the Oda family's newly planned legion system, the commanders of each strategy direction of the Oda family have great authority and can decide on the trade-offs of allies at their own discretion. Therefore, whether or not the alliance request of the Chozong clan can succeed depends largely on Yu Qiuping's judgment. And Yu Qiuping fell into contemplation at this moment.

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From the point of view of international relations, this is undoubtedly an excellent choice. "Distant friendship and close attack" describes the best diplomatic strategy for the current situation. Due to the territorial separation, there will be no conflict of interest between the Yuqiu family and the Changzong family. And since they have a common enemy, the Miyoshi family, weakening the Miyoshi family can satisfy the interests of both parties. Therefore, it is almost a natural choice for the two to cooperate to deal with the Miyoshi family.

However, there was another reason for Yuqiuhei's trouble—it was an order drafted by the Oda family not long ago. According to Ikeda, the order was drafted at the suggestion of Oda Nobunaga, but the credit was given to Oda Nobutada, who issued it in his name to establish his prestige.

The requirements of the order are simple: from now on, all large-scale battles with the Miyoshi family should be delayed as much as possible until the farm is busy.

When Yu Qiuping first saw this order, he couldn't help but applaud this simple and to the point.

Because the Oda family has undergone more than ten years of reform by Oda Nobunaga, the degree of separation of soldiers and peasants has become higher and higher. Having mastered the rich grain-producing areas of Owari, Mino, and Omi, the Oda family had the strength to form a large-scale standing corps. The standing army is similar to the Red Leaf Army of the Yuqiu family, all the soldiers are full-time mercenary soldiers, and they do not need to participate in production, they only need daily training and marching with the army, and the money is distributed by the main family.

On the other hand, the Miyoshi family has the lowest ratio of standing troops in Japan. Because Miyoshi Iebo has far more troops than Ishigaka - most of them are troops that were evacuated with the Miyoshi family when the Miyoshi family withdrew from. They came from, but they were accumulated in Shikoku. Although the countries controlled by the Miyoshi family are not barren, they are not large grain producing areas, and the food supply for so many people is quite tight. In desperation, the Miyoshi family had to reclaim a large amount of wasteland for the migrated army to cultivate. They farmed when they were busy and went out on expeditions when they were not working, and only in this way could they barely maintain their operations.

Therefore, spring ploughing and autumn harvest are particularly important for the Miyoshi family. If these armies did not return to their territories in time for the spring and autumn harvests, the next year's food and income would be lost, and the Miyoshi family would not distribute enough money to feed their entire clan. The last time there was a mighty Oda siege network, the Miyoshi family had to withdraw because of the food crisis, which is the disadvantage of the integration of soldiers and farmers. However, the standing army of the Oda family had more troops than the peasant soldiers, and they were not engaged in production in the first place, and they did not have their own arable land, so they did not need to rush back to the territory and disband the troops to cultivate when the farming was busy. Although it is true that going out to fight during the busy agricultural season will also have an impact on the Oda family's grain harvest, the Oda family has the capital to squander the money in this way, and their annual battle plan is not limited by the busy agricultural season.

Therefore, Lin Xiuzhen proposed that when the Oda family played against the Miyoshi family, they must be out of battle when the farming was busy, forcing the Miyoshi family to give up farming and come to meet the battle. The Oda family didn't even need to achieve victory, as long as they dragged the Miyoshi family's army here, they would have achieved their goal. In the long run, sooner or later, the Miyoshi family will collapse due to insufficient food reserves. This is a ruthless ploy that damages 300 self and kills 1,000 enemies. It's either a conspiracy or a naked conspiracy, and the two bottles of poison are on the table, and the Miyoshi family can choose one bottle to drink.

Either the Miyoshi family chose not to gather troops and continued to cultivate to ensure food—so that their territory would be captured by the Oda family's standing army; Either choose to separate the soldiers and peasants from the Oda family in the same way, and use the standing army that does not need to be produced to fight against the standing army of the Oda family. However, the territory controlled by the Miyoshi family was far less productive than the Oda family, and it was possible to maintain a standing army of less than 40,000 men. This is equivalent to cutting the military strength of the Miyoshi family by one-third without a battle.

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Everyone in the Oda family, including Akihei, was convinced that this rogue strategy would be a great success. Therefore, Oda Nobunaga planned to assemble the main force of the Oda family to attack Nagashima after the end of spring plowing at the end of March, and suppressed Nagashima, which had been bothering the Oda family for a long time. When the summer has passed and the autumn comes, he will lead a large army to attack Miyoshi's house and attack Settsu and Izumi at the same time. This directive, also drafted in the name of Oda Nobutada, was sent to Sakuma Nobumori and Akihei Yuakihei, who were on the front line of the Miyoshi family's confrontation, ordering them not to attack Meng Lang during the slack season.

This makes Yuqiuping very embarrassed - because the Miyoshi family is planning to take advantage of the summer slack period to kill the Changzong family, if the Yuqiu family can't send troops to contain it, then it will be difficult for the Changzong family to survive this catastrophe, and Shikoku Island will be unified into the back garden of the Miyoshi family. After that, what Yuqiu's family has to face again is the carefree three-good family. Losing the Changzong family, he also lost an important ally against the Miyoshi family, which Yu Qiuping, who is the leader of the Miyoshi Raiders Legion, does not want to see.

If it was in the past, Yu Qiuping could have written to Oda Nobunaga, explaining the current situation to him, and asking for permission to send troops. According to Oda Nobunaga's temper, although he was moody and perverse, he was still willing to adopt the talents and opinions of his subordinates. However, this time the situation was different, and Oda Nobunaga publicly announced the order signed by Oda Nobutada to the entire Oda family, apparently trying to use this outstanding order to establish the prestige of his heir and pave the way for Oda Nobutada. This was Oda Nobutada's first publicly issued order, and if Yu Qiuping raised an objection at this time, it would be tantamount to sweeping the faces of Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada, so that they could not get off the stage. Even if Yu Qiuping secretly sent a letter and successfully persuaded Oda Nobunaga to agree to send troops by himself, in the eyes of outsiders, Oda Nobutada's front foot just said that all departments should maintain restraint, and you Yu Qiuping sent troops on the back foot, and the prestige of the future young lord will be swept away?

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"Your Highness, is there any difficulty? If you need any guarantee from the Changzong family, the Changzong family is willing to offer the heir. Yu Qiuping's silence was mistaken by the pro-Tai of the Xiangzong and my department as being blackmailing the family of the Changzong family. At the moment of life and death, Xiangzong and my pro-Tai did not dare to entrust it, and honestly put the bottom line of the negotiation out, "In the future, if we defeat the Miyoshi family, Sanuki and Awa on Shikoku Island, and the Changzong family will also promise not to go to an inch of land, and only ask for half of Iyo, and I am willing to make a document guarantee." ”

"His Royal Highness Xiangzong has misunderstood." Yu Qiuping shook his head and revealed his suffering, "Now, does Your Highness understand?" ”