On August 24, 1568, the Oda family's wealthy clans and retainers in the territory of Chubu and Nishimino had already begun to assemble in Omi Province after the autumn harvest had ended. Among them, there were more than 2,500 people from Yu Qiuping, more than 2,000 people from Mori Kasei, more than 6,000 people from the Nishimino trio, and more than 1,000 people from Ikeda Hengxing, who was sent by Oda Nobunaga as a supervisor, for a total of nearly 12,000 people. The general of this advance team is Yu Qiuping. Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru and his congregational will also arrive in Omi at the end of August. When the main forces of the Asakura and Oda families arrive at Omi, the army will begin to go to Luo. The total strength of the coalition forces is likely to approach a staggering 70,000 men – a huge army not seen in for many years.

On August 28, Yu Qiuping led the vanguard to Omi.

At this time, he was sitting on the third floor of the castle tower of Otani Castle, and Mr. and Mrs. Asai Nagamasa personally took him in charge of the wind and dust.

I have to say that after a year of not seeing, Ah Shi has become more and more beautiful. She is already a woman, and her figure and curves are not inferior to Imagawa Kaede. And her face is more delicate and lovable than the beauty that Yu Qiuping met before. And the gentle and pitiful temperament in her demeanor is enough to make all beings fall for themselves. Even though Yu Qiuping and Ah Shi are already acquainted, the moment they see Ah Shi again after a long absence, they are still inevitably a little shocked. Yu Qiuping now understands a little why his buddies, even if they are already familiar with Imagawa Kaede, still lose their temper every time they meet.

Not long ago, Ashi had just given birth to a baby boy, and both Nagamasa Asai and the Asai family were ecstatic. Asai Nagamasa named the child after his former young name, Shinkuro, and if nothing else, he will become the next governor of the Asai family.

"What about Cha Cha and Ah Chu, why didn't you see the two of them?" Yu Qiuping looked around, didn't see the two cute little girls, and asked with some doubts.

"The two sisters are coaxing Shinkuro." When Ah Shi heard the names of his two baby daughters, a smile unconsciously appeared on his face, "Ah Chu is not that old himself, but he likes to coax his younger brother very much." ”

"That's a good thing." Yu Qiuping smiled when he heard this, and looked at Asai Nagamasa and Ah Shi with envy, "They all say that girls are their parents' little padded jackets." The two of you can take care of people at such a young age, and you can enjoy it in the future! Where is it like that Cen Er in my family, who is more naughty than boys at a young age. ”

"Brother doesn't have to be presumptuous, Cen Er is so smart and sensible, she will definitely be a good girl in the future." Asai Nagamasa, as always, had no humor, and didn't hear that Yu Qiuping was joking, but replied seriously. Yu Qiuping and Ah Shi glanced at each other when they heard this, and then laughed.

"Ashi? Brother? What's wrong? Asai Nagamasa suddenly smiled when he saw Yu Qiuping and Ah Shi, and the second monk was puzzled and asked.

"Nothing, nothing, Changzheng is right." Yu Qiuping smiled from ear to ear, smiled and raised the wine glass in his hand, "Come, Changzheng, cheers!" ”

Asai Nagamasa's face turned red when he heard this, and he looked at the glass full of wine in his hand with some embarrassment, hesitating whether to drink it or not. After this glass of wine, it is estimated that he will be half drunk.

"That's right, Brother Momiji." Ah Shi on the side seemed to suddenly remember something, and stretched out his hand to rub something in his arms. A moment later, she found what she was looking for and handed it to Yu Qiuping.

"What is this?" Yu Qiuping took it with some surprise and found that it was something similar to a doll's structure. He slowly unfolded the object, and found that it was a glove embroidered with cloth stuffed with some cotton stuffed inside.

"This is embroidered by Cha Cha, and she said that she wants to give this hand to Yan'er." Ah Shi remembered the appearance of his daughter's embroidery, and complained slightly distressedly: "Chacha, she is disobedient, and she is not very good at female popularity, so she has to embroider by herself, and her hands have been pierced in several places." ”

"For the Dead?" Yu Qiuping didn't seem to react, and asked again.

"Yes." Ah Shi smiled gently when he heard this, and seemed to blush a little embarrassed: "Since Cha Cha met Xian'er, she usually talks to me about Xian'er and asks me to tell her the story of Xian'er. But where do I know anything? ”

Yu Qiuping looked at the silk fabric stuffed with cotton in his hand, and the thoughts in his heart suddenly drifted far away. The memory seems to have returned to that snowy day ten years ago, a girl who is also not very popular with women, hiding in a small cabin on the mountain, embroidering a shawl for her sweetheart with stitches and threads, and even her fingers were punctured in many places.

Thinking of this, he subconsciously raised his hand and gently stroked the red leaf shawl on his shoulder, and the smile on his face suddenly became very gentle and gentle.

"What's wrong, brother?" Asai Nagamasa suddenly smiled stupidly when he saw Yu Qiuping, and asked with some confusion.

"It's okay, it's okay, I remembered your sister-in-law's matter." Yu Qiuping happily stuffed the cloth glove into his arms, nodded to Ah Shi and said, "Ah Shi and Cha Cha said, let her rest assured, she must bring it." ”

·

On August 29, Ashikaga Yoshiteru himself arrived at Omi Kotani Castle. He was accompanied by 2,000 armed forces directly under the Ashikaga family, that is, the public. On the morning of the same day, all the high-ranking samurai of the Asai and Oda clans in Omi went out of the castle to meet the shogun's chariot under the arrangement of Akechi Mitsuhide, who had arrived earlier. And their armies were also gathered around Kotani City to show the might of the coalition army.

At six o'clock in the morning, two seals of two horses symbolizing the general appeared on the road to the north. To everyone's surprise, Ashikaga Yoshiteru did not honestly sit in the ox cart, but took the lead and rode his horse at the front of the team. I saw that he was dressed in a heroic array of feathers, and he was wearing two world-famous swords, the boy Che Angang and the Onimaru Kunitsuna, on the left and right, and the public behind him was also well-trained, and at first glance, there was the mighty spirit of some generals patrolling. The Oda family and the Asai family, many low-ranking ashigaru who had never seen the world, and this was the first time they had seen a high-ranking shogun, and they cheered excitedly. For them, their lords and governors, no matter how prominent they were, were mere mortals. And the noble status of Ashikaga Shogun, which has been passed down from generation to generation, is still like a god-man, even if he is down.

Ashikaga Yoshiteru seemed to be very satisfied with the etiquette of the coalition forces to greet him, and he was also very happy with the cheers of the ashigaru, and he smiled slightly at the moment, who had been strained in his face. When he rode his horse slowly past the cheering Ashigaru, he came to the place where high-ranking samurai such as Yuakihira and Asai Nagamasa welcomed him. Everyone knelt down and kowtowed, expressing their respect for the supreme martial artist.

Before they set off, Oda Nobunaga also specially met with several of their vanguard retainers. When asked how to treat Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Oda Nobunaga said rather disdainfully:

"Just pat his ass and pretend to kowtow a few times. Do not listen to any commands. ”

As a result, Yu Qiuping and the few people around him naturally saluted very respectfully, and they definitely did not intend to treat the general badly in terms of etiquette. Ashikaga Yoshiki rode slowly past them on a tall horse, and seemed to mumble a few words to himself, but Yu Qiuhei didn't hear clearly.

After a set of ceremonies, before the ashigaru clan had time to disband, Ashikaga Yoshiteru seemed to be impatient and demanded that his marching shogunate be set up on the spot and the first evaluation meeting of the coalition forces began. Yuakihei, Mori Kesei, Ikeda Tsuneko, and others resisted slightly, because according to the previously agreed conditions, Ashikaga Yoshiki could only play the role of a signboard, and he had no right to intervene in the affairs of military command.

However, they don't have a particularly ruthless hard role here, and when they saw the general making such a request in public, they were embarrassed to sweep the general's face, so they had to agree silently. Yu Qiuping felt that if Shibata Katsuya and Sakuma Nobumori were two tough old qualifications here, it was estimated that they would not be at the mercy of Ashikaga Yoshiteru. For the first time in his life, he actually missed Shibata Katsuya and Sakuma Nobumori a little.

·

The shogunate was hastily erected, and a somewhat crude map of was placed on the table. Akihei was no longer accustomed to such rudimentary maps, which only showed the approximate locations of important cities and important places, as well as the outline of Lake Biwa. There is little coverage of important roads, hydrological and geographical environments. After Yu Qiuping had the Military Intelligence Division, he had already begun to ask Sanada Masayuki to draw a map with simple contour lines, and rivers and roads were also required to be marked, and even started to make a sand table. The map that the shogun brought was not only inferior to his own, but even Oda Nobunaga's map.

Can you command a war with such a map? I don't know how many years ago this is an old antique, if the Ashikaga generals are so ambitious, with low eyes and high hands, it is no wonder that they have fallen so much.

"Do you have any suggestions on the plan of action for this Shangluo operation, let's talk to General Ben." After Ashikaga Yoshiteru pondered for a moment, he looked around at everyone present and threw out the question.

Yu Qiuping, Mori Kecheng, and Ikeda Hengxing glanced at each other, and they all did not say a word in a tacit understanding. And the three people of Ximei Nong next to Yu Qiuping, each of them are also old rivers and lakes, and they don't need to be reminded by Yu Qiuping, each of them is like a big Buddha sitting down.

The three generals of the Asai family, such as the three generals of Hai Chiyu, are also well versed in this. They understood that if there was a strategic discussion with the general at this time, then the general's opinion would most likely have to be adopted. None of them were willing to be at the mercy of the general, so they were all silent. Only Asai Nagamasa, a stunned young man, didn't seem to understand the joints very well, and when he saw that everyone didn't speak, he felt that the general was a little embarrassed, and he cleared his throat and prepared to speak.

However, Haibei Tsunami, who was sitting next to him, knew his lord too well, and when he found that Asai Naga's political leader was speaking, he immediately grabbed him with his eyes and didn't let him stand up. Asai Nagamasa looked at Haibei Tsunamu with a surprised expression, and the latter glared fiercely at Asai Nagamasa - although Asai Nagamasa didn't know what to do, he still obediently did it.

In this way, after Ashikaga Yoshiteru said this, the entire shogunate was quiet, and no one spoke. Wada Yui, who was standing behind him, had a gloomy face, and Hosokawa Fujitaka and Akechi Mitsuhide also sighed slightly helplessly. Ashikaga Yoshiteru himself was pale, and he couldn't get off the stage for a while.