On the evening of October 5, the coalition forces suddenly held a rather mysterious meeting. Only high-ranking samurai were allowed to attend the meeting, and samurai of the rank of Ikeda Tsuneko and even Mori Kosei were excluded.

Rain Akihei, Oda Nobunaga and the others arrived at the main tent early, but Ashikaga Yoshiteru, who had a gloomy face, must have asked to wait until everyone was there before announcing it. After a while, Asakura Yoshikage and others hurried over. Ashikaga Yoshiteru immediately announced that he had closed the door of the main tent, and also let his members of the public patrol the surrounding area to ensure that no one eavesdropped on the camp around the tent. His approach made everyone nervous, and they didn't know how important the information was to be announced.

When everything was ready, Ashikaga Yoshiteru cleared his throat and said in the deepest voice, "Introduce someone to everyone." As he spoke, he pointed to a strange young man who had been following him, "He was a close friend of mine when I was in Nijo Castle. When I was expelled from Nijo-jo Castle, I left him behind and worked as an undercover agent in Nijo-jo Castle. The evening before yesterday, he finally found an opportunity to escape from Nijo Castle, and after three days of wandering, he finally escaped to us, bringing top-secret information. ”

The little surname saw Ashikaga Yoshiteru signaling him to speak with his eyes, and he was nervous and speechless for a while. After stammering for a long time, I finally held back a sentence. Then, it was this sentence that made the entire tent instantly fry.

"Ashikaga Yoshiei fell ill and died on the night of October 1st!"

·

"What do you mean? Can you elaborate on that? In the chaos, Yu Qiuping didn't know who asked this question loudly. The little surname paused, seemed to gradually calm down, and began to slowly recall the events of the previous day.

"Ashikaga Yoshiei occasionally suffered a cold about half a month ago, and the illness was not particularly serious, and everyone didn't pay attention to it. Because he is a former minister of the Gongfang Palace, he has not been welcomed, and he has been arranged to clean the courtyard, so he doesn't know exactly what his condition is. The little surname seemed to be a little scared when he recalled what happened at that time, and his face turned slightly pale: "But one night, the Nijo Castle General's Mansion suddenly became a mess. There were a few friends who were following Ashikaga Yoshiei's cronies and guards, and they told him that Ashikaga Yoshiei had suddenly died. I didn't believe it at first, but in the middle of the night, Miyoshi Minoru returned to Nijo Castle directly with many people, surrounded Nijo Castle, and strictly forbade anyone to enter or leave. All of us were called up in the middle of the night to check if there was a shortage of people. Subsequently, martial law was issued, and the order was not allowed to discuss the shogun, as if to block the news of Ashikaga Yoshiei's death. ”

"I realized at the time that Ashikaga Yoshiei might really have an accident." The small surname restored the situation at that time, but the experienced samurai here were already fighting with heavenly faces. If the description of the surname is correct, then Ashikaga Yoshiei's accident is not a possibility, but a certainty.

"It was in the early hours of the same day that it was determined that Ashikaga Yoshiei had an accident. At that time, I was still cleaning in the courtyard, and suddenly found that Miyoshi Minoru was carrying dozens of people, as if they were clustered around a coffin, and went straight out of the east gate, as if they were still muttering something like 'buried in Okazaki Shrine first'. The little surname said so many words in a row, and couldn't help but feel a little dry. Seeing this, Ashikaga Yoshiki excitedly poured a glass of water himself and sent it to the little surname. The little surname was flattered and thanked again and again, and after drinking the water, he continued: "After learning such important information, I was thinking about how to get out and report. I finally found an opportunity and touched the path all the way from Lake Biwa! ”

Everyone present looked at the little surname with a very grateful look at the moment. Because they all understood how important this information was—because Ashikaga Yoshiei was so important to the Miyoshi family and the Matsunaga family.

"Is this man reliable?" Oda Nobunaga first suspected the identity of this little surname, "The Miyoshi family has been under martial law throughout the territory!" How did you sneak out? Isn't it a suspicious plan of the Miyoshi family? ”

"This person is absolutely credible." Ashikaga Yoshiteru said in a deep voice, "This person is my cronie!" When he followed me from birth to death, he once blocked the knife for me. When he left lurking, in order to show his determination, his wife and children were handed over to me, and he would never betray me? ”

"His Royal Highness Oda. The road down is the path that the Gongfang Hall explored in order to go to the shore of Lake Biwa in the morning to cultivate, but now it has been abandoned for a long time, and Miyoshi Shixiu doesn't know about it, so he escaped by luck in the next day. The boy replied with a sincere fear.

"In any case, even the people of the Gongfang Palace should not be gullible, this is a matter that involves the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers." Oda Nobunaga whispered very cautiously, waved his hand, and motioned for Takigawa Kazuki to take the little surname down for interrogation. Ashikaga Yoshiteru knew that the matter was big, and he didn't dare to be willful, so he nodded at Oda Nobunaga in approval.

After more than an hour of interrogation, Takigawa Kazuyoshi returned to report to Oda Nobunaga. This little surname can describe his escape experience backwards and forwards several times, and there is no deviation in his memories of events, so it is unlikely that he was a spy who was bought by the Miyoshi family.

"If that's the case, the information is quite credible." Oda Nobunaga bowed slightly when he heard this.

Ashikaga Yoshiei was a pseudo-shogun who was erected by the Miyoshi family and the Matsunaga family after they exiled Ashikaga Yoshiteru, at least procedurally, he was the orthodox general of the current Muromachi shogunate, and he was also the face of the Miyoshi family and the Matsunaga family. Although many people have a lot of complaints about Ashikaga Yoshiei's identity, they can only honestly respect him as a general. And with Ashikaga Yoshiei in hand, the Miyoshi family and the Matsunaga family can blackmail the shogun to order the daimyo and rely on the righteous name ordered by the shogun to dominate. And what the Shangluo coalition army relied on was the righteous name of the abolished descendant general Ashikaga Yoshiteru. The two generals declared each other to be rebellious, which constituted a sort of restraint. And the two factions, each supporting their own puppet generals, fought for Kyoto.

However, if Ashikaga Yoshiei died of a sudden illness, the Miyoshi family and the Matsunaga family would lose their support. Now that the position of shogun is vacant, Ashikaga Yoshiteru is the only one who is qualified to succeed. The Miyoshi family and the Matsunaga family have lost their reputation for righteousness, and there is no reason to continue to block the Shangluo coalition army. This righteous name is very false, and the daimyo politicians don't believe it, but they can't help but care. Because among the low-level samurai, ashigaru, and common people, there is still a lot of market for the side that occupies justice. It can be said that the accidental death of Ashikaga Yoshiei directly caused the Miyoshi family to lose ground. Miyoshi Yoshiken could only block the news of his death to temporarily maintain the morale of the frontline troops.

Kyoto and Nijo Castle must be commanded by a shogun - although this no longer has any practical significance, it is the concept of the vast majority of middle and lower class samurai, ashigaru, and common people. Therefore, every time the shogun was forced into exile, he would soon be welcomed back to Kyoto or a new shogun would be appointed, which was a choice that the daimyo who controlled Yamashiro Province had to make under pressure from all walks of life. And if the Miyoshi family has no one to support, then welcoming back Ashikaga Yoshiki is their only choice, and they have to make compromises.

"Oh my God. Is Ashikaga Yoshiei really dead? Niwa Nagahide was already speechless in shock at the moment, and stumbled and said, "He died on the evening of October 1st. The Miyoshi family came to us on October 2 to negotiate peace, and agreed to welcome back the Gongfang Palace as a general... I see! Before the next I was still wondering, why did the Miyoshi family suddenly compromise even though they had won, it turned out that it was because Ashikaga Yoshiei died of illness! They have no reason to fight anymore! ”

"No wonder, no wonder." Asakura Yoshikage was also overjoyed at the moment, and arched his hand at Ashikaga Yoshiki and said, "It's really heaven helping the palace!" Our Gongfang Palace is indeed the destiny of heaven, and the puppet general was punished by heaven before fighting. In this way, Shangluo is a matter of course! ”

Ashikaga Yoshiteru was very helpful to this compliment, and nodded repeatedly with a smile on his face. Although he was already ecstatic at the moment, his demeanor as a general could not be abandoned, otherwise he would have liked to laugh immediately. The other samurai in the big tent did not have such a cultivation as Ashikaga Yoshiteru, and many people had already celebrated the upcoming success of Kamiraku.

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However, Oda Nobunaga thought much more than Ashikaga Yoshiteru and Asakura Yoshikei. He was not satisfied with the return of Yoshiteru to Kyoto, but wanted to establish the hegemony of the Oda family in. For this reason, eliminating or severely damaging the Miyoshi family is what he must do. At the moment, the entire army of the Miyoshi family is here, and the Oda family also has two allies of the Asakura family and the Asai family to help him, and it would be great for him to use them to take the opportunity to defeat the main force of the Miyoshi family.

"The puppet general died of illness, and the Miyoshi family lost the reason to fight again. Then there was a fire in the rear, and the Miyoshi family had to go back to defense. Oda Nobunaga repeated the current situation in a low voice, and his eyebrows were already sharp: "Judging from the information brought by Mitsuhide and Yonegoro, Dr. Miyoshi is already emaciated and does not plan to fight again." ”

"In other words—" Oda Nobunaga paused, looked around meaningfully, and said in a low voice, "The withdrawal of the Miyoshi family may be a matter of the past few days. ”

"Lord Mingjian!" Shibata Katsuya sniffed the fighter plane at once, "It is more than fifty miles away from here to Settsu, and if we pursue after us, we will definitely be able to inflict heavy damage on the Miyoshi family." ”

Shibata Katsuie was right, for such a large army, it was simply an impossible task to retreat fifty miles in front of another, even larger army, unscathed.

"Chase, why chase?" However, Asakura Yoshikage put forward a different opinion: "We just need to support the Gongfang Palace Shangluo, why bother making more trouble." If the chase is too tight, the Miyoshi family will see that the retreat will not be successful, but turn around and fight, isn't it in vain to add trouble? Is my Ashigaru life just not my life? ”

"His Royal Highness Asakura is really laid-back." Oda Nobunaga choked Asakura Yoshikage angrily when he heard this, and said, "Your Highness, doesn't you think that you will be over a hundred times after conquering Kyoto?" If the Miyoshi family is unharmed, won't they make a comeback after they deal with the civil strife? When the time comes, we are too far away from Kyoto to support, so should we let Gongkata Hall fight against the Miyoshi Matsunaga coalition alone? ”

Although Oda Nobunaga's words were very impulsive, Asakura Yoshikage's face turned black and he stopped talking. But Ashikaga Yoshiteru understood that Oda Nobunaga was right, so he opened his mouth and said, "No matter what, you can't let go of the traitor Miyoshi." They must be severely punished in order to achieve justice. ”

"Gongfang Hall said it well!" When Asai Nagamasa heard the word "justice", he suddenly came to his senses and shouted with enthusiasm. Seeing this, Asakura Yoshikage had no choice but to reluctantly nod his head, which could be regarded as an endorsement of the decision to pursue.

"Now that you have all agreed, then we must be ready, as soon as the Miyoshi family withdraws, we will start pursuing." Oda Nobunaga strode to the edge of the map, and hammered his fist heavily at the location of Kyoto and Nijo Castle: "Ouroboros pursue, forcing the Miyoshi family to fight us here and completely defeat them!" ”

"Everyone, go back and get ready." As soon as Oda Nobunaga finished speaking, he began to walk towards the door of the big tent in a resolute manner, "The Miyoshi family may be evacuated at any time, we must cheer up, we can't let them run under our noses!" ”