However, what everyone never expected was that the next morning, while everyone was waiting for Sen Tadashi to make a decision, a small surname panicked and reported Sen Tadamasa's death to Lin Xiuzhong and others. With {dream} small ◢.1a

"The villain, as usual, came to the outside of the lord's bedroom on time, waiting to serve the lord's meal, but after waiting for a long time, he didn't open the door, and the maid who was responsible for changing the lord's clothes also said that the lord didn't respond to how he shouted this morning, so I felt a little bad, and when I opened the door, I saw the lord lying in a pool of blood, and there was a letter on the table, the villain didn't dare to snoop, so I invited you to go." The surname respectfully depicts his own experience.

After receiving this news, Lin Xiuzhong and others immediately rushed to Sen Zhongzheng's bedroom. As the surname said, Mori Tadamasa lay on the bookcase, blood staining his chest red and soaking a large area of the surrounding area along his clothes, which alarmed the retainers.

Lin Xiuzhong came to Mori Tadamasa's body, carefully picked up the letter placed in the corner of the bookcase, browsed it for a while, and handed it to the other retainers.

"The lord still hasn't thought about it." Zhong sighed and shook his head helplessly.

After reading the letter, the other retainers couldn't help but echo and said: "I made it very clear last night, the main family and the Inaba family are both former ministers of the Oda clan, and no one has been blamed for this after the opening of Hachiman Castle in the county, so how can the family be treated differently by Nakayan?" It's really not worth it. ”

"You are wrong," Lin Xiuzhong immediately reminded after hearing this: "The worry of being blamed in the lord's letter does not mean that he will be embarrassed by Gifuchu, but that there are other people. ”

"Someone else?" Everyone was puzzled: "In addition to Zhongnayan outside the city, what else is the lord worried about?" ”

Lin Xiuzhong looked outside the hall and said in a low voice: "Of course, it is His Royal Highness the Right Mansion who is far away in Huizu." ”

"Right House?!" Everyone seemed to have an understanding: "We all know that Zhong Nayan has attacked from all sides this time, and he was indeed instructed by the Right Mansion, but why do you think that the Right Mansion will definitely embarrass the family?" ”

"It's very simple, because His Royal Highness the former guard of Kawajiri Hi from Seedling City." Lin Xiuzhong said bluntly: "This family is an old minister of Oda, and it will not be too difficult for Zhongnayan, but it is not necessarily the right house." As far as I know, Hidecho Kawajiri was close to the Right House early on, and this time he went to Aizu and was appointed as the chief general of the Mino, which shows the importance that the Right House attaches to him. And the contradiction between the family and the Kawajiri clan is well known, if Hizen is in power, can we be forgiven by the right house? ”

"According to you, when we were secretly in contact with the Inner House, the Kawajiri family bet on the Right House?"

"That's right, for us little big names, this seems to be one of the few ways to change our fate, especially in this situation where the two heroes are competing, all we can do is choose a side, just take it as a big gamble, whoever wins and who loses, can't blame others. Now it seems that the lord thinks that he has lost the gamble, and exchanges his death for the mercy of the right government for his family in the future. ”

"Lost the bet?" The retainers were surprised: "How come, the war in Aizu has not yet ended, and there is no bad news from the Edo side, how can the lord lose confidence in the inner government?" ”

"The battle in Hokuriku is over, and the Maeda army is moving south to support Mt. Goto and Nagayoshi Pass; The Toyotomi coalition forces were stationed in the north and other southwestern American cities, and the Nowei Corridor had been secured; Gifu Nayana's Mino's Heita Army successively won Nishi-Nagano and North America, and Iwamura Castle was the only castle in Mino and Owari that was not under the control of the Toyotomi coalition, so do you think he could still be confident that the Uchifu would win the final victory?

Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if he is still full of confidence in the inner government, but this Iwamura City will not last long, in this case, he only has two ways to go: one is to follow our advice to open the city and surrender, but if so, will the inner government give his family a satisfactory arrangement after taking the world? In fact, the family did not make much achievements in Mino, neither relieved the siege of Hachiman Castle, nor played a role in delaying the Toyotomi coalition, surrendering at this time, not to mention the reward after the war, maybe the family would be directly ignored, and no one would intercede for the family at that time;

The other way is to exchange his own death for the future status of his family. Although Kaesong surrendered, if he committed suicide in order to keep his promise to the inner government, the matter would reach the ears of the inner government after the war, and he would definitely have pity for his family. In this way, even if they surrender, the family will be taken care of by the inner government in the future, at least the ability to block it, and if you are more optimistic, you may be able to seal it.

Ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to this, you should also understand that the lord is by no means simply dead, he is alive, it seems that there is no benefit, but he is dead, and in the future, he may strive for some compensation for his family, leaving a way for the young lord to live. ”

Hearing this, all the retainers suddenly realized, and the previous contempt and dissatisfaction with Mori Tadashi also dissipated. At Lin Xiuzhong's suggestion, everyone reported the death of Mori Tadamasa to Oda Hidenobu outside the city, and Hidenobu was also surprised, but still assured the defenders of the city that as long as the city was opened, they would never be allowed to exit safely.

At noon on April 25, Iwamura Castle Maru finally opened the castle, and accompanied by Hayashi Hidetada and others, the young lord of the Mori family, Mori Shigema, went outside the castle to meet Oda Hidenobu, who assured him in person that he would do his best to preserve the Mori clan in the future. At this point, except for the southwest and Naeki Castle, the entire territory of Mino has returned to the hands of the Oda clan, and the Zhixing in the hands of the Oda clan has also increased from less than 130,000 koku to 380,000 koku, accounting for 70% of Mino's total stone height, and has become a force that cannot be underestimated.

What is surprising is that after the completion of the pacification of Mino, Oda Hidenobu did not stop, but took advantage of the opportunity when the Maeda clan sent out the Omi and Toyotomi coalition forces to defend the Noo corridor and had no time to take care of anything else, mobilized the forces of Oda, Inaba and the Mori family to form the Oda coalition army, which set off from Gujo Hachiman Castle and Kanayama Castle respectively, and went north along the streets of Gujo and Hida to attack the Kanamori clan of Hida Province.

Kanamori Nagami, the head of the Kanamori clan, was originally a retainer of Oda Nobunaga and Shibata Katsuie, and later surrendered to Hideyoshi, and with the support of Hideyoshi, he defeated the wealthy Hida family Yoritsuna (real name Miki Zizuna), and finally obtained the security of Hida country, but the country was barren and the stone height was no more than 38,000 stones. At this time, Kanamori was going to Aizu with Hideho, and the affairs of the family were handed over to his adopted son Kanemori.

The 6,000 Oda Army of Hachiman Castle in the county was led by the family elder Hyakuzuna, and mainly attacked the two castles of Masujima and Hagiwara Suwa, the branch cities of the Kanamori clan; The Oda army of Kanayama Castle was led by Nagami Iinuma, one of the "Four Heavenly Kings of Gifu", with a force of 12,000 troops, and the target was Takayama Castle, the residence of the Kanamori clan.

Although Kanamori only took 300 people with his army, even if the Kanamori clan was fully mobilized, they could only gather a maximum of 1,000 people at present, which was tantamount to using a mantis arm as a cart to resist the attack of the Oda army. In desperation, Kanemori chose to concentrate his forces on Takayama Castle and gave up the garrison of other branch cities.

On April 29, the Oda coalition forces successfully captured Masushima Castle and Hagiwara Suwa Castle, and the two armies met under Takayama Castle. On the first day of the fifth month, under the persuasion of his retainers and the deterrence of the Oda army, Kanamori finally surrendered to Kaiseong, and Hida Province was taken by Oda Hidenobu. In less than a month, the head of the Oda clan basically completed the suppression of Mino and Hida, and the Oda clan's generals seemed to shine again.