205

As a famous player in the true sense of the word, Yoshikawa Motoharu ———— his opponent in this battle, Akechi Kogoro Nobumitsu, that is, me, actually looks completely incomprehensible.

Like me, Yoshikawa Motoharu's mission at the Mori family was also to be in charge of raiding the San'in Dao, and this same form of work and mission gave me a more fatalistic feel to the battle between me and him.

I'm tired of hearing his name for a long time, and it's hard to say whether he knows me or not.

Speaking of which, I had never met him at all, and likewise, he didn't know what his opponent, who was many years younger than him, looked like.

The Yoshikawa Army's offensive at Yakudai Castle had been underway for several days, but there had been no progress at all.

Not only because Yaotai City itself is difficult to attack———— but even I have been fighting for a long time before.

Moreover, the defenders of the city were much more numerous than they had come to attack.

The city's defenses were watertight, which made Yoshikawa Motoharu, who was used to fighting, also feel a little headache.

I was determined to use defensive counterattack tactics against Yoshikawa Motoharu, and no matter how provocative he was, I didn't plan to send troops to fight him.

The essence of defensive counterattack is not in defense, but in counterattack, but the timing of this counterattack is always inconvenient to grasp, if the counterattack fails, then the previous defensive results will also be lost.

Because as a general, I don't have a lot of experience in commanding battles (this is true, my father used to design tactics, and I only had to be ordered to execute them, and Tokugawa Ieyasu also had advice for attacking Takeda, so I just had to accompany him to finish the soy sauce...... Compared with a battle-hardened person like Motoharu Yoshikawa, lack of experience is the biggest weakness, and in order to avoid this weakness, I simply took the most conservative path......

Only defend, not counterattack!

It's not that I admit it, I just think that if I just let go, I can't defeat Yoshikawa Motoharu, but in the same way, Yoshikawa Motoharu can't do anything to me.

What if the counterattack fails and I am defeated by Motoharu Yoshikawa?

My previous strategy of dividing my troops into two routes has paid off, and the northern part of Hatsuhashi County, Mizu-gun, and Hino County has been taken by the wise Saomasuke I have assigned.

It can be said that half of the land of the Boqi Kingdom has already fallen into my hands, and it is only a matter of time before I take the other half.

So I'm actually not in a hurry at all, and if I'm in a hurry, I'm also in a hurry, and I'm in a hurry, and the land of his Boqi country is being eaten away by me little by little.

"Lord, you are so wise!"

Okuda Keixuna told me.

"Huh? Miyauchi-sama, what do you say? ”

There have been no battles in the past few days, but every few days Yoshikawa Motoharu will lead his army to call me for battle.

Yoshikawa Motoharu was actually a very knowledgeable and cultivated person, otherwise he would not have spent so much effort copying the forty-volume "Taiping Ji".

But as a military general, his scolding kung fu is also quite breathtaking.

I scolded back and forth for half an hour, but there was no repetition of a word, and I greeted all my female relatives several times in different ways.

When his throat was not good, his son Yoshikawa Motocho and his retainers came back to "take the baton", and for a while the scolding continued.

The people around me were annoyed to hear it.

But I was pretty calm.

It's true, I myself am impressed by my endurance!

"Keijiro, I now order you to start a scolding war with this old boy!"

"Of course it's okay to scold, but why are you picking me out, lord?"

"Because your scolding is the most aggressive! I remember that there is no one who has been scolded by you who is not unlucky! ”

"Lord, are you scolding me for being a crow's mouth......"

"You can say the same thing...... Eh, don't go! ”

After Keiji Maeda was angry with me and ran away, I thought it would be better to do it myself.

When Yoshikawa Motoharu finished telling the story of Kahime being "served in turn" by his bannermen, I finally found a space to speak.

"That Yoshikawa-sama, I don't understand the Kansai dialect, can you please speak the ordinary official dialect of Kyoto?"

The highest level of scolding is not how you scold more vicious words than him, but how you scold him with poor reasoning, and finally become angry (as for whether I will be beaten for this, I don't care), and how should the person who is scolded fight back?

Remember! Don't run over and beat someone in a rage, if you do it, it means that you have lost, and you have been angered by the person who scolded you.

There's a good saying in the Bible that when someone hits you on the left cheek, you give him the right cheek.

At this time, you should put your tone as calm as possible, and it is best to say with a smile:

Are you hungry or not, do you want me to cook a bowl of noodles for you to eat?

There is no doubt that the scolder who is angry at this time will definitely be angry with you and come back to life, because he has scolded so many words before, all of them have been useless———— he wants to see you angry, but you are so calm, how can he stand it?

Sure enough, after my words came out, there was silence for a while.

I said to my retainers:

"See, that's what scolding looks like...... No matter how the Yoshikawa army screams and scolds later, everyone is not allowed to take their troops out of the city to fight, this is an order that must be guarded, who dares to disobey! Absolutely unforgiving! ”

"Yes!"

Yoshikawa Motoharu will definitely not be able to scold anymore, and he gave the order to the troops to forcibly attack the city!

I'm still holding on to the castle and dealing with him.

The battle lasted all morning, and in the end, Yoshikawa Motoharu, who had no results, had to leave with the corpses of hundreds of soldiers who had died in battle.

"My lord! Give the order to pursue! ”

"No! Maybe the enemy will set up an ambush on the way to pursue! ”

"My lord! The enemy is in disarray now! ”

"No, maybe the enemy will set up an ambush on the way to pursue!"

What are you kidding, just such a little loss, what is there to be embarrassed about by Yoshikawa Motoharu, eighty percent of you people are "shaking" me!

"But, my lord, ......"

"No, maybe the enemy will set up an ambush on the way to pursue!"

“……”

"No, maybe the enemy will set up an ambush on the way to pursue!"

"General, everyone is gone."

"No, maybe...... What, they're gone, so I'm going too. ”

Later, when the leader of the ninjas, Keixuna Okuda, came to report to me, he said:

"Lord, you are really clever, the enemy really has an ambush, so he is ambushed around the mountain road!"

"Hahahahaha...... Yoshikawa Motoharu's little carving insect skills still want to be dangled in front of me, hum! Am I such a gullible person? ”

I shook my fan and made a triumphant look that everything was under my control, but in fact......

It's so dangerous, but fortunately I didn't pursue it, otherwise it would have been over.

I just didn't bother to chase it, but in the end, I received such a good result, which was really unexpected.

"During this time, the weather is dry, you must prepare a lot of water to prevent fires, and at the same time, you must also check the food safety of the soldiers, the weather is so hot, the food is easy to spoil...... By the way, all the injured brothers should also take care of it, hot days are the peak period of the plague. ”

"Yes!" ……

The battle here is not going well at all, and it is really worrying.

Illustrate, for example, the battle of Chizo Masuke at Gangfu Castle.

Let me tell you first, in this book, there are often some inexplicable places, such as shooting wolf plains, in the real map of Japan, you can't find this place I made up.

However, I won't write around without a lower limit, indiscriminately "expanding the territory" for Japan, every city written in this book basically exists in reality, many people have never heard of it, that's because the castle is no longer there———— but even if the castle has been demolished, the castle town where the city residents lived back then still exists, but it has just become a general township.

For example, in the 21st century, the castle is gone, but the town is famous for its "Tottori miso soup"!

Wise Zuomasuke and Matsuda Masa's troops, who landed as the second formation, split into two routes, Matsuda attacked Kawamura, Khan, and Kume to the east, and Samasuke went west to subjugate Mikami and Hino.

Gangfu Castle is the largest castle in the entire Hino Prefecture, and the capture of it represents the fall of the entire Xiboqi Kingdom......

I don't know what's going on, but the Japanese have a considerable obsession with napping.

When I watched "Doraemon" when I was a child, the first thing the protagonist Nobita did when he came home from school was not to do homework, but to take a nap......

Hmm, I'm sorry to go far again.

At noon, the lord of Jiangfu, Sugasawa Yahachi (who knew it was a dragon trick when he heard the name), drank a little wine, lay on the tatami mat, and fell asleep peacefully.

I heard that there was an enemy from the north, and it seemed that it was from the Oda family, and it was very powerful, and many castles were attacked and defeated by them...... Alas, what does that have to do with me, I am a member of the country, if it weren't for the original city lord who followed Yoshikawa Motoharu to fight, the "leader" of this city really wouldn't be his turn to do it.

So there is no need to sell your life for the Maori family, wait for the enemy to fight, see if you can fight, if you can't fight, surrender, and if you fight, you will have a war achievement!

This is the mentality of the little people, all of them with the mentality of "living one day at a time".

Just when Sugasawa Yahachi was drinking flower wine in the castle town with infinite happiness in his dream, a flag in armor suddenly opened the wooden door.

"City Lord! Castle Lord! Castle Lord! ”

In fact, as early as when the wooden door was opened with a "bang", Sugasawa's sweet dream was almost awakened.

When he heard this guy shouting to himself three times in a row, Sugasawa Yahachi finally couldn't sleep anymore.

It's noisy! It's not going to let people sleep at all!

(What a familiar line in later Japanese dramas)

"Lord of the Castle! Don't sleep! Something is wrong! ”

Sugasawa Yahachi slapped Kimoto hard.

"Can I have told you? In Jiangfu City, there is nothing bigger than my nap?! ”

"But...... Castle Lord, there are enemies! ”

"Cut! You little red guy (I'm KAO!) This gentleman also has Shanghai blood! ）！ What kind of big deal should I have, it turns out that I have an enemy...... What the!! There are enemies!! ”

"There are enemies...... Could it be the wisdom of the recent fierce trouble here? ”

After a long time, the panicked city lord finally reacted.

"I don't know about that...... Their flag is a sea-blue bellflower, and we have never seen such a family crest here! ”

Flag replied very honestly, and it was obvious that this answer could not satisfy Sugasawa Yahachi, and he gave the former a slap in the face again.

"It's useless! I can't even recognize the origin of the enemy! ”

"Sorry, sorry! Castle Lord, I've never seen that kind of family crest...... City Lord, do you know each other? ”

"Uh...... Does it matter if I recognize it or not? You TMD less verbose here! Hurry up and bring my armor and helmet! ”

This flag is obviously a person who doesn't know how to look at people's eyes and act, and he has been beaten three times in this moment.

With the help of Hagimoto, Sugasawa Yahachi put the intricate armor on his body, and then climbed to the top of the castle with sleepy eyes.

"Huh...... Okay, you kid dare to fool me, where is the enemy here?! ”

This time, the flag flashed relatively quickly, and Sugasawa Yahachi didn't get a slap.

"City Lord, you are mistaken, I mean that the enemy is not far from us, and all the branches around here have been captured by the enemy!"

"All captured? …… You and I are a fool, how could the wise Zuo Masuke who was still living in Zhichuan Castle yesterday come to us today? ”

"City Lord, it's really ......"

"Forget it, it's really true, the enemy's attack has been very fierce recently, maybe when it really hits me...... You people have carefully guarded the city for me, and if something happens, I can't spare you! ”

206

To my eternally beautiful wife, Her Royal Highness Akechi Kaji, the first beauty of:

First of all, I hope that Her Royal Highness will not dislike her husband, who likes to show off her literary talents, has used such a lengthy beginning, which is already more than twenty Chinese characters.

I know that your level of sinology is actually not very good, and you often mistake simple kanji for kana in front of me, so don't be really stupid to count the first kanji.

When it comes to learning, I have to think of my two daughters, do Renli still like to be naughty as usual? If that's the case, then it's up to her, she's going to be eleven years old soon, there must be a lot of people who come to the door to ask for marriage, if the temperament is too wild, then my future son-in-law will probably be very difficult, I don't want my daughter to get a reputation as a "".

As for the heart, she is becoming more and more like you, very gentle and well-behaved, and knows how to care about people...... Hahahahahaha, when you see this, you will smile very happily, or will you skip it a little shyly———— don't doubt it, this is praising you.

When I think of my daughter, I naturally think of my son———— Well, I admit that I'm biased, and most fathers think of their sons first and then their daughters, but I come the other way around, probably because Takechiyo is too young, and I can't establish a direct communication channel with him, which is completely different from those two little girls.

I actually have a lot to say to Chiyo Take, but when the letter is written, I don't know what to say, probably no matter what I say, my son won't understand, and even if he does, he won't be able to reply———— so ah, Chiyo Kotake, my father has always been looking forward to you growing up.

I heard Lord Hosokawa Daisuke Fujito, who traveled back and forth between me and Azuchi Castle, that you are becoming more and more interested in the tea parties and song parties held by the ladies and gentlemen of this family———— and I am grateful that you want to accumulate contacts for me and the future Takechiyo, but be sure to pay attention to your body and don't overwork yourself, otherwise when I return, I will feel distressed.

Finally, a few words about myself.

More than half of the war in the country has been waged, and seventy percent of the land in this country has fallen into my hands, and the rest of the land has been swept away by Samasuke and Taro Saemon (Matsuda Masakin), and it does not take much time to become the domain of the family.

Yoshikawa Motoharu, who has been confronting me for half a month, has now receded, it seems that he already knows that there is no point in entanglement with me like this, and the fall of Boqi Kingdom is something he can't stop———— hahaha, to be able to compete with "Ghost Motochun", it seems that your husband and I are not too incompetent.

After conquering the province of Boqi, the country of Izumo was my next target, and I was thrilled to think that I could finally enter my own territory.

I have a wish, I want to sit by Lake Shinji with you and watch the beautiful scenery of the sunset, just like Lake Biwa on the edge of Sakamoto Castle at the beginning.

Hopefully that day will come sooner.

The Lord of the Palace has come to report to me, so this is the end of this letter.

Wise Kogoro Gen Nobumitsu......

"What is the lord doing? Write a letter? ”

"Well, yes, write a letter home, do you want to read it?"

Okuda craned his neck to look at the letter, and seemed very interested in it, so I put it in front of him.

"Don't dare, this is the lord's family letter, how can we courtiers snoop on it?"

Actually, you've seen quite a bit.

The reason why I am so "generous" is not because my relationship with this Okuda Miyachi Shaofu Jingzuna is really good to the point where you and I can't distinguish between you and me, but because ———— is full of Chinese characters, and he can't understand it at all if he only knows kana.

"It's good to be able to read and break words, the mind of the lord, even if it is so far away, can be conveyed to the family through a letter, and we rough people can't do it......"

Listening to his tone, it seemed that he was very envious of me.

"Hahahaha, without you ninjas, it's useless for me to have an empty mind...... By the way, do you want me to write a letter home for you? ”

"Then thank you, Lord."

"By the way, what are you looking for me?"

"My lord, Jiangfu City was defeated by Lord Zuo Majie, and now the entire Hino County is under the control of this family!"

"Really? That's great! Jiangfu Castle is the largest city in the entire Hino County and even the Boqi Kingdom, and it is not too easy to attack it, so tell me how Zuo Majie did it! ”

"Yes, according to the ninja I sent out, Lord Zuomasuke did not choose to attack Jiangfu City directly!"

"Oh, and how did he act?"

"Lord Zuo Majie first attacked the branch of Jiangfu City, Mihara Castle, Ducheng and Yamagami City, and recruited those local tyrants, several of whom are the same clan of the Jiangfu City Lord Sugasawa Yahachi, Lord Zuo Majie threatened them, asking them to use this identity to deceive Sugasawa Yahachi to open the city gate!"

"And then, did these guys do it?"

"Of course it didn't go so well, these cowards are used to living a good life, how dare they do this desperate job?

Master Zomasuke scared them and said that if they still refused to do it, then they and their families would be pushed out and beheaded! ”

"Hahahahahaha, this guy Zuo Majie, when he should be ruthless, I've never seen him soft!"

"This group of people had no choice but to agree, but even so, they still looked like cowardices, and with this look, they couldn't coax Sugasawa Yahachi at all, and they knew it was fake at a glance."

"Hehe, no wonder, it takes guts to do this job, Zuo Majie told them to die, will they still go happily?"

"So Zomasuke-sama is furious, these guys are just a bunch of waste...... However, Lord Zuo Masuke still has a very good way, he changed his tone, and told them very kindly that if they can trick the city gate open, he will give them all the territory of Sugasawa Yahachi! ”

"Coercion doesn't succeed and uses inducement, haha, Zuo Majie is a ...... But then again, is that Sugasawa Yahachi's territory huge? ”

"It's not big, I've heard it's only a thousand stones."

"Then how many local tyrants are there?"

"Probably...... I remember twenty-three. ”

In other words, on average, each person will only be given a little more than forty stones...... Zuo Majie's set is definitely not good, this price is too small? ”

"Lord, you are mistaken, Lord Zuo Masuke, he succeeded!"

"Nani?!"

I can't believe it! Is there really such a cheap person in this world who gives up his principles for the sake of a mere forty stone of land!

"You're saying yes to all of these people in the end???"

"Why. Not only did these people agree in one bite, but they also seemed to be happy because they had increased their territory! ”

"Hehehe...... I can understand it now, no wonder they are just little tyrants, that's all. ”

"My lord, after getting the promise of Lord Zuomasuke, they dressed up in tatters and ran to the city of Jiangfu and asked Sugasawa Yahachi to open the city gate.

Sugasawa Yahachi was amazed when he saw them like this, so he asked them what was going on.

They said that their territory was occupied by the enemy, hoping that Sugasawa Yahachi would let them enter the city and be contained, and these guys could really make a show, and a few of them even cried. ”

"Hehehe, I'm really pretending to be ......"

"Sugasawa Yahachi didn't have any doubts, so he opened the city gate, and at this time, all the ambushes hidden under the city by Lord Zuo Masuke were killed, and Jiangfu City was captured by us like this......"

"To be honest, I really don't think Zuo Majie's trick is very clever."

"The lord is resourceful, and Zuo Majie-sama's plan naturally cannot be compared to yours."

Okuda Keixuna sent his sycophants at the right time.

"By the way, what's going on with Taro Saemon?"

"Lord Matsuda is also attacking the city non-stop, but the east of the Boqi Kingdom is full of mountains, and his progress cannot be compared with Lord Zuo Masuke, but after hearing the news that Yoshikawa Motoharu's army has retreated, most of the local tyrants in the three eastern counties are already planning to surrender to him, and it is expected that the war over there will end soon!"

"Okay, give these two people a great credit, and the merits of their generals should also be recorded, and I will reward them later."

"Okay, I'm tired of staying in this Yaotai City, and now that the battle is over, let's go to Jiangfu City for a walk."

"Okay, my lord, I'll tell you to go down and prepare."

The road to Mt. Mikuni is very difficult to walk, so by the time I arrived at the castle on the Yonago Plain, it was already evening.

Just in time for dinner.

I was able to enjoy the famous Tottori miso soup, which is a soup made with bamboo shoots, tofu, and grass carp.

"Lord, what do you think of this miso soup?"

"Well, a great piece of food!"

"yes, for the first time in my life, I think miso soup is delicious."

"Keijiro, you've already drunk four bowls, and you don't feel like your stomach is swollen at all?"

"Zhongxing, I personally don't feel anything, but you, it seems that you have eaten all the bowls! Haha......"

"Later, I'm going to find someone to write down how to make the miso soup, and I can eat it at any time in the future."

Although Boqi Country is not my territory, it is my territory after all, so it shouldn't matter if I scavenge it clean, right?

Now it's okay, everyone can finally let go of their stomachs and have a good meal.

I remember that in a few decades, there will be a peasant uprising of Li Zicheng in the Ming Kingdom across the sea.

When the "King Chuang" made a revolution, the people everywhere responded in parts. And came up with their own slogans, one of which is very famous.

"Eat his mother, wear his mother, and the king will not pay for food when he comes."

On other people's tables, not only miso soup but also other dishes are served.

Now I can finally understand what those mobs feel, and it's so cool to eat other people's food and fill my stomach————!

Just when everyone is eating happily, the flag at the door is this newspaper:

"General, someone wants to ask to see you!"

"Oh, who's going to see me? If it's a local tyrant nearby, then I'll not see him, you send him away! ”

"No, general, it's not a local tyrant, it's just a few civilians!"

"Civilians?"

"Yes, they have come to congratulate the lord on his victory."

"And who are they?"

"It's strange to say, it's a priest and two shrine maidens."

"What's so strange about that? Isn't it just that the nearby shrine sent someone? Lord, do you want to see them? ”

"Is it just the three of them?"

"There were also seven or eight porters carrying gifts, but they all seemed to be honest men of good manners, and the group brought twenty taels of rice and five barrels of sake, among other things."

"Yo, this gift is actually quite valuable for the countrymen, which shows their sincerity, so it doesn't matter if you see it, now I'm eating, it's inconvenient to meet guests, let them wait for me in the living room!"

Contacts with religious figures......

Speaking of which, I don't have any ill feelings towards Buddhism, but the Buddhism sects of this era are generally very powerful, and it is easy to pose a great threat to us samurai, so I have to stay away from them.

In addition to Catholicism, I was also very interested in Shintoism, and when I was in Kyoto, the Atago Shrine on Mt. Atago was a place I frequented, and the priests there were very enthusiastic about me, because every time I left, I would leave a large amount of money.

However, Atago Shrine is a large shrine after all, and I have never been exposed to small local shrines of a private nature......

"We are very sorry to meet His Highness the Wise Right Prisoner and come to disturb your peace."

The priest who looked very old was the leader, and two shrine maidens stood behind.

The two shrine maidens were so beautiful that I couldn't help but take a second look.

I can't imagine that such a small place has such a good "goods".

"Where, it's our group of people who disturbed the tranquility of your shrine, you don't have to worry."

I said with a pleasant face: "I have already issued a military order, and my people will not do anything messy here." ”