Within two or three days, the samurai of the Kitabatake clan led their troops to gather at Okochi Castle. And the strength of the city's defense, also because of their arrival, increased a lot, and even reached as many as 6,500 men.

However, seeing such a military situation, Kitabatake's house and his retainers did not have a trace of joy, although there were a lot of troops, but these ashigaru not only had low combat effectiveness, but also in the last battle of Kabara, they were frightened by the strength of the Oda army, so it was not easy to resist the attack of the Oda family with them with the fortified castle.

In the Okochi Castle Assessment Room, Kitabatake's face was haggard and sitting on the main seat, and the cushion that was originally next to him, or even slightly back, had been removed by someone, and that cushion originally belonged to Kitabatake's teaching.

Since the Kitabatake Gufang succeeded to the governor, he has always wanted to control the power of the family, although his father passed the family governor to himself, but this power has no intention of transferring, and the ministers of the family are all dispatched by their father, and no one takes themselves seriously at all, let alone transfer them, if there is no approval from his father, in addition to the two close attendants around him, he can't even transfer a ashigaru.

Although Kitabatake's house is very dissatisfied with this, he is naturally cowardly, and even the two close servants under his command dare to contradict him, let alone take power from his father.

And he himself doesn't think it's because he's weak, he regards this as generosity, so he doesn't think so.

In the past few years when he inherited the family governor, sometimes he even dreamed about how to do it after he mastered the big fist in the family, so that the family could survive forever, and now, when he really controls the power of the family, these illusions are also shattered.

Now the Kitabatake family is facing an unprecedented disaster, Kitabatake can't help but miss the previous life, if the father is still at this time, how good it would be, in this way, you don't have to have a headache, and if the family is destroyed by the Oda family, the responsibility does not have to be borne by yourself, but the father left the personnel in such a hurry, and also took away all the elites of the family, how can this make him resist the Oda army, is it just with those peasant soldiers outside who are not in good clothes, armed with bamboo guns and wooden sticks, and have no morale at all?

Father, father, why did you want to leave me at this critical moment and throw this rotten beach to the child, you are so relaxed, if the Kitabatake family really can't escape the catastrophe, then how should the child explain to the ancestors and ancestors.

Thinking of this, Kitabatake's room involuntarily glanced to the side. However, when he saw that the place where his father's cushion was originally placed was now empty, he ran out of ideas.

However, he did not blame the attendant for taking away his father's cushion when he was cleaning the assessment room, although this should have been, but as the cushion disappeared, it seemed that a thousand pounds of weight were weighing on him.

I only heard Kitabatake's mouth say, "Someone." ”

A close attendant behind him heard the lord's call, hurriedly took two steps forward, knelt on the ground and saluted, and said, "My subordinates are here, please give orders to the lord." ”

Kitabatake's room didn't ask much, and said directly: "You go and get your father's cushion." ”

After listening to the lord's instructions, the attendant felt a little puzzled, the first lord had already passed away, why did the lord still want the cushion, but this is not his own responsibility, he just took the cushion, fortunately did not discard the first lord's cushion, otherwise he would definitely be punished by the lord.

I heard the servant hurriedly say: "It's the lord, and the subordinates will go and get the first lord's cushion." With that, he stood up and went straight to the inner room.

It didn't take long for the attendant to walk out quickly holding the cushion that Kitabatake Gujiao had sat on. Kitabatake's room respectfully took the cushion and stroked it gently, while looking at the thing in his hand in a daze, and after a while, he put the cushion back into its original position. …,

And the retainers of the Kitabatake family who were sitting at the bottom couldn't help but be greatly relieved when they saw this, they didn't know that the reason why the Kitabatake Gufang took out the things of the ancestor was to enhance their confidence, and they thought that he did this to remember the ancestor by doing so.

The retainers were moved by the practice of Kitabatake, the lord never said much when the lord was alive, and he was not at all dissatisfied with the transfer of power to the lord of the family, and now that the lord has passed away, the lord can still be so respectful, he is the lord of both loyalty and filial piety, and he can become his retainer, it is really a blessing for three lives, this time the Oda army is coming, so even if he is loyal to the lord, what are the complaints.

Since this is the first time that Kitabatake has presided over the evaluation meeting, and now the family is facing an unprecedented crisis, I can't help but be a little nervous.

After a while, I heard him speak, "Zhu... Ladies and gentlemen, now that the Oda army is attacking, it will soon reach Okochi Castle, and when the Oda army is attacking the castle, how can we resist in order to protect our Kitabatake family from being destroyed by it?

You are all important ministers of the family, and follow your father for many years, you must be well-informed, and please give me advice, if it is successful, after the Oda family retreats, Gufang will not forget your great kindness. ”

After speaking, I saw the retainers of the Kitabatake Gufang Chong sitting down and gave a deep salute, because the Kitabatake Gujiao was killed less than ten days, for a while, he was still a little uncomfortable with his current new identity, so his words and actions were still the same as before, and he had not yet regarded himself as the actual ruler of the Kitabatake family in his shallow consciousness, so whether it was his demeanor or temperament, he was not half false.

If it was before, when the ancestor was alive, even if Kitabatake's house was like this, the retainers would at most return the courtesy, and they wouldn't have any thoughts in their hearts, but now it's different, although Kitabatake's thinking hasn't changed, but the retainers have already regarded him as the object of their allegiance, and they see that the lord is not only polite, but also salutes himself, how dare he accept this.

I saw that they hurriedly saluted and said: "We are all ministers of the lord, how dare we accept the lord's courtesy, the lord, please rest assured, as long as the subordinates wait for one day, they will not let the Oda army leap into the thunder pond." ”

The retainers are now very excited, they originally looked down on the weak lord, they all thought that if they wanted to survive in this troubled world, they should be like the first master, with strong martial arts, however, since the death of the Kitabatake Gujiao, their original firm belief began to shake a little, the first lord is known as a sword hero, this martial art should be regarded as a practice to the home, and there are five hundred elites of the Kitabatake family to protect, isn't it also the same death, it seems that as the family governor is only strong in his own martial arts, he can't make the family name last forever.

And today, when they saw the lord's approach, they seemed to have a little understanding, as the family governor, whether the martial arts are outstanding is secondary, the most important thing is that they have a benevolent heart, since the lord has done this, how can he not give up his life and forget to die.

Kitabatake didn't think about it so much, now he only hopes that among the samurai present, anyone can come up with a strange plan to let the Oda army retreat, so after hurriedly ordering the retainers to calm down, he couldn't wait to ask: "Since you are all willing to help the Kitabatake family get through the difficulties, I don't know who has a way to retreat the Oda army." ”

After listening to "this ......", all the retainers present had lost their minds.

Although the Oda army has also suffered a lot of losses now, its morale is booming, and Oda Nobunaga is not a lord of mediocrity, so how could he lead the army to retreat at this critical moment? It seems that the key is not to think about the retreat of the Oda army, but to think about how to defend the castle now.

The retainers, without exception, were seriously thinking about how the lord could let him down if he treated him like this.

After a while, I only heard Tamaru Naomasa speak first: "My lord, as far as my subordinates know, when the first lord moved the city to this big river city, he also brought a lot of armor and weapons used by the flag to Ashigaru as a reserve, so as to replace the damage, and the subordinates think that if they can issue these combat preparations to the city Ashigaru, although they are all peasant soldiers and have not received much training, but if they are fully equipped, this combat power should also be damaged and improved, and please ask the lord to decide." ”…,

Kitabatake's house doesn't have any backbone, but now that someone has proposed it, then of course he will do it, no matter whether it's right or wrong, it's finally a solution.

However, he immediately thought that if the armor in the warehouse was distributed to the peasants in the city, the effect might not be significant, so it was better to use those armor and weapons in the city to give the banners under the command of the retainers in the city, although the combat power of the banners under their command was also very limited, and the morale was also low, but, no matter how they said, they were also much stronger than the peasants.

Besides, there are only more than 1,000 sets of armor and weapons in the city, which is not enough to equip the peasant soldiers under his command, but it is enough for the banners of his retainers, so it is better to equip them.

Thinking of this, I only heard Kitabatake's mouth speak: "When my father came to this city, he brought a thousand sets of armor, if it is used and equipped with the peasant soldiers under my command, not only is it not enough, but I am afraid it will not play much role, so I decided to distribute these armor weapons to your subordinates to use, if they can really withstand the attack of the Oda army, then, after taking them to withdraw, I am willing to give these armors to you, all of them should be rewarded." ”

"It's... The lord, defending the lord, defending the Kitabatake family, is our duty, how can we let the lord break the bank, and ask the lord to take back his life, and we will swear to protect the lord. ”

Although the retainers saw that the lord was willing to reward themselves with the fine armor that had made them hang for a long time, they knew that they must not accept it, otherwise, how could they talk about loyalty, if they let outsiders know about it, they would not be ashamed to laugh at their own profit?

Such a thing that damages the reputation, I must not do it, and the elite under the command of the Kitabatake family has basically died with the ancestor in the battle of Kabara, if it can really resist the attack of the Oda army this time, the lord should use these armor to quickly equip an elite again, and the public is reasonable, he should not accept it, so he just listened to them without hesitation, and said in unison.

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