"Are the troops all ready?" In Kyoto's Honnoji Temple, Oda Nobunaga is holding a military meeting at his accommodation.

"Back to the lord! This time, a total of 16,000 standing troops have been assembled, and all of them have been stationed in Otsu and are ready to stand by at any time! Hosokawa Nobumoto reported below, he is now the number one minister of the Oda family, although the position of the old man of the pen family is still occupied by Lin Xiuzhen, but it is basically in name only.

"Very well, then I'll tell you about the actual target of this attack." Oda Nobunaga nodded, the number of armaments was about the same as he estimated.

"We will pass through Wakasa Province, and then turn around to Echizen Province and attack the Asakura family who disrespect orders!" As soon as these words came out, all the retainers below were surprised, didn't they say that they were going to crusade against Muto Tomoyoshi of Wakasa Country? How did it become the Echizen famous Asakura family?

"My lord, since you are going to attack the Asakura family, can you allow the retainers to send reinforcements over?" Shibata Katsuya spoke for others, and they only brought half of the people in the main department.

"It doesn't matter! There are enough of these people. Oda Nobunaga didn't care about the size of the army, and in his eyes, the Asakura family didn't have to worry at all.

"My lord, my subordinates feel that it is a little inappropriate to rashly attack the Asakura family." Hosokawa Nobumoto still decided to say a few good words for the Asakura family first, although there was no external name in this military meeting, but Akechi Mitsuhide was impressively listed, and he didn't want to be considered by others as a person who didn't care about family affection at all.

Ever since Hosokawa Nobunaga followed Oda Nobunaga, he has always thought about maximizing his interests, and for this purpose, he has given up a lot of family affection.

From the earliest Battle of Barrel Sasama, when his nephew Iio Naokiyo escaped, he did not ask Oda Nobunaga for his life.

Later, in the battle of Shangluo, he became the vanguard of the Oda family, and beat his maiden Rokkaku family to the point that he could not return to his home, and his life was almost buried in Omi.

Now he is going to attack his brother-in-law Asakura Yoshikage, if he doesn't speak out again, it will be too ruthless, and no one will dare to marry him Hosokawa Nobugen in the future.

"Oh? Why is that? Oda Nobunaga thought that Hosokawa Nobunamoto would be the first to support him, but he didn't expect to be the first to oppose it.

"Your Majesty thinks that it is not very reasonable to attack the Asakura family now. First, the Asai family has been favored by the Asakura family for generations, and has saved the Asai family in countless crises, so it may be difficult for the Asai main hall to accept it. ”

"Second, the reason why the Asakura family was not summoned to Shangluo this time is said to be because of the accidental wind and cold, and their health is not good, so..."

"Nonsense! These are all excuses! If you're as smart as you are, how could you not know! Oda Nobunaga was furious, he didn't understand when Hosokawa Nobugen also started to intercede? Where did the momentum of the previous force override the public opinion to marry the Asai family and eliminate the hexagonal family of the mother's family? Didn't you tell yourself before that everything is premised on interests?

"Yes..."Hosokawa Nobumoto quickly bowed his head and confessed, thinking: This is probably okay, right?

"Humph! I've made up my mind! The Asakura family has repeatedly disobeyed the orders of the shogunate, and their hearts can be punished! Follow the set goal and go into battle immediately! Oda Nobunaga stood up and gave the order to go out despite opposition.

"Yes!" All the retainers received the order together, and they were more or less sympathetic to Hosokawa Nobumoto in their hearts.

"In addition, let me tell the Asai family that they don't need to go out this time." Oda Nobunaga finally took into account Asai Nagamasa's feelings, and heard that he and his sister Oda City had a good relationship and had just given birth to a baby girl.

On April 20, 1570, Oda Nobunaga launched a crusade against Muto Tomoyoshi of Wakasa Province for ignoring the shogunate's edict.

The crusade army was assembled at Otsu in Omi, and in addition to the army of the Oda main family, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Ikeda Katsumasa, and Matsunaga Hideya also led the army, with a total strength of 20,000 troops.

On the 21st, the Oda coalition entered Takashima-gun and camped in Tanaka Castle that night. On the 22nd, he entered the Kumagawa River in Enshiki-gun, Wakasa Province, and came to the territory of Matsumiya Kiyonaga.

"See Danzheng-sama!" Outside the castle of Sanbeyama, the lord of the castle, Matsumiya Kiyocho, went out of the castle to greet Oda Nobunaga, a retainer of the Wakasa Takeda clan.

Today's Wakasa Province is still nominally the domain of Takeda Motoaki, but in the 11th year of Eiroku (1568), Asakura Yoshikei invaded Wakasa Province and captured Takeda Motoaki, making him a puppet of the Asakura family.

Therefore, Wakasa Province is currently divided into two factions, one is still following the will of Takeda Motoaki, headed by Muto Tomoyoshi, and subordinated to the Asakura family; One faction was the pro-Oda faction, hoping to revive the Takeda clan, led by Matsumiya Kiyocho.

"Well, the army will stay here tonight, you go and make arrangements." Oda Nobunaga rode on his horse and said in a commanding tone.

"Yes! Please rest assured, the arrangements have been made, and the army can enter the city to rest immediately, and tomorrow you can lead the army to exterminate the rebel Muto Yuyi. Matsumiya Kiyonaga's tone was very humble, and they were indeed valued by Oda Nobunaga.

"Who said I was going to exterminate Muto Tomoyosu? With him, can I stir up the people? Oda Nobunaga grabbed the horse's belly and went straight to the mountain castle of the food department.

"Huh? Didn't Lord Danmasa come to exterminate Muto Yuyi? Matsumiya Kiyocho took Oda Nobunaga's horse very obediently and personally opened his eyes for him.

"What does that traitor have, I'm going to go directly to Echizen Province and crusade against the culprit Asakura Yoshikei!" Oda Nobunaga was very satisfied with his performance, and rode leisurely on his horse.

"Ask... Defeat the Asakura family! That's great! My father-in-law is hopeful! "Matsumiya Kiyocho is overjoyed, if he succeeds, he will be able to rescue the lord Takeda Motoaki from the Asakura family.

Oda Nobunaga didn't say anything, and he didn't know what he was thinking in his heart.

"Lord Danzheng, if you want to crusade against the Asakura family, I will introduce you to someone below. Katsuhisa-sama Awaya of Kuniyoshi Castle, who had fought against the Asakura family for many years, was very familiar with the local terrain. ”

"Oh? In that case, then bring him to him at once. As soon as Oda Nobunaga heard that there was a leading party, he agreed on the principle of not wanting nothing in vain.

Originally, Oda Nobunaga specially brought the shogunate retainer Akechi Mitsuhide over in order to attack the Asakura family this time, because Akechi Mitsuhide had served as the Asakura family and was also familiar with the local terrain.

Now that he has added another guide, Oda Nobunaga feels that he is really the trend of the times, and the annexation of Echizen Province is just around the corner.

That night, Awaya Katsuhisa hurried to meet Oda Nobunaga and apply to join the crusade coalition and serve as a guide for the army.

On April 23, the Oda coalition forces made a turn at Sanbe Mountain Castle, ignored Muto Tomoyoshi of Ōii Prefecture, and went directly to Kuniyoshi Castle in Mikata Prefecture, officially declaring a crusade against the Asakura family.