[Hikojiro, you're talking too much...... I don't like the way you talk in a pretentious way. 】

"I'm sorry, my lord.] 】

Hikojiro Hara changed his tone and continued:

[But...... What I can't figure out is that Wise has been fighting in Kansai all year round, and apart from this and the previous Koshu expedition, he has hardly ever been to Kanto, so it stands to reason that he shouldn't have any enemies here, even [that group] in the south...... Moreover, this incident was too sudden, and it was so sudden that it felt ......]

[What do you think?! 】

[I think someone may have been planning for a long time, and he didn't commit the crime until he came to Qianqiao City!] 】

The relationship between the former Nagashi and Kanamori Nagajin is extraordinary, and they can be regarded as old friends, and they want to shirk responsibility for Kanemori Nagaku, but Hara Nagayori also understands that if something really happens to the wise Kogoro, I am afraid that it will be difficult for Kanemori Nagajin to escape the fate of being held accountable this time, and it will be considered light to commit seppuku suicide.

At this time, the adopted son of the Shibata Katsu family, Shibata Katsutoshi said slowly:

[Father, although I don't practice it, I can also analyze it...... According to common sense, this robber and evil party taking hostages is nothing more than asking for money for some purpose? I didn't say, I wanted something else, I didn't say it...... If it's for anything else of value, I haven't seen them mention it. 】

So, what do you think? 】

[In my humble opinion, is it possible that the wise lord has some secret in his hands? That's why someone else wants to rob him? 】

Well, it's not impossible. 】

The lord of Ueda Castle, Sanada Masayuki, who had not spoken, suddenly said:

[Lord, do the people outside know about these things...... I'm talking about the Kanto daimyos, almost all of them have planted eyeliner in our city, and even if they don't know the news of the arrival and disappearance of Akechi-sama, I'm afraid they've noticed our actions these days......]

Shibata Katsuie shook his head and said:

[I don't know ......]

In fact, this answer is a bit unrealistic, such a big movement, as an intelligence spy officer, if you still can't feel it, it is really incompetent.

[Alas, no matter what, I have to prepare for the worst, come to someone, get paper and pen. 】

[Yes.] 】

A young man who was good at calligraphy brought the four treasures of the study, and asked:

[Master, what do you need to write?] 】

[No, I'll write it myself.] 】

The little guy put the pen, ink, paper and inkstone in place, and Shibata Katsuya did not hesitate, and wrote on the paper:

Hojo Sagami Moridaikan......

Speaking of Hojo, it's been a busy group lately.

After the news of the defeat of the Date family reached Odawara Castle, the Hojo family suddenly couldn't sit still.

You may ask, if you knew this was going to happen, why didn't you act sooner?

You're misunderstanding people!

As early as the summer, when the battle began, the Hojo family began to move constantly――――――――

first coerced the Satomi family and the Yuki family to send hostages to Odawara Castle, and then sent the ninja Wind Demon Kotaro to plot the assassination of Utsunomiya Kunitsuna, and took advantage of the chaos to invade the Utsunomiya family and the territory of the Sano family.

Not only that, but in golden October, it was the season of autumn high horses, and the Hojo clan led 15,000 soldiers and horses to kill Changlu.

Sensing the menacing arrival of the Hojo family, Yoshishige Satake quickly asked for help from the Shibata Katsuie in Ueno while transferring back the troops fighting in the northeast.

However, at this time, the Shibata Katsu family was already ill, and there was already a turbulent phenomenon of retainers fighting for power in the family, and they didn't care about the situation outside, plus the Shibata family's most elite army was also in Echigo, so they didn't have time to react, so they could only watch the Hojo family continue to attack the city.

By the way, because of this inaction, the Shibata family attracted the wrath of Oda Nobunaga―――――――― and in the future, the Shibata family was reduced, which is the biggest punishment!

At the moment, because of the indifference of the Shibata family, Satake Yoshishige has to fall into a situation of fighting alone.

Although the major names of the Northeast who fought together before sent a large amount of grain and grass materials, none of them dared to send troops to help because they were afraid of the military might of the Hojo family...... In fact, there is another important reason, the previous joint attack on the Date family was to carve up the territory of the Northeast, but this time, the Hojo family is far away in the Kanto region, and the Tiangao Emperor is far away, even if he wins, it seems that he won't be able to share anything.

In the end, it's still where the interests lie.

If this group of people could think more about the truth of [cold lips and teeth], they would not be ...... Forget it, for them, in life, the best thing to eat is grilled fish, the end of the world is in Xiandao, they have never been out of the Northeast in their lives, do you still expect them to think far?

The only thing that made Satake Yoshishige feel relieved was that the Southern Tsukiriku Thirty-Three Cities Alliance, which wanted to be discordant with him, stood on his side this time.

Relying on the fortified Ota Castle, coupled with the desperate resistance of his retainers and the countrymen, Satake Yoshishige has been gritting his teeth and persevering, and the two sides have fought viciously one after another, disputes have continued, and smoke has broken out, but a clear situation has never been achieved.

However, a piece of good news at this time somewhat relieved Satake Yoshishige――――――――

Although the internal strife of the Shibata family is becoming more and more fierce, even so, Shibata Katsutoshi, the godson of the Shibata Katsu family, a young wise general known as a scheming general, still played some tricks to bring the bowl-shaped castle lord Saito Mitsuto to Maebashi Castle under the guise of returning the territory of the Kamirugawa River, and put him under house arrest.

Hagata Castle is located on the southern side of the Kamirugawa River, between Ueno, which is controlled by the Shibata family, and Musashi, which is controlled by the Hojo family, and is a buffer zone.

As early as the time of the Koshu expedition, the lord of this area, the Saito clan, was at odds with the Hojo family, and because he was worried about Oda Nobunaga's brutality, Saito Mitsutoru made the decision to surrender Odawara early in order to get the protection of the Hojo family.

But unfortunately, the momentum of the Oda army's offensive was too fast, or the Takeda family collapsed too quickly, the Saito family had not completely [surrendered to the Imperial Army], and the [Imperial Army] Hojo family had not had time to send the army into Hagata Castle, and the entire Ueno surrendered to Oda Nobunaga.

Oda Nobunaga was well aware of the importance of the Bowl Castle, and from the perspective of the ground, it was a matter of controlling the Bowl Castle and attacking Musashi Province and even Kanhachi Prefecture, so he sent someone to deliver a message to Saito Mitsuto, and forced the latter to surrender to him by means of coercion and inducement.

Because the Hojo family didn't want to meet with Oda Nobunaga at this time, they could only acquiesce in this matter, but after that, there were still a lot of incitement to the bowl castle, and Saito Mitsuto, because he hated the new lord Shibata Katsuka's new land inspection policy and the confiscation of the Kamirugawa territory, was also an attitude of not forgetting his original intention, and the hookup with the Hojo family was even more hot, no matter how Shibata Katsuya urged him to go to Maebashi Castle, he just didn't buy it.

So there is this one of Shibata Katsutoshi.

This money happened two days before Akechi Kogoro came to Ueno.

Why is it that once Saito Mitsutoru is in the set, Satake Yoshishige's life is slightly better―――――――― as I just said, the importance of the bowl castle, compared to the Shibata family's side, is obviously the Hojo family's side suffers more, in the month that Saito Mitsutoru was under house arrest, the Hojo family has successively increased Musashi by thousands, this is not the same as going to fight, it is just a strategic defense, but, because of this, the commander-in-chief of the Hitachi Raider Army, the Hojo clan, was transferred to Musashi by the Hojo clan.

It can be seen from this that the Hojo family was so jealous of Shibata Katsuya that they sent all the Rehmannia Hachiman, completely ignoring the dangers of changing commanders in the war.

The Hojo clan is gone, and Satake Yoshishige thought that the Hojo clan or the Hojo clan would take over the position of the commander of the 10,000-strong army, but what is surprising is that the Hojo clan did not come over as a [airborne] commander, but went nearby and promoted the son of the Hojo clan, Hojo Katsu.

Hojo Katsu is only twenty-six years old, and he doesn't have the talents of his grandfather and father, the only thing is probably that this young man is relatively steady and not reckless, and if there are a few good military advisors around him to tutor him, basically nothing will happen.

However, it can also be seen from this that the Hojo father and son have hard work―――――――― they have high hopes for the younger generation.

But when Satake Yoshishige heard the news, he laughed and said to his son, fourteen-year-old Satake Yoshino:

[Changing the commander in battle is a taboo for soldiers, not to mention that the Hojo father and son also let a little ghost serve as the general general, who do they think the Hojo clan wins? Kanto's wise Kogoro or Date Masamune? …… Hahaha, it looks like we will be able to counterattack soon! 】

Since the beginning of the Battle of Echigo, Akechi Kogoro and Date Masamune, two people have been constantly mentioned at the same time by people who like to talk about current affairs, and they are both young and promising military generals, and the duel between them naturally makes people think about each other and be fascinated. In a letter to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the Hojo clan even thought that the two of them could be compared to Takeda and Uesugi back then.

Many retainers thought so about Satake Yoshishige's words, even the military advisor Yoshiji Satake

For this reason, the overly excited Yoshiki Satake also drafted an attack plan―――――――― emulating the night battle of Kawagoe that year, and gave the Hojo family a surprise attack and broke it in one fell swoop!

After Yoshishi Satake rewatched it, he was very happy and felt that the feasibility was very high, so he asked his retainers to list this as an agenda item, and they were ready to spend time and discuss it.

But unfortunately, before he could discuss something, the Hojo family did it first. (To be continued.) )