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After the idea of rebelling against Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide didn't dare to act easily for a while, and he decided to test the meaning of his retainers first.

When the most powerful [Gosu Elder] in the family heard his thoughts, the other four were shocked, rebelling against Oda Nobunaga was an earth-shattering event, and they didn't know why their lord would have such a rebellious idea.

Before they could make a judgment, Akechi Zuo Masuke immediately, quickly, and decisively agreed with it as if he had known about it in advance, and spoke about the necessity of rebellion and the benefits that could be obtained, and his outrageous behavior surprised Akechi Mitsuhide.

After finally convincing the other four to join in the rebellion and send them away, Akechi Mitsuhide expressed his gratitude to his [virtuous son-in-law] and offered to promote him to the position of ruler after the establishment of the [Akechi Shogunate].

Wise Zuo Ma Jie, but said with a full face:

[Pavilion (lord), I actually don't approve of rebellion, doing that way, things will naturally become the best, but if it doesn't succeed, our wise family will be finished. 】

【Nani...... Then why are you ......]

[Pavilion, if you only tell me about this matter, even if it's seppuku, I'll stop you, but...... Everyone else knows, and now I can't keep it a secret, and I can't kill all four of them. 】

【……】

[Pavilion, now is not the time to hesitate, in order to prevent the news from leaking, we must act as quickly as possible and make a quick decision, otherwise once Azuchiden (Oda Nobunaga) knows the news, you will ......]

――――For the above plot, please see "Hosokawa Family Chronicles"

Nearly a month ago, I convened a military council at the Akechi Catholic Courtyard in eastern Iwami Province, which was attended by officers and samurai above the rank of Ashigaru Shogun.

This church has been open for almost a month, because of the Maori family's previous religious tolerance policy, so the locals do not have much rejection of this yellow-haired, big-nosed, blue-eyed Southern Barbarian's [evil devil crooked way], and people have come here one after another to convert to Catholicism.

Originally, the disciples had an event today, but as soon as they heard that I was going to borrow it, they were very bold enough to postpone the event.

When the meeting began, I took out the letter and picture bag and showed it in front of everyone.

[Do you see clearly, this is Maori Huiyuan...... Of course, I don't believe that the guy who only knows how to be blessed by his ancestors, but has not done anything in the martial arts himself, has the skill to depict such a large and complex battle plan, although I have never met him, but I can safely guess that it must have been planned by his third uncle, Kobayakawa Takakei, or some other strategist. 】

Hearing this, Honda Masanobu smiled and shook his head:

[Lord, I'm afraid that [Liangchuan] is not as united as you think, Yuan Zhigong created the [Liangchuan] auxiliary government system back then, on the one hand, it is true to ensure the unity of the family, but there will be fighting where there is power, if the two rivers are too united, it will also pose a threat to the power of the Maori family...... The shogunate's war with the Maori family over the years, if there is no big change, the armies of the yin and yang provinces rarely cooperate with each other, and basically they are in charge of their own affairs, and if it wasn't for the crisis of Bichu Takamatsu Castle, Yoshikawa Motoharu would not have been involved in his brother's sphere of influence.

Now Kobayakawa Takakei has taken a defensive strategy by shrinking the front and adopting a defensive strategy, which has greatly consumed the strength of Major General Hashiba, so that he has been able to win consecutive battles and force him to withdraw from China, and now his top priority is to take advantage of the victory to pursue and recover the territory he has lost over the years, I am afraid that he will not worry about the affairs of Yoshikawa Motoharu for a while. 】

Honda Masanbu is not unreasonable, but to be honest, with all due respect, I can't think of any other military general in the Maori family who can be called an [excellent strategist] except for Kobayakawa Takakei.

Honda Masanobu saw my doubts, and with his usual fox smile with the nature of pretending to be B, he said:

[I think there must be a shadow of the Shimazu family in this, now that the shogunate has declared war on Shimazu Yoshihisa, although there is no actual military conflict on the side of the West Country Street, but on the Seto Inland Sea, the battle has been turned upside down......]

[You mean to say that this idea was conceived by the Shimazu family for Mori Terumoto?] 】

For some reason, I think Honda Fox today is a lot more verbose than usual, and he has to get into a big paragraph about things that can be described in a sentence or two.

Could it be that once a man reaches middle age, he becomes even more verbose than Obasan?

[The probability is high.] 】

He shrugged his shoulders and uttered such an ambiguous remark that almost me off.

Pretended to be B for a long time, and finally left such a sentence, what is called [high probability]? Yes, yes, no, no, the difference between 100% and 99.99% is much bigger than the numbers on the surface, even if my prediction is wrong, it has nothing to do with you, the [big tail wolf].

Resisting the strong urge to pull him over and beat him up, I pretended to be flat and asked:

[So, Sado-sama, do you have any thoughts on the enemy's plans? 】

[I think we should be improvised, the enemy's actions must not be taken lightly, and we don't need to act to deal with them.] 】

The word [#] on my forehead became more distinct.

Nonsense! Of course I'm going to have to improvise, do I still have to watch Yoshikawa Motoharu call?

What do you mean by saying that?! You're looking for a fight today, aren't you?!

I can't help but start to miss the former military advisor Wise Guangchun, he is necessary for me, and he has a strong ability to execute, and most importantly, he is serious, he has something to say, and he never shows off in front of me, and what about this guy in front of him? It's really hard for me to say I'd like him.

Forget it, don't talk to him more.

[What do you think?] 】

According to the hierarchical divisions and rules of this era, in this case, the first to speak were the old and important ministers, and then the middle samurai.

Hosokawa Fujitaka thought for a while and said:

[My lord, since the enemy is about to adopt an encirclement strategy, then we must also be fully prepared...... In my opinion, the first thing is to protect the road to Izumo Province, and then to arrange troops around the battlefield, to repair various fortifications, and to defend dangerous strongholds......]

[What does Lord Bingbu mean that we are going to fight a defensive battle with the enemy? 】

[Yes, of course, the lord can also choose to attack and defeat the enemy before he forms an encirclement, but after all, our army is the first time to step into Iwami Province, and we are not familiar with the terrain here, and the local tyrants have been ruled by the Maori family for a long time, and except for a few speculators, there are very few who are willing to assist us in the battle, and they will provide us with unexpected difficulties when fighting. 】

His idea is more reasonable, and I'm afraid this is also what many people think.

Indeed, the "Art of War" said that only by fully understanding oneself and being familiar enough with the enemy can one be invincible in military operations.

Prudent defense, the worst result is only the loss of a few positions, it is difficult for the enemy to break through the iron barrel-like defense, even if our army is defeated, it can save the main force and retreat to its own territory without fail.

I looked at everyone present.

[If it's defense, I've seen the map before, forty miles northwest of us, there is a very important canyon at the bottom, called [Snow Valley], there are no local tyrants, only two or three small villages and a belief in the Lotus Sect [Snow Temple], there are only more than ten monks in the Snow Temple, but the temple is only three or four miles away from the canyon, it is simply an excellent place for defense, we just need to spend a little money to invite the monks away, and then transform the Buddha Hall into a formation house, and send a reserve team to garrison here, You can stop the enemy's attack on this formation, this is the most important arrangement, what do you think? 】

[That's right, that's how it should be.] 】

[Lord, will there be too little reserve team? I hope to be part of the defense there as well. 】

[In addition to the temple under the snow, there are many places that must be arranged for defense, only in this way can ......]

With the exception of Honda Masanobu, all the retainers were actively and enthusiastically discussing, and a few young and vigorous generals even stood up directly (I forgot to mention that everyone was not kneeling on tatami mats, but sitting on church benches) and asked me for orders.

[I understand everyone's thoughts, if you let go well, you do have full confidence to defeat the enemy, but is it really that easy? [Ghost Yuanchun] is not easy to deal with in the past, I have been playing with him for so long with the art of defense and counterattack, he should have already understood my military strategy, so I want to change the routine. 】

[Does the lord still plan to take the initiative to attack the enemy? 】

[Yes.] 】

My body left the Western-style chair behind me.

[The person I admire the most is Uesugi Kenshin Gong, Kenshin Gong has fought all his life, almost all of them are active offensive tactics, and his enemy is not a local chicken and a dog, but a general, it is Takeda Shingen, it is Hojo Shiyasu, and they are not easy to deal with the enemy...... But apart from Odawara, Kenshin has never failed......]

I stared at everyone, including Honda Masanobu, and everyone was stunned by my aura.

[I'm selling my reputation and making a name for myself, but this is untrue, Kenshin Gong is already a general of the powerful Kanto region at my age...... So, I hope you can give me a chance to be like a humble and trustworthy father......

I'm not saying I have to give up on defense, it's just that at this time, I have a new perspective on the situation......]

Honda Masanobu looked at me fixedly, and said cautiously:

[Lord, did you have another plan a long time ago? 】

[Well, I'm going to explain to you, it's like this, it's actually ......]......

That night, when I was getting ready for bed, I was informed by Flagbook:

[General, Azuchi Castle has sent someone. 】

[Huh? Is it the general's messenger, then you must meet it. 】

I was about to get up when I said:

[It's not a general, it's sent by Mrs. Xianghime.] 】

【Ah Xiang? What's going on at home? 】

The person who came was Ah Xiang's maid.

[Master, please go back quickly---]

She looked like she was about to cry, and my heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

[The old lady is seriously ill and is dying, even if the famous doctor sent by the general can't cure it, sir--]