"Of course, my lord has also thought of this, so this time these hundreds of ninja troops are not raiding the important town of Echigo, nor are they going to attack the city directly under the jurisdiction of Uesugi Kenshin, but only to sneak attack the territory of his retainers, which not only greatly improves the possibility of success, but also is not difficult to implement, once the Uesugi retainers have no intention of fighting, Lord Asai, guess whether Uesugi Kenshin will return to the army."

After listening to this, Asai Nagamasa couldn't help but praise: "Wonderful, although this plan is a bit against the spirit of bushido, I have to be like you said, the chance of success is still very good." ”

"Then Lady Asai is preparing to go out into the army?" I only heard Hosokawa Fujitaka hurriedly asked, the reason why he was in a hurry was entirely because, once Asai Nagamasa agreed to send troops to aid the Shibata family, then the obstacle for the Asai family to join the Takayama camp would be completely eliminated, it can be said that there is no need to wait for later, as soon as Uesugi retreats, it will be natural for Asai to join, once he succeeds, then his own value can finally be reflected, and his status in the heart of the lord may be improved a lot.

For example, the general trend of today's domination has basically been decided, and the general trend of Nobunaga's domination of the world has been completely formed, and as the lord that Oda Nobunaga relies on the most, after the Oda family dominates the world, the benefits will definitely not be less, and if you can show all your talents in front of the lord, then maybe you can restore the glory of the Hosokawa family in the future.

As a samurai, it is not a shameful thing to have such thoughts, after all, they are working hard for the lord, what is it for, not to get more territory, a higher status to glorify their ancestors, so this is not selfish at all, it can only be regarded as human nature.

Although Asai Nagamasa has already moved his mind. But I didn't get the answer I wanted. As the head of the Asai family. He still cares about face very much, although once he improves relations with the Shibata family, then there is no obstacle in joining the Takayama faction, but let him bow to the clan, he can't do such a thing. After all, ten years ago, he was already a daimyo of hundreds of thousands of stones, and the power of the Takayama clan was not at all in the stream. Even now, he is still stronger than him in the territory, so what he thinks is that he can't speak first no matter what, and he must let the Takayama clan, even if it is Hosokawa Fujitaka, say that he is willing to help the Asai family speak in front of Nobunaga.

So I just heard him speak: "If it is really according to what Hosokawa-sama said, then it is not impossible for the family to go to the army, but I still say that even if the relationship with the Shibata family is improved, what can I do, Shibata-sama is a minister of the Oda family, and my Asai family has become the arm of the Oda family." Could it be that he really dared to lead an army to attack, and if he really dared to do so? I, Asai Nagamasa, with 30,000 elites under my command, will I still be afraid of him? ”

As soon as Hosokawa Fujitaka heard it, he knew what the other party wanted to say, before he transferred to the Takayama family, he was a powerful retainer by Nobunaga's side, so how could he not know Nobunaga's attitude towards the Asai family, Asai Nagamasa's words couldn't be clearer, that is, it was okay to go out into the army, but the lord wanted to speak for the Asai family in front of Nobunaga, and after the lord had any thoughts about dealing with the Asai family, he had to advise the lord not to do anything to the Asai family. It's just that Asai Nagamasa cherishes face and is embarrassed to say it.

This matter is nothing in front of the lord at all, after all, once Asai Nagamasa joins the Takayama faction, then even if Asai Nagamasa doesn't say it, the lord has the obligation to speak for him.

So I only heard Hosokawa Fujitaka say: "It seems that Lord Asai is not very clear about the situation of the Asai family at present, as far as I know, the current attitude of the main hall towards the Asai family is not very friendly, and the place under the rule of the lord is not too far from Omi Toan, which has already posed a threat to the main hall, so maybe when, the main hall will find a reason, and it will attack you, so the situation of the Asai family is still very embarrassing now."

And the position of my lord in the heart of the hall must have been known to the adults for a long time, as the most relied on retainers of the hall, if there is a good word for the lord of my family for the Asai family, then the hall will inevitably be considered, and the Asai family can turn the corner. ”

"Is Takayama-sama really willing to help the family through the difficult situation?" Although Asai Nagamasa already has the answer in his heart, he still wants to confirm it, after all, this is not child's play.

"Your Excellency, please rest assured, with the relationship between the two families, my lord will never stand idly by, and when he came down, my lord had already made it clear when he came, and I hope to fight side by side with Lord Asai in the future."

"I already know Takayama-sama's intentions, please go back and tell Takayama-sama, just say that I, Asai Nagamasa, have decided to send troops to Yuezhong within five days."

"Thank you, Lord Asai."

Now that the task has been completed, Hosokawa Fujitaka did not stay long, and after leaving the assessment room, he immediately went to the territory of the Shibata family, after all, with the relationship between Shibata and Asai, the Shibata defenders would never let him enter, so he had to go in person and inform them in advance, this is the meaning of the lord, only in this way will they not embarrass Asai.

And after he left, Asai Nagamasa immediately convened the ministers of the family to begin to discuss the matter of going out of the army, when he just said his thoughts, he was strongly opposed by the retainers, but when he finished speaking, none of the retainers objected, after all, the current situation of the Asai family, how can they not know as a retainer, and now they can take advantage of this opportunity to completely join the Takayama camp, so that there is Takayama Lord to speak for the family, then the Asai family's family business will also be stable. Especially when they heard that this expedition was just for show, they were full of gratitude to Takayama-sama.

However, some people don't think that doing this will do any good to the Asai family.

I only heard that Otani Yoshitsugu, who has now become an important minister of the Asai family and the head of the Shaozhuang faction, said: "My lord, my subordinates think that this time the family must not just do something but not make a difference, although doing it according to the lord's will will also improve the relationship with the Shibata family, and you can join the Takayama camp, but the lord and the adults think about it carefully, if the family is so perfunctory, how can you get the sincere help of Takayama Lord?" Now that you have decided to join the Takayama camp, then the family must go all out, only in this way can you be valued by Takayama, otherwise although the family has joined the Takayama faction, it will not be trusted, the slight lord and the lords, do you want the Takayama to go all out to help the family speak in front of the main hall, or do you want the Takayama to just say a few words casually? Therefore, the subordinates believe that Takayama-sama is completely putting the choice in the hands of his own family, so he also hopes that the lord and the adults can face this problem. ”

"Lord Otani, we are not cowardly, but the lord has already said just now that the Takayama family will send a large number of ninjas to infiltrate Echigo, and Uesugi will withdraw the army anyway, even if we want to go to war, there is no chance."

"My lord, my subordinates think that if they want to, then they can find fighters, of course, my subordinates' idea is not to fight a decisive battle with the Uesugi army, the family only needs to grab one or two castles from them before they return to the army, so that it is equivalent to telling Takayama-sama's determination to do so."

After hearing this, Asai Nagamasa also felt that what he said was reasonable, if he didn't make more efforts this time, then maybe the next time it was his family's turn to suffer, the Takayama clan would only be perfunctory, if this was the case, then even if he joined the Takayama faction, what was the point.

And fighting against the Uesugi family's army, he would definitely not be able to make such a determination, but if he only captured the castle, he should still be able to do it.

In this way, when he saw Shibata Katsuya, he would not be too embarrassed, although Shibata Katsuya was more than brave and lacked strategy, but if he only worked and did not contribute, it was impossible for him not to see it, and then how to improve the relationship between the two families.

Thinking of this, I only heard Asai Nagamasa say: "What I said is reasonable, this time I can't allow my family not to use all my strength, so I will do what Otani Yoshitsugu said, you will immediately assemble the army and lead the army into Yuezhong within three days." ”

Five days later, Asai Nagamasa led an army of 25,000 out of Kaga and headed straight for Echichu.

More than half of the land of Vietnam has been conquered by the Uesugi army, especially Toyama Castle, which is the residence of the Shibata Katsu family, and is now in the castle of Uesugi Kenshin.

Uesugi Kenshin was very satisfied with his family's counterattack this time, and even thought that this battle was the most satisfying battle he had fought for decades. Especially after defeating the Shibata and Takayama coalition forces, not only the Takayama clan is no longer able to threaten Echigo, but also in the case of the dragons without a leader, it will take less than half a month to be under control, as for Noto, it is not in his eyes, so in less than three months, the strength of the Uesugi family can be doubled, so Uesugi Kenshin's current mood can be described as indescribably better.

Uesugi Kenshin has three hobbies, knives, horses, and wine, the knife must be a famous sword, the horse must be a good horse, and the wine must be spirits, and Shibata Katsuya also has these three hobbies in addition to beautiful women, so he has collected a lot of famous wine, all of which are stored in Toyama Castle for his own drinking, but after Fukuyama Castle was captured by the Uesugi army, these drinks can only be cheap.

Because the war went smoothly, and now Echichu and Noto are in the absence of a leader, they can't resist the attack of the Uesugi army, so Uesugi Kenshin did not go out in person, after all, for these little reptiles, Uesugi Kenshin felt that if he fought in person, he would lose his identity, so he drank wildly in Toyama Castle for several days, and drank a pot of wine every time he captured a city, so that he was drunk every day, no matter how persuaded by his close ministers, Uesugi Kenshin did not make changes.

However, his mood soon did not improve, and in recent days, many retainers have come to find him and report the situation of his family's territory, and the situation in Echigo has become less and less optimistic. (To be continued.) )