The Tale of Yunzhou

001 Memory

I sat quietly on the stone steps of the entrance to Sakamoto Castle and looked at the castle town a few hundred meters away. Bustling crowds come and go in the town.

As the son of Akechi Mitsuhide, in his father's territory, looking at the people who will eventually belong to him in the future, is there anything wrong?

It's been fifteen years since I came into this world, and I'm almost used to being who I am.

I am a retainer of Oda Nobunaga, the eldest son of Akechi Mitsuhide, and my name is Akechi Kogoro (this name is a little familiar...... Last month, I just took the word "letter" from Nobunaga's name and named it "Shinmitsu".

In this year, at the turn of spring and summer in the third year of Tensho (1575), the famous Battle of Nagashino broke out in the history of the Warring States period.

Because it is related to their respective national fortunes, no one in Oda, Tokugawa, and Takeda dares to slack off, and they all smash their old books. My father, who had been busy suppressing the people of the Northern Omi Kingdom (I have to call him that whether I liked it or not), had no choice but to lead 3,000 men to Yuanjiang.

The war developed exactly as history describes, and Takeda Katsuyori left behind the corpses of thousands of Akabi and a number of famous generals, and fled back to Kai in a desperate way.

Although the Takeda family was defeated, and history also counts this time as the beginning of Takeda's decline, in fact, because the Battle of Nagashino did not send many troops (no more than 15,000 people), the army reserves in the Takeda domain were still abundant, and it was not difficult to gather a force of 40,000 or 50,000 men. In addition, it is surrounded by mountains in Koshin, and it is difficult for soldiers and horses to travel. Therefore, it was not easy for Nobunaga to destroy Takeda in one fell swoop.

Despite all the boasting in history, in reality, the Oda family was no better off after the war. The lethality of Akabei and Takeda Samurai is really amazing, and the Oritoku coalition army has lost more than 10,000 people, if it is not for the large enough troops invested this time, then it is very likely that it will be themselves who collapse.

In any case, a pyrrhic victory is also a victory. After the "return of the class teacher", the imperial court gave Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu high praise.

Ieyasu is a good friend...... Oh no, on the recommendation of Nobunaga, a good ally, he was awarded the rank of Major General of the Shimo-Left Guard, and was appointed as the guardian of Enoe.

Of course, no matter how great Ieyasu is, he can't compare to Nobunaga, in the end, the protagonist is still Nobunaga, and Ieyasu's glory is just a foiling role.

However, Nobunaga unexpectedly refused to accept the reward from the imperial court, and instead asked the emperor to give his retainers a higher official position.

It was a request, but in fact the emperor agreed without even thinking about it.

At that time, those who obtained official positions were Matsui Tomoru (Miyauchi Qing Fayin), Takei Yuan (two Hochi), Ryoda Hiromasa (right near the doctor, another surname 'Beki'), Niwa Nagahide (given the surname 'Yuzumi'), and Akechi Mitsuhide (Hinata Mamoru, given the surname Weiren).

This was not the end of the day, and soon after, Nobunaga applied for the official position on behalf of another group of retainers. They are Shibata Katsuie (repair Liang), Hashiba Hideyoshi (Chikuzen Mamoru), Naomasa Takaku (Bichu Mamoru gave the surname 'Harada'), Murai Sadakatsu (Nagato Mamoru ), Takigawa Kazuki (Iyo Mamoru). It can be seen that during this period, Nobunaga's official positions and surnames applied for on behalf of his retainers all had one thing in common. The surnames such as Weiren, Weisui, Harada, and Beshiki are all family names of the Kyushu Island Clan, and the official positions such as Hinata Mamoru and Chikuzen Mamoru are also the guardians of the countries of Kyushu Island, and the Bichu Mamoru and Nagato Nomoru are the guardians of the countries in the Chugoku region. From the above, it is clear that Nobunaga's eyes have already looked at the distant island of Kyushu, and the next step of the Oda family is to pacify the Kansai region of Japan.

By the way, I also got a little bit of light this time for the "big seal...... It's not just me, but Toshinaga, the eldest son of the Maeda Toshiie, Tadashi Hosokawa's son Tadashi, Takigawa Kazuki's son Kazutashi, etc., no matter the famous and unknown "second generation of officials" in later history, I can be regarded as seeing them all at once.

Thanks to Nobunaga, he is the only one who has the ability to bring us little guys together for the Motofu ceremony. After the Yuan service, he "worked tirelessly" to apply for an official position in the imperial court for us.

The reply from the imperial court was still very fast, and I was awarded the position of Mr. Zheng Liu's Lower Sword.

In this way, my official name is "Gen Courtier Wei Ren with a knife Mr. Nobumitsu".

One more thing to say here, except for dealing with the imperial court, under normal circumstances, the surname "Wei Ren" will not be used, and "Mr. Wise" is the folk title for his father, although Wei Ren's family character is much higher than that of Wise.

The sound of footsteps coming from the stone steps of the city pulled me back from my memories.

I hurried up and stood by the entrance.

It turned out that it was my father who was sending off the guests, and it was Hidemasa Hori, the messenger of Oda Nobunaga in Gifu, who was being sent.

"Your Royal Highness Wise, you are really too polite, in the next general, it is not worth your personal send-off" Xiuzheng, who was walking side by side with his father, bowed to his father after leaving the entrance, "Please go back, I will go to other city lords to pass the word below, so I won't bother you." ”

"Kogoro," after Hidemasa left with a few retinues, my father called me to the side, "How's things going?" ”

"His Royal Highness Lin, His Highness Yamaoka and others are very satisfied." I answer honestly.

But my answer didn't satisfy my father," he said, "In more detail." ”

The so-called "let me do something" refers to the condolences to the Katatsu people who are the sailors on the shore of Lake Nishibiwa.

After my father was enclosed in Sakamoto Castle and took charge of the northern part of the near Jiangxi, due to his own lack of military strength, he tried his best to absorb the local people, among them, because Lake Biwa is the largest lake on Honshu Island, so there are many water thieves on the shore.

During the Warring States Period, although most daimyo would have the need to fight water battles or naval battles, they generally did not deliberately pay money to "create" their own exclusive naval army, but established employment relationships with water thieves or pirates in their territory. There are these battle-hardened "little gangsters" who take care of things on the water for themselves.

At that time, the water thief generals who joined his father's side included Hayashi Kiyoshi, Yamaoka Keiyu, Inokai no Sesada, Baba Sunjiro, and Juchu Matsujiro. The three most active of these were Inokaino Sesada, Baba Sunjiro, and Tatsujiro Ihatsu, who were given the surname Akechi by their father for their military exploits, and their group was known as the Katatsu people.

To put it simply, the Kata-kun people were the local samurai who were entrenched in Katata in Omi Province, and who had held power (economic, military, and water transportation on the lake) on Lake Biwa since the Kamakura period, had their own naval army, and had the same autonomous cities as Kai and Hakata. After being persuaded by his father, he joined his father's account and organized a naval army for his father, and they also provided the ships used in the battle.

My father used this army to burn down the bases of the Asai family in Kaijinura, Shiojinura, Yuwu, and along Lake Biwa. At the same time, Takebu Island was invaded, and his father's navy used not only rockets, but also iron cannons to bombard the shore. Because of the activity of his father's water army, the forces instigated by the Asai family were quickly eliminated. Coupled with the battles of Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Niwa Nagahide on land, Oda's army approached the heart of the Asai family.

"That's right, when I brought my father, you asked me to bring my gifts, and entered the Katata Clan...... "I followed my father back to the castle tower and reported to him honestly.

By the time we got up to the second castle tower, I was almost done. But he still didn't look satisfied, "You don't just talk to them for a day, do you?" Then I might as well invite them all over for a tea party. ”

I hurriedly added: "How so? Although the expressions of His Royal Highness Lin and His Highness Yamaoka looked full of joy, Erchen still noticed a trace of worry between his eyebrows, and when Erchen was leaving, Lord Sun Jiro (after giving his surname, he enjoyed the treatment of his own clan, and could be called an adult rather than His Highness) looked even more speechless. ”

"You can see it clearly." Father's expression softened, "Then do you know what this group of people are worried about?" ”

"I'm sorry, I don't know what they're worried about, but I can see that they want more benefits from us." I'm still just a teenager, how much more can I do with this kind of thing? The last sentence, I almost guessed, and I said it head-on.

"The benefits? You can go into more detail. He wasn't angry at my "incompetence and stupidity."

Probably because of his attitude, my confidence was greatly increased, and I said with a lot of confidence: "The ministers there are bold and vain, they hope to follow you to fight again and conquer Tanbo, in order to make military achievements!" ”

"Huh?!" After listening to my words, my father looked at me with a pair of stunned eyes, and his face was full of disbelief. I myself lowered my head and my back began to sweat.

"That's what Ichisshiki-sama told you?" It took me a long time before I heard his next sentence, and the harsh element was obviously the majority.

"Isshiki-sama" refers to Isshiki Fujinaga, who used to be an official of the Ashikaga shogunate and was in charge of foreign affairs, but after the fall of the Ashikaga family, he joined the wise family and continued to do so.

This time I went to visit the Katata people, and I was appointed as the chief envoy, of course, a teenage "little brat" didn't look like he could calm the scene, so Isshiki Fujinaga served as my deputy.

"When...... Of course not," my body trembled a little, "it just occurred to me that apart from the rewards they received from the daimyo and the harvest of their own territory, the only 'entry' of the people of the country was to fight, and almost all the land in the northwest of Omi was exploited by them, and you wouldn't reward them for no reason, father." So Erchen guessed that they probably couldn't stay idle and wanted to move again. The more I spoke, the more relaxed my tone became, for I noticed that my father's face was no longer so ugly

"It's not bad that you can think so much." Sure enough, my father complimented me, which is quite rare. "Those guys are really lucky, and they're going to have a chance soon."

"What? Are you going to take them to attack Tanbo? ”

"The battle is definitely going to be fought, but not Danbo." Father's expression began to become serious again. "It's Echizen!"