March 14, 7th year of Daiei, Kita-Omi Kamihira Temple Castle.

Kyogoku Takahiro has been having a very comfortable time lately, and it can be said that this is the happiest day in recent years, because the two people who previously controlled the situation in Kita-Omi, Sadano Asami and Ryomasa Asai, one was exiled by himself, and the other was defeated by the Rokkaku family next door and fled to Echizen.

For a time, Kyogoku Takahiro actually gained a firm foothold in Kita-Omi.

The people of Sakata County, the Mitamura clan who had previously supported Kyogoku Takahiro together with Asami, Asai and other people took the lead in throwing an olive branch to Kyogoku Takahiro, and at the same time, the Imai clan in the southwest of Sakata County also began to move closer to Kyogoku Takahiro, and the Kyogoku family actually faintly controlled the entire territory of Sakata County.

However, in fact, Kyogoku Takahiro thinks too much.

The Mitamura clan's most real purpose is actually to take advantage of Asai Ryomasa's absence in Omi to attack the nearby Asai family's territory, and the Imai family is because of the covetousness of the Minami Omi Rokkaku family, so they have to find a big tree to lean on. And if the Kyogoku family can't be trusted, then you can only take refuge in the hexagonal family.

It's a pity that Kyogoku Takahiro, who is immersed in excitement, can't think of this, or doesn't want to wake up from a sweet dream.

However, God wants to give Kyogoku Takahiro a head start!

In the castle tower of Joheiji Temple, Kyogoku Takahiro froze in shock, and in the main hall kneeled seven or eight samurai who also looked terrified, while a sweaty envoy knelt on the ground and gasped for breath.

"You're saying that Tadamasa Mitamura's attack on the Asai family's Imamama Castle failed, but was instead surrounded by Asai Ryomasa?" After a long time, Jingji Takahiro came back from his stunned and asked with a panicked face.

"Kyogoku Hall, now more than 2,500 troops of Asai Ryomasa are surrounding Mita Village Castle, and the lord has a special order to come down to ask for reinforcements from Kyogoku Hall!" Makefan shouted anxiously.

Hearing that the envoy confirmed the news again, Kyogoku Takahiro was completely panicked, or that Kyogoku Takahiro's dream woke up, and at this moment Kyogoku Takahiro suddenly remembered that Asai Ryomasa was the strongest among the forces of Kita-Omi.

"How many troops can the family mobilize to fight now?" With the folding fan in his hand inserted into his waist, Kyogoku Takahiro struggled to maintain his majesty as the guardian of Kita-Omi and the head of the Kyogoku family, although the shogunate had not yet recognized Kyogoku Takahiro's identity.

Mitsui Uemon Noruna, the lord of Catie Castle, who was sitting at the bottom of the city, hurriedly replied, "My lord, the catfish castle in the lower part has just been attacked by bandits, and 7 peasants and soldiers have been killed and wounded. ”

After Mitsui Noritsuna finished speaking, the lord of Oyama Castle, Asami Tsushima Shousangyo, who was sitting next to Mitsui Norsuna, also replied, "I can also mobilize nearly 100 peasants and soldiers in the lower ranks. ”

After the death of Asami Sadanori, Kyogoku Takahiro found that Asai Ryomasa's pre-stated "return to Kyogoku Takahiro" was completely empty words, so Kyogoku Takahiro hurriedly took control of the remnants of the Asami family in Oyama Castle in Sakata County, and made Asami Sadatsune, the son of Asami Sadanori, the lord of the castle, as the lord of the castle, so as to strengthen the strength of the Kyogoku family.

Immediately afterwards, several other retainers of the Kyogoku family also reported the troops that could be mobilized, and after listening to the reports of the retainers, Kyogoku Takahiro's face completely darkened.

"In this way, the number of troops that our family can mobilize is only more than 1,300 people?" Although the direct commander of Kyogoku Takahiro had more than 10,000 koku, the number of troops that could be mobilized was only more than 1,000 peasant soldiers, and the strength of his retainers was only 1,300.

"The incident happened suddenly, this is just a force that can be mobilized in a hurry, if you give a few days to prepare, my family may be able to mobilize two thousand troops." At this time, the old man of the Kyogoku family, who was sitting in front of Kyogoku Takahiro, said Shinemon.

Kyogoku Takahiro nodded and then looked at the envoy of the Mitamura family again, "What is the situation in Mitamura Castle, and how long can Mitamura Tadamasa hold out?" ”

"When attacking Kio Castle, the family mobilized a total of more than 2,400 peasants and soldiers in the territory, but under Kio Castle, they suffered heavy casualties due to the surprise attack of Asai Ryomasa, and when they retreated to Mita Village Castle, there were only three or four hundred people."

"Asai Ryomasa led more than 2,000 troops to surround Mita Village Castle, and more than 700 people from the Yamamoto Mountain Castle Lord Asho Sadashige Special Task Force attacked the main family Uesaka Castle in a roundabout way, once Uesaka Castle lost its code, Mita Village became an isolated city, and it was only a matter of time before the castle fell." He replied anxiously.

After listening to the envoy's words, Kyogoku Takahiro turned his head and asked, "Shin-Emon, if the main family sends troops to support, it may be possible to repel Ryomasa Asai?" ”

"My lord, the more than 2,000 people who surrounded Mita Village Castle are just the advance team of the Asai family, once the family participates in the war, Asai Ryomasa will definitely do everything he has, and when the time comes, the people close to the Asai family in Asai County and Ika County will also participate in the battle, and the enemy army that the family will face will not be less than 5,000 people."

Although he did not answer Kyogoku Takahiro's words directly, Kyogoku Takahiro briefly compared the gap between the enemy and me, and it was also seen that the Kyogoku family did not seem to have any chance of winning if they participated in the war.

"What if you invite Hidetoshi Imai and Hidetoshi Horimotomi to join the war?" Kyogoku Takahiro pinned his hopes on the Imai and Hori clans, powerful members of Inougami and Sakata guns.

The Imai clan is now attached to the Kyogoku family, while the Horiki clan is a powerful member of Kita-Omi, and Horimotoji was also involved when he supported Kyogoku Takahiro's exile of Kyogoku HD and Kyogoku Takayoshi and his son.

"Imai Hidetoshi may be able to participate in the war, but the Imai family has to guard against the threat from the Rokkaku family from Inougami-gun and Aichi-gun, so even if they participate in the war, they will not send too many troops."

"As for Horimotoji, he has been very close to Asai Ryomasa recently, and I think that the family not only can't count on reinforcements from Kamakama Castle, but even has to guard against whether Horimotoji will send troops to attack the rear of his family after participating in the war!" Shinemon Asami was clearly not optimistic about the strategy proposed by Kyogoku Takahiro.

"Whew....." Jingji Takahiro let out a long breath, and it was really difficult to do it now.

The Mitamura family can't help it, unless Kyogoku Takahiro wants to become Ryomasa's puppet of Asai again. And if you save it, with the current strength of the Kyogoku family, it seems that it is not Ryomasa Asai's opponent, so what should Kyogoku Takahiro do?

"How about asking the Hexagon family to send troops?" At this time, a loud voice suddenly sounded inside the castle tower, and Kyogoku Takahiro looked back to see a handsome young man leaning against the door of the castle tower, looking cynical.

"Master San Lang, how can this family allow you to intervene in the deliberations here, why don't you step back quickly!" Seeing that it was his son, Kyoji Takahiro suppressed the impatience in his heart and just scolded.

Master San Lang pursed his lips, and then put the wooden knife in his hand on his shoulder and walked out, this is the bad place of crossing into a child, and he can't intervene at all in such a big thing.

In fact, as early as a few years ago, when Kyogoku Takahiro decided to join forces with Asai Ryomasa to exile Asami Sadanori, Master Saburo advised him, but at that time, how could Kyogoku Takahiro and others listen to the advice of a young child and didn't care at all.

Although it turned out that banishing Asami Sadano was indeed not a good decision, Kyogoku Takahiro did not think that he had done anything wrong at the beginning, and could only say that Asai Ryomasa was too cunning and deceived Kyogoku Takahiro, who was pure in heart.

As for Master Saburo's original proposal, I'm sorry you forgot about it a long time ago........