On May 9, 1566, a group of about 2,000 people from Kyoto were slowly marching westward along the main road under the banner of the Oda family.

"Hey! Isn't that sincerely hard for me! "I rode through the queue and was very depressed.

"Lord, don't you seem to be happy?" Shimakatsu asked as he asked beside me, his face full of excitement. "I used to follow Nobunaga's side all the time, and we didn't have much chance of standing out when we watched those guys from Shibata show off their martial arts all day long. Now it's good! Although you are not the real city lord, you have your own world after all, why are you still unhappy? ”

"Nothing!" I pulled myself together, and I can't give them a boost at this time. "I'm just thinking about it. At the moment, we are facing a lot of problems, and we have to plan ahead! ”

"You've worked so hard!" Shimakatsu said to me with reverence.

"It's just the responsibility of the commander!" I said to him in a solemn tone, but suddenly I saw Kerry Caizo pointing at the two of us behind Shimakatsu Takeshi, squeezing his eyes at Keiji Maeda and grimacing.

"Returning to your lordship!" Just as I was about to teach him a lesson, a herald suddenly flew from the front of the line. "The lord of the mountain ordered the villain to come and tell him that Ruojiang City has arrived in front!"

"The whole army enters the city!" I raised my right hand and waved it forward, temporarily giving up my work on educating Ke'er Caizang. The soldiers and horses slowly drove into Ruojiang City from the east gate, and I came here to serve as the city representative. An unfortunate errand that though the city does not belong to me, I must take full responsibility for its safety.

Located on the north bank of the middle reaches of the river, Wakae Castle is a flat castle with hills of all sizes walking around it, but it does not play any auxiliary role in the slightest. In terms of scale, Ruojiang City is definitely not a big city, but it is undoubtedly among the first-rate among medium-sized castles! From a distance, the castle walls are quite complete and wide, and although there are three castle towers, there is no feeling of crowding at all. It is not common to see continuous long walls on the city walls, and many of the twists and turns have been built with corner towers and arrow towers, and I think that if you look down from above, the whole city should be an irregular shape that looks like a tangram.

"Let's go around and see how it's going, and then come and give me your advice!" After entering the assessment room of the main castle tower, I gave instructions to the generals.

"Yes, my lord!" Everyone said yes and withdrew, and I sat down on the throne. The décor of this room is very simple, there is really nothing to see, and I can't help but think of the conversation I had a few days ago......

It was May 1st, and the place was in my study in the castle tower of Katsura Kawaguchi Castle, and the characters were me and Ikeda Tsuneko.

"What is this called! How did such an unfortunate errand fall on my head? "I couldn't stop complaining to Ikeda Tsuneko, who came to deliver Oda Nobunaga's order." You are all by the side of the lord, why don't you know to prevaricate for me? ”

"How could we not have it!" Ikeda Hengxing held grievances against me. "As soon as I heard about it, I went, I was afraid that the amount would not be enough, so I found Hori Hidemasa and them, but now Niwa-sama is guarding Sawa and Yamashiro, and the main ones around the lord are Takigawa's gang and Lin Tongkatsu! Naturally, they won't speak for you, and the identity of Maeda Toshiya-sama hasn't reached that point, so naturally we won't be able to exert much energy. The treacherous and cunning Lin Tongsheng even said: "The stars are all-rounders in humanities and martial arts, and he is naturally the only one to guard Ruojiang City!" You didn't see it, I almost punched him in the nose! ”

"Didn't you slow down?" I asked weakly.

"It's gone! Not at all! Ikeda said helplessly. Actually, are you thinking too seriously about the problem? It's just to guard Wakae and protect Kitakawachi, and by the way, monitor Hatakeyama Takamasa! What's the big deal, you're still afraid of him? ”

"Although Hatakeyama Takamasa of Takaya Castle has the southern part of Hanoi, he has always been restrained by his subordinate ministers Yu Zuo, and he has no surprising ability, so I naturally won't be afraid of him!" At this I shook my head and sighed. "North Hanoi is so close to Izumi, and the Miyoshi family has a heavy army stationed there. If Jiangcheng's position is so prominent, won't I become an isolated 'flying son'? ”

"How can you say that you are alone?" Ikeda argued. "Now that the daimyo of are all under the banner of my Oda family, and they are all our allies except for Izumi in the west, the situation may not be as bad as you think! At least it's ...... from Kyoto."

"Kyoto?" I asked rhetorically. "You don't know the delicate relationship between the lord and Ashikaga Yoshiaki, now the lord has not settled in the backyard, so he will not touch him for the time being, and in order to satisfy his desire to perform, he has removed the wise lord and the 'monkey'! Not to mention that there are no soldiers in Kyoto now, and even if there are soldiers, I can't count on them. ”

"In addition to Kyoto, there is also Settsu!" Ikeda reminded again. "Although the Ikeda family and the Itami family are now in decline, Araki Murashige is getting stronger and stronger, and Wada Yumasa is the newly sealed Takatsuki Castle!"

I didn't speak, just kept staring at him.

"Oh!" He finally remembered. "Wada Yumasa is a person of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and it would be good if Araki Village didn't fall into the well! But next to the west is Yamato ......."

I still didn't speak, still staring at him.

"Oh!" Ikeda's face changed this time. "Matsunaga Shu and Tsutsui Shunkei can't be relied on at all! That...... Aren't you going to be at home? ”

"Not necessarily!"

"What! And a turnaround? He asked with concern.

I was angry and said, "If I want to leave the Oda family and go on my own, now is a good opportunity!" ”

"You!" He froze there in shock.

"Don't worry!" See if he confessed to me. "If I'm really going to do this, how can I tell you before I'm ready!"

"Huh~!" He let out a sigh of relief and said, "Brother can't help you much!" Big brother, you ask for more blessings! ”

“……”

"Lord, we have a general understanding of the situation in this city!" At this time, Nagano Ye was back, and the others followed one after another into the room. "Since the Miyoshi family did not take the initiative to withdraw, the city walls of this city are generally intact, but there is still a need for improvement in many places, and the design of the peripheral branch cities and rock walls is not reasonable!"

"The reserves in the city are not sufficient, and the food is only enough for about a month and a half......," Takenaka Hanbei continued. As the fighting has stopped, residents of the neighborhood are gradually returning, and commercial activities in the castle town are resuming. However, just in case, we should solve the problem of various reserves as soon as possible, so please set our new establishment scale, and your subordinates can start to prepare! ”

"The original garrison was only 300 people, and it will be ...... role after being incorporated into our department," Kanosuke Yamanaka talked about the personnel situation, and the others talked about their respective affairs in turn. After listening to their words, my thoughts gradually became clearer.

"What do you think?" I suddenly asked Chiyo Tsuru, who was sitting at the door, that I had been arranging for him to study with Nagano Yoshimasa some time ago.

"Please forgive me!" He saluted respectfully and said, "In my opinion, according to the current situation, if we want to hold Ruojiang City, our army must have at least 5,000 troops!" ”

I nodded, his estimate was similar to what I had discussed with Nagano Yoshimasa and Hanbei Takenaka. "I decided to go to Sakai Town to prepare a batch of armaments, and recruit some more soldiers, so that together with our current troops, we can make up 6,000 men! Leave the recruitment and training to Maeda......"

"Lord!" Keiji Maeda hurriedly stopped me and said with a hippie smile, "I'm going to go to Sakai Town with you, right?" ”

I glared at him and said, "The recruitment and training are in charge of Shikanosuke, with Yesei assisting; The teacher is responsible for the planning of the city defense, and the demolition and construction of the demolition and construction will be carried out once it is decided, and there is no need to wait for me; Chongzhi is responsible for day-to-day affairs, and in addition to civil affairs, reserve affairs can also begin; Seizo manages the security of the castle town; Shengmeng's city is guarded, do you understand? ”

"Yes!" Everyone knelt down in response.

"Lord, for the sake of safety, let's take a few more people?" Takenaka Hanbei said uneasily.

I shook my head and said, "No need! No matter how many people there are, they are in other people's territory, and it is enough to send more ninjas to protect them secretly. "I looked at Chiyo Tsuru again." You go with me, too! It's good to see more. ”