"The subordinates have high hopes for the lord, and they are willing to apologize for their crimes!" Shibata Katsuya said with a look of shame.

"Is it useful if you're dead? Is Sumamata Castle built? "Oda Nobunaga's tone, though harsh, exonerates Shibata Katsuie, and in all fairness, he trusted Shibata Katsuya the most." You tell me more about what happened and see what else can be done! ”

"Yes! Lord, it was ...... that day" Katsuya Shibata began his narrative.

I was in the middle of the ranks, and I sat next to Maeda's Toshiya and watched all of this with great pleasure. It has been ten months since the Kogie Conference, and the war between the Oda family and the Saito family has been in full swing for nearly a year. Several successive wars began with the attack of the Oda family, and they also ended with the defeat of the Oda family without exception, and the reason for this was that the distance was too far! As soon as it moves, there is preparation there, there is a long-distance attack here to wait for work, and the end of the crossbow here is to hit it halfway there! How can this be won? Once, they all hit the castle of Inabayama, and the result was that they were surrounded by the three people of Mino, led by Inaba Ittetsu, and the Saito Ryuxing Center blossomed, and the whole army was almost wiped out and dumplings were made by others! Shigeharu Takenaka, the lord of Bodhi Mountain Castle, the young general of the Saito family, began to emerge, and the reputation of "Mino Kirin" began to appear. For a period of time, Shibata Katsuya and other generals of the "military merit" department can be described as disgraced, and on the contrary, the power of the generals of the "internal affairs" department is growing day by day! This is mainly due to the Oda family's strong economic regeneration ability, and each wound is quickly recovered. As a result, the Saito family became weaker and weaker, and the Oda family became stronger and stronger, and the benefits of the "separation of soldiers and peasants" and "Rakuza City" that I had mentioned at the beginning were fully demonstrated. In fact, it is not surprising that when Chu and Han fought against Liu Bang for seventy-two defeats, they finally gathered an army of one million, and Xiang Yu was invincible and only had 8,000 children left.

Kinoshita Toyoshiro and I are two "leaders" in the Department of Internal Affairs, but my style of doing things is completely different from his. He is conscientious and diligent and thrifty, whether you ask about tax collection, procurement, construction or land inspection, there is absolutely no problem in his account! Careful and serious to every copper plate, people marvel at how he has such a big mental head. But that's all, if Oda Nobunaga hadn't developed by leaps and bounds, he would have stayed in the position of Ashigaru and Kura Otsushi (storekeeper) forever! Because first, he could not show the talent to take on a higher position. Second, Oda Nobunaga has never paid much attention to people who only work hard at the grassroots level. On the other hand, I am a completely different person, whether it is buying horses or iron cannons, whether it is building a city (meaning repairing rather than building a new city) or cultivating new fields, I can't get a single account, and no one can tell how the money was spent. But the performance and results are unmistakable, and no one can deny it, and even if it costs twice the price, it is difficult for others to complete it! This completely subverted their logical thinking based on the universal truths of the time, and this is what excites Oda Nobunaga, who loves novelties! I have privately heard from some of my friends in the chamberlain that Nobunaga once referred to me as a "miracle worker"! Even though there is no clear evidence, many people associate some "smart strategies" with me, which makes me look even more incomprehensible! Because of this, although many people are jealous of me, no one dares to attack me lightly! Taking the construction of the castle as an example, although the proposal I made at the beginning failed repeatedly, everyone could only blame it on the incompetence of the generals, and no one questioned this plan, of course, this is also inseparable from Oda Nobunaga's full support! My future is bright! The sensitive Kinoshita Toyoshiro also noticed this situation, and I felt that he was in a hurry to find new growth points.

“…… That's how it happened! Shibata Katsuya is finally finished.

"What do people say? Is there any good way to do it? Oda Nobunaga asked aloud as he looked around.

"Difficult! It's really hard! After a moment of silence, Niwa Nagahide said as he shook his head. The two failures of Sakuma-sama and Shibata-sama are not unreasonable! The terrain of the Sumamata is narrow, making it difficult for too many soldiers to deploy, and the space for building materials is even smaller. And under the nose of Inaba Mountain Castle, the army of the Saito family arrived as soon as he spoke, and it was really difficult to resist! ”

"It's not suitable anywhere else!" Maeda Toshiie frowned and said, "Mt. Inaba is a well-known fortified castle in the world, and in addition to the strong building, the situation is even more dangerous!" It is impossible to attack without setting up a stronghold around it, and Sumamata is undoubtedly the most suitable place! ”

Niwa Nagahide nodded wordlessly, apparently he also thought that Maeda Toshiya was right.

Maeda Toshiie's words drew Oda Nobunaga's gaze to this side, swept it over Toshiie, and then turned it to my face. At this time, I was sleeping with my eyes closed, and I fell into a semi-"meditative" state. "Smack! Syllable! Syllable! He struck a few hard blows on the table with his folding fan and said, "Wake up all who are asleep!" We are in a meeting! After saying that, he glared at me angrily.

It's not that I don't understand what he means, but the method of building a city is actually well known in modern times. Can...... But I really don't want to go! Now that I'm doing well, there's no need to take that risk. You know, no matter whether the construction of the city is successful or not, a fierce battle is always inevitable! Besides, I don't have to go! I deliberately didn't make eye contact with Nobunaga, but turned to look at the "monkey" sitting by the door, who was scratching his ears and cheeks. Originally, he was not qualified to attend the meeting by virtue of his status as a head of the head (four or five hundred people could not sit down), but Cang Ao insisted that it was necessary to provide some information for the meeting at any time.

Oda Nobunaga followed my eyes and saw Kinoshita Toyoshiro's side, but from the way he looked, he didn't think that this person had anything to do with the issue at hand.

"Lord!" Perhaps encouraged by Nobunaga's gaze, the "monkey" finally made up his mind to speak. "Please leave this task to me!"

"Huh? What task? Oda Nobunaga didn't understand, or rather, he didn't expect this "monkey" to be so arrogant.

"That's it...... It's the mission of the castle building in Sumamata! Kinoshita Tojiro said in a low voice with his head on the ground.

"What?!" Before Nobunaga could speak, Shibata Katsuya shouted. "What are you?! How dare you be so arrogant and rude! ”

"Wait!" Oda Nobunaga stopped Shibata Katsuie. "Tell me, you 'monkey', how many troops do you want?"

"The subordinates only need 1000 ashigaru!" He still didn't look up.

"Oh...... 1000? Xinsheng and Quan Liu, but they both used 3000 and didn't succeed! Oda Nobunaga felt some interest. Tell us about your plans! ”

"Subordinate...... Subordinate...... Faithfulness will ......"

"What did you say?!" Oda Nobunaga was furious. "How dare you tease me! It's not that you're usually diligent, but I cut off your head today! Come on, get him out of here! ”

After the "monkey" was kicked out, the discussion continued, but no consensus was reached on the other two points of difficulty in building a castle in Sumamata and the need to build a castle in Sumamata.

"Looks like we're going to have to wait a few days!" After walking out of the assessment room, I thought.

"Brother Zhongbei! Let's go for a drink, shall we? A voice called me from behind.