Kotani Castle. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Ah Dog looked at Asai Nagamasa in disbelief, she never thought that Asai Nagamasa would say such a thing, and in an instant, the already red eyes resurfaced with mist. But she can't be blamed, after all, Asai Nagamasa's words are like he wants to divorce her.

You must know that in this era, divorce is not as common as divorce to the next generation, of course, this refers to divorce in the samurai world. Because in the samurai world, marriage is often accompanied by political interests, just like Inu marrying Asai Nagamasa, representing not just a man and a woman, but the union of the Asai family and the Oda family.

And once divorced, then not only the woman will be humiliated because of this, but even the family with the woman will be humiliated.

So seeing Ah Dog's appearance, Asai Nagamasa knew that she had misunderstood, and quickly explained, "Ah Dog, don't worry, I didn't want to divorce you because I broke the alliance with my brother, I just hope that you can return to the Oda family with our children, after all, ...... This is our family, and it is also our blood. ”

"My father and I have decided to help the Asakura family, so if we fail, we will inevitably be executed. You also know that in troubled times, in order to protect the family, there are always many things that are difficult to accept......" Asai Nagamasa said softly with his arm around the dog.

It's just that when he heard Asai Nagamasa's words, instead of agreeing, Ah Inu looked at Asai Nagamasa and said softly, "Husband, the war hasn't started yet, why do you have such thoughts?" Since you have chosen to break the alliance with the Oda family, then you should have the confidence to defeat the Oda family, not the way back to preserve the family's bloodline......"

Hearing this, Asai Nagamasa's face suddenly turned red, not angry, but embarrassed. Indeed, although he chose the path of being an enemy of Oda Nobunaga for the sake of his father and retainers, in his heart, he did not have the belief to defeat the Oda family at all, because in his heart, the Oda family was too strong and too strong, so strong that he could not see any hope of victory at all.

"Husband, how can you say such depressing words when you worship your elder brother? In the past, Nobuyuki rebelled and Imagawa invaded, which time didn't make the elder brother almost in a desperate situation? But no matter what time it is, my brother is always full of confidence! Hearing this, Ah Dog shook his head and said. And Yoshinobu's brother-in-law once said that if you give up at the beginning, then the war will be lost before it starts. ”

Hearing this, Asai Nagamasa was silent, but the hand holding Ah Dog became trembling, and after half a ring, he let go of Ah Dog, looked at her and laughed softly, "You're right, if I don't have the belief to win now, then there is nothing to fight in the war at all." ”

As he spoke, Asai Nagamasa suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly said to Inu, "By the way, you can send someone to deliver a letter to your elder brother and tell him that the family has betrayed the Oda family." In this way, it can be regarded as the end of benevolence and righteousness. ”

Well, historically, Asai Nagamasa did the same, telling his wife Aichi about his rebellion at the time, and asking him to send a letter to Oda Nobunaga. Historically, Ah Shi agreed, but now, Ah Dog shook his head and refused. The reason is also very simple. "Husband, if my brother is prepared, what is the difference between you going and sending you to death?"

"I'm ......" Asai Nagamasa was stunned when he heard this, and was about to say something, but was directly interrupted by a dog.

"No matter how many troops the Asakura family has, there are no more than 30,000 or 40,000 people, and in a short night, no matter how much the family is mobilized, there are no more than 10,000 at most, but there are 80,000 people on the Oda family's side. Even if they were attacked from both ends, the Oda family still had the absolute upper hand in the army, and even the elder brother could resist the attack of the main family while continuing to attack the Asakura family. Ah Dog told the story, which made Asai Nagamasa sweat profusely when he listened.

Indeed, at first, he only thought that what he had done was too unkind, so he felt guilty and wanted to inform Oda Nobunaga, but after hearing Ainu's words, he reacted. "It seems that from the beginning to the end, I never thought about defeating my brother." Asai Nagamasa laughed at himself in his heart, and then nodded at Ah Dog and said, "I understand!" You're right, from now on, I'll leave all emotions behind and work hard to defeat the Oda family. ”

"Well, husband, you have to believe that you are the best samurai in the world!" A dog looked at Asai Nagamasa gently and smiled.

"Hmm!"

At the same time, on the other side, after getting the promise of Asai Nagamasa, many retainers of the Asai family rushed back to the territory to mobilize troops. They know very well that every second counts! Once the Oda family defeats the Asakura family, then the Asai family alone is not enough for the Oda family to plug their teeth.

However, Hai Chiyu and the three of them did not leave in a hurry, but called Endo Naokyo to his side and whispered, "Now you send someone to Kyoto to report this matter to him, and ask him to inform General Ashikaga as soon as possible." Although the lord has already agreed to help the Asakura family, there are only two of us, and it is difficult to pose a threat to the Oda family. ”

"Yes! Please rest assured! Endo replied and left quickly.

Looking at the back of Naokyo Endo leaving, Haibei Tsunabe suddenly sighed, "In two days, the sky will change!" ”

"Hehe, this is also Oda Nobunaga's own fault. If it weren't for his tough and continuous implementation of the New Deal, how could there be so much opposition? Akao Kiyotsuna sneered.

"What are you doing with all that, let's study the route first. At present, the Oda family is estimated to have been attacking Koya Pass, and if we are too slow, I am afraid that the Oda army will have already captured Koya Pass before reaching Echizen. Yumori Qingzhen said in a deep voice.

"Yes." The other two echoed and then left together.

Nijo-jo Castle.

It was already late at night, but Ashikaga Yoshiaki still hadn't fallen asleep, and at this time, he was sitting in front of the desk and carefully looking at a map. On it, there are several places that are drawn with circles, and as far as the eye can see, they seem to surround the Oda family in.

"According to what the man said before, it should be almost time." Ashikaga Yoshiaki muttered softly to himself.

At this moment, a ninja suddenly appeared not far in front of Ashikaga Yoshiaki. In this regard, Ashikaga Yoshiaki did not panic in the slightest, just looked at him quietly. And the man didn't hesitate, he directly took out an object and threw it gently.

After taking it and looking at it carefully, Ashikaga Yoshiaki asked expectantly, "The time has come?!" ”

"Yes, Naokei Endo of the Asai family sent a letter saying that Asai Nagamasa had decided to betray Oda Nobunaga. At this time, they are already mobilizing their troops, and they will send troops to Echizen early tomorrow morning! The man whispered.

"Great!" Ashikaga Yoshiaki said excitedly, "I will never forget the merits of His Royal Highness Maori!" After the Oda family is wiped out, the Mori family will be the deputy general! Ashikaga Yoshiaki said generously, well, deputy general, does he really like this position? At the beginning, I also wanted to give Oda Nobunaga this position.

It's just that after hearing Ashikaga Yoshiaki's words, the ninja didn't react, just said in a deep voice, "In the vicinity of Nijo Castle, the villain found several ninjas lurking in the shadows. Although villains can enter and exit, it is impossible to wait for His Highness the General to leave. ”

Hearing this, Ashikaga Yoshiaki thought for a while and said, "It's okay, I'll go to Kyoto early tomorrow morning, and the people of the Oda family won't stop me." You can prepare a stand-in for me over there, and then we'll head straight to Ishiyama Honganji!" There was a flame in Ashikaga Yoshiaki's eyes, a fire of vengeance that could burn everything. He wanted Oda Nobunaga to know that those who dared to resist him would not end well!

"Yes!"

Early the next morning, Ashikaga Yoshiaki went to Kyoto with a few entourages, as Ashikaga Yoshiaki said, at this time the Oda family did not have any obstruction to Ashikaga Yoshiaki, but there were still several ninjas monitoring the whole process. It's just that this kind of surveillance can only be watched from a distance, which gives Ashikaga Yoshiaki a chance to escape.

A short time later, Ashikaga Yoshiaki entered a temple under the watchful eye of several ninjas, and after a long time, left the area and returned to Nijo Castle. The ninjas who were watching didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, and followed them back to Nijo-jo Castle. It was only a short time before the two monks left the monastery and hurried to the west. Their departure did not arouse anyone's doubts, because it was only normal for monks to leave the monastery and travel far away.

On the other side, the Asai family has already assembled troops, a total of 8,000 people, which is the largest force that the Asai family can mobilize overnight.

"Let's go!" Asai Nagamasa just said this, and led the army to drive directly. He didn't say where to go or what he was going to do, but for the soldiers of this era, they didn't need to know that.

Speaking of which, will the news of the Asai family's mobilization of troops reach the Oda family? After all, it's so close to the Oda family in Jiangbei. Hawkers, for this, Asai Nagamasa is not very clear, so he must set off as soon as possible and arrive in Echizen as quickly as possible.

At this time, outside Echizen Koya Pass Castle, the Oda army was in the main formation.

"It is worthy of being called the gateway from to Echizen, and it is really a difficult city to attack!" Oda Nobunaga shook his head and sighed as he looked at the Koya Pass standing in front of him.

Koya Pass Castle was built at the foot of two steep mountains, blocking the main road to Echizen. There is no other way to get past than to take this fortress. But in this way, it is easy to guess how strong this castle is. After all, even if Asakura Yoshikei is a fool, his ancestors can't all be fools. It can be said that this castle is a fortress that can be ranked in the whole Echizen and even in the whole world.

The towering walls, heavy iron gates, and countless fortifications make this city look quite difficult to fight. Speaking of which, the iron gate was replaced by Asakura Yoshikei some time ago at the suggestion of Tomita Keimasa, why? Hawkers, beware of Oda Yoshinobu. In fact, not only the Asakura family, but also many forces that regarded the Oda family as enemies began to consciously begin to upgrade the castle defenses, especially the gates. After all, Oda Yoshinobu's direct and violent deeds of breaking down the door, although it sounds bizarre, but as the saying goes, it is better to believe it than not to believe it.

Now, the Oda Army's offensive has been going on for some time, but it seems that those offensives are just itching the castle of Koya.

"Actually, you can climb over the mountain......" Oda Yoshinobu replied casually, glancing at the peaks on both sides of Konoya Pass Castle.

Hearing this, Oda Nobunaga glared at Oda Yoshinobu angrily, "You kid can definitely do it, but how many people can you treat?" If the army can't get through, it doesn't mean anything at all. ”

"Tsk, then why don't I bring someone up to rush a wave?" Yoshinobu Oda pursed his lips and said again.

"Forget it, you kid will honestly do a good job for me. If you are asked to play in a slightly difficult war, how young will it be for your family to unify the world?! Oda Nobunaga was a little moved by this, but eventually gave up on the idea.

Yes, the main reason for Oda Yoshinobu to serve as the rear guard is to check whether these retainers have made any progress, after all, now that the Oda family has a large territory, it is impossible for Oda Nobunaga or Oda Yoshinobu to do everything personally, and other retainers must also show their corresponding strength.

Just when the two were constantly discussing how to capture Kiya Pass Castle, Chiyo Mochizuki suddenly appeared in front of the two, "Your Highness, my lord, I just received the news that ten days ago, Takeda Nobu Genqin led an army of 30,000 to attack the Imagawa family, and Uesugi Kenshin once again responded to the request of the Kanto group to send troops to Kanto, with a force of nearly 100,000 troops. ”

"Huh?!" Hearing this, Oda Nobunaga and Oda Yoshinobu glanced at each other, and both saw the worry in each other's eyes.

"In this way, the Hojo family will no longer be able to support the Imagawa family, so with the strength of the Imagawa family, I am afraid that it will not be able to resist the Takeda family ......for long," Oda Yoshinobu said in a low voice.

"Not bad! And not long ago, the Maori family also sent troops to Kyushu, and it seems that the most powerful daimyo in the world of these three families have already felt the threat of their own family. Oda Nobunaga sneered, and then suddenly shouted, "Call Matsudaira Ieyasu back to me!" ”

"What? You're going to let him go back to Mikawa to prepare for the Takeda family? Oda Yoshinobu asked.

"Preparedness? Hehe, have you forgotten that the family is still an ally of the Takeda family? Oda Nobunaga chuckled when he heard this.

Hearing Oda Nobunaga's words, Oda Yoshinobu naturally knew what he meant, but he shook his head and said, "I think it's better to persuade you to surrender first, if you can receive Yuanjiang peacefully, it will also be a combat power." ”

"It's fine." Oda Nobunaga nodded when he heard this.

After a short time, Matsudaira Ieyasu rushed back, and after receiving the order from Oda Nobunaga, he immediately led his army back to Mikawa.