In the central part of Japan, early winter is a good time to travel, when the rain is no longer heavy and the snow usually doesn't come down so early. The scenery of withered grass and trees and harvested farmland may not be easy to be enjoyed, but as long as you know how to appreciate it, it will definitely cause another taste in your heart!

At dawn on the 30th day of November in the 8th year of Tensho (1580), it was still almost dark, and I had already gotten up and washed up, and was having breakfast in my room. Xue and Ying were cleaning up the house by my side, and even though it was only for a day, there were still a lot of bits and pieces.

"Lord!" Sakurai Sakichi slammed the door outside.

"Come in!" I said yes, and went back to my breakfast. "Is the queue ready?" I asked without looking up.

"Everyone is already on standby outside, ready to take the orders of the lord on the road!" He's already dressed in full armor and gear, and it looks like everyone is waiting for me.

"Hmm!" I nodded, this kind of thing really shouldn't go wrong again. "We'll leave immediately, you can order someone to go to Cheongju to report the news first!" I commanded.

"Yes! It's just ......" Sakurai Sakichi hesitated, and when it came to the end, he hesitated a little. "Zhenyou just went out for a walk, and he asked me to ask the lord: Can I wait until dawn to make the trip?"

"Huh?" I looked up at him suspiciously, could it be that someone really wanted to do something to me? It's not impossible in such a delicate situation, but if there were ambushes on the way, the ninja should have come to report it a long time ago.

"It's a lot of frost outside, and the road is getting a little slippery!" He explained it to me immediately.

"Oh?" I stood up from the table and reached out to the window. A heavy chill hit my face, and I couldn't help but shiver.

Outside, it was a white expanse, with rooftops, ground, trees, and the field looking out from the gate all in a hazy and indistinguishable way. In the courtyard my convoy was indeed mounted on the horses, and the knights in full gear surrounded them, each leading their own mounts.

"This little frost is nothing, we will leave on time!" After a little thought, I walked back and said to Sakurai Sakichi that although I was greedy for enjoyment, I was still a military general.

"Yes!" Sakurai Sakichi agreed and withdrew, and since I had made my decision, they had to carry it out unconditionally.

"I hope that what appeared in this Cheongju meeting is just such a small problem!" I turned my head again and looked out the open window, and let out a long sigh. This is an inn not far west of Kogie Castle in Ise, and I was on my way to Cheongju.

The Cheongju meeting was finalized, a decision that was slightly tilted in favor of Shibata's side, but did not touch the bottom line of the "monkey". Since this move was generally recognized by the middle and lower-level Owari and Mino samurai, it was difficult for him to object.

Since he couldn't oppose it, he simply took the initiative, and in this matter, the "monkey" showed no less enthusiasm than Shibata Katsuya. The two of them hurried back to Owari on their feet, and it seemed that they wanted to hurry up and set it up. It should be noted that after the death of Oda Nobunaga's father and son, many people returned to Owari and Mino, and unlike the lords of the castle who had made their fortunes, they did not get any land in various parts of, and their roots were still in their hometowns. Although none of them have much power in a single pendulum float, they together cannot be ignored.

I'm not as anxious as they are, but it's not good if it's too late, and I don't want to cause anyone's speculation in this situation, and I don't want to come out anywhere. I had already made an appointment with Niwa Nagahide, but I was kept by Konoe for two days, and I actually knew that he was afraid that the 200,000 koku of grain that I promised to ship to Kyoto would change once I left.

In fact, he is also very careful, and this batch of grain has already been transported to Sakai Town during the stalemate between me and Matsunaga Xiu. After that, it was because the two armies of Yushiba and Shibata pinned down on Kyoto, and I was worried that something else would happen, so the execution was suspended. Ships carrying grain from North Korea are arriving in Hong Kong one after another, and although it will take some time to alleviate the problem in the whole of, Kyoto does not need to worry about anything.

It seems that it will be too late to arrive in Kiyoshu, but there is already a lot of news, and the current situation there can be called a stormy meeting, even more than when Oda Nobunaga was there. Many people did not fight, but the tense atmosphere became more and more intense.

"I don't know how Niwa Nagahide has been spending his days these days!" Looking out the window again, I wiped my mouth and walked to the door.

At that moment, a wave of confusion came from the open window, and it sounded as if some people were asking each other about something. Although the voices are not loud, they are talking very quickly, and there are many people talking at the same time.

"Greetings to my lordship, His Highness Ikeda asks to see you!" Just as I was about to ask, Sakurai Sakichi was already outside to report.

"Please!" I stepped down my half-stretched foot and hurried out the door. I didn't travel with Ikeda Hengxing, and it was still dark where did he come from?

"Ugh!" The door was opened, but Ikeda Hengxing was already facing each other in the doorway, and the two of us almost collided.

"What do you say when you come to 'ask to see', it's too much to see!" I ushered him into the house, and Ying and Xue gave a brief salute and withdrew. There is no need to shy away from some details of the relationship between the two of us, not to mention that this is still on the journey.

"It was your squire who tampered with my words, and I was saying, 'Go see if there's a fight,'" he cooed unceremoniously as he sat down at the small table, grabbing my leftover breakfast and shoving it into his mouth. His armor was wet from the frost, and his face was a little pale from the cold, as if he had been on the road for a long time all night.

"What's wrong with you, the famine in won't make you hungry too!" It's been a while since the two of us have communicated, and at first glance he really scared me.

"It's not to chase you, I rushed here from Kyoto...... But it only took one day! A quarter of the rice balls took a small revenge for being slighted, lingering for a moment as it passed through his throat.

"Chase me? What are you doing chasing after me! "I couldn't leave right away, so I gestured to Sakurai Sakichi, who was still standing outside the door.

He bowed, then closed the door from the outside.

"If you don't catch up, maybe this meeting in Cheongju will throw me off, and I'm afraid that I won't even have time to cry!" The frequency of his mouth movements at the moment was quite fast, but he could still hear that there was a clear resentment in his tone.

"What do you mean by that? His Royal Highness Niwa and I both wrote to you two days ago, and your reaction was not very positive! "I don't know what's going on, but I clearly feel like there's a misunderstanding. This "knot" must be solved in time, otherwise there may be a big problem at a critical moment.

"At first, I really didn't take it too seriously, thinking that only by holding it in my hands can I count it as my own!" Ikeda was still busy with his head down, but his pace had slowed down, and his attention had turned more to speaking. "......'Monkey' is really not a thing, he is now determined to come and fight for territory with me! A few days ago, he said that he was retiring in response to Niwa Nagahide and your initiative, but in fact, after retreating to Settsu, he was divided into three ways and faintly formed a siege of my Ishiyama Imperial Castle. Fortunately, I kept an eye on them, and did not promise them the excuse of entering the city and borrowing food, otherwise he would have taken advantage of them. The idea of trying to beat me up in Ishiyama Imperial Castle is simply wishful thinking......" The more he spoke, the more angry he became, at first he was still talking while eating, but later he was probably full, so he simply pushed the table and yelled at me.

Although the expression on my face did not change, I was complaining in my heart. This can be said to be a "dead knot", and the slightest carelessness may lead the Cheongju Conference to the point of no return.

In the past, I supported Ikeda Tsuneko's decisive takeover of Ishiyama Gozumi Castle in order to restrain the "monkeys'" movements in this direction and create a balanced situation for Kyoto. The "monkey" is a decisive person, and with a group of civil and military generals who are not much worse than me, it is very likely that the process of history will be repeated under the circumstances of the time. So my approach at that time was still good!

However, things are always evolving, and in order to balance the central power of Oda for a period of time in the future, if the strength of the "monkey" and Shibata Katsuya is roughly equal, then the arrangement that Setsu handed over to the "monkey" is the most suitable and most in line with my current interests.

I have already expressed my intention to inadvertently pivot, and it is impossible for the "monkey" to give up such an opportunity, and in order to be able to further extend his hand to Kyoto and Azuchi in the future, he will definitely strongly demand the territory of Settsu, but I am afraid that this is also his bottom line at the Cheongju meeting!

But can Ikeda Hengxing play easily? He is the most core unifying force in my department, and if he doesn't get it right, he will hurt a lot of people's hearts. From what he just said, I only heard seven "my Ishiyama Gozuki Castle", which shows how strong his attachment to Settsu is. On second thought, I was really caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Hey, did you hear me talk?" Seeing that I was just sitting there in a daze for a long time, Ikeda Hengxing couldn't help but push it.

"Of course I heard what you said, but I don't have anything to say!" I smiled wryly, I still didn't fully understand his words, but I thought they were just words that scolded the "monkey" for being unkind. "Speaking of which, they were all brothers at the beginning......"

"Brother? You're so naïve! Ikeda sneered twice, and then the gurgling of his teeth came out of his mouth. After all these years, don't you see that this guy can do it to anyone! There's only one way to deal with him......" He suddenly looked up at me with blazing eyes and asked, "If I meet the 'monkey' soldiers, how many soldiers and horses can you lend me?" ”