On the main road outside Kyoto Town, Asai Nagamasa was riding a horse, his expression was very solemn, and the reason was very simple, he was really not too sure about persuading Asakura Yoshikage. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Just now, Oda Nobunaga agreed to his proposal and allowed him to go to the Asakura house to persuade him first, and if Asakura Yoshikage was willing to come, then the past would be treated as if nothing had happened.

In fact, after learning from Akechi Mitsuhide's mouth that Oda Nobunaga also invited Asakura Yoshikage, Asai Nagamasa had already made this plan, but the reason why he made such a proposal was not that he was really worried about the Asakura family, but just for the Asai family.

The Asakura family and the Asai family have been allied for three generations since the time of Asai Ryomasa. But in fact, for this alliance, Asai Nagamasa has always cared much about it, and even a little hostile. The reason why this is so is because before Asai Hisamasa was defeated and surrendered by the Rokkaku family, and after Asai Nagamasa inherited the family governor, the Asai family did not receive a response to the Asakura family's request for help.

Although the Asakura family also has various reasons, in the eyes of Asai Nagamasa, this is completely proof of injustice. After all, no matter how many reasons you have, your alliance has been beaten and forced to surrender and you don't lend a hand, how can this be considered an alliance?

And what made Asai Nagamasa even more dissatisfied was that after he inherited the family governor, he once wrote a letter to Echizen, but unfortunately the response he got was only some words that were not salty or light, especially the arrogance that was carried between the lines all the time, which made Asai Nagamasa full of unhappiness about this never-before-seen Asakura Yoshika.

Therefore, the reason why he went to Echizen was only because he was worried that if Oda and Asakura went to war, it would cause turmoil in the Asai family.

It seems a little appalling to say this, isn't Asai Nagamasa very much loved by his retainers? Well, that's true, but that was just before Oda Nobunaga Kamiraku. After his ascension, the dissatisfaction of the important ministers of the family with Asai Nagamasa began to slowly grow, although it was not revealed for various reasons, but it does not mean that Asai Nagamasa did not know.

And the reason for that dissatisfaction can basically be classified as one, interests. After the Oda family went to Luoluo, they occupied a large territory, but for the Asai family, Oda Nobunaga only rewarded some money, and at the same time assigned all of Jiangbei to the Asai family. However, Jiangbei has basically been taken down by Asai Nagamasa, so it means that the Asai family sent troops to help the Oda family and Kamiro did not get any benefits at all.

There is no opinion on this reward for Asai Nagamasa, because in his opinion, the Asai family originally just led the troops out to hang around, but for those retainers of the Asai family, it is obvious that they will not think so. They will only feel that they have sent troops and have not been paid accordingly.

However, because the relationship between the Oda family and the Asai family was in the honeymoon period at that time, and the 100,000 troops of the Oda family when they went to Luo really shocked the retainers of the Asai family, they still suppressed these grievances in their hearts until now. But no matter how depressed you are, the dissatisfaction that can't be vented will still explode eventually. In Asai Nagamasa's view, once the war between the Asakura family and the Oda family began, the dissatisfaction of these people would completely explode.

Of course, in addition to being dissatisfied, Asai Nagamasa also knew that there was another reason why they had been hostile to the Oda family, and that was threat. As a samurai, how could anyone not want to expand their territory and strengthen their family? But now that the Asai family has Asakura and Oda, all the roads to development have been blocked. And if you want to open this gap, you can only go to war with one of them, and this option is ...... Well, there aren't many people in the Asai family who support the Oda family.

But in Asai Nagamasa's view, being an enemy of the Oda family is simply asking for his own death. Because of his admiration for Oda Nobunaga, Asai Nagamasa has studied a lot of reasons for the rise of the Oda family over the years, and the more he studied, the deeper his understanding of the strength of the Oda family became. Those retainers of the Asai family only saw the superficial strength of the Oda family, such as the strong strength of excellent samurai, but Asai Nagamasa saw more.

It's just a pity that he can't say these words to those retainers at all, otherwise, they will definitely feel that they are afraid of the Oda family.

After all, since Asai Nagamasa is the governor of the Asai family, if he insists on standing on the side of the Oda family, what can those important ministers do? It's just a pity that the system of the Asai family is a collegial system, and the family governor is just equivalent to an alliance leader, otherwise, Asai Hisashi would not have been forced back by the retainers so simply in the past. In fact, most of the families in this era, including Oda and Matsudaira, were such a system, because this system allowed a small family to grow into a daimyo rapidly.

Kyoto, the residence of Akechi Mitsuhide.

"Wise Lord, you have been in the Asakura family before, and you must be more familiar with Asakura Yoshikei than we are, do you think His Highness Asai will be able to succeed in this trip?" Kinoshita Hideyoshi asked curiously after drinking a cup.

Hearing this, Akechi Mitsuhide shook his head slightly, "It's difficult, Asakura Yoshijing is very arrogant, he prides himself on being a famous family, and he doesn't look down on his family at all." If you want him to bow to the lord, I don't think it's possible. ”

"In that case, wouldn't the main family and the Asakura family go to war?!" Kinoshita Hideyoshi asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Haha~ Kinoshita-sama, why are you not satisfied with Harima One Country, and do you still want to make meritorious contributions to the war against the Asakura family?" Wise Mitsuhide laughed when he heard this,

Hearing this, Kinoshita Hideyoshi's expression immediately wilted, "Wise Lord, don't say any more, I still don't know how to take down Harima, a monkey." ”

"You kid just pretend! If you're not sure, you dare to say yes?! Don't think I don't know, since you kid was appointed as the guardian of Kyoto by the lord, your voice has become louder and louder, but your courage is getting smaller and smaller~" Akechi Mitsuhide looked at Kinoshita Hideyoshi with a wicked smile and teased. During the time when Mitsuhide Akechi and Hideyoshi Kinoshita served as guardians of Kyoto, the two of them developed a deep friendship.

Hearing Akechi Mitsuhide's words, Kinoshita Hideyoshi was immediately unhappy, "Okay, you kumquat head!" When did I, Kinoshita Hideyoshi, get less and less courage?! Hum! I just want to test you, what is the little Harima country?! ”

"Haha~ Well said! Don't look for reinforcements then! Wise Mitsuhide laughed when he heard this, in a word, let Kinoshita Hideyoshi shrug again, he really planned to find reinforcements. After all, Oda Nobunaga didn't say that he wouldn't let him find reinforcements, did he? Kawachi Maeda Toshiya has a pretty good relationship with him.

After a burst of laughter, the two gradually turned the topic back to the Asakura family.

"If the family attacks the Asakura family, other forces may also wait for the opportunity to move." Akechi Mitsuhide said in a deep voice.

"Yes, I didn't know what the meaning of that rumor was before, but now it seems that the only purpose of that rumor is to bring the Asakura family in. The person who used such a scheme was really calculating, and he calculated the character of the lord and the asakura Yoshikei. Kinoshita Hideyoshi nodded in agreement.

"And who do you say this trickster will be? What's next? With the Asakura family alone, it is impossible to shake the family. Akechi Mitsuhide said with some confusion, but in the end, his tone became quite emotional.

In the past, when he persuaded Ashikaga Yoshiaki to give up the Asakura family and join the Oda family, it was only because the Oda family was the only force that could help Ashikaga Yoshiaki at that time, and he never thought that he would pacify so quickly and grow to the point where it is today within a few years. Even now, there were times when he felt as if he was in a dream, because everything seemed so incredible to him.

And Kinoshita Hideyoshi over there didn't hear Akechi Mitsuhide's emotion, he just muttered, "Who knows? Now that the strength of the family is here, it is impossible for all the daimyo who aspire to the world to ignore it. But most likely, I'm afraid it's only the Kai Takeda family. ”

Five days later, Asai Nagamasa arrived at Ichijo Valley Castle. In terms of speed, Asai Nagamasa seems to be a little slow, but he hopes that the speed can be slower, because he really doesn't have much confidence to convince Asakura Yoshikage. And once he failed, he was not sure to deal with the important ministers in his family.

"Oh? Asai Nagamasa, that kid is here? What is he doing here? Asakura Yoshikage asked casually, his tone full of disdain. In fact, he looked down on the entire Asai family, because in his eyes, the Asai family was just a small wealthy family in Omi, and it was only with the help of his ancestors that he was able to have the Asai family today.

And without the help of the Asakura family, it didn't take long for Asai Hisamasa to be defeated by the Rokkaku family and forced to submit, which made Asakura Yoshikyo look down on the Asai family even more.

"I guess it's because my family didn't go to Kyoto to meet the shogun." Asakura Jingji on the side said lightly. He is the adopted son of Asakura Zongdi, the son of the ninth generation governor of the Asakura family, and his status in the Asakura family is quite high.

"Oh? Was it running errands for that hillbilly? Hum! That's all there is to the Asai family. Asakura Yoshikage said disdainfully.

"My lord, my subordinates think that the Asai family should still be mainly recruited, after all, if we can win over the Asai family when fighting the Oda family......" Asakura Keitaka said respectfully. After the death of Asakura Muneto, he served as the general in the battles against Kaga Ichijomune, and his status in the Asakura family was also very high.

"Yes, although Master Ankokuji has attracted many forces, now the Asai family is basically regarded as a retainer of the Oda family, if it can be co-opted by the main family, those forces in Kinai who are forced to surrender due to the power of the Oda family will probably follow." Asakura Keiki echoed.

Hearing this, Asakura Yoshikyo nodded, "Well, that's not bad. Then, please invite His Highness Asai in. ”

Speaking of which, this is the first time that the two alliance forces have met, but this kind of meeting is really embarrassing. For a long time, both of them were just idle on all kinds of senseless flattery, and neither of them took the initiative to mention the matter. Until the end, Asai Nagamasa finally couldn't bear to speak.

"His Royal Highness Asakura, this time the Ashikaga shogun tried to explain the rumors circulating in Kinai, so he issued an edict asking the daimyo from all over the country to visit Nijo Castle. Although I also know that His Royal Highness Asakura has a lot of nobles, but Your Highness, you don't even send a single retainer, it's really ......," Asai Nagamasa said in a deep voice.

On the way, Asai Nagamasa thought a lot about how to persuade Asakura Yoshikage, and in the end he felt that the only way was to move out of Ashikaga Yoshiaki without mentioning Oda Nobunaga. Although Asai Nagamasa didn't know much about the previous relationship between Asakura Yoshikei and Oda Nobunaga, he could guess a thing or two based on his understanding of Asakura Yoshikei and the relationship between Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Asakura and Oda.

Hearing this, Asakura Yoshikage smiled faintly, "Alas, isn't this Kaga's always sectarian sect invading Echizen, and I really can't get out." However, rest assured, Your Highness Asai, when the mundane matter is settled, I will definitely go to Nijo Castle in person to apologize to His Highness the Shogun. ”

"But......" Asai Nagamasa was about to say something when he heard this, but unfortunately Asakura Yoshikage didn't give him a chance to speak at all.

"Speaking of which, this is the first time we've met, so why don't we celebrate with a small wine party?" Asakura Yoshikage said with a smile, "In the past, my uncle and I often talked about the past when we fought against the Rokkaku family with your Liang Zhenggong, and always said that the only force in the world that can be trusted is the Asai family......"

After a few words, the words that made Asai Nagamasa refuse were completely unspeakable, and he had no choice but to respond. At the banquet, Asakura Yoshikage did not mention Shangluo at all, and all the topics revolved around the friendship between the Asakura and Asai families.

Well, I have to say that if Yoshikage Asakura goes to act, he will definitely be at the level of an actor. Obviously, he looked down on the Asai family so much before, but now he looks like he is good with the two brothers of Asai Nagamasa, so he almost kills the chicken and worships the trick. Well, there's no such custom here.

From the comradeship between Asai Ryomasa and Asakura Sote, to the various exchanges between the two families later, all kinds of things seem to be as if every Asakura Yoshijing is there in person.

"Your Highness Asai, when the Rokkaku family attacked you in the past, the family happened to be in the same place, and it was really impossible to draw troops to support. After calming down......" Asakura Yoshikage paused, and solemnly apologized to Asai Nagamasa apologetically, "This incident really makes me very ashamed. With that, he stood up and bowed to Asai Nagamasa.

"His Royal Highness Asakura must not be so ......" Asai Nagamasa said hurriedly, he did a thousand calculations, but he didn't calculate that Asakura Yoshikage would come to such a show, and he said that he was arrogant?

It was only when Asai Nagamasa left Ichijo Valley Castle that his mind was still a little dizzy, and all he thought about was the friendship between the Asakura family and the Asai family over the years and the gentle and elegant attitude of Asakura Yoshikage.

But after half a ring, he sighed heavily, "Alas, it seems that it can't be stopped after all, so what should I do?" ”