"What is the general thinking! As a samurai, shouldn't you fight the battlefield and take the enemy's head as a meritorious service? "In my main tent, he confronted me.

I see, someone must be pping on him. As the son of Oda Nobunaga, no one usually teaches him that. He didn't need to rely on his head to earn credit.

It may be that some of his subordinates want to make meritorious contributions, so they taught him these words! And he is not a peaceful person, he always wants to show his extraordinary, so he naturally acts as soon as he says it.

"May I ask the lieutenant, who told you this?" I asked him in a very formal tone. Pretentious children naturally want to be taken seriously by others.

"It's my own thoughts...... Kitabatake replied, but his eyes flickered left and right, probably because the person who spoke had explained, and asked him not to reveal it.

I looked at him closely, and gradually, his face turned red. Lying in front of people, after all, is not a glorious thing, and the more you pay attention to your face, the more you care. Embarrassed and angry, he simply stopped looking at it, put on a look of contempt, and said loudly: "Did I say something wrong? With the people of a country, he hasn't even fought a battle until now, is the general still a samurai!"

All right! I sighed, what to worry about with the child, it is useless to reason with him. Originally, I planned to stay for two more days to dredge the Hao clan again, and try to let Yoshimasa Nigi return to Iga Province as a guardian. In this way, the original agreement with him was completed, and then he was made my agent in Iga, responsible for liaison with the Hao clan and personnel recruitment. However, it seems that it is not possible now. There's a time bomb in the team, so let's put it first!

"I see," nodded, "Please go back first!" I'll think about it. ”

"Then I'll wait." Kitabatake Yutaka happily walked away with a triumphant smile on his face.

When he left, Xiao Xia complained: "This son of the main hall is really magnificent!" ”

"Now that I'm in the Yuanfu, I should call His Highness Kitabatake," I smiled and casually ordered, "Please Hanzo come immediately!" ”

"Yes!" Immediately, a voice answered.

After a while, Hattori, dressed in black casual clothes, entered the main tent: "What does Your Highness command?" ”

"Is there an agreement with the Takino family?" I asked.

The Takino family is the largest wealthy family in the northern part of Iga Province, and the land they occupy is a rare fertile land in Iga. Compared with Hattori, Fujilin, and Baidi, this family's territory is larger, but it's not good at ninjutsu, and it's an ordinary wealthy family. His family's Kashiwahara Castle was the largest and strongest castle in Iga Province, and later Nobunaga led 40,000 people from Yamato and Ise to attack Iga Province, and Kashiwahara Castle was the largest stronghold, and the head of the Takino family, Takino Yoshimasa, served as the general of the Iga country.

"Back to Your Highness. His Royal Highness Sadakiyo of the Takino family agreed to the passage of His Highness's military power through the territory, but did not support the return of the Nishiki family to Iga Province......" Hattori Masanari reported.

"Then forget it," I felt a little sorry, "just give the Takino family a gift and say that I thank the Takino family for their kindness." Later, His Royal Highness Oda Danmasa's son will enter his family's territory as our vanguard, hoping that the Takino family will be able to receive it. ”

"Yes."

"Also, immediately send someone to investigate who is closest to His Highness Kitabatake recently. I'll get people to cooperate with you. ”

"Yes. Then the subordinates retired. Hattori Masanari agreed.

"Your Highness wants this lieutenant general to be the vanguard?" Xiao Xia asked in surprise.

"Yes, I have to give him a chance to show it, so that he will be satisfied, and the main hall will be able to explain it......," I replied, calling the guards outside the tent and asking him to cooperate with the investigation of the Hattori family.

Soon, Hattori Masanari sent someone to report that he himself had prepared a gift to go to Takino's house, and people close to Kitabatake Yutaka also found out, one was Kitabatake Goto's Hagimoto personal guard Toyoyoda Goro Saemon, and the other was Shima's Kuki Yoshitaka.

"I see. Go down! I nodded.

Speaking of this Toyota Gorou Saemon, he is indeed a famous fierce general of the Kitabatake family, but he has less brains and his surname is extremely reckless, so he has not been able to be reused. At the beginning of the Battle of Tarumi Egremi, Kiyoshi Castle, who fought back the Nagano family with him as a pioneer and left a martial name, was already the lord of a castle, but he was still a flag samurai. It's a pity that the lord of the castle, Mizumasa, who is known as the "Lord of Spears", was killed by the iron artillery team I placed on the river during the Battle of Anotsu because he tried to save the decline of the pikemen team in front of him.

As the so-called reckless man with the same surname and great courage is Goemon Toyoda, it seems that he was looked down upon by Kitabatake. Compared with Fujikata Chaocheng and Daizen Liang, who followed the wooden tools and surrendered to the government, and were ordered to assist him and often admonished, the simple reckless man is much more pleasing to the eye.

As for the Nine Ghosts Kataka, because he is on the edge of the Kitabatake family, and he is not on good terms with me, it is reasonable to approach Kitabatake Guyu, who will soon inherit the governor of the Kitabatake family. Moreover, according to the region, the Kukiri family belongs to the Minami Ise side, and closely follows the Kitabatake family in the marching sequence. However, he is not going to be so fond of Kitabatake.

That's Gorou Saemon Toyoda. It's rare that he's still a little jealous of me, knowing that Kitabatake Guyu will keep it a secret.

After thinking about it for a while, I made a decision and called Yasutoshi Yamauchi, who was the head of the Ma Dian people: "Pass the order to go down, prepare to leave the camp and set off for the border of Yamato Kingdom." In addition, His Royal Highness Kitabatake was informed that he would replace the Nagano family as the vanguard, and asked him to leave a person close to him to be in charge of liaison with the main camp...... It must be someone close to you. ”

"Yes!" Yasutoyo Yamauchi took the order and left.

After about half an hour, the whole camp came at once. At noon, more than 6,000 people from the Kitabatake family set out as the vanguard of the camp. The person who contacted me also came, but it was not Goro Toyoda as I expected, but Fujikata Chaosei, a major minister of the Kitabatake family. He was the lord of Fujikata Castle of the Kitabatake family, and he surrendered to Nobunaga along with Kizukumasa, and was loyal to the Oda family ever since. After serving as an assistant to Kitabatake Toyomoto, he was later appointed to preside over the operation to kill Kitabatake.

"Isn't His Highness Fujikata serving as a military commissioner? Why didn't you follow the military momentum? "I was taken aback.

"Maybe the young master thinks that he is interfering too much with him," Fujikata Chaocheng smiled bitterly, "However, the young master is in charge of the army for the first time, and he really needs someone to remind him at all times." ”

"Fortunately, there is also a big meal, which can always help His Royal Highness Kitabatake restrain the military situation." That's all I have to say.

"His Royal Highness Kira is a famous general, so he shouldn't worry about anything," Fujikata Chaocheng hesitated for a moment, "But, is it really okay to let the young master be the vanguard general?" ”

"Please rest assured, the several wealthy families in front have already been contacted, and as soon as His Royal Highness Kitabatake's army arrives, he will definitely look at the scenery." I said with a smile.

"Then I'll be relieved." Fujikata Asanori did seem to be relieved.

However, that night, Hattori Masashi hurriedly came over to report: Kitabatake Guyu killed Takino Sadakiyo and led his army to attack Kashiwahara Castle!

Hearing this news, I had a big headache, what an unconscious person! The main task now is not to pacify Iga, but to threaten Yamato and Yamashiro as a flank, how can you stir up trouble here! Moreover, Iga is easy to fight, with the power of Nobunaga's later period, more than 40,000 people from Yamato and Ise were gathered, and the power of well-known generals such as Niwa, Takigawa, Gamu, Tsutsui, and Asano took nearly two months to settle down, and it was the Takino family who took the initiative to subdue.

But at the same time, I'm also a little surprised, when did Kitabatake Gokutaka have this ability?

"What's going on!" I asked hurriedly.

"Back to His Highness, the cause of the incident was that His Highness Kitabatake was in a hurry at night, but he went in the wrong direction, and then had a dispute with the people of the nearby countrymen. After hearing the report of his subordinates, he asked His Royal Highness Takino Sadakiyo to go to mediation. However, His Royal Highness Kitabatake suddenly attacked the people of the Takino family, and then went to Kashiwahara Castle in the name of His Highness, and broke into the castle while it was unprepared...... It was the people of the Nine Ghost Family who besieged the city. ”

I see, this idea must have been Jiugui Jialong. In this way, the first credit belongs to his Minami Ise Legion and to his Nine Ghost Family, and all the efforts I have made before have lost their effectiveness, as if I had planned to deliberately paralyze the Iga clan.

To be sure, his biggest purpose was to build merit and at the same time please Kitabatake. He didn't calculate my intentions, and though he might have a reputation for treachery on Iga for it, he would be hailed by more people as a stratagem—if I could take the opportunity to appease Iga, of course.

However, did he think that the country of Iga was easy to attack? Will it be all right to take Iga's largest clan and the strongest castle?

"Pass the order, and the whole army will be on alert!" I decided to go and see the situation first, restrain the Minami Ise Legion, "Hanzo, let your people keep an eye on the periphery!" Xiao Xia picked a dozen people to set off with me, and Zhengsheng stabilized the military situation for me! ”

By the time I arrived at Kashiwahara Castle, the war was over. Due to the sudden sneak attack, there were not many corpses outside the city, and the fighting mainly took place inside the city, and the Otedo Road, corridors, and houses were full of fallen people, and the air was filled with a thick smell of blood.

"General!" Kitabatake Guyu brought people to greet him, and his expression was flying, not so much to greet as to show off. The big food next to him seemed to want to say something, but after looking at his expression, he still didn't say anything.

I didn't respond to Kitabatake Goyutaka, just stared at the Nine Demons Yotaka behind him, and then looked in the rooms on either side of the main hall.

"General, don't worry, all the people of the Takino family have been killed!" Kitabatake said proudly.

"Really?" I replied noncommittally.

"There's more!" Suddenly, a fully equipped military general behind him drew his sword, stabbed it into a nearby wooden cabinet, and then sent it with force, and the blood flowed down the blade, until it reached the blade, and then dripped to the ground.

"Humph!" He snorted coldly, pulled out the knife, and then opened the cabinet door, and a woman in her twenties fell out leaningly, still holding a child in her arms. The child's face was flushed, probably because the woman had covered her mouth.

The woman's face was frightened and painful, and a large piece of her clothes on her left and right breasts were soaked with blood, apparently pierced by a knife.

"Please......" she whispered a word with trembling pale lips, and then there was no more sound, and her eyes darkened like the light of a candle that had been extinguished.

"Die!" The previous commander raised his sword again.

"Enough!" I yelled angrily and stepped forward to pick up the child.

This is a girl, looking at the age of about two years old. She looked at her mother in a pool of blood, her eyes widened, but it was not fear, but curiosity and a little overwhelmed.

"What's your name?" I asked softly.

"Senjuhime......" the child replied, turning his head to stare at his mother on the ground.

"General, you can't leave the aftermath!" Kitabatake said loudly.

"It's just a girl. So be it. Your Highness Kitabatake has worked hard," I commanded in a calm voice, "I said, I may have to deal with the attack of the people of Iga Province soon, and you must rein in your army and arrange defenses." Go now! ”

"Yes." Said that the big meal Liang respectfully agreed, and quickly went down to arrange.

"Then go back and rest, and get ready for tomorrow's attack." I found a clean spot and sat down, ready to stay here tonight.

By the time the crowd had dispersed, the entourage had already cleaned the room. During this time, Senjuhime kept looking at her mother, and found that she was motionless, and she was carried out, and finally cried. Xiao Xia hurriedly took her and held her in her arms and coaxed patiently. Senjuhime cried for a while, probably because she was really tired, so she fell asleep with tears.

"Is Your Highness ready to adopt her?" Xiao Xia asked.

"Yes, let's take it as atonement! I'm really sorry for the Takino family to be like this. I sighed.

"Then it's better to be a concubine's child...... What a pity! Xiao Xia lovingly tidied up the scattered hair for Chijuhime, and then leaned against me and closed her eyes.

I looked out the door into the darkness of the night, and my mind was thinking quickly.

The Takino family is the largest wealthy family in Iga, and the head of the family, Takino Sadakiyo, is one of the Iga Twelve Autonomous Groups, and is known as a prestige among the Iga Hao clan. His tragic death will definitely attract the anger and attacks of the wealthy families. With the current forces, it is certainly not realistic to pacify Iga on the spot, and if you force your actions, you are likely to fall into it. Moreover, I only brought a month's worth of military rations, and now that the supply lines have been cut off, it is impossible to fight for a long time. There may be storage in Kashiwahara Castle, but it must be a drop in the bucket for 17,000 people, and it may only be possible to get through Minami Omi as soon as possible and turn with Nobunaga's main force.

However, out of Iga Province, the nearest is Minami-Omi Koga County, which is only separated by a mountain from Iga. It's also the famous ninja town, and it's an even more headache than Iga. If Iga's ninjas are mercenaries and can be co-opted, Koga's ninjas are loyal to the Rokkaku family from generation to generation. In the past, it was said that Rokkaku Kurai and Korai father and son were attacked by the shogunate several times, and once they failed, they fled to Koga, and then the shogunate army was dumbfounded. Ninjas are already very good at taking advantage of the terrain, and fighting against them who have lived in the local area for generations is definitely a headache.

It's a big hassle!

(To be continued)