At noon the next day, the generals received orders to assemble at Nobunaga's main tent. Oda Nobunaki and his samurai with the rank of a general also arrived, and Nobunaga asked Oda Nobukiyo to sit beside him, while his subordinates in turn occupied a row of maza in the left-hand direction of the main seat, and faced our Shibata Katsuie, Sakuma Morishige, Takigawa Kazuki, Oda Nobubo, and Sasa Masaji. Murai Sadakatsu was summoned from Cheongju by Nobunaga's order, and he was also on the table. Oda Echizen, Kawajiri Hidetaka, Maedama Toshiie, Sasa Naimasa, Fukutomi Hidekatsu, Naomasa Tsukasa, and I stood on either side of the main throne, and at the door were Hasegawa Hashisuke, Sawaki Yoshiyuki, Iwamuro Shigekyu, and Yamaguchi Kyotsune.

"You've worked hard all this time. Once the war is over, we should reward you for your loyalty and dedication. Oda Nobunaga looked around at the generals in the tent, and nodded to the people of Inuyama Nobukiyokata.

"I am willing to die for the Lord!"

"I am willing to drive for His Royal Highness!"

Oda Nobunaga retracted his gaze with satisfaction, and turned his head to look at Oda Nobukiyo: "Regarding the next policy, how about Shimono Moriyi?" ”

Oda Nobukiyo owed a little: "More than half of the 3,000 people on the Xinxian side were killed and injured in this battle, and their vitality was greatly damaged, so there is no need to worry about it for the time being, with the military strength of my brother, it is enough to control the situation." However, our territory is short of manpower, and seeing that the autumn harvest is imminent, and we have to strengthen our control over the new territory, I am afraid that we will have to disband the army...... Thank you for your understanding. ”

Nobunaga nodded, frowning slightly. Oda Nobukiyo's implication was to unilaterally withdraw his troops, and he seemed to want us not to intervene by occupying some new territories this time. This made him slightly unhappy.

However, there is also truth in Oda's words. After this battle, Oda Nobuyoshi suffered huge losses in both military strength and prestige, and his retainers and samurai suffered heavy casualties, and the castle town was also completely sacked, and it was not easy to breathe in two or three years. Moreover, the autumn harvest cannot be delayed. But he didn't want to let Oda Nobuyoshi go, and after a quick calculation in his heart, he agreed to Oda Nobukiyo's request to withdraw his troops.

And so he took his leave. Things are urgent, so let's start here. I wish my brother and all of you a long journey. Oda Nobukiyo stood up from his horse, bowed in greeting, and led his men out of the main tent.

After Inuyama's people left, Nobunaga took out the folding fan on his waist and gently patted the palm of his left hand: "Okay, if you have any opinions, just say it now!" ”

"Your Majesty thinks that you should take advantage of the big victory and go to Iwakura Castle! Solve Oda Nobuyo, and the country will be safe. Katsuie Shibata spoke first.

"Your Majesty's opinion is the same as that of His Royal Highness Katsuya." Masaji Sasa echoed.

"But in this case, the autumn harvest may be delayed...... Sakuma questioned solemnly. The combined territory of the head of the Sakuma family and the sub-family was more than 30,000 stones, which was the largest in the Oda Moshiro family, and as the head of the family, he had to think more about the harvest of the domain.

"Yoshibei, what's the situation at home? If you don't disband the army, will you be able to complete the autumn harvest? Oda Nobunaga glanced at Sakuma Morishige and looked at Murai Sadakatsu.

"Everything is safe at home. This year's harvest is not bad, and the lord has not made the greatest mobilization, if he persists hard, he can complete the autumn harvest. Murai replied.

"Is there any change in Mino and Mikawa?" Nobunaga asked again.

The espionage work has always been in charge of Takigawa Kazuki, and he owes himself: "Return to the lord." Nothing big moves. ”

"There will be no withdrawal. In order to ensure the manpower of the territory, I only mobilized the basic strength of 2,000 people, and then made such a big concession in exchange for Inuyama's troops. Now you can't give up halfway! Nobunaga slapped his palm with a folding fan.

"Yes!" The generals answered together.

"If the city is sieged, how much cooperation should be made within the city?" Oda Nobunaga asked.

"This ......" Takigawa Kazuyi hesitated, "After Oda Nobuyoshi returned to the city, he strengthened his control over the city, and all the retainers who were originally close to us were taken under centralized care...... Your subordinates are ineffective, please punish the lord! ”

"Forget it, there's no way around it." Oda Nobunaga waved his hand.

Since there is no hope for it, there is only a strong attack. The original 500 guards in Iwakura Castle, plus the 2 or 300 people who broke into the city, were too strong for the siege force of less than 2,000 people.

"Lord, the morale of the Xinxian side is low, and there is still a great chance of winning if you attack the city! The castle is willing to be the vanguard and take the Iwakura for the lord! "Shibata Katsuie, please fight.

"Let's hear what others have to say!" Oda Nobunaga didn't want to suffer too many casualties, he looked at us standing on both sides, "If you have any good ideas, you can also talk about them!" ”

A few of us looked at each other, and no one spoke first. It's no wonder that most of the stables are more muscular than brainy.

"Xiujing, you're doing a good job in Minong! When I first came, I was also very assertive, why do you only care about equestrian and swordsmanship now? Seeing that everyone didn't speak, Oda Nobunaga began to order.

"Back to the lord, when your subordinates were in Mino, the people of Kawa did not have any laws, so they could act cheaply. But the law of the family is complete, and what the subordinates have to do is to learn and adapt, and then integrate into the family. I bowed in reply.

"Okay, didn't you say that you are familiar with the art of war? Let's talk about any good ideas now! ”

Familiar with the Art of War? I didn't say that, did I? It's just that I've read the Art of War and remember some classic examples of war. So, what can we learn from now? I lined up the thirty-six counts one by one, and I really had a clue.

"My lord, we can turn against the guest and besiege Iwakura Castle!" I say.

"Siege? To put it mildly, how many troops and food will it cost! Shibata Katsuya disagreed, don't look over. As an old man, I naturally have a natural sense of superiority over the new Senzhong, not to mention that I'm not a native of Owari.

"The siege method is a bit special, which is to build a wall at the gate of the city to block the gate and prevent the large army of Iwakura from leaving the city. Then a few high platforms were piled up behind the wall and around the city, fortifications and traps were set up nearby, and iron artillery and archers were arranged to suppress the city according to the high platforms, and a part of the troops was left as a reserve. If Iwakura wants to fight back, he must first tear down the wall at the risk of our attack, and then break through our defenses, and the offensive and defensive posture will be reversed. And the rest of the troops can harvest the grain and grass of Iwakura nearby to replenish our consumption! "I ignored Shibata Katsuie's contemptuous attitude and calmly reported to Oda Nobunaga.

"Hmm...... Not bad! Nobunaga pondered for a moment and nodded in approval, "Yoshibei, I'll leave the construction to you." How much manpower and time does it take to dismantle the materials in the town? ”

"According to His Highness Kira's vision, the most important thing seems to be to block the wall of the city gate, and the rest can be arranged slowly." Murai Sadakatsu glanced at me, "At present, Iwakura is powerless to fight back, so I just took the opportunity to complete it." The progress of the rest of the fortifications depends on the will of the lord. If you want to hurry up, you can arrange more manpower, and if you don't have enough manpower, it's okay to slow down. ”

Nobunaga nodded: "Then let's arrange it now!" Yoshibei was in charge of the fortifications, and since Xuanjing had an idea, he served as his deputy. Sheng Zhong led the headquarters of Ashigaru, and Yiyi's iron artillery team suppressed the city gate. Kwon Roku led a horse riding team, with local tycoons as guides, to first clean up the nearby pro-Iwakura forces. Masaji led the headquarters to monitor the autumn harvest of nearby villagers, and half of the grain obtained was requisitioned as military rations! ”

"Yes!"

……，……

The construction of the wall and the high platform went very smoothly, and in the process, my relationship with Murai Sadakatsu also made considerable progress. In the current Oda family, Niwa Nagahide, as the governor of Cheongshu and responsible for the construction of castles and towns, and rice and grain reserves, naturally occupies the chief, while Murai Sadakatsu is in charge of the internal affairs of the territory and the affairs of the tsunatsune, ranking second, and there are also Shimada Hideshun, Sakai Kazuyo, grandfather Ehideshige and Kuwabara Ieji, each of whom is in charge. As a new senator, in order to have a good relationship with him, I had to devote 12 points of energy to the affairs. He could see that I had indeed helped a lot in this, especially my ability to coordinate and calculate, which he was also impressed by as an expert in internal affairs.

Three days later, the Iwakura Castle Gate was sealed and a four-story deer wall was erected. Two high platforms were erected between the walls, and the pillars were all reinforced with mounds of earth. In addition, there were two in the east and west of the city, each garrisoned by iron cannons and bows and arrows, and fired into the city from time to time. Iwakura Castle was so suppressed by us that we managed to organize three or four counterattacks, but before the walls could be demolished, it was hit hard and had to retreat into the castle. As time passed, an atmosphere of despair slowly spread in the city.

Then, Oda Nobunaga gathered the generals and used the wealthy clans who had come to help him as guides, and he sent a thousand troops to attack various places, and obtained a large amount of land and grain that was supposed to be paid to Iwakura. After a year of hard work, the autumn harvest was coming to an end, but Iwakura Castle did not receive any food replenishment from the territory.

However, according to Takigawa Kazuyi's intelligence, the military rations in Iwakura Castle could still be supported, and Nobuyoshi himself had fallen into a state of paranoia and had no intention of surrendering at all. Under his paranoia and tight control, Iwakura Castle today is like a flood surrounded by a dam.

Seeing that the weather was about to turn cold, Nobunaga's retainers began to argue again. Some people advocated the withdrawal of troops, but they had already won anyway, and they had received a large amount of booty, so rich that each ashigaru could get some compensation, and even Oda Nobukiyo couldn't help but reconvene part of his army to join the robbery. Some advocated an immediate siege of the city and the disbandment of the army after the complete settlement of Oda Nobuyogen. After careful consideration, Oda Nobunaga chose to withdraw his troops. For the current Cheongju, the preservation of combat effectiveness is the most important thing.

At this time, for Cheongju, Iwakura was no longer a concern. Having been severely injured in the previous war, and having lost this year's income, the allegiance of the wealthy clans in the territory, and the allegiance of the wealthy clans in the domain, Oda Nobuxian was powerless to threaten Cheongju for at least two or three years. What's more, during the siege, Oda Nobuyoru suppressed his retainers excessively, and once the suppression was removed, it would definitely cause a strong backlash from the retainers, and it was still questionable whether his rule over Iwakura could be maintained.

Back in Kiyoshu, Nobunaga assessed the battle. To everyone's surprise, Nobunaga gave a credit to Oda Nobukiyo, and sent Oda Echizen Mamoru to deliver a letter of relief and a land grant of 5,000 koku. The relationship between Nobunaga and Nobunaki is like an ally more than a master and a slave, but Nobunaga is the current guardian of Owari, and it can be said that Nobunaga has given Nobunaki a letter of appreciation and a reward. And Nobukiyo also accepted his reward, seemingly recognizing Nobunaga's authority in Owari.

The second gong is the Shibata Katsuya who was used as a pioneer to contain the Shin Kenfang, cover the Inuyama army, and have many victories; Sanban Gong is Takigawa Kazuki, who is responsible for espionage and commanding the iron artillery team; The guns are Maeda Toshiie, who broke through the gun formation, and Yoshiyuki Sawaku, who broke through the gun formation and killed the opponent's bow captain. The two of them each increased their salaries by 100 kan, and were promoted to Ashigaru Shogun. The rest of them also have their own rewards, and I have added 90 yuan of annual income and two people to support it with the merit of suggestion, and it is now 240 yuan and five people to support. Well, apparently Yuka and Mitsu were included in my family.

In addition, the handyman who was in charge of pulling the horses and shoes for Nobunaga was also promoted and became one of Nobunaga's miscellaneous servants, responsible for the procurement of the kitchen. For this "good-looking" Fengtaiko, I naturally noticed it a long time ago, not to mention that he and Maeda Toshiya also knew each other. But I didn't try to interfere with anything, and what Maeda Toshiya didn't do, I, as a new member, naturally won't interfere. Moreover, he will also have his own path and encounters.

One day at the end of the month, Oda Nobunaga suddenly called me to the assessment room of the North Castle Tower.

"Xuanjing, this time in Iwakura, you did a good job! Listening to Yoshibei, you seem to have a lot of experience in calculations and internal affairs. Nobunaga got straight to the point.

"It's just a little bit of knowledge, and I don't deserve to be praised by the lord like this." I humbly replied.

"I heard that your brother and sister are helping under Changxiu?"

"It was some time ago......"

"Well, Migoro's current affairs are too heavy...... I want you to help him, would you? ”

"It's all up to the lord!" I replied.

"That's it." Nobunaga seemed very satisfied with my attitude. He took a note from his sleeve and handed it to me: "Go and call me the people up there." ”

"Yes!" I took the note with both hands and exited the assessment room. Unfold it outside the door, there are nearly 20 names written on it, all of them are the guards of the Mayaku people who are more trusted by Nobunaga, Maeda Toshiya and Sawaki Yoshiyuki are among them, and there are also Sasa Narumasa, Kawajiri Hidetaka, Naomasa Tsukasa, Kanamori Nagakin and others, and Iwamuro Shigekyu and Yamaguchi Kyotsura who are on duty at the gate are also among them. I first went to find Yoshiyuki Sawaki and Toshiya Maeda, who I was most familiar with, and then the three of them split up to find the others. In a short time, all twenty people were seated in the assessment room.

Nobunaga took out an urn, placed it in front of him, and then commanded us, "Reach out and take one each!" ”

I sit in the last row, it's my habit. Yoshiyuki Sawaki sat next to me as usual. Seeing Nobunaga's movements, he leaned his head over: "Hey, Keijiro, what's in it?" ”

"I don't know." I'll be honest.

"It can't be a nugget, right? Is it because the Lord wants to reward us? Then we will suffer a loss if we sit in the back, and we will definitely only get the smallest! Ryoichi Sawaki speculated while staring at the front of Sasa Naimasa, Asai Masada and others.

The answer was soon revealed, and Sasa Narumasa and Asai Masada each pulled out a paper roll from the pottery urn. However, Sasa Narumasa's paper roll is black, while Asai Masada paper roll is red.

Seeing that it was just a paper roll, Yoshiyuki Sawaki suddenly lost interest. However, I thought of a possibility: Could it be that Nobunaga is going to form the Red Mother and the Black Mother?

Nobunaga's red and black mothers were Nobunaga's most trusted retainers, and they were responsible for delivering orders, counting military exploits, and other affairs, and had the power to lead troops in Nobunaga's main camp, and sometimes they were also stationed as important ministers in the family. More than ten years later, the surviving first-generation mother-clothed people have basically become a big name, such as the famous Fuchu three-person public, Maeda Toshiya and Sasa Narumasa are all born in the mother's clothing. The most important is Naomasa Harada (Harada Naomasa), who became the guardian of Yamashiro Ichikoku in the early years of Tensho (1574), and the following year it became the guardian of Yamato Province. Unfortunately, he was killed in a battle with Honganji, and Sakuma Nobumori succeeded him as the commander of the Honganji side of the army.

Being able to become a mother is basically a guarantee of your status in the Oda family in the future! The thought of being one of them made me secretly happy. Yoshiyuki Sawaki next to him still looked uninterested, which made me really want to shake my head and sigh, or give him a look.

Finally it was the two of us. The two of them put their hands into the pottery urn and took out a paper roll. When I looked around, it was all red.

Nobunaga suddenly looked at me, then took my paper roll and handed it to Sawaki Yoshiyuki: "You give this paper roll to Hashisuke!" Let him be with you. ”

"This ......" I couldn't help but feel a chill in my heart. After thinking about it, I was relieved, after all, only Nobunaga's closest confidants could be served, and I had only been in the Oda family for half a year, and I was not from Owari or Mino.

Even so, it's always a bad feeling to have something to gain and lose.

Others did not have the prescience of mine, and most of them were confused, waiting for further explanations from Oda Nobunaga.

Oda Nobunaga knocked on the floor with the folding fan in his hand: "The person who got the paper roll went to the storeroom, handed the paper roll to Hideshun, and after receiving a new one, he immediately came to meet me." ”

So every man went out. Only Oda Nobunaga and I were left in the room.

"Do you know why they were summoned?" He asked.

"The thoughts of the lord are naturally beyond the reach of his subordinates. But...... All of you just now are people whom the Lord trusts very much, so it must be a good thing! ”

"You guessed it right, I'm going to build an elite team directly under me, and they're the ones who will be responsible for leading the troops." Nobunaga nodded, "During the battle in Iwakura, our side besieged the city for two months, which more or less affected our own harvest. Although they were rewarded afterwards, it was not enough! I decided to gather them again, give each of them three supporters, and then concentrate on training for a while. ”

"The Lord is wise! In this way, they will not have to worry about the harvest at home, and they can concentrate on fighting with their lords! In that case, my family can dispatch a force at any time, even during the busy farming season! I hurriedly put on a top hat.

"Not bad, haha......" After hearing my words, Nobunaga laughed heartily and seemed very happy.

In real history, Nobunaga's move was indeed a major innovation in the Warring States period, and the policy of "separating soldiers and peasants" from this laid the foundation for the Oda family's strong combat power in the future.

According to what I have learned before, the policy of "separating soldiers and peasants" was an unintentional initiative of the Oda family. After conquering the country of Mino, the Oda family moved to various places, and a number of occupations were born to support their families without production, relying on money, support, or indiscriminate arrest (i.e., war robbery). These light combat forces far surpassed those temporarily recruited peasant soldiers who could only receive rewards from the first rank, thus giving birth to the system of "separation of soldiers and peasants". However, I didn't expect that after the Battle of Ukino, the first batch of quasi-professional soldiers appeared. Perhaps, this is the butterfly effect caused by my training in Mino and the butterfly effect caused by Iwakura's strategy of "anti-guest and war maintenance"? Who knows......

“…… After much consideration, I have decided that you will be responsible for training this batch of ashigaru. Before you can help Yyogoro, you have to get this thing done! ”

"Ahh This time I was really taken aback, and hurriedly fell to the ground: "Your Majesty must live up to the trust of the lord!" ”

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