Ueno Province, Stablebridge Castle.

"My lord, I just received news that the lord of Ninja City, Narita Nagatai, has promised to surrender and agree to pay hostages and an oath."

Inside the city lord's residence, Naoe Minoru spoke out.

Uesugi Kenshin slowly opened his eyes, and he was now wearing a flat hat, a white cloth bowl wrapped around his forehead, holding a rosary, and sitting on a folding mat in a black robe.

"That's not enough," Uesugi Kenshin snorted, "and I'll let Narita Nagata retire and give up his position as governor to his eldest son." ”

After the siege of Odawara last year, Uesugi Kenshin was inaugurated at Tsuruoka Hachimangu Palace, the Kanto Governor. After the ceremony, Uesugi Kenshin was worshiped by the daimyo clan on the approach to the shrine, and everyone knelt on the ground, except for Narita Nagayasu, the lord of Shinobi Castle, who sat on his horse and greeted him.

This was considered disrespectful by Uesugi Kenshin, and he was so angry that the small universe exploded on the spot, jumped off the horse directly, beat Narita Nagata off the horse, and put the black hat on his head under his feet and stepped on it wildly. This scene by Kenshin Uesugi shocked all the Tobu generals concerned.

In fact, Narita Nagata was wrongly beaten, and he did have the qualifications to salute immediately. The Narita family is a celebrity from the Fujiwara clan, and their ancestors belonged to one of the "Musashi Seven Parties", and they made great contributions during the "Battle of the First Nine Years and Three Years".

Therefore, the ancestor of the Genji family, the Minamoto Yoshi, gave the Narita clan the privilege of saluting on horses. Therefore, from the Minamoto Yoshiya family, the Kamakura Shogunate and the Muromachi Shogunate, which were established by the Minamoto clan, recognized the privilege of the Narita clan to bow immediately.

So in Narita Nagataya's opinion, even when Ashikaga Yoshiteru is present, he can sit on a horse and not be a bird, let alone your Kanto governor. So after Narita Nagata was beaten, he couldn't swallow this breath in his heart, returned to Ninja City, and immediately defected to the Hojo side.

Uesugi Kenshin was still upset when he thought of this incident, but then he turned his attention to the present and said to Naoe Minorutsuna: "Let Saito and Sebe return to the army, and then they will encircle and attack Azuma-gun." This time, I'm going to sit in the stable bridge castle, and if I can't go out to command, I'll let Saito be in charge of the strategy of Azuma County, and he won't let me down. ”

Naoe hesitated and said, "But my lord, didn't you send Murakami, Honjo, Yamamotoji-sama, and the Nagano family to attack Azuma-gun?" ”

"Not enough," Uesugi Kenshin said in a deep voice, "Have you forgotten your defeat at Mt. Shirane?" If they want to completely subdue Suwa Katsuyori, Li Xiao and the others must do their best. ”

Naoe Minotsuna's face seemed to be worried, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Lord, in fact, I have always been worried, thinking that the information sent by Takeda Yoshinobu may be a ploy by the Takeda family to lure the enemy?" ”

Uesugi Kenshin laughed and said, "The battle for the throne has been a way to get rid of chaos since ancient times. And Naoe, do you think that when I was by Yoshinobu's side, I didn't do it carefully? I and Yoshinobu, but each took what he needed, he borrowed my hand to kill Suwa Katsuyori, and I borrowed Yoshinobu's hand to recruit Li Xiao, a fierce general. ”

Naoe Minoru said in surprise: "It turns out that the purpose of the lord's attack on My Wife County is to subdue Li Xiao? ”

"Not bad."

Uesugi Kenshin stood up, picked up the green bamboo in his hand and walked a few steps. This is the root of his illness when he was fourteen years old when he was crusading against Nagao Toshikei was injured by an arrow, and after the battle of Kawanakajima, he suffered a rheumatism attack in his left leg, so he could ride a horse in battle, and he always used green bamboo as a cane to assist him when walking.

Uesugi Kenshin walked a few steps, put up the cover of the window with wood, looked at the river view of the Tone River under the castle of Stablebridge Castle, and said to Naoe Minoru in a deep voice: "Seeing the troubled times of the Warring States, the daimyo of all parties did not respect the orders of the generals, and the retainers also had the retainers of the retainers. I, Huihu, swore a heavy oath in front of the Bishamen Heaven not to fight unrighteous wars, not to occupy unrighteous places, and to end this troubled era, to rebuild the prestige of the shogunate, so that the common people will not be ruined. In this way, the only way to do justice in the world is to use the force of Bishamon Heaven to carry out righteousness in the world, and if anyone does not follow it, he will ask for it. ”

For the loyal Naoe Minorutsuna, although he had heard Uesugi Kenshin's words more than a hundred times, he had already developed the habit of crying with his surname.

Throughout his life, Uesugi Kenshin was ascetic and adhered to righteousness, which was almost a god's character, which also made many Echigo samurai have a fanatical worship of him.

Seeing that Naoe Minorutsuna's excitement was beyond measure, and tears welled up in his eyes, Uesugi Ken Nobunaga sighed and said: "But I, Uesugi Teruto, raised troops at the age of fourteen, although I crossed the Etsukawa and Kanto, but there were two great enemies of Takeda Hojo who could not be pacified. Takeda Shingen exiled his father and turned his back on humanity, and the Hojo clan claimed to be a descendant of the Taira clan, and there was no faith at all. And the existence of the Takeda Hojo family, the reason why the righteousness cannot be declared in the world. ”

Naoe Minoru snorted and said with tears in his eyes: "I know the lord, you often mention the lack of a deputy general. A character who can take on one side alone when the lord is away. For example, a good general like Takeda Nobuyoshi of the Takeda family. Therefore, his subordinates thought about the grand aspirations of the lord of Jiang at night and promoted the world, but he only hated himself for his lack of talent, and he could not become the right-hand man of the lord. ”

Uesugi Kenshin sighed and said, "And Naoe, I know that you are a person who values righteousness, but you are good at planning, but you are still lacking in decisiveness, and you cannot lead the army. Although Saito can take on one side alone, he is not enough to fight against Takeda, Hojo, and even the late Kakizaki Keijia, who is more than brave and lacks strategy. Such talents are rare, it is enough for the Takeda family to have one letter and fan, and now there is another Li Xiao. ”

"I understand, in the battle of Shiraneyama, His Majesty also saw that the Takeda family can defeat our army, not only on Li Xiao's bravery, but also on the timing of his killing of Lord Kakisaki, as well as the strategy of calculating the loopholes in our army's formation, all show that he is a good general with both wisdom and bravery."

Listening to Naoe's analysis, Uesugi Kenshin nodded and said, "Yes, Li Xiao is my candidate for deputy general, so this expedition, the gains and losses of Azuma County, and the annihilation of Suwa Katsuyori's army are not enough to me to say." Only by subduing Li Xiao is my goal. ”

"Oh. The subordinates understood, this is called sending someone to inform Lord Murakami, and it is necessary to capture Li Xiao alive. ”

Uesugi Kenshin smiled and said: "You don't need to ask, I have already explained, but what I want to tell Murakami is that this time Azuma County, you must trap Li Xiao in the Jedi, but don't hurt his surname, and when he is desperate, send someone to surrender to him, as long as he is willing to surrender, I, Uesugi Huihu, will definitely treat him with the courtesy of a national soldier." ”

Then Uesugi Kenshin pointed down with his hand and said, "And this stable bridge city is his residence city!" ”

Minoru Naoe was taken aback, but the castle was a big city in Ueno Province, and it was a horn with Minowa Castle, and it was extremely convenient to enter and exit Shimono, Shinano, and Musashi, and it was a key point of transportation. Therefore, every time Uesugi Kenshin went out to Kanto, he was stationed in the castle of Stables.

Uesugi Kenshin treats Li Xiao like this, simply treating him as the future of the party. Naoe Minoru couldn't help but start to be faintly jealous in his heart.

At this time, the army of the Uesugi family, as early as Sugi Kenshin's order, drove to Azuma County, and their goal was to take Kamahara, Haao Castle, and cut off the retreat of Takeda Katsuyori's army from Azuma County to Shinno Kogun.

Under the strong military strength of the Uesugi family, Kamaharawara Castle fell before it could even support it for an hour, and all 200 people from the castle lord Kamahara, Yukisen, were killed in battle.