March is one of the two most beautiful months of the year in Kyoto, with cherry blossoms blooming all over the city and fiery autumn leaves in October. At least that's what Nana thinks. When I heard her say this, I suddenly remembered that Nana grew up in Kyoto!

Since marrying me, she hasn't been back to Kyoto, especially in the last two or three years, she has stayed in Joryuiin Temple to practice with Hoshin-in Temple many times, and taught the girls in her family to basically live in a state of seclusion.

If it weren't for Keijiro Motofu this time, I'm afraid she wouldn't have left Mie Castle.

Maybe it's a revisit, or maybe the child is about to take the yuan, Caicai's mood is very good, the whole person is in high spirits, and the action and outfit even regain a little bit of girlhood's liveliness. This time it was hard for Keijiro, during the period before the Yuanfu ceremony, he was already very busy, he needed to learn a lot of etiquette, or follow me to visit some colleagues, and it was rare to have much time to rest, but he was forced to take an ox cart and accompany his mother to visit Buddhist temples and shrines everywhere, and he had little leisure. Even I myself was pulled by Caicai several times to enjoy the scenery with her mother and son or in the suburbs.

I know that Nana is deliberate, and I hope that it will allow me to temporarily relieve myself from heavy work and enjoy the rare joy of family. Considering that Keijiro's Yuanfu ceremony has been almost prepared, and with Shigeharu Takenaka, Ishitani Yorichen and others inside and out, they can do a considerable part of the affairs on their behalf, and I don't need to do everything myself, I gladly accepted her arrangement.

On March 7, Keijiro's Motofu ceremony was held in Kyoto as scheduled. Due to the marriage contract with Fuyuhime, the ceremony was presided over by Nobunaga himself, and the scene was quite grand, Kira Shukei, Nishiki Keimasa brothers, all the important ministers of the Kira clan, the genealogy of the Tosa Yoshira family, and Riki Kamo Fuhide, Sawaki Yoshiyuki, Maeda Toshiie, etc., as well as Hatakeyama Yoshishu, Niwa Nagahide, Naomasa Tsukasa, Akechi Mitsuhide, Hosokawa Fujitaka, Murai Sadakatsu, Hori Hidemasa and others were present to watch the ceremony, Takeda Nobutaka, Kitabatake Nobuo, Yura Hideyoshi, Takigawa Kazuki, Hosokawa Shinyuki, Tsutsui Shunkei, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Araki Murashige and others also sent gifts. In addition, Shibata Katsuie of Minami-Omi and Sakuma Nobumori of Kitakawachi, although they have never been very eye-to-eye, also sent me a congratulatory letter for Nobunaga's sake.

When naming, Nobunaga naturally gave Keijiro the word "letter" and named him Kira Nobuya, just like Nobunaga's sister-in-law Nobukata Saji and Tokugawa Nobuyasu as his son-in-law. However, since I am the genealogy of the family, the situation is naturally different from Tokugawa Nobuyasu, although he has already been engaged, Nobunaga is not in a hurry to let Fuyuhime marry, so as not to let Nobuyo be like George Nobukata and Tokugawa Nobuyasu at the age of nine or ten years old.

This Yuan service was originally a good opportunity. However, considering that he was about to go into battle, Nobunaga decided to postpone their marriage until next year. For this matter, Caicai felt very sorry, according to her thoughts, she naturally hoped to see her child get married as soon as possible, which is the common mood of all mothers.

When everyone left, she mentioned the matter to me in the main hall, with a slight complaint in her tone: "Princess Dongji can obviously get married...... She's fourteen years old, more than a year older than Keijiro! ”

"There's nothing wrong with that, right?" I didn't care much, and I was even a little glad. In my opinion, the marriage of a child at the age of twelve or thirteen, both physically and psychologically, is too early, so it can be a year late!

"Oh......" didn't get my support, and Nana was a little disappointed.

However, this didn't affect her mood too much, and the next day, she even teased Xinjing and said, "Princess Dongji of the main family, I heard that she is a very outstanding beauty!" So, do you want your father to go and talk to the main hall? ”

Then, looking at Xinjing's embarrassed appearance, she hid her mouth and laughed.

When Nana returned to the room, I smiled and instructed Shinjing, "Your mother rarely comes to Kyoto, and she is in a good mood." If you have time, walk around with her more. ”

"Yes," the letter nodded in agreement, and then excitedly asked another question, "then, when can I go into battle?" ”

"Would you love to go to war?" I asked rhetorically.

"I hope to be a martial arts general like my father," Shinkyo replied, with an eager expression on his face, "I've been studying with Naoto's mother for so long, so I think I should have enough ability!" ”

His words reminded me of when he was six years old. When Nobunaga came to Mie Castle out of the blue and asked him what he wanted to do in the future, he replied that he wanted to be the general of a country. It was this frank answer that won Nobunaga's heart, and then he decided to marry Fuyuhime to him.

He has been like this since he was a child, because he has not suffered any setbacks, and he is unanimously loved by everyone, so his surname is very cheerful and positive, he is full of confidence in the people around him, and he looks at everything with optimism. This helped him gain the approval of his retainers, but he was often lacking in thought, so that he oversimplified things.

"War is not a simple fight," I decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity to teach him a good lesson, "Actually, the war has already started before you are subdued. ”

"Really?" There was confusion on his face.

"Yesterday Yuanfu, Uncle Xiujing was not there, you must be surprised, right?"

He nodded, "Indeed...... I think there should be a good reason, though. Uncle Xiujing has always treated me very well, and he is still my martial arts enlightenment master, so he will definitely not deliberately slack off. ”

"You're right," I encouraged him, and then told him, "Actually, he's gone to Saga Castle and asked Saga to help us deal with Hatakeyama Takamasa ......."

"I see!" Shinkage couldn't help but shout, "Father-sama hasn't made any moves, it turns out that it was to avoid alarming Saga Zhong and Hatakeyama Takamasa and hide our attack intentions...... Then, hiring the Saga people to deal with Hatakeyama Takamasa can not only get a boost, but also weaken the Saga people, so as to facilitate the next step of the conquest...... Is that so? ”

"It's very rare that you can think of such a step." I am very pleased. The conquest of Saga and Hatakeyama Takamasa was an order given to me by Nobunaga in private, and it was not made public at home. Of course, as the scheduled lieutenant, Xinjing naturally knew about it. And from this opinion, it seems that he did learn a lot from Naotora Ii and Shigeharu Takenaka.

"If you want to do a good job, you must choose the right person," I further educated him, "The reason why you let Uncle Xiujing's father go by himself is because he once commanded the Saga people to attack Lotus Pond City and defeat the Changzong family, so the Saga people are very convinced of him and are likely to accept his request." And Uncle Xiujing's departure on the same day that he chose your Yuanfu shows our sincerity even more. ”

"That's right," Shinkyo thought for a moment, and suddenly asked, "But, with the help of the power of the Saka people, is it dishonest to deal with them immediately?" I remember, my father had never done anything like this, right? ”

"You are wrong," I told him, "war is a cruel thing, and in order to achieve victory and minimize your own casualties, you need to use all kinds of means and strategies flexibly. In a sense, the reputation of integrity is also a means that can be used, and if it has been determined that it is not endless, then it must not be bound by the so-called reputation. ”

"Is that so?" Xinjing looked at me suspiciously, "But, this reputation ...... Not so good after all, right? ”

"Your worries are justified, maybe it doesn't have to be that way," I nodded, "For the main hall, the confluence of Hatakeyama Takamasa and Ashikaga Yoshiaki is much more serious than the threat of the Saga people. If the Saga people show kindness to us and help us deal with the Hatakeyama family, we should be able to get the forgiveness of the main hall. ”

In fact, even for Hatakeyama Takamasa, I have no ill feelings, and even a little appreciation. He was a man of great adherence to righteousness, and from the Battle of Kyokoji Temple to the abandonment of his position as head of the family, he fought for the revival of the shogunate and his own family. Whether it is Yoshiteru and Yoshiaki of the shogun's family, or his younger brother who is cultivated as an heir, he spares no effort to support him, and even if he is exiled three times, he still does not change his original intention. It's just that when Nobunaga and Yoshiaki were allied, he was the guardian of South Hanoi who was affirmed by Nobunaga; Now that he has broken with Yoshiaki, he has become a thorn in Nobunaga's side.

Now that the soldiers are meeting each other, it has nothing to do with the general righteousness of the world or personal qualities, and it is entirely because of the uncoordinated positions of the two sides. If there is room for relaxation in the Saga people, then Hatakeyama Takamasa is something that Nobunaga must defeat, both because he is inclined to Ashikaga Yoshiaki and because he has a lot of hindrance to Hatakeyama Yoshishu.

Later, when Hideki returned to Kyoto, he reported to me about the envoy to Saga: the people of Saga did welcome him to a considerable extent, but eventually declined Hidekei's request and refused to accept my offer again.

Shigeki Suzuki said that it was inconvenient for the Saga people to participate in the war in their own country. I think that's a pretext. Xiujing's expression was a little ashamed, "In short, I failed to complete the entrusted task and disappointed my brother." ”

"In that case, let's prepare to attack the Saga people first!" I made a decision very quickly.

"Attack Saga?" Xinjing asked in surprise, obviously unable to turn around for a while. Why do you try your best to show sincerity one moment and attack the next?

"This level of sincerity can't impress them, obviously the position can't be reconciled, then there is no way," I sighed slightly, "Didn't I tell you just now?" When it comes to judgment, you must act decisively...... Moreover, this situation is also expected by us. How to deal with the Sakaga people, Chongji and I have already thought about it before. ”

……，…… Kii Province is mountainous, and more than 80% of the entire territory is mountainous, including the eastern part of Northern Kii and the whole of Southern Kii, and a few plain areas are almost all distributed in the western part of Northern Kii Province. The largest of these, known as the Wakayama Plains, is the essence of the entire Kii Province, and the Kigawa River, which stretches across most of the Kii Peninsula and winds down from the Takadaigahara of Yamato Province, brings ample irrigation to the plains. Of the six northern Kii prefectures, the three counties of Kaibe (Kii), Nagusa, and Naga, which are located in the north of Kikawa and are distributed from west to east, and Arita Gun, which is located in the southern part of Kikawa, belong to the Wakayama Plains. The remaining two prefectures, one is Ito-gun, where Koyasan and Kudo are located, and the Kii Mountains east of Naga-gun are located; The other county is Taka-gun, which is located in the south of Arita County, and Arita County is bounded by the Arita River.

Among these prefectures, the area from the south of Yutaka County to the west, including the western part of Mulou County, is the area controlled by local tyrants such as Yukawa, Yamamoto, and Sumida in Kii Province. Naga-gun and Ito-gun, controlled by Neraiji Temple and Koyasan respectively, were part of their temple domain. The eastern part of Arita Gun, which also belongs to the temple domain, is controlled by the Pink River Temple of the Tendai sect, and the Saga Sho and Tonosato in the western part of the Wakaura and Wakayawa (also known as Saga River) are the northern two groups of the five groups of Saga and the base camp of the Saga people, and the other three groups of Miyako, Nango, and Nakago are located in the Nagusa-gun north of Kikawa, and control the Kiikaibe County in four areas distributed on the seashore of the two counties of Nagua and Arida, with a total territory of about 780,000 koku.

On the 9th of March, I issued an order to the people in Kyoto to attack Saga. In addition to Fuami Mitsunari Shou Shodoshima and Kira Kinsada Shou Nakamura Castle, the North Ise people, Awaji people, Iga people, Tosa people and Yoriki Gamo Fuhide, Maeda Toshiie, Sawaki Yoshiyuki, and Ikoma Maoma were divided into three by me, and they were given strategic tasks.

The first part consisted of the main force of 5,000 men of the Honke Navy, led by Iwamatsu Keitari, called Kawate, and advanced to the Arita River on the border of Arita and Adaka, and was responsible for cutting off the possible contact between Hatakeyama Takamasa and Saga in Wasaka Prefecture.

The second part was the Tosa Clan, the Iga Clan, and the Kanie Navy, which were transported by the Tosa Naval Army and the Kumano Imperial Army, respectively, and converged in the Kigawa area, called Yamanate, and the Naval Army totaled 12,000 men, commanded by Hidekei, Shukei, Keimasa, Wasuka Masakatsu, Honda Masanobu, and Fukuchi Muntaka. The tasks of this part were more cumbersome, and the Tosa Naval Army and the Kumano Naval Army were responsible for guarding Kikawa and cutting off the connection between the three groups of Saga Zhongmiya, Nango, and Nakago in Nagusa Prefecture and the two groups of Sagaso and Tonogo in Arita Prefecture; Tosa was responsible for building Wakayama Castle on Mt. Wakayama (also known as Mt. Momiji) on the south bank of the Kigawa River as a support for the attack on the base camp of the Saga people; The Iga people were in charge of guarding the mountain line, and Hattori Masanari's Iga group was in charge of liaison, and once a large-scale enemy was discovered, Wasuka Masakatsu's Kanie Bei immediately attacked.

The third part is the main attack force composed of Tsushima Bei, Mie Bei, Awaji Bei, Asaki Bei, Awaji Min, and Nishiawa Shiga, with about 10,000 people, called Hamatate, and under the leadership of Shinkei, Takenaka Shigeji, Gamo Fuhide, and others, they set out from the seashore of Nagusa-gun, and swept all the way through the various castles of the three groups of Saga Zhongmiyago, Nango, and Nakago, and then crossed the Kikawa River and joined Yamate to attack the base camp of the Saga people.

(To be continued)