Niwa Nagahide and I couldn't make a decision on such an important matter involving the guardianship of a country, so it was natural for us to report to Nobunaga.

After listening to our report, Nobunaga nodded, but said an irrelevant sentence: "Nagahide, Xuanjing, I'm going back to Gifu!" ”

"But, my lord, the alliance with the Asakura family has not yet been decided!" Niwa Nagahide reminded.

"It's such a trivial matter, you two just decide. Like the last time I made a contract with the Asai family...... Nobunaga waved his hand, "Since we are going to welcome Lord Yoshiaki and raise troops to Shangluo, there are many important things to do!" ”

The important duty of protecting a country, Nobunaga thinks it is a trivial matter? Niwa Nagahide and I glanced at each other.

Of course, maybe he's right. In this troubled world, if you want to get what you need, the most important thing is strength. Compared with things related to military rations and military strength, such as rectifying the territory and taming the wealthy clans, the lip service lawsuits on the covenant are indeed "trivial".

"Your Majesty understands what your lord means." I replied.

"Then, I'll leave it to you and Changxiu!" Nobunaga nodded in satisfaction.

In his words, he put my name before Niwa Nagahide, which means that I am in charge.

Niwa Nagahide can naturally hear this.

"Yes, Your Majesty will definitely cooperate with Xuanjing to do this well." He said to Nobunaga.

He had no resentment at Nobunaga's neglect of the order of his ministers and let me lead the covenant, and he was truly a man of general knowledge.

"Then I can go back with peace of mind," Nobunaga was very pleased, "I will meet Nagamasa later and say goodbye, and you can come with you!"

"Yes!" Niwa Nagahide and I replied.

As in the case of the meeting when we came, Nobunaga was still in the main seat, and Niwa Nagahide and I were accompanied by him on either side of his head. Asai Nagamasa greeted Nobunaga with his father and wife, Aichi, who had taken a back seat.

"Since my brother is busy with affairs, I won't keep it for a long time. I wish my brother a smooth journey! Asai Nagamasa said. He was a tall, good-looking young man with a good demeanor.

"Hmm," Nobunaga nodded, "I've been really sorry for you these two days, thank you for your hospitality." ”

"Why did my brother say this, this is my long-term business." Asai Nagamasa said angrily.

"yes, haha!" Nobunaga looked very happy, "You are my righteous brother, and I believe in your righteousness." From now on, join me in controlling Kinai and taking over the world! ”

"This is my honor for Changzheng!" Asai Nagamasa replied.

"Ah Shi!"

"Brother." Aichi stretched out his hands on the floor in front of him and saluted Nobunaga lightly. Despite marrying in a foreign country and being pregnant, her face is still as dazzling as a flower, and she is a little more mature than before. Obviously, she gets along well with Changzheng and is very pampered.

"Changzheng is a very good general, you should understand, just continue to serve with peace of mind."

"Yes." Ashi replied obediently.

“…… Also, take care of yourself. Nobunaga looked at Aichi with gentle eyes, like a most ordinary brother.

"Please take care of your brother too......" Ah Shi leaned down deeply, and there was a hint of choking in his tone.

"Then I'll go back. The next thing I have entrusted to the two important ministers of the family, Kira Nobuyi and Niwa Nagahide. Changzheng knows them, so please take care of them. ”

"Please take care of the former guard!" Niwa Nagahide and I saluted Asai Nagamasa together.

"You don't have to be polite," Asai Nagamasa nodded with a smile, and then promised Nobunaga seriously, "I, Nagamasa, will do my best." ”…… During the whole process, only Hisamasa Asai did not have any lines. Although he was Nagamasa's father, he was once exiled to a desert island in Lake Biwa, and when he returned home, he was with Nagamasa's consent, so he lost his binding force on Nagamasa in righteousness. Now it is an official meeting between the two families, and Nagamasa did not mention him, so he naturally cannot express his opinion without authorization. On Nobunaga's side, because of his consistent estrangement from the Oda family, he didn't treat him very much, so he seemed to be ignored.

For this indifference, I don't know what kind of look he has? From my point of view, he happened to be blocked by Asai Nagamasa in the front row, so he couldn't see clearly.

But I know that he is not as mediocre as others think. This can be seen from the process by which he obtained the position of governor.

At the beginning, his father, Ryomasa Asai, inherited the Asai family as an adopted son-in-law, and the basis for his succession was on the daughter of the previous head of the family, Naomasa Asai, and the main room of the family, Asai Kuraya. Therefore, the next governor can only be the child of Asai Kuraya. Due to the early death of Zoya's sister-in-law, Shinshiro Masahiro, the husband of his daughter Tsuru Chiyo (known as Kaitsuden after marriage), Taya Akimasa, became the most orthodox heir. So Ming Zheng changed his surname to Asai and inherited the common name of Ryomasa, called Asai Shinzaburo Akimasa, and participated in government affairs for a long time as the next head of the family recognized by the wealthy family, although Ryomasa regretted it, but there was nothing he could do. However, Shinkuro Hisasa, who was only sixteen or seventeen years old at the time, suggested to his father that he marry Onoden, the daughter of the Iguchi family, who was hostile to the Asai family, as his main room. So, with the great merit of incorporating the Iguchi family into the family, as well as the strong support of the Iguchi family, Jiuzheng finally overpowered Ming Zheng and was called the next head of the family recognized by the wealthy family.

It can be seen that Jiuzheng is by no means a mediocre person, and he may be his plan to marry the daughter of a retainer of the Hexagonal family, who is the son of the famous and virtuous government at the time. Although he paid the price of his own exile, he succeeded in arousing the unanimous anger of the wealthy family against the Rokkaku family, and tried his best to oppose the Rokkaku family, which led to the battle of Norada who defeated the Rokkaku family with less victory. And the fifteen-year-old Changzheng has also established great prestige in his family.

Now this man is putting on a mediocre appearance, and his success has been ignored...... How can we explain his intentions?

……，…… With Nobunaga's words, Mitsuhide and I quickly came to an agreement. In the process, I wanted to take the opportunity to bring up the matter of Ashikaga Yoshishu's return to the Horikoshi Gongkata family, but in order to avoid twists and turns, I remembered that Nobunaga had told me not to make any promises to Ashikaga Yoshishu, and finally I gave up this plan.

The most important thing now is to determine the matter of Shangluo. After that, the division of interests must have been dominated by the Oda family, and it was the head of the party. Since Nobunaga intends to use Yoshishu to balance Yoshiaki, these few months are enough time for me to recommend Yoshishu to him again. And my plan was very beneficial to the Oda family, and Nobunaga would have agreed with it.

By the end of the decade, things were finally settled. The Oda family and the Asakura family jointly sent troops to defeat the Miyoshi family and support Yoshiaki Kamiraku. In consideration of the military rations, the time for sending troops was set for September after the autumn harvest. Among them, the Oda family, Asai and Tokugawa joined forces to open up Minami Omi and play against the Miyoshi family as the main force; The Asakura family sent 20,000 troops to threaten Kyoto through Wakasa Province as part of the forces to flank the Miyoshi family. As for Yoshiaki himself, of course, he was acting with the main force, so he had to leave the Asakura family and go to Mino Province.

On April 15, Yoshiaki, who was still in Echizen, thought that the word "autumn" was unlucky, and changed his name to Ashikaga Yoshiaki. This is also a preparation for the succession of generals. As shoguns, there is often a tradition of changing names before succeeding to the throne, such as Yoshitaka changed his name to Yoshisumi, Yoshito changed his name to Yoshiki, and Yoshikin changed his name to Yoshiei, etc., especially the tenth shogun Yoshisai, because he entered the shogunate twice, so there are two tubas Yoshiyin and Yoshi.

And the words used by the general must not only appear auspicious and solemn, but also not rotten on the street - of course, due to a large number of subordinate bias in the future, it will eventually be rotten on the street.

Or take Yoshisai as an example, when he served as a general for the first time, he was biased by the father of Nijo Haruyo, the former Seki Hakuro Nijo Yin Fang, the grandfather of the temple Harutoyo, the minister of the interior to persuade the temple Yin Feng, and the head of the Hosokawa stable family, Hosokawa Yin Xian, etc.; Later, with the support of Ouchi Yoshiko, he drove away Yoshisumi and Hosokawa Sumimoto, and changed his name to a heavy general, and was given the title of the Konoe family, the head of the Kujo family, and a large number of powerful samurai. In addition, the stewards and daimyo who were close to the shogunate would also bow to the lords, such as the Date family, because the ninth governor of the early Muromachi family, Date Daizen Daifu Masamune, married the main muro zenhoji bureau, and was the sister of Shogun Yoshimitsu's biological mother, Zenhoji Kiryoko, so from then on he maintained a high degree of consistency with the shogun, and worshiped the shogun's partiality from generation to generation until the other Date Masamune after the fall of the Muromachi shogunate...... As for those genealogical royal offerings, not to mention, if you don't have a certain general's partiality in your name, it's an extremely embarrassing thing, and you're even embarrassed to greet people...... Then, in July, Ashikaga Yoshiaki officially bid farewell to the Asakura family, and came to the Oda family via Kita-Omi under the escort of 2,000 men led by the Tsuruga Prefecture Division Asakura Keitsushi and the wealthy clan of the Asakura family.

Yoshiaki met with Asai Nagamasa at the Jizodo Hall in Imajo, Omi Province, and then stayed for three days at Kyuhuaiji Temple outside Kotani Castle of the Asai family, where he met with Asai Hisamasa, the father of Nagamasa. When they set off again, five hundred guards from the Asai family were added to the team. More than 3,000 people entered the country of Mino and stopped near the Bubaguan of West Mino. This is the Sekisho of Higashiyama Road, and together with Suzuka Pass in Tokaido and Aifa Pass in Hokuriku Province, it is called the Three Passes of Kinai, and the east of the three passes is called Tokoku.

Nobunaga first sent Murai Sadakatsu and Shimada Hideshun to greet him, and then personally led his army from Gifu to meet Yoshiaki's procession with nearby Koji Fupo and Katsusuke Naito. As the leader of the alliance between Oda and Asakura, I was also called by Nobunaga from Ise to participate in the meeting of Yoshiaki with the army.

At this time, Ashikaga Yoshiaki had already been arranged by Murai Sadakatsu and Shimada Hideshun to live in Ritsumasa Temple in Mino-Nishiso. However, because Nobunaga's escort had not yet arrived, the forces of Asakura and Asai did not return.

By the time Nobunaga arrived, the two sides had converged, and there were more than 5,000 people, and the momentum was even greater, and the banners of all kinds were like forests. Except for a few big wealthy families in the vicinity, who occupied a position at the end of the line, the rest of the small and medium-sized wealthy families, local samurai and peasants all knelt down on the side of the road, and at a glance they were all combed with their heads of various hairstyles.

Seeing such a grand occasion, think about it when I led the army to welcome Zhou Song and his party, and now Yi Zhou, who is trapped in Jiangyan Temple in Xiaomu Mountain...... It's really embarrassing.

Fortunately, after my previous remarks, Nobunaga finally regained some attention to Yoshishu, and I was in charge of the liaison with Eganji Temple. Matsui Tomokan, who was sent by Yoshishu, successfully left the Oda family, and was soon reused by Nobunaga, serving as the family's right-hand man along with Mino's former Saito retainer Takei Yuan...... After meeting with Asakura Keitsushi of the Asakura family and Fujikawa of the Asai family, Nobunaga went to meet Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

This was the first time Nobunaga had met Yoshiaki. According to etiquette, the Oda family and the Asakura family, as the acting officials of the Spo family, one of the three leaders, were not a little worse than Yoshiaki, who had the status of the shogun's second general. Since it is a formal welcome and visit, it is not even qualified to be in a room. And Nobunaga was able to put down his body and crouched down outside the threshold of the main room.

"Oda Danmasa Shaobi Nobunaga, meet the stable-sama!" He took the lead and bowed down in worship.

"Danmasa-sama has worked hard, please come in and talk! Your Highnesses, please don't be polite. Ashikaga Yoshiaki was obviously very pleased with Nobunaga's respect, and gave special grace to allow Nobunaga to enter the Jinjin.

"Etiquette cannot be abolished, as a minister of the imperial court, how dare Nobunaga transgress!" Nobunaga insisted on sitting outside the threshold.

Although his words were deferential and very reasonable, they showed disagreement with Yoshiaki after all. I secretly showed a knowing smile, and sure enough, I deserved to be Nobunaga, who did my own thing!

Ashikaga Yoshiaki didn't see it, but appreciated and thanked Nobunaga even more, and praised almost with tears in his eyes: "Danmasa-sama is so polite, he deserves to be a pillar of the imperial court and the shogunate!" And I, Yoshiaki, will also keep in mind the loyal and respectful feelings of Lord Danzheng...... The matter of upholding righteousness and supporting the shogunate will depend on Danmasa-samachi from now on. ”

"I, Nobunaga, will definitely defeat the rebel ministers Miyoshi and the Matsunaga family, expel the usurpers, and support the position of the warlord Masasho. No matter who stands in front of them, they will be knocked to the ground to show the righteousness of the world! Nobunaga bowed his head in reply, his words revealing a strong murderous aura.

"Good, good! It's really reassuring that Danzheng has such ambition! ”

"Don't dare to be an adult," Nobunaga owed, took out a folded white paper from his bosom, and bowed his head with both hands, "In order to welcome your lordship, I, Nobunaga, have sent 10,000 kan of money to this temple for your lordship's expenses, so please stay here with peace of mind!" …… In addition, there are a large number of gifts to give, and the detailed categories and quantities are listed in the gift list, so please take a look. ”

"Danzheng is so thoughtful, it's really bothering!" Ashikaga Yoshiaki was so moved that he nodded again and again.

(To be continued)