At this moment, Treasure Pill suddenly stood up and bowed to me, "Is your lord His Royal Highness Kira of Mie Castle?" I want to learn swordsmanship with the tiger pine in the adult's house, and I ask the adult to agree. ”

"Treasure Pill!" Kinoshita Hideyoshi scolded, "There's no place for you to speak here, let's learn from Toramatsu and Inuchiyo...... Don't sit down yet! ”

Treasure Pill remained motionless: "Father-sama, please don't stop me. ”

"You......" Kinoshita Hideyoshi turned his head and smiled apologetically, "I really can't stop it." Although Treasure Pill is very sensible, once he becomes stubborn, maybe only Ning Ning can dissuade him. ”

"In that case, Toramatsu, you can have a discussion with Treasure Pill," I agreed to his request, "He's two years younger than you, so I'll keep a little bit of a hand." ”

I also want to see how far Treasure Pill has reached now.

"You don't have to keep your hands. Treasure Pill swordsmanship is very good, and the age gap of two or three years is not a problem. "Kinoshita Hideyoshi is very confident in Treasure Maru. He laughed: "If it's something else, no one dares to underestimate the people of your Kira family, but swordsmanship...... Ha ha! ”

"Is that so?" I also laughed, "Then you can do it yourself, Tiger Song!" ”

"Yes. Father. Tiger Song stood up, took the wooden knife from the attendant's hand, walked slowly to the middle of the courtyard, and nodded to Treasure Pill, "Please advise." ”

Treasure Pill stood opposite Tiger Song, also nodding with a knife, but didn't say anything.

The two sides intersect with their knives and then each retracts. Treasure Pill snorted and took the lead in attacking. Hu Song held the knife in one hand and blocked four or five times in succession, but the man also took three steps back.

"You'd better use your hands. Retreat like you, and you'll soon be on the edge of the wall. Treasure Pill said.

"No," Hu Song smiled slightly, "I'm going to attack." ”

As he spoke, he also attacked with his sword.

The attack was quickly blocked by Treasure Maru. Tiger Song turned to the side and attacked again.

The two of them dismantled a few tricks like this, and I understood it. Compared with the wide opening and closing of the treasure pill, Tiger Pine pays more attention to the technical aspect. In these few attacks, Treasure Pill was barely able to block on two occasions, and if Hu Song attacked with all his hands with all his might, he would definitely be able to break through his defenses.

Finally, Toramatsu found the flaw in Treasure Pill and slashed at Treasure Pill's neck with a knife.

Seeing that it couldn't be stopped, Treasure Pill snorted again, and hurriedly walked sideways, winning a little distance. When Tiger Pine's wooden knife caught up with the side of his neck, his knife also stayed under Tiger Pine's ribs.

"All right," I said, "both of them are good! Let's tie! ”

"The final blow was more exciting." Maeda Toshiya commented.

"I think Tiger Pine is stronger." Yoshiyuki Sawaki smiled straightly, and seemed to be honored.

"I really didn't expect it......" Kinoshita Hideyoshi sighed. He naturally understood that Hu Song was keeping his hand: "In the past two years, there has been a competition between Treasure Pill and his peers, and there has been no situation where he can't win." ”

"By the way, who taught Treasure Pill? Judging from the style, it seems to be a more courageous person, right? I asked, confused. This is something I have never understood, but when Hideyoshi was in the Mino and Omi eras, there didn't seem to be a retainer in his family who was famous for his bravery, so how did he train brave generals like Kato Kiyomasa and Fukushima Masanori?

"It's Mikoda Hanemon and Toda Sanshiro," Hideyoshi's face was a little smug when he said this, "They are all retainers recruited after I was promoted to the general, and they are indeed very brave, and Hanemon has also participated in Tsubazama." ”

"Oh." I nodded, it was them.

When it comes to Hideyoshi's retainers, many people in modern times only remember Shigeharu Takenaka, Masakatsu Wasuka, Horio Yoshiharu, etc., or "Five Executions", "Seven Guns of Mt. Cheapest" and the like. But in fact, Takenaka and the others were not Hideyoshi's retainers, but the power sent by Nobunaga to Hideyoshi, and as for the Shidake Seven Guns, they can only be regarded as small characters. If you want to talk about the real backbone, the "Four Heavenly Kings of Hashiba" are the best among them, and when Hideyoshi was enthroned in Harima Banguo, they were already important ministers with a territory of more than 5,000 koku. By the time of the Battle of Shidake, Masaharu Mikoda was already the general who led the army, while Katsutaka Toda was also in charge of land inspection.

It's a pity that none of them ended well, and there is very little information left behind, and almost no one knows.

Speaking of which, there is one of the four people in my family, and it is Miyata Kihachiro Miyachiro, my current personal guard, who is said to be the first brave warrior among Hideyoshi's former ministers. Before he died in May of the 6th year of Tensho (1578), he had already received 7,000 koku of Harima. He was the youngest, and he followed Hideyoshi the latest, and he only came out when Hideyoshi was the lord of Nagahama Castle, but he died the earliest...... On the way back, Hu Song didn't mention the competition to his mother, Naoto, but I told Naoto. Although I praised him for his performance, he didn't show any smugness, but a thoughtful look. Perhaps he didn't think it was worth boasting about beating a kid two years younger than him, and he seemed a little confused, so I asked, "You must be wondering, why are Treasure Pills and Kichijomaru so similar?" ”

"It's really a strange thing," Hu Song nodded.

"You don't have to worry about it." Straight Tiger confessed to him. When she came out of me, she happened to meet Treasure Pill.

"Well," Hu Song nodded in agreement, but said again, "However, when you try it, you will know that it is not alone." ”

"How?" I asked.

"Because Kichijomaru is definitely not so powerful!" Toramatsu laughed, "I heard that Mrs. Asano is very protective of him, so Hidekei-sama can't be too strict. ”

"That's right." I replied casually.

Although they are twins, they will naturally be different due to different circumstances. On Kichijomaru's side, as soon as Yaya saw him, he couldn't help but think of the abandoned treasure pill, so he couldn't bear to see him being disciplined too harshly. This situation may seem to others to be a sign of "a loving mother with many defeated children", but I don't think it's a serious matter. Martial arts are only one aspect, and a more relaxed environment is conducive to the shaping of the surname and mind.

On Treasure Pill's side, judging from the fact that he deliberately challenged Tiger Song, it was obvious that he already knew about his own family heritage. When I realized that I was abandoned by my parents, I guess I thought that I would like to let you know that I was wrong...... That's why he's so strong, so stubborn.

What will happen if this continues? In case Hideyoshi's parent-child Ishimatsumaru who was born next year does not die young and becomes Hideyoshi's heir, then with the surname of Treasure Maru, how should he deal with himself at home? It seems a little worrying.

……，…… When we had a banquet at the Oda family, another banquet was held at the Nijo Imperial Palace of Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Although the letter of invitation was sent in the name of the shogun, and Nobunaga did not even participate, everyone could see Nobunaga's shadow. And they came at the mercy of a certain sign of submission to Nobunaga.

Perhaps for this reason, the Asakura family refused Nobunaga's invitation, citing the heavy snow that closed the road and made it inconvenient to travel. This reason is obviously untenable, if it is an ordinary peasant, or a large number of troops, it is reasonable to say that it is inconvenient to travel, but as a daimyo with more than 700,000 koku and more than 30,000 troops, the reason for refusal can only be that he is unwilling to bow to Nobunaga.

In April of that year, Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu (without Asai Nagamasa's business) once again supported the army in Kamiraku, and proposed to the imperial court through Yoshiaki to change the yuan, on the grounds that there were constant wars during the Eiroku period, and if it was decided today, there would be a new atmosphere. He also held a grand sumo wrestling tournament and Noh performance, and once again invited Asakura Yoshikage to Kyoto to meet the shogun and visit the grand event in Beijing.

After receiving the imperial letter signed by Yoshiaki, this time Asakura Yoshijing didn't even bother to give a reason, so he simply refused. So Nobunaga was furious, and on the grounds that Asakura Yoshikei was disobedient to the shogunate, he decided to immediately send troops to fight.

This time, Nobunaga Kamiraku was mainly followed by the elite troops of Owari and Mino, and when they arrived in Kyoto, they gathered the men of Yamato and Settsu led by Matsunaga Shu and Ikeda Katsumasa, and the total number of troops reached more than 40,000. Nobunaga left more than 10,000 of them in his lineage, and handed them over to Niwa Nagahide and Takeda Nobutaka to stabilize Kinai, and he himself led a combined army of 30,000 to march from Kyoto on the 20th. He was accompanied by Ashikaga Yoshishu's brother-in-law, two ministers, Terushi Sano and Asukai Matsushi, who had joined the Hirohashi family from the Hirohashi family, to represent the righteousness of the imperial court.

Kishiwada Castle did not participate in this expedition due to the need to watch the Miyoshi family, and the Ise [***] situation did not move. However, I myself received an order from Nobunaga to go with the army as a military commissioner.

On the third day after the dispatch of troops, that is, on April 23, the imperial court officially announced the change of yuan. The new year name is "Yuan Turtle", which is taken from the Book of Songs? Lu Song? The last sentence in Panshui" is "Looking forward to Huaiyi, come to offer Qichen." Yuan turtle ivory, bribe Nanjin", translated into the vernacular, is "now Huaiyi is conscious, offering treasures to show sincerity." There are large turtles and ivory, as well as gold, a specialty of the south. This era name clearly shows the mood of the imperial court hoping that the world will be peaceful and pay tribute to the imperial court.

At this time, our army was marching to Wakasa. Muto Shunhide of the Muto clan of the Wakasa Muto clan took the initiative to lead a few family members to take refuge and serve as a guide for Nobunaga's army. Two days later, the army crossed the Nosaka Mountains and entered the border of Echizen Tsuruga Prefecture.

Most of Wakasa Province is mountainous, and even the seaside is a mountain cliff, similar to the Kumano area, and geographically called the Italian coastal terrain, only the Ohama area is a natural harbor. The whole place is also called Nanry, the west is the Tango Mountains, the east is the Nosaka Mountains, and the Koya Pass is the dividing point between the Nanling and Echizen North Ridges, the south side is the cultural circle, and the north side is the Hokuriku cultural circle.

At the same time, our army broke through the Kanesaki Castle branch city Tezutsuyama Castle, and the Tsuruga Gunji and the Asakura family of the same name retreated to the main city of Kanesaki Castle. The next day, the army reached Kanesaki Castle in Tsuruga Prefecture and surrounded the entire mountain castle.

In the face of the advance of the Oda family's army, the Asakura family was extremely slow to react, and the Te Tsuyama Castle had already fallen, and reinforcements had still not arrived. As the commander of the Tsuruga Prefecture, Asakura Keiheng is also the military governor and acting general of the Asakura family, so this matter is even more strange.

However, perhaps it is the identity of this acting general that causes problems. Since the dispute was deliberately provoked by Angu Shichi, the Asakura Jingjing of the Ohno people and the Asakura Jingjian, who is directly subordinate to the people of the same name, have long had a lot of conflicts with Asakura Jingheng for the sake of the sequence in the same name. Maybe this time it was deliberately delayed, wanting Asakura Jingheng to hand over the status of the eponymous pen and acting general general.

At the moment of the great enemy, it is really a very speechless thing for our own family to engage in such a battle of will, so that the military plane will be lost.

Of course, perhaps the Asakura family had other plans, preparing to abandon the trumpet-shaped opening area of the Tsuruga Bangun and build a defensive system based on the narrow terrain behind the Muya Pass. However, no matter what, Asakura Keiheng was abandoned.

Although Kanesaki Castle was very strong and there were soldiers and food in the city, Asakura Keiheng lost the will to resist and escaped from Kanesaki Castle on the day of the siege.

Only six days before the dispatch of the army, the Tsuruga people, the most important pillar of the Asakura family, had already been subdued, and the retainers of the family were all overjoyed, and it seemed that they saw another Rokkaku.

I naturally know what might happen next. From the time I sent the troops to the present, I have been wondering why the Asai family rebelled, and whether the situation has changed compared to history, but the results are depressing. The Asai family's rule in Kita-Omi was not complete, and Nobunaga clearly wanted to include this key area in his own family, as he did in Minami-Omi, and had even made private contact with the powerful wealthy families of Kita-Omi. His position on the Asai family may be similar to that of the Kitabatake family in Ise, according to his current division and historical division, it is probably that Mori Kasei is in charge of the western part of the Omi, Sakuma Nobumori is in charge of the southern part of the Omi, Shibata Katsuie is in charge of the central part of the Omi, and Asai Nagamasa is in charge of the eastern and northern parts of the Omi.

On New Year's Day, Asai Nagamasa attended the Oda family's dinner, perhaps to accommodate Aichi, and she probably wanted to be with the wives of the Owari ministers, and she was indeed very happy at the New Year's dinner. And this time, the Tokugawa family led troops into Beijing with Nobunaga, but did not send an invitation to the Asai family, which was close at hand, which seems to be another signal.

If Nobunaga captures the Echizen Asakura family, even if the Asai family is no longer willing, they will have to accept Nobunaga's arrangement. First of all, the capture of Echizen Province will bring Nobunaga's prestige to a new level, leaving the Asai family with no way to refuse; Secondly, at that time, the Asai family's northern Omi was surrounded by Nobunaga's territory, and the opportunity to develop the territory was completely lost; Third, after being surrounded, if you want to resist, the wealthy clans under your command will probably not be willing to follow, and they will face attacks from all sides.

This is something that the Asai family definitely does not want to see. After three generations and decades of struggle, they finally obtained the status of a great name of reading, and it is really shocking that they are about to return to the pre-liberation period one day.

Should Nobunaga be reminded? If so, in what way?

On the evening of the 26th, Nobunaga convened a military council and decided on the march and battle sequence of the next march to attack Minami-Nakajo County and attack Asakura Keiken.

Towards the end, I made a suggestion to Nobunaga: "My lord, do you want to gather the forces of the Asai family and attack Asakura Keiken together?" ”

(To be continued)