Whether it is for the Oda family or for the whole world, the third year of Tensho is destined to be a very important year. During this year, the internal structure of the Oda family changed greatly, and several major events that occurred during this period also had a profound impact on the situation of the entire Oda family.

The first important date is the 21st day of May in the third year of Tianzheng. Due to the habit of recruiting and going into battle by most forces in this era, the day around this day is often the time when the war is in full swing every year, and it is also the time when many important battles and events occur, such as the battle of Tsubazama in which Nobunaga killed Imagawa Yoshimoto in the third year of Eiroku, and the attack and killing of General Yoshiki by Matsunaga and Miyoshi in the eighth year of Eiroku. In this year, the Battle of Nagashino, between the Takeda family and the Oda family, took place.

As I expected, Nobunaga won the decisive battle, killing more than 10,000 Takeda troops, almost completely destroying Takeda Akabei, and courting dozens of Takeda's generals. Of the twenty-four generals of Takeda in the Shingen era, only eleven people are still alive, each of whom has been with Shingen for many years, all of whom have been experienced in a hundred battles, but there are Naito Masatsuna, Baba Nobuharu, Hara Masain, Sanada Nobutsuna, Mieda Moritomo, and Tsuchiya Masaji Six people died in this battle, leaving only Takeda Nobuyo, Ichijo Shinryu, Haruyo Toratsuna, Oyamada Nobushige and Kohata Masamori. In addition, among the heirs of the 24 generals, Mochizuki Nobunaga, the son of Takeda Nobushige and the successor of the famous Shinano family of Mochizuki, the son of Yamayama Masaki, the son of Yamayama Masaki, the son of the famous Takasaka family, Takasaka Masasumi, who inherited the famous Takasaka family and went out on behalf of his father Haru Torasuna, the son of Yamamoto Kansuke, the son of Tamada Mitsuyori, the son of Ganli Torayasu, the son of Ganli Toratai, the adopted son of Yokota Takamatsu, the son of the former tiger Yin, Yokota Tsunamatsu, the grandson-in-law of Itagaki Nobukata, and the main board of the Itagaki family, all these young samurai also died in the war.

Naturally, these people did not go into battle alone, and those who fought with them were also the clansmen, genealogies, and powerful warriors of their respective families, and they also suffered great casualties. It can be said that the elite of the Takeda family, with Takeda 24 as the backbone, has lost seven, seven, eighty-eight in this battle, and it will not be able to fully recover within one or two generations. From then on, they will no longer be able to launch an offensive of this intensity and scale, and will be forced to go on the defensive on all fronts.

I don't know what kind of expression and thoughts Takeda Katsuyori will have when he sees the most prestigious Takeda Akabei in his family fall under the iron cannon of the Oda family behind the fence, and hears the news that Ashigaru of Monomiban's report on the death of one of the family's famous generals will be, but there is no doubt that after this battle, his already modest prestige in his family will be greatly damaged.

The Oda family also suffered a lot of losses, and the number of dead and wounded among the 38,000 troops, including the 8,000 elites of the Tokugawa family, also reached 7,800. However, with the Oda family's huge military strength, these casualties were not enough to break the bones. What's more, the casualties in the army were basically concentrated in the spear array on the front line, and the retainers and samurai who were the backbone did not suffer much battle losses. This level of casualties is perfectly acceptable compared to the results achieved.

Resolving the threat to Tokaido and Higashiyamado, Nobunaga set his sights on the Yama[***] and Sanyo Roads on the Western Front.

On the mountain [***] side, he gave the Tango Kingdom to Takeda Nobutaka and Hosokawa Fujitaka to divide the territory, and ordered the two to crusade against the Tango Isshiki family, who had previously taken in the fugitive monks from Mt. Hiei and had stood on Yoshiaki's side the year before. The province of Tanba was given to Akechi Mitsuhide of Sakamoto Castle, which was close to the Yamashiro country where Kyoto was located, but the large and small wealthy clans in the country led by the Hatano family never completely surrendered, and now Nobunaga had something to do with San'in, and he also lost patience with them, so he made Akechi Mitsuhide sweep away the country.

After these two steps were completed, the three kingdoms of Tanba, Tango and Wakasa were organized into the San'in Legion, with Akechi Mitsuhide as the general of the side, and the attack was led by the Yamana family of Inaba and Tajima. This family is one of the "four positions" of the shogunate, and the current governor Yamana Yutoyo is the grandson of Yamana Masatoyo, the general of the Western Army, who ended the Onin Rebellion. However, it is said that the glory of the famous family has long been a thing of the past, and it can only rely on the powerful forces around it. Previously, in the second year of Nobunaga's entry into Kyoto, because of the position problem, this family was attacked by the then Kyoto governor Yura Hideyoshi, and suddenly lost this Sumiyama Castle, where the clan had lived for generations, so the family governor Yamana Yutoyo had to bow to Nobunaga, and met Nobunaga through Imai Munehisa, and got the peace of Tajima Ichikoku. However, due to the recent pacification of the Mori family's 80,000-strong army, the Yamana family sent a retainer Otagaki Terunobu to reach peace with the Mori family, which naturally made Nobunaga furious and listed the Yamana family as the next target of the San'in side.

As for the Sanyo Road, as mentioned earlier, the Mimura Motojin was unable to resist the 80,000 army of the Mori family, and Matsuyama Castle was attacked by Kobayakawa Takakei in the castle area, and he was seppuku at the Shingon sect of Songren Temple, which was his own Bodhi Temple. Not only that, but the Ishikawa family and the Zhuang family, who had served as the guardians of the country since Hosokawa was in power, also declined, and it was Shimizu Soji, the lord of Takamatsu Castle, who took advantage of the situation. He was originally an important minister of the Ishikawa family, and he was also the son-in-law of the head of the family, Ishikawa Hisatomo, and in the face of the large-scale invasion of the Mori family, he took advantage of the chaos to capture the main family's Beizhong Takamatsu Castle, and then surrendered to Kobayakawa Takakei, making great contributions to the pacification of the Maori family and preparing China, so he was able to claim most of the territory of Beichu afterwards. As for the other small part, it was taken by the Ukita Naojia who took advantage of the fire to rob it.

In this way, Harima Ichikoku was sandwiched between the Oda family and the Mori-Ukita Alliance, and it was time for the big and small clans in the country to take sides. Among them, Akamatsu Masahide, who guarded the Tatsuno Akamatsu family in Nishiharima Bankoku, ten years ago at the marriage wedding banquet of the Urakami family and the Kuroda family, suddenly attacked and killed Urakami Masamune (Urakami Munekei's brother), Kiyomune's father and son, and the daughter of the Kuroda family (Kuroda Takada's sister), and then has been attacked by the Urakami family, surrendered to the Urakami family five years ago, and was soon poisoned to death, and now although it retains the family name, it has completely declined, and the territory is occupied by the Urakami family, and the Urakami family is in view of the strength of the Maori family and their own retainer Ukiga, Soon fell to the Oda family. In addition, in view of the fact that the Urakami family has been overwhelmed by the retainer Ukika, showing a trend of weak lords and strong ministers, the head of the family, Kotera Masada, listened to the advice of a major minister and niece Takataka Kuroda, sent a messenger to Nobunaga, and directly established a master-slave relationship with the Oda family. Then there was the Bessho family, which controlled Higashi-Harima Province, and the head of the family, Besshoji Nagaharu, weighed between his father-in-law, Hideharu Hatano and Nobunaga, and then thought of the Settsu guardian Araki Murashige, who was accustomed to stealing and plundering next door, and also expressed his submission to Nobunaga, and went to Kyoto in person to meet him in October.

With the support of the three wealthy families of Harima Province, the Oda family also has a foothold in Sanyo Road, but Nobunaga is a little unsure about the general of Sanyo Road.

I can roughly guess about his concerns. In terms of qualifications, Sakuma Nobumori in Kitakawachi is the natural candidate, but Sakuma's ability is not outstanding, in the last two or three years, there are few outstanding places, and there are some problems in attitude, too much attention to his own interests, for which Nobunaga once reprimanded him when he pacified Echizen the year before. Nobunaga always felt that it was not so reliable to put him in charge of such an important matter and to deal with the Mori family, who occupied almost all of Sanin and Sanyo.

There is another candidate, that is, Hideyoshi Yura of Kita-Omi, who has shown extremely high defensive ability and strategy in Kita-Omi's strategy, which is suitable for the current situation in Harima Province and Sanyo Province. It's just that he only took possession of Kita-Omi last year, and his own territory has not yet been sorted out, so it is not suitable to go to Harima immediately to take on other important tasks. This is no better than Akechi Mitsuhide, the territory and the strategy target are next to Nobunaga's direct collar, so it is easy to get support. Moreover, Akechi Mitsuhide has served in the shogunate for many years, and he and Hosokawa Fujitaka are representatives of the old shogunate of the Oda family, and they can attract a large number of people for the Oda family, and it is not an exaggeration to serve as the general general. Compared with him, Yura Hideyoshi was born as a peasant and only commanded half of the country, and now he is about to serve as the general of the front army, and his foundation and qualifications are too shallow.

This is only the case in the Oda family. Nobunaga's ambitions were so great, and the Oda family was expanding so rapidly that his retainers couldn't keep up with their promotions...... In June of that year, two years after being promoted to the rank of Right Guard Commander, Nobunaga was once again promoted by the Imperial Court to take up the position of Commander of the Imperial Court and the defeat of the Takeda family in the Battle of Nagashino, which led to the succession of Oda Nobutada as the head of the family. As the heir designated by the Oda family and Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada was also promoted to the rank of the fourth senator and stepped into the ranks of the ministers. In addition, there are several general generals or reserve general generals who have been promoted. Among them, I imitated the format of the three-pipe leader, and was promoted from the sixth Shimoemon Captain to the fifth Shimonoemonsa; Shibata Katsuke imitated the format of the four positions, from Sakyo Daijin to the repair position, and was promoted from the fifth position to repair Liang; The status of Naomasa is somewhat special, although it is also the guardian of the two countries, it is the format of the general general, but it is naturally impossible to lead Kinai, in addition to dealing with Ichisuzong, more often than not, it is to assist Nobunaga, roughly equivalent to the status of the deputy general of Kinai, this time he was promoted from the sixth lower ruling department to the fifth lower management department junior assistant; Akechi Mitsuhide is already the general of the San'in side who is ready, and this time he is appointed to the post of the sixth subordinate to the guard; Sakuma Nobumori's official position has not changed, and he is still a right-emon captain without rank; Hideyoshi Hagara held the official position of Chikuzen Mamoru and was also unseated, and Chikuzen Province and Mukai Province were just north and south of Kyushu.

In addition, due to the imminent completion of Azuchi Castle, Niwa Nagahide was also rewarded as the head of the Minbu from the six subordinates. He and Naomasa and Akechi Mitsuhide, who were also responsible in Kinai, respectively obtained the Miao characters of the three famous Kyushu clans from the imperial court, such as Yuzumi, Harada, and Yuren, just as Matsudaira Ieyasu obtained the "Tokugawa" Miao character in the past. As for my "Kira" and "Shibata", who is the head of the Sibo clan, they are both famous, so naturally there is no need to give any surname Miao.

In the absence of a full-scale war with the Mori family, and perhaps encouraged by my pacification of the Pink River Temple last month, Nobunaga once again launched a crackdown on the Ichijo sect. He led the Minami-Omi, Kita-Omi, Nishiminon, and Ise Kunisha, together with Shibata Katsuie's Northern Army Regiment, totaling more than 50,000 men, to attack Kaga Province, and at the same time ordered Harada Naomasa to lead Yamashiro, Yamato, Kawachi, and Settsu to attack Ishiyama Honganji.

I did not participate in either of these battles, neither of which was under my responsibility, and there was no place for me to be a general. And Nobunaga seems to have noticed that I don't like to participate in this kind of war where believers or lords are opponents, and I am very strong in fighting pirates and sailors. Before leaving, he gave me the task of continuing to fight the Maori navy.

The task was vague, and he did not specify what he wanted to achieve. If you think about it carefully, there are still three main parts of the Maori family navy now, one is the Kobayakawa navy including the Shuji nomi family, the second is the Kono family navy of Yuzuki Castle, and the third is the remaining Kurishima and half Nojima navy in the Mishima navy. These three naval forces have rarely left the port at present, and if they want to strike, they must cooperate with the offensive by land. However, Nobunaga did not have any relevant orders, so this task can be said to be very vague and has no specific content. Privately, I think this is probably because Nobunaga hasn't made a final decision on the Maori family's strategy and hasn't decided how to arrange Iyo Province.

What really deserves my attention is the casting of Tianzheng Tongbao. At present, the carving mother and mother money of Tensho Tongbao have been completed, and a batch of sample coins must be minted for Nobunaga's review. This matter is co-chaired by me and Lin Xiuzhen, and the actual person in charge is Lin Shengji, the third son of Yamauchi Kazutoyo and Lin Xiuzhen, whom I sent. I can trust the abilities of these two people, not to mention Yamauchi Kazutoyo, and Lin Shengji is not an unknown person. Historically, he was posthumously released by Nobunaga with his father and brother, and when Nobunaga died, he was soon made a retainer by Yamauchi Ichisumpa Harvest, and later served as the elder of the Tosa Domain, presided over the development of Nitta, and was given Yamauchi Ichitoyo's "Yamauchi" Miao character and "one" character bias, renamed Yamauchi Ichiyoshi, and led 5,000 stone from Tsurukawa Township, Takaoka County.

As the advisor and person in charge, Tianzheng Tongbao is too relevant to me, and if the craftsmanship is not up to par, I will definitely bear the greatest responsibility. Moreover, the acceptance of Tianzheng Tongbao determines its vitality and circulation, and then also determines the continuous income that my copper house can obtain. For these two reasons, I have supervised all the steps of the coinage very carefully, and have insisted on the ratio of copper eight to two leads. This is the ratio of money and materials of genuine Yongle money, but in today's Ming Kingdom, due to the lack of copper and the relationship between copper and lead, even if it is official coinage, it is impossible to reach this ratio, let alone those privately minted Yongle money.

The hard work paid off, and after more than half a month of hard work, the first batch of Tianzheng Tongbao was successfully released. After cutting and polishing the branches, looking at the copper coins with clear handwriting, good color and shining golden luster, I knew that the matter of minting the coins was completed.

(To be continued)