The topography of Mino is gradually declining from east to west. East Mino is basically all mountainous, Mid-Sino is half-mountainous and semi-plain, and West Mino is almost a flat river, with 580,000 stones in Minong, and nearly 400,000 stones are in West Mino. Although the stone height of Zhongminong is limited, it is the shape of Meinong, and most of the cities where it is located are easy to defend and difficult to attack. Needless to say, Inabayama Castle is not so easy to capture, even Seki Castle and Kajiki Castle are not so easy to capture.

Kajida Castle is located on the mountain of the ancient city, with an altitude of 270 meters, and the two sides of Nagai Michitoshi and Kishi Nobushu attacked for half a month, until Nobunaga's army arrived, and finally failed to fall into the city, so he had to retreat.

Since it failed to fall into the city, then it should be the bad luck of the shore family. The location of the Kishi's Tangdong Castle is not as dangerous as that of Kajiki Castle, but in the face of the persuasion envoy Kanamori Nagajin sent by Nobunaga, the Kishi family behaved extremely crazy, and his son-in-law Kishi Nobubo even cut off the head of the son born to him and Yae Yuan in front of Kanemori Nagajin! Then, under the attack of Mori Kecheng, who was born in Mino, Tangdong Castle soon fell, and all the people of the Kishi family died except for Shin Zhou's brother Shin Zhen.

In fact, it is more accurate to say that the Kishi family is despair than madness. They were not so loyal to the Saito family, and they formed a three-family alliance with Nagai and Sato, who were also in the middle of the country, for the purpose of watching and helping each other, tying the castle to protect themselves, and maintaining their own territory and the character of the Reading Family. However, I didn't expect that the same Sato Ichigo (the Kishi family only changed the Miao character in the generation of Nobushu, and his father Sato Shinren), and the Kajida Sato family, who had been married for generations, would surrender to the Oda family and give up Kajida Castle, the most difficult of the three cities, as the hub of Nobunaga's strategy, so the closest ally became the deadliest enemy, which had to make the Kishi family despair.

At the end of the day, Tadano Sato just wants to keep his family. In front of Kajida Castle is Unuma Castle controlled by the Oda family, directly facing Nobunaga's army, and the pressure on the Sato family, whose territory is only 15,000 stones, is really not ordinary.

Nobunaga also showed great trust in Tadano Sato, and on the night of the fall of the castle, he stayed at the camp of the Sato family's sister-in-law, Tadayasu Sato (Nobu), which greatly touched the father and son. Later, under the efforts of Saito Riji's department and Kajida's people, Nagai Michitoshi's Seki Castle also fell, and Michino basically fell into the hands of Nobunaga. However, Tadayasu Sato was killed in this battle, so Nobunaga ordered Toshiharu Saito to marry Tadano's youngest daughter and continue the Sato family as Tadano's son-in-law.

After taking Minami Ise and Central America one after another, Nobunaga's prestige reached a new height. Then, he arranged two other marriages: he married Yoshiyuki Sawaki to Yoshiyuki Sawaki, the sister of Kamo Kenhide and Seki Mori Nobu's sister, and Kobe Gumori; Marry Kobe Gumori's sister to Nakagawa Shigemasa.

The previous marriage was a bit unreasonable, and according to the general practice, since Kobe Gumori was eliminated, then the widow who was the daughter of the Gamo family should be sent back to the Gamo family, but Nobunaga asked me to send it to Komaki Yamajo Castle to live with her sister as a hostage, and then marry Yoshiyuki Sawake. I think Nobunaga probably wanted to strengthen the connection between the Sawaki family and the Seki family! And it is said that there was also a request from Mrs. Sawaki in it. The old man's greatest wish is to let Fujihachi, the sole seedling adopted son, leave an heir as soon as possible.,Last time I asked for no result.,This time I simply found Nobunaga.。 At the beginning, Fujihachi's adoptive father died at the hands of Nobunaga's rebellious cousin Nobuhiro in order to protect Kiyoshu City, but Nobunaga forgave his cousin, which was equivalent to forbidding Fujihachi to avenge his father's revenge, so he has always taken care of Fujihachi, and this time he arranged this marriage.

As for Kobe Gumori's sister, it was supposed to be used as a side room, and Nagano Fujita's daughter Nagano Yoshibo was married to Oda Nobubu, in order to strengthen the bond between the two relatives of Kobe Nobutaka and Nagano Nobubo, but now that the Kobe family is still in the Oda family, the Kobe family has been wiped out, so naturally there is no need for that, but it can be used to get married and help the three of them stabilize the old leader of the Kobe family in this county.

Although the fiefdom of the three of them was transferred from the original North Ise Shomei County to the Middle Ise Amaki County, which is no longer under my jurisdiction, the previous agreement to sell grain is still valid, and at the same time, the military rations of the three families are still provided by me, which the three of them agree with very much, and I have no opinion, the military rations of more than 1,000 people are nothing to me, and it is really cost-effective to be able to exchange this for food sources and maintain influence on the three families at the same time.

One day in October, Yoshiyuki Sawaki came to my Mie Castle. At this time, Nana had already moved over, and Konatsu gave birth to a girl named Haijin in early August, Yuka was still in charge of housework, and the two daughters, Mizu and Yujin, were very lively and happy, and the family was happy.

Seeing that Ryoyuki Sawaki's face was a little solemn, they knew that they had something serious to discuss, so they grabbed the two little girls who were monkeys on me, and then picked up the three-year-old Akitsu and went back to the inner room. Xiao Xia, as the general of the guard, did not have to avoid it, but she was breastfeeding, so it was inconvenient, and the position of the general of the guard was temporarily represented by Watanabe Shoji. Only two maids saw the guests and brought sake and some dried fruit sweets from Tsuya.

"Why, with such an ugly face, are you dissatisfied with the lord letting you marry the widow of the Kobe family?" I joked casually, "Actually, the widow is also very stylish, and she is also an outstanding beauty......

"Look where you said!" Yoshiyuki Sawaki couldn't help grinning, "It's for the sake of the brother of the Li family!" ”

"Left? What's wrong? I asked, surprised. He's very stable now, and he won't do anything out of the ordinary like killing his colleagues again.

"It was the lord who ordered him to inherit the Maeda family......"

Oh! This thing is also ahead of schedule? Historically, this happened after the pacification of Minami Ise...... Well, now it is also happening after the pacification of Minami Ise.

"When did it happen, how did I not know?"

"Recently, you don't care about anything, you only care about spending time with women and children at home, and you don't know that you should be." Yoshiyuki Sawaki looked at me, visibly disapproving.

"Anyway, the Ise side has been calmed down, and I don't have anything to do, just waiting for when the lord will go to Luo," I shrugged, "I've been busy in recent years, except for Xiao Xia, there are few opportunities to be together, this time Xiao Xia just gave birth to Haijin, so I took the opportunity to accompany them more...... That's no problem! ”

"Then how about you persuade the lord this time? The barren city is only 3,000 stones, and it has to support a lot of expenses, and the son of the brother of the Li family is not as rich as the brother of the Li family...... Two days ago, I went to pick up my mother to settle down and visit the brother of the Li family, and he sighed and said, 'I'm going to be a bad guy this time'. Yoshiyuki Sawaki said.

"Well......" I thought for a moment, "has His Highness Riku angered the lord lately?" ”

"No...... If you really want to say that there is, it's also a trivial matter," Sawaki Yoshiyuki poured his own wine and drank it all in a depressed manner, "Last month, two lazy lords of Arako City hid in a nearby temple in order to avoid paying tribute, and were arrested by Brother Toshiku...... Is it necessary to remove the head of the house for this? ”

"Is it a temple of the Ichizai sect?" My heart moved, and I hurriedly asked.

"It's not the Iljang Sect, it's the Tendai Sect's Yuanlongyuan Guanyin Temple."

"That's right," I thought...... What is Nobunaga going to do, Maeda Toshihisa's main room is Takigawa Kazuki's sister, Nobunaga ordered Maeda Toshihisa to retire for this little thing, and ignored the interests of Toshihisa's adopted son and Takigawa Kazuki's nephew Maeda Keijiro, what is the reason?

"What is His Royal Highness Longchuan's reaction to this matter?" I asked.

"At first, His Royal Highness Longchuan tried to intercede, but he was scolded back by the lord, so he didn't dare to say anything......"

"So you're still going to let me intercede? Didn't you let me find a scolding too? I glared at him.

"You're different, you don't have any friendship with Brother Lijiu's family, but you have a close relationship with Brother Li's family. Advise from your standpoint, and the lord will definitely be able to understand the true heart of the brother of the Li family. ”

"Didn't you say anything, didn't you excuse yourself?"

"This is indeed very strange," Ryoyuki Sawaki showed confusion on his face, "Listening to the original meaning of his words, I obviously don't want to accept it...... Could it be that he was asked by Mrs. Atsune to think about Inuchiyo (the eldest son, Toshinaga)? ”

"That's not the case with Mrs. Asson." I shook my head.

"I really don't know what the lord thinks!" Yoshiyuki Sawaki drank a bowl of wine depressedly, "In this way, everyone in the Maeda family will feel embarrassed!" ”

Nobunaga's thoughts? That's right...... In fact, it is not the main thing what things are, but what matters is Nobunaga's thoughts and intentions. With this key figured out, I quickly understood the meaning behind it.

"The lord does have some considerations." I nodded.

"Oh?"

"The lord just wants to show his strength, and at the same time knock on his important ministers...... If this matter is successfully reached, the lord's ability to adjudicate at home will be greatly enhanced, and the wealthy families will respect the lord's will more than get closer to the important ministers. I sighed, "So the 'gun and the left' was used as a gun by the lord this time." It was precisely because he figured this out that he didn't shirk it! ”

"That's really ......" Yoshiyuki Sawaki was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but shake his head.

"So let's be careful this time, don't be caught by the lord......"

……，…… In November, news came from Tsuya that Matsunaga Hide's bid for Ashikaga Yoshikin had failed, and he had turned to attack the Tsutsui family in an attempt to get the whereabouts of Satoruki from the Tsutsui family. Then, news came from Awa that Ashikaga Yoshihito issued an imperial letter as a candidate for the general, accusing Matsunaga Hideya of killing the former shogun and ordering the Miyoshi trio to preside over the crusade. As soon as this order was given, Matsunaga Xiu fell into a crisis, and although he successfully occupied Tsutsui Castle and drove Tsutsui Shunkei out of Yamato Province, he still did not find the whereabouts of Jueqing, and the wings around him gradually dispersed. In desperation, he had no choice but to reconcile with Hatakeyama Takamasa, and brought the roots over to try to recover his decline.

At this time, it was already the ninth year of Yonglu. Hearing that Ashikaga Yoshikina was supported by the Miyoshi family as a candidate for general, Zhou Song and Nobunaga were not calm. So Zhou Song immediately returned to the vulgar and changed his name to Ashikaga Yoshishu, affirming his right to inherit the position of general. Nobunaga was supportive of this, and immediately sent famous swords, armor, and horses to the imperial court to apply for official positions in Yoshishu, and in March a grand tea ceremony and cherry blossom viewing party were held at Komakiyama Castle to celebrate.

Seeing this situation, Kakukei, who was able to establish a temporary imperial palace in Yashima Village, Ominoshu Prefecture, through the mediation of Wada Yushimasa, could not sit still, and on February 17, he officially returned to the customs, changed his name to Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and sought support from Hatakeyama Takamasa, the governor of the Hatakeyama family, Uesugi Terutora, the governor of the Kanto region, and Noto guardian Hatakeyama Yoshitsuna. Hatakeyama Takamasa was intimate with Matsunaga Hide, who killed General Yoshiki, and naturally worked against the three of Miyoshi, and immediately vigorously supported Yoshiaki to succeed him as general, and also sent his own brother Hatakeyama Masayori to Yoshiaki's side, and worshiped Yoshiaki to change his name to Hatakeyama Akitaka (later Hatakeyama Shotaka).

For a time, the Dukes of Hirashima, Jiangyan and Yajima simultaneously launched a battle for the position of general. Hirashima has the support of three people in Miyoshi, and he is close to the water, as long as he defeats the alliance of Matsunaga and Hatakeyama, he can control the surrounding area of Kyoto, but his reputation is the weakest; Eiwa Gongfang Yoshishu had the support of the Oda family, who controlled Owari, Ise, Higashimino and Minori, and his reputation was higher than that of his righteous relatives, but he was far away from the imperial court; Hirashima Gongfang Yoshiaki's name is the most positive, and his mother's family is one of the two heads of the family's Konoe family, his maternal grandfather Konoe Shangtong, his uncle Konoe Ueka, and cousin Konoe Qianjiu three generations of Guan Bai, there is no problem in the court, but it's a pity that the current Rokkaku family is a mess, and there is no way to provide him with any support.

Therefore, although he was appointed as an official from the five lower left horses of the imperial court on April 21, he was attacked by three thousand horsemen of the Miyoshi family, and had to abandon the Yajima Imperial Palace, and under the cover of the public Okusa family, he went to Wakasa Province to join his brother Takeda Yoshitomi.

After the Miyoshi family expelled Yoshiaki, they immediately led the army by Miyoshi Yasunaga and Shinohara, and crossed the sea from Awaji Province with Ashikaga Yoshikin, entered Koshisui Castle in Settsu Province in September, and entered Tomita Pumonji Temple in Tsutsu Province in December, and also received permission from the imperial court to serve as an official from the five lower left horse heads, and officially appointed in January of the following year, changing his name to Ashikaga Yoshiei.

The official position and rank of the left horse head from the five have a special significance, except for the five lower town guard generals of the Ashikaga clan, the rest of the Muromachi shogunate were the first to be appointed from the five lower left horse heads, and then the general of the Seiyi Shogun, without exception. Ashikaga Ichigo's acquisition of this official position and rank is equivalent to obtaining the identity of the shogun's candidate from the imperial court.

There were people above Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and there were soldiers behind Ashikaga Yoshiei, all of whom were officially recognized by the imperial court and became candidates for generals; Yizhou has made no progress so far. Although Nobunaga attacked Mino and sent people to contact the imperial court in an attempt to set a name for Ashikaga Yoshishu, he was always unable to do so. For the imperial court, one more general candidate is one more source of trouble, since no one speaks for Yi Zhou, and the army of the Oda family can't reach Kyoto, then put it on hold for now!

What a flock of ostriches......

(To be continued)