Due to Xiao Xia's insistence, the guards in charge of the guards and Banzhi Tsushima Bei did not follow, and stayed on guard at a mountain pass called Meibei Pass outside the mountain, so there were only me and Xiao Xia in the mountain. It's very rare for me to walk alone on a deserted mountain road like this, and I haven't left my saloon to travel alone since I was awarded the title of Mie Gun, so it feels a little fresh and comfortable.

Xiao Xia is probably like this! I thought to myself. Since she was brought back to Baoxinyuan, she has never had a chance to follow me into the army. Accustomed to seeing her in an ornate kimono and smock, and seeing the simple samurai costume she is wearing now, I also feel a little new for a long time.

However, looking at her face, there was a depressed expression, and occasionally a little sad.

"What, is it because I think of my dead grandfather and mother, so I'm in a bad mood?" I asked with concern.

Xiao Xia shook his head and said in response to the question: "Your Highness promised to accompany me alone, and the concubine is really very happy." ”

"This is as it should be," I said, looking up at the bend in the mountain road ahead, behind which you could see the cabin, "when the family was in decline, only the most important people in the family remained loyal and tried to restore the business of the main family. That alone deserves my own worship. ”

"Is that so?" Xiao Xia replied casually.

"Yes," I smiled and nodded, "it's from the family...... Personally, I am even more grateful to the important people who have nurtured you and allowed me to have such a special concubine. Hehe! ”

"Your Highness—" Xiao Xia sneered in a lingering voice, a smile on his face.

"That's right!" I pinched her face, "You should be so happy now...... Didn't you leave in the first place to revive the Lord's family business? Now that you have finally got your wish, even the head of the family is a child born in your womb, and besides, the Shangchuan family also has a successor, which should be enough, right? The heroic souls of the great people will be very relieved! ”

"The concubine is ......" Xiao Xia bit her lip and suddenly lowered her head, "I regret it a little......"

"What's wrong?" I asked, confused.

"The concubine is thinking, maybe she shouldn't have agreed to leave Zhou Bencheng before, right?" Xiao Xia slowed down, her expression was very hesitant, "However, seeing His Royal Highness accommodating other women so much, the concubine is really uncomfortable......"

"What are you thinking?" I wondered, "Those things have been taken care of...... Now, we're going to worship your grandfather and mother together, right? ”

"However, His Highness is about to leave. And then it's across the mountains and seas, and it's not easy to meet," Xiao Xia raised his head, looking very dissatisfied, "The concubine knows that His Royal Highness has his own considerations, but does it have to be to that extent?" ”

Listening to Xiao Xia's accusation, I sighed slightly. Why should I be so accommodating to Janet Otomo? This is complicated to explain. First of all, the Otomo family is in control of the private trade with the Ming Dynasty, and is familiar with the routes and markets, no matter which one Nobunaga chooses between the private trade and the exploration trade, I need the Otomo family as a guide. Otherwise, the initiative in the Ming trade would have been held by the Sakai merchants first, and if I fought for it again, I would definitely have aroused Nobunaga's disgust; Secondly, the Shikoku I am in charge of is located between the islands of Kyushu and Honshu, and the adjacent Mori family and the Otomo family are not easy to deal with, so in order to concentrate on completing the task of raiding, I must fight one faction and one faction; Third, the Oda family, as the main family, will soon get into a fight with Maori, and it is very necessary to maintain friendship with the Otomo family, which is the sworn enemy of Maori, and I married Janet on behalf of the Oda family, if I snubbed her at this time and made the Otomo family doubt the relationship between the two families, Nobunaga would definitely not spare me; Fourth, maintain the line of Janet-Otomo's family, and attack Shikoku in the future, there will definitely be my share, after all, I am only 300,000 koku now, and even if I add the expected Iyo, I am only more than sixty, as the first minister, it is not too much for me to share a little in Kyushu...... As a minister of the Oda family and the head of the Kira family, I have too many things to calculate and worry about. However, there is no need to say any of this. It is a very stupid thing to reason with a woman; What's more, with Xiao Xia's somewhat stupid mind, she can't understand such a complicated thing.

“…… I thought you would be considerate of me even if you couldn't understand it. I stopped and smiled wryly.

"The concubine wants to be considerate!" Xiao Xia complained hard, "When Keitaro was born, His Royal Highness was not there; Jing Shiro was born the year before last, and His Royal Highness was not there, and even the family couldn't be seen...... Okay, Your Highness is busy, and the concubine knows it, but this year, the concubine is raising Yiguan again, has His Highness been here once? ”

I didn't look at you because I was concerned about shipbuilding and spent most of my time in the dockyard...... That's how I want to explain it to Natsu. However, this explanation is really weak, and even if I am in the city of Zhou, I still have to accommodate Janet.

"Your Highness, how about you relax a little? Then you don't have to be too accommodating, right? Seeing that I didn't speak, Xiao Xia thought that it was her words that moved me, so she leaned over and further persuaded, "Now that Tosa has been pacified, and the Kira family has been restored, it's okay, right?" Would you like to resign from the mission given by the main hall and move to Tosa together? ”

"It's not going to work," I shook my head firmly, "and it's impossible." ”

"Why?" Xiao Xia leaned in front of me and raised her face a little dissatisfied.

"The Tosa Yoshira family inherited by Keitaro has been restored, but there is still a clan family! And so many retainers! With the current territorial division, the clan family can't be safe, the family can't be balanced, and the retainers can't be satisfied," I smiled bitterly again, "...... And, do you think that with the surname of the main hall, I will be allowed to stack picks? ”

Really, who is Nobunaga? The more capable the retainers are, the happier they are, and they hate people who are incompetent. Shibata, Hideyoshi, and Takigawa, which one in history did not give seven or eight hundred thousand stone to the territory? On the contrary, it was Sakuma Nobumori, who once led the largest army in his family, leading the people of the seven countries of Mikawa, Owari, Omi, Yamato, Kawachi, Izumi, and Kii to besiege Honnoji, but in vain, not only was all the territory confiscated by Nobunaga, but even he was banished to Koyasan.

I'm sure that if I had said this to Nobunaga, or had deliberately slackened my strategy, he would not have been satisfied with my taoguang, but would have kicked me out and replaced me with a capable minister. Wasn't that the way I was asked to replace Kazuki Takigawa in charge of Kita-Ise? For him, decades is too short, there is a lot to do, and those who can't do it have to give way and make room for those who are able; And the ability to do not exert it, this attitude alone is absolutely unforgivable.

As for those who don't want to do it, it will make him feel even more angry, and the territory will definitely be taken back - it is a matter of course for a samurai to serve the public, and with a territory comes an obligation. In particular, the territory of the Oda family is used to support the world's strategy, and the retainers will not be allowed to eat rice.

Therefore, Xiao Xia's suggestion is completely unfeasible. That's what sailing against the current, especially when Nobunaga was under him.

"Let's go and worship your grandfather and mother first!" I didn't want to have any more pointless discussions, so I closed the topic.

……，…… Back in Zhouben City, I heard something that almost partially verified what I said to Xiao Xia.

The incident took place on Mt. Daitake, Kita-Omi, which was the main camp of Asakura Yoshikage. Previously, due to the refusal of the military commissioner, the Ono County Division, Asakura Keigami, and the Ichijoya Governor Uzumi Keigu, Asakura Yoshikage had to go out in person and lead 20,000 troops to rescue the Asai family. However, due to Hideyoshi's suggestion to open up the key passage between Echizen and Otani Castle to the Oda family, the Asakura army could not get close to Otani Castle at all, so they had to build a formation on Mt. Odake and confront Nobunaga's 30,000 troops across Lake Biwa.

On the twelfth day of August, Nobunaga took advantage of the storm (another storm!). ), out of the division of the surprise attack on Dayue, the Chaocang family was defeated and retreated; The next day, the Dingye Mountain, which was guarded by the monks of Echizen Hiraisenji Temple, was also captured, and the Asakura army was again frustrated. Seeing that the morale of the army was low, and considering that he could not join the Asai family, Asakura Yoshikei decided to retreat to Echizen.

The time he chose to withdraw was the night of August 13, which was also stormy. However, I don't know if it was the news of the Uchi, or the investigation of the ninja, or Nobunaga's own judgment, anyway, this opportunity was caught by Nobunaga, so he was forced to brave the storm overnight and caught up with the Asakura army at Tonezaka. Under the First World War, the Asakura army was almost completely annihilated, including Saito Ryuxing, and many powerful generals including Saito Ryuko were all killed.

However, when the pursuit was ordered, the retainers were suspicious, which made Nobunaga very dissatisfied, blaming them for not being loyal enough. The new guardian of Kitakawachi, Daisakuma Nobumori, argues that perhaps they are limited in their abilities, but how can they doubt their loyalty? This sentence immediately made Nobunaga furious, and scolded Sakuma Nobumori, saying that he was indeed too selfish, and that he had rescued the Tokugawa family and returned to the army privately, which could also be understood as returning to the ability to preside over the defense, but now he is serving the main family, and he is still so slack! So he was immediately deprived of his first hand qualifications and driven him back to Kinai.

This battle finally fulfilled the prestige of Shibata Katsuie, Takigawa Kazuyi, and Akechi Mitsuhide, but there was nothing wrong with Sakuma Nobumori. Niwa Nagahide also made great contributions because of the success of the later transfer of Hiraisenji Temple, Asakura Keigami, and Uozi Keigu. Also making meritorious contributions were former Hayoshitsugu and Tomita Nagashige, who had defected to Nobunaga last year, and because of their connections, the castles of Echizen surrendered one after another. In the end, Ichijo Valley, who was isolated and short of major generals, was easily captured by Shibata Katsuie, and then burned to the ground; Asakura Yoshikage and his family saw the opportunity early and escaped by luck, but after escaping to Ohno County, they were still killed by Asakura Jingjing.

Soon, Nobunaga returned to the army of Kita Omi and sent Hideyoshi Hara as a general to capture Otani Castle, Asai Hisasa, Nagamasa and his son were defeated and committed suicide, and his son-in-law Manfukumaru (the son of the former Shomuro Hirai clan, the adopted son of Aichi) was captured and beheaded, but the three daughters of Princess Aichi and his adopted son Manfukumaru were sent out by Nagamasa in advance and were able to be safe and sound.

Nobunaga recounted the merits of the generals and gave them rewards. The first former Hayoshi to surrender to Nobunaga was named the guardian of Echizen, and he was renamed Katsura Nagatoshi, and together with Tomita Nagashiro and Uozi Keigu, he governed Echizen Province. However, the real power in the country is in the hands of Yuhisa Kinoshita, Motoka Tsuda, and Shuji Misawa of Kitanosho Sanshi. These three people have two identities, one is Nobunaga's former minister in the Owari period, and the other is the power that Nobunaga sent to Hideyoshi Yura, Mitsuhide Akechi, and Kazuki Takigawa respectively.

It can be seen from this that Nobunaga's plan was to prepare for the three families of Yura, Akechi and Takigawa to share the Echizen country. This is a bit different from what I expected. According to the practice of dividing the family into feudal families, Hideyoshi made the greatest contribution to the old leader of the Asai family, and most of the wealthy families in the three counties surrendered to Nobunaga through Hideyoshi, so the old leader of Asai should be given to Hideyoshi?

However, until September, Nobunaga did not deal with the three northern Omi prefectures. He disbanded his army in Imama, not far from Otani Castle, and returned to Kyoto with his personal guards.

When I heard the news, I immediately set out from the state and took Joao? Cabral travels to Kyoto to Jinmi.

Perhaps because of the solution to the problem of his henchmen, Nobunaga was in a good mood. Listening to my report on the Battle of Tosa and the disposition of Ichijo Jingfang, he nodded with satisfaction.

However, he did not inquire much about the war, but mentioned another matter: "I heard that you traveled from Awaji to Sakai Town on a newly built galleon? ”

"Yes, it was only done last month." I replied respectfully.

As expected, the news had reached Nobunaga's ears.

Actually, I deliberately drove Janet to Sakai Town just to create a momentum. Whether it is Sakai Town or the people around Nobunaga, as long as you have a little experience, you can see that Janet is an ocean-going ship. With this move, I don't need to say anything more, but there must have been Sakai merchants who understood it and took the initiative to ask Nobunaga to reopen the Kanai trade.

"How big is this boat? How long has it been built? Nobunaga continued.

"Back to my lord, the weight of the ship is three thousand stones, it took five months, and thirteen thousand guan," I owe the body, "the person who presided over the shipbuilding was the baptismal priest of the concubine Janet, a southern barbarian, named João?" Cabral. Your Majesty has already brought it. ”

"Southern barbarians? It's kind of interesting," Nobunaga nodded, his gaze becoming a little stern, "but what are you bringing him here for?" And what did you do with the boat? …… I didn't say I wanted to build ships, I didn't say I wanted to reopen the exploration and cooperation trade, don't be smart! ”

Nobunaga is really still very keen...... Fortunately, I already had a solution.

"My lord, the name of that ship is Janet, and it is now the seat ship of His Majesty, so His Majesty has no special meaning to drive the ship over...... The last time I went to Tosa, I also took this ship. "I reported it calmly.

"And what about the Southern Barbarians?" Nobunaga asked.

"This ...... I also want to ask the lord to make it complete," I gave a salute, "In order to make the southern barbarians agree to build the ship, his subordinates promised him that if the ship is built, he will be introduced to the lord!" ”

(To be continued)