At this moment, Nobunaga is recruiting troops in the three countries of Owari, Mino, and Ise, and is actively adjusting the situation in the territory. He incorporated Kinoshita Hideyoshi, who had returned to Mino, into his direct legion, and ordered him and Takigawa Kazuyi to work together to reconcile the Asai family with the wealthy family; Hideyoshi's position in Kyoto was succeeded by Naomasa Hori, who was the former Tsushima commissioner in Suzuka Prefecture, Ise; Nakagawa Shigemasa, one of the three Amaki, was promoted to a general, and together with his younger brother Tsuda Moritsuki, he became the power of Shibata Katsuke to stabilize the situation in Minami Omi.

On June 19, Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Takigawa Kazuyoshi reported to Nobunaga that the Hatari family of Sakata County was willing to surrender to Nobunaga.

This Hori family is incredible, it is the largest wealthy family in Sakata County, and its influence can cover almost the entire Sakata County. The subjugation of this family is almost equivalent to breaking off one wing of the Asai family, and isolating the three counties of Sawa Yamajo and Inougami, Aichi, and Kanzaki, which still belong to Asai Fang.

The Asai family started in Asai County, located in the northeastern part of Omi. After the reading power, he inherited the land of the three counties of Ika, Asai and Sakata, who were the guardians of the Kyogoku family in Kita-Omi. Among them, the largest wealthy family in Ika County was the Iguchi family, who presided over the Tomizuso General Administration, and as the name suggests, managed the irrigation water on the right bank of the Takatoki River, commonly known as the "Meigawa River", and had many disputes with the Asai family. Later, Asai Hisamasa married Onoden, the daughter of the Iguchi family, and eliminated this dispute by marriage, thus stabilizing the hidden agricultural dangers of Ika and Asai counties.

The largest wealthy family in Sakata County is the Horiya family, and the castle is a Kamaji Castle that borders the north and south of Omi with Sawa Yamajo. The head of the Hori family, Horihide Village, is still only thirteen years old, and he took over as the head of the family at a very young age, and the affairs of the family have been handled by the old Higuchi Naofu. Higuchi Naobo is known as the first wise general in Omi, the art of war, military strategy, civil affairs, tea ceremony, and even singing are all incomprehensible, and he is deeply respected by the people in the territory, and firmly controls the affairs of the family, and also leads the rest of the small and medium-sized wealthy families in Sakata County.

When Shigeharu Takenaka was in Omi, his territory was in Kusano Township, Asai County, close to the Horiya territory, and he and Higuchi Naobo cherished each other, and their friendship was very good. In history, Kinoshita Hideyoshi succeeded through Takenaka Shigeji, and now although Shigeji has been in Omi Shaozhai for three years, he has not had time to get in touch with Higuchi Naofu, and he is not working under Hideyoshi, but Hideyoshi himself and Takikawa Kazuki are both masters of strategy, and they still moved Higuchi Naofang with interests.

After receiving the news of Horiie's surrender, Nobunda was overjoyed, and immediately led 20,000 troops from Gifu into battle, and ordered Mori Kanari of Minami Omi to watch over Takashima County, and ordered Sakuma Nobumori and Shibata Katsuie to coordinate their troops; Asai Nagamasa was furious and immediately sent troops to attack Horiya.

When the news reached Kishiwa Castle, I knew that this time Kinoshita Hideyoshi was going to be reused, and Takigawa Kazuki would also take on greater responsibility. This made me a little more relaxed, both of them were famous generals, and they were the main commanders of the later period of the Oda family in history. However, after I parachuted into Oda's house, I robbed the territory that should have been given to Takigawa, and robbed Yoriki that should have been given to Hideyoshi, which dwarfed the two. Now that the Oda family is in an eventful year, they are finally coming out, so they must be able to share some of the pressure together.

As for Shibata Katsuie, his outstanding performance in Minami-Omi has established him as the first old man in the family - if not for me.

At the same time as the message arrived, there was also a written order from Nobunaga. He ordered me to make a trip to Minami Omi in the near future to appease the Gamo family for him. In this Minami-Omi crisis, although the Gamo family was the first to be the first to be at the front of both ends, they resolutely supported the Oda family later, which was really indispensable. Now that the three generals of Minami-Omi are going to the decisive battle of Asai, it is necessary to greatly borrow the strength of the Gamo family to maintain the situation in Minami-Omi.

Why did you arrange for me to go? That's because of Mitsu, of course. Although she married to the Gamo family as a princess of the Oda family, she is the daughter of my Kira family after all.

There is nothing to do within the scope of my responsibilities for the time being, but I can take a break. The Miyoshi family recently received the news of Nobunaga's retreat from Kanegasaki, and it is true that there was an abnormality, but the problem was that the place where they moved was not Osaka Bay, nor the Awaji country area, but the Settsu country. They co-opted Katsumasa's brother Tomomasa Ikeda and his retainer Araki Murashige, who married Chimasa's sister and banished Katsumasa Ikeda with him. At this time, Katsumasa had just lost some of his elite in Kanesaki, and he was unable to resist the attack of the two, so he had to hand over the position of head of the family.

Speaking of which, Ikeda is the direct descendant of the Ikeda family, the son of the previous head of the family, Ikeda Nagamasa, and he still has the support of many retainers in the family. It's just that Changzheng died early, and at that time, Zhizheng was still young and could not be a director, so Katsumasa won the position of head of the family with the support of the Miyoshi family.

Even now, Chimasa is only fifteen years old - so it goes without saying who is in charge between him and Araki Mura Shigema.

At this time, if Nobunaga was in Kinai, he would naturally help Katsumasa regain the position of lord of the family, after all, he had only made a great contribution in the retreat of Kanegasaki. However, Nobunaga was at a critical time in his preparations for the Asai family, and I had no name to interfere in the affairs of Settsu, which was nominally under the dual leadership of Yoshiaki and Nobunaga, and all three guardians were given by Yoshiaki, which was closer to the shogunate, and only Nobunaga himself could overcome the obstacle of fame.

All I can do is watch Arakimura kill another guardian of the Miyoshi family, Itami Proko, and roughly control the entire Settsu country...... As for the other guardian Wada Yumasa, because his position is too biased towards the Oda family, he has been ordered by Yoshiaki to live in hiding, and now he is rushing to Gifu to help Nobunaga fight the Asai family!

It wasn't until the Miyoshi family tried to invade Settsu Province that I had the opportunity to strike first, so I sent a naval army to attack Awaji Island and wiped out several castles and six or seven hundred pirates, temporarily dealing a blow to the arrogance of the Miyoshi family. However, I can only go so far, and I can only garrison one of the two landing routes on Kitawazumi and Awaji Island.

I know that next month, with the support of Arakimura Shigeakiri and Ishiyama Honganji, the Miyoshi family will enter Settsu, build two castles, Noda and Fukushima, and then fight the battle of Noda and Fukushima with Nobunaga, and poke out the first hornet's nest of Ichimune, the Sengoku period.

But what can I do? Go to Ishiyama Honganji Temple in advance? It's too late for me to hide! Still going to take the initiative to find death? When the time comes, fires will break out everywhere, and Settsu Province, Minami Omi, and Kita Ise will be in chaos, and even if Honganji doesn't kill me, Nobunaga will tear me apart.

Such a huge hornet's nest can only be pierced by his Nobunaga himself!

So, my best choice now is to let go of the Settsu affair and go to appease the Gamo family, and visit the lovely Mitsu by the way.

On the morning of June 21, I appointed Xiujing as the city representative, and Ii Naotora led two hundred horsemen out of Kishiwada Castle. On the afternoon of the 22nd, they had already arrived at the territory of the Gamo family.

After getting the news of my coming, Gamo Hyunsu took Gamo Fuxiu to personally greet me hundreds of meters and invited me to enter the city together. However, he himself was half a position behind, like a follower, without the grandeur of a master. I was a little surprised by such a grand ceremony.

"His Royal Highness Gamo is so courteous, I really don't dare to take it!" I turned my head to him and smiled.

"His Royal Highness Xuanjing is the identity of the guardian generation, but my father and son are waiting for sin, it should be so, it should be so!" Gamo Kensu smiled reluctantly.

"Hehe, are you talking about this incident?" I smiled and shook my head, "His Royal Highness Gamo really doesn't need to be too wronged, in that situation, I think it's understandable to think a little bit about the kindness of the old master. What's more, the Gamo family did not embarrass His Royal Highness Shibata, and later supported supplies to help stabilize the situation in the territory. Such a merit can completely offset the previous small mistakes. ”

"It's rare for His Royal Highness Xuanjing to be so considerate, I'm so grateful." Gamo Hyun-so gave a deep bow on his horse.

"Actually, this is also the opinion of His Highness Danzheng. My visit was on the orders of His Highness Danzheng! I comforted him and told him my intentions.

"Is that what His Highness Danzheng means?"

"Exactly," I nodded, "Now that Minami Omi has been decided, His Royal Highness Shibata and His Highness Sakuma have been ordered to go to Kita-Omi to quell the turmoil, so in the near future, I will have to borrow the Kamo family to take on more responsibilities." ”

"I, the Gamo family, will definitely not live up to His Highness Danzheng's expectations!" Kamo Hyunxiu said angrily.

"That's fine." I nodded, smiled and asked Fuhide Gamo on the other side, "Tadazaburo, how is Mitsu lately?" ”

Gamusheng Fuxiu just opened his mouth, but Gamusheng Xianxiu reminded him: "His Royal Highness Xuanjing, it has arrived. How about taking a break in the city? ”

"Ah, have you arrived at Yuye City?" I turned my head to look, and sure enough, it was already under the wild city.

"Then let's go into town!" I laughed to myself. Really, what's there to ask, obviously we'll be able to meet soon.

……，…… In the three days since I received the order to come to Minami-Omi, on the battlefield dozens of kilometers away from Kono Castle, the situation between Oda and Asai has changed completely.

When Nobunaga was out of Gifu, Sakuma Nobumori of Minami-Omi also set out from Nagahara Castle with 4,000 men to join up with 3,000 men from Shibata Katsuie. On the twentieth day, the two led their army around Sawa Mountain Castle and arrived at the Kamakashi Castle in Sakata County. At this time, the 5,000 troops of the Asai family were besieging Kamakama Castle, and when they saw Sakuma Nobumori and Shibata Katsuie leading the army, they immediately abandoned the offensive and retreated to the north. So the two led their troops to temporarily garrison the castle and waited for the arrival of Nobunaga's main force.

Soon Nobunaga arrived with his army, took these 7,000 men under his command, and together took advantage of the situation to capture the Asai family's Nagahiyo and Suga Ano.

On the 21st, Nobunaga led his army to continue to Asai County, placed the main camp on Mt. Toragomae, and the whole army advanced to Otani Castle, the main castle of the Asai family in Mt. Ibe, and burned down the castle town, challenging the Asai family.

In fact, it was impossible for Nobunaga to attack Kotani Castle. Mt. Ibe, where Otani Castle is located, is extremely dangerous, with an altitude of nearly 500 meters, and the walls and curved wheels of Kotani Castle wind up the ridge, making it very easy to defend and difficult to attack. Moreover, at this moment, in addition to the 5,000 troops of the Asai family, there are also reinforcements from the Asakura family behind them, and the total strength has reached 10,000 or 20,000.

But the military situation of the Asakura side is very problematic. According to the original law of the Asakura family, troops were sent to Wakasa or Kita-Omi, with the Tsuruga people as the main force, and then supplemented by a considerable number of troops directly under the namesake or wealthy clans, and the Tsuruga Gunji was the commander-in-chief. At the beginning, it was Asakura Keiheng who led the Tsuruga people and some of the people of the same name, and Keiheng was also known as the first general of the Asakura family. However, the Tsuruga and the people with the same name were only broken up once two months ago, and the Tsuruga Prefecture Division Asakura Keiheng had even become a monk and lived in seclusion, so this time he had to let the direct director of the same name send troops. As the new commander and the general of the defeated army two months ago, Jing Jian has made frequent adjustments in the past two months, and finally gathered more than 10,000 people, and only 8,000 people with the same name and some wealthy families can command smoothly; As for the Tsuruga people, he had no way to command them at all, and he hadn't even fully assembled them until now. Therefore, there are various theories about the number of troops sent by the Asakura family in the Battle of Ogawa, ranging from 8,000 to 15,000.

In a word, although the Asakura family came with the momentum of repelling Nobunaga in Kanegasaki, it was far less powerful than it seemed, from the main general to the subordinates, there were many problems, and the Tsuruga group, which was known as the most powerful of the three branches of the same name, was basically useless. Asai Nagamasa was familiar with the inside story, so he naturally did not dare to send troops to fight, so he could only sit on the fortified castle and watch the Oda family show off their might under the city.

I don't know what Nobunaga's intentions were, but it was clearly inappropriate to attack Otani Castle, which was backed by reinforcements, and not only would it take too much time, but it would probably not be able to take it.

Nobunaga's prestige had already been hit by Kanegasaki's defeat, and he had to win a victory over Asai or Asakura as soon as possible to redeem it, so he couldn't afford to take such a risk.

Since it is not advisable to storm by force, it is better to think of other ways.

Nobunaga set his sights on Yokoyama Castle, six or seven kilometers to the north.

Yokoyama Castle was built in the 4th year of Eiroku (1561) after Asai Nagamasa defeated the Rokkaku family in the Battle of Norada to prevent the Rokkaku family from counterattacking, and the first castle lord was Asai Ei of the Asai clan. But later, the Rokkaku family became more and more declining, and the Asai family took Inougami-gun Sawa Yamashiro as a fulcrum and attacked the Inogami, Aichi, and other counties of the Rokkaku family to the southwest, and the status of Yokoyama Castle was not so important. At present, the only people in charge of defending the city are the three wealthy families of this county, Mitamura Kunisada, Nomura Naotakaka, and Onoki Hidetoshi.

But if Hengshan Castle falls into the hands of the Oda family, it will be a fatal blow to the Asai family. In that case, not to mention losing control of Sakata-gun, Kotani Castle will always be under the threat of the Oda family. What's more serious is that Sawa Yamashiro and the three counties of Inuage, Aichi, and Kanzaki will also be separated from the Oda family, and they can no longer echo each other until they fall into the hands of the Oda family.

Whether it is to directly capture Yokoyama Castle or use Yokoyama Castle as bait to lure out the Asakura-Asai coalition army, it is a very good choice for Nobunaga.

Having made up his mind, Nobunaga withdrew his main camp from Mt. Toramae on the 22nd and began to move towards Yokoyama Castle on the southern bank of the Sister River. At the same time, he ordered Kinoshita Hideyoshi to go to Kamakaji Castle first and temporarily command the Hori's 2,000 troops.

At this time, Tokugawa Ieyasu's 3,000 elites also reached Kita-Omi, bringing Nobunaga's forces to more than 30,000.

(To be continued)