Sakura Cave Castle.

In Chang'an, Masuda Nagamori was reporting to Li Xiaoyu about the income from this salt transportation to Shinano.

Li Xiao listened to the report of the two people, his face was full of smiles, and he said: "Very good, that is to say, before the salt transported by Kurada Gorouzaemon arrived at Fukashi Castle, you have sold almost all the salt stored from Hida to Shinano, right?" ”。

Masuda Nagamori sighed and said, "Exactly, my lord, only less than two-thirds of the ten remained, and the rest were all sold out." There were rumors in the market that Imagawa Hojo had cut off salt to the Takeda family, so even though the amount of salt I sold was more than three times higher than in Hida, the merchants swept away the salt as soon as it was put on the market, and in the end, even four times the price of salt was charged. ”

Mt. Akazo Chang also added on the side, saying: "Because we sold a lot of salt, the price of salt in Shinano fell compared to before the Imagawa Hojo salt was cut off, so when Echigo salt merchants such as Kurada Goro Saemon arrived, they could only sell at the local salt price parity." ”

Li Xiao couldn't help laughing after hearing this, and said: "Very good, Uesugi Kenshin takes the name, and I, Li Xiao, take the profit, all these good things, of course, I can't let Uesugi Kenshin take all of them, so I should have earned enough money for the military expenses of Kamihachiman Castle in the county this time." ”

Dazang Chang'an sighed and said, "It's enough, but please use it at your discretion." ”

Li Xiao nodded, he was not surprised at all by the repetition of the old tune of Great Tibetan Chang'an.

The three of them were in the middle of the discussion, when Yokotani Yukiyoshi walked in and reported to Li Xiaomi that Yokotani Yukishige, who had been inquiring about the news in Omi Mino, had returned to Hida.

This is the first time since Yokotani Yukishige was sent by Li Xiao to Mino to collect information on Oda and half a year ago.

Li Xiao was also anxious to know the current information about the Oda family and Mino, so he immediately stopped talking with Great-treasured Chang'an and Masuda Nagamori, and immediately ordered Yokotani Yuki to come to the secret room to meet him.

In the secret room.

Yokotani Yushige was still decorated with a void monk, kneeling on the ground and saying to Li Xiaoyan, "Meet the lord." ”

Li Xiao nodded and said, "Fortunately, this trip has been hard, how about Dong Changyao's contact with the old people in the county is still smooth, right?" Quite a few words"

Yokotani Yuki repeatedly: "Returning to the lordship, Lord Higashi Changyao, has already contacted the old department of more than two hundred people, and has also made contact with several retainers of the Endo family, all of whom have been members of the Higashi clan before. ”

"Very good," Li Xiao's face was happy, and then he asked, "Then can these retainers of the Endo family be rebellious?" I want them to be an internal response when I am besieging the city. ”

Yokotani Yukishige replied: "Back to the lord, because of the secret, at present, Dong Changyao is only collecting the old ministry in his personal name, so these retainers are still waiting. I think that if these people saw it, when my Takeda soldiers approached Hachiman Castle in the county, some people would surely be shaken. ”

Li Xiao nodded, this Dong Changyao really still has an effect.

Whether or not he succeeds in defeating the enemy's retainers, he has already played a role in weakening the power of the Endo family.

"However, my lord, the situation of the Endo family has changed, and Michitoshi Nagai has now moved from the castle to Todenyama Castle. Todenyama Castle and Gujo Hachiman Castle are each other's horns, and if we attack Gujo Hachiman Castle, we will inevitably be attacked by Nagai Michitoshi. ”

"What Nagai Michitoshi moved the castle to Dongdian Mountain Castle? This is a bit of a surprise. Li Xiao frowned slightly and said, he had planned to attack Hachiman Castle in Gujo first, and then turn back to repel enemy reinforcements.

However, Nagai Michitori's stay in Dongdian Mountain Castle meant that it was impossible for Li Xiao to ignore the pressure of Dongden Mountain Castle behind him, and calmly attack Gujo Hachiman Castle.

"Exactly," Yokotani explained.

Li Xiaocai understood the reason, it turned out that the castle where Nagai Michitoshi was located was broken by the Oda army in the battle of Kajida, and although it was recovered, it was finally too dilapidated because the city was too dilapidated, and the Oda family was growing in power in Mino.

Therefore, Nagai Michitoshi gave up the castle and came to live temporarily with his cheap son Endo Keitaka.

The arrival of Nagai Michitoshi added a few more variables for Li Xiao to capture Hachiman Castle in the gun.

After Li Xiao knew what to expect, he asked Yokotani Yukishige about the movements of the Oda family, which was what Li Xiao paid more attention to.

Because if Li Xiao sends troops to Mino, he must cooperate with the time when the Oda family captured Inabayama Castle.

In case Li Xiao enters Mino ahead of schedule, he is likely to be attacked by the Saito family, the daimyo of Mino's guardian daimyo, as well as the wealthy families of Mino, and with Li Xiao's current power, it is far from the extent of starting a war with the entire Mino. …,

Therefore, Li Xiaocai had to take advantage of the Oda family to attack Inabayama Castle, which was a time when the situation in Mino was turbulent.

Yokotani Yukishige first revealed Oda's movements, and it turned out that Nobunaga had not continued to attack Mino since the construction of the castle in Sumamata, but began to buy off the local wealthy clans of Nishimino in the division.

After many joint battles, the Higashimi Mino Enzan family and Kaji Tian Zhong surrendered to the Oda family, and the lord of Tangdong Castle, Kishi Shushin, resisted the Oda army and ended up with the city ruined.

Now the hearts of the wealthy families in Mino have been shaken, and many small wealthy families have begun to secretly contact the Oda family or get closer to them in order to keep their family name.

At this time, there were rumors that Mino spread that the Oda Army seemed to be coming in and out of the clan's territory at will.

Even if the family is Naoyuan, one of the three people of Nishiminon.

The three members of Nishimino are Minon, the three most authoritative retainers from Saito Ryuxing, and the documents jointly signed by these three can be used in Nishimino.

And the family Naoyuan is the most powerful of the three of Nishimino, and he is friends with another Nishimino Sanando Mamoru again.

The Naogen family may be connected to the Oda family, and it suddenly became a rumor spread in Mino.

Li Xiao knew that this was a rumor about Oda Nobunaga's walk, and it was precisely because Saito Ryuxing was suspicious of the three of Mino, so he forced them to rebel.

After all, Saito Ryuko had imprisoned Ando Mamoru in Inabayama Castle before, triggering the seizure of the city by sixteen members of the Takenaka Half-Guard.

Li Xiao is familiar with history, Oda Nobunaga's plan finally succeeded, and it was the defection of the three Mino that led to the fall of the Saito family.

After Nobunaga unified Mino, the three Mino became a powerful army under Nobunaga's command and fought for him in the north and south.

After listening to Yokotani Yukishige talk about the perfect situation, Li Xiao asked, "What is Nobunaga doing?" ”

Yokotani Yuki returned to say that the current Oda Nobunaga, in addition to dividing and bribing the Mino nobles and holding the Mino front, turned around and attacked Ise from Owari.

Li Xiao's eyes flashed when he heard the news.

He knew that if Nobunaga wanted to go to Raku, he would have to take the two major routes from Mino to Omi, or from Owari to Ise, with the former taking the Higashiyama Road and the latter taking the Tokaido.

If you attack Ise from Owari, although the route is short and you take a shortcut, even if Kamiraku succeeds, the foundation is unstable and it is easy to be counterattacked by the forces of Omi and Mino.

In addition, the situation in Ise is complicated, and there are many wealthy families, and the difficulty of attacking Ise is not inferior to that of Mino.

Therefore, Oda Nobunaga's strategy has always been to attack Mino first, so that the thick tail is one, so that the momentum has been completed, and then the move of Shangluo will be carried out.

At present, Oda Nobunaga has been attacking Mino for nearly seven years since the Battle of Sasama, and when Mino gradually enters his hands, he orders Takigawa Kazuyi, a general who is familiar with the situation in Ise, to attack the Jiboya of Northern Ise.

In addition to the Nagano family, the Kobe family, and the Seki family, the three largest wealthy families in Northern Ise, there are also many wealthy families known as the 'Forty-Eight Families of Northern Ise'.

It seems that such a small force, if it is attacked city by city, I don't know what year and month it will take, so Nobunaga chose to conquer Mino and after the power has increased greatly, and then subdue these small wealthy clans with great momentum, so as to achieve the effect of surrendering without a fight, this is the best choice.

Li Xiao knew that the Oda family's attack on Northern Ise was only tentative in history, and in the second year, Nobunaga initially pacified the Northern Ise forces with a sweeping momentum.

In the third year, after Nobunaga's success in Kamiraku, Nobunaga gathered an army of 70,000 to attack Minami Ise, and the Kitada family, one of the three divisions of the Warring States period, was called the Kitada family, one of the three divisions of the Warring States period.

In the end, the head of the Hojo family, a disciple of Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, and the senior brother of Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Kitada Gukyo, was forced to accept the adoption of Nobunaga's second son, Oda Nobuo, as an adopted son, and inherited the Kitada family in the future, and finally the Kitada family subdued the Oda family.

At this point, Nobunaga completed the unification of Ise.

But for Nobunaga, the right way is to take the route of Mino, Omi Kamiraku.

As for Omi, Nobunaga has reached an alliance with the Kita-Omi Asai family, faintly forming a pattern of two military alliances, Oda Asai and Rokkaku Saito.

However, this military alliance has a huge disparity in power, and the Rokkaku family in Minami Omi has long been in decline.

In the fourth year of Eiroku, the Rokkaku family fought before Norada and was defeated by the hands of the young governor of the Asai family, Asai Nagamasa, and made the other party independent, and after the turmoil of Kannonji Temple in the sixth year of Eiroku, the power of Rokkaku, as a daimyo, was greatly reduced, and it was replaced by a powerful retainer like Gamo Dingxiu. …,

In April of this year, the Rokkaku family united more than 20 retainers in Gamo Dingxiu, and the head of the Rokkaku family, Rokkaku Yoshixian, and Rokkaku Yoshibi father and son, jointly formulated the Rokkaku-style purpose division law.

For example, Takeda Shingen's formulation of the Koshu law and the division law of the Asakura and Imagawa families were all based on the status of the Warring States Daimyo and set rules to restrict the wealthy families and common people in the territory.

On the contrary, the Hexagonal Clan was drafted by the retainers to limit the power of the lord and ensure the interests of the wealthy family.

The Hexagonal Clan has also become one of the great wonders of the Warring States, which shows the end of the Hexagonal Family.

If the hexagon is determined to rely on this hexagonal family governor who once shocked the world, and the spring has knowledge, he will definitely scold his descendants for being incompetent when he hears this news, which will affect the reputation of the hexagonal family.

After Yokotani finished talking about the current situation in Omi, Ise, and Mino, Li Xiao had a clearer grasp of the situation in Hachiman Castle in the gun.

It was precisely those who did not seek the overall situation that were not enough to make a city, and now that the fall of Mino Province was imminent, the declining Rokkaku family of Minami Omi, and the chaos of Ise gave the Oda family the opportunity to rise.

With Nobunaga's long-term vision, he will inevitably take a short period of time to go to Luo, as the current first goal, so even if Li Xiao captures Gujo Hachiman Castle, he will not be entangled with Li Xiao because of this, and he will lose big because of his smallness.

After hearing this, Li Xiao ordered Yokotani Yushige to return to Mino as soon as possible to inquire about the news, and once Nobunaga marched into Mino, Li Xiao sent troops from Hida to attack the ...... of Kamihachiman Castle in Mino County.