A.D. 1562, Eiroku 5th year, Owari, Kiyosu Castle.

In the 12th year of Oei (1405 in the Gregorian calendar), Shiba Yoshishige, who was also the guardian of the three kingdoms of Owari, Enoe, and Echizen, built Kiyoshu Castle, and after a few decades, because the original guardian station Shimotsu Castle was burned, Kiyoshu Castle was used as the guardian of the Shiba family, and since then it has been the center of Owari Province.

In the first year of Koji (1555), the guardian of Shibo Yoshitomo was killed by Oda Nobuntomo, and the Owari daimyo Oda Nobunaga captured Kiyoshi Castle and used it as his residence.

At the Oteemon Gate of Cheongju Castle, a herald samurai with a papaya-patterned flag on his back galloped into the gate.

"What? Minon's Yoshiryu is dead? ”

In the horse farm of Ninomaru in Kiyoshu Castle, a man wearing a hunting suit and a katana at his waist and riding a horse grabbed the reins, turned his horse's head and came to the samurai who came to pay his respects, and jumped off his horse.

The samurai in charge of the report knelt down on one knee in front of the man and said, "According to the ninja's secret report, the day before yesterday, Saito Yoshiryu, the head of the Mino Saito family, fell ill and died of leprosy. ”

The man pondered for a moment, lowered his gaze, folded his whip with his hands as if unconsciously, and then said as if to himself: "As soon as Yoshiryu dies, Mino will be within reach of me Nobunaga." ”

Suddenly, the man raised his head and shouted, "Bring me a folding stool!" ”

Immediately, a young man took out a Mazha and sat down for the lord.

This man is naturally Oda Nobunaga, who is known as the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. Oda Nobunaga is just twenty-eight years old this year, approaching the peak of a man's energy and wisdom.

The current Oda Nobunaga is no longer the same as he used to be, and he is a rebellious boy who has his hair tied in a straw knot, wears small sleeves and stretches out half of his arms, and then carries a bamboo knife and carries a horse in the countryside of Owari Town.

Right now, he wore a princess-style bun on the back of his head, a well-fitting hunting suit, his legs crossed in front of Maza, his right hand tightly gripping the hilt of his katana, and his eyes were like an eagle. Just last year, Oda Nobunaga defeated the Imagawa family's 40,000 Kamiraku army with 3,000 people, and the head of the Imagawa family, Imagawa Yoshimoto, was killed in battle, and his head was taken.

Because of this fantastic battle between barrels and narrows, the people of the world have known this ambitious daimyo Oda Nobunaga who has been condescending to Owari from now on, but that's all they know.

Oda Nobunaga glanced at him, and Takigawa Kazuki, the intelligence leader of the Oda family kneeling in front of him, said: "You go to the Mikawa side, let the Matsudaira family do a good job of territorial garrison, beware of Suruga, Shinano's military situation, and tell Ieyasu that my Oda family will raise troops to the north and set foot on Mino." ”

"Oh." Takigawa Kazuyi agreed, indicating obedience. After hesitating for a while, Takigawa Kazuyi asked again: "Lord, you are worried about the military situation of the Takeda family and the Imagawa family, so should I send more ninjas to closely investigate the military situation of the two families." ”

"No," Oda Nobunaga waved his hand, then grabbed his whip back, "Imagawa Shin, who is just a plaything and a discouraged person, is not even worthy of giving me Nobunaga a horse, and he said that I will let Imagawa Shinma personally perform his kemari in front of me for fun." As for Kai's Takeda ......"

Oda Nobunaga pondered slightly, and suddenly he turned around, turned in the direction of the horseman, and shouted, "Quick, wipe the sweat of the horse!" ”

"Oh." The horse servant agreed.

Takigawa Kazuyi was stunned for a moment, but he was not too surprised, obviously he had already become accustomed to the thinking of the lord with a jumping surname.

Oda Nobunaga sat up straight on the mazar again, then slapped his palm with a whip, stared into the distance with his eyes, and said in a deep voice: "That mountain monkey of Kai is the only opponent of my Nobunaga in the whole world, and he is also the most feared person. In the future, I will have a battle with him, but not now, if my Oda family wants to attack Mino, I must obtain an alliance with the Takeda family, understand? ”

The little surname next to him, as well as Takigawa Kazuyi, couldn't help but laugh when he heard Oda Nobunaga call Takeda Shingen a mountain monkey of Kai, but he could only hold back and didn't dare to laugh out loud.

"Yes, my lord. But the alliance needs to have a marriage as a guarantee, Shin Xuangong, oh no, the mountain monkey of that Kai is old, and his sister-in-law, Yoshinobu, has married the daughter of the Imagawa clan. ”

"It doesn't matter, doesn't Xinxuan have another fourth son?"

Takigawa Kazuyi understood and asked, "Could it be Suwa Katsuyori, who just defeated Uesugi Terutora in the Battle of Shiraneyama?" However, he is only the head of the Suwa family, and if he marries the children of my Oda family, it will be a discord. ”

"You know what?" Oda Nobunaga said, "Fortunately, the future governor of the Takeda family is not Katsuyori, otherwise his talent is not inferior to Shingen." Okay, let's use this condition to let Oda Tadahiro send Kai as an envoy to take charge of diplomatic matters with the Takeda family. ”

After saying that, Oda Nobunaga Huo Ran stood up and walked to the gate of the racecourse. Takigawa Kazuyi also hurriedly got up and followed.

At this time, a very short samurai by the door ran to Oda Nobunaga, took out the two clogs he was carrying, knelt on the ground and said, "Please change your shoes." ”

Oda Nobunaga laughed, gently slapped the samurai's shoulder with the whip in his hand, and said, "Monkey, didn't you promote you to the head of the ashigaru group?" Why do you still do such a servant's doing? ”

The warrior immediately knelt on the ground and said, "It is your honor, to do things for your lord. His subordinates can't wait to be by the lord's side every day and see the lord every day. ”

Oda Nobunaga laughed when he heard this, and the samurai skillfully removed Oda Nobunaga's shoes, then served him to put them on, and finally held the changed shoes in his hands and carefully dusted off them.

Oda Nobunaga only glanced at him, then turned to Takigawa Kazuyoshi who was following him and said, "I heard that there is also a samurai from the Ming Kingdom under that Suwa Shiro, right?" ”

Takigawa Kazuyi thought for a while and said: "Yes, this person's name is Li Xiao, and he fought in the Shirane Mountain, where Suwa Katsuyori is located, and it is said that he led the cavalry and risked his life to take the Uesugi Kenshin main formation, which forced back the Uesugi family's army." And it is said that according to the rumors of the Hojo family, this person's bravery is no less than that of Hojo Tsunari. ”

Listening to Takigawa Kazuki's words, Oda Nobunaga suddenly stopped, turned around and shouted like a volcanic eruption: "It's just a joke, didn't I listen to it, it was said, it was said, you rarely don't have a little reliable words?" ”

Takigawa Yiyi hurriedly knelt down and said: "Please calm your anger, Your Majesty can be sure that this Li Xiao is definitely a fierce general of the three armies, not even inferior to the six great people of his family." ”

Oda Nobunaga's eagle-like eyes were firmly fixed on Takigawa Kazuki, and he said, "Since he is a fierce general, I have to find a way to recruit him." Is he now serving as a general or a general in the Takeda family? Forget it, it doesn't matter, as long as he joins the Oda family, I, Nobunaga, will give him a castle, make him the lord of the castle, and command an army of Yoritsu, so I will recruit him on this condition. ”

Takigawa Yiyi heard Oda Nobunaga say this, knelt down on the ground and shouted in his heart, the lord's condition is too much, this Li Xiao can't use a city to solicit it. And it's in alliance with the Takeda family here, and it's going to poach people here, which is a bit wrong. However, even if Takikawa Yiyi thought so, he didn't dare to speak out against it, so he could only bury his head and show his obedience.

After Oda Nobunaga finished explaining Takigawa Kazuyi, he had just taken a few steps forward when he suddenly stopped.

Just when the attendants thought that this lord felt that something was wrong.

Oda Nobunaga turned his head to look at the samurai who was holding one of his shoes in his forehand, and said, "Monkey, give you a chance to make meritorious contributions, let you go to Takeda's house and recruit this Ming samurai." ”

PS: The date of Saito's death was actually May 1661, which is postponed by a year in this book.