Just after the New Year, there is a bad news from the Imagawa family, which is the backbone of the Imagawa family, the teacher of Imagawa Yoshimoto, the old Taiyuan Xuezhai who is the assistant to the government, died suddenly of illness, it is said that the old man walked very peacefully, and he also participated in the New Year's banquet the day before, and made a few songs to praise the spring with joy, but when he opened the door the next day, he found that the old man had passed away suddenly.

The sudden illness and death of Taiyuan Xuezhai gave Imagawa Yoshimoto and even the entire Imagawa family a heavy blow, and all the layouts of the Imagawa family needed to be torn down and rebuilt, and Imagawa Yoshimoto realized at this time how dependent the Imagawa family was on this teacher, and how much damage the loss of Taiyuan Xuezhai would bring to the Imagawa family.

Militarily, Taiyuan Yukisai served as the full responsibility of the formation, and diplomatically Taiyuan Yukisai served as the chief executive responsible for the promotion of the Koshojun Alliance, and in government affairs, he assisted Imagawa Yoshimoto to improve and promote the implementation of various tasks, and the role of this auxiliary politician in the Imagawa family far exceeded the role of Yamamoto Tokiyuki of the Kira family, and the impact of his departure on the Imagawa family could not be eliminated in the short term.

For this reason, Imagawa Yoshimoto had to abandon the attack plan against Owari and change to major in internal affairs to appease the retainers and countrymen, maintain the dominant position of the Imagawa family in the Koshogun Alliance, strengthen the alliance with the Kira family, and raise the level of worship to the Kyoto court and shogunate in order to gain greater influence.

The original plan was to use five to seven years after the capture of Mikawa, to consolidate and digest Mikawa's territory, to ensure that several major castles were in the hands of Imagawa Yoshimoto, and to ensure that the Imagawa family's territory in Mikawa and the lord's lawsuits, taxation and other dominance were to be secured.

Then the troops were sent to Owari. Step by step, the people of Owari are wooed. Then borrow the people of Owari as the guide. The Imagawa family led a large army to capture the entire territory of Owari in one fell swoop, in order to achieve the strategic goal of replicating the complete strategy of the Mikawa Province.

But now Taiyuan Xuezhai has passed away, the important general who perfected and implemented the plan was lost, there is no general to replace him in the Imagawa family, Asahina Taineng is close to the age of antiquity, and his ability is more suitable for being a deputy general, Okabe Motonobu is currently the first fierce general of the Imagawa family, but there is still a distance from the general general.

There was a gloomy cloud in Imagawa's house. The Kira family was brightly lit, and the inside and outside of Kasuga Mountain Castle were full of joy, and the long-tailed tiger was holding the wine, followed by Numata Sandalwood, Ii Naotora, and Mochizuki Money Bag, and they also picked up the wine cup in the same way, and said with a joyful smile: "I wish Your Highness good health, and I wish the Ashikaga family a long time of martial luck!" ”

Several girls raised their wine cups with a smile and said, "I wish the Ashikaga family a long time of martial arts!" ”

"Good! I'll fill it up! Seeing that the relationship between several girls was initially harmonious, Kira Yoshishi said happily.

Wine is still a high-end product, there are no suitable oak barrels or high-end vinification methods, and the wine fermented with grapes and sugar has a strange taste. Sweet and sour, the eyebrows of several first-time women dressed as girls are tangled.

"Poof! It's so unpleasant! Chiyo Mochizuki squirted out. Fortunately, Jing Yi Naoto, who was sitting opposite her, reacted quickly and dodged it, until several maids were very embarrassed by the wine stains, and several younger maids had red circles in their eyes, looking like they wanted to cry but didn't dare to cry.

"Don't drink it in a big gulp, you see how wasteful it is, Your Highness has worked hard to brew a few more urns......" Tiger Ji angrily called the maid to clean up the wine stains that were scattered.

"It's okay, just sprinkle a little wine, and it can be brewed anyway...... This time the wine was really hard to drink. Kira Yoshitoki smiled bitterly and swallowed the wine, this winemaking process is obviously not up to par, and I can only hope that it will slowly improve in the future.

At this time, a maid hurriedly walked over and whispered a few words in the ear of the long-tailed tiger queen, and the girl frowned and hurriedly got up and said: "Your Highness, my sister is about to give birth, the concubine will go to see my sister first, and then come to accompany Your Highness, okay?" ”

"Go ahead! Sister Ayahime is more important there, and this wine can be drunk at any time in this family. Kira Yoshitoki watched her leave safely and reasonably, Nagao Ayahime has been pregnant since she came to Kasuga Mountain Castle for a few months, if this child is a boy, then Yasō is the legendary "Silent General" Uesugi Keikatsu.

"Now that the family is intervening, the Long Tail family has changed so much! Shangyue and Zhongyue are completely mastered, and the long-tail political scene loses the suppression of the long-tail Jinghu in the spring mountain city, and this time even has a child, and the lower one is also dismembered by the family, so should the family look forward to a farther goal? Kira Yoshishi picked up the unpalatable wine and swallowed it in his throat.

Kita-Shinano was initially decided, and the initiative of the Ueno country and even the entire Uesugi family was also in his hands, whether it was attacking Shinano or sending troops to Ueno, there was no shortage of names, and now the Kira army has 8,000 tigers, mainly composed of more than 4,000 people from the original team of the headquarters, 2,000 people from Shimo-Yue, and 2,000 people from Kita-Shinano.

These 4,000 new troops have good combat effectiveness, after more than a year of reorganization and training by Yamamoto Shixing, he has begun to build results, his master is best at training, which he has never worried, especially now there is a little junior brother Numata Yumitsu is smart and diligent, modest and pragmatic temperament is very loved by Yamamoto Shixing, looking at the posture has the intention of inheriting a mantle of ability.

Strictly speaking, Kira Yoshitoki is not the heir to the mantle of Yamamoto Tokiyuki's military strategy and one-handed castle building and political methods, Yamamoto Tokiyuki's education of him is more of an enlightening education, often asking a few questions, or deliberately putting forward a wrong idea for him to think about the feasibility himself.

When the answer is negative, throw out the correct answer and ask him to think backwards about why it is feasible to do so, and what are the blind spots that he ignores? This workout was the foundation laid back in the Mikawa era, and the benefits were enough to last him a lifetime.

After years of observation by Yamamoto Tokiyuki, he found that Kira Yoshitoki had his own complete values, superb judgment, and the ability to interpret and grasp the situation, so he dared to use this heuristic education method, which is also a type of teaching according to aptitude.

And Numata Yumitsu is another kind of person, he does not have the "natural wisdom" of Kira Yoshito, and his current understanding of military strategy and political strategy is still very shallow. But his ability to learn is not bad at all. It is quick to get started and has a strong ability to imitate. It is also very important to have a good grasp of the details.

His temperament is also very similar to Yamamoto Tokiyuki when he was young, and every time he deduces the battle situation, he takes winning in stability as the basic strategic goal, especially good at using single foot light formations and tactics that match with various arms, and he also likes the spear and shield soldiers in the new army.

In recent months, he has planned to drop the two men of Shimatoki and Numata Yumitsu, who has already learned the archery of Naitoshi Naito, and who is also a genius samurai who is good at figuring out the situation of battle. It's a bit of a waste to put it in Akabi.

At the same time, there will also be a new round of adjustments, the Akabi general will be transferred to the Shinano Bei general, and the other general is Kato of the original grenadier team, and the two of them did not bring any retinue to the Shinano reserve team without a mountain, and easily suppressed the 2,000 Shinano countrymen who had no backers with their excellent wrists.

The general of Akabi was served by Takigawa Tokimasa, and the grenadier team still maintained a crack strategy, and the overall size was doubled to 200 people, and the general was Naokaka Nomura, the head of the iron artillery station, and the deputy was Shigemasa Tanaka, both of whom were from Omi. And coincidentally, one is from the village of Kunitome, and the other is the son-in-law of the Kokutomo Guard. The two are also reassuring candidates.

Recently, in the study of the test of strengthening long-range attacks with iron cannons, according to the information fed back by the iron artillery general Takigawa Yoshishige who cooperated with the test, the arquebus cannot guarantee the safety of the grenadier team, and those flammable and explosive gunpowder canisters are simply thunderous when they touch the flammable arquebus, and whoever plays will die quickly.

"Your Highness, the Ogasawara Shinano Moriden in the front hall has something important to see you!"

"Got it!" took a handkerchief and wiped the corners of his mouth, Kira Yoshitoki smiled and said to several girls: "I still have something to do, you can eat first!" ”

"Congratulations to Your Highness!" The girls got up and saw him off, and Chiyonu Mochizuki took Ii Naoto's arm and said, "Sister Naoto, Chiyonu wants to see you practice guns, let's go play together for a while, right?" ”

"Okay, I'm going to change my clothes first, and Chiyonu is coming over too?" A faint smile appeared on the face of the Ii Naoto, the little girl was cute and lacked scheming, and she was deeply loved by everyone, including her, in the eyes of Ii Naoto, who was raised as a boy since childhood, Chiyo Mochizuki was an ignorant little sister.

"Okay!" Watching Chiyo Mochizuki and Naota Ii leave hand in hand like good sisters, Numata Sandalwood frowned slightly and turned to leave the hall.

As soon as I returned to the room, I saw an elderly maid with an unfamiliar face walking quietly, gently closed the door and leaned over in a low voice, and asked, "Your Royal Highness the Princess, hasn't Your Highness the Pavilion Master touched your body yet?" ”

"Didn't you already tell your father? Ask less about the affairs of the inner court! And all the messy things that my father gave me were all taken back, so I didn't want to listen to any family secrets. Numata Sandalwood frowned in disgust and turned her face away from the maid.

The maid was unimpressed by Numata Sandalwood's disgusted expression, and still muttered, "The lord is also for the family business of our Numata family!" The lord intends to marry Princess Enka to His Royal Highness Nanoka Tsubo, and Princess Nagaka to His Royal Highness Honda Tokimasa, and Princess Akika to His Royal Highness Yamaoka Naga, all of which require Her Royal Highness the princess to exert more effort from Her Royal Highness the Pavilion Master......"

"Enough! Shut up! You're just an outer room raised by my father, and you dare to interfere in my Kira family's family business? Numata Sandalwood raised her eyebrows, and scolded angrily: "Give me to leave immediately, and never come here again!" I don't want to see you again! ”

"You...... You! The maid's face turned pale for a while, and she smiled angrily: "What a sandalwood princess! Worthy of being a strange woman of my Numata family! But don't forget! You have the blood of the Numata family in your veins, and don't forget the purpose of the lord ordering you to do your best for the benefit of the family! ”

"I always remember my father's words...... But it's not your turn! Numata Sandalwood sneered: "Now I am the woman of His Royal Highness, the woman of the Kira family!" I'm going to defend my Highness, and I'm going to defend the Kira family, not the Numata family! ”

Hearing her statement, the maid shook her head with a smile, and Numata Tan said angrily, "What are you laughing at?" What's ridiculous! Do you think that an outer room can be compared to the side room that I, the Ming media, am marrying? ”

"I'm not laughing at anything else, but laughing at Her Royal Highness the princess is so naïve! Do you really think that by climbing the high branches, you can forget your identity? Whether it is the main room or the side room, it is to look at the identity and determine their own status! So what does Princess Sandalwood compare to other princesses? ”

Facing the maid's slightly mocking smile, Numata Sandalwood's face turned white and frightening. He hung his head and was silent. The smile seemed to say, "I'm not worth mentioning because of my low status." Therefore, you despise and despise you, so what do you have to be a princess? ”

The maid continued: "Princess Toraki is the lord of Echigo, Princess Naotoko is the adopted daughter of Imagawa Jibu, even the lowest-ranking Princess Chiyo represents the Mochizuki ninja, and you left the support of the Numata family, how can you compete for favor with these people?" Without pampering, how can you ensure the status of your children in the future? ”

"That's right! What should I do with my children in the future? My child can't be held back by his mother! "Numata Sandalwood's complexion changes from one color to another, like a paint tray that is applied in various colors, and the colorful pigments evolve into more complex colors when applied at will.

The maid knew that Numata Sandalwood had been moved. He didn't forget to chase after him and said: "My Numata family is unanimously optimistic about the Kira family, and now it is not enough to have His Royal Highness Yumitsu and His Royal Highness the Princess, the lord means to give full play to the advantages of my Numata family's daughters and establish an in-law relationship with the talents in the Kira family!"

Even if we can't make them biased towards my Numata family, I will have more support for Her Royal Highness the princess and her future children, and if Her Royal Highness can give birth to a lin'er for the owner of the pavilion in advance, the glory and wealth of my Numata family will be just around the corner in the future! Her Royal Highness the Princess's children can also be treated better! ”

Numata Sandalwood frowned and pondered for a long time, and found that the maid was still standing quietly in place, and immediately said to her with a straight face: "I know, there is nothing else." Please step down! Also, don't come here in the future. It's not good for anyone to be known by His Highness! You should know the strength of my Kira family's ninja army. ”

"Hmmm! I won't be here in the future, so if there's any news, let Ah Chun spread the word on my behalf. The maid got up lightly and pushed the door open.

Looking at the paper door gradually closing, Numata Sandalwood suddenly had an urge to cry, and after enduring it for a long time, she still couldn't hold back the tears accumulated in her eyes, and the bean-sized teardrops dripped down with a sad expression: "Why does my father force me?" Ever since I knew that I was going to marry His Royal Highness, he changed the law to force me to learn things I didn't like, from dancing to painting, from flattery to intrigue...... But is it not because my father's teachings are wrong? Why are you still forcing me now? What exactly am I doing wrong? Can anyone tell me? What do I owe to the Numata family? Why do this to me? ”

……

A touch of green smoke floated leisurely from the incense burner, the brass hollow dragon and phoenix auspicious incense burner from the Ming Dynasty, the built-in incense from Kyushu's fine spices, with the effect of calming the nerves, Ogasawara's long-term worries but could not be solved with precious incense, he has been sitting with Kira Yoshitoki for nearly half an hour, and the topic has not yet been around the topic.

"Can't wait any longer!" Ogasawara plucked up the courage and said loudly, "Please ask the Takeden to help you recapture Shinano, recapture the lost old domain, and be willing to give Shinano a half-country gift ......."

"Huh! Ogasawara Shinano Mamoru probably doesn't know yet, right? His Royal Highness the Princess, who was sitting in Kyoto, issued an imperial letter to the family and ordered the family to serve as Shinano's guardian, so the recapture of the Shinano family will definitely be done, but not for anyone, but for the shogunate, please don't use the wrong word for Ogasawara Shinano Mamoru ! ”

"What! How could this be! Ogasawara straightened up abruptly, his voice was like a rooster that had just cut his throat, his tone suddenly changed eight tones, his whole face was red like a red apple, and he looked at the small surname on the side in a daze and hurriedly handed over a silk silk, and the unfamiliar handwriting on it jumped on the paper.

"Today, I heard that Kai guarded the Takeda clan and invaded Shinano to its great chaos, and Shinano guarded the Ogasawara clan and fled without being able to resist the rebellion, and was unable to perform the duty of guardian, so the special order of Kira Yoshishi was Shinano's guardian, and from now on, suppress Shinano's crusade against the rebellion! Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the third day of the first month of the second year of Koji. ”

Looking at this imperial book, he has realized that this is the real handwriting of the shogun, others imitate the special silk silk fabric used in the book of the imperial religion, and his ancestors also treasured a copy of the four generations of the prince Ashikaga Yoshitoshi issued the imperial book, which is also the touch of this fabric, which will definitely not be wrong.

"My family will not do anything to deceive and deceive, if Ogasawara Shinano Mamoru doesn't believe it, he can send someone to Kyoto to find out the authenticity of the news, if he doesn't believe it, he can wait for half a month, this kind of news must have spread all over the world, or it won't be long before the entire Echigo and even Shinano will know......"

Ogasawara felt a sharp pain hit him for a long time, and his head hurt like a hammer hitting hard, and he fainted as soon as it was dark in front of him. Several small surnames were taken aback by this sudden change. Panicked and didn't know what to do.

"Quickly help Shinano to rest in the temple. Please come and treat Shinano Shouden. Ji Liang Yoshishi was also shocked, a strong man with strong martial arts fell down like this, and he was still worried that he would hang up like this, in case there were three long and two short, he couldn't tell.

In a panic, several small surnames drove Ogasawara to the side hall for a long time to receive treatment, but fortunately, Qu Naase Shouzhen was also in the city, and when he heard the greeting, he hurried over, and he was busy watching and asking. Only then did he wipe the sweat off his face and let out a long breath: "Shinano Shouden is just angry and fainting, so I'll prescribe a few calming decoctions, just pay more attention to rest." ”

Knowing that Ogasawara didn't have much of a problem for a long time, he also sighed and said, "Fortunately, there is no problem, otherwise it will be difficult for the family to get involved...... Don't talk about that, let's talk about how Kunimatsu's body is now? How did you recover after so long? ”

"The situation is fine! The situation of the Guosong Hall is more complicated, and some problems with congenital belts can only be combined with medication, diet, and physiotherapy, and Mr. formulates a treatment strategy, which will take about five years to basically return to the level of a normal person. As the imperial physician of the Kira family, he is now a disciple of Nagata Tokumoto, learning authentic Kampo medicine.

Compared to the frizzy and hairy samurai fantasy when I first met a few years ago. Now this young man who has just turned 20 has a little more composure and rigor in his body. The effect that his father's persuasion of Michisan Kosan Kosa did not get at the time was not effective, but now he is working hard under the training of Nagata Tokumoto.

He once lamented that he was young and ignorant, how shallow his understanding of medicine and his career was, and that a person like him from a medical family could not get what he needed by giving up his ancestral business to join the ranks of unfamiliar samurai.

"Five years is five years! As long as you can cure Guosong, it is worth spending more effort! As early as two years ago, Kira Yoshitoki made up his mind to save the fate of Kunimatsu, which included the natural closeness of personal favor, as well as political and strategic thinking and planning.

The current situation is that in the three years since Kira Yoshishi entered Echigo, the original Echigo Uesugi lineage's voice has been greatly weakened, its influence in Kasugayama Castle has been greatly reduced, the independence of the Yohoku people has been completely dismantled, and several famous thorns have either been subdued or frightened, and with the land knowledge of the Kira family and the Nagao family has skyrocketed, more than ninety percent of the refugees have poured in in the hands of these two families, and no one in Echigo can threaten the foundation of Nagao and Kira's two-headed rule.

During this period, the Ueda Nagao clan stood firmly in the camp of Kira Yoshitoki, and did not engage in political speculation like Usami Dingmi, but bet on him, and he would be the first supporter of any decree implemented by the Kira family.

Regardless of the reason for Nagao Masaki's choice, his actions greatly increased Kira's favor for the Ueda Nagao clan, coupled with the long-sleeved good dance of Nagao Masaki's main wife, Nagao Aya, established a very close relationship with Nagao Toraki in personal relationships, and won Kirayo's respect and trust.

Therefore, Kira Yoshitoki also promoted Nagao Masaki from an inconsequential position to the second person in the Nagao family's public ranking step by step in this year's or more, and his status was second only to the Nagao family's genealogy family Lao Honjo Minori.

This success made his political stance clearer because he stood out from the crowd of Kasugayama Castle, and he was also a key member of the Kira faction in the Nagao family, and the other key member was Saito Asanobu, who was preparing for a big wedding.

In the second half of last year, this reckless man did an earth-shattering event, holding thousands of bouquets of wild flowers piled up in front of the Ji Qu wheel in the spring mountain castle, shouting loudly the slogan of marrying Atago Kikuhime, followed by more than a dozen tall strong men who followed and shouted and screamed, and finally Nagao Jinghu couldn't stand it anymore, and sent Nagao Jinglian over to pull this group of troublemakers to the castle tower for questioning.

Saito Asanobu exerted his ability to play tricks, first brazenly expounded his love for Aju, and then under the banner of Kira Yoshito, he acquiesced to how he was, and finally carried his dead father out with a horizontal heart, counting how his father fought for Nagao and Jing Gong back then, how his father was the first to serve when Jing Hu Gong came out of the mountain, and what credit he made for the Nagao family over the years.

I almost sprayed saliva on Nagao Jinghu's face, and wrote on his face the big words "The Nagao family owes my family", and the dragon of Echigo choked for a long time and couldn't speak, and finally saw that this guy was going to splash and roll if he continued to develop, and it was worth discussing countermeasures with Kira Yoshitoki with anger and laughter.

Kira Yoshitoki also saw that this Sister Aju and Saito Asanobu were concubines, but Aju's situation was very special, and this stupid sister didn't know what to say and was embarrassed to say, the layer of window paper between the two of them hadn't been pierced for several years, if it weren't for Saito Asanobu this time, I don't know how long it would take.

So I heard that the long-tailed Jinghu also had the meaning of matchmaking, so he pushed the boat along the river to express his support, and then asked Hu Ji to go to the side with a message to test Aju's meaning, and I don't know if Aju was scared stupid by this hand, so he nodded stupidly with a burning face, and then the matter was settled in a daze.

A Ueda Nagao family governor, Ueda Nagao family controls nearly ninety percent of the land in Uonuma County, with its own standing armament and a complete retainer regiment.

Another Echigo four elders, the Saito family governor, the Saito family is the Echigo Uesugi family lineage, the same as the Nagao family, and the first time to stand in the camp of the Nagao family, the development of the wind and water in the past few decades, the other two other two families with the same Ishikawa family, Chisaka clan far away, in Echigo's popularity and deep connections are very strong.

Coupled with the influence of the former Echigo countrymen such as Hojo Takahiro, Honjo Shiganaga, and Kurokawa Kiyomi, there are few forces in Echigo that can compete with them, which is another motivation for Kira Yoshitoshi to consider saving Kunimatsu, and the bond between the two families is to deepen the relationship between the two families.

Even if the dragon of Echigo, Nagao Keiho, still can't let go of the rebellion of Nagao Masaki back then, and can't change the change of this general situation, so that the treatment of their eldest son, Kunimatsu, is even more important, as long as Nagao Masaki's eldest son does not die, the door of the Ueda Nagao family will not change, and for the Ueda Nagao family, which is friendly to the Kira family, Kira Yoshitoki is supported by raising his hands.

But the problem came out again, with the lack of medical care and medicine in the environment of Echigo, it was impossible to treat the symptoms faced by Kunimatsu, and it was difficult to treat the disease of physical weakness due to congenital problems.

At the same time, it should also be matched with the strengthening of Guosong's will to survive, so that he is more in line with the treatment of the other side, five years is just a preliminary strategy, and there may be a strategy for the next five years in the future to consolidate the curative effect, of course, all this is not a problem, he is only ten years old and has time, as long as he can survive healthily, it is not a problem.

"Guosong is still very young, and we have to wait for five years, so we must strictly control this, and we must ensure the physical and mental health of Guosong, understand?" Kira Yoshitoki repeatedly admonished.

"Understood!" Qu Naase Shouzhen's spirit perked up, and he hurriedly said respectfully: "Please rest assured, Your Excellency, Your Majesty will do your best!" (To be continued......)