Takigawa Tokiyoshi is two years younger than Maeda Toshiya, and both of them are tall people in a group of short people, but Takikawa Tokiyoshi is taller and stronger, when he stared at Maeda Toshiya, he was inadvertently released by the evil aura that made him cold, and his eyes were as if two sharp knives were about to poke a few holes in his body.

Maeda Toshiya secretly said bitterly, he has experienced a lot of battles in recent years, since he accidentally killed Ten Ami and experienced a short life of exile, he realized that the most important thing as a samurai is not the favor of the lord, but his own method of commanding the army and the power of martial arts, just like Shibata Katsuya offended Oda Nobunaga so ruthlessly, but he sat on the cold bench for a few years and started again, he just killed a lowly fellow friend by mistake and was exiled.

In the past few years, he has been working hard to cultivate martial arts, and he wrote a sincere letter of atonement before he was forgiven by Oda Nobunaga and returned to the shrine, and in the ensuing battle of Tsubasasa, he killed several generals of the Imagawa family, not only returned to the Red Mother of Clothes for his merits, but also was promoted to the leader of the Red Mother of Clothes, and his status was much stronger than before.

Maeda Toshiya didn't want to make trouble, so he replied: "We are the samurai of the Owari Oda family, and we have come here to meet the town government for important things, my name is Maeda Toshiya, and when I saw your appearance just now, I thought it was my nephew Keitaro Maeda, sorry for the wrong person." ”

"Owari samurai Maeda Toshiie......" Takigawa Tokiyoshi endured his excitement, and asked in a trembling voice, "So what is the relationship between Maeda Saurato Hall and you?" ”

"Kurato Maeda is the elder brother of the next, I don't know if you are ......" Maeda Toshiya looked at him with some uncertainty.

Takigawa Keijiro sighed and said, "My name is Takigawa Tokiyi, more than ten years ago. The younger brother went to Owari with his uncle Takigawa Kazuki in Keitaro. It is said that he was passed on to the lord of Owari Province Arako Castle, Kurato Maeda, as an adopted son. It's just that because of the bad relationship between my father and my uncle, I haven't been in touch for more than ten years, I don't know if my brother is good? ”

Maeda Toshiya looked extremely happy, and said kindly and enthusiastically: "It turned out to be Takigawa Hall!" I was very envious of the prestige of the Takigawa Hall in the next nine years, but I didn't expect that there was really an in-law relationship, Keitaro lived very well in Arako City, and as the heir of the family governor assisted the family brother, speaking of which, I saw him once a few months ago. I got married to my brother's daughter last year. ”

In fact, Maeda Toshiya guessed this possibility as early as when he called Takigawa Tokiyoshi, he knew very well the ins and outs of his sick Maeda Toshihisa to set up Takigawa Ischiyi's nephew, and also knew that Echigo had a Takigawa Isshige and Takigawa Tokiyoshi father and son were likely to be Takigawa Ischiyi's close relatives, but Takigawa Ichiyi never mentioned that he had mentioned this matter in front of others, and he couldn't be sure how much Takikawa Tokiyoshi had to do with his cheap nephew, only knew that they were both Takikawa clans and had Keitaro and Keijiro as their young names.

Takigawa Shiyi relaxed, nodded and said, "It turns out that my brother is already married!" That couldn't be better...... That's right! What is my brother's name? ”

"The name is Keitaro Maeda's interests."

"Maeda's interests? It looks pretty good. Takigawa Shiyi raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "I hope my brother can be an excellent samurai, but I remember that my brother seems to have a different temperament from me, and he doesn't like the samurai life of fighting and killing." I'm more fond of literature and songs, but I wonder how he's doing now? ”

Maeda Toshiie smiled and said, "Probably like Takikawaden said!" Study the waka tea ceremony. The understanding of the way of the bow horse is still relatively rudimentary, Keitaro's ambition is to be an excellent practitioner, and his brother is also very supportive of his decision. ”

"Hmmm! It's enough for the Takigawa family to have me as a rushing samurai, let my brother inherit the Maeda family's ancestral lineage......" Takigawa Shiyi patted his head and said embarrassedly: "Eh! Look at my stupidity! This is a place to chat and catch up, and since you are a messenger from the Owari Oda family, please come with me! Go directly to Kasugayama Castle and stay overnight! ”

The so-called four joys of life have the old knowledge of meeting in a foreign land, although the Owari samurai is far from being the old knowledge of Takigawa Tokiyoshi, but once it involves his brother-in-law, it becomes a different scene, completely treating the Maeda Toshiya as his own relative, not only inviting him to his own house as a guest, but also informing his father Takigawa Mashige to come together to reminisce, and the Maeda Toshiya tells about his brother Maeda's life in Arashi City, and the Maeda Toshiya dictates to make the scene very warm.

In fact, the relationship between Maeda Toshiya and Maeda Toshihisa is not as close as imagined, just because Maeda Toshihisa is weak and childless but wants to forcibly succeed the son of the Takigawa family, the four brothers of the Maeda family are inseparable and almost split, and the Maeda Toshiya family is also unable to stay in the barren city in this turmoil, and has become Oda Nobunaga's follower surname with his excellent appearance.

Maeda Toshiya hated his brother from the bottom of his heart, and he was unwilling to adopt his brothers as heirs to the family governor despite being sick and weak and had no heirs, and he wanted to find an adopted son from a samurai family who was not from Owari and was Maeda Toshihisa's wife.

Just because of a dispute over the succession, the Maeda family has destroyed the unity relationship accumulated over the years, and the Maeda Toshiya has taken his younger brother Sawaki Yoshiyuki to become a member of the Red Mother by virtue of his looks and martial arts, and after ten years of struggle and accumulation, the two brothers are no less than the conformist Maeda Toshihisa, and even more than the lord in terms of trust.

And since that turmoil, the Maeda Toshiya rarely returns to Arashiko City to visit relatives, especially a few years ago, he married Amatsu as the wife of the main room, and formed a warm little family for the birth of his eldest daughter Yukihime, and he was even more reluctant to return to the indifferent Arashiko City to see his brother's face, but he couldn't say this in front of Takigawa Yishige and Takigawa Keijiro, and could only try to recall the stories that Mr. Zero had seen and heard with his own ears and told them father and son.

The two were also very happy to hear that their son's position as the heir to the family governor was very stable, and they learned that the Maeda Toshiya family had married and had children in Cheongju City and settled a small family, so they presented the Maeda Toshiya family with a longboat sword made by Soga and Bing Wei himself, a carefully selected Mutsu Okurya horse, and a hundred Yongle money. Twenty pieces of cloth of various colors. He also kindly gave a carriage and two pack horses for transportation. also asked the Maeda Toshiya to take care of this son more, and this wealth should be regarded as a reward.

Maeda Toshiya didn't expect to get so many good things in just one night's effort, the Takigawa father and son were generous and generous, and the Envious eyes of the Owari samurai who came with him were almost red, Kinoshita Hideyoshi circled around the Maeda Toshiya in the hope of getting out of his mouth Takigawa father and son.

Niwa Nagahide was very happy, and said with a smile: "His Royal Highness the Li family has really encountered a good thing!" Not only is it a good thing for the Maeda family, but it's also a great thing for the Oda family, and it may be possible to reap unexpected results by making use of the relationship between the two Takigawa dens. Therefore, please Your Highness the Rijia must be diligent and contact His Royal Highness Takigawa. ”

"I understand it below!" Maeda Toshiya didn't expect him to be the breakthrough of this mission, but he knew very well that the impact he could have on Takigawa's father and son was very limited, after all, Maeda Keitaro was already the adopted son of the Maeda family, and in the past ten years, he had already become an authentic Maeda family samurai.

The father and son of the Takigawa family know the rules of the samurai family very well, but they just miss this eldest son for a while to come to see the old country, and it is absolutely impossible to expect their father and son to favor the Oda family because of this matter, and the Takigawa father and son did not choose to give Maeda Keitaro some goods directly for this reason.

It's not that they can't afford to spend this bit of money and goods, but they are worried that rashly interfering in the affairs of the Maeda family will cause a strong backlash, and the father of the adopted son has disappeared for more than ten years and suddenly appears to send a lot of good things that the Wasteland City can't give. What does this mean for the samurai of the Maeda family?

Whether it is interpreted as wanting to snatch Keitaro Maeda, the heir to the family governor, or taking the opportunity to meddle in the affairs of the Maeda family. It will have a huge negative impact on Keitaro Maeda, and at the same time, it will also cause turmoil and chaos to the Maeda family, which may put Keitaro Maeda in great danger, and their father and son will never dare to do such a thing that crosses the line.

Niwa Nagahide gathered everyone and said solemnly: "The monarchs should know how anxious the lord is urging this time, a few years ago, the lord tried to discuss the possibility of marriage in the correspondence with the town government, and was finally bypassed by the town government and failed, this time I came to the envoy under great pressure, this marriage alliance involves the future development of my Oda family and the peace of the family, the order given by the lord is only allowed to succeed and not fail, if there is a case, there is no need to return to Owari." ”

Kinoshita Hideyoshi asked worriedly, "There's a question below!" No need to go back to Owari whether he was exiled or ......"

"Of course it's a seppuku suicide! Fujiyoshiro wouldn't be thinking about exile for a few years before returning to Owari, right? Sasa Narumasa seems to have a grudge against him, always using harsh language to satirize Kinoshita Hideyoshi, and every time he can't raise his head sarcastically, of course, this time he stares at him without exception and chases him fiercely.

Kinoshita Hideyoshi looked at Sasa Narumasa in disbelief with a harsh expression, and then looked at Maeda Toshiya's unaware appearance, and muttered in a low voice: "If you fail, you will commit suicide by seppuku, this is too harsh!" Obviously shouldering such a dangerous task, why is everyone not nervous at all? ”

Maeda Toshiya scratched his chin and showed a distressed expression: "It's hard to say whether it will commit suicide by seppuku, but if it fails, you will definitely not be able to return to Owari!" Speaking of which, why do I encounter such a dangerous mission every time! I knew that I should have found a chance to pretend to be sick in Cheongju City, and if I really failed and was exiled from Owari Province, Amatsu and Yukihime would definitely be sad! ”

"That's right! Ah Chun is still waiting for me to go back at home! I'll be sad if I can't go home! My father-in-law, Zhensheng, won't force Ah Chun to divorce from me and remarry! Sasa Narumasa also began to be distressed, several brothers of the Sasa family died on the battlefield, and without the protection of their elder brothers, they could only get up from the grassroots samurai little by little in the Oda family, and if this mission failed and no one interceded, it was very likely to be exiled.

The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I became, and the anger in my heart also rose, and I turned my head to see the stunned Kinoshita Hideyoshi, and couldn't help but continue to mock: "Among us samurai, you are the only one who has never touched a woman, right?" His Royal Highness Katsuzaburo is marrying the daughter of Arao as a right emon, only you don't have a marriage contract, right? Let's try to find a woman to marry before the age of 30! ”

Ikeda Hengxing patted Sasa Narumasa on the shoulder and said with a grin, "Eh! Uchizosuke doesn't know, right? Fujiyoshiro seems to have a crush on the daughter of the Asano family, and I heard that he is planning to propose marriage to His Royal Highness Asano and Youemon, and that woman seems to be called Ninning, right? ”

Maeda Toshiya looked at Kinoshita Hideyoshi in surprise. Full of surprise, he said, "And this? Then I have to congratulate Fujiyoshiro in advance! ”

Kinoshita Hideyoshi explained in a panic, "No. Don't listen to His Royal Highness Hengxing's nonsense. If it reaches His Royal Highness Asano Mataemon, it will break a woman's blue and white. ”

Ikeda shrugged his shoulders indifferently, as if to say that I can't guarantee whether it's true or not, but Sasa Narumasa still asked, "Will His Highness Asano Mataemon agree?" I always feel like it's hard to say yes. ”

"Actually, it's not that hard! As long as we can successfully complete this mission, the reward given by the lord will be enough for Fujiyoshiro to turn into a full-time service. Niwa Nagahide turned to Kinoshita Hideyoshi and encouraged: "So please Fujiyoshiro also work hard, and strive for the success of the horse so that we can return to Owari in triumph, and all the samurai present here will help Fujiyoshiro to mention himself!" ”

Kinoshita Hideyoshi swore solemnly: "I, Hideyoshi, will do my best!" Don't let this mission fail! ”

A few days later, Kasuga Yamashiro Ohiroma, Kira Yoshitoki met with a delegation led by Niwa Nagahide, Maeda Toshiie, Sasa Naimasa, Ikeda Tsuneko, Kinoshita Hideyoshi, and other samurai. Niwa Nagahide bowed respectfully: "In Shimowa Goro Saemon Captain Nagahide to meet His Royal Highness the Castle Lord, on behalf of my lord, I wish the Ueki Ashikaga family a long martial arts, and His Royal Highness the Castle Mansion Princess!" ”

"I have Lao Oda Dan main hall to worry, and I also wish him good health and long martial luck." Kira Yoshitoki looked at this mission with a smile and was full of curiosity, because he had already learned about the main composition of this mission through Kira Ninja, and he was full of curiosity and inquiry about these famous samurai.

Maeda Toshiya is the largest and most conspicuous, the thin and short Kinoshita Hideyoshi secretly looks around is also very eye-catching, Sasa Narimasa takes care of himself meticulously like a serious and rigid samurai, and Ikeda Hengxing hangs his head and scratches his cheeks like a restless guy. Kira Yoshitoki didn't expect to meet such a group of genealogical retainers of the Oda family on such an occasion. And they couldn't even say a word, which made him feel very amused.

Niwa Nagahide didn't know what Kira Yoshitoki was thinking, but when he saw him looking at his fellow samurai behind him, he hurriedly introduced: "These are the next colleagues, Maeda Matazaemon Toshiie, Sasan Uchi, Sasasuke Naimasa, and Kinoshita Toyoshiro ......"

Kira Yoshitoki also found that he had been staring at them for too long, so that he didn't notice it when he was a little distracted, so he unnaturally covered it up and said, "Several of them are the ministers of the Oda family!" Oda Dan is very good at cultivating retainers, and several of them are very good! ”

The young samurai, who shrank behind and didn't dare to raise his head, suddenly became excited, and even a polite word to get a compliment from Kira Yoshishi was enough to make them feel honored, Niwa Nagahide didn't expect it to go so well, so he said happily: "I am here to discuss the alliance and marriage with the lord of the town on the order of my lord, and the lord of my family is still very emotional when he met the lord of the town more than ten years ago in Kawakawahara, Zhuangnai!"

Thinking back to the afternoon of the style calendar eleven years ago, it was a destiny that I, Saburo Oda, Nobunaga, met Saburo Kira in Shonai River River...... In the past ten years, thanks to the many efforts of the town government, the Oda family has been able to smoothly maintain the control of Owari Ichikuni......

Therefore, the lord of my family hopes to form a friendship with the town government and the prince of the town, make an alliance to form a relationship, continue to extend and strengthen this friendship, and establish an alliance of mutual protection and support, so as to deal with the troubled times in the world. ”

Niwa Nagahide uttered a lot of sensational words, and even a long section of Oda Nobunaga reminiscing about the story, and this letter lasted for half an hour, during which several generations of the Kira family tried to interrupt with coughing without success, until a long letter was finally read to everyone's relief.

Ben Duoshi couldn't bear to remind: "The fate of heaven is better used between men and women......

Niwa Nagahide also felt very embarrassed, but he still had to continue to perform the routine designed by his own master, so he could only continue to pretend to be stupid and ask: "How about using the arrangement of gods and Buddhas instead?" ”

"Forget it...... I don't get tangled up in the next. Honda shook his head helplessly, he finally understood what it means to be invincible in the world, and the samurai present expressed their dissatisfaction with the behavior of the Oda family.

Takigawa Shiyi's brows furrowed tightly, and he turned his face sideways and said to Shikatsu: "This Oda family's governor is too much!" Isn't he afraid that the lord will be furious when he says such shameless words? ”

Shima Shisheng spread his hands and said helplessly: "I probably expected that the lord would not embarrass him even if he was angry again!" Or maybe there are any hole cards, but His Royal Highness seems to be very angry. ”

The samurai in the audience all turned their gaze to Kira Yoshitoki's face. Seeing that His Royal Highness the princess's face turned blue, he knew that there was a problem with what this Oda Dan main hall said. However, the ready-made gossip is too rigid and boring to explore whether it is true or false. As a result, many generations also gave up their plans to continue to be held accountable, and carefully observed the changes in the atmosphere in the large wide room with wide eyes.

Kira Yoshitoki was really angry, and even had an impulse to pick up a folding fan and whip it in Niwa Nagahide's face, of course, he wanted to smoke Oda Nobunaga who was far away in the city of Kiyoshu in Owari Province, this disgusting guy used such despicable means to deal with him is simply hateful, in vain he has helped the Oda family a lot in the past few years, it is simply a waste of time to play the piano with the cow.

I finally resisted the urge to jump up, and scolded in my heart: "What is this Oda Nobunaga doing? Actually wrote a disgusting letter. also let his genealogy retainers come out in front of the public, this is a deliberate attempt to let other samurai misunderstand the relationship between Yu and Oda Nobunaga, and take the opportunity to confuse the public in order to fish in troubled waters! It's just that this method is so disgusting that the world thinks that I like him as an old man...... It's too much! ”

In fact, Kira Yoshitoki and Oda Nobunaga are limited to pen pal relations, and it is impossible to say that they have a deeper friendship at all, and he is willing to maintain this pen pal relationship because he has a curious and inquisitive idea about Oda Nobunaga, and if there is no interference from this layer of factors, how can he pay attention to the son of a local tyrant of Owari Province.

I didn't expect Oda Nobunaga to be so powerful, and the speed of climbing along the pole simply flew, and in just a few years of kung fu, he became a powerful daimyo of Owari Kazukuni, and his strength basically returned to the heyday of his father Oda Nobuhide. The only thing that is lacking is constant victories to take off the hat of "Owari Weak".

The hat was one of the rich legacies left to him by his father, Oda Nobuhide, a tiger of Owari in the years leading up to his death, leaving Oda Nobunaga a large chunk of his domain and a supporting retainers. There is also a mess of two defeats in the Battle of Kana Kou and the Battle of Shodozaka, and most of the elite samurai of Owari Ichikoku died in these two battles, and if the Owari soldiers are not weak, there is really no heavenly reason.

In the summer of more than 50 years ago, Nagao raided for Jing to prepare to crusade against his Echigo guardian Uesugino and killed him, and then during the Battle of Nagamorihara in the seventh year of Eisho, he killed the Kanto governor Uesugi Matatsu, and then joined forces with the Sagami Hojo clan to invade Ueno and attack the Yamauchi Uesugi family, and then united with the Kawachi Hatakeyama clan to fight against Echichu Kaga to fight the Echichu Kaga crusade, spreading the prestige of the Echigo samurai to Kinai, Saikoku and even Kyushu.

Oda Nobunaga's most envy is the samurai with a strong army, he used to envy the Kai Tiger Takeda Shingen, and now he envy Hokuriku when he dominates Kira Yoshi, with so many fierce generals and strong armies, how many people's eyes are blind, in Oda Nobunaga's view, Kira Yoshitoki can have today's achievements, half of his personal ability and wrist are indeed top first-class, and the other half is relying on Echigo's fierce samurai strong army, as well as strong economic strength support.

For the Oda family, finding an alliance with the Kira family is the best choice for all benefits and no harm, but the problem is that most of the samurai in the world know that there are many benefits to finding an alliance with the Kira family, but it is still a huge problem for a few families to finally succeed in the alliance, it is said that over the years, many samurai have come to Kasuga Mountain Castle to ask for an alliance and marriage, and even sent their daughters to Kasuga Mountain Castle in person were forcibly sent back.

Kira Yoshitoki's attitude was like this, not discussing the issue of alliance with the local people, neither the Aizu Ashina clan in the past nor the Kai Takeda clan today agreed to any request for an alliance, and he used his actions to tell the samurai of the eastern country that the Kira family needed obedient retainers and foreign officials rather than allies.

Oda Nobunaga knew very well that he would be rejected if he took the usual path, and he could not accept defeat even once, because a strong sense of crisis urged him to move forward quickly, and since the end of the Battle of Barrel Sasama in the first year of Eiroku, the development of the Oda family has been in a serious bottleneck for two years.

In the past two years, he has to send troops to attack Mino every year, but every time he loses his troops and returns in vain, especially in the first year of Eiroku, the power of the great victory of the barrel Sayama invaded Mino twice in August and October, and both times he was easily blocked by Saito Yoshiryu and hit him with a backhand, he almost couldn't return to Owari, and last year he fought a hard battle and still returned in vain, so he made up his mind that he must find a strong ally to rely on and contain.

Looking at the very few people around Owari Province who can be allies, only Echigo Kira Yoshitoki infiltrates Echichu and Minami Shinano can then invade Hida Province, and the family interests are in the East Country is completely the best ally template, not to mention that there have been several previous cooperative relationships with the Oda family, which prompted him to finally make the decision to go all out to marry Kira Yoshitoki.

Langoka was not mad because of the poor performance of the Oda family envoy, he had already realized that his lord was not really angry, maybe he just hated being used by such a disgusting little means, and he was not really disgusted with the Oda family as a potential ally, if he was really angry, he would probably be angry or simply brush his sleeves away.

He also found that Sanada Yukitaka, who had just returned from the Shinano front line to report on his work, was not angry, but looked at Niwa Nagahide's performance with great interest, and then he was relieved, coughed lightly, turned sideways and asked Niwa Nagahide softly: "I wonder which daughter of the Oda family is preparing to marry His Royal Highness?" ”

Niwa Nagahide quietly glanced at the samurai in the hall and made sure that they had no clear objections, before he said in a loud voice, "It's Her Royal Highness Princess Aichi of my Oda family." ”

"So is this princess Aichi the sister-in-law of the main hall of Oda Dan?"

"This ......," Niwa Nagahide said embarrassedly, "it is the sister of my father-in-law, but my father-in-law loves Princess Aichi very much and has always taken care of her like a sister-in-law." ”

Honda sneered, "Isn't it true that my concubine also wants to marry into my Ashikaga family?" Oda Dan Main Hall is really a little confident! ”

Many samurai in the Ohiroma then laughed at the Oda family's indiscretion, as if they regarded this remark as a joke, perhaps a slightly sarcastic remark angered the samurai of the Oda family, Sasa Narumasa said angrily: "His Royal Highness Honda is not right to say that! Among the wives of the town government, there are not the adopted daughters of the Imagawa family and the women of the Mochizuki family......"

Nagano Yemasa suddenly stood up and shouted: "Shut up for me!" His Royal Highness's family affairs are also something that you, a humble samurai in the countryside of Owari, can discuss! (To be continued......)