"Is this the core area of Kasuga Mountain Castle?" Nagano Yegu and Kohata Nobusada entered the Honmaru castle tower under the leadership of several samurai, because of the impact of the assassination at the disclosure banquet, except for Kira Yoshitoki and Nagao Keitora, but there were samurai who entered the core area of Honmaru, they all needed to untie their weapons and check if there were hidden weapons.

The complicated security procedures had to be checked through three gates one after another, and the handwritten letter of Uesugi Kenmasa was verified before being allowed to be released, and this kind of system-like retainers also had a retainer group, which was changed every month, and each time the identification symbol was different, which was a precautionary measure to prevent someone from fishing in troubled waters.

The high walls of this new process are still called stone walls, but compared to the traditional stone walls, both thickness and height have been greatly improved, half a meter thick and three meters high enough to resist most of the possibility of sneaking in, with the current average height of Echigo, it is impossible to climb over this wall with bare hands.

In fact, the inner wall is not the highest, the outermost side wall where the Otemon is located is raised to more than six meters, with three layers of soil, stone stacked up to eight meters of new arrows, iron running oars, not only improve the monitoring range, but also improve safety by the way, in this musket is still a fresh item in the Hokuriku area is also the level of safety.

The renovation work has been carried out intermittently since two years ago, and it is still going on until this year, and it is expected that there will be another year to fully rebuild and strengthen all the walls and buildings in Kasugayama Castle.

It is different from entering the bottom floor of Kasuga Mountain Castle in the past. This time, I came to the highest point of the entire mountain town, and it was the summit of Mt. Kasuga. From here, you can see the entire castle town and the Naoetsu Port beyond. The two experienced a different feeling.

Nobusada Kohata whispered: "My family's Guofeng City is not bad, why don't you feel this way?" ”

"My Eagle Castle is also a mountain castle, but the mountain castle is still different from the mountain castle, just look at the castle town under the mountain to know how big the gap is." Nagano Yegu is down the hill and down the high slope with just the dense array of towns below, the city's population is expanding very fast, and with Echigo's strong economic growth, it has attracted a large number of merchants and craftsmen for two years.

It is different from the situation in Omizaka Honko. Most of the craftsmen of Hokuriku, Togoku, and Hayoku have no intention of going to Kinai, where the Yamataka Road is too far away from their hometown, and it is far less convenient and safe than the Naoetsu Port in Togoku, Hokuriku, and Ha-Oku, which is located in Higashiku, Hokuriku, and Haoki.

The Sado Navy exterminated the sea from Noto in the west to Dewa in the east, and now the Kira family has four major ports: Naoetsu Port, Kashiwazaki Port, Sado Port, and Niigata Port under construction, and the Echigo Nagao family has also transformed from a major inland daimyo to a powerful maritime daimyo.

The busy maritime trade has a great demand for the sea escort business, and the Kira naval army also swelled rapidly in this year, and the size of the personnel quickly increased from the original 2,000 to 4,000, and now has jurisdiction over 60 ships, and more than 300 ships. Ataka is building two ships, which together are a small sea master. In this way, thanks to the short-legged problem of the inland river army, it turned into a powerful water army that dominates the open sea.

The protection of the navy to ensure the safe operation of trade to the greatest extent, Noto Wajima Port, Dewa Sakataminato, took the initiative to sign a trade agreement with the Kira navy, and the merchants of Hokuriku and Ha-Oku will be protected by the Kira navy, and the relevant escort and rescue work is selected according to the needs of the business travelers, and the rules are revised in detail in accordance with the business regulations of the Kira family in Yodogawa.

Today, there are more than 8,000 households in Kasugayama Castle and 12,000 in Naoetsu, with a permanent population of more than 80,000, and the number of merchant ships coming and going every day is increasing, and the expansion of Naoetsu Port has been underway, and there is a trend to replace Sakataminato as the largest port in the north.

Nagao Jingren stood under the corridor outside the large wide room and looked at the two of them carefully, and glanced at the samurai standing next to the two of them and nodded slightly, before he said solemnly: "You can go in!" Please pay attention to samurai etiquette when visiting. ”

"Yes! We save on the light. Nagano Yegu hurriedly replied carefully, and the two of them slowly walked into the Ohiroma after Nagao Keiren, only to see that there were only a dozen samurai kneeling on the futon in the wide hall, among them were Uesugi Kenmasa and Nagao Naga, and the two of them were accompanying the two samurai who were sitting side by side in the main seat.

It's just that he hurriedly saw the physical characteristics of the two, so he hurriedly followed Nagao Jing to bow down and said loudly: "Ueno samurai Nagano Yegu and Kohata Nobutada have seen the Zhenfu Hall and the Danzheng Hall!" ”

The two of them could feel a few eyes scanning back and forth over their bodies, and in just a few seconds, they seemed to be infinitely stretched, until a majestic voice came into their ears: "You two don't need to be polite, please take a seat." ”

"Xie Zhen Mansion Palace, Danzheng Palace!"

"Although the assassination and the incident still happened in the end, I and my brother will remember the merits of the two of them, and in recognition of your achievements, I will present you with two famous swords of Bizen longship to express our gratitude."

Sent out two Bizen long boatman's sword, because of the geographical location, this famous Gyeonggi, Zhenxi knife worker settlement in the Kanto region is very little, although the two of them are the heirs of the sons of the wealthy family, but the knife in their hands is also a high-grade road goods.

"It's good to raise a genius knife maker, you can build a knife at any time if you want to send it, two longboaters' knives are still in stock a few years ago, as long as you have a good Izumo jade steel ingot, you can create a famous knife in two months." Kira Yoshishi smiled slightly, he has a very good talent and potential knife worker Su I and Bing Wei in his hands, because of the sufficient supply of jade steel ingots in recent years, the process of building weapons is also advancing by leaps and bounds, and he is only one step away from the famous craftsman.

"Thank you!" The two of them held the sword and couldn't put it down, until Uesugi Kenmasa coughed to remind them, and then hurriedly leaned down and bowed.

After the reward was completed, the next step was to explain the matter, and Nagao Jinghu said to the two young people: "The aid to Ueno will be ready in the next few days, and the active cooperation of the local people is needed to go out to Ueno, so please bring the words of your family to the Nagano Shinnon Shouden, and ask the people of Ueno to get ready." ”

The two of them said awe-inspiringly: "I understand!" ”

Uesugi Kenmasa can finally feel at ease when he gets his promise. Nagano and Nobusada Kohata hurriedly went back to pack their bags and prepare to set off. They will return to Ueno with the grain and rice provided by Echigo. The idea is to act as a messenger for both parties.

Hearing that Uesugi Kenmasa fulfilled his wish, Ogasawara also hurried to the door for help, and Nagao Keitora was indignant and almost agreed, but fortunately, he still remembered that Kira Yoshishi was now the Shinano guardian, and his biggest role as a former guardian was to connect the people of Minami Shinano, and it was impossible to restore the status of the lord of the country.

"I don't dare to hope to regain the position of the lord of the country, I just ask the two highnesses to help me regain the old collar for a long time, and I am grateful!" Ogasawara pleaded with tears in his eyes, and beside him sat his three sons. The eldest was a year older than Kira, the youngest was only eleven years old this year, and the three children also cried with their father.

When it came to this, he was embarrassed to go too far, so he took the opportunity to say to this family: "Shinano Shouden homesickness has been fully understood, since there are no other requirements, then this family agrees!" It's just that the time will drag on a little longer, after all, troops will be sent to the field this year. ”

"Yes, yes! As long as the two Highnesses can agree, I will be grateful for a long time! As for the time of sending troops, they dare not ask for extravagance, everything is decided by the two highnesses. Ogasawara bowed down for a long time. Slowly withdrew with three children.

Make a plan for sending troops and design a route for the march. The preliminary preparation of the military rations, the small packa and the nursery, the intelligence collection and analysis of the ninjas, and the determination of the military service accounts of the samurai were all carried out at the same time, and the difference between the Nagao family and the Kira family lies in the fact that all the Sengoku daimyo have the essential difference between the Kira family.

The traditional daimyo still maintained the idea of integrating the peasants and soldiers, from establishing military service accounts, urging the lords to assemble, counting weapons and equipment supplies, and then to the fact that it would take several months for the whole army to go to war, and it would take several months for the whole army to go to war, and there would be a situation in March when they shouted that they would fight such and such a territory, and they did not send out the army until September, and the preparation for a war accounted for half of the war.

As the governor of the Kira family, he did not personally participate in these preparations, because the main purpose of this war was to expel the Hojo Army from the invading Ueno, and the secondary purpose was to get a preliminary understanding of the Uesugi family's location, people, and how many people were left in Ueno and Kanto.

For the samurai of Echigo, the Kanto Eight Kingdoms is a strange place, thirty years ago, when Nagao was at the most beautiful, he once teamed up with Hojo Sakumo to attack Yamauchi and the valley two Uesugi trees, but that was all old things about old sesame rotten grains, most of the samurai who went out of the Kanto region back then were dying, and the new generation of Echigo had never been to that land.

As an outsider, it is impossible to be like Shinano, who knows the roots, and dares to run down around half of Shinano in the first battle of Kawanakajima, and the unfamiliar battlefield and unfamiliar samurai must first be careful to test the strength and true attitude of the other party.

Therefore, this time the Nagao Army decided to lead 10,000 troops out of the battle, of which 8,000 Echigo Corps was the main force of Nagao Keiho, the main force left behind Echigo was 5,000, and the other 2,000 Echigo reserves from the Kira Legion were led by Honjo Honjo, Kurokawa Kiyomi, and Hojo Takahiro, three samurai from Echigo.

Kira Yoshitoki stayed in Echigo to guard his hometown, 2,000 Shinano garrisons near Iiyama Castle, and the remaining 6,000 troops were 2,000 new formations and 300 horses.

There is also a reason why the Kira family did not move, and it was broken by the Takeda family and joined forces with the Echichu army to give a hand, and almost put this little life into it, Kira Yoshitoki and Nagao Jinghu were very angry, and it was also necessary to take revenge on the two shameless people.

But at present, the situation in Ueno Province does not allow them to be distracted, and if they are accidentally dropped by the Hojo family, then Ueno Country will become the next Kawanaka Island, and the Hojo family can easily choke Echigo's throat so that it cannot move, and then unite Shinano Takeda and Echichu to become a situation of being flanked from all sides, and the danger contained in it is simply terrifying.

Therefore, it is necessary to send troops to Ueno to rescue the people of Ueno, whether it is to ensure the greatest safety of the enemy outside the country, or to plan to enter the Kanto region in the future and become the governor of the Kanto region, or a simple and crude demand for territorial expansion, it is inevitable that troops must be sent to the field.

As for the revenge for the two shameless people who attacked Kirayoshi, it was an unplanned factor, and there was no such part in this year's plan, and solving the problem of Ueno and waiting for the opportunity to severely damage the Hojo Army was the primary goal of this year's troop plan, but there were unforeseen circumstances, and the plan always failed to catch up with the changes, and a temporary change of strategy became a top priority.

The object of revenge is the Takeda family, one is that the assassination is really despicable and shameless, and the other is that Kai Takeda is a big trouble for Echigo, and the use of troops against Shinano can effectively suppress the Takeda family, even if Echigo's current situation can only send a small number of legions to attack, it must be fought back, and the fanfare of burning at the stake has been done, revenge must be indispensable, and outsiders cannot be made think that the Kira family is weak and can be bullied, and it should be hard at the critical moment.

Hattori Masari has been very bad lately, and his life is not satisfactory, and the successive misses of the Iga ninja have brought great pressure to him and the entire Iga ninja, and I don't know when he lost his old smile and self-confidence on his face, and barely showed an ugly smile to the samurai who walked by, and slowly walked towards Honmaru Takema.

Iwazurumaru's face was not very good, and when he saw his old acquaintance Hattori Masanari looking at each other and smiling bitterly, they all knew that their expressions were ugly, and they cheered up and said, "Zhengcheng Hall is here!" Wait a minute, the owner is talking! ”

"Hmmm! I'll just wait under the porch, and if you have something to do, get busy first! Hattori Masanari knew that there were a lot of things going on with Iwazurumaru and he was very busy, so he didn't pretentiously, smiled at him and left quickly.

Sitting under the porch, I caught a glimpse of a small surname in the corner, squatting in front of a small stove and clumsily fanning a fan, the stove was stewed with some fragrant soup exuding a rich fragrance, Hattori Masanari kindly reminded: "Pay attention to the lid, the soup is about to overflow!" ”

"Oh! Thank you! The little surname hurriedly lifted the lid, held a spoon in one hand and stirred it slowly, flashed the stove with the other, and the milky white soup could be seen to be stewing crucian carp soup.

"I'll help you!" Hattori Masanari walked over to help him fan him, the two of them worked much faster, and after a while, when the heat was poured, he covered the pot and slowly simmered over low heat, and the little surname bowed gratefully and said, "Thank you!" My name is Shinzaburo Masuda, I'm 12 years old, and I'm from Masuda Township, Asai County, Omi! (To be continued......)