Nagahama Castle, Castle Tower.
Oda Nobunaga stood on the pavilion, looking to the north, recalling the twists and turns of yesterday's battle, and his mood was still difficult to calm down.
Behind her, Niwa Nagahide was waiting calmly. There were only the two of them in the castle tower, and there was no one else.
After a long silence, Oda Nobunaga turned to Niwa Nagahide and asked.
"Do you know about the massacre in Dayan Mountain?"
Niwa Nagahide said sadly.
"What Sanada and these wild beasts from the Kanto Mountains have done is truly outrageous."
Oda Nobunaga took the initiative to expose the matter of the killing and surrender to the retainers. Now that she knew it, Niwa Nagahide had to be careful and expressed her grief and indignation. It was always right.
Oda Nobunaga asked again calmly.
"How are the concubines in the family reacting?"
Niwa Nagahide shook his head.
"The retreat was urgent yesterday. All the armies were exhausted and were preparing their troops to prepare for the Sibo army to move south. There was no major reaction for the time being.
After all, most of the people who were captured and killed were Kitanomi people, and the Owari Mino samurai didn't care. "
Oda Nobunaga nodded.
It is a coincidence that most of the prisoners captured by Sanada Nobushige in the Oiwa Mountains of Shidake were from the Kitaomi tribe who were scattered when the Sanada troops first broke through Shidake.
After the second defeat of Shidake, Hashiba Hideyoshi gathered the defeated troops of Takigawa Kazumasu, retreated to the Oiwa Mountain defense line to defend, and then followed Oda Nobunaga to retreat back to Nagahama Castle, without leaving many people behind.
Sanada's army moved back and forth between Mt. Kanyake and Oiwa Mountain, and fought several battles with Oda's army.
As a result, not many core members of the Oda family were arrested. Most of those who were arrested were the Kitanomi people who secretly escaped, but failed to escape from the mountainous area due to disorganization.
Oda Nobunaga was already angry that the Kitaomi clan did not work hard. This time the Sanada clan weakened these losers for her, which would help Oda's forces take over in the future and completely control Kitaomi.
As for a few Oda soldiers who were also buried together, they can only be considered unlucky. There were not many people and they did not cause public outrage. What Oda Nobunaga is most concerned about now is the political significance behind the killing.
How will Shiba Yoshigan handle this matter? Will he use this to make up his mind to fight against the Oda family to the end?
Originally, under the communication between Akechi Mitsuhide, Oda Nobunaga and Shiba Yoshigami had a vague tacit understanding, that is, fight back to fight, control the size, and not lose control.
If the boss fights with the second child, and both sides suffer, the winner in the end will be the third, fourth, fifth, and so on.
The Shiba and Oda families can compete for ranking and fight to see who will take the dominant position in future interactions, but the confrontation cannot get out of control and cannot end up with the snipe and the clam fighting, with the fisherman benefiting.
Akechi Mitsuhide's initiative on the merger of Genpei was due to this level of political tacit understanding.
Yoshigan Shiba did not directly reject the possibility of joining forces with Oda Nobunaga. The confrontation between this pair of bad guys actually had a bottom line.
The two sides can compete, but it won't be a dead end. If Yiyin loses, the worst they can do is lie down on mugwort.
What did Oda Nobunaga really ask for? It’s the right to court!
In essence, humans and animals are the same, whoever has a stronger fist will have grass. Oda Nobunaga won the battle, and the Genpei merger was put on the agenda. From then on, Shiba Yoshigan was the only one who could fight.
Now that Oda Nobunaga has lost the fight, at most he has lost the exclusive rights to the grass bird, that's all.
If the Shiba family wants to completely overthrow the Oda family, the price will be too high. Oda Nobunaga does not think that Yoshigami will be so insane and force himself to the death.
But in reality, a large-scale killing of prisoners occurred, which made Oda Nobunaga feel a little more uncertain. Is Yoshigan Shiba going to break the political tacit understanding reached by the two?
It has been exposed that Oda Nobunaga mobilized the garrison troops of Higashi Mino and Minami Omi to participate in the battle of Yuwu Lake. The Siwa troops in the relevant areas who reacted will definitely try to counterattack.
Before chaos breaks out in his own rear, Oda Nobunaga must determine what Yoshigan Shiba is thinking. Is Yoshigan Shiba still willing to continue fighting?
If Yoshigan Shiba wants to fight, Oda Nobunaga is not afraid. At worst, he will mobilize fully and both sides will fight to the death. In the end, the Oda family will be destroyed, and the Shiba family will be half disabled, allowing others to take advantage.
This would be the most tragic lose-lose outcome. If there was still room for maneuver, Oda Nobunaga would not be willing to go to this point.
All said and done, the most important thing is Yoshigan Shiba. Oda Nobunaga needs someone to help him determine Yoshigan Shiba's thoughts.
Seeing that Oda Nobunaga just nodded and fell into silence again, Niwa Nagahide couldn't help but smile bitterly.
She is Oda Nobunaga's best friend, a close confidant, and she has actually guessed Oda Nobunaga's thoughts.
Oda Nobunaga wanted to save face. He clearly wanted to let Niwa Nagahide go to Shiba's camp, but he refused to take the initiative and wanted to wait for Niwa Nagahide to realize it on his own.
Niwa Nagahide asked in a low voice.
"Main Hall, why don't you let me go to Jindo Hall to have a look?"
Oda Nobunaga snorted.
"What's the point?
Although I suffered a great loss in this battle, he was also injured. He can fight whenever he wants. Can I still be afraid of him? "
Niwa Nagahide couldn't help complaining in his heart.
The more Oda Nobunaga said he didn't care and beat him casually, the less willing he was to continue beating him.
So, Niwa Nagahide handed Oda Nobunaga another step and said.
"In the main hall, Sakuma Nobumori and Kawajiri Hidetaka led their troops to join the battle. There is a gap in the defense of Higashi Mino and Minami Omi. The longer the delay is, the greater the trouble will be.
Moreover, although the war started not long ago, more than 100,000 soldiers were mobilized, and the scope involved was so wide that the logistical pressure was already great.
In particular, the threat to the Nongwei Plain has affected the security of military supplies, and the morale of the military and the people have begun to become uneasy.
I think there is no deep hatred between the Shiba and Oda families, but a battle of spirits.
Tsudo-den misunderstood your innovative ambition in the main hall and thought that you would destroy the Wu family's eternal foundation, so he took drastic actions. He was really too worried.
If this matter could be explained clearly, wouldn't it be wonderful if the two sides could turn their hostility into friendship and the people would no longer have to suffer the disasters of war? "
Why did Sibo Yiyin go to war? That was to keep his illegitimate daughter in the Takeda family.
As for the subsequent intensification of conflicts, which triggered a line dispute among the samurai, it was Yoshigan Shiba who took advantage of the samurai's fear and dissatisfaction with the Oda family's innovation to strengthen his own righteousness.
Niwa Nagahide deliberately did not mention Takeda's illegitimate daughter, and only talked about the dispute between innovation and tradition, which was to save face for Oda Nobunaga.
After the Yu-Wu Lake battle was defeated, there was no need to mention Takeda’s hostage. How could the loser have the confidence to ask the winner for a hostage?
Oda Nobunaga walked down the ladder and said coldly.
"Can the misunderstanding on the reform policy be explained clearly? What about the killing and surrender?"
Niwa Nagahide said solemnly.
"The reform policy was not initiated by the Oda family. It was a way of enriching the country and strengthening the army that various daimyo have summarized over the years. Why would Tsutado-don accuse the Oda family of trying to overthrow the samurai family?
As for killing and surrendering, Dadian, you know Jinduodian Renyi, and Jinduodian Renyi may be even more angry than you at this moment.
Most of the killing of prisoners was done secretly by the savages of the Sanada clan to vent their anger. Tsutado-den probably didn't know about it, let alone approved of this kind of massacre.
I just took this as an excuse to send an envoy to Shiba to ask for advice from Jindoden.
Tsutado-den regards itself as the guardian of the samurai family, and the Sanada generals Hime Samurai and Ashigaru are trapped and killed together. Doesn’t this matter need to be explained to the world?
The noble and the lowly are buried in the same cave. What kind of martial law is this? Could it be that the Shiba family was not even willing to give Samurai Ji a decent act of hara-kiri? "
Niwa Nagahide's words were reasonable and reasonable, and Oda Nobunaga nodded repeatedly.
The innovative policy was originally Oda Nobunaga's summary of the previous successful cases of the samurai daimyo.
The Wu family has been in troubled times for hundreds of years, and many elites are determined to revitalize the family business. Centralization of power is more conducive to hegemony in troubled times than enfeoffment, so it is natural to develop in this direction.
At most, Oda Nobunaga stood on the shoulders of his predecessors, summarized all policies, and implemented them more effectively.
Of course, this also means that Oda Nobunaga shouldered all the huge pressure that the other daimyo could not bear.
Now she wants to use the wisdom of her predecessors as a shield to reason with Sibo Yiyin, which is indeed justified.
In the past, Oda Nobunaga didn't bother to explain, but now there is no way. Since he can't beat him, he can only be reasonable.
Niwa Nagahide's reasons for going as an envoy were also very clever.
The Oda family did not take the initiative to extend an olive branch as the defeated party, but asked Yoshigan Shiba for advice on the moral issues of massacre of prisoners, which saved Oda Nobunaga's face.
On the surface, the Oda family did not give in, but deep down, it was the Oda family that actually took the first step, laying the foundation for subsequent negotiations.
Niwa Nagahide's own position is also very subtle. She and Shiba Yoshigan were old acquaintances in Owari. As a member of the Shimo-Owari old samurai family, they have always had a close personal relationship with the Shiba family.
She was also Oda Nobunaga's chief logistics housekeeper. She had never wielded a knife with the Shiba family on the battlefield, and her hands had not been stained with the blood of the Shiba family retainers. The Shiba family had no ill feelings towards her.
As a boss in logistics management, Niwa Nagahide was one of the people under the greatest pressure in this all-round confrontation of hundreds of thousands of people at Shiba Oda.
Niwa Nagahide upholds a peaceful stance and takes the initiative to promote peace negotiations between the two parties, which can also gain the understanding of the Hime Warriors on both sides.
Oda Nobunaga found Niwa Nagahide, a busy logistics boss, because he actually felt that she was a good candidate.
Niwa Nagahide also followed the trend and told Oda Nobunaga's thoughts, claiming that the idea was his own, and took the initiative to take responsibility.
No wonder Oda Nobunaga took her as his confidant. This kind of thinking and acumen for sharing his worries was enough to gain Oda Nobunaga's trust.
Oda Nobunaga thought for a while and asked again.
"What you say makes sense, but if I take the initiative to admit that there is a problem with the reform policy, and Tsutado-don asks me to change my policy, how should I respond?"
Niwa Nagahide's statement is to blame the damage caused by the reform policy to the samurai group on the founders. But the problem is that it is Oda Nobunaga who is implementing these policies most thoroughly and resolutely.
Since you have admitted that you made a mistake, you must correct it. If you don’t correct your mistake, how can you continue to talk about it in the future?
But Oda Nobunaga has enjoyed the benefits of centralization. How could he be willing to give up the power he had obtained and go back to the old path of being checked and balanced by retainers?
Niwa Nagahide smiled.
"Your Majesty, if there is a problem with the policy, of course it must be changed. But running a big country is like cooking small dishes. It is taboo to change orders early and late.
We need to take it step by step and slowly move towards the deep water area. Don't rush it. I think Tsutado Temple will understand the difficulties of the Oda family. "
Oda Nobunaga nodded and smiled.
Niwa Nagahide was right. Since Yoshigan Shiba accused the Oda family of hurting the interests of the samurai family by their innovative policies and attacked the Oda family from the moral high ground, then Oda Nobunaga knew his mistakes and could correct them.
But how to change it is divided into several steps. It is decomposition and gradual. It slowly enters the deep water area. This time must be controlled by Oda Nobunaga himself.
It's like a weasel no longer eats chicken, but how to stop eating it is a step-by-step process: first it stops eating chicken feathers, then it stops eating chicken feet, whether it's raw or cooked, it's up to the weasel to decide, step by step.
If we change this for thirty or forty years, there will be no way to change it until the day Oda Nobunaga dies. Who knows that running a big country is like cooking a small dish, and there is no need to rush.
Oda Nobunaga nodded and said.
"This is a good method. Of course I am willing to take into account the overall interests of the Wu family and change those bad reform policies.
But if Tsutado-don gives me some time, we can’t let the Oda family turn around quickly and collapse in an instant, right?
If he forces me, then he is not sincere and harbors evil intentions. He hopes that my Oda family will be shocked by the great changes, so there is no need to continue talking. "
Niwa Nagahide said with a bow.
"The hall is high and far-sighted, and the ministers respect it."
Oda Nobunaga's smile grew stronger and stronger.
She discovered that if she agreed to the change, the righteous reason for the Spoken Allied Forces to share the same hatred would disappear.
The Wu family more or less agreed with Shiba Yoshigan's words "for the sake of the world of the Wu family". Even within the Oda family, there were many retainers who secretly agreed.
Oda Nobunaga must divest herself of this unjust political negative asset. She calls herself the elder of the Taira clan and is preparing to establish Oda Gongri, so she also needs a fig leaf.
The utilitarian Oda Nobunaga chose innovation just because it was more beneficial to her. But she doesn't mind using a fig leaf to admit her mistakes and correct her mistakes, as long as it doesn't affect her actual interests.
It would also be very beneficial to Oda Nobunaga to give the samurai family a dream to change and politically dismantle the foundation of the anti-Oda alliance to prevent Nobunaga's encirclement network from recurring again and again.
Oda Nobunaga thought better and better, and said to Niwa Nagahide.
"Without further delay, you should go to the Jinduo Palace formation as soon as possible and ask Jinduo Palace for me whether killing and surrendering is in line with the righteousness of the Wu family?
In addition, tell him that I am not trying to harm the Wu family. I am a Wu family myself, so there is no reason to draw a sword to harm myself.
The Oda family's innovations were just to preserve themselves and grow stronger. If there are any flaws that cannot be tolerated by the Wu family, I am willing to correct them.
But I need time to slowly change without hurting the Oda family themselves.
If Tsudo-den agrees, then please show me some sincerity. The two sides will cease fighting and no more hostilities will be allowed.
This will facilitate subsequent negotiations. "
In the combined battle at Yuwu Lake, Shiba Yiyin also suffered a lot of losses and was temporarily unable to move south to the Kitaomi plain. What Oda Nobunaga was most worried about was the gap in the defense zone of Higashi Mino and Minami Omi.
If we can get a response from Sponey Bank and the two sides cease fighting, then the problem of the gap will be solved.
Assuming that Yoshigan Shiba does not agree, then Oda Nobunaga can be sure that Yoshigan Shiba's mind has changed, and she will mobilize further.
After that, the intensity of the war between the two sides will escalate again, and it will easily get out of control.
Oda Nobunaga hopes that Yoshihiro Shiba has not changed his mind. Now, it is time to talk.
Niwa Nagahide kowtowed to the ground and said.
"Your Majesty set out immediately to throw stones at the palace to ask for directions."
Oda Nobunaga nodded.
"Thanks a lot."
(End of chapter)
