The next day, May 26, the eleventh year of Astronomy (1542), Owari Kuna Furuno Castle Castle, Oda Nobuhide and Lin Xiuzhen stood side by side at the fence on the third floor of the castle tower, watching Master Oda Yoshi making chaos in the yard. Play. He wore a tattered feathered fabric on his upper body that exposed most of his chest. He had a tiger skin apron wrapped around his waist. There were water hyacinths hanging on his belt and a bunch of small odds and ends on his ribs. There was a string of Yongle coins hanging diagonally on his chest. As he ran, he made a "ding-dong" sound. He was not wearing the wooden shoes worn by other warriors, but was wearing a tattered straw sandal - the other foot had flown to nowhere.
"Sado (Lin Xiuzhen), I specially asked you to be a teacher for that child, but you ended up teaching like this?" Oda Nobuhide ridiculed Lin Xiuzhen, then curled his lips and said, "The supervisor (Masahide Hirate) is going crazy. He is shouting every day that if Master Ji doesn’t learn well, he will commit seppuku. It’s better for you not to be in a hurry and just watch him play wildly.”
"My lord, there is nothing wrong with children having more fun. Children who are naughty in childhood will become wiser when they grow up." Lin Xiuzhen crossed her arms and looked at the sweaty Master Oda Yoshi with a smile.
"There are many people in the family who say that it is time for Kanjuro (the future Oda Nobuyuki) to succeed. Kanjuro has been knowledgeable about books and principles since he was a child, and he is considerate in his behavior. He also practices etiquette and military arts well. This makes him look like a samurai family member. Look like that." Oda Nobuhide looked at Lin Xiuzhen meaningfully, but Lin Xiuzhen just smiled and shook her head:
"My lord, why are you testing me with these words? I have identified Master Ji. This child will make the Oda family win the title of Owari in the future. Although Kanjuro is versatile, his talent is only average. It's nothing. Very much looking forward to it.”
"Ha, you and I are the only fathers in the entire Oda family who have such confidence in Master Ji." Oda Nobuhide repeatedly tapped the railing with his fingers and sighed at the same time: "You know, everyone outside calls Master Ji 'Owari's Big Idiot'. This title has spread throughout Tokaido, and it is said that even people in Kinki have begun to discuss my idiot son."
"Owari is the site of the Fourth War. It is not a bad thing to have a big fool as the governor." However, Lin Xiuzhen remained the same as before, "Every neighbor around is worried that one day this 'big fool' will go crazy and the whole country will come to beat him." , who dares to pick a fight with the Oda family? Only in this way can the Oda family win half a day of leisure."
"Come on, Sado, you know how to find words to excuse Master Ji." Oda Nobuhide clapped his hands and laughed, but he still said stubbornly, "I can't tell, you are a very vicious person, but you are quite gentle to children. "
"Only for the children of the Oda family." Lin Xiuzhen added lightly.
"You tricked Matsudaira Jiro Saburo (Matsudaira Kiyoyasu) to death, and now you want to kill his son?" Oda Nobuhide's smile suddenly faded, "I wouldn't have thought that the Matsudaira family would be beaten to death. Abe Masayo's bad-tempered fool. The entourage is your undercover, and after being instigated by you, he actually drew his sword and killed his heroic leader."
"It's a pity that the borrowed knife plan failed. Although Saburo Okazaki (Hirotada Matsudaira) had no ability, he really trusted his subordinates, so he didn't get rid of Ozo Abe (Sadaikichi Abe)." Lin Xiuzhen frowned with regret.
At this moment, Master Odaji, who was having fun on the side, was suddenly called away by someone. After whispering a few words to each other, they happily ran towards Oda Nobuhide and Lin Xiuzhen, stood under the castle tower and shouted loudly: "Dad, Master, let's go fight Mikawa!"
"Fight Mikawa? How to fight? We have no excuse." Oda Nobuhide asked nonchalantly, "Then Matsudaira Sakurai is also an old fox. He unified all the Matsudaira tribe west of the Yahagi River under his name. His My son-in-law, Toshichiro Mizuno, seems to be very close to us, but in fact he doesn’t want us to interfere too much in Mikawa, and he has always been there to do things both over and over. The Chinese people in Mikawa are quite bad-tempered. Now that we are entering Mikawa, it will be difficult to move forward without status, and it will be easier for Matsudaira to conquer it. Sakurai. Didn’t you see that we occupied Anxiang City before, but not many wealthy families around us were obedient, and instead we wasted a lot of our troops stationed there."
"Wouldn't we be honored by bringing back the legitimate son of Matsudaira Hirotada?" Master Oda Yoshi excitedly waved to Oda Nobuhide.
"Huh? How to rob? Break into Okazaki City and rob it?" Oda Nobuhide was amused by his stupid son, "Don't be stupid, there are almost 10,000 people in the Imagawa family. How can we capture Okazaki?" city?"
"Matsudaira Hirotada has handed over his son to Imagawa Yoshimoto. He will be sent back to Suruga from the Imagawa family in a few days."
Master Oda Yoshi's words were so shocking that both Oda Nobuhide and Lin Xiuzhen were stunned.
"Where did the young master find out?" Lin Xiuzhen squinted her eyes and lowered her head, thinking quickly in her mind, "Could it be that Matsudaira Hirotada gave away his only legitimate son in order to make up for the rift between the two families? ?"
"Yamaguchi Kotsugi of Narumi Castle!" Master Oda Yoshi puffed up his chest and replied proudly, "The information I bought from him with money was just sent back!"
"Yamaguchi Sasumasuke? Do you dare to believe the intelligence of this little gangster?" Nobuhide Oda showed contempt when he mentioned the local snakes on the Chita Peninsula, "He nods and bows every day, without any sense of samurai integrity."
"You will know after you try it!" Master Oda Yoshi was already dancing excitedly and seemed impatient, "The Toda family on the Atsumi Peninsula has been suppressed by the Imagawa family many times before, and most of their territory was taken away. They must be dissatisfied with the Imagawa family. They Our territory is next to the official road from Mikawa to Suruga, contact them to take hostages!"
"I don't know where you heard all this nonsense. Think about it, why do the Toda family want to take advantage of us?" Oda Nobuhide shook his head and smiled, "Also, can we come up and talk to each other, two floors apart? Lou shouts how tired he is."
"Dad, if you don't send someone, I won't come up!" When Master Oda Yoshi saw that Oda Nobuhide disagreed, he sat down on the castle tower and started rolling around.
"Do you know who Imagawa Yoshimoto is? How dare you provoke others? He is the Suruga samurai who defeated the Hojo family and defeated all the Matsudaira clan members alone in Mikawa!" Oda Nobuhide also faced the building. The next son shouted.
"Imagawa Yoshimoto is nothing special, he only has a false reputation! If you really want me to fight him, I can take his head in one battle!" Master Oda Yoshi didn't care about so much, but retorted without saying a word, "Send troops, send troops. , Dad, are you a coward? Why don’t you send troops!"
"Lord, even a fool has given orders, so just obey them honestly." Lin Xiuzhen lowered her voice and whispered into Oda Nobuhide's ear.
"I know, but walls have ears. Can I still agree to that stupid boy's conspiracy loudly in public?" Oda Nobuhide also lowered his voice, and then added: "The opponent is the Imagawa family, and Then Monk Xuezhai, do you have confidence?"
"I am far less talented than Master Xue Zhai, but he is showing me the secret. This is my advantage. Everyone in the world now knows that there is a powerful monk in the Imagawa family, but no one knows that there is me, Hayashi Sado, in the Oda family. ." A sneer appeared on the corner of Lin Xiuzhen's mouth, "Those who do dirty things are always better off with a smaller reputation."
"Then let's go and meet that guy Imagawa Yoshimoto." Oda Nobuhide tossed his cloak, turned around and walked downstairs.
Be careful, Yoshimoto, there are tigers in Owari too.
·
On May 26, the eleventh year of Tenmon (1542), on the edge of the Yahagi River, Imagawa Yoshimoto observed the enemy's formation on the other side, looking for opportunities to attack the Mizuno army.
"It's not necessary, fourth brother. We already have the hostages, why are we still going to fulfill the contract for that Yamaguchi sect?" Furuno Ujitoyo kept saying sarcastic remarks from the side.
"I have indeed done what I promised, and we can't break the promise." Imagawa Yoshimoto was sincere.
"Forget it, it's okay, fourth brother." That Furunoji Yutaka showed a helpless smile, and then added in a self-comforting manner, "That's right, fourth brother last time, you kept your promise and helped Yamaguchi Kagetsugi capture Anxiang City. With this transaction, if the cooperation is successful this time, maybe he will come to us for cooperation next time."
The total strength of the enemy forces on the west bank of the Yahagi River is about 3,600, of which 1,500 from Oda Nobuhiro are stationed in his own Anxiang Castle, 400 from the Sakurai Matsudaira family and 300 from the Fukugama Matsudaira family are stationed in Sakurai Castle. 300 people from the Fujii Matsudaira family were stationed in Fujii Castle. What is more embarrassing is the 900 people of the Mizuno family. Their residential city, Kariya Castle, is 20 miles away from here. There is no castle to stay in, so they set up camp in the south of Fujii Castle - compared to other tribes that have castles to rely on. , the Mizuno family is indeed easier to attack.
"Fourth brother, do you have any plans?" Furunoji Yutaka glanced at the Mizuno family's camp from a high place. Although it couldn't be said to be outstanding, it was at least quite satisfactory.
"What do you think of Takematsumaru?" Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at his younger brother behind him.
"We don't need to defeat the entire Mizuno family army, we just need to kill Mizuno Toshichiro himself, right?" That Furunoji Yutaka smiled slightly, and the evil tricks were already in his mind.
"What do you want to do?" Imagawa Yoshimoto suddenly became alert, "Sneak attacks and assassinations are not what the samurai do."
"How can this be called an assassination? It's just an upright battle duel." Furunoji Yutaka raised his hands to show his innocence, "Fourth brother, you don't need to worry about this matter. Just leave it to me. You can concentrate on arranging the Matsudaira family." Let’s evacuate the hostages.”
