Late at night, the drunk Taiyuan Xuezhai slowly walked out of the castle tower of Guanyin Temple City with the support of his attendant Amano Keide. Compared with Taiyuan Xuezhai, Asakura Sodi's body is much better - he is obviously nearly 20 years older than Taiyuan Xuezhai, but he has already walked far away. gourd
"Sessai, please take care of your health." Rokkaku Sadayori, who came out to see off the guests personally, stood in front of the castle tower and greeted Taiyuan Xuesai: "You look like this, you won't live for 10 years."
"You don't need to care. It's not necessarily who will die first." Taiyuan Xuezhai cursed and said goodbye to Rokkaku Sadayori, then turned around and continued walking, but was startled by Imagawa Yoshimoto standing in front of him - I don't know By that time, Imagawa Yoshimoto had arrived at the Guanyinji Castle Honmaru.
"You drank too much, old man." Imagawa Yoshimoto smelled the strong smell of alcohol exuding from Taiyuan Xuezhai, and looked at Taiyuan Xuezhai's slovenly appearance by the light of the lantern in his hand, and reminded angrily: "Age As you get older, you should eat less food and wine, and go to whale houses less often, because your body can’t bear it. Do you think you can still waste your body as you did when you were young?”
"When will it be your boy's turn to teach me a lesson? Huh?" Taiyuan Xuezhai rolled his eyes at Imagawa Yoshimoto and continued to move forward on his own with the support of Amano Keide. However, Imagawa Yoshimoto had no intention of letting Taiyuan Xuezhai fool him. He took a step horizontally, stopped in front of Taiyuan Xuezhai, and stared at Taiyuan Xuezhai seriously. Taiyuan Xuezhai was stunned and realized that Imagawa Yoshimoto came out to pick him up in the middle of the night because he was worried that he had drunk too much.
"I know, I know, pay attention in the future." Taiyuan Xue Zhai did not look at Imagawa Yoshimoto, but waved his hand perfunctorily, "Let's go back. You brat, you never listen to what my teacher said to you. , Now it’s time to become a teacher if you have the ability.”
Imagawa Yoshimoto snorted, and then waved to Hayasaka Nao, who knowingly put a coat on Taiyuan Xuezai.
"Did you tell Tokichiro to make sobering soup?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked Hayasaka Nao again. gourd
"I made arrangements for him before I left. It should be almost the same when I get back."
"Sobering up soup? I can't drink it, I can't drink it, I can't drink it at all..." Taiyuan Xuezhai patted his swollen belly, and the sound of soup and water reverberating in his stomach seemed to be heard.
"Then induce vomiting first." Imagawa Yoshimoto muttered angrily.
·
After returning to the camp outside Guanyin Temple, Amano Keitoku and Hayasaka Nao helped Taiyuan Xuezhai into the main tent to rest. The sobering soup had been cooked and placed on the table. What surprised Imagawa Yoshimoto was that Kinoshita Tokichiro was not waiting in the camp. He is usually diligent and never misses any opportunity to be flattering to the superiors. Now he is not here to serve?
Imagawa Yoshimoto then walked out of the tent and looked around - he found the little monkey's figure appearing in the far corner, surrounded by many teenagers. When he got closer, he recognized that the leader was Oda Nobunaga.
"Is this...?" Imagawa Yoshimoto took the initiative to step forward, stood in front of Kinoshita Tokichiro, and asked the people of the Oda family surrounding him, "What do you have to do with my nickname?"
"His name is Kinoshita Tokichiro?" Oda Nobunaga pointed at the little monkey in front of him, and then looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto: "It looks familiar. Why do you feel like I have seen this in some Owari village before? This monkey looks like .”
Kinoshita Tokichiro was used to such insulting names, but when he heard others mention them like this in front of his face, he still felt resentful in his heart - but he was also used to hiding all his unhappiness in front of these powerful people. Put on a smile.
"Even if you are one of my subordinates, please be polite to Saburo Oda." But Kinoshita Tokichiro didn't care. It didn't mean that Yoshimoto Imagawa, who was always very polite, didn't care. Hearing his lord speak like this for his mere nickname, Kinoshita Tokichiro's eyes shone with gratitude.
"Then, answer Saburo Oda's question. He was indeed the one we boarded at Owari on our way to Luo. He might be near Furuno Castle."
"Oh? His Highness Jibu came all the way to our Owari and recruited a stinky monkey that no one would take seriously?" Oda Nobunaga stared at Imagawa Yoshimoto meaningfully, "In the gourd
What kind of medicine is it packed with? What are you trying to do? Are you going to arrange a detailed work in our Owari? Aren’t our two families allies? "
"Your Excellency, you are overthinking." Imagawa Yoshimoto denied, "First of all, the Imagawa family appointed Kinoshita a few years ago, when you and I were still hostile. Secondly, we have no intention of training Kinoshita into an intelligence officer. There was no plan to use Kinoshita’s connections in his hometown to do the above-mentioned things. The reason why Kinoshita was appointed at that time was because some people thought that Kinoshita was smart and capable, so they suggested that I accept him as a retainer.”
"Oh? Who?" Oda Nobunaga asked keenly. gourd
"What does this have to do with you?" Although Imagawa Yoshimoto was unhappy, he still maintained a polite tone, "This is a family matter of the Imagawa family. Kinoshita is also a retainer of our Imagawa family. As long as he does not harm the Oda family, I will follow you. It doesn’t matter.”
"We originally planned to register the user Little Monkey, but you guys from the Imagawa family beat us to it, so why doesn't it matter?" Oda Nobunaga immediately found any reason to mess around, and the teenagers behind him also heard this. He showed a surprised expression - it seemed that was not the case at all.
"Kinoshita, did you have any plans to serve in the Oda family at that time? In other words, did anyone in your family serve in the Oda family?" Imagawa Yoshimoto then turned to Kinoshita Tokichiro for confirmation.
"Your Highness, my father was once an ashigaru of the Oda Army and was drafted into the war. I wonder if this counts as... a relationship?" Kinoshita Tokichiro tentatively glanced at Imagawa Yoshimoto and then at Oda Nobu. long.
"Why are you recruiting Ashigaru? Don't you have "Kinoshita" as the character for Miao? Then your father must be a samurai! You are the samurai of our Oda family. Why are you pretending? Oda Nobunaga immediately grabbed the handle and began to pursue the victory, "You members of the Imagawa family came into our territory and used the orphan of our samurai, and you said you have nothing to do with us?"
Now Kinoshita Tokichiro is in trouble - his Miao character "Kinoshita" was made up by him because he loves vanity and is unwilling to be just a commoner being bullied. But if he had to admit in front of so many people that he used the Chinese character Miao, the humiliation would be even worse than killing him.
Imagawa Yoshimoto also knew what happened to Kinoshita Tokichiro when he was bullied by other children in the village. After thinking for a while, he figured out the reason why Kinoshita Tokichiro was in trouble at the moment. So, he took the initiative to come to the rescue and said, "Even if what you said is right, what do you want to do now? Kinoshita is already a retainer of our Imagawa family. Don't you want him to return to the Oda family?"
"No, no, that's not necessary." Oda Nobunaga shook his head decisively, and then asked seriously: "I just ask Imagawa Harube to tell me why you wanted to ascend to Kinoshita back then? Please tell the truth about the complete cause and effect. "
"I don't know. Your Excellency, please rest early. It's getting late. As the head of the Oda family, it's not polite to stay in the Imagawa family's army." Imagawa Yoshimoto didn't understand what Oda Nobunaga was thinking at all. He said goodbye directly and left with Kinoshita Tokichiro.
·
March 25, the 14th year of Astronomy (1546), Makishima Castle in Yamashiro Province.
The mighty Dongguo Shangluo army poured into Yamashiro Kingdom, instantly blocking Makishima Castle, which was originally a large city. Hosokawa Harumoto's 20,000 Hosokawa Army gathered inside and outside Makishima Castle, while 4,000 people from Kitahata Harugu from Ise Province and 3,000 people from Takeda Nobutoyo from Wakasa Province had also been stationed in the south of the city in advance. Those arriving today are 10,000 Imagawa Army, 8,000 Takeda Army, 3,000 Hojo Army, 3,000 Oda Army, 6,000 Saito Army, 3,000 Asai Army, 6,000 Tsutsui Army, 15,000 Hexagon Army and 10,000 Asakura Army.
"About 90,000 people." Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the vast army and the endless military camps that spread to the end of the line of sight, and couldn't help but sigh, "I have never seen so many people gather together in my life."
"The food we eat every day is higher than the hills." Takeda Harunobu crossed his arms and looked at the continuous supply of food from Minamiomia and Lake Biwa and the countless civilians. "Fortunately, the steward's family is rich and he has a lot of money." The big granary Omi supports it, otherwise so many people can eat it and bring down a country."
"It is said that another army is coming." Imagawa Yoshimoto pointed to the Hokuriku Road in the northeast, "The more
It seems that the Nagao family will also come. "
"Yes, but the army is still on the way. After all, it has to take the sea route to bypass the always noisy Kaga, so we first sent a messenger to attend our evaluation meeting." Takeda Harunobu seemed to know the situation of the Echigo Nagao family well, " Captain Nagao Zaemon (Nagao Harukage) seems to be quite afraid of his younger brother (Nagao Kagetora, also known as Uesugi Kenshin). After all, compared to him who is weak in literature, his brother's martial prowess has become famous in Echigo in recent years. , there are even many retainers who are campaigning for him to abdicate the throne and make way for others. It was his younger brother who led the troops to Luo this time."
"Lieutenant Zaemon would actually allow his younger brother to lead the army on an expedition?" Imagawa Yoshimoto was surprised when he heard this. "Isn't he afraid that his younger brother will take military power into his own hands and win the hearts of the people?"
"Hmm... How should I put it? His brother is a deadbeat. To put it simply, he is a "righteous idiot." "Takeda Harunobu tried to give an example to Imagawa Yoshimoto, but after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't find a suitable candidate. "My interest in power and strategy is even lower than yours, Goro, and I won't think about it at all. How should I put it, maybe He is a bit of a mystique in terms of morality, and does not allow himself to do anything that goes against justice. But in this case, he should not be allowed to come into contact with the retainers. What if the retainers wear a "yellow robe" for him? So I don’t understand why Captain Nagao Zaemon asked his younger brother to lead the army. "
"Who knows, maybe what his brother is thinking about is to abdicate early and make way for others, so that he can be free and easy. But his brother is a fool and doesn't want to replace him at all, so he has to personally arrange for him to lead the army. Going on an expedition establishes prestige and gives the retainers a chance to persuade them to join." Imagawa Yoshimoto used himself to save others, and said to Takeda Harunobu with a smile, "The position of the governor of the family is done by whoever likes it. Isn't it true that some people think this is a good job? "
