Meino, Ena County.
After leaving Dodong Castle, Kyogoku Takamasa and his party did not dare to delay for a moment and headed towards Shinano as quickly as possible. After walking for three days, we finally arrived at the easternmost sub-county of Meinong.
"Zabei, what's ahead?"
On a stone on the side of the road, Kyogoku Takamasa sat on it and drank water while asking Lin Zhengxin beside him.
Lin Zhengxin quickly replied: "The front should be Yancun City, the residence of the Yuanshan family."
"Iwamura Castle is also called the Fog Castle because it is surrounded by heavy fog all year round. In addition, it is also called the Kasumi Castle because of the sunset glow!"
"Looking at the heavy fog in the sky, Iwamura Castle should be not far away."
After hearing Lin Zhengxin's explanation, Kyogoku Takamasa nodded slowly.
Kyogoku Takamasa still has some impressions of Iwamura Castle.
This is a mountain town located in the eastern part of Mino. It is also the residence of the Toyama family of Iwamura. Historically, Oda Nobunaga's aunt Ayan once married into the Toyama family. After that, Iwamura Castle was invaded by the Takeda family. Ayan fought against the Takeda family for a long time as the "female castle lord".
However, at that time, Oda Nobunaga's main force was busy fighting the Asai and Asakura coalition forces and had no time to support Iwamura Castle.
When the city was destroyed, in order to protect the soldiers and civilians in the city, Ayan agreed to the Takeda family's general general Akiyama Nobuto's persuasion to surrender and married Akiyama Nobuto.
Although this move saved the lives of Iwamura Castle, Oda Nobunaga believed that his aunt had betrayed him, and soon sent troops to counterattack after solving the Asai family and the Asakura family.
In the end, Ayan and Qiu Shanxinyou were both captured and killed.
Iwamura City also left a poignant love story in history because of Ayan.
"Are you going to stay in Iwamura Castle today? How about I go check it out?" Yamaoka Inuhachiro came up and said.
Kyogoku Takamasa shook his head, "This journey has delayed a lot of travel, let's continue heading towards Shinano."
"There is no need to go to Iwamura Castle. Just avoid Iwamura Castle and take the small road to Shinano."
"ha!"
The eastern part of Meino is mostly mountainous, and Shinano is also mostly mountainous, so the roads in this area are not easy to walk.
Continuing eastward from Iwamura Castle, Kyogoku Takamasa and others walked for four or five days, always wandering in the ravines. Fortunately, the mountain road had not been cut off, otherwise Kyogoku Takamasa would have almost suspected that he and others had gone the wrong way.
Finally, hard work paid off. After wandering around the mountains for seven or eight days, Kyogoku Takamasa and others finally set foot on a plain.
Finally entered Shinano.
"My lord, there is a city ahead. Looking at the flag seal on the city tower, it should be the territory of the Shinano Ogasawara family!"
On the trail, Yamaoka Inuhachiro walked quickly from the front, reporting the latest information to Kyogoku Takamasa.
"We finally set foot on Shinano's territory. All the hard work these days has finally paid off!" Kyogoku Takamasa sighed.
Hatayama Chonobu on the side also spoke at this time: "But my lord, Shinano is a vast area. Where should we go to recruit talents?"
Hatayama Asanobu immediately questioned Kyogoku Takamasa.
Although Shinano produces horses and there are indeed many good horse samurai here, but Shinano is so big, where should Kyogoku Takamasa and others find such talents?
Historically, there were many talents in Shinano, but most of them were those who later joined the Takeda family, such as Akiyama Nobyou and others.
In fact, Kyogoku Takamasa generally has a suitable candidate in mind.
"Go to Gaoyuan City first, and then make plans!"
After making up his mind, Kyogoku Takamasa didn't want to waste any more time and continued to give orders.
Hatayama Asanobu and others naturally followed Kyogoku Takamasa's arrangements unconditionally. Although they were very exhausted, they continued to follow Kyogoku Takamasa to the woodland of Takato's home in the north.
.......
In Shinano, there are many wealthy families, and the chaotic situation is no less complicated than in Ise Country.
In Shinano Junior High School, the stronger ones are the Murakami clan and the Ogasawara clan in Northern Shinano, while the Kiso clan and Takato clan in South Shinano are the leading ones, as well as the Suwa clan.
The relationship between these families is not very good, and there is constant fighting.
However, in recent years, they have all faced a common enemy, and that is Nobutora Takeda, the head of the Takeda family of Kai who has unified Kai and gradually embarked on the road of external expansion.
Beginning in the Dayaga era, Takeda Nobutora began to intervene in Shinano Country, and wars broke out one after another with Suwa, Oi and other wealthy families.
However, at this time, several big names such as Imagawa, Hojo, Yamauchi Uesugi, and Yamauchi Uesugi were also competing with each other. The Takeda family was naturally not immune to being caught in the middle. Therefore, under the general trend, Takeda Nobutora's invasion of Shinano was also difficult for a while.
Two years ago, the Kurihara, Imai, and Iitomi clans of the Shinano Kingdom united to launch an attack on the Takeda family.
But soon, the rebellion was extinguished by the Takeda family.
Takeda Nobutora first attacked and destroyed the coalition forces of the Oi family and the Imai family, and then attacked and destroyed the Kurihara family in the Kawarabe battle. After destroying the main force of the Japanese alliance, Takeda Nobutora gradually established his suppression of Shinano.
This year, it was rare that there was no war between Shinano and Kai.
The wealthy families of Shinano did not dare to provoke the Takeda family anymore, and Nobutora Takeda was also actively rectifying the territory. For a time, the two countries of Shinano and Kai ushered in a rare time of peace.
When we arrived at Gaoyuan Castle, it was already evening.
Kyogoku Takamasa and others randomly found a lodging house in the castle town to stay in, and then found a wine shop to start solving their stomach problems.
After Arrogance left Inabayama Castle, Kyogoku Takamasa and others hid in Tibet and lived a miserable life of lack of food and clothing. Now I finally came to a populated place and could finally have a hearty meal.
After ordering a few bottles of Shinano local sake and asking the boss to prepare a sumptuous meal, Kyogoku Takamasa and others soon gathered around the table to feast.
Hatayama Asanobu, Hayashi Masanobu and others were all eating indiscriminately, with all their minds thinking about the food on the table. While Kyogoku Takamasa was eating, he was also listening carefully to what the people at the tables around him were discussing.
For the first time here, Kyogoku Takamasa also wanted to hear about recent rumors in the Shinano area, which might be of some help to him.
"Have you heard that something big happened within the Takeda family?"
"Really, what's the matter?"
"I heard that the young master of the Takeda family's wife died in childbirth. She was the princess of the Uesugi family. With this death, the marriage relationship between the Takeda family and the Uesugi family has been eliminated!"
"In this way, the Takeda family will no longer have to worry about the Uesugi family's attitude when they conquer Shinano."
"Is this happening?"
"So, the Takeda family is going to launch another offensive against Shinano again?"
"Who says it's not the case, but it's good to have a war. Wouldn't it be useful for us and other ronin?"
"I'm going to leave for Kai immediately to see if I can successfully join the Takeda family. If I can be recruited by the Takeda family, I can end this life of wandering!"
"Since Hikosaburo is going, I will definitely accompany you!"
"Okay! With Shiro Quan as your companion, the hope of this trip has been greatly increased!"
...
Listening to the discussions of the people around him, Kyogoku Takamasa also gradually remembered what was going on.
Historically, Takeda Harunobu's first wife was Uesugi Nokata (Nokata means wife), the daughter of Uesugi Asahi, the head of the Ogidani Uesugi family. However, a year later, Mrs. Uesugi died in childbirth, causing the relationship between the Takeda family and the Uesugi family to break down again.
If we follow the trajectory of history, Garfield's step-wife is Mrs. Sanjo of the Sanjo family.
However, now that Mrs. Sanjo has been intercepted by Kyogoku Gaomasa, Garfield is equivalent to being put on an invisible hat of forgiveness.
Thinking of this, Kyogoku Takamasa smiled slightly, what a trick of fate!
