Baba Nobuharu's superb riding skills and riding combat abilities quickly convinced everyone, including the former leader of the equestrian team, Kasahara Kiyozuna.
At this point, Nobuharu Baba took over the position of leader of the equestrian team without any pressure.
With the addition of Nobuharu Baba, the training of the horse riding team quickly got on the right track, making Kyogoku Takamasa completely relieved.
Now, Kyogoku Takamasa can concentrate on making trouble against the Wakasa Takeda family.
...
Imahama Castle, Matsunaga House Shiki.
After learning that Kyogoku Takamasa had arrived, Matsuzuki Nagahide quickly called his sister Arong, and then prepared several bottles of sake to entertain Kyogoku Takamasa.
After sitting down, Kyogoku Takamasa didn't talk nonsense and said directly: "Hikorokuro, I am here today because of Wakasa's affairs."
"You are responsible for Wakasa's affairs during this period. In your opinion, is the time ripe for my family to attack Wakasa?"
Matsunaga put down the wine plate in his hand, and then replied seriously: "My lord, during this period, I have had an in-depth understanding of the internal situation of the Wakasa Takeda family, and found that the Takeda family is not monolithic."
"First of all, the head of the Wakasa Takeda family, Dr. Takeda Ozen, is ill and his health is getting worse. He no longer handles the internal affairs of the Takeda family. Most of the family affairs are taken care of by Yorifuyu, Naito Chikuzen and others."
"At the same time, there seem to be many problems within the Takeda family regarding the successor."
"It seems that Dr. Takeda Daizen intends to have his eldest son Takeda Hikojiro succeed to the throne. During the time when Mr. Daizen was ill, Takeda Hikojiro was active at home. Not only that, it seems that Dr. Daizen also sent people to Omi to meet with the shogun. I think it was for this reason. .”
"At the same time, I also heard that the Rokkaku family intends to marry the Takeda family, and Rokkaku Sakyo intends to marry his daughter to Takeda Hikojiro. The two parties are currently negotiating on this matter."
Hearing Matsunaga Hide's words, Kyogoku Takamasa frowned, "Doctor Takeda Daisen is indeed not an ordinary person. He has taken great pains to avoid internal strife in the family due to the issue of heirs."
"If Takeda Hikojiro marries the princess of the Rokkaku family, his status in the family will become more stable. After all, being the son-in-law of the Rokkaku family means that he has a strong backing and can also achieve the purpose of intimidating the family."
Matsunaga Hide also nodded and said: "I have to say that Dr. Takeda Daisen's hands are indeed beautiful."
"However, Nobutaka Takeda, the younger brother of the great master, has an ambiguous attitude towards our family after my contact with him, allowing people to find out his true thoughts."
"On the other hand, the important minister of the Takeda family, Kuriya Sakyou Ryo, seems to have completely rebelled. He is vigorously reorganizing the troops in his territory. His rebellious intentions are well known in the territory."
Kyogoku Takamasa touched his chin, thought carefully for a while, and then said: "My family must take the Wakasa land, but the Takeda family does not have much enmity with my family. If we invade rashly, we will definitely be criticized."
"So, Nobutaka Takeda is particularly important."
"The top priority of our family now is to incite Takeda Nobutaka and Kuriya Gentaka to start a rebellion, and then send troops in the name of Sosuke."
"Speaking of which, there is a letter here for your lord to read." As he spoke, Matsuzuki Nagahide came to a cabinet and opened a secret compartment, then took out a letter from it and handed it to Kyogoku Takamasa, "This is It’s a letter just sent from Wakasa, where Takeda Nobutaka invites the lord to go to Wakasa for a talk.”
"This matter is serious and I dare not make the decision without authorization. The decision needs to be made by the lord."
Kyogoku Takamasa opened the letter and looked at it carefully, then curled his lips and said with a smile: "This is just a letter from Kuriya Mototaka, but it was just borrowed from Takeda Nobutaka."
"Su heard that Kasami Castle (Kuriya Gentakaju Castle) has beautiful scenery, so I just took this opportunity to go and see it!"
"Master, are you ready to go?"
"Why don't you go?" Kyogoku Takamasa said with a smile: "This is just Kuriya Gentaka's test of our family. Since the other party has doubts, this family can just give him a reassurance!"
Historically, the rebellion launched by Kuriya Mototaka and Takeda Nobutaka was quickly defeated due to lack of strength.
At that time, in order to save their lives, they found the Echizen Asakura family. It was Asakura Takaki's intervention that put the matter to rest.
At this time, Kuriya Gentaka and others have not yet started contact with the Asakura family, and around Wakasa, the Tango Isshiki family is just a self-preservation dog, and Omi Rokkaku is on Takeda Hikojiro's side, looking for a big hug, and the Kyogoku family Undoubtedly a very suitable candidate.
However, the rebellion is of great importance. Naturally, Kuriya Mototaka and Takeda Nobutaka cannot make a rash decision just because of a few letters with Matsunagahide. They must meet the powerful figures of the Kyogoku family to seek a guarantee.
Kyogoku Takamasa was very determined to attack Wakasa. This matter should be done sooner rather than later. Kyogoku Takamasa decided to go to Wakasa and his party without even thinking about it.
Early the next morning, Kyogoku Takamasa first asked Matsunagahide to go to Kasami Castle first and informed Kuriya Mototaka of his itinerary in advance.
After that, Kyogoku Takamasa called Tsutsui Shunren, Hatayama Asanobu and others.
Gifts must be prepared, so Kyogoku Takamasa gave Hatayama Asanobu two hundred kan to go to the castle town to buy gifts, and then asked Tsutsui Shunren to make preparations and go to Wakasa together.
The accompanying candidates include Nagasaka Nobumasa and Onoki Kunishige, who had previously gone to Shinano with Kyogoku Takamasa.
Kyogoku Takahiro was busy exchanging feelings with the ministers at the moment. After learning that Kyogoku Takamasa was going to Wakasa, he sent Kyogoku Takamasa away with just a few words of instructions.
Kyogoku Takamasa then went to the backyard to say goodbye to Mrs. Kotomikawa, and then found Mrs. Sanjo and asked Mrs. Sanjo to take good care of the home.
During this period, Mrs. Qinchuan's health seemed to be a little bad, which seemed to be the root cause of the illness when she gave birth to Atomi.
.........
Wakasa, Mikata County, Kasumi Castle.
Kasami Castle is a mountain castle built by Kuriya Mototaka during the Dayei period. It was named Kasami Castle because of the beautiful sunset.
The Kuriya clan is a generational retainer of the Takeda family. He was originally the Aki Kuriya clan, and later moved to Wakasa. Together with the Itami clan who was born in Kai, he served the Wakasa Takeda clan and was known as the "Takeda double wall".
The Kuriya clan is very powerful in Wakasa and is the most powerful retainer within the Takeda family.
Kuriya Mototaka was previously appointed as Obama Acting Official by Takeda Motomitsu, and was fully responsible for the management of Obama Port. Thanks to the prosperity of Obama Port, the Kuriya family made a lot of money.
Later, Kuriya Mototaka developed Mihama Port in his own territory. Although it was not as prosperous as Obama Port, it was also the second largest port in Wakasa.
During the Dayei period, Kuriya Mototaka followed Takeda Momitsu out of Jinki and was defeated at Kawakatsuji Temple. The Takeda family suffered heavy casualties, and the Kuriya clan also suffered great losses.
But the next year, Kuriya Gentaka quickly organized more than 800 elite troops to lead the army into Luo to participate in the war. At that time, everyone in Kyoto was amazed by the sophisticated equipment of the Kuriya clan.
This shows that the Kuriya family is wealthy.
But in the past few years, Takeda Momitsu may have realized that continuing to allow the Kuriya clan to become powerful would not be beneficial to the Takeda family's rule in Wakasa, so he restricted the Kuriya clan's power everywhere.
In particular, taking back the management rights of Obama Port will undoubtedly cut off Kuriya Mototaka's main financial source.
This move completely made Kuriya Gentaka angry.
