It has been four years since Yagami Castle was expelled from Yagami Castle by Miyoshi Chokei and Matsunaga Hide, and four years later, Hatano Harimi took advantage of the civil strife in the Miyoshi family to retake Hagami Castle, but his gray hair has become more and more. He asked his attendants to help him pull up his hair, and then sent for his eldest son, Hideharu Hatano, to be brought in.

In the eyes of outsiders, Hideji Hatano is more like his grandfather, the Nakako Eilord of the Hatano family, who presided over the construction of Hakami Castle, one of the ten fortified castles of the Warring States Period of the Wa Kingdom. The flourishing of the Hatano family is one of the few examples of the Sengoku period in which the guardians expelled the guardians.

Hatano Hideji didn't dare to snub his father, because he knew his father's hardship, he listened to his father's call, immediately untied the long knife and came to the study, saw his father's frost-white hair, glanced at the attendant, and said, "Father! ”

Hatano Haru straightened his clothes, stared at Shuji with a pair of eyes, and said, "Is there any news from Harima again?" ”

Hatano Hideji has a strong and outgoing personality, which is very different from his father, he nodded heavily, and replied: "Yes, Miki Castle in Harima Province has already fallen, Date Dazai Daiji has issued a document on the crusade against Tanba Province, and the border has been blocked. ”

Hatano Harumi was silent, he looked at Hatano Hideji, and said slowly: "Back then, your grandfather befriended the Bessho clan, but it was just to fight against the Hosokawa clan, and there was not much close relationship. Chikumamaru, have you really decided to fight to the end? ”

Hideji Hatano was silent. To make such a decision is to gamble with the lives of a clan. But even if he wanted to join the Date family. There is no way out. The Date family has already preached that they want to destroy the forces of the people of Tanba Province, and they are the Hatano family who bear the brunt of it.

Hatano Haruni stared at Shuji with wide eyes and continued, "The wise choice should be to surrender to Date Masaki. However, if it is such a simple submission, the Hatano family will lose the hegemony of Tanba Province, are you ready? ”

Deep down in his heart, Hideji Hatano knew that what his father said was true, and there was no doubt that if he surrendered without a fight. The cities of Tanba will surely follow suit and submit to Date Masaki. As a result, it will be difficult for the Hatano family to maintain the hegemony of Tanba Province.

Hatano Harumi's mind suddenly spread, as if he had thought of something, and muttered, "I also made a decision back then, but I hesitated at the last moment, which led to the final defeat and the loss of the hegemony of Yagami Castle and Tanba Kingdom. ”

When Miyoshi Chokei exiled Hosokawa Harumoto and swept through at lightning speed, Matsunaga Nagayori married the Lady of Naito Kuni, the guardian of Tanba, and changed his name to Naito Munekatsu to attack Tanba Province, and Hatano Haruni rebelled. Under the banner of "reviving the Hosokawa family", they fought with it. In the first battle, Naito Munekatsu was defeated, and Miyoshi Chokei sent Matsunaga Shu to support. Matsunaga Hide's secret lure of the people of Tanba Province led to Hatano Harunitsu's hesitation before the battle, and his failure was to withdraw from Yagami Castle.

Hideji Hatano bowed to the ground and bowed, "Father, do you really want to retreat?" ”

Hatano Harimi took the fan and slapped it on Hideji Hatano's head with a "snap", and shouted: "Chikumamaru, until now I am still struggling with these details, the first battle was a defeat for my father, and the only way to resist Date Dazai is to unite the people of Tanba Country, and only Hideji Hatano, who has the wind of the ancestors, can call on the people of Tanba Country to unite together to have a glimmer of life." ”

Hatano Hideji couldn't cry, choked up and agreed, and nodded, "Father, what else do you have to teach?" ”

Hatano Harumi looked at Hideji, and only after a while did he say: "Chikumamaru, remember to do whatever it takes to achieve your goals, do whatever it takes, and don't trust anyone easily, those people are all a bunch of villains in front of them and behind them. ”

Hideji Hatano responded, "Yes, father!" ”

In the middle of July of the second year of Eiroku (1559), Hatano Harumi, the nominal guardian of Tanba Province, retired, and with the support of his ministers, the eighteen-year-old Hatano Hideji officially stepped onto the stage of history, and on the day of his accession to the throne, he called on the people of Tanba to form an alliance.

The patriarch of the Nishi-Hatano clan of the Hatano clan, the lord of the ice city, and the Hatano Sogao, known as the Tanba ghost, first responded to the call of the clan and led more than fifty horsemen to the Yagami Castle Alliance. Two years ago, the Hatano Sotaka was enthroned by Emperor Kinmachi and led an army to defend Kyoto. Historically, when he was fighting Oda Nobunaga as a reinforcement for the Asakura family, he was attacked by the Oda army on the way to Echizen, and he died of injuries and exhaustion after stabbing more than ten enemies in the melee.

After the Hatano Sotaka responded, the Shioni Kyoye, who was related by marriage to the Hatano clan, also responded.

The Shioni clan is a new family that has only emerged in the Sasayama Basin of Taki County in Tanba Province in the last ten years, and was originally just a small wealthy family on the ground. The city is the main point of Jingxi Street, and its geographical location is very important. In addition, Tanba produces timber, and most of Tamba's timber comes from the Sasayama Basin, so the Shioni family, who controls the timber trade in Tanba, has strong financial resources. Shinoi Kyoye liked the cyan armor, so he was given the nickname of Tanba no Blue Oni.

The response of Hatano Sotaka illustrates the integration of the Hatano clan, and the response of Shinoi Kyoye indicates the addition of new forces, so now there are only the Akai and Ogino clans of the countrymen of Amada and Ice Gun, and this Ogino and Akai are the same clan.

Originally, at this time, Akai Naomasa had already murdered his adoptive father Ogino Iyomori and became the lord of Kuroi Castle, and at the same time assassinated his eldest brother Akai Iekiyo, expelled his nephew and merged Akai and Ogino, becoming a third-party force after Hatano and Naito.

Unfortunately, Akai Naomasa was sensed by the butterfly effect, and one of the main culprits of the Miyoshi family regime a few years ago, Yoshida Masanari and Ishida Fumimatsu, assassinated Miyoshi Nagaitsu, who had entered Beijing to report on his duties, and then returned to Date via Tanba Province. Due to the fact that Akai Naomasa and Ogino Iyomoru were in an unpleasant quarrel over the ownership of Kuroi Castle at the time, and the Akai clan was also unstable within the Akai clan, Akai Naomasa mistakenly thought that Yoshida Masanari and others were mercenaries hired by Ogino Iyomori. The two sides clashed. In the end, under the response of Tozawa Baiyunzhai. Akai Naomasa's cronies who had collected a lot of money were almost all wiped out, and only three or two kittens escaped, which dealt a heavy blow to Akai Naomasa's arrogance.

Akai Naomasa, who had hit the arrogance, was dormant for a while, and became much more honest, although the scheming Ogino Iyomasa wanted to kill Akai Naomasa once and for all, who would have thought that Akai Naomasa's brother Akai Iyoqing began to suspect Ogino Iyomasa, but instead blessed Akai Naomasa. At the beginning, Akai was still more or less skeptical. But as time goes by, coupled with the fact that Akai Naomasa is indeed a rare fierce general, he seems to spare no effort to help Akai Jiaqing, without the slightest selfishness, and gradually paralyzed his vigilance against Akai Naomasa, and the relationship with Akai Naomasa is getting closer and closer, and once became a brother and brother, and subtly regarded Ogino Iyomori as an enemy.

Just when Akai Iekiyo thought that he had subdued Akai Naomasa, Akai Naomasa had already begun to sharpen his knife Huo Huo, on the New Year of the first year of Eiroku. Akai Naomasa took advantage of the opportunity to congratulate the New Year, and led more than 300 people to rush into Akai Jiaqing's residence like a wolf. Akai Jiaqing and more than 30 subordinates. None of them escaped, all of them were killed, their heads were cut off, and Akai Naomasa became the patriarch of the Akai clan. Akai Naomasa's ugly appearance naturally caused the dissatisfaction of many elders of the Akai family, and Akai Naomasa washed almost all the top and bottom of the Akai family without doing anything. For his own political ambitions, he sacrificed the lives of his entire clan and wanted to usurp Kuroi Castle.

Akai Naomasa murdered Akai Iekiyo, bloodied the Akai clan and wanted to seize Kuroi Castle, the lord of Kuroi Castle, Ogino Iyomori, who had always been angry about Akai Naomasa trying to assassinate him in the past, and often persuaded Akai Ieqing to beware of Akai Naomasa, a white-eyed wolf. It's just that it's too much.,On the contrary, it caused Akai Iekiyo's bad feelings.,Wonder if Ogino Iyomori wants to provoke the feelings between their brothers.,Ogino Iyomori gradually became estranged.,Now it's going to the bad results.。

Ogino Iyomori heard about Akai's evil deeds, on the one hand, he preached Akai's evil deeds, and on the other hand, he mobilized people to take revenge, and took more than 1,000 people to enter the residence where Akai Naomasa was.

Akai Naomasa deserves to be a well-known villain, when he heard that Ogino Iyo was coming, there were only three or four hundred people around him, and in the situation of being outnumbered, not only did he not retreat, but led his more than three hundred people to rush out.

The Ogino army was caught off guard and was beaten to pieces, the vanguard general was severely wounded, and Akai Naomasa went into battle shirtless, cutting down more than 80 enemies in a row, frightening the defeat of the Ogino army, losing the courage to resist the Akai army, and running back desperately.

The entire Ogino army camp was in a state of collapse, and Ogino Iyomori had to retreat to Kuroi Castle and resist to the end. Akai Naomasa regained all the territories except Kuroi Castle in one fell swoop, and became a veritable hero of Ice and Amada County.

Now Akai Naomasa is leading more than 1,000 people to besiege Kuroi Castle, and the battle of Kuroi Castle has been fought intermittently for more than half a year, and Ogino Iyo Mamoru is also desperate to defend to the end, without any signs of breakthrough. However, this is not the reason for Hideharu Hatano's hesitation.

The main reason for Hideji Hatano's hesitation to invite Akai Naomasa is that Akai Naomasa has a bad personality and is undesirable, from his assassination of his brother, bloodbathing his fellow clansmen, and now he wants to attack Kuroi Castle, which was once his adoptive father and uncle, Ogino Iyo, all kinds of evil deeds, which made Hatano Hideji and others doubt whether they would be betrayed by him in exchange for glory and wealth.

When Hatano Hideji and others hesitated, a letter from Hatano Harumi who had retired, dispelled his doubts, Akai Naomasa is first of all a wicked person who is inconsistent with the outside, followed by the people of Tanba country, the current Date family has long since passed, when the family was hungry and did not choose to eat, the first thing to consider for oneself is to have both ability and political integrity, followed by virtue and talent, the third is talent and no virtue, and finally there is no talent and no virtue, this Akai Naomasa belongs to the third type of talent and virtue.

Akai Naomasa wants to take refuge in Date Masaki, and Date Masaki also wants to think about whether to take him in. Hatano Hideji received a revelation from his father, and immediately sent an invitation to Akai Naomasa, who received the invitation, and because of a series of evil deeds, he had been in a situation where he had no foreign aid to rely on, and because he had no credit, his retainers were also alienated from him, and now he was able to rule everyone by terror and fear.

Hideharu Hatano's invitation made Akai Naomasa's eyes light up, and he got the invitation when he was at a loss and in a dilemma. At the same time, the alliance is not the same as defection, the alliance is that everyone is on an equal footing, everyone is independent, at most who is powerful and who is the leader of the alliance, and this alliance leader also has to take care of the little brother's food, housing and transportation. Akai Naomasa thought about it for a while, entrusted the task of besieging Kuroi Castle to his younger brother Naoyuki Yamaguchi, and took more than 100 horsemen to Yagami Castle to meet the alliance.

At this time, the time has moved to July 20th, and there are rumors on the border, and in the main hall in Yagami Castle, there are only four people sitting in the empty hall at the moment, the new owner of Hakami Castle, Hatano Sotaka, the lord of Hatano Sotaka, the lord of Shikai Castle, and Akai Naomasa, who arrived at the latest.

The positions of the four seem to be equal, but Hideji Hatano has a feeling of sitting in the bloody wind, whether it is Hatano Sodaka, Shinoi Kyoye or Akai Naomasa, they are all fierce generals who have made a name for themselves in Tanba, leaving the name of a hundred people.

Because the situation is extremely bad, Hideharu Hatano has to lower his profile and contain **. At this moment, if you want to survive the invasion of Date's army, you can only work with one heart and one mind, and he understands this, and everyone here also understands it.

Hideji Hatano was the first to speak: "The current situation, I don't say that everyone should know a little bit about it, whether it is Honganji or the shogunate, they have clearly told me and so on, they will not reach any agreement with us on the surface, even if they are secretly, they can only secretly help some weapons and food, and the rest depends on us to discuss how to deal with it?" ”

Akai Naomasa glanced at Hatano Sotaka and Shinoi Kyoye, both of whom looked like they had already knew, obviously he was the last person to be told, but he didn't say anything, and he had already investigated the matter back then, and the person who slaughtered his personal guard should have come from the Date family. (To be continued.) )