When Kinoshita Toyoshiro was hiding from the pursuit with Nohime in embarrassment, in Kotani Castle, which was more than 20 miles away from the mountains, Asai Hisamasa scolded his subordinates for being incompetent, and Ah Sei Sadasei frowned and chatted at the town under the castle. Named Otani Castle because it was built on Mt. Kotani, it is one of the best mountain castles in Kita-Omi, and you can overlook the Shimizu Valley from Honmaru. At the foot of the mountain, the banners of the powerful from all over the country were erected, and Asai Nagamasa stood in the area of the Tiger Imperial Front Mountain, which was very close to each other, and this was the information that was learned in a small battle just now.

At this time, Asai Hisasa's had already finished scolding his subordinates, and the first contact ended in defeat, and the hundreds of people led by more than a dozen samurai who were sent out to test were beaten to the ground by less than his own number, otherwise he would not have been furious.

Ah Shu Zhenzheng stood on top of the castle tower, overlooking the movement below the city, and his anger was burning. Asai Hisasa, Nagamasa's father and son are not good things, and Asai Hisasa's scolding of his subordinates for their incompetence refers to Sang scolding Huai. He originally wanted to retreat with his whole body, but he didn't expect Asai Nagamasa to come quickly and decisively, so he directly rejected his request for peace talks. Asai Nagamasa insisted on dividing the victory and defeat in Kotani Castle and deciding who was the real lord of Kita-Omi, so it can be said that he must be killed as the instigator of him.

Asai Nagamasa closed the door to negotiations, which completely angered Asho Sadasei, even though he still didn't want to go on the opposite side and oppose the defense of Otani Castle, even though his original intention was to blackmail Otani Castle to threaten Asai Nagamasa to compromise.

But he still has illusions and luck. He dreams that Asai Nagamasa can compromise, although the compromise is very difficult and the consequences are unpredictable, but this is his only future and vitality. For this reason, he has not severed contact with other people since entering the city, and he just wants to use this passage to go directly to Asai Nagamasa.

What he didn't expect was that Asai Nagamasa would directly close the door to negotiations, which was something that Ashu Sadasei did not expect, in fact, when he stepped into Kotani Castle, he had to have the consciousness of carrying the black cauldron, and he should not have unrealistic illusions.

The dispute between Asai Hisasa and Nagamasa's father and son, regardless of whether Asai Hisamasa recognizes whether Asai Nagamasa is his own son or not, in the eyes of outsiders, Asai Nagamasa represents the Asai family, then Asai Nagamasa is a member of the Asai family, and the consequence of intervening in the father-son dispute is to bear the black cauldron of father and son.

In the eyes of Asai Nagamasa, with the support of most of his retainers, Kotani Castle will soon return to his hands, so what he has to face is the choice of how to deal with the rebels? The only way to do this is to retire completely.

So how do you reward the retainers who supported Asai Nagamasa in the midst of civil strife, and where do you get them? In this way, it should be known why Asai Nagamasa refused to negotiate with Asho Sada, and did not completely kill Asa Sada, where the territory was rewarded to the "loyal ministers" who supported his victory.

It is not so much that Asai Nagamasa rejected Asashi's request for negotiations, but rather that the vast majority of vested interests wanted to divide up the territory of Asho Sadashi after the war, and when they could not obtain land externally, they had to dig internally.

When Asai Nagamasa closed the door to negotiation, Ah Shu Zhenzheng already understood that he had no way out, and it could be said that there was a road to the dark, so did he survive in this way and reopen the closed door to negotiation?

In the eyes of Ah Shu Zhenzheng, as long as Xiao Tani Cheng can survive the current hurdle and survive until winter, then there is no possibility of reopening the negotiation door? You must know that the fact that the Date family does not enter Kita-Omi now, it does not mean that they will never enter Kita-Omi.

The longer Kotani Castle persists, the more the Kita-Omi Rebellion will intensify, and when he decides between the interests of the Asho family and the interests of all the people of Kita-Omi, it will be the time to reopen the negotiation gate, and he may be able to gain more bargaining chips at that time.

Asai Hisamasa's eyes looked at Ah Shu Sada, and Ah Shu Sadashi also happened to look at him, Ah Shu Sadashi raised his head and said: "Pavilion master, the situation is critical now, Kotani Castle is in trouble, there will be brave men under the heavy reward, and it will soon enter winter, and the turning point will come when the time comes." ”

Asai Hisamasa scolded his subordinates for their incompetence and was also suspected of scolding Huai, but he knew that now he could only believe that Ah Shu Zhenzheng would share weal and woe with him, life and death, he could hear Ah Shu Zhenzheng's words, and said a little decadently: "What to do? ”

Ah Shu Zhenzheng pointed to the area of Tiger Gomae Mountain in the distance and said: "Look at the flags on Tiger Gozen Mountain, most of them are the flags of the people of the North Omi Country, and there are only a few flags of the Asai family, which is enough to show that there are many people watching from the Asai family. ”

The Asai clan was originally the leader of the Kita-Omi Kunichi people, but in the Asai Ryomasa era, they rose to become the leader of the alliance, replacing the Kyogoku clan as the Sengoku Daimyo, and taking the original allies as retainers, and making a lot of use of the clan in the Sengoku Daimyo.

During the Asai Ryomasa era, the combined strength of the Asai clan accounted for more than 30% of Kita-Omi's, and the in-laws and allies accounted for more than 30%, so they had an absolute advantage. After the death of Asai Ryomasa, during the Asai Hisamasa era, the strength of the Asai clan rose rapidly, and the in-laws and allies decreased slightly, but they also had an absolute advantage overall. The reason why Asai Nagamasa was able to rise to power quickly was that Asai Hisamasa was ineffective in foreign wars, which caused a lot of damage to Kita-Omi, and more because Asai Hisamasa was biased towards the Asai family. Asai Nagamasa was able to ascend to the throne thanks to the support of the retainers, and more of a combination of in-laws, allies and the countrymen, and at the same time, the Asai clan was biased towards neutrality, which made it difficult for Asai Hisamasa to retreat.

Now, the banner on Mt. Toramae shows that the Asai clan is still waiting, and if Kotani Castle can win one or two victories and survive the civil strife until winter comes, the ****** will be in a dilemma, and the Asai clan will stand up.

Hisamasa Asai agreed with Asai's point of view, but from the defeat of the first contact, he knew that if there was no special thing, even if he took out the treasury of Otani Castle, he was afraid that he would not be able to achieve the final victory. It is more likely that as long as there are one or two more failures, the Asai clan, who were originally on the sidelines, will probably stand on the opposite side, and there will be no way back then.

Asai Hisamasa and Ah Susan looked at each other, they had no better way, only to give a heavy reward to the soldiers who defended the city, so that they would not despair, this was also a way to no way, in fact, even if they knew that they would survive until winter, there would be a turnaround.

It can be known from the word boil how difficult this boil is, neither Asai Hisamasa nor Ah Shu Sadashi have any confidence, and they have neither confidence nor hope for the future. Even Hisamasa Asai and Sadamasa Asho have no confidence, let alone others.

The atmosphere in Kotani Castle was depressing, giving people a sense of suffocation that the mountain rain was coming, and the people defending the city prayed silently, thinking about whether they might be able to save their lives by surrendering during the siege, but they were also unwilling.

The samurai all own land, and even if they save their lives after the war, they will become ronin and lose everything. The ashigaru people touched the gold nuggets in their arms, and they were also unwilling, they were all cannon fodder during the siege war, and after the battle, it also depended on the decision of the victor, and it was difficult to save even their lives, not to mention their property.

Kotani Castle was unwilling from top to bottom, if there was no last life-saving straw appeared, even if they were unwilling, there was no way, fortunately, Hattori Masari gave them the last straw to save their lives, or a coarse straw that looked good and strong.

Hattori Masanari was originally just ordered to send a letter, and this letter only needs a bow and an arrow to shoot the letter into Kotani Castle, but in fact, the content of the letter is not much, and an arrow is enough. The artist was bold, and he boldly walked into Kotani Castle from the gate under the banner of the Asakura family, so that countless people couldn't figure out how he got to the gate through their glasses.

Hattori Masanari's current identity is the envoy of the Echizen Asakura family governor Yoshikage, and he appeared at the gate under the banner of the Asakura family.

Otani Castle, who was close at hand, knew what kind of catastrophe had happened in Echizen Province, which was also why Asai Hisamasa and Asashi couldn't believe the true intention of the visitor, and the two did not doubt the identity of the visitor, although they had never seen each other.

Hattori Masanari showed his identity as soon as he came up, not from a samurai background, which also explains why he was able to break through the encirclement and appear outside Kotani Castle, and also explained why he had never seen him, a lowly ninja background.

Asai Hisamasa and Ah Se Sadasei glanced at each other, knowing it in their chests, Ah Se Sadasei asked, "What is the domestic situation in Echizen?" ”

Hattori Sinsari scoffed and said, "Honda Yahachiro is a young man, who swaggered and deceived under the banner of Honganji, and bewitched a large group of ignorant people to wave their flags and shout for it, and now they are trapped in the area of Hiranohara, just waiting for the army to come and slaughter and kill. ”

Hearing Hattori Masanari's eloquent words, all the doubts in their hearts were eliminated, and they were also very optimistic about the situation in Echizen, so Asai asked again: "I don't know why your lord came here today?" ”

Hattori Masanari looked at everyone and said with a gloomy face: "I came here today to inquire about the true intentions of the Asai family on the order of the head of the family, such as the situation has entered a delicate edge today, and curbing the dominance of the Date family has become the top priority of the people in the world." Honda Yahachiro was able to escape easily, and there was no conspiracy and trickery of the Date clan behind it, and the head of the family was resentful in his heart, and he made up his mind to swear to fight with the Date clan to the death, I don't know what the adults wanted? ”

Hattori Masanari knew that his lord had met with Honda Yahachiro once, and after the meeting, he intentionally or unintentionally allowed Honda Yahachiro to lead the army out of control, and many people wondered why the Date family at that time was able to kill them all and let them go.

Today, Hattori Masanari mentioned it a little, and hung such a high-level strategy on the head of Asakura Yoshikei, and the conclusion he came to was surprising, but it was well-founded, and it was difficult to find a reason to refute it. Asai Hisamasa and Asho Sadasei glanced at each other, their eyes were delighted, the time they had been waiting for for a long time had finally come, as long as the Asakura family made their position clear, at least the Asai clan and the ****** would remain neutral.

Asai Hisamasa thought for a long time and asked cautiously, "I don't know when your lord will send troops?" ”

Hattori Masanari said in a very affirmative tone: "At present, the domestic situation in Echizen is not stable, and Honda Yahachiro, who is besieged in Hiranohara, is trying to break through the siege and flee to Kaga Province, and Kaga Province is also trying its best to respond, and it is difficult to open a second battlefield in the short term. However, the head of the family knew the importance of Kita-Omi, and once Kita-Omi fell into the hands of the Date clan, Echizen Province would be attacked on his back, and when the time was right, the border of Chen soldiers would respond to Kita-Omi, but Otani Castle also had to do something to show his attitude. ”

The Echizen Asakura family will not end up in person, which makes Asai Hisamasa and Asho Sadasei a little disappointed, but it is already quite a big affirmation to be able to Chen Bing's border strategy, as long as the Echizen Asakura family Chen Bing responds, they can think about what kind of expression the people of Kita Omi will have. However, it is not easy to let the Echizen Asakura family Chen Bing respond, and it is also necessary to let the people of the Echizen Asakura family see that there are interests before they can decide the number of Chen soldiers and the length of time.

Asai Hisamasa and Asho Sadasei didn't ask what kind of way to make the Echizen Asakura family decide to support them, they weren't stupid enough to let others guide them, Hattori Masanari saw that the two of them understood his intentions, and before leaving, he said again: "Before leaving, the lord of a certain family instructed that the situation in the world will change greatly after the beginning of spring next year, and if Kotani Castle really falls into a crisis, a certain family will not sit idly by." ”

Hattori Masanari quietly left Kotani Castle, his arrival made the situation inside and outside Kotani Castle change suddenly, he did not come in secret, many people in Kotani Castle were inside and outside, and the conversation was not detailed, but both inside and outside the city summoned up courage.

The gongs and drums sounded one after another, and on the nearby mountains, Hattori Masanari was holding on to the pine tree, the corners of his mouth slightly revealing a hint of ridicule, and muttered in a low voice: "Fight, fight, the more fierce the fight, the better, shed the last drop of blood for the new era." ”

As he spoke, Hattori Masari no longer looked at the fiery Kotani Castle, and disappeared into the mountains and forests.

Hattori Masari was eating bread as he walked, and he was dressed as a foot monk wearing a hat, which was in line with the appearance of a long-distance traveler at that time, and even the most vicious bandits would not rob the foot monk, because they knew that the foot monk did not have any oil and water on his body.

Just as he hurriedly glanced at the road from the small road, two men in ragged clothes who were very ill-fitting made him frown slightly, originally he didn't want to make a fuss, but the more he looked at it, the more suspicious he felt, the whereabouts of these two people were sneaky.

Hattori Masari stood before the two, if it weren't for the sneaky actions of the two, he didn't want to get into trouble, he stopped in front of the two, hit a Buddha and asked, "It seems that the two are not locals, are they the families of the samurai?" ”

These two ill-fitting men are Nohime and Kinoshita Toyoshiro who are evading pursuit, the two of them stole a farmhouse on the way, and changed their outfits, Nohime is noble, and no matter how embarrassed she is, she can't hide her behavior habits, which will be noticed by Hattori Masanari. (To be continued.) )