Just as Nobora and the others were preparing to carry out their long-planned plan, Oda Nobunaga's victorious army had returned to Kiyoshu Castle in Owari Province.

At this time, outside Qingzhou City, crowds of people were crowded everywhere.

"Look! In the end, it was still a victory, and I really didn't think it was our lord. ”

"He's so elusive!"

"Yikes! Look at! That's the head of Imagawa Yoshimoto, who is known as the first bow in Tokaido!"

"That's right! See! His teeth are blackened, and his eyebrows are painted!"

"Yes! He led 40,000 or 50,000 retainers to send troops, but he still lost, what the hell is going on?" There was a constant stream of wonderful discussions and applause.

By this time, the news of Oda Nobunaga's triumphant return with the head of Imagawa Yoshimoto had spread throughout Owari and Mikawa, causing the vanguard of the Imagawa family to disappear from the streets in an instant. The survivors took advantage of Oda Nobunaga's return to Kiyosu Castle and fled eastward, spreading the news of Imagawa Yoshimoto's death. In one day, the atmosphere from Tokaido to Owari Province changed 180 degrees in an instant.

"Let's lay flowers for the victorious lords!" From the crowd on both sides, from time to time there were cheers of children, and flowers were thrown into the ranks of the army. However, at this time, Oda Nobunaga closed his lips and did not smile.

Maybe the tip of the knife is pierced with the head of Imagawa Yoshimoto, which will make a military general feel a lot of emotion! He felt that the future was as far away as wishing to see a rainbow...... The remnants of the sun shone on the faces of the people who welcomed the triumphant troops, and everyone had a look of joy and excitement. However, perhaps in human life. There may be something stricter waiting for them to catch. Crowds of people flocked to their ranks like sparks from time to time.

But Oda Nobunaga is like a statue. Capture the head of Yoshimoto Imagawa. Slowly moving forward in the setting sun.

On the night of their return to Kiyoshu Castle, the Oda family did not hold a celebration party, but ordered everyone to go home and rest quickly, but in the evening, Oda Nobunaga suddenly held an evaluation meeting. Oda Nobunaga's sudden summoning surprised everyone.

When all the retainers arrived, Oda Nobunaga, who was sitting on the main seat of the assessment room, said:

"Among the enemy generals, there are two people who deserve to be our reference. In the opinion of Oda Nobunaga, these two people know bushido very well, and they will definitely withdraw from the army of their own accord. ”

"One of them is Matsudaira Motoyasu in Odaka Castle, and the other is Okabe Motonobu in Narumi Castle."

As for Oda Nobunaga's opinion at this time, it seems that all the retainers may not agree with his statement. The army of the Matsudaira family took down Oda's defender, Sakuma University, at the castle of Marune; In the past few years, Okabe Motonobu has often been at the forefront of dealing with the Oda family, which has put the Oda family in a difficult situation. Oda Nobunaga was particularly fond of these two men among his enemies, and he did have his own unique opinions. But there are still people who want to deal with them hard, and Oda Kiyomasa is the first to come:

"I don't think so. When we go in pursuit tomorrow morning, we must teach them a good lesson. ”

For the words of Oda Kiyomasa. Oda Nobunaga just laughed it off.

"Do you think the two of them will wait until tomorrow morning to stay still? If neither of them moves, then it will be a good lesson. ”

"According to you, are they going to retire tonight?"

Oda Nobunaga did not answer him, but said:

"Come on, let's celebrate with a little wine tonight, and as for the bigger banquet, we will have to wait for the Imagawa family's military forces to completely withdraw from the territory of Owari Province." After saying that, Oda Nobunaga raised a wooden bowl in front of him and drank the wine.

Seeing this, Oda Kiyomasa could only be silent, and held the wine bowl in front of him close to his lips. What he didn't know, of course, was that in fact, shortly after returning to Kiyoshu Castle, Oda Nobunaga sent an envoy, Hasegawa Hashisuke, to Narumi Castle to test Okabe Motonobu's intentions.

Later, at dawn, Imagawa Yoshimoto's head was hung at the Suga Gate in the south of the castle. Oda Nobunaga personally went to the square in front of the main entrance to examine the heads other than Imagawa Yoshimoto. The news that the Imagawa family's army had returned to the East like an avalanche also came.

And this information was just as Oda Nobunaga had predicted. In less than a moment's of engagement, the enemy suffered 583 casualties and 2,500 casualties.

Imagawa Yoshimoto's uncle, the head of the Kambara Miyauchi Shaofu clan was also among them, and his nephew's Kuno Hannai clan Tadashi and sister-in-law Asai Koshiro Masatoshi were also killed.

Suruga's banner head, Sanpu Zuoma Jieyi was also killed in battle; The head of the head of the Motomasa of the Banner Guard, which was pursued, was also gone; The heads of Yoshida Musashi Mamoru Shoshi of the military commission, Katsuyama Harima Mamoru Nagaga of the rear banner leader, Ejiri Minbu Shosuke clan of the Ichishi clan, Izu Gonmari of the gun commission, Okabe Kai Mamoru Chosei, the former general of the sho Fujieda Iga Mori Aki, and the general of the vanguard Asahina Comptroller Hidetsu were also discharged one after another, isn't this not the total annihilation of the army?

Their command system has collapsed, and there are no heads or bodies in sight, only a few broken siblings remain, and it is only natural that those who can survive should flee back to their hometowns as soon as possible.

Saito Sabusuke was also killed, and in addition, the generals known to the world, such as Shogun Anwara, Ryo Tomizuka, Mamoru Yubimi, Mamoru Sekiguchi Echichu, Yasumori Ishihara, Mamoru Ihino, Shimada Sakon, Ieo Toyomae, Sawada Nagato Mamoru, Okazaki Juro Guard, Kanai Lord Masuke, Nagase Guard, and Tominaga Hakumori, are also gone. From this, it can be seen that the land of Junfu and Yuanjiang is empty.

Among them, Oda Nobunaga paid the most attention to Matsudaira Motoyasu and Okabe Motonobu.

Near noon, Fujiyoshiro came to Oda Nobunaga's side and said, "Matsudaira Motoyasu left Otaka Castle last night and returned to Okazaki. ”

When the news came, the important ministers sitting in the same seat suddenly glanced at each other.

"It turns out that Motoyasu has returned to Okazaki."

Oda Nobunaga nodded and laughed. Matsudaira Motoyasu, who was once known as Mikawa's younger brother and also lived in Owari, said to Oda Nobunaga:

"In the future, we will definitely be able to win the world together."

At that time, Takechiyo was now nineteen years old. And returned to his birthplace. It was the god of fate who sent him back to Okazaki.

For this battle. Matsudaira Motoyasu's biological mother, who is Kumatsu Satomori's inner chamber Yu Dai, once tried her best to communicate with the Oda family and the Okazaki family to avoid a decisive battle, and Oda Nobunaga also sent someone to express to Matsudaira Motoyasu that the two families did not need to really fight.

However, in the end, these can be said to be complete failures.

Matsudaira Motoyasu seems to have taken into account the insidiousness of Imagawa Yoshimoto, so he had to kill the general of the Oda family, that is, Oda Nobunaga Aitomi, who was guarding Marone Castle - Sakuma University. However, it was because of the victory of Matsudaira Motoyasu. The negligence of the talent guide zhì Imagawa Yoshimoto, and the rest in the narrow room of Oda Le, caused Oda Nobunaga's side to turn defeat into victory.

Therefore, in Oda Nobunaga's opinion, the death of Sakuma University could not constitute a condition for the conflict between the two of them.

"It seems that there is an incredible relationship between that guy and me. He returned to Okazaki unharmed. ”

Now that he has returned to Okazaki, it can be regarded as the liberation of his hostage life for more than ten years. At this time, Matsudaira Motoyasu must have wanted to pacify the Sanhe area.

"Good! Is Yiyi there? Takigawa Kazuki!"

"Yes! I am here. ”

"You should pay attention to Motoyasu's actions in the next year; If there is anything to report quickly, I will take him with me, and you have to tell him again and again. ”

"I see."

At this time, Hashisuke Hasegawa, who served as a messenger, also returned.

"Report!"

"As you say. Motonobu Okabe of Narumi Castle has suspended the battle, and even has the intention of giving up the castle. ”

"Oh! Besides. What did he say again?"

"As you might expect, Okabe Motonobu is a disgraced samurai, and he says that since their lord is no longer there, they won't stay there anymore. However, he hoped that His Royal Highness Oda would give him the head of Daisuke Jibu so that he could bring him back to Sunfu. ”

At this moment, these important ministers sitting next to each other looked at each other in surprise. Oda Nobunaga is really like a god!

"Haha......" Oda Nobunaga smiled happily.

"Good! Good! Anyway, Imagawa Yoshimoto's first-level leaders have already seen it and understood it, so you should hurry to Sukakou and take down the head, and by the way, lead the ten monks to solemnly send the head back to Narumi Castle. Even in Oda Nobunaga's heart, he planned to build an empty mound for Imagawa Yoshimoto in Tarakuwa.

As he said this, he looked at everyone again.

"It's really a wonderful thing, one of the heads of Daisuke Imagawa Jibe was exchanged for a castle by my Oda Nobunaga. Hahaha! Good! Kizo Shigezhong, you hurry to the city to receive Narumi City. You are the number one hero in this war, and the three thousand pieces of land will be given to you as a reward, you have to show yourself well! Loyalty. ”

"Yes! Your Majesty will definitely live up to the expectations of your lord! ”

Kizo Shigetada and Hasegawa Hashisuke both took orders and left.

"Ahh The disposition of this war is finally over. It's quick and proper. Seeing this, although he was jealous of the reward received by Kizo Shigetada, Fujiyoshiro still sighed with a smile. This is obviously a slap on the back of Oda Nobunaga.

Oda Nobunaga smiled when he heard this, and then looked in the direction of the twenty or thirty heads.

"So...... Next!" He returned to Yan Sù's expression again, resuming his posture of actual inspection, staring at the heads one by one.

Because of the victory of Tarakuma Sasama, it will inevitably make the generals of the entire Warring States look at Oda Nobunaga with admiration. And his handling of the post-war situation now is as clean and neat as a quick knife cutting through the mess, which makes everyone in the family respect him from the bottom of their hearts.

It seems that no one doubts Oda Nobunaga's strength anymore. To say that he is a fool is a big mistake. His foresight, uniqueness, and overwhelming the crowd could not be learned in all the art of war, and at this time many retainers could not help but praise each other in low voices:

"It seems that the lord is really the reincarnation of the god of war."

"It's hard to guess what the lord is thinking. That's amazing! ”

"It's also said that when the lord stabbed the head of Jibu Daisuke with a big knife, I felt that the lord was a brutal. However, this is also to avoid the battle of Narumi Castle. ”

"Yes, the lord first let the people see it, and then cautiously asked the monk to send the head to Okabe Motonobu. In this way, Okabe Motonobu will have no intention of continuing the battle, and the lord will return to Sunfu with a lot of face. What a clever arrangement. ”

"That's right! And then again. Except for Imagawa Yoshimoto's body. The rest of the war dead were also buried in Kotokuin Temple in the main village of Tsukasama, and they were personally supported by His Highness! And when the lord heard that Matsudaira Motoyasu had returned to Okazaki Castle safely, he was so happy. It seems that this qiē is as the lord wishes...... No! It can be said that everything is going according to the wishes of the lord, and the lord is really an incredible character!"

In this climate, what is the next step to take? Whether or not to attack Mino makes a tense atmosphere permeate the top and bottom. At this moment, Oda Nobunaga suddenly said, "I decided to make a pilgrimage to Kumano. ”

When Oda Nobunaga said this, everyone looked at each other blankly. If it was before. Then the ministers will definitely give him other advice. They may say:

"The crusade against Imagawa Yoshimoto has just ended, and there are still enemies around at this time, and we have to take it in one go, this is the experience of the ancient generals, how can we carry out a worship behavior similar to that of touring the mountains and rivers at this time? If Oda's boss is proud of this, he will regret it in the future. ”

In the past, Hayashi Wataru would definitely say this, but this time he didn't say anything. This may prove that he is no longer qualified to speak.

"Good! I'm going to Kumano again to say goodbye, and it seems that His Highness wants to take some extraordinary measures. ”

"Of course, His Highness has always thought differently. The lord has the wisdom of Taira Kiyomori, maybe the lord wants the people of Kumano to become our people!"

"Maybe! One way or another. When the lord leaves, we must stick to our posts. ”

"By the way, how many soldiers does the lord have to bring with him?"

Oda Nobunaga ignored the discussion and continued:

"I'm going to get my boat ready in Atsuta, and I'm going to go from Atsuta to Kuwana and then there, so maybe I can go to Ise and the beach in Toba, which is also a good idea. What do you think? Do you already understand why I went to Kumano to worship? ”

This is simply nonsense, of course, no one among the crowd understood, and Oda Nobunaga did not expect them to understand his mind. At this time, they looked at each other in silence.

"Hahaha...... It seems that none of you understand. It doesn't matter anymore. What made everyone even more depressed was that Oda Nobunaga still didn't analyze them as before. Of course, this time, as usual, a retainer took the initiative to ask:

"Everyone knows about this!" Mori Sanzaemon replied. He really told Oda Nobunaga, and they really didn't know what Oda Nobunaga's purpose was, but he still asked Oda Nobunaga to tell them about his purpose.

And Oda Nobunaga also understood what everyone meant when he heard this, so he said:

"There are three shrines in Kumano in Kii Province, and they have been known as the three Kumano shrines since the past: Kumano Zai Shrine, Kumano Speedama Shrine, and Kumano Nachi Shrine...... I have to visit all these places. ”

"Oh! By the way, Sanzuo, aren't you very familiar with that place? When it comes to Kumano's worship, the shrine is the main shrine, the Speedama Shrine is the Shingu shrine, and the Nachi shrine is the Fusumi shrine. According to local legends, Fusumi Shrine has an eleven-faced thousand-armed Kannon, Shinkan has Yakushi Nyorai, and Hongu has Amitabha. ”

"Ah...... Yes!"

"Then why did I go there to worship, do you understand?"

"I don't know, if you don't tell us, we'll know?" Lin Zuodu asked very cautiously.

"Don't you understand? Master, don't you know about Kumano's miracle? If I go there to pay homage, maybe my wish will come true. ”

"Whoa......

"I have investigated ancient history, and Emperor Shirakawa was fortunate to visit this place ten times, Emperor Toba was twenty-one degrees, Emperor Go-Shirakawa was thirty-four degrees, and Emperor Go-Toba was twenty-eight degrees, plus our ancestor Heike also had a devout faith, and the beliefs of Kiyomori and Chongsheng were also based on this. Therefore, after Kiyomori took the world, he built Kumano Quan and now serves as a guardian. That's why I would like to make my first Kumano visit. ”

Everyone stayed aside for a moment. Until yesterday, Oda Nobunaga's eyes had no existence of gods and Buddhas at all. However, on the way out of the battle, he suddenly offered a prayer at Atsuta Shrine, and now he has taken a sharp turn to become a believer, which makes everyone feel a little worried.

"Nope! There can be no such thing. This must be His Highness joking. This kind of thing is not something that His Highness would have done in the past......"

"Haha...... It seems that you all have understood. Then during this period of my absence, you must guard your posts well. ”

"Your Highness!" At this time, Shibata Gonroku said a little worriedly: "You said lightly that you want to go, but on this dangerous Warring States Road, you have to bring more people to go." ”

"How many...... Oh! Right! Right! I haven't told you that yet. Just twenty people are enough. ”

"Huh? Your Highness!" When Quan Liu heard this, he immediately shouted out in a hurry. "So, you're going on a trip with these people?"

"Yes! Isn't there too many people?"

"It's not! You are the lord of Owari Ichikoku, this ......"

"Wait a minute, Gonroku, the lord of Owari Ichikoku is going to pay homage. You don't need to bring a large number of people, otherwise you will laugh and be generous, and you will just go to Kumano to pay homage. ”

"But ......"

"Nothing good but not! I, Nobunaga, can reach a thousand people, and there are more than 20 people, and I have too many of them, and I wouldn't have taken so many people with me if I hadn't gone with my luggage. ”

Oda Nobunaga suppressed Gonroku in a few words. In fact, no one understands why Oda Nobunaga was so confident in his own safety, and this is the reason why Oda Nobunaga was about to dominate the world in history when the Honnoji Incident occurred (there were really not many guards with him at the time, thus facilitating the rebellion of Akechi Mitsuhide).

"Good! Then everyone go to the gold vault, and I want to bring some gold luggage. No! Don't pack too much, just eight boxes right away. ”

"What? Eight boxes of gold?" This again caused great consternation. That's too much money, isn't it?

"Silver and money are not suitable for travel, we simply made it into Yongle money, which is easier to bring, and the other money is a box and a box of silver, so it's okay."

At this time, no one dared to speak again. Because they knew that no matter what they said, Oda Nobunaga would not accept it. With this large amount of gold, is it going to be donated to Kumano Gonken!? …… No! He's definitely not going to be that stupid! Everyone thought so again.

In short, what he was thinking, no one would understand.

In fact, this time, Oda Nobunaga went to Kyoto to meet the two separately in the name of visiting the shrine.

One of them is naturally the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru. Although Oda Nobunaga had already met Ashikaga Yoshiteru in Kamilo last year, this time the meeting was different, after all, the Oda family defeated the Imagawa family who tried to seize Ashikaga Yoshiteru's world in Kamilo this time, thus retaining Ashikaga Yoshiteru's ownership of the world in the general righteousness.

In fact, if Oda Nobunaga asked Ashikaga Yoshiteru for credit (nothing more than to get official positions and other political capital), there is nothing wrong at all, you know, the Imagawa family can be regarded as a famous family among the famous families, at that time in the Muromachi period, there has been such a saying, "The heir of the imperial palace (shogun) should never push Kishira, and the heir of Kira should definitely push Imagawa", if Imagawa Yoshimoto really succeeds in Kamiraku, with his family personality and his own power, he can become the new shogun, And Ashikaga Yoshiteru's fate is bound to be miserable (almost certain death). Therefore, Oda Nobunaga really saved Ashikaga Yoshiteru's life. Such a good opportunity to take political capital, Oda Nobunaga naturally just let it go.

Some of the coins he carried this time were naturally given to Ashikaga Yoshiki in exchange for a larger political capital, and the remaining part of the coins were dedicated to another person who needed to meet on his trip to Kyoto.

This person is even more important to Oda Nobunaga than Ashikaga Yoshiteru, that is, Mino Province pit viper Saito Michizo who "came back from the dead".

In fact, after Saito Michizo disappeared, Saito Yoshiryu tried his best to publicize that Saito Michizo had been killed in order to avoid causing unrest among the wealthy clans in his territory.

Seeing that there was no hope of returning to Mino Province for the time being, Michizo Saito stayed in Kyoto with the support of the Luo family, and at the same time sent someone to secretly contact Oda Nobunaga. When Oda Nobunaga confirmed that Saito Michizo was not dead, he was indeed taken aback, and then because Imagawa Yoshimoto's oppression of Owari Province became more and more severe, Oda Nobunaga naturally put aside the matter of Saito Michizo's "resurrection".

However, this time, just after he defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto and returned to Kiyoshu Castle, the envoy of Saito Michizo, who had remained outside Kiyoshu Castle, immediately appeared in front of him and handed over a secret letter from Saito Michizo to Oda Nobunaga.

This letter is naturally Saito Michizo congratulating Oda Nobunaga on defeating Imagawa Yoshimoto. Oda Nobunaga was not at all surprised that Saito Michizo, who was far away in the Kyoto area, could learn of his victory so quickly, because in his opinion, this letter must have been written by Saito Michizo in advance, and sent in advance to the envoy who Saito Michizo had left near Kiyoshu Castle, and once he won, the letter would naturally be delivered to him immediately, and once he was defeated, then the letter would naturally not appear.

Of course, in addition to congratulating Oda Nobunaga on his victory, this letter also had an important point, that is, to invite Oda Nobunaga to send someone to Kyoto, where Michizo Saito would be the host and jointly entertain the envoys of the Oda family and the Luo family to discuss the affairs of the Mino Kingdom.

"Hmph, it seems that this pit viper is still trying to return to the country of Minong." After reading the letter, Oda Nobunaga first sighed with a smile in his heart.

"In addition, the Luo family is also not to be underestimated, although the other party is far away in Kyushu, its power is even more powerful than the Imagawa family who has just been defeated by himself! It's just that I really can't imagine that the Kyushu eagle is still deepening its influence on the area around Kyoto, and even Minokoku is beginning to pay attention? ”

Oda Nobunaga also knows something about the influence of the Luo family in the Kyoto area, after all, with the help of Saito Michizo, the Oda family has already cooperated with the Luo family in the trade of Owari Province, but this time, it seems that it is officially involved in the cooperation on politics.

"As for military cooperation? Hehe, with the distance between the Luo family and Kyoto and even Mino, it is really impossible for the time being, but maybe in the future, this family will really become the sworn enemy of the family? However, this time, as an envoy of the Oda family, I will go to Kyoto to participate in the negotiations, and in addition to surprise my father-in-law Michizo and the Luo family, I will also see for myself their true purpose. (To be continued......)