A samurai who doesn't want to be a daimyo is not a good onmyoji

Chapter 150 Ambition
"Kaga, you"

Before Aguo finished speaking, the little miko Kaga nodded hurriedly: "Sister, I am willing to learn spells from Lord Asai!"

As if she was afraid that her sister would reject her, the little miko added: "Sister, as a member of Izumo Shrine, I also have an obligation to do my part, please leave it to me!"

Aguo sighed silently, and she turned to Asai Nagamasa and bowed: "Master Asai, Kaga is my only sister. If she is ignorant in the future, I hope you can take it for Aguo's sake. Take good care of it.”

In any case, this is a very rare opportunity for Kaga. The other party not only knows the art of yin and yang, but also seems to maintain an extremely close relationship with Huang Long. If Kaga can follow the other party, he will definitely be able to learn it. To many things.

And in this way, after deciding on the name of master and apprentice, there is no need to worry too much about the other party attacking Kaga.

Although he knew that Kaga's beauty was rare among Nippon, and was only slightly inferior to him, but since the two equally beautiful women were still virgins, Kaga should not be in any danger.

In other words, if the other party really does something to Kaga, it may not be a bad thing for her. At least from the current point of view, the other party is definitely not a heartless man.

Asai Nagamasa waved his hand: "Don't worry, Ah Guo, if I accept her as an apprentice, I will naturally teach her sincerely. There are two girls, Axiu and Ningning, next door. She will not be alone."

Although the contact time is still very short, Asai Nagamasa can roughly see that the little girl Kaga should have a personality similar to Ningning, and she is very lively, and the two of them should be able to play together.

Aguo waved his hand to cancel the brilliance of his spell, and then bowed deeply to Asai Nagamasa: "Izumo Shrine and the shrine maiden Aguo are willing to believe in the great hidden yellow dragon, and are willing to dedicate their strength to Asai Nagamasa."

The little miko Kaga beside her also hurriedly imitated her actions: "Miko Kaga, I am willing to believe in the great hidden yellow dragon, and I am willing to dedicate my strength to Lord Asai Nagamasa."

"Haha, you still call me Nagamasa Asai, it's time for you to call me Master."

The little witch was stunned for a moment: "Huh?"

But she soon came to her senses and trotted up to Asai Nagamasa in three or two steps: "Kaga pays homage to Master!"

"haha okay."

In this situation, Asai Nagamasa felt that he should give the other party a apprenticeship ceremony, but he himself was too poor now.
After thinking about it, he simply hugged Guanhu who was squatting on the table: "This is my shikigami Guanhu. I will leave it to you for the time being to protect your safety."

The little witch immediately took over Guan Hu with a look of surprise on her face: "Thank you, Master!"

Guan Hu was stunned, he didn't know what happened, could it be that he was treated as a gift?
After the agreement was officially made, and the little miko was apprenticed, the atmosphere became much more harmonious.

Aguo quickly said that she could summon manpower. There are currently about [-] adult men in Izumo Shrine. However, the shrine also needs to leave necessary manpower for defense work, and it is impossible to send out all of them.

And on the other hand, not only were the number of samurai insufficient, there was a certain difference between the samurai trained by shrines and the samurai who served many daimyo.

Because they have not experienced any real battlefields, at most they have just driven away some bandits.

Asai Nagamasa understood this, but he knew very well that not only the samurai were unqualified, but others were definitely not qualified soldiers.

Even Aguo, a shrine maiden, has to perform dances and pray for merchants in exchange for the reward of maintaining the shrine. It is conceivable that Izumo Shrine is in such a state of decline that it is doubtful whether they can have enough to eat.

"The number of people can be smaller, and the time can be delayed a little. I also need to prepare a suitable venue for them to train, as well as the corresponding weapons, armor and even food."

"But Ah Guo, I want you to promise me that they must be strong adults and remain absolutely submissive to my orders, otherwise I will say ugly words ahead. I don't mind using their blood and lives to establish my majesty."

Now he only has three people available, Shima Sakon, Axiu and Ningning. Although they are all rare warriors, it is still difficult to command hundreds of people at once.

After all, they were completely strangers before, and none of them, including himself, were well-known warriors in Nippon, so they were not much of a deterrent to them.

Aguo's face was a little ugly, but she still nodded vigorously, because she knew that if there was really blood and death, they would all be necessary sacrifices for the Izumo Shrine.

"Yes, Nagamasa-kun, I will try my best to select according to your requirements. If anyone really disobeys the order, he will be dealt with according to your wishes."

Asai Nagamasa nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, Aguo, I believe our next cooperation will be very smooth. From now on, you can call me Young Master."

After a little hesitation, Ah Guo bowed her head and chose to obey. Although her power came from the hidden Huanglong, it is obvious that Huanglong has a much closer relationship with the other party than with herself. Now that she has made such a decision, she doesn't care This is a verbal term.

"Yes, my lord."

After thinking about it, A Guo spoke again: "But Young Master, in fact, most of A Guo's entourage this time can be given to you, Young Master. Many of them are qualified warriors who have seen blood, probably. There were close to 200 people."

Having said this, Ah Guo bit his lower lip unconsciously, as if he had something to hide.

In fact, if she were just acting as a guard, she wouldn't need so many people at all. She wasn't that particular about ostentation. The reason why she brought hundreds of people this time was mainly because she wanted to try to conduct trade by land.

So she took out the small savings of the shrine and prepared to do something big, trying to open up a new way to make money.

It's a pity that although she claims to be smart and has done a lot of research beforehand, she doesn't understand business after all, the wind and the sun, even bumpy roads and breeding flies will have a lot of impact on their goods.

So when she finally took stock of the harvest, she was very surprised to find that so much manpower and material resources had been spent. Not to mention making money, they even paid for travel expenses.

Fortunately, their trip went smoothly and they didn't encounter bandits. Otherwise, even if they won the battle, the treatment fees and pensions for the injured and dead would make them even more embarrassed.

Therefore, they were originally invited by wealthy businessmen to pray for blessings. In order to make up for their losses, they even had to perform the dance themselves as a witch, Aguo.

But it was probably a blessing in disguise. Although I didn't receive much money from that dance, it left a good impression on Asai Nagamasa, and then the current cooperation was naturally concluded.

Although Asai Nagamasa did not expect so many things, the embarrassment of Izumo Shrine was obvious, so he casually comforted the other party: "Don't worry, Aguo, since you have decided to be loyal to me, I will not continue Let you be compelled by food and money.”

"If there are 200 people, it will be enough for the time being. I can train them first. When all your people arrive, I will use them as seeds, and I will be more relaxed."

A Guo nodded, she understood this completely.

"Is there anything else you would like to give me, young master?"

Asai Nagamasa pondered for a moment: "Well, if possible, Aguo, please send someone to collect information on nearby bandits and bandits. It is best if they are of a certain scale and occupy a certain mountain village."

A Guo immediately understood what he meant, but she couldn't help but feel a little worried: "Young Master, do you want to destroy them?"

Asai Nagamasa nodded: "Yes, without blood and killing, you can't be a real warrior. What's more, if there are hundreds of people, there is no way I can train them in Jie Town. Those bandits The cottage is very suitable.”

"But don't worry, I will definitely take the lead in the first battle. With my magic here, there won't be too many casualties."

Since Jie Town has not set up any defensive walls, they are extremely concerned about the threats that outsiders may pose. It is impossible for Asai Nagamasa to train troops here, although it is possible if they borrow the favor of the Nanman people, but That would be such a waste. He should use the favor in a more worthwhile way.

A Guo then nodded: "Okay, young master, A Guo knows, A Guo will do this as soon as possible."

Asai Nagamasa shook the folding fan, closed his eyes and began to meditate. Aguo, who had not received any instructions, did not dare to leave just like that. She could only sit quietly on another chair because she knew that the other party must still be there. Things to say.

As for the complex emotions in her heart, only she can understand them.

Although he has made such a decision and has seen the power possessed by the other party and Huanglong, will the future of Izumo Shrine be bright, or will it completely fall into the abyss?

On the other hand, the little miko Kaga next to her was beaming with excitement at the moment, because for her, not only was the survival problem of Izumo Shrine solved, but she could also gain the long-awaited and more powerful power. That was A spell from the legendary great onmyoji-Abe Seimei!
Less than a while later, Asai Nagamasa opened his eyes again: "Aguo, is there a boat at Izumo Shrine? A fishing boat, a merchant ship, or a warship?"

Aguo nodded: "Yes, the north of Izumo is close to the sea. We do have boats. Although the shrine has declined, we still have some strength accumulated over the years. Moreover, we have also imagined going to sea for business, so there are currently dozens of fishing boats. I catch fish every day to supplement my food supply, and I have six large ten-meter-long boats.”

"Is a ship that is ten meters long considered a big ship? The load capacity is only about ten tons at best. Excluding the weight of the crew and other necessary supplies, it cannot carry much cargo at all."

"Can such a ship go to sea?"

Asai Nagamasa was not satisfied with this. Not to mention the treasure ships of the Ming Dynasty that were nearly 20 meters long, even in the Spring and Autumn Period, large ships with a length of more than [-] meters could be built.

But the so-called big ship A Guo talks about is only ten meters long and only about three meters wide. It can transport about five or six hundred shi of grain at a time, right?That was just a few days of rations for a thousand soldiers.Aguo suddenly hesitated: "Young Master, after all, we are not a professional fleet, nor are we pirates, but Izumo is close to the sea, and there are many fishermen, sailors and shipwrights. If there are enough funds, Aguo believes that we can buy more big ships."

Asai Nagamasa nodded: "Indeed, a ten-meter ship is definitely not enough, and your people have no actual combat. Aguo, have you ever thought about how to deal with pirates if you really choose to go to sea for business?"

Aguo's heart suddenly moved, and he felt that he seemed to be vaguely aware of something. While he was waiting for the other party, everyone under his command said that the other party was invited by people from the Nanman Commercial Center. Is it possible?
She suppressed her inner excitement: "Young Master, we previously wanted to rely on the prestige of Izumo Shrine, but later we found that this was not feasible."

The powerful pirates don't care about their Izumo Shrine at all, and the weaker pirates don't care about offending the declining shrine for money. This so-called reputation has a very limited effect.

It was after the failure of doing business overseas that Aguo completely made up her mind and changed her previous strategy. Unfortunately, the trade after her change ended in failure again, which almost pushed her to the edge.

If she hadn't encountered the accident like the young master, maybe when she returned to Izumo Shrine, she, the chief shrine maiden who once enjoyed a lot of glory, would have been criticized by other priests, right?

Asai Nagamasa couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he heard this. Aguo has learned to be smart so quickly. Now he has no reason to scold her anymore, but she seems to have discovered something.
He nodded: "Indeed, Nippon pirates are rampant, and the Nanman people have big guns. They may not dare to touch them, but if you just rely on the prestige of Izumo Shrine, I don't think you can protect those expensive and extremely rare Nanman goods. "

A Guo suddenly became even more excited: "Young Master, what do you mean?"

"Yes, the Nanman people intend to hand over some of the Nanman goods to me, but I am having a headache on how to transport and sell them."

Asai Nagamasa just realized that he had overlooked something.

There are two roads from Jie Town to Xiaogu City.

The first one is to arrive in Kyoto first, and then directly cross Lake Biwa. The advantage is that it is relatively safe, but the problem is that the Asai family does not have any naval forces, and there are only a few fishing boats in Lake Biwa. It is impossible to transport bulk items, nor can Ensure your own safety.

After all, it’s not just the Asai family that lives next to Lake Biwa. Apart from the Miyoshi family and the shogun who occupy Yamashiro country, and the Takeda family who occupies Wakasa country, their archenemies, the Rokkaku family, are also on the other side. A large lake, the area of ​​Lake Biwa is quite vast.

The second route is longer and more dangerous because it passes through the Rokkaku family's territory.

Of course it doesn't matter if it's Asai Nagamasa himself, but the large-scale caravan is purely sending money to the Rokkaku family.

It would be too risky to just transport Nanman goods to Kitaomi for sale.

Therefore, Asai Nagamasa wanted to choose to open up a third road, that is, the sea route.

In that case, he would have many more choices, and there would be no need to transport it to Odani City to sell. If he went west, he could sell to Shikoku Island, and even to forces such as Mori and Ouchi.

However, this choice is not particularly good, because places such as Shikoku Island are not far from Jie Town, and wealthy merchants in Jie Town have also opened many shops. Selling here is not only low profit, but also highly competitive.

The best option is to go eastward and transport Nanman goods to Owari, Suruga, Sagami, Kai and other areas. The famous names in that area such as Oda Nobunaga, Takeda Shingen, Imagawa Yoshimoto, etc. are all powerful. The local tycoons have extremely strong purchasing power, and because they are far away from the border town, they have rarely been able to buy Nanman products before, so they definitely have no worries about sales.

But while the profits are extremely high, the risk is also the greatest, and that is pirates at sea.

Pirates may be more dangerous than bandits and bandits on land, because you don't even have a place to escape or hide on the sea.

Aguo suddenly became more and more surprised, but then she couldn't help but frown: "But young master, the threat of pirates is a problem we must solve. If it is really a Nanban cargo, we must not rely on the reputation of the Izumo Shrine and the Asai family. , because the navies supported by other famous names may take advantage of the money."

Now Ah Guo is treating himself more and more as his own. This is a good start. Nagamasa Asai is very satisfied. If it is not necessary, he really does not want to force others to do things for him. Not only will there be many hidden dangers, but also The efficiency will also be very low.

"So Ah Guo, I need you to dedicate some of your people to train as navy troops. In the early stage, you can train near Izumo. In the later stage, you can gradually go out to sea and hunt down some small pirates as training. When the time is right, maybe you can send people Head to Xiaodani City from the northern sea."

Nippon is a long and narrow island country, Kaizhen is a harbor located in the central region, Izumo is located in the northeast of this place by the sea, and Odani Castle is in the southeast of this place.

If you go from Izumo to Otani Castle by land, it is not convenient at all, but if you go by sea, you can easily reach Asai by sailing a distance from Izumo on the sea and then crossing the Wakasa Takeda or Asakura family territory. Home.

The Asakura family has been an ally of the Asai family for decades, and the Wakasa Takeda family is even weaker than the Asai family. The contemporary daimyo is an unknown and mediocre figure, which will not be a big obstacle.

A Guo was silent. Although the young master said it was very simple, behind the scenes it would actually be extremely cruel.

"Young Master, we are short of funds right now. We don't have any extra money to build or buy warships. Moreover, the people at Izumo Shrine are not real warriors, and many people may die."

Asai Nagamasa didn't care about this, not to mention that he had just obtained a large amount of funds from the tomb of the war ghost, nearly one hundred thousand guan, and as his earth spells continued to strengthen, he would casually discover several A gold or silver mine is enough to feed an army.

"You can leave the money issue to me. As for the casualties, if you want to do big things, how can you not kill people?"

"But don't worry, since you have taken refuge in me and it is my strength, I will not let too many casualties unless they are really weak."

"In my vision, they will have to fight to support war in the future, relying entirely on their own swords and guns to obtain the food they need."

Yes, he wanted to build a professional soldier completely divorced from production, just like the horseback soldiers under Oda Nobunaga.

Their average strength may not be as good as that of the Horsemen, all of whom are samurai, but their number is more than ten times greater. Once equipped with a large number of iron cannons, they can easily defeat Nobunaga's Horsemen. Public.

However, this will be a long process and cannot be achieved in three to five days. However, at the same time, once successful, he will have the first such large-scale professional army in Nepal.

Aguo didn't think it through at first, but soon she couldn't help being shocked by the other party's boldness.

You must know that in today's Nibon, many warriors, while practicing their martial arts, also often take time to work in the fields.

Even the wives and concubines of many minor daimyo had to lead the wives of samurai and women in the city to dig wild vegetables and cut branches to support their families.

When the time comes for war, they still need to make military rice balls, prepare raw materials for making arrows, and even clean the enemy's heads to facilitate statistics of military achievements, etc. There are almost no real idlers.

Under such circumstances, there are really only a handful of professional soldiers who are completely divorced from production.

In addition to Oda Nobunaga's Ma Huizhong, the professional soldiers with the largest number and the most widely circulated in Nippon are probably Usami who is loyal to Echigo Nagao's family, but it is said that its scale is only three. There were only 50 people, and most of them were infantry. In terms of money spent, they were far inferior to Oda Nobunaga's horseback troops.

In this process, casualties are naturally unavoidable, but in troubled times, if you want to gain more, you must be stronger than others. The weak are not qualified to enjoy it.

A Guo sighed and nodded again: "Yes, young master, I will select elite soldiers as soon as possible and wait for your orders at any time. I will also make arrangements for the navy, just waiting for your funds."

Apart from transporting Nanman goods, she has vaguely realized what these people will be used for. Perhaps, the young master is no longer satisfied with his current position.
"Very good, my first big goal is to defeat the Kumano navy loyal to the Ise Kitahata family, and open up a maritime trade route to the Owari Oda family, Suruga's Imagawa family, and even the Hojo family further away. .”

The Kumano Navy, also known as the Shima Pirates, is like the other sailors of Nibon. They are essentially pirates, but for the convenience of survival, they usually choose a daimyo to swear allegiance to, but basically they still maintain a considerable degree of loyalty. autonomy, and as usual, plundering at sea.

When they encounter forces that are hostile to their master, they will send additional troops to fight or carry out targeted robberies, and the daimyo will also take care of them, such as making it easier for the pirates to sell their stolen goods. This is essentially It's a win-win situation.

Aguo was suddenly shocked: "Young Master, although the brothers Kuuki Jotaka and Kuuki Yoshitaka of the Shima Pirate Group are very young, they are not easy to mess with."

"But they also have enemies. The Seven Islands who were defeated by the Kuki clan a few years ago have not been completely wiped out, and the Kitahata clan they are loyal to is not strong. Although the head of the family, Kitahata Gukyo, is a world-famous swordsman, but to say that When it comes to managing a territory.”

Asai Nagamasa shook his head slightly, his contempt for Kitahata was obvious.

In fact, this is indeed the case. Ise is known as the Small Warring States Period. The Kitahata family located south of the Rokkaku family currently controls the five counties of Minami Ise. They have been at war with the Nagano family in the Central Ise area for several years, and their national power is clearly more than three times that of that. But it was still a very difficult fight, and they couldn't even gain a clear advantage.

Although Kitahata Gokyo has the ambition to unify the Ise region, and he is also the officially appointed minister of the Ise Kingdom, according to his current progress, he will not be able to unify Ise in another 30 to [-] years.

But the Warring States Period was at a critical moment of turmoil. How could he be given 30 or [-] years?In the next two years, the world will undergo tremendous changes!

"Haha, Ah Guo, don't be afraid of the enemy's strength, just take them as your first challenge. If you can't conquer even the Shima Pirates, how can you conquer the world?"

This is the first time that he has revealed all his ambitions in front of A Guo. Well, at least this is the ambition that A Guo wants to see.

Aguo couldn't help but chuckle in agreement, and he couldn't help but think to himself: "Oh, man, it's always like this, thinking about the world all day long. But since the young master has the ambition to conquer the world, he will not treat me badly at Izumo Shrine, right?" ?”

(End of this chapter)