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

Chapter 162 New Subordinates

In the next ten days, except for personally leading the troops to annihilate two bandits at the beginning, Asai Nagamasa stayed in the border town. He safely handed over all military affairs to Shima Sakon. deal with.

Although they had not been together for less than a month, this young samurai had already shown extraordinary qualities. Not only did he subdue many samurai including Ieka Paige and Yuuri Kizo with his powerful force, but even Aguo later had The more than 400 people summoned were also trained in an orderly manner.

Under his order, the newly joined civilians transformed rapidly, and after issuing weapons and pills, they began to destroy the nearby bandit dens that had been thoroughly scouted by Ning Ning under the leadership of Shima Sakon.

Because during the first attack on Iwai Village, Asai Nagamasa was disappointed with the quality and ability of Aguo's men responsible for pre-war reconnaissance, and they were not even able to figure out that Iwai Village had been occupied by the demonized Flame Tiger. This directly led to the twists and turns in their first game.

Although Aguo later apologized to Asai Nagamasa privately, it was of no use anymore, so Asai Nagamasa decided to work hard for the little kunoichi first and let her help with the reconnaissance.

As expected, the effect was countless times better. Ningning's ability was far better than that of ordinary ninjas. She could easily find out the reality of the target clearly, which was very convenient for Shima Sakon to plan the next attack.

After truly seeing blood and death, they also grew into truly qualified Ashigaru.

In the process of continuous conquests, although many Ashugaru shed blood on the battlefield, a large number of outstanding Ashigaru who killed three enemies in total and met the qualifications set by Asai Nagamasa also stood out from them.

In just over half a month, nearly 150 ashigaru received the five-stone salary awarded by Asai Nagamasa. After continuous fighting, the samurai headed by Kaigo Kaika and Kizo Yuuri also grew rapidly. .

Although most of them have systematically studied martial arts before and fought more than once, so they are qualified warriors, but they have never killed so frequently. The experience they gained through killing is far better than before. Attack at the target.

However, despite the danger, the rewards are also extremely amazing. Ieka, who has the most beheadings and the most meritorious service, has been officially awarded 150 koku by Asai Nagamasa. The former monk from Ishiyama Gobo, Yuri Kizo, followed closely behind and received A salary of 120 stone.

Of course, now that they each have hundreds of ashigaru under their command, they can no longer obtain merit simply by the number of bandits they defeat with their own hands.

At the same time, the number of bandits surrendered by them was also increasing. Therefore, after successive battles, the number of this army not only did not decrease, but reached an astonishing number of 1000 or [-] people, occupying nearby areas. There are more than a dozen large and small mountains, as well as large areas of cultivated land under the mountains.

In addition, there were more than 100 women and children, most of whom were civilian women kidnapped by the bandits.

After being rescued, Asai Nagamasa gave them the free choice to stay and cook and wash clothes for the Ashigaru people, or to return to their hometown.

But almost without exception, they all chose to stay. It was not that they did not believe in Asai Nagamasa's promise, but even if he released them to freedom, even if they could return home safely, their life might not be better than in the mountains.

Asai Nagamasa simply let it go. Anyway, he did need their help with something, and he was not short of their food rations.

There were so many things involved in fighting, training, farming, and the basic necessities of life for more than 1000 people that it even gave the islanders a headache.

Even with the help of Aguo and Kaga, the shrine sisters, and Tsuda Muneki, who came from a business family, they could not change the situation. Although they were all very smart, the most important thing was that they did not have enough relevant experience.

This also made Asai Nagamasa truly realize that pure fighting and ruling a place are completely different things. Even if his strength is getting higher and higher and he can easily kill hundreds of people, facing this situation, Some are at a loss, and the establishment of a power requires facing too many problems.

Fortunately, at this critical moment, two more outstanding warriors arrived.

The first person was still recommended by Qian Zongyi, a wealthy businessman from Jie Zhen. His name was Masuda Nagamori. He was a warrior with both civil and military skills. He was especially good at arithmetic, farming and inspecting land. He originally wanted to go to Shishan Royal Palace. He wanted to seek refuge with the Ichizune Honganji family, but he was summoned by a letter from Qian Zongyi on the way.

After briefly testing the other person's talent, Asai Nagamasa immediately awarded him a salary of one hundred stone, and will continue to promote him until he has other merits in the future, because he happens to be the internal affairs talent that he currently lacks.

It is no exaggeration to say that A Guo and several other people's ability to handle internal affairs and logistics are not as good as his own. He is born to do this.

This also made Kizo Yuri slightly relieved. Although he was still a little hesitant at first, after more than ten days of fighting, he finally understood his inner feelings. He actually preferred to work on the battlefield rather than farming. Kill enemies to gain merit.

The second person was a samurai recommended by Hosokawa Fujitaka from Kyoto. According to Hosokawa Fujitaka, the other person was a samurai named Numata Yumitsu who was traveling around the world for spiritual practice.

Originally, Hosokawa Fujitaka wanted to return to Kyoto with Asai Nagamasa, but later, not knowing what happened in Kyoto, he left with his brother in advance and only introduced Numata Yumitsu through letters.

Numata Yumitsu seemed a little reluctant at first, but when Asai Nagamasa showed off his extraordinary power and the professional soldiers trained by Shima Sakon, this gentle man was immediately shocked and directly I chose to reveal the truth.

It turns out that Hosokawa Fujitaka selectively skipped some things. In fact, Numata Yumitsu tried to recruit Hosokawa Fujitaka before because he saw the other party's ability.

Although Fujitaka Hosokawa is willing to serve the declining general, and seems to be a very mediocre person willing to be ordinary on the surface, Yumitsu Numata stubbornly believes that the other party must be brewing something, like a dragon lurking in the abyss. , now that you have taken refuge with the other party, there will definitely be opportunities to stretch your ambitions in the future.

It's just that the general is too poor. As his retainer, Hosokawa Fujitaka himself is too busy to take care of himself and has no spare time to recruit more retainers. Therefore, even though Hosokawa Fujitaka is very interested in Numata Yumitsu's talent, he was eventually euphemized. 's refused.

Although he was very disappointed in his heart, Numata Yumitsu could only sigh and say goodbye, planning to rest in Kyoto for a few days before heading to the East. He wanted to see the No. [-] archer of Tokaido, Imagawa Yoshimoto, and the one dragon and one tiger, and even It’s other daimyo from further east.

So when Hosokawa Fujitaka wanted to recommend him to Asai Nagamasa, he actually refused in his heart, because he was not completely unfamiliar with the Asai family in Kitaomi. The cowardice and incompetence of Asai Hisamasa was also reflected in the entire Nippon. Very rare.

He originally planned to come just for a formality so as not to hurt Hosokawa Fujitaka's face, but after seeing many elite samurai and ashigaru, and seeing the energy shining in Asai Nagamasa's hands, he immediately admired him. Decide to become an official sincerely.

If Hosokawa Fujitaka may be the dragon lurking in the abyss, then Asai-sama is the dragon who really wants to soar into the sky!

He sighed like this in front of Asai Nagamasa, and at the same time he really thought so.

Let's not talk about the legendary magic mastered by Lord Asai, but let's talk about the opponent's attempt to build a large-scale professional army. This is a courage that other daimyo in Nippon do not have at all.

After discussing in detail with the other party for half an hour, Asai Nagamasa immediately decided to worship the other party as a military adviser, temporarily granting him a salary of 150 shi, which was the same as worshiping Xiang Jiajia, and his status was almost only inferior to himself and the island.

Although the opponent's intelligence may not be the best in the world, and from an overall perspective, it is not as good as Takenaka Hanbei, who is knowledgeable about the past and present, his knowledge and vision can be said to be very good.

Not only could he see that Owari daimyo Oda Nobunaga, who had done all kinds of unconventional things, was not a big fool, he could even see that Matsudaira Motoyasu, the little daimyo of Mikawa east of Owari, was different.

Of course, there is no need to say more about Oda Nobunaga, the later "Demon King of the Sixth Heaven", and Matsudaira Motoyasu is not an ordinary person.

This little daimyo who has been a hostage in the Imagawa family for many years, and who was able to return to Mikawa to succeed him just after taking Yuan Dynasty after marrying Imagawa Yoshimoto's adopted daughter, may seem very weak now, but in the history of the parallel world, he is exactly He really had the last laugh and successfully founded the Tokugawa Shogunate.

These two points alone are enough for Asai Nagamasa to value the other party's vision.Judging from the current situation, he can be regarded as at least a second-rate strategist in the entire Nibon. I am afraid that no one in the Asai family can win. Even the current Tokichiro brothers are far inferior to each other, and for those who currently have only a few For the hundred people themselves, the other party is completely overqualified.

Of course Ieka would not be convinced at first, because he won the victory after many bloody battles. Although Yuuri Kizo did not say it directly, it was clear from his appearance that he had strong opinions. After all, the name Yumitsu Numata, they Never heard of it before.

Moreover, the so-called adults in Kyoto are all notoriously cowardly and incompetent. How powerful can those who are recommended by the other party have?
But soon Numata Yumitsu showed them his talents with his actual actions.

Lure the enemy, ambush, scare the snake, and divert the tiger away from the mountain.
Although he only dealt with a few bandit groups, he used different strategies several times in a row, allowing them to successfully defeat a large number of bandit groups with minimal casualties. This made everyone convinced of him.

Although Numata Yumitsu has not shown his martial arts to anyone yet, his brain is more powerful than ordinary swords. He is a wise and strategic strategist!

In this way, the military commanders were Kaisato Iyoshi and Kizuki Yuuri, the military commanders were Masuda Nagamori and Numata Yumitsu, and Shima Sakon, who was both civil and military, was in charge. Although Asai Nagamasa's return to Otani Castle was greatly delayed, these thousand people The army can finally operate smoothly.

Asai Nagamasa also learned a lot in this process. The eating, drinking, and eating of a few people is really completely different from that of dozens or hundreds of people.

With their mutual cooperation, Asai Nagamasa can practice his own martial arts and Yin-Yang techniques with peace of mind, and he will not feel at ease for a day if he does not catch the black-handed layman Guoxin who is hiding in the dark.

In order to ensure that he will not be defeated by the opponent when he meets Guoxin, he must seize every opportunity to improve his strength. After all, the opponent can even seduce lower-level gods like Hashihime and guardian spirits like Flame Tiger. Falling into a demon was something that even Abe Seimei had never seen before. It would not be too much to overestimate the other party.

At the same time, Axiu was not idle either. She and the little witch Kagami had been learning Onmyoji from Asai Nagamasa. Then, as if a door suddenly opened, her learning speed was rapid, almost every day. Much stronger than before.

At first, the little miko Kaga deliberately wanted to compete, but soon she went from being surprised, surprised, and shocked to numb. She was really hit too hard.

So in the end, the little witch simply chose to give up and compete with Axiu, which was purely making herself uncomfortable.

However, after practicing more than ten kinds of spells, Asai Nagamasa felt that he had almost reached a bottleneck. Simply absorbing spiritual energy from the world was naturally not as fast as conquering demons.

So he turned his attention to other directions, that is, making various spells and even magic weapons.

Thanks to the good relationship with the Agote Chamber of Commerce, Qian Zongyi and Tsuda Sotatsu, while he spent money like water, a large amount of rare materials also rolled in.

Especially after the Agote Chamber of Commerce learned that he had defeated a black tiger-shaped monster, their seriously ill vice president even came to thank Asai Nagamasa in person and claimed that he owed him a favor.

With their full support, Asai Nagamasa quickly successfully produced two magical artifacts.

The first one is called Qingling Jade Pendant. Its effect is very simple and crude, that is, it increases the upper limit of mana. The total amount is very considerable, which is almost equivalent to the total mana of an ordinary Onmyoji for about five years. With such a magic weapon, Asai Chang Zheng can use a lot more spells.

The second magical instrument is the Inari rattle, which Asai Nagamasa values ​​more and consumes more materials.

Its name comes from the legendary Inari God Mitsujin, which symbolizes a good harvest. The effect of this magical weapon is to treat wounds. It stores three healing spells. Once used successfully, serious injuries will become moderate injuries, moderate injuries will become minor injuries, and minor injuries will be converted into minor injuries. A direct recovery is almost equivalent to an extra life.

And it is not a one-time consumable magic weapon. After all three spells are used, as long as the mana is re-injected, it can still be used next time.

The only problem and the biggest problem is that it requires a lot of mana. Asai Nagamasa's current strong mana can only be filled more than twice. Others, whether it is A Guo or A Xiu, do not have this ability for the time being. Not to mention the little miko Kaga.

But it's not completely unacceptable. After all, this is a life-saving spell.

Asai Nagamasa tied both the Qingling Jade Pendant and the Inari Rattle to the fan, so that he could use them in time when encountering any problems.

The last is a talisman bag. As the name suggests, it is a bag for holding talismans. Its principle is the same as the spirit box, and it is a space-type magic weapon.

Talismans are time-sensitive. If left alone for a long time, the spiritual energy in them will gradually dissipate until they are completely ineffective. Moreover, if multiple types of talismans are mixed together, mistakes may be made while busy, which will lead to the failure of the battle.

But if there is a special charm bag, it is completely different.

Talisman bags can not only be used to store different types of talismans, making it easier to find the corresponding talisman in an emergency, but also have a special spirit-gathering array that can warm the talisman in it, avoid the loss of spiritual energy, and greatly extend the life of the talisman.

After making these three magic weapons, Asai Nagamasa finally felt a little more confident. He began to try to work with Ning Ning and Axiu to actively search for monsters in Jie Town or even near Kyoto.

On the one hand, it is to improve one's own strength as quickly as possible, and on the other hand, it is also to find another existence that is suspected to have been corrupted by a guardian spirit and turned into a demon.

Because after seeing the green bamboo tube held in Guanhu's arms, the flame tiger attached to Asai Nagamasa immediately screamed out in surprise, because it knew the bamboo tube. About a month ago, it once belonged to A bamboo demon named Millennium Bamboo.

It once fought with the Millennium Bamboo, but when it was about to decide the winner, a strange-looking, black and white bear demon with the same black evil spirit came uninvited and started fighting with it, and soon Defeat it.

This forced it to run away, so that it had no idea where the Thousand Years Bamboo and the weird bear demon ended up.

Asai Nagamasa remembered it in his mind at that time. The black and white bear monster, and he liked the monster transformed from bamboo so much. How did this look like the national treasure panda in his impression?

Although he has no idea why pandas, which are extremely rare in the Cathay Empire, would appear in Nibon, but even Nibon, which does not have tigers, can have guardian spirits like the Flame Tiger, so it seems that it is not unreasonable for pandas to appear here. Maybe, after all, according to what Yan Hu said, the panda seemed to be a guardian spirit that had fallen into a demon, rather than an ordinary animal.

Unfortunately, I don't know if they were hiding too well or if they have already left this place. In short, they have not been able to obtain any relevant information so far.

However, their inquiries were not fruitless. At least Asai Nagamasa knew that he now had an extra nickname, the Dragon of Omi. This was entirely because his performance in Qingzhou City not only did not shrink in any way, but was greatly improved. It was exaggerated and spread quickly from Owari to the Kinki area.

Asai Nagamasa was not stupid. He immediately realized that Oda Nobunaga must be behind this, and the other party must have used a considerable number of ninjas. Otherwise, based on the current communication situation of Nippon, his deeds would definitely There was no way it could have reached Jie Town so quickly and so accurately.

Oda Nobunaga's purpose is also very obvious. He is not simply promoting his reputation, he is promoting his threat, especially to make the Rokkaku family next to the Asai family and the Saito family take him seriously.

It goes without saying that the Rokkaku family has always been the enemy of the Asai family. The new governor of the Saito family is very ambitious and wants to do something big to prove himself. If he can target Asai As for the family, it would be much safer for the Oda family.

If Hisama Asai becomes hostile to him because of this, then I'm afraid he will be even happier, right?
However, the Dragon of Omi, as expected, did Oda Nobunaga still see through his guardian spirit?

(End of this chapter)