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

Chapter 163 Honganji’s Warning
After listening to Masuda Nagamori's report on the recent expenses and gains, Asai Nagamasa nodded slowly.

At present, it seems that we are still seriously unable to make ends meet.

They have thousands of ashigaru to feed, and the food alone costs close to ten koku every day. Moreover, weapons and armor are often lost in battles. The simple tamaru, which is made of a mixture of bamboo and leather, breaks at an unexpected speed. Unexpectedly, this all requires money to supplement.

Especially in recent days, Asai Nagamasa specially selected a 100-man iron artillery team and trained it, the cost has become even greater.

Because even if he can get goods relatively cheaply from the three major merchants, the friendly military guard of the blacksmith country who has recently joined him, and his blacksmith friend can also make ammunition, each ammunition still costs dozens of coins. Just maintaining daily training costs a lot of money.

In comparison, what they gained from killing the bandits was nothing worth mentioning.

Basically there was only food, followed by some scattered copper coins, and rarely large sums of gold, silver or valuables. On the contrary, the surrendered bandits also cost them a lot of food.

If Asai Nagamasa hadn't obtained an unimaginable huge sum of money from the valley near the rescue island, he really wouldn't have been able to sustain such a huge consumption.

But even so, he can't continue any longer. After all, he can't sit on his hands for long.

Perhaps, after another week or so of training to transform all the ashigaru into skilled soldiers, it's time to return to Otani Castle.

With the assistance of Sakon Shima and others, and the presence of thousands of ashigaru, even if he seizes the position of governor with the support of many retainers, he will definitely not be a mere decoration.

Although the collegiate system of important ministers sounds very democratic, how can it be so happy for the master to be arbitrarily determined by one person?
Especially when most of these so-called important ministers are ignorant or short-sighted people, at critical moments, the collegial system of important ministers is not only a waste of time, ineffective, but also achieves extremely limited results in the end. This is not Nagamasa Asai. Want to see.

It's just a pity that it has just been occupied by more than a dozen large and small hills, as well as the land under the mountains.

I dare not say that there are too many, but the total of these places can still be reclaimed by a thousand koku. Now I can only do it as a favor and give it to Tsuda Sotatsu and others who I know well, and I don’t know if they are willing. want.

After all, the places where the bandit groups originally occupied were far away from Jiezhen, and the land was often barren, otherwise it would not be their turn to occupy them.

It's a pity that in this era full of wars, if there are no strong men, only old and weak women and children, it is actually very difficult to survive.

After taking away more than 1000 ashigaru, even if all the remaining [-] or so old, weak, women and children were willing to stay here, they would probably be able to barely occupy the lowest mountain peak and the smallest piece of land nearby. , and you are always worried about whether the land will be occupied by others.

Although Shima Sakon and his ashigaru had wiped out more than a dozen gangs of bandits, large and small, and the area was completely deserted, once they chose to evacuate, it wouldn't take long for those places to be occupied by other bandits again.

In this turbulent era, too many wanderers and farmers chose to take risks because they couldn't survive.

Although he felt a little regretful, Asai Nagamasa immediately ordered: "Nagamori, buy a large amount of grain and supporting ox carts from Tennojiya, and prepare to leave here within ten days and go to Otani Castle. Take away what you can. Take it away, if it’s not convenient to take it away, just sell it directly.”

Although he had expected it, the thin middle-aged man with a mustache couldn't help but feel happy. Finally, has the young master decided to take that step?
He quickly saluted: "Yes, young master, I will go and prepare now. I believe that with the cooperation of the Tsuda clan and your lord, the matter will be completed smoothly."

Although his current identity is an internal service officer, it does not mean that he can really only manage the internal service. Almost at the first sight of the young master, he knew that the young master has great ambitions, and he will never be willing to continue Be a young master.

Asai Nagamasa nodded: "Okay, I will also call Shima Sakon and others over for a meeting later. I will also inform them that we will let the Ashigaru rest for the next few days."

Masuda Nagamori responded again, and then he was about to go back and start preparations. There were many things on the top of more than a dozen mountains. For the young master's big plan, of course he had to calculate all the valuable things so that he could make plans for the future. This was not It's a simple and easy task.

But before he could step out of the door, two people happened to come hand in hand, it was Shima Sakon and military advisor Numata Yumitsu.

One look at their expressions, Asai Nagamasa knew that something happened again.

"Sakon, Yumitsu, what happened?"

After more than ten battles, Shima Sakon, who has quickly transformed into a qualified commander, immediately raised his hand and said: "Young Master, the Honganji family has officially issued a warning to us and given us two choices."

“First, formally surrender to their Honganji family;
Second, leave Settsu Country within five days. "

Asai Nagamasa narrowed his eyes immediately. In fact, he had expected this problem a long time ago, because if such a force suddenly appeared in Kita Omi in Asai's house instead, he would not be safe.And this is not the first time that Asai Nagamasa and the others have received such a signal. The Miyoshi family had previously sent this kind of information through Tsuda Sotatsu of Tennojiya. This is because they knew that Asai Nagamasa was related to Tennojiya. That's why I was a little more polite. After all, the venue where they fought outside the town was originally Tennojiya's.

However, under the instruction of Asai Nagamasa, Tsuda Sotatsu tried to fool him. Based on the good relationship between Tennojiya and the Miyoshi family, and considering that they only had about [-] people at that time, the Miyoshi family also had They were tolerated for the time being.

But seeing their scale rapidly expanding and occupying more and more hills, the Honganji family, the real overlord in Settsu, finally couldn't sit still.

After all, according to what Yuri Kizo said before, their Ishiyama Gobo only has about two thousand standing monks in total, and they are scattered in various places. But now Asai Nagamasa and the others have thousands of ashigaru, which is already enough for them. There is quite a threat.

The first proposal was completely impossible. As for the second proposal, it was not unacceptable. After all, he had planned to leave soon, but he was still in a hurry.

He originally planned to spend another seven days polishing the army, and then three days to clean up the head and tail.

He turned to look at his military advisor Numata Yumitsu. Compared to Shima Sakon, who looked a little serious, he still looked calm. He didn't know if his personality had always been like this or if he had some new ideas.

"Youguang, in your opinion, is there any way to delay it for a few days?"

When Numata Yumitsu heard this, he instantly broke through his guard. He smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Young Master, I'm afraid my subordinates can't do anything about this. As the overlord of Settsu Country, the Ichisou Honganji family has always been used to being overbearing. They often don't even pay the Miyoshi family's account. We want to buy it, and they were not polite at all when they first came to notify us, and they didn’t seem to give us any more choices.”

"Even if you intercede through Tianwangji House or Master Qian Zongyi, Young Master, it may not be effective. After all, the merchants in Jie Town still rely on Honganji Family in many aspects."

"Young Master, if you can invite the Southern Barbarians, it is possible. However, from the point of view of my subordinates, the gains outweigh the losses. The Southern Barbarians' favor can be used in more important places."

"But judging from the following, the Honganji family is worried that we are too strong and will pose a threat to them. If we only retain the most basic personnel in a certain village, the Honganji family should still be able to agree."

Numata Yumitsu said a lot eloquently, but in general it was almost impossible. It was not that he was poor in skills, but that the overall strength gap between the two sides was too great, and the threat to the other side from these thousands of troops was too great. , there is almost no room for maneuver.

It is very difficult to negotiate with the powerful and domineering Honganji family. Even the Miyoshi family, the overlord of Kinki, is not very face-saving.

Asai Nagamasa couldn't help but snorted. Although he had expected it beforehand, he still felt very dissatisfied when it actually happened.

But after thinking about it, the Honganji family only issued a notice of expulsion, and did not directly suppress the army. Could it be possible to explain in a disguised form that what they did in Long Island City did not attract the attention of the Honganji family, or they didn't know it at all?
But you can't be completely careless, if the other party happens to want to numb yourself in this way.
Damn it, just let the Honganji family be arrogant for a while. In the coming turbulent era, any daimyo who aspires to dominate the world will not let the Honganji family continue to expand, especially the "Owari fool" Oda who hates Buddhism. Nobunaga, there is no need to block the gun for him.

Thinking of this, Asai Nagamasa immediately made a decision: "Yumitsu, you first find a way to cooperate with Tennojiya and try to delay it, or at least retain a stronghold to plant a nail here, but the specific result does not matter. "

"The important thing is that you need to cooperate with Chang Sheng to pack everything up as soon as possible within three days. We have to return to Xiaogu City."

Shima Sakon and Numata Yumitsu were surprised at the same time, and then they were happy, because they were smart enough to understand the meaning behind this matter.

However, Numata Yumitsu is still a little confused. The young master seems to be wary and hostile to the Honganji family?Otherwise, why bother to sow doubts?Promised five days, but actually had to sort it out within three days?

But since the young master didn't say it, he certainly wouldn't be stupid enough to ask questions. The young master would tell him what he could know, and what he couldn't let him know. Even if he took the initiative to dig out the truth, he would only do it for himself. Bring disaster.

But in any case, the young master can be prepared for any danger, which is better than most of the famous names in Nibon. Having such a smart and alert young master is a great thing for himself as a minister, and even for the Asai family. It's a good thing, I really should thank Lord Hosokawa Fujitaka more, otherwise I will definitely miss a hero like my young master.

All kinds of thoughts flashed through Numata Yumitsu's heart like lightning. Shima Sakon next to him had almost the same thoughts, but before they had time to respond, Asai Nagamasa spoke again.

"In addition, I am about to go to Kyoto, and I will leave the matters here to you first. Find a way to quietly reveal this news, Yuguang, I will leave this matter to you."

If the Ichizou Honganji family really harbors evil intentions, then give them a chance. In any case, after you leave the border town and break away from your army, if they really want to take action, they will definitely Take advantage of this opportunity!
Numata Yumitsu was a little puzzled immediately. He couldn't figure out what the young master was doing. He could only sigh again that the young master was indeed very resourceful. Even if he claimed to be a strategist, he couldn't guess what the young master was doing. My thoughts, it seems like I should study more in the future.

"Yes, young master!"

(End of this chapter)