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

Chapter 225 Imagawa Yoshimoto’s decision

Looking at the information in his hand, Asai Nagamasa also frowned slightly: "Nagayasu, apart from some little demons, can you be sure that the leader is Kamitachi?"

Itachi is a kind of weasel monster with sharp claws in Nippon legend. It can control strong winds and moves extremely quickly and powerfully. It is not a particularly powerful monster, but it is relatively difficult to deal with.

Because it is not too courageous, once it finds that it cannot be defeated, it will most likely choose to run away on the spot. After the powerful enemy leaves, it will turn back and continue to do evil, which is a bit troublesome.

The best way to completely eliminate this kind of monster is to kill it with one blow and not give it a chance to escape.

Maeno Nagayasu immediately nodded: "Yes, Your Highness, the brothers looked at it very carefully, but it is many times larger. It is probably five or six meters long from head to tail."

"And behind its four large sickle-sharp claws, there is a huge bone blade more than one meter long. It looks very vicious. In the forest where it lives, almost all the tree trunks have its claw marks."

After Hachisuka Koroku got married on the small island on Lake Biwa, she took some Kappa and Chuanami to Izumo to join Akuni, where she was going to formally establish a navy belonging to the Asai family.

After Maeno Nagayasu carefully considered for a period of time, he did not accompany him, but temporarily stayed in Lushan Castle to obey orders.

Of course, this is not because there is any conflict between him and Hajisuka Koroku, but because there are still many rivers and people near the Nagara River not far from here who have not left. Not everyone can make up their mind to leave their hometown. , go to Omi or the Izumo area further away to develop, even if the conditions there are destined to be better.

The reason why Maeno Nagayasu stayed was actually to find a way for the remaining brothers to survive.

Of course Asai Nagamasa did not refuse, and he also allowed the other party to continue to recruit new members. Since the Asai family has decided to enter Mino, it is best for Kiso Mikawa to control them.

Things went smoothly at first, because those robbers and water bandits lived fairly well in normal times, but when the Saito family, the Oda family, and especially the Asai family started to raise armies, their lives became very difficult. .

In addition to farming, they usually make a living by robbing passing pedestrians and merchants. However, when the war is approaching, they have lost most of their sources of income, and they must always be careful of encirclement and suppression by the army.

In addition, monsters appear more and more often. Fish and shrimps in the river, wild deer in the mountains, and even rabbits in the wild may suddenly rise up one day, turn into monsters, and attack them. Attack, this is too dangerous.

So when Yasuno Nagayasu was recruiting them on behalf of the Asai family, many water thieves and gangsters chose to succumb. Even though Hachisuka Koroku left with a considerable number of members forever, in just a few days, The number of Sichuan and the public has not decreased but increased.

But this time they encountered an accident. A group of water bandits who had planned to be loyal to the Asai family were actually killed by a Kamama Itachi and some little demons who suddenly appeared.

Asai Nagamasa frowned again. This sickle appeared at the wrong time.

Because Kato Danzo and Ning Ning had just detected crucial information, Yilong recently sent most of the Nezumi ninjas to Hida Country. They don't know what to do. They have not returned yet. At this time, Inabayama Castle It can be said that the defense is at its weakest.

At the same time, civilians, ashigaru and even samurai began to disappear for no reason in Inabayama Castle. The clouds on Inabayama Castle turned blood-colored, and all signs indicated that Yilong seemed to be preparing to perform an extremely powerful spell in the castle.

After questioning the ghost girl Momiji again, Asai Nagamasa also received a positive answer. Yilong was using an evil spell passed to him by a Guoxin layman, trying to exchange the blood and lives of innocent people for power, which would allow him to Create a large number of monsters in a very short period of time.

Yilong has done several small-scale experiments before. During the Battle of Nagaragawa, all the ghosts and ape ghosts in his army also came from this way, but he did it very secretly at that time. Those villagers who were massacred , were eventually determined to have been killed by bandits and the like.

But the ghost girl Hongye also revealed that what Yilong didn't know was that once the scale of his spell exceeded a certain limit, the secret arrangement arranged by Guoxin layman would occur.

At that time, Yilong will completely degenerate into a demon. In addition to being more powerful, he will be no different from the demons and ghosts controlled by him. He will only have the instinct of killing and fighting, and will no longer have the wisdom that belongs to humans.

So after getting this important information, Asai Nagamasa immediately decided that he would sneak into Inabayama Castle with Axiu, Wuming and others, first kill Yilong, the chief culprit, and dispel his spell, and then Think about conquering Meinong.

Axiu didn't have any objections to this. Although Yilong was her twin brother from the same father and mother, there was no relationship between them. She only knew the reason why there were so many monsters in Meinong. Innocent people, all because of Yilong.

In order to completely solve this scourge, she also wanted Yilong to die.

Asai Nagamasa also held the same attitude. At the same time, he also knew that as long as Yilong died, things would become much smoother in the subsequent conquest of Mino.

Because apart from Inaba Kazutetsu who has promised to remain neutral in the next war and return to his family afterwards, Takenaka Hanbei has also sent letters several times, which has clearly stated that his Takenaka family and his father-in-law Ando Moriya the meaning of.

Instead of being loyal to Yoshiryu, who has become a monster, they are more willing to be loyal to Saito Roshi, the last son of Dosan.

Of course, both parties know that this is only nominal allegiance. In fact, Saito Toshioharu has joined the Asai family. Ando Mamoru's statement means that he is willing to join the Asai family. Now it is just to leave some for him on the surface. Just to save face.

In this way, as long as Saito Yoshiryu is killed, the main remaining resistance force in Mino will probably be Ujia Fuzen, the last member of Mino's three people.

Compared to the "stubborn" Inaba Ittetsu and Ando Moriuki, who is most highly regarded by Dao San, Ujie's fortune-telling ability is undoubtedly much mediocre, and he has no well-known achievements.

However, Bu Quan of the family has always been friendly with Yilong, and in the last battle of Nagara River, he personally sent troops to help Yoshilong defeat Dosan, so even if he now knows that Yoshilong can drive monsters, he probably will not surrender easily. The last enemy to deal with.

But now things have changed a little unexpectedly.

The sudden appearance of a sickle weasel is a trouble, but not a threat. However, according to Maeno Nagayasu's report, it actually brought many different kinds of little monsters with it. This is a bit unusual. It is very True wisdom may have arisen.

Or maybe there is actually another mastermind behind it, specifically to distract himself?

After careful consideration, Asai Nagamasa made a decision resolutely.

"Chang Kang, ask your brothers to shrink their defenses, and those water bandits who are well connected should also stay away for the time being. When I take the time to defeat Kamaitachi, let them all come to Lushan City to meet me."

No matter what, Kamamaitachi is only a minor problem after all, and the first priority now is to completely defeat Yilong!

"Yes, Your Highness!"

At the same time, in Sunfu Castle, a majestic man in his forties, wearing straight clothes, a black hat, black teeth, eyebrows drawn, and makeup, was quietly listening to the reports of the retainers below.

Although he looks very much like those weak and incompetent nobles in Kyoto who don't even have enough to eat, in fact he is qualified to compete for the position of Nippon's most powerful name, Imagawa, who is known as the "No. [-] bowman in Tokaido" Yoshimoto.

The reason why he likes to do this, and even influenced many samurai of the Imagawa family, is entirely because he personally loves the aristocratic and ministerial culture of Kyoto, and regards it as his mission to spread this culture to the Kanto region, so most of the time he All dressed up like this.

General Okabe Gennobu was the first to speak: "My lord, after the death of the Yamaguchi Master, we have successfully taken over Narumi Castle. Although the people in the city have some slight protests and dissatisfaction, many warriors have surrendered."

His brother Okabe Masatsuna next to him also nodded quickly, indicating that his brother was right.

Imagawa Yoshimoto smiled: "Very good, as long as the samurai have no objections, if those lowly peasants dare to protest, just select some of them and kill the chickens to scare the monkeys, lest they gather in large numbers and cause a scandal."

He actually doesn't have a good impression of the farmers in Narumi City, nor does he feel any pity for them.

Because Narumi Castle was originally the territory of the Oda family. It was only after Oda Nobunaga succeeded as the governor of the Oda family that Yamaguchi taught the city to betray him. It has only been a few years now, and it has not cultivated much loyalty to the Imagawa family. .

Moreover, in the Imagawa family's strategy, Narumi Castle can be abandoned at any time. Naturally, they will not pay much attention to it. If any farmers dare to resist, then they will all be killed.

"My lord, Ii Naomori wrote again, saying that his defeat at the hands of Oda Nobunaga was a disgrace to our family's prestige, so he is willing to cut two thousand stones off himself. I only ask for your lord's forgiveness for his mistakes."

Imagawa Yoshimoto nodded slightly, with a smile on his lips: "It seems that after going through a battle between life and death, the stubborn people in the Ii family have also learned to be smarter."

"But indeed, he should feel ashamed after losing at the hands of that 'Owari fool'."

In fact, this is not the first time Ii Naomori has written such a letter. After the army was defeated and he returned to Ii Valley City alone, Ii Naomori seemed to have suddenly enlightened and took the initiative to write many times to hand over part of his Ii family. Shi Gao to make up for his mistakes.

Imagawa Yoshimoto did not agree before. On the one hand, he wanted to see the other party's true thoughts, and on the other hand, he also wanted to see where the other party's bottom line was.

Now he feels that he has completely confirmed the other party's thoughts. He has indeed surrendered sincerely, and this request has reached the limit. Among the retainers, few could possess so many stone heights.

After dedicating these two thousand dan to himself, his Ii family's wealth became less than [-] dan, which was no longer enough to support the title of a minor daimyo, and the threat was suddenly reduced a lot.Many retainers immediately laughed in agreement, but many of them were gloating about his misfortune.

Their entire net worth is less than [-] dan, but now the Jingyi family can casually hand over [-] dan to the lord just to make up for their mistakes. They deserve to be targeted by the lord all the time!

After the retainers laughed for a while and discussed several government affairs, Imagawa Yoshimoto pondered for a while: "So, what have the 'Owari fool', Saito Yoshiryu and Asai Nagamasa done recently?"

Hearing this, all the retainers became quiet instantly, because they knew that maybe this was the real reason why the lord called them here.

Although there is still a long distance from the Suruga and Enjiang areas occupied by the Imagawa family, the recent events in Mino really make them have to pay attention.

"Although Oda Nobunaga won a small victory last time, he is still on the defensive. He is actively building various camps on the border. He seems to be determined to defend."

"But it's easy to understand. After all, whether he is the main family or compared to the Saito family, his military strength is absolutely at a disadvantage. Even compared to the Asai family, he is also at a disadvantage."

The speaker was a young samurai who was about the same age as Asai Nagamasa, Matsudaira Motoyasu, the minor daimyo of Mikawa.

Although the Matsudaira family was once hostile to the Imagawa family, they later became peaceful. Matsudaira Motoyasu even married Imagawa Yoshimoto's niece. The Yuan in his name was derived from Imagawa Yoshimoto.

In the last battle, he was also responsible for leading troops to fight Oda Nobunaga, but after Nobunaga neatly defeated the pioneer Ii Naomori with an ambush and iron cannon, he did not continue to march, but he did not have a formal confrontation with the opponent. Pass.

Imagawa Yoshimoto smiled slightly and looked at the other party with amusement: "Haha, Motoyasu, I remember that you and Nobunaga were childhood friends. I wonder what kind of expression he will have when he sees you next time we have a confrontation. ?”

Of course, the Matsudaira family and the Oda family are not an alliance. Even the Matsudaira family, which was originally sandwiched between the Oda family and the Imagawa family, was an enemy of both families, and it was not until later that they gradually turned to the Imagawa family.

But when Matsudaira Motoyasu was young, he was abducted by the Oda family by chance and had been playmates with Nobunaga for several years. Later, because of the exchange of prisoners between the two sides, he came to the Imagawa family's Junfu City and served as a proton for eight years.

However, Imagawa Yoshimoto treated him quite well. Matsudaira Motoyasu not only studied under Imagawa Yoshimoto's teacher, military and political strategy master Taiyuan Xuezhai for several years, but also married Imagawa Yoshimoto's niece, and was able to return smoothly after becoming an adult. The succession of Mikawa Kingdom as daimyo was due to Imagawa Yoshimoto's appreciation.

Facing Imagawa Yoshimoto's question, Matsudaira Motoyasu's expression did not fluctuate: "If I can fight Nobunaga decisively, I will go all out to get Nobunaga's head for Your Highness."

Imakawa Yoshimoto smiled, he was quite satisfied with this answer, but it's a pity, after growing up, Yuan Yasu is not as interesting as when he was a child.

Seeing him nodding, the retainer continued to report: "After Saito Yoshiryu was defeated in the Nagara River, he has been hiding in Inabayama Castle, and Asai Nagamasa has been staying in Sagiyama Castle. Neither side seems to have the intention to start a war, probably We have to wait until next spring to fight again.”

The other retainers nodded, and they must not be surprised by this answer. After all, there have been few fools who dared to send troops in winter since ancient times. Heavy snow and severe cold are easier to kill than samurai swords.

Although the daimyo of the Asai family claims to have accepted the inheritance of Lord Seimei, he is only a teenager now. How powerful a spell can he cultivate?
Although I heard that he had killed monsters, few people had actually witnessed it, and most of them were bragging about it.

But he was very lucky. He first defeated the vain Yoshiken Rokkaku, and then defeated the careless Yoshiryu Saito with the help of the swollen Nagara River. This unexpectedly made him famous.

As for the rumors that he controlled the river water, it is definitely the ignorance and foolishness of the folks. They always like to integrate the legendary stories into reality.

"Very good, is there anything else you want to report?"

After a slight hesitation, Changwei Lianlong, the lord of Yinma City, finally chose to go out: "My lord, I have something to report to you."

"Recently, monsters have been rampant in the area under Wei Chen's rule. Not only are there jackals and wild boars turning into monsters in the wild, but there are also a few domestic animals occasionally raised in the village. For some reason, people suddenly rise up, turn into monsters, and swallow their owners. "in the belly"

Seeing the long-tailed dragon making such a move, the other retainers looked at each other and spoke one after another.

"My lord, the same is true near my Gaotian Divine City."

"Yes, there are very few animals seen in the wild in my Nagashino City. They have either transformed into monsters or have been eaten by monsters."

"There are far fewer merchants and tourists in Okazaki Castle."

"The same goes for our neighborhood."

Many retainers complained for a while. Although after a short period of contact, most of them had discovered that these monsters did not seem to be as scary as the legends.

Although they look ferocious, they will still bleed, get injured, and die after being hacked by a knife or axe. Moreover, they will also be afraid and will run away when the battle is unfavorable, or they will set traps to ambush passers-by.

Rather than saying that they are monsters, they are just humans who look like animals.

Of course, since they can hardly make fire to cook, nor can they make weapons or clothing or housing, their intelligence is undoubtedly much lower than that of humans.

But that doesn't make them any less of a threat, because no one knows where they come from.

Imagawa Yoshimoto was upset after hearing this. How could he not know these things?It's just that right now he is busy with another big thing and has no time to take care of it.

Otherwise, how could he have held back his troops during the civil strife in Mino and only sent out the Matsudaira family and the Ii family?He even wanted to go out in person, defeat that "Owari fool", completely occupy Owari, and then go west to Luo!

"And it's not just my territory. I heard that many warriors and civilians in Sunfu Castle have been weak and mentally weak recently. I think that"

"enough!"

Imagawa Yoshimoto suddenly shouted and interrupted the minister's report.

Many retainers were startled, not knowing why the lord was so furious.

However, Imagawa Yoshimoto reacted immediately. He took a deep breath and forced a smile: "You don't need to be alarmed. I just heard that monsters are very harmful to people, so I got angry. If you go back today, there will be more." Prepare for war and try your best to eliminate the wild beasts. As long as you kill all the wild beasts, no new monsters will be born."

After pondering for a moment, he continued: "I have decided that until next spring, I will personally lead the troops to attack Owari."

Many of the retainers were immediately shocked, and then all of them had extremely bright smiles on their faces, and they hurriedly began to flatter their lord.

Since the lord has decided to go west, the weak Oda family will definitely not be spared. It will be the best time for these warriors to make meritorious deeds and win fame and land!

At this time, Imagawa Yoshimoto seemed a little tired, so when the first sharp-eyed retainers discovered this, all the retainers quickly left.

Soon there was no one else here except Imagawa Yoshimoto.

At this time, his gaze suddenly became sharp, without any hesitation as before. His gaze looked to the northwest, seeming to be able to penetrate all walls, and seem to be able to cross the mountains and reach a special location.

"I have collected all the necessities according to your request, and even set up a magic circle in Sunfu City to absorb the essence of thousands of people."

"But you and the witch have disappeared at this critical moment. Maybe it's time for me to complete the last step by myself!"

Suddenly, there was a thunderbolt on the sunny day. Most of the retainers who were leaving outside the gate looked at it and didn't take it seriously. This is because the environment here in Sunfu Castle is probably special. No matter it is spring, summer, autumn or winter, something may suddenly appear at any time. Thunder.

But only Matsudaira Motoyasu stopped. He looked at the mansion behind him with a slightly solemn expression, then sighed, turned around and continued moving forward.

"Hanzo, are all the rumors about Mino true?"

Silently, a black-clothed ninja appeared beside him: "Yes, my lord, the rumors are not false. Even the things that Lord Asai Nagamasa once did are not just those spread by the outside world." , Oda Nobunaga did not boast about his praise, and was even a little conservative."

"Is this so? Alas, it is such a troubled era. Maybe I should also find a chance to meet him."

(End of this chapter)