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

Chapter 97 Meeting Keiji again
After returning to Qingzhou City, Asai Nagamasa keenly discovered that something was wrong with the atmosphere in the city.

Although commercial activities are still continuing, and a large number of traveling merchants are constantly coming in and out, the number of samurai and ashigaru among the crowd has increased significantly.

Just walking from the gate to the hotel where he was staying, he saw dozens of warriors one after another, and several of them were obviously extremely capable and definitely not ordinary warriors.

He couldn't help but have some guesses in his mind. Was this Oda Nobunaga preparing to hold a regular meeting of their Oda family, or did it represent a prelude to war?

Speaking of which, there have been rumors recently that Oda Nobunaga's younger brother Oda Nobuyuki is very dissatisfied with his brother who is known as the "Owari Big Fool". It is not impossible for the two brothers to have a fight.

Although Oda Nobunaga is the eldest son, he has now succeeded to become the governor of the Oda family and the daimyo of Owari. But behind Oda Nobuyuki is not only the support of their common mother, but also the elders of the Oda family, Lin Xiuzhen and Hayashi Misaku. Mamoru, and Katsuie Shibata, who is known as the most powerful general of the Oda family and nicknamed "Oni Shibata" support.

But even if a battle does occur, Asai Nagamasa doesn't want to get involved because he knows that the outcome of this battle has already been determined.

Before it really started, the rumor had already spread to their Asai family. Even if Oda Nobunaga was a real fool, he should have been prepared, not to mention that he was not a fool.

After ordering a sumptuous meal for A Xiu alone, Asai Nagamasa carried two bottles of wine and went to the second floor. Then as he expected, he saw the back of yesterday again, without even a posture. Not the slightest change.

Hearing the footsteps coming from behind, Maeda Keiji showed no intention of getting up: "Well, Nagamasa, you're here. Did you bring me some wine?"

Asai Nagamasa didn't care too much, he also imitated the other party's appearance, lay down on the occasion, and then handed over a bottle of sake: "There is wine, but it's not the Nanban red wine like yesterday."

"Haha, just have wine. Even if I only drink a beautiful wine like yesterday, I will always remember its taste."

As he spoke, Maeda Keiji took the wine unceremoniously and took two big gulps in succession.

But after finishing the drink, he couldn't help but frown a little, because the sake he liked very much on weekdays suddenly had no taste today.

It's not because the sake in this restaurant tastes worse, but because he has already drank better wine, and his tongue and brain have memorized the taste.

With a heavy sigh, Maeda Keiji put down the sake in his hand. After all, he couldn't be as indifferent as he just said. If it tastes good, it tastes good. If it doesn't, it tastes bad.

Asai Nagamasa was secretly amused: "If you want to drink, Keiji-kun, I can bring you a few more bottles when I go to Jie Town in a few days. But if you still want to drink in the future, you can probably get it from a traveling merchant." Once you purchase it, they must be willing to serve you.”

He has already roughly understood that there are about four to five thousand koku near the Maeda family's Arashi Castle. If there is a war, it can probably support more than 100 ashigaru. As an independent force, it is extremely weak, and even far away. It was far inferior to Miyabe Castle, his cheap apprentice, but as a retainer loyal to the Oda family, the Maeda family was still on the list.

The only pity is that Oda Nobunaga admired Maeda Keiji's uncle Maeda Toshiie instead of his father Maeda Toshihisa who was the head of the Maeda family.

It may not matter in peacetime, but if in times of war, Maeda Toshiie continued to make military exploits, while the famously weak Maeda Patriarch did not show any performance, and Maeda Keiji, who was accustomed to being free and loose, did not want to be an official at all, maybe , things will get interesting.

Of course, Maeda Keiji didn't know Asai Nagamasa's inner thoughts. He was just a little moved by Asai Nagamasa's proposal, but he quickly shook his head and declined: "Forget it, it's very satisfying to drink it once, I can't ask for more. too much."

Asai Nagamasa nodded, skipped the topic, and started chatting casually with the other party, hoping to learn some information about the famous samurai of the Oda family from Maeda Keiji, a native of Owari and a samurai.

After all, his memories from his previous life were from his previous life, and he basically only remembered some of the most famous warriors, and didn't know much about the relatively weak warriors.

Although there is no conflict between the Asai family and the Oda family at present, they are not far apart after all, and once they decide to fight for world dominance, they will definitely become competitors or even enemies in the future. It is good to know more about them.

Probably because he wanted to repay yesterday's drink, Maeda Keiji did not hide much and began to introduce many well-known generals in the Oda family to Asai Nagamasa one by one.Then Asai Nagamasa discovered that, unlike the rough and tumble guy on the surface, Maeda Keiji was even more thoughtful. Not only did he know a lot about what each military commander was good at, he even had some knowledge of relatively secret information such as their martial arts schools. This is inconsistent with how he behaves.

Seemingly sensing Asai Nagamasa's doubts, Maeda Keiji generously took the initiative to explain: "Well, that's because most of them have been secretly challenged by me!"

Asai Nagamasa suddenly realized that this seemed like something the other party could do, and the result of the challenge was undoubtedly victory.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, Maeda Keiji is at best a samurai who is good at martial arts but has no ambition to make progress. After all, he drinks and has fun all day long and has mastered the essence of pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger.

But Asai Nagamasa knew that, not counting those swordsmen and sword masters who had no intention of becoming an official, Keiji Maeda, who was at his peak, was undoubtedly the top five, or even the top three, powerful warriors in the world.

Historically, he would start wandering around in a few years while increasing his knowledge. After the death of Oda Nobunaga, he began to really fight on the battlefield in his 50s, and he continued to fight until he was in his seventies, until the world put down.

To a certain extent, he is somewhat similar to Huang Zhong, a veteran in the Three Kingdoms.

Although he is still far from reaching his peak, in the entire Qingzhou City, there are probably not many warriors who can match him based on force alone, even if he has rich combat experience and is known as the "Right of the Gun" The little uncle may not be able to defeat him.

If there's anyone who can really compete with it, it's probably Axiu downstairs, right?

"If you have the chance, let me see Keiji-kun's power."

Maeda Keiji was stunned for a moment, and then he laughed loudly: "Nagamasa-kun, I can see that you are also a powerful warrior. It's a pity that you can't use it here, and I didn't bring my baby with me, otherwise I would definitely Let you see my red spear!"

Asai Nagamasa readily agreed: "Okay, then it's settled!"

After laughing twice again, he looked up at the sky. Maeda Keiji stood up and said goodbye: "Nagamasa-kun, that's it for today. I'm going to meet my uncle."

"Oh, is it Mr. Toshiya?"

Maeda Toshiie, whose full name is Maeda Mataemon Toshiie, is the leader of Oda Nobunaga's bodyguard, the Akamogimen, and is famous for his outstanding marksmanship as a spearman.

Not counting the two outsiders Asai Nagamasa and Axiu, Maeda Toshiie's armed force is definitely in the top five in Qingzhou City at the moment, and it may even be in the top three.

At present, only Shibata Katsuie, known as the most powerful general of the Oda family, can stabilize him, so he is very popular with Oda Nobunaga's new appointment.

Maeda Keiji looked a little confused when he heard this, but in the end he shook his head and denied it: "No, it's my other uncle, Lord Takigawa, who is related to me by true blood."

Asai Nagamasa suddenly understood, knowing that the other party should be talking about Takigawa Kazumi.

In fact, Maeda Keiji does not have the blood of the Maeda family. His surname is Takigawa. Only because the Maeda family governor had no children, he was adopted from the Takigawa family and raised as a parent.

After watching Maeda Keiji leave, Asai Nagamasa also turned around and went back to the house. Although it was not directed at him, the strange things in Qingzhou City today gave him a sense of crisis. He wanted to further strengthen his own strength, especially his ability to save his life.

I decided to make some paper figurines tonight, as a way to pave the way for obtaining shikigami in the future.

(End of this chapter)