Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

With such a significant advantage, it's no wonder Nobunaga became arrogant again.

The composure Nobunaga maintained after being brutally beaten by Takeda Shingen at Mikatagahara seemed to have vanished. In its place, he was once again the same reckless and impulsive Nobunaga.

What can be done about it...?

"The Regent's Lord..." Kuwayama Shigeharu was momentarily at a loss for words to describe what Nobunaga had done, because it was truly too hurtful to the feelings of his retainers.

"Be careful what you say." Shichibei also felt that this was really inappropriate. Nobunaga had already killed the person, so how could the dead be brought back to life?

At least for now, no external force poses any real threat to Nobunaga. Nobunaga's grand undertaking to unify Japan will continue. We should still hope for the Oda clan's prosperity; only when the Oda clan prospers can our Kawamura clan prosper.

If the Oda clan were to fall, who knows how things would change?

On the other side of the besieging Tanba Hachikami Castle, Akechi Mitsuhide also received this urgent report. Mitsuhide immediately felt dizzy and disoriented.

He couldn't even stand up. Luckily, Akechi Hidemitsu was there to support him; otherwise, Mitsuhide would have definitely fallen head over heels.

It's ruined, this game is basically ruined.

Because Mitsuhide is currently negotiating peace with the Hatano brothers in the same city, most of Tanba is now under Mitsuhide's control, except for the area around Yagami Castle where the fighting continues.

Having already absorbed the Araki clan's retainers, Mitsuhide no longer needed the Hatano clan's retainers. However, he was still somewhat affected by Sakuma Nobumori's exile and dared not slacken his efforts in the slightest.

He planned to pacify Tanba as soon as possible so that he could invade Tango next year. Capturing Tango might allow him to become the commander of the legion attacking the San'in region and continue to play a role.

Or perhaps he will simply shift his position and prepare to attack southern Kyushu. His official rank is Hyuga no Kami, and it is estimated that his final destination will be around 500,000 koku of southern Kyushu.

Whether you're the commander of the San'in Legion or the commander of the Southern Kyushu Legion, it's a good choice.

The key is not to stop. If you stop and rely on your seniority, or even become arrogant and complacent because of your great achievements, then you're doomed.

As a result, he risked his life to fight for the Oda clan and conquer the land.

Nobunaga stabbed him in the back. What would Hideharu Hatano, inside the castle, think after hearing the news that Araki's retainers of Oka Castle had surrendered, only to be executed by Nobunaga as before?

Indeed, Araki Murashige was initially loyal to Nobunaga, then betrayed him, and betrayed him twice. But Hatano Hideharu wasn't much better; he was also initially very close to Nobunaga, and even participated in Nobunaga's battles as an ally on several occasions.

As a result, he was misled by the Mori clan, believing that they could quickly invade the Kinai region, and thus brazenly betrayed Nobunaga and raised the banner of rebellion.

A fickle and petty person.

Judging from the fate of Araki Murashigeichi and his retainers, the Hatano family members in Yagami Castle will definitely not fare well either. They also showed utter contempt for the peace envoys sent by Mitsuhide to the castle, telling them to get lost.

Who knows whether Mitsuhide didn't care about morality or reputation and tricked people out of the city to kill them, or whether Oda Nobunaga was indiscriminately killing people without any regard for morality?

However, Mitsuhide couldn't explain, because would he dare to tell the people in the castle that it was all Nobunaga's doing, and had nothing to do with him? He would definitely surrender the castle and save the lives of all the soldiers, so don't worry.

Dare?

Absolutely not.

Mitsuhide has to take the blame himself; he can't pin it on Nobunaga. Nobunaga would be happy to kill him anyway, but Mitsuhide is stuck at Yagami Castle.

Meanwhile, Hideyoshi in the western provinces had not yet received this news and was currently in a state of utter joy. This was because Yoshikawa Tsuneie, the lord of Tottori Castle, had offered to surrender the castle and commit seppuku in exchange for Hideyoshi's promise to spare the lives of all the castle's soldiers.

Since August of last year, after the brutal siege of Tottori Castle in October, even rats and birds have been eaten up, leading to the tragic tragedy of cannibalism.

Unable to receive aid, Yoshikawa Tsuneie had no choice but to surrender. With Tottori's surrender, the entire Inaba province sided with the Oda clan. As per the agreement between Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Shichibei, 80,000 koku of Inaba province was granted to Ikeda Katsumasa. Hideyoshi then supported Nanjo Munekatsu of Higashi-Hakugi, gaining control of Higashi-Hakugi's territory and establishing dominance in the San'in region.

Because of the two major victories—the siege of Miki and the starvation at Tottori—Ukita Naoie, who was originally under the protection of the Mori clan, secretly made contact with Hideyoshi. After the fall of Tottori, with lightning speed, in coordination with the Hashiba army that was rapidly returning south from Tottori, they dealt a heavy blow to the enemy at Kagetsuki Castle in Sayao District, Harima Province.

Yoshikawa Sutra.

Yoshikawa Tsuneyoshi did send troops to aid Tottori, but he did not defeat the Hashiba army. Exhausted and weary, Yoshikawa's army quickly collapsed under the combined attack of the Hashiba and Ukita armies, and Yoshikawa Tsuneyoshi barely escaped with his life.

After suffering two major defeats, the Mori clan's San'in army rapidly declined in strength, and even Izumo Province, the center of its territory, began to waver.

The situation in Sanyo Province wasn't much better, due to the defection of the Ukita Naoie clan. The Harima-Ako District, which was originally occupied by the Mori clan, was easily recaptured by Hachisuka Koroku. Meanwhile, the lords of Mitsuaki Castle, Kodera Masatsugu, and Miki Michiaki, who were holding out in Harima Province, were unable to support them and abandoned their territories. They led a few key retainers and fled by ship to Yoshida-Koriyama Castle in Aki Province.

Having lost the important support of the Ukita army, and with the four thousand Mori garrison troops of Hanakuma Castle having no possibility of returning, the Mori clan's Sanyo army has also been greatly weakened and has effectively lost the ability to launch an attack.

Both the northern and southern routes showed signs of wavering and disintegration, while Hideyoshi's progress in the western provinces was extremely smooth.

As another prominent figure in the Oda clan, Hideyoshi relentlessly attacked Bitchu Province. Takamatsu Castle in Bitchu was currently...

The border between Bichu and Bizen was breached by Takamatsu Castle, making it easy to enter Bichu.

Shimizu Muneharu, the castle lord, gathered 5,000 castle soldiers and entered Takamatsu Castle to defend it to the death. Hideyoshi offered Shimizu Muneharu the entire province of Bitchu as a bribe, hoping that Shimizu Muneharu would defect and surrender like Ukita Naoie.

As it turned out, Shimizu Muneharu told Hideyoshi that after Arioka Castle surrendered, the entire family of the castle lord, numbering in the hundreds, was executed by the Oda clan. He figured if Hideyoshi had surrendered the castle, the outcome probably wouldn't have been much better.

Upon hearing this, Hideyoshi was astonished. What had happened?

The messenger, who first chased after Himeji, then Inaba, and finally bypassed Mimasaka and Bizen, arrived before Hideyoshi to inform him of the massacre of Araki retainers by Nobunaga.

The short letter made Hideyoshi click his tongue in disbelief. How could they commit such indiscriminate killing? Killing the entire clan after opening the castle gates would only increase their infamy, but killing hundreds of people—what would outsiders think?

Especially the fortified castle of Gaosong, which controls the two mountains and connects to the great river. If we can't open the gates and launch a full-scale attack, we'd probably have to lose several thousand men to succeed.

Oh dear, what kind of person is Nobunaga?

The retainers of the Hashiba clan and the lords of Yorimitsu exchanged bewildered glances, deeply saddened by Nobunaga's sudden transformation into such a tyrannical ruler. First, he exiled Sakuma Nobumori, then he attacked Akechi Mitsuhide; Nobunaga, who once seemed so wise and powerful, was now committing such inhuman acts.

[Note 1]: "Nobunaga Duke's Chronicle" "The Success and Failure of Itami Castle's Prime Minister" On December 13, there were 122 people in the female room of Arioka Castle.

[Note 2]: On December 16th, the Japanese escorted the 36 members of the Murashige clan and Shigetomi clan from Kyoto, and the large eight carriages were tied to the Kyoto city and returned to the city, and Rokujo Kawara was beheaded.

465. I am the only child in my family.

Hideyoshi did have some opinions on this matter, but he was a general personally selected by Oda Nobunaga from among the common people. He had a particularly deep affection for Nobunaga, and the two were almost the best example of a harmonious relationship between ruler and subject, like fish in water.

So even if Hideyoshi had some opinions, he wouldn't show them, and he even hoped that his retainers wouldn't either. He just wanted them to serve Nobunaga well; as long as they were capable and able to do their jobs, Nobunaga wouldn't do anything to them.

really?

The retainers present were filled with suspicion. Was Akechi Mitsuhide, who was on par with Hashiba Hideyoshi in the Oda clan, not working hard? In the end, because of Nobunaga's own likes and dislikes, he played a small "joke" with power, expressing a hint of arrogance, which greatly hurt Mitsuhide.

It even harmed Hideyoshi. Didn't he see Shimizu Muneharu in Takamatsu Castle in Bitchu? What loyalty did Shimizu Muneharu have to the Mori clan? The Mori clan has only been directly ruling Bitchu for the last few years. They just killed Mimura Motochika and promoted Shimizu Muneharu to be the lord of the castle.

As one of the key strongholds of Kobayakawa Takakageyama's army, Shimizu Muneharu could easily lead most of Binchūchu to surrender to Oda if he were willing to defect. The other half of Binchūchu belonged to Hoida Motochika.

Now that Nobunaga had slaughtered the entire Araki family, Shimizu Muneharu was so terrified that he had absolutely no intention of rebelling against Oda. He was terrified of following in the footsteps of the Araki family's retainers and being tricked into going to Kyoto and being beheaded.

how to spell?

Oh dear, Hideyoshi looked at Takamatsu Castle, which was backed by mountains and bordered by rivers, and was really worried.

Mitsuhide observed the terrain of Mount Irei, and realized that the fortified Yagami Castle was no exception. A direct assault might be possible with indirect fire, but it would require immense sacrifices to even attempt to capture it.

The Hatano brothers are now refusing to surrender no matter what, and there is almost no other way but to besiege the castle until they run out of ammunition and food.

Akechi Mitsuhide, who dared not harbor any hatred towards Nobunaga, could only suppress his emotions and consult with his senior retainers. The reason why the attack on Yagami Castle had stalled was simple: the two sides inside and outside the castle had completely lost mutual trust.

Just like the previous encounter between Kennyo and Oda Nobunaga, neither side had any...

Even with mutual trust, and despite the personal mediation of three or more high-ranking officials and the court's statement, the two sides still could not reach a peace agreement.

Ultimately, it was Miyoshi Nobutaka's entry into Ishiyama Castle that effectively propelled the entire peace negotiation process forward.

To quickly reach a consensus with the Hatano brothers of Yagami Castle, it is necessary to send a sufficiently significant hostage into Yagami Castle to express our stance to Hatano Hideji.

Mitsuhide's eldest son was only a little over ten years old. He was neither capable of facilitating peace negotiations nor the apple of Mitsuhide's eye. Mitsuhide had spent half his life on the battlefield and was already over fifty when he finally had this one son. If he lost him, the succession of the family line would be in jeopardy.

After much deliberation, Mitsuhide invited his mother to come forward. He consulted with his senior retainers and asked if it was feasible for her to enter the Yagami Castle and act as an intermediary for the peace negotiations.

Women played very few roles in the history of Japan's Sengoku period. However, they were not entirely absent; even in the Edo period, there were political strongmen like Kasuga no Tsubone, the wet nurse of the third shogunate shogun, who interfered in the shogunate's affairs.

Inviting Mitsuhide's mother to the city would both carry out Mitsuhide's will and carry enough weight to gain Hideharu Hatano's trust.

Do you think Hideharu Hatano might kill someone out of spite? What right does he have? Mitsuhide merely sent an important envoy into the city. Even if the deal falls through, goodwill can still prevail; he could simply send him out of the city with courtesy.

Anyway, Mitsuhide and the Hatano family didn't have any deep-seated hatred. They used to be colleagues and their cooperation was quite pleasant.

The generals all thought the suggestion was good, and Mitsuhide's mother was also willing to give her son's cause a boost. Despite being over sixty years old, she prepared to enter Yagami Castle to persuade Hatano Hideharu to surrender.

"Fujikichiro has already invaded Bitchu." Shichibei received a letter from Hashiba Hidenaga, who was far away in Bitchu, just as he had finished dismantling Ishiyama's belongings in Kishiwada and was preparing to launch an attack.

"Chikuzen no Kami is making rapid progress." Takenaka Hanbei and his retainers, who were discussing the deployment of troops to Shodoshima with Shichibei, nodded repeatedly.

“In that case, Hashiba Chikuzen-no-kami will be the top general in the clan,” Todo Takatora suddenly interjected.

Oda Nobutada received one million koku in Mino and Owari provinces, while Hideyoshi received 420,000 in Harima and 80,000 in Inaba, totaling 500,000. Tajima received 100,000, and aside from the Ikuno silver mine, this was also allocated to Hideyoshi. Higashihachi received 50,000, also under Hideyoshi's command.

Also bring along the Ukita clan and Bizen Mimasaka, who were subjugated by the Oda clan.

More than 300,000 shi, that's a solid one million shi.

Hideyoshi still had some miscellaneous holdings in various regions. The vassal states that Nobunaga had assigned to him in his early years, when combined, already exceeded 1.2 million koku. Furthermore, since Inaba, Tajima, Mimasaka, and Bizen had not conducted any meaningful land surveys, the strength of the Hashiba army should still be over 1.2 million.

Just as Sakuma Nobumori was suppressed, Hashiba Hideyoshi emerged.

"There's no need for anything, after all, it's already made clear that the young master of Yujimaru has been adopted into the Hashiba clan." Shichibei, of course, knew what Todo Takatora meant.

However, Hideyoshi had an invincible advantage: he had no sons and had openly requested permission from Nobunaga to adopt Ujimaru as his son-in-law.

It was during these few years that Oda Ojimaru became acquainted with Hideyoshi Nene's daughter, officially becoming Hideyoshi's adopted son and inheriting the Hashiba family business.

No matter how powerful Hideyoshi became, the family fortune would ultimately fall into the hands of the Oda clan. Even with suspicion, it was impossible for it to extend to Hideyoshi himself. At most, Ujimaru would follow Hideyoshi in battles for a few years, gradually accumulating experience and merit, eventually forcing Hideyoshi to retire and hand over the headship of the clan to Ujimaru.

Even if Hideyoshi were to retire, he would still have to be provided with at least 50,000 koku of provisions.

Either way, things won't be too bad; just getting a safe landing is the least they can do. If they're lucky, Hideyoshi might use this connection to make the Hashiba clan one of the main branches of the Oda clan, thus effectively getting them involved in the central political system of the new era.

“Then, my lord…” Toudou Takatora raised his head and looked at Shichibei.

"What do you mean?" Shichibei didn't understand what Todo Takatora meant.

"Tsuruga 50,000 koku, Izumi 100,000 koku, Saiga 15,000 koku, Awaji 50,000 koku, followed by Azuki, and Mishima Murakami no Soseki."

"

Takatora Todo counted on his fingers and gave Shichibei a breakdown of the assets: the territories directly under Shichibei's name, as well as those under Shichibei's trusteeship, amounted to approximately 230,000 koku.

A mere 230,000 koku is hardly impressive, and among the senior retainers of the Oda clan, it's considered insignificant. Look at Hideyoshi, he's already approaching 1.2 million koku.

But Shichibei still has all the forces at his disposal. Combined with the forces from Omi, Echizen, Mino, Owari, Ise, Yamashiro, Kishu, and many others, Shichibei...

The stone height is actually over 600,000 shi.

If they really put in all their effort, Shichibei's mobilization capacity would reach as high as 20,000 men. If you include the foot soldiers and other troops that Shichibei himself supports, as well as the ronin and miscellaneous soldiers he recruits for battle, 30,000 men would be considered a small number.

The reason why Shichibei did not bring 20,000 men to the Settsu Ishiyama camp last time was because Shichibei still had more than 5,000 men in the Kawamura navy.

The Awaji Ataka Navy and the Awasen Navy have now received Shichibei's approval, so Shichibei has integrated them together to form the Kawamura Navy.

In normal warfare, they wouldn't be mobilized for land battles, so these 5,000 men are counted separately. But if things really get critical, the navy will also have to go ashore and take up arms.

"hiss……"