On the evening of May 11, inside the Oguchi Castle Castle Tower.
"Your Highness." A guard came to the door on the second floor of the castle tower and whispered respectfully: "Oda Nobunaga has sent someone again."
"Didn't I already tell you that if you try to persuade him to surrender again, he will behead him in public?" Nakajima Nobutsuna's extremely impatient tone came from inside the room.
"But... this envoy insisted that he also had his own reasons. He hopes to meet and talk to His Highness." The guard hesitated for a moment and then said in a very embarrassed tone.
"The reason?" Nakajima Nobutsuna sneered, and the door to the room was opened by him. When the guard looked up, he saw a middle-aged man with a slovenly beard and bloodshot eyes leaning against the door. "Come here.
Who is it?"
"That's the monkey who carried Oda Nobunaga's straw sandals. Do you still remember him, Your Highness?" The guard said humorously when he mentioned Kinoshita Tokichiro.
"I've seen that monkey before." Nakajima Nobutsuna also had a look of disdain on his face, "Then let him come in. I want to see what a monkey has to say."
·
Nakajima Nobutsuna straightened his clothes and tried to make himself look less haggard. He planned to wait until Kinoshita Tokichiro came in and immediately give him a stern face.
Who would have thought that after Kinoshita Tokichiro was brought to the castle tower, he immediately broke away from the guards and threw himself at Nakajima Nobutsuna's feet. At the same time, he kowtowed with a mournful face and shouted: "Your Highness Nakajima! Spare this villain's life."
Come on! The villain is not here to persuade you to surrender! Your Highness, please spare your life!"
Kinoshita Tokichiro's performance made Nakajima Nobuzuna dumbfounded. He couldn't use the power and lines he had prepared. So, he had to straighten his face and scolded in a low voice with dignity: "Kinoshita Tokichiro! What's the matter?
Appropriate! You came to my place to perform a monkey show!"
"I don't dare, I don't dare!" Kinoshita Tokichiro heard this and quickly got up and knelt down, trying to look serious. His funny and ugly appearance made people feel even more funny. Nakajima Nobutsuna these days
Already exhausted mentally and physically by the siege, he felt very heavy, but he was suddenly amused by Kinoshita Tokichiro, and the atmosphere became less serious.
"Then tell me, you are not here to persuade me to surrender, but what are you here to do?" Nakajima Nobutsuna asked, shaking his head.
"Your Highness, please spare your life! Your Highness, please spare your life!" As soon as Kinoshita Tokichiro heard Nakajima Nobutsuna speak, he immediately kowtowed and begged.
"Spare your life! Spare your life! Stop knocking!" Nobutsuna Nakajima patted the tatami helplessly, "If you have any nonsense, say it quickly. After you say it, get out."
"Your Highness really doesn't kill villains?" Kinoshita Tokichiro quietly raised his head and glanced at Nakajima Nobutsuna tentatively again.
"If you don't kill me, hurry up and let it go!" Nakajima Nobutsuna scolded in a low voice, impatiently.
"That's good, that's good!" Kinoshita Tokichiro sighed repeatedly as if he had suffered a disaster, and said in a low voice: "To be honest, this villain was sent by my lord to persuade him to surrender."
"What!" Nakajima Nobutsuna became angry when he heard this, "Didn't you just say that you were not here to persuade me to surrender?"
"That villain is afraid that His Highness will just pull me out and chop me! I don't even have a chance to talk to His Highness!" Kinoshita Tokichiro begged in a low voice in fear: "Your Highness has a lot of people, please spare this villain once!"
My lord must send someone to persuade him to surrender, so he finally gave it to me! I can’t refuse! I was forced to come here! I don’t want to do it either!”
Nakajima Nobutsuna took a few deep breaths and tried hard to calm down his emotions. Then, he waved his hand casually and said in a deep voice: "I know, I know, if I don't kill you, go back! Just stay with your family.
My lord said, I, the Nakajima family, have served the Inuyama-Oda family for generations and will never surrender."
"No! Your Highness!" Kinoshita Tokichiro shook his head hurriedly when he saw this, "He went out as soon as the villain came in. My lord must know that I didn't try hard to persuade him and he couldn't spare me! Your Highness, can you hide the villain in the city?
Wait a minute!"
"Where does your master come from so many things? What does it have to do with me?" Nakajima Nobutsuna slapped the tatami and shouted in a low voice: "Get out of here!"
"Your Highness, you don't know something. We ministers really have countless difficulties!" Kinoshita Tokichiro sighed and confided in a compassionate tone: "Whatever my lord does, he doesn't ask our opinions. He says he wants to
We have to do it! When the time comes, those of us who are ministers will have to follow his will and follow him! We will really suffer a lot!"
After Kinoshita Tokichiro said these words, Nakajima Nobutsuna was suddenly stunned. He had already planned to wave Kinoshita Tokichiro out, but he also stopped. Because these words really touched his heart.
.
Why doesn't he have these difficulties of being a minister?
It is true that the Nakajima family has served the Inuyama-Oda family for generations, but they have never entered the core decision-making level of the Inuyama-Oda family. Oda Nobukiyo does not need or will consult the Nakajima family for advice on what he plans to do. Back then, he and Oda
From Nobunaga's alliance attacking the Iwakura-Oda family, to now defecting from Oda Nobunaga, the Nakajima family can only follow the actions of the Inuyama-Oda family.
This time when Oda Nobukiyo decided to rebel against the Saito family, Nakajima Nobutsuna was completely unwilling. Because his Oguchi Castle is located at the junction of the Inuyama Oda family and Oda Nobunaga's forces, once a war breaks out
, his territory was the most affected! However, Oda Nobukiyo did not care at all about the opinions of this loyal minister, and resolutely announced his rebellion. Sure enough, in the past three years, the autumn harvest in his territory has basically been delayed by most of the war and harassment.
, the savings that have been worked hard for decades are about to be exhausted. However, the Nakajima family has been the wing of the Inuyama-Oda family for generations, and Nakajima Nobutsuna has to follow the steps of the Inuyama-Oda family to prevent being betrayed by everyone.
Pointing at his spine and calling him "rebellious".
"Alas..." Nakajima Nobutsuna sighed helplessly, and his raised right hand lowered feebly. The pain of sharing the same disease made him say in a low voice: "Forget it, just wait here for a while, and then go after nightfall.
Give back.”
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Kinoshita Tokichiro kowtowed gratefully, and then started talking about family matters with Nakajima Nobutsuna. Nakajima Nobutsuna also had a lot of contacts with the Oda family in the past, and they had a lot of old things to talk about. Whose family is that?
His son died in the war, and whose daughter was married to someone far away. As we chatted, Nakajima Nobutsuna's mood improved a lot.
During these days of siege, he was really suffering day and night. With Oda Nobukiyo defeated and the Mino Saito family having no time to look south, he already knew that he would never be able to wait for reinforcements. The only hope of victory was to survive until
Autumn harvest, wait for Oda Nobunaga to withdraw his troops. But the autumn harvest in his territory is expected to be delayed this year. The disparity in strength between Oda Nobukiyo and Oda Nobunaga makes him unable to see any hope of victory. If it goes on for a long time,
, the Nakajima family must not be able to hold on any longer. The war that is destined to fail makes Nakajima Nobutsuna disheartened.
However, Kinoshita Tokichiro rambled on for a long time, but did not say a word to the main topic - persuading surrender, which made Nakajima Nobutsuna quite different. He originally thought that Kinoshita Tokichiro's nagging was to pave the way for persuading surrender.
"Did you really not say a word to persuade me to surrender?" Nakajima Nobutsuna asked angrily and amusingly, "Although I, as a loyal minister of the Inuyama Oda family, will definitely not surrender. But you did not say a word to persuade me to surrender.
, are you worthy of Oda Nobunaga who sent you?"
"The villain feels that he is worthy enough!" Kinoshita Tokichiro nodded solemnly and said: "The villain is willing to risk his life to enter the city. He is already worthy of the cultivation of the lord and worthy of the word 'loyalty'. Those who are afraid,
After hearing that His Highness wanted to kill the envoys who persuaded people to surrender, he probably didn’t even dare to enter the city."
"That's true." Nakajima Nobutsuna chuckled happily.
"But there are more things! I won't do it anymore!" Kinoshita Tokichiro said as he straightened up and waved his hands repeatedly, "The villain has already been worthy of the Lord since he came in. I will not try to persuade His Highness to surrender. What if?
Those words have offended His Highness Nakajima, but my life is at stake!"
"Then you still dare to say that you are loyal?" Nakajima Nobutsuna joked in a bad tone, "You obviously didn't try your best."
"What are you talking about, Your Highness?" Kinoshita Tokichiro glared and retorted in surprise, even his wind-catching ears trembled up and down, "Your Highness's life is life, isn't the life of a villain not life? Villain
If we die here, the whole family will not be able to live anymore! No matter how loyal you are, I feel that I can do just about anything, and there is no need to risk the lives of my whole family for my lord!"
Nakajima Nobutsuna was stunned when he heard this, and swallowed reluctantly. Isn't what Kinoshita Tokichiro said about his own situation?
At this point, Kinoshita Tokichiro finally couldn't hide the smile on his lips and said with a smile: "If a villain can do this and be scolded as an unfaithful and rebellious person, then how many people are there in the world?"
How many people dare to say that they are clean?"
Seeing Nakajima Nobutsuna's face becoming more and more gloomy, Kinoshita Tokichiro did not hesitate to pursue the victory and continued to add seductively: "The villain thinks that what outsiders say about the villain, the villain doesn't care so much. The villain only needs to do what he wants.
As long as you have a clear conscience, you have already sacrificed your life for your lord, and the rest is pretty much the same - you don’t necessarily have to ask the villain and his whole family to die for your lord’s actions! Justice will make people’s hearts clear as time goes by.”
"The villain doesn't want to push the whole family to death for the sake of so-called loyalty and reputation!"
After hearing this, Nakajima Nobutsuna was speechless, but his thoughts were tumbling in his mind.
My lord did not ask for my opinion, but insisted on rebelling. He was really sorry for me.
Even though I knew that following my lord in rebellion would bring me countless troubles, I still followed him. In the past three years, Oda Nobunaga led troops several times my size to besiege my Oguchi Castle countless times.
It's my lord.
There is no need for the Nakajima family, which has been passed down through generations of hard work, to send the whole family back to death just for the sake of so-called reputation.
This stupid monkey understands the truth, so why can't I figure it out?
·
On the evening of May 11, Nakajima Nobutsuna opened the city and surrendered. Oda Nobunaga was overjoyed. He not only allowed Nakajima Nobutsuna to continue as the lord of Oguchi Castle, but also directly promoted Kinoshita Tokichiro to the rank of general of the Oda family and gave him a gift.
The name Kinoshita Hideyoshi made him a respectable samurai.
Everyone except Yu Qiupei did not expect that Kinoshita Tokichiro actually persuaded Nakajima Nobutsuna, who was loyal to Oda Nobukiyo, to surrender. For a time, the entire Oda family camp was full of discussions. However, Yu Qiuhei
Maeda Toshiie and others were busy organizing a small celebration banquet for Kinoshita Hideyoshi. The overly excited Kinoshita Hideyoshi got drunk at the banquet and shouted "I am a samurai" over and over again, making everyone angry.
Laughing endlessly.
The surrender of Oguchi Castle caused a chain reaction in Niwa County. Ohso Castle was surrendered by Niwa Nagahide, and many small towns and villages also joined in. Seeing that the situation was over, Oda Nobukiyo opened the city gate and broke out, fleeing in the direction of Mino-Kai.
, Inuyama Castle was also recovered by Oda Nobunaga. The Inuyama Rebellion, which lasted for three years, was finally put down.
Chapter completed!