Kita-Omi, during the battle to conquer the Asai family, Hideyoshi Hashiba made outstanding military achievements, and after the war, Oda Nobunaga rewarded him.
Hashiba Hideyoshi received 120,000 shi from the surrounding area of ​​Otani Castle where the Asai family started, and became a powerful daimyo of the Oda family.
After that, Hideyoshi Hashiba learned from Oda Nobunaga's method of demolishing Kannonji Castle to build Azuchi Castle, and used the building materials demolished from Asai Furniture Castle Otani Castle to expand the Imahama Castle on the shore of Lake Biwa not far away.
She called the expanded new city Changbin City as her residence.
At this time, in Nagahama Castle where construction was still under way, Hashiba Hideyoshi summoned Takenaka Shigeharu alone, and the monarch and his ministers had a secret conversation indoors.
Hideyoshi Hashiba sighed.
"There is a letter from the main hall asking how to prevent the Shiba family from provoking my Oda family. How should I reply?"
Takenaka Shigeharu asked.
"My lord, don't you always behave in front of the main hall like you are happy to hear the battle and that I am invincible? Why are you so hesitant today?"
Hideyoshi Hashiba sighed.
"This time is different. This time the opponent is the invincible Tsutama. Everyone in the Oda family, who wouldn't be murmuring in their hearts?
As far as I know, neither Niwa Nagahide-sama nor Shibata Katsuie-sama are willing to go to war with the Shiba family.
On the contrary, Ujiie Naomoto of Simino and Hirate Fenghide of Shimo-Owari were very positive.
The atmosphere at home is a little weird, and I can't make up my mind about how to return to the main hall."
Takenaka Shigeharu smiled.
"My lord, you are feeling uneasy and feel that the concubines in your family are ambiguous. The main hall is in the middle of the situation, so she is even more aware of this, so she wrote the letter because she also wants to see your attitude.
You should maintain your usual respectful attitude and absolutely support the main hall without any hesitation."
Hideyoshi Hashiba nodded and said.
"What Takenaka-hime said is that I cannot lose the trust of the main hall, and I really shouldn't hesitate at this time."
Takenaka Shigeharu said with relief.
"The Lord is no different now than in the past. He is already a famous person with a big family and a big business. It is only right to be cautious in doing things and there is nothing wrong with it."
Hashiba Hideyoshi somewhat understood the profound meaning of Takenaka Shigeharu's words and asked.
"What did Takenaka-hime teach me?"
Takenaka Shigeharu said.
"You should unswervingly support the main hall's attitude. But when it comes to fighting, please be cautious."
Hideyoshi Hashiba pondered for a while and asked.
"how do I say this?"
Takenaka Shigeharu said.
"I heard that Tsuta-don visited Sakai Port and now he has returned to Kyoto. He even personally wrote down the four characters "Martial Family World" and spread the word.
Both Tsutado-den and the main hall have a rivalry, and the battle between the Shiba family and the Oda family is inevitable.
No matter how reluctant the two monarchs or the two retainers are, no one has a way out at this time. Without a fight, nothing can be explained.
But this battle is different from ordinary battles.
Akechi Mitsuhide ran to Azuchi Castle, making noise day and night, and the Genpei merged, shaking the Oda retainers' will to fight decisively. If this had been another battle, the main palace would have chopped off her head with a knife to sacrifice the flag.
But this time, the main hall has no attitude at all. On the one hand, it wants to start a war with the Shiba family, but at the same time, it allows Shiba's retainers to promote the merger of the two families. What is the meaning of this?"
Hideyoshi Hashiba sighed.
"Yes, this is what I don't understand. You don't know yet, but the main hall has ordered the water transportation of Lake Biwa to be blocked, and is preparing for war with all its strength."
Takenaka Shigeharu was stunned and then sighed.
"Main Hall, I want to accomplish this in one fell swoop.
My lord, if you think about it, Lake Biwa is a section of the Hokurikudo trade route. Takada Yono was working hard to raise military expenditures for the Shiba family at Sakai Port. He wanted to fight to protect the road on the grounds that the Oda family was destroying the Hokurikudo trade route.
The main hall's blockade of Lake Biwa's water transportation confirmed Takada Haruno's words and made the Shiba family's preparations for war more reasonable.
The logistics market of the Hokuriku Expressway last year was about four million, passing through eight countries including Settsu, Izumi, Kawachi, Yamashiro, Omi, Echizen, Noto, and Echigo, and it had a great influence.
In addition, the neighboring countries that relied on the Hokuriku Road trade route involved commercial profits, tariffs, loans, intermediaries, and investments, benefiting hundreds of thousands of people and tens of millions in money and food.
With this order from the main hall, the interests of all the forces involved will be harmed, and the impact is huge.
While condoning Akechi Mitsuhide's promotion of the Genpei Confluence, he cut off the Hokuriku Road trade route and forced several Kanto samurai families to oppose him.
The main hall is truly ruthless to the extreme."
Hashiba Hideyoshi frowned.
"You mean to say that the main hall deliberately forced all the opponents together, and then through the Battle of Shiba Oda, wanted to solve all the troubles in one fell swoop?"
Takenaka Shigeharu smiled.
"Not only that, the main hall is still testing the concubines in the family to re-evaluate the attitude of the Oda retainers. Just watch, after this war, the old samurai from Owari will definitely leave Owari.
When the main hall sealed you in Kitaomi, I had in mind the idea of ​​sequestering Shibata Katsuie-sama and the others as well.
The polarizing attitude of the old Owari samurai this time will definitely strengthen the main hall’s idea of ​​driving all the old people out to start their own businesses, and not allowing them to continue to eat, drink and mess around based on Owari’s achievements.”
Hashiba Hideyoshi reacted.
"So, you want me to resolutely support the main hall as always, and my attitude must be correct, just to pass the test of the main hall?"
Takenaka Shigeharu nodded.
"Yes, your attitude must meet the expectations of the hall, but this war does not have to be fought seriously."
Hideyoshi Hashiba smiled bitterly.
"Hime Takenaka, I'm a little confused again."
Takenaka Shigeharu sighed.
"The first battle after Tsuta-don went to Luka was to help the Asai family defeat the Rokkaku family in the Northern Expedition in Omi country. He was revered as a god by the Omi samurai family in the north and south.
In today's Omi Kingdom, Minami Omi was trembling after being slaughtered by the Owari old samurai family. The main hall was stationed in Azuchi Castle and easily controlled the land of Minami Omi.
You were entrusted by the main hall to the land of Kita Omi and supervised the local samurai family. Do you think that if the Shiba Oda family went to war, the Omi people would do their best to serve the main hall and become enemies of Tsuta-den?"
Hideyoshi Hashiba thought for a while, shook his head and said.
“Isano Umasa was a military commander, and he highly respected Tsutado-don, who was unparalleled in battle formation.
Aguan Zhenzheng is very smart, so naturally he will not go head-to-head with the invincible Jinduodian.
Horihide Village relied on the dedication of the city to lead the way, and it did not have the courage to become an enemy of Tsutaden, which had never failed.
I don’t know about the Southern Omi people, but the North Omi people will definitely not try their best, and they are willing to send troops to deal with it, and that means they are worthy of me."
Takenaka Shigeharu nodded.
"My lord is wise, everyone in Omi is in awe of Tsuta-den, and the old samurai in Owari are also in awe of Tsuta-den. They all know how powerful Tsuta-den is.
Only those samurai families in Simino were interested in their own interests, and the young people in Owari, who had never experienced the martial prowess of Tsutado-den, were eager to try.
As for the main hall, it is a perfect opportunity to be able to wait for work, sit back and wait for Tsuta-den to summon the recent Kanto warriors, stay at home and wait for the enemy to go on an expedition and defeat them in one fell swoop.
As long as Tsutado-den's coalition forces are defeated in one battle, it will be difficult for the Kanto samurai family to stop the Oda family's conquests in recent times.
And Tsudo-den himself has always been the target that the main hall hopes to conquer, and being able to subdue Tsudo-don in one fell swoop is also what the main hall dreams of."
Hashiba Hideyoshi narrowed his eyes, and there was a wave of fluctuation in his heart. Of course she knew Oda Nobunaga's desire to conquer Shiba Yoshigan again, but at this time, it sounded harsh and quite uncomfortable.
Takenaka Shigeharu looked at Hashiba Hideyoshi's solemn expression and continued.
"So this battle must be fought because the main hall wants to fight. But I dare to say that whoever rushes to the front in this battle will be asking for trouble.
It is not that discussions between Tsudo Hall and the Main Hall are impossible. The current situation is more of a battle of spirits and a helpless situation caused by some reasons.
To solve this situation, a battle must be fought, but no matter whether it is the recent Kanto samurai family affiliated with the Shiba family or the old samurai family and the new leading samurai family of the Oda family, few people will really try their best.
Both Tsudo-den and the main hall want to show off to each other, and the battle will definitely be cruel and fierce.
Regarding this battle, those who hide behind and watch may not suffer, but those who rush in front will definitely suffer heavy losses and be injured.
This is a battle of spirits. If it turns out to be a scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, how can it not frighten the hearts of the martial arts families on both sides? Can the fight continue?
To be continued...