Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Gone.

Wait a minute, what do you mean by pooling your money to send a gift to Mrs. Oichi in Odani Castle? What do you mean she's going to Echizen Kitasou and you're pooling your money to send her a gift?

Ah, the young general said that while Shichibei was busy receiving the 20,000 kan "peace payment" from Honganji Temple in Sakai, the main army in Hokuriku withdrew. Oda Nobuhiro has been back at Gifu Castle for several days now, and Azai Nagamasa is also inside the castle, receiving hospitality from Oda Nobunaga.

Nobunaga has ordered that the daimyo Asai Nagamasa, who had 150,000 koku of land in Kotani, be transferred to the six districts of Kitasho in Echizen Province, with a fief of 450,000 koku.

Really? Of course it's true. Echizen has eight districts, right? Shichibei took one, Tsuruga District. The remaining 100,000 koku in Fuchu of Nanjo District was distributed among Nobunaga's three retainers: Fuwa Mitsuharu, Maeda Toshiie, and Sassa Narimasa.

The three of them served as military supervisors in the army of Azai Nagamasa in Echizen Province, which Nobunaga had assigned to them. They also served as Azai Nagamasa's associates, assisting him in managing and pacifying Hokuriku.

Nobunaga's mother, Hiromasa, was promoted to lord of Daishoji Castle with a rarity of 80,000 koku in Enuma District, Kaga Province, becoming the vanguard of the Hokuriku army and effectively slated to be granted fiefdoms throughout the entire Kaga Province.

In addition, after careful consideration, Nobunaga appointed Hideyoshi Hashiba, the lord of Yokoyama Castle in Kohoku, as the daimyo of Kohoku Kodani with a stipend of 120,000 koku in the vacated Kohoku region.

There was a difference of 30,000 koku? Because Abe no Sadayoshi (10,000 koku) had a greater degree of independence, he was retained, and Asai Masasada was also transferred in with 20,000 koku.

As for the vacated Jiangbei Sakata County and Inugami County, our good-for-nothing father-in-law Oda Nobuhiro succeeded and was granted 120,000 koku of land in Jiangbei Sawayama.

Depend on!

So much has happened in the few days I've been away?

Yes, the young general said that Oda Nobunaga's group removed many people from Owari and Mino provinces, not to mention the three members of the Imperial Household Agency. Even Asai Masasada, whom I just mentioned, was originally the lord of Karigayasu Castle in Nakajima District, Owari.

Anyway, taking advantage of this surge in territory, Nobunaga granted fiefdoms to the people of Nobi and Obi provinces, and everyone happily went out to become feudal lords with two or three times the amount of their old territories.

First, Nobunaga promoted Oda Nobutada to the rank of Junior Fifth Rank, and now he's transferring many of the old faces of Noohiro and Sakuma Nobumori to other fiefdoms. This shows that Nobunaga has already begun making arrangements. It's likely that Oda Nobutada will succeed as head of the Oda clan in the next year or the year after, receiving a direct fiefdom of one million koku in Noohiro.

"So how do you plan to arrange things for the two of them?" The young major general seemed quite calm, but it was hard to tell if his calmness was genuine or feigned.

"Well..." Shichibei pretended to pick up his teacup, but secretly observed the young admiral's expression.

"It's fine in Gifu, or anywhere else. Even my father has several concubines." The young general's words sounded completely genuine.

"what?"

"Anyway, the eldest son of the Kawamura family was born to me."

Ah yes, that's absolutely true. Not only was she born to a young major general, but her family had also recently made great strides. Didn't Oda Nobuhiro receive a fief of 120,000 koku in Sawayama, north of the Yangtze River? With the child being the eldest son and the mother's family being so powerful, to put it bluntly, the women who came after her were just breeding machines to expand the family's population.

Although this statement is somewhat cold and denies the value of human beings, it is absolutely true in the context of today's era.

So I got through it just like that? Shichibei breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly feeling like he was born in the right era. Although there are a thousand bad things and ten thousand difficulties in this era, the rule that you can't eat at the table is indeed a common social consensus.

Furthermore, it wasn't Shichibei who went to find him; it was Oda Nobunaga who forced him to come.

However, those two men were simply too powerful, so I won't mention them. Both of her husbands, Saito Tatsuoki and Miyoshi Yoshitsugu, opposed Nobunaga. It was Nobunaga who killed her son, so she wouldn't hold a grudge against Shichibei. Besides, Shichibei had raised her daughter, Mitsuhime, with utmost care and respect.

What about Princess Ashikaga? Although Nobunaga was responsible for the deaths of her husband and son, but...

Alright, let Princess Ichi stay in Gifu. She can take care of all the children at home. As for Princess Ashikaga, once we redeem her five maids, we'll send her to Kyoto. We'll be traveling to Kyoto more often after that, so it'll be like having another home there.

Besides, Princess Ashikaga wouldn't be in the mood to serve Shichibei right now. Her ex-husband's and son's heads are still being displayed on the streets of Kyoto.

Go and summon Inase Yoshinari; have him redeem the five maids. As for the house in Kyoto, send a messenger to Kyoto to inform Sou Kotaro.

I'd better hurry and visit Oda Nobuhiro first. After my father-in-law moves to Sawayama Castle, I'm afraid we won't have this good opportunity to meet every day at Gifu Castle anymore.

As it turned out, Oda Nobuhiro was not at home; he had gone with Nobunaga to entertain Azai Nagamasa. Although Azai Nagamasa was granted a fief of 450,000 koku, his background was quite different. He had initially been an allied daimyo before becoming a vassal, and was eventually subjugated and made a retainer. Therefore, granting him an additional 450,000 koku to appease him was not entirely incomprehensible.

Therefore, all the generals in Gifu are having a banquet in the castle tonight. Shichibei only returned at noon, so no one knew he was home. If they had known, they would definitely have informed Shichibei to come along.

If we didn't run into each other, so be it. When I hand over the five hundred arquebuses to Nobunaga tomorrow, he'll know that Shichibei has returned.

As expected, when Nobunaga learned that Shichibei had returned with 500 Osaka and Saiga cannons, he didn't see anything wrong with Honganji using such things to settle a debt. He even ordered his page to load ten arquebuses for him to test fire and see the quality of the Osaka and Saiga cannons.

In fact, Shichibei had already conducted a random inspection. If it was rubbish, he would have definitely called Hanawa Naomasa, Takayama Shigetomo, and Sakuma Nobumori to invite the monk Kenryo to be surrounded.

After firing five shots, Nobunaga called over Asai Nagamasa to fire a couple of shots to test it out. Asai Nagamasa didn't stand on ceremony, took the gun from his sworn brother and fired, saying afterward that the Osaka gun was really good, no less so than the Omi Kuniyoshi gun.

"Is that so?" Nobunaga laughed heartily, then turned around and instructed Shichibei to allocate 250 of the 500 arquebuses acquired this time to Azai Nagamasa.

One branch costs fifteen strings of cash, so two hundred and fifty branches would require three thousand seven hundred and fifty strings of cash. This is more than just a huge sum of money; the reward is far too generous.

Anyway, it's Nobunaga's money, so he can spend it however he wants. Why should Shichibei say anything? After expressing his gratitude, Azai Nagamasa asked Nobunaga how many people he needed to build a castle to accommodate after he was transferred to Kitasho Castle.

"It must be a large city that can accommodate 50,000 people!" Nobunaga looked intently at Azai Nagamasa.

"Understood, I will definitely achieve it!" Asai Nagamasa immediately bowed his head to indicate that he would do it.

This statement is actually quite interesting. Whether the Oda retainers on either side understood it or not is unknown, but Shichibei certainly did. In Japan, castles are symbols of ruling power; the more magnificent the castle, the more it represents the authority of the feudal lord.

With a total of 450,000 koku of grain in the six districts of Echizen, a force of around 20,000 men could be easily mobilized under normal circumstances. Even if all the peasant soldiers were included, 30,000 men wouldn't be out of the question.

With only 20,000 to 30,000 people, is it necessary to build a castle to accommodate 50,000? Of course not. But Nobunaga said it anyway, which means that Nobunaga effectively granted Azai Nagamasa the power to freely seize territory in the Hokuriku region, allowing him to conquer lands capable of mobilizing 50,000 people.

Although Kaga was promised to Hiromasa Sugata, Noto and Nishi-Etsu had not yet been subdued. These two plots of land were worth four or five hundred thousand kiwis, so Nobunaga really did promise Nagamasa a little over a million kiwis.

"The Kaga direction is not to be underestimated." Nobunaga patted his brother-in-law on the shoulder, quite pleased.

Nobunaga's admiration for Azai Nagamasa was probably no less than that for Tokugawa Ieyasu, and might even have been higher. Up until the middle of the Battle of Odani Castle, Nobunaga promised to grant Yamato Province free rein if Azai Nagamasa surrendered.

Entrusting the Hokuriku region to Azai Nagamasa was, in a way, adding more responsibility to him. The recently concluded pacification of Echizen, although it resulted in the killing of forty to fifty thousand Ikko-ikki, primarily focused on eliminating the local and indigenous Ikko-ikki in Echizen. Only after clearing out Echizen could the Azai clan's retainers be transplanted there like potted plants.

For Kaga, who could mobilize hundreds of thousands of Ikko-ikki followers, this was at most a painful blow, not a crippling one. Even though Kennyo Shonin obtained an imperial edict for peace, in a year or two, the Hokuriku Ikko-ikki will heal their wounds and launch another attack. At that time, we must strike hard and not let any of their disciples escape.

"I will certainly not disappoint you, brother." Asai Nagamasa had received the promise of a million koku of rice; what more could he possibly want?

“It’s just that Kitasō is farther from Gifu.” As a result, Lady Oichi, who was standing to the side, complained a little to her brother.

"It's only thirty li." Nobunaga was not angry at all; in fact, he was quite pleased.

Why? Because Lady Oichi is pregnant again. That's right, she has already given birth to the three Asai sisters in history, and now she's pregnant with another one.

Good heavens, Lady Oichi's fertility is unparalleled. Of course, Asai Nagamasa is also a stud; how many years has it been? Year after year, month after month, day after day, he's truly an inexhaustible ox.

Judging from the way they are, as long as Lady Oichi is still fertile, she will absolutely not stop until she has given birth to eight children for Asai Nagamasa. Lady Oichi might even be in her thirties, or even forties, giving birth.

In terms of fertility alone, Lady Oichi should be considered the foremost of the three great wives of the Sengoku period. The other two, Nobunaga's first wife Nohime, were childless, as was Hideyoshi's first wife Nene.

Oh, right, Nene gave birth to another daughter for Hideyoshi last year. Now Hideyoshi has two legitimate daughters, but his son, born to a hostage he took in Jiangbei, unfortunately died when he was between three and four years old.

Even though he was granted a fief of 120,000 shi of grain in Jiangbei, it couldn't compensate for the fact that he still had no legitimate sons, only two legitimate daughters.

However, Nene's two daughters are very healthy and are currently at the gates of Gifu Castle. I wonder if Nobunaga will bring up the matter of offering his son to Hideyoshi as an adopted son-in-law again.

Oh dear, look at that family, all so loving and respectful to each other. No, Shichibei is also from that family, so logically he should call Nobunaga "uncle."

Asai Nagamasa sent someone to Kawamura-ya to collect 250 arquebuses. At the same time, he saw Shichibei returning from Sakai-cho, who must have something to say to Nobunaga. So, very cleverly, he took Lady Oichi to the castle estate to rest.

"Any news about that man from Kishu?" No sooner had he left than Nobunaga sat down and beckoned Shichibei over for questioning.

“Both Miyoshi of Bo Province and Tokyo of San Province sent envoys to pay homage and acknowledge him.” Shichibei had also inquired about it; Ashikaga Yoshiaki had gone to Ki Province to recruit people from all over.

Under his mediation, Miyoshi Nagaharu and Sogawa Masayasu, who had previously split apart, were forced to sit down again and maintain their brotherly relationship. The two had already sent envoys to Kōkoku-ji Temple in Kii Province to meet Ashikaga Yoshiaki and promised to support him in going to Kyoto if the opportunity arose.

If the two brothers joined forces, they might actually be able to raise an army of 20,000.

If another 5,000 Saiga party members are hired in Kii, with these 25,000 people, the Yukawa family, the deputy governor of Kii, will probably also mobilize, which would add another 10,000 people.

Thirty-five thousand men would be more than enough to go toe-to-toe with Nobunaga. After all, Nobunaga's army of one hundred thousand was scattered in various places, and only fifty or sixty thousand could gather in one direction.

With 50,000 to 60,000 men fighting against 35,000, and the Ishiyama Honganji Temple causing trouble behind the scenes, the outcome is truly uncertain.

"Hmph, he actually made a scene." Nobunaga was quite relaxed and didn't seem to care much.

"In my opinion, it may not be possible to unite them." Shichibei naturally had his own view.

Miyoshi Nagaharu and Togawa Masayasu were outwardly friendly but inwardly at odds. Besides, where did the two of them find the military leadership skills of an experienced general like Shinohara Nagafusa? Their 20,000 men didn't go ashore, and the others on land weren't really anything special.

They were far inferior to the Shikoku army, led by Shinohara Nagafusa, which once launched a counterattack on Kyoto.

"Furthermore, the Chosokabe clan of Tosa has recently risen to prominence and seems to be eyeing the territory of Hōshū," Shichibei continued.

This year, Tosa's Princess Wakako Chōsokabe Motochika intervened in the internal strife of the Ichijō family, exiled Ichijō Kanesada, married his daughter to Ichijō Naimasa, and made Ichijō Naimasa the head of the Ichijō family, effectively ruling the entire Tosa region.

Historically, Ichijo Kanesada attempted to revive the dynasty the following year, leading to the Battle of Shimantogawa, but the outcome remains uncertain. However, Chosokabe Motochika, who unified Tosa, naturally turned his attention to the somewhat chaotic regions of Awa and Sanuki.

His younger brother, Kira Chikasada, had been assigned to the area around Hakuchi Castle to begin preparations for the invasion of Awa and Sanuki. Historically, Kira Chikasada's sudden death slowed this process. Now that Kira Chikasada is alive and well, he naturally intends to wage war.

"The Chosokabe clan?" Although Nobunaga was keen to understand the situation across the country, he was completely unfamiliar with the people of Tosa, a small province.

"Yes, they claim to be from the Qin family." Shichibei was just saying that anyway. Who knows if the Chosokabe family has Han Chinese ancestry?

Chapter 318 Make room for Xinzhong

Could you send someone to make a contact?

Although Nobunaga is no longer afraid of the 23,000 Yoshinobu troops in Shikoku, it is still quite difficult for him to personally kill them, especially since he has to cross the sea to do so.

If we could promise some benefits and then get Chosokabe Motochika to kill Miyoshi Nagaharu and Sogawa Masayasu, that would be perfect. At worst, we could promise to grant the entire province of Awa to the Chosokabe family and appoint Chosokabe Motochika as the governor of Awa.

Nobunaga was willing to risk everything to kill those 23,000 elite soldiers. It was just Awa Province, after all; he had already given away 450,000 koku of rice from the six districts of Echizen in order to remove Azai Nagamasa from the north bank of the river.

"Shikoku is under the jurisdiction of Echizen no Kami." Shichibei thought to himself, "Why are you asking me this? You should ask Niwa Nagahide, who is in charge of this area."

“He’s busy with other things…” Nobunaga clasped his hands together.

"gross profit?"

"Correct."

As expected, Nobunaga dispatched Niwa Nagahide to Yoshida-Koriyama Castle. Mori Terumoto, along with his two renowned uncles, Yoshikawa Motoharu and Kobayakawa Takakage, were in a state of disarray, having been suddenly used and betrayed by Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Although Nobunaga didn't place great importance on the alliance with the Mori clan, he still had to have a proper discussion with them.

The Mori clan was originally wavering between supporting Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Oda Nobunaga, but now they won't waver anymore and can wholeheartedly support the Oda clan.

"It seems a bit presumptuous of me to go and communicate with them." Shichibei was the kindest of the kind in the Oda family, never overstepping his bounds.

The pacification of Settsu, Izumi, and even the Shikoku region has always been the responsibility of Niwa Nagahide. This is within his authority, and Shichibei should not interfere.

"It's alright. Goro has a daughter. You can calculate whether she's not much different from the son of the Chosokabe Tosa family." Nobunaga really had a plan in mind.

He turned the sons and daughters of the powerful retainers of Owari into important political tools. Niwa Nagahide's daughter, in history, married Awaya Katsuhisa (becoming Nagahide and Chikara in Tensho 3). At this time, she was no more than five or six years old, still a tiny child.

But considering that Chosokabe Motochika's son is probably only seven or eight years old now, he is indeed a good match. If the marriage is arranged at this age, then in the next four or five years, we can see how capable Chosokabe Motochika is. If he can kill Miyoshi Nagaharu, the marriage will naturally be finalized. He can also receive a fiefdom of Awa Province and become a vassal daimyo of the Oda clan.

If he fails to kill Miyoshi Nagaharu four or five years later, the engagement will naturally fall apart, and all talk will be forgotten.

Being a culprit is the original sin, but in Nobunaga's case, it's an even greater sin.

"Then I understand." You should have said so earlier. You're acting as matchmaker for Niwa Nagahide's daughter. So this matter still belongs to Niwa Nagahide. It's just that he's busy, and Shichibei is helping out temporarily.

Afterwards, their two families became in-laws, making communication even easier.

"While you're at it, check on how the Tosa Ichijo family is doing." Nobunaga remembered this matter again before leaving and gave them another instruction.

The Ichijo family was a high-ranking noble family among the Five Regents, the kind that could produce a regent. Nobunaga has been on very good terms with the Imperial Court lately, probably because he was asked by someone to investigate the situation of the Ichijo family in Tosa.