Takigawa Tokiyoshi is two years younger than Maeda Toshiie. Both of them are tall among a group of short people, but Takigawa Tokiyoshi is taller and stronger. When he stared at Maeda Toshiie's The evil spirit released inadvertently made him feel cold all over, and his eyes looked as if two sharp knives were about to poke holes in his body. Maeda Toshiie secretly said bitterly. He had experienced many battles in the past few years. Ever since he accidentally killed Juami and experienced a short exile life, he realized that the most important thing for a samurai is not the favor of his lord, but his own. The method of commanding troops and the power of martial arts, just like Shibata Katsuie, who offended Oda Nobunaga as much as he did, but he just sat on the bench for a few years and then came back to power. He just killed a humble comrade by mistake and was killed. exile. In the past few years, he has been working very hard to practice martial arts. He wrote a sincere letter of atonement and asked for forgiveness, and was forgiven by Oda Nobunaga to return to Japan. In the ensuing Battle of Okehazama, he sought the death of several members of the Imagawa family. The general not only returned to the Red Mother's Clothes because of his merits, he was also promoted to the leader of the Red Mother's Clothes, and his status was much stronger than before. Maeda Toshiie didn't want to cause trouble, so he replied: "We are samurai from the Owari Oda family. We are here to meet the mayor on important matters. My name is Maeda Toshiie. When I saw your appearance just now, I thought you were my nephew Maeda Kei. Taro, I'm sorry for admitting the wrong person." "Owari Samurai Maeda Toshiie" Tokiyoshi Takigawa suppressed his excitement and asked in a trembling voice: "Then what is the relationship between Maeda Zojin-den and you? My brother, I didn¡¯t know you were" Maeda Toshiie looked at him uncertainly. Takigawa Keijiro sighed and said: "My name is Takigawa Tokimasu. More than ten years ago, my brother, Keitaro, went to Owari with his uncle Takigawa Kazumasushi. It is said that he was adopted as an adopted son by Maeda Zouto, the lord of Arakoko Castle in Owari Province. Because of the bad relationship between my father and my uncle, we haven¡¯t contacted each other for more than ten years. I wonder how my brother is doing?" Maeda Toshiie looked very happy and said kindly and enthusiastically: "It turns out to be Takigawa-don! I am very envious of the prestige of the palace, but I didn¡¯t expect that there is actually an in-law relationship. Keitaro is living a good life in Arakko City. As the heir to the family governor, he assists my brother. Speaking of which, I met him once a few months ago, and I met my brother last year. "My daughter is married." In fact, Maeda Toshiyaki had already guessed this possibility when he called Takigawa Tokimasu, and he knew very well the ins and outs of how his sickly Maeda Tokiyoshi welcomed Takigawa Ichimasu's nephew. At the same time, he also knew that there was Takigawa Masashige and Takigawa Tokimasu in Echigo, and they were probably his closest relatives. However, Takigawa Kazumasu had never mentioned this matter in front of others, and he was not sure. How much relationship does Takigawa Tokimasu have with his cheap nephew? They only know that they are from the Takigawa clan and have Keitaro and Keijiro as their childhood names. Takigawa began to relax. He nodded and said, "So my brother is already married! That's the best thing By the way! What's my brother's name?" "The name is for the benefit of Maeda Keitaro." "Is it Maeda's benefit? It looks pretty good. "Takigawa Shiyi raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "I hope my brother can be an excellent samurai, but I remember that my brother seems to have a different temperament and doesn't like the fighting and killing samurai life. . He prefers literature and singing. I wonder how he is doing now? " Maeda Toshiie said with a smile: "It's probably like what Takikawa-den said! He studied Waka tea ceremony and his understanding of the art of bow and horse is still relatively superficial. His ambition is to be an excellent warrior, and my brother is very supportive of his decision. " "Well! It's enough for the Takigawa family to have me as a warrior who can fight in battle. Let my brother continue the tradition of the Maeda family" Takikawa. Shiyi slapped his head and said awkwardly: "Hey! Look how stupid I am! This is no place to chat and reminisce. Since you are the envoys from the Owari Oda family, please come with me! Go directly to Kasugayama Castle to stay. "The so-called four joys in life include meeting an old friend in a foreign land. Although Owari Samurai is far from being considered an old friend of Takikawa Tokiyoshi, once his biological brother is involved, it becomes a different story, and he completely treats Maeda Toshiie. Treating him as a relative of his own family, he not only invited him to his shikiya as a guest, but also notified his father Takigawa Masushige to come with him to reminisce about the past. Maeda Toshiie told about his brother Maeda's life in Arakoko Castle. The scene became very warm. In fact, the relationship between Maeda Toshiie and Maeda Toshihisa was not as close as imagined. Because Maeda Toshiie was weak and childless but had to adopt the Takigawa family's son, the four brothers of the Maeda family had a falling out and almost split up, and so did the Maeda Toshike family. Unable to stay in Aroko Castle during this turmoil, he relied on his outstanding appearance to become Oda Nobunaga's follower. Maeda Toshiie hated his elder brother from the bottom of his heart. Although he was very sick and had no heirs, he was unwilling to adopt his brothers as the heirs of the family governor. He wanted to find a person who was not Owari and was Maeda Toshihisa.A samurai family of the Yoko clan adopted an adopted son. From the perspective of him and many members of the Maeda family, this was a foolish move by his elder brother to favor a foreign relative regardless of the safety of the family. Just because of a battle for heirship, the unity that the Maeda family had accumulated over the years was destroyed. Maeda Toshiie relied on his appearance and martial arts to lead his younger brother Yoshiyuki Sawaki to become a member of the Red Mother Clothes. After ten years of struggle and accumulation, they The two brothers are no less than the rigid Maeda Toshihisa, and even more trustworthy to their lord. And since that incident, the Maeda Toshi family rarely returned to Aroko City to visit relatives, especially since they only married Osomatsu as their wife a few years ago and gave birth to their eldest daughter, Yukihime, to build a warm family. Returning to that indifferent Arakko Castle to look at his brother's face, he couldn't say that in front of Takigawa Masushige and Takigawa Keijiro. He could only try his best to recall the stories that Mr. Lingling had seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears. The father and son listened. The two of them were very happy to hear that their son's position as the heir of the family governor was very stable. They also learned that the Maeda Toshie was getting married and having children in Seiju City and settling into a small family. They presented the Maeda Toshie with the Nagaboshi Tachiichi, which was made by Soga and Hei. Handle, a carefully selected Mutsu horse, one hundred Yongle coins, twenty pieces of various colors of fabrics, and a carriage and two pack horses for transportation. He also asked Maeda Toshiie to take care of this. Son, consider this wealth as a reward. Maeda Toshiie didn¡¯t expect to get so many good things in just one night. The generosity of the Takigawa family and his son was completely beyond his expectation. The Owari samurai who came with him all had their eyes red with envy. Kinoshita Hideyoshi walked around the Maeda Toshiie, hoping to trick the Takigawa out of him. The situation of father and son. Niwa Nagahide was very happy and said with a smile: "His Royal Highness Toshiie has really encountered a good thing! Not only is it a good thing for the Maeda family, it is also a good thing for my Oda family. Let's take advantage of the kinship between the two Takigawa-dens. It may yield unexpected results, so I ask His Highness Toshiie to move around frequently and contact His Highness Takigawa." "I understand!" Maeda Toshiie did not expect that he could also be the breakthrough for this mission. But he knew very well that the influence he could have on the Takigawa father and son was very limited. After all, Keitaro Maeda was already the adopted son of the Maeda family, and over the past ten years, he had long since become an out-and-out warrior of the Maeda family. The father and son of the Takigawa family knew the rules of the Wu family very well, but they just missed the eldest son for a while to visit their hometown. It is absolutely impossible to expect the father and son to favor the Oda family because of this matter. This is also the reason why the Takigawa father and son did not choose to directly give some property to Keitaro Maeda in the end. It¡¯s not that the father and son are reluctant to spend this little money, but they are worried that rashly intervening in the Maeda family¡¯s affairs will cause a strong backlash. The adopted son's father disappeared for more than ten years and suddenly appeared and brought a lot of good things that Huangzi City could not give. What meaning will this make the Maeda family samurai interpret? Whether it is interpreted as trying to steal Keitaro Maeda as the heir to the family governor, or taking the opportunity to intervene in the Maeda family's internal affairs, it will have a huge negative impact on Keitaro Maeda, and at the same time, it may cause turmoil and disaster to the Maeda family. Putting Maeda Keitaro in huge danger, the father and son would never dare to do such an out-of-bounds thing. Niwa Nagahide summoned everyone and said solemnly: "Everyone should know how urgent my lord is in urging me this time. A few years ago, my lord had tentatively discussed the possibility of marriage in the exchange of letters with the Lord of the Town. In the end, the Lord was rejected by the Town. The prince tried to get around it but failed. This time we came to the mission under huge pressure. This marriage alliance involves the future development of our Oda family and the safety of our family. The order given by the lord is that only success is allowed and no failure is allowed. If there is any chance, I don¡¯t have to go back to Owari anymore.¡± Kinoshita Hideyoshi asked worriedly: ¡°I have a question! Is there any chance that I won¡¯t have to go back to Owari again?¡± ¡°Of course Tokichiro committed suicide! Are you still thinking about returning to Owari after being exiled for a few years?" Sasaki Narimasa seemed to have a grudge against him, always using harsh words to ridicule Kinoshita Hideyoshi, making him unable to lift his head with sarcasm every time. , this time, of course, there was no exception, staring at him and chasing him fiercely. Kinoshita Hideyoshi looked at the sharp expression on Sasaki Narimasa's face in disbelief, and then looked at Maeda Toshiie's oblivious expression, and muttered in a low voice: "If you fail, you will commit seppuku. This is too harsh! You clearly have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders." With such a dangerous mission, why don¡¯t everyone look nervous at all?¡± Toshiie Maeda scratched his chin and showed a troubled expression: ¡°It¡¯s hard to say whether he will commit seppuku, but if he fails, he will definitely not be able to return to Owari. ! Speaking of which, why do I always encounter such dangerous tasks! If I had known better, I should have found an opportunity to pretend to be sick in Qingzhou City. If I really failed and were exiled from Owari Country, Osomatsu and Yukihime would definitely do it. Sad!¡± "That's right! Achun is still at home waiting for me to go back! He will be sad if he really can't go home! My father-in-law Zhengsheng will not force Achun to divorce me and remarry!" "Sasa Narimasa also began to feel distressed. Several brothers from the Sasa family died on the battlefield. Without the protection of his brothers, he could only climb up from the grassroots level as a samurai in the Oda family. If this mission failed and there was no People who show mercy are likely to be exiled. The more I thought about it, the more troubled and angry I became. I turned my head to the side and saw the stunned Kinoshita Hideyoshi. I couldn't help but continue to mock: "Among us samurai, you are the only one, Tokichiro, who has never touched a woman, right? Your Highness, Katsuzaburo. To marry the daughter of Arao Sakuemon-don, you are the only one who has not yet been engaged, right? You should work harder to find a woman to marry before you are thirty!" Ikeda Tsuneki patted Sasana Masagi on the shoulder, smiling. Said: "Hey! Uchizosuke doesn't know about it, right? Tokichiro seems to have taken a liking to the daughter of the Asano family. I heard that he is planning to propose marriage to His Highness Asano Mataemon. That woman seems to be called Ning Ning, right?" Maeda Toshiie was surprised Looking at Kinoshita Hideyoshi, he said with surprise: "Is there such a thing? Then I have to congratulate Tokichiro in advance!" Kinoshita Hideyoshi explained in a panic: "Nothing, please don't listen to His Highness Hengxing's nonsense. His Highness Asano Mataemon will destroy a woman's beauty." Ikeda Tsuneaki shrugged indifferently, as if to say that I can't guarantee whether it is true or not. At that time, Sasana Narimasa still asked: "Will His Highness Asano Mataemon agree? I always feel that it is difficult to agree." "In fact, it is not difficult! As long as we can successfully complete this mission. , the reward given by the lord is enough for Tokichiro to switch to a full-time job." Niwa Nagahide turned to encourage Kinoshita Hideyoshi: "So I ask Tokichiro to work hard and strive for success so that we can return to Owari in triumph. All the samurai here will help Tokichiro propose marriage!" Kinoshita Hideyoshi vowed: "I, Hideyoshi, will never let this mission fail!" A few days later, Kasugayama Castle Ohiroma. Kira Yoshitsune met with a delegation headed by Niwa Nagahide, including Maeda Toshiie, Sasana Narimasa, Ikeda Tsuneki, Kinoshita Hideyoshi and other samurai. Niwa Nagahide respectfully bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, Niwa Gorozaemon Captain Nagahide pays homage to the town. Your Highness, on behalf of my lord, I would like to wish His Majesty the Ashikaga Family good health!" "I miss you so much. I also wish him good health and good luck in martial arts." Kira Yoshishi looked at him with a smile. This mission was full of curiosity, because he had already learned about the main composition of this mission through Kira Ninja. I am full of curiosity and inquiry about these famous warriors. Maeda Toshiie is the largest and most conspicuous, and the skinny and short Kinoshita Hideyoshi's performance of secretly looking around is also very eye-catching. Sasaki Narimasa takes care of himself meticulously, like a serious and rigid samurai. Ikeda Hengxing lowered his head and scratched his cheek like a restless guy. Kira Yoshitoki never expected to meet such a group of Oda family members on such an occasion, and they couldn't even say a word, which made him very interesting. Niwa Nagahide didn't know what Kira Yoshitoki was thinking, but when he saw the fellow samurai who were sizing him up, he quickly introduced: "These are my colleagues, Maeda Mataemon Toshiie, Sasanaizou Suke Narimasa, etc." Kinoshita Tokichiro" Kira Yoshiki also found that he had been staring at them for too long. He was so distracted that he didn't notice it, so he concealed it unnaturally and said: "These are all the ministers of the Oda family! Oda Tanmasada is so loyal that he is very good at cultivating his retainers, and they are all very good!" The young samurai who didn't dare to look up at the back suddenly became excited. Even the polite words from Kira Yoshitoki were enough to make them feel honored. Niwa Nagahide didn't expect that it would go so smoothly, so he said happily: "Come here. On the order of my lord, I came to discuss the terms of alliance and marriage with the town master. My lord said that he was very emotional when he met the town master more than ten years ago in Shouchi River. It was fate that I, Oda Saburo Nobunaga, met Kira Saburo in the Shouchi River and Kawahara on the afternoon Thanks to the many cares of the town master in the past ten years, my Oda family has been able to smoothly maintain the control of the Owari Kingdom. In front of Hazama, it was the Lord Town¡¯s timely notification of information, and his guidance like a beacon that allowed our Oda family to achieve a great victory Therefore, my Lord hopes to be friends with the Lord Town forever and enter into a covenant. The next relationship will continue to extend and strengthen this friendship, and establish an alliance of mutual support and mutual support to cope with the troubled times in the world. "Niwa Nagahide said a lot of sensational words, and even a large section of Oda Nobunaga's memories. According to the circumstances of the story back then, it took half an hour for this letter chief to come to terms with his belief.During this period, several members of the Kira family tried to interrupt by coughing but failed. It was not until the long letter was finally read that everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Honda Tokimasa couldn't bear to remind him: "It's better to use destiny between men and women" Niwa Nagahide also felt very embarrassed, but he had to continue to act out the routine designed by his own lord, so he could only continue to pretend. I asked stupidly: "How about using the arrangement of gods and Buddhas instead?" "Forget itI won't worry about it anymore." Honda shook his head helplessly. He finally understood what it means to be shameless and invincible. The samurai present expressed dissatisfaction with this behavior of the Oda family. Takigawa Tokiyoshi's brows furrowed tightly and he turned to Shima Tokikatsu and said, "The governor of the Oda family has gone too far! Aren't you afraid that your lord will be furious when you say such shameless words?" Shima Tokikatsu spread his arms. Hand said helplessly: "Maybe he expected that even if the lord is angry again, he will not embarrass him! Or maybe he has some trump cards, but His Highness Gongfang seems to be very angry." The samurai here all turned their eyes to Kira On Yoshitoki's face, when he saw that His Highness K¨kata's face turned blue, he knew that there was most likely something wrong with what Oda Danzhoden said, but he refused to listen to the ready-made gossip and instead explored the truth. It would be too rigid and boring to leave, so many generations also gave up their plans to continue to hold accountable, and opened their eyes to carefully observe the changes in the atmosphere in the large room. Kira Yoshiki was indeed very angry. He even had the urge to pick up a folding fan and slap Niwa Nagahide in the face. Of course, he even wanted to slap Oda Nobunaga, who was far away in Seizhou City, Owari Province. It was disgusting that this disgusting guy used such despicable means to deal with him. In the end, it was all in vain that he had helped the Oda family a lot in the past few years. It's just a waste of time playing the piano to others. Finally resisting the urge to jump up, he cursed in his mind: "What did Oda Nobunaga do? He actually wrote a disgustingly sensational letter and asked his family members to banish him in front of the public. Come out, this is a deliberate attempt to misunderstand the relationship between Yu and Oda Nobunaga. It¡¯s just that this method is too disgusting to make the world think that I, Kira Yoshiki, like this old man That's too much! "In fact, Kira Yoshitoki's relationship with Oda Nobunaga is limited to a pen pal relationship, and there is no way to talk about a deeper friendship. He is willing to maintain this pen pal relationship because he has a certain affection for Oda Nobunaga. A curious and inquiring mind. Without the interference of this layer of factors, how could he pay attention to the son of a rich man from Owari Kingdom. I didn¡¯t expect Oda Nobunaga to be so powerful. He could climb the pole so fast that he became a powerful name in Owari country in just a few years. His strength has basically returned to the peak period of his father Oda Nobuhide. The only thing missing is constant victory to get rid of the "Owari weak soldier" hat. This big hat was one of the rich legacies left to Owari Nobunaga by his father Owari Nobunaga Oda Nobhide a few years before his death. Not only did he leave Oda Nobunaga a large territory and supporting retainers, but he also experienced the Battle of Kanaguchi. , the two defeats in the Azukizaka battle were a mess. Most of the elite samurai of the Owari Kingdom died in these two battles. It would be really unreasonable if the Owari soldiers were not weak. ¡°Just the opposite of Owari, the Echigo samurai¡¯s ferocious folk customs and toughness have long been famous in the Eastern Kingdom and even the world. In the summer more than fifty years ago, Nagao made a surprise attack on his own Echigo guardian Uesugi Fusano and killed him. Later, during the Nagamorihara War in the seventh year of Eisho, he killed the Kanto commander Uesugi Fusada. , and then joined forces with the Sagami Hojo clan to break out of Echigo and invade Ueno to attack the Uesugi family in Yamauchi, and then joined forces with the Kawachi Hatakeyama clan to fight in Echuchu and Kaga to conquer the Ichikui, spreading the reputation of Echigo samurai to Kinai, Saigoku and even Kyushu. What Oda Nobunaga envied most was the samurai family with strong armies. He used to envy Takeda Shingen, the Tiger of Kai, but now he envies Kiragi, the ruler of Hokuriku. He had so many fierce generals and strong armies that it blinded many people. In Oda's case, According to Nobunaga, half of Kira Yoshitoki's achievements today are due to his top-notch personal abilities and skills, and the other half is the support of Echigo's fierce samurai, strong army, and strong economic strength. For the Oda family, forming an alliance with the Kira family is the best choice with no harm at all. But the problem is that most samurai families in the world know that there are many benefits to forming an alliance with the Kira family. However, it is still a huge problem for how many of them can finally succeed in forming an alliance. Question, it is said that many samurai families have come to Kasugayama Castle in recent years to request alliances and marriages, and even their daughters who were sent to Kasugayama Castle in person were forcibly sent back. This was Kira Yoshitoki's attitude. He did not discuss the issue of alliance with the local people. Neither the Aizu Ashina clan in the past nor the Kai Takeda clan today agreed to any request for alliance. He was telling the east country through his actions. The samurai family, the Kira family needs obedient retainers and subordinates rather than allies. Oda Nobunaga knew very well that heThe ordinary path is likely to be rejected, and he cannot accept failure even once. The reason is that a strong sense of crisis urges him to move forward quickly. Since the end of the Battle of Okehama in the first year of Yonglu, two years have passed. During this time, the development of the Oda family fell into a serious bottleneck period. In the past two years, troops have been sent to attack Mino Country every year, but each time they returned with lost troops and generals without success. Especially in the first year of Yonglu, with the power of Tonghazama's great victory, they invaded Mino twice in August and October. Both times, he was easily blocked and backhanded by Saito Yoshiryu. He almost couldn't get back to Owari. Last year, he fought hard but still failed, which made him determined to find a strong ally to support and contain him. Looking around Owari Kingdom, there are only a few who can be allies. Only Kira Yoshi of Echigo has penetrated his power into Echichu and Minami. Shinano may then invade Hida Kingdom, and his family business interests are completely in the East Kingdom. The best template for an ally, not to mention the fact that he had had several cooperative relationships before and had no grudges against the Oda family, prompted him to finally make the decision to go all out to marry Yoshitoki Kira. Namioka Totobo did not get angry because of the poor performance of the Oda family envoy. He had realized that his lord was not really angry. Maybe he just hated being used in such a disgusting little way. He did not really hate the potential of the Oda family. Allies, if he is really angry, he will probably rebuke or simply walk away. He also found that Yukitaka Sanada, who had just returned from the Shinano front line to report on his duties, was not angry. Instead, he looked at Niwa Nagahide's performance with great interest and became convinced. He coughed lightly and turned to Niwa Nagahide and asked softly: " I wonder which daughter of the Oda family is planning to marry His Highness?" Niwa Nagahide quietly glanced at the samurai in the hall to make sure they had no clear objections, and then said loudly: "It is Princess Aichi of the Oda family. "Your Highness." "So is this Princess Aichi the sister-in-law of Oda Tanzenden?" "This" Niwa Nagahide said in embarrassment: "She is the concubine of my lord, but my lord loves Princess Aichi very much. She has always been taken care of like a legitimate sister. "Honda Tokimasa sneered: "Don't you want to marry into the Ashikaga family? Oda Tanshoden is really confident!" Many samurai in Ohiroma followed. Ridiculing the Oda family for not overestimating their abilities, as if they were treating these remarks as a joke, perhaps because the slightly sarcastic remarks angered the Oda family samurai, Sasaki Narimasa said angrily: "His Majesty Honda is wrong to say that! Among the ladies of the house are the adopted daughter of the Imagawa family and the girls of the Mochizuki family" Nagano Yasumasa suddenly stood up and yelled: "Shut up! Your highness, a humble samurai from the Owari countryside, can't discuss your family affairs. of!"