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Chapter 258 Reward, National Treasure Tea Bowl

Shibata Katsuie was very excited when he saw Nobunaga appointing him as the commander of the Hokkien Army, and his face instantly turned red.

With a smile on his face, he quickly saluted Nobunaga and said, "Thank you for your trust, Master. I will not let you down. I will capture Kaga and wipe out the Ikki!"

Nobunaga looked at the other people present. Sakuma Nobumori had a gloomy face and no one knew what he was thinking. The others looked at Shibata Katsuie with envy.

The one who desired it the most was Hashiba Hideyoshi.

At this moment, Hashiba Hideyoshi's eyes were red with envy, and he also wanted to become a legion commander.

I just don't know when it will be my turn.

Nobunaga, who was in the lead, looked at the expressions of his retainers and was secretly delighted. Before, there was Nobutora, and now there is Shibata Katsuie. Everyone must know that only by becoming the commander of a legion can one have status and power.

Now, everyone's ambitions have been aroused.

Nobunaga smiled and encouraged everyone loudly, "Now, the trouble in Echizen has been solved, and Hokuriku will be handled by Gonroku. Our army's future offensive direction will be in the capital!

Everyone, I want to bring peace to the world. The world is not yet peaceful, so keep working hard!"

The retainers listened to Nobunaga's encouraging words and instantly joined in the shouting excitedly. They knew that there would be another legion commander next, and now it depended on who would work harder.

Nobunaga resolved the war in Echizen and then returned to his country. At this time, Nobutora also led his troops back to Mino and came to Gifu Castle to report to Nobunaga on the battle of Shitarahara in Nagashino Castle.

Nobunaga happily encouraged Nobutora, and then rewarded Nobutora with a lot of money and valuables.

Nobutora happily accepted it, then left Honmaru and returned to his own residence.

As soon as he got home, Oda Nobunaga hurried over. He first congratulated Nobutora on his victory, and then asked, "Does the master of the family have any reward?"

Xinhu seemed not to care and said casually: "Don't worry about these things."

Xin Long asked in confusion: "The head of the family has let Lord Shibata take charge of Echizen. Echizen is a big country. With your brother's ability, he is capable of controlling a larger territory than Lord Shibata."

Xinhu said calmly: "Bigger? How much bigger? I already have a territory of 200,000 koku."

Oda Nobunaga could hear the displeasure in his brother's voice, and quickly explained: "I just feel that 200,000 koku is not as good as your contribution, brother."

Xinhu shook his head and explained helplessly: "Didn't I tell you? Don't treat the head of the family as a traditional lord who will be rewarded for his merits.

You see, Lord Shibata worked hard in the Oda family for decades before he was able to become the lord of Echizen.

Look at Akechi Mitsuhide, Hashiba Hideyoshi and others. The size of their territory was just a matter of a word from the head of the family. "

Oda Nobunaga understood what Nobutora meant and said with a smile, "Brother, do you mean that the head of the family will give you a kingdom?"

Xin Hu waved his hand and said, "Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. You came to me in such a hurry, it must be not just to say these few words, right? If you have anything to say, just tell me now."

"You can't hide anything from me."

Oda Nobunaga licked his face and smiled.

"That's right, brother. The head of the family has appointed you and Lord Shibata as the commanders of the corps. Brother, you will deal with the Takeda family, and Lord Shibata will deal with the monks of Kaga Kanezaki Gobo.

I think the master of the family will definitely arrange other legion commanders. Which one do you think is better for me to fight for?"

It was not surprising that Nobutora thought so about his younger brother Nobunaga. In the Oda family, every important official was thinking about climbing up the ladder.

He said, "The choice of the army commander depends on who the opponent is. Now that the Takeda family has been severely damaged by my attack, it is no longer one of the major concerns of the patriarch. Therefore, Honganji is the top priority.

This legion leader has a difficult task and is under constant scrutiny by the head of the family. If a problem occurs, the head of the family will think he is incompetent. "

Oda Nobunaga shook his head and said, "The Ikki of Honganji is difficult to deal with. I don't want to fight with those monks."

Nobutora didn't say anything, and continued to analyze: "The next one is the Mori family. Although the Mori family's military god Mori Moto is dead, the power of the Mori family is still growing.

The master will definitely arrange for someone to attack the Mori clan, but please note that Honganji and the Mori clan are close to each other, and they will definitely join forces to deal with our Oda clan, so if you are the commander of the western army, you must pay attention to Settsu. "

Oda Nobunaga hesitated and said, "The Mori family is no weaker than the Takeda family. My talent is not even one tenth of my brother's. I am afraid I am not strong enough to deal with the Mori family."

Nobutora comforted him, "Some time ago, a man from Harima named Kuroda Kotaka came to see me. He said that the Harima Kodera family had surrendered to the Oda family. This man is a talented person. When you become the commander of the corps, you can recruit him as your advisor. He will be able to help you deal with the Mori family."

Xinlong was delighted and said quickly: "Thank you for your advice, brother. Since this Kuroda Xiaogao can get your praise, brother, he must be talented. I will go and fight for the mission to deal with the Mori family."

Nobutora grabbed the somewhat excited Nobunaga and told him: "Kuroda Kotaka is a talent, but he is not so easy to subdue. He is still very young and talented, so he must be a bit arrogant.

If you want to recruit him, you can't be too superior, you have to be courteous to him, understand?"

Xinlong quickly responded: "I'll remember, brother."

Xin Hu still didn't let go and continued, "Remember, you are not the only one watching this position."

Xinlong nodded and said, "I know that Monkey Hideyoshi and Bald Mitsuhide are watching us covetously, but I have my brother to help me, so I am not afraid of them."

Xinhu then let go and let Xinlong leave.

As soon as Nobunaga left Tsuda's residence, the news of his visit to Nobutora reached Nobunaga's ears.

Nobunaga frowned slightly but said nothing.

Soon, Nobunaga came to see Nobunaga and asked for the position of the army commander to conquer the Mori clan. Nobunaga did not agree immediately, but just said: "We will talk about this later."

Nobunaga thought that Hashiba Hideyoshi, Akechi Mitsuhide and others were competing with him, so he withdrew first.

Nobunaga glanced at the note on the desk, then shouted, "Go and call Nobutora. I'll treat him to tea."

Nobutora felt a little surprised when he received the news, but he didn't think much about it and went straight to Honmaru to meet Nobunaga.

Nobunaga brought Nobutora to the tea room and asked Sen no Rikyu to start making tea.

He looked at Nobutora across from him and asked, "Is the Takeda family no longer a threat to my Oda family?"

Nobutora was a little confused. He had told these things a long time ago, which made him a little alert. Nobunaga's attitude was abnormal and there must be something wrong.

He saluted and said, "Ha, in the past three years, I have fought with Takeda Katsuyori three times, and the Takeda clan suffered a lot of losses each time, especially in the Battle of Kaiga and the Battle of Shitarahara, where the Takeda clan's red armor was almost completely destroyed.

This is the essence of the Takeda family, which was accumulated by Takeda Shingen for more than 20 years. If Takeda Katsuyori wanted to train such an elite army, he would probably lose it in his lifetime. The Takeda family now only has a million stones of land, but no longer has the strength of a million stones.

Besides, Takeda Katsuyori has already lost all his cards. I am afraid that even those old ministers in his family will be difficult to stabilize. I think Takeda Katsuyori will have to stabilize the internal affairs of the Takeda family first. "

Upon hearing this, Nobunaga nodded slightly. What Nobutora said corresponded exactly to what he had in mind. After all, he had already sent people to inquire about the internal situation of the Takeda family.

The current situation of the Takeda family is just as Nobutora said. Takeda Katsuyori is already in a state of panic trying to put an end to the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Shitarahara.

Seeing that Nobutora did not hide anything, Nobunaga secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Well, it seems that the Takeda family really cannot be the enemy of my Oda family.

Nobutora, now tell me, who else in this world is a strong enemy of my Oda family?"

Nobutora thought about it carefully and said, “At present, my Oda family still has several powerful enemies to face.

The first is the Ishiyama Honganji Temple entrenched in Osaka. It is said that there are 100,000 believers in the Honganji Temple, which means there are 100,000 Ikki members. In addition, there are many remnants of the Miyoshi family who are hostile to our Oda family, as well as the Shogun family. If we really want to go to war in the capital, the chances of winning are no more than 50-50.

The second is the Mori clan, which is close to Honganji Temple. If the Mori clan and Honganji Temple join forces, our army will face the dilemma of fighting on two fronts in Gyeonggi Province.

There is also the Uesugi family in the east. Uesugi Kenshin has been famous for a long time. He has been fighting with Takeda Shingen for more than ten years without a clear winner. If he intervenes, our army in Hokuriku will be under great pressure.

The last one is the Hojo family. The strength of the Hojo family is comparable to that of the Takeda family before, and it should not be underestimated. "

Nobunaga's face was full of seriousness when he heard this. He nodded and said, "You are right. If Honganji, the Mori family, the Uesugi family and other families join forces to deal with my Oda family, I am afraid it will be another long and bitter battle.

Xinhu, I know you. You don't like war, but the world is like this. We can only avoid war if we end the chaos as soon as possible. Tell me, how can we solve this problem?"

In fact, there is no need to think too much about this solution.

Nobutora said directly: "Now the Uesugi family still has to deal with Echizen and Noto, and my Oda family wants to attack Kaga, there will be no problem in the short term.

I think that before that, we should first solve the problem of Honganji or the Mori family, so that our army will not have to fight on multiple fronts. "

Nobunaga smiled and said, "It may sound simple, but it is not easy to do.

I want to target Honganji as my main opponent, what do you think? "

Nobutora thought about it and realized that Honganji was a religious force that was best at misleading people. If it was allowed to continue to develop, it would become more difficult to deal with in the future.

He nodded and said, "I think so. If we don't destroy Honganji, our army won't be able to advance westward with all its might.

Furthermore, if we solve the problem of Honganji, then the business in Sakaimachi will not be affected at all."

Nobunaga clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Now that you put it that way, I must attack Honganji first."

At this time, Sen no Rikyu had already brewed the tea. After some operations, the tea was ready. He picked it up and handed it to Nobunaga.

Nobunaga took it and took a few sips, then passed it to Nobutora, who drank it all in one gulp. It tasted bitter and very ordinary.

Nobunaga looked at Nobutora with mixed feelings, but seeing how devoted Nobutora was to planning for him, he said, "I'll leave the east affairs to you for now."

Nobutora put down the tea bowl and didn't care.

Nobunaga stood up and said, "This tea bowl is for you."

After that, he got up and left.

Sen no Rikyu on the side said with a smile on his face: "Lord Jingzhao Yin is really valued by Lord Nobunaga, and he actually gave you such a treasure."

Xinhu picked up the tea bowl he had just drunk tea from and took a look at it. He was surprised by the workmanship. The embryo was round and smooth, and the color was also good.

He played with it for a while and asked, "Is this tea bowl precious? I seem to have seen it before, but I can't remember where."

Sen no Rikyu extended his hand for permission, took the tea bowl, and with a look of cherishment on his face, he introduced: "This tea bowl is a top-quality product brought from Tang land, and it is called the Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl.

The Yaobian Tianmu tea bowl is a black-glazed Jian tea bowl produced by the Shuiji Kiln in Jian'an, Fujian during the Song Dynasty. It was mainly used for tea drinking among literati.

The glaze of this object is dazzling, showing the light of various colors such as black, blue, green, purple, and yellow. There are round eye-like patterns on the surface. It is the best among Jianzhan works.

Lord Jingzhao Yin, look at this miraculous Yaobian pattern, it is mysterious and mysterious, like the universe in a bowl, it is wonderful beyond words. "

Xinhu didn't expect that this tea bowl was an antique from the Song Dynasty. It looked unusual at first glance.

In fact, this item can be regarded as a national treasure in later generations.

Oda Nobunaga also treasured this item very much and rarely took it out to use. He usually used it for appreciation.

But today, Nobunaga not only used it to drink tea, but also gave this treasure directly to Nobutora.

If the other retainers knew about this, especially Takigawa Kazumasu, they would probably be so envious that their teeth would break.

Nobutora thought Nobunaga's behavior was unusual, so he immediately asked Sen no Rikyu for the box, then carefully packed it up and took it back.

In Nobunaga's study, Oda Nobutada sat upright. He watched his father take the Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl away without bringing it back, and asked in surprise, "Father, did you give the Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl to my father-in-law?"

Nobunaga said calmly: "Yes, although this tea bowl is precious, it is worth it as long as it achieves the effect I want."

Oda Nobutada asked in confusion: "Why do you do this? Is it because father doesn't want to reward father-in-law with territory?"

Nobunaga chuckled and said, "Do you think I am that stingy? I will give him the reward he deserves.

This time, giving this tea bowl to Nobutora is to compensate him in advance.

I feel that the Honganji Temple in Gyeonggi is not easy to deal with. I plan to let Sakuma and Baldy try it together. If they are not my match, I will have to let Nobutora to take charge of Gyeonggi.

He just defeated the main force of the Takeda clan. If I transfer him away like this, wouldn't it seem like I'm destroying my bridges after crossing them?"

Oda Nobutada suddenly realized that his father was doing this to plan for the future.

He bowed and said, "I see. I am narrow-minded."

Nobunaga frowned and said, "I really don't want this to happen. If Nobutora is really asked to clean up this mess, I think Sakuma and Baldy, these rubbish, can all get out. The Oda family doesn't need rubbish."

(End of this chapter)