Great name!

Chapter 282: The New Lord of Settsu
In the nearby Rokujo River, the hostages who were ordered to be executed by Oda Nobunaga were not only Araki's family. There were also Matsunaga Hisahide and Matsunaga Michi who rebelled after Araki Murashige.

Matsunaga Hisahide placed two hostages in Kyoto, and Matsunaga Hisahide rebelled in Shigiyama Castle, so the fate of these two hostages is self-evident.

When Oda Nobunaga learned that Nobutora defeated and killed Araki Murashige in Settsu, he immediately ordered the execution of the two hostages sent by Matsunaga Hisahide.

Those killed were Matsunaga Nagamichi's two sons, both of whom were eleven or twelve years old.

Upon learning that their father and grandfather had rebelled, the two began to cry and beg for mercy, hoping to survive.

But Oda Nobunaga was determined to kill the hostages to intimidate others, so he sent Yabe Iesada and Fukutomi Hidekatsu to Kyoto to capture the two boys.

The two people who stayed at Murai Sadakatsu's house knelt down in front of Murai Sadakatsu and cried and kowtowed, saying, "Muraai-dono, please, for the sake of us staying in your house all these days, please speak a few good words to Nobunaga-dono. We only want to save our lives!"

The other man also kowtowed and cried, "We two had no idea that our father and grandfather were plotting rebellion. Please tell Lord Nobunaga that we are willing to become monks and stay with the Buddha forever!"

Murai Sadakatsu looked at Yabe Iesada and Fukutomi Sadahide, and said with some reluctance, "These two children have been living in my house. I really can't bear it. Can you please be flexible and let me write to Nobunaga-dono to ask?"

Yabe Iesada apologized, "I am so sorry, Lord Murai, it is not that I am not flexible, but Lord Nobunaga has given a death order, and we must take them both to Rokujo River and behead them.

Lord Murai, I still want to advise you that Lord Jingzhao Yin married their two sisters, but Lord Jingzhao Yin has never said a word for the Matsunaga family or asked for mercy once."

The expression on Murai Sadakatsu's face froze. He had just planned to rely on the favors he had with the two brothers, Tsuda Nobutora and Oda Nobunaga, to save the two children, but now it seemed that this matter was completely hopeless.

He sighed deeply, unable to bear looking at the two poor guys any longer, and could only turn his head away.

Yabe Iesada immediately waved his hand and said, "Take it away!"

The two young men wanted to kowtow and cry, but several warriors rushed over, picked them up and dragged them out.

Murai Sadakatsu heard the boys' miserable cries for mercy and turned back to shout, "You are the sons of samurai. Since this is your fate, accept it calmly and leave this world with dignity. Don't bring shame upon yourself!"

He didn't know if his words had worked, but the two teenagers stopped struggling and seemed to have accepted their fate.

Afterwards, the two of them were taken to Rokujo River and beheaded in public.

When Matsunaga Hisahide learned that his two grandsons were killed, his expression was very calm, as if this matter had nothing to do with him. He was still wiping the flat spider carefully.

As for Matsunaga Nagamichi below, it was different. After all, that was his own son. He was furious, and with red eyes he shouted, "Oda Nobunaga, you bastard, I cannot forgive you for killing my son!

Father, I will lead my troops to attack Azuchi, and I will chop off Oda Nobunaga's head and use it as a urinal!"

Matsunaga Hisahide looked up and sneered, "Oh, idiot, Oda Nobunaga is biting you for reacting like this. You took the initiative and ran headfirst into his ambush."

"So are we just going to wait like this? Wait until Oda Nobunaga is ready?" Matsunaga Hisamichi was a little excited and called out to Matsunaga Hisahide loudly.

Matsunaga Hisahide remained calm and said calmly: "So what do you want to do? Take the initiative to attack? Are you sure you can defeat the Oda army?
Or, do you want to be as reckless as Araki Murashige and fall into the opponent's traps?
And how can you be sure that Tsuda Shintora has arranged any plan for the Oda family to deal with the Matsunaga family?"

When faced with Matsunaga Hisahide's question, he had hardly thought about such things and the decision to send troops was made subconsciously.

Matsunaga Hisahide sneered and shook his head, no longer paying attention to Matsunaga Hisamichi. Matsunaga Hisamichi had no choice but to get up and leave.

……

Now that Nobutora has pacified Settsu and killed Araki Murashige, the fate of Settsu has become the most important issue.

Nobutora returned to Azuchi Castle to participate in the Settsu Assessment Meeting.

There were not many family elders attending the meeting this time, including Hashiba Hideyoshi and Oda Nobunaga, one of whom was busy in Sanyo Harima dealing with the chaos in Harima.

Fortunately, with the help of Kuroda Kanbei, Takenaka Hanbei and Hashiba Nagahide, Hashiba Hideyoshi, the situation has not collapsed to the point of being out of control.

In addition, Nobutora put down the Settsu Rebellion in more than a month, so Hideyoshi Hashiba no longer had any worries.

As for Oda Nobunaga, although he was somewhat influenced by Tamba, it was not a big problem. He is now preparing for the conquest of Sanin.

In addition to Hashiba Hideyoshi and Oda Nobutatsu who could not come, Shibata Katsuie was also unable to come. He was still fighting in Kaga to solve the previous mess.

The family elders who attended the meeting were Tsuda Nobutora, Niwa Nagahide, Akechi Mitsuhide, Ikeda Terumasa, Mori Yoshinari, and Sakai Masanari.

Nobunaga did not say what the meeting was about, but everyone had guesses.

With the entry of Oda Nobunaga and Nobutada, the council officially began.

After Oda Nobunaga sat down, he did not speak. The meeting was chaired by Oda Nobutada, the head of the family.

He said loudly: "I have called you all together today to discuss what to do with Settsu."

Settsu was an important large country, with a height of 360,000 mu. It was located on the west side of the capital. To the north was Tamba Province in the Hokusetsu Mountains; to the west was Harima Province in the Rokko Mountains; to the northeast was Yamashiro Province in the Kyoto Basin; to the southeast was Kawachi Province; to the south was connected to Izumi Province through Sakaimachi; and across the sea from Osaka Bay was Awaji Province.

The north of the country is mountainous, the south is plain, and along the coast is Osaka Bay at the eastern end of the Seto Inland Sea.

As a junction of land and sea transportation, Settsu is an advanced region that was developed early.

It has been a transit area for trade between western Japan and Korea since the Heian period.

Later, Taira no Kiyomori built Owada-domori here as a base for Sino-Japanese trade. The importance he attached to this place can be seen from the relocation of the capital to Fukuhara.

By the Muromachi period, the important strategic significance of this place had not changed. The shogunate established half-county guardians, county guardians, etc., and set up many guardians in one country to control it.

At the same time, due to the relatively developed domestic and foreign trade and agriculture, the peasant class with abundant economic power gradually became samurai, forming powerful samurai groups such as the Watanabe Party.

In the Ishiyama region of the country, there is a large town called Terauchi, which is controlled by Honganji Temple.

Therefore, stabilizing Settsu was something that Oda Nobunaga attached great importance to, and he either sent his trusted aides or someone with strong abilities to go there.

Regarding this matter, Oda Nobunaga hesitated between Ikeda Terumasa and Tsuda Nobutora.

Because one of them is his childhood friend and his close confidant. With him around, he doesn't worry about chaos in Settsu.

As for Tsuda Nobutora, with Nobutora governing Settsu, not only can Settsu be stabilized, but also Settsu's power can be integrated to help him attack Honganji.

Nobunaga was unable to make a decision, so he had to hold a meeting to see what was going on. When Nobutada said that he wanted to resolve the issue of Settsu's ownership, everyone present had a change of expression, even Nobutora was somewhat moved.

All along, he never took the initiative to ask Nobunaga for rewards, but that didn't mean he didn't want rewards. He just felt that Nobunaga should treat his meritorious ministers unfairly.

After taking over Settsu this time, Nobutora had some ideas about expanding the territory.

After all, there are only four years left until the tenth year of Tensho, and he needs more territory and strength.

Nobutora spoke first, "Although I have resolved Araki Murashige's rebellion, people in Settsu are still unsettled, and Honganji will definitely take advantage of the situation, especially in the southern part of Settsu, which was originally the sphere of influence of Honganji.

During the period when Araki Murashige was attacking Honganji, many people had secret dealings with Honganji and took over Settsu. The first problem was to resolve this matter.

In addition, Settsu is located along the coast, and the Mori navy is still rampant in Osaka Bay. In other words, while staying in Settsu, one has to guard against sneak attacks from the Mori clan.

It can be said that even if one wants to secure the position of the Lord of Settsu, a lot of manpower and energy are still needed."

Ikeda Tsuneoki immediately said: "This question is not difficult. As for the Mori family, their navy is very powerful in Osaka Bay, but it is average when it comes ashore, so we only need to set up some sentries and pay attention to the movements of the Mori navy.

As for the matter of Honganji, it is not difficult. We just need to follow Nobunaga-dono's previous arrangements and deploy troops to guard the strategic locations."

Ikeda Terumasa was somewhat pleased with himself. This was a plan he had been thinking about for several days, so there was absolutely no problem with it.

Ke Xinhu shook his head and said, "Lord Ikeda, where are these troops coming from when you are talking about sending troops to garrison strategic locations? If they are being transferred from Settsu, how is that different from the situation that Araki Murashige faced before?

But if we transfer troops from the Oda clan, how many troops will we need? Now we still need to eliminate the rebellion of Matsunaga and his son, the rebellion of Tamba, and fight with the Mori clan for Harima, Tamari and other countries. I am afraid we don’t have enough troops.”

Ikeda Terumasa subconsciously looked at Oda Nobunaga. What he had thought of before was asking his big brother Nobunaga to help him.

But he also understood Nobunaga's temperament, and now it depends on which side Nobunaga stands on.

Oda Nobutada frowned and said, "In that case, the Settsu issue is not so easy to resolve. The biggest problem is to get rid of the influence of Honganji on Settsu."

Oda Nobunaga asked, "Nobutora, what about you? What are you going to do?"

Nobutora immediately replied, “After pacifying Settsu this time, the Settsu generals fear my reputation and strength, so it will not be difficult to suppress them.

Without these people causing trouble, the remaining ones are just a bunch of small fry who I can easily deal with.

Nobunaga-dono, leave Settsu to me, and I promise that next year Settsu will belong entirely to the Oda family."

Nobutora's confidence made Ikeda Terumasa lack confidence.

Nobunaga looked at the ambitious Nobutora, laughed, and said, "Nobutora, you seem to have returned to 20 years ago. Although you were steady at that time, the ambition in your eyes could not be hidden at all!
Okay, okay, since you have shown your ambition, I have nothing to say, I will give you the Settsu Award!"

Settsu is a big country with a territory of 360,000 koku!

Nobutora already had a territory of 250,000 koku, and with Settsu, that would be 610,000 koku!
Tsuda Nobutora is still the number one in the Oda family.

However, Nobunaga's promise did not stop there. He continued, "Take over Honganji Temple, and your other territories will be transferred to Izumi River. This is my reward to you."

When everyone heard this, their eyes widened. Although Izumi was a small country, it had 140,000 stones, and Kawachi had 240,000 stones.

In other words, if Nobutora captured Honganji Temple, he would be granted an additional 130,000 koku of territory.

By then, Nobutora's total territory will be around 740,000 koku!

Such a reward made all the elders crazy!

Their eyes turned red with envy, and now, they just wanted to make merit, make merit, and make more merit!
Although Nobunaga only drew a pie in the sky, Nobutora decided to eat it and took over the three countries of Settsu, Izumi and Kawachi. This was a great thing!
"Ha ha!"

Xinhu saluted solemnly.

Oda Nobutada smiled and said, “Now that the Settsu issue has been resolved, let’s talk about the Matsunaga family.

It's almost November. I'm afraid it will be difficult to attack Xingui Mountain Castle now. Father-in-law, do you have any suggestions?"

Nobutora thought for a moment and said, "The reason why Matsunaga Hisahide took action only after Araki Murashige started a rebellion was because he was worried about his own lack of strength.

He originally wanted to cooperate with Araki Murashige, but Araki Murashige had been eliminated by me, and Matsunaga Hisahide was unable to wait for the other party's cooperation, so he naturally would not act rashly.

I think the master of the family does not need to rush to attack the Matsunaga family. We can wait until next spring or summer to send troops to attack. It will not be too late. "

Oda Nobutada tilted his head to look at Oda Nobunaga and asked, "What do you think, father?"

Oda Nobunaga nodded and said, "Although time waits for no one, it is a good thing to be cautious in war. There is no need to rush to deal with the Matsunaga family."

Oda Nobutada nodded, and then announced: "We will talk about the attack on the Matsunaga family next year."

After discussing these two things, everyone dispersed.

However, Nobutora becoming the lord of Settsu Province was something worth celebrating, so he immediately pulled Niwa Nagahide and others, who had not yet left, to drink and celebrate.

However, Ikeda Terumasa didn't take it seriously. He just exchanged a few polite words and then parted ways.

Nobutora didn't say much, turned around and walked out of the Honmaru with Niwa Nagahide and the others.

The news that Nobutora would become the lord of Settsu Province soon spread, and this news was not good news for the Mori family and Honganji.

After all, the Mori family and Honganji had suffered a lot at the hands of Tsuda Nobutora. With such a famous general sitting at their doorstep, anyone would be uneasy.

The most panicked one was Honganji Kenshin, after all, Tsuda Shingen was really sitting at his doorstep.

Xianru could no longer keep his face calm. He looked at the monks below anxiously and asked, "I want to ask you what should we do now? Tsuda Nobutora is Oda Nobunaga's loyal dog. Now that he has captured Settsu, I'm afraid he can't wait to rush up and bite us!

Honganji is in danger! Everyone, why are you keeping silent? "

(End of this chapter)