Chapter five hundred and sixteen Shibata helps the family
Owari Province, Inuyama Castle.
Maeda Toshiie was participating in the military meeting chaired by Shibata Katsuie. At this time, a letter arrived from Komakiyama Castle, conveying two ideas.
First, he ordered Maeda Toshiie to lead troops to Nishi Mikawa to support Matsudaira Motoyasu, who had been besieged in Okazaki Castle by the Ike, and suppress the Ike crowd.
Both of them allowed Sasaki Narimasa to join the Mother Clothes and continue to serve under Shibata Katsuie as a warrior.
When the two of them accepted Oda Nobunaga's order, the atmosphere around them became subtle.
Maeda Toshiie remained calm and Sasaki Masayo was not shy, but his expression was slightly ugly.
Shibata Katsuie glanced at the two of them, with a hint of anger in his heart.
The Oda retainers' group had different attitudes towards conquering Higashi Mino, among which Lin Xiuzhen and Sakuma Nobumori were the most slack.
As the chief family elder, Lin Xiuzhen took the wrong team in the civil war of the Oda family, which made Oda Nobunaga unhappy.
She didn't have Shibata Katsuie's military talent and military status, so of course she was left aside by the real Oda Nobunaga.
Seeing that the Lin family is about to decline, they don't want to waste the family's strength and work too hard.
Sakuma Nobumori, on the other hand, was rewarded for his meritorious service, so he thought of being a rich man, and just wanted to live a good life in Owari, and was unwilling to make any more troubles.
The most active in the battle to encroach on Higashi Mino were Maeda Toshiie and Sasana Narimasa.
Maeda Toshiie was determined to perform meritorious service in exchange for rewards to improve his status in the Shiba family, and also hoped to maintain a good personal relationship with the Owari samurai family.
She was already highly intelligent, as gentle as jade, and friendly to everyone. This time she led the troops and cooperated well with the Shibata Katsuie, which won her favor even more.
However, Sasaki Narimasa was determined to make a career, possessed both civil and military skills, and was ambitious to get ahead.
She is full of wit and brave in battle, and is also a powerful general under Shibata Katsuie.
Shibata Katsuie relied heavily on these two people, but secretly he valued Sasaki Narimasa more because Maeda Toshiie was not one of his own.
No matter how good the relationship between Maeda Toshiie and these Oda retainers is, it cannot change the fact.
She is a retainer of Shiba, and she represents the interests of the Shiba family. The rewards she receives do not belong to the Oda family, but are brought back to the Shiba territory.
No matter how many contributions Maeda Toshiie made for Shibata Katsuie in the Mino Strategy, in the end the money fell into the hands of outsiders.
Therefore, Shibata Katsuie silently gave Sasaki Narimasa more opportunities, which resulted in her great achievements in battle and her desire to flatter her master.
Of course Shibata Katsuie would be angry.
I gave you the opportunity to make meritorious deeds because I expected you to be my helper. Who would have thought that this white-eyed wolf would be wagging his tail at the governor.
Regardless of ancient or modern times, it is a taboo to go beyond your boss and connect with higher-ups.
The implicit meaning is, are you ready to be on an equal footing with me? Or are you going to climb on top of me to mess with me?
Sasana Narimasa was determined to join the Mother Clothes Group and become Oda Nobunaga's direct minister and confidant.
In the end, Oda Nobunaga gave her status, but still regarded her as an expatriate and continued to serve under Shibata Katsuie.
This made Sasa Narimasa feel disappointed and embarrassed, and also made Shibata Katsuie have a bad feeling towards her, but he couldn't express it in words.
Comparing the two, Shibata Katsuie's affection for Maeda Toshiie became stronger, and his thoughts began to tilt towards her.
She expressed concern.
"Li Jiaji, His Highness asked you to lead troops to Sanhe to help in the battle, are you sure?"
Maeda Toshiie said calmly.
"Your Highness has given orders, and you should do your best to obey them."
Maeda Toshiie was mentally prepared for the fact that Oda Nobunaga would obstruct her from performing meritorious service.
Although she used the Shiba Ashigaru Act as a stepping stone and pretended to surrender to Oda Nobunaga, the British master was not someone who was easy to fool.
Nobunaga is an extremely realistic egoist. When she sees the Maeda Toshiie's strength soaring, she will naturally suppress her and prevent her from getting out of control.
Maeda Toshiie has been with her for so many years and knows this person very well. But he didn't expect that she would send him to Mikawa.
Mikawa has always been in trouble, which is indeed troublesome.
However, Maeda Toshiie had previously been in the mountains south of Owari to defend against the Matsudaira family's attack, and had carefully studied the Nishi Mikawa and four counties.
The seemingly serious problem of the whole situation can actually be solved quickly. It depends on whether Matsudaira Motoyasu has the wisdom and means to deal with it.
From what the Tian Li family knew about Matsudaira Motoyasu in the past, this person seemed to be submissive, but was actually a strong-willed owl.
She was confident that she would help the Matsudaira family to quickly pacify the Ichikui family. This would earn her more merit, and Oda Nobunaga would only regret it even more.
I don’t know who gave Nobunaga the idea, giving the Maeda Toshiie the opportunity to become powerful within the Oda family.
Maeda Toshiie was thinking about the key. Seeing her silence, Shibata Katsuie thought she was worried about insufficient troops, so he took the initiative to speak.
"Li Jiaji, now that the East Meinong border has returned to calm, there is no need for too many troops to be stationed for the time being.
Since the Lord has an order, you can take three of my direct reserve troops to Sanhe to help with the work."
Maeda Toshiie looked at her in surprise.
Oda Nobunaga's order was for her to gather three reserve teams to go to Mikawa.
Owari Shiba has a mobilization force of thirteen thousand koku, which is barely a half reserve force. In fact, Shibata Katsuie only needs to give him a half reserve force.
Moreover, what she gave to the Maeda Toshiie was her direct elite, not the military strength of other retainers, or even the rabble of the people of the country.
This is just pretending to be stupid, misunderstanding the master's intention, and insisting on trapping the Maeda Toshi family.
On the side, Sasaki Narimasa couldn't help but said.
"Shibata-sama, are you giving too much military strength? The Lord only allows three troops..."
Shibata Katsuie turned around and glared at her, then cursed before she could finish speaking.
"Do you know how to fight or I know how to fight?
Sanhe has always been in charge of Yikui, and the number of people in Yikui will not be small. How could the Lord only allow three reserve troops?
It must be Toshiiehime who leads the Shiba army to fight, and the Oda family sends three reserve troops to assist."
Shibata Katsuie scolded Sasa Narimasa, who was stunned. She looked left and right at the samurai family in the council hall.
Everyone said that Shibata Katsuie-sama is very capable of understanding, and this is definitely what the Lord meant.
Sasaki Namasa's face turned red and he lowered his head silently.
Maeda Toshiie is a good person, and the Oda retainers sitting here have a good relationship with her. Shibata Katsuie is determined to help her, and there is no reason for others to act as bad guys and stop this.
Only Sasana Narimasa, who was sent by Oda Nobunaga, had to speak out. But she also knew that she was somewhat isolated.
Oda Nobunaga is making reforms in Owari, and there are rumors that he is going to shake up business interests and the military system.
Business profits are nothing more than that. The master wants to live alone, so everyone can make less.
Following Oda Nobunaga's external expansion and acquiring more territory, it would not be a disadvantage for the land-loving samurai family.
But the military system is the lifeblood of the Wu family. The Wu family is a hereditary noble who started by force.
Oda Nobunaga wants to promote those ashigaru who are from untouchable backgrounds and make the Hime samurai and civilians equal in military positions. This is absolutely impossible!
