One day in late June, when the white sun was about to reach its peak, Namba Right Hyogo Takeuchi Nakamaro came to the tax house in the port with his clogs on his feet and as leisurely and relaxed as usual.

Unlike the low, low thatched huts that can be seen everywhere, Namba's tax house was built ten years ago with the help of several Dazhao maritime merchants, and there are all the walls, main gates, ritual gates, courtyard walls, halls, wings, corner gates, side yards, and backyards, and they all exude the grandeur and calm spirit of the Celestial Empire. Even the two horse-tethered stakes on one side of the gate are carved out of a single piece of stone. Such extravagance is simply unheard of luxury. As a result, Namba's tax house became famous, and it was also quite famous in Heiankyo. It's just that there isn't a single horse in Namba Castle today, and everyone from the castle guard courtiers to the main platform is riding in ox carts, so these majestic tethered stakes are useless at all.

As Takeuchi Nakamaro approached the tax house, his colleague, Namba Zuo Hyogo Tachigoshishi, had just gotten off the ox cart and was smiling and looking at him.

"Tokuki-sama," Takeuchi Nakamaro affectionately called the name of the Buddha of Tachibana Foot, "didn't you say that when you entered Beijing the other day, you were going to visit a few good friends?" It's been less than half a month, why did you come back? As he spoke, he had a strange and curious expression on his face.

Orange Stone returned the salute and said with a smile: "This trip went smoothly, so I came back a few days early." I'm very lucky, first met Fujiwara Kamiyasu-sama, you know, he is a master of waka, although in the past two or three years rarely make new waka, but Kamiyasu-sama's attainments in waka, how can my generation be able to match? This time, I was able to see Shangkang-sama with my own eyes, and I was able to listen to Shangkang-sama's guidance, and I really don't know how many lifetimes of cultivation I have obtained. At the Asuka Temple Annex, I also met Arima Shosho and Ni Shaosho ......"

"Oh?" Takeuchi Nakamaru snorted in shock. He had also heard of these two men. These two are both Japanese singers, one is a little talented, and the other is that they are from famous families, and there is no shortage of praise around them, so they have been in the limelight in recent years, and some people have already compared them to the dead Purple Shibu. He took two steps closer and asked in a low voice, "In that case, I think Tokugi-sama also has a good work to reconcile with the two song immortals, right?" ”

Tachibana smiled reservedly, but did not mention it again, and turned to other things in Kyoto. It wasn't until the two of them sat down in the hall that the tax collector brought the tea soup, and there were no more people in the house to obstruct the eyes, Tachibana Shizu slowly retracted the flirtatious smile on his face, and stared at the two cherry blossom trees in the courtyard in front of the house with a faint gaze, and was silent for a long time.

Takeuchi Nakamaro didn't speak, his eyelids drooped, and he sipped the bitter and salty tea soup one after another.

After a long time, Tachibana let out a long breath and said, "The Emperor is gone." ”

Takeuchi Nakamaro's eyebrows twitched, but he didn't raise his head, and said coldly: "Emperor Shijo's body is already weak, and people who can't do without the medicine jar for the first three hundred and sixty days of the year are really suffering when they live. After a pause, he asked, "Reliable information?" ”

"The events at the beginning of the month have not yet been announced to the sixty-six countries in the world. This is what the chief told me privately, and it should be reliable. ”

Takeuchi Nakamaro nodded slightly. Tachibana Naganori, the brother of Tachibana Stonefoot, has an unclear relationship with Fujiwara Tokiko, the empress of Emperor Koryizumi, and Fujiwara Concubine, the empress of Emperor Shijo, and the news revealed from him should be believed. But even if the news is credible, what does it have to do with the two of them? Emperor Shijo is dead, and the Fujiwara family will set up another emperor, anyway, they have done this kind of thing more than once, practice makes perfect, and it is impossible to cause any trouble this time.

He refilled himself with tea and asked in a deep voice, "Is there any news related to the new emperor in Kyori?" ”

Orange Foot shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of it. There is no definite news there. After a moment of silence, he added, "However, before I left Beijing, I heard that someone was asking about the whereabouts of a monk. ”

"Where's the monk?" Takeuchi Nakamaro asked casually.

"It is the sutra monk of Asuka Temple, the first three mouths of the Buddha's name." Tachibana said casually, "I inquired, there are many people in Kyoto who know about this monk, but not much. This monk has a bit of ability, from the former Emperor Houshan to the Emperor Shijo who just died, he can pull a little relationship with the four emperors before and after. It's just that this monk doesn't know much about people, and he generally doesn't interact with people, and others don't pay attention to him, so he doesn't receive any appreciation from those people. That is, occasionally recruited into the palace to preach the scriptures, or happened to meet in the monastery, and called to the side to say a few words. ”

"I know this monk. This man went to sea to Goryeo last year; Some people also say that he actually went to Da Zhao. Takeuchi Nakamaro chimed in with a pottery cup. Asuka Temple is the main temple of the Soga family, and he is more concerned about every grass, tree, movement and stillness in his place. But he frowned immediately, and didn't know what he was thinking, so he muttered to himself for a long time, "Strange thing, how could anyone inquire about his whereabouts?" ”

Orange Stone Foot couldn't figure out the reason. But he is a frivolous and free man in his bones, although he also has the heart to revitalize the family Guangda Orange Clan, but the time and place are favorable, and he does not cooperate, he has no enthusiasm, but he can only cry out in vain. Since he couldn't figure it out, he didn't bother to bother with it, so he brought up another interesting story.

"When I went back to Kyoto, I heard a folk song." Since he wasn't talking about any major matter that "can't be said to outsiders", Orange Shizu put away his cautious thoughts, took a sip of tea soup, let go of his voice and said in a loud voice:

"The phoenix roared in the distance, and I don't know how many people were shocked under the moon.

The ghost cried on the mountain in Takashihara, and the sound of the imperial ship was not heard in the distance. ”

"Since April, this song-like ballad has been circulating in. Some people say that this is a good omen, and some people say that this song is a big murderer. He looked at Takeuchi Nakamaro with a mocking look on his face. You have always been conceited, and you always boast of yourself as Takeuchi Susui in front of me, come and go, tell me, is this ballad about evil or auspicious? ”

Takeuchi Nakamaro suddenly had a wry smile on his face. Like proverbs and taboos, Nineteen has to wait until something happens before he can slowly figure out some tastes, and if he wants to judge the good and bad in advance before it happens, at least he doesn't have the ability to do it. Otherwise, why would his family not even dare to make his family name "Su My Clan" public, but could only use the surname of the ancestor Takeuchi Suyou?

Orange Stone waited for a long time, and when he saw that he was speechless, he said with three points of smugness: "You, the Takeuchi Su of the world, also have a time when you are wisely poor?" Come, and wait for me, Mr. Tokuki, to explain the mystery for you. The ancestor of the Fujiwara clan, Nakatomi Kamazu, was born in Takaichi, and it is clear that this ballad is inseparable from the Fujiwara clan. Mifune, it's probably our Nambatsu. Emperor Jimmu came here by boat, and when he saw that the water was turbulent, he named it Naniwa, and Namba and Naniwa were just the same phonetic differences. It can be seen that the disaster of the Fujiwara clan must be related to our Namba......"

As the saying goes, "You see things in the day and dream in the night", Tachibana Ishizu pondered how to revive the Tachibana clan all day long, and when he saw a proverbial ballad that was likely to herald the Fujiwara clan's catastrophe, he naturally put his mind on it. For more than ten days, he has pondered this ballad over and over again I don't know how many times. Whether it is far-fetched or self-righteous, in a word, he feels that he has understood the true meaning of this proverb. Thinking that the fierce Fujiwara clan was about to come to a catastrophe, and the Tachibana clan, which had been ruined for one or two hundred years, was likely to take advantage of the situation to make a comeback, his heart was indescribably excited and excited. However, the matter is very high, although he has participated in the folk songs, but he can't tell others, and there is no need to mention this heart-scratching feeling in his heart. Finally returned to Namba according to his temperament, and saw the first confidant in his life again, this is really a long drought and nectar, and suddenly opened his mouth, wah, wow wow is from the sky to the earth, from ancient times to the present, all the way to the ground, straight ears, red face, dry lips, dry tongue, tendons, then stop panting and drinking water.

For his words, Takeuchi Nakamaro was half-believing and half-unbelieving. Although the Soga family began to fall three or four hundred years ago, and even the family name is no longer mentioned, no matter what, after all, it is also a big family that once had a name and surname in the history of the Wa Kingdom, and now the Fujiwara clan that covers the sky with one hand also stood up by stepping on the corpse of the Soga family. Being able to become a stepping stone for the Fujiwara clan is also the pride and confidence of the Soga family, even if others want to be this stone, they don't have this opportunity! The so-called "hundred-legged insect dies but does not stiffen", although Su My family has been dilapidated for a long time, there are always some family backgrounds preserved. For example, Takeuchi Nakamaro's father was proficient in Sinology, and his grandfather was also a well-known Confucian; And he himself is familiar with the "Analects" and "Mencius", and the three art of war of "The Beginning", "Attack" and "Fiction and Reality" hidden at home are also well memorized. It's a pity that he is not in the time when he is not with others, and he has learned all the skills in vain, and he can only have heroic ambitions but useless places, and he can't stretch his arms and can't stretch his hands, and he is wronged to be a mediocre tax boss in this small tax office.

However, although his ability was useless, it did not prevent him from pondering what he had figured out in the orange stone. Like Orange Stone, he also had a lucky thought in his heart: if the lyrics in the folk song become a prophecy, wouldn't Su my family be bitter? He Wu Nei Zhong Ma Lu, doesn't he have a heaven and earth stage to display his ambitions? Maybe he can become a generation of celebrities.

Two people are like-minded, and they have been friends for many years, and you and I will help with the prompts, and the more you say, the more it seems to be like there is such a thing. Seeing that the defeat of the Fujiwara clan was imminent, the hearts of both of them were on fire. But the question is, even if the Fujiwara clan is destroyed, the benefits will not necessarily fall on the Tachibana clan and the Soga clan, so what will they do to make the two families prosper again?

After a long time, Takeuchi Nakamaro sighed, shook his head and said, "The second sentence of this ballad is related to the Fujiwara clan, and this point will not be much worse. But this first sentence 'The phoenix in the distance is singing in the sky, and I don't know how many people are shocked under the moon' is really without a beginning or an end, and the meaning in it is impossible to comprehend it at all. ”

"yes." Orange Foot nodded. After thinking about it for so long, he didn't find the slightest clue. He pressed two fingers against his temples, and said as he pondered, "The point is that I don't know what to do with the word 'phoenix'." I thought about it for a long time, and I carefully sorted out almost all the names of places and celebrities related to Phoenix in the sixty-six countries, but I always couldn't understand the truth. He stared at the pottery cup in his hand for a long time, thinking about it and always missing the point, a breath of resentment came up, and he couldn't help but complain: "Why do you say that the person who made up this ballad has to say something phoenix?" If he talks about a bird or something, won't he leave a hint for people......" He suddenly stopped, and looked at Takeuchi Nakamaro with a pale face.

It was noon, and the June sun was shining outside the hall, and the sun was shining on the courtyard in a white and dazzling light; The hall was eerie and chilling. The sea breeze blowing from the Seto Sea pierced through the windows under the eaves, and the whining of the wind, which I had been accustomed to hearing for a long time, was now as terrible as a ghost's howl...... The two of them stared at each other for a long time, and a sentence popped out of their mouths in unison:

"Asuka Temple!"

"The first three!"

After speaking, the two of them stopped talking for a long time, and they felt a bone-chilling chill spread from the top of their heads down their spines to the soles of their feet, and in the blink of an eye, all their limbs seemed to be frozen.

Orange Stone trembled and picked up the pottery cup, and most of the tea soup was poured on the placket of his clothes. He didn't even bother to wipe the water stains on the corners of his mouth and chin, and asked stumblingly, "Fujiwara...... Fujiwara Yoritsu ...... He, he looked for the first three...... For, for...... For what? ”

Takeuchi Nakamaro shook his head slowly. He also didn't know why the Fujiwara family was looking everywhere for the whereabouts of the first three. With a blue and white face, he tried to squeeze a word out of his teeth, but several attempts were unsuccessful, so he had to pretend to be calm and not say a word.

When the two men were anxious about their unprovoked actions to break the will of heaven, the two tax collectors slammed into the gate one after the other and fell into a rolling gourd:

"Lord Hyogo left, Lord Hyogo right, no, no......"