In mid-November of the 4th year of Motogame (1571), after the siege of the Imperial Palace was relieved by the army of Hirate Honhide, they pursued the fleeing Matsunaga rebel army north, and finally stopped in front of Mt. Hiei and waited for the decision of the shogun.

Who knew that such a wait would be ten days and a half months of effort.

Ashikaga Yoshiaki very warmly received Hite, clasped his hands with tears in his eyes, and repeatedly emphasized: "If it weren't for the rescue of the criminal department, I'm afraid I would have suffered an accident!" I really don't know how to repay this deep kindness! ”

But as soon as the topic of whether to pursue the poor man was mentioned, the princess immediately talked about him left and right, and finally only said: "This matter is not trivial, wait for me to find out the truth, think twice, and please be calm." ”

Vaguely, Hijo felt that there seemed to be a strange sense of alienation and vigilance in the other party's words.

This emotion can certainly be uncomfortable, but it is not incomprehensible given the current delicate situation. At least on the surface, there can be no hint of dissatisfaction.

So Hirate Tsunosu took out his acting skills very seriously, and his face flashed with resentment, puzzlement, but determination, trying his best to show that "although everyone is very aggrieved and difficult to accept this decision, I will resolutely abide by the order and restrain my impulses for the sake of the overall situation".

I don't know if the other side can understand such a complicated play.

Anyway, Ashikaga Yoshiaki also nodded slowly with relief and a hint of shame.

When you meet an opponent in chess, you will meet a good talent, the monarch and the minister are suitable, and the guests and hosts are happy.

After some gossip, Hirate Hirate Hinoshi didn't seem to inadvertently ask about Oda Nobunaga, but Ashikaga Yoshiaki still didn't answer, and immediately changed the subject, not wanting to go on at all.

It was only when it came to Akechi Mitsuhide, Kinoshita Hideyoshi, and Shibata Katsuie, the old generals of the Oda family, and the three people who were also the "heroes" of defending the city this time, that the princess showed a trace of hesitation and embarrassment.

It's fleeting.

Tie hands show to live with himself, and he thinks that this "fleeting" is the only true emotion.

From this detail, we can infer a little bit about the delicate situation inside the shogunate.

As for the specifics, it is really impossible to judge to what extent the situation has developed. No matter how much we send grassroots intelligence personnel to keep an eye on and steal secrets, it is difficult to draw accurate conclusions about such abstract things, and we must have sufficiently high-grade information channels.

Ise Sadako's relationship gradually turned cold, and Akechi Mitsuhide's friendship did not reach that stage, not to mention the other shoguns. On the other hand, Shibata and Kinoshita have experienced too many changes in the past two years, and they can't be regarded as old colleagues.

If you want to know the inside story of the shogunate, you have to find another way.

Since the general could not make up his mind, then the army could not attack the mountain to find trouble with the group of monks. But the remnants of Matsunaga are still hiding in the temple, so they can't just leave. Therefore, the flat hand can only stand still and let all the staff be stationed near Kyoto to standby.

Fortunately, the food supply prepared was very sufficient, Ina Tadaji was in charge of the overall management, Nagashu Masae and Masuda Nagamori were deputies, Asano Nagayoshi, Hirate Jiyin, Kinoshita Hidenaga and others were separated from each other, and the material resources of Izumi, Awaji, and Kii were continuously transported to the front. In terms of rations alone, according to the excess standard of one liter of brown rice per person per day, the existing reserves can support more than one year.

It's enough for the soldiers to spend the winter outside with peace of mind.

Heide Honhide spent his main energy on pacifying the generals, and at the same time ordered Baixiang Jiajia to lead a detachment of 2,000 troops south to Yamato, observe the form of the Matsunaga family's lair, and sent a letter to Tsutsui Shunkei, asking for cooperation, and posing as if he was about to draw a salary.

He didn't officially apply to the shogunate, but just sent someone to say hello casually. Won't Ashikaga Yoshiaki not give this face?

It's not difficult to think of this hand - you have a good relationship with the monk, and you can't come out by hiding on Mt. Hiei? Wow, I wonder if you don't even want your family anymore.

Not to mention anything else, Matsunaga's father, Matsunaga Xiu, who has nominally retired, still lives in Xinguishan Castle! The soldiers were all taken away, and an old man who was nearly seventy years old could still run?

As a result, the thickness of the old fox's face was once again impressive.

Before the joint forces of Baixiang Jiajia and Tsutsui Shunqing drove to the city, Matsunaga Xiu took the initiative to contact the door and said that he would surrender.

It is said that this great sin of besieging the royal palace is useless no matter how sincere you repent. Kosson's defense is:

"Since the abdication of the old man and the seclusion, his physical strength has been declining day by day, and until this year, he has only been awake for only one or two hours a day, and he has been in the family for a long time, and he really doesn't know how to collude with Takeda and fight against the shogunate. When I heard that my unfilial rebel had made such a big rebellion, I was terrified...... Words are no longer enough. Knowing that this crime is unforgivable, it should be punished by the clan, and there is no shame to survive, but please forgive those unenlightened babies and children for the sake of thin faces! ”

That's going to be hard.

An old man who is almost seventy years old, who is still appointed by the imperial court to "play Zheng Shaobi from the fourth", and the "imperial offerings" recognized by the shogunate, is now rickety, goosebumps, and crying bitterly, wearing single clothes, shaving his hair barefoot and kneeling in the ice and snow, red and swollen from the top and bottom, even his old enemy Tsutsui Shunkei is embarrassed to take revenge, how can the benevolent Lord of the Tie Punishment Department not have a heart of pity?

Otherwise, he will be scolded as "cruel" by the ministers, monks and cultural people.

What's more, Matsu Yongxiu's defense does sound like there is a little bit of truth, at least logically.

Believe it or not, anyway, Bai Xiang Jiajia was taken aback, and he didn't have time to think about it, so he quickly asked someone to help the old man in front of him into the tent, take good care of him, and don't let him have an accident.

At that time, Matsunaga Xiu couldn't even open his eyelids, his body was cold and hot, his limbs were stiff, his breath was like a gossamer, his pulse was weak, and his speech was incoherent.

The three physicians stood by the side, and the stove was close to an hour later, and after feeding some hot medicinal soup, they finally recovered their strength and regained their basic sanity.

……

Afterwards, the tie Fan Xiu knew, and he could only smile bitterly.

If you are there in person, you will find a way to delay and delay, let this fox freeze to death, and then mourn and reminisce about it, won't everything be fine?

I just sent a politically sensitive person to worship the hometown Jiajia in the past, and if he didn't check it for a while, he fell into passivity.

Now that the living Matsunaga Show has been sent to the front, although the other party "sincerely" asks for death to apologize for the crime and the whole family, but the flat hand Tsutsu Xiu can't do it easily.

In fact, it should be Ashikaga Yoshiaki who wants to kill him the most, but our general will definitely not bear the pot of this "execution of important people". He's not Oda Nobunaga.

As a result, Matsunaga was only allowed to live a few more days and wait for his son to accept the arrangement.

After dealing with the affairs of Yamato Province for a short time, Hirate Honhide finally received good news from the western country.

And it's a good thing in pairs.

The first one is expected:

Encouraged by unknown people, without the consent of the Mori family, he raised 20,000 troops to attack the Ukita Nao, who had returned to the Urakami camp. However, the Ukita Naojia, who only had more than 3,000 people, adopted strategies such as deception, exhaustion of the enemy, and discord, and achieved a great victory by being outnumbered. Ukikatsu Oka and Hanabo Ikuhide even pursued to the border of Bigo Province for a time. Mimura Motokin's soldiers were defeated, and the people rebelled and left, and in a hurry, they had to ask the main family for help, and Kobayakawa Takakei had left Shikoku in order to stabilize the situation, and crossed the sea by boat to Binchu.

The other is a bonus:

Asai Nagamasa, who took advantage of Bizen, made a gesture of returning to the court and escorting King Qin in Kyoto, so Urakami Sokei did his best to dry up and fish, mobilizing more than the limit of troops in an attempt to recapture Murozu Castle, but he happened to be lured by the enemy's plan. The main force of Asai went and returned, but suddenly turned back and joined forces with Kuroda Takatakari, who had stayed behind in Murozu Castle, to launch a surprise attack. Urakami Sokei didn't expect that Asai really didn't return to Kinai, and he was caught off guard by surprise, and the army was routed and scattered, and it was out of control.

In a word, Ukita defeated Maori (the subordinate sample) and forced a large number of Chinese to land; Urakami Munekei was defeated by Asai and completely lost hope of retaking Murozu Castle.

The ups and downs of Sanyo Road are really wonderful.

Honda Masanobu, who hurried back to restore his life, had no time to ask for credit, but another important news came:

"The subordinates learned halfway through that Urakami Sokei might have elected the Ukita Naoya family as the head of the Bizen country at the cost of reversing the master-slave relationship, so as to save the remaining inheritance and the lives of the whole family."

In this regard, Tieshou Fanxiu sighed: "It's really unbelievable and reasonable. Urakami Zongjing can bend and stretch is a hero, and the Ukita Naojia is a dragon among people. ”

That's what a sword-wielding person should do, and it's really unpleasant to have to think about political repercussions in everything in Kyoto!

- I didn't say this openly, but in front of the close retainers, I didn't bother to cover it up too much.

At the same time, Tokaido, which should theoretically be making more noise, is gradually settling down.

Not because of the confrontation between the two sides, but because the weather suddenly turned cold.

Originally, Tokugawa Ieyasu's castle was about to be besieged, and Oda Nobutada's army was blocked in the west of Mikawa and could not break through even a single step. But since the beginning of December, the temperature has dropped sharply again, and even the normally warm seashore is showing signs of freezing, and the soldiers have no way to camp outside the city, otherwise the non-combat attrition in the field will rise sharply.

Takeda Shingen, who was limited by the supply line, had to withdraw the main force to the eastern part of Enjiang and even Suruga to recuperate.

Oda Nobutada, who had lower quality soldiers and greater losses, immediately returned to Cheongju Castle to take a breather.

And Tokugawa Ieyasu, despite the fact that the territory was shattered and his retainers were infiltrated and torn apart, still held on to the last few strongholds.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

More than 20,000 men from the Echizen Asakura family went south to confront the thousands of miscellaneous volunteers of Shigeharu Takenaka in the area of Mt. Sawa and were forced to a truce for the same reason.

Even though he was a wise general, he was powerless to change the weather, so he could only say goodbye to the shogunate and return to Kishiwada Castle with his subordinates.

Then, before he could sit still, he immediately received urgent letters from several forces.

They are from Honganji, the Oda family, and Shigeharu Takenaka.

It seems that although the army could not withstand the bitter cold, the messengers had to work overtime in the wind and snow.