After "generously" relinquishing the wealthy Izumi country, Heide Hoshu moved to Awaji Island with his family and soldiers, and established a temporary guard center in the harbor in the southeast of the island.

Because it is not convenient to transport stone across the sea, and there is no plan to live here, the scale of the whole building is not very large, and it is mainly made of wood and screen panels, and the inside and outside are simply divided into three floors, and there is no castle tower. This is naturally different from Kishiwada Castle, where he was stationed in Izumi before.

However—

As the saying goes, the mountain is not high, and there are immortals; The water is not deep, and if there is a dragon, it will be spiritual. Although the city is small and simple, there is a famous general in the world, Ping Shoucheng, who sits here, and in the eyes of outsiders, it is equivalent to a high wall and a deep wall, and there are countless barriers.

Crossing the shallow moat and the gate of the civil structure, there is a wide hall within a few steps, used for meetings and government affairs, there are no facilities such as tigers' mouths, horses or arrows around, and there are only more than a dozen ashigaru guarding the door, which can be imagined that there is not much defense, at a glance, even the village of ordinary people may not be able to catch up, and the sense of solemnity and majesty is completely gone.

Waiting in this audience hall at this moment are a total of three religious people. The first is the old friend of the master of the equal hand, the high monk of the Rinzai sect, and now the tiger Zai Zongyi who is now placing an order with the spring country. This man originally inherited his master's footsteps and served as the abbot of the famous Mino Sofukuji Temple, but in recent years, he has been ostracized by the Nichiren sect, which is a close confidant of Nobunaga, so he came here to avoid trouble.

In the Tiger Ya Zongyi, it is a local monk of Hequan, the abbot of Fude Temple, the pure Zen master. This man is gray-haired, his Zen name is not obvious, he is not very famous in the "religious academic circles", although he is a monk, his mind is all about secular affairs, and after 20 years of operation, he is an out-and-out local snake force.

The last person is younger, and he is the thirty-first Omiya Division of Otori Shrine, and he is also the highest-ranking priest in Izumi, known as Tashiro Jingan. Generally speaking, Shinto can't play Buddhism in Fuso, so this guy can only be in the last seat. Moreover, his position as the chief of the palace was inherited from father and son, and his prestige itself was not enough.

Needless to say, these three religious figures are more or less "city people" who have seen the world, and they have visited famous mountains and cities, and they have visited big people, and they have the temperament of ordinary monks. What's more, Tiger Zai Zongyi has a close relationship with Tieshou Tsunoxiu.

So they didn't need to wait slowly with their names like ordinary visitors, but found Asano Nagayoshi, a retainer of the Heite family, to be the middleman and came in through the back door. Asano also immediately paid attention to it, and quickly took three guests to the castle, and then he reported to the lord alone, and arranged for Sugihara Sunbei, who was the second seat of the "side to the people", to accompany the guests.

Sugihara took a few waiters, naturally with a purging spirit, and dealt with it carefully.

However, after a few greetings, he found that except for Hu Zai Zongyi, who was neither humble nor arrogant, the other two guests did not take much care of people. The pure Zen master was still reluctant, so he smiled and agreed twice, but the Tashiro Omiya Division of the "Big Bird Shrine" only said "um", and then made an unintentional dialogue, no longer moving, just frowning, staring at the direction where the Hisho Tsushu might come.

Seeing this situation, compared to the previous scene where the guests were talking and laughing with Asano Nagayoshi, Sugihara Sunbei felt that he was despised, and he was even a little resentful. However, he also knows his own weight, although it is a group of relatives and friends, but the blood relationship is not close enough, and the qualifications are very shallow, and he has just been listed as a member of the "Near Xi Dynasty", and his status is far from high.

I was unhappy in my heart, but I didn't dare to show it, which was extremely uncomfortable. Sugihara was already ordinary, not very alert, so he simply didn't talk much. Although the cold scene is embarrassing, it is better than causing contradictions.

Therefore, after a while, when the flat hand came to the meeting hall from the back door, the two guests, who had long been impatient, immediately saw the movement and rushed over like arrows from the string.

Tashiro Omiya Tsukasa of Otori Shrine is younger, and his body is also the most flexible, three steps and two steps, and he crawled in front of Hirata Hira, and immediately fell to his knees, wept bitterly, and wailed:

"Lord Zhongwu, please be the master of the company! The foundation of the Big Bird Shrine that has been inherited for hundreds of years, if it is destroyed today, the villain is really not enough to apologize! ”

This line and performance came too quickly, leaving no time for reaction, and even the tie Fan Xiu couldn't help but be stunned.

With such acting skills, you can mix at most in the middle of the art hall in Kyoto - Sugihara Sun Bingwei silently vomited in his heart, deeply feeling disgusted by this snob.

Immediately afterwards, the white-haired old Zen master also used all his strength to take a few steps forward, fell to the ground with a plop, and added to the flat hand: "Master Zhongwu Mingjian!" I am here today because the three new guardians appointed by the shogunate in Izumi Province have acted perversely and done evil, which is unbearable, so Tashiro Omiya Tsukasa is so out of shape, please Nakabu Lord Wan Haihan. ”

Immediately, Hu Zai Zong Yicai sighed lightly, slowly stepped forward, and bowed his head with a little self-reproach: "Alas...... The poor monk really has the trust of the master of the middle office! ”

When the words landed, the owner of this place, Pingshou Fenxiu, still looked like he didn't understand the situation, and his face was full of doubts. After a while, he made an expression of "just reacted", and first asked someone to help Tashiro Omiya and Zen Master Jing up, and each sat down. Then Tieshou Fan Xiucai sat on the main seat slowly, looked around, and said leisurely:

"You've worked hard from afar...... It's just that...... Didn't I leave Izumi a few months ago? I'm afraid it's hard to get involved in the things over there now. ”

The flat hand is very polite, but the expression and tone are very indifferent, without adding any exaggerated elements, revealing a hidden attitude of rejecting people thousands of miles away.

As soon as these words came out, the face of the old Zen master Jingjing, who had just sat firmly, changed again, and sighed, his face showed a mixture of self-blame, anger and helplessness, and replied: "The old man naturally knows that coming here today has added a lot of trouble to Lord Pingshou, but I really have no other way!" If it is only a poor monk who suffers some grievances, for the sake of the overall situation, he should endure it, but now it is dozens of temples and shrines in Hequan that are being humiliated, which is equivalent to the difficulty of gods and Buddhas! ”

The old monk's eloquence is not bad, and in three or two sentences, the contradiction is pushed to the height of the gods and Buddhas, so that the flat hand Fan Xiu has to show a little more attention.

"The thing...... Is it that serious? Fan Xiu asked out loud, but it was his old friend Hu Zai Zongyi. Apparently he didn't trust the two religious people he didn't know very well, and he was not relieved to hear an answer from his old friend in the end.

He didn't hide it.

It is not necessary to show acting skills in all political occasions, nine truths and one falsehood is a clever means.

The more clever thing is to never tell lies, but only subtly use narrative techniques to guide.

Huya Zongyi hadn't been in a hurry to speak until he was asked, so he bowed to the flat hand, nodded, and replied in a deep voice: "During this period of time, the monks and priests in Hequan have indeed lived like a year, and the situation of 'temple and community autonomy' that you have promoted has been completely destroyed. ”

As soon as these words came out, they hit the nail on the head.

Whether the temples and shrines in Izumi Province are doing well or not, Hitetsu may not have the heart to worry about it. What kind of things like "the gods and Buddhas are humiliated" are even more insignificant.

Only when he heard that his "proud" political achievements had been ruined that the high-ranking "equal hands" adults frowned and showed displeasure.

When the pure Zen master and Tashiro Miyaji saw it, they couldn't help but admire the pinpoint kung fu of Tiger Zai Zongyi, and they regarded this foreign monk as their own in their hearts.

This is not entirely wrong.

What Tiger Zai Zongyi is doing now can be said to be helping Tieshou Fanxiu to restore his authority, and by the way, cutting off the secular forces of the gods and Buddhas, it seems that he is eating inside and out. But on the other hand, with the general trend of dividing and merging for a long time, under the strong centralized power, the temple can only give up most of the force and part of the property in order to have the capital to survive stably.

This kind of thing is not something that everyone can see.

After listening to the words of Toriya Soyi, he frowned and lowered his head to think for a while, and then asked rhetorically for a long time: "If you really have any grievances to complain about, then you should also appeal to the shogunate." In addition, there is Oda Danmasa, who can administer justice. ”

Although he still had the intention of refusing what he said, his tone had loosened a lot, revealing an attitude of "although it may not necessarily help, it doesn't hurt to listen to it".

To this extent, it has made the visitors happy, and they dare not ask for more.

After all......

"To tell you the truth, although Lao Gu has some insignificant fame in Kinkibo, the people he has met are all friends of the Green Lantern Ancient Buddha. In the face of such an important matter as the protection of a country, there is no other way to cling to it except to ask you for help. The pure Zen master's words were earnest, and his face gradually turned red, and he seemed to admit his own incompetence in his words. It's just that I don't know how much of it is true and how much of it is false.

At this time, Tashiro Miyaji also immediately added fuel and vinegar and said: "We have discussed with the monks, laymen, farmers, and businessmen in Quanguo, and the only way to ask Lord Tieshou to restore the throne is where everyone's well-being lies." In order to show our sincerity, we have the courage to prepare a gift for Master Daishou! ”

After speaking, the priest did not say a word, bent down and took out a vertical scroll from the baggage he was carrying, and opened it to see that it was actually a portrait.

On the scroll there is a samurai on horseback, majestic and exaggerated, although it is a little distorted, and it can barely be seen that it is Hirate Honshu himself. At the bottom of the side of the figure, there is a sketch of Hequan Kingdom, and just above the picture scroll, Huo Ran wrote the words "Virtuous and Wise Taishou".

Rao is flat hand has always been difficult to please, and when he saw this, he couldn't help but smile with his palms, and then said gently: "You really have a heart, you might as well settle down first, and slowly tell me about the recent situation of this and Izumi Kingdom!" ”