The main reason why the Imperial Castle of Harima Province was the ancestral residence of the Koji family of the wealthy clan, and the main reason for holding an emergency meeting when the head of the Koji Governor was three days ago was that a major event had occurred in Bizen Province.

The Urakami family's retainer, the Ukita Naoke, publicly declared their independence and attached themselves to the Mori family, and the two families joined forces and invaded the territory of the Urakami family.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Uki family sent someone to prepare to welcome back Hisamatsumaru and invite the family to deal with the Urakami family together, and the main family, the Akamatsu family, has also agreed. Therefore, I decided...", the chief priest of the main throne pinched his beard and said with a lazy face.

"Slow down!" An important minister led below opened his mouth to interrupt what Xiao Temple wanted to say later.

"It's the guard, do you have any opinions?" The interrupted Xiaoji government office, instead of being angry, asked with some courtesy.

"Yes, my lord!" This officer and guard was the elder of the Kodera family, and Kuroda Takataka, who was later known as the "First Military Division of the Warring States", saw him bow slightly, and then talked very confidently.

His Majesty believed that future wars would inevitably revolve around the Mori and Hosokawa families. Therefore, which side to choose is a very important decision, which is related to the future of the family. Kuroda Takaka's two sentences caused a discussion among the people below, which they had never considered.

"That's... Shouldn't we be more inclined to the Maori family? Urakami Sokei is the enemy of the family. Kodera said with some uncertainty, he was just about to announce that he would join the Maori family, but looking at Kuroda Takataka's appearance, it seemed that there was a different opinion.

The Urakami family was a family during the Warring States period, and like the Bessho family and the Kodera family, they were originally Harima's wealthy families, and the main family was the Akamatsu family. But later, Urakami Munekei, the father of Urakami Sokei, killed the head of the family, Akamatsu Yoshimura, and the wealthy families of all parties supported their own young masters and began to compete with each other, as if it was a copy of the current Oda family.

In the end, the winner was the eight-year-old child Harumasa Akamatsu supported by Urakami Mune, who of course was just a puppet doll. Later, when he was eighteen years old, he was unwilling to be a puppet forever, so he and the leader Hosokawa Harumoto dealt with Urakami Muramune.

After the defeat of Urakami Muramune, Akamatsu Harimasa, who was originally going to revive the family business, was attacked by the Daimyo of the Niko family, Niko Haruma, and finally fled to Kai Town. In 1541, Niko Haruma was defeated by Mori Motosa, and Akamatsu Harumasa was restored to power and position with the assistance of the Muromachi shogunate, and returned to Harima Province.

After the death of Urakami Munemune, Urakami Munekei and his brother Urakami Masamune split over the position of family governor, and Urakami Munekei relied on Tobigo and Nannasaku to declare independence and continue to fight against the Akamatsu family. Urakami Masamune, on the other hand, held Nishi Harima, but returned to the Akamatsu family.

In 1554, Akamatsu Harumasa's newly adult son, Yoshisuke Akamatsu, did a great thing, and even secretly conspired with Miyoshi Chokei and Ataku Fuyasu to attack Hosokawa Harumoto, a great benefactor who was in Akashi Castle and the Akamatsu family in Harima Province. For this reason, the father and son of Haruma and Yoshiyu have been incompatible ever since.

In 1558, Yoshisuke Akamatsu relied on the power of Urakami Masamune to exile his father Akamatsu Harumasa and became the new head of the family. Harimasa ran to his son-in-law, Akamatsu Masahide, and used Tatsuno Castle as a base to confront Yoshisuke. In 1564, there was an incident in which Masahide Akamatsu raided Urakami Masamune's eldest son, Kiyomune, and married the daughter of Kuroda Itakaka, killing Masamune and Kiyomune's father and son.

After that, the war between Yoshisuke Akamatsu and Masashi Kodera and Masahide Akamatsu and Yasuji Bessho lasted for several years. Eventually, in 1565, Harumasa Akamatsu died of illness, and Masahide Akamatsu was eliminated five years later.

Maybe God made a joke with the Akamatsu family, and there will always be a disagreement between father and son, and Akamatsu Yoshisuke also fell out with his son Zefang for a time, and the relationship was so tense that Yoshisuke had to temporarily live in Miki Castle, which was governed by other places, but it didn't take long for the two to reconcile, and Yoshiyu also returned to Zhiyan City. However, at this time, the powerful clan of Higashi Harima Bessho Anji also began to get out of control, and the Akamatsu clan under the rule of Yoshisuke had gradually lost the power to control the surrounding lords.

"My lord, there are no eternal enemies, no eternal friends, only eternal interests. At present, the consideration is not who is the enemy, but who is most likely to be the victor, and who will be the best to follow. "Takataka Kuroda is a man who sees the big picture, and when others are still concerned about the immediate interests, he has already begun to think about who will be the final winner.

"Who is the winner? This... Isn't it a Maori family? In his impression, the Mori family is the overlord of the central region, and although the Hosokawa family was the overlord of in the previous generation, Hosokawa Nobumoto of this generation is only a retainer of the Oda family, and the Oda family is actually falling apart.

"Can the Hosokawa family compete with the Maori family?" In his mind, the declining Hosokawa family should have been going downhill like his current main family, the Akamatsu family.

"My lord, Your Majesty thinks that the future overlord must be the Hosokawa family! There are three reasons: First, the Maori family looks very strong on the surface, but it is not stable internally, and there are serious cracks in the Liangchuan system. ”

"Second, the Hosokawa family seems to be just a lord who is dependent on the Oda family on the surface, but in fact, the Oda family has existed in name only, as long as Hosokawa Nobugen ascends to the top, Hosokawa Fujitaka, Hosokawa Fuji Ken, Mibuchi Fujiei, these people of the Hosokawa clan will definitely join his account. And he didn't do it now, which can show that he is ambitious, and he responded to the words of the Ming Empire: build high walls, accumulate grain, and slowly become king. ”

"Third, and the most important point, the Hosokawa family is a centralized system, and Hosokawa Nobumoto's prestige is like the sun in the sky, dazzling, and all the deployments of the Hosokawa family surround him, and they are extremely united. The Maori family implemented a joint system between large and small wealthy families, relying on the Liangchuan system to maintain the authority of the alliance leader, the Maori family. But now Kobayakawa Takakei and Yoshikawa Motoharu have repeatedly disagreed, plus they have repeatedly lost to the Izumo Niko family, isn't this just like the Akamatsu family? The father and son did not agree, and finally fought, which made the already weak family even worse. And the Niko family has once again publicly stated that it is a minister of the Hosokawa family. ”

"But the official guard, even if the Maori family has such and such contradictions, but it is also a big name in the central region, the so-called emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and the Nizi family has just undergone a big change. And I heard the rumors from the Uki family that they had united the powerful lords of Hashiba, Shibata, and Takigawa, and his Hosokawa family had been surrounded! "Deep down, Kodera is still more inclined to the Maori family.

"My lord, as I said earlier, as long as the Hosokawa family does not stand on their own for a day, they will not become the target of public criticism, and the other Oda families will have no reason to attack him, and he can better hide himself. And Yuchai and Shibata are full of contradictions, and it is too late to win him over the Hosokawa family, and it is even more impossible to start a war. Finally, I would like to ask you again, if the Mori and Hosokawa families go to war, who is the closest to my Kodera family? ”

"Shh And the distance between the Mori family and him across the three kingdoms of Bigo, Bichu, and Bizen is separated by several families such as Mimura, Ukita, Urakami, and Akamatsu.

"Okay, okay, Kanbei, then it's up to you to form an alliance with the Hosokawa family." Kodera Masashi nodded in fright, thinking that the family was completely under the Hosokawa family's soldiers, and he couldn't count on reinforcements from the Maori family at all, so he immediately agreed with Kuroda Takataka's opinion.