The winter sun still hung golden in the sky, but its ability had weakened to a rather humble level. The north wind howled through the tall and low mountains east of Sanyo, scattering handfuls of ash from the West Plain, and the bare vegetation could no longer stop this invasion of the air.

Under the protection of a thousand guards, the cart and the bullock walked slowly but firmly on the road of Sanyang. I sat in the warm compartment of the palace car, closing my eyes and thinking carefully about the past, present, and future.

Nijo Harira and Kikutei Harumi brought me the high expectations of the imperial court, and they handed over not the holy decree but the emperor's letter, which was signed without a jade seal. In any case, the emperor is still the nominal supreme ruler of the country, and being able to express his attitude in such a way shows that he has recognized the situation, and in this letter he also made it clear that the matter of succeeding Sekihaku is underway, just waiting for the announcement of the order!

I expressed my gratitude to the Son of Heaven and the justice of the imperial court, and at the same time expressed my determination to contribute to the stability of the world.

The politeness in front of me is okay, but the last sentence almost scared the two dignitaries to death! They repeatedly begged me to go to Beijing immediately to settle the situation, and even lost my dignity. Perhaps this scene will be seen by the uninformed and will find it almost comical.

I don't think this is funny, and I fully understand their worries, during this time, there will be a minister who will die almost every day or two, and as of now, thirty-seven have died in this ****. Perhaps in the previous period when Hosokawa, Yamana, Miyoshi and others were fighting, the chaos in Kyoto was even worse than this time, but it was never so concentrated on the minister, and later Oda Nobunaga, although it was vicious, was only aimed at Buddhism.

Naturally, I was kind enough to appease their worries, saying that I had sent a letter to summon Chief Kanemori to come to defend Kyoto with 2,000 soldiers and horses, and to appoint him as the guardian of Kyoto immediately after the approval of the imperial court. In addition, Xinqing will soon enter Beijing and explain to the imperial court the cause of the fluctuation incident in Shikoku, so there is nothing to worry about.

The two of them thanked each other for their kindness, but returned to Kyoto with some trepidation.

Actually, I didn't fully achieve my expected goal this time, and two or three small fish and shrimp were fine, but letting Konoe escape from Ascension for a long time made me a little angry. Please don't get me wrong, it's not just because he misread the power balance between me and Hashiba Hideyoshi that he must be killed, after all, how to deal with people of his level can't be based on momentary likes and dislikes. But since he can be confused this time, he may not be able to guarantee it next time, and there are many things to say about my relationship with him, and I can't explain to him in advance.

This person is the leader of the ministers set up by Oda Nobunaga, after more than ten years of intermingling, and the generals and allies of the various departments directly under the Oda family have a very deep relationship, including the finished Shibata Katsuya, the soon-to-be-finished Yushiba Hideyoshi, and the Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hojo Clan, and Uesugi Keikatsu who still have a certain threat to me, maybe when will cause me a little trouble in the future!

But then I decided to forget it after thinking about it repeatedly, and I still have to give the face of Ji Xiu in the town of Zhengqin! However, he has been placed under house arrest in Kyoto by me, and will gradually fade into the spotlight after his official retirement. After all, now that Hararashi Nijo is so old, I don't know when this respected person will be needed to lead some scenes in the future. Let's just keep it like this, anyway, it won't cost many meters.

What Harura Nijo said is not entirely a shirk, I really want to rush to the front line of Harima, although there is no need to question the victory, but new problems will arise.

"Lord, there is a team in front of you to greet you!" Sakurai reported to me through the window.

"Oh......" opened the curtain in front of me, and the northwest wind carried a puff of dust in my face and blinded my eyes, and it took a long time to wipe it clean. Looking over the shoulders of the Emperor, he saw a withered scene, full of deep traces of war.

Because of the lack of trees and houses, it can be seen that a large group of people are already waiting there in the distance, with many horses but no one riding them, and the flags that have been hunted by the north wind are painted with all kinds of strange emblems, at least a hundred kinds.

"This is really warm and cold, and the world is hot and cold!" Thinking about the secluded scene of the Kyoto Mansion a few days ago, I couldn't help but let out a sigh of emotion.

"I'll give you ~~~ I'm looking forward to it!" As soon as I got out of the car, Ikeda Hengxing was the first to greet me, grabbed my hand and said this sentence "excitedly". Fortunately, I was the first to stand on the upper hand, and the famous "spout" failed to splash the spit in my face.

"It is you who were born and died for the country and the people, and I really didn't do anything!" At this time, I want to show my benevolence, righteousness and virtue, and I can't give up halfway after pretending to be so long. "Your Highnesses have also worked hard!" I raised my voice again to the crowd behind him.

"We are only based on momentary righteous indignation, and if we really want to talk about the general trend of the world, it is not up to us simple-minded martial artists to decide!" Ikeda Hengxing answered for everyone first, and then glanced at the people behind him.

The big names and wealthy families behind him naturally nodded vigorously. Maybe it's for fear of saying the wrong thing, most people's voices are not very loud, and even if they do, it's all meaningless "hum, ha, okay, yes" and the like, so it sounds a bit like a beehive buzz.

"Your Highness the Stars...... What's wrong with you? Ikeda suddenly noticed my red eyes and asked in some surprise.

"What I saw along the way was caused by the swords and soldiers, and I couldn't help but have a lot of feelings in my heart!" Since he asked directly in public, I simply raised my hand again and wiped my eyes. "The world has not been able to be peaceful so far, and the Son of Heaven is uneasy about the suffering of the people, which is really the incompetence of our auxiliary ministers. Fortunately, seeing so many loyal and righteous people today, people in the world are finally grateful. I don't take the liberty of being here to thank you on behalf of the court! With that, I bowed deeply to the blackened crowd.

This is my whimsical idea to see if I can represent the court in the eyes of the people of the world. In the past, Oda Nobunaga always regarded himself as the leader of the samurai, and he was accustomed to preferring to state his opinions first, and then ask the court to come out to express his support. I want to create another paradigm, everything I say is the court's own will, and everything I do is also to serve the court, maybe Guan Bai will change the way in the future, but I haven't thought about everything yet!

"Your Highness Zhuxing...... "Seeing me give such a big gift, the crowd suddenly became chaotic. Those who would come directly knelt down crying bitterly, causing the people around them who originally wanted to bow had to kneel.

But after all, there were only a few dozen people in front of me who could see me, and most of the people in the back could neither see me nor hear my voice, and they didn't know what was going on in the chaos in front of them.

"It's okay!" This was my first feeling. At present, the smaller local nobles can distinguish the emperor at most, and they do not understand the difference between the high-ranking samurai and the ministers from Kyoto, and this distinction is really meaningless for these countrymen who have never even been out of the feudal kingdom in their lives.

"It is our duty to serve the imperial court, there is nothing to praise!" Ikeda didn't know what I wanted to do, but instinctively built a staircase. "Now the world is in turmoil, and there is still chaos in all directions. I have been waiting for a long time to share the worries of the court, but unfortunately I suffer from shallow knowledge. Now that His Highness Zhuxing has come to the Western Kingdom, we will have the backbone! ”

Now that the temptation has achieved its goal, there is no need for me to continue to stand here and grind my teeth, the weather is still strangely cold. Ikeda led me forward, nodding his head and saying a few words along the way, but he didn't introduce me to anyone. Actually, it's not surprising at all, I basically already know the people I should know, and the other people can be classified as unworthy of my acquaintance.

The half-guards of Takenaka did not come, and Miki Castle was still surrounded by thousands of troops of Hashiba Hideyoshi; Four or five, including Shima Katsu Takeshi and Fujido Takatora, did not come, and they actually controlled the troops in several directions; Yoshikiyo (Tiger Chiyo) did come, but on this occasion, he was very low-key and didn't lean too forward.

Suddenly, I saw a person in the crowd, both familiar and a little unfamiliar, he was Masakatsu Wasuka.

Masakatsu Wasuka really looks old, and it is indeed difficult to hide the twilight at the age of more than sixty, and even a few gray hairs are left on his head, and he can barely maintain the samurai's hair bun. I still remember when I first met him, the image of the evil party of the Chinese people with cunning in the fierceness, but now the cunning is even worse, and the fierce spirit has long ceased to exist!

In this operation to encircle and suppress the "monkeys", the return of Wasuka Masakatsu can be said to be crucial, and it is precisely because of his sudden defection at a critical moment that the forces under the jurisdiction of Yushiba collapse like an avalanche rapidly. But there are many twists and turns in the plot, outsiders don't know, and the experience of decades is really touching about the changes in the world.

Thinking of this, my steps subconsciously slowed down, nodded and smiled at him, and even slowed down Ikeda Hengxing, who was full of interest beside me.

Masakatsu Wasuka, who was always paying attention to the situation on my side, widened his eyes suddenly, and a layer of sweat appeared on his forehead in this cold winter day with the north wind, and the wrinkles on his face appeared to be even more, and his back suddenly became rickety.

Many other people have noticed this expression of mine, and most of them have cast envious glances at Masakatsu Wasuka......