"When~when~when~~!" Asahama struck three times with the wooden hammer in his hand, and the giant chime made of copper made a sound no less than that of a large bell. In this silent night, it came far away, and I don't know how many people's good dreams were disturbed. "Om, well, 、......" he closed his eyes with his hands together and read again.

Oda Nobunaga's coffin is placed in the middle of the main hall, and you can see him sleeping peacefully in the uncovered coffin, but I don't think it looks like Oda Nobunaga's normal appearance, because he never had such an expression when he was alive.

It's been almost three months since Oda Nobunaga died, and I've put a lot of effort into keeping his body intact. But even so, there are already some bad smells, and it is only through the large number of incense and candles around that people can bear it.

Oda Nobunaga's six sons, led by Oda Nobumasa, Nobutaka, and Nobuo, as well as his three younger brothers, Nobubao, Nobuta, and Nagayi, sat next to the coffin as relatives. And more than a dozen first- and second-level elders on our side are sitting in a relatively far place. For various reasons, the people who should have come have not arrived, and many of the forces that had lost their homes due to Nobunaga's death are still waiting to see.

Hashiba Hideyoshi and Shibata Katsuie withdrew their troops, and they could not afford to resist Oda Nobunaga's funeral, but they did not withdraw to their subjects as stated in the holy decree, and they all stopped halfway. Hideyoshi Hashiba stopped near Arioka Castle in Settsu, and incorporated the forces of Araki Shigetomo Takayama and Kiyoharu Nakagawa, extending his tentacles to. Faced with this situation, Shibata Katsuie was naturally not to be outdone, and the troops stopped when they reached the eastern shore of Lake Biwa in Kita-Omi, and faintly formed a siege of Nagahama Castle.

Faced with this situation, I didn't get involved, and after returning Tanba's soldiers and horses, Takenaka Hanbei also let Maeda Keiji return to Japan, and he even retreated to Shikoku with 20,000 main forces. As a result, my military superiority in was completely dissipated, and after I won a reputation for not being able to fill pots and cans, I was even more regarded as a fool.

"Your Highnesses!" Asama Hisakari struck again and then turned around and stood up, just as the bell ringing from Tofukuji Temple in the distance had just dissipated. "Now that the time has passed, everyone except your relatives should go to the side hall to rest. The funeral will be officially held tomorrow morning, please be sure to prepare in advance! ”

"There's Master Lao!" We, the foreign ministers, stood up to greet our relatives and thanked the officiant of the funeral.

Daitokuji Temple is an extremely magnificent temple, just because the precipitation of history has not been so magnificent, but there are still a lot of rooms, enough to arrange a separate room for each of us. I walked towards my room with my head down, and an inexplicable sadness rose in my heart, strangely I didn't feel this way when I was in front of Oda Nobunaga's spirit just now, but at this time I was suddenly touched by the darkness and silence.

"What if you are powerful and powerful? After death, it was nothing more than a mound of loess...... "I walked on the verandah propped up by huge columns, bowing my head and silently haunted by my emotions. The lanterns made by the two attendants around him were not enough to illuminate far away, and the scenery in the courtyard seemed to be full of shadows.

As a superior may face the same problem, too many and too few sons are enough to lead to a great disaster, and there are not a few people in the Oda family who are staring at that "chair" now, and even colluding with outsiders for this purpose. But is that "chair" really good? At least in my eyes, he had lost his original brilliance. Without Oda Nobunaga and without a smooth transition, Oda Ietsu is no longer equal to the overlord of the world.

"Huh?" I stood there at the same time as Sakichi Sakurai and Sadamo Ishikawa beside me, and a string of soft footsteps came from behind. I was assigned a room around the corner of the hallway, and no one should have been supposed to follow me.

For reasons of mutual suspicion, those who entered the temple brought only the necessary retinue, and in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, the well-known generals were consciously excluded from all sides. However, this caused me a lot of pressure, because my own martial arts belong to the last level.

"Your Highness!" At this moment, the person behind spoke, and my nervous mood suddenly relaxed, and it turned out to be Niwa Nagahide.

"His Royal Highness Niwa, why haven't you gone to rest so late?" I turned around and took two steps.

"Something...... I can't rest assured! His tone was extremely low, and he was not accompanied by an attendant. By the faint glow of the lantern behind me, I could see his furrowed brow.

"Did something happen?" Looking at him like this, I thought something was wrong, and he was still fine when he received the Oda family relatives just now.

"After the funeral tomorrow, the lord will be buried in the ground, and as a courtier, he should have fallen to the ground with a stone!" He tilted his face to probably laugh, but the stiff muscles pulled and looked like the ghost face of Noh play. "I've been following my lord since I was a teenager, but even I wasn't sure he would become a governor. But it was really happy at that time......"

I just listened quietly and didn't interrupt him, but my heart was getting stranger and stranger. "Did he come to me in the middle of the night just to talk about these things?" Although my heart is not very comfortable (my heart is heavier, and my heart is heavy after every funeral), it seems that there is no need to pour out my heart so much at night, and I am still looking for a man.

"I'm really ...... It's so much sentimentality! Niwa Nagahide finally realized his gaffe, but it was already ten minutes later. Look at me, I'm so old! He laughed self-deprecatingly and then said, "The lord's funeral is over, but the real predicament has just begun. I've been busy for a while ago and haven't had time to talk to you in detail, what are your plans for the next meeting? ”

"I don't have any plans, as long as everyone else can accept me, I'm not happy!" I let out a long sigh, then spread my hands in great frustration. "I don't dare to say 'satisfied' to everyone, because that's simply not possible! Now the contradictions of interests in all aspects can be described as intertwined, and the eyes of people who oppose each other are about to pop out, if you can do it or influence, or high pressure so that they can accept a common result, then you will be regarded as a great merit. All I can do is support your actions, even if I need to give up some places, please just ask! ”

"If everybody is like you, that's fine! But......" He shook his head and said bitterly: "This time, in the name of the imperial court and the funeral of the lord, although Yu Chai and Shibata were temporarily suppressed and withdrawn, but this matter is only afraid of 'sequelae'. Hashiba reaped a lot of benefits in Settsu, but Shibata was not so willing in comparison, and it is said that he had contacted Takigawa Kazuyi to make a complaint at the meeting, and even refused to participate in the meeting. Yesterday, Hengxing also received a letter from Ishiyama Imperial Castle, and he was very dissatisfied with Yuchai's practice in Settsu. Although it is unlikely that he will collude with Shibata Katsuie, if Shibata and Yushiba meet in Kyoto, it cannot be ruled out that he will act from behind the 'monkey'. In that case, the entire Oda family will be completely divided, and your withdrawal will make them less worried! He glanced at me as he spoke.

"If my troops don't withdraw, they may not be able to stop them, and maybe they will become a kind of pretext!" I made a statement that there was nothing I could do, and that the problem at hand was not yet the time for me to solve it forcefully. "The 'monkey' has just taken a stand, and he must have made some concessions; Hengxing, with my connections, can also temporarily subdue him; now the most troublesome thing is Shibata and his gang, if the meeting is really boycotted by the old family of the Owari family, then everything will be meaningless. Can you make an impact and rally a group of people to support the meeting? ”

"This is very difficult to do, Shibata Katsuie's influence among the people of the Owari Armed Forces faction is too deep!" Niwa Nagahide shook his head and locked his eyebrows tighter. And this time Yuchai's approach gave him a certain amount of truth, and His Royal Highness Xinxiao came forward to win him a lot of popularity. Although everyone knows that this Pingding Matsunaga Show is your leader, after all, it is nominally the main general of His Royal Highness Nobutaka, so now his reputation within the Oda family is the highest! ”

"Do you want me to help Yuchai again appropriately to achieve the goal of confronting this force? I'm afraid it's not realistic! I immediately rejected the plan, and I couldn't sit on either end of the seesaw. "If Shibata contacts a large number of people who really boycott this meeting, then the rebalancing of power is also an empty word. Therefore, I think I can compromise with Shibata's side, not only to give them a face, but also to divide their strength! ”

"How to compromise?" He immediately asked nervously.

"Cancel the plan to hold a meeting in Kyoto and change the venue to Cheongju!" I threw out this scenario that was already a work in progress.

"Change in Cheongju?" It may be that this proposal was too abrupt, and he was caught off guard and froze for a moment. However, he was an old minister who knew the Oda family well, and after a little thought, he understood the mystery of this. "What a brilliant idea, this is an explanation for the Oda clan and the former ministers of Owari!" Nodding his head repeatedly, the smile finally returned to his face. “…… As soon as this opinion is raised, everyone will have nothing to say! Besides, Owari is not only far away from Shibata and Hashiba's territory, but also not close to our territory, so at least it can give them some peace of mind. ”

"Do you think my plan is okay?" I asked.

"It's not just possible, it's a stroke of genius!" Niwa Nagahide sighed, but also couldn't help but regret: "It seems that I am really old, and I can't catch up with these changes......"

"Your Royal Highness Niwa, don't say that, the tiller of the Oda family will depend on you for a long time to come!" I think it's time for today to be over, and it's time to go back and gather strength for tomorrow.

"Your Highnesses! Are you willing to replace me as the central assistant of the Oda family? He suddenly grabbed me and asked urgently.