Along the way, Kira didn't say much, as if he was thinking about something.

"Qinzhen, what's wrong, is it because you haven't been allocated military funds?" I'm in a good mood, joking with him.

Kira shook his head and denied: "What did the righteous brother say?" My territory has not been violated, how can I have such a non-centrifuge thought. ”

"So for what?" I asked with a smile.

"This time, because of me, I let my righteous brother go on an expedition to Tosa Province, but I didn't get anything, which is really a pity," Kira insanity immediately owed to me, "Maybe I'm stupid, but I really don't understand what my righteous brother is doing." If you don't take back Haibe County, you can still understand that it's not the territory of your family anyway; But why let a home go? We have a righteous name, and with the support of most of the retainers of the other party, we can completely get the hata gun! ”

"What, isn't it good to let go of a home?" I put on a look of surprise, "I remember that the Ichijo family has great kindness to your father, His Royal Highness!" I heard that when he died, he repeatedly instructed His Royal Highness Brother Yuan to 'not forget the kindness of a family'. ”

"There is indeed such a thing," Kira Qinzhen's face flushed slightly, "When Brother Yuan wanted to turn against the Ichijo family, I once persuaded him, but it's a pity...... However, I am now a member of the Kira family. ”

"It's really reassuring to hear you say that!" I feel very relieved, and from this attitude, Kira has a certain sense of belonging to me.

"So, what is the reason?" He pressed me up.

"Why...... You also said that it was the majority of the retainers who supported it, which means that there were still quite a lot of people who opposed it," I looked up at the distant mountains in the southwest, which was the central mountain range of Shikoku, and it took a lot of effort for me to cross it this time, "If it weren't for our army's pressure on the border, there would be more people who oppose it, and if it were forcibly annexed, there would be many rifts inside, which would involve a lot of my energy...... So, I'm not blindly benevolent, it's just that the time hasn't come yet. ”

"When will the so-called time be waited?" Kira asked.

"Once you've established a pretty bit of prestige in a family, you'll almost be able to take it over," I thought for a moment, "and I don't mind keeping the name of a family and maintaining the current system." However, when the house is bigger, the retainers and landlords who are dissatisfied with the status quo will definitely attack us in the name of supporting him in regaining power...... In short, once the situation in Hata-gun fluctuates, it is up to you to clean up the mess, preside over the suppression of the rebellion, and replace the Ichijo family in the Hata-gun. ”

Hearing my words, Kira was taken aback: "What, do you want to hand over Hata-gun to me?" ”

"Wuchuan County is the old leader of the family after all!" I smiled slightly, "When Keitaro Motofu, I'm going to hand over Gokawa-gun to him as a direct leader and Tosa Province together." When the time comes, domestic affairs will have to trouble you a lot. ”

"...... Tosa Country," Kira Kinsada heard what I was saying.

"Yes," I sighed, "His Royal Highness Yuan is a very stubborn person, and judging from the situation of the last meeting, he will not surrender...... I heard that Ah Wei is pregnant, and I hope it will be a boy. ”

"Yes." Kira lowered his head, "Then the ...... of Kaibe County"

"Haibe County is first placed in the house of Changzong and my department. When the time is right, this is my ready-made position to come out of the battle," I looked at Kira Kinsada seriously, "His Royal Highness Motoko will definitely not be willing to be overwhelmed by us, so you, as the military representative of the Ichijo family, should also pay attention to the movements in the east while guarding Iyo." ”

"I see." Kira nodded.

……，…… At the end of the year, I went to Kyoto with Mayuki Hosokawa, Kagawa no Kei, Toshiie Maeda, Yoshiyuki Sawaki, and Ikoma's parents to celebrate Nobunaga for the New Year. Compared with a few months ago, the situation in Kinai has improved a lot, although Yamato's Tsutsui Shunkei and Matsunaga Shu are still fighting, and there is some friction between Miyoshi Yoshitsugu and Hatakeyama Akitaka in Kawachi, but Yamashiro Kuni and Minami Omi have completely settled down, and the momentum that has always been one is not as good as before. This was achieved in large part thanks to the fire at Mt. Hiei. Although Nobunaga was designated as an "enemy of the Buddha" by Honganji because of this, it did deter many people, and after a few months of trouble, the wealthy families who had followed Honganji probably enlightened a little, and finally discovered the simplest truth: the believers made trouble and abandoned farming, which would seriously affect the harvest in their territory.

However, although there was no war in Yamashiro Province, Nobunaga and Yoshiaki continued to fight in secret. When Nobunaga burned Mt. Hiei, he specially ordered Akechi Mitsuhide, who had two families at the same time, to serve as the general and force him to make a choice. Mitsuhide is already in his forties, and according to the saying of "fifty years of life", the time is short, and in the face of this rare opportunity, he finally accepted the appointment and completely threw himself into the Oda family. Afterwards, he was awarded 50,000 koku from Shiga Prefecture for this merit, and was transferred from a temporary county representative to an official county secretary, becoming another important minister in the family.

Having lost Akechi Mitsuhide, Ashikaga Yoshiaki found a monk named Siemkei from Mitsuiji Temple in Shiga Prefecture and appointed him to replace Akechi Mitsuhide as the guardian of the Yamashiro Semi-Kingdom. This Siamese Qing monk is the younger brother of Yamaoka Jinglong, and he changed his name to Yamaoka Jingyou after returning to the vulgar. Ashikaga Yoshiaki looked for him, firstly, because of his ability, and secondly, because of his background. Mitsuiji Temple is the main mountain of the Tendaiji Temple, which has supported the Muromachi shogunate since the Northern and Southern Dynasties period and is under the protection of the shogunate. The Yamaoka family has served as the acting official of the Rokkaku family in Shiga and Kurita counties for generations, and is extremely influential in the south of the river, and Yamaoka Keiyu serves as the guardian of the Yamashiro half of the country, coupled with the support of the general, it can form a certain containment on the wealthy family under the Akechi Mitsuhide and Sakuma Nobumori.

In addition, Yoshiaki also actively wooed the public and Buddhism. The third son of Sekihaku Nijo Harura became a monk this year, and was immediately accepted by Yoshiaki as a Judah son, and was given favoritism. This person is the monk who later served as the elder of the East Temple, the great monk, and the monk who presided over the entire Shingon sect and the whole Buddhist sect.

In response, Nobunaga brought out the emperor who had been a puppet for a long time. He ordered Murai Sadakatsu and Asayama to renovate the Imperial Palace and the streets of Kyoto to show the world the majesty of the Imperial Family, and to remind people that the authority of the shogun was not supreme, and that above Yoshiaki, there was the existence of the emperor. In addition, he built official residences in Kyoto for the daimyo who submitted to him, so that they could meet the emperor and himself.

Hosokawa Shinyuki is the head of the Shimoya Awa Hosokawa family, and the mansion is naturally not bad, the location is good, and the scale is also very impressive. He warmly invited me to stay, and I agreed—in fact, according to Natsu and I, we would rather live in Shijo Gion Street, where there is a branch of Tsuya.

At the dinner in the evening, I felt that the two of them were a little cold, and I specially invited Naomasa Tsuka, who was the executive of Kyoto. He had a deep relationship with me, first succeeding me as Niwa Nagahide's lieutenant, then as Tsushima Commissioner, and assisting me for a time in Kitaise, and fought side by side twice. The reason why he was invited was to catch up with the past, and secondly, to introduce Hosokawa Shinyuki and learn about the current situation in Kyoto by the way.

Naomasa was very face-saving, and as soon as he received my invitation, he immediately rushed over from the office. The three of them were in the hall and drank wine and enjoyed the snow together. Shinyuki Hosokawa sat inside as the host, and Naomasa and I sat on either side, with food and drink in the middle.

Seeing that the sky was getting darker, Naomasa called the attendant and ordered him to light the stone lantern in the courtyard in front of the door, and then arrange a few pots of cinnabar roots around the lamp. After a while, the orange-red candlelight lit up, reflecting the surrounding snow, which looked particularly warm, and the umbrella-shaped bright red fruits in the cinnabar root in the snow made people feel a warmth inexplicably.

"It's kind of interesting!" I exclaimed, "I've been in Kyoto for more than a year, and I think I've got a lot of elegance!" ”

"I really have never seen such a beautiful view. can have such ingenuity, His Royal Highness Naomasa is indeed an elegant person. Hosokawa Mayuki happily admired the snow scene in the courtyard and praised it.

"It's just a little technique," Naomasa smiled humbly, "If you want to interact with the minister, there are some things that you can't ignore, but you can't praise the house-shaped hall." ”

"It hardly snows in Katsurui Castle, so it's no wonder that His Highness Mano finds it a novelty," I said to Hosokawa Mayuki, "I don't see snow at Mie Castle and Sumoto Castle either, and sometimes when I think about it, I can't help but feel a little regretful." ”

"It's easy to see the snow, just come to Kyoto! From November all the way to the first month, it's definitely enough for you to see. Naomasa said.

"I'm afraid this won't work, although the Miyoshi family has already subdued, Shikoku still has a lot to do." I smiled and shook my head.

"Is that so?" Naomasa replied casually.

"By the way, the lord has been in Kyoto for a while, right? Where to stay? Tomorrow I will meet His Highness Shinno, and His Highness Kagawa of Sanki. I asked him.

"The lord has been living in Honnoji Temple." Naomasa replied.

"What!" I couldn't help but scream.

Naomasa looked at me strangely: "Is there anything wrong with this?" ”

"No, no, that's fine." I nodded repeatedly.

This is not nonsense, Honnoji Temple is the main mountain of the main gate of the Hokke sect, the status is extremely lofty, the contemporary abbot said to inherit the master (not to the mountain), but the son of Prince Fushimi Miyabang, the identity is extremely noble, after he entered the temple, vigorously build the temple, built more than 30 sub-courtyards, so that the Honnoji Temple has become one of the few large temples in Kyoto. On the military flag of the Oda family, in addition to the three Yongle coins, there is a small ribbon at the top, which reads "Nan no Myoho-renge-kyo".

Nobunaga's choice to live in Honnoji was as much a match for his beliefs as it was for him.

In addition, after the Onin War, most of the people in Kyoto also believed in the Hokke sect, and there were many conflicts with the Ichijane sect and Mt. Hiei. Miyoshi Yuanchang, the father of Miyoshi Changqing, was the protector of the Hokke sect, and as a result, 60,000 followers of the sect surrounded the Hyeonghonji Temple of the Hokkezong and were forced to commit suicide; Two years later, in the first year of Astronomy, followers of the Lotus sect rose up and burned down the Yamashina Honganji Temple in Kyoto with the Rokkaku family. This temple was the first head of the Ichijo sect, which was built by the Lotus people relying on their thirteen sons and fourteen daughters to weave a network of relationships, and it was burned down by the Hokke sect, which dealt a heavy blow to the power of the Ichijo sect in Kyoto, and the master was forced to leave Kyoto and established Ishiyama Honganji Temple in Osaka as the new head of the Ichijo sect.

This history may be another reason why Nobunaga chose this place as his residence. He hoped that he would be able to invoke the precedent to defeat the Ichijo sect again and abolish the Ishiyama Honganji Temple.

However, he should have noticed that after the burning of Yamashina Honganji Temple, Honnoji Temple did not get a good deal, and was attacked by Hieizan Enryakuji Temple in connection with Higashiji Temple, Mitsui Temple, Kofukuji Temple, etc., and it was also burned to pieces, which was even more tragic than during the Onin Rebellion.

History is always strikingly similar...... After the banquet was over, I took the initiative to send Naomasa to the door and asked him in a low voice, "Listen to what you mean, it seems that the lord intends to recall me back to Jinai?" ”

"I can't hide anything from you." Naomasa sighed with a smile.

"So, what's going on?" I asked, "Is it the Lord who wants me to be in charge of the affairs of Kinai?" ”

"Not really." Naomasa shook his head, "Actually, the lord wants to gradually move to Kinai and give Owari and Mino to the young master of Wonder Pill. ”

"I see." I nodded, Marvelous Pill will turn fifteen this year, and he has reached the age of official Yuanfu.

"Therefore, the lord hopes that this year he can pacify Jinai and sort out government affairs. His Royal Highness Changxiu understood what the lord meant, so he recommended that you be in charge of these things with him, but the lord did not express his position, but there seemed to be signs of agreement. Naomasa replied.

"However, Shikoku's business is not finished yet...... I frowned.

"His Royal Highness Xuanjing," Naomasa suddenly solemnized, "As a colleague for many years, I have a few words to say to His Royal Highness Xuanjing. ”

"Please." I am also willing to ask for advice.

"His Royal Highness Xuanjing's ability, everyone in this family sees it. Since you were in charge of the affairs of the four countries, you have pacified the three kingdoms of Awa, Awaji and Sanki in less than two years, and everyone in the family admires such achievements. However, now the focus of the main family is on the east, and the Asakura and Asai families are still working against the main family. There is also the Takeda family, which also seems to be not so peaceful, two months ago Hojo Sakyo Daifu Shiyasu died, and the Takeda and Hojo families immediately reached an alliance, which seemed to be preparing for a westward attack, and then the lord sent someone to mention the marriage contract between the young lord and Princess Matsuhime to the Takeda family, and the Takeda family was not as enthusiastic as before. ”

"In other words, the lord wants me to shrink to the west?" I asked thoughtfully, but at the same time I thought to myself, maybe there was an intention for me to restrain my edge.

"That's pretty much it," Naomasa Tsukasa nodded, "A few months ago, the Mori Governor passed away, and the lord sent someone to the mountain castle of Yoshida County to offer condolences, which is the meaning of marrying the Mori family...... In the current situation, the lord obviously does not want any conflict between the two families. ”

(To be continued)