Fortunately, this is my territory, and except for my adopted son Nobuhide Satake, no one else is present, so I don't need to worry about anything. However, seeing Hatakeyama Yoshishu's worried expression, I still waved my hand for Satake Nobuhide to step back, and then asked in a low voice, "That guy said that in the letter?" ”

He said that His Royal Highness Da Nayan was extremely domineering and intended to monopolize the whole of Kinai, so he not only drove Shibata from Minami Omi to Hokuriku, but also drove Hara from North Omi to Sanyo; Harada Naomasa just fought a defeated battle, and washed away the shame with his life, but because the fiefdoms were all in Kinai, he was deprived of them all; And you, His Royal Highness Kira and His Royal Highness Niwa, although they preside over the center, they don't have any fiefdoms in Kinai...... As both genealists and close retainers, I'm afraid that it will be difficult for us to die well, and His Royal Highness Akechi's conquest of the Hatano family in Tanba is the beginning of the recovery of the outer territory......"

This complaint is really powerful! It is no wonder that in the later siege battles, Yizhou has not been able to raise any spirit.

However, in my opinion, these arguments are too far-fetched: "Shibata and Yura are both out of town, don't you see that they are all happy?" His Royal Highness Nagahide is to assist the young lord of Nobutaka, and isn't there also Aichi County in Minami Omi? The Hatano family was conquered because they were located on the edge of Kyoto, the easternmost point of San'in, and they had always been reluctant to leave the family, so it was necessary to eliminate this unstable factor both for the safety of Kyoto and for the convenience of the conquest of San'in...... As for His Royal Highness Naomasa Harada, he does have some inside information, but it is limited to the tacit understanding with the lord, and it is inconvenient for me to disclose it to the outside world. ”

"His Highness Xuanjing's explanation is indeed very reasonable," Hatakeyama Yoshishu muttered, "So, what about His Highness Tsutsui?" With this merit, as well as the identity of Yamato's guardian, it's not an exaggeration to have all the old leaders of the Matsunaga family, right? However, His Royal Highness Tsutsui only got 30,000 stone and Xingui Mountain Castle, isn't this out of external suppression? ”

"Your Highness Yizhou, have you noticed what the identity of the Tsutsui family is?" I asked with a smile.

"It is the courtyard of the Yamato Kofukuji Temple." Hatakeyama Yoshishu replied.

"Isn't that it?" I laughed, "So, the territory of the Tsutsui family can be said to be the indirect temple territory of Kofukuji." The lord had always opposed the possession of a large amount of land by the temple, so naturally he would not strengthen this trend and let Kofukuji control the entire Yamato country. ”

"Is that so?" Hatakeyama Yoshishu looked a little abrupt, "No wonder the temple leader of my Rokuen Temple, which was invaded by the Miyoshi family before, has not been restored so far...... Maybe that's why? ”

"I think so," I nodded, "Anyway, this guy Matsunaga Shu is the best at confusing people's hearts, and he really can't be trusted." At the beginning, Miyoshi Changqing was so confused by him that he killed his own brother Anzhai Dongkang, which caused the Miyoshi family to fall into great chaos; The three of Miyoshi obeyed him and raided Brother Ling's palace, so that Brother Ling was martyred, and the Miyoshi family also became a rebel party in the inner side of the country; Miyoshi Yoshiji was deceived by him, first turned against the three of Miyoshi, split the Miyoshi clan, and then attacked His Royal Highness Hatakeyama Shoko, causing the wrath of the lord, and finally committed suicide with the family...... Such a person, no matter what he says, His Royal Highness Yizhou will not pay attention to it at all. ”

"Understood," Hatakeyama Yoshishu nodded, "I'll hand over the letter to His Highness Da Nayan immediately......"

"I can't turn it in now," I shook my head, "if I turn it in when I receive the letter, it will naturally be without hindrance, and I can still get the kindness of the lord." However, now that nearly a month has passed since the matter, if it is handed over again, the lord will know that His Royal Highness Yi Zhou has hesitated, and he has a grudge because His Royal Highness Yi Zhou's position is not firm. ”

"So, what to do?" Hatakeyama Yoshishu was a little anxious.

"His Royal Highness Yi Zhou destroyed the letter as soon as possible, and it didn't happen; Later, if the lord asked, he would say that the letter had been burned to ashes. …… And I didn't talk to His Highness Yizhou about this today. I solemnly suggested to him.

Really, unless I am willing to be a shameful whistleblower and expose Nobunaga's hesitation; Otherwise, if Nobunaga knows about this matter, as well as today's secret conversation, with his current strength, Hatakeyama Yoshishu will certainly be planted, and I will also be implicated to a certain extent.

"Xuanjing's kindness, I Yishu remember," Hatakeyama Yoshishu solemnly bowed in thanks, "So, I have one last question...... Arranged in the barren Shikoku and leaving the heart of Kinai, what does His Royal Highness Xuanjing think of himself? ”

"That's the question...... I never think there's anything wrong with being out of the heart! I smiled, "In the past, when I was still in Owari, the focus of my family's strategy was Mino Province, and all the important ministers in my family were willing to stay on the Eastern Front, but I insisted on attacking Ise; Later, the power of my family expanded, and you all tried your best to recruit retainers and expand your reserves in order to achieve more military achievements, and I was the only one who was developing the navy. Now, His Royal Highness Yi Zhou is also clear about the result...... Therefore, my lord was willing to let me take charge of the affairs of Nankaido and control the Seto Inland Sea, which can be said to be a good person, and I felt very comfortable. ”

"His Royal Highness Xuanjing's idea is really different!" Hatakeyama Yoshishu sighed.

"But that's exactly what I thought." I responded simply.

Sending Hatakeyama Yoshishu away, I fell into thought.

I have to admit that Matsunaga's lobbying sounds quite reasonable. The key to this is Nobunaga's long-standing strength and the special surname of this region of Kinai.

Although I don't have a special feeling for Kinai, in the minds of the famous and wealthy families in Kinai, they value the territory in their hands very much. Think about it, this is the seat of the imperial court, the seat of the shogunate, the so-called near the water tower first to get the moon, naturally you can be very convenient to approach the imperial court and the shogunate. Even a small wealthy family like the Kuchigi family, the head of the family, Kuchigi Harutsuna (the father of Kuchiki Mototsuna), was able to worship the general's partiality, become the shogunate's imperial minister, and marry the daughter of the imperial court, the daughter of the powerful Natsuna Asukai Masatsuna, the Tanba wealthy clan Akai Naomasa, and even the daughter of the Hakukonoe Ueya family and the sister of Konoe Maehisa as a stepfamily; And the Rokkaku family in Minami Omi, who occupies the Miyoshi family in Hanoi, was able to serve as the governor and build up great power in Kinai, isn't it also because they are in Kinai? At the beginning, Miyoshi Nagakei went to Luo for the first time, but there were only 2,000 troops, and as a result, the general Ashikaga Yoshiharu was forced to flee, and Hosokawa Harumoto compromised, compared with him, because he was stranded in Kyoto and let Niko sit for a long time, Imagawa Yoshimoto, who led 25,000 troops but died halfway, how regretful and unjust it should be! The power of the two of them far exceeds that of the Rokkaku family on the edge of Kyoto and the Miyoshi family at the time of Kamiluo, but they ended miserably because of the high mountains and long roads, and they should have been speechless and choked...... There has always been no shortage of ambitions in Kinai, and it is also the region with the most strife (followed by Kanto). In the subconscious minds of the daimyos, they probably thought that their family could become the next Roxagonal family or Miyoshi family; Even those wealthy families had Kenji Yanagimoto, Kizawa Nagamasa, Ibaraki Nagataka, Miyoshi Motocho, Matsunaga Hide, and others as role models, and they could aspire to get ahead as a daimyo retainer, control the shogunate to a considerable extent, and then grow into powerful daimyos.

This kind of thinking can be said to be deeply rooted in Kinai. Even if Matsunaga Shu is now defeated, it will not be able to stop everyone's ambitions...... Perhaps Hatakeyama Yoshishu is also one of them, with a faint hope in his heart to return to the Ashikaga family and revive the Muromachi shogunate.

And Imatsunaga Hide's extensive network in Kinaga must have been quite a few people who received the letter at the beginning. In addition to his sworn enemy, Shunkei Tsutsui, Araki Murashige of Settsu, Hideharu Hatano of Tanba, Hideharu Hatano of Hideharu Hatano and Besshoharu of Higashi Harima, and Isono Motomasa and Mototsuna Kuchigi of Kita Omi should have received similar letters. And after reading the contents of the letter, there must be people who have similar concerns as Hatakeyama Yoshishu! However, compared to Hatakeyama Yoshishu, they did not have a kinship with Nobunaga (although kinship did not necessarily affect Nobunaga), nor did they solve their doubts with insiders like me, so it is estimated that they could only hide this seed of suspicion deep in their hearts, let it take root and sprout, bear the fruit of distrust, and slowly dominate their emotions and judgments. Then, once the Oda family suffered any major defeat, or Nobunaga made any radical moves, it is estimated that they are likely to take risks and brazenly raise the flag against Nobunaga.

I think Nobunaga must have considered this possible surname. However, he has a strong surname and is determined to innovate, so even if he understands this truth, he will definitely not give up his strength, but may take the opportunity to clean up these dissenting daimyo and wealthy families.

Thinking of the tragic ending of the family after the rebellion of Araki Village in history, I can only shake my head and sigh. Of course, history has changed, and it is already unknown whether the Oda family will be frustrated, whether Araki Murashige will rebel, and even whether Nobunaga will encounter Honnoji. However, one thing remains the same, the so-called so-called so-called so-called so And how big the heart is, then how big the risks and opportunities coexist.

In this sense, if the political situation remains stable and the Nobunaga and Oda families continue to be in power, then it will be a blessing for the Kira family to live in a corner of Shikoku with peace of mind and not think about the situation in Kinai. It should have been a very suitable choice to voluntarily resign from the position of Shimoizumi Guardian and shift the focus from Kinai to Shikoku.

……，…… After completing the Iyo Raiders, I handed over the political affairs to Hidekei and handed over the navy to Iwamatsu Jingding to attack and harass the Maori family, so I was given some leisure time. While Nobunaga hadn't yet given me a new assignment, I went to Tosa Renike Castle and stayed with Konatsu for a month, while also taking care of some family chores by the way. Akitsu is almost fifteen years old, and according to the arrangement, she will officially wear a hakama at the beginning of next year and marry Wasuka Keikatsu, and now should start making all preparations; Yura Hideyoshi also proposed marriage for Yura Keihide, who was presided over by me at the beginning of the year, and calculated the age, it seems that only the daughter of Xiaoxia's side, Kaijin, and the adopted daughter Senjuhime are suitable, but Haizu's surname is gentle and cowardly, and my idea is to arrange a marriage at home, so as not to make her unaccustomed to it in other families, so that she can only be Senjuhime; And Mitsu, five years after marrying Gamo Fuxiu, she finally got pregnant, and now that the delivery is imminent, I am naturally very happy, and I have asked Tsuya to prepare a rich congratulatory ceremony.

In addition, Nagano Fujitotsu's daughter Nagano Hoshihime got married two months ago, and then he very eagerly recommended her to Momojumaru born to Hidekage's second son, Yoshino Nagano. I understood what he meant, and this was to prepare for the future family succession. He is already thirty-six years old this year, and if no more children are born, then Momojumaru will become his son-in-law and adopted son to ensure the stability and continuation of the family. In terms of blood, Momojumaru was born to the daughter of Nagano Fujita, the last direct descendant of the Nagano family, and the daughter of Nagano Fujitsu who was born in the Hosono clan, and then returned to the Nagano clan to inherit the position of the head of the family, and the rest of the branches, northern Sichuan, Yunlinin and other clans have nothing to say. Moreover, Momojumaru still has the blood of the Kira family, so relying on the big tree of the Kira family, as an outsider of the Oda family, the future of the Nagano family can also be more guaranteed.

Akitsu was in Mie Castle and Nagano Hoshihime was in Anongtsu Castle, so I had to go back to Ise Province at the end of the year for the sake of these two marriages, and then I took Nana to Azuchi Castle, which was completely completed, to meet with Shinkei and participate in Nobunaga's first New Year's banquet in Azuchi Castle.

When I returned to the city, it had been three months since I left, and Janet, the big friend in the city, had done another thing that gave me a headache. Last Christmas, not long after his daughter Dongjin turned her first birthday, he entrusted Joao? Pastor Cabral baptized her and named her Kira? Morality? Luna.

So, I set another record: Excluding Shigetomo Takayama and others, I was the first person in the Oda family tree to have my children baptized and join the Catholic Church.

"This thing! You should at least talk to me! I reproached her.

"Because the opportunity is so rare!" "Pastor Cabral has just been promoted to priesthood, and Luna is the first child to be baptized by a priest, and it's Christmas, so she will be in special favor!" ”

"Calapur promoted to priest?" I asked, surprised. I didn't care about any divine favor or favor, but the promotion of Calapur to a priest caught my attention.

As far as I know, the promotion of a pastor to a priest is not a simple matter, and it requires a formal theological degree. Calable, who had been on a mission for many years, should have been promoted to priesthood long ago, but the only obstacle was that he had not received a degree in theology from the St. Paul's Theological Seminary in the Diocese of Goa, or any seminary in Europe. It was astonishing that he had suddenly been promoted to priesthood.

(To be continued)