It turns out that he has already interceded with Nobunaga on my behalf...... I don't need that affection, but it's always touching that he can stand up.

The earliest contact with him was when he conquered the Yamato Kingdom fifteen years ago, when he was a retainer of General Yoshiki. In view of this fate, we became very close to each other after becoming colleagues, but in recent years, due to my long time out of Nankaido and some memories of my childhood, my relationship with the wise family has gradually become much more deserted.

Perhaps, there are also some factors of "different ways and not conspiring with each other". In the eyes of everyone, Hideyoshi and I are reformers who closely follow Nobunaga, and many of the new policies in my family were first proposed by me, and then Nobunaga strongly promoted them in the territory, and Hideyoshi was the one who implemented them most thoroughly. Anyway, he is not from a martial arts family, everything is from scratch, and there are no rules and regulations left over from the ancestors to restrict. On the other hand, Akechi Mitsuhide, who was born in one of the "Seven Heads of the Shogunate", was a famous family of the Toki clan alongside the four positions, from the Toki Yoriyasu of the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Toki Motoyi during the Onin Rebellion, the head of the family has long served as the shogunate's elder, the head of the evaluation and the head of the shogunate, and Mitsuhide himself has also served in the shogunate, so he pays great attention to tradition, and is a typical conservative school in the Oda family. Therefore, although he was strategically outstanding and governed in an orderly manner, he was never able to participate in the central core government affairs, but was only responsible for diplomatic reception and the affairs of winning over the old shogunate.

But personally, he is very similar to me, and he attaches great importance to righteousness. It's just that I abide by the bottom line of modern morality, but he adheres to the traditional principles of the samurai. In addition, because he was too old (14 years older than me) and anxious to restore his family business, he sometimes had to abandon his principles and submit to Nobunaga's will. For example, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who turned his back on his lord and general, such as serving as the chief general of the Mt. Hiei Yakuzan Burn, such as crusading against the lord Asakura Yoshikei who had served as a contemporary, such as betraying the Hatano family and killing his own mother.

"His Royal Highness Guangxiu has a heart, I am very grateful," I bowed to him through the main entrance, "It's just limited to the order of the lord, and I can't receive it in person, it's really neglectful!" ”

"His Royal Highness Xuanjing doesn't need to be like this," Wise Mitsuhide's voice sounded more cordial, "Speak bluntly to the lord and help his colleagues, His Royal Highness Xuanjing has stood up for the common interests of everyone in the family!" …… Otherwise, as the lord becomes more and more rigid and self-conscious, what will things turn out of? ”

When he said the last sentence, he lowered his voice slightly, not knowing whether he was speaking to me or just expressing his feelings. And I can't answer well, so I can only say vaguely politely.

"Then I won't bother too much, please take care of yourself with His Royal Highness Xuanjing." He was silent for a moment, then got up and took his leave.

"Xuanzheng, send His Royal Highness Sakamoto on my behalf." I hurriedly commanded.

Soon, a second person came to visit, and it was Ikeda Tsuneko, the new guardian of Settsu. I was a little surprised that he came to Azuchi at this time.

"Aren't you fighting off the Maori family with the Uki family? Why do you have time to come here now? I asked curiously.

"Fearing that Hideyoshi would continue to invade westward, Yoshikawa Motoharu and the Izumo and Iwami clans had returned, so the Mori family had stopped fighting on the border between Bichu and Beizen," Ikeda explained. ”

"No, are you here to intercede for me?" I felt even more strange. Akechi Mitsuhide was able to come quickly because Sakamoto Castle and Azuchi Castle were so close that they were only diagonally diagonally across Lake Biwa, and each could see each other's castle towers. However, how could Ikeda Tsuneko be stationed in Settsu Hanakuma Castle, which is separated by several countries from Azuchi, so how could it be so fast?

"You're half right...... Or maybe a little half! Ikeda Hengxing was very frank, "I pleaded for you, I just came to Azuchi, and I just happened to meet you." Actually, I mainly asked my lord for funding. ”

"Then why do you say that it has something to do with me?" I couldn't help but smile.

"It's not because the last time you attacked Hanakuma Castle, you destroyed all the cities, especially those gunboats!" Ikeda was a little depressed in his words, "I saw that there were still two months left before the autumn harvest, and I still had some savings in hand, and now I was idle, so I was ready to repair the castle." However, Jean did the math, but he told me that the money was not enough...... So I had to come and ask my lord for money. ”

"After all, you are the lord's brother-in-law, and you can still come to the door if you lack money," I asked with a smile, "How much did the lord give you?" ”

"Not a penny!" Ikeda replied, "Just after I told you about it, my lord's face was a little unpleasant; When I asked for money, the lord got up and went back to the room, leaving me in the hall. ”

His words left me speechless. Really, if you upset Nobunaga first, and then ask him for money, he will give it to you! However, I was very touched by the fact that he put my business ahead of his own. This is a man with a real surname, and it was indeed not in vain that he rescued him from the siege of the Saito family and Oda Nobukiyo with a naval army in Mino.

After thinking about it, I decided to help him again: "In that case, how about you please send someone to Awaji and find my retainer Yamauchi Kazutoyo to get money?" At present, in addition to running Awaji Province for me, he is also responsible for raising copper materials for the lord, so he must have a lot of money...... Think of it as my apologies for breaking Hanakuma Castle! ”

"If you say that, I'm not welcome," Ikeda laughed, "Anyway, you are the rich man of the family, and you don't care about the money of two or three thousand...... However, let me say it first, it is likely that it will take three or four years to pay it back, just like Hideyoshi did back then. ”

"It's okay, it's okay at any time." I replied.

On the fourth day, after Shinkage, the main room of Shinkage, Fuyuhime, actually came to Azuchi Castle and lived in the camp house. When I heard her greeting, I couldn't believe it for a moment.

"Dong Ji, why are you here?"

"Yes, my mother was supposed to come." Fuyuhime replied. The mother in his mouth was referring to Nana, who had just returned to Mie Castle from Kyoto: "When my mother heard the news from Keiyuki himself, she was very worried, and immediately ordered her subordinates to prepare their bags. At this time, Master Tianhai of Bodhi Temple came to ask for an audience and said that there would be no problem, and asked my mother to calm down and fully trust the decision of the Lord and the guidance of the gods and Buddhas...... But my mother was still not at ease, so she asked me to come to Azuchi Castle to see the situation in the name of Guining. ”

Amami said he wanted to trust the Oda family? That doesn't seem to fit his usual thinking...... However, after a little thought, I quickly understood his intentions. He himself still doesn't trust the Oda family and Nobunaga, and he said that at this moment, he wanted Nana and Keimasa to show that they fully trust the Oda family, so that they can better cooperate with my "performance" here, and create a face of the Kira family's incomparable loyalty and respect to the Oda family.

I believe that the current posture of the Kira family gives people the impression that is like that. At least, Dong Ji, who was on the other side of the main entrance, firmly believed in this, so she received Nana's commission and immediately hurried over without hesitation.

"Thank you for your hard work," I said gently, "I really don't have anything to do here, you don't have to worry." It's rare to come to Azuchi, so let's go to the city to reunite with my mother's family in the name of this trip! ”

“…… Be. Fuyuhime was silent for a moment, then whispered in agreement. Immediately afterward, she asked me with some hesitation: "I heard that this time the two of you have a dispute for the sake of Sister Deji and His Royal Highness Xinkang...... Is that so? ”

"Sort of," I replied casually. Thinking of the relationship between her and Deji, I couldn't help but add, "By the way, don't you have a correspondence with Princess Deji?" You might as well persuade her to intercede on Xinkang's behalf. After all, Xinkang was dealt with so harshly, and she didn't want to see it. ”

"I'm afraid it's not easy...... My sister is extremely resentful of His Royal Highness Shin Kang now, and it is not so easy to forgive him. Fuyuhime replied.

"Why?" I was surprised and asked, "Aren't you jealous?" Do you need such a decision? Princess Deki shouldn't be such a person! ”

"This ...... Maybe it's a little embarrassing to discuss this with you. However, you did underestimate the woman's resentment," Fuyuhime sighed, "There are two other things besides being jealous. One is that His Royal Highness Nobu Kang actually injured Deji's face for the sake of calamus, almost breaking her appearance; In addition, after my sister gave birth to Kumahime, because of the accumulation of anger and the disturbance of Mrs. Tsukiyama, she lingered on the sickbed for two or three months, and fell ill, according to the doctor, it is unlikely that she will have any more children...... In the letter to me, my sister was very excited to curse Tsukuyamaden, His Highness Nobuyasu and Calamus, and vowed that she would never forgive, and there were many tears on the letter. ”

"There is such a thing!" I was stunned. Deji was broken? And can't get pregnant again? In other words, even if Nobunaga forgives Nobuyasu, won't Tokuhime be able to give birth to the grandson of the Tokugawa family?

No wonder Nobunaga insisted on Nobuyasu being executed, because the marriage had lost its meaning. For Nobunaga, Nobuyasu is not a son-in-law now, but a retainer with Imagawa family blood who has seriously hurt his daughter.

Moreover, since the temple must be executed, and Nobuyasu almost turned against Tokuji, what did he leave Nobuyasu to do? With the revenge of killing his mother and the blood of the enemy of the Oda family, and losing the bond of Tokuji, he will probably only have malicious intentions towards the Oda family, and it will continue to his future son-in-law...... This may be Nobunaga's consideration.

And in the face of this situation, no matter how wise Tokugawa Ieyasu is, there is nothing he can do. He could only hope for a fluke, and sent Sakai Tadaji and others to plead with Nobunaga in the hope of leniency, and at the same time asked Hiraiwa Koyoshi to entrust me to intercede with Nobunaga. However, Sakai Tadaji fully admitted Tokuhime Shinaka's accusations, which blocked Nobuyasu's last trace of survival. At this time, Tokugawa Ieyasu also had to sacrifice his son-in-law in exchange for Nobunaga's forgiveness. You know, now that he is nearly forty years old, he only has three sons, Nobuyasu, Yu Yimaru (Xiukang) and Nagamatsu (Xiuzhong), except that Nobuyasu is already an adult and has performed well; Yu Yoshimaru was only five years old and had never been treated well by him; And Changsong has only been two months old, in this era with a high probability of death, who knows if he can grow up Chengren smoothly?

And Tokuki, no wonder she was sent back to Mino by Ieyasu the following year, and she never married again, and has been lonely for fifty or sixty years; And after the Battle of Sekigahara, Ieyasu also disregarded his previous suspicions and gave her the 1761 stone old collar of his fourth son, Matsudaira Tadayoshi, as her living support. At that time, she returned to her brother Shin Chunna, who was only in her early twenties, and was born extremely beautiful, but no further marriage was arranged, and later Hideyoshi became powerful and coveted her aunt Ichihime and sister Fuyuhime, but never beat her mind. Perhaps, it's because she's a little broken and can't have children...... It seems that I misunderstood Nobunaga. In the face of such a situation, he made such a decision, although it was not harsh, but it was understandable. Even if he doesn't deal with Xinkang, Deji will have to break up with him, otherwise who knows what else will happen! And once they are separated, the rift between the two families will exist forever, and it is better to make mistakes and deal with them in the name of Shinyasu's rebellion, so that the Oda family can rest assured and the Tokugawa family can also let go of their burdens.

It's just that it's not convenient to put something like this on the table, at least for now. If it spread, it would be very bad for the relationship between the two families, so Nobunaga made it harmonious. But he didn't know that such casual and harmonious words would affect his impression among the courtiers and make everyone think that he was too strong and arrogant. What's more, as far as his habit is concerned, this opportunity to show strength has always been very fond of him, and he feels that it can strengthen his majesty.

"Dong Ji, you can go to the city tomorrow!" I commanded, "Reply to the lord for me, and say that I have figured it out." ”

……，…… Not long after, an urgent report came from Kyushu that the Maeda Toshiya had surrendered to the Ryuzoji family in Yanagawa Castle in Chikugo Province, and the Iwaya Castle of the Chikuzen Kunitakhashi family was surrounded by the Akizuki family, and the Otomo family had to draw out the strength of the northern part of Higo Province to support Chikuzen Province and start a crusade against the Kamaike family; Then, the Aso family, who originally supported the Otomo family, had to surrender in the face of the 18,000 Hizen army of Ryuzoji Takanobu: now the entire Northern Higo has belonged to the Ryuzoji family, and there is an intention to converge the main force of Ryuzoji Temple and launch an attack on Southern Higo.

The urgent report was forwarded to Nobunaga by Beeya Yoritaka, with his opinion attached. At the end of the information, he was more optimistic that Ryuzoji Takanobu was not stable inside, so he would not easily provoke the Oda family. When Nobunaga saw the information, he immediately summoned me and Shimazu Ihisa.

"What do you think about this information?" Perhaps he was not familiar with the situation in Kyushu, but he asked for our opinion on a rare occasion.

I looked at Shimazu Iehisa behind me and decided to give him a chance to show himself so that Nobunaga could understand his talents and lay the foundation for him to gain a territory: "Shimazu, you are from Kyushu and are familiar with the local situation, so how about you explain it to the main hall?" ”

"Yes." Shimazu Iehisa bowed his head to me, bowed down to Nobunaga, and said something that sounded very contradictory: "Your Majesty thinks that His Highness Bee House's opinion is too optimistic...... It is precisely because of the internal instability of the Ryuzoji family that he will definitely launch an attack on Nanhigo! ”

(To be continued)