"So, that's what the Fukuchi family said?" I asked Yamaoka Keimumichi.

"His Royal Highness Fukuchi said that the Honma family is a powerful retainer of the Fukuchi family, and Kusanosuke has been a retinue of Mrs. Fukuchi since he was a child, and his relationship is indeed very good, and he has also talked about marriage. But Mrs. Fukuchi's surname is Ge Hyun-sook, and since she has become the main room of His Royal Highness Ueno, it is impossible to do anything important, and His Royal Highness Ueno's doing this is an insult and provocation to the Fukuchi family......"

"His Royal Highness Fudi actually said that, it's really too much!" Before I could speak, Hattori was already yelling angrily.

"It's just my lord, if I interrupt you, it's nothing. But in front of the lord, please pay attention to the attitude! Yamaoka Keizong reminded him solemnly.

"Yes! Your Majesty is terrified! Hattori hurriedly pleaded on the ground, "However, His Highness Fukuchi's attitude is really angry...... Just a month ago, he was competing with the lord for the income of the Dare Country Shrine! The lord believed that the Danguni Shrine was a shrine in Iga Province and should be owned by the guardian, but he expelled the priest sent by the lord on the grounds that the Dangkuni Shrine was located in his own domain. ”

"Is there such a thing?" I tightened the folding fan in my hand all at once, and at the same time I realized in my heart. Obviously, Jing Zheng's killing of Honma Kusanosuke and his separation from Shiorihime were probably driven by this matter. As for the reason, it was either simply to vent my anger, or it was a deliberate struggle for power with the blessed land family and forced me to make a decision.

In this way, things are really suspicious, and Honma Kusanosuke enters the inner room, which is likely to be a bureau set up by Keimasa. With the disparity in status and master-slave relationship between the two, it was too easy for him to frame Kusanosuke...... But now, there is no need to investigate the truth, and the most important thing is how I can calm this matter.

If it is from the perspective of fighting for the Dare Country Shrine, it is obvious that it is the loss of Fuchi Zonglong, and what he has done is really not authentic. According to the Oda family's three-commission system, the Ichinomiya Shrine (a kokukoku main shrine, the highest social character) and Kokubunji Temple in the country are naturally under the guardian management, but Fukuchi Munetaka still sticks to the previous set, does he think that Keimasa is so easy to bully, and my previous compromise is a sign of weakness?

I know that the wealthy clans of Iga Province are accustomed to arrogance and self-government. Since the Nishiki family entered Iga one hundred and fifty years ago, there are many guards who have been elevated or even expelled, until the nephew of Rokkaku Joyori, Nishiki Yoshimasa (the second son of the deceased brother Tsunada), that is, Keisei's adoptive father, entered the Jirenki family, and the situation was better, and the territory of the Zhezhi family (Fukuchi family clan) was annexed. However, after the death of Rokkaku Joyori, the Rokkaku family gradually declined, and the Iga wealthy clan reverted to their old ways and expelled Yoshimasa Niki until I used the Fukuchi family to pacify Iga again.

Today's Fukuchi family, because of the expulsion of Renki Yoshimasa, was assigned to part of the old territory of the Zhezhi family, and when Kitabatake Nobuo destroyed the Takino family, he received most of the territory of the Takino family from me, and his strength has greatly surpassed the rest of the wealthy clans, and also surpassed the previous Zongjia Zhezhi family. However, this does not mean that I am jealous of him, his territory of 14,000 stones is really not enough in front of me, and the reason why I have given you favor in the past is just because I don't want to cause turmoil. The three Tensho Iga Rebellions in history all caused some trouble, the first time made Kitabatake Nobuo disgraced, the second time made Nobunaga dispatch 40,000 or 50,000 people to force him to surrender, and the third time he asked for the lives of Anayama Nobujun and Ma Yuzhong, and also made Tokugawa Ieyasu almost capsize in the gutter.

But today's situation is very different from history, compared to Nobunaga's blind suppression, where there are enemies everywhere, I have a lot of influence and connections in Iga, and I am much more comfortable dealing with it.

In addition, Jing Zheng's tendency to abuse the conspiracy must also be stopped. Otherwise, by forcing me to take a stand this time, and using my strength and faith to control Iga Province and let him taste the sweetness, I am actually encouraging him to do something more out of the ordinary.

Then, I have to go there myself...... "You must have worked hard all the way here, so let's go down and rest first!" I commanded the two men in front of me.

"Yes. Thank you for your compassion! The two of them leaned over together and thanked him.

I nodded, got up from my seat, and prepared to head to the inner room.

"Excuse me," Hattori called out to me, and fell on the floor again, "how are you going to decide?" ”

"Your Excellency—" Yamaoka Keizune exclaimed, apparently trying to remind him of etiquette.

"Forget it," I waved my hand to stop Yamaoka Keizong, "and it doesn't hurt to tell you first...... I decided to take a trip to Iga Ueno Castle to calm things down. The day after tomorrow, you two will set off with me, so you must have a good rest for these two days. ”

"Your Majesty obeys." Hattori said in a hurry.

I lifted my eyelids and looked at him earnestly. Judging from the available information, the matter is likely to be set up by Jing Zheng, so does he really not understand, or is he acting with Jing Zheng? If the latter is the case, it is a deliberate attempt to deceive the head of the family, and this behavior must not be tolerated.

……，…… At the end of July, I arrived at Mie Castle. Shigeharu Takenaka was greeted at the docks, his expression slightly aggrieved, and his face was visibly tired.

"Is it too hard work?" I asked with concern. Recently, he has been presiding over the relocation of Tsuya in Mie Town to Imabari, and the task is quite heavy.

"It's not because of work," he explains, "it's because the journey is a bit tiring...... The minister went to Iga to see Mrs. Fukuchi, and he just rushed back. ”

"You went to see Shiorihime, did you want to interrogate something?" I was a little surprised. Judging from his status as the elder of the clan, he does have this qualification. But according to his peaceful surname, he should not do such a thing.

Sure enough, he quickly shook his head: "How can Your Majesty be so Meng Lang!" It's just a courtesy meeting and a few greetings. Expressing the concern of the clan in this way can also make the blessed land-sama also restrained a little. ”

"So, what's going on with Shiorihime?" I continued.

"It's not very good," Shigeharu Takenaka considered his words, "Madame looks very gentle and quiet on the surface, but I can see that she is actually very hesitant, after all, pregnant women are already very fragile...... Before leaving, she suddenly begged me to let me go to meet the young master of Jing Zheng and ask him if he was really ruthless not to have a wife and children, and his expression was very sincere. Therefore, the subordinates think that it is probably the young master of Jingzheng...... Kindness...... What is the misunderstanding? ”

He said it very tactfully, and he didn't say that Jing Zheng deliberately set up a situation to deceive or anything like that. However, listening to his words, I was even more sure of my own guesses.

On the third day, I set out from Mie Castle for Iga Province, and soon arrived at Keimasa's Ueno Castle. It is a ladder-style Hirayama Castle located in the northern part of the plateau in the middle of the Ueno Basin, to the north of the castle, the Hattori River and the Zheue River, to the south is the Kume River, and to the west is the Kizu River, which is the former domain of the Takino family, which pours down from the Yamato Highlands. Due to the abundance of water, it is a rare place in the Iga Province, and it is also the habitat of famous Iga families such as Zhezhi, Hattori, Fukuji, and Takino, and it is prosperous in agriculture and commerce. As a result, Ueno Castle was built not long ago, and a large merchant town soon formed under the castle, bringing a lot of income to Keisei.

As for Ueno Castle itself, it was even more enormous, barely inferior to Mie Castle. The entire castle is also divided into three parts: Honmaru, Ninomaru and Sannomaru, of which Honmaru is built on the high part of the platform, and the castle tower stone wall as the base is nine meters high, and the top is a five-story castle tower painted snow-white, and on both sides are ten castle towers, which are also painted white, and are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the castle tower. Looking up from the castle town, the castle tower and the two castle towers are bathed in the setting sun, as if they were a white phoenix spreading its wings.

"What a beautiful fortified city." I rode my horse in the middle of the main road of the castle town and sighed to Seihiro Zhezhi, who was the leader. By my side, there were 300 guards and half of the Ming Bei, a total of 1,000 elite troops. This force is enough to wipe out any Iga clan, including the Fukuchi family, especially in today's busy farming season; And if I defend such an Ueno Castle, I can be sure that I will be able to block the attack of the whole of Iga.

"Yes," Zhezhi Qingguang replied, his tone a little uneasy, "I'm really sorry, Young Master Jingzheng has been in a bad mood recently, and he has contracted a small illness, so he can't go out to greet him...... Please forgive me! ”

"It's okay," I replied casually, my eyes still looking at the castle tower, but my mind was no longer about the scenery, but about the child inside. He didn't greet him according to etiquette, and it was not surprising to me - acting, naturally he had to play a full set. From this point of view, Jing Zheng can be regarded as a dedicated "actor".

When I entered the castle tower and entered the castle lord's inner chamber, the "actors" began to perform in earnest. He was wearing only a snow-white silk pajamas, lying casually on the tatami mat in the middle room, and when he saw me enter the door, he immediately turned over and sat up, and bowed down in front of me with red eyes: "Father must have understood...... Please do me justice! ”

"Well, I do," I nodded, "there's no one else here, so there's no need to pretend anything, let's get dressed first." ”

"Huh?" He looked at me with a surprised expression, "Father, I really don't understand what my father said......

"You're still pretending?" I struck him with a folding fan, "Didn't you design all this?" Tell me the truth! ”

“…… Yes," he hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded, "I can't hide it from my father." ”

"So, tell me what you think. Why do such a thing? I took the tatami mat and handed it to him, "Is it to create a serious confrontation between the main family and the Fukuchi family, and force me to make a decision to take back the real power of Iga Province for you?" ”

"Children don't dare to do such things!" Jing Zheng looked very panicked, hurriedly threw down his clothes, and knelt down in front of me, "The child just wants to make His Highness Fudi feel guilty, and then stop being aggressive, and ...... And return the rights to the Dang Koku Shrine! ”

Hearing him mention the Dangi Shrine, I nodded, which was in line with the incident that Hattori had mentioned by chance, and it seemed that it was the reason for his setup. However, this simple fact made me feel a little disappointed: "Just for such a shrine, you actually killed your retainers for no reason, and you still used your own main family and heirs?" I really don't know how heavy it is! ”

"Yes!" Jing Zheng lowered his head, "Because I have read some relevant files, I admire my father's strategy very much, so I want to follow suit." It's just that I didn't expect that this game set up by my efforts was seen through by His Royal Highness Fudi Zonglong, and insisted that I explain...... I'm in a dilemma! ”

"Your little trick, a discerning person can easily see it, and you're ready to fool others?" I shook my head, "Lord Takenaka just saw Shiorihime, and immediately guessed that ** is not far from ten; And His Royal Highness Fukuchi Zonglong is the father of Shiorihime, even if he is not as resourceful as Lord Takenaka, but he knows his own daughter's surname, how can he be fooled by you? ”

"It's the kid who miscalculated." Jing Zheng said in a low voice.

"It's not a question of whether you miscalculate, it's that you shouldn't have calculated like this at all!" I reprimanded, "Even if you succeed, is it worth it considering the price you've paid?" And, what do you get? ”

"What's the catch...... A shrine? He replied tentatively.

"It's the same strategy, there is also light and dark, the difference between high and low," I didn't answer the question directly, but taught him to think for himself, "The higher one is the yang strategy, according to the right path, taking advantage of the general trend, upright, so that people have no reason to resist, and only have awe." The corresponding conspiracy is to set a trap first, so that people can be trapped in it, so that it can continue, as long as the scheme is exposed, or others see through it, the goal cannot be achieved; Even if it succeeds occasionally, once the calculated person reacts, he will only feel more unwilling and resentful, thus exacerbating the contradictions and conflicts...... A lot of the hatred that is difficult to resolve now is caused by previous conspiracies. ”

Hearing this, Jing Zheng showed a thoughtful look, and after a long while, he finally nodded: "The child understands, my father is usually used to using yang schemes, right?" And the method used by the child really can't be put on the table. ”

"You can understand this, I came from afar this time, even if I have achieved half of my purpose." I nodded, smiling slightly.

"So, what's the purpose of the other half?" He asked curiously.

"Naturally, it's to help you regain the real power of Iga Kingdom," I sighed slightly, "The reason why you inherited the Nishiki family and served as the guardian of this respectful and idle name was because you had a weak surname since you were a child, and I was afraid that you would not be able to take responsibility. Then, it is a blessing to be able to live a life in such an identity in this chaotic era...... Now it seems that I was wrong back then, and you also have your own determination and ambition. In that case, let me correct this mistake now. ”

(To be continued)