The Ukita family was also looking at me. Seeing that my attitude was so calm, he seemed to be unable to see it, and said with a gloomy face: "His Royal Highness Kira Kingo, you came so lightly, aren't you worried that there will be ambushes in the temple?" ”

"Then there's nothing to worry about," I replied casually, looking at the Dharma name on the spiritual throne, "If His Royal Highness Quanzhou doesn't respect his own Bodhi Temple and the ancestors of the past dynasties, he doesn't care about the military power of his family outside the temple and Mrs. Funazu as a hostage......

"In order to get rid of such a powerful enemy as His Highness Kingo, none of this is a problem," Ukita Nao's face became even more gloomy, "In the eyes of the world, my Naoke has always been a person who has no credibility and is unscrupulous...... Doesn't His Highness Jingo know? ”

Although I knew that he was lying and threatening, I couldn't help but stab him in this tone of not being ashamed and proud: "His Royal Highness Quanzhou is also a person who believes in Buddhism, but he acts so recklessly, aren't you worried that you will fall into hell after death and accept the punishment of the gods and Buddhas?" ”

"Hell? Gods and Buddhas? Ukita Naoke sneered twice, "In today's world, there are wars and conspiracies everywhere, and in order to survive and power, everyone is involuntarily involved, even if they are biological fathers and sons, many times they are inevitably deceived until the sword fights against each other...... This kind of world is almost hell, right? And why didn't the gods and Buddhas that His Highness Jinwu expected show up to speak the Dharma and purify all sentient beings? ”

"The way of the world is the human heart," I shook my head slightly, "The world is complicated, that is, the human heart is unpredictable. And the way of the world described by His Royal Highness Quanzhou is actually just a projection of his own inner thoughts. ”

"His Royal Highness Jingo has always been smooth sailing, so naturally I think so, but I can't agree with it," the Ukita Naoya pointed to the spiritual position of the head, "The first grandfather Xuan Zhong Changjiu (the name of the Uki Tano family after his death) was a wise and brave person, and he had been in the Pu family for many years and had outstanding achievements. But as a result, he was jealous of his own lord and secretly ordered his retainers to crusade; And as an internal response, it was actually the younger brother Ukita Yamato Mamoru who he relied on deeply, sealed in Toishi City, and served as his father. His father, Lu Yueguangzhen, was born with the surname Ci Weak, and had to flee in all directions after breaking his family, but fortunately he was sheltered by the wealthy businessmen in the country, so he was able to temporarily settle down and died of illness two years later...... I was only seven years old at the time, and I had already experienced the misfortune of being broken and bereavement, and had tasted the suffering of the world and the indifference of human feelings. Since then, I have understood that if you want to survive in this world, you must make yourself strong and not depend on anyone! ”

"His Highness Quanzhou's way of survival, it turns out that this is how it came about," I nodded. Although I don't understand why the Ukita Izumi family is so honest, since he said such heartfelt words, I might as well return the favor with a straightforward expression, "When it comes to my childhood experience, I have some similarities with His Royal Highness Quanzhou, but I have different thoughts...... I believe that although the human heart is complex, it is human nature to always seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Knowing this, and understanding the position of the other party, then in many cases, it is possible to partially reach a consensus, connect people's hearts, and avoid meaningless misunderstandings and fights...... Now I can be here with His Royal Highness Quanzhou, precisely because this is a matter that is beneficial to both parties. ”

"His Royal Highness Jingo's words are indeed very reasonable," Ukita Naoya pondered for a moment, "which is right and which is wrong, naturally it is impossible to tell at this time...... But what is certain is that it is no fluke that His Royal Highness Kingo has achieved such great merit and prestige and has been unanimously followed by the entire Shikoku. On this point, I have deep admiration for the Naojia. ”

"His Royal Highness also understands these truths, but the focus of his actions is different," I said bluntly, "Isn't it just to find some consensus by releasing goodwill to each other a few times before?" ”

"Haha!" Ukita Naoya finally laughed, "It's really easy to associate with a smart person like His Highness Kingo!" ”

"Each other, each other." I said with a smile. Although I don't treat his character very well, I have to admire his wisdom, and at the same time, I have to admire him, and at the same time, he saves a lot of misunderstandings and disputes between the two sides.

In that case, the rest of the matter becomes simple. Each of them summoned one person from outside the door and wrote an oath to each other.

"I, the Uki family, accepted the mediation of His Highness Kira Kingo, and from then on officially renounced the alliance with the Mori family, joined the Oda family, and sent hostages as a pledge of allegiance." Ukita Naoya swore an oath.

"I, Kira Nobuyi, accept the allegiance of the Uki family on behalf of His Royal Highness the Oda Uchifu, and guarantee the safety of the Uki family and the hostages of the Uki family from the standpoint of the Kira family and myself." I continued.

When Hideko Kira and Ukita Tadashi wrote their respective oaths, Ukita Naoya and I drew monograms, and then exchanged them with each other. At this point, even if the covenant was preliminarily completed, I was relieved that the matter of Kojima-gun was finally resolved, and thanks to the cooperation of the Ukita family, I even completed the task of preparing for the strategy. I guess Nobunaga didn't think of this beforehand, right? He asked me to temporarily replace Hideyoshi Yura as the second captain of the Uki family, firstly because Hideyoshi had not been able to take time out recently, and secondly, to make it easier for me to act cheaply. After the deed, this task was naturally undertaken by Hideyoshi.

The Ukita Naoya also noticed this, and he asked with concern, "So, will the hostages of this family be accepted by His Royal Highness Kongo, or will they be sent to the Chikuzen defenders?" ”

"Hideyoshi is busy with Miki's strategy now, and there is an Araki family nearby, I'm afraid it's inconvenient. So I'll do it for you. I said with a big grin, but I muttered a little in my heart: The hostage of the Uki family, could it be his sister-in-law Ukita Hachiro (Ukita Hideya)? However, this seems unlikely, when he signed a contract with the Oda family in history, he was already seriously ill and his life was short, and he sent out Ukita Hachiro, in addition to expressing sincerity, there is also a layer of protection, after all, he has always been cold, although he has been convinced by those who are a family and a retainer, but after his death, no one knows what will happen (in history, as one of the five elders of the Xiu family, there is still a serious confrontation in the family, and the leader who disobeys the Xiu family is the son of the Zhong family). However, now that he is still tough, it is natural to keep his sister-in-law by his side so that he can teach at any time. Now he is by his side, isn't he with two children?

Sure enough, he called the thirteen-year-old boy next: "Momojumaru, come and meet His Highness Kingo!" ”

"Yes." Momojumaru took two steps forward and bowed down as a child.

"This is the eldest son Momojumaru born to Uchiko, who was originally a child of the Miura family, and Hachiro is very close, I have always treated him as a parent," Ukita Naoya smiled, "Even if it is a biological father, the biggest bond between him and his child is the ** relationship with his mother!" So, as his father, I am fully qualified. ”

"What His Royal Highness Quanzhou said is very true. Sending Momojumaru is indeed very sincere, and I can feel this, and I will do my best to ensure the safety of Momojumaru. I nodded. Regardless of whether the Ukita Nao family thinks so or not, it is indeed true that he does not attach much importance to blood. Even I, for Mitsu and Ii Xuannao, I have feelings that are not inferior to those of parents and children - even if Xuanzhi is just the adopted son of Naoto.

"Then please ask His Highness Jinwu." Ukita Naoya said, and then asked Ukita Tadashi to take Momojumaru down to prepare. I also asked Xiuxing to rush to the army and inform Xiujing of the preparations for the reception.

As a result, only me and Ukita Naoya and Hachiro father and son were left in the root hall.

Ukita Naoya suddenly leaned into his upper body and asked in a very solemn manner, "It's a rare opportunity to have an interview, and I want to ask His Highness Kingo another question...... Regarding the matter behind the death of His Royal Highness the Inner Palace, His Royal Highness Jingo, as the first minister, and controls the center, does he have any plans? ”

What the! He actually asked about this? Did he think something would happen to Nobunaga? I was shocked in my heart, and I guess I couldn't help but show surprise on my face, and he saw it, and then a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Your Highness Quanzhou, what does this mean?" I tried my best to hold my mind and asked casually, "Isn't that obvious?" His Royal Highness the Inner Mansion passed away, and naturally His Royal Highness Lieutenant General Zuo, who had succeeded the family governor, inherited the great cause, and we will continue to dedicate our loyalty, is there any doubt about this? …… Perhaps, at that time, I had already handed over the family business to my children, and even followed His Royal Highness the Inner Palace! In terms of age, I'm only eight years younger than His Royal Highness. ”

"His Royal Highness Jingo said that, it's really too dishonest," Ukita Naoya laughed, "There is a saying in the Ming Kingdom, if it is too rigid, it is easy to break. Isn't this a living example of the former Gongfang Puhiroin Hall (Ashikaga Yoshikyo), although his achievements were brilliant, but because of his harsh governance, he was eventually murdered by the Akamatsu family, causing disturbances in the world, and roughly establishing the opposing pattern of the Onin Rebellion not long after. …… I look at the Oda Inner Mansion, I have always acted by force, leaving no room for everything, and there are quite similarities with the surname of the Puguang Temple, and the offended people, the enemy naturally needless to say, there are many of them, but the origin and foundation are far inferior, and there must be all kinds of envy, jealousy and hatred......"

"I'm so sorry!" I didn't care about being polite and interrupted him by saying, "These are just your thoughts!" So please stop in moderation! If it is about to go out, it will do you and me no good. ”

"This is also true, "The Ukita Nao family is very good," and the words are deep, and His Royal Highness Kingo is not to blame. With the wisdom of His Royal Highness Jingo, since he has some knowledge, he naturally does not need me to say more. Hehe! ”

What an old fox! I couldn't help but sneer.

But his words really made my heart move a little. If it had been before Nobunaga confided in me his ambitions, I would have no dissent, and I would have steadily developed the Kira family into the next Hosokawa family. However, his ambition is so out of place that if he really wants to go public, he may become an enemy of the DPRK and a god after becoming an "enemy of the Buddha", and will be strongly resisted by the public, the samurai, and Shinto. At that time, either he will completely transform the book and replace the title of the emperor, or he will be knocked into the abyss.

Judging from the current situation, the important ministers of the Oda family and the appearance of the outside are too powerful. Unless Nobunaga completes his steps and returns the entire Kinai to the Oda clan, even if Nobutada succeeds to the throne, he may not be able to control the situation for a long time. When the time comes, the better result will be to compromise with the important ministers and repeat the trajectory of the Muromachi shogunate; If it is worse, it may be forced to weaken the forces with a strong and harsh government, just like Ashikaga Yoshikyo, and then directly cause a rebellion, repeating the mistakes of the Warring States period.

For so long, no one had ever mentioned such a thing to me, and the Ukita family was the first. In a sense, these "deep" words can only be said by him who thinks he is "shallow", first, he doesn't have much to do with Nobunaga now, and he doesn't have too many taboos (he will definitely not dare to say it after two years of refuge); The second is that when the two parties met for the first time, they actually talked about such a topic, which was unbelievable at the same time, and it was a good cover for the matter itself.

And before that, I hadn't thought about it in depth, after all, due to too many variables I had caused, it was unlikely that the Honnoji incident would happen as it did in history. However, Nobunaga's crazy intentions, and the fact that his own surname is indeed flawed, made me understand that the possibility of an accident is still extremely high...... I looked thoughtfully in the direction of Kyoto. Last time in Azuchi Castle, Nobunaga seemed to intend to resign from the two positions of Minister of the Interior and Right Guard General given by the Imperial Court, completely breaking away from the restrictions of the existing Imperial Court-samurai system, I wonder if he is practicing it now? He has been accustomed to doing this since the Owari period. At the beginning, Owari was pacified by taking advantage of the name of Spo Yoshigin, but he refused to accept the position of Owari guardian appointed by Spo Yoshigin, preferring to go to Beijing to ask General Yoshiki to avoid being under him and creating an obstacle to the exile of Spo Yoshigin; Later, he pacified Kinai, in the name of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, but he also refused to take up the position of the governor or even the deputy general, until the final exile of Ashikaga Yoshiaki; Now, he is pacifying the world, using the name of the imperial court, if he really wants to resign from the imperial court, is he preparing for the imperial court?

In other words, it is estimated that the time of the showdown is not long. After that, it's really hard to say what the reaction of all parties will be...... Thinking of this, I suddenly felt that the outsider of the Ukita Nao family was more real than everyone in the Oda family. After all, we are all accustomed to Nobunaga's authority, and we will not think rashly of such a big contradiction.

I sighed softly, looked at him twice, and said with a solemn face: "In short, it is a great fortune for my Oda family to be able to obtain the power of the Uki family. I hope that in the future, we can work together to loyally dedicate ourselves to the great cause of His Royal Highness, so that the security and increase of the territory will naturally not be a problem...... Mrs. Funazu was offended by my Kira family, so I returned to the army, sent Mrs. Funazu over, and offered some apologies from my family. ”

(To be continued)