……，…… A few days later, I summoned Heisuke Futami Ura. He and Futami Mitsunari were partners who made meritorious contributions together during the Battle of Futamiura, and have served in the naval army for more than ten years. This promotion speed, naturally, cannot be compared with the old man of the family, and he does not have the ability of the second sight of the family, the only commendable thing is the attitude of loyalty and dedication, to be able to enter the Exploration Trade Fleet, and to serve on the Janet, it is still a loss to the care of the Futami Guangcheng.

If it weren't for this incident, I wouldn't have noticed him again, and maybe I'd forgotten his name.

However, during the months of his detention, he behaved very decently, not only calming himself, but also calming down the hundreds of sailors and sailors under him. In view of the fact that he could endure loneliness in prison, I decided to promote him to the rank of general of the navy, give him the name Futami Mitsutada, and lead 500 men to stay on Amami Oshima Island to watch over the Ryukyu Kingdom for me.

Tamai Katsuyuki also stayed in the Ryukyus and served as our foreign minister. He is at odds with Asari Kitaga, so he must be able to carry out my orders well and defend our position.

At the same time, I have already drafted the twists and turns of this incident, and I only need to wait for the Hotani Asari, the king of Shangyong, to sign it, and then I can send it to the Ming court with the next batch of survey and trade fleets. The content of the recital is nothing more than "the subordinates of the Ryukyus, concealing and bullying their superiors and subordinates, acting recklessly, covering the dust of the law of the old country, and even embezzling the tribute of neighboring vassals, which is more harmful than that of the sea bandits." The ministers of the Ming Dynasty, ordered to maintain the sea frontier, then not afraid of hardships and dangers, the division of the expedition, now the annihilation of the palace is punished, the reason of heaven is revealed, up and down the Ryukyus, feel the majesty of the Ming Dynasty, the people have no political worries, the people have the ode to the river Qinghai Yan", etc., the signature is the Ming court last time to give the title of "Awaji County Duke, Dinghai General Yuan Xuanjing".

Just this disposition has made Kitaya Asari unable to sit still. If this recital is sent, Ryukyu will definitely be rewarded by the Ming Dynasty, and as the third official who controls the state affairs, he may be attacked by political opponents because of this, and thus lose this black veil. So he came to the south hall himself to ask for an audience and try to change my mind.

"How do you know what's going on?" I asked curiously.

"This ......" he was a little embarrassed.

"By the way, Zhen Manjin told you, right?" I quickly understood, and nodded casually, "That's fine, anyway, I'm going to ask you to look at it soon, and sign it on the fold." ”

"Shogun," Asari Kitaya seemed encouraged by my attitude, "Can you please think more about the content of the song?" ”

"Weigh what?" I glared at him, "If there is a war, there must be an explanation." If you conceal your Ryukyu mistakes, will you make me bear the charge of reckless warfare? ”

"Don't dare!" Kita Valley Asari saw that I was speaking harshly, a few beads of sweat appeared on his sideburns, and his words were a little incoherent, "I just want you to remove a line or two, just ...... Just for the sake of the little girl's admiration for you! ”

"Do you think I'm the kind of person who indulges in beauty and abandons the public for personal reasons?" I squinted at him, a gesture I learned from Nobunaga, "Do you know why I'm so indulgent to you?" It's not because of the best efforts of the real manjin, but because it doesn't matter at all! This territory of the Ryukyus, not to mention that compared to my own family, even I, as a subordinate, have more than three times the territory of the Ryukyus...... Moreover, there are two thousand miles of sea in between, no matter how much trouble you make, as long as you don't offend us, it won't matter much! ”

"You said it doesn't matter...... Asari Kitaya seemed to see hope again, "In that case, can you spare a few people who offended your envoy?" If it weren't for their support and the Ming Dynasty's reprimand, I am afraid that I would no longer be able to keep this position, and I would not be able to fulfill this peace agreement. ”

"This is easy to do," after a while, I already have a pretty thorough understanding of the political situation in the Ryukyus, "are you worried about your relatives?" Wouldn't it be okay to promote all of them to the rank of secretary? They can either be disqualified from serving as the three officials (the royal family cannot serve as the three officials in case of usurpation), or they can also remain in Shuri and supervise. When the time comes, in terms of kinship and power, who else among the relatives can compare with you? ”

"Is that okay?" Asari Kitaya was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up. He had obviously not thought of this move before.

I shook my head, this person is really not very good sometimes, no wonder he will follow the instigation of the Shimazu family and easily provoke my Oda family, a strong enemy.

"So be it!" I waved my hand and ended this meeting, "Those who should be punished must be punished, it is not easy for me to come so far away...... You'd better not have any more problems and fulfill the contract between the two parties seriously. Otherwise, if I come over again, I won't be so easy to talk to. ”

"Please rest assured, General, I will do it in the future!" Having solved the problem of his own position, Asari Kitaya is in a very good mood.

"Well, I should go back then," I glanced sideways at the inner sanctum, "you send someone to pick up Zhenmanjin tomorrow." In the past half month, she has served very dedicatedly, and I am very satisfied. However, after all, she is the future concubine, so don't bother her anymore and let her do this kind of thing of folding quilts and making beds...... During the year, King Shang Yong visited Yuben and hoped that she would be able to accompany her as a princess. ”

"Your Excellency the General is very true." Asari Kitaya arched his hand, "Let's start preparing for my king's wedding ceremony right away." ”

……，…… From leaving the port of Uwajima in January to conquering the Ryukyu Kingdom in mid-March, he stayed for nearly a month before leaving, and roughly built a water village on Amami Oshima. By the time I got back to Imabari Castle, it was already June. During this period, the situation of the whole book has undergone great changes.

First of all, Akechi Mitsuhide pacified the Tanba Province and became the lord of Tanba 280,000 koku, plus the 60,000 koku and Kitayama Castle guardian generations who were originally in Omi Sakamoto, his strength has greatly improved. However, he also paid a great price. As one of the conditions for the Hatano family to submit to Nobunaga, he sent his mother to Yagami Castle to vouch for the life of the Hatano brothers, but Nobunaga was unwilling to forgive the Hatano family for their stubborn resistance and rebellion against other Nagaji, and ordered the execution of the Hatano brothers, so his mother was also beheaded by the angry Hatano family's retainers. Although he disposed of the remnants afterwards, his mother would not survive after all, and it was obviously very difficult for him to accept whether Nobunaga overturned his promise or his mother died tragically because of it.

Araki Murashige really reversed. He had some small actions before, and he also disobeyed Nobunaga's order to let him cooperate with Yura Hideyoshi to attack the Bessho family, but Nobunaga found out and sent someone to Arioka Castle (formerly Itami Castle) to question, and ordered him to go to Azuchi Castle to explain in person. Considering the fate of the Hatano brothers who went to Azuchi to apologize, he simply raised the anti-flag, and also rebelled against the Nakaharima Koji family adjacent to the territory. Kuroda Takataka volunteered to go to advise, but was reprimanded by Kodera and then imprisoned in Araki's Arioka Castle.

It can be said that Hideyoshi Yura's recent words are even more difficult than the Shibata Katsuya in Hokuriku. Shibata Katsuya only needs to hold on to the castle to deal with Uesugi Kenshin's invasion, but he has to face the rebellion of Nakaharima and insist on attacking Higashi-Harima, while his neighbors are the rebellious Settsu Araki family and the rival Bizen Ukiga. Fortunately, Akechi Mitsuhide pacified Tanba and was soon able to help, while Takayama Shigetomo and Nakagawa Kiyohide in eastern Settsu remained loyal to the Oda family and stabilized the battle under the leadership of Ikeda Tsuneko.

Naturally, the Maori family will not be idle in vain, and they will play a big game of mahjong in the next game...... As a result, the Ukita family plotted against the Kojima naval army under the command of Mitsunari Futami, and Takakei Kobayakawa took the opportunity to defeat Mitsunari Futami and entered Osaka Bay to send a large amount of food to Ishiyama Honganji, so angry that Sakuma Nobumori almost vomited blood. He surrounded the stone mountain before the autumn harvest last year, and has been holding on for more than half a year now, seeing that the food in the temple is almost bottoming out, but he was spoiled by Kobayakawa Takakei. But he can't blame me, it was Nobunaga who ordered me to lead the main force of the naval army to the Ryukyus, so that Kobayakawa Takakei seized the opportunity. And my losses are not small, not only is the naval army of Mitsunari Futami ruined, but even the direct triple reserve was trapped in Kojima County by the Ukita Nao's family, and it was neither able to withdraw nor get support from Hidekei. Fortunately, Miyata Mitsuji and Kazuki Shiroto coped with it effectively, and the whole county grain from last year's income in the city is still dealing with the Ukita Nao's family.

However, the biggest event in the first half of the year was the battle between the Otomo family and the Shimazu family.

Due to the seizure of Janet and the request for support from Yoshisuke Ito, the Otomo family dispatched more than 30,000 troops to enter the country in a big way, and fought a decisive battle with the more than 20,000 Shimazu troops who invaded the territory of the Ito family. The Shimazu family retreated a little and annihilated the advancing Otomo family with the "Fishing Wild Ambush" tactic, and then took advantage of the situation to defeat the main force of the Otomo family and drive Ito Yoshisuke out of the country of Yue.

In this battle, the one who commanded the army of the Otomo family was the retired head of the Otomo family, Otomo Sorin-maybe called him? Francisco was more suitable, since he had already fainted and officially converted to Catholicism. Not only that, but he also firmly controlled his family's finances in retreat, vigorously collecting all kinds of treasures and southern barbarian objects to satisfy his own habits, and even the money earned through the exploration trade was not much left by him. However, Yoshioka Nagamassu and Usuki, two important ministers of the internal affairs department known as the second elder of Toyoshu, had died two years ago, and now there is no one to restrain his behavior or clean up the aftermath for him, so that the family's finances have been in a mess.

It can be said that before this battle, the Otomo family was already full of internal problems, so much so that several important ministers such as Tachibana Michiyuki opposed the expedition, and finally did not participate in the war. Morality? Francisco forced out of the battle like this, if he wins, it is good, he can greatly boost the prestige of his family, and maybe he can wash away the previous decline. However, the result was a fiasco for the Otomo family, and famous generals such as the military advisor Kakuma Ishimune, the head of the Tianbei family, Takita Zhenzhou, and the head of the Yoshihiro family, Yoshihiro Zhenxin, were all killed in the battle, and many ministers and subordinates also suffered heavy casualties. For example, in addition to Yoshihiro Zhenxin, who died in battle, who was the son-in-law of Usuki, Usuki, the son of Usuki, the head of the Usuki family, Usuki Tongjing, was killed in battle, and the younger brother of Usuki, the son of Usuki Jinsu and the aftermath of Tongjing, Usuki Zhenshun and Usuki Zhenshun were also killed in battle, and as a result, Usuki Zhenshang, the son of Usuki Zhenshun and the newly returned from the Ryukyus, succeeded him as the head of the family.

With such a heavy blow, the Otomo family will obviously collapse, and the Shimazu family will rise unstoppably and take the opportunity to invade the Otomo family.

Even Janet, who is big-chested and brainless, and her beauty and intelligence are completely out of proportion, can feel that her mother's situation is not good. On the night I returned, she did her best to greet her, and her attitude was much more deferent than before.

When she asked, she was very frank: "My father has just lost a big battle, and he has lost a lot of retainers. Leah said that even if she was a little rude in the past, His Highness would not be too careful for the sake of the Otomo family...... But if you are still like that, you may be alienated by Your Highness and sent to another place like the lady of the Kamikawa family. ”

Leah is a trusted maid brought by Janet from Otomo's house, and her original name is Ei. Aside from her body, the only thing I appreciate in Janet's surname is her honesty. In addition to his own naïve surname, it is also because of his trust in me that he will say everything so openly.

"Don't worry, I won't alienate you just because the Otomo family has lost power," I sighed, patting her buttocks with some emotion, "However, if you had this gesture before, Xiao Xia wouldn't have to go far away from Lianchi City." ”

"I didn't know my father would lose the battle...... she muttered quietly.

I pretended not to hear: "Since you say so, then I'll take Xiao Xia over later?" ”

"Okay then." She replied with some reluctance, and then seemed to remember something, "That's right! My father and my brother sent me a letter during the day, asking me to talk to Your Highness and see if I could send troops to help......"

"Is the Otomo family asking us for help?" I'm getting some interest. If so, it would be a fitting opportunity to intervene in Kyushu and bring the Otomo family under the command of the Oda family. And the Otomo family is obviously very anxious, I only returned to Uwajima Castle the day before yesterday, and then dealt with some things, and as a result, the letter of the Otomo family is now in Imabari Castle.

It's just that the defeat of the Otomo family was in late May, and it has been half a month since then. If they were so anxious, they should have already asked Nobunaga for help through the Gamo family or the beehouse Yoryu, why wait until I returned?

"Is your father asking for help from the Oda family through me, or from me?" I asked thoughtfully.

"It seems that I will talk to His Highness by the pillow......" Janet hesitated, "I'll read the letter again tomorrow!" ”

"Well, okay." I replied casually, but I had a conclusion in my mind.

(To be continued)