Even though it was the result of Matsunaga's resurgence, I didn't feel the slightest bit frustrated. There are some things that I really can't do right now, and I don't need to force them. However, I have partially changed the fate of some people, such as Tsutsui Shunkei, who will still be deeply grateful to me despite the loss of his position as Yamato Guardian. And through this gesture, my influence in Yamato was also established.

If in the past, my mind was very simple, thinking only about fulfilling my responsibilities and protecting myself, but now I have added some ideas of pursuing fame and fortune and utilitarianism. From my position, this seems inevitable, but if it is still so unwitting, it seems out of place.

Nobunaga also had his own plans. Yujin and Sanchimaru made a marriage, which was originally just a private agreement, and it was probably a whim of Nobunaga, but as Hideyoshi and I as witnesses quickly raised their heads, it was almost a sure thing. However, Nobunaga put me in charge of Kitabatake's initial formation, in addition to the fact that the timing was really right, it can also be considered a balance, and it may even be a test of me, to see which of the public and selfish aspects of me, as a guardian, is more important than not, and what attitude I have towards his next generation.

Well, then I'll have to act like a loyal and respectful minister.

It may be a little tiring, but it will be very decent.

To tell you the truth, when Kitabatake's plan and reputation were ruined in Iga, I almost wanted to beat him up and throw it to the people of Iga to toss...... It's so worry-free! And I have to rack my brains and use all my wrists to clean up the aftermath for him! In addition, you have to face the nonsense and doubts of this stupid person!

But on the other hand, he's a fool, and that's good for me. In this way, as long as I show love for Kitabatake, Nobunaga will feel at ease to let me support him, and the retainers of the Kitabatake family will be accustomed to relying on me, and the whole affairs of Ise will continue to be handled by me.

Outside the hallway, I saw Nobunaga's little surname Hidemasa, who had been very trustworthy for the past two years, and I relayed Nobunaga's words to him.

As I continued to walk forward, I saw Kitabatake, who was anxious.

"It's His Royal Highness Gu Feng...... Why are you still here? Are you waiting for me? That's a real honor. I said with a smirk in my heart.

"Who would do such a thing!" Kitabatake Gokutomi really has no sense of humor, and his cheeks are bulging with anger, "What did you say later?" I must have been criticizing my father with me! It's infuriating to think about! ”

Apparently, he's been struggling for a while, thinking that I'll echo Nobunaga and criticize him together. A tenacious child like him can easily walk into a dead end.

"What else can I do but help you speak?" I had no choice but to help him get free, "You are my lieutenant, I am your guardian, if you are scolded, of course I can't please him!" ”

"Oh!" He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard me say this, but asked me nervously, "What did my father say later?" ”

"Don't worry, I just said that I want to help His Highness Gu Feng more...... Although you were a little reckless this time, you are brave and commendable after all. Therefore, the lord's expectations for His Royal Highness Gu Feng are still very high. ”

"So what's next?" A look of joy finally appeared on his face.

"Next, just listen to the lord's arrangement." I nodded to him and left Tofukuji Temple.

Actually, when it comes to Nobunaga's plans, I can almost guess about it. It is nothing more than using Ashikaga Yoshiaki as a signboard, Matsunaga Shu as an intermediary, and directly subordinate legions as the backing, vigorously wooing and subduing the various wealthy families in, isolating the power of the Miyoshi family, eliminating the influence of the Miyoshi family, and then completely expelling it from.

Regarding Nobunaga's acceptance of Matsunaga Hide, Ashikaga Yoshiaki has some opinions. At the beginning, the death of his brother Yoshiki was inseparable from Jiuxiu, and if he hadn't been rescued by Hosokawa Fujitaka and Wada Yumasa, maybe he would be a puppet of Jiuxiu now. Whether it is from personal feelings or out of the righteousness of avenging the former princess, it is necessary to defeat this person. But at Nobunaga's insistence, Ashikaga Yoshiaki couldn't hold his position and had to pinch his nose and agree...... Someone with a heart may be able to pay special attention to this incident, and this is the beginning of the disagreement between Nobunaga and Yoshiaki, which seems to indicate that the two will eventually break up.

However, when more people noticed this, the matter itself was completely overshadowed by successive victories. Matsunaga Shu, who once controlled, surrendered, General Yoshiei, who was supported by the Miyoshi family, died at sea, and the navy under the Oda family defeated the Ataka navy to control Osaka Bay...... Several things are like a reminder one after another, completely cutting off the power of the Miyoshi family in. After the news spread, most of the wealthy clans of Yamato, Yamashiro, and Tamba almost all surrendered.

On September 26, two days before Joraku, Nobunaga ordered Shibata Katsuie, Beeya Yoritaka, Mori Kasei, and Sakai Masasho to lead part of the main force to cross the Katsura River as a vanguard and attack Katsuryuji Castle, which was garrisoned by Iwaki Yudo. At this time, the Miyoshi family still had some power, and the 2,000 defenders all went into battle, and the Oda family fought in a stalemate.

After that, Nobunaga and Yoshiaki entered Kyoto, and once ordered Matsunaga Hideshi of to surrender, and went to Tofukuji Temple to meet Nobunaga on the 28th, and were also received by the nominal governor of the Miyoshi family, Miyoshi Yoshitsutsugu, Tsutsui Shunkei of Yamato, Hideharu Hatano of Tanba, and the son-in-law of Hideharu Hatano and Besshoji of Harima, and other big wealthy families around, and the north and south of Kyoto were roughly included in the sphere of influence of Nobunaga and Yoshiaki.

At the same time, Hosokawa Fujitaka, Akechi Mitsuhide, and Wada Yumasa led 20,000 people from Yamashiro and Tanba to attack Akutagawa Castle, and the 3,000 defenders in the city had no intention of fighting, and Miyoshi Nagaitsu, the head of the three, fled to Awa.

On the 29th, Nobunaga gave the order for the whole army to go out into battle, and personally led 50,000 troops from Owari, Mino, and Omi to the castle of Katsuryuji.

And I returned to Yamato with Kitabatake, and immediately led 30,000 people from Ise and Yamato to the west to threaten the country of Kawachi. Miyoshi Masaysu of Iimoriyama Castle and Miyoshi Yasunaga of Takaya Castle hurriedly abandoned the castle and fled to Awa via Settsu Province for fear of being surrounded by land and water. Iwamatsu of Osaka Bay took advantage of the situation to land and occupied Kishiwada Castle in Minamiwazumi.

On October 1, Katsumasa Ikeda of Settsu took the lead in surrendering to Nobunaga, and Nobunaga was overjoyed, and immediately did not take any blame for the past, guaranteeing the safety of his territory, and giving him an additional 60,000 stone territory (戰国武鑑之織田武鑑). Seems too generous! ）； Itami then subdued, the entire Settsu country was basically pacified, this country is the biggest reliance of the Miyoshi family, has always been the head of the three people Miyoshi Changyi and Miyoshi Masaysu two people in the joint control, in the battle of Kyokoji Temple, the 60,000 troops of the Miyoshi family, there are 25,000 people from the Settsu country. After the Settsu Province surrendered to Nobunaga, the Miyoshi family in can be said to be in the general trend.

By October 2, Nobunaga had led nearly 100,000 troops into Koshisui Castle, which connected the three kingdoms of Awa, Awaji, and Harima. It was the last main castle of the Miyoshi family in in Settsu Province, and was owned by Shinohara, the Gomi service of Miyoshi Nagaharu of Awa Province, and was also inhabited by Hosokawa Tochimaru Nobumoto, the son of the former head Hosokawa Harumoto, the adopted son of the Hosokawa clan, who succeeded to the position of head in 1565. Threatened by Nobunaga's army, Shinohara, Nagabo gave up his position as a puppet and fled to Awa.

At this point, the whole of was basically pacified and brought under Nobunaga's control. From Nobunaga's 28th day to Kyoto, in just four days, the Miyoshi forces of Yamashiro, Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi collapsed. However, these places can only be said to be Nobunaga's sphere of influence, and they are also under the name of Yoshiaki, and they cannot be said to be the domain of the Oda family. For a long time, Nobunaga and Yoshiaki had to rely on the local tycoons to govern these places.

As for the Miyoshi family, in fact, as early as the death of Miyoshi Changqing and the failure of Yoshiji's quest to be appointed as the leader, it had already begun to decline, and then the three people confronted Matsunaga Hide, which can be said to mark the disintegration of the Miyoshi family, although they all nominally respect Miyoshi Yoshitsugi, but whether it is in the hands of the three people, or in alliance with Matsunaga Hide, Miyoshi Yoshitsugu is just a puppet, but Matsunaga Hide's means are more clever.

Now the Miyoshi family has retreated to Shikoku, and there are still Awa and Sanki in their hands, but the three people who control the center have no name and have lost their respective territories. The guardian of Awa Province is Hosokawa Shinyuki of the Hosokawa family, and the real power is held by Miyoshi Nagaji, the son of Yoshiken Miyoshi and the half-brother of Shinyuki Hosokawa; The biggest power in Sanuki Province is Tokawa Storage, the younger brother of Nagaji and the adopted son of the Tokawa family, and there are also wealthy families such as Kagawa, Yasutomi, Kasai, and Hatome who belong to the Miyoshi family; And the common mother of the three brothers is the daughter of the famous Okamoto Makinishi, the wife of the little major general who married Hosokawa Chitaka and Miyoshi Yoshiken successively. In the future, the three good families will be jointly presided over by the three brothers who control the place and the three people in the center.

As a force called Bo Xishan, facing Oda Nobunaga, who is like Zhongtian, although the three of them are determined to recapture, the wealthy families of are not stupid, and they have a clear understanding of the strength of both sides. If this situation is maintained, where to go, I think everyone will have their own choice!

And as the imperial court, looking at the situation under his nose, he also made a choice.

At the beginning of October, Ashikaga Yoshiaki sent a letter to the imperial court, hoping that the imperial court and Sekihaku would explain the details of the murder of the former public light source temple. Then, the predecessor of Sekihaku Nijo Haruma suddenly jumped out and accused the current Sekihaku Konoe Qianjiu, saying that he was unclear, stupid, and had been guilty of dereliction of duty and morality a long time ago, etc., so the court was furious, dismissed Konoe Maejiu, from his post and released him from the court.

Behind this incident, it is obvious that Nobunaga is promoting. Konoe was Yoshiaki's cousin for a long time, and he had been a frequent concern for Yoshiaki in the imperial court, and he served as a guanbai, and Yoshiaki would not reject him, but it was not in line with Nobunaga's wishes, so he had to ask him to get out of the way. In addition, in the matter of profit, righteousness and honor, it is necessary to find an unlucky ghost with enough weight to come out and take the blame, so as to maintain the dignity and honor of the imperial court, so as to prepare for the new opening of the old store.

Regarding this point, although Yoshiaki has some reservations, he probably does not resist it much, and it is not difficult to choose between his cousin serving as Guan Bai and himself serving as a general.

It's just that I pity Konoe Maejiu, and after being chased and released by the imperial court, he wandered around, and later went to Akai Naomasa, who took refuge in the Tamba Daihao clan and married his sister (Keiein) as his stepfamily, and lived in Shimonokan in Kuroi Castle...... By the way, this Kuroi Castle was snatched by Naomasa Akai after he attacked and killed Matsunaga Hide's own brother and Tanba's guardian Dai Naito Munekatsu.

Guan Bai's position cannot be hung for long. Traditionally, this position was held by the highest-ranking minister in the imperial court. Since the Zheng is more often only awarded to the dead, and the Taizheng Minister is also a rare commodity that "rituals are all over the world, the state of the state, the severity, the yin and yang, and the uninhabited are boring", so it is generally held by the minister from the left. Among the current five masters, one of the Ichijo family's Ichiki is currently the power of the three, and the Eagle Division family is currently in a state of extinction after the death of the former Sekihaku Takaji Kansuke, and the only people who have this official position and rank are the Konoe Maejiu, who has been exiled, and Kujo Uetong and Nijo Harura, who have both served as Sekihaku. And because the former Sekihaku Kujo Ueto was still living in seclusion in the Settsu country, the imperial court appointed the former Sekihaku and the left minister Nijo Harura to re-serve as Sekihaku.

On October 18, the Imperial Court officially announced that Ashikaga Yoshiaki would succeed him as the fifteenth general of the Muromachi shogunate, and at the same time, he was also appointed to the post of lieutenant general of the Left Konoe Warrante.

Marked by the change of shogun and Sekihaku, the imperial court officially recognized the Oda family's control of Kinai, and the Miyoshi-Matsunaga regime officially became history.

In addition, the close relationship with the Oda family, Neizo Toyama Koyanji was also promoted, and he was appointed as the second power of the Great Nayan, as the secretary of the Yulin family, which is already the highest rank and official position.

Ashikaga Yoshishu, who was supposed to be a monk according to convention, was appointed as the governor of the left guard from the four with Yoshiaki. Left Guard Governor and Left Guard Zo, generally the official position of the Kanto Shogun, from the first Kamakura Duke Ashikaga Kei, the clan Man, Mankan, and Chi all held this position, and later due to the loss of power of the Kanto Prince, so the next few generations did not formally assume any official positions, to the Furukawa Ashikaga Harushi, and finally recounted the position of the Left Guard Governor from the four, but his son Ashikaga Yoshiji, because he is a puppet of the Hojo family, and there is also the Fuji clan, the son of the former Haruki family, the orthodox surname has not been confirmed, It's just that like Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the prince of the small bow, he was appointed to the official position of the right soldier.

The exceptional appointment of Ashikaga Yoshishu to this position seems to explain Nobunaga's intentions to the world.

Next, according to the same convention, like the previous Ouchi Yoshiko, Rokkaku Joyori, and Miyoshi Nagakei, Oda Nobunaga, as the overlord of Kinai, should assume the position of the governor and assist the shogun in this capacity, and order the Kinai nobles until the next powerful daimyo overthrows him, and then change the shogun and Sekihaku, and re-establish a limited central power.

However, if Nobunaga only had this instrument, could he still be an innovator who ended the Sengoku period?

(To be continued)