Nobunaga stayed at Kanie Castle for three days, made some arrangements for Tsushima's affairs, and then returned to Komakiyama satisfied. My original 3,500 koku of Kamikawa Castle was transferred to Naomasa Tsukasa, and the position of Tsushima was also handed over to him; The 20,000 stone territory of the former Takigawa Ichiyi Fenggong was officially transferred to Oda Envelope this time. Before leaving, he called his younger brother Oda Envelope. I naturally understood what Nobunaga meant, this was to prepare for Enopro to take over my old domain, so I immediately temporarily pulled Asano Nagayoshi into Enopo's retainers, and ordered Maeno Nagayasu to gather and prepare and hand over command to Enopus.

But I also gained something. As compensation, Nobunaga gave me the name of the head of the Northern Ise Army, so that I could mobilize the various families in the Northern Ise to be assigned to the wealthy families. However, now the Oda family is the only one in Kita-Ise.

In addition, the flying island east of Cape Kiso, between the Raft River and the Koko River, was given to Nobuyuki Oda, another younger brother of Nobunaga. Originally, it was a piece of splendour, so the names of each village were basically "Nitta", such as Tobishima Nitta Village, Kamechi Nitta Village, Maisei Nitta Village, Zenta Nita Village, etc., and no castle was built before, only Kokie Castle, which is close to the crab river territory, is still decent.

And the 6,000 stone of Cape Muzeng, the old leader of the Umezu family in Kuwana County, is still in my hands as the main village of the naval army. This territory is my bondage, and my new city will be here. Otherwise, if I move to Mie County now, I will be completely separated from the Oda family's domain. This must be avoided until the North Ise Pass is opened. Nobunaga and I have tacitly agreed on this.

In the whole thing, the most depressing thing is Xiujing. As the generation of Crab River City, he was easily controlled by others, and he was also under house arrest in the South Castle Guard, which made him feel very embarrassed. But he can't really be blamed for that. Nobunaga made this trip in the name of inspection, and he didn't bring many people, so in the face of this situation, as a courtier, could he, as a courtier, in addition to welcoming Nobunaga into the city and handing over control, could he resist?

Even if I am, the result will probably be the same, except that the embarrassed person will be replaced by me. In a way, he took the embarrassment for me.

Although this is an obvious thing, Xiujing still can't let go. As soon as Nobunaga left, he immediately opened a secret room and prepared to apologize for his sins that night.

Hearing his commotion, I hurried to the Minami Castle Tower. When he saw me coming over at night, he presented the suicide note left by Xiujing with a sad face. I didn't open it, I broke into the secret room directly, and I saw Xiujing sitting facing the door in a light yellow samurai dress with a white cloth belt on her head. The four corners of the secret room have been lit with white lanterns. Behind him and on both sides, white candles are likewise arranged.

Everything is very formal. This is the first time I've encountered such a situation.

"You're really ready to seppuku! Is it serious? "I looked at him and was a little bit at a loss.

"Brother came just in time, please make a mistake for me later." , he replied in a very formal tone.

"It's not your fault! If it were me, it wouldn't be the same to let the main hall enter the city! Am I going to have to cut my stomach? I shouted. Even though seppuku is the so-called "supreme etiquette of the samurai", I really can't agree with it.

"But Joyo is in the next ...... There is a heavy trust, and the samurai must be taken on the responsibility for this matter. His face tensed.

"What about the night? What to do with Kichijomaru? Just for this little thing, you abandon them? Seeing him so solemn, I was really a little anxious, and I walked around in front of him anxiously.

"It's no small thing to lose your city...... As for the aftermath, it has been entrusted to his brother in the suicide note. ”

"Listen, I know it's embarrassing for you to stop you. However, please understand the feelings of being an elder brother," I put my arm on his shoulder, "I am the first to go beyond the norm, and the fault is actually mine." How can I get by if you say this? Moreover, I am just a younger brother like you, and to me, you are more important than Crab River City. ”

"Brother is very grateful...... he was silent, "...... However, someone must always take responsibility, so that the dignity of the family can be maintained, and the main hall will know the determination of the family, and will not do such a contemptuous act in the future. ”

"If you want to maintain your dignity, you can stop here......" I sighed, "The main hall has always done its own thing, and recently it has become more and more arbitrary, and it is impossible for you to influence him, so you can't take it too seriously." ”

Really, if you really want to be so serious, the Toshiya who violated the laws of the family should take the initiative to seppuku, Hayashi Xiuzhen, who prevented Nobunaga from being scolded before Tsukasama, should be seppuku, Shibata Katsuie and Mori Kesei, who failed to build the castle in Sumamata, should also be seppuku, and Ikeda Tsuneko, who gave up Unuma Castle and was picked up by me and returned to Owari, should also be seppuku......

As for expressing determination, it is even more unnecessary. At the beginning, Nobunaga's most respected Hirate Masahide seppuku, he did not express remorse, but gradually restrained a little. Now that he is prestigious, a courtier seppuku, do you want him to change his attitude, that is impossible.

Nobunaga was very controlling, and his later actions were very casual. To do things under him, sometimes you have to endure a little. Lin Xiuzhen has such high qualifications, and Shibata Katsuya is such a brave person, but he is not scolded by him; The monkey became the commander of the legion, and Nobunaga was not upset and not kicked over; Only Mitsuhide, a person who values tradition and dignity, couldn't stand it, so he raised the anti-flag......

Listening to my words, Xiujing fell silent.

"So be it!" Seeing that he had a change of heart, I pulled him up, "You should think about it for my sake, how about bearing this dishonor first?" ”

"I'm so ashamed that my brother said that." Xiujing sighed.

"Anyway, don't care. If you are alive, you must have a chance to prove yourself, and you should always have this self-confidence...... When I took you out of Tosa, didn't I promise that I would let you go back? ”

……，……

After solving the matter of Xiujing, I had the leisure to talk to Ishiya Laichen in detail. In this incident, Nobunaga did not impose any restrictions on Nana, just relying on his face as the shogunate. Shen Cizhong still has some power to manage the affairs of the large and small samurai in various places to meet the generals.

"It's really gratifying to congratulate my brother on his promotion," I asked, "when did this happen?" ”

"Just before that time I sent you the Imperial Treasure Book of the Imperial Palace." He said.

"Why haven't I heard you mention it?" I asked curiously.

"It's just a blessing from you, what is there to boast about." He smiled and shook his head

"The Gongfang Palace still values the righteous brother, so there is really no need to be presumptuous." I said. In my memory, Changzong and my head went to Beijing to meet the general, and it was through his intermediary that he could have obtained this position; Later, Motojin formed a preliminary alliance with the Oda family through Akechi Mitsuhide, and Motokin's eldest son, Nobukin Motofu, paid homage to Nobunaga's righteousness, and he was in contact with each other in the middle, and successfully achieved his mission.

However, now that Ishitani Nana has become my main room, it is naturally impossible for him to have anything to do with the original family. This time, the Yuan relatives went to Beijing, and it was his sister-in-law Ninagawa's relationship with the elder brother. However, Ninagawa married the sister of his Saito family, and I married the sister of his Ishitani family.

Although it was not a happy time when the marriage was decided, he was really dedicated to Nana's half-sister, and because I didn't deal with Ninagawa's relatives, he was even estranged from the Ninagawa family, who held the important position of hereditary shogunate government. Such a loving person deserves to be treated sincerely as a brother-in-law.

"It's better to say that the Gongfang Palace values you very much! I don't have much skills, but I still have some self-knowledge...... However, if something like this happens, it must be inconvenient for you to contact the Gongfang Hall again. ”

"Yes," I nodded in acknowledgement, "and please understand my position." ”

"I'm just a member of the public of the Gongfang Palace, and although I have served as Shin Jizhong, I don't want you to anger Oda Danmasa again. This is considered for the sake of the dishes...... With such feelings, you samurai must be disloyal and very weak in the eyes of your samurai. ”

"No, I understand. If it were me, I would have thought the same way. I said.

"Really?" He looked at me in amazement.

After thinking about it, I decided to remind him: "Kinai is in chaos at the moment...... When you return to Kyoto, if anything happens, welcome to me. When the time comes, you can still find Shijo Gion O House, and I will let them provide support. ”

"Since you say so, you're welcome...... For most of the past six months, thanks to the funding of the Australian house! ”

At this moment, a personal guard samurai suddenly broke into the courtyard and came to me on his knees and said, "My lord, there is an urgent report from His Highness Ii of Mie Prefecture!" ”

"Say!" I stood up all at once.

"The Koto family and the Kusu family led five thousand people and marched towards the Mie Castle that was being built! The three families of the Chunyu tribe of Chaoming County, Isaka, and Hoshikawa are also gathering troops! The number of people is unknown! ”

“…… It seems that I had to go to Mie County quickly, and I wanted to accompany my brother on a trip. I said to Ishiya Yorichen.

"Your business is important, please take care of yourself!" Ishitani Raichen said.

I nodded, turned to walk out of the courtyard, only to find the guard still half-kneeling.

"Anything else?" I frowned. Are there any other enemy troops?

"Yes...... His Royal Highness Ii asked his subordinates to tell him that Mie Castle and Virgen Castle were under construction and could not be defended. The military situation was urgent, and in order to defend the two cities, she led the army to attack first! ”

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