When I heard that it was Honda Masanobu, I was silent on the surface, but I was secretly taken aback in my heart. This was the original leader of the Edo shogunate, and after being seized by the arbitrary faction, he quickly defeated Okubo Yasu's party, defeated the political enemy Okubo loyal neighbors, and snatched the real power of the shogunate into his hands.

He ran away from the Tokugawa family a few years ago during Mikawa Ichiku, and then he was briefly attached to Matsunaga Hide, but because he was not reused, he soon ran again, but he didn't expect to come to me now.

In addition, the name of that monk is also very strange, isn't the ordinary monk supposed to call the Dharma name?

"Hyotaro Ashina?" I asked rhetorically.

"Yes," Honda Masanobu replied, as if sensing my doubts, "this monk is very strange, and he prefers to be called by his common name...... His Dharma name is Suifeng. ”

With the wind? Later Tianhai? That old monster?! This is a man even more legendary than Honda Masanobu! Miraculously lived for more than 100 years, and in the first half of his life, he became a close confidant of Tokugawa Ieyasu, serving as the chief monk in charge of the world's monks, and had a great influence on the imperial and religious policies of the Edo shogunate. Five years after his death, he was given the title of master by the imperial court - and the famous Qinluan and Renru did not receive such a title until the Meiji period.

I couldn't help but take a closer look at him. He was a burly man, with hair an inch or two long, tattered monk's robes, and two thick calves exposed. However, his expression is calm and calm, and his eyes are very sharp, which shows an unusual demeanor.

"Where did the master always study Buddhism?" I asked him.

"Shimono Province Pink River Temple, Omi Province Mitsui Temple, Settsu Province Honganji Temple, Kii Province Nerai Temple, Yamato Province Kofukuji Temple." He gave the names of five monasteries in a row.

"It's not the same sect, is it?" I asked curiously. Among them, Shimonokoku Fenhe Temple is probably the place where he became a monk, it is the temple of the Tiantai sect, and then Mitsui Temple is the head of the sect of the Tiantai temple, and he is probably a member of the Tiantai sect. However, Honganji Temple is owned by the Pure Land Shinshu (Ichijo Sect), Neraiji Temple is owned by the Shingon sect, and Kofukuji Temple is the head of the Hosho sect...... It's a lot of fun!

"There are ten thousand teachings, and the Buddha is one vehicle." He replied simply.

"So, how is the Buddha and how is the Dharma?"

"Naturally, it's all beings," he smiled, "doesn't Your Highness have such thoughts?" ”

With that, he closed his lips tightly.

I understand, this is a monk who is not willing to be lonely. As legend has it, he was indeed lonely in the early days, completely lacking the composure he had in front of Tokugawa Ieyasu more than twenty years later. And the "purifying sentient beings" in his mouth obviously means unifying the world and the like. Honda Masanobu obviously heard this, and he looked at my face seriously.

"As a samurai, how can you do family things? I can't understand what you're saying," I shook my head, turning to Keitaka Yamaoka and Masanobu Honda, "You two are with him, can you understand what he means?" ”

"I'm not familiar with the monk." Yamaoka Keitaka replied very dryly.

Honda Masanobu showed a wry smile: "Hyotaro often says strange things, and His Highness Mie doesn't have to care. ”

"Is that so...... Anyway, let's just ask the three of you to stay first. When I'm done with the war, I'll talk to them again. I said.

"Wait a minute!" Yamaoka Keitaka owed, "His Royal Highness Mie wants to attack Koga County?" ”

"Why did His Highness Shanoka say this?" I asked casually.

Actually, I don't plan to keep this matter a secret, but I might as well test him. In history, their four brothers are all capable people, the first three are Sakuma Nobumori, Akechi Mitsuhide's early and powerful, Honnoji was unwilling to betray the Oda family during the change, and fiercely blocked Mitsuhide; The latter was the guardian of Ashikaga Yoshiaki's Yamashiro Semi-Koku, who later became the head of the Koga Group and the lord of the Hitachi Furuto Domain.

"What else can you do in Minami-Omi other than Koga-gun?" Yamaoka Keitaka smiled slightly, and respectfully saluted me: "If you are not wrong, how about asking His Royal Highness Mie to give me the opportunity to restore the family name?" It was really helpless to disobey His Highness Danzheng last time, but in Koga County, he thought that he still had some binding force and could serve His Highness. ”

"Just reinstate the family name, I can guarantee it." I nodded. Compared with the previous position of the flag head of the southern Omi region (not equal to the southern Omi), his requirements are very low. Presumably, after being driven out of Minami Omi by Nobunaga, he had a hard time in Yamato for more than a year, so he learned from the pain and made the decision to surrender to the Oda family.

With the help of Keitaka Yamaoka, it was even easier to pacify Koga. Moreover, for the wealthy who still have illusions about the Hexagonal family, his submission is a huge blow.

At the beginning, Nobunaga Kamiraku, who was the one who resisted the most fiercely, was naturally defeated, but like a beacon of Juche thought, he constantly encouraged the rest of the revolutionary comrades to continue along the dark path of the martyrs.

Now that even he has surrendered, those wealthy families should be completely dead. Not...... On June 26, I dispatched all my troops and the Iga group to sweep away the three small wealthy families who had been reluctant to express their stance for a long time.

Due to the city cession decree issued by the Hexagonal Dinglai (all the retainers gathered in the Guanyin Temple City, and the other cities were abandoned or destroyed. Later generations of the forerunner of the One Country, One City Order), only the Kannonji Castle in Minami Omi is extremely strong, like standing out from the crowd, and the rest of the castles of the wealthy clans are not very well built. The wild city of the Gamo family is still like that, not to mention the city of these small wealthy families, which is almost the specifications of a small cottage, and it doesn't cost much.

Killing chickens and scaring monkeys in this way has a very obvious effect. In addition to the father and son of Shigetsuna Aochi and Mitsutsuna, who arrived earlier, more than a dozen wealthy families, including Shigeyasu Nagahara, Takaharu Goto, Kenmori Shinto, Keio Ikeda, and Keihiro Nagata, led their troops one after another, and after merging with my existing army, the total number reached more than 11,000.

Among these wealthy families, several families are from the two counties of Yezhou and Litai. When Nobumori Sakuma and Katsuie Shibata went out to Kita-Omi, they were worried that they would not be able to help, so they did not bring them with them. But I don't have to worry about anything, Koga-gun, which has lost its backbone and a large number of elites, is much weaker than a big enemy like Asakura-Asai, and they are familiar with the local terrain and are suitable to use against Koga.

Once the choice was made, and there was a reward of 10,000 yuan, they showed a very hard work, which almost opened my eyes. From the time they entered Koga along the Yasu River, they uprooted all the small land attendants along the way, leaving nothing alive.

But in fact, the Rokkaku father and son will never be in these few families, but will only be in the largest land service families such as Yamanaka, Sankumo, Akutagawa, and Kurokawa.

I don't know if it's because of the strength shown by our side, or because of the strategy of Yamaoka Jinglong, the next few ground servants quickly surrendered. Among them is the Sanyun family. The former head of the Mikumo family, Mikumo Kenji, was once one of the six elders of the family alongside Goto Kento, Shinto Sadaji, Gamo Kenhide, Hirai Dingwu, and Mekada Tsunaki, but he was killed in the battle with the Asai family in the ninth year of Eiroku, and his younger brother Sankumo Narichi was killed in the battle in the Yesu River at the beginning of the month, leaving only the two-year-old sister-in-law Mikumo to grow up, and the family almost fell apart.

On the 29th, we surrounded the Ishibe Castle of the Yamanaka family. This is a relatively fortified castle in Koga County, and according to the information of the Hattori family, Rokkaku Yoshiken and his son are in the city.

After the siege of the city for two days, after the entry of Yamaoka Keitaka into the city, the castle of Ishibe was surrendered.

"What about the father and son of Rokkaku Sakyo?" When I met Yamanaka Nagatoshi in the main tent, I asked.

"I left the ...... three days ago"

Obviously, the hexagonal father and son were let go by him in advance.

"What?" Hearing the news, the first people who were not calm were Aochi Shigerusuna, Nagahara Shigeyasu, and Nagata Keihiro. They were responsible for the siege of the city, and according to the agreement, after subduing Shibe Castle and capturing the hexagonal father and son, they could get 2,000 guan each.

"Do you know where to go?" I continued to ask him.

"I think it's Ishiyama Honganji." Yamanaka Nagatoshi replied very frankly.

He probably thought that even if I didn't want to give up, it would be impossible to attack Honganji, so there was no need to hide this matter, and I nodded. This is consistent with my guess. Honganji Temple's main body shinru, the main room Ruharuni, is the righteous daughter of Rokkaku Joyori, and is also the sister of Takeda Shingen Shobu Sanjo Bureau. Today's hexagonal Yixian, the most suitable place to go is this righteous sister. In that case, I really can't do anything about him for the time being.

“…… So, are you deliberately disobedient to His Royal Highness? Gamo Fuxiu reprimanded harshly.

"Loyal to the sovereign, I don't think there's anything wrong with it." Yamanaka Nagatoshi replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Gamo Fuxiu snorted, and wanted to say something, but I waved my hand to stop him: "Forget it, it's just a different position." I don't embarrass Your Highness Yamanaka, please go back to the city right now. ”

Hearing me say this, Yamanaka Nagatoshi showed a look of surprise.

"I'm just calming down this place on behalf of His Highness and pursuing the hexagonal father and son, since the matter has come to an end, I will leave without saying anything. However, now that the Rokkaku family has perished, the Yamanaka family is still willing to continue, right? Where to go, before the new county representative sent by the family takes office, I hope that His Highness Yamanaka will think about it. I admonished him lightly.

I suddenly felt a little overwhelmed by the fact that the Rokkaku father and son had gone to Honganji, and then the Miyoshi Sanko and Saito Ryuko, who were about to invade Settsu, and the imminent outbreak of Ichijo and the brutal killing that began there.

However, the things that need to be done still have to be done.

"As for all of you......," I turned to appease the nobles, "I will truthfully report on your highness's merits this time." As long as you are loyal from now on, your territory will naturally be secured; If you can make a meritorious achievement, it goes without saying that you will be rewarded...... In addition, I will not take back the bounty of 10,000 guan, and the ten families with the largest number of troops will each receive 1,000 guan! ”

……，…… The whole course of the war was uneventful, and there were few bright spots. The clean-up war was originally like this, trivial and trivial, there could be no big decisive battle, the most was sneak attacks and counter-sneak attacks.

However, I unexpectedly caught a person: Sugitani Zenjubo, a famous iron cannon who attacked Nobunaga halfway. Due to the early time of my attack on Koga, he was caught by Hattori Masanari's men before he could flee to Takashima-gun. It was a bonus, and Nobunaga should have liked it.

After dispersing the reinforcements from each family, I and Takenaka Shigeharu and Gamo Fuhide led the two armies and returned to the Kamo family on July 2. Mitsu's complexion has improved a bit, and she can get up and walk slowly for a while. Naotora Ii has been with her, telling her about the big and small things that happened in Mie Castle after she left early last year. However, she described the situation more than half a year ago, during which time she had been stationed with me in Kishiwada Castle.

Seeing Mizu's unfinished appearance, I struggled to come up with a good idea.

I called Gamo Fuxiu to the front and asked him solemnly: "If I ask His Highness Danzheng to assign you to my strength, are you willing?" ”

"It would be nice to be able to do that. I often hear Mizu talk about the majesty of Mie Castle and the prosperity of Mie Town, and I really want to see and learn how to govern from you! Gamo Fuhide looked very happy, "And in this way, Mitsu can move to Mie Castle together, so she must not be so lonely, right?" …… It's the best of both worlds! ”

"Really? I'm afraid you'll resist! Maybe your father will have an idea...... After all, you're the son-in-law of the Gamo family. I said with a smile.

"I think we should try to fit in with the Oda family like this. Maintaining a half-reading posture as before will not be good in front of His Highness Danzheng. Gamo Fuxiu's face solemnized, "So you can just bring it up." As for my father, I'll be in charge of persuasion. ”

"I'm relieved if you say that," I nodded, "and then I'll go and suggest it to His Highness Danzheng." ”

The next time, I ordered Shigeharu Takenaka to lead his troops back to the territory, and took Honda Masanobu and Ashina Hyotaro to Mie Castle as guests.

Before leaving, Yamaoka Keitaka came to see off the two of them, as a companion at Yamato Kofukuji Temple. Then, he also proposed to me the will to be a Kira family and a force.

Considering my relationship with Nobumori Sakuma, I politely declined him.

"I heard that the original leader of the Yamaoka family was in Litai County, so this time the family name was restored, His Royal Highness Yamaoka probably wanted to arrange it in Litai County, right? In this case, it would be more appropriate to become His Royal Highness Sakuma. ”

"What His Royal Highness Mie said also makes sense......" Yamaoka Keitaka thought for a moment and made another request: "So, can you please accept the appearance of your son-in-law?" ”

"His Royal Highness Yamaoka's son-in-law?" I asked rhetorically.

"Yes. Inuko Yamaoka Keizong, who is still in Yamato," Yamaoka Keitaka smiled, "I thought it would be very difficult, and I even had the consciousness of sacrificing my life, so I didn't bring him here...... I didn't expect it to be so easy to achieve, and this is also a blessing for His Royal Highness Mire! ”

"It just so happens that I have some people from Koga here. How about taking advantage of the prestige of the Yamaoka family in Koga, and letting Linglang take charge? ”

"This matter, the dog should be fine." Keitaka Yamaoka assured.

"That's it." I nodded.

There is more than one smart person. In the face of Nobunaga's strength, Yamaoka Keitaka also made the same judgment as Gamo Fuhide.

At the same time as his own actions and strength, let the juniors serve under the rest of the important ministers of the Oda family, which is the attitude of the retainers of the own family, and the Maeda Toshiya of the Owari Maeda family and Sasa Narumasa of the Sasa family serve as Nobunaga's close attendants. It's just that with his relationship with the Oda family, he can't reach the level of serving as Nobunaga's own close attendant, so he can only retreat to the next best thing to find important ministers. At the same time, acting as a son-in-law is equivalent to taking the initiative to provide hostages, which is a more deferential performance.

And his choice of my Kira family is a testament to my prestige in Minami-Omi. From this point of view alone, there are no white flowers in those 10,000 guan.

(To be continued)