However, Kinai is not my responsibility, and Nobunaga has already made arrangements, so I can't go to Naomasa's field. Therefore, I only sent a naval army of more than 1,000 men to carry some of the military rations to Kishiwada Castle, and pointed out the Naomasa who was handed over to him and Tawenyama Castle.

I think he should understand what I mean when he receives this sentence from me.

At this time, Naomasa was already moving. He took 3,000 of Nobunaga's 5,000 troops who had left behind in Kyoto, joined forces with the Yamato Tsutsui family and the Ido family, and entered Minami Hanoi Province with an army of 8,000 men, and launched an attack on Yusa Shinkyo, who occupied Takaya Castle in Minami Hanoi.

Naomasa Tsukasa, who found that Nobunaga was extremely trusted, led his troops away, and Ashikaga Yoshiaki probably understood that the Oda family had already launched an operation, and he was afraid that Nobunaga's army would arrive soon. He left Mibuchi Fujiei and Ise Sadako to stay at Nijo Castle in Karasuma Nakami's Imperial Gate, and went to Nanshan Castle to hold on to Maki Island Castle. Located near Fushimi Castle (which has not yet been expanded), this castle is the guardian of Yamashiro Province and a military stronghold, making it one of the rare fortified castles in the country. Ashikaga Yoshiaki moved here, obviously with the consciousness of being surrounded by Nobunaga, and perhaps hoped to be able to hold on for a while, waiting for reinforcements from Settsu, Hanoi, Tango and other countries!

Then it's time to shatter his illusions.

On the 15th of May, I gathered together the Tsushima Commandery, Mie Reserve, and 3,000 Naval Forces, gathered the 2,000 Awaji people with their skills, the 8,000 Awa people from the Hosokawa, Miyoshi, Maeda, Sawaki, Ikoma, Ichinomiya, and Kume families, and the 9,000 Sanki people from the Kagawa, Kasai, Kankawa, Habed, and Tokawa families, totaling 25,000 troops, and entered Settsu Province from the Amagasaki area of Kawabe-gun. After going ashore, I divided the general forces in two, and the 8,000 Awa people led by Hosokawa Shinyuki attacked eastward, targeting Toshima-gun in Higashi-Settsu, Shimashita-gun under the Nakagawa family, and Shimagun-gun under the Takayama family; I myself led 17,000 men from Tsushima Bei, Mie Bei, the Naval Army, the Awaji Army, and the Sanki Group to the two cities of Itami and Ikeda in the north as the main force.

Due to the distance, Nobunaga's message was a little slower than mine. According to Tsuya's information, he went out on May 17, and before leaving, he sent letters to Takeda Nobutaka, Niwa Nagahide, Akechi Mitsuhide, and Hara Hideyoshi, ordering them to guard the four families of Tango Isshiki, Echizen Asakura, Tan**Tano, and Kita-Omi Asai. And the army he brought with him was naturally even larger, including 60,000 troops in Owari, Mino, Ise, and Minami Omi, as well as 5,000 Tokugawa troops in Mikawa and Enoe.

After arriving in Kinai, Nobunaga sent Shibata Katsuie as the first hand to attack Nijo Castle in Kyoto, and sent Sakuma Nobumori (this guy escaped from the battle in Enoe and did not receive any punishment) as a partial division to attack Wakae Castle in Kitakawachi Miyoshi Yoshitsugu, and personally led 40,000 main forces to surround Ashikaga Yoshiaki's Makishima Castle.

At this point, the rest is pretty straightforward. Those daimyo and wealthy families will look at the wind, and it is a matter of course to take refuge in the Oda family.

The first to turn around was, sure enough, Araki Murashige of Itami Castle. Taking advantage of his return to Ikeda Castle to participate in the military council, he exiled the head of the family, Tomomasa Ikeda, and announced that he would surrender to the Oda family. Upon hearing this news, the lord of Ibaraki Castle, Kiyohide Nakagawa, and Takayama Tomoteru of Takatsuki Castle accepted my secret persuasion and took the initiative to open the castle to Shinyuki Hosokawa; Then the former retainer of the Hatakeyama family, the son of the late Hanoi guardian Daiyasumi Sobo, and the lord of Iimoriyama Castle, Yasumi Shinshichiro, surrendered to Naomasa, and Yusa Nobu of Takaya Castle committed suicide by seppuku; Wakae Castle's Miyoshi family retainers, known as the "Wakae Three", Tarao Youkin, Ikeda Kyomasa, and Noma Nagazen were afraid of Nobunaga's strength, and killed Miyoshi Yoshitsugu's favorite retainer Kanayama Suruga Mamoru and let Sakuma Nobumori's army gallop into the city, Miyoshi Yoshitsugu knew that he couldn't help it, and relied on Honmaru to resist for three days, and then killed his wife (Ashikaga Yoshiaki's sister) and children, and committed suicide by seppuku in ten characters.

On May 25, Mibuchi Fujiei and Ise Sadako, who were left behind by the Ashikaga family at Nijo Castle, also surrendered. Although Shibata Katsuya was afraid of being in Kyoto and didn't make much effort to attack the city, what is the point of a hopeless cage city? Especially Mibuchi Fujiei, seeing that his own brother Hosokawa Fujitaka also participated in the siege, he must have been very emotional.

At this point, Ashikaga Yoshiaki's power had disappeared, and only he was left with 3,000 troops to defend Makishima Castle. Outside the castle, there were 110,000 troops under the command of Nobunaga as the commander-in-chief and Nobuta as the lieutenant, including me, Shibata Katsuie, Naomasa Tsukasa, Sakuma Nobumori, Ashikaga Yoshishu, Hosokawa Shinyuki, Tokugawa Nobuyasu, Araki Murashige, and Tsutsui Shunkei. Such a disparity in troops, especially Nobunaga's momentum, made Ashikaga Yoshiaki realize the reality, and he had to open the castle to Nobunaga, and accepted Nobunaga's decision to exile him.

Accompanying Ashikaga Yoshiaki away were his former retainers, Mibuchi Fujiei and Ise Sadako. As the messenger who persuaded Yoshiaki to open the castle, Naomasa Waka went backwards in front of his flank and acted as a leader. And our samurai, who held official positions, all of them prostrated themselves in the corridor from the lowest to the highest, in order of rank, and bid farewell to Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who was the general of the Muromachi shogunate. At the top are Oda Nobutada, who is from the sixth, Oda Nobutada, who is from the sixth, who is the sixth Undersaemon Captain, and Shibata Katsuie, who is from the sixth, and then Araki Murashige, Tsutsui Shunkei, and Hosokawa Mayuki, Ashikaga Yoshitsu, as the Lower Saemon Governor from the fourth, sits in the penultimate position, and at the end is Oda Nobunaga, the Danmasa Obi, who is under the fourth. Sakuma Nobumori and Tokugawa Nobuyasu were not able to attend the ceremony because they did not have official ranks.

I stole my head slightly to the side, squinting my eyes over Oda Nobutada's chin, trying to look to the right. That's the direction Ashikaga Yoshiaki came from. He walked with a minister-like step, staring straight ahead, walking very, very slowly, as if he was savoring this last journey as a general.

In front of Ashikaga Yoshishu, he stopped and turned his head to look at his younger brother, with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes, as if to mock his wishful thinking of trying to succeed him as a general. After spending the years with Nobunaga, he clearly understood that Nobunaga would never tolerate other samurai overriding him, even if it was just an empty position. However, there seemed to be some desolation in his eyes, after all, Ashikaga Yoshishu was the same as him, and he was also the orthodox of the Ashikaga family, and now one was exiled and the other was hopeless, which meant that the Muromachi shogunate since the Ashikaga clan was officially destroyed.

Continuing to walk forward, he came to Nobunaga, and Ashikaga Yoshiaki unconsciously deviated a step outward, as if he was a little afraid. The person in front of him once put him in the position of general, and he has also bowed to him many times, just like now. However, now this man has become the master of the entire Kinai, gathering hundreds of thousands of troops...... "Give this to you!" Suddenly, he handed the folding fan to Nobunaga.

Nobunaga still bowed his head: "The love of the Gongfang Palace, please forgive me Nobunaga for not accepting it." ”

"Humph!" Ashikaga Yoshiaki let out a cold snort from his nose, as if he was angry that Nobunaga was so faceless that he couldn't experience the way he treated Nobunaga as a superior again.

Damn Nobunaga! It's just disgusting...... He put away the folding fan stupidly, and suddenly quickened his steps and left the porch.

……，…… After returning to Kyoto, Nobunaga went to the Seiryoden Hall on June 10 to meet the emperor. As a member of the Royal Highness under the four ranks, he has this qualification. The process of the meeting was naturally unconventional: Nobunaga reported to the emperor the process of quelling the Kinai turmoil, presented a list of meritorious people, and then the emperor praised Nobunaga's loyalty through the mouth of Minister Zuo (Sekihaku did not participate in the imperial prelude, and the emperor did not express any actual opinions), and perhaps the emperor would also soothe a few words with the words of the Miguchi Tsuruyin (false words). The next step is to promote the ranks, award official positions, and praise meritorious officials.

Nobunaga was promoted from three senators and right guard general because of his meritorious service; Oda Nobutada, as a deputy general, made outstanding achievements, and was promoted from Akita Josuke to De Yusuke, but because of his lack of qualifications, he was not promoted to the rank of official for the time being, and remained under the sixth rank; Shibata Katsuya and I, one is a partial general, the other is the main vanguard, and we have all been promoted from six to six, and our official positions remain unchanged; He pacified the country of Nanhanoi, persuaded Yizhao to open the city, and promoted him to the rank of the six subordinate ministers; Sakuma Nobumori pacified Kita Hanoi Province and served as the captain of the right emon, not ranking for the time being; The last one is strange, it is actually Lin Xiuzhen, who did not participate in the war, and like Sakuma Nobumori, his official position has also been confirmed, and he has become a real Lin Satomori.

Among these official positions, Nobunaga and Nobutada's official positions are very profound. Nobunaga's Senate was the basic starting official position after his promotion to the Minister's Office, and the Right Konoe Shogun was exactly the same position as the Right Konoe Shogun who usually held the position of the Right Konoe Shogun after the Muromachi Shogun gained a certain prestige, marking the imperial court's recognition of Oda Nobunaga's replacement of Ashikaga Shogun's position. The faithful Akita Josuke and Deyusuke were both former generals of the Tohoku region with subordinate officials, and the post of shogun of the town guard was the predecessor of the general of the Seiyi.

As for Lin Xiuzhen, it is probably to recognize his contribution to casting a gold sentence for Nobunaga over the past year! It is a bit of a coincidence that he obtained the official position of Sado Mamoru for the minting of the gold award, and it was in Sado Province that the largest gold mine later mined by the Tokugawa shogunate...... That was twenty years later, though. In other words, although Sado Island is currently under the control of the Uesugi family, Uesugi Kenshin did not know that there was one of the largest gold mines in the country, but a small number of miners were thrown at the Tsuruko Silver Mine on the island, and only two or three tons of silver (worth 10,000 quintals) were mined every year, far from reaching the annual output of 400 kilograms of gold and 40 tons of silver during the Tokugawa shogunate.

Of course, what official position and rank are all imaginary, and the most important thing is the service.

At noon on that day, the important ministers of the Oda family, the daimyo of the Kinai family, and the wealthy families gathered together to pay homage to Nobunaga according to the rules of each family, and sat down in the corresponding grid lines drawn in the hall.

"You've done a great job!" Perhaps because of the joy from the heart, Nobunaga's voice was very loud and unusually kind, "You have really contributed a lot to the pacification of Kinai this time. I have already explained the details to the imperial court, and even His Majesty is grateful for it~~"

"What a blessing to wait! The micro-name has to invite His Majesty to listen! And they all bowed together.

"Well," Nobunaga nodded honestly and unceremoniously, as if he were the emperor himself, "but it's far from time to enjoy peace." There are still many arrogant and rebellious people in the world who disrespect the court, so you must be prepared to take on greater responsibilities! ”

If there are some people who secretly slander when they see Nobunaga's behavior, then after listening to his last sentence, it is estimated that they will all dissipate...... Doesn't taking on greater responsibilities mean more territory and higher positions?

"Yes. Please (lord) His Royal Highness the right general to command! Again, the crowd replied in unison.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Nobunaga was naturally very satisfied.

"Before that, I want to tell you something," he touched the mustache on his lips, "Ashikaga Lieutenant General's son-in-law has already become a monk at Kofukuji Temple a few days ago. ”

This one...... I muttered a little in my heart, I guess there are some insiders like me.

Ashikaga Left Lieutenant General, there is only one in the world, and that is the former general Ashikaga Yoshiaki. His sister-in-law, Shōwakamaru (Ashikaga Yoshihiro), was born on September 22 last year, and is still less than a year old, and he was forced to become a monk...... Nobunaga really did it!

I suddenly remembered the real Keijiro Kira. That's what happened to him.

But I noticed that Ashikaga Yoshishu, who was sitting on the right side of the front row, was happy. It struck me as a little ridiculous, and then a little pathetic. Really, do you think Nobunaga asked Yoshiaki's son-in-law to become a monk to make room for you? That's impossible. Now that his status has been recognized by the imperial court, there is no need to hang any pretense, how can he not figure out the situation!

"This is really a great fate!" Someone next to him suddenly exclaimed.

When I looked closely, it turned out to be Matsunaga Show. He, like Ashikaga Yoshishu, was in the rank of four, so he was able to sit in the front row.

"It's indeed a great fate," Matsunaga Hideshi repeated, bowing to Nobunaga, "When Lieutenant General Zuo is practicing at Kofukuji Temple, His Highness Tsutsui will take care of him. Now that the heir of Lieutenant General Zuo has also entered Kofukuji Temple, he must be able to do everything well! ”

“…… Hum! Tsutsui Shunkei in the second row snorted, but didn't say anything. What Matsunaga said earlier is indeed an indisputable fact.

However, when Matsunaga Shu said it at this time, the harm to Tsutsui Shunqing was not ordinary.

The position of guardian of the Yamato Kingdom has always been hereditary within Kofukuji Temple, and it is either held by the Tsutsui family of the Ichisai-in temple family, or the Furuichi family of the Mahayana temple family. Later, Nobunaga Kamiraku, in order to use and win over Matsunaga Hide, in the name of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, gave him the position of Yamato guardian. Now that Ashikaga Yoshiaki is gone, the candidates for this post must be re-examined, and Imatsunaga Hide's value has dropped a lot now, as well as his performance in trying to rob Kyoto last year, as well as his previous incitement of Miyoshi Yoshitsugu's previous record, are naturally unqualified.

He probably knew this himself, so he said this, intending to prevent Tsutsui Shunkei from taking back this position.

(To be continued)