What Tadashi Abe brought is about Kinoshitamaru's No. 2 person, the lord of Mihara Castle, Nobuhito Honganji, and Ichijomune.

Among the four elders of Kinoshitamaru, Honganji Nobuhito is the most powerful and mysterious one: he is the lord of Mihara Castle in the southernmost part of Shikoku Island, and he is also the most hardcore confidant of the former lord of the Tosa Domain, Chosho Ibu Morikin; And Nagasō Ibu Mori was one of the most faithful generals when Toyotomi Hideyoshi was alive, so Honganji Nobuhito, the confidant of the Toyotomi family, because of the 45,000 stone stone of Mihara Castle and the 1,300 elites under him, he became the second person in Kinoshitamaru after the Ukita Hideki family, and even the noble Master Matsusada could only be subservient.

However, Honganji Nobuhito is the second person in Kinoshita Maru, very few people know about it, except for the four elders, only high-level people like the president of the Ranbo Mi Abe Tadamoto know a little bit about it, the vast majority of low-level samurai don't talk about it, even the core of Kinoshita Maru is the four elders.

This was also a helpless move, after all, the Tosa clan was robbed by Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Battle of Sekigahara and awarded his beloved general Yamauchi Kazutoyo; Although Nobuhito, who relied on bribes to keep the lord of Mihara Castle, hated it in his heart, he still had to maintain enough respect and support for Yamauchi Kazutoyo on face, for fear of showing some horses and letting the other party catch and crusade against him.

Even so, Honganji Nobuhito could not protect himself on his own, but fortunately there was a jungle near Mihara Castle, so Kinoshitamaru and Ichijomune, two forces that resisted the shogunate, joined forces in Honganji Nobuhito's thread - Kinoshitamaru provided food and weapons for Ichijomune, and Ichijomune deployed 3,000 monks in the jungle near Mihara Castle as horns to fight against Yamauchi Kazutoyo in the north.

It was precisely because of the joint resistance of the two sides that the attempts of Yamauchi Kazutoyo and even the shogunate to seize Mihara Castle were thwarted many times in the past ten years - the deterrence of the Ichijo sect was not only these 3,000 monks, but also the power of this group of armed monks spread all over Japan, and it was indeed one of the great troubles of the shogunate in Edo.

It can be said that the alliance with the Ichijo sect is an important guarantee for Kinoshitamaru's survival - the Mihara Castle of Honganji Nobuhito, but it is the only territory that Kinoshitamaru completely controls, and if this place is captured by the shogunate again, Kinoshitamaru should be completely underground.

But now this situation has been completely broken by a letter intercepted by Tadashi Abe!

“…… Judging from this letter and all the anomalies that had gone before the sect, Chung could have been sure that Shen Miao had made up his mind to break with us! Abe Tadamoto, who was lying on the ground, ended his lengthy statement with this sentence - Shen Miao is the eleventh Dharma King of the Ichijo sect.

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a "poof", and looked up in a hurry, and Abe Tadamoto saw a large pool of blood in front of the elderly Ukita Hideya, and the blood on the long white beard under his chin was like blood, and his body was tilted to the side, and he had already fainted.

Tadabe Abe jumped up suddenly, and hurriedly carried the old man into the tatami mat in the seiji with Tadaji Kato, pinching and irrigating the man, and it took a lot of effort to make the old man open his eyes again.

"Letter...... Where is the faith? Let me see! As soon as Ukita Hideya woke up, he struggled to his knees and held out his thin, barely fleshy hand to Tadashimoto, who hastened to hand the old man the letter he had stolen from the jungle of Mihara from his bosom.

After reading the letter, the old eyes of the Ukita Hideya, who were already dim, became even more dim, and muttered to himself, "It is indeed a wonderful handwritten letter...... He actually demanded that all 3,000 monks and soldiers be transferred to China...... Damn it, did he forget that this team was eating our food, using our weapons, and even training with the help of Master Songzhen? ”

"Your Excellency Ukita, Master Matsusada ...... him," Tadashi Abe replied, and as he spoke, he glanced at Tadaji Kato with some hesitation, and after seeing the latter bowing slightly, he continued, "I'm afraid I've already suffered misfortune...... According to the Ranbo I sent, several monks and soldiers they captured at that time said in unison that it had been a long time since they had seen the Venerable Master Xi Songzhen, the chief teacher......"

"What?! …… Yaga! Ukita Hideya cursed angrily, trembling and trying to stand up, but struggled several times without success, and finally had to sit down, and his face, which was covered with age spots, became more and more gray.

Seeing his weakened appearance, a trace of sadness welled up in Abe's heart, and suddenly, he remembered the words of the young man in the Hoshitori Pavilion—the enemy of the enemy is a friend—and he fell to the ground and said earnestly, "Your Excellency Ukita, Tadamoto wrote a letter to your Excellency last spring, suggesting an alliance with Kishitan...... Now that we hear that they have taken the castle of Tsunaki, we should ......"

"Ahem!" Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by the coughing sound of Tadaji Kato, who glanced at Ukita Hideya, whose eyes were closed in pain, and said softly, "Abe-kun, please pay attention to your identity, such a big thing is not something you can put your beak onto." ”

"Hay!" Tadabe Tadama knocked heavily on the tatami mat on his forehead, and responded in a rough voice, "Tadamoto is rude in a hurry!" ”

"Abe-kun, thank you for your concern for Kinoshitamaru and for your efforts," Tadaji Kato bowed slightly, "Now, please go down first." ”

After Abe Tadamoto withdrew, there was a moment of silence in the retreat, except for the heavy breathing of Ukita Hideya.

"Your Excellency Ukita," there was silence for a long time, and Tadaji Kato said thoughtfully, "Actually, Shen Miao has long since revealed the fox's tail, and he has wanted to get rid of us for more than a day or two. ”

"Huh?!" Ukita Hideya slowly opened his eyes and stared at Tadaji Kato, letting out a faint snort, as if encouraging the latter.

"In the past few years, that bastard in Edo has spent a lot of effort against Ichijozong, and this guy has become more and more stumbling...... This guy's strongholds in China have been uprooted by the shogunate one by one, and his troops have suffered heavy losses, he should have been fighting the idea of the three thousand soldiers of Mihara for a long time," Kato Tadaji lowered his head and calmly stated, "Although we provide grain, grass, weapons and silver to Shenmiao every year, it is just enough for these three thousand monks and soldiers, and I have long been aware of Shenmiao's dissatisfaction...... This guy must have thought he was helping us raise soldiers! …… Last year, he stretched out his hand to us to ask for far more things than in previous years, saying that it was to expand the monks and soldiers of Sanyuan, but a year has passed, and the number of monks and soldiers in Sanyuan has decreased instead of increasing, and there are still hundreds of ...... This guy has made up his mind to get all these 3,000 people back to China, so he finally gets a handful from us......"

Listening to his analysis, Ukita Hideya's face was cloudy, and suddenly he interrupted Tadaji Kato, "Tadashi Abe's suggestion is very good!" The Sect has always been unreliable, so let's find the Chezhi Dan disciples! ”

After speaking, he looked at the stunned Kato Tadaji, bowed down deeply and said word by word, "Kato-kun, Master Matsusada has encountered an accident, and Honganji Nobuhito is a person who is not pioneered enough, my body is bones, I'm afraid I won't live for a few days, Kinoshitamaru ...... I'm going to have to rely on His Excellency Kato, please! ”

Tadaji Kato never expected that the Ukita Hideya would hand over Kinoshitamaru to himself at this moment, and he was stunned, but he shirked several times but was firmly blocked back by the Ukita Hideya, and finally accepted the responsibility of leading Kinoshitamaru with trepidation.

After walking out of the fine house and gently closing the door, Tadaji Kato slowly looked around at the undulating buildings of Shomei Temple under the starlight, and his eyes gradually became fierce. (To be continued.) )