Nagano stomped his feet, patted the snow off his shoes, and congratulated the young man near the house, "Happy New Year to Morijiro!" ”

"Happy New Year to Heita!" Nobutada Kohata tightened his neckline, and warmed his hands with a mouthful of white, the wind and snow in the north were far more cold than the two of them imagined, and the snow-capped scenery of Naoetsu reminded them of the winter in their hometown, which was also a winter full of wind and snow, but Echigo, who was close to the sea, was warmer than Ueno in the mountains.

The two took off the shape of a samurai, put on a sheepskin robe and a hat to block the increasingly heavy snow, stepping on the thick snow, and the two walked towards the Kasuga Mountain Castle full of hope, but their good mood did not last long, and they were stopped by the samurai of the Nagao family guarding the gate.

The samurai guarding the city gate were also wrapped in fur coats, and seemed to know the two young men, so they said very politely: "Go back!" During the New Year's Day, there are no outsiders in the spring mountain castle. ”

"We want to see His Royal Highness, please excuse me!" Nagano Yegu stretched out his hand and took out a money bag, about twenty or thirty Yongle coins, and said with a smile: "A few people who have to stand guard for the New Year are hard enough, buy a few bowls of chicken soup to warm up your body, and trouble you to do it all." ”

“…… All right! I'll try. The samurai took his purse, glanced at his companion, and then turned and walked in the door, and another samurai instructed, "Wait here, and if anyone comes in or out, don't get in the way, don't embarrass us." ”

"Good! A few people are busy first. Nagano Yosegu took Nobutada Kohata and walked to Otemon and stood.

The young man of the Kohata family stomped on the snow on his feet and muttered, "The rules of this Nagao family are really big!" We still need to go through the ceremony to get in. ”

Nagano was so calm that he explained with a smile, "Be patient. When we came to Echigo, we were outsiders. It is also appropriate to be constrained everywhere. But don't forget that you brought 200 Akabi samurai, and other daimyo would never let so many people cross the border. ”

"How did Morijiro know this trick?"

"What to do when you go out and don't have any preparations, these days when we go out on the streets, I have already inquired, since the Wuwei Palace came to Echigo, the martial arts law has been very strict, but it is not without workarounds, such as the two of us asking to see the palace of the leader. Give a little benefit and you can do it......"

Nobusada Kohata said dissatisfiedly: "If you want me to see that this is not a strict performance, right? Shouldn't the samurai be willing to be poor, even if the rich merchants and peasants were dismissive? They are so profitable, how can they be considered qualified samurai? ”

Nagano Yoguno smiled, "What's so strange about this! According to my observations, the samurai of Echigo can drink fresh soup almost every day, either chicken soup or fish soup, which is better than us city lords, and it is no wonder that they are in good spirits with such good treatment. His eyes are full of God. ”

Nobusada Kohata looked at his companion in disbelief, smacked his lips and said, "I can't see it." Morijiro is still an admirer of this Warrior Temple? ”

"It's human nature to worship the strong, right? Anyway, I didn't violate the law, as long as I remember that I am a samurai of the Nagano family......" Before Nagano Yegu could finish his sentence, he heard a rumbling vibration, and looked down to see a group of cavalrymen in red armor rushing up from the street at the foot of the mountain, and the townspeople who were selling along the way knelt down and saluted the samurai.

"It's the Chibei cavalry of the Kira family!" Nobutasha Kohata stared at the leading samurai with wide eyes, and behind the blood-colored spear was a banner with the inscription "Takigawa Keijiro".

"This is the Red Reserve Cavalry! The invincible army of Megatron, they are the ones who fought to kill the Horned Tigers in the battle of Kawanakajima. "Nagano Yegu can understand his mentality, the name Akabi is very popular, the Hojo family has Akabi in the five colors, and the Kohata Party in Ueno is also Akabei, I heard that the Takeda family is also engaged in Akabei.

The name is the same, but the prestige and strength cannot be equated, all the family backgrounds of the Kohata party are only 500 Akabi horseback samurai, of which Kohata Nobutada has 200 horsemen in his own family, all of which were stuffed by his father, and Kohata Nobutada, who is familiar with his own roots, can see at a glance how good the Akabei of the Kira family is.

"That person is Takigawa Keijiro Tokiyoshi, who is the same age as me, and he has already become a famous general......" Nobutaha Nobutada didn't know what expression he should use better.

"There will always be some unexpected powerhouses that will come out of nowhere, don't think about it......"

……

"That person was from Ueno, right? It looks familiar. "Shima Shikatsu rode his horse with a square bamboo bow on his back, and on the horseback hung a string of hares and wild birds, regardless of the incredible eyes of the townspeople, in the words of the samurai of the Kira family, this is called the eagle hunt to inspect the prey, anyway, you can't see me to eat, who dares to say that we eat meat?

"It doesn't matter who he is, it's not the same thing that was stabbed to death by my bloody gun Jiulang!"

Takikawa Shiyi turned his face and scolded with a smile: "You know how to poke people, so you will never be a famous general." ”

Nagasaka Nobumasa was not happy when he heard this, so he carried his head and said, "What are you talking about? Why can't I be a celebrity? Isn't it just luck to kill an old man? I'm going to slaughter one! ”

Shima Shikatsu was basically immune to these two living treasures, and thought to himself: "Do you remember the samurai on horseback last time I saw Keijiro?" The leader of the group of samurai seemed to be the boy. ”

"That's right!" Takigawa Shiyi patted his head and said, "As soon as you said it, I remembered that there is such a team of people, it seems that it is also called Chibei?" ”

"That group of people is also called Chibei? Let's practice when we release it, no matter how horses fight and foot battles, we can put them all down without real guys. Nagasaka Nobumasa glanced at the door that had long been invisible with disdain, and said proudly: "In foot combat, I have a bloody spear Jiulang with one enemy and twenty, and I can also fight with one enemy and ten in horse combat." ”

"Bragging, you're also one against ten."

"I say! Are you trying to find fault today? Don't accept our practice? I'm not afraid of you! ”

"Humph! Don't be beaten like a dead pig when the time comes! ”

"That dead dog isn't going anywhere!"

……

Echigo's New Year's banquet for half a month was just the beginning, and yesterday on the day of New Year's Day, I received a bunch of congratulatory gifts from the countrymen, all of which were worthless rural rituals, mainly to express the obedience to the Echigo rulers.

Today's banquet is the main event. Echigo's samurai who could drink alcohol came. Including Kakizaki Keiya and Murakami Yoshikiyo who were far away in Kita-Shinano. If they dare to come back, they will naturally be sure to ensure that Sanada Yutaka will not make trouble.

After a large-scale reshuffle last year, the Shinano people who belong to the long tail have become much more honest, although the attributes of the Chinese people have to remember whether to eat or not, but they are not really stupid, the death of so many people is enough to scare them for a few years and dare not move, Sanada Yukitaka even if he has three heads and six arms, he will not have a chance to adjust again for a while.

Last winter, a heavy snowfall blocked all roads in Shinano for half a month. Takeda Nobuyoshi took the Wuchuan people back to Kai for the New Year, and Sanada Yukitaka could only shrink in the territory for the New Year.

"Gentlemen, bring up the wine!" Honjo raised his glass with a red face, and proposed: "I wish the lord and the Wuwei Hall good luck and health, and I wish me a prosperous future!" ”

“…… I wish Echigo a prosperous future! ”

At the banquet, the two samurai were finally able to sit together and drink heartily, compared to the rhythm of taking the lead in drinking in previous years, Nagao Jinghu just sat with tea instead of wine for a while, and then got up and left with Kira Yoshitoki, it is impossible to expect a full meal at the banquet, and if you want to eat enough, you have to wait for the small stove that is opened.

The long-tailed Jinghu walked very fast. After a while, he fell into a few positions of Kira Yoshitoki, and as soon as he walked to the castle tower, he let out a sigh: "Watch others drink." It's really uncomfortable that I can't drink it myself! ”

Ji Liang Yoshishi instructed the little surname to prepare some food, so he sat down with a smile and said: "Drinking alcohol hurts the body, especially if my brother has a wind disease, you must not drink a drop of alcohol...... How was last year's recuperation? What about the old diseases that are pushed? ”

"It's a lot better, and now I'm fighting wild boars with my bare hands! Mr. Nagata said that this is not enough, and he will have to recuperate for half a year this year! I really can't understand it! The long-tailed Jinghu has a pair of tiger eyes, but it is full of helplessness.

"As long as you can be healthy...... Kira Yoshitoki said with a smile, "That's right! I haven't congratulated my brother on his promotion to the fifth place! ”

Except for some special circumstances, the promotion and appointment system of the imperial court was set early, so there will be a collective promotion in the imperial court in the past few days at the beginning of the year.

"I'm not in the top five for your face? Otherwise, with my identity as a great name in a distant country, I am afraid that it will be difficult to go further in my life. The long-tailed Jinghu didn't mind touching his brother-in-law's light, and said with a smile: "It's you!" Now that he is only sixteen years old, he is already the governor of the left guard, so there should be an official position this time, right? ”

"Yes! It's the general of the town guard. ”

"General of the Town Guard? This is not ......" Nagao Jinghu's face changed, and he swallowed back after only half of his words.

The shogun of the town guard is the most famous official position of the samurai, as early as the Nara period, Sakagami Tamura Maro served as the head of the town guard house, and since then the two clans of Genpei have samurai held this position, and the Kawachi Genji has the ancestors and grandchildren of the source Yorishin, the source Yorishi, and the source Yoshika, and the first nine years and the next three years of the battle also pacified the prisoners of Oshu.

More recently, there are also Ashikaga Sonji, Kitabatake family has also served as the general of the town guard, since the end of the last Ashikaga Naoto, until the present two hundred years, no one has held this position, and now Kira Yoshishi has added this position, what do you want to do?

"Isn't there any doubt about His Highness the Princess?"

"There will definitely be! I just didn't say it! Kira Yoshitoki smacked his lips indifferently, and said with a smile: "My family has sworn a heavy oath in front of His Royal Highness the Princess, and will always be loyal to His Highness the Prince, loyal to his descendants, presumably His Highness the Princess's questions can't be expressed!" ”

In March last year, a big wedding moved half of the famous ministers of the imperial court over, and also performed a piece of ape music of "Night Run", and after the wedding, the court, the shogunate's audience stayed in the Kasuga mountain castle to eat and drink for more than a month, during which he also participated in several waka meetings with Hosokawa Fujitaka, and prepared gifts worth hundreds of yuan for each of them before sending this group of nobles back to Beijing.

At the beginning of winter this year, the envoy of Echigo went to Kyoto with 800 taels of silver, 3,000 pieces of Yongle money, and 1,000 candles to meet the imperial court and the shogunate.

Today's shogunate doesn't dare to say how rich it is, at least there is no shortage of food and drink, but it is difficult to raise soldiers with the income of the shogunate, especially the elite soldiers, and now the shogunate is still in the hands of more than three years ago, and the remaining more than 1,000 remnants.

The reason for this is that the shogunate is unwilling to lose his position, and the ronin samurai can't look down on it. The public of the local daimyo was basically swallowed up. Now it's a dilemma. Without soldiers and power, it is still inseparable from the support of daimyo such as Hatakeyama and Rokkaku, as if a premature baby with congenital stunted growth can no longer rise suddenly like Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and single-handedly unify the North and South Dynasties.

Ashikaga Yoshiteru has a lot of ideas, most of them lack the feasibility of execution and sufficient execution, there used to be a Kira Yoshishi who could still play his "talent", but now Kira Yoshiki ran to the remote Echigo and did not come back, even if Ashikaga Yoshiki knew that he had some ideas, he couldn't ask. I can only hold it in my stomach and get angry.

"Take care of the hall and Ogasawara Shinano Shouden as soon as possible!"

"Yes! Definitely! A faint smile spread across Kira's face.

……

This year's snowfall is a little more than usual, and during the day, the townspeople spontaneously organize themselves to clear the snow from the roads, and children run around the streets with small lanterns, occasionally bumping into passers-by and showing embarrassment.

Throughout Echigo, you can hardly see the familiar expression, no sadness, no numbness. The eyes are blazing, and everyone exudes a vigorous spirit. It was as if there was some motivation to support them to exude this positive force......

"And this force is called hope!"

Nobusada Kohata wondered, "Hope? ”

Nagano Yegu stopped, looked at an old man accompanying his little granddaughter to the lantern festival, and said with emotion: "Yes! All I saw and heard was the word 'hope'! Only hope will make people work hard from the heart, they travel lightly and do not carry heavy burdens, and they believe that the lord of the country will lead them to a better future, which is something that we do not have in Ueno Province, or even in the whole of Kanto, in the whole world...... Heita, do you know what I'm thinking about right now? ”

"You want to stay in Echigo?"

"Nope! I wonder if one day we could become a retainer of the Martial Guard Palace, what a happy thing it would be! ”

"What did you say?" Nobuzhen Kohata looked at his companion in disbelief, and after a while, he smiled again: "The law of the Wuweidian family is very strict, right?" Are you going to give up the land you've kept for generations? Don't be stupid! ”

"I'm not talking stupid." Nagano Yegu said seriously: "I suddenly feel that the only person who has ended today's troubled times is Wuweidian. ”

"Do you still say that you are not stupid, and that calming down the troubled times is what we should think? Think about the reason why the palace is worried! "Kohata Nobuzhen feels that this little friend has been obsessed with Echigo since he came to Echigo, and every day he talks about how good Echigo is, and the words "Wuweiden" are almost tired of hearing them.

"I don't know the attitude of the Wuweiden, maybe it's just trying to be patient......" Nagano Yegu said hesitantly.

……

Ogasawara has been very melancholy for a long time, and in the last year, he has been eating and drinking in the Imperial Hall in Naoetsu, and every ten days and half a month he goes to Kasuga Mountain Castle to participate in the evaluation and show his face, and his role is infinitely transformed into a mascot.

Every time his two sons came home and excitedly talked about what they had seen and heard about the day's training, he would experience the great changes in Echigo, and what worried him even more was the attitude of Kira Yoshitoki, whose retainers repeatedly complained to him about the Kira family's disrespect for them, and all kinds of signs that the Ogasawara family was rapidly declining.

After a few days of contemplation, Ogasawara put on a long robe and said to his wife, "I have to do something for the sake of the Ogasawara family's family business!" We can't go on like this! I must ask the true attitude of the Ming Wuwei Palace! ”

When Ogasawara was hurrying to Kasuga Yama Castle, the other side of the palace was also arguing fiercely, and Uesugi Kenmasa and his patriarch Nagao were arguing, and neither of them was willing to take a step back, which made the scene very embarrassing.

After a long confrontation, the Kanto leader was angry and angry: "He actually asked me to pass the Kanto leader to his main room!" This is simply a great shame for my Uesugi family! Letting a woman become a daimyo has been something my samurai family has never done for hundreds of years, and it is absolutely impossible to make the Kanto Governor even more impossible! I will never compromise! ”

The long tail sighed and persuaded with a sad face: "Lord! Let's take a look! This woman is not an ordinary person, he is the main room of the Wuwei Palace, the adopted daughter of the Konoe family, the status is extraordinary, where is the princess of the Nagao family, this represents the face of the Kira family and the Konoe family, I am now down in this place where there is almost no cone, why bother with these rules? ”

"Ridiculous! It's ridiculous! Uesugi Kenmasa's face turned red, he gritted his teeth and glared at him, and scolded bitterly: "Did you accept his favors!" You say! What does this family owe you? Let you say nice things about him over and over again? I want to give the face of the Kira family and the Konoe family, so who will give me the face of the Uesugi family? If my constitution is to hand over the stewardship to his main room, what kind of face will I have to go to Hirasaka to meet the ancestors in the future? You're talking about it! ”

"Still stubborn and holding on to the rules and not letting go! Looks like I'm going to have a big shot! Seeing that the lord of this waste wood was still holding the ancestral family law and did not let go, the long tail was the chief of the heart and said with a slight mockery: "But now, the foundation of the Uesugi family has been completely defeated, how can the lord go to see the ancestors of the Uesugi family?" My Uesugi family has long since had no way out! If you retreat, it will be the end of the young hall Long Ruomaru, and the lord should think about how innocent the young hall is! ”

Uesugi Kenmasa seemed to have been struck by lightning, his face turned from red to white, and then to blue and black, and his whole body trembled like chaff, but after a while, he cried out: "It's all my constitutionalism useless!" The century-old foundation of the Uesugi family in Yamauchi is destroyed in my hands! It's all my fault! ”

The long tail has a headache to death, and every time he says a few heavy words, the lord begins to howl, either scolding himself for being useless or scolding himself for losing the ancestral inheritance, this level is simply a child who makes mistakes, and he, the head of the house, has no way to take him, so he can only patiently persuade: "Lord, now is not the time to cry!" It's how to pass the position of the Kanto ruler to the princess of the Nagao family......"

"No! Absolutely not! Everything else can be backed down, but this must not be retreated! Kanto management can't give to women! Uesugi Kenmasa wiped away his tears and said intermittently, "Be long! Your long-tail family has been loyal to your family for hundreds of years, and there is no one to trust in my constitution now! You must keep this foundation for your family! ”

The long tail was really unable to stand the lord's low pleas, and reluctantly said: "Your Majesty, try your best......" (to be continued......)