On the fifth day of the first lunar month, when the imperial court envoys came to Edo Castle to meet Ashikaga Yoshiri, the composition of the mission was extraordinary, and the leader of the team was a Kanhaku left minister Konoe Maehisa, and the following were the two right guard generals Kuga Tongjian, the three Kashidai Nayan Imaseigawa Sunny Season, the three Kawanaka Nayan Nayan Namiin Tsumi, and the four Shitozao Konoe Tsuki Major General Persuasion Shuji Harukoshi to make a delegation of envoys to Edo Castle to proclaim the decree.

Such a large scene of such a luxurious imperial envoy scared the Kanto samurai a lot, since the Kamakura shogunate to the early days of the Northern and Southern Dynasties of the palace shogun to the throne, in the past few hundred years, there has not been such a large-scale public secretary in Kanto, including the successive Kamakura and Furukawa princes ascended the throne and only sent a three ministers of the Habayashi family to congratulate.

Especially those turtle samurai from all over the Kanto region, the family has never seen a single official in generations, and they are still a head of the current imperial court, the elder of the Fuji clan, the minister of the left minister Konoe Maehisa, the chief of the Tsei family, the right general of the head of the Tsei family, the right general of the Tsinghua family, the Kashidai Nayan who was born in the Tsinghua family, the Akaga Nayan Nayan who was born in the Ashikaga family, the righteous brother of Ashikaga Yoshitoki, the Nakanaka Nayan Middle Court Tsumi, and the uncle of the current first prince, Prince Seihito, the elder brother of the Shushu Temple Harumo.

In addition to the people who are far away from the family of the temple and belong to Prince Seihito, who are sent by Prince Seihito to gild and reap the benefits, the other families are all serious "Yoshitoki Party", and over the years, Ashikaga Yoshitoki has supported them to open a merchant house and do business, and sent them a lot of food and money to support their frequent singing parties, tea parties and other banquets in Kyoto, in order to keep these families active in Kyoto and give great influence to the imperial court.

Don't look at the fact that these ministers don't usually do much, the most important main business is to study literature, music, historical books, keju, tea ceremony and other artistic hobbies. But in fact, the role of these ministers is very large. All 66 prefectures in the world are leaders in Kyoto culture. At the heart of Kyoto's culture is the culture of the Ministers, who are the reformers of Japanese culture and the advocates of new culture.

As top cultural people and excellent diplomatic envoys, the ministers can easily reach any hostile area and act as diplomatic mediators, the role is somewhat similar to that of the diplomatic envoys of the shogunate, but the difference is that they are not samurai and do not have to worry about being feared, and secondly, the ministers and several major temples in Kinai jointly control the supreme voice of Kyoto public opinion, and these ministers can give many people unexpected benefits by blowing the wind in the imperial court.

Over the years, Rokkaku Yoshiken, Asai Hisamasa, Hieiyama Enryakuji Temple, and even Miyoshi Chokei have all coveted Sakamoto's piece of fat, if it weren't for the support of a good reputation in Kinai, these families had a lot of worries when they seized Sakamoto by force. Maybe this territory will be divided up by these families.

Konoe had been here for a long time to support his younger brother Ashikaga Yoshitoki, and announced the latest appointment of the imperial court at the banquet that day, and Ashikaga Yoshitoki was promoted to three and resigned as the governor of the Left Guard, and was awarded the title of Shogun of the Castle Mansion and the Shogun of the Castle Guard, and the Shogun of the Castle Mansion was automatically changed from the format change to the Shogun of the Castle Guard.

"Congratulations, congratulations! His Royal Highness gets the first general to proclaim! With the official background of the Kitabatake family, his promotion speed far exceeded that of ordinary samurai, and he was promoted from the original four lower right guards to the four upper right guards lieutenant generals.

Also promoted were Tokiyuki Yamamoto who was far away in Kinai, who was promoted to the fifth position of Mamoru Sato, Sanada Yutaka was awarded the title of the fifth rank of the lower bullet of the main undertake, and Hosokawa Fujitaka was promoted to the fourth rank of the lower military department Daisuke. The names of many samurai in the family became the official positions canonized by the imperial court himself, which was also the greatest support given by the imperial court to the Uega family.

"That's a lot to do. The general only announced the general's palace in Kyoto, and it was better for the general Yu to keep a low profile. Ashikaga Yoshitoki smiled lightly and avoided the proposal of the Nangang Pavilion, the general of the town guard house has only appeared once in history, that is, the general of the Southern Dynasty in the Northern and Southern Dynasties era, the famous two Kawanaka Nayan Kitabatake family, this person is the ancestor of the Langoka Pavilion.

Ashikaga Yoshitoki didn't want to hold a farce announced by the general of the town guard in Edo, and add to the blockage of the general of the Shogunate in Kyoto, that is, he clearly wanted to part with the bad attitude of the shogunate, and it was a slap in the face to the posture of the loyal and good general who had been maintained for many years, of course, he really needed this general to announce it to give a strong hint to the Kanto samurai, and he would not have opened his mouth to ask for this town guard general back then.

The ministers sat together to drink tea and chat, and the young Shuji Temple Qingfeng was stunned by the samurai who spoke about Kanto in Langoka, and the young and vigorous Jiu I Tongjian couldn't help but join in and chatted happily, and the overall atmosphere of the ministers getting together was very harmonious, and many utilitarian factors should be removed compared to the mutual temptation of the samurai.

The general of the middle court said proudly: "Anyway, this is also the second general in the shogunate, and when Yoshishi was promoted to the rank of Yaxiang, he is the second highest official position in the samurai!" ”

"Is it a little too high, Yu thinks that the Zuo Bing Guard Governor is still quite good, and I am worried that His Royal Highness the General will have other ideas when he learns of Yu's official position." Ashikaga Yoshitoki glanced worriedly, feeling that the imperial court was a little hasty in giving this appointment, and the status of the left guard governor in the Ashikaga family was not low, and the Ashikaga clan had been doing it for many years, so it had a lot of influence, and in his own opinion, it could be used until the second position.

Konoe said with a smile on his face: "Yoshitoki probably doesn't know yet!" His Royal Highness the General had been promoted to a right minister earlier, and the right minister of the long world had retired from his home, and his uncle Zhongyuan Hall had been promoted to two internal ministers. ”

"Oh! I see! Congratulations to His Royal Highness the General and the General Palace. ”

Ashikaga Yoshiteru's promotion to a right minister is already a very popular minister, unless he can wait another ten or eight years until Konoe Maehisa retires, maybe he can mix with the left minister, Ashikaga Yoshitoki feels that this is probably a stimulus and encouragement given by the imperial court to Ashikaga Yoshiaki after the loss of his beloved son, hoping that he can come out of the blow of his son's death as soon as possible and contribute more to the protection of Kyoto.

Jiu I Qingtong served as the right minister for a few years, and when it was time for Cain to retire, he would not be able to make room for his sister-in-law Jiu I Tongjian to continue to be promoted, and the ministers of the interior who were interlocked with each other gave the Intermediate Court Tongwei as a diligent and diligent for decades. For the imperial court, he competed for the reward of returning to the place of prediction from all over the world. Of course, there are also factors that sell well to Ashikaga Yoshitoki.

If the Shogunate's announcement of the Imperial Religion was just a prelude. The appointment of the imperial court is equivalent to the appointment of the Kanto Prince, and the double recognition and strong support of the imperial shogunate made many samurai in the eight countries of Kanto realize the ironclad fact that Ashikaga Yoshitoki's background is too deep for them to play with as a country samurai.

Combined with the recent talk about Ashikaga Fujimasa's evil deeds, and the impact of the punishment of several large thorns in the Kanto region, the rebel forces in various parts of the Kanto region have moved closer to the new Kanto Minister, and Ashikaga Yoshitoki is still very tolerant of these inconsequential trumpet countrymen. As long as the circumstances are not bad, they are basically given a letter of permission for the ability to block it.

Under the influence of Ashikaga Yoshitoki's promotion to the three great generals and the general of the town guard, Odawara Castle, which was isolated on the western border of Sagami, was shaken, and the entire Kanto region was surrounded by a samurai family who rebelled against the Ashikaga family.

Most of the 20,000 troops in the city came from Sagami Izu, and a small number of them followed the Musashi, Shimo, and Kamisu countries who retreated into Odawara Castle. It was worse than slashing their heads with a knife.

These people insisted on leaving Odawara Castle, and if they were not allowed to leave, they would make a fuss about going back. The incident was so big that it almost mutinied, and in the end, it was Hojo Shiyasu who came forward with his high prestige to temporarily pacify the mutinous samurai, but after all, it happened and you can't pretend that there is no such thing to fool the past, and the people from Sagami-Izu are also related.

There is only one Odawara castle left in Sagami, and the closest passage to Izu is to take the sea transportation, but since Ashikaga Yoshitoki moved to the city into Edo Castle, the number of sailors of the Uegaikaga family in Sagami Bay immediately increased at a geometric rate, and the sailors of the Fangwei Peninsula and the sailors of Musashi Province were attached to the Ashikaga family without saying a word, and when they learned the news that their sailors had fled against their masters, they almost didn't kill Satomi Yoshihiro.

The growth of the number of sailors, the construction of a port near Edo Castle, the construction of docks, and the construction of shipyards worked day and night to make one ship after another, and in just a few months, the shipbuilding timber prepared by shipwrights from all over the Kanto region was collected, and more than 100 new ships were barely built, and the newly attached sailors were quickly assembled into more than 200 ships to become the Kanto Tianzi No. 1 Naval Army.

The Hojo family's Sagami naval army can't defeat people, and if they can't protect the shipping routes, they can't pass information and materials to Odawara Castle, and over time, Odawara Castle will become an isolated "artificial desert", which means that isolated animals will soon be targeted by natural enemies and easily killed, and the Hojo clan in Odawara Castle is almost like this.

Facing enemies on all sides and having no way out is a huge crisis faced by the Hojo family, which is more dangerous than the night battle of Kawagoe fifteen years ago, even if the Kamisui Ashikaga family did not come up with the posture of a lion fighting rabbit with all their might, just a little bit of castle advance will force the Hojo clan to be helpless, the most powerful right-hand man Hojo Tsunari became a prisoner, and his son Hojo clan Shigeru is slightly inferior to Hojo Tsusunari in terms of talent and strength, which has already cut off the possibility of the Hojo family fighting a beautiful counterattack.

In such a bad situation, the Hojo clan decided to send Hojo Shinan as an envoy to Edo Castle, and personally met with Ashikaga Yoshitoki to express his willingness to open the castle and ask for surrender, this diplomatic action is different from the "peace" repeatedly mentioned in the past few months, even the alliance under the castle is not the result that Ashikaga Yoshitoki wants, and this time it is really to "beg to surrender" to Ashikaga Yoshitoki.

In the face of Hojo Phantom's bitter plea, Ashikaga Yoshitoki replied lightly: "Immediately open the castle and surrender, and only allow 3,000 soldiers to be retained after being discharged from military service, and Yu will give the Hojo clan Izu a national security block according to the original conditions, and the ownership of Sagami country will not be discussed, Odawara Castle must be caught, and Yu does not want such a fortified castle to remain in the hands of the Hojo family." ”

Hojo Phantom's beard cocked up angrily, and he said tremblingly, "This ...... You can't! My father-in-law has repeatedly instructed me to keep Odawara Castle, which is the territory that my Sagami Hojo clan has worked hard for generations! ”

Ashikaga Yoshitoki sneered: "It turns out that Hojo Sagami Mamoru has always been in love with Odawara Castle!" Well, Yu fulfilled his request. Odawara Castle is blocked in one city. Izu country reduction is. ”

“…… Why did His Royal Highness force each other to the death! My Hojo clan really wants to submit! Hojo Phantom Nunnery folded his hands and said with a sad face: "I beg His Royal Highness to leave a way for my Hojo family to survive." From now on, we will always be loyal to His Royal Highness, and if we break our oath, we will be punished and destroyed by the gods and Buddhas! ”

Ashikaga Yoshitoki laughed at his statement, the so-called oath at the time must have been a true word, and the betrayal of his descendants may also be strong-willed, relying on the oath to send the letter to the temple shrine This way of ruling is fragile, and no one can guarantee how long this system supported by blood will last before it collapses.

For example, the miserable situation of the Muromachi shogunate has a lot to do with the imperfection of the system, and the system of domination that the Ashikaga clan developed by the Ashikaga clan has proved to be a product of failure, and Ashikaga Yoshitoki is gradually improving the new system with another system. In this system, the principality has absolute military power and land advantage.

"Loyalty and courage are commendable...... It is true that the world can't think that Yu is too stingy, so be it! I will give you two choices for the Hojo family, the Higashi-Sagami half-koku-anju castle is the Jade Rope Castle, or the Izu one-country residence city Nirayama Castle, according to the choice of the two, Yu will give the Hojo family an enterprising task, and the Higashi-Sagami half-country will enter the Oyamada clan in Kai-gun, and the Izu one-country will enter the Suruga one-country. ”

"Isn't there a better option?" Hojo Phantom Ann scratched his head with a sad face, he didn't dare to follow these two choices at will, and if any one of them was not connected, he would pit them into the Hojo family, and he was not stupid Of course, he saw that Ashikaga Yoshishi was going to use them to deal with the Takeda family of the hundred-legged insect.

"Roll it off here. You can also go to Kanto Shimono Province and Hitachi Country, and you can choose any of the 100,000 stone grids. It's just that you won't be willing to make a merit! "Ashikaga Yoshitoki really wants to laugh out loud, the thoughts of this Hojo family are still stuck in the thinking of the Sengoku Daimyo, and 100,000 stone grids are enough to be the chief family elder in the past few years.

It's just that the speed of expansion in recent years has been too fast, so that this standard has been continuously raised to 100,000 stone to be qualified to be the ancestor of the pedigree, and it is also an outstanding and powerful martial artist in the new generation of the pedigree, such as Changlu Satake's family after the reduction of the seal There are still more than 150,000 stones, which is enough to serve as the ancestor of the pedigree family, and the Utsunomiya clan and Nasu clan before the reduction are also 100,000 stone grids, and after the reduction, they will be reduced to 70,000 stones.

"This ......" Hojo Phantom Nunnery pondered for a long time and still had no countermeasures, and finally said stubbornly: "The poor monk still needs to think about it, and I will give His Royal Highness an accurate answer in a few days!" ”

……

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the weather was sunny and sunny, and the snow on the roads melted a lot for several days, and on this day, a large team appeared on the land of Kamakura, which is located in the western part of the Miura Peninsula and is also known as the capital of the samurai.

It represents the glory and endless glory of the Kamakura shogunate for a hundred years, and also represents the countless samurai with rolling heads who have forged meritorious deeds with blood, the extinction of the Minamoto Yoritomo lineage, the extinction of the Hojo Tokumune lineage, and the extinction of the last hope of the Nitta family in the hands of the Kamakura Gongkata Ashikaga Kei clan, this ancient city no longer needs to be described with too many flowery words.

Walking on the streets of the ancient capital of Kamakura has a different feeling, the quiet ancient city with ancient trees towering to the sky exudes a peaceful atmosphere everywhere, passing through Kazaka into the center of the city, you can see large and small temples everywhere to walk during the period, listening to the melodious bells in the ancient temple and the sound of chanting in the morning class from time to time, people do not feel the barbarism and cruelty of the city back then.

The inauguration ceremony was held at the Tsuruoka Hachimangu Shrine on the Komachi Main Road on the east side of Kamakura Prefecture, and when I visited the Tsuruoka Hachimangu Shrine a few days ago, I found that the scenery in front of me was completely modern, and I could clearly realize that many of the facilities in Hachimangu Shrine were newly created, which greatly disappointed the reverent Ashikaga Yoshitoki.

After Hachimangu Hachimangu Hachibetsu's explanation, he learned that the ancient capital had been attacked by a war thirty-five years ago, and this battle called the Battle of Hachimangu Shrine or the Battle of Ogai Kamakura caused great damage to Kamakura, and the two sides of the battle were Hojo Tsunade and Satomi Yoshitoyo, the major contradiction between the two sides over the expansion of the Bosu Peninsula, and a surprise attack caused by the Hojo clan and the Furukawa Duke Ashikaga Takaki against the Kobow Duke Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

The Satomi clan led the house to raid the Kamakura Mansion, and the continuous fire enveloped half of the Kamakura, and I don't know how many ancient temples and famous temples were burned in this battle, and the Hojo clan raised funds to repair the damaged Kamakura, so as to give this dilapidated city a chance to revitalize.

What's more interesting is that the qualifications of the two sides to repair the Tsuruoka Hachiman Palace after the joint battle were also fiercely disputed, and in the end, it was still the Hojo clan who took advantage of the opportunity to get back the first time in the water, and Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who was the other leader of the Tsuruoka Hachiman Palace, also lost his prestige, so he had to follow Satomi Yoshitoyo to retreat to the Fangsu Peninsula with a long face. (To be continued......)