"Come on!"

"Hold on!"

"Hard!"

……

On the wide pier of Hakata Port, thousands of lords are shouting loudly. Amid the shouts of the lords, a "Yamakasa" several meters tall and decorated with dolls that imitate samurai (these dolls were made by local craftsmen) began to move slowly.

This is the most popular Yamakasa festival in Hakata's local summer festivals. There are two types of yamakasa: the brightly colored "ornamental mountain" for decoration and the "carrying mountain" for carrying around. "Mt. Ornament" has been on display on the streets since the beginning of July for the people to visit. And the "lifting of the mountain" is the "mountain" that everyone sees now as several meters high, and such a large and heavy "mountain hat" is to be carried around by the people.

The summer festival is the longest and most diverse festival Masato has seen since he came here. From July to the end of August and the autumn harvest is the time of summer festivals, during which a wide variety of festivals are held throughout the country.

In the territory of the Luo family, Masara has seen bonfire balls (a bit like the Obon Festival, where the people sing and dance around the bonfire) and visit shrines in groups. What made Masahiro feel speechless the most was the "ass festival". Every summer at this time, we hear shouts in the streets and alleys accompanied by (Ouyisha-Ouyisha), and see groups of men dressed in national costumes and bare buttocks running through the streets carrying a "yamakasa" (mountain-like ornament) on their shoulders, and occasionally people on the roadside prepare buckets of water and splash water on the men who run by, and when they are splashed with water, the shouts are louder and louder (it is said that in some areas outside of Kyushu). There will also be people who hold similar festivals in the winter. In weather where water droplets into ice. Men hang a white cloth on important parts and go out into the streets, while women put white cloth around important parts and go to the water to meditate. Attention, it's meditation, not winter swimming).

Of course, the main purpose of the people holding such rituals is to pray for a good harvest, a prosperous business, and a prosperous family. While Hakata Port is bustling with activity, the Hakata Castle Lord's Mansion on the other side of the newly rebuilt Hakata Port is also bustling with activity. Notoya Heihisa, Tsuda Soda, Hibiya Ryokyu, Naya Imai Munehisa, Amadaya, Imada Nobuyasu and other businessmen were invited here.

"It only took a few months for the repair doctor to bring Hakata back to life after being burned to the ground. The means and open-mindedness should not be underestimated! After seeing the smooth and spacious avenues, the neat brick houses, and the people who came and went in Hakata, all of them who were invited to Hakata had this feeling in their hearts.

"Can you all get ready, don't lose your etiquette when you go in to meet you later." As the oldest and oldest among the people, Notoya Hirahisa spoke out at this time.

"Please rest assured." The rest of the crowd reassured.

I can't help but be careless. Not long ago, Hosokawa Harumoto in the region, led by Masaaga Miyoshi, deployed at the mouth of the river at the intersection of the Yodo River and the Kanzaki River near Kyoto, and confronted the coalition forces of Miyoshi Chokei, Yusa Chokyo, and Tokawa Ichiku. Since Hosokawa Harumoto had already formed an alliance with the Rokkaku family (this news surprised both the emperor and the shogun in Kyoto, and the Rokkaku family, who had always had a good relationship with the imperial court shogunate, turned out to be in cahoots with the Hosokawa family), and Hosokawa Haruhoto was ready to wait for reinforcements from Rokkaku Yoshiken, the son of Rokkaku Joyori, to arrive before fighting Miyoshi Nagakei to the death, so he temporarily adopted a defensive position.

However, Hosokawa Harumoto's alliance with the Rokkaku family was learned in advance by Miyoshi Chokei and others, so the Miyoshi Chokei, Yusa, and Tokawa coalition forces decided to attack before the Rokkaku family reinforcements arrived. In late June, the Changqing side broke the Hosokawa army. Miyoshi Nagamasa and Hosokawa Harumoto, most of the important ministers in the family, a total of more than 800 people, were killed.

After the defeat, Hosokawa Harumoto fled from Kyoto to Miyake Castle, and Hosokawa Harumoto's regime collapsed. Its territories in Shikoku and were gradually taken over by the Miyoshi family. In one fell swoop, the Miyoshi family replaced the Hosokawa family and became a daimyo in the region, and since then it has stepped onto the stage of the history of the Wa Kingdom, and has written its strong stroke.

After learning the news that the Miyoshi family was about to enter Kyoto, the former shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu, who had not had a good relationship with the Miyoshi family, hurriedly fled to Higashisakamoto for refuge with Ashikaga Yoshito (later renamed Ashikaga Yoshiteru), who had just inherited the position of shogun, and at this time his position as shogun had not been recognized by the Hosokawa family, so it had not yet been announced to the world.

When Konoe Maehisa and Nakayumon Nobuhide, who were playing in the Luo family's territory, heard the news, they immediately hurriedly said goodbye to Masato and rushed back to Kyoto. Thinking about it, it seems that these envoys of the imperial court shogunate are unlucky enough every time they go to the Luo family. The last time Kyogoku Takayoshi, who was an envoy, also came to mediate the conflict between the Luo family and the Otomo family, but shortly after arriving in Hizen Province, there was a rebellion in Kyoto, and Kyogoku Takayoshi hurriedly returned to Kyoto without having time to mediate. It's the same this time. Masara had already estimated whether the Imperial Shogunate would send people to Kyushu again next time, because every time someone was sent, nothing good would happen to Kyoto.

The upheaval in Kyoto not only affected Konoe Maehisa, Nakagomon Nobuhide and others, but also the merchants in Sakai Town. The Miyoshi family has not yet completely controlled the region, and the Hosokawa family has not been completely destroyed, so who knows how long the region will have to go through war. Besides, no one knew how the Miyoshi family was going to deal with the merchants of Sakai Town after Tsumichi took power, so they were all panicked for a while.

It was at this time that Masaro extended an invitation to visit Hakata.

What a strong family the Luo family is. He is a powerful daimyo who controls the three kingdoms of Kyushu and has a power that spreads throughout the central and northern regions of Kyushu. In addition, the goods of the Hirado Island of the Roche family were the envy of many merchants, and they were attracted by Hakata, which was the economic center of Kitakyushu and the commercial hub of the Japanese and Korean countries, so after receiving the invitation, these merchants rushed to Hakata, intending to get a piece of the fat thrown by the Hakata family.

At this time, the navy of the Luo family had completely controlled the waterways along the coast of Bungo Province and Hyuga Province, breaking the sea blockade line composed of the Ouchi family, the Otomo family, and the Ito family. If the Ouchi family's navy plans to continue to block the waterways of the Seto Inland Sea, then the Luo family can completely trade through the waterways in the direction of Shikoku Tosa Bay, and then abandon the sea ban strategy of Bungo Province and use Bungo as the entrance to the trade route, so that the Ouchi family's blockade strategy will not only be ineffective, but will even further offend the merchants in various places and make the Ouchi family suffer losses.

As for whether the Ouchi family navy will desperately launch a war against the Luo family's Fenghou navy, Masashi is not worried at all. Let's not talk about whether Ouchi Yoshitaka has the courage to transfer the water army responsible for the defense of the Zhou Dynasty, so that the Kono family water army and the Luo family water army that are eyeing the east and west sides have the opportunity to raid the Zhou defense, and just because of this, it will fall into a long-term water battle with the Luo family or even a full-scale war, and the consequences of Ouchi Yoshitaka will not be acceptable. Previously, after the end of the war with the Luo family Chikugo and Chikuzen, although the Ouchi family has been having some small conflicts with the Luo family, these conflicts are within the acceptable range of both sides, so that the Ouchi family can focus more energy on the east and the Niko family in the western region. And the Luo family can take the opportunity to recuperate.

Mutual wariness and hostility to each other, but keeping the conflict to a small scale, is almost a natural tacit understanding between Masarashi and Yoshitaka Ouchi. No one wants to break this tacit understanding because of this, which is why when the Otomo family was attacked by the navy from the Luo family on the coast of Kunito County, Bungo Province, Ouchi Yoshitaka did not agree to Otomo Yoshizhen's request for help and send the navy to help.

In Ouchi Yoshitaka's view, the Otomo family is also a jackal, and no one knows if the Otomo family will turn around and bite the Ouchi family at the right time. This is very likely, after all, the Otomo family's nest in Bungo Province has been occupied by the Luo family. The Otomo family, who is in urgent need of more territory to accumulate the strength to fight back, is really secretly worried about the Ouchi family's territory in the Bunzen country, which is why Ouchi Yoshitaka sent heavy troops to garrison the border between the Bunzen country and the Bungo country. On the one hand, it is to support the Otomo family at any time and avoid the Otomo family being destroyed by the Luo family, and on the other hand, it is also to beware of the Otomo family, which has reached the point where the dog is jumping over the wall.

In the eyes of Ouchi Yoshitaka, the Otomo family is now a guard dog of the Ouchi family, responsible for guarding the northeast region of the Bungo Kingdom and preventing the Luo family's power from spreading to the border of the Bunzen country, otherwise, the Ouchi family will face a dangerous situation of fully bordering the Luo family's territory in the west. In Yoshitaka Ouchi's view, the Luo family is a mad dog, and last year he joined forces with Otomo Yoshikan to tease this mad dog, and after this mad dog bit them a few times like crazy, now this mad dog is ready to tease him in turn at any time. He would never give the Luo family such a chance.

Yoshitaka Ouchi tried his best to avoid getting caught up in a large-scale conflict with the Luo family, and although Masarashi also had such thoughts, he did not intend to let the Ouchi family go. Previously, the Ouchi family colluded with the retainers within the Luo family to try to plot the Hakata region of the Luo family, and gave the Luo family a bit of yin. If it weren't for the Luo family's preparations, it is estimated that the Hakata region of Chikuzen Province would really fall into the hands of the Ouchi family again.

The so-called courtesy exchanges, and now Masahiro has invited these businessmen to come, and he is also preparing to pay tribute to the Ouchi family.

(Thanks to the "zeuscannon" commuter pass; Thanks to "leely, green mia" for the tip. (To be continued......)