"Your Excellency?" Hearing what Lord Sojidai said, Takagi Kiyoshi couldn't help but be stunned. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info "You...... What do you mean by that? ”

"Didn't I say it clearly enough?" Itakura Shigemune smiled, and finally sighed, "I don't want to run anymore, I want to stay in Kyoto, die for the shogunate, and give an explanation to the people of the world." ”

"My lord, it's all this time, you still think about this kind of thing, it's irresponsible!" Kiyoshi Takagi was a little annoyed.

"Kyoto is lost, the shogunate must give an explanation to the people of the world, even if I run away with the troops, I will definitely be punished by the shogunate, and in the end it will be a dead end." Itakura Shigemune shook his head slightly, looking a little gloomy, "Since it's a dead end anyway, why should I die in humiliation at the hands of the shogunate, it's better to fight to the death with Han Ko, so that at least I can keep the name of the Itakura family!" ”

"Your Excellency is thinking about your own family name, why don't you think about our subordinates?" Takagi looked at the other party coldly, "The current army of Kyoto is all organized by adults, and only adults can command them. Now that my lord is here, how can we complete the shogunate's assignment and take down the traitor Tachibana Soshige?! ”

"Even if you don't have me, you can lead the army alone, you are the person sent by the old and middle adults, and the old and middle adults must have given you some explanations." Itakura Shigemune replied calmly, "So I don't need to trouble you anymore. ”

"My lord......" Kiyoshi Takagi was speechless for a moment before he began to argue. And that's just in case! The army of the Western Kingdom still has to be commanded by you. ”

When he was sent by the old Nakatsui Toshikatsu, in order to prevent Itakura Shigemune from being unable to see things due to unexpected circumstances, and at the same time to prevent him from defecting to the enemy, the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu himself gave him an order to be in charge of monitoring Itakura Shigemune, and at the same time to forcibly take over the troops of the western country if necessary.

However, since coming to Kyoto, Takagi Kiyoshi observed that Itakura Shigemune was doing his best to serve the shogunate without any objection, and he also knew that he had no experience in leading troops, so he did not announce Tokugawa Iemitsu's orders, but focused his energy on seeking peace talks with the Han Kou.

Now that peace talks have failed and the situation is getting worse and worse, he has no confidence and wants to rely on Itakura Shigemune to maintain the shogunate army in the western country.

"Now that's what if." Itakura Shigemune sighed softly, "Since I fought with the Han Kou, I have been defeated repeatedly, and my subordinates have suffered huge losses, and the Han Kou have marched step by step and occupied a large area of land...... It was only because of the general's kindness that he was able to survive, but ...... I can't live like this forever! As the representative of the Kyoto Institute, I am guarding Kyoto until I die. ”

"Your Excellency!" Kiyoshi Takagi wanted to persuade him again.

"Alright, don't say any more!" Itakura Shigemune raised his hand to interrupt him, "I've made up my mind, it's useless to say more." If you are going to retreat, leave tomorrow morning, and do not delay any longer. I'll gather all my men and let them follow you out of Kyoto at your beheels. ”

Looking at Kiyoshi Takagi's face, he smiled slightly.

"Takagi, as a samurai, do you still want to stop me from clearing my name as a samurai? Why do you have to let me go back and accept the judgment of the Shogun? Besides...... With me here to guard, your retreat will be much smoother. ”

In his laughter, Takagi Kiyoshi also understood that Lord Soshidai had really made up his mind, and the matter was irreparable.

There is no doubt that after he leaves with his people, the defense of Kyoto will be even more empty, and Itakura Shigemune's stay here will not play any role, but only to die for his life.

When he was in Himeji Castle before, Itakura Shigemune had already made up his mind to commit suicide, but he reluctantly changed his mind because he was persuaded by his side, and now it seems that he never wants to change his mind again.

As he said, even if he led his troops out of Kyoto, no matter how much he made meritorious deeds later, there would definitely be no way to repay the guilt - although Takagi Kiyoshi knew that the previous defeat could not actually blame the lord of the company, and the result would not change much in anyone's case.

I wonder how much longer I can last? The thought flashed through his mind in the gloom.

Although he is now deeply trusted by the old man and the general, if he commits a mistake in the future, I am afraid that there will be no way to be forgiven, and one day he will have to apologize with his life like the master of the company. Besides, now that the shogunate has reached such a precarious point, it may one day fall apart.

Now this situation, we can only take one step at a time.

In the afternoon of the same day, Itakura Shigemune gathered his subordinates and told them about his arrangements. These generals were as frightened as Takagi Kiyoshi and urged him to leave Kyoto with them, but he sternly refused.

There were many people who wanted to stay in Kyoto and fight against the enemy with Lord Sojidai, but Itakura Shigemune refused the request of the vast majority, knowing that these people only said this for the sake of looking good, and in their hearts they all wanted to leave Kyoto, a doomed place of death, and only a small number of people were sincere - and he didn't need to leave too many people behind.

After two or three hundred men came to defend Nijo Castle, he handed over all his troops to Takagi Kiyoyori and urged them to leave Kyoto at night.

After the plan was decided, although Takagi Kiyoshi and the others were very reluctant, they still obeyed the orders of Lord Sojidai and left Kyoto, and after they left, Itakura Shigemune retreated all the way to Nijo Castle with the rest of the people, and Kyoto became a de facto empty city.

Although Takagi Kiyoshi and others were very careful, the movement in Kyoto still did not escape the sentry spies distributed by the Han army, and at dawn, Zhou Pu, who was stationed in Fushimi, had already received the news of the transfer of the shogunate army in Kyoto.

Judging from the scale of the transfer, the shogunate has transferred almost all the troops in Kyoto, which means that Kyoto is now an empty city.

"They've run away?" Zhou Pu was very surprised.

In the original prediction, they all guessed that the shogunate army would rely on Kyoto to fight to the death with the Han army again, so they also made corresponding preparations, but they did not expect that before this battle began, the enemy army had already fled directly and abandoned Kyoto.

Maybe they were scared by the Great Han, or maybe they didn't want to fight the Great Han in a place like Kyoto, but no matter what, it was good news for him.

These days, Nijo Yasudo and others have been beside him to make statements, hoping to end the war in Kyoto as soon as possible -- they are all ministers of the imperial court, and they don't want Kyoto to suffer too much damage, and in order to reflect the justice of the Han army and make better use of the Japanese imperial court, Zhou Pu really doesn't want to fight too hard in Kyoto, so as not to affect the views of all Japanese parties on the Han Dynasty.

These days, he has been thinking about how to minimize the destruction of the local area when he occupied Kyoto, but he did not expect the shogunate's voluntary retreat to solve this problem for him.

In that case, there is nothing to be afraid of.

Before dawn, he called Nijo Yasudo and Hashimoto Minoru and others, and those two people were also very surprised, so they immediately asked Zhou Pu to send troops to occupy Kyoto, and Zhou Pu readily agreed, and in the morning of the same day, the army began to march towards Kyoto.

Because of the chaos caused by the landing of the Han army on Honshu Island before, coupled with the shogunate's deliberate efforts to clear the wall, the originally prosperous Kyoto generation has now been much more depressed, and when the Han army began to march to Kyoto, it was even more depressed, and there were not many people in sight.

In the afternoon of the same day, they finally arrived in Kyoto.

At this time, Kyoto was still the same as before, but there were not many people in sight, and it almost looked like a deserted city.

However, the remaining residents were almost jubilant after discovering the traces of the Han army, especially after understanding that the leading general this time was Lord Youfu, and many people crowded in front of the army, cheering and watching the arrival of this army.

Kyoto was a place where the ministers lived, and the residents here were more or less related to the Imperial Court and the Fujiwara family, so after the Shogunate left with His Majesty the Emperor and the Emperor, although the shogunate gritted his teeth with hatred for the Lords of the Left and Right Houses, in the eyes of the people here, the two adults were great heroes, and they were also the hope of the Imperial Court.

Although some people complained a little about the practice of the two lords borrowing troops from the Han Dynasty, the thought that the status of the imperial court could be changed and that after they really held the territory and real power, it became a tacit and supportive attitude, and only a very small group of people found it difficult to accept this, and they also fled to Kanto with the people of the shogunate before the Han army entered Kinai.

When the Han army marched all the way to Kinai, with their successive victories, many messages began to reach Kyoto, and at this time people already knew how powerful the Han army was, and the shogunate could not resist at all, and they also knew that the Han Dynasty respected the imperial court very much, and even provided money and food to the imperial court, so that the imperial court had its own direct command of the army.

Those who had gone through the troubled times of the Warring States period knew how important it was to have soldiers in their hands and how much it would mean for the imperial court to have force in their hands, and at this time almost everyone who remained had become supporters of the Great Han, and earnestly hoped that the Great Han and the imperial army would soon reach Kyoto and make it the center of the whole of Japan again.

There are even some people who are thinking about what kind of position they will be able to get in the court in the future--the court will definitely be able to rule a large area of land in the future, and the official position and income that the court can take out at that time will be much stronger than before.

Under the influence of this mentality, the hearts of the people in Kyoto have already leaned towards the imperial court, and it is no wonder that Itakura Shigemune is so pessimistic about the situation.

After the army arrived outside Kyoto, the shogunate had withdrawn all the troops, so the remaining people went out of the city to meet the Han army in the order of their family and official positions.

Because the people of the Five Families have been forcibly taken away by the shogunate, the person at the head is the power of the Great Nayan Hanayamain Temple. He was also summoned directly to his seat by Nijo Kangdao.

Hanayamain, who was only a few years older than Nijo Yasudo, made his way through the formation of the army, and although he was shocked by the killing spirit of the army at first, he was very excited and excited when he heard that these armies were directly controlled by the imperial court, the Lord of the Right Mansion and the Lieutenant General of the Left Guard.

When he looked at Nijo Kangdao, he was very excited and knelt down directly.

"See Lord Youfu!"

"Big name, please." Nijo Yasudo also happily motioned for him to stand up. "I haven't seen you for many days, don't come unharmed?"

After so many days, after many twists and turns, he finally overcame the difficulties and dangers and returned to Kyoto with the army, and naturally there was a feeling of returning home.

In this way, he also proved that his original ideas and practices were all right - no matter what the cost was, now the imperial court finally had its own army and territory, and had a foothold, and no longer had to rely on the shogunate's snort.

"These days, we have been worried about Your Majesty and your Excellency, for fear that you will miss anything...... Finally, the gods and Buddhas blessed it, and the imperial court turned the danger into a disaster......" Huashan Yuan said as he said, tears almost falling, "This is really a blessing from heaven...... Heavenly! ”

"The imperial court is orthodox in the world, so it can naturally be blessed by the gods and Buddhas." Nijo Yasudo replied confidently, "The shogunate is just a clown, and Tokugawa Iemitsu has been rampant for long!" ”

After making a bold statement, Nijo Yasudo immediately asked Hanayama Yuan about the changes that happened in Kyoto after he fled, as well as the current situation in Kyoto, and Hanayama Yuan decided to tell the truth immediately.

After the escape of the Emperor and the Prime Minister, the shogunate was furious and immediately ordered the confiscation of the residences of Ichijo Kaneya and Nijo Yasudo as punishment.

And,Because he was afraid of the Han Dynasty's soldiers,So decided to move the important ministers and imperial families in Kyoto to Kanto.,Under their persecution,The Goseki family and some other high families and the imperial family were forcibly taken away.,And the eldest of the ministers.,The head of the Kujo family, the Kujo Yuki family, although he couldn't help himself.,But he decided to let some of the ministers stay.,First, to guard the houses and property left by the imperial court and the ministers.,Second, to secretly prepare to take over the imperial court that came back.。

He understood that if the imperial court could fight back, then the shogunate would need them as bargaining chips, and if the imperial court was really defeated and the shogunate won a complete victory, then they would definitely not have a good life.

Under the arrangement of his best efforts, Huashan Yuan and a group of ministers were finally able to stay, and in addition to guarding the property and the imperial residence, they also went around to inquire about the situation, waiting for the Han army and the imperial court to return to Kyoto as soon as possible.

Then, Hanayamain decided to tell Nijo Yasudo everything he knew about the shogunate and the imperial court.

When he heard that his mansion had been destroyed because of the shogunate and that his family had been taken away by the shogunate, Nijo Yasudo was furious, and it was not until he heard the news that the shogunate's Kyoto director, Itakura Shigemune, was still in Nijo Castle.

"Let's let the thief Itakura and Nijo Castle burn down first, and take revenge!" He left such a sentence, and then directly led his troops into the city and drove towards Nijo Castle.

For Nijo Yasudo, Nijo Castle, not far from his own mansion and imperial palace, was a symbol of humiliation. And the shogunate treated him like this, of course he wanted to take revenge back.

In order to prevent Kyoto from being devastated by the soldiers, Nijo Yasudo left his army outside the castle after hearing that the shogunate had withdrawn, and only brought a small part of his personal entourage into the castle.

And when they heard that there was still a shogunate army left in Kyoto Castle, the sergeants who had been a little slack regained their spirits. They poured into the city, then through the boxy streets of Kyoto, and finally came to the Nakakyo area, where they surrounded Nijo Castle.

Although it is called a castle, the area of Nijo Castle is not very large, but there are moats around the inner and outer castles, and there is only one bridge left for internal and external passage, so although it is defended by a large army, it is difficult to break through in an instant.

It was already night, and the sky was already getting dark, and Nijo Yasudo ordered people to shoot torches outside the castle to create the momentum that Nijo Castle was already surrounded, and then ordered rockets to be fired into Nijo Castle.

It was a hot summer day, and although the defenders of the city had already prepared, it was difficult to extinguish it everywhere, and soon flames burst out everywhere, staining the water in the trenches golden.

Then, Nijo Kangdao did not persuade him to surrender, and directly ordered his subordinates to take advantage of the chaos inside to start attacking the city.

At his urging, the soldiers threw pieces of wood and stones into the trench, and after the trench had been roughly filled, they stepped directly over the trench and tried to climb the low wall of the outer city.

At this time, the shogunate soldiers in the city also rushed out, braving the bows and muskets outside to rush at the officers and soldiers who had stepped on the outer wall, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

Perhaps because they were ready to die for their lives, these defenders were so brave that they fought the besieging soldiers almost risking their lives, and they were outnumbered, but they also resisted the initial attack.

However, after all, there was a huge disparity in numbers, and soon the besieging army took up a few footholds on the city walls and then fought inward along the walls.

Many of these imperial army members had experienced the battle of Himeji Castle, so they were not afraid of the tiny Nijo Castle.

Soon, the besiegers broke the defenders at the top of the city and then slaughtered the city, leaving only corpses all over the ground.

"None of the defenders will be left, and they will all be killed! Be sure to burn the Tokugawa family's palace to the ground! Outside the castle, Nijo Yasuchi proudly gave the order.

He must erase this scar in Kyoto and all traces of the Tokugawa family in the imperial court. (To be continued.) )