The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 293 Raising troops to investigate crimes
Hosokawa Takakuni rebelled.

Kyoto was captured by the Ming army.

When Ouchi Yoshioki received the news, he remained silent for a long time.

Although he had made the decision long ago and was mentally prepared, after learning the exact news, Ouchi Yoshioki was still extremely angry and disappointed.

If it weren't for this Ming army that suddenly appeared, Ouchi Yoshioki would have been the most powerful minister in charge of the shogunate!

However, there is a variable called the Ming army. The situation in Kyoto will depend entirely on the mood of the Ming Dynasty's Marquis Zhongshan!
Damn Ashikaga Yoshihide!
When he thought of this, Ouchi Yoshioki couldn't help but curse out loud.

Compared to Ashikaga Yoshitane, a waste who was easier to control, Ashikaga Yoshine was a treacherous wolf cub who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty early and won the secret support of the Ming court.

Even after these Ming troops left, Ouchi Yoshioki was not sure he could completely control Ashikaga Yoshihide and make him his puppet general!
Therefore, all the plans have come to nothing!

Speak of the devil, here comes Ashikaga Yoshitsugu, who walks in with a smile on his face.

"Ouchi Yoshioki, what do you think?"

"Zhongshan Hou's patience is limited. If you don't come to the capital within three days, he will really send troops to attack!"

"Can this coalition of 10,000 people really stop the 10,000 elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty?"

Hearing this, Ouchi Yoshioki's face darkened and his eyes were fixed on Ashikaga Yoshiwune.

What this wolf cub just talked about were ten thousand elite soldiers!
There are eight thousand people in Kyoto City, so what about the remaining two thousand?

Naturally, they were the troops under Ashikaga Yoshihide, including Ma Yong and Deng Boyan.

In other words, this little beast has completely sided with the Ming army and is willing to be its running dog!

"Ashikaga Yoshihide, you are truly an outstanding descendant of the Ashikaga clan!"

"If Ashikaga Takauji and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu knew that they had a child like you, they would be so angry that they would crawl out of their graves!"

These sarcastic remarks were extremely vicious, but Ashikaga Yoshihide did not take them seriously.

What is the relationship between Ashikaga Takauji and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Ashikaga Yoshine?
If it weren't for the support of the Ming court and the support of Marquis Zhongshan, Ashikaga Yoshitane would have been a running dog of Ashikaga Yoshitane and Ouchi Yoshioki all his life, and even his life and death could not be guaranteed!

After all these years of fleeing with Ashikaga Yoshitane, Ashikaga Yoshihide had had enough. Now he wanted to take control of his own life, and then further take control of... the entire Japan!

"Ouchi Yoshioki, give me some straight answers!" Ashikaga Yoshiwune sneered.

After a brief silence, Ouchi Yoshioki finally sighed.

"Well, I'll go with you to see what kind of heroic figure the Great Ming Zhongshan Marquis is!"

Half an hour later, the coalition forces arrived outside the gate of Kyoto.

Ashikaga Yoshitane led Ouchi Yoshioki, Ashikaga Yoshine, and the allied generals into Kyoto. Under the leadership of Tang Hao, they arrived at the Muromachi shogunate and knelt down in unison before Tang Hao, Marquis of Zhongshan.

Originally, Generals Lei Xiong, Chang Kuohai and others suggested that Tang Hao live in the Japanese Emperor's Palace. Although it was a bit poor, it was large. However, they were scolded by Tang Hao.

That is the Imperial Palace of Japan, the residence of the fake emperor of Japan, and its status is comparable to the Forbidden City of the Ming Emperor!
If Tang Hao really moved in carelessly, it would probably lead to endless troubles. He didn't want to create hidden dangers for himself.

This is a taboo and there is no need to arouse the fear and suspicion of Emperor Zhu Houzhao.

Anyway, in addition to the Japanese Imperial Palace, there is also the Muromachi Shogunate to live in.

Furthermore, the Muromachi shogunate was the place that held power in Japan at that time, and the person in power was the shogun.

As for the general, this was a perfect match for Tang Hao, so he moved directly into the Muromachi shogunate, which was exactly what it meant to be a cuckoo occupying the magpie's nest.

Ashikaga Yoshitane brought Ouchi Yoshioki and Ashikaga Yoshine to pay their respects, but received no response.

Tang Hao ignored these three guys at first, but looked at Generals Ma Yong and Deng Boyan behind them.

"What are the casualties?" Tang Hao asked.

Ma Yong laughed and said: "Not bad, we lost more than a hundred brothers!"

The two of them led two thousand soldiers and became mercenaries of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Ouchi Yoshioki. They fought in a foreign land deep into the heart of Japan and only lost more than a hundred people, which was really good.

When Tang Hao heard this number, a smile appeared on his face.

"Thanks for your hard work!"

"I will ask for credit for you when I return!"

Ma Yong and Deng Boyan bowed immediately, but the two generals also had smiles on their faces.

To be honest, the pressure on them is not small.

After all, they were in a foreign land in Japan, and they had to do crazy things, and they had to be wary of the cunning hero Ouchi Yoshioki, for fear that they would be tricked one day and the whole army would be wiped out...

Now it’s finally all right. Lord Zhongshan has fulfilled his promise and personally led the army to capture the Japanese capital and come to pick them up!

Therefore, Ma Yong and Deng Boyan now felt relaxed and a smile appeared on their faces unconsciously.

As long as the Marquis is present, they can rest assured about what happens next.

After a brief exchange of words, Tang Hao looked at Ashikaga Yoshitane, Ouchi Yoshioki and Ashikaga Yoshine.

Ma Yong and Deng Boyan said hello to generals such as Tang Mu and Lei Xiong, then followed Zuo Yidao and left. They were going to finish the work.

At this moment, Ashikaga Yoshitane was both frightened and angry. He had already understood his fate and outcome on the way here.

That is to be elected as the Shogun again, and then immediately pass the throne to Ashikaga Yoshihide!

In other words, the position of shogun that Ashikaga Yoshitane had fought for all his life was easily within his grasp, and then had to be passed on to Ashikaga Yoshiwone!

When he thought of this, Ashikaga Yoshitane looked at his adopted son Ashikaga Yoshitane with resentment.

However, Ashikaga Yoshihide could not care about his adoptive father at this moment because his "biological father" came!
Everyone saw that Ashikaga Yoshihide was trembling, and he knelt down in front of Tang Hao's feet with a plop. Then he stuck out his tongue in a disgusting manner and licked the dust off the boots of Lord Zhongshan. After confirming that they were clean, he respectfully called him "Master".

Seeing this scene, all the Ming generals were disgusted.

Ouchi Yoshioki and Ashikaga Yoshitane were so angry that their faces turned red and their bodies trembled.

This beast has really brought shame to the Ashikaga clan!
What do you think this is?
The slave of Marquis Zhongshan?
You are the blood of Ashikaga clan!

Ashikaga Yoshitane stared at his adopted son in a daze, wishing he could stab the beast to death with a knife.

Ouchi Yoshioki was also very angry. It was not until this moment that he finally understood why the Ming court secretly supported Ashikaga Yoshihide. It was because Ashikaga Yoshihide was so despicable that he had turned into a slave of the Ming Dynasty's Zhongshan Marquis!
What if this beast really took the position of Shogun, wouldn't it mean that the person who truly controlled the power of the Shogunate would become this Ming Dynasty Marquis Zhongshan?
When he thought of this, Ouchi Yoshioki felt his scalp tingling and his back chilled!

Is such a Yamato still Yamato?
"Leave far away!"

Tang Hao kicked Ashikaga Yoshihide with disgust on his face.

Instead of making any complaints, the latter knelt obediently beside him with a fawning smile on his face like a dog.

He had indeed been severely punished by the Jinyiwei. The continuous water torture for three days and three nights had already engraved fear into Ashikaga Yoshihide's bones. So when he saw Tang Hao at this moment, the fear from the bottom of his heart instantly consumed him, and his bones could not be hardened at all.

Tang Hao glanced at Ashikaga Yoshihide, and then locked his eyes on Ouchi Yoshioki.

"Are you Ouchi Yoshioki?"

"Head of the Ouchi clan, the overlord of western Japan?"

When Ouchi Yoshioki heard the name being called by Marquis Zhongshan, he trembled and then bowed hurriedly.

"As you may well know, Lord Nakayama, I am Ouchi Yoshioki, the head of the Ouchi clan."

"Heh, Ouchi-sama!"

Tang Hao sneered.

The reason why the Ouchi family was able to rise rapidly was related to the rise of maritime trade. Relying on its geographical advantage on the shipping route, the Ouchi family vigorously developed maritime trade with the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, taking advantage of the decline of the Muromachi shogunate's control, they continuously attacked the shogunate's merchant ships heading to the Ming Dynasty, and finally successfully forced the shogunate to cede part of the tribute interests, and added the Ouchi family to the tribute mission, so that everyone could share the profits.

Many times, merchants from the Ming Dynasty only needed to transport the goods to Kyushu Island and sell the goods to Japanese merchants on Kyushu Island. The Japanese merchants on Kyushu Island would then transport the goods to Honshu Island and make a fortune in just one transaction.

The Ouchi clan used this opportunity to accumulate a huge amount of wealth and then began to take off rapidly.

Not to mention that they secretly disguised themselves as Japanese pirates and often went out to sea to plunder the coastal areas of Korea and Ming Dynasty, so the family wealth kept accumulating more and more!
Ouchi Yoshioki was also a heroic figure with great ambitions.

He was trying his best to expand his power, and at the same time he was secretly supporting the deposed Tenth Shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshitane, and wanted to make use of Ashikaga Yoshitane to make trouble, a bit like Cao Cao in the Three Kingdoms period, who wanted to hold the emperor hostage to control the princes.

He also succeeded in doing so in history. As soon as Hosokawa Masamoto died, Ouchi Yoshioki used the name of the tenth shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane to gather a group of local daimyo to counterattack Kyoto. In the end, he successfully entered Kyoto and deposed the current shogun Ashikaga Yoshizumi, and supported Ashikaga Yoshitane to successfully restore the throne. Ouchi Yoshioki also jointly took control of the shogunate with Hosokawa Takakuni, who temporarily defected, and manipulated the shogunate...

Well, what about that traitor Takakuni Hosokawa?

Tang Hao looked around and found that someone seemed to be missing.

But he didn't think much about it, probably because he died in the chaos in Kyoto that day.

It has to be admitted that Ouchi Yoshioki was a heroic figure. In history, he indeed became the next Hosokawa Masatoshi, manipulating the power of the shogunate and bringing his Ouchi clan into its peak period.

Even during the Jiajing period, the right to trade with Ming was monopolized by the two great families, the Ouchi clan and the Hosokawa clan. The struggle between the Ouchi and Hosokawa families for the right to trade with Ming became increasingly fierce, culminating in the tribute dispute that took place at the Ningbo Maritime Customs in the second year of the Jiajing period.

But precisely because of this, Tang Hao was not going to keep him.

Ouchi Yoshioki looked to be only in his forties, which was the prime of his life and also the time when he had the greatest ambitions.

It is impossible for Tang Hao to stay in the Japanese capital forever, so I am afraid that no one can suppress this destined hero of the Japanese Ouchi clan, so it is better to get rid of him directly.

Tang Hao was pondering and gave Tang Mu a look.

The latter immediately understood and brought out the other three prisoners.

One is the current 11th Shogun of the Shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshizumi, the other is the current head of the Hosokawa clan, Hosokawa Sumimune, and the other is the current Emperor of Japan, Katsuhito.

Now all is here. The six people who have the greatest hope of regaining power in Japan are here.

The grudges between these six people were the kind that could not be told in a book, so when they met at this moment, they glared at each other, wishing to kill each other.

Only elder brother Shengren had a calm expression, so calm that it seemed a little pale.

He suffered the same torture as Ashikaga Yoshihide and was subjected to water torture continuously for three days. So at this moment, Brother Katsuhito has also fallen into the same status as Ashikaga Yoshihide, a slave and running dog of the Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty!
There was no other way. He would rather die than suffer such torture again!
When all six people arrived, Tang Hao didn't waste any more words and started to question them directly.

"First, whether it's the Mishima pirates or the other pirates, which daimyo are secretly disguising themselves as pirates, wantonly plundering the coastal areas of our Daming and slaughtering our Daming people?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the six people changed drastically.

They never imagined that in such a chaotic situation, the Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty would actually settle old scores!
The 11th Shogun Ashikaga Yoshizumi immediately pointed his finger at Ouchi Yoshioki and said, "Your Majesty, these are all evil deeds done by local daimyo for the sake of profit. For example, this Ouchi Yoshioki, their Ouchi clan has been doing this in secret..."

"Asshole!" Ouchi Yoshioki panicked, "Your Excellency, this is slander!"

"My Ouchi clan has never plundered the coast of the Ming Dynasty. We have friendly trade with the Ming Dynasty. The Japanese pirates are not from my Ouchi clan at all..."

He must not admit this until his death. Once he admits it, not only will Ouchi Yoshioki's life be in danger, but the entire Ouchi clan will also suffer bloody revenge from the Ming Dynasty!
However, since Tang Hao was determined to kill Ouchi Yoshioki, he would have been well prepared.

"In the eighth year of the Hongzhi reign, the Muromachi shogunate organized the seventh trade mission to Ming. Although the Ouchi clan had the Chenghua Kanhe, they did not have a letter of credence and could not trade with Ming. Under the mediation of the shogunate, the Ouchi clan and the Hosokawa clan jointly formed the seventh trade delegation. The shogunate and the Hosokawa clan brought the Jingtai Kanhe, the Ouchi clan brought the Chenghua Kanhe, and Yao Fushou was appointed as the chief envoy. There were six ships in the delegation, one from the shogunate, three from the Hosokawa clan, and two from the Ouchi clan, right?"

When Ouchi Yoshioki heard this, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He seemed to remember something, so his whole body was shaking with fear.

"At the beginning of the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign, your Japanese delegation arrived in Beijing. After paying tribute, they returned home in May. Due to the complex composition of the trade delegation, the economy was stable on the way back home. Members of your delegation forced us to buy goods, which led to an argument and murder with knives. Among them, it was you, Ouchi, who did it. You killed three of my Ming people for no reason and took away their goods!"

"No... Your Excellency... it's not like that..."

Ouchi Yoshioki's face changed drastically, and he tried desperately to make up for it, but Tang Hao didn't give him the chance at all.

"You, the Ouchi clan, dare to rob and kill people for money in my Celestial Empire. You have no respect for my Celestial Empire. How can you say that in other places?"

"Ouchi Yoshioki, your Ouchi clan was only able to participate in the trade with Ming in the eighth year of the Hongzhi reign. Where did your Ouchi clan get our Ming goods before that?"

Some things simply cannot stand up to scrutiny.

Even though every word Tang Hao said was based on evidence, Ouchi Yoshioki still tried to refute him.

In fact, those goods were indeed obtained by robbery, but a small part of them were looted from the coast of the Ming Dynasty, and most of them were obtained by the shogunate's Kangei ships, which were often robbed by the Ouchi clan entrenched in Nagato, Suo and other places on their way back. The shogunate lost all its money, while the Ouchi clan made a fortune. Therefore, the shogunate had to cede the rights and interests of the "Mingri trade" to the Ouchi clan and the Hosokawa clan who controlled the Seto Inland Sea, and eventually formed a pattern of the three parties conducting Kangei trade with the Ming Dynasty.

But how could the Ouchi clan explain this? Did they say that they were not robbing the coast of the Ming Dynasty, but the tribute ships of the shogunate?
If he really opened his mouth and admitted this matter, the Ouchi family would instantly become the target of public criticism in the Yamato Kingdom!

But, what to do now?
Tang Hao was too lazy to talk nonsense with Ouchi Yoshioki and waved his hand impatiently.

"Someone come and restrain him!"

Lei Xiong and Chang Kuohai quickly stepped forward and pinned the unsuspecting Ouchi Yoshioki to the ground, rendering him unable to move.

"Your Excellency!" Ouchi Yoshioki was completely panicked.

He never thought that the Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty would attack him at this moment.

Isn’t he afraid of the tens of thousands of troops outside the city?

"I, Ouchi, am innocent!"

"If the envoy listens to the slander of the traitors, I, the Ouchi clan, will never tolerate it..."

He was begging for mercy at the beginning, but now he is threatening.

Tang Hao looked at the hero coldly, then sneered.

"Why do you think I didn't transfer Ma Yong and Deng Boyan's 2,000 soldiers to Kyoto?"

"Guess what Ma Yong and Deng Boyan were doing just now?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Ouchi Yoshioki's face changed drastically, and no trace of blood remained.

There is no doubt that they were going to slaughter the army outside the city!
The coalition forces outside the city were unprepared for the two thousand Ming troops. Under the sudden attack, the already highly powerful Ming army could easily kill all the nearly ten thousand soldiers!
damn it!
This is clearly a trap!
"Tang Hao, what exactly do you want to do?"

"You are slaughtering my Yamato warriors like this. Do you want to destroy the entire Yamato country?"

After scolding Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao, Ouchi Yoshioki looked at Ashikaga Yoshitane, Ashikaga Yoshisumi, and Katsuhito and others, and angrily scolded: "Don't you understand? This damn Ming people wants to destroy our Yamato!"

Destroy Yamato?

Ashikaga Yoshizumi and Ashikaga Yoshitane's faces changed drastically, and then they all looked at Tang Hao.

But before they could come to their senses, they were pinned down by the Ming soldiers.

Then they saw the brothers Ashikaga Yoshiwune and Katsuhito kneeling in front of Zhongshan Hou with flattering faces, expressing their attitudes with practical actions.

What does the destruction of Yamato have to do with them?
They just want to be their master's dog!
Tang Hao handed a knife to the brothers Ashikaga Yoshiwune and Katsuhito, and then pointed at the three people who were restrained in front of him.

"Kill them!"

"You are the Shogun!"

"You are the Emperor of Japan!"

Brothers Ashikaga Yoshihide and Katsuhito looked at each other, then rushed over without hesitation.

Ashikaga Yoshitane took the lead in stabbing the knife into Ashikaga Yoshitane's heart, and then sneered: "Old man, I have wanted to kill you for a long time!"

Ashikaga Yoshitane stared at his adopted son with resentment on his face and finally died of suffocation.

Brother Katsuhito killed Ashikaga Yoshizumi with a single sword. The emperor hated the shogunate, there was nothing to say about it, especially since the damn shogunate refused to hold a ceremony for his enthronement, it was even more damnable!
Finally, the two men, holding blood-stained blades, slowly walked towards Ouchi Yoshioki.

The destined hero of the Ouchi clan let out screams and wails!

(End of this chapter)