Pillars of the Wu family

In late February, an assessment meeting was being held in Yamagata Castle of Dewa Country. All the people present at the meeting looked serious and stared at the envoys of the Takeda family in a daze. A total of 500 taels of gold, the Takeda family spent a lot of money in order to win over allies. As a local tyrant in Deyu, it is almost impossible to see such a large amount of money.

"As long as Mogami Minbuden nods to participate in the Anti-Echigo Alliance, the 500 taels of gold will be the best. Please consider carefully, and I will leave first!" Kasuga Toratsuna, who changed his name to Kosaka Masanobu, caught a glimpse of the expression of the Mogami retainers, Smiling, he put away the glowing gold and got up to leave. Dozens of eyes followed the gold until he walked out of the assessment room.

The old and frail Tendo Lai Dao did not participate in the meeting, and was replaced by a young and energetic Tendo Laizhen as the successor of the family governor. He was the second son of the family. Having died of illness before, this time Tiantong Laizhen first appeared as the successor of the family governor to give the people of the country and the lord a period of adaptation, and the next time he appears will be the family governor of the Tiantong family.

"This gold must be kept! My lord must think so too, right?" Tendo Laizhen squinted at Mogami Yoshinori, with a look of disdain flashing across his face.

Mogami Yoshimori is just the stepson of the Nakano family, and his status is as different as that of the Tendo family. In the 11th year of Yongzheng, the previous governor, Mogami Yoshisaka, was defeated by Date Tsukatsu's army in the Battle of Hasedo Castle. There were more than 1000 people, and Hasedo Castle was captured. After the war, Mogami decided to accept the marriage request of Date Tsukami, married the daughter of the Date family and gave birth to a son, but fortunately, the son died soon.Give Yu people a short respite.

So the local people headed by Mogami Hachiko stood up.Decide on a master of native origin.The most thoughtful one is of course Tendo Yorimichi, the head of the top eight families. Their family was originally the Oshu Shiba clan, and later the family was transformed into the Satomi clan to inherit the family. A few generations ago, they were adopted by the top family, so He has the best chance.

However, Mogami Hachiko worried that the Tendo family would become a powerful monarch, so they strongly opposed the tendo Yorimichi who was still very young at the time as the governor. After some disputes, it was decided that the son of the relatively weak Nakano family should be appointed as the governor. According to Tendo Laizhen This family governor should belong to Tiantong's family.If his father had become the governor of the highest family, he would now be the heir of the governor of the highest family.

This kind of thinking makes Tiantong Laizhen feel that this house governor is particularly displeased. Without the full support of Mogami Yoshimori, he will definitely not be able to be the house governor. Flagpole, but now Mogami Yoshiichi is trying to be strong. After the Echigo invasion three years ago, he has surrendered several Chinese people one after another, and he is very upset.

"Of course we have to take it down, but the main family is more interested in this plan. The Takeda family actually pulled in half of the power of Kanto this time. There is also Kaga's general general, and there must be Ashina Mori from Aizu. It looks like This time the opportunity is great!" Mogami Yoshimori closed his eyes and showed a fascinated expression, as if imagining the wonderful feeling of eating the whole Shimokoshi in one bite, with a satisfied expression on his face. [

It’s true that the invasion three years ago failed. Mogami’s loss was actually very small, and Mogami Hachiko’s trip was nothing more than a waste of time. It’s nice to see the Dabao Temple’s family suffer a little loss. Mogami Yoshimori got 200 taels of gold once In addition to spending half of the mogami Hachiko's hard work expenses, as the governor of the family, he will enjoy half of it exclusively. This time, he also has this calculation in mind. If he wins after dispatching troops, everyone can enjoy the fruits of victory. If he loses, he can also get 250 taels Gold is not bad.

"As we all know, Echigo's wealth is eye-catching. It would be wonderful if I could take advantage of it... But what should I do if I encounter the situation last time?" The meaning is very simple, everyone loves to eat fatty meat, but he can't lose his teeth just because of eating fat meat.

Shimizu Hizen Mamoru Yoshitaka was not happy, the main force in Yamaori didn't move but he and the Mioka family were sent to Echigo, and he was beaten by the Kira family, and he still remembers it. In a war with little loss, the root cause of Echigo was found out. In fact, the reason for this is clear to him.

"Actually, you guys have forgotten one thing, that is the secret of Echigo's prosperity. As long as I master the secret of Echigo's high-yielding crops, I will be as rich as Echigo. Can the Date family still threaten us? It is precisely because This point, the Chinese in Vietnam, Jiaxin, and Kanto will do it!"

The Mogami Family Evaluation Association reached a preliminary intention in the intrigue, and Kosaka Masanobu was sorting out the information in his hands in the house in Yamagata Castle. This is the latest information sent by Takeda Torupo on a regular basis. It will travel all over the Hokuriku and Olympic countries.

Deba just started spring sowing at the end of February. The melting of ice and snow made the temperature even colder than that of the first month. The fire pit in the house shone with red flames to dispel the cold indoors. Masanobu Kosaka threw a piece of letter paper into the brazier, and the red coals instantly engulfed it. A thin piece of paper, some of the writing on it was burned to ashes.

Ever since the situation in Kita Shinano collapsed, as Takeda Harunobu's love, he was transferred from the front line of Kita Shinano to the diplomatic envoy of the Takeda family. He knew that this was the lord's deep love and ardent expectations for him, and he was able to withstand the power of the family from generation to generation. Criticism, the kindness of being promoted many times made Kosaka Masanobu vow to repay this kindness even if he was smashed to pieces.

Now Echigo's actions are getting bigger and bigger, and the Takeda family is gradually becoming unsupportable. Takeda Harunobu immediately ordered him to quietly contact the daimyos in the direction of Etsuchu, Dewa, and Mutsu. Takeda Harunobu's original words demanded: "With the joint efforts of all parties Fight against Echigo One Country and strive to win in one battle!"

"My lord's request, Masanobu, has basically been fulfilled! Date Harumune has agreed to send [-] troops to support the Mogami army, but the premise is that a new alliance must be signed with the Mogami family. It seems that there will be more tricks, but the problem is not too bad. Great! The Ashina Mori family has already talked, and now there are Date Harumune, Mogami Yoshimori, and soon the master’s plan will succeed! Even if the Kira family has three heads and six arms, it will not escape defeat! The shame given to us will be paid back sooner or later Come back!" When the last piece of information was thrown into the firepit and turned into ashes, Kosaka Masanobu's eyes became more serious.

In the next half month, Kosaka Masanobu went around to get the support of Mogami Yasuo.Make Date Harumune's request to Mogami Yoshimori.It looked like an almost outrageous request.The whole body of Mo Shangyi was trembling, and he said angrily: "Alliance, marriage, and sending troops on the pretext! Is this to treat the family like a thing? The extremely arrogant request is simply abominable! The family must not agree!"

"Send troops by excuse? What's going on?" Mogami Hachiko's expression was also very exciting. They suddenly realized that this was not the same as the previous agreement. Through the alliance marriage, the foreign troubles of the Date family in the east and the Ashina family in the south were solved. How did it become an excuse to send troops?Mogami Hachiko looked at him suspiciously.

"We can discuss sending troops by way, and even if it doesn't work, we can borrow from Aizu Ashina's family. Please don't worry." Masanobu Kosaka explained unhurriedly.

"So, Date and Ashina are going to participate?"Nobezawa Noto, one of the top eight, exchanged glances with several of his companions.Then he said to his lord: "Then my highest family can only choose to participate in one way! I don't know what the lord means?"

"Well, the matter of the marriage will be decided when the envoy from the Date family arrives!" Mogami Yoshimori stood up with a stern expression and turned to leave. At that time, I accidentally caught a glimpse of an eleven or twelve-year-old boy baring his teeth and threatening him, as if he was muttering dirty words like "bastard" in his mouth, and then turned around and ran away.

In the castle tower of Yamagata Castle, Bai Shou, who had changed his name to Gengoro, argued fiercely with his father. Gengoro, who was only twelve years old, was not afraid of his majesty at all, and argued with reason: "Father, why did you marry my sister to Date?" The bastards of the family! The group of tigers and wolves will definitely infiltrate our highest family like controlling the Mutsu lord! Our highest family has a deep hatred with the Date family, so we must not let those bastards succeed!" [

Mogami Yoshimori was furious and said: "Gengoro, shut up! Who allowed you to yell in front of my family! Go back to your room!"

The little Gengoro knelt down on the porch with a puff and begged bitterly: "Father! Yoshihime is your only daughter and my only sister. My highest family is the descendant of the Minamoto Ashirius Po clan in Hanoi. I must not ask Yihime for help." Dajia bows his head!"

"You!" Mogami Yoshimori glared at his eldest son angrily, speechless in anger.

A ten-year-old little girl appeared in the other corner of the corridor, with a beautiful silk satin hair ornament on her head, big eyes and a small nose, two beautiful dimples when she smiled, wearing a beautiful dress She was wearing a pink gown, clutching a few small flowers in one hand, and running over with the corner of her skirt in the other.

Seeing his father and elder brother confronting each other in the corridor, he whispered, "Father! What is Oni-chan doing?"

"Yihime!" Gengoro looked back and saw his sister's innocent eyes froze for a moment, then turned his head and realized that Mogami Yoshimori had strode away, and within a few steps, Gengoro who was kneeling in the corridor was far away, before he could react Disappear at the end of the corridor.

"Father!" Gengoro just wanted to catch up when he was stopped by his mother, Major General Ono, who rushed over. The woman already understood her husband's decision, and hugged Gengoro with a sad face and said, "Bai Shou, don't bother you Father, making such a decision will not be easy for your father..."

Major General Ono hugged Gengoro with a sad expression, and whispered softly: "But you have to know that as the daughter of the samurai family, her destiny is to contribute to the family marriage!"

"...Why? Why is this happening! Why does my samurai family have to bear such a heavy burden! We are the Minamoto clan, the Ashikaga clan, why should we be oppressed? Mother, please tell Gengoro, what did I do wrong? What? What did Yoshihime do wrong? Why did the gods and Buddhas punish us? Why!" Gengoro cried hysterically, and he would cry only in his mother's arms.

"Bai Shou! This is our atonement for the sins of the previous life!" Major General Ono closed his eyes in grief, tears streaming down from the corners of his eyes.

"O... Nichan! Mother! What's the matter with you?" The little girl sprinkled the flowers in her hands all over the floor, she stared blankly at her mother and brother embracing and crying, the panicked little girl hurried over and knelt down and begged : "Did Yi Ji do something wrong? Did you make Mother and Oni-chan angry? Yi Ji will change! Yi Ji is the most obedient, please stop crying, Mother, Oni-chan! Yi Ji is wrong Already!"

The little girl's tears flowed down. This kind-hearted child has never left Yamagata Castle for half a step since she was a child. Her greatest wish is to see the outside world.I always like to squat under the high wall and take care of those immature little flowers.Today he saw some lovely flowers again.I couldn't help picking it up to show my brother, but I didn't expect it to turn out like this.

At her age, she still doesn't know where her destiny will go. Marriage is still too far away for her. Every day watching her brother study hard, she will say some strange words that she doesn't understand. There is always a hint of envy and fascination in the funny stories. His wish is to go to that beautiful Kyoto to meet His Highness the Shogun.

Also, you must go to the magical Kasuga Mountain Castle. It is said that there is a legendary figure who became a famous shogunate general at the age of ten.Never heard him talk about the legendary story of His Highness, the little Yi Ji always listened to it with great interest, even if she had heard it a hundred times, she never got tired of it.

The little girl also had some hazy thoughts about finding a husband like that Highness in the future. Even her mother didn't know this secret, and only her elder brother could guess some of it.

Yi Ji was very afraid that she would make a mistake and make her family sad. She still remembered that when she was very young, when she was playing hide-and-seek with her elder brother, she accidentally broke a valuable vase and was scolded by her father. At that time, she was so scared that she flinched Weeping in her mother's arms, her mother could only hug her to bear her father's scolding.It was her elder brother who stood up to take this responsibility, and was whipped twenty times by his father with a cane for this.Blood was drawn from the entire back.

Since then, the little girl has vowed never to make her family sad again, and has been working hard to be a well-behaved and obedient child. She respects and feels guilty for her brother. She attaches great importance to the brotherhood between siblings, and carefully obeys her elder brother's arrangements. When the little girl sees her mother and elder brother crying, she is so frightened that she can only sit on her knees and burst into tears. .

"Yihime is not wrong, it's neither you nor me, it's this troubled world! What's wrong is the decline of the shogunate!" Gengoro wiped away his tears and stood up from his mother's arms, walked over to pull up his younger sister, He took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears off her face.

"I swear that I will follow the example of the Zhenfu Hall, carry a three-foot sword to defeat the enemy, and defend my mother and Yiji!"

……

In a secluded tea room in Sagami Odawara Castle, Ujiyasu Hojo met Noburen Takeda in person as an alliance. The envoy sent by Takeda this time is the most popular member of the Takeda family, who looks a lot like Harunobu Takeda, the head of the Ministry of Justice. Fu, he is the younger brother of Takeda Harunobu and Takeda Nobushige. Only the three brothers from Mrs. Oi's line can use "Takeda" as the Miao character. Royal family.

"...The attitude of my lord must have been clear to Sagamiden. The enemy who threatens the Hojo family's suppression of Ueno is the Nagao family of Echigo. If the military threat of Echigo cannot be eliminated, the Hojo family's control over Musashi will be lost. To be affected at all times, Mitake Castle has penetrated deep into Musashi's heart, there is a saying in the Ming Dynasty: How can you allow others to snore under the couch, presumably Sagami Temple can also experience the feeling of it!"

Noburen Takeda is not stage fright at all in the face of the majestic Hojo Ujiyasu. He is very familiar with this kind of leadership temperament. His elder brother Harunobu Takeda is such an outstanding warrior with extraordinary endurance and indomitable will , calm judgment and extremely wise mind, it is obvious that this person in front of him is also this type.

He deliberately left the Kira family aside, in order to stimulate the tension of the Hojo family as little as possible. It is really difficult to explain the two battles that happened last year. Their Takeda family was infiltrated into the heartland to wantonly kidnap people and rob them of food. They were so ashamed that they wanted to commit suicide, so he had to carefully control the topic within a certain range. It seemed that Hojo's retainers also quite agreed with this method.

Hojo Shiyasu did not speak and still sipped strong tea slowly. The matcha method passed down from the Tang and Song Dynasties is very complicated. The tea whisk is also one of the necessary utensils in this kind of tea ceremony. There are only four and a half tatami mats in the tea room. Five people sit , and the other three are important ministers of the Hojo family.

They are Matsuda Morihide, Hojo Genan, and his son, Hojo Ujimasa. The first two are the writers of genealogy, and the other is a writer. The few people in the room didn't care about him secretly stretching his head and shrinking his neck.

Seeing that the tea room was silent for a long time and people responded, Matsuda Morihide interrupted and said: "What the Xingbudian said is quite reasonable, but unfortunately my Hojo family has just signed a non-war agreement with the Nagao family, so I'm afraid it's not easy to send troops?"

"At this time and at that time, Echigo's viciousness is known to the world. If Matsuda-den thinks that the Nagao family will stop fighting here, it is a big mistake! As far as I know, Uesugi Kensei has already offered his own reward and recognized Nagao Jinghu as his adopted son. And choose a day to ascend the throne of the Kanto governor in Kamakura, I think you must understand what this means?" Takeda Noburen carefully observed the expressions of several people, and found that except for the surprised and angry expression of Hojo Ujimasa, the other The three of them didn't seem to respond, and they roughly estimated the depth of Hojo's family in their hearts.

Hojo Huanan pinched the rosary, moved his lips slightly, and recited the scriptures aloud. When he heard Takeda Noburen's words, he paused and continued to read the Buddhist scriptures. Inheritance from generation to generation is not something that people with foreign surnames can inherit at will, and it is difficult for the people of Echigo to intervene in the complicated affairs of the Kanto, and the poor monk is not optimistic about the decision of the leader of the palace."

"I very much agree with the view of Huanandian, so it is imperative to crack down on the ambitious Nagao family. Once they are allowed to manage the Ueno Kingdom, it will not take a few years for the climate to gradually become unstoppable. The fear of Echiko will not be there at that time. The place where we live!" Takeda Noburen's slightly exaggerated description quickly resonated with the Hojo Clan, the young heir of the House Governor of Hojo still lacked a calm temperament, and his body moved around nervously staring at his father's face.

Hojo Ujiyasu's noncommittal expression suddenly changed, and he calmed down and said seriously: "Takeda Ozen is right. I, Ujiyasu, decided to join the Echigo siege network! Please speed up preparations and take action before the autumn harvest!"

"My lord! Think twice before acting!"

"My Hojo family has no way to retreat. Only by defeating Echigo can we regain Ueno. You don't need to say too much, the family has its own ideas!"

Seeing that the situation was unclear and suddenly turned around, showing a bright future, Takeda Noburen directly ignored the subtle difference between the "alliance" and the "encirclement network", and immediately responded: "Please rest assured Sagami, I will definitely tell my lord what I said. ! Farewell!" (to be continued...)