Pillars of the Wu family

Time flies, the sun and the moon are like a shuttle, the footsteps of time are like a fast-paced horse rushing past, there will be no car crashes, but it can make the hair turn gray, and the flowers bloom and fall for several spring and autumn It passed away suddenly, and it was midsummer in the tenth year of Yonglu (1567) in a blink of an eye.

In August, the rain gradually stopped and the autumn was thick. The Tone River that traverses Musashi was wanton and manic. In the long summer, the Edo Castle on the side of the Tone River was built in a dignified atmosphere. , known as the first tower in Kanto, the seven-story castle tower looks like a sky pillar piercing into the sky, and there are four five-story castle towers in the four corners, forming a square city with a regular shape.

Two little boys with children's hair buns sneakily stretched their heads to explore the surroundings. Among them, the little boy with a tiger head and a tiger head in a long green shirt boldly stretched out half of his body to observe for a while, and then looked at the little boy behind him. The boy said: "You must follow my steps later, and be careful if you get caught again, I will beat you!"

Another boy in the yellow shirt muttered: "Why is Edo City so big? Why do we have to memorize every road? Why can't I go to Shuanglu, why..."

"Matsuchiyo! Do you want to eat fists?" Matsuchiyo shrank his head in fright, as if he was satisfied with his expression, he pulled his sleeves and shook off his steps, and walked across the very "dangerous" trail like a smoke, Turning and turning, I came to a secluded lotus pond, got into the gazebo and sat down without saying a word. The lotus pond is small in size and unique in shape, like a five-pointed star, full of the vulgar taste of the designer. Look at this brother The two came here with ease, so they should be very familiar with this place.

After a while.Two older boys emerged from the corner.While walking into the gazebo, he complained: "It's so hard to get out recently! The patrolling warrior Ji is so scary. The two of us sneaked around behind the maid, almost thinking that we really couldn't come. "

These two boys look about eleven or twelve years old. One is taller, the other is shorter, the other has a long face and the other has a round face. The two of them are shoulder to shoulder, like idlers, but there are no messy pendants on their bodies, and their clothes are clean. The quality of the net is extraordinary, and there is Jiuyaoba's family crest printed on it. They are Nagao Uematsu and Nagao Koshimaru, who are known as the "Twin Samurai" of the Nagao family.

Recently, the duo didn't like to use their childhood names very much, so they changed their names to the new common names Nagao Kiheiji and Nagao Yashiro.Nagao Kiheiji is the second son of Nagao Masaki, and Nagao Yashiro is the eldest son of Nagao Keishin. The fathers of these two people are not very good at it. They often quarrel when they meet. The relationship between the two brothers is like brothers. Duo pretended to be bitter and bitter in front of their father, but in fact they were hardcore buddies in private.

Nagao Kihei once tilted his head and looked around: "Didn't you notice that there are fewer people?"

"That's right! Why didn't you see the person from Zhenwangmaru?" Nagao Yashiro was a little off-line, and he was always half a beat behind others.

"My brother just wanted to sneak out, but was caught by my lord mother, so I can't come today." Matsuchiyo pouted and fiddled with the jade pendant in his hand in a daze, "We two slipped faster. No I was caught by my mother, but I should have been discovered by now!"

"Cut! Don't say such frustrating words. There is nothing in this world that I, Torachiyo, are afraid of!" Torachiyo curled his lips and raised his head to the sky. He also held a jade pendant in his hand, and it was a white jade Avalokitesvara pendant. Several superstitious wives listened to a man's irresponsible suggestion that "men should wear Bodhisattva and women should wear Buddha", so they gave all the daughters of the family Buddha jade pendants, and all the boys wore Buddha jade pendants.

"This place is not very safe anymore, we have to change places as soon as possible." Kihei Nagao glanced around for the first time to make sure there was no one there, then turned around and said, "I'll leave the secret spot to the two places, remember to leave a note when you find a new spot , or the old place."

"Tch, why are you so secretive? I'll go to your house tomorrow and ask you to go out to play." Tiger Chiyo forced his mouth, and quickly turned to Nagao Kihei before he could react: "I heard that Kihei Brother took a nickname? What is Tongkou and Liu, isn’t he a fun guy?”

Matsuchiyo pouted and said, "I want to go home. If I haven't seen me for so long, my mother will definitely be angry."

"Idiot! I want to go home just after I left the house. People will laugh at me if I say it! That guy Katsuo Maru can bully you too, he is too stupid!" Don't spray it like money.

Nagao Yashiro scratched his scalp, and said awkwardly: "How about we talk about something else! Last time I talked about the story about Ashiya Shodai defeating Hojo Sagami, and the Sagami lion bowing his head and bowing his head. What should we talk about next?"

"Have you finished the part about the Hojo Clan's political obeisance?" Nagao Kihei asked.

Tiger Chiyo grinned: "I said it! That guy is so scared that he can't stand up, it's really stupid!"

Nagao Kihei coughed, cleared his throat and continued: "Then let's talk about Dapo Rimi's part! It is said that on March [-]th of the sixth year of Yonglu, Shangsuo Rimi's family governor Rijian Yoshihiro refused the imperial edict of Ashiya Chancellor The order threatened that the land of Shangxuan Kingdom was not easy to come by, and we must fight for every inch of it. Even if we cannot win, we must resist tenaciously to revive the glory of the Guandong warriors..."

Tiger Chiyo danced excitedly: "Let's talk about the cannon part, I like to listen to this part the most!"

"Cough! Ashikaga Torachiyo pay attention to the order of the conversation, we must abide by the rules we set, and bring a fine for the next time." Nagao Kihei ignored Toranochiyo, and said slowly with a tone: "This The Satomi clan was not the lord of this place, and the guardian of Shangsuo was owned by the Chiba clan, one of the Bahei clan in Bando. Li was lost and fell into the Limi clan known as the deputy commander of Kanto."

"The deputy commander of Kanto seems to be very powerful."

"Actually, it's a different name for the Guanling of the Kanto. The Jian family here is originally a remnant of the Nitta clan in the Southern Dynasty. The staunch anti-shogunate faction was suppressed and even had no territory. Before and after the Uesugi Chanhide Rebellion, he left the Southern Dynasty and went to the Duke of Kamakura. On the other hand, a family governor died in the battle of Yucheng. It is said that he had a son and ran to Anfang Kingdom to take root, and expelled the great lord of the country, the Anzai family." Nagao Kiheiji seems to be speaking professionally.There is no wonder that wood is as eloquent as the folk talents who tell "The Tale of the Heike".

Tiger Chiyo curled his lips and said: "This is the best!"

Kiheiji Nagao pretended to nod deeply and said: "This is Xia Ke Shang. Later, he defeated the Chiba family and forced the Fang Suo Ping family to retreat to the Xia Suo country. I have to say a few fair words here. Very powerful samurai, it is still very powerful to elect a samurai family whose origin is not clear to be the number one samurai family in Fangsuo Peninsula. This family is naturally disobedient to discipline. Now he still refuses to obey Yaxiang’s restraint.”

Tiger Chiyo complained impatiently: "What about the cannon! I want to hear the story about the bombardment of the Kururi city gate that was broken overnight, and Satomi Yoshiyao set fire to himself and burned the castle tower. And how did my father deal with those bastard warriors of the Satomi clan? of."

"That's called Datong! Kyushu Otomo's family named it Guobeng." Matsuchiyo retorted softly, "That's not called Dabao..."

Hu Chiyo stared wide-eyed and threatened Matsuchiyo: "You know what an egg, I said that it is called a cannon, then it is called a cannon, my father called it that way, and said that the big cannon is a thickened and elongated iron cannon, and the cannon is a boom Cannons are so powerful that they can shoot long-distance cannonballs, and the cannonballs can go from one side of Edo Castle to the other side."

Nagano Kiheiji was interrupted again and seemed very unhappy. Just as he was about to explode, Nagao Yashiro grabbed his arm: "Kiheiji don't provoke Torachiyo, we are servants after all."

"Tch, we are still his brother-in-law!" Kihei Nagao said dissatisfied.I already agreed with his advice in my heart, shut up and talk nonsense with Tiger Chiyo and Matsuchiyo.

The children talked again and again.I just heard about the book and now I don’t know where it’s going. Kiheiji Nagao seems to have forgotten about maintaining order and bragging: “Let me tell you that the last time the Southern barbarian fleet came to Jiang When I was in Hucheng, I pestered my elder brother and begged him to take it to see, the boat is so long and big, and there are many cannons, it is said that the biggest one can fire a shell as heavy as ours!"

Matsuchiyo pouted and said, "I miss my father... Long time no see! How long will it take to come back?"

"I don't know, I miss my father too, how long will it take to go to Mutsu to come back!" Tora Chiyo kicked the stones in dismay, and when he looked up, he saw his mother Hu Yuqian leading dozens of Ji samurai in a murderous manner. When he broke in, his complexion immediately changed and he shouted loudly: "My lord mother is here! Everyone, run!"

"Oops! Toragozen must have been looking for traces. Torachiyo, Matsuchiyo, please take care!" Nagao Kihei made a gorgeous turn, dragged the stupid Nagao Yashiro into the bushes and disappeared quickly Without a trace, Tora Chiyo pulled Matsuchiyo a little slower, and before he could run a few steps, he was quickly caught up by several Ji warriors.

Struggling in vain for a while and giving up resistance in dejection, Hu Chiyo said with a frustrated expression: "It's because you, an idiot, ran so slowly, you must have been followed by your mother."

"Tora Chiyo, don't wrong your brother, you are the most mischievous, and every time you take Matsuchiyo to skip class!" Tora Gozen gave Tora Chiyo an upside-down look, and lightly reprimanded: "This morning is Sanada Danshoden's lecture on games. Dao, you two actually skipped class and ran here to play, do you know how sad it will make me and Sandalwood?"

Hu Chiyo was a child after all, seeing his mother's sad and disappointed expression, he knelt down with a puff and said, "My son is wrong, my son just...just misses my father..."

"I miss my father too, woo woo..." Matsuchiyo cried and the two children cried together, the child who was only nine years old knew what, and cried in a short while with snot and tears.

Jing Yi Naotora's heart immediately softened, and he hugged the two poor children to comfort him: "Your father is doing a great thing in Mutsu, I believe I will be back soon, don't cry, let's go back to class okay?"

"Yeah!" The two children took the initiative to hold Jing Yi Naotora's hand, and obediently followed the team and left slowly.

After a while, two people came out of the grass with a slight movement, but it was the two Nagao brothers who had been married for a long time and turned back. Nagao Kiheiji slapped his head suddenly and said angrily: "It's not a big deal! The matter of skipping class today My mother must have found out, and I will be in big trouble now! If I go back, I will definitely be severely punished!"

"Me too, my mother will definitely beat me to death." Nagao Yashiro knelt down and counted ants with a sad face. This guy likes to count ants when he encounters difficulties that he can't get through.

Kiheiji Nagao walked up and down in distress, muttering words in his mouth.Yashiro Nagao suddenly rolled his eyes when he saw squatting and counting ants.He leaned over to his side and said with a smile: "Ya Shiro, please do your best this time, pretend to fall into the pond and be rescued by me heroically, so our clothes will be completely wet and we won't be able to go to class, okay?"

"Ah? Why did I fall into the pond again! Last time I sprained my ankle, last time I hit a tree, last time it was me..." Nagao Yashiro complained while breaking his fingers, and Nagao Kihei once He patted his shoulder and forgot to pat the back part, entangled: "What happened last time, I can't remember."

Nagao Kiheiji said awe-inspiringly: "Because Yashiro is simple and honest. If you make a mistake, everyone will forgive you, and I, a smart samurai like Kiheiji, can be forgiven by the teacher every time I delay my class for a righteous act. Therefore, you know what I mean?"

Nagao Yashiro hesitated and said: "Oh! Then can I take off my clothes and jump off! These clothes are so expensive, if they get wet, my mother will kill me."

"That can't be done. If the clothes are not soaked, it will be seen through at a glance that they are cheating! Even my clothes have to be soaked in the cold pool water... Hey! There is always a price to be paid for being brave, I am really an upright and brave person Your samurai!" Kihei Nagao let out a long sigh, turned his head and patted Yashiro Nagao on the shoulder, made an expression of "you can do it", and encouraged Yashiro Nagao to jump into the lotus pond.

……

The Edo Imperial Palace occupies an area of ​​four hundred town steps.Converted into a modern area, it would be close to four square kilometers, and such a four-square-kilometer imperial palace was built in the precious land at the mouth of the Tone River.The luxury of its land makes those who hear it stunned. Compared with the Edo Imperial Palace in Kyoto, it is less than half a square kilometer. The city of Kyoto has expanded from the traditional nine-way road system for hundreds of years, and now it is all over the east bank of the Kamogawa River. A large area has become a new urban area with less than [-] square kilometers. This gap is really not ordinary.

Due to the relatively large construction of the Edo Imperial Palace, the area of ​​Edo Castle has been expanded again and again. The construction area of ​​the first phase has broken through a smooth 5 town steps, and the core towns near the Imperial Palace have basically After the completion of the construction, residents from Echigo Naoetsu Town, Niigata Town and other places were given priority to move in, making the total population of Edo Castle rapidly exceed 30.00, and it is increasing at a rate of more than [-]% every year.

The huge city allowed the Edo Imperial Palace to be built into subdivided settlements. For example, the Western Imperial Palace is located in a house surrounded by flower gardens. The nearest Central Imperial Palace needs to take a carriage for half an hour to reach it. The owner of the Western Imperial Palace is The two sisters, Oda Dog and Oda City, their greatest hobby is planting flowers, ranging from common wild flowers to tulips that have been changed hands from Arabian merchants, and tulips obtained from English merchants across the ocean.

Compared with the bustling and busy showing off in the castle town, the Edo Imperial Palace surrounded by gardens and woods is extraordinarily peaceful and leisurely. Several older maids lead a group of young maids to water the flowers, remove insects, and trim branches. The garden area of ​​the Western Imperial Palace is very large. So much so that the daily work of the maids in the palace is to maintain the beauty and tidiness of the flower garden.

There is a shooting range in the corner next to the garden. Every morning, there will be many Ji warriors wearing bowls standing on the shooting range to practice archery. Chic bows and tires, and occasionally galloping back and forth on strong mixed horses to practice Yabusame archery, the stunts that belong to men are gradually being learned by these young girls.

In the corner of the garden stood a few little maids carefully playing with the four children. Ah Shi stood on the corridor and looked at the children with a knowing smile, with a faint maternal radiance on his face. And the plump body does not look like the little girl in the past at all.

Ashi is 21 years old this year but she is already the mother of three children. The eldest daughter Chacha was born in the sixth year of Yonglu, the second daughter Chuji was born in the eighth year of Yonglu, and the third daughter A Jiangyu was born in April this year. She was so unlucky that she gave birth to three daughters in a row, but no one in the family blamed her, and her sisters also gave birth to a bunch of daughters one after another.

Of the four children in the garden, two are her daughters Chacha and Chuji, and the two older ones are A Quan’s daughter Xingji and her son Little Master. These four children are relatively young and because their mother is The sisters lived together and naturally grew closer under their mother's care.

Turn around and go back to the dowry table in the room, sit down, and carefully modify your attire in front of the glass mirror.Ashikaga Yoshitoki does not like heavy makeup and also opposes the heavy powder coating, shaved eyebrows and teeth of the Heian period.His women also followed suit and put on simpler makeup.

But women always spend a lot of time on dressing up.This is especially true for beautiful women. For a beautiful young woman like Ashi, even if she does not have social activities, she has to change two or three kinds of attire, and put on five or six sets of jackets. There are several rooms in the West Imperial Palace that are specially made In the closet room, there are hundreds of clothes stored on hangers.

Makeup remover, wash, take off the gown, put on make-up and change clothes, repeat similar procedures a few times a day, and she is already familiar with it. Her life is very leisurely and she has a lot of free time every day.The children are taken care of by a nurse and maid for twelve hours, and she doesn't have to worry about it. When her husband Ashikaga is away, she can only pass the time with makeup, socializing, reading books, and exercising to keep fit.

At the moment, she was thinking about which clothes to wear for the party in the Central Palace in the afternoon, when she accidentally caught a glimpse of an unsigned letter under the dowry table, and when she opened it carefully, it was written to her by Oda Nobunaga Ashi snorted and said: "It seems that there are too many dubious people in the imperial palace, it is time to find a chance to get rid of some annoying ghosts."

Folding the letter paper and stuffing it on the candlestick to ignite, the bean-sized flame quickly jumped up and devoured the delicate envelope. As he watched the beating flame gradually go out, Ah Shi frowned slightly involuntarily. Gentle voice: "Why is there a burning smell in the house. Did the ashes on the ground accidentally burn something?"

"Sister is back!" Ah Shi turned around and threw himself into her arms in surprise.

The sisters A Quan and A Shi are very popular in the Edo Imperial Palace, not only because they look like twin sisters.It is also because the two of them have similar tall and plump figures. It is also good whether the two sisters have a good temper or not. A Quan likes to be quiet. The two of them.

"What is it burning?"

"It's my elder brother's handwritten letter... Every month I send a letter, repeatedly emphasizing those things, I hate it to death, and I burned it when I saw it again today." Ah Shi pouted dissatisfied. Mouth, revealing the demeanor of a little girl, there are only two people in the Edo Imperial Palace who can see her acting like a baby, one is her husband Ashikaga Yoshitoki, and the other is her older sister Aquan.

A Quanxiu frowned slightly as if he was very distressed, took out a stack of letter paper from the bookcase, and said to Ah Shi: "My brother also sent me a lot of letter paper, which asked me to report everything in and out of Edo City. Tell him, it is best to spy on the information from the evaluation committee... I am wondering how to refuse it."

Ah Shi took the letter paper and opened it to see that what was written was completely copied from her letter paper, but it was insincere to sign her head and change the word. She raised her head and said, "Brother is really too much! How can we let us do such a thing! Obviously My sister and I have already married into the Ashikaga family!"

Marrying and obeying husbands is a traditional custom in Eastern society. Japan has gradually strengthened the weight of patriarchal society since the introduction of the law system of the Tang Empire in the Nara period. However, at the end of the Heian period, Genpei era samurai appeared again and again. The samurai society was only barbaric and ignorant at first. A brutal group, they don't understand laws and regulations but stubbornly manage their children's weddings and funerals in accordance with their own customs.

The prevalence of son-in-law and adopted son-in-law came to the door, and women can also have the power to divide property with their own brothers, etc., which made the samurai society disgusted and incomprehensible until the end of the Kamakura period. Awakening collectively during the killing, gradually abandoning the law of the jungle of the jungle, and establishing the eldest son integration system, once again strengthening the samurai's dominance over social property and women.

For more than 200 years now, the cultural customs have gradually moved closer to the Central Plains Dynasty. In order to ensure the stability of the eldest son's succession and prevent other sons from competing with the first son for the general, the Ashikaga family did not hesitate to make other first sons and concubine monks to become monks. Going out to raise the influence of the Wu family, and in turn helping her husband deal with her natal family, forced the prostitute daughter and concubine daughter to cut off their hair and become a nun.

A Quan and A Shi have already become the women of the Ashikaga family. The sisters had six children in succession when they were Ashikaga Yoshitoshi. Their status is not as important as that of the wife of the wife, Toranodai, but the favor and favor they receive in the imperial palace is amazing. Not much at all, anyway, the sisters are also Inu Gozen and Ichi Gozen.

Just like Saito Guidie married into the Oda family, he worked hard to help his husband Oda Nobunaga attack Mino.With the influence of Gui Die, it really attracted many Mino warriors who had nowhere to go and worried about being left out.When a woman gets married, her husband will take care of her family's life and death.This is perfectly reflected in Hu Ji.

Her favoritism towards the Nagao family is probably limited to the two nephews of her elder sister, Princess Aya's family. It is because of the deep sisterhood and does not interfere with the husband's judgment. As for the other Nagao family's so many relatives, they don't care at all. , her own children and so many things in the imperial palace can't be managed, how can she have time to care about how those brothers and sisters are doing at home.

Like Masako Hojo, a famous female politician in the Kamakura period, her word-of-mouth among women gradually decreased to an unbelievably low evaluation. She betrayed her husband Minamoto Yoritomo's hard-working Kamakura shogunate, and did not support the eldest son Minamoto Yori's family. General.Instead, he participated in the murder of the eldest son in exile, and then watched indifferently as his younger brother killed his grandson, and then watched his natal Hojo clan set a trap to kill his second son and several grandchildren.

In the Kamakura period, no one dared to make a gimmick about this woman. In the Muromachi period, because of the strong Hojo gene in the Ashikaga family's blood, they were reluctant to comment on it. But in the Sengoku period, the decline of the shogunate did not have so much scruples, and the people have already commented on her. To become the most vicious woman, if a public official who is proficient in sinology can still give examples of the vicious sons of the Central Plains Dynasty who ruled in troubled dynasties, such as Lu Zhi who almost usurped the throne and Wu Zhao who usurped the throne successfully.

A Quan and A Shi are not that kind of women. They are women who keep their own way and do not have so much ambition. They only hope that their children will grow up safely and become talents that can be created.With their husband Ashikaga Yoshitoki's superb skills, they might be able to get the child the status of guardian of a country in the future.A beautiful vision always faces tremendous pressure from reality. It seems that their elder brother Oda Nobunaga is not willing to bow his head like this. In turn, he has to force the two sisters to make concessions, which is really difficult.

"Older brother obviously loves my sister and Ashi the most, but why is he forcing us to do something we don't like now!" Ashi didn't understand Oda Nobunaga's actions. In her impression, his elder brother is always generous and responsive, but What she has done as an elder brother in the past few years has disappointed her very much.

A Quan also felt that Oda Nobunaga was a bit too much. The elder brother didn't look like he wanted to take the opportunity to interfere in the affairs between his sister and brother-in-law, and not only to interfere, but also to spy on the important information of the brother-in-law. This was to kill A Quan and The sisters of Ashi wanted to kill several nephews and nieces of Oda Nobunaga.

Perhaps Oda Nobunaga didn't think it would be too dangerous, but how could A Quan and A Shi's small circle of activities have the ability to do those things? Separated by two high walls, the seven-story castle tower like a lighthouse can easily monitor every move in the city. Hu Yutai often stands on the top terrace and looks into the distance. There are many Ji warriors patrolling back and forth every day. , Small movements in the imperial palace may be discovered even if they are slightly larger.

A Quan suddenly felt that being a woman is really difficult, and being a younger sister is not easy to blame her brother, so she reluctantly persuaded: "My brother must have some unspeakable reason!"

"No matter what the reason is, we must not be allowed to betray His Highness! Sister and Ah Shi are not immoral women. Ah Shi really loves His Highness and the children. Ah Shi will never betray the Ashikaga family, even if Even my respected and beloved brother!" Ah Shi turned around and called the maid to take out the brazier for heating in winter and burn this handful of letter paper.

"Ashi, don't take it too seriously, he is our elder brother after all..." A Quan hesitated to speak, but she didn't know how to persuade her. She was very worried that her sister, who had always been a strong personality, would hate Oda Nobunaga, but she disagreed with her elder brother from the bottom of her heart. Thinking of what Ashi had just recovered from postpartum, he couldn't be angry, so after thinking about it carefully, he gave up.

The letter paper in the brazier turned into little ashes, Ah Shi seemed to be still worried about this matter, and said angrily: "Tomorrow I will tell Sister Hu Ji about this matter, and clean up those annoying moths in the imperial palace. "(to be continued...)

ps: Bow to thank book friends Xiao Zimu, 0 Heart Voice 0, Heart Floating, Jia Fei Chi Back Riding, Lu Cheng, 1 Devil Rose 1, Augustorion, Immortal Fatty, Siegfried for their rewards, the story of the new volume begins , I hope book friends will support Wu Mei a lot.

Here I would like to congratulate Xiao Zimu for becoming the first Dharma protector in this book, and Wu Mei expresses her gratitude again.