Pillars of the Wu family

Until there was another burst of clanging and roaring, gunpowder smoke slowly floated up, thick white smoke covered everything in front of you, and waving down the iron cannon team just let the hot iron cannon take the opportunity to cool down for a while, and the iron cannon could not continue to be loaded with gunpowder without cooling , otherwise it is easy to cause the danger of spontaneous combustion of gunpowder.

The screams faintly coming from the Chang Yusuo became smaller and smaller, and I suddenly realized that I had made a very stupid mistake unknowingly, and opened fire violently with the noble general in the Yusuo as a target, probably because I disliked myself for not being brave enough Fat, took the lives of the shogunate to show his bravery.

The faces of the Miyoshi and the three were gloating, and they mocked him loudly for daring to attack the general in the imperial palace. Ashikaga Yoshiaki was also trembling in shock, and jumped off his shoulders, pointing at Matsunagaru and angrily said : "You, you, you... don't you know who is in this Chang Yusuo? You are trying to trap me in righteousness and injustice!"

Song Yongtong's face turned pale as paper, and he knelt on the ground and bowed his head in silence. Seeing that the situation was not good, Song Yongxiu hurriedly knelt down and begged: "His Royal Highness is blessed by gods and Buddhas. It will be dangerous, I will invite His Royal Highness Gongfang out as soon as possible, and it will rain in a while."

"Yes! We must quickly invite the elder brother out of the Imperial Palace..." Ashikaga Yoshiaki raised his head and hurriedly looked at the Chang Imperial Palace, suddenly his eyes widened and he stood there motionless, panting violently for a long time and pointed at the roof of the Chang Imperial Palace. Heiyan said with difficulty: "The imperial palace is on fire...how could the imperial palace be on fire! Hurry up... hurry up and put out the fire!"

"Oops! His Royal Highness is going to harm himself! Save people!" Song Yongxiu panicked, and woke up the shocked Miyoshi warrior with a loud voice, and shouted: "What are you still doing in a daze. Are you all going to die here? Hurry up!" Go fight the fire!"

"Ha...ha!" The ashigaru of the Miyoshi Army threw down their weapons and frantically searched for fire-fighting tools.However, the courtyard in the imperial palace was a mess that was swept away by the flames of war.In a hurry, I couldn't find any of the utensils I was used to, and the Miyoshi army went around in a hurry.

Matsunaga Hideo saw the flames rising from the roof, and the helpless Miyoshi samurai looked frustrated and annoyed, pretending to be powerless and angry, stepped forward to push the samurai who was in the way, and cursed: "Pull the battering ram over here!" , knock on the door! Knock the door open and save people!"

At this moment, thick smoke was billowing in the Changyu Palace, and the remaining Fenggong people in the palace fell to the ground. Most of them died in the bombardment of the iron cannon just now.The imperial palace was caught off guard by a sudden salvo of iron cannons, Mibuchi Fujihide was shot dead on the spot, Niki Yoshinaga's calf was interrupted, and he committed seppuku in excruciating pain. Settsu Harumon's son Settsu Ito Chiyomaru also died. Ashikaga Yoshiki built a flesh and blood city wall in front of him, and used his immature body to buy Ashikaga Yoshiki a short respite.

Isshiki Teng Naga lay on the ground panting violently, blood gushing out from his nasal cavity, a puddle of blood on his chest had stained his clothes red, Ishitani Mitsumasa stabbed his abdominal cavity with his ribs and cut a diagonal cross.His intestines were crushed and blood spurted out, and he shed tears from the severe pain.Shigu Guangzheng suddenly shouted: "His Royal Highness, I, Guangzheng, will go first!"

Seeing his companions pass away one by one, tears of unwillingness fell from the corners of Isshiki Tengchang's eyes, and he panted quickly in the smoky Changyu until he swallowed his last breath. At this time, only two people were still alive in the Changyu, one One was Settsu Haruto, who was slightly injured, and the other was Ashikaga Yoshiki, who was seriously injured.

Ashikaga Yoshiki sat back upright, clutching the pain from the gunshot wound on his abdomen, pushed Settsu Harumon open with one hand leaning on his ribs, and said intermittently: "I can't do it... I hate beheading... I don't want to die... The whole body... please Brother Yi, throw my body into the fire and melt it! I came here with a clean body... and I will leave with a clean body..."

"I understand!" Settsu Qingmen couldn't help tears welling up in her eyes, she knelt down and bowed her head on the ground and said: "I will never let His Highness Gongfang's corpse be humiliated, never!"

The muffled thunder exploded and the dark clouds covered the specially reinforced gate of the Changyu Palace, which was knocked open a narrow gap, revealing some scenery outside the palace. He clenched his ribs tightly in severe pain and slashed violently, blood spurting out of his mouth uncontrollably.

"Genji's thousand years of dreams are shattered, the pure fire burns all the evil in the world, the drizzle in May is like tears, and I wish to send my name to the sky." Ashikaga Yoshiki panted fiercely, watching the door was finally knocked open with wide eyes, slowly Slowly lowered his head and swallowed his last breath.

The samurai of the Miyoshi family who broke in saw that the house was full of corpses, broken swords were discarded all over the floor, and blood stained the large tatami mats. The flames spread rapidly and devoured several dead bodies in the corner. Such a tragic scene made them all stunned.

Settsu Harumon knelt beside the shogun from the beginning to the end without raising his head, and when he took his last breath, he cried loudly: "Your Highness Gongfang, don't worry, I will take you away with me, let's go together!"

Under the watchful eyes of the Miyoshi family warriors, Settsu Harumon picked up Ashikaga Yoshiki's body and walked slowly to the raging fire pit, but disappeared after a while. The dead body and the raging fire hurriedly asked: "Where is His Highness Gongfang? Ah? Where is His Highness Gongfang?"

"His Royal Highness Gongfang committed seppuku...then he was carried by a warrior...and walked in there."

"Ah! What did you say? Why didn't you stop him? Why didn't you die together!" Song Yongxiu took out the sword and gave the samurai a real blow, kicked him into the fire, raised the blood-stained sword and cursed Said: "Immediately find the body of His Highness Gongfang, no matter whether he is dead or alive, he must see people! Don't even think about living without seeing you!"

The samurai of the Miyoshi family panicked now, staring at the terrible scene like a fire cave in the Changyu Palace, they didn't even dare to enter the door, let alone find the corpse. In the fire cave, my son Lang was scolded by Song Yongxiu to die again, and he felt unhappy all of a sudden.

"It was your stupid son Song Yongxiu who forced His Highness Gongfang to death. Why do you let the son of my Miyoshi family die for your stupid son's stupid thing? If you have the ability to go in that fire cave, you can go in by yourself. Don't drag my Miyoshi family. Dahao Erlang, this matter is out of our control. Everyone follow me!" Miyoshi Zhengkang pulled everyone away without saying a word.The whole body trembled with Song Yong's delicate appearance.Curse again and again.

Ashikaga Yoshiaki no longer has the mind to sit on the shoulders and enjoy blessings. Knowing that his elder brother Ashikaga Yoshiki ended up with self-harm and is unwilling to give his brother the throne, this person is both hated and annoyed. Pacing back and forth in front of the burning Imperial Palace and yelling curses, nothing more than cursing Ashikaga Yoshiki for being stubborn, it is ridiculous that he is unwilling to bow his head until he dies.

Everyone was dead, and there was no point in continuing to rescue them. Miyoshi and the three of them ran to the corner with oil on the soles of their feet earlier.Miyoshi Yoshitsugu also found a reason to go outside to treat the wounded, Ashikaga Yoshiaki walked back to Jianyu angrily, and saw a group of samurai escorting a dozen women coming from the corner on the way.

The sharp-eyed Ashikaga Yoshiaki saw his mother Keishuin, and shouted anxiously: "You lowly warriors don't go away, you dare to disrespect Yu's mother!"

"I'm waiting, absolutely not..."

Several Miyoshi samurai put away their swords in a hurry, and in a blink of an eye they all sneaked into the crowd to avoid crimes. Yoshiaki Ashikaga searched a large circle and found that Matsunaga Hideo didn't know where to go. My lord, the child is one step too late! I have made you suffer!"

Keishuin looked at the young man who resembled Ashikaga Yoshiki, and said, "You are Jukei!"

"That's right! The child hasn't seen his mother for many years and misses her so much..."

"The poor nun didn't have a son who killed his brother and murdered the king. Go away! The poor nun doesn't want to see you again!" Qingshouyuan walked a few steps to avoid him and Ashikaga Yoshiaki as if seeing a ghost.

Ashikaga Yoshiaki did not expect that he would encounter such an embarrassing request.But he was annoyed with shame and embarrassment, but his mother avoided him in such a snake-like way, and he was still in front of the public. This is really embarrassing.

Ashikaga Yoshiaki was both angry and depressed, so he simply refused to warm his face to that cold ass, and let his mother walk step by step to the side of the permanent imperial palace that was blazing with flames, but unexpectedly, Keishuin wailed and said: "Yihui ! You finally left... After you go, the poor nun will have no regrets in this life, it's time to go down and accompany your father..."

Having said that, Keishuin jumped into the sea of ​​flames, and was engulfed by the boiling flames in the blink of an eye. Ashikaga Yoshiaki was stunned when he saw his mother disappear into the sea of ​​flames, and then served at Keishuin. The maids nearby jumped into the sea of ​​flames one after another, making the scene completely out of control.

"What are you doing! What are you doing! Are you queuing up to die together?" Seeing his mother jumping into the sea of ​​flames without hesitation, Ashikaga Yoshiaki was so stimulated that he became insane, stumbled back and shouted: "Go! Go! If you want to die, hurry up and die! Brother’s family servants, maids, and none of the rest! Die!”

The samurai of the Miyoshi family were in a mess, and when they heard Ashikaga Yoshinaki say this, they gave up their plan to restrain the remaining maids, so the maids captured from all directions really lined up and jumped into the sea of ​​fire, and no one snorted for mercy, or Those who are cowardly and unwilling to die, there are many of these people and their backgrounds are very mixed. Some are samurai who have served as generals for generations, and some are purely ordinary maids. I saw the scene of the imperial palace jumping into the flames together.

Among the people who died, the oldest was an old samurai in his 70s, and the youngest was a cute little girl who was only ** years old. She was a little maid who served the little servant. Before dying, she asked her mother fearfully: "The flame is so hot, will it hurt to jump into it?"

Her mother smiled slightly, put her arms around her and said, "Although it's hot, but with my mother here, just bear with it."

The little girl nodded obediently, just like this family of seven, old and young, walked into the sea of ​​fire to be buried together hand in hand. Before they died, their eyes were clear and calm, without the slightest fear at all, as if they were yearning for something beautiful , jumped into the sea of ​​fire with the pious attitude of a pilgrim, without any hesitation from beginning to end.

Even Ashikaga Yoshiaki's sister-in-law and a little attendant with a big belly stumbled to the front of the Changyu Palace that was turned into a sea of ​​flames at this time, crying loudly: "Your Highness! I am incompetent, can I keep an heir for you, my concubine Let's take our children to Huangquan to find you..."

More than a thousand warriors from the Miyoshi family were completely dumbfounded. The whole body of the cowardly warriors trembled like chaff. Some of them passed out after rolling their eyes.With a bitter face, he said: "Hundreds of families in the Nitiao Imperial Palace were killed. This is really a big incident."

Ashikaga Yoshiaki was frightened.He hugged his head and huddled in his shoulders, repeating in his mouth: "If I let you die, you will die... Why do you not surrender when I tell you to surrender? Brother looks down on me, mother looks down on me, every one of you looks down on me." I...why do you treat me like this? I'm a direct descendant of General Ashikaga's family!"

Ashikaga Yoshiaki’s childhood memory will always be the towering ancient trees of Ichijo-in. When he was just born, the days of the shogunate were very difficult. Ashikaga Yoshiharu opposed Hosokawa Harumoto several times, and several times they were reached under the mediation of Rokkaku. harmony.Just running back and forth between Sakamoto and Sakamoto in Kyoto all day long, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, as the second son, was entrusted to the Konoe family to be raised, and according to the rules of the shogunate, he set a life course of becoming a monk very early.

At the age of five, when Ashikaga Yoshiharu returned from Sakamoto's vacation again, he presided over a ceremony in Kyoto to confirm Ashikaga Yoshiaki's identity as the son of his grandfather Konoe Shotsu, and then he was sent to Kofuku-ji Ichijo-in As a representative of the Konoe family, he became a monk and became a monk. After so many years, Ashikaga Yoshiharu only came back in the year when Ashikaga died of illness, and left before he had a chance to say a word to his mother, Keishuin.

Since he was a child, he has never enjoyed even a single day of fatherly and maternal love, and has developed Ashikaga Yoshiaki's extreme character. Perhaps this has something to do with the inheritance of the Ashikaga family.His temperament is very similar to that of Ashikaga Yoshiki more than ten years ago, the same headstrong and paranoid.It's just that his character is more narrow-minded and lacks Ashikaga Yoshiki's strong opinions, which makes him always full of envy and hatred for his elder brother Ashikaga Yoshiki who is loved by thousands of people.

This caused Ashikaga Yoshiaki to rather listen to the slander of the Miyoshi Sanyoshi and Matsunaga Hideo than to believe what his brother Ashikaga Yoshiki said. People with lofty ideals should wake up and worship him when they see him, and Ashikaga Yoshiki should retreat bravely and hand over the general's throne in time.

Ashikaga Yoshiaki's bun was torn away, and he roared with disheveled hair: "In the end, each of you betrayed me! My brother is like this, my mother is like this, and you group of scumbags, how dare you be so brave?" Die! I knew you all looked down on me, and would rather die than obey Yu's orders, you should all die! Damn!"

"Boom... Boom!" A bright lightning flashed across the night sky, illuminating this dark world. In the short light, almost every samurai saw Ashikaga Yoshiaki's ferocious and terrifying expression, and made this passage unforgettable. The memory of you will always be engraved in the deepest part of my heart.

Suddenly, a drop of rain fell on Ashikaga Yoshiaki's face, icy and cool across his cheeks, Matsunaga Hideo didn't see it very clearly, but when he knocked it carefully, another lightning bolt pierced the night sky, Ashikaga Yoshiaki's Tears were already streaming down his face, and he cried like a child.

The little raindrops quickly turned into dense raindrops, and in a short while, they seemed to fall from the sky to form a line of rain, overwhelming the Miyoshi soldiers in the imperial palace. The torches were extinguished, and the raging fire was also slowly extinguished. Time has passed Unknowingly came to the second watch, and the Miyoshi Army, who had nothing to ask for and nothing to gain, slowly retreated.

Matsunaga Hideo was drenched inside and outside of the heavy rain, and trudged through the muddy potholes. He walked slowly to Ashikaga Yoshiaki and knelt in the puddle without hesitation. Huguo Temple is resting! It’s not too late to deal with everything tomorrow!”

Standing in the heavy rain, Yoshiaki Ashikaga stared blankly at the gradually extinguished Changyu Palace. His whole body had already been poured into a mess, and he wiped off the rain on his face and said weakly: "I'm fine, I just want to wake up for a while, don't worry about me... ..."

Song Yongxiu said that you can ignore the torment of this pain because of your delicate body, but my old man still has to stand with you in the rain and get tired. Well, his son Song Yongtong didn't know how to deal with the troubles he caused. At this juncture, if he fell on the bed for a few months and couldn't get up, he could send the white-haired man to the black-haired man.

So he had no choice but to use alarmist words and said: "His Royal Highness is about to enthroned and announced. If he is ill at this moment due to the heavy rain, it will be a trivial matter to delay the enthronement ceremony. It's a big deal!"

Ashikaga Yoshiaki thought about the same thing. He cried and confessed and did it himself. It is not a problem to continue to stand in the rain. If he suffers from an ancient intractable disease such as tuberculosis and typhoid, it will be cured in a short time. It's not easy to say that the root cause of the disease may fall, and the body will completely collapse. In vain, it was in vain that Ashikaga Yoshitoki, so he followed the goodness and coaxed back to Jianyuli again, and the army returned to Toji Temple.

A heavy rain washed away the filth that the Nijo Imperial Palace suffered that day, but it could not cover up the embarrassment that the glory of the dynasty was destroyed by the war. The bodies of Ashikaga Yoshiki, Keishuin and others still remained in the smoky ruins. How could the responsible Miyoshi Army brave the heavy rain in the dark night to clean up the mess.

The thirteenth general of the Muromachi shogunate, Yoshiki Ashikaga, the twelfth general, Odaisho, the daughter of the late former Kanbaku Konoe Natotsu, the younger sister of the former Kanbaku Konoe Tsukie, and the aunt of the current Kanbaku Konoe Kuki The corpses were placed in this unremarkable pile of ruins. In this unremarkable place, the lives of countless loyal ministers and good generals were buried, and the blood hopes of more than a dozen generations were buried. The essence of the Muromachi Shogunate draws a rest at this moment. (To be continued..)