Warring States Eagle

An "auction" in Nawu was very successful. With the cooperation of Imai Zonghisa, the bidder, the two "paintings" were finally sold to Tsuda Zong at the price of [-] kan and [-] kan respectively. and another merchant.

After resting in Sakaimachi for a day, Masara bid farewell to Sohisa Imai and the others, and began to head for Kyoto in a bullock cart with more than [-] guns under the guard of the crowd.

After a day's leisure journey, Zheng Liang arrived in Kyoto in the afternoon.

Kyoto, also known as Ping An Jing, is a city that completely imitated the establishment of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty in China.Since the Yingren Rebellion, it has suffered from wars, and its prosperity is no longer what it used to be.In Heian-kyo, the Suzaku Road connects the Suzaku Gate and Luocheng Gate in Ouchi-ri, builds Omiya, Nishitoin, Dongtoin, and Tokyo Ji roads in the east, and builds the Dashigong, Daozu, Muji, and Xijingji roads in the west. Yumen, Zhongyumen, Erjo to Jiujo and other roads intersect perpendicularly with Suzaku Dalu.

Zheng Liang and the others lived in a yard arranged by Shenglong long ago.

In the evening, Zheng Liang first visited an old friend.

"This guest, the master has already rested, please come to visit again tomorrow." After knocking on the gate of a yard, the servant who opened the door said apologetically.

"Please report on your behalf, saying that it is an old man from Hizen Luo's family who is visiting. This is a token. Your master will definitely invite you after seeing the token." Zheng Liang said while handing a small box to the servant who opened the door. .At the same time, Zheng Liang also gave Fei Duan a wink, and the latter understood, and immediately took out several copper coins and handed them to the servants.

The servant touched the copper coin, and then said: "Then please wait for a while. The villain will go to report immediately." After speaking, he closed the courtyard door again.

"It's really rude." Ari said behind him.

"Don't be rude. This is the capital, not the territory of our family. In order to avoid unnecessary disputes, you should try to restrain yourself." Zheng Liang said softly.Zhengliang came here in a low-key manner this time. In Kyoto, a place where dragons and snakes are mixed, it is better to be careful.

Not long after the servants went in to report, there was a rush of footsteps in the courtyard, and then the courtyard door was opened with a "squeak".A young man in his thirties came out.

"His Royal Highness Zheng Liang?" The young man said uncertainly.

"Hehe, it's been a year since we left. Mr. Jingji is still as handsome as ever!" Zheng Liang said with a smile.It was Kyo Gokichi who was working under the general's command that Masarao visited this time.When the Huzi family allied forces besieged the Sashi family last year, Jing Gaoji was arrested by the Sashi family navy as a spy. At that time, the Luo family raided the Sashi family navy base, and Jing Gaoji, who was imprisoned, was inadvertently rescued.At that time, in order to express his gratitude, Jing Gokichi left a piece of clothing with the family crest as a token on the spot, saying that if Masara needs it in the future, he can take this token to Kyoto to find him.The box that Cai Zhengliang gave to his servant just now contained the token left by Jing Gaoji.

"It really is you!" When Masara mentioned what happened last year, Jing Gaoji finally confirmed that the person who came was the one who saved him last year.

"The Luo Family Hall came from afar. I'm sorry to welcome you, please come and sit inside." Jing Gaoji, who turned around, invited.

The two soon came to a room and sat down.

Zheng Liang paid a little attention to the furnishings in the house.Except for a few chapters of tables and chairs.There seems to be no other objects.It seems that since the territory was occupied by Ryomasa Asai seven years ago, Kyokoyoshi was exiled, and then defected to the shogun with a good relationship.Even so, Kyokoji's life hasn't improved much.Coupled with the fact that the prestige of the general's family is gradually declining, one can imagine the extremely auspicious situation of Jingjing.

"I really didn't expect that it was His Royal Highness Zhengliang who rescued him from the fire and water!" Jing Gaoji said with emotion.After Zhengliang rescued him, he didn't tell Jing Gaoji his name to avoid being too exposed. If it wasn't for Zhengliang, he told his servants the name just now.Even now, he still doesn't know Zhengliang's real name.

"Hehe, I was forced to do so at the beginning!" Zheng Liang immediately told Jing Gaoji the situation, and finally told Jing Gaoji that the wealthy family that detained him had been destroyed by the Luo family.

Kyokoji laughed loudly after hearing this.As a retainer of the shogun's family, he suffered such humiliation in Hizen, and Kyo Gokichi was actually bitter about it.Now that he heard that the wealthy family was destroyed, he certainly felt that he had let out a sigh of relief, and because of this, he had a lot more affection for the Luo family.

"I don't know what Zheng Liang is talking about this time?" After chatting for a while, Jing Gaoji said solemnly.He had promised at the beginning.I will do my best to help the Luo family, and now that the other party comes here with a token, they must be asking for something.

"Lord Gao Ji, I already have a territory of 11 shi in Hizen, and I am so powerful in Hizen. In order to make the people in the territory safe, I came here to visit this time, hoping that the general's family will bestow the post of guardian in Hizen," Zhengliang said.At present, Hizen's guardian is controlled by the Shaoer family, while the guardian generation is controlled by the Qianlan family.Both of these two were powerful daimyos in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but unfortunately their strength has declined greatly now.Although the Shaoer family is weak, their status is there, so the chances of Zhengliang getting the post of guardian of Hizen are slim.In comparison, the Qianyi family's status is much lower, and considering the factors of mutual checks and balances, it is very likely that the general's family will allow a second guardian generation to appear in Hizen.Now that the strength of the Luo family is equivalent to that of a king, Zheng Liang made such a request with the idea of ​​giving it a try.

"Your Highness is only looking for this position?" Jing Gaoji did not respond directly to Zhengliang's request, but continued to ask.

"I also ask the shogunate to deal with the official position of the imperial court." Zheng Liang immediately asked knowingly.The shogunate official position is separate from the imperial court official position.

"Yeah." Kyokoji nodded.

"In order to show our loyalty to the general and the imperial court, our family is willing to donate two thousand kan coins to the general's family to repair the roads in Kyoto." Give him the coins.

"At the same time, my family is willing to present the family treasure as a token of loyalty," Zheng Liang said.Sheng Long behind him immediately took out two wooden boxes when he heard the words.

Zhengliang took two wooden boxes and put them in front of Jing Gaoji and said: "This box contains the family treasures dedicated to the general. The other box is also one of the family treasures of the family. This thing is given to Gao Ji Your lord, please take care of your lord." Among the two boxes, the one given to the general's family was a pair of tape paintings, and the one given to Jing Gaoji was a [-]-yuan adult head.

"Oh?" Jing Gaoji heard the words and opened the box that belonged to him, then picked up the adult head and looked at it, "This? It's really unheard of, never seen before." Jing Gaoji was obviously impressed by the beauty of the gift The extent was shocked.

Seeing this scene, Zheng Liang smiled inwardly.According to historical records, Jing Gaoji likes to collect all kinds of famous paintings and masterpieces, and also loves to dress himself up.Now it seems that it is so.

"Hehe" After admiring the gift involuntarily, Jing Gaoji finally realized his gaffe, so he quickly put down the gift, smiled slightly at Zheng Liang, and said, "Let's take care of this matter, His Highness Zheng Liang please wait." In two days, there will definitely be good news."

"Then I will leave it to Mr. Gao Ji." Zhengliang said sincerely.

After bidding farewell to Gaoji in Beijing, Zhengliang returned to his residence that night.Nothing happened overnight.

On the second day, Zhengliang and Shenglong set off separately.Zhengliang took Nawu's letter of introduction to visit some officials who had a good relationship with Nawu.And Shenglong also went to visit some officials he knew, the most important of which was to visit his second brother, Fang Tong who held an important position in the shogunate.Although Yiyi Shenglong is not very popular with his elder brother Yifang, but he has a good personal relationship with this second elder brother Yifang.

Zhengliang's purpose in doing this is also very clear, that is, not to pin all his hopes on Jing Gokichi, or to let other officials cooperate with Jing Gokichi's actions.

For two days in a row, Zheng Liang and his wife visited almost all the officials they could visit, and the coins they had with them had almost been spent.

On April 1541, [-], the tenth year of Tianwen, in Zhengliang's residence, Zhengliang finally ushered in the auspicious Beijing.

The moment he learned of Jing Gokichi's visit, Zhengliang knew that the general had no intention of meeting him this time.But after thinking about it a little bit, I also understand the truth.First of all, although Luo's family owns a territory of 11 shi, they are not a real lord in terms of status, and the general is indeed gradually weaker, but it will take a few years before he is reduced to the point where everyone wants to curry favor , so now he doesn't have to surrender his status to meet a local tyrant; secondly, although the Hosokawa family and the Miyoshi family are currently confronting each other, the Hosokawa family has not relaxed their surveillance on the general's family. In order to avoid complications, the general also chose to Tone down on the matter.

"Congratulations to Your Highness Masaragi." Kyokoji said with a smile, "Although there is some controversy, the court has decided to award His Highness Masaragi the post of guardian of Chikugo."

Chikugo guardian generation?Zheng Liang was taken aback when he heard this.Isn't the person who applied for Hizen Guardian Dai?Why did he suddenly become the Guardian of Chikugo?

"Hehe, originally the imperial court was going to grant His Highness the post of guardian of Hizen." Seeing Masara's unnatural expression, Kyokoji said with a wry smile, "but yesterday the Ouchi family suddenly recommended His Highness to be the guardian of Chikugo. So in the end, His Royal Highness's position was determined to be the guardian of Chikugo."

Depend on!Zheng Liang knew what was going on as soon as he heard about Ouchi.Chikugo is currently the territory of the Otomo family, and the purpose of the Ouchi family's recommendation this time is obvious, to prevent the possibility of the Luo family secretly joining the Otomo family, and even intentionally make the Luo family and the Otomo family oppose each other.Thinking of this, Zheng Liang suddenly broke out in a layer of cold sweat.If the Luo family borders the Otomo family's territory at this moment, and after learning that Zhengliang has obtained this official position, it is estimated that the Otomo family will not hesitate to kill the Luo family.

Originally, Zhengliang's plan was to borrow the good relationship between the Ouchi family and the general's family, and ask the other party to recommend it on their behalf.He didn't expect that the other party was not a fool. After accepting the Luo's family's overture, he came up with such a trick, which instantly made the Luo's family stand on the opposite side of Dayou's family.

Ouchi Yoshitaka, you are cruel enough.