"Yes, Your Highness, there is only one request here. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info" Kuroda said respectfully

"Okay, come on, notify the important ministers to convene a temporary meeting of the retainers."

The content of the meeting will not be repeated here, that is, the Kodera government said that the Kuroda family learned of the rebellion of the Ishikawa family, wiped out the Ishikawa family, and returned the territory to the family, and gave a special reward of 50 gold and 200 silver to the Kuroda family. In addition, after the battle between the heavens and the man, Kodera Masashi still handed over 1,000 stone of the 3,000 stone land to the Kuroda family.

Originally, I heard that the Kuroda family had attacked the Ishikawa family, but some retainers who were not used to the Kuroda family or who were good friends with the Ishikawa family wanted to take this opportunity to attack the Kuroda family. But when I heard that the Kuroda family didn't even want the land and returned it directly to the Kotera family, they all shut up, and the Koji government is happy now! No one is stupid enough to hit this muzzle.

"What? The Ishikawa family was destroyed by the Kuroda family? "In Takino Castle, Masahide Akamatsu was pruning his favorite bonsai, and a retainer told Masahide Akamatsu the news he had just received. When Akamatsu Masahide heard the news, he couldn't receive it for a while, and with a cut of scissors, he cut off a large branch of the bonsai entirely, and when Akamatsu Masahide saw the bonsai, he threw the scissors on the ground and pushed the bonsai to the ground.

"Your Highness, please, calm your anger."

"The Ishikawa family just returned to the main family not long ago, why was it wiped out immediately, did the Koji family get the news? Or did the Kuroda family act on their own? Kuroda and Ishikawa should be about the same strength, how can this be? ”

"Your Royal Highness, according to the news obtained by the spies, the Ishikawa family gave the Ishikawa family an order to harass the territory of the Kodera family, and the Ishikawa family and the Kuroda family have a feud, so they are ready to send only people to the Kuroda family, and when a retainer of the Kuroda family went out on errands, he happened to hear the conversation of the people sent by the Ishikawa family, and then wiped out the Ishikawa family's army, and through the captivity, he knew that the Ishikawa family was connected to the Ishikawa family, so he destroyed the Ishikawa family, and he also won the reward of the Imperial Palace."

"His Koji family is just a distant branch of my Akamatsu family, Koji is cowardly and incompetent, how can he have the same power as me, and it is unfair to have such a powerful retainer as Kuroda Zhitaka!"

"My lord, I also heard an interesting thing, that is, Kuroda Zhitaka's sister-in-law Wanji seems to be the mastermind of the entire incident of the Kuroda family this time."

"Oh! Is that so-called Harima country Kirin'er? I guess I'm only seven years old! ”

"Exactly."

"Maybe it's smarter than ordinary children, to really ask a seven-year-old child to come up with a response to the whole incident, and also planned a siege tactics, this is too incredible, it must have been spread by the Kuroda family themselves to raise the value of this child, this kind of rumor will not be said again in the future. However, if we want to unify Harima Country, the Kuroda family in the east has indeed become a big problem for us, so how can we solve this nail?. ”

"Your Highness, it's better to be like the Ishikawa family and promise some benefits, such as land."

"If the Kuroda family covets the land, they won't give the Ishikawa family's land to the public, this method doesn't work, it may not be the time to separate Koji and Kuroda at the moment, at this time it is said that the Kuroda family has the possibility of rebellion, Koji will not believe it. Just kill them all, and I won't be able to achieve my goal. Speaking of this, Akamatsu Masahide seemed to have an idea, and laughed alone, laughing presumptuously and arrogantly.

A few days later, the Kodera family sent someone to Kuroda's house, and the person who came was Kodera Yoshinao, a key minister of the Kodera family.

"Your Highness Xiaohe! It's been a long time, I don't know what His Highness has to tell him, and let His Highness Xiaohe come in person. When Kuroda heard that Yoshinao Kogawa was visiting, he immediately summoned him, because he grew up with Yoshinao Kogawa as a companion to the political office of Koji, and the relationship was very good, and Yoshinao Kogawa said happily when he saw him.

"Your Highness Kuroda, it's true that I haven't seen you for a long time, but I won't tell you, it's not necessarily a good thing for me to come this time!" Hearing Kogawa's serious tone, Kuroda Zhitaka frowned.

"Oh! Your Highness Xiaohe, what is the matter with this visit? ”

"His Royal Highness Kuroda, in the middle of yesterday night, the envoy of Zhiyancheng came to the house, saying that Takino Hall went to the Akamatsu family in Zhiyancheng to accuse the family of wantonly disposing of the retainers under his command, causing instability in the family, and asked the main hall and His Royal Highness Kuroda to board Yancheng and explain the matter to His Highnesses Akamatsu Harumasa and Akamatsu Yoshisuke. Kuroda-kun, there are many doubts in this matter, I hope that His Royal Highness Kuroda and everyone in the family will consider it more and take care. I still have to reply to the lord here, and the words have been brought, so I won't stay for long," After speaking, Kogawa Yoshitoshi saluted Kuroda Zhitaka, sighed, and turned to leave.

After that, the Kuroda family held an emergency meeting to discuss how to deal with the matter, and finally decided that Nagaya Takasa would go to Gosho Castle with Kuroda Taka first, and after meeting with Kodera Masata, they would go to Zhiyan Castle together. At the same time, the Kuroda family is prepared for the worst, and once something happens to Kuroda Yoshitaka, Wanyoshi will take the Yuan service in advance and inherit the Kuroda family with the assistance of Ite Tomoji and Matsui Shigetaka.

Shishio Castle, the nominal owner of Harima Province and most of the territory of Bizen, is the residence of the Akamatsu family, and is a famous castle in Harima, with a high and deep castle, a number of small turrets on the castle, and barbs along the castle walls, making it more solid than other castles. There is a two-story castle tower in the middle of the castle, which is indeed more magnificent than those castles with only one small hall.

After entering the castle, Kodera Masanoshi and Kuroda were led by a special person to Ninomaru outside the castle tower, and waited for the summons in the rest room dedicated to the external ministers.

Kotera Masaki has been nervous since he entered Ninomaru, after all, it is rare for Kotera Masaki to leave his land. Suddenly came to a strange environment, and he was used to being the lord, and now he was sitting here as an important minister, he was really not used to it.

"Zhilong! Tell me, tell me, Akamatsu-sama won't be against us! However, after all, the Akamatsu family is in the lower master's family, and my father once said that he would serve the Akamatsu family well. "Koji has been keeping his head down, although he is talking to Zhilong, but he doesn't look at Zhilong, it is more like talking to himself. And he kept rubbing his fingers, and if you looked closely, his hands were shaking all the time, obviously very nervous.

"Please rest assured, just show the two adults the previous letters, and you'll be fine."

Kodera Masashi immediately turned around and stared at Kuroda Jobaka, "Really? Zhilong, it's really reassuring that you are around! I got it, I got it. As if Kuroda's words had given him some strength, he sat up straight and waited for the summons.

Soon after, someone summoned the two and led them through the main gate of the Honmaru Gate and into the castle tower to meet Her Highnesses Harumasa Akamatsu and Yoshisuke Akamatsu.

When Kodera Masashi and Kuroda Masataka entered the castle tower, they found that Akamatsu Harumasa and Akamatsu Yoshisuke had not yet come to the castle tower, and there was only one middle-aged person present for the time being, and Kodera Masaka immediately recognized this person, who was the mastermind of this incident, Akamatsu Masahide. When Kodera saw Akamatsu Masahide, he was about to rush forward to theorize, but Kuroda immediately grabbed Kotera Masashi and shook his head at him, signaling him not to mess around.

Although Kuroda is also very angry, he knows what kind of place this is, once he does something wrong, he and the Kodera family will lose in the name of righteousness, which is exactly what Akamatsu Masahide wants to see.

The two sat opposite Akamatsu Masahide, Akamatsu Masahide smiled and nodded at the two of them, and Kotera Masahide looked at Akamatsu Masahide angrily, and immediately tilted his head to the side. Kuroda sat at the head of Koji Masaki, just nodded to Akamatsu Masahide, which was regarded as a return salute, cold and expressionless, and then looked down at the floor.

After a while, the two of them walked into the assessment room one after the other, and they were the current owners of Yancheng, Akamatsu Harumasa and Akamatsu Yoshiyu, father and son. The two sat side by side at the top of the assessment room, because the Akamatsu family currently uses the joint government of two fathers and sons, so both of them are now regarded as the governors of the Akamatsu family, and they both have the right to decide the affairs of the Akamatsu family.

Harimasa Akamatsu is in his fifties, sharp-eyed, and has always hoped to become the head of the Akamatsu family. Yoshisuke Akamatsu was only sixteen years old at this time, and he had already learned a lot by his father's side, and he had already won the support of many retainers for being kind and kind.

"The reason why the three of you came this time is because I recently heard that there have been retainers attacking each other in your Xiaosi family's territory, can there be such a thing in the Xiaosi political office?" The middle-aged Akamatsu Harumasa said to Kodera Masashi that he had always been relatively strong, and he hoped that the Akamatsu family would once again completely rule Harima and Bizen, as well as the southern part of Mimasakaku, so he had always supported Akamatsu Masahide, who was attacking the power of the countrymen everywhere under the banner of Akamatsu.

"Father, let's see how Koji-sama explains it first!" Akamatsu Yoshisuke is modest.,Relatively relaxed internally.,So it's supported by most of the retainers within the Akamatsu family.,Countrymen and wealthy clan forces.,But the relationship with Akamatsu Masahide, who is of the same age, is very tense.。。

"Your Highnesses, I don't have anything to say here, there are three letters here, please look at them. After reading the letter, the two adults understood what things were. "According to the method discussed by Kuroda in the Imperial Castle before, Koji Masashi directly handed over the letter to the two Akamatsu.

The little surname took the letter from the political office of Koji and handed it to the father and son of Akamatsu Harumasa and Akamatsu Yoshisuke, and the two opened the letter and looked at each other for a while.

"I know Zhengxiu's handwriting, there is no problem with these two letters, where did the letter come from?"