At the beginning of November of the 23rd year of Astronomy (1554), the reaction of the imperial court was honestly known in the minds of the Date family, and for the political balance of Tsurushou Castle, Higashi Harima, who had just experienced a fiasco, was left to his mercy like a beautiful woman who had been stripped naked.

After learning that Katayama Moricho had defeated Harumasa Akamatsu and Miki Tsuaki, and then immediately withdrew from the battlefield, threw a bunch of troubles at Norishi Kotera, and then entered Muroyama Castle, Mashiro immediately gathered his staff to discuss how to deal with the current situation in Higashi Harima.

In the face of the challenge of Iwami Kuniyoshi Masayori, the chaos of Izumo Province, and the need to open another battlefield in Harima Country, it can be seen that Masahiro has already been confident about the future. Noyama Yoshichao had a different opinion, and he said: "My lord, my subordinates have heard the report of Katayama Moricho and Urakami Masamune, and have found a detail that is worth discussing. ”

Zhengheng was slightly stunned, and asked rhetorically, "What details?" ”

Noyama Masatomo organized his words and replied, "In the last paragraph, I heard that Katayama Moricho and Urakami Masamune said that after defeating the combined forces of Akamatsu Harumasa and Miki Tsuaki, it took half an hour before they encountered Kotera Army. As far as the minister knows, the head of the Kotera family, Koji Shoji, obviously does not have the courage to do so, and dares to send troops after our great victory, which is debatable. ”

Zhengheng frowned slightly, he also felt a little incredible, Kotera Masashi saw with his own eyes that Akamatsu Harumasa and Miki Tsuaki were beaten in front of him without temper, and dared to come out and fight a big battle with a victorious army with great morale, saying that he was bold or had a problem with his brain.

Noyama Masato said confidently: "The Kotera clan is an extension of the power based on Himeji Castle and Gosho Castle, and it is the Uno clan who is the guardian of Harima's guardian daimyo Akamatsu Ichimochi. In addition, this time he followed Akamatsu Harumasa to send troops. Therefore. Even if we go to persuade us, the wild may not be willing to submit to us. However, from the details of the report, the minister knew that Koji did not have such great courage in his political position, so someone must have prompted him to fight, and this person was the best person to be the one we should have. ”

Himeji Castle?! 、

Zhengheng suddenly thought that in his knowledge, there was indeed a terrible character in Himeji City, but this terrible character was now afraid that he was a little broken child who pinched mud and had a runny nose, so he nodded slightly. said: "Well, take down Tatsuno City as a punishment first?" Katayama Shengchang has a meritorious service in this battle, so let his son Katayama Hengchang receive Tatsuno Castle, and the tentative 12,000 stone will be set. ”

Chief Katayama, who sat down and bowed down, immediately knelt down and said, "The lower minister bows his head." "There are not many objections from the people.,Katayama father and son are also from the dragon's ministers.,Follow the political balance to conquer the south and the north and fight a lot.,Katayama Moricho is fighting outside.,His son Katayama Moricho served as the captain of the personal guard to protect the powerful.,Now,One goes to the United States to serve as the leader of Ping and the people.。 One who became the lord of Tatsuno Castle in Harima Country can be said to be a great honor.

Except for Tatsuno Castle as a punishment. Zhengheng did not have the idea of entering the country of Western Harima. Although Nishiharima has just experienced a fiasco, there are still some remnants. Once it is fully attacked, I am afraid that it will offend everyone's rabbit and fox sorrow, and if the castles are uprooted one by one, the protracted gains outweigh the losses, and it also gives Miyoshi Changqing room for strategizing. At the same time, the Date family can be said to be unstable both internally and externally, and it is still appropriate to use static braking. Of course, the internal brake is static, but the external is to divide and disintegrate, creating a situation that is favorable to the Date family.

In addition to the small temple family's focus on differentiation, all the ministers and fields have mentioned some cities or names that will become the target of differentiation. Although the division required a lot of money and manpower, past experience showed that it was far more economical than the cost of fighting the enemy.

In addition, the Date family, which acquired the two mines of Iwami Ginzan and Bichu Copper Mountain, can now be said to be much more financially prosperous.

Under the gray sky, after the wolf Akamatsu Harumasa fled back to Shioki Castle a few days ago, the bad news came back one after another, and it can be said that it was three shocks a day, and the lord of Tatsuno Castle, who had always supported him, was martyred after resisting to no avail.

Shioki Castle also began to become unstable, and Yoshisuke, the sister-in-law of Akamatsu Harumasa, who was interested in recreating the glory of the Akamatsu family, bluntly said that he could not be an enemy of the Date family before the war, and the ending of Akamatsu Harumasa's fiasco better proved his correctness.

"Yiyou, this coward, what does he know!" Hearing the gossip in the city, the angry Akamatsu Harumasa opened a pair of red eyes that had not slept well for several days, and his cloudy eyes were full of hatred for the eldest son.

When Akamatsu Harumasa learned of the death of his most important retainer, Akamatsu Masahide, he thought that if the power in the family gradually leaned towards Yoshisuke, I should banish Yoshiyu to Kyoto as soon as possible, leaving the position of the son to the younger second son.

He told his concubine Kana about his thoughts, apparently not everyone was as tight-lipped as he expected, and the younger and stronger Yoshisuke Akamatsu had already conquered his concubine during his expedition, and in the blink of an eye, he told his new lover Yoshisuke Akamatsu the secret.

Akamatsu Yoshisuke was able to mess with his stepmother during his father's expedition, and it was obviously not as great as he claimed, and when he learned that his father was going to exile him, he immediately had the idea of striking first. He thought to himself: "Now that my father has been defeated and his prestige has been lost, Akamatsu Masahide has been martyred, and the city is empty and powerless, with more than 100 people under his control, it seems that it is not difficult to assault my father's city." ”

After thinking about it, Akamatsu Yoshisuke's heart beat faster, and his breathing seemed extremely chaotic, and then gradually calmed down, as if he had made up his mind, and then said to his attendants, "Bring Namba Yagoro and Takashima Satsuo to meet me." "Yagoro Namba and Satao Takashima are the two powerful subordinates of Yoshisuke Akamatsu.

At the beginning of December of the 23rd year of Tenmon (1554), when the imperial court's decree to make Akamatsu Harumasa an enemy of the court was transmitted to Harima Province, Shioki Castle was once again in chaos, this time between Akamatsu Harumasa and his eldest son, Akamatsu Yoshisuke.

If Yoshisuke Akamatsu plotted to rebel as soon as he heard the news, he was afraid that he had a great chance of success, but he was too cautious, and the less people knew about such rebellion, the better, and he didn't know that Takashima Satsuo was an undercover agent sent by his father.

Infernal Affairs is going back and forth between the two fathers and sons, and it's really amazing.

Akamatsu Harumasa learned that Akamatsu Yoshisuke was going to exile him, of course he would not wait in vain to be exiled from Harima Country, and the Date family had no other actions after the loss of Tatsuno Castle, so that Akamatsu Harumasa must have attracted some people to work for him under the heavy reward.

As a result, the father and son went on a killing spree in Yanzhi City, and Akamatsu Qingzheng was defeated and retreated, and finally had to leave Yanzhi City, but fortunately, the will of the imperial court still had a certain effect, but no one dared to take him in around, and even Akamatsu Masahide, who had taken him in in history, had already died before him.

Akamatsu Yoshiyu's crusade against his father is against morality, although he has the will of the imperial court to endorse it, but the next thing makes him have to face the situation of rebellion and separation. Akamatsu Harumasa died, and committed suicide by seppuku at Akamatsu's Bodhi Temple, Song'an Temple.

The death of Akamatsu Harumasa caught Akamatsu Yoshisuke off guard, and what caught him even more off guard was that the covenant between Miyoshi Changqing, who was originally said well, had no follow-up, and even Miyoshi Nagakei was unwilling to endorse a person who betrayed his relatives.

As there was constant turmoil in Shiochi Castle, the envoys of the Date family and the Miyoshi family also frequently visited the nominal retainers of the Akamatsu family, each explaining their own political philosophy, which roughly meant that these land snakes would turn to their own strong dragon that crossed the river.

When Akamatsu Harumasa dies and Akamatsu Yoshisuke is exhausted, the relationship between Goshojo Castle and Himeji Castle is also strained by the visit of the Date family. Himeji Castle was originally the original base of the Kodera clan, and although it was not a large castle, it was very strong.

In the first battle of Prince Town, Kotera won the attack, but he did not get any benefits, but he ended up with the reputation of an enemy, which was really more than worth the loss, and what made him even more resentful was that Kotera Zhitaka who urged him to attack got a good reputation because of this battle.

At this moment, the news that Akamatsu Yoshisuke killed his father Harumasa made this panic even worse, especially the slanderous rumors of Kushibashi Zuo Jingliang and others, who also suffered from the same interests, made the relationship between the two cities suddenly become tense, and it looked like they would fight if they disagreed.

The sudden change in Harima Province reached the ears of Katayama Moricho and Hengcho father and son, who were stationed in Tatsuno Castle, and Katayama Moricho said to Katayama Tsuenaga, "We finally have a chance!" He hurriedly sent someone to send the news back to China, and attached the Jian Yì who took the opportunity to seize Nishiharima.

Knowing that Harima Country had changed suddenly, and knowing that he had the title of Harima Mamoru , Masahiro began to go all out to carry out divisive tactics. Most of the lords and generals who were close to Date accepted Date's persuasion. The political balance suddenly increased the use of people and money in the work of division, and the results were remarkable.

No matter how much it costs, it is far more profitable to divide the enemy to surrender than to fight. With Iwami Ginzan's political balance, he no longer has many worries about financial resources, and what money can do is not a thing at all, and it has already penetrated into his mind.

Twenty-three years of astronomy are finally coming to an end, and snow begins to fall in the Land of Clear Skies in mid-December, and at the end of December, the snow falls even deeper. At the end of the year, the young Senator Imadegawa Sunny Season led the Holy Purpose to the Kai Town and boarded a merchant ship bound for Kurashiki Port, accompanied by nearly 30 ministers, in addition to them, there was also Tsuda Soda of Tennoji House. (To be continued......)