To the east of Bizen Province is Harima Province, and most of the western part of Harima Province has fallen under the jurisdiction of the acting officials appointed by the Date family, and even Akamatsu Masahide, the pillar of the Akamatsu clan, did not dare to touch his tiger whiskers, and lost Toshikatsu, Kamitsuki, White Flag, and Konosu Castle one after another. Akamatsu Masahide hurriedly asked his lord Akamatsu Harumasa for help, but Akamatsu Harumasa's life was unsustainable, and the contradiction with his son Akamatsu Yoshisuke became increasingly prominent, where was there still the leisure and courage to provoke a strong enemy like the Date family.

The conflict between Akamatsu Harumasa and Akamatsu Yoshisuke's father and son, there are deeper reasons behind it, Miki's Bessho, Gosho's small temple, Uno of Nagasui Mountain, Kamitsuki of Kamitsuki City and other local forces continue to grow their own power, among which Kamitsuki of Kamizuki City and Uno of Nagasui Mountain were originally supposed to support Akamatsu Harumasa's faction, so at home Akamatsu Harumasa stabilized other disobedient forces, but since the strong invasion of the Date family, Uno of Nagasui Mountain, Kamitsuki of Kamizuki Castle, and Urakami of Muroyama have surrendered, Several other forces were equally uneasy.

The two strongest ones that haven't been perverted yet are the Kotera clan of the royal house and the Bessho clan of Miki. Among them, the Bessho clan supported Yoshisuke Akamatsu, who had been fighting against his father Akamatsu Harumasa, which kept Harima in turmoil in the country, and the Akamatsu family had no time to take care of the expansion of the Bessho clan.

The current head of the Bessho clan is Bessho Shoji, the grandfather who was later instigated by Araki Murashige to rebel against Oda Nobunaga's Bessho Nagaji, born in the second year of Bunkame, and is now a fifty-two-year-old white-haired old man, who has fought all his life and finally ensured the hegemony of Higashi Harima Province in the past two years. It's just that in recent years, he suddenly realized that he was really old, and he who had been disobedient to his old age gradually gave the power in his hands to his sister-in-law, Besho Anzhi. I had the intention of handing over the position of the head of the house to another place for peace.

It's just that Bessho thought that the situation in Harima was changing rapidly, and the situation abroad was also unreassuring, and Bizen Province, which was supposed to be a situation where the two Uurakami clans were competing for power, suddenly gave birth to a powerful force. Quickly defeating the Date family, who were more aggressive than Ouchi and Niko, the Kinai Miyoshi Chokei stepped up the offensive, especially in Settsu, Miyoshi Chokei pressed forward step by step, and had already pulled the battle line to the border line led by Bessho. Harima Country is like a huge piece of fat, which makes the two powerful men eye, and they have the posture of pounce and bite hard.

If the Date family is still separated by several forces. Then Miyoshi Changqing is in front of him, especially after Arima Shige, who has been suppressed by himself, took refuge in Miyoshi Changqing, and the battle line has been pulled to the door of other houses. Not to mention competing for the country of Harima, I'm afraid I won't even be able to keep the land that has been passed down from generation to generation.

If you are moving your mind, should you change your backer? The Date clan of the Eastern Kibi Province came in and became stronger and stronger, and the contradiction was directed at Harima Province. Nishi-Harima has been annexed. I'm afraid that in the near future, I will enter Nakaharima and approach Higashi-Harima, and I heard that although its lord Date Masaki is young, he seems to be using soldiers like a god, should he send an envoy to Bichu to ask for reinforcements from the Date clan.

Bessho Yasuharu, who had found out that the Date family's tribute mission had appeared on the border of Harima Province, hurried into Miki Castle, and seeing that his father was waiting for news from him, he hurriedly replied, "Father. The team of the Date family to pay tribute to the imperial court has appeared in Harima Province. ”

Bessho was not very happy to hear that the incident of Emperor Ida's tribute to the Emperor of the Date family, which had been rumored recently, finally had some eyebrows. Instead, he looked sad, pondered for a moment and said, "I'm afraid that the Date family has already moved to invade Harima Country. ”

Bessho Anji was stunned for a moment, shook his head, and said: "Father, the arrival of Date Himasa is a troublesome thing for us in the short term, and it may not be a good thing in the long run. ”

He didn't know what his sister-in-law meant, but now he was still a little uncertain, and he looked up and asked, "Xiao Saburo, what do you think?" ”

Bessho Yasuji has a clean personality and a noble personality, although he is young, but he is supported and loved by his retainers and local samurai in the Banshu area, and he is by no means a gloomy person, and he listens to his father's inquiry, but he speaks his heart's thoughts, he said: "Date is rising to Bichu and quickly occupies the land of the Five Kingdoms, not to mention the two countries of Bizen and Aki, which were robbed by the soldiers, and its governance strategy in Bigo and Misaku can roughly be seen to use many local famous heroes, but the three good Chokei are different, using more private people than good talents. ”

After a pause, Bessho Yasuji continued: "Although Miyoshi Changqing is a little strict, and the soldiers are strong and the food is sufficient, the available standing soldiers have a huge 50,000, compared to the actual situation, Date Zhengheng seems to be incomparable, but because of this, Date Zhengheng must reuse my family if he wants to deal with Miyoshi Changqing." ”

He looked at the other place and suddenly realized that he was really old, he looked at the other place and said solemnly: "Xiao Saburo, I have often been unable to deal with the affairs of the war recently, so I decided to officially entrust the responsibility of the governor to you before the New Year." ”

When Bessho Anji listened to his father's decision, although he was conscious, his face still showed a surprised and dazed expression, he knew that his father had made up his mind, and no one could change it, but he still didn't agree immediately, bowed to the ground and kowtowed, straightened up, and said: "Father, the situation in Beshosho's family is in danger now, if Date Masahiro is not enough to fight against Miyoshi Chokei, he also asks his father to Liji and Shigemu to protect the safety of the family territory for the heir." ”

Listening to the heartfelt words of other people's governance, the original trace of helplessness suddenly turned into a strong family affection, worthy of being the son-in-law of other houses, and the expression of other people's peace and governance, which made other places more determined to let him inherit the position of family governor.

It's just that as Bessho Anji said, Bessho Anji can only bury the decision deep in his heart, but it is the task of sending Bessho Anji to meet the team of the Date family to pay tribute to the court.

In contrast to the positive response of the father and son at Besshosho and Anji, there was a fierce conflict over this incident in the castle, which was triggered by the head of the family, Kodera Kodera Masada, the head of the Shintobu faction, and the leader of the foreign domain, Kodera Itakaka.

Originally, the Koji family did not have any factions. Kuroda Shigetaka helped the latter become independent from the Akamatsu family, and then became Himeji Castle, especially after the second head of the family, Kuroda Zhitaka married the adopted daughter of the previous Koji Norishi and changed his surname to Koji, he was able to encircle most of the foreign retainers to expand his power, which made this matter begin to become strict, and he inevitably began to frame the retainers who refused to go along with the same stream in order to expand his power. So much so that later, these family members had to support Koji's cousin Kushibashi Zuo Jingliang, who was in charge of political positions, and formed a new faction to protect themselves.

The emergence of the near-minister faction can be said to be the result of the efforts made by the Koji government to highlight the rights of the head of the family, although the Koji government office in many film and television dramas and novels in later generations in order to highlight the son of the small temple job Takashi seems unusually mediocre, or it can be said that he is an idiot, obviously this is not a fact, the fact is that the small temple government is not the kind of pioneering princes, the character is a little indecisive, but there is a vision of seeing people and employing people, and he is good at protecting himself. Reuse Xiaoji Zhilong, treat him as a brother, and at the same time be vigilant, afraid that he will be too sharp.

Koji Zhitaka endured his anger and went down to the city to return to his residence, he had his own temporary residence in the castle, and today in the main castle meeting the alliance of the Koji government and Kushibashi Zuo Jingliang, so that he was not in the mood to live in the city, and came back to the city, after all, there are still a hundred of his personal guards here.

His captain of the guard, Muri Xiaobei, saw the lord come back angrily, and was stunned for a moment, the lord was humiliated to death, and his face showed the same grief and indignation, and hurriedly followed, and asked, "My lord, what happened, who annoyed you?" ”

Xiaoji Zhilong's face was gloomy, and he replied in a low voice: "Let's talk about it when I go back!" ”

In the small temple residence, the mother of the little soldier heard the narration of the small temple Zhilong, slammed his fist on the table, and scolded: "Is he crazy, he actually wants to join forces with the salt palace to rob the tribute rice that the Date family paid tribute to the imperial court, does he want us to die together!" ”

The salt of the Great Imperial Palace, that is, Akamatsu Harumasa.

Xiaoji Zhilong's younger brother Xiaoji Gaoyou said in a strange way: "Their family even dares to kill the general, are they still afraid of robbing the tribute rice?" "The Cargill Rebellion, Akamatsu Mitsusuke's murder of the sixth generation of shogun Ashikaga Yoshikyo, can be said to have given the following an example of killing the general.

The Kodera clan is a descendant of the Akamatsu clan.

Koji Zhilong turned his head and glared at Koji Gaoyou, but he didn't blame him, he glanced at everyone, and then said: "Now that the imperial sample is bewitched by Zuo Jingliang and united with the Great Imperial Office to rob the Date family's tribute rice, I am afraid that it will annoy the Date family, and the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Kotera Jobaka's question, everyone was speechless, Kotera Masatoshi had already made up his mind to join forces with Akamatsu Harumasa to rob the Date family's tribute rice, which would inevitably cause a backlash from the Date family, and at the same time, it would attract the disgust of the people of the world, and if it was not good, it would be called an enemy. However, the Kuroda family belongs to the Kodera family, and if they don't follow, they will immediately attract the joint strangulation of Akamatsu Harumasa and Kodera Masato. Yes or no, no, no, an inexplicable pressure hit everyone's heads.

There was a click, and there was a noise outside the door, and a female voice was shouting: "Wanji, you are running around again, hurry up and go back to sleep." ”

Koji Zhilong stood up, opened the wooden door of the conference room, and saw that outside the door, his main room, Ah Yan, was standing in the corridor, and on the edge of the corridor was his sister-in-law, who was only nine years old, and was listening to his mother's teachings with a hippie smile, and he asked, "Wanji, did you eavesdrop again just now?" ”

When Wan Ji saw his father's arrival, he immediately came to his father with a "hi" and said, "Yes, father." (To be continued......)