The diplomatic monk of the Date family, Ankokuji Huiqiong, appeared outside Mt. Iimoriyama Castle in the Kitaikoma Mountains and asked to see Akechi Mitsuhide outside the gate of Mt. Iimoriyama. Diplomatic monks, as the name suggests, are monks who are sent to other forces to handle foreign affairs, and many monks were active in foreign affairs in ancient times and played a very important role. Ankokuji Huiqiong was born in the orphan of the Takeda clan in Aki country, and was recommended by his mentor Zhu Yun Huixin to become a diplomatic monk of Date Masahiro, and ran away three years ago to study with the famous teacher Master Kuaikawa Shaoki, and followed Kuaikawa Saki to hide in the mountains in the Kyoto Rebellion, and Date Masahiro returned after going to Luo.

Date family Shangluo succeeded, Ankokuji Huiqiong missed many opportunities to become the core of Date family's diplomacy, and now he can only seize any opportunity, and at the same time, his mentor Zhu Yun Huixin is old and did not come to Kyoto with him, which is also an experience for him.

Anguosi Huiqiong wants to rebuild the family business, yes, he wants to rebuild the Anyi Takeda family, he has lost countless opportunities, now he has to seize this opportunity, as long as he can complete the task assigned to him by Zhengheng excellently, he will be able to climb up step by step and become an excellent diplomatic monk by Zhengheng's side. His greatest wish is to become the lord of a country and a city, and when the time comes, it will be divided into two inheritances, the eldest son will inherit the foundation of the Takeda family, and the second son will inherit the Rokutaka of Ankokuji Temple.

In fact, the task of sending Akechi Mitsuhide was not only fought by Huiqiong of Ankokuji Temple, but also by many people for their own ambitions, and even the largest sacred mountain, Mt. Hiei, was burned down, and many temples were destroyed in one fell swoop. Without the protection of the monastery, many monks were left in exile. These monks can pay any price in order to be able to achieve their dreams. Including life. For the sake of the Buddha, in order to rebuild the monastery, they could not hesitate to sacrifice their lives. There are many monks attached to the Date family.

In the end, it was Ankokuji Huiqiong who got the task, because he used to be a retainer of the Date family, and he was also recommended by Kuaikawa Shaoxi, in fact, at that time, Kuaikawa Shaoxi recommended his senior brother, but his senior brother was sick, so he was temporarily added.

When Zhengheng heard Huiqiong of Anguo Temple, he immediately expressed his position. Agreed with the recommendation of Saki Kuagawa.

At the same time, Zhengheng also asked Kuaikawa Shaoxi to contact the monks in various places to make preliminary preparations for the rebuilding of Mt. Hiei, which is very important for the monks' cultivation. Being able to leave a heavy mark in the history of Buddhism, Kuaikawa Shaoxi readily agreed.

Ankokuji Huiqiong thinks that the opportunity to realize her dream has come. He knew that only by completing the task of political balance excellently could he regain a foothold in the talented Date family, and the important reason why he went to study back then was that he didn't want to be in the shadow of his mentor Zhu Yunhuixin.

Iimori Mountain Castle. Akechi Mitsuhide meets with the young diplomatic monk Ankokuji Huiqiong. His mood suddenly turned bad, not only disappointed, but also due to Date Masato's contempt for him, as well as a pessimistic prediction of the future situation.

At this moment, it is less than two months before Akechi Mitsuhide kills the Settsu country, but it is already a matter of fact. His benefactor, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, dies, and his friend Hosokawa Fujitaka is missing, and the cause he once fought for has long been in vain. Date Masaki entered Kinai today and was invincible. Famous all over the world. Today, he is deeply caught in the conflict of many interests, which makes him exhausted and exhausted. I am deeply worried about the predicament in front of me, but I can't do anything about it, I can only lament the time and my life.

Originally, the messenger that Akechi Mitsuhide was expecting would be a little-known monk, which made his originally fiery mind much colder, and he knew that Date Masahiro did not take him seriously, but just routinely sent a nobody to give an ultimatum.

In the eyes of Akechi Mitsuhide, Anguosi Huiqiong is an inconsequential pawn who gave an ultimatum, of course, in fact, he really didn't think wrong, and similarly, in the eyes of Zhengheng, Anguosi Huiqiong would not have been reused if he hadn't taken a good name.

Akechi Mitsuhide was disappointed, but he still had a longing for Ankokuji Huiqiong, and wanted to know some real information about the Date family from the young monk's mouth, and the information he could get was very limited, and the Date family completely controlled the direction of public opinion.

Anguo Temple Huiqiong frowned slightly, and was quickly relieved, he stepped forward and saluted, there was nothing to find fault with in the etiquette, and said: "Today, the little monk was ordered by the head of the family to come to ask the adult about it, I don't know where the adult wants to go?" ”

I can't be picky in etiquette, but I am aggressive in my words, Miyake Yaheiji, who followed Akechi Mitsuhide's side, had a gloomy face and frowns, if it weren't for Akechi Mitsuhide's indifference, I'm afraid he would have already drawn his sword and snorted coldly.

Ankokuji Huiqiong didn't even glance at Miyake Miheiji, his eyes looked directly at Akechi Mitsuhide's face, and soon, he was disappointed. Wise Mitsuhide had an indifferent look on his face, without the slightest change. He didn't ask again, and sat quietly.

Akechi Mitsuhide shook his hand at Miyake Yaheiji, signaling him to be calm and calm, and secretly praised his courage, he had already thought about the problem of political balance for a long time, and he had also not come up with a countermeasure. He looked up and asked, "So what does Dazai Daiji want?" ”

Ankokuji Huiqiong replied calmly: "The lord of my family is the righteous Luo who avenges the emperor and the adult, and now the Honganji Temple is like a defeat, and the stone mountain Honganji Temple is open, and the revenge of the emperor and the adults has been avenged, and there is a small half, I think the adults should know?" ”

Akechi Mitsuhide never thought that Ankokuji Huiqiong did not come to persuade him, but to tell him the truth, the Date family would not contain Akechi Mitsuhide, he was a little angry in his heart, and said in a questioning tone: "What about Wada Yumasa?" ”

The matter of Wada Yumasa's defection to Date has already spread throughout Kinai, and Akechi Mitsuhide has also heard about it, so he has the idea of being able to temporarily defect to Date Masahiro, you must know that Wada Yumasa is also a shogune of Ashikaga Yoshiteru, and he also evacuated the army.

Anguo Temple Huiqiong said lightly: "What do you think? The relationship between the adult and the shogun is like that between Liu Bang and Han Xin, Hetian Weizheng is just one of the eighteen marquis under the command of the shogun, the adult has deviated from the general, the general has only a way to die, and Heda Weizheng just wants to survive in death. ”

Wada Weizheng is seeking to survive in death, is he wise and Mitsuhide deserves to die.

These facts are not able to be said by Wise Mitsuhide. In the eyes of many people, he is greedy for life and afraid of death, and there are also people in his family. Ashikaga Yoshiteru's treatment of Akechi Mitsuhide can be said to be heartfelt, and Akechi Mitsuhide should repay him with death. This is the model of the monarch and the minister, and the fact is that Akechi Mitsuhide was greedy for life and afraid of death and escaped, which directly led to the defeat and death of Ashikaga Yoshiteru.

Suppressing the fire that surged up, Akechi Mitsuhide clenched his fists, creaked, looked directly at Anguo Temple Huiqiong, and said, "Since he wants to fight." Then tell him that I will fight and let the horse come. Why come and shame me! ”

Hui Qiong of Anguo Temple saw that Zhizhi Guangxiu was angry and angry, and her demeanor was completely lost, not only did she smile and said: "If my lord wanted to fight, he would have already sent a large army to attack. Where is there still the leisure to send a little monk to come and talk about it. The little monk came today, but he was only instructed to tell the adults where the way out was? ”

Akechi Mitsuhide was extremely embarrassed, he knew that he was being tricked by the young monk in front of him, and his face was gone, if it weren't for the face that the other party represented Date Zhengheng, he would have already pulled out his knife and slashed the other party to death, suddenly hearing this, he was shocked and said: "A way out?" “

Anguo Temple Huiqiong said solemnly: "My lord knows that the matter of Setjin is complicated. Regardless of who is wrong or who is right, Ashikaga Shogun is dead. The deceased is the greatest, and there are countless people who accuse this matter, so they can only give up in pain. I came here today to inform you that you should go quickly, and in late September, the Date army will be directed to Hanoi. ”

Akechi Mitsuhide thought for a moment and asked again, "Where are you going?" ”

Anguo Temple Huiqiong replied: "The Date family can't take in Er, there is a shortage of food in various parts of Jinnai, and it can't last much time, so where the adult's heart is, the little monk doesn't have to sacrifice ugliness." The little monk still said the same thing, if you want to go fast, if you go slowly, you can't go. ”

Of course, Akechi Mitsuhide knows exactly what Ankokuji Megumi is referring to, Ise Province, yes, it is Ise Country, and on that day, Matsunaga Hide wanted to jump out of the circle of Kinai and go to Ise Country to fight. Now Akechi Mitsuhide looks around, if the Date family doesn't take him in, his only way to survive is to go to Ise Province.

By moving from the land of Kinai to and jumping out of the encirclement, the Wise Army will be able to solve the existential crisis. Known as the "Little Warring States", Ise Province has a complex set of forces, and it only takes a few to defeat enough food to get them through the winter.

As long as he survives this winter, Akechi Mitsuhide is confident that he will be able to gain a foothold in the intricacies of Ise. In addition, beyond Ise Bay, there is the rich Nobi Plain and the commercially developed Sunensan, which is very conducive to the development and growth of the Akechi Army.

As soon as he sent away Huiqiong of Anguo Temple, before he turned around, Miyake Yaheiji couldn't help it, and asked in a low voice: "Uncle, what this monk said is extremely humiliating and ill-intentioned, why does my uncle still send him out of the country, if you want me to say, it will be cut with a knife." ”

Akechi Mitsuhide shook his head and said: "There is a serious shortage of food in the army, and I want to go to Yamato to ask for food when I capture Naxingui Mountain City, which is also an additional way back." Today, the envoy of the Date family came, and although there were many false words, he still told a few truths. ”

Miyake Yahei doubted: "Honest? ”

Akechi Mitsuhide nodded, didn't say more, but after gathering the ministers, he slowly spoke: "Today, the Date family envoy came and said a lot of things, but the key point is three truths, first, the Date family will not accept us. ”

When the people heard that the Date family would not accept them, they felt a deep despair in anger and despair. Everyone had their own private thoughts, and a small part of Akechi Mitsuhide's command were retainers of the Pudai family who had followed since the time of Minokoku, and most of them followed after the shogunate. The part of those who followed later originally thought that if the Date family was willing to accept them, they would go to the Date family without hesitation, but now the Date family clearly told them that the door to the Date family was closed.

There is a more serious problem that the Wise Army is short of food, if the Date family can accept them, they can let the Date family contribute money and food to support them, but now they can't take refuge in the Date family, and the food is drying up day by day, what should everyone do?

Autumn is coming, will winter be far away? Once it is winter, there is no food, how to maintain the army, starvation is everywhere, the army is scattered, what they can maintain their status is the military power in their hands, once the soldiers are gone, only the commander of the light pole is left, and what power is left.

Akechi Mitsuhide was very satisfied with everyone's desperate expressions, which he also had when he first heard that the Date family would not accept him, but people would die in despair, and he spoke again: "Second, the time left for us by the Date family is about ten to fifteen days, that is, after ten to fifteen days, the Date army will invade Hanoi. ”

Despair, deep despair, the Date army is violent, they are hungry, how can this be fought, even if it is a cage city, there is no food, a cage farts city, as long as you surround it, hunger can starve you to death, without food, everything is nonsense.

Everyone saw Akechi Mitsuhide's expression and looked at him, now it's useless to despair, first listen to Akechi Mitsuhide's third truth, and then talk about the rest, if there is really no way out, then you can only fight to the death.

Akechi Mitsuhide wrenched his fingers and continued: "Third, the Date family will not harass us in the time left for us, which means that in these ten to fifteen days, as long as we do not enter the territory of the Date family, they will let us leave. ”

Ke'er Cai Youemon couldn't help but ask, "Where does the lord want to go?" ”

Akechi Mitsuhide spread out the map and said, "Now we are trapped in Hanoi, this Hanoi is a dead land, and only by jumping out can we survive." The Date Army deployed 30,000 or 40,000 troops in Settsu, Yamashiro and other places, and the naval army of Awaji Island attacked Izumi at any time. We can't afford to stay in Hanoi and sit idly by. Now our most important purpose is to obtain food, without food, I am afraid we will not be able to survive even three or four days, so where is the food? Over here. ”

Ke'er Cai Youemon raised his head and asked: "Yamato country, Yamato country has been ravaged for a while, where is there still food?" ”

Akechi Mitsuhide shook his hand at Ke'er Caiemon, signaled him to be calm, and said, "Is Yamato's state-owned food?" I said yes, but it was not in the hands of the people, but in the hands of Kofukuji, Tsutsui, Jushi, Echichi, Akiyama and other forces, and of course there was some surplus grain in the hands of Hatakeyama Takamasa. If we want to survive, we have to snatch food from them, so who are the ones we need to rob? ”

Akechi Mitsuhide's finger drew a circle on the map, then pointed to a point, and said, "Kofukuji, yes, it's Kofukuji." The seven great temples of the southern capital, only Xingfu Temple exists alone, and now the chaos in Yamato is actually a mess of Xingfu Temple, which is a good opportunity for me to ask for food from Xingfu Temple. (To be continued.) )