In the seventeenth year of astronomy (1548), it was winter.

The warm sunlight shone on the tombstones and plants on the hilltop, and the chirping of the birds in the mountains came and went.

Zhengliang was dressed very neatly and sat on a Ming country chair that had been prepared for a long time. On the opposite side is Sagara Takeren, who sits in a somewhat strange manner. He was obviously not used to this magical and strange Ming State chair, and the place where the two sides met at this time was still in a hill full of tombstones. This is really hard to describe the feeling that Sagara Takeren feels.

"How? If you like it, take two with you when you go back this time. Masarashi said gently, "As for Riki and her mother-in-law, they are very happy here, and they will not leave for the time being." ”

Sagara Takeren couldn't help but stiffen when he heard this. Masahiro's words serve two purposes.

One is to directly block his refusal of Zhengliang's gift, so that he has to go back with the gift. If this is the case, it will naturally be criticized by the other retainers of the Ouchi family at that time. "Look, it's really a good family! Going on an envoy once, just like visiting relatives, bringing back gifts, I really don't know what other deal the two of them have in secret. ”

Thinking of the various rumors in Ouchi's family at that time, Sagara Takeren had a headache. The family governor Yoshitaka Ouchi will also suspect him of having a relationship with the Luo family. At least in the course of this mission, if the initial purpose is not achieved, once you return home, you will naturally be punished.

Another meaning of Masaara's words is to imply that his wife and daughter are not happy to follow him, and at the same time, it is also forbidden for Sagara Takeren to take the opportunity to propose the idea of taking his wife and daughter away. For all his previous arrangements and decisions, Sagara Takeren thinks that he has done nothing wrong. He didn't feel guilty about his daughter or son-in-law.

For the house arrest of his daughter and the arrangement of ordination. It's just for the good of the family. Arrange for her daughter to go to Chikuzen. will be able to stay away from the perimeter of the political center of the Ouchi family. This will keep you from being noticed. After all, at this time, Sagara Takeren has been reused by Ouchi Yoshitaka, and the family has prospered, just last year his family got a new territory near the Zhou Fang Tao family's territory, and now although the main family and the eldest daughter are here in the Luo family, but his other clansmen are on the new territory. And Masamu was angry at his daughter's arrangement and moved to live near his daughter's monastic home alone in order to take care of his daughter.

He didn't want his daughter's future and his family's prosperity to be affected. As for the main room, he didn't pay attention to her feelings. (Historically, after the Tau Long Fang rebelled and began to hunt him down.) He directly abandoned his wife, children, and family and fled, resulting in these relatives being slaughtered by Tao Longfang. From here, it can be seen that he is still a person who values interests in essence, first of all, his own interests, then the interests of his family, and his relatives are just tools. ）

As for his son-in-law Zhengliang, he has no guilt. After all, the relationship between the two is just a political relationship. He appreciates political goodness, but it has nothing to do with his duty. And his duty is to be a retainer of the Ouchi family. After all, he is first and foremost a retainer of the Ouchi family, and if he supports the Luo family, he and his family's interests will be directly affected. At this time, it is natural to abandon Zhengliang.

The same is true for the Taulung Room. Although he has a good relationship with Masayo, he is a retainer of the Ouchi family. When his own interests are threatened, he naturally chooses to protect his own interests. So when Ouchi Yoshitaka decided to tear up the alliance with the Luo family, neither Sagara Takeren nor Tao Longfang agreed, but they did not oppose it either, so they decisively abstained, neither supporting the Luo family nor taking the initiative to confront the Luo family (in fact, if Tao Longfang participated in this battle, the Luo family would encounter more trouble).

In Masaara's view, Sagara Takeren is not a qualified husband, father, and father-in-law, but he is a qualified retainer.

After instantly capturing the meaning of Masaara's words, Sagara Takeren couldn't help but feel secretly distressed. Negotiating with a son-in-law who is so powerful in words and thoughts, can you really achieve the goal of peace between the two families?

The current situation is indeed a bit unfavorable for the Ouchi family. The first is the threat of the East Niko family to the Ouchi family. Since Yoshitaka Ouchi's last defeat on the Niko family, the actions of the Niko family have become more and more frequent, and the two have fought against each other several times in Iwami Province for control of the silver mines. At the moment, there is a trend of intensification. In fact, Masarashi also knew something about the struggle between the two families, and not long ago, he had sent an envoy to the On-Yang Dao, preparing to conclude an equal covenant with the Nizi family to join forces against the Ouchi family. And the Ouchi family took the initiative to negotiate peace with the Luo family this time, which was also to avoid being attacked on both sides.

In addition, the burning of Hakata by Naito Yoshimori in order to retreat safely also caused many sequelae. The most direct impact was that it triggered many powerful merchant houses to protest and even demand compensation for the goods, and at the same time, it also caused the dissatisfaction of the retainers who had goods and interests in Hakata. In Sagara Takeren's opinion, these retainers are completely untroubled, once Hakata falls into the Luo family, can the materials of the retainers of the rival family still be retained? But in any case, the burning of Hakata has affected the prestige and prestige of the Ouchi family among the powerful people, and even more affected the commercial prosperity in the territory.

Naito Xingsheng also knew that Lu Dao had caused a big disaster this time, so as soon as he returned to Zhou Fang, he took the initiative to ask Ouchi Yoshitaka for guilt, and recuperated at home under the pretext of illness, and even after the most Lu was really sick in bed (the real reason was that he received a letter from Masaara, and after learning that Aso, his daughter-in-law, was forced to stay in Luo's house, coupled with the resentment accumulated in the Luo family, he was finally sick).

In addition, with the defeat of the alliance of nearly 30,000 troops of the Otomo family and the Ouchi family, and then the western part of Chikuzen Province, which originally belonged to the Ouchi family, in one fell swoop, some wealthy clans close to the Luo family's territory have shown signs of instability. For example, the Soka family, although the Soka family sent the strongest naval army along the Chikuzen coast to assist Naito Xingsheng in retreating, but during the whole process, the Soka family's actions seemed a little sluggish. Even after receiving a request for help from the Sugi family's Takatorii Castle, he did not move and only sought to protect himself.

Another example is Qiuyue's house. Originally, after being occupied by the Luo family, half of the territory was supposed to deal with the Luo family's Qiuyue family together with the Ouchi family. At this time, the heavy troops were displayed in the one near the territory directly under the Ouchi family. Apparently guarding against the Ouchi family. All of the above. All of them show signs of instability in the Ouchi family's rule in Chikuzen Province. Naturally, the Ouchi family is buying time to re-stabilize the situation.

"Say it. What is the matter with the Ouchi family sending Your Excellency this time? Just when Sagara Takeren was secretly thinking about how to persuade Masarashi to agree to the reconciliation between the two families, Masarashi changed his voice and took the initiative to ask Sagara Takeren's intentions.

"Lord Dazai, this time the two families are completely caused by a misunderstanding between the two families, and Lord Dazai thinks that at this time, it is best for the two families to turn their rivalry into a jade silk." Seeing that Masara officially called him "Your Excellency", Sagara Takeren had no choice but to put aside his father-in-law's identity and speak as an envoy. Of course. He also secretly reminded Masahiro through the comparative title of the official position in the discourse that at this time, Ouchi Yoshitaka not only had a higher official position than Masahiro, but even the Ouchi family's family was still stronger than the Luo family, and if the two families continued to fight, it would not be beneficial to both parties.

Masahiro did not respond directly to Sagara Takeren's words, after all, diplomacy is not a blind quarrel, but an exchange of interests, so Masara waited for Sagara Takeren to continue.

Seeing that Zhengliang did not continue to express his position. Sagara Takeren had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue: "I want to fight outside Bamboo Castle at the beginning, and my family did not have the remains of your samurai who died in the battle. Therefore, in order to show the sincerity of the peace between the two sides, we hope that you will return to the family the heads of Sugizuku-mae Guardian Daiyo Koun and Harada Grand Lord, as well as Sugi Shigeki, the sister-in-law of Sugi-sugi Chikuzen Guardian Yoyo Koun-sama, and his clansmen. ”

Sagara Takeren did not put forward the conditions that the Ouchi family could promise, but directly put forward the conditions demanded by the Ouchi family. Because he was really not sure that Masarashi would agree to the conditions originally offered by the Ouchi family. Just wait for Masato to put forward the conditions himself.

As for the conditions proposed by the Ouchi family, Masara understood what Ouchi Yoshitaka meant after hearing it. It's nothing more than to ensure their reputation, and put on an image of never giving up on their own family, so as to boost morale and appease people's hearts. At the same time, it is also necessary to ensure the existence of the Sugi family as the guardian family in Chikuzen, so that the Ouchi family can continue to ensure the rule of Chikuzen. The so-called peace negotiation is just a covering cloth that can be torn again at any time for the two sides at this time, and this exchange condition proposed now is where the fundamental interests of the Ouchi family lie in this peace negotiation.

And what about the Roche family? What benefits can you get from the other party this time?

So Masara quickly thought of the issue of captive soldiers, which was still unresolved at this time. This time against the two armies of Otomo and Ouchi, the Luo family captured a total of nearly 30,000 captive soldiers. After the end of this war, most of them had already allowed them to settle in the Luo family's territory according to the original agreement, but they were not allowed to leave the Luo family's territory and return to their original homes, so as not to follow the local wealthy clan to fight against the Luo family again in the future. Restore the enemy's strength in disguise, the Luo family will never do.

It's just that because nearly 3,000 of them are in the Ouchi family's territory outside the Luo family's territory (at the beginning, due to the mobilization of the Chikugo and Chikuzen territories as the main force to attack the Luo family, most of the captives were locals in Chikugo and Chikugo, and these people had gone home happily), even if they were forced to stay in the Luo family's territory at this time to settle, it was difficult to avoid them finding a way to return to their homes in the future.

In addition, among some of the captives who were beaten into the slave team of the Luo family, there were also nearly a thousand people whose homes were in the Ouchi family's territory outside the Luo family's territory. After a period of free labor in the Luo family, these people will also be rewarded for accumulating merit and becoming a leader of the Luo family and being able to settle in the place. They will also find a way to return to their original homes.

Zhengliang was also having a headache before, how to let these two groups of people stay in the Luo family with peace of mind? Now here's the solution. That is to ask the Ouchi family to send the families of these people to the territory of the Luo family.

In doing so, the first thing is to bring these captives back to their hearts. Secondly, it is also possible to increase the population of the territory by the way, based on the calculation that an average captive can drive three family members, this time it can increase the population of at least more than 10,000 people. In the end, it was a problem for the Shanjia family to be solved by the way. Although the Sugi family surrendered before, and the territory of the Sugi family has been divided by Masahiro, but how to deal with Sugi Shigeji and his clansmen, Masato has not decided before (after all, if they are killed.) It will cause concern among other wealthy families who have also surrendered. If you don't kill, you can't stay in the Luo family and hold a position. Put them under house arrest for a long time, and it is a waste of manpower and material resources to guard them). Now I just decided this problem by the way. With Sugi Shigeki's unsuccessful bear, after returning to the Ouchi family's camp, even if he inherited everything from his father Sugi Xingyun, it was just a rat poop in the Ouchi family's camp, which just allowed him to continue to plague the Ouchi family.

In addition, Masashi also thought. In this battle, all the teams involved in the war were damaged to varying degrees, and it was time to replenish the troops. Moreover, Masashi is also preparing to increase the standing quota of each standing ashigaru team from the original 500 to 600 (of which each captain has 350 standing ashigaru guns and 250 ashigaru standing bows and arrows). In this way, together with the number of other standing members of the Luo family, the Luo family has 7,700 standing members). It was from these captured soldiers who had returned to their hearts that the soldiers were selected.

Thinking of this, Masarashi has already decided to make peace with the Ouchi family. So he immediately put forward the condition: "If you intend to make peace with your family and hand over the prisoners and heads you mentioned, then you must hand over your retainer Duanmu Qingzheng, who is imprisoned in your hands. "When the Ouchi family tore up the alliance with the Luo family, Duanmu Kiyomasa, who was a hostage of the alliance between the two sides, was immediately imprisoned. Now Masahiro naturally took the opportunity to exchange it back.

After a slight pause, Masashi continued, "In addition. Some of your soldiers have been captured by our family, and they have voluntarily stayed in our family to settle down, so you must move their families to the border of your own territory and hand them over to our family. At that time, we will provide you with a detailed roster, and you may provide us with personnel according to the roster. Please ensure the food, clothing and health of these people, otherwise in the process of moving to the border of your family, for every death of these people, your family will kill a member of the Shanjia family, and directly wipe out the Shanjia family. ”

After all, these relocated people no longer belong to the Ouchi family, and they will inevitably be blamed during the relocation process, so Masarashi must ensure their safety. Otherwise, if they deliberately use torture and killing to reduce the relocated population or send a bunch of dying people to the Luo family, it will increase the burden of the Luo family in disguise. And now, with the lives of the Sugi family as a threat, it is possible to force the Ouchi family to spend a lot of food to ensure that these people can reach the territory of the Luo family smoothly.

Sagara Takeren didn't expect that Masarashi would put forward such a condition, and this condition also had a lot of disadvantages for the Ouchi family (such as the Luo family deliberately increasing the list that needed to be exchanged in order to get more population from the Ouchi family, etc.), so after thinking about it for a while, Sagara Takeren immediately bargained with Masara.

An hour later, after some deliberation, on the basis of the conditions mentioned by both parties, the Ouchi family and the Luo family finally reached an agreement to negotiate peace. Of course, both sides know in their hearts that after the conditions of the two sides are fulfilled, the so-called peace agreement can be torn up at any time.

After agreeing on everything, Sagara Takeren decisively refused to be retained by Masayo, and then fled and took the initiative to leave. A bargain with Masa-ra was simply torture for him, and this son-in-law was too difficult. He didn't want to stay in front of Zhengliang at all, lest he be angry.

Just as he was about to leave the mountain, which was full of stone monuments, Sagara Takeren suddenly saw a group of "boy scouts" lined up in a neat formation and practicing neat steps appear at the bottom of the mountain. These scouts are here to sweep graves today. According to the law of the Luo family, each village in the territory would have a boy scout of men and women over the age of eight and under fifteen (just like the boy scouts established when the government was in the beginning), and they would be divided into teams, and then in addition to learning cultural knowledge, they would be regularly assigned to patrol the village, and they would also be trained by the village head who was responsible for the security of the village.

Regular visits to the Heroes' Cemetery are also part of their training, and even the Scouts in the farthest area of the Luo family's territory will organize a visit to visit the graves once a year, and all the food and lodging on their way will be arranged by the territories along the way. Of course, the routes taken by these Cub Scouts have basically been designed in advance by the Cabinet of the Interior, and the territories responsible for receiving these Cubs along the way will also be compensated by the Cabinet of Materials. In short, this has formed a safe and stable system in the Luo family. What Sagara Takeren had just seen was a group of scouts who had just arrived to sweep the grave.

Sagara Takeren had planned to ask the little surname who was leading the way in front about the Scouts. But as soon as his mouth opened, he decisively closed it again. Because he instantly realized that asking was also in vain. Just when he came to meet Zhengliang before, he tried to extract more information about the Luo family from the mouth of this little surname, but he was all closed.

He has been following Masashi since he was six years old, and now he is nine years old and is now nine years old, under Masara's subtle teaching, it is so easy to deceive there. What's more, since following Masara, Kamiya Sozhan has to guard against the tricks of Nabeshima Naoshige and Honda Masanobu almost every day, even if it is a wooden man, he will now become a smart person (so this time Nabeshima Naoshige and Honda Masanobu were assigned, which is simply liberation for the two Kamiya Sozhan and Shimazu Yoshihiro who remained). So it's strange that Sagara Takeren's set of questions doesn't eat closed-door soup.

After being bored again, Sagara Takeren looked back again at the boy army that had gone farther and farther, but still maintained a neat formation, and even walked in a neat pace, Sagara Takeren suddenly thought:

"Is it right or wrong to be an enemy of a big name like the Luo family?" (To be continued......)