Pillars of the Wu family

() As soon as he returned to Honmaru, he met Kansuke Yamamoto, who seemed worried and walked over, and said to him: "The news from the Suruga country is the second time Mikawa has come out in a few days."

"Imagawa Jibu is really urgent! He wants to calm the civil strife in the Matsudaira family!" Kira Wansongmaru sighed. Of course he knows this kind of common sense. As the people of Mikawa who are close to Imagawa, the role of the Matsudaira family is self-evident. For example, whether it was the battle of Xiaodouzaka or several battles in Anxiang City, the Matsudaira family served as the vanguard of the Imagawa army, and charged for the Imagawa family. Of course, it can also be understood as a high-level cannon fodder force. The status of the Songping family can be guaranteed, and the civil strife in the Matsudaira family must also be eliminated.

"Yes! The chaos of the Matsudaira family will not help the Imagawa family's rule. His Highness Imagawa Jibu should be planning to force the Oda family to hand over Matsudaira Takechiyo." Yamamoto Kansuke raised his mouth, reminding him of the Matsudaira family and the raccoon leader. The so-called Takechiyo, this kid is more than a year younger than him but has good luck, the foundation of his grandfather's hard work for generations, the support of a group of people from the same family, and quite a few loyal and powerful genealogy generations The retainers made the bottom line.

"The current Songping family doesn't seem to be doing well. The people of Sanhe haven't taken his family too seriously. That reckless man who knows how to fight, Songping Qingkang, even offended his own clan, let alone the people of the country don't like him. Sure enough. Once Kiyoyasu Matsudaira died, the entire Matsudaira family declined."

Kira Wansongmaru was still in the mood to complain about the situation of the Matsudaira family, but unfortunately his good mood lasted for a while, Kansuke Yamamoto narrowed his eyes and said: "This time Taiyuan Xuesai will serve as the military representative, leading the Imagawa family's army to station in Oka Sakijo, the candidates have been confirmed, Asahina Taino will serve as the deputy general, and Okabe Motonobu will serve as the leader of the Suruga main battle, and he will command the Matsudaira army that lacks a family governor to participate in the battle."

"That is to say, the Imagawa family has already made up their minds, right? No matter how the family responds, the result has been determined, and it depends on whether the family is toasted or punished." Kira Wansongmaru sighed again. The number of sighs is a bit too much, is this a sign of premature aging?

"My lord, please make a decision early!"

"What decision? Surrender or fight, is there a third way to go?" Kira Wansongmaru smiled bitterly. He was really unlucky as a lord. He had never left Xisanhe since he was a child. Ri also went to his family's Bodhi Temple to visit the Anguo Zen Temple to sing incense and pray for blessings, pray for the happiness and peace of the parents in heaven, pray for the prosperity of the people living in the kingdom, and the success of the family business, and the unity of the ministers, etc. He does not miss any of these things that the family governor should do He did it, but he still encountered a military disaster.

"Master, if the entire army of our family is under your command, how sure are we of defeating Taiyuan Xuezhai?" Kira Wansongmaru looked at him hopefully.

It's a pity that the latter didn't seem to have much confidence, he smacked his lips and shook his head and said: "Just from the perspective of a joint battle, the [-] foot light trained by my Kira family is comparable to the [-] horse backs of the master. Outside of the war, the army of the various retainers will not be able to cause any trouble to the Imagawa family at all, with three thousand and five against twenty thousand, the servants are also helpless!"

"There is also an adjustment. Suruga has always been rich, and the financial resources of the current Chuan family are far superior to that of the family. There is a saying in the Ming Dynasty: There must be a brave man under a heavy reward! The current Chuan family lures them with profit and threatens them. What will the family do to stop it? ?” Kira Manmatsumaru is not the only one who is thinking, as his assistant and trusted general, Yamamoto Kansuke is also thinking hard.

"His Highness Imagawa Jibu has reached a peace agreement with His Highness Hojo Sagami, and reached a preliminary peace agreement last year in Shantou Temple where Taiyuan Xuesai served as the abbot. There is no need to worry about Kai and Sagami. Shinano belongs to His Highness Takeda Ozen, and my Kira family can only rely on the power of the Oda family to fight against the Imagawa family, but does Oda Nobuhide have the ability and courage?"

"The Owari local rich man has become a toothless tiger since his disastrous defeat in the battle of Xiaodouzaka last year. It is said that more than half of the people died in that battle. Every household in the lower four counties of Owari cried and mourned. In the battle, the Oda family only sent two thousand reinforcements, compared to last year's majestic battle at Okazaki Castle, the phoenix that has shed its feathers is really not as good as a chicken."

Kira Manmatsumaru is very disdainful of Owari's military strength. The soldiers of Owari in Tokaido have the reputation of being weak soldiers, and they are not belittled by empty words. For the benefit of the Shiba family, the Mikawa Kira family and the Imagawa clan fought several battles against each other.

Every time Owari Shiba's family was beaten to the ground, and the Mikawa army that involved the Kira family was also defeated. The Owari country is a representative of civil war experts and foreign war laymen. In the past two years, Owari's local rich lords have been planted in Imagawa. , in Saito's hands, not only is the arrogance gone, but even the status is not as stable as before, almost like a phoenix that only sheds hair.

"It's really kind of people to be bullied. It seems that there is no future in running the territory honestly, but my Kira family doesn't have much military strength. If I don't care about labor, Imagawa family will not be able to win the Imagawa family, but I will lose the accumulation of ruling Xisanhe for generations. What should I do if I can’t fight against you and feel unwilling to surrender?” Kira Manmatsumaru bid farewell to Kansuke Yamamoto in distress, and when he returned to the castle tower, the sky had gradually darkened, and he sat alone. Staring at the moon on the terrace in a daze.

"Look carefully, there seems to be a big aperture! It seems that according to the legend, the moon halo is a bad omen, and I don't know what bad things happened there." Kira Wansongmaru lay on the terrace and looked at the round moon I fell asleep without knowing it, and was pushed to wake up again after an unknown period of time, and Aju's gentle voice came from my ear: "Your Highness, don't sleep here, it's easy to catch cold, Your Highness, please take care of yourself, for the sake of Kira's family , also for Her Royal Highness."

"Well, I remember it! By the way, did I fall asleep? I was looking at the moon just now!" Kira Wansongmaru rubbed his head, stood up unsteadily with Ju Ji's support, and walked into Tongjian. Ju has already folded the bedding for him, and put a glass of water on the corner of the tatami thoughtfully. Because Kira Wansong Wan has a strong yang energy, he is prone to thirst at night, so Aju will prepare such a glass of cold boiled water every night.

Kikuhime took off his clothes for him, covered him with the quilt, and walked out of the room with small steps. When she was kneeling outside the door and was about to close the paper door, Kira Wansongmaru whispered, "Thank you, Aju!"

"This is what Ah-ju should do!" Ah-ju's soft and subtle smile evokes his memories. In his memory, his mother also had such a beautiful smile. It seems that women in Kyoto are all made of water. His mother is like this A gentle and melancholy woman, Aju is also like this. Apart from being busy taking care of him all day long, she just quietly looks at the flowers and plants in the small garden in a daze. It's a pity that she passed away before the day she could appreciate it.

The paper door was still closed after all, and after the sound of Aju's light footsteps gradually disappeared, Kira Wansongmaru suddenly felt very uncomfortable, as if he had something to say, and murmured to the moon: "Aju, I will definitely go to Kyoto Yes! Definitely will!"