As soon as the words came out, they were like a thunderbolt in the clear sky, startling everyone present. The air in the castle tower seemed to freeze for an instant, making these daimyo feel it was difficult to breathe. The eldest son of the former general - in public
Under the circumstances, he publicly accused the manager of murdering his father? This is probably the first time in a hundred years.
"...Why did you say that?" After Hosokawa Harumoto finally reacted, he still didn't know how to call the "pseudo general" in front of him. He simply omitted the personal name and asked directly: "How have I ever done this?
?Stop slandering."
"Before my father passed away, he only received an envoy from the Hosokawa family. Not long after, he suddenly fell ill. Before his death, when my father called me in, he could not speak very much. He just repeated the word 'Hosokawa'! The murderer was not
Who can you be, Hosokawa Harumoto?" However, Ashikaga Yoshitō did not hesitate at all and pointed at Hosokawa Harumoto and cursed plausibly.
"Did I ever send an envoy to ask for an audience with the public hall that day?" Hosokawa Harumoto immediately retorted. But before Ashikaga Yoshitō could reply, Mibuchi Haru, who was following Hosokawa Harumoto, was the first to say in surprise.
:
"Huh? In charge of the palace? You clearly sent an envoy here that day. I personally watched the late Gongfang receive him in the palace."
Mibuchi Harumoto looks like Haruhashi Mibuchi. His family has served the shogunate for many generations and he is deeply trusted. He is also the number one confidant of Ashikaga Yoshiharu and follows him all day long. His words are naturally quite weighty.
"Ah?" Hosokawa Harumoto himself was stunned by what Harumoto Mibuchi said. He frowned and began to recall whether he had really sent an envoy that day. After all, Harumoto Mibuchi was from the Izumi-Hosokawa family.
He was one of his own, and he was the first one to come to inform Hosokawa Harumoto after this incident. The position of "one of the Hosokawa family's own" added to the credibility of his words.
"Who is the messenger?" But no matter how much Hosokawa Harumoto thought about it, he still couldn't remember what happened that day, so he asked directly to Mibuchi Harumoto.
"I don't recognize you. I have been following my ancestor all year round. I know very little about the situation in Hosokawa's family. Please forgive me." Mibuchi Harumoto leaned forward very frankly, which made Hosokawa Harumoto even more
Confused. Did I really remember it wrong?
At the same time, the other daimyo around them looked at Hosokawa Harumoto with complicated eyes. Hosokawa Harumoto noticed that the other daimyo were gradually suspicious of him, and he hurriedly defended himself: "Even if
I misremembered. There really was an envoy sent, but it is absolutely impossible to do such a treasonous and unethical thing! It must be the traitor Sanhao Changqing who secretly instructed the puppet general to give this false testimony, coerced him to talk nonsense, and wanted to sow discord.
!You must not fall into the trap!”
"The repair doctor is seeking justice for his late father and defeating the traitors who killed his lord. Where does the term 'rebel' come from? On the contrary, Hosokawa Harumoto, my father treated you well, but you are so ungrateful that you actually poisoned my father!" Ashikaga Yoshitō heard.
Yan immediately raised his voice, "And there are no soldiers from the Sanhao family around me at the moment. How can the Sanhao family control what I say? What I want to say is not all of my own will? Even the truth is
Can’t you tell?”
Hosokawa Harumoto was choked by Ashikaga Yoshitō and was speechless. He blushed for a long time before finally thinking of the logic of his rebuttal: "It's obvious that you saw that your position as a pseudo-general was in danger, so you deliberately made lies to confuse the public! You want to confuse right and wrong.
, playing tricks of power so that he can remain in the position of general!"
"If that's the case, and the repair doctor has already retreated, shouldn't I be trying to please you, Harumoto Hosokawa? I don't have any soldiers at the moment, so will it do me any good to clash with you, a powerful official with a lot of troops, in person?
?On the contrary, your life will be in danger!" Ashikaga Yoshitō scolded Hosokawa Harumoto, while looking around at the other daimyo of the Confederate army: "The reason why I came out to identify the murderer was not only to avenge my father, but also to let my father go to prison.
Apart from exposing the unjust death to the world, can there be any other plans?"
In front of Ashikaga Yoshitō's awe-inspiring righteousness, Hosokawa Harumoto was speechless and could only feel the eyes focused on him becoming hotter. The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he became, even though he had done nothing.
, but this Ashikaga Yoshitou went crazy and slapped the shit pot on him - obviously this is not good for Ashikaga Yoshitou? This kid, did you get along well with him before? Why would you rather die now?
Want to cause trouble for yourself?
"After all, empty words are unfounded. The poor monk does have a suggestion, but I still want to keep His Highness clean and let the rumors collapse." At this time, Taiyuan Xuezhai slowly spoke and came to the rescue for Hosokawa Harumoto.
"Master Xuesai, please speak quickly." Hosokawa Harumoto no longer cares about so much.
"Just open the coffin and do an autopsy. If it was poison, there should be black marks on the bones."
"This..." Hosokawa Harumoto suddenly frowned, "Isn't it disrespectful... How can I offend the mausoleum of Gongfang Hall? Let Gongfang Hall have no peace under the spring."
"If it's for the sake of justice for the leader, if it's for the peace of the shogunate, and the wisdom of Gongfang Hall, I'm sure he won't refuse. This is the way to really make Gongfang Hall peaceful." Taiyuan Xuezhai called.
Wearing rosary beads, the unique tone of the Buddhist temple seems to forgive all transgressions.
"That's fine." Hosokawa Harumoto sighed, and then said with some worry: "But if the poison was poisoned by the Miyoshi family, how should we care about it?"
"The poor monk is well versed in the poisons in all major ninjas. If it is done by the Miyoshi family ninjas, he can see through it at a glance." Taiyuan Xuezhai confidently assured Hosokawa Harumoto, "I will definitely be able to clear the Guanling Palace of this unknown injustice.
."
"I know a thing or two about it." Hosokawa Harumoto's in-law ally, Rokkaku Sadayori, who is also a master of ninjas, also stood up and said: "I know the poisons of the Hosokawa family. And the Shikoku ninjas of the Miyoshi family
Their poisoning methods are so different from those of the Hosokawa family that it is impossible not to notice."
"In this case, we have Master Rosetsusai and Danmasa (Rokkaku Sadeyori)." Hosokawa Harumoto heard the words and no longer hesitated. He stood up and looked around at the doubtful daimyo, and waved his hand, signaling to the two banners: "
Escorting Ashikaga Yoshito, he led everyone to Shokokuji Temple, where Ashikaga Yoshiharu’s mausoleum is located.
The group walked through the temple and, under the guidance of the remaining shogunate personnel, arrived at the burial place of Ashikaga Yoshiharu. Although the whole story was explained clearly, those who had been close to Ashikaga Yoshiharu heard that Ashikaga Yoshiharu was to be buried.
Behind the coffin, there was still an expression of disgust on his face - this was almost a humiliating punishment.
"How could it be like this..." A dozen of Ashikaga Yoshiharu's former veterans guarded Ashikaga Yoshiharu's soul, "How could the remains of the late Lord Hoden be so trashed?"
"This is a big matter. It involves the innocence of the shogunate leader and who will succeed the general who conquered the barbarians. There is no other choice." Taiyuan Xuezhai clasped his hands together and solemnly asked these bannermen: "Everyone
He is a loyal and upright minister, and he must not want to see the shogunate that Xian Gongfangdian defended to the death fall into turmoil, right?"
The expressions on the faces of the bannermen were at war with each other, but since the words had come to this, it was difficult to refuse them anyway.
"In this case, please allow me to commit seppuku to express my condolences to the spirit of my late father-in-law." The leading samurai Hatamoto knelt down first and saluted, and several others followed suit.
"With such a good minister, why worry about the shogunate not being prosperous? Living a good life and being loyal to the shogunate is the way to truly make the public house feel at ease." Taiyuan Xuezhai said a few words of relief, and then looked at Hosokawa Harumoto. Hosokawa Harumoto
Yuan waved, and a dozen of the Hosokawa family's hatamoto stepped forward and began to dig Ashikaga Yoshiharu's grave. Ashikaga Yoshiharu's hatamotos all bent over and kowtowed, not daring to look.
Not long after, Ashikaga Yoshiharu's coffin was carefully carried out. After many courtesies, Captain Hosokawa Harumoto's Hatamoto finally opened the coffin for him. However, the moment the heavy coffin board was removed, everyone
stunned.
Months passed, and the body had long since decayed, and all that remained were the white bones—and the mottled black spots clearly visible on the bones.
It's poison.
and……
Hosokawa Harumoto and the surrounding ninjas of the Hosokawa family widened their eyes immediately. After being stunned for a moment, Taihara Yukisai and Rokkaku Sadayori looked at each other, and the expressions between their eyebrows became solemn.
No one spoke and there was no sound.
But everyone present knew the result - it was the Hosokawa family's poison.
Otherwise, they will definitely stand up and condemn the Sanhao family immediately.
"Your Highness, you'd better explain what this means!" Mibuchi Haru, who was standing next to Ashikaga Yoshiharu, was the first to explode. He took a step forward and asked Hosokawa Harumoto somewhat gaffefully: "Yes.
The poison from the Hosokawa family, right? Huh? It belongs to your Hosokawa family, right?"
"Someone must have framed me!" Hosokawa Harumoto no longer cared about appearance and cursed at the top of his lungs: "You are trying to harm me with these weird tricks!"
"Your Highness, what is going on?" Ashikaga Yoshiharu's bannermen also stood up one after another and glared at Hosokawa Harumoto, "Is it really your poison?"
"It's true that the medicine is from the ninjas of the Hosokawa family, but I have never given such an order. Either a servant went behind my back to assassinate me, or a thief from the Miyoshi family stole my poison!" Hosokawa Harumoto asked.
The voice argued.
"What the Lord Controller said is true." Rokkaku Sadayori saw this and hurriedly came out to help Hosokawa Harumoto: "If it was really the Lord Controller's fault, he naturally knew the seriousness of the matter, and how could he dare to open the coffin and conduct an autopsy with great fanfare? It's clear
This is a situation that even the Guanling Palace did not expect."
However, everyone ignored the explanations of Hosokawa Harumoto and Rokkaku Sadeyori.
Because sometimes the facts are not important, what is important is a reason to raise troops. What's more, now that "Hosokawa Harumoto poisoned the general" has almost been confirmed, Hosokawa Harumoto is hard to defend.
"Rebel Harumoto, what can you say now?" Ashikaga Yoshitō struggled to free himself from the restraints of the two Hosokawa family banners. He pointed at Hosokawa Harumoto's forehead and yelled: "Regicide and traitor,
If you don’t die a good death, everyone will kill you if you find it!”
Afterwards, Ashikaga Yoshitō looked around again and shouted to the daimyo of the Confederate army: "You loyal and righteous men who have been deceived, why don't you follow me to fight against the thieves? Let's destroy this rebellious minister and traitor of the Hosokawa family!"
The outcome of the Battle of Kyoto was that the Northern Army was defeated and the Southern Army won. However, the major names of the Southern Army, which were full of internal conflicts, obviously had no intention of sharing the fruits of victory. If given the chance, they would not mind facing each other with swords to decide the final winner.