Stay one night at Tsuruga Castle. The next day, Yoshihiro and his party will head north to Fukui Plain. Asakura Kageki will accompany the team to Ichijodani Castle.
With Sodiko's sign, the road was smooth, until the envoy she sent reported back that the Asakura family governor Yoshikage was not feeling well and did not see her.
Asakura Kageki was suddenly embarrassed. She didn't come to ask for a meeting with the family governor. She came here to introduce Shiba Yiyin.
Asakura Yoshikage didn't give any face to the Asakura clan and refused directly.
Fortunately, the crossing was not hindered. Yiyin smiled and pretended that nothing happened and continued on his way.
Teruhora Uesugi looked on with a cold eye. After the two talked yesterday, they also had a knot in their hearts. At this time, they felt a little relieved.
I regard you as a treasure, but you abandon me like a useless creature. Look, what do others regard you for?
Yoshigan was also shocked. The internal conflicts in the Asakura family were more serious than imagined. He didn't know how long the sea route in Tsuruga County could be maintained.
I hope that Asakura Sotechi will live longer. With her as a giant Buddha, Asakura Yoshikage will not dare to reach out to Tsuruga County, and this channel will not be cut off.
———
Yicheng Valley Castle and Castle Tower.
Asakura Yoshikage sat on the main seat with a gloomy expression, and next to him was his sister Asakura Kagekage.
Yoshikage glanced at his sister and said displeased.
"You also think I did something wrong?"
Jing Jing bowed his head and said.
"Don't dare."
Yi Jing said angrily.
"You just don't dare? I know what you all think.
I am mediocre and incompetent. I cling to Echizen and refuse to forge ahead. I rely on my mother's blessings and do nothing.
But I have my own difficulties. The Asakura family has been in charge of Echizen for five generations. How many direct leaders are left in the main family? How many people are willing to listen to what I, the family governor, say?
It's easy to go to war abroad. If you win, you will be rewarded, making them even more swollen and difficult to control.
Losing the battle weakened the main family's strength, leaving me weak and unable to restrain them. It was really a good calculation!"
The Asakura family had no choice but to use relatives to rule the country. In addition to retainers, the Asakura family was mainly divided into two types of samurai families.
One is the descendants of the family governors of past dynasties, such as the Tsuruga Asakura family and the Ono Asakura family.
The second is that Echizen protects his subordinates, but is not a retainer of Asakura, such as the Mahara family and the Horie family.
These local forces all have strong military strength, and the Tsuruga clan and Ono clan are even more elite Echizen soldiers.
If they start a war with foreign countries, if they win, they will be rewarded and know how to do it. If they lose, Asakura Yoshikage will take the blame and waste armaments. Who is willing to fight such a war?
Asakura Jingjing was silent for a long time and said.
"Gong Zongdi is of high moral character and high prestige after all. This bit of face should be given to her."
Asakura Yoshikage paused and said.
"It's not that I refuse to give her face, it's just that she went too far this time and even cooperated with the Sibo family.
Shiba Yiyin passed by the Zhengan area, has anyone ever visited him?"
The Manara area is at the southern end of the Fukui Plain, where the Manara family, the Horie family and other Echizen people are located.
When the Shiba clan was guarding Echizen, they were already members of the samurai family under their command.
Later, the Asakura family defeated the superiors. They could not defeat the first generation of Asakura family governor, so they had no choice but to bow down and play small.
Afterwards, the shogunate held its nose and recognized the Asakura family's Echizen guardian, and these samurai families surrendered to the Asakura family.
However, they were not Asakura's retainers, but Echizen guards the samurai family under his command, and only shouldered part of the military and food services. Their presence was very conspicuous.
Asakura Jingjing sighed.
"The Asakura family has dominated Echizen for five generations and has been recognized by the shogunate as a guardian daimyo in the guardian system.
Even if Shiba Yiyin comes from the Shiba clan, Zhenji and the others will not go to work in confusion!"
She is helpless towards her sister, has a keen mind, and is sentimental. As a house supervisor, she is really mediocre.
This is not a matter of talent, but of lack of mind and magnanimity, it is difficult to achieve great things.
Seeing that his sister was a little angry, Asakura Yoshikage didn't want to say anything anymore and shook his head.
"If you don't see me, then you will see me. The Shiba family is a few miles away in the south. They are just passing through Echigo as an envoy, so it is unlikely that we will have any interactions in the future.
If I don't give him face, what can he do?
You should work hard to win over the general public, this is the top priority."
Asakura Jingjing narrowed his eyes and gave up the persuasion.
My sister couldn't listen. Did she really not understand that she had offended Lord Zongdi, not Siba Yiyin?
Avoiding the important and taking the easy is just to deal with her. In the final analysis, it is just to get angry with Zong Digong.
There is nothing you can do about that old man, he is disgusting and happy, he is really narrow-minded.
Asakura Jingjing shook her head. No matter what happened to the Asakura family in the future, she would first hold on to the public.
Yoshikage, the elder sister, treated her well and even won the Ono County Sheriff and handed it over to her, giving her the capital to settle down and live.
There were two strong armies in Echizen, the Tsuruga army in the south faced the Kongo, and the Ono army in the north dealt with the Kaga Ichimu clan.
Now that she has obtained the power of Ono County Sheriff, she must capture the Ono people.
No matter what the situation at home is in the future, she will be able to move forward and retreat freely.
Asakura Yoshikage was determined to take back domestic power to his master, but he didn't know his sister's deep thoughts.
These two people, one thinks of sisters as one, and the other thinks of assessing the situation, which is also interesting.
———
Before Echizen, Shiba Yiyin encountered a cold reception.
In Kyoto, the tea party organized by Mitsuhide Akechi was a scene of flowers blooming and oil cooking on the fire.
The grand tea party was held in the courtyard of the imperial palace. It was the imperial tea party that the general favored the Shiba family and allowed Akechi Mitsuhide to prepare.
Hosokawa Fujitaka never expected that Mitsuhide Akechi could be so nimble in his skills, that he could even pull out a general and make a tiger skin out of him during a social gathering, and it was so impressive.
When the two met at the tea party, she said with a smile.
"I didn't expect you to ask the general for support. It was obviously you who planned it, but now you are acting for the public."
She understood Akechi Mitsuhide's greed for Shiba Yoshiin best, and she should be extremely disgusted with the general who wanted to marry his master.
Akechi Mitsuhide gave her a gentle smile and said.
"This is the first grand event held in Kyoto after the restoration of the Shiba family, and it cannot be underestimated by the samurai families.
I went to plead with the general, and she had the same idea, so she made it bigger and killed two birds with one stone."
Hosokawa Fujitaka looked up, where the samurai warriors were vying to flatter the general, and the sounds of flattery could be heard endlessly.
Not only the ministers, but also Rokkaku Yoshihide and Kamao Kenhide were among them, and even Matsunagahide of the Miyoshi family was among them.
She snorted and said.
"It's true that it kills two birds with one stone. The Shiba family and the Ashikaga family had some unpleasant quarrels a few days ago.
Now, the general wants to take back the territory of the erring ministers and build two new imperial palaces to station troops. Everyone knows his ambition.
It’s just that everyone needs to see that I’m on her side, so that I can use my methods.”
Ashikaga Yoshiteru happily agreed to support Mitsuhide Akechi at the Shiba family tea party, which also made all opponents see clearly that powerful local parties supported her.
After Hatakeyama Takamasa expressed his stance, Shiba Hosokawa Mibuchi and his group have unified the attitude of local powerful factions.
This huge interest group, which included four families and had an actual income of nearly half a million koku, stood on the side of Ashikaga Yoshiteru. The internally divided ministers could only serve as the shogun's prey.
And the external environment does not allow them to take chances.
Rokkaku Yoshiken came to Kyoto in person and made it clear that he did not want to conflict with the Ashikaga family and was bent on scheming against the Kitanomi Asai family.
The death of Miyoshi Yoshihide gave Miyoshi Changqing a huge headache. He didn't know who should manage the two countries of Settsu and Tamba.
The Four Kingdoms were not yet stable and she needed to be in charge, but she was unable to spare her time.
My house was in such disarray that I had a headache, and I was unable to peek into the shogunate.
Ashikaga Yoshiteru's current position is more stable than when Rokkaku Sadeyori supported him.
As long as he can win over the powerful local factions, he can safely attack the ministers headed by the Ise family, gather power, and work hard to govern.
Therefore, it is not surprising that after Yoshihiro Saba left the capital, Mitsuhide Akechi, the person in charge who remained, would be favored by the general.
Akechi Mitsuhide ignored Hosokawa Fujitaka's cynicism and looked at Rokkaku Yoshiken, who was very respectful to the general, and Ise Sadakyu, whose face was ashen, and showed a hidden smile.
Then, she walked towards Matsunagahide and Tsutsui Junkei, who were chatting happily, and joined in the chat with a happy face.
Let’s start here.
The high-spirited general was still saying words of comfort that he did not believe, and was weighing in his mind how to wrest more power from the ministers.
Behind her, a pair of almond-shaped eyes gleamed in a hidden corner, hinting at murderous intent.