Chapter seven hundred and seventy-eight to create chips
Takada Yono didn't care about Imai Munehisa's worries. What she was thinking about now was the two letters on the slip.
A letter was sent from Lord Shiba Yoshigan, stating that Echigo would send troops to the Echichu Noto area after spring plowing.
This troop dispatch will restore and stabilize the Hokurikudo trade route, but it is likely to cause a fierce conflict with the Ichiko clan forces in Kaga Etsuchu.
In the letter, Yiyin hinted that the Yi Xiangzong temple in Xinchuan County might be affected by the war and not a single tile would survive. This is almost a clear indication that it was the military power of the Wu family that took action.
He hoped that Akechi Mitsuhide would use a diplomatic perspective and Takada Yono would find a way to appease the emotions of Ishiyama Honganji Temple from a business perspective.
To avoid the appearance of the Master launching a new round of revenge in Hokurikudo, adopt a radical strategy to confront the military strength of the samurai family.
After reading the letter, Takada Yono knew that this was an impossible task.
Although the Ichigo Sect has been relatively peaceful in recent times, in its peripheral territories, especially the Hokurikudo, it has been aggressively promoting the strategy of an earthly Buddhist kingdom.
Even when the previous generation Zheng Ru was in office, Yi Xiang Zong was able to digest the territory that Yi Xiang Yi Kui had acquired before, and it was quite peaceful. However, there was zero tolerance for the Wu family's actions of destroying temples and killing nuns.
The core strategy of the Yixiang Sect reformed by the eighth-generation Dharma master Lian Rushangren was to enhance the organizational power of the Yixiang Sect and gather loose believers into a strong force. The method used was to establish the Fangguan system.
The fangguan system divides the Yixiang sect into Dharma masters, fanzhus, Taoists, counties, and groups, forming the entire sect into a pyramid structure, which enhances organizational power, and the most important grassroots organization is the Taoist sect.
Each Yixiangzong temple has at least one monastery, and large temples may have four or five monasteries. The number of believers in each monastery ranges from dozens to hundreds.
It can be said that talking is the core of the grassroots organization of Yixiang Sect, and the temple is the base for spreading the faith of this grassroots organization.
Destroying the monastery will destroy the grassroots teaching, and the local Yixiang believers will become a ball of scattered sand.
It is absolutely impossible for the Master of Ishiyama Honganji Temple to tolerate this kind of behavior. This will shake the foundation of the Bōkān system and disintegrate the grassroots organization of the Yixiang Sect.
This kind of fear of the organization being disintegrated will make Master Xianru refuse any form of exchange of benefits, and no amount of benefits can be exchanged for her understanding.
Takada Yono turned his attention to another letter, this was Akechi Mitsuhide's letter.
The master issued orders to both of them at the same time. Akechi Mitsuhide first read the letter to himself in Kyoto, and then sent it along with his own countermeasures and the master's letter to Takada Haruno.
Akechi Mitsuhide's letter mentioned a person, hoping that Takada Yono could help her go to Beijing and meet Ashikaga General. This person was the Nanman priest, Louis Frois.
Takada Yono asked Imai Munehisa.
"Imai-hime, do you know a Nanman priest named Flois?"
Imai Munehisa was stunned for a moment.
She talked about the current predicament of the Hokurikudo trade route for a long time, but I bet Mr. Takada Haruno didn't listen at all! But she didn't dare to lose her temper, so she could only sigh inwardly and have to answer questions.
Imai Munehisa thought about it carefully and said.
"Is it Louis Flois? The most active missionary of the Southern Barbarians.
It is said that she went to Kanto last year to inspect the local missionary situation, but I don’t know if she has returned.”
Takada Yono nodded.
The missionary work of Nanman Sect in the Japanese archipelago is mainly divided into three dioceses: Kyushu, Kyoto, and Kanto.
Kyushu local daimyo were the most tolerant of missionaries. They not only relied on liberalizing missionary rights to obtain a large amount of commercial benefits from the southern barbarians, but also used this to demonstrate their political independence.
In the Diocese of Kyoto, Nanmanism mainly relied on the two commercial centers of Kyoto and Sakai Port for its activities. Along the Yodo River between the two places, believers who converted to Nanmanism gradually appeared.
The Yodogawa River basin is mainly within the territory of Settsu Kingdom, and there are even powerful warriors who believe in Nanman religion in Settsu Kingdom.
The Kanto Diocese has always been the weakest diocese of the Southern Barbarians. Kamakura in Kanto was the main place of spread of Buddhism in the Song Dynasty and the territory of the Pure Land Sect.
The characteristic of Buddhism in the Song Dynasty is that its teachings are simple and easy to understand, and it is easy to preach. However, the customs in Guandong are far more conservative than those in Kansai, where commerce and trade are developed, and the spread of Nanman religion has always been difficult.
Imai Munehisa said.
"Why do you mention her all of a sudden?"
Takata Yono asked instead without answering.
"Does the Nanman Cult have any plans to go to Beijing to meet with General Ashikaga?"
Imai Munehisa thought for a while, her family had been living in Sakai Port for many years, and the big businessmen were always well informed, and said.
"I remember that the Nanman Sect came to Sakai Port a few years ago. There was a big shot among the missionaries who wanted to go to Beijing to meet with the general and seek to open up the right to preach.
The man seemed to be named Xavier, but his request to go to Beijing was rejected by the shogunate.
The shogunate doesn't seem to be too interested in these foreign pagan nuns, and I heard that the Tiantai Sect came forward to persuade them and stopped this."
Takata Yono was thoughtful.
Akechi Mitsuhide must know more details in Kyoto than Imai Munehisa, who was originally a businessman. The fact that she would ask Takada Yono to help the Nanman priests enter the capital must be related to the Lord's order.
The Nanman religion already has three dioceses in the Japanese archipelago, but only the Kyushu diocese spread smoothly under the protection of some daimyo.
The Nanman Sect definitely hopes to be recognized by the Kyoto shogunate and obtain missionary rights so that they can further spread their faith.
But for Buddhist sects, this is something they will never allow.
The influence of Buddhism in Kyushu was not enough to make the local daimyo change their tune and expel the Nanman religion. Therefore, the front line of Sakai Port and Kyoto became the forefront of the confrontation between the two major religions.
The Yixiang sect was rejected by various sects and destroyed the main mountain several times. Finally, it moved to the Shishan area near the junction of Settsu, Izumi, and Hanoi before it stabilized its position.
Next to Ishiyama Honganji Temple is Sakai Port. With the fanatical Yixiang Sect to block the extremely aggressive Nanman Sect, the Buddhist sects must have been working hard behind them.
In recent years, the conflict between the two sides in Settsu Kingdom has become more and more intense, and Ishiyama Honganji Temple is very wary of the expansion of Nanman Sect.
Takada Yono chuckled, she finally figured out what Akechi Mitsuhide was going to do.
When the Yixiang sect temple in Yuezhong was destroyed, Master Xianru of Ishiyama Honganji Temple would not accept any exchange conditions and would definitely choose revenge.
Shiba Yoshigan asked Akechi Mitsuhide and Takada Yono to think of a way to treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor. I guess the master also felt that he was not sure.
The two of them had no bargaining chip to win over Xian Rushang and could not exchange for her understanding. Akechi Mitsuhide, a sinister woman, wanted to make something out of nothing and create a bargaining chip by herself.
Takada Yono kept sneering, this bastard was so sinister and prepared to make himself the scapegoat.
If Takada Yono was not aware of the problem, he would foolishly help the Nanman priest named Frois to go to Beijing.
Regardless of whether she can obtain the extremely important missionary rights for the Nanban religion from Ashikaga Shogun, the master of Ishiyama Honganji Temple will hate Takada Yono who helped her go to Beijing.
Even though Takada Haruno was protected by Shiba Yiyin, and the Hokuriku Road trade route bound the interests of both parties. But if there is an opportunity in the future, Master Mianru will definitely kill Takada Haruno.
Mitsuhide Akechi, who is in Kyoto, will definitely express his support to Master Xianru through her channels and do his best to prevent the Nanman Sect from obtaining missionary rights.
She would use this as a condition in exchange for Master Xianru's understanding of the destruction of the Yixiangzong temple in Yuezhong.
Master Xianru will not forgive the act of destroying temples and killing nuns, because this behavior shakes the foundation of the Yixiang Sect.
But if it were a religious struggle related to the Nanman religion, for the sake of the right to preach, which was at stake, Ishiyama Honganji would probably relent and pretend to be confused about Yue Zhong's temple destruction.
Akechi Mitsuhide put a heavy enough bargaining chip on this end of the scale, so that the seesaw in the heart of the master could be lifted from the other end.