different warring states of japan

Chapter 2077: The Confused Old Man of the Ninagawa Family

The situation in Kinki is shrouded in mystery. Looking at the overall situation from above, everyone has their own difficulties.

Ashikaga Yoshiaki was stuck in Settsu Province, which was within the sphere of influence of Ichijo Hideyoshi, and could not move forward.

Ninagawa Chikayoshi and Hatakeyama Takamasa, who were waiting for the shogun to go to Kyoto in Kyoto, were so anxious that they were sweating profusely and kept urging Ashikaga Yoshiaki to go to Kyoto.

At Tamonyama Castle in the Nara Basin, Yoshikane Sasaki secretly summoned Takada Yukino to an audience.

The three parties are in a triangular stalemate, making this sultry season in late summer and early autumn even more irritable and uneasy.

Ninagawa Chikanaga, who had been specially granted the status of a member of the same sect by Sasaki Yoshikin, had become an envoy sent by the Kyoto shogunate to Ashikaga Yoshiaki to guide the shogun to Kyoto.

Unable to persuade Ashikaga Yoshiaki to continue her journey to Kyoto, she had no choice but to return to Kyoto alone to meet her mother, Ninagawa Yoshiyoko.

Ninagawa Residence, Kyoto.

Ninagawa said with a frown.

"Mother, it is not a good idea to keep dragging it on like this. The autumn harvest season is almost here, and the general is still sitting in Settsu.

  Just because of the Wakae Castle Incident and Miyoshi Yoshitsugu's seppuku, the shogun was frightened and stopped in his tracks. Where is the dignity of the shogunate?

The samurai families in the world are laughing at the shogunate."

  Ninagawa closed his eyes helplessly and sighed. In these years, hasn't the shogunate made enough embarrassments? Has it made enough people laugh at it?

But even so, the top brass of the shogunate have to grit their teeth and hold on to this mess, otherwise what will everyone eat in the future?

Even though the Ashikaga shogunate had lost its reputation and the house was so dilapidated that it would collapse at the slightest push, for the shogunate's top brass, it was still able to provide them with shelter and an extra income.

The income of Kyoto's castle town and the tributes from local daimyo are indeed decreasing year by year, but no matter how small it is, can it be less than the harvest from the territory?

After two hundred years of the Ashikaga shogunate, the shogunate's direct territories outside the capital had basically been eroded by local samurai, and the shogunate's fiefdoms were limited to the shogunate's influence in Yamashiro Province and its surrounding areas.

This is like the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The royal family of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty only had a few acres of land near the capital. How could they compete with the big countries like Jin, Qin, Chu and Qi? Relying on status?

In this chaotic world where rituals and music are in disarray, who cares about these illusory titles? The truly reliable things are still the land, population, and money and food in hand!

The koku of Yamashiro Province is 210,000 koku, and together with the surrounding territories of the shogunate, it is less than 300,000 koku.

  If so many nobles in the shogunate only rely on this for food and drink, they might as well go drink Xifengbei!

With the Ashikaga shogunate as a signboard, the shogunate retainers had a reason to collect commissions from the castle towns of Kyoto, and they could accept tributes from local samurai and trade the title of shogunate.

  But if the Ashikaga shogunate falls, then we will be left with nothing. Can we rely on the little money and food donated by the saints to survive?

With six koku of welfare for the Sasaki no Gishi per year and the noble title of Dai-pan-e Tongzen-shu, are they selling out the Ashikaga shogunate, which has been their bread and butter for generations?

The lower-level samurai in the shogunate could accept it with joy, then study hard and prepare to take the Shiba selection examination, so as to make a living in the new ruling system.

But it is impossible for noble families like Ninagawa and Hatakeyama to abandon their ancestral inheritance that has sustained them for two hundred years and run off to become some disgusting united front group!

To be honest, the saint treated the Ninagawa family well, but for the sake of the hereditary position of the governor, Ninagawa Yoshiyoshi gritted his teeth and plunged into it together with Hatakeyama Takamasa.

To outsiders, the two of them were being stupid and foolish. They couldn't enjoy their good life and were deliberately looking for trouble.

But in the eyes of both of them, this was something that they had to fight for. The ancestral foundation could not be lost like this, so they had to make a fuss and negotiate the price with the saint.

It’s not that the Ashikaga shogunate cannot be sold, but the nobles must be sold at a good price.

You lower the price, I raise the price, in the end, it's all for the sake of a deal. Ashikaga Yoshiaki is the bargaining chip that Ninagawa Chikayoshi, Hatakeyama Takamasa and other high-ranking officials of the shogunate are preparing to negotiate a deal with the saint. Now Ashikaga Yoshiaki dare not move, and the conditions of the Kyoto shogunate are out of the question.

Ninagawa himself beat his chest and stamped his feet.

"Can't you persuade the Lord?

Miyoshi Yoshitsugu's death was just an accident and there was no way that it could have been tacitly approved by the saint.

I know the saint very well. He would never do such a thing as instigating local warriors to rebel against their superiors and encroach on other people's territories.

Don't worry, sir. Just go straight to Kyoto. It only takes a day and a night to travel from Yodo Castle to Kyoto by horseback. Nothing will happen."

What Ninagawa Chikayoshi said is true.

Ichijo Hideyoshi made a great return trip from the west and went to Kyoto in the name of revenge for Oda Nobunaga. He confronted Akechi Mitsuhide at Yamazaki. In the end, due to the intervention of Hosokawa Fujitaka, he was unable to eliminate Akechi Mitsuhide in a short period of time.

Therefore, Hideyoshi Ichijo turned around and killed Matsunaga Hisahide who opened the door to the thieves, captured important cities such as Yodo Castle, Fushimi Castle, Sakamoto Castle, and Azuchi Castle, and controlled the Yodo River and the transportation hub on the south bank of Lake Biwa.

Although after the war, Hideyoshi Ichijo voluntarily withdrew from Fushimi Castle in the southern suburbs of Kyoto to show his respect for the emperor, Yodo Castle was still in her hands.

After Ikeda Terumasa was killed in the battle, Ichijo Hideyoshi took advantage of the situation to conquer Settsu Province and opened up a line from Harima Province to Yodo Castle. Now the northern bank of the Yodo River is Hideyoshi Ichijo's sphere of influence.

What Ashikaga Yoshiaki needed to face alone was nothing more than the several days' journey from Yodo Castle to Kyoto. If he rode fast, he could get there in one day. Why was he so scared?

  Once she, the Ashikaga Shogun, enters Kyoto, shogunate retainers such as Ninagawa Yoshiyoshi and Hatakeyama Takamasa will carry her to challenge the saint. Will the Sasaki family dare to attack Kyoto and destroy the shogunate?

Even the timid Ninagawa Chikayoshi felt that Ashikaga Yoshiaki was too timid and was not worthy of being a good plan.

Osamu Ninagawa blinked and looked at her anxious mother, not knowing what to say for a moment. She just felt that her mother and Hatakeyama Takamasa were thinking too highly of the situation.

Originally, Ninagawa Yoshina was a member of the Tongxin Clan, and the Saint had great trust in the mother and daughter of the Ninagawa family.

As long as the Ninagawa family takes the lead in accepting the reform, hands over the position of deputy official of the shogunate government, and leads the shogunate retainers to change their allegiance, given the saint's temperament and character, the Ninagawa family will definitely not be treated unfairly.

The Ninagawa family will definitely be able to get a good position in the new Sōma system and continue their wealth.

But the mother was suffering from hypochondria and became stubborn. She was determined to keep the lucrative position of the government official. She colluded with Hatakeyama Takamasa, the unqualified shogunate governor, and even wanted to force the emperor to abdicate.

Ninagawa just didn't understand. What was so special about this administrative deputy official?

The real head of the government office was Ise Sadakuni. Where is he now? Didn't Oda Nobunaga tie up his entire family and kill them all on the river bank, leaving no one alive?

Hatakeyama Takamasa was even more ridiculous, clinging tightly to his title of shogunate kanrei, which was not worthy of his title.

  Are you kidding? With her notorious reputation and her pathetic appearance of having lost her family fortune, what is there to cherish about a nominal governor?

If the saint had not stepped in to protect her territory in Minami-Kawachi, Hatakeyama Takamasa, the head of the Hatakeyama family, would not know where to beg for food now?

  After being so arrogant for several years in the empty shell of the Kyoto Shogunate, do these two frogs in the well really think they are capable enough? Do they dare to make conditions with the saint?

If Ninagawa Shinagawa wasn't the biological daughter of Ninagawa Shinshige, she wouldn't want to get involved in these messes.

If he hadn't thought that if he didn't do it, his mother would find someone else to do it, Ninagawa would have run to the saint to kowtow and apologize, and sold out his mother completely.

But it is not too late now. Ninagawa Yoshihiko is trying to pass messages between Ashikaga Yoshiaki and his mother, just to control the rhythm and prepare to surrender to the saint.

When the critical moment comes, she will definitely sell out her confused old mother without hesitation in order to preserve the Ninagawa family's property.