different warring states of japan

Chapter 2088 The sacrificial ceremony is about to begin

Smart people can always convince themselves with clear logic. It is easy to confuse them for a while, but it is very difficult to make them become devout believers in God.

In fact, the main reason was that Akechi Mitsuhide had never seen the world and had never seen the miracle that Yoshigin performed in the snow at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.

In the heavy snow, only Yoshigin was offering sacrifices to Hachiman Tai Niang with the sun above his head. He received a divine revelation in front of everyone, which frightened the Hojo family so much that they dared not act rashly, and the Kanto samurai kowtowed and admitted their mistakes.

If Akechi Mitsuhide had seen that scene, her three perspectives would have been shattered. Let's see how she could explain this extreme weather change.

The three of them looked at Nanshan Mountain in the distance. They could faintly hear musical instruments playing. Yiyin suddenly remembered something.

"Does the Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine enshrine a white flag, the same one that the first Ashikaga Shogun used to summon his retainers in the western provinces?"

Hosokawa Fujitaka was relieved to see that the two finally stopped competing with each other.

Akechi Mitsuhide was her iron ally, and Yoshigin was her lord and man. The two of them quarreled over their different ideas, which made Hosokawa Fujitaka, a speculator who had been trained in shogunate politics, anxious.

Seeing that the topic had finally been brought up, she wanted to take it even further to prevent the conflict between Yoshigin and Akechi Mitsuhide from escalating.

Hosokawa Fujitaka smiled.

“It’s that imperial white flag.

At that time, the first shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga Takauji, was murdered by a traitor and was forced to flee to the west alone after being defeated in the war.

It was with this imperial white flag that the samurai of the western provinces were called upon to renew their oaths, escort the direct descendants of the Kawachi Genji to Kyoto, and reopen the Kaifu.

Thinking about it now, more than a hundred years later, is still fascinating and exciting. "

Yiyin smiled and said nothing.

Although Ashikaga Takauji was the first shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, he actually did not live a comfortable life and was even very depressed.

The emperor repeatedly bullied her, and other branches of the Kawachi Genji also competed with her for the orthodoxy. In the end, she was defeated and almost wiped out.

Fortunately, the emperor at that time was a fool. He was unwilling to accept the trend of the samurai replacing the court officials. He insisted on going against the trend, restoring the monarchy, and taking away the manors and lands that the samurai had obtained with great difficulty.

This triggered a huge backlash from the samurai. The samurai who were forced into a corner once again remembered their oath to be forever loyal to Kawachi Genji, and lifted up Ashikaga Takauji, who had almost become a lost dog.

Ironically, the place where Ashikaga Takauji regrouped in the west was Tomo in Bingo Province.

After Ashikaga Yoshiaki escaped from Kyoto, he established his government in Tomoshige with the support of the western overlord, the Mori family, in an attempt to replicate the story of Ashikaga Takauji.

It’s a pity that Yoshikin was not the brainless emperor. He always stood firmly on the side of the interests of the samurai, leaving Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the poor shogun, at a loss as to what to do.

In the end, Ashikaga Yoshiaki had no choice but to return to Kinki in disgrace and pray to Ashikaga Takauji's white flag at Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine, hoping to gain Yoshiaki's forgiveness and return to Kyoto.

Thinking of this, Yiyin couldn't help but laugh.

Whether it was Minamoto no Tomonori or Ashikaga Takauji, the founders of these two samurai regimes were actually weak lords who had to rely on the support of the Sakato Hachihei clan and the western retainers to open their regimes.

And Yiyin may not be as good as them.

As a man, Yoshigin was naturally at a disadvantage in the strictly hierarchical samurai society, so he had to find another way out and follow Shintoism to downplay his gender attributes and deify himself.

Men are not allowed to have sex promiscuously, otherwise the children they give birth to will be looked down upon and regarded as bastards.

But if it was a male god, it would be fine.

Thinking of this, Yoshikin didn't know whether he still had the qualifications to laugh at the weakness of Minamoto no Yoritomo and Ashikaga Takauji, and he seemed to be embarrassed as well.

Shaking his head, he sighed.

No matter what, the Imperial White Flag enshrined in Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine seems to be unable to survive today. Miyanogiin was lost in thought, and Hosokawa Fujitaka said in amusement.

"Is the saint thinking about the sacrificial ceremony on the other side? It is said that it was personally organized by Ninagawa. It is a rare large-scale event of the shogunate in recent years. It is very luxurious."

Yiyin smiled.

"The shogunate has not been wealthy in recent years, and it's rare that the deputy governor Ninagawa Chikayo is willing to spend money.

I don't care about the sacrifice itself, but I think the 108 white flags flying around the main hall must be quite spectacular."

Akechi Mitsuhide glanced at Yoshigane and interrupted.

"I heard that these 108 white flags were put up all over the main hall overnight. The flagpoles were made of iron and were inserted very deep. The priests and maidens of the shrine were so scared that they went around looking for outsiders to see if there was any intruder.

It is interesting that these people who are closest to the gods are the ones who least believe in miracles. "

Akechi Mitsuhide had a hint that serving the gods might not be true faith, and Yoshigin smiled indifferently.

"They don't believe in God but make a living by offering sacrifices to gods. It's not unjust for these pseudo-believers to die."

Akechi Mitsuhide heard a hint of murderous intent in Yoshigin's tone and narrowed her eyes. She was about to say something else when Yoshigin pointed at the Hachiman Shrine in the distance.

"Look, it seems to have started."

Akechi Mitsuhide and Hosokawa Fujitaka followed Yoshigatsu's finger and looked. Hachiman Shrine had become lively, but Yoshigatsu's gaze was not focused on the distance, but rather somewhat scattered.

He was silently opening the system interface, clicking on the special effect of Heaven's Jealous Beauty, opening the system range to cover the isthmus of Tianwang Mountain and Nanshan Mountain, and then... Thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder.

A strange sound was faintly heard in the sky, and the sky suddenly became much darker, causing Akechi Mitsuhide to look up in shock.

The originally clear sky seemed to have been wiped by a rag, covered with a little haze, appearing a little blurry, and the sudden clouds and wind were faintly heard with the sounds of lightning and thunder.

On both sides of the Yodo River, on one side is the unobstructed Yamazaki Tenno Shrine, and on the other side are 108 tall lightning rods. The sky is suddenly covered with dark clouds, and thunder is flashing. Where will it strike?

---

Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine, side hall.

Keerjichang knocked gently a few times, opened the sliding door, and bowed deeply.

In the quiet room, Ashikaga Yoshiaki sat in the main seat with his eyes closed and asked slowly.

"Has it started yet?"

"Hi, the priests and shrine maidens have already prepared for the ceremony. Lord Ninagawa and Lord Hatakeyama are already waiting outside with the shogunate retainers. We kindly ask the shogun to come and preside over the ceremony."

Ashikaga Yoshiaki slowly opened his eyes, smiled bitterly and asked back.

"Please respectfully? Why do you respectfully? Why do you invite me?"

The wandering life of living under other people's roofs in the past few years has left traces of time on Ashikaga Yoshiaki's face, and her temperament is no longer as frivolous and ignorant as it used to be.

But you can't tell from her expression whether she has ever regretted it in her heart.

I originally thought that Shogun Ashikaga was a man whose words were law, and I originally thought that I had regained my freedom after leaving the control of Sasaki Yoshikane and Oda Nobunaga.

But the truth was so cruel that it slapped Ashikaga Yoshiaki so hard that the Ashikaga general, who boasted of his noble bloodline, saw stars.