In the main hall of Shiba's residence, Ninagawa knelt carefully in front of the Ginza.
"Sage, foreign ministers know their sins."
Yiyin looked down at her and asked.
"Mr. Ninagawa, you are quite old. It's getting cold very quickly. Don't let yourself get too cold.
I have to say that this sin is still on me. I killed Kamemaru's entire family without telling you. I was impulsive and I can't help you.
Listen to her, she is your Tucang manager? "
Ninagawa Makoto, who originally wanted to straighten up, turned pale when he heard the second half of Yoshigan's words, sweating profusely, and quickly knelt down and kowtowed.
"The foreign minister is guilty!"
Yoshigan looked coldly at the ministers kneeling at Ninagawa Makoto and behind her. The few people present were of higher status, and there were more people kneeling in the inner courtyard outside.
Sitting next to him were Hatakeyama Takamasa, Hosokawa Fujitaka and other senior shogunate officials. They all waited with baited breath, not daring to intercede for Ninagawa himself.
Yiyin sighed.
"Ninagawa-san, you are taking good care of me.
A total of five hundred Ji warriors with high martial arts skills, noble birth, sorrow and anger, hungry and cold, and heavily in debt.
How come you can't stand it? Why don't you know how to be afraid? Yes, yes, if something happens to the shogunate, I will be the one to blame, so what do you need to be afraid of?
But, I'm afraid!
The Shiba family's garrison in the capital can't even muster five hundred samurai warriors. How dare you force the Ashikaga warriors into despair? What should you do if a riot breaks out?
Those are all warriors who are skilled in battle formations, not peasants who can't even hold a knife!
Have you lived like a dog at your age? Do you know that if their anger is ignited, they can burn the entire Kyoto to ashes? "
Yiyin was really angry.
He originally thought that the Ashikaga clan members were short of food and clothing, but when he saw their plight with his own eyes, he realized that he had thought too well of the shogunate group.
Ninagawa himself and the ministers, they are a bunch of greedy, reckless and stupid people!
Ashikaga Yoshiaki has not paid a grain of rice or a penny to the Ashikaga Huichen for two years. The castle town Tukura controlled by the shogunate group has left the Ashikama Huizhong in debt.
The weather this year has been colder than usual, and the rare first winter snow has destroyed the houses of many Ashikama Hui members, leaving them hungry and cold.
Yoshigan even saw with his own eyes that a merchant dared to speak nonsense in front of him and insult a descendant of a famous family with family honor, just because that idiot merchant was a lackey of Ninagawa's family.
Ashikama returned to those Hime warriors. They had no money, no food, no shelter, no dignity, nothing! Both physically and mentally, they are on the verge of collapse!
Yoshigan's own Shiba residence was not far from the town where the Ashikama Hui clan gathered. He couldn't even imagine that he slept on top of a powder keg every day.
Had it not been for the fact that Ashikama Huizu couldn't stand it any longer and begged Hatakeyama Takamasa to give advice to Yoshihiro, Yoshihiro would probably have faced a riot in Kyoto around him.
What would be even more frightening would be if the riot occurred after he had already left Kyoto for Kanto and could not make it back.
Yiyin knew that the shogunate group was corrupt and greedy, but he really didn't expect that this group of people didn't even have basic common sense.
The ruler can take away everything from the ruled, but at least there must be a glimmer of hope, otherwise all order may collapse in an instant at any time.
Yoshigan was always polite to Ninagawa Makoto, but today, he really couldn't be polite anymore.
He was afraid that if he continued to be polite, these idiots would make bigger troubles in the future, and he really couldn't catch them!
Ninagawa Makoto was lying on the ground shivering. She had never seen Yoshigage speak so harshly to her, and she was filled with fear and regret at the same time.
Speaking of which, she felt that she was a little unjust. Rome was not built in a day, and neither was the plight of the Ashikaga Hui clan.
Ashikaga Yoshiaki is a pauper. Ever since he angered Yoshigami and Oda Nobunaga, he has lost all his financial resources.
After Sakamoto Castle was taken away by the Oda family, the Ashikama Hui's last supply ground was gone, and they could only be trapped in Kyoto and suffer poverty.
Ashikaga Yoshiaki couldn't get money, and Niki Yoshimasa, the commander of the Horsemen, also ran away. The Ashikaga Horsemen could only borrow money in the castle town of Kyoto to survive.
It was actually okay at the beginning. Each family had some financial resources, and the Tokura controlled by the Shouchen Group was doing business honestly, and everyone was in peace.
However, as Ashikaga Yoshiaki was hit again and again, his prestige declined day by day, and the Ashikaga Huizhong borrowed more and more, gradually becoming a phoenix in the eyes of Kyoto people.
When Ashikaga Yoshiaki ran away, the Ashikaga Horsemen were reduced to bereft dogs. Even the merchants in the castle town dared to rely on the shogunate group to show their power over them.
The merchants and townspeople were short-sighted. They had no idea how much destructive power these knife-wielding guys would cause if they really broke out.
They only know that turning a once noble person into a pariah can give their self-esteem a boost. This is the malice coming from the lower class.
The experience of tall grass is not an exception, but it is impossible for these undercurrents to reach the ears of a big boss like Ninagawa Makoyo.
Ninagawa Himashi only knew that the Ashikaga Kaishou was still borrowing money, and that he was borrowing more and more money, and he could no longer afford to pay it back. She was worried about collecting the debt, but she didn't know that the volcano was about to erupt.
This may be what the old saying goes, a blind eye. Ninagawa himself, a fool under the lamp, became the target of Yoshigage's vent.
Ninagawa Makoyo felt aggrieved, but she couldn't say anything. Is she going to tell Yoshihiro that I can't control the Shogunate Group and I don't know what happened in the castle town of Kyoto?
This is not possible!
Once Yoshigan felt that Ninagawa himself could not control the ministers and the situation in Kyoto, he would find someone else to manage the ministers and manage the affairs of Kyoto.
Ninagawa would lose her power in Kyoto, which would really kill the Ninagawa family.
Therefore, no matter how unjust he was, Ninagawa himself must swallow this dead rat.
She would rather be a stupid and bad leader of the ministers than let Yiyin think that she can't control the overall situation and is being deceived.
Just when Yoshigan was scolding Ninagawa, Naomasa Ii walked in and bowed deeply to Yoshigan.
"Saint, all the IOUs have been collected and burned in the fire outside the mansion."
Yiyin nodded and asked.
"Are you sure you've taken it all back?"
Ii Naomasa sneered.
"All the castle stewards in the castle town are kneeling outside the mansion, and I have settled the accounts with them face to face.
All the debts owed by the Ashikama Huizhong have been paid from your private treasury, and all the warehouse stewards have received the food stamps, signed and pledged them, and settled the accounts. "
Yiyin nodded and said.
"Well done."
Although Yiyin doesn't like to talk about money, and he doesn't even know how much money he has in his private treasury, it doesn't mean that he can't come up with money.
The Sibo Tongxin people followed him around. The Tongxin Secretariat was the central organization of the Sibo family, and a large amount of food stamps were reserved for emergencies.
To put it harshly, as long as Yiyin needs it, Takada Harano can print a large amount of food stamps at any time to enrich his private treasury. For Yiyin, wealth has changed from actual numbers to abstract concepts.
As long as the Spo family's financial system does not collapse, he can have as many food stamps as he wants. As long as people in the world still recognize the purchasing power of Spo's food stamps, his food stamps can be spent as money.
There were 500 people in the Ashikaga Hui clan. In the past two years, in Tukura, a castle town in Kyoto, each person borrowed more than 12 koku, and the total amount exceeded 6,000 koku.
Naomasa Ii directly took a stack of food stamps, and each family went to the warehouse to clear their accounts. According to the food stamps and grain exchange ratio of the day, all the accounts were settled.
In fact, the merchants in Tsuchikura were so frightened that Boss Kamemaru and his family were beheaded in Kamogawa that they peed their pants, and they didn't want to take any money at all.
But the problem is that collecting the arrears and burning the IOUs is a political drama in itself for Yoshibank to benevolent Ashikama Kaizu. How could he allow the merchant not to collect money?
Some favors are not something that businessmen can mix with. Yiyin doesn't spend money to buy IOUs. Who dares to assume the role of a good person?
Who dares to go beyond the gift of silver and send a favor to Ashikaga and return to the crowd? Do you want to rebel?
Naomasa Ii successfully took back the IOU and burned them all outside the Shiba residence. Manager Tsuchikura knelt on the ground again.
The momentum was so great that the Ashikaga return crowd must have seen it.
Having regained their dignity and ignited hope, they should be stabilized for the time being, and Yiyin also breathed a sigh of relief.
The next question is how to punish the ministers group.
To be honest, Yoshiyin was quite disgusted this time, but it was unrealistic for him to slap the shogunate group to death.
The political triangle of the shogunate, the Ashikaga shogun, the shogunate group, and the local powerful factions.
Ashikaga Yoshiaki went to the territory of the Mori family to establish a new center, and Yoshigan, as the boss of the local powerful faction, guarded the Kyoto shogunate base camp.
At this moment, it is a critical moment for both sides of the martial arts family in the world to watch the situation and see the quality of the two shogunates.
If Yoshigan severely punishes the shogunate group, it will push the shogunate group to the side of Ashikaga Yoshiaki.
The mountain city's national stone is 230,000 stones high, and with the dots of ministerial territories in the surrounding countries, the total is 300,000 to 400,000 stones.
These fools have been entrenched for two hundred years. Whether it is Kyoto or the surrounding areas of Yamashiro Country, they are all intricately connected. If they really want to uproot the shogunate group, violent turmoil will inevitably occur.
Moreover, such a violent political earthquake will also be exploited by Ashikaga Yoshiaki, making the world's samurai even more hesitant about which of the two centers is the orthodox one.
Yiyin was a little confused.
If I act too harshly, it will not be conducive to political unity. But if you hold it high and put it low, you are afraid that these stupid bums will heal their scars and forget the pain, and they will give themselves a bigger job next time.
Just when he was hesitating, Kamao clan hurriedly walked into the main hall and bowed to him.
Yiyin frowned.
"What happened again?
Didn't I tell you to gather the salt, cloth, and building materials from the military station and send them to the Ashikaga warriors first? Why are you back so soon? "
Kamojigo said with a serious face.
“Sage, the Ashikama Hui people have gathered hundreds of people and are on their way to Shiba’s residence.
Moreover, they are still calling for their comrades, and the number of people gathering is getting larger and larger. I am worried that eventually there will be hundreds, or even 500 people coming. "
Yoshigan's heart skipped a beat, and he glared fiercely at Ninagawa himself who looked up at him. Ninagawa was so frightened that Ninagawa himself quickly knelt down obediently.
He said solemnly.
"What do they want? Complaint, or...revenge?"
Kamo Shigo shook his head and said.
"I asked the leaders, and they said they wanted to summon the horse warriors to present you with the Kodachi sword."
Yiyin's face relaxed and he smiled.
"Nonsense! The Ashikaga warriors are the shogun's bodyguards. What kind of Kodachi are they offering me?"
Go and tell them and ask them to disband the team immediately and go back to collect the salt, cloth, and building materials they need at home.
The next winter snow may come at any time. It’s important to take care of your family and stop fooling around! "
What Yoshigan feared the most was that the Ashikaga Hui people would take advantage of this counter-insurgent force and burst out their pent-up anger, demanding that the shogunate group be held accountable, or that the Tokura steward be killed in revenge.
Fortunately, they are still reasonable and only know how to repay kindness but not revenge, so it will be easy to handle.
It was impossible for Yiyin to accept the Kodachi presented by them. This was a traditional loyalty ceremony of the samurai family. Once he accepted it, he would recognize the relationship between the king and his ministers.
Back then, after Uesugi Kenshin completed the succession ceremony of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and became the leader of Kanto, the Kanto samurai family also collectively presented her with a small sword once.
In the Kanto system, the Kanto Commander is the second-in-command after the Kanto General. It is proper for Uesugi Kenshin to accept the donated Kodachi.
But the situation of Yiyin is different.
Although he is a survivor of the ancestors and calls himself the elder of the Minamoto clan, he is not an Ashikaga shogun after all.
No matter how bad Ashikaga Yoshiaki does, Yoshigage still needs to maintain the perfect image of a samurai saint and not mess up the monarch and his ministers.
If you turn Ashikaga Shogun's direct descendants into your own ministers, who is the king? Who is the minister? This place cannot be washed.
Yoshigan needs to appease the Ashikama Hui people and win over these people, but he cannot establish a monarch-minister relationship with them, leaving a political stain that is easily criticized by outsiders.
Faced with the angry Ashikama Hui people, Yoshihiro could not directly respond to their enthusiasm, let alone anger them and disappoint them.
Yiyin's only feasible strategy is to talk more about family and responsibilities to remind them of their own burdens, lest these Ji warriors become hot-headed and refuse to listen to others' advice.
Women who have a family, a career, a husband and children are the best to deal with. As long as their weaknesses are mentioned, they are not afraid of being as impulsive as carefree girls.
Therefore, a normal society will inevitably guide people to get married and have children. Marriage may not be a good thing for individuals, but it is the cornerstone of stability for the entire society.
Kamao Clan bowed and left, explaining Yoshigan's request to the Ashikaga crowd.
Yiyin was anxiously waiting for her reply, hoping that this matter would not continue to cause trouble.
(End of chapter)
