[The Japanese era name, emperor's name, era background, place names and domain names that appear in this volume are all fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental. 】
In this parallel universe that is both familiar and unfamiliar to us, not only the Central Plains, but also the history of all parts of the world has undergone certain changes.
For example, the "Warring States Period" of Japan, Dazao's neighbor, came later than we know.
Until the 20th year of Yongtai, the Tokugawa shogunate had not yet been established, and the warlord separatism in Japan was still in full swing.
At this time of year, Japan is in the midst of the reign of its 113th emperor, Emperor Sakigawa, with the reign name "Yuanwa".
The "shogun" of the shogunate at that time was named Ashikaga Yoshiaki.
Here is a brief mention for readers who don't know much about it. During the "Shogunate Era", the emperor was basically ignored. The real person in power in Japan at that time was the "Shogun" of the shogunate, or "shogun" for short. ; Under the generals there are several daimyo, that is, the princes who rule various vassal states.
When you hear this, do you feel a bit like "taking advantage of the emperor to order the princes"?
Yes, it was almost the same in the Warring States Period, but Ashikaga Yoshiaki was obviously incomparable to Cao Mengde.
Although he held the status of shogun and could "justifiably" unite or attack princes everywhere, he failed to become the final winner in this era of warlords' melee, but that was something later, at least for the moment. Not defeated yet.
The story of this volume starts from the war-torn second year of Yuanhe.
According to legend, somewhere on the Kiyin Peninsula south of Osaka, there was a little-known vassal state named "Sahara".
The territory of Zuo Yuan Kingdom is not very large, with a population of only a few thousand, but it can still be considered a land of plenty.
Ordinarily, at that time, a small vassal state like this could easily be targeted and annexed by other forces, but Zuoyuan's situation was quite special: Zuoyuan was surrounded by mountains on three sides and faced the sea at its back. Unless it took a lot of effort to get from the sea Detour, otherwise the only way in and out of their country would be a canyon in the mountains.
Such a terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack naturally discourages the armies of other vassal states. Considering that this place is just a blind spot on the lower edge of the Jiyin Peninsula on the map, it does not have much strategic value, and among other forces itself They are also restraining each other, so no daimyo will attack this place for the time being.
The Zuo Yuan Kingdom was able to stay in this corner of the world for the time being.
…………
In the second year of Yuanhe, somewhere in Zuoyuan.
Under the cold moonlight, a man in his fifties, dressed as a warrior, was standing in the water carrying a baggage.
He stared at a huge black shadow in the distance and remained silent for a long time...
The place he was in at the moment was in a valley. There was a large wading area in the center of the valley, which looked like a lake but not a lake. The water was shallower than an adult's waist, but the area was much larger than an ordinary pond.
After the man stood there for a long time, his eyes changed as if he had made up his mind...and then he moved.
He lifted the bundle in his hand, untied the outer cloth, stuffed the cloth into his arms, and then opened a brocade box in the bundle.
Inside the box was a disk-shaped jade stone about 30 centimeters in diameter and more than 5 centimeters thick.
This jade is reddish all over, and the withered patterns on both sides of the jade plate are intertwined and intertwined, showing a five-clawed golden dragon soaring into the clouds and riding in the mist.
The book here implies that this piece of jade is the national treasure that the Japanese envoys stole from the Dashu Palace as mentioned in our previous letter, and it is called "Xielong Bi".
So how did this thing fall into the hands of the man in front of me? Let's not mention it here... let's just talk about this man. He picked up the dragon wall and walked towards the huge black shadow in front of him.
If you wade through the water, you won't go too fast.
But the distance between the giant shadow in the lake and the man seemed not as far as visually perceived.
After only a few dozen seconds of walking, the man arrived next to the giant shadow.
He looked up at the giant shadow, and the other party... was also looking at him.
There was no dialogue. The man just looked at a huge eye for a few seconds, then silently put down the brocade box containing the dragon wall in his hand and let it sink into the water.
Then, he slowly stepped back, bowed, and turned around to leave.
…………
When the man walked out of the valley, a gust of autumn wind suddenly blew.
His clothes were basically soaked, and he was shaken by the wind.
However, this also happened to make his already somewhat hazy spirit quickly return to some clarity.
"Lord Soga." At this time, a rough voice said, "Are you okay?"
Zuo Yuanzong turned his head when he heard the sound, looked at the man not far away who was kneeling on one knee to greet him, and replied in a deep voice: "Oh... Kansuke, are you waiting for me?"
"Yes." Kansuke lowered his head and responded.
"Well..." Zuo Yuanzong nodded and continued, "What happened this time is from beginning to end... Thank you for your trouble."
"This is what a subordinate should do." Kansuke replied with a sincere expression, "As long as I can relieve Souga-sama's worries..."
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Woo——
Kansuke was only halfway through what he said when he was interrupted by a deafening low groan.
The voice came from the mouth of the valley next to the two of them.
This is a peculiar groan that cannot be imitated by any animal in the world. Although it does not sound like a "roar", it is just a low voice, but it can still instantly drown out all the sounds in the place where the sound reaches.
At that moment, the entire Zuoyuan seemed to hear this low moan, but not many people knew what it meant...
"This is..." After the sound dissipated and his hearing recovered, Kansuke couldn't help but widen his eyes, looked in the direction of Taniguchi, and murmured.
"It seems to have been successful." Zongga also looked in that direction, "This is the first time I have heard... the voice of 'God'."
Soga paused and then said: "In this way, no matter whether it is Hojo, Rokkaku... or even the shogunate army, there is nothing to fear... cough! Uh-huh..."
As he was speaking, his expression suddenly changed, he covered his chest with an expression of extreme pain, and coughed violently.
"Lord Souga!" Seeing this, Kansuke stopped caring about etiquette and hurriedly stepped forward to help.
"No...it's okay." Although Soga said this, he did not reject Kansuke's kindness. He allowed Kansuke to support him. After his breathing became calmer, he looked at the blood he coughed into his palm. , and then said, "This is just because the body has just vomited out the pain after being treated in the 'sacred water'..." He said, taking two more breaths, "Just spit it out..."
The tone in which he said the last half of his sentence seemed a bit like self-deception for some reason.
"Let's go back, Kansuke." Soga rested for a while and then said to Kansuke, "Go and tell everyone the good news."
"Yes." Kansuke responded, slowly letting go of the hand he was holding on Soga, and then respectfully stood back two meters away from him.
"By the way, what happened to me coughing just now..." Zongga wanted to say something else.
"I understand," Kansuke said before the other party finished speaking, "Don't worry, Soga-sama, I will never tell anyone."
