On the night of March 15th, the fifth year of Tenmon (1536), Zentokuji Temple in Suruga Province, Tokaido.
The fourth son of the Warring States Daimyo Imagawa clan who ruled the two countries of Tokaido Suruga and Ene - and the sibling younger brother of the current head of the Imagawa clan Teru Imagawa - the future famous Imagawa Yoshimoto - is still a young monk named Umetake Seiyoshi ——Reading scriptures by candlelight in the temple. According to the practice of the samurai family, in order to avoid brothers fighting for power, other descendants of the daimyo are often sent to become monks, and the Imagawa family is no exception. However, Mei Yue Chengfang did not shave his head when he became a monk. Instead, he tied his long flowing hair behind his head, euphemistically called it the practice of practicing with hair.
However, those who are familiar with Mei Yue Chengfang know that the arty man simply does not want to damage his handsome appearance by shaving his head. However, compared to the great monks of the Xiang Sect who marry wives and have children, drink alcohol and eat meat, Mei Yue Chengfang, who is still a vegetarian, is considered a clean figure among the monks.
Of course, those who are familiar with Mei Yue Chengfang must also know that it is absolutely impossible for him, who has always been playful, to stay up late reading Buddhist scriptures.
Taiyuan Xuezhai is the person who is most familiar with Mei Yue Chengfang. As the eminent monk assigned by the Imagawa family to be Mei Yue Chengfang's teacher for more than ten years, he was ordained according to Buddhist rules. But when he returned to the temple late at night, he was carrying a large chicken drumstick dripping with oil. The white cassock on his body was also messy. The woman's lip prints were clearly visible on his neck, and he still smelled of rouge. Needless to say, we know where this crooked old monk came from.
Taiyuan Xuezhai was leaning quietly outside Mei Yue Chengfang's room, carefully looking at Mei Yue Chengfang inside the room through the window paper. Taiyuan Xuezhai knew his disciple better than anyone, who was gifted but never chanted sutras well, so he was naturally familiar with his nature - he must have pretended to be reading sutras, but was actually peeking at "Xianshu". The reason why I stopped and watched for a long time was just to judge whether Mei Yue Chengfang was peeking at the Flower and Bird Pictures or the Collection of Japanese Songs.
Just observing, Taiyuan Xuezhai coughed heavily, threw down the chicken legs, pushed open the door, and strode inside. Mei Yue Chengfang panicked when he heard the sound and hurriedly closed the Buddhist scripture in front of him, but Taiyuan Xuezhai behind him pulled out the flower and bird pictures hidden in the scripture.
"Tell me, where did you get it from?" Taiyuan Xuezhai shook the flower-and-bird picture he had seized from Mei Yue Chengfang with his greasy hands that had just been holding the chicken legs, "I just received you a collection of Japanese songs the day before yesterday, why are you peeking at it again? Can’t you recite sutras well?”
"Hey! Old man! Don't touch my painting with your oily hands! It's so dirty!" Mei Yue Chengfang saw that her cherished flower and bird painting was instantly stained with oil stains. Her face turned red with anxiety, and she was about to go and grab it. , but Taiyuan Xuezhai took it into his arms with a big shake of his hand, and shouted majestically: "Confiscated!"
Mei Yue Chengfang instantly lowered his head like a defeated rooster, turned away gloomily, sat down angrily, and muttered: "There is really no way..."
"You brat, it's good that you are gentle and well-educated in front of outsiders, but you are so rude in front of me as your teacher! When you were a child, you called me teacher, but now you have to call me 'old man' and 'old man' every day!" Taiyuan Xue The more Zhai talked, the angrier he became, and then he sat down cross-legged opposite Mei Yue Chengfang, cleared his throat and said, "Old rules, I punish you by listening to my teacher lecture."
"It's that red bird story again..." Mei Yue Chengfang muttered angrily, leaning on the desk and pretending to snore. Taiyuan Xuezhai didn't take it seriously at all, but said to himself: "You haven't understood it thoroughly. As a teacher, I just keep talking! I'll keep talking until you understand!"
"When I first heard about it, there were steep mountains to the north of the Suruga River, and fierce birds lived in the forests of the steep mountains, with red feathers all over their bodies..."
As soon as the familiar story began, Mei Yue Chengfang suddenly fell asleep. Although he usually couldn't stand this boring story, this time he got sleepy too quickly and fell into sleep all of a sudden.
He seemed to have had a long, long dream, in which many things happened and many tears were shed.
But when he was shaken awake by the angry Taiyuan Xuezhai, he suddenly couldn't remember anything. Only two sentences vaguely lingered in his ears -
"Yu Qiuping...do you know what you did?"
"What do you know? This is the realization of His Highness the Governor!"
·
On the same night, under the same bright moon, in Odawara Castle, the home of the Hojo family in Sagami Province.
The Hojo family and the Imagawa family have been allies for decades. At first, the Hojo family was the retainer of the Imagawa family. Hojo Soun, the first generation of the Hojo family, was the uncle of Umetake Seiyoshi's father, the ninth generation head of the Imagawa family, Imagawa Clan. He was a hero who supported the Imagawa clan's rise to the throne. For his merits, he was awarded the Kokokuji Temple area in the east of Suruga. Based on this, the Hojo family gradually developed into the Kanto region east of Suruga, eroding Izu Kingdom, Sagami Kingdom and half of Musashi Kingdom, and now has become a daimyo with the same strength as the Imagawa family. However, the two families still maintain close contact through in-law relationships and frequent contacts. This month, Imagawa family governor Imagawa Ujiteru and his second brother Hikogoro visited Odawara Castle and stayed for a long time to demonstrate the stability of the "Shunto Alliance". Now the second-generation governor of the Hojo family, Hojo Utsuna, and his retainers are holding a tea party to see off the Imagawa brothers.
In the kitchen of Odawara Castle, Hojo Ujiyasu, the legitimate son of Hojo Ujitsuna, was hiding behind the stove and feasting on delicious Ochazuke rice. And his uncle Hojo Genan, a famous monk and tea master in the Hojo family, happened to go back to the kitchen to make tea, and bumped into Hojo Ujiyasu.
"Young master, how could you be so unbecoming of not going to the tea party to accompany the guests, but instead hiding in the kitchen?" Hojo Genan criticized Hojo Yasudou while sending the others to bring the brewed tea to the Imagawa brothers.
"That's more respectable than making your own decisions and poisoning guests, right? Dad doesn't know about this yet, right?" Hojo Ujiyasu didn't even raise his eyelids, and continued to eat while mumbling inarticulately. road.
Hojo Genan's face instantly darkened, he did not speak, but stared at Hojo Ujiyasu with squinted eyes.
"Uncle, you don't have to hide it from me. There must be a chronic poison in the tea. It will cause death after two days. Fuma Ninja just prepared it not long ago, a new drug with no trace of poisoning at all." Hojo Ujiyasu swallowed his food, and then said to him Hojo Genan smiled, "The Imagawa family governor and the first heir are about to die on the same day, and Sosuke Imagawa (Ujiteru Imagawa) has not left any heirs... The remaining heirs are his two Two younger brothers - Genguang Etan and Umetake Chengyang, who will win? Tsk tsk... The Imagawa family is about to be in chaos. At that time, the Hojo family will send troops to uphold justice in the name of allies... Tsk tsk... This Suruga, But it’s what we say that has the final say.”
"Young Master, it's best to eat more and talk less." Hojo Genan did not answer directly, but picked up a cup of tea on the table and poured it into Hojo Ujiyasu's bowl.
"Hey, uncle, what do you know?" Hojo Ujiyasu hurriedly took away the bowl. It took a long time to prevent Hojo Genan from pouring the tea into it. He said carefully, "Chazuke rice, if you pour too much tea soup, it won't taste good. .”
"Then what do you want to eat, young master?" Hojo Genan shook his royal blue cassock, leaning on the stove and looking at Hojo Ujiyasu.
"Dad, he always misses the old relationship with the Imagawa family. Even though the general manager (10th generation Imagawa Ujiteru) is so weak, he still has no greed for the Imagawa family and insists on letting me marry the late repairman ( The daughter of the ninth generation Imagawa clan) is really an amazing and good person." Hojo Ujiyasu shook his head, poured the remaining ochazuke rice in the bowl into the trash can, and stretched the empty bowl in front of Hojo Genan, "But I'm different, I'm not a good person. I'm really greedy for these two big fat pieces of meat, Suruga and Enji. Isn't this better than chazuke rice?"
"Young master, if you want to eat, I will bring it to you, monk." Hojo Genan sneered, and looked at each other in understanding with Hojo Ujiyasu.
"Uncle, you're right -" Hojo Ujiyasu brought the bowl to his mouth, drank the remaining tea juice in one gulp, then wiped his unshaven mouth, and laughed in a low voice, "The Imagawa family is already at your mouth. On."
·
Almost at the same time, the Suruga Kingdom spread throughout the Zhaokoji Temple.
The third eldest son of the Imagawa family, Xuanguang Huitan, who became a monk at Benzhaoguang Temple, is now in tears. He looked at the mirror almost in disbelief, and then looked at the signature at the end of the letter in front of him - the four words "Xuan Guang Hui Tan" were clearly visible. He touched his face over and over again, integrating the different memories of the two lives in his mind over and over again, and finally cried out in pain.
"The sky has eyes... Let my unscrupulous descendants travel back to their ancestors hundreds of years ago. Countless people in our lineage, who were expelled and hunted for countless days and nights, dreamed of reviving the Imagawa family. ...I didn’t expect that heaven would really give me this opportunity, but it was at the best time..." Xuan Guanghui put his hand on the letter, raised his head and stared at the familiar and unfamiliar face in the mirror again, murmuring to himself He said, "The severed lineage, the lost territory, and the tarnished Imagawa family... all the glory of the past will be protected by me in the future, as Xuanguang Etan. Father, grandfather , great-grandfather, ancestors of the Imagawa family...please give me strength, Saburo."
Then he looked at the date at the end of the letter—March 15, the fifth year of Astronomy (1536). Xuanguang Huitan clearly remembers the dates of every major event in the history of the Imagawa family, so he will naturally not miss the Huacang Rebellion. In two days, the governor of the Imagawa family, Imagawa Ujiteru, and his younger brother, Imagawa Hikoro, will both die violently in Imagawakan (Sunfu Castle). The battle for the governor, which will determine the fate of the Imagawa family - the Hanakura Rebellion will also break out. If history does not change, as the legitimate son, Meiyue Chengfang will, under the planning of Taiyuan Xue Zhai, get the support of his mother Shou Guini and a group of family members, and seek reinforcements from the Hojo family to defeat the weak Xuan Guang Hui Tan. Later, he changed his name to Imagawa Yoshimoto and led the Imagawa family to glory - and destruction after glory.
But this time it's different.
Xuan Guang Huitan wiped away his tears, stood up slowly, and made a vow in his heart.
·
Turn your attention back to Zentokuji Temple in Suruga Province.
"You brat, is the story of being a teacher really that boring?" Taiyuan Xuezhai looked at the sleepy Mei Yue Chengfang and shook his head in confusion, "In the blink of an eye, you can fall asleep?"
"Ah, teacher, I feel like I've had a long dream, as if something terrible happened." Mei Yue Chengfang mumbled vaguely, rubbing her eyes that couldn't be opened, "I feel so dizzy. , I can’t remember anything, I really can’t help it.”
"Monks don't tell lies. You've clearly just fallen asleep for a while, how much can you dream about?" Taiyuan Xuezhai couldn't help but scratch his bald head in laughter, "Tell me, what do you remember?"
"Yu Qiuping...it seems to have these few syllables." Mei Yue Chengfang frowned and muttered the only memory she had left, "Does it mean it's going to rain in autumn...or is it a Japanese song...or..."
Is it a name?
The two masters and disciples did not know that history had already undergone earth-shaking changes at this moment.
