"Yes, it has been almost 20 years, and we have been exchanging letters recently. At that time, Xuezai was still a handsome young talent, and now he is an old man over fifty years old." Asakura Soutei sighed again, as if As people get older, they are always extra sentimental: "Back then, Ukyo (Takakuni Hosokawa) asked me to go to Luo to help in the battle, and I also helped him defeat the current commander (Hosokawa Harumoto) and capture Kyoto. But Ukyo, he I was afraid that the Asakura family would become more powerful in Kinki and secretly planned to deal with the Asakura family. Then I had no choice but to join forces with the governor to expel him from Kinki and gain some status and peace for the Asakura family in the shogunate and the imperial court. Benefits."
"Where are you going to Luo this time? Are you here for the benefit of the Asakura family?" Rokkaku Sadayori converged his eyes and lightly tapped the table with his knuckles twice, "Don't come here for the sake of the Asai family. Is it okay?"
"No." Asakura Sotechi briefly gave Rokkaku Sadeyori a confirmation, and then changed the subject and gently placed the wine glass on the table and said: "But even if it is, it doesn't bother you Shiro (Rokukka Sadeyori). worry."
"Haha, how dare you." Rokkaku Sadayori burst out laughing when he heard this, "When I was fighting with Asai Bizen (Asai Ryomasa), I originally asked you to come to Omi to help in the battle. Soutei, although you helped me retreat. enemy, but after the war, they made an alliance with the Asai family, and it has been rock solid for 20 years. Isn't this because I'm afraid that you will come to support the Kitaomi guys again? If I had known this, I wouldn't have asked you to help. Ukyo ( Takakuni Hosokawa) asked you for help, and you formed an alliance with the leader later. My Rokkaku family asked you for help, and you formed an alliance with the Asai family. These two-faced people are really hard to win over."
"It's all for the benefit of the family. Everyone knows it, so why make fun of it? What's the point of personal reputation in the face of the family's benefit? What's more, as long as you win every battle, who dares to say anything wrong with you? In this world, no one dares to say anything except you. Am I, Asakura Sotechi, treacherous?" Asakura Sotetsu, however, showed no guilt at all as he drank a glass of wine magnanimously, "In terms of geography, compared to your Rokkaku family, it is obviously the Asai family of Kitaomi who is interested in our Asakura family. Family is more important. How could I let go of the opportunity to form an alliance with the Asai family?"
"Haha, Zongdi said it well!" Taiyuan Xuezhai laughed loudly, tapping his chopsticks briskly on the bowl and chopsticks, "Wonderful words."
"I'm afraid that the younger members of the Asakura family don't understand your good intentions, Sotechi." Rokkaku Sadarai also took a big sip of wine, and then said with emotion: "Your grandnephew (Asakura Takakage) is quite wise, but it is said that His health is not as good as that of an old man like you. In the past few years, he has begun to arrange for your great-nephew (the future Asakura Yoshikage) to come forward. But it is said that he is arty, obsessed with public culture, and does not know much about family affairs. Take it seriously."
"Yes, they are really enemies." Talking about the younger members of the Asakura family, Asakura Soutei's hair seemed to have turned grayer. "My lord (Asakura Takakage) likes Waka poems and paintings, and is keen on Ichijo Valley." The city promoted these and turned Ichijogani City into a "little Kyoto". Countless officials and scholars came here because of its reputation, which made it quite lively. But he still has this string in his heart, knowing that in this troubled world, families are full of ugly things, and they have to do some dirty things. "hole
"But that kid, Young Master (Asakura Yoshikage), it doesn't matter that he likes culture. Even if he indulges in drunkenness, sex, dogs and horses, I don't care. I'm afraid, since he was a child, he has been influenced by those officials and literati who only know how to read. Growing up, he was deceived by scholars, thinking that the world should be so clean and simple, and his mind was filled with justice, morality, credibility...only the interests of the family, only the interests of the Asakura family, he did not care about, On the contrary, he feels dirty. He is not ruthless or bad enough in the future. When I leave, who will support him? How should he deal with a complete villain? "
The more Asakura Sotechi talked, the more helpless he became. Finally, he poured himself a glass of wine. After drinking several glasses of wine, he still couldn't get rid of his worries.
"Who isn't?" Taiyuan Xuezhai was also touched by Asakura Sotetsu's words. He raised his glass and touched it to Asakura Sotetsu, "Here's a toast to you, and to all the old people who worry about their useless children."
"Your Chengfang, you are such a good child, are you still not satisfied?" Rokkaku Sadarai disagreed. He raised his hand to press down Taiyuan Xuezhai's wine glass, "I heard that along the way, how many people To instigate the relationship between you and your ministers. It seems that when it comes to the Imagawa family, I only know that you, Taiyuan Xuezhai, don't know that Imagawa Yoshimoto is the family governor. When I ask, I am asking Taiyuan Xuezhai. In this situation, you are generally open-minded.
Even a narrow-minded family governor can attack you directly, and even normal people will have a knot in their hearts. But your disciple is not angry at all. Instead, he is happy for you from the bottom of his heart. He feels that he is honored that your teacher is respected. "
"I pooped and peed, and I raised him from a tiny little boy to a big one. How can that child doubt me?" Taiyuan Xuezhai became happy when he heard this, and gestured with his hand to show what Imagawa Yoshimoto looked like when he was first entrusted to him. height.
"You don't know how to be blessed when you are surrounded by blessings, Xuezhai. Even father and son, brothers who live together day and night, will turn against each other for power, and even kill each other, let alone your master and disciple who are not related by blood. Throughout the ages, how many important ministers have done so because of their high achievements? You don't know that the master was feared by all the kings, even banished and killed, right? My master and young master were both grown up by me. But even though I always keep in mind my duty as a minister, I give up power everywhere and don't dare to be a little domineering, but they are still quite afraid of me." Asakura Sodai also shook his head, standing on the same position as Rokkaku Sadayori:
"And now, your power in the Imagawa family and your reputation in the world far overwhelm the Imagawa administration. To be honest, if you want to abolish the establishment, it will be easy. But even if So, have you ever seen that child doubt you in the slightest? Are you afraid of you in the slightest? He is not even jealous or unhappy. He sincerely hopes that you will be well, that you can make a name for yourself in the world, and that you can leave your name in history. In In his heart, the prestige of the Imagawa family and the family governor are nothing compared to you. With such a good master and such a good student, are you still not satisfied?"
The words of Rokkaku Sadeyori and Asakura Sotechi moved Taiyuan Xuezai. The weather-beaten old monk's eyes turned red for a moment. He lowered his head and took several sips of wine before he regained his free and easy demeanor and smiled wryly. road:
"Haha... Hey... I understand too, it's not that I don't understand. It's just what I say. As a grown man, I don't necessarily talk about my disciples like mother-in-law all day long, right? But he is so nice, It’s unsettling. What will he do after a hundred years?”
"The truth has been told over and over again, but they just don't listen." Rokkaku Sadayori also sighed.
"If you teach someone, you will still be stunned a hundred times. If you teach someone something, you will get it right once. No one is born to understand these. When they were young, they were idealistic and aloof. Only when they encounter things and suffer losses, will they become realistic. Only then will they become realistic. Understand that in this world, especially in troubled times, there is nothing noble or moral between countries. Letting your family survive is the only goal." Asakura Sodi put a few mouthfuls of food into his mouth, and then continued He took a big sip of wine and said:
"We all fought in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. In the battle of Kuzuryu River, I personally sent 100,000 people to hell. You two must have killed countless people, including countless innocent people. Right? After killing many people and almost being killed many times, you will naturally understand the dirty truths. But these juniors are protected too well by us. They have never seen this or suffered big losses. It won’t improve your memory. No matter how many times we say it, it’s useless. They will only know it when they themselves suffer a loss.”
"I just hope that when they suffer in the future, they won't be killed directly." Taiyuan Xuezhai muttered in a low voice, and he didn't know whether he was sighing or praying.
·hole
After three rounds of drinking, all three of them were drunk, and the topics began to become irrelevant.
"You think this world can still get better?" Asakura Sodi leaned against the wall, staring at the moonlight outside the window with his eyes, and murmured: "When will the troubled times end?"
"Wait until the shogunate produces another general like the third generation (Ashikaga Yoshimitsu), who can clean up the mess and unify the world. Or there is another generation (Ashikaga Takauji) who can replace the Ashikaga shogunate just like the first generation replaced the Hojo family. Rokkaku Sadarai responded casually while pouring himself a drink tremblingly.
"Wouldn't the world still be in chaos after that? In less than a hundred years, the shogunate will decline again." Asakura Sodi rubbed his white hair, "Continue to cause chaos and keep fighting, no matter how strong the family is, Sooner or later, everyone will perish. You can't be so lucky in every generation and not have a faint king in every generation. If this is the case, won't the Asakura family's bloodline that I have worked so hard to protect one day come to an end? ?」
「
That's it, there's nothing we can do about it. I just hope that my family can become a guest of the shogunate in this reshuffle, and that I can spread more branches and multiply the family. Who can control what happens thousands of years later? Rokkaku Sadarai was more open-minded and raised his glass to Taiyuan Xue Zhai: "Xue Zhai, what do you think?"
"In my opinion, in a sense, the troubled times will never end." Taiyuan Xuezhai's face was red from drinking and his head was dizzy, but his thinking was still clear, "One country, one family. The reason why we can be unified is because we have established foreign enemies. In order to fight against the enemy, against "them", "we" must unite. But if the whole world is unified, the troubled times are over, there are no enemies, no "them", then "we" will naturally cease to exist, and "we" will split and fight among themselves. Humans are born to fight. Without external enemies, we can only fight with ourselves, and the world will be in chaos again. Unless..."
"Unless what?" Asakura Soutei asked, cheering up. hole
"Unless there are foreign enemies coming from outside." Taiyuan Xuezhai pointed to the west, "Unless the Meng Yuan invades again, then Japan can be unified."
"Haha, that's interesting." Asakura Zongdi laughed twice, and then he also toasted Taiyuan Xuezhai. The red wine on his face gradually cooled down, and he asked solemnly: "Speaking of which, Xuezhai, are you bringing the wine with you this time?" Why did the Imagawa family travel thousands of miles to come to Luo? Our Asakura family has been an elite in Kinki for many years, and our interests are at stake. And the Rokkaku family is in Kinki, so naturally they have to fight for their own power. Your Imagawa family is so far away. It's so far away, so many enemy countries are separated in the middle, and yet the commander and the expeditionary force are allowed to take great risks at the same time and come to Kyoto to mix in this muddy water? Why?"
"Secret." Taiyuan Xuezhai smacked his lips and wagged his fingers.
"This monk is very ambitious. Regardless of what he said, "The troubled times cannot end and the world cannot be unified." He is the one who wants to unify the world the most. Rokkaku Sadayori laughed and put the wine glass on the table, "You can come alone, but you also brought the Hojo family, the Takeda family, the Oda family, the Saito family and the Asai family with you because you don't like our Kinki family." Isn’t it chaotic enough?”
"How can you ask me to bring you? Only people with ambitions for the world will come." Taiyuan Xue Zhai also put the wine glass on the table, pushed it over and clinked the glasses with Rokkaku Sadarai, and said distantly He raised his glass to Asakura Zongdi and said, "From now on, we will each rely on our abilities. But don't blame me for not remembering the old relationship."
