As soon as the words were spoken, it was like a thunderbolt from the clear sky, startling everyone present. The air in the castle tower seemed to freeze instantly, making it difficult for these daimyo to breathe. The eldest son of a former general - publicly accused the supervisor of murdering his father in public? This is probably the first time in a hundred years.
"...Why did you say that?" After Hosokawa Harumoto finally reacted, he still didn't know how to call the "pseudo general" in front of him. He simply omitted the personal name and asked directly: "How have I ever done this? ? Stop slandering."
"Before my father passed away, he only received an envoy from the Hosokawa family. Not long after, he suddenly became seriously ill. Before his death, when my father called me in, he could not speak much. He just repeated the word 'Hosokawa'! The murderer was not Who can you be, Hosokawa Harumoto?" However, Ashikaga Yoshitō did not hesitate at all and pointed at Hosokawa Harumoto and cursed plausibly.
"Did I ever send an envoy to the Gongfang Palace that day?" Hosokawa Harumoto immediately retorted. But before Ashikaga Yoshito could reply, Mibuchi Haru, who was following Harumoto Hosokawa, was the first to say in surprise:
"Huh? In charge of the palace? You clearly sent an envoy here that day. I personally watched the late Gongfang receive him in the palace."
Mibuchi Harumoto looks like Haruhashi Mibuchi. His family has served the shogunate for many generations and he is deeply trusted. He is also the number one confidant of Ashikaga Yoshiharu and follows him around all day long. What he said was naturally quite weighty.
"Ah?" Hosokawa Harumoto himself was stunned by what Haru Mibuchi said. He frowned and began to recall whether he had really sent an envoy that day. After all, Mibuchi Harumoto came from the Izumi Hosokawa family and was one of his own. He was also the first one to rush to inform Hosokawa Harumoto after this incident. The position of "a member of the Hosokawa family" adds to the credibility of his words.
"Who is the messenger?" But no matter how much Hosokawa Harumoto thought about it, he still couldn't remember what happened that day, so he asked directly to Mibuchi Harumoto.
"I don't recognize you. I have been following my ancestors all year round and know very little about the situation in Hosokawa's family. Please forgive me." Mibuchi Harumoto leaned forward very frankly, making Hosokawa Harumoto even more Confused. Could it be that I really remembered it wrong?
At the same time, the other daimyo surrounding them looked at Hosokawa Harumoto with complicated eyes. Hosokawa Harumoto noticed that the other daimyo were gradually suspicious of him, and he hurriedly defended himself: "Even if I remember wrongly, and I did send an envoy, it is absolutely impossible to do such a treasonous thing. ! It must be the traitor Mihao Changqing who secretly instructed the puppet general to give this false testimony, coercing him to talk nonsense and sow discord! You must not fall into the trap! "
"The repair doctor is seeking justice for his late father and defeating the traitors who killed his lord. Where does the word 'rebel' come from? On the contrary, Hosokawa Harumoto, my father treated you well, but you are so ungrateful that you actually poisoned my father!" Ashikaga Yoshitō heard Yan immediately raised his voice, "And there are no soldiers from the Sanhao family around me at the moment. How can the Sanhao family control what I say? What I want to say is not all of my own will? Even the truth is Can’t you tell?”
Hosokawa Harumoto was choked by Ashikaga Yoshitō and was speechless. He blushed for a long time before finally thinking of the logic of his rebuttal: "It's obvious that you saw that your position as a pseudo-general was in jeopardy, so you deliberately made lies to confuse the public! You want to confuse right and wrong. , playing tricks of power so that he can remain in the position of general!"
"If that's the case, the repair doctor has already retreated. Shouldn't I be trying to please you, Harumoto Hosokawa? I don't have a single soldier at the moment. Wouldn't it do me any good to clash with you, a powerful official with a lot of troops, in person? ? On the contrary, your life will be in danger!" Ashikaga Yoshitō scolded Hosokawa Harumoto while looking around at the other daimyo of the Confederate army: "The reason why I came out to identify the murderer was not only to avenge my father, but also to let my father go to prison. Apart from exposing the unjust death to the world, can there be any other plans?"
In front of Ashikaga Yoshitō's awe-inspiring righteousness, Hosokawa Harumoto was speechless and could only feel the eyes focused on him becoming hotter. The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became. Even though he had done nothing, Ashikaga Yoshitō was slamming the shit pot on him like crazy - this was obviously not doing any good to Ashikaga Yoshitō? This kid, did you get along well with him before? Why would you rather risk your life now than cause trouble for yourself?
"After all, there is no basis for empty words. The poor monk does have a suggestion, but I still care about His Highness's innocence and let the rumors collapse." At this time, Taiyuan Xuezhai slowly spoke and came to the rescue for Hosokawa Harumoto.
"Master Xuezai, please speak quickly." Hosokawa Harumoto doesn't care about so much now.
"Just open the coffin and do an autopsy. If it was poison, there should be black marks on the bones."
"This..." Hosokawa Harumoto frowned suddenly, "Isn't it disrespectful... How can I offend the mausoleum of Gongfang Hall? Let Gongfang Hall have no peace under the spring."
"If it's for the sake of justice for the leader, if it's for the peace of the shogunate, and the wisdom of Gongfang Hall, I'm sure he won't refuse. This is the way to really make Gongfang Hall peaceful." Taiyuan Xuezhai called While holding the rosary, the unique tone of the Buddhist temple seems to forgive all transgressions.
"That's fine." Hosokawa Harumoto sighed, and then said with some concern: "But if it was poisoned by the Miyoshi family, how should we care about it?"
"The poor monk is well versed in the poisons of all major ninjas. If it is done by the ninjas of the Miyoshi family, he can see through it at a glance." Taiyuan Xuezhai confidently assured Hosokawa Harumoto, "I will definitely be able to clear the Guanling Palace of this unknown injustice. .”
"I know a thing or two about it." Hosokawa Harumoto's in-law ally, Rokkaku Sadayori, who is also a master of ninjas, also stood up and said: "I know the poisons of the Hosokawa family. And the Shikoku ninjas of the Miyoshi family Their poisoning methods are so different from those of the Hosokawa family that it is impossible not to notice."
"In this case, we have Master Rosetsusai and Dansei." Hearing this, Harumoto Hosokawa no longer hesitated. He stood up and looked around at the doubtful daimyo. He waved his hand and signaled the two Hatakemotos to "escort" Ashikaga Yoshito. , and then led everyone to Shokokuji Temple, where Ashikaga Yoshiharu’s mausoleum is located.
The group walked through the temple and, under the guidance of the remaining shogunate personnel, arrived at the burial place of Ashikaga Yoshiharu. Although the whole story was explained clearly, those who had been close to Ashikaga Yoshiharu still had expressions of unacceptable expression when they heard that Ashikaga Yoshiharu's coffin would be opened - this was almost a humiliating punishment.
"How could it be like this..." A dozen of Ashikaga Yoshiharu's former veterans guarded Ashikaga Yoshiharu's soul, "How could the remains of the late Lord Hoden be so trashed?"
"This is a big matter. It concerns the innocence of the shogunate leaders and who will succeed the general who conquered the barbarians. There is no other choice." Taiyuan Xuezhai clasped his hands together and solemnly asked these bannermen: "Everyone He is a loyal and upright minister, and he must not want to see the shogunate that Xian Gongfangdian defended to the death fall into turmoil, right?"
The expressions on the faces of the bannermen were at war with each other, but since the words had come to this, it was difficult to refuse them anyway.
"In this case, please allow me to commit seppuku to express my condolences to the spirit of my late father-in-law." The leading samurai Hatamoto knelt down first and saluted, and several others followed suit.
"With such a good minister, why worry about the shogunate not being happy? Living a good life and being loyal to the shogunate is the way to truly make Gongfangdian feel at ease." Taiyuan Xuezhai said a few words of relief, and then looked at Hosokawa Harumoto. Hosokawa Harumoto waved, and a dozen Hatamotos of the Hosokawa family stepped forward and started digging Ashikaga Yoshiharu's grave. Ashikaga Yoshiharu's bannermen all bowed and kowtowed, not daring to look.
Soon after, Ashikaga Yoshiharu's coffin was carefully carried out. After many courtesies, Captain Hosokawa Harumoto's Hatamoto finally opened his coffin. However, the moment the heavy coffin board was removed, everyone was stunned.
Months passed, and the body had long since decayed, leaving only the white bones—and the mottled black spots clearly visible on the bones.
It's poison.
and……
Hosokawa Harumoto, the surrounding Hosokawa family Hatamoto, and the ninjas all immediately widened their eyes. After Taiyuan Xue Zhai and Rokkaku Sadarai were stunned for a moment, they looked at each other, and the expressions between their eyebrows became solemn.
No one spoke and there was no sound.
But everyone present knew the result - it was the poison of the Hosokawa family.
Otherwise, they will definitely stand up and condemn the Mihaoshi family immediately.
"Your Highness, you'd better explain what this means!" Mibuchi Haru, who was standing next to Ashikaga Yoshiharu, was the first to explode. He took a step forward and asked Hosokawa Harumoto somewhat gaffefully: "Yes. The poison from the Hosokawa family, right? Huh? It belongs to your Hosokawa family, right?"
"Someone must have framed me!" Hosokawa Harumoto no longer cared about appearance and cursed at the top of his lungs: "You are trying to harm me with these weird tricks!"
"Your Highness, what is going on?" Ashikaga Yoshiharu's bannermen also stood up and glared at Hosokawa Harumoto, "Is it really your poison?"
"It's true that the medicine is from the ninjas of the Hosokawa family, but I have never given such an order. Either a servant went behind my back to assassinate me, or a thief from the Miyoshi family stole my poison!" Hosokawa Harumoto asked. Throat argued.
"What Guan Lingden said is true." Upon seeing this, Rokkaku Sadayori hurriedly came out to rescue Hosokawa Harumoto and said: "If it was really Guan Lingdon who did it, he naturally knew the seriousness of the matter, and how could he dare to open the coffin and conduct an autopsy with great fanfare? It's obvious This is a situation that even the Guanling Palace did not expect."
However, everyone ignored the explanations of Hosokawa Harumoto and Rokkaku Sadeyori.
Because sometimes the facts are not important, what is important is just a reason to raise troops. What's more, it is now almost confirmed that "Hosokawa Harumoto poisoned the general", and Hosokawa Harumoto is hard to defend.
"Rebel Harumoto, what can you say now?" Ashikaga Yoshitō struggled to free himself from the restraints of the two Hosokawa family banners. He pointed at Hosokawa Harumoto's forehead and yelled: "Regicide and traitor, If you don’t deserve a good death, everyone will kill you if you get it!”
Afterwards, Ashikaga Yoshitō looked around again and shouted to the daimyo of the Confederate army: "You loyal and righteous men who have been deceived, why don't you follow me to fight against the thieves and destroy this rebellious minister and traitor of the Hosokawa family!"
The outcome of the Battle of Kyoto was that the Northern Army fled and the Southern Army won. However, the major names of the Southern Army, which was full of internal conflicts, obviously had no intention of sharing the fruits of victory. If given the chance, they wouldn't mind facing each other with swords to determine the final winner.
