Time soon came to the third year of Xinglu, which was the second year that Kyogoku Takamasa served as a hostage in Sakai.
Although the two factions of Hosokawa Takakuni and Hosokawa Harumoto are still at war with each other, no real battle has broken out.
Because of the assistance received from the Asakura family, Asakura Takakage sent Asakura Sotechi to lead troops to assist Hosokawa Takaguni in Shangluo, allowing Hosokawa Takakuni to return to Kyoto for a time.
However, as the Asakura family's troops retreated, Hosokawa Takakuni fled to Omi again.
Seeing that the Asakura family was unreliable, Hosokawa Takakuni ran to Bizen and defected to Urakami Muramune, the head of the Bizen Urakami family.
Urakami Muramune was originally a retainer who protected the Akamatsu family in the three countries of Harima, Mimasaku and Bizen. However, after the death of Akamatsu Masanori, the head of the Akamatsu family, he took advantage of the young age of the newly succeeded Akamatsu Yoshimura to raise a rebellion in the Bizen country. .
After several battles with the master family, the Urakami family successfully separated Bizen Country and became a powerful daimyo.
After the news of Hosokawa Takakuni's escape to Bizen reached Sakai, Hosokawa Harumoto immediately called Hosokawa Mototaka and others, "Just got the news, Dr. Ukyo ran to Bizen and got the support of Urakami Mishimaru. "
"Moreover, he also mediated the war between the Akamatsu family and the Urakami family. Now that the Akamatsu and Urakami families have reconciled, they have joined forces to support Dr. Ukyo. Their strength should not be underestimated!" Hosokawa Harumoto said worriedly.
The Akamatsu family is one of the four family families, a traditional and powerful daimyo.
In the beginning, the head of the Akamatsu family, Mitsuke Akamatsu, even killed the shogunate Ashikaga Yoshitsune. Therefore, he was punished by the shogunate and the daimyo of various places, and eventually the Akamatsu family almost became extinct.
Later, with the efforts of Akamatsu Masanori's generation, the former territory was restored. However, the retainers Urakami clan and Bessho clan have grown to a point where they are comparable to the master's family, or even more powerful.
When Akamatsu Masanori died, the young Akamatsu Yoshimura was unable to suppress the Urakami family. In the end, Urakami Muramune believed that "the time has come" and launched a rebellion. After defeating Akamatsu Yoshimura, he put him under house arrest, and then directly killed Akamatsu Yoshimura.
Once Akamatsu Yoshimura died, the real power of the Akamatsu family actually fell into the hands of the Urakami Muramune, and the successor Akamatsu Masamatsu (later Akamatsu Harumasa) had little power. Fortunately, there are still retainers such as the Kodera family at home, so the Akamatsu family has not been completely reduced to salty fish.
But no matter what, Hosokawa Takano has the support of Urakami Muramune, which is equivalent to having the support of Mimasaku, Bizen, Harima and even Bichung, plus Ise's Kitahata, Omi's Rokkaku, and Echizen's Asahi The forces such as Cura and Wakasa's Takeda are simply not too strong.
That's why Hosokawa Harumoto is worried about this.
"The Akamatsu family and the Urakami family are mortal enemies, and Urakami Muramune and Akamatsu Masamura have a grudge against their father. Why did they suddenly become reconciled?" Hosokawa Mochitaka is almost always in Awa on weekdays, and only occasionally finds time to return to Sakai, so for I don’t know much about what happened recently.
"Don't forget, Sanqishou, the one from Omi has been growing up in the Akamatsu family since he was a child. As long as that person comes forward, the Akamatsu family will have to give up some face."
"What's more, can the Akamatsu family make the decision on this matter?" Masakami Miyoshi, who was sitting opposite Hosokawa Motaka, said.
"The one from Omi" refers to Ashikaga Yoshiharu.
At that time, Ashikaga Yoshiharu's father Ashikaga Yoshizumi and Ashikaga Yoshie failed to compete for the position of shogun. Ashikaga Yoshiharu died not long after he was born. Afterwards, the two sides reconciled, Ashikaga Yoshie became the general, and the newly born Ashikaga Yoshiharu was sent to the Harima Akamatsu family to be raised. So Ashikaga Yoshiharu grew up in the Akamatsu family when he was young, and had a good relationship with the Akamatsu family.
"In this way, after receiving the support of the Urakami family, Dr. Ukyo will be even more powerful! I'm afraid it won't be long before Dr. Ukyo launches a counterattack again, right?" Hosokawa Mochitaka also said with concern.
After Hosokawa Mochitaka finished speaking, Hosokawa Harumoto shook his head, "In fact, Hosokawa Takakuni has already started taking action! Sanki Shoden can see for yourself!" After saying that, Hosokawa Harumoto handed over a document. Mochitaka Hosokawa.
After Hosokawa Mochitaka took a closer look, his expression changed. This document was a request for help from the Bessho clan, a wealthy family in eastern Harima.
Like the Urakami family, the Bessho family was born as a retainer of the Akamatsu family. Initially he held the territory of Miki Castle, but later took advantage of the decline of the Akamatsu family to expand his power to the eastern part of Harima Country.
Even though the Urakami family became increasingly powerful later on, the Bessho family did not give in, but chose to fight against the Urakami family!
Higashi-Harima, the territory of the Bessho family, was the only way for the Urakami village clan to go to the upper reaches of the city, so attacking the Bessho family was paving the way for the upper reaches of the mountains. In layman's terms, whenever the Bessho family is defeated, Urakami Muramune and Hosokawa Takakuni will go to Luo!
The head of the Bessho family, Bessho Jiuji, didn't want to be the younger brother of the Urakami clan, but he couldn't defeat the Urakami clan, so he had no choice but to send someone to ask for help from Hosokawa Harumoto.
"The Bessho family will never allow any loss!" After just reading the letter asking for help, Hosokawa Motaka said with certainty, "Once the Bessho family is defeated, then the Urakami family and Dr. Ukyo can go to Luo without any scruples. Not good news for us!"
"Then according to Sanqimori's wishes, our family must rescue the Bessho family?"
"Not bad!" Hosokawa Mochitaka replied affirmatively.
"Yes." Hosokawa Harumoto nodded, and then continued to ask, "Then how should we rescue him?"
After hearing what Hosokawa Harumoto said, Hosokawa Mochitaka hesitated and said hesitantly, "This"
In the final analysis, Hosokawa Motaka was afraid that Hosokawa Harumoto would let him lead troops to rescue the Bessho family, which would be a thankless task. Just as Hosokawa Mochitaka thought, Masakawa Miyoshi and others also looked away, not daring to look at Hosokawa Harumoto.
Seeing this, Hosokawa Harumoto became a little angry, and was about to rebuke him when a fat middle-aged samurai sitting in the crowd spoke up.
"Hosokawa-dono, why not ask Yanagimoto Danmasachu or Hatano Tanba to send troops to support the Bessho family?"
After hearing the samurai's words, Hosokawa Harumoto was silent for a while, and then asked thoughtfully, "What does Ryo Sakyo mean?"
Kizawa Nagamasa smiled, and then said in a deep voice, "The territories of the Hatano family and Yanagimoto family are close to the Bessho family. If the Bessho family is defeated, then the territories of the Hatano family and Yanagimoto family will bear the brunt of the attack from Dr. Ukyo's side! "
"In addition, once the Yanagimoto family and the Hatano family come out, the situation in Kinai can also be eased!" Kizawa Nagamasa gave Hosokawa Harumoto a meaningful look.
Hosokawa Harumoto's eyes suddenly lit up, and he understood the meaning of Kizawa Nagamasa's words.
Previously, due to the antagonism between Miyoshi Genchang and Yanagimoto Kenji, Yanagimoto Kenji had been conquering Izumi, Hanoi and other places to get close to the people of Miyoshi Genchang, which intensified the conflict between Miyoshi Genchang and Miyoshi Genchang.
But now, seeing that Hosokawa Takakuni's side is getting stronger and stronger, Hosokawa Harumoto is also a little panicked and wants to reconcile with Miyoshi Gencho. However, Yanagimoto Kenji and others were causing trouble on the sidelines, which made Hosokawa Harumoto very embarrassed and could not save face.
However, Kizawa Nagamasa's words gave Hosokawa Harumoto an idea, and he simply took this opportunity to get Kenji Yanagimoto to Harima to support the Bessho family. This saves Kenji Yanagimoto from continuing to stay in Kinai and confronting Miyoshi Motocho, and making himself unpalatable to both parties!
