Chapter 597 3. Which Is More Important, a Son or a Biological Son?

The honeymoon period always has an end, and the seven-year itch can easily become a reality.

Kobayata would never force Oda Nobunaga to give money to Ashikaga Yoshiaki and the court. Such things can only be watched and waited. With Oda Nobunaga's wisdom, he can distinguish the importance of things.

This matter was not openly discussed at the meeting of the Renpanzhong, and naturally it was impossible to discuss it publicly, but everyone had such a book in their hearts. Kobayata wrote a letter to his eldest brother-in-law Hosokawa Fujitaka, asking in detail about the current situation of the shogunate. Hosokawa Fujitaka, who is now the guardian of Kita Izumi and the head of the shogunate's evaluation, must be well aware of the situation of the shogunate.

After waiting for half a month, Hosokawa Fujitaka's reply arrived.

There was no complaint, nor was there any excessive focus on the relationship between Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Oda Nobunaga. The main focus fell on Akechi Jubei Mitsuhide.

This middle-aged man who was previously only a small shogunate's Shirakawa retainer quickly rose to prominence after Oda Nobunaga and Ashikaga Yoshiaki joined forces. From a small magistrate with only 20 or 30 soldiers under his command, he has risen to the lord of Omi Takata with a territory of 2,245 kanmon.

If calculated by stone height, Akechi Mitsuhide is indeed a 10,000-stone daimyo!

Now he serves as both Oda Nobunaga's Kyoto magistrate and Ashikaga Yoshiaki's shogunate's clerk.

In legal terms, Oda Nobunaga is a retainer of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and Akechi Mitsuhide is also a retainer of Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Akechi Mitsuhide can completely "cross" between the two families with this identity that has connections between the two.

Although Hosokawa Fujitaka and Akechi Mitsuhide have a good personal relationship, he realizes that Akechi Mitsuhide, who is like a glue, seems to have greater ambitions.

Relying on the merit of carrying Ashikaga Yoshiaki barefoot out of the siege of the enemy in Shimokusa, Akechi Mitsuhide tried to persuade Ashikaga Yoshiaki to respond to Oda Nobunaga's strategy and endorse him for the shogunate. On the other hand, he was very close to Oda Nobunaga, participated in Oda Nobunaga's wars in various places many times, and gave him advice, which won Oda Nobunaga's love and trust.

In the constant dealings between the two, Akechi Mitsuhide seemed to become a link between the shogunate and the world's number one powerful mage. After Ashikaga Yoshiaki confirmed, Akechi Mitsuhide's identity as the Toki Genji was confirmed, and he became a high-ranking official in the Muromachi shogunate.

The court also appointed him as the sixth rank of the upper right guard captain by Oda Nobunaga. From this official career, it is also intended to trace back to the right guard governor of the Toki clan.

Apart from this, there are only fragments left.

The finances of the shogunate were still able to support themselves for the time being. Ashikaga Yoshiaki himself was not a person who enjoyed himself, and he did not like to collect famous things in the world like his brother.

But there was one thing that these two brothers really had the same father, and they both wanted to save face!

Even if Ashikaga Yoshiki wore a patched inner garment under his gauze robe, he insisted on painting the gate with top-grade vermilion lacquer every year. Ashikaga Yoshiaki was the same, he would rather eat dried fish every day than buy the most luxurious and expensive nori.

So in addition to supplying the 3,000 public servants, the shogunate's income mainly went to the shogunate's face. Ashikaga Yoshiaki also constantly sent envoys to various places to reappoint local tyrants as guardians and grant them the status of Xiangbanshu and Kunijishu.

Finally, Ashikaga Yoshiaki's concubine gave birth to a child, yes, just born, a biological child.

The child has no name yet, but it is confirmed to be a boy. If you don't believe it, go and read on!

What a letter! Kobayata hurried to inform old father-in-law Hosokawa and uncle Tsunayoshi!

His Highness Shimotaro has a younger brother, a more legitimate and reasonable competitor for the throne. Although this younger brother is only the son of an unknown concubine, he is indeed the biological son of Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

There is a big difference between biological and non-biological children!

The judges naturally discussed this matter at the meeting. At this moment, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, as the Shogun, must be focusing on the overall situation of the world.

The most powerful daimyo who support the shogunate are mainly Uesugi Kenshin, Yamauchi Taro, Oda Nobunaga, and Mori Motonari (the old man is not only alive but also has a son, awesome!).

And the Yamauchi family is definitely the hardcore one, the two families will rise and fall together. Uesugi Kenshin is separated by a belly after all, and Oda Nobunaga is a tyrant with a burning ambition.

With Ashikaga Yoshiaki's wisdom, he should not do anything to abolish Yamauchi Taro's status as heir and choose such a biological son who has just been born.

But you can never be sure about people!

Otherwise, why would there be an idiom like "the advantage makes one blind", it's because the things in people's minds are too complicated, you can't say it's 100% certain.

Although everyone believes that Ashikaga Yoshiaki is a smart person, he can't stand the word "biological"! After thinking about it, everyone decided to go and see it.

For such a matter that concerns the fundamentals of the Yamanouchi family, Yamanouchi Shukei was particularly hardworking and took the initiative to express his willingness to go on the spot. Yamanouchi Yoshiyasu thought about it and also wanted to go to Luoyang to see it. It was just right for the uncle and nephew to go to the shogunate to pay homage to Ashikaga Yoshiaki, just as a congratulations on the August Festival in advance, and bring some fruits to visit.

…………

While they were discussing this, Uesugi Kenshin, who was in the next camp, finally retreated after looting and prepared to return to Echigo to harvest this year's rice. The soldiers under his command refused to fight, and they relied on this crop of Echigo rice to survive all year round. At this time in July, everyone asked to go home.

Uesugi Kenshin also achieved the strategic goal of this Kanto campaign, so he decided to retreat. The army arrived at Ueno Hirai Castle, and the Kanto coalition army that was about to disbanded reported the news of grief.

The lord of Minowa Castle in Ueno Province, Nagano Shinano no Masaru, passed away!

The old man couldn't stand the heat this year, and he originally asked his son Nagano Masaru to go to Kanto for this campaign. As a result, as soon as Nagano Masaru stepped into the house, the old man took his last breath.

Nishi Ueno cried all of a sudden. Nagano Masaru, who was the father-in-law of almost all the lords (and possibly the brother-in-law or the eldest brother-in-law), died, and almost all the lords had to wear mourning.

Although everyone had expected it, the death of Nagano Masaru was still unacceptable to many people. After all, they had called their father for decades, and suddenly died. In the future, they had to listen to the orders of Nagano Masaru, a teenager, and everyone couldn't accept it.

It may not be appropriate to say that people were panicking, but it is true that people's hearts were shaken.

There was no other way, so Kenshin Uesugi personally entered Minowa Castle to help Nagano Yoshimori with the funeral. He also recommended the post of Ueno Shugodai to the shogunate on his behalf, and recommended the post of Uenosuke to the imperial court.

Lastly, Kenshin Uesugi was not without selfish motives. He announced that he would adopt Afune, the second daughter of his important minister, Naoe Yamatomori, and decided to marry Afune to Nagano Yoshimori, becoming Nagano Yoshimori's father-in-law!