This place is where Oda Nobunaga currently resides.
In the second year of Genwa in this universe, two luxurious mansions, the "Nijo Imperial Palace" and the "Hanano Imperial Palace", existed in Heian Kyoto, but there was no "Nijo Castle".
At present, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the "General who conquered barbarians", lives in Nijo Imperial Palace, but he did not entertain Oda Nobunaga, a distinguished guest who was very kind to him, in his imperial palace. Instead, he let him live in Hanano Imperial Palace.
There, this move has undoubtedly aroused the vigilance of many close associates around Nobunaga.
What? If you ask Nobunaga, was he not alert?
It stands to reason that with his ability, it is impossible to see through the conspiracy here, but Nobunaga has been acting a bit abnormal recently...
To use a word that is more popular now and more appropriate to describe him, it is "EMO".
The reason for his EMO was actually that not long ago, he had just finished reading a miscellaneous book passed down from Dashu called "Quanxiang Three Kingdoms Chronicles", and he was deeply worried about many plots in the book.
We have to mention a little bit here, because on this historical line, the Ming Dynasty lasted for a very long time and was quite powerful. Therefore, during this period, many cultural products of the Ming Dynasty were popular overseas, especially among the Japanese aristocracy.
There is quite a market for it. Many daimyo and samurai have learned some Chinese characters, and compared to things like the Four Books and Five Classics, many novels and talks written in vernacular are obviously more popular with them.
In the history we are familiar with, Oda Nobunaga was a person who liked to absorb and learn overseas knowledge very much, and was a pioneer of the "Nanbarbarian trade" at that time; therefore, Nobunaga in this universe would have great influence on the contemporary culture of Oda
It is reasonable to dabble in it.
In recent days, Nobunaga has been in a melancholy mood and always sits on the verandah of his room near the courtyard, drinking alone and watching the court in silence.
When the cronies he brought told him about serious matters, he would always ignore them. They just asked him not to disturb me while I was drinking and enjoying the scenery.
As the days passed by, his subordinates were also anxious, and they were all talking behind their backs: What is Nobunaga's plan? Doesn't he know that this time Ashikaga Yoshiaki used "respect Nobunaga"?
Is it true that he has bad intentions when he summons us to Kyoto on the pretext of "being the deputy general"?
The key point is that Lord Nobunaga has resigned from the position of deputy general two days ago. Ashikaga Yoshiaki was embarrassed on the spot. This was almost a state of half-face...Why don't we leave the city?
Our Oda Army troops are stationed outside the city, and there are only a few manpower in the city. If Ashikaga pulls some tricks, we may not be able to resist it.
Of course, the people of the Oda army were panicked, but not in chaos.
Because the deputy Akechi Mitsuhide brought by Nobunaga this time was a shrewd and capable man, and he stabilized the situation for Nobunaga.
Mitsuhide told others: Even if Ashikaga Yoshiaki wanted to be disadvantageous to Nobunaga, he would never dare to directly send troops to attack us, so everyone should stay calm. Nobunaga must have his plan, and we only need to do a good job of guarding.
Just guard against all kinds of plots.
Mitsuhide's judgment is undoubtedly correct.
Is there anyone in the world who doesn’t know that you, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, were able to sit on the throne of Shogun only because of Nobunaga’s push behind you? Now that your position is secure, you want to get rid of Nobunaga. Everyone understands this.
However, you have to pay attention to a method...
It's okay for you to trick him into coming to the capital in the name of a reward, but it's absolutely not okay for you to directly send troops to encircle and suppress him.
Because this is equivalent to committing a "great injustice" in front of the world - if Ashikaga Yoshiaki really does this, it is not a question of which daimyo will dare to cooperate with him in the future, but that anyone can do it to him in the future.
This can be used as an excuse to fuck him anytime, anywhere.
Therefore, Ashikaga Yoshiaki used a method similar to the "clothing edict", secretly exchanging letters with the daimyo, and wrote in them something like Oda Nobunaga's intention to rebel. Everyone knows that it is nonsense as an excuse.
Form an "assassination" situation.
As long as the assassination is successful and Nobunaga dies, the rest of the things will be easy to handle...
There is no need to go to war against Nobunaga's remnants; except for some of the dead men around him, everyone else can be recruited through negotiation.
And the rhetoric that will be told to the world in the future is that he died suddenly due to illness and so on.
Anyway, no matter what you say outside, as long as our generals tacitly agree on this matter and the "official statement" insists that he died of illness, then forget about it.
The incident will not eventually escalate to the level of a military incident, but will remain at the level of a political incident.
The difference here is huge. The former is the "Honnoji Incident", and the latter is the "Xuanbumen Incident". Everyone knows the outcome of the parties involved in the two incidents.
Of course, the current Akechi Mitsuhide is not the same person as he was during the "Honnoji Incident". He is still loyal to Nobunaga and goes all out.
…………
The night before, it snowed in Kyoto.
In the morning, Nobunaga, who was wrapped in a quilt outside his pajamas, came to the corridor of the courtyard and sat alone again.
There was a small fire not far from his side, with a pot of wine hot on it. While drinking, he watched the white snow accumulated last night slowly melting in front of his eyes, and he passed away unknowingly.
An hour passed.
"My lord, Mitsuhide-sama, please see me." At the beginning of the month, a handsome young man with a sword on his back appeared behind Nobunaga, interrupting his wandering time.
"Ah...are you here to ask us again when we will return to Gifu?" Nobunaga responded lazily.
"No." The young man continued politely, "Master Mitsuhide said that he has something to report that may be of interest to you."
"What might I be interested in?" Nobunaga's expression seemed to be disbelief, but he still sighed and shrugged, "Oh... okay, let him come in."
"Yes." The young man stepped back respectfully, then walked to the other end of the room, opened the door and walked out.
After a few seconds, another person opened the door from the outside: "I'm sorry." After saying hello, he walked in.
Unlike Nobunaga, who was still wearing a nightgown and wrapped in a quilt, Mitsuhide always dressed formally and decently whenever he got up, and the look on his face was full of energy.
"Just tell me what you have to say." Nobunaga's tone revealed that he had no expectations for what Mitsuhide would say next.
"It's like this..." Mitsuhide replied slowly and calmly, "Just now when my subordinates led soldiers to patrol the streets outside the Imperial Palace, they discovered two people who were acting suspiciously. My subordinates stepped forward to question these two people.
I didn’t expect them to call themselves artists from ‘Zhao’…”
"What?" Hearing this, Nobunaga, who was listless just now, suddenly sat up from his half-reclined position and looked back at Mitsuhide with wide eyes, "You said they came from 'Zao'?"
At this moment, a smile appeared on Guangxiu's lips.
As a close confidant of Nobunaga, how could he not know that Nobunaga has been obsessed with things about Otsuo recently, so he doesn't care whether Shuanghe is really from Otsuo or a fake one, but if he bumps into him, he will immediately
"Please" come and give it to Nobunaga.
In the follow-up, whether these two people are real or fake, whether they can deceive Nobunaga if they are fake, and whether Nobunaga will kill or behead him if they are not deceived... It doesn't matter to Mitsuhide, as long as the current Nobunaga can be beaten
Cheer up, this is worth a try.
"That's what they said themselves." After a breath, Mitsuhide slowly replied. His wording was very strict to avoid getting burned. "My subordinates are not capable enough to distinguish, so I would like to ask you, sir..."
"Okay, okay, stop being verbose and bring them over quickly." Nobunaga suddenly stood up excitedly like a child and urged Mitsuhide impatiently.
"Yes." Mitsuhide bowed his head and agreed, and when he turned to leave, the smile on his face could not be concealed.
To make a long story short, two minutes later, two young men who looked to be in their early twenties and whose temperament and appearance were indeed very different from the Japanese of that era came to Nobunaga.
Nobunaga had returned to the house at this time, got into a kotatsu table in the center of the room, and ordered people to bring in the wine from the porch, and also prepared several snacks to put on the table.
Facing the two "Central Plains artists" in front of him, Nobunaga looked them up and down several times with a sharp look that did not shy away from anything, and then he said: "You two...are from the Central Plains?"
When Sun and Huang heard this, they looked at each other, then looked at Nobunaga together, and said in unison: "Who are you?"
"How dare you!" The young man who was guarding the Lord couldn't help shouting, "How dare you be rude to the adults!"
"It's okay, Ranmaru." Nobunaga smiled and waved his hand, signaling the boy to step back. He continued to look at Sun Huang and said with a smile, "You really don't know who I am?"
He would ask this, and it was undoubtedly a test.
Because according to common sense, these two people came here from the outside and must have come into contact with many of his men along the way, and he can be seen in many places on their clothes and sabers, including in this room.
The family crest of the Oda family, and this family crest was almost unknown to everyone in Japan at that time.
If these two people really didn't recognize the family crest and couldn't guess that he was Oda Nobunaga, then if he asked him this again now, their reaction should be as natural as when he said "Who are you?"
"Huh?" Unexpectedly, the next second, Sun Yixie raised his eyebrows, glanced around, and then seemed to remember something, and exclaimed, "Could it be..."
Nobunaga observed his words and thought, is this the other party's fault?
As a result, the second half of Sun Yixie's sentence was actually: "...Are you the Emperor of Japan?"
As soon as these words came out, Oda Nobunaga and Mori Ranmaru in the room, including Akechi Mitsuhide who was listening to the wall outside the room... were all shocked.
For three seconds, the scene was deathly silent. Even Mori Ranmaru, an upright young man, did not dare to react casually. He was also afraid of making a mistake and committing a treason.
"Pfft... Hahahahaha..." It was Nobunaga who laughed out loud after a few seconds and took the pen off, "Interesting! Interesting! Hahahaha..."
When he smiled, Mori Ranmaru and Akechi Mitsuhide also breathed a sigh of relief.
Brother Sun turned his head and exchanged glances with Huang Donglai. The latter also shrugged and spread his hands, noncommittal.
After a while, Nobunaga, whose smile gradually faded, spoke again: "I am... Nobunaga, Chief Minister of the Taira Court Oda, have you ever heard of it?"