Unparalleled Double Harmony

The death of Ji Zong also declared the failure of the assassination operation.

The joint assassination team originally composed of six teams: "Wind", "Lin", "Fire", "Shan", "Yin" and "Thunder", now only has a few members of the Feng team responsible for cleaning up the outposts outside the imperial palace. .

These members of the Feng Squad are almost all ninjas, and they are not good at frontal attacks. Even if Shuangxie is not present, it is impossible for them to take Nobunaga's head under the protection of Nobunaga's remaining generals.

Therefore, after a brief ideological struggle, the on-site commander Juzo finally blew the leaf flute and sent out the signal to retreat.

Within a moment, the remnants of these assassination teams disappeared into the night.

Nobunaga's soldiers suffered heavy losses and were unable to chase the assassins, so tonight's battle came to an end.

As for Ashikaga Yoshiaki's pretense of sending his subordinates and soldiers to the house the next day to investigate Nobunaga's situation in the name of "tracking down the assassin and protecting Nobunaga"... it's no longer trivial.

Anyway, as long as Nobunaga is not dead, Ashikaga Yoshiaki's conspiracy will be shattered.

Next, Nobunaga can just find an excuse such as "I don't feel safe here" and leave the city at any time.

No matter what Ashikaga Yoshiaki does at this time, it will be very passive and unwise politically. For him, the best choice at the moment is to deal with it coldly and let Nobunaga retreat, otherwise he will Whatever you do, you will bring about self-disgrace or even your own death.

…………

It's night, later.

Huang Donglai, who had already treated his wound with the help of a doctor, was leisurely eating supper with Sun Yixie in a Japanese room.

The dangerous situation they encountered not long ago seemed to have no impact on the emotions of these two people.

Perhaps they themselves didn't even realize that their experiences in the arena over the past few years have made them very sophisticated. They have seen too many of the "swords and swords", "bloody storms" and "narrow escapes" that people often talk about. Then... I got used to it.

This kind of adaptability and pressure resistance is also a kind of talent. Some people are weak in this aspect, so they are not suitable for walking in the world.

"excuse me."

At midnight, Hosokawa Kisuke's voice came from outside the door.

Shuangxi had been waiting for him for a long time. As soon as he heard that the other party had arrived, he immediately let him in to talk.

"I'm sorry to keep you two waiting. I'm really busy tonight..." After Hosokawa came in and closed the door, he bowed his head and apologized.

What he said was polite, but a little too pretentious.

Who doesn't know that tonight, as the "internal leader" of the imperial palace, you have to cooperate with Nobunaga's men to deal with the corpses all over the yard?What's there to apologize for? They're not looking for trouble with you.

"Hey~ Mr. Hosokawa, please stop being so polite. It's getting late. Let's get down to business quickly and you can go and have a rest." Sun Yixie saw that Hosokawa had a tired look on his face, so he simply said no How to interrupt the other person with polite, yet pragmatic words.

"Ah, it's good if you two don't blame me." After hearing this, Hosokawa immediately straightened up with a smile, raised his head and continued, "Then, what did you two say that you wanted to 'ask for advice' from me during the day?"

At this time, Sun and Huang quickly exchanged glances, and then Huang Donglai said: "Mr. Hosokawa, more than a month ago, was there a diplomatic mission returning from Dashu that landed in your Flower Palace?" Cross your feet?"

In fact, the answer to this question is not a secret.

Perhaps the Japanese people at that time didn't know or care about this, but anyone with a slight official title in Kyoto basically knew that every delegation that went to Osaka would stop at the Flower Palace after returning to Kyoto. After a period of time, when the time is right, the general will personally take the leader of the mission to meet the emperor.

Naturally, Sun and Huang had already learned this information from Xiaomei. Now Huang Donglai knew it and asked, just to use this to lead the way and test Hosokawa's reaction when he heard it.

Unexpectedly, Hosokawa's reaction was really big...

At that time, his face changed color, and he hesitated for several seconds before replying: "Uh... it seems that is the case." After saying that, he paused and immediately added, "But maybe you two I don’t know... At that time, it was not just Nobunaga’s family who lived here as it is now, but there were many dignitaries and civil servants who came to Beijing to do business... The people were quite mixed, so I was worried about the mission... Not very impressed.”

Sun Huang looked at Hosokawa's erratic eyes and guilty mouth, and listened to his evasive answers and superfluous explanations, which was really a bit difficult for him.At this moment, Shuang Xie was certain in his heart: the Hosokawa Kisuke in front of him was a person who was not very capable or courageous, and whose psychological defenses could easily be broken through.

So, Sun Yixie started skillfully: "Asshole! Do you think we are three-year-old children?" He shouted and slammed the table.

This slap frightened Hosokawa so much that after trembling for a while, he shrank back like the wind. After he straightened up, he bowed again: "No, no... I don't dare, little man." How dare I deceive you two..."

"Mr. Hosokawa... don't be nervous." Huang Donglai sang with a red face at this time, "We are not here to accuse you, we are just asking you for some information. As long as you are willing to cooperate, we will not embarrass you. , and..." As he spoke, he turned his gaze sideways and looked at a brocade box in the corner of the room, "We are also willing to transfer all the rewards that Lord Nobunaga gave us just now to sir."

Let me mention here that this box of reward money was offered by Nobunaga earlier tonight in order to thank Shuangxie for helping him repel those assassins.

Sun and Huang also had a tacit understanding. When they heard this proposal, they both showed extremely greedy faces, and they accepted it eagerly.

In this way, Nobunaga felt a lot more relieved, because in his eyes, people's desires are their weaknesses. With desires, there is a "price"... and they can be bought, controlled, and defeated.

What is really scary in this world are the people who seem to have no desires. Such people often do not really have no desires, but their desires are different from ordinary worldly desires. They have higher ambitions or pursuits. Their "price" is beyond the reach of most people, so such people are difficult to bribe and control, and difficult to defeat.

Naturally, Shuangxi didn't want to become such a person in Nobunaga's eyes, so they deliberately made that eating look to prevent Nobunaga from testing them again or digging deeper into their true purpose.

Facing Hosokawa now, Huang Donglai took the opportunity to use this box of money as a bargaining chip, because he had already figured out that Hosokawa was definitely going to fall for this trick.

"Is this... are you serious?" Sure enough, Hosokawa's mind immediately changed after being coaxed by Huang Donglai. His eyes moved to the brocade box, and then the box seemed to be nailed into his eyes. not coming.

"Of course Brother Huang's speech counts, but the premise is that you have to cooperate well and tell the truth." Sun Yixie, who was pretending to be a white-faced man, took over the conversation again and said in a threatening tone, "If you still pretend to be here like you did just now, Silly..." He paused and revealed a ferocious smile, "...Many people have died here tonight. If there is one more corpse, do you think anyone will care?"

"I understand! I understand!" Hosokawa had just witnessed Shuang Xie's martial arts not long ago. Of course he knew that if these two people wanted to kill him, he would not even have time to shout for help; and Sun Yi Xie's threats were justified. There's no problem at all - Hosokawa was not Nobunaga's to begin with, and Nobunaga wouldn't care even if Shuangxie chopped him up. Then he would just say that he was killed by the remnants of the assassins, so what?Who will pursue it?Will Ashikaga Yoshiaki care?That's even more impossible.

Furthermore, this Hosokawa Kisuke... was really guilty. The reason why he was so panicked when he heard about the mission was obviously because his own butt was not clean either.

So what's the whole story?
In fact, it's not complicated. This is Hosokawa. In addition to making money within the scope of his own duties, he also does some "side jobs" similar to that of a middleman.

For example, if some guests who are inconvenient to go to Fengyue places want to find a certain courtesan from Beijing to come to the flower palace for a secret gathering, Hosokawa can go and help with the operation; or there may be guests who want to get some unusual services. He can also use channels to acquire or sell some antique calligraphy and paintings of unknown origin, and he can also make connections...

More than a month ago, when the Japanese delegation lived here, they entrusted Hosokawa to help them sell some things.

Of course, these things are not officially recorded "rewards", but items that the people of the mission obtained and brought back when they were in the Central Plains.

Most of these things were actually bought or obtained by barter, but there were a few exceptions.

"Xi Long Bi" is one of those exceptions.

Our previous document also said that there was actually not just one treasure stolen from the palace at that time, but several, but this was the only one the emperor named to recover.

The reason is also very simple: although there are several other items in the collection of the emperor's family, the one that can be called a "national treasure" is this "Xilong Bi".

This item is also the one with the highest final price and commission among the stolen goods that Hosokawa has helped to sell. In addition, it has only been less than two months since the transaction took place. Hosokawa is sure of the buyers, sellers and details of this transaction. It's still fresh in the memory.

Therefore, just now Huang Donglai opened his mouth to test, and when he mentioned the word "mission", Hosokawa was agitated...

At that moment, Hosokawa immediately connected the identity of Sun and Huang from the Central Plains to the mission's stealing and selling stolen goods, and guessed that the other party might be here to recover the treasure.

But with a sense of luck, Hosokawa immediately wanted to pretend that the matter had nothing to do with him and muddle through.

It's a pity... In front of Sun Huang, his acting skills and psychological quality were a little bit behind, and then they were given a package of coercion and inducement, so naturally he had no choice but to submit obediently.

Not long after, Hosokawa told everything he knew about the situation, and Shuangxie finally learned through his clue that the last whereabouts of the Dragon Bi was discovered by a man named Sahara Kansuke. take away.

The surname Sawara existed only in one place in Japan at that time, and that was the small vassal kingdom of Sawara located on the Kii Peninsula south of Osaka.