Swallow Back

Four layers of walls were built inside and outside the city, covering an area of ​​thousands of steps in total. The castle tower is more than twenty feet high, and it is a majestic giant fortress from any angle.

But the surrounding business atmosphere did not develop as expected.

Probably because the trade network in the Kinki region is mature and saturated.

Or maybe... Oda Nobunaga's administration is not as good as expected.

More diplomatic monks, messengers and troops came and went in and out of Antu City, rather than various merchants.The shops in the castle town provided luxurious services for the family members of the samurai living in the city and the office staff who came from other places, but basically did not involve bulk goods transactions.

The most common ones are wine houses with unique decorations and ridiculously high prices.Without exception, there are boxes with extremely high privacy, which can effectively isolate prying eyes.

The high-ranking warriors not only have fun here, eliminate fatigue, and pass the time, but also take the opportunity to inquire about some information that is not suitable for public discussion, or intentionally or unintentionally share some information that is not suitable for public discussion.

More often than not, low-level retainers just talk nonsense after drinking too much, pass on specious gossip, or simply complain about troubles encountered at work.Pulled out alone, they are just pure drunks, but together they form an unconscious group.

Compared with the spacious and bright conference hall in Azuchi Castle, these wine houses are dark rooms in the political structure of the Oda family.

Oda Nobunaga, known as "Your Highness of the Right Mansion", has unfathomable power and city government. He can make all the retainers tremble with fear, but he can't stop the existence of this "dark room".

The will of the human heart is irresistible.

Even if you manipulate a few, a dozen or even hundreds of retainers with supernatural powers, it still can't stop others from having their own ideas.

……

Liu Yun casually found a diplomatic monk who had been active in Kinki for a long time but had never made a name for himself, and then used spells and abilities to easily obtain some basic information about Azuchi Castle.

The second Yamatoya on the left side of the city gate is the one with the highest content, and the proprietor behind it is said to be the uncle of a certain son of the Oda family, so he is not afraid of any inspections, but there may be suspicions of high-level eyes and ears. Discussion issues should not be too indulgent.

Correspondingly, the wild mountain house with two turns on the right belongs to monks of the Linji Sect. Li's pursuit of making things difficult, so that it cannot operate normally.

There is a place in the north west of the city that was opened by a relative of Nobumori Sakuma. It used to be full of guests, but now it has fallen with the loss of Nobumori Sakuma. Beloved by the second generation of the Oda family and gave birth to a son, there is a great tendency to rise...

Everything is inseparable from politics.

The topics of discussion among the customers in the tavern were roughly limited to this.

Some are studying the hobbies, hobbies or kinship of high-ranking officials and intend to cling to them, some are analyzing recently issued policies and decrees to find opportunistic opportunities, and some are focusing on predicting the direction of the next strategy in an attempt to do their homework first, and so on. And feet.

……

Before the official action, Liu Yun didn't want to cause too much noise, so after he came to Antu Castle, he changed the decoration and sneaked into the market, first experiencing the surrounding situation as an ordinary traveler.

With a little use of the ability recently obtained from the Nine-Tailed Fox, it is possible to hear the voices of people within dozens of steps.

He is less interested in the political news of the Oda family, and more interested in news related to religion and the Iga Rebellion.

But I didn't gain much after turning around for a long time, I just heard an old warrior with a low status bragging: "His Royal Highness Youfu first eliminated the Tiantai sect that looked powerful but had been corrupted for a long time, and then used the Nichiren sect to deal with the strongest Yixiang sect, Now they support the Shingon sect to suppress the Nichiren sect, the method is too clever, so in our Oda family, monks don't have such a high status at all!"

The evaluation of the Iga Rebellion only stayed at the stage of trickery.

"Since the tens of thousands of heads were cut off in Iga, the low-bone farmers finally have a point in their minds, and it has become much easier to go out to patrol recently" and "People are only afraid of you on the surface, and they may be afraid of you when no one is looking Secretly colluded with Mao Li, Uesugi, and the others, and doing so would not be worth the candle.” The dispute did not involve elements that Liu Yun was interested in.

Of course, these words are not completely useless, and they are somewhat enlightening, but not enough.

From this point of view, Oda Nobunaga's method is indeed good, and the middle and lower samurai can't see his intention at all.

After staying around for a while, Liu Yun felt that there should be no effective information from the market.

It's better to go directly to Nobunaga and question him.

Or visit other old friends first?

Like... well...

It's really hard to say, it seems that there is nothing worth mentioning except Mrs. Guidie and Miss Ashi.

What should we talk about when we meet them?

Just as he was thinking about this, a voice from a direction suddenly caught Liu Yun's attention.

"Have you heard about the ghosts along Lake Biwa?"

"Wraith? Are you talking about some kind of monster?"

"I don't know if it is some kind of monster. In short, it is said that it was a person who had power in life and died a tragic death. His obsessions have not been completely dissipated, and they have been accumulated. When inspired by some recent opportunity, they become resentment." spirit……"

"In this way, I heard that last month someone was driving at Otsu at night and encountered a ferocious humanoid monster. Its body and appearance are very similar to Master Mori Kecheng who died more than ten years ago."

"I seem to have also heard that the Asakura family violently revived Naotaka Magara in Anegawa. I thought it was nonsense."

"What's even more frightening is that Sasaki Liuyun, the former number one warrior, was executed because he offended His Royal Highness... It seems that he is now in the state of a vicious monster."

"Wow, that's not good. Only His Royal Highness Youfu can suppress that guy when he's alive. Maybe it's even more terrifying after he's dead!"

"Don't be frightened by unfounded things! By the way, I've heard something even more bizarre, saying that Mrs. Gui Die has also become a vengeful spirit."

"Hey, isn't this something groundless for you?"

"Wait... the ones you mentioned just now are all dead people, when did Mrs. Gui Die die?"

"She passed away a year ago, and she just concealed the news of her death for some purpose... This should be a well-known secret."

"Where did you come from unreliable rumors..."

"Madame Gui Die hasn't shown her face for almost a year, you know it."

"So what? She didn't show up much before!"

"No way, it's not true that there are people who don't know this, right? Mrs. Guidie—this is something that cannot be easily heard—the cause of Madam Guidie's death is suspicious and cannot be buried. Although everyone dare not discuss it openly, in fact It's very clear in my heart."

"That's it? Isn't this still an unreliable rumor? There is no credible evidence at all!"

"Taste what I said carefully! It's not the first day you've been to Oda's house, no matter how stupid you are, you should know a little bit about some confidential things."

"Probably I'm really stupid, and I don't put all my mind on inquiring about unreliable rumors like you smart people. May I ask you, a smart person, who knows so much insider information, how much do you know now? Don't say ten thousand shi , at least five thousand stones, right?"

"It's not much more, but there are still 860 stones, and it was just added at the beginning of the year. It's better than a colleague who is still 350 stones in almost ten years."

"Hey, can you stop mentioning this if you have nothing to do!"

"Hey, look, he's in a hurry, he's in a hurry..." 1

The laughter and cursing at the wine table gradually turned into a fight.

Liu Yun didn't know or care about these middle-level warriors, and he didn't care about most of what they said.

Including such things as "Rebirth of Wraiths", it is not surprising in this world of strange powers and gods.

Even when I heard that "Sasaki Ruyun became a grudge", I still just laughed it off.

but--

They said Mrs. Gui Die died, what's going on?

Obviously, he didn't mention this when he met Mrs. Ningning before.

Listening to the tone and content just now, I always feel that it is not a complete rumor, but a level where there is no wind and no waves.

Liu Yun subconsciously used his psychic ability to test it.

Then he immediately realized that although it was just an unproven statement, most of the samurai firmly believed in the fact that Mrs. Guidie offended Oda Nobunaga and was accidentally killed. spread rumors.

So Liu Yun decisively adjusted his itinerary.

Before going to Oda Nobunaga to "reminiscing about the past", it seems good to meet Mrs. Guidie first.At least to confirm her personal safety first, it doesn't take much effort. 1

Outsiders may not be clear, but Liuyun knows that because the main wife of the Oda family has a bad relationship with her husband, she usually lives with the oil house monster in Kiyomiji Temple in Kyoto.

Chapter 296 Can I get closer and let the concubine take a closer look?

The distance from Azuchi Castle on the south bank of Lake Biwa to Kiyomiji Temple in the northwestern suburbs of Kyoto is about [-] kilometers. It takes at least one day and night for ordinary people to travel by car, horse or boat.

But for Liu Yun who had stolen the power of the nine-tailed fox, it was only a short distance. Whether walking or flying, it was only equivalent to a walk after a meal.

It was probably at the middle of Shenshi (four o'clock in the afternoon) that I decided to go to see Mrs. Guidie's situation, and when the sunset came, I had already approached the destination smoothly.

After many years, the northwestern suburbs of Kyoto are still the same as before, nothing has changed, and the surrounding areas are still deserted farmland and deserted paths. It is hard to see how much development has been made in the peaceful years under the rule of the Oda family.

At first, Liu Yun was a little puzzled by this.

Did you say that the Oda family values ​​business development?

Fortunately, on the way, I met two farmers selling melons with loads, and I got some news from their chats.

"Hurry up, hurry up, we must catch up with Nawu and Shimaiya to come out to receive the goods, and then we can sell at [-] cents per catty. Surely not only people in our village got the news, we need to be ahead of everyone else! Otherwise, selling it to a local merchant will cost you ten yuan at most."

"Understood, bro. Why are Naya and Shimaya the only ones who charge so much more?"

"Because the right to trade melons near Kyoto is owned by the two of them, other people have to pay them if they want to intervene, so the cost is definitely not certain."

"But brother, didn't you say that after Leshi Lezuo, you don't need to pay for it?"

"That was in the past... At first, the Oda family didn't allow the monks to collect money, which really made us feel comfortable for a few years, so we supported them to drive the monks away. I didn't expect that after this, the royal businessman of the Oda family took the seats. The money was collected again. Oh, it doesn’t seem to be called seat money now, what is it called under a different name? What kind of money is it from the public?”

"No matter what it's called, it's no different from the monks collecting money before!"

"If you want to talk about the difference, the power of the monk to collect the seat money came from the imperial court and the shogunate. It seems that there is no time limit, but these two royal merchants have to accept the assessment of the Oda family every year to keep their status. I probably heard so .”

"Hearing what you said, brother, the Oda family is really powerful...but it really doesn't make any difference to us."

"Oh, it's useless to talk too much, hurry up!"

……

Liu Yun was very surprised by what he overheard.

In his previous life, he studied history through glorious games and online novels. He always thought that Oda Nobunaga was an innovator who represented advanced productivity, but now it seems that something is not quite right.

If nothing else, be sure to investigate carefully.

But for now, let's go and see Mrs. Guidie first.

After all, when I walked outside the gate of Kiyomiji Temple in the northwest suburb of Kyoto, what I saw was not quite right.

The temple gate and courtyard walls are exactly the same as before, but the color is older.

From a distance, you can feel that there are many human beings moving inside, but judging from the accumulation around, it has not been in or out for at least half a month.

There are fewer pedestrians around than in the past, and occasionally tourists and merchants pass by, but they are also spared from the boss's circle, as if they are avoiding something.

Obviously there is an anomaly.

After walking a few steps closer, Liu Yun suddenly felt an inexplicable emotion welling up strongly, and asked him to stay away quickly, not to approach this place.

So is this why pedestrians have to detour?

For Liu Yun who stole the authority of the Nine-Tailed Fox, there are almost no spiritual spells worth mentioning in the world.He was not affected, but became more interested, and jumped over the courtyard wall into Qingjian Temple.