On the highest floor of the towering castle tower, the lord of the Sunfu Domain, who received 550,000 koku, was the official from the Kitamaru Palace, the younger brother of the current shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, Tokugawa Tadanaga, who received his cronies and retainers in a sober manner.

Since the death of his mother Ajiang two years ago, Suruga Daiyan, who was once considered more suitable to serve as a shogun than his brother when he was young, suddenly lost his greatest spiritual support and protector.

For a period of time after his mother's death, he had no intention of dealing with the feudal government, and spent his days indulging in the wine country, trying to alleviate the pain after his mother's death. During that time, rumors of his misdeeds after his mother's death spread in Suruga Province and Edo.

When the rumor reached the ears of the Grand Imperial Palace and he wrote a letter to reprimand him, Tokugawa Tadanaga discovered that after losing his mother's protection, his father's side was already full of people from his brother Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Even his father, who had always doted on him, wrote to reprimand him for unconfirmed rumors, and rejected his request to go to Edo to explain.

This frightened Tokugawa Tadanaga, who suddenly realized that if his mother had not defended himself in front of his father, the consequence of the constant rumors about him reaching his father's ears was that he was disgusted by his father. Without his father's protection, his brother, who has always regarded him as a thorn in his side, can find an excuse to repair him at any time.

It is not surprising that he will be allowed to change at best, or exiled to some barren mountain range, and Tokugawa Tadanaga obviously cannot accept such a tragic end.

And not all of the rumors slandering him are made up, and some of them are indeed true, but it is impossible for these things to leak out except for the people around them.

Tokugawa Tadacho suddenly understood that there must be a secret agent of his brother Yasui by his side. It was only after his mother's death that so many rumors suddenly broke out about his true and false.

When Tokugawa Tadacho came to his senses, he immediately killed several unreliable servants and servants with a few trivial things. Although this added a few more crimes to him, he finally made the servants in his palace dare not spread rumors anymore.

And at this time, he finally understood his brother's thoughts. Although the two were brothers, his mother's pampering of him and his desire to make him the heir of the shogunate had made his brother hate him.

If he can't regain the favor of the Great Palace, then maybe his brother's methods against him will become more and more severe. Besides, even if the elder brother doesn't want to kill himself, but the Ah Fu next to the elder brother, will he let go of this great opportunity to deal with himself.

Tokugawa Tadanaga silently thought about his thoughts, this young man who was only 23 years old, completely lost the spirit of his youth, and sat there with a sad face, like a depressed old man.

Tosa Mamoru Torii Seiji and Chikugo Mamoru Asakura Nobumasa were both pressed on the floor with their hands on the floor, leaning forward and respectfully waiting for Tokugawa Tadadenaga's orders.

Unlike Torii Seiji's rigid posture, Nobumasa Asakura leaned forward at a small angle, which allowed him to observe Tokugawa Tadanaga's expression with a little out of the corner of his eye.

Nobuyasa Asakura, who grew up in troubled times, may not be smart enough, but his sense of danger is far from that of Tokugawa Tadanaga.

The series of events that occurred after the death of Godaisho was clearly a conspiracy against Tokugawa Tadanaga. Although he was a retainer of Tokugawa Tadanaga, he was already inseparable from the fate of Suruga Dainayan.

However, he did not intend to tie his family to this Suruga Dainayan, who was known as a brilliant talent in his youth, and acted quite similarly to Gongenden.

But in Asakura Nobumasa's opinion, this Suruga Dai's words are far worse than Quan Xiandian. At least Quan Xiandian would not want to confuse the other party by indulging in alcohol when the general was already suspicious of himself, which would only help the other party confirm the truth of the rumors and hit the confidence of his own retainers.

In Asakura's view, Tokugawa Tadashi was not in a hurry to show his heart to his brother or to find a way to win the favor of the Imperial Palace, but to first determine his own ambitions and set up the goals of his retainers.

For example, Tokugawa Tadanaga's current slimy and directionless behavior will only make his retainers deviate from morality. However, as an old man who is almost 60 years old, he no longer has the courage to take risks when he was young, and only wants to be able to maintain the current situation in peace.

He was older than the Great Imperial Palace, and Asakura Nobuyasa felt that as long as the Great Imperial Palace was still alive, this fratricidal chaos would not happen. Then as long as he dies before the Great Imperial Palace, the Asakura family does not have to get involved in the infighting in the shogun's house.

With this in mind, Nobumasa Asakura did not propose any risky move to Tokugawa Tadanaga in the slightest. Of course, this is also related to the steady governance policy of the current shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu. Asakura Nobumasa believes that even if Da Nayan really has any ideas, he has no chance in the face of the powerful power that Ieko has.

Since it is a risk that must fail, it is better to kill some of the hopes of Da Nayan from the beginning and let everyone live well. From this point of view, it is not a good thing that Da Nayan indulges in wine.

As Asakura Nobuya's heart turned a thousand times, Tokugawa Tadanaga finally broke the silence in the castle tower, and although his eyes were still bloodshot after staying awake all night, his eyes were now extremely clear.

“… All of the above are all kinds of untruths fabricated by my brother's close ministers to me, trying to slander my reputation in front of the people of the world and the Great Imperial Palace, hoping to turn me into a notorious villain, and from then on completely lose the favor of the Great Imperial Palace, so that I can no longer threaten my brother's position.

I, Tokugawa Tadanaga, must not be humiliated at the hands of such villains and let their plot become a reality. It is here to ask Tosa Mamoru and Chikugo Mamoru to help me loyal. ”

Tokugawa Tadadenaga, who has always been high in front of his retainers, bowed down in front of the two retainers.

Tosa Mamoru Torii Seiji, who was in charge of the internal affairs for Tokugawa Tadanaga, immediately bowed back in fear, and said with some nervousness in his mouth: "But according to the orders of Surugaden, the ministers will obey them one by one." ”

Unlike Nobumasa Asakura, this Tosa Mamoru in his early 40s was indeed an honest and honest man, and from the time he became a retainer of the Tadagawa, he devoted his loyalty completely to this Suruga Daishino.

Asakura Nobumasa hesitated slightly, then bowed to the ground and pledged his allegiance to Tokugawa Tadadenaga. The actions of the two retainers finally made Tokugawa Tadanaga, who felt inferior to him when he made the decision, feel a little more confident.

Although the two retainers around him were only second-rate figures compared to the retainers of his brother, such as Doi Toshikatsu, Honda Masasumi, Sakai Tadashi, and Sakai Tadashi, after receiving the news from the Ming Kingdom, Tokugawa Tadanaga's long-standing fear of the powerful power of the Edo shogunate finally dissipated.

Since the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom used less than half of the Japanese army to conquer Korea, he beat the hundred battles accumulated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the world, and made his grandfather Quan Xiandian take the opportunity to seize the world of the Toyotomi family.

So as long as he has the support of Emperor Ming, he doesn't think that he can't become the second in the Quan Xian Palace.

After Asakura Nobu straightened up, he cautiously asked Tokugawa Tadacho, "Then Surugaya, what are you going to do?" ”

Tokugawa Tadanaga said to the two retainers in a depressed tone, "My brother wants to slander my reputation in front of the Great Imperial Palace, and it is only because my father loves me far more than him.

Although my father has become estranged from me because of recent rumors, his love for me will not disappear so quickly.

As long as the Great Imperial Palace is still watching me, then my brother's despicable method of sowing discord will not work.

In order to make up for the rift between me and my father in the past period, I asked someone to order a pair of cloisonne plums to the Ming Kingdom, and thus obtained a channel of communication with the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom. ”

Tokugawa Tadanaga paused at this point, observed the expressions of the two retainers, and found that there was nothing unusual, before he continued: "The Emperor of the Ming Kingdom has shown goodwill to the merchant representatives I have sent and has given some gifts, and I would like to ask the two lords to see what these gifts mean. ”

Without waiting for the two retainers to speak, Tokugawa Tadanaga clapped his palms, and the two young people walked in with a rectangular brocade box.

The two young people put the brocade box in their hands in front of the two retainers, and moved their knees out of the room.

After hearing the paper door close, Nobumasa Asakura couldn't wait to open the brocade box in front of him, and Torii Seiji hesitated before reaching out and opening the brocade box in front of him.

The brocade box in front of the two of them contained the same item, a light arquebus. Nobumasa Asakura, who had experienced more wars, immediately took out the arquebus in the box and observed it carefully.

He observed very carefully, and did not let go of every detail from beginning to end. After reading this, he came to a conclusion and put the arquebus back, but he did not need to rush to express his opinion.

After Torii Seiji saw the arquebus in the box, he was stunned for a while, then looked up at Tokugawa Tadanaga and said solemnly: "Your Highness Suruga, this Emperor of the Ming Kingdom sent such a gift, it is purely unkind."

Ever since Gonkenden founded the Edo shogunate, Japan has been the domain of the Tokugawa family. Although there are some misunderstandings between His Highness and the General, it has not yet reached the point of swords and spears facing each other at this moment.

What's more, the Tang people also have it: brothers are on the wall, and they are insulted outside. said. Now that the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom is sending such a gift, intending to provoke a fight between His Royal Highness Suruga and the Shogun, the sinister intentions of the Emperor can be known without asking. Please also..."

Tokugawa Tadanaga's eyelids jumped, and he stared at Torii Seiji and said in a rather unkind tone: "Could it be that it is not my brother who has spread rumors about me in Suruga Province and Edo in the past two years, but an outsider?" ”

ps: I'm busy, I've rushed a chapter, I wish you all a happy New Year.