Masaaki Otahara was flattered by Ashihara Yoshisen's preferential treatment, so he naturally accepted all the requests that only needed to move his mouth, and after he was full of wine and food, he stayed at Ninomaru in Omiyagi, preparing to rest for two days and recuperate before heading on the road. most

But I didn't expect that before dawn the next day, the entire Omiyagi suddenly became noisy, and the sleepy-eyed Ota Hara Masaaki rubbed his eyes, yawned and complained while pushing the account open, looking towards the big hand door not far away, this look didn't matter, the scene in front of him suddenly made this hillbilly-like wealthy family stunned.

The important ministers of the family, including Ashihari Yoshisen's younger brother Ashihari Yoshiyasu, all gathered outside the Otemon Gate, as if they were anxiously waiting for someone to appear. After a while, a middle-aged man riding a tall horse and wearing a black sè hunting suit came down to the front of the welcome team behind more than 100 samurai and ninjas in night clothes.

"Jiulang, can you see the family crest on that person's body?" Masaaki Otahara turned around and asked his retainer Nobuko Otani.

Nobuyin Otani is a student of Masakiyo, and he has read a lot of books, and to be honest, his knowledge is far more profound than that of his young master, so whenever there is a difficult problem, the first thing that comes to Masaki's mind is Nobuko Otani.

Nobukin Otani also lived up to expectations, and after observing it for a long time, he muttered, "It should be 'Tsurumaru pattern'." ”

"'Tsurumaru pattern'?" Masaaki Otahara was a little dissatisfied: "There are more than 30 famous families in the world who use Tsurumaru as their family crest, and I want to know what style of Tsurumaru he has." ”

"I think it's supposed to be 'Kamo Tsuru', oh no, although it's all round pill patterns, but from the pattern, it looks like 'butterfly pills', yes, it must be the Ikeda family's 'Ikeda butterfly'." Nobuko Otani nodded in affirmation.

"'Ikeda butterfly'?" Masaaki Otahara was a little puzzled: "I remember that the Ikeda family used the Heike family's 'Yang Feather Butterfly'. Where did the 'Ikeda butterfly' come from? ”

Nobukin Otani shook his head: "The one who uses the 'Yang Feather Butterfly' is the Settsu Ikeda family, and the one you see should belong to the Mino Ikeda family, that is, the Tatebayashi attendant family, although they are all Ikeda clans, but the family crest of the Mino Ikeda clan is a modified 'group butterfly' on the basis of the Yang Feather Butterfly, so there is a clear difference from the Setzu Ikeda clan as a clan." ”

Hearing the words "Tatebayashi Attendant", Masaaki Otahara couldn't help but be stunned: "You mean this person is Terumasa Ikeda?!" ”

Masaaki Otahara knew that as early as four years ago, Terumasa Ikeda had married Tokugawa Ieyasu's second daughter, Governor, as his successor. The relationship between the Ikeda family and Tokugawa Ieyasu was extraordinary, and although Hideho was kind to Terumasa after that, the Ikeda family did not look forward to the two families of Gamo and Utsunomiya, but had an ambiguous attitude with Tokugawa Ieyasu. If it was indeed Terumasa Ikeda's visit to Omiyagi, his way to Beijing would be dangerous.

Nobuto Otani saw the worry in Masakiyo's heart, and hurriedly comforted: "Ikeda's attendant has never had anything to do with the Ashiwashi family, so how could he visit Omiyagi Castle late at night, according to the minister's view, it should only be a branch of the Mino Ikeda clan." ”

"Yes. Let's hope so. Otahara Masaaki sighed and said slowly: "Just in case, you better go out and find a domestic servant to come in, and ask clearly." ”

"Huh. Then I went to find it. Nobu Otani himself bowed and walked out, and after a while, he led a young servant back to his room.

The young servant didn't know what was happening, so he stood at the door with his head bowed and trembling. Waiting for Masaaki Otahara's question.

"Hey, let me ask you," Masaaki Otahara asked with an arrogant face, "Your lord has set up such a big formation at the door. Which daimyo will you greet? ”

The young servant hesitated for a moment and stammered as he replied, "I heard that it's not a daimyo, but a retainer of the Yamato Right Mansion, and it seems that his name is Komiyayama Harutsu." ”

"Harukatsu Komiyayama?" Masaaki Otahara frowned and turned to Nobuko Otani: "Have you heard of this person?" ”

Nobukin Otani tried to think about it, and speculated in a low voice: "I heard from a colleague who returned from Korea a few years ago that it was said that a retainer under the Honda Tadashi Dynasty was recruited by the Right Prefecture to take him under his command, and in the later battle, he was awarded 5,000 koku... If memory serves, the man's surname is Komiyayama. ”

"If that's the case, then I'm relieved." Otawara Masaaki let out a long sigh and ordered the young servant: "You will pass on my behalf to Lord Komiyayama, saying that it is the young lord of Otawara Castle in Shimono Nasu County, Otawara Masakiyo, who has asked for an audience. ”

The young servant was ordered to retreat, while Masaaki was served by Nobuko Otani to freshen up and wait for Harukatsu Komiyayama to summon him.

However, nearly half an hour had passed, and the servant still had not returned, which made Otohara, Masaaki Otawara feel despised and ignored Otani Nobukin's obstruction, and angrily walked down the castle tower, preparing to go directly to Honmaru to meet Komiyayama Harukatsu.

In fact, things were not what Masaaki thought, the domestic servant was stopped by Ashiharai Yoshian before he saw the face of Komiyayama Harukatsu, the reason was to "disturb the rest of the VIPs", and it is also said that Haruki spent nearly two months in order to gather the Togakure ninjas lurking in various places, from Mikawa to Shinano, from Shinano to Suruga, and even Ueno and Hida He sent people to investigate for a long time, and it was not easy to find more than 80 ninjas. It is worth mentioning that among this group of ninjas, nearly one-third of the Sanada family in Ueda Castle, of course, at first, this old fox was unwilling to deal with Komiyayama Harukatsu, who was only a descendant of the "Envoy Twelve", until Harukatsu revealed his identity as the second son of Takeda Katsuyori, Sanada Masayuki sincerely apologized with courtesy, and took the initiative to reassign Deura Morikiyoshi and Yokotani Yuki to Harukatsu.

Of course, Harukatsu knew what Sanada Masayuki was fighting, and after the battle of Uedawara, Tokugawa and Sanada had already become a fire and water, but fortunately, Hideyoshi reconciled from the middle to keep Sanada Masayuki's territory. Now that Hideyoshi has died, anyone with a discerning eye can see that Rimoto now has a three-legged trend, with the Omi faction, the Yamato Toyotomi faction, and the Edo Uchifu faction fighting each other, and the undercurrent is surging. Among them, Tokugawa Ieyasu is certainly not the object of Sanada Masayuki's dependence; Although Ishida Mitsunari is Masayuki's brother-in-law, his strength is the weakest of the three, and it is also very risky to completely press the treasure on him, so he took this opportunity to sell his favor to Harukatsu, which is also a gesture of goodwill to Hideho, as for his repeated claims that he is a "Takeda relic", "willing to contribute all his strength to the revival of Takeda" and the like, it is just a high-sounding gimmick, although Harukatsu is not as brave as Katsurai, but Zhizhi still inherited the mantle of Shingen, of course, these words can be heard from false, but the household paper is not easy to pierce.

Two months of busyness made Qingsheng physically and mentally exhausted, so he didn't even participate in the welcome banquet of Ashishi Yoshisen, so he fell asleep in the wing room, and Ashishi Yoshisen didn't dare to disturb him, and stopped the servants sent by Zhengqing without authorization. But he didn't expect that this block would provoke a conflict between Zhengqing and Qingsheng.

ps: I went out to play during the Mid-Autumn Festival yesterday, no, don't be surprised, belated blessings, Mid-Autumn Festival!