Located in the northwest of Shimono Province, near the Snake Tail River, Otawara Castle is a Hirayama Castle built on Mt. Ryuti, which is about 75 meters above sea level above the river bank, so it is also called "Ryuki Castle" and "Ryuti Castle", the castle was founded in the A.D. year, when the Otawara clan, one of the "Nasu Seven Riders", was relocated from Mizuguchi Castle (also known as "Otawarakan") built in the plain area to Mt. Ryuti, which is located two kilometers south of it, and officially renamed it "Otawara Castle"

The so-called "Nasu Seven Horses" refers to an important force including the Nasu family's relatives Ashino clan, Iohno clan, Chihon, Fukuhara clan, and the seven families of the Oseki clan and the Otawara clan, who are nominally retainers of the Nasu family, but have a strong dulixing, and sometimes even dare to go against the wishes of the family, therefore, when the Nasu family was changed because of the Odawara conquest, these seven families were not affected by this, on the contrary, they all became duli daimyo scattered throughout Shimono because the power was too scattered, These wall grasses were thrown into the arms of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who dominated the Kanto region, and although they were still nominally duli daimyos, the actual mountain had become a pawn planted by the Tokugawa family in Shimono, responsible for monitoring the two strongest forces in Shimono, the Utsunomiya clan and the Gamo clan

Among them, the location of the Otawara family is the most special, although it is only a small daimyo with 7,000 stone Chiyuki, but in addition to monitoring the Utsunomiya family in the southwest, it is also necessary to pay attention to Uesugi Keikatsu in the northeast and Satake Yoshinobu in the east, which can be said to be the most important link in Ieyasu's Shimono intelligence, and it is precisely because of this that Hideho will be overjoyed when he receives Otawara Harukiyo's "Zhixing Bongshu Shu", and hurriedly dispatches the Aoki Ichishige Aoki Kazuki brothers to take over, and build the Otawara Museum in Goto Mountain Castle to comfort Harukiyo

However, Harunaki did not wait to move to like other small daimyos, but went to Mizuguchi Castle, the original residence of the Otawara clan, on the grounds that it was "difficult to leave his homeland", and this move seemed reasonable, but it made many wise generals of the Yamato Toyotomi family, who were politically sensitive, aware of the strangeness

On October 26, the third year of Keichō, that is, one month after Harukiyo Otawara submitted the "Written Return", Hideho adopted the advice of Fujido Takatora and Goto Kiji, sent an envoy to Otawara, asked Harukiyo to enter Beijing to meet Hideho, and asked the imperial court for Shimonosuke's official position for Aoki Kazushige, and ordered him to leave for Shimono at the same time, the Ikeda family of Hishukan Hayashiro Castle, the Gamo family of Mibu Castle and the Utsunomiya family of Utsunomiya Castle, so that they could prepare to welcome the Aoki brothers, and asked the three families to send 2,000 people to accompany them on the road, Strive to make the number of troops stationed at Otawara Castle reach 12,000

When Hideho's teaching arrived in Otawara on November 5, Harukiyo Otahara was shocked and immediately set off to prepare for the west, but instead of taking the Nakasendo Road to enter without breaking through, he went south to the Tokaido and arrived at Edo Castle first

At the palace of Sannomaru in Edo Castle, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Honda father and son met with Otawara Harukiyo and his son

In recent years, the daimyo from all over the country have begun to prepare to go to Luo to meet Toyotomi Hideyori, and Tokugawa Ieyasu is no exception In order to show his loyalty, the treasures and money offered this time are nearly twice as much as in previous years, after all, it is the first year after Hideyoshi's death, plus the support of the five elders and the assistance of the powerful daimyo like Xiubian, but anyone who has a little brain, does not dare to snub the little doll in Osaka Castle at this juncture, on the contrary, in order to paralyze the center of the country, The ambitious daimyo were more respectful than usual, trying to behave like a mouse that had surrendered to the feet of an elephant, but in fact they were secretly thinking about how to find an opportunity to get into the trunk of the elephant and turn him upside down

Against this backdrop, Otawara father and son walked through the busy streets and bustling crowds to arrive at Edo Castle, the center of Tokugawa Ieyasu's vast empire of two million stones

After eight years of painstaking management, Edo Castle, which was once full of weedy houses, has now become a giant castle with two stories and three inner castles (Honmaru Ninomaru Sannomaru is surrounded by several moats, and it is rumored that there are 25 buildings outside Edo Castle, 11 buildings in the inner wall, and 67 gates in the inner castle, which together exceed the number of Osaka Castle built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and even the other three castles in the "Four Castles" combined

Walking along the road to Edo Castle, the amazed Otawara father and son talked cautiously as they walked on the way to Sannomaru

"Father, is it really good to hand over the knowledge and deeds of your family?" Masaaki Otahara asked with a frown

"I don't know," Harukiyo Otahara shook his head, "After all, this is the will of His Royal Highness the Inner Palace, so it's better for us to obey it."

"If you hand over the castle built by your grandfather to outsiders and live in the old city that is poorly repaired, I am afraid that the future authority of my family will be..."

"Authority?" Otahara Qing snorted coldly, and then sighed: "Since the change of the Nasu family, the authority of this family has long been trampled on like the bluestone slab on the ground, and it is said that it is seven thousand stone Zhixing, but how many wealthy families really obey this family?" Not only the main family, but also the other six families in the 'Nasu Seven Horsemen' are also facing this dilemma, and all the wealthy families in the territory regard the Tokugawa Inner Mansion as their top boss, and we, the lords, have become ornaments, and the embarrassment of the Nasu family being bullied back then is finally retribution to us."

"Father, I think there is a lot of pampering from the inner government behind this, otherwise they wouldn't dare to be so arrogant if they had ten guts," Masaaki Otawara said indignantly

"Be quiet," Harukiyo Otawara made a "shhhhhh

"How can I forget, he is the Fu of Zhengqing, back then, he just sent troops to exterminate the Otari clan who regarded the authority of his family, and he was ordered to cut his stomach by the Tokugawa Inner Government on the grounds of 'provoking the relationship between the monarch and the minister', and the old minister who served the family for nearly 30 years died unjustly, and the turmoil caused by this has not subsided until now" Otawara Masaqing cried out loud as he spoke, which shows his thoughts and regrets for this old minister

Otawara Harukiyo lowered his head and sighed: "Because of that incident, the Ogura clan Suo Xing defected to the Utsunomiya family, and the Otsura Kiyotai completely fell to the inner house, and even the annual tribute was sent directly to Edo, at the end of last year, several wealthy families drove away the acting officials of the family, which is probably also affected by that incident, and now the family has the name of 7,000 stone Zhixing, but in fact, it only controls less than 30% of the territory, and there is nothing to show it."

"Father, you know this, why do you still have to hand over Jucheng, do you really give up resistance?" Masaaki Otawara said dissatisfiedly: "I heard that the Yamauchi family in Tokaido was in the same situation as the main family, but His Royal Highness the Right Mansion arrived, and it took a few days to regain his former authority.

"Earn" Otahara Harukiyo's tone was firm and uncompromising: "Where is Yamauchi Nakamura, Tokaido, next to Owari Province, which has infiltrated more than half of the Right Prefecture, it is naturally convenient to make a move; And we, far away in the field, to Owari at the shortest to cross Shikoku, a round trip of more than half a month, even if the right house has a heart, it is beyond the reach of the whip."

"That's okay Ai This time, the Right Mansion just sent someone to take over Daejeon, I heard that the total strength can reach 12,000 people, we might as well take this opportunity to go to Luo, tell the truth to the Right Mansion, maybe we can help" Otawara Masaaki's words were full of elimination, eager to get his father's approval

However, Otawara Harukiyo still shook his head, looked around, and refused in frustration: "Do you think that the Tokugawa Inner Mansion doesn't know the abacus in our hearts, I'm afraid that this time Shangluo will be more auspicious and less auspicious."

ps: The experiment in the past two days is relatively irregular.,Yesterday I didn't have time to pass on half of the writing.,Today it's made up and passed up.,Don't blame Ai and.,Allow the bear cub to take the liberty of asking for a recommendation ticket.,After all, it's been restored.,These things are still quite important.,Thank you.

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