At the same time that Nakamura Kazushi was looking at the mountain and sighing, his original backer, Tokugawa Minister Ieyasu, also stood in the castle tower of Edo Castle and looked to the west.

"You see, after crossing the Arakawa, crossing Musashino, passing through the Miura Peninsula, crossing the Sagami Plain, then crossing Hakone and Fuji Mt. Fuji, crossing the Oi River, it is the Enoe, crossing Lake Hamana, passing through Yoshida Castle, and you can return to Okazaki in less than a day." Ieyasu can't remember the first time he had talked to Honda Masanobu about this route, but he still enjoyed it. At the age of fifty-three, he left Mikawa, where he had lived for nearly fifty years, and came to this unfamiliar Kanto, even if he was a man of the world, he could not forget his hometown and only in front of his close relatives and such a close minister as Masanshin, he could release his inner emotions a little, but this release was fleeting, and it would never let outsiders see what he was thinking, which was Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Honda Masanobu, like most of the important ministers around Ieyasu, was born in Junyuansan, so he naturally empathized with Ieyasu's situation, and not only could he recite what Ieyasu said backwards, but whenever he mentioned it, he could still feel the faint pain in his heart.

Masanobu knew that now was not the time to touch the situation, because there were more important things to be solved at present, so he interrupted Ieyasu's thoughts and reminded: "My lord, now is not the time to be sentimental, when Nakata's political army was defeated, I proposed that my family intervene to mediate, but you refused to approve; Later, the Yuanjiang forces were lost, and the Omori family came to report the emergency, but you still ignored it; When that Toyotomi Dainaya pacified Nishi-Suruga, bribed Ashihari Yoshisen, and visited Asama Taisha to show his authority, you still turned a blind eye; Just the day before yesterday, when the Nakamura clan was preparing to fight to the death, you still refused to show your attitude, and finally caused the Nakamura family to lose trust in their family and took refuge in Toyotomi Hideho. At this point, the power you have worked hard to maintain in Junyuan San has been uprooted by Xiubao, and decades of foundation have been destroyed. ”

Tokugawa Ieyasu knew that Honda Masanobu was very depressed these days, not only him, but even the four heavenly kings under his command could not understand his own approach, and Honda Tadakatsu even thought that Ieyasu could not get rid of the shadow of the Nagayoshiguan incident, which led to increasingly conservative thinking.

In view of this situation, Ieyasu had no choice but to summon Honda Masanobu to convey his thoughts to the other retainers through him.

Ieyasu took out two ivory Chinese chess pieces from his bosom and put them on his left and right hands respectively, he spread his hands towards Zhengxin, and said with a smile: "Some time ago, a merchant from the Ming Kingdom came to visit, and presented a pair of ivory Ming chess pieces to me as a meeting gift, and studied with him for a few days, and unconsciously liked this game of the Ming Kingdom. ”

Honda Masanobu listened to it and disagreed: "Chess has been passed down from Middle-earth for a long time, but the lord is too busy with government affairs to take care of it, in fact, this is still somewhat similar to the shogi in his country, if you want to learn, look for me, why ask outsiders." ”

Ieyasu did not answer him directly, but continued: "You see, I hold the 'pawn' and the 'handsome' on the left and the right respectively, according to your opinion, which is more important? ”

Honda Masanobu is also an understanding person, and immediately understood what Ieyasu meant: "My lord, do you want to tell me the reason of 'abandoning the pawn to protect the handsome'?" ”

Ieyasu nodded, looked at the chess pieces in his hand and continued: "The relationship between Shuai and pawn is like the king and the horn in shogi, and the truth contained in it is the same, pawns exist for handsome, to put it cruelly, they must always be ready to die for Shuai." Of course, if you want to achieve the final victory, you must not have a pawn. But you have to remember that there are five pawns, even if they are all dead, there are still chess pieces such as phases, rooks, and horses that can be replaced, but there is only one handsome, in order to protect the handsome, no matter how many pawns die at all, let alone one that can't be saved? ”

"Can't keep it? What do you mean by this, my lord? Honda asked in surprise.

Ieyasu looked up into the distance and said helplessly: "Everyone says that my Ieyasu is cruel and can kill his wife for the sake of the family business, but who is not the case with great things?" Isn't it cruel that His Highness Fushimi forced the Asahi and his wife to separate, forced her to me, and even sent the old mother as a hostage to the Sunfu? What he Hideyoshi wants to do is something that no one can stop, go to North Korea and destroy Hideji, which one doesn't fulfill his wish? It wasn't difficult for a strong man to transfer me to Kanto in the first place, but what could I do? He and I tacitly agreed that what he wanted was to cut off my wings in Tokaido, so even if he took out a huge bargaining chip of more than 200,000 stones, he would not hesitate to do so, and besides, there was no room for sand in his eyes, in this case, do you think he would easily let go of those wealthy families in Tokaido? ”

Honda Masanobu seemed to understand a little: "You mean, Toyotomi Hideho did this completely out of the will of Taiko?" ”

"I can't say that," Ieyasu stroked his beard, "this time Taiko appointed Hideho as the Aizu accountability envoy, which is quite difficult for a young man who is only eighteen years old, and he should not be handed over to the matter of sweeping up Jun Yuansan again, I believe that if it weren't for Kaga Tadasumi deliberately neglecting and Yamauchi Kazutoyo taking the opportunity to tell the truth, he would not be in a hurry to wade into this troubled water." ”

Zhengxin was confused when he heard this, and he asked: "If as the lord said, this matter is Xiubao's assertion and has nothing to do with Taige, then we can come forward to mediate, why give up this chess piece prematurely?" ”

Ieyasu showed that signature and cute smile on his face, and looked at Zhengxin kindly: "You only know one thing and don't know the other, the reason why Taige is not in a hurry to move this hot potato is only one reason, and that is that he can't find an excuse." These wealthy clans have lived in the local area for hundreds of years, and they have not made any mistakes, so they can't do it at all, in this case, he can only install his own subordinates at most, and as for eradicating these wealthy clans, he can only wait for the opportunity. ”

"You mean Hideho created an opportunity for him?" Honda Masanobu asked.

Ieyasu didn't say anything, but said helplessly: "At first, Tadasumi's arrogance and rudeness were only his problem, and he would not have implicated other wealthy families, but those wealthy clans of Dongyuanjiang were so bold that they dared to draw their swords against Xiubao, which just allowed him to seize the handle and take the opportunity to unite with the Yamauchi family to eradicate dissidents. Who knew that Nakata's current politics was too sensitive, and when he saw that the Elephant Island family was destroyed, he thought that Hideho wanted him to be unfavorable, and he actually secretly communicated with the Omori clan and instigated a beating, which is self-defeating, no wonder others; His letter became an excuse for Hideho to crusade against Omori Jicho, and Omori was forced to raise troops to resist, how could he compete with Xiubo with his strength, and it was inevitable that he would die in defeat; But he didn't do good deeds when he was dying, and even coerced the Nakamura clan to start an incident together, and the day of the destruction of these secret letters also fell into the hands of Hideho and became his tool to subdue the Nakamura family. So far, the three kingdoms of Junyuan have finally ended in a complete victory for Xiubao, how do you feel after listening to so much? ”

Hearing this, Honda Masanobu felt a little funny: "According to what you say, the fault of this matter is not Hideho, but in these wealthy families themselves?" ”

"That's right," Ieyasu nodded, "Over the years, they have relied on their local power to make a fortune, and they have disobeyed me, and they will not fail to take the acting official sent by Taiko in their eyes, so when Hideho arrives, they will naturally not look down on him, which will eventually lead to a big disaster." Such a chess piece will eventually be eaten by Taige, so it is better to be a favor and let Xiubao make a great contribution, which will also be beneficial and harmless to win him over in the future. Masami, now you should know what to do, right? ”

Honda Masashi looked at Ieyasu with great reverence, thinking that with such a lord, why worry about not being able to get the world? He respectfully bowed to Ieyasu and said excitedly, "What the lord said is really impressive, and your majesty will set off for Mt. Hakone, set up a guard of honor, and solemnly greet His Royal Highness Hideho." ”