The father and son chatted as they walked into Sannomaru in Edo Castle, and for a small daimyo like the Otawara clan, the Tokugawa family would not send a high-level person to receive them

It should be explained here that in the Warring States Period, the strength of a famous lord was measured by how much the stone was high, among them, the famous lord with a stone height greater than 10,000 stone was called "Daimyo", and the famous lord with a stone height of less than 10,000 stone was called "Xiaoming", and later due to the popularity of the big name, the "small name" gradually evolved into a "small daimyo", and then the so-called "big name" appeared, that is, the stone height was greater than hundreds of thousands, and there was considerable prestige in the local daimyo, such as the early Yamana clan Ouchi clan, and the later Hojo clan Takeda clan, all of which were among the best daimyos; In the Edo period, there was a custom that more than 10,000 stone was a daimyo and 10,000 stone or less, but that it was not a daimyo if the stone was up to 10,000 goku, but that it could not be called a daimyo if the stone was less than 10,000 goku

For example, the Kirengawa clan, which has only 5,000 koku in Shigao, seems to be just a banner of Ishitaka, but they have the status of a daimyo because they are the direct descendants of the Muromachi shogunate, and the Tokugawa family gave them the title of daimyo out of respect, which is similar to the "two kings and three ke" in Chinese history, which can be regarded as respect for the previous dynasty

But these are all things after the establishment of the Edo shogunate, and before that, whether or not it can be called a recognized daimyo is whether it is directly ordered by the imperial court, and is ordered by the people of the world who are entrenched in Kyoto, for example, Naoe Kanesu, the first courtier in the world, although he has 300,000 stone Chiyuki Yonezawa and is fully qualified to be called a daimyo, but he is a retainer of Uesugi Keikatsu, so he is not recognized by other daimyo in the world In fact, even he himself does not recognize himself as an independent daimyo, at most he is a powerful retainer on the contraryThe key is that they are not ordained to other daimyo other than Hideyoshi on the surface, and this independence is the completion of their family status, and it is also the only capital they have left to show off

When they came to the palace, the father and son waited for about a quarter of an hour, and Tokugawa Ieyasu was late accompanied by Honda's father and son

"Humble position Otawara Harumi (Masaaki), see His Royal Highness the Inner Palace" Otawara father and son both bowed to each other, and the degree of humility was even worse than that of Tokugawa's retainers

"Get up," Tokugawa Ieyasu said slowly, "the old man heard that His Royal Highness Youfu was in a hurry to recruit you to Shangluo, and instead of taking the Nakasendo Road, you came to my Edo Castle, what are you doing?" ”

"Knowingly asked," Harushi Otawara scolded secretly, looking at Tokugawa Ieyasu, who looked disdainful of him, he replied in a rather cold tone: "The inner government is well-informed and thoughtful, and plans are superior to others, and he has lived in the countryside for a long time, and he does not understand the etiquette of Kinai, so he has come to ask you for a word or two."

"Etiquette? Hehe, His Royal Highness Otawara is too modest, the old man is a wild monkey from Mikawa, and he only knows a little bit about the red tape between the ministers, what do you have to ask, or ask the right government to come directly after going to Beijing" Tokugawa Ieyasu drooped his eyelids and replied tepidly

"The lowly position understands," Otawara Harukiyo nodded awkwardly, "Since the inner government is unwilling to teach, the lowly position has no choice but to leave" After that, the Otawara father and son were ready to get up and leave, and Tokugawa Ieyasu saw this, and still asked slowly: "The old man heard that His Royal Highness gave up Otawara Castle to the right house?" ”

Otahara Qingqing was stunned: "Didn't you let the lowly position do this?" ”

"Yes?" Tokugawa Ieyasu looked around and asked Honda Masanobu, "Did the old man say that?" ”

Honda Masanobu shook his head: "I don't remember such a thing."

Otawara Harukiyo suddenly panicked, and hurriedly explained: "A month ago, it was Matsukura Soemon under Sado Mamoru who came to Otawara and told me that it was the Inner Palace's edict and asked me to draft the "Zhixing Bong Return Letter" and submit it to Fushimi, and at that time, he repeatedly asked the reason, but he only said that this was what you meant, and there was no need to ask about anything else, and it was only then that he decided to let the castle out, how can you not admit it now?" ”

"What left and right emon? Faithfully, is there such a thing, do you have such a person in your family? Tokugawa Ieyasu asked coldly

Honda Masanobu was thoughtful, and after a while, he shook his head and said, "There is a retainer named Matsukura in the minister's family, but he is not called Left and Right Emon, well... In my opinion, either that person is pretending to be a retainer of his own family to spread rumors, or His Royal Highness Otahara is making a false statement, so these things are nonsense to confuse the family."

"Nothing?!" Otawara stood up clearly, widened his eyes and asked sharply: "Sado Mamoru don't spew blood, I only handed over the city after receiving such an order, just imagine, if it weren't for the order of the inner government, how could I hand over the city that I have lived in for more than sixty years to others, how can you slander it like this?" ”

"Your Highness Otawara is slow," Tokugawa Ieyasu pretended to be nervous and stretched out his hand to stop, "What do you mean by 'if it weren't for my orders'?" You and I are both daimyo, I am in Musashi and you are in the lower field, the well water does not interfere with the river water, what effect can my orders do to you? The old man advises His Royal Highness to speak with real evidence, otherwise, don't blame the old man for not being emotional."

"Your Highness," Otahara Harukiyoshi knelt down sharply and pleaded bitterly, "The loyalty of this family to you can be seen by the sun and the moon, how can you treat your subordinates like this?" Because of your word, the family and more than 100 retainers can only live in the dilapidated old city, and hand over the majestic city to the right house far away in the country, and now it is the end of the road, and you don't admit that this is what you mean, is the family only a dead end? ”

"His Royal Highness Otawara," Tokugawa Ieyasu patted Qingqing's shoulder heavily, and said earnestly: "It's not that the old man refuses to help you, but this matter really has nothing to do with my Ieyasu Ai I also asked Sado Mamoru just now, there is no one in his family who you said, how can you make me believe your words?" I know that Daejeonyuan has not been peaceful in recent years, the wealthy families in the land are in their own ways, and the annual tribute is not as good as a year, but this is not the reason for you to slander your family, Ai is short of money and food, you can borrow from the old man, everyone is a big name, how can I see death and not save it? But now you are selling the city to Youfu in exchange for a huge amount of money, and on the other hand, you are falsely accusing that this is under the instruction of your own family, in a vain attempt to blackmail you, which is really unpleasant Your Royal Highness Otawara, the old man once again declared, if you want to sell the city, you will sell, if you want to go to Luo, this has nothing to do with this family, and please respect yourself, don't hurt the harmony of the two families for this"

"Old Puff!" Otawara Harukiyo only felt a loud noise in his ears, his eyes were dark, and he vomited a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground with a "poof", and then struggled with his hands and feet, and in less than a quarter of an hour, he stopped breathing before the doctor arrived, and died in the arms of Otawara Masaaki with wide eyes

ps: There are very few people who subscribe to the chapter of "Tsutsui Attached", although it is only a thousand words, but the cohesion is still quite important, you can take a look, his chapter number seems to be heavier than the previous one, which is also a reason

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