Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is May.

After a bitter cold season, the territory began to come alive again. Merchants from all over the world began to gather at the Tsugawa family, and Ueno Castle, which was the base of the Tsugawa family, naturally began to bustle again.

During this time, a lot of big things happened in the Tsugawa family.

First of all, Tsugawa Soji's side room wife Takizawa Lola gave birth to a son for Tsugawa Soji, named Tokyo Maru (0.0), and then the head of the Takizawa family, Takizawa Masako, licked his old face and came to Ueno Castle, held his little grandson in his arms and looked at it carefully, and then euphemistically proposed, can Tokyo Maru inherit the family business of the Takizawa family in the future?

Of course, Tsugawa Soji was very satisfied with this matter, and he was very satisfied with the attitude of the Takizawa politician, and then he gave a lot of expensive tea utensils and the Takizawa family.

Immediately afterwards, another thing happened that everyone in the Tsugawa family did not expect.

The Hiyama Anto family, who retreated to Ezo, together with the Shimokuni Anto family, secretly instructed the Ezo people in the Ezo area to attack the territory of the Oysaki family, and sent a large number of sailors to pretend to be pirates to attack and intercept merchant ships traveling between Ezo and the Mutsu area.

The Tsugawa family first learned the news from a number of businessmen who had escaped with their lives, and then the Oura family and Togo Yoshisuke in Tsugaru Prefecture also sent people to send the news.

Since the Oura family drove out the Hiyama Ando family and defeated the Nangang family, although the territory and stone height have increased several times. However, the Oura family did not have a naval army, so there was no way to attack the naval army of the Hiyama Andong family.

As for Togo Yoshiyu, the spokesperson of the Tsugawa family in the Mutsu area, he is also miserable!

While the Tsugaru Strait was being attacked by the Hiyama Yasuto family and some pirates, many bandits suddenly appeared in the Mutsu area. These bandits, who often numbered between a few dozen and a hundred, plundered villages and passing caravans in the country, causing turmoil in many parts of the Michinoku region.

If it weren't for Togo Yoshisuke's timely response and the decisive dispatch of Ashigaru to clear these bandits, I'm afraid the situation in the entire Mutsu area would have completely gotten out of control!

However, due to the Tsugawa family's policy of "paid escort merchants", many businessmen approached Togo Yoshisuke, and some even asked the Tsugawa family for an Ashigaru escort for twice the money. This made Togo Yoshiyu, who was already struggling to mobilize troops because of the clearing of the bandits, even more of a headache, and in desperation, Togo Yoshiyu had no choice but to report the matter to Tsugawa Soji.

When Tsugawa Soji learned about this, he also attached great importance to it, and hurriedly called Iwaki Jiro and others.

"Jiro, do you have anything to say about the sudden appearance of large-scale bandits in the Mutsu area of the main family?" In the castle tower of Ueno Castle, Soji Tsugawa sat on the main seat and said to Jiro Iwaki with a solemn face.

Jiro Iwaki said slowly, "My lord! The family has nearly forty ninjas in Tsugaru-gun, Kita-gun, Sannohe-gun, Ninohe-gun and other places. However, judging from the news fed back by the ninjas of the family, it seems that these bandits who appeared appeared out of nowhere. At least not before, I had never heard of any of these bandits. ”

Hearing this, the solemn look on Tsugawa Soji's face became even heavier, "Do you mean that there are people behind these bandits who suddenly appear behind them, or are some people making it up themselves?" ”

"I'm not sure in the next, after all, this matter is very important, and I don't dare to infer in the future!" Jiro Iwaki replied slowly.

"Hmm.." Soji Tsugawa nodded lightly, and then said, "No matter what, this matter must be extraordinary, so you must find out about it as soon as possible!" Such a large-scale bandit attack could never happen by accident, there must be some conspiracy behind this incident! ”

"Now, the family is about to use troops against the Yuzen region, so I have to be cautious about this matter!" Soji Tsugawa continued.

"Hah!" Jiro Iwaki suddenly replied loudly.

At this moment, Yajima Tadabei slowly walked in from outside the castle tower, and then said to Tsugawa Soji with an eager face, "My lord, Ishikawa Castle Togo sent an urgent report from the herald!" ”

"Read!" As soon as he heard the report from Togo Yoshisuke, thinking of the bandit incident in Mutsu Province before, Tsugawa Soji suddenly had a bad premonition in his heart.

"Ishikawa Castle Lord Togo Yoshisuke Keijo: Two days ago, a bandit with a number of 200 people attacked Asarishishi Castle in the Tsugaru County Tansha area, and the castle's 30 garrisons were completely lost, the castle was severely damaged, and the villages in the neighboring areas were also sacked. According to statistics, the family lost a total of 1,200 stone of grain, 3 knives, spears and 20 pairs! Another 196 people were killed and 327 injured! ”

"Now, there are no merchants in the entire Mutsu area who dare to trade anymore, so I implore the lord to send reinforcements to the Mutsu area to clear the bandits as soon as possible.........."

As Yajima Tadashi's words continued to reach Tsugawa Soji's ears, Tsugawa Soji's face became more and more difficult to look at.

Togo Yoshisuke has been passive enough to ask himself for reinforcements, so how many bandits are there in the country? Tsugawa Soren felt that this matter was not simple, so he hurriedly said to Iwaki Jiro, "Jiro, the situation in the Mutsu region is very serious, and the family must speed up." Leave for the Mutsu area now, and be sure to find out where these bandits came from as soon as possible! ”

"Hah!"

The situation changed too quickly, and Soharu Tsugawa was not prepared at all. Although it was reported by Togo Yoshisuke and others before, Tsugawa Soji didn't take it to heart, after all, it was just a group of bandits, even if there were a lot of them, but with Togo Yoshisuke in the Mutsu area, at least the situation could be guaranteed.

As a result, only a few days later, Togo Yoshisuke's letter for help was delivered to Ueno Castle, much to the shock of Tsugawa Soji.

..........

Soji Tsugawa returned home with an anxious face, looking at Soji Tsugawa who almost had the words "I'm not happy" written directly on his face, Yukihime and Kikuhime hurriedly looked at Soji Tsugawa with a puzzled expression, "What happened to Your Highness, why are you so anxious?" Yukihime asked with a worried expression.

Tsugawa Soji originally didn't plan to bring these troubles to the house to affect the mood of the family, but Tsugawa Soji really needed someone who could confide in him at this time, so he truthfully informed Yukihime and others of what happened today.

After Tsugawa Soji finished speaking, Yukihime and the others were also at a loss, so they could only look at Tsugawa Soji with a blank eye, and say words to comfort them from time to time.

After a long time, Kamihime, who was sitting in the corner without saying a word, suddenly raised her head and said cautiously, "I have heard for a long time that there is a bandit in the territory of this family, since the trouble in the Mutsu area is a bandit, I guess these bandits in this family should know a little bit about these things??? ”2210