After three days of mobilization and preparation, the Tsugawa family officially used troops against Mutsu.

As the commander-in-chief, Yoshikawa Hiroke had already returned to Iwate Prefecture first, and began to send troops as soon as the troops arrived.

At the same time, in the Tsugawa family, Tsugawa Soji was not idle.

First of all, the newly conquered Sado Island still needs to be managed by Soji Tsugawa to appoint a powerful samurai, and the gold mines on Sado Island are still waiting for the Tsugawa family to find them. The current Sado Island is a piece of land to be developed in the eyes of Tsugawa Soji, and it is very attractive.

On November 9, the 14th year of astronomy, light snow had begun to fall in the sky. The Kita-Ou region is covered in snow for more than half of the year, but winter doesn't really begin until December.

Soharu Tsugawa wore a bearskin jacket from the Asonuma family in Tono-gun, and sat in the main hall of Tsugawa Yashiki and grilled the fire. Sitting next to him were retainers such as Rokuro Umino, Yoshitaka Asama, and Morikuni Ikeda.

"My lord! I don't know what I have to tell you to come to the inferior today? "Rokuro Umino, the head of the Tsugawa family's mining affairs, is the highest status of the three, so he was the first to ask Tsugawa Soji.

Soji Tsugawa put his hands on the charcoal fire and rubbed his hands slowly, then replied with a smile, "The three of you are rare talents in our family, and I have asked you to come here today because I have a very important thing to tell you to do." ”

"By the way, the situation of Rokuro Umino is still very well known to the family, but the family of Yoshitaka and Shimonosuke is not very clear. Are your families in Ueno Castle now? Soji Tsugawa suddenly chatted with the three of them.

Asama Yoshitaka and the others obviously hadn't recovered from Tsugawa Soji's sudden questioning, and after a while, Asama Yoshitaka was flattered and said, "My lord, only my mother is still in the village, and my wife and daughter are in the city. ”

"Hmm." Soji Tsugawa nodded, then turned his gaze to Ikeda Morikuni to the side.

Feeling the gaze of Soharu Tsugawa, Ikeda Morikuni said calmly, "My lord, my parents are dead, and my wife (wife and son) are still in Niga Hojo. ”

"In that case, let's take your family to Ueno Castle as soon as possible. For a samurai like Shimonosuke, the family is particularly important, Ueno Castle is better than Niga Hojo in all aspects, and the family members also have their own families to take care of in Ueno Castle, so the three of you can rest assured outside. Soji Tsugawa said slowly.

As soon as Soji Tsukawa's words fell, the thoughtful Ikeda Morikuni was keenly aware that Soji Tsugawa had asked him to send his family to Ueno Castle, probably more as a hostage. Despite these speculations, however, Ikeda was not angry, but rather happy. After all, if Soji Tsugawa can make such a decision, it must represent that the task that he and others will complete next is extremely important, and it is indeed a fortunate thing for him to be involved.

Ikeda Morikuni thought a lot, but the relatively "simple" Rokuro Umino didn't think so much. After listening to Tsugawa Soji's words, Umino Rokuro hurriedly asked, "Listen to the words of the lord, could it be that I am going to a far away place?" ”

"Not bad." Soji Tsugawa nodded, and then said to Rokuro Umino, "You should also know that the family just captured Sado Island some time ago. Although Sado Island is sparsely populated and has few rocks, the island is known to have a lot of silver and gold mines. Therefore, I sent you to Sado this time, on the one hand, to govern Sado Island, and on the other hand, to explore the entire Sado Island, and strive for Asahi to explore the silver and gold mines on Sado Island! ”

"There are gold mines on Sado Island???" Asama Yoshitaka and Ikeda Morikuni glanced at each other, and they both saw confusion in each other's eyes, but it was Umino Rokuro whose eyes suddenly lit up and said with an excited face.

Soji Tsugawa nodded affirmatively and said, "Although I know that there is a gold mine on Sado Island, my family doesn't know the detailed location, so I need the three of you to investigate on your own!" If you can find the gold mine, each of you will be able to get the impression of your own family in the future, and if you find a large number of gold and silver mines, your family will also reward you with the place of knowledge! ”

"Do a good job, don't let your family down!" As he spoke, Soji Tsugawa looked at Rokuro Umino and the others with an encouraging look.

Hearing the benefits promised by Soji Tsugawa, the three of them couldn't help but swallow their saliva, even Ikeda Morikuni. What do these three words represent? It means that the three of them may become important ministers of the Tsugawa family, and the descendants can also have a stable territory, and in the future, they can become the genealogy of the Tsugawa family, and they will be prosperous with the main family, which is what all samurai dream of.

Rokuro Umino hurriedly patted his chest and said, "Lord! As long as there is really a gold mine on Sado Island, even if it is planed by hand, it will be dug out for the lord! ”

"Good!" Soji Tsugawa was very satisfied with Rokuro Umino's attitude, and then said, "You can go down and prepare separately now, the sooner you go, the better, the family is waiting for your good news in Ueno Castle!" ”

"Hah!"

..........

In the afternoon, after lunch, Soji Tsugawa went to the castle tower to deal with government affairs.

Now the entire Tsugawa family has begun to eat three meals due to the relationship between Tsugawa Soji. In the past, due to food problems and the habit of working at sunrise and resting at sunset, people only ate two meals a day. However, under the influence of Tsugawa Soji, not only the retainers of the Tsugawa family, but even some merchants began to eat three meals a day.

Sitting down in the side hall of the castle tower, looking at the documents and decrees piled up on the desk in front of him, Soji Tsugawa was also big for a while! Although Ogasawara Nobutoki, Saigo Kizo and others have almost handled these government affairs, some big things still need to be decided by Soji Tsugawa.

Soji Tsugawa picked up a document and read it, this is the book of Tadashi Kawakami of the Nodaikan, which roughly says that the road near the Noshiro Museum needs to be repaired due to the flash flood and landslide caused by the heavy rain some time ago. In addition, more than 10 villages have had some of their farmland flooded and buried by rocks, and need to be reclaimed.

Strictly speaking, such a thing only needs to be handled by Kawakami Tadashi himself, but considering that it requires a lot of manpower and material resources, if Kawakami Tadashi is alone, I'm afraid it will be a little difficult. So, Soharu Tsugawa prepared an order to let the neighboring Hiyama Castle and Fengzhang Castle provide some support based on Kawakami Tadakei.

Half an hour later, Soji Tsugawa stretched out comfortably, and was about to deal with the rest of the matter. At this time, Jiro Iwaki suddenly walked into the castle tower with a solemn face.

Soji Tsugawa hurriedly put down the brush in his hand, and then said, "Jiro, what's wrong?" Did something happen? ”

Jiro Iwaki said with a solemn face, "My lord, there have been a lot of ninja activities in the family domain recently. I also found a lot of suspicious people in the castle town just now, and the matter was very important, so I immediately came to report it to the lord. ”

"Ninja?" After hearing Iwaki Jiro's words, Tsugawa Soji also tightened his heart, "Do you know the identity of the other party?" Or why did the other party come to Ueno Castle? ”

Jiro Iwaki shook his head, "I don't know, but these ninjas are very peaceful, although they are active in their own territory, but after monitoring some of these ninjas, they don't notice any malicious intent on the other side." ”

Soji Tsugawa also fell into deep thought at this time, "A ninja without malice? What is the purpose of coming to this house? ”