"The third route?" Soji Tsugawa was a little confused for a while, "Let's talk about it." ”

"Hah!" Jiro Iwaki hurriedly got up, and then moved a screen from the corner with a picture of Mutsu and Dewa Province, compared to the map just now, this map of the Ou region includes Mutsu and Dewa countries, but the information is not so detailed.

"My lord, please look here." As he spoke, Jiro Iwaki pointed to a certain place in the map and said loudly, "If you start from Akinomiya Castle in Yukatsu-gun, you can reach the territory of the Osaki family, Onikiriba, through the Onishouyuan. ”

"Further west, you can reach the territory of the Hosokawa family in Mogami County." Jiro Iwaki said slowly, "If you march from this route, it will take more time, but there will be no obstacles along the way. The only way to the castle is the territory of the Osaki family, and as long as you can borrow the road from the Osaki family, you can go all the way to the territory of the Hosokawa family. ”

"And if you go all the way south from the Hosokawa family's original base, Kokuni Castle, you can directly reach the territory of the Mogami family. In this way, the main family can avoid the obstruction of most of the people in the Hazen region and directly attack the territory of the Mogami family. With that, Jiro Iwaki set his sights on Soji Tsugawa.

After listening to Iwaki Jiro's words, Soji Tsukawa looked at the map in front of him and nodded gently.

As Jiro Iwaki said, this route of the march did allow the Tsugawa family to avoid entanglement with most of the people of the Hazen region. The previous two routes, no matter which one the Tsugawa family chooses, will pass through the territory of many Hazen people, so that the Tsugawa family has to fight all the way.

And if you fight slowly like this, when you reach the territory of the Mogami family, the Tsugawa family's troops will have no combat effectiveness for a long time.

And this third march route just avoided the problem of the first two routes, and the only question that needed to be faced was whether the Osaki family would let the Tsugawa family borrow the road.

"The Osaki family seems to be facing civil strife right now, right?" Soji Tsugawa said suddenly.

Jiro Iwaki nodded, "Because of the civil strife in the Date family, many forces that have an in-law relationship with the Date family are involved, and the Osaki family is no exception. ”

"The current head of the Osaki family, Yoshinao Osaki, supports Date Harune, and Osaki Yoshinobu, as the heir of the Osaki family, supports Date Minoru, and the two sides are like fire and water." Jiro Iwaki continued.

Speaking of the Osaki family, it can be called the first gate in the Ou area, the Osaki family is the hereditary Oshu exploration topic, the first head of the Spo family is the Spo family, born in the Spo family of the shogunate. The Hashu Exploration Mogami family is just a branch of the Osaki family, and the Osaki family basically integrated the entire Ou region in its heyday, and forces such as the current Date were just small roles with the Osaki family.

However, with the changes of the times, the Osaki family also turned from prosperity to decline and slowly declined. When the Osaki family broke out in civil strife in 1536, Osaki was unable to put down the rebellion of his retainers. At this time, Date Minoru sent troops to the Osaki family in the name of helping Osaki Yoshinao to quell the rebellion, and after quelling the rebellion, he made his wandering son Kosamaru the brother of the late Osaki Yoshinao, the son-in-law of the tenth generation head of the Osaki family, Osaki Takane, and became the heir of the Osaki family.

At the same time, the Date family was given the shogunate position of Mutsu Guardian, and the former Oshu Detective Osaki clan was dead in name.

"If you choose the third marching route, you can negotiate with the Osaki family." Soji Tsugawa said slowly, "I think it's not easy for Yoshinao Osaki to come now, if the family gives some support to Yoshinao Osaki in the name of borrowing the way, I believe that Yoshinao Osaki is still very willing." ”

Thinking of this, Tsugawa Soji hurriedly said, "Muzo, after you come down, you will immediately prepare a generous gift, and then ask the foreign affairs commissioner, Otaka Mitsutada, to send an envoy to the Osaki family, and discuss the matter of borrowing the way with Osaki Yoshinao." ”

"If you can borrow the Tao smoothly, your family will save a lot of trouble." Soji Tsugawa continued.

"Hah!"

...........

Ueno Castle Ninomaru, where a new piece of Yashiki was built, and the various offices of the Tsugawa family were located here.

In the Foreign Affairs Office, the new Foreign Affairs Minister, Dataka Tadashi, sat on the main seat in high spirits, and there were eight foreign affairs liao in the hall, and Yamaguchi Nagayo also returned to Ueno Castle from Kawaguchi Castle.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thanks to the kindness of the lord and Lord Togo, let me take up the post of foreign affairs commissioner. In the future, I still need your support in the future, please! Da Gao Guangzhong said to Yamaguchi Nagakyo and the others without any.

Seeing that Da Gao Guangzhong was so humble, Yamaguchi Changjiao and others also hurriedly saluted Da Gao Guangzhong and said, "We will definitely support Da Gao and serve our family!" ”

"Good!" Da Gao Guangzhong nodded, and then continued, "The day before yesterday, Lord Saigo sent an order from the lord. Let's send an envoy to Oshu with a generous gift to explore the Osaki clan and discuss with the Osaki family about the family's borrowing from the Osaki family, do you have any good suggestions? ”

"Borrow?" Yamaguchi Nagakyo said with a puzzled expression, "Is this the family going to send troops to Mutsu Province?" ”

"No, no, no. The family will send troops to the Hazen area after next year's spring ploughing, and in order to reduce trouble, they chose to borrow from the Osaki family. Da Gao Guangzhong hurriedly explained.

This is the first task since Da Gao Guangzhong took over as the foreign affairs commissioner, and Da Gao Guangzhong naturally must pay attention to it, so he specially called Yamaguchi Changjiao and others, hoping to get some good advice.

Hearing Otaka Mitsutada's words, Yamaguchi Nagakyo nodded thoughtfully, and then said, "The Osaki family has no contact with the main family before, so if you rush to the door, I'm afraid it's a little tricky!" ”

"What Youbei Shaozhi said is exactly what he said." Da Gao Guangzhong said in agreement, "So, in order to successfully promote this matter, it is not easy." ”

"It is rumored that the Osaki family is now in civil strife, and if the family wants to borrow from the Osaki family, I'm afraid they can only start here." Another foreign affairs liao said at this time, "In my opinion, it is better to send someone to the territory of the Osaki family first, conduct a diplomatic goodwill first, and inquire about the situation of the Osaki family by the way." ”

Then Lord Otaka-sama personally went out to negotiate with the Osaki family, so that the family had a certain understanding of the situation of the Osaki family, and they could also know themselves and each other when negotiating. came, and it could also seem that the family's envoy was not so abrupt, which made the Osaki family suspicious. ”

"Hmm." After listening to the words of the foreign affairs liao, Da Gao Guangzhong nodded in agreement.

After all, the Tsukawa family and the Osaki family had no contact at all before, and if they suddenly came to the door and asked for a loan from the Osaki family, maybe the people of the Osaki family thought that the Tsukawa family had other intentions, or that the Tsugawa family was going to use troops against the Mutsu Okuni country, and it would be counterproductive at that time.

If you do a diplomatic goodwill, you will be able to get a sense of the inside of the Osaki family, and then you will be able to prepare the Tsugawa family before the official mission. And it also made this mission seem more natural.

"Then I wonder who would like to be the envoy of this diplomatic goodwill?" Da Gao Guangzhong suddenly looked around, and cast a slightly scrutinizing gaze on everyone in the hall.