Far away in Musashi, in the eastern country, there is a castle that is timeless. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

This castle was Edo Castle, the stronghold of the Tokugawa family's establishment of the Edo shogunate.

The continuous castle buildings stand majestically on the eastern part of the country. There is no sign of what was burned by fire four years ago, and all that remains is magnificence and grandeur.

Edo Castle, which was enlarged, has a five-story and six-story castle tower. As the residence of the shogun, Edo Castle has become the center of the nation's shogunate. Due to the establishment of the attendance system, a large number of samurai families who were not engaged in production proliferated, and merchants, craftsmen, and envoys who served the samurai class also poured in in large numbers, and Edo Castle grew rapidly.

It's the end of January in winter.

Honmarunai, the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the heir of the Tokugawa family, Tokugawa Hidetada, is now busy preparing for Kamiraku in February.

Xiuzhong has just turned 27 years old this year, and it is the time when he is young and vigorous. His figure is somewhat similar to that of his father, Ieyasu, and slightly fat. He is shorter than his sister Matsudaira Hideyasu, and he also has two small mustaches, but his whole face is still relatively young and handsome.

But now he was holding a letter in his hand, and his whole handsome face was distorted.

"Sagami Mamoru ...... What is this?! ”

Xiuzhong hastily opened the letter, and after only a few glances, he angrily threw it to the ground.

"Hidetada-sama, this is a letter from Mamoru Izu Sanada. Originally, it was addressed to the Shogun at Fushimi Castle, but the Shogun didn't want to pay attention to the matter and ordered the letter to be handed over to Hidetada. ”

Now sitting directly across from Hidetada is his old Sagami Mamoru Okubo Tadashi. The loyal neighbor unhurriedly picked up the letter that Xiuzhong threw on the ground and put it back on Xiuzhong's office desk.

"Father? In other words, my father decided to let me handle this matter, right? ”

Xiuzhong frowned, and picked up the letter again in disgust.

“…… Actually want the shogunate to pardon Sanada Yasubo Mamoru? ”

"Yes, Mamoru Izu believes that his father, Masayuki Sanada, has been exiled for four years, has repented, and his spirit is gone. Therefore, he asked for pardon for his father, Sanada Yasubo Mamoru and his younger brother Sanada Saemon Sashinshi. ”

Listening to the words of the loyal neighbor, Xiuzhong sneered, tore up the letter in front of him, and threw it on the ground.

"Lord Xiuzhong...... What are you? ”

"Sanada Yasubo Mamoru wants to come out of Kudo Mountain? Then come out when he's dead! ”

Hidetada will not forget how he was humiliated by the Sanada family during the battle of Sekigahara. He was tricked by the Sanada family in Ueda Castle.

"Sagami Mamoru, don't mention Sanada Yasubo Shou's father and son in front of me in the future, for a lifetime!"

Viciously throwing off this sentence, Xiuzhong closed his eyes, not wanting to pay attention to this matter anymore.

The loyal neighbor looked at the angry young lord and sighed.

"Well, then, leave this matter alone. Mamoru Sanada Izu will understand this meaning. ”

He immediately cleaned up the confetti on the ground, and after responding to Xiuzhong, he retreated.

……

……

In another room in Honmaru, Edojo, there was such a young woman.

She is very beautiful, although she can already tell that she is thirty years old, but her temperament hides these age deficiencies.

If you look closely, you will see that she looks a little like a certain high-ranking lady in Osaka Castle.

"Jiang, what's wrong?"

Xiuzhong, who had finished his official duties, walked into the room and greeted the young woman.

"Lord Xiuzhong, have you prepared all the matters for Shangluo?"

"Ah, it's almost ready. I'll wait until next month. ”

This young woman is Hidetada's main chamber Ajiang, and she is also the sister of Lady Yodo, who is married to Taiko Hideyoshi. She was six years old and was a young woman with still charm.

She has a good relationship with her husband Xiuzhong, who has never accepted a side room since she married Ajiang. Although there are also rumors that it is because Xiuzhong is particularly afraid of his wife Ajiang, so he does not dare to take a concubine.

So far, she has given birth to four daughters for Hidetada, Chihime, Juhime, Katsuhime, Hatsuhime, and the eldest son Chiyo Take, who was born just last year.

Although she is a little jealous, Ah Jiang is a very emotional woman. She has a good relationship with her two older sisters, and she often worries about her eldest sister Chacha, who is also Mrs. Yodo. This time, her husband Hidetada's Kamiraku made her very worried that the relationship between the Tokugawa family and the Toyotomi family would deteriorate, and she was worried that her sister would be very angry because of this incident and hurt her body.

"Hidechun-sama, I'm worried about my sister......"

Ah Jiang told Xiuzhong about his worries very bluntly. But Xiuzhong had no way to explain anything about this, he looked at his worried wife, and could only comfort her a few words.

"Jiang, it shouldn't be like that. I succeeded as the second-generation general in Shangluo, and it was my father's order. What's more, with Chihime over there, Mrs. Yodo shouldn't be fine. ”

"Well, if only that were the case......"

Ah Jiang is not only worried about his sister, but also worried about his eldest daughter Chihime, who married far away to Osaka Castle.

"And Xiaoqian...... I don't know how it's now. ”

"Jiang, don't worry too much, Lord Xiulai should take good care of her. And there's Mrs. Yodo. Chi must be doing well. ”

Because Mrs. Yodo is Chihime's aunt, Xiuzhong is very relieved.

"By the way, Hidetada-sama, how is Chiyo Take? Ah Fu has always been taking care of him, and I can't see him anymore...... Ieyasu-sama is really, and it's clear that I'm the mother who will raise Takechiyo. ”

Ajiang asked her husband about her eldest son, Chiyo Take. Since Takechiyo was born, Ieyasu assigned a nurse named Afuku to raise Takechiyo. Although Ajiang was very reluctant, he was unable to resist because it was Ieyasu's order.

This Afuku is the daughter of Toshizo Saito, a retainer of Akechi Mitsuhide. She married Masanari Inaba and later came to Kyoto for some reason. At that time, Ieyasu happened to be looking for a nurse for the newborn Takechiyo, and Afuku volunteered to go. So now she has become the nurse and raiser of Takechiyo, the heir of the shogun's family.

Therefore, Ajiang, who can't raise his own son, is a little resentful about this. Moreover, she and Afu, who is the nurse of Takechiyo, don't get along very well.

"Jiang, it's still early, why don't we go and see Takechiyo?"

Xiuzhong also knew what his wife was thinking, so he decided to take his wife to see Chiyo Take, who he hadn't seen for a long time.

"Okay."

Ah Jiang nodded and agreed with a smile.