"Ah~~~ sneeze!" After a sneeze, the cold air took advantage of the void, and I shivered again, quickly put down the book in my hand and pulled on the velvet cloak that had slipped down. Stretching out my head to look outside, the hazy sky was still dripping with raindrops, an autumn rain and a cold sentence is really good, I have changed into a double thick jacket and it is still so cold.

On the fourth day of October in the 10th year of Tensho (1582), the land of Kanto had unconsciously turned into winter, and the weather became bitterly cold after a few light rains, and some soldiers from Kyushu had begun to get used to it. Luckily, I was well prepared, and all my winter clothes were already in place.

I don't want to spend the winter in Kanto, because I don't know if the snow will be heavy this year, and although the road conditions in Tokaido are much better than those in Higashiyamado and Hokuriku Provinces, it will still affect the march if the snow is too heavy. For this reason, I gave the order to speed up the attack, and while intensifying the attack on the branch castle, I began to attack Odawara Castle day and night.

On August 27, Hosokawa Tadashi conquered Matsuyama Castle; On September 2, Shimazu Yoshihiro conquered Edo Castle; On September 5, Tokugawa Ieyasu conquered Hachioji Castle; On September 7, Otomo Yoshitomo conquered the Bowl Castle; On September 8, the Nakamura clan conquered Matsuda Ijo; On September 10, Otomo Yoshi's command conquered Jade Rope Castle; September 13...... It wasn't until September 25 that when Tokugawa Ieyasu conquered the swamp-surrounded Ninja Castle, all the external forces of the Hojo family were uprooted, leaving only a lonely Odawara Castle.

In fact, since the beginning of September, there have been many people fleeing from the castle at the same time as the defeated soldiers have been fleeing into the castle. From one or two at the beginning to groups of three or five later, until the last two or three hundred people ran out overnight, the level of those who went out of the city to surrender was getting higher and higher, and the confidence and morale of the Hojo family were rapidly collapsing. When the Hojo family's Shigetomi Daido Temple Masahiro escaped from the city at night, everyone understood that the end of the Hojo family had arrived!

From the mouths of those who escaped, I learned the news: Hojo Phantom is dead! The eighty-year-old heart couldn't withstand such torture, and it exhausted the last beat for the great cause of the Hojo family. This news makes me a little sad, I still respect him personally, an old man actually died in such an atmosphere in the end, I can't help but say that it is a kind of sadness in life.

Nobukiyo from Kasuga Yamajo sent me another letter, saying that the affairs of Hokuriku were still not dealt with, not because of his inability, but because with the cooperation of the Hokuriku wealthy clan organized by Maeda Toshiie, he sent a large army into the northeast. Most of the **** of Dewa and Mutsu have been controlled, and even most of the daimyo who are stranded there have been detained, and Shinkiyo asked me what to do in the letter, and I replied: Bring them to me with you!

In fact, there was one more thing in the letter that Xinqing sent me, but I did not reply to the letter. I've made plans for this, but I can't help but change my mind.

After drinking a few sips of hot tea, his body gradually warmed up, and he picked up the book just now and was about to continue reading, but he found that there was something slimy because of the sneeze just now. "Alas~!" After a gentle sigh, I picked up my handkerchief and wiped it.

"My lord, I'm coming!" Gobenmaru hurried over with a towel.

"Is that guy still outside?" I handed him the book and asked.

"Standing outside the camp all the time, do you want someone to drive him away?" Mibenmaru replied.

I looked at the sky again, and the man had been standing in the drizzle for almost an hour. "Let him in!" I sighed softly again in my heart, my heart is too soft.

Shortly after going out, Gobenmaru brought back a man with water dripping down his body, probably for fear of staining the ornate Nanban carpet, and he stopped at the entrance of the door.

This is a young man who is not a few years older than Utsunomiya Kunitsuna, thin but has no complaints about the word "weak", although the rain outside is not heavy, but because it is too long, his hair and clothes are all soaked. For some reason, he was dressed in an inconspicuous white suit, so the first thing that caught his attention was the black blindfold on his face. He is Date Masamune, the second daimyo from Tohoku!

Date Masamune was the second and last, and the others couldn't move now because they had been slow to move, but he arrived yesterday, three days later than the date I had set.

I looked at Date Masamune in front of me, who was almost the same as he had been two years ago, only slightly taller. However, mentally it seems to be a little worse than the last Yinghua introverted, and it seems a little wilted.

"Aren't you cold?" I looked at him and subconsciously tugged at my cloak again.

"Yes!" He nodded as he answered, and many droplets of water from his hair flowed down his face.

"Are you still hungry?" I couldn't help but smile when I saw him so honest, I really didn't expect him to look so pitiful.

"Hmm!" He nodded even harder, raising his hand and purping his face. His white purple lips trembled slightly, but they matched his face very well.

The last time we met, he didn't talk a lot, and this time it was even less, but at least he should confess, right? Just like Yoshimitsu Mogami. It suddenly occurred to me that these two people seemed to be nephews and uncles as well. "Why did you wait so long to come to me? Or maybe you want to talk to me! I asked.

"Because I ......," he mustered up courage and tightened his lips, and I listened very carefully to what he was saying. Wrong! ”

"Wrong?" I don't know if he's really stupid or fake, a big crime that is enough to rob the family and exterminate the clan actually thinks about it with a sentence of "wrong", it's a little simpler to think about it! The last time I saw him, he didn't seem to know this, isn't it the adventure of the past two years that his head was squeezed by the door? However, I was not a doctor and could not examine it carefully, so I had to continue to ask, "Tell me yourself, what is wrong with you?" ”

"The fault is that I have no eyes, and I have mistaken both Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hojo Masasa, as well as His Royal Highness Da Nayan!" Date Masamune sighed deeply, and with the occasional droplets of water slipping on his face, he really looked pitiful. "I thought that with Tokugawa Ieyasu's scheming and Hojo family's years of management, even if you can't defeat His Highness Dainyan, you can at least stop your power from expanding eastward. Of course, after my calculations, their strength is still a little weak, so I rushed to send troops......"

"Do you think Tokugawa and Hojo will do you much good in this way?" I frowned.

"No, I don't have such fantasies!" Date Masamune shook his head and shivered again. "I just think that no matter how you block the footsteps of His Highness Da Nayan, no matter how strong the economic strength is, it will not be able to sustain the 100,000-strong army for many years, and then the great names of the southwest will definitely fluctuate, and the Second Eastern Crusade will not be so easy. I didn't think that Tokugawa and Hojo would do me any good, but at least they no longer have the strength to meddle in the Tohoku, and if I was given another ten years, I would conquer Mutsu and Dewa and unify the entire Tohoku and build a powerful force enough to dominate the world! ”

"Are you confident that you think you're better than the rest of us?" Seeing that he was really uncomfortable, I motioned for him to sit down, and asked Mibenmaru to bring him a piece of clothing and pour him a cup of hot tea.

"It's not so arrogant in the next, but at least it has an advantage!" After putting on his clothes and drinking two sips of hot tea, his face eased a lot. "That is, I am younger than your Highnesses, and I am 20 years younger, and as long as I persevere, I will have a chance. But I'm still wrong, everything is in the calculations of His Royal Highness Da Nayan, and even Tokugawa Ieyasu looks immature compared to you, let alone me and the Hojo clan. I now believe that even if you suddenly have any accidents, you have already made arrangements, I am afraid that everything will still go according to your original plan, and I am really dead to this heart! ”

I looked Date Masamune up and down, and my eyes must have been full of doubt. "Why are you saying this to me? Don't you know what the consequences of saying these words can be! ”

"Of course, I know what the consequences will be if this happens, but since His Highness Da Nayan asks, I can only tell the truth!" He sighed again as he said this, and by this time his hair was almost dry. "Actually, it doesn't make any difference if I say it or not, sooner or later, His Royal Highness will know about these things, and lying will attract suspicion. If I had been a little smarter, I wouldn't have said 'riding iron' to anyone in the first place, but you know. Maybe it was you who woke me up back then, but young people who have never suffered setbacks always can't see the reality clearly! ”

"I guess you told Xinqing these words!" I asked again.

He nodded in acknowledgment and added, "To be honest, the Date family is currently in the same internal and external difficulties as other daimyo in the Northeast, and I am begging His Royal Highness the Left Governor to seek a way out for the Date family!" ”

"Although Xinqing didn't come, he came, but I won't necessarily answer!" I picked up the letter and shook it at him, then placed it on the table and slapped it with my hand. "Do you have anything else to say to your family? I can have someone record it and relay it! ”

"The world will be very stable for many years to come, and I would like to ask you to tell them that they should always have enough food in the warehouse for three years, and try to save as much money as possible!" His face was still gloomy, but he didn't look frightened or sad at all.

I watched him for a long time, four or five minutes. "But how to say that you are here in the end, and you also brought 2,000 people to help in the battle, which is better than Mogami Yoshimitsu. I've never been an overly person, and we've had a relationship before. The Date family maintains the 450,000-stone territory of the thirteen counties from Anda in the south to Kurokawa in the north, and the rest of the areas must be withdrawn before February next year! ”

"Yes!" Date Masamune put down the teacup, stood up and replied respectfully.

"Why don't you leave!" When I saw that the book that had been wiped clean by Gobenmaru was back on the table, I picked it up again and looked down.

"Yes! …… In the past, His Royal Highness Da Nayan once promised a marriage to him, I don't know if it counts? ”

"Oh?!" I looked up in surprise.

Bear in Winter: According to the official history, Date Masamune has not yet inherited the family governor, but I really don't want to design any more twists, so please don't be surprised!