Hearing this, Atsushi Nagano on the side obviously felt very strange. When the envoy left, he asked me, "If you can enter Hamamatsu Castle through the water gate, why don't you join forces?" ”

"Whoever has a combined army must do it?" I asked rhetorically, "With 14,000 men, Hamamatsu Castle is not undefended, and the Takeda family only has 25,000 men, so the ability to siege the castle is far less than that of the field...... Or, do you think that if the two sides join forces, they will be able to defeat Takeda Shingen? ”

"yes...... Hamamatsu Castle is indeed able to hold it! Nagano Fujitsu agreed with my judgment, but it was even more strange, "So what are you going to do with our reinforcements?" ”

"Confidence, and trust," I smiled, "and we reinforced Tokugawa Ieyasu, but these are actually these two things." ”

……，…… As with the last reinforcement of Mikawa, I still headed to Mikawa Bay, tracing the Yasaku River up to the vicinity of Tateshima. This is the confluence of the Yasaki River and the Otogawa River, less than two kilometers from Okazaki Castle, but the Otogawa River is too small for sea ships to enter, so I ordered the navy to transfer to Hamamatsu Port to show support, and led more than 10,000 troops ashore to Okazaki Castle.

Okazaki Castle was headed by Tokugawa Nobuyasu as the lord of the castle, and the actual ruler was Hiraiwa Nanasuke Kanyoshi, the elder of the Tokugawa family and one of the later sixteen god generals. Hiraiwa Qinyoshi was a very important minister of Ieyasu, and when he was nine years old, he served as an auxiliary servant, and since then he has been acting as the government affairs of Okazaki Castle.

Due to the Dongsanhe Incident, Xinxuan's soldiers pressed the border, and the entire Sanhe is now rumored, each guarding the city. Although I sent a messenger first, Okazaki Castle instinctively chose to be on guard when I saw such a large army approaching. Luckily, I was in Mikawa for a while last time, and all the important officials of the Tokugawa family visited me. When Ii Naotora and I appeared under the castle, Hiraiwa Kiyoshi immediately opened the city gate and welcomed our army in.

"It's finally here!" Hiraiwa held my hand tightly, "Especially when His Royal Highness Captain Saemon leads the army, it's really trustworthy!" ”

"His Royal Highness Pingyan is polite, he belongs to the alliance, and he should help each other!" I smiled humbly, "His Highness Danzheng is on Long Island, and he can lead tens of thousands of victorious troops to come without saying anything." Until then, I hope that all of you from the Tokugawa family will continue to hold on for a few more days. ”

"Yes, yes. My Tokugawa family feels the same way about the great virtue of His Highness! Probably suddenly relieved of the huge pressure on his body during this period of time, Hiraiwa Qinji said something that slightly crossed his identity. However, in this case, no one will care.

"Is there still stability in the city? Does His Highness Okazaki have any ideas? I asked.

"The situation is not very optimistic," Hiraiwa shook his head, "There have been a lot of rumors everywhere, and the people in the city are panicking, but fortunately, now that His Royal Highness Captain Saemon has arrived, it should be able to settle down." ”

"So, did the people of the Takeda family make any moves?"

"Two days ago, a small scout cavalry came from outside the city, and it was seen that the flag was from the county family, and it actually came here from Dongsanhe...... My young master once wanted to go out of the city to destroy them, but he was persuaded to give up. Hiraiwa replied.

"Really?" I nodded.

"Your Highnesses have come from afar, it must have been very hard, how about you please send a message first?" For our support army, Hirawa Qinyochi was very cordial, "A banquet will be set up in the next meeting later, and I invite the young master to come forward to entertain you." ”

"It's okay," I asked him with a smile, "I want to pay a visit to Princess Deji first, how about I ask His Highness Hirayan to pass it on for me?" ”

"This is negligent in the next, and we will do it in the next!" Hiraiwa Qinyoshi nodded again and again, "The young lady will definitely be very happy to meet the guests of the Oda family!" ”

Soon after, news came from Honmaru that Tokuki had asked me to go and meet with Naotora Ii.

I was quite surprised to invite Naoto Ii together. She is not a direct minister of the Oda family, this time she joined the army as the elder of the Kira family and the commander of the cavalry, and the military sequence is still after Nagano Fujitsu and Chikusa Tadashi, so she is not qualified to follow me to see me. Moreover, she married me as a side room, and Gotoku was already married at that time, and as the young lady of the Tokugawa family, who lived in seclusion, it was unlikely that she would know her other identity.

Probably Hiraiwa Qinyoshi reminded him, right? It's a man with a heart.

For the sake of Hiraiwa Qinyoshi's kindness, Naotora Ii specially changed into a kimono and went with me to the main castle tower.

After waiting for a while at the guest seat on the left side of the living room, a girl dressed in a red kimono and a smock came out of the room with a maid. Her appearance is very beautiful, and she can vaguely see that she looks a little like Ah Shi. Although she was dressed in the formal clothes of the city lord's main room, she was only thirteen or fourteen years old, and she was still a little girl in temperament.

I know that this is Nobunaga's eldest daughter, Nobutada's and Nobuo's younger sisters, Gotoku.

Like the wonderful pill and the tea whisk pill, Wude is also a strange name, which refers to the support of the iron bottle and iron pot in the fire pit in the house, which is a little indecent, so the family generally calls her Princess Deji. She was born in the same year as Nobuyasu, the year after I left the Oda family, and I met her as early as the day before the Battle of Barrel Sama, when she was still a baby, and I, Hideyoshi Hara, and Nobunaga's family had dinner with her. After that, I met her a few times a year, and I watched her grow up. For me, in addition to being the daughter of the main family, she is also a junior of mine.

She was not yet nine years old when she married Shinyasu, and it was the year after the death of her biological mother, Lady Ikoma. When he came to the Tokugawa family, Okazaki was in a completely unfamiliar environment, and his life was much poorer than when he was in the Oda family, and he had to face a stubborn husband and a resentful mother-in-law, and the situation was very pitiful. In view of this situation, when I arrived, I specially asked the sea aid team to return to the palace to prepare a gift and send it to my army on a fast boat, hoping to make her happy for a while.

Tokuki sat down on the main seat to our right, and before I could take the initiative to change my name, she took the initiative to say hello: "This is Lord Xuanjing and Lady Tiger of the Kira family, right?" ”

"Don't dare to be. It was Kira Xuanjing below, and I had seen Her Royal Highness the Princess. I lowered my head slightly. The straight tiger beside him didn't make a sound, and followed me and bowed deeply to meet him.

"Hehe, you don't need to be so polite!" Seeing the people of her mother's family, Tokuji looked very happy, "I knew that my father would definitely not leave me alone...... Well, Ah Li, you go and invite the young master to come over, so that he can also meet Lord Kira! ”

"Princess, please slow down," I hurriedly dissuaded her from boasting about her faux pas, "I have only prepared a gift for the princess, and it is not good to visit His Highness Okazaki rashly...... Moreover, the official meeting with His Royal Highness Okazaki has already been scheduled for the evening, so please don't bother with it! ”

"Really? Forget it," Tokuki said with good intentions, and quickly turned her attention elsewhere, "Did Kira-sama say, do you have any gifts for me?" ”

"Exactly. A little courtesy is really not a tribute. I took the gift slip out of my bosom and asked the maid to hand it to Deki.

"Then I'll take it!" Deki nodded and took the gift slip from the maid's hand.

I clapped my hands gently, and the three of them, Nobunao Ii, Keikatsu Wasuka, and Keiji Maeno, brought the gift up and placed it in the middle of the two of us. As they put it away, I explained to Deji at the same time:

"This is a fabric from Nishijin, Kyoto. Except for the girdle, the rest was cloth, and the princess could have it cut and make clothes, or as a gift to the lord of Tsukiyamaden, or as a reward for the main room of the courtiers......

"Humph!" Hearing me mention the Zhushan Palace, Deji, who was originally very happy to admire these exquisite fabrics, immediately lowered her face and instructed the maid beside her, "Ah Li, put it all away first...... Call the tailor right away! ”

Sure enough, it's the little girl's temper...... I coughed quietly and continued to introduce Tokuki, "This is a hundred catties of smoked whale meat from Mie Machitsuya, and it tastes very delicious. ”

"Is it from Tsuya?" Deki immediately changed her smile, "Whale meat...... I haven't eaten it yet! Does it taste really good? ”

"Exactly," I nodded, "even in Mie Town, it's hard to buy because it's so popular, and whales aren't that easy to catch." ”

"So," Tokuki thought as she tilted her head, "...... Just send them all to my and the young master's kitchen! ”

"Yes." A maid named Ah Li bowed down to answer the order.

"These are five hundred small coins, which are currently in circulation only in the family's domain," I pointed at last to the satin-covered trays, "each one is of a consistent value, and is beautifully made, and the princess may use it as a reward for her courtiers." ”

"Well, I've heard about this," Tokuki nodded, "It's used in Brother Marvelmaru's Yuan Costume ceremony, right?" ”

"The princess is right. There are 100,000 pieces in total, of which 1,000 are drawn by the lord by himself, and there should be no more in the future, so it is very rare...... I brought a hundred for the princess. ”

"My father drew it himself!" Deki stood up, walked over to the tray and looked for it twice, and took out a small judgment. She put the small judgment in her hand and looked at it carefully for a while, her eyes were slightly red, and her eyes seemed to be about to fall into tears.

"I can't thank you enough for such a precious gift!" There was a little tail note in her voice, "I heard Lord Qinji say that Lord Xuanjing came directly from his father, so is this hundred small judgments meant by my father?" ”

"It's the meaning of the lord." I thought about it and decided to tell a white lie to comfort Dekugi.

"Then, after Lord Xuanjing goes back, please tell my father that this hundred small judgments are the best gift, and I will always treasure them." For the first time, Deki showed a solemn expression.

"I will do it in the future." I owe it.

After the meeting and walking out of the castle tower, Naotora Ii whispered to me, "Princess Tokuhime, it doesn't seem to be going well in the Tokugawa family!" ”

I nodded: "Yes, the son of the Sanhe family, after all, is much inferior to the lord's family." The cloth and weaver of the princess's dress just now are a little worse than what you are wearing. ”

"Looking at the princess's mood, it is somewhat similar to Mitsu's previous situation." Naoto Ii thought about it and said.

"It's still a little different," I shook my head, "The Gamo family and my Kira family have a good relationship, and they won't treat Mitsu badly." But in Princess Tokuhime, Tsukuyamaden is a member of the Imagawa family, and he hates the Oda family to the core, and he must get along very poorly; His Royal Highness Okazaki must be very embarrassed to be caught between his mother and wife! …… Moreover, it seems that between His Royal Highness Okazaki and Princess Tokuhime, there is also a bit of a battle of will! ”

"How can this be?" Naoto Ii asked in surprise, "I haven't seen His Highness Okazaki yet!" ”

"Didn't Princess Tokuki just say that she wanted Her Royal Highness Okazaki to meet the reinforcements of the Oda family? …… Probably His Royal Highness Okazaki listened to the rumors and said some disappointed and complaining words in front of Princess Tokuhime, so Princess Tokuki was very unconvinced, right? I analyzed.

"So...... And it does make sense. Jing Yi Naohu said thoughtfully.

……，…… At the banquet in the evening, I met with Tokugawa Nobuyasu. He was a good-looking, vigorous young man, with a very straightforward surname. Although there were some disputes with Tokuji, it didn't cause any trouble to the Oda family. And because I had helped the Tokugawa family, he was very enthusiastic about me. When I gave him two desirable gifts, and praised the Tokugawa family for their bravery at the Battle of Sister River, his enthusiasm reached its peak, and I became very lively.

He is very talented in interacting with people, and he is the so-called self-acquaintance.

In short, he is a very good, very good person, with a great sense of justice, and has little defense against people. Not long after the feast, he became a little drunk and said something complaining about Deji. But as soon as Hiraiwa reminded him, he immediately followed the advice.

"Although I have some opinions about the princess, it is really rude to say it in front of His Royal Highness Captain Saemon!" He bowed his head and apologized to me, and his attitude was very frank and sincere.

I also generously expressed my understanding: "The princess has been favored by His Royal Highness Danzheng since she was a child, and now she has left home to marry here, and she must sometimes have some surnames. His Royal Highness Okazaki is a straightforward person, and I hope you can bear with me! ”

"Hey!" Tokugawa Nobuyasu patted his thigh, "One is a mother, the other is a wife, and what they are arguing about is just trivial things, and sometimes they are simply inexplicable...... His Royal Highness Captain Saemon should be able to see that I am a straightforward surname, how can I take care of so much? ”

I smiled and nodded. Mother-in-law and wife are originally opposites, not to mention the niece of Imagawa Yoshimoto and the daughter of Oda Nobunaga?

Seeing that I nodded, Xinkang seemed to have met a confidant, and he talked even more: "Regarding the princess, what I care about most is actually her position and attitude...... In this case, His Royal Highness Captain Saemon should understand, right? I have a lot of respect for His Royal Highness, but she is the main room of the Tokugawa family's sister-in-law, and I am not a retainer of His Royal Highness, why does she always use His Highness Danmasa to press me? ”

"I'm really sorry, my young master was drunk and said some nonsense...... Please don't take it to heart, Your Highness Captain Saemon! Drops of sweat seemed to appear on the door of Hiraiwa Kinyoshi's head.

"Say I'm drunk!" Tokugawa Nobuyasu pricked up his eyes, "Daddy Hiraiwa, am I wrong to say that?" I also want to get along with the princess! You can't be like your father and mother, right? ”

"Young master!" Hiraiwa raised his voice slightly.

"Okay, Daddy Hiraiwa, I'm drunk again......" Tokugawa Nobuyasu shook his head, put down the wine bowl, and then tried to sit down, "But, what I'm going to say next is very serious!" ”

Seeing that he was so solemn, I also put down the wine bowl: "Your Highness Okazaki, please speak." ”

"I have a proposal," Tokugawa Nobuyasu leaned forward slightly, "Now that there are 12,000 troops in the city, why don't you lead the army to Higashisanhe and drive Changjing out of the territory?" ”

(To be continued)