The impact of the great storm brought about by the invasion of the Han Dynasty was certainly not limited to Kyoto or the corner of Edo, and even though the Han had not yet won a decisive victory or occupied major cities in Japan, the storm had swept through almost every corner of Japan and changed everyone's life. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

In the remote interior of Honshu Island, the seemingly eternal tranquility of Takasaki Castle in Ueno Province still continues.

This is a small city, but because the city has been built for a long time, the earthen city wall has been crawled with moss, and it can be seen that it has not been repaired for many years, and the original background color can not be seen.

The fact that the location of this small town is not important and has not been renovated is a testament to the fact that it has been neglected and abandoned over the years. Strangely, there are some newly made white bamboo fences that surround the whole small city, and there are still many soldiers under the city, looking nervous as if they are facing a great enemy, as if they are preparing to fight here.

However, even if they acted as if they were facing a great enemy, they did not attack the small city directly, even though there were not many people in the small city to defend against them.

All this is because of the special status of the people who live here.

In a small room in the city, a young man of considerable figure and delicate face sat on his knees on a couch, looking at the front with a sad expression, and in the place where his gaze was focused, there was a small table, on which lay a saber, which was very delicately made, and in the unclear light, it shone with a clear cold light, as if waiting to drink the blood of a man.

He had been here for a long time, his eyes were very confused, and it was obvious that he was fighting fiercely in his heart, and he couldn't make a decision for a long time. At this moment, the clouds in the sky also accumulated thicker and thicker, and the rumbling sound began to retract in the sky, as if someone was buzzing in his ears, which made him even more upset, and the anger that had been accumulated also came back to his heart.

In the dreary air before the downpour, his expression became more and more agitated, and a loud bang in the sky seemed to urge him to make a final decision.

"Rather than continue to endure such humiliation, it is better to end yourself and not disgrace your father's name!" He finally made up his mind, shouted, and reached for the saber.

However, his hands were still shaking, and he could see that he was still a little unwilling.

He grasped the hilt, picked up the saber, looked at the blade again, and slowly turned the blade in one direction, pointing at his abdomen.

The tip of the knife was already very close to the skin, as if the abdomen had sensed that sharp sensation. With a little more force, it could pierce his abdomen and fulfill his wish to commit suicide. This knife is carefully made by a famous craftsman, and I am afraid that it can make very delicate scratches......

However, when the knife was placed on his abdomen, the young man's hand stopped, and he did not take the last step for a long time. His face was uncertain, obviously he still had some nostalgia for the world, and he couldn't make the last hand.

At this moment, there was another loud bang in the sky, and the young man's eyes suddenly widened, and then his hand trembled, and the saber in his hand fell to the ground. The knife made a soft buzzing sound after it hit the ground, as if to accuse him of insulting the name of the descendants of the martial arts family by not asking for death after being treated so humiliatingly.

The rain fell to the ground and shook the window slightly, and the young man was in a daze again, then raised his head and looked at the sky outside the window.

Again, suicide failed.

This is also normal, as the son-in-law of the shogun, he has been doted on by his parents since he was a child, and he grew up in pampering, where is it possible to abandon his nostalgia for the world so easily?

That's right, he is the second son of the previous shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, and the younger brother of the current shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, Tokugawa Tadanaga.

His mother, Szogen-in, was estranged from his eldest son, Takechiyo (Iemitsu), who was placed in the care of a nursing mother (Kasuga Bureau) by Tokugawa Ieyasu after his birth. Therefore, after the birth of her youngest son, Kunichiyo (Tadashicho), she asked her husband Hidetada to raise Kunichiyo herself without a nursing mother, and Hidetada also agreed to this request of Chongyuanin.

Because of this, Kunichiyo grew up under the pampering of his parents, and the Hidetada couple also thought that Kunichiyo, who was raised by others, was better than the taciturn and violent Takechiyo in every way. And Kunichiyo was indeed more talented than Ieguang when he was young, and he was more intelligent and clever.

Therefore, after a period of time, Tokugawa Hidetada and Chonggenin began to have the idea of abolishing Takechiyo and establishing Chiyo as a shogun for three generations. Takechiyo began to shake his position, and he also developed an initial hatred for his younger brother - he was a person who held grudges, and this hatred could be remembered in his heart for a long time.

It was also at this dangerous moment that Takechiyo's nurse Kasuga felt that Takechiyo's position as the heir to the shogun might be in jeopardy, so in order to save the situation, she ran to Sunfu Castle, where she had retired at that time and was known as the Great Imperial Palace, where Tokugawa Ieyasu lived in seclusion, and then cried to Ieyasu about the plans of Hidetada and his wife, and asked him to come forward to protect Takechiyo.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was furious when he learned of the situation, because he believed that in order to change the situation of the Warring States period, which was characterized by frequent subordination and decay, it was necessary to adhere to order and ethics from the shogunate, and the primogeniture system was the foundation of this ethical order.

So Ieyasu made an exception and came to Edo, and then told Hidetada and his wife that they would divide the elders and young, and insisted that Takechiyo be the heir of the shogun, although Ieyasu gave up the shogun's position to his son at that time, but after all, he was the one who conquered the world and had actual control over the shogunate, so the Hidetada couple who were in an embarrassing situation had to let the matter go.

However, although Takechiyo had to be regarded as the heir due to Ieyasu's order, Hidetada and his wife were still more patriotic Chiyo, and Kunichiyo often heard his grandfather Ieyasu and father Hidetada say that Takechiyo was the lord and he could only be his retainer in the future, and he was humiliated by Iemitsu several times, so he also began to have some resentment towards Iemitsu.

He thinks that his intelligence and appearance are stronger than his brother Jiaguang, so even if he knows that the other party will inherit the position of general and become his lord, he will not change his attitude of despising Jiaguang, and the contradictions between the two brothers have become deeper and deeper, and they have become strangers.

In the sixth year of Motowa, Tokugawa Hidetada, following his father's precedent, gave up the shogun position to Takechiyo to become the Great Imperial Palace, and Takechiyo officially chose Iemitsu as his name and became the third shogun of the shogunate. Because he hated his younger brother Zhongchang since he was a child, he regarded suppressing this younger brother as his important business.

Originally, during the reign of Hidetada, he was still treated favorably, and according to the custom of the Tokugawa family, he received a fief and became a vassal of the shogunate. He was sealed in Suruga Province, and after several seals, he finally received a territory of 550,000 koku, and his official position was the most powerful, and he was also the best among the pro-clans.

However, after Iemitsu came to power, the blows and persecution of him began one after another, and Iemitsu used the shogunate's eyes in Suruga Province to report Tadashi's various illegal deeds, accusing Tadashi of persecuting the people in his domain and not listening to the advice of his retainers. With this series of crimes, he confiscated Tokugawa Tadadenaga's domain and then exiled him to Kofu, where he was ordered to think about it behind closed doors.

What's more, when his father Tokugawa Hidetada died, he also forbade Tokugawa Tadanaga to go back to mourn his father, so he could only continue to stay under house arrest. In this way, Tokugawa Tadanaga lost all his territory and honor, and he was not even allowed to see his beloved father for the last time.

This great humiliation made Tokugawa Tadanaga full of resentment towards his brother, but now that Tokugawa Iemitsu had firmly ruled, and no one could intercede for him after his father's death, he had no choice but to accept the reality.

However, it seems that his brother Jiaguang's anger has not been vented. Not long after Hidetada's death, Iemitsu ordered him to be exiled again to Takasaki Castle in Ueno Province, where he was imprisoned under even worse conditions, under the pretext that his younger brother Tadashi had not woken up during the period of closed-door thinking.

And that was not the end of his persecution.

Soon after Tokugawa Tadanaga was exiled to Takasaki Castle, Iemitsu assigned Inaba Masakatsu, a close confidant he had served since childhood and was now a shogunate elder, to deal with Tokugawa Tadanaga's affairs.

And since the old man Inaba Masakatsu came to Takasaki Castle, the already very strict surveillance outside the city has become more and more close, he ordered the entire Takasaki Castle to be fenced off with a white bamboo fence, no one is allowed to enter and leave at will, and he also ordered that the supplies imported into the city be limited to food and daily necessities, and he is no longer allowed to use the original utensils, and even the news is isolated.

Isolated by a white bamboo fence, it is almost like the Central Plains Dynasty using a high wall to prohibit the relatives who committed illegal acts, except that the scope of Tokugawa Tadanaga's activities is slightly larger than that of those feudal kings, but in essence it means the same thing.

From his original position superior to everyone else, to his current situation, the loss and pain in Tokugawa Tadanaga's heart are naturally easy to imagine. He understood that his brother Tokugawa family wanted to humiliate himself in this way and force himself to commit suicide, but this kind of life was too uncomfortable, and he wanted to escape from this situation by suicide several times, and fulfilled his brother's wish.

However, although he made up his mind many times, every time he came to the last step, he still stopped because of his nostalgia for the world.

After sitting in a daze for a moment, he slowly picked up the saber from the ground, then sighed again.

As long as the days continue, one day I will finally be unable to help but do it, and there is no need to worry about this day.

"My lord! Don't do anything stupid! At that moment, an anxious shout came from outside the door.

At this shout, a young man dressed in a robe, dressed as a samurai, rushed in as well, and then fell to his knees, earnestly admonishing Tadacho.

"The general told me to die, how could I not die? Even if you don't die today, you will still die one day. Tokugawa Tadanaga smiled bitterly and played with the hilt of the knife in his hand, "Isn't it a good thing for you that I'm dead?" You can be liberated, you don't have to stay here and suffer with me, as long as you leave me, your brother will not be difficult for you. ”

"Your Excellency...... I only obey adults, only for the sake of adults, where is there any brother! The young man touched the ground with his head, "In this life, I will only follow adults, and I will never wag my tail and beg for mercy from others!" ”

He is Inaba Masanori, the younger brother of the old middle Inaba Masakatsu outside, but unlike his elder brother, who was arranged as a close attendant of the Tokugawa family since he was a child, he was arranged to Tokugawa Tadadenaga's side, and he was very trusted by Tokugawa Tadanaga. So since he was a child, because of the dispute between the two Tokugawa brothers, the two brothers of the Inaba family also began to turn against each other, and their grievances and contradictions were very deep.

After Tokugawa Tadanaga was granted a fief by the shogunate and became a pro-domain of the shogunate, Inaba Masanori also naturally became a retainer of Tokugawa Tadanaga, and when Tokugawa Iemitsu exiled his younger brother, Inaba Masatoshi was also a member of the sinners, and was exiled with Tokugawa Tadanaga, and finally came to Takasaki Castle, which can be regarded as a share of honor and disgrace.

Seeing Inaba Masatoshi so sincere, Tokugawa Tadanaga was also a little moved in his heart, and he gently put the saber back on the desk just now, and then closed his eyes. "I don't know how long I can endure this kind of day...... It won't be long before you'll be free. ”

"My lord, I came to report to you today, I just heard, a big news!" Inaba Masakatsu's face was a little red, obviously still not coming out of the excitement of just learning the news, "Your Excellency, you are saved!" ”

"What?" Tokugawa Tadanaga was puzzled. "What is saved?"

"The Great Han and the shogunate are at loggerheads, and they have already sent troops to Japan, claiming that they want to crusade against the shogunate and restore the discipline in Japan, and now they have conquered Kyushu Island and are preparing to march further!" Inaba Masatoshi told Tokugawa Tadacho the news he had received in one breath, "Now that the shogunate is in chaos, the upper and lower levels are at a loss, and Inaba Masakatsu has also been summoned back to Edo by the general to discuss countermeasures!" ”

Although the shogunate deliberately cut off Tadanaga and his retainers from the outside world when they were exiled here, the news of the Han attack on Japan still spread here, and at the same time, because Inaba Masakatsu was temporarily and urgently recalled to Edo, the surveillance of Takasaki Castle was inevitably relaxed a little, so Inaba Masatoshi learned of this information through the guards he had paid before.

Of course, the guards couldn't have known too many details, so they only had a vague general situation, but even so, the news still made Inaba Masatoshi feel refreshed, so he immediately ran over to report it to the lord.

Tokugawa Tadanaga was in disbelief when he first heard it, and he looked at Inaba Masatoshi dumbfounded, thinking that he might have gone crazy, but looking at the other party's determined appearance, he slowly came back to his senses.

"Actually...... How is that? He was shocked, and then he was at a loss, "Actually...... Could this happen? ”

Since the founding of the Great Han Dynasty, because of its great emphasis on commerce, it had frequent business contacts with the shogunate, and the relationship was considered good, and Tokugawa Tadanaga bought a large number of luxury goods from the Great Han when he was still a feudal lord. He really didn't expect that after only two or three years of detention, relations between the two countries would suddenly deteriorate to such an extent that there would be a war.

He didn't expect that the shogunate would suffer a crushing defeat as soon as the war began, and he would lose the entire island of Kyushu.

During the reign of the Kamakura shogunate, the Mongol Yuan also invaded, but on the island of Kyushu alone, the shogunate resisted the advance of the Motoko's troops, but now...... Under the Tokugawa shogunate, not long after the war began, the entire island of Kyushu fell.

Humiliation, resentment, and even heartache, these negative emotions suddenly burned in his heart.

"Takechiyo, what face do you have to go to see your father!" He shouted desperately, "What face do you have to go to see grandpa!" You've lost the face of our Tokugawa family! ”

After this roaring continued for a while, he finally calmed down, and although his breathing became heavy, he finally regained his senses.

"How is the shogunate coping now?" He asked immediately.

"The current news is not very exact, and I don't know very well." Inaba Masatoshi shook his head, "But the shogunate is now recruiting a large army, and I'm afraid it wants to resist the big man with all its might." ”

Then, he suddenly lowered his voice, "My lord, now is your chance, let's find a way to escape!" Now the shogunate's energy is focused on resisting the Great Han, and as long as we escape from Takasaki Castle, then they will not and will not be able to search for us in the vast sky! ”

yes, if I run away now, that person shouldn't have the strength to chase me anymore, right?

This suggestion made Tokugawa Tadanaga's heart suddenly brighten.

The reason why he barely supported himself in such a situation and persecution, and did not commit suicide as people wished, was that he was reluctant to die, but also because he was lucky, and he always hoped for a turnaround.

Although he knew that the result was desperate, his desire to survive still made him still can't help but look forward to it, hoping that things can take a special turn for the better, so that he can turn the corner and get out of the terrible situation he is in now.

Although the arrival of the Great Han was bad news for the shogunate and the Tokugawa family, it was not necessarily bad news for him, at least...... He can use this opportunity to get out of this terrible cage and not have to say goodbye to the world at a young age.

He didn't think about escaping before, because the power of the shogunate was already overwhelming, and even if he tried to escape successfully, he would definitely not be able to escape from the shogunate's pursuit, and he would only die a more humiliating death at that time, but the current situation is completely different.

If you escape, you won't have to die! The incessant thunder in the sky seemed to be a revelation from heaven.