Although he often boasts of being a descendant of the samurai family and the grandson of the gods, Tokugawa Tadanaga is a person who has been accustomed to a rich life since he was a child, and he is still so young, of course he does not want to die like this without explanation, leaving a bunch of laughing stocks. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

He had repeatedly wanted to commit suicide because he had completely despaired of the situation, but when he saw hope, he found that he was reluctant to die.

However, the sudden good news did not completely overwhelm him, and the last remaining reason told him that things would not be so easy.

"Get out...... Now that we are surrounded by people, how can we escape? He shook his head slightly, but finally broke off his will to die for the time being, "Now that we are cut off from the outside world, how can we be allowed to go out?" ”

"My lord, since we can buy off the guards and get accurate news from them, then we can naturally buy them again and relax the guards, so that we can escape while we have a chance." Seeing that the lord was a little discouraged, Inaba Masatoshi hurriedly cheered him up, "Now that the Han's soldiers are so sharp, the shogunate is already busy, who will pay attention to us?" Besides...... Now that the situation in the shogunate is so critical, who here is willing to die for the Tokugawa family? ”

Because he has been by Tokugawa Tadanaga's side since he was a child, Inaba Masanori and Tokugawa Tadanaga have a very deep relationship, coupled with the competition with Tokugawa Iemitsu's supporters for many years, he has long been regarded as Tokugawa Tadanaga's sworn friend and hated by those people.

Inaba Masatoshi knew that his net worth and future were tied to Tokugawa Tadanaga alone, so when Tokugawa Tadanaga was defeated and finally exiled to Takasaki Castle by his brother, he once despaired, feeling that his future had been ruined and the lord could not save his life.

Therefore, when this opportunity came to him, he was almost as excited as Tokugawa Tadanaga, lest the lord hesitate and retreat and miss the opportunity.

"This ...... How so? Tokugawa Tadanaga was a little surprised.

"My lord, Tokugawa Iemitsu has been acting perversely since he took over the position of general, and he has already caused resentment from top to bottom, and now the Han army is crossing the sea to attack, in the final analysis, it is also caused by his mistakes in governance...... How can such an incompetent and brutal person be loyally loved by everyone? Inaba Masatoshi continued to persuade, "You have come to this point, and the people below are also very sympathetic, and everyone says that Gongfang-sama is a jackal, and even his own brother Da Nayan-sama does not let go of ......."

"That's right, that's right! He's the wolf's nature! Although he knew that there must be Inaba Masanori's processing in these words, Tokugawa Tadanaga couldn't help but agree loudly. It is because of his perverse behavior that he has attracted the wrath of heaven and the resentment of people...... Today, the shogunate has fallen into such a situation, and Japan has suffered such a catastrophe, all because of him! ”

"Therefore, adults should keep their useful bodies, and should not succumb to such a person and fulfill his wishes." Inaba Masatoshi gritted his teeth and said, "The world is corrupted to such an extent, and it needs the support of Lord Da Nayan even more!" ”

"Support...... World? Tokugawa Tadanaga was a little confused for a while and didn't react.

"Yes, support the world!" Inaba Masatoshi accentuated his voice, "My lord, think about it, if the shogunate is boiling today, since all this is the sin of Tokugawa Iemitsu, is he still suitable for the position of general?" He should abdicate to thank the world! He should have disemboweled his belly to apologize to the Divine King! And my lord, you are the son-in-law of the previous general, if Jiaguang abdicates, shouldn't you take over the position of general? And you are so wise, who else can help the world? ”

"This ......" Tokugawa Tadanaga was almost stunned, he definitely didn't expect that Inaba Masatoshi would secretly come up with such an idea.

This may seem beautiful, but how can it be so simple?

Tokugawa Iemitsu has been a general for more than ten years, his foundation has long been solid, and he is full of cronies, even if he wants to fight the Han, his position is by no means easily shaken.

Besides, if something really happened to Tokugawa Iemitsu, the succession status of the shogunate would naturally pass to his brother Tokugawa Tadacho, but this is just a patriarchal theory, and most of the important ministers of the shogunate are Tokugawa Iemitsu's cronies, and they will not care about any patriarchal law, and they will definitely set up another heir from the Tokugawa family to inherit the position of family governor.

But...... It's not that bad, is it...... After all, there were still people within the shogunate who were not very satisfied with Yu Iemitsu.

"If it's the elder, he should support me." After a moment of silence, Tokugawa Tadanaga suddenly said, "But the elder is alone after all......

When he said this, he was naturally already thinking about this issue.

"If the elder is alone, we might as well go and find someone else...... Let's see if you can support us. Inaba Masatoshi's voice lowered even lower, "My lord, please make a decision as soon as possible!" ”

"Who else can I call for help?" Tokugawa Tadanaga was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted, and then he looked at the other party with wide eyes, "You mean...... Looking for a big man? Ask them for help? ”

"If you're desperate, there's no other way out, right?" Inaba Masatoshi did not waver, still looking at Tokugawa Tadanaga firmly, "Can you endure your current situation and endure the persecution that person gave you?" ”

"No...... No way! After I am the Tokugawa family, and now that the great enemy of the Han is current, how can I betray the Tokugawa family and wag my tail and beg for mercy from the Han? Tokugawa Tadanaga immediately rejected the proposal, "Besides, the big men are also jackals, how much better can they be than Iemitsu?" ”

"My lord, this is not a betrayal, but to save the Tokugawa family from fire and water. The current situation is the worst of the Tokugawa family since the establishment of the shogunate...... Not only is the army of the Great Han invading, but even the imperial court and daimyo of the Western Kingdom are also rebelling, and seeing that the world of the Tokugawa family is about to collapse, can the descendants of the most divine monarch, the Lord, bear to stay out of the matter? "Inaba Masatoshi is still admonishing.

"Imperial Court ...... The imperial court is also in rebellion? Tokugawa Tadanaga was taken aback again.

"Yes, the imperial court has also returned...... Inaba Masatoshi nodded slightly, "Just when the Great Han called, a major event also happened in Kyoto, His Majesty the Emperor and the Emperor, as well as the ministers on the left and right, all disappeared and fled from Kyoto during the gap. Moreover, it didn't take long for them to go to the southern country, and then issued an edict accusing Tokugawa Iemitsu of being an enemy of the court, and calling on the daimyo of the world to rise up and overthrow Tokugawa Iemitsu! ”

"Unexpectedly...... There is such a thing! Tokugawa Tadanaga felt that his mind was in a mess again, he had been in Takasaki Castle for so long, because of his isolation from the world, he had already developed a sense of alienation from the outside world, he didn't expect that when he was still in a state of confusion, so many earth-shattering events had happened in Japan in just two months!

Since the imperial court and the Han Dynasty cooperated so closely, it means that they must have secretly colluded before, although the imperial court itself has no money, food and resources, but after all, they have the appeal of the righteous name, if this kind of appeal is usually useless, but at this critical moment, as soon as the imperial court calls, those feudal lords who are dissatisfied with the shogunate themselves will be endorsed and encouraged, wouldn't it be more emboldened?

Looking at it this way, the situation of the shogunate is indeed precarious, and if it cannot defeat the Han as soon as possible, I am afraid that it will face a very embarrassing situation - and even the shogunate cannot spend too much money to repel the Han, otherwise the shogunate, which is greatly damaged, will definitely not be able to suppress the wealthy daimyo who have sprung up around it, just like the situation faced by the Kamakura shogunate after defeating the Motoko.

But with so much strength and preparation from the Great Han Army, can they really repel them quickly and at a low cost? Tokugawa Tadanaga himself was not convinced.

In this case, it is only right to find a way to persuade the Han to withdraw - the Han must have a plan to fight, and they may not want to be mired in the quagmire of holding off with the shogunate, and if they can reach some tacit agreement with them, it is not inconceivable to pay some price for them to withdraw their troops.

And Tokugawa Iemitsu, as a sinner who instigated the two countries to fight each other, was not suitable to carry out this strategy under any circumstances.

Tokugawa Iemitsu can't do it...... Shouldn't I be the one to come?

Yes, I'm saving the shogunate, the Tokugawa family, and the world. Tokugawa Tadanaga suddenly brightened.

He originally wanted to take advantage of the chaos to escape from Takasaki Castle in order to save his life, but he was just worried about being infamous, but now that he had found such a reasonable excuse for himself, he suddenly wanted to escape as soon as possible.

"Yes, now that the imperial court has returned to bed, and the feudal lords of the western kingdom have also rebelled, isn't this situation all caused by Jiaguang's perverse behavior? If it weren't for his tyranny, how could the Tokugawa family's world be so corrupt? Inaba Masatoshi also saw the sovereign's vacillation, and decided to push it one last time, "And if you think about it, with Iemitsu's hatred for you, if we are still here now, he will definitely not let you go as soon as he has the opportunity to free his hand, right?" Even...... Even as a precaution, he may directly attack you......"

yes, that's a real possibility. Tokugawa Tadadenaga's heart sank.

He has always known his brother's character, and since he has forced himself to this point, he must force himself to death, and he must be able to think of what he can think of now-he will really send someone over to execute him in order to eradicate the troubles.

"My lord, do you see it clearly now? Heaven had mercy on the Lord and gave him a way...... You really can't afford not to go! Inaba Masatoshi suddenly touched the ground with his head again and pleaded with the Lord, "If you hesitate now, I'm afraid there will be no chance in the future, and you can't regret it!" ”

If you stay here, you will sit back and die, and you may even be forced to die soon, and if you escape from here, you will be able to save your life, if not you can take over the position of general. If you have to choose, I'm afraid there is no other way to choose.

If it weren't for the complete despair of the situation, how could he be willing to sit back and make Tokugawa Iemitsu happy with his death?

"Yes, you're right." After a long silence, he suddenly sighed, and then suddenly stretched out his hand, and once again took the knife of the desk, but this time the blade of the saber was not directed towards himself, but towards the void, and as if it were towards the man in Edo Castle.

"I can't sit still! I want to save the world and save the Tokugawa family! ”

……………………

The person who was swung at him with a knife, of course, didn't know what kind of determination his brother had made at this time, and he didn't have time to care about this person.

All his energy now has been put into dealing with the complex and very bad situation brought about by the invasion of the Han Dynasty.

As a shogun, he was able to get much more detailed information than others, and thus he was more able to see how corrupt the situation was today.

The fall of the entire island of Kyushu, the surrender of a large number of feudal lords to the Han Dynasty, the collusion between the Imperial Court and the Han Dynasty in issuing an edict designating themselves as enemies, and the return of the Mori family to welcome the landing of the Han army on Honshu Island, this series of bad news came one after another, hitting his nerves and making his already very anxious personality even more irritable.

Recently, the people who serve him have suffered enough, and if they are not careful, they will be punished for all kinds of trivial things, which can be described as miserable.

However, anger is anger, and now he also understands that the first priority can only be to find a way to repel the Han Kou and maintain the Tokugawa family, otherwise he will be the biggest sinner of the Tokugawa family, and he is afraid that he will not have the face to go underground to see his father and grandfather.

While Tokugawa Tadanaga and Inaba Masatoshi were secretly discussing, he also summoned his chief elder Nakatsui Toshikatsu to discuss the current situation and countermeasures with him.

Because he was not particularly involved with the old forces within the shogunate, Doi Toshikatsu won his trust and reluctance, and often accepted his private summons, which were much less restrictive than public high-level meetings, and could speak freely.

"Now the Maori family has rejected all our previous conditions and chose to sleep with the imperial court, which has dealt us a heavy blow, and what is even more worrying is that now other daimyo in the west are also ready to move, at least they are unwilling to desperately resist the Han, obviously they have a wait-and-see intention at both ends of the rat." In the relatively small room of Nakaonai, Doi Toshikatsu whispered to the general.

Although he said it very seriously, Doi Toshikatsu's expression was very flat, as if this was expected.

Tokugawa Iemitsu would not have been so calm, he clenched his fists tightly, and it was clear that anger had surged back into his heart.

"These anti-thieves ......"

Ever since he took over the shogunship, he has been very aggressive and harsh on the feudal lords in various places, not only because of his personal character, but also because he wanted to further consolidate the advantages of the Tokugawa clan and weaken the power of these foreign feudal lords so that they could no longer threaten the rule of the shogunate.

Without the intervention of external factors, his actions could have been appropriate, and within a few years he would have been able to establish the law of the entire shogunate over the foreign domains, and force each of the daimyo of the foreign domains to send hostages to Edo, thus establishing the absolute dominance of the shogunate over the imperial court and the foreign domains.

However, when the Han Dynasty came, the previous harsh actions became a reason for the feudal lords to be separated from the shogunate, and they had accumulated resentment against the shogunate over the years, and now when they had the opportunity, they would naturally try their best to get rid of the shogunate's rule, at least they would not really fight to maintain the shogunate.

Now that the western kingdom has collapsed, although there is a strong and loyal Ikeda family to the shogunate, they are also difficult to support, and it may not be difficult for the Han army to reach the castle of Kyoto as long as they march all the way.

So, can Kyoto be held?

In front of outsiders, these two people were full of confidence, and they looked like they would fight to the death in Kyoto and drive the Han Kou out of Honshu Island, but they also knew that this was just a propaganda strategy, and they couldn't take it seriously in today's deteriorating situation.

"How is Kyoto's defense now?" After a moment of silence, Tokugawa Iemitsu suppressed the anger in his heart and asked the other party as calmly as possible.

"A large number of troops have already been assembled in, numbering more than 30,000 troops, and they are going there one after another. With the help of the Kyoto Division, they were able to deploy smoothly. Doi Toshikatsu immediately replied, "In addition, because of the previous scorched earth order, they have already raised a large amount of grain in, so the supply pressure in the Kanto region will be reduced a lot." ”

This little bit of good news finally relieved Tokugawa Iemitsu. In the previous shogunate deliberations, Doi Toshikatsu insisted on it, and as a shogun, he issued a scorched earth order, ordering that along the way from Kanto to Kyoto, all feudal domains and localities should hand over all grain stores to the army as military supplies, in order to relieve the supply pressure of Kanto.

The implementation of this order would have caused a lot of resentment against the shogunate along the way, and although it would have caused them to suffer a lot of infamy, it was at least extremely beneficial to the shogunate. Now Tokugawa Iemitsu can't care about the lives of the small people.

"You've worked hard, please keep up the good work in the future." He gave a rare compliment. "Don't worry, no matter what others think of you, I will never treat you badly."

"Loyalty to the state is what a minister should do." Toshikatsu Doi saluted him again, then continued to remind him. "My lord, now that the foreign domains everywhere are ready to move, we should be vigilant."

"I've already instructed Yagyu and Mizuno to do it." Tokugawa Iemitsu replied immediately.

Yagyu and Mizuno Morinobu are the big eyes of the shogunate, and they have always been responsible for monitoring the daimyo in various places, and because of the chaos caused by the shogunate's envoy Yanagi Motosai's ineffective work, Yagyu Muneju was attacked, so he is now considered to be guilty of meritorious service.

"Lord Shogun, the war does not look at the gains and losses of one city or one place, but only the final result, so the shogunate cannot rush to a decisive battle with the Han." Because of the place in his heart, Doi Toshikatsu reminded the other party again, "Even if we want to make a bet, we can't bet in Kyoto, but in Kanto and Edo." Other than that...... We can now go and negotiate peace with the Han first, and see what conditions they need before they can withdraw their troops......"