Seeing Iga Ming leaving, Sakai Tadamasa finally couldn't help but look at Tokugawa Isahiko and said, "General, if you do this, it is clear that you are letting the tiger return to the mountain, which will be even more disadvantageous to us." ”

The opinions of the four heavenly kings were almost unanimous, and Naomasa Ii on the right hand side also said with some concern: "The strength of the Iga family is indeed terrifying, especially those ninjas, general, if you let go of the Iga family, it will not only make us lose the intelligence organization, but also lose a force that we can use." ”

The four heavenly kings of the Tokugawa family stood up and persuaded him, wanting Tokugawa Iyohiko to retract his previous thoughts and continue to control the ninjas of the Iga family.

Suddenly, a different voice sounded: "I think the shogun made a very correct move, solved some of the troubles we are going to face, and if the Iga family is not stupid, they will definitely not rebel against the shogun so quickly, so that the general can improve his reputation and continue to receive information from the Iga family, wouldn't it be great?"

Everyone followed the sound and looked, but saw a samurai who was also wearing a dark blue ninja suit, kneeling there and saying calmly: "What's more, the ninjas in the possession of the Iga family are just some guys who are responsible for listening to information, and the really powerful ninjas are still in the hands of my Hattori family, so why should the general worry?"

The one who can say this, there is no one else under Tokugawa Iehiko, naturally Hattori Masanari, who was also born in a ninja family and has become the current head of the family.

If Iga Naru seemed to be a guy who came and went without a trace, then Hattori Masari is an even more terrifying guy, he feels like a terrible black hole that can swallow a qiē.

The generals of the Tokugawa family present all knew very well that if it was said that under the command of the entire Tokugawa family, who was the most powerful, then I am afraid that everyone would not dare to say that they were stronger than Hattori Masanari, and even if it was the four heavenly kings of the Tokugawa family, they could only be deterred by Hattori Masanari in terms of personal strength alone.

Hattori Masanari, who was born in a ninja family, learned almost all the martial arts of ninjas. Even some of the methods of the Onmyoji, he can use them freely, and his strength is even stronger than that of the Onmyoji.

Also because of Hattori Masanari, although the Iga family has a large number of ninjas, they actually dare not be presumptuous in front of Tokugawa Ihiko, and can only work steadily under Tokugawa Iyohiko.

Now seeing Hattori Masanari come out and say this, everyone present naturally did not dare to continue to oppose it, after all, with Hattori Masanari present, it would be difficult for the Iga family to make much waves, if the Iga family really dared to betray Tokugawa Iehiko. I'm afraid that there is no need for Tokugawa Isahiko to speak, and Hattori Masanari will lead the family's ninjas to attack.

Seeing that Hattori Masanari made everyone speechless, Tokugawa Isahiko said with a smile: "Hehe, don't worry, in fact, according to the news brought back by Hattori, Iga-naru and their trip will be difficult to succeed." ”

"What?" everyone present was shocked, knowing that the information they knew was actually ambiguous and not very accurate.

But no one thinks. Iga Naruto's trip would have been fruitless, otherwise they would not have persuaded Tokugawa Ihiko to retract his promise, precisely because everyone felt that Iga Naruto would lead the Iga ninja to dispatch, even if it would be in some trouble. But if you want to bring the emperor back to Edo Castle, you should still be able to do it.

But now, listening to Tokugawa Iehiko's tone, it seems that it is impossible to bring back His Majesty the Emperor. This can't help but make everyone wonder?

At the signal of Tokugawa Ishihiko, Hattori explained to everyone: "You probably don't know that in fact, His Majesty the Emperor dares to show his face openly. It's not because she has the support of the Takeda family, but because she has the support of a highness from the West, that's why she is so bold. ”

"Support from His Highness from the West?" Tadamasa Sakai asked with some puzzlement: "Who is this Highness from the West? How can he help the Emperor? Could it be that the Emperor threw himself into the sea to go to the West for help, did she really succeed?

Faced with Sakai's question, Hattori Masari shook his head and said, "I'm sorry Sakai-sama, I can't answer your question either, and there is really too little information about that Western Highness right now." ”

Hattori Masanari then continued: "But I can tell you for sure that His Highness from the West is an extremely powerful guy, and he also has troops from the West. ”

Tokugawa Isahiko couldn't help but sigh and said, "I'm afraid you didn't expect it, right? We have received help from the Middle Earth of the East, but our Emperor Xià has actually received the support of the West, and now it seems that we still can't figure out the strength of the other side, so we are not sure whether we can defeat the other side." ”

Speaking of this, Tokugawa Iehiko did not hide it in the slightest, and said very directly: "So, we need someone to test the opponent for us, and the Iga family is a good candidate." ”

Hearing this, everyone present immediately understood that Tokugawa Iyohiko gave an attractive promise, which was actually to stimulate Iga Ming and let the other party take the initiative to test the enemy's strength.

From Hattori's words alone, it is not difficult to see that the strength of the Western forces is that even the ninja of the Hattori family cannot accurately grasp the strength of the other party, which means that the strength of the other party is very strong, and if the people of the Tokugawa family make a rash move, I am afraid that they will fall directly into the trap of the other party.

As for Tokugawa Iehiko, who inherited the position of shogun for the 14th generation of the Tokugawa family, he did not want the shogunate to be terminated in his hands.

Although Tokugawa Isahiko successfully forced the emperor back, it can now be said that he has controlled the entire imperial family, and although the surrounding daimyo are eyeing him, they are forced by the strength in their hands, and those guys do not dare to act rashly for the time being.

But in fact, Tokugawa Iehiko knows very well that those guys don't dare to act because they are not afraid of themselves, but because they don't want to make too many sacrifices, they just want to exchange the smallest sacrifice for the greatest benefits, and they don't want to overthrow the Tokugawa family and cause heavy losses to their own family.

Tokugawa Ihiko was very dismissive of these thoughts of the daimyo, in his opinion, those guys were thinking about good things at all, and he would never give them any chance.

It's just that although Tokugawa Iehiko is not afraid of those daimyos, he is still a little uneasy, especially now that the emperor has suddenly popped up again, which will naturally pose a threat to his rule.

After all, in Fuso, the imperial family is irreplaceable, and it is impossible for anyone who is not of royal blood to get the status of the imperial family, let alone take the position of emperor from the hands of the imperial family, which cannot be recognized by Amaterasu, let alone the people of Fuso.

Even though Emperor Fuso was a puppet for many years, and the whole of Fuso was always under the control of the shogun, the generals of all generations still needed to maintain a superficial respect for the imperial family.

This is also the reason why Tokugawa Isahiko tried his best to finally force the emperor to throw himself into the sea, he wanted to force the emperor away, so as to gradually dilute the influence of the imperial family in the people.

And the introduction of the sect of Middle-earth is also to fight against Amaterasu, break the status of Amaterasu in the hearts of the people of Fuso, so that the people can get rid of the shackles of Amaterasu's Fuso civilization, and create enough conditions for themselves to become emperors, which is Tokugawa Iehiko's ambition.

It's a pity that judging from the current situation, Tokugawa Iehiko's plan may be in vain, and when the emperor's Majesty revealed his identity, Tokugawa Iehiko had already fallen into passivity.

If the emperor raised his arms and deprived Tokugawa Iehiko of his position as "Shogun", then the Tokugawa family would lose power completely in an instant, and then the other daimyo would have the opportunity to send troops directly to the Tokugawa family, attack Edo Castle in the name of supporting the emperor, and completely destroy the Tokugawa family's shogunate rule.

This is the result that Tokugawa Isahiko does not want to see, and has always wanted to avoid it, if this result really occurs, it means that the Tokugawa family will completely decline, and even the entire Tokugawa family may be exterminated.

The people around him didn't know what Tokugawa Iehiko was thinking, and the retainers and generals of the Tokugawa family present at this time were still quietly guessing the strength of those Western visitors.

Sakai Tadamasa asked Hattori Masanari again: "Belly, don't you really have any news?

Hattori Masanari shook his head helplessly: "I'm sorry Lord Sakai, I really don't, now I only know the information, it seems that the Takeda family has taken refuge in the Western Highness, but there are also rumors that the Takeda family is following the emperor's majesty, and I don't have any specific information now." ”

At this moment, Tokugawa Ihiko had also come to his senses, and when he heard this, he suddenly groaned: "It seems that in this way, we can only look at the results of Iga Ming's temptation." ”

Most of the people present agreed with Tokugawa Iehiko's statement, and for these people in the Tokugawa family's mansion, they could only wait quietly.

Just like Tokugawa Iehiko said, they are now being watched by many daimyo with heavy troops in the surrounding area, so they dare not act rashly, fearing that once they send troops, they will attract the siege of the surrounding daimyos, and if the other party breaks through Edo Castle, then the Tokugawa family will be breached.

At that time, as long as a member of the imperial family is raised to ascend the throne, or even publicly announced the return of His Majesty the Emperor, the Tokugawa family will be completely passive.

In fact, many people now feel that maybe they shouldn't have persecuted the emperor like that in the first place, and if the emperor was still in the hands of the Tokugawa family, I am afraid that the Tokugawa family would not have to have any evasion and worry, and could directly wave the army to Chiba and arrest the so-called Western Highness back.

Tokugawa Ihiko thought about it again and again, and finally said: "No matter how much, let's all go back and prepare for battle, if war is inevitable, our Tokugawa family can't afford to be left behind." ”

After receiving the order of Tokugawa Iehiko, the retainers and generals present immediately bowed their heads and took their leave, left the shogunate and began to prepare for their own preparations, and gathered their soldiers and horses to camp around Edo Castle. (To be continued......)