Maeda Matake looked at Maeda Toshihisa cautiously and asked.
"Mother, do you allow me to kill them?"
Maeda Riku rolled his eyes at her and said.
“Now that things have come to this, what can I do?
You are my daughter, but they are a group of idiots blinded by greed, and they will kill our Iga Maeda family sooner or later.
There is no difference between closeness and distance, I don't care if they die.
Now that the lid has been lifted, the finishing work must be done well, so as not to cause a fire and make the Iga-Maeda family disgraced.
You also know Takada Yukino. That girl only has Tsutado-dono in her mind, and she never talks about worldly things. This kind of stubbornness is the most difficult to deal with.
If she accidentally finds out the problem, seizes the clue, and reports it to Jindo Hall, won't all your hard work be in vain?
I will arrange the follow-up and let the families of these people go to them and talk it over. Even if the person is going to die, the sewage must be poured on Nizi Shengjiu, and it cannot splash us half."
Seeing his mother thinking about wiping his buttocks, Maeda Yoshida lowered his head in shame and asked.
"Will they listen? Can Nizi Shengjiu recognize him?"
Maeda Toshiie sneered and changed from a loving mother back to a cold and powerful person.
"They are destined to die, but their families still have to eat with me, so they must be obedient.
Katsuhisa Niko is the acting official of Shiba in recent years, and she is responsible for all matters supporting the Shiba Chu Fund.
There are clouds in the sky, those who are close to red are red, and those who are close to ink are black. I handed good elite talents into her hands, but her people actually took my people to corrupt and made them so corrupt.
Now everyone has to be held accountable, which really makes me heartbroken, and I have to ask her for an explanation!"
Maeda was stunned when he heard this, and even forgot to wipe his tears. He was indeed still too young, and could not compare to his mother, who was so old and powerful.
Maeda Riku gently brushed away the tears on her face and said softly.
"You are already an adult Samurai Hime, and you still cry like a child, which is not embarrassing.
I have told you a long time ago that you are already a famous person, so you must consider all aspects carefully and you cannot act randomly.
I am old and will leave this world one day. You will still have a long life in the future, so be careful when encountering trouble!"
Maeda looked at her profitably.
"Mother, you must live a long life."
Maeda Riku rolled his eyes.
"It would be nice if I don't make you mad to death. That Jindo-den is a warrior man who has not been seen for thousands of years, a fairy-like figure.
If one day you give up this wishful thinking and find a well-known son to continue the Iga Maeda family's heirs, I will really feel relieved."
Maeda seemed to suddenly remember something and walked out.
"Mother, I just brought back a good horse from the army and brought it to you to see. The caravan bought it from Kiso Valley as a tribute to me. It is really a good horse."
Seeing her pretending to be stupid, Maeda Riku was so angry that he cursed her.
"Evil girl, sooner or later you will piss me off to death!"
Maeda smiled, shrugged, and pretended not to hear what he said.
The mother and daughter seemed to have forgotten the previous collision and were enjoying themselves. As for those people who sacrificed for their relationship, who cares.
———
Koriyama Castle, castle tower.
Nizi Shengjiu sighed and said.
"I care about them, but have they ever cared about me? If only they could consider me, they wouldn't be so unscrupulous."
There were only two people in the room. Sitting across from Nizi Katsuhisa was Tatehara Hisatsuna. In terms of seniority, she was Yamanaka Yukimori's aunt.
It was she who responded to Nizi Shengjiu's call and contacted Nizi's remnant party to come to Jinsbo to lead the surrender, hoping that one day she could gather strength to return to the Western Kingdom and revive the Nizi family.
she sighed.
"Nizi's ten banners are dead and surrendered. There are not many Ji warriors who are loyal to their master's family and will follow them to the death.
This time, so many people have fallen into it again, which will probably dampen everyone's morale in reviving the Nizi family."
Nizi Shengjiu shook his head helplessly.
Nizi's family is also divided into factions. The Shingong Party faction composed of Nizi's blood was wiped out and reorganized by the family governor due to internal strife. Nizi Katsuhisa is the orphan of the Shingong Party who escaped the disaster.
Yamanaka Yukimori was born as a retainer of the Nizi family, and represented the Nizi retainers group, which was part of the main family.
The Nizi Ten Banners were the powerful clans of the country who supported the rule of the Nizi family. Most of these people surrendered in the battle with the Maori family. There were only a few Ji warriors who were loyal to the Nizi family and were expelled and became ronin.
Although Tachihara Hisatsuna was a retainer of Nizi, at this time he was speaking on behalf of the interests of the remnants of Nizi's Ten Banners.
There is a lot of conflict between the New Palace Party, Nizi's main family, and Nizi's Ten Banners, and they were not supposed to get together.
The Maori family took advantage of the Nizi family's internal strife, and used their ingenuity to overthrow this powerful Western country family.
But with the decline of Nizi's family, all three parties became like ronin in troubled times. The grievances of the past gradually faded away, and the strong appeal to revive Nizi's family brought the three parties together again.
Nizi Katsuhisa and Yamanaka Yukimori have a deep love for each other. The Shingu Party has the same roots as the main family. There are not two Nizi in one sentence. The Nizi Yamanaka One Party is the core force of the Western Kingdom faction.
The idea of the remnant party of Nizi's Ten Banners is relatively complicated. These people are just local wealthy people who were attracted by Nizi's family and were forced to leave their homes. This is also the result of the failure to stand in line.
Only when the Nizi family returns to the Western Kingdom and revives can they get back the territory that originally belonged to them. In other words, they are the returning group who want to use the power of the Nizi family.
When the Wu family becomes an official, they seek benefits.
Nizi Katsuhisa was doing well in the Shiba family, and some Westerners even got into the Shiba Zhong Foundation's rice vat.
Whether they could return to the Western Kingdom or not, they could not care about it for the time being. They would first put the benefits in front of them into their own pockets.
Nizi Katsuhisa thought for a moment and said to Tachihara Hisatsuna sincerely.
"Sir Tachihara, although you are now in charge of the Ten Banners of Nizi, you yourself were born as a retainer of Nizi. The Tachihara family and the Nizi family both belong to the Sasaki clan, and you and I are one and the same family.
I don’t want to hide many things from you.
I was very clear about the Spozhong Fund from the beginning, and I was the one who contributed to it and took the initiative to prick the pustule."
Nizi Katsuhisa spoke frankly, Tachihara Hisatsuna was also surprised, she said.
"The situation at the Shibachu Foundation is said to be very serious. Yukino Takada is ruthless, the Yagyu group and the confidentiality group have figured out the details of everyone, and the Shinsengumi is arresting people according to the list.
I came here this time in the hope that you could step in to soften things up and preserve some decency between us. But according to you, you already knew this would be the outcome?
Since knowing this matter will greatly damage our vitality, why do you pretend to be ignorant and cooperate with outsiders to stab you?"
Nizi Shengjiu smiled bitterly.
"In her eyes, I am a high-ranking person.
Of the three Spur Territories, the Jinji Spur Territory is the largest, with a territory of two hundred thousand shi. I am deeply trusted by Jindo Palace and have full authority to handle the affairs of the nearby Spur Territory. It can be said that I am under one person and superior to ten thousand people.
But what’s the truth? I was frightened every step of the way and couldn’t sleep at night. Akechi Mitsuhide was sinister, Takada Yo was cunning, and Maeda’s interests were becoming more and more jealous of me.
Although I have been given the highest authority by Tsudado-don, it is impossible for me to keep an eye on them and put my hands into the diplomatic, commercial, military and other affairs under their jurisdiction.
If you take too much control, you will offend your colleagues. If you take little control, nothing will happen. But if something goes wrong, I will be jointly and severally responsible. This is what happened to Spozhong Fund this time.
Am I willing to squeeze Ishida Mitsunari's management power? She obviously has no one in her hands, so she asked me to borrow someone to help.
It's good now that she can't control these people and let them take over the spotlight. Instead, the dirty water has been poured on me.
Interfering in the management of the Sibo Zhong Fund is not justified. If you don't intervene, it will cause a big trouble in the future. It will be the people I sent to do the corruption, and most of them are the Western Guo Faction in my Nizi Mountain.
Tell me, what should I do?"
Tachihara Hisatsuna took a breath, thought about it, and said sarcastically.
"Tsudadian Yingshenwu is not an unreasonable person."
Nizi Shengjiu sighed.
"I have more confidence in Tsutado-don's character than you do. But I can't trust colleagues like Akechi Mitsuhide, Maeda Yoshi, and Takada Yono.
I know better than anyone how the previous generals died. I can see very clearly what these people are hiding.
Tsutaden asked me to act as the agent for Yamanaka Yukimori and Shima Katsuruo, and to increase my knowledge and experience, in order to increase my authority and facilitate the management of the nearby Spur Territory, but it also put me on the fire.
My colleagues are unreasonable. They only have one thought in their minds: getting married, and anyone who might stand in their way is their enemy.
Who am I if I am as noble as a general and can die in a mysterious way? The Nizi family seems to be prosperous in recent times, but in fact there are many hidden dangers.
The six thousand koku of Koriyama Castle is a gift from Tsutaden, which satisfies my and Yamanaka Yukimori's desire to revive the Nishi family and exist independently as a gaijō domain.
Within the Shiba Territory, there are only two such independent foreign clans, Koriyama Castle and Todo Territory.
As soon as Takatora Todo died, her daughter Takatora Toudo had an ambiguous attitude and even paid military service to the Asai family. What does this mean?
Tsudado sympathized with her pain of losing her mother and did not argue with her. However, the status of Todo leader became blurred, and the samurai under his command did not even have Shiba.
My situation also became awkward. Is the Gaijie domain considered a retainer of Shiba? Do my loyal retainers recognize it?
In particular, our people have been adhering to the ambition of returning to the Western Kingdom and chanting the slogan of reviving Nizi. This is something everyone in the Sibo family knows, and it has made some people secretly spread rumors that I have an impure mind.
I am not afraid of rumors and rumors, and I am not afraid of those who are clean. However, the Shiba Zhong Fund is the welfare organization of the Shiba family, and the payment of annuities is related to the interests of all the Shiba family warriors.
If the Sibo Zhong Fund loses money because of me, under the thumb of thousands of wives, even if Jindo Temple believes in me and protects me, what shame will I have to continue to live in the world?
Instead of waiting for things to get out of hand and force me into a desperate situation, it is better to use Ishida Mitsunari's dissatisfaction to break this matter as soon as possible.
While the current hole is still small and I can still afford this sin, I will quickly resolve the hidden dangers."
Tachihara Hisatsuna nodded and said helplessly.
"It's not easy for you either. It's a pity that this time, we are afraid that our vitality will be seriously damaged."
Nizi Shengjiu shook his head and said.
“If the trees are beautiful in the forest, the wind will destroy them.
If I lose some of the remnants of Nizi's Ten Banners who don't know the importance, I can make those who are interested in Maeda feel more at ease and ask Tsuta-dono to put more burden on me. I will also be grateful.
Our future lies in the Western Kingdom, and with Tsudoden's prowess, one day the Shiba family will turn their attention to the Western Kingdom, and we will eventually go home.
Mr. Tachihara, don't care about the immediate gains and losses, think about the land and scenery of your hometown. Our goal has never changed.
Keep your duty and be loyal to your Majesty. One day, we will definitely be able to fight back to the Western Kingdom and take back our homeland from the Maori family."
By exposing the corruption scandal, he committed suicide, stabbed himself in the face, weakened the hostility of his colleagues, and reduced his own burden. This was Nizi Shenghisa's purpose.
But she can't cool the hearts of Nizi's old party. Even if it's just the remnant of Nizi's Ten Banners on the periphery, she needs to have a convincing reason for sacrificing her own people.
On the one hand, these people are seeking death and extending their hands that they shouldn't. On the other hand, the Nizi family has lofty ideals that need to be realized so that everyone can continue to be united and not feel sad about the death of a rabbit or a fox.
In both public and private matters, Nizi Shengjiu's explanation can be explained clearly.
Tachihara Hisatsuna sighed and kowtowed to the ground.
"I'm really sorry that I failed to restrain them and caused you trouble.
You are right, in order to regain our homeland, we need to work hard to prove our loyalty to Tsudoden, and we should not infringe on the interests of the entire Shibabu family group.
Regardless of whether the Nizi family is a foreigner or a retainer, we should keep the kindness of Jinduo Palace in our hearts and let the king control us."
Nizi Shengjiu nodded.
"Taking this opportunity, I will write a letter to implore the grace of Koriyama Castle to be cut off, and ask Tsutado-den to clearly incorporate the Nizi family into the ranks of retainers, so as to completely remove the hidden danger of this foreign domain.
From then on, the Nizi family became the retainers of the Shiba family, and they were no longer criticized for their lack of independence.
As for those who reach out randomly, let Yukino Takada deal with them, I won’t interfere."
Nizi Katsuhisa's words were tantamount to a death sentence for these people, but Tachihara Hisatsuna, who had been persuaded by her, nodded and said nothing more.
———
Duowen Mountain City is where the Spozhong Foundation resides.
In the courtyard, a group of Ji warriors were sitting on their knees. Around them, swordsmen wearing Yamagata haori and holding the Chengji flag on their backs stood solemnly, staring at them.
The air was filled with the smell of blood. In the corner of the courtyard, several servants were washing the ground with water with numb faces. Then they lay on the ground and used a coarse cloth to scrub away the blood stains bit by bit.
After a while, the door of the central hall opposite the courtyard opened, and Isamu Kondo walked out.
She walked up to a Ji warrior who was kneeling in the court. The Ji warrior looked at her with his head held high and his back straight, his eyes shining with hope.
Isamu Kondo shouted loudly with a cold tone.
"Ushio Ren Sanniang embezzled family funds and endangered the interests of the Shiba family. She rejected the request for seppuku! Behead her!"
There was despair in the eyes of the kneeling Hime warrior in front of Isamu Kondo, but she did not dare to resist. After bowing and thanking Kondo Isamu, she kowtowed to the ground in the direction of Kanto and shouted.
"Tsudaden, onboard!"
Two Shinsengumi swordsmen stepped forward, and one of them slashed his exposed neck with a sword. Blood shot into the sky, and the head rolled to the ground.
Another person picked up the head, put it on the display plate, bowed his head, raised his hands above his head, and placed it in front of Kondo Isamu.