Chapter 22: The Shimazu Family's Response
After reading the message sent by Sen Zhinin, Yan Xu pondered for a moment and did not intend to take the initiative to contact the other party.

First, the identities of the two parties are not equal, and the other party cannot make the decision.

Second, taking the initiative to contact him will put him at a disadvantage and lower his status.

Third, Yan Xu was very clear that the Shimazu family would definitely be restless after learning of his existence.

Right now, the Shimazu family and the Sagara family maintain a fragile balance, which will be broken by any external force. Therefore, after learning of his existence, the Shimazu family will not sit idly by and watch him. The only question is how much chips they will put up as a sign of sincerity.

After staying for a day, Inukai Chujiro returned to the Shimazu family early in the morning. As a samurai, he was quite responsible.

The Shimazu family was not ranked among the many daimyo in Japan, but they were still a daimyo after all, and at least they could afford to live in a mountain castle.

The overall area of ​​the Shimazu family's mountain castle is not large, and can only accommodate about 500 people. There are two stone walls. The outer circle is where the retainers and samurai live, and the inner circle is where the Shimazu main family lives.

At this time, Inukai Tadajiro hurried to the front of the castle tower, waiting for the summons from Shimazu Daimyo.

Shimazu Daimyo was in his forties, with a dull complexion, loose bags under his eyes, and looked a little old. It was obvious that he had not had a very good time during this period. In fact, he had not had a very good time, one could even say it was very bad.

The war between the Shimazu family and the Sagara family was originally just a routine matter. One or two conflicts would break out between the two sides almost every year, but the scale of the war would not expand or prolong. It was more like a tacit understanding, a way to keep the warriors' fighting spirit up.

In fact, it’s not that the two sides don’t want to fight, but because the difference in strength is not that big, a real fight will only result in both sides suffering losses or mutual destruction, which is totally meaningless, so a tacit understanding gradually formed.

But this time it got out of control, and the cause was actually a group of peasants going crazy.

Daimyo Shimazu still remembers that it was just a temporary retreat. Not far away, a landlord who was not even a samurai went crazy and rushed into the samurai formation of the Sagara family with his farmers.

Not only he, but also the warriors on both sides were stunned at that time, because they had never seen such a crazy farmer.

Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals, only samurai can deal with samurai, so this is the first time they have seen a civilian dare to clash with samurai.

If these people died, it would only give both sides something to talk about and laugh at their stupidity.

But who could have imagined that the mad head of the Yamada family would throw out the spear in his hand at the moment of his death, stabbing the thigh of the eldest son of the Sagara family in the group of samurai, and incidentally performing a small operation on the other party, killing him with one shot.

A fool who was driven mad by his success, a suicidal charge, and an unexpected accident led to the escalation of the war between the two sides, eventually reaching a point where both sides were in dire straits.

Just thinking about these troubles, the food that was served to him had already gone cold. Shimazu Daimyo sighed, picked up the bowl and chopsticks and started eating in small bites.

Because the continuous wars had exhausted the Shimazu family's reserves, and they had to maintain the salaries of their retainers and samurai, even as a daimyo he could only eat millet rice, and even the miso soup became wild vegetable soup, and the only meat was a small fish the size of a palm.

Although the food was not much, it was extended several times with the elegant dining style.

Don't laugh, this is the style. Even if they eat shit, they can't throw it away, otherwise no one will know that they are big shots who are high above.

After the maid took away the clean dishes, Shimazu Daimyo asked the young man beside him to call Inukai Chujiro who was still waiting outside. "I remember your name is Inukai Chujiro, a samurai who joined the Shimazu family three years ago." Although Inukai Chujiro was not of high status and was only a lower-ranking samurai, Shimazu Daimyo actually remembered his name because he had few samurai under his command, so he spoke.

"Hi! My name is Inukai Tadajiro, and I'm here to pay my respects to Your Highness!" Seeing that Daimyo Shimazu knew his name, Inukai Tadajiro was a little excited, but he still remembered that the news he brought this time was the most important, so he hurried to tell him the news he had found out.

"An unknown force occupied the Yamada family's land." Daimyo Shimazu frowned, but he didn't care who owned the land.

The Yamada family's location was not good, being located between the Shimazu family and the Sagara family, so whoever took over would be tantamount to lighting the fuse of war themselves, and therefore neither family accepted the other's allegiance.

However, this made the Yamada family, who were eager to advance to the samurai class, mistakenly believe that their performance was not good enough, which led to the crazy scene of charging into the battle. It also completely ignited the war between the two daimyo. It can be said that their death was well worth it.

What the Shimazu Daimyo really cares about is the other party's attitude. You must know that the Shimazu family is at a critical juncture when it is about to go to war with the Sagara family. If this force is really as strong as Inukai Tadayoshi said, it will obviously be the key to determining the outcome of this war.

It is impossible to withdraw manpower to solve this unstable factor first, not to mention that so many troops cannot be withdrawn. What if they cannot win the battle? What's more, the Sagara family will not sit idly by and watch him mobilize a large number of troops. Therefore, after thinking for a moment, Shimazu Daimyo spoke.

"Go call Nomura."

Nomura was a talent that Shimazu Daimyo discovered by chance when he was young. He never expected that a mere peddler would possess such talent. He gave him advice over the years, which not only pushed him to the position of daimyo, but also turned the comparison between the Shimazu family and the Sagara family from slightly inferior to slightly superior.

Unfortunately, Nomura was of a low birth and not known for his bravery, so even if he was appointed as a retainer, he was not accepted by others.

In order to maintain internal stability, the Shimazu Daimyo had to ignore the other side over the years.

There is no way. The Japanese class is everywhere. Even Shimazu, as the daimyo, cannot completely break it up, because this would be destroying the foundation of his own rights.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Nomura has already developed all the existing potential of the Shimazu family. If there is no change in the territory of the Shimazu family in the future, Nomura's ability will be worthless, because it is not the brain that maintains the rule, but the force, and it happens that the force is in the hands of the samurai who look down on Nomura, who comes from a small merchant family.

Nomura arrived soon. He was a short man in his thirties who looked like a child with a beard. Even though he was wearing neat samurai clothes, he couldn't hold them up at all. His ribs could even be seen through his collar. No wonder he was not accepted by the samurai of the Shimazu family and was even regarded as a humiliation to the samurai. His image was really too bad.

"A new force has emerged in Inaya Village. You should go there in person with some gifts. If it is suitable, I have two unmarried daughters." Shimazu Daimyo has almost made it clear that he doesn't mind giving up one of his daughters as long as they can provide him with help.

This is not an easy job. Even if he does it well, he won't get any promotion, and even his treatment won't improve. If he doesn't do it well, his situation will become even more difficult.

However, Nomura, who had been ignored for a long time, did not complain. He still responded loudly, and then took the note from Shimazu Daimyo to prepare gifts.

Because of the war, the Shimazu family's warehouse was so empty that rats could run through it. Nomura frowned when he went in, and didn't know what to take for a while. In the end, he chose a walnut-sized golden Buddha and several volumes of Buddhist scriptures.

Japan is rich in gold, so there are many gold products, which are very classy to use as gifts.

As for the Buddhist scriptures, they are just a reference.

(End of this chapter)