Chapter 57

In the spring, in the courtyard garden of the lord's residence, wildflowers bloomed everywhere, and butterflies danced among the flowers. Three women, each with their own beauty, quietly knelt on the green grass, while a small fairy chased butterflies among the flowers, emitting a series of silver bell-like laughs.

Masahiro took out the last piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. On the paper was a drawing of an eagle spreading its wings, and Masahiro intended to use this as the family crest of the Rō family. The decision on the family crest was carefully considered by Masahiro. First, Tōgō Heijirō had suggested that Masahiro use the crest of the Tōgō branch family. There were two reasons for this: one was to hope that Masahiro would inherit the Tōgō branch family, and the other was that at this time, lineage was very important, and inheriting the Tōgō branch family would solve this problem. Masahiro politely declined this suggestion, as he did not care about these so-called lineage issues; after all, one's lineage was what one claimed it to be. Second, since he repeatedly claimed to be the messenger of Hachiman, the family crest should be related to this. Under the influence of Shinto in Japan, animals were mostly seen as symbols of divine messengers, and Masahiro also intended to use an animal as the family crest. Among the many powerful families that Masahiro already knew, such as the Suzuki and Imagawa families, many used animals as their family crests, and some even used animal feathers (such as the eagle feather pattern). Finally, it was decided what animal to use as the family crest. Common animal crests included turtles, phoenixes, cranes, and doves. However, Masahiro's artistic skills were not very good; in his previous life, he was often one of the art teacher's least favorite students. But he could draw a hawk quite well, mainly due to a drawing of an eagle he did in kindergarten that received praise from his teacher, which made him particularly skilled at drawing hawks. Taking all these factors into account, Masahiro finally drew a hawk spreading its wings as the family crest.

After handing the completed family crest to the women and instructing them to use the fabric seized from the courtyard warehouse to make several family banners and the main flag, Masahiro had to rush to the brick kiln site on the north side of the mountain, as a foot soldier had come to report that Shinji had requested the lord to inspect the site. Masahiro was surprised: had the bricks already been made?

With a sense of anticipation, Masahiro arrived at the brick kiln site. He saw several elderly villagers and young women mixing mud to make brick molds, and seven or eight kilns had already been built. Shinji, drenched in sweat, immediately walked over and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, we have built eight kilns, and I have arranged for people to start making brick molds and collecting firewood, but the quality of the charcoal is not good."

"Hmm?" Masahiro felt very strange upon hearing Shinji's words. According to the information he had learned from Tōgō Heijirō, Japan had already learned the techniques of brick-making and charcoal production from China at this time. Many temples used brick and tile structures, but brick-making never became popular. Masahiro estimated there were two reasons: one was the high cost, and when building city walls, most lords preferred to use earth and wood structures due to the high cost; the second was that the quality was not as good as stone, and lords with money preferred to build stone walls. However, charcoal was quite popular, and a load of charcoal could sell for dozens of coins in winter. Now, Shinji said the quality of the charcoal was not good, which made Masahiro feel very strange.

Accompanied by Shinji, Masahiro went to the charcoal kiln at the foot of the mountain. He immediately knew what the problem was: the quality of the kilns was too poor. Masahiro called over a few villagers and had them dig a pit about 8 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 1.3 meters deep, leveling the bottom. They then set up prepared wooden sticks (upright) as the support frame for the kiln, covered the top of the wooden sticks with a layer of thatch, and then covered the thatch with a thick layer of mountain soil, using a hoe to build a semi-circular kiln back. They then dug seven small holes on both sides of the kiln back to regulate the fire, and built a shelter over the kiln to protect it from rain. This completed the basic construction of the charcoal kiln, which looked like a large wine jar laid on its side.

"Shinji, have people build several more kilns like this. Arrange the charcoal burning at night, as it's too hot during the day," Masahiro said to Shinji, who was standing beside him. Shinji was half-believing and half-doubting the strange shape of the kiln Masahiro had built but did not dare to raise any objections.

After dealing with Shinji's problem, Masahiro decided to inspect his new territory and was considering whether to take a mineral bath in the pond on the back mountain in the afternoon.

While the territory was under construction and Masahiro was looking forward to a "mineral" bath, the eastern side of Mount Yama, in Tashiro Castle, the Tashiro family was in a tense atmosphere.

"Tarō, is the information confirmed?" Tashiro Tadayoshi, the head of the Tashiro family, stared at a 20-something samurai in front of him.

"Father, the information from inside has been confirmed. Komatsu Daizō secretly arrived in Fujiwara Castle today, intending to form an alliance with Fujiwara Masahide and discuss a joint attack on the main family," Tashiro Tarō answered cautiously.

"Clang!" Tashiro Tadayoshi threw the teacup in his hand to the floor, shattering it. "Damn, my father should have cut off the roots back then."

"Father, should we strike first and attack Fujiwara Castle to crush Fujiwara Masahide into pieces?" Tashiro Tarō said with righteous indignation.

"Ah!" Tashiro Tadayoshi sighed deeply, looking up at the sky outside the door, remaining silent for a long time. It wasn't that he didn't want to strike first. In fact, the Tashiro and Fujiwara families had been in conflict for over a decade, and in every conflict, the Tashiro family had a decisive advantage, even besieging Fujiwara Castle several times. However, each time they returned without success, and the Fujiwara family was like a cockroach that always managed to escape. Now, with the addition of the Komatsu family, what advantage did the Tashiro family have to attack Fujiwara Castle? Perhaps this was the will of the heavens. Over thirty years ago, as a key minister of the Fujiwara family, Tashiro Tadayoshi's father secretly plotted against the head of the Fujiwara family, Fujiwara Masahide, and took advantage of the Fujiwara family's weakened state to take over. Overnight, the Fujiwara family was replaced by the Tashiro family. A year later, the daughter of the Fujiwara family, who had been taken over by Tashiro Tadayoshi's father, gave birth to Tashiro Tadayoshi's half-brother, Tashiro Shigeaki. From a young age, the two brothers did not get along, and Tashiro Tadayoshi saw Tashiro Shigeaki as a thorn in his side. Unexpectedly, Tashiro Tadayoshi's father died in a battle between the Matsubara and Matsura clans, and Tashiro Tadayoshi hastily inherited the family leadership. However, Tashiro Shigeaki took the opportunity to declare independence in his own castle, renaming himself Fujiwara Masahide and the castle as Fujiwara Castle. Enraged, Tashiro Tadayoshi launched an attack on Fujiwara Castle but returned without success due to a hasty assault. Since then, the two families had been in conflict for over a decade.

If in the past the Tashiro family had the upper hand in the conflicts, this time it was a balanced situation because the Komatsu family, which had been watching from the sidelines, had now actively formed an alliance with the Fujiwara family, targeting the Tashiro family's "copper mine."

That year, the Tashiro family had profited immensely from the copper mine provided by Itakura Tarō, reselling it to the Hukusai family. However, the neighboring Komatsu family had accidentally discovered the Tashiro family's secret and deduced that the Tashiro family had discovered a copper mine. In this era, a copper mine was a symbol of wealth, and to seize the Tashiro family's "copper mine," the Komatsu family, despite being weaker than the Tashiro family, decided to reveal the Tashiro family's secret to the Fujiwara family and form an alliance. The Fujiwara family, which had been suppressed for over a decade, immediately responded positively. Thus, the two families quickly prepared to attack the Tashiro family.

"Tarō, has there been no news from Itakura Tarō?" Tashiro Tadayoshi, recovering from his memories, looked down and asked.

"Father, there has been no news this month. They usually contact the main family and then exchange goods at a designated location," Tashiro Tarō said, "Does Father intend to form an alliance with the bandits?"

Tashiro Tadayoshi looked approvingly at his son and said, "Yes, I plan to form an alliance with Itakura Tarō to deal with the Fujiwara and Komatsu families. I will use the heads of Fujiwara Masahide and Komatsu Daizō to serve wine."

"But..." Tashiro Tarō looked at his father's expression and continued, "Itakura Tarō is very greedy and may not easily agree to the alliance."

"Hmph, as long as the conditions are substantial enough, he will definitely agree," Tashiro Tadayoshi said, glancing at a tachi sword beside him.

"What?" Tashiro Tarō was shocked, "Father, this is the family treasure. The Hukusai family has always wanted to buy it, but we never agreed. This... this..."

"Tarō, after using the foolish bandits to eliminate the Fujiwara and Komatsu families, will Itakura Tarō still be a match for our family?" Tashiro Tadayoshi stood up suddenly, looking up at the wooden roof of the council hall with confidence, "I am merely temporarily entrusting it to the fool Itakura Tarō."

"Ah!?" Tashiro Tarō was stunned, realizing that his father had long planned to simultaneously annex the Fujiwara, Komatsu, and bandit families, "But... but will Itakura Tarō not notice?"

"Ha ha ha, Tarō! A man who sells out his leader for a few hundred stones of rice, will he notice?" Tashiro Tadayoshi laughed, "Moreover, to ensure Itakura Tarō falls for it, I have decided to share half of the spoils from the Fujiwara and Komatsu families with him after the war. Under these conditions, he will not suspect anything."

"Father, brilliant!" Tashiro Tarō could not help but admire his father's strategy.

(PS: The first volume is about to conclude, and a new volume is slowly unfolding. In the new chapter, open and hidden plots, strategies, and intelligence battles abound; love, family, and cold-blooded revenge intertwine; fierce, intense, and deadly struggles are ongoing. Please stay tuned. Dear readers, don't leave after reading; even without votes, add it to your bookshelf. I humbly request your support. My goal is to write over 1.5 million words, even if it means a spectacular failure. Enjoy writing, enjoy solitude.)