Chapter 59

"Your Highness, your servant has not disgraced the trust placed in me and has successfully completed the exchange of supplies with the Tachibana family," Kousuke said with a self-satisfied look on his face, standing in the council hall of the Yama Takayama domain's lord's residence.

"Is that so? How did the exchange go?" Masahiro nodded and asked.

"Your Highness, as per your instructions, this time we exchanged for 400 koku of mixed grains, over 200 sheets of white paper, and a dozen farming tools." Seeing the expectant look on Masahiro's face, Kousuke felt secretly pleased and bowed again, saying.

"Hmm, very good. But according to Saburo's report, you have more important news to report?" Masahiro was very satisfied with Kousuke's exchange results and continued to ask.

"Yes, Your Highness. This time, during the exchange of supplies at the foot of the mountain with the Tachibana family, I was personally received by the head of the Tachibana family, Tachibana Tadayoshi. Tachibana Tadayoshi formally proposed an alliance with 'Ishizaka Dairo.'" Seeing Masahiro take the initiative to ask about the most significant gain from this mission, Kousuke was both excited and had a strange look on his face as he said.

"What? An alliance with Ishizaka Dairo?" The surrounding retainers were greatly surprised. The Tachibana family had actually proposed an alliance, and the alliance partner was a bandit? Before everyone could recover, Kousuke continued, "Yes, to show the sincerity of this alliance, the Tachibana family has offered their family treasure to Ishizaka Dairo as one of the conditions for the alliance." After saying this, Kousuke clapped his hands, and a foot soldier holding a long object wrapped in cloth entered in response. The foot soldier quickly walked to Masahiro, knelt on both knees, and respectfully handed the object to Masahiro.

"Is this the Tachibana family's family treasure? It looks like a sword?" Masahiro picked up the long object wrapped in cloth and slowly unwrapped it. As the cloth was removed, a tachi sword was revealed. The sword was about 66 centimeters long, with a blade length of 44 centimeters. The exterior was elegant and luxurious, with a large curve and a scabbard adorned with golden floral patterns. Drawing the blade, the entire body of the sword was bronze-colored, with a thin edge that gleamed with a cold light, as if waiting to drink blood.

"Ah? This... this... is?" Before Kousuke could continue to introduce the sword, Chushiro suddenly stood up, quickly walked to Masahiro, and carefully examined the sword, muttering to himself.

"Cough, cough." Seeing this, Tōgō Heisuke immediately frowned and lightly coughed to remind him. Chushiro suddenly came to his senses, immediately knelt down, and shouted, "Your Highness, please forgive my rudeness."

"Hehe, never mind," Masahiro smiled and continued, "Chushiro, do you know the origin of this tachi?"

"Your Highness, if I am not mistaken, this should be a famous sword, the Yoshikuni Ichimonji, crafted by the Yoshikuni Ichimonji school of the Ichimonji school in Bizen Province," Chushiro replied, his eyes shining as he stared at the tachi in Masahiro's hand. "It is said that this Yoshikuni Ichimonji is 66 centimeters long, with a blade length of 44 centimeters, featuring a board-grain pattern and a mutual-eye pattern. The exterior is elegant and luxurious, with a large curve and a scabbard adorned with gold-plated floral patterns. Upon closer inspection, it is indeed this famous sword."

Yoshikuni Ichimonji? To be honest, Masahiro had no impression of the so-called famous swords of this era. The only one he knew was the "demon sword" Muramasa. Looking at the tachi in his hand, Masahiro even thought with interest, if compared with modern swords, which one would be sharper?

Seeing that Masahiro was somewhat indifferent to this treasure, Chushiro felt that the lord was a bit wasteful and continued, "This famous sword can currently be sold for about 350 kan. Once it is known that Your Highness possesses this famous sword, it will likely attract many merchants and even powerful families."

"350 kan? This sword is worth 350 kan?" Masahiro was amazed. A sword like this could be exchanged for more than 30 ordinary swords, so it must be very famous.

"Yes, Your Highness," Kousuke said. Seeing Masahiro's surprise at the value of the sword, Kousuke was even more pleased and said proudly, "This was the family treasure of the original Fujiwara family. After the Fujiwara family was destroyed, it was obtained by the Tachibana family. It is said that the Kusakari family once offered 400 kan to purchase this famous sword, but the Tachibana family politely refused."

"400 kan? Indeed, it is a famous sword. Ha ha, but, wouldn't the Tachibana family be afraid that Ishizaka Dairo would keep the sword for himself and refuse the alliance proposal?" Gently stroking the blade of the Yoshikuni Ichimonji, Masahiro laughed. In the matter of sending the sword to form an alliance, Masahiro felt that the Tachibana family was a bit foolish.

"No, Your Highness. Ishizaka Dairo has also sought to purchase this Yoshikuni Ichimonji from the Tachibana family. If he receives this famous sword, according to Ishizaka Dairo's style, he will certainly agree to the alliance. The Tachibana family is certain of this result, so they sent the Yoshikuni Ichimonji to the mountain first," Kousuke said.

"Hmm? That's a bit unusual. Does the Tachibana family have any other conditions for the alliance?" There is no such thing as unconditional love, so Masahiro was already certain that the Tachibana family had some demands, and they were very urgent, otherwise they would not risk sending their family treasure to someone else.

"Your Highness is wise," Kousuke said, flattery in his voice. "Your servant learned that the powerful families near the Tachibana family, the Fujiwara family and the Komatsu family, have already formed an alliance and are preparing to attack the Tachibana family. As part of the alliance, the Tachibana family requires Ishizaka Dairo to continuously harass the territories of these two families, disrupt their alliance, and assist in repelling any attacks on the Tachibana family. In the event of an attack, Ishizaka Dairo must help repel the invaders and join forces with the Tachibana family to eliminate these two families. As the final condition of the alliance with Ishizaka Dairo, the Tachibana family will divide the wealth of the Fujiwara and Komatsu families equally with Ishizaka Dairo after their destruction."

"The Fujiwara and Komatsu families are forming an alliance to attack the Tachibana family? Heaven is helping the Roshida family!" Masahiro was overjoyed and quickly asked, "Do you have more detailed information about these three families?"

"Your Highness, this is all your servant knows," Kousuke bowed. "But your servant has brought a farmer familiar with the situation from the foot of the mountain. Your Highness can ask him directly."

"Hmm?" Masahiro looked directly at Kousuke.

Facing Masahiro's direct gaze, Kousuke felt the pressure increase and immediately knelt down, saying, "Your Highness, his name is Ichinokuni, a farmer your servant saved from Ishizaka Dairo a year ago. After your servant's persuasion, he has decided to follow Your Highness."

"Good, bring him in," Masahiro was not worried about the truth of Kousuke's words. Although this guy was a bit cowardly and liked to play tricks, his loyalty was beyond reproach.

Soon, a famished-looking farmer, about 21 years old, quickly came to Masahiro, knelt down, and bowed, saying, "This humble person, Ichinokuni from Chiboku Castle, greets Your Highness."

"Oh? Ichinokuni, are you a villager of the Komatsu family?" In the past few days, in addition to arranging domain affairs, Masahiro had also gathered information about the surrounding areas through his retainers. According to his knowledge, Chiboku Castle was the residence of the Komatsu family.

"Yes, Your Highness," Ichinokuni's body trembled slightly. As a foot soldier of another lord, appearing here could easily cause suspicion, "This humble person was once a foot soldier of the Komatsu family, sent by Komatsu Daizō to infiltrate the Tachibana family's territory to gather information."

"Your Highness, your servant met Ichinokuni after the exchange of supplies with the Tachibana family. In fact, he had warned your servant several times, allowing your servant to escape the Komatsu family's pursuit smoothly." Seeing Ichinokuni's panic, Kousuke immediately said.

Ichinokuni was convinced by Kousuke to serve Masahiro, which greatly enhanced Kousuke's status among Masahiro's retainers. So Kousuke spared no effort to encourage Ichinokuni. When Ichinokuni learned that the bandit Ishizaka Dairo, who had been harassing them, had already been killed, he was very surprised. In the end, after Kousuke's persuasion, he decided to take a risk and hoped to find a better future with the lord Kousuke spoke of. After all, as a small foot soldier guarding the gate of the Komatsu family, his salary was not enough to support himself, let alone his wife and children who were hungry.

(PS: This is the fourth week of the new book release. It has already been A-signed and has been updated with over 160,000 words, with no plans to stop. At least 1.5 million words. Last week, it was on the Sanjiang Potential List, this week on the New Book Recommendation List, and next week on the Strong Recommendation List. It is the first on the new historical book list and ninth on the overall new book list. Dear readers, after reading, don't leave in a hurry. Even if you don't have votes, add it to your bookshelf. I beg you on my knees. My goal is to write at least 1.5 million words, even if it means a spectacular failure. Enjoy writing, enjoy solitude.)

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