Chapter 70

"Your Highness, you flatter me. I never thought that my humble father's name would be known to you. This is truly an honor for my father," Muzao Shigetada said, though his words were modest, he felt a sense of pride deep inside. At the same time, he was secretly alarmed by how well-informed Masahiro was about his background. "Compared to your achievements of conquering strong enemies in a single day and expanding your territory several times, my father seems rather inferior."

Masahiro chuckled and did not answer directly. In fact, Muzao Shigetada's words were a probe to see if Masahiro had already occupied several families' territories, or even completely annihilated them. Masahiro would certainly not respond directly. If he had truly destroyed several families in a day, the Chōryō family would have to take the Rō family's strength seriously and carefully consider the consequences of a war. If he had only barely defeated a few families or even just one, the Chōryō family would play the role of a fisherman. However, in the absence of clear information, would the Chōryō family dare to take the risk?

Seeing that Masahiro did not answer directly, Muzao Shigetada gritted his teeth and bowed again. "Your Highness, please forgive my rudeness. Your accomplishments at such a young age are truly admirable and also make me fear. I am even more ashamed that I do not even know your name." The other party knew everything about him, while he knew nothing about the other. From the start, Muzao Shigetada was at a disadvantage.

"Hehe, I wouldn't call them accomplishments. I still eat thin porridge every day. As for my name, it's hard to say. I am still just a small local lord, Rō Masahiro," Masahiro replied with a chuckle, still being modest. It seemed that Muzao Shigetada's attempt to probe had failed, so he changed to a more direct approach, and Masahiro responded with a humble smile.

Listening to Masahiro's half-true, half-false response, Muzao Shigetada was at a loss. If he could, he would have drawn his sword and forced Masahiro to comply. But glancing at the vigilant samurai around him, he wisely abandoned the idea.

"By the way, Shigetada, do you know anything about the tea ceremony?" Masahiro decided to try to get closer to this young man who had left a good impression on him and also to change the subject. The Rō family needed time to adjust. After two days of intense fighting, the samurai and ashigari were quite exhausted. Even if they could勉强迎战, how could they resist the 300 well-rested soldiers of the Chōryō family with these samurai who had only been trained for a month and a half and ashigari who had been trained for less than half a month?

"Your Highness, when I went out for my coming-of-age journey, I once visited Kyōto and had the honor of attending a tea ceremony hosted by Takeno Jōō (the teacher of the famous tea master Sen no Rikyū)," Muzao Shigetada replied, momentarily stunned by Masahiro's sudden change of topic. After regaining his composure, he realized his rudeness and immediately bowed to answer.

"Excellent, today I have the honor of hearing about Takeno Jōō's tea ceremony," Masahiro praised and continued, "Shin'gorō, immediately serve Lord Shigetada some fragrant tea." The tea ceremony of this era was quite elaborate, involving finely ground tea leaves, meticulously cleaned tea utensils, and carefully selected flowers based on the season and the guests' status, age, and cultural background. The host's movements had to be precise and graceful, with a sense of rhythm and elegance, showing respect to the guests and embodying the spirit of "harmony and respect." However, Masahiro lacked these things, so he simplified everything. He only had a small porcelain teapot, and even used a small bamboo tube as a tea bowl. He instructed a servant to fetch sweet spring water from a nearby mountain using a bamboo tube called "tenmizu," and then began the simplified tea-making process according to his memory of the game. During this process, Muzao Shigetada focused intently, seemingly entering a high spiritual realm, and was also surprised by Masahiro's unique tea ceremony, which was very different from what he had observed in Kyōto.

To be honest, if it were anyone else, they would have left in a huff, as this was far from the authentic tea ceremony of the era. But fortunately, Masahiro was facing Muzao Shigetada, who had only observed the tea ceremony from a distance and had a limited understanding of it, having only learned a little from Takeno Jōō. Thus, a half-baked tea master and a novice guest formed a unique "tea ceremony." Although Masahiro's tea skills were not great, he knew a lot, from the tea ceremony of this era to the tea ceremony from the future. As a result, the conversation was dominated by Masahiro, who, after Muzao Shigetada's initial brief comments on the tea ceremony, began to share his unique insights. Muzao Shigetada, initially feeling that Masahiro was intentionally diverting the conversation, gradually became interested in Masahiro's novel ideas and eventually became impressed.

"Your Highness, your insights into the tea ceremony are truly unprecedented," Muzao Shigetada said, bowing in admiration.

"Hehe, Shigetada, I didn't expect you to have traveled alone to Kyōto for training," Masahiro praised, genuinely admiring his solitary journey. In fact, after their brief interaction, Masahiro had a high regard for this person.

"Your Highness, please forgive my rudeness," Muzao Shigetada straightened his body and bowed. "Our family has sent me here to mediate the misunderstanding between Your Highness and the Komatsu family." Unintentionally, more than an hour had passed, and Muzao Shigetada had to muster the courage to state his mission.

"Your Highness, Komatsu Daisuke has arrived in our territory and requested our assistance, hoping we would mediate the misunderstanding between the two families," Muzao Shigetada continued.

Hearing this, Masahiro breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that the Komatsu Daisuke, who had been causing trouble in his territory, had escaped, which was somewhat good news. What Masahiro did not know was that Komatsu Daisuke was also unaware of the current situation of the Komatsu family. However, after his father was killed and the family's forces were defeated, if the enemy pursued, the family's territory would be in grave danger. Therefore, Komatsu Daisuke, after escaping the battlefield, sent a messenger to inform his family and then fled to the Chōryō family, who had been plotting with his family to capture the Fujiwara Castle, hoping they would send troops to apply pressure and give his family time to regroup. To avoid the Chōryō family taking advantage of the situation, Komatsu Daisuke lied, claiming that although they were defeated, they could still hold their castle. Fortunately, Komatsu Daisuke acted quickly and escaped to the Chōryō territory before Masahiro could seal off the exits, otherwise, he would have been trapped and forced to wander in the wilderness to avoid capture.

"Hehe, the Komatsu family attacked the Tanaka family without cause. Our family was invited by the Tanaka family to repel the Komatsu family's invaders. How can there be any misunderstanding?" Masahiro smiled and said nonchalantly.

"This...," Muzao Shigetada was momentarily speechless. His family was using the pretext of being invited by the Komatsu family to mediate, while the other party had the righteous cause of being invited by the Tanaka family to defend against the invasion. "Please allow Komatsu Daisuke to return to the Komatsu family's castle."

"Of course, you can tell them that our family will not obstruct their return to their territory," Masahiro agreed readily. "However, they are only allowed to pass through our territory. I do not want anyone who is not from the Komatsu family to pass through our territory. Please consider our position." With this, Masahiro indirectly acknowledged occupying the Fujiwara family's territory. Of course, even without Masahiro's statement, a smart person would know from the flags at the checkpoints that the territory had changed hands.

"Your Highness, this may provoke the anger of our family," Muzao Shigetada thought to himself, feeling a bit bitter. Such a demand would make Komatsu Daisuke hesitant to come, as he might be killed upon entering Masahiro's territory. However, Muzao Shigetada, who had developed a good impression of Masahiro, did not provoke him but instead used a sincere tone to indirectly warn Masahiro that the Chōryō family might send troops.

"Ha ha ha," Masahiro laughed heartily and pointed to the Rō family's soldiers around him. "Shigetada, what do you think of our forces?"

Muzao Shigetada looked at the samurai wearing white eagle-patterned capes and thought carefully, breaking out in a cold sweat. He suddenly realized that during the more than an hour he had been there, the samurai had maintained their original standing positions without any change, which was a sign of great discipline. Listening more closely, he heard the sounds of training from behind the military tent, indicating a large number of troops. It seemed that the other party was well-prepared and might even have plans to attack his family. Thinking of this, Muzao Shigetada was drenched in cold sweat and bowed to Masahiro. "Your Highness, I finally understand why the Komatsu and Fujiwara families were defeated so quickly."

"Hehe, Shigetada, that was mainly due to the bravery of the Tanaka family. Our family only provided support," Masahiro waved his hand modestly and then said with a smile, "But please convey to Chōryō Harumune that I look forward to meeting him." Was Masahiro intentionally trying to provoke Chōryō Harumune's anger and incite conflict between the two families? No, from the bits of information he had gathered, Masahiro sensed that Chōryō Harumune was a cunning and suspicious person. Upon receiving Masahiro's response, Chōryō Harumune would not be angry but would be wary and cautious, waiting to gather more information before making a decision. This would give Masahiro enough time to consolidate his newly occupied territory and catch his breath. When the time came, it would be a fierce battle to see who would come out on top.

Thus, Muzao Shigetada ended his mission with a sense of frustration.

(PS: The new book has entered its fifth week, already A-signed, and has been updated with over 200,000 words, with no plans to stop. At least 1.5 million words. It has been running naked for two weeks, made it to the Three Rivers Potential List in the third week, the New Book Recommendation List last week, and the Strong Recommendation List for the History Category this week. Dear readers, please don't leave after reading. Even if you don't have votes, add it to your bookshelf. I beg you. 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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