December 30, the thirteenth year of Tianwen (1544), New Year's Eve.
New Year's Day at Imagawakan is always the busiest. Most of the retainers from Suruga and Enjie will gather together to congratulate the master's family on the New Year. Of course, for Takeda Harunobu - this is his best chance for a sneak attack.
Sitting on the main seat, Imagawa Yoshimoto shook his head - after staying with Takeda Harunobu for a long time, he always thought of these disappointing things in his mind.
At the banquet, there was a lot of chatting and drinking as always. Asahina Taino drunkenly held the table and passed table after table. This time, Asahina Taimo also reached the age of toasting with his father, holding the wine glass with the same blushing face. Asahina Matsuchiyo was still a child. He could only hold a small wine jar that was almost half his height and follow his father and brother swaying. However, after knowing the past of the Asahina family, Imagawa Yoshimoto had some other insights when he looked at Asahina Taino's drunken state.
Okabe Chitsuna and Okabe Motonobu remained teetotal as always, and unceremoniously refused the Asahina family's toast - this almost became a New Year's Day repertoire every year. The two main pillars of the Imagawa family, the Asahina family and the Okabe family, quarreled in public over the issue of toasting, and then someone from the Sena family came to break up the fight - except now it was no longer Sena Uji Sada, but Sena Uji Toshi. That’s all.
As the newly rich member of the Imagawa family, the Osawa family did not overstep the mark because of the number of their territories. The conscientious Osawa Kiso still sat peacefully in the seat at the back, leaving the upper seat to serve the Imagawa family. The Miura family has been passed down through many generations—although the Miura family is no longer what it used to be. Miura was stroking the beard on his chin and looking at the crowd of juniors with a smile.
Osawa Kixiang always likes to sit and chat with his long-time friend Matsui Sadamune. Their children, Matsui Munenobu and Osawa Motoin, are both reserve captains of the Imagawa family's direct-controlled Hatamoto reserve team. They are in similar situations, so naturally they have to say no. finished topic. Matsui Munanobu and Osawa Motoin stayed with their father. Matsui Munonobu was not good at words and spoke very little, while Osawa Motoin asked questions from the two seniors.
Sitting behind the Miura family are the Horikoshi family and the Sena family. Although they are both members of the Imagawa family, their right to speak in the family at this moment is very different. The governor of the Horikoshi family was not present at all. Instead, he sent the leader of the family's clan faction, Horikoshi Sadatoyo - Taiyuan Xuezai, the thorn in the Horikoshi family. He has now controlled less than half of the power of the Horikoshi family. Also not attended by the governor of the family, but by members of the family's pro-clan family, there were Ono Michio and others from the Ii family.
Ogasawara Haruyoshi, Udono Nagamochi and other close relatives of the Imagawa family whose fiefdoms were in Toe and Mikawa were exchanging cups and cups and discussing the defense of Tokuni. Sitting with them were Ohara Jinmi, Yamada Keitaka, Asai Masatoshi and other forces directly under the Imagawa family stationed in Toe and Mikawa. As a wealthy family supported by the Imagawa family, Amano Keinuki also has a friendly relationship with them. And Iio Noriren, a foreigner with a history of rebellion, was not so popular with them.
On the other side of the banquet, the governors of the wealthy families in central and eastern Suruga, such as the Abe family, the Fuji family, the Ogi family, and the Kamahara family, were already very drunk. Next to their seats were the Higashi Mikawa Kira family and the Makino family, which had surrendered to the Imagawa family, and the Tojo Matsudaira family and the Goi Matsudaira family, which were close to the Imagawa family. Although they were drinking to their heart's content, they were still drinking. The games he plays are quite different from those of the Suruga people. Okuhira Yoshimasa of the Okuhira family not long ago performed heroically in the battle against the Ichibuki clan, washed away the stigma of rebellion, and successfully won back the trust of his master and some of his old leaders. Now he is also working hard to build relationships with these colleagues. . ….
As for the Anhara family and the Xingjin family, the two parents and natal families of Taiyuan Xuezhai, they were still arranged in the last seats to avoid suspicion-but they didn't care. Kotsu Shohei and Anhara Tadayin drank happily, and at the same time they were giving some advice to Itami Yasunao, who had recently been promoted by them.
"Hirotada, actually you don't have to come in person." Imagawa Yoshimoto poured a glass of wine for Matsudaira Hirotada who was sitting next to him. "Those who come to celebrate the New Year are all retainers. The Matsudaira family is an ally after all, so why bother to come in person?" A trip?"
"Thank you, brother, for taking care of the Matsudaira family over the years." Matsudaira Hirotada is still so sincere, not good at hiding his feelings - when he looks at the Tojo Matsudaira family and the Goi Matsudaira family sitting in the seats, his expression is unavoidable and a little lonely . These were originally branches of the Matsudaira family and were firm supporters of Matsudaira Hirotada. But
In the past few years, with the division and loneliness of the Matsudaira family, the power of the Imagawa family in Mikawa has continued to strengthen. More and more wealthy families under the Matsudaira family have begun to get closer to the Imagawa family, including members of the Matsudaira family. .
Many people in the Matsudaira family expressed dissatisfaction with the Imagawa family's extended reach, but these were suppressed by Matsudaira Hirotada. He knew that if Imagawa Yoshimoto and the Imagawa family had not repeatedly rescued him, the Matsudaira clan and Matsudaira Hirotada would have perished long ago. Imagawa Yoshimoto had given him a new life, and he could not retaliate for his kindness. But Matsudaira Hirotada sometimes has doubts in his heart - does he put his personal feelings above the interests of the family?
After three drinks, Imagawa Yoshimoto temporarily left the banquet and came out for some air. In the dojo next to the castle tower, the sounds of clinking glasses, cheering and playing were much noisier than inside the castle tower - this was a banquet for the Imagawa family's direct control of the flags, horses, guards and people with minor surnames, so it was naturally louder than the famous family governors. Let go.
Imagawa Yoshimoto then walked into the dojo, and as soon as he entered, he saw Kira Uishari and Akai Kurotaka fighting. In normal fights between these two big guys, Kira Usei usually suppresses Akai Kurotaka with his arm strength. But today Kira Weicheng seemed to be drunk, his feet were shaking and his foot plate was unstable. Akai Kuroko's drinking capacity has obviously improved a lot. Even though he has already touched his face, he still stirs up wind with his feet and punches to the flesh, beating Kira Wei into a state of utter disarray. As for Feimura Yangha, he explained emotionally from the side:
"Oh! Look at Akai-sama's straight punch. Anyone who has practiced hard for twenty years will never be able to deliver such a powerful and heavy punch!"
"But look at our Kira-sama, he received this punch with his face without any fuss, and it didn't hurt at all! Apart from anything else, who here can match this ability to withstand blows?"
"There is an order in the "Kana Catalog" that prohibits fighting." Imagawa Yoshimoto also joined the audience, leaning against the wall, watching the fight between Kira Usei and Akai Kurotaka with great interest.
"I'm practicing, I'm practicing, martial arts training is not allowed in the dojo yet?" Akai Kuroko was full of fallacies, and laughed and pushed Imagawa Yoshimoto away.
"The one who practices seriously is Tian Shen." Imagawa Yoshimoto looked over everyone's hair buns and looked at Kentaro Tian Shen who was practicing swordsmanship seriously in a quiet corner of the dojo next to the noisy crowd - even on the New Year, he never Will neglect basic daily skills. ….
After coming out of the dojo, Imagawa Yoshimoto returned to the castle tower and went straight upstairs. The newlyweds Nao Hayasaka and Takaki Mochizuki were leaning against the railing, not knowing what to say. Imagawa Yoshimoto did not disturb the couple's rare rest and sweet time, and walked up the stairs from the other side. But they found that Kinoshita Tokichiro and Xiaokui were also hiding in the corner. The two children were whispering and playing some kind of house game.
So Imagawa Yoshimoto made another big circle and came up the stairs on the far side. When I returned to the top floor, I found a family gathering for dinner. Taiyuan Xuezhai got drunk at the banquet downstairs and went upstairs to drink sobering tea. After Goro Imagawa showed his face as the young master, he also ran back upstairs to eat with his younger brothers and sisters. Sugini, Ginkgo, and Yutaka Furuno were sitting around the room—surprisingly, Nobutora Takeda was also there.
On weekdays, Takeda Nobutora is always elusive and never eats with Ginkgo. Instead, he walks in Imagawakan every day. Taiyuan Xue Zhai specifically ordered the ninjas to keep him under strict supervision and not allow him to step out of the Imagawa Pavilion.
"Father-in-law?" Imagawa Yoshimoto had already used a more intimate title and sat down next to Takeda Nobutora, "Why are you so interested in having dinner with us today?"
"It's not like your wife forced me to come here." Nobutora Takeda was eating the food regardless of etiquette, while using chopsticks to tap the ginkgo very roughly.
Imagawa Yoshimoto originally thought that Suguini would express dissatisfaction with Takeda Nobutora's rude behavior, but found that she was completely unmoved. That's right, how could a mother, an extremely realistic and pragmatic person, care about so-called etiquette? It seems that the quarrel with Takeda Nobutora a few years ago over etiquette issues was really all fake, and it was all to cooperate with Takeda Harunobu and Takeda Harunobu. Taiyuan Xuezhai's plan is just acting.
My mother is really scary... There are countless dramas to play at home. I really don’t know which of her words are true and which of her looks are true. Are you urging me to have a child? Is this acting out of some plan and purpose? - Imagawa
After thinking about it, Yiyuan felt a chill on his back.
"Caring for the lonely elderly." Ginkgo began to harm her father in the way of "sacrificing oneself a thousand and injuring the enemy eight hundred." "I don't necessarily want you to spend the New Year alone, right?"
"Are you trying to curse yourself to death? This is really caring, father." Takeda Nobutora laughed dryly, but he didn't care.
"If you don't treat your children as human beings, is there any big difference from having no children?" Ginkgo tilted her head, and then sighed: "It would be great if Mimi was still here..."
"People cannot be resurrected, so why should living people care about these things? Sooner or later." Takeda Nobutora took a very open mind and did not feel sad at all because of the mention of his daughter's death. He still ate his food with big mouthfuls, "Even if you, Harunobu, still Nobuhiro and the others all died in front of me, and I won’t shed a single tear for you.”
"Thank you very much. It strengthened my motivation to live well." Ginkgo snorted coldly, turned around and pulled Imagawa Yoshimoto's sleeve under the table, "Sir, I will never talk about those crows again in the future. I want to live longer than my father and pour his ashes into the sewer."
"I'll spread it to Lake Suwa at least." Takeda Nobutora laughed out loud at his daughter's words. "I hope Harunobu is dead by then, otherwise he will definitely not let my ashes go back."
Fuyao Weiying
