The meeting ended, and when Date Masamune left the table, he lightly glanced at Mori, Maeda, and Uesugi, and the three men nodded slightly in response.

Then, not long after leaving Edo Castle, these people went to the Date family's residence in the castle town.

In a tea room, Date Masamune was concentrating on boiling water and making tea, while the other three were sitting upright with their free time, watching Date Masamune's operations attentively.

"Huh~" he let out a long breath and brought the tea soup he cooked to Mouri Terumoto who was sitting at the top. Date Masamune grinned: "The Northeast is a poor place, and the samurai in our place have no financial resources at all.

Let’s play this tea ceremony. I only started learning it in the past two years, and I am not very good at it, which makes you laugh.”

"No way, Zhong Na is being too modest."

Looking at the few old foxes who were very stable and only talked about tea soup and never mentioned other things. Date Masamune smiled slightly: "Everyone, our current His Highness is very resolute and decisive. Now that he has decided to conquer Korea again,

Basically, the tone will not be reversed. As a result, it is impossible to say that all of you here will look after each other on the battlefield in the future."

"That's what Zhong Na Yan said."

"Hahaha, Your Excellency the Councilor, although your family has moved to Yonezawa now, the main samurai in the family were all trained by Lord Kenshin in Echigo. I don't know if I will go to the battlefield in the future, but I will have to rely more on you, the Councilor.

.”

"Hey~" He sighed helplessly: "I'm ashamed to say that when the Uesugi family was in the hands of my adoptive father, the actual height of the country's stone was close to two million. Now the Yonezawa Domain can only hold up to 300,000 stone.

Many of my Echigo samurai have taken the initiative to escape in order to alleviate the difficulties of the master's family." After saying this, Uesugi Kagekatsu said with a firm face: "Date Nakaton no longer needs to test, my Uesugi family's actions are

After Sekigahara, one of the most severely reduced families was the loyal and brave warriors who took the initiative to run away for their families. They would also do their best to participate in the conquest of Korea. If they won, they would win new fiefdoms and resettle them.

It’s better to lose the fight and be settled than to be like a beggar now!”

"What Councilor Uesugi said is the truth!" Terumoto Mori next to him jumped up: "My Mori family's territory before Sekigahara was 1.2 million koku, but after Sekigahara it was reduced to 370,000 koku. Likewise, countless loyal and brave samurai were captured.

Forced to run away... It would be fine if the shogunate still likes to live on the four islands of Japan like Toteru Daigongen (the god's name after Tokugawa Ieyasu's death). Now that His Highness Kōkata has decided to conquer Korea again

It is a national policy, so if I don’t actively follow it, I would be very sorry for the ministers under my command.”

"Haha, even though my Maeda family sided with the Eastern Army during the Battle of Sekigahara, and their territory was not reduced after the war, I have five brothers and nine sisters..." Maeda Tossune stood up: "

As His Highness Gonggao said, Japan's land is limited, but its population is infinite. If we don't fight it out, we will starve to death sooner or later! Therefore, even if I don't want to participate, my relatives and retainers will force me to participate.

Don’t worry, everyone, under the premise of agreeing on the rewards, the Maeda family will definitely come out with their best this time.”

"I see, that makes me feel relieved. Please rest assured that although the Date family is far away in the Northeast, they are now unified in the country. It will only take two months to send my family's elite to Kyushu Island in the west...

..."

Uesugi and others left, and Date Masamune's cheerful face at first suddenly turned gloomy.

With a "crash" sound, a door nearby was opened, and a thin old man with a thin face, about sixty years old, walked in.

"Togoro, did you hear what those guys said just now?"

"I heard it, I heard it. That Maeda Toshitsune is really young, and he speaks with so much energy that I was almost deafened next door!"

"Hmph, these guys are all busy expressing their loyalty to His Highness. It's a pity that no matter how talented Hattori Hanzo is, he can't place ninjas here. After all, our Haguro ninjas are not vegetarians."

"Well, although it is a show of loyalty, it is also the actual needs of their respective vassals."

"Yes." At this point, Date Masamune's expression became serious: "The new Lord's proposal to conquer Korea as soon as he took office is indeed in line with the requirements of many samurai in the country. This is compared to when the powerful man was still alive, who desperately suppressed domestic and foreign expansion.

It would be much less troublesome to call for it. But...North Korea is a trivial matter, so if we fight, we will fight, but what if the Ming Dynasty behind him takes action again?"

"Haha, that's not a good idea? If we can win the battle, we can take advantage of the situation to swallow up North Korea. If we lose, we can retreat. If the Ming Dynasty still insists on attacking the Japanese mainland, we are the great names of Northeast China! Even if

If you want to meet the enemy, you are also the last one!"

"Hahaha~ That's it! Togoro, in our Date family, we have Katakura Keizuna Fumi, Taketsu Date Minoru. Ketsuna passed away last year, and this time we are conquering Korea. In order to reassure the current prince, the two of us at least

I want to go to one. Since you have thought clearly about how to deal with various situations here, please go ahead!"

"Hi, my lord, please rest assured. I dare not say that I will bring back every Date family samurai safely, but I can at least guarantee that most of them will be safe and sound."

"Well, the samurai of our Date family are the foundation for the survival of our family business. As long as the people are still there, everything is promising!"

...

Leaving aside the Date family, in Edo City, Tokugawa Yoshinao was also having a duel with Yagyu Kanbei.

The Imperial Palace located in Chiyoda District, Tokyo, Japan in the 21st century is actually the residence of the shogunate during the Edo period. Various "Oku" fully demonstrate the magnificence of this place. However, these things are actually useless to travelers.

.Therefore, even though he has lived in Edo Castle for many years, Tokugawa Yoshinao's residence can only be called 'simple'.

"Your Highness, there is only one shipyard in Edo in the country. It works day and night and can build six large ships a year. With this war going on, the Navy's tasks are extremely heavy. Therefore, your first request is to build a shipyard in Osaka

, Echigo will open two new shipyards.”

"Well, what you said makes sense, I agree. Masazumi Honda?"

"Hi!"

"Immediately mobilize money and food to deal with this matter. I will see output within half a year. Within a year, I will be able to build a 700-ton warship. After a year, I will start trying to build a 1,500-ton warship."

"Hi, your Majesty understands."

"Well, then, Kanbei, what else do you want?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Your Majesty believes that once we confirm that Siam is going to war against the Ming Dynasty, we will immediately mobilize the existing fleet to capture Ryukyu first, and then Taiwan!"

"Well, what you mean is that we should first open up connections with Siam and even Spain, and then unite the fleets of the three countries and then seek a decisive battle with the Ming fleet?"

"Hi, Your Highness. In the battle of Osaka Bay last year, although we were defeated because we had few ships, the level of Ming's ships and commanders was not much higher than ours. However, Ming's production capacity is much stronger than ours.

When the level of naval warfare between the two sides is almost the same, it will easily turn into a war of attrition, and in a war of attrition, we will lose! And if the navy loses, no matter how brilliant the army's victory in Korea is, we will eventually fail."
Chapter completed!