Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Chapter 101: Unusual Events
"Rokusuke, do you know that Taro and Ukai are the best among the Koga ninjas? Normally, I can't even hire them with a lot of money. Now Rokukakudan is giving them to the Takeda family, but you want me to dismiss them. Why is that?"

Yoshishige looked embarrassed. He was wondering at the moment whether there had been some conflict between the three of them during this period, forcing such an honest man like Tanabe Hikomitsu to make such a request.

Unexpectedly, Tanabe Hikomitsu denied that he had any grudges against Tarobi Mitsugu and Ukai Magoroku: "My lord is right, those two are indeed capable. Not only are their methods of training newcomers surprisingly practical and efficient, but their vision in selecting newcomers is also particularly accurate. To be honest, under their leadership, the strength of our ninja army has indeed risen one or two levels. I sincerely admire them for this."

"Since you recognize their abilities, why do you want me to dismiss them?" Yoshishige was even more curious about Tanabe Hikomitsu's request.

"It is precisely because of their ability that I feel they must be dismissed." Tanabe Hikomitsu replied, "Just think about it, how could the Rokkaku family be willing to release two such powerful ninjas to the main family? I think that they are called to protect Rin Gozen, but in fact they are two spies of the main family. To be precise, the 38 ninjas who returned to Wakasa with His Highness this time may all be Rokkaku Danzheng's spies."

"You are exaggerating a bit, aren't you?" Yoshishige said to Tanabe Hikomitsu, "Think about it, if they are really spies, why would they work so hard to help the main family train ninjas? They can just shirk it. After all, as long as the local ninjas in Wakasa are not trained, I will have to rely on the Thirty-Eight Ninjas. Isn't this situation more beneficial to them?
Of course, I have considered what you said, so I decided to reorganize all these ninjas and transfer them to Tango and Tsuruga to reduce their spies in Wakasa as much as possible. You should be aware of this."

"What the lord said does make sense," Tanabe Hikomitsu nodded and affirmed, "However, since the local ninjas in Wakasa have already been trained, just in case, can we give these Koga ninjas some subsidies and send them back to the Rokkaku family? This will maximize the safety of the main family."

"Rokusuke, you are honest and kind, but you are so thoughtful. You are indeed a good material for intelligence work." Yoshishige smiled, but still rejected his suggestion:
"You should know that even after three months of intensive training, these local ninjas are still far inferior to the Koga ninjas in terms of experience, experience, and actual combat. Moreover, without any evidence, I dismissed them. Do you know what this means?"

"Does it mean to slap the Rokkaku family in the face?" Tanabe Hikomitsu answered tentatively.

"That's right, I'm going to hit Rokkaku family and Rokkaku Dansei in the face." This time it was Yoshishige who looked serious, "Just think about it, if I send back the carefully selected ninjas of Rokkaku family, what will they think?
Besides, the Rokkaku family did this in the name of protecting A-Rin, but if I send them back at this time, will the Rokkaku family think that I want to cut off the connection between A-Rin and the Rokkaku family, and will they think that the family has treated A-Rin harshly? Once such thoughts arise, I am afraid it will be difficult to explain clearly. "

"Are we really going to leave these people in our family? I am still a little worried." Tanabe Hikomitsu said worriedly.

"You should know that the Koga ninjas are different from the Iga ninjas. Once they recognize their lord, they will be loyal to him for life. Now Rokugadan is giving them to me, and I am their lord. A few days ago, each of them signed an oath of loyalty to my Takeda clan. Doesn't this dispel your doubts?
If you are still worried, I will tell you one more thing. A Lin is the most precious princess of the Liujiao family. If they dare to betray the family, aren't they afraid that I will harm A Lin? I think Liujiao Danzheng would not dare to take this risk to plant spies in the family, because he knows that once the matter is exposed, the conflict between the two families will intensify, and A Lin will be the first to bear the brunt. "

"Now that my lord has said that, I feel a little relieved." Tanabe Hikomitsu forced a smile and responded in a relaxed manner.

"But Rokusuke, your worries are groundless. I think you should have spies in the other two groups, right?" Yoshishige asked with a smile.

Tanabe Hikomitsu nodded: "Of course there are two or three close people, this is also a helpless move just in case."

"That's good," Yoshishige praised him, "You can have your spies keep an eye on those Koga ninjas. If there are any problems, they will be reported to you in a timely manner. And you can report to me at any time."

"Ha, I obey your command!" Tanabe Hikomitsu responded solemnly.

"But Rokusuke, are you really planning to be a ninja forever?" After finishing the business, Yoshishige asked out of the blue, "I see that you are strong, brave and loyal. Have you ever thought about returning to the ranks of samurai and fighting for our family?" "Thank you for your support, my lord. However, training a strong ninja army for our family is the last wish of my father and brother. I want to do this first. If I still have the ability in the future, I am willing to follow you to fight on the battlefield and expand the territory for the Takeda clan. But now... please forgive me, my lord."

"We all work for the Takeda family, so there's no need to forgive or not forgive." Yoshishige said with a hearty smile, "From now on, I'll have to trouble you to take care of the safety of our family."

"How dare I not do my best!" Tanabe Hikomitsu immediately kowtowed.

Yi Dian nodded, indicating that he could leave, but just as Tanabe Hikomitsu stood up and was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and knelt down again.

"My lord, I recently heard that the Itomi Suruga-no-kami of Oi County took in the exiled Naito Uchisuke, and that he had close contacts with some people from Tango..."

"Naito Uchisuke? Didn't I change his name and expel his entire family from Wakasa? How dare they come back? How dare Suruga-no-kami take them in?" Yoshishige asked in surprise and a little anger.

The so-called Naito Uchisuke is Naito Katsutaka, one of the former "Four Heavenly Kings of Takeda". He was one of the main planners of the "Miyagawa Rebellion". He was placed under house arrest by Yoshishige after the Battle of Honjoji, and was later spared from seppuku after the plea of ​​his family's old ministers.

However, he could escape death penalty, but he could not escape punishment for his crime. Yoshishige confiscated all his territories and expelled all the Naito clan from Wakasa. Unexpectedly, less than a year later, he sneaked back to Wakasa and even asked Itsumi Masatsune for help, which made Yoshishige very unhappy.

"I am not very clear about the specific situation. The Itsumi family is deeply rooted in Oi County and has a complex network of relationships. It is very difficult to plant a few spies or bribe a few informants. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, I can only explore the periphery first." Tanabe Hikomitsu replied.

"The territory of the Itami family spans Wakasa Oi County and Tango Kasa County. You can't do this alone. I will send Taro Shirobei to investigate with you. If the Itami family dares to rebel again, I will definitely destroy them completely!"

"Ha, I obey your command!"

After watching Tanabe Hikomitsu leave, Yoshishige was still in a state of anxiety. He didn't know what Itomi Masaki was planning to do, and whether it would disrupt his plan to reorganize Wakasa and revitalize the economy.

Yi Zhong decided that as long as Yi Jianchangjing didn't do anything too outrageous, he would just endure it for the time being. After all, there were a lot of urgent matters on his desk that he needed to solve one by one.

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(End of this chapter)