In the tea garden, dwarf maple trees hang low over the pond, reflecting the emerald green of the entire pond.

In the corridor, Sen no Rikyu was tending the charcoal stove, Takatake was watching Tokugawa Ieyasu warily as he was writing. No one spoke, and the room was filled with silence.

"I have a favor to ask of you." Ieyasu Tokugawa wrote neatly on the paper.

He has profound attainments in calligraphy. Even though Zhao Hao has practiced calligraphy for so many years, there is still a big gap between him and him.

Fortunately, this is not a calligraphy competition, and what is written is the key.

Zhao Hao smiled slightly and also picked up the pen to write: "Is it about Xin Kang's matter?"

Tokugawa Ieyasu was shocked when he saw this, and the brush in his hand almost fell on the table. It was obvious that Zhao Hao was right.

However, he never told anyone about this matter, and strictly ordered his retainers not to disclose it. Even Sen no Rikyu didn't know why he came!

"Sir, how can you know that?" Tokugawa Ieyasu wanted to write "how can you know that?", but he crossed it out halfway through, and then wrote respectfully:

"You are truly a god!"

Zhao Hao drew a smiley face and smiled in an unfathomable way.

Tokugawa Ieyasu started crying, his tears falling down uncontrollably.

Although he was known as the oldest turtle in the Warring States Period and could endure what ordinary people could not endure, this incident was so heartbreaking that even the old turtle could not bear it.

~~

Nobuyasu's name was Tokugawa Nobuyasu. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Ieyasu and his wife Tsukiyama-dono, and the heir to the Tokugawa family.

As mentioned before, Oda Nobunaga was crazy about marriage, and his favorite younger brother Tokugawa Ieyasu was no exception. In order to consolidate the "Kiyoshu Alliance" with the Tokugawa family, he married his second daughter Tokuhime to Nobuyasu, hoping that the two families would become closer and closer, like a family.

However, this marriage had the opposite effect, because Tsukiyama-dono was married to Tokugawa Ieyasu as the adopted daughter of Imagawa Yoshimoto when Tokugawa Ieyasu was a hostage in the Imagawa family.

The famous Battle of Okehazama was when Oda Nobunaga defeated the larger enemy with a smaller one and killed Imagawa Yoshimoto in battle.

So how could Tsukiyama-dono and Deji get along well?

With such a twisted relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Xinkang and Deji have always had a bad relationship. After his wife gave birth to two daughters in succession, he, at the instigation of his mother, had the idea of ​​taking a concubine.

What was even more stupid was that Tsukiyama-dono actually found a daughter of a retainer of the Takeda family in Okazaki Castle and made her Nobuyasu's concubine. It was said that this concubine was extremely beautiful and immediately attracted Nobuyasu's soul.

How could Tokuhime endure this? She returned to her parents' home in a rage, crying and telling her father how harshly her mother-in-law treated her, and she also made groundless reports that her mother-in-law was secretly communicating with the Takeda family.

This latter one has really stirred up a hornet's nest!

You know, the mission of the Tokugawa family in the Kiyosu Alliance was to serve as an important barrier for the Oda family, to resist the various lords in the east, so that Nobunaga would have no worries. The biggest opponent was the Takeda family. Although Takeda Shingen was dead, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and the strength of the Takeda family should not be underestimated.

Oda Nobunaga was shocked. Was his eastern barrier going to make peace with the enemy in the east? Was this going to cost him his life? !

He immediately sent people to investigate the matter, and the information he obtained was that Tsukiyama-dono was indeed secretly communicating with the Takeda clan, preparing to force Ieyasu to abdicate so that Nobuyasu could inherit the Tokugawa clan. Oda Nobunaga was immediately furious. If a rebellion occurred, his strongest ally, the Tokugawa clan, would side with the Takeda clan, and there would be no peace on the eastern front from then on!

He immediately wrote a letter to Tokugawa Ieyasu, ordering him to execute Tsukiyama-dono and her son Tokugawa Nobuyasu who dared to rebel!

The raccoon was sitting at home when disaster struck him. He was struck by lightning after receiving Nobunaga's letter. His retainers also quarreled with each other. Some of them would rather go to war with the Oda family to protect their young master, while others felt that they had to obey his orders for the sake of the overall situation.

Seeing that the two sides were on the verge of a fight and neither side would give in, Ieyasu quickly calmed himself down and ordered his men to strip Nobuyasu of his military power, take him and Tsukiyama-dono out of Okazaki Castle and put them under guard, and strictly forbid his retainers from contacting Nobuyasu and his mother. He then rushed to Azuchi Castle to personally plead for mercy to his Nobunaga onii-chan.

In fact, Ieyasu and his first wife had already broken up, and her family in Tsukiyama-dono had already fallen, so it was better for her to die early and be reborn. But Nobuyasu had to save her, not only because of the father-son relationship, but more importantly, he couldn't let down his retainers... If the lord could easily give up his own son, he would definitely give up on them without hesitation if something happened in the future, right?

Therefore, Ieyasu had to make a strong gesture no matter what and dared not give up easily.

However, after visiting Nobunaga at Azuchi Castle, he did not immediately plead for mercy. Instead, as an elder brother, he helped Aichi arrange her marriage.

Because he knew in his heart that he only had one chance to speak, and with Nobunaga's increasingly domineering character, there was almost no possibility of taking back his order.

Ieyasu's idea was to play the family card first to calm Nobunaga down, and then talk about his son.

However, when he followed the wedding procession to Sakai City and saw the fleet that covered the sky and the sun on the sea, as well as the 5,000 tall and strong coast guard soldiers with majestic appearance, a bold idea suddenly came to his mind, and he could no longer stop it.

So he asked his old friend Sen no Rikyu to arrange a meeting between him and Mr. Zhao...

~~

In the tea room, Zhao Hao looked at Tokugawa Ieyasu who was crying in front of him with a smile. He picked up a pen, wrote a few words on a piece of paper and pushed it in front of him.

"What do you want to do?"

When Ieyasu saw the words, he quickly wiped his tears with his sleeves, quickly wrote a line of words, and then respectfully presented them to Zhao Hao.

There was a note on the paper:

"I have been orphaned since childhood, and have been helpless and helpless. If you do not abandon me, I would like to accept you as my father to make up for my lifelong regrets!"

When Master Zhao saw this, his eyes almost popped out. He said in his heart, wow, this guy's ability to recognize his parents is really comparable to this Master's.

No, it should be said that the disciple is better than the master. After all, no matter how shameless Mr. Zhao is, he didn't recognize someone who is one generation younger than him as his father, right?

Mr. Zhao was born in the 31st year of the Jiajing reign, 1555 AD, and is 25 this year. Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in 1543 AD, and is 37 this year…

However, when it comes to recognizing a godfather, it’s not just about age, it also depends on one’s strength and status.

Fortunately, Mr. Zhao was also an extraordinary person. He looked at Ieyasu with interest and saw that he wrote on the paper:

"If you are lucky enough to recognize me as your father, then Nobuyasu will be your grandson. Brother Nobunaga and father have just negotiated a peace and marriage, so I think he will consider it and spare Nobuyasu this time."

"Parents in the world are pitiful. They become their own sons to save their sons." Zhao Hao smiled and wrote: "What else?"

"It's also for self-protection." Ieyasu was already very clear that Master Zhao knew what he was thinking, so he confessed: "Mr. Nobunaga has deployed his military forces all over the world, and the general trend is set. As the proverb of the Celestial Empire says, 'When the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked.' The child has no choice but to seek shelter with my father."

Zhao Hao nodded slightly. This should be true. Anyone who was ordered by the boss to kill his wife and children on false charges would be filled with fear.

~~

Because he played too many Koei games, Zhao Hao could remember the scene when Ieyasu pleaded with Nobunaga.

At that time, the raccoon knelt in front of Nobunaga and said sadly: "I didn't know about the Tsukiyama incident. Thank you for reminding me. But my son Nobuyasu will definitely not participate in the rebellion. Please take into account our relationship as father-in-law and son-in-law and revoke your order."

Nobunaga sat cross-legged, looking at his Oudoudou expressionlessly and said, "If you kill his mother, how can you expect his son to be loyal? As long as Lady Tsukiyama's crime is proven, then the mother and son are equally guilty and cannot be forgiven. Don't worry about my little girl, please act quickly."

Ieyasu had no choice but to return to his territory. After repeated ideological struggles, in order to preserve the Kiyosu alliance, he killed Tsukiyama-dono and forced Nobuyasu to commit suicide.

However, this did not reassure both parties - according to Nobunaga's logic, if he did not trust his son's loyalty because he killed his mother, would he still expect Ieyasu's loyalty if he killed his wife and son?

So Ieyasu would definitely worry about his own safety. And the danger does exist, but it is not in the present but in the future.

At present, Nobunaga still hopes that Ieyasu can protect the eastern border for him, so as to avoid being attacked from both sides. Of course, he will not touch him. But this situation will not last long. Nobunaga has already conquered the whole of Japan in a few years. With his increasingly cruel and suspicious temperament, he may take the initiative to prevent Ieyasu from rebelling.

What could Ieyasu do? He had absolutely no way out. As long as Nobunaga was still alive, he would always be the younger brother of the younger brothers. So Ieyasu's fate was almost certain. The strength he had accumulated with great difficulty was consumed when Nobunaga conquered the world. After the world was pacified, he was reduced to an official in the capital. He was able to eat eggplants and look at Mount Fuji, which was already a great success.

This is indeed the case. In the following years, Ieyasu completely abandoned his equal ally status and regarded himself as a retainer of Oda. Before Honnoji Temple, Nobunaga invited Ieyasu to visit Gyeonggi. In order to show his absolute obedience and trust in Nobunaga, he did not bring his guards when he came, but only brought a few trusted retainers. He also walked around Gyeonggi for a long time, preparing to find a place where he could see Mount Fuji and build a garden to enjoy his old age. Who would have thought that Mitsuhide would barbecue his lord?

No matter how far-sighted Ieyasu was, he could not have anticipated what Mitsuhide would do three years later, so at this time he felt very depressed and his future was bleak.

In such a desperate situation, it is not surprising that Zhao Hao was regarded as a life-saving straw.

~~

Master Zhao was two-thirds convinced, but he still looked at Ieyasu with a smile and refused to nod.

Dalizi is such a smart guy, of course he knows what Mr. Zhao means - what are the benefits? Without enough benefits, who would be willing to be a godfather to an old man? !

Tokugawa Ieyasu's eyes flickered for a while, he took a deep breath, and wrote on the paper: "If I become a general in the future, I would like to follow Li Chenggui's example and serve the imperial court!"

Zhao Hao laughed and wrote: "How do you want to be a general?"

"As long as my father is here, I will wait for the flowers to bloom." Tokugawa Ieyasu wrote solemnly.

Zhao Hao nodded slightly, closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then wrote: "Are you willing to abide by the 'Three Bans on Foreigners' for generations and only be the ruler of this state?"

Tokugawa Ieyasu saw this and sweat broke out on his forehead. He knew what this meant, but he would worry about it when he became a general.

So he put his hands on the ground, kowtowed heavily and said, "Hi!"