Chapter 7: Hattori's Loyalty

  "It seems that the lord of the mansion appreciates Ishimaru Tadakatsu, so I can also feel at ease!" Yamamoto Kanetsugu showed a relieved expression again, and before Kira Yoshinaka could understand, he said: "Hattori Ishimaru Tadakatsu has decided to lead the Hattori clan to surrender to the main house and serve the lord of the mansion with loyalty!"

  "What? The Hattori clan has decided to defect to the Honke? Kiryū Mantarōmaru was shocked by this news, earlier he had only gotten excited and let it slip out when he saw Hattori Yasunaga, but now an even bigger piece of news had been revealed by Yamamoto Kanetsugu, frightening him so much that he couldn't calm down, frantically fanning himself with his fan, speaking in a hurried tone: "Isn't Ishikawa-dono serving the Matsudaira house? How can this be...""

  "Master of the house!" Yamamoto Kan no Suke interrupted him with some dissatisfaction, narrowing his one eye and saying: "My Kira family is a powerful gate of the Minamoto clan's warrior family, Taira no Munemori's noble family, and the imperial seal of Jishoin. And you, Master of the house, are an honorable Otaya, and Ishimura has come to our house with admiration for your reputation. What's strange about that?"

  The so-called "Yakata" is a title of respect for high-ranking officials in the government and samurai families, which was allowed by the Tokugawa shogunate to be used by the heads of the Ashikaga clan, provincial governors, senior vassals of the shogunate, and national heroes. The Kiryū family enjoyed this "Yakata" treatment and held the highest rank of "Miyabi Yakata", which was the second-highest title after that of the Shogun himself.

  "How can the Hattori family possibly be so simple-minded as to defect to me! There must be some ulterior motive behind this! But this old man didn't even tell me! He said he'd let me participate in government affairs today, but before half a day is over, he's already trying to deceive me! This is absolutely unbearable!" Kiryū Mantsumaru was extremely dissatisfied with his deceitful ways. What good is having a good reputation if it's just empty words? In this era, it's power that speaks, and the Kiryū family has its own weight, but he didn't know how much Yamamoto Kanetsugu understood about this. However, it wasn't suitable to interrupt in front of outsiders.

  Although in his heart he was cursing Yamamoto Kanbei, Kira Yoshinaka still had to make a positive response: "I see! The head of the Kira family welcomes the Hattori clan... However, as far as I know, Ishida Mitsunari is originally from one of the three major ninja families in Iga Province, the Chigeya clan. I don't know why he would come to my rural area in Mikawa? And for what reason did he join our family?"

  "Yes! In my family, due to some circumstances, I left Iga and wandered the various countries. I once served as a high-ranking official in the shogunate, but at that time, I was quite mischievous... So, I was invited by Lord Kiyokazu to come to Mikawa and serve the Matsudaira family!"

  With a hint of nostalgia for the youthful years of his teens, Hattori Yasunaga perked up and said: "However, recently I had to leave the Matsudaira household due to some circumstances. So, through the introduction of Yamamoto Tarozaemon, I have decided to serve Lord Honjo!"

  "What's the point of this again? Isn't Matsudaira doing well enough? Although Matsudaira Hirochika has passed away, doesn't the Matsudaira family have a young heir to succeed him?" Kira Yoshinaka was speaking nonsense, he knew a thing or two about the mess that the Matsudaira family was in, but he didn't mind spouting some rubbish just to get the truth out of Hattori Yasunaga.

  Hattori Yasunaga seemed reluctant to mention the past, only respectfully prostrating himself on the ground. Seeing this, Yamamoto Kansuke intervened on his behalf: "Since the collapse of Mori Mountain, the Hattori clan's circumstances have been getting worse and worse. Some people within the Matsudaira household think that Matsudaira Kiyoyasu's death is related to Ishikawa's dereliction of duty..."

  "I remember it was called Moriyama, but how did it become Mori Mountain? However, there is indeed a Mori Mountain in Nishisanjo. I wonder if it's just a different name? Never mind, let's not get bogged down in these trivial details!" Kiryu Mansaburou thought to himself, the death of Matsudaira Kiyokazu was a very famous incident, and Kiryu Mansaburou also remembered this matter, but he had never thought that the death of Matsudaira Kiyokazu would be related to the Hattori family.

  Kiriyama Manzaburou asked suspiciously, "But wasn't the collapse of Moriyama a matter of the fourth year of Tenbun? Didn't Tokugawa Ieyasu's vassal kill him? How does this involve the Hattori clan?"

  "Because Hattori Seki no Tsubone was lax in her supervision as a lady-in-waiting, she was held accountable by the Matsudaira family after the fact. The new lord, Matsudaira Hirotada, was weak and timid, so Hattori Seki no Tsubone could only endure such criticism!" Yamamoto Kansuke sighed and said. The Mori Mountain incident occurred 15 years ago, which means that due to the events of 15 years ago, the Hattori clan has been implicated, but Kira Yoshinaka was thinking about something else: "Can you supervise a vassal who rebels and kills his lord with a knife? Hattori Yasunaga is really unlucky!"

  He couldn't help but feel some sympathy for this middle-aged man, who had been carrying the burden of infamy for fifteen years and insisted on living in the Matsudaira household. It must have been a very difficult life. Kiryuu Yoshitaka asked again: "But if that's the case, why would he leave the Matsudaira household? If he wanted to leave, he would have left long ago within these fifteen years."

  "Yes! The old affair of over a decade ago has been completely forgotten by me." Hattori Yasunaga looked at Yamamoto Kansuke with gratitude in his heart, and then replied: "The reason for my departure is still due to the Anjō Castle battle in March this year. Matsudaira's general Honda Tadakatsu was killed, and then Hirotada died suddenly. There were rumors in the family that Hirotada was also murdered. At the time when the Matsudaira family was leaderless, my clan would have to bear the shame of an unnamed crime again. Moreover, I haven't received a single stipend for nearly half a year."

  "What the...?! This is outrageous?!" Kiryū Mantsumaru looked at him with a disappointed face, but in his heart he was delighted. The battle of Anegawa this year was particularly intense, and Kiryū Mantsumaru had the good fortune to observe it from afar along with Yamamoto Kanetsugu. The vanguard general of the Matsudaira clan, Honda Tadakatsu, was surrounded and killed by the Oda army because he charged in too deep, and the actual commander of the vanguard was killed, causing the Matsudaira army to suffer a great defeat. When Matsudaira Hirotada heard this terrible news, he became enraged and also died.

  Then the Imagawa family saw that this wouldn't work, so they retreated. As a result, the situation within the Matsudaira family became interesting. The heir to the Matsudaira family, Matsudaira Takechiyo, had been kidnapped by Toda Katsutaka, another father-in-law of Matsudaira Hirotada, and sold to Otomo Yoshinaga for 40 kan of gold coins a few years ago. Toda Katsutaka's intention was to send away Takechiyo so that his daughter's child could become the heir of the Matsudaira family. However, his daughter failed to give birth to a male heir, and the Matsudaira family had neither a head nor an heir.

  Because Matsudaira Toshitsune's "life and death are unknown", different voices appeared within the Matsudaira family, questioning whether it was necessary to re-establish a new head of the house. The more than ten branches of the Matsudaira family were at odds with each other again, and they spent several months quarreling and making a fuss, but it is not known when this will subside.

  The Honda clan, having lost Honda Tadakatsu, fell into a state of anger and grief. Ii Naomasa, the chief vassal of the Matsudaira clan, took advantage of this to expand his own power within the Matsudaira clan, suppressing some of his former enemies in the process. The Hattori clan became an unfortunate casualty of this, becoming a sacrifice for Ii Naomasa's consolidation of power.