After the banquet that night, Hideo did not rush to let Tokugawa Ieyasu and others return to Mirvana Castle, but left him in Numata Castle for two days until May 7th that they were allowed to go south with the large army.

On the evening of May 7, 140,000 troops arrived at Mirhein Castle and met with Goto Kiji and Asano Yukinaga who had arrived earlier. At Hideo's instructions, Tokugawa Ieyasu asked the 20,000 Tokugawa troops in the city to be disarmed. Except for the peasant soldiers and some of the qimotos, they disbanded and returned to their hometowns, most of the Tokugawa genealogy's important officials and a small number of elite soldiers stayed in Mirhein Castle under the surveillance of Asano Yukinaga, waiting for further disposal.

In the early morning of May 8, Hideopo asked Tokugawa Ieyasu to send his retainers to Kanto Tokugawa's leader to persuade Kaichi, who was still defending the city lord Kaichi, on the other hand, led a large army to march west along the Nakayama Road, and arrived at Komoto Castle on May 10 to commend Sanada's sect, who showed courage in the Battle of Shinono. The previously rebellious Shinono Daming was severely scolded by Hideopo. He immediately asked these daimyo to disband his army and only allowed a few retainers to go to Osaka to meet Hiderai and Yodohime with the army.

At noon on May 11, the army arrived at Takashima Castle on the east bank of Lake Suwa. Hideo and others, who had planned to rest for a while, received bad news here: just three days ago, the Toyotomi coalition forces besieging Edo Castle were siegeing artillery fire, and while they were intimidating artillery fire, they happened to hit the warehouse where gunpowder was temporarily stored, causing a violent explosion, which directly caused the collapse of the left side of the Tensou Pavilion. Tokugawa Hidetaku was in the hall at this time and unfortunately was buried on the spot. Although after full rescue efforts, they died in the end. Sadly, late that night, the envoy sent by Ieyasu arrived in Edo and conveyed to the Sakai brothers the order Ieyasu asked Kaichi.

In conjunction with grief and anger, Sakai Shigetachi committed suicide by cutting his stomach beside the warehouse. His brother Sakai Tadariya, as a representative of the Tokugawa Army, surrendered in the early morning of May 9. Ogasawara Tadaki and others took over Edo Castle. The Toyotomi army's siege came to an end. Subsequently, Zhu Daming, who participated in the siege, set off from Edo Castle and marched west along Tokai Road, and finally caught up with Hideomoto's team in Naeki Castle in Tokugawa.

However, before this, the Tokugawa clan, including Tokugawa Ieyasu, suffered a lot because of the death of Tokugawa Hidetachi. Some retainers also tried to incite a few Tokugawa troops to mutiny and avenge Hidetachi Tokugawa through assassination and other methods.

However, Tokugawa Ieyasu stopped such actions and severely scolded the mutiny Tokugawa army. Compared with Tokugawa Hidetachi's death in battle, he cared more about how Hideo could organize the army to attack Edo from three directions and take down a large area except Honmaru and Ninomaru within one day. You should know that Edo Castle was a giant city that Tokugawa Ieyasu spent ten years to expand and strengthen. Although it was not as good as Osaka Castle, it was also considered the top three cities in the world. It was easy to capture by Hideo in this way, which was undoubtedly a trampling on the prestige of Tokugawa.

"Master, what should we do?" Honda Tadakashi and other retainers expressed their inner concerns to Tokugawa Ieyasu and their confusion about the future of Tokugawa clan more than once. In their opinion, Tokugawa Hidetachi's death was tantamount to a disaster.

But Tokugawa Ieyasu was not in chaos because of this. He spent the night to sort out his thoughts and finally made an important decision the next morning.

"Why do you think the right mansion should keep us in Numata Castle for two more days?" Tokugawa Ieyasu asked the retainers.

"Do you want to take us as a hostage so that Asano's army can take over Mitsuha Castle?" asked Tadaka Honda.

Tokugawa Ieyasu shook his head and turned his gaze to Kazuhara Yasumasa.

"In the opinion of the lord, it is related to the Toyotomi army's dispatch of troops to Edo?" A trace of tension and worry was revealed in Kazuhara Yasumasa's words.

"It is impossible for the Youfu to conquer the Yusuo Castle, control the Edo Bay, invade the National Palace Station, and complete the siege of Edo. This series of wars is impossible for the Right Palace to know nothing about this. However, I deliberately left us in Numata Castle. Now I think about it is not only a bit far-fetched, but when I think about it, it seems that it is the Right Palace to do it intentionally." Tokugawa Ieyasu explained slowly: "Just as Osaka Castle is a symbol of the Toyotomi clan, Edo Castle is the symbol of the Tokugawa clan's entry into Kanto. Taking it off is the best blow to the Tokugawa clan and the best warning to those three-minded and two-tale daimyos."

"But according to the envoy, the Toyotomi coalition did not take advantage of the victory to conquer Ninomaru and Honmaru in one fell swoop that day, but carried out uninterrupted bombardment, as if to create a tense atmosphere and deterrent force." Honda Tada said curiously.

Tokugawa Ieyasu nodded and replied: "Maybe as you said, the Right Domestic originally wanted to use this to coerce Hidetaka to surrender and avoid causing greater casualties, but this situation does not seem to be a bad thing for him now."

"The army's military power has been disintegrated and it is no longer a threat to him." Tadao Honda sighed helplessly.

"I don't mean the military power," Tokugawa Ieyasu corrected: "There is no suspense to 20,000 to 140,000, and failure is inevitable. But the most important thing is the issue of the Tokugawa heir."

"Heir?" Tokugawa Ieyasu's words caused a lot of trouble in everyone's hearts: "Young Master Hidetachi died in battle. Can anyone in the world take on such an important task?"

"Not only has it, but it's very suitable." Tokugawa Ieyasu said confidently.

"The lord refers to..." Suhara Yasumasa seemed to have an answer in his mind, but he didn't seem to want to details.

"That's right." Tokugawa Ieyasu nodded solemnly, and everyone followed suit and heard the clues.

On the morning of the 12th, Tokugawa Ieyasu's army set off to Hideopo's residence and officially expressed his wish to let Hideopo Tokugawa inherit the Tokugawa family business.

Hideopo first comforted Ieyasu, but politely rejected Tokugawa Ieyasu's request on the grounds that "Hideokazu is the Yuki family raising (only) son and must inherit the name of the Yuki family."

At this time, in Hidebo's mind, the best way to establish authority is of course to kill the Tokugawa clan. But in fact, considering that Ieyasu still has considerable uses, Hidebo gave up this idea and instead ordered the army to rush forward as soon as possible. At the same time, it was implied that Tokugawa Ieyasu also needed to agree on the heirs at the joint meeting.
Chapter completed!