Himejima, located north of Kyushu Island and south of Honshu Island, is probably so small that many people are unaware of his existence. This was true in 1582, and it is true in modern times.

With a land area of only seven square kilometres and a population of just 1,000, the island is inhabited by indigenous people who live by fishing, are self-sufficient, and work hard to sustain their civilization.

When we set foot on Himejima, the children's shouts had already let the whole island know in less than ten minutes that Hotaru's daughter Ara-ran had returned!

There were also a lot of samurai who came with them, carrying a lot of food and supplies—there was the surplus from Arashi's previous trade, and there was also the grain I asked her to divide from the reserves, who wouldn't want to return home?

My actions made Lan Mei's eyes flash, and she grabbed my arm and walked inside. Kite just smiled, she understood her sister's behavior, after all, it was a matter of a woman's dignity.

In the minds of these natives of Himejima, there is no such concept as an official or an adult, and in their opinion, when I come back with Arashi, I should be Arashi's man, and everyone else is friends and partners. Otherwise, Arashi, as a woman, is unchaste.

In Arashi's pleading gaze, I confessed to these folks according to Arashi's words that I was Arashi's あのひと, that is, "the person in that family".

I'm weird, don't everyone call "husband"? That is

だんな。 Lan covered his mouth and smiled: "Sir, you are not old, and you are not a eunuch, how can you be a eunuch?"

After asking me carefully, I found out that the word husband referred to an elderly person or a eunuch at that time, and later, I don't know how, the word slowly became the meaning of husband.

And in ancient times like now, the word husband is really not very honorable, so I saw Lan looking at the position under my abdomen with a smile, and said with the corners of his mouth curled: "Mr. is not a eunuch......

Me: "......". It's better to pretend to be someone from the family......

Lunch is a seafood feast. The tiger prawns of Himejima are really not covered! I'm a big pot of people who don't eat seafood very much! The locally brewed sake is simply amazing!

Of course, for me, this is also the drunkard's intention is not to drink, I drank dozens of glasses of wine with Sakuma Morimasa Yoshio during the meal, although the alcohol is not high, but it still makes this ghost Xuanfan dizzy.

I laughed secretly in my heart, just bragging all day long, what the hell is long, and the ox fork is short. Just this rice wine, which can't even match the degree of beer, and at most calls it mash, will make you drunk?

Think buddies were at the Oktoberfest, but they drank from dawn to dark, and from dark to dawn without getting drunk, okay?

Is the record holder of "La*" two seconds and one good?

Is it okay for people to give a nickname?

The style of wine is the style, so dare to call it a ghost? Then I will give myself a nickname in the future, and call it "God, just a cup", okay?

Seeing that he had drunk well and began to sing happily, I continued to have a sentence of his words.

As can be seen from Sakuma Morimasa's words, the Kiyoshu meeting was like history, and on June 27, four members of the Oda clan, Shibata Katsuie, Hashiba Hideyoshi, Niwa Nagahide, and Ikeda Tsuneko, met at Owari Kiyosu Castle to discuss what happened after Nobunaga's death.

Takigawa Kazuyi, who was originally one of the five family elders, was disqualified from participating in the conference due to a major military defeat against the Hojo clan - as a close friend of Shibata Katsuie, his absence made Katsuya even more lonely.

At this meeting, it seemed to be dealing with the aftermath of Oda Nobunaga, but in fact it was a gluttonous feast of interests!

Shibata Katsuie's meaning is to support Nobunaga's second son as the head of the family, so that he can easily take advantage of his proximity to control him. But Hashiba Hideyoshi disagreed, he couldn't let Shibata Katsuya succeed!

So they let Nobunaga's second son Nobuo and his third son Nobutaka, who had become adults, not support him, but made Nobunaga's eldest grandson, the third mage, who was only two years old, the heir of Nobunaga! This is a clear bullying of orphans and widows, and it makes people have nothing to say.

In terms of the distribution of benefits, because Ikeda Hengxing and Niwa Nagahideaki secretly helped Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi became the most powerful and de facto speaker of the Oda family while gaining more of Oda's inheritance.

Shibata Katsuya was extremely unhappy to see this situation, but because he had no helper, he could only admit it temporarily. But then the small actions of the two sides are indispensable.

For example, this time, Sakuma Morimasa went to Kyushu Island to buy a batch of iron cannons, and was ambushed on the way back! Historically, he didn't know how to get out, but today, he really fell on my favor.

The task given to me by the second uncle is to let me maintain the division of Dongying, and in the current situation, the best division has been revealed - Shibata Katsuya is weaker than Hashiba Hideyoshi, but it is not completely irresistible, there is no power to fight, and it can even be said that if it were not for the recklessness of Sakuma Morimasa in the battle of Shidake, the victory or defeat of the two sides is still unknown.

Therefore, I should take advantage of this situation to help Shibata Katsuie and Hashiba Hideyoshi contend with each other, and finally strive to form a basic balance of power between the two sides with Kyoto as the center!

Of course, this is just wishful thinking on my part, and it does not represent the future trend of the Dongying situation.

What I need to do now is to earn the trust of Shibata Katsuie.

For the troubled Onishibata, any trace of strength is precious, so I am not worried about the difficulty of advancing this plan. Especially when I met this simple-minded and well-developed Sakuma Morimasa, it was a match made in heaven!

I looked at Sakuma Morimasa's misty eyes, and couldn't help but smile slightly, but sighed softly in my heart, Second Uncle Ancestor, I don't know what the situation is on your side now? Since you are planning to act later, it must not be impossible to win! Qilan is in Dongying, and he will definitely do his best to maintain their state of secession according to your instructions, and fight for the continuation of the life of the Ming Dynasty!

Thinking of this, I shook Sakuma Morimasa's shoulder and asked, "Katsumasa!" Did you go to Kyushu Island this time and buy an iron cannon? ”

Sakuma Morimasa, who was in a daze, was stunned when he heard the word iron cannon, his eyes slowly became focused, he wiped the saliva flowing from the corner of his mouth, and said, "Iron cannon...... Iron Cannon, hey! ”

He slammed his fist on the thigh and shouted, "Those damned merchants! Knowing that the lord had passed away, he even pushed Tang to me, saying that the iron cannon was not in stock. I don't know who I'm going to sell to! I ran most of Kyushu, but I didn't buy a single iron cannon! How can I explain to my uncle after I go back this time! ”

His uncle is my target - Shibata Katsuie. As I expected, after the death of Oda Nobunaga, the trade routes that had been good with the Oda clan began to waver. The supply of some important strategic goods, such as horses, food, iron cannons, etc., will be curtailed to varying degrees.

In particular, the Shibata clan was facing Hashiba Hideyoshi, who was the best at doing mass work, and figured this out, and it was reasonable that Sakuma Katsumasa couldn't buy an iron cannon when he ran all over Kyushu Island.

I nodded, smiled slightly, but picked up my glass and took another sip of my own.

Sakuma Morimasa listened to my question and asked half of the question before he disappeared, it was really a little strange, and seeing my expression again, he thought slightly, and suddenly approached, touched my shoulder with his shoulder and asked, "Kai Lan look!" You ask this, is there any good channel that can't be done? ”

As he spoke, he suddenly let out a long cry of "ah", pushed my arm and said, "You said before that Dongying was looking for some livelihood, could it be this?" You used to be a high-level general, so you must have your own way! ”

As he spoke, he picked up the wine glass and brought it to me, saying, "I will toast you another glass for my brother, and you will tell the truth!" ”

I picked up my glass, touched a glass of mash with Sakuma Morimasa, and said with a smile, "Channels......"

Sakuma Morimasa's eyes lit up, and he leaned up and asked, "There must be one!" ”

I pursed my lips and smiled, "Yes, yes...... But ......."

Sakuma Katsumasa said anxiously: "I understand! The price can go up a bit, that's no problem! ”

I smiled and shook my head, "No! You misunderstood me. ”

Sakuma Morimasa asked confusedly, "What does Kai Lan mean?" ”

I patted him on the shoulder, and said, "I have heard of the prestige of Lord Ghost Shibata in the Ming Dynasty!" As a martial artist, I also have great admiration for him. So my idea is that the price can be slightly lower than the normal market price, however, I need a commitment from Shibata-sama! ”

Sakuma Morimasa's eyes lit up with joy, and he grabbed my arm with both hands and asked, "Is that okay?" How much stock do you have? Is there 300? Including bullets, *? ”

I nodded and said with a smile, "Let's get together, it's not a big problem!" ”

Sakuma Morimasa was overjoyed and said, "Is there more?" If you have, sell them to me! Enlighten the blue! You really saved me a second time! ”

I sighed in my heart, it is really a person who sees the benefit but does not see the harm, and the fish sees the bait but does not see the hook. Sakuma Katsumasa only saw that I could provide iron cannons, but he didn't ask me what kind of promise I wanted. Of course, in this Warring States where fathers kill sons and brothers kill brothers from time to time, promises are worthless!

Seeing my expression, Sakuma Morimasa wondered for a while, and suddenly realized, "Ah! Yes! Qi Lan just talked about a promise! Say it! I will convey it truthfully, and I will make sure that it is achieved! ”

I smiled and said, "My promise is simple, as long as it is within Shibata-sama's territory, my caravan will enjoy the highest treatment. That's all. ”

In fact, this promise is not a promise at all, but an opportunity. An opportunity to get close to Shibata Katsuya.

When Sakuma Morimasa heard this, he laughed, picked up the wine glass and handed it to me, saying, "That is the case, a word is a certainty!"

I also picked up my glass, touched him hard, and drank it all!

After drinking, we slammed the glass to the ground, and Sakuma Katsumasa said, "If you violate the covenant......"

I continued, "It's going to end like this!"