In the eyes of others, Xiubao seems to have become a celebrity sought after by the two factions, this one for his daughter, and the other for his sister, so lively. Even among the daimyo at the top of the regime, there were people who had crooked their brains, no, as one of the five elders, Mori Terumoto certainly would not miss this opportunity and squeezed through the crowd to Hideho's seat.

"Your Highness Huangmen, please sit down, I haven't seen you for a long time, I don't know if your body is Kangtai?" Xiubao greeted respectfully as usual, and Terumoto smiled back a few words before sitting down unceremoniously.

In fact, Xiubao and Huiyuan don't have much contact, if you want to say what is the connection, that is, Xiubao's sister married Huiyuan's adopted son Maori Xiuyuan, and there is nothing else to do with it, and at the beginning of this year, Huiyuan's sister-in-law Matsujumaru was born, which made Xiuyuan, who was originally going to inherit the Maoli 1.2 million Shi family business, a little at a loss, in retrospect, how similar is the situation between him and Xiuji. Because of this situation, Xiubao doesn't plan to have too much contact with Huiyuan, which can be regarded as silent support for Xiuyuan.

After Hui Yuan sat down, Xiu Bao chatted with him about family life: "His Royal Highness Huangmen went to Beijing this time, did Xiu Yuan follow him?" At the mention of Xiuyuan, Hui Yuan's face immediately became embarrassed, but out of interest considerations, he still had to force a smile: "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness the Servant, Miyamatsu Maru didn't come with him because he had to deal with the handover of the new fiefdom." ”

"New fiefdoms? Didn't His Highness intend for him to inherit the family business? Xiubao asked, pretending to be surprised. Maori Huiyuan must also be ashamed, so he replied hesitantly: "I originally thought so, but Your Highness doesn't know, I was happy to have a son at the beginning of this year, so I have to make another plan to inherit the family business." ”

"Well, I see, I understand, it's understandable for His Highness to do this..."Xiubao bowed slightly, and asked curiously: "Then let me ask below, how much is the place of knowledge given to Xiuyuan?" "Xiubao's meaning Huiyuan understands very well, Zhixing's somewhat reflects how much he attaches importance to Xiuyuan, if he can't handle it well, I'm afraid there will be no need to talk about the next thing. Hui Yuan replied in a tone that was close to asking for advice: "Returning to Your Highness, the Zhixing assigned to Xiuyuan is 60,000 stones in the Governor's Mansion City of Changzhou, what does Your Highness think?" ”

Hideho gasped and replied in a tone of disbelief, "Sixty thousand stones? His Royal Highness knows that the direct ministers under him are often 60,000 stone knowledge, and it is not a little stingy to treat his adopted son with this fief. ”

Terumoto could expect Hideho to react in this way, and now Hideho's fiefdom includes Yamato, Kii, the entire territory of Ise and Omi's Gotoyama and Nagayoshi, plus the knowledge and deeds of Horio Yoshiharu, Nagashu Masaka, Fujido Takatora and Asai Hidemasa, a total of more than 1.6 million, which has surpassed himself to become the second largest force besides Ieyasu, how can he compare with him.

Hui Yuan took a sip of tea, and said with a smile: "I have done my best, how can I compare with you?" Taking out 60,000 stones to him is already under the pressure of the retainers, and I ask Your Highness to understand. Xiubao looked at Hui Yuan with disdain: More than 120,000 stones, he took out 60,000 yuan for his adopted son who has been raised for more than ten years, and said that he was "doing his best"? How can you say that?

Xiubao responded with a straight face: "Xiuyuan has embarrassed His Highness, I am very sorry for it, this is good, I will ask Taige later, and seal the 220,000 stones in the lower South Ise to Xiuyuan, and leave the 60,000 stones in the corners to Matsujumaru, so that Your Highness will not be embarrassed." ”

"Two hundred and twenty thousand stones?!" Hui Yuan exclaimed. He understands what Hideho means, he wants Hidemoto to break up the relationship with the Maori family and join his camp completely, Hidemoto has been his adopted son since he was five years old, and has established and a certain prestige in the family, if he is let go to Ise like this, it will definitely cause an uproar at home, I am afraid that there will be many retainers who will follow him to Hideho at that time, and it will be troublesome for the retainers to fall apart at that time; Moreover, if this matter is known to Hideyoshi, his own trouble will be even greater, and Hidemoto is the link between him and the Toyotomi family, and once this line is broken, the Maori family will be in danger.

Thinking of this, Hui Yuan hurriedly waved his hand to disagree: "Your Highness doesn't have to do this, let me go back and discuss with my retainers again, and I will definitely give Xiuyuan a reasonable placement." "What else is being discussed?" I think it's better to hand over the country of Nagato to Xiuyuan, anyway, Changfu City is in Fengpu County, isn't it? "Nagato Country is a big country with 270,000 stones, please be considerate of Your Highness!" Hui Yuan was almost crying.

Seeing Huiyuan's embarrassment, Xiubao had no choice but to lower his requirements: "Otherwise, as for the two counties of Abu and Mijima to the east of Nagato, they will be assigned to His Highness's ability, and the four counties of Atsusa, Toyoura, Miyu, and Otsu in the west will be handed over to Xiuyuan, I don't know what His Highness wants?" ”

Hui Yuan pinched his fingers and calculated, the height of these four counties is about 180,000 stones, which is not a small amount, I wanted to continue to bargain, but seeing Xiubao's cold expression, I couldn't say any more. Hui Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, just listen to Your Highness, and hand over the four counties of West Changmen to Xiuyuan when I go back." Hearing this, Xiubao nodded with satisfaction, and said to Hui Yuan with a smile: "Your Royal Highness Huangmen, the so-called family and everything is prosperous, so I guess Xiuyuan will not have any objections." By the way, His Highness won't come to me just for Xiuyuan's business, right? ”

"Where did I say this Xiuyuan, it's clear that you mentioned it yourself!" Hui Yuan thought so in his heart, but he could only swallow it in his stomach when he hit his teeth, who called him a celebrity around Taige. He calmed down his emotions and said very respectfully: "I came here this time to discuss the marriage between the two families with His Highness. "Marriage?" Xiubao asked in surprise, "Could it be that His Highness also intends to marry his daughter?" ”

Hui Yuan shook his head: "That's not it, I hope to marry His Highness." "Hideho understands that this fox wants his child to be engaged to his soon-to-be-born child. Xiubao frowned slightly, and asked: "Your Highness is going to be surprised, I don't know if the child I am about to give birth to is a man or a woman, so it's a bit inappropriate to rush into a marriage, right?" "That's no problem," Hui Yuan's words were quickly answered: "If His Royal Highness likes the princess, then it would be better to set a marriage with the dog, if he gives birth to the young master, there is also a daughter below, who is now less than half a year old, and must be able to match the young master." ”

"That's right." Xiubao was thoughtful, he knew that Huiyuan wanted to use this to get in touch with him, but judging from the current situation, Xiubao didn't want to get too close to him, as the so-called Tao is not the same, this great Nayan is a typical second ancestor, after all, he is not a big thing, if he marries him now, he will inevitably be dragged back in the future, rather than this, it is better to maintain the state of being the most down-to-earth.

Xiubao scratched his head, pretended to be very embarrassed, and sighed: "Your Highness has good intentions and has received it in your heart, but the fetus in the womb of Neiko has not yet been born, so I really don't dare to make the decision in a hurry, it is better to wait for him to grow up, if His Highness still has the intention and makes up his mind to promote this matter, I don't know what His Highness wants?" Fools can hear that this is Xiubao's deliberate prevarication, but Hui Yuan still has no choice, so he can only nod and agree: "In this case, I will promise Your Highness that when the young lord or princess grows up, I will definitely visit you with heavy gifts." After speaking, Hui Yuan got up and left, looking at his distant back, Xiu Bao was in a very complicated mood: not only did the marriage fail, but also added twice the fief to Xiu Yuan, it seems that in the future, this Maori Nayan will respect himself.

Probably because of his old age and infirmity, before it was time for lunch, Hideyoshi felt very tired, and Hideho hurriedly ordered someone to prepare a guard of honor, and arranged for a samurai to escort Hideyoshi back to Fushimi. Before Hideyoshi left, he ordered someone to hand over the Narada Shiba shoulder rush to Hideho, and asked Maeda Toshiya to tell Hideho: "Today's tea party is a long-cherished wish of Taiko, since Sen no Rikyu left, there has been no such a pleasant tea drink as today, thanks to you, Taiko ordered me to hand over one of the three shoulders in the world to you, it is really deserved." After Hideho and the Rike exchanged pleasantries for a while, he also asked Kimoto to escort him back to Fushimi.

In fact, with Hideyoshi's departure, the daimyo felt the need to stay any longer, and found various reasons to return home, and most of the rest were ministers, monks, merchants, and ordinary people, but even so, Hideho held the tea party until the end of November as planned, which established a good image among the people of Kyoto, so much so that even the head of the Kikutei family, Kikutei Yoshiki, came to the door to thank Hideho for his contribution to the promotion of the tea ceremony.

But is it really as simple as thanking for the good season's visit?

(There is also a more complicated background about Narashiba shoulder rush, if you are interested, you can go to "Background Related" to learn about it.) ）