When Hidebo and the others arrived in Edo, it was already the 23rd of the first month, and although Edo Castle had become Ieyasu's residence at this time, it was still basically the same as it was before Odawara's conquest, and except for Nishimaru, the rest of the structures, including Honmaru, Ninomaru, and the castle tower, all remained in their original size, which was inseparable from Ieyasu's frugal character.

Due to the constant reception and escort of retainers from all walks of life along the way, the original team of more than 100 people arrived in Edo with more than 1,000 people, which was undoubtedly enough to save face for Hide, and it was also a small means for Ieyasu to win him over.

After crossing the Tsurumi River, he entered the town of Edo Castle, and since his own Yasu ran Musashi, the people of the town have not seen such a grand scene for a long time, dozens of attendants sounded the gong in front of the team to open the way, Hideho and Masasumi rode side by side to talk and laugh, Takatora and Shima Kiyoko and other important ministers of the family followed closely behind, and on both sides and at the end of the procession were escorted by important ministers of the Tokugawa family and samurai of the Banner family, and there were more ashigaru guns to maintain order, which was more than the honor guard when Ieyasu entered the country.

Although they were amazed by such a grand ceremonial guard, few of the townspeople knew who the young man at the front of the procession was, and there was no shortage of whispers around the procession. An old man with gray hair who was over the age of sixteen heard the sound of the gong and walked out of the izakaya tremblingly, and the young man next to him hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Lord Nakato, you are an old minister who has served the three generations of the Hojo family, have you ever seen such a grand scene?" ”

The old man stared ahead, and sighed while brushing his beard: "Since I was born, I have experienced four generations of family governors of the clan, the Kang, the government and the direct prince, each of whom is a benevolent person who is diligent and thrifty, diligent and loves the people, even His Royal Highness Tokugawa, who has just entered the country, also takes them as an example, and does not dare to squander the rice fat people's ointment, and then look at this adult, brightly dressed, commanding at a young age, and at a glance he is a flashy gentleman, how can I know such a character?" ”

At this moment, a young surname squeezed out of the advancing team, came to the old man, pointed at his nose and scolded: "You half-cut old man, you don't know the name of my lord, you dare to slander so much, I don't think you want to live!" Seeing that the old man was cursed like this by a small surname, the guy next to him was so angry that he almost punched and kicked him, but he stopped him.

In the face of the curse of the little surname, although the old man was uncomfortable, he was still able to maintain restraint, and respectfully saluted the little surname: "What Your Excellency said is reasonable, I don't know who this son is, please give me some advice." ”

Seeing that the old man was polite and reasonable, the attitude of the little surname also eased a little, and he bowed down to apologize to the old man: "I am fortunate that I am not a ruffian, but I am only offended because of the humiliation of the lord, please forgive me if you are offended." ”

The old man looked at this little surname with a smile, although it was rude, but it was also a little cute: "It turns out that the little brother is called Konosuke, it's okay, it's okay, if you don't fight, you don't know each other, you should make a friend, dare to ask the little brother, where is your father-in-law?" ”

Hearing him ask about Hideho's origins, Konosuke suddenly raised his toes, raised his voice, and shouted like a radio horn: "My lord is known as the 'leader of the samurai family, the pillar of Toyotomi'. ”

After saying that, Konosuke looked at everyone, thinking that they would be shocked by Hidebo's reputation, but he didn't think about it, this group of people still looked at him blankly, as if they didn't know who Hideho was, and he suddenly felt that his cheeks were hot, and he really wanted to find a knife to hack them all to death.

The old man saw his embarrassment, and hurriedly relieved the siege: "Little brother, don't be surprised, I have been living in the east for a long time, and I don't know much about your father-in-law, please give me some advice." ”

After hearing this, Konosuke sighed and said helplessly: "Okay, then I'll tell you about the heroic deeds of my lord." What to talk about first? Let's start with 'Tsukiyoshi rebuilt Azuchi Castle and defended honor and swore to fight Honda'. ”

After that, Konosuke played up Hideho's "heroic deeds" a little and told it to the old man as a story. At first, there were only three or five people around listening, but who knew that Konosuke became more and more excited the more he spoke, and his voice became louder and louder, and it was noon, which attracted nearly 100 onlookers. When the old man saw this, he immediately introduced him into the house and served him good wine and food, so that he could eat and speak again, and everyone listened to it very much, and it was also a fish in the middle, and the old man took this opportunity to make a lot of money.

Konosuke talked from morning to noon, there were more and more people, and the old man actually took this opportunity to put away the money, and he earned more in one morning than he did in three days, how could he not make the family smile? When Konosuke said that "Shimazuo is close to angrily slashing Kaga's claws, and the wealthy clans are plotting against him", another small surname of Hideho hurriedly ran into the izakaya, pulled him out with his clothes, and dragged him back and said: "You don't know whether to live or die, Konosuke, Aoki-sama has been looking for you for a long time, and you will wait to be punished when you go back." ”

Konosuke was talking about the excitement, looked at the little surname rather disappointed, and asked curiously, "How did you know I was here?" The small surname was not ambiguous, and said with a smile: "Aoki-sama and I couldn't look for you everywhere, until I heard passers-by talking about a rakugo master from Yamato who was speaking rakugo here, and he guessed that only you could do it, so he sent me to look for you, and sure enough, I really called the adult right." ”

"In that case, I can only go back first." Saying that, Konosuke is going to return to the city with his surname. At this time, the old man stepped forward, took out a bowl of copper coins and handed them to Xingnosuke, and said excitedly: "Thanks to the little brother in the next place, you can have such a benefit, these money is what you deserve, here I have to apologize to you in front of everyone, if it is really as you said, your lord is really a young hero, the humerus of the country, with such a young man, the world will be more stable and prosperous." There is something to ask for below, I wonder if the little brother can agree? ”

Xingnosuke was held up to the sky by the old man, and he happily promised: "If you have anything to say, as long as you do what you can, you will definitely agree." ”

The old man beckoned to his side, and a young man of the same age as Xiubao came out of the crowd, and the old man pushed him in front of him, and said helplessly: "I can't hide it, my name is Nakato Nobu, this is my grandson Nakato Nobuyo, my Nakato family is a descendant of the Huan Wuping clan, originally a wealthy family in Tama County, Musashi Province, after the Rebellion of Hoji, he was exiled to Nakato Village in the north of Tama County in Musashi Province, and changed the Miao character to Nakato, and after more than ten generations of efforts, he became a wealthy family with 7,000 stones in Kitatama County." ”

Konosuke asked curiously, "In that case, why did you open an izakaya here alone with your grandson?" ”

The old man said with some resentment: "I was originally subordinate to the Hojo family, and when Odawara was on the expedition, the only son, the Nakato Nobu, was killed in the battle of Hachioji Castle. Who knew that after Tokugawa Ieyasu changed the Kanto region and began to clean up the Kanto clan, my Nakato clan was changed due to his participation in the Hojo side, so I had to bring my grandson and two retainers to Edo and make a living with an izakaya. I beg my little brother to bring the faithful back to the city, and serve His Highness as you do, even if it is only to serve tea and water, it is much better than to stay in this little izakaya with me for the rest of my life. ”

Seeing the old man reluctantly stroking the head of this grandson, Konosuke's heart also softened, he looked at the little surname next to him, and saw that the little surname nodded, and Konosuke nodded and agreed to the old man's request. The old man gave a few words of explanation, then sent them out of the house, and before leaving, he said to his faithful: "Tiger Chiyo, when you arrive at the house of His Royal Highness, you must be obedient, and you can do whatever you want to do, and you must not disobey the Lord, is it clear?" ”

Nobutomo nodded earnestly and said with a little excitement, "Listening to Konosuke-sama's story, I am the same age as His Highness Nakatsu, but he has been able to accomplish such a great cause, and I will definitely follow his example in the future and work hard to restore the status of the Nakato family." ”

The old man nodded with satisfaction, and after a polite exchange with Konosuke, he watched the three of them go back to the city. Looking at the back of his grandson who was gone, he unconsciously burst into tears, and said with emotion: "Tiger Chiyo, no matter how dangerous the future is, you must persevere, and you must regain your family!" ”

It's better to say that time flies quickly, but Xiubao has slept a little longer, and he has been exhausted by the rapid march for several days, so he snored and fell asleep as soon as he came to the dormitory. It was not until evening that he had to reluctantly get dressed and go to the feast at the urging and service of the maids.

As the only wife to follow Hideho eastward, Komahime was naturally invited to attend, and her plain kimono embroidered with flying plum petals was really conspicuous, adding a bit of life to the winter snow scene. Although it has been some time since they got married, she and Xiubao have not yet made a husband and wife ceremony, and this matter has become a topic of conversation for many people after dinner, and it has also embarrassed the two parties.

Hideho walked out of the room, and suddenly felt a cool breeze hit, and Naoki shivered, "Even if you change into winter clothes, you still can't withstand the winter in Edo." Hideho lamented that the garden was on the opposite side of the room, but it was covered with snow, and there was no other view to see except for a few plum blossoms. Xiubao walked up to a plum blossom, squatted down to look at it carefully, and on a whim, he remembered the poem of the crown and muttered: "In the ice and snow forest, this body is different from peach and plum mixed with fragrant dust." ”

"Suddenly, the fragrance of the night is scattered." Xiubao suddenly felt a sinking in his body, and turned his face to see that Komahime was draping her mink trench coat over herself, and she was surprised but also felt a little warm. Hideho stood up, turned his head to look at Komahime, and asked curiously, "Why, you also know this poem?" ”

Komahime didn't answer directly, and while gently dusting off the snow from Hideho's body with her hands, she asked with a smile, "Does Your Highness think that the concubine will only find death and get tired of living?" Hearing this, Xiubao smiled without saying a word, reached out to untie the cloak, and carefully tied it for her.

Seeing that Komahime was looking at him with a different kind of eyes, Xiubao gently took her hand and said with a smile: "Why are you looking at me, my husband is so hungry, can you accompany me to dinner?" ”

("Waiting for the consumption of youth" The character provided to me a month ago was only used by me today, don't care about the slight modifications, and I hope you will give more opinions, Bear Cub is looking forward to it!) ）