086

The ninth day of the first month after the New Year.

After waking up in the morning and washing his face, Akai Naomasa, accompanied by the flags, went to the shooting range with a longbow and iron cannon.

The ninth day of the first month of San'in Avenue may be due to the fact that last year's winter came very early, and even the heavy snow fell on the world in Yamato Province in October, so this winter is also very early.

There was so much chill in the cold air that even the snow on the road was frozen as hard as stones or ice, and as the last sign of this winter, they were pitifully left on the ground.

The branches on the book have not yet sprouted, but they already have a little greenery.

As far as the eye can see, it is still a cold winter scene.

As mentioned earlier, Akai Naomai is a samurai in his prime, and all the functions in his body are at their peak.

In the half-year-long "Tanba Counterattack", Akai Naomasa fought side by side with Isshiki Yoshimichi as a reinforcement for the Maori family, as well as his former boss and former sworn enemy Shuji Hatano, and recovered most of Tanba from the Oda family.

Thanks to the fact that the main force of the Yama** Army either went to Ishiyama or Kaga, and when winter came, and because of the delay in Yamato, their offensive would be so smooth.

Recommended by Akechi Mitsuhide and appointed by Oda Nobunaga, Tanba's guardian Hosokawa Fujitaka couldn't protect Tanba at all, and before the Chinese New Year, he had fled to the south of Tanba, the newly built city of Milan.

On the New Year's Day, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who lived in the Maori family, officially issued the "shogun": appointing Mori Terumoto as the Western Exploration Theme, appointing Hideharu Hatano as the guardian of Tanba and being controlled by the Mori family, and he Akai Naomasa as the guardian to assist Hatano in resisting the Oda army.

Zhang took his bow and aimed at the target thirty miles away, and shot out calmly and quickly.

As the famous "Tanba Red Ghost", Akai Naomasa naturally did not say that he usually shoots arrows, and the hit rate is also quite high, and today, he has achieved a good result in nine out of ten shots.

Standing aside, cousin Akai Naoyoshi said: "Lord, your archery skills have improved again, and we people can't catch up anymore." ”

"Alas, no," Akai Naomasa pretended to sigh, "It's not as good as back then, when I fought with Kugo years ago, I shot a quasi-shot, defeated the Naito family and fled, I chased that Naito Sokatsu for more than ten miles, and finally shot four arrows in a row, so that he fell off the horse and fell to his death. ”

"My lord, when I hear you, I don't look like I'm sentimental at all," Akai said with a smile, "It's like touting the exploits of his youth." ”

"Yes...... Have it? ”

"If you had such courage when you were young, wouldn't it be even more powerful now?"

"Haha......"

Akai Naomasa's archery skills are indeed very good, not inferior to his swordsmanship at all.

In order to delay the "retirement date" of his samurai career as much as possible, Akai Naomasa lived a very regular life, and he was also strict with his training, in addition to sword practice, he had to shoot arrows 100 times a day, and each time he had to shoot full.

"It's a good thing to work out all day, I love the feeling of sweating, every time I sweat, I can feel the skin and blood in my body that have become sluggish and numb from a night of sleep, and wake up again!"

"The Oda army is about to invade Tanba again, and I feel settled down when I see you so brave, my lord." ……

On the ninth day of the new year, two guests came to my residence from Sakamoto Castle.

Sakamoto Castle is 50 miles from Kyoto, and there is an Atago Mountain in between.

"Mr. Honda, you can keep me waiting." Looking at the two people in front of me, I smiled and said hello.

Honda Masanobu is here.

There was also a teenager by his side.

"I'm so sorry, when Yamato was at war, I came here in Xia, "Honda Masanobu's appearance has not changed from the original, he owes slightly, "But a letter came from Xia's hometown, and I had to go home, and it is precisely because of this that I have been delayed until now, and I am really ashamed to come to see His Highness." ”

"Oh, when did the gentleman depart?" Seeing his dusty appearance, I couldn't help but ask.

"On December 28, I was expected to reach Kyoto in 10 days, but due to heavy snowfall, there was a long delay on the way."

I was a little moved, "Why don't you come back after the Chinese New Year, sir?" I've always had a gentleman's place here. ”

As far as I know, it snowed heavily during the Chinese New Year in both and the Tokai Sea, and it was not only very difficult to travel at this time, but it was also very likely that you would be killed.

"No, when I think of the bet with His Highness at the beginning, I don't want to be lazy." Masanobu Honda smiled.

This is exactly what he looked like when we first met.

"Haha......" After laughing, I said to Xianghime on the side: "Tell me to go down, scald some hot wine, prepare some side dishes, and I will entertain Mr." ”

"Your Highness doesn't have to be polite," Honda said, rejecting him; "I've already had breakfast below."

"Really? But I haven't eaten it yet. ”

“……”

"This must be Ling Gongzi?" I looked at the boy next to me, and suddenly remembered that I went back to Honda Masanobu's "Mikawaya", and after that, it was him who I was at the table with Honda Masanobu!

"Exactly, Your Highness has good eyesight!" He said to the young man beside him, "Yahachiro, come and see Your Highness." ”

"The little Honda Yahachiro is pure, and he has seen His Royal Highness the Wise General." The twelve-year-old boy had a five-to-six resemblance to his father, but his eyes were not as deep as the "old fox".

"Well, young and old, there is a bit of a shadow of a gentleman."

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your praise, I don't dare to be ashamed." Honda's face was calm and unwavering.

Nodding, I turned my head to look at Honda Masanobu again, "Sir just said, you went back to your hometown?" ”

"Yes, a letter from my hometown was written by Tadashi Okubo Shichiro Uemon Tadashi under His Royal Highness Major General Tokugawa, who hoped that he would return to Mikawa and serve the Major General again, and the Major General would no longer pursue the affairs of the year."

"It turns out that Tokugawa Ieyasu also has the idea of recruiting Honda Masanobu," I felt a little proud in my heart, "It seems that my personality is stronger than that old guy." ”

"Originally, I was a little excited, but His Royal Highness the Major General has a lot of talents, fierce generals like clouds, and there seems to be no shortage of Honda Masanobu, besides, he left as a traitor in the next year, and now when he comes back, his face is always a little unreasonable, and here in His Royal Highness the General, it seems that he can do something more?"

"You're so honest," I thought to myself, "Aren't you afraid that I'll be angry if you can say this kind of thing to my face?" ”

Because I've been in contact with this old fox, I still know a little bit about his temper, so I didn't get angry, but Xianghime's face didn't look good.

"I'm so sorry about that," Xiang Ji said coldly, "The house of the family temple is narrow, and Mr. Honda has been wronged......"

I raised my hand to stop Kahime, "Sir, I'm willing to listen." ”

Honda Masanobu was not angry at Kahime's ridicule just now: "However, after all, Mikawa is in Shimo's homeland, and that Okubo-sama used to be the master of Xia, so after thinking about it, I feel that even if I refuse, I can't just rely on a letter, which is not worthy of Okubo-sama's kindness back then, so I decided to take my dog and go to Mikawa in person." ”

"Mr. Honda is really affectionate and admirable." Although Xiang Ji is smiling, the "thorn" in her tone can be heard by anyone, which is much sharper than "sarcasm" such as "so you still have some feelings".

Oda Nobunaga's daughter is naturally unprovoked, and she may still be his future mother, so Honda Masanobu doesn't have any emotional fluctuations, at least I don't see any signs of anger in him.

"Sir, everything is done." I asked.

"Well," he nodded, "I've been talking to Okubo-sama for a long time, and he regrets that I can't stay in Mikawa, but since he has made up his mind, he doesn't force it anymore." ”

"In this way, won't the husband and son be homeless?" I laughed, "Don't say you still want to go back to Sakamoto and open a tavern." ”

"If Your Highness is willing to take it in, our father and son will be grateful." The two of them bowed their heads.

"Alright then, Mr. Honda, my father is still accompanying the lord in Nijo Castle, so I will replace him here, how about using you as the general of the family?"

"Young master!" He changed his title and thanked him: "I am willing to serve you and the Lord to the end." ”

"As for Ling Gongzi, let's temporarily serve as the flag guard next to me."

"Young master, I am grateful!" Honda Masamune still didn't have any expression.

At this time, the wine and food were ready, and then we stopped for a while, and Kahime looked at me suspiciously.

As I told her before, Honda Masanobu was originally just a hawker from Mikawa.

So she couldn't understand why I thought so highly of Honda Masanobu, who was just an eagle maker and was not even a full-fledged samurai, and vigorously promoted him to the position of a general.

The most important thing is that she herself has a very bad impression of Honda Credit, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is extremely bad.

In her opinion, Tokugawa Ieyasu controlled most of the three rivers and the distant rivers, and his territory was as high as more than 500,000 stones, which was indeed much stronger than the wise family.

However, Honda Masanobu's words gave him the feeling that the Tokugawa family had too many talents to look down on him, so he came here to join the wise family.

This is an insult to the family character of the wise!

Seeing the anger in her eyes when she threw herself at Honda Masanobu, it occurred to me that when I met Honda Masanobu a year ago, he seemed to be playing me all the way around.

Ordinary people, I'm afraid I would have been mad a long time ago, but I never got angry, and finally used a "gambling contract" to get me.

It turns out that my "instrument" is also sufficient, but I don't know how it compares to Tokugawa Ieyasu?