The merchant ship arrived in Hirado, and with the help of the sailors, Xu Ling'er and Kiyohime unloaded their bags and horses, and Matsuura Nobuyama warmly invited them to their home for dinner. [No pop-ups. 】

Xu Ling'er declined his kindness, left the dock with Kiyohime, entered Hirado Castle, and went straight to the storehouse of Shiro Jiro's house in the tea house, only to see that the gate was closed and empty; After some inquiry, Kiyohime learned that his brother had just picked up a batch of goods from Nanyang and led all the men back to Okazaki Castle.

According to Wen Tao's instructions, Xu Ling'er originally planned to say goodbye to Qing Ji and go to Guishan City to find Guo Yi first, and persuade her not to take risks easily.

Considering that she was a single woman and it was not safe to take a boat alone for the night, Xu Linger agreed, came to the dock again, and boarded a merchant ship to Sakai Town.

They both entered the cabin, exhausted physically and mentally, so they found a corner to sit down, and Kiyohime fell asleep. It was dark when the passenger ship crossed the Kanmon Strait and entered the Seto Inland Sea.

Xu Ling'er cheered up, and felt a lot of emotion in her heart, thinking that her departure from Liaodong this time would inevitably anger Li Chengliang, and Ru Song, who finally came back from the border pass, would be very disappointed, and Rong'er and Su'er would also be condemned, maybe the two of them were complaining about themselves......

When the merchant ship arrived in Sakai Town, it was already noon the next day, Xu Ling'er and Qing Ji got off the ship, ready to go to Chen Shen's silk shop first, and the two had just left the dock when a carriage greeted them.

"Is it Miss Kiyohime?" The old man who was driving the car asked.

Xu Ling'er and Qing Ji were both a little strange, glanced at each other, and shook their heads lightly at the same time.

The rather cautious Qing Ji hesitated for a moment, and also asked, "Who are you?" ”

"I was sent by Master Qingyan to pick you up, please get in the car." As he spoke, the driver opened the curtain of the carriage.

A young man jumped out of the car, with a half-bald moon generation holding his hair in a bun on his head, carrying a scimitar, and walked over with a smile to help with his luggage, Xu Ling'er and Qing Ji hurriedly stopped him.

But the young man was very rude, pushed Xu Ling'er away, threw the luggage of the two of them into the carriage, and snatched the reins of the horse.

The young man took their two horses and said, "Please don't panic, two young ladies, you don't know, since the Shogun contacted the daimyo in various places and cast an 'encirclement', Matsunaga Shu has betrayed Nobunaga again." You should know that this was originally the territory of the Miyoshi clan and Matsunaga Hide, and the situation is complicated, and Master Kiyonobu knows that the young lady should come back, and he is afraid that something will happen to you, so he will wait here every day next day, and I will send you safely to the town of Jiuchi. ”

The year before last, Xu Ling'er lived in Kyoto and begged the shogunate for help, hoping to transport Lu Yunlong's coffin back to China and let Ying's soul return to his hometown. How could Oda Nobunaga "Kamiraku" after driving away the shogunate general Ashikaga Yoshiaki, occupying Kyoto, and pinning his hopes on Takeda Shingen "Kamiraku", able to drive out the Oda army, because Takeda Shingen is the brother-in-law of the Ishiyama Honganji King Xianru, and will inevitably help, but unexpectedly, Takeda Shingen suddenly fell ill and died, and all hopes were lost.

After that, Oda Nobunaga defeated Asakura Yoshikage, and now the "strong alliance" of Ishiyama Honganji has been broken. Although the Oda clan is in full swing, the anti-Nobunaga power is not small, and Chaya Shiro Jiro is considered an ally of Oda Nobunaga, a retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and of course an enemy of Matsunaga Shu and the Miyoshi clan.

Considering Qing Ji's safety, Xu Ling'er replied: "In that case, please Miss Qing Ji get in the car." ”

According to Qing Ji's understanding of her brother, she never seemed to care so much about herself, and she didn't know the two people in front of her, so she was very scared in her heart, and asked, "Miss Ling'er, what do you think?" ”

At this moment, Xu Ling'er didn't want to do much, so she nodded, and was about to ride her horse, but she heard the young man say: "You have been tired all the way, please get in the car." ”

Xu Ling'er and Kiyohime got into the car together, the old man who was driving the car closed the curtain, and the carriage left Sakai Town and headed for the direction of Ishiyama Honganji Temple in Settsu Province......

When passing by the Lin Dao Xun cemetery, Xu Ling'er couldn't help but feel sad, opened the curtain and looked out, saw the tall stone tablet in front of the tomb, and wanted to stop to pay tribute to this legendary old man.

"Can we stop for a moment?" Xu Ling'er asked.

The young man reined in his horse and asked, "What is the matter, Miss?" ”

"There is a burial of one of our predecessors here, and I want to pay homage to this heroic spirit."

"Hoo, hoo......" The old man who was driving the carriage stopped.

Before Xu Ling'er could get out of the car, suddenly, a group of men and horses rushed down from the mountain, and the black-clothed man with a scimitar in his hand roared and surrounded the carriage.

Qing Ji was so frightened that she cried, Xu Ling'er was also surprised, and hurriedly pulled out her sword and jumped out of the carriage, only to see the young man fleeing in the wilderness, letting Qing Ji shout loudly in the carriage, and did not see him turn back......

Xu Ling'er stood in front of Qing Ji, pointed at the black-clothed gangster with a sword in her hand, and asked loudly, "Who are you?" What do you want to do? ”

The man in black put away the scimitar, stepped forward and bowed deeply, and said politely: "Please Miss Xu Ling'er don't panic, we are the samurai of Beizhuang, and Mrs. Ashi heard that you have returned to Japan, so she specially sent us to pick you up and reunite you with Ling Zun." ”

It's certain that he's lying, and it must have been Rhonzo Jr. who arrived first to make such an arrangement, but what was his purpose? Xu Ling'er knew that Xiao Xi Longzuo had bad intentions, and asked calmly, "How does Mrs. Ashi know that I am back?" ”

"Ah, what about it, I ......"

Before the man in black finished speaking, another person stepped forward and replied: "Miss Ling'er is frightened, I don't know if you still remember me, I am Gonzaburo from Iki Island, and I have always been in charge of protecting Lingzun, and Mrs. Aichi received the news from the flying pigeon, so I knew that you arrived in Sakai Town." ”

Xu Ling'er looked at this Pinghaiwei's widow, it was really a narrow road, and he was immediately angry, and he wanted to kill him immediately, back then, when Wang Chong borrowed troops from the Shimazu family to quell the rebellion, and Deng Bichuan boarded the ship to prepare to escape, it was he who killed Deng Bichuan, but kidnapped his father to Omi Kotani Castle......

Knowing that Quan Saburo was talking nonsense, but in order to protect Qing Ji in front of him, he couldn't turn his face with them, Xu Ling'er suppressed his anger and said politely: "Thank you, Quan Saburo, since you took me to Beizhuang, of course it would be better, but Miss Qing Ji is in a hurry to go back to Jinai Town to visit the child, so please send her home first." ”

So, Kiyohime stopped crying and begged, "Mr. Gonzaburo, please." ”

Kwon Saburo smiled and replied, "Please get in the car." However, Miss Kiyohime, the monks of Ishiyama Honganji Temple often oppose us, so we must go around the town of Jinai and hand you over to Mr. Kiyonobu Chaya when we pass through Kyoto. ”

Kiyohime's eyes widened when she heard this, and she was shocked to believe that this was all arranged by her brother, so she asked, "Hasn't he already returned to Okazaki Castle to deliver goods to Tokugawa's family?" ”

"Hehe, Miss Kiyohime, don't doubt it, Chaya Kiyonobu-sama bought a batch of new-style arquebuses, which were originally going to be shipped to Mikawa Okazaki Castle, but Lord Oda heard about this and intercepted Kiyonobe-sama, and now all the arquebuses have been shipped to Kyoto." Quan Saburo replied.

Kiyohime nodded and explained to Xu Ling'er, "Maybe it's true, my brother has always been loyal to Tokugawa Ieyasu-sama. Lord Tokugawa and Lord Oda have formed an alliance, and if Lord Oda wants those arquebuses, my brother will not dare to disobey. ”

Although there are still many strange things in it, it is difficult to find out the truth for a while, for the safety of Qing Ji, Xu Ling'er boarded the carriage again, and said to Quan Saburo and others: "Let's go to Kyoto first and hand over Miss Qing Ji to his brother." ”

Gonzaburo nodded respectfully in agreement, and the group escorted the carriage around Ishiyama Honganji Temple and arrived in Kyoto in the evening.

This place had long been under the control of Oda Nobunaga, who had firmly controlled Kyoto and was now promoted to the position of Daishi Nayan from Sanpinquan. Gonzaburo and the others were unimpeded in Kyoto, and soon found the inn where Shiro Jiro of the Tea House lived.

Xu Ling'er could see that Chaya Shiro Jiro was quite surprised by the sudden arrival of Qing Ji, and so far, he couldn't guess what kind of medicine was sold in Quan Saburo's gourd? In short, Kiyohime is safe.

Kiyohime asked Xu Ling'er to stay here, but Kwon Saburo and others refused, saying that he could not live up to Mrs. Aichi's entrustment and should hurry along Lake Biwa to Beizhuang.

didn't have time to eat, and before it was dark, the group said goodbye to the teahouse Qingyan and was about to leave, Qingji couldn't rest assured, took out a bag of silver from her arms and gave it to Quan Saburo, asking them to take more care of Xu Ling'er.

Quan Saburo smiled and said: "Miss Qingji, please rest assured, Miss Xu Ling'er is the benefactor of Mrs. Ashi, how dare we have a disrespectful salute?" ”

Xu Ling'er knew in her heart that their father and daughter were kind to Mrs. Ashi, and she believed that Quan Saburo and others would not dare to mess around.

Kiyohime sent them out onto the street, and Kwon Saburo advised, "Miss Kiyohime, please stay." She reluctantly waved goodbye to Xu Ling'er.

The streets of Kyoto are lined with weeping willows and cherry trees, three steps to a temple, seven steps to a shrine, the streets are very neat, Quan Saburo and others through the streets and alleys, past the two castle shogun's palace, Xu Ling'er can't help but recall the past......

At that time, Xu Ling'er pinned his hopes on Hosokawa Fujitaka, a former minister of the shogunate, to transport Lord Lu Yunlong's coffin out of Kyoto, but the matter had not yet been completed......

When he was thinking wildly, he suddenly found that Quan Saburo had stopped, Xu Ling'er looked up and was immediately surprised: At that time, Lin Feng came out of this house.

This is the official residence of the monkeys in Kyoto!

(End of chapter)