Maeda Toshiya looked at me with a little embarrassment, and probably felt that it was really not a shameful thing to meet his important ministers in such a place.

I smiled and waved at him, which was inevitable. Maeda Toshiya is a little more restrained, back then we young people in a remote place like Cheongju had to be absurd from time to time, comparing hearts to hearts, these samurai who used to stay in deserted castles in other places, when they first came to a world like Kyoto, how could their eyes not be flowery!

We are silent and do not intervene here, but the people on the other side are ignorant of the excitement, and five more people came after Okumura Yongfuku, all of whom were middle- and lower-level retainers of various daimyo families from Owari. Among them, Okumura Yongfu is the highest in age and rank, and most of the others are some new generations in their thirties.

"If the situation is finally corrected today, we Owari people can finally raise our eyebrows again!" This person's voice was a little hoarse, and he seemed to be a retainer close to Kanamori just now. "After the martyrdom of Nobu's palace the year before last, I was really worried for a while. The guys who used to wag their tails at us all started speaking one by one. Fortunately, now that His Highness Zhuxing has resumed his reign in Kyoto, the world is finally still our Owari people! ”

"Hey, hey, interesting!" I thought it was funny when I heard this, but in this era, I am afraid that I can't tell it clearly.

Is it a Ming person? Not to mention that there is no personal record of me in any of Daming's household registrations, even I and my parents have never had any direct contact with that side. It seems that it can only be said that it is Chinese, but the interpretation of China in this era and the interpretation where I came seems to mean two things. I, a true citizen of the People's Republic of China, do not seem to exist at this time...... It's really hard to do!

In fact, this seems to be a problem that every traverser will encounter, he can only know his own nationality, but he can't explain the nationality to which he belongs! I'm still wrestling with that problem here, and a new problem has arisen over there.

Maybe it's because the person's words just now hurt the self-esteem of Xiangjing's hometown, which made him feel very dissatisfied. "Even then, what's the big deal, let's go back to Owari first, and then kill it like the Shin Naga Hall did back then!" He said confidently, perhaps because of some large movement, which caused the sound of the vessel falling. "At that time, with only 2,000 men, we not only defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto's army of 40,000, but also took his head. Today, we have more than 30 countries, who will we be afraid of? Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin are both dead, who can stop the pace of our Owari samurai! ”

"If our Owari samurai can unite as one, this will naturally be the case, but even His Highness Shibata ......" the previous "pessimist" sighed again.

"Don't mention that fool!" This time, Xiang Jing was really angry, and cursed loudly: "That self-righteous big idiot and old bastard of the Shibata Katsu family, if he hadn't fallen into the Tokugawa family, how could His Royal Highness Akechi die?" How could Kai and Shinano's territory be lost? It took many years for Shincho to lead us, and how many brothers died, before finally defeating the Takeda family and taking control of Higashiyamado. But all of a sudden, he was cut off, and he cheapened Tokugawa Ieyasu's old fox for nothing! ”

The others were silent for a moment, and I couldn't see if they nodded or not, but there was silence for a while. This is indeed a difficult issue to discuss, after all, there are both Maeda and Kanamori retainers here, so the evaluation of Shibata Katsuya is not so easy to export. Now, although Hashiba Hideyoshi has been defeated and exiled, the imperial court has not revoked the conclusion that Shibata Katsuya is rebellious, so there will be a certain risk of right or wrong.

I glanced sideways at Toshiya Maeda, his face dark and depressed, but there was no sign of anger.

Soon after Oda Nobunaga succeeded in ascending Rakuro in the ninth year of Eiroku (1566), Maeda Toshiya was assigned to Shibata Katsuie's subordinate as a force, and it would be absolutely nonsense to say that there was no emotion at all. Although Shibata Katsuya is a domineering person, he has always taken care of the person who was born in the Owari Gate, and from this point of view, it is impossible for Maeda Toshiya to have an essential contradiction with him. But now that a new historical choice is in front of him, it is impossible to escape! Shibata Katsuya is irrelevant in every sense, but how to view the future relationship between the Shotai family and the Oda family is the key to this, and no one can replace him.

"Now it's finally good again, and none of our Owari samurai dares to underestimate it anymore!" I don't know if that Xiang Jing is a heartless person, but after a while, his mood rose again. "I don't know if you've felt it in Kyoto these days, but those who come from the east and west look at us Owari samurai differently!"

"You can't say that, Your Highness is not such a narrow-minded person!" How old is Okumura Eifuku, and he feels a little uneasy about this kind of topic. "His Royal Highness's important ministers are everywhere in the world, south and north, and there are even red-haired and green-eyed southern barbarians, but they haven't said anything because they are from Owari!"

"That can only show that His Highness Zhuxing is broad-minded, but he still takes special care of the Owari people!" Mukai disagrees, and there seems to be a very good reason for that. "In the various mansions of His Highness the Stars, almost all the big and small chiefs are from us Owari. You might as well imagine that if it weren't for the special care of His Highness Zhuxing, how could so many people who had never been on the battlefield and had no military merits be promoted to samurai? Doesn't that tell the story? ”

"That's it!" "It must be like this!" The others agreed with him.

"How else can that be explained?" At that time, just to improve the standard of life, I selected a group of young children to study in Sakai Town in Yudan Valley, and then naturally formed the main body of the internal affairs system. I was once again amazed by the imagination and the power of rumors.

"I just saw some Maori people down there, why don't we teach them a lesson!" A man who hadn't spoken much before suddenly suggested that he should be the youngest of them.

The others applauded, and in the chaos of Nagakumura Yongfu seemed to be persuaded, but he did not persuade him, and then the downstairs became lively.

"It's so unbelievable, I'll discipline them!" Maeda Toshi's family was about to stand up.

"No, it's not a big deal!" I reached out and grabbed him. "I would like to ask Maeda-senpai, do you say that there are many people in the world? Or are there many samurai? ”

"Naturally...... There are so many people! Maeda Toshiya looked at me stunned, wondering why I would let those guys mess around and ask such idiotic questions here.

"Then how many people are in the Owari country? Or are there more people in the other sixty-five countries? Ignoring his strange expression, I continued to ask to myself.

"How can Owari Ichikoku compare to the world!" Maeda Toshiya was even more puzzled.

"So among the daimyos, wealthy clans, and samurai in the world, there are many Owari people? Or does everything else add up to more people? ”

"This ......" This time, Maeda Toshiya thought about it seriously. Even if they become the big names of several countries, most of the small wealthy families in the local area of tens to hundreds of stones are still locals, so in general, other people zhan have an absolute numerical advantage! ”

"I heard a story many years ago, and it was a very interesting story!" I picked up a glass of wine and savored it. "There was a man who ran a prison with only a few dozen guards and more than 600 vicious prisoners. In order to maintain normal order, he selected 20 of the most cunning and tyrannical prisoners, and gave them food and certain free privileges to manage the other prisoners, and always supported them regardless of their excessive behavior. Because he understands a truth: once the subordinate has doubts about the authority of the superior, the resistance that will erupt after that will be difficult for the superior to resist, then the former superior will only be torn to pieces by this force! ”

"Oh......" Maeda Toshiya let out a painful moan from the depths of his throat, as if an invisible hand had grabbed his throat. His eyes stared at me with a horrible expression, as if he no longer knew me as a person.

"My fight with Yushiba and Shibata is for this reason, and the authority is challenged to either fight back or die!" My hands trembled a little, and some of the flasks I picked up spilled. "Now if I surrender power easily, then my vassals will be weakened, the vassals will be scattered, and I will soon be wiped out as the power of the past. And the one who gets power easily, his power will also be doubted by all sides, and before he really has the power, he will be swallowed up by those who want to take his place. What I want to know now is, what do you want me to do? ”

Toshiie Maeda put down the glass in his hand, stood up and walked around the table to my side, then knelt down and bowed deeply. "I, Maeda Toshiya, hereby swear: to recognize the authority of His Royal Highness the Great Na Yan Qing Clan, and to serve you as my lord!" He solemnly and solemnly swore an oath.

"Your Highness Maeda, I hope you will be my arm to protect the peace of Hokuriku!" I reached out and didn't take him, but pressed it on his shoulder, and the change of title formalized our relationship. "In addition, I hope that in a few days, at the meeting of the Daimyo of Oda's former ministers, you will be able to lead the people to formally bow to me!"

"Your wish is my mission!" He replied without hesitation, in a sonorous tone.

At this time, there was a burst of excited shouts from the opposite room, and it seemed that the expected result had been achieved. At this moment, Maeda Toshiya also raised his head, and the two of us looked at each other and smiled.