"One...... An ignorant fool ......" The guard was embarrassed by this sudden incident, and his face turned a little red. "While preparing for the reception of His Highness, this guy came to make trouble with some trivial things. Therefore, the last general ordered someone to temporarily imprison him, and he must be punished for a heavy crime after that! ”

"Don't be too embarrassed for him!" I haven't officially handled the transfer yet, so it's not good to directly intervene in Izumi's government affairs, but once I came to deal with ordinary people because of me, it really affected my reputation, so I said, "...... The treatment of the people should still be based on education, or admonishment, and the punishment will be forgotten! ”

"His Royal Highness is benevolent and generous, and the last general will be taught!" The guard nodded and glanced at one of his men, who immediately ran into the courtyard where the shouts were made. "Your Highness and your Excellency, please hurry inside and rest!" The guard urged again, and it seemed that he really wanted me to leave this place that had disgraced him quickly.

"Wronged!! I really have to be urgent...... "Before my newly raised left foot hit the ground, the sound sounded again, and it was more intense than the previous one. This time, not only did the guard's face turn pale, but the expressions of Hidemasa Hori and Kazushi Nakamura behind me were a little unnatural.

"Take it to the hall, I'll ask for myself." I don't want to get into such trouble, but since it's not easy to show too much indifference in front of me, it will leave an impression of weakness and lack of determination on the two new forces behind me.

"This ...... Be! The defender agreed after a little hesitation, and it is not the style of Niwa's family to resist strongly.

"Who are you? What's the matter? "As soon as I entered the hall, the prisoner was escorted in, and I only had time to take off my helmet and put it in the hands of Goto Matabei.

"Xiaomin is a fisherman from Taishi Village, not some troublemaker!" As soon as the man came in, he knelt down in front of me, and said in a hurried voice. It may be because of the punishment that there are some blood stains on the body, but it will not be very heavy in terms of movement.

"I heard you say that there is a big event, what is it?" I only asked about this matter out of image, and I didn't want to overturn the conclusion that the city guards had made, so I added at the end: "If there is anything untrue, this guardian must be guilty of the crime!" ”

"Yes, Xiaomin doesn't dare not tell the truth!" He prostrated himself and kowtowed twice more in succession. "We got the conclusive news that the pirates from Awaji will attack our village in the middle of the night later today! Therefore, the small people were entrusted by the whole village to ask for the protection of the samurai......"

"Pirates? Raid? I was taken aback when I heard this, and looked at Hori Hidemasa and the others in amazement, and he also blinked his eyes in disbelief.

I really didn't put the Awaji pirates in my eyes, the so-called eighteen sailors except for the Ataka clan can still support the façade, the others are just some bluff rabble. I'm just a naval force now, and Ihataka Kukie is busy uniting Kumano to build ironclad ships, so I have to tolerate their harassment. None of the Miyoshi families are my opponents, and what kind of thing is the Awaji Navy under their wings!

Now the news from this man is too unexpected, I just arrived in the afternoon and they are going to attack in the evening! I don't have an accurate itinerary myself, how do they know? It's not easy to fight against my men and horses, how did they have time to gather troops? Will they storm Kishiwada Castle in this situation? They......? Question mark after question mark slipped through my mind. "How does this person in front of him know? Don't you want to use some strategy? It occurred to me that I had an idea.

"You guys...... Taishi Village, how far is it from here? I asked quietly.

"It's about seven miles, just to the south!" He didn't look up when he answered.

I glanced sideways at one of the people at the door, it was Iwane Shisaemon, the ninja leader I was traveling with this time, and he immediately went out to arrange for someone to go to the village to investigate. "Don't be nervous, keep your head up and talk!" Seeing him leave, I continued to speak to the messenger and with a pleasant face.

"Your Highness!" The man looked up and sat up straight, looking okay, and his expression was not like that of ordinary civilians when they cowered at the sight of the lord.

"What's your name? What do you usually do? I asked quietly.

"Xiaomin and Hachiro share a fishing boat with three neighbors......"

"You're not the accent of Izumi here! Where is my hometown?! When did you get to Taishi Village?! How did it come?! I interrupted him abruptly and asked in a barrage. In order to cooperate with the psychological offensive I created, several close attendants drew their sabers in half.

"It's true that Komin is not from this place, and his family originally lived near Chikuzen Kurume...... "Although he showed a look of fear, I didn't see that it was a sign of weakness." …… Three years ago, the Maori family entered Kitakyushu to attack Chikuzen in a hurry, and the small people were afraid that they would be conscripted into the army and be alone, so they came to with a Nanban merchant ship as a temporary sailor, and finally settled in Taishi Village after some twists and turns! ”

"Tell me how you learned that the Awaji Pirates were coming!" Seeing that there were no flaws, I slowed down my tone again.

"Yes, Your Highness! This incident was actually quite accidental......" Yohachiro paused, swallowed his saliva, and continued.

In the coastal areas of Hequan, because of the frequent attacks by pirates, the standard of living is worse than that in the mainland, and the people of Taishi Village often go to the sea to catch some seafood and sell it for money when they have no farm work. The day before yesterday, when a small fishing boat was out to sea, a man who picked up oysters was placed on a reef island about five or six miles offshore, and promised to come back to pick him up when he returned in the evening. But not long after the fishing boat left, a group of pirates who had just returned from robbery came to the island to make a fire and eat, but the oyster picker was so frightened that he hid under a rock and did not dare to make a sound.

The pirates leaked their plans for the next few days in a shout of excitement, and then set sail contented. The oyster pickers hid in fear for a day, and when they returned to the village in the evening, they immediately announced the news. Originally, this is a common occurrence, but now that we know the news in advance and have two days to go, the most I can do is take all my belongings and hide. But there is also such a detail in this unexpected news: those pirates wanted to set fire to all the houses in the village in order to give the "Oda bandits" a little color before the Chinese New Year!

This is a catastrophe that can be devastated, and the village does not know how many people will die if they spend the winter without shelter! After some "intense" consultation and "enthusiastic" discussion, the villagers finally reluctantly agreed to Yohachiro's suggestion: he should enter Kishiwada Castle and ask the samurai lords for protection!

"It seems that this is part of the 'Nianguan Offensive' launched by the Awaji Pirates, but I don't know if it has something to do with my entry into Izumi!" I was analyzing it in my head, but there was a lot of information to make the right judgment, and it seemed that I had to catch another "big man" in order to get more information, and I wonder if there would be such a person in this attack. I looked sideways to the side, and several generals were looking at me with good eyes, among which Hidemasa Hori was relatively calm, and the "urgency" on Sorokuro Mizuki's face was the most obvious.

"You said it was in the middle of the night tonight, so do you know how many people and how many ships they have?" Since a couple of guys want to do well when they come on the pitch, I'm going to have to think about it.

"The man who dwelt in us said, "There are four boats and two hundred men......"

"Two hundred?!" I was dumbfounded.

"Two hundred?!" Several of the others looked at each other.

"Perhaps...... One hundred and fifty people? Yohachiro said uncertainly.

"Oh......" I was dumbfounded when I got this result.

What kind of purposeful attack is this, it's clearly a gang of grass cowards who are running around to commit crimes! And it's very likely that it's not a serious Awaji army at all, just a group of temporary cameo fishermen. Even if I exterminate these pirates (which is easy), it won't improve my reputation, and I might even become the laughing stock of Shibata's people. I'm sure there's no decent character in it, so it's an action that doesn't make any sense. Thinking of such a result, even Mizuki Sorokuro's eyes dimmed.

"Your Highness!" Seeing that my interest had become greater, he and Hachiro fell to the ground with tears in their eyes. “…… In recent years, the people of Izumi have been deeply poisoned by Kii and Awaji thieves, and they have been suffering day and night. Therefore everyone looks up to His Highness (though he does not yet know who I am) like a cloud in the hope of a great drought, that His Highness may protect ......"

"You're very caring!" I felt like laughing when I heard what he said. I didn't expect this countryman to be able to say this, I'm afraid that's why the village let him come. "I can speak!" My mind was pounding all of a sudden. Since his words are so exaggerated, then if I don't disarm and go to fight pirates for them, and spread it through this mouth...... "Since I am now the guardian of the country of Izumi, then it is necessary to protect the territory and the people!" "I deliberately revealed an important message in my words." The situation is urgent, let's go! I stood up and reached out to Goto Matabei for his hat.

"His Royal Highness Yuzhou!" A little frightened to see that I was about to leave the guard, he came to my side and said in a very small voice: "It is the last general's incompetence that has caused such chaos here. It's just that this kind of harassment happens almost every day, and the limited manpower of the last general is really ......"

"I don't blame adults for this!" I reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "In the past, I didn't have enough energy to go all out, so I made it difficult for you here! It is already a miracle that adults can guard the important town of Shore and Tian as Mount Tai. I'm here to replace His Royal Highness Niwa this time to solve the problem once and for all, don't worry too much, my lord! ”

"It's just that His Highness has just arrived, and the banquet has already ......" The guard breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt that it should not be so hasty.

"There's no hurry, what's the banquet......" I vaguely heard the Mizuki clan muttering a few words at this time, as if there was wine or something, but then he was hit the head by his father. I brought it to the banquet, and I promised someone else on the way! I said with a smile.

The one and Hachiro got up and followed one of the attendants out to prepare, and a silver light flashed around his neck.

"You're a 'Chejitan'?" I could see that it was a silver cross.