On the 30th day of October in the 9th year of Tensho (1581), the festivities that had been going on for several days continued in the castle of Katsura Kawaguchi, and His Royal Highness the Qing clan, the Senator of the Stars, added two more sons, indicating the prosperity and development of a samurai family.

This is a big event, at least for my Zhuxing family, and in order to celebrate the gloomy atmosphere of the three dynasties and Chong Yi Chong recently, I held a small celebration ceremony here, and retainers from near and far sent congratulatory letters and gifts. Of course, because of the long distance of the road and the inconvenience of communication, the retainers in the distance can only know the approximate date of birth, and it is not clear whether the specific time and whether it is male or female.

As a result, the date of the congratulatory letter may be early or finished, and the gifts will be varied. Maeda Keiji's consideration was the most thoughtful, and he actually brought a total of four gifts for two men and two women. However, I guess he doesn't have this carefulness, it should be Ah Guo's idea.

Following Senshiba's advice, I asked Harira Nijo to name my two sons, and he happily agreed. I don't know if it was because of my joy, and his body and spirit gradually recovered.

"The two sons are full of red light and sound to shake the house, and they will both be famous generals of the powerful countries in the future!" Nijo Harura squinted his eyes and said kindly, and the two long white eyebrows twitched from time to time, and the birthday star was just missing a long beard.

Actually, I don't really understand why all the ministers of Japan don't have beards? It is said that eyebrow pointing, applying powder, and dyeing black teeth are all some customs learned from the Chinese Tang Dynasty, but at that time, they didn't think about this question about men and women? If that portrait of Tang Taizong was dressed up like this...... Every time I think about it, I feel a chill.

"Benqing is just old and useless, all he can borrow is this lifespan!" After saying a lot of compliments, Nijo Harura cautiously took out two red pieces of paper from a brocade fold, which seemed to have been prepared before. "The fourth prince is named 'Songshou Maru', and the fifth prince is named 'Zhuqing Maru', I don't know what His Highness and Mrs. Zhuxing think!"

"Thank you for your trouble!" I smiled and handed over a "thank you", but in my heart I felt that these two names were really ordinary.

However, Xianzhi seemed to be really satisfied, took the two pieces of paper and carefully stuffed them into the swaddling clothes of the two children. Although there are three-year-olds looking young and seven-year-olds looking old, but at the moment these two children can't see anything, but their bodies and bones look healthy, and it is also the most basic for parents to hope that their children are healthy and safe.

"Thank you, Your Excellency, it's rare that you have come up with such a good name for your two children!" After expressing her gratitude again, Xianzhi motioned for the nurse to pick up the two children. "You should take care of your baby when you are sick, and it is time for your child to breastfeed! I'm going to take them down! With that, she left with her servants and the children.

"It's good that the children can be healthy and smooth in the future, I still haven't thought about how much they can do it!" I let out a long sigh as I watched the door slowly close from the outside, like a weary father working for his children.

"The Zhuxing family is the number one martial artist who guards the righteous path of the world, why did His Highness say such a thing about escapism!" This kind of thing is said by almost all samurai daimyo when they retreat into advance, and I don't believe it myself, and Nijo Harura doesn't take it very seriously. "His Highness Zhuxing is famous among the nations, and the army has not been defeated in all directions. The two sons were born in such famous families, and their mother was a Ji warrior who was known for the three armies, so naturally they would not do nothing. His Highness Zhuxing said so, which shows that he is a little arrogant! ”

His tone was sincere, at least as it sounded like that. Perhaps he just wanted to convey a message that the court still trusts and relies on me, at least there are a large number of people like him who are on my side.

"Is it a name for itself? Maybe that's really the case...... "My interest was not heightened by his words, although in a sense they were not exaggerated. In my current status, I can indeed be called a famous nation, and the army under the banner of the stars can be regarded as having traveled a lot of places, and the question of whether it is "undefeated" can be discussed in a separate case. "Your Excellency must also know that His Royal Highness and I are not from the old samurai clan, and we have come to this point by mistake, and sometimes I can't help but feel the impermanence of the world. But there are many differences between the two of us, and the most important point is that he basically always takes the initiative to run forward, while I am often pushed forward by various forces! ”

"This ......" Hararashi Nijo hesitated, not daring to take this casually.

"When I became a samurai, I was a little bit of a duck on the shelf, and the wind and rain of that night in the third year of Yongroku were about to annihilate me...... "I felt a little uncomfortable, so I pulled my legs out from under my seat and put them in front of me, and hugged my knees with my arms." To put it mildly, I was really scared to death, and I was often awakened by nightmares for more than a month. But since you have already done this business, you have to go step by step, otherwise what else can you do? ”

Nijo Harura nodded silently, looking somewhat touched. Older people are always prone to sadness, and they may have to add a little bit of his hardships as a minister over the years.

"At that time, I was really worried, worried that I might die in some inexplicable war, leaving orphans and widows under the fence, so I just thought about trying my best to earn a family business!" I couldn't help but laugh, but I felt a little pitiful, but in this respect, Harara, Nijo, as an audience, was a bigger "poor worm" than me, and I didn't think I would be in the mood to laugh at me. "At that time, if I could have a small city like Katsura Chuankou, I was afraid that I would be crazy, and I would never have thought of today's situation!" As I spoke, my eyes turned to the window again, and my tone revealed a little rich and contentment.

"Yes! It's a good city...... "He finally couldn't grasp himself for a while, he lost his position as a politician, and there was something more in his eyes, as if he was just an old man who was picking a place to bury his bones.

"Have you seen the horses I have raised, and how do you feel?" I asked him with a palpable sense of ownership.

"Good horse! What a horse! Nijo Harura nodded immediately, and gently patted the table in order to accentuate his tone. What a good horse...... No, it should be said that it is a good horse of BMW! Benqing has traveled to countless places in his life, that is, in the northeast, at least four or five times. War horses are treasured by all the daimyos, but even if I add up the horses I've seen in all the other places, I don't see as many as I saw in Katsura Kawaguchi this time. Even if a horse of this grade was a humble man back then, it was only two or three, and this was already quite remarkable. But I didn't expect His Highness to have more than 70 horses here, which is really a great thing! ”

"I don't dare to be presumptuous about this, and you will never find a second home in the whole of Japan!" When I asked him to say this, I immediately felt like a "confidant", and said proudly: "I have a very small part of the local Japanese horses here, and most of them are 'god breeds' purchased from overseas. After more than ten years of continuous cultivation and improvement, the remaining horses are good horses that can adapt to the local climate and travel hundreds of miles a day. Looking at them, I was so happy from the bottom of my heart that I felt like I had done something meaningful! ”

"His Highness the Stars is massive and elegant, this state of mind is really not comparable to ordinary people!" My audience sighed, but whether it was for my taste or my financial resources.

"Your Excellency Nijo, you are a well-informed and sophisticated senior, there is a sentence I want to take the liberty of asking!" My words took a sharp turn, and my expression became serious. "As I said before, there are a lot of things that I didn't want to do on my own. So if I retire now and honestly raise my horses at Katsura Kawaguchi Castle, do you think some people will just let me go? ”

"This ......" in my gaze, Harara, Nijo lowered his head, a question he couldn't and couldn't answer.

"Thank you for your answer, I already understand your answer! Yes, that's what I judged myself. After about a minute of silence, I nodded, and the answer was clear to everyone. Maybe if this question was brought up by another person, Harura Nijo would immediately laugh at his childishness. "So just as I had no choice back then, I still don't have a choice today. Now I have some understanding of some of the methods of the former Emperor Nobunaga, so ...... Thank you for your understanding. ”

Nijo Harara's lips are a little dry, his face is a little pale, and his eyes are gradually losing their luster like a fish that has been out of water for a long time. Unlike the vague words before, this time I have made it quite clear that the court in which he is in has to make a clear choice, but this is not something he can decide.

Seeing him like this, I didn't go any further, after all, "the drum doesn't need to be beaten", and he should fully understand what I mean by this point. As I've emphasized time and time before, I don't mean to completely destroy the imperial court, so someone will have to go back and spread the word when the time comes.

"Your Excellency has always been ill before, and you didn't allow me to do a good job of the friendship of the landlord, you must give me this opportunity today!" With that, I beckoned Sakurai Sakichi in. "Tell me to go down and prepare the kitchen! I want to entertain His Excellency Nijo with the highest standard, and follow the ancient court etiquette preparations! It's a pity......" I apologized very regretfully: "It's a pity that there are no accompaniments here, it's really slow!" ”

"Your Highness the Stars is polite......" Hararashi Nijo smiled reluctantly, his mind was not here at the moment.

"His Royal Highness Gamo has returned, so it's better to ......," Sakurai reminded cautiously.

"He's back? When is the matter! I turned my head in surprise.

"It was in the early hours of this morning, when the minister saw that he was extremely tired and didn't say anything serious, so he didn't immediately disturb the lord!" He glanced up at my expression. "Do you want your subordinates to ask him to come over right away?"

"Forget it! Let him sleep a little longer, and invite him to the luncheon again! ”