On the first day of our army's siege of Ishibe Castle, the battle in Kita-Omi came to an end.

On June 23, when Asakura Keiken's reinforcements arrived at Kotani Castle, the Oda family had already surrounded Yokoyama Castle and began to siege the castle. However, the terrain of Yokoyama Castle was very dangerous, and there were not many siege troops arranged in front of it, although there were only more than 500 people in the city, for a time it firmly resisted the 30,000 troops of the Oda family. In particular, Nomura Naokaka in the castle was the lord of Kunitomo Village, Sakata County, Omi (later under Hideyoshi, he took the 20,000-stone territory of Kita Omi Kunitomo), and he had more than 100 iron cannons in his hands, which caused a lot of threats and casualties to the siege army.

Seeing this, Nobunaga simply came up with the idea of encircling the point to send reinforcements. He put the three of Nishimino in charge of the main frontal attack, and the rest of the army was scattered one by one on the periphery to lure the Asakura-Asai coalition to attack and conduct the main decisive battle. And he himself was stationed in the dragon's nose at the front of the protrusion, monitoring the open area along the sister river to the north.

The Asakura-Asai coalition reached Daiiyasan in the north on the 26th, and confronted Nobunaga across the Kusano River and the Sister River, only three kilometers from Yokoyama Castle. Nobunaga received the information, but still did not adjust the situation, and the two sides confronted each other for a long time.

By the morning of the following day, the Asakura-Asai coalition had descended the northern foot of Mt. Daii and began to retreat, but then suddenly turned around at midnight and quickly marched towards Oda. Among them, the Asakura army still took the direction of Mita Village between the Kusano River and the Sister River, while Asai Katata, with his familiarity with the terrain, turned several hills southeast one after another, and went around to the left side of Nobunaga's main camp.

In the early morning of the 29th, before dawn, the Asakura family crossed the Ogawa River from the Mita Village area in the northwest direction and marched towards Nobunaga's main camp. At the same time, in the direction of Nomura, on Nobunaga's northeast flank, there was also a shout like a mountain.

It was almost a perfect sneak attack, Nobunaga's main camp was still in the Dragonnose position of the salient, and the main force was all between the Dragonnose and Yokoyama Castle. Nobunaga, who made his fortune with a barrel and narrows, almost went down the old path of his opponent Yoshimoto Imagawa. However, Nobunaga was not Yoshimoto after all, and he immediately retreated quickly, mobilizing Masakai Masasho, the commander of the horse valley, and Ikeda Tsuneko of the main camp to the side, and at the same time sending a messenger to send a messenger to order the reinforcement of the troops. Later, Tokugawa Ieyasu discovered Nobunaga's danger and immediately took the initiative to meet the Asakura army's forces on the Mitamura side.

Sakai Masashi was a senior retainer of Nobunaga, and because of his outstanding performance in Settsu Province when he was in Kamiroku, he was particularly respected in the past two years, and was able to lead Nobunaga's personal guard. Receiving Nobunaga's orders, he and Ikeda Tsuneko's 2,000 men crossed the Ogawa River to meet the enemy, but they were unable to stop the long-standing assault of Asai Akata's spearhead, Isono Yuanmasa. The Sakai team was the first to be defeated, and Sakai Masao's sister-in-law, Sakai Natsune, was killed in battle; Ikeda was quickly defeated by the rout.

The Asai army crossed the sister river and met Kinoshita Hideyoshi. This clever monkey reacted quickly, and when he noticed that there was a change in front of him, although he had not yet seen the messenger, he immediately led his 2,000 men to Nobunaga, and then reached the Ogawara River. However, most of his men were Ashigaru of the Hori family, and his combat power was not high, and his command was inconvenient, and he still failed to stop Isono Yuanmasa, but he successfully won valuable time for the follow-up troops.

Immediately after the top were the 3,000 people of the Shibata Katsu family, and the 1,000-man team of Oda Nobubuchi at the junction of Ise and Owari. Based on my previous preparations, the 1,000-man team of the envelope was very good, and the teaming up with Shibata Katsuya was able to stop Isono Yuanchang. Then, the follow-up troops from both sides also came up and joined the battle group together.

The follow-up troops of this side were mainly 4,000 men of Sakuma Nobumori and 2,000 men of Nagano Fujitsu, and Asai was the main camp of Asai Nagamasa. Together with Isono Yuanmasa, who had been reinforced from Yamashiro Sawa, the total number of people in Asai was about 6,000, while the total number of people arriving in Oda had reached more than 10,000. The situation became unfavorable for Asai Katata.

At this time, the Asakura family, which attacked the Tokugawa family with 3,000 people in an 8,000-strong formation, still did not make much progress. Compared to the Asai family, they have more total numbers and fewer enemies, and they should have been the first to achieve a breakthrough, but their performance was really unsatisfactory.

There were not too many problems with the command of Asakura Keiken himself. He left the Tsuruga clan, which he could not fully control, and attacked with the forces of his direct namesake and the Hao clan, and when he saw that the Tokugawa side was outnumbered, he immediately spread out to both flanks in an attempt to outflank his opponent. The Tokugawa family had no choice but to open the front as well, and the forces immediately became weak, and many places fell into crisis. Seeing this, Tokugawa Ieyasu immediately sent Honda Tadakatsu, Sakakihara Yasumasa, Honda Hirotaka and other gundam reinforcements from the flag team. As a result, Honda Gundam forced a breakthrough head-on, and Sakakihara Yasumasa attacked sideways, which temporarily stabilized the situation. Ikeda Tsuneko, who had retreated earlier, also regrouped his ranks, and seeing that there was no need to worry about the east, he attacked Asakura's left flank west along the sister river to support the Tokugawa side, which was in a bitter battle.

At this time, the sky was already bright, and the three of Xi Minon, who were living on a high place, saw the battlefield situation and immediately withdrew from the siege of Yokoyama Castle. Inaba Ryotsu went to reinforce Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Mamotoshi Ando and Naomoto Fuku, the clan flanked Asai Katata's right flank. This action decided the outcome of the battlefield, and Asai was unable to support it at first, and gradually began to fall into a disadvantage.

In desperation, the Asai family's Endo Naokyo led a few people to replace the Oda family's banner, lifted the head of the military general Mitamura Saemon (son of Mitamura Kunisari of Yokoyama Castle), disguised himself as the Oda family's messenger of merit, and tried to assassinate Nobunaga himself, but was recognized by Takenaka Shigeju in front of Nobunaga and led people to kill him.

On the other hand, the famous generals of the Asakura family, Naokaka Mangami and Naosumi Maga, were taken over, which caused the morale of the Asakura family to plummet, and after being flanked by Inaba Ittetsu, they immediately took the lead in retreating. Soon, Asai also retreated, while Oda and Tokugawa pursued in pursuit in an attempt to expand the victory.

In the end, the Asakura-Asai coalition fled the battlefield at the cost of more than 1,800 killed and 5,500 wounded, and Oda was victorious. Although it also paid a lot of casualties, it achieved a huge strategic advantage. Seeing the defeat of his own side, Yokoyama Castle quickly opened the castle and surrendered, ceding this key castle that cut off Asai's territory, and causing the Inougami and Aichi counties of the Asai family to fall into the siege of the Oda family...... By the time I returned to Nogashi, Nobunaga had already returned to Mino Province for two days. I arranged the follow-up and ordered someone to escort Sugitani Zenjubo to Gifu to report Nobunaga's victory.

Nobunaga was in a good mood, and it was better for him to speak at this time, even if it was a little out of line, he wouldn't mind. Of course, correspondingly, if he is in a bad mood, then he will not be able to see anything...... Luckily, I don't seem to have encountered it yet.

Regarding the matter of accepting Yamaoka Jinglong and restoring the name of the Yamaoka family, he happily agreed, and then allocated the territory of 4,000 stones. Seeing that he was so good at discussing, I followed up with a request for the transfer of Gamo Fuxiu.

"I heard that this time to pacify Koga County, you let him serve as a deputy general?" He asked me.

"Yes. After all, this time the troops were sent under the banner of venting for Mitsu......"

"It seems that you still can't bear this daughter!" Nobunaga nodded, "In that case, then do as you wish." ”

"Thank you, Lord." I bowed my head and thanked him. Obviously, Nobunaga didn't have any special ideas about this cheap son-in-law.

Even for Mitsu, he doesn't care much. According to his surname, when he adopted his adopted daughter and married the Gamo family, it may have been just out of consideration for the Gamo family. Now that Minami Omi seems to be fine, there is no need to rely on that marriage in particular, so the important surnames of Mitsu and Gamo Fuxiu will be greatly reduced!

"Anything else?" Seeing that I still had no intention of retiring, Nobunaga asked again.

"Yes," I paused, "Your Majesty attacked Koga this time and captured a man named Sugitani Zenjubo......"

Before he could finish speaking, Nobunaga stood up violently.

"Did the people bring it?" He snapped me off.

"Yes, just outside watching."

"Haha!" He looked up to the sky and laughed, "What a blessing that is! …… Hmph, I'll let him know he'll regret it! ”

As he spoke, a sinister anger crossed his face.

"Your Lord...... He knew that he was guilty, and he had prepared poison in advance, and he was now unconscious. If you want to inspect it, please do so as soon as possible. I leaned over to remind him.

"What? Is he dying! Nobunaga asked.

"Yes." I bowed my head and replied.

In fact, I asked Hattori to take poison. As soon as he returned to Mino, he immediately ordered the Koga people who had already joined him to find out the identity of Sugitani Zenjubo, and then drew a picture and offered a reward for his capture. Historically, when Sugitani was captured in Takashima-gun, more than three years had passed since the attack, and Nobunaga was still angry, ordering him to be buried alive on the side of the road, leaving only his head, and everyone who passed by had to use a bamboo saw next to him to see his neck. This type of punishment, known as the saw, was the most brutal form of death in the Middle Ages and the Edo period, and the wounds were not deep, and the victims often had to endure great pain, bleeding for two or three days before dying.

I don't want to see such a cruel punishment. Moreover, if such a punishment had been imposed, I am afraid that it would have caused the tyrannical factor in Nobunaga's body earlier, and everyone would have a lot of sadness.

“…… That's it! Hearing my answer, Nobunaga let out a heavy sigh, "You can deal with it, I don't want to see him!" ”

"Yes." I was secretly relieved.

"Anyway, I've worked hard for you," Nobunaga's face recovered a little, "but why don't you tell me the news before you ask for it?" ”

"Isn't that just a coercion to blackmail the lord?" I bowed down, "Your Majesty would not dare to do such a thing. ”

"Not bad!" Nobunaga nodded with satisfaction, "Then you can go back!" ”

……，…… Soon after, Nobunaga rushed from Gifu to Kyoto to inform Ashikaga Yoshiaki of the victory in the Battle of Ogawa. Subsequently, he issued rewards and adjustments for the generals in Kyoto.

Because of their contribution to helping stabilize Minami-Omi, the Gamo family increased their territory by 10,000 koku. However, as I guessed, Nobunaga believed that the important surname of the Gamo family had declined, and at the same time as the sealing, he revoked his position as the head of Gamo County, and handed over Gamo County to Shibata Katsuie along with the newly recovered Kanzaki County, and Gamo Kenhide himself became Katsu of the Katsuya along with Goto Takaharu, Nagata Keihiro, and Ogawa Yutada, who had taken refuge in the new refuge.

Koga-gun was handed over to Nobumori Sakuma, and there were Shigeyasu Nagahara, Keio Ikeda, Keitaka Yamaoka, and Kenmori Shinto. Although Shigetsuna Aochi was in Kurita-gun, he was allocated to Mori Konari of Shiga County, and Yamanaka Nagasoshi who was subjugated by Koga County was allocated to Shibata Katsuie.

Mori was ordered to attack Takashima-gun, supported by Nobutaka Takeda and Nagahide Niwa of Wakasa. In addition, Nobunaga's younger brother, Oda Nobuji, the lord of Owari Nofu, was transferred to Omi-Shiga Prefecture and became Mori Kasei's strength.

Also transtitled are Shibata Katsuya and Niwa Nagahide. Shibata Katsuie was officially awarded the title of Nosu Prefecture, while Niwa Nagahide was awarded the title of Omi Aichi Prefecture. In this way, most of the generals above Owari Manseki were transferred out, except for Oda Nobubo and Oda Nobuyuki in Kaisai Prefecture, Ikeda Tsuneko in Harukai-kohan Prefecture, and Mizuno Nobumoto and Saji Kokuro (Saji Nobukata's widow and Nobunaga's nephew), all of the remaining six prefectures became Nobunaga's direct leaders.

What is more special is Takahashi Ichi-gun of Sakuma Nobumori, which nominally belongs to Owari, but in fact it is a territory that was previously stolen from Kamo County in Mikawa Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu may be depressed! Originally, Sanhe was so high that the stone was so high, and there was such a piece of fertile land missing all of a sudden, but it could not be recaptured, and the righteous brother did not turn a blind eye to it...... Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Takigawa Kazuki were also reused, and the two received 35,000 and 15,000 koku respectively from Nishimino Haguri County. Takigawa Kazuki served as the representative of Omi Inu-jo-gun, and the raiders Inoukami and Yamashiro; Kinoshita Hideyoshi served as the county representative of Sakata County, and used Yokoyama Castle as a base to guard the Asai family.

For Kinoshita Hideyoshi, it has been a double blessing lately. First, he served as the county representative and became the general of his family; The second is that he left a side room in Kyoto and gave birth to a boy for him.

After receiving the news of the production of the side room, Kinoshita Hideyoshi was overjoyed, and took the side room back to his home in Gifu in a grand manner, and held a naming ceremony for the child, naming him Ishimatsumaru.

The naming ceremony is a very important ritual of the samurai, not only is it more cumbersome, but the child has to accept the celebration and allegiance of the retainer at the ceremony, which is generally aimed at the lord's son-in-law. For example, of my children, only Keijiro was born with such a ceremony. Obviously, Hideyoshi decided to treat this child as a concubine, and no longer expected Ning Ning to give birth to an heir.

Hearing this news, I couldn't help but think, what would Ning Ning think, and what would Treasure Pill think, as an adopted son?

Not only that, but he also sent out invitations all over the place, inviting colleagues to participate in the children's full moon celebration.

If it makes sense to hold a naming ceremony for Ishimatsumaru, this full moon celebration is very unceremonious. In the samurai, there is no such thing as a full moon celebration, and this etiquette, which only exists in peasant families, is a disguised act of asking for help. That is to say, because the child needs to be cared for, the mother cannot participate in labor for a period of time, so that there is one more mouth, one less hand, and the family's financial situation cannot support it, so it is necessary to rely on this etiquette to collect gift money, so as to support the deficit during this period.

As a lord of fifteen thousand stones and a county lord, he actually held this ceremony, which is simply ridiculous and generous, and he was disgraced to Hokkaido.

I can imagine that Sasa Naimasa and other people who have always been on bad terms with Hideyoshi will definitely scoff when they hear the news, and comment contemptuously: "Hmph, it's really a hillbilly from a farmer......

But as a close colleague, I, Niwa Nagahide, Maeda Toshiie, Sawaki Yoshiyuki and others naturally still want to give him face and send a heart. It's just that I can't help but wonder, Hideyoshi will definitely not be able to bypass Ning Ning in such a thing, and Ning Ning is known as virtuous, why didn't he stop such a faux pas?

Just as I was thinking this, Nene suddenly came to visit the Kira family Jinya in Gifu...... I'm really thinking about something!

"Mrs. Ning Ning, I'm really embarrassed! Caicai didn't come, she is now seven or eight months pregnant, and it is inconvenient to move. "I thought she was here to find Nana.

Ning Ning smiled, and inadvertently showed a look of envy on her face: "I know, congratulations to the two of you...... Actually, I came here specifically to find Master Xuanjing. ”

"Looking for me?" I asked curiously.

"Yes," Ning Ning knelt on the floor and nodded, suddenly clasped his hands and leaned down to bow to me, "Lord Xuanjing, although it is very presumptuous...... However, tomorrow's full moon celebration, can I ask you to send 5,000? ”

"Five thousand? As gift money? I thought I had misheard, so I couldn't help but repeat the question. This is equivalent to a year's output of Hideyoshi's Haguri Prefecture's Sumamata Territory, and it can only be achieved after his recent increase. actually asked for such a high gift money for the full moon celebration of the son of the side room, or Ning Ning, who was in the main room, made a request...... What's wrong with the world?

"Exactly." Ning Ning replied.

“…… Okay, I'll just agree," for Hideyoshi's sake and Nene herself, I quickly agreed to her request, "Mrs. Nene please, get up." ”

"That really helps! Thank you so much...... In the future, I will definitely let His Highness pay it back! Ning Ning said happily.

"May I ask, why do you need so much money?"

"Because His Highness has recently served as the county ......," Ning Ning replied, and then said something.

It turned out that the monkey held the full moon celebration this time to collect gift money and support the deficit. And the reason for the deficit is because he served as the county governor of Sakata County.

If you want to explain this matter in detail, you have to start with the fiscal policy of the Oda family; And the fiscal policy of the Oda family can be traced back to me.

In this era, the income of the lord can be roughly divided into three parts, one is the income of the lord's estate, the second is the tax revenue of the castle town, and the third is the income of the temple. How to manage these inputs, the system of this era is very confusing. For example, in the Oda family, Niwa Nagahide was in charge of the food in the territory, but the management of the territory was in charge of the official, and the change of the territory required Nobunaga to draw it out himself, and then the right pen gave a detailed explanation, and when there was a dispute, it was necessary to get in front of Nobunaga.

The management of temples and shrines was even more chaotic, and according to the office system of the Muromachi shogunate, Buddhist temples and shrines were managed separately (temple family administration, community family administration), separate management of each sect and sect (Nanto commission, Yamamon commission, etc.), and separate management of monkhood priesthood, temple community leaders, and monzen townspeople; Also, because of the involvement of marriages and funerals, all the household registers of the territory are also managed by the temple, but litigation is another matter; There are also some large temples and shrines with their own privileges, which should also be treated differently (do not practice...... In many cases, for various reasons, there may be a temporary creation or abolition of a position, and then a temporary one may become permanent.

These issues are extremely cumbersome and cumbersome. In order to avoid arguing, as early as when I was in Xiejiang Castle, I set up three special duties to manage the affairs and income of the territory, the castle town, and the temple. Among them, Kanding is responsible for territorial affairs, and the income is called annual tribute, which is generally grain; The castle town is responsible for the affairs of the castle town, and the income is called tax money; The temple is responsible for the territory of the temple and the income is the tax of the town in front of the temple and the service money of the farmers in the temple and the service money of the farmers in the temple area. The three commissions are in the first place with the survey and the commission, and at the same time the prime minister is responsible for money and food, after all, the territory is the foundation. In my Mie Prefecture, this position is currently held by Kazutoyo Yamauchi, so he can become one of Keijiro's assistants.

Niwa Nagahide, who was in charge of the Oda family, learned about my system and immediately suggested that Nobunaga promote it in the territory. Nobunaga also found the system to be very convenient, much more convenient than the system in place at this time and at home, and quickly took the suggestion and made some additions. One of the most important ideas was to link the Three Missions with temporary duty.

There are three types of temporary positions set up by the daimyo, such as the guardian generation, the county generation, and the castle generation, which are used to garrison the front line or digest the territory. Normally, daimyo only set up castle generations at most, but Nobunaga had too much land to digest, so many county generations were set up, and even me, the guardian generation.

Then, Nobunaga stipulated that the castle town could be set up to administer the castle town and collect taxes; The county government set up castle town commissions and temple shrines to manage the castle towns and temples in the county; The guardian is set up with three commissions, and the extra is the direct leader of the guardian (Nobunaga himself) in the management domain. And the income they receive is used to supplement military spending.

Among these three types of service, the castle has the highest priority, which means that if there is a castle, the income of the castle town is used by him as military expenses, and even the county of the prefecture and the guardian of the country cannot interfere; The second is the county generation, and the income of the temple shrines and castle towns in the county is not interfered with by the guardian generation.

However, after all, these revenues were only supplements, and to complete Nobunaga's tasks, they mainly relied on the income of the Acting Officer's own domain. In this way, the monkey is tragic.

As the county representative, the Yokoyama City where he is located, not only has no income, but he has to pay for repairs and maintenance, otherwise the shallow well will come over, and his life will be over. To add insult to injury, after Nobunaga's sealing, the Horiya domain occupied almost the entire Sakata Prefecture, and he had no right to interfere with all the revenues from these places - as Hideyoshi's strength, the Horiya was only responsible for providing military forces under his command.

Therefore, his castle and town commissions and temple shrines were simply decorations, and he could hardly obtain any military supplements. And his own territory, which is only 15,000 stones, is responsible for guarding the Asai family, and maybe even the Asakura family—this is a typical little donkey pulling a big carriage.

He is now poor, poor to death. Poor to the point of ignoring the lord's face, learning from the poor peasants to ask for help for the children's full moon celebration...... "Why don't you ask the lord or me for help?" Hearing Ning Ning's outpouring, I couldn't help but sympathize with the monkey. As the person with the highest income in the family except for Nobunaga, I basically didn't worry about money, how could I have thought that the monkey would add territory and become a county representative, but he would be poor like this?

"Your Highness said that perhaps this was the test that the lord had given him, and that if he had sought help at once, the lord would consider him incapable of taking on the responsibilities of the county, and might have relieved him of his service...... As for Lord Xuanjing, His Highness said that he had already made enough trouble, and if it was spread out, the lord would still doubt his ability. Ning Ning said eloquently.

"I understand," I nodded, and couldn't help but ask, "Regarding the matter of Ishimatsumaru's mother and son, doesn't Mrs. Ning Ning mind?" ”

"How could you not mind!" Ning Ning shook her head with a wry smile, "However, this is also something that can't be helped...... Luckily, I still have Treasure Pill, he's a very good and obedient boy! ”

As she spoke, a loving smile appeared on her face.

"Oh yes!" I replied casually, and then I thought about the competition at the dinner party at the beginning of the year.

The child sent out by Xiujing did perform very well. But to say that he is obedient...... Probably listening to Ning Ning alone.

In addition, Hideyoshi did not ask me for help, and perhaps there was another reason. Treasure Pill was originally cultivated as a sister-in-law, but now it has been replaced by a newborn son of the side room; Not only that, but Ning Ning was also thrown aside. As Treasure Pill's uncle, as well as Ning Ning and his main marriage, he definitely thought that I would mind very much.

If he thinks so, he really wrongs me. Anyone will have a problem, and I have long known his lustful surname and dedication to his own bloodline.

If you don't report your expectations in the first place, what is there to mind?

……，…… On the full moon celebration the next day, several of us close to the people arrived as promised, in addition to several wealthy families and forces in Sakata County, and even Hideyoshi's retainers. Needless to say, Hideyoshi has always been good at mobilizing the atmosphere. However, with Ning Ning's request and explanation, I focused on observing his face, and then I really saw some doorways.

The retainers' salaries were distributed by Hideyoshi, and their economic situation would not be too good, and Hideyoshi did not expect much from them.

Among the wealthy families in Sakata County, the territory of the Horiya family has reached nearly 100,000 koku, and now it has been allocated to Hideyoshi's subordinates, but it is extremely generous to give a generous gift, which makes Hideyoshi's face a little better.

Among several colleagues, Niwa Nagahide is in charge of the center, and he also serves as a county representative, so he can roughly understand Hideyoshi's difficulties. His gifts were also very rich, a bag of seven or eight kilograms of gold, worth more than 500 yuan, which made Hideyoshi show a touched expression.

And when I came in, Hideyoshi clearly had certain expectations. However, I only took out a white envelope, which made him very depressed, and he could not hide his disappointment.

"Isn't it? Xiujing, are you so stingy? Yoshiyuki Sawaki immediately shouted.

"What's in there?" Niwa Nagahide asked, probably seeing a clue. With my status, net worth, and bold surname, the gifts I give will never be lower than his.

"What else could it be, but some auspicious prayers." I replied with a smile.

Hearing me say this, Hideyoshi was not disappointed. He accepted the gift with a smile and graciously placed me in the first seat.

I hurriedly excused myself and sat down with Niwa Nagahide on the pretext that it was a private meeting and only about age—but naturally I couldn't completely ignore it, and in the end I sat down in the second seat opposite Nagahide.

After gathering for more than half an hour, everyone dispersed and left, and before they walked far, Kinoshita Hideyoshi suddenly chased out: "His Royal Highness Xuanjing, please wait!" …… And His Royal Highness Changxiu, please stay and talk for a while. I just took on the heavy responsibility of the lord, and I have something to ask the two of you! ”

"Really?" Niwa Nagahide stopped, and I knew what was going on. The rest of the Maeda Toshiie and the others thought they were really going to talk about official business, so they either nodded or owed goodbye to us.

When he returned to Hideyoshi's Jinya, he immediately knelt down in front of us and solemnly expressed his gratitude: "I am very grateful for the support of the two of you this time. ”

"Hehe, Hideyoshi, you'll see the outside world when you say that. They are all old colleagues from the last ten years, and they are all working for the lord! Niwa Nagahide smiled calmly.

"Yes, what His Highness Changxiu said is true." I laughed and echoed his opinion.

"In short, the affection of the two will be remembered in my heart," Kinoshita Hideyoshi gave another salute and looked at me in particular, "There is one more thing I want to ask you two for together." ”

"Just say it directly, you don't need to be polite." Niwa Nagahide said.

"That's right...... I feel that the Miao word 'Kinoshita' is really not so decent. When he was in charge of Kyoto, he was often despised by some people, both openly and secretly. Therefore, I hope to be able to receive a word from each of the two Miao characters, as the new Miao character of the family. ”

"That's the case, what an honor!" Niwa Changxiu smiled, "The new Miao character, is it called 'Liangyu'?" ”

"Yes. That's exactly what I think in the next! Hideyoshi smiled as well.

"That's ...... Doesn't that seem right? I frowned.

"This, what does His Highness Xuanjing mean?" Hideyoshi looked at me in amazement, "Don't you want to bow down and receive the Miao character?" ”

"Not really, I'm honored too! However, His Royal Highness Changxiu is a senior, and I think it would be better to put his Miao character in front...... So how about being called 'Yuliang'? ”

"Xuanjing, you are too humble." Niwa Nagahide smiled and nodded at me.

"His Royal Highness Xuanjing has a point," Hideyoshi decided, "then, Zaixia will change his name." From now on, it will be called 'Hideyoshi Hara'......"

Before his words fell, the backyard suddenly remembered a call with a strong local accent: "Say Ji, say Ji!" Come and help Xiaozhu, he can't chop so much firewood alone! ”

"Got it, Mom!" Hideyoshi was a little embarrassed, but he also replied loudly with a country accent, sweeping away the solemn atmosphere of Fang Cai.

"Hideyoshi's mother, is she here too?" Niwa Nagahide asked strangely, "However, Hidecho is also the Kankai of the family, do you still need to do these things?" ”

"There's nothing to hide in front of the two of you. Recently, the family's expenses have been a bit tight, so they all collect firewood by themselves and do not buy ready-made ...... And several more people have been added to the family. Hideyoshi smiled bitterly.

"How many people? …… Isn't there only one side chamber? Is it ......?"

Really, there are several side rooms hidden now? This monkey!

"Xuanjing, where did you think of it!" Hideyoshi hurriedly clarified, "It's just the children of a few relatives in the countryside, and my mother brought them over this time." I think they're pretty good, so I'm going to let them grow up to help me! ”

"It's something to celebrate." Niwa Nagahide affirmed Hideyoshi's approach.

In this year, for the samurai family, the most trustworthy thing is the family or relatives.

"Yes," said Hideyoshi, smiling as if he had picked up a treasure, "especially the two named Toranosuke and Ichimatsu, who are very strong and clever...... I'm asking them to learn swordsmanship with Treasure Maru! ”

(To be continued)