Tiger Song's movements are very agile, and his moves are also remarkable, but unfortunately he is too young after all, his strength is insufficient, and his arms are a little shorter.

I didn't fight back - of course, how unkind it would be to fight back against such a child.

Undeterred, he stepped back and straightened his stance, and attacked again...... But five attacks in a row, all of them missed, once I dodged, twice I unloaded, and two times at a more awkward angle, and I relied on my strength to hold on.

That's a good idea, I think. If it was the same strength, I would definitely not be able to exert all my strength in those two tricky attacks, so I would have been able to break through by him. In addition, his tenacious surname of repeated defeats and battles is also commendable.

There was a sound of footsteps outside the door behind him, and it should be that Naoto Ii had returned. So that's it...... Although he didn't hit me, I decided to reward him for his tenacity.

"Mother, are you back?" It may be that he saw the figure of Jing Yi Naohu, and a smile appeared on Hu Song's face. However, the smile quickly turned to a solemn face.

"Oh? His Highness Kamikawa! He suddenly exclaimed respectfully.

What the? Xiao Xia is also here? That's a rarity! As far as I know, Natsu has always been a little hostile to Naotora Ii.

What could she have come for? I couldn't help but turn my head to look - what kind of Xiaoxia is? Only Naotora Ii stood by the door.

Fall for this little ghost! I reacted immediately. It's a pity that at this moment, his chest has been lightly cut with a wooden knife.

"Your Highness the City Lord, I'm offended." Hu Song put away his knife and stood, owing himself to something.

"Alas, I was too negligent...... What a cunning little guy! I shook my head and laughed self-deprecatingly.

"Because in addition to martial arts, I also taught Husong the art of war and strategy." Naotora Ii also smiled.

"I see. Well, it can be regarded as applying what you have learned. I nodded approvingly to Hu Song, "So." According to the agreement, I will give it to you! ”

"Yes! Thank you, Your Highness the City Lord! Hu Song happily pounced on the corridor, grabbed the ribs, and rubbed it with love.

"By the way, Hu Song, you mentioned His Highness Shangchuan just now...... Do you know His Highness Kamikawa? I asked casually.

"I don't know," Hu Song shook his head and replied very frankly, "but I know that His Royal Highness Kamikawa has an opinion about his mother." Therefore, when it comes to His Highness Kamikawa coming to visit, His Royal Highness the Castle Lord must be distracted by surprise. ”

"Oh, how do you think that?" I looked at Naotora Ii. With her surname, she would definitely not say such a thing to her child.

"Because Keitaro Gongzi specially asked me to fight." Hu Song replied.

"Is there such a thing? When? ”

"It was at the end of last year...... I went to Ninomaru that day, and a child came up to me and said, "You're from the Ii family, right?" How about we have a fight? And then we fought. ”

"I see......" I nodded, deciding to ask Toramatsu what he thought of Keitaro. After all, the two of them are likely to be together a lot in the future.

"What do you think of Keitaro?"

"It's not bad. And it's very refreshing, and I don't complain when I'm beaten. Later, a few companions came and angrily wanted to avenge him, but he stopped them...... If they hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known that he was the eldest son of His Royal Highness the City Lord! ”

"Haha! Yes, you two must get along! I smiled with relief.

"What, are you going to let me serve as Keitaro's attendant?" Hu Song asked.

"No," I touched his head, "you go play first, I have something to tell your mother." ”

"Yes." Hu Song answered, and then ran away quickly with the ribs.

During the whole process, Ii Naohu watched with a smile and did not interject. Waiting until Hu Song left, she asked, "Does the lord want his subordinates to teach Keitaro Gongzi?" ”

"Exactly." I motioned for Ii Naotora to sit down in front of me, "Keitaro has turned five years old, and it's time to learn the way of the samurai." I hope you can train Keitaro to be an excellent military general like you did with Toramatsu. ”

"General...... Is it? Jing Yi Naohu sat down in front of me thoughtfully, and then nodded, "Your Majesty understands what the lord means." It's just a military general loyal to the governor, right? ”

"Yes!" I nodded my head as well.

"Your Majesty will do your best to live up to the expectations of your lord." She assured me earnestly.

"Please, I'll be relieved." I smiled with relief, but couldn't help but look back.

It's really strange, why didn't the servants come out to serve? If it's me who came here and haven't seen me before, so that the people are a little slack, there should always be someone to greet the head of the family when he comes back!

"I'm really sorry to neglect my lord. Your Majesty will go and fetch the tea set. Seeing my movements, Naoka Ii understood.

"What, isn't there a maid at home?" I asked curiously. She has a territory of 3,000 stones, and I also give an annual salary of 350 yuan, so I won't be unable to afford to hire a subordinate.

"Because Kang Yong and Chong were in Virvy City, there were only me and Hu Song here, so there were no subordinates, and only a few widows of retainers from Yuanjiang were accepted to live in the backyard for regular sprinkling...... Please wait. Naohu explained and walked quickly into the main house.

By the time she came out again, she had changed into a plain kimono and had a tray of tea sets, a small stove, and a jug in her hands.

"Oh, would you like to treat me to tea? It's such a solemn thing, what an honor! "Looking at her new outfit, my eyes almost lit up.

"It's rare for the lord to come, why is it so lazy?" She replied with a smile, then knelt down facing the courtyard and began to cook the tea.

Fetch water, start a fire, wash dishes, make tea...... Her movements are unhurried, like flowing water. During this period, Xiujing actually entered the courtyard, maybe there was something important to report, because the information of the Hattori family and Tsuya was in his hands. However, when he saw Naohu Jing cooking tea, he didn't bother him and sat down silently with me at the guest seat next to me.

Soon, a bowl of turquoise tea was placed in front of me.

"You're welcome." I held the bowl flat on my right palm, stroked the bowl with my left hand, and took three sips in a row. Then, I wiped the water marks on the edge of the bowl with my thumb and handed it to Xiujing next to me.

"It's really annoying...... Xiujing bowed to Ii Naotora and then took three sips as well.

"Not bad...... Xiujing nodded and put the bowl back in front of Jing Yi Naoto, "Thank you, Your Highness Naoto, for your hospitality." ”

"Your Highness Xiujing is polite," she smiled, "Actually, I haven't cooked tea for a long time, and few people usually come to visit." ”

There's no way around it. Although she is a colleague, she is a female surname after all, so everyone naturally will not come to disturb her. And, although her abilities have been unanimously recognized, some rumors have not subsided.

"It's quiet, but sometimes it seems a little empty." I sighed.

"Fortunately, Hu Song is a little unaccustomed to it, and often runs out to play. It's a child, after all. When it comes to Tiger Song, there is a loving expression on Ii's face.

It's the same with adults...... With that in mind, I decided to try to persuade her.

"Naoto, do you remember the waka I wrote to you for Yoshiyuki in Mikawa?"

"Of course I remember," Ii Naotora looked at me, "time flies so fast!" Now His Highness Ryono's children have been born...... I heard it's a girl? ”

What a delicate person. As soon as I got up, she understood what I was going to say, and vaguely expressed her prevarication.

But I still want to continue to persuade her: "So, what about the one I wrote for you?" ”

"How can you stay before a flower, and when you see a flower falling...... Right? Jing Yi Naohu groaned slowly, "It's rare that the lord understands the mood of his subordinates, and he can understand it, I'm so grateful." ”

"But what about after the flowers fall?" I turned my head to look at the cherry blossoms floating in the courtyard, "...... You can't just drift away and die. After all, flowers fall and knots are the way of nature......"

"Lord!" Hearing me say it so obviously, although her surname is open-minded, she can't help but blush slightly.

"Anyway, Zhihu might as well think about it."

“…… The lord consults with his subordinates in this way, which is a sign of respect for his subordinates. But how about two days of consideration? ”

"It's all up to you," I stood up with a smile, "It's really rewarding to visit today, thank you." ”

Well, it's really rewarding. Although I lost a handful of top-grade ribs, neither Tiger Song nor Zhihu disappointed me. In addition, Keitaro's performance is also very satisfying to me.

......,...... "Is there anything important?" "Walking out of the house of Ii's house, I asked Xiujingdao.

Xiujing didn't answer, but asked me, "Brother just now, was he asking His Highness Zhihu for marriage?" ”

"How could you think that!" I was very surprised.

"The elder brother said that he wrote a song to His Royal Highness Naotoka, and then persuaded His Highness Naohu to marry, and said that it was very fruitful...... Isn't this a courtship? Xiujing looked even more surprised than me, "His Royal Highness Naohu also understands what his brother means, right?" And there was no refusal, just said to think about it for two days......"

"This ......," I stammered.

What a meow he meows! Why is it so ambiguous? And the language habits, why are they so subtle? The so-called belly art, the so-called hints, it's not fun to play wrong!

Seeing my expression, Xiujing understood that both he and Naoto Ii would be wrong about what I meant. However, he thought about it for a while, and immediately persuaded me again: "If His Highness Zhihu agrees, why don't you make a mistake?" It is also a good thing for the family to strengthen the bond in this way. ”

“…… Really? "I thought about it and felt that what Xiujing said was indeed very reasonable.

Ii Naotora and I, although the relationship between the lord and the courtier, is also a confidant between each other. I can fully understand her surname and ambitions; As a modern person, I'm used to treating people as equals, and I've never been self-conscious about Fujihachi, Zuo, and Hideyoshi, even with Nobunaga, just like a like-minded and tough boss, which Naotora can feel. Although she couldn't fully understand this, she took care of my mood when we got along, and tried to be calm, which made me feel very comfortable.

Maybe because of this acquaintance, Ii Naohu really looked at me differently, so he considered giving up his persistence! And if Jing Yi Naohu agrees, marrying her will be able to include the Jing family, which is definitely a good thing for my Kira family.

Of course, Jing Yi Naohu may still insist on her idea, but I, as the lord, "begged" her like this, so that she could not clearly refuse, so I used the need to consider it as an excuse...... If that's the case, it's better to act as if nothing happened.

I secretly did this in my heart.

"Let's put this matter down for now!" Now that I've figured it out, I'm no longer dwelling on it, "Tell me about you." ”

"Yes...... I just received news from Gifu that the main hall intends to reach an agreement through the Asai family and the Asakura family, and instead support Yoshiaki-sama as a general, and then raise troops to go to Luo! ”

"Isn't there a righteous Lord Zhou in the main family? Why bother to serve Lord Yoshiaki again? I said to myself.

"It seems that it is because the Imperial Court has shown special support for Yoshiaki-sama," Hidekyo thought for a moment, "Last month, Ashikaga Yoshiei's shogun announced that the envoy of the Imperial Court was Yamashina-sama, who had stayed in Komaki Mountain. Later, Yamashina-sama received Yoshiaki-sama's envoy at his home and issued a decree to promote Yoshiaki-sama to the rank of the fourth......"

Oh, there is indeed such a thing, the imperial court did support Yizhao in this way, which was recorded in "Yan Jiqing". At that time, although Yoshiei became a shogun, his rank was still from the fifth rank, and he remained at this level, and after his death, he was not posthumously given the high official position of a left minister or a minister of Taisei like the rest of the Muromachi shoguns.

In the eyes of the imperial court, which attaches great importance to inheritance and tradition, Yirong was born in a branch and practiced his position when his lineage was still alive, and the orthodox surname is very debatable. It is precisely because of this that the imperial court will have such a move. Of course, Yoshiaki's cousin, who was Guan Bai at the time, must have helped.

With the attitude of the imperial court as support, and from the lineage of the Ashikaga family, Yoshiaki does have the reputation of fighting against General Yoshiei. In this position, the Yizhou born in the side room is still a little worse.

However, it has already been the first time to welcome the righteous week! How to arrange him now? Do you want him to return to Kinkakuji as an abbot according to the tradition of the Ashikaga family?

According to Nobunaga's surname, he definitely did such a thing. In his opinion, whether it is Yizhao or Yizhou, it is just a golden signboard. Since you can only hit one piece, it is natural to choose a more dazzling one. As for the ones that he didn't need, he didn't bother to pay attention to them. Lin Xiuzhen, Sakuma, father and son, who were later exiled, were victims of his attitude.

If things get to that point, what should I do first of all? Is it to fight hard for Yoshishu according to morality, or is it to obey Nobunaga and abandon Yoshishu as well? Let's not say how much this is detrimental to the image of faith and righteousness that I have always upheld, even I will hesitate in my heart.

Perhaps, it can still be fought for Yizhou, after all, Yirong is not long in life. As long as it drags on for these few months, Yizhou will be able to ascend smoothly. His orthodox surname was much stronger than Yoshiei's, and he also had a lot of connections in the imperial court, and with the support of the Oda family, he was able to easily gain a foothold.

At that time, as the first person to welcome the shogun, the credit for the historical Akechi Mitsuhide will be completely mine, and I will gain great prestige in Kinai. After that, the Oda family will definitely have my place in the reign sequence of the Kinai......

(To be continued)