Kamioka Castle, in the castle tower.

Li Xiao looked at the Three Rivers warrior who was prostrating in front of him.

The Honda clan, who was born in Honda Masanobu, has been a genealogy retainer of the Mikawa Matsudaira family for generations.

By the time of Tokugawa Ieyasu's generation, the Honda clan was mainly divided into four families: Honda Tadakatsu, Hondo Tsuji, Honda Masanobu, and Honda Hirotaka.

The first three of the above, whether it was Honda Tadakatsu, who was known as the first fierce general of the Warring States, Hontaji, who was known as the one-eyed scarred man (blind eye during the Nagashino War), and the Honnoji Change, or Honda Masanobu, who was the first think tank of the shogunate who joined the Tokugawa family during the Battle of Ogawa (two versions), all three of them became the most meritorious ministers of the Tokugawa family.

Li Xiao remembered that in history, Honda Masanobu was because Mikawa had always had a falling out with Tokugawa Ieyasu, so he ran away angrily, and later went out of Shimatsu Nagahide's door, and it is also said that he participated in the battle between Ishiyama Honganji and Oda Nobunaga.

Thinking of this, Li Xiao suddenly smelled a smell of alcohol from the other party, this person obviously had just drunk alcohol.

Could it be that the mud bombardment country has the habit of drinking first when other people's families are outstanding?

It's like going to a job fair for an interview and getting yourself drunk, which is obviously not emboldening, but a disrespect to the company you are applying for.

No, it is very likely that this letter is only a momentary decision.

And judging from his description, it seems to be very haggard, all the way, Li Xiao thought that the other party had experienced the incident of Sanhe for a short time, and he was also relieved about what he was experiencing now.

"It turned out to be a samurai of the Matsudaira family, may I ask why your Excellency came to the Takeda family?" Li Xiao asked knowingly.

Honda Masashi sighed, raised his head and said, "I have already run away from the lord's house, and now I am a ronin, and I happened to pass by here, and I heard a lot of deeds of my lord, so I came to visit and see if my lord is the person who can be a man of mine Honda Masanshin." ”

Li Xiao's face sank and said: "It turns out that you haven't made up your mind to go out of your own family, otherwise Your Excellency feels that you are too pretentious, and you have reached the point of choosing the master at will. In such a world, there is the master who is willing to take in Your Excellency, although I, Li Xiao, am not talented, but I will not accept such a half-hearted retainer of the main family. ”

Honda Masanobu faced Li Xiao's questioning and explained unhurriedly: "Lord of the city, in troubled times, the king chooses the virtuous minister, and the minister also chooses the wise king, if the retainer is wrong, the lord can punish and expel him from the house. ”

"Generally speaking, if the lord is immoral and unreasonable, his subordinates can advise, but if he does not listen to the advice, his subordinates can choose to run away in order to protect their own righteousness. I came here to see the lord of the city, just to understand each other, so as not to get along unhappily in the future. Of course, if the lord of the city does not agree, he will choose to leave in the next view. ”

Li Xiao shook his head, thinking that this Duozheng letter was really not a good one.

The Benda Zhengxin in his eyes is just like the awesome employees of later generations, relying on their own ability, they can choose their own bosses and frequently change jobs.

Li Xiaoshen said: "Then to say that the Songping Hall is immoral for Your Excellency?" ”

Honda Masanobu shook his head and said, "Lord Castle, please forgive me, although I have already run away, I can't criticize the old lord behind my back. ”

Well, Li Xiao nodded and said, "What kind of person is Songping Palace?" ”

Honda Masanosin thought for a while and said: "Although I have followed the lord since I was a child, oh, no, His Royal Highness Matsudaira, but I don't know him very well, but I can only say that His Royal Highness Matsudaira is a person who is able to endure and restrain himself. The second sentence is a warning to the retainers, the first half of the sentence is 'look upward', and the second half of the sentence is 'not forget your own limits'. ”

"These two sentences are wise sayings, especially the second half of the second sentence, which few people can do today." Li Xiao nodded, and he turned his head to see Honda Masanobu's expression clearly, and he obviously appreciated his words for admiring Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Obviously, although this Honda Masanobu has gone to the master's house, he is still very obedient to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Of course, Li Xiao also deliberately used the way of praising the people who the other party admired, and used the topics that the two people understood together to shorten the distance between the two and win the favor of the other party.

At the same time, Li Xiao also found out that although this Duo Zhengxin was on the run, he still had a little friendship with Tokugawa Ieyasu.

This is also understandable, and after he ran away for more than ten years, he was returned to the Tokugawa family by Okubo Tadashi.

From this, we can see that Tokugawa Ieyasu's personality charm is extraordinary, and of course, this is also an inevitable characteristic of the founding fathers of the past.

If Honda Masanobu is out of the family in the future, if Tokugawa Ieyasu sends a guest to say that day, he will return to the embrace of the Tokugawa family.

That would be very bad for Li Xiao, so that all his secrets would be exposed to the eyes of Tokugawa Ieyasu, what Shengang Silver Mountain, what Western Phalanx, all of which were based on the foundation of the Warring States Period, and would be taken away overnight.

Therefore, if he can't dispel the other party's idea of returning to the Tokugawa family and obey him with all his heart, Li Xiao would rather not accept Honda Masanobu as a subordinate, but also keep his own secret.

Li Xiao thought about how to dispel the idea of Honda Masanobu, if he orchestrated Tokugawa Ieyasu's bad words behind his back, this kind of method would be seen through at a glance with Honda Masanobu's resourcefulness, but he would fall behind.

So it's better to be impartial and speak frankly to the other party.

"Lord Honta, Matsudaira Hall is a respectable person, and I, Li Xiao, have heard of it even as a native of the Ming Kingdom. Presumably, the reason why Your Excellency went out this time is because of what Mikawa has always done. ”

Mentioning this, Honda Masanobu subconsciously dodged his eyes, obviously avoiding himself and refusing to face it.

Li Xiao smiled slightly, it seems that this is where he helped Honda Zhengxin open his heart.

Li Xiao said directly: "I heard that this time the three rivers have always been in the middle of the four families of the Honda clan, Honda Tadatsu, Honda Hiroshi, these three families are all serving the Matsudaira Palace, and Your Excellency, as well as Brother Honda Masashige, are on the side of the Honda Sect. ”

"Because of the difference in beliefs, they are killed by each other with the lord and the same clan, and I think this is the reason why Honda is uncomfortable."

Hearing that Li Xiao was so honest, his hands clenched hard, and his whole face was distorted.

However, Li Xiao pretended not to see it, and continued: "I heard that in the fierce battle between the Ichisho Sect and the Matsudaira family, the monks and soldiers used iron cannons to shoot at the Matsudaira Hall. After saying that, Tsuchiya-sama jumped forward and used his flesh and blood to block the bullets on behalf of Matsudaira Temple, and finally was shot and died. ”

Hearing this, Honda Masanobu suddenly said loudly: "Tsuchiya-sama, abide by his own righteousness, and his actions do not violate the path of loyalty and righteousness, nor do they violate Amitabha, so his death will never fall into the way of animals." ”

Li Xiao smiled and said: "I deeply admire the matter of Lord Tsuchiya, he is abiding by his righteousness, what about Your Excellency?" ”

"Me?" Honda Masanobu was shocked.

Li Xiao continued: "Mikawa has always been defeated in the end, Lord Bee Valley Sadaji, and Your Excellency, please surrender to Matsudaira Palace. Matsudaira was reluctant to agree, but only after Okubo Toshishin's persuasion did he agree. At the time of the surrender, Minetani-sama made three conditions to Matsudaira-den, one was to preserve the territory of all the Matsudaira family soldiers who participated in the rebellion, second, he wanted to restore the temple and the monks to their original appearance, and third, to spare the lives of the main people who participated in the rebellion. ”

"Enough, don't say any more." Honda Masanobu blocked his hand, Huo Ran stood up, and was about to leave.

At this time, Li Xiao said behind his back: "Honda Zhengxin, you can't even listen to me about the original matter, your actions like this are cowardice." ”

Hearing Li Xiao drink like this, Honda Masanobu's footsteps stopped again.

Li Xiao saw Honda Masanobu stop and continued: "Matsudaira Hall agreed to Lord Bee Valley's request at that time, but after the territory was settled, all the large and small temples of the Pure Land True Sect in the territory were destroyed, and the disciples protested to him, but Matsudaira Hall said, I promised to restore the temple to its original state, but those places were originally plains, and after the temple was abandoned, didn't it be restored to the plains?" ”

"It's because of Matsudaira Temple, this betrayal of promises, that made your Excellency decide to leave Mikawa, right?"

Hearing Li Xiao say this, Honda Masanobu's chest couldn't help but rise and fall, and after a long time, he turned around and said: "Lord Li Xiao, you know everything about my Sanhe, does the Takeda family have the heart to forge ahead with Sanhe?" Forget it, it's not my concern, I just want to ask Your Excellency, Your Highness Matsudaira, is it right or wrong to behave like this? ”

Li Xiao smiled and said, "I didn't expect that the wisdom of Ben Duo was so big, but he also asked a stupid question." ”

"Why do you say that?"

"What's right? What's wrong? For Your Excellency, this move of the Matsudaira Hall is a betrayal and a renunciation, so from the perspective of the Ichidaira Temple, of course, it is wrong, but for the Matsudaira Hall itself and the pacification of the territory of Mikawa, the Ichidaira Temple is really an unstable element, and the move of the Matsudaira Hall is indeed right. ”

Honda Zhengxin heard Li Xiao say this, thought for a long time, nodded and said, "Lord Li Xiao, what you said is reasonable. ”

"Honda-sama, I see that you are decadent in appearance and have a bad complexion, and it is obvious that it is difficult to face it because of this matter, please forgive me for speaking bluntly below, for I am convinced that the best way to help a man is to pierce him in the most sore place in his heart. Let him face his weakness instead of running away. ”

"Lord of the Castle." Honda Zheng looked at Li Xiao in faith, his body trembling slightly.

"Honda-sama, no matter whether Matsudaira Hall is right or wrong, your current behavior is to punish yourself for the faults of others, so please cheer up, whether you belong to the Matsudaira family, or go out of my Takeda family, or go out of other daimyo, with your Excellency's decadent appearance, even if you are a foot light, no one wants it."

Honda Masanobu heard Li Xiao say this, and immediately froze in place, and said, "Lord Li Xiao's intentions, I understand now?" ”

After speaking, Honda Masanobu bowed down, slammed on the floor, put his head between the crooks of his arms, seemed to use all his strength, and roared loudly: "Thank you Lord Li Xiao for your words, I am very grateful." ”

After a pause, Honda Masashi said: "In Shimoto Tayahachiro Masanobu, I hereby implore Lord Li Xiao to allow me to go out of the Takeda family and become your direct retainer." ”

(To be continued)