"Noto Guardian."

Li Xiao thought for a moment.

On the other hand, Li Zheng said: "Father, if you become the guardian of Noto, then our Li family can jump to the family of a country guardian daimyo, which is very beneficial to calling on the wealthy families in the territory." ”

Li Xiao nodded after hearing this, and his predecessor Noto guarded Hatakeyama Yoshikei, and after the destruction of Nanao Castle, he stabbed himself in the castle tower.

Hatakeyama Yoshikei died, and the family that was able to ascend Hatakeyama was destroyed.

In the case of this vacant position, Li Xiao, as the actual ruler of Noto, is of course qualified to inherit the protection of Noto.

However, Ashikaga Yoshiaki can also give the post of Noto guardian to the new governor of Takeda as a loop.

And now that he has directly crossed the Takeda family governor and taken the initiative to grant it to Li Xiao, I have to say that Ashikaga Yoshiaki has something behind it.

Li Xiao thought for a moment and said: "Reply to the pardon envoy, just say that it is inconvenient for me to meet for the time being, let Honda Masanosbe, and Takenaka Shigeji receive it for me." And thanked the public palace for its hospitality, and presented 3,000 yuan as a token of gratitude. ”

The samurai was ordered to retreat.

Three thousand yuan is not a small amount, even if it is Maori, a daimyo like Shimazu has never given Ashikaga Yoshiaki such a large reward at one time.

As the saying goes, Ashikaga Yoshiaki wants to gain a lot from Li Xiao, and Li Xiao may not have any plans on the other side.

Li Xiao has now vaguely guessed what Ashikaga Yoshiaki means to woo him, but he still decided to sit still for the time being to see where the bottom line of Ashikaga Yoshiaki's efforts is.

In the main house, Ashikaga Yoshiaki's envoy was talking slowly with Honda Masanobu and Takenaka Shigeharu.

The name of Shigeharu Takenaka, the capture of Inabayama Castle back then, has long been famous, this time the strategy to kill Nobunaga, but also made his fame reach the reputation of one of the world's most resourceful people, and Honda Masanobu as Li Xiao's number one adviser, naturally not Erer.

During the conversation, Shigeharu Takenaka was familiar with all kinds of martial arts systems, which made the envoy feel at home.

Therefore, this Ashikaga Yoshiaki's envoy did not dare to hold his identity, even if he didn't give face to others, he had to look at the face of the three thousand yuan gift sent by Li Xiao.

This Ashikaga Yoshiaki's envoy simply showed a sense of flattery, to be honest, Ashikaga Yoshiaki's current situation is the so-called fallen public side, and he needs to act according to the faces of others, Li Xiao treats him so kindly, which makes him feel Li Xiao's sincerity.

The messenger spoke with the two of them

Then he got up and said goodbye, and said: "Gongfang Palace, I regret Li Danma's retreat, and I hope that Li Danma Shou can come to Junfu City, and Gongfang Palace will definitely be warm." ”

Honda Masashi and Takenaka Shigeji glanced at each other, and Takenaka Shigeji said: "Thank you for the kindness of the Gongfang Palace, but Li Danma Shou is in poor health, and I am afraid that he will not be able to travel far." So please forgive me. ”

When the envoy heard this reply, he frowned, thinking that Ashikaga Yoshiaki personally asked the other party to meet, which was already an extremely high standard, and in the past, the general guardian daimyo was not flattered, and he had to rush to Kyoto all the way.

And now Li Xiao actually put on a score, which made the envoy a little unhappy, but now he also understands that the current shogunate is not the previous shogunate.

Li Xiao's identity is enough for him to hold himself in front of Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

Thinking of this, the envoy said calmly: "In this case, I will go back to Junfu City to restore the Gongfang Palace first, but I hope that Li Dan Ma Shou will recover as soon as possible and go to Junfu and his party as soon as possible." ”

"Of course."

Speaking of which, Shigeharu Takenaka and Masanobu Honda got up together to say goodbye.

And this scene, Li Xiao, who was sitting behind the main house, listened to it, and said secretly in his heart, it seems that Ashikaga Yoshiaki is really sincere enough, so there must be other backhands after that. …,

In fact, as Li Xiaozhi expected, a few days later, Ashikaga Yoshiaki's second envoy came to Li Xiao's mansion again.

This time, it expressed the accident of Ashikaga Yoshiaki visiting Li Xiao's condition, and it was used for another purpose.

It seems that because of the encouragement he received last time, Ashikaga Yoshiaki received 3,000 yuan, and this time he actually reciprocated with Li Xiao's generous gift.

This generous gift not only made Li Xiao himself dumbfounded, but also made Li Xiao's generals dumbfounded.

Shigeharu Takenaka, who was familiar with the shogunate system, looked at Ashikaga Yoshiaki's imperial text, and said to Li Xiaoyan: "But Lord Mamori, the specifications of this ceremony in the Gongfang Hall are not small!" Please be careful. ”

Li Xiao understood the meaning of Takenaka Chongzhi, nodded, and said: "In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when the ritual sacrifice was held, the Son of Heaven was nine, the princes were seven, the doctors were five, and the Yuanshi were three. There is respect and humility in the upper and lower ranks, if the doctor uses seven tripods, and the princes use nine tripods, it is more than the moment. The Gongfang Palace wants me Li Xiaoyue to be on an equal footing with the main family! ”

Or the general daimyo was not too excited when he received such a heavy gift from Ashikaga Yoshiaki, but this time Takenaka Shigeji saw that Li Xiao looked calm as water, and couldn't help but secretly admire, and asked: "Since this is the case, but Lord Mamori, what have you decided to do?" ”

Li Xiao sneered and said: "This generous gift is a curse, and it must not be accepted, the Gongfang Palace's move is a trick to force me to meet you, since this is the case, why am I afraid to see it." ”

Li Xiao turned his eyes to look at the imperial letter that Ashikaga Yoshiaki wrote to him, and sneered, it didn't hurt that Ashikaga Yoshiaki would meet.

Ashikaga Yoshiaki granted Li Xiao six exemptions this time.

One is "Tuyu", that is, a sedan chair painted with eye-catching colors, and this specification can be used by all the daimyo above the guardian generation.

The second is the "chrysanthemum pattern", the royal coat of arms, an incomparable honor.

The third is the "Zhu handle umbrella", which is equivalent to Tu Yu, a symbol of the aristocratic family.

The fourth is the "house number", which can only be called by the famous family among the samurai family, or the lord of the big domain. Even if it's an ordinary guardian daimyo, you can't call yourself one.

If he accepts this title, Li Xiao can call himself "Yakata" in the future, such as the famous assistant Kamakura Gongkata, the Utsunomiya family, the Oda family, the Koyama family, the Satake family, the Chiba family, the Naganuma family, the Nasu family, and the Yuki family, these eight families are collectively called Kanto Yakukata.

When you go out to the Kyozhao Hosokawa family, there is the Upper House Shape Sect Family, and the Lower House Shape Awa Family.

The head of the house can be called the house shape gong, or the house shape hall.

The fifth is the "white umbrella bag".

The sixth is "felt saddle covering".

These five or six are the configuration of the shogunate to protect the daimyo, and the guardian generation is the Tang umbrella bag with a felt saddle.

These six exemptions, compared to the seven exemptions of the Kanto governor Uesugi Kenshin, are only the same as the lishu, whose role is to give orders on behalf of the general, and its effect is second only to the imperial book.

The six exemptions given to Li Xiao by Ashikaga Yoshiaki have exceeded the specifications of guarding the daimyo, and they are the treatment only available to the three leaders of the shogunate.

This was absolutely unimaginable in the past, when the shogunate was highly hierarchical.

For example, Li Xiao's own family, the Takeda family, although he did not have the title of leader, the shogunate also gave the Takeda family governor and quasi-management treatment.

Li Xiaoruo accepted the canonization of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and his status was even higher than that of the main family.

In the eyes of ordinary samurai, this is a great honor, but in Li Xiao's eyes, Ashikaga Yoshiaki simply acted like this to force him to rebel on his own.

"So, Gongfang Palace, please forgive Li Xiao for not accepting His Highness's kindness."

Longhua Temple, not far from Junfu City, this Longhua Temple is not a Ming Temple, and its reputation is far inferior to the surrounding Iron Boat Temple, but Ashikaga Yoshiaki chose to live here because Longhua Temple can see the scenery of Mount Fuji. …,

In a spacious monk's room, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, dressed in a white striped straight down and wearing a black hat, was sitting on a futon.

From Li Xiao's point of view, this Gongfang Palace, whose face is painted with white powder, painted cicada eyebrows, painted black teeth, and running around in all directions, it is difficult to see any of his expressions from the other party's dress.

At the moment, Ashikaga Yoshiakimasa was holding a folding fan in one hand and resting the other hand on his right knee, turning his head to look at the scenery of Mt. Fuji outside the house, and said with a sigh: "Mt. Fuji is really beautiful!" ”

Li Xiao saw that Ashikaga Yoshiaki did not answer his words, and instead talked about the scenery of Mt. Fuji, and knew that this was a way of speaking that was often used by superiors to play tricks.

Li Xiao smiled slightly and said, "The scenery of Mount Fuji is comparable to Lake Biwa in Kyoto, Your Highness." ”

Ashikaga Yoshiaki heard Li Xiao's words, his face froze, he put the folding fan away, looked at Li Xiaoyan and said: "But Ma Shou, what he said is very true, no matter how beautiful Mount Fuji is, it is not as good as Lake Biwa." Unfortunately, the Oda family occupies, and I may never see Lake Biwa again in my life. ”

Li Xiao smiled and said: "Gongfang Palace, why do you say that, now that Nobunaga has been killed by my design, the Oda family will definitely not be the same as it used to be, and His Highness will return to one day." ”

Ashikaga Yoshiaki nodded and said, "But what Mamori said is that killing the traitor Nobunaga is an immortal achievement, so it is reasonable to let Your Excellency be the leader, why do you want to retreat from my appointment?" ”

Li Xiao suddenly thought that when Nobunaga helped Ashikaga Yoshiaki to go to Luo, Ashikaga Yoshiaki also planned to grant Nobunaga, who was said to be from the Hei family, the position of governor, or even deputy general, but in the end he was rejected by Nobunaga.

Nobunaga is right, sometimes this high-ranking official is a trap.

Ashikaga Yoshiaki saw the hesitation in Li Xiao's eyes, and said: "If you are worried that the specifications exceed the main family, then you don't have to worry, Takeda Genji, and my Ashikaga family are the same lineage of the Kawachi Genji, and the three generations of the Takeda family governors are all loyal to serve the shogunate carefully, this time I came to the Takeda family, but also to use their power to eradicate the Oda family and repeat the prestige of the shogunate back then, so no matter who the new governor of the Takeda family is, I have decided to award the position of steward to the other party to show the name of his samurai." ”

"And I only grant you the treatment of the leader, but not the actual position of the leader, which can be assured."

Speaking of this, Ashikaga Yoshiaki saw that Li Xiao did not directly speak out against it, paused and said: "What's more, you are the most powerful retainer of the Takeda family, and after the shogunate, I still need to rely on your strength, with this position in hand, can't you also fight with the main family?" ”

Li Xiao listened to Ashikaga Yoshiaki's words, smiled slightly, thinking that he had finally revealed his fox tail.