"Then the foreign minister replied to His Royal Highness Kingo," Before I could speak, Usuki quickly bowed to Nobunaga and settled the matter, "Thank you for such a good intention!" ”

"In this way, Otomo Kingo can rest assured!" Nobunaga said, his face showing a little tiredness, "For specific things, just contact this guy directly!" ”

"Yes. The minister retired. The mortar quickly saluted and left.

"My lord, what is this?" Although I noticed Nobunaga's expression, there are some things that I can't ask in person, "Isn't it true that the family wants to be at peace with the Maori family?" ”

"It's just a side room!" Nobunaga waved his hand disapprovingly, "Moreover, the main family and the Mori family will go to war sooner or later." Forming a cause first also means taking precautions...... There are also a lot of small actions from the Maori family. ”

"Your Majesty understands." I bowed my head and obeyed," your majesty retired. ”

"Well, you can go back now and finish this," Nobunaga nodded, "Also, arrange things at home." After the wedding, if the Mori family sends someone to inquire, I will transfer you back to Kyoto and sort out the central affairs with Nagahide...... Naomasa should have mentioned this to you, right? ”

"Yes." I bowed my head and replied. It turned out that Nobunaga had agreed in advance to mention this matter to me that day, so it's no wonder he dared to reveal so much of the inside story to me.

Nobunaga's timing was a very good choice. When the Mori family sent a faction, Nobunaga pushed me back to Kinai, and not only did not damage the harmony with the Mori family, but instead released great sincerity to the Mori family. Moreover, my heart is much better, which shows that Nobunaga is not trying to freeze me, but only to return to the central council for the time being, and in the event of a war with the Mori family, I will still be reused by virtue of this kinship with the Otomo family.

Even when intervening in Kyushu, this kinship is useful.

Although before Nobunaga defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto, Otomo Yoshizhen (Sorin), who was not yet thirty years old, was already the guardian of the three kingdoms of Bungo, Bunzen, and Chikuzen, and was replaced by General Yoshiki as the Kyushu Explorer, and the position was replaced by the four Shimozaemon governors, but since the Battle of Imayama the year before last, Saga Castle was guarded by 5,000 people of the Ryuzoji family with 60,000 troops, failed to conquer it for half a year, and was attacked and retreated by Nabeshima Nobuo (Naoshige) Qi, the power of the Otomo family has begun to slowly shrink. For some time to come, Kyushu will be the stage for Ryuzoji Takanobu until the Shimazu family rises and kills Ryuzoji Takanobu and forces the Otomo family into a desperate situation.

At that time, the Otomo family asked Nobunaga and me for help, which was not impossible.

Perhaps, let the daughter who is a Catholic leave the fate and marry the important ministers of other daimyo as concubines, Otomo Sorin, who is in charge of exploring the topic of Kyushu, will be a little emotional. But now that the Otomo family is in a bad situation, and the Utsuki, who is in the middle of the word, is one of the most important ministers in the family, he will probably still agree. Now the Oda family is the overlord of Kinai, and the status of the first important minister in the family is naturally not to be underestimated, not to mention, the Tosa Yoshira family is now a high-ranking martial artist with five or three kirichi side patterns, and it is in the trend of coming out.

According to the original trajectory, when Ichijo Kaneda's attempt to restore the territory failed, he would also let Janet break up with Ichijo Kanesada and marry Kiyota Zhentada of the Otomo clan (who had heard of this man?). Now it's only three or four years in advance...... Although at that time, Ichijo Kaneji had also joined the Catholic Church, and according to the doctrine divorce was not allowed. However, having lost its use value, Otomo Sorin's will not care about this obstacle.

In other words, I was able to unite with that Princess Janet only because I had a lot of value for the Otomo family, and Janet had room for use with Oda Nobunaga.

- After all, it's a troubled time in the Warring States period!

……，…… The wedding with Princess Janet of the Otomo family is relatively chic in this era. The wedding was held at the Nakamura Imperial Palace, and the relatives were sent off by Usuki Kansu and the commander of the Otomo family's Bungo Naval Army, Wakabayashi Jinxing, and the Otomo family's Bungo Imperial Army, and the Kanie Bei, led by Yoshira Kinsada and Wasuka Masakatsu, were in charge of the defense. Because of the insistence of the Otomo family, the wedding was held very grandly, which was not inferior to the etiquette of the general samurai family to marry the main house; Moreover, also because of the insistence of the Otomo family, Janet did not wear a white bridal dress, but a European-style wedding dress. This may be difficult for ordinary people to accept, but I don't care, and when I see Janet in a wedding dress, dressed in a complicated European-style retro corseted breast-length dress, holding a bouquet of purple jasmine, I even have a familiar feeling of traveling through time and space.

In the eyes of the Otomo family, it is clear that I am accommodating them. Although Usuki and Wakabayashi were not Catholics, they were still happy with my attitude towards Janet, and they were always very cooperative with our arrangements, and their attitude was very gentle and polite.

The day after the wedding, Usuki and Wakabayashi returned to Otomo's house satisfied. I explained to Yoshira and Wasuka Masakatsu, and I also left Tosa and returned to Awajisu Honjo.

Xiao Xia didn't come out to greet her, maybe she was a little dissatisfied...... I smiled and shook my head, and arranged Janet and the maid I brought with me on the second floor of the Honmaru Castle Tower as soon as possible, and then went upstairs to find Konatsu. However, I soon realized that something was wrong, there was no residence on the third floor, there was no study and quiet room on the fourth floor, and Konatsu was no longer in the castle tower.

"Where's Mrs. Xiaoxia!" I went back to the third floor, grabbed a maid and asked.

"Your Highness, Madame quietly left Zhouben City with the princess a few days ago," the maid knew my surname, and she was not too afraid, but nervousness was inevitable," Madame ...... Madame also said, "Give this city to Her Highness's new lady......"

"So, did Madame say where to go?" I pressed her up.

"This ...... Little maid doesn't know! ”

"Is that so," I said, waving my hand, "you go down first!" ”

"Yes." The maid quickly left my sight.

I sat down on the floor and couldn't help but sigh. Xiao Xia will mind this matter, I thought of it in advance, among the several wives, she is the only one who will be like this, this is due to the unrestrained natural surname since childhood...... But I didn't expect that she would run away from home to protest.

Where will she go? I thought hard.

Mie Castle will not, there is a vegetable there, which can partially suppress her; It is very likely that Shengtong Temple Castle is there, and her child Keitaro is there, but if you want to go to Katsutsuji Castle, you must go through the navy of Iwamatsu Jingding, and Iwamatsu Jingding is an important minister with whom she has a lot of origins, and will definitely advise her, and besides, when Iwamatsu Jingding escorted me back, I didn't mention this matter.

Then there are only two places, one is Yura Castle with a beautiful view, and the other is Yangyikan in the south. At present, Xiujing is in Ninomaru in Sumoto Castle, and Yura Castle only has Miya, Yoshihime Nagano and a few children, if she doesn't say that she left secretly, Miya will only receive her happily; Of course, it is also possible that Yangyikan has an elegant environment and pleasant scenery, similar to the environment in which Natsu grew up, so it is very much to her liking.

Perhaps, the surname in Yangyiguan may be larger. Since she minded Janet, she probably wanted to be alone with me!

Thinking of this, I went back to the second floor, comforted Janet a few words, handed over the newly adopted Tsuno Iwahime to her, and left Sumoto Castle with Miyata Mitsuji, Joto Kazumi and other attendants on the grounds of official business.

Xiao Xia is really in the Yangyi Museum. She didn't bring any maids, only the inseparable Thousand Hands Ji accompanied her. In addition, there is Yanyu Yansheng, who teaches six-year-old Senju Ji to learn swordsmanship, while taking two disciples to serve as Xiao Xia's bodyguard.

When he saw me at the end of the corridor, Natsu's eyes clearly sparkled. At first she seemed to want to run as fast as she could, but then stopped.

"It's not a small shelf!" I had no choice but to take the initiative to walk up to her, "As soon as I returned to Zhouben City, I rushed over non-stop...... You're sorry that you don't even want to take these steps? ”

"Yes. The concubine body is very happy! Xiao Xia showed a bright smile, "Actually, the concubine also wanted to run forward just now...... However, the concubine is pregnant! ”

"Really? Then this trip is not unjust! I smiled and reached into her lower abdomen.

"How can it be so easy to see," Xiao Xia said angrily, but pressed my hand on his lower abdomen, "It's only been two months, and the concubine only knew about it a while ago." ”

"In other words, it was the time when I went to Tosa?" I suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

"Yes! At that time, His Highness was marrying a new lady! Xiao Xia rolled her eyes, "Thinking that for the next period of time, I will have to watch His Highness and the new lady make love every day, and the concubine body will simply let the city out, and she will not be out of sight and out of mind!" ”

"As for this," I had to explain to her, "the main thing is that there is an order from the main hall, and I really can't excuse it...... Anyway, I won't snub you because of this, you really don't have to mind too much. ”

“…… Never mind! , this is not the first time that the concubine has encountered such a thing! Xiao Xia was silent for a moment, trying to show a smile, "This time, His Royal Highness can understand the concubine's intentions, and the concubine is already very satisfied with coming over so quickly." ”

"I understand," I nodded, "I'll be here with you for the rest of the day!" ”

"Really?" Xiao Xia looked at me in surprise.

"Really." I nodded earnestly again.

Anyway, Nobunaga's order is coming, and I'm going to Kyoto to work soon, maybe I won't even be able to make it back from Xiaoxia's birth, so I'll apologize to her in advance for this time!

……，…… In the past half a month, I have been staying in Yangyikan to accompany Xiao Xia, and sometimes Hou and his attendants go hunting in the nearby mountains, catch some game to replenish Xiao Xia's body, or take Senju Ji to climb the mountains nearby, and Yanagi Yan Sheng to learn and learn swordsmanship, and Yue Zi has a very leisurely life. On two occasions, Xiujing sent someone to send an official document, and I looked at it, but it was not a matter of importance, so I directly sent the envoy to return it to Xiujing for processing. There were also several small wealthy families from Awa who came to ask for help, but I didn't meet them, and wrote a note asking them to go to Hosokawa Shinyuki.

I haven't enjoyed such a time of complete relaxation without the interruption of government affairs and military affairs. Xiao Xia is naturally very happy, since I left Tosa, I have not been with her so wholeheartedly.

It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, and Nobunaga's order arrived soon, so I was asked to go to Kyoto as soon as possible and deal with some central matters with Niwa Nagahide. I had to leave YGIK.

Niwa Nagahideto Wakasa received orders from Gifu earlier than me and the trip was shorter than mine, and when I arrived in Kyoto, he had been staying in the Honnoji Join for several days. The temple is the third of the seven temples of the Honnoji Temple, second only to Nobunaga's own residence of Keishin-in and Oda Ichi-in, where the Oda Ichi-in people live, and Nobunaga's appointment of us as a director of this temple shows his attitude.

I just stayed in the side hall of the guest hall in the courtyard, and Niwa Nagahide from the side hall on the other side came to visit me.

Speaking of which, in the past few years, I have lived in Kita Ise and then Awaji, while Niwa Nagahide has been in Kyoto and Wakasa and has rarely had the opportunity to get along. This time we dealt with the center together, and it was the first time since the Cheongju reunion.

When I think of Cheongju's past, I can't help but feel a little nostalgic. At that time, I had just arrived at Oda's house, and Niwa Nagahide, Maeda Toshiie, and Sawaki Yoshiyuki helped me a lot, and with their kindness and hard work, I was able to gain a firm foothold at home.

Of course, friendship and interests are mutual, and they have also benefited a lot from me through their dealings with me. When Maeda's Toshi's family was in trouble, the family was thanks to my care; If it weren't for me, Yoshiyuki Sawaki would not only not be able to become a retainer now, but he might have been kicked out of the Oda family; As for Niwa Nagahide, the money writing house I proposed to open made him very profitable.

This initiative was the most extensive policy and business carried out by the Oda family in the territory, and the business was running better and better where the situation became bigger and more complicated. In Kiyoshu, Tsushima, Gifu, Atsuta, Kyoto, and Sakai towns, there are also Bunya, as well as my Mie Town, Anontsu Town in Fujitsu Nagano, Takeda Nobutaka, and Niwa Nagahide's Kohama Town. Uji Yamada Town in Northern Ise, although it belongs to the shrine of Ise Jingu, is still operated by the Oda family, and the system is roughly similar to that of the rest of the place.

Niwa Nagahide and I, as the original founders, originally enjoyed the income of the money house. After the partition was released, each share was returned to Nobunaga, but the income from the separate houses in each of the territories was no longer handed over. Niwa Nagahide's Kohama and Asakura family's Tsuruga are the two major ports of Wakasa Bay, and they are the main points of the sea between the east and west of the city, and the business is very prosperous.

This relationship has always been one of the important reasons for my close relationship with Niwa Nagahide.

After the meeting, Niwa Nagahide, like me, seemed very enthusiastic. The two discussed a lot of affairs, and they talked about it for most of the hour. Among them, Niwa Nagahide said the most about the money writing house, but his starting point was different from what I thought, and the main thing he mentioned was the troubles in the operation of the money writing house.

(To be continued)