Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 254 Hanbei's First Love
After seeing off the relatives of Chang Zong and my family, the sun outside has completely set.

After tidying up for a while, Xiujia and Shimizu Shinya turned back to their residence together. They practiced spear skills all afternoon. Although they wiped it with a towel, their bodies were still sticky. At this moment, Xiujia just wanted to wash up as soon as possible and rest early.

"Hanbei, prepare some casual meals, and let's end it after a few bites." Xiujia also instructed Qing Shuixin.

When she reached the entrance of the residence hall, she found that A Fang was kneeling and sitting on the corridor. Seeing the arrival of the Xiu family, she saluted the Xiu family, "Welcome Your Highness back."

The Xiu family went up the steps and took off the straw sandals on their feet, and their own attendants set up a place for the Xiu family, and Ah Fang had already secured the foot covers for the Xiu family to walk in the hall, and put them on for the Xiu family.

He also said to the Xiu family in a very considerate tone, "The meal has been cooked for Your Highness, please come with me, Your Highness."

Xiujia was already ready to eat casually with his attendants, but he didn't expect that there is still dinner in the mansion now, you must know that in ancient times, dinner was usually used up before sunset, and all work would stop after sunset.

"It's better to have a woman in the family, the evil feudal society," the Xiu family thought.

Following Ah Fang, turning left and right, they came to a different courtyard. Because it was late, Xiu's family couldn't recognize which courtyard it was for a while, but saw the candlelight in the middle of the courtyard from a distance. Brighten up the surroundings.

"Why is it such a waste, I eat alone, why do I have to light so many candles?" Xiujia couldn't help asking.

You must know that in Japan, where productivity is low, the most basic lighting tools are torches and braziers, but this kind of light source is not stable, so there are oil lamps made of condensed animal fat.

Japanese candles are mainly made of wood wax produced by different processes when the fruit of lacquer wood is used to produce wood lacquer.No matter what kind of candle you choose, the price is very expensive, and it must be the extraordinary family who wants to light such a light on the night of the Warring States Period.

And Xiujia is usually very frugal, and would never do such extravagant and wasteful actions, so Xiujia complained a lot about the previous situation.

Walking along the corridor to the door, Xiu's family found that the hall was extremely clean. There was only a small seat and a desk in the room, on which were placed 5 Xiaodie and a jug of wine warmed in hot water.

Meat dishes are fried meat, grilled fish, and deep-fried shrimp tails, with a stack of green algae and pickled radish as a side dish.From the configuration point of view, such delicacies exceed the dreams of many people today.

Do you still remember the lunch prepared by Hideyoshi for Hideka in Osaka?It's just a pile of venison and a pile of grilled fish.

Looking at the delicious food on the table, Xiujia couldn't help swallowing, but heard a "cuckoo" sound behind him.Hideka turned his head to look, but saw Hanbei scratching his head in embarrassment.

"That's right, I'm afraid Hanbei has never seen such a sumptuous dinner." The Xiu family thought so.

Thinking that Banbei had indeed accompanied him to starve until now, the Xiu family was also a little embarrassed, and said, "Fang, go prepare a stack of dinner, let Banbei eat here."

"Ah?" "Ah!" Both of them were surprised by the Xiu family's decision, A Fang seemed to be winking at the Xiu family, but the Xiu family ignored all of these, and repeated, "There should be some leftovers, and I'll serve it up again." Give it to Hanbei."

After finishing speaking, he patted Hanbei on the shoulder and led him into the house, and directly pushed the meal in front of him to Hanbei to eat. "Eat it quickly, it's my reward for you."

Although Hanbei is the personal servant of the Xiu family, but his grade is only one or two years older than the Xiu family, and now he is only a 15-year-old boy. After all, he is still a child, so the Xiu family usually compares him to him. take care of.

"No, no, Your Highness should have dinner first, isn't Sister Ah Fang preparing for me?" Qing Shui Xin also wanted to make excuses, no matter how close he is to the Xiu family, there will always be a gap called etiquette between the monarch and his ministers.

At this moment, another voice came from the door, "Is His Highness back?"

Xiujia recognized this tone, it was the voice of Tongfangyuan.This big sister, who is only ten years older than herself, is now in the best grade of a woman's life, and her voice is naturally extremely pleasant.

"Yes, is Tongfangyuan Palace next door?" Although Tongfangyuan is indeed the daughter of the Xiu family, and her grade is not much higher than that of the Xiu family, the conversation between the two has always been well-behaved.

Hearing the voice from Tongfangyuan, Shimizu Xin, who was sitting in front of the desk, jumped up suddenly, and his body touched the desk, causing a burst of noise.

As the door between the two rooms was opened, Nobuo Shimizu also bowed to the other side of the door and bid farewell, "Your Highness, please tell me anything, I'm right outside."

After finishing speaking, he immediately turned around and left, willing to stay in the room for a second.

Shimizu Xin also left the house in embarrassment, walked down the corridor and stepped on the ground, and then breathed a sigh of relief.At this moment, Ah Fang walked over with a stack of food in his hands, and said with a soft smile, "Why aren't you waiting in the room for dinner, Hanbei?"

Shimizu Xin also smiled awkwardly and said, "Sister, look at what you said, it's all about making fun of me."

"Hahaha, stop laughing, I know you're hungry too, so I bring you a portion, but it's not as rich as the one in the hall."

Shimizu Xin also heard that there was delicious food, so he ran forward excitedly, looked at it with the faint lights in the house and said, "There are grilled fish and fried shrimp, thank you so much, Sister Afang."

After finishing speaking, I passed the dinner from Ah Fang, and sat aside to enjoy it slowly, "I'm starting~"

Shimizu Xin also took a bite of the fried shrimp tail, and said in surprise, "It's amazing, delicious, and still hot. Sister, did you make this yourself?"

"Yeah, the taste is okay." Ah Fang and Qing Shuixin were the same, sitting on the porch, smiling and watching him eat dinner in a hurry, and said, "Eat slowly, these are all yours, no one will talk to you." You gun."

"Sister Ah Fang, this is not a matter of grabbing or not. I want to save time and stay with His Highness. His Highness will call me at any time, so the meal is always so fast." Shimizu Shin also explained.

But seeing A Fang still looking at him with a smile, Shimizu Xin also asked with half a shrimp tail in his mouth, "What are you laughing at, Sister A Fang."

"No, it's nothing, it's just that you look like my younger brother." A Fang glanced away and said.

"Your brother? By the way, sister Afang, which family are you from? Where is your brother now?" Qing Shuixin also asked strangely.

"I was originally from Bizen Matsuda's family. My younger brother is in the same grade as you. My father always said that when he gets older, he will be sent to Okayama to be His Royal Highness's attendant." Ah Fang said with eyes full of longing.

After that, Ah Fang turned his eyes to Shimizu Shinya, and said convincingly, "It's strange to say, he is called Hanbei just like you."

"Hahaha" Nobuo Shimizu also scratched his scalp in embarrassment, and said with a smile, "Is it such a coincidence? I have always heard from my mother that people called Hanbei are excellent samurai, and I have always I'm fighting for it, and I hope your Hanbei will do the same."

The Bizen Matsuda family used to be a big family. With the support of the Bichu Mimura family, it was a family that could challenge the Urakami family. In 1566, it was wiped out by the Ukita Nao family. Therefore, Urakami Zongjing rewarded the Ukita family for being on the road, Is the large piece of land in Mino County the starting point for the Uki family's downfall?

Although the Matsuda family was wiped out by the Ukita Nao family and all members of the clan were killed, the branch family was preserved and is now fighting for the Ukido family. The head of the clan, Matsuda Yoshimi, is a middle-class samurai of Takatsu 780 stone, and there is another branch, Matsuda Oka is the master of the 450 stones in the field.

No matter which family it is, they are active in the role of military officers on Ukido's military service certificate. Matsuda Oka is the captain of the Suzaku squadron, and Matsuda Yoshimi is the former captain of the Akasaka squadron, which is Afang's father.

Today, as the Hide family transfers Akasaka to the confidants of Changzong, the name of Akasaka Bei will inevitably become history.Many of the officers will be changed. Hideka will make a decision in the next few days whether Matsuda Yoshimi can take a step forward.

"By the way, Hanbei, I heard that your family is from the Shimizu family of Bei Chinese. Are you a member of the clan of the hero Shimizu Muneji who defended Nakamatsu?" Fang asked curiously.

"Hero? I can't be a hero, but my uncle has always been a role model for me." Shimizu Shin also said excitedly.

"Uncle?" Ah Fang asked curiously, "Is Lord Shimizu Soji your uncle?"

"Ah, yes, my father is Namba Denbei, and Shimizu Soji is my uncle." Shimizu Shin also explained.

In history, Shimizu Zongji performed seppuku on the ship together with his elder brother Yueqing, younger brother Namba Denbei and Suejin Nobuga, but in this life, Hideyoshi only asked for the condition of Shimizu Zongji alone, so his younger brother Namba Denbei The soldiers and guards were saved.

"Your name is Shimizu, and your father's name is Namba. What's the matter?" Fang asked curiously.

"It's a long story. In short, Namba and Shimizu have the same surname, and both Miao characters can be used in our family." Shinmizu also took a mouthful of rice and muttered.

What Nobushi Shimizu said is also true. Namba is a very common name in Bizen and Bichu areas. His original surname is "Tian Shishou", which means Tian Ling. He is an official in charge of agriculture.

Later, in the second year of Dahua, he was sent to Bizenejima and Tsudaka as shipbuilding supervisors. Therefore, the word Miao was changed to Namba. It is also said that the name was changed from the local place name Namba Village.

In the early days of Kamakura, the Namba family had surnames such as Tsudaka, Matsuo, Yokoo, Kasaka, Sakazaki, Noguchi, Kume, Sanji, and Yasue, and was a big family in the Bizen country.

Later, he was given the surname of Hira for serving Hira Kiyomori and his son, which is also the origin of the Hira family's surname today.

After years of development, the Namba family has a branch of descendants who lead China's Heyang County Hattabe and other places. Because there is a city here, Qingshui Castle, so it is called "Qingshui clan" from his son Zongze.

The surname of Qingshui has just been passed down to the second generation of Qingshui Zongzhi here, so the two Miao characters of Shimizu and Namba have not been completely distinguished. According to the rules, descendants within five clothes can still change the Miao characters after obtaining the permission of the head of the family. The origin of Hanbei Shimizu's surname.

After the Battle of Bichu Takamatsu Castle, the Shimizu clan withered, leaving only Keiji alone. Naturally, Hanbei was licensed to use the Shimizu Miao characters instead of the Namba Miao characters when he was in Yuanfu.

In fact, when Nobushi Shimizu met the Xiu family for the first time, he concealed something from the Xiu family. He said that he was a child of the Shimizu family and had no close relationship with Shimizu Zongzhi.

The reason is that Muneji Shimizu was a typical example of rebellion against the rebels at that time, and the Uki family had enmity with the Mori family, so even after his seppuku, the Shimizu family had to draw a clear line with them.

However, as the Qingshui family lived and developed within the Uki family in the past two years, the influence of Shimizu Zongzhi gradually disappeared, and the Xiu family also intended to set it up as a model of loyalty to the monarchy, so Shimizu Nobu returned here to generously admit that he and Qingshui Zongzhi real relationship.

"Ah? Is it true? No wonder Hanbei is so amazing." After hearing Shimizu Shinya's explanation, Ah Fang praised excitedly, and said that Shimizu Shinya was also a little embarrassed.

"But I remember, have you been awarded Yuxiduo Miao by His Royal Highness? You can also be regarded as one of the branches of the family." A Fang asked curiously.

What Ah Fang said was that Hideka was almost killed by Naomasa Ii in a sneak attack during the Battle of Sanhe. Fortunately, Nobuo Shimizu also reminded and helped Hideka, and Hideka was saved.

Therefore, Xiujia allowed Shimizu Nobu to use Ukita Miao characters, but he did not force others to change like Hideyoshi bestowed Miao characters, so Hanbei still used Shimizu's Miao characters to show others.

"Hehehe, His Highness trusts me." Shimizu Xin also said with some embarrassment. "By the way, didn't Sister Ah Fang say that she wanted your younger brother to join His Highness's entourage? I can help you with this matter!"

Ah Fang was taken aback by Shinya's sudden turn of events, but she quickly came back to her senses, and smiled back at him and said, "Really? I'm worried about how to ask His Highness. It would be great if Hanbei had a way." gone."

Shimizu Xin also finished his dinner at this time, Ah Fang quickly took the plate and said, "Leave it to me." She returned with a warm smile.

Although the sky was dark, against the backdrop of the lights in the house, Hanbei looked at Fang who was smiling at him.

"It's so beautiful~" Hanbei thought in his heart, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help grinning a foolish smile.

"Sister Ah Fang, don't worry, I will take care of this matter. I will take care of my younger brother when he comes to the guard team. You just wait to receive a brave warrior." Shimizu Xin also patted his chest confidently said slowly.

"Really?" Ah Fang's eyes widened, and she confirmed to Shimizu Xin, "Then I will leave everything to Shimizu-kun."

"Qingshui-kun?~~~" Qingshuixin was also stimulated by A Fang's change of address, and even felt a little smug.

But before he had time to react, he saw that Ah Fang had stood up, picked up the dinner plate that had just been placed aside, got up and left.

Only Banbei, a child who had just begun to fall in love, was left alone, sitting on the porch in a daze, looking in the direction in which Ah Fang was leaving.

(End of this chapter)