Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 40 Xiujia An Tumian Meets Nobuchu, Stays Overnight at Hashiba and Meets a Robber (12)

Off topic:
Regarding the issue of Keiji Maeda, I have already issued a leaflet. In the chapters related to the work, everyone is welcome to discuss it friendly

----------------------

The next day, the Xiu family, who rested at Qingshui Temple for a night, did not go to Juting Jiqing to get the permission seal issued by the court, because he really couldn't accept Wen Chouchou's face, and he had no eyebrows, and his face was covered with white makeup. The public has a trace of repulsion.

Therefore, after Xiujia ordered Huafang Zhengxing to go to see Juting Jiqing instead of him, he watched the morning training of the Banner Team at the back of Qingshui Temple, and he also participated in the middle of the way to let Qiu Shangjiu's family teach him the art of war.

Near noon, Hanabang came back happily, with a smile on his face. In addition to bringing the Hide family the official positions of Bizen and Misaku Ryogoku, it turned out that he also asked for an official position for himself. , From then on, when others called him, he became more imposing.

After a day's delay in Kyoto, Ukita Hide's family set off here. They stayed at Omi Moriyama Castle that night, and arrived at Azuchi Castle the next morning. Go to report the request to see Oda Nobutada.

The Uki family did not have a mansion in Azuchi, but as the adopted son of Hashiba Hideyoshi, the Ukita Hideyoshi family easily lived temporarily in the Hashiba residence, and met Mrs. Azhong as a hostage.As a grandchild, Hideo respectfully presented a gift and greeted Azhong instead of Hideyoshi.

In the afternoon, Azuchi came to inform the Hide family that Nobutada was ready to meet him and asked him to meet him immediately, the Hide family who was just about to take a nap had no choice but to go to the city with the conservatory Zhengxing to meet Nobutada.

As the first time the Xiu family had an audience with the lord since he inherited the family governor, the Xiu family prepared very formally, wearing a court dress that was inconvenient to move like the last time he asked to surrender, and walked left and right to the castle tower of Antu City.

As the real originator of the Japanese castle tower, Azuchi Castle is a watchtower with five layers and six steps. It is said that at the ceremony when the Azuchi Castle fell into the city, the heads of various armies and allied army daimyo looked at Nobunaga standing on the sixth step. The public fell into deep thought.

The princes outside are still studying the aerodynamics of helmets. You can see that Lord Nobunaga has started to study civil engineering!

Unlike in the past, Nobutada arranged for him to be interviewed on the fifth floor this time, and Hideka struggled to climb up the fifth floor along the steps of Azuchi to meet Nobutada.

As the highest point of Azuchi Castle's castle tower, the interior space of the 4th and 5th floors is already very small, Hanabou Masayuki almost sat by the stairs to meet Nobutada with Hideka.And this meeting seems to be more personal, Niwa Chohide and others who are assistant ministers are not here.

"Chenyu Xiduoxiu's family, see the lord, I wish the lord a long-term martial arts. The minister is panic, since he succeeded the family governor at the beginning of the year, he failed to come to see the lord, and the minister is guilty." The Xiu family saluted Xinzhong very standardly, and Xinzhong nodded to confirm and let the Xiu family die .

After Xiujia Ping passed away, he began the exact reporting process.

"I came here this time to report the situation of my family to my lord."

"Well, let's start"

"After verification, there are now 22 counties in Bizen, Misaku, Harima, and Inaba, with a total of 41.2 shi. Among them, 8 shi in Bizen 20.5 counties, 11 shi in Mizuo 15.6 counties, and 4.3 shi in the two Harima counties. County 8000 stone"

After obtaining Nobutada's permission, Hideka began to report to Hideo the situation of Ukita's two countries and the other two counties. In fact, Hideka modified the figures. 2 shi from the two counties, 24 from Inaba Zhitou, totaling 18 shi.

After the Hide family reported to Nobutada about the situation of the Ukita family, the reported information was recorded by the clerk behind and sealed as a file. In fact, this was the first time that the Oda family had a complete understanding of the situation of the Ukita territory in the Western Region.

"The Yuxi family has a population of more than 20 people, and more than 1.8 soldiers capable of fighting."

After the Xiu family reported the situation of the Uki family to Nobutada, Nobutada nodded with satisfaction and boasted a few words about the Xiu family.Shouldn't it be a boast? In today's society, Yuxi's family should be the only retainers who honestly and proactively report their skills. At least in Xinzhong's eyes, Yuxi's data is not adulterated.

"The minister has two things to report this time."

"Dan please play"

"One is that our family was hit by a flood last month. The Asahi River and the Yoshii River flooded, and countless Bizen fields were washed away. This year's situation is worrying, and the main city of our family, Ishiyama Castle, was also washed away. I implore the Lord to forgive the purchase of the iron cannon. The 7500 Guanwen money is allowed to be returned after the autumn harvest in the coming year."

"Natural disasters are ruthless. This matter cannot be controlled by Bizen. I already know it, so I will pay it back next year when the autumn grain is harvested." Nobutada quickly agreed to the Xiu family's conditions. "What about the second thing?"

"The second thing is to implore the lord to support Bizen with some grain and fodder. Please support 5 shi for grain and 5000 guan for money, and allow the family to pay it back in two years."

5 shi of grain and 5000 guan coins seemed like a drop in the bucket for the Oda family, but Nobutada still couldn't specialize, and he thought about it for a long time.

Until Nobutada didn't reply for a long time, a handsome young samurai came down from the six stairs behind Nobutada, said to Hideka and Nobutada, "My lord, please go up, my lord, and Your Highness Ukita." Then he turned back and returned to his command.

Nobutada, who was notified by the visitor, stood up from his seat and went up the stairs, while Xiujia asked the conservatory to wait here temporarily with a puzzled face, and followed up by himself.

Arriving at the sixth step at the highest point of Azuchi Castle, a samurai wearing European-style velvet cloak and boots was facing them with his back, looking down at Azuchi Castle from the balcony of the sixth step.

Seeing Nobutada bowing to that person, Hideka knew that the person standing in front of him was the real master of Azuchi Castle, Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful name in the world at this time, even if he was confused.It turned out that Nobunaga had been upstairs listening to the conversation between the two.

Nobunaga did not directly respond to the two people's request, but said: "Do all the samurai with blue feathers on their heads under the castle belong to your family?"

Perhaps it was because Hideka was a little nervous in the face of Nobunaga, Hideka didn't answer right away, but was choosing words carefully, and Hideka didn't spit out a word of yes until Nobutada next to him signaled.

"Looks very energetic, is this your flag team?"

"Yes"

"Those ashigaru equipment look similar, and they were also configured by Yukita?"

"Yes"

"Is your Yuxi family so rich?"

"Yes"

"Huh?" Nobunaga turned to look at Xiujia suspiciously.

"Ah!" Xiujia saw Nobunaga's gaze and realized that he had said something wrong, and hurriedly explained

"Ah! No, it's not this kind of hall. This is the banner team attached to the main family. It is fully produced by the main family and lent to these retainers. The weapons need to be configured by the samurai ashigaru themselves."

"Our family suffered a catastrophe, so we will send out these 300 people. Before we set off, Uncle Zhong's family told me to bring them all out, so we can't embarrass our family. What we saw in the hall were all the elite of our family. "

Seeing Hideka's snot and tears, Nobunaga didn't go any further, but said to Nobutada, "I really like your banner team, Wondermaru, and we will form one according to this pattern."

"Yes, I'll prepare when I get back."

Nobunaga went back to the house from the balcony and sat down, and said to Xiujia: "I know the situation of Bizen, and the Harima of the monkey has also been affected. It seems that this year's attack on Maori can only be postponed. What about Maori? Sample?"

"As far as I know, the Mori family was also affected by the disaster. Bichu was flooded like a mud swamp. It is said that the Ibara Line was blocked by the landslide and the Sanyo Road was blocked, and it was extremely difficult to walk because of the flooding of the river."

"In this way, the Mori family may not be able to move eastward this time."

"According to my judgment, it should be so."

"Since this is the case, I can lend you the 5 shi and 5000 guan, and I will add another 2 shi for military rations and 3000 guan as rewards. But don't be idle, the whole leader will mobilize 4000 troops. Shichimaru is in charge of Shikoku, and Bizen happens to be just north of Sanuki, so he will go out as a partial army, no problem."

No problem, even if you have no money, you, the big devil, said, I can't help you break through the mountains of swords and seas of fire!

"Yes, I will prepare it when I go back."

"Don't worry, Sanqi Wan will be mobilized after the autumn harvest. I only have one request. Without my order, the surrender of Changzong and our department is not allowed. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I must strictly restrain my subordinates and assist His Highness Xinxiao to pacify the four kingdoms."

"You are wrong. The main responsibility of your Yuxi family is still to defend Maoli, and at the same time, as the subordinate daimyo of the monkey to attack Maoli, this time you are only allowed to play as partial teachers, not to assign you to Sanchiwan."

"Yes, I remember."

After ordering the task, Nobunaga suddenly said with emotion, "Why are you like Qi Qiwan? After inheriting the family governor, it is not as fun as before. Sure enough, the position of the family governor is not good."

"Hey, it's boring." Of course, Hideka didn't dare to answer this question. Seeing that Hideka didn't answer, Nobunaga waved Hideka and Nobutada in dismay.

Coming down from the sixth floor where Nobunaga was, Nobutada and Hideya said: "I have already received the will of my father, you go back for now, the food and payment will be sent to Okayama within a month."

"Yes, I thank you here." Xiujia and Hanabang Masayuki saluted Nobutada together.
"Am I boring?" Just when Hideka thought the meeting was over, Nobutada asked Hideya as nervously as his father.After getting no answer, he also imitated Nobunaga and said: "Go down, you are so boring."

For example, the Xiu family, who was amnesty, was going down to the city with the conservatory. It wasn't until they left Honmaru that they realized that their back was soaked with sweat. Sure enough, the Xiu family didn't dare to relax for a moment in front of the father and son.

After reporting to Nobunaga and Nobutada, Hideie went to bed early at Hachai Mansion until he was awakened by a commotion in the middle of the night.

Xiujia opened the door of the house, just in time a huge figure ran past him, was startled by Xiujia who had just opened the door, and jumped from the corridor into the courtyard.

At this time, the attendants of the Xiu family and the warriors of the Yu Chai family surrounded him from all sides. The visitors saw that there were a lot of people on Yu Chai's side, and he showed his dexterity that didn't match his stature and climbed over the courtyard wall.Yuchai's samurai immediately chased after him, only Xiu's family still hasn't figured out what happened.

It wasn't until Kenjiro arrived that the Hide family knew that Hashiba's mansion had been stolen by the thief Ishikawa Goemon.

Legend has it that Ishikawa Goemon was born in Hamamatsu, Toe.Originally named Hachiro Sanada, he was renamed Ishikawa Goemon because he was a retainer of the Yamauchi Ko clan in Ishikawa County, Hanoi.It is said that this person learned Iga ninjutsu by worshiping the San Taifu of Baidi as his teacher.

Ishikawa Goemon, who has gained all his skills, did not choose to become an official, but traveled around everywhere, specializing in stealing things from wealthy families and lords, selling them and distributing the money to poor people. He has a good reputation among the people.

Although there were already Takano Kansuke and Takano Sahei beside him, Hideka looked at the dexterous Ishikawa Goemon, and his curiosity about the Iga ninja increased to a higher level.

Not surprisingly, the samurai of the Hashiba family did not capture Ishikawa Goemon.On the contrary, after dawn, the story of Ishikawa Goemon's charitable act of distributing financial resources spread from the mouths of children.After hearing this story, Hideya became even more curious about Ishikawa Goemon, and ordered Kansuke and Sabei to find him.

(End of this chapter)