Chapter 6 Section VI

A group of people headed south along Noto Street, where the spring breeze was blowing, and galloped west along Beiguo Street. As soon as he walked out of Maeda's territory, Xinding noticed something strange. On the way, Shibata's feudal castle was completely destroyed. Not only that, but when passing through Kanazawa Castle under the rule of Sakuma Shengzheng, the military flag of Maeda Toshiie was flying around the city.The Sakuma army who attacked Nosaka by Ichijodani disappeared without a trace. (Could it be... When the two armies of Akechi Mitsuhide and Shibata Katsuie were at war, Sakuma Shengzheng, who was in charge of staying behind, was defeated by Echigo's Uesugi army?)

At this time, Shinsou was like Urashima Taro who had just returned home from Horai, so I had no choice but to speculate.What's more, there are indeed such precedents.In the fifth year of Tensho, the Hokuriku allied forces of the Oda family led by Shibata Katsuie suffered a major defeat, were repelled by Uesugi Kenshin, and were chased to the Tetori River that flows southwest of Matsuto, where more than a thousand people died in battle.It was autumn at that time, and the army of Kenshin had to go back home because he wanted to harvest rice.I'm afraid Uesugi Jingsheng is willing to withdraw this time because he wants to let the troops go back to sow seeds.

Xinding just imagined freely, all the way to Songren.He changed horses twice in the middle of the journey, and he hadn't ridden on the road for a long time. The feeling can only be described in one word - hearty. Xinding has been to Matsuto in the Tetori River Delta once, where the water and soil are fertile, and it is a town with abundant crops, just like Anshiso in his hometown Owari Joganji Temple. The great temple Hengjiang Zhuang. Xinding remembers that Shibata Katsuya once built a luxurious villa on the ruins of Hengjiangzhuang in the middle of Matsuto.When I came to Songren Town for a look, only that villa was spared from the war.The large villa has a radius of more than 30 towns and is surrounded by more than 50 rooms of earthen walls. It is a house built by the Katsushi Shibata family with a lot of money.

Today's audience seems to be held in this mansion, but what is strange is that the flag of the Maeda family is flying here as well. (This is really illogical...) Mibu Xiu didn't seem to notice Shinsaka's doubts. "It's great to catch up." He just said so, and then smiled reassuringly, and said, "The lord and the great lord went for a walk by the Teto River to talk about the past. Your Excellency Ota went there first to change Clothes. We've prepared a slack, a hakama, and a waistcoat for you." It seems that everything is ready, and today's audience seems to start with a blunt greeting.

Xinding was taken to the audience room, which was a spacious room with fifty tatami mats.Xinding took his seat and bowed down after hearing the announcement of "The Lord has arrived". He listened carefully, and the two of them were chatting in the nostalgic Owari dialect, walking towards here along the spacious corridor.They seem to be continuing to look back on the "defeat at Tetorigawa".Of course, it wasn't Nobunaga's high-pitched voice, but it wasn't Shibata Katsuie's rough voice either. The speaker sat at the top, and suddenly said dignifiedly: "Long time no see, Youjie."

This surprised Xinding a little. "Long time no see" is Nobunaga's favorite phrase when he is putting on airs.Moreover, only the Nobunaga guild calls him "Yousuke"... "Don't be polite, look up." Xin Ding raised his head and looked up at that person, and was almost paralyzed with fright.I saw a short boy who was as tall as a child, wearing a fat and gorgeous crimson narrow-sleeved casual clothes, sitting there alone, but it was Hashiba Hideyoshi——Nobunaga once thought of him a nickname of "bald mouse". "You seem quite surprised. About me, you might as well ask Matazu (Maeda Toshiie) here later—in short, let's talk about your matter first."

Hideyoshi looked very happy, and a little lower, Maeda Toshiie was looking at the two with a smile on his face.At some point, the Toshi family left Shibata Katsu's family and formed a master-servant relationship with Hideyoshi.This is really puzzling. "Do you know why you were detained in Noto for ten months?" Hideyoshi put the table next to him in front of him, leaned forward and asked. Xinding replied, "No, I have absolutely no idea." It's been ten months?He couldn't count the days at all, and it was hard to restrain his anger. "Well, you were imprisoned for no reason, no wonder you are angry. But, don't misunderstand, it was an effort made by me and Youzuo here to hide you. After you were caught by Sheng Zheng, you were taken from the soybean paste warehouse. It's all thanks to You Zuo that you snatched it back and hid it until Noto. You should express your gratitude to him."

Hideyoshi used to crawl around in front of Nobunaga like a spider, but now he suddenly turned into an unimaginably stalwart man.Xinding had no choice but to follow what he said, and bowed to Lijia again to salute.But why did Shengmasa Sakuma chase after him?He still doesn't understand. Hideyoshi only started to grow a beard in middle age. At this time, he touched the mustache under his nose and happily revealed the answer: "That bastard Shengzheng is the lackey of Nobunaga's stupid son Nobutaka. You stole a large amount of 'Meinong Gold', and Sheng Zheng believed it was true, so he started chasing you... Besides, there is something behind this matter, do you want to know?"

"I still hope to give you a message." Faith can only say so.He secretly wondered why this man knew so much.He was a little unwilling, but he had to secretly sigh with emotion. "Okay, then I'll tell you. Do you still remember that fake mage named Yishu? That guy escaped from Azuchi City and joined Nobutaka, and reported your actions one by one, and even made it out of nothing. So Xinxiao joined forces with Shengzheng, Started chasing you." Lord Nobunaga began to be depressed for the sixth year of Tianzheng, and Master Yishu suddenly appeared.At that time, Nobunaga made a hasty decision: "His divination is in my favor, isn't it very good." He decided to keep it by his side.

However, Yi Shu gradually intervenes in internal affairs, and the relationship with Xin Ding and the others is not good. "But, Yousuke, don't worry, Master Yishu has been arrested and brought to justice, and I let him be burned at the stake. And Sakuma Shengzheng will be caught soon, right, Youzuo?" "We have found out where he is hiding. We will definitely catch him and bring him to the capital. I hope the Lord will be patient for a while longer." Li Jia bowed down humblely and respectfully, and said. (Great Lord? Why is Hideyoshi the Great Lord?) Toshika's words made Xin Ding hard to understand, but Hideyoshi happily said in a loud voice: "If Sheng Zheng is caught, I will punish him for you. Your enemy and the enemy of your two dead servants—Master Yishu And Nobutaka—both are dead, and Shengzheng will be punished soon. That's why I released you from Noto, where you were hiding, today. Do you understand what I said?"

(Did Naosuke and his son die?) Nobuden suppressed his grief and said, "Although I feel like Urashima who just returned home, I finally understand after listening to this. Thank you very much for your foresight." No matter how self-righteous the other party is, he was rescued after all.Xinding felt that he should really thank the other party. "Yeah, that's good. Well, finally, I have two things." "Ask." "One is—is what Master Yishu said true or false?" It's that "mino gold" thing. Xinding immediately began to answer.If there is a moment of hesitation, it will definitely attract loneliness. "The matter of taking mino gold is completely nonsense. I can swear to the gods of heaven and earth that I did not take gold and silver treasures. Before leaving Azuchi Castle, I wanted to destroy the documents that were inconvenient for Guangxiu to see, so I brought a lot of materials. He probably misunderstood it. Especially when you attacked Takamatsu Castle, there were a lot of letters between you and Nobunaga, and I don’t think these letters can be seen by Mitsuhide.” Xinding didn't know the general trend of the world later, but he knew that he had to pretend not to know about the five boxes.The most important thing right now is your own safety, so it's best to poke Hideyoshi's only weakness - the distress letter sent by Hideyoshi when he attacked Takamatsu Castle.Right now, only he knew that the letter was almost full of Hideyoshi's laments and almost crying words. Sure enough, there was a hint of embarrassment in Hideyoshi's expression.Xinding's answer seemed to have an effect, Hideyoshi obviously began to hesitate, and did not pursue further. "Oh? That's probably the case. Of course I know that you are a man who has no desire for gold and silver." Hideyoshi looked at Toshiie next to him and said this, as if to seek the other party's approval, "And, even if you take it Gold and silver, the gold and silver carried by two or three big men, are insignificant to me now. Wahahaha..." He laughed it off, and then suddenly threw out another sentence—— "The other thing is, what are your plans for the future?" "This, I haven't thought of it for now..." Xinding answered honestly.He felt that we must first understand the situation in the world. "I'm very busy, and I'm going to Kyoto now. I think it may be difficult to meet you again in the future, so I want to make a decision immediately." "what do you mean……" "My right-hand man Ishida Mitsunari appreciates your literary talents very much. If you don't ask about it, maybe Nobuko's remnant party will bring up unnecessary gold and silver matters again and cause you some trouble. So..." Hideyoshi looked at Xinding, There was a creepy look in his eyes, "So he suggested that I take you under his command, what do you think? To put it simply, I will give you twice the salary you received when you served Nobunaga, can you help me? You The biography of Nobunaga is good, but my future performance will probably be more interesting. Do you want to come to me and write? I have protected you so far, and you can think that everything you do in the future is for this Repayment... I've already said so, you still don't want to?" The last words were almost threatening.What surprised Xinding even more was that Hideyoshi knew that he wrote the biography of Nagao.so…… Believe suddenly suddenly.At this moment, he finally understood why the old couple disappeared when he left Noto this morning.They are not deaf and dumb, but Hideyoshi's spies! "Then I will follow your arrangement." Xinding had no choice but to say so. "That's good." Hideyoshi nodded heavily, and then told Toshikadao, "Youzuo, I like this Matsuto mansion quite a lot. You can let Yousuke come here to rest for a while, and by the way, send me to Jianyue and Shibata Katsuya to fight Tell him about the situation. Right now, Urashima-san doesn’t know how to write about me.” After Hideyoshi laughed heartily, he ordered Xinding again: "Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto will soon hold Nobunaga's anniversary festival, so you should come to Kyoto at a good time." Hideyoshi left after speaking. Xin Ding only admitted again - Hideyoshi's appearance made him unexpected, and this meeting ended in his complete failure.