On this day, it's time for Manyoshi to greet Kuroda Shigetaka, Kuroda Shigetaka's hermitage is located near Kuriyama Village outside Himeji Castle, built against the mountain, is a small courtyard with unique scenery, a few peach blossoms and bamboos are planted outside the yard, and there are three rooms in the yard, so Shigetaka and a few servants live, but it is also very comfortable. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

There is also a vegetable field behind the yard, and after Chonglong lived in seclusion here, he opened up this vegetable field, planted some vegetables such as radishes and eggplants, and two persimmon trees, and planted the land every day, which is considered a kind of entertainment!

"Grandpa." Wan Ji shouted loudly outside the courtyard.

"Oh! My Wanji is here! Run slowly, run slowly. Hearing the voice, Shigetaka Kuroda ran out of the house, followed by a maid.

"Grandpa, where are we going to play today?"

"I'll see, how about we go to the castle town of Himeji Castle today? It's been a long time since I've been to Joshita. ”

"Okay grandpa, let's go to the castle town, but if I knew this earlier, I would wait for you in the castle town, and you can watch Sun Tzu's Art of War for a while."

"Look at it, it's still grandpa's fault, Sun Tzu's Art of War, that's good! You memorize two paragraphs for your grandfather. ”

"Good grandfather, the great cause of the soldier's country, the place of life and death, and the way of survival, must not be overlooked."

"Wanji, let's talk as we go." Kuroda Shigetaka was very happy to take Wanyoshi's hand and walk towards the castle town.

Himeji Castle is a famous castle in Harima Province, founded in the third year of Motowa, that is, in 1333 AD, established by the Akamatsu family, occupied by the Yamana clan during the Cargi Rebellion, and later recaptured by the Akamatsu clan during the Onin Rebellion, and managed by the Ponji Koji family, the last generation of the Koji family governor Koji served in the 11th year of Astronomy, the year before Manyoshi was born, moved the castle to Gosho Castle, and handed over Himeji Castle to the management of the old Kuroda Shigetaka, Kuroda Shigetaka as the castle generation, began to run Himeji Castle, and expanded the scale of Himeji Castle together with Kuroda Zhitaka, It became a barrier to the west of the small temple house.

Himeji Castle is an important gateway from Sanyo Road to Kyoto and Sakai Town, and is connected to the Seto Inland Sea, making it a key point in Harima Province. The castle town of Himeji Castle is not large, and there are not many merchants, mainly some small traders selling grain, trinkets, pottery, and occasionally silk and Nanban from **** or Sakai Town.

But there is a special place in Himeji Town, which is a separate area made up of a hundred longhouses, and for a city like Himeji Castle, a hundred longhouses together still look very imposing, and this is where Kuroda Shigetaka took Manyoshi today.

Wanji really knows this place, this is a place specially built by the Kuroda family for the ronin samurai to rest, and to provide simple food for these ronin, for the ronin who is particularly good, and is willing to go to the Kuroda family, he will be hired to become the Kuroda family's samurai retainer. Other ronins will also provide some news or information that they have heard or seen in various places.

So it seems that the Kuroda family is wasting resources by doing this, but it is actually very worthwhile, many of the Kuroda family's retainers are obtained from here, and the information obtained can help the Kuroda family understand the general trend of the world, and can also know what the area has seen and heard and the movements of the nearby wealthy families, in the troubled times of the Warring States, intelligence is priceless.

"Wanji, we're here."

"Grandpa, where is this?" Although he already knew what this place was, Wanji still pretended not to know.

"This is the residence prepared by the Kuroda family for the past ronin, a total of 100 longhouses, this is a feat that no other family has!" Kuroda Shigetaka said solemnly to Wanyoshi.

"Why are you building these longhouses?"

"I've told you many times, our Kuroda family is an ordinary herb merchant in the West, and I, Shigetaka, am also an eye medicine seller, and later got the appreciation of the last generation of the Kodera family to have today's Kuroda family, but our Kuroda family was sparsely populated at the beginning, and it couldn't grow without a population. I borrowed from usury, and the people who couldn't afford to repay the money, used themselves or their families to pay off their debts, and gained some people, but it was far from enough, and these people were not enough to become the foundation of our Kuroda family's foothold in troubled times, and your father and I built these longhouses, and really absorbed a lot of powerful samurai from the middle! ”

"Hey, you can't go in."

"Why can't I go in?"

Shigetaka Kuroda, who was originally telling Wanyoshi about the history of the revolutionary, was interrupted by the sound of two quarrels not far away.

"What's going on?" Kuroda Shigetaka walked in the direction of the voice, and Wanyoshi obediently followed.

"Oh! It's His Highness, this person has to go into the longhouse to rest, but he is a herb merchant, not a ronin samurai at all, so according to the regulations, he can't go in, and if I don't let him in, he quarrels with me. "It was a guard guarding the longhouse who quarreled with a man dressed in rags, and when he saw Kuroda Shigetaka approaching, he immediately bent down and saluted.

Wan Ji saw that although this guard was very short, okay, this is a common problem of the island people, but his posture with a spear in his hand is very imposing, obviously a veteran who has been on the battlefield, there is absolutely no problem in dealing with a few peasant soldiers, and he is just reasoning to block the skinny herb merchant, in fact, he is already very restrained.

"Ronzo, is Ryuza-kun you?" At this time, Kuroda Shigetaka suddenly ran excitedly towards the down-and-out herb merchant.

"You are, oh! Lord Shigetaka, I really didn't expect to see you here, it's great. The herb merchant named Ryuza apparently recognized Kuroda Shigetaka as well, and after a brief moment of surprise, he immediately saluted the old man respectfully.

"You're doing a great job, let's get busy first!" Kuroda said to the guard.

"Wait a minute, what's your name?" The guard was just about to leave when he was stopped by Shigetaka Kuroda.

The guard thought that he had offended Kuroda Shigetaka's friend, so he would be punished, and said tremblingly: "Your Highness, I... My name is Kosaburo. ”

Kuroda Shigetaka obviously heard the meaning in his voice, and said with a smile: "Xiao Saburo, you have done a good job, report to the city tomorrow, I will ask Zhitaka to accept you as a flag samurai, fief fifty stone, are you willing, and do you have a surname?" ”

"Small, the villain is willing, willing, the villain doesn't have a surname yet." The guards have obviously experienced a rollercoaster psychological journey from great sorrow to great joy, and it is not easy to speak at this time.

"As a samurai, you can't have a surname, in the future, you will have the surname Nagaya, I will give you the Kuroda family's Tongzi Takashi, and ask this Lord Nishishironzo to give you Sa, how about calling Nagaya Ryuza."

"Hey, Lord Xie gave the name, junior, no, Nagaya Ryuza will die for the Kuroda family's martial arts." After saying that, he left excitedly, and when he left, he sang a small song in the countryside excitedly.

At this time, Wanji was also excited in his heart, because of the words Xiao Nishi Ronzo, as long as he has played Taige Lizhichuan, he is the shopkeeper of Xiao Xiwu. At the same time, Konishi Ryuza is the father of Konishi Yuki, the bullish coaxing general, in history, Konishi Ryuza was the royal merchant of the Ukita Naojia, opened a large trading house in Himeji Castle, and was favored by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, becoming a retainer who wrote the pen, at least the internal affairs ability is definitely not bad, and there is also the cheap son of Konishi Yuki, if you can leave Konishi Ryuza behind, it is a good deal to buy one get one free! But the premise is to make sure that this little West Lonzo is the one he knows.

"Okay, if Ryozao-kun doesn't dislike it, let's live in this longhouse first. Wanji, this Long Zuojun is a child I met when I was collecting medicine more than ten years ago, and he was only your age at that time, so it was not easy to go up the mountain to collect medicine for the sake of the family! We took medicine together for a few years and met a few times, but we didn't get in touch with each other. Kuroda Shigetaka took Konishi's hand and said to him with a smile, inviting him into the longhouse, and the three of them sat down around the fire.

"Where, Lord Chonglong is serious, but I do thank you for your help before, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be able to identify herbs. But to tell you the truth, I'm now at my point. ”

"How so?"

"I've been collecting and selling medicine in the mountains of Bichu, Bizen, Misaku, and Harima for the past two years, but during this time, adults must also know that bandits are rampant in the mountains in this area, and they can't do business at all, and they can't dig medicine. I'm not afraid of adult jokes, I've sent my wife back to his own house now, and even so, I still can't support myself. Ay! "It can be seen that the current situation of Xiao Xi Longzo is very miserable, who would have thought that he would be a big businessman in history!

"So, what are Ryozor-kun's plans for the future?"

"I'm going to go to China again, and I've heard that the Ukita Naoya of Bizen Narabu Yamashiro is in need of medicinal herbs, and I want to try my luck with him, so if not, I'll find a monastery and become a monk." While speaking, Xiao Xi Longzuo also shook his head, it seems that he himself feels that his plan is unreliable, but he is really helpless!

His words made Wanji's eyes light up, and he was ready to go to the Bizen Kuniyu Kita Nao's house, so it would basically not be wrong, and the young man in front of him, who was in his thirties, clear-eyed, and tattered-cled, was the father of Yukicho Konishi, a business and domestic affairs talent, Konishi Ryuzzo.

Wanji immediately bypassed the fire pond, knelt down beside Konishi Ryonzo, bowed his head to Kuroda Shigetaka, and said, "Grandfather, please let Konishi Ryuza stay in my family, become a retainer of my Kuroda family, and be in charge of my Kuroda family's business dealings." Wanji didn't get up after speaking, waiting for Kuroda Shigetaka's answer, Kuroda Shigetaka and Konishi Ryuza both looked surprised.

"Wanji, are you serious?" Kuroda asked solemnly.

"Hey, Wanyoshi is serious, our Kuroda family is in need of someone like Ryuza-sama. I believe that Ronzo-sama, who has been engaged in business activities for a long time like my grandfather, will definitely be able to handle the business of my Kuroda family well. Moreover, Wanji thought that the scale of this longhouse area could be expanded in the future, not only to entertain ronin samurai, but also to anyone with a skill. Our Kuroda family can't always look at the small place of Himeji Castle, just rely on a bunch of samurai to protect their territory, our Kuroda family will definitely have a wider territory in the future, we need experts in managing internal affairs, business experts, ninjas who find out the news, and even carpenters, smelters, and doctors are all we need. There is a word called meritocracy, that is, as long as it is a capable person, we should use them properly and let them play a role, only by doing meritocracy, our Kuroda family can be truly strong and stand tall in this troubled world.