July 1, the 14th year of Astronomy (1546), northwest of Iga country.
Imagawa Yoshimoto and the Ginkgo couple, with a small team of guards, were galloping on the official road in the mountainous area.
"The suggestion is that you and Master Xue Zhai switch places. He will go back by boat, and you will take the land route back to Sanhe to take command?" Ginkgo muttered casually, holding the reins with one hand and rubbing his sleepy eyes with the other.
"Yeah, I'm young and strong, so it's better to leave this kind of drudgery to me. Teacher, he is an old man. If there is any emergency, it will be difficult to escape." Imagawa Yoshimoto made a decision
As if he was filial to his juniors, he answered sincerely.
"Come on, I'm really too lazy to sit on a sea ship for so long. You can't take a shower for dozens of days at sea. Don't think I don't know you, sir." Ginkgo rolled her eyes at Imagawa Yoshimoto and complained angrily.
.
"Hahahaha..." Imagawa Yoshimoto was struck by one of the motives in his heart. He laughed sheepishly and awkwardly tried to change the subject: "But to my surprise, the old man actually agreed to you traveling with me.
It’s really not very wise for the governor and the mistress to be exposed to danger at the same time.”
"He must be thinking in his heart that if misfortune really happens to you, sir, then the Takeda family, who is a foreign relative, is the biggest threat. He might as well get rid of me, a girl from the mountains." Ginkgo, however, is open-minded and does not care at all.
He replied with a mindful smile.
"Your Highness, we will soon arrive at the connection point. Lord Yamamoto, Fujibayashi Yasutoyo and Morita Izu should be waiting for us in front." Ohara Zhenmi, who was sent by Taiyuan Xuezai to escort Imagawa Yoshimoto, was riding back from the front at this time.
, reporting to Imagawa Yoshimoto.
"No problem, let's go meet up now." Imagawa Yoshimoto responded, but at the same time he was puzzled by Ohara Zhenmi's wording: why Yamamoto Kansuke and Morita Jiegumo used honorifics, but Fujibayashi Yasutoyo was a little rude.
What about calling him by his first name?
Fujibayashi Nagatomo, whose name is Fujibayashi Yatoyo, is the head of the Fujibayashi family, one of the three jounin of Iga (the other two are Hattori and Hyakuchi). Iga country has always had small lords since the Kamakura period
The heroes were in a state of separatism, and the weakness of Iga in protecting the Niki family further encouraged this trend, forming a situation where many ninjas ruled together, the apex of which were the three major jounin families.
Morita Jōgumo was the lord of Ichinomiya Castle in the northwest of Iga country. In the original history, he participated in the battle between the Iga people and the Oda family, and was captured by the Oda army during the second Tensho-Iga Rebellion.
Asking for death.
"Yamamoto, long time no see." Imagawa Yoshimoto bowed his hand to Yamamoto Kansuke from a distance, "I'm still wondering why I haven't seen you next to Dr. Daisen for a long time. It turns out that you were sent to Iga early in the morning to contact you."
"Yes, after all, I have an old relationship with Fujibayashi Yasutoyo, and my lord has named me for me to contact you." Yamamoto Kansuke saluted while replying to Imagawa Yoshimoto. Next to Yamamoto Kansuke, Morita Neteun and Fujibayashi Yasutoyo also followed suit, but
Morita Jiegumo used the etiquette of having seen a high-ranking samurai, while Fujibayashi Yasutoyo directly knelt down in the manner of a commoner's obeisance: "I have seen His Highness Jibu."
"Why is Fujibayashi doing this?" The polite Imagawa Yoshimoto hurriedly reined in his horse and was about to speak, but the accompanying ninja Dou Atonsune beside him had already leaned forward and added in a low voice:
"Your Highness, that Fujibayashi is only a ninja, not a samurai, that's why he gave me this great gift."
"Uh..." Imagawa Yoshimoto was stunned for a moment, and then he softly confirmed to Tomonsuke: "Doesn't it mean that our main collaborator this time is this Fujibayashi? His power is also much greater than Morita Izu Mamoru.
, why is it that his status is lower?"
"Because Izu Mamoru is a samurai and Fujibayashi is just a ninja." Tsuchi Atomsune added seriously again.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured that my troops will protect the safety of your surroundings." Morita Jieun said to Imagawa Yoshimoto.
"His Royal Highness Jibu passed by Iga to appreciate the honor. I am very grateful. My ninjas are determined to be at the front and back of the horse to serve you, Your Highness! I have also been cleared in advance and the confidentiality has been kept. Please rest assured."
Congratulations!" Fujibayashi Yasutoyo greeted him with a flattering smile on his face.
However, Imagawa Yoshimoto and his party did not know that just a few miles away on the hilltop, another group of people also came to Iga. Of course, the other pair of people also did not know where Imagawa Yoshimoto was.
"Although we won the battle of Kyoto, the loss of food and baggage was really not small, and we couldn't eat Hosokawa Harumoto in a hurry." Miyoshi Yoshihide drove his horse forward while sighing with some reluctance: "There are no benefits.
It was taken over by the Imagawa family, and for almost nothing, they got so much money and food, and a blood relative who could inherit the position of general."
"After all, I was too anxious." Noguchi Fuyunaga, the fifth brother of the Miyoshi family, rode behind Miyoshi Yoshihide. "To this day, I still can't understand why the second brother was so anxious to murder the general?"
Is it inappropriate? Even if we want to fight with Chief Hosokawa, there is no need to risk the world's disapproval to kill the puppet general, right? Second, it is untimely. We were hastily involved in the fight with the Hosokawa family before we were even prepared.
In the fight to the death, we can obviously give us a few more years to operate with peace of mind."
"It's not my decision." After Miyoshi Yixian hesitated for a moment, he decided to tell his fifth brother. This was a secret that only Miyoshi Changqing, Miyoshi Yixian and Anzhai Fuyang knew before. "Someone stole from us."
The poison from Sanhao's family killed the general. The arrow was on the string and had to be fired."
"Ah?" Noguchi Fuyunaga was really surprised, "Did anyone find out after that?"
"No." Miyoshi Yixian sighed, but after a moment of depression, he immediately removed the negative emotions from his mind, "But the matter has come to this, no matter how much you think about the past, it is useless, just focus on the present.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Hosokawa family and the Rokkaku family had suffered heavy losses and had no time to take care of them, our Miyoshi family went to mobilize the Iga and Koga ninjas and cut off one of their arms."
On the other side, on the ship off Shanin Road, Amano Keitoku was also asking Taiyuan Xuezhai for advice, reviewing the Kyoto war that had just concluded:
"I'm a little curious, and I'd like to ask Master Xue Zhai for advice. How did you expect that the Miyoshi family would poison Kongfang-den? How did you expect that the Miyoshi family would replace Gongfang-den's bones with those of the Hosokawa family?
What about the bones poisoned by poison? They rushed to excavate and examine the bones in Gongfang Hall like they had no idea. This strategy is really amazing."
"Haha, to be honest, I don't know at all. I only know that there must be something fishy about Gongfangdian's sudden death. I guess it may be poisoned by the Sanhao family. This is already the limit. How could I have expected that the Sanhao family wanted to open the coffin?
Are the fake corpses after the autopsy here to frame the Hosokawa family?" Taiyuan Xuezhai leaned on the side of the boat and said with a carefree smile: "You really expected it, why should I be a monk? I will become an Onmyoji."
"Then..." Amano Keidei pondered in confusion. What he wanted to ask was, why did he take such a big risk, waste such a big price, and mobilize more than 100,000 people to fight, just to give the Imagawa family a chance to fight?
How about creating an opportunity for the Rangers to open Ashikaga Yoshiharu's coffin?
"The invincibility lies with me, but the victory lies with the enemy. You cannot expect the enemy to make mistakes and prepare for them. You must expect the enemy to be lenient. If you are fully prepared, you will naturally have the opportunity to catch the enemy's mistakes." Taiyuan Xuezhai shook in front of Amano Jingtoku.
Pointing his fingers, "My original plan was to leave a 'fake last words' or some kind of 'false evidence' in the coffin of Kōfōden, proving that it was the Hosokawa family who murdered Kōfōden. If the Confederate Army could successfully invade Kyoto
, we will have the opportunity to open the coffin and conduct an autopsy, which can undermine the prestige of Commander Hosokawa in one fell swoop and bring the benefits into our hands."
"I didn't expect it to be a coincidence. I broke through the conspiracy of the Mihaoshi family. It was an unexpected joy. Sometimes, good opportunities are left to those who are 'carefully prepared' to 'accidentally'..." Taiyuan Xuezhai said to Amano
Jingde explained, his face becoming more and more gloomy as he spoke, until finally he became speechless.
"Master Xue Zhai, what's wrong? But what happened?" Amano Keide asked anxiously.
"No, it's just that I suddenly realized that Chengfang might be in trouble." Taiyuan Xuezhai straightened up uneasily and immediately ordered the sailors: "Stop the ship, dock and send a messenger."
"Master Xue Zhai, what does this mean? Aren't the arrangements for this Iga time travel already made?"
"What if the Sanhao family made 'careful preparations' and planned to take advantage of the Rokkaku family's new defeat to attack Iga, but ended up attracting many forces there and accidentally discovering Chengfang's whereabouts, it would be bad.
"Taiyuan Xuezhai muttered to himself, and actually fiddled with his rosary quickly with some uneasiness, "If I were to go by myself, I would have the confidence to settle this. But that child Chengfang... is really uneasy.
I thought the task was too simple before, so I allowed him to go."
"It can't be such an unlucky thing, right?" Amano Keide said with relief as he began to order the messengers, "The Miyoshi family themselves have to digest the new territory. Do they really have the ability and willingness to infiltrate Iga country now?
That's the back garden of the Rokkaku family. Even if we go to Iga Mountain, it would be difficult to directly meet His Highness the Governor of the House. Even if we go at the same time, we will probably pass by him."
"I hope. Who knows." Taiyuan Xuezhai felt a headache, "I hope I'm overthinking it."
