After settling the adopted children in the camp, Imagawa Yoshimoto, who was exhausted physically and mentally, wanted to lie down and rest, but was told that Ginkgo had left the camp. She and Imagawa Yoshimoto went to the direction of Uehara Castle one after another, only to
However, she did not go to the massacre outside the city. Instead, she went directly into Uehara City to find her sister.
"Madam, please be careful!"
Along the way, Mochizuki Takaki had been holding concealed weapons in both hands, carefully guarding his surroundings. The city was in chaos, and he might encounter unexpected dangers at any time.
As far as the eye can see, there are Takeda soldiers everywhere who are making mass arrests. They move in small groups, fiercely rush into the houses of ordinary people, raise their sharp blades and scream angrily, forcing the victims to
The begging people surrendered all their belongings. No matter how obedient the people were, they would be beaten and kicked. Those who disobeyed would immediately lose their heads and body. But even so, these people living in the city were better than those in the castle town.
The neighbors here who were massacred were much luckier.
The soldiers of the Takeda family made a fuss in the house, destroying furniture and utensils at will, and only left the house with satisfaction after looting a lot of money. Some of the bad ones even set the house on fire. When the samurai left, they would also
Instead, they dragged several women away by their hair. The women's faces were filled with tears, and they wailed and begged the soldiers to let them go, but it was all in vain. Their husbands and fathers dared to be angry but did not dare to speak, so they could only tremble and huddle together.
Witnessing all this from the corner, he hugged the child tightly who wanted to find his mother.
Mochizuki Takaki naturally knew what these people were doing, but he had no reason to stop them. Being a soldier these days doesn’t pay much, so who would be willing to join the army if it wasn’t for the random arrests, burning, killing, and looting after winning the war?
What? Arbitrary arrests can be said to be an unspoken agreement between the samurai family and the military in troubled times.
However, her master didn't think so.
"Let him go." Ginkgo stopped in front of a group of Takeda family warriors who had robbed several women, and scolded them without any explanation.
"Your Highness, the Princess?" Those Takeda family warriors were all guards of the Tsuzaki Hall. They recognized Ginkgo's face and looked at each other for a moment.
"Don't do stupid things. Since so much money has been robbed, let's let those women go." Ginkgo said coldly, leaving no room for negotiation, and the few warriors did not dare to come.
This offended Ginkgo, so he had no choice but to give up and angrily let the captive women go. When the women saw this, they cried with joy. After repeatedly kowtowing in front of the Ginkgo horse, they hurriedly fled home.
"Ask me again, where is my sister?"
"Princess Mimi should be in the castle tower." After the samurai responded respectfully, he turned around and left, as if preparing to go to the next house to rob. Gingko was slightly angry, but at this moment he didn't bother to stop them, but directly
He rode his horse towards the castle tower of Kamehara Castle.
All the way into Honmaru, there was no one to stop them. The streets were full of rebels and fleeing people. Until they reached the gate of the castle tower, Ginkgo barely saw a few Takeda soldiers. Each of them was carrying a large baggage of stolen property.
, neglecting duty at the door.
"Where's my sister?" Ginkgo didn't say much to them and asked with a face.
"It's on the third floor." Several Takeda soldiers replied honestly, "My lord has an order, asking us not to embarrass the princess."
"It's good to know." Ginkgo said something, then got off his horse and walked quickly upstairs, with Mochizuki Takaki following closely behind. There seemed to be no Suwa family members in the castle tower, and the entire building
It was all quiet, not a sound could be heard.
"Madam, please be careful!" Just when Ginkgo was about to go up to the second floor, Mochizuki Takaki suddenly stepped forward, stopped in front of Ginkgo, and lowered his voice: "The third floor smells of blood! Be careful! It's better to go and invite the soldiers below.
Come up, guys!"
However, the anxious Ginkgo couldn't care about so much. She was worried that something might happen to her sister, so she went up the stairs without hesitation. Seeing that Mochizuki Takaki couldn't stop his wife, he rushed upstairs to warn her, but
I froze there for a moment.
"What's wrong?" Gingko followed with some surprise, turned around and was also stunned - the disgusting scene almost made her vomit.
Hanging from the cantilever beam in the corridor at the entrance to the living room on the third floor was a body that had been chopped into pieces. Almost no inch of skin on the body was intact, and the blood had long since drained away. The blood under the feet had condensed into black clots.
And the body that had changed into a human form was none other than the head of the Suwa family - Mimi's husband, Suwa Yorishige.
Ginkgo frowned, covered her mouth and nose, and pushed open the door to the living room. In the dim room, she could see the figure of her familiar sister at a glance. Mimi was sitting on her knees with her back to the door, her whole body motionless.
It was as if he was dead and had no reaction to the movement at the door.
Ginkgo sighed slightly, walked slowly, sat down next to Mimi, and hugged her sister gently. The cold body temperature made Ginkgo take a breath. However, Mimi seemed to be attracted by this.
The gentle movements startled her, and her whole body trembled. She turned her head to look at the person who came, her eyes were so dark and hollow that there seemed to be no light. And the mechanical and rigid movements were like a puppet on strings.
Ginkgo noticed that Mimi turned her head very carefully, strictly not exceeding 60 degrees. She was stunned for a moment before she realized what was happening - because as long as she turned her head a little wider, she could see the people outside the door behind her with her peripheral vision.
The husband was beheaded alive and then hanged.
"Don't be afraid, it's my sister..." Ginkgo carefully touched Mimi's hair and whispered softly in her ear, "Don't worry, my sister will protect you. You are safe now."
Ginkgo's warm words seemed to inject life into the doll again. Mimi's body temperature gradually recovered, and her eyes regained some light. But not long after, she shivered violently again, as if she had just returned.
The consciousness in the body recalled the memory of the disaster again, and wanted to hide again immediately. Gingko hugged her sister into her arms and patted her back continuously. Mimi froze for a long time, and finally burst into tears:
"Sister, sister...I'm so scared..."
"The Takeda family killed my husband right outside my house! I heard him screaming outside the house, but I didn't dare to look back until he could no longer make a sound and I didn't dare to look back even once.
!I don’t even know how I survived that moment!”
"How many people have been killed in the city? I heard that all the people in the castle town were tricked and killed by my brother..."
"I don't want to live anymore, sister, I don't want to live anymore, I don't know how to live anymore, it's completely over... My heart hurts so much, it feels like someone is tearing my internal organs apart, I really can't hold on anymore
Sister, let me die!"
Listening to her sister's heart-wrenching wailing, Ginkgo burst into tears instantly. For the first time, she felt that she was so powerless. Apart from her own embrace and a few words of comfort, she couldn't do anything to help.
"Katsu Chiyo..." Ginkgo couldn't help but grit her teeth when she thought of her brother Takeda Harunobu's heinous deeds, "Killing so many innocent people and forcing his sister to die, really
Don’t you have a heart? You are even more of a bastard than our bastard father!”
A strong wind blew, and the body of Suwa Norishige hanging at the door swayed slightly, and a few drops of wet blood fell into the pool of blood on the floor. This crisp "snap" sound made Mi Mi almost collapse.
. Her whole body collapsed as if she had lost all strength, and no more tears could flow from her eyes that had dried up from crying.
"Go back to camp with your sister first. Don't stay here anymore." Ginkgo helped her sister up, took off her clothes and covered her eyes, then helped her stagger out of the house. Ginkgo glanced at the body hanging at the door.
, sighed unbearably. He winked at Mochizuki Takaki and motioned for her to take down the body and bury it.
However, at the moment when she was distracted, Mimi, who she was holding, suddenly broke free from Ginkgo's hand, pulled down the belt covering her head, and clearly saw her husband's death at a very close distance.
Ginkgo was stunned for a moment. She picked up the ribbon on the ground and tried to cover Mimi's eyes again. However, Mimi suddenly took two big steps forward regardless of the situation, climbed over the railing, and jumped towards the outside of the castle tower.
, hit the ground head first, making a loud noise.
On the evening of August 29, the Tenth Year of Astronomy (1541), next to the Uehara Castle Castle Tower.
Ginkgo stood next to her sister's body and watched Takeda Harunobu, who came after hearing the news, directing his men to collect Mimi's remains expressionlessly.
"It was suicide, but I didn't kill him." Takeda Harunobu noticed the murderous look in Ginkgo's eyes, and defended himself with a smile.
"Didn't you kill my brother-in-law? Didn't you kill the thousands of people in the castle town of Uehara Castle?" Ginkgo asked coldly.
"That is not the reason why she should commit suicide. She is as childish as a child and has no consciousness at all that a martial arts family should have in troubled times. Killing enemy famous names or slaughtering cities are all normal things in troubled times.
"Takeda Harunobu spread out his hands nonchalantly, with an expression that it had nothing to do with him, "I didn't intend to embarrass her, I was going to take her back to Tsuzakikan."
"Don't you know what Mimi's temperament has been since she was a child? Do you think she can withstand such a disaster?" Ginkgo took a step forward, pointed at Takeda Harunobu's face and cursed fiercely, "Why do you have to keep her here?"
In the castle tower? If you want to execute Suwa Sakon, don't you know how to take Mimi to another place? You must let her hear it with her own ears and see it with her own eyes? You are deliberately forcing Mimi to die!
"
"Sister, calm down, I'm telling you the truth. I happened to have something to do at the time, so I wasn't there." Takeda Harunobu replied frankly, "My subordinates are not sensible and started the execution without taking Mimi away. I will teach them a lesson when I get back."
"
"Are you talking about killing people outside the city?" Ginkgo cursed angrily.
"No, that will happen later." Takeda Harunobu shook his head repeatedly, then clapped his hands and pointed to a small sedan not far away, "Before that, I went to find someone."
"Looking for someone? Who is more important than my sister's life?" Ginkgo looked at the sedan, then strode over and opened the door curtain. What came into view was a delicate little girl. She curled up
In the corner, I was crying like a tearful person, and I was trembling with fear when I saw a stranger appear.
"Who is she?" Ginkgo turned around and glared at Takeda Harunobu.
"The daughter of Suwa Sakon and my concubine, she is already quite unique at a young age. She will definitely be a rare beauty when she grows up." Takeda Harunobu also walked over slowly, put his hand on the door of the sedan and said with a smile,
"I accepted it politely. When I give birth to a child, I will let him adopt him and inherit the Suwa family."
"Forced his sister to death, chopped his father alive and forcibly married his daughter... It's simply worse than a beast..." Ginkgo took a deep breath, and then cursed coldly, "If you weren't my brother, I would have killed you on the spot.
Want to kill you."
"It is precisely because I am your younger brother that my sister would demand such harsh moral standards from me." Takeda Harunobu laughed loudly while leaning on the sedan, scaring Suwahime in the sedan to tears.
"Why, under what moral standards, how can you not be a villain?" Ginkgo didn't save any face for Takeda Harunobu, and turned around and left after saying a few words, "Just take care of yourself, you are exactly the same as your father."
"Haha, the massacres of Suwa Sakon and Uehara Castle, which were hacked to pieces and hung at the castle, are my best conquest message. What awaits me will be the surrender of Shinano Castle. Without resistance and fighting, Shinano
Aren't there more people dying than the residents of Suwa Sakon and Uehara Castle combined?" Takeda Harunobu shouted to Ginkgo's retreating back, "Sister, just go and see with your brother-in-law, I, Harunobu, can surrender without fighting.