"By the way, sir," early the next morning, Chibei suddenly remembered something, "Yesterday afternoon, the uncle from the Fukushima family came to see you and said that he wanted you to help carry a message."
"Oh? Is that so?" Yu Qiuping calculated the time and said, "I'm going to look for silk...forget it, I'll go there myself." Yu Qiuping thought about it and decided to help carry the letter. After all, it was the first time.
Once I help them deliver a letter, I also inform them of the situation at home. It is safer to do this kind of thing in person.
"That uncle also said that more than 200 others had already written letters, and they were afraid of disturbing the Lord, so he came after everyone had discussed it." Chibei added.
"Okay, Thompson, I might have to trouble you." Yu Qiuping looked at Charlie, "I might have to delay your archery for a while. I plan to go to Mikawa, but neither I nor the guards are very good at martial arts, so I might have to ask
You protected us."
"It's my honor to serve you." Charlie's words were as brief as ever, "Anyway, I can find time to practice archery on the road."
"You guys, you still can't do without archery all day long." Yu Qiuping smiled.
In the morning, Yu Qiuping, Chibei, and Charlie went to each house to collect letters. Yu Qiuping also met Asahina Taehyung on the road. The latter felt aggrieved after hearing that Yu Qiuping was going to Mikawa again.
"I want to go too, but I was imprisoned again because of the last fight. I can only walk around Sunfu City without letting the gate out." Asahina Taehyung said with a sad face, "Are you going alone this time?
Can you ride a horse?"
"Yes! I learned it!" Yu Qiuping remembered the humiliation last time and fought back confidently. "I want to borrow three horses from my eldest brother. My two companions also learned to ride horses when they were young."
"No problem, come back to my house with me later." Asahina Taehyung agreed, patting his chest, "However, your status is a bit embarrassing. If you are not a samurai, you may not be able to live in the inn."
"Let's see," Asahina Taehyung patted his head, "I happen to have a few ashigaru-general positions vacant, sir. I will temporarily appoint an ashigaru-general for you first, and then I will give you a badge and a flag when I get back. That's it.
You are our samurai of the Asahina family, and it will be more convenient along the way." He thought about it carefully, and then added, "It's just to repay your life-saving grace last time... Hehe, those old guys at home can only shut up.
Mouth."
Yu Qiuping, who originally wanted to refuse, then thought about it. If he became a warrior, would his identity be closer to that lady? So, he gratefully agreed.
At noon, Yu Qiuping, Charlie, and Qinbingwei returned to the store to gather. Qinbingwei proposed to set off after lunch. But Yu Qiuping awkwardly interrupted and said, "Well... I may have some urgent matters in the back mountain. Wait until I come back."
Let’s go again.”
Charlie and the guard looked at each other and nodded tacitly.
"Why don't you ask me what's going on?" Yu Qiuping couldn't tell the excuse he had prepared, and couldn't help feeling a little depressed.
"Don't ask." Charlie replied simply. Yu Qiuping, who was confused, left after eating.
When they arrived at the back mountain, the girl was a little disappointed when she heard that Yu Qiuping was going to Sanhe and would not be back for half a month. But after hearing that Yu Qiuping was delivering a message to the more than two hundred slaves, happiness suddenly appeared on the girl's face.
And he smiled proudly.
"Well, Taira-kun, please be careful along the way. There is still fighting over at Mikawa and Owari, so don't go to the front line." The girl warned with concern.
"Don't worry, just wait until I come back. I'm really sorry for these ten days." Yu Qiuping suddenly felt a warmth in his heart. It felt really good to have a girl remind him before going on the road.
"After I come back, will the lady still be here every afternoon?" Yu Qiuping suddenly asked with some worry.
"Don't worry, Mr. Ping." Yu Qiuping's worry made the girl feel a little happy, "As long as the maple leaves have not fallen, I will come here to see them every day. Waiting for you to come back."
After Yu Qiuping reluctantly left, there was always a smile on his lips.
But suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind, and I couldn't get rid of it no matter what.
What if all the maple leaves fall?
This terrible idea made Yu Qiuping lose his mind. Sensing the abnormality, Chibei asked for the reason.
"Do you think there is any way to keep maple leaves on the maple trees?" Yu Qiuping suddenly asked.
"Uh...this." Chibei was stunned for a moment, "What can we do? Before winter, the maple leaves will eventually fall."
"Yes... when the time comes..." Yu Qiuping sighed lowly.
"Make your own leaves." Charlie interjected.
"What do you mean?" Yu Qiuping raised his head and looked at him with gleaming eyes.
"Buy some red paper, fold the leaves yourself, and hang them on it." Charlie added, "Don't you Ming people know how to fold paper?"
"It makes sense!" Although it was just a nonsensical idea, it was like a life-saving straw for the young man who was deeply in love. Yu Qiuping immediately went to the nearby workshop and bought a lot of red paper. "I can't rush at night anyway,"
Yu Qiuping smiled and said, "I will fold the red leaves at night." After that, he cut the paper with scissors and made a square shape. When he was a child, he loved red leaves the most, although he failed in the labor and technical class.
, but the level of folding red leaves is top-notch. After three times, five times and two times, a lifelike red leaf was folded.
"I didn't expect you to have such skills." Senbei sighed, while Yu Qiuping carefully stuffed the red papers into his luggage.
"Get ready to go." Yu Qiuping called to the two of them.
On the afternoon of July 23, Yu Qiuping and his party set out from Junfu and galloped westward along the official road. It was said to be a gallop. Yu Qiuping, who had just learned to ride a horse, was joined by Chibei and Charlie, who had last ridden a horse a long time ago.
, in fact, we are just moving forward at a medium speed. Let alone 100 miles a day, 60 miles is enough.
Yu Qiuping brought a map with him, and he had already walked the same road once, so there was no problem with the itinerary. During the day, they rushed on the road. At night, Charlie found a place near the inn to practice archery.
, Chibei helped with the sundries, and Yu Qiuping was folding red leaves beside the oil lamp. In one night, he folded almost 70 leaves.
The group was not particularly anxious. Four days later, they had arrived at Yoshida Castle in Mikawa.
On the evening of July 27, when the inn collapsed, Yu Qiuping clicked on the red leaves that he had folded, and there were more than 260 of them. Before falling asleep, he couldn't help but start to dream about the whole maple leaf forest.
It looked like it was covered with red leaves. Chibei was still responsible for taking care of all the chores in an orderly manner, like a big housekeeper. After falling asleep, Yu Qiuping didn't know that that night, between Mikawa, Toga, and Suruga, messengers were lighting torches
galloping.
In the early morning of July 28, Yu Qiuping and his party had just finished breakfast, leading their horses, and were preparing to leave Yoshida Castle. Suddenly, another group of dozens of cavalrymen and more than a dozen horses entered from the south gate of Yoshida Castle.
, galloping straight towards the castle tower where Yu Qiuping was. When the dozens of people approached, Yu Qiuping recognized the leader. It seemed that he was Sena Shitoshi, who had a very pleasant chat with him in Yinma Castle. However,
, the latter's face was solemn and nervous at the moment, making Yu Qiuping's greeting suddenly stuck in his throat.
"Are you a retainer of the Asahina family?" Sena Ujitoshi glanced at the flag on Amakihei's back. He seemed to be about to give an order, but suddenly recognized Amakihei, "Oh? Momiji-kun. Why are you here?"
"But now is not the time to talk about this." The usually easy-going Toshi Sena was very serious now, "Momiji-kun and your companions are already samurai of the Asahina family."
"That's right." Yu Qiuping answered honestly.
"Then I'm very sorry, I want to involve Momiji-kun in the war," Sena Shijun took out a command arrow in his arms, "This is the family governor's command arrow. Order me, Sena Shijun, to set off from Hima Castle and assemble
All the Imagawa retainers found on the road were assembled into an emergency reserve team and headed to Mikawa."
After Sena Ujitoshi said this, a follower in black next to him handed the shiny golden command arrow into the hands of Yu Qiuping, who was confused. "Please, sir, check the command arrow," the follower's voice was very cold, without any trace of emotion.
Emotions. Yu Qiuping glanced at the latter's face, and his expressionless face was full of chilling air. What was even more surprising was that there was a crow sitting on his shoulder, staring at him with dark yellow eyes.
"If the inspection is correct," the attendant saw that Yu Qiuping had no intention of leaving, so he said coldly, "Please follow the team. This is the order of the family governor and cannot be disobeyed."
"Kingtoku, don't be so fierce. Momiji-kun is a knowledgeable and sensible person." Sena Shitoshi leaned down slightly from his horse and explained to the bewildered Yu Qiupei, "Mikawa is facing a crisis, Asahina-sama is gathering troops in Toga, I am the general
First, take the manpower you can muster and rush to Mikawa to collect intelligence and stabilize the situation. We are very short of manpower, so we can only wrong Mr. Hongye."
Yu Qiuping nodded and glanced at the warriors behind Sena Shitoshi. They had various flags on them, and most of them were not wearing armor like Yu Qiuping. It seemed that they were here in a hurry.
Except for a few people who seemed a little reluctant, most of them were still eager to give it a try, and one of them was short in stature and was so excited that he couldn't sit still on the horse.
"Originally, I planned to go to Zhili City to deliver the letter," Yu Qiuping pointed at the package, "but it seems that this matter cannot be declined, right?" He asked tentatively.
"No." The follower with the crow replied unceremoniously. Sena Shitoshi also shook his head apologetically, "There is no room for maneuver. I'm really sorry, Hongye-kun. It's the busy farming season now, and the leaders and militiamen are all
We have been disbanded and returned to the autumn harvest. It will take a long time for Asahina-sama to assemble the troops again. Now we are really short of manpower and time. Please, Momiji-kun and your two companions, please join the team quickly."
"Understood." At Yu Qiupei's signal, Chaibei and Charlie also got on their horses. Charlie and Chaibei went to the end of the team, while Yu Qiupei was left at the head of the team by Sena Ujitoshi, who came to give him a brief summary.
Let me introduce the situation.
"It's great that you have horses, otherwise the horses I would bring would not be enough." Sena Shitoshi smiled bitterly, "There is not much time for gossip now, let's speed up."
On the horse that was running at high speed, Yu Qiuping maintained his balance with great difficulty, while Sena Shitoshi began to answer Yu Qiuping's doubts.
"The reason for this emergency call-up order is that our army has suffered a major setback in the Mikawa area." Sena Shitoshi said with a serious expression, "Now, the number of mobile troops is less than 500."
"Ah!" Yu Qiuping was surprised, "We have almost 3,000 soldiers on the front line. What happened?"
"The Oda family came almost empty-handed and launched a large-scale invasion that has not been seen in the past ten years. The commander's determination seems to be extremely strong. This is far from our previous assessment of the Oda family."
Yu Qiuping only felt a "bang" in his head.
He simply did not remember that in history, the Oda family had massively attacked the Imagawa family before the Battle of Okehazama.