"Okay, now that it's been decided." Yu Qiu stood up straight and patted the dirt on his clothes, "I'm going to the castle tower. You guys should go to bed early."
"Sir." Amano Keide suddenly said coldly, "Why don't you invite Mr. Imamiya to come to our military camp."
"Jingde?" Yu Qiuping frowned, "What do you mean? Do you suspect that Lord Imam may be unfavorable to me?"
"This is Imamiya-sama's castle. If you go to his castle late at night, if he really has evil intentions." Amano Keide said in a low voice, "Sir, you will definitely go there and never return."
"Sir, I think Amano-sama's worries are not unreasonable." Fukushima Yasunari also suggested, "Your safety is the top priority. We only knew that Imamiya-sama was leaning toward the Imagawa family, but the specific situation was not clear.
Understood. This time, after we had a conflict with the Takeda family, he suddenly invited us, which made us suspicious."
"Then..." Yu Qiuping is also a conservative and timid person after all, "Katsumasa and Nanosuke will follow me into the castle tower. Jingde, you can take 10 more people outside the castle tower to meet you. Ancheng, Zhongxiu
"Thompson, the three of you will take 20 people to the west city gate. If a crisis occurs, take control of the city gate immediately." Yu Qiuping quickly arranged, "Jinbingwei and Youdong will stay at the camp."
After entering the west gate, Fukushima Ansei took 20 of his men to a small inn and waited. Amano Keide and his people followed Yu Qiuping until they reached the outside of the castle tower and stopped to wait.
After Yu Qiuping entered the door with Honda Nanosuke and Yoshioka Katsumasa, he found Imamiya Rakusei personally waiting at the door to greet them.
"Sir Yuqiu." Imamiya Leting sighed slightly, feeling a little unhappy, "Is your lord so untrustworthy?"
"Why do you say this, sir?" Yu Qiuping asked, feeling a little guilty.
"My lord has brought a total of 30 people into the city to meet him, and he is still accompanied by these two guards." Imamiya Leting smiled bitterly, "I have just seen this young man's skills. When my lord saw how strong he was,
He must be a good player, too. It’s obvious that I can’t trust you, sir.”
"Don't blame me, Lord Imam." Yu Qiuping sighed, "The situation is unpredictable now. Hundreds of people have died unexpectedly, and the connection between the three families has been interrupted for two months. I have a heavy responsibility, so I can't help but be careless.
"
"Hey." Imamong Leting sighed slightly, "There is nothing we can do about it. Please invite Mr. Yuqiu inside."
Entering the castle tower, Yu Qiuping couldn't help but feel ashamed, feeling that he had hurt Imamiya Leding's heart. Because in order to show that he had no ill intentions, Imamiya Leding had almost removed all the partitions on every floor of the castle tower in advance.
, all the doors were opened, revealing an empty room without any ambush. Imamiya Leding led Yu Qiuping to the third floor, where he lived.
"Before we talk about business, I still have some private matters that I want to get rid of, sir." Imamiya said pleadingly.
Yu Qiuping, who was full of apologies and guilt, agreed without saying a word.
"I haven't been home for a long time. I heard that people are coming from Suruga Ejiri. I want to hear about things in my hometown." Imamiya Rakusei bowed and pointed to his room.
"Would it be inconvenient?" Yu Qiuping hesitated. In this era, although meeting other people's wives is not as immoral as it was in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it is not particularly appropriate either.
"It doesn't matter," Jinggong Leding laughed, "people in the countryside don't care about the etiquette and customs, so that people from the Ming Dynasty will laugh."
Then, he led Yu Qiuping into the inner room, while Yoshioka Katsumasa and Honda Nanosuke were waiting outside.
Inside the house, you can see a woman who is also about thirty years old, looking calmly at a little girl sleeping in bed. Another boy, eleven or twelve years old, is sitting next to his mother. Yu Qiuping
Upon entering, the young man and the woman bowed in low voices.
"There is no need to be polite." Yu Qiuping said quickly, "Since it is not a formal meeting, it is just a private meeting with fellow Suruga people to catch up on old times, so there is no need for these etiquettes."
"Sir Yuqiu is indeed as kind-hearted as the rumors say," Imamiya Leding said with a hearty smile, "Sir, please take a seat."
"I wonder, Mrs. Imamiya, what do you want to hear from Suruga?" Yu Qiuping asked.
Mrs. Imamiya seemed a little embarrassed and thought about it for a long time without speaking.
"Ahong, don't you usually have a lot of things to ask me about?" Imamiya Leting smiled and said, "Why don't you talk about it today?"
"Mom usually misses grandpa the most," said the boy from the Imamiya family.
"Mr. Itami?" Yu Qiuping looked at Mrs. Imamiya, who nodded, "I have indeed met Mr. Itami several times. He is in good health and often goes to sea."
"This will put the little girl at ease." Mrs. Imamiya laughed with relief, "My father is always running around at sea, which is not good for your health."
"Don't worry, several adults of the Itami family have also started to come forward." Yu Qiuping said with a smile, "Now they are all the sons of the eldest man, and Mr. Yasunao Itami is the head of the family to perform tasks. Me and Mr. Yasunao's third son
I am quite familiar with Yasuki Itami."
"Third Young Master, Sanlang Zuo?" Mrs. Imamiya said with a smile, "When the little girl got married, Sanlang Zuo was still a child."
"How big is Ejiri Port now?" asked Imamiya Rakuding, "The last time I went there, it was when I married Ahong. In total, it has been more than ten years."
"It is now the largest port in the Sichuan family." Yu Qiuping said with a smile, "The port is almost crowded with merchant ships coming and going." Yu Qiuping tilted his head, "Why, my lord, I have never been there again.
Suruga?"
Imamiya Leding and Madam Imam looked at each other and smiled, slightly embarrassed.
"I'll be honest with you, Mr. Yuqiu." Imamiya Leding scratched his head, "When I married Ahong that day, Mr. Itami was not happy in every possible way. He felt that the person in the mountains and wilds was not worthy of his precious daughter."
"Sir, please don't say that." A Hong leaned down and saluted, "Sir, you are amazing."
"There are still outsiders here." Imamiya Leding smiled awkwardly, "I met Ahong at the port and fell in love at first sight, but Mr. Itami was unwilling to accept me." Imamiya Leding said with gratitude.
He looked towards the southwest, "It was the family governor who personally came forward on behalf of the villain and persuaded the boss to marry Ahong to me. But because of the twists and turns, we have not been embarrassed to go back for so many years, fearing that the boss will drive us away.
come out."
"How come? How can a father not want his daughter?" Yu Qiuping smiled and shook his head, "As long as Mrs. Imam lives a happy life, the boss will be very happy. Not to mention a grandson and a granddaughter?" Yu Qiuping patted.
He patted Imamiya Rakuding on the shoulder and said, "When this matter is over, your family will go back to Ejiri for a visit."
Imamong Leting, Mrs. Imamong and the young man looked at each other and nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Yuqiu, for your advice."
"So, I am loyal to the Imagawa family, especially to the Imaguan family." Imamiya Leding turned his head and looked at Yu Qiuping solemnly, "The family governor's great kindness and kindness to me will be difficult to repay in this life. Therefore, in this life, I will never be able to repay you.
, if Mr. Yuqiu is of any use, please come to my place." Imamiya Leting patted his plump chest, "Just tell me! I am willing to go through fire and water for the Imagawa family!"
"I wrongly blamed you before, I'm really sorry." Yu Qiuping said apologetically, "I misunderstood your loyalty."
"Master Yuqiu, please be careful. That's right." Imamiya Leding patted the boy beside him, "This is the dog Imamiya Lejin. I will leave it to you to take back to the camp tonight."
"Sir Imam, what do you mean by this?" Yu Qiuping frowned. This seemed to be a sign of giving hostages to show his loyalty. "I already trust you, I don't need to do this."
Imamiya Leding shook his head, "My lord is willing to believe it, but your subordinates may not be willing to believe it. There may be people in my family who are both good and bad. By sending the young master to you, we can strengthen our position."
.Please do it, sir!" After saying that, Imam Gong Leding and Imam Gong Lepleng bowed in unison, and Yu Qiuping sighed and accepted his request.
"Then, sir, please clear up my doubts. What is all this going on?" Imamiya Leding asked.
Yu Qiuping explained the goals of his mission as well as all the circumstances and analysis to Imamiya Leding in detail, which made the latter stunned for a long time before he roughly understood it.
"I see." Imamiya Leting sighed, "Then don't you know what's the use of it?"
"I hope you can help me monitor the Takeda family." Yu Qiuping said in a low voice, "Because we are about to cooperate with the Takeda family, all the information of our department will be disclosed to the Takeda family, and it will be difficult to deal with it once we are attacked. And your department is still
As long as you can remain independent and help me monitor the movements of the Takeda family." Yu Qiuping paused, "Also, I would like to ask you to strictly control the four city gates. If the bandits really attack us by force, I will plan to do so.
Lead your men into the city to defend it."
"Keep it with me!" Imamiya Rakuding thumped his chest, "As long as I'm here, there's no way I can hide any troubles in the Takeda family from you."
"Also, I hope that your Excellency can send a few messengers to inform the family governor's hall about the situation here." Yu Qiuping said in a low voice, "The warriors I brought here who can ride horses are all backbones, and there is no way to spare them to report the news.
." As he spoke, he took out a series of situation analyzes he had just written with a brush in the camp from his arms, folded the paper, and handed it to Imamiya Leding.
"Don't worry about this. I asked my brother to deliver it in person." Imamiya Leding nodded and carefully collected the piece of paper, "Are you sending it to Junfu?"
"That's right." Yu Qiuping nodded. He suddenly thought about whether it would be okay to let Amano Jingtoku's crow deliver the letter. So he decided to write another analysis and give it to the crow after he went back in the evening.
"By the way, Lord Yuqiu." Imamiya Leding seemed to have remembered something, "My Lord said before that a sachet was found on the person who pretended to be a messenger? Can you borrow it for next time?"
"Here." Yu Qiuping fumbled in his clothes for a while and took out the sachet. Imamiya Leting took it and looked at it carefully for a while, then raised his head and looked at Yu Qiuping with a solemn expression.
"I have been living at the border of the Three Kingdoms for more than ten years." Imamiya Leding handed the sachet back to Yu Qiuping, "If I admit it correctly, this sachet should be of Kanto style."
"Kanto? Hojo?" Yuqiu Ping's expression tightened.
"That's right." Imamiya Rakusei nodded. "And it's the embroidery style of the Sagami region."
"Is it easy to identify?"
"It's not difficult. You can definitely recognize it after seeing it a few times." Imamiya Leding replied.
Yu Qiuping frowned and thought for a while, then said: "Can the people of the Hojo family be so careless? They would actually wear something that clearly shows their identity. They really didn't consider the situation where their disguised messengers were caught.
What?"
"I will discuss it with my subordinates when I get back." Yu Qiuping nodded, stood up and said, "It's getting very late, so I'll take my leave now so that I won't disturb you and your wife's rest."
"I'll give Mr. Yuqiu a ride." Imamong Leding stood up, took his eldest son Imamong Leqing, and followed Yu Qiuping to Yu Qiuping's camp. Because of Imamong Leding's initiative to send hostages, Imagawa
The family suddenly relaxed, and all the doubts about Imamiya's previous decision disappeared. After Yu Qiuping wrote another letter, Amano Keitoku's crow flew back to Sunfu.
That night, everyone discussed the matter about the sachet until early in the morning, but no conclusion was reached. In order to preserve their physical strength, they had to leave people on duty overnight and then went to rest.
After breakfast the next morning, Yu Qiupei led people to the entrance of the Takeda family's camp. At this time, there were already many samurai from the Imamiya family with ashigaru patrolling the outside of the Takeda family's camp vigilantly. Southwest
There are still a few archers at the top of the city looking at the Takeda family's camp. Now, it is difficult for the Takeda family to make any small moves.
"Master Yuqiu, what do you think?" Sanada Masayuki and Sanada Nobutsuna also came out to negotiate after hearing that Yuqiupei had arrived.
"Decided to cooperate with you." Yu Qiuping stretched out his hand, "Thank you, Mr. Sanada."
Sanada Masayuki did not hold Amakihei's hand immediately, but looked at the ashigaru of the Imamiya family who were patrolling around, "I heard that you visited the castle tower late at night last night, and you are indeed quite clever."
"I don't dare to talk about any means. It's just that the family governor usually has a keen eye for talents and treats his subordinates well." Yu Qiuping shook his head.
"So, do these surveillances represent the sincerity of Mr. Yuqiu's cooperation?" When Sanada Masayuki asked this question, Sanada Nobutsuna snorted coldly, and tapped the scabbard with his right hand demonstratively. Behind Yuqiupei
Not to be outdone, Yoshioka Katsumasa also knocked on the scabbard, while Honda Nanosuke remained expressionless, just paying attention to the movements of Sanada Nobutsuna's hands.
"Of course." Yu Qiuping nodded without embarrassment, "If I didn't plan to cooperate with the Takeda family, I would have made a sneak attack on your camp last night, so why waste time on surveillance."
"Shameless." The other four people present cursed in their hearts at the same time.
"It's really unsatisfactory." Sanada Masayuki smiled bitterly and raised his eyebrows, "Master Yuqiu has the help of local snakes. In this way, I will be completely at a disadvantage in terms of intelligence." He held the hand with some reluctance.
He took Yu Qiuping's hand and said, "I hope the cooperation will be pleasant."