After Yu Qiuping returned to the camp, it was already dark. Amano Kagetoku suddenly came up to him quickly, and then welcomed Yu Qiuping into a separate small tent. There were only five ashigaru generals among the battalion commanders, Naoe Tadayei and Amano Kage.
Even Honda Nanosuke was asked to wait outside.
"Mysterious, what are you doing?" Yu Qiuping asked curiously.
"Sir." Amano Jingde closed the account, lowered his voice, and gave Yu Qiuping a small black bamboo tube.
"Just now, an arrow suddenly shot at the two flags on the camp. It was tied to the arrow." Amano Keide said in a deep voice, "It seems to be a secret message."?
"Secret message? It's so unsafe. What should I do if I shoot by mistake?" Yu Qiuping was stunned for a moment, opened the cover of the bamboo tube, and pulled out a note from the inside. On the note was written a line of words in neat handwriting: Tonight at midnight
See you next to the Broken Bridge in Taki River. You are the only one allowed to come.
"What's written?" Omaezaki Nakahide was the first to ask when he saw Yu Qiupian's solemn expression.
"You guys take it and read it." Yu Qiuping handed the note to Omaezaki Nakahide. Everyone circulated it around and looked at Yu Qiuping expectantly.
"Speaking of which, your Excellency has mentioned before that ninjas were sent from the House Governor's Palace. Could it be them?" Naoe Tadahei asked.
"But it could also be a trap." Amano Keidero shook his head, "If it's a ninja from my family, why don't you show some tokens? For example, a seal or something?"
"Perhaps you are afraid of shooting in the wrong place and being exposed?" Fukushima Yasunari said.
"It's too dangerous." Yu Qiuping was the first to quit, "Why! Let me go there alone at night and don't know how I died? If they want to come find me, just come here."
"The roads going up the mountain are all blocked," Naoe Tadahei said. "I heard Imamiya-sama say when he was building the checkpoint today that this is the only way to go up this mountain. The other sides of Aiying Mountain are rugged and steep, and it is impossible to climb them.
Not coming up."
"Then I won't go either, think of me as Kaizi!" Yu Qiuping snorted, "It's too dangerous. If you have anything, just write it on the letter! Why are you letting me go?"
"Maybe it's because I'm afraid that the letter will be picked up by others and lead to leakage?" Fukushima Yasunari guessed.
"Eh? Sir." Ogawa Youfu asked in a daze after drinking, "It's also very dangerous when cooperating with the Takeda family. Why, how, why did you agree, sir? No matter what, you don't dare to go this time?
"
"When cooperating with the Takeda family, I can use my own efforts to change the situation. Besides, haven't I analyzed it objectively?" Yu Qiuping shook his head, "This time is a complete adventure. I can't do anything and resign myself to fate. If I don't go, I'll fight."
Even if I die, I won’t go.”
Yu Qiuping's attitude made everyone present dumbfounded. "Why are you making those expressions?" Yu Qiuping muttered dissatisfied, "Didn't you say before that my safety is the top priority?"
"But..." Omaezaki Nakahide wanted to persuade him again, but he hesitated, smiled and shook his head, "According to the plot of a normal story, shouldn't samurai go to meetings alone?"
"I won't go." Yu Qiuping made up his mind not to go, "Let him go."
On May 8, at eight o'clock in the morning, at the edge of the Long River Broken Bridge.
"Lord Abe, there is still no one here." A ninja ran back from the forest on the river bank and reported to a ninja in black waiting by the broken bridge by the river. The latter frowned and looked to the northeast with a stern look.
direction.
"Kojiro, are you sure you delivered the letter?" The ninja known as Abe-sama asked Kojiro for the fifth time.
"Sir, I really delivered it." Kojiro didn't know why Yu Qiuping didn't come. "My subordinate saw the Er Yin Liang flag, shot an arrow into it, and saw someone picking it up."
"How are you sure that the person you picked up is a member of the Imagawa family?" the leader asked.
"This... subordinate didn't dare to say anything," Kojiro said in a low voice, "I was afraid of being discovered, so I left in a hurry."
"It would be bad if Master Yuqiu didn't receive the letter." The leader sighed, "The Family Governor's Hall asked us to follow Master Yuqiu's command after we find Master Yuqiu, but now we can't contact him at all."
"Let's go look for it again. When the fourth quarter of the hour comes and there's no one there, let's go back to the hiding place." The leader sighed and asked his men to separate and search around again.
In the early morning of May 8th, at 7:00 p.m., Yu Qiupei left Naoe Tadayei and Ogawa Yufu to lead a squad to stay at the camp to protect Imamiya Rakusei's family. Today, Imamiya Rakada is in charge of the castle, leaving a few capable men.
Go down and sit at the checkpoint. Yu Qiuping then left Imamiya Castle, and the whole army was on guard to explore the way to the southwest. Since there is no long spear that everyone is familiar with, Yu Qiuping is not very confident about the combat effectiveness of the army. It is estimated that the most stable
The combat effectiveness depends on Charlie's archery team.
When Yu Qiupei set off, he happened to see the Hojo family leaving the camp and heading east, probably carrying out the same exploration activities as him. However, the Takeda family did not move for a long time, and he didn't know what they were thinking about.
The group of people carefully avoided forests, hills and other places where they might encounter ambushes, and tried to walk on plains with a wide view. Thanks to the good weather, the sky was clear today and the visibility was exceptionally good. They had almost reached the river, but there was still no sign of anything.
The signs of enemy activity gave everyone a little peace of mind.
"If I had known it was going so well, I should have sent out the whole army directly, and shouldn't have sent people to stay behind. Like yesterday." Yoshioka Katsumasa yelled regretfully, "We could just run back to Suruga. How could it be like this?
trouble."
"Forget about what happened yesterday," Yu Qiuping sighed, "There are so many of us, and all of us fell into the trap of diverting the tiger away from the mountain. As a result, the food and grass were burned."
"There will be no more trouble today." Yu Qiuping said, "The Takeda family seems to have no intention of dispatching. They are on the edge of Imamiya Castle, and Lord Imamiya Rakusei is personally stationed at Imamiya Castle, as well as his subordinates.
The handle level must be foolproof, the enemy won’t even have a chance to climb up the mountain!”
The group of people quickly moved forward to the riverside of Longchuan River. In order to avoid the woods and hills, they deliberately took the farthest road. The water flow of Longchuan River is not particularly fast, but the deepest part is probably about 1.5 meters. Yu Qiuping is as tall as
People can accept it, but there are many of his subordinates who can't get through, so they can only swim across.
Just when Yu Qiuping was thinking about whether to make a bamboo raft in advance and put it in the bamboo forest next to it, so as to cross the river directly when he comes tomorrow, the sound of rapid horse hooves suddenly sounded behind him.
"Thompson! Be on guard!" Yu Qiuping was shocked. He was actually killed on the road. Charlie quickly led the archers to hide behind several bushes and stood in a row, bending their bows and setting arrows. The other 30 ashigaru also fired.
Knife in hand, he looked nervously at the dust raised by the horse's hooves.
After a while, they saw a rider rushing over. There was no one else following him, and he was not wearing armor. Everyone felt relieved.
"Lord Yuqiu! Lord Yuqiu!" The man saw Yu Qiuping from a distance and immediately shouted in mourning. Yu Qiuping recognized that this was the Hatamoto samurai of Imamiya Leding, and his heart skipped a beat.
"My lord! My lord, he..." Samurai Hatamoto rushed to Yu Qiupei's side on horseback. After dismounting, he sat down on the ground, stood up staggeringly, ran over, and knelt down in front of Yu Qiupei. The ashigaru around him
They all gathered around nervously. Dozens of eyes stared at the Hatamoto samurai.
"What's wrong, Mr. Imam! You're talking!" Yu Qiuping shouted anxiously.
"Master Yuqiu must avenge my family!" Samurai Hatamoto did not answer directly, but kowtowed three times on the hard ground, "My family was killed by that thief!"
By the time Yu Qiuping rushed back to Imamiya Castle in a hurry, the people outside Imamiya City had already received the news of the assassination of the kind and kind lord, and there was a lot of crying in the castle town and the villages outside.
"It's really bad that we couldn't control the news of the death." Yu Qiuping complained secretly. He led his men up the mountain road and found that the Hojo family's investigation team was blocked outside the checkpoint. The leader of the guard at the checkpoint seemed to be
It's Naoe Tadayei.
"Open the door quickly! Let us in!" "Open the door! What do you mean!" The ashigaru of the Hojo family argued to let Naoe Tadayei open the door, but Naoe Tadayei was unmoved. Standing next to him seemed to be
I am happy to arrange for my uncle to stay there, so I am happy and happy.
"We must wait for my master's order before we can let any outsiders into the city!" Naoe Tadahei refused without hesitation, "Please forgive me."
At this moment, Naoe Tadahei suddenly saw Yu Qiupei's troops at the foot of the mountain going up the mountain. The Hojo army in front of the checkpoint obviously also noticed it. Toga Shizu quickly asked his subordinates to get out of the way and went to negotiate with Yu Qiupei himself.
"Master Yuqiu, your subordinates blocked me from the checkpoint! Such a big thing happened, why don't you let me in?" Without saying a word, Heshixu went to attack the enemy.
"Don't blame me, Mr. Luhe," Yu Qiuping waved his hand, "At this critical moment, we don't know the enemy or ourselves, so the subordinates below are more cautious. I hope you understand."
"So, can we go in now?" Tuheshi continued to ask.
Yu Qiuping hesitated for a moment and used his eyes to ask the surrounding subordinates for their thoughts. Everyone couldn't figure out what to do at this moment and shook their heads.
"Please wait a moment, Mr. Luhe." Yu Qiuping, who was conservative and cautious, still did not intend to let Luhe Shixu come in immediately, "I will go inside first to understand the situation."
Go and Shixu wanted to quarrel again, but Yu Qiuping had no time to pay attention to him. He led his men directly around Gohe Shixu's troops and passed under the iron fence. As soon as Yu Qiuping's troops passed by, the iron fence was lowered again, and
The Hojo family members blocked the outside.
After Yu Qiuping entered, he immediately asked Amano Keitoku to replace Naoe Tadayei to stay at the checkpoint, and pulled Naoe Tadayei to understand the situation.
"Everything was normal at first, but at the beginning, suddenly there was the sound of fierce fighting in the castle tower, and before I could react in the tent, Imamiya's Ashigaru and I said, "Imamiya
Your Excellency was killed by a group of men in black." Naoe Tadohei looked ashen, "I hurriedly brought people to support, but it turned out that all the men in black had evacuated and were missing. The Takeda family who arrived first took control of the castle tower and
East City Gate. I was worried that something unexpected might happen and prevent you from entering the city, so I asked Lord Ogawa to summon the remaining troops of Lord Imamiya to stay at the camp and protect the three family members. I rushed to the gate with 10 people and took over the defense. "
"Well done." Yu Qiupei breathed a sigh of relief. If Naoe Tadayei failed to react quickly and allowed the Takeda family or the Hojo family to first control the level where the Imamiya family defenders were leaderless, Yu Qiupei would be blocked outside now.
.
"Where did the person who assassinated Lord Imam come from? Was the checkpoint lost?" Yu Qiuping asked in surprise.
"No, there is nothing unusual about the level! No one has passed the level!" Naoe Tadayei's voice was trembling a little, "There are sentries on the cliffs everywhere, and no one has noticed anyone climbing."
"Then who killed Mr. Imamiya! Where did those people go?" Yu Qiuping was at a loss and cursed angrily, "Isn't there only one way up the mountain? No outsiders came in.
ah!"
"I am incompetent. I don't know who the enemy is." Naoe Tadayei knelt down immediately, "Imiya Castle does not close the gate during the day. I thought that by guarding the gate and not letting anyone in, safety can be guaranteed. So no one stopped the enemy from entering the city.
, and no one noticed their whereabouts. After that, it was the Takeda family who controlled the castle tower, and they refused to share information with me."
"Who is he? How can he kill Imamiya-sama among hundreds of people!" Yu Qiuping cursed angrily, "There are no outside intruders! No one ran out! There is no one else on the top of the mountain..." He said.
As he said that, he seemed to suddenly understand something.
If there are no outsiders coming or going, there will indeed be no one else on the top of the mountain except the Imamiya family's defenders.
Except for today, the Takeda family refused to go out.