This is a traditional Fenglinzhou feudal castle building, which is both a mansion and a castle.
The so-called castle tower is a tower with a mountain-style roof. There is a high corridor on the top of the tower, and the outer and inner steps are inconsistent. The tower is two-story, with a three-story observation deck above it, with a total of five floors. The observation tower is large and has a mountain-style roof.
The fascia boards intersect with the eaves above, so there are six floors inside. The edge of the uppermost floor of the tower is retracted into the outer wall, which is painted with white plaster. The gables are also varied, and the windows are sliding doors, which are luxurious and spectacular.
The Ii clan also built Gengu Garden in Hikone Castle based on the concept of the Imperial Palace Garden of Daqi Xuanzong. The Hosho Terrace in the garden can overlook Hikone Castle from below and is where the feudal lord entertains distinguished guests.
Strictly speaking, Toyotomi Hidemoto was not the owner of Hikone Castle, the Ii clan was the owner of the city. However, after the situation worsened, Toyotomi Hidemoto came to Hikone Castle as a guest. The Ii clan was a vassal of the Toyotomi clan. In addition,
The feudal lord of Kamihikone Domain was appointed as the elder, but he was not in Hikone Castle, so Toyotomi Hidemoge took charge of the affairs of the castle on his behalf.
At this time, Toyotomi Hidemo was sitting across from others on the Fengxiang Terrace in Xuangong Garden, drinking tea. Influenced by the customs of the Central Plains, the thirty-two-year-old Toyotomi Hidemo did not shave his head, but looked like a Central Plains person.
His hair is combed into a bun. He has a delicate appearance. He wears a wind-folded black hat, which is tied with a hanging thread. The top is long and straight, and the bottom is a long hakama. The hakama is tied around the waist, and there are breast buttons, small exposed sleeves, exposed sleeves, large curtains, etc.
Decorated, wearing "Dianzhongzhao", holding Zhongqi, standard daimyo dress.
The person opposite Toyotomi Hideshige wore a boat-shaped black hat and a plain coat, looking exactly like a samurai.
The samurai held the tea cup with two fingers and rotated it gently, but did not drink the tea. His eyes casually looked at the surrounding scenery, and then turned to Toyotomi Hidemo: "The emperor's Qingweizhen appointed His Highness as the regent Guanbai.
This is a great thing, but His Highness is not happy?"
Toyotomi Hidemo smiled bitterly: "Your Highness Hidetsugi, Your Highness Hidexiang, Duke Masahiro died in an unknown manner, and Duke Naosada's head is in a different place. It is really unpredictable whether he will go there or not."
Bushido: "Wealth and honor come from danger."
Toyotomi Hidemoge picked up the tea cup and said nothing.
Going to Xiujing is certainly very risky, but if he can survive, he will become the new regent Guan Bai. Even if Guan Bai's position is transferred in the future, he will still be His Highness Taige.
That's why he didn't refuse.
The warrior was about to speak when he suddenly stood up with a sneer on his face: "Another mouse sneaked in."
Toyotomi Hidemo was already used to it: "I'm sorry for you, Ishishuzai."
Shizhouzhai
It is the nickname of the ancestor of the Yagyu family. He once learned swordsmanship from a sword master under this name and received the true transmission of the Shinin-ryu. On this basis, he created the Yagyu Shinin-ryu. Since then, all the heads of the Yagyu family have used the nickname Ishishusai.
It is also common in Fenglinzhou. For example, the Hattori family, which has been loyal to Prime Minister Toyotomi for generations, has also used the same name for successive family heads.
The Yagyu family has always been the swordsmanship teacher of the prime minister. The current generation of Shishuzai Yagyu Mune is one of the eight swordsmen in Fenglinzhou, and he is as famous as Katsura Zenyuki, who assassinated Qingweizhenren.
The most famous thing about Shininryu is "no sword attack", which means to control the opponent with bare hands. Therefore, Yagyu Munemasa did not draw his sword, but slashed with his bare hands. On the line, a trace of distortion visible to the naked eye was stirred up. It was actually the same as Takeo
The Shatter Line Vacuum is somewhat similar.
At the same time, a figure was also forced out by the hand knife, as if it appeared out of thin air. It was less than twenty feet away from Fengxiang Terrace. The whole person seemed to be looking at flowers through the fog. His appearance, clothes, and body shape could not be clearly seen.
You can see a blurry figure. He can sneak up to a swordsman who is twenty feet tall before being discovered. This shows that this person's stealth skills have reached the level of perfection. In other words, if Yagyu Munamasa hadn't personally been here to control the situation,
, Toyotomi Hidemoge was mostly in bad luck.
Facing this knife, this person did not dare to take a direct blow, but instead exploded into more shadows and fled in all directions.
"A ninja of the Koga style?" Yagyu Somasa changed his move into a five-finger grab.
In an instant, countless sword lights emerged from all directions, intertwining into a killing net, no matter it was in the sky or on the ground, or from east to west, north to south, without leaving a gap, all these cloned figures were enveloped in it.
Then Yagyu Munamasa made a fist with five fingers.
The killing net began to rapidly shrink inward, like a closed net. The more it shrank, the tighter the net became. All the clones that touched the net immediately disappeared. I saw that the number of clones was getting smaller and smaller, and finally only one part of the original body was left, but...
It exploded with a loud sound and turned into a straw man, which was then cut into countless pieces by the snare of sword energy.
Yagyu Somasa did not panic, he waved his left hand lightly, and silently, a dark wind came out, floating erratically.
This is the new Yin-ryu secret sword "Feng Lan". It condenses a thin line of sword energy with a cold Yin Qi, which has the effect of tracking on its own.
Previously, the Koga ninja used a substitute to escape Yagyu Munamasa's killing snare. This is also a very famous ninja tool, but if you want to refine it, you can deceive it.
The sword master's ninja must be mixed with his own essence and blood, so that he can perfectly imitate his own gas state.
Because of this, Yagyu Munamasa still captured a little bit of blood essence, and then used this bit of blood essence as a guide to drive the sword energy to find traces of the ninja. It would be fine if this person retreated. If he didn't leave, he would naturally have to face this line of swords.
gas.
This sword energy is difficult to prevent and block. It kills people invisible and silently, and is extremely sharp. The body of the person hit is immediately cut off, and the wound is as smooth as a mirror, leaving no trace. Even if it is covered with armor or other things, it can still pass through the armor.
It only hurts the body, not the armor at all.
The sword energy floated into the air on its own, which was where the Koga ninja was hiding. The ninja was also taken aback and retreated sharply. At the same time, he formed seals with his hands and summoned a large fire storm like a burning cloud, which covered the entire sky.
They were all reflected red and splashed towards the castle tower, not to hurt the enemy, but to attract Zongzheng's attention.
Munamasa Yagyu stirred it up, and a large "fire cloud" immediately moved with it, turning into a vertical flame tornado from splashing all over the sky. Then Munamasa Yagyu waved his hand again, and the flame tornado soared into the sky and went straight to the sky.
, and eventually dissipated into nothingness.
Taking this opportunity, the ninja had escaped into the void and completely disappeared.
This time he no longer tried to get close to Toyotomi Hideshige, but chose to leave Hikone Castle. The way of an assassin is always to make a sneak attack. If you miss a hit, you have to flee thousands of miles away. He has tried it twice, and he continues to pester him, and it is very difficult.
It's easy to put yourself in danger.
Yagyu Somasa didn't chase him. From the beginning to the end, he just stood up without even moving his feet. After the ninja retreated, he sat down again and continued drinking tea.
Toyotomi Hidemo was calm and did not panic. He just asked: "Are you a jounin of the Koga style?"
Yagyu Somasa nodded.
Jonin is a title that can be compared with swordsman. However, jounin is inherently deficient and is similar to Sanjin, while swordsman is similar to Qi practitioner. Under the same level, and it is a head-on fight, swordsman must have an absolute advantage.
.
As for why only one jounin carried out the assassination instead of summoning a large number of assassins like Katsura Zenyuki, one is that the importance of Toyotomi Hideshige cannot be compared with that of Seiwei Zhenren, and the other is that Hikone Castle is not Hidekyo. Other monks and priests,
If the witches and their like want to come in, they can only attack head-on. Yagyu Munamasa is not the only one in Hikone Castle, but there are also a large number of guards, such as the iron artillery equipped with Daomen's "Sun-shooting Long Gun", the Onmyoji from Onmyoliao, and various
class flag
This samurai, the new Yin-ryu swordsman, the Iga ninja, etc., but the Koga jounin is good at stealth and sneaking, and can bypass numerous guards and sneak into the core position.
Toyotomi Hidemo sighed: "This is still within Hikone Castle. If we leave Hikone Castle, I really don't know what dangers there will be."
Yagyu Munamasa said: "In my opinion, after you arrive in Xiujing, the people of the Celestial Empire will not let you live directly in the castle tower, but will keep you in their camp until Xiujing City is completely cleared.
Only then will they let you return to Hidekyo. As for the camp of the Celestial Empire, it must be safer than Hikone Castle. Since those assassins can't kill you in Hikone Castle, they must not be able to assassinate you in the Celestial Camp. In other words, in Hikone Castle
This is the last chance for the assassins before you reach the camp. The real danger is actually the section from Hikone Castle to the camp."
Why didn't Toyotomi Hidemo understand this truth? This road is not long, but it may very well be a fatal road.
It is impossible for Yagyu Somasa to accompany him, because if Somasa moves, then several major forces will see that there is no hope of assassination, and they are likely to turn their guns and attack the leaderless Hikone Castle directly. In terms of the current situation, Hikone Castle cannot afford to lose anything.
of.
Nishoji Temple, Asahi Jingu Shrine, and Koga-ryu ninjas jointly attacked Hikone Castle, which lacked Munemasa's command. One day was enough.
After all, there are only a few battles of this magnitude in Wuxing Mountain. Under normal circumstances, one pseudo-immortal is enough to take control of one side.
Yagyu Somasa asked: "Have you contacted the camp?"
"There is news from the camp that a 'Yingryu' is already on the way and will arrive at Hikone Castle soon." Toyotomi Hidemo replied, "And the manpower sent is very interesting. Ishishusai should have heard of Domen Sanhide.
The argument refers to the three young men who are most promising to compete for the eighth generation of the Grand Master. This time two were sent, namely the young princes of Zhengdao and Taiping Dao, and a not far away Junyan of Quanzhen Dao.
.I have to suspect that Master Qingwei is not the prince of Taiping Dao, but the prince of Quanzhen Dao. He wants to take the opportunity to get rid of the heirs of Taiping Dao and Zhengyi. If something unexpected happens to these young princes, it is difficult to guarantee Taipingdao and Zhengyi.
You won’t take your anger out on me.”
Yagyu Somasa smiled and said: "None of the Guan Bai before you had such an honor. You know, even in the Central Plains, only first-class innocent Taoist priests are qualified to travel on the 'Yinglong'."
Toyotomi Hideshige gave another wry smile: "I would rather not have such an honor, just ride in a human-powered sedan, and then go to Beijing safely."