The other side of hell is heaven, and Imagawa Yoshizhin on the west bank of the Fuji River is already very satisfied.
"Taiyuan Xue Zhai, Imagawa Yoshimoto... fight with me? I have already said that fighting against time-travelers is futile."
He also raised his hands, intending to shout a few morale-boosting slogans, but the wind brought inappropriate sounds.
"Look, look, Master Xue Zhai made the sign 'nine', it's a code."
When Imagawa Ryo really wanted to find out who the inexplicable voice came from, he found that the army had suddenly become commotion. The Imagawa family's main unit of the former army, surrounded by Sugini's sedan, suddenly left the battle line and headed east. Asahina Bei on the left and Okabe Bei, Sena Bei, and Sekiguchi Bei on the right also responded. Nearly 4,000 people left the team instantly. In an instant, only more than 2,000 people including Fukushima Bei, Miura Bei, Hasegawa Bei, Ichinomiya Bei, Yui Bei and Kamahara Bei were left around Imagawa Yoshima.
"Fourth Young Master, cross the river quickly!" After Asahina got rid of the formation, he quickly came to the floating bridge of Fuji River and greeted Imagawa Ujimoto. After Imagawa Ujimoto and Taihara Sekssai led the crowd across the bridge, Asahinabe's soldiers swarmed up and demolished the only pontoon bridge in this section, isolating the Hojo Army on the other side of the wide Fuji River. The pursuers of the Hojo family had to stop and looked at each other in front of the rough Fuji River.
"What is going on?" The confused Imagawa Ujimoto finally reached the other side safely, and for some reason he suddenly received the support of thousands of Imagawa troops.
"I'm afraid that there is a traitor in the army, so I've been hiding it from you." Taiyuan Xuezai explained to Imagawa Shigen with a smile, "Chengfang, haven't you reacted yet? After the rumors about the teacher's first move, Imagawa Yoshima has already Losing prestige, the troops that can be mobilized are mediocre, and most of the military power has returned to the hands of the royal family, Odai-don. The key to the battle for the governor from the beginning is nothing else, but who can get the support of Odai-don between you and Imagawa Yoshima. . The second move of my master is to persuade Yutai Palace. As long as Yutai Palace changes its mind and supports Chengfang, a large number of troops will naturally come to surrender."
"Then why...my mother suddenly gave up the third brother and chose me?" Imagawa Ujimoto watched Shouguini's sedan slowly approaching under the guard of the warriors, and many soldiers followed.
"Don't you understand your father? He can allow Imakawa Ryojin to be greedy, he can allow Imakawa Ryojin to be ruthless, he can allow Imagawa Ryojin to be rebellious, and he can even allow Imagawa Ryojin to kill her son and even herself. But she is the only one who doesn't What is allowed is that Imagawa Yoshima betrays the interests of the Imagawa family. She likes Imakawa Yoshima, and only his talent can revitalize the Imagawa family. But if this talent is not used to revitalize the Imagawa family, then Imagawa Yoshima will be useless .”
Taiyuan Xuezhai snapped her fingers in the direction of Shou Guini's sedan, and Shou Guini happened to lift the door curtain. What she held in her hand was the letter that Xingjin Zheng'an presented to Taiyuan Xuezhai that day.
"That is…"
"That was the deal that Imagawa Yoshima made with the Hojo family - to cede Kadong in exchange for the Hojo family betraying us and supporting him. But land transportation was completely cut off, so if Imagawa Yoshima wanted to go to the Hojo family, he had no choice but to take the water route. The return trip At that time, the envoy carrying the oath was captured by the fleet of the Xingjin Navy that I ambushed, and the letter was handed over to Ni Oitai. But a letter was not enough to change her mind. She had to wait until she saw the Hojo Army with her own eyes today. When he helped Imagawa Yoshima attack us, the evidence was conclusive.”
"Xingjin navy? But didn't the teacher burn the entire boat...Wait a minute...Didn't the Xingjin family burn down the ship that night, but only the port?" As Imagawa Ujimoto spoke, he suddenly realized that everything was strange. Everything made sense, "The reason why Teacher asked the Anhara family to burn all the luggage in the city when they evacuated was to make my third brother mistakenly believe that Teacher, you will burn everything that cannot be taken away wherever you go." ? Let him mistakenly think that the Xingjin family also burned all the warships? "
"Children can be taught." Taiyuan Xuezhai saw that Imagawa's Yuan had enlightened, and explained with great satisfaction, "Burning Anhara City is a camouflage trick, and what the Xingjin family burned in Xingjin Port was only the port, thatch and a few scrap ships. , but Imagawa Yoshima's ninja could not distinguish what was burned in the middle of the night. In fact, the main fleet of the Kotsu Navy had already taken advantage of the night to go to sea. Just waiting for Imagawa Yoshima to misjudge the Kotsu Navy They are all destroyed and the sea route is safe. Let the envoys go to Hojo’s house by water.”
"But how does the teacher know that Imagawa Yoshima will definitely go to the Hojo family? How does he know that they will definitely reach an agreement to cede the east of the river?"
"Haha, didn't I say that before? Then since Imagawa Yoshima had no foresight, he would have guessed that we would go to the Hojo family, so how could he just sit back and wait for death? But there is also a monk in the Hojo family who is not a vegetarian like my teacher. Seeing this How could this big fat man from Hedong be willing to make a wedding dress for Imagawa Yoshima without any conditions? As long as Imagawa Yoshima agrees to the conditions that harm the interests of the Imagawa family, he will lose. The teacher only needs to get his mind If the unfair evidence is presented to the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Palace will be disappointed and will unite with close associates to oppose Imagawa Yoshima."
"As long as Ni Odai declares: 'After investigation by ninjas, it was the former lord who murdered Imagawa Yoshima'. How many of the former lord's old ministers are willing to follow Imagawa Yoshima? They are not like your father-in-law, who are dedicated to maximizing the interests of the Imagawa family. . How can the evil thief who murdered the former lord's brother convince the public no matter how talented he is? Now that they have seen with their own eyes that Imagawa Yoshima is connected to the Hojo family, and let the Hojo family help hunt us down, they will even more confirm Imakawa Yoshima's murder. The late master's statement. Don't forget, the late master went to the Hojo family before his death. These important officials must have suspected that Imagawa Yoshizhin colluded with the Hojo family to kill the late master, and also led the Hojo family to the east of the river to besiege us. .”
"In this case, who else will serve him? With the Asahina family taking the lead, and the prestige of the royal family, there are countless people who can bring order to the chaos." Taiyuan Xuezai pointed at the troops approaching Imagawa Ujimoto and those who stayed behind in Imagawa. Liangzhen's party members, "The remaining ones are either dissatisfied with the Imagawa clan or secret allies of the Fukushima clan. Your father was afraid that the plan would be leaked, so he didn't contact them in advance. We lured them into the wild and annihilated them in one fell swoop." .”
"But there are still variables in the plan." Taiyuan Xuezhai said this, his face gradually became more serious, and he looked back at the Hojo Army on the other side of the Fuji River who was building a temporary raft and looking for a ferry, "Hojo's ambition will not stop at the east of the river. We must defeat Imagawa Yoshima before the Hojo army crosses the river and unify the Imagawa family in order to resist Hojo on the Fuji River."
"If this is what the old man is worried about, then there is no need for it." Imagawa Shimoto, who was confused by the back-and-forth schemes of both sides, finally smiled proudly for the first time in many days, and imitated Taiyuan Xuezhai, snapping his fingers and pointing to the east of the river. In the mountains of the north, "The bad things I did before are coming."
Taiyuan Xue Zhai looked along Imagawa Shigen's arm and saw smoke and dust rising faintly in the mountainous area. A moment later, the vanguard troops had already rushed out of the valley, and the red Takeda crystal was flying high.
"You brat, you brought the Takeda family here too...?" Taiyuan Xuezhai was dumbfounded, his mouth wide open as he didn't know what to say.
"There is nothing we can do about it. I was worried that the Hojo family would not respond to the old man's request for help, which he was not willing to pay at all, so I informed the Takeda family about the civil strife in the Imagawa family. Takeda and our Imagawa are feuding. , naturally they won’t be polite and will definitely take advantage of the chaos to send troops. As soon as the Takeda army enters Hedong, they can muddy the waters. I thought that if the Hojo family doesn’t come, we are really no match for my third brother. No matter how close we are, we can defect to the Takeda family. Are you going to be a puppet there?”
Imagawa Ujimoto watched the Takeda army move south quickly, while the Hojo army that was about to cross the river was stunned. Then he decided to turn around and challenge the Takeda family who suddenly arrived. "I didn't expect that the fight was unexpected. Takeda and Hojo have been enemies for many years. Enemies are on a narrow road, and if they all come to fight for the east of the river, there will definitely be a fight. We can concentrate on dealing with my third brother."
"Why didn't I receive the report from my subordinates? How did you, a brat, notify the Takeda family? Who was sent?" Taiyuan Xue Zhai glanced at Tu Atonjing and the others suspiciously, and they all shook their heads honestly. He whispered: "Fourth Young Master didn't ask us to go."
"I met an old friend. I helped him once before, so I asked him to help with errands this time. If you do one good deed a day, you will achieve three thousand merits." Imagawa Ujimoto replied with a smile, thinking of Koshichiro's shy smile.
·
"The Imagawa family's direct banner has a total of 2,100 people in three branches, 700 armored soldiers, 1,400 auxiliary soldiers, and 100 horse troops. The leaders of the horse troops are Himura Uyoha and Akai Kurotaka, and the leader of the second flag base is Yamada Keitaka. , the leader of the third reserve, Masatoshi Asai, and the leader of the fourth reserve, Makiyama Nazuo, reported to the Fourth Young Master on the orders of Ni Odai!"
"Asahina prepares 500 men and 170 soldiers. The leader, Asahina Tainou, has been ordered by Ni Odai to report to the Fourth Young Master!"
"Okabe prepares 800 men and 270 soldiers. The leader, Okabe Chitsuna, reports to the Fourth Young Master on the orders of Ni Odai!"
"Sena prepares 300 men and 100 soldiers. The leader, Sena Shisada, reports to the Fourth Young Master on the orders of Ni Odai!"
"There are 280 people and 90 soldiers at the pass. The leader, Sekiguchi Shilu, has been ordered by Ni Yutai to report to the Fourth Young Master!"
"Anhara prepares 200 men and 70 soldiers. The leader, Anhara Tadayin, reports to the Fourth Young Master!"
"Xingjin prepares 160 people and 50 soldiers. The leader Xingjin Zheng'an reports to the Fourth Young Master!"
"The total strength is more than 4,300, and there are more than 1,500 combat soldiers." After Taiyuan Xuezhai finished counting, he looked at Imagawa Shimoto, "Chengfang, what do you think the chances of winning are?"
"The force is twice that of the third brother, and the opponent's people are panicked. If we leave it all to the old man's command, the chance of victory is not too high, right?" Imagawa Shimoto made up his mind to become the hands-off shopkeeper, and shrank back.
"No, ninety-nine percent." Taiyuan Xuezhai shook his finger, then put the rosary in his arms into his arms and tightened his belt, "Never be arrogant and think that your side will win before victory. The self-righteous end will be the same as Imagawa Ryo. It’s really the same.”
At this time, the sedan chair Shouguini was riding in slowly came to Imagawa Ujimoto's side. Naturally, Imagawa Ujimoto didn't expect to get an apology from his mother, but his mother chose to stand on his side at this last moment - although it was purely based on profit considerations - but it also made Imagawa Ujimoto's heart slightly rippled.
Kotaro Mirubayashi, who was following Sugini outside the sedan, stepped forward and presented a flag to Imagawa Ujimoto. Imagawa clan opened it and saw that it was the red bird horse seal passed down from generation to generation by the Imagawa family governor.
"That side of Ryozhin is a fake, but this side is real." Shouguini in the sedan said coldly, "Imagawa Ryozhen is a genius, but he doesn't put the interests of the Imagawa family first. It's a pity. Selling the interests of the family. No matter how talented you are, you are not worthy of succeeding as the governor of the house. Just settle for the next best thing, Chengfang, you will be the governor of the house. Seal the horses, kill the traitors, and take back Ryumaru's sword."
After saying that, the guards carrying the sedan immediately got up and moved to the back of the formation, leaving the command to Imagawa Shimoto and Taiyuan Xuezhai.
"If your father-in-law finds out that you, a brat, told the Takeda family about the civil strife in the Imagawa family in order to stir up trouble, your father-in-law will probably be furious. Your third brother ceded Hedong to Hojo in exchange for reinforcements. You sold it to the Takeda family. This is the territory that was given away to the Imagawa family for free." Taiyuan Xuezhai leaned into Imagawa's Yuan ear and teased in a low voice.
"Old man, I've told you a long time ago, what does the snobbish and cold-blooded Imagawa family have to do with me? What do its interests have to do with me? I came to rob the family governor, but I just don't want to put myself and the old man - now I have to bring I went to the Asahina family because I didn't want everyone to die. As for the Imagawa family, if you want to destroy it, just destroy it. What's the deal with me?" Imagawa Yoshimoto spread his hands and showed a cynical smile.
Imagawa Ujimoto performed the red bird horse seal. Looking at the blood-red sound in the air, the surrounding Imagawa family samurai and ashigaru cheered and paid tribute to Imagawa Ujimoto. But Imagawa Shiyuan's own heart was full of irony and lamentation.
Ancestors of the Imagawa family, you must have never imagined that standing under the family heirloom seal that you regard as the highest honor is an elegant monk and unworthy descendant who has no feelings for the Imagawa family. If I could stay out of it, I would wish this family would perish tomorrow.
