On the afternoon of April 19, the fifth year of Tianwen (1536), the group turned north. If everything goes well, we can enter Minami Shinano territory today. Chatting and laughing among the green mountains and green waters, the originally long trip became interesting.
Miaomiao seemed to have fallen in love with the spot on Ginkgo's shoulder, and she couldn't get down from there. She also especially liked being stroked by Ginkgo. But when the owner, Imagawaji Yuan, wanted to touch it, Miao Miao would say "ha" angrily and refuse to let Imagawaji Yuan stroke it.
"This Miao Miao is really ignorant. He doesn't know who is feeding him, but he is kissing outsiders." Imagawa Shimoto complained with a smile, looking at the cute kitten nestled on Ginkgo's shoulder - could it be Like Imagawa Ujimoto, it feels that Ginkgo is a girl like a cat, so does it choose to get close to the same kind?
"That's great." Ginkgo's eyes were also full of smiles, and she stroked Miaomiao tenderly, "Dare to lose your temper with Mr., it means that it knows that even if it is cruel to you, Mr. will not abandon it. This It’s just a sense of security, isn’t it much better than the pitiful and obedient look before?”
"That's what Ms. Ginkgo said." A man in love will naturally not refute anything a girl says. However, when he thought that the girl in front of him and him were just destined for a journey, and that she would marry someone else when she returned, Imagawa's heart felt bad, and her expression became gloomy.
The group of people walked through the mountains and forests, still talking and laughing. Nakasugi Tora Chiyo was originally talking about the situation in Kanto, but Imagawa Ujimoto was obviously not interested in the "general trends of the world" that these men should pay attention to. Instead, he became interested when Nakasugi Tora Chiyo mentioned the tea ceremony, and gave Nakasugi Tora Chiyo some popular science. Differences in tea cakes. The two chatted happily, Hayasaka Nao also listened attentively, and before they knew it, they had almost walked through most of the forest.
Suddenly, Ginkgo suddenly stopped. Miao Miao on the shoulder noticed something like the girl and started to scream. Imagawa Ujimoto, Nakasugi Torachiyo and Hayasaka Nao stopped when they saw this.
"What's wrong?" Imagawa Ujimoto looked at Ginkgo, "Want to stop lazing around for a while again?"
"We haven't frightened the birds in the forest for a long time, right? We haven't seen any birds for about four miles." Ginkgo's serious attitude was different from his usual lazy state, and he whispered calmly: "If If someone walked in front of us and startled the birds, then we should have seen the footprints. If someone walked in the opposite direction and startled the birds in front of us, then we should have met them long ago. But in fact, we didn't .”
"There's really nothing we can do." Imagawaji Yuan took a deep breath and already understood what Ginkgo was talking about.
"Third brother, you are really haunted. I have come to Sanhe, and you want to send someone to ambush me."
·
"Boss, we found a group of ninjas, their number is close to ours."
At the same time, Tsuchikawa Sui and others who were secretly protecting Imagawa Shimoto a mile away also discovered the strange movement.
"Close to us? So many? That should be Imagawa Yoshima, right?" Tsuchi Atomsuke's face darkened, and he ordered to the dozens of ninjas following him, "Stop them, don't let them get close to His Highness, one You’re not allowed to let it go!”
·
A burst of shurikens came towards them, and a group of four people hurriedly avoided. In a hurry, Imagawa Ujimoto and Ginkgo rolled to the east side of the mountain road, while Hayasaka Nao and Nakasugi Torachiyo rolled to the west side of the mountain road. In the chaos, Miao Miao, who was originally on Ginkgo's shoulder, disappeared.
"Don't worry about it. Sir, it's more likely to die than it." Ginkgo said calmly when she found out that Imagawa Shimoto was looking for the cat in private. Before he finished speaking, dozens of ninjas who had been ambushing in the forest ahead rushed out.
"It's strange...have all the ninjas responsible for protecting me been killed?" Imagawa Shimoto's heart was full of slander, but he had no time to complain at this moment. Hayasaka Nao on the other side tried to climb over the mountain road to find Imagawa Ujimoto, but Imagawa Ujimoto stopped her loudly: "Don't come up! You will be beaten into a sieve! Just run to the west!"
After Imagawaji Yuan stopped shouting, Hayasaka Nao still hesitated and didn't want to leave. However, Nakasugi Torachiyo was more realistic than him, and took him and fled to the mountains without saying a word.
"Miss Ginkgo, you and I should run away separately!" Imagawa Shimoto himself turned around and walked into the forest. At the same time, he said to Ginkgo, "You came for me. Don't go all the way with me. They won't chase you."
"But sir, a city man like me can't even walk on mountain roads, how can I escape in the mountains and forests?" Ginkgo rolled her eyes at Imagawa Shimoto, then leaned over, ruthlessly tore open her sarong that restricted movement, and pulled Imagawa Ujimoto's hand ran towards the mountain forest, "If I run with you, there is still a chance of survival. If you run by yourself, you will definitely die."
"Why bother Miss Ginkgo?"
"It's very complicated to handle my husband's funeral. I wanted to be lazy, but I thought it would be more convenient to save you." Ginkgo enjoyed the pain and did not forget to joke, "There is really no way."
·
Ginkgo pulled Imagawa Ujimoto and ran on the mountain road. It must be said that Ginkgo was quite familiar with the mountains. Even in a completely unfamiliar place, he could always choose a suitable escape route. The ninjas behind him kept chasing him, but they couldn't catch up for a while.
"Running on like this is not an option." Imagawa Ujimoto felt desperate about the rescue efficiency of his ninjas. Since he could no longer count on reinforcements, he had to find a way to get rid of his pursuers, "Run here!"
"There is more vegetation and the trees are luxuriant on the south side. That side must be blocked by the water flow and is not a way out." Ginkgo glanced at the road pointed by Imagawa Shimoto and refused without hesitation. But Imagawa Ujimoto didn't listen to Ginkgo this time. Without saying a word, he pulled Ginkgo on the road he chose. However, as Ginkgo said, this road was not easy to walk, and he was quickly chased by the ninjas behind him.
"This road might be a dead end!" Ginkgo's voice was so anxious that her voice trembled, "What do you want to do, sir?"
Before he finished speaking, a shuriken was pointed at Imagawajimoto's back. Imagawajimoto himself didn't notice it. In desperation, Ginkgo had to pull out Imagawajimoto's saber and blocked the hidden weapon with a sharp slash. .
"Miss Ginkgo actually knows martial arts?" Imagawa Shimoto said in surprise.
"Care about yourself." Ginkgo complained angrily, while paying attention to the attacks behind her, her footsteps continued. Before he could take a few more steps, two more kunai struck Imagawa Shimoto's legs. Ginkgo also blocked all the attacks with two quick moves. Immediately afterwards, another shuriken came straight towards the back of Imagawajimoto's head. Ginkgo had no time to lift the sword, so he had to pull out Imagawajimoto's scabbard and wave it upward, blocking the blow.
"Sir, help me watch the road. I can't handle it anymore." Ginkgo was panting, but he didn't dare to slack off at all, because the attacks kept coming, "I can remind you, sir, they have already chased us at a very close distance." If we continue to run on this difficult road, we will be outflanked soon."
"I seem to understand something." Imagawa Shimoto muttered as he struggled to escape.
"Finally discovered that there is a dead end ahead?" Ginkgo said sarcastically, and at the same time helped Imagawa Shimoto block three incoming hidden weapons. At this time, many ninjas dressed in black appeared beside the two of them, shuttled through the woods, trying to get in front of them.
"No." As Imagawa Ujimoto spoke, he turned around and took back his katana from Ginkgo's hand. Then he twisted Ginkgo's wrist, hugged her whole body into his arms, and then took the blade out of Ginkgo's hand. He put it on Ginkgo's neck and shouted to the ninjas behind him: "If you dare to get close to her again, I will kill her!"
·
"Huh?" Ginkgo was startled by Imagawa Shimoto's sudden move. But to her surprise, the pursuing ninjas also stopped and looked at Imagawa Ujimoto with horror on their faces.
As expected, it wasn't for me.
Imagawa Ujimoto was amused by his previous misjudgment - yes, he himself was indeed of noble status, but the Nakasugi siblings who were traveling with him were also descendants of wealthy families. How could he insist that the pursuers were coming for him and not for Ginkgo? No wonder the pursuers kept throwing hidden weapons at him and did not dare to attack Ginkgo - they must have come with the mission of kidnapping Ginkgo. At this moment, seeing Imagawa's Yuan take the initiative to kidnap Ginkgo, everyone was stunned.
"You...you actually lied to me?" Ginkgo said in a trembling voice after a moment of panic.
Imagawa Shimoto just wanted to explain, "I didn't know that the pursuers were coming for you, so I misled you. I'm sorry." But before the words came out, Ginkgo almost cried and sobbed: "Are you in the same group with them? I don't believe you so much!"
ah?
This time it was Imagawa Ujimoto's turn to be stunned. Could it be that Ginkgo now mistakenly thinks that he is approaching her to kidnap her? This was all an accident. If he really wanted to kidnap her, why would he wait until now? And this tone of voice is obviously not Ginkgo's usual speaking style.
After a second thought, Imagawajimoto realized what Ginkgo was going to do - she wanted to cooperate with Imagawajimoto in acting and trick the ninja on the opposite side into thinking that Imagawajimoto was an ally.
Imagawa Shigen secretly marveled at the amazing tacit understanding between him and this girl who had only known each other for a few days, and continued without hesitation, "I'm sorry, Miss Ginkgo, everyone is their own master. I do this in the name of my lord. I’m here to take you hostage, please don’t resist, Miss.”
"Ah?" The chasing ninjas were all dumbfounded. They thought that the man following Ginkgo was just a servant, but who would have thought that it would unfold like this - could it be that their lord had sent an undercover agent to the target before? ?
"Is this the leader of the mountain village?" Imagawa Ujimoto remembered that Nakasugi Tora Chiyo said that their brother and sister were from Echigo and Shinano, and they must be from the wealthy families there. So he casually made up a word for Miao, which is the most common word in the Yuexin area. "Did the Lord ask you to come and take care of me?"
"I am Nanjo Sahei, and you are a subordinate of Yamamura-sama?" the leading Jonin leader answered. Imagawa Shigen was secretly happy when he heard this - he didn't expect that he really got a person with the Miao name of Yamamura?
