The quarrel in the assessment room continued. In the corridor outside the room, Amano Keitai's eldest son Amano Motokage was comforting his younger brother Amano Keitoku.
"Brother will go with his father to attack the Imagawa Army. He will probably never come back after a narrow escape from death." Amano Motokage stood in front of his younger brother who was a head shorter than him, and told him with his usual gentle voice, " You are still young, so you don’t have to go to the battlefield, just stay here. Afterwards, the Amano family will probably be reorganized, and many of the clan members who participated in the attack will be executed. But you have to survive and take care of your mother. Your mother is too fragile. You might not be able to survive if you encounter these things.”
"Brother, since you know that you will definitely lose and die, why do you and your father still go?" Amano Kyoude's eyes were red, and he grabbed his brother's clothes and didn't want to let him go. "Can't we live well together as a family? Okay?"
"It is the duty of a warrior to be loyal to the Lord and repay the kindness of the palace. It is the duty of a son to be filial to my father and to live and die with him." Amano Motokage put his hands on Amano Kage's De's body seemed to hang his head helplessly, "There is nothing we can do about it. No matter whether it is my brother or my father, of course I want to live a good life with Kwonbei and my mother. But the current situation has put the Amano family in a bad way. At the cusp of such a crisis, we have no choice."
"If I don't die, my father will be disrespectful to the morality of the samurai family, and I will be disrespectful to human ethics. It will only ruin the reputation of the Amano family and be looked down upon by future generations. For the sake of the reputation of the Amano family, this is the only way we can go."
After giving the instructions, Amano Motokage glanced at his younger brother one last time, touched his head, and then turned around and left to reorganize his troops in the city. Amano Jingde was at a loss and broke into the bedroom in a daze, trying to seek comfort from his mother.
"Mom..." Amano Keide stumbled towards his mother and asked anxiously, "What should we do? Dad and brother must go..."
The youngest son's words caused the mother, who had endured all night, to collapse. He hugged the child, patted him on the back, and whispered over and over again:
"Don't be afraid, Quan Bingwei, don't be afraid... No matter what happens, my mother will be with you."
"But why do my father and brother have to go..." Amano Keide asked with tears in his eyes.
"Ah... That's because we were born in the Wu family in troubled times. For the sake of justice and ethics, your father and your brother can only do that. There is no other way..." The mother burst into tears and hugged Amano Kage. De kept crying, "There is no other way... We have nothing to do..."
However, Amano Keide held back his tears in his arms, and his thoughts continued to spread. He knew that as a man, he had to do something.
·
Is there no other way...?
After exiting the bedroom and walking alone in the corridor of the castle tower, Amano Keide clenched his fists tightly.
There is still another way...
He clearly remembered that the year before last, the Imagawa clan's army besieged Hanakura Castle, and Fukushima Katsunari, who had split up the Fukushima clan, saved his family's lives by relying on Kaicheng's surrender.
If I also take the initiative to surrender, and I also take the initiative to reveal the actions of the Amano family, will the Imagawa family spare the lives of the four members of our family, right? As long as I inform the Amano family before they send out troops and save the Imagawa family from losses, they won't definitely kill their father and brother!
Amano Jingde's body suddenly trembled violently, and a sense of shame spread throughout his body as the thought popped out, and his whole body felt as if it was being burned by fire. Born in a martial arts family, he clearly understood what his actions meant. While his father was loyal and his brother was filial, he unfaithfully betrayed the family and betrayed his father and brother - such a despicable and shameless act will forever be nailed to the pillar of shame of the Amano family and even the entire Yue River. People despise.
His reputation and life will be completely destroyed. No one will ever look at this traitor, no one will recognize him or praise him. Even his parents and brothers will despise him, and passers-by will be eager to spit in the face of a villain like him. His name will become synonymous with traitor, and no matter how prosperous he becomes in the future, he will only become the object of curses behind his back. Everyone betrays relatives and leaves, which is the fault of thousands of people. Unkind, unjust, unfaithful and unfilial. After death, you will go to hell.
Even just thinking about it, this feeling is unbearable. Amano Keidei has been determined to become a just and kind person since he was a child, but the current incident has made him almost destroy everything he has done over the years and destroy his own conscience.
But if you keep your conscience, if you still want to be a just and kind person, both your father and brother will die...
Amano Keide took a breath of cold air and couldn't help but think of what the man named Ohara Jinmi said to him two years ago:
·
"Young man with a yellow mouth, what do you know?" Ohara Zhenmi took a few steps closer and looked condescendingly at Amano Keide and his clear eyes, "For the interests of the family and the lord he follows, someone has to do dirty things. We are even together. If you are not afraid of going to hell, how can you be afraid of not being able to die well? You don’t understand now, but you will understand when you grow up. When you have a master you identify as, when you have a career that you would rather die than to complete - then you The dirty things he did and the people he killed might be several times, dozens or hundreds of times more than mine!"
·
Being a good person is easy, since Amano Keitoku doesn't need to go into battle on his own anyway. Staying peacefully in the castle tower, waiting for the news that his father and brother were killed in the war, supporting his mother after being released, and sweeping the graves of his deceased father and brother every year - this was enough to give him the reputation of being a loyal and good son. In the future, if I find some opportunities, I might be able to serve as an official again as a filial and honest person. Everything he did was consistent with the right path, and there was no trace of injustice.
But in this case, my father and brother will die, as will countless uncles and elders in the family.
For the sake of his family, for the people he would rather die to protect, he always needs someone to do the dirty work.
On the one hand, conscience, justice and lifelong reputation, on the other hand, the fate of his father, brother and clan members, the young Amano Keidei has already made a choice.
He looked up at the sky. Behind the white moon and stars, there was endless darkness.
·
At midnight on September 13, the seventh year of Tianwen (1538), in the camp of Xuezhai in Taiyuan on the west bank of Tianlong River.
"Are everything you said true?" Taiyuan Xuezhai looked at Amano Jingde who was kneeling in front of him and whispered seriously.
"There will be no lies. I heard it with my own ears." Amano Keide tried hard to control his voice not to tremble, but the shame still swallowed him up instantly, "I also ask Master Xue Zhai, for the sake of me taking the initiative to confess, to bypass me. Those foolish father and brother’s lives.”
"Of course it's no problem, if we can stop them before they cause actual losses." Taiyuan Xuezhai waved and summoned Ohara Zhenmi and Tu Atonsu, "You immediately bring ninjas and a team of cavalry to raid Inuju City. Capture Amano Keitai and Amano Motokage.”
"Forget it, I'll take it myself." Just before Ohara Zhenmi and Tu Atonsune set off, Taiyuan Xuezhai suddenly changed his mind and patted Amano Keide's shoulder, "It's Kwonbei, right? Follow me. Let me come along and lead the way.”
·
In the early morning of September 14th, the seventh year of Tianwen (1538), before dawn, Taiyuan Xuezhai led his troops to Quanju City. After Amano Keitoku deceived the city gate, the ninjas and cavalry of the Imagawa clan immediately swarmed up and captured a group of Amano clan samurai who were preparing for the war in the barracks. The retainers of the Amano family were originally dissatisfied with their lord's decision, so they naturally stood on the sidelines at this moment. Seeing that the situation was not good, Amano Keitai and Amano Motokei's father and son hurriedly retreated into the castle tower with their flags, and were surrounded by Taiyuan Xuezhai's people.
It wasn't until Amano Keitai and Amano Motokei saw Amano Keitoku's figure in the crowd that they finally realized what had happened - and why the enemy had entered the city without any blood before they took action.
"Kwonbei..." Amano Keitai's face was ashen and he pointed a knife at his second son. He was trembling for a long time and couldn't say a word. He was obviously extremely angry.
"Father, please stop resisting! The child has made an agreement with Master Xueshai. As long as we put down our weapons, our family's lives will not be harmed!" Amano Keide took a step forward anxiously and shouted at the castle tower. Father shouted.
"You traitor! Shut up!" Amano Keitai almost tore his throat and yelled at Amano Keitoku, "How dare you betray your family and father, you bastard, you are so shameless that you are worse than a pig or a dog! How dare you do this in front of me?" You are barking here, do you want to embarrass our Amano family? Let the whole Yuanjiang know that I have a traitorous son? I just pretend that I never gave birth to you, damn! Rebellious! Bastard! I can't wait to eat your flesh! "
"Father...Father!" Amano Keide was so scolded by Amano Keitai that he couldn't lift his head, and his eyes instantly turned red.
"Die to me!"
Another loud roar came from the castle tower, and Amano Keitai jumped directly from the second floor of the castle tower, rushed towards Amano Keitoku with a knife, and raised his hand to chop at his neck. Upon seeing this, Tsuchi Atonsune and other ninjas hurried forward to protect him and blocked the blow at the critical moment - Amano Keitoku was also shocked and fell to the ground. He stared dumbfounded at the ferocious beast-like eyes of his ferocious father, staring at him as if looking at a mortal enemy, which frightened Amano Jingde into chaos.
"Death! Die to me! You beast! I will personally clean up the house today!" Amano Keitai seemed to be crazy, slashing at Amano Keitoku with one knife after another, determined to take his life. After all, Tsuchikatsune and others are ninjas. They can't guard against Amano Keitai just by blocking. They have no choice but to fight back and force Amano Keitai to retreat - who would have thought that Amano Keitai would not hide even if he was stabbed by several kunai. Entering his abdomen, he still persevered in attacking Amano Jingtoku.
After several heavy blows, the seriously injured Amano Keitai knelt down while vomiting blood. The wound on his abdomen was bleeding tricklingly, and it seemed that he would not live long. Amano Keitoku panicked and rushed forward to help his father stop the bleeding. Who would have thought that Amano Keitai would strike with another knife. If it weren't for the quick eyesight and quick hands of Tu Atomjing, who pulled Amano Keitoku back - the latter would have died.
Looking at his father lying in a pool of blood, Amano Keide felt that his mind went blank, and he could only vaguely hear his father's last words:
"I'll just pretend I never gave birth to you, you beast."
·
The ninjas of the Imagawa clan attacked the castle tower, but Amano Motokage struggled to resist, but eventually fell helplessly and retreated to the inner room on the second floor. When Amano Keide hurried up to the second floor, trying to persuade his brother not to resist, he only saw his brother who had committed seppuku and collapsed.
"Brother, brother!" Amano Keide stepped forward and hugged Amano Motokei's body, checking his wounds in vain, trying to stop his bleeding. However, the elder brother just shook his head. The remaining indifference and disappointment in his eyes made Amano Keide feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
"You made my father and me become disloyal people, and you made yourself an unfilial person. Are you satisfied now?" Amano Motokage vomited blood and asked with a sneer.
"Why did my brother want to commit suicide? Why don't we live together and take care of our mother!" Amano Keidei was about to collapse, and he could only feel that his brother's life was passing by.
"You have surrendered. Neither I, nor my father, nor the Amano family will be able to hold their heads high from now on. If you want to wash away the humiliation of betraying your father and brother and your family's surrender to the enemy, the only way is to commit seppuku and save some of your reputation. ..." Amano Motokage vomited a large mouthful of blood again, and was faintly speechless. He used his last strength and pointed in the direction of the bedroom.
Amano Keide understood what Amano Motokage meant, and stumbled to the bedroom, trying to find his mother. However, when he opened the door, he only saw his mother who had committed suicide by hanging from the beam, and her purple face.
·
At noon on September 14th, the seventh year of Tenmon (1538), the bodies of all the Amano family's fallen soldiers were dragged to the open space outside the castle tower and counted. Next to the open space, Amano Keide was dazed and numb like a walking corpse, with no expression left. It wasn't until Taiyuan Xuezhai walked behind him that Amano Keide finally spoke, letting the people around him realize that he was not mute.
"Master Xue Zhai, why..." Amano Kyoude covered the left side of his face with his hand stained with the blood of his father and brother, and whispered tremblingly, "Everyone was killed by me, was it my fault... "
"No, you're right. On the contrary, you are the most amazing. At a young age, you have the courage to make choices, and the consciousness to sacrifice your reputation and morality for the people you want to protect. It's really amazing. You don't know, Some people will never be able to achieve such courage and consciousness in their lifetime, even those princes and generals who have spent half their lives in the military."
"Is it my parents and brother's fault?" Amano Keide asked again in confusion.
"They are not wrong, they just chose the opposite path to you. Compared with life, the survival of the family, and interests, they value the illusory justice more. Such as kindness, such as loyalty, such as filial piety, such as The three cardinal principles and the five constant principles..." Taiyuan Xuezhai fiddled with the rosary beads, as if counting those qualities in detail, "They are noble good people, worthy of respect. They know that being good people will suffer, but they still insist on the right path. It is because of these people that the world is possible. Get better."
"Everyone is right, why is it like this..." Amano Kagetoku raised his hand dully and pointed at the corpses covered with blood.
"Because it's the troubled times that are wrong."
Taiyuan Xuezhai sighed loudly.
"It is the troubled times that make it difficult for good people to survive. It is the troubled times that force countless people to make choices like yours. Because if we do not throw away goodwill, conscience, justice, and these most noble and great qualities of mankind, we will survive in troubled times. No way. Good people cannot fight evil people. Only evil people can survive. Only evil people can end troubled times. This is an indisputable fact and the sadness of troubled times."
"If after the troubled times, all the survivors are evil people and there are no good people, what kind of hell will it be? Just thinking about such a world is scary. Do you expect a person who is indiscriminately murderous, treacherous, unfaithful, unfilial, and unkind? Will the unjust ruler immediately change his nature and enact benevolent policies after unifying the world? Impossible. He has become accustomed to killing, and anyone who stands in his way will be eliminated, even if he is standing in the way of countless innocent people. "
"This is the despair brought about by troubled times. Those who survive troubled times are evil people. The peaceful era ruled by these evil people is also full of darkness and filth, which will eventually lead to the next round of troubled times. Again and again, never-ending."
Taiyuan Xuezhai shook his cassock, squatted down in front of Amano Jingde, and stared into his eyes.
"Evil people are destined to be unable to rule the world. What evil people can do is to be willing to pay the price of falling into darkness to protect those good people with white feathers and calm the troubled times, and then entrust everything to him, hoping that he will bring us success A time of peace and prosperity.”
"Kwon Bingwei, remember, this is the only thing we villains who do dirty things can do. If we can't find such a person, what we do throughout our lives will be just like the demons of hell. It’s completely unconscionable. But if we can find such a good person, our dirty life will have meaning, and we can use this broken body to pave a road to the pure land."
Taiyuan Xuezhai patted Amano Jingtoku's shoulder and extended an invitation to him.
"Practice with the poor monk, and I will give you what I have learned throughout my life. Find a good man, do all the dirty things for him, let him stabilize the world, and create a peaceful and prosperous age with long-term stability."
When the rain stopped, a crow flew following the smell of blood. Instead of looking for food among the corpses, it landed on Amano Keide's shoulder. It seemed that the smell on his body was more fishy and more attractive than the corpse. Amano Keitoku's clear eyes gradually became cloudy, becoming as hazy as a crow's eyes - the hazy eyes reflected the corpses of his parents and brother in a pool of blood, as well as his unrealistic ambitions when he was young.
"As you command, Master Xue Zhai."
Amano Keide responded solemnly, with only a trace of doubt left in his heart - is there really such a good person with fair wings?
