"Fortunately, I didn't go into the castle tower for dinner..."
Late at night on September 27, the 9th year of Tenmon (1540), Imagawa Yoshimoto, who had finally escaped from the city, breathed a sigh of relief after escaping death. "Otherwise, I would have died in the castle tower. There is really no way..."
·
At this time, inside the Sakurai Castle Castle Tower.
"Takematsumaru, you are really disobedient..." Nagauchi Matsudaira was standing next to the main seat at the moment, looking condescendingly at Matsudaira Hirotada who was being escorted over, "Didn't Grandpa tell you all, as long as you invite Imagawa Yoshimoto Just come in for dinner and trick him into the castle tower?"
"Why?" Matsudaira struggled wildly, glaring at the mastermind Matsudaira Nagachichi, who suddenly launched a coup in Okazaki City in the afternoon and detained his uncle Matsudaira Yasutaka, and who was now standing in front of him, "Grandpa, uncle, what are you doing? What do you want to do?"
"Didn't you see that after Imagawa Yoshimoto entered the Yoshida Castle of the Toda family, he robbed the Yoshida Castle? Now you dare to lure the wolf into the house and bring Imagawa Yoshimoto to Okazaki Castle? You took away the Matsudaira family's century-old Do you want to give away your foundation?" Matsudaira Changqin raised his hand and yelled at Matsudaira Hirotada, "You are such an unscrupulous descendant, you really know how to mess up! It's not just that you were driven out of the city because of your weakness, you actually dared to bring outsiders back. Are you threatening your own people?"
"His Majesty Imagawa is not that kind of person, he is a gentleman! How could he do something clever and plunder, or take over a magpie's nest?" Matsudaira Hirotada defended loudly while struggling, "He saw that I was in trouble and still extended a helping hand to me. He came all night Support me. When we arrive at Okazaki Castle, we will not go into the city to avoid suspicion. You have been kind to the Matsudaira family, so how can you avenge your kindness and murder him?"
"Is this the reason why you would rather give up the position of house governor to save his life? It's extremely childish. How can there be a gentleman among samurai?" Matsudaira Nagauchi sneered and walked up to Matsudaira Hirotada, "I told you, as long as If you tricked Imagawa Yoshimoto into the castle tower, then the position of governor of the Matsudaira family will still be yours. I rushed you all the way from Okazaki Castle to Sakurai Castle, and you thought it was just to make you suddenly become famous. Did you yell and let Imagawa Yoshimoto go? You would rather give up your position as the governor of the family, but also remind Imagawa Yoshimoto that there is an ambush?"
"His Majesty Imagawa has been kind to me, and I have sworn an oath to never betray him." Matsudaira gritted his teeth and said loudly, "A Mikawa samurai never breaks his promise!"
"Then it's as you wish. Someone, come and escort him back to Okazaki Castle." Matsudaira Nagauchi shook his head in disappointment, waved to the people around him and said:
"It is passed down that Matsudaira Hirotada colluded with the Imagawa family in an attempt to subvert the Matsudaira family business. They failed and were arrested. They were deprived of the position of family governor and I was temporarily appointed as agent. Tell the Fujii Matsudaira family in the south of the city and those who are stubbornly resisting in Okazaki Castle. Tojo Matsudaira family and the Goi Matsudaira family north of Okazaki Castle, if you want to save Matsudaira Hirotada's life, please surrender obediently, stop messing around, and join me to annihilate the Imagawa army that invaded Mikawa, and then deal with household affairs."
·
After Matsudaira Hirotada was escorted back, Matsudaira Yasutaka immediately stepped back and lowered his voice to Matsudaira Nagaki: "Grandpa, everything is as you expected."
"How do the Toda family and Kira family respond?" Matsudaira Nagauchi smiled and sat back in his seat.
"They are all acting according to your plan. It is a good strategy to reduce the troops and a good strategy to make the same enemy." Matsudaira Yasutaka couldn't help but be convinced by his grandfather's strategy at this moment. "The ferry crossings of the Yahagi River have all been controlled by my third uncle (Matsudaira Nobusada). ) led the Soe family, Fukugama Matsudairabe and Sakurai Matsudairabe to blockade, then Imagawa Yoshimoto will never want to return to the east bank of the Yahagi River."
"Back then, even Imagawa Osamu (Imagawa Clan) and Sounoko (Hojo Soun) couldn't do anything to me. Why does this young kid Yoshimoto think he can fight with me?" Matsudaira Nagauchi burst out laughing. Whitebeard was laughing so hard that he still looked old and weak. "From the moment he stepped into the realm of Sanhe, he was already at my mercy!"
It turned out that after Matsudaira Nagachichi found out that Matsudaira Hirotada went to the Imagawa family to ask for help, he had already made a plan - to capture Imagawa Yoshimoto alive. Nowadays, the Imagawa family has very few relatives, and the heir to Imagawa Yoshimoto is still a young child. As long as the Matsudaira family captures Imagawa Yoshimoto, the Imagawa family will immediately be leaderless and in chaos. After that, whether the Matsudaira family conquered the Imagawa family's territory by themselves or negotiated to force the Imagawa family to give up a lot of benefits, they were able to capture it easily.
After hearing that Imagawa Yoshimoto had taken Yoshida Castle into the common ownership in order to uphold justice, Matsudaira Nagauchi immediately spread the news in the clan with more jealousy, saying that Imagawa Yoshimoto had taken advantage of the situation and seized the territory of his retainers under the pretense of passing by. This immediately aroused the fear of the Matsudaira clan - worried that Imagawa Yoshimoto was supporting Matsudaira Hirotada in name, but in fact he came to occupy Mikawa. With the same hatred of the enemy, it would be much easier for Matsudaira Nagaki to make plans.
However, Imagawa's soldiers were numerous and powerful, and it was extremely difficult to capture Imagawa Yoshimoto. So Matsudaira Nagachichi planned another strategy to reduce his troops - first instigating internal fighting in the Kira family, forcing Imagawa Yoshimoto to leave one in Tojo Castle. He then instigated the Toda family to rebel, forcing Imagawa Yoshimoto to send Nakono Ujitoyo to lead people to return for reinforcements. When there were not many people left by Imagawa Yoshimoto, he was tricked into going to the west bank of the Yahagi River to attack the Sakurai Matsudaira family.
At this time, except for the 300 people from Tojo Matsudaira's family, there were no troops in Okazaki Castle to support Matsudaira Hirotada. Matsudaira Nobutaka and Matsudaira Yasutaka, who were left behind, then revolted and detained the troops left behind by Matsudaira Hirotada and Imagawa Yoshimoto, and then blocked the news from Imagawa Yoshimoto. On the Sakurai Castle side, Matsudaira Nagauchi is preparing to lure Imagawa Yoshimoto into the city and capture him in one fell swoop.
Who would have thought that Imagawa Yoshimoto was very alert and refused to separate from the army. Matsudaira Nagachi had no choice but to pressure Matsudaira Hirotada from Okazaki Castle and force him to trick Imagawa Yoshimoto into entering the castle tower - but Matsudaira Hirotada risked his life for Imagawa Yoshimoto and yelled at Imagawa Yoshimoto to run away. ——This is also the only time Matsudaira Nagaki made a miscalculation in the past few days.
However, although Imagawa Yoshimoto ran out, there was not much food around him, and 1,200 people were no match for the Matsudaira family's army, so they could only be captured without mercy. The Matsudaira family has now blocked all the ferries of the Yahagi River. Imagawa Yoshimoto cannot even send a messenger to contact his own troops.
"Send someone to inform Furunoji Yutaka not to support Imagawa Yoshimoto and not to come to Nishi Mikawa to cause trouble. It is best to ask him to transfer Mitsu Tobiya who is in Tojo Castle back to Higashi Mikawa and stay away from the Yahagi River basin. He cannot be allowed to This Imagawa family banner originally discovered that we are besieging Imagawa Yoshimoto on the other side of the river." After thinking about it, Matsudaira Nagachichi decided to add another layer of insurance to the layout:
"Just tell him that once Imagawa Yoshimoto is gone, it will be his turn as the only remaining adult member of the Imagawa family to be the family governor. Even if he is not the family governor, he can still be a posthumous servant, right? He should be very good at it. Are you happy to see Imagawa Yoshimoto captured? Why bother coming to rescue him? I heard that the relationship between the two of them is not that good."
·
"What exactly happened... If His Highness Matsudaira was captured, could there be a coup in Okazaki Castle?"
Imagawa Yoshimoto and others who had temporarily settled outside the city were in shock, and immediately convened a hasty assessment meeting to discuss the situation.
"It must be that old immortal fox Matsudaira Nagaki who is up to something." Even though Akai Kuroko is a rough man, his intuition at this time is sharp. "While he arranged for the Miki Matsudaira family who stayed behind to capture His Highness Matsudaira, he also went to Sakura Jingcheng wants to arrest us."
"So...the previous civil strife in the Kira family and the rebellion in the Toda family...were all Matsudaira Nagachichi's tactics to reduce the army?" Imagawa Yoshimoto also reacted immediately and guessed Matsudaira Nagachichi's plan with almost no information. , "He saw that I had too many people and it was difficult to attack, so he deliberately separated my people? Or did he see that I had fewer people, so he had evil thoughts?"
"It should be the former." After Imagawa Yoshimoto weighed it for a moment, he made a judgment. "He planned so carefully this time. Sakurai Castle and Okazaki Castle took action at the same time. Our ninjas didn't receive any news, and neither did His Highness Matsudaira." We haven’t met any informants from the clan, which means it must have been planned for a long time... So he just pretended to surrender to His Highness Matsudaira, but in fact he wanted us to be careless and get rid of me and His Highness Matsudaira together."
"Tell me a joke." Okabe Momotsuna sneered twice, and whispered in a low voice, "A country bumpkin like the Matsudaira family wouldn't really dare to provoke the Imagawa family, right? Would he dare to attack our Highness? What if we let the calf-protecting guy Master Xue Zhai knows that his precious student was almost killed, so he can spread the ashes of the Matsudaira family!"
"The problem is that we can't contact the army on the east bank of the Yahagi River now." Imagawa Yoshimoto sighed, and then looked at Tsuchi Atonsu, who was seriously injured, and all the ninjas around him were also injured.
"All the bridges and fords that can cross the river on the Yahagi River are controlled by the Matsudaira family. We searched upstream and downstream for ten miles and still couldn't find a place to cross the river. Both sides of the river bank are full of explorers and ninjas, and it is impossible to sneak across." Atom glanced at his subordinates with lingering fear, "We tried to cross the river several times to pass on information, but we failed and many brothers were sacrificed."
"How long can our rations last?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked again.
"Two days, less than three days." reported Osawa Kiyoshi, who had just returned from counting the troops and baggage. "There are still about 1,200 soldiers, 400 combat soldiers, and 800 auxiliary soldiers. The number of enemies on the west bank of the Yahagi River is about 3,000 People are coming and going, we will probably find our hiding place soon. The Fujii Matsudaira family has withdrawn its troops and has no intention of supporting us."
"There is really no way..." Imagawa Yoshimoto took out his folding fan and fanned himself a little irritably, "If we find a river mouth and rush through, can we rush back to the west bank of the Yahagi River?"
"It's hard, the Matsudaira family is already on alert. Once our army appears, they will immediately gather from all directions, and there won't be enough time for us to break out." Tu Atom Sutra gave a pessimistic prediction very realistically, "Unless we can be contacted Reinforcements on the east bank of the Yahagi River, attacking from the east and west.”
"By the way, Your Highness, what should we do about the situation in Okazaki Castle?" Asahina Yasutomo was worried about the 50 horse troops they had left behind in Okazaki Castle, as well as Himura Hijiha, Hayasaka Nao and others. "Our remaining troops are Aren't they also being detained? How to rescue them?"
"I guess so." Imagawa Yoshimoto took a deep breath, and then calmed down, "But don't worry, there is a very strong person there, and I will definitely have a way to escape. Maybe we won't be the ones to rescue them then. It’s them who rescue us.”
"Your Highness, are you talking about Lord Himura?" Kentaro Tianchen asked.
"No, there is someone else." A subtle smile appeared on the corner of Imagawa Yoshimoto's lips, "The person who can handle her is not born yet, right?"
Not to mention that her nominal identity is just an ordinary maid, so she will not attract attention at all.
·
At this time, in the dungeon of Okazaki Castle Honmaru.
In the afternoon, the troops left behind by Imagawa were all controlled by the soldiers of the Matsudaira family who rose up. They didn't even have time to send someone to report the news - they didn't expect the Matsudaira family to suddenly betray them. Himura Uyoha and Hayasaka Nao were carefully imprisoned in the deepest part of the dungeon. As the maids of Imagawa Yoshimoto, Ginkgo and Mochizuki Takaki were imprisoned in an ordinary cell in the dungeon.
"Sister..." Afraid of revealing Ginkgo's identity and causing trouble, Mochizuki Takaki only dared to call Ginkgo "sister" at the moment.
"Don't be afraid, my sister is here." Ginkgo comforted her while looking at the layout and security of the dungeon.
Mochizuki Takaki swallowed his saliva - yes, the lady is not panicking now, and as the lady's kunoichi, I can't panic anymore, I have to find an opportunity to rescue the lady. So, like Ginkgo, she began to study the situation in the dungeon, thinking about escape routes and plans.
She thought for a long time and finally came up with a fairly mature plan. She moved quietly, planning to use the shuriken hidden in her waist to cut the rope around Ginkgo's wrist, and then let Ginkgo help her untie the rope. But when Mochizuki Takaki coughed a few times to Ginkgo to signal her attention, Ginkgo leaned against the wall motionless.
What's the meaning? Could it be that the young lady discovered that someone was watching us and warned me not to act rashly? Or did the lady find a better opportunity?
Just when Mochizuki Takaki was thinking hard, she suddenly heard Ginkgo's gradually even breathing in the quiet cell.
She turned her head and saw that her lady was sleeping soundly on the thatch of the cell...
·
In the early morning of September 28, the 9th year of Tenmon (1540), in the Imagawa family’s camp outside Yoshida Castle, Na Furuno Ujitoyo received a handwritten letter sent by Matsudaira Nagauchi urgently overnight. After reading it, he was silent for a long time and finally made a choice.
In front of the envoy of the Matsudaira family, Furunoji Yutaka called a messenger and asked him to recall Imagawa Iemitsu Tobei who was still in Tojo Castle on the grounds that "the rebellion was not going smoothly and reinforcements were needed." After the messenger left, the Furuno family smiled and took the secret letter into his arms, and at the same time gave instructions to the Matsudaira family messenger:
"No problem, tell your lord, I agree to his request. I will conceal the news of Imagawa Yoshimoto's ambush from the main force of Imagawa Army, restrain the entire army here in Yoshida Castle, and will not return to Nishi Mikawa. Imagawa Yoshimoto He can't even see a single sign of reinforcements."
"But I have a condition -" Naguyeji Yutaka sneered and said in a long tone.
"Imagawa Yoshimoto must die, not live."
