After settling the children in the camp, Imagawa Yoshimoto, who was exhausted both physically and mentally, wanted to lie down and rest, but was told that Ginkgo had left the camp. She and Imagawa Yoshimoto went to the direction of Uehara Castle in tandem, but she did not go to the massacre outside the city. Instead, she went directly into Uehara Castle to find her sister.
"Madam, please be careful!"
Along the way, Mochizuki Takaki kept holding the concealed weapon in both hands, carefully guarding the surroundings. The city is in chaos, and unexpected dangers may be encountered at any time.
As far as the eye can see, there are Takeda soldiers everywhere who are arresting them indiscriminately. They moved in groups of three and five, and rushed into the homes of every household with a ferocious look. They raised their sharp blades and shouted angrily, forcing the begging people to hand over all their belongings. No matter how obedient the people are, they will inevitably be beaten and kicked. Anyone who disobeys will immediately be dismembered. But even so, these people living in the city were much luckier than their neighbors in the castle town who were massacred.
The soldiers of the Takeda family made a fuss in the house, destroying furniture and utensils at will, and only left the house with satisfaction after looting a lot of money. Some of the bad ones even set the house on fire. When the warriors left, they would drag several women away by their hair. The women, with tears streaming down their faces, wailed and begged the soldiers to let them go, but in vain. Their husbands and fathers dared to be angry but did not dare to speak. They could only huddle in the corner and tremble, witnessing all this, while holding on to the children who wanted to find their mother.
Mochizuki Takaki naturally knew what these people were doing, but he had no reason to stop them. Being a soldier these days doesn’t pay much, so who would be willing to join the army if it wasn’t for the random arrests, burnings, killings, and looting after winning the war? Arbitrary arrests can be said to be an unspoken agreement between the military lords and the military in troubled times.
However, her master didn't think so.
"Let go." Ginkgo stopped in front of a group of Takeda warriors who had robbed several women, and scolded them without any explanation.
"Your Highness, the Princess?" Those Takeda family warriors were all guards of the Tsuzaki Hall. They recognized Ginkgo's face and looked at each other for a moment.
"Don't do stupid things. Since so much money has been robbed, just let those women go." Ginkgo said coldly, leaving no room for discussion, and the few warriors did not dare to This offended Ginkgo, so he had no choice but to give up and angrily let the abducted women go. When the women saw this, they all cried with joy. After repeatedly kowtowing in front of the ginkgo horse, they hurriedly fled home.
"One more question, where is my sister?"
"Princess Mimi should be in the castle tower." The samurai responded respectfully, then turned and left, seemingly preparing to rob the next house. Ginkgo was slightly angry, but she didn't care about stopping them at the moment, and instead rode her horse directly towards the castle tower of Kamehara Castle.
All the way into Honmaru, no one came to stop them. The streets were full of rebels and fleeing people. It wasn't until she arrived at the gate of the castle tower that Ginkgo barely saw a few Takeda family soldiers. Each of them carried a large baggage of looted property and neglected their duties at the door.
"Where's my sister?" Ginkgo didn't say much to them, and asked with a face.
"It's on the third floor." Several Takeda soldiers replied honestly, "My lord has an order, asking us not to embarrass the princess."
"It's good to know." Ginkgo said something, then got off the horse and walked quickly upstairs, while Mochizuki Takaki followed closely behind. There seemed to be no one from the Suwa family in the castle tower. The whole building was quiet and not a single sound could be heard.
"Madam, please be careful!" Just when Ginkgo was about to go up to the second floor, Mochizuki Takaki suddenly stepped forward, stopped in front of Ginkgo, and lowered his voice: "The third floor smells of blood! Be careful! It's better to go and invite the soldiers below. Come up, guys!"
But the anxious Ginkgo couldn't care so much. She was worried that something might happen to her sister, so she went up the stairs without hesitation. Seeing that he couldn't stop his wife, Mochizuki Takaki rushed upstairs to warn her, but he suddenly froze there.
"What's wrong?" Ginkgo followed in surprise, turned around and was also stunned - the disgusting scene almost made her vomit.
Hanging from the cantilever beam in the corridor at the entrance to the living room on the third floor was a body that had been cut into pieces with thousands of cuts. Almost no inch of skin on the body was intact, the blood had long since drained away, and the blood stains under his feet had condensed into black clots. And the body that had changed into a human form was none other than the head of the Suwa family - Mimi's husband, Suwa Yorishige.
Ginkgo frowned, covered her mouth and nose, opened the door and went to the living room. In the dim room, she could see the familiar figure of her sister at a glance. Mimi was sitting on her knees with her back to the door, her whole body motionless, as if she was dead, and had no reaction to the movement at the door.
Ginkgo sighed slightly, walked slowly, walked to Mimi and sat down, and hugged her sister gently. The cold body temperature made Ginkgo take a breath. However, Mimi seemed to be startled by this gentle movement, and her whole body trembled. She turned her head to look at the person, her eyes so dark and empty that there seemed to be no light at all. And the mechanical and stiff movements are like a puppet on strings.
Ginkgo noticed that Mimi turned her head very carefully, strictly not exceeding 60 degrees. She was stunned for a moment and then realized what she was doing - because as long as she turned her head a little wider, she could see her husband who was chopped alive and hanged outside the door behind her.
"Don't be afraid, it's my sister..." Ginkgo carefully touched Mimi's hair and whispered softly in her ear, "Don't worry, my sister will protect you. You are safe now."
Ginkgo's warm words seemed to inject life into the doll again. Mimi's body temperature gradually recovered, and her eyes regained some light. But not long after, she shivered violently again, as if the consciousness that had just returned to her body recalled the memory of the disaster, and she wanted to hide again immediately. Ginkgo hugged her sister into her arms and patted her back continuously. Mimi was frozen for a long time, and finally burst into tears:
"Sister, sister...I'm so scared..."
"The Takeda family killed my husband right outside my house! I heard him screaming outside the house, but I didn't dare to look back until he could no longer make a sound and I didn't dare to look back even once. ! I don’t even know how I survived that moment!”
"How many people have been killed in the city? I heard that all the people in the castle town were tricked and killed by my brother..."
"I don't want to live anymore, sister, I don't want to live anymore, I don't know how to live anymore, it's completely over... My heart hurts so much, it feels so uncomfortable, as if someone is tearing my internal organs apart, I really can't hold on anymore Sister, let me die!"
Listening to her sister's heart-wrenching wailing, Ginkgo burst into tears instantly. For the first time, she felt that she was so powerless. Apart from her own arms and a few words of comfort, she couldn't do anything to help.
"Katsu Chiyo..." Ginkgo couldn't help but grit her teeth when she thought of her brother Takeda Harunobu's heinous deeds, "Killing so many innocent people, and forcing his sister to die, really Don’t you have a heart? You are even more of a bastard than our bastard father!”
A strong wind blew, and the body of Suwa Norishige hanging at the door swayed slightly, and a few drops of wet blood fell into the pool of blood on the floor. This crisp "snap" sound made Mi Mi almost collapse. . Her whole body collapsed as if she had lost all strength, and no more tears could flow from her eyes that had dried up from crying.
"Go back to camp with your sister first. Don't stay here anymore." Ginkgo helped her sister up, took off her clothes and covered her eyes, and helped her stagger out of the house. Ginkgo glanced at the body hanging at the door and sighed unbearably. He winked at Mochizuki Takaki and motioned for her to take down the body and bury it.
However, at the moment when she was distracted, Mimi, who she was holding, suddenly broke free from Ginkgo's hand, pulled down the belt covering her head, and clearly saw her husband's death at a close distance. shape. Ginkgo was stunned for a moment, picked up the ribbon on the ground and tried to cover Mimi's eyes again. However, Mimi suddenly took two big steps forward without hesitation, climbed over the railing, jumped out of the castle tower, and hit the ground with his head, making a loud noise.
·
On the evening of August 29, the Tenth Year of Astronomy (1541), next to the Uehara Castle Castle Tower.
Ginkgo stood next to her sister's body, watching Takeda Harunobu, who came after hearing the news, directing his men to collect Mimi's remains expressionlessly.
"It was suicide, but I didn't kill him." Takeda Harunobu noticed the murderous look in Ginkgo's eyes, and defended himself with a smile.
"Didn't you kill my brother-in-law? Didn't you kill the thousands of people in the castle town of Uehara Castle?" Ginkgo asked coldly.
"That's not the reason why she should commit suicide. She is as childish as a child and has no awareness at all that a martial arts family should have in troubled times. Killing enemy famous names or slaughtering cities are all normal things in troubled times. "Takeda Harunobu spread out his hands nonchalantly, with an expression that it had nothing to do with him, "I didn't intend to embarrass her. I was going to take her back to Tsuzakikan."
"Don't you know what Mimi's temperament has been since she was a child? Do you think she can withstand such a disaster?" Ginkgo took a step forward, pointed at Takeda Harunobu's face and cursed fiercely, "Why do you have to keep her here?" In the castle tower? If you want to execute Suwa Sakon, don't you know how to take Mimi to another place? Make sure she hears and sees it with her own eyes? You are deliberately forcing Mimi to die! "
"Sister, calm down, I'm telling you the truth. I happened to have something to do at the time, so I wasn't there." Takeda Harunobu replied frankly, "My subordinates were ignorant and started the execution without taking Mimi away. I will teach them a lesson when I get back." "
"Are you talking about killing people outside the city?" Ginkgo cursed angrily.
"No, that will happen later." Takeda Harunobu shook his head repeatedly, then clapped his hands and pointed to a small sedan not far away, "Before that, I went to find someone."
"Looking for someone? Who is more important than my sister's life?" Ginkgo looked at the sedan, then strode over and opened the door curtain. What caught his eye was a pretty little girl. She huddled in the corner, crying like a human being, and shivered with fear whenever a stranger appeared.
"Who is she?" Ginkgo turned back and glared at Takeda Harunobu.
"The daughter of Suwa Sakon and my concubine, she is already quite unique at a young age. She will definitely be a rare beauty when she grows up." Takeda Harunobu also walked over slowly, put his hand on the door of the sedan and smiled, "I accepted it politely. When I give birth to a child, I will let him adopt him and inherit the Suwa family."
"Forced his sister to death, chopped his father alive and forcibly married his daughter... It's simply worse than a beast..." Ginkgo took a deep breath, and then cursed coldly, "If you weren't my brother, I would have killed you on the spot. I want to kill you."
"It is precisely because I am your brother that my sister holds such harsh moral standards to me." Takeda Harunobu laughed loudly while leaning on the sedan, scaring Suwahime in the sedan to tears.
"Why, under what moral standards, can you not be a villain?" Ginkgo didn't save Takeda Harunobu any face, and turned around and left after saying a sentence, "Just take care of yourself, you are exactly the same as your father."
"Haha, the massacres of Suwa Sakon and Uehara Castle, which were hacked to pieces and hung at the castle, are my best conquest message. What awaits me will be the surrender of the Shinano castles. Without resistance and fighting, Shinano Aren't there more people dying than the residents of Suwa Sakon and Uehara Castle combined?" Takeda Harunobu shouted to Ginkgo's retreating back, "Sister, just go and see with your brother-in-law, I, Harunobu, will be subjugated without a fight. Let’s learn the art of war!”
