"Brother, why is this necessary?" After the banquet, the third brother Okudaira Yoshimasa who helped clean up the reception room looked helplessly at his humble brother Okudaira Sadakatsu, "Being so humble and disrespecting yourself will only make others look down on you. . You are the family governor of the Oppei family, how could you insult the family like this? The family governor no longer gives us face. The family is not rich to begin with. He spent a lot of money to prepare the delicacies, but he could not move a chopstick. I'm also indifferent to your words. You ignore the feelings of your retainers so much, why are you so hot-tempered but cold-blooded?"
"Brother, haven't you seen it yet? Your Highness, the Governor of the House, came here with bad intentions." Okudaira Sadakatsu finally straightened up his waist that had been bent all night. He was so sore that he could hardly walk. "Don't you remember? Three years ago, when His Highness the Governor of the House came to Higashi Mikawa, he entered the Yoshida Castle of the Toda family, and Toda Danmasa personally hosted a banquet to entertain him. As a result, there was a conflict at the banquet, and the Imagawa family seized the castle on the spot, and Toda Tanmasa returned the favor. They drove them out. After forming a feud, the Imagawa family eventually drove out the Toda family and killed them all."
"But that time it was because the Makino family raised an objection, thinking that the Toda family had robbed their Yoshida Castle..." Okudaira Yoshimasa protested in a low voice, but was interrupted by Okudaira Sadakatsu shaking his head:
"Without the support of the Imagawa family, do you think the Makino family would have the guts to fall out with the Toda family on the spot? It was clearly the Imagawa family's instruction. Your Highness, the family governor, couldn't bear to do such dirty things himself, so he ordered others to stir up trouble. The Imagawa family was able to As the master of the family, I will uphold justice and deprive you of your territory. Haven’t you understood the conduct of His Highness the Family Governor in the past few years? He doesn’t care about Yuanjiang Sanhe and us foreign retainers at all. He only trusts Monk Xuezhai and Imagawa. The family’s banner, sect, and ancestral lineage. They have always been suspicious of us!"
"This time, the Governor of the Household didn't say he would come to Nagashino Castle at all, but he suddenly arrived. He clearly wanted to go back to Imagawa Hall, but he took a detour to the mountainous area in the north. He must have ulterior motives! Maybe he will use the name "Takeda" The territory of the Okuhira family has been reduced under the pretext of "the family thinks we have not served well" or "we actually served the governor with moldy meat"! Don't dare to take it lightly! Look at the stinky face of the governor at today's banquet. , said he didn’t have any plans, do you believe it? All of you are not allowed to sleep tonight, keep an eye on me, and be on guard against anyone stirring up trouble, and you must not give His Highness the Governor any excuse to make excuses!" Bi Jianlou!
·
At the same time, in the streets and alleys north of the castle town of Nagashino Castle, a group of ninjas quietly walked here.
"My lord has given orders. The target is a child named 'Kinoshita Tokichiro'. He is about six or seven years old. He is short and ugly and looks like a monkey. He should be staying in the Honmaru. "The leading ninja whispered an order to his subordinates behind him:
"While the moon is dark and the wind is high, sneak into the city and kill him. Don't leave any traces. Leave immediately!"
·
In the early morning of May 5, the twelfth year of Tianwen (1543), in Nagashino Castle.
Imagawa Yoshimoto and others have already slept comfortably in the guest room in the castle tower. After bidding farewell to Takeda Harunobu early tomorrow morning, they will set off south to return to Toe. Unlike the members of the Imagawa family, no one among the samurai of the Okudaira family slept. At the request of Okudaira Sadakatsu, they all kept vigil silently at various posts in the castle tower, fearing that something might happen, which gave Imagawa Yoshimoto a reason to reduce the title of the Okudaira family.
It was quiet at night, and gradually, many warriors of the Okuhira family began to doze off. However, just when they relaxed their vigilance, there was a sudden movement at the north gate - this kind of movement would probably not be noticed by the people in the castle tower on weekday nights, but in the situation where almost all the Okuhira family samurai were vigilant Down, the slightest movement will be infinitely amplified.
Someone is climbing the wall!
"Don't alert the enemy!" Oudaira Sadakatsu gave the order in a low voice, and at the same time, he and all the warriors of the Oudaira family turned their attention to the north gate.
Several guards on the north gate wall also noticed the abnormality and were about to shake their torches to warn, but were suddenly knocked down by hidden weapons from behind and fell down the city in twos and threes.
Okudaira Sadakatsu's pupils suddenly contracted.
internal?
Is this how the Imagawa family cooperates inside and outside? Are the people climbing the wall outside also their people?
A moment later, more than twenty ninjas were seen tumbling into Nagashino Castle. Under the guidance of those internal officers, they drew out their hidden weapons and quickly ran towards the Nagashino Castle Castle Pavilion. Several Okuhira guards who were on duty wanted to step forward to stop the inquiry, but they all responded swiftly.
Silent throat slit and brought down.
Everyone in the Oppei family was stunned, and then they all understood.
"Okay, good on you, Imagawa Yoshimoto!" Okudaira Sadakatsu was so angry that he wanted to bite his teeth into pieces, and he squeezed the fence of the castle tower with his right hand:
"This time I don't even make excuses. I plan to directly rob the retainer's city, right? I plan to kill our Oppei clan directly in our sleep, and then accuse us of attacking your family governor, right? Say it afterward, It was our Okuhira family who attacked the family governor who was staying at Nagashino Castle at night. He was killed by the family governor and the clan was wiped out. All the territory was changed, right? The abacus made a clanging sound? If I hadn't been careful, I might have been dead by now. The head is in a different place!"
"Everyone in the Jinchuan family who is not one of your clan and descendants is not worthy of living, right? The foreign retainers of Mikawa Yuanjiang are not human beings, are they? They only rely on the kindness of that shitty woman to deceive others. A false reputation among the people! He ignores political affairs every day, indulges in sex, has only held several evaluation meetings for seven years after taking the throne, and entrusts all household affairs to Taiyuan Xuezhai. He is so contemptuous of the mood and opinions of his retainers... You... You are a foolish king, but you are particularly energetic when you rob your retainers’ cities!”
"Do it!" Okuhira Sadakatsu roared angrily, waving his hands fiercely at the equally angry Okuhira warriors beside him, "Get Imagawa Yoshimoto for me! Force the Imagawa ninjas to retreat! If they don't retreat, the worst is possible. Take off the head of Imagawa Yoshimoto and bury it with the Okuhira family! How many generations of our Okuhira family have we ever experienced such a bird-like attitude? It’s a disgrace to our ancestors!”
"Brother, calm down! My second brother is still in Yoshida Castle. If we turn against him here, what will he do? Besides, the Imagawa family is so powerful, how can we be our opponents? Isn't it just an egg hitting a stone?" Okudaira Yoshimasa was moved by Okudaira Sadakatsu. The order turned pale with fear, but the surrounding Okuhira family warriors were already shouting to accept the order - they were also resentful of the unfair treatment they received at the banquet today, not to mention that the Imagawa family was actually killing without permission at this time. The retainer's soldiers tried to kill the retainer and seize the territory - what samurai could not be angry when seeing this?
"Is it possible that we have to sit back and wait for death? If we don't resist, the second brother will have no chance of survival? If we detain Yoshimoto Imagawa, we can ensure the safety of the second brother!" Okudaira Sadakatsu threw Okudaira Yoshimasa away and drew his knife angrily. With his hand, he strode toward Imagawa Yoshimoto's dormitory in the castle tower, "Do it!"
·
At this time, Imagawa Yoshimoto in the dormitory also felt something was wrong.
Unlike Ginkgo, who was still sleeping peacefully next to him and could not be awakened even by beating gongs and drums after he fell asleep, Imagawa Yoshimoto's sleep had always been lighter, and the movement in the castle tower woke him up. He straightened up and listened carefully, only to hear dense footsteps mixed with a few swear words and growls, rushing towards his house quickly.
Imagawa Yoshimoto stood up uneasily, shook Ginkgo awake, and groped in the darkness for the location of the saber Ryumaru and Sozomonji - always elegant, he did not have the habit of other samurai sleeping with their swords under their pillows.
Before the sleepy Yoshimoto Imagawa could react, the door of the room had been opened, and then he saw more than twenty samurai from the Okudaira family filing in, surrounding him with swords.
"Is the Okuhira family planning to rebel?" Imagawa Yoshimoto hurriedly drew out his two swords, pointed them at the door, and asked in a deep voice.
"You stupid king, you are going against the grain and taking advantage of others by taking advantage of others. You are the one who is doing the opposite!" The leader, Okuhira Sadakatsu, shouted, and he was about to charge forward with his men. Imagawa Yoshimoto was ready to fight, and Ginkgo on the side also picked up the scabbard and prepared to assist.
At this moment, another door at the back of the dormitory was suddenly kicked open. Imagawa Yoshimoto thought it was another enemy attack, and for a moment he felt that something was wrong, but found that the people coming were actually Takeda Harunobu and several guards of the Takeda family.
,This way! "Takeda Harunobu shouted, commanding the people of the Takeda family to meet the samurai of the Okuhira family. Imagawa Yoshimoto quickly picked up Ginkgo and ran out quickly, all the way down the stairs of the castle tower. Takeda Harunobu also stayed Shimoyama Kansuke was responsible for cutting off the back at the end of the team, and he and Imagawa Yoshimoto rushed out together.
Most of the Takeda family members were not wearing armor, and they were quickly killed by the Okudaira family. The pursuers got closer and closer, and the footsteps behind them sounded like a drumbeat in their ears. Imagawa Yoshimoto was running barefoot on the floor. He accidentally tripped over something. Relying on his amazing flexibility, he stumbled and stood firm. He took the opportunity to turn around and discovered that Oppei
The pursuers of the Takeda family were almost behind them - all the Takeda family's bodyguards except Yamamoto Kansuke were sacrificed. Only Yamamoto Kansuke was left holding his chopped left arm and fighting and retreating.
Imagawa Yoshimoto didn't say anything, got up and continued running outside. The structure of the Nagashino Castle Castle Tower is a bit strange. It was dark at night and the road could not be seen clearly. After stumbling around a few turns, Imagawa Yoshimoto finally saw the gate of the Castle Tower and rushed out first. However, the moment he stepped out of the castle tower, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted another samurai hiding behind the door - it was the third brother of the Okuhira family, Okuhira Yoshimasa. He was holding his katana high at the moment, waiting for someone to come out.
"Ha!" Okuhira Yoshimasa roared, and struck Imagawa Yoshimoto who was caught off guard with a powerful and heavy slash. Ginkgo hurriedly stabbed out the scabbard and pointed at Okuhira Yoshimasa's wrist, causing most of the sword's power to drain instantly, but the blade was still pointed at Imagawa Yoshimoto's head impartially. Imagawa Yoshimoto instinctively flipped the knife on his wrist almost full screen, trying to block, but he could only release his strength slightly and could not stop the heavy blow that had been charged for a long time.
At the critical moment, a black shadow flashed beside Imagawa Yoshimoto. The black shadow slashed at Okudaira Yoshimasa's arm and hit the falling blade. The sound of the sword sinking into the body was heard twice in succession, and then there was blood splattering everywhere - the man blocked the fatal blow for Imagawa Yoshimoto, and at the same time slashed Okuhira Yoshimasa so that he could not continue to attack - But Yoshimoto Imakawa couldn't see anything in the darkness. Before he could react, Takeda Harunobu shouted in his ears: "Run quickly and take the north gate!"
