At seven o'clock on March 30, the 14th year of Astronomy (1546), on the west bank of Kyoto, at Honnoji Temple outside the Imperial Palace Gardens.
"There has been no signal sent out for a long time." Ohara Zhenmi, who came back from outside the temple, told the ninjas of the Imagawa family who were hiding here: "Master Yukisai is in trouble. It was agreed in advance that if Yukisai The master has not yet sent an envoy to inform us that he has met Xiangguo (Konoe Ueke), so he is trapped in the court and wants us to choose an opportunity to rescue him."
"There is really an obstacle? The Miyoshi family can already reach out to the imperial court? When did they establish the relationship? Can they detain people in the imperial palace?" The Furuno clan was shocked, "Master Yusei ordered us to divide into When the two teams took action, I thought Master was a little unfounded..."
"This has been Master Xue Zhai's habit for many years." Ninja leader Tu Yuanjing has followed Taiyuan Xue Zhai for half his life, so he naturally knows his style well. "No matter where he goes, he will leave a team of special forces to support him to avoid unexpected encounters. I was helpless after unexpected situations, so I relied on this habit to save my life several times.”
"The people of the Miyoshi family must have thought that everything would be fine if they detained Master Yuzhai." Ohara Zhenmi dressed himself up neatly as he said it. Even though he has been engaged in clerical work for many years, he has never forgotten his ability back then.
"Let's go." Ohara Zhenmi waved his hand and greeted the ninjas of the Imagawa family, "Sneak into the palace and set fire to attract the enemy's attention, and then break into the side hall to meet Master Xuesai."
"Yes." After everyone took the order, they immediately followed Ohara Zhenmi and filed out of Honnoji Temple. They were preparing to hide and disperse when suddenly they saw a burst of sharp arrows coming, which scared the ninjas of the Imagawa family to dodge in a hurry and act randomly. A ball. Ohara Zhenmi, Tsuchi Atonsune, and Nakonoji Yutaka hurriedly brought their men back to the temple and took shelter behind the temple wall. There were loud footsteps outside, and the attackers had apparently forced themselves outside the temple, surrounding the Imagawa family's ninjas from all directions.
"Who is that person?" Ohara Zhenmi shouted in a deep voice: "Do you know who we are? How dare you do it!"
"Disciples of Taiyuan Xuezhai, aren't you?" The leader outside the temple responded calmly after hearing the words, "No matter what the action is, they will be divided into two teams to support each other in case of emergencies. Master Xuezhai is really Experienced. But, we have learned this trick a few years ago when we were friendly forces, and it cannot fool us. You used it once against Kizawa Nagamasa, and you want to trick us again? Knowing that you have a special force, it is bound to It's hidden by the palace, I'll find you if I keep an eye on it."
"Sanhao's family?" Tu Atomjing reacted instantly, "Who is coming?"
"Sanhao Shixiu Yixian." The man announced his name, then changed the topic and said in a deep voice: "In terms of doing dirty things, Master Xue Zhai is ten times better than me. But now he has been dragged into In the palace, I am too busy to take care of the rest of your Imagawa family. I don’t dare to confront Master Xuezhai, but I can bully a few of Master Xuezhai’s disciples, which is more than enough!”
"Light the smoke as a warning." That Furunoji Yutaka took a breath of cold air and told his subordinates: "The second brother of the three good brothers, Yoshihide... we have encountered a difficult situation, and the plan has been blocked."
·
Soon, north of Kyoto, on the bank of the Kamogawa River.
"Signal." Sena Ujitoshi glanced at the smoke rising several miles to the south, "The direction of Honnoji Temple? So, not only was Master Yuksai's plan to enter the palace blocked, but also Hizen Mamoru (Ohara Masumi) and the others were blocked. Found it? How is it possible?"
"Sir, what should we do?" The other ninjas of the Imagawa family were a little panicked when they saw this.
"Don't be afraid, Master Xuesai has already anticipated this situation. Isn't it just for this time that he ordered us to ambush here?" Sena Shitoshi took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down: "Master Xuesai said, after all, The Miyoshi family used to be friendly forces fighting side by side, and they are familiar with the way our ninjas move. There are also many secret sentries of the Miyoshi family lurking inside and outside Kyoto. The Miyoshi family's ninja system is capable and strong under the training of Miyoshi Mikyu (Miyoshi Yoshiken) , it is very likely that they will be aware of Master Yuksai and Hizen Mamoru’s infiltration plan in advance.”
"At that time, I thought Master Xue Zhai was too cautious..." The ninjas were all frightened after hearing this.
"It's okay, the situation is not out of control." Sena Shitoshi frowned and turned to look
To the more than twenty merchant ships docked at the Kamogawa Pier and the boatmen resting on the merchant ships:
"The Kamogawa River has always been low and shallow, making it almost unnavigable. But every spring rain season, the water level rises sharply, and ships can travel for a few days. When the Miyoshi family first arrived in Kyoto, they must not be as familiar with the hydrology of Kyoto as Master Sekssai, and they would definitely not pay attention to it. Kamogawa. They transferred all the ninjas to monitor our possible support on land, and the waterway was empty. According to the original plan, we used the boats of the boatmen on the upper reaches of Kamogawa that we had secretly hired for more than ten days to immediately go down the river. , rushed to stop in front of the Sanjo Bridge, went ashore to help our ninjas trapped in Honnoji Temple, cooperated internally and externally, and defeated the enemy!"
"Yes!" The ninjas of the Imagawa family accepted the order one after another and boarded the ship under the leadership of Sena Ujitoshi. These Kyoto boatmen had been gathered together for many days, and they knew that the matter was serious and did not dare to inquire more - the Imagawa family gave them a generous remuneration, which was worth half their life's work, so it was worth taking some risks.
"Go down the river and drop us off at the Sanjo Bridge. Just stay on the shore and wait without asking any questions." Sena Ujitoshi solemnly ordered the boatmen, but these honest boatmen just nodded. No one stepped forward to steer the ship.
"What does this mean?" Sena Toshi has always been a gentle and kind warrior, and he is polite even to civilians. If it were other warriors, seeing the ordinary people turning a deaf ear to their own words, they would have raised their swords and dropped them. But the good-tempered Sena Ujitoshi still just asked politely, lowering his tone slightly. However, the other ninjas behind him had angry expressions on their faces, for fear of wasting time.
"Is it because he is afraid that the water level will not allow navigation?" After thinking about it for a while, Sena Ujitoshi thought he understood the reason for the boatmen's hesitation: "Don't worry, the water level of the Kamogawa River is now sufficient for navigation. Even if there is a loss of ships, we will I will fully compensate you.”
"My lord, I'm joking. We, as sea collectors, have our own concerns about the water level of the Kamogawa River. Why do we need you to remind us?" Another gentle voice sounded from behind the boatmen. His conversation and rhetoric showed that he had a strict family education. He was born as a samurai and could not be an ordinary boatman or sailor.
Upon seeing this, the ninjas of the Imagawa family suddenly became alert and pressed their hands towards their weapons. However, the speaker who walked out from behind the boatmen was only dressed in an ordinary boatman's attire. His skin was tanned, his clothes were extremely simple, and his forehead was tied with a headband commonly used by boatmen.
"May I ask who you are?" Sena Ujitoshi put his hand on the handle of the katana and asked in a low voice.
"Fuyasu Anzai." The man announced his name and bowed to Sena Shitoshi. "I don't have any other skills. I just hang out by the water and at sea all year round. Even if I just arrived in a place for a few days, I can smell it with my nose. You can also get a good sense of its hydrology, so I won’t bother you to remind me. You know that sailing can be done on the Kamogawa River during the wet season, and we naturally know it too. If you plan to make a surprise attack by boat from the Kamogawa River, we naturally I expected that." As soon as he finished speaking, the friendly-looking boatmen took out their machetes from below the deck and stood ready behind An Zhai Dongkang.
"Did you arrange these boatmen early in the morning, Your Highness Anzai? Did you deliberately wait for our Imagawa family to bribe you?" Big beads of sweat broke out from Sena Ujitoshi's forehead, and his voice couldn't help but tremble.
"Exactly." Anzai Toyasu took half a step back after the ceremony and took his katana from his subordinates. "In Kinki, there are Seto seamen everywhere doing waterway business to make a living. . For foreigners like you, how can you tell whether their accents are from the 18 Awaji Island families? If Master Sekssai did not come in person, you would definitely make a mistake. And now Master Sekssai is not here , what should you do?"
"Please." After Anzhai Fuyang established his posture, he stepped heavily on the deck and led the crowd on the rocking ship to rush towards the weak Imagawa troops. "Let me learn the water fighting skills of the Anzhai family."
·
At 2:00 noon on March 30, the 14th year of Astronomy (1546), south of Honnoji Temple.
"The smoke has been burning for half an hour, why haven't the ships from Kamogawa arrived yet?"
Amano Keitoku looked at the quiet upper reaches of the Kamogawa River, and at the same time paid attention to the Honnoji Temple who was fighting fiercely: "If this drags on, where will there be reinforcements to rescue Master Yuksai? We are doing a surprise attack, and we will be dragged away.
That's it. Is this really the last resort? Master Xue Zhai has repeatedly warned me, don’t ask that person unless you have to..."
Just when Amano Keide was thinking nervously, his ninjas had brought a handsome young man to him. Instead of shaving his hair into a Tsukiyo head, this man had bangs, and his behavior and conversation did not look like a samurai—at first glance, he was a member of the palace.
"There is a crow on your shoulder. Are you Amano-sama of the Imagawa family?" the young man confirmed.
"Yes." Amano Keitoku wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, "Are you a Kyoto person who is familiar with the underground secret passages in Kyoto and has helped my family governor twice before?"
"It's me." The young man stretched out his hand and shook hands with Amano Keitoku in a somewhat weird etiquette. Then he sighed: "I never expected that Master Yuksai and the Imagawa family would be forced into such a situation. As for having to rely on me again. The three good brothers and the four brothers are all outstanding people. Master Xue Zhai can't defeat four hands with just one person..."
"Yes." Amano Jingtoku lowered his head feeling slightly ashamed, "As per the prior agreement, please take us through the tunnel directly into the palace garden to rescue Master Xue Zhai."
"Please come with me." The young man did not hesitate and led Amano Keidei away. Then he sighed and said: "There are many people around the palace now. I didn't want to take action...it would be too easy to be exposed. However, the situation has already changed." At this point, there is nothing I can do. As long as things go smoothly for you, I will not act rashly."
"It's really troublesome." Amano Keide apologized, "Please hurry up, it's urgent."
However, the young man suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" Amano Keide and the ninjas were stunned.
"There are rats." The young man curled his lips and frowned for a moment, "When I quietly slipped out of the palace just now, I kept feeling that someone was following me. I thought it was an illusion, but I didn't expect him to chase me here."
"Come out." The young man raised his hand and shouted in a deep voice: "Stop hiding."
"Haha, you were discovered after all?" After a loud laugh, a samurai and a group of ninjas from the Miyoshi family were seen turning out of the neighborhood southwest of Honnoji Temple, blocking the group's way to the entrance of the secret passage. He threatened the young man gloomily:
"In the previous rebellion of Kizawa Nagamasa, we suspected that someone in the palace was having an affair with the Imagawa family and gave you a lot of conveniences, allowing you to smear Kizawa Nagamasa around. So I have been keeping an eye on the palace. At this critical moment, someone really sneaked out to report the news to the Imagawa family. Are they trying to lead these people through some secret passage to the palace to save people? Your Highness, this should not be done. The royal family has always not interfered with the samurai. Is it a dispute? If you don’t stay out of it, you won’t be able to avoid the reckoning afterwards.”
"As far as I know, the Miyoshi brothers are not in the palace. Who are you? A nobody? How could the Miyoshi family have so many talents?" The young man ignored the words of the Miyoshi family warrior in front of him and asked directly.
"Haha, my second brother said that for people who do dirty things, the less famous they are, the better. The second brother (Yixian Miyoshi) is restrained because of his fame. Many things will inevitably attract attention and cannot be done. "The warrior just sneered.
"Second brother?" The young man showed a surprised expression for the first time, and was shocked by this "title". "You are clearly not Anzhai or Shihe...'Where did second brother come from?"
"Yes, there are actually five of the Three Good Brothers and the Four Brothers. Four of them did great things that will go down in history, and one did dirty things that are not worthy of recognition. They don't even deserve to be remembered, and they don't even deserve to be counted as one of the Three Good Brothers. But this was just Okay, so I can do some dirty work in the dark. I, Noguchi Fuyuuchi, do all the dirty work for my brothers!" The so-called samurai laughed, drew his sword in his hand, and strode towards everyone in the Imagawa family.
"Your second brother taught you not to leave your name, but your fifth brother actually reported his name?" The young man stepped back and sought the protection of the Imagawa family, while teasing: "You still want to do dirty things like this?"
"It doesn't matter if I tell you, we all have to die here anyway." Fuyu Noguchi patted the scabbard nonchalantly and greeted his subordinates: "Master Yukisai is trapped in the palace, and all his followers and subordinates have been captured by me.
Let's pick them out one by one and see what other tricks you can come up with. Follow me! "
