The next day.
When Kyogoku Takamasa entered the main hall with two dark circles under his eyes, Hatayama Chonobu, Hayashi Masanobu and others all had mysterious expressions of "I understand". It was obvious that they had misunderstood something.
After all, they are all young people. They are about to leave Omi for a while, and naturally they need to release their inner depression.
In fact, two old bachelors, Kamahatayama Asanobu and Hayashi Masanobu, had already teamed up to go to Tsuruya for a night of romance last night, so they understood Kyogoku Takamasa's current state very well.
Kyogoku Takamasa didn't know what the two of them were thinking. He only knew that they really didn't sleep well last night.
After being tormented by Mrs. Sanjo all night, not only did nothing happen, but she also made herself unable to get up or down. It really made the little brother suffer.
"Are everything packed?"
Hatayama Chaobu and Lin Masanobu nodded quickly and said: "Everything needed on the road has been prepared. In addition, dozens of small coins and some copper coins have been prepared. You can also purchase some daily necessities along the way."
"In addition, in order to protect my lord's safety, I have chosen two people from my lord's side, Nagasaka Hikoro and Onoki Hyōgosuke, to accompany me."
Nagasaka Hikoro is the new member of the Kyogoku family, Nagasaka Nobumasa, while Onoki Hyogosuke is the younger brother of Onoki Hidetoshi, the lord of Nagahi Castle. Historically, he was known as "Asai" together with Isono Umasa, Nomura Sadamoto, and Mitamura Hidetoshi. Four Wings".
"In that case, let's set off!"
Before coming, Kyogoku Takamasa had already gone to Kyogoku Takahiro to say goodbye. Kyogoku Takahiro just told Kyogoku Takamasa to pay attention to safety, but Mrs. Kotogawa was a little reluctant and pulled Kyogoku Takamasa and talked for a long time.
After walking out of the main hall, Nagasaka Nobumasa and Onoki Kunishige stood on both sides of the door with their bags on their backs. When they saw Kyogoku Takamasa, they quickly bowed and saluted.
“I’m taking care of you all along the way!”
"ha!"
After walking out of Imahama Castle and arriving at the castle town, Kyogoku Takamasa was extremely excited as he looked at the lively scene around him.
The Kyogoku family finally has its own business center.
After casually strolling around the castle town, Kyogoku Takamasa and others left the confines of Imahama Castle.
But soon, Kyogoku Takamasa was attracted by a row of ashigaru standing in an open space outside the city.
"What happened there? Why did so many Ashigaru gather?" Kyogoku Takamasa suddenly thought, thinking something happened there.
This is the base of the Kyogoku family, so everything must be handled with caution.
Hatayama Asanobu volunteered and said, "My lord, please wait a moment while I go to investigate."
Soon, Hatayama Chaobu ran back quickly.
"My lord, there seems to be a battle going on on the lake outside the city. The troops in front are led by Lord Kaibei. It is said that there are water pirates on the lake. Lord Kaibei is worried that the water thieves will come ashore and rob the castle town, so he brought his ashigaru with him. It’s heavily defended there.”
"But it seems that someone is fighting the water pirates on the lake. We don't have a boat, so we can only stop and watch on the shore."
Hearing Hatayama Nobunobu's words, Kyogoku Takamasa suddenly said: "Are these water thieves the ones who robbed merchants and travelers in our territory during this period?"
Hatayama nodded towards Nobu, "Probably so!"
"Let's go! Go take a look!"
...
On the surface of Lake Biwa, there were more than ten small boats entangled together.
On one of the boats, a man with a stubble on his face and a ferocious expression was holding a nodachi in his hand with a fierce look. This man was Nomura Jiro, the notorious leader of the nomuras in the Sakata County area.
Today, as usual, Nomura Jiro took a dozen small boats and more than 30 men to set up boats in the waters near Imamahama Castle. The target was very clear, that is, the passing merchant ships.
Since the Kyogoku family vigorously developed the Imamahama Castle Town, in addition to the passing merchants who were very happy, water thieves like Nomura Jiro who relied on Lake Biwa to make a living were also overjoyed.
Because they found new opportunities to "get rich".
Lake Biwa is located in the central area of Omi and has a wide water area.
Although the water thieves in Lake Biwa were active in the past, most of them did not dare to cause trouble within the sphere of influence of the Rokkaku family and Mount Hiei, because these two families had a strong navy army in their territory, and small fish and shrimps like Nomura Shou He didn't dare to touch the Rokkaku family's tiger whiskers.
The Rokkaku family has attracted many businessmen to Kannonji Castle due to its business policies such as "Rakushi Rakuza", so there are many caravans on the water of Lake Biwa heading to Kannonji Castle. In the past, everyone used to do things around the sea area near the Rokkaku family.
However, after the rise of the Kyogoku family, the caravans going to the Kyogoku family are no less than those of the Rokkaku family. What's more important is that there are no navy troops in the Kyogoku family's territory.
This is equivalent to an unattended vault, which naturally attracts the attention of nearby water thieves.
Some time ago, Nomura Jiro and others were in a deserted place on the water outside Imahama City. They were satisfied with everything they wanted, and they succeeded in robbing businessmen many times.
In just a few days, Nomura Jiro and others' harvest has been equivalent to that of the previous year. This is simply getting rich overnight.
However, when Nomura Jiro came to the water outside Imahama City as usual today, he thought that he would make a lot of money as usual today, but the reality gave Nomura Jiro a hard slap in the face.
Because he encountered a tough problem!
And this nemesis turned out to be a woman, a ruthless character who killed seven or eight of his men.
Nomura Jiro swore that he had never suffered such a big loss from a woman in his life, and he must regain his position today!
Otherwise, if today's incident spreads out, how can Jiro Nomura have the dignity to hang out in this one-third of an acre of Lake Bipa?
"Surround the boat. Don't hurt that girl. Capture her alive. Today, I, Nomura Jiro, will let him know the consequences of offending my fellow Nomuras!"
Looking at the handsome woman in the boat opposite, Nomura Jiro couldn't help but feel warm in his heart. He had played with many women in his life, but such thorny ones were really rare. Nomura Jiro decided to indulge himself tonight.
Following Nomura Jiro's order, several other small boats cruising around quickly moved towards a merchant ship in the middle.
At this time, there were seven or eight small boats surrounding a slightly larger merchant ship in the middle. However, the water thieves on the small boats looked hesitant and did not dare to get on the nearby merchant ship.
There was no way, seven or eight water thieves from two small boats had already gone aboard, but soon the blood turned the water around the merchant ship red.
Looking at the several corpses floating on the water, this is a lesson for others!
Most of the water thieves are fishermen from several nearby counties. Their main business is fishing. Being a water thieves is just a side job and a part-time job, so don't expect them to be very professional.
Although these merchant ships are very rich, they still need life flowers!
"People on the ship, listen, you have been surrounded by us, immediately put down your weapons and surrender, we only want the property! If you dare to resist again, beware that you will lose both your life and property!"
One of the more clever water pirates began to persuade them to surrender, trying to break up the resistance on the ship.
However, as soon as the water thief finished speaking, an arrow flew across like a meteor and hit the water thief in the throat.
Suddenly another floating body was added to the sea...
