In autumn, the air is very dry at dusk. The madder grass below the mountain has turned purple, and the chirping of the birds that have flown to the red branches of the frost and pecked at the fruit has also disappeared. The night fell through the bamboo fence, and the air was filled with the scent of wood rhinoceros.

Mrs. Tsukiyama came to the front porch of the house and stood there, looking up at the sky. She was no longer as heavy with makeup as she had used to be, and the anger in her eyes that usually frightened the maids seemed to be gone, cold and lifeless, reminiscent of a winter lake.

"Madame, the wind is blowing. The maid who had just arrived last year reminded Madame beside her, but the words did not seem to enter her ears.

"The crow has returned to its nest...... The geese are also flying through the winter. ”

"Madam, be careful of catching a cold, once you catch a cold, it will not be good. The maid reminded her a second time, and Madame tugged at her collar, still not wanting to enter the house.

"Ama. ”

"In. ”

"Since then, there has been no news of Saburo. ”

"Yes. The people said that after moving to Futamataki Castle, there is no news until now......"

"Oh, when the people here see me, they hide away, as if they hate me. Did you hear them say anything about me?"

"This ...... Nothing was said. The maid hurriedly turned her face away. After the news spread that Tokuki begged Ieyasu to allow her to go to Antu in order to save Nobuyasu's life, all the resentment of the family was concentrated on the lady alone.

"The one who harmed the majestic young master is Madame. ”

"I don't know what she's thinking, she actually had an affair with Koshu!"

"There is no calculation in my heart, and I have listened to the rhetoric of reducing respect, which is the retribution of the heart!"

"Coveting men and killing one's own flesh and blood is a bad wife and a bad mother. ”

People not only whispered behind their backs, but even in front of Ah Rong unscrupulously.

"Harm others and yourself, harm others and harm yourself!"

The junior samurai also chattered and asked. These signs show that many people think that if Mrs. defends Xinkang and says that it is her sole idea to win the affair, maybe Xinkang can still be saved.

"Mrs. Qiyu. ”

Now there were only two maids by Madame's side, and the maid named Azusa shouted behind Madame and Azuma, "Shigemasa Nonaka, Heizaemon Okamoto, and Taro Ishikawa Saemon are here." ”

"Oh, I've been waiting for them for a long time. The lady then withdrew her gaze from the sky, "Invite them over at once." She walked back indoors and sat on the upper seat, still with a grim face, "Ah Rong, it's going to be dark soon, hold the lamp." ”

After a while, three people came, with the important government in front and the two in the back. "This autumn seems to be earlier than usual. Shigemasa Nonaka said, looking up at his wife, "Today, as the envoy of the lord, we should sit in the main seat, of course, there are some private matters, so we can sit down." Mrs. Tsukiyama did not answer immediately. Ah Rong brought the candlestick, and the room suddenly lit up.

"You've worked hard. I'm Ieyasu's main room, so I don't need to change seats. ”

The three of them couldn't help but look at each other: this woman would not be honest and obedient at all! The three of them came here after being fully prepared, and they even thought about what kind of attitude they wanted to adopt.

"What did Ieyasu say?"

"Tell your wife, my lord, that the residence for my wife in Hamamatsu has been built, and I would like you to move there. ”

"It's going to Hamamatsu. The lady in front of them was quiet, peaceful, generous, and elegant, completely different from what they had imagined beforehand, "It seems that the adults are getting older, and they need to be served by older people." So, what's the arrangement? When are you leaving?"

"The Lord ordered the three of us to serve as guards on the road, and we set out at dawn on the 27th and arrived in Hamamatsu at noon on the 29th. ”

"Got it. I'll leave it to you. ”

The three of them couldn't help but look at each other again, they didn't expect the lady to answer so crisply, they thought it was very troublesome, but they got the matter done in a few words, and a lip and tongue sword was avoided. "Madama, the young master who has been transferred to Futamata......" Ishikawa Taro Saemon said, "I heard that there is no result yet, and the young master is still in the process of reflecting peacefully." ”

"Oh. Thank God. ”

"Thank God, does Madame have any other thoughts on this?"

"That's a strange question you're asking. Everything in the family is done according to Ieyasu's ideas alone, what else can I think? ”

As soon as Madame said this, the anxious Taro became angry: "Madam, in order to intercede for the young master, the young lady grabbed the lord's clothes and cried and begged, so she had to go to Anland." ”

However, when the lady heard this, she neither laughed nor was excited.

"Oh, the daughter-in-law is the daughter-in-law, I am me. I didn't have any ideas, everything was up to Ieyasu's arrangement. ”

Nonaka Shigemasa couldn't help it, and leaned out again: "The young master is still in Nimata, and he is still alive." ”

"That's why I said thank goodness. ”

"Is this what a mother should say? If you don't be forced to commit suicide today, you will be forced to commit suicide tomorrow, the young master is alive like this, do you have to thank God?"

"Yes, thank goodness, Amitabha. Madame still did not change her words, "I am the main room of Ieyasu, if torturing children is the happiness of husbands, I should also be happy, this is the way of women." Are you right, Heizaemon?"

When Heizaemon heard his name, he hurriedly turned his back on his face. The trio didn't seem to have come just to convey Ieyasu's orders. "The three of us ......" He still didn't dare to look at his wife, trying to control his feelings, and said, "The lord ordered us to send our wife to Hamamatsu, but we knew that this matter was extremely difficult, and we once refused. ”

"Oh, is it really that hard to send me to Hamamatsu?" asked Madame, still coldly.

"Yes, I don't know how many people in the family are impassioned and excited, so ......"

"What?"

"Everyone thinks that it is the young master's mother who puts the young master to death, so many people want to rob and kill the lady and avenge the young master. I don't know where the courage came from, Heizaemon even dared to say these words. After saying that, he hurriedly looked away again.

It was pitch black outside, and only the candlelight shook Madame's shadow around. "Huh. Madame pursed her lips slightly and smiled, "If it is really so dangerous, it is better for you to put this errand away." ”

"But the Lord did not allow us, and he had to ask us to come. This time, Shigemasa Nonaka finally raised his head and stared at Madame, "Madam, we beg you about this matter." ”

"What is it that you want me, a weak woman, to do?"

"In order to write a life-saving petition to the young master, ask the lady to commit suicide. ”

"Do you want me to kill myself?" Madame also seemed to be mentally prepared, not particularly surprised, "Is this Ieyasu's order, or is it the idea of the three of you?"

"It was the idea of the three of us. After saying it, the government no longer has scruples.

"The people in the family are already very angry. Therefore, even if the three of us escort together, I am afraid that it will be difficult to ensure that my wife leaves Okazaki safely. So instead of humiliating us on the road, let's ask Madame ...... here."

"Haha......" Madame suddenly wiped her lips with her sleeve and laughed again, "I can swear to God again that I am a good wife of Ieyasu." If it was Ieyasu's order, I could do whatever I wanted. But if it's just the three of you, then I'll tell you not to think about it! ”

"Madam!" Taro Zuo finally snapped the case and shouted, "Don't you love the young master? The lord has not yet ordered the young lord to cut the stomach, don't you understand the lord's painstaking efforts?"

"Tarozo, if you say so, go back to your lord first, and ask for an order to kill me. ”

"If there is an order from the lord, you will judge yourself?"

"I will not break my word. Madame nodded slightly, "Major General Ieyasu of Tokugawa Left Konoe, weak and incompetent, in order to please Oda Nobunaga, actually killed his wife and children, and he is not afraid of being laughed at by future generations...... Oh, if there is an order, I will end it with joy. At this time, Shigemasa Nonaka slapped his knee a few times, and it turned out that Taro's left right hand had been pressed on the waist knife. Shigemasa Nonaka stopped him in time and lay his hands on the tatami mats. "For the sake of the bigger picture, allow me to say it again. My language is vulgar, apologize to Madame. For the sake of the young master, please think twice. I beg you, I kowtow to you!"

"Don't say any more. Even if you wear out your mouth, I won't waver. ”

"So, you just lost the young master, and you don't want to stop hating the lord?"

"Hmph, whether you call me a yaksha, an evil ghost, or chop up my corpse and eat it, I still do my own thing, and I can die as much as I want...... Hugh is going to say it again, heavy government!"

Chongzheng was so angry that his shoulders trembled, and he looked back at the other two, who were also full of anger. "So...... At dawn on the 27th, he took his wife to see the lord. ”

This time Madame did not say anything more. The three of them walked out onto the porch, still feeling a pair of eyes staring at them viciously.

"Sure enough, it's crazy. Taro left spat out.

Shigemasa is also a nameless anger, but it's not all anger at Mrs. Tsukiyama. As the niece of Yoshimoto Imagawa, she married Ieyasu, who was hungry for love and suffered so much that she failed to treat her life well, deepening the gap between husband and wife, and was a pathetic woman!

Strategists who are obsessed with war will never let go of a woman who is disgruntled with war, and in the end, they still use their tactics to make her deviate and commit terrible acts...... Whose fault is this?

"Nonaka," he said out of the gate of the house, bending down and drilling through the bamboo fence that left only one entrance, and Okamoto Heizaemon shouted, "I see, if you don't do it, you won't stop doing it, find someone to stab her to death." ”

Shigemasa didn't answer, just looked up at the sky. "It would be nice if it was sunny the day after tomorrow......"

"To kill her here is tantamount to shooting ourselves in the foot, and we must not only shut the guard's mouth, but also ......"

"Oops, you're such an idiot. Tarozuo's tone was still terrifying, "I'm afraid this is an unheard-of evil wife, but it's the wife of the lord, it's really angry with me! Anyway, someone will assassinate her in the future, so if you don't stop me." ”

"Nonaka," Heizaemon added, "if we were attacked by young samurai on the way, we would not only be discredited with faces, but we would also suffer heavy casualties. Well, why don't the three of us get things done......"

"This ...... Allow me to think about it. I've been trying to figure out what the hell is going on in Madame, you say, what is this woman thinking?"

"You still don't understand, she's crazy, she's already crazy, Noaka ......"

Taro Zao also seems to agree with Heizaemon very much. Shigemasa Nonaka crossed his arms and walked silently alone.

On the 27th, the weather was clear.

Mrs. Tsukiyama glanced at the prisoner cart in front of the door. "It seems unlikely that we will return here. ”

She coldly threw this sentence to the two maids who had come to see her off, and closed the window from inside the prison car. The cart was immediately covered with a net, and eight guards carried the cage outside.

Shigemasa Nonaka, Taro Ishikawa, and Heizaemon Okamoto did not say a word. However, the eyes of the three of them meeting each other from time to time concealed a certain emotion that was both sad and terrifying.

Out of Sugaguchi, the fog gradually dissipated, and there was no movement in the prisoner car. When they walked out of the city gate, stones flew from somewhere, and from time to time they were thrown at the prisoner cart. Every time a stone was thrown, the guards would look at each other heartily and put on a look of righteous indignation. Of course, this is not anger at the slinger, but anger at the lady.

When they arrived at Ichiritsuka, everyone raised their vigilance to prevent accidents. Recently, rumors have been circulating that a young samurai might be hijacking a prisoner's cart here.

"If they jumped out, we would throw our lives out of the prison van and run for our lives. ”

"It's like, how can we carry such a heavy thing?"

There were even guards who deliberately said it out loud to their ladies. Madame was always silent.

"You're not going to fall asleep in there, are you?"

The prison car was unusually peaceful, and even Okamoto Heizaemon felt a little puzzled. On this day, they came to a place not far from Akasaka to stay overnight. On the second day, the 28th, they stayed overnight in Yoshida, and around noon on the 29th, the team rushed to Tomizuka, southwest of Hamamatsu.

The long-awaited Gan Lin was nowhere to be seen, and the sun burned so hot that his neck hurt, not to mention the soldiers, even a few people in the field wiped their sweat vigorously.

The boat docked at a fork in front of Tomizuka, and three large pine trees stretched out their long branches, as if to greet everyone.

"Let's have some lunch in this area. Shigemasa Nonaka beckoned the guards to lift the prisoner cart off the boat. "We have something to say to Madame, that you should first rest on the grass opposite the grave. Shigemasa said to the guards with a pleasant face, unloaded the net covering the car, and then opened the door, "Madama, Hamamatsu is already close at hand. ”

"Hamamatsu is in front of you, why are you still resting in such a desolate place?"

Shigemasa Nonaka glanced at Taro Ishikawa. "Madam, I'm sorry for you, Shigemasa wants to watch Madame commit suicide here. ”

"Watch me kill myself...... You, you're trying to kill me here?"

"Please judge yourself, and beg you. ”

"So, the three of you have already discussed it? Isn't it your idea to re-govern alone?"