Time passed minute by minute, but Shigeharu Takenaka still did not move, which made Saito Ryuxing also slightly uneasy. However, he understood that the most important thing at this moment was to calm down, so he remained calm and composed. Just when he was a little sleepy because he stayed up late, he suddenly noticed that there was a faint fire beating in the city.

"What's the situation!" Saito Ryuko suddenly fell asleep, suddenly got up from his seat, and looked out the window into the city—only to see that in Inabayama Castle, around Ninomaru, there were four places where the yashiki was lit up. Soon after, it immediately spread into a large fire, and the smoke was faintly visible in the moonlight. The raging fire caused panic among many residents and samurai families in the castle town, and the castle became chaotic.

"Has Shigeharu Takenaka started to act?" Saito Ryuxing looked at the fires in the city with a stern face, and asked the guards beside him, "Where are the places where the fires started?" ”

"Back to the lord, it seems that they are all samurai yashiki of the Takenaka family and the Ando family." The guard replied honestly.

"Huh?" Saito Ryuxing was stunned for a moment, and looked out the window again: "Burn your own house?" ”

"My lord, do you want to send someone to arrest all the arsonists?" The guards beside him were already eager to try, and asked Saito Ryuko for instructions.

"Don't act rashly," Saito Ryuxing decisively shook his head and refused, "In addition to the guards of the three gates, we have less than 100 people in the city, and the troops are not sufficient, so we must not repeat Takenaka's plan to lure the enemy." He must have wanted to lure us to the fire, to ambush or sneak up on key positions. ”

At the same time, the place where the fire started.

Shigeharu Takenaka lit a fire in four of Ninomaru's own houses, two of whom were responsible for adding firewood to fan the flames, while the remaining two shouted incendiary shouts such as "firefight" and "escape", causing chaos around them. Four fire spots, a total of sixteen people. And Shigeharu Takenaka himself stood in the attic of Takenaka Kusakuyashiki and watched the situation in Inabayama Castle.

"Your Excellency!" After one of the attendants finished setting the fire, he immediately rushed back to Yashiki to report the situation: "Everything is done. ”

"Did the Saito family send someone?" Shigeharu Takenaka never took his eyes off the window, and asked casually and softly.

"No, my lord, the Saito family hasn't even been brought in." The attendant replied in a low voice, "It seems that the retreat route prepared by the brothers before is useless. ”

Shigeharu Takenaka's face was solemn, and he set his eyes on the direction of the prison not far away.

Isn't there a single person who has been led away?

"Let's go, gather all of us," Shigeharu Takenaka said coldly. With that, he shook his sleeves and walked downstairs.

·

"Is there any further action on the part of Shigeharu Takenaka?" Saito Ryuxing looked at the herald who had just returned from the west gate and asked anxiously.

"No, my lord!" The herald reported truthfully, "No enemy troops have been found near the West Gate. ”

Just as Saito Ryuxing breathed a sigh of relief, another herald from the direction of the West Gate and the herald who had just returned broke into the second floor. Saito Ryuko recognized that this person seemed to be the captain of Komaki Genta's flag.

"What's going on?" Saito Ryuxing suddenly became nervous. Komaki Yuantai, who was stationed at the West Gate, actually sent all the captains of the flag, and he must have encountered an extremely serious situation.

"Return to the main hall!" After saluting, the captain of the flag book said in a little hurry: "There is a change outside the West Gate!" ”

"Mamoru Ando!" Saito Ryuxing's eyes widened, and he immediately became excited, "Are they going to do it?" But attack the gates! ”

"No, it's not the main hall," Captain Qimoto, who was interrupted, shook his head repeatedly, "The Ando family has not prepared siege equipment such as ladders and chariots, so it is impossible to climb over the city gate." The Ando family just ran to the door and asked to come into the city to help put out the fire. ”

"What?" Saito Ryuxing was taken aback, and looked at the flag captain with some disbelief, "You said that Mamoru Ando asked to come in and help put out the fire?" ”

"Yes, the main hall," Captain Qimoto replied with a smile, "The envoy of Ando Mamoru said that he saw the fire burning in the castle and was slow to extinguish it, and he was worried that the troops in the castle would not be able to cope with it, so he wanted us to open the city gate and let them in to help put out the fire." ”

Saito Ryuxing was angry and funny, and spat disdainfully: "Is he a fool to be Lao Tzu!" I'll open the gates and let him in? Is this Shigeharu Takenaka's plan? So mentally retarded? ”

"Not only that, but the envoy of His Highness Ando also brought several envoys from Northeast Mino," Captain Kimoto continued, "They were also very worried when they saw the fire in the castle and it was not extinguished, and they asked to come in and help put out the fire. ”

"Those wealthy people don't know anything about our plans, they must have been deceived by Mamoru Ando, and they came to coax," Saito Ryuxing waved his hand disdainfully, "Ignore them!" ”

"Then my lord, do you need to dispose of it in the city?" One of the attendants asked Saito Ryuko, "If the fire is allowed to spread, the people in the city will sooner or later become more chaotic, giving Takenaka a chance to fish in troubled waters." ”

"Don't worry about fishing in troubled waters, and don't think about putting out fires." Saito Ryuxing shook his head resolutely, "At the end of the day, the seventeen people of Shigeji Takenaka can't do much. No matter what method he used, his purpose was to open the west gate and let his army in, so that he could have a chance to take Inabayama Castle! We will keep people to guard the West Gate, the prison, and the castle tower. No matter how chaotic the city is, as long as we don't scatter our troops in chaos, there is nothing we can do about the seventeen people in Takenaka! ”

"I'll see what other tricks he has," Saito Ryuxing sneered, "Say a thousand ways and ten thousand, no matter how many tricks you use, it's useless, you don't want to go to Ximen sooner or later!" Find a way to put Mamoru Ando in! ”

·

At this time, the entrance to the north gate of Sannomaru in Inabayama Castle.

"Urgent military intelligence!" A few samurai armed with Saito Ryuling arrows and a seal letter quickly ran to the gate of the north gate, shouting that they needed to get out of the city. A dozen guards at the head of the North Gate immediately shone their torches at the samurai—all dressed in civilian clothes, unarmed with armor and weapons.

"What's the matter!" The doorman asked cautiously. As one of Saito's cronies, he knew that there would be a fierce battle in the castle tonight, so he was very careful about his every move. These plainclothes samurai didn't even ride horses. It doesn't look like a herald at all. "You need to ask His Highness Saito before I can let you out of the city."

"My lord, I beg your pardon for having no comment." The plainclothes samurai replied without humility or arrogance, "Please hurry up and check the Lingjian Seal and put it out of the city!" Urgent military situation, please don't delay! ”

The arrogant attitude of these samurai made the guards a little different, but the suspicion in their hearts was much smaller. Such an arrogant way of speaking is very likely to be a cronie sent by Saito Ryuxing, who does not take them as a doorman in his eyes. A few guards hurriedly checked the arrows and seals of the samurai, and after confirming that they were correct, they let them leave the city.

Anyway, this is the North Gate, not the West Gate. Outside the north gate are the troops directly under the Saito family, and outside the west gate is the ashigaru that Ando guards. If someone asks to open the West Gate from the gate with an arrow, the guards must be like a great enemy, for fear that Ando Mamoru will take the opportunity to seize the gate, and only when Saito Ryuxing is asked will he dare to open the door. But at the north gate, the guards don't need to worry much, there are their own troops outside the door!

Soon after, inside the barracks outside the North Gate.

These Saito family ashigaru people had already fallen asleep, but they were soon woken up by their companions. It turned out that several ashigaru on duty noticed the fire and smoke burning in Inabayama Castle, and hurriedly woke up their comrades in the barracks. They lit bonfires and torches in the barracks to light them in an attempt to calm themselves in the darkness.

The inexplicable ambush and withdrawal orders in the past few days have made these ashigaru people panic, worried that something big might happen in Inabayama Castle - is the Ando family really going to do something with the Saito family? And this evening, all the high-ranking generals and cronies who can control the scene and make up their minds have been transferred away, which makes these low-level ashigaru leaders leaderless and panicked, worried that something big will happen tonight. At this moment, after seeing the fire burning in Inabayama Castle, these ashigaru people were completely in a mess. There must be something going on in Inabayama Castle, and their lords and family heads must have been transferred into the castle for this reason! So what should they do? What are they supposed to do? Do you want to go into the city to support? Or defend on the spot? And who will command it?

Just when these ashigaru people were at a loss, several plainclothes samurai hurried to the camp. After showing the arrows and seals to the chaotic Ashigaru, they gave the same orders one by one.

"The Ando family in the west of the city and the small wealthy clans in Northeast Mino have made a move, trying to seize Inabayama Castle! Rush to the west of the city and suppress the wealthy clans gathered outside the west gate! The samurai who gave the order shouted loudly.

When these low-level ashigaru and ashigaru heads heard such an order, they exploded with a "buzz". Although they had a premonition that the Ando family would do something with the main family, they never expected that it had developed to the point of seizing the city.

"What are you doing! Hurry up and go to Xicheng to kill the enemy! Seeing that the crowd had not moved, the samurai who gave the order shouted in dissatisfaction.

"But this one!" A foot light head gritted his teeth and stepped forward: "Our adults are all in the city, who will command us to reinforce them?" Do you have to wait for them to come out before you act! ”

"Are you a fool?" The samurai scolded unceremoniously: "There is already a fight in the city, and the Hosaku of the Ando family has mixed in!" Now your lords are fighting hard in the city, and you can't get out of it! Do you think the Sanhedrin has sent me to deliver orders to you? ”

"What... What the! The crowd was taken aback again, "There is already a fight in the city!" ”

"Stop talking nonsense, time is pressing!" The samurai didn't seem to want to talk any more, and coldly drew his sword in his hand, "Each ashigaru led his men to the west city to kill the enemy. Whoever dares to disobey the military order and delay the fighter plane will be killed! ”

These ashigaru heads and ashigaru have never seen such a chaotic scene, and they have been staying at the bottom of the army and subconsciously obeying the orders of the arrow wielder. Although everyone felt that the current scene was a little weird, because the status of everyone was not high, no one dared to stand up and resist the order, so they had to hurriedly command their subordinates to assemble, leave the camp with torches, and go around the west of the city. If this person asked them to go into the city immediately to support or evacuate the city, they would most likely keep an eye on it and suspect that it was a plan to divert the tiger from the mountain. But right now, it's for them to attack the Ando family, who is seriously suspicious - this order can't be wrong!

Outside the barracks, the samurai who had given the order had already passed through the city gate again, and returned to the city before the guards could react to what had happened.

"My lord, what went wrong just now?" The squire in charge of playing the samurai whispered to Shigeharu Takenaka, who had been following behind him.

"No, Shichiro, you're doing a great job." Shigeharu Takenaka nodded with satisfaction, "Continue with the next mission." ”