The envoy of the Suzuki family said that Suzuki Shigei refused to come to the camp of the Red Leaf Army to negotiate, and the people of the Yuqiu family also refused to let Yuqiuping enter the city, and the two sides were deadlocked, and the negotiations were about to be yellow.

At this time, the envoy of the Suzuki family suddenly made a suggestion.

"Why don't you find a place to negotiate in the mountains behind Saga Castle?"

"Go to the back mountain of Saga Castle, what if you suddenly kill someone?" Mimasaki Nakahide sneered disdainfully, "What's the difference between going to your city?" ”

"Saga Zhong promises that he will not do such a thing." The messenger whispered very solemnly.

"What's the use of your reputation? Is the life of our Highness more important or is your reputation more important? Yoshioka Katsumasa slapped his hand on the table, "Either surrender or fight, where are so many things!" ”

"The lord has the sincerity to negotiate." Seeing that the retainers of the Yuqiu family were excited, the envoy's tone softened a little and said in a low voice.

Just as Yoshioka Katsumasa was about to continue slapping the table and glaring, a somewhat hoarse and low voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

"We believe in your sincerity." Amano Keitoku replied in a low voice, "For the sake of the creatures in Saga Castle, the lord is also willing to negotiate with you. Let's negotiate on the hill. ”

As soon as Amano Jingde said this, the retainers of the Yuqiu family present were stunned for a moment, and they looked at each other and wondered if they had heard the wrong thing just now. It wasn't until I saw everyone's expressions like this that I realized that I didn't have auditory hallucinations.

How is that possible? How could Amano Jingde, who has always been the most cautious, speculates on the intentions of others with the most sinister attitude, and can discover conspiracies in all ordinary trivial matters, agree to Yuqiuping to go to such a place? He should have been the most resolute in rejecting this proposal!

"However, we need to send someone to control the east gate of Saga Castle facing the back mountain, so as to ensure that the Saga people will not suddenly go out of the city to attack the lord."

Subsequently, Amano Keitoku coldly put forward this condition, and his tone was firm and unquestionable. "Otherwise, nothing to talk about."

·

On November 25, on the hill behind Saga Castle, a heavily armed squad escorted a man to a predetermined negotiation site. And not far away, on the eastern castle wall of Saga Castle, Ashigaru of the Momiji Army and the ninjas of the Military Intelligence Division are taking over control of the castle gate.

And Yu Qiuping was standing on a hill in the distance, watching the heavily armed team slowly drive into the mountain forest. The team was commanded by Tadashi Honda, and they were escorting not Yuakihei, but Yuqiuping's Shadow Warrior, a stand-in chosen from the Raven.

Yu Qiuping and the retainers of the Yuqiu family were not mistaken, it was indeed impossible for Amano Jingde to agree to such conditions, and he would never let Yu Qiuping risk himself. And the reason why he agreed to negotiate is a conspiracy through and through.

Yu Qiuping himself does not go to the negotiation location, instead, it is a ninja chosen from the raven who goes to the negotiation location. Amano Keitoku firmly believed that the Saga people asked Yu Qiuping to enter the mountain, and they must have attacked Yu Qiuping, so he found a similar-looking stand-in. After some makeup from Hatani Suizi, people who are not familiar with Yu Qiuping can't recognize it at a glance.

In order to win Yu Qiuping's trust and let Yuqiu go up the mountain with peace of mind, the Zaga people agreed to the request to let the Red Leaf Army control the gate of the East City. Amano Keitoku concluded that they must have ambushed the iron artillery team in the mountains early in the morning, so there was no need to transfer people out of the east gate.

And when the stand-in arrives at the negotiation site, the people of the Saga group will definitely attack. Once they made their move, the Momiji Army had a solid mouth and immediately attacked Saga Castle. For this reason, Charlie led Ming Di Bei to also get some distance closer to the back mountain, ensuring that he could go to the east gate a short time after the attack began. The Momiji Army and ninjas at the East Gate will be responsible for resisting for a while, waiting for Charlie's Ming to enter the city.

Amano's plan is to plan for everything. Since the Zaga people want to assassinate Yu Qiuping, give him a stand-in to assassinate. The Red Leaf Army was thus able to gain the pretext to attack and go to defeat Saga Castle directly.

Fearing for the safety of the decoy force, Yu Qiuping tried to persuade Honda Tadakatsu not to lead the team himself, but he refused.

"Stay with your subordinates." Honda replied, "As a samurai, how can you retreat out of fear? ”

If you can't say that Hondo is loyal to victory, there is nothing Yu Qiuping can do. However, compared to this, he still felt that there was a major flaw in the plan: "Gonbei, if Suzuki Shigei really keeps his promise, he is here to negotiate with me, and he has no intention of assassinating me at all, what should I do?" Suzuki relented to me, and as soon as our stand-in met him, he would be exposed as soon as he began to negotiate. ”

"If the Saga people don't plan to assassinate His Highness, let him come down." After hearing Yu Qiuping's question, Amano Keitori replied almost without thinking, "In the back mountain, I arranged for crows dressed as the Miscellaneous Ones. If the Saga people don't attack the bait, let them attack the crows. Then, with this as an excuse, it is logical to start the siege. ”

"What do you want to do, crow? With such a conspiracy and trickery, is it to make His Highness lose his trust in the world and give up all the fame accumulated for more than ten years? Do you abandon your own beliefs? Shigeharu Takenaka was taken aback when he heard this, and retorted in a deep voice with a grim face.

"I'll take care of it and won't get His Highness's hands dirty." Amano Keide shook his head, "I won't show any horses' feet, so don't worry." ”

"It's not a matter of worrying." Shigeharu Takenaka stepped forward, stood in front of Keitoku Amano, and stared into his eyes, "Don't use conspiracy, it's a matter of principle. ”

"This is war, not child's play. Conspiracy can save us a lot of deaths. Amano Keitoku was not infected by Takenaka's emotions, but still whispered flatly.

"You are not a chick, you must know that in a family, there must always be someone who does dirty things."

"Winning in the dark is nothing more than repeating the cycle of chaos, so what's the point of killing as many fewer people? Hundreds of years later, the dark history evokes ambitions, and the war resumes, and countless people still have to die. Shigeharu Takenaka shook his head and said in a resolute tone, "I refuse to carry out such a plan. If it's really the crow's ninja who attacks, please let Fukuzawa-sama take over my command for the time being, I won't be in command. ”

"That's your right." Amano Jingde bowed slightly, "You are very wise. ”

·

Pulling his mind back to the battle situation in front of him, Yu Qiuping stared at the small army slowly walking towards the predetermined negotiation location. He was engrossed in watching out in the mountains and forests on both sides of the road, for fear that when a gunshot would suddenly sound out. However, he hoped in his heart that the gunfire had been fired by the Zaga people—so that he would not have to exercise his intrigues in a conscientious manner.

Just as the team was about to arrive at the negotiation site, gunfire erupted in the woods on both sides. The small detachment, which had already been prepared, immediately lay down on the spot and looked for cover on the spot. The iron gunners of the Ming Bowl also immediately climbed to the top and fired blindly into the woods on both sides to suppress the forces of the Saga people. At the same time, the Saga people in Saga Castle also began to storm the east gate and fought fiercely with the Momiji army that was guarding the east gate. And Charlie immediately ordered Ming Di to move towards the east gate to meet the troops there.

However, Amano Keide, who was right next to Yu Qiuping, just took a few glances and realized that something was wrong.

"Feint," Amano reminded in a low voice, "and they obviously guessed that there would be a stand-in in this team. ”

"How so?" Yu Qiuping also asked in a low voice.

"I saw the sound of iron cannons, but there were not many casualties, and no one rushed up the mountain road. If it was really an assassination attempt to see the dagger, how could he be so hesitant? Tianye Jingde shook his head, and immediately said in a categorical and deep voice, "This attack is just to find the true location of His Highness through the movement and banner of the Red Leaf Army, and it is very likely that he has already succeeded." Although this place is convenient for command, it is within the range of the iron cannon, so please move immediately. ”

"Where to transfer?" Yu Qiuping turned around and looked at Amano Jingde's confident expression, and his heart was also reassured.

"Go there." Amano Keide pointed to a small low-lying area between the hills, "As long as you enter the low-lying area and choke the surrounding highlands, it will become a dead spot for iron cannons." ”

"Okay, let's go right away." Yu Qiuping was also worried that his location would be exposed, and he was shot in the gutter by the sharpshooters of the Zaga people - such as the little lark.

Sure enough, not long after Yu Qiuping's front foot left, sporadic iron cannons began to shoot at the place where he was just now—Zaga Zhong didn't know how to really judge where Yu Qiuping was. And in this deep mountain and old forest, the Zaga people obviously have an absolute advantage. Unless Yu Qiuping hides in the shooting corner of Amano Jingde's mouth, he can't feel at ease.

And the iron gunners of the Zaga people obviously noticed the moving Yu Qiuping, and from time to time a few bullets flew out of the dense forest and fired at this unit, knocking down the guards around Yu Qiuping, forcing Yu Qiuping to rush to the depression without stopping.

When Yu Qiuping began to move his position surrounded by the guards, Charlie, who was on another high ground, immediately became a little puzzled, and sent an envoy to ask Yu Qiuping why he was moving his position, and the reply was that he wanted to move to a safe area where the iron cannon had no angle of fire.

"No shooting angles? Where is it? Charlie asked Mori Ranmaru, who had arrived to herald.

"There, Lord Charlie." Moriranmaru stretched out his small hand and pointed at the depression chosen by Amano Keitoku, "As long as you choke the surrounding high ground, the enemy's iron gunners will not have the angle to shoot His Highness at all. ”

"Why is there no angle? Aren't there mountains beyond? Charlie pointed to a hill around the depression, "where you can see the depression." ”

"But the iron cannon can't shoot that far." Moriranmaru nodded very firmly, "From the high mountain to the depression, it's almost 300 meters." ”

"Iron cannons can't hit it." Charlie shook his head, didn't say anything, immediately turned on his horse, and beckoned the cavalry platoon to rush towards Yu Qiuping.

But a bow and arrow can.