"What? Haven't seen it yet? On October 15, after receiving a reply from Uchiha Aoka, Yu Qiupei asked in surprise, "Why doesn't Hatakeyama Takamasa want to see you?" ”

"Hatakeyama Takamasa sent someone to tell your majesty that since your Highness is the guardian of Hanoi, you are the retainer of his Hanoi guardian. If you want to discuss something important, you can go to him in person as a retainer. Send a ninja to make a request to him, unorthodox. Uchiha Aoka repeated Hatakeyama's reply.

"Who does he think he is?" Yu Qiuping, who has always been good-natured, was treated like this, and he couldn't help but get angry: "Hasn't he been fiddled with by the Miyoshi family as a puppet for several years?" How dare you be so awesome? ”

"Don't hide what His Highness said, this Highness Hatakeyama, even in the face of Miyoshi repairs, is so arrogant." Sanada Masayuki explained on the side, "Your Highness doesn't need to be angry, this is not aimed at Your Highness. ”

"'The Hosokawa family can only sit on an equal footing with me, why do you, a retainer of the Hosokawa family, talk to me like this?' If I'm not mistaken, this is the conversation that was circulated in Kinai back then, about His Royal Highness Hatakeyama angrily denouncing Miyoshi for repair. Sanada Masayuki seriously imitated an arrogant tone, making everyone present laugh.

"I'll go. It's his retainer again, and I'm on an equal footing with the Hosokawa family. Yu Qiuping shook his head and cried and laughed, "This His Royal Highness Hatakeyama, he lived more than a hundred years ago, right?" Do you think you're still the Muromachi shogunate period three-pipe leader? ”

"I've seen him in the next place, and it can be said that he is a very stubborn person." Uchiha Aooka nodded, agreeing with Yu Qiuping's statement: "Once he recognizes a principle, no matter how much practical interests he will sacrifice, he will never waver. ”

"If he was willing to cooperate with the Miyoshi family earlier, maybe he would be able to get a half-official position, and he would definitely not be worse than Araki Village. For the sake of his influence, maybe he can still command Hanoi's army. Sanada Masayuki added with a wry smile on the side: "But he must insist that he is the guardian of Hanoi, and he must be in charge of Hanoi's affairs, so he has always refused to surrender to the Miyoshi family and ended up in exile." ”

"That's really troublesome, if it's such a person who doesn't know the times, it's even more difficult to persuade him to cooperate." Yu Qiuping sighed, then shook his head vigorously, expelling the powerlessness in his heart, "But I can't sit still, since he wants me to see him in person, I'll go and see him." Passing in such a low way can be regarded as giving him face, and I hope he can cooperate with me. ”

"Your Highness?" Amano Jingde frowned when he heard this, and said in a low voice: "From here to Kii, you have to pass through the territory controlled by the Miyoshi family, and you can't move with a large army, how can you ensure your safety?" ”

"I'm just going to be in civilian clothes, and I'm going to have elite guards by my side, and ordinary people can't help me." Yu Qiuping glanced at Honda Tadashi and Ryuko, who were standing behind him, and said very confidently: "We are embattled now, it is impossible to break the situation without taking some risks, I must go this time." If I can get the help of His Highness Hatakeyama, the entire wealthy clan of Hanoi will be on my side, and the situation will be very promising. ”

"In my absence, you continue to intensify your training, and train those auxiliaries to be qualified pikemen earlier." Before Yu Qiuping left, he instructed Shigeharu Takenaka, "When Yoshibei comes, you should quickly communicate with Sakai Town to see if you can spend money on food and building materials, and first find a way to let these hungry people survive this harsh winter." ”

·

In the afternoon of the same day, Yu Qiuping took a group of guards and Charlie, disguised himself as a Sakai merchant, and drove the carriage loaded with goods to the south. The reason why he took Charlie was because he was the most reliable long-range firepower in the entire army. Although his longbow was too conspicuous to carry, Charlie himself brought an iron cannon instead.

After the Battle of Kyoto, Charlie completely changed his opinion about iron artillery. During the defense of Nanzen Temple, the role of iron cannons was much higher than that of bows and arrows. Whether it is lethality, accuracy at close range, or retention of physical strength, it is much higher than that of archers. Although Charlie believes in bows and arrows, after learning that Yu Qiuping wants to replace all the archers with iron gunners, he actually has no objection - Yu Qiuping originally thought that Charlie would come to make a big fuss.

"These archers in Tokiwa are far inferior to the quality and ability of our English archers. For them, an iron cannon may be a better option. Charlie used this excuse to answer Yu Qiuping, which can be regarded as comforting himself. He is also sensible and knows the power of the iron cannon. He did not, like the British royal family, refuse to put muskets in his troops for the glory of archers. He knew that Chang Panbei was in a crisis in Maple Mountain Castle, and he couldn't affect the combat effectiveness of the troops for the sake of his personal beliefs and preferences.

After that, Charlie himself practiced iron cannon for two days. However, genius is genius, and after only two days of practice, Charlie's marksmanship has surpassed that of Tokiwa Beinai's original sharpshooter Kitabatake Keike.

"It's so much simpler than a bow and arrow. The lower limit is high, but the upper limit is low. Although Charlie did not object to replacing the bow and arrow with an iron cannon for the sake of the needs of the team, he still took every opportunity to degrade the iron cannon without sparing, "It only takes two days of practice." ”

·

At noon on October 16, Yu Qiuping and his entourage crossed the Takaya Castle, which was the tightest handle of the Miyoshi family. Along the way, Yu Qiuping found that the defense of the Miyoshi family was very loose, probably because the troops of Miyoshi Yixing, Miyoshi Sanren and others were still quelling the rebellion in the Settsu and Harima areas, and had not yet returned to Hanoi and Izumi. Yu Qiuping immediately sent a person to turn around and go back, and informed the remaining Takenaka Shigeji and others that the Miyoshi family in the Ruojiang area did not have too many troops, so let him act cheaply.

In the evening of the same day, the group had already arrived in the border area of Hanoi and Kii. As one of the three leaders, Hatakeyama Takamasa had a close relationship with the Nerai, an important national group in the Kii region. Nelaizhong has fought many times to support Hatakeyama Takamasa and the Miyoshi family, and he can be regarded as a loyal supporter of Hatakeyama Takamasa. The territory of the Genlaizhong is close to the south of Hanoi and Ho Quan. As a result, the border line is heavily guarded.

After a lot of effort, Yu Qiuping and his party finally took advantage of the night to bypass the blockade of Miyoshi's house from the mountains and arrived at Takanoguchi in Kii early the next morning. Kii Province is now controlled by a large number of people, among whom the Saga clan led by the Suzuki clan is the most respected. And the alliance of these people is quite loose in their control of the local area, and they have no grudges with the Yuqiu family, so there is no need to worry about them attacking Yuqiuping and his party.

Yu Qiuping, who had been nervous all the way, finally put his mind at ease and began to swagger quickly on the official road. Unbeknownst to them, danger was watching them secretly.

·

On Koya Mountain next to Takanoguchi, a group of ninjas are looking down on Yu Qiuping's horse convoy.

"Is it rain and autumn leaves? You boys are not mistaken, right? A man dressed in gray was excitedly wiping the iron cannon in his arms. Ming Ming is not very old, but there are already some vicissitudes on his face.

"Sugitan-sama rest assured, he will never admit his mistake." A ninja who followed him whispered, "The little one has seen the autumn autumn leaves." Even if he mistook him, the blonde and blue-eyed foreigner next to him would definitely not admit it! He is Charlie, the famous archer of Tokiwa! ”

"Oh? Archers? That's kind of interesting! "The man in gray who is not called Sugitani-sama is the second son of the Sugitani family, one of the fifty-three families of Koga, Sugitani Zenjubo, and is a famous iron cannon killer in. In the history of his previous life, he once sniped Oda Nobunaga in the Chikusa Mountains, hitting the hem of his clothes and nearly taking Oda Nobunaga's life. In a fit of rage, Oda Nobunaga seized Sugitani's Zenjubo and buried him in the ground, exposing only his head, and asked passers-by to cut his neck with a saw, and died tragically for three days - which shows how deep Oda Nobunaga's resentment was about his assassination.

After learning that there was actually a sharpshooter in the team, Sugitani Zenjubo twisted his body a little restlessly, "I don't know what it will be like to shoot at him and then shoot through his heart!" ”

"Lord Sugitani, don't forget that the goal of this mission is the autumn autumn leaves." A ninja beside him didn't forget to remind, "His Highness Rokkaku said that it was this rainy autumn red leaves that forcibly destroyed our Rokkaku family despite the orders of the Gongfang Palace!" Originally, the Hexagonal family had already agreed with the Gongfang Palace to join the Shangluo army, but they were attacked by him and ended up like this. Our fifty-three families in Jiahe are deeply favored by His Highness Hexagonal, and His Highness Hexagon has instructed him to take this person's life to take revenge! ”

"Got it, got it." Sugitani Zenjubo muttered impatiently, put the iron cannon behind his back, and slowly stood up: "I will kill this rain and autumn and red leaves." But that sharpshooter, hehe—" he said with a dry laugh, "but you want to have fun with me!" It's been a long time since I've met an evenly matched opponent, so I've got a taste of what it's like to shoot! ”

·

Soon after, at the foot of Koyasan.

"I'm tired." Yu Qiuping didn't sleep all night last night, and got up in the early morning and drove for a long time, "Let's go to the foot of this mountain to find a place to rest." ”

As he spoke, he turned over and dismounted, pulled the wagon with the goods, and walked under the tree beside him. Several guards behind him who were dressed as men also followed Yu Qiuping towards the side of the road. And the dragon, dressed as a little maid, jumped into the carriage and lay comfortably in the pile of goods.

"Dragon, it's dirty inside, lie outside." Yu Qiuping smiled and pulled out the reluctant dragon child. However, before he could stand firmly, Charlie on the side suddenly pushed Yu Qiuping away. Immediately afterward, a puff of smoke rose from Koyasan, and the roar of a salvo of iron cannons followed.

Yu Qiuping and Ryuko were pushed out by Charlie for four or five steps, only to find that the place where they had just stood was full of bullet holes. Before they could come back to their senses, Charlie on the side still quickly lit the already loaded iron cannon in his hand, and returned it with a backhand.