In the middle of the rain, the cavalry of the Momiji Army suddenly came out of battle, bypassed the positions of Hachiwawara Castle and the Kii people, and headed straight to the south. In the heavy rain, the iron cannon was almost powerless, and the Kii people were powerless to stop the desperate advance of the Momiji cavalry, so they hurried out of the castle to follow—they were also worried about what would happen to Saga Castle.

In fact, it was not far from Saga Castle where the Momiji Army stopped, but the deadly heavy rain and the damned epidemic caused the Momiji Army to withdraw. However, if the cavalry did not hesitate to gallop at all speeds, it would only be a matter of half a day to reach Saga Castle. The Momiji cavalry galloped along the mountain and official roads, leaving behind the Kii people who were hurrying on foot.

"Your Highness, what if you get there and find out that it is really a lure for the enemy?" Kohata Jiesheng was a little worried about Yu Qiuping's safety, and at first he tried to persuade Yu Qiuping not to act with the cavalry company, but Yu Qiuping refused.

"It's a big deal to rush to the east, go to Zhongxiu and Hengxing to meet, they shouldn't face many enemies." Yu Qiuping smiled, but he was not too nervous in his heart, "But I believe in the judgment of the Hanbei, there must have been a change in Saga City." ”

When the Momiji cavalry crossed Kigawa from the bridge and rushed to the bottom of Saga Castle, they found that fierce battles were raging between the castle head and castle town, and nearly 400 troops under the banner of Hosoyanagibei and Shosho Mimasaki Nakahide were attacking the castle. However, when Yu Qiupei looked to the east, he found that there were no follow-up troops from Hosoyanagi or Ikeda Tsuneko on the way, but in the distance he could faintly see the troops of Kii rushing back—just like the other Kii people who were chasing after Yu Qiuping.

"What is this?" Yu Qiuping couldn't figure out what was going on for a moment, "We are cavalry, and we rushed over by relying on the rain to reduce the power of the iron cannons. This willow reserve is full of infantry, did they fly here with wings? ”

Yu Qiuping then glanced at the battlefield and found that there were many bamboo rafts parked horizontally beside the bank of the river, some of which had been damaged during the beach, some of which had become wreckage hanging on the reef, and many of them were leaning against the shore safely.

"Could it be..."Yu Qiuping looked along Ji Chuan towards the upper reaches of the east, and the source of the turbulent water was the route that the Eastern Route Army had originally planned, "Zhong Xiu's kid took a company and rushed down on a bamboo raft when Ji Chuan was raining and the water was rising, and threw off the people of Kii?" There really is him. ”

"Aid your allies now!" Yu Qiuping glanced at the pursuers behind him and immediately ordered the troops to attack. The Momiji cavalry immediately rushed into the castle town, and cooperated with Hosoyanagi to flank the front and back, and easily crushed the Saga people who were still resisting. They then immediately attacked the gates from all directions. The Manpower of the Sakaga people was not enough to defend all the gates, and the south gate was broken through first. The Momiji Army immediately swarmed in, and it didn't take long to suppress the resistance of the entire city. Yu Qiuping also personally climbed the castle tower to observe the situation of the whole city.

"The enemy has less than 200 men in total, and it seems that we didn't expect us to bypass the defenders on their front line and surprise the Saga Castle." The company commander of Hosoyanagi's 1st Company, Kitabatake Keiya, also rushed to the castle tower soon after to report the battle situation to Yu Qiuhei, "As His Highness guessed, Lord Omaezaki secretly built a bamboo raft, put it into the river when the water was rising, and rushed all the way down. Later, however, the people of Kii Province reacted and began to set up obstacles in Kikawa-ri and shoot at our troops on bamboo rafts with iron cannon bows and arrows. His Highness Ikeda, fearing that the casualties would be too high, stopped his progress. ”

"Good guy, there's really nothing that Zhongxiu doesn't dare to think about. The last time I swam from Lake Hamana to shell Dr. Daizen, this time I went down the river on a bamboo raft in front of the enemy. Yu Qiuping sighed in admiration while arranging the manpower to prepare for the retreat.

"What about Zhongxiu now? Let him come over quickly, we are ready to leave. Yu Qiuping looked down at the castle by the window edge of the castle tower window, but did not find the figure of Nakahide Gomaesaki, "We have no food at all, and there is a serious epidemic outbreak, so we can't fight this battle." Although Saga Castle has been defeated, we can't defend it with our 800 people, so let's withdraw quickly. ”

"Your Highness, who said there is no food?"

When the people arrived, and after the excited shouts sounded, Mimasaki Nakahide immediately ran in, pulled Yu Qiuping's sleeve and walked out.

"What, Zhongxiu, where are you going?"

"Take His Highness to see the grain!"

·

Yu Qiuping was inexplicably taken by Mimaezaki Nakahide another large warehouse in the city, the door of the warehouse was covered with blood, and there were several rows of corpses on the side, it seemed that a fierce battle had just broken out. Hosoyanagi's ashigaru guards are on guard around the warehouse, and there are a few captives tied up at the door of the warehouse.

"This is Shigehide Suzuki." Nakahide Omaezaki pointed to the sturdy man covered in blood, who had been tied up as a rice dumpling and was still struggling, "The son of Suzuki Shigeyi, it is said that he is also the third-in-command of the Saga family. When we attacked the city just now, he was constantly resisting, and his brother had already slipped away with the people. This guy killed a lot of us, but he caught us. ”

After hearing Nakahide Omaezaki describe himself and his father in such a contemptuous tone, Shigehide Suzuki became even more angry, as if he wanted to bite the rope in his mouth, but was immediately pinned down by two ashigaru.

"You said you were going to come and show me the grain..."Yu Qiuping squinted at the huge warehouse and pointed with his finger, "Could it be that this is the case?" ”

"Yes, it's all food." Nakahide Omaezaki stepped forward with a wicked smile and pulled the door of the warehouse open, only to see that it was filled with grain bags, and from the several open bags, it could be seen that they were almost all dry food.

"With this food, the army will not be worried. His Highness can immediately light the wolf smoke and let the main army return to Saga Castle. As long as we hold on to the city for a while and hold out until the main force returns, we can drive away all the Kii people who want to counterattack! Then we have this batch of food, and the supply line behind it doesn't matter, we can directly transport the medicine up, and the problem will be solved! ”

"You're right." When Yu Qiuping heard this, his eyes also flashed, and he immediately arranged for someone to do it.

Who would have thought that Shigehide Suzuki, who heard the conversation between the two, suddenly struggled violently, broke free from the restraints of the two ashigaru, but fell to the ground all of a sudden. Because his hands and feet were tied, he couldn't crawl at all, so he could only roll all the way to Yu Qiuping's body, which scared Yu Qiuping.

"Woo! Woo! Shigehide Suzuki stopped at Yuakihei's feet and tried to roar, but he was slurred by the rope in his mouth, but he still shouted unrelentingly. Yu Qiuping guessed that he might be about to say something, so he ordered Mori Kolong to release the string from his mouth.

As soon as Mori Kolong released the rope that was plugging his mouth, Shigehide Suzuki immediately poured out foul language like a mad dog, greeting the eighteenth generation of Yu Qiuping's ancestors, and Mori Kolong was so angry that he wanted to draw a knife and cut down Shigehide Suzuki.

"Kolon, wait." Yu Qiuping raised his hand to stop Mori Kolong's actions, and seemed to be indifferent to Suzuki Shigehide's swearing, and cursed loudly against him, and said in a deep voice that was not loud but very clear: "I don't have much time left for you, except for scolding, please say whatever you want as soon as possible." ”

Yu Qiuping's words seemed to have an immediate effect, and the voice of Suzuki Shigehide, who was scolding happily just now, gradually became quieter. After cursing a few more words unwillingly, Shigehide Suzuki took a deep breath and said with some difficulty, "Please don't take this grain." ”

Yu Qiuping could hear that the "honorific" in this sentence was already very reluctant for him.

"Why is that?" Yu Qiuping asked puzzled, but Shigehide Suzuki didn't answer, just lowered his head.

"Don't you answer?" Yu Qiuping asked tentatively again, but still did not receive an answer, so he directly ordered Sen Kelon, "Kolon, go to the city and raise the wolf smoke and inform the whole army to attack." There is food here, so you don't have to worry about running out of food. ”

"Wait!" Shigehide Suzuki was anxious when he heard this, and interrupted again in a loud voice, "Don't take these grains!" ”

"Why?" Yu Qiuping calmly turned to him and asked in a low voice.

"All that grain is poisonous! Eat it and you'll die! Shigehide Suzuki yelled at Yu Qiuping, "Eat you guys who have no children and grandchildren!" Why the hell did you come to our Kii Saye! ”

"You don't have to worry about it, we will test it ourselves if there is any poison." Yu Qiuping seemed to have guessed the reason, but he didn't say anything, but said with a smile, "Kolon, go and light the wolf smoke." ”

"Wait a minute!" Seeing this, Suzuki Shigehide said hurriedly, and found that Yu Qiuping was looking at him with a very indifferent gaze, and suddenly felt that the little abacus in his heart had been fully understood, and he knew that he couldn't afford to pass this level if he didn't bow his head. He bit his lip tightly, his face was warlike, and his body trembled slightly. After a while, the man who wanted to admit defeat took several deep breaths in a row, made a lot of determination, and whispered in an almost pleading tone:

"His Highness the Governor. This is the only grain left in Kii, and the people's food is concentrated here. This autumn's harvest is all ruined thanks to you. Without this year's harvest, the people are counting on this grain to last until next year. If you take this food, few of the thousands of people in Kii will survive until next year. ”

"Then why do you gather the grain? Isn't this served in one pot? Mimasaki Nakahide asked with a sneer, "Isn't it for the sake of the strong wall and the wary of us?" ”

"You still have the face to say! Who is the aggressor, don't you have a point in your heart? The people of Kii have worked hard for a year, because you have no harvest, do you still have the face to say? Do you really want to kill them all? ”