However, a quarter of an hour later.

What Yuakihei and Sena Shitoshi received was not Imagawa Yoshimoto's messenger, but the black smoke and faintly visible fire that rose into the sky above Narumi Castle twenty miles away.

Narumi Castle, where Imagawa Yoshimoto is located. was ignited.

Almost in desperation, Sena Jun and Yu Qiupei rushed down the castle tower and gathered all their troops to rush to the rescue of Narumi Castle. Sena Toshi and Yu Qiuping led more than 10,000 main forces, walked through the barrel narrows, and arrived at the main road of Narumi Castle, and hurried there.

The closer they got to Narumi Castle, the more clearly the fire and smoke on Narumi Castle were visible, and the more cold they became. Yu Qiuhei and Sena Shijun were both red-eyed, and they urged their subordinates to hurry away. Chang Panbei, who marched the fastest, left behind the large army, and under the leadership of Yu Qiuping, he took the lead and trotted to Narumi City.

At four o'clock, Yu Qiuping rushed to the side of the abandoned Zenshoji Temple. And the scene in front of me is really shocking.

The castle tower of Narumi Castle was shrouded in flames, and the smoke was billowing out, and it was a little choking to be so far away.

On the plain to the east of Narumi Castle, north of the woods, there are a large number of corpses of the Imagawa army. Asahina family, Miura family, Matsudaira family, Ii family... The flags of each family were scattered in a pool of blood. Even faintly recognizable, the wails of the wounded who were lucky not to die. Here, it must have been not so long ago, a tragic battle broke out.

The outcome of the war is also obvious - the Imagawa family suffered a crushing defeat.

How so.

The Oda army, which was already a remnant of the defeated army and was at the end of the road, how to defeat the Imagawa army, which was many times the number of soldiers they had, and was ready to work!

How so. Even if you lose, why did you lose so badly? Why is it like a rout? How is this possible? And why are there hardly many corpses of the Oda family in sight? What is our army up to?

Even if the field battle is lost, the troops of the Okabe family in Narumi Castle still have more people than the Oda family? How could Narumi Castle be lost? Even if you can't beat it, how can you not survive for half a day? How is that possible? How could it be that the castle tower was captured so quickly!

A series of question marks and the tragic situation in front of him almost made Yu Qiuping faint, and he staggered on his horse, trying to keep his sanity and calm, but in vain.

In my head, there was only one thought left -

His Royal Highness! Where are you! You're not going to have an accident!

Suddenly, there was a hoarse roar from the south.

"Maple Bird Flag! Momiji soldiers! Brat! It's really you! ”

"Big brother!" Yuqiu Ping looked at it and saw that Asahina Taehyung's feet were covered in blood, and the white horse was also dyed red with blood. The dozen or so knights who followed behind him were all in the same tragic situation. They were coming out from behind the forest to the south, hurrying towards Yu Qiuping's army. At this time, Sena Toshiya rode his horse to the battlefield with Qimoto, and was also stunned and at a loss because of the tragic situation in front of him.

"Virtuous nephew, why do you have such a few people with you! Where's your brother? Sena asked anxiously.

"Uncle, I'm here to investigate! Our Asahina family is on Nakajima's side! Asahina Taiheng said with a sad face, "I thought that more than 10,000 of you were killed by Oda Nobunaga in the barrel saga!" Scared the hell out of me! So you're all fine! As he spoke, Asahina Taehyung was stunned and asked in surprise, "Are you okay!" Why did you put Oda Nobunaga back! Even if you didn't catch Oda Nobunaga, why didn't you pursue it! What's the situation! ”

"We...!" Yu Qiuping was just about to speak, but suddenly realized that something was wrong, "Didn't His Royal Highness the Governor order us to retreat and not pursue the Oda army?" Are you not with His Highness the Governor? ”

"No, our Asahina family has been outside the city all the time, and His Royal Highness the Governor is in Narumi City!" Asahina Taehyung was also confused, and shouted anxiously, "Why did you order you to let the Oda family go!" ”

"How do I know? We're confused, too! Yu Qiuping was also in a hurry and said loudly.

"That's not the point, you two calm down. Virtuous nephew! Sena interrupted in a deep voice, "Tell me quickly!" What the hell is going on here! What happened! Where is His Royal Highness! ”

"His Royal Highness the Governor has lost contact with us!" Asahina Taehyung's first words made Yu Qiuping almost faint, and he couldn't think of anything in his head, just kept buzzing.

The sound of Asahina Taehyung was still heard in his ears, but Yu Qiuping could only listen to it with a blank stumble, and his ears seemed to have lost connection with his brain. The sound reaches the ears, but it takes a long time to react before you know what those syllables mean.

"About two hours ago, the Oda Army suddenly came back from the barrel saga. And not many people died, and there were no of your pursuers behind them. Asahina Taehyung, a reckless young man who has never been afraid of heaven and earth, couldn't stop trembling in his voice at this moment: "At that time, we were like those wealthy families, and the whole army was panicked, and they all thought that the team in the barrel narrow room had suffered a heavy setback. My brother tried his best to suppress the troops and keep their morale stable, but he couldn't do it himself. Fortunately, there are many of us, and the wealthy people are not so afraid. ”

"However, just before the two armies finished their formation, before the battle began." Asahina Taiheng's eyes were red, and he gritted his teeth and scolded: "The grandsons of Owari Lao suddenly picked out the head and court clothes of the shadow warrior of the Great Hall of the Family Governor and picked them on the tip of the gun!" Show in front of the two armies! ”

"Damn! My eldest brother reacted immediately! Asahina Taihyung scolded fiercely, almost popping out a few words from his back molars: "Only we, the high-ranking samurai of the family, who are trusted by the main hall, know that the main hall of the family is in Narumi Castle!" Everyone else thinks that the palace of the governor is in the narrow room of the barrel! In Minghai City before, the Governor's Hall also sent someone to send a message, asking us to continue to keep it secret and not to reveal our whereabouts. So except for a few people from the Okabe family, a few people from our Asahina family, all the other family heads, important ministers, samurai, and ashigaru all thought that the main hall of the family governor was in the barrel room! I don't know it's just the Shadow Warrior in the narrow room! ”

Yu Qiuping only felt a burst of tightness in his chest, and a fishy sweet taste in his throat, and before he could react, a mouthful of blood flowed out of his mouth and dripped onto the pure white mane of the pipa.

I... How did you forget this! All the plans I made before were made from my perspective! Most of the people in the army don't know that the Shadow Warrior has died in place! I didn't know that Imagawa Yoshimoto was still staying in Narumi Castle in a dignified manner! How did I forget, let the Governor's Hall reveal his identity early!

What happened next... There is no suspense.

The blood flowed out one after another, mixed with the tears that Yu Qiuping kept shed, and it fell on the back of the pipa.

"Damn! My eldest brother hurriedly sent someone to tell the troops of his family that it was the Shadow Warrior! The palace of the governor is still in Narumi City! Although our troops were stabilized, when the other wealthy people saw that head, they were suddenly in chaos, and the whole army was in chaos! Everyone thought that the palace of the family governor had been taken, and more than 10,000 of the team in the narrow room of the barrel had been wiped out! Everyone doesn't know what is wrong, and it's a mess! As he spoke, he cried out angrily: "The Oda family immediately attacked, and the morale of our side collapsed, and we were defeated and retreated!" ”

"Originally, relying on the large number of people, there was still room for redemption, but who would have thought, but! Damn! Asahina Taehyung spat the ground, "That grandson of Okabe Motonobu, seeing that the situation was not good, didn't say a word, set fire to the castle tower, and fled with people from the south gate of Narumi Castle to abandon the castle!" The hundreds of soldiers of the Oda family outside the north gate immediately entered Narumi Castle. ”

"What did you say, nephew? His Royal Highness Okabe burned the castle tower of Narumi Castle, and then abandoned the castle and fled! Sena shouted in disbelief, "How is that possible!" His Royal Highness Okabe, he should have learned all the plans from Young Prince Okabe! Knowing that it was the Shadow Warrior who died, how could he abandon the city and escape! Not to mention burning down the castle tower! ”

"According to His Royal Highness Okabe's temperament, even if His Royal Highness the Governor is really killed, he will definitely stick to the city and exchange for the head of His Royal Highness the Governor!" Yu Qiuping roared loudly, and blood gushed out of his mouth more and more violently.

"I don't know what he thinks!" Chao Bina Taehyung raised his head to the sky and shouted, "As soon as he ran, the whole army immediately became a mess, completely chaotic!" It's gone! ”

"The eldest brother wanted to send a herald to tell the other families the truth, but because the troops were in chaos, they couldn't find a few family heads. Without saying a word, the people of the Jing Yi family also ran south with their troops. When he ran, the entire formation collapsed! The whole army thought that the palace of the governor was dead, the team was completely wiped out, and His Royal Highness Okabe had fled. Not a single one turned around to resist, and they all ran away with their lives! More than 8,000 people, all collapsed before they could fight! Those who ran fast ran around Narumi Castle to the south, and the others could only crowd out of the woods, trying to squeeze into the woods. They were caught up by the Oda family and hacked to death, many, many people! None of the Oda family were left alive, and even those who surrendered were killed with a single sword! ”

Although he knew that the result would be like this, hearing this with his own ears, Yu Qiuping still felt a pang of cramping in his heart.

It's all my mistakes, it's all my miscalculations! If we had been able to disobey the order and continue the attack, if I had thought earlier that the Oda family might use the head of the Shadow Warrior to calculate the family's troops, if I could have made the Asahina family and the Okabe family reveal the whereabouts of His Royal Highness the Governor earlier...

This will not be the case.

"Our troops of the Asahina family happened to be in the center of the military formation, and the losses were not small, and they were carried away to the south by the rout, and they had no power to return to Narumi City to find the palace of the Governor." Shaking his head at Hina, he said, "The Oda family chased after a while and left, and the army all entered Narumi Castle. We were weak, and there were only more than 2,000 people left, so we had to stay here in Nakajima. I just met you. ”

After Asahina Taehyung stopped talking, the scene suddenly became very quiet, no one spoke, and no one knew what to say.

Since the Imagawa family became a family, it has been an unprecedented fiasco. Decades of accumulation came to naught, and Shangluo's dream was dashed.

For a long time, Sena Shijun, who had been thinking for a long time, said slowly.

"In this way, it is very likely that the Governor's Hall has evacuated with His Royal Highness Okabe." Sena Shijun said in a low voice, "The main hall may feel that after falling for the "false rumor" scheme, the situation is no longer out of control, the army will definitely collapse, and Narumi Castle will not be able to hold it. Instead of giving it to the Oda family, it is better to burn it with a fire. Then His Royal Highness and Okabe evacuated. Sena Shijun analyzed: "And most of the people killed by the Oda family were Ashigaru of the outer daimyo. This in turn can be used as an opportunity to weaken the strength of the Daimyo of the Outer Kind of Daimyo and thus strengthen the control of the family. ”

"Uncle is right, I guess that's it." He nodded at Bina Taehyung and agreed, "How about asking my uncle to take the army to Nakajima first, meet us, and then discuss?" ”

"Then hurry up." Sena Shijun sighed, and took one last look at the corpses lying all over the battlefield, "After the whole army is reorganized, let's collect the bones again." ”

However, as soon as the army arrived at the outskirts of Nakajima, and Asahinai Taichao had just come out to greet him personally, he saw several heralds on horseback running from the southwest. Looking at the flag, it seems to be someone from the Okabe family.

Before Asahina Tai and Sena Toshi could send someone to inquire, the heralds on horseback shouted loudly from afar.

"Your Highness Asahina! Is the Governor's Hall with you? ”