In the early morning of June 20, Yuakihei was established in the shogunate east of Inmajo. An envoy sent by Okabe Motonobu was kneeling in front of Yu Qiuhei at the moment, surrounded by all the high-ranking officers of the Tokiwa Army.

"His Royal Highness Yuqiu." The envoy first lowered his posture and said softly: "I have come here on the orders of the head of the family, and I have something to ask for. ”

"Are you finally going to surrender?" Before Yu Qiuping could speak, Mizenzaki Nakahide beside him preemptively sneered, "Okabe Motonobu, this traitor, thinks that surrendering can save him from death?" There are no doors! It is not an exaggeration to kill the palace of the family governor, and the whole door is beheaded! ”

"Zhongxiu!" Yu Qiuping rebuked, and at the same time turned his gaze to the messenger. What surprised him a little was that although this messenger looked pale, he did not say anything to refute it—in this era of humiliation and death, hearing others scold their lord like this, he should not be so silent anyway.

Could it be that the Okabe family has encountered some great difficulties that they have to make such compromises?

Sure enough, the envoy ignored Mizenzaki Nakahide, and said in a low voice: "To tell the truth, the food in the city is about to run out. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes lit up. Although everyone had guessed that there might be a shortage of food in Yinma City through careful work and observation, they never expected that it had reached the point where it could not be sustained. And the Okabe family actually took the initiative to make this information public, undoubtedly forcing themselves into a corner in the negotiations and losing a lot of bargaining chips.

Sanada Masayuki and Amano Keitoku glanced at each other and nodded. Both of them felt that the abnormal behavior of the Okabe family must have other plans.

Yu Qiuping looked at the messenger, waiting for his next step. However, his words came to an abrupt halt and did not continue for half a day. Yu Qiuping was a little stunned for a while, and blurted out: "So what? ”

"Your Highness...?" The messenger obviously didn't understand what Yu Qiuping was saying, and looked at him in some surprise, muttering the strange pronunciation in his mouth.

"I mean..."Yu Qiuping scratched his head a little embarrassed, "What is the purpose of His Highness Okabe asking Your Excellency to come over and talk about this?" ”

"That's right," the envoy said with some difficulty, it seemed that his hesitation and pause just now was due to the fact that the next words were a little difficult to speak, "His Highness Okabe is unwilling to surrender, and will hold out to the end. It's just that the food is no longer enough to supply the people of the city, and the people can no longer eat. Therefore, I hope that all the people in the city will be sent out of the city today, and His Royal Highness Yuqiu will give relief, and I hope that His Royal Highness Yuqiu will agree. ”

As soon as the words fell, there was an uproar in the shogunate. Mimasaki Nakahide, Yoshioka Katsumasa, and Kobayakawa Yachisuke are noisy and shouting something, "Idiots talk about dreams; Ogawa Yudong was leaning his neck to drink, and all of a sudden he laughed and vomited; Even the always serious Fukushima Yasunari, Honda Tadakatsu and the Water Atom Sutra all have strange faces; Charlie seems to suspect that he has misheard the messenger's words and is asking Naoe for an interpreter. Amano Keide still had a gloomy face, as if he wanted to guess the ghost idea in the heart of this messenger. No one noticed that Yu Qiuping's expression flashed, and a trace of unbearability flashed in his eyes.

"What is the point of your Excellency bringing up something that you know is impossible?" Sanada Masayuki opened his mouth and asked, "Our whole army is besieging the city and not attacking it, just to wait for you to surrender or break through the siege when you run out of food. Now that you have finally run out of food, will we still let you send the hungry people out, and then save food to continue to resist? ”

"That is, are you honest people like my eldest brother?" The water atom level teased, and when everyone heard this, they all laughed at the water atom scripture, not seriously considering the messenger's words at all.

However, when the envoy saw such a situation, he did not act too flustered or embarrassed, but silently looked at the only person here who spoke and counted—Yu Qiuping. The latter is visibly lost in thought.

"If His Royal Highness Yuqiu refuses my family governor's request, the family governor can only express deep regret." The envoy added in a low voice, "However, the governor will never surrender, but will use means to resist to the end." ”

"Means? What means? Yu Qiuping's eyelids jumped, and he looked at the messenger a little nervously. He was now terrified that the messenger would give him that answer—the answer he absolutely did not want to hear.

"If there's really no way... My governor won't refuse those... Something that I don't want to see in peacetime. The messenger whispered with a gloomy face.

"Do you mean cannibalism?" Yu Qiuping shouted urgently. The messenger answered his question with silence.

More than 6,000 people... That's more than 6,000 people. Yu Qiuping had read many cruel historical materials about the soldiers defending the city who were forced to eat people, among which the paragraph where Zhang patrolled Suiyang made it difficult for him to calm down for a long time after reading it. And now, more than 6,000 living beings in front of us are about to suffer the same fate. A family that was originally happy may have to choose one person every day to be eaten by everyone. The food eaten is all bloody human flesh. How desperate and cruel should those who were put to death be before they died? As soon as he thought of this, Yu Qiuping's emotions were a little uncontrollable.

"Those are innocent people! His Royal Highness Okabe! Okabe Motonobu, this traitor, can really do it? Yu Qiuping roared a little out of shape, "You guys will go to hell like this!" ”

"My family governor doesn't want to see such a thing, so I want to ask His Highness Yuqiu to accept these people." After seeing that Yu Qiuping was a little excited, the envoy gradually gained the upper hand and made a request without being humble or arrogant.

After Tianye Jingde noticed that there was something wrong with the situation, he immediately interrupted before Yu Qiuping, who was blind-eyed, could speak: "Whether to eat the people or not is your business, what does it have to do with my Royal Highness?" This is not the responsibility of my Highness. ”

"That's right! If you don't want to see such a thing, come out and surrender! Anyway, you won't be able to hold out for long if you don't surrender! Why should my royal highness go down to accept the people! Naoe Tadahei added knowingly.

However, the envoy just shook his head silently, "The head of my family has no intention of forcing His Highness Yuqiu. It's just to tell His Highness Yuqiu this fact, and he doesn't mean anything else. ”

"If you don't mean anything else, just get out!" Mimasaki Nakahide scolded, "What are you doing here without meaning anything else?" My Highness doesn't need to know this! ”

"In that case, I will take my leave." The envoy actually knelt down and saluted, "I have heard for a long time that His Royal Highness Yuqiu is benevolent and righteous, and it is nothing more than that, and he actually did not save six thousand people to death in order to besiege the city." ”

"Wait a minute! I agree! Yu Qiuping, who had been silent, suddenly shouted, and the messenger turned his head with a smug smile on the corner of his mouth.

"Don't laugh there!" Yu Qiuping felt that his mood was very bad, and shouted: "I didn't tell you to stop because of your last sentence!" I'm not like a traitor who is not as good as your beast! I care about the lives of more than 6,000 people! ”

"Your Highness!" Tianye Jingde was taken aback, and came to Yu Qiuping's side and lowered his voice: "Don't be kind to women!" ”

"That's more than 6,000 innocent people! Can't you just watch them get eaten? Yu Qiuping deliberately raised his voice and retorted.

"The Okabe family doesn't have much food in the first place, and even if they send the people out, it will only be for less than ten days." Yu Qiuping shook his head resolutely, "We are not bad these days!" ”

"How can it not be bad, Your Highness!" Amano's tone, which had always been calm and unfazed, also changed his tone a little, "Asahina and His Royal Highness Sena have gone to Sunfu to ask for mediation, and the order to order the two armies to stop the private fight may come down soon!" If Inima Castle has been captured, there will be no day for the Okabe family to turn over! If Yinma City hadn't fallen, it would probably have fought against us later! ”

"Didn't you listen to those brutes!" Yu Qiuping said loudly: "They plan to eat human flesh and hold on!" Even if we don't accept the people, we won't be able to take the city of Yinma! ”

"Your Highness! That's not true! Sanada Masayuki also spoke out and said, "If Okabe Motonobu starts eating people, those people who are already extremely dissatisfied with him will definitely rise up and resist!" When the time comes, we will take the opportunity to attack the city, and we will definitely take the whole city without paying many casualties! As soon as Sanada Masayuki spoke, the face of the messenger of the Okabe family changed greatly. Obviously, this is the case. Everyone also roared together to denounce the evil deeds of the Okabe family.

"Man eats man? Let the people rise up against the Okabe family again? Yu Qiuping shook his head and said sharply, "How many innocent people will die then!" They didn't have to die! Besides, in the end, His Royal Highness Shou Guini and the young master will also find out that the Okabe family is the traitor who killed His Royal Highness the Governor! Whether they surrender or not, it will be difficult to escape sanctions in the end! What are you anxious about! ”

"Your Highness hasn't discussed it with the other Highnesses yet! It's too hasty! Tianye Jingde was also a little anxious for a while, and shouted in a deep voice.

"I'll convince them! When the time comes, I will take in the refugees myself, and I will not trouble them! Yu Qiuping retorted.

"Most of you have lived a hard life before!" Yu Qiuping glanced around at the slave-born officers and the hard-born samurai such as Honda Tadakatsu and Naoe Tadahei, "Don't you understand how pitiful those who are trapped in the city now have enough to eat? Are you pushing them to their deaths just to win ten days early? ”

The shogunate suddenly fell silent, and Yoshioka Katsumasa and Mimaezaki Nakahide, who had been shouting fiercely just now, were also silent for a while. Everyone recalled the days when they couldn't eat enough in the past, looked at each other, and no one spoke out against it. Sanada Masayuki and Amano Keide were stunned for a moment, looking at Yu Qiuping, who already had tears flashing in the corners of their eyes, they couldn't help but sigh and didn't say anything more.

"His Highness's actions are a good example of the knight's demeanor." It was Charlie's words that broke the silence, "I agree with your approach!" When everyone heard this, they all nodded silently.

"No opinions, right?" Yu Qiuping quietly wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and said in a low voice, "Go back and report to Okabe Motoshin!" I told him that I agreed to his request. Let him send someone out again to discuss the specific plan. ”

After the envoy left, Yu Qiuping sent everyone away and was quiet by himself. Sanada Masayuki and Amano Keitori walked out of the shogunate side by side, standing next to the gate, both silent.

After a while, Sanada Masayuki sighed and said with a smile, "Your Highness's kindness... Admirable. ”

"It's just... Nothing can be done with kindness. Amano Jingde shook his head, "His Highness's kindness has been rewarded several times before. But I think that Your Highness will suffer a big loss in this sooner or later. ”