By the time everyone hurried back to the village on the plain west of Aiying Mountain, there were already many left-behind Ashigaru and villagers desperately fighting the fire. However, seeing the degree of burning of several granaries, it is estimated that it will not save much. Imamiya Leding's eyes were red, and he rushed into the fire as if he was dying, picked up a shovel and began to frantically shovel the soil to extinguish the fire. The three families of Ashigaru also immediately went up to help. It wasn't until the sun went down that the fires in the various warehouses were extinguished. And there is not much grain left in the warehouse, which may not be enough for the Imamiya family to last until the autumn harvest, and many people's homes have also been affected.

The Imanomiya family has been frugal for many years, and the stored grain and harvest have been destroyed.

"What the hell is going on!" Imamiya Ryding roared and looked for his warehouse to stay, "What about Anji! ”

"Big... My lord! An ashigaru said with a little trembling, "After he left behind to put out the fire, he said that he would take on the responsibility of a samurai and cut his stomach." ”

The news of the death of his confidant who had followed him for many years was like a downpour, extinguishing the anger in Imamiya's heart. He let out a long sigh and sat down against a wall, his left hand on his forehead.

"Tell me, what the hell is going on?" Imamiya asked.

"My lord, I don't know if I'm here." The ashigaru shook his head blankly, "My lord, when you went southwest, there was nothing to do. Just as you had been walking northeast for a while, several warehouses suddenly caught fire, and the guards were killed with their throats cut. ”

"The fire-fighting man also smashed the cables and edges of the wells around them, and locked the doors, so that the brothers delayed the time to extinguish the fire!"

"Didn't you notice the gang intruding before?" Yu Qiuping asked.

Several ashigaru shook their heads.

"It's very likely that the group of people who brought the bodies here before didn't leave at all." Sanada Masayuki suddenly realized, "I took advantage of the chaos to hide, and then came out and set fire!" ”

"Damn it!" Imamiya Le Ding scolded angrily, "I was so bent on going to see where my brother was killed just now, I didn't even think to search it!" In the past few years, they have all done it in vain! As if he had lost all his strength, he collapsed on the wall, babbling and muttering, "A harvest of several years." ”

"My lord, please mourn." Yu Qiuping sighed, squatted down, and patted Imamiya Leding on the shoulder, "My lord, for these crises encountered by the Imagawa family, I will definitely report to the Governor's Hall when I go back next time and compensate my lord for your losses!" ”

"Grain, warehouse, compensation, but how should my brother compensate?" Imamiya Le Ding sighed, his tone was full of desolation, "My fourth brother, my father loved me very much when he was alive and asked me to take good care of it. The second brother and the third brother were all sent out by their father to go for a walk, and he was the only one who stayed by his side, who would have wanted to encounter such a thing..."Imamiya Leding, a big man, shed tears, "How should I face my father in the future..."

After being stunned for a long time, Imamiya Le Ding suddenly got up and solemnly looked at Yu Qiuping like this. Yu Qiuping was stunned for a long time, and then got up. I only heard Imamiya Le Ding say in a low voice: "Lord Yuqiu, if you fight for this life, you must also catch who the murderer is!" After that, he angrily walked towards Sanada Masayuki and Miwa Shixu, and scolded loudly: "Among the two of you, I finally let me find out who is the murderer, Lao Tzu picked your skin and let you pay for your life!" Hospitable for a lifetime, in exchange for this kind of thing, it's really unlucky! ”

With that, he turned and left. Sanada Masayuki and Miwa Shisuo glanced at each other, their eyes full of suspicion.

"Imamiya-sama stays!" Seeing that Imanomiya Le Ding had gone away, he hurriedly shouted, "I don't know if I can go up the mountain and camp in the next place!" ”

"Pierce your mother!" Imamiya Le Ding scolded back unceremoniously, "If it weren't for the lack of evidence, I was afraid of delaying the affairs of the Imagawa family, Lao Tzu would have taken you down now!" The sachet is also yours, and the forbearance is also yours, most of which is the good work done by your group of Kanto grandsons! ”

"You!" The Yu and clan continued to be angry, and was about to rush up to theorize, but the two ashigaru hurriedly grabbed him. "My lord, if you can't do it, let's camp at the foot of this mountain." An ashigaru said, "Tomorrow, we will go to investigate, find out the real culprit, and return our Hojo family to innocence!" The Hojo family had no choice but to camp on the edge of the castle town at the foot of the mountain.

Due to the burning of the granary, the residents' food rations also suffered a crisis, and the food and grass of Imamiya Rakuding became overstretched. In the evening, when the villagers who had taken refuge on the mountain sent people down to ask for food, Imamiya Leding endured the pain and squeezed out the little food left, and the rest of the food was only enough for Yu Qiuping and Imamiya Renting's subordinates to eat for two days. The Takeda family was even more overstretched, and although they had brought some food themselves, there was not much left. They spent a lot of money to buy a little grain from Imanomiya Leding to go back, ensuring that the troops could have a day's and a half surplus food.

And the Hojo family, as the key object of suspicion, failed to buy a bucket of grain from Imamiya Rakuding. They had just arrived, and the grain they brought with them, together with the grain they bought little by little from the peasants, was enough for them to sustain them for two days.

Two days, two days must be cleared, otherwise the three investigation teams in a state of complete isolation from the outside world will be wiped out due to food shortages or enemy attacks.

What's more subtle is that the real murderer is one of the three.

On the evening of May 7, on the fifth floor of the Sunpu Castle Castle Tower, in the office of Yoshimoto Imagawa.

Kaede Imagawa, who had not seen the figure of Yuakihira for several days, frequently walked around the castle tower, but still found nothing. Will he not want to come to see me anymore? Forgot about me?

Just now, she happened to see Sena Shijun hurriedly walking into Imagawa Yoshimoto's office, so she curiously approached the door. Although a few small surnames are responsible for not letting others listen to the conversation of the family governor, they can't say anything when they see that it is Her Royal Highness the princess.

"The main hall, the situation seems to be a little bad." Sena Shijun said in a low voice, "According to the style of Momiji's child, if there is any information or problem, I will definitely send a herald back to report to you as soon as possible, but it has been two days, and there is no news." ”

"Our men tried to get there yesterday and found that the bridges of the three or four rivers along the way had all been destroyed, and there were still signs of ninja activity, and it was impossible to get any closer." Sena Shitoshi looked a little anxious, "In the evening, someone saw that there was smoke rising in the Imamiya area, as if something was being burned. ”

Imagawa Yoshimoto's house was filled with a new collection of scrolls hanging on the walls around him, and while listening to Sena's report, he admired a landscape painting and the inscription on it, and the faint incense of the Chidori incense burner made him very useful.

"The Great Hall." Sena Shijun saw that Imagawa Yoshimoto was still not very concerned, and said hurriedly: "Do you want to send a receiving force?" ”

"No, you don't." Imagawa Yoshimoto shook his head very decisively, "It is precisely in such a desperate situation that Yuqiu has a better chance of grabbing the tail of the mastermind behind the scenes and analyzing who is the mastermind behind the scenes. If we send someone there, it might be self-defeating. ”

"That hall..."Sena Shijun wanted to persuade again, but Imagawa Yoshimoto smiled and waved his hand, "Don't worry, we still have ninjas over there to answer us." ”

"But those ninjas haven't heard from them yet, maybe..."Sena Shijun bowed his head.

"No more!" Imagawa Yoshimoto patted Sena Toshitoshi on the shoulder, "Didn't the Takeda family and the Hojo family send people, at least it's 2 to 1!" It's going to be fine, trust me, and trust the kid. ”

At this time, Imagawa Kaede outside the door was already panicked in his heart.

Before the sun sets, the checkpoints on the mountain road have been largely repaired. The path is about 20 meters wide, and there is a civil structure checkpoint with a high earthen wall and a gate made of an iron fence in the middle. The earthen wall has a tall battlement and a female wall, half a man high, with a firing port open inside. Behind the earthen wall, there are two watchtowers built against the mountain. Imamiya Leding was in charge of the checkpoint that night in order to prevent the Hojo family from making trouble at night, and he was ready to sleep there at night. Before leaving, he also sent his wife and daughter to Yuqiuping's camp, showing his determination to help the Imagawa family find the murderer no matter what.

On the mountainside, 200 people were stationed in Imamiya Castle, and Imamiya Leding took 100 elites to the level to defend. The Imagawa family and the Sanada family are still one on a cliff northwest of Joshita Town, and the other on a cliff southwest of Joshita Town. The Hojo family set up camp at the entrance to the mountaineering route.

At this time, the Imagawa family account.

"My lord, we can't delay it now, we only have two days of food left!" As soon as the evaluation meeting began, Yoshioka Katsumasa said hurriedly. "You have to find out the real murderer quickly, otherwise there will be nothing to eat!"

"I don't know which family burned the grain?" Mimasaki Nakahide sarcastically said, "Aren't the people in your own family hungry too?" ”

"My lord, I think we should start retreating." Naoe Zhongping hesitated for a moment and said, "Now we still have two days of surplus food, and the retreat is still guaranteed." But tomorrow night. We are running out of food. The enemy will know that we have to take action the day after tomorrow, and it will be very dangerous. ”

"After all, we are not sure that we will be able to catch the murderer in the remaining two days, and I am also in favor of retreating." "To be conservative, it's best to return with the information we've obtained." ”

"Can you really go back?" Tianye Jingde, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, he had just hastily buried his crow not long ago, "We now have a mountain castle to rely on for defense. How do I stay safe once I leave the base? ”

"You have a point." Yu Qiuping nodded, "The bridges on the way back have been demolished, although there are two rivers that are not very deep, and you can directly wade through." But the other two can only be crossed by swimming or rafting. He sighed, "Our troops can't get up quickly, and once they are discovered and caught up by the people who ambushed us, something will happen." ”

"Yes, it's not easy to retreat." Yasunari Fukushima agreed with Akihei Yu and Keitori Amano.

"Just—don't go!" Xiao Chuan Youdong, whose face was flushed with muffled drinking just now, suddenly said in a daze, "Let's just not die, anyway, don't they only have a day or two of food left, see who can consume whom!" ”

"Never die? But what do we gain by dying? You're drunk, aren't you? Mimasaki Nakahide scolded, "It's really consumed at that time, isn't it just that everyone is starving to death?" Kill people and cook meat to eat? What's the picture? ”

"What should I do then?"

For a while, everyone felt that their minds were in a mess, and they didn't know who was behind the scenes, nor what to do. But there were only two days left, and they couldn't afford to delay.

Yu Qiuping thought silently, but he had no clue, and he didn't know where to remember. Even if it's a categorical discussion, at least tell me what I'm asking for this question, right?

What to ask for... What's the picture?

yes, what the hell am I trying to do.

Yu Qiuping frowned and said: "I think we should first clarify what the purpose of our trip is, I think the reason why we are at a loss is because we have a misunderstanding of the purpose." ”

"We're not here to catch the murderer! We don't need to take risks and burn it out just to catch the murderer. Yu Qiuping said, "These murderers themselves are not from the Hojo family or the Takeda family. Even if we are caught, our family governor is a person who intends to maintain the alliance, and he will not use these murderers to hold the two families responsible. Yu Qiuping looked around, "We just need to understand who is doing the trick." ”

"Don't you understand this, nine times out of ten it's the Hojo family." Yoshioka shouted.

"No, it's better to be on the safe side." Yu Qiuping shook his head. As a time-traveler himself, he knows where history is headed. In 1568, the Takeda family tore up the alliance and invaded Suruga. However, because of Takeda's treachery and Takeda's betrayal, the Hojo family formed an alliance with the Echigo Uesugi family and started a war with the Takeda family. After that, he took in the fugitive Imagawa clan. Therefore, the object of Yu Qiuping's most suspicion is the Takeda family. But he couldn't say it explicitly. "Everyone has not much food left, there will definitely be a big move tomorrow, we will observe for another day, and then we don't need to catch the murderer, we will quickly evacuate and return with the known information. After returning to the Imagawa house, he asked the governor to hurry up and deliver the grain to Imanomiya. ”

"But tomorrow, we can't just sit and do nothing, let's go and investigate first." Yu Qiuping said, "Now it's too late to investigate the place where our heralds may have been ambushed, let's go directly to the place where the bridge is broken, on the one hand to see if there are any clues, on the other hand, to see where the water flow is slow and easy to cross the river, and prepare for the official retreat the day after tomorrow!" "After the purpose is clear,

"What about Imanomiya-sama? Imagya-sama is determined to find the murderer. Naoe Tadahei reminded.

"I'm going to persuade him there, it's best to let him take the people back to Suruga with us, after all, there is not much food." Yu Qiuping calculated, "Lord Imamiya is reasonable, not like a person who is too stubborn. I must have been too angry to do that. ”

"That's it, I'm going to convince Imanomiya-sama now, and by the way, ask the Takeda family what they are planning." Yu Qiuping said and got up, "Nabinosuke will go with me, and the others will stay here, rest well, and protect the family of Lord Imamiya." ”

Yu Qiuping went to the checkpoint, in order to persuade Imamiya Leding, but for some effort. His younger brother was killed, and several years of hard work were ruined, and he already hated the murderer. However, in the end, Yu Qiuping moved out of the interests of the Imagawa family, and Imamiya Leding still chose to follow the advice.

"Imamiya-sama is a good person, but I'm really causing you trouble this time." Yu Qiuping sighed, originally if he didn't come, Imamiya Le would not have suffered such a series of attacks.

"It's all for the sake of the Governor's Palace." Imamiya said firmly.

Yu Qiuhei later went to the camp of the Takeda family. I don't know if the latter is out of preparedness for rain and autumn, or for some other reason. They refused to tell Yu Qiuping what they were going to do tomorrow, but instead said that they planned to stay in the camp. Yu Qiuping had no choice but to leave.