"Haha, my lord's hospitality is also the reason why Miyagi Castle is thriving." Yu Qiuping smiled, and Imamiya Leding also laughed.

"Eh, eh," Imamiya Leding suddenly lowered his voice, "What trouble did you encounter on the way to the boss this time?" ”

Yu Qiuping's eyelids jumped and prevaricated, "It's not troublesome, it's just a little strange, and it feels like the atmosphere is not the same." ”

"Sure enough, the road hasn't been smooth lately." Imamiya Leding sighed, "I started a month or two ago, and I heard that many heralds were intercepted and killed. There are also several villages to the east that have been washed in blood. These days, even caravans and pedestrians don't seem to dare to come. ”

"Don't hide it from the boss," Imamiya Leding leaned over to Yu Qiuping's side and whispered, "The boss is still the first time I've seen someone from the other side of Suruga in the past two days, and it's all Sagami and Kai people going to Suruga these days." ”

"Someone came to Suruga through Imamiya?" Yu Qiuping was taken aback, "On the way to the grass people, I didn't see anyone." ”

"What?" Imamiya Le Ding was also taken aback, "Where have all the people who have gone west from Imamiya in the past few days?" ”

Yu Qiuping and Imamiya Leding looked at each other quickly, and both fell into deep thought.

Aren't they all intercepted and killed?

"Speaking of which, my lord, on my way here today, I saw that all the villages were almost empty, do you know where they went?" Yu Qiuping asked again.

"I know that." Imamiya Leding smiled, "The common people heard that it has not been peaceful here recently, and there is a group of people robbing the village everywhere, so they all take advantage of the slack time to hide. Imamiya Le Ding patted his chest as he spoke, "There are several villages hiding in my city for people who have come to take refuge." The rest of them are probably hiding in other wealthy families. ”

"Is that so...," Yu Qiuping sighed, "Is it already dangerous to this extent here?" ”

"If the hundreds of people passing by my territory are intercepted and killed," Imamiya Leding's round face was also full of dark clouds, "It's really dangerous, I guess there is a big gang of bandits." ”

Yu Qiuping was stunned for a moment, and suddenly began to suspect Imamiya Leding. How could he think it was a big gang of bandits? It is normal for bandit gangs to ransack villages and rob pedestrians and merchants, but how can they intercept and kill messengers? It should be the Takeda family or the Hojo family behind their backs.

Is he tempting me? Do I know about temptation?

"Yes, I guess there is a bandit." Yu Qiuping replied casually, and looked at the subordinates behind him, "But the grass people didn't invite many guards when they set off, if they meet them, wouldn't it be more auspicious." ”

"If the boss doesn't dislike it, why don't you rest in the lower territory for a few more days," Imamiya Rakuding invited, "Wait until the rumors have passed, or the Imagawa family, the Hojo family, or the Takeda family will send troops over to clear the bandits before leaving?" ”

"That's embarrassing." Yu Qiuping instinctively excused himself, "Wouldn't that be a long time to trouble adults." ”

"How can you call it trouble!" Imamiya Leding blamed, "What is there to be polite about helping the villagers of Suruga?" Besides, this is still a life-threatening matter, but it can't be sloppy. Even the herald samurai were intercepted and killed, how did your caravan survive, boss? ”

Seeing that Yu Qiuping was a little hesitant, Imamiya Leding persuaded again: "Anyway, the trouble is not bad for the boss." There are already hundreds of people living here in Imamiyagi, and the food storage is enough, don't worry, boss. ”

Yu Qiuping privately weighed not these things. If Imamiya Leding also participated in this interception operation, as a wealthy family inclined to the Imagawa family, it is impossible for the Imagawa family not to get a little rumor, right? Since Sena Shijun also told Yu Qiuping that the strength of this wealthy family can be relied on, it must be that there is no problem with the latter.

Besides, he can only gather more than 200 ashigaru in total, and there are probably only 100 soldiers, and his own samurai elite should not be powerless to fight back.

If you don't fix it here, wouldn't it be even more troublesome to meet the person behind the scenes in the wild? Moreover, if the herald this afternoon really came to spy on the sneak attack, he could still accurately report his name, indicating that his actions had been exposed to the black hand. If there is no city to hide, the whole army will be in danger.

After much deliberation, Akihei accepted Imanomiya's invitation and set up a small camp in the northwest corner of the castle town as a temporary resting place. After settling down, Yu Qiuping followed Imamiya Leding to look at his Imamiya Castle, and waited for dinner to be ready. Today, Miyagi Castle is built on a mountain, and the castle town spreads from the mountainside to the plain. Further afield, there are more than a dozen villages belonging to the Imamiya family. Following Imamiya's timing, Yu Qiupei has been taking Honda Nabenosuke and Yoshioka Katsumasa, the two people with the best force, and kept an eye on the unexpected. After all, a lot of the information that Yu Qiuping has obtained now is just one side of the word of Imamiya Le Ding—such as the hundreds of people who passed through his territory but were missing. After Yu Qiuping reported this situation to the whole army, everyone's hearts were clouded with suspicion.

A little higher up in the present-day Miyagi Castle, you can see a large area of tent smoke curling, presumably the people who have temporarily come to take refuge. According to Imanomiya Leding, his Imanomiya Castle is the only way up the mountain, so he can protect these people.

"These people are frightened, and I don't bother them too much." Imamiya said, "Every day they send more than a dozen people down to transport the food necessary for life, and I don't send people up very much. ”

"The fields down there, they're all over there." Imamiya smiled and pointed to the west side of the foothills. The sky was already a little dark, but Yu Qiuping could still make out the crops all over the ground after the setting sun. And of his more than 3,000 people, those who lived in the castle town of present-day Miyagi would cultivate in the vicinity.

"It's amazing that adults still have the heart to look at the crops." Yu Qiuping said tentatively, "Aren't you worried about that gang of bandits at all?" They've killed hundreds of people. They killed Imamiya Castle, what are you going to do? ”

The smile on Imanomiya Leding's face froze, stunned for a moment, and sighed.

"I'm worried about what else to do, if you can beat it, you can fight, if you can't beat it, let's see if you can spare your life." Imamiya Le Ding shook his head helplessly, "It's not as good as the boss in the next place, and he walks in all directions." The whole family is here, and the family business of the ancestors is here, so it is impossible to leave. He turned sideways slightly and looked southwest, "I just hope that the Imagawa family will send someone to figure things out as soon as possible, and return Fuji County and Jundong County to a peaceful place." ”

"There is such a big thing, and the heralds are all killed, and it is impossible for those governors to sit idly by." Imamiya Leding comforted Yu Qiuping, "I will definitely send someone, the boss will just wait for them to come." ”

Yu Qiuping sighed, he himself was the one who was sent, but at this moment, he couldn't protect himself. Since that strange forest and the herald incident, Yu Qiuping is now worried that there will be another crisis. It's as if those black hands will suddenly come out at any moment.

At this moment, a small fire suddenly appeared on the path between Mt. Aitaka and Mt. Fuji to the northeast of Imamiya. It wasn't until the firelight got a little closer that Yu Qiuping could see clearly that it was dozens of people walking towards this side with torches.

"The direction of Kai." Yu Qiuping muttered.

Imamiya Le Ding suddenly became nervous, and said goodbye to Yu Qiuping, so he hurriedly organized people to guard the way up the mountain. The road up the mountain in Miyagi is facing the southwest, and if this group wants to attack, they must first go around from the northeast and go around to the southwest before attacking, and there is still plenty of time.

It wasn't until the group got closer that Yu Qiuping noticed that they were also dressed as caravans, pushing ten carts covered with tarpaulin. At the forefront were a teenager and a big man.

"Who's coming?" Imamiya Leding personally went to the edge of the cliff in the northwest and asked condescendingly.

"We are the merchants of Kai!" The boy replied, "All the villages along the way are empty, and we can't find a place to rest. I saw that there was cooking smoke here, so I looked for it. ”

Imamiya Leding seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and shouted again, "What? Are the villages over there empty? ”

"Yes." This time it was the strong man's turn to shout, "No one can see along the way." I wonder if you can find a place for us to rest! ”

Imamiya Leding hesitated for a moment and set his eyes on Yu Qiuping.

Yu Qiuping looked at the caravan below that also had more than fifty people, and he also came over at this point in time, and a thought flashed in his heart.

"I won't tell you for now, preconceived impressions may affect your judgment," Imagawa Yoshimoto said, "After all, it is very likely that you will encounter the reconnaissance forces of the Takeda family and the Hojo family, and your mission is to find out." If I tell you my guess now, you'll have a tendency to communicate with them. ”

"Will they all come as merchants, too?" Yu Qiuping asked.

"I guess so." Imagawa Yoshimoto nodded, "After all, if the official investigation force encounters an accident, it will be difficult for the master to convince the public if he does not react, and the alliance may be forced to break down." And even if this kind of informal team encounters problems, they can hide them and not report them. ”

Could it be the reconnaissance unit of the Takeda family?

If the Takeda family is behind this, will it be against us for these people to come in?

Yu Qiuping swallowed.

It shouldn't be, I also have fifty people, plus more than two hundred people in Imanomiya Leding, I won't be able to beat them, right?

Moreover, the main hall asked me to come here, not so much to let me have more contact with the people behind the scenes, and investigate and investigate. If you turn away the Takeda family for fear of danger, wouldn't that be the opposite of your goal?

After making up his mind, Yu Qiuping said: "My lord, I think they should also be caravans, let them in." There is a lot of strength in numbers, and when the time comes, there will really be bandits to kill us, and we are not afraid. ”

"Then listen to Boss Saburo." Imamiya smiled with relief. Hospitable, he had intended to entertain these people. Asking Yu Qiuping is just for peace of mind.

The caravan from Kai, after arriving at the cottage, set up camp in the southwest of present-day Miyagi. After settling in, it's time for dinner. Imamiya invited Yu Qiuhei and the leader of the caravan to dinner in the Imamiya Castle Castle Tower.

"I don't know what this boss is called?" Imamiya asked the two people who came from Kai.

"Kusamin Taro, this is the third brother of the family." The strong man who called himself Taro patted the young man next to him.

"Coincidentally," Imamiya laughed, "Our merchant from Suruga is also called Saburo!" ”

Yu Qiuping and the young man looked at each other and smiled slightly.

"I don't know if this boss San Lang is older than me?" The boy laughed.

"Haha, you don't need to ask to know that I'm older than you." Yu Qiuping ate this time, bringing Honda Nabenosuke, he pointed to the Nabenosuke beside him, "You guess you're about the same age as my guy." ”

"That's not necessarily, people can't be deceitful." The boy smiled, "At 13 this year, I don't know how old you are." ”

"Haha, I'll just say," Yu Qiuping smiled, "I'm 18 years old this year." This little squire is also 13 this year, the same age as you. ”

"San Lang, don't play around all day." Taro reprimanded in a low voice, "Don't make amends to the boss yet." ”

"Haha, where is there anything to make amends," Imamiya Le Ding played the round, "One of you is from Kai, the other is from Suruga, and it is a great fate to meet once!" He raised his glass as he spoke, "Cheers!" ”

After drinking the wine in the cup, Yu Qiuping glanced at the San Lang again and smiled slightly.

"Boss Taro, I don't know which one is older, you or me?" Yu Qiuping asked. Saburo's eyelids jumped, and he wanted to say something, but he didn't have a good time to speak.

"I'm a lot older than Boss Saburo, I'm 22 years old this year." Taro said, "Boss, you are so young, you must have taken over Ling Zun's business." ”

"Uh-huh." Yu Qiuping prevaricated casually, but calculated quickly in his mind.

He has a talent for remembering historical years, and he is also deeply impressed by the birth age of famous military generals. He was particularly interested in the male lead because of the game "Warring States Warriors". I went to learn about the life of the latter, and also took a look at the birth age of his relatives. Later, when he was playing the "Nobunaga's Ambition" series of games, because the statistics of this family were very high, he would often count on his fingers when they could join his subordinates.

I don't know if it's a coincidence or what, the ages of these two people just match

One is the third brother and the other is the eldest brother? People from the Takeda family.

The corners of Yu Qiuping's mouth curled slightly, and he already had a plan in his heart.

After eating, Yu Qiuping asked Honda Nabenosuke to quietly go back to the camp and take a dozen people to the west gate of Imagi Castle. In order to facilitate the entry and exit of Yuqiuping, the city gate of the West Gate has not been closed. And he himself, after waiting for Imamiya Rakuding to return to his residence, went to find the boss of Taro, who had just left the city and had not yet returned to his camp.

"Boss, I heard that it's not been peaceful here lately." Yu Qiuping accosted, "What do I know here about the bandits who intercepted and killed the caravan and the residents, can you take a step to speak?" He looked at the guys in Taro's boss's camp and whispered to Taro, saying that he didn't want too many people to know about it.

Boss Taro didn't wait to speak, but Saburo was happy, "It's a coincidence." We know something here, too. As he spoke, he motioned for his eldest brother to come with him. Yu Qiuping and them exchanged information about how many merchants were missing, and walked towards the west gate. He led them into the west gate, and when he saw Naoe Tadahei nodding quickly at him in the corner, he knew that his subordinates were all in place.

"Boss, we might as well be honest." Yu Qiuping suddenly turned around, took two steps back, and kept a certain distance from the two Kai people. Then he stomped his feet with a smile, and a dozen of his subordinates who were in ambush around him immediately came out of the back of the house and in the alley. They surrounded the two of them near the west gate. Several Imagu people around the city gate were frightened by this formation for a while, and they hurriedly ran away.

Taro and Saburo were stunned for a moment, but their expressions were not too panicked, but they all held their knife handles.

"What does Boss Saburo mean?" The brawny man asked.

"What else can you mean?" Yu Qiuping smiled confidently, this was the first time he had used the knowledge of the traverser to calculate others, "Lord Sanada Shinzuna, and Lord Sanada Masayuki?" ”