"If you are really lucky enough to enter Zhili Castle, then please try to hold on to it. Holding on a little longer will be a great help to our Imagawa family. Before leaving, Sena Shijun instructed Yu Qiuping.

"My lord, as far as I know, the more than 200 people stationed in Zhili Castle are all slaves who have no freedom," Yu Qiuping looked at Sena Shitoshi, "I don't know if your Excellency can allow it, if we succeed in defending Zhili Castle for three days, we will pardon their crimes and let them become free people." ”

"I still have this permission," Sena nodded, "I'll do it to you." ”

"You three go get a suit of armor, you're in danger." Sena Shijun gave Yu Qiuping three people, and each of them gave a set of sufficient. This is already very valuable armor in Japan. Large and small iron nails hold the armor in place, providing considerable defense. When most of the ashigaru can only afford backward equipment such as bamboo hemp armor, cotton armor or leather armor, or weapons with low attack power such as iron-tipped spears, this set of equipment is enough to ensure that Yu Qiuping will at least not be killed by stray arrows.

At four o'clock, a group of ten people gathered at the west gate of Okazaki Castle and were ready to set off. Yu Qiuping finally checked the package, and the letters and autumn leaves inside were well preserved. Before leaving, Yu Qiuping handed Amano Jingde a dozen small scrolls of paper with different characters written on them.

"What is this?" Keitoku Amano asked.

"This is all the situations we may encounter, including whether the city is lost, whether there are any mother-clothed people blocking the road, etc.," Yu Qiuping explained, "At that time, it is very likely that the situation is critical, and there is no time to write on the spot, so I plan to sit down and prepare first to ensure that nothing goes wrong." ”

Tianye Jingde stared at Yu Qiuping for a while, nodded, and after browsing it, he took the dozen or so notes into his arms.

The group hurried up and soon arrived at the foot of Anxiang City.

"Now, plant the flag and go according to plan." Yu Qiuping smiled evilly. So, Yu Qiuping, Charlie, the pro-soldier, and the four of Amano Keitoku planted the flag of the Oda family on their backs. The other six people continued to plant the Imagawa family flag. There was still no expression on Amano's face, but the other cavalrymen who didn't have to change their banners muttered something about this is a shame for the samurai family or something.

"From now on, you will run after us, and we will pretend to be from the Oda family who are being pursued," Yu Qiuping arranged, "If you suddenly encounter someone from the Oda army, you can pretend to stop us, and then let us go, and we will take the opportunity to rush over." ”

"But Lord Yuqiu, your identity can't stand up to verification, and you don't even have a waist card. Once the interrogation is stopped, it will definitely be a solution. A follower said uncomfortably.

"It doesn't matter, it's going to be chaotic, we're riding again, and if they don't react at the first time, we'll be able to rush over and go all the way." Yu Qiuping tried hard to hide the nervousness in his heart with a confident smile, "Anyway, it's dangerous to be ambushed, so it's better to be like this." ”

The group then began to gallop on the 12-mile journey from Anxiang to Zhili. The fastest speed of Yuqiu and Ping's people can reach nearly 70 miles an hour, but this speed may not last long. However, a short distance of 12 miles can be completed in a quarter of an hour.

Every time the horse jumped forward, Yu Qiuping's mood became more and more delicate. It is not only one step closer to Zhili City, but also one step closer to danger. Half of the journey has passed, and the Oda family has not yet come out to intercept it. The six companions behind him still maintained a distance of about thirty meters, chasing after Yu Qiuping and the four of them.

"What's going on?" The cavalry of the Oda family, who was ambushed on a small hill on the edge of the official road, couldn't help but look at each other, and Hidetaka Kawajiri, who was the leader, looked at the four cavalrymen with papaya banners who fled on the official road. "I can't see those people clearly, but I'm not familiar with them anyway. Is it the one of the scarlet mothers? But you don't wear red armor, do you? Why didn't you say hello to us and go to the front to investigate, and you were discovered? ”

"My lord, then we are—" Yoritaka the bee house, who was standing aside, looked at Hidetaka Kawajiri.

"No matter. We were ordered to intercept and kill the Imagawa scouts, and no matter what, we couldn't let the six Imagawa troops behind us pass," Kawajiri Hidetaka drew his knife in his hand, "Follow me and kill the pursuers." ”

On the small hill on the other side of the official road, Naomasa was also confused. "Who are those people? The Black Mother's Cloth? The lord didn't order anyone to reconnoiter south today? Still being chased and beaten by the Imagawa family? ”

"My lord, don't worry about it so much," Maeda Toshiya raised his spear excitedly, "Friendly troops will help, and enemy troops will fight, how can it be so troublesome!" ”

After that, Maeda Toshiya grabbed the horse's belly and rushed out first without waiting for the order. Several other impulsive young people, Yoshiyuki Sawaki and Masasumi Asai also rushed down. Naomasa, who originally wanted to think about it, could only urge the other two dozen people to follow.

Yu Qiuping, who was galloping on the official road, suddenly found that more than 20 cavalrymen rushed out of each of the hills on both sides, and Yu Qiuping almost fell off his horse in panic. However, the two groups of cavalry went straight to the pursuers behind, which made Yu Qiuping breathe a sigh of relief. Yu Qiuping and the four of them then left in the dust, desperately urging the horses to leave. The six men behind immediately turned their horses around and ran towards the circuit. The horses of the Oda army chased after them a few times and failed to catch up, so they met again on the official road.

"Lord Yu, are those four of your people?" Hidetaka Kawajiri asked dissatisfiedly, "Why did you go south to investigate without permission against the lord's order!" The lord is still guarding against Narumi City in the narrow barrel, what should you do if you startle the snake like this, what should you do if something goes wrong! ”

"Huh?" Naomasa was stunned for a moment, "Aren't those four of Kawajiri-sama's subordinates?" I didn't send anyone to investigate! ”

"Nani!" The nearly fifty cavalry of the Oda family around them let out exclamations.

"Hey, don't you look at it, those four cavalrymen met us, and instead of stopping, they ran faster and faster!" Maeda Toshiya raised his spear and pointed in the direction where Yuqiu and the others fled.

"Tie him!" Hidetaka Kawajiri and Naomasa Katsuri glanced at each other, and immediately understood what was going on, "Fooled!" ”

"How can there be such a samurai? Even the flag is changed! Ryoyuki Sawaki roared indignantly, "This is a shame for the samurai! ”

By the time everyone in the Oda family realized that Yu Qiuping's identity was wrong, Yu Qiuping had already escaped two miles away. It is only four miles away from Zhili City. Yu Qiuping could already see the small black dot on the right side of the official road from a distance. However, just as Yu Qiuping was running for his life, a violent sound of horses' hooves sounded behind him.

"Later, if we find that Chiritsu Castle has fallen into the hands of the Oda family, we will quickly run to the right and hide in the mountains." Yu Qiuping hurried up his horse and pointed to the undulating hills on his right. At the same time, he easily pulled out the flag on his back. A few people next to him also did the same, and threw the Oda family's papaya pattern on the ground.

The distance between Yu Qiuping and his party and Zhili Castle is rapidly narrowing, but the distance between them and the Oda family is also shortening. The horses of the horses are far better than the horses of Yu Qiuping, and the exquisite riding skills of Maeda Toshiya and others are even more incomparable to Yu Qiuping. Amano Keide seems to be very good at riding, but in order to wait for the rain and autumn to peace, he also had to slow down his horse slightly.

The sound of horses' hooves that kept approaching and changing behind him seemed to be urging ghosts, which made Yu Qiuping and others worried, and kept looking back, only to see that about 600 meters behind, several horses could already be seen chasing after them. Fortunately, Yu Qiuping could already see the walls of Zhili City, and there must have been guards on the wall who saw him, and he must have been ready to open the door for a long time.

However, as he got closer and closer to the city wall, Yu Qiuping was surprised to find that although there were still two flags erected at the head of the city, the city wall was empty. The castle towns around the castle were also empty, and no one could see them.

"Open the door! We are the troops of the Imagawa family! Open the door! Yu Qiuping shouted loudly when he was still a hundred meters away from the city wall, but until he arrived at the city, there was still no response. Yu Qiuping knocked desperately on the door, and the sound of horses' hooves behind him was gradually approaching.

"No," Yu Qiuping glanced behind him, the dust raised by the horse's hooves was already a mile away, so he had to turn over and get on his horse again, "Let's go around the city wall!" ”

"Open the door!" "Open the door!" Yu Qiuping and his party, except for Amano Jingde, who doesn't like to talk very much, the other three people kept shouting around the city wall. Zhili Castle is a small city, and the length of the city wall is only about 100 meters, and it quickly goes around from the west gate to the north gate. At this time, a head finally poked out from the north gate, and it was Fukushima Yasunari.

"Open the door! Yasunari Fukushima! Yu Qiuping immediately shouted excitedly, "We were sent by Okazaki Castle!" Open the door! ”

"My lord! It's Yuqiu-sama! After Fukushima Yasunari reacted, he immediately ran a few steps down the collapsed slope of the north gate, and shouted to the two people in the gate hole under the castle, "Open the door!" Just as the two slaves were about to open the door, Fukushima Yasunari, who was standing on a high place, suddenly shouted at Yu Qiuping and his party, "My lord, please continue to circle around!" The Oda family has caught up! I'm going to open the east gate! ”

Yuqiuping had to immediately get on their horses and continue to escape, and when they ran to the northeast corner, they saw a warrior with a vermilion spear coming out of the northwest corner. Yu Qiuping and his party hurriedly rushed to the east gate, the east gate of the city gate had been opened after a commotion and shouting in the city, just as Yu Qiuping was about to rush into the city gate, the southeast corner suddenly turned five or six cavalry outflanked by the Oda family, straight to the city gate.

"Oops!" Yu Qiuping hurriedly accelerated, but seeing that the city gate was estimated to be too late to close.

At the critical moment, only the sound of the arrows sounded behind the side, and the horse of the Oda cavalry in front was shot in the neck by an arrow from Charles, and the anguished man stood up, jumped a few times violently, and then fell on the road, lifting the rider to the ground and blocking the way of the cavalry behind him. Within a few seconds of the Oda cavalry hesitating whether to make a detour or jump over, Yu Qiuping had already rushed into the city gate, and the gate was slowly closed behind him.

"Alright, don't talk about it yet, take me to the castle tower!" Yu Qiuping saw Fukushima Yasunari who was hurrying up, and regardless of the fact that he was still panting, he asked him to take him to the highest point of the city to look around and decide what message to send back.

The group quickly climbed the castle tower of Zhili Castle, only to see that around the castle, nearly 50 horsemen were circling the castle, and farther northwest, there were also about 50 cavalry cruising on the official road.

"Alright, Amano-sama," Yuakihei said to Amano Keito, "report to your lordship, Chiritsu Castle is still under the control of the Imagawa family, but there are nearly 100 Oda cavalry nearby who control the official road, and the messenger may not be able to communicate." ”

A moment later, a jet-black crow rose from the window of the castle tower and flew towards the southern sky.