In the early morning of October 10th, Yuqiuping, who had completed the rectification, said goodbye to his friends and headed for Iimori Mountain Castle. Before leaving, Oda Nobunaga also sent him a job from Ashikaga Yoshiteru - Kawachi Guardian. This is already the most that the Oda family can do, and Yu Qiupei is also the first retainer in the Oda family to serve as a guardian.

The guardian of Hanoi has been hereditary from generation to generation by the Hatakeyama family, one of the three management and four professional families, and it is impossible to hand over the guardian of Hanoi to Yu Qiuping, so it can only be given to one guardian of Hanoi. And the Hanoi guardian generation has always been served by the Hatakeyama family's important ministers Yusa family and the Yasumi family, and this time the Hanoi guardian generation is to Yu Qiuping to come, which can be regarded as a waste of effort.

In addition, all the important ministers of the Oda family also received official positions from the imperial court, and they were basically official positions under the six and from the six. Shibata Katsuya seems to have gotten a Sakyo Daijin, and everyone else has also been divided.

"And what is my official position?" Yu Qiuping asked the mother-clothed people who rushed to give the order.

"The lord said that this is a gift he prepared for His Highness." The mother-clothed person smiled and handed Yu Qiuping a note with Yu Qiuping's official position written on it. The latter took the note and turned to see that it was neatly written in eight large characters.

is the sixth subordinate of the Ministry of Governance.

Governance...

Yu Qiuping suddenly smiled, the people around him hadn't seen him smile so happily for a long time.

"It seems that you are very satisfied with the gift of the lord." Seeing this, the mother-clothed people also laughed, and then saluted respectfully: "His Royal Highness Nazhibu, I have retired." ”

As the mother-clothed people turned to leave, Yu Qiuping's laughter gradually became bitter, until it finally faded away, and tears rolled in his eyes.

Governance? I'm in the Yuqiu Department now. I can also be called, His Highness the Governor.

Your Royal Highness, are you watching?

·

"Your Highness, why didn't you consult with the inferior people at all before making this decision?" Until now, Amano Keitoku is still very dissatisfied with Yu Qiuping's decision. But even so, he still firmly supported Yu Qiuping in front of everyone, and only protested to him in private.

"The duty of a samurai is to obey orders, and this is an order given to me by the main bus, and I am powerless to refuse." Yu Qiuping shook his head and whispered with some emotion: "Being a man is more important than knowing how to repay it." I was the first guardian of the Oda family, and my lord even allowed me to bring my family to Iimoriyama Castle, allowing me to surrender if necessary. The lord treats me as a soldier, and I will repay him as a soldier. ”

"Iimori Mountain Castle is isolated, surrounded by enemies, this is a place of death." Amano Jingde whispered bitterly, but things couldn't be changed, and finally had to turn into a long sigh.

"That's not necessarily, don't you believe in the strength of our Yuqiu family?" Although Yu Qiuping was also bottomless in his heart, he still pretended to smile confidently: "Maybe we will take down Hanoi and Izumi!" ”

·

On the evening of October 10, the army of the Yuqiu family finally arrived on the outskirts of Imoriyama Castle. I saw that on the foothills to the east of Imoriyama Castle, there was actually a large maple forest, and against the backdrop of the sunset, it was even more gorgeous and sad. Yu Qiuping was unconsciously intoxicated by this beautiful scenery, and forgot about the official business at hand for a while, until the defenders of the Matsunaga family of Iimoriyama Castle personally sent someone to find him.

After the handover of Matsunaga's army hurriedly handed over a series of documents and land deeds to Yu Qiuping of Iimoriyama Castle, he fled from this place.

"Oh, Your Highness, I'm really sorry!" Before leaving, the elder of the Matsunaga family apologized to Yu Qiuping and said, "I didn't know that this city would become a fief of His Highness, so my subordinates scavenged it a little, don't blame Your Highness!" Miyoshi also caught himself indiscriminately before he left, but we didn't do it alone! ”

It wasn't until Yu Qiuping really saw the mountain castle with his own eyes that he realized that this was a little looted? Rather, it is completely destroyed. Once one of's most prosperous and prosperous cities, it is now in ruins, just like Kyoto.

The fire that Matsunaga Shu started to ignite the Miyoshi family's heaping baggage has not yet been completely extinguished, and the fire has long since spread to the castle walls, the castle tower, and even the surrounding castle towns, burning almost the entire city to ashes. The road was littered with the remains of those who had been burned to death in front of the door - these poor people probably did not want to give up their houses and fought hard against the fire, but eventually died.

The once prosperous city is now not alive at all. The streets of the castle town are filled with homeless refugees, some curled up on mats or wrapped in straw around their bodies. It is not uncommon to see several members of the family sitting on the street, sharing only a blanket to ward off the cold, and in front of them, a porcelain bowl is placed, waiting for the well-wisher to give a little money and food to survive. But in the entire vicinity of Iimori Mountain City, most of the people are already destitute, and where can anyone give to these beggars?

Most of the few houses that were left that did not burn were now empty. Most of the houses have traces of being smashed and robbed, and it can be seen that the Miyoshi family and the Matsunaga family did it. The Miyoshi family swept away the castle town of Xicheng before retreating - they couldn't hold it anyway, and if they didn't grab it, would it be cheap to show it for nothing? And in the three days that the Matsunaga family was in Iimoriyama Castle, they almost robbed the prosperous Iimoriyama Castle, and there was nothing left. When the cold winter was approaching, these poor people lost their homes and homes, and even most of the money, food and arable land they relied on for their livelihood were buried in the fire, and the rest were swept away by the Matsunaga army.

If Yu Qiuping can't do something, more than half of the more than 50,000 people around Imoriyama Castle may not survive this winter.

When the refugees on the street saw the brightly clad troops approaching the street, they immediately let out a burst of exclamations. Then the poor unkempt men who were leaning on the street immediately gathered up everything they could take with them, and fled into the streets and alleys. It can be seen that the indiscriminate arrest of the Matsunaga army made them violently afraid of the army. When a family was fleeing, they accidentally left the worn-out porcelain bowl they were begging on the side of the street. The little girl in the family was halfway and wanted to run back to get it, but all the fathers grabbed it fiercely and fled quickly.

"Command the whole army, not to disturb the people, not to enter the people's houses, and those who violate the order will be beheaded." Yu Qiuping sighed and gave this order. However, he knew that even if he didn't give a special order, with the quality of Chang Panbei, there would definitely be nothing wrong.

Longzi, who was walking beside Yu Qiuping, looked at the poor refugees with tears in his eyes. She took out a string of copper coins from her bosom and placed them in the abandoned porcelain bowl. However, before they could take a few steps away, several crazy refugees rushed towards the porcelain bowl, trying to fight for the copper coins in the bowl. The strings of the coins were torn off, and the coins collapsed all over the ground, leading to a larger internal scramble, with the refugees almost lying on the ground snatching each other's scattered copper coins. Longzi wanted to step forward to stop it, but when he saw that the people who came to rob the money were all poor people who couldn't survive, and among them, a little girl who was only about ten years old was also fighting there.

The dragon was stunned all of a sudden. Isn't that who she used to be? A weak and helpless little girl who has to grab money in order to survive because she can't survive anymore. Tears welled up in her eyes, and the girl cried against the blackened wall beside her. Yu Qiuping stopped, slowly hugged her, and gently stroked her back, wanting the girl to settle down.

After a long time, Long Zi suddenly pulled Yu Qiuping's clothes, whimpered and whispered: "Your Highness, can you help them?" ”

"Of course." Yu Qiuping nodded heavily.

After all, I'm still a good person.

·

When the army slowly drove into the vicinity of the castle tower of Iimoriyama Castle, a herald suddenly rushed from the rear army to the front army where Yu Qiuping was located, and reported in a low voice: "Your Highness, there are refugees making trouble behind, and Lord Fukushima is maintaining law and order." ”

"Trouble? Are they going to attack the army? Yu Qiuping turned his head in surprise and asked in a low voice.

"It's not. They saw the rations that our army was transporting, and wanted to beg our army to give them a little food. However, our army does not have much rations, and it can only last for ten days, so the people of Fukushima do not dare to make claims. Some of the hungry people came forward to grab the rations, and the conflict has already ensued. ”

"Lord Fukushima sent me here, hoping to allow His Highness to distribute some of the military food to the hungry people, they really can't live anymore if they don't have food." The herald conveyed Yasunari Fukushima's request, and the guards around him all looked at Yu Qiuping with a reasonable expression. This good man who has a good story of sending food to the enemy will naturally not die without help.

"Your Highness, please don't be kind to a woman." Amano Jingde, who was following Yu Qiuping, immediately reminded in a cold voice: "There are more than 50,000 people around Iimori Mountain Castle, and Your Highness can't save it. For the time being, our military rations are only enough for ten days, and even if we go out in full, three or four days' rations will not be enough. Once His Highness saves this horse, there will be another horse to ask for military rations, and His Highness will not give it, nor will it be if he does not give it, and it will be us who will be the first to cut off the food. ”

"According to what you mean, you want to see death and not be saved?" Shigeharu Takenaka's tone sank and he looked at Keitori Amano, who looked at him without fear.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." Yu Qiuping smiled and patted the shoulders of the two subordinates, and then ordered: "Gather the hungry people who are going to come to ask for food at the bottom of Dongcheng Castle, and transport our military rations to Sannomaru in Dongcheng." ”

·

By the time Yu Qiuping arrived in Dongcheng, the hungry people in Dongcheng had gathered nearly tens of thousands of people. They were desperately charging at the constant guards, who were targeted by the rations behind them. Yu Qiuping stepped on the head of the castle, which had been burned by the fire, and ordered Honda Tadakatsu to raise his Kaede Bird Banner high.

After seeing this flag, the originally noisy and chaotic hungry people gradually quieted down, and slowly turned their eyes to the young man under the Maple Bird. They are all the people of the region, and they are relatively well-informed, and this kind-hearted person who once had a good story of sending grain to the enemy Yuqiu Red Leaves specially summoned them, and they must have come to release grain! Therefore, everyone was waiting with anticrative expectations for Yu Qiuping to speak.

Yu Qiuping propped his hands on the battlements, cleared his throat, leaned out of the city, and shouted at these hungry people: "Fellow villagers, I know that you are hungry and cold, I know that you have no surplus food, and I also know that you need the Yuqiu family to subsidize your food. ”

Then, Yu Qiuping took a deep breath and shouted loudly:

"But I'm not going to give you a grain of rice right now!"

·

As soon as Yu Qiuping said this, the tens of thousands of hungry people under the city tower were in an uproar. Even though they have always been honest and dutiful people, they are respectful to the samurai who can kill them at any time. But they were already starving like this, and this trusty lord not only did not release food, but also specially gathered them in the city and told them not to release food, as if he were humiliating and playing with them, which was really too deceitful. For a while, the shouting and scolding downstairs continued, and Yu Qiuping was almost pulled down from the city directly.

And Ryuko, Amano Keito, Shigeharu Takenaka and others behind Yu Qiuping were also very dazed, and they didn't expect Yu Qiuping to talk like this. After the latter shouted this, he seemed to watch with satisfaction the reaction of the people under the city, and patiently waited for the crowd to return to quiet. After waiting for a long time, Yu Qiuping found that the people under the city had not stopped, so he gave Honda Tadashi a look. The latter inhaled knowingly, then roared in the voice of a giant beast, "Silence! ”

This shout instantly covered the noisy discussion and scolding of the people. After being stunned for a moment, everyone realized that Yu Qiuping seemed to have something to say, so they stopped and looked at Yu Qiuping.

"The reason why I don't give you food is because it's military food! Military rations are used for war! Yu Qiuping pulled out the thousand birds in the scabbard and pointed in the direction of the grain, "I have already sent someone to Kyoto to transport grain and grass, and the temporary relief food for you will be delivered tomorrow night, please bear with me a little longer!" ”

After learning that there was still food to eat, these people suddenly turned their sorrow into joy. However, there are still many people shouting below, let Yu Qiuping release the grain now, anyway, the food will arrive tomorrow, not bad for this day.

Seeing this, Yu Qiuping continued to shout: "The reason why I didn't send you the military rations today is because if there were no military rations, Chang Panbei would be unable to defend this city tomorrow!" If an enemy attacks, Tsunebanbei will have to abandon the city and flee, and when the enemy enters the city, you will face another raid like the Matsunaga family, do you want to see this situation? Do you want to be caught again? ”

The hungry people who were originally screaming were speechless under Yu Qiuping's rhetorical questioning. They recalled the three days of hell that had engulfed their homes with fires, vicious rebels robbing them of their former possessions, and the slightest misfortune and the slightest misfortune led to the fall of heads. Who would want to go through a day like this again.

"I, Yuqiuping, our Yuqiu family, will treat Iimori Mountain City as our own city and defend it forever. And this requires the army, and the army needs military rations, so we can't give you military rations. If we give you military rations, we will not be able to defend the city, and the mountain castle of Iimori may fall! We are different from the Miyoshi family and the Matsunaga family who ransacked and abandoned the Iimori Mountain Castle, we will not use it as a tool to abandon it when it is finished, so we can't give up the military rations, we have to hold here! We will not take your lives and property as a weaker example and bully and bully them at will. I sincerely want to protect this wonderful city, so that the people of the city can live and work in peace and contentment, and the hard-working people can make a fortune, without worrying that one day the owners of the city will abandon the city and flee, and the rebels will enter the city and loot it, so that the wealth accumulated by your ancestors for generations will be wiped out. ”

"Over the past few decades, the turmoil, the Iimori Mountain Castle has changed hands so many times, and it has been repeatedly affected by military disasters and wars, I think you are all afraid, you don't want to let this happen again, and you want to live a peaceful life." Yu Qiuping looked at the more and more people gathered under the city, and almost shouted at the top of his voice: "So I think that the name of Iimoriyama Castle and all its previous misfortunes will become history!" I announce that Imoriyama Castle has been renamed Maple Leaf Castle! As he spoke, Yuqiu Ping pointed to the beautiful maple forest on the east mountain of Imoriyama Castle with a thousand birds, and solemnly shouted, "Maple Leaf Mountain Castle will be the home of our Yuqiu family." As long as the Yuqiu family survives, they will never abandon Maple Mountain City, and will forever guard Maple Mountain City and the people in the city! ”

"I swear to this mountain full of maple leaves, this is the last time that Maple Mountain City will change hands! In the future, the Yuqiu family will guard this city for generations, so that you no longer have to worry about military disasters and wars! From now on, live and work in peace and contentment! I'm Yuqiuping, and I do what I say! ”

·

After shouting such a long paragraph, Yu Qiuping only felt that his voice was hoarse. He turned around and whispered to a few people behind him, "How is it, are you satisfied with what I said?" ”

"The will of the people is attached." Amano didn't say much, just spit out these words.

"It doesn't matter if you're not satisfied, the key is to look at the people." Shigeharu Takenaka said with a smile, while pointing behind Yu Qiuping with his finger, "Your Highness, listen." ”

A gust of evening wind blew, carrying the red leaves on the east mountain, and drifted to the head of Maple Mountain Castle. Sent with the wind, there was also the earth-shattering cheers of the people under Maple Mountain City.