Kondo Shigekatsu and his party of five marched on the mountain road back to Toishi Castle, Yingying's bonfire reflected his tired cheeks, and he still had lingering palpitations about the conversation with Goto Keiji just now, although he was fooled by himself, but he still felt that things were not so simple, besides, Hori Hideji was still in the hands of the Toyotomi army, and if he really wanted to fight, no one knew what accidents would happen.

"Either way, tomorrow it will all be over." Kondo Shigekatsu muttered to himself.

"My lord, please dismount!" Suddenly, the guards extinguished the torches and almost dragged Chongsheng off his horse.

"What happened?" Taken aback by this move, he went with his guards to a small mound and hid.

The guard made Chongsheng bend over to his side, and he pointed to the little fire on the mountain road not far away and said, "My lord, it seems that someone is coming, and there are quite a few of them. ”

Shigekatsu looked in the direction pointed by the guard, and there was indeed a small group of men and horses marching along the mountain road in the direction of Katsumi Castle, and after a rough count, there were no less than twenty people, and they looked like they were all elite samurai. The reason why Shigekatsu dared to travel with only four people was because the road between Toishi Castle and Katsumao Castle was either controlled by the Horike family or the Toyotomi army, and there was no danger wherever he went. But the mountain road in front of him really made Chongsheng break out in a cold sweat.

"Why didn't you find out that there was such a road before?" Shigesheng asked sideways.

The guards were very helpless: "Look at the direction of this path, it should extend from Aoki Pass, which is the jurisdiction of Matsumoto Castle of the Ishikawa clan, if Ishikawa Xuanbo does not take the initiative to tell him, of course our army will not know." ”

"The territory of the Ishikawa clan..."When Chongsheng heard this, he thought in his heart: "According to this, this team of people should be Xuanfan's people?" If you take a closer look, can you see the appearance of the person leading the team? ”

The guard nodded, stretched his neck and tried to identify, and suddenly, his eyes widened, and he opened his mouth wide and said excitedly: "My lord, I have seen this person!" ”

"You've seen it?!" Shigekatsu asked in surprise.

The guard nodded vigorously and replied very firmly, "That's right, it should be... No, that person is Ishikawa Sanki Mamoru Kiyoyasu! I have sent letters to him a few times as an envoy before, and I will never be mistaken! ”

"Kiyoyasu Ishikawa?" Shigekatsu pondered: "Shouldn't he be in the Ishikawa Honjin west of Ueda Castle, how could he come here and not take the main road and the small road......"

"Not good!" Shigesheng seemed to suddenly understand something, and immediately motioned for his guards to find another way with him to return to Toishi Castle.

At this time, Ishikawa Kiyoyasu straddled the horse, completely unaware that his whereabouts had been known by Shigekatsu, and he deliberately took a detour to Katsuo Castle this time, just to avoid being detected by the Hori family, and as for carrying so many samurai, he was also worried that there would be bandits on the path.

After a while, the group came to Katsu Castle, which was the main camp of the Ishikawa army when they attacked Kaizu Castle, but they did not expect to be captured by Toyotomi in less than ten days, and when they returned here, Ishikawa Kiyoyasu also had mixed feelings in his heart.

At this time, it was the second half of the night, and Hideharu Hori and the others were already sleepy, but Goto Kiji signaled them to wait a little longer, not to miss the "good show" because they were sleeping.

"Fun?" Hideharu Hori muttered to himself, "Seeing that the sky is about to dawn, I don't want to yawn to see my grandfather." ”

Kiji didn't bother with his complaints, but smiled and chatted with the nine ghost father and son about home and local customs. At this moment, the attendant brought the news that Ishikawa Kiyoyasu had arrived in the castle.

Everyone was surprised to learn that Kiyoyasu was coming, and Hori seemed to understand something: "Could this be the so-called 'good show' of Oki Mamoru ? ”

Kiji smiled without saying a word, and directly asked the attendants to introduce Kiyoyasu to the palace.

After Qingkang entered the hall, he first saluted everyone one by one, and then sat down at the signal of the base, everything was neither humble nor arrogant, which made everyone pay some respect to him.

"I haven't seen you for many years, and I don't know why I'm here this time?" Kizi asked with a smile.

Kiyoyasu sat down and replied with a serious expression: "It's been seven years since the Nago House was parted, and the style of Oki Shou has not diminished back then, and he is straight to the point, and this time he was entrusted by the lord to come to negotiate peace with your army." ”

"Peace?" The Nine Ghosts Jialong, who was sitting on the side, said coldly when he heard this: "Even if you rely on you, dare to say that you will negotiate peace with our army?" Could it be that Ishikawa Genbo can't see the situation clearly? ”

"It's all of you who can't see the situation clearly." Qingkang didn't care about the ridicule of the Nine Ghosts Jialong, but decided to talk directly to Jiji: "Although the strength of my Ishikawa family is less than a fraction of your army, the news I hold in my hands can be worth thousands of troops. ”

"Don't be ashamed." The nine ghosts Kataka originally had a good impression of Qingyasu disappeared without a trace at this moment, and he directly suggested that Kiji drive away this tricky person, and wait for tomorrow to unite the Hori family and the Ueda family to directly level the Ishikawa clan's main camp.

But Kiji advised him not to be impatient, and instead said to Kiyoyasu kindly: "The thousands of troops and horses that Sanki Mamoru said are related to the Hori family? ”

"How did you know?" Qingkang was taken aback when he heard this, and looked at Jiji in a daze.

"It seems that things are really as Kiji thinks, and they are not as simple as Oribe said." At this moment, Kiji's face turned cloudy, and he asked Kiyoyasu with a cold expression: "Is there a fraud in the fact that the Hori family wants to open the castle and surrender?" ”

These two short sentences of Jiji are like thousands of blades to Qingkang, piercing him into a thousand holes, even if he didn't say a word at this moment, he has already seen it clearly, and there is no privacy at all.

"He is worthy of being one of the best wise generals in the Youfu family, and he admires him." Kiyoyasu bowed deeply to Kiji, and said excitedly: "It's because of this matter that I came down, and I can't hide it, but in the evening, my family received a notice from Hori's supervisor that he would launch a surprise attack tomorrow morning when your army entered the city and was surrendered......"

"This is what Sanki Mamoru calls 'thousands of troops'? Is it a bargaining chip for you to negotiate peace with your family? Without waiting for him to finish, Gitz interrupted bluntly.

"Originally, it was meant to be so, but now it seems to have become a joke in your eyes." Qingyasu sighed, hung his head and said, "I don't know how Oki Mamoru learned about this. ”

"It doesn't matter how you know, but don't you think it's too despicable to use this matter to negotiate peace?"

"Despicable?" Qingkang smiled: "Compared to saving the lives of 2,000 people in my family, this is nothing. Besides, isn't the Hori's method of deception even more despicable than that of the main family? ”

"It's worthy of being a sorcerer, but betraying an ally can be said to be so righteous and awe-inspiring! Indeed, in troubled times, morality doesn't seem to be so important compared to keeping your family name. Kiji slapped his thigh fiercely, and laughed: "The Horiya family is a party party this time, so please tell Genbo that this is said that the 'deal' has been reached, and let him lead his troops around Totaro Mountain on the south side of Toishi Castle, and as soon as the signal of the family comes out, he will attack the Hori family, and after the war, he will definitely intercede with the right house for the Ishikawa Gate." ”

After getting the promise of Jiji, the stone in Qingkang's heart finally landed, but there was still one thing to understand: "Since the adults have seen through the tricks of the prisoners, why are they still willing to let their family live?" ”

"Before you came, I was only suspicious of the surrender of the Hori family, but I never acted intuitively. That's why the conversation I just had with you made me finally settle on what I was thinking. Moreover, now that the Tokugawa army has been defeated, the general trend is difficult to disobey, and the right government does not want to make extraneous branches and make the lives miserable, which is why the army has rarely slaughtered the city so far. Xuanfan is willing to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, how can this family turn you away? ”