128 The Kenghao of the Hosokawa Family (Middle)

129

"It's so fast~~"

Hosokawa Tadashi barely saw how the young man drew his sword, and the Ikei soldiers who surrounded him were all slashed in the chest and died.

"Hey! The one lying on the ground, if you are not dead, arise, for all your enemies have been slain by me. ”

"Got it," Hosokawa Tadashi could naturally feel a hint of banter in the other party's tone, but he was not angry, let alone angry, after all, the other party had just saved his life.

"Anyway, you saved my life, thank you so much."

"You're welcome, what you really want to thank is the dry food you just gave me, I was hungry for several days, and I only had the strength to walk, and I couldn't pull out a knife without the rice ball just now...... Do you still have anything to eat, though? ”

And also? Oh my God, how can this guy eat so much?

"I don't have any rice balls, but ...... I still have some money on me......"

"It's good to have money!" The young man patted his chest and said: "This journey is very dangerous, there is no swordsman like me to be a bodyguard, an incompetent person like you (described accurately, haha), you can't go far, it's better to let me be your bodyguard." ”

"Then please." The young man's words can undoubtedly be adopted, but Hosokawa Tadashi listens to it quite unpleasantly, is he really so useless?

"By the way, I haven't asked for advice yet, what about your name as an employer?"

"I'm Hosokawa Tadashi of the Hosokawa family, what about you?"

"It turned out to be the son-in-law of Lord Akechi Mitsuhide, disrespectful, and it was Sasaki Kojiro of Kyushu Bunzen Province below!"

(I'm KAO!) It turned out to be Kojiro! )

But it seems that only I, as a descendant, know the great name of Sasaki Kojiro, at this point in time when he is not yet famous, not to mention Hosokawa Tadashi, I'm afraid that most people don't know who this gentleman is.

"Kojiro Sasaki? There are indeed many swordsmen in Kyushu, the most famous is Marume Nagae, but Mr. Sasaki......"

"Hehe," Kojiro Sasaki was not angry at all, "It's normal that you haven't heard my name, because it was only three months ago that I left Kyushu, but after a year, you can hear the name of 'the world's number one swordsman' Kojiro Sasaki......"

"Then I'll see." Hosokawa didn't know whether to praise his ambition or belittle his arrogance, but he was shocked by his surprisingly fast swordsmanship just now.

From here, the road to the south follows the tributary of the Sasakawa River.

The road is on the left bank of the river, and the river meanders through the long plains between the mountains of Tamba in the opposite direction. One mile downstream, there is a road to Guishan Castle.

But before he got to this place, Hosokawa Tadashi had already begun to worry about how to go.

He is now a "strange commodity to live in", Ikei Hachiya will definitely catch himself desperately, if he enters Kameyama Castle before the pursuers arrive, it is naturally best, but if Ikei's pursuers see through this and quickly chase into Kameyama Road, it is likely that they will be caught up before entering the city.

So, as he walked, he was suspicious and uneasy, not knowing what to do.

After the two walked for more than ten miles, Sasaki Kojiro suddenly said, "Hey, do you feel it?" There are people behind us! ”

"Well, I noticed it when I inadvertently turned around just now."

"Did you notice?" Sasaki Kojiro was a little surprised by Hosokawa Tadashi's discovery, probably he thought this person was a rough line, "Is it an enemy chasing you?" ”

"No, I just took a sneak peek, there are six or seven of them, and they are not holding swords, but shoddy red guns and long sticks, and they are also dressed in tattered and ragged, I guess it is just the villagers around here, trying to pretend to be robbers to rob us."

"Is it just ordinary pariahs? That's not interesting, but I'll fix them. ”

Seeing that Kojiro Sasaki was about to make a move again, Hosokawa Tadashi hurriedly grabbed him.

"No hurry! I have a better idea. ”

"Hey!" Hosokawa Tadashi suddenly turned around, "You guys, are you going to take the lives of the two of us?" ”

"Ah!!h When the peasants saw that he had broken his own tricks, they not only looked at each other, they couldn't advance or retreat, they wanted to retreat and leave, they were unwilling to move forward, but when they saw the knives in their hands, they didn't dare to do so.

This is a typical "little person", who does not know how to give up, let alone struggle and pursuit!

That's why they were looked down upon by the samurai and toyed with applause.

"Take it!" Hosokawa Tadashi took out the money bag from his arms and threw it in front of them, "It's all for you!" ”

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir," the men weighed the pouch with their hands, and the conclusion they came to was overjoyed.

"But I have one condition," Hosokawa Tadashi pointed to one of them, "Come, let's change our clothes!" ”

"What!" Looking at the tattered clothes he was wearing, and looking at the gorgeous kimono that the other party was wearing, the person who was pointed at was surprised and delighted, "That's not good!" ”

"Asuke! If you don't want it, then dress me up! Another person saw that the farmer named Asuke was so "ignorant" and stood up very positively.

After changing his clothes, Hosokawa Tadashi said, "Do you still want the heads of the two of us?" ”

"How dare you......" A few people nodded their heads, since the money has already arrived, then there is no need to kill, besides, "Fallen Warrior Hunt" may not always get a reward, some samurai masters, will cut off your head together.

(Indeed, after the Battle of Yamazaki, Akechi Mitsuhide was tragically hunted by the "fallen warriors", and as a result, after the farmers offered their heads to Hashiba Hideyoshi, the monkeys beheaded the group of people for "insulting the samurai", and in addition, after the Battle of Shidake, Sakuma Nobumori was tied up by his own people and sacrificed to the monkeys, and the monkeys clicked several of them)

"We are all small people in the nearby Zhongtian, and we are usually very peaceful, please forgive us for our rudeness just now."

"yes, yes......"

Hosokawa Tadashi nodded with satisfaction, "I won't pursue what happened just now, I'll give you the money and clothes, but I need you to do something for me." ”

"My lord, even if you have said it, we will do our best to do it for you."

"Go ahead! Walk along this road until you reach Kameyama Castle, and when you arrive at Kameyama Castle, you tell the guards guarding the castle that Ikei has rebelled and wants to kill His Highness Hosokawa, so please send troops to Lanruoji Temple to rescue him!"

"It's too easy, we'll do it." ……

After the group left, Hosokawa Tadashi and Sasaki Kojiro also set off after him. Soon I walked to the fork in the road, beside the road is a vast and fertile paddy field, it is the last time of the autumn harvest, the people in the sky are busy, and there are a few small wooden houses surrounded by bamboo fences on the side of the road.

On the right side of Kameyama Road is a ditch with abundant water, which flows in the midday sun. Outside the bamboo fence, a few chickens were busy looking for food, and the sound of spinning wheels could be heard from nowhere.

"Hey, Hosokawa-sama, you gave them all the money, what should I do? Don't you dare to fire me, that's not good! ”

Therefore, it is just an employment relationship between each other, so Sasaki Kojiro does not have much respect for Hosokawa Tadashi.

"Be quiet, don't let them find out!" Hosokawa Tadashi lowered his voice, "Who said I was going to fire you?" Impossible! ”

Speaking of the group, they turned to the right and walked up the Turtle Mountain Road.

Hosokawa Tadashi and Sasaki Kojiro saw that he had walked about a hundred meters, then turned to the left, suddenly increased his speed, and the power rushed forward.

After the figures of a group of people and Hosokawa Tadashi and Sasaki Kojiro were not visible, it was not long before a group of samurai galloped from Tochio, about twelve or three people, from Tochio. The pedestrians on the side of the road screamed in fright and fled in all directions, but the samurai were not easy to mess with.

They shouted, "Hosokawa Tadashi! Stop me! ”

Sasaki Kojiro instinctively wanted to draw his sword again, and Hosokawa Tadashi whispered: "Don't do this! It's not me who they're going to arrest! ”

Sure enough, the group of samurai yelled at the two of them: "Get out of here!" Get out of the way! After that, he was gone.

When the group heard the sound of horses' hooves and saw the pursuing samurai, they turned back from time to time, and then simply wanted to wait for the samurai to pass before leaving, so they stopped by the side of the road.

The leader of the samurai looked at the gorgeously dressed Asuke and felt that there was something wrong, which was completely consistent with the characteristics of Hosokawa Tadashiko's clothing explained above, and then saw Asuke turn around, thinking that he was afraid, and seeing him stop, he thought he wanted to hide by the side of the road, so he quickly whipped his horse and drew his saber.

"That's right! This person is Hosokawa Tadashi! He was the one who killed several of our brothers! Ikei-sama has already said, don't capture him alive! Kill him, brothers! ”

As a timid and fearful peasant, he was so frightened that he couldn't make a sound, his face was pale, his eyes were wide open, his mouth was slightly open, and his thin hands were protecting the top of his head.

"No...... No...... Ahh

The leader galloped by, slashed his head with a stroke of his sword, and flew into the air, where his attendants immediately followed, cutting off a sleeve of the corpse's coat and wrapping it up.

The rest of the peasants were so frightened that they scattered, hugging their heads and running away.

"They must also be Hosokawa Tadashi's accomplices, and they will all be killed!"

So in the midst of swords and screams, these greedy and pathetic peasants lost their lives in this way.

When the samurai passed through the fork in the road and returned shortly after, Hosokawa Tadashi and Sasaki Kojiro walked back to the fork in the road.

Hosokawa Tadashi put his hand into the arms of Asuke's corpse and took back the money bag that he had just thrown out, it seems that Asuke and them have not had time to divide this windfall......

"If you weren't so greedy for money, you should be able to enjoy the fun of life in the fields now, alas~~" He sighed pretending to be effective, and said to Sasaki Kojiro: "How about it, Mr. Sasaki, the money is back, this is what I promised to pay you, and when I get to Kameyama Castle, there will be no one missing." ”