The mountain behind Kunoji Temple. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Two days after the Ukita Hide's escape, the Tokugawa family's Iga Komonkai continued to search all the places in the mountains where clues could be found.

There are large forests growing on the mountain behind Kunoji Temple, and there are cliffs, streams, gravel, and other mixed forests. Although the terrain is not particularly complicated, it also caused some obstacles and influences on the search of the Iga ninjas.

Now, dozens of Iga ninjas are searching near a long stream deep in the back mountains.

The third-generation Hattori Hanzo, also known as Hattori Masasa, is now also participating in the search. He was the eldest son of the second generation of Hattori Hanzo Masanari, and after the death of his father Masanari, he took the name "Hanzo", inherited his father's position, and dominated the Iga Concentric Association.

Just looks not very similar to his father.,The personality is more irritable than that of my father.。

"Everyone, look for me carefully! If you live to see people, you have to see corpses when you die! ”

Just frowned, and said to his subordinates.

"Hurry up! Ieyasu-sama is urging! Don't grind and chirp one by one! Be quick! ”

Just thinking of Ieyasu's urging order, he was very anxious. Because there was no result for the whole day yesterday, the words to his subordinates were very irritable.

The ninjas of the Harmony Society were silent, silently searching.

It's August and it's unusually hot. Although there is a large forest behind Kunoji Temple, the temperature around the stream is unusually high due to the direct sunlight and the sparse shade of the trees. To the naked eye, the stream was hazy with the fog.

The ninjas of the Harmony Society had to search carefully in the hot weather, and at the same time, they had to endure the righteous urging and blame, and a sulk was deposited in their hearts, but they did not dare to vent it.

Everyone is carefully searching step by step, but you are a leader and still complain to us? Even if you find any credit, it's still yours, why are we working so hard?

The people held these grievances in their hearts and continued to complete their work without humility or arrogance.

Nearly an hour later, a signal from the Ninja of the Harmony Society suddenly came from the lower reaches of the stream.

"Everyone, stop! Come with me! ”

Just signaled to the Tongxin Society to stop what they were doing, and led them to the downstream immediately.

Temperatures downstream are a bit warmer than where they used to be. The closer I got downstream, the stronger the inexplicable rancid smell became.

When the Harmony Society arrived, the three decomposing corpses had been dug up by the Harmony Society ninjas and placed under the shade of the tree by the stream.

"Hanzo-sama, this is a subordinate digging in the mud by the stream. When the subordinates searched downstream, they noticed a faint rancid smell, and there were some specially wiped blood stains on the gravel and dirt on the bank of the stream. So I searched the place intensively, and found three bodies buried about a foot deep in the mud. ”

The ninja reported the details from discovery to excavation.

He frowned, leaned down and began to observe the three bodies that had decomposed to a certain extent.

The faces of the three bodies and the limbs exposed to their clothes were so decomposed that they were barely visible, but the deep stab wounds and dark blood stains on all three bodies were very eye-catching. The clothes on his body were also stained with large black blood, but small pieces of clothing had begun to decay.

"Stab wounds, all three died from stab wounds. From now on, the degree of decay should be in line with the time. The temperature is very high, and in a place with very high humidity such as the river bank, this level of decay is quite normal. ”

After surveying for a long time, Zheng and the other ninjas of the Harmony Guild came to this conclusion.

"The three of them are very close to Ukita-sama and his children, and they can match the clothes on their bodies. This is most likely the Uki family who escaped. ”

That's where this inference is made. He turned around and surveyed the vicinity of the river bank downstream, and found many traces of what looked like a place where there had been a dispute and a fight, the earth had been trampled indiscriminately, and there were only a few spots of blood on it, which was obviously a vain attempt to bury everything afterwards, and large traces such as blood stains had been specially treated.

“…… Could it be a bandit? ”

That's what I thought of.

It is not impossible to be robbed and killed by bandits for money. Although the Ukita family and their children were imprisoned, the clothes they wore on weekdays were much better than those of ordinary people. Perhaps it is precisely because of these more expensive clothes that the three members of the Xiu family will be killed. Although this place is a sacred place of Buddhism, and it is under the jurisdiction of the Tokugawa family, the chance of bandits appearing is very small, but it does not mean that there must be none.

However, the footprints of the bandits who might have fled in the mud were not found on the mud ground. So he wondered if he had fled by going down the stream that wasn't particularly turbulent.

"Where does this stream go down?"

"Lord Hanzo, if you go down this stream, you will come to a civilian settlement at the foot of the mountain. There are a lot of people, and it's very difficult to find a few people. Also, there is a very convenient road leading to the coast. ”

"What? Hurry over now, you might find something else! ”

He immediately took a few of his ninjas to the foot of the mountain. They searched from the foot of the mountain to the shore, but they did not find any so-called suspicious person.

As a result, Iga Kojokai directly informed Ieyasu of the results of the investigation and speculation of the remains, and then continued to investigate the suspicious person in this incident.

……

……

After receiving the report from the Iga Harmony Association, Ieyasu rubbed his temples as if he had a headache.

If even those who are good at investigation such as the Iga Komonkai think so, then the truth is likely to be inseparable. It gave him a headache.

Whether it is the degree of decay of the corpse or the size of the clothing, it all fits with it without exception. Perfectly so that he can't pick out the bones.

It's awesome. Ieyasu praised in his heart the people who had done these things.

But with his instincts over the years, he always felt that something was wrong inside.

The Toyotomi family? Very likely. It's just that with such a delicate disguise, can the Toyotomi family really do it?

If it's a ninja, it's very likely.

But the Toyotomi family didn't have ninjas on their faces. Could it be that the Toyotomi family was secretly recruiting behind the scenes? However, the informants in did not receive any news about this information.

Ieyasu pondered the various ninjas who might be recruited.

Most likely, it's the Wind Demon, and those guys must hate my Tokugawa family to the core.

However, the Wind Demon was personally beaten as a thief by Taiko Hideyoshi, and the Wind Demon also has a great hatred with the Toyotomi family, so it is very unlikely. What's more, those guys still have two young masters, and it is impossible for their whereabouts to be exposed.

Ieyasu, who thought about it for a while, but didn't come up with any results, gnawed his fingers.

To be honest, this matter has been entangled in his heart for the past few days, making him feel depressed. Fortunately, good news came from Edo yesterday, and his son Hidetada's main room Ae gave birth to a baby boy, named Takechiyo.

In the past, the daughters born to Ajiang were married to the heirs of various daimyo as political tools, so this meant that the Tokugawa shogunate finally had a third-generation heir, and how could Ieyasu not be happy.

Although he didn't have any evidence at hand, he had already figured out what to do next.

"Is there a true faith?"

"The old minister is here, General."

Ieyasu called Masanobu to his side.

"Hurry up and let people release the news of the attack on Ukita Hide's house, and there is no need to keep it secret."

"Shogun, do you want to find out what Toyotomi is talking about?"

"Hmph, it's true faith. Just do what I say, and stand down. ”

"Yes, General."

Masanobu nodded, got up and left.