Toriya O Yoshimichi has been in a very low mood recently, and his heart is full of worries about the future of the Kitabatake family. He is 42 years old this year, and as the third son of the Toriya Ao family who has served the Kitabatake clan for seven generations, he may have only been able to complete his life as a low-level samurai, or even a flag book, but all this was greatly changed when he first went out into battle!

It was when he was 15 years old, as a personal soldier, he followed the head of the family, Kitabatake, to fight against the North Ise Nagano family. In that battle, everything was going very smoothly, but in the face of the offensive of the 12,000-strong army of the Kitabatake family, the Nagano family was losing ground and was about to be unable to hold on. But at this moment, the army of the Fujita family suddenly appeared on the battlefield and gave the attacking troops of the Kitabatake family an unexpected blow from the flank, and the troops of the Nagano family took advantage of the situation to counterattack, and the fierce general Yokota Sweep led 800 light cavalry through the gap in the front army and directly penetrated the main camp of the Kitabatake Gukyo. At the critical moment, Toriya O Ryotsu came out of the crowd and cut Yokota Sweep off the horse, stabilizing the crisis in one fell swoop, and thus won the appreciation of Kitabatake Gukyo.

Since that war, Toriya O Yoshimichi has been able to make many achievements in the battles of the Kitabatake family and the Kita Ise Shotsu, the Shima Nine Ghost Water Army, and the Yamato Miyoshi Yasunaga, and the official position was finally promoted to the rank of general, and he was allowed to break away from his own family, Toriya O Ishimi to stand on his own, and to know the 2,000 stone territory. Kitabatake's trust in him is unquestionable, and this time he is in charge of Ise Kameyama Castle to manage all the affairs of West Ise, which can be described as a heavy burden on one shoulder! Yoshitsu Toriya is very aware of his abilities, and he is by no means ambiguous when he charges into battle, but he is not a general who can strategize. In this kind of crisis for the Kitabatake family, the only thing he can repay the lord is this life, and all he can do is be cautious and cautious!

"What's the matter?" Yoshitsu Toriya asked a head of Ashigaru who was on duty, and he always repeated the same question countless times a day. It's 11 a.m., and it's his second tour of the city tonight.

"Returning to Toriyao-sama, everything is normal!" Ashigaru replied in a resolute tone. He is a young man who has just turned 20 years old, and at this age his chest is full of passion to serve the country.

"Kitasaki!" Ryōmichi Toriya affectionately called his name, and seemed to see his young self in him. "At such a time, you can't be careless, you can't let go of the slightest vision!"

"Yes, sir!" Kitasaki lowered his head and immediately raised his gaze again. "But there's really nothing wrong with you!"

"Really? …… Stonehand, let's talk about it! Toriya O Yoshitsu laughed and then called over a flag book who was patrolling the city with him.

"Lord Huiyu...... "This stone hand is in his 30s, and he has been following him for many years." Tonight the weather was fine but there was no moon, but the lights in the castle town were a little less than the previous day, and it seemed to be much quieter than usual! ”

"Tsunoya-sama, I'm ......" Kitasaki's face turned a little pale under the light of the torches. Do you need to send someone to check? ”

"That's not necessary!" Yoshitsu Toriya shook his head. "These situations may just be accidental, in the current situation to rashly open the city gate is taboo, everything must be unchanged to change everything!" After saying this, he patted Kitasaki on the shoulder. "I just want to remind you not to turn a blind eye to even the slightest suspicion, or even to find reasons for these phenomena in your own mind! Ask a few more whys for everything, so that you don't get caught off guard by sudden changes! ”

"Yes! Bird-like Ao-sama! Kitazaki nodded firmly. The subordinates must keep it in mind! ”

"Be careful!" Yoshitsu Toriya encouraged him to turn around and prepare to go down to the city. His behavior just now was not because he didn't trust Kitasaki, on the contrary, he was very optimistic about this young man, and it was because of this that he didn't want this young man to take too many detours.

"Look, my lord!" At that moment, a soldier's exclamation called him back again, and he followed the direction of the soldier's finger to see a faint group of figures coming from the castle town towards the city gate.

"Could it be Oda's people?" Kitasaki's questioning voice had a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Hmm......" Toriya O Ryotsu didn't answer clearly, but leaned half of his body out of the battlement and squinted his eyes to look closely. It is estimated that there are about two hundred black shadows in this pile, arranged in a not very neat queue, and there is a faint glimmer of light on the tip of the spear. But for some reason, in such a dark night, they only lit a few torches. Seeing them approaching the city gates, he turned back and gestured to the stone hand.

"Who are you? Don't go any further! Stoneite shouted to the people under the city.

"We are members of the Kii Kuriya family, may I ask if the castle is Toriya-sama?" A loud voice rang out in the dark shadows.

"I'm the bird's house, why are you here late at night!" Ishiteite continued to shout at the castle.

"We, the Kii Ministry, have just entered the castle town and are being renovated at the invitation of His Royal Highness Kitabatake! The last general has come to receive the grain and grass promised by His Highness Kitabatake, and please allow me to enter the castle......"

"You send someone to inform the departments to prepare for contingencies, these people must be enemy troops!" While Ishite's conversation with Joshita was underway, Toriya Tail Ryotsu pulled Kitasaki aside and whispered.

"How so?!" Kitasaki asked in surprise. "It turns out that the Kii reinforcements arrived in the past few days, and there is nothing wrong with providing food and grass, right?"

"They said they had just entered the castle town to renovate, so why didn't there be a little noise?" Yoshitsu Toriya asked rhetorically. "Why are there only so many people in our field of vision in a force of several thousand? What else can be said other than deliberately hiding? ”

"There are only two hundred of them, how about we make a sudden attack?" Kitazaki said excitedly.

"Absolutely not!" Ryōtsu Toriya stopped his subordinates' whims. "The enemy would never be stupid enough to take Ise Kameyama Castle with only 200 men, and the castle town, which is much quieter than usual, shows that there are a large number of enemy troops hiding! We can only hold on and hope to stick them here. ”

"Do you want to bring all the troops here?" Kitasaki continued to ask again.

"Not necessarily!" Yoshimichi Toriya shook his head again. "As long as the ambush doesn't show up, they don't have to worry, but I'm worried that they will take advantage of the situation to sneak up on them from somewhere else! So go and give me my orders, and tell the guards everywhere to be vigilant......" As he spoke, there was a sudden noise in the distance.

He hurried back to the battlement, only to see a chaotic shout of killing in the castle town, and at the same time there was a burst of chaos among the group of people under the castle. Suddenly, a large group of men and horses rushed out of the castle town, and in the astonishment of everyone, they came to the castle and started a fierce battle with the group of people who came first.

"This ...... What's going on? Kitazaki asked in a daze, but no one could answer him.

The later group of about 1,000 people, due to the huge numerical advantage, quickly killed the first people, and they scattered around to do the final cleaning work.

"It's Yoshimichi Toriya down there, who is down there?" Stoneite shouted again to the castle.

"The last will be Motoka Motokawa of the Kuriya family, we heard that someone is pretending to be us, so hurry up!" The person who spoke stood in front of him, as if he were a rather young samurai. “…… The Oda army hiding in the castle town has been defeated by our army, and the remnants of the enemy are being cleaned up at the moment! ”

"Great work, sir! Do you want to take a break in town? Ishinate asked tentatively.

"No need!" The samurai of the castle unexpectedly rejected the offer. "We'll make a slight correction and we'll start tomorrow, so please transport the grain and grass to the castle town!" After saying that, he turned back to his subordinates and shouted, "You fools! Hurry up, grab your weapons and armor! Soon they were walking back to the castle town with the booty.

"My lord, ......what do you see?" asked Ishite, hesitantly.

"I'll go in person! Give me a change of clothes. After saying this, Toyao Yoshitsu said to Kitazaki again: "When I come back in a while, you remember: If there is someone else around me, even if I personally call the city, you can't open it!" Remember! ”

"Yes!" Kitasaki replied with a bow.

As the city gate opened, twenty grain and grass carts led by Yoshimichi Toriya came to the outside of the city. By the faint light of the stars and torches, it was possible to see the corpses scattered around, but the weapons and armor had all been stripped away.

"Maybe this time, we can really relieve the crisis of the Kitabatake family!" Just thinking about it, he suddenly felt a chill in his neck, turned his head and saw a "corpse" standing next to him, the dagger in his hand had been inserted into his neck, and at the same time, a large number of troops poured out from the castle town! It was the last thing he saw......