In the first half of September in the sixth year of Tensho (1578), the continuous lewd rain brought autumn to Shikoku early, and although the lush vegetation still clung to the tail of summer, the weather was indeed cold.

I stood on the hillside in my small armoured armour and fixed my eyes fixed on the bushes in front of me. The arrow in my hand was already on the string of the longbow, and my hand was a little sore because it had been stretched for so long.

Suddenly, the bush shook slightly, and a fat gray rabbit sprang out. Seeing so many people standing on the open ground in front of him, he didn't run, but stood up on his hind legs, rolled over his pair of red crystal eyes and looked at us.

"Look where you're running this time!" I tilted my head and narrowed one eye to take a look, and as soon as my front hand pushed steady and my back hand loosened, the feather arrow swooped out. But the arrow landed on the ground two feet from the target, and the rabbit ran away two steps and stood up again, looking at us again.

"Poof!" A snicker sounded not far behind him, and I knew who it was without looking. Except for Shinhachiro, a guy who doesn't go up or down, who has such guts!

The battle in Iyo was in full swing, and 30,000 soldiers and horses led by Takenaka Hanbei and Gamo clan had already left for the front. Although the small clans of Chomune, Kono, and Iyo have fought each other very much, even my troops and Maori have fought more than a dozen times.

This war was clearly a struggle between the Chosamune Ibe family and the Kono family, but in fact, Oda and Mori were fighting for the hegemony of Shikoku, but neither side was willing to pierce this layer of window paper, but only openly reprimanded and secretly instigated the vassal nobles to participate in the war. In this way, this battle has been fought for more than a month, but many people still can't say a meridian.

They're not in a hurry, and I'm even less anxious. The main force was taken away by Takenaka and Gamu, and the small wealthy clan also went to Iyo's to Iyo, and to the territory of the territory, a large camp that was still mighty not long ago is now only a few thousand of us left. I settled here in peace, fishing and hunting. Last night, I asked them to set up this hunting ground, and today I was going to invite Sanhao Xiaoyan to come together, but he said that he was not feeling well.

"Falcon!" Although Shinhachiro was the only one laughing, I still felt shameless, and pointed the longbow in my hand at the rabbit.

A divine steed Hai Dongqing flew up from the squire's holstered hand, and swooped down on the rabbit with a flick of his wings, his paws stretched forward like steel hooks, and shot out with a whistling of the air and a pleasant eagle bell. The battered rabbit rolled forward, breaking its neck and dying.

"Don't just know how to joke others, try it yourself!" I turned back to Shinhachiro, who was sitting there eating refreshments.

"Now I don't have much interest in this kind of little thing, let alone being driven in front of others!" He swallowed a piece of cream cake and wiped his mouth, reaching for the Divine Arm Bow. "For a marksman like me, this method of hunting is simply an insult. Just like trying to win celebrities and fierce generals on the battlefield, it's only fun to fight those big guys! ”

"Hunting is sometimes not only about skill and guts, but also about brains!" I pouted at him with disdain, and sometimes I had to strike at his weaknesses.

"Lord, there is prey again!" Goto Matabei beside me reminded me and handed me a feather arrow at the same time.

"Poof!" This time, a fawn slightly larger than Blackback's had run out of the bushes, and had stumbled towards us because of the panic.

"Whoosh!" This time I was not too hasty to shoot, and only shot the arrow when the fawn was only five or six feet away from me. The arrow was right in the heart of the fawn, and it fell with a grunt, and its limbs twitched for a while and slowly stopped moving.

"How's it going this time?" I swaggered my longbow to the crowd behind me. It's just that I've hidden a secret, and that is that I was aiming for its neck.

"His Royal Highness is outstanding in bow horses, worthy of the first general of the Oda family!" Ying and Xue said with joy.

"If you can't shoot so closely, it's better to change careers and go back to business!" Shinhachiro sarcastically satirized as usual.

"This is the difference between a commander and a general, you do more, I use my brains more!" At this time, I saw a small yellow flag raised in the valley in the distance and waved it in this direction, which was a sign that there was no prey for the time being. "How many people can you destroy alone in a campaign? Three or five hundred people will reach the sky! "I also walked back to the shogunate built on the flat lawn, Ying poured me a cup of tea, and Ah Xue handed me a snow-white wet hand towel." Speaking of siege, even if you are brave and invincible, you can't break the city wall with your head! And a commander like me is different, the army is pointing at the city and breaking the wall, and the blood is flowing. If we compare with each other, who is not necessarily the bigger hero! ”

"I can't mean you, but I still like to fight!" Shinhachiro doesn't care much about that. He just likes the thrill of fighting, but he doesn't care if he makes a name for himself. "Iyo's battle has been going on for so long, why didn't you send me over? Everyone is a cavalryman, but those Cossacks can follow Lord Takenaka to have a good time, why do you let me be idle here! ”

"There are mostly mountain castles in the middle of Iyo, what are you doing with Koroei?" I wiped my face clean, and Ah Xue took the towel back again. "Takenaka and Gamo-sama had only fought twice when they first entered Iyo, and they hadn't seen a few Mori soldiers yet. Now the enemy has changed his strategy and is just holding on to the city and waiting for us to attack. But that's fine, the cannon can come in handy. In fact, except for a dozen or so overly dangerous cities that were besieged now, the other small wealthy clans surrendered as long as they were frightened, and the reason why it was so slow was because they had to wait for the Changzong and our troops to come over from the south. There is nothing good to fight, what are you going to do! ”

"That's better than being idle!" His interest was indeed much less, but he still asked: "Fighting consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, isn't it better to win as quickly as possible?" Since Changzong and my department can win whether they come or not, what are you waiting for him to do! ”

"This war is a war between the Chozong and the Kono family, so naturally it will not be official until they come!" I didn't pay much attention to his words, but moved my hand that was a little numb from the bowstring. "Nominally, Takenaka and Gamo-sama are just doing a favor to the head relatives of Chozong, so at least in terms of face, we have to take him as the lead. That's why I've kept them stable for the past half a month, and I've just seized the time to control the cities of Nakayo, Kita, and Ukigu Prefectures......"

"What's the point! If you can't make a profit, you won't talk about it, and when it's over, you'll have to return the territory to the Nagazong family......" Shinhachiro muttered with great dissatisfaction.

"Who said that the occupied territory would be returned to the Changzong family?" I was amazed at how he could have such an idea.

"Didn't you just say that this battle was fought for the Changzong family?" Instead, he looked at me strangely. "If Iyo is stopped, how can it be called fighting for others? We should send troops to receive some thank-you gifts, but if we don't force us not to go, won't it become a dove occupying Nestle? ”

"I am very suspicious of the blood relationship between you and Xianzhi now, why didn't Grandpa make some medicine that can make you smarter back then?" I didn't seem to pretend to stare at him for a long time, but I was. "Listen! These local daimyo did not know how to attack each other, and as a result, the war spread more and more, and eventually even the neighboring countries were involved. Then, in order to calm the situation and save the people of Limin, I intervened to mediate, and in order to prevent similar things from happening again in the future, I 'reluctantly' sent troops to supervise the above-mentioned areas with the authorization of the imperial court and the Oda inner government. As for why I don't go now, it's because I've just reached the stage of 'disputes', and I have to wait until I need 'mediation' before I come forward!" ”

"Good...... It's complicated! "Shinhachiro's originally clear and bright eyes rose a bunch of small stars that swirled chaotically." Forget it, there's no way I'm going to figure it out! He shook his dizzy head. Just tell me when this mediation stage is! ”

"When the Maori Army leaves!"

"Why wait for them to leave?"

"Because I can appear as an arbiter in front of the small wealthy families of the four countries, if I join the Maori family, I am afraid that it can only be an equal status!"

"Then why did they leave?"

"Because when they feel that it is not profitable to stay, they have to leave!"

"So ......"

"Lord, there's prey coming!" Goto Matabei's reminder finally freed me. I turned my head to look, and sure enough, a red flag appeared in the valley and shook violently.

"Okay, look at me!" I hurriedly picked up my longbow and fled from this "place of suffering".

This time, the bushes shook from small to large for a long time, and the dogs in the driving team barked very happily. The soldiers were also at the bottom of the hillside, "Oh hehe! The ground kept shouting, and it seemed that it was very difficult to drive away this prey.

"I can't shoot it anymore!" I set up my arrows and kept a close grip on the bushes, expecting to show a big face at once.

"Oh~woo!" After an angry roar, a black bear sprang out of the bushes, its blood-red eyes locked on me. After the human standing, the black bear was more than two meters tall, and the white triangle on its chest was clearly visible. "Oh~woo!" It screamed again, and then lunged at me.

"Smack!" The bow and arrow in my hand fell to the ground, how could I control a black bear with this. At this time, Ah Xue and Ying in the back hurriedly ran over, and the attendants also swarmed up, but this time it was only lightly armed, and they didn't even bring slightly heavier weapons.

"Smack! ~~~ Porphy! At the sound of the bowstring, an iron black feather arrow shot from behind, and after a flash, the arrow feather disappeared into the left chest of the black bear, and the inertia of the forward pounce could not offset this huge force, and the black bear's body was actually pushed back.

"I really didn't expect it!" Shinhachiro shook up from behind in high spirits and kicked twice at the black bear's corpse. "I asked the driving team to find some big things like wolves and bears yesterday, but I didn't expect them to find them after a busy night's work!" He grabbed the half-piece shaft that emerged from the black bear's back and pulled it out hard, then turned to me and said, "Brother-in-law, are you okay?" ”