As the sun set, on a major road not far from Kyoto, Japan, Ashikaga Kazuki led a convoy slowly forward, and after receiving an envoy from the Ashikaga family who was willing to take them to meet the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Ashikaga Kazuki arranged the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce, and then personally took people back to Japan, talking about the first time in decades that he had come back after escaping from Japan from the current situation of his dissatisfied family.

"The vicinity of Kyoto has become so desolate, it seems that the war in Japan has been worse than I imagined in recent years, this troubled era has lasted too long, and it is time to end!" Ashikaga Kazuki, who was riding on a horse, looked at the fields full of barren grass on both sides of the road, and he was also very emotional, and when he said the last sentence, his eyes also showed a bit of a fierce gaze.

Although Ashikaga Kazuki is far away in the Ming Dynasty, he has been paying attention to the situation in Japan, and now his cousin Ashikaga Yoshisai has re-ascended the throne of the general, but the original general, Ashikaga Yoshisumi, who also belongs to their Ashikaga family, was not killed, but went into exile, and from time to time organized the army to have wars with Ashikaga Yoshisai, it can be said that the two sides have been fighting and stopping in recent years, and there have been several wars near Kyoto, and the people must have fled or died because of the war. Now it is not surprising that he sees the fields near Kyoto so desolate.

This time, Ashikaga Kazuki not only came back by himself, but also brought back the money earned by the Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce in recent years, which was not used to fight, but to fund his cousin Ashikaga Yoshisai to recruit samurai, in order to establish an army directly under the control of their Ashikaga family, so that they could have greater confidence.

Speaking of which, although the current shogun Ashikaga Yoshisai has been restored to the position of general, the Ashikaga shogunate has long been abandoned by the daimyo in various places. The shogun's decree was only valid in the Kyoto area. And it's even worse. Even the power in this area of Kyoto was not directly in the hands of the shogun, but was divided between the Hosokawa clan, the Ouchi clan, the Hatakeyama clan and other families, and it can be said that although Ashikaga Yoshisai was restored to the position of shogun, he was actually a puppet in the hands of various major clans.

Thinking of his cousin's current situation, Ashikaga Kazuki couldn't help but sigh, although the other party was nominally the shogun of Japan, he actually had no power at all. Even his usual actions are under the surveillance of others, and there is no freedom at all, but he is much better than his cousin, at least in the Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce, he has absolute power and freedom, which is one of the reasons why he has never wanted to come back.

Just as Ashikaga Kazuki was riding on his horse and thinking about his thoughts, he suddenly heard a commotion from the front of the group, interrupting his thoughts, which made him stunned for a moment, and then looked up. only to find that a group of ragged guys appeared in front of the team at some point, most of them holding sharpened bamboos. Something was arguing with the people at the front of the line.

"Go see what's going on!" Seeing the situation ahead, Ashikaga Kazuki frowned and ordered the entourage beside him.

Hearing his order, an entourage immediately ran to the front of the team, and after a while, I saw this entourage running back quickly and reported: "Lord Qiqi, the people blocking the road in front claim to be a group of bandits, and they want us to keep the money to buy the road, otherwise they will rob it themselves!" ”

"Bandits?" Ashikaga Kazuki couldn't help but laugh dumbly when he heard this name, although their Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce is nominally a legitimate Chamber of Commerce, but in fact, they often rob cargo ships at sea, it can be said that they are essentially a group of pirates, but I didn't expect that as soon as I came ashore, I actually met my counterparts on land, but I don't know if these bandits can fight against their own group of pirates?

I saw Ashikaga Kazuki sandwich the horse's belly between his legs, and soon rushed to the front of the team, and then saw that the gang of self-proclaimed bandits in front of him was shouting loudly, and the only young man with a katana in front of him should be their leader, and at this time, he also shouted loudly like everyone else: "You merchants hurry up and obediently leave the money, otherwise don't blame us for being polite and kill all your cowardly merchants!" ”

Seeing the other party's arrogant appearance, Ashikaga Kazuki smiled faintly, the situation of the Ashikaga family is not good now, but the Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce that he has run overseas is strong, and it has also delivered a lot of wealth to the family, which makes others have some concerns about the Ashikaga family, but it is precisely because of this that many people want to get rid of him, so he naturally does not dare to come back openly, but dresses up the whole team as a very ordinary caravan, although there are constant wars in various parts of Japan, but some urgently needed goods are also needed in various places, Therefore, the various forces are still very welcome to such a caravan, which also makes their journey unimpeded, but they did not expect to arrive in Kyoto soon, and they actually encountered a group of bandits.

I saw Ashikaga Kazuki drive forward, and then looked the first thief up and down, only to see that the other party's clothes were tattered, covered with a very old bamboo armor, and the blade of the katana in his hand had many bounces, which looked like a saw, and judging from the way he held the knife, I am afraid that he had not learned the sword technique at all. As for the so-called bandits behind the other party, they all have yellow faces and thin muscles, many people's clothes can't even cover their buttocks, and they only have bamboo guns in their hands.

Seeing this, Ashikaga Kazuki smiled dumbly again, and at the same time deliberately asked knowingly: "I am the master of this caravan, what do you want to do?" ”

Hearing that Ashikaga Kazuki was the master of the caravan, the young leader of the bandits immediately perked up and said: "Since you are the master of the caravan, then think about it, hurry up and leave half of the caravan's goods, so that we can let you live, otherwise none of you will want to leave alive!" ”

When the young leader said that he was the last, he waved the broken knife in his hand vigorously, apparently trying to threaten Ashikaga Kazuki. The reason why the other party has the confidence to block the road and rob is mainly because Ashikaga Kazuki is worried about being suspected by others, so there are not many people in the caravan, and most of them are dressed as ordinary coachmen, and there are not a few people dressed as guards, but there are thirty or forty people in front of them, and the number is a small and half more than the people in the caravan, so they don't take the caravan so seriously.

Ashikaga Kazuki wanted to be able to learn about the living conditions of the people near Kyoto through the mouth of these bandits in front of him, but he didn't expect that at this time, his subordinates reminded: "Lord, let's hurry up, it's not early now, let's rush to rest outside Kyoto, it's safer there, otherwise if you rest in this kind of wilderness, it's easy to encounter these small troubles in front of you!" ”

"Well, it's okay, let's disperse these bandits, but the leader is captured and brought in the team, and I have something to ask him about in the evening!" Ashikaga Kazuki also nodded when he heard this, and said, The whole country of Japan is in constant turmoil, which also leads to bandits everywhere, and it is only safer near some big cities, otherwise if you camp and rest in the wild, you will definitely encounter a lot of trouble at night, and then the entire caravan will not want to sleep.

Hearing Ashikaga Kazuki's order, the surrounding caravan guards who had been angered by these bandits, but did not dare to act without permission, immediately took action, only to see them pull out the long knives hidden from the caravan caravan, and then rushed into the bandits like a tiger, these people are the elite of the Chamber of Commerce brought back by Ashikaga Kazuki from Shuangyu Port, killing people is as simple as eating and drinking water for them, so before those bandits can react, nearly ten bandits have died in their hands.

Seeing that the caravan that was originally regarded as a fat sheep suddenly turned into a tiger, and it was so fierce, so many people died on his side in the blink of an eye, and blood sprayed everywhere, which made many thieves stupid, but then reacted, many people immediately shouted and threw down the bamboo gun in their hands, turned around and ran away in all directions.

For those who escaped, Ashikaga Kazuki's people did not chase after them, but the young bandit leader just wanted to turn around and run away, but he didn't expect to be blocked by the guards of the two caravans, looking at the two bloody long knives in front of him, the young bandit leader immediately threw down the broken knife in his hand, and then knelt on the ground and begged: "My lord, spare my life, the villain will never dare again!" ”

For the bandit leader's plea for mercy, Ashikaga Kazuki didn't even pay attention to it, but the people from the Chamber of Commerce next to him stepped forward and kicked the other party to the ground, and then tied the other party with a rope and threw it to the car, and then Ashikaga Kazuki ordered to continue on the road, and the bodies of the killed bandits were thrown by them to the side of the road, and there was no need to worry about scaring others, because in Japan in this era, dead people can be seen almost everywhere, and it is not a big deal at all.

Although Ashikaga Kazuki and his team were not far from Kyoto, but now that the sun was setting, they could not reach Kyoto before dark, and Kyoto was forbidden to enter and exit after dark, so when they arrived at Kyoto, they camped outside the city, ready to rest for a night before entering the city, and it was so close to Kyoto, and there were other caravans resting outside the city, which was relatively safe.

After Ashikaga Kazuki ordered the men to arrange the camp, his entourage brought him dinner, and after a few casual bites, he asked someone to bring the bandit leader to his tent, ready to inquire about the recent situation around Kyoto.

After a while, the people below brought up the bandit leader who was tied up, but at this time, the other party had already lost the arrogance of the previous roadblock robbery, but a face of fear, especially when he saw Ashikaga Kazuki sitting in the tent, he shrank back in fear, it seems that he has been frightened by the brutal performance of Ashikaga Kazuki's men before. (To be continued......)