On the narrow mountain road, a team of swords and guns, horses and horses, marching under the morning sun, led by Oda Katsucho and Long Shaocong, were listless, the former eyes were dull, as if he had been hit by a big blow; The latter's eyes were dark, and he knew that he had not slept well last night.

In the dense forests on both sides of the road, there were bursts of piercing birdsong, disturbing the horses, the sleepy Long Shaocong was tireless, and Oda Katsucho next to him was even more irritable, and he wanted to pull his bow and arrows and shoot down all the annoying birds.

But the loudest noise came from the rear, and the soldiers pushed the fully loaded flatbed carts, shouting and following the horses, galloping on the mountain road, and the speed was on par with the marching team. The flatbed trucks were loaded with iron cannons, raw rice, tents and other materials, while important military rations were carried by "small pack loads" to facilitate the fire in the middle of the march.

The so-called iron cannon is the arquebus imported from the West, when Japan first saw this weapon, shocked by its huge sound and power when it fired the projectile, it was given a local name, and in the actual combat, more and more attention was paid to it, and the various wealthy daimyo had set up a special iron cannon team, Oda Nobunaga was no exception.

Long Shaocong once thought in private, if the arquebus can be called an iron cannon, then what kind of name will the red-coated cannon used by the Ming army be given if it is seen by the Japanese, is it possible, they will come up with a more powerful name than the "cannon"?

Of course, this thought is also fleeting, and he will not give himself a problem for no reason, so such a puzzling problem should be left to the consideration of the self-proclaimed excellent "Yamato nation". And when this nation saw Portugal's Furlong cannon at the end of the Warring States Period, it was shocked, and it really racked its brains and came up with an even more invincible name - national collapse, which means that once the cannon is over, the whole country will be gone, and the expansion will be so great that their ignorance will be exposed.

At this time, the team marched to a hillside section, and the noise of the convoy behind it became louder, and four or five people pulled forward and pushed backwards, pushing the flatbed trucks up the hill one by one.

For the brigade to travel far away, why not use a carriage to carry important materials, Long Shaocong once specifically asked Hasegawa Shuichi for advice, and the answer was that Japan is mostly mountainous, the roads are narrow, the carriage is too wide, walking on the rugged mountain road, not to mention the impact on the speed, but also bulky, not easy to go uphill and turn around.

In fact, this is just Hasegawa Shuichi's words, the Japanese barren people are poor, horses are scarce, and they can only barely meet the supply of war horses, which is the fundamental reason. However, the problem of roads is indeed a constraint, otherwise there are not enough horses, and they can be replaced by other animal power.

This general beside Nobunaga has always been known for his steadiness, prudence in words and deeds, and he will leave three points of leeway when speaking to anyone, and Long Shaocong is naturally no exception.

At this time, Shuichi Hasegawa, wearing pitch-black armor and carrying a spear, stood in the middle of the team, directing the soldiers to push the flatbed trucks up the hillside. In fact, he is the real commander of this transportation team, Oda Katsucho and Long Shaocong are busy with trysts, all kinds of material deployment, personnel scheduling, this elder worked tirelessly, and arranged it all night.

And that Aoki Saemon, although he was standing in the back team and pretending to be at this time, in fact, he went back to Azuchi Castle yesterday and handed over everything to Takahashi Yasu, and he went to the Fugetsu place to be happy. Therefore, the military rations and materials provided by the Shimai family were directly negotiated between the big housekeeper and Hasegawa Shuichi, and he, the young master, did not even interfere in any, which can be described as leisurely.

Just when the team was in a commotion and the crowd was boiling, suddenly from the side woods, out of the woods, a four-person carrying, unhurried, trembling and leisurely mixed into the marching procession. Due to the narrowness of the road, the four people went around left and right, but they still couldn't find the path to overtake, so they had to follow helplessly and wait.

The so-called "ride", is the name of the sedan chair in ancient Japan, this sedan chair and the ancient people of the Celestial Empire can be very different, its car is rectangular house shape, mostly wooden, the right compartment is equipped with a sliding door for people to enter and exit, the left compartment is a ventilation window, a thick long wooden board is horizontally raised on the top of the car, called "land ruler", is used to carry the sedan chair rod.

The small sedan chair stopped there, but it attracted the attention of Aoki Saemon, who saw that the roof was beautifully decorated, and the window curtains were painted with daffodils, and there was a faint fragrance floating inside, and with his years of experience in Fengyue Field, Aoki Saemon concluded that there must be a woman sitting in the sedan chair.

Thinking of this, he immediately took out the majesty of the young master of the Shimai family and shouted: "Bastard! Don't you have eyes? Don't hurry up and make way for the riders behind you and let the family go first. ”

The soldier was scolded for no reason, although he was angry in his heart, but he didn't dare to show it at will, so he had to reluctantly dodge a passage, and the four people carried a small sedan chair "squeak" through the middle of the team.

Aoki Saemon looked at the back, thinking that the other party would help him, and said thank you, but after waiting for a long time, not only did not a woman's voice come out of it, but even the four sedan chair men did not look back at him, and the kid was extremely depressed, "snap", opened the folding fan, and kept fanning the cool breeze on his face.

The group marched until noon, but still did not go out of the mountain road, Oda Katsunaga wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, grabbed the reins, and shouted on his horse: "Stop, everyone, it's not too late to march after lunch." When everyone heard this, they immediately showed joy, and secretly praised this young master for really caring for his subordinates, and couldn't help but thank the eight ancestors of Oda Katsucho one by one in their hearts.

Long Shaocong was not very accustomed to riding a horse, and when he heard that the young master had arranged it like this, he was also full of joy, and immediately dismounted from the saddle and moved his muscles.

But as soon as he jumped to the ground, he saw Hasegawa Shuichi riding a horse and running forward, bowing to Oda Katsucho and saluting: "Young master, the forest here is dense and the valley is deep, if you encounter an ambush, it is extremely difficult to get out, according to the opinion of your subordinates, it is better to get out of this wood, and it is not too late to rest." ”

When Oda Katsucho heard this, he waved his hand: "This place is still under the rule of my Oda family, where will there be an ambush?" Uncle Xiuyi, you have also seen it, the mountain road is rugged, everyone has walked for half a day, tired and tired, this young master has decided to rest on the spot for a while, and rush away immediately after eating, I don't think there will be any accidents. ”

Since the young master has said so, Hasegawa Xiu is a good soldier to beckon, and hides in the dense forest next to him to "bury the pot and make rice". But the so-called "burying the pot to make rice" is just that Long Shaocong was victimized by the later generations of commentaries, and he was just self-righteous, perhaps in the ancient Celestial Empire, the march and war were indeed carried with a pot stove, and there was a special fire head army for the whole team to eat.

But in Japan, because most of the time is a mountain march, in order to ensure good mobility, it has always been light and simple, pots and pans and other miscellaneous things, all strictly forbidden to carry, soldiers only carry the rice balls made in advance, and take them out to eat directly when resting, and even in the case of a military emergency, on the way to run, the problem of eating is solved.

However, due to eating during high-speed exercise, it must have been extremely damaging to the stomach and intestines, and Long Shaocong even doubted that the Japanese had thin yellow muscles, short stature, and indigestion, whether it was caused by this way of eating.

Fortunately, because Long Shaocong was always by Oda Katsunaga's side, the treatment was the same as that of the young master, and he didn't need to eat the rice balls that tasted the same as chewing wax, he could pick up the bento and eat a hot chazuke, but it was also slightly stronger than the rice balls, far from being delicious.

While eating, he observed the surrounding terrain, and felt that this endless mountain road was directly inserted into the dense forest, and if he encountered robbers and bandits, he would be wrapped into "dumplings" in an instant, and it was really as Hasegawa Shuichi said, it was extremely difficult to get out.

So, Long Shaocong leaned over to Oda Katsucho and said, "The terrain here is narrow, if we are ambushed, it will be really difficult for us to get out, so it is better to set off quickly, or take a detour......"

"Detour? It is a mountain road from Omi to Yamashiro Province, where do you go around? Oda Katsucho interrupted Long Shaocong's words angrily, and continued: "Resting and eating here was agreed by Uncle Shuichi, could it be that you are leading the troops to fight, and you have more experience than him?" After speaking, he snorted, turned his back and only cared about his own meal, and ignored him again.

Long Shaocong ate a closed door, and secretly said that this young master had taken the wrong medicine today, and he lost his temper at himself for no reason, so he had to shake his head, turned around, and forcibly swallowed the tea and rice in his hand.

How did he know that last night Oda Katsucho worked hard to separate his sister and Long Shaocong and go to say goodbye to Meizi, but he was snubbed by Xiao Meizi, and he kept the boundary between master and servant from beginning to end, Ren Oda Katsucho wore out his mouth, and he didn't hear a word of comfort and concern.

This young master, who was born in love, naturally blamed the crux of the problem on Long Shaocong, thinking that it was his existence that he was not treated by Meizi, and it was already good not to go up and work hard with Long Shaocong at this time, and the prestige of the master was considered to give Long Shaocong a great face.

The two of them here have just drawn a line and sworn not to communicate with each other, but Aoki Saemon over there is in a daze at a small sedan chair.

Since this sedan chair and the team walked side by side, this kid's eyes have never left, and at this time, the four people carrying the sedan chair also entered the forest to rest and eat, but they were a little far away from the whole team, and they probably didn't want to have too much contact with the officers and soldiers.

Aoki Saemon just wanted to witness the beauty of the people in the sedan chair, but after waiting for a long time, no one came out, only when the sedan chair man handed over the meal, he saw a slender hand as green as jade.

But the more this happened, the more Aoki Saemon's heart itched, like a long grass, he fidgeted, his legs involuntarily stepped away, and walked towards the wooden sedan chair.

Everyone was eating with their heads buried in their heads, and no one noticed him, but just as Aoki Saemon had just taken a few steps, there was a "whoosh" sound, and a feather arrow grazed his scalp, breaking the papaya-patterned flagpole, which showed that this arrow was strong.

Before Aoki Saemon could recover from his surprise, he heard a whistle, and a group of samurai in different costumes and swords suddenly poured out of the forest, surrounding the eating procession.

Before everyone could stand up and resist, they heard the horse bell ring, and a burly man in a black robe and black veil covered his face rode into the forest, pointed his spear, and shouted, "Kill me ......"