April and May are the rainfall season in Echigo Province, and as the sun warms up in the northern hemisphere, the thick snow that towers over the mountains melts away, and the melting snow just makes up for the lack of water in the rivers.

All adults over the age of thirteen in the territory work in the fields, and the standing army also bears the important responsibility of assisting the villagers in irrigation, fertilization, weeding, and insecticide.

It is absolutely not allowed to appear in Echigo the country with a sword on the street all day long samurai, let alone in the name of testing the knife with a knife to slash civilians, this kind of person is found to be hanged immediately, no matter who intercedes will never be forgiven, the murderer will die, the person who hurts and steals things will be punished, the unfilial person will be in the flail and parade the street, and the township is loyal and filial piety and honesty can be recommended to join the concentric police to strengthen the public.

Under the iron-fisted rectification of the Kira family, there were fewer and fewer cases of ronin picking quarrels and provoking troubles in the Echigo country, and those who did not know filial piety and did not know loyalty were dismissed in turn.

Ten kilometers southwest of Kasuga Mountain Castle, there is a wooden and stone structure hidden in the deep valley of the mountains, in which more than 6,000 Takeda military prisoners are detained, they are strictly guarded by 2,000 guards, and three sentry posts are set up on the periphery to make it difficult for birds to cross.

The captives did not have an easy time. During the busy farming season, they were urged by thousands of garrisons to do voluntary labor. The captives were subcontracted for farm work and the renovation and reinforcement of water conservancy facilities in the area of the Sekigawa Valley. They were a bunch of slaves who didn't cost a penny, and the slave owners were the Echigo masters on the top of the mountains.

They eat corn tortillas and pickled radishes with potatoes and kelp soup for three meals a day, work from dawn to sunset every day, and return to the cell every day tired and fall asleep, without having time and energy to think about prison escape or other things, and the full and oppressive life forces them to forget the scars of defeat, the hatred of the death of their relatives and colleagues, and even their own past.

The sturdy fortress was actually a prison for prisoners, and it not only contained 6,000 prisoners, but also many bandits and strongmen in Echigo Province. The samurai who committed the crime were also imprisoned inside, going out to do voluntary labor during the day, and returning to rest after dark, with the double insurance of the garrison and the Tongxin people, plus the guards of the pass in all directions of Echigo, there was no fear that these prisoners would dare to escape from prison in broad daylight, and those who dared to defy the law were hanged on the gallows of the prison, and so far no lucky person has escaped.

On this day, the captives were driven out to work early, and only a small number of guards gathered together in twos and threes to boast and chat, and Sanshiro stood listlessly on the arrow oar, and kicked the Keju all afternoon yesterday. In the evening, he was dragged by his colleagues to play military chess for half a night, which caused him to almost not get up today. Severe sleep deprivation and just want to rest with your eyes closed.

"I will never play military chess in the future, I swear to the gods and Buddhas!" Sanshiro struggled to support his heavy eyelids, still unable to stop gradually closing his tired eyes, in the dream he saw that he married a beautiful wife and gave birth to a pair of lovely children, and made meritorious achievements on the battlefield and was promoted to a samurai by the town government.

Just when he hugged his wife and kissed him wildly, a rumbling vibration broke the peaceful dream, opened his eyes and found that he had been holding a pillar and kissing for a long time, his mouth was full of the bitter and salty taste of wooden stakes, and the disgusting Sanshiro just wanted to vomit, and the lookout platform holding the arrow oar was about to vomit, but he accidentally caught a glimpse of hundreds of red-armored cavalry coming from outside the big bar, and at the head of this group of cavalry was a big Ashikaga two leading two flags.

"Is this ...... The Crowd of Imperial Horses? The town is a prince! Oops, I'm going to rule them quickly! Sanshiro didn't care about the taste in his mouth in a hurry, so he ran over and rang the alarm bell, and the rapid sound of the bell woke up the leisurely samurai in the big house, and they hurriedly gathered to ask what was going on, and soon several nearby arrows and arrows reported the same information, and His Royal Highness's team was coming.

The town guard of the prison made Suzuki Shigeji lead the defenders to escort the prisoners to work, and the highest official in the city was Miyake Masasada was shocked when he learned of Kira Yoshi's surprise inspection, and he could no longer care about the dark circles accumulated in the middle of the night while playing, and hurriedly ordered to lower the drawbridge gate and open the line to greet him, and the hastily arranged team was scattered and disheveled to meet the review.

Miyake Masada and several samurai leaders, the samurai's decadent demeanor, quickly attracted the attention of the Imperial Horse crowd, who did not laugh or laugh or taunt, but just stared lightly as if they were watching a group of funny street performers perform a burlesque, and five or six hundred horsemen broke into the camp as if no one was around, completely ignoring the samurai on both sides of the line.

Yamaoka was very annoyed, glared at Miyake Masada fiercely, and secretly scolded this bastard for embarrassing the Mikawa samurai, and chased after him with a horse's belly and carefully looked at Kirayoshi's face, Furui Mubo acted as if nothing had happened, and he couldn't see an expression of anger or disgust at all, but he really didn't dare to rest assured, he knew too much about Kira Yoshitoki's character of rubbing a little sand in his eyes.

Following the steps of the camp, all of them dismounted and walked in front of the first gate of the walled gate, and then passed through another gate to be the prison area for the prisoners, and after a while of entering the depths of the prison area, I heard Kira Yoshitoki say lightly: "Tomorrow, the Watanabe Takatsuna team will be transferred to guard the camp, and the Suzuki Shigeji team will be transferred to the next Etsushi Niigata Town to wait for the arrangement." ”

"Yes!" Yamaoka did not dare to speak for them, so he could only mourn for them in his heart.

Although the punishment of the Middle Ages in Japan included many systems of the Tang Dynasty, with the peaceful corruption of the Heian period and the reign of the samurai shogunate in the Genpei period, the relatively strict laws of the imperial court were replaced by the relatively loose samurai laws of the shogunate, and the original system of imprisonment and miscarriage collapsed.

Samurai who committed crimes were either dismissed from their posts and exiled. Or just kill the head. Lesser sins are likely to be exempted from punishment by the intercession of other samurai. This is tantamount to putting human favor above legal principles, as long as the samurai who committed the crime can be pardoned as long as he has a close relationship with the lord, otherwise he will be punished severely, such as Maeda Toshiie's killing of Juami and being exiled relatively roughly.

With the prison and guards, the next step is to provide a relaxed space for the execution of prison crimes, prisoners are free labor, and they are organized to spin, weave, print and dye during the busy agricultural period, and the heavier crimes are sent to Sado Island to mine and work as miners for the rest of their lives.

Climb over the gates. Enter the most heavily guarded central area, where the senior samurai of the Takeda family are imprisoned, and the once powerful Takeda generals are locked in compartments in white prison uniforms and hair, covered with dust and unkempt like a group of beggars for several months.

In a separate compartment in the deepest part, Takeda Nobuyhiro held the painting of Fujikawa Battle and closed his eyes in contemplation, as if he was thinking about a problem that bothered him, and he didn't care much when he heard the dense footsteps in the distance, and he was not too concerned about which samurai came to persuade him to surrender, and he was already familiar with the Kira family's persuasion methods. He simply put down Yoshitoki's autograph and leaned against the straw pile to continue sleeping.

After waiting for a while, sure enough, I heard the familiar sound of a lock. Takeda Shinshihiro still closed his eyes and said nothing, making up his mind to pretend to be asleep to avoid this pass, this method he has successfully used several times, the Kira family's persuasion messenger knew that he was pretending to be asleep but did not dare to do it, and was unwilling to shout and scream loudly, usually chirping crookedly for a long time, until he said that his mouth was dry and he did not see any movement before he was forced to retreat.

This time he also planned to use the same method to pretend to be asleep and dodge, but after waiting quietly for a long time, there was no movement outside, Takeda Shinshihiro subconsciously noticed that something was wrong, his eyes opened a gap slightly, but he saw Kira Yoshishi looking at him with a smile, and subconsciously sat up in shock, and began to regret his recklessness for a moment.

I didn't have time to tidy up my clothes, so I hurriedly bowed down respectfully: "Takeda Shinfan see the town hall!" ”

"Ahem! But these days do not see the light, presumably the stable hall does not know the changes in the outside world, when today His Majesty officially practiced the enthronement to change the year name Yongroku, my lord has been given three by the emperor, and now it is already the prince of the town, and the shogunate has sealed the lord as the guardian of Ueno, presumably the stable hall can understand what the meaning of this is, right? ”

Yamaoka Chang interjected very cleverly, and it immediately had an immediate effect, and Takeda Shinkan listened to a stirring spirit, knowing that the smiling young man in front of him had thrown his brother away from afar, and said secretly in his heart: "I never thought that this defeat would cause such a change, it seems that my brother still misestimated the background and skills of the town government!" Now that the big defeat is out, I don't know what the situation of Shinano will be? If my Takeda family wants to survive under the soldiers of the Kira family, I must have a good relationship with this princess, and in the form of my Takeda family, I can't take any more dangerous moves. ”

Kira Yoshitoki commanded a few words at the samurai behind him, and then said with a smile: "Takeda Norito is fine, I have been thinking that Aoyagi Castle has been goodbye for several years, but I don't know that we will be here when we meet again, so Yu can't help but sigh that the sun and the moon are changing and the world is impermanent!" The stables and the rest belong to two camps, and it is beyond reproach to attack each other for their own reasons, but now that His Royal Highness the Stable has become a prisoner of my Kira family, the Stable Hall should change its position, why should it be obsessed with the inadequacy? ”

Takeda Nobuyhiro replied respectfully and bluntly: "Zhenfu Gong, I'm sorry! No matter how dilapidated the hometown is, it is our homeland after all, and what the samurai pursue is to protect the inheritance and glory passed down from their ancestors, and we will sacrifice everything for this, so we will never surrender! Thank you for your understanding! ”

"It is worthy of being the model of the Kai samurai, and the samurai of the Takeda family that Yu admires the most......" Kira Yoshitoki shook his head with a smile, as if he had expected this answer, and said: "The point of the pawn stable is what Yu appreciates, if the pawn stable is moved by Yu Sanyan to take the initiative to serve him, then it is not the samurai model that Yu admires...... That's it! Yu is not embarrassed to pawn the stable, clean this cell, open an air window for ventilation and lighting, and wash every day, and the daily food must be carried out according to the standards of the reserve general, don't let the samurai of the Takeda family despise us! ”

Takeda Nobuyoshi never imagined that he would leave in such a dashing manner, without even any angry or unhappy look, and let himself go so easily. Looking at the distant figure suspiciously, he hesitated: "I didn't expect the Town Hall Guild to be such an atmospheric warrior." Is this the bearing of a famous samurai family? ”

Pick up the elaborate painting again. Takeda Nobuyoshi led the army to raid the Heike camp, the Fujikawa birds spread their wings and flew high, Taira Weisheng panicked and fled in embarrassment by the Lang Party, and countless white flags in the main force of Minamoto Yoritomo waved in the wind, it was an era that made people feel angry, and it was the first time that Genji of Kawachi used iron and blood to kill to show the world his sharp fangs.

Takeda Nobuhiro knelt down reverently, leaned down and bowed deeply: "May the Great Bodhisattva of Nan Mu Hachiman bless the long martial arts fortune of the Kawachi Genji and bless my martial arts family for a long time!" Bless my Takeda family from the calamity! "He doesn't worship paintings, he worships his ancestors. It is not people who are worshipped, but the gods of the Genji clan.

In another cell, when Takeda Yoshinobu glared at Kira Yoshinori angrily, he still remembered the physical characteristics of the general who rushed into the camp that day, most of the samurai who were more than 1.7 meters tall in the entire eastern country were in Echigo, and now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered that the red armor worn by the general was unheard of.

The barrel-shaped armor was able to block the sword slashing, and he didn't notice the number of arrows in his body at close range, and the bronzing Ashikaga two draws and two imperial patterns were faintly visible on the red armor, and he was sure that the royal patterns were completely different from the ordinary Ashikaga two draws, and only the Furukawa Gong was qualified to wear them in the entire Kanto.

Takeda Yoshinobu's whole body trembled with anger, and he was helplessly unarmed, and there were more than a dozen elite samurai with scabbards in their hands on the opposite side. Holding back the anger in his chest, he asked, "You...... You are the samurai who harmed my father that day, you are ...... Is that the governor? ”

Yamaoka pressed the knife and stood aside. Reminder: "The Yixin Hall should visit the town government!" ”

Takeda Yoshinobu came to his senses and hurriedly saluted, people had to bow their heads under the eaves, Takeda Nobuyoshi had already told him not to resist the samurai of the Kira family, this is not a good thing for himself and his subordinates The captured samurai, maybe they will not take the young master of the Takeda family, but there are still more than 6,000 colleagues in this prison.

Wouldn't it be his fault if the samurai of the Kira family were angry with him and turned around and dealt a heavy blow to his sons? As the future governor of the Takeda family, how could he bear to watch his Lang Party being persecuted, so he had to choose to continue to endure it, and endure this breath for himself and for the six thousand children.

Obviously, Takeda Yoshinobu is three years older than him, but the scene looks completely opposite, Takeda Yoshinobu is like a child who has not grown up with the impulse of a young man, and the color of anger appears on his face, on the other hand, Yoshishi Kira still looked at him with a smile, and said gently: "How has Yoshinobu lived in the past few months?" Is it still comfortable? What's the mood? What books can be read to the guards, and they will do their best to meet them......"

“…… No, our Kai warriors don't lack the most tenacity, and we don't dare to bother the town government to inquire! Yoshinobu Takeda replied stiffly.

Seeing Takeda Yoshinobu's angry expression, he knew that this time it was a trip for nothing, and these two people were determined to persuade either of them in a short period of time, so he nodded with a smile and said, "Well, then please ask Yoshinobu to calm down and spend more time thinking about life choices, maybe it will help you." ”

Seeing that Yoshitoki Kira nodded and turned around to leave, Takeda Yoshinobu immediately couldn't help but shout: "Wait! I have something to say! Where is the messenger sent by my father? Why don't you let us go! I can give you whatever you need, whether it is money, food or territory, as long as you let us go, I can give you anything! ”

The crowd of Mima unanimously showed a disdainful expression, and Takeda Yoshinobu said angrily: "What do you see! Don't know who I am? I'm the young master of the Takeda family, how can you do this to me! What does it mean to catch us and neither kill nor release? Is there a samurai like this? Answer me! ”

Kira Yoshitoki glanced at Yamaoka, and the latter strode up to him when he saw this and sneered, "Yoshinobu Hall must not have figured out the situation yet!" Your father was defeated by us, and only 6,000 people escaped from the more than 20,000 troops, and even the core samurai such as the noble Yoshinobu Hall and the Warstable Hall were captured, and the last year Sakushi County was instantly broken under the attack of our army, and now Chikuma County is in danger, and where can the Takeda family have the strength to redeem the Yoshinobu Hall like a taut bowstring? So please be patient for a while, and maybe you will be able to be reunited with your father here in a year and a half. ”

The crowd laughing when the audience heard this, and Takeda Yoshinobu grabbed his sleeve and staggered back with a look of disbelief, muttering: "Impossible! No way! I am my father's only son-in-law, and my father will definitely come to my rescue, and he will definitely ...... You must be lying to me! I don't believe your nonsense! Don't think I'm going to take your word for it, I'm not going to believe you! Don't even think about it! ”

Takeda Yoshinobu was hit incoherently, although he didn't believe all this, but subconsciously accepted this statement, in fact, he also had a blind younger brother Umino Nobuqin who was the same age as Kira Yoshitoki, and a few years ago he had a serious illness and a high fever, until he burned his eyes and lost his sight.

People are always hypocritical, according to common sense, he should not say that he is the only son-in-law, only in this extreme case will his true opinion be exposed, the proud Takeda Yoshinobu does not approve of the blind brother, the so-called brother and brother Gong are just playing for their family and parents, pride is also one of the inferior roots of human beings.

At the same time, it can be seen that Takeda Yoshinobu trusts his father very much, but he doesn't know that his father didn't want him at all, and he forgot about him on Kawanaka Island with his own brother.

Yamaoka grasped this point and continued to stimulate Takeda Nobuyoshi's fragile nerves: "If you think about the number of months you have lived here, have there been envoys who have come to visit you from late autumn to late spring?" Have you ever heard of any news from the Takeda family? Yoshishin Hall can be thought to be deliberately obstructed by my Kira family, but what is it that my Kira family is holding you prisoner for? Isn't it a ransom?

I can't detain the Yixin Hall for a lifetime, that's not what my generation of samurai did, the Yixin Hall will return to Kai sooner or later, the Lord very much hopes that the Takeda family will be replaced by a more sensible family governor, don't always think of conspiracy and treacherous tricks, why should the Miao descendants of the Hanoi Genji fight to the death, in vain hurt the hundreds of years of foundation accumulated by their fathers and ancestors!

But the problem is that the envoy of the Takeda family did not arrive, and the lord waited in Kasuga Mountain Castle for a whole winter plus the whole spring, which shows that Takeda Daizen lacks the goodwill it deserves, perhaps he thinks that the Takeda family can lead the army to regain the land, and then take the opportunity to force us to exchange hostages, but in this way, your position in Yoshinobu Hall will become dispensable. ”

"I won't take your word for it! Absolutely not going to believe it! My father will come to my rescue! Not later, but now, the messenger will come, not today or tomorrow! You go! Hurry up! I don't want to see you again! Takeda Yoshinobu went hysterically mad, and the crowd rushed up to hold him down.

Even so, he still shouted and sapped, and Yamaoka Nagaga withdrew from the cell with a dozen personal guards to protect Kira Yoshitoki, and cursed in his mouth: "This Takeda Yoshinobu really doesn't know what to do, do you think that I have become a habit to cheat the Ashikaga family like them?" Tell him the truth and still don't believe it, it's really hopeless! ”

The surrounding samurai showed expressions of approval, but Kira shook his head and said, "Yoshinobu Temple's mood is understandable, the proud father abandoned him when he needed help the most, this is probably the most tragic moment in his life, you should understand him with a tolerant heart, and you should not mock him." ”

"Yes! I'll get it. "Yamaoka has been solemn and obedient to orders, although he has been unable to make great achievements in battles over the years, but every war has appeared and played, and after several trainings, he washed off his desire for fame when he was young, revealing a simple and unpretentious samurai temperament, and having this temperament is the beginning of giving birth to a good general.

Looking at the roaring sound in the cell quickly stopped, it seemed that some samurai had completely relaxed him with a blow from the back of the neck, and it was better to rest early than to endure a huge mental stimulation, and the large group of people and horses quickly left the damp and dark hinterland of the prison when they surrounded Kirayoshi, and the proud Mima people were really unwilling to stay in this filthy and dark prison for even a quarter of an hour.

Kira Yoshitoki looked back at the deep prison again, smiled slightly, and thought secretly: "The seeds of distrust have been quietly planted, but I don't know when it will take root?" (To be continued......)