Located in a courtyard near the Kozan Temple in Mikawa Province, there is the sound of summer cicadas. The leaves outside the courtyard swayed gently, but no wind blew in, and the courtyard was unusually hot.

"Anyone?" There was a knock at the door.

"Who's coming?" Yashiro leaned out of his upper body.

"Do you want a bamboo tube? Sold cheaply. ”

Seeing the figure of the person selling bamboo slips at the door, Yashiro cleaned up and greeted him out, "The one who sells bamboo tubes." Let me see. ”

Yashiro has only one subordinate, and that old woman happened to go out today.

"Heaven and earth." Yashiro said.

"Xuanhuang." The bamboo tube seller replied in a low voice, then looked around vigilantly and handed over the bamboo tube. Inside the bamboo tube were two secret letters.

"Cheaper?"

"Eighty Wen."

"Seventy-five?"

Yashiro stood up and handed a folded paper bag to the bamboo seller.

"You're really good at bargaining. Then ......" The man put the paper bag in his pocket.

After completing the transaction, the seller of bamboo slips quietly left Yashiro's house and shouted.

Yashiro returned to the bedroom with some confusion. Two secret letters were sent, one for him and the other for Mrs. Tsukiyama. Yashiro stood up vigilantly, looked down the hallway with a dry cough, and then quickly opened the envelope and looked at it.

After reading the letter to him quickly, he immediately rolled it up and put it in his pocket; Then he opened the letter to Mrs. Tsukiyama. For some reason, he felt his hair stand on end, his heart was cold, and his whole body trembled. There is no greater evil than war. He finally succeeded in making Tsukiyama's jealousy burn and began to take revenge on Tokugawa Ieyasu.

"In any case, this war must be won." Yashiro muttered to himself. While opening the secret letter.

And after reading the two secret letters. Yashiro secretly looked around. In a panic, he rolled up the letter and struck the flint. He wanted to burn the letter that the Luo Family Intelligence Pavilion had written to him first. Seeing the secret letter turn into white paper ashes and fall, Yashiro was in a cold sweat.

The secret pact between Lady Tsukiyama and the Imagawa family has been decided. In response to Mrs. Tsukiyama's request to keep the old Tokugawa domain, the lord not only readily complied, but also promised to give a part of the Imagawa family's domain to Mrs. Tsukuyama's son, Nobuyasu.

Thinking that Tokugawa Ieyasu didn't know anything about it, he left Okazaki early in order to resist the invasion of the Takeda family. Thinking of this, Yashiro felt that Tokugawa Ieyasu was simply a tragedy.

He deliberately went out into the courtyard and crumpled the ashes. Then he hurriedly prepared to stop and go to Mrs. Tsukiyama's. Yashiro was sweating profusely, not just because of the heat, but also because of nervousness.

And at this time, the next man returned. Yashiro immediately ordered: "I forgot a big thing, I am going to Mrs. Tsukiyama now." After the order, he went out of the house with a heavy heart.

Just as Yashiro was on his way to Mrs. Tsukuyama in Okazaki Castle, in the main hall of the Horai Temple in Mikawa, Takeda Shingen sat cross-legged on a stacked mat with his eyes downcast. A long coat was draped over his shoulders. Although he had been concentrated by iron cannons before, he still insisted on sitting up today.

And. Today, Takeda Shingen's expression is very peaceful, his hands are folded, and strings of rosaries are wrapped around his wrists. In front of Takeda Shingen, one of the many Takeda Katsuyori, Takeda Nobuyo, Katsuyama Nobusada, Nishina Morinobu, a Shinryu, Takeda Shinshi, and Anayama Meixue are all here.

In addition, more than 20 important ministers of the Takeda family, such as Yamayama Shokei, Baba Nobubo, Naito Masatyo, Oyamada Nobushige, Hara Masain, Tsuchiya Masaji, Sanada Nobutsuna, Takeda Nobutoyo, Kohata Nobutada, etc., knelt in front of Takeda Shingen.

Now the faces of the generals in Shanxian County, Machang and other generals are gloomy. After all, Takeda Shingen slowly opened his eyes and said to the retainers, "I'm afraid I'll never see it again, and the day when my flag was erected in Kyoto." ”

Hearing Takeda Shingen's words, all the retainers had a look of sadness on their faces, and several retainers secretly wiped their eyes.

Takeda Katsuyori sobbed and said, "Father, please take care, after returning to Kofu, you will be able to take care of your health and make a comeback in the future." ”

Takeda Shingen said calmly: "Don't say words of relief My Takeda Shingen's ambition in life is Shangluo, but after I die, you don't have to stick to my ambitions, you have to forget about it, keep it secret for at least three years, don't make a noise, put the garrison territory first, don't act rashly If anyone disobeys my orders and sends troops without authorization, the Takeda family will surely perish." ”

Speaking of this, Takeda Shingen's eyes swept over the faces of the retainers, and he said in an accentuated voice: "You must remember this, and obey it as if it were my last will." ”

Hearing this, all the retainers bowed down with a sigh, expressing their obedience to Takeda Shingen's last orders.

On the other hand, Takeda Katsuyori's lips moved, and his fingers tightly pressed around his knees, as if he wanted to say something. Takeda Shingen saw Takeda Katsuyori's expression, then pointed to a box and said, "Here are 800 pieces of white paper, on which I have drawn a monogram, and in the future, when the documents are sent by the countries, I will use these pieces of paper with the monogram to reply." ”

"This is enough for you for three years, and now, after three years, you will put my body in armor......

"Father, I know that some things are extremely rude, but if I don't say them today, I will regret it later," Takeda Katsuyori suddenly raised his head and said sincerely, "Please leave the great cause of Shangluo to me." ”

"Your Highness, this is the lord's ...... Thou shalt not disobey it. As soon as Takeda Katsuyori finished speaking, Naito Masatochi prompted loudly.

Takeda Katsuyori put his hands on his knees and said loudly: "I know, but I know my personality, if I were to be subordinate to Nobunaga and Ieyasu, and see them in the world and do nothing, then I might as well die, it will never be possible." ”

"Instead of going against my father's wishes in the future, I should say what I think now, if my father doesn't allow it......"

Takeda Katsuyori didn't say, but glanced at his brothers Katsuyama Nobutada and Nishina Morinobu. Nobutada Katsuyama, Morinobu Nishina, and Katsuyori Takeda all have the right to inherit the Takeda family. And the biggest threat to it is not the two brothers in front of him, but his brother Yoshinobu Takeda, who is under house arrest. When his father Takeda Shingen has not yet decided on the next heir, he must make a good statement. and clearly proposed to inherit his father's Shangluo Dazhi. Exactly the best way to do it.

Takeda Shingen listened to Takeda Katsuyori. With a grim face, he stood up regardless of his god and walked to the side of the stand that supported his armor. After that, Takeda Shingen took the Suwa Dharma Sex Pocket in his hand and smashed it into Takeda Katsuyori's face.

Takeda Katsuyori received a blow from Takeda Shingen, but instead bowed down, slammed his head on the floor, and said loudly: "Father, please forgive me for being unfilial. ”

All the retainers present were stunned. They had never seen Takeda Katsuyori have such a strong point, and it was the other party's last order to dare to collide in front of Takeda Shingen.

Takeda Shingen pointed to the Suwa helmet on the ground and said to Takeda Katsuyori, "Put it on for me." ”

Although Takeda Shingen has been injured, and it has caused a recurrence of the old disease, and he is strong enough to support himself, but the lion is old, and the residual power still exists, and this Kai Tiger is not called by others in vain.

"Put it on!" Shingen Takeda repeated it again.

Takeda Katsuyori glanced at Takeda Shingen hesitantly, still with a lion's head and a ghost face. A Suwa helmet with white bear fur on the back of the pocket is worn on the head.

The generals looked at Takeda Shingen, and Takeda Katsuyori father and son. I thought in my heart, don't make any mess between the two at the last moment.

After that, Takeda Shingen gave an order to the little surname next to him, and the little surname walked into the house with an object in his hand from the side room. This thing is stacked neatly on top of each other and is held in the hand by the small surname, which is the wind forest volcano flag of Takeda Shingen himself.

Takeda Shingen said slowly: "The son who won't contradict his father is not promising, and my Takeda family has no dogs." ”

Speaking of this, Takeda Shingen pointed his finger at Takeda Katsuyori and said, "I have used this flag and armor for more than twenty years, and in the future, the banner of this wind forest volcano and the Suwa Dharma helmet will be entrusted to you." ”

"Father!" Takeda Katsuyori's body shook when he heard this, and he looked at Takeda Shingen, his previous expression seemed to have really achieved results. Not only was Takeda Katsuyori shocked, but even many of his retainers couldn't help but be shocked when they saw such a scene, and they couldn't help but think in their hearts: "The lord seems to be planning to pass on the position of family governor to Shiro Katsuyori." If this is the case, then what will happen to Yoshinobu, who has been the first heir before? ”

Although the young lord Takeda Yoshinobu had a crushing defeat in Suruga, and even killed the family's important minister, Iitomi Torama, but because for a long time, Takeda Yoshinobu's appearance was still good, and now they couldn't help but feel a little unbelievable when they saw that the lord had the intention of abolishing his son-in-law Takeda Yoshinobu and then letting Shiro Takeda Katsuyori inherit the position of family governor.

Regarding the reaction of the retainers, Takeda Shingen didn't pay much attention to it, but said slowly: "It's ridiculous, I, Takeda Shingen, think that I have no last resort and can arrange things after my death, but I was wrong." ”

"Well, Katsuyori, I don't know what you will do in the future, whether you can compete with Nobunaga, Kenshin, Ieyasu, Burial and others, these four people are all the heroes of the world, no less than me, so I don't want you to take risks but the world is changing, I can get it for a while, but I can't get it for eternity, so I can't limit my eyes to you."

"Thank you, Father," said Takeda Katsu Riton, weeping as he sobbed.

Takeda Shingen then pointed to the flag of the Wind Forest Volcano and said: "If you act arbitrarily in the future and destroy the Takeda family in your hands, even if I am ashamed to meet under the Yellow Spring, but if there is a successful day, I will put on a helmet and personally plant the flag of the Wind Forest Volcano on Kyoto, which can be regarded as fulfilling my lifelong wish on my behalf." ”

Takeda Katsuyori is well aware of the significance of Takeda Shingen's flag of the wind forest volcano and the Suwa helmet. If it is said that the imperial flag and the shield are not armored, this is the meaning of the Takeda family inheriting the first-class nature of Minamoto Yoshimitsu. Then the meaning of the wind forest volcano and the Suwa French helmet is the incarnation of Takeda Shingen, for more than 20 years, Takeda Shingen held a flag, wearing armor, and fought in the east and west, invincible, and the heroes were afraid to obey.

The retainers of the Takeda family are all gathered under this banner. The right to use Takeda Shingen's banner and armor is a continuation of Takeda Shingen's own will. His father, Takeda Shingen, was also in Yama County, and he said in front of such a heavy general as Baba that Katsuyori would be me in the future, and what Katsuyori did was to inherit Takeda Shingen's ambition to inherit the position of Takeda family governor.

In fact, when Takeda Shingen was dying, he passed on the position of family governor to Shiro Takeda Katsuyori instead of his sister-in-law Takeda Yoshinobu, not only because his previous sister-in-law Takeda Yoshinobu was dissatisfied with him, but also because he was worried that his son-in-law after inheriting the family governor would collude with the Imagawa family and then be used by the Imagawa family, thus putting the Takeda family in a difficult situation. After all, Yoshinobu Takeda's main room is from the Imagawa family. And judging from the previous table of his son-in-law Yoshinobu Takeda. It is absolutely impossible to be the opponent of the Imagawa family.

Of course. The last reason why he did not let his sister-in-law Yoshinobu Takeda inherit the family governor. It is Takeda Shingen who knows very well that with the character of his sister-in-law Takeda Yoshinobu, after inheriting the family governor and waiting for him to return to the west, he is likely not to let go of several brothers such as Shiro, which will inevitably lead to civil strife in the Takeda family, and Shiro Takeda Katsuyori will not do such a thing, so after weighing it. Takeda Shingen finally made the choice he made today.

At this time, Takeda Katsuyori, who understood that his father Takeda Shingen had decided to pass on the position of family governor to him, naturally would not know about such a thing, so he excitedly put his head on the back of his hand and bowed heavily to Takeda Shingen, indicating that he had taken over the wind forest volcano and the Suwa helmet.

After Takeda Katsuyori got up, all the retainers looked at Takeda Katsuyori, and they all turned to the side and bowed deeply to him. Although at this time, the retainers were still shocked by what had just happened, but now that the lord Takeda Shingen had already made a decision, they could not express their opinions, especially at this critical moment. There should not be infighting in the Takeda family because of the new governor. As for his sister-in-law Takeda Yoshinobu, who has always been favored by the retainers and has a good relationship with the retainers. Everyone can only feel sorry in their hearts.

Seeing that the retainers did not object to his decision, Takeda Shingen nodded with satisfaction and said: "Very good, the rest of the matter is over, as soon as I ask you to burn all my flowers, I am the governor of the Takeda family, of course, I don't have to keep the news of my death, announce it to the world." ”

"If anyone dares to take advantage of my death to provoke my family, he will immediately send troops to destroy him, and he will not be merciful."

"As for Taro Yoshinobu, I'll go to Huilin Temple to keep a wake for me in the future."

"Oh!"

All the retainers of Takeda bowed down to Takeda Shingen in unison.

"Very good. Very good! After arranging this matter, it seemed that the last breath in his heart finally couldn't hold on, and after saying two words of "very good", Takeda Shingen finally fainted with a smile.

"Father!"

"Lord!"

As soon as Takeda Shingen fell like this, it immediately caused a panic among everyone.

In this way, after three days in a coma, Shingen Takeda finally woke up again.

After waking up, Takeda Shingen, for some reason, looked very excited, strongly supported his body, and sat in the open space behind the temple with the support of the accompanying general Yama Prefecture Changjing and his relative Takeda Shinlian, and after seeing the surrounding scenes, his face showed a look of silence.

Takeda Shingen grabbed the hands of Takeda Shinren and Shan County Changjing, and sighed: "Just now in my dream, I saw Takeda's army, the army was majestic and clean, and the people cheered on the road. The army crossed the long bridge of Seta all the way and entered Yamashina, ah! It's Kyoto as far as the eye can see. ”

"My flag is planted in Kyoto...... Alas, after waking up, when I struggled outside and saw the mountains that were still three rivers, I realized that Fang Cai was just a dream. I believe that Xuan's life is not a dream! ”

"Brother, please take care of your body, don't say any more." Takeda Nobuyoru said in a choked voice.

Takeda Shingen smiled, grabbed Takeda Shinren's hand on one side, and stretched out his wrinkled fingers on the other side, pointing to the steep mountains nearby, and said: "I, Shingen, have been in Kai and Shinano all my life, and now I finally came to Mikawa, but I didn't expect that in the end, I was still in the mountains, no wonder I was laughed at as a mountain monkey of Kai." ”

"Bring pen and paper!" Takeda Shingen instructed the little surname beside him.

"Brother, if you need to write a warrant, you have your own pen to do it for you." Takeda said.

Takeda Shingen shook his head slowly, took the pen and paper, he was injured and seriously ill, he naturally couldn't hold the pen, and barely finished writing a line with the help of Shin Lian and Shan County.

On the white paper, it is written that 'this body and this bone return to heaven and earth, not stained with red dust, and be alone and romantic'.

Yama Prefecture Changjing, Takeda Nobuyoru only then realized that Takeda Shingen wrote his death poem. Seeing that Takeda Shingen was dying, the little surname on the side bowed down and cried in a low voice.

After writing the farewell poem, Takeda Shingen reclined on Takeda Shinryo, his eyes lowered, and his voice gradually deepened: "I have arranged most of the things at home, and in two to three years, I must be able to worry-free, but Oda, Tokugawa, and Imagawa are the confidants of the family, and it is important to keep close to the Hojo family, and if I can improve the relationship with the Imagawa family again, it will naturally be better." ”

"But Shiro is determined and stubborn, and I know that I can't change his mind, so instead of restraining him, I might as well help him, which is also the last thing I can help him as a father. Although Shiro is talented, his temperament is still a little impatient, you two need to mention it more on the side, whether the Takeda family can survive in the current world, I will leave it to you. ”

Listening to Takeda Shingen's words, Yama County Changjing, Takeda Shinlian couldn't cry at the moment, but he still sighed.

Seeing Yama Prefecture Changjing, after Takeda Nobuyoshi and the two agreed, Takeda Shingen closed his eyes and said in an almost inaudible voice: "After I die, put my body in armor and sink it to the bottom of Lake Suwa to be buried, even if it is under the Nine Shadows, I will protect Shiro with my soul and protect my Takeda ......"

After saying this, Takeda Nobuyoru felt that Takeda Shingen's body was loose, and in a panic, he hurriedly summoned a doctor to step forward.

After checking the pulse for a moment, the doctor put Takeda Shingen's hand back, and knelt down in front of Takeda Shingen's body without saying a word.

"Lord!"

"Brother!"

There was a howling cry in the middle hall of Fenglai Temple...... (To be continued......)