At midnight, on a marching avenue near the former site of Kaizu Castle on the shore of the Chikugo River, which connects Hizen Province and Chikugo Province. A group of troops was rapidly marching towards Kora Castle in Chikugo Province with torches.

At the front of the line, a general dressed in a formation of feathers was walking forward, nervously watching the stars in the sky. This person is none other than Yoshida Shigemasa who was secretly evacuated from Asahiyama Castle overnight.

In the evening of this evening, Yoshida Shigemasa, who was closely watching the movements of Akaji Castle and Yamaya Castle on the other side of Asahiyama Castle, received a secret order from Masahiro, so he urgently and secretly arranged for defense. A few days ago, the Ouchi family attacked Akaji Castle and Yamaya Castle in a big way. Just when Shigemasa Yoshida was about to sit back and watch the two tigers fight. Just this morning, the military flags of the Ouchi family were suddenly hung up in the opposite side of Akaji Castle and Yamaya Castle. At this time, he realized that the Ouchi family and the Otomo family were likely to secretly unite. Sure enough, at noon, the news came that the head of the family was ambushed by the coalition forces of the Otomo family and the Ouchi family.

Fortunately, the lord of his own family, the Ji people, had a natural appearance and finally escaped the catastrophe. After learning that Masara was safe and sound, Yoshida Shigemasa was already secretly prepared. Because he knows very well the character of his own lord who refuses to suffer. Since it was united by the Otomo family and the Ouchi family. Then the father-in-law will definitely find a way to get back to the field. Sure enough, in the afternoon of the same day, he received a secret order from Masayo, asking him to secretly lead the army to gather at Takara Castle tonight.

Since it is a request to be "secret", it is natural that it cannot be known by the military situation of the Ouchi family of Akaji Castle and Yamaya Castle opposite. Therefore, after leaving enough guards behind and making some secret arrangements, Yoshida Shigemasa could only evacuate their respective fortifications in batches after nightfall, and then assemble at a pre-agreed location. Only then did they begin to march towards Takara Castle after the construction.

Hurry up, hurry. It's midnight. Shigemasa's army finally came to the vicinity of the former site of Kaizu Castle on the border between Hizen and Chikugo provinces. Kaizu Castle, which was an important stronghold for the confrontation between the armies of the Ouchi and Hizen clans and the army of the Chikugo Otomo family, had been razed to the ground at this time. Most of the building materials in Haijin Castle were used by the family's slave road builders as construction materials for the marching road under their feet. The remaining part of the building materials was to attract the nearby people to join in the great cause of demolishing the city and building roads, and they were promised as a reward for the lords, so that they could transport them back home to build their own houses.

I looked at the stars in the sky. Tonight is a summer night with few stars. The cool smell of the daytime rainstorm has faded over time. In its place is the stuffy atmosphere of a typical summer night. In the fields, grasses, and shrubs on both sides of the road, frogs and grasshoppers are happily serenading. I was taken aback by the slightly neat pace of the march on the main road. The serenades on both sides of the road were obviously a bit disorganized at this time.

"General! An unknown military presence has been spotted ahead! ”

Just as Shigemasa Yoshida looked up at the sky, Ashigaru, who was in charge of exploring the way ahead, came back to report. When Yoshida Shigemasa heard this, he immediately looked forward, and sure enough, he saw a small fire dragon approaching rapidly in the distance.

"Array! Alert! ”

Although it was obviously his own people who dared to brazenly walk around with torches at such a midnight, before fully confirming the identity of the other party, Yoshida Shigemasa still decisively gave the order to defend on the spot. Soon, a team that appeared to have only a dozen torches came to the vicinity of Yoshida's team.

"Stomp, stomp!" The first of the comers stepped out.

This came as a surprise to Shigemasa Yoshida. You must know that there are not many horses in the territory, and being able to ride a war horse alone when the battle is about to be great, and the fact that the person who came can ride a horse in the dark night and lead a group of soldiers on foot to wander in the field also shows his good riding skills, all of which shows. The identity of the person who came is obviously not low. Sure enough, when Yoshida Shigemasa took a closer look at the people's equipment by the light of the torch. Suddenly, the person who came turned out to be the standing samurai of the samurai team around the lord Gongzhengliang.

"Lie down at night and listen to the wind and rain!"

Just as Yoshida Shigemasa was suddenly stunned, the samurai riding in front of him suddenly said such a strange sentence (the ancient Chinese poetry at this time really made these samurai very unaccustomed).

After listening to this, Yoshida Shigemasa immediately knew that this was the other party's password for night patrol. If you can't match yourself at this time, your own army will be considered an enemy army. Thinking of this, Yoshida Shigemasa couldn't help but admire the courage of the samurai in front of him. You must know that with this samurai team of only a dozen people, if Yoshida Shigemasa is really an enemy army, with Yoshida Shigemasa several times the number of soldiers on the other side, it is completely possible to completely annihilate the opponent. And this samurai is the most embarrassed, and it is estimated that he can only ride a war horse and go back desperately to warn. Presumably, this samurai was ready to die.

Obviously, the samurai on the other side was also aware of the problem, and while Yoshida Shigemasa was still pondering, the samurai had already pulled the reins and let the war horse retreat slightly into his ranks. Due to Yoshida's hesitation, he has crystals, and he is ready to deal with Yoshida's attack.

"Iron Horse Glacier is in a dream."

After seeing the actions of the samurai on the other side, Yoshida Shigemasa immediately responded loudly. This command was given to him by the herald himself when the Lord Gongzheng Liang gave him the order today. In order to prevent the password from falling into the hands of the craft, the password is generally only passed on orally (the password is usually these words and phrases that are incomprehensible and difficult for the locals to understand), and it is changed every half a day.

"On the other side, General Yoshida?" After receiving the correct password response from Shigemasa Yoshida, the samurai on the opposite side was obviously relieved, and at the same time recognized Shigemasa Yoshida through his accent. Due to the light of the fire and the distance between the two sides, the two sides could not recognize each other's faces except for the vague general equipment of the two sides. If it weren't for the fact that Yoshida Shigemasa was quite famous as the "First Bow Taken" in the Luo family, and this samurai had witnessed Yoshida Shigemasa's extraordinary archery skills several times earlier, the samurai would not have recognized Yoshida Shigemasa by his accent.

"It's down there!"

Shigemasa Yoshida replied, and at the same time signaled that the two standing abuters who had been standing in front of him and deliberately protecting him were not guarded. After the latter comprehended it, he immediately retreated slightly to Yoshida Shigemasa's side, but he still made a preparation to stand in front of Yoshida Shigemasa at any time to protect Yoshida Shigemasa.

"Please forgive the general! At the behest of the head of the family, a curfew was imposed on all places within a mile of Takara Castle, and the general was asked to be careful when he marched forward. ”

When it was confirmed that it was Yoshida Shigemasa, the samurai on the opposite side immediately gave Yoshida Shigemasa a military salute unique to the Luo family, and then waved his hand behind him, signaling his men to retreat to the side of the road, giving Yoshida Shigemasa's army a way to continue moving forward, and at the same time reminded him.

"There's General Law."

Shigemasa Yoshida smiled slightly when he heard this, and then replied after giving a military salute to the samurai on the horse. The meaning of the other party's words, Yoshida Shigemasa has already understood. The first is that the opposing samurai apologized for being able to salute on his horse because of his official duties, and the second is that he indirectly reminded Yoshida Shigemasa to pay attention to obeying the curfew orders of the lord Masayo when marching forward, and to restrain the troops under his command.

After the handover between the two sides was completed, Yoshida Shigemasa gave an order, and the army under his command immediately began to march towards Takara Castle from the road that had been vacated by the army on patrol at night. Soon all that remained on the march was the sound of neat steps and the "crackling" of grease as the oil burned.

As Shigemasa Yoshida passed near the samurai on horseback, both of them gave each other a slight salute. In the darkness of the night, both of them invariably showed their appreciation for the performance of the other's troops.

"Sure enough, it is worthy of being the first bow team under the command of the family!" After seeing the military literacy of this team under Yoshida Shigemasa's command, the samurai on horseback secretly admired.

"Sure enough, he is worthy of being a samurai directly under the lord, and even at this time, he still secretly asked his subordinates to be ready to be attacked at any time, and he was very vigilant." At the same time, Shigemasa Yoshida on the other side also appreciated. Judging from the actions of the team of more than a dozen people on the side of the road at this time, it is obvious that this team is still on high alert at this time, even if they know the military situation of their own team opposite the road at this moment, they have not relaxed their vigilance for being attacked at all. And as the samurai who led the team, judging from his minimum posture, he was obviously ready to at least jump into the bushes on the side of the road and escape as soon as he saw that the situation was not good.

The reason why this samurai behaved like this was not because he was greedy for life and afraid of death, but because he always obeyed his duty. That is the duty of the night watch. In the event of an accident, his first duty was to rush back to warn him as best he could. It is also the quality that this samurai is showing now that makes Yoshida Shigemasa's eyes shine. (To be continued......)