The curtain came down on the big play, and the three of them continued to gallop through the dense forest in the night, and the light and shadow shook alternately, like a bizarre slideshow. In the distance, the Izumo Taisha Shrine is brightly lit, and the boiling noise and scattered horses' hooves reach miles away, making those who wake up in their dreams without knowing the inside story panic.

Jing Zhen drove the horse with one hand and a torch with the other to illuminate it, and the crane wrapped his hands around his waist and grabbed the hem of his clothes. And Nizi Quanjiu, who had been hastily bandaged with his right arm and tied up in a roll, had already been thrown into the grass on the side of the road several miles away, so as to prevent him from losing too much blood and dying of injuries, which would lead to Nizi's long-term loss of reason and reckless revenge.

The two planned to get rid of the pursuit of the Niko clan first, and then make plans after settling in. The Izumo Taisha Shrine, where the two are currently located, is located in the northwest corner of Izumo Province. To the west, the border between Ouchi and the Niko clan, has always been heavily guarded against the front line, and it is difficult to pass through safely without enough luck and skillful guides; The entire territory of Bigo Province in the south was under the control of the Niko clan, and it was very easy to be besieged and intercepted into a quagmire; If you go due west to San'in Dao, you will not only have to pass through the core of the Niko clan's rule and the foot of Futian Castle in the city of Yueshan where Niko has lived for a long time, but also continue to pass through the fiefdom of the cheap father Niko Jiuyuki, and even more jump your face and die; Therefore, the only reliable route left was to go northeast along the coastline, through the three counties of Kazusu, Akika, and Shimane, and go to sea through Mihokan.

This route is about 50 kilometers, at night at all the horsepower also has to go up and down for an hour, the front section crosses the mountains and forests, the rarely inhabited city, and the last small section is distributed many cities such as Mangwan Temple Castle, Xinshan Castle, Seihe Castle, and White Deer Castle. Among them, the first three are all controlled by the Xiaohao clan, and the soldiers are few and disciplined, and most of the orders of the Nizi clan are ignored, and they will definitely not assemble and send troops overnight; Only White Deer City, as a powerful city controlled by the powerful Matsuda clan, is not only a part of the famous Ten Banners of Nizi (Note 1), but the lord of the city, Matsuda Mitsuhisa, is also the brother-in-law of Nizi Quanjiu, and when he learns the news, he will act in public and private.

However, considering the suddenness of the incident, the messengers who scattered the news from the Izumo Taisha Shrine set off later than him, and he walked a straight line distance, it was almost impossible for the direction of White Deer City to get the news before he passed by, and there was no time to urgently assemble and set up the formation, so the so-called risk was only a negligible theoretical possibility. In addition, compared to several other defensive lines, this route is already the least risky, so Jingzhen has no choice but to speed up and pass quickly.

However, Murphy's Law (Note 2) is in effect again. When Jingzhen arrives at Mihokan Customs through White Deer Castle without danger, and prepares to improvise and bribe or coerce a boat to go to Wakasa Province, he is interrupted by an accident in front of him. Two samurai led more than a dozen ashigaru were scattered in the harbor to guard the loading of a moored Sengoku ship (Note 3). Judging from the samurai's family crest, the equipment and materials for transporting goods, it should be that the squad directly under the U.S. Insurance Acting Officer, Ashigaru, was preparing to escort the caravan of the Niko clan, which specialized in pig iron and swords, to the shore. At this time, it is too late to turn around and choose another way, and only a dozen people and dozens of steps have become the dividing line between life and death!

Tonight's ups and downs had numbed Jingzhen, and the crane was quietly clinging to his back, silently expressing his intention to live and die together, and when he was about to drive his horse forward and make a desperate throw, several arrows suddenly shot out of the dense forest behind him, directly knocking down several ashigaru. Dozens of strong men in different costumes immediately rushed out in all directions wielding swords, spears, scythes and other weapons, killing the Ashigaru squad one by one, and the two leaders of the Ashigaru group were also defeated by several samurai, and they were about to be defeated.

"You're finally here, you've been waiting for a long time."

When the forces of the Niko clan were all wiped out, a black-clothed ninja and a samurai dressed as a leader walked into the center surrounded by a middle-aged monk.

"Master, master, why are you here?"

"If you have the ability to escape alive, this is the only way to go, so it is worth saving you for the teacher; If you are trapped in the society, you will end up in a waste, and there is no need to rescue the teacher."

Before Jingzhen could answer, the samurai next to Honggao angrily dismantled the platform and said:

"Your Highness, this kid broke into such a big basket, the brothers we arranged near the Taisha and prepared to save his life in case of death are all wasted, and I don't know how many can escape under the wrath of the Nizi clan. Is it really worth sacrificing the last bit of money you have for this kid? ”

Jingzhen's heart warmed, and the guilt was even worse. Obviously, he misunderstood and hurt Honggao with his words, but he still tried his best to save himself like a loving father who tolerated the rebellious son; obviously disagreed with his choice, but in the end, he silently cleaned up his wayward head and tail for himself behind his back.

Seeing that Jingzhen's eyes were red and she wanted to speak but couldn't speak, Honggao sighed and scolded with a gentle smile:

"That's it, it's really a child who doesn't grow up. It's all over, and if you have a mentor to support you, you can continue to mess around."

At that moment, another bolt of light struck Hirotaka in the chest, interrupting his unspoken vision.

In addition to the escort force on the shore, it turned out that there was a third samurai on board.

The smile hadn't disappeared from Honggao's face, but his face suddenly lost its blood, like a green bamboo that had dried up from the sun.

Maybe tonight is too long, and he has used up all his strength, emotion and tears, and Jingzhen silently hugged the fallen Honggao, and he couldn't make a sound anymore.

Note 1: The Ten Banners of the Nizi refer to the defensive line of the 10 branch castles built by the Nizi family around the main city of Tsukiyama Tomita Castle, and the lords of the castles are all local wealthy families, namely: White Deer Castle (Matsuda clan), Kansai Castle (Kansai clan), Takase Castle (Yonehara clan), Onishi Castle (Onishi clan), Santoya Castle (Santoya clan), Kumano Castle (Kumano clan), Ushio Castle (Ushio clan), Misawa Castle (Misawa clan), Maki Castle (Maki clan), Setoyama Castle (Akatoya clan). This line of defense was used to defend against the attacks of the Maori Motosa, but was eventually defeated and fell apart.

Note 2: Murphy's Law, also known as Murphy's theorem and Murphy effect, is a psychological effect named after its proposer, Edward Murphy, which refers to the fact that if there is a possibility that something will go bad, no matter how small the likelihood, it will always happen.

Note 3: The general term for merchant ships along the coast originated in the Kamakura period, and is mostly found in the Seto Inland Sea, Hokuriku, and Lake Biwa areas. As the name suggests, a ship with a load of more than 1,000 stones, it refers to a large merchant ship with a load of more than 1,000 stones, and there is no specific direction to the type of ship.