The night is dark and the wind is high, and the clouds cover the moon.

Near the castle gate in the southeast corner of Torademaru, not far from there is a mountain of earth that is not inferior to the Imagawa army outside the castle.

Because it resembles the head of a samurai, Torademaru is like the head of this head, and the low walls that extend from the left and right sides are like loose ties, so the ashigaru guarding the castle sadly calls this mound 'Douqiu', but not because of the heroism of seeing death as home, but alluding to the karmic retribution that he may receive after breaking the castle.

The ronin's barracks are near the 'Dou Hill', which is considered the residence of Shimazaki Keishin, and when the people in the city are panicking, the wealthy families in order to avoid the civil strife of 'chasing and suppressing the hidden people' again, after nightfall, everyone is very tacitly guarding the door, and will not send people to the station of others at night at will.

In the dim darkness of the night, seven or eight people sneakily climbed over the earthen ramparts and came to the vicinity of the ronin barnhouse. A few floating waves who were keeping vigil in the corner paid attention to them for a long time, drawing their knives and bending their bows to be on guard, and a group leader came out of nowhere, did not speak, and reached out to make a few general incisions that only a ninja could understand.

Mitsuhide Naito explained to Tadaaki Ono in his ear, and the great monk immediately whispered back, "Shimazaki Keikanobu is here?" When I went back to report it, I said that there was a visit from the old people of Ueno Country."

Under Shimazaki Keinobu, there are two right-hand man, one Nagaoka Uemon and one Yamada Toyogoro, both of whom are Lang parties from Ukano Province. It happened that tonight it was Toyogoro Yamada's turn to keep vigil, and those floating wave generals suspiciously went to the barn to invite him over.

After two glances, I saw that many people came with white scarves wrapped in white foreheads, dressed as monks and soldiers, among which the monk headed by him was wearing a five-color robe, which looked very familiar, and recognized that the person who came was Ono Tadaaki, and then recalled the advice of his own collar, and immediately greeted him, pretending that he was a monk of Anyun Temple, and smiled politely, "The city is not very peaceful, why is the Zen master still running around?" ”

Ono Zhongming twisted the Buddha beads in his hand and replied, "Because of the instability in the city, for the safety of the township party, the poor monks have to!" He looked left and right, lowered his voice, and said, "My Musashi Mamoru has a letter asking me to forward it to Shimazaki Harima Mamoru for reading." ”

According to the practice of father's death and son's succession, since the adoptive father died violently, Shimazaki Keishin, as an adopted son, naturally succeeded the official career of the Shimazaki family, although the Kanto daimyo and the wealthy family did not admit it at all, and this group of floating prison people occasionally called their own leaders.

Yamada Toyogoro nodded, stretched out his hand, and said, "In this case, Zen master here, please." The cool breeze outside the hall is not the place to speak, so you might as well enter the hall to talk in detail. "Calling a group of ronin, rolling Ono Tadaaki and his party, striding like a meteor, bypassing a few low military houses, and running to the temporary residence of the pavilion.

It is said that it is a kanshiki, but in fact it is a tall turret, leaving Ono Tadaaki and others waiting in the barracks below the turret, and Yamada Toyogoro went to tell him. Shimazaki Keishinobu has been practicing martial arts since childhood, and among the many disciples of the sword saint Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, it is rare to maintain the habit of practicing martial arts even in wartime.

Looking at the front end, what a big man. He is five feet seven inches long, with large shoulders and a round waist, with a bare chest and an open back, and hair on his shirtless arms. I saw him holding a heavy stone and constantly lifting it above his head, boiling his strength, and someone next to him kept counting the times for him.

Seeing Toyogoro Yamada coming in, Shimazaki Keinobu knew that he was keeping vigil today, and he wouldn't come if there was no big event. Immediately slowly put down the stone in his hand, pulled the single clothes hanging on the side and draped it on his body, waited for him to come over, and asked, "You are not keeping vigil down there, what is the matter with coming to me?" ”

Yamada Toyogoro didn't answer, and glanced at the party of several Lang who were drinking and having fun in the corner of the house, Shimazaki Keishinobu waved away from everyone, and he said, "Someone just came, saying that it was Harima's old man who was in Ueno Province." ”

"Huh?" Shimazaki Keishun frowned, sat cross-legged on the couch, and asked, "Who is here?" ”

"It's the monk who came to the castle a few days ago to persuade him to surrender, didn't Harima Mamoru make us pay attention to the manpower sent by the Imagawa army to mediate? Now, to see or not to see? ”

Shimazaki Keinobu was not in a hurry and asked, "Does he have anything else to say?" ”

"I didn't mention it, estimating the day, the big and small wealthy families in the city should be almost in contact, and it should be our turn, it is expected that the Imagawa army is not worried about the combat strength of this group of Shinano soldiers, and is afraid that it will not be able to suppress the flag of the brothers of Shaotian Shigetaka and Shinjin Shigesei, so they sent him here to explore the direction of our wind here."

Shimazaki Keishinobu sneered and said, "The Imagawa Army's gang of peasant soldiers also know the goods. Toyogoro Yamada reminded him of the other wealthy families and asked, "How are the contacts on our side?" ”

Yamada Toyogoro replied, "I've taken the test, there are only some people in the old Murakami Army who are also from the ronin background, and they are willing to join the Harima guard team to conspire with great things." ”

Shimazaki Keishinobu is only a hundred and ten ronins under his command, these days of hard fighting, defeated and killed a lot of people, now the strength is life, naturally no one is willing to replenish his own strength to him, in the past he can also take money from the Murakami army to attract some people, but now his ronin team always serves as a dead soldier, Murakami Ashigaru is not a fool, no matter how much money is useless.

There are soldiers who are the people of the country, and no one is just a ronin who has been convicted on his back's 'official imperial structure', and these days there has been a delay in not getting enough troops to replenish it, which makes Shimazaki Keishinobu quite irritable, and he turned around the house twice, hesitated in his heart, thought for a while, and said, "Monk Ono came to me, I'm afraid it's not just to listen to the direction of the wind, but to let me raise troops to make trouble." ”

Although there is not much contact between him and Ono Tadaaki, they have a lot of understanding of each other's subtle temperament, just like Ono Tadaaki thinks that Shimazaki Keishinobu is bound to rebel, and Shimazaki Keishun immediately guessed the other party's intentions.

Yamada Toyogoro said, "But just the dozens of us, even if we want to make some trouble, the number of people is not enough!" ”

"Hmph, Monk Ono, this bald donkey, must not have any good intentions, maybe there are some tricks waiting to be set for us, do you think I am really cornered?"

Yamada Toyogoro was a little helpless, and said, "Harima Mamoru, we're really desperate now!" "If you really follow the strategy of the Imagawa army as Shimazaki Keishin guessed, it is very likely that you will be wiped out by the defenders, and if you don't obey the castle after the fall, it is difficult to say whether these ronins can survive.

The Shinano wealthy clan could also redeem themselves with money, and ask relatives and friends outside the castle to intercede and talk to them to save their lives. But their gang is poor and white, and it is difficult to say whether the ronin who is not familiar with the place will be dragged out and slaughtered as monkeys in the Jiaxin ravine, which is used to deter others.

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