The sun rises from the end of the sea.

The sky, the sea, and the mountains were soaked in golden colors, and the sea breeze shook the treetops beside the roadside, and Date Masamune's team entered the gate from the north of Tsuchijo, and the nearby Japanese people swarmed over and were forced to open by the swords drawn by his samurai.

He raised his head, thick hair and wide nose, wearing an eye patch on his face, and his only eye looked at the castle tower, on which the flags were spread like a forest in the wind, and he raised his hand to tell the retainers and samurai behind him not to move.

After entering the castle, there are low thatched huts spread out one after another, and the houses have a section of wood and thatched grass pressed by stones, although it looks simple, but there is an illusion of returning to the Warring States period.

Bald men with goods circulating and pulling carts on the streets stepped on clogs and shouted loudly; The refreshment lady in the tea house smeared powder, painted her face with miserable white makeup, looked at the general who rode past with majesty, and smiled flatteringly, revealing a row of dark teeth.

It was a rudimentary but new city, and the outline of the maritime trade that had been built up after three years of cultivation from plundering and then selling to other maritime merchants was interrupted by the plague.

This was an emerging strategy originally formulated by Date Masamune for Emperor Daigomon, so that the maritime merchants of his country did not dare to trade with Bactria and instead reached a long-term cooperation with them, and all this also paid off in three years, gradually moving in the direction he envisioned.

At the moment, the sudden plague disrupted everything, and at the first time, he guessed in his heart that it should be the counterattack of the emperor of the Xia Kingdom.

This counterattack was indeed very effective, and it hit his sore spot, but fortunately, the four gates of Nagano Castle were closed in time, and they were not affected by this plague of revenge.

After entering the city, a group of Japanese soldiers with sharp bows and swords followed, and the Japanese people in the streets, under the influence of Showa for three years, retreated to the sides of the street to salute Date Masamune, and he nodded with satisfaction on horseback, these monkeys finally looked like a human being.

The market in the city is extended, pedestrians are weaving, and the officials of the imperial service station are walking in it with their waists straight, shouting and pushing the pedestrians, so that they can quickly make their debut, these Date Masamune saw it in his eyes, and did not stop the barbarism of these officials, what he needed was the fierceness of the people.

In the streets of the past, the bustle of the city did not stop because of the plague outside the city and the gathering of displaced people.

In the blacksmith's shop, the short but strong blacksmith clangs his hammer, and the tea lady in the tea house beckons passers-by to come in and enjoy themselves with half of her breasts.

Under the simple eaves, there are dried salted fish swaying like wind chimes.

Occasionally, a small palanquin passed by, carried by four ragged slave girls, their eyes lifeless, their bodies as thin as wood, and ropes tied around their hands and feet to prevent escape.

The undulating sedan chair, the front sedan curtain was opened, and inside was a bald man with a fat figure who was looking at the road, wearing satin mink, holding a small folding fan to fan around in the appearance of the nobles of the Xia Kingdom.

And the female slave who carried the sedan chair was bought by him from the harbor, and he used the woman of Xia Kingdom as the sedan chair driver, which made him feel very face-saving in the circle around him.

There are dozens of such female slaves in Nagano Castle, regardless of their appearance and figure, just because they are from the Xia Kingdom and have a height that cannot be compared with Wajima women, it is expensive in Nagano Castle.

Some big businessmen even buy to have children, hoping that their offspring can have the height of Xia people, at this point, the businessmen in the sedan chair also plan to do so, who doesn't want their descendants to be as tall and mighty as Xia people.

The sedan chair came to Yanshi from the front, and Du Yichu looked at the pottery bowl in his hand, and saw at a glance that it was fired by Wu Di.

"It's a pity that these pigs and dogs are used." He sighed.

There was a sound of scolding over there, Du Yichu turned his head, and saw four Xia women carrying a small sedan chair with bare arms slowly coming, seeing the sad look on their faces, the whip marks on their arms, and the old man narrowed his eyes.

“…… This samurai-sama, you are a slave girl of the Xia Kingdom of the Ueno family, and it is not difficult to ask him for your identity. The vendor was in the Chinese language, and when he saw the old man staring at the woman carrying the sedan chair, he thought he wanted to, so he reminded him casually.

Du Yichu turned back to what the hawker said, he understood a little, after all, he had learned some daily language here for three years, so he simply responded and stopped paying attention to the four women.

It's not that he doesn't want to help, it's that he can't be rescued at all, this is not Xia Guo, you can escape with two feet.

He picked up the pottery bowl again and put it to his mouth, at this time the vendor who was still next to him suddenly ran to the stall and knelt down, and the sedan chair that was originally traveling also hurriedly stopped on the side of the road, the old man's ears moved, and heard the sound of horses' hooves, and dense footsteps, so he put down the pottery bowl and got up.

"Lord Samurai, come over and salute, Dr. Date Sakyo is passing by" The peddler turned around, and there was still the figure of the old man in front ......of the table just now.

At this time, the team in the distance came towards this side.

Several soldiers holding bamboo guns shouted loudly in front, and the pedestrians and people on the road retreated to both sides, such a kneeling salute had never been seen in the Xia people.

However, on the island, Nagano Castle, the status of both ordinary people and merchants is very low, and they are all untouchables and farmers in front of high-ranking officials and nobles.

At this time, the short and fat merchant in the sedan chair also came out of the sedan chair, knelt on the ground and bowed down, respectfully waiting for Date Masamune's procession to pass through the street.

Because of obesity, he knelt down, a little trembling, so he moved a few times, just moved his knees and did not change positions, on the house behind him, there was a sudden sound of thatching stepping out, the merchant, not far away hawker subconsciously raised his head, and a figure jumped into the air from their afterglow.

Under the oblique light of the spring sun, the wooden box opened suddenly, and in the sunlight, the dark ancient knife with a soft groan of 'buzz', drew a cold light.

The figure that flew down landed on the roof of the sedan chair on the side of the road, and the roof of the sedan exploded instantly, and before the merchant kneeling on the ground could react, his bald head flew off his neck.

In front of the marching team, Date Masamune on horseback tilted his head, raised his gaze, and at the same time as a human head flew towards him, a zhang-long sword slashed down!

The robe was flying, the hair bun was scattered, Date Masamune's only one-eyed, the pupils were constricted, and the moment the sword was enlarged at the bottom of his eyes, the retainers who reacted next to him drew their swords to meet him.

The body that greeted him also turned into two halves in an instant, and the flesh and blood that flew all over the sky rushed into the eyes of Date Somasa, who was also a daimyo who was killed in the sea of blood in the mountain of corpses, and was used to seeing life and death.

Seeing the flesh, organs, and blood rushing towards him, not only did he not dodge, but his thumb pushed away the handle of the knife, and the treasure knife named Tsurumaru Kuninaga on his waist instantly came out of its sheath, bringing out a crane roar, and slashed at the rushing old man on horseback.

However, he underestimated the old man opposite, who was a grandmaster who used his sword to the extreme.

The sound of gold and iron, sparks, and air waves flew at this moment.

The weapon, Tsurumaru Kuninaga, flew into the air, along with his sleeved arm.

Date Masamune flew out upside down from the horse, crashed into the shop on the side of the street, spurted blood from his broken arm, pulled out a blood line in mid-air, and the falling figure pounced on the fallen general, and the surrounding retainers and samurai and soldiers rushed over without their lives, pulled up a battle line on the street, and surrounded the old man who assassinated Date Masamune.

The Japanese people who were originally kneeling on the ground scattered in panic, and there were also bold people who stopped and watched from a distance, and in the field of vision, the surrounded old man set off an astonishing killing, and the sword light slashed out wildly in the crowd, and the Japanese soldiers who touched it were instantly cut into two sections, and the ground was full of human stumps and half of their bodies.

The Japanese people, who watched from afar, did not understand how human power could be brought into such a way.

The alarm bell in the city rang, and a large number of light feet rushed this way.

The old man jumped up in the air, swept away the seven warriors with good martial arts in front of him with a sword, his eyes were deflected, and the general had been rescued by several retainers and dozens of light-footed warriors under his command.

"Wokou, your head is on your neck for the time being, and the old man will come to pick it up another day!"

Standing on the eaves and roaring loudly, he turned around and used his light body to step on the thatched roof, and his body jumped a few times, as if no one was in a no-man's land, directly over the walls of Nagano Castle, fell outside the city, and disappeared among the refugees.

This sudden assassination stunned everyone, and then it was a deep shock, Date Masamune's military force did not dare to say that it was top-notch, and it was also one of the best among the many daimyo and generals of the Warring States and Edo generations.

Unexpectedly, someone cut off an arm in the street, and the assassin was still an old man, listening to what the other party said, it was the Xia dialect, and suddenly the entire archipelago and even the castle tower were shocked.

After three days in a coma, Date Masamune, who had his left hand cut off, went back to the ground to deal with the plague, but this time he was deeply furious and worried about the force of the Xia people.

Angry and worried, he asked Kanenobu Kanebu, who had just returned, to free up a few boats, and then sent a large number of light feet to capture the plague-infected Japanese people and stuff them into the cabin and transport them to the coastline of the Xia Kingdom.

Meanwhile.

Yanjing, the northern part of the Xia Kingdom, which is thousands of miles away, also expressed his worries about the plague on Wa Island, after all, the coastline is too long, if the other party spreads the plague back, compared to Wa Island, the Central Plains and Wu are both densely populated places, if the plague is rampant, it is related to the life and death of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

"Hehe, Your Majesty, how could you not expect the other party to follow suit?"

Yanjing, the Imperial Palace.

At this time, it is already April, the cicadas are singing sparsely among the trees, and between the pavilions in the middle palace flower garden, Jia Xu has his hands in his sleeves, and the old god is squinting and talking, and his smile is like an old fox.

"As early as the position of Qi Shaobao as the governor of the coastal defense regiment, the minister sent someone over to inform him to be careful."

"How to prevent it?" Su Chen poured the tea and pushed the cup in front of Jia Xu, he was messed up and down by this riddler, but Jia Xu just smiled and didn't say anything.

"Your Majesty, it is not clear whether the Japanese will return the other way to the other, so it is useless to say it, if you come to Qi Shaobaoding, he will be expelled."

(End of chapter)