March 19 of the second year of Yonglu (1559) is the 26th day of April of the solar calendar, the Qingming Festival in the Central Plains region, the ancestor worship festival of the Wa Kingdom is in the middle of August, and it is also the season when the cherry blossoms fall and the tender green first appears. Hewon is covered with a layer of fresh green.

After resting for the night in a nearby temple, the mission of Ishiyama Honganji set off again, and the speed of the ox cart was too flattering, and Shimoma Yoriren and Honda Masanobu did not specify the specific time when they discussed, but said that they would appear at a suitable place.

Shimoma Ryan sat in the carriage and didn't have the heart to chant the scriptures, and after entering Akashi-gun, that is, entering the border line of Date Domain, his heart suddenly lifted, knowing that he could be attacked at any time, and the feeling of being active and passive was really uncomfortable.

Suddenly, the carriage stopped, and Shimoma Lai Lian's eyes suddenly became sharp and full of vigilance, and his voice carried a hint of trilling, "What's the matter?" He grasped the cold childish knife in his hand, drew a little, and stood up on his knees, ready for the impact.

After a while, Shigehide Suzuki replied, "It was the general of Ereyoshi Castle who sent an envoy to the people of the nearby countryside to congratulate your lordship, and some local monks and followers of the Pure Land Shinshu sect also came to greet your lordship. ”

Hearing Suzuki Shigehide's words, Shimoma Lai Lian couldn't help but relax slightly, his eyes still had some vigilance in his eyes, and asked, "Are the people you see unconvinced or abnormal?" ”

Suzuki Shigehide said: "No, there are three retainers of Akashi Yutoyo of Eyoshi Castle, and four representatives of the common people from the nearby villages, for a total of seven months, a monk from the Pure Land Shinshu Koryu Temple and a representative of the believers. They offered two loads of rice. Two bottles of wine. There are a few other things. ”

Shimoma Lai Lian put down the childish knife in his hand, spit out a breath of turbidity, wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, he was too nervous, he opened the curtain, and said, "Okay, you might as well see it." After that, Yuyuki Akashi of Eyoshi Castle is the son of the famous Waka Akashi Masafu. I was also able to learn some things from the local Pure Land Shinshu monks. Lai Lian gave the rest of the explanation for the people who received the condolences.

Divided into two teams, one team led by two samurai, and the other team headed by a monk, more than a dozen people appeared in front of Shimoma Yorilian, the leader of the Buddha salutation, bowing, and the rest of the people knelt on the side of the road, trembling.

Sitting in the lower room, Lai Lian recited "Nan Wu Amitabha" and replied with a bow, and said softly: "I am the Dharma Eye of the Criminal Department, disturbing your tranquility." But don't be afraid, I'm just passing by. I want to go to Okayama Castle to meet with Dazai Daiji and discuss the covenant between the two families. ”

A samurai replied: "Thank you master, originally my lord should have personally gone out of the city to greet him, but he encountered a cold and was sick in bed, and the city was already panicked. ”

Shimoma Lai Lian did not doubt him, but instead comforted a few words of retainers of the Akashi clan.

The original owner Akashi Yuyuki, who was lying in bed when he encountered the wind and cold, and his younger brother Akashi Masayuki, as well as more than 100 elites, and a casual dark green shirt, showing strong wrists, like a monk with a rough personality sitting at the head of Eyoshi Castle.

Akashi Yuyuki's eyes glanced at the monk from time to time, his face gloomy, and as time passed, he suddenly had a ridiculous feeling in his heart that the lord of his own dignified city would actually believe the words of a strange monk who volunteered to come to the door.

The strange monk glanced at Akashi Youxing, I don't know where a wine gourd came from, opened the hijab, turned his head upside down and drank it, the fragrance of wine filled the city, after taking a big sip, he wiped his mouth with a monk's robe, burped, and said, "Good wine!" ”

Akashi Masayuki just wanted to refute his unreasonable venting of his emotions of being tricked, his brother suddenly stood up, his red eyes almost pounced on the city wall, stared into the distance, couldn't help but shiver, and turned around: "This is impossible? ”

Akashi Masayuki subconsciously asked, "What did the eldest brother see?" ”

Akashi Yuyuki pointed to the embankment of the Akaishi River and sneered: "Sure enough, as Zen Master Suifeng expected, someone dared to attack the mission of Ishiyama Honganji, whether it succeeded or not, Ediyoshi Castle and the Akashi clan are inseparable, and in the end, it will be difficult to escape, I don't know how to deal with it next?" ”

Akashi Masayuki looked in the direction of the eldest brother's finger, and saw that on the embankment of the Akaishi River, there were some black-clothed people running wildly, or holding a childish knife, or holding a bow and arrow, fierce and arrogant, and the crowd shouted one after another, "Punish the Buddha and the enemy, be diligent and righteous!" He went straight to the mission that stopped the car to salute.

was also shocked, after listening to the absurd words of the strange monk with his brother yesterday, if he hadn't believed that he had no truth, the two brothers were afraid that they would have already beaten the strange monk out, with the attitude of giving it a try, where would they think that it really happened.

Akashi Masayuki also looked at the unruly and unruly monk in front of him with the most pious eyes, and glanced at the movement outside with his hands covering the sun with his hand, and sneered: "Let them fly for a while, it's not time to do it yet, it's time to eat." ”

Strange monks always have strange behavior, the two brothers "uh", they were speechless, where can they still eat, they have already red their eyes, and they don't pay attention to see that Sui Feng is beckoning people to drink and eat, as if they are at home as casually.

Wasuka Koroku saw that the mission of Ishiyama Honganji stopped, he grinned and shouted loudly: "Punish the enemy of the Buddha, be diligent and righteous." As he spoke, he pulled up the bowstring, and with a "whoosh", a feathered arrow cut a graceful arc in the air and fell into the crowd.

The guard's arm, which had just drawn his sword, suddenly stopped, and then he seemed to have been struck by something, and an arrow stuck in his face, and the brocade feather on the tail of the arrow was still fluttering in the wind, which was the last bit he saw, and then he fell into darkness.

At this time, the thieves who ran to the front raised their arms, and in the blink of an eye, six arrows had been shot, and the archery skills could not be compared with their leader, but taking advantage of the chaos, they still shot down two people, and one more person shot in the arm, and the remaining three arrows missed. Under the sprint, it can also reach half the lethality, which is enough to show that this group of attackers is not an idle person.

Shigehide Suzuki had just brought a bowl of wine out of the wine bottle to drink, and the wine could hear a noisy running in the distance. The others haven't figured it out yet. He has long been very sensitive to this. Coupled with the reminder of Lai Lian Shimoma yesterday, he threw down the bowl and shouted loudly: "Enemy attack!" ”

As soon as his words fell, in the confusion, it was Wasuka Koroku who shot the first person and was shot down by two people in an instant, one was injured, and just wanted to look up to see how many enemies there were, but he didn't notice that seventeen or eighteen arrows were fired. For a time, the entire mission fell six people, and the screams continued.

The sudden attack woke up the dejected populace, who immediately fled for their lives in the east and west directions amid "Run for your life" and a few meaningless howls, and the local Pure Land Shinshu monks and a few followers rushed into the ranks of the mission in a panic.

Suzuki Shigehide kicked down a believer, shocked, and said angrily: "Bastard, get out of the way, turn the ox cart sideways, and the spears are out." The Infant Knife Team is ready to fight at any time, and the Iron Artillery Team and I snipe at the enemy's head. They must not be allowed to hurt adults. ”

After whipping the two believers who ran around, the people who could be selected to serve as Shimoma Yoriren's bodyguards were all the elite of the army, and under Suzuki Shigehide's and eating, the team began to use ox carts as shields in an orderly manner, and the formation was on both sides, with a total of more than 30 people protecting Shimoma Yoriren and a few others.

Shimoma Lai Lian saw that nine people were shot before he could take over, and secretly thought: "Who are you looking for, it's too fierce, isn't this asking for a dead end?!" His sharp voice shouted, "Edayoshi Castle is close at hand, and reinforcements will arrive soon." ”

Bee Suga Xiaoliu shot two more formations, although the mission with the ox cart to resist was only able to be beaten passively, but there were no casualties, he put a bow on his back, drew a long knife, pointed at the ox cart, and shouted loudly: "Punish the Buddha and the enemy, be diligent and righteous!" As he spoke, he strode over, and then jumped up, jumped into the ox cart, and stabbed the ox with a knife.

"Moo......" the old cow screamed, the white knife went in and the red knife came out, a stream of bright red blood flew out from the cow, the pain made the old cow run wildly, and in the long howl, he ran wildly, knocking over the guards of four or five missions, and the bee Suga Xiaoliu who was standing on the ox cart laughed, holding the ox cart box in one hand and holding the knife in the other.

Lai Lian saw that the team that had been formed with great difficulty was disrupted again, killing and injuring several people, and was shocked, and said secretly: "Honda Masanobu, where did you find the bastard, you really want me to die, don't you know the reason to stop in moderation?!" ”

Bee Suga Xiaoliu has to kill the rise, where can he take care of it, not to mention that he only killed a few people, as long as a few important people are left, and he heard Honda Masanosin say, the more miserable, the better, and now it is not so bad that it is time to cry.

Wasuka Koroku jumped off his horse, rolled twice on the ground, stood up, and raised his knife and ran towards the mission, at this time his men had already rushed in, and they also got an order, those few weak monks were not killed, and the rest of the guards in military uniforms were at will.

Bee Suga Xiaoliu and the others fought to the death, fighting for their lives, one by one they were unstoppable, but the guards who watched some of the guards of the mission were cowardly before fighting, and they were hesitant to move forward, and in the blink of an eye, five guards had been killed, and three guards were knocked to the ground and lost their combat strength.

The two Akashi brothers, who were watching the battle at the head of Eyoshi Castle, were dumbfounded and horrified, and watched as a group of ferocious thugs slaughtered into the middle of the mission of Ishiyama Honganji, and in a short period of time, more than 20 people had been knocked to the ground, and they did not know whether they were alive or dead, and blood was spilled all over the ground.

Suddenly, Akashi Masayuki grabbed Akashi Yuyuki's arm, lost his mind in shock, and said solemnly: "Big brother, you can't wait any longer, if you wait any longer, you will be killed, and then there will really be nothing to say, so let's rush out while there is still a living mouth." ”

Akashi Yuyuki nodded dumbfounded, and was just about to give an order, when the strange monk appeared in his sight with the wind, his breathing was much thicker again, his red eyes looked at each other, he glanced outside with the wind, licked his tongue, and jokingly said: "It's really hard enough." ”

Akashi Yuyuki listened to the words of the wind so casually, his face turned purple in an instant, his expression was stiff, and a pair of eyes spewed out anger uncontrollably, deceiving people too much, he shouted angrily: "Zen master, your purpose is to watch the people of the mission die." ”

Sui Feng smiled slightly, and sneered: "Think about it, why didn't the mission of Ishiyama Honganji choose a more convenient boat, you must know that the Date family has already controlled Awaji Island, even if they don't take a boat, they will arrive in Okayama early, why do they take a slow ox cart instead of going to Qingqing?" ”

A bland sentence extinguished the anger that rose from Akashi Yuyuki, and another fire began to surge, and he felt his heart beat violently, accompanied by a strong feeling of suffocation, and he thought of the purpose of the Ishiyama Honganji mission, and he understood why Suifeng was so light.

Sui Feng glanced at it and said, "I understand now." The two tigers will inevitably affect the pond fish. Ishiyama Honganji knew that once he penetrated into the Date Domain, it would be extremely difficult to organize such an attack, and it would be like a dream to escape with his whole body. ”

Akashi Yutoyo's fist creaked, his nails pierced into his palm and he didn't know it, he raised his head, his eyes showed a fierce light, he knew that he had become the saddest fish, the fish that could only get out of danger by saving himself, knelt down and begged: "Please also ask the Zen master to save my whole clan." ”

Sui Feng looked at the killing outside the city, and said: "Ishiyama Honganji is insidious and cunning, he was attacked as soon as he entered the Date territory, and everyone will wonder if it is a thief's bitter plan to catch a thief, so he must do not like a bitter meat plan, who will do his own evil to kill himself to death." This is his cleverness, even if he has doubts, he can't say why, and when the time comes, he can only blame the opponent of Ishiyama Honganji. Their opponents dared to attack the mission in Date's territory, which was no longer a slap in the face of the Date family, but a direct declaration of war against the Date family. ”

After a pause, Sui Feng continued: "In the end, no matter what the situation is, as the Akashi clan of the parties, what is the situation, yesterday the poor monk has already said that if you want to live, it is actually very simple, that is, to catch the murderer and force you to ask who is the mastermind?" ”

As if grasping the last straw, the two brothers jumped up and said, "Then go quickly?" ”

Sui Feng shook his head and said, "Look at it, these people outside are so fierce, do you think that with you guys will be their opponents, and they still have to catch them alive, dream!" Suddenly, he looked at the two brothers and said in a deep voice, "Do you really want to live?!" ”

The two brothers glanced outside the city, the gang of killers, shook a little, and then looked at the so-called elite in the city, shook their heads vigorously, and nodded vigorously, who doesn't want to live. (To be continued.) )