Pillars of the Wu family

Ashikaga Yoshiki laughed three times, and immediately rushed into the battle with a tatami in his hand. The dazzling light of the sword shone with the chill of death. Strolling leisurely in his own garden, the warriors of the Miyoshi Army threw away their helmets and armor and killed countless people with a dash of confidence and chic.

The swordsman general is worthy of being a hero taught by two generations of swordsmen. He swung his sword and threw his hands and feet to kill people invisibly. He is also young, strong and strong, and his strength far exceeds that of the old and frail swordsman Umizumi Hidezuna. The samurai still breathed calmly without showing a trace of fatigue. His superb swordsmanship and invincible power were no small matter. For a while, no one could restrain the invincible shogun.

"His Highness Gongfang's swordsmanship has reached its peak day by day. It is more than enough to be the ancestor of a sect. It's a pity..."

Kamizumi Hidetsuna sat on the porch and panted slowly, lamenting that as he got older, he was not as brave and powerful as ten years ago. Ten years later, he could still rampage in the high mountain battle. After killing dozens of people, I was tired and retreated to rest. Time passed and it was almost dusk.

Qingshouyuan quietly watched her son's struggle without seeing joys and sorrows, and the rosary in her hand kept turning slowly. The life of this 55-year-old old woman is full of drama. The first half of her life was a collection of thousands of loves. The princess of the Konoe family, who married Ashikaga Yoshiharu, has been going through ups and downs all the time. She finally survived until her son grew up and became a general, and her husband died of illness in a hurry.

Then she took a sharp turn and went straight to live a good life. The revitalization of the shogunate once restored her vision for a better life in the future, but within a few years the good life caused conflicts.There was a conflict between her son Ashikaga Yoshiki and another Ashikaga Yoshiki whom she and her husband valued.The veteran shogun went far away and found his own way out.After more than ten years of estrangement, she could barely maintain the balance of the shogunate. At this time, she had already noticed that the shogunate was abnormal.

It's a pity that Yoshiki Ashikaga has grown up, and he is no longer the child who obeyed her orders more than ten years ago. When his wings are hardened and he learns to go out for food, he doesn't need the care of his mother. The situation is so good that she allowed the authority of the shogunate to decline and then embarked on a path that will never be restored, all of which she had already vaguely expected.

The staff at Qingshouyuan clutched the rosary tightly.Finally, I couldn't help but shed tears, and wept in a low voice: "My child! You just woke up to this day, but it's already too late! It's too late..."

Ashikaga Yoshiki chopped off another Taidao, and several samurai around him were overjoyed and rushed forward without saying a word, but the Taidao hidden by Ashikaga Yoshiki suddenly came out of its sheath, sweeping Qianjun Dao with one move It seemed to be practiced like horses, and the astonished samurai was split in half with just one horizontal slash.

The Miyoshi Army didn't know that this person was Ashikaga Yoshiki. Seeing him wielding a knife to kill people like cutting melons and vegetables, he couldn't help but feel fear and cowardice in his heart.The number of miyoshi soldiers who poured in was small, and the formation was disordered, and the spirit of several generals declined.Feng Gong risked his life to protect the left and right wings to provide him with an excellent opportunity to display his swordsmanship,

General Jianhao's extraordinary performance can only be calmed down for a while, but there are so many miyoshi soldiers, Ashikaga Yoshiki can't stop enemies from all directions, even with three heads and six arms, General Jianhao chopped off a few famous knives and killed dozens of samurai , still unable to stop the ferocious attack of the miyoshi sergeants rolling in, taking advantage of the moment when the Taidao in his hand was cut off again, several warriors suddenly roared and put on a collision posture to launch a joint assault on him.

This time it almost cost him his life, four people surrounded him in a fan shape and slashed at the same time from three directions, but Ashikaga Yoshiki couldn't react because of the frequent vicious fights, and he couldn't withdraw from the range of the joint attack immediately. , Hastily raised his hand to block two swords but couldn't block the remaining two swords, Yagyu Munegan, Hayashizaki Jinsuke and others were surrounded by the enemy and unable to rescue them, Kamiizumi Hidetsuna only had time to shout: "His Royal Highness, be careful!"

A quick shout instantly disrupted the tacit cooperation of the warriors of the Miyoshi Army, and the four of them froze in astonishment for a moment, only to realize that the formidable enemy in front of them turned out to be the shogunate general Ashikaga Yoshiki, unavoidably shaking their minds and giving birth to a heart of fear. Killing a general throughout the ages is a heinous crime Capital crime, Akamatsu Mansuke, who cut Ashikaga Yoshikon into seventeen or eighteen sections, eventually committed seppuku and committed seppuku. They could not escape the treatment of Shijo Kawara, who could not afford the danger of extermination.

This stupefaction gave Ashikaga Yoshiki a chance to fight back, and the Taidao slashed and slashed the four of them to death, but he still couldn't prevent one of them from desperately fighting back, and he slashed Ashikaga Yoshiki's shoulder, This is the first and only trauma he has suffered since he was a child. The general's injury will inevitably shake the morale of the army.

At this time, the offensive outside the Imperial Palace became more and more urgent. Seeing that the sun was about to go down, there was not enough time. In a hurry, Matsunaga lined up more than ten military taiko drums, and erected dozens of large banners in the front line, ordering Xiao Xing to go to the battle in person. Drums were beating to help out, and more than a dozen young and strong warriors beat the military taiko drum rumblingly, urging the army to go faster and faster.

Finally, the gate of the Imperial Palace couldn't hold back and was knocked open. More and more Miyoshi troops poured in. Excited Ashgaru yelled and rushed into the Imperial Palace, but suddenly a group of black-clothed ninjas burst out from the corner of the forest , They threw a snare to cover the gap in the door, and then several ninjas threw out a pottery pot filled with sulfur and rosin, and a fire bag was thrown out. In a blink of an eye, the door was caught in a sea of ​​flames, and was tied up in a rope. The samurai was weak enough to break free, and was burned into a pile of coke in the flames, screaming and wailing.

At the same time, dozens of ninjas sprang up to perform their unique assassination skills. The super-accurate thousand-ben darts such as rainstorm pear blossoms hit every shot, and non-mainstream weapons such as katana and swords all appeared on the stage, as well as the chain flying sickle used by Hattori Yasumoto, who threw the sickle to hook the samurai The neck is dragged back forcibly, and usually the samurai will be killed by the sickle cutting his throat halfway.

Hattori Baochang suddenly appeared with two hundred ninjas and turned the unfavorable situation of the war. At this time, Ashikaga Yoshiki's big armor was covered with blood, and he was sitting on the corridor doing bandages in a state of distress. Carefully smearing the knife wound medicine powder on his side, the strong swordsman general never showed a weak expression from the beginning to the end.

The gorgeous big armor was taken off and thrown aside, it didn't make much sense to wear the armor after fighting to this point.Moreover, this kind of large armor lacks protection and is not very useful to keep.Several maids came over with wooden basins filled with warm water and towels.Wipe off the sweat and stains all over the body of the shogun, the shogun must maintain a perfect image no matter when and where.

It's not that Ashikaga Yoshiki likes hypocrisy and hypocrisy, but because of General Genji's instinct to maintain majesty, he must meticulously stick to his beliefs even before his death. This is the so-called stubbornness of a famous family.

Hattori Baochang knelt down and bowed his head on the ground, and said expressionlessly: "Hatbu Ishimi paid a visit to His Highness the General, and respectfully asked His Highness to evacuate the Imperial Palace as soon as possible, so that when he recovers in the future."

Seeing that his demeanor is not so respectful.Ashikaga Yoshiki didn't think he was disobedient, instead he smiled slightly and said, "Ishi Jianshou is the Yoshitoki family's monogamous practice? I remember seeing it once before. Ishi Jianshou willingly risked his life to come here to see Yu for the last time. I like the Nijo Imperial Palace very much, so there is no need to leave!"

"His Royal Highness, Ishijian Shouden is here to save you! Why don't you want to leave?" Umizumi Hidetsuna got a little anxious, and the hopeful shogunate officials were also hit hard.

Ashikaga Yoshiki didn't take it seriously, and still said lightly: "Go? Where do you go? How can a group of remnants and defeated soldiers in the imperial palace, old and weak women and children go? The gates on both sides are closed and surrounded by heavy surroundings, how can we go?"

Sanyuan Fujiying knelt down with a plop.Pleading bitterly: "If we break through by force, the Sanhao Army will not dare to block it! Please leave, His Royal Highness! It is okay to leave it here for us to block!"

"No need. Yu has already made up his mind to die here. Taking the bustling Kyoto as his seat and the blue sky and white clouds as his hut, this life is not in vain!" Ashikaga Yoshiki stared at the afterglow of the setting sun and laughed loudly: "Everyone Just look! What a beautiful sunset, what a good time to die!"

"His Royal Highness! You can't die! Woooooo..." The officials knelt on the ground and wailed loudly, beating their chests and stamping their feet. While weeping bitterly, they cursed their own incompetence to kill the general. Several veteran officials rolled their eyes and cried Passed out, the maids hiding in the corner were also crying, and the little surnames burst into tears, the scene was very bleak and miserable.

Jinshi Qingshe suddenly stood up, walked to the open space, knelt down, and said regretfully, "These are all incompetent ministers. They have eyes but can't see the wolf ambition of the Mihao Army. Just now they brought back the news of their intention to withdraw, and they learned that the Mihao Army was just perfunctory. As for the sergeant who is unprepared to face the fierce battle, the crime of a subject cannot be redeemed by death, I implore His Royal Highness to grant seppuku!"

"Qingshedian..." Ashikaga Yoshiki looked at Jinshi Qingshe's resolute posture, and sighed: "I understand, Qingshedian can take a step first..."

"My lord father! You...you!" The little attendant covered his mouth and looked at him in astonishment, but saw Jin Shi Qingshe just glanced at him, then pulled out his ribs and yelled and stabbed him in the abdomen, blushing and said with difficulty: "Your servant... let's take a step first... for His Royal Highness... go to Huangquan to talk about the way!"

"My lord father!" the little attendant yelled and passed out on the spot. The maids hurriedly hugged the little attendant and went to rest in the hall. The public rushed to find a few reed mats to cover Jinshi Qingshe's body. The road ahead was difficult and the world was unpredictable. The samurai didn't have the extra sympathy to take care of a dead samurai, and being able to cover their face with a reed mat was considered a good treatment, and they themselves didn't know whether they would enjoy the treatment of covering their face with a reed mat after death.

Hattori Baochang watched the tragedy in the imperial palace with cold eyes, and said calmly: "It's a little late to come down, just now I wasted a little time to rescue the palace and the two princesses, since your highness, the general, please let the family members withdraw from the imperial palace first. !"

Ashikaga Yoshiki breathed a sigh of relief, and said gratefully: "So Xianzi and the children have already escaped? That's fine! Then please ask Ishi Jianshou to rescue Yu's mother and Mrs. Jinshi from the concubine together!"

"The poor nun is not going to leave..." Qingshouyuan shook his head and said, "Let the servant escape by himself!"

"Mother..." Ashikaga Yoshiki just wanted to persuade a few words, when he saw the maid hurried over and whispered a few words, and sighed with a pale face: "The little attendant's stomach seems to have some abnormal reactions, and I'm afraid he won't be able to escape smoothly. I went out... Is it true that the heavens are going to destroy my Ashikaga family?"

Shangquan Xiugang pleaded: "His Royal Highness! Please still..."

Ashikaga Yoshiki interrupted with a wave of his hand, and said bitterly: "Needless to say, I was also a failed general when I escaped. It is better to stay here and die a heroic death... Ise Mamoru can go! You are not a retainer of the shogunate and should not stay here." Here. Your mission has been completed. This is Yu's order, hurry up!"

Sword Master Umizumi Hidetsuna hesitated for a moment, seeing his determination, he could only let out a long sigh: "In my old age, I am fortunate to be able to teach His Royal Highness the swordsmanship in the shogunate, and I am always grateful for the grace of receiving the salary, and can fight for His Royal Highness. Forget about one game but one wish, but unfortunately the world is always impermanent and people's wishes cannot be fulfilled, so I ask His Royal Highness Gongfang to accept my Xiugang's worship again!"

Kamizumi Hidetsuna knelt on the ground and saluted three times.In line with the five-body prostration of worshiping the gods and Buddhas, Yanagyu Munegan, Okuyama Yukasai, Shioka Kazuha, Hikada Kekene, Hayashizaki Jinsuke, Komagawa Kuniyoshi and other swordsmen also bowed three times, and then stood up for a while. After bowing, he dragged his body and retreated slowly. In a secret point guarded by ninjas, there was a secret passage leading to the outside of the city. This secret passage was Ina Tadashi, one of the fortification officials when Ashikaga Yoshitoshi undertook the task of building the Nijo Imperial Palace. The secret door that the family left behind.

Ashikaga Yoshiki stared at the motionless ninja, and asked strangely, "Why didn't Iwami Shouden leave?"

"My lord has long anticipated the changes in Kyoto, and issued a secret decree to act cheaply." Hattori Baochang's eyes flickered, and he said in a low voice: "I have the courage to ask your highness, the general, to transfer the shogunate's successor." thing..."

"Bold!" Mibuchi Fujihide jumped up against the case, and angrily said: "What kind of lord has what kind of retainers. Zu Liya sits on the Eastern Kingdom but is still not satisfied, and wants to seize the sacred object of the successor of our shogunate I, Teng Ying, have reason to doubt whether your master is involved in this conspiracy to usurp the throne!"

Hattori Baochang ignored Mibuchi Fujihide at all, and said respectfully: "Your Highness, General, do you know why the Miyoshi Army stopped attacking at this time?"

The ministers suddenly realized that the clamoring military taiko drums outside the imperial palace suddenly stopped, and a group of Ninja soldiers from the Ashikaga family in Kanto set fire to them, and threw some hidden weapons to kill all the chaos in the imperial palace, but they could not block the attack outside the imperial palace. Jin Qingmen said in surprise, "Could it be that reinforcements are coming?"

Hattori Baochang said: "Nakajo Tokihiden led [-] troops out of the Yamashiro Kingdom before noon, and at the moment when the Nijo Imperial Palace was under attack, they launched an attack on the Shogun Yamashiro on the Guasheng Mountain. The Three Thousand Miyoshi Army from Sōko-ji Temple in Kyoto went to the outside of the city to rescue General Yamashiro. At the same time, the Sanqian Fenggong from Cizhao Temple, led by Akechi Hinata Shouden, raided the Miyoshi Army outside the Imperial Palace, and the Miyoshi Sanyo were beaten I was caught off guard and was busy clearing the fire in the backyard at this time."

The main force of the three good people is divided into two groups, the Matsunaga army who attacked the city full of resentment with Matsu Nagato and Naito Zongkatsu, and the No. [-] three-person army who sat behind and waved the flag and shouted to enjoy the success. The latter was obviously more numerous than the former. There are so many people, Ashikaga Yoshiaki temporarily changed his mind to support Miyoshi and the three people also valued their strength.

It's good to hide behind and enjoy the rewards, but the consequence is that the trio of miyoshis hand over their backs to the enemy without any defense. The fighting power of the three thousand army cannot surpass the proud Awa people. This is the essence of Ashikaga Yoshiki's hard work in the financially strapped years. It is composed of the inferior Settsu people and Yamashiro people. The Miyoshi Army is almost at your fingertips.

Ever since Akechi Mitsuhide received the secret order, he quickly made efforts to secretly win over all the guards in Cizhao Temple. With years of reputation, he was loved by the soldiers, and he used unparalleled opportunities to maneuver, gradually isolated the few who refused to obey the order, and got the three thousand The actual commanding power of the military force, after obtaining the military power, it took more than two months to wait for the opportunity to reorganize the army. Finally, it was the moment when the Miyoshi Army made a large-scale attack, so after receiving the information from the Hattori Baochang in the afternoon of the same day, the army went straight to the attack. Behind the Miyoshi Army.

With the intelligence support of Hattori ninjas, the deadly stabbing angles of these three thousand soldiers are tricky and fierce. There are more than [-] horse-riding warriors in the three thousand army, all of them are brave men with long spears and fresh clothes and angry horses. Akechi Mitsuhide took the [-] cavalry as the forerunner, and took the lead in rushing into the gap between the two of the Miyoshi trio.

The subordinates of the two divisions of the Miyoshi Army who rushed to the battle, when encountering an enemy attack, their first reaction was to look for their own army, so they turned a blind eye to the opposite friendly army who was just a short distance away and under their noses, and they were so close but did not rescue each other. Instead, Akechi Mitsuhide There is a lot of room for display, but in just a moment, these [-] or so riders can kill through the back of the Miyoshi army.

Afterwards, more than [-] ashigaru troops who caught up quickly expanded the gap to kill and penetrate. The iron artillery team and the archer team guarded the left and right wings to shoot and kill the Miyoshi troops on both sides. Open, the knights on horseback who were turned around turned around and made a surprise attack, slashing all the way with guns and bayonets like chopping melons and cutting vegetables, and the blood flowed into a river. The situation, thinking that the Kanto Ashikaga army was raiding, immediately followed and became a mess.

The more than 100 Iron Cannon Team trained by Akechi Mitsuhide are all sharpshooters of this era. As long as the weather conditions permit, they can almost shoot without missing a bullet within fifteen days, and they can fire more than [-] rounds in less than a quarter of an hour. , the Miyoshi army on both sides killed and injured no fewer than [-] people. The brilliant record made every samurai dumbfounded. Even Akechi Mitsuhide did not expect this effect.

The turmoil in Kyoto taught the shogunate a vivid lesson for the public. Strong soldiers, strong horses, strong soldiers, elite soldiers, and high spirits are the kingly way. Since then, Akechi Mitsuhide has determined to train a strong army that can be pulled out to fight. What I am most proud of in this year is precisely the more than [-] cavalry warriors. With the support and help given by Sakamoto Castle, these [-] cavalry practiced impressively to prevent Miyoshi Changqing's imperial horse from returning to the public.

The strong and elite cavalry warriors face the ordinary ashigaru who have no formation and rely on the geographical advantage, and it is really as easy as destroying the dead. Wherever the cavalry passes, there is no leaf, and the knife and gun are held high like a sickle to harvest rows of helpless His life was caused by corpses strewn all over the field and blood flowing into rivers, like a strong whirlwind, blowing into the ignorant enemy camp, the red-eyed warrior on horseback dragged a bloody path and rushed straight past, leaving behind a dead body. Decapitated corpses and writhing and howling remnants.

A large battalion of 2000 people was killed by [-] cavalry for two rounds. Miyoshi Nagatoku, Miyoshi Nagatoku’s senior minister, was killed here. It was Akechi Mitsuhide’s son-in-law Akechi Sabasuke Hidemi who killed him. The morale of the three armies collapsed, and more than a thousand remnants fled in embarrassment, throwing away their helmets and armor.

The situation in the other battalion was similar. There were no less than 700 people killed in the Iron Cannon Squad. Their morale had long been in chaos under the iron cannon's sniping. They were rushed by the two thousand foot light led by Akechi Mitsuhide, and the army was defeated immediately. The flag rolled backwards like a tide and retreated rapidly. In the blink of an eye, they retreated all the way west without even opening their resistance posture.

The general of the army, Miyoshi Changsheng, happened to be the descendant of Miyoshi Changyi, and he was the brother of Miyoshi Changtoku who was beheaded by Ming Zhixiu. The first reaction is to kill the defeated soldiers and restrain the three armies. However, the situation is gone and it cannot be reversed by manpower. One defeated soldier killed cannot kill a thousand defeated soldiers. Ometsu was engulfed by the swarm of defeated soldiers and fled westward. The so-called military law general order It also loses its original meaning.

Sanhao Changsheng saw that there were many people fleeing from the formation, the army was in a state of collapse and morale was lost, so he knew that he had caused a catastrophe, so he had to tear down the banner and take off the general's armor, and pretended to be an ordinary horse back to the samurai to ride. On the horses, under the escort of the horses, they fled westward with the defeated soldiers. After two battles and one defeat, the morale of the three armies plummeted. The army was so frightened that Ashikaga Yoshiaki hurriedly summoned the Miyoshi and three people to discuss the solution, and Matsu Nagatotsu and Naito Sokatsu were also called to discuss the matter. Naturally, the attack on the imperial palace slowed down the pace indefinitely.

Hattori Baochang said: "The so-called just can't last long. The few defeated soldiers killed by Hinata Shouden while their morale was high are indeed majestic, but this army can't last for too long. Matsunaga Hideo is smart and will soon find out that Hinata Shouden The palace's stamina is insufficient, so we only need to send [-] elite troops from the Miyoshi Army to fight against it, and if we add more strength to the imperial palace's attack, it will still be over soon."

Ashikaga Yoshiki murmured, "A meaningless battle?"

Hattori Baochang shook his head: "That's not the case. Without Akechi Hinata Shouden's disturbing sight, I and all the shogunate samurai who are willing to escape will never be able to escape. This is using their lives to delay time and hesitate for a moment. The soldiers of the Miyoshi Army will encircle and kill them, and then it will be too late for regret!" (To be continued...)