Chapter 62

Xiaosonglin, located at the border of the Tianyuan family, Xiaomu family, and Fujiwara family territories, is named for the dense pine forests that grow there. On the morning of May 11th, 1540, the sun was scorching, and it had not rained for half a month. A thin layer of dust covered the emerald green pine needles. A spider that had just finished weaving its web was hiding under a leaf, quietly waiting for prey to fall into its trap.

A few hundred steps away, a dozen ashigaru (foot soldiers) were cooling off under several pine trees near a checkpoint. Although their lord had said the day before that the local strongmen were mobilizing and preparing to attack, and had ordered everyone to be on high alert and closely monitor the movements on the other side of the pine forest, the ashigaru did not take it seriously. These lords were always fighting, but apart from the continuous injuries and even deaths of their family members, they seemed to have gained nothing. Now, they were even struggling to get food. They had already decided that once the fighting started, they would try to stay at the back of the formation and look for an opportunity to escape.

At that moment, a farmer, covered in dirt, ran toward the checkpoint in a panic.

"Who are you?" the ashigaru on duty immediately shouted.

"Quick, quick, inform the lord. The local strongmen have already gathered their forces and are advancing this way. They will be here in about half an hour," the farmer panted, pulling out a seal from his chest, clearly the mark of the Tianyuan family's scout.

"Ah?" The ashigaru under the pine trees immediately burst into an uproar. Soon, one of them ran frantically toward the lord's castle to report the news.

Half an hour later, at Tianyuan Castle, the residence of the Tianyuan family.

"Lord, Lord," Tianyuan Tadayoshi, who was reviewing accounts in the council hall, suddenly heard an urgent call from outside the door.

"Come in, why the panic?" Tianyuan Tadayoshi raised his head and said calmly.

Soon, an ashigaru responsible for guarding the main gate of the lord's residence ran in, knelt on both knees, and said, "Lord, the family scout has reported that the local strongmen have gathered their forces and are advancing toward our territory. They are likely already at our border."

"Finally, they have come," Tianyuan Tadayoshi stood up with a swift motion, "Immediately issue the order to gather all the samurai and peasant soldiers, and also gather the bandits to follow our family to meet the enemy. By the way, where is the young lord?" Although the timing of the enemy's attack was unexpected, Tianyuan Tadayoshi did not seem panicked at all.

"Lord, the young lord seemed to have gone hunting this morning with the bandit leader he brought into the city yesterday," the ashigaru reported.

"What?" Tianyuan Tadayoshi was furious. At such a critical time, he was actually taking an ally out hunting? What was the young lord planning? Frowning, Tianyuan Tadayoshi finally said, "Forget it, have the young lord return and defend the castle." Since the Tianyuan family was established by a rebellion of high-ranking officials, they never heavily relied on their vassals, which directly led to a lack of sufficient manpower during important moments.

With Tianyuan Tadayoshi's order, the town outside Tianyuan Castle was immediately in turmoil. The scouts of various factions hidden around immediately became alert, and some even quietly left, needing to report the significant developments to their lords as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the young lord of the Tianyuan family, Tianyuan Masahiro, was heading into a forest in the territory with Kousuke. In fact, Tianyuan Masahiro had always been wary of these bandits, so early in the morning, he had taken Kousuke out of the city, using the pretext of hunting, and planned to interrogate the bandit leader in a remote area to uncover their true intentions.

Kousuke seemed unaware of Tianyuan Masahiro's intentions and happily accepted the invitation to hunt, even leading the way into the forest. Tianyuan Masahiro was pleased with this cooperation and let Kousuke lead the way.

As they moved further away from Tianyuan Castle, the group finally stopped at the foot of a small mountain. Kousuke turned to Tianyuan Masahiro and said, "Young Lord Masahiro, this is the place. I once found a herd of deer here. I'm sure we'll find something deeper in."

"No, Lord Kousuke, let's stop here today," Tianyuan Masahiro seemed satisfied with the location and waved his hand, "I have a question for you, Lord Kousuke."

"Please, Young Lord, what is it?" Kousuke pretended to search for prey, took a few steps forward, and then turned to face Tianyuan Masahiro.

"Ha ha ha, no need to pretend anymore. Tell me, what is Banseki Dairo's plan?" Seeing Kousuke's caution, Tianyuan Masahiro immediately revealed his true intentions, signaling to the samurai behind him, and then sneered. The samurai immediately moved toward Kousuke.

"Young Lord Masahiro, what... what do you mean? Are you going to break the alliance between our families?" Kousuke was shocked, took a few steps back, and shouted in panic.

"Ha ha ha, I didn't expect you to still be so stubborn even here," Tianyuan Masahiro laughed, his eyes fixed on Kousuke like a hunter eyeing his prey, "Don't worry, you'll tell me everything soon. Seize him!" Tianyuan Masahiro waved his right hand, ordering the samurai to capture Kousuke.

"Ha ha ha, Tianyuan Masahiro, you're the one who's talking," Kousuke, who was retreating, suddenly laughed loudly and said sternly.

"Hmph, don't argue with me, seize him quickly," Tianyuan Masahiro, tired of the annoying bandit, shouted at the samurai.

"Lord, save me!" Seeing the samurai closing in, Kousuke suddenly knelt and shouted into the surrounding forest.

"Ha ha ha, what a cowardly bandit," the samurai, who were about to capture Kousuke, burst into laughter at his strange behavior.

"Whoosh!" Suddenly, a long arrow pierced the sky and directly penetrated the throat of one of the samurai, cutting off his laughter.

The sudden event shocked everyone. Before they could react, "whoosh," "whoosh," "whoosh," more arrows shot from all directions, and the samurai fell one by one.

The battle ended quickly. Caught off guard and attacked from such close range, they could only suffer a crushing defeat. As the last samurai, who tried to block the arrows with his sword, fell, a rustling sound came from the surrounding forest, and over a hundred people suddenly emerged.

"Ah? Who... who are you?" Tianyuan Masahiro, who had been in a dominant position a moment ago, suddenly found himself surrounded by over a hundred people, and his samurai were either dead or groaning in pain, clearly out of combat. He collapsed to the ground, shouting in panic. At that moment, Tianyuan Masahiro felt as if he had fallen from heaven to hell.

Masahiro ignored the now powerless Tianyuan Masahiro, signaled to Ogasawara Kuniharu, turned to Kousuke, and smiled, "Kousuke, it seems you've done another good deed."

In fact, Masahiro had just returned from the night raid on the Xiaomu and Fujiwara families' hostages that morning. After a night of marching, everyone was a bit tired. After learning the latest situation from Ogasawara Kuniharu and Tsuda Masahide, Masahiro found a place to rest and prepare for the events of the day. Unexpectedly, just after he had slept for less than half an hour, Ogasawara Kuniharu rushed to report that a group was approaching their hiding place.

Masahiro immediately led his men to investigate and was surprised to find that the leader was Kousuke. Not knowing why Kousuke was leading people there, Masahiro had his men hide temporarily.

Soon, Kousuke led the group to where Masahiro was hiding, and the scene just described unfolded. After overhearing Kousuke's conversation, Masahiro's eyes lit up, and he immediately ordered the attack, decisively defeating the group.

(PS: This is the fourth week of the new book release. It has already been A-signed and has been updated with over 170,000 words, with no plans to stop. At least 1.5 million words are planned. Last week, it was on the Sanjiang Potential List, this week on the New Book Recommendation List, and next week on the Historical Strong Recommendation List. It is currently first on the new historical book list and seventh on the overall new book list. Dear readers, if you don't have votes, please add it to your bookshelf. I beg you. My goal is to write at least 1.5 million words, even if it means a spectacular failure. I enjoy writing and embracing solitude.)

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