Chapter 92

In the afternoon, the sun was scorching. Although it had rained lightly in the morning, the air was filled with humid and hot molecules, making the heat unbearable.

Beside the clear mountain spring, under an old pine tree, Masahiro lay back in a specially made rattan chair, his eyes half-closed, seemingly deep in thought about life. Next to him, Tsuru was gently fanning him with a small fan, while on the other side, Chou was washing wild fruits sent by the villagers. "What decadence, truly decadent," Masahiro kept scolding himself in his heart, but he still opened his mouth and swallowed a wild fruit that Tsuru had placed near his lips. "Mm, it's indeed very sweet."

"Your Highness, Your Highness," just as Masahiro was about to swallow the second wild fruit Tsuru offered, a hurried voice came from the entrance of the inner courtyard. "Damn it, who's disturbing me at this time? This is the first lazy afternoon I've had in days."

Masahiro angrily opened his eyes and looked up to see Monokuro Ichinou running over, with two young attendants who had failed to stop him trailing behind.

"Your Highness," Ichinou knelt down several meters away from Masahiro, drenched in sweat and panting heavily, clearly having run here in a hurry. "A fierce battle has erupted at Yunoshiro Castle."

"What?" Masahiro flipped over and quickly stood up. "Quick, gather all the retainers for a meeting." The two young attendants who had just arrived hadn't even steadied themselves before they immediately turned around and rushed out.

Soon, Masahiro learned the entire story from Ichinou. This morning, the Akasaka and Tachibana families, who had jointly occupied Yunoshiro Castle, suddenly broke out into an internal conflict without any warning. The conflict started as a small skirmish but eventually escalated into a full-scale battle by noon. When both sides were exhausted and suffering heavy losses, the Touno family, which should have retreated to their own castle, suddenly launched an attack. The Akasaka and Tachibana forces, caught off guard, immediately scattered. The Touno family, seeing the opportunity, pursued them for several miles, only stopping when the fleeing forces had crossed the original Touno territory.

Although the territory needed time to recover, since a battle opportunity had arisen, it couldn't be missed. After a hurried discussion with his retainers, Masahiro gathered 20 low-ranking samurai and 40 men from the cape-wearing group and arrived at the border checkpoint with the Touno territory in the afternoon. At this time, new news arrived. The Touno family, who had just reoccupied Yunoshiro Castle, received word that the Kura family had seen through their feint and was crossing the Zonai River to invade the Touno territory. With no choice, the Touno family left a small number of troops to guard Yunoshiro Castle and hurried back to their own castle. The few remaining Akasaka and Tachibana troops, hiding nearby, saw this and seized the opportunity to regroup at the foot of Yunoshiro Castle. To seize the supplies in the castle's warehouse that the Akasaka and Tachibana families had failed to take away, the two groups of troops miraculously formed an alliance and attacked Yunoshiro Castle again, charging like wild beasts at the castle, which was guarded by fewer than 20 men.

Such a good opportunity couldn't be missed. Since the main forces of the three families were not present, it was the perfect time for the Roshida family to act as a fisherman and seize the spoils of victory. Masahiro immediately decided to mobilize all the forces of Takahara Village to rush to the battlefield.

On the afternoon of May 31st, at the foot of Yunoshiro Castle.

After half a month of chaos, the town at the foot of Yunoshiro Castle was in ruins, with broken wood and walls everywhere, and the people were suffering. Only the small tributary of the Manegari River in the distance continued to flow quietly, as if telling the story of the former prosperity. Masahiro led 110 men, wading through the shallow waters of the Manegari River's tributary, and then quickly followed the path the Akasaka family had used to sneak into Yunoshiro Castle, arriving near the castle. At this time, the city gates had already been opened from the inside by the fleeing troops, and a battle was taking place inside the castle.

"Charge!" Masahiro drew his sword, the Yoshikawa Ichimonji, and waved it forward. The troops behind him, led by Heizaburo and Tadajiro, surged toward the open city gates like a tide. The troops of the three families, who were still in the midst of the battle, soon found themselves surrounded by enemies several times their number. At this point, the battles were generally battles of attrition, and after the opponents were defeated, massacres rarely occurred. So after a few unlucky ones were skewered like hedgehogs, the troops surrendered without much resistance. As for the samurai who stubbornly resisted, Masahiro kindly gave them the honor of seppuku.

"So, this chaos was caused by a woman imprisoned in a wooden house?" An hour after occupying Yunoshiro Castle, Masahiro sat in the main seat of the castle lord's council hall and asked.

"Yes, Your Highness, we confirmed this from the captives," Tadajiro said.

After receiving Tadajiro's confirmation, Masahiro found it quite amusing. He simply couldn't believe that a woman could cause the internal conflict between the Akasaka and Tachibana families. It turned out that this morning, a group leader of the Tachibana family, along with several men, was searching for valuables in the nearby mountains as usual. They discovered a beautiful daughter in a farmer's house in a small mountain valley and immediately tried to abduct her. At this moment, another group of Akasaka foot soldiers passed by, and the leader, captivated by the woman's beauty, also joined in the abduction. A conflict immediately broke out, and in the end, the Akasaka group, with more men, won.

The defeated and injured Tachibana group leader immediately ran to the young lord of the Tachibana family, who was responsible for guarding the castle, and complained that the Akasaka family had abducted a beauty intended for the young lord. The young lord, who had long been dissatisfied with the Akasaka family (the Akasaka family, considering themselves stronger, often caused trouble in meetings to divide the newly occupied land), immediately led men to confront them and demanded the woman. The Akasaka family scoffed at this, and the young lord of the Tachibana family, feeling his dignity insulted, forcibly searched the place, leading to a conflict. In the chaos, the young lord of the Tachibana family was shot by an arrow (likely the work of a Touno spy). Enraged, the young lord of the Tachibana family ordered a full-scale attack on the Akasaka family. Thus, the two families broke out into a full-scale internal conflict. The two family heads, who had likely been at odds over the distribution of spoils, would probably be spitting blood when they heard the news.

"Return the woman to her family, and organize the farmers in the nearby mountains to move to Takahara Village. This place may become a battlefield again," Masahiro instructed. "How was the loot this time?"

"Your Highness, we seized 36 long spears, 4 round wooden bows, 120 stones of mixed grains, and captured 37 prisoners. None of our troops were injured, but we did not find any swords, coins, or other valuables," Roshida Kizaburo, the military supervisor of the first and fourth standing foot soldier units, reported. "The military achievements have been tallied, and we expect to distribute 5 stones of mixed grains." As he spoke, Roshida Kizaburo couldn't hide his joy. In this raid, he had taken the head of a severely injured samurai. Although it was a bit opportunistic, to take an enemy's head in his first official battle at less than 16 years old was a brave feat.

"Hey, Heizaburo, how was your side?" Masahiro looked at Heizaburo, who had been silent with his head down. In fact, one of the main reasons Masahiro was so eager to capture this place was because Heizaburo had informed him that when Touno Kijiro was the castle lord, he had set up a secret warehouse in the castle, secretly stockpiling a large amount of supplies for a coup. With the experience of the secret warehouse of the Takahara Mountain bandits, Masahiro was quite looking forward to it.

"Your Highness, the secret warehouse is still intact and has not been discovered by the other families. This time, we seized 15 swords, 30 long spears, 25 crude bamboo armors, and over 500 stones of mixed grains," Heizaburo reported in a low voice. "Additionally, in the secret room, we found the head of my former lord, Touno Kijiro, and the body of his other important retainer, Sakuji. It seems that Sakuji retrieved Touno Kijiro's head from the battlefield and then hid there, eventually committing seppuku."

Seeing Heizaburo's somber face, Masahiro couldn't find the right words to comfort him. After a moment of silence, he finally said, "Bury him with honor, and preserve Touno Kijiro's head with lime."

"Your Highness, what are you...?" Heizaburo was a bit puzzled by Masahiro's instructions.

"Is Your Highness planning to make peace with the Touno family?" Roshida Kizaburo asked at this point.

Masahiro nodded slightly. "The Touno family is currently under attack from two sides, and their strength has been weakened after this battle. In the past, due to the inability to reconcile with the Akasaka and Tachibana families, they had to take risks twice to retake this place to avoid being attacked from both sides. Now, with our family protecting them from the Akasaka and Tachibana families, even if they are reluctant, the Touno family will likely accept the situation. Moreover, this place is surrounded by enemies on three sides, and making temporary peace with the Touno family will greatly alleviate the threat to our family."

"Your Highness, the Touno family may not accept our goodwill," Heizaburo said.

"Return Touno Kijiro's head, and use 300 stones of the seized mixed grains to exchange for weapons with the Touno family. The Touno family's autumn harvest will be reduced this year due to repeated invasions of their territory. With these 300 stones of grain, they will be much better off. Heizaburo, you will be responsible for this," Masahiro said. As a former samurai of the Touno family, Heizaburo was the most suitable person for this task, and Masahiro also wanted to test his loyalty. As for the grain, the Roshida family had seized a lot in several battles and could also buy more from the Koe family, but weapons were not available for purchase, so exchanging some grain for weapons was a good deal.

"Yes, Your Highness," Heizaburo bowed and accepted the order. "But what kind of response do you need from them?"

"Hehe, they won't respond," Masahiro smiled and said.

"Ah?" The retainers were surprised. If they knew the other side wouldn't respond, why go through all this trouble?

"If our original territory is occupied by others, and we need their help to get through the difficulties, forcing a response would only make them feel ashamed and ultimately lead to a battle with our family. So, we only need them to agree to the exchange of weapons," Masahiro explained. As long as they agreed to the exchange, it would indicate that they accepted the Roshida family's goodwill.

"Your Highness is wise," the retainers, fully understanding Masahiro's intentions, could not help but admire their lord's wisdom.

After dismissing everyone, Masahiro summoned Monokuro Ichinou, who had just returned. "How are the other families doing?" Masahiro asked.

"Your Highness, after the main force of the fleeing troops returned to their territory and learned that Yunoshiro Castle had fallen, the head of the Akasaka family was furious, beheaded the responsible retainer, and then reassembled the troops, seemingly preparing to attack this place again," Ichinou carefully observed Masahiro's expression, saw that he was calm, swallowed, and continued, "The Touno family's forces are already in battle with the invading Kura family. As for the Tachibana family, a strange thing happened. The young lord of the Tachibana family, who was only lightly injured, died of severe injuries during the retreat."

"Hmm? Died of severe injuries?" Masahiro immediately sensed a conspiracy in the news. "Hahaha, it seems our family has temporarily lost a strong enemy."

Seeing Masahiro talking to himself, Ichinou, kneeling on the ground, was completely puzzled and didn't understand why Masahiro was suddenly so happy.

"Continue to closely monitor the movements of the other families," Masahiro said finally.

"Yes, Your Highness," Ichinou bowed and quickly left.

"Order everyone to be on high alert and prepare for battle," Masahiro instructed the young attendant behind him.

It seems there will be another major battle.

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(PS: Dear readers, don't leave in a hurry after reading. Even if you don't have votes, add the book to your shelf. I beg you, my goal is to write over 1.5 million words, even if it means a spectacular failure. Enjoy writing, enjoy solitude. The book club 218847013 is now open, welcome to join.)

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