$440, Encirclement (1/2)
In the night before dawn,
The sound of horse hooves is rapid.
There are more than five hundred warriors with hair in stick-like buns or shaved heads, surrounded by dozens of strong horses, galloping through the night.
The riders on the strong horses are mostly covered with leather armor, and there are four or five people in the middle wearing "big armor". The spade shape on the top of the helmet stands majestic in front.
Several generals wearing 'big armor' armor vaguely clustered around a general with a large armor whose shape was not much different from the people around him, but whose stature was slightly petite, protecting him at all times.
In addition to being smaller in stature than the surrounding generals, this general also
The evil mask covering his face is also quite different from those around him.
——It was a dragon-shaped mask covered with fine scales, and it looked majestic.
The general led the strong horse's reins and ran with the army.
The sound of armor clashing echoed in the darkness.
Behind the horses driven by the general, there was a warrior wearing simple leather armor driving the horse. On the side of the saddle of the strong horse he was riding, there was a small square bamboo cage not much larger than an adult's hand hanging on the side of the saddle.
The cage door is open,
in the dark,
Suddenly there was a sound of birds flapping their wings——
Thumping...
A glistening white 'little bird' flew across the night sky and landed accurately into the small bamboo cage on the side of the saddle.
Upon seeing this, the warrior quickly closed the cage door and then rode his horse to catch up with the petite general's mount in front of him.
"General!"
He shouted quietly.
The petite general in front reined in his horse.
Seeing this, the surrounding generals issued orders one after another.
The hundreds of warriors who were marching forward with the generals in tow, slowly stopped behind a dense forest under these orders.
The petite general turned to look at the warrior behind him who was approaching with a 'crane cage' on his horse.
The warrior presented the crane cage in his hand and said, "General, there is news about the paper crane!"
The general, whose face was covered by a majestic white dragon mask, nodded slightly, opened the crane cage, and took out the 'white bird' inside - the bird was originally a paper crane made of folded paper, not a real flying bird!
He opened the paper crane and the light from the paper dispersed,
The words on it emerged.
The 'general', who had been breathing tightly and maintaining his majesty from beginning to end, seemed to relax slightly for a moment after reading the news about the paper crane. A clear and sweet female voice came out from her mouth: "The old man from the Zhuzhao family came back. News!”
She spoke clearly, ensuring that her voice reached the ears of every retainer and warrior in the darkness.
Of course there is no need to say more about her identity.
It is the current head of the Inoue family - Haruko Inoue!
Upon hearing this, all the retainers and warriors stood silently.
Although none of them had any obvious reaction, one could really feel that after Haruko said those words, everyone's breath tightened.
"He agrees with our plan to attack Bizen Country!"
There was also a slight sense of excitement in Haruko's voice.
It is a feeling of joy that after one's unremitting efforts, one finally gets recognition.
After speaking, she lowered her head and looked at the handwriting on the page carefully. After confirming that it was Su Wu's handwriting, she handed it to a general on her right who was also wearing large armor.
The general "Mikami Taro" lowered his eyes and scanned the writing on the paper.
He immediately echoed: "Miss Qingzi's decision is absolutely correct, even the elders of the Zhuzhao family agreed to this action!"
Several armored generals around looked at Haruko who was standing on horseback.
Following Miss Haruko, she left her family and traveled all the way to Bizen Country to attack the Kimura clan. During the whole night of the long journey, Miss Haruko never stopped for a moment. Like them, she wore heavy and cumbersome armor and persisted. Now!
Even they were a little tired now,
The lady from your family never complained.
This has proved Miss Haruko's courage.
This persistence alone made retainers such as Taro Mikami and Nobuo Takeda look at him with admiration.
Not to mention that the elders of the Zhuzhao family have now sent back news to support Miss Haruko's decision.
It also shows that Miss Haruko is not only courageous, but also talented. Even the elders of the Zhuzhao family think there is no problem with her attack plan!
Takeda Nobuo's eyes moved slightly, looking at Miss Haruko on the horse, and said solemnly: "General, the samurai have been marching continuously all night, and everyone is tired now. Can you allow everyone to take a break?
After an hour, continue moving? "
If he hadn't seen Miss Haruko kill an onmyoji sent by Bizen Kokushou with his own eyes and decapitate the enemy, Takeda Nobuo would have already made a decision and ordered the samurai to repair it on the spot, and would only symbolically ask Miss Haruko.
At the moment, he took the initiative to hand over the decision-making power to Haruko.
"That's what I meant." Qingzi nodded, "Tell the sentinels in front of you to gather back.
We repaired on the spot for an hour. "
"yes!"
All the military officials nodded in agreement at the same time.
Haruko sat on the horse, took a deep breath, and her whole body suddenly tensed up - the bones and flesh all over her body were in extreme soreness due to her tightening her body!
She held the reins tightly, turned over and jumped off the strong horse.
Some sweat slipped down the cracks of the 'White Dragon Mask' on his face.
A samurai came forward and led Haruko's horse.
After receiving the general's instructions, most of the warriors sat around and carefully took out their dry food and ate it slowly.
They moved lightly and did not dare to make too much noise.
If the noise is even louder, the boss will immediately scold him in a low voice.
Haruko stood there and moved her body gently.
She dared not sit on the ground,
After driving the strong horse galloping all night long and wearing heavy armor, even though she was taking the medicinal soup left by Su Wu every day, she could not bear such strenuous exercise for a while.
Once Haruko sat on the ground, she doubted that it would be difficult for her to get up from the ground again.
She moved her body hard,
Relieve the soreness of bones and muscles all over the body as much as possible.
The three warriors of the Inoue family each took off their helmets, put them under their arms, and strode silently toward Haruko.
Yayoi was the first to speak: "General, you can take off your helmet for an hour now. It doesn't matter if you take a breather."
The helmet was close to the skin around the ears and chin. It felt cold and hot at times, and it was extremely uncomfortable to cover the face.
But Haruko was even more afraid of being seen in her current weak state.
Hearing this, he shook his head without hesitation: "No need. I'm used to it after wearing it for a long time."
"yes."
The Yayoi girl said no more.
Several generals sat down cross-legged in silence.
Qingzi moved for a while and applied some ointment given to her by Zhu Zhaojun on the easily accessible parts of her body. She felt that the pain on her body was relieved a lot.
She held the handle of the 'Thunder Pool' knife on her waist with her palm.
His eyes wandered around.
There are shadows in the dark forest,
I don’t know when dawn will come.
Someone in the group of warriors snored slightly, but quickly stopped snoring under the scolding of his superior and regained consciousness.
Qingzi looked at the sky,
There is no bright moon in the sky.
At this time, Zhu Zhaojun should be stopping at a certain section of the road to Kyoto. Are you still asleep now?
Or stay silently at the camp all night?
If Zhu Zhaojun were here, he wouldn't have to work so hard - Wu Lu Sai! Haruko, don't have such thoughts, cheer up, you are already the master of the Inoue family!
There were some slight noises around,
A gust of wind blew,
Those subtle noises disappeared again.
Haruko stopped her thoughts when several black things flew out of the dark forest and landed on the Inoue family's samurai group.
One of them shot straight at her and fell at her feet——
Through the dim light, she saw the warrior at her feet.
Tsukiyo head, pointed chin, tattoos on face...
This is...the scout warrior sent out by my family...
how……
Haruko's mind went blank for a moment.
at this time,
A rapid and high-pitched cry sounded from beside her: "Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
The sound was like a sea tide. At first, there were only two or three generals, but gradually more warriors responded, and finally it gathered into a big tide!
The sound of the tide echoes one after another throughout the deep forest!
Along with this sharp scream, there was also the sound of weapons being drawn out one by one!
In the darkness, various sounds kept ringing.
Nobuo Takeda, Yayoi and other retainers have already mounted their horses.
Haruko climbed onto the horse mechanically.
Suddenly,
The darkness ‘lit’ up!
Haruko heard the roaring sound of flames, followed by torches lighting up the deep forest all around. The bright fire surrounded the entire group of samurai from the Inoue family!
After the fire, there were many samurai wearing green patterned clothes and dark black clothes, holding swords and bamboo spears, surrounding the samurai heading towards the Inoue family.
They were crowded,
For a moment, Haruko couldn't tell how many people there were!
Haruko only heard Takeda Nobuo’s urgent voice: “The enemy’s team has an accompanying Onmyoji!
They covered their whereabouts and suddenly surrounded us! "
“There’s a lot of people!
We must make a decisive decision and immediately gather troops to break out! "The Yayoi girl responded.
"Abandon the car to save the handsome man!
Breakout! "
The sound of their conversation made Haruko's face turn pale in an instant!
She couldn't believe it,
The many warriors that he had spent most of his family fortune to gather were all turned into ashes and vanished into nothing in the blink of an eye...
Haruko could clearly hear the conversation between the three of them.
They said,
To ‘break out’!
"Abandon your car to save your handsome man"!
In the blink of an eye, has the situation deteriorated to this point?
If you just run away in despair, you might as well die here!
Qingzi made a decision. She calmed down and suddenly spoke while several retainers were talking hurriedly. Her tone was calm, but her voice penetrated their noisy discussions and reached the ears of the three of them: "We Are all the warriors dead?"
The three of them were stunned when they heard this.
Although they have shown enough attention to the current head of the family,
But in such critical moments,
Or subconsciously forget the existence of the other party.
After all, the existence of the other party cannot give them any reliance or the slightest sense of security.
If the elder Zhuzhao were here right now,
The three of them would probably turn their attention to him and wait for his decision, instead of making their own decisions here.
However,
no matter what,
Haruko is both the head of the family.
Be the master of these warriors.
When she is silent, she can be ignored.
Once she speaks out, the retainers must pay attention to her opinions!