Chapter 25 27. Take a Risk in the Chaos

Kobayata repeatedly said he dared not, "After the delivery of the materials, please ask His Highness the Kanrei to write a reply letter quickly, and I have to go back to report."

Uesugi Kento nodded, "This is what should be done, and the junior assistant can write a reply letter quickly."

The family steward Nagao Toukage next to him immediately wrote a good article in four parallel six, and Uesugi Kento took it and read it. It was indeed quoting classics and easy to read. So he didn't waste any words and immediately signed and sealed it.

Then Kobayata said calmly, "Now the family is short of copper materials, I hope the Kanrei will be merciful and sell some to the main family."

Uesugi Kento had no objection, and the retainers had no objection. So he gave Kobayata a hazak and wrote his name on it: "First, I will give you a thousand pounds (it's really a bit stingy), and you can send someone to buy the rest. As much as you want, I will definitely give you the spot goods."

After leaving Hirai Castle, Kobayata felt a layer of white sweat on his back. After all, it was his first time to cheat, and he cheated a group of big guys. Fortunately, there was no mistake, and he sighed that he was lucky. He went back and found Xiao Yilang.

He asked him to take all the young men he had deceived to the city, and then guide the samurai of the Kanrei family to receive various supplies. Xiao Pingtai himself quickly changed his clothes and took a hot bath to relieve his mood.

Xiao Pingtai knew that the Hojo would soon chase him, and there was no time to lose. After all the supplies were delivered to the Kanrei family, the two of them lay down anxiously.

Xiao Yilang also knew the seriousness of the situation. Pingjing was about to become a war zone. The two could only look at each other in silence, anxious but not anxious. They just looked at each other with their eyes open all night. This is probably what it means to toss and turn in sleep.

The next day, the two got up early with dark circles under their eyes. They didn't even have breakfast. They hurried to Pingjing Castle again. They first borrowed a few horses and carts from the city, and then used the last 100 taels of gold as a deposit. They coaxed and deceived, said good things, and took away nearly 20,000 kilograms of copper bars from the Kanrei family.

Since they couldn't take them away for a while, they dragged them all to the covered bridge little by little, and then hired the townspeople who were about to flee to carry them on their shoulders and pull them to Minowa on horses in the panic-stricken covered bridge.

At the same time, Nagano Yoshimasa in Minowa Castle was also in a panic. He walked back and forth in the house, and several retainers around him also had bitter faces. Except for the old retainer Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami Hidatsuna who was relatively calm, the others made small movements almost non-stop. The eyes of the master and retainers were anxious and bored, and there was a trace of panic. The son-in-law Wada Yoshiharu seemed to want to say something, but he opened and closed his mouth, closed and opened it again, and couldn't say a word.

In the battle of Kamiryu River, the head of the Kanrei family (head shrine), Nagao Kagehide, and five samurai generals, eleven foot soldiers generals, hatamoto generals, more than fifty famous samurai were killed, and more than 4,000 miscellaneous soldiers were killed. The retainers and samurai led by Kanrei were almost wiped out, and Kanrei's family had actually collapsed. Facing the panicked people fleeing outside the city, it seemed that even protecting the territory and the people was difficult to continue.

When Kobayata and others followed the fleeing crowd to Minowa, they found that the road was blocked and the people who could not escape from Higashi-Ueno were overflowing. The crying and wailing of women and children, the heavy breathing of the elderly, and the mixed voices of men and women made it impossible to look directly.

It may be because of the crowds gathered here. After all, humans are social animals. Seeing many of their kind together can more or less give them an indescribable sense of security. The fleeing crowd, who were originally holding on to a tight rope, stopped. It is difficult to lift it up again after a breath is loosened. Once a person sits down, he will find that he has actually run out of strength and can no longer run.

Kobayata was also unable to encourage the hired people to continue running to the north to the Azuma area. These people had already collapsed on the ground with their legs spread out, drinking water, their necks stretched out, their eyes wide open, and their mouths wide open, looking a little scary. I was really afraid that they would suddenly die on the ground.

So Xiao Pingtai made up his mind, and prepared to enter the city to meet Nagano Yoshimasa, and the brave ones would die of starvation.

When he arrived in Minowa Castle, he didn't dress up, and directly reported that he was from the Kanin-ryu of Fujiwara Kita family, a branch of Sanjo Konobu, a descendant of the regent left minister Tadahira, the last descendant of the prime minister Zixiaoji, the grandson of Zixiaoji Zhongnagon, the son of Zixiaoji Kingu Shōjō, and Zixiaoji Tsunari family came to pay a visit.

This series of very intimidating names also made Nagano Yoshimasa a little confused, but this name was not small, so Xiao Pingtai was received by Nagano Yoshimasa. So Xiao Pingtai stated his identity and continued to deceive Nagano Yoshimasa that he was an envoy of the famous Yamanouchi family in Minami Shinshu, and gained the trust of Nagano Yoshimasa in the name of supporting the Kanrei family and the Kanrei's personal seal.

Then he explained to Nagano Yoshimasa righteously: "I think that both supporting Yakata-dono (Kanrei) and besieging the city will require a large amount of supplies. Shinano-no-kami (Nagano Yoshimasa is also Shinano-no-kami, the court just sold him to multiple positions) must be interested in this. Although the problem of soldiers can be solved by immediately detaining the young and strong people who fled from the city, weapons cannot be prepared quickly."

Nagano Yoshimasa's face was still anxious: "Supporting Yakata-dono (Kanrei) is inevitable, but there is indeed a lack of soldiers and armaments. Most of them were lost in the Kamiryu River with Yakata-dono before. Now it is stretched to the limit and it is really difficult to deal with."

Kobayata said so much, lied and pretended to be better, waiting for Nagano Yoshimasa to say that it was difficult.

He quickly put on a worried and sympathetic expression: "I am willing to pretend to be a merchant of the Yamanouchi family and go south to purchase the weapons seized by the Hojo army. Shinano-no-kami just needs to provide some money."

There is no doubt that Nagano Yasumasa was willing to take the risk, so he gave Xiaoping Tai five hundred kanmon. "I leave everything to you!" Nagano Yasumasa was very sincere and solemn.

Koheita then placed the copper in Minawa Castle Town, and then he and Koichiro took the packhorse and flew south.

The chaos along the way is beyond description. Almost all villages, towns and towns collapsed and turned into ruins under the burning fire. Those fires and lights seemed to be mixed with all kinds of terrible wailing sounds. The word "hell on earth" may be the most direct description of the moment, and other words are redundant. People and soldiers lying in various dead shapes were lying on the road. The rebels searched and looted along the road, and the soldiers of the Hojo Army captured people everywhere and sold them into slaves.

If it weren't for the protagonist's halo, Xiaopingtai would hardly be immune. By the time Koheita and Koichiro arrived at the south bank of the Kamiryu River, part of the Hojo army had already gone north to clear out the defeated troops of the governor, and some remained to collect the dead. After all, if one of the four to five thousand corpses was not good, it would be easy for a major epidemic to occur. (As a digression here, in addition to the burial activities of the warring parties, some local temples and shrines will also be involved in the disposal of the deceased. There is also a more professional team called black spades. These black spades will screen The status of the dead and injured, quick disposal of corpses, and simple bandaging of the injured, is a group that is hired by major celebrities)

After revealing their identities as Yamauchi merchants, many ashigaru in the Hojo army changed the ferocious looks they saw along the way. They all greeted him with smiles and sent him all the weapons and armor they had captured.

Not long after, more ashigaru and even some low-level samurai who heard the news also brought their own teams to deliver the captured weapons and armor to him.

Due to Koheita's Shinano accent, the Hojo soldiers had no suspicion at all and immediately believed that Koheita was a merchant of the Yamauchi family. After all, in ancient times, the dialect was the most difficult thing to change. As evidenced by a famous saying, when a young boy leaves home and his boss comes back, his local pronunciation remains unchanged and his hair on his temples fades away. A dialect is the best ID card, there is no need to think too much about it.

Although both parties have different accents, there is still no problem in communicating. Pretending to check the quality of the knife and the complete condition of the armor, Xiaopingta found out through a casual test that no big businessman had entered the market yet, so he offered him a lower price without hesitation, and soon the four pack horses were filled to the brim. Yes, the backpacks on their backs were also becoming difficult to carry.

As a last resort, Xiao Pingtai had no choice but to stop, saying that he had no more space to place weapons and armor. He bowed his hands and apologized to the Hojo soldiers.

Seeing that Koheita was no longer engaged in the acquisition, these Hojo soldiers reluctantly prepared to leave. Before leaving, they asked Heita if any of his accomplices had come to continue the acquisition. Xiao Ping Tai was sure to come as soon as he opened his mouth. He has been lying every day recently, and his face has stopped blushing and his heart has become unhappy. Just make nonsense of the fact that there are other businessmen who will be here soon, so let this army go away quickly.

Under the current situation, Koheita felt that it was unrealistic to escape directly north, but he estimated that it wouldn't be long before Hojo merchants from Sagami Izu and other places would swoop in like flies smelling blood. So I calmed down my emotions first and walked along the shore of the Kamiryu River, waiting for the opportunity to blend in with the merchants of the Hojo clan.

Sure enough, God did not let the protagonist Koheita wait too long. Only one day later, the Odawara businessmen who came under the orders of Hojo Ujiyasu, Hojo Ushimasa and his son finally entered the scene. Xiaoping Tai secretly went to resell the news, telling them that the prices of weapons and armor had been suppressed by him, and asked them not to pay high prices to purchase them.

Those Odawara businessmen all have an expression on their faces. They are young and quite mean, but I admire you very much. Then they also took action together, and as expected they bought a lot at very low prices. Xiaoheita also relied on this news to get involved with the Hojo businessmen.

In this way, they mixed with the merchants who came from Sagami Izu to sell food and herbs. After the Hojo army finished handling everything on the battlefield, they turned around and quickly arrived at Hirai.

I came to Hirai again, only a few days apart, but I felt like things were different. Except for the continuous Hojo military camps outside the city. The leadership team had already taken action against Hirai.

Sure enough, the generals of the Guanling family, who had been defeated every year, had some rules for defending the city. In just a few days, the towns outside the city had been burned to ashes. The young and the strong either volunteered or were forced to enter the city to help defend the city, and the old, weak, women and children rushed to the city. Go into the mountains and seek blessings. Fences and wooden thorns covered the open space outside the city, the city walls were all covered with mud, and the wells outside the city were all blocked. However, with no reinforcements outside and panic inside, I don't know how many days they can hold out.

There is a chapter of more than 3,000 words. I don’t want to say anything. I see that I will soon fall out of the 3,000th place, dear brothers.