It was hard for Hasegawa not to be stunned when he saw Makimura, with whom he had once fought side by side in Kyoto and then briefly reunited in Edo, suddenly appear in front of him.
The people headed by Makimura were also stunned now - they had never thought that they would meet the fire thief Kai in the territory of the Toyotomi clan.
If we were to say who had the most intense reaction after seeing Hasegawa...it would naturally be Mamiya.
Mamiya, who was standing behind Makimura, was startled when he saw Hasegawa, and then subconsciously hid behind Makimura.
But his movements were still a little slow.
After seeing Makimura, Hasegawa immediately saw Mamiya's recognizable face with glasses.
"Mamiya Kuro!" Hasegawa's brows immediately knitted together, "Why are you here too!"
He looked at Makimura, then at Mamiya.
"Makino-kun, why are you with Mamiya Kuro?"
Mamiya is the only wanted criminal in Huluwu besides Lin, and has been tracked by the fire thief Kai for a long time. Hasegawa already remembers Mamiya's face very well.
Some of the old fire thieves present recognized Mamiya almost at the same time and stared at him closely. The atmosphere around them immediately became tense.
At this time, it was Makimura who spoke in time:
"Mr. Hasegawa, now is not the right time for us to confront each other here."
"As for Mamiya, I will explain it to you slowly when I have time later."
"Now let's calm down and have a good chat together."
Hasegawa is not someone who can't prioritize things.
Even without Mucun's reminder, he knew what was the most urgent thing at the moment and what could be dealt with slowly later.
His frowned brows slowly relaxed, and he raised his hand to signal his subordinates around him not to be nervous.
Hasegawa still trusts Makimura, his comrade-in-arms with whom he once fought side by side.
When Hasegawa signaled his subordinates to calm down -
"Mr. Isshiki?"
A pleasant female voice sounded from behind Mucun.
Immediately afterwards, Hasegawa caught a glimpse of a graceful figure rushing out from behind Makimura.
After this beautiful figure appeared, Hasegawa heard Isshiki Naoshu behind him exclaim:
"Ms. Atachi?!"
This beautiful figure is none other than Ating.
Although A-Machi did not know Isshiki Yosui and Isshiki Minoru, she knew Isshiki Naoki.
Looking at Naoshu standing behind Hasegawa, Atachi, with a look of joy on her face, breathed a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders.
"Great...you're okay."
"Hmm? Mr. Isshiki." Hasegawa asked, "Did you know each other before?"
Although Hasegawa was very familiar with Ogata, he had never met Ogata's wife, nor did he know Atachi.
"Hmm..." Naoshu was delighted at first when he saw Ah-Ming after a long absence, but then he lowered his head as if he had thought of something, not daring to look at Ah-Ming, "We know each other..."
"Isshiki..." Genichi muttered at this time, "Ms. Amachi, are they the family members of Miss Isshiki? It seems that we are lucky to have found Miss Isshiki's family members so quickly."
When they heard the name "Isshikika", Naoshige and others immediately felt like they were struck by electricity, and they all turned their anxious gazes to Genichi.
"Do you know Xiaohua?" Isshiki, who was eager to see his daughter, asked quickly.
"Yes." Yuan Yi nodded, "Miss Isshiki is currently in Osaka. She is very safe now."
As soon as Genichi said this, Isshiki Minoru collapsed to the ground as if her legs had lost strength. Fortunately, Isshiki Rusui, who was beside her, was quick-witted and reached out to support her in time.
“Thank you, Bodhisattva… Thank you, Bodhisattva…” Isshiki looked like he was about to cry.
"Mr. Hasegawa." Makimura asked Hasegawa with a puzzled look on his face, "Why are you here with the Isshiki family?"
"That's a long story. To put it simply - we were captured."
Hasegawa used sentences as concisely as possible to introduce the situation on their side to Makimura and his group.
"...Anyway, this is what happened. I'm planning on escaping from here."
"Have you been locked up here recently? Have you seen a shorter girl?" Mucun asked anxiously.
"A shorter girl?" Hasegawa tilted his head and pondered, "Hmm... I haven't seen one."
Hearing Hasegawa's last words, a look of loss involuntarily appeared on Makimura's face.
"What about you?" Hasegawa asked back, "Why are you here?"
"We are here to look for someone." Mamiya, who had been silent until now, answered calmly, "As for who we are looking for, please allow us to keep it a secret."
"Looking for someone?" After hearing Mamiya's answer, Hasegawa fell silent.
After a long silence, Hasegawa spoke again:
"In that case...can you cooperate with us?"
"Cooperation?" Genichi raised his eyebrows with interest. "How do you cooperate?"
"We have a lot of people here, and they are all elite members of our Fire Thieves. As thieves, we have some experience in finding people." Hasegawa said, "We will help you find people, and after that, you just need to help us leave this place."
Just now, after meeting Makimura, Hasegawa had actually been thinking about matters of cooperation.
Hasegawa's idea was simple - the more people there were, the greater the power, and the greater the chance of escape.
Even though he has rescued his subordinates and is no longer a lone commander, Hasegawa still doesn't dare to guarantee that he can successfully escape from here.
Especially after fighting with Gao Qing just now and seeing the high level of organization and training of Toyotomi clan's followers, Hasegawa had no idea what to expect.
The most important thing right now is to escape from here as soon as possible.
Anything else can be put aside and endured - including fighting side by side with Kuro Mamiya, who has been pursued by their Fire Thief Kai for a long time.
Perhaps because he used to be a street thug, Hasegawa's thinking is extremely flexible and never rigid. He pursues pragmatism. As long as it is beneficial to his current goals, former enemies can also become comrades.
Hasegawa was thinking this in his mind: instead of continuing to "fight alone" like this, it would be better to cooperate directly with Makimura and the others. With powerful helpers like Mamiya and Makimura who are capable of fighting a hundred people at once, the chances of escaping from here will definitely increase greatly.
Seeing Hasegawa directly inviting him to cooperate, Genichi smiled:
"Cooperate with the fire thieves... It's not impossible. But I'll be frank - we may spend a lot of time looking for people, which means it will take a while before we have the leisure time to help you leave this place. Even so, are you willing?"
"No problem." Hasegawa said without hesitation.
"Since you think it's okay, then follow me." Yuan Yi waved his hand.
"... Genichi, do you really want to bring Hasegawa-san along?" Mamiya lowered his voice so that only he and Genichi could hear it, and asked Genichi, "We must bring the Isshiki family, but Hasegawa-san and the others...they can't bring much help to us. If we bring them along, it feels like our team will become a lot bloated."
"Nothing bad." Genichi smiled carefreely and responded in a low voice, "From the current situation... Ogata-kun's 'Woodpecker Tactics' has probably been seen through. The Toyotomi clan does not want to fight us head-on, and just wants to abandon and leave Koyasan."
"Under the current situation, it doesn't matter to us whether we take Hasegawa with us or not."
"In that case, we might as well just take them with us. With them, they might be able to play some unexpected role."
"...I understand." Mamiya nodded gently, then silently took a step sideways and left Genichir's side.
"Since you have decided to join us, then follow us!" Genichi said loudly to Hasegawa and his group, "We plan to thoroughly check this prison to see if there is the person we are looking for."
Hasegawa and his men had some wounded soldiers who had just been injured in the battle with Gao Qing and the others - fortunately, there were no serious injuries, and all of them had minor injuries that would not cause immediate death.
The wounded were supported by those who were not injured and lined up in a long line following Yuan Yi and his group.
Although Hasegawa's leg was shot, he was still able to walk.
Hasegawa, who was limping, forced himself to walk side by side with the only person he was familiar with: Makimura, and asked Makimura:
"Makimura-kun, how did you find this prison?"
"Where should I start... We used the 'Woodpecker Tactics' to find this place." Makimura explained slowly, "We have been hiding on a high ground behind Mount Koya , waiting and tracking the movements of the Toyotomi army."
"We were very lucky to discover a Toyotomi army just now."
"We followed this Toyotomi army and successfully found this underground prison."
The "Toyotomi army" that Makimura just mentioned was exactly Takaharu's army.
When Gao Qing led his men to the prison in a hurry to check the situation, Yuan Yi and his group discovered their traces with a telescope.
Yuan Yi and his group followed Gao Qing and his group, and finally, with Gao Qing's "guidance", they successfully found the underground prison.
"Woodpecker tactics?" Hasegawa asked.
"This...where should I start explaining?" Makimura said with a wry smile.
…
…
…
…
Time goes back to last night in Osaka——
After Ogata said, "Can I express my opinion?", everyone present turned their heads to look at Ogata.
"Opinion?" Asai raised an eyebrow, then looked Ogata up and down several times, "Ogata-kun, are you... planning to help us rescue our lord?"
Ogata smiled slightly, and then said very directly:
“Not really.”
"Of course I am also happy to lend you a hand and help you rescue Miss Lin."
"After all, Miss Lin is also a comrade who once fought alongside me."
"But this is not the main reason why I want to join forces with you."
"Tonight... I have received a lot of 'care' from the Toyotomi clan."
"Not only was I nearly killed, but Ah-Ming was also nearly killed."
"A-Machi and I were almost finished - this is not something you can just laugh off."
Ogata's eyes narrowed slightly, and his tone gradually became cold.
"Even if we take a step back and say that if I ignore the Toyotomi clan this time and choose to leave this troubled place with Atachi, then who knows if the Toyotomi clan will come to trouble us next time."
"The Toyotomi clan owes me more than just this one debt."
At this time, Ogata's hand touched the Daishikatsu and Daijizai around his waist.
"Master Yuji, who helped me repair my sword...his skills are truly amazing."
"He repaired my sword and made it as good as new."
"But because of the Toyotomi clan, I didn't even have the chance to thank him..."
"Therefore, whether from the perspective of revenge for myself, A-machi, and Master Yoji, or from the perspective of self-preservation, we cannot just let things go with the Toyotomi clan."
"It has now been confirmed that the Toyotomi clan has established a large-scale base on Mount Koya, and the leader of the Toyotomi clan is most likely on Mount Koya at this time. If we miss this opportunity to solve the Toyotomi clan's problems once and for all, we may never encounter it again."
"Besides—I have already promised others."
At this time, Ogata glanced at Isshikika who was not far away.
"I have already promised her that I will bring her abducted family back intact."
"So - Master Genichi, our goals are now the same."
Ogata looked at Genichi across from him and smiled.
"You want to rescue people from the Toyotomi clan."
"And I want to both rescue people from the Toyotomi clan and settle accounts with them."
"So let us form an alliance once again."
"Just like we worked together to deal with Shiranui last year."
"This time, we will work together to deal with Toyotomi."
Genichirō looked calm, as if he was not at all surprised by Ogata's remarks.
He just smiled carefreely, and then gave a straightforward reply that was quite consistent with his straightforward personality:
"OK."
"We are very grateful to have your help, Ogata-kun."
"But - Ogata-kun, you made a mistake just now."
The smile on Yuanyi's face slowly faded.
"We... don't just want to get Xiaolin back."
"If we have the chance, we would also like to teach that bastard Nobuhide a lesson."
"A favor must be repaid, and a grudge must be avenged - this is the style of our Hulu House."
"We never swallow our anger after suffering a loss."
"Ogata-kun, you just said you wanted to express your opinion. Now, please tell us your opinion. We are all ears."
Ogata nodded, and then slowly said:
"Now, even if that Zuoemon opens his mouth and tells us that he is willing to tell us everything he knows, we cannot just believe what he says."
"He is a close confidant of Toyotomi Nobuhide after all."
"Who knows if he will make up a bunch of lies just to confuse us or to frame us."
"And at this stage, the only person of high enough level that we have captured is Soemon."
"It is impossible to cross-check the information given by other high-ranking personnel, so it is difficult to disprove the information given by Soemon."
"If we were to pry the information out of Soemon's mouth step by step and then disprove each piece of information he said, it would take too much time."
"I personally think that slowly trying to pry information out of Soemon's mouth is not suitable for us as we are in a hurry now."
"Everyone——"
Ogata raised his eyes and looked around at the people around him.
"I have a plan now, I wonder if you would like to hear it."
"I'd like to hear the details." Genichi said without hesitation.
After Yuan Yi finished speaking, the others nodded in agreement.
"My plan...maybe it would be more convenient to explain it with the help of a map of Mount Koya."
Having said this, Ogata turned his head and looked at Isshikika.
"Excuse me, Ms. Isshiki, but could you please draw a map of Koyasan right now ?"
"Now?" Isshikika was surprised.
"Yes, now." Ogata looked around, "Is there any paper and pen in this temple?"
"This temple is so big. If we look around, we should be able to find paper and pen." Mamiya answered.
Ogata and his companions worked together to search all over the temple, and finally found a small stack of rice paper, as well as writing brushes, ink and inkstone in the room where the abbot of the temple probably lived.
Of course, Ogata and his companions did not take or use the things in this temple for free.
As we all know, the minimum amount of funds used by Huluwu is the big deposit.
When taking away the set of four treasures of the study, Mamiya casually placed a large piece of gold on the place where the set of four treasures of the study were originally placed.
"I'm not very good at drawing... I don't know if I can draw a good map..."
"It's okay," Ogata encouraged. "Just paint as best as you can."
Encouraged by Ogata, Isshikika took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and bent over her desk.
"If you want to enter Koyasan, you must first go to Koya-cho. This is the most convenient way to enter Koyasan."
"The road from Koya-cho to Koyasan looks something like this..."
While drawing, Isshikika explained and introduced in detail to Ogata and others who were watching attentively around the table.
About two incense sticks later, a map that was a little ugly but surprisingly rich in content appeared in front of everyone.
"I'm sorry..." Isshikika lowered her head slightly with a guilty look on her face, "My painting is not very good..."
"No." Ogata shook his head. "Ms. Isshiki, your painting is much better than I expected."
“A lot of things we want to know are marked on this map.”
After saying that, Ogata pointed to a large blank area on the map:
"Ms. Isshiki, where in Koyasan is this place? Why is there nothing here?"
"We have always called this area 'Back Mountain'," Isshiki Hana answered. "Most of the temples in Koyasan are concentrated in the Front Mountain, and there is almost nothing in the Back Mountain. There are no temples or roads, so there is nothing here."
As soon as Isshikika said this, Ogata and the others fell silent.
After a while, I heard Jian Gong whispered:
"…The Toyotomi clan's base was most likely built on the back mountain of Koyasan."
"Yeah." Ogata nodded gently, "I think so too."
Compared to the front mountain where temples are concentrated and where there is a heavy flow of people, the back mountain, which is usually visited only by birds and animals, is obviously more suitable as a "secret base".
"But the question is - where exactly is the Toyotomi clan's base built in the back mountain?" Asai curled his lips, "Even if we narrow the search area to a corner of the back mountain of Koyasan, the area is still very large."
"That's not a problem." Ogata said quickly, "If the plan I just thought of can succeed... we should be able to find the Toyotomi clan's base on Mount Koya easily."
As expected, Ogata's words attracted the attention of everyone present.
And Ogata did not keep the audience in suspense. After Isshikika helped him draw the map, he immediately bowed his head in front of the map and talked freely:
"The Toyotomi army in Osaka has been defeated by us." "Koyasan is the largest base of the Toyotomi clan in mainland Japan, and it is also close to Osaka . It is only a matter of time before Koyasan receives information about the battle in Osaka."
"If time drags on for too long, Koyasan will know the situation in Osaka and take corresponding defensive measures."
"So - why don't we launch a lightning-fast attack on Mount Koya right away!"
"Take advantage of the fact that Koyasan is still unaware of Osaka's current situation or has no time to deploy defenses, and catch Koyasan off guard."
"Now we must find two carriages with sufficient capacity and drive them to Koyasan day and night."
"The straight-line distance from Osaka to Koyasan is more than 10 li (about 50 kilometers in modern times)."
"Although the carriage is slow, if we keep driving day and night, we should be able to reach Koyasan before noon tomorrow."
"Those who can drive take turns driving, while those who can't drive sleep and rest in the carriage at the back of the carriage."
"After arriving at Koyasan..."
Ogata stretched out his right index finger and pointed at the location of "Sengenji" marked on the map.
"The only Toyotomi clan stronghold we know of on Mount Koya is Sengenji."
"I will attack Koyasan head-on and draw the Toyotomi clan's troops to attack us."
"And Master Yuan, you guys, follow the paths into the mountain on the map and lurk in the back mountain."
Ogata's finger slowly moved on the map, moving to the large blank area on the map.
"The Toyotomi clan is sending a large army to attack me. The back mountain will surely be quite lively then."
"This will give us a chance to find the Toyotomi clan's stronghold on Mount Koya."
“After luring the snake out of the hole, follow the direction the snake came out from and find the hole where the snake is hiding.”
"Master Genichi, follow the direction and place where the Toyotomi clan's troops appeared in the back mountain and find the Toyotomi clan's base."
"After I attract the Toyotomi clan's troops to attack, I will quickly defeat the attacking Toyotomi army and then rush over to join you."
When Ogata was explaining his plan, Genichi and the others were listening very carefully.
After he finished speaking, the first person to speak was Mamiya.
"...Woodpecker tactics?" he said in a deep voice.
During the Warring States Period more than 200 years ago, there were two extremely powerful warlords - the Takeda clan and the Uesugi clan.
Both of these feudal families gave birth to a powerful lord at the same time: Takeda Shingen, known as the "Tiger of Kai", and Uesugi Kenshin, known as the "Dragon of Echigo".
The two heroes, who were once rivals, fought countless battles for territory, especially in a place called "Kawanakajima", where the two heroes fought five large-scale battles.
In the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, Takeda Shingen adopted the advice of his military advisor Yamamoto Kansuke and implemented the famous "Woodpecker Tactics".
Although the name sounds fancy, its essence is "making a feint to the east and attacking in the west + waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out".
Divide the army into two parts: the main force and the surprise attack force.
The main team is used to attract the enemy's attention, while the surprise attack team goes around the enemy's rear and uses surprise attacks or assaults to drive the enemy out of the defended position and drive them to the place where our team has ambushed or waited in advance. Then the two teams attack the enemy from the front and back.
There are many variations of this Woodpecker tactic.
There is a kind of Woodpecker Tactics, which is that the main force of the enemy is forced out of the defensive position by the main force instead of the surprise attack team, and then the surprise attack team launches an assault, and attacks the enemy from the front and back with the main force - this kind of Woodpecker Tactics is very similar to the plan that Ogata just mentioned, so Mamiya said it was the "Woodpecker Tactics".
"... Ogata-kun, I understand what you mean." Yuan Yi said, "Ogata-kun, your plan... is quite suitable for us who are completely in the dark about Koyasan at the moment."
"But I have a question—"
Genichi's gaze towards Ogata slowly turned serious.
"In this plan of yours... you are putting yourself in considerable danger."
"Attack Koyasan head-on to attract the attention of the Toyotomi clan. If this part of the plan succeeds, countless Toyotomi clan troops will come to kill you."
“And this is not the most troublesome thing.”
“The most troublesome thing is afterwards.”
"You are in charge of the frontal assault. You will be the one most likely to be branded as the one who 'attacks Buddhism'."
"Even though there will be so many dangers and troubles... do you still want to carry out your plan?"
"Of course." As soon as Genichi finished speaking, Oobe said loudly without hesitation, "The success of the plan I just described depends on whether the people lurking in the back mountain can accurately detect the movements of the Toyotomi clan and find and then capture the Toyotomi clan's base."
“It’s a bit of a test of luck.”
"Therefore, in order to ensure success as much as possible, the number of people responsible for lurking in the back mountain must be as large as possible, and the strength must be as strong as possible."
"We need to have as many people hiding in the back hills as possible, so that we can have as few people as possible to attack from the front and attract attention."
"We need to attract the attention of the Toyotomi clan with as few people as possible, and at the same time, we need to be able to withstand the siege of the large army sent by the Toyotomi clan. Thinking of this, I am the most suitable person for this task."
"For me now... even if all the Toyotomi clan troops from Mount Koya come to attack, I have the confidence to protect myself, and even defeat them."
"If I am the only one to attract the Toyotomi clan's attention, then everyone else can focus on scouting the back mountain."
"Master Genichi, I know all the troubles and dangers you just mentioned."
Ogata paused, then smiled and said in a calm tone:
"But these so-called troubles and dangers...are nothing to me."
"I am already an 'enemy of the court'."
"Whether I have another title of 'Buddha's enemy', it doesn't matter to me at all."
"Anyway, I'm already in a state where it's difficult for me to show my true face to others, so I'm not afraid of getting even more infamous."
"No need to worry about me."
"I proposed this plan after seriously considering my situation and the troubles I might encounter later."
Genichi looked carefully at Ogata's expression and eyes.
After a long while, Yuan Yi finally let out a silent sigh.
"…It seems that you have indeed made up your mind."
"Since you are ready, Ogata-kun, I won't bother you any more."
After he finished speaking, Yuan Yi raised his eyes and glanced at the people around him.
"I personally think that the 'Woodpecker Strategy' that Ogata just mentioned is quite good and very much to my liking."
"Instead of continuing to be at a loss here like a headless fly, it is better to take a gamble and attack the enemy's base camp immediately. Maybe Xiaolin is really in Koyasan now. Even if we can't find Xiaolin, we can still capture some high-ranking officials of the Toyotomi clan."
"What do you think?"
Asai, who had always supported the direct attack on Koyasan, immediately nodded in agreement.
Mamiya remained silent at first.
After a while, he asked Ogata in a deep voice:
"Ogata-kun, let me confirm with you again: you are really prepared for your 'Woodpecker Tactics', right?"
"Yes." Ogata said.
"In that case... I understand."
Mamiya let out a long breath and nodded to Yuan.
Shimada, who had no opinion of his own, saw that Mamiya, whom he trusted and relied on the most, nodded. After hesitating for a while, he quickly followed Mamiya and nodded.
Makimura, who had just suggested getting information out of Soemon first, took the longest to think.
He lowered his head and thought for a long time before finally nodding.
And at this moment, everyone suddenly saw that Atachi walked up to Ogata with an expressionless face.
Seeing Atachi walking slowly towards Ogata, many people present thought that Atachi was going to scold Ogata.
After all, the "Woodpecker Tactics" that Ogata just mentioned was extremely dangerous to Ogata himself. He had to attract all the firepower of the Toyotomi clan by himself, and would be branded as "attacking Buddhism" afterwards.
However, when many people thought that Atachi was about to scold Ogata, Atachi only asked Ogata two simple questions in a calm tone:
"Have you really thought it through? Are you ready?"
"Yeah." Ogata smiled at Atachi in front of him, with a hint of apology in his smile, "To fight a behemoth like the Toyotomi clan, you have to make some sacrifices. I've thought about it and I'm ready."
"...Okay then. I understand." Atachi raised his head and smiled at Ogata, "Since you have already thought about it and realized it... then I won't say anything more."
Genichi himself was surprised that Atachi only asked Ogata these two simple questions.
But Yuanyi didn't ask or say much.
After seeing that Atachi also agreed, Genichi said loudly:
"Since everyone agrees with Ogata-kun's 'Woodpecker Strategy', let's not waste time here! Let's start the action immediately!"
"Mamiya."
Genichi looked towards Mamiya.
"Can I give you the task of finding the carriage?"
"Leave it to me." Mamiya answered without hesitation, "I'll go find a carriage now."
After saying that, Mamiya held Vairocana on his waist and ran wildly, disappearing from the sight of Ogata and others.
"Now most of the townspeople in Osaka have fled... How are you going to get a carriage, Mamiya-senpai?" After watching Mamiya leave, Shimada couldn't help but ask Genichi.
"I don't know." Yuan Yi smiled and said, "I don't know where to find a carriage at this time."
"But you can rest assured and leave the task to Mamiya."
"I have never seen a task that Mamiya cannot complete."
"Master Genichi." Asai suddenly interrupted, "We are going to Koyasan now... So what should we do with these people we have captured?"
Asai nodded towards the place where Soemon and others were imprisoned, and then pointed towards the place where Hatsumitsu and Shibata were imprisoned.
"That's a good question..." Genichi raised his hand and stroked his beard, "Soemon and the others... let's try to hide them somewhere first, and then deal with them slowly later."
"As for that Hatsumitsu and that Shibata..."
Genichi pondered.
"…Why not just fulfill the promise we made to them and set them free."
"Master Genichi." Asai glared, "Are you sure?"
"I originally wanted to keep them here, and come back to ask them questions later when I have any questions." Yuan Yi shrugged, "But now, we don't have the time to ask them questions leisurely."
"They provided us with so much intelligence, and it's not fair for us to keep them in prison on the pretext that we might have questions to ask them later."
"Why not just let them go free? How do you think?"
"Are you asking us 'how'?" Asai's mouth twitched, "You have the final say in Huluwu now."
"Since you want to set those two free, we will naturally not say anything."
Hatsumitsu was captured by Genichi and his men, and Ogata didn't care whether Hatsumitsu stayed or left, so naturally he wouldn't object to Genichi's decision to "let them both free."
…
…
Ogata and his group came to the room where Hatsumitsu and Shibata were temporarily placed.
The room used to house these two people was a relatively clean storage room. As soon as everyone entered the room, they saw the two people huddled together in the corner.
Looking at the large group of people who suddenly came to attack, Shibata, who was rather conservative in nature, pretended to be calm, but Hatsukimi was really calm. He raised his eyes and glanced at Ogata and the others, then silently looked away.
Genichi didn't say much.
After entering the room, he winked at Makimura and Asai beside him.
The two nodded at the same time, then took a step forward and untied the hemp ropes that bound Hatsumitsu and Shibata's hands and feet.
"I promised you before: as long as you can answer all the questions I ask, I will set you free ." Yuan Yi replied, "Now - I will keep my promise."
"You two, go wherever you want now."
Touching his wrists which still had deep marks from the binding, Shibata was stunned. He stared at his wrists blankly, and then looked at Ogata and the others in front of him.
As for Chu Guang - her expression was quite calm from beginning to end.
She looked at her hands, which had been freed again, expressionlessly, and then asked Genichi a question that made the old man raise his eyebrows:
"Are you... planning to go to Koyasan to settle accounts with the Toyotomi clan?"
"How did you know we were planning to go to Koyasan next?" Genichi didn't shy away from the question. There was no need to hide this from Hatsumitsu and the others.
I only heard Yuan Yi laughing playfully and asking back:
"The place where you two are imprisoned, and the place where we just talked... You can't hear our conversation from such a long distance, right?"
"That's what I guessed." Chu Guang answered softly, "Before, you told us that you might have other questions to ask us later, so you can't let us go free for the time being."
"As a result, after such a short period of time, you suddenly changed your mind and agreed to let us go."
"I can only guess that there is only one possibility for your thoughts to suddenly change so drastically - you have decided to do something that you cannot take care of me for the time being."
"Considering what I just told you: the Toyotomi clan established their largest base in mainland Japan in Koyasan, and your personality of being so few in number that you dared to attack Ryusui Temple...it is not difficult to guess what you will most likely do next."
"Wow..." After letting out a strange laugh, Genichi cast an admiring look at Chuguang, "As expected of a traitor who has been able to lurk in Iga for so long... This kind of mentality, as well as this kind of intelligence and sharpness, is really rare. Can you tell me how old you are this year?"
“…14.”
"14?" Genichi's eyes showed some surprise, "You look like you are already 16 or 17 years old."
"I just look a little more mature than other people." Chu Guang replied, "I am also a little taller than the average woman, so people may mistake me for being older."
"You're only 14 years old... I understand why Yoshihisa chose you as his successor." After praising Hatsukuni, Genichi nodded happily, "You're absolutely right. Next we plan to go to Koyasan to settle accounts with the Toyotomi clan."
As soon as Genichi finished speaking, Chu Guang immediately interrupted as if he couldn't wait any longer:
"If that's the case, can you take me with you?"
"Hmm?" Chu Guang's sudden request was beyond Genichi's expectations and made him frown slightly.
As if he was afraid that Genichi would reject him out loud, Chu Guang did not give Genichi any chance to speak and shouted one sentence after another:
"You are very strong."
"That Jijiu, and that branded woman, didn't even have the strength to fight back against you."
"Right now, most of the fighting forces are gathered in Osaka, and the garrison of Koyasan is extremely empty."
"And Toyotomi Nobuhide is most likely in Koyasan right now, and Yoshihisa... is most likely on his way back to Koyasan."
"If it were you, you might be able to inflict a heavy blow to the Toyotomi clan, or... directly kill Toyotomi Nobuhide or Yoshihisa!"
"I can let Toyotomi Nobuhide go, but I can't let Yoshihisa go no matter what!"
"Even if I can't kill him myself, I want to watch him die!"
"So - please!"
Chu Guang lowered her head to everyone, and her tone became more earnest.
"Please take me with you to Koyasan!"
"I don't dare to say how strong I am, but I can guarantee that I will never hold you back!"
"Although I am not familiar with Koyasan, I am very familiar with the Toyotomi clan...especially Iga."
"If you take me with you, my knowledge of the Toyotomi clan and Iga might be able to help you!"
“I’m counting on you!”
Chu Guang's tone was extremely humble, and he was almost kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to Yuan Yi and the others.
Her little follower Shibata asked Chuguang anxiously in a low voice:
"Ms. Chu Guang, what are you talking about? Are you going to work with this group of people whose names you don't even know?"
"Be quiet." Hatsumitsu said to Shibata in a firm tone and concise answer.
After hearing this brief response from Chuguang, Shibata immediately hung his head like a defeated rooster, not daring to say anything to Chuguang.