Chapter 21: Hikone Castle

Omi Province, Hikone Castle, Castle Tower.

This is a traditional Fenglinzhou vassal city building, which is both a mansion and a castle.

The so-called castle tower is a tower with a mountain-shaped roof and a high corridor with high corridors, and the outer and inner steps are inconsistent. The tower has two floors, with a three-story observatory on top, for a total of five floors. The watchtower is large, with mountain-style fascias intersecting with the eaves above, so there are six floors inside. The edge of the uppermost floor of the tower is enclosed within the outer wall, which is painted with white plaster. The gables are also varied, and the windows are sliding doors, which are luxurious and spectacular.

The Ii clan also built Xuangu Garden in Hikone Castle based on the concept of Xuanzong's palace garden in Daqi. The Hosho Terrace in the garden offers a view of Hikone Castle from below and is where the feudal lord entertains distinguished guests.

Strictly speaking, Toyotomi Hidemoto was not the owner of Hikone Castle. The Ii clan was the owner of the city. However, after the situation worsened, Toyotomi Hidemoto came to Hikone Castle to stay as a guest. The Ii clan was a vassal of the Toyotomi clan. In addition, The feudal lord of Kamihikone Domain was appointed as the elder, but was not in Hikone Castle, so Toyotomi Hidemoge took charge of the affairs of the castle on his behalf.

At this time, Toyotomi Hidemo was sitting across from him on the Fengxiang Terrace in Xuan Palace Garden, drinking tea. The thirty-two-year-old Toyotomi Hidemo was accepted by the Central Plains Due to the influence of customs, Yuedai did not shave his head, but wore his hair in a bun like the Central Plains people. He has a delicate appearance, wearing a wind-folded black hat, tied with a hanging thread, a long straight hakama, tied around the hakama's waist, and decorated with breast buttons, small exposed sleeves, large curtains and other decorations. He wears " "Dianzhongchao", holding Zhongqi, dressed in standard daimyo style.

The person opposite Toyotomi Hidemo was wearing a boat-shaped black hat and a plain coat, looking exactly like a samurai.

The samurai held the tea cup with two fingers and rotated it gently, but did not drink the tea. He looked at the surrounding scenery casually, and then turned to Toyotomi Hidemo: "The emperor Qingweizhen appointed His Highness as the regent Guanbai. This is a great thing, but His Highness is not happy?"

Toyotomi Hidemo smiled bitterly: "Your Highness Hidetsugi, His Highness Hideyoshi, and Duke Masahiro died in mysterious circumstances. Duke Naosada's head is in a different place. It is really unpredictable whether he will be here or not."

Bushido: "Wealth and honor come from danger."

Toyotomi Hidemoto picked up the tea cup and said nothing.

Going to Xiujing is certainly very risky, but if he can survive, he will become the new regent Guan Bai. Even if Guan Bai's position is transferred in the future, he will still be His Highness Taige.

That's why he didn't say no.

The warrior was about to speak when he suddenly stood up with a sneer on his face: "Another mouse sneaked in."

Toyotomi Hidemoge was already used to it: "Thank you, Ishishuzai."

Ishishusai is the name of the ancestor of the Yagyu family. With this name, he learned swordsmanship from the sword master and received the Shinin-ryu true transmission. On this basis, he created the Yagyu Shinin-ryu. From then on, all the heads of the Yagyu family took the name Shishuzai. This is also common in Fenglinzhou. For example, the Hattori family, which has been loyal to Prime Minister Toyotomi for generations, also has the same name for all generations of family heads.

The Yagyu family has always been the swordsmanship teacher of the Prime Minister. The current generation of Shishuzhai Yagyu Munetsu is one of the eight swordsmen of Fenglinzhou, and is as famous as Katsura Zenyuki, who assassinated Qingweizhenren.

The most famous thing about Shininryu is "no sword attack", which is to use bare hands to control the opponent. Therefore, Yagyu Munemasa did not draw his sword, but slashed with his bare hands. On the line, there were traces of distortion visible to the naked eye, which was actually the same as the one with naked eyes. Takeo's Shattering Line of Vacuum is somewhat similar.

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At the same time, a figure was also forced out by the hand knife, as if it appeared out of thin air. It was less than twenty feet away from Fengxiang Terrace. The whole person seemed to be seeing flowers in a fog, and his appearance, clothing, and body shape could not be clearly seen. A vague figure can be seen. Being able to sneak up to a swordsman who was twenty feet tall before being discovered shows that this person's stealth skills have reached the level of perfection. In other words, if Yagyu Munamasa hadn't been in charge here personally, Toyotomi Hideshige would have been destined to be assassinated.

Facing this knife, this person did not dare to take it hard. Instead, he exploded into more shadows and fled in all directions.

"A ninja of the Koga style?" Yagyu Somasa changed his move into a five-finger grab.

In an instant, countless blades of light emerged from all directions, intertwining into a killing net. No matter it was in the sky or on the ground, or from east to west, from north to south, there was no gap left, covering all these cloned figures. in

Then I saw Yagyu Munamasa making a fist with five fingers.

The killing net began to shrink inward rapidly, as if closing the net. All the clones that touched the net immediately disappeared into thin air. Seeing that the number of clones was getting smaller and smaller, there was only one left in the end????????????? ???The original deity exploded with a bang and turned into a straw man. He was then cut into countless pieces by the snare of sword energy.

Yagyu Somasa did not panic, he waved his left hand lightly, and silently, a dark wind came out, floating erratically.

This is the new Yin-liu secret sword "Feng Lan". It condenses a thin line of sword energy with a cold Yin Qi, which has the effect of self-tracking.

Previously, the Koga ninja used a substitute to escape Yagyu Munamasa's killing snare. This is also a very famous ninja tool. However, if he wants to refine a ninja tool that can deceive the swordsman, he must mix his own essence and blood. Mix it in, so that you can perfectly imitate your own gas state.

Because of this, Yagyu Munamasa still captured a little bit of blood essence, and then used this bit of blood essence as a guide to drive the sword energy to find traces of the ninja. If this person retreated, that would be fine. If he didn't leave, he would naturally have to face this line of swords. gas.

This sword energy is hard to defend against and kills people in an invisible and silent way. It is also extremely sharp. The body of the person hit by it is cut off immediately, and the wound is as smooth as a mirror, leaving no trace. Even if someone is wearing armor, it can penetrate the armor and only hurt the body, not the armor.

The sword energy drifted to the mid-air by itself, which was where the Koga ninja was hiding. The ninja was also surprised and retreated quickly. At the same time, he formed seals with both hands and summoned a large fire storm like a fire cloud, which illuminated the entire sky red and splashed towards the castle tower. It was not to hurt the enemy, but to distract Munemasa's attention.

Yagyu Munemasa stirred it casually, and a large piece of "fire cloud" immediately moved with it, turning into a vertical fire tornado. Then Yagyu Munemasa waved his hand again, and the fire tornado soared into the sky and went straight to the sky, and finally dissipated into the invisible.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the ninja had already escaped into the void and disappeared completely.

This time he did not try to approach Toyotomi Hideshige, but chose to leave Hikone Castle. The way of assassins has always been sneak attacks. If they miss the first strike, they must flee thousands of miles away. He has tried twice. If he continues to pester, it is easy to put himself in danger.

Yagyu Munemasa did not chase him. From beginning to end, he just stood up, and his feet did not even move a bit. After the ninja retreated, he sat down again and continued to drink tea.

Toyotomi Hideshige was calm and did not panic. He just asked: "Is he a jonin of Koga-ryu?"

Yagyu Munemasa nodded.

Jonin is a title that can be compared with swordsman, but jonin is congenitally deficient, similar to a casual person, while swordsman is similar to a Qi-refining master. Under the same realm and a head-on confrontation, the swordsman must have an absolute advantage.

As for why only a jonin was involved in the assassination, instead of gathering a large number of assassins like Katsura Zenko, one reason is that Toyotomi Hideshige's importance cannot be compared with Qingwei Zhenren, and the other reason is that Hikone Castle is not Hidekyo. If other monks, priests, and shrine maidens want to enter, they can only attack head-on. Hikone Castle is not just Yagyu Munemasa, but also a large number of guards, such as iron artillery soldiers equipped with the Taoist "Sun Shooting Long Gun", Onmyoji from Onmyoji, and hatamoto samurai of all levels, Shinkage-ryu swordsmen, Iga ninjas, etc. On the contrary, Koga jonin are good at hiding and sneaking, and can bypass the heavy guards and sneak into the core position.

Toyotomi Hideshige sighed: "This is still in Hikone Castle. If you leave Hikone Castle, I don't know how dangerous it will be."

Yagyu Munemasa said: "In my opinion, after you arrive in Xiujing, the people of the Celestial Empire will not let you live directly in the castle tower, but will keep you in their camp. They will not let you return to Xiujing until Xiujing Castle is completely cleared. As for the camp of the Celestial Empire, it must be safer than Hikone Castle. Since those assassins can't kill you in Hikone Castle, they certainly can't assassinate you in the Celestial Empire camp. In other words, before you arrive at the camp is the last chance for the assassins. The real danger is actually the road from Hikone Castle to the camp."

Toyotomi Hideshige understood this truth. This road is not long, but it may be a road to death.

Yagyu Munemasa could not accompany him, because if Munemasa moved, then the major forces would see that the assassination was hopeless and might turn their guns around and attack the leaderless Hikone Castle directly. Given the current situation, Hikone Castle cannot afford to be lost.

It only takes one day for Ninshoji Temple, Asahi Jingu Shrine, and Koga-ryu Ninja to attack Hikone Castle without Munemasa in charge.

After all, battles of this magnitude in Wuxing Mountain are rare. Under normal circumstances, a pseudo-immortal is enough to take charge of one side.

Yagyu Munemasa asked, "Have you contacted the camp?"

"The camp has received news that a 'Yinglong' is on the way and will arrive at Hikone Castle soon." Toyotomi Hideshige replied, "And the personnel sent are very interesting. Ishishusai should have heard of the saying of the Three Beauties of Taoism, which refers to the three young people who are most likely to compete for the eighth generation of the Grand Master. This time, two of them were sent, the young crown princes of Zhengyi and Taiping Dao, and a Quanzhen Dao master who is not far away. I suspect that the Qingwei Zhenren is not the crown prince of Taiping Dao, but the crown prince of Quanzhen Dao, and wants to take the opportunity to eliminate the heirs of Taiping Dao and Zhengyi Dao. If these young crown princes encounter any accidents, it is hard to guarantee that Taiping Dao and Zhengyi Dao will not vent their anger on me."

Yagyu Munemasa smiled and said, "Many kanpaku before you did not have such an honor. You know, even in the Central Plains, only the first-grade innocent Taoist priests are qualified to travel on the 'Yinglong'."

Toyotomi Hideshige laughed bitterly again, "I would rather not have such an honor, just ride a human sedan chair, and then go to the capital safely."

Crossing the River Soldiers