I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"it is good!"

There was constant applause from the audience, and copper coins were thrown onto the stage in a clatter of lectures.

Looking at the copper coins scattered like a rainstorm, Tan Lexi smiled.

"But—even if Tokujiro Matou didn't come to Kanto, it's useless!"

"Hasegawa Heizo-sama has always been jealous of evil!"

"Once the thief is found, even if the thief is in the remotest corners of the world, he will lead Huofu Thief Kai's officials to chase after him!"

"Unless the culprits are brought to justice, I will never give up!"

The yamen that specializes in catching arsonists and vicious thieves - Huofu Thief Gai's newly appointed chief in recent years: Hasegawa Heizang, his legendary stories have become the townspeople and samurai of Edo Castle in the past two years. favorite.

Everyone loves to listen, so storytellers like Tan Le naturally love to talk.

Not only storytellers like to talk, but it is said that even some well-known rakugo masters have begun to compile various jokes based on Hasegawa Heizo.

Today, he managed to make a fortune once again with the story of "Hasegawa Heizo chasing the real sword Tokujiro", which made Tan Le laugh so hard that even his eyes narrowed.

At this moment, a question suddenly sounded from the audience:

"Tanle! You just said that among all the thieves in the world today, the only one whose swordsmanship can beat Masato Tokujiro is the 'Executioner Yidaosai'. Is this true?"

The person who asked this question was an ordinary young man dressed as a craftsman.

Hearing his question, Tan Le was slightly taken aback.

Recall every word he just said.

I realized that I had actually said this sentence.

"Of course!"

Talk Lego.

"Although Matou Tokujiro's swordsmanship is strong, he is far behind the 'Executioner Ichitosai'!"

"Just comparing the number of beheads between the two is enough to see the gap between the two!"

As soon as Tan Le's voice fell, the audience immediately remembered the low voice of discussion.

"'Executioner Yidao Zhai'... who is that?"

"I have never inquired carefully about what powerful thieves have appeared in the world."

"It's actually called 'Executioner'... Could it be another murderer?"

"Don't you guys even know that person... How closed are you guys' daily lives..."

"It's fine if the people in the backcountry don't know who the 'Executioner Yidao Zhai' is, but you townspeople who live in Edo don't even know... Don't you usually go out of your house?"

...

Tan Le licked her lips as she watched the audience who were discussing "Executioner's Yidao Zhai".

If possible, he would like to tell everyone the story of "The Executioner Yidao Zhai" now.

After all-the story of "The Executioner Yi Dao Zhai" is full of drama.

This kind of dramatic story is the favorite of storytellers like Tan Le.

But—Tan Le did not dare to tell the story of "The Executioner Yi Dao Zhai"...

Some listeners didn't know what "Executioner Yidao Zhai" did, but Tan Le knew it all.

"Executioner Yidao Zhai" killed the lord, and beheaded Matsudaira Gennai, the lord of the Hirose feudal domain, and more than a hundred guards. Although such a story is full of drama, as a small scholar, he dare not put it in a grandiose manner speak out.

The person killed by this "Ichidao Zhai" was the vassal daimyo and the lord of the Hirose domain.

If someone with a heart finds out that he, as a storyteller, was promoting the heinous "Yidao Zhai" deeds in public, I'm afraid it will cause a lot of trouble.

Therefore, Tan Le could only laugh and say a few words on the scene, and perfunctorily dismissed the topic of "the executioner's one-knife fast".

In fact, when he told the story of "Hasegawa Heizo chasing Masato Tokujiro" just now, he said "Among all the thieves in the world today, only 'Executioner Yidaosai' can suppress Masato Tokujiro." ——This sentence came out of his mouth when he was excited.

He didn't study carefully what kind of high-powered thieves there are in the world today.

Whether the skill of "Executioner Yidao Sai" is higher than that of Masaru Tokujiro, and whether there are any more powerful thieves-Tan Le doesn't know the answers to these questions, and he is not interested in finding out.

...

...

That night——

Kinki area, Tatsuno clan——

In a certain wilderness of Longye Fan, there is an ancient temple that has been abandoned for a while.

In this ancient temple, which is neither too big nor too small, 5 travelers who planned to spend the night gathered here.

These five travelers were all without exception—all of them were vagrants with knives stuck in their waists, but they had nowhere to return and no one to serve.

Four of the five ronin sat around and chatted there.

The other ronin did not join their chat.

Instead, he sat in a corner of the ancient temple with his Dato and Wakizashi in his arms, covering his face with a bamboo hat, and the dirty light onion-colored haori that wrapped tightly around his body rose and fell rhythmically ups and downs.

Judging by the appearance of this ronin, he should have fallen asleep.

The other 4 ronin who were sitting not far away looked at this ronin who seemed to have fallen asleep holding a knife.

The body shapes of these four ronin are very characteristic.

a tall man.

A short man.

a fat man.

a skinny guy.

"Hey." The skinny ronin said, "Would you like to wake him up and let him come over and chat with us?"

"No more." The tall ronin shook his head, "They are already asleep, it would be really impolite to wake them up again."

"That's right." The short rogue also answered at this time, "Before you understand other people's temperament, don't try to provoke them. Maybe they are the kind of people who hate others to disturb their sleep. Let him sleep well Well, he sleeps in his, let's talk about ours."

call--!

A gust of cold wind blows into the temple along the broken paper windows.

"Well……"

"It's so cold..."

"What's the bad weather..."

"Hiss...my teeth are chattering..."

The four ronin clutched their clothes tightly, rubbed their hands, or breathed into their palms.

It is now January of the second year of Kansei.

It was the dead of winter.

Tatsuno Fan, located in the Kinki area, was already covered in silver at this time.

It was snowing tonight, and there were patches of white snow floating outside the temple.

Along the broken window, looking at the patches of white snow outside the window, the tall ronin muttered:

"Fortunately, I found this deserted ancient temple tonight... If it weren't for this ancient temple, we might all freeze to death here tonight."

"I don't need to talk about this kind of emotion." The fat ronin said angrily, "Hurry up and find a way to block these windows."

"We don't have the tools and materials to paste paper, and there is no such thing as wood boards here." The skinny ronin smiled helplessly, "If it can't be blocked, just bear with it tonight, let's get together Tighten it up, and it will keep you warm."