I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Back in time not long ago——

The place where Takikawa, Uesaka and other friends agreed to meet was at the gate of Yoshihara.

When both Takikawa and Uesaka arrived at Yoshihara's gate, the rest of the friends were already there.

After the No. 8 people including Takikawa arrived, Uesaka led the way and led everyone to the bayberry house where Uesaka had reserved a room.

Under Uesaka's deliberate arrangement, those who participated in the banquet tonight with the sole purpose of helping Takikawa Zhen were all Takikawa's usual friends.

While walking on the way to Yangmei House, everyone chatted chatteringly.

Listening to the chatter and laughter of friends around him, Takikawa felt that the haze that had lingered in his heart since last night dispelled a little bit.

"Look! That's the bayberry house!" Uesaka, who was walking ahead, suddenly pointed forward.

"Oh! What a magnificent teahouse!" said a friend of Takigawa who was walking behind Uesaka on the right, "So Yoshihara is such a magnificent teahouse!"

Among the people present, some of them didn't come to Yoshihara very often, so they didn't know much about the details of Yoshihara.

"The reason why Yoshiwara is called 'the city that never sleeps in Edo' is not only because there are three thousand wandering girls in it." After Uesaka responded in a half-joking tone, he sped up his pace a little.

However, at this moment.

Suddenly, a discordant voice sounded from behind Takikawa and the others.

"Huh? Isn't this Takikawa Heiichiro from the Takikawa family?"

As soon as this discordant voice sounded from behind him, the expression on Takikawa's face froze immediately, then he stopped his feet, frowned slightly, and turned his head to look behind him.

As for Uesaka and other people, they also stopped in their tracks.

Behind Takikawa and the others, three well-dressed warriors walked slowly towards Takikawa's direction.

The leader of the three well-dressed warriors was very young, with a neatly shaved Tsukiyo head. Although his facial features were ordinary, his eyes were very sharp.

This person, like Takikawa, is also a Banner warrior.

However, the level of his family is much higher than that of Takikawa.

He is the eldest son of the Miyashita family, who has a salary of 7,000 shi-annuals—Kyoichiro Miyashita.

In addition to the astonishing family salary, the identities of Gongxia's relatives are also astonishing.

Miyashita's grandfather is the current lord of the Aizu domain.

The elders of Gongxia also held various important positions in the shogunate.

It's a pity - although Gongxia's family background is strong and has a lot of relatives with prominent identities, Gongxia himself is an embroidered pillow.

He is ignorant and incapable of learning, and loves a romantic place like Yoshihara.

Looking at Miyashita walking towards him slowly, Takikawa's brows became more and more wrinkled.

His relationship with Miyashita is very bad.

The ignorant Miyashita is the type of person Takikawa despises the most.

And Miyashita also dislikes Takikawa, who is capable of both literature and martial arts.

The two of them had learned Wudiao swordsmanship in the same dojo, and it was at that time that the two met each other, and it was also at that time that the two became existences that were not pleasing to each other.

"I never imagined that I would be able to see Takigawa, a busy person like you, in a place like Yoshiwara." Miyashita said in a strange tone, "Aren't you going to study or practice swords tonight?"

"What am I going to do? It's none of your business?" Takikawa said coldly.

"It's really none of my business."

Miyashita shrugged his shoulders, and then continued with a strange tone of voice.

"I just care about you."

"After all, you can't even get into the top 10 of that so-called 'Yuqian Trial' essay test, so I'm worried that you've neglected your studies."

"Takigawa-kun, don't be too obsessed with having fun, and neglect the study of literary and martial arts."

As soon as Miyashita finished speaking, the expressions of Takikawa, Uesaka and others around him changed suddenly.

Takikawa clenched his naturally hanging hands: "Hmph! So what if I can't get into the top 10 of the "Imperial Examination" essay test? Can't pass!"

Regarding Takikawa's counterattack, Miyashita only shrugged his shoulders with a look of "indifferent":

"I admit it, if I participate in the 'Yuqian Trial', I will definitely not be able to pass the literary test."

"But whether I can pass the essay test, and whether you, Takikawa, can enter the top 10 in the essay test, is there any inevitable relationship?"

"Regardless of whether I can pass the essay test or not, it's a fact that you, Takigawa, couldn't even get into the top 10."

"I've heard that before the results of the essay test were announced, you were full of confidence. You felt that you would definitely be the first in the essay test, and no matter how bad you were, you would be able to enter the top 10."

The mocking look on Miyashita's face became more intense.

"I've always been curious, Takigawa-kun, you, who are full of confidence, found out last night that you didn't even make it to the top 10 in the essay test. What kind of mood did you feel?"

Takikawa's face turned from white to purple, and then from purple to black again.

Seeing Takikawa's sudden change of expression, Miyashita seemed to have seen some wonderful show, chuckled a few times, then led the two followers behind him, and walked away towards the depths of Yoshihara.

Looking at the back of Miyashita going away, the first thought that popped into Takikawa's mind at this moment was: draw the sword and chop this bastard who insulted him.

And Takikawa's hands really started to act according to his thoughts - raised his left hand, pressed the sheath of the sword, raised his right hand, and held the handle of the sword

But as soon as the thought of "killing Miyashita" emerged from Takikawa's mind, Takikawa's rationality dismissed it.

As this thought dissipated, a few traces of fear flashed across Takikawa's eyes.

Although Takikawa was so angry that he felt that the blood was about to burst through his forehead, but he did not lose his rationality.

Takikawa knew very well what the consequences would be if the eldest son of Miyashita, who was also the banner owner, was cut off.

The shogunate will not forgive this behavior of drawing swords between Banners, and their Takigawa family will be deprived of Banner's identity-this is the lightest punishment.

Maybe Takigawa will be asked to apologize by harakiri.

Takikawa, who still had a sliver of reason, resisted the urge to draw his sword, and was about to go forward and argue with Miyashita again.

But Uesaka reached out his hand at this time and pressed Takikawa's shoulder.

"Takikawa, ignore him." Uesaka who saw what Takikawa was going to do said in a deep voice, "That guy Miyashita is a scoundrel, even if you go to quarrel with him, he will only be rude."

At this time, the rest of Takikawa's friends also stepped forward to comfort and persuade Takikawa.

Listening to the comfort and persuasion from his friends, Takikawa took a deep breath.

"...Let's go" Takigawa said in a deep voice, "Let's go to Yangmei House for a drink."'

Seeing that Takikawa gave up to fight with Miyashita, Uesaka showed joy and nodded vigorously.

A group of people quickened their pace, entered the bayberry house, and then, under the guidance of the staff of the bayberry house, entered the room reserved by Uesaka.

From entering the bayberry house, to entering the pre-booked room and taking their seats, Uesaka paid attention to Takikawa's expression the whole time.

Takikawa's face... To give an example of a vivid image, it looks like he has eaten a pile of shit. His face, which was originally fair, was as black as coal.

After entering the room and taking a seat, he kept drinking the freshly served sake.

Looking at the extremely ugly face of Takikawa sitting beside him, Uesaka sighed silently in his heart, and then said loudly to the other friends sitting around:

"Everyone, why don't we invite kabuki players to come over to help us out!"

As soon as Uesaka made this proposal, he immediately got responses from the people around him.

"Oh!! I agree!"

"That's a good idea! If you don't invite kabuki performers to sing a few songs and dance a few dances at the banquet, you'll feel that something is missing."

"I don't know if there are any free kabuki now..."

...

With the exception of Takikawa, everyone has already made a statement, and they all agree.

"Takikawa." Uesaka asked, "What do you think?"

"Whatever." Takigawa, who still had a gloomy face, spit out the word coldly, and then continued drinking on his own.

...

...

"Master Uesaka." Lai Jiu squeezed out a flattering smile at Uesaka in front of him, "Thank you very much for coming to our shop tonight!"

After finishing speaking, Lai Jiu bowed deeply to Uesaka in front of him.

"Lai Jiu, help us arrange some kabuki." Uesaka nodded to show that after receiving Lai Jiu's salute, he directly stated his intention of coming.

The reason why Uesaka chose to come to Yangmei House to hold a banquet tonight was because he knew Lai Jiu from Yangmei House. With an acquaintance around, hosting a banquet can save a lot of cumbersome procedures, and by the way, you can also praise your friends.

Lai Jiu's status in Yangmei House is probably similar to that of a manager, a member of the management team.

After leaving the room, Uesaka approached Lai Jiu directly and asked Lai Jiu to help arrange Kabuki.

"This..." Lai Jiu looked embarrassed, "We have a lot of guests at Yangmei House tonight, so... I don't know if there are any Kabuki that are still available."

Hearing Lai Jiu's words, Uesaka frowned directly.

The reason why Uesaka decided to invite kabuki to cheer up the fun was purely to make Takikawa, who had just been ruthlessly ridiculed by Miyashita, feel a little happier and cheer up.

Watching singing and dancing is one of Takikawa's great hobbies, so Uesaka wanted to match him up.

"Lai Jiu, can't you think of a way?" Uesaka's tone was obviously serious and displeased.

"This..." Lai Jiu smiled bitterly, then nodded, "Master Uesaka, I understand, I will do my best to help you arrange it."

"Well. As soon as possible."

After all, Uesaka left from Raijiu's field of vision without looking back, and returned to the room.

After Uesaka left, Lai Jiu breathed a sigh of relief as if relieved.

...

...

After Uesaka left, Lai Jiu hurriedly summoned his subordinates and asked them to arrange for Kabuki to come.

In the land of Yoshiwara, there are not only wandering girls, but also kabuki who do not sell themselves.

Some wealthy teahouses and girls’ houses even have a group of well-skilled kabuki performers—such as bayberry houses.

Yangmei House has nearly 60 Kabuki performers.

The subordinates sent by Lai Jiu to arrange Kabuki came back soon.

But the news he brought back made Lai Jiu's face straight down.

"What? Kabuki have basically been invited?"

"Yes, yes." Lai Jiu's subordinates nodded quickly, "There are too many guests tonight, our kabuki players have basically been invited, and only these people are left..."

Raiku's subordinates reported the names of Kabuki who were still free.

After listening to his subordinates reporting the names of kabuki players who were still available, Lai Jiu shouted angrily:

"Isn't there a lot of people who are free?"

"But, but... these kabuki that are still available are basically newcomers... they don't have much experience in acting."

Lai Jiu knew all the names that his subordinates reported just now.

Most of them are young people hired by Yangmeiwu recently.

In terms of strength, they still have some strength.

But they are still too young, and the number of times they perform in front of others is not too much. They are basically a group of capable people without much performance experience.

"What's the matter with newcomers?" Lai Jiu said solemnly, "Among all walks of life, who doesn't start as a newcomer? As long as they perform a few times, can't a newcomer become an old man? Is it possible that because they are newcomers, they will never be old?" Let them perform? Stop talking nonsense, and arrange for them to go to Uesaka-sama's room."

...

...

The kabukis were there when the food and a fresh batch of drinks were served.

A total of 8 people, 3 men and 5 women - 3 men and 2 women are responsible for playing musical instruments, and the other 3 women are responsible for dancing.

Meals, drinks, and Kabuki were all present, and the banquet naturally began officially.

Amidst the sound of Kabuki dancers, this small room gradually became lively.

The food and drinks were delicious.

The musicians played hard.

Maiko danced very hard, too.

However——there was one person who didn't look up at the Kabuki performances.

Since entering the room, Takigawa kept his face sullen, his head lowered, and drank with his head down.

Even though the song and dance performance he usually liked was going on in front of him, he was not interested in looking up.

The image of Miyashita mocking him just now kept flashing in Takikawa's mind.

Thinking of Miyashita's taunt to him just now, the hand that was holding the wine glass tightened unconsciously.

Even though he had drunk a lot of wine, his face turned red and his head was dizzy, Takikawa didn't feel that the resentment in his heart had eased in the slightest.

While feeling resentful, Takigawa also felt...very wronged.

He didn't understand why he didn't even get in the top 10 of the essay test.

No matter which question it is, he should be able to answer it impeccably. Why is it that Goro Mashima got the first place in the essay test instead of him.

Resentment and grievance dominated Takikawa's brain, causing Takikawa's head and chest to swell and ache. When he put his finger on his temple, he could clearly feel the blood vessels throbbing "chug-chug", and he could only keep pumping into his mouth. It's a little more comfortable to have a drink.

...

...

The banquet was just like that, and more than a quarter of an hour passed (a quarter of an hour in ancient Japan was half an hour).

After watching the song and dance performance for such a long time, everyone except Takikawa enjoyed it very much.

And after performing for such a long time, the kabuki performers—especially the three young girls who were in charge of dancing, who were only about fifteen years old, all showed obvious fatigue.

Takikawa's seat is a very typical row of seats - divided into two rows on the left and right, and the two rows of people sit facing each other on the floor.

The three maikos danced in the middle of the two rows of seats.

However, at this moment.

It happened by accident.

One of the three maikos held a fan in one hand and lowered their body. When they danced slowly, it was unknown whether it was because they had been dancing for a long time and their bodies were tired, or because of a simple mistake. Made it a little bigger.

The clothes they dance with have longer sleeves.

The long sleeves accidentally swept over the wine bottle placed on Takikawa's table.

The wine bottle fell, and the remaining wine in the bottle flowed out and landed on the tatami on the right side of the table.

And the wine that flowed out also spilled on Takikawa's knife handle that was placed on the right tatami.

The maiko turned pale with fright at her mistake.

And Takikawa's expression changed rapidly in a very short period of time.

The originally extremely gloomy face was slightly taken aback for a moment.

Then turn from black to black and red.

Before the maiko who made the mistake had time to apologize, Takigawa roared first:

"You bastard!!"

Takigawa's roar was very loud, and it felt like the whole room was slightly shaken by his roar.

Takigawa's mood tonight was like a powder keg that would explode at any point.

And this mistake made by the maiko successfully ignited the powder keg.

Takikawa grabbed the sword beside him, and drew it out of its sheath.

Looking at Takikawa who drew his sword out of its sheath, the kabuki who made a mistake sat down on the ground in fright, and the rest of the kabuki were also frightened by the changes in front of them and didn't know what to do.

"Takikawa! Wait!" Uesaka hurriedly got up and stopped Takikawa.

Uesaka and others were also frightened.

The rest of the people including Uesaka stood up to stop Takikawa.

Because they were too anxious, some people accidentally knocked down the table under their feet, which was full of rich meals.

Kabukis with terrified faces, overturned desks, food and drinks spilled everywhere... The room that was originally clean and lively suddenly became a mess.

Takigawa's shout just now successfully attracted nearly the entire staff of Yangmei House.

The door of the room was quickly opened, and the employees of Yangmei House armed with various weapons, and the staff of the club who were sent to support tonight, all rushed over.

Among the people who heard the news, Takikawa saw one of the culprits who had made him angry since last night.

"Mashima Goro...?!" Takikawa frowned and gritted his teeth.

...

...

Shirobei now only feels the cold sweat constantly coming out of his forehead.

He had been lucky enough to meet Lao Zhong once, but that was a long time ago.

Looking at Matsudaira Sadanobu who suddenly came to Yoshihara, Shirobei felt as if he was sitting on pins and needles. He didn't know why Matsudaira Sadanobu, who usually has a lot of things to do, appeared in this small Yoshihara.

After Sadanobu Matsudaira took off the hat on his head, his little surname, Tachibana, who was sitting behind Sadanobu Matsudaira, also took off the hat on top of his head.

"I can't remember when was the last time I came to Yoshiwara."

Matsudaira Sadanobu put the bamboo hat in his hand on the tatami on one side, and said to Shirobei in a tone that seemed to be casually chatting with someone.

"Yoshihara is still the same. At night, the lights emitted can illuminate the entire sky."

"...My lord." Shiro Bingwei, who leaned down and put his palms on the ground, swallowed his saliva, and mustered up the courage to ask, "I don't know why you are here?"

Matsudaira Sadanobu said just now that he came to Yoshiwara for something lighter.

What he said made Shirobei even more confused, not knowing what the "easier things" were.

"I came to Yoshihara mainly to find someone from your club." A faint smile appeared on Matsudaira Sadanobu's face, "Shirobei, please help me arrange a meeting for him to meet me now. ?"

"And help me make a room in the Shirobei clubhouse where no one will disturb you."

"Looking for someone?" Shiro Bingwei was taken aback, "My lord, I don't know who you are looking for?"

"Mashima Goro." Matsudaira Sadanobu didn't say any nonsense, and spit out a person's name concisely.

"Mashima Goro?" Shirobei's face was full of surprise, "Master Mashima, I don't know if you are looking for Mashima Goro-kun..."

Before Shirobei finished his words, Matsudaira Sadanobu interrupted:

"Shirobei, don't ask things you shouldn't ask."

"I'm very sorry!" Realizing that he was meddling, Shirobei put his forehead on the tatami, "It's me, Meng Lang!"

"My lord, Mashima Goro-kun is not in the clubhouse right now."

"The tea house named Yangmei House has many guests tonight, and it is a little short of manpower, so I asked my club for help."

"That's why I just sent a group of staff from the club including Mashima Goro to support Yangmeiwu!"

Matsudaira Sadanobu frowned slightly:

"Yangmei House... how long will it take for him to come back?"

"It will take an hour at the very, fastest time, and we will not be able to come back until there are not so many guests in the bayberry house..."

"One hour... I don't want to just wait for an hour like this, Shirobei, can you help me temporarily call Mashima Goro-kun back from that bayberry house?"

"No problem!" Regarding such trivial matters, Shirobei hurriedly nodded, "I'll send someone to call Mashima Goro back now!"

After hastily nodding in agreement, Shirobei was about to stand up and go down to deliver the order "Call Mashima Goro back" to his subordinates——

"Master Shirobei! It's not good! It's not good!"

A series of hasty footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, followed by anxious shouts.

As soon as the anxious shout fell, Shirobei shouted to the door angrily:

"There are distinguished guests visiting now! Don't make any noise! ​​What's the matter, we'll talk about it later!"

"Master Shirobei! Something has happened! The people we sent to support Yangmeiwu have clashed with a group of Banner warriors!" Cursed, but he quickly conveyed the urgent news to Shirobei.

"What?" Shirobei's eyes widened.

Matsudaira Sadanobu and Tachibana, who were sitting in Shirobei, also changed their expressions - the two of them just heard the name "Yangmeiya" from Shirobei.

"Yangmei House..." Matsudaira Sadanobu muttered softly.

A thoughtful look appeared on his face.

I don't know what to think.

...

...

After arriving at the scene of the trouble with Guasheng, Ogata also learned what happened from other people.

——Has the handle of the saber been spilled with wine...

While Ogata thought to himself, he involuntarily wrinkled his already frowning brows again.

The hilt is the most delicate part of all parts of the samurai sword except the blade.

The handle of a samurai sword is covered with a layer of something called "shark skin".

Made from the hide of a species of stingray.

The handle of the samurai sword is made by wrapping a layer of shark skin on the outside of the cut solid wood, and then wrapping a flat braided ribbon made of silk or cotton, that is, the handle is rolled.

The wood of the samurai sword handle and the shark skin are bonded mainly by rice and plant glue. After a long time of soaking in water, the glue will come off, so the handle of the samurai sword should be protected from water at ordinary times.

In order to protect the hilt of the samurai sword, the "handle cover", a cloth specially used to wrap the hilt, was born.

The main purpose of the handle cover is to prevent the handle of the samurai sword from being exposed to water.

Because the handle of the samurai sword touches water, the life of the handle of the samurai sword will be shortened, so many samurai are very taboo that someone stains their handle with liquid.

The noise made by Takigawa not only attracted Ogata and the others, but also attracted many passers-by who came to see the excitement.

After Ogata and others rushed to the scene, they also rushed to the scene, as well as some talkers from Yangmei House.

And the person who came here to talk about it was that Lai Jiu.

After learning the details of what happened, Lai Jiu bowed and apologized to Takikawa and the others in front of him while wiping the cold sweat off his face:

"I'm really sorry! I will teach my subordinates a lesson! Please be tolerant!"

"Go away!" To Lai Jiu's apology, Takigawa only groaned as if it was a mosquito.

With his left hand, he pushed Lai Jiu in front of him, and with his right hand, he raised the Da Dao high again.

Looking at the shining sword in Takikawa's hand, the maiko who made a mistake standing behind Raijiu let out a low whimper, and subconsciously took 2 steps back.

And when Ogata saw Takikawa raised the knife again, his face sank.

Then he walked forward quickly, and stood between Lai Jiu and the maiko, facing Takikawa, who smelled of alcohol and had a face full of resentment and impatience.

Looking at Ogata's face, Takigawa only felt the resentment and anger in his heart grow stronger.

"Go away! It's none of your business here!" Takigawa Asaogata roared.

"Are you going to draw your sword and kill someone just because of such a trivial matter?" Ogata said in a deep voice.

While speaking, he slowly raised his left hand and pressed Da Shitian's sheath.

"What's wrong with me teaching the bastard who stained my knife?"

Gua Sheng and some other staff members of the clubhouse and employees of Yangmei House also stood beside Ogata at this time.

"Isn't it just that the handle of the knife was stained by the wine!" Gua Sheng shouted, "As for making a scene like this?"

While shouting like this, Guasheng also raised his left hand like Ogata, and held down the wooden knife at his waist.

Ogata silently raised his hand to press the sheath of his saber, and Takigawa noticed it.

"Heh!" Takikawa, who was extremely angry and laughed back, showed an exaggerated sneer, "What? Goro Mashima, are you a mere rogue planning to draw your sword against me?"

"You have to think about it, think about what will happen if you draw your sword at the banner!"

The resentment and grievance that had been accumulated in my heart for a long time, under the urging of alcohol, burst out with great strength in one breath.

After mocking Ogata a few words like this, Takigawa felt that his heart, which had been tortured by resentment and grievance, finally felt a lot easier.

At the same time, it also let the sense of superiority emerge from the bottom of my heart again.

- That's right!

Takikawa shouted excitedly from the bottom of his heart.

——I'm a banner warrior!

——So what if I didn’t make it to the top 10 in the essay test?

——So what if this Mashima Goro won the first place in the literary examination?

——I am still a Banner Samurai, and this guy is still a ronin who finally found a job at the Shirobei Clubhouse a while ago!

——No matter what, my achievements in the future will definitely be far higher than this Goro Mashima! Also higher than that Gongxia!

Hearing Takigawa's blatant ridicule just now, Ogata's face darkened slightly.

Gua Sheng on the side shouted directly:

"What's the matter with Banner? You guys are making trouble here, and then we stop you, which is reasonable and reasonable!"

As soon as Gua Sheng's words fell, Lai Jiu standing between Takikawa and the others and Ogata and the others quickly wiped the cold sweat off his face, turned around to look at Ogata and the others behind him, and said in a low voice:

"Don't be like this. Don't confront them with swords."

"That samurai's name is Takigawa Heiichiro, a banner samurai. If you can't offend them, don't offend them further."

The samurai under the direct command of the shogun, such as Banmoto and the royal family, besides having all kinds of privileges, also has a rather scary thing, that is, they often have all kinds of awesome relatives.

Banner and the royal family are of noble origin, and the married families will not be simple families.

In the 200 years since the opening of the Edo Shogunate, Banner and the royal family have long formed a close network of relationships and kinship.

A Qiben with a low salary, maybe one of his relatives is a big shot.

Lai Jiu, who worked hard in a place like Yangmeiwu, naturally knew the horrors of the Banner warriors, so in order to avoid further expansion of the dispute, he hurriedly reminded Ogata and others not to offend Banner.

Although Lai Jiu lowered his volume when he reminded Ogata and others not to offend Hatamoto, Takigawa could barely hear what Lai Jiu was saying.

Listening to what Lai Jiu said to Ogata and the others just now, Takikawa felt that the sense of superiority in his heart inflated even more.

"Takikawa!" At this moment, Uesaka on the side finally couldn't stand it anymore, and stepped forward to grab Takikawa's shoulder, "You drink too much! Killing someone for such a trivial matter will be very troublesome later! Master Raiku , I am very sorry, I will negotiate with you slowly..."

Before Uesaka finished speaking, Takigawa shook off Uesaka's hand that was holding onto his shoulder.

"Uesaka! Get out of the way!"

"I must teach that maiko who defiled my saber a lesson!"

"By the way, let's see if this Mashima Goro has the guts to draw a sword at my banner."

Takikawa, who was already dazzled by anger and alcohol, completely lost his mind by mocking Ogata's pleasure loudly just now, and could no longer listen to what Uesaka said.

Takigawa raised the sword in his hand and strode towards the maiko who was hidden behind Ogata and the others.

Looking at Takikawa who raised the sword again, Ogata silently lowered the center of gravity of his body, and pressed his right hand on Da Shitian's handle.

Naturally, Ogata would not just kill Takikawa with a single blow.

Ogata has already made a calculation - if Takigawa insists on going forward to kill that maiko, he will use the back of his sword to help this guy "calm down".

Takigawa raised the sword in his hand high, and made a look as if he was going to stride towards the maiko.

Ogata also silently prepared to help Takigawa "calm down".

The heaviness of the surrounding atmosphere then reached its peak.

But at this moment, plain words that were quite inconsistent with the heavy atmosphere suddenly sounded from the crowd of onlookers:

"Putting the sword back, it's too ugly to pull out the soul of a samurai for such a trivial matter."

This sentence was obviously addressed to Takikawa. Although the tone was flat, there was a bit of unquestionable sternness in this peaceful tone.

The strange words that suddenly sounded not only attracted the attention of Ogata and his party, but also attracted the attention of Takikawa and others.

Even the attention of the onlookers was drawn away by it.

Because the voice sounded from behind the onlookers, the onlookers looked back one after another.

When everyone focused their eyes on the owner of the voice, the owner of the voice also walked slowly towards Ogata, Takikawa and the others with his hands behind his back.

The onlookers also consciously separated to the left and right to make way for this person to walk.

This man was wearing a hat with a wide brim and his head was slightly lowered, so that no one could see his face clearly.

Behind him was a follower who was also wearing a wide-brimmed bamboo hat.

"Which one is your step?" Takigawa frowned tightly, and asked the person who asked him to withdraw his knife in a deep voice, "Your subordinate's business is not your step's business. No matter who your step is, please don't interfere!"

"Is your business none of my business...Your words are a little wrong."

After finishing speaking, the mysterious man slowly raised the brim of the bamboo hat.

As the edge of the hat was raised, the face of the mysterious man was finally revealed from under the edge of the hat.

After the mysterious person raised the edge of the hat to reveal his face, Uesaka standing next to Takikawa's face immediately lost all blood, as if he had seen something extremely frightening.

Then, like a conditioned reflex, Uesaka knelt down on the ground in the posture of Dogezaza, bowed to the mysterious man, and stammered and shouted:

"Old, old middle-aged man!"

Uesaka's shout made the scene instantly audible.

Takikawa and the rest of Takikawa's friends present all looked dull.

And Ogata was also full of astonishment.

He still knows what the term "Laozhong" means...

Uesaka's uncle is one of the four Wakonen now - Yoshimoto Choemon.

Thanks to this relationship, Uesaka met the old Nakamatsu Taira nobu several times.

So Uesaka recognized the mysterious man with just one glance.

The mysterious man—that is, Matsudaira Sadanobu continued to put his hands behind his back, and continued to say in a flat tone:

"Your business is really none of my business."

"You actually planned to draw a knife on my guest just now, so I can't just sit idly by."

"Your...guest...?" Takikawa, who still had a dull expression on his face, murmured.

An ominous premonition emerged in Takikawa's mind...

What Matsudaira Sadanobu said next instantly confirmed Takikawa's ominous premonition:

"It's the Mashima Goro-kun you just took one bite at a time." Matsudaira Sadanobu said lightly, "If you fight with my guest, I will have a hard time."

*****

*****

What Takigawa did in this chapter has historical prototypes, and the author has no artistic exaggeration at all. The samurai in the Edo period could kill people with swords on the grounds that "you insulted the samurai".

In the words of the author in this chapter, I will give you three popular science events of historical facts, and take you to experience the three chaotic views of that era...

When I saw these historical materials at the time, I was really confused... What kind of three views are these...