I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Drums beating on all sides, the snow and the sea surged, and the three armies shouted that the mountains were moving.

——Cen Shen (Tang)

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Asuma also stood up like Ogata and Atachi, and stared at the dozen or so people walking towards them with a serious face.

As for Puccina, who was scared to death by himself, he also found these people who obviously did not have good intentions at this time.

But he didn't stand up directly like Ai Suma, but just showed an ugly face, and then continued to sit on the spot.

Also not standing up, was Asuma's younger brother, Otunpuyi.

"... Egkashi, what are you doing here?" (Ainu language)" Aisuma asked the short young man who was walking in front of the dozen or so people.

"Aisuma, don't be so nervous." The short young man whom Aisuma called Eggkaxi said in a calm tone, "We are not here to make trouble."

"We just heard that the two Kazutos who came to Heyezhe today are living here, so we made a special trip to give these two Kazutos a kind reminder."

"Aisuma, if you happen to be here, it will save trouble, and save us from finding someone to help you translate our words to those two Kazutos. (Ainu language)"

"Speak quickly if you have something to say." Aisuma didn't push them too much, "Don't talk so much about what is and is not. (Ainu language)"

"Aisuma, tell those two Kazutos—don't come to the place where we live."

"Chanup has been very kind to us."

"Since these two people joined Heyezh under the permission of Chanup, we will respect Chanup and his decision."

"We're not going to take the initiative to cause any trouble for these two people - but only if they don't come to where we live."

"We don't welcome any Japanese. We don't want to speak to any Japanese."

"If those two people enter the area where we live, we can't guarantee that we won't do anything outrageous to those two people."

"That's it. Remember to pass on our words to those two Kazuto, goodbye. (Ainu language)"

After all, the short man turned around and left.

But before turning around to leave, the short man did not forget to give Ogata, Acho and the others a hard look.

The rest of the people behind the short man did the same, before they left, they cast vicious eyes on Ogata and Atachi.

Their eyes were full of resentment.

After glaring at Ogata, A-Machi and the others, they strode away.

Looking at the group of people who suddenly killed, talked to Aisuma in an Ainu language that Ogata couldn't understand, and then left immediately. Before leaving, they glared at the two of them fiercely Whether it's Ogata or A-Machi, they all greet each other with greetings.

"Aisuma." Ogata turned to Aisuma and asked, "Who are these people? What did they tell you just now?"

Asuma sighed softly.

"They are from Kapasi Village."

"Three years ago, their tribe participated in the battle of Kunasili Menasi three years ago."

"Mr. Mashima, Ms. Atachi, I don't know if I have told you: we, Heyezhe, recently took in a group of compatriots who lost their homes because of defeat in the Battle of Kunasi Limenasi ——And these compatriots are the villagers of Kapasi Village.”

Since I don't know when, the term "Battle of Kunasili Menasi" has been frequently heard in Ogata's ears.

The reason is not difficult to explain.

This battle is the largest war that has erupted between the Japanese and Ainu races in recent years.

Although people have been hearing about this battle, Ogata doesn't know much about it.

I only know that the cause of this battle was that the Ainu people in a certain area could not bear the oppression of the people and fought together.

The Matsumae clan joined forces with the shogunate to form a coalition force, and went north to meet the Ainu who rose up to fight.

Regardless of whether it is the Matsumae clan or the shogunate, Fira is in a state of distress now.

But no matter how weak they are, they are still a country in the feudal era.

In terms of civilization, it is one level higher than the Ainu who are still in the primitive tribal civilization.

War is like this. Once there is a difference in civilization between generations, the side with backward civilization will only be beaten.

Facing the coalition forces of the Matsumae domain and the shogunate, the Ainu who rose up to fight were quickly defeated and suffered numerous casualties.

"Kappaxi Village participated in the Battle of Kunasi Limenasi 3 years ago, and then lost to Kazuto and lost their homeland."

"They were lucky that they didn't have their villages wiped out. I heard that many villages were directly wiped out in that war, and no one survived."

Aisuma then introduced to Ogata.

"The villagers of Kapasi Village, who were lucky enough to survive the Battle of Kunasi Limenasi, spent several months of wandering life, and wandered to our Heyezhe side."

"Father has always been a kind man."

"In the face of his compatriots in distress, he never stood idly by."

"So my father opened the door of Heyezhe, took them in, and made them new residents of Heyezhe."

"There are 61 villagers who managed to survive and live in our Kapasi village in Heyezhe. Each of these 61 people has a family member who died at the hands of Kazuren."

"So they're...not very welcoming and human."

Aisuma thought for a long time before she could hold back the euphemism "not very welcome".

"Those people just came to tell you—don't get close to the area where they live in Kapasi Village."

"They don't want anyone and anyone near the area where they live."

"...So that's the case." Ogata nodded silently, and then said in a half-joking tone, "I saw them coming aggressively just now, and thought they were here to trouble us."

After finishing speaking, Ogata put down the hand that was just on the handle of Da Shitian's knife.

"Although they hate Heyezhe, they still have a sense of proportion." Aisuma said, "They have always respected and loved their father who allowed them to live in Heyezhe and gave them a new home."

"They never disobeyed any of my father's orders. They never did anything that would displease my father."

"You only entered our Heyezhe with my father's permission, and you are considered our Heyezhe's guests."

"So even if they hate Kazuki, they won't do anything excessive to my father's guests."

"But—provided you don't come near where they live."

Asuma smiled wryly.

"Those people just asked me to tell you - don't get close to where they live. If you get close to the area where they live, you will bear the consequences."

"In Heyezhe, are there any people who hate Kapasi like the villagers in Kapasi Village?" A-cho, who had been silent just now, asked.

Aisuma shook her head: "Not anymore. In our Heyezhe, only the villagers of Kapasi Village don't welcome Heren."

"The rest of the people either have neither good nor bad feelings for Kazuto, or they don't even know what Kazuto looks like."

"Of course—there are also those who have a good impression of Katoren."

Asuma turned her head and glanced at her brother.

"In short - when tomorrow is daytime, I will show you the area where the villagers of Kapasi Village live. Remember not to get close to the area where the villagers of Kapasi Village live."

Ogata nodded: "I see. I'm sorry to trouble you."

"Fortunately..." Aotongpuyi, who had been sitting in the same place just now, patted his chest with a pale face, "Fortunately, those people didn't make trouble just now, and they all went back obediently... I was so scared to death It's... (Ainu)"

"Otunpuyi!" Aisuma cast a displeased look at Otongpuyi, "Be more courageous! Look at your pale face! Even if those people really came to make trouble just now, then What is there to be afraid of? (Ainu)"

Otunpuyi always obeyed his sister.

Hearing her sister's reprimand, Otunpuyi just lowered his head and answered "Yes" in a low voice.

Afterwards, Otunpuyi shook his head violently, and then cast his eyes on Ogata again with anticipation and excitement.

"Mr. Mashima! Let's continue talking..."

Before Otunpuyi finished speaking, his sister interrupted him:

"Okay, Otunpuyi, let's talk about this today. (Ainu language)"

"Huh?" Otunpuyi cast a surprised look at his sister.

"You shouldn't have forgotten how you promised me before, right?" Aisuma cast her sharp eyes straight at Otunpuyi, "You promised me that you would practice bow obediently tonight, so I will bring you You came to bring you to Mashima-san."

"Now is the time to practice the bow. If you delay it, there will not be enough time to practice the bow. (Ainu language)"

"Huh? But... (Ainu language)" Otsupuyi was about to say something——

"Aren't you going to listen to me? (Ainu language)" Aisuma interrupted Otunpuyi again.

Otunpuyi silently lowered his head again, his face full of confusion.

"Yes, yes." Puccina on the side spoke to Aisuma at this time, "Otunpuyi, you can't waste your bow skills and other skills just because you are greedy for fun." (Ainu language )”

Puccina wished that Aisuma and his siblings would leave quickly, and stop talking about those horrible things with this person...

Of course—there is another important reason, that is, Puccina himself wants to stay away from the very dangerous Ogata in his imagination...

If the Aisuma siblings were going to leave, he just happened to be able to leave together.

"...I see... (Ainu language)" Otsubui nodded with his head lowered, and then stood up slowly.

"Mr. Mashima, Ms. Atachi." Asuma turned her gaze to Ogata and the two, and switched back to Japanese, "It's getting late now, I have to take my brother to bow practice."

"Thank you for chatting with our sister and brother today. My brother and I had a great time chatting today. Let's talk together when we have the opportunity and time."

"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "Come again when you have a chance."

Aisuma led her brother away in big strides, and Puccina followed closely behind.

However——they hadn't gone a few steps, Subian suddenly shouted from their mouths:

"Otumpui!"

Otsupuyi, who was suddenly called by Ogata's name, turned around with a puzzled expression.

"You are very interested in Kazuto's culture and living customs - there is nothing wrong with that."

"But 'I want to go to Kazuto's country' or something—that's unnecessary."

Ogata said with a serious face what he wanted to say to Otunpuyi for a long time.

When Ogata learned from Aisuma that Otunpuyi also had the idea of ​​"very wanting to go to the country with people", he wanted to tell Otunpuyi very much.

However, I couldn't find the time to say these words.

Now that Aisuma and the others are leaving, Ogata decided to take advantage of this time to tell Otunpuyi what he said from the bottom of his heart.

"Heren's country is not as beautiful as you imagine."

"Heren's culture and living customs are also not so beautiful."

"Stop expecting too much from Katoren's country and culture."

Ogata's heartfelt words are concise and to the point.

Aotong Puyi showed a bit of confusion, then nodded lightly with a vague understanding: "I see..."

...

...

After saying these words from the bottom of his heart to Otun Puyi, Owen didn't say anything more to him, and silently watched them leave with A-Ming.

After the figures of Aisuma and Otunpuyi completely disappeared from the field of vision, A-Machi sighed with a wry smile on his face, and then said to Ogata beside him:

"I just discovered that Otunpuyi has a lot of unrealistic fantasies about our country..."

"I also wanted to remind that Otunpuyi-don't expect too much from our country."

"I didn't expect you to finish everything I wanted to say."

Ogata also smiled wryly like Machi.

"...I hope that child will never have the chance to go to Japan." Ogata said slowly, "If he goes to Japan, after seeing what Japan is like with his own eyes, his beautiful fantasies may be shattered..."

"Things like disillusionment are very cruel and cruel."

Although the contact with Otunpuyi is not long, but through the bloody words and deeds of Otunpuyi just now, Ogata also discovered a problem with Otunpuyi-he likes everything related to people a little It's too much.

Ogata couldn't help but recall those "spiritual X country people" in his previous life.

Otunpuyi is a bit like "spirit and people".

Even though he has never been to Kazuto’s country, he loves everything related to Kazuto very much. He loves everything related to Kazuto too much. When he was chatting with Ogata and A-Machi just now , his eyes were always bright, as if he was chatting with some long-worshipped idol.

Regarding the situation of Otsubui, there is nothing Ogata can do. The only thing he can do is to persuade him to "don't have too high expectations".

"Mr. Mashima, Ms. Machi!"

At this moment, Ogata and A-Machi suddenly heard the shout of Aizan who they are very familiar with.

Following the sound, he saw Aizan rushing towards them with his rather big belly, humming.

"Aizan." Ogata asked, "What's wrong?"

"Someone came to see me just now." Aizan replied, "He asked me to bring you a message—that Kazuto, who is currently being imprisoned by them, has something to ask you."

"Need to see us?" Ogata frowned.

...

...

Rewind the time to about half an hour ago——

"Hey! It's time to eat!"

After night fell, Lin Ziping sat silently by the window, waiting for today's breakfast to be delivered.

After hearing the sound of "eat", Lin Ziping immediately rushed to the window like a conditioned reflex.

These days, his meals are brought in through the window.

As soon as he rushed to the window, Lin Ziping saw a big furry hand stretching out the window into the cell, holding a bowl in his hand, and in the bowl was a large piece of hard dried venison.

Although Lin Ziping was imprisoned, the people in Red Moon Fortress never abused Lin Ziping.

Although the place to live is not good, it is definitely not bad.

Although the meals provided to Lin Ziping were monotonous, every meal was dried venison made from the least valuable venison, but the advantage was that the quantity was large enough to keep Lin Ziping from starving, and the taste was not bad.

After receiving the bowl of dried venison, Lin Ziping held the bowl of venison directly and began to feast on it.

It was a very young young man who delivered food to Lin Ziping.

The young man did not leave immediately after handing today's breakfast to Lin Ziping, but continued to stand by the window, looking at Lin Ziping, who was eating venison deliciously.

Lin Ziping ate very fast, and in the blink of an eye, he stuffed the jerky that was as big as a palm into his mouth.

"Your appetite is really good..." The young man couldn't help but said to Lin Ziping in the cell, "You can eat all the food that comes in every time."

"I don't have any advantages." Lin Ziping said in fluent Ainu while gnawing venison jerky, "I am not picky about food and have a good appetite at any time, which is one of my few advantages." .”

"And your venison jerky is very delicious. This venison jerky is very well marinated, although it is a bit hard."

"Huh." The young man who delivered the meal sneered after hearing Lin Ziping's words, "It's good to give you a bite, don't pick and choose."

"The jerky I got from the old village chief a few years ago is delicious." Lin Ziping said with emotion, "Not only is it very fragrant, but it is neither hard nor soft to bite. I really want to eat it again... "

When he was still a few syllables away from speaking the complete sentence, Lin Ziping suddenly stopped.

Then—

"Yeah...how did I forget..."

After whispering like this, he rushed to the window and said loudly to the young man delivering food outside the window:

"Please do me a favor! Let those two Kazutos who entered this Heyezhe come here now! I have something to tell them!"

"Huh?" The young man who delivered the meal was full of doubts.

"Please!" Lin Ziping looked at the young man with sincere eyes.

...

...

Back in time to the present—

After learning that Lin Ziping had something to look for him, Ogata and A Ding hurried to find Lin Ziping.

After hastily rushing to the cell where Lin Ziping is currently living, Lin Ziping said to Xu Fang excitedly:

"Mr. Mashima! I remembered! I thought of a way that might prove my innocence!"

"About 4 years ago, I came to Ezodi once for academic research."

"During the period, I passed a village called 'Huxi Village'!"

"Because that village has been cooperating with Heshang, it likes to meet people very much. When I passed by that settlement, the people in that settlement even treated me with a feast."

"When I left that settlement, their old village head gave me a pack of delicious dried venison."

"Because the old village head knew Japanese and was very interested in books, I gave the old village head all the books I wrote that I carried at that time as gifts. I remember a total of 3 Book"

"Book?" Ogata raised his eyebrows.

"Hmm! Three books written by me that specifically introduce the geography of the Mutsu region. They are officially published with the permission of the government!" Lin Ziping said, "My signature is on the book! There is also a map hand-drawn by me!"

"As long as you compare the map drawn in that book with my manuscripts that are now collected by the people of Red Moon Fortress, you can prove that the book was indeed written by me!"

"With that book, I should be able to prove that I am indeed a scholar, not a spy!"

"Mr. Mashima, Miss Atachi, can you go to that village and get the book I gave to the old village chief?"

"I remember that the village is adjacent to a large fjord, not too far from the Red Moon Fortress!"

"...the book I gave you four years ago..." Ogata said flatly, "It must have been too long... Maybe they lost the book..."

"I can only hope that the old village chief will take good care of the book I gave him..." Lin Ziping said with a wry smile.

...

...

the next day—

Somewhere in Ezo-

"Hoo... hoo... hoo... hoo..."

A giant bear with a waist as thick as that of two adults walked on a certain snowfield while exhaling heavily.

In winter, you can always see such bears who miss hibernation for various reasons.

And these bears who missed hibernation, without exception-they are very grumpy.

The bear, who was looking for food on the snowy field, didn't find that there was an Ainu lurking in the bushes not far from him.

This Ainu is very young, a young man in his early 20s at most.

The young man held his breath, paying attention to the bear's movements.

He is waiting now.

Waiting for the best attack opportunity to appear.

Although this young man is still very young, he is already a hunter with rich experience in bear hunting. Five bears have fallen under his arrows.

Finally——the best attack opportunity that the youth had been waiting for all this time appeared.

The bear stopped.

The bear, which was walking forward without any haste, suddenly stopped, and then used its fat paws to fiddle with a pile of dead branches and leaves in front of it.

The young man saw it right away—the bear was looking for worms to eat.

The bear is an omnivorous animal, and many animals and plants are included in his diet.

Not only do they eat meat, fish, and berries, but they also eat bugs.

Seeing that the long-awaited shooting opportunity appeared, the young man raised the bow in his hand without hesitation.

The arrow has already been placed on the bow, and it only needs to be drawn to shoot.

The poisoned arrow was aimed straight at the bear's flank, and the bowstring was stretched to a full moon.

Just when the young man was about to let go of the bowstring, he suddenly felt a strange movement from the sole of his feet.

The ground... seemed to be trembling.

The bear and the young man noticed this strange movement almost at the same time, shook their huge heads, looked around, and let out a low mournful cry as if they had discovered something, then shook off the four big fleshy palms , began to flee.

The appearance of Xiong fleeing in a hurry aggravated the uneasiness in the young man's heart.

The trembling that spread from the ground to the soles of the young man's feet became more and more intense.

The young man frantically scanned his surroundings, trying to find out where the source of the change was.

Finally—he heard a strange noise from the south.

Looking to the south - the young man saw a black line in the south where the sky and the earth meet.

This black line is like a surging water line.

The black line gradually emerged from the skyline, getting thicker and bigger, and the young man finally saw the true face of this black line—a large number of people.

Lots of people in strange, heavy-looking black attire.

The young man remembered that this strange costume was called "armor". It was one of the costumes that Kazuto would wear, and it had the effect of defending against a large number of attacks.

Those who make up this black line are thousands of Kazutos wearing this black armor.

These Japanese people not only wear armor, but also hold weapons such as spears.

There are also many people riding war horses, holding the reins in one hand and spears in the other, driving the horses to line up in neat formations, walking on the left and right sides of the "black line".

Flags are erected from this "black line".

Youth cannot read the patterns on these flags.

But if there is a person who knows the family crests of each feudal clan, he will probably gasp after seeing these flags.

Because these flags are painted with the family crests of many vassal states in the Northeast.

The bamboo sparrow pattern of the Sendai Domain.

Sasa Uesugi of the Yonezawa Domain.

The inverse Jiuyao pattern of the Morioka domain.

...

The military flags with the patterns of each family painted on one side fluttered with the wind, as if to cover the entire sky.

These and others were silent, and no one made a sound.

The only sounds were the flapping of military flags in the wind, the rumble of horseshoes hitting the ground, and the clanging of iron armor.

Young people who have lived in an ordinary Ainu settlement since birth, have they ever seen so many people and such a formation?

The young man was so frightened that he raised his hand to cover his mouth, for fear that if he made a sound, thousands of people would find him.

The sense of oppression brought by these thousands of people made the youth feel unable to straighten his back, exert strength, or even breathe.

Fortunately - because the distance is a bit far

The young man only remembered that it took a long, long time before this "black line" composed of people and people finally disappeared from his field of vision.

It wasn't until this moment that the young man finally dared to breathe out.

After panting violently for a while and regaining his composure, the young man stood up and fled back to his village as fast as he could.

After returning to the village, he immediately informed the whole village loudly that thousands of Kazuto had appeared near their village.

Upon hearing this news, the whole village was shocked.

The well-informed village chief was almost taken aback by the young man's description of the thousands of Japanese clothes.

"It's the army...!" The village chief, who was about to lose his temper, patted his chest vigorously, while growling solemnly, "It's the army of Kazuto! The army of Kazuto is here!"

Hearing the word "army", the expressions of horror on the faces of the villagers surrounding the village chief grew even greater.

"Why did the Japanese army come here?!"

"And there are still so many people..."

"Which tribe are you going to conquer again?"

The villagers chattered.

In the end, it was the old village head who firmly paused the crutch in his hand.

"Everyone be quiet!"

The old village chief gave an order, and the surrounding villagers immediately fell silent.

The well-informed old village chief knows very well what a "military disaster" is.

In order to avoid the military disaster, the old village chief quickly issued instructions one after another:

"Now everyone go home and pack their bags!"

"Take all the precious items that can be taken away!"

"Bury the precious items that can't be taken away first!"

"Let's get out of here immediately! Hide in the mountains!"

"We will come back when this army of gentlemen is far away from us!"

...

...

The 10,000-strong army composed of the shogunate and the Northeast vassals was divided into three armies.

The First Army has a total of 3,000 soldiers, walking at the forefront of the entire army, and is commanded by Sheng Tianmu of the Sendai Domain.

The Second Army has 5,000 people and is directly commanded by Inamori.

The 2,000-strong Third Army was led by Gamo of the Aizu Domain.

What the young Ainu saw just now was the First Army led by Sheng Tianmu.

Sheng Tianmu is now wearing the red and black armor unique to their "Xianzhou Seven Spears", riding his horse, carrying his favorite gun - Jie Fei, and marching forward in a show of power.

Qiuyue, Kuroda and other generals are closely following the living Tianmu.

No matter looking forward, backward, left or right, you can only see a vast number of soldiers.

"Look!" Perhaps because the weather is very good today, Sheng Tianmu, who has been in a high mood these days, is even more emotional, "So many soldiers are under our command now!"

Sheng Tianmu shouted to Qiuyue, Kuroda and other generals beside him.

Not only Sheng Tianmu is excited, but Qiuyue and the others are also very excited and high-spirited these days.

For those who are warriors, generals in the army, and eager for fame, there is nothing more exciting and exciting than being able to participate in such a large-scale battle.

Sheng Tianmu raised Jie Fei in his hand and pointed straight ahead.

He pointed at the Red Moon Fortress which was still some distance away.

"This time—" Sheng Tianmu said in a sonorous and firm tone, "Our generals in Sendai will definitely win great fame!"

...

...

...

...

Ezo, a certain place, the position of the second army of the shogunate army. In the coach's camp——

At this moment, the two highest ranking people in the entire army - Matsudaira Sadanobu and Inamori, are now in this camp.

"My lord, are you really sure you want to inspect that fjord?"

Inamori looked at Matsudaira Sadanobu in front of him with somewhat worried eyes.

"Hmm." Matsudaira Sadanobu was getting dressed with Tachibana's help, "I came to Ezo this time not only to supervise the battle, but also to inspect Ezo with my own eyes."

"It's better to say-to inspect the Ezo land with my own eyes and prepare for the future development of the Ezo land. This is the main reason for me to go north to the Ezo land."

"Supervising the battle or something is just a matter of convenience."

"But..." Inamori was still hesitant, "The fjord you are going to visit...is it too far away...?"

Matsudaira Sadanobu shook his head:

"It's far away, but that fjord is very necessary to inspect."

"I'm going to see that fjord with my own eyes and see if that fjord is suitable for building a port."

"If a port can be built in that fjord, it will be of great benefit to the future development of Ezo, and it will be able to continuously send important manpower and materials into the hinterland of Ezo by sea."

"A port?" Inamori's eyes showed a bit of surprise, "My lord, are you planning to build a port in Ezo?"

"I do have this plan at the moment." Matsudaira Sadanobu said softly, "Ezo land is very vast. If we want to develop Ezo land in the future, it will inevitably require a lot of manpower and material resources."

"Currently in the huge Ezo land, only Matsumae Castle has a port."

"The number of ports is too small, so it is necessary to build a few more ports in Ezo, so that in the future, sufficient manpower and luggage can be sent to Ezo by sea."

"I won't be away for too long. During my absence, you will continue to lead the army into the Red Moon Fortress step by step."

"As long as there are no accidents, I should be able to join you before your soldiers approach the Red Moon Fortress."

"...I see." Inamori nodded, "Then—Master Laozhong, do you need me to organize more people to be your guards? The journey is a bit far away, I think it's better to bring more guards."

"...That's fine." After thinking for a moment, Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded, "Then Inamori, send me another 50 elite soldiers."

"Fifty? Is the number too small?"

"That's enough. I'm not going to fight." Matsudaira Sadanobu, who is usually expressionless, had a rare smile on his face at this time, "There is nothing on the way from here to that fjord. Ainu settlement. And there seems to be only one Ainu settlement called Hushi Village near that afternoon, so don’t worry too much about being attacked.”