I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Grandfather Jiang struggled hard, and now he was so frightened that his face was covered with tears.

Because his mouth was tied with a dirty piece of cloth, grandfather Jiang couldn't speak half-formed words, he could only whimper incomprehensibly.

From just now, grandfather Jiang has been in a state of confusion.

First, he was taken to a small camp, and was pushed into a tent in a short time. In that tent, he saw the middle-aged man who was rescued by Ogata Yidaosai yesterday, and was immediately asked by the middle-aged man, "Yesterday Is the samurai I saw Ogata Ittosai?" After that, he was escorted back to the place where he was originally detained.

And then... Only half an hour later, three warriors in full armor appeared in front of him.

After the three of them appeared in front of Grandfather Jiang, without saying a word—two of them controlled him, one on the left and one on the right, and the other took out a dirty cloth, and tied his mouth tightly to prevent Grandfather Jiang. say.

No matter how stupid Grandfather Jiang was, he realized what had happened.

He struggled hard - but couldn't break free from the control of the three soldiers.

He wanted to howl, and wanted to question why he was killed. All the information he had provided about Ogata Ittosai so far was true—but because his mouth was tied with a cloth strip, except for the "woo woo woo" Apart from whimpering, no sound came out.

The three soldiers did not talk nonsense to their grandfather Jiang Duo from beginning to end.

He pushed grandfather Jiang directly to an empty space, then kicked him on the back knee, forcing him to kneel down again, and then one of the soldiers quickly pulled out the knife from his waist.

Swinging the knife, the light of the knife brushed across grandfather Jiang's neck, and a good man's head rolled to the ground, staining the white snow underneath...

From the time these three soldiers appeared in front of Grandfather Jiang to the time Grandfather Jiang was beheaded—less than 2 minutes passed from the beginning to the end...

Grandfather Jiang, who was still anxiously worried about whether he could survive and get back the gold sand, was separated in less than 2 minutes... and until his death, grandfather Jiang didn't know why the butcher knife came down so suddenly ...

...

...

Matsudaira Sadanobu's tent——

"My lord,

Please excuse my omission. "In the camp, Tachibana knelt down in front of Matsudaira Sadanobu with a face full of shame, "As the surname of an old middle-aged man, I actually slept until the sun was high before getting up..."

Because she was too tired yesterday and went to bed very late, Tachibana had a good sleep last night so deep that even an earthquake might not wake her up.

Matsudaira Sadanobu knew that Tachibana must have accumulated a lot of fatigue yesterday, so he didn't send someone to wake Tachibana up and let Tachibana fall asleep.

Tachibana slept until just now.

After waking up, he asked others about the current time, and after learning that Matsudaira Sadanobu had already woken up, Tachibana quickly finished dressing in shame, then rushed to Matsudaira Sadanobu's camp, and apologized to Matsudaira Sadanobu for his negligence.

"Okay." Matsudaira Takanobu said softly, "Get up quickly. I didn't let other people wake you up. Yesterday was really hard for you, and you should sleep a little longer."

After Tachibana got up quickly, Matsudaira Sadanobu straightened his face and asked seriously:

"Go down now and check to see if all the people who went out to look for me yesterday have returned."

"Because of yesterday's accident, we have been delayed a lot of time now. We can't waste time like this."

"When everyone is here, we will immediately go back on the road and join Daomori and the others."

"Yes!" Tachibana shouted loudly, and then quickly walked out of Matsudaira Sadanobu's tent.

After walking out of Matsudaira Jonobu's tent quickly, Tachibana couldn't help but stop, and looked back at Matsudaira Jonobu's tent.

"The old man seems to be in a bad mood today..." Tachibana muttered in a low voice that only he could hear clearly.

Tachibana has followed Matsudaira Sadanobu for a long time. In these years, Tachibana has followed Matsudaira Sadanobu for more time than Matsudaira Sadanobu's wife and children.

Because he has been accompanying Matsudaira Sadanobu all the time, Tachibana knows all kinds of little habits in Matsudaira Sadanobu's life like the back of his hand.

Just when he entered the camp to look for Matsudaira Jonobu, Tachibana quickly noticed that Matsudaira Jonobu seemed to be in a bad mood today. Once Matsudaira Sadanobu was in a bad mood, he would exude such an aura.

Although he wondered why Matsudaira Sadanobu was in a bad mood today, Tachibana didn't have the guts and qualifications to ask Matsudaira Sadanobu why he was so, so he could only keep this question in his heart for the time being, and then quickly left from Matsudaira Sadanobu's tent to deal with it Matsudaira has just issued a new mission to him.

...

...

Red Moon Fortress (Heyezhe)——

Today's Red Moon Fortress is quite lively.

Because today is the day when the hunting festival is held twice a year.

The hunting festival was held in a spacious open space on the left side of the Red Moon Fortress.

This open space is large enough to accommodate most of the residents of the Red Moon Fortress.

Recreational activities in Ainu society are much scarcer than those in Japanese society. In the Ainu society, there are not many fun games, and there are almost no entertainment venues.

Therefore, most of the residents of the Red Moon Fortress welcome the hunting festival that is a good way to pass the time and have fun, and the activity itself is also of great significance.

Before the hunting festival started, the surrounding area of ​​the open space was already full of spectators who came to watch.

Some people who couldn't find a place to sit because they came late could only sigh, and then found something to stand on, and stood tall, taking advantage of the height to watch the hunting ceremony.

On the northernmost side of the open space, only those high-level people in the Red Moon Fortress can sit. Chanup, who was the leader of the hunting ceremony, naturally sat in the middle. On the left and right sat other people headed by the "second in command" Retan Noe.

After all, the hunting festival is a new event in their Red Moon Fortress, so it is not like an event with a long history like the "Bear Spirit Festival", which has too many red tapes.

After Chanup gave some very formulaic opening remarks, the hunting ceremony began.

The whole process of the hunting festival is very simple - the young people shoot arrows one by one, first shoot a wooden stake with a distance of only 5 meters, and after hitting the target, shoot the wooden stake 7 meters away, and then shoot the arrow 10 meters away Wooden stakes... just keep repeating the process of "shooting further wooden stakes after hitting".

According to statistics, there are 15 wooden stakes, each of which is thick and long, requiring an adult man to embrace the wooden stakes, and the furthest wooden stake is 50 meters.

Since the hunting festival was officially held, very few people have been able to shoot all the 15 stakes at different distances.

Since Chanup announced the start, one young man after another took to the field with their own bows and arrows.

Because the purpose of holding the hunting festival is to let those heroic spirits who sacrificed halfway to find their new homes see that their offspring are thriving, so Chanup and the others have stipulated that all people in the Red Moon Fortress who have reached the age of 13 and All young people aged 14 have to participate in the hunting festival.

The eldest son of Chanup, who just passed his 13th birthday, Otunpuyi, is now holding his own bow and arrow, sitting uneasy in a corner of the open space, waiting for his own play.

Because he kept his head down, he didn't notice—his sister Aisuma was sitting not far away, casting encouraging gazes at him.

While casting encouraging glances at her younger brother, Aisuma prayed in her heart, hoping that her younger brother, who participated in the hunting festival for the first time, would perform beautifully.

Aisuma, who is 15 years old this year, has passed the age of participating in the hunting festival. She has no way to participate in the hunting festival this year, so she can only sit in the "audience seat" like now.

"Ah, Aisuma, it's Otunpuyi's turn to play." Puccina, who was sitting beside Aisuma, hastily pulled Aisuma's clothes.

Puccina, who offended Asuma by interfering in her private life, apologized to her a few days ago. Ai Suma is the kind of person whose temper comes and goes quickly. After Puccina apologized, Ai Suma readily accepted Puccina's apology, and the two got back together.

Puccina, who has also passed the age of participating in the hunting festival, is now sitting side by side with Aisuma in the "audience seat".

"Hmm! I saw it!" Aisuma concentrated on watching Otong Puyi, who was slowly entering the stage with a bow and arrow.

The one who also began to concentrate was Chanup, the father of their siblings.

After standing still in front of the "5-meter pile", Otongpuyi took a deep breath. Then take a good posture and nock the arrow.

Looking at Otunpuyi's posture, Aisuma's brows immediately frowned.

Otunpuyi's pose looks pretty standard at first glance, but on closer inspection - there are still quite a few mistakes.

After the arrow aimed straight at the "5-meter pile" in front of him, Aotong Puyi suddenly let go of the tight bowstring in his hand.

Whoosh!

The arrow hit the "5-meter pile".

Although it was a hit, Asuma's brows frowned even tighter.

Aisuma, who is a good hunter, can accurately see that this arrow hits very reluctantly. As long as it is slightly above the target, it will fall off the target.

After successfully hitting the "5-meter pile", the tension and panic on Aotongpuyi's face eased a little, and then he took out a new arrow and aimed at the "7-meter pile".

After repeating the actions of drawing the bow and aiming, Otunpuyi let go of the bowstring.

Whoosh!

miss...

A look of anxiety flashed across Otunpuyi's face, and he quickly drew out a new arrow.

Whoosh!

Still missed...

He kept drawing new bowstrings, and kept drawing the bow.

But it was too late to hit the stake that was only 7 meters away from him.

Aisuma and Chanup frowned more and more.

More and more people in the "audience auditorium" began to whisper. Some people looked at Otunpuyi with a little more sneer.

Before Otongpuyi came on the field, the worst performers all hit the "5-meter pile" and "7-meter pile".

For the 12th time, Aotongpuyi drew his arrow and shot at the "7-meter pile"-unfortunately, he still failed this time.

Instead of a 13th attempt, he lowered his bow in frustration and headed off to the sidelines.

Looking at the younger brother who just gave up, Aisuma and Chanup sighed at almost the same time...

After Otunpuyi directly gave up and left the field, there were more and louder whispers in the "audience seat".

There were also more mocking eyes cast on Otunpuyi.

...

...

Ezodi, Kanyedon——

Kanyedong is the name of the lake.

Kanyedong (タンネトン): In Ainu language, it means "long lake".

The reason why the local Ainu named the lake "Kanyedong" is because the lake has a slender shape.

Kanyedong was originally an ordinary lake that can be seen everywhere in Ezo. On weekdays, only animals would visit it. It is a quiet lake.

But Kan Yedong has many more "guests" these days.

At this moment in Kanyedong, there are dense military camps around the lake.

The densely arranged tents make people involuntarily think of the allusion of Liu Xuande's "Eight Hundred Li Company" in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

And these camps were set up by the generals of the First Army led by Sheng Tianmu.

Usually only animals visit the bank of Kanyedong Lake, but now because the 3,000 troops of the First Army have gathered here, the tranquility of the past has changed, and the tents are endless, and the momentum is like a rainbow.

Because the first army consisted mainly of 1,800 generals from the Sendai clan, the flags embroidered with the Sendai clan's "bamboo sparrow pattern" accounted for an overwhelming majority of the military flags erected in the camp.

"Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!"

Akizuki, one of the "Seven Guns of Xianzhou", who once fought against Ogata in Nishinocho, is currently exercising in a corner of the camp with her upper body bare and a clean white cloth for wiping sweat hanging around her neck. With his own marksmanship.

The heavy gun with a barrel as thick as a bowl was thrown by Qiuyue like an arm.

His body was far taller than others, his muscular body, and his slightly dark skin made him look like a black tower.

When Qiuyue was practicing self-forgetfulness, a voice that was quite familiar to Qiuyue suddenly came from behind her:

"Qiuyue, you are really hardworking. You started practicing guns early in the morning."

It was the voice of Kuroda, one of the "Seven Guns of Xianzhou" and a friend of Akizuki.

Qiuyue slowly put away the heavy gun in her hand, released her stance, and turned her head to look at Kuroda who was slowly walking towards him from behind.

"In the barracks, there's neither promenade nor drinking." Qiuyue responded to Heitian in a half-joking tone, "Aside from practicing guns, what else can I do?"

"If I were you, I would use this time to sleep." Kuroda shrugged, "Practicing guns is not as comfortable as sleeping."

"Kuroda, it's time for you to practice your spear." Qiuyue frowned, "I think you've been too lazy recently. If you continue like this, your gun will become blunt."

Kuroda didn't care about Qiuyue's words, just shrugged with a smile, and then put on a serious face.

"Okay, let's stop the gossip. Let's talk about business."

"Business?" Qiuyue took off the sweat towel hanging around her neck and wiped the sweat from her upper body.

"I'm actually here to give you a notice. Master Sheng Tianmu just issued a summons, requiring all the generals of the entire army to come to the commander's camp."

"I guess it might be some kind of military operation."

"After all, we are not far from the Red Moon Fortress now."

After Kuroda's voice fell, Qiuyue's pupils shrank slightly.

"Master Shengtianmu is summoning us? I understand."

Qiuyue accelerated the speed of wiping sweat, and while wiping sweat, she took his gun and walked quickly to the tent where he lived next to him.

...

...

Kan Yedong, the first army camp, the commander's tent——

The coach's big tent is set up on a high slope with a good view.

Wearing only armor and no helmet, Qiuyue and Kuroda, who were exposing their brightly shaved heads, quickly climbed up the high slope, and got into the commander's tent one after the other.

In the middle of the coach's camp, there is a huge sand table.

On the sand table, the terrain around the Red Moon Fortress was reproduced with mud and sand.

There is a small wooden box in the northwest corner of the sand table—this represents the Red Moon Fortress.

Not far to the south of this small wooden box, there are 10 white chess pieces in Go—representing 10,000 shogunate troops.

Each chess piece represents 1,000 people, and the 3 chess pieces representing the first army are now closest to the wooden box representing the Red Moon Fortress.

Behind the first army are 5 chess pieces representing the second army and 2 chess pieces representing the third army.

Sheng Tianmu, the commander-in-chief of the First Army, sat at the northernmost end of the sand table.

The generals who have already arrived in the account sit on the east and west sides of the sand table in order according to their status.

Seeing Qiuyue and Kuroda coming, Sheng Tianmu nodded to them.

And Qiuyue and the two also nodded at Sheng Tianmu to show their response. Then he sat down to the seat closest to Sheng Tianmu that had been prepared for the two of them.

Not long after the two of Qiuyue sat down, the rest of the generals who hadn't arrived also rushed to the coach's tent one after another-including the other two "Seven Guns of Xianzhou".

Looking at the two companions who were almost the last to arrive, be it Akizuki or Kuroda, they all frowned involuntarily.

Sheng Tianmu glanced at the generals in front of him, and after confirming that the current senior generals of the First Army had arrived, he nodded gently:

"It seems that everyone is here, so - let's start the meeting."

This is a military meeting on the military strategy after joint discussions, so naturally there will not be any lengthy opening remarks and too much boring nonsense.

After announcing the start, Sheng Tianmu cleared his throat and said loudly:

"The reason why the gentlemen were summoned suddenly is not for other reasons, but because Lord Inamori sent us the latest order."

After hearing the name "Inamori", most of the people present couldn't help but tremble.

Inamori is the general of their army and is fully in charge of the crusade against the Red Moon Fortress.

The general came with the latest order - which made them have to cheer up.

"Our First Army is now stationed here."

Sheng Tianmu raised the military fan in his right hand, and pointed at the three chess pieces representing their first army on the sand table in front of him.

Military fan: It can be roughly understood as a baton in ancient Japan.

"In the deep mountains 2 miles northwest of our military garrison (about 7.8 kilometers in modern times), there is an Ezo settlement."

Sheng Tianmu moved his military fan to the northwest, onto a mud pile that symbolized a mountain range.

"This Ezo settlement is called 'Takedong Village'."

"It's a village that has an excellent relationship with the Red Moon Fortress."

For this crusade against the Red Moon Fortress, the shogunate has already thoroughly studied the Red Moon Fortress through various means.

What kind of terrain is around the Red Moon Fortress, which villages have a good relationship with the Red Moon Fortress, and who may assist the Red Moon Fortress...the shogunate has long been aware of these things.

"This village is very likely to assist the Red Moon Fortress and become an enemy of our army."

"This village has a large population. There are nearly a hundred strong men who can draw bows and go to the battlefield."

"If this village chooses to help the Red Moon Fortress, although their numbers won't cause much damage to our army, they will still cause us some trouble."

Hearing Sheng Tianmu's words, Qiuyue nodded in agreement.

If all the people in this village who can hold weapons rely on their familiarity with the surrounding terrain to launch guerrilla attacks and harass them, it will not bring much damage to their army, but it will make them feel very sick.

"As for how to deal with this village that is likely to cause us trouble, the instructions given by Master Inamori have just been delivered to me smoothly."

While speaking, Sheng Tianmu took out a neatly folded letter paper from his arms, unfolded it, and showed the contents of the paper to all the generals in front of him.

I saw only two simple Chinese characters written on the letter paper: Tu Cun.

"Quack quack quack quack!"

Sheng Tianmu just showed everyone this letter paper with the two Chinese characters "Tu Cun" written on it, and an ugly laugh like a duck quaking suddenly sounded.

Everyone focused their attention on the general who was making an ugly laugh.

This general is wearing the same style of black and red armor as Sheng Tianmu, Qiuyue, and Kuroda.

The armor of the same style as Sheng Tianmu and the others - the identity of this general is already ready to be revealed.

"The Way of Heaven." Sheng Tianmu warned the general in a calm tone, "At the military meeting, keep serious."

This military commander who is making an extremely ugly, duck-like laugh is none other than Kaoru Tendao, who is also the "Seven Spears of Xianzhou".

The name "Kun" looks like a woman's name at first glance, but in Japan it is a unisex name that can be taken by both men and women.

After hearing Sheng Tianmu's warning, Tiandao slowly put away his ugly "duck laugh".

"Please forgive me, Lord Shengtianmu. I'm just too happy."

Although he said "Please forgive me", there was no trace of guilt in Tiandao's tone.

"During this period, it was really boring. Either I was on my way, or I was so bored that I could only pick my nose in the tent."

"After so long, I can finally fight. I am so happy."

After all, Tiandao showed an intoxicated expression as if he had drunk some top-quality wine.

"And this battle is still my favorite field battle... Lord Sheng Tianmu! Please entrust me with the task of razing that village! I only need 200... no! 100 people, and I can raze that village to the ground! "

As soon as Tiandao's voice fell, a general sitting not far from Tiandao immediately said anxiously:

"My lord! Please leave this task to us Yonezawa clan!"

"No! My lord! Please let us Morioka..."

"Our Tsuruoka Clan..."

"The Kubota clan..."

...

After Tiandao opened his head, the originally quiet coach's tent became noisy in an instant.

Almost every general is asking Sheng Tianmu to give them the task of razing the village.

This task of "leveling the village" is actually a "siege warfare" in disguise.

In ancient wars, one of the main purposes of siege was to ensure the smooth flow of logistics routes and to prevent the "buttocks" from being attacked.

If you bypass the city directly, the defenders in the city are very likely to sneak out of the city, stick behind your army's "ass", and then kick your "ass" when you are not prepared.

Attacks in the rear - whether in ancient times or in modern times, this is an extremely dangerous thing.

The reason why Inamori asked the First Army to raze the village was because of this consideration. Unplug this "city" on the marching road to avoid subsequent "ass attacks" and smooth logistics roads.

Although this task is equivalent to siege warfare, the difficulty is undoubtedly much smaller than "siege warfare".

The settlement of the Ainu has neither a city nor any powerful equipment—what could be more rewarding than this.

Such a lucrative achievement is right in front of him, no one wants to give up.

But there are a few exceptions, a few people have been silent all the time, and they didn’t ask Sheng Tianmu to entrust this task to them like others like wild dogs robbing food——Qiuyue and Kuroda happened to be these few part of the exception.

"Everyone be quiet!" Sheng Tianmu frowned and roared with his loud voice.

Hearing Sheng Tianmu's roar, the noisy camp slowly returned to its original tranquility.

"Noisy, noisy, how decent!"

After loudly reprimanding all the generals in the camp, Sheng Tianmu let out a long breath, and while stroking the half-black and half-white beard on his chin, he was thinking.

After a long while, Sheng Tianmu cast his eyes on a general who was sitting not far from him, wearing red and black armor like him.

"Mogami. I will leave this village to you."

Hearing Sheng Tianmu's roll call, the young general named "Mogami" was taken aback for a moment, and then a look of joy appeared on his face at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Mogami Yoshihisa—the name of this general.

At the same time, like Sheng Tianmu and Qiuyue, he has the title of "Seven Spears of Xianzhou".

Shengtianmu, Qiuyue, Kuroda, Tiandao, and Mogami—the above five people are the five "Xianzhou Seven Spears" who went north to participate in the "Red Moon Fortress Crusade".

"I'll give you 180 infantry and 20 cavalry." Sheng Tianmu said, "Raze that village beautifully for me."

"Yes!" Mogami said excitedly.

"I sent scouts to check the situation in that village last night." Sheng Tianmu said, "Because the people in that village live in the deep mountains, they haven't discovered the existence of our army until now."

"So before they find our army, soldiers are precious and fast, so catch them by surprise. Let's set off this afternoon!"

"Yes! Please rest assured, my lord! I will not disgrace my mission! How can a mere barbarian stop our army! I only need to charge once, and I can level that village!"

*****

Ask for a monthly pass! I beg everyone to vote monthly for this book (Leopard Head Crying)

Note: "Kanyedong" in this chapter is a real area. For the writing of this volume, the author Junte simply studied the map of Hokkaido (Ezodi).

In Hokkaido (Ezodi), there is a big river named Yubarigawa, whose main stream forms two lakes. The local Ainu people named the lake near the upper reaches "タンネトン" (Chinese transliteration: Kanyedong) , which means "long lake".

In modern times, after the Japanese government completely controlled Hokkaido (Ezodi), the area was named "Naganuma Town" according to the method of free translation.

*****

The author watched the live-action version of "Rurouni Kenshin: Remembrance Arc" the day before yesterday.

The live-action version of "Rurouni Kenshin: Reminiscences" already has resources, and you can go to Kangkang.

Compared with the previous ones, this one has a sad atmosphere from the beginning to the end, and there are a little less fighting scenes, which feels a bit unsatisfactory, but I think it can be regarded as flawed.

For this movie, apart from not having enough action scenes, my biggest regret is that there are really few scenes in the Shinsengumi...

Moreover, the movie does not explain why Okita Soji and Himura Kenshin coughed up blood when they slashed. Heart beat to the point of vomiting blood... (Note: Okita Souji was a famous talented swordsman in the last years of the Edo Shogunate, but he contracted tuberculosis at a young age and died at the age of 26)

By the way—why did Souji Okita shave his head in this movie? ! So ugly! !

I found that there are many works in Japan that mention Okita Souji's Bakumatsu theme, and they all like to ask Okita Souji to shave his head.

"Shinsengumi! ", "Ryoma Biography", "Rurouni Kenshin: Reminiscences", "The Story of the Imbued Warrior"...and the upcoming "Burning!" featuring Toshizo Hijikata as the protagonist. "Sword", the Okita Souji in these movies all shaved Tsukiyo's head... Every time I see the Okita Souji in the play with a bright "Mediterranean" on the stage, I feel complicated...

_