I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Thanks to the book friend "Nv Jiayan" for publishing the "Japanese Long Gun Type Map" in the comment area of ​​Qidian. If you are interested, you can move to the comment area of ​​Qidian to watch this picture. The author salvaged this post. In this picture, there are various styles of spears from ancient Japan.

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Not long after Ogata and the others set off——

Takta Village——

"What, what's going on-?!"

Mogami stared blankly at the scene in front of him.

This morning, since the sun rose from the horizon, Mogami has been restless—not because of anything else, but because Ize and others who were sent by him to clean up Takta Village have not returned.

Until the time passed bit by bit, and the sun had risen to a position close to five o'clock (8 o'clock in the morning), I finally couldn't sit still.

Yize and the others did not return for a long time, which made it impossible for the entire First Army to move forward.

After obtaining Shengtianmu's consent, Mogami led more than 20 cavalry to Takta Village to find out what happened.

What happened next... is not difficult to imagine.

After returning to Takta Village, Ize was so shocked by the scene presented in front of his eyes that he almost fell off his horse.

Yize, and the soldiers who stayed in the village with Yize last night stared round their eyes full of horror or bewilderment, clutched their wounds tightly, fell to the ground, their bodies were cold—— It was the scene before Mogami's eyes.

Not only Mogami was frightened by this scene, but the twenty or so cavalry who followed Mogami to this place were also stunned and looked at each other in blank dismay.

"Yes, was it attacked by Ezo?" A cavalry soldier closest to Mogami gripped the spear in his hand, and cast a wary look around.

"...No." Mogami shook his head, "Probably not."

"Look around and see if there are any other surviving people around the village, or any suspicious people."

After quickly giving the order, Mogami got off his horse with his scythe gun in hand, and walked slowly towards Ize's corpse not far away.

After simply looking over Izzy's body,

Mogami then went to inspect the body of another soldier.

After looking at the corpses of all the soldiers on the scene in one go, Mogami's face became serious at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After checking the corpses at Moshang, the twenty or so cavalrymen he brought just finished checking around the village.

"My lord, there is nothing abnormal around the village."

"...Go back to the camp." Mogami said in a deep voice, "We must report the situation here to uncle as soon as possible..."

...

...

The First Army camp, somewhere at the mouth of the camp——

"My lord, are you leaving?" Sheng Tianmu looked at Matsudaira Sadanobu in front of him with regretful eyes.

At this very moment, Matsudaira Sadanobu was standing opposite Sheng Tianmu. Tachibana and his "expedition team" were waiting behind him.

Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was standing with his hands folded, showed a faint smile:

"I have to return to the Second Army as soon as possible to join Inamori. Thank you for your hospitality last night."

The 5,000-strong Second Army led by Inamori is now three miles (11.772 kilometers) behind the First Army, not too far away, but not too close.

Sheng Tianmu, who is currently standing in front of Matsudaira Sadanobu, is actually saying goodbye to Matsudaira Sadanobu.

It's rare for Matsudaira Jonobu to be in his camp at this time, who has power all over the world—naturally, he wants Matsudaira Joanobu to stay in his camp for a while longer, so that he can get close to him a lot.

It's a pity that Matsudaira Sadanobu, who wanted to go back to join Inamori as soon as possible, never planned to stay in the First Army led by Shengtianmu for a long time from the beginning.

The reason why he chose to come to the camp of the First Army last night was simply to say hello to Sheng Tianmu.

After hearing these words from Matsudaira Sadanobu, Sheng Tianmu hurriedly replied:

"I don't dare to be an official. I just did what I should do."

Just when Sheng Tianmu was about to say something more, a general waiter appeared anxiously from behind Sheng Tianmu, and then quickly ran behind Sheng Tianmu, whispering something to Sheng Tianmu.

After the general attendant finished whispering, Sheng Tianmu's face suddenly changed drastically.

Matsudaira Sadanobu, noticing the sudden change in the face of Shengtianmu, asked:

"Sheng Tianmu, what happened?"

The role played by Matsudaira Sadanobu in this 10,000-strong army is similar to that of "overlord".

Although he does not hold any command power, he has the power to intervene in all affairs in the army.

Even without this power, Matsudaira Sadanobu's status as a "senior middle school" alone is enough to make Sheng Tianmu not dare to conceal the slightest military affairs from Matsudaira Sadanobu.

So after the voice of Matsudaira Sadanobu's question fell, Sheng Tianmu quickly replied:

"It's the Mogami you met last night who just sent the latest military news..."

"The soldiers responsible for cleaning up Takta Village last night have not returned."

"The Mogami I sent to check the situation has just returned to camp."

"According to Mogami's report—the soldiers responsible for cleaning up Takta Village all died tragically."

"Was he killed by Ezo who came to reinforce Takta Village?" Matsudaira Sadanobu frowned slightly.

"No..." Sheng Tianmu shook his head with a sullen face, "Almost all the soldiers were cut to the vitals and killed by one blow... Those who attacked those soldiers seemed to be people with extremely high levels of swordsmanship..."

"A person with extremely high swordsmanship?" Matsudaira Sadanobu let go of his slightly frowned brows, and his slender eyes slowly opened wide...

...

...

Pasha, pasha, pasha...

The "slapping" sound of horseshoes stepping on the snow resounded one after another with a very regular frequency.

Ogata's group of 5 people and 2 horses moved forward slowly somewhere in the deep mountains at a leisurely speed.

Because the surrounding terrain was not very good, Ogata and the others did not dare to let the horses run too fast, they only dared to let the horses move forward at a speed that could be called "leisurely".

Lilata, who was sitting between A-Machi and Ahiri, was able to play with the small windmill that Ogata gave her just now because A-Machi and Ahiri were protecting her one after the other.

The Ainu people don't have such a thing as a windmill, so this kind of gadget that can be turned up with a light blow has attracted Lilata's full attention since Lilata got it.

Although judging from Lilata's state, it is definitely far away from her recovery, but her expression is much better than before. At least there is a little more smile on her face, and her eyes are no longer the same as before. It was so bleak.

Ogata had been paying attention to Lilata's state just now.

Ogata found that the effect of the small windmill he made was much better than Ogata imagined, and he couldn't help but feel a big stone in his heart fall to the ground.

"Ah, Mr. Mashima, look." At this moment, Aizan who was sitting behind Ogata suddenly pointed forward, "Is the road ahead blocked?"

Hearing Aizan's words, Ogata hurriedly looked forward - he saw many big trees falling on the road ahead, and the trunk of each tree was covered with thick snow. The road was blocked.

"What's the matter with these trees?" Ah-Ming stared blankly at the trees blocking their way.

"These trees may have been washed down by an avalanche." Aizan explained, "This kind of thing is very common in the mountains. From time to time, an avalanche will happen and some trees will be washed away."

"It's really troublesome..." Ogata smiled wryly, "The horse can't jump over it...it seems that we can only take a long detour."

"I hope this detour won't take us too much time..." Aizan who was sitting behind Ogata agreed with a wry smile.

...

...

The first army camp, the commander's camp——

All the generals of the First Army are now gathered in the commander's camp.

As always, they sat on the mats one by one, sitting around the east and west sides of the exquisite sand table.

If you wear armor, it will be extremely inconvenient to sit on your knees, so in the ancient Japanese army, generals would not sit on their knees, but instead sat on a small horse.

"Ha..." Kuroda, who was sitting next to Qiuyue, yawned big and picked the dirt between his fingers.

After the yawn passed, Kuroda turned his head and asked Qiuyue beside him in a low voice:

"Qiuyue, let's guess why the military meeting was held so suddenly. I guess there may be some mission again."

"I don't guess about such a boring thing." Qiuyue said lightly.

"It's really boring." Although Qiuyue rejected him at the speed of light, Kuroda showed no sign of frustration on his face, and continued to pick at the dirt between his fingers to pass the time.

All the people in the camp silently waited for the arrival of Sheng Tianmu who suddenly summoned them.

call--!

When everyone was bored doing various things and killing time, the curtain at the entrance of the camp was suddenly lifted.

All the generals followed the sound and turned their heads—only three figures appeared at the entrance of the camp.

The 2 figures in it are Sheng Tianmu and Mogami who are already familiar to everyone.

As for the third person—this person was not wearing any armor, but only ordinary civilian clothes. Compared with everyone present, he seemed a bit out of place.

But after this person appeared, the generals in the camp showed two completely different expressions.

Most people—such as Qiuyue and Kuroda were shocked.

But a small number of people are puzzled.

The man in commoner clothes who followed Sheng Tianmu and Mogami into the room was none other than Matsudaira Sadanobu.

Those who showed doubts after seeing Matsudaira Sadanobu were those who had never met Matsudaira Sadanobu—but although they didn't know who this person was, they could vaguely sense this person from the material of the clothes and his personal temperament Not ordinary people.

After Matsudaira Sadanobu and others entered, all the generals in the tent stood up one after another, and saluted Matsudaira Sadanobu and Sheng Tianmu who had entered the tent.

Matsudaira Sadanobu and Sheng Tianmu went straight to the main seat, and the two sat side by side.

As for Mogami, he sat on the west side of the sand table, just opposite to Qiuyue.

After being seated, Sheng Tianmu introduced to everyone in the tent... to be precise, he introduced who the person sitting next to him was to those who did not know what Matsudaira Dada Nobunaga looked like.

After learning that this well-mannered middle-aged man was that Matsudaira Jonobu, the doubtful expression on the faces of those generals who had just seen Matsudaira Jonobu quickly changed to a look of shock like Akizuki and the others. .

As for Akizuki—he had recovered from the shock now, and began to wonder why Matsudaira Sadanobu was there.

Matsudaira Jonobu is now in the barracks of their First Army - Qiuyue knew about this last night, but because of her low level, she has not been able to see Matsudaira Jonobu.

As far as Qiuyue knew, Matsudaira Sadanobu should have left their first army barracks just now, went to the second army behind them, and joined the general Inamori. Why is he here?

Not only Qiuyue was puzzled, but Sheng Tianmu was also puzzled now.

Just now, Matsudaira Jonobu, who had already planned to leave, suddenly expressed that he was not in a hurry to leave after learning that the soldiers who were in charge of cleaning up Taketa Village were killed by someone with extremely high level of swordsmanship, and wanted to participate in this A military meeting was held as a result of this incident.

Although Sheng Tianmu was puzzled, he didn't dare to ask any more questions.

After introducing Matsudaira Takanobu, Sheng Tianmu cleared his throat, and then said loudly:

"Mogami, tell everyone about what you just discovered in Takta Village."

Sheng Tianmu, who has always been vigorous and resolute in doing things, didn't exchange any greetings with everyone, or make too many opening remarks, and directly cut to the chase.

After being called by Sheng Tianmu, Mogami responded with "yes", and then slowly told everyone on the scene about the astonishing change he had just discovered in Takta Village.

...

...

"...I carefully examined each of the bodies."

"Almost all of the corpses were wounded to the face, throat and other vital points that cannot be protected by armor. Basically, everyone was killed with one blow."

"Judging from the shape of the wounds, these wounds were cut with samurai swords, and those mountain knives of Ezo can't cut such wounds at all."

"At the same time, judging from the technique and the shape of the wound, there may be only one person who killed all those soldiers..."

"So I think - the person who beheaded those soldiers is very likely to be a person with extremely high swordsmanship."

Mogami used as short a sentence as possible to spit out what he had just discovered in Takta Village one by one.

After Mogami's voice fell, almost everyone's face was heavy.

In the current environment of long-term peace, not all the generals in the current coach's tent have excellent skills.

But even if they don't have excellent skills themselves, they also know how difficult it is to accurately hit the opponent's face, throat and other parts that are not protected by armor when confronting an opponent in armor.

If it was as Mogami guessed just now—these 30 heavily armed soldiers were defeated by one person...then this person's level of swordsmanship is unimaginable.

"So what's going on now?"

Suddenly, someone spoke.

The speaker was Tiandao Xun, one of the "Seven Guns of Xianzhou".

Unlike Qiuyue, who looks like a warrior, Tiandao is the kind of person who looks... very difficult to mess with.

Tiandao has a somewhat messy Tsukiyo head. On the top of his shaved head is a long scar from his forehead to the back of his head. It looks like a centipede is lying on top of his head, which looks extremely terrifying.

The eyes are too slender, like the eyes of a fox.

Even though he is a military general, his skin is extremely fair, giving people a feeling that if the sun shines on his skin, it might reflect light.

After Tiandao spoke, everyone turned their attention to Tiandao.

Tiandao seemed to enjoy the feeling that everyone was waiting for him to speak, grinning until the corners of his mouth almost touched his ears, and continued:

"So——was there a warrior with a very high level of swordsmanship who killed all those soldiers?"

"It doesn't have to be us and people." Mogami replied softly, "It may also be Ezo who has learned our swordsmanship and used our katana. Ezo who can use our Japanese swordsmanship appeared—— Nothing unusual."

"Quack quack quack quack."

After Tiandao let out a series of his signature duck laughs, he cast a playful look at Mo Shang.

"Are you sure you read correctly? In fact, those soldiers were not killed by samurai swords, but by Ezo's mountain swords, and it was not just one person who killed those soldiers, but a large group of people."

"Do you think I'm the kind of person who can't even tell whether the wound was wounded by a samurai sword or an Ezo mountain sword, and the approximate number of murderers?" Mogami's face showed sullenness.

Tiandao shrugged: "I'm just expressing reasonable doubts."

The conversation between Mogami and Tiandao made the atmosphere in the camp instantly tense like a bowstring.

But at this moment, Qiuyue suddenly spoke:

"...I'm more curious about why that 'mysterious swordsman' wanted to kill all our soldiers."

"Was that 'mysterious swordsman' invited by the Ezos to reinforce that Takta village, or to avenge the villagers of Takta village?"

"Or is it that the 'mysterious swordsman' just happened to pass by that place, and then killed our soldiers for some reason?"

Qiuyue's sudden speech eased the already tense atmosphere.

"If that 'mysterious swordsman' just passed by that place by chance, why did he suddenly attack our soldiers?" A general from the Morioka Domain asked back.

This general's question asked the questions in the hearts of many people present.

Anyone with a little brain knows what a person wearing a full suit of armor represents.

It's really hard for them to imagine—what kind of person would have the courage to attack the country's generals.

"Could it be simply because of hatred for the shogunate?" Tiandao, who still had an uncomfortable smile on his face, spoke again, "There are quite a lot of such people."

"For some reason, I hate the shogunate, so after seeing the generals of the shogunate, I couldn't help but attack."

"Before that...ah, no. Isn't the famous executioner Iktosai the same kind of person? That executioner Iktosai is even crazier. He directly attacked Nijo Castle in Kyoto, shaking even the emperor."

Because everyone was seriously participating in the military discussion, no one noticed—after Tiandao spit out the title "Executioner Yidao Zhai", the expression of Matsudaira Sadanobu who was sitting next to Sheng Tianmu changed slightly.

"... Mogami, did you send someone to investigate around the village? Did you find any clues about the 'mysterious swordsman'?" Kuroda, who rarely spoke at military meetings, rarely spoke at this time.

Mogami shook his head: "Nothing was found."

"That's going to be difficult." Kuroda sneered, "I can't even find that 'mysterious swordsman'."

"There is indeed no clue at the moment..." Mogami said in a deep voice, "But I think—even if there is no clue, the 'mysterious swordsman' can't just be ignored."

"He killed so many of us, if he just swallowed his anger and ignored him, wouldn't it be ridiculous?"

"And—I think it is extremely necessary to find out the identity of the 'mysterious swordsman'."

"It would be fine if he was just a helpless person who was targeting us in Japan for some reason."

"But if he is a member of a group whose purpose is to fight against us in Japan...then I think it is a big deal."

The voice of Mogami had just finished speaking, Sheng Tianmu, who had been silent just now and listened quietly to everyone in the camp expressing their opinions, finally spoke at this time:

"...Mogami is right."

"No matter what, we cannot ignore the man who killed our soldiers."

"Since our general was killed last night, it is impossible for him to go too far even if he had a horse or dog sled for transportation."

"Look now, maybe we can find them."

After speaking, Sheng Tianmu raised his eyes and scanned the generals in front of him.

"I decided to send someone to hunt down the person who killed our soldiers. Who is willing to take on this important task?"

As soon as Sheng Tianmu finished speaking, most of the generals in the camp made generous speeches, promoting themselves to Sheng Tianmu—including Qiuyue.

Compared with unarmed old and weak women and children, this kind of task that might be able to confront a master is what Qiuyue is interested in.

But Qiuyue has many competitors.

Sitting directly opposite Qiuyue, Mogami is also one of Qiuyue's competitors.

"Master Sheng Tianmu! Please allow me to lead people to track down the thief who killed our soldiers!"

Mogami's voice was always loud, so his voice directly overwhelmed the voices of most of the people in the tent.

"All the generals responsible for cleaning up the battlefield died tragically. I have an inescapable responsibility! So please entrust this task to me! Give me a chance to make a contribution!"

Sheng Tianmu took a deep look at the top: "How are you going to track down that thief?"

"There are no clues at the moment!" Mogami replied without hesitation, "As far as I know, there is a village called Siwaxi Village in the mountains a little away from here."

"Xiaguan plans to go to that village first to find clues."

"The villagers in that village may know some useful information. The officer thinks it is very necessary to investigate."

Sheng Tianmu was silent for a while, then nodded slightly.

Seeing Sheng Tianmu's movement, most of the generals in the tent who were struggling to sell themselves just now changed their faces, and secretly said "not good".

And what happened next perfectly met the worst expectations they had just imagined.

"...Okay." Sheng Tianmu was silent for a while, and said seriously, those soldiers were killed, you really have to bear some responsibility. Mogami, I leave it to you to track down this thief. "

"I will give you 50 elite soldiers who can ride horses, 10 sets of bows and arrows, and 5 iron cannons."

Speaking of this, Sheng Tianmu raised his head, glanced around the generals in the camp, and then reported the names one by one.

These generals named by Sheng Tianmu are all generals from other feudal states except Sendai Fan.

After counting the names of these people, Sheng Tianmu said:

"The people I just named are responsible for assisting Mogami in tracking down the thief."

These people who had just been named were just now showing frustration because they failed to receive the task, but now their expressions have undergone a 180-degree change, from depression to ecstasy.

Although it is only to assist the best, it is tens of millions of times better than being idle in the camp.

Only those who have to continue to stay in the camp - such as Qiuyue and Tiandao, continue to wear frustrated and... unhappy expressions on their faces.

After quickly assigning tasks, Sheng Tianmu realized that Matsudaira Sadanobu who was sitting next to him seemed to have a strange expression on his face.

"Master Laozhong." Sheng Tianmu asked, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with your body?"

"...It's nothing." Matsudaira Sadanobu closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

...

...

About a day later—

"Ah, I saw it!" A-cho put a hand on his eyes and said loudly, "I saw the smoke!"

Hearing Ah-cho's words, Ogata let out a sigh of relief: "Is it finally here..."

Yesterday morning, after they officially set off for the Siwasi village and prepared to hand over Lilata's child to her grandmother who lived in the Siwasi village, Ogata and the others encountered many accidents one after another.

First of all—first, the trees that were washed down by the avalanche blocked the way ahead. Had to spend a lot of time detours.

Then, because Lirata was too young to memorize the way to the village where her grandmother lived, or because her mental state was not very good, Ogata and the others had to travel frequently. Stop and go, let Lilata slowly recall how to get to that Siwaxi village.

In the state of riding a horse, it only took half a day to reach Siwaxi Village. Due to these accidents, it took Ogata and the others nearly a day to finally see the smoke.

Although it took a lot of time, but fortunately, we finally arrived at the destination smoothly.

Ogata tapped the horse's belly lightly with his heel, driving the radish under his crotch to run faster, and ran straight towards the rising smoke in front of him.

After crossing a small snowfield, houses of the Ainu people appeared within the sight of Ogata and the others.

Out of politeness, when they were still a short distance away from the Siwaxi village, Ogata and the others got off their horses and led the horses slowly towards the village ahead.

After getting closer to the village, the villagers in the village finally found Ogata and the others who came suddenly. Among the people, they looked at Ogata and the others warily.

"Relax! We mean no harm! (Ainu)"

At this time, Aizan shouted loudly to the villagers in front of him in Ainu language.

"Is Ulape here, please?" (Ainu)"

Urape - Lilata's grandmother's name.

Looking at the familiar Ainu faces and listening to the familiar Ainu language, the villagers of Siwasi Village looked at each other in blank dismay.

...

...

"How could this happen...! (Ainu language)"

A mother-in-law, who was about 60 years old, raised her hands to cover her face and sobbed while screaming.

This mother-in-law is Lilata's grandmother-Ulape.

Ogata and the others are now at Ulape's home.

Just now, Ogata and the others have informed Ulape and the village chief of Siwaxi Village who were listening to what happened in Takta Village.

The village head, who was very concerned about the identity and purpose of Ogata and others, asked to listen in on the sidelines before Ogata and others started their lecture.

Ogata came to Siwaxi Village this time, in addition to sending Lilata back to her relatives, he also had another purpose, which was to inform the villagers of Siwaxi Village by the way—to go to take refuge as soon as possible, to avoid Military disaster.

Who knows what the shogunate will do next, and which village will be wiped off the map?

Urape hid his face and burst into tears, which brought back bad memories to Lilata on the side. While looking down at the windmill with his hands tightly clenched, he wept silently.

Ogata and the others didn't bother them, and let them cry--faced with such a tragedy, if they don't rely on crying to vent their anger, I'm afraid people will go crazy.

After the village chief sitting next to Urape sighed silently, he gestured and looked at Ogata who was sitting opposite him, signaling Ogata to go out with him for a while.

Ogata, who understood the meaning of the village chief's eyes and movements, nodded slightly, then got up and walked out.

And Aizan, who has evolved into an excellent "translation tool man", also went out with Ogata.

After walking out of the house where Ulape lived with the village chief, the village chief asked Ogata impatiently:

"Do you know roughly how many Kazuto troops appeared nearby? (Ainu language)"

"As far as I know—the total strength of the army located nearby is about 3,000 people." Ogata said bluntly, "and the follow-up troops will probably have 7,000 people."

This information was all asked by Ogata from Izawa before.

After listening to Aizan's translation, the village chief's mouth slowly opened wide in surprise.

10,000—this is an astronomical figure for a village chief who is used to aloofness. It takes hundreds of large settlements to gather so many people...

"Village chief, I suggest that you take the villagers to hide in the mountains as soon as possible." Ogata continued to speak in a flat tone at this time, "If you continue to stay in the village... Maybe some bad things will happen."

Ogata's words and sentences are very euphemistic.

Although tactful, the village head is not an idiot, so he naturally knows what the "bad things" that Ogata said are roughly what they are.

"...I understand." The village chief let out a sigh of relief, and then solemnly said to Ogata: "Thank you for sending that child here and for informing us that Kazuto's army is nearby. I Immediately arrange for the villagers to take refuge deep in the mountains. (Ainu language)”

"Move as fast as possible." Ogata added, "After all——no one knows how the army will act in the future..."

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The five "Xianzhou Seven Guns" who participated in this battle have all appeared on the stage. In case everyone forgets, I will list the names of these five people. If you can't remember the full name, just remember the surname. The author You can't even remember their full names~~

Tenmezaemon

autumn moon

Kuroda Genichi

Tendo Kaoru

Mogami Yoshihisa

ps: Tomorrow is finally "One Man, Two Swords and Two Guns, Break into the Barracks of 3,000 Troops Alone (Final)"! Finally able to get rid of this title... This title is too long... I am tired of writing...

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