I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Almost no one knows - while Upanu is giving an impassioned "speech", Chanup is also listening below.

After learning from his daughter Aisuma that Upanu was about to give a "speech", Chanup immediately let Aisuma lead the way and rushed to the scene under the leadership of Aisuma.

But he came a little later—he was only a little faster than Retannoe and the others.

After rushing to the scene, Chanup hid in an inconspicuous place, so except for Aisuma who accompanied Chanup to this place, no one found that their "supreme leader" was also listening to the news. "Speech" by Upanu.

When Chanup rushed to the scene, he only heard Upanu yelling "Let's surrender!!" at the highest volume he could achieve, and the following sentence "As long as you surrender, you can avoid fighting this This is a battle that must be lost! Everyone can live, and our ethnic group can survive!!"

Later, Chanup saw Retannoe and others swarming up, dragged Upanu off the barrel he was standing on, and dismissed all the onlookers.

Looking at Upanu who was dragged away by Retannoe and the others, Chanup quietly smoked a cigarette and said to Aisuma beside him, "Aisuma, thank you for your hard work. You started from just now. You haven't had a lot of rest, have you? Go home and have a rest." After that, he turned and left silently.

"Father, where are you going?" Asuma asked.

"Don't worry about me." Chanup said, "You haven't rested since just now, right? You go home and rest now, and I'll be back later."

...

...

"Upanu, although I already knew that you are a coward, I didn't expect you to be so cowardly." After dragging Upanu to an empty corner, Retano Ai said viciously to Upanu.

"Advocating surrender in public... You bastard!"

Retannoe, who was already grumpy, couldn't hold back his anger any longer. He raised his hand and punched Upanu hard in the face, knocking Upanu down to the ground.

Those people who had dragged Upanu away with Lei Tannoe just now quickly pulled the two of them away.

Being punched hard by Retannoe, Upanu showed no irritation.

After touching the place where he was beaten just now, he said softly:

"It doesn't matter how much you laugh at me.

All I want is for everyone to live and for the group to continue. "

Upanu was fine if he didn't speak. His words directly made Lei Tanuoer's anger even worse.

Just when Retannoe was about to give Upanu a few more punches, a majestic voice sounded from behind them abruptly:

"That's enough, Retannoe. It's not proper to fight at this time."

"Chanup?" Retannoe turned his head to look at the owner of the majestic voice—Chanup.

Chanup held his bong, and slowly approached Retannoe and the others.

"Chanup, why are you here?" Raitannoe asked.

"You and I should have arrived at Upanu's 'speech' at about the same time." Chanup said, "After seeing you dragging Upanu away, I followed you secretly."

Chanup glanced at Upanu's face where he had just been beaten by Retannoe.

"Retannoe, calm down."

"If we kill each other now, it will only make people outside the city laugh."

"Upanu, you too. Calm down, too."

"At a time like this, if you loudly preach 'surrender', it will only make everyone more uneasy."

"If we are in chaos internally, it will only make people outside the city laugh."

"Since what I did was wrong...then Chanup, tell me—what should we do now?" Upanu laughed at himself, with a bit of sadness in his eyes, "It's time for you, too. Say something, do something? Stop pretending to be dumb!"

"...how about we try to get in touch with the people outside the city first?" Chanup slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, "Maybe we can drive the people outside the city away through peaceful negotiations."

"Heh." Retannoe sneered, "Chanup, you've been pretending to be dumb all this time. After finally speaking, can you only say such stupid things?"

"He sent such a large army to attack us. The money spent must be uncountable."

"Do you think it's possible to negotiate peacefully with someone who spent so much money?"

"In short... let's try it first." Chanup let out a long sigh.

...

...

Aisuma has always respected her father and has hardly disobeyed Chanup.

After Chanup told her to "go home and rest first", Aisuma obediently followed her father's instructions and went home.

And I am indeed a little tired. I haven't rested since just now, and I have been running around to maintain order.

Aisuma, who is good at hunting, walks very fast, and after only a while, Aisuma returned to their house.

Now, many of the people gathered in front of Chanup's house have dispersed—only 13 people in total.

Although the number of people was much smaller, the 13 people immediately gathered around after seeing Chanup's daughter.

With anxious faces, they asked Aisuma: Has Chanup come back, how is Chanup now, is there any way to drive away the people outside, and other various questions.

It took a lot of effort for Aisuma to dismiss the questions asked by these people one by one and break out from their siege.

After opening the door curtain and entering the house, Tang Shen's voice immediately came to Aisuma.

"Huh? Why are you the only one coming back? Where's Chanup?"

"Father seems to have something to do, so let me come back and rest by myself first."

Ai Suma is now a little bit used to this guest who has lived in their house for a while.

An old man who has never seen before is walking on the road swaggeringly - this will always cause all kinds of troubles, so these days, Tang Shen has been nesting in Chanup's house, and has hardly left Chanup's house.

During the days when Tang Shen lived in their house temporarily, he kept his own law and order, and did not do anything that disgusted Ai Suma, so Ai Suma also allowed this old man who was suspected to be her father's old friend to live in their house up.

Aisuma has only one dissatisfaction with Tangshen—Tangshen never tells her too much about him.

For this guy who is suspected to be her father's old friend, Asuma has always been curious about his identity and how he met her father.

However, regardless of the question, Tang Shen kept secret about his own affairs and the past between himself and Chanup - which made Aisuma a little unhappy.

After taking off the bow on her back, Asuma looked around.

"Huh? Mr. Tangshen, have you seen Otongpuyi?"

"Your brother? He hasn't come back." Tang Shen said.

"Did he not go home?" Aisuma was taken aback.

Tang God nodded.

"That's weird..." Aisuma muttered, "When I was maintaining order, I bumped into him and told him to go home... Where did he go wandering around... What a worry child..."

After all, Aisuma sat down not far from Tangshen, rubbing her sore legs because she hadn't rested since just now.

Tang Shen on the side glanced at Aisuma, then cleared his throat: "How is it? Did that guy named Upanu say anything?"

"When my father and I arrived, it was a little late. So we didn't hear anything."

Aisuma briefly told God Tang what she had seen and heard after accompanying Chanup to the "speech site" in Upanu just now.

After the announcement, Asuma let out a long sigh:

"I thought that Mr. Upanu, who had fought with Heren and had a blood feud, would definitely choose to fight to the end with Heren...I didn't expect..."

Tang Shen: "Huh? Has that Upanu ever fought with Kazuto?"

Aisuma nodded: "He participated in the 'Battle of Kunasili Menasi' three years ago."

Tang Shen gave a light "Oh" and said "That's it", and didn't ask any more questions——For this battle that ended in the Ainu's disastrous defeat, Tang Shen, who had lived in Matsumae for a long time, , naturally know...

Tang Shen didn't speak any more, just lowered his head, wondering what he was thinking.

And Aisuma, who was not familiar with Tangshen, also didn't make a sound, silently rubbing her sore legs.

It was not until a long while later that Tang Shen said quietly and abruptly:

"...Actually...surrender is not an unacceptable option..."

"Huh?" Aisuma looked at God Tang.

"If you fight head-on with Heren, your chances of winning are slim." Tang Shen continued, "Rather than fighting such a battle with such slim chances of winning, it is better to surrender...Although it may be humiliating and you may lose some freedom, at least you can live this way. ..."

Hearing Tang Shen's words, Aisuma instinctively wanted to refute.

But just as he opened his mouth slightly, he couldn't utter the words of refutation.

Because——Ai Suma didn't know what to say to refute Tang Shen...

After glaring at God Tang with complicated eyes, Aisuma closed her slightly parted lips again, lowered her head, and rubbed her legs intently, ignoring Tang God.

...

...

Red Moon Fortress is half surrounded by a "ji" shaped river. The Red Moon Fortress and the "Ji"-shaped river that half surrounds it can just form a "Fan" character.

The north, east, and west are all broad rivers, and only the south is connected to the land. At the same time, only the south wall has gates that can be entered and exited.

Therefore, for the shogunate army, they only need to set up camp in the south of the Red Moon Fortress to block the only entrance and exit of the Red Moon Fortress and completely surround the Red Moon Fortress.

After the soldiers approached the city, the generals of the First Army quickly set up camps on the south side of the Red Moon Fortress, and set up a large number of surveillance posts to monitor every move of the Red Moon Fortress.

At this moment—almost all the monitoring posts saw: the gate of the Red Moon Fortress suddenly and slowly opened.

Three dog sleds drove out through the open gate, heading straight for the barracks.

According to the estimates of the soldiers on the surveillance post-there are about ten people sitting on these three dog sleds.

There was finally movement in the Red Moon Fortress—the soldiers on the surveillance post naturally conveyed the news to their chief general Gui Yizheng immediately.

Upon hearing the news, Gui Yizheng laughed loudly: "It seems that those barbarians should come to negotiate with us. Let them in! I want to hear what they have to say!"

...

...

Although some people, headed by Retan Noe, disagreed with Chanup's proposal of "talking to someone" and thought it was just a waste of time, Chanup still insisted on his own opinion.

In the end, at Chanup's insistence, the envoy responsible for negotiating with Heren was dispatched.

The leader of the messenger group is a middle-aged man named Glock.

Not only can he speak Japanese, but he can be regarded as a "communicator", he knows the etiquette of dealing with people, knows how to deal with people, has a sharp tongue and a clever mind, so he was selected by Chanup as the leader of the envoy group, and he is fully responsible for communicating with people. negotiations.

Glock and his entourage were driving a dog sled, and in the blink of an eye, the gate of Kazuto's barracks was within reach.

After getting closer, Glock saw—a warrior dressed as a general, leading dozens of soldiers, standing under the gate.

This general and these dozens of soldiers are the "reception staff" sent by Gui Yizheng to receive Glock and others.

"We didn't come here with hostility!" Glock shouted at the "reception group" under the gate first, "We want to talk to you! Please let me see your general!"

The general in charge of receiving Glock and others looked Glock up and down with indifferent eyes, and said indifferently:

"You are welcome. Please allow us to check whether you are carrying a murder weapon."

After finishing speaking, the general involuntarily made a gesture to the dozens of soldiers behind him, and the dozens of soldiers immediately stepped forward and surrounded Glock and the others, and then checked the bodies of Glock and the others up and down.

Naturally, Glock felt extremely dissatisfied and displeased with Kazuto's slightly outrageous physical examination.

But he didn't have any capital to get angry, so he could only hold back.

After confirming that Glock and the others were not carrying weapons, the general waved at Glock:

"Come with me."

Under the leadership of the general, Glock and the others passed through the gate and walked slowly into the depths of the barracks.

Although he was mentally prepared, after driving a dog sled to the gate of Kazuto's barracks and looking at the seemingly endless military tents around him, Glock still couldn't help but feel fear and fear. Nervous and swallowed.

The performance of the entourage behind Glock was similar to that of Glock.

After walking all the way to the very depths of the barracks, Gui Yizheng's coach's tent finally appeared within his field of vision.

At this moment, outside the main tent, 100 soldiers with helmets and armor were arranged in a neat square in front of the tent.

This was a performance that Gui Yizheng had conceived on the spur of the moment—in order to frighten the group of envoys sent by the Red Moon Fortress.

And Gui Yizheng's performance was quite successful.

Looking at this neat phalanx, looking at the spears like a dense forest, looking at the pieces of armor reflecting the cold light under the sunlight, Glock and the others tried their best to cover up, but they still couldn't hide their fear and panic. .

After passing through the dense phalanx formed by the 100 soldiers and entering the commander's tent, Glock saw Gui Yizheng sitting on the chief seat holding a knife at his waist.

Gui Yizheng originally wanted to call all the generals in their first army over to make a big splash, but then he thought about it - it seemed a bit unworthy to mobilize so many troops for the sake of such a group of barbarian envoys.

So after weighing it over and over again, Gui Yizheng still decided to meet the barbarian envoys by himself, while the rest of the generals continued to do what they were responsible for.

After Glock and the others entered the tent, before they had time to make a sound, Gui Yizheng took the lead:

"I am General Gui Yizheng!"

Gui Yizheng, who was sitting upright on the saddle, straightened his back and looked majestic.

"What's the reason for you to come here this time? There is no explanation, so I will not take it lightly!"

The entourage behind Glock was overwhelmed by Gui Yizheng with ample aura, their faces turned pale.

Glock, on the other hand, managed to maintain his composure, and after bowing to Gui Yizheng in a Japanese style without being humble or overbearing, he said in proficient Japanese:

"Lord Gui, we are here for peace!"

"We want to have a good talk with you guys!"

Just as Glock was about to continue, Gui Yizheng waved his hand and interrupted roughly:

"We have nothing to talk to you about."

"You guys don't keep benevolence and righteousness, and do all kinds of animal things. There is nothing we can talk about with you bunch of unrighteous rats."

"We must have some misunderstanding!" Glock said anxiously, "We have never incited the townspeople of Matsumae Castle! We have never done such a thing! It must be a misunderstanding! We would like to assist you in investigating together!"

As a general qualified to command an army of 3,000, Gui Yizheng naturally knew that the "Naturalized Ezo Riot" that occurred in Matsumae Castle had nothing to do with the Red Moon Fortress. They just poured this dirty water on the Ainu in the Red Moon Fortress as an excuse to start a war.

Gui Yizheng, who knew that they were just throwing dirty water, was even less likely to admit that Red Moon Fortress was innocent.

"Misunderstanding?" Gui Yizheng sneered, "You are still sophistrying! Since you have no consciousness to admit your crime, then I have nothing to talk to you about."

Looking at Gui Yizheng who got up and left, Glock was taken aback, and quickly said:

"Lord Gui! Please wait!"

Gui Yizheng looked at Glock's terrified expression with great interest—their terrified expressions gave Gui Yizheng a different kind of pleasure.

"I have nothing to discuss with you!" Gui Yizheng sat back, "You either surrender the city, or wait to suffer our wrath, there is no other option!"

The generals headed by Commander-in-Chief Inamori had already expected it—the barbarians from the Red Moon Fortress were very likely to come to them for peace talks.

Previously, Inamori had already discussed with Gui Yizheng that if the barbarians of the Red Moon Fortress came to peace talks, they would not accept all options other than Kaesong's surrender.

They spent astronomical amounts of money to launch this expedition.

The purpose of their expedition this time is to take the exclusive Red Moon Fortress located in a dangerous position.

If the Red Moon Fortress cannot be taken, then no matter what conditions the barbarians of the Red Moon Fortress offer, it will not be enough to make up for the loss of their expedition.

At this moment, Gui Yizheng was only acting on the orders of Daomori.

For Gui Yizheng with such a tough attitude, Glock was so anxious that his face was covered with cold sweat, but he still expressed their request tremblingly.

"Lord Gui, we sincerely want to restore peace with you!"

"Hmph." Gui Yizheng sneered, "Since you really want to restore peace, don't waste time and surrender quickly."

The cold sweat on Glock's body has already wet his clothes...

...

...

After dispatching the dead group headed by Glock, the top executives of the Red Moon Fortress headed by Chanup gathered in a small room, waiting for the return of the messenger group.

Although there are people like Retan Noe who have no hope for the peace talks, there are also people who have strong hopes for the peace talks.

After everyone's hard waiting, finally—the envoys came back, much faster than they expected.

Glock and the others came back with dejected looks on their faces.

Looking at the dejected Glock and not allowing Glock to speak, Chanup and the others already understood the result.

Glock succinctly informed Chanup and others of the negotiation process just now.

Their negotiations can be described in one word—failure.

Before Glock set off, Chanup told Glock that their biggest bargaining chip for peace talks failed to impress Gui Yizheng at all.

No matter what Glock said, no matter what conditions were offered, Gui Yizheng's attitude was extremely tough, and he refused to accept all options other than surrender.

After Glock's report was over, Chanup's face sank, with a hint of resentment and anger appearing on his face.

But while his face became gloomy, a ray of light appeared in Chanup's pupils.

After listening to Glock's report, Retannoe slapped his thigh and shouted:

"Look! Kazuto doesn't want to make peace with us at all! They just want to destroy us."

As soon as Lei Tannoe's words fell, the rest of the main fighters responded one after another.

"That's right! You shouldn't waste your time on peace talks with Kazuto!"

"What bullshit is inciting their townspeople, I think they just found an excuse to start a war with us, the purpose is to snatch our land."

"Fight with them!"

When the main fighters were excited, Upanu's voice sounded inappropriately:

"You crazy people, do you want to die so much?"

It was fine that Upanu didn't speak, but as soon as he spoke, he hooked the anger of Retannoe and others.

Faced with the abuse of Retannoe and others, Upanu was not to be outdone.

Unsurprisingly—the main battle faction and the main surrender faction quarreled again.

But what is different from the past is that as soon as the main combat faction and the main surrender faction quarreled, Chanup said in a calm tone:

"Stop making noise."

Whether it is the main combat faction or the main surrender faction, they all slowly stopped the scolding at this time, and turned their surprised eyes to Chanup.

During this period of time, Chanup has been pretending to be dumb and not expressing any opinions. When the two factions started to fight and scold, they never made a sound to obstruct it.

like now. It was the first time that he directly obstructed the scolding war.

"Heren's wolfish ambitions are now clearly revealed."

Chanup said slowly while smoking a cigarette.

"The so-called townspeople who incited them are probably just throwing dirty water on us and using it as an excuse to start a war. This is how wars are, and fabricating reasons for war is just the norm."

"They just want to snatch our land and occupy our homeland. Apart from surrendering in the 'Kaicheng Surrender', no matter what the conditions are, there is no way for them to retreat."

"Then let's surrender quickly!" Upanu said urgently, "As long as we surrender..."

Before Upanu finished speaking, Chanup sneered.

"Surrender?" Chanup sneered several times, his shoulders trembled a few times, "Surrender is just delaying our death."

"Furthermore—the 'death' brought about by surrender is a 'death' that is more terrifying than the death of the body?"

"Chanup?" Upanu looked at Chanup with astonishment.

For some reason, Upanu instinctively sensed that Chanup seemed a little strange at this time.

No.

It should not be said to be strange.

It should be said that it is a little different from the past.

In the past, Chanup always kept his expressionless face during meetings, and only knew how to keep smoking.

At this time, Chanup, although he was still expressionless, Upanu suddenly found that - at this time, Chanup, his eyes were a little different from before.

Now Chanup has sharp eyes like a knife, like an eagle hovering in the sky.

And Retan Noe also noticed the change in Chanup at this time.

If Upanu was just stunned when he noticed such a change in Chanup, then Retannoe was shocked.

As an old acquaintance of Chanup, Retannoe is most familiar with this look—it was the same look when Chanup led them to find a new home 10 years ago.

Noisy.

At this time, there was a sudden noise outside the house.

"What's going on?" Retannoe frowned and looked out the window.

As soon as Lei Tanuoe's words fell, a voice quite familiar to Lei Tanuoe sounded outside the house:

"Mr. Chanup! Mr. Chanup!"

"Puccina?" Retannoe's eyes widened in surprise.

The voice that sounded outside the house was the voice of Retannoe's only son, Puccina.

Chanup was also very surprised by the sudden sound of Puccina's voice outside the house. After raising his eyebrows, he got up and walked out of the house.

As soon as he got out of the house, the scene in front of Qianup's eyes made Qianup's pupils shrink in surprise.

I saw more than a dozen young people standing outside the house holding spears, bows and arrows on their backs.

After Chanup came out, they looked straight at Chanup with flame-like eyes, and the leader of the dozen or so young people was Puccina.

"Puccina, what are you doing?" Retannoe looked a little bewildered.

After Chanup walked out of the house, the rest of the people led by Retan Noe also followed Chanup to see the situation outside the house.

"Father, as you can see." Puccina shook the spear in his hand, "We are ready to defend our home until the last moment."

Although Puccina's words were brief, their tone was powerful.

"Mr. Chanup." Puccina said word by word, "We came here this time just to tell you—whether you want to surrender or fight to the death..."

Puccina waved to the dozen or so youths surrounding him: "We will all fight Kazuto to the last moment."

"Are you crazy?" As soon as Puccina's voice fell, Upanu, who was standing behind Chanup at this time, also followed the scene outside the house and asked anxiously, "Do you know how powerful you are with people? ? Just based on how you can beat Kazuto, it’s just a death in vain.”

Puccina reacted calmly to Upanu's reprimand.

"We know," Puccina said lightly, "Mr. Upanu. In fact, when you were giving a speech just now, I was just listening."

"Although we have never fought against anyone, we also know how powerful Kazuren's armor and Kazuren's weapons are."

"Even if we can count against ten, we are no match for anyone with an army of 10,000."

Upanu: "Then you..."

Before Upanu finished speaking, Puccina interrupted Upanu's words righteously.

"But we would rather die in battle than give up our hard-earned homeland to others in vain."

"Even if we stick to this place and the chances of winning are slim, we don't want to just give up."

Just now, after listening to Upanu's "speech", Puccina returned home without saying a word.

When he got home, he put down the dried deer that he planned to give to Aisuma.

Picked up his spear and bow and arrow.

Then there are like-minded people gathered around.

Calling all those who, like him, are unwilling to surrender and give up their homeland to others in vain.

At this moment, the dozen or so youths standing beside Puccina are the patriots called by Puccina.

At this moment, Chanup's mood has returned to calm.

After he glanced at Puccina and the others in front of him with calm eyes, he said slowly:

"Young people, I understand your feelings and thoughts."

"But do you know that if you fight to the death with Heren, the chances of winning are slim, you are very likely to lose, and... very likely to die?"

"...At the beginning, when we moved south to find a new home, countless people sacrificed, and finally persisted here, and finally built a new home here. Now we are just doing what the previous people have done, and then Just do it once." Puccina's tone was full of determination.

Chanup seemed to be surprised by Puccina's words, and a look of surprise flashed in the depths of his pupils.

Then——this flash of surprise turned into an extremely dazzling light.

"...Everyone." Chanup turned around and looked at Retannoe and the others behind him, "Go and gather everyone, let everyone gather at the 'old place' this evening."

"Everyone?" Someone exclaimed.

"That's right." Chanup nodded, "Everyone. Of the thousand residents of Heyezhe, not one person should be absent."

"What are you doing, Chanup?" Retannoe asked.

Chanup showed a mysterious smile: "You will know by this evening."

After all, Chanup paused.

After pausing for a while, he cast his eyes on Retannoe with a faint smile.

"Raitannoe," Chanup said, "I haven't grown old yet."

"I am still the 'hero' who successfully led everyone to find a new home."

*****

*****

Timely update after a long absence of more than a month! And it's a long-lost 8,000-word chapter!

The author has revealed the mystery at the end of the last chapter!

Ogata once revealed to XX that he likes girls who are older than Oupai. And this "XX" is - Gua Shengxiu!

From Chapter 415 "The Realm of No Self"! ", if you forget this episode, you can go back and watch it. This plot can be regarded as a foreshadowing of the previous chapter.

That chapter is also a very meaningful one. Because this chapter is the climax of volume 6, Ogata revealed his identity in front of his little fan girl, Guasheng. The author remembers it very clearly-the monthly pass of that day was directly blown away...

_