I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Next day, at noon—

At the foot of the mountain where Kanto Village is located——

"Finally going down the mountain..." Ah-ding, who was holding the grapes, looked at the flat plain in front of him and said with emotion.

Early this morning, when Ogata and the others were about to go down the mountain, the villagers of Kanto Village pointed out a shortcut that only people in their village knew.

Not only is this shortcut down the mountain much easier to walk, it also takes less time to get to the bottom of the mountain. It only took Ogata and the others one morning to leave the mountain where Kanto Village was located and set foot on the plain again.

Ogata raised his hand and stroked the mane of the radish beside him, then turned his head and asked Lin Ziping beside him:

"Mr. Lin, do you really intend to stay in Ezo and not consider going back to Japan with us?"

"Yeah." Lin Ziping replied without thinking, "Yeah, I plan to go north next, and continue to study and map the topography of Ezo."

Last night, after finishing the conversation with Xuan Zhi and returning to Xuan Zhi's clinic where they were staying, Xu Convenience informed Lin Ziping of their next plan to return to Japan.

Although Lin Ziping has a weird temper, he is also a person who knows what to ask and what not to ask.

He didn't ask what Ogata and Xuanzhi had talked about, nor did he ask why Ogata wanted to go back to Japan all of a sudden, he just nodded slightly, saying "I understand".

As early as last night, Ogata once asked Lin Ziping if he wanted to go back to Japan with them, but Lin Ziping said that he "will continue to stay in Ezo to do research" and refused.

"That's it..." Seeing that his invitation was rejected again, Ou showed regret, "It seems that we really have to part ways."

"I'm going to go north, and the two of you are going south." Lin Ziping smiled, "It's a veritable parting."

"Mr. Lin, you're going to travel alone next time, so be careful." A-cho on the side reminded him sincerely.

"Hahaha." Lin Ziping laughed loudly, "Don't worry. When I was Mr. Ogata's age, I had already traveled around to study alone. I am very experienced in 'traveling alone'."

——But the question is, haven’t you been caught as a spy by the people of Red Moon Fortress and thrown into prison a while ago...

Ogata complained secretly in his heart, in order to take care of Lin Ziping's face, Ogata didn't say this.

"Again, do you remember the way back?" Lin Ziping asked at this time.

Ogata nodded: "When I left Red Moon Fortress and came to Kanto Village, I kept taking pictures and drawings, so returning to Japan is not a problem."

When Lin Ziping left the Red Moon Fortress and went north to search for Kanto Village, Ogata had been drawing and memorizing the road. In addition, Ogata had always been a person with a strong sense of direction and memory, and he still remembered walking through Which roads, so it is not difficult for Ogata to return to Japan by the original road.

"That's good." After Lin Ziping nodded, he asked a new question, "Then after you return to the Matsumae Domain, is there a way to return to Japan by boat?"

"This...not really." Ah-Ming scratched his hair at the sideburns, and continued, "After returning to the Matsumae Domain, we can only take one step at a time to see if there is a way to get on a ship back to Japan. "

"In that case... before I leave, let me do you one last favor."

"Do you know the smuggling boats that specialize in helping people smuggle between Japan and Ezo?"

Both Ogata and A-Machi shook their heads blankly—it was the first time they had heard of this.

"It's very troublesome to go back to Japan or go to Ezo by proper means."

"And you also know that there are always some people who are inconvenient to travel by boat between mainland Japan and Ezo by proper means."

"So the 'smuggling boat' came into being."

"When you arrive at Matsumae Castle in the Matsumae Domain, you go to a grocery store called 'Dingjiangya'."

"That grocery store is an ordinary store selling groceries on the surface, but in fact the 'product' they mainly sell is to help people smuggle in."

"When you arrive at Dingjiang House, you tell the person at the counter, 'A piece of reed is going to cross the sea'."

"This is their code, as long as you report this code, they will start to help you arrange smuggling."

"By the way—I came to Ezo this time, and I took the stowaway boat of Dingjiangya."

"Dingjiangwu...'A piece of reed will cross the sea'..." Ogata chewed on the name of the shop and this sentence repeatedly, keeping them in mind, "Thank you, Mr. Lin. This is very useful to us."

Ogata thanked Lin Ziping sincerely.

"You're welcome, it's just a small favor not worth mentioning."

After all, Lin Ziping paused, then put on a somewhat regretful expression, and sighed softly:

"Although I haven't been with you for a long time, it is a very rare and precious experience in my life to be able to travel with the famous and respected executioner Yidao Zhai."

"I have done everything I can do for you."

"Next, I can only wish you prosperous martial arts."

"Yeah." Ogata nodded vigorously, "I also wish you can complete the research on Ezo as soon as possible."

"Ah, that's right." Lin Ziping said suddenly at this moment, "Mr. Ogata. Before we part, can you do me a favor?"

"Little busy? Please tell me."

"I don't remember if I told you about this." Lin Ziping raised his hand and stroked his bald scalp because of his old age hair, "I plan to write a new book."

"The content of this new book is mainly to introduce how important it is for Japan as a maritime country to enrich coastal defense."

"I have already written most of the content of this book. I will publish this book after I successfully complete the topographical survey of Ezo and return to Japan."

"But I don't know what a better title to give."

"I've never been one to come up with names."

"About the title of the book, Ogata-kun, can you give me some advice?"

"A suggestion for the title of the book..." Ogata pondered for a moment, then smiled wryly, "I'm not very good at naming names..."

"If possible, I can think of a title that can succinctly summarize the content of this book." Lin Ziping said.

"If that book of yours introduces the importance of enhancing coastal defense...then you shouldn't give it a fancy name. After all, it's a serious book..." Ogata pondered again, "Then..."Sea Country How about "Bing Tan"?"

""Hai Guo Bing Tan"?" Lin Ziping raised his eyebrows.

"Perfectly meets your requirements." Ogata said in a joking tone, "It summarizes the content of your book concisely, and the name is not fancy."

"...It is indeed a pretty good name." Lin Ziping grinned after pondering for a while, "Ogata-kun, thank you for your suggestion!"

"I will prioritize your name as the title of my book in the future!"

Speaking of this, Lin Ziping put on a joking tone.

"If I decide to adopt your title in the future, I will consider adding a sentence of thanks to you in the book-'Thanks to Ogata Yasushi for his contribution to the birth of this book'."

"I suggest you don't do that." Ogata also changed into a joking tone, "If you add this sentence in that book, not only your book will be gone, but your whole being will also be gone .”

...

...

Ogata and Atachi rode on Radish and Grape and headed south.

Lin Ziping stood where he was, watching the two leave.

After the figures of the two of them were about to disappear from his field of vision, Lin Ziping showed a thoughtful look: "Is it ""Hai Guo Bing Tan"..."

Lin Ziping slowly took out the paper and pen that he carried with him.

In order to facilitate writing at any time, the bristles of Lin Ziping's pen are soaked with ink, and when it is time to use, just dip some water and start writing.

Lin Ziping painted the tip of the brush on his tongue, moistened the ink on the tip with his saliva, spread out the paper, and wrote the four big characters "Hai Guo Bing Tan" on the paper.

Looking at the four big characters he just wrote, Lin Ziping nodded slightly, with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Afterwards, Lin Ziping put away the pen and paper, carried his bag, and headed north, in the completely opposite direction to Ogata and A-machi.

One goes north and one goes south.

They all embarked on their own journeys.

...

...

"Is it finally time to go back to Japan..." Atachi, who was walking side by side with Ogata, said with emotion, "The long journey of 'finding Xuanzheng, Xuanzhen' has finally come to an end..."

Speaking of this, A-Machi suddenly seemed to remember something, turned his head, and asked Ogata:

"By the way, Ayi. When you asked me for paper and pen last night, didn't you say you would leave something for Xuan Zhi? What did you leave for him?"

"One...something that may be useful to him in the future." Ogata sighed softly, "Before I left, I quietly entrusted the village chief of Canto Village to help me hand over that thing to him." Xuanzhi, I don't know if he has seen the thing I left him now..."

...

...

Kanto Village, Xuan Zhi’s home——

"Pira Chiyo, this is for you."

"Village chief, what is this?" Xuanzhi looked at the neatly folded piece of paper that the village chief handed him with doubts.

"It was Kazuto Mashima Goro who asked me to give it to you before he left." The village chief said, "It seems to be a letter. But don't worry, I haven't read the contents."

"Thank you..." Xuan Zhi slowly took the letter.

"Pira Chiyo..." After handing the letter to Xuanzhi, the village chief looked at him with complicated eyes, "Now...will you change back to Pira Chiyo?"

There are two people living in Xuan Zhi's body - this has never been a secret in Kanto Village.

When Xuanzhi first came to Kanto Village, because of the first split of his personality, he frequently switched back and forth between the two identities of Xuanzhi and Hirachiyo.

At the beginning, many villagers disliked the mentally abnormal Xuanzhi and proposed to drive Xuanzhi out of the village.

However, a certain unexpected incident became an opportunity for the villagers to change their views on Xuanzhi—a little girl in the village accidentally fell down the hillside while playing and was seriously injured.

There was no doctor in the village, and when everyone was at a loss, it was Xuanzhi, who was still mentally unstable at the time, who stepped forward and rescued the little girl.

Since then, the villagers began to change their views on Xuanzhi, and finally accepted him slowly.

And Xuanzhi's main character gradually stabilized and became "Pira Chiyo".

Now, all the villagers keep the secret of Xuanzhi from outsiders and protect Xuanzhi, while treating Xuanzhi as one of their own.

The village head of Kanto Village is one of the people who has the best relationship with Xuanzhi, so as early as last night, the village head had already found out - this person is no longer the Hirachiyo he is more familiar with.

"...Village Chief." Xuan Zhi's haggard, dull face slowly burst into a big smile, "I don't know when I will change back to Hirachiyo. After all, I have no way to control this Transformation of 'identity'."

"It may change back later."

"It may also take a long time to change back."

"But—whether I change back to Hirachiyo or not, I still have all the memories of Hirachiyo, and all the feelings for you."

"I will always be that Hirachiyo."

"...Is that so..." The village chief slowly showed a gratified and happy smile, "Then we will always call you Hiraichiyo, is that okay?"

"Of course." Xuan Zhi said without thinking.

"Today my son hunted a very fat deer." The village chief said, "You cured my wife's back disease before, and I haven't had time to thank you properly. Come to my house to eat venison pot tonight."

"Okay. I'll definitely go."

Having done all the things that should be done and said all the things he wanted to say, the village head left Xuanzhi's house with a satisfied expression.

After the village chief left, Xuanzhi unfolded the letter that Ogata entrusted the village chief to give him.

On the letter, there are only 3 sentences written in neat handwriting.

The first sentence is:

【This is where your junior brother Xuanren lives now】

The second sentence is the place where Xuanren lives now, that is, the address of the village at the foot of the Huluwu base camp.

As for the third sentence:

[May this paper help you who want to see your loved ones in the future]

Looking at the two simple sentences written on this piece of paper, Xuanzhi froze in place as if he had been cast by some magic.

"Woo... woo... woo..."

The sound of sobbing slowly appeared in the originally silent room.

...

...

At this very moment—

In the land of Ezo, in a valley deep in a certain mountain——

Misty, like a fairyland - this is what the valley looks like.

If you are a person who knows nothing about hot springs, you may really think that this valley is some kind of fairyland.

But in essence - these "fairy fogs" are just mist evaporated from hot springs.

In the deepest part of the valley, there is a large natural hot spring that can accommodate 30 people to soak in it.

"Fairy mist" floats out of this natural hot spring.

There are natural hot springs in the valley, and a lot of mist is transpiring: this should have been a beautiful scene.

But the people who are soaking in this hot spring have "tainted" this beautiful scene.

At this moment, in this natural hot spring, an extremely fat and strong man soaked in it.

The appearance of this strong man is not ugly.

With dark skin and a fat body, this strong man's belly is as big as a pregnant woman's. Because of his fatness, his chin has three layers.

The curly long hair that reaches to the shoulders is extremely lush, the chest hair on the chest, the beard on the chin and the cheeks are so thick that you can see the skin under the hair.

Be it the eyes or the ears, any part of the facial features is ordinary when taken out, but a strange chemical reaction occurs when combined, making the whole face look extremely ugly.

In a word - this ugly man is so ugly that people dare not look at his face too much, for fear that their eyes will be polluted.

The ugly man just leaned carelessly against a corner of the hot spring, closed his eyes, and enjoyed the natural hot spring.

It is because such an ugly man appeared here that the original picturesque beauty was tarnished. It's like a big ball of mud falling on the beautiful silk.

"Master Ant Tong! Master Ant Tong!"

While the ugly man was silently enjoying the hot spring, a young man who was as ugly as he was, rushed to the side of the ugly man, and then leaned over The ugly man said something.

After the young man's whisper fell, the ugly man's originally closed eyes suddenly opened, and there was a light of surprise in his eyes:

"Are they really here?"

The young man nodded vigorously.

"Invite them all in!"

The ugly man stood up abruptly from the hot spring while yelling loudly.

"Come here! Hurry up and bring me a change of clothes!"

As soon as the ugly man's voice fell, several guards who had been guarding not far away immediately rushed to the hot spring pool with a set of clean clothes of the ugly man.

With the help of the guards, the ugly man quickly stuffed his fat body into his clothes, and then walked quickly towards the southwest of the natural hot spring.

In the southwest of the natural hot spring, there is a huge cave.

As soon as he stepped into the cave, the ugly man saw a group of people sitting in the middle of the cave.

The leader of this group is a very handsome man.

After the handsome man saw Yitong, he slowly showed a gentle smile: "Master Yitong, long time no see."

"Hahahaha!" The ugly man known as "Ant Tong" opened his arms, posing as if he was about to embrace someone, and laughed loudly, "Mr. Miyabe! It's been a long time!"

Miyabe...that is, this handsome man, his appearance is in great contrast with Yitong.

If Yitong is so ugly that people can't bear to look directly at him, then Miyabe is so handsome that people can't look away.

Exquisite facial features, fair skin. The only shortcoming is probably that he wears a hairstyle that is not popular in this era: he did not shave his head, but only combed his long hair in a high ponytail behind his head.

If he wears the most popular and trendy men's hairstyle in this era, he will definitely become a female killer of all ages when he walks on the street.

After Yitong appeared, Gongbu took the initiative to greet him, and then bowed in a personable manner that could not find any faults.

And Ant Tong also exchanged a gift very awkwardly.

"Master Gongbu!" Yitong asked Gongbu as if impatiently, "Why are you here suddenly? Where is Mr. Kinoshita? Has Mr. Kinoshita come?"

"Master Kinoshita did not come." Gongbe smiled slightly, "We were ordered by Master Kinoshita to come to say hello and present gifts to Lord Yitong."

"Say hello, give a gift?" Yi Tong showed doubts.

"Master Kinoshita, he never forgets the friendly cooperation with Mr. Yitong." Miyabe said slowly with a smile on his face, "Master Kinoshita has told us more than once in public and in private: Mr. Yitong One of the best partners he's ever had."

"Although due to various reasons, I have left Ezo and have no way to cooperate with you, Kinoshita-sama still hasn't forgotten you."

"Master Kinoshita knows that at this time of year, you will take a boat to Ezo to enjoy the hot springs."

"That's why I specially sent me here to send my long-lost greetings and presents to your old friend."

After all, Gongbu winked at the subordinates behind him.

After receiving this wink from Gongbu, the subordinates who were originally arranged in a tight square immediately moved quickly in an orderly manner—four people lifted up two large boxes.

After the four people brought the big box up, they opened the box.

The cave, which was originally dark due to the dim light, immediately became brighter—these two large boxes were filled with gold.

Yitong has been a pirate for so long, so he is extremely sensitive to things like money.

With just one glance, he quickly calculated how much money there was in the two big boxes - 3000 taels of gold.

Ant Tong smiled until his eyes were narrowed.

"Hey!" Yitong shouted to the subordinates behind him, "Prepare the most luxurious meal tonight! Treat the guests!"

...

...

Ezo, somewhere——

"Aww—!"

A wild dog howled loudly, and then rushed towards a man in black robe in front of him.

This wild dog was extremely thin, and when it jumped at the man in black, saliva dripped from his mouth—it must be extremely hungry.

Its four claws alternately grip the ground quickly, like a gust of wind.

However, just when it was only a few steps away from the black-robed man, just when it was about to hit the black-robed man, the black robe on the black-robed man shook violently.

Three shurikens flew out of the black robe—one missed, and the other two hit the wild dog's head and neck.

"Woooo..." The wild dog whimpered and fell to the ground.

"Hmph!" A proud voice came from under the black robe, "How is it? Is the shuriken shot by the ninja delicious?!"

Googooo...

As soon as the man in black uttered these imposing words, there was a sudden "cuckoo" sound.

"Woo...so hungry..."

poof.

The man in black fell to the ground with hunger.

*****

*****

Today's chapter is 6,000 words long, and the content is too good to be true. After a long absence, I have to ask for a monthly ticket!

If you forget who Yitong is, the author will remind you: it is the pirate mentioned in the previous chapters who specializes in human trafficking.

PS: "Hai Guo Bing Tan" is a real book that exists in reality. According to historical facts, "Haiguo Bingtan" was published in the third year of Kanzheng (1791).

If you want to know more about this book, you can go to Station B and search for "Zhang Zhaozhong Lin Ziping", and the famous bureau has introduced this book and Lin Ziping.