I formed the strongest swordsman group

That night--

Tokaido, Hakone-juku, a certain hotel——

“Today’s dinner tastes so delicious!”

"Yes, that hot spring steamed bun is delicious!"

"Joining the Shinsengumi was indeed the right thing to do. We have such delicious meals every day. If the folks back home knew about it, they would definitely envy us!"

"Hey, it was only during the march that we received such warm hospitality at the camp that we were able to eat such delicious food. When we get to Kyoto, I'm afraid we won't be treated so well!"

Three young men wearing wakizashi around their waists walked on the creaking corridor on their way back to their bedrooms.

Although they have shaved Tsukiyo heads, their buns are not on top of their heads but pinned to the back of their heads.

In the beginning, Tsukiyo was a hairstyle exclusive to samurai.

But as time went by, this trend spread from top to bottom to the civilian class.

Today, even a poor tenant farmer has the right to shave his head with a decent head.

However, although samurai and civilians can now shave their heads, there are still very significant differences in the specific hairstyles of the two sides - mainly reflected in the placement of the bun.

The samurai's bun is placed directly on the top of the head.

The common people's buns are positioned a little further back. When viewed from the front, it looks like they have their buns pinned behind their heads.

Judging from the hairstyles of these three people, as well as their extremely dark and rough skin due to their long-term relationship with the strong wind and the scorching sun... there is no doubt that they are soldiers of civilian origin.

Most of the members of the Shinsengumi are samurai who have learned martial arts.

However, there are still some civilians who are recruited into the army under exceptional circumstances because of their excellent physical fitness.

Judging from their accents, these three people should be farmers in the Musashi area.

Musashi is a strategic hub in the Kanto Plain, and it is also the location of the half-soldier, half-peasant country soldier corps formed by Tokugawa Ieyasu: "The Eight Princes and a Thousand People Are of One Heart".

Although the peaceful and comfortable life for a long time has long made the military preparations of the Eight Princes become unbearable, the culture of martial arts has been passed down.

In the surrounding area with Musashi as the center, fitness and martial arts training have become popular.

They work on the farm during the busy season, and exercise their muscles and bones together during the slack season, or hire martial arts masters to teach them martial arts.

Because of this, Musashi is far better than other regions in terms of physical fitness and quality of soldiers.

Most of the members of the Shinsengumi who came from civilian backgrounds were the sons of the eighth prince and a good family with a thousand people.

Just as these three people were chatting happily... at the corner of the corridor in front of them, four samurai with swords on their waists suddenly appeared - this hotel has been contracted by the Shinsengumi. In addition to the staff, there will be no one else in this hotel. The people who hang out in the hotel are all members of the Shinsengumi.

They burped and walked straight towards the three farm boys with swaggering square steps.

Two groups of people walked towards each other.

When the farm boys saw this, they were startled for a moment, with hesitation and hesitation on their faces.

However, within a few moments, their complexions returned to normal, and they continued to move forward without stopping.

This corridor is very wide. Even if two groups of people do not give in to each other and walk side by side, they will not feel cramped.

However...the four warriors suddenly stopped.

"Hey, what do you mean?"

The leader curled his mouth, raised his chin, and looked at people through his nostrils.

"Didn't your parents teach you? When civilians encounter samurai in narrow places such as corridors and bridges, they must give way!"

When the three farmers heard this, they immediately stopped and showed dissatisfaction on their faces.

"This corridor is so wide, why do I need to make way for you?"

The warriors raised their nostrils higher:

"Even if this corridor is very wide, you should step aside. This is the etiquette that you civilians should do."

Anger spread across the faces of the farmers.

They suppressed their anger and said in a deep voice:

"Hey, what you said is wrong! Before the army set off, Lord Niou said it himself: From now on, there will be no distinction between men, women, warriors, civilians, and more! We all have one identity now. , that is the warrior of the Shinsengumi!"

"That's right! Our status is equal now! Stop using the previous 'samurai-civilian distinction' to oppress us!"

As soon as they finished speaking, the warriors burst into laughter as if they had heard some very funny joke.

The corridor was filled with frivolous laughter.

After laughing to his heart's content, the leading warrior curled his lips in disdain.

"Nioh? Nioh asked you to eat shit, will you eat shit too? Nioh asked you to lick his asshole, will you rush to lick his asshole too?"

Another person echoed:

"The Nioh just said it casually, do you really think you can be equal to us from now on?"

The leading warrior answered.

"Although the King of Benevolence is our leader, it does not mean that we must obey his orders in everything!"

"The reason why we chose to join the Shinsengumi is to quell the bandits entrenched in Gyeonggi. We are not here to be offended, let alone to offend you, the mud-covered civilians!"

"Letting civilians join the army... huh, it's all nonsense! His behavior of recruiting women into the army is even more ridiculous! Such an act that violates etiquette and discipline is a shame for Nioh!"

His words were full of dissatisfaction with Qingdeng.

"If you understand this, get out of the way! Make way for me!"

After speaking, he paused for a moment, squinting his eyes and glancing at the waists of the farmers.

Although etiquette has collapsed in Japan, and more and more civilians have begun to openly ignore the rule that "only samurai can wear katana", if you want to wear a katana, you must have a sword, right?

Throughout the Edo period, due to limited productivity, swords have never been a mass commodity that can enter thousands of households.

The cheapest knives on the market are the bargains nicknamed "wholesale knives."

Various swordsmith shops in major cities such as Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka have made a large number of them and sold them in the open air like a hill in front of the stalls.

Their styles and materials are exactly the same, as if they were poured from the same mold, and there is no inscription on them.

Generally speaking, in order to build their own "brand reputation" and also to make "anti-counterfeiting marks", knife makers often engrave the knife maker's name and the year and month when the knife was made on the knife stem.

The knifemakers are not even willing to leave their names on the stems of these knives - you can imagine how poor their workmanship is.

The sharpness is basically only as sharp as a kitchen knife.

Not to mention its toughness. If you use this broken knife to cut against a wooden stick, you don't know which one will break first.

However, even this low-quality product can only be purchased at a high price of between 3 plants and 1 tael.

[Note·Plant: 1 tael = 4 points = 16 plants]

3 plants... An ordinary farm family works hard for a whole year, and they don't know if they can save a deposit of 1 plant.

Not to mention civilians, middle- and lower-level samurai from poor families could not buy or change swords casually.

It is normal for generations to use the same knife.

Grandpa uses it for dad, dad uses it for his son, and son uses it for grandson...

Some people's knives have even been passed down from the Warring States Period more than 200 years ago to the present. They are very precious. If they are accidentally knocked and broken, then they have to wear a bamboo knife on their waist.

It was obvious that none of these three farm boys could afford a knife.

They only have one wakizashi on their waists, and this wakizashi is very old.

The scabbard is mottled like rotten wood, and you can smell the stench of moisture.

The shark skin and ribbons were in tatters, like clothes with threads torn apart.

[Note: Shark skin: Stingray skin produced in Southeast Asia is attached to the handle of the knife, making the handle suitable for holding and preventing it from slipping. Taping: After attaching the shark skin, the handle roller will tie a silk or cotton tape on the handle. In this way, a complete handle is completed. 】

Looking at the long-standing wakizashi on the waists of the farmers, the disdain and ridicule on the faces of the samurai became more intense.

"With a cheap wakizashi stuck in your waist, do you really think you are a samurai?"

Having said that, the leading warrior swung the delicate sword around his waist with great force and showed his sword to the peasants "generally and generously".

Perhaps it was the contemptuous expression of the samurai that stung their hearts, or perhaps it was the man's despicable words that made them unbearable. A certain peasant stepped forward, swung his fist, and hit the leader and the most arrogant man hard. , on the face of the samurai who has been talking nonsense since just now.

With a "bang", the warrior who was caught off guard flew out and hit his companion behind him.

This punch ignited the already explosive powder keg.

"Damn it! What do you want to do?"

"Go to hell you all!"

"A mere commoner dares to beat up a samurai! Okay, now let me show you how powerful a samurai is!"

In an instant, there was a "choking, rang, rang, rang" sound of drawing a sword.

A chaotic group fight began immediately.

Such noisy movement naturally alarmed other team members living in the same brigade point.

"What's the noise? What happened?"

"It seems like someone is fighting!"

"Fight? Let's go! Go and have a look!"

One passed to ten, ten passed to hundreds... Within a moment, both ends of the corridor were filled with people who came to watch the fun.

"Step aside!"

About 2 minutes later, Kondo Isamu - who happened to be staying in this hotel - arrived aggressively leading the inspectors from the Metropolitan Police Bureau.

The Metropolitan Inspection Bureau is an agency responsible for maintaining military discipline and supervising soldiers.

In other words, the inspectors of the Metropolitan Police Bureau are the military police of the Shinsengumi.

With a body as strong as a gorilla, Isamu Kondo squeezed through the crowds blocking his way and reached the "front line."

After taking one look at the messy fighting scene, he turned his head and shouted to his subordinates behind him:

"Why are you still standing there? Why don't you subdue them?"

After saying that, he pulled out the Nagasone Kotetsu from his waist and strode into the messy corridor.

Fighting in groups, using less to fight more... This is the fighting method that Kondo Isamu, who has the talent of "lonely courage", is best at!

His title of "the fourth generation head of the Natural Rishin-ryu clan" was not earned through kinship.

He was promoted to the position by virtue of his undoubted hard power and the recognition of Kondo Shusuke and all the apprentices in the Test Guard Hall.

He is recognized as the strongest person in the trial defense hall, second only to Qingto and Souji!

He just dodged and came to the center of the chaos.

One flash, another flash, three flashes... people saw his Kotetsu flash three times.

For the first time, he knocked away a farmer's ribs.

The second time, he struck a samurai in the stomach with the butt of the sword's hilt.

The third time, Kotetsu's blade hit the blade of a katana straight away, cutting off the blade with just one blow.

From the time Kondo Isamu entered the battle to the end of the battle, less than 10 seconds had passed.

Isamu Kondo was able to kill all the people involved in the fight in such a short period of time, knocking them all to the ground.

Kondo Isamu put Kotetsu back into the scabbard, turned to the men and shouted:

"Tie them all up!"

…

…

Qingdeng’s room——

Qingto, who enjoys a large independent suite due to his high status, is reading "The Tale of Genji" by candlelight.

"The Tale of Genji" is a novel written by Murasaki Shikibu, a female writer in the Heian period.

It is set in the heyday of Japan's Heian period, describes the life experience and love story of the protagonist Genji, and reflects the cultural life and social background of the Heian period.

The idea of ​​"mono-sorrow" highly respected by the Japanese comes from this book.

The reason Aoto was reading this famous book was not because he was too free to pass the time, but because he wanted to learn more about Kyoto through this book.

For Ayoto, Kyoto is a completely unfamiliar city.

It was embarrassing to say that when he talked about Kyoto, all he could think of were all kinds of stereotypes.

Jing Yanye is a person with a lot of honorifics.

A charming geisha with a unique charm.

Historical buildings abound.

The arrogant and arrogant people's character that "everything outside Kyoto is countryside" - especially this aspect, makes Ayoto twitch his lips every time he thinks of the word "Kyoto".

The arrogant behavior of the maids in the Wagong Palace has deepened Aonto's stereotype that "Kyoto people are a bunch of arrogant guys", and it has almost become a stamp of thought.

In this era, there are no convenient media channels such as television and the Internet.

If you want to understand the areas beyond your horizon, you can only rely on word of mouth from others and records in books.

The Shinsengumi's current advance is going well.

If nothing else goes wrong, they will arrive in Kyoto in mid-February as scheduled.

Next, he will be based in Kyoto and work for a long time.

Therefore, it is right to read more books about Kyoto and learn more about this ancient capital.

Although "The Tale of Genji" is a novel written more than 800 years ago, its story involves a lot of local customs and customs in Gyeonggi.

When Qingdeng was reading with great enthusiasm, rapid footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the corridor.

He knew that something must have happened, so he immediately put down the "The Tale of Genji" in his hand

"Tachibana-kun! Tachibana-kun!"

The Souji's voice came in.

"Oops! There's a fight among the team members!"

She explained the incident in a concise and concise manner.

After Qingden heard this, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"Troublemakers appeared so quickly..."

After that, he closed the book and stood up.

"General Director, help me gather the entire army."

"The whole, the whole army?"

"Yes, the whole army! Call all the soldiers over here!"

…

…

Hakone-juku, an open space somewhere——

The commanders headed by Kondo Isamu, the captains headed by the general secretary, the members of each team, and the staff of the manya field gathered together.

They stood in a fan shape, and some of them looked at each other with blank faces. You looked at me, and I looked at you.

"Hello? What happened? Why did you summon us suddenly?"

"I don't know the specifics. It seems like there was a private fight."

"Private fights? Hey, isn't this bad... I remember that the 'Shinsengumi Code' explicitly prohibits private fights..."

"Hush! Be quiet, Lord Niou is here!"

Qingdeng held the saber on his waist and slowly stepped into everyone's sight.

The seven people involved in the fight—three farmers and four warriors—were tied up with hemp ropes and sat in a row on their knees.

They all drew knives during the fight, but because of Kondo Isamu's timely intervention, no one died, and only a few people were injured.

Qingdeng stood still in front of them, expressionless.

Shannan Jingzhu walked quickly to him from behind, leaned his upper body, and put his mouth close to his ear:

"Ji Jun, their identities have been found out."

"Of the three soldiers who are farmers, one is from the eighth division and two are from the tenth division."

"As for the four warriors who are warriors, one is from the sixth division, two are from the fifth division, and one is from the fourth division."

After the report, Shannan Keisuke consciously returned to his original position.

Qingdeng narrowed his eyes slightly and turned his sharp gaze towards the troublemakers in front of him.

I saw that most of them had their shoulders slumped, their heads drooped, their waist bones seemed to have disappeared, and their entire backs looked limp.

However, there were three people - they were all swordsmen with waistbands - holding their heads high like swans, looking stubborn as if they didn't think they were at fault.

Qingdeng ignored them and said loudly:

"You must have memorized the 'Shinsengumi Code', right?"

"First, follow the command in all actions."

"Two, you are not allowed to leave the organization without permission."

"Third, don't fight privately for no reason."

"Fourth, those who extort others, rob property, harm innocent people, or rape women will be punished on the spot."

"Fifth, those who betray and collaborate with the enemy will be punished on the spot."

"You have violated Article 3 of the law - you must not fight privately without reason - and in accordance with the law, you will be beheaded in public!"

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the troublemakers, most of the onlookers, and even some cadres represented by the General Secretary changed.

"Lord Niou! Please listen to my explanation!"

A certain farmer raised his head and said hurriedly:

"It was these guys who were at fault in the first place! They ignored the rule that you said before, 'There is no distinction between men, women, samurai, or civilians in the Shinsengumi.' They spoke rudely to us and insulted us unscrupulously. This triggered the incident. We are innocent of the riot!"

The three people who had been holding their heads high could no longer maintain their composure.

One of them shouted:

"Wait a minute! It was these bastards who made the first move! Look, they took advantage of me and beat me with their fists, and the marks are still on my face! The subsequent exchange of swords was just a counterattack. ! If they really need to be punished, they should be punished! We are the victims!"

With these two leaders in charge, the rest of the troublemakers followed suit, begging for mercy and sparing no effort to shift the blame onto the other party.

Emotions of fear and panic spread in all directions.

The crowd of onlookers gradually became commotion in a less conspicuous way.

"Are we really going to kill them all? And behead them...is this too cruel?"

"Yeah, at least we need to find out who is the initiator of this dispute."

"I think it's good as long as the chief culprit is killed. As for the others, let them go. After seeing the head of the culprit fall to the ground, they will definitely not dare to cause trouble again in the future."

…

There are many people talking and arguing.

Qingden felt like he was in a pile of ducks, surrounded by a chaotic and chattering noise.

After a moment of silence, he said softly:

"What? Aren't the provisions in the 'Shinsengumi Code' not clear enough?"

The next moment, majestic "power" spurted out from his body!

In the blink of an eye, the whole place was silent!

The soldiers were silent.

The troublemakers who faced Qingdeng were not only speechless, but also felt as if two big rocks were pressing on their shoulders, making them almost breathless.

"'Anyone who participates in private fighting, regardless of right or wrong, status or rank, will be beheaded in public' - this is clearly stated in the additional provisions of the Shinsengumi Act."

"Are you ignoring the law and engaging in private fights? If so, what else is there to say? This is enough reason to behead you."

"As for which party is more at fault, which party took action first, which party provoked first...there is no need to explore these matters at all. You will all die anyway."

"Kondo-kun!"

Aoto's sudden roll call made Isamu Kondo startled for a moment, but he quickly came to his senses, turned around and shouted in a deep voice to the spectators beside him:

"Take them all under custody! Prepare for execution!"

The Metropolitan Police is the gendarmerie. Therefore, the punishment and execution within the Shinsengumi were naturally left to them.

…

…

If someone kills people directly in the dormitory, it will have a very bad impact on the dormitory.

Regardless of the impact it will have on the business of the camp, just having someone die in front of you is enough to make people feel unlucky.

The staff at the Wenwuchang asked Qingdeng to move the execution place elsewhere.

In exchange, they were willing to dig pits for the bodies and provide burial plots.

Qingdeng readily agreed.

In this way, the troublemakers were dragged to a wasteland with overgrown weeds and flying insects outside Hakone-juku.

Qingteng led the cadres and soldiers of the Shinsengumi to act as the audience for this execution.

"Lord Nioh! Spare your life! Spare your life!"

"Lord Niou! We realize our mistake!"

"Just spare us this time! We will never dare again!"

*******

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Today is the long-awaited 6,000-word chapter! It seems that no one believes that the current Leopard and Leopard can change into a Leopard, so I will prove it to everyone: Leopard and Leopard are now full of Leopard power! As long as you cast enough monthly votes, even a 10,000-word chapter can be written for you to read!

So please vote for me! Please vote for recommendation! (Leopard head crying.jpg)