I formed the strongest swordsman group

Kanno looked at Qingdeng's house in the distance, which was shining with lights, and asked a samurai behind him without looking back:

"Are you sure Ju Qingdeng is in the house right now?"

The samurai nodded: "There is nothing wrong. That Ju Qingdeng returned home this afternoon, and has not left the house since then."

Speaking of this, the samurai paused, and then added:

"Mr. Kanno, just now, two young samurai... probably friends of Tachibana noto entered Tachibana noto's house."

"Do you want to wait for those two to leave? Or do you want to do it now?"

"Let's do it now." Shenye looked indifferent, without thinking.

"Yes." The samurai responded with a low voice, then turned his head and winked at the five people standing behind him, "Do it!"

After finishing speaking, the warrior bent down, and with his right hand, he picked up the four large porcelain pots with unknown content placed on his right foot, and with his left hand, he took out an unlit torch that had been pinned to his waist.

The five people standing behind the samurai did the same thing: with their right hand they lifted a large porcelain jar containing something unknown, and with their left hand they held an unlit torch in their hands.

The six people headed by the samurai formed a circle and lit the torches in their respective hands.

"Follow me!" The samurai roared, and then led the team himself, rushing out from the dark alley where they were hiding.

After the six people lined up in a "long snake", they rushed to the front of Qingdeng's house in one breath—

Click! Click! Click! Click...

They threw the big porcelain pots in their hands towards their fronts, towards Qingdeng's home and courtyard.

The porcelain pot was broken... the pot was filled with kerosene.

Handfuls of kerosene exuding a very pungent smell sprayed out with the rupture of the porcelain pot, pouring everywhere.

These 6 people seemed to have rehearsed in advance, and their movements were very uniform.

The moment they threw the porcelain pot out, they threw the torches in their respective hands forward at the same time.

When the fire and oil meet, there is a "huh", and the flame rises instantly, and the flames that spread rapidly along the oil line, like fire snakes, dance wildly under the night sky.

...

...

Qingdeng happened to be sitting at the closest position to the hall door.

After hearing the sound of flames burning from the direction of the entrance, Qing Deng's expression changed immediately.

He stood up abruptly, pushed open the door of the living room, and looked towards the entrance along the corridor outside the living room.

fire.

Raging waves of fire are raging.

The flames that had surrounded his door and entrance began to climb up the walls and bamboo to the ceiling.

Sparks danced around, sending out tiny explosions in Qingdeng's ears, puffs of thick black smoke drifted out, accompanied by the smell of oil, irritating the eyes and nose.

The crimson light of the flames reflected Qing Deng's slightly bluish cheeks.

"It's on fire!" Qingdeng turned his head and shouted to Kondo's group in the living room, "Come with me! Let's go out from the courtyard!"

After finishing speaking, Qingdeng rushed to the east side of the hall and opened the wooden door on the east side of the hall.

The living room of Qingdeng's house is connected to the courtyard of their house, as long as the wooden door on the east side of the living room is opened, one can enter the courtyard.

Kondo, Okita, and Saito are worthy of being martial arts practitioners.

After a short moment of shock, they quickly stabilized their minds, and quickly ran into the courtyard along the wooden door opened by Qingdeng in an orderly manner.

Only the timid Jiubingwei was panicked and at a loss.

"Ah! Young Master! Our money..."

"Don't worry about the money! Your life matters!"

The fire was extremely fierce.

In just a split second, the fire snake had spread from the entrance to the door of the living room, and Qingdeng even felt a wave of fire starting to scorch his back.

The important belongings of their family are stored in the storage room on the second floor.

Under such a ferocious fire, running up to the second floor to get property... a complete act of death.

Qingdeng grabbed Jiu Bingwei by the collar and dragged Jiu Bingwei out of the house, who was thinking of going back to get his belongings.

In the courtyard, Okita frowned his beautiful eyebrows, and sniffed vigorously: "...Tachibana-kun! I seem to smell the smell of kerosene!"

"Yeah." Qingdeng nodded sullenly, "I smell it too...but don't worry about it, let's escape first! Come with me! The courtyard of our house leads directly to the street outside!"

Just now, when he discovered the fire in the entrance, Qingdeng could already smell a very pungent and strong smell of kerosene...

But right now, I don't have time to worry about where the kerosene smell comes from. It's important to escape to a safe place first.

There was also a fire in the courtyard, but fortunately the fire was not too big.

After avoiding the scurrying fire snakes in the courtyard and fleeing to the street in front of his house, Qing Deng relied on his night vision ability to suddenly catch a glimpse—on his left, a few figures were approaching. He hurriedly fled towards the intersection to the west.

At this point in time, there should be few pedestrians on the street.

The sound of broken porcelain before the fire ignited...the strong smell of kerosene...there should be a few people fleeing in a hurry on the street where there should be no pedestrians...

Qingdeng instantly understood what was going on.

At this time, Okita on the side yelled in alarm: "Ah! Mr. Ju! Look! There seem to be a few people running away over there!"

Okita also found the escaped arsonists.

"Well, I saw it." After Qingdeng responded with a solemn expression, he turned his head and shouted to Kondo and the others beside him, "Kuhei! Kondo-kun! Okita-kun! You three go to inform the fire department of the town! Fight the fire! By the way, tell the surrounding neighbors to evacuate quickly!"

"Saito, come with me!"

After finishing speaking, Qing Deng spread his legs and chased after the fleeing arsonists!

Although Saito didn't know what Qingdeng was going to do, he hurriedly followed without saying a word.

Okita glanced blankly at Qingdeng and Saito who ran after the arsonists, then turned around and said quickly to Kondo:

"Brother Kondo! I'm going to help Tachibana-kun chase people! You and Mr. Jiubei go and inform the fire department of the town to put out the fire!"

Kondo: "Huh?"

After finishing speaking, Okita didn't give Kondo any chance or time to respond, turned around and chased after Ao and Sai who had already run away...

...

...

"What's wrong? What happened?!"

"It's on fire! It's on fire!"

"What?! Go! Go!"

"Hurry up and ask the people from the town fire to come over!"

"Ahhh! Why is it on fire?!"

...

While chasing the arsonists, Qing Deng heard screams filled with fear and panic from all around him.

The residents of Hatchobori, at this time, also noticed the fire that was extremely low from them and was getting stronger and stronger.

In ancient Japan, people have always been "talking about fire".

The reason is because of the population density of ancient Japan and the special style of houses.

Japan is a densely populated country with very little land suitable for human habitation. Tens of millions of people live in such a small amount of land. The population density of metropolises like Edo and Kyoto is quite exaggerated.

The exaggerated population density led to extremely densely built houses, and the buildings in ancient Japan were basically made of flammable wood, and each house was a large flammable object.

Therefore... A fire in any house is very likely to have a very terrifying chain reaction.

A small fire led to a big fire, and a house burned, causing the entire house in this area to be engulfed in flames, eventually causing most of the city to be burned—this kind of thing was common throughout ancient Japan.

The most typical one is the famous "Mingli Great Fire" in Edo.

During the Ming Dynasty in 1657, two-thirds of Edo was burned because of a piece of burning kimono sleeves. Because this terrible fire was caused by a burning sleeve, this fire also Known as "Furisode Fire".

Hatchobori, which was originally quite peaceful, suddenly became extremely noisy.

People either hurriedly ran to take refuge, or rushed to notify the town fire department to put out the fire, or hurriedly moved their belongings out of their homes before the flames burned...

More and more residents rushed out of their houses in order to escape. They blocked Qingdeng's vision and blocked Qingdeng's passage, which made it more difficult for Qingdeng to chase people.

As a last resort, Qingdeng could only keep shouting:

"I'm Tongxin of Dingmachihui! I'm chasing the arsonist! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

Qingdeng's shouts had a lot of effect.

After hearing that Qing Deng was catching thieves, many people hurried to both sides of the street to make way.

At this time, Qingdeng suddenly felt a strong wind coming from behind him.

Looking back - Okita held the saber at his waist and followed closely behind him.

"Okita-kun, why are you following me?"

"I'll help you chase those arsonists!" Okita shouted, "I'm the best at chasing people!"

After the words fell, Okita stopped talking, closed his mouth tightly, and ran with all his heart.

Now that time is running out, Qingdeng has no time to delve into Okita's behavior of ignoring his arrangement and spontaneously running to help chase people, so he can only turn his gaze back to him.

Okita said that he was good at chasing people... He didn't seem to be talking nonsense.

His speed is extremely fast, obviously Qingdeng and Saito rushed to catch up with them first, but now Okita caught up with them little by little, and overtook them...

Not only fast, but also very strong.

Running at such an exaggerated speed, his breathing was quite steady, his expression was as usual, and he didn't even break out a drop of sweat.

The arsonists saw that it was difficult to get rid of Qingdeng and the others who were sticking behind them, so they gathered together, whispered to each other for a while, then dispersed and fled in different directions.

Seeing that these bastards wanted to separate and escape, Qingdeng immediately turned his gaze and quickly glanced at the figures of these people.

"Mr. Chongtian, chase the fattest one!" Qingdeng pointed at the fattest one among the arsonists, who seemed to be running the slowest.

Okita, who was already completely ahead of Qing and Zhai, and had already left the two of them by a large margin, glanced at the fat man in the direction Qingdeng pointed, and nodded vigorously.

That fat man is also quite smart.

He turned his head and saw Qingdeng and others running after him, he gritted his teeth, made a 90-degree turn, and turned into an alley next to him.

After following the fat man into this cramped alley, Qingdeng found that the alley was extremely cramped and complicated, with many forks and poor visibility. If he wasn't paying attention, he might lose the fat man.

Qingdeng raised his head and glanced at a low house not far in front of him, next to the alley.

"Saito! You and Okita-kun continue chasing that fat man on the ground!"

After loudly giving this instruction to Saito next to him, Qingdeng took a deep breath and rushed straight to the low house.

While rushing to the eaves of this house in one breath, he quickly accumulated strength in his back, and then jumped forward with all his strength, and slashed towards the eaves.

The eaves of this house were extremely low, with a vertical height of only a little over 2 meters. With a stature of 1.75 meters, Qingdeng leaped vigorously, and easily climbed onto the eaves with both hands.

Qingdeng made a pull-up movement, pulling his whole body up to the top of the eaves.

Ascending to the eaves, the field of vision suddenly becomes wider.

Look around - the fat man is running away to the northwest along the complicated alleys.

"Saito! Okita-kun!" Qingdeng was on the roof, moving in the direction of the fat man, while giving instructions to Saito and Okita below, "The fat man ran away in that direction!"

The houses around this alley are all close together, and the eaves are not high, and the slope is not too steep. Standing on the eaves and tracking the fat man, Qingdeng has no worries about having nowhere to stay.

The fat man turned his head and looked at Qingdeng who was chasing him along the eaves.

Qing Deng vaguely saw his lips moving.

Judging from the shape of his mouth...he seems to have sprayed a dirty word at Qingdeng.

With Qingdeng standing on the eaves to make a positioning, Fatty must never try to get rid of Qingdeng and the others in this complicated alley.

Therefore, the fat man could only turn his body again, rush out of the alley, and enter a spacious avenue that can accommodate two carriages side by side.

Fatty's speed had gradually slowed down now - he should be tired after running wildly for so long.

Qingdeng also feels very tired now, his current physical strength is far from sufficient, his breathing is now in a mess, and he swallows hard - a faint smell of blood can be tasted in his throat.

But after all, Qingdeng's remaining physical strength is still more abundant than this fat man's.

Qingdeng poured the remaining strength into his legs, jumped up the row of houses on the east side of the avenue, along the eaves of this row of houses, overtook the fat man who was fleeing on this avenue, and then flew like a swallow. Generally, he jumped down from the eaves and landed right in front of the fat man, blocking the way of the fat man.

Seeing Qingdeng "falling from the sky" blocking his way, the fat man hastily stopped, gave Qingdeng a vicious look, turned around, and prepared to run back.

However - as soon as he turned around, he saw Okita who had successfully rushed out of the complicated alley, chasing him from behind.

There is Qingdeng in the front, and Chongtian in the back... The fat man hesitated for a moment, then he pulled out the knife from his waist and charged towards Chongtian!

He intends to forcibly break through the siege of Qingdeng and Chongtian.

Okita is much smaller than Qingdeng, and from a visual point of view, Okita looks much weaker than Qingdeng—this should be the reason why the fat man chose to break through from the direction of Okita.

After Fatty rushed to Okita, Qingdeng chased after him immediately.

Seeing the chosen direction to break out, Qingdeng couldn't help but laugh—this fat man really chose a completely wrong direction to break out...

After seeing the fat man rushing towards him, Okita also came to a sudden stop.

After running wildly for so long, Okita's breathing was still steady, only a little sweat broke out on his forehead.

Okita glanced at Fatty's footsteps and the knife in his hand with a blank expression, then spread his feet leisurely and stood still.

Press the scabbard of the knife at the waist with the left hand, caress the handle of the knife with the palm of the right hand, raise the thumb of the left hand, withstand the knife, and push it forward forcefully.

bass……

The clear light of the knife burst out from the blade that had popped out of the sheath a few inches, illuminating Okita's pupils.

Although he knew that Okita would not be so stupid as to kill this fat man, but Qingdeng still reminded loudly:

"Okita-kun! Don't kill him!"

Qingdeng's voice just fell——

bass--!

Okita drew his sword.

The silver-white saber masked Fatty, and with just one blow, the saber in Fatty's hand was sent flying.

Immediately afterwards, Okita took advantage of the situation to retract the saber, turned the blade around, and used the back of the saber to slash the fat man's belly.

"Cough...! Cough cough...! Vomit—! Cough...!" The soft belly was hit hard by the hard knife back, and the fat man coughed vigorously while vomiting, and staggered to the ground. He took a few steps forward and fell heavily to the ground.

So fast……!

Seeing Okita who had retracted his saber in front of him and made a heartless gesture towards the fallen fat man, Qingdeng couldn't help but let out a low exclamation in his heart.

The blow that Okita knocked Fatty's saber into the air just now... was extremely fast.

It was so fast that even Qingdeng, who already had "Eagle Eyes", could barely keep up with Okita's speed...

The fat man has been knocked down - the game is settled.

When the fat man rushed towards Okita, Qing Deng, who had been chasing closely behind the fat man, quickly rushed up after the fat man fell to the ground.

Since he didn't bring a fishing rope, Qingdeng could only take out the cuff that he always carried with him and use it to make ends meet.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

The fat man twisted his body like a maggot, trying to get rid of Qingdeng who was riding on him.

However, because the stomach had just been hit hard, the fat man couldn't use his strength at all at this moment, he could only helplessly let Qing Deng tie his hands up.

Saito, who was slower and rushed a lot, finally rushed out of the alley and caught up.

"Finally caught him..." Panting, Saito looked down at the fat man who was still struggling under Qingdeng's seat.

"Yeah..." Qingdeng let out a long breath, and stared at the fat man below him with a cold face, "The revenge of these beasts came really fast..."

...

...

Town firefighting: Fire brigades in the Edo period.

There are 8 major groups in the town firefighting in Edo, and the 8 major groups have a total of 48 groups under their jurisdiction, and the 48 groups are in charge of firefighting work in different areas.

Although the town firefighters also have some rather advanced fire extinguishing equipment, such as a small water pump that can shoot out a jet of water with a single press: "Dragon Spray", these fire extinguishing equipment are actually useless and can only be used to deal with some small fires. For larger-scale fires, these fire-fighting equipment will be completely useless, and the speed of fire-fighting will basically not be able to keep up with the speed of fire spread.

Therefore, the main fire-fighting equipment used by town firefighters is not a water pump, nor a bucket...but a hammer.

Demolish all the houses close to the fire site and take out an isolation zone to prevent the fire from spreading further—this is the firefighting method of town firefighters.

When Qingdeng escorted the fat man back to his home, he saw a large number of town firefighters wearing black and white fire suits, wielding hammers, smashing houses like they were playing "The Sims 4" , smashed all the neighbors' homes in Qingdeng to pieces...

"Quick! Destroy this house!"

"1, 2, 3! La--! Come again! 1, 2, 3! La--! Get out of the way! The wall is going to fall!"

"Move faster! Pull all these pieces away!"

...

Qingdeng saw that his neighbors were all grim-faced, watching the town firefighters smash their houses to pieces.

The women bowed their heads and wiped away their tears.

Several children cried out directly at their smashed home.

When the fire department destroys houses to prevent fires, they will not lose money.

That is to say, if your house is destroyed because it is near the fire, it is purely your bad luck, and you have to rebuild your home at your own expense.

Qingdeng's home was completely engulfed in flames.

The flames engulfed the wooden roof and spewed a large amount of sparks into the night sky. The fire in the house was getting stronger and stronger, making the sound of wood cracking, the burning wooden frame collapsed and fell, the remaining columns fell in flames, and the roof A large number of sparks aroused by the collapse and fall scattered like fireflies in the dark night.

Qingdeng raised his head, glanced at his home that no longer existed, and then at the innocent neighbors who were dragged down by the fire and lost their homes.

Qingdeng himself didn't realize it—his fists, which were hanging down naturally, were clenched extremely tightly at this moment...

...

...

About half an hour later——

"Orange...isn't it burnt?"

Qingdeng was sitting on a big rock outside the fire site to rest.

Kondo, Okita, Saito, and Kubei sat around Qingdeng.

Qingdeng raised his head and looked at Zhu Gu who met again not long after parting.

"It's fine except that my face is a little blackened." Qing Deng responded to Inogu with a teasing tone, and raised his finger to point at his slightly blackened cheeks.

Inoya pursed his lips tightly, looked at Qing Deng with complicated eyes for a while, and then heaved a long sigh.

"Orange, is that fat man the suspect you've caught?"

Inoya turned to look at the fat man who was kneeling on the ground not far away.

Fatty's body has been tied up like a rice dumpling by thick and long hemp ropes, and several Okami from Zhugu glared at Fatty viciously, beware of any suspicious movements by Fatty.

At this moment, the fat man straightened his waist, held his head high, and closed his eyes tightly, showing an expression of death.

"Yeah." Qingdeng nodded, "I asked him some questions just now, but he was very stubborn and refused to say anything."

"Oh." Inoya sneered, "Our prison is the least afraid of hard-talking people. I have served in the prison for so many years, and I have never seen anyone who can survive the torture of our prison."

After all, Inoya turned his eyes away from the fat man.

"Then I'll take that fat man back to the enforcement office now."

"I'll come back to see you later."

"Ah, that's right. Arima-sama and Ushiyama should be on their way here now, and they should arrive in a while."

"Well, good." Qing Deng nodded lightly, "Mr. Inoya, be careful all the way."

After watching Zhugu lead a large group of people to escort the fat man away, Qingdeng saw a strong man wearing a firefighter suit, whose cheeks and clothes were black and white from the flames, striding towards him. Come.

"Are you Juqingdeng?"

"Yes." Qingdeng stood up.

"I am Ashitodori: Kazama Heigoro from the town fire shop 'Sengumi'."

Human foot group: the leader of this group.

"The fire in your house...has subsided."

After hearing what Ren Zutou Qu said, Ju Qingdeng turned his head and looked towards his home... or the place that "used to be his home".

His home is now a large pile of charred ruins, and members of the town fire department are fighting some remaining flames in the ruins.

Let’s just say it’s a blessing in misfortune—tonight is a “windless night”.

Because there was no wind to fuel the fire, and the members of the town fire department demolished the nearby houses in time, the fire fortunately did not spread, and only Qingdeng's house was burned down.

After the human foot team said to Ju Qingdeng something like "I'm sorry for what happened to you", he continued:

"I have sent my men to clear the fire."

"However, with such a big fire... there should be no property left."

"I hope you are mentally prepared accordingly."

Qingdeng smiled flatly: "I understand. From the very beginning, I never expected that my family could keep any property in a fire of this level."

"Well, it's good that you can make mental preparations in advance." Human Foot nodded slightly to Qingdeng, then turned and returned to the fire scene, and continued to direct his subordinates to clean up the burned ruins.

"Young master..." At this time, Jiubingwei stood up and asked Qingdeng in a hesitant tone, "Where are we... going to stay tonight?"

"Where do you live..." Qing Deng put his hands on his hips, "You're right... It's time to think about where to sleep tonight..."

Qingdeng and the others are completely penniless now.

The house is gone.

All belongings in the house were gone.

At this time, apart from the clothes on his body, as well as the saber, ten hands and seal cage around his waist, Qingdeng has nothing else.

Qingdeng reached out his hand and took out his pocket——and took out 4 copper coins...

"...Kubei, is there an inn in Edo that can accommodate 3 people for 4 copper coins?"

"How could there be such a hotel!" Jiubingwei couldn't help complaining loudly.

"That..." Saito, who has always been reticent, suddenly interjected at this moment.

After Qingdeng and Jiuhei turned their eyes to him, Saito said solemnly:

"I... know that there is a bridge under the bridge that is especially suitable for people to live in."

"It's warm and there are no bugs."

"Under the bridge?" Jiubingwei opened his mouth.

Immediately afterwards, he raised his head, looked at the night sky above his head, and pretended to be thinking... He was imagining the scene under the sleeping bridge...

"No, no, no!" Jiubingwei shuddered suddenly, "In this kind of winter, people will die if they sleep under the bridge!"

After finishing speaking, Jiubingwei paused, and then hurriedly asked Qingdeng:

"Young master, how about we temporarily stay at Master Arima's house?"

"...Master Arima and the others have a big family." Qingdeng silently put the four copper coins back into his bosom, "There should be no extra space in their house for the three of us to live in."

The three horses, pigs and cows, all in their 30s, have already married.

If Qingdeng remembers correctly... Arima has 5 children, Inotani has 6 children, and only Ushiyama has a smaller number of descendants-only 4 children.

Parents, wives, children, attendants... so many family members made the three of them's homes very crowded, and they probably couldn't accommodate Qingdeng's three big men to live in.

Seeing what Qingdeng said, Jiubingwei's expression collapsed again: "Then what should we do now...?"

"..." Qingdeng folded his arms around his chest.

He is now... thinking seriously about the feasibility of the plan of "sleeping under the bridge" that Saito just proposed...

At this moment—Okita, who had been sitting with Kondo and silently watching Qingdeng and the others since just now, pursed his lips, his eyes glowing with thought.

After a while, he secretly put his lips close to Kondo's ear.

After he whispered something to Kondo, Kondo's eyes suddenly widened a little, and then he cast a surprised look at Okita.

A look of hesitation climbed between Kondo's brows.

This touch of "hesitation" came and went quickly.

In just a moment, the "hesitation" on Kondo's face was replaced with "firmness".

Kondo nodded to Okita.

Seeing Kondo nodding, Okita smiled happily.

"Mr. Tangerine!"

Hearing Chong Tian calling him suddenly, Qing Deng hastily followed the sound and turned his head away.

"If you don't mind...would you like to come and live with us? Our test hall is quite big."

*****

*****

It's the last day of May! Friends who still have a monthly pass in hand, please be sure to vote for this book! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)

Ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a recommendation ticket!

"My test hall is quite big. You are welcome to come and practice swords. If you are tired, you can go to bed directly. It's okay if you don't pay the rent.".jpg