I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"Guest?" Xu asked the other side with doubts.

Aizan nodded: "Well, it's... the villagers of Siwaxi Village..."

"Siwaxi Village?" Ogata's pupils shrank slightly.

Sivasi Village—The village where the girl named Lilata rescued by Ogata lives now...

After Ogata captured the general named Sakaguchi, he pried out the information he wanted to know from Sakaguchi's mouth: "Why chasing them", "How did you get here", etc...

So what happened to Siwaxi Village after he and Amachi and others left, Ogata already knows...

Sakaguchi told Ogata plainly-they did something...excessive things to the villagers of Siwasi village, and then asked the villagers about Ogata's whereabouts.

Sakaguchi also mentioned the methods they used to torture the villagers in Siwaxi Village—because they didn't have any instruments of torture, they all used some very primitive and barbaric methods of torture.

Fists and kicks, and...severed fingers.

Severing fingers is a famous torture in ancient Japan.

The so-called "finger severed" is not to cut off a person's finger with a knife.

Instead, he used brute force and abruptly pulled his fingers off his palm.

Ten fingers connected to the heart, so often the victim would die directly.

According to Sakaguchi-they started with simple punches and kicks against the head of Siwaxi Village.

But no matter how you fight or kick, the village chief will not say a word.

So in order to make the village chief speak obediently, the most personally ordered the use of severed fingers on the village chief.

After dragging the village chief's second finger down, the village chief finally succumbed and revealed Ogata's whereabouts.

"When I was just hunting, I ran into the people of Siwaxi Village." Ayzan said how he happened to meet the villagers of Siwaxi Village just now, and slowly told Ogata Daoaki.

"When I caught this fat rabbit, I suddenly heard a noise from the bushes not far away that only humans can make."

"After I used a bow and arrow to force the people hiding in the bushes out, I saw the mayor of Siwaxi Village and a middle-aged man I don't know stand up from the bushes."

"The village chief said: He is now taking the surviving villagers out of the village and into the mountains, just in this direction."

"Most of the young men in their village died, and there were many more wounded, so he also had to go hunting himself, hunting some fresh meat for the wounded in the village to replenish their bodies."

"Then just ran into me like this."

"The village chief said that he wanted to see you and said that he had betrayed you, so he wanted to apologize to you in person...so I brought them here, Mr. Mashima, do you want to see them?"

"...Where are the village chiefs now?" Ogata asked.

"He is out now." Ayzan replied.

"Is he alone?" Ogata asked.

"No." Aizan shook his head. "In addition to the village chief, the little girl named Lilata and her grandmother are also here."

"It seems that the village chief only wanted to see you alone. But it seems that the little girl Lilata insisted on coming with her, so the village chief brought her and her grandmother."

"...I understand." Ogata nodded softly, "Aizam, you have worked so hard to bring them here."

After all, Ogata held Amachi's shoulders and let Amachi lie down again. Amachi is not a naive child, so she naturally wouldn't make any resistance to disturb Ogata, and lay down again obediently.

After letting Amachi lie down again, Ogata took out the human skin mask from his arms and put it on skillfully.

Aizan and Ahili looked at Ogata who was wearing a human skin mask on their faces in shock and horror.

After seeing Ogata change back to the familiar "Majima Goro" face, the color of shock and horror on their faces was too strong to be added.

They have been wondering why Ogata's face has changed since yesterday.

But I couldn't find the time to ask, and Ogata never had time to explain to the two.

Until now—Aizam and Ahili finally knew how Ogata changed his appearance.

After putting on the human skin mask, Ogata smiled bitterly at Aizan and Ahili: "Sorry, maybe it scared you... I will explain to you what my face is."

After all, Ogata got out of his hunting lodge.

Aizan immediately followed Ogata and went out of the hunting lodge with Ogata.

There was no need for Aizan to point out the direction. As soon as he got out of the hunting lodge, he saw three figures standing in the southwest of the hunting lodge, two large and one small.

These three figures are the village head of Siwaxi Village, Lilata and her grandmother.

Lilata is now standing beside the village chief, holding the clothes of grandma standing beside him in one hand, and holding a thing familiar to Ogata in the other—the little windmill Ogata made for him. .

Although the distance was a little far away, Ogata could still see clearly—the village chief’s naturally hanging left hand was wrapped in a thick hemostatic cloth, the brown cloth was stained dark black with blood, and his palm had no ring finger. And the **** of the tail.

Standing next to them, Lilata and her grandmother did not appear to be physically mutilated like the village chief, but their naked skin outside the clothes was all blue and purple, and Lilata’s grandmother’s face was even worse. Is directly swollen punch.

Seeing Lilata and their misfortune, Ogata couldn't help pursing his lips, and then quickly walked towards the three of them.

"Mr. Mashima..." After Ogata walked up to him, the village head first said to Ogata in a somewhat dry voice, "I... I'm really sorry... (Ainu

Aizan, who came with Ogata, stood behind Ogata, translating it to Ogata.

The village chief kept saying sorry to Ogata, and kindly apologized to Ogata who told them that they were approaching the army.

The village chief, who didn't know that Ogata and the others had been attacked by the shogunate's army, apologized, but also told Ogata and them to leave here quickly to avoid being found by the army.

Ogata glanced at the village chief's left palm, which had been dragged down with **** with brute force, and sighed silently.

"The village chief, don't apologize to us." Ogata smiled and said, "It's not your fault, it's those in the army that are at fault."

"Thank you for your reminder, we will leave here immediately afterwards."

"...Mr. Mashima... (Ainu

At this time, an immature voice sounded.

It was Lilata's voice.

Ogata lowered his eyes and looked at Lilata who was holding the small windmill he had made tightly.

It was only then that Ogata discovered that the small windmill was damaged, and the blade was missing.

Lilata raised her head high and looked straight at Ogata.

His face was full of grievances.

"Sorry... I almost sold you... (Ainu

"This child insists on coming with the village chief to apologize to you..." Lilata's grandmother whispered at this time, "For these two days, this child has been blaming herself for almost betraying you... (Ainu language)

"Almost betrayed us?" Ogata asked back. "What do you mean?"

"The child said that she was beaten by a full 4 soldiers, and the beating was very painful. Because it was too painful, she had already planned to confess your whereabouts to get relief..."

Lilata's grandmother was wiping tears as she spoke.

"When she was about to tell your whereabouts, the soldiers left."

"Even though you didn't tell the soldiers your whereabouts in the end, this child still blamed himself in the past two days... said he was too shameless, and almost betrayed his savior... (Ainu language

Ogata listened quietly.

After listening to Aizan's translation, Ogata looked down again, looking at Lilata, who was now burying her head low and did not dare to look directly at Ogata.

Ogata just looked at Lilata quietly.

Until a moment later—

"...Lilata, thank you. For me for so long."

Ogata smiled lightly, knelt on one knee, let himself be level with Lilata's eyes.

"You are not shameless at all, you are already very brave. Faced with such a fierce torture, you can hold on for so long. I am at your age, and you may not be as brave as you."

After all, Ogata Chaozheng looked at him with a surprised look at Lilata and stretched out his hand.

"Come on, lend me the windmill."

Lilata looked at Ogata in front of her, then at the windmill in her hand, and then slowly passed the windmill in Ogata's hand.

Ogata took the windmill that Lilata handed over, and then took a leaf on the ground next to it.

Ogata's ten fingers flipped dexterously.

It was like turning into magic. In a blink of an eye, Ogata used the leaf he had just picked up to repair the damaged windmill in Lilata.

"Here." Ogata handed the windmill back to Lilata.

Lilata took the little windmill back in a daze.

Looking at the repaired windmill in her hand, Li Lata was blank.

Then, the backlog of emotions burst out all at once. She cried and said "thank you" to Ogata.

"The village chief, you hurry up and hide in the mountains." Ogata smiled at Lilata and stood up, "The village chief, Lilata...you have to take care."

"Yeah." The village head was also weeping at this time, "Thank you, Mr. Majima...you have to take care too..."

…

…

3 days later—

"...The above is the loss of our army."

"...Thanks." Inamori, who was sitting at the top, nodded to the general who had just been responsible for reporting the casualties, "Please sit down."

The general also bowed lightly to Inamori to show his return, and then sat back to his position.

"It's really miserable..." Inamori hugged his arms and whispered softly, "There is only one enemy coming, and you, who are sitting on an army of 3000, were beaten like this."

As soon as Inamori's words fell, the generals of the First Army in the camp, headed by Kuroda and Akizuki, all showed shame and embarrassment, and buried their heads low.

If there is a hole here, then many people present are afraid that they will go directly into the hole.

After these days of treatment, Qiuyue's body has recovered to the point where she can barely sit in a position to participate in military discussions.

After the attack on the camp, Kuroda, who temporarily took over the command, immediately dispatched a trustworthy general to the camp of the Second Army, the main force behind their First Army, and reported this to their army commander Inamori. The "attack incident" that is destined to make Inamori drop his jaw.

In fact, it was indeed the case—after Inamori heard the news, his entire jaw was about to fall off.

After sending a message to Inamori, Kuroda led the First Army to stay in place, waiting for Inamori's instructions and orders.

When Inamori learned that the First Army had suffered a major incident that could be called a "great scandal", he immediately conveyed the order of "Rapid March" to the 5,000-strength Second Army under his command.

In just 3 days, the Second Army caught up with the First Army on standby and merged with the First Army.

After merging with the First Army, Inamori wanted to see the life of the dead.

But because time has passed too long, and the body of Shengtianmu has been harvested, Inamori can only give up.

After the plan of "Looking at Life and One Eye" was abandoned, Inamori immediately summoned all the generals of the 1st and 2nd Army to convene a military meeting.

Because the participants will be all the generals of the First Army and the Second Army, the scale of the meeting is extremely large, and the generals will be full of camp tents.

Sitting in the main seat, it is naturally Inamori and Matsubishi Atsushi.

Just now, Inamori was listening to the damage of the First Army after it encountered Ogata Ichitosai's attack.

The death toll was 74, and the number of injuries was 168. Most of the casualties were not killed or injured by Ogata, but in the chaotic order.

The property losses were not particularly serious, but some of the camps and facilities were burned down and the luggage was intact.

The loss of the generals—especially serious.

Fully 3 generals were killed, and these 3 generals were all generals with a high status in the army.

The general of the First Army, Sheng Tianmu, died in a direct battle.

The other two shots in the "Xianzhou Seven Guns"-Tiandao and Zushang were also killed.

The "five shots" participating in this battle are now only Akizuki and Kuroda two shots. And the two remaining shots were both injured...

If the First Army was attacked by Ainu with more than a thousand people, Inamori could still accept the heavy casualties.

However... it was not the thousands of troops who brought such heavy losses to the First Army...

At first, when he learned that the camp had been attacked by a samurai, Inamori thought he had misheard.

Then-something magical happened.

Later, when he learned that the samurai who attacked the first barracks was the Ogata Yishi, Inamori suddenly had a magical idea of ​​"It is so understandable" and "No wonder the deaths and injuries are so heavy"...

"Oh..." Inamori let out a sigh, "I never thought...that Ogata Ichitosai was actually in this Ezo land..."

"And we even angered him unknowingly..."

"damn it…"

Based on the information currently known, I kept clarifying the reasons why Ogata Ichitosai made his way into the camp of the First Army.

On the day before the First Army was attacked, a young woman was injured and she was about to be taken away for torture.

Then...Ogata Ichitosai came and defeated the top troops. As soon as the top escaped back to the camp, Ogata Onetozai chased him, and then forcibly attacked the camp, killing the top with a single knife.

Once these pieces of information are integrated, it can be inferred that Ogata Itosai is for revenge.

Inamori guessed that the young woman must be a very important person to Ogata Idoseai, or Ogata Idoseai would not do such a crazy thing as "single camp".

Legally speaking, Ogata’s act of hitting the door to seek revenge is completely legal and encouraged.

The Edo Shogunate vigorously touted "Bushido" whose content has been distorted in order to maintain its own rule.

One of the core principles of "Bushido" in the Edo period is to value "honor" more than "life".

"Vengeance" is an important act to protect one's reputation and even the meaning of existence itself, so a very strange "culture of enmity" developed during the Edo period.

In the Edo period, "having grudges without retribution" was an act that was despised by everyone. The society is permeated with an atmosphere of "retaliation for grievances". If you have grievances and do not engage in enmity, you will be despised and despised by the people around you.

If the samurai does not retaliate, he will be punished such as "deprived of the right to inherit the family property."

There are still various rules on how to take revenge. For example: You can find someone to help you revenge, but you must do it yourself when you kill the enemy.

Another example: repeated revenge is forbidden, that is, no revenge is allowed on those who succeed in revenge.

Another example: affirm the honor of enmity, but enmity will still be punished. In other words, after you succeed in revenge, everyone will praise you, but you will still be punished for "homicide."

Because of this strange culture of hatred, many people still praised and respected him when Ogata committed the crime of murder that shocked the country a year and a half ago.

Therefore, according to this weird "culture of revenge", Ogata's act of rushing into the camp to avenge is worthy of recognition and praise...

If someone else’s army was attacked by Ogata Ichitosai, then Inamori might praise Ogata Ichitosai and Keishosai for his courage.

But the problem is—the army that was attacked was his army...

"The coach!"

At this time, a certain general shouted loudly.

This general was a general of the Second Army, and he was probably in his early 20s. This general, who was just at his age, spoke generously.

"This matter must never be forgotten!"

The young general just wanted to say something, Inamori raised his hand first, indicating that he didn't need to say more.

What the young general wanted to say, Inamori guessed—it was nothing more than the heinous act of trespassing their camp by Chen Ogata Ichitosai, and then asked Inamori to send troops to pursue Ogata Itosai.

"Everyone is safe and restless."

Inamori said in a calm tone.

"I can understand your mood."

"When such a thing happened, I was so heartbroken."

"But everyone shouldn't miss a big thing because of a small thing. I missed a big event for the sake of one Ogata Ichitosai."

"Why are we launching an army of ten thousand this time?"

"It's to calm the Red Moon Fortress."

"Not here to pursue Ogata Ichitosai."

"We should not put the cart before the horse now."

"We should now do our best to fulfill the heavy responsibility of'pacifying the Red Moon Fortress'."

As soon as Inamori's voice came to an end, Matsudai Dingxin, who was sitting next to Inamori, said nonchalantly:

"Inamori is right."

"It is not possible to delay the settlement of the Red Moon Fortress due to a mere Ogata One Sword Fast."

The military commander and the veteran of the shogunate both spoke, expressing the same point of view-how oppressive it is.

But in the face of this tremendous pressure, there are still some young generals who are still young and who are not afraid of tigers, bit their necks and said:

"But... coach, just ignore Ogata Ichitosai?"

"Of course not." Inamori said without hesitation, "I just said that you can't miss a major event because of an Ogata Ichitosai."

"After that, we will continue to advance the Red Moon Fortress step by step according to the plan."

"But starting today, the number of scouts will be doubled...no, tripled!"

"Let all the scouts beware of all the young and people along the way."

Inamori's eyes flashed with cold light.

"If you can find the trace of Ogata Ichitosai on the way to the Red Moon Fortress, that's naturally the best."

"If you can't find it, it doesn't matter."

"After the Red Moon Fortress is settled... Let's think about how to deal with Ogata Ichitosai who is now lurking in Ezo land."

The cold light in Inamori's eyes was so strong at this moment as if he could cut that person's skin when looking at someone.

*******

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PS1: Thanks to the book friend [Silent Kylin]!

This book friend found me before and said that he liked Ogata very much, so he asked an artist to draw Ogata's character pictures.

Last night, this book friend had already shown me the draft-it was great!

Now this role chart is only a draft stage, and it will take some time to finalize it.

I will ask this book friend later to see if he agrees that I will release this character picture in the form of an "Easter Egg Patch"~~

PS2: Yesterday, a book friend told me-I hope I can write this book a little longer, because I am afraid that the book will be short after the end of this book.

The author is here to tell you a little news.

The author is extremely fond of samurai-themed works, and only writes a samurai novel, and always feels that the meaning is difficult, so after discussing with the editor, he decided to write a big series-"Samurai Trilogy".

This "I was a swordsman in ancient Japan" (also known as "Ichitosai") is the first part of the trilogy.

【【【Three works share a world view and timeline】】】

When I was in Volume 5, UU Reading www.uukanshu.com mentioned to you that I planned to write another samurai novel with the background of the Bakumatsu (the end of the Edo period) after the end of the book—this is not "Planned", but "OK".

The second part of the trilogy is set in the end of the shogunate.

Those who have watched "Rurouni Kenshin" should be familiar with the background of the era of "Bakura".

Let’s reveal so much for now, the rest of the details of the second part and what era will be the background of the third part, I will keep it confidential for the time being, and then I will tell you slowly~~

The first part is the middle and late Edo period, which has been in peace for a long time.

The second part is the end of the shogunate era.

Which era will the third part be—you can guess it~~

The backgrounds of the times of the trilogy are different, so the protagonist’s golden fingers and the main active stage of the protagonist are different, so you don’t have to worry that the content of the second and third parts will be very similar to the current one.