I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Edo, Shimada's mansion, in a certain room—

"Master, I just told the master about your return. He said that he would like to see you before Yamada Asaemon begins to test the knife." Yahimei said, "Please wait a moment. Wait a moment, Master, he should be here soon."

"Yeah." Shimada nodded, "Hachibei, thank you very much."

"Shimada." Makimura, who was sitting behind Shimada's side, gave a smirk. "Are you nervous now?"

"It's nothing to be nervous." Shimada glanced at Makimura with a helpless look, "I just saw my father, whom I haven't seen for a long time, and I'm not here to meet the blind date."

Wow.

As soon as Shimada's voice fell, the side door of the room suddenly heard the sound of the door being opened-a middle-aged man with an expressionless face followed the opened side door into the room.

The middle-aged man had just entered, and Hachibei, who was kneeling behind Shimada, immediately put his forehead on the tatami and saluted the middle-aged man respectfully.

After the middle-aged man entered, Shimada immediately felt like a conditioned reflex. He straightened his waist and adjusted his sitting posture to a very standard.

This middle-aged man sat directly opposite Mucun and the others at such an unpleasant speed. As soon as his buttocks touched the tatami, he said in a non-sorrowful tone:

"...It's been a long time, Katsirokuro. It seems you are doing pretty well outside."

"I've heard everything from Hachibei. Are you Inuzi's friend?"

The middle-aged man turned his attention to the pastoral village.

"At Shimoshimada Soichiro." The middle-aged man said, "Welcome to my house as a guest. It has been a long time since I have such a young guest here."

-This is Shimada's father: Shimada Soichiro?

Makimura said secretly in his heart, and at the same time gave Soichiro a courtesy of neither humble nor overbearing:

"When we first met, it was Shimada's friend, Yahachi Makimura."

Makimura used to be the power of Kyoto, and he has long been familiar with "what kind of person and what kind of courtesy".

"Since you are Inuzi's friend, you don't need to be polite, please raise your head quickly."

After raising his head, Mu Cun silently looked at a middle-aged man sitting opposite him.

Already black and white hair and beard, no chin, but there are short beards on the lips that are not very popular in this era, and his eyes are big and energetic. His old posture is not commensurate with his vigorous appearance. .

If Makimura is asked to comment on Soichiro's appearance, he is a person who "seems to be a very capable official."

Looking at Mucun, whose attitude is neither humble nor overbearing, Soichiro's eyes flashed a touch of appreciation.

"Katsurokuro, it seems you have a good friend."

"...I have gained a group of close friends who are worthy of trust—this is the biggest gain since I left home." Shimada finally said the first sentence since Soichiro entered the house at this time.

Soichiro looked up and down Shimada several times with sharp eyes that seemed to show Shimada's entire body through.

"I still have a lot of things to ask you. But I'll leave them all inquiries for later."

"I have made an appointment with the Yamada Asemon family to have a knife test at this time. Can't let people wait too long."

"After the knife test is over, let's have a good talk again."

"Katsurokuro, Makimura-kun, are you planning to wait for me in this room, or walk with me in the courtyard to see how the famous Yamada Asemon does his sword?"

Makimura and Shimada raised their eyebrows at the same time in a tacit understanding, then looked at each other a few times and began to discuss in a low voice...

…

…

Shimada's house, courtyard—

"Shimada." Makimura lowered the volume and whispered to Shimada at a volume that only he and Shimada could hear. "You are a native of Edo. You have seen Yamada Asemon before. Knife?"

"I haven't seen it before." Shimada replied, "My family rarely asks Yamada Asemon to try a knife. I have never taken the initiative to learn about this ‘executioner family’."

Makimura and Shimada have heard about Yamada Asemon's daimyo for a long time, but they have never seen how they tried their swords.

So the two of them just summed up—instead of waiting in that room for Soichiro to return, it’s better to come for a taste and see how the long-heard "Shogunate Sword Tester" tried the knife.

After being taken to the courtyard, Mucun found that there were quite a lot of people in the courtyard. These people were probably the retainers of the Shimada family. They accompanied Soichiro to watch the knife test. They sat in various places in the courtyard according to their status and status. .

Makimura looked around the courtyard and found that he could not see who was Yamada Asemon, so he chose to surrender and ask the Hachibei behind for help: "Mr. Hachibei, who is Yamada Asemon? ?"

Hachibei was sent by Soichiro to attend Makimura and Shimada with him, so he is now kneeling behind Makimura and Shimada.

Hachibei is also a master of small talk. He whispered in a voice that would not be heard by a third person except Makimura and Shimada:

"Yamada Asaemon hasn't come yet, it's still in preparation."

"This time it is not the current patriarch of Yamada Asemon, but the son of the current patriarch who came to try the sword."

"Because Yamada Asemon has been cutting people and trying swords for generations. This is their family business. So their descendants will be trained as executioners from birth, and each of them is a good swordsman."

"Because there are so many people who come to ask for a knife test, the Yamada Asemon family often asks younger descendants of their family to do it for them."

"The Yamada Asemon family is now passed down to the seventh generation. The current seven generations of Yamada Asemon is called "Yamada Asemon Fumaki"."

"Wen Xianyu has two sons. He often asks his two sons to test the sword for others on his behalf."

"But it's a pity-one of Wen Xian's two sons has been missing several years ago."

"It is said: Wen Xian's missing son has outstanding personal abilities. Since his disappearance, their family has been completely overwhelmed by the shortage of manpower."

"Now I have to invite Yamada Asaemon to try the sword. They often have to wait for a long time because they are too busy."

"We went to ask Yamada Asaemon to test the knife many days ago. But they waited until today to finally be free."

"One of the sons is missing?" Mucun frowned, "How did he disappear? Was it killed by some enemy?"

"This...I don't know." Hachibei laughed awkwardly. "Bun Xian seems to be secretive about the reason for his son's disappearance. Very few people tell outsiders how and why his son disappeared. …Ah, Master, Makimura-sama, please look over there. The young man over there is the one who came to try the knife today—Yasada Asemon Yoshiasa."

Makimura looked in the direction of Hachibei's chin: only an expressionless young man who was as petite as Shimada, walked from the corner of the courtyard to the center of the courtyard at an unhurried speed. .

Behind him were several people dressed up as attendants, who were pushing a trolley on which was placed a large unknown object wrapped in straw mats.

"This young man is the current Yamada Asemon: Bunhien's son, Yoshiasa." Hachibei then introduced to Makimura and the others, "He will be responsible for trying the knife for us today."

"Since one of Wenxian's sons disappeared, Yichao has become Wenxian's only son."

"As long as there is no accident, Yoshiho is the next patriarch of the Yamada Asemon family, and he succeeds Yatsume Yamada Asemon."

Shimada nodded from time to time while listening to Hachibei's introduction.

After Hachibei's voice fell, Shimada asked:

"Hachibei, what is the wheelbarrow pushed by the waiters behind Yoshizawa? It looks heavy."

"On the trolley, those things wrapped in straw mats are corpses." Hachibei said lightly.

He ignored Shimada who looked surprised, and then said:

"The Yamada Asemon family is not only the queen tester, but also the executioner."

"The heads of death row prisoners sentenced to'beheading' were beheaded on the execution ground, and the samurai who were ordered to have their abdomen cut off... These tasks have always been the responsibility of the Yamada Asemon family."

"The corpses of the people killed by them are basically handed over to them."

"The usable gall from these corpses will be taken out to make the famous'human gall pill'."

"The corpse after the gall is taken away will be placed in good health. After someone comes to ask them to try the knife, they will take the corpses in their inventory to try the knife."

"Of course-"Yamada Asaemon comes to the door with test tools", only in Edo."

"If someone from outside of Edo comes and asks Yamada Asemon to test the knife, of course they can't take the corpse to a distant place."

"So people outside of Edo come to ask Yamada Asemon to test the knife, and they must bring their own corpse and other materials for the knife-this is also an unwritten rule."

"...I've heard it before—the house of the Yamada Asemon family is full of corpses." Shimada twitched his lips. "So is it true?"

"The Yamada Asemon family stocked a lot of corpses-this is true, but they shouldn't be kept at home." Hachibei laughed a few times, "I don't know whether they put the corpses Where to put it, but I guess they should have a special place to store corpses, and they don’t put all the corpses at home."

While they listened to the various introductions of Hachibei in Makimura, Yoshiho was already in the middle of the courtyard, and his waiters were ready to test the sword.

They first used clay and other utensils to prepare the "earth altar" where the corpses were placed. Then he untied the straw mat on the trolley, revealing the scene under the straw mat-7 corpses.

I didn't look at it carefully just now. Now after taking a closer look at Yi Chao, Mu Cun found that this man is really young.

It seems that he is not even 20 years old. At such a young age, he is very proficient in the process of knife testing. He is easy to prepare for the knife test, completes the necessary ritual work, and then takes the knife from the attendant next to it— This is probably the sword that Soichiro wants Yamada Asemon to test its performance.

After Yi Chao took the treasured sword, two attendants laid a corpse on the freshly built earth altar with extremely skillful movements.

Seeing that the knife test was about to begin, Mucun opened his eyes wide and began to look attentively.

Trying a knife with human flesh has a complicated process. In order to fully grasp the performance of the knife, the corpse will be placed in various poses and then cut various parts.

Yi Chao first made a vertical split, cutting the first flesh in half into his chest.

The blood of this flesh was probably drained beforehand, and there was no drop of blood flowing out after being chopped in half.

After Yi Chao finished the first cut, the waiter next to him immediately stepped forward and put on a new body. The new body was placed in a sitting position that was convenient for Yi Chao to chop his shoulder.

They just keep repeating these steps.

The waiter adjusts the position of the body, and Yi Chao is responsible for chopping.

Soon, it came to the last step—the waiters stacked the seven bodies they brought together, while Yi Chao raised the treasured knife in his palm high and aimed it at the stacked "Roshan". Hack down.

The knife cleaved three fleshy bodies in one go, and stopped when the blade was inserted into the fourth fleshy body.

"Three carcasses," Yi Chao said softly, "Nice sword."

Yi Chao wiped the blade clean, returned the sword to its sheath, and then bowed to Soichiro and others, using his actions to announce the end of the knife trial to everyone.

After Yoshitogō Soichiro saluted, the surrounding Shimada clan servants who came to watch the sword test all exclaimed and praised Yishō's exquisite swordsmanship.

Mucun is also a swordsman, so naturally he can understand the way to try the sword.

In the eyes of people who don't understand swordsmanship, it probably just feels that Yoshio is just slashing a few randomly.

But in the eyes of people like Mucun and others who know how to do it, Yi Chao's series of knife-testing movements just now were of extremely high standards.

Anyone who has swung a real knife knows how accurate a real knife is, and how difficult it is to swing such a heavy real knife to accurately chop objects.

While Yichao held such a heavy knife, he swung his sword without a slight tremor. He chopped wherever he wanted to. His chest, which was very difficult to chop due to the large number of bones, was also cut in two like tofu with his knife. .

Only from his incomparably precise swinging of a knife and his ability to break bones easily, it is enough to see that this young man is not a waiter.

Makimura recognized the final knife test action of Yishō-this is a very classic way to test the sharpness of a knife.

"Three carcasses" means that they can sever the flesh of three human beings.

It is said that the highest record so far is the "seven carcass cut" created by Nakanishi Juro Bingbei in the 9th year of Yanbao (1681 AD).

"Master Shimada!" Yi Chao said loudly.

Perhaps because of his young age, there was still a little childishness in Yi Chao's voice.

"It's worthy of being ‘California’s living in Fujishima and Heavi’! It’s been a long time since I cut off three human bodies so easily. I deserve the name ‘Treasure Sword’."

"Yamada-kun, thank you for your hard work." Soichiro also stood up with a smile at this time, "As expected of the Yamada Asemon family, so young, they have such exquisite swordsmanship, I have to be admirable."

Soichiro stepped forward and exchanged greetings with Yoshizhao for a while. Soichiro hoped that Yoshito would stay at their house for a while so that they could continue to do their best as a landlord, but Yoshito politely declined.

Jian Yizhao had no intention of staying at their home for a long time, and Soichiro didn't try to force it to stay, which was embarrassing.

Yichao said that he would prepare the appraisal letter as soon as possible, and after sending him to your home, he asked the attendants to load the carcass with the knife tried and prepare to go home.

Yamada Asemon also has a "tag" in Edo, that is, the service is very good.

Not only will they bring their own corpses and other test knife materials to the door, but they will also bring these materials back after the knife is tested.

Yamada Asaemon will write an appraisal certificate for each knife after he has tried it. In which year, month and day, he will appraise the knife, and what is the performance of the knife.

With this appraisal, the owner of the knife can prove to outsiders that this knife has been inspected by the "shogunate imperial knife tester", and it is an undoubted treasure.

…

…

Makimura and Shimada returned to the room where Soichiro met for the first time.

After Soichiro personally sent Yoshizō to leave their Shimada mansion, he led Makimura and Shimada back to this room.

In the room, there were only 3 people from Soichiro, Shimada, and Makimura at this time.

"Okay, Katsurokuro. Let's have a good chat first." Toichiro's tone was very calm, and there seemed to be no sentiment in it. "You have been away from home... for nearly 2 years."

"2 years ago, you said to me: Do you want to rely on your own strength to make a name without relying on the power of your family."

"Now 2 years have passed, have you succeeded in making something famous?"

"...Have not made any great achievements yet." Shimada said lightly.

"Then can you tell me about what you have done outside the past two years?"

After a moment of silence, Shimada shook his head: "...I'm sorry, please allow me to keep it a secret. The only thing I can tell you is that I have never slackened on myself."

"Don't you want to tell me... that's all."

Soichiro looked carefully at Shimada's eyes: "It doesn't look like you are talking big. Your eyes have become a little sharper than before."

"What are you doing when you come back to see me this time?"

"It's just coming to see my father whom I haven't seen for a long time." Shimada replied, "To be honest: If someone hadn't persuaded me to come back, I actually didn't intend to come back."

"That's it..." Soichiro didn't smile a few times, "Then what are your plans for the future?"

"After that, I will continue to walk my own path." Shimada's voice is sonorous and powerful, "'I don't rely on the power of the family, but rely on my personal struggle to achieve incredible achievements'-my original intention, Never changed."

"So..." Soichiro nodded lightly, "Then you can work hard."

After that, Soichiro turned his head and glanced out the window.

Then asked a question that was irrelevant to the topic just now:

"It's almost noon now, do you want to stay for lunch?"

Shimada didn't expect Soichiro to ask this kind of question. After stunned for the meeting, he replied, "No. I don't plan to stay for lunch."

"Are you planning to leave before noon?"

"Well. That's how I planned it."

"..." After being silent for a while, Soichiro nodded, "Well then. Since you are leaving, then I won't keep you."

"Katsurokuro, what exactly are you doing outside, I won't ask too much. As long as you don't do anything that is unreasonable."

"Then..." At this point, Soichiro paused, and after hesitating for a while, he continued, "If you are tired from roaming outside... just come back."

Shimada looked at his father in front of him with surprised and stunned eyes.

After a while, he recovered.

"Um...I will."

…

…

Shimada and Makimura walked out of the Shimada mansion side by side.

As soon as she stepped out of the mansion, Makimura couldn't wait to say to Shimada:

"I always thought that your relationship with your father was very bad, that's why you resisted returning home."

"And now, it doesn't seem to be the case. I always feel that your father is not too bad for you."

"To be honest... I was also taken aback." Shimada turned to look at the Shimada mansion behind him, "My father two years ago, he was not so talkative..."

"Two years ago, I had a big quarrel with my father."

"When I told my father that I wanted to go out and make a career without relying on the power of my family, my father yelled at me."

"Said that I can't succeed at all, let me stay at home honestly and prepare for future inheritance of Shimada's family business."

"At that time, my father and I were arguing with knives... I finally escaped from home in a nearly brutal way..."

"Do you want to get out of the spotlight on your own..." Makimura grinned, "Although you knew you had always had such a goal when you first joined us, you never asked why you wanted to do this. . Have you ever been stimulated, so you decided to leave the family’s protection and support?"

"There is no particularly complicated reason..." Shimada raised his hand and grabbed his hair. "A lot of people have thoughts like this-I want to rely on my own strength to achieve remarkable achievements without relying on the power of the family."

"And I am not only a part of this kind of person, but I also have the ability to act. When everyone else just dared to "think", I did it. Then, 2 years ago, I explained to my father. After meeting my ambition, I had a big quarrel with my father, and then ignoring my father’s persuasion, left home, and started a journey of my own."

"You are also a person with a very rich personal experience." Mucun shrugged, "Do you want to rely on your own strength to become famous...Haha, this should be regarded as a trouble that only rich children like you can have."

"Don't call me rich boy." Shimada said grimly, "you should know, I don't like this name."

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Mucun said haha, "but do you really want to leave like this? Anyway, stay with your father for lunch after a long absence."

Shimada shook his head: "Two years ago, after leaving home, I secretly vowed to myself: If I don’t go to the next famous hall and let my father who asserted that I can’t succeed take a good look, I will never go home, and I will never go home. money."

"If it weren't for the lord to persuade me to go home, I wouldn't have planned to come back today."

"Why do you take such a troublesome oath..." Mu Cun said in a helpless tone.

Shimada turned his head again and glanced at the Shimada family mansion that had almost disappeared from behind.

"Actually, think about it carefully now... Two years ago, when I decided to leave home and break my head, I was really reckless..." Shimada smiled bitterly. Did not bring any money."

"After leaving Edo recklessly, I quickly ran into the dilemma of having no money to eat."

"I'm lucky too-when I was so hungry that I was about to pick up trash to eat, I ran into the lord who happened to be coming to Edo to do business."

"The lord did not directly give me money or food."

"Instead, I asked me to help her carry the luggage, as long as she helped her transport the luggage to Edo, I would be paid 100 cents."

"I remember very clearly that I finally bought 2 red bean paste buns with these 100 texts-they were the most delicious red bean paste buns I have ever eaten in my life."

"That's it—I got acquainted with the lord who almost saved my life, and before I knew it, I became a member of the gourd house."

"The process of joining the gourd house is quite similar to me." Makimura smiled, "I abandoned Yuli's official position and left Kyoto, but because of the money spent, I almost fell into picking up rubbish. The dilemma of eating."

"Fortunately, I met the lord in time, and as you just said, the lord gave me an errand with money to do, so I finally had a long meal."

"Then I became a part of the gourd house without knowing it."

"That's it... I didn't expect that the process of joining the Calabash House, Senior Makura, is very similar to me." Shimada smiled brightly because he found the same kind. "By the way... I never know how the seniors joined the Calabash House. That's it."

"Why did Asai-senpai join the gourd house? Has he also been saved by the lord?"

"The process of joining the gourd house is quite ordinary." Makimura shrugged. "He was originally a samurai of the Satsuma clan. Because his salary was so low that his life was too low, he left the clan and became a ronin, planning to go out and fight hard."

"Not long after I left Satsuma, I ran into the lord. Because the lord's open wages were very high, he joined the gourd house."

"The process of joining the Calabash House is really ordinary..." Shimada said, "Where is the senior man in the palace?"

"Mamiya..." Mucun twitched his mouth, "I don't know."

Shimada: "Huh?"

"It's not that you don't know that the fellow Mamiya has always been mysterious." Makimura shrugged. "He never said his previous things. He also kept secret about how he joined the gourd house."

"The only thing I can be sure of is that he was the first to follow the lord, and then he was very trusted by the lord."

"Mamiya-senpai did some shameful work before, right?" Shimada said in a half-joking tone. "That's why it has always been like this. I don't want to mention anything about him before."

"Who knows." Mucun shrugged again, "Anyway-he doesn't want to say more about his past, let's not ask too much."

"When Mamiya intends to talk about his past, he will naturally talk about it."

"Okay, let's go hurry up, I'm starving to death. Hurry up and go back to the lord's lunch."

…

…

Ezo land, somewhere in the north—

"Look! There are lights ahead!" Lin Ziping, who was sitting behind Ogata, pointed forward.

Because of the low temperature, every breath that Lin Ziping exhaled turned into white mist.

"Tuohe Village is in front!" Lin Ziping then shouted loudly.

"Is it finally here..." Ogata whispered, then quietly increased his horse speed.

It was already evening, the sky had turned into a bleak dark blue, and the Ainu settlements in the distance were all lit up.

Ogata and the others have not encountered any accidents since they encountered the huge snowstorm two days ago, and they arrived at the village of Toha smoothly all the way.

According to Lin Ziping, after arriving in Tuohe Village, he was very close to Kanto Village where the weird doctor lives.

After Ogata's group rushed to the distant Toho Village, the villagers of Toho Village also quickly spotted the uninvited guest. Ogata caught a glimpse of many men holding various weapons and pouring out of the village. .

"It's me! Lin Ziping! (Ainu Lin Ziping shouted to the men who rushed out of the village with weapons.

Afterwards, the villagers who rushed out of the village made a small commotion, and then slowly put away their weapons.

In order to show courtesy, Ogata and the others got off their horses and walked after reaching a distance of more than ten steps from the village.

When they led their horses and approached the villagers who were between them and the village, an old man walked out of the villagers and slowly greeted Ogata and others.

Lin Ziping: "Orowa! Long time no see! (Ainu

"Lin Ziping, it's been a long time." The old man named Olowa by Lin Ziping nodded with a smile.

…

…

Ezo Di, Toho Village, the home of the village head (Orowa)—

The old man named Orowa by Lin Ziping is the head of this Tuohe village.

After being confirmed harmless due to Lin Ziping's relationship, Ogata and others were taken to Orowa's home.

"The way to make a fire... This is definitely the greatest discovery ever made by mankind..." Acho, who was trembling from the cold, murmured like a demon as he moved his hands close to the flame that was boiling the thick soup.

I don’t know if it’s because they went all the way to the north, so the climate is getting colder and colder, or because there has been another cold wave recently. The extent to which the flame is held in his arms.

While Amachi was approaching the flames to warm up, Ogata and Lin Zihei were negotiating with Olowa.

"Um...I understand the specific reasons." Olowa nodded, "You seem to let us take you to Kanto Village... (Ainu

"Yes." Lin Ziping nodded, "Because it's been too long, I don't remember the exact location of Kanto Village, so I have to trouble you to send someone to take us. (Ainu)."

"...I can give you a picture map. But I can't send someone to take you. (Ainu Olowa shook his head.

"Huh? Why? (Ainu Lin Ziping asked puzzledly.

"Because there hasn't been much peace here recently." Olowa slowly said, "Pirates appeared here recently. (Ainu

"Huh? Pirate? Here?! (Ainu Lin Ziping exclaimed. UU reading www.uukanshu.com

"Mr. Lin, what did Mr. Olowa just say?" Ogata asked.

"Olowa said that pirates have recently appeared here."

"Huh? Pirate? Here?!" Ogata exclaimed exactly the same as Lin Ziping just now.

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Today's chapter is a long-lost chapter with more than 8,000 words.

Not only the word count is very conscientious, but the content is also very conscientious. I have written a lot of important details in this chapter that you will definitely overlook if you don't read it carefully.

So it is recommended that you read this chapter carefully, and don't just go for it.

For the sake of the author's conscience, please vote for me more monthly tickets (Leopard has a headache. jpg)

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