I formed the strongest swordsman group

Gyeonggi region, Seongshang County, Shinsengumi camp——

The weather is quite mild today.

Satin-like sunlight drifted down from the eastern sky.

Gradually the dawn clouds turned into bright colors, as gorgeous as ribbons.

Looking up, the wilderness is filled with light blue mist, full of lingering night air.

Light onion-colored feather fabric, chainmail, arm armor, leg armor... neatly dressed, Qingden slowly walked out of the tent where he lived, stood with his sword in hand, and looked at the rising sun.

The pale golden morning light illuminated his thoughtful expression.

"Tangerine-kun, you got up really early."

Before the words were spoken, people had arrived.

Kondo Isamu walked slowly to Qingto's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, while yawning widely. His gorilla-like mouth was so wide that it seemed like he could fit two fists in it.

"I just got up."

"Huh? Mr. Tachibana, what are you thinking about? Why do you look so worried?"

Qingdeng laughed dumbly:

"It's nothing, just...a little emotional."

Before Isamu Kondo could ask any further questions, Aoto continued on his own:

"Somehow, after seeing this endless wilderness, I can't help but feel sad for spring and autumn."

"Looking back three years ago, I was just a nobody."

"And now... just three years later, I have become the general of the shogunate with an army of three thousand."

"This journey... has been really emotional."

After hearing this, Isamu Kondo nodded solemnly, with a serious and serious look on his cheeks.

"Well, Tachibana-kun, I understand how you feel."

"I'm feeling it too."

"Three years ago, I was just a teacher at the 'Taro Dojo' where there were few apprentices."

"Who would have thought that someone like me would become the director of the world-famous Shinsengumi."

Speaking of this, Kondo Isamu paused.

Suddenly, he let out a sigh of relief:

"Tachibana-kun, after this battle, you should... no, you will definitely be promoted to daimyo! Become the master of a city and a land!"

Speaking of this, Kondo Isamu's eyes showed a look of explicit envy.

"Daimyo... Daimyo... so wonderful! This is the highest ideal of many samurai!"

"If you can become a famous person, you will be truly successful!"

"Mr. Ju, Ah Sui and I have discussed your enfeoffment location."

"We all think that you will most likely be enfeoffed in the Gyeonggi area."

"You shoulder the important responsibility of guarding the capital and guarding the western border for the shogunate."

"That being the case, there's no reason to sequester you to a remote backwater."

Yu Kondo said with excitement.

Qingdeng was stunned for a moment, then slowly showed a mixture of emotions and murmured:

"The lord of one city and one land..."

In the Edo period, anyone with a little common sense knew what "becoming a daimyo" meant.

It means owning your own land.

It means that you will have your own territory.

It means becoming the de facto monarch!

It means that you will receive the supreme honor that everyone envies!

Of course, Qingdeng pays more attention to the tangible and tangible benefits than to those superficial things.

In Qingto's view, the biggest benefit of becoming a daimyo is that he will have more abundant resources to achieve his goals!

To be honest, the current development of the Shinsengumi has reached a bottleneck... or in other words: the Shinsengumi Chamber of Commerce's revenue-generating ability has reached its limit.

Although silver mirror is a hugely profitable industry that occupies a monopoly position, no matter how huge profits it makes, it will eventually have its limit.

The army is one of the few gold-eating behemoths in human history.

According to Yataro Iwasaki's reliable calculations, the Shinseng Chamber of Commerce's current revenue-generating ability is already its limit in maintaining a cold weapon force of 3,000 people.

In order to increase his income, Iwasaki Yataro has already expanded his financial resources as much as possible and continuously enriched the profit-making methods of the newly selected chamber of commerce.

For example: purchased land on the outskirts of Kyoto and dammed the river to create farmland.

Another example: purchasing ships to develop ocean trade.

However, these are slow revenue-generating methods.

It will be 1 or 2 years before rice seedlings grow in these new fields.

But... everything will be completely different once you have your own fiefdom!

First of all, Thanh Deng will be able to increase revenue through traditional means, that is, by collecting agricultural taxes, tariffs and other taxes.

Secondly, Qingdeng could transform the Sinseng Chamber of Commerce into a "state-owned enterprise" of the feudal state and do larger and more profitable business.

All in all, becoming a daimyo means having more stable and abundant financial resources!

By then, he will be able to further expand the size of the Shinsengumi! And transform it into a real modern army!

Due to limited financial resources and the lack of reliable and stable purchasing channels, Qingdeng has been slow to install firearms in the new group.

Moreover, continuing to purchase firearms from Western arms dealers is not a long-term solution after all.

There is a saying that “Buying is worse than making”.

Western arms dealers have taken advantage of your lack of industrial technology, so they have raised the price of guns extremely high. A flintlock gun can be sold for several taels of gold, and the premium is extremely serious.

Once he has his own fiefdom, Qingden can build a military factory in his territory like Satsuma, introduce advanced technology from the Western world, and vigorously develop industrial capabilities!

At that time, not only will the Shinsengumi be able to use "domestic guns", but the Shinseng Chamber of Commerce will also be able to sell industrial products to all of Japan and make a lot of money!

Thinking of this, Qingdeng couldn't help but feel excited! I can’t help but imagine the future “farming life”.

Of course, obscenity comes from obscenity.

After a brief "fantasy time", Qingdeng's thoughts gradually returned to reality.

He smiled, and then half-jokingly said to Isamu Kondo:

"Yong, let's leave these distant things to the future and think about them slowly."

"Now...let us focus on the current war first."

As he spoke, he turned back handsomely, his light green feathers raised high!

"Gaotori Castle is still in enemy hands, it's time to take it back."

"Give me the order - break up the camp! Go out into battle! Take back Gaotori Castle!"

…

…

At this moment, Shishi County south of Chengshang County——

"Ha...ha...ha...ha...ha...ha..."

"I can't do it anymore...I really can't walk anymore..."

"Mr. Yoshimura, please take a rest!"

Yoshimura Tontaro licked his dry lips and turned to look at his comrades... Correction, the only remaining comrades.

Looking around, it's a miserable scene...

In order to escape the pursuit of the Shinsengumi, Yoshimura Torataro and others ran away selflessly and desperately...

It vividly demonstrates what it means to be "a rat scurrying around" and what it means to be "a trembling crane in the wind".

He accidentally fell down and didn't bother to check his bruised legs and feet. He hurriedly got up and continued running away.

Seeing the comrades beside them gradually falling behind due to lack of physical strength, they did not bother to give them a hand - in fact, after encountering this situation, many people would secretly feel lucky in their hearts.

The companions have fallen behind, which means that the Shinsengumi's pursuit troops will be busy killing these slow guys, and their chances of escaping will be greatly increased.

In this way, Yoshimura Tontaro and others ran for a whole night, from night to dawn... God knows how they did it.

This is probably what is called the desire to survive.

Driven by the desire to survive, everyone burst out with extraordinary physical strength and ran from Seongshang County to Shishi County in the south.

After running wildly for a whole night, they, the lucky survivors, all became extremely embarrassed.

Not to mention sweating profusely, the clothes on his body were stained by sweat and blood until they lost their original color.

In addition, due to the intense consumption of physical strength and the long time without eating a grain of rice or dripping water, everyone including Yoshimura Torataro was visibly weak, their complexions were extremely pale, and their dry lips looked like they had been for a long time. Drought-cracked fields.

Several people were even crumbling, as if they would fall to the ground at any time.

At first glance, they no longer look like a group of warriors who have dedicated their lives to the Zunzheng Movement. Instead, they look more like a group of pitiful beggars. When people see them, they can't help but throw out a few copper coins to reward them.

Yoshimura Torataro stretched his neck and looked to the north with trepidation.

The light green haori is not visible.

No rapid hooves or footsteps could be heard.

——It seems that we should be safe for now...

Yoshimura Tontaro thought for a while and nodded:

"Well... let's rest for a while."

As soon as these words came out, everyone at the scene was immediately relieved, and in the next breath, they fell to the ground in confusion.

"Hey, do you have water?"

"I drank it all long ago."

"So thirsty..."

"Well... I'm so hungry..."

Yoshimura Tontaro found a flat stone at random and sat down with a dejected look on his face.

Suddenly, Matsumoto Kuitou's voice sounded from beside him:

"Yoshimura-kun, I still have some water left... take it and drink it."

Matsumoto Kuitou held an old gourd in his hand and limped towards Yoshimura Tontaro.

Although he suffered a disastrous defeat in which he even lost his underpants, fortunately, his two closest confidants - Tetsushi Fujimoto and Keitou Matsumoto - are still alive.

Yoshimura Tontaro glanced at Matsumoto Kuitou's dry, white lips, and gently shook his head:

"No, I'm not thirsty yet. You can drink it yourself."

"This, how can this be done! Yoshimura-kun, don't refuse, drink now!"

The two of them just declined back and forth.

In the end, Matsumoto Kuitou couldn't defeat Yoshimura Tontaro.

He licked his lips vigorously, then his eyes glowed green, and he drank the few sips of water left in the bottle with a "gurgling, gurgling" sound.

His ferocious posture is like that of a whale sucking cattle, as if even if Lake Baikal is in front of him, he can still drink it all.

While the other party was drinking water, Yoshimura Tontaro asked aloud:

"Matsumoto-kun, how many troops do we have left?"

When he finished speaking, Matsumoto Kuitou just put down the empty gourd.

"Including the two of us, there are only 86 people left who can move freely..."

Although he had been mentally prepared accordingly, after hearing these harsh numbers, Yoshimura Tontaro couldn't help but feel his heart tremble.

In just half a day, there were only 86 people left in the 3,000-strong army...

Basically... no, the entire army was completely wiped out!

Yoshimura Tontaro closed his eyes in pain, turned his back to the sky, and took several deep breaths.

With this look, he seemed to be holding back his tears, forcing them to flow back.

Matsumoto Kuitang hesitated for a moment, then stammered and asked:

"Yoshimura-kun... we... what should we do next?"

"..."

Mr. Yoshimura remained silent and did not respond for a long time.

At this moment, a loud shout came from not far away.

"What should we do? Is there any need to say that? Of course we should fight to the end!"

Yoshimura Toratarou suddenly opened his eyes and turned to look at the person who was talking.

The man was a big and strong man with messy hair and dark skin, about 35 years old.

This man's name is Nasu Shingo, a native of Tosa.

If I use a few words to describe this man-in the eyes of the Sonjo patriots, he is indeed an outstanding samurai!

Whether it is a sword, a gun, or a cannon, he has used it to perfection.

He advocated the Sonjo ideology and joined the Tosa Kinno Party of Takechi Hanpeita in his early years.

It is said that he participated in the assassination of Yoshida Toyo.

Yoshida Toyo-the former councilor of Tosa Domain, vigorously promoted the modernization reforms of Tosa Domain, and was considered a very talented and visionary person.

On a rainy night in April of the second year of Bunkyu (1862), he was assassinated on his way home.

The real murderer who killed Yoshida Toyo has not yet been determined.

However, according to the theory of "whoever can benefit the most is the murderer"... the murderer is undoubtedly Takechi Hanpeita!

Yoshida Toyo, whose political stance is biased towards the shogunate, has always been at odds with Takechi Hanpeita.

Under the suppression of Yoshida Toyo, Takechi Hanpeita has never been able to make a name for himself.

Therefore, Takechi Hanpeita assigned Nasu Shingo and others to brutally kill Yoshida Toyo and clear the obstacles for his promotion.

It is said that after killing Yoshida Toyo, in order not to cause trouble for the organization, Nasu Shingo and others withdrew from the Tosa Kinno Party under the arrangement of Takechi Hanpeita, and fled from the Tosa domain, becoming a ronin who escaped from the domain.

After several twists and turns, he is now a member of the Tenchu ​​Group.

Because of his outstanding strength and reputation, Nasu Shingo served as a military supervisor in the Tenchu ​​Group.

Nasu Shingo swaggered to Yoshimura Toratarou and said in a muffled voice:

"Yoshimura-kun, have you forgotten our ideals?"

"Why are we gathered here?"

"Isn't it to resist the shogunate and realize the great cause of respecting the emperor and expelling the barbarians?"

"Does it mean that just this little setback has completely made you lose your fighting spirit?"

"Even if this is a battle that is bound to be lost, we must fight to the end! Show the heroic spirit of us, the patriots of respecting the emperor and expelling the barbarians!"

As Nasu Shingo's voice fell, Yoshimura Toratarou's eyes gradually revealed a meaningful brilliance.

Nasu Shingo's loud voice attracted the attention of everyone present.

Everyone looked at Yoshimura Toratarou eagerly, looking forward to his response.

Yoshimura Toratarou pursed his lips and thought deeply... It was very quiet.

Suddenly! Suddenly, a male voice that was unfamiliar to everyone present came from not far away:

"Ah, I found it! You are here!"

Instantly, Yoshimura Toratarou and others changed color.

"Who is it?!"

Nasu Shingo lowered his body's center of gravity first, put his hand on the sword at his waist, turned around and stared at the source of the sound.

The others also stood up, raised their weapons, and looked like they were facing a great enemy.

No wonder they were so nervous.

From the voice just now, the person who spoke was very close to them.

However, none of them heard anyone approaching them just now!

The thought is terrifying!

"Don't panic, I am a friendly army."

At the same time as he finished speaking, there was a rustling sound in the bushes not far away-a... doll-like warrior appeared in front of Yoshimura Toratarou and others.

The reason why this person is called a "doll" is because he is very petite, only about 5 feet tall (1.5 meters), and his skin is as white as an unmarried girl.

If you are not good at seeing, you might mistake him for a girl.

Because his body is so small, he looks like a child wearing adult clothes.

Nasu Shingo stared at him and asked again, word by word:

"Boy, who are you? Tell me your name!"

The short warrior glanced at Nasu Shingo.

"I've said it before, don't panic, I'm not your enemy. If you want to see the evidence..."

At this moment, the time around him seemed to stop.

The next moment, time resumed.

At the same moment when "time stopped", a blade stopped steadily in front of Nasu Shingo's throat.

Swoosh - the sound of drawing a sword followed.

"If I wanted to kill you, you would have died long ago."

The short warrior held the sword with his right hand and held the sheath with his left hand, keeping the posture of drawing the sword.

As long as he had the intention, he could take Nasu Shingo's life by just gently pushing the sword forward!

Nasu Shingo's eyes widened.

Yoshimura Toratarou and others were even more incredulous.

First saw the blade, then heard the sound of the sword being drawn... What a superb sword drawing technique!

Nasu Shingo is one of the strongest people in the Tenchu ​​Group.

A hero like him was restrained before he could even react!

"...I know."

Yoshimura Toratarou said with a gloomy face:

"I believe you are a friendly army, please put down the sword!"

"Well, as long as you are willing to believe me."

The short warrior nodded slightly and put away the sword in his hand.

"Anyway... Now let me introduce myself."

"I am Kawakami Hikosai, and I am here to assist you under the order of Kusaka Genzui."

Kawakami Hikosai——Everyone present gasped when they heard this name.

Matsumoto Keido exclaimed:

“You are the Hikosai Hikosai?!”

“The name of Hikosai Hikosai is well-known in Kyoto and beyond!

The short samurai… that is, Kawakami Hikosai, said indifferently:

“I do have such a nickname.”

“But I dare not call myself ‘Hirosai’.”

“In my opinion, the only samurai who is qualified to bear the name of ‘Hirosai’ in ancient and modern times is the legendary ‘Eternal Sword Saint’ Ogata Yoshisei.”

“I just killed some ungrateful shogunate lackeys, which is not worth publicizing.”

“These disloyal lackeys, even if they are killed by hundreds or thousands, are not worth mentioning.”

After a brief surprise, Yoshimura Toratarou couldn’t help but ask excitedly:

Kawakami Hikosai spoke very elegantly, not at all like a swordsman who killed countless people, but more like a refined scholar.

"Kusaka Genzui... Has Choshu sent people to support us?"

Kawakami Hikosai nodded:

"Yes. To support you, Kusaka-kun sent 200 martial arts masters led by me. My comrades are not far behind me."

Kawakami Hikosai's words lifted the atmosphere on the scene.

However, after only "lifting" for a moment, it quickly withered.

Matsumoto Keido shrugged:

"At this point, what's the use of Choshu's reinforcements..."

His muttering immediately resonated and echoed by the others.

"Yeah! Why did you come only now!"

"We have already finished the battle, and you are so late!"

"If you could arrive in time, we might not have lost!"

...

Facing the accusations of everyone, Kawakami Hikosai remained calm, without even a frown, and just said lightly:

"I heard about the big defeat yesterday halfway."

"Unfortunately, we didn't catch up with this battle."

"Because I thought you might escape to Juichi County, I turned here... Thank God for my favor, I found you."

"We haven't lost yet!"

"We still have Takatori Castle, don't we?"

"Immediately retreat to Takatori Castle and fight a siege battle with the Shinsengumi - this is our only chance to turn defeat into victory!"

Five thousand leopards reappeared in the world! Almost evolved into six thousand leopards! Leopard Leopard has been heartbroken recently and is determined not to give up! From today on, I will work hard to make ten thousand leopards appear again! (劲豹.jpg)

Since Leopard has worked so hard today, please vote for this book! (眼泪豹头.jpg) Please vote for it! Please vote for it! (豹头泣.jpg)