Kamino looked at Qingto's house in the distance with the lights shining outside, and asked a samurai behind him without looking back:
"Are you sure Tachibana Aoden is in the house right now?"
The samurai nodded: "It can't be wrong. That Tachibana returned home this afternoon and has not left the house since then."
Having said this, the warrior paused and then added:
"Mr. Kamino, two young samurai...probably friends of Tachibana Aoden entered Tachibana Aoden's home just now."
"Do you want to wait for those two people to leave? Or do you want to take action now?"
"Let's do it now." Kamino looked indifferent, without thinking.
"Yes." The samurai responded in a deep voice, then turned his head and winked at the five people standing behind him, "Do it!"
After saying that, the warrior leaned down, lifted up the four large porcelain jars with unknown contents placed at his right foot with his right hand, and pulled out an unlit torch that had been pinned to his waist with his left hand.
The five people standing behind the warrior also made the same movements: their right hand lifted a large porcelain jar containing something unknown, and their left hand held an unlit torch.
The six people headed by the samurai formed a circle and lit the torches in their hands.
"Follow me!" the samurai roared, then personally led the team and rushed out of the dark alley where they were hiding.
After the six people lined up in a "long snake", they rushed to Qingdeng's house in one breath——
Click! Click! Click! Click...
They threw the large porcelain jars in their hands in front of them, towards Qingdeng's home and courtyard.
The porcelain jar cracked...the jar turned out to be full of kerosene.
Handfuls of kerosene exuding a very pungent smell sprayed out as the porcelain jar broke, pouring everywhere.
It was as if these six people had rehearsed in advance, and their movements were very uniform.
The moment they threw the porcelain jar, they threw the torches in their hands forward at the same time.
When the fire oil meets, with a "whoosh", the flame instantly rises, and the flames spread rapidly along the oil line, like fiery snakes, dancing wildly under the night sky.
…
…
Qingdeng happened to be sitting closest to the door of the living room.
After hearing the sound of burning flames coming from the direction of the entrance, Qingdeng's expression changed quickly.
He stood up suddenly, pushed open the door of the living room, followed the corridor outside the living room, and looked towards the entrance.
fire.
The raging waves of fire are raging.
The flames that had completely surrounded his door and entrance began to climb along the walls and bamboos and up to the ceiling.
Sparks flew, making a subtle explosion in Qingdeng's ears, and thick black smoke floated out, accompanied by the smell of oil, irritating his eyes and nose.
The red light of the flames illuminated Qingdeng's slightly blue cheeks.
"It's on fire!" Qingden turned around and shouted to Kondo and his party in the living room, "Follow me! Let's get out of the courtyard!"
After saying that, Qingdeng rushed to the east side of the hall and opened the wooden door on the front side of the hall.
The living room of Qingdeng's family is connected to their courtyard. As long as the wooden door in front of the living room is opened, one can enter the courtyard.
Kondo, Okita, and Saito are indeed martial arts practitioners.
After a brief period of shock, they quickly regained their composure and quickly and orderly ran into the courtyard along the wooden door Qingdeng opened.
Only the timid Kyuubei looked panicked and at a loss.
"Ah! Young Master! Our money..."
"Don't worry about money! Life is important!"
The fire was extremely fierce.
In just a blink of an eye, the fire snake spread from the entrance to the door of the living room, and Qingden could even feel the waves of fire beginning to burn his back.
Their important belongings are stored in the storage room on the second floor.
Under such a fierce fire, running up to the second floor to get property... was a complete act of seeking death.
Qingteng grabbed Kyuubei by the back of his collar and dragged Kyuubei out of his home, who actually wanted to go back to get his belongings.
In the courtyard, Okita frowned and sniffed his nose vigorously: "...Tachibana-kun! I seem to smell the smell of kerosene!"
"Yeah." Qingden nodded solemnly, "I smelled it too... But don't worry about it for now, let's escape first! Come with me! Our courtyard is directly connected to the street outside!"
Just now, when he discovered a fire at the entrance, Qingdeng had already smelled the extremely pungent and rich smell of fire oil...
But now I don't have time to figure out where the smell of fire oil comes from. It's important to escape to a safe place first.
There was also a fire in the courtyard, but fortunately it was not too big.
After narrowly avoiding the flaming snakes in the courtyard and escaping to the street in front of his house, Qingden relied on his night vision ability and suddenly caught a glimpse of several figures on his left.
He hurriedly fled towards the west intersection.
At this time, there should be almost no pedestrians on the streets.
There were sounds of breaking porcelain before the fire started...the strong smell of kerosene...there were a few figures escaping in a hurry on the street that should have been empty of pedestrians...
Qingdeng instantly understood what was going on.
At this time, Okita on the side exclaimed: "Ah! Tachibana-kun! Look! There seem to be a few people running away over there!"
Okita also discovered the arsonists who were escaping.
"Yes, I saw it." After a solemn expression, Aoto responded, turning his head and shouting to Kondo and others beside him, "Kyuubei! Kondo-kun! Okita-kun! The three of you go and notify the town fire department.
Put out the fire! By the way, tell the neighbors to take shelter quickly!”
"Saito, come with me!"
After that, Qingden spread his legs and chased after the fleeing arsonists!
Although Saito didn't know what Aoto wanted to do, he still hurried to follow without saying a word.
Okita stared blankly at Ayoto and Saito who were running after the arsonists, then turned around and said quickly to Kondo:
"Brother Kondo! I'll help Tachibana-kun chase the man! You and Mr. Kubei go and notify the town fire department to put out the fire!"
Kondo: "Huh?"
After finishing speaking, Okita didn't give Kondo any chance or time to respond. He turned around and chased Aoshisai who had already run away...
…
…
"What's wrong? What happened?!"
"It's on fire! It's on fire!"
"What?! Let's go! Let's go!"
"Hurry up and call the town fire department!"
"Ahhhh——! Why is it on fire?!"
…
While chasing the arsonists, Qingdeng heard screams full of fear and panic coming from all around.
At this time, the residents of Hatchobori also noticed the fire that was very low away from them and getting stronger and stronger.
In ancient Japan, people had always been "disloyal in talking about things".
The reason is due to the population density and special housing styles of ancient Japan.
Japan is a narrow and densely populated country, with very little land suitable for human habitation. Tens of millions of people are crammed into such a small amount of land. The population density of big cities like Edo and Kyoto is quite exaggerated.
Exaggerated population density has resulted in houses being built extremely densely, and buildings in ancient Japan were basically made of flammable wood. Each house was a large flammable object.
Therefore...if any house catches fire, it is very easy to cause a very terrifying chain reaction.
A small fire caused a large fire, and a house burned down, causing the entire house in the area to be engulfed in flames, eventually causing most of the city to be burned down - this kind of thing was common throughout ancient Japan.
The most typical one is the famous "Meiryaku Fire" in Edo.
During the Meiretsu period in 1657, it was because of a burning kimono sleeve that two-thirds of Edo was burned down. Since this horrific fire started because of a burning sleeve, the fire was also
Known as the "Furisode Fire".
Hatchobori, which was originally quite peaceful, suddenly became extremely noisy and noisy.
People either hurriedly ran to seek refuge, or ran to notify the town fire department to put out the fire, or hurriedly moved their belongings out of their homes before the flames burned over...
More and more residents rushed out of their houses to escape. They blocked Qingdeng's vision and blocked Qingdeng's passage, making it suddenly more difficult for Qingdeng to chase people.
As a last resort, Qingdeng could only keep shouting:
"I am a member of the Sadachi Hui! I am chasing the arsonist! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"
Qingdeng's shouts still had a lot of effect.
After hearing that Qingdeng was catching a thief, many people quickly moved to both sides of the street to clear the way.
At this moment, Qingdeng suddenly felt a strong gust of wind coming from behind him.
Looking back - Okita held the sword at his waist and followed closely behind him.
"Okita-kun, why are you following me?"
"Let me 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 concentrated on running.
Now that time is running out, Aomori has no time to delve into Okita's behavior of not listening to his arrangements and spontaneously running to help chase people, so he can only turn his eyes back to him.
Okita said he was very good at chasing people...it seemed like he wasn't really talking nonsense.
His speed is extremely fast. Mingming Qingden, Saito and the others started to chase after Okita, but now Okita caught up with the two of them bit by bit and overtook them...
Not only is he fast, he is also very physical.
Although he was 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 now saw that it was difficult to get rid of Qingdeng and others who were clinging to them, so they gathered together, whispered to each other for a while, then dispersed and fled in different directions.
Seeing that these bastards were trying to separate and escape, Qingden immediately turned his eyes and quickly glanced at the figures of these people.
"Okita-kun, chase the fattest one!" Qingden pointed at the fat man who was the fattest among the arsonists and seemed to be the slowest runner.
Okita, who had completely run ahead of Qing Zhai and had already left the two of them by a long distance, glanced at the fat man in the direction pointed by Qing Zhai's finger, and nodded vigorously.
The fat man is also quite smart.
He turned his head and saw Qingdeng and others running after him. He gritted his teeth and made a 90-degree turn into a nearby alley.
After following the fat man and turning into this narrow alley, Qingdeng found that the alley was extremely narrow and complicated, with many side roads and extremely poor visibility. If he was not careful, he might lose the fat man.
Qingden raised his head and glanced at a low house not far in front of him, next to this alley.
"Saito! You and Okita-kun continue to chase the fat man on the ground!"
After giving this instruction loudly to Saito next to him, Qingto took a deep breath and rushed straight towards the low house.
While running to the eaves of this house in one breath, he quickly gathered strength in his back, then jumped with all his strength and rushed toward the eaves.
The eaves of this house are extremely short, with a vertical height of only a little over 2 meters. Qingdeng, who is 1.75 meters tall, jumped up hard and climbed up to the eaves easily with both hands.
Qingdeng did a pull-up and pulled his entire body up to the top of the eaves.
Climbing up to the eaves, the view suddenly becomes wider.
Look around - the fat man is humming and escaping along the complicated alley towards the northwest.
"Saito! Okita-kun!" Qingto moved on the roof in the direction of the fat man, while giving instructions to Saito and Okita below, "The fat man escaped in that direction!"
The houses around this alley are close together, and the eaves are not high, and the slope is not large. Qingdeng, who is standing on the eaves and tracking the fat man, has no worries about not having a foothold.
The fat man turned his head and glanced at Qingdeng, who was chasing him along the eaves.
Qingden vaguely saw his lips moving.
Judging from the shape of his mouth... he seemed to be spitting a curse word at Qingden.
With Qingdeng standing on the eaves for positioning, Fatty would definitely not be able to get rid of Qingdeng and the others in this complicated alley.
Therefore, the fat man could only turn around and rush out of the alley into a spacious avenue that could accommodate two carriages traveling side by side.
The fat man's speed had gradually slowed down at this time - he must have been tired after running for so long.
Qingdeng also felt very tired now. His current physical strength was far from sufficient. His breathing was now in chaos. He swallowed hard - he could taste the faint smell of blood in his throat.
But after all, Qingdeng's remaining physical strength is still more abundant than this fat man's.
Qingdeng poured all his remaining strength into his legs, jumped up to the row of houses on the east side of the avenue, along the eaves of the row of houses, and passed the fat man who was fleeing on the avenue, and then flew like a flying swallow.
Usually he jumped down from the eaves and landed right in front of the fat man, blocking his way.
Seeing Qing Deng "falling from the sky" and blocking his way, the fat man quickly stopped, glared at Qing Deng viciously, 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 after him from behind.
There was Aomori in front of him, and Okita behind him... The fat man only hesitated for a moment, and then he suddenly pulled out the sword from his waist and killed Okita!
He planned to forcefully break through Qingden and Okita's siege.
Okita is much smaller than Aotobu. From a visual point of view, Okita looks much weaker than Aotobu - this should be the reason why Fatty chose to break through from Okita's direction.
After the fat man rushed towards Okita, Qingto immediately chased after him.
Looking at the chosen breakout direction, Qingdeng couldn't help laughing - this fat man really chose a completely wrong breakout direction...
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, and there was only a little sweat on his forehead.
Okita glanced at the fat man's footsteps and the knife in his hand without expression, then spread his legs leisurely and stood still.
Hold the scabbard of the knife at your waist with your left hand, touch the handle of the knife with your right palm, lift the thumb of your left hand, hold the knife tangent, and push it forward with force.
bass……
The clear light of the sword burst out from the blade that had popped out of its sheath, illuminating Okita's pupils.
Although he knew that Okita would not be stupid enough to kill this fat man, Qingto still reminded him loudly:
"Okita-kun! Don't kill him!"
As soon as Qingdeng finished speaking——
bass--!
Okita drew his sword.
The silver-white sword light covered the fat man, and with just one blow, the knife in the fat man's hand was knocked away.
Immediately afterwards, Okita took advantage of the situation and pulled back the knife, turned the blade, and used the back of the knife to face the fat man's belly to slash horizontally.
"Cough...! Cough cough cough...! Vomit...! Cough cough...!" The soft belly was hit hard by the hard back of the knife. The fat man vomited and coughed hard, and staggered towards
He took a few steps forward and fell heavily to the ground.
So fast……!
Looking at Okita who had now withdrawn his saber in front of him and made a zanshin move towards the fat man who had fallen to the ground, Aoto couldn't help but exclaimed in low voice in his heart.
The blow that Okita knocked away Fatty's saber just now... was extremely fast.
It was so fast that Qingto, who now had "Eagle Eyes", could barely keep up with Okita's sword...
The fat man has been knocked down - the situation has been decided.
Qingteng, who had been chasing the fat man when he rushed towards Okita, 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 belt he always carried with him and make do with it.
"Let me go! Let me go!"
The fat man kept twisting and turning like a maggot, trying to get rid of Qingden who was riding on him.
However, because he had just received a heavy blow to the stomach, the fat man could not use any strength at this time and could only watch and let Qingdeng tie up his hands.
Saito, who was much slower than Okita, finally rushed out of the alley and caught up.
"Have you finally caught him..." Saito panted, looking down at the fat man who was still struggling with Qingto sitting underneath him.
"Yeah..." Qingden let out a long breath and glared at the fat man below him with a cold face, "The revenge of these beasts comes so fast..."
…
…
Town firefighting: Fire brigade in the Edo period.
There are 8 major firefighting groups in the Edo town fire department. The 8 major groups have a total of 48 groups, and the 48 groups are responsible for firefighting work in different areas.
Although the town fire fighters also have some fairly advanced fire-extinguishing equipment, such as a small water pump that can shoot out water jets when pressed: "Dragon Water Spray", these fire-extinguishing equipment are actually useless and can only be used to deal with some small fires.
In a larger fire, these fire extinguishing equipment will be completely useless, and the fire extinguishing speed will basically not be able to keep up with the speed of the fire spread.
Therefore, the most important fire-fighting equipment used by local firefighters is not a water pump or a bucket... but a hammer.
Demolish all the houses close to the fire scene and take out an isolation belt to prevent the fire from spreading further - this is how the town fire firefighters put out the fire.
When Aonto escorted the fat man back to his home, he saw a large number of members of the town fire department wearing black and white firefighting uniforms, waving hammers, and smashing the houses like they were playing "The Sims 4".
, smashed the homes of all Qingdeng’s neighbors to pieces...
"Quick! Demolish this house quickly!"
"1,2,3! Pull——! Come again! 1,2,3! Pull——! Get out of the way! The wall is going to fall!"
"Move quickly! Pull all these fragments away!"
…
Qingden saw his neighbors with livid faces as they watched the town firemen smash their houses to pieces.
The women hung their heads and wiped tears secretly.
Several children cried loudly facing their smashed home.
When the town fire department destroys a house to prevent a fire, it will not lose money.
In other words, if your house is damaged because it is close to a fire, it is purely unlucky for you and you will have to pay to rebuild your home out of your own pocket.
Qingdeng's home was completely engulfed in flames at this moment.
The flames engulfed the wooden roof, spewing a large number of sparks into the night sky. The fire in the house became stronger and stronger, making the sound of cracking wood. The burning wooden frame collapsed and fell, and the remaining pillars fell in the flames. The roof
A large number of sparks stirred up by the collapse scattered like fireflies in the dark night.
Qingdeng raised his head, glanced at his no longer existing home, and then looked at the innocent neighbors who were dragged down by the fire and lost their homes.
Qingdeng himself didn't realize it - his fists that were hanging down naturally were clenched extremely tightly...
…
…
About half an hour later——
"Tachibana... wasn't burned, was he?"
Qingdeng was sitting on a big rock outside the fire scene to rest.
Kondo, Okita, Saito, and Kubei were sitting around Aoto.
Qingden raised his head and looked at Inoya, whom he met again not long after they parted.
"Apart from the fact that his face is a little blackened, there's nothing serious." Qingden responded to Inoya in a teasing tone while raising his finger to point at his slightly blackened cheeks.
Inoya pursed his lips, looked at Qingdeng with complicated eyes for a while, and then sighed.
"Ju, is that fat man the suspect you arrested?"
Inoya turned to look at the fat man who was kneeling on the ground not far away.
The fat man's body was now tied up like a rice dumpling with long and thick hemp ropes. Several Okahiki from Inoya glared at the fat man fiercely, guarding against any suspicious actions by the fat man.
At this moment, the fat man straightened his waist extremely straight, raised his head high, and closed his eyes tightly, showing an expression as if he was looking forward to death.
"Yes." Qingdeng nodded, "I asked him some questions just now, but he was very stubborn and refused to say anything."
"Heh." Inoya sneered, "Our practice is least afraid of harsh words. I have been in the practice for so many years, but I have never seen anyone who can withstand the torture of our practice."
After saying that, Inotani looked away from the fat man.
"Then I will escort that damn fat man back to the execution center now."
"I'll come back to see you later."
"Ah, by the way. Arima-sama and Ushiyama should be on their way here now. They should be there in a little while."
"Well, okay." Qingden nodded gently, "Mr. Inoya, be careful along the way."
After watching Zhu Gu and a large group of people escort the fat man away, Qingden saw a strong man wearing a fireman's uniform, his cheeks and clothes were stained black and white by the flames, striding towards him.
Come.
"Are you Tachibana Aoden?"
"Yes." Qingdeng stood up.
"I am Ashitotori: Kazama Heigoro from the "Sengumi" of the town fire."
Renzutou Group: The leader of this group.
"The fire in your house...has stopped."
After hearing what Asudeori said, Tachibana Aoden turned his head and looked towards his home...or the place that "used to be his home".
His home is now a mass of charred ruins, and members of the town fire department are extinguishing some of the remaining flames in the ruins.
Let’s consider it a blessing among misfortunes—tonight is a “windless night”.
Since there was no wind to fuel the fire, and members of the town fire department demolished nearby houses in time, the fire luckily did not spread, and only Aonto and his family's home was burned down.
After saying something like "I'm sorry for what happened to you" to Tachibana Aoden, this person from the foot head group continued:
"I've asked my men to clear the fire scene."
"However, with such a big fire... it is unlikely that any property will be saved."
"I hope you can be mentally prepared accordingly."
Qingden smiled flatly: "I understand. From the beginning, I never expected that my family would be able to retain any belongings in a fire of this level."
"Well, it's good if you can be mentally prepared in advance." Renzuo nodded gently towards Qingden, then turned back to the fire scene and continued to instruct his men to clean up the burned ruins.
"Young Master..." At this time, Jiubei stood up and asked Qingto in a hesitant tone, "Where...are we going to stay tonight?"
"Where are you staying..." Qingdeng put his hands on his hips, "That's right... It's time to think about where to sleep tonight..."
Qingdeng and the others are completely penniless now.
The house is gone.
All the belongings in the house were gone.
At this time, except for the clothes on his body, the sword at his waist, the ten hands and the seal cage, Qingden had nothing else.
Qingdeng reached out and dug into his arms - he took out 4 copper coins...
"...Kyubei, is there a hotel in Edo that can accommodate three people for four copper coins?"
"How could there be a hotel like that!" Kubei couldn't help complaining loudly.
"Um..." Saito, who had always been taciturn, suddenly interjected at this moment.
After Seito and Kyubey turned their attention to him, Saito said seriously:
"I... know that there is a bridge that is particularly suitable for people to live under."
"It's warm and there are no bugs."
"Under the bridge?" Jiubei opened his mouth.
Then, he raised his head and looked at the night sky above his head, thinking... He was imagining the scene under the sleeping bridge...
"No, no, no!" Jiubei trembled violently, "In this winter, sleeping under a bridge will kill people!"
After finishing speaking, Jiubei paused, and then quickly asked Qingto:
"Young Master, how about we go stay at Arima-sama's house temporarily?"
"...Arima-sama, they all have big families." Qingteng silently took the four copper coins back into his arms, "There shouldn't be any extra space in their house for the three of us to live in."
Ma, Pig, and Ox, all of whom are around 30 years old, have already married.
If Qingden remembers correctly... Arima has 5 children, Inoya has 6 children, only Uiushan's descendants have a smaller number - only 4 children.
Parents, wives, children, attendants... with so many family members, the home of the three of them is very crowded, and there should be no capacity to accommodate Qingdeng and three other grown men.
Seeing Qingden say this, Jiubei's expression fell again: "Then what should we do now...?"
"..." Qingdeng crossed his arms across his chest.
He is now... seriously thinking about the feasibility of the "sleeping under the bridge" plan that Saito just proposed...
At this moment - Okita, who had been sitting beside Kondo since just now, silently looking at Ayoto and others, pursed his lips and looked thoughtful in his eyes.
After a while, he secretly put his lips close to Kondo's ear.
After he whispered something to Kondo, Kondo's eyes suddenly opened wide, and then he cast a surprised look at Okita.
A hint of hesitation appeared between Kondo's brows.
This wisp of "hesitation" went away as quickly as it came.
In just a moment, all the "hesitation" on Kondo's face was replaced by "firmness".
Kondo nodded to Okita.
Seeing Kondo nod, Okita smiled happily.
"Tachibana-kun!"
When he heard Okita suddenly calling him, Qingden hurriedly turned his head following the sound.
"If you don't mind... would you like to come and live with us? Our trial building is quite big."
******
******
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