Akasaka Imperial Gate is located to the west of Edo Castle, not far from Yotsuya Imperial Gate.

The French and French coalition forces came from the west, and Akasaka Mikado was located in such a position... It can be said that they directly ran into the enemy's front!

It is no exaggeration to say that Akasaka Mikado is one of the important places with the greatest defensive pressure and the most intense battles in "Thirty-six Mitsuke"!

Such an important position naturally requires a strong and trustworthy force to guard it.

At this moment, this unit is fighting bravely! Drive every enemy soldier out of Akasaka Gate!

…

…

Edo, Akasaka Mikado——

The two armies started a fierce tug-of-war around the Goryeo Gate (the first gate) of Akasaka Imperial Gate.

One side is the tiger and wolf division that attacks forward and succeeds, vowing to break through the Akasaka Imperial Gate.

The other side was firmly nailed to the city gate, unwilling to give in even a single step.

The inside and outside of the city gate were covered with broken corpses.

A large amount of blood flowed to the ground, staining the ground and losing its original color.

The pungent smell of blood filled the air, making it difficult to breathe.

Such a scene, such a scene, silently declares the intensity of the battle.

In a matter of seconds, another wave of enemy soldiers rushed forward with great force.

With the blessing of "Decisive Battle of Yodo", the enemy's morale has been in a very strange state.

Even if they suffer extremely heavy casualties, they will not retreat easily.

Even if you are temporarily defeated, you will quickly regroup and rush forward again.

Facing this vast group of enemies, an old male voice suddenly sounded from the Goryeo gate of Akasaka Imperial Gate:

"Elodie! Let's go!"

The girl responded loudly:

"yes!"

In the next breath, an old man and a woman slid forward and bumped into enemy soldiers!

Thanks to Kondo Shusuke's careful grinding, Yamato Mamoru's blade returned to its perfect state of cutting iron as well as clay, and the captivating cold light shot into the eyes of the enemy soldiers.

Elodie takes full advantage of her petite stature, nimble steps, and quick movements.

Before the enemy soldiers could react, the golden ponytail broke into their sight.

Yamato Mamoru's stable blade was held in mid-air, frozen for a moment - the next moment, it swept out like a hurricane! Cutting out a fan-shaped arc of blood in one breath!

Before the blood arc completely dissipated, Elodie immediately struck out with a second knife, and another blood arc shot out.

Two blood arcs formed a fleeting "X" shape.

Little drops of blood fell on her cheeks, making her skin look even whiter.

To be honest, even today, she still feels worried and scared when she steps onto the battlefield.

But after holding on to Yamato and maintaining peace, and facing the vast enemy groups, all these negative emotions dissipated.

Instead, there is a strong sense of responsibility and mission!

As soon as she thought about this, her eyes became more determined, and her slashing became a bit more sharp.

Her current level of strength is far from being called a swordsman. At most, she can only be called a "master of swords."

In comparison, the swordsmanship performed by Shusuke Kondo next to her is the true skill of a swordsman!

I saw the old man clenching the Erwang Qingshi in his palm tightly, a gap appeared in his slender eyes, and wisps of fine light burst out from it.

"Old friend...help me...!"

After murmuring like this, he raised the Erwang Qingshi in his hand and assumed a green-eyed stance.

Then--

Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!

Four cutting sounds sounded almost simultaneously.

The old man passed through the gap between the four enemy soldiers, leaving four sword lights behind him.

Before the light of the sword dispersed, blood was already splattered.

His momentum was as strong as a rainbow, and he continued to advance with his sword, attacking the next enemy soldier like a mountain bearing down on him.

The image of Shusuke Kondo seems like a completely different person.

On weekdays, he always presents himself as "lazy" and "suffering from injuries".

Without explanation, people who don't know would never guess that he is a swordsman.

In fact, I wonder how a swordsman who can become the head of a clan in a school that pursues practical combat can be a soft persimmon?

Although he is an old man who is over seventy years old, in the first sixty years of his life, his life has been calm and comfortable, which is almost impossible to describe in detail.

Before the outbreak of the "Black Ship Incident", Japan under the shogunate was not a prosperous country, but fortunately, no major wars occurred.

Without war, there would naturally be no opportunity for swordsmen to show off their skills.

No matter how good your swordsmanship is, it will be useless. You can only wield the bamboo sword in the sword hall and teach the skills to your disciples.

Therefore, in terms of actual combat experience alone, Kondo Shusuke, who has lived a peaceful life for most of his life, is not rich.

Frankly speaking, today is actually his first time on the battlefield.

But judging from his current performance, he doesn't look like a newcomer at all, more like a veteran who has been on the battlefield for a long time!

When you first enter the battlefield, you can kill the enemy with ease, and the fighting methods are very diverse, and you are not limited to one move or one move.

When there was no time to adjust the blade, he directly hit the enemy soldier's head with the thick blade and smashed his skull.

Seeing an enemy soldier raising his musket, the black hole of the gun pointed directly at him, he grabbed the corpse at his feet to use as a human shield.

He would even pick up a musket that others had not had time to pull the trigger, and shoot down enemy soldiers in the distance with one shot.

After witnessing the various performances of Kondo Shusuke, Elodie felt her eyes widened and at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder: Could the old man's usual appearance of being as weak as helping the sick be just an act?

Just when an old man and a young man were taking the lead, Shimada Kui from behind suddenly shouted:

"Come on! The time for revenge has come! Drive the thieves out!"

As soon as he finished speaking with his front legs, he let out a louder roar from his back legs:

"Kill, oh, oh, oh, oh!"

"I want to avenge my father!"

"Thieves, go to hell!"

"The Eight Prince's battle is not over yet!"

With his sword in hand, Kui Shimada led a large group of soldiers to rush forward and join the battle.

The addition of new forces began to tilt the balance of the war towards the Tokugawa side.

Most of the sergeants who came to assist in the battle were injured and wrapped in linen. They went into battle after simple treatment.

It is worth mentioning that when they looked at the enemy soldiers in front of them, their eyes burned with blazing anger, as if they wanted to pounce on them immediately and bite off a few pieces of meat from these guys.

Yes, the soldiers stationed at the Akasaka Imperial Gate are none other than Shusuke Kondo, Elodie, Kui Shimada, and the remnants of the thousand-strong unit!

The strength of the Edo garrison was always seriously insufficient, with only three thousand men capable of fighting.

Every imperial gate in the "Thirty-Six Visits" must be guarded by troops.

After all, God knows where the enemy will attack from.

If the entire defense line is not filled, there is no way to ensure the safety of Edo Castle.

In this way, the few troops will be spread over a vast defense line.

Although Katsurin Taro worked hard and deployed his troops to the limit, barely filling up the defense line and ensuring that each imperial gate of "Sansixikanfu" was garrisoned with a certain amount of troops, every place was weak!

It’s not an exaggeration to call it “walking a tightrope”.

Even the defenders of Yotsuya Mikado, which is located directly to the west of Edo Castle and is most vulnerable to major attacks, only have 300 elite soldiers... This shows how stretched the strength of the Edo defenders is.

Under such circumstances, any combatants who can be mobilized must be fought for - the remnants of a thousand people who have just retreated from the front line are a good target!

However, under the clear instructions of Tokugawa Iemo, Katsu Rintaro did not force the remnant of the thousands of people to join the battle.

They had just experienced a bloody battle in Hachioji not long ago, and before they had time to rest for a moment, they turned around and sent them into an even more intense battlefield... Even in the feudal era full of oppression and exploitation, this kind of approach was too outrageous.

…

Therefore, Katsurintaro adopted the "voluntary principle" for the remnants of the thousands of people who were united.

Those who are willing to go into battle will receive generous rewards.
To be continued...