The rainy season has entered Edo, and sparse raindrops wash away the smooth alleys and slopes. Kazuyo Sorayama holds an oil-paper umbrella and walks among the sparsely populated towns with blurred eyes. There is a rare heaviness in his steps. He wears wooden clogs.
The feeling of walking on the bluestone is not comfortable at all, especially on rainy days. The rain soaks the socks and sticks them to the colder feet. The soles of the feet are cold and hard wooden boards, and under the wooden boards are even colder and harder bluestones.
On a night with such terrible weather, if you wrap yourself in a bathrobe and lie down on a dry mat, boil a pot of shochu and sip it slowly, hold a forbidden book while cooking, and drink with the sound of rain falling in the courtyard, it will be the ultimate enjoyment in the world.
.
But Ichiyo Sorayama is destined not to enjoy it. In the eyes of the shogunate and outsiders, he is at the peak of his life at this time. Some people may not know the surname of the new general, but the name Sorayama Ichiyo can already stop a child from crying at night. Maybe a hundred years later
You will become one of the one hundred thousand ghosts in Japanese legend, and enjoy a glass of sake and a stick of incense in some unknown remote mountain villages.
Only he himself knows the feeling of being the enemy of the world. In the first few days, almost no meal could be eaten safely, and no sleep could be truly closed. But recently, there have been very few initial moments.
It had been three days of killing. Perhaps they had received an order, perhaps they were out of fear, but as soon as the soldiers and officers involved in the roundup discovered him, they would immediately retreat far away and bang the gong on the way to escape.
Will get red-eyed and draw a sword to fight.
Once, he was completely enraged and chased him for nearly two streets. He was surrounded by a large group of soldiers. After suffering a bone-deep cut on his left arm and right chest, as well as countless small stab wounds, he was finally killed.
Get out of the siege.
He did not calculate how many people he killed, and the shogunate did not announce it. However, someone later calculated that it took eleven wooden carts to transport the corpses and body parts everywhere.
Black and red blood seeped out of the building, staining the stone slabs into a sea of blood. All the businesses and homes located here were moved out the next day. It is said that late at night every day, the tragic death sounds can still be heard in the alleys.
Howl...
Since this battle, the shogunate has completely issued the "order not to directly conflict with less than a hundred people", and reduced the search intensity. The docks and guesthouses no longer report at all times.
After patrolling, Edo Castle has basically returned to its previous order. The shogunate seems to have completely realized the reality that it is impossible to capture Sorayama Kazuyo in Edo Castle, and the shogunate has relented.
While Sorayama Kazuyo was causing trouble in Edo, riots of various sizes also broke out all over Japan. The lower-level samurai, businessmen, and farmers who had been oppressed by the shogunate for nearly a hundred years seemed to have become a helping hand to Sorayama Kazuyo, which made him already in a state of distress.
The shogunate was overwhelmed, which was one of the main reasons for the shogunate's surrender. This battle, in which one man fought against the world, seemed to end in the victory of one man, and it also completely destroyed the majesty of the Tokugawa shogunate, which no longer had the authority of the past.
The eldest shogunate, Naoki Ii, resigned because he was dissatisfied with Tokugawa Yingxi's overstepping of his orders, and simply ran back to the Ii family territory. The two elders felt ashamed of their old friends, and they also resigned from their posts and stayed at home. Tokugawa, who had just taken office,
Kawaki suddenly lost most of his control over the shogunate, and had to secretly order the Imperial Guard to withdraw from the hunt for Sorayama Kazuha and devote himself to the task of quelling the rebellion and monitoring the movements of daimyo in various places.
The upper echelons of the shogunate were also in chaos due to the vacancy of power, and various forces were targeting those positions and trying to move. The man who caused all this, Sorayama Kazuha, seemed to have been collectively forgotten. It had been a long time since he had encountered anyone from the government patrolling and searching.
But his biggest crisis at present is not the arrest, but the increasingly serious injuries. The small wounds have long since healed, but the wounds on his left arm and chest add up to one foot three inches long. Although he has been bandaged with medicine, this kind of injury must be sutured.
Yes, it was raining continuously and there was no fixed place to live, so blood would ooze from the wound from time to time. At this time, he felt a little dizzy, and the light of the long captain in the past seemed unusually heavy.
Although his hearing is still sharp, the speed of information processing in his brain can no longer keep up with the speed of information acquisition. The large amount of complicated information hitting his brain makes him miserable, and he has to withdraw his perception and focus all his energy on fighting against bacteria.
middle.
Someone is following? Sorayama Kazuyo suddenly raised his head. In the quiet alley, someone was walking in this direction behind him. The footsteps were very light, but the pace was always consistent with his own speed. This footsteps and breathing sound, is it a woman...
Kazuyo Sorayama suppressed his physical discomfort, handed the oil-paper umbrella to his left hand, slowed down, threw the umbrella, drew the sword, turned around, stepped forward, and drew the sword. The five actions were completed in an instant. The oil-paper umbrella had not even landed on the ground, and the sharp sword had already been pierced.
It passed through the rain curtain and reached the other party's throat, but the other party stood there motionless, not even looking at the blade, but just holding the umbrella and staring at Sora Yiye's pale face.
Kazuyo Sorayama immediately stopped his sword movement and asked coldly: "Chiba Sana, how did you find me?" "Sir... are you injured?" "Answer me!" "We are not the only ones in the Chiba family.
It’s just a gym…”
Kazuyo Sorayama still raised his sword against the girl's neck, as if he would stab the girl without hesitation if he was dissatisfied. He had been attacked countless times these days, and there were countless people who wanted this head. Now he
Never trust anyone easily.
Chiba Sana said softly: "My little girl has already asked all the Chiba family's forces in Edo to pay attention to your movements, especially the medical clinic, inns, restaurants, and docks... Although you had your face covered with a cloth a few days ago, you were still
She didn’t speak, but the doctor at the medical center still told the news to my daughter and concealed the information from the government. At that time, I knew it must be you! So I have been looking for you in this area. Fortunately, it is rainy today and there are few pedestrians.
...Master, follow me first, I have prepared a hiding place, it is absolutely safe."
Kazuyo Sorayama patted the scabbard: "With her, it is absolutely safe. You can leave, I won't go."
"Sir, it was indeed possible in the past, but your current injury really shouldn't be delayed. Don't worry, your current situation is directly related to my Chiba family. My daughter has not yet thanked you for sparing her father's life. Please allow me to repay you. Please
!”
"I refuse! You don't have to say anything. I told your father that I won't kill him. I just don't want to be used as a tool by the shogunate. You don't need to care, let alone repay the favor."
"My little girl likes adults..."
"I don't like you! Go away..." Before Kazuyo Sorayama could finish his words, a feeling of dizziness hit him directly. He couldn't help but lean on the ground with his sword, gasping for air, without a trace of blood on his face.
Chiba Sana no longer ignored Sorayama Kazuyo's refusal, threw away the oil-paper umbrella, supported Sorayama Kazuyo's body, and pulled his arm to drag him away, but this was where Sorayama Kazuyo's left arm wound was.
Position... Kazuyo Sorayama groaned in pain and wanted to throw the girl away, but a sharp pain caused all the strength he had gathered to dissipate. All the weight of his body was concentrated on the hilt of the sword, preventing him from falling on the spot.
This body... even the girl in front of me is no match now, Kazuha Sorayama, Kazuha Sorayama, I never thought you would have this day... Kazuha Sorayama, who had already reached his limit, fell softly to the ground, closing his eyes before the last
Consciousness is the anxious pretty face of the girl.
In the rain, two lonely oil-paper umbrellas were blown all over the ground by the breeze, and finally the edges touched and stopped together.