It was past five o'clock, and although the sky and the earth were still bright, the sun had already set behind the hills on the other side of the field.
From the time Qingdeng and others launched the pursuit, only half a day had elapsed since they were fully charged and fought to death.
In half a day, we pursued for more than a hundred miles...
Even during World War II... no, even in modern warfare, such numbers are enough to stun people.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Qingdeng and others were so surprised.
They just kept their heads down, unaware that they had pursued for more than a hundred miles at a stretch, and had even broken into the territory of Owari Domain.
At this time, Hosayazaemon spoke again:
"Who are you? Quickly state your name!"
Perhaps from Qingdeng's conversation, he vaguely sensed that the person in front of him was not an ordinary person.
So Hosayazaemon's tone softened a lot.
As the authority of the shogunate gradually declined, the pro-vassal daimyo headed by the "Gosan Family" became increasingly dishonest.
As long as their interests are not violated, they will go all out to obey and disobey all orders issued by the shogunate.
However, no matter what, from the current perspective, the "Yu San Family" are still allies of the shogunate.
Since they are allies, all due etiquette must be observed.
Qingdeng stood up straight, raised his head and said loudly:
"I am the envoy of Gyeonggi Town, Ju Qingdeng!"
"We attacked here to chase down the bandits."
"We did not know that this place is the territory of the Owari clan. No offense is intended. Please forgive me!"
The moment they finished speaking, the Owari samurai led by Hosoyazaemon immediately widened their eyes, their expressions changed, and their expressions were dominated by strong shock.
"The governor of Gyeonggi Province?"
"Then isn't he the benevolent king?"
"Is it really him?"
"That's not right! Nioh-sama should be setting up defenses in the Iga area right now to stop the bandit army from invading Kyoto!"
"Yes, Lord Nioh cannot be here."
…
You look at me, I look at you... they are chattering to each other.
Owari Domain is adjacent to Gyeonggi Province.
Therefore, no matter what happens inside or outside Gyeonggi, Owari Domain can always receive relevant information as soon as possible.
After all, this domain is an established power with a territory of 620,000 koku, and they still have the most basic information collection capabilities.
Therefore, they received the news of "Ise Eruption" as soon as possible.
After learning about the changes in Ise, the Owari Domain government quickly mobilized the army - but this was not to fulfill the obligation of "closing a vassal and establishing a country, using the vassal as a screen".
They did not send troops to reinforce Qingdeng, but sent them to the border area to guard their own land.
Owari Domain is located exactly between East and West Japan.
In other words, if the bandit army wants to attack Kanto, Owari Domain must pass through.
In order to ensure its own peace and interests, the Owari Clan exerted great efforts.
While guarding against the intrusion of the bandits, they also paid close attention to the progress of suppressing the rebellion in Fufu.
They knew that Aoshinobu had already commanded the "Shinkai Allied Forces" composed of the Shinsengumi and part of the Aizu Army officers and soldiers, and sent troops eastward to station in Iga to prevent the rebel army from invading the west.
As for further information, due to the limited information transmission capabilities, they did not know it.
Today is April 11th.
Qingdeng's troop dispatch date was nine days ago, that is, April 2.
Counting the time spent on reorganizing the troops and marching, it only took Seito 9 days to completely defeat the rebel army and advance all the way to Owari?!
The Owari samurai felt incredible about this.
After a brief period of shock and confusion, Hosotani Zaemon regained his composure...or rather pretended to be calm.
He cleared his throat vigorously, put on a softer tone, and asked:
"You said you are the governor of Gyeonggi Province. What evidence is there?"
Qingden raised his eyebrows.
"What? Haven't you seen my portrait?"
"I personally think that the painter responsible for painting my portrait is quite capable. He perfectly reproduced my charm on paper."
Hosoyazaemon looked troubled.
After a while, he replied intermittently:
"Sorry, your face... is too dirty! We really can't see your face clearly!"
Hearing this, Qingden subconsciously raised his hand to touch his face - a greasy and disgusting feeling covered his fingertips.
If he had a mirror at hand, he could see how dirty his carved face was.
To put it simply, it is like a color palette where you can find a variety of colors.
Mud, gravel, dust, grass clippings, unnamed dirt...these messy dirt covered every corner of the face.
This layer of "dirt combination" is already disgusting.
As a result, the blood and sweat were "melted" again... like a melted oil painting.
It was so dirty that it felt like all the features were glued together.
Not to mention her appearance, it's hard to tell her gender.
Qingden rubbed away the dirt on his fingertips, smiled bitterly and said half-jokingly:
"I was so busy chasing death and chasing north that I forgot to clean up my image."
After that, he took out a clean pocket paper from his arms and wiped it on his face haphazardly.
The white piece of paper instantly turned into pitch black "charcoal strips".
After wiping it like this, although the whole face was still very dirty, I could still see the facial features clearly.
"How? Can anyone recognize me now?"
For a moment, a strange silence fell among the Owari samurai.
The silence did not last long.
About 5 seconds later, the shock turned into a voice:
"It's really Nioh! It's really Tachibana Aoden!"
"Is it really him?"
"That's right! It's indeed him!"
"You are all so blind! I have long recognized this man as Nioh. The warrior who rides an ox, there is no one else in the world except Nioh!"
…
Hosoyazaemon's reaction was extremely quick.
People like him in the officialdom have always been very sensitive to various rules and etiquette in the officialdom.
With extremely smooth movements, he rolled off the horse with a "swish" and knelt down on one knee with a respectful expression.
Compared with just now, they are completely different people.
"Lord Tachibana, I am so rude! I am so offended, please forgive me!"
Immediately afterwards, the other knights behind him dismounted and saluted Qingdeng respectfully.
Qingdeng waved his hand:
"I understand, please get up."
At this time, Hosayazaemon seemed to have thought of something, and asked quickly with an anxious look on his face:
"Lord Tachibana, since you are chasing the bandits, will our sudden appearance hinder you?"
The benevolent king was leading his troops to suppress thieves, but they suddenly jumped out and blocked his way, causing the battle to be affected... This kind of thing is a typical "big or small trouble".
If you don’t get on the scale, you won’t weigh four ounces. Once you get on the scale, you won’t be able to weigh a thousand pounds!
One bad move will cause a very serious diplomatic accident!
Thinking of this, the Owari warriors couldn't help but feel chills running down their spines.
Qingdeng chuckled a few times:
"It doesn't matter. Rather, you came at the right time. Just now, I personally beheaded the thief leader Shibasaki Renjuro."
Hosotanizaemon was speechless and speechless for a moment.
"Juju, Lord Ju, that means...has the bandit army been eliminated?"
"What? You don't believe it?"
Hosoyazaemon hurriedly buried his head.
"No! How dare we doubt your Excellency!"
Qingden smiles.
"Let's not talk about it for now. Do you have food and water?"
"Huh? Food and water?"
"We have been fighting fiercely for a whole day. We haven't eaten a grain of rice or a drop of water. We are all hungry. To be honest, I am so hungry that I can hardly stand."
With the blessing of talents such as "Block Blood +7" and "Yuan Yang +4", Qingdeng's vitality is quite strong.
Just being hungry for a day won't cause him any harm.
However, although his words were exaggerated, he was indeed very hungry now.
Not eating for a long time, coupled with the intense exhaustion of riding and fighting... His stomach cavity had already been moaning repeatedly in pain.
The same was true for Sanazi and the others behind him. The hunger fire in their bellies had already made them dizzy.
Hosotani Zaemon was startled for a moment, then hurriedly took action.
"Yes! I'll make arrangements immediately! Hey! Did you bring food and water?"
The Owari samurai gathered together, touched their chests, searched for their belts, searched from head to foot, and collected as much food and water as they could fit into their stomachs.
"I still have some water in my kettle."
"Ah, I brought a pot of turbid wine to warm me up."
"I also have a pot of turbid wine."
"I have two rice balls made from millet."
"What a coincidence, I also have two pieces of rice balls, but my two pieces of rice balls are made of corn."
"You idiots! We are not giving leftovers to beggars! How can we offer such rough food to Tachibana-sama? In this way, we... no, Owari Qing is so embarrassed!"
"But... except for these rice balls, we don't have any other food..."
…
Before he could reach it, Hosotanizaemon returned to Aoto with a lot of things in his hands and an embarrassed look on his face.
"Tachibana-sama, we... uh... we only found a little water, two pots of sake, and some rice balls... please forgive me!"
"Then, that! Put these rice balls on the fire and roast them. They will become more delicious!"
Bake the rice balls before eating them - this is the "classical way" of eating rice balls.
First, it can heat the rice grains, making them easier to eat.
Secondly, it can add a burnt aroma to the rice balls, which will whet your appetite.
Perhaps he was consciously using such low-quality food to present to the governor of Gyeonggi Province. It was really inappropriate. As soon as Hosokawa Zaemon finished speaking, he hurriedly added:
"Lord Tachibana, I will send people to the nearest town with fast horses to bring more delicious food..."
Before he finished speaking, Qing Deng suddenly grinned and chuckled a few times:
"Not bad! These rice balls look delicious. Thank you for being able to find so much food!"
"Huh?"
Hosokawa Zaemon subconsciously raised his head and looked at Ayoto in shock.
Looking at the other party's appearance, Qingdeng curled up his lips and said half teasingly, half jokingly:
"Hey, hey, you don't think I'm a Yueqing Yunke who only eats fairy beans and drinks dew, right?"
"Before I became a world-famous benevolent king, I was just an unknown person. I was just a member of the royal family with a fortune of hundreds of stones."
After saying that, he grabbed a pot of turbid wine and shook it a few times.
The sound of "gudong" and "gudong" is very full.
"There's quite a lot of drinks."
After mumbling like this, Qingdeng blinked and thought.
Suddenly, he raised the pot of sake in his hand, looked at the Owari samurai headed by Hosokawa Zaemon, and said loudly:
"Owari warriors, it would be too boring to just drink alone."
"If you don't mind, would you like to have a drink with us?"
After the words fell, the surroundings were quiet.
Owari's samurai were all stunned.
Their eyes wandered over each other's faces, and they saw expressions of disbelief one after another.
The superior took the initiative to invite the inferior, and he was a superior of Qingdeng's level... This was truly an honor-like treatment in the feudal era!
Ayoto added at the right time, recalling the consciousness of the Owari warriors.
"What? Don't you want to?"
Hosokawa Zaemon nodded vigorously with excitement.
"It is truly an honor for us to have a chat with Mr. Tachibana! Hey! Why are you standing there in a daze? Why don't you bring some rocks that are big enough for people to sit on?"
Under the command and personal actions of Hosokawa Zaemon, the Owari samurai moved a few stones and organized a simple "izakaya".
After the "izakaya" was completed, Hosokawa Zaemon made a "please" gesture to Aotobu.
"Master Tachibana, please take a seat!"
Qingdeng did not take his seat immediately, but waved his hand first.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, we'll talk about this later."
"The first thing to do now is this -"
Speaking of this, Qingden turned sideways, faced Sanako and the others, and raised his right fist high:
"This battle... is our complete victory!!"
The next moment, the Aizu cavalrymen imitated Aoto's example and raised their fists high.
"Ohhhhhhhhh!"
Although the number was small, the cheers they burst out were surprisingly powerful.
The cheers spread to the distance, echoing in the clouds, rising one after another, and lingering for a long time...
…
…
In the third year of Bunkyu, the bandit chief Shibazaki Renjuro Shouyi led the Ise bandits, commanding tens of thousands of people, to attack Kyoto.
Ju Qing Deng Sheng Qing was far away from the enemy at Iga. Taking advantage of the victory, he drove north. He traveled more than a hundred miles in a day and night, fighting eight times a day, and caught up with the bandit chief at Owari.
Break it big!
——"Nioh Monogatari", Chapter 3 (Female Chapter).
…
…
At this moment——
On the top of an unknown mountain——
Settsu Yorimitsu stood with his hands behind his back, listening to the cheers in the distance.
Although Qingdeng and others were outside his field of vision, his eyes were still firmly fixed on the East.
This direction is exactly where Qingdeng and others are.
Abruptly, he tugged at the corners of his mouth, showing a disdainful expression.
"Hmph! Idiot!"
"If you listen to me obediently and try to get the help of Choshu and Tosa, even if you can't defeat Tachibana Aoden, you can still cause him great trouble."
"I originally hoped that they could make the flowing water in Gyeonggi Province a little muddier."
"It seems that Tu Yikui is a loser after all."
Settsu Yorimitsu is not alone.
Standing on his left hand side was a tall, round-waisted man with a monk-like shaved head and a neck as thick as his head.
The bald man muttered to himself, thinking.
Settsu Yorimitsu noticed something strange about his bald head and asked:
"Master Umibo, what's wrong? I have something on my mind, but it doesn't matter."
The bald man hesitated for a while, then said angrily:
"Your Excellency, I believe that our action of 'helping Tu Yikui' this time is not in vain."
"At least we have seen with our own eyes the actual combat effectiveness of the Shinsengumi and the level of Tachibana Aoden's military use."
Settsu Laiguang listened and nodded gently.
"Showing the enemy's weakness, diverting the tiger away from the mountain, secretly attacking Chen Cang, capturing the thieves and the king, and pursuing them fiercely... I have to admit that Ju Qingden indeed showed extraordinary military skills in this battle."
"He used the above strategies to their full potential."
"He placed the troops with the strongest combat effectiveness in his own formation."
"Then we deliberately deployed a small number of troops on the eastern battlefield where the terrain is flat and will definitely be targeted by the enemy's key attack, luring the enemy to send a large group of troops to attack."
"After the opponent sends a large number of troops to attack the east, so that the formation is empty, he personally leads the cavalry to the side of the enemy camp, launches a surprise attack from an unexpected direction, and attacks the enemy camp in one fell swoop."
"After that, regardless of anything else, aim directly at the enemy camp's main formation and take the enemy general's head."
"For this reason, I did not hesitate to chase him for more than a hundred miles."
"After discovering that the camp in the rear has been lost, the enemy forces on the front line are bound to be shaken."
"At that time, the troops left behind in the formation will launch a general attack, and the few troops that have been stationed in the formation will be sent out to wait for work, and then cover up the attack in one go."
"Although it is a very old-fashioned tactic, it is also a tactic that has been tried and tested."
"Ju Qingden possesses military and strategic abilities that cannot be underestimated."
"As for the Shinsengumi, they also possess a level of organization and combat effectiveness that far exceeds our prior expectations."
"In addition, they also have an outstanding espionage network."
"As soon as Renjuro Shibasaki moved forward to increase his troops on the battlefield to the east, Tachibana Ao came on the back foot to kill him."
"I would never believe it if he said he didn't send personnel to reconnoiter Shibasaki Renjuro's camp at all times."
"Being able to know the enemy's movements at the first time... Such a rapid intelligence receiving capability is truly remarkable."
"According to my guess, Niou probably has one, or even multiple, skilled ninjas under his command."
"It was this ninja who immediately passed on the important information that 'the enemy camp is empty' to Nioh."
"We must make a new detailed assessment of the threat posed by Tachibana Aoden and the specific combat power of the Shinsengumi."
Speaking of this, Settsu Yorimitsu seemed to remember something and paused suddenly.
It wasn't until a moment later that he continued quietly:
"However, compared to Tachibana Aoden's military skills and the Shinsengumi's combat effectiveness...it is Tachibana Aoden's sword that shocks me even more."
The bald man...that is, Lord Umibo, after hearing Settsu Yorimitsu's senseless lament, he couldn't help but ask:
"Tachibana Aoden's sword? Sir, is there anything strange about his sword?"
Settsu Yorimitsu made a weird laugh of "hem hum" and showed a meaningful expression.
"The ancient sword glowing with purple light... there is no mistaking it. It is the sword of 'Liu Guang Hachiman'! It is also an heirloom of that family!"
"'Liuguang Hachiman'?"
Umibozu's eyes widened.
"The sword of 'Liu Guang Hachiman'... Doesn't that mean that... 'Liu Guang Hachiman' has a successor..."
As he said this, Master Umibo sneered a few times and changed into a mocking tone.
"Haha! I wonder what kind of expression Prajna will show after knowing this? Hahaha! I really want to see it!"
Settsu Yorimitsu chuckled a few times, and then clapped his hands hard twice.
Immediately afterwards, a short figure emerged from the shadows behind him.
"Master Settsu, what are your orders?"
As he spoke, he knelt on one knee and waited for Settsu Yorimitsu's instructions.
"Kappa, go to Ezo Land in person, find Hannya, and tell him: You have an additional junior brother, and he will inherit the mantle of your master."
Master Haibo was startled for a moment and then asked:
"Sir, is that all you need to say?"
"Yes, this sentence is enough."
The meaningful expression on Settsu Yorimitsu's face became increasingly intense.
"Being expelled from the 'Liuguang Hachiman' and not being able to fully obtain his mantle... This is an eternal pain in that guy's heart."
"When he learns that the thing he dreams of has been obtained by someone else... he will definitely rush back to Gyeonggi as fast as possible, covered with stars and moon."
The kappa didn't ask any questions and responded directly:
"Yes! Lord Settsu, I will leave immediately for Ezo Land!"
Settsu Yorimitsu curled his lips and shrugged.
"Kappa, the name 'Settsu Yorimitsu' has been completely abandoned as of today, so there is no need to call me 'Settsu-sama' anymore."
"Yes! Photography... No, Shuten Doji-sama!"
*******
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There are 5,700 words today! The amount of updates is gradually coming back! For the sake of Bao Baozi working so hard, please give me a monthly vote! Please give me a recommendation vote! (Bao Baozi is crying)
Book friends who are familiar with history should have recognized it - yes! Aoto's "Battle of Iga" is a combination of Minamoto Yoshitsune's "Surprise Attack on Ichinoya" and Li Shimin's "Battle of Kashiwabi"
