Chapter 951 The Sword Master’s “unfinished business” [Leopard update 6K7]
Everyone's eyes were focused on Shuten Doji, quietly waiting for his specific instructions.
After thinking for a long time, the drunken boy said in a deep voice:
"...Our military strength is already quite tight and we cannot make too many sacrifices."
Having said this, he turned his head and shouted to Su Nuo:
"Bring up all the 'fireworks'!"
…
…
Akasaka Imperial Gate, Wataru Gate——
"The enemy's defeat has become apparent! Drive them down!"
After roaring, Tokugawa Iemo shouted, and regardless of the dissuasion of the people around him, he raised the sword in his hand, stepped forward, and joined the battle.
The Russian soldiers did not understand Japanese, and they did not know what a "general who conquered the barbarians" was.
The members of the Raiders are not so ignorant.
They have seen through Tokugawa Iemo's true identity through his appearance and the series of words he shouted.
"Kill him! He is Tokugawa Iemo! As long as we kill him, we will win this battle."
"Don't worry about others! Deal with Tokugawa Iemo first!"
"Kill! The downfall is today!"
Huge numbers of enemy soldiers rushed towards Tokugawa Iemo from all directions.
Faced with this sudden crisis, Tokugawa Iemo did not panic.
While setting up the knife, he swept his eyes calmly to observe the battle situation.
"Damn national thief! God punishes you!"
An enemy soldier roared and rushed towards Tokugawa Iemo.
The knife raised above his head struck his head hard.
Judging from the perspective of swordsmanship, his sword is very good. It is very powerful, the sword tendon is very straight, and the control of the distance is also very accurate.
However, he misjudged one thing: Tokugawa Iemo has never been a pampered person!
Although he is a general who conquers barbarians, he has always maintained the habit of exercising and practicing swordsmanship.
Due to his limited talent, he is not a martial arts master with extraordinary skills, but he is definitely not a weak scholar with no power!
He aimed at the enemy's sword path, suddenly raised the sword in his hand, and held it diagonally above his head.
With a clang sound, two steel knives hit each other in the air.
Immediately afterwards, the enemy's sword slid sideways along the blade of the sword, like riding a slide.
This move is the most classic force reduction in swordsmanship.
After defusing the enemy's offensive, Tokugawa Iemo immediately launched a counterattack.
His ability to switch from defense to offense is quite skillful.
In the blink of an eye, he straightened the knife in his palm to the upper right section, and then slashed it down neatly!
Phew!
The sword's blade cut across the enemy's entire body, causing blood to spurt out.
After the enemy's body shook a few times, he fell to the ground with a "plop".
The general not only joined the battle in person, but also chopped down an enemy soldier with his own hands... cheers that boosted morale were heard all around again.
Although Tokugawa Iemo's bravery was deeply admired by the soldiers, no matter what, he was always the supreme commander of the shogunate.
If something happens to him, it will cause an irreparable and serious blow to the shogunate.
It is too dangerous to be exposed to the enemy's sword for a long time.
As a result, a group of soldiers cheered up and planned to step forward to protect Tokugawa Iemo.
It's just that... they all stopped just after taking a few steps.
It wasn't that they didn't want to support Tokugawa Iemo, but they later discovered that the other party didn't need their protection at all - because there was a very reliable bodyguard next to him!
"Be careful! This guy is the 'Sword Master' Seiichiro Tanani!"
"Don't back down! Even if he is a 'Sword Master', he is already an old man!"
"What's there to fear about an old 'Sword Master'?"
Several enemy soldiers formed a rough fan shape and surrounded Tokugawa Iemo.
However, they were very wary of the old man who was guarding Tokugawa Iemo. Their steps were slow and they could not cross the gap of just a few steps.
Although they encouraged each other and encouraged each other, they never dared to step forward and shake the "Sword Master"'s blade!
Throughout the ages, the only swordsmen who have held the title of "Sword Master" are Nobutsuna Kamizumi and Buden Tsukahara in the Warring States Period, Ittosai Ogata 70 years ago, and Seiichiro Otani today.
Such rare and powerful men cannot help but be nervous and cautious.
Seeing that the enemy soldiers did not dare to move forward, Tan Seiichiro was too lazy to accompany them!
Sooner or later, he stepped forward and slashed the first man's chest like a flying swallow. Then he adjusted the blade, raised it upwards, and knocked the second man to the ground. Then he turned the action of sheathing the knife into
The attack move is to cut open the belly of the third and fourth person in one breath.
Finally, he made a mistake and retreated to Tokugawa Iemo.
The speed of his sword was extremely fast. Not to mention blocking or dodging, the enemy soldiers could not even react. Some of them did not even know that they had been slashed.
Elodie did not know Seiichiro Tanani and Kiyone Kubota, she had only heard of their names.
A large part of the reason why Otani Seiichiro is revered as the "Sword Master" is because of his outstanding contributions to Japanese swordsmanship.
His greatest contribution was to unify the length of bamboo swords.
Before that, because the average height was very low, swordsmen were generally unable to wield long swords, so for a long time, the 73cm bamboo sword was the mainstream of Japanese swordsmanship.
It wasn't until the emergence of "Seven-foot-Unparalleled" Oishi Shin that the "mainstream" was shaken.
Oishi Susumu, who was seven feet tall (2.1 meters) and held a five-foot-three-inch long sword (1.6 meters), was invincible throughout Edo, and countless strong men were defeated by his sword.
Affected by this, long swords became popular in the fencing world for a while, and the concept of "the longer the sword, the better" became an undoubted truth.
The swordsmen rushed to pick up the long swords, fearing that their own swords would be half as short as their own, regardless of whether they had wielded such a long sword.
The man Seiichiro Tanani could not stand this trend, so he used a dagger (73cm) that had been abandoned at the time to knock Oishi to the ground despite the height difference of tens of centimeters.
After defeating Oishi Shin, Otani Seiichiro relied on this record and his own prestige to carry out a major reform in Japanese swordsmanship, unifying the length of the bamboo sword to the current 4 feet (1.2 meters), completely ending the "kenkoshi"
The longer the better” fallacy.
From then on, the bamboo swords of all sects were of the same length, and there was no longer a blind pursuit of long swords.
Otani Seiichiro's feat of unifying the length of his bamboo sword can be said to have laid the foundation for the current Japanese swordsmanship.
If there hadn't been such a highly prestigious master to consolidate everyone's ideas, I'm afraid everyone would still be arguing about the optimal length of the bamboo sword to this day.
Of course, the main reason why he won the title of "Sword Master" is his unparalleled strength!
The various anecdotes about how Otani Seiichiro conquered the heroes could take a day and a night to finish.
All in all, Seiichiro Tanani was always synonymous with "invincible" until his old age and strength failed him!
With him guarding Tokugawa Iemo, no matter how the enemy soldiers stepped forward and attacked desperately, they could not get even half a step closer to Tokugawa Iemo.
Judging from the overall effect, Tokugawa Iemo's courageous charge into battle played an important role that cannot be underestimated.
General Zhengyi's head... as long as he cuts it off, the battle will be won - this huge temptation makes the members of the Qi Corps no longer able to stay rational.
They rushed towards Tokugawa Iemo without caring about anything else.
Leaving their position without authorization... This made their array become messy and crumbling!
Elodie spotted this opportunity, shouted "Follow me", squeezed out the remaining strength in her body, stepped up her offensive, and tried to drive the enemy out of the imperial gate in one go!
To give a vivid metaphor... the enemy seemed to have punched out in order to defeat Tokugawa Iemo. The fist was raised, but the vulnerable side ribs were released - Elodie took the opportunity to throw a heavy punch.
, hitting his empty flank!
Her attack had an immediate effect.
With high morale like divine help, the soldiers swarmed forward and fought fiercely without fear of death.
The enemy troops were retreating steadily and suffered heavy casualties.
Those who were still alive quickly retreated to the ground along the way they came - the long ladders.
The enemy troops at the Waduo Gate retreated like a tide.
The defenders took advantage of the situation and killed those who had no time to escape, cutting down those who had no time to escape. Then they cut off the long ladders and overturned them.
At this point, there are no more enemy soldiers on the Duolu Gate.
"The enemy retreated! We won!"
"We are guarding Akasaka Mikado!"
"Woooooooooooooooo..."
Faced with the hard-earned results achieved through countless hardships, many people cried with joy.
Elodie was breathing heavily, racing against time to adjust her physical and mental state, while looking around blankly.
Just a moment ago, she couldn't help but feel desperate because she had nothing to do.
Unexpectedly, in just ten minutes, the situation on the battlefield took a shocking turn!
The generals who conquered the barbarians and the imperial commanders of the imperial palace personally conquered the country; the arrival of the "Sword Master"...these unexpected reinforcements helped them survive the most difficult ordeal.
At this moment, Elodie deeply realized what "the ever-changing changes on the battlefield" mean.
The enemy soldiers retreated... Logically speaking, this is a good thing.
Even if they only retreat temporarily, they can buy them a moment of breathing space so that they can adjust their status.
But... facing this situation, Elodie did not feel happy or relaxed.
Counting the previous attack and defense of the Eighth Prince, she had already fought two battles with the French and French coalition forces.
Elodie has a very clear understanding of how difficult this group of powerful enemies is.
The cunningness of her mind and the richness of her methods made every joy she felt now mixed with an unknown premonition.
Somehow, at this moment, she suddenly recalled the scenes when the Goryeo Gate was about to fall.
The enemy also retreated...
Likewise, the enemy no longer attacks...
It was as if God was deliberately teasing her, at this moment when her heart beat an uneasy rhythm——
Gululululu...!
Suddenly, there was a rapid sound of wheels turning from far to near outside the royal gate!
Suddenly, Elodie's pupils suddenly shrank into pinhole shapes.
She ran to the edge of the royal gate in three steps and looked out - a total of 12 large trolleys were rushing towards them!
All the scenes are just like before.
Each trolley is loaded with barrels... Maybe they are too lazy to hide it - in fact, there is no need to hide it anymore. Elodie and the others all know what these barrels are - so these trolleys are no longer covered
Cover with straw mat.
Looking at this even larger convoy than before, Elodie suddenly felt a chill spreading from the bottom of her heart to her limbs and bones, and then straight up to Tianling Gai!
The next moment, like a conditioned reflex, she shouted at the top of her voice:
"Quick! Stop them! Those are bombs! Don't let these bombs get close to Mikado!"
After hearing the term "bomb", the expressions of Tokugawa Iemo, Tenzouin, Otani Seiichiro and others immediately changed.
They immediately understood that these wooden barrels were the main culprit that turned Akasaka Mikado's Goryeo Gate into a pile of ruins.
The enemy still had so many bombs... From this point of view, they really spent a lot of money and worked hard to capture Edo.
Kondo Shusuke yelled:
"Damn! How many bombs do they have?!"
Different from just now, this time, Elodie and the others have two sharp archers.
In the blink of an eye, Tenzouin and Kubota Kiyone stepped forward without any explanation at the same time, drawing their bows and arrows to snipe at the enemy soldiers who were pushing the vehicles.
Their archery skills are indeed superb.
Even though there was a long distance between them, and even if the enemy soldiers hid most of their bodies behind the vehicle, they were still able to hit the target with perfect accuracy!
Arrows shot out in the air.
An enemy soldier fell to the ground and died.
However... there are too many enemy soldiers!
Each cart must be pushed by at least 4 enemy soldiers.
Even if Tenzouin and Kubota Kiyone pulled out the sparks from the bowstrings in their hands, it would still be a drop in the bucket.
Although other soldiers picked up muskets, bows and arrows and stepped forward to support them, their bow skills (gun skills) were far inferior to those of Tenjoin and Kubota Kiyone, and they were unable to accurately shoot the enemy soldiers. In the end, they only formed an "atmosphere team"
function.
At this time, a new unexpected situation occurred.
Tianzhangyuan released new arrows and shot down another enemy soldier.
As the enemy soldier fell forward, he accidentally hit the vehicle in front of him.
The car shook a few times, and several barrels on the car rolled down.
After these wooden barrels fell to the ground, they immediately bounced several inches high and made a crisp sound of "dong" and "dong".
Anyone with some common sense knows that a filled barrel will not bounce so high, nor will it make such a crisp sound.
Tianzhangyuan immediately understood what was going on, and his expression became particularly ugly:
"Some of the trolleys are not loaded with bombs!"
As soon as these words came out, an air of consternation and annoyance suddenly filled the scene.
The enemy's tricks are obvious.
They deliberately brought a bunch of carts without bombs to confuse Elodie and others and increase the difficulty of defense!
Blessings never come in pairs, misfortunes never come alone... Suddenly, a certain sergeant suddenly screamed:
"A new vehicle has appeared!"
I saw 12 more large trolleys arriving at the end of the street directly opposite the imperial gate!
Elodie never believed that the enemy had so many bombs.
Most of the cars must have been loaded with empty barrels.
Only a few of the cars actually contain bombs.
Their manpower is severely lacking.
In this unfavorable situation, you have to be distracted to identify which vehicles are safe and which vehicles are dangerous...
At this time, although no one said it explicitly, they all had the same thought in their hearts: The Watura Gate is in danger!
At this critical moment, Tokugawa Iemo suddenly spoke out:
"Retreat! Abandon Watura Gate!"
Upon hearing this, everyone turned their heads and cast surprised glances at each other.
Tokugawa Iemo recited Takeda Shingen's famous lines quickly without pausing:
“‘People are the city, people are the walls, and people are the borders’!”
"Where there are people, there is hope!"
"Abandon the Imperial Gate! Retreat immediately!"
Abandon the Wataru Gate... This gate is the last gate of the Akasaka Imperial Gate.
This move is tantamount to giving up Akasaka Mikado completely!
In this way, there will be a big hole in the defense line of "Thirty-Six Views" that is difficult to fill!
However, no one dared to disobey the order given by General Zhengyi himself.
The soldiers retreated hurriedly, ran down the imperial gate quickly and without hesitation, and moved to a safe area.
Tokugawa Iemo did not leave with the soldiers, but stayed behind.
He insisted on letting the others leave first, and was willing to leave only after the soldiers had withdrawn.
Those who also stayed behind at the Imperial Gate include Elodie, Kondo Shusuke, Otani Seiichiro and other leaders.
Tenzouin and Kubota Kiyone stood still and continued to shoot at the enemy soldiers pushing carts, trying to slow down the advancing speed of the convoy.
At this moment, both the enemy and our sense of time became strange.
Only ten minutes had passed, but it seemed as long as ten hours.
Finally... under the gaze of countless eyes, the trolleys arrived directly under the Wataru Gate.
At the same time, all the defenders on the imperial gate had withdrawn.
The only people who have not left yet are Tokugawa Iemo, Elodie and others!
"Your Highness! Let's go!"
Seiichiro Tanani shouted, and then escorted Tokugawa Iemo back.
As he began to evacuate, Tokugawa Iemo turned to Tenzōin and shouted:
"Mother! Come with me!"
Seeing that the evacuation work was in its final stages, Tenzouin and Kubota Kiyone finally put away their bows and left their shooting positions.
Elodie and Kondo Shusuke followed closely behind.
Just as they were hurriedly retreating... Outside the royal gate, Shuten Doji once again raised the Japanese bow in his hand.
The rockets mounted on the bow were burning brightly.
With quick eyesight and quick hands, he adjusted the position of the arrow cluster, aimed at the barrels of gunpowder, and drew the bow like a full moon.
Then, he softly recited another slogan that the Japanese often shout when setting off fireworks:
"Key~house~(ka~gi~ya~)"
In the next moment, the power accumulated in his arms suddenly bounced away.
Whoosh!
The rocket flew out and hit a powder keg.
For a moment... the moment the burning arrow cluster sank deeply into the barrel——
Boom!!!
Mushroom-shaped fire clouds rose into the sky!
The explosion at this moment was even better than before!
The surging flames swept through most of the Wataru Gate in the blink of an eye!
At the moment when the explosion occurred, Elodie and her group had just left the imperial gate.
Although he walked out of the imperial gate, he was not completely out of the explosion range.
In fact, they only need to take a few more steps to reach safety.
If Tokugawa Iemo had ordered the retreat earlier...
If the convoy's approach speed were slower...
If Shuten-douji had released his arrow a little slower...
Unfortunately, none of these "ifs" happened.
No one can know what the right decision is.
The only thing people can do is to do their best and then accept the results calmly.
In an instant, a strong impact, carrying thick smoke and dust, rolled towards Elodie and the others.
Along with the attack, there were countless broken bricks and rubble.
"Lie down!"
In a hurry, Elodie heard the shout of male Tan Seiichiro.
Before she could think about it, she dived forward and fell to the ground.
The shock wave coming from behind was like a passing hurricane, almost blowing her away.
While holding her head with both hands to protect her head, she gritted her teeth and endured the severe pain that nearly tore her eardrums.
…
…
"...Ugh...! Ahem!"
She coughed out the dust and smoke she accidentally inhaled.
Similar scenes, similar feelings, similar pain... everything is so similar.
Elodie almost thought that she had experienced the legendary time travel and returned to a few dozen minutes ago.
Elodie shook her head vigorously, as if to get rid of the pain and dizziness in her mind.
Crash la la la... Countless dust sprinkled on its head fell down.
After she regained consciousness slightly, she began to check her whole body - luckily, all the parts were still there, not a single one was missing.
Unfortunately, the "buzzing" that finally slowed down returned to his eardrums.
This time it was even more serious. Not only did a honeycomb grow deep in the ear, but it also repeatedly produced pinprick-like stings.
After feeling that there was no bleeding in her ears, she was shocked: It hurt so much, but there was no bleeding?
Just when she was putting her hands on the ground and preparing to stand up, she suddenly heard a voice beside her that made her feel very uneasy:
"Cough, cough, cough, cough...!"
A cough mixed with the sound of water... Elodie's face changed color, she turned her head in a panic and looked at Kondo Shusuke beside her.
"Mr. Kondo, what's wrong with you?"
I saw Kondo Shusuke lying on the ground with a face full of pain, and the clothes on his back were stained with blood. The area of the blood stain was expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Kondo Shusuke grinned and tried to pretend to be calm and calm:
"Just now...I was lying down a little slower...a stone brick hit my back without any bias..."
"It seems that my luck is not good this time..."
"What a pity... If I were 10 years younger, I would definitely be able to avoid this stone..."
When Elodie heard this, her expression changed several times.
She doesn't understand medicine.
However, she understood that vomiting a lot of blood meant she had suffered serious internal injuries!
Just when his mind was paralyzed by intense panic, an old male voice from not far away answered Kondo Shusuke's words:
"Hehehe... I feel the same way... If I were 10 years younger, I would never end up in such a world..."
Elodie looked around, and her already pale face suddenly became even more ugly.
The speaker is Kubota Kiyone.
He was also injured, and the injury was much more serious than Kondo Shusuke!
His right leg was bloody and bloody, and a stone as big as a fist lay beside his leg.
It is not difficult to imagine that, like Kondo Shusuke, he must have been hit in the thigh by a flying stone brick because he was lying down a little slower!
"Are you all okay?"
Tianzhangyuan's voice brought Elodie's mind back to reality.
Elodie turned to look at Tianzhang Courtyard - she was not injured, but her body was covered in dust, the ribbon binding her hair had fallen off, and three thousand blue hairs were hanging down.
"General! Are you okay?"
The voice of Otani Seiichiro made everyone nervous.
They all turned their eyes to confirm Tokugawa Iemo's current situation.
At this moment, the male Tan Seiichiro was supporting him and solemnly wiping the blood on his forehead.
Tokugawa Iemo opened his eyes with all his strength, touched his forehead, and whispered:
"I'm fine...just...I was scratched by a stone...a little dizzy..."
After confirming that Tokugawa Iemo was still alive, Tenzouin and others let out a sigh of relief.
However, he is now in a "half-awake" state.
Although he was not unconscious, his consciousness was blurred and he could not even speak a complete sentence.
No one died so close to the center of the explosion. Only Tokugawa Iemo, Kubota Kiyone and Kondo Shusuke were injured... Such a result can be considered very lucky.
"General, please hold on, the enemy is about to come over."
After that, Seiichiro Tanani put one of Tokugawa Iemo's arms on his shoulders and helped him stand up.
As soon as he finished saying "The enemy is about to come over" with his front legs, there was a dense sound of footsteps coming from his back legs——
Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!
Dull and dense footsteps approached them.
The man Tan Seiichiro followed the sound and looked - a large group of enemy troops broke into his sight.
The number of enemies was very large, at least three hundred people... They must have wanted to complete their victory in one battle, so they sent all the troops they could use.
Among this vast group of enemies, Tan Seiichiro keenly spotted a conspicuous guy.
This man wears a large armor from the Heian period, has a scholarly temperament, and has handsome features like a Kabuki actor.
Although it is just a personal intuition, Otani Seiichiro is very sure: this person is the enemy's general!
His eyes were firmly fixed on Shuten Doji, his eyelids slowly lowered, and his eyes sparkled with light.
"...His Royal Highness Tianzhangyuan, please take the General to the rear."
As he spoke, he handed over Tokugawa Iemo on his shoulder to Tenzōin without any explanation.
"I still have unfinished business."
Choking, rang, rang, rang… As soon as the words fell, the sword appeared!
*******
*******
Please give me monthly votes! Please vote for recommendations! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)
"Unfinished business" - this sentence is really cool.