As soon as Kinnosuke finished speaking, there were echoes one after another:
"Konosuke-sama is right! You guys calm down!"
"There are so many soldiers of the shogunate outside. Even if you have three heads and six arms, you are no match for them!"
"What do you want to do? Don't you want to open the door and fight with the soldiers of the shogunate?"
"Don't go looking for death!"
…
Ogata quietly listened to the criticisms of the people around him.
After their criticism subsided a little, he softly repeated what Kinnosuke had just said to him:
"How could he be their opponent...?"
After repeating what Konnosuke just said to him, Ogata smiled at Konnosuke:
"You're right."
"The opponent is nearly a hundred heavily armed and rigorously trained elite soldiers of the shogunate."
"Even with the help of Mamiya and Makimura, two people who don't know their true strength, I'm not sure I can defeat them."
"But-"
Ogata suddenly changed the subject.
"Kinnosuke-sama, do you know when a person is finished?"
"Huh?" Upon hearing Ogata's question, Konnosuke looked confused.
"There is only one situation when a person is finished. That is when he completely gives up the fight."
Ogata's tone and look gradually became serious.
"As long as we continue to fight, there is still hope of victory, and it is not considered a defeat."
"Even if the odds of victory are slim, I will never put down the sword in my hand."
"After all -" When he said this, Ogata's face returned to a faint smile, "I am a ronin who lives by the sword and will die by the sword."
After saying that, Ogata seemed too lazy to talk to Konnosuke and others anymore, hugged the bundle of swords in his arms tightly, and walked away.
Before they had gone two steps further, a girl standing not far behind Ogata looked at their backs with a puzzled look on her face and asked:
"Is there any point in fighting to the death?"
"After the soldiers of the shogunate rushed in, you might not be able to kill even one of you, and then you were stabbed to death by random shots!"
"Was he randomly shot to death by soldiers of the shogunate... maybe."
As soon as the girl finished speaking, Oufang didn't even look back and answered without thinking.
"It's just that - there are two kinds of the highest level of courage in human beings."
"One is to face the unknown ahead and move forward without hesitation."
"The other is to face the future that is destined to be a tragedy and still move forward."
"When the sky is falling apart and the earth is falling apart, there should always be a few brave people like this who step forward."
"If no one comes forward, I would like to be the vanguard!"
"Kinnosuke-sama, please take the villagers to the second or third floor."
"If you stay on the first floor, it will affect our battle."
…
…
At Ogata's request, the villagers led by Kinnosuke, including the young men who had been blocking the door just now, all fled to the third floor of the mansion.
Without the few young men blocking the door, the overwhelming "squeaking" sound of the door became louder.
From the increasingly louder "squeaking" sound, it is not difficult to judge that this door will not last long.
Soon after, nearly a hundred soldiers from the shogunate army will break through the door of the mansion, swarm them, and rush into the mansion with their teeth and claws bared.
Ogata and the other four are now standing in the corridor facing the gate of the mansion.
After looking at the banging door, Mamiya smiled bitterly and asked Ogata:
"So - Ogata-kun, we have followed your instructions and brought over all the swords we have collected so far. Can you tell me your clever plan to defeat the enemy?"
Just now, after learning from the maid on the third floor that the shogunate army was attacking, Ogata pondered for a while and then said to Mamiya and others:
"Take all the swords we have collected so far. If my plan goes well, I may be able to rely on the terrain to kill all the incoming shogunate troops."
Ogata didn't say what his plan was on the spot, and just asked Mamiya and the others to take all the swords they had collected so far.
After killing all of Soutaro and his party just now, Ogata and others followed the concept of not wasting and collected all the swords of Soutaro and his companions.
After replenishing the swords that Soutaro and the others can still use, Ogata and his party currently have a considerable number of swords: 29 katana and 36 wakizashi.
Although they couldn't figure out the reason why Ogata asked to bring so many swords, Mamiya and others decided to believe in Ogata's plan and followed his instructions to bring all the swords.
"Mamiya, Makimura, Omachi." After Mamiya's questioning ended, Ogata casually threw the knife in his arms to the ground at his feet and said to the three people, "This is what Kinnosuke is doing.
The layout of this mansion is very special.”
"There is no back door, the only entrance and exit is the gate on the first floor."
"After entering the gate, we must first pass through the corridor that is neither long nor short at our feet before we can go to other places on the first floor or reach the stairs to the second and third floors."
"so--"
Speaking of this, a meaningful smile appeared on Ogata's face.
"Do you still remember how 'Swordsman General' Ashikaga Yoshiteru fought against an entire army by himself?"
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Mamiya raised his eyebrows, and then chuckled a few times: "I see..."
"Help me arrange a position to meet the enemy." Ogata said softly, "I don't know why the shogunate suddenly got mad and suddenly sent troops to kill people."
"But since they are here to take my life, I will take their lives back without hesitation."
"I will stay here and give the shogunate army a head-on attack."
"After you help me set up the position, it's up to you whether you want to join me in fighting the shogunate army or take refuge on the second or third floor."
"Ogata-kun." Mamiya shrugged helplessly, "Stay here to help you or go upstairs to take refuge? Aren't you asking this question in vain?"
…
…
boom!
After directing the soldiers to make a new round of collisions with the door in front of him, the officer finally saw that the door in front of him was significantly deformed.
Looking at the door that was finally about to collapse, both officers and other ordinary soldiers all looked happy.
"Work harder!" the officer yelled, "This door is about to collapse! If you push it again, it will open!"
Encouraged by the officers, the soldiers, whose morale was already high because the gate was finally deformed, were gearing up and their fighting spirit became even higher.
"one two three!"
After shouting neat slogans again, the dozen soldiers responsible for hitting the wall used all their strength again and hit the door in front of them.
boom!
Bang!
This time, the sound was not just the sound of the door being hit.
There was also the sound of the door being knocked down and then falling heavily to the ground.
The dozen or so soldiers who were responsible for knocking down the door fell to the ground after the wooden door was finally overwhelmed and crashed. Behind the dozen or so soldiers, the other soldiers who had already been preparing to attack immediately eagerly stepped over the ten soldiers.
Several comrades who fell to the ground followed the door and rushed into the house along the opened door.
However, as soon as they rushed into the house, the soldiers were all frightened by the sight that appeared in front of them. They stopped and froze on the spot.
Behind the door of the house is a corridor that is neither long nor short.
At this moment, the floor of this corridor and the walls on both sides were all covered with katana and wakizashi, the total number of which was dozens.
Dozens of swords are scattered throughout this corridor, making this corridor look like a forest - a "steel forest" with swords as trees and flowers.
In the center of this "forest", three people stood.
3 people... seemed to be waiting for their arrival.