Chapter 328 Kyoto can't hold 2 dragons! [Today is still 30,000 words
[When you see Makimura and Junroku getting ready to fight, it is recommended that you open NetEase Cloud Music or QQ Music and play "Two Dragons" written by "Eidetoku Shoji" (the author displayed on QQ Music is "Japanese Various Stars").
While watching, you will gain another dimension of viewing experience]
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Although it has been 2 years since they were away, Shunliu's face has not changed much.
"Ah Ba, I knew you would come here." Shunliu said with a gentle smile on his face.
"...Because I remember the habits of the two of us." Makimura said softly, "This place is our 'secret stronghold'. We used to practice sword practice and drink together here... Now that I know you are also in Kyoto
Then, I knew—Shunliu, you would definitely come here too."
"Time flies so fast..." Shunliu said to Makimura in a casual tone, as if he were chatting with others, "The fire at dawn... and the separation of the two of us were already two years ago."
"Yeah..." Makimura pursed his lips, "The scenes that happened on the day we parted ways... I still remember it fresh..."
…
…
2 years ago - more than a month after the Tianming Fire.
April 29, Tianming 8th year (1788 AD).
"Makimura...Kunieda...I'm here...to see you."
It's the sound of the sacred mountain.
Makimura, who was closing his eyes to recuperate, slowly opened his eyes and looked forward after hearing the sound from the sacred mountain.
Shenshan was standing behind the wooden fence, looking at him and Shunliu with complicated eyes.
At this time, both Makimura and Junroku were imprisoned in the prison in the north of the city.
Because both of them were special criminals, they received special care: the entire cell only housed them two, and no one else was allowed into their cells to keep them company.
"Me too...it took a lot of effort to get the two of you who committed the 'crime of disobedience' to be pardoned..." Shenshan said softly, "After seven days, you can come out."
The reason why Makimura and Junroku were imprisoned was naturally the crime of disobedience.
When Tadahiro Toda, the acting governor of Kyoto, ordered to protect Nijo Castle, they were the only two who disobeyed the order and ran to evacuate the civilians.
When the fire finally subsided in the morning because there was nothing left to burn, the two of them were sent to prison without any surprise.
"Cheer up, everyone."
Shenshan looked at Mucun, who was leaning against the wall, and then at Shunliu, who was lying on his side with his back turned.
Although Shunliu's face could not be seen, Shenshan could tell that Shunliu was not sleeping, he was awake.
Shenshan tried his best to speak to the two of them in a relaxed and calm tone.
"The way you are now, you won't be able to do anything after you are released from prison."
Makimura, Junroku: "..."
It's a pity... no one responded to Shenshan's words.
After seeing that the two of them were still unmoved by what he just said, Shenshan let out a long sigh again.
"...Shunliu." Shenshan cast complicated eyes on Shunliu, "I'm very sorry about Adian's matter..."
Adian, Shunliu's wife who had just married half a year ago, died in the Tianming fire a month ago.
He wasn't burned to death by fire.
Nor was he killed by smoke.
Instead, he was trampled to death by the fleeing crowd...
In the Tianming Fire a month ago, most people were not burned to death by the fire or smoke.
Instead, he was trampled to death by the people around him in a chaotic environment.
After hearing these words from Shenshan, Shunliu finally had some reaction - his whole body trembled.
"...Lord Kamiyama." At this moment, Makimura, who had been silent since just now, said to Kamiyama in a calm and terrifying tone, "Shunroku and I had already decided when we were imprisoned - we
We will never be together in Kyoto again."
"What?!" Kamiyama, who was not expecting Makimura's words, screamed, "Why?!"
"...Lord Kamiyama, I... used to think that 'warrior' symbolized 'glory'."
Makimura said slowly.
"In my mind, 'samurai' is synonymous with 'hoeing the strong and supporting the weak'."
"This is why I have always longed to become a samurai."
"But...it wasn't until I became a samurai that I discovered that there was such a huge difference between the real samurai and the samurai in my mind..."
"Real warriors...turn out to be so miserable..."
"After working in Kyoto for so many years, I realized that what Abe Leili told us before was right!"
"The duty of warriors... is really just to protect the powerful and be their dogs...!"
There was a cry in Makimura's tone.
"The various things that happened in front of me made me disappointed in the Samurai again and again..."
"The Tianming fire a month ago finally made me feel desperate."
"Compared to the lives of ordinary people, protecting the so-called authority of the shogunate was given priority."
"Nijo Castle was protected, but countless people died!"
"If all the officials who were used to protect Nijo Castle were transferred to help the people evacuate, I don't know how many people would survive!"
"Lord Shenshan..."
Clear tears welled up from Makimura's eyes.
"I'm really disappointed with Samurai now!"
"I already... don't want to be a samurai anymore, and I don't want to be a force in Kyoto anymore...!"
"As long as Junroku and I are still in power in Kyoto, sooner or later we will encounter this kind of bad mission where we must prioritize protecting the powerful!"
"We... don't want to be the dogs of the powerful anymore!"
Makimura's tone was sonorous and forceful.
Revealing firmness like a rock.
"...I understand." After a long moment of silence, Shenshan sighed heavily, "I will...will cancel the establishment of the two of you in our Kyoto Prefecture..."
Makimura wiped the tears from his face.
"Lord Shenshan, let's go our separate ways."
Makimura continued.
"To be honest, I don't want to see you again, Master Shenshan, for the rest of my life."
"I will try my best not to return to Kyoto again."
"Seeing you... will make my time in Kyoto painful. If you meet me somewhere in the future, please pretend you haven't seen me."
"I know..." Shenshan smiled bitterly, "I can understand... I promise you - if I meet you two somewhere in the future, I will pretend not to see you..."
After Shenshan left, Makimura rubbed his face vigorously, steeled himself and said to Shunliu beside him:
"Junroku, when you get out of prison and leave Kyoto, what are your plans?"
"I plan to blow up Kyoto."
As soon as Makimura finished speaking, Shunliu said this without thinking.
"The first place I want to blow up is the 'white ground' where we used to practice swordsmanship."
Junliu's words made Makimura stunned.
"Junroku..." Makimura looked surprised and slightly panicked, "What...are you talking about?"
Junroku did not immediately respond to Makimura's question.
But after being silent for a while, he suddenly turned around and said to Makimura with a smile on his face:
"I was just joking."
After saying that, Shunliu turned his head back.
"Okay, I'm going to bed, don't talk to me anymore."
…
…
The second year of Kanzheng (1790).
Kyoto, in a nameless open space.
"Shunroku..." Looking at Junroku, who had been away for two years, Makimura's eyes showed extremely complicated emotions, "What have you been doing in the past two years...?"
Two years ago, after the two were released from prison, Shun Liu suddenly disappeared.
Without even saying hello to Makimura, he just disappeared suddenly.
The two met again two years later.
Shunroku, whose pseudonym was Ryuunosuke, did not answer Makimura's question, but chuckled a few times:
"Ah Ha, you really made it easy for me to wait. I have been waiting for you to come here on this 'white land' for nearly half an hour. I even started to wonder if you didn't recognize 'Ryuunosuke' just now.
It's just me, or I forgot about this 'white land'."
"The moment I found 'Wakasa incense' next to the bodies of the innocent people you killed, I thought of you." Makimura said solemnly, "Because... your former wife Ado liked to use Wakasa the most.
In the whole of Kyoto, Adyo is the only one who frequently goes to Iguchiya to buy and use Wakasa incense.”
"I even helped Adyo go to Iguchiya to buy Wakasa incense."
"After the explosive bomb was found in the building on Third Prince Street, I was sure that you were the mastermind behind it."
"Then... when you opened the window and threw a bomb at me and my companions, I saw your face..."
"Haha..." Shunliu touched his face, "You did see my face at that time... It's no wonder, I could see your face at that time, there is no reason why you can't see mine.
."
"When that guy Ichisaburo told me that there was a 7-foot-tall strong man chasing him, I was thinking - Hachi, have you returned to Kyoto?"
"It wasn't until I opened the window, ready to throw a bomb in, and saw your face, that I was finally convinced - Haha, you have really returned to Kyoto."
"It scares me to think about it now. After I heard Ichizaburo's voice downstairs, I wanted to use explosive bombs to kill all those who dared to attack my stronghold."
"I didn't see your face until after all the bombs were thrown."
"After seeing your face, my soul was almost scared out of my mind."
"Fortunately, you threw the bomb back and didn't kill you."
"If my only remaining family member in the world is blown up, I will be uneasy for the rest of my life."
"Junroku..." Makimura gritted his teeth, "Where have you been in the past two years?"
"I have been recruiting troops and purchasing weapons for the past two years, always preparing to destroy Kyoto."
"Junroku!" Makimura could no longer control his emotions and shouted at Junroku, "Do you know what you are doing? Do you know how many innocent civilians will die if your crazy plan succeeds?
?!"
"I know." Shunliu said to Makimura in a calm tone, "My purpose is to destroy Kyoto and humiliate the shogunate. Of course I know that after my plan succeeds, many people will die."
"Kyoto was one of the three capitals of the Edo shogunate. Kyoto was destroyed by a group of people - for the shogunate, there is nothing more humiliating than this, right?"
"Junroku...you...are you going to overthrow the shogunate...?!"
"That's right!" A bit of madness appeared on Junliu's face at this time, "I want to overthrow the shogunate! I want to overthrow the shogunate! Destroying Kyoto and slapping the shogunate twice loudly in the face is my first step.
!”
"Junroku..." The face of the young man in front of him is so familiar, but now Makimura only feels that it is quite strange, "Are you... crazy...?!"
"I'm not crazy, I'm calm."
"Ah Ba, do you know what I was thinking when I held the body of Adian who was trampled to death after the fire ended at dawn?"
“I was thinking—the shogunate really sucks.”
"The world built by the Tokugawa family is a world of 'you oppress me, and I oppress you.'"
"Shogun, powerful people like the daimyo oppress the samurai."
"The samurai oppressed the common people."
"No matter how oppressive the common people are, they will be more obscene."
"The two warriors we have always admired before are just the hawks and dogs of the powerful, the objects of oppression by the powerful!"
"We must do whatever these powerful people ask us to do. We have no right to resist."
"What bullshit Bushido! It's just a set of tools to restrain the samurai and require them to serve as hawks and dogs for the powerful!"
"In this world built by the shogunate, the faces of the powerful are more important than the lives of samurai and common people!"
"In order to protect their own face, the lives of ordinary civilians are gone as far as the shogunate is concerned!"
"The Tianming Fire that occurred two years ago was a tragedy that gods and Buddhas did not open their eyes to. It was unavoidable."
"But such heavy casualties are a man-made tragedy!"
"In the Tenmei Fire two years ago, if it weren't for the ridiculous order to protect Nijo Castle, I don't know how many people would have survived because of the orderly evacuation of the officials!"
"After the disaster, the shogunate even boasted that the number of casualties was only 150?"
"Stop joking! Do you think everyone is a fool? There are hundreds of thousands of people in Kyoto. How can a fire that burned down more than 80% of the buildings in Kyoto only kill 150 people!"
"The corpses that were cleaned up were all measured in thousands, and in order to protect their own face, the shogunate openly lied about the total number of casualties!"
"While holding my wife's body, I swore to my heart that I would uproot this rotten shogunate!"
"...So..." Makimura said solemnly, "Two years ago, when you told me in prison, 'You are going to blow up Kyoto,' wasn't it a joke?"
"That's right! I was thinking about how to end the curtain at that time!"
"After I came out of prison and parted ways with you, I ran around making preparations for the fall and accumulating the strength to do so!"
"I didn't realize it before. It wasn't until I decided to overthrow the shogunate and traveled around the world that I realized that there were so many people who hated the shogunate!"
"There are ronin who were framed by Shangguan and had to leave the feudal clan."
"There is a samurai whose salary has not been improved and his family is on the verge of starvation."
“There are farmers who cannot bear the high taxes.”
"There are a lot of people who hate the shogunate! So I can easily recruit a large number of fighting forces!"
"After discovering that there are so many people who hate the shogunate, I am even more convinced that the Edo shogunate of the Tokugawa family is rotten to the core!"
"I gathered all those who hated the shogunate and named our overthrown force 'Gravediggers'."
"We will be the gravediggers of the Edo shogunate!"
Speaking of this, Shunliu raised his head and roared to the sky:
"I want the dignitaries of the Edo shogunate to experience the power of these people they usually look down on!"
"I want to show these powerful people how weak their Edo shogunate is! A small group of samurai, ronin, and peasants can destroy Kyoto!"
"When Kyoto is destroyed, my next target will be Edo!"
"Then why did you let your subordinates join the Six Great Sword Halls, pretend to be disciples of the Six Great Sword Halls, set fires everywhere, and blame the Six Great Sword Halls?" Makimura asked.
"Makimura, have you forgotten? When we were 14 years old, we planned to join the Qing Gakukan to learn swordsmanship."
"But because we had no money, we were turned away."
Shun Liu sneered.
"It wasn't until I became self-taught that I discovered that the masters of the six major sword halls were just like that!"
"You dare to teach people how to practice swordsmanship at this level! And they charge such high tuition fees. What's the use of keeping this kind of rotten swordsmanship hall?"
"So...you came up with this plan that will never make the Six Great Sword Halls recover?" Makimura said solemnly.
"That's right! It's a pity that because of that old guy He Xian, my plan became a mess, but it doesn't matter anymore!"
After roaring, Shunliu took several breaths in succession to adjust his breathing.
After his breathing stabilized again, Shunlioku said to Makimura with a smile:
"Ah Ba, come here and fight side by side with me."
"Just like we used to work together on Sanjizi Street to survive, and we worked hard to serve the public together at the monastery."
"You are also very disappointed with the samurai and the shogunate, aren't you?"
"I still remember what you said to Shenshan in prison two years ago."
"You said you were completely disappointed with the samurai."
"Just because I still remember your words, I have been waiting for you in this 'white land', hoping to recruit you, brother, into my group."
"Hachi, you must not have forgotten how disgusting the Edo shogunate was, right?"
"In the five years when I was in power, we saw too many disgusting activities of the Edo shogunate."
"Haha, why do you need to support and protect this disgusting shogunate?"
"So - brother! Come and help me!"
"We brothers will destroy this rotten shogunate together!"
After saying that, Shunliu extended his right hand towards Makimura.
Makimura had been quietly listening to Shunliu's roars one after another since just now.
Looking at Junliu's hand stretched out towards him, Makimura pursed his lips.
Then... he slowly raised his hand and stretched it out towards Shunliu.
Looking at Mucun's hand stretched out towards him, Shunliu beamed with joy, and then walked towards Mucun.
However - as soon as he took a step forward, Makimura suddenly said:
"Junroku, just now...I met Mr. Konraku."
Shun Liu raised his eyebrows: "You actually saw Jin Le..."
"When I met Konraku-sama, Konraku-sama asked me a question very similar to the question you just asked."
"Konraku-sama asked me: I am clearly no longer a member of Kyoto and have no responsibility to protect Kyoto, so why have I risked my life so far?"
"I did not answer this question, Mr. Konraku."
"Because I didn't know the answer to this question at that time."
"But now...after meeting you Shunliu, I suddenly understand."
"I understand... what drives me, even though I am already white, to still run forward to protect Kyoto like this."
"Junroku, as you just said, I personally told Mr. Kamiyama two years ago: I am extremely disappointed with the samurai."
"And my idea has not changed until now."
"I'm still very disappointed in the samurai."
"It's just..."
An inexplicable smile appeared on Makimura's face.
"Although I still know very well that real samurai are unbearable and very disappointing."
Makimura lifted the original and slowly lowered the hand extended to Shunliu.
"But I still long for the kind of warriors who are chivalrous and righteous, fighting against the strong and supporting the weak."
"Even if such warriors exist only in the mouths of storytellers."
"Only exists in my heart."
"I longed to be the kind of samurai who would do chivalry and fight against the strong and help the weak, so I resolutely accepted the invitation from the Holy Mountain to transform from a commoner to a samurai and become a powerful figure in Kyoto."
"As long as my heart is still there, it doesn't matter whether I have the title or not."
"So——Shun Liu, turn back!"
"Call back your subordinates who plan to burn down Kyoto!"
After hearing Makimura say, "I still yearn for the kind of samurai who are chivalrous and righteous, hoeing the strong and supporting the weak," Shunliu looked stunned.
After a while, Shunliu gave a bitter smile, and then slowly lowered the hand he originally stretched out towards Makimura.
"...Makimura, do you know why I told you two years ago - the first place I wanted to bomb was the 'White Ground'?"
Shunliu looked at the desolate open space below his feet that contained nothing but weeds.
"Because this place is where our brothers' dreams began."
"We don't have money to study in a sword hall, so we can only study by ourselves."
"Back then, we brothers practiced sword practice with tree branches in an open field."
"Because there is nothing here and no one passes by here, we brothers named this open space 'White Land'."
"If we hadn't practiced our own original swordsmanship on this 'white land', we wouldn't have been able to become famous in Sanjiang Street, nor would we have been appreciated by the sacred mountain, nor would we have had a series of stories that followed.
."
"So I'm going to destroy this place!"
Shunliu's tone gradually became serious.
"This will be an important ceremony for me."
"A... ceremony to say goodbye to the past me."
"Now it seems...it's really ironic."
"Now I not only have to say goodbye to the place where my dream began, but I also want to say goodbye to the people who were once as close as brothers."
After hearing Junliu's words, Makimura's eyes narrowed slightly, and his fists that were naturally hanging down slowly clenched.
"Ah Ba. Nine years ago, in order to survive, we had to choose to make a living as Yakuza."
"That year, we hired Kinle to give us tattoos."
"Kinle's tattoo rule is to tattoo different animals on different customers. Customers do not have the freedom to choose the tattoo they want."
"Konle, who has such a rule, gave us a dragon tattoo."
"Both of us were extremely happy at the time. We both thought that we would become some big shot in the future because we could be tattooed with the dragon tattoo by the famous Konle."
"After we have the dragon mark, we often compete on this 'white ground' on the grounds of 'seeing whether the red dragon or the black dragon is stronger'."
"Tonight...let's have one last fight!"
Shunliu slowly raised his right hand and tightly grasped the clothes on his left shoulder.
"All our previous competitions have been done to the point, and we have never fought with our lives on the line!"
"In this last competition tonight, let us risk our lives to see who is stronger, the black dragon or the red dragon!"
Shunliu tore up the clothes on his upper body and threw them away casually.
Shun Liu, who showed off his muscular upper body, also revealed the tattoo on his back.
A black dragon.
The black dragon bared its teeth and claws, bowed its head, and glared viciously at the ground with its ferocious eyes, as if it was about to fly out from Shunliu's back at any moment, swoop down to the world, and devour anyone of its choosing!
"Konraku once told us that Kyoto is too small to accommodate two dragons."
"Now it seems that what Kinle said is indeed right."
Shunliu slowly pulled out the knife from his waist, his eyes flashing with light.
"Kyoto is too small, so... only one dragon is enough!"
"The title of 'Dragon' or whatever, it doesn't matter to me at all." Makimura slowly drew out his Odachi, "But since you want to fight Junroku... then I will accompany you to the end!"
Makimura raised his left hand and grabbed the clothes on his right abdomen, and then tore the clothes on his upper body to pieces.
As the clothes covering his upper body tore apart, the red dragon on Makimura's back appeared.
The red dragon lies horizontally and hovers, with its head raised high, its eyes shining with unyielding light staring at the sky, as if it is about to fly out from the back of Mucun at any time, rush into the sky, and fight with the gods and Buddhas in the sky!
"Haha! Since you just said that you still admire the kind of samurai who can defeat the strong and support the weak, then - let's use samurai etiquette to fight this last fight!"