Chapter 439 Butterfly Island, River, Female Corpse [8400 words]
Today's weather is a little colder than yesterday.
From time to time, a cold wind blows that can make people's skin crawl.
Looking at the weather, it seems that it is completely autumn here in Edo, and it will no longer jump between summer and autumn.
After breakfast, Ogon went out alone, preparing to meet those who needed to meet before leaving Edo.
Although today's weather is colder than the previous days, Ogata's clothes are still thin.
Black stockings, white hakama, white kimono, dark blue haori, and a black scarf around his neck. This is what Ogata is wearing now.
"Vital energy" is directly proportional to the health of the body.
After absorbing the "immortal poison" for the second time, Ogata's physical health improved a lot along with his "vitality".
While other people had to wear multiple layers of clothing to barely keep out the cold weather, Ogata only needed to wear a haori and a scarf on top of his summer clothes.
Ogata left the residence alone and walked straight towards a certain place.
To go to that place, you have to pass through a fairly lively street market.
When Ogata entered this market, it was almost 9 o'clock in the morning, and there were already many pedestrians walking through this market.
When he first stepped into this market, Oufang couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Because he felt that the atmosphere around him was strange.
Within the field of vision, many people were discussing something with the people next to them with solemn expressions.
What happened?
Just as Ogata continued to walk forward with this question in his mind, he suddenly heard the conversation of two samurai not far away from him.
These two warriors, one tall and one short, seemed to be a pair of friends who met here by chance.
The shorter samurai took the initiative to say hello to the taller samurai, and then asked the tall samurai:
"Ijuin-kun, what's wrong with you? Why are you looking so serious? What happened?"
"Itano-kun, don't you know?" The tall samurai sighed softly, "Thieves attacked the Kitamachi Prison last night."
"Kitamachi Administrative Office?" The short samurai exclaimed, "The Kitamachi Administrative Office was attacked by thieves?"
"Yes." The tall samurai nodded solemnly, "All the officers who stayed at the Kitamachi Administrative Office last night were killed."
"Why did thieves attack Kitamachi Prison?" The short samurai looked puzzled. "There is nothing valuable in the prison. Could it be that the gang of thieves who attacked the prison were the kind of people with brain problems who were thinking about taking revenge?"
Revenge against the lunatic of the shogunate?”
"Who knows..." The tall warrior sighed.
"How is the investigation going now? Have the officials found out who the murderer is?"
Hearing this question from the short warrior, the tall warrior's expression became complicated.
After a moment of silence, he slowly said:
"The Kitamachi Judicial Office has been sealed off now, and the government officials are still investigating."
"but……"
Having said this, the tall warrior fell silent again.
After hesitating for a while, he seemed to have finally made up his mind and said word by word:
"I heard...the murderer is a remnant of Toyotomi..."
"...Who?" The short warrior's eyes widened.
"The remnants of Toyotomi." The tall samurai repeated what he just said. "It is said that the thieves who attacked the Kitamachi Office drew a crest of the Toyotomi family on a wall of the Kitamachi Office."
"I heard that there is a sentence written next to the Toyotomi family's family crest."
"As for what it means, I don't know."
"Aren't you kidding?" The short warrior's eyes were still wide open, and his face was full of shock.
The tall warrior shook his head gently.
"I actually don't know if it's true or not...I just heard what I heard from another friend of mine."
"It seems that some people went to ask the officials of the shogunate to confirm whether the Toyotomi clan's Taiko-tung was really painted on the wall of the Kitamachi Office."
"But the officials of the shogunate kept silent and did not reveal any information. They just kept saying that they were still investigating, still investigating."
"... Let's not even consider whether the Toyotomi clan's family crest is really painted on the wall of the Kitamachi Administrative Office." The short samurai said solemnly, "Even if the Toyotomi clan's family crest is really painted on the wall of the Kitamachi Administrative Office.
The family crest...can't mean that the thieves who attacked Kitamachi Prison are the remnants of the Toyotomi clan, right?"
"Wasn't the Toyotomi clan's bloodline cut off two hundred years ago during the Battle of Osaka?"
"The thieves who attacked the prison probably just painted Toyotomi's taiko-tung tree for fun, right?"
"Who knows..." The tall samurai let out a sigh of relief, "Anyway, let's wait slowly for the results of the shogunate's investigation."
Ogata stopped not far away, silently eavesdropping on the conversation of the two samurai.
After hearing this, Ogata also had a rough idea of what happened.
"The Kitamachi Administrative Office was actually attacked..." Ogata had a bit of surprise on his face.
The administrative office of Edo is the city hall of Edo.
It is impossible for thieves who only want money to attack a place where there is not only no money to take, but also the hatred of the shogunate.
So there are only two possibilities as to the identity of the thief.
The first possibility is that the thieves who attacked the prison were a group of murderers who did not hesitate to die and took pleasure in killing people. It just happened that the place of murder was the Kitamachi Prison in Edo last night.
Another possibility is that the thieves are a group of people who hate the shogunate and want to take revenge on the shogunate.
Nowadays, the world is in a bad state, leaving aside the common people, many middle- and lower-level warriors are living an extremely difficult life.
There are quite a few people who resent the shogunate because of their hard life.
Is it Toyotomi’s Taikotung...
Ogata whispered in his heart.
Four months ago, a group of lunatics appeared in Kyoto who planned to take revenge on the shogunate and destroy Kyoto...
Now there is another gang of thugs who attacked the Kitamachi Prison in Edo and painted the Toyotomi family crest on the walls...
It’s such an uneven world…
…
…
Edo, Ogata and their residences
Although Rin's injuries were not as minor as those of Mamiya and Genichi, they were not as serious as those of Makimura, Asai, and Shimada.
After so many days of recuperation, apart from not being able to do too strenuous exercise, I can basically move around freely.
After having breakfast, Lin stayed in her room silently calculating, calculating, and checking how much money their Calabash House spent during this trip to Edo.
Lin sat cross-legged in front of a low table, with an account book spread out on the table. A small abacus was placed on the left side of the account book, and an inkstone was placed on the right side.
Lin's left hand was placed on the small abacus, and her five fingers were dancing flexibly on the abacus, moving the beads on the abacus. Her right hand was holding a brush dipped in ink, and from time to time she was writing on the account books spread out on the table.
What.
Just when Lin was concentrating on taking notes, Yuan Yi's voice suddenly sounded outside the room:
"Xiao Lin, it's me. Can you let me in?"
"It's uncle." Lin paused with the brush in her right hand, "Come in."
The door was opened.
Yuan Yi slowly walked into the room holding a small cloth bag.
"Huh? Xiaolin, are you keeping accounts?"
"Yes." Xiaolin nodded slightly, "I am checking the expenses from entering Edo to now."
"How? Have you figured it out?"
"Not yet. But according to my estimation, we must have four thousand taels." Lin said in a calm tone, "Just buying the big tube cost at least three thousand taels."
"Four thousand taels..." Yuan Yi was stunned, "It's almost half of our savings in Huluwu..."
"Compared with being able to eliminate this hidden danger in Shiranui, this little money is nothing." Lin smiled, "If the money is gone, I can make more money. It can take as short as 2 years or as long as 3 years. I can put these
Make money back."
"This decisive battle with Shiranui is really a blessing among misfortunes."
Speaking of this, Lin sighed lightly, and then said with emotion:
"Although the money spent is more than I expected. But Jiulang and the others are still alive, no one is missing, and no one is disabled."
"For me, this result is enough."
"It doesn't matter if you spend more or less money, as long as Kuro and the others are safe."
After saying that, Lin turned around and glanced at Yuan Yi behind her.
"Uncle, why did you come to me? What's the matter?"
"Nothing." Yuan Yi smiled, "I just came here to tell you that I plan to go out."
Yuan Yi patted the cloth bag in his arms.
"I haven't been painting much lately."
"So I plan to take advantage of the nice weather today to draw some beautiful scenery outside."
"Painting..." Lin's expression became slightly weird.
Lin knows the best about Yuan Yi's painting skills.
In Lin's eyes, no matter what Genichi paints, there is actually no difference between them and they are all so unbearable to look at.
"...Uncle, although the 'Gozen Trial Match' is now over, there is no guarantee that all your enemies will leave Edo now." Lin expressed her worries.
"I know." Yuan Yi shrugged, "But this kind of thing doesn't matter now, right?"
"I was cautious before. I just didn't want people in Shiranui to know that 'Kinoshita Genichi is in Edo', so that Shiranui would be on guard."
"Now that Shiranui has been extinguished, we no longer have to worry about the revelation of 'Kinoshita Genichi being in Edo'."
"If there are enemies who recognize me now and come to challenge me, then let them do it."
"I, Genichi Kinoshita, have never been afraid of anyone since the first time I held a sword."
"...I understand." Lin thought for a moment, nodded slowly, and then turned her gaze back to the account book in front of her, "Uncle, just pay attention to your own safety."
"You should let my enemies pay attention to their safety." Yuan Yi grinned, "If you don't meet me, or if you pretend you haven't seen me after meeting me, you can live longer."
After informing Lin, Genichi held his bag of painting supplies in his right hand, rested his left hand casually on his two sabers, and strode out of the house.
Then I wandered around aimlessly, trying my luck to find beautiful scenery worth painting.
Unknowingly, Yuan Yi walked into a commercial area.
There are various types of shops on both sides of the street.
Countless pedestrians were walking through the streets, going in and out of a certain shop, or walking straight ahead without looking away.
Genichi had no interest in painting shops. After looking around the street, he was ready to leave.
However, just as he was about to leave, he suddenly overheard a conversation between two women chatting not far away that made Yuan Yi's pupils shrink slightly.
"Mrs. Katsura, have you heard? It is said that the remnants of the Toyotomi clan attacked the Kitamachi Administrative Office in Edo last night."
"Toyotomi? What is that?"
"Oh, Mrs. Katsura, don't you know the Toyotomi clan?"
Yuan Yi's footsteps paused subconsciously.
He stood there with a bit of astonishment and surprise on his face.
Pursing his lips and standing there for a while, he strode towards the two women.
"Sorry." Yuan Yi interrupted the conversation between the two women.
Yuan Yi suddenly interrupted, startling the two women.
"Sorry, I scared you." Yuan Yi bowed slightly and apologized, "Can you please tell me in detail what you just talked about?"
The two women looked at Yuan Yi several times with hesitant eyes.
"I don't know the specifics..." one of the women said slowly, "I only heard it from my husband..."
…
…
Edo, the residence of Ogata and others
Lin was still concentrating on keeping track of her accounts.
Suddenly, another voice sounded outside the door, interrupting Lin's attention.
"Xiao Lin, it's me."
Listening to this voice that she heard just a while ago, Lin's brows immediately frowned.
"Come in."
After the owner of the human voice entered the room, Lin put down the brush in her hand, turned around, faced the person, and cast a suspicious look at him.
"Uncle, why are you back? Didn't you go painting?"
The person who entered the room was none other than Yuan Yi, who had just gone out to paint.
After casting her doubtful eyes on Yuan Yi, Lin found that Yuan Yi's expression was somewhat solemn.
"...Xiaolin."
Yuan Yi said in a deep voice.
"I just... heard some... things outside."
"Nobuhide... seems to be in Edo now."
After hearing what Genichi said just now... no, it should be said that after hearing the name "Nobuhide" from Genichi's mouth, Lin's pupils shrank slightly.
Genichi told Lin one by one what he had just heard from the two women.
After Yuan Yi finished speaking, Lin slowly lowered her head.
"...Attacked the Kitamachi Administrative Office in the middle of the night, killed all the officers stationed in the office, and then painted 'Taiko Kiri' on the wall..."
Lin suddenly sneered.
"This is indeed very similar to what that person would do."
After saying that, Benlin turned back, facing the table covered with ledgers, picked up the brush, and continued to write something on the ledgers.
"That person may really be in Edo now."
"It doesn't matter to me where that person is now."
"What that person is doing now is equally irrelevant to me."
"It's none of my business even if he immediately leads his subordinates into Edo Castle and kidnaps the shogun."
"I don't care where that person is now or how he is."
"Whatever he wants to do is his freedom."
"Compared with what that person is doing now, I care more about what I'm having for lunch today."
"Uncle, thank you for coming all the way to tell me this."
"I'm going to settle the score."
"Uncle, if you still want to continue painting outside, go quickly."
"If it continues like this, it will be noon."
Because Lin turned her body back, Genichi could only see Lin's back.
Yuan opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.
But as soon as he opened his mouth, Yuan Yi closed it again.
Then he left the room without saying a word.
After Yuan Yi left, the problem in Lin's hand slowly stopped on the paper in the account book.
Lin lowered her head, her eyes piercing straight to the account book in front of her.
It was clear that what she was looking at was the account book on the desk, but Lin's eyes seemed to be looking at something else, a more distant place...
After a while, the sound of the brush sliding on the page sounded in the room again.
…
…
Edo, Yoshiwara
Ogata followed the road that he had walked countless times before, arrived at Nippon Tsutsumi, stepped onto the Shikamaji Road, and then passed through the wide Yoshiwara Gate.
After passing through the gate of Yoshiwara and entering Yoshiwara, you can see the headquarters of the Shirobei Club on the right.
Ogata stood in front of the Shirobei Club and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.
Some acquaintances at the Shirobei club, including Shirobei and Keimon, were the first people Ogata wanted to say goodbye to.
Shirobei and Keemon were very friendly. During the period of time when he was lurking in Shirobei's club, Ogata also received some care and attention from these people. The time when he was lurking in Yoshiwara was also
So it was quite enjoyable.
Now that he was about to leave Edo, Ogata felt that he had to say goodbye to Shirobei and the others no matter what.
Ogata walked towards the Shirobei Club, and then said to the two officers standing guard in front of the club:
"Excuse me, is Shirobei-sama in the club now?"
Now Ogata naturally wears the human skin mask and transforms into "Mashima Goro".
One of the two officials standing guard in front of the club actually recognized Ogata and shouted in a surprised tone:
"Huh? Isn't this Majima-sama?"
During the time when Ogata was lurking in Yoshiwara, he did many important things that would make him famous.
Therefore, Ogata is considered a semi-celebrity in the Shirobei Club, and many officials of the club recognize Ogata.
"Well, it's me." Ogata nodded, "Is Master Shirobei here? I have something to see him."
"Yes, yes." The official who recognized Ogata just now nodded vigorously.
This official led Ogata into Shirobei's club, and then led Ogata all the way to Shirobei's office.
Entering the office, Oban met Shirobei who was working at his desk.
Shirobei was also full of surprise after seeing Ogata.
"Mashima-kun?" Shirobei exclaimed, "It's been such a long time since I last saw you... If it weren't for Gua Sheng telling you about you before, otherwise I would have thought you had encountered some accident and disappeared..."
Now that Shiranui has been extinguished, there is no need to lurk in Yoshiwara anymore.
So when Ogata was recuperating in that house, he asked Guao to tell everyone at the Shirobei Club on his behalf that he would no longer work here in Yoshiwara due to some things.
This is the first time Ogata has appeared in front of Shirobei since the decisive battle with Shiranui Ri, and it has indeed been a long time.
"Master Shirobei, long time no see." Ogata smiled and said, "Can I trouble you with something?"
"What's up?"
What Ogata wanted to do to trouble Shirobei was very simple and help call some people led by Keiemon. He had something important to say to these people, including Shirobei.
Calling some people who are familiar with each other on weekdays, he also said goodbye to all of them.
This kind of thing was just a trivial matter to Shirobei, and the people Ogata had just named happened to be in Edo now, so Shirobei immediately sent an order to come over.
Soon, some people who were familiar with Ogata, led by Keiemon, came to Shirobei's office.
After everyone had arrived, Ogata first said hello to them, and then went straight to the point, telling them that he had to leave Edo and go to Ezo due to some things.
These people present were all the people in the Shirobei club who had a close relationship with Ogata.
Seeing that Ogata was here to say goodbye, some people, led by Shirobei, looked sad while cheering for Ogata, asking him to pay attention to safety during his subsequent trip to Ezo.
Some people, led by Keemon, spoke out to persuade Ogata to stay in Edo and continue to work here in Yoshiwara.
But Ogata naturally would not agree to their request to stay.
He politely declined their offer to stay, and after saying a good goodbye to Shirobei and the others, Ogata left the Shirobei Club.
But he did not leave Yoshiwara immediately.
Instead, he stood outside the gate of Shirobei Club, raised his head, faced the sky and let out a long breath.
Then he whispered in a low voice that only he could hear:
"Next...the only people left to say goodbye are him and him..."
…
…
at this moment
Kii Domain, butterfly island, source of Linon River
Fujiwara, wearing a helmet and armor, looked seriously at the fishermen who were riding small boats and throwing fishing nets into the Linong River.
The fishermen threw their nets into the river again and again, and then pulled them in again and again, but nothing was found in the nets.
Looking at the fishermen who had been getting nothing, Fujiwara's serious face slowly showed a bit of frustration, and he thought to himself:
There should be nothing gained again today...
As of this spring, Inamori Masaya, known as "Tora Inamori", was in charge of commanding the army to monitor Butterfly Island.
But after spring, Inamori was transferred to the north to monitor the Lucians who had been making small moves recently.
After Inamori was transferred out, the important task of commanding the army to monitor Butterfly Island fell on Fujiwara's shoulders.
After the change of commander-in-chief, new changes were made to the handling methods of Butterfly Island.
Originally, the shogunate's plan was to mobilize serious criminals across the country and let these people who didn't care if they die to consume as much as possible the number of monsters on Butterfly Island.
The shogunate's plan failed.
No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't kill the "cannibals" on Butterfly Island, and all the serious criminals sent to the island were wiped out.
So the shogunate had no choice but to use the most undesirable method to send out troops again to forcibly suppress these "cannibals" on Butterfly Island.
Before concentrating the serious criminals across the country, the shogunate sent troops to the island to exterminate the cannibals on the island.
At that time, there was very little information and almost nothing about cannibals, so the FA match ended in a disastrous defeat.
It was precisely because of the extremely heavy casualties in that battle that the shogunate formulated a plan to "let the felons deal with the cannibals." After all, if the soldiers died, they would have to pay a large amount of pensions, and if the felons died, they would die.
After the shogunate decided to send troops to the island for the second time to exterminate the cannibals, because they were more experienced and had more information about the cannibals than before, the second landing on the island was better than the first.
A single landing on the island would be much smoother.
Because the ogres could not be killed no matter how hard they were killed, the main weapon of the shogunate army during the second landing on the island was fishing nets.
The shogunate purchased a large number of fishing nets for use in the second landing operation on the island.
Use human wave tactics to allow soldiers to act in groups.
A few soldiers were responsible for restraining the cannibals, while the other soldiers spread fishing nets to trap the cannibals. This was the tactics used by the shogunate army in their second landing on the island.
Trapping the cannibals is currently the only way to deal with these unkillable monsters.
In June, the second landing operation on Butterfly Island officially began.
It took three months of hard work to finally trap all the cannibals on the island with fishing nets.
Then, they spent another half month thoroughly checking every corner of the island. After confirming that all the cannibals on the island had been caught, Fujiwara, who succeeded Inamori as the general, finally relaxed.
tone.
In addition to purchasing a large number of fishing nets, they also made and purchased a large number of human-height wooden cages specially used to hold prisoners.
These wooden cages were used to imprison cannibals successfully trapped in fishing nets.
The cannibals that were successfully trapped in fishing nets were put into wooden cages and then transported to a certain place in the Kii Domain to be imprisoned.
The second landing on the island was barely a success.
Although the method to kill the cannibal ghost has not yet been found, there is no other way except to trap the cannibal ghost.
But at least Butterfly Island is safe now, and the cannibals have been caught and controlled by the shogunate.
It's just that... the losses paid by the shogunate were slightly greater.
In this three-month battle, the shogunate army suffered more than 1,200 casualties...
Butterfly Island is a small island, so there are not many people living on the island.
The number of cannibals on the island is only over 300 at all times.
It took more than 1,200 casualties to barely control the 300 cannibals on Butterfly Island...
Every time he recalled the number of casualties, Fujiwara felt heavy and shuddered.
Sometimes, Fujiwara couldn't help but think: 300 cannibals caused their shogunate army to suffer more than 1,200 casualties.
What if 3,000 cannibals appear in the future?
If 3,000 cannibals appear on an island in the future, how should they deal with them?
When he thought of this, Fujiwara did not dare to think about it any further...
After confirming that Butterfly Island was completely safe, the shogunate officially ordered a comprehensive investigation of Butterfly Island to investigate how the cannibals appeared.
The first investigation target is the Linong River, which all islanders on Butterfly Island depend on for survival.
According to the surviving residents of Butterfly Island, there is most likely something wrong with the Linong River.
Among all the residents on the island, only the monks of Tenmanji Temple who drank water from the well did not turn into cannibals after their death.
So the shogunate recruited a large number of fishermen and brought these fishermen to Butterfly Island, allowing them to carry out salvage work at the source of the Linong River and inspect the bottom of the source of the Linong River.
The salvage work has been carried out for more than ten days.
Fujiwara comes every day to see how the salvage work at the bottom of the source of the Linong River is going.
I come to see it every day, and then come back disappointed every day. I have been salvaging for more than ten days, but nothing has been achieved.
This made Fujiwara involuntarily feel anxious.
Because information was obtained from the surviving islanders that "there may be problems with the water on the island," whether it was the second military landing on the island or the current investigation of Butterfly Island, everyone on the island used water for daily use.
From the land.
Barrels of water are transported from the land to the island by dedicated personnel.
The cost of transporting water every day is astronomical.
That's why Fujiwara is so anxious that no results have come out yet. Every day he stays here means he has to spend an extra day of money.
"Fujiwara-sama."
At this moment, a young general wearing a helmet and carrying armor approached Fujiwara from behind.
"This month's baggage has been transported into the camp just now."
"Yes." Fujiwara nodded gently, "Thank you for your report. I will confirm it later..."
Before Fujiwara finished speaking, an exclamation with a strong look of surprise interrupted Fujiwara's words.
"Hey! Come on, help me! I seem to have caught something heavy!"
The owner of this shout was a fisherman who was carrying out salvage work at the source of the Linon River.
This fisherman stood on a fishing boat, holding a fishing net tightly with both hands, his legs slightly bent, in a half-squatting posture, as if he was pulling out a carrot.
His feet firmly supported the fishing boat under his feet, and he kept exerting force to pull up the fishing net in his hand.
Veins have popped out in his arms, which shows that he is really putting in the effort to feed himself.
However, despite his best efforts, the fishing net in his hand remained motionless.
After hearing the news, the surrounding fishermen rushed to help.
With the concerted efforts of everyone, the fishing net finally started to move and was slowly pulled up.
Attracted by the movement here, Fujiwara quickly stood by the river, his eyes fixed on the fishing net that was about to come out of the water.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, this extremely heavy fishing net, which had caught something unknown, finally came out of the water.
The moment the fishing net came out of the water, Fujiwara's pupils shrank suddenly and he almost screamed.
But after all, he was also a general who had seen a lot of things in the world, so when the screams surged into his throat, he used brute force to suppress the screams.
Just because Fujiwara has such determination does not mean that others have such determination.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
"It's a human! We've fished him out!"
"It seems to be a woman!"
"Namo Amitabha! Namo Amitabha!"
…
The fishermen present were all in chaos.
The body, which was finally fished out of the river, was almost thrown back into the river.
"Don't panic!"
Fujiwara yelled.
"Bring this body up!"
Fujiwara's roar made everyone present feel a little calmer.
The fishermen followed Fujiwara's order and dragged the body ashore.
After untying the fishing net, Fujiwara finally had a clear look at the corpse.
It's a female corpse.
Her body was so decomposed that her appearance and age could no longer be clearly seen.
There were many big rocks tied to the body, which is why the fishermen just spent so much effort to successfully fish it out.
"This woman..." Fujiwara murmured, "was she thrown into the river...?"
If it was suicide, there would be no need to tie so many stones to one's body.
And with the strength of a woman, with so many heavy rocks tied to her body, she might not even be able to crawl, let alone jump into the river.
There are so many stones tied up, as if... to ensure that the body will not be washed away by the river...