Chapter 452 Ogata's head is worth 500 taels? [7100 words]
Before he even entered the village, a samurai rushed toward him with a sword raised high. The welcoming ceremony of the village could not be described as "grand".
His vision was very dim now, and the "beggar samurai" could not see clearly just now when he was far away. When he got closer, Ogata found that the sword in the hand of this "beggar samurai" was slightly rusty.
Weapons such as swords will definitely rust if they are not regularly oiled and cared for.
The sword in the hand of this "beggar warrior" had obviously not been oiled for a long time, causing the blade to become rusty.
"Hey! That warrior! Stop him!"
The "loud-voiced samurai" following closely behind the "beggar samurai" shouted at Ogata.
"This guy is a scumbag! Just now he was thinking of violating the girls in the village! Stop him!"
As soon as the "loud warrior" finished speaking, some villagers behind him also shouted:
"Get him! Get him!"
"Don't let this guy get away!"
"Qingliu's daughter was almost destroyed by that guy!"
Although these villagers shouted with indignation, only a few young men followed the "loud warrior" and chased the "beggar warrior".
Hearing these shouts from the "loud samurai" and the villagers, Ogata narrowed his eyes slightly and stared closely at the "beggar samurai" in front of him.
Seeing that the "loud warrior" exposed his background, the "beggar warrior" looked furious.
While his face showed a furious expression, his eyes also had a fierce light.
"Get out of my way!"
The "beggar samurai" with a fierce look in his eyes shouted at Ogata.
Although his roar was quite powerful, in the face of this "beggar warrior"'s roar, he did not change his mood and just spread his legs leisurely.
Tsuchiya, who was standing next to Ogata, silently pulled out the knife from his waist.
Although Tsuchiya's clothes are very shabby, the sword on his waist is very beautiful.
The blade of the sword is bright, the blade is shining with a cold light, and the blade is evenly coated with a layer of knife oil. You can tell that this is someone who takes good care of his sword.
As for Omachi, she also said nothing and silently pulled out the wakizashi inserted into her lower back.
Ogata, Omachi, and Tsuchiya formed a human wall and blocked the "beggar samurai".
Looking at the three Ogata people who formed a human wall and blocked him, the "beggar samurai"'s eyes became more fierce, and he silently tightened the sword in his hand.
He planned to break through this human wall by force.
And the direction he chose to break through was the direction where Atachi was.
In fact, his choice is not difficult to understand.
Amachi is the only female among the three Ogata, and only her weapon looks the simplest on the surface, only a wakizashi.
Anyone else would subconsciously regard Omachi as the weakest among the three Ogata people.
However, anyone who knows the relationship between Ogata and Atachi, and who knows Ogata's strength, will know that this "beggar samurai" drew a lot.
After the "Beggar Samurai" rushed to a position that was only 5 steps away from Ogata and others, he kicked his feet violently and rushed towards Atachi.
A-machi's melee combat ability is weak. This is actually because he is weak compared to perverts like Ogata and Mamiya.
In terms of actual combat experience and close combat ability alone, Atachi is no better than any ordinary samurai.
Facing the "beggar samurai" rushing towards her, A-Machi's expression remained unchanged, she just clenched the wakizashi in her hand and prepared for defense and counterattack.
The "Beggar Samurai" held the sword in his hand high. His posture was very powerful and his steps were very nimble. It was obvious at a glance that he was not a weak person.
Just as his sword was aimed at Atachi's head, ready to chop it down, the "Beggar Samurai" saw a black shadow moving at an alarming speed from the rightmost corner of his field of vision, cutting horizontally to the farthest corner of his field of vision.
central.
This black shadow is none other than Ogata.
With Ogata's current speed, it would be a piece of cake to cut between the "beggar samurai" and Amachi before he swings the sword down.
The next moment he cut between the "Beggar Samurai" and Omachi, Ogata quickly raised his hands.
With his left hand, he restrained the hands holding the sword of the "Beggar Samurai", and with his right hand, he held down the left shoulder of the "Beggar Samurai" and used Shiranui-ryu Jujutsu to throw him directly to the ground.
The "Beggar Warrior" didn't even see the face of the warrior who suddenly stepped into his field of vision. The vision of his eyes rotated greatly, and the star-studded night sky appeared in front of him because he was held face up.
The reason why he fell to the ground was because of his posture.
This "beggar warrior" also reacted very quickly.
As soon as Ogata threw him to the ground, he immediately took out a sword from his arms with his left hand and stabbed Ogata.
His moves were quite vicious, and his target was Ogata's heart.
But the speed of his sword... was so slow that Ogata didn't even need to tighten his nerves.
Shiranui-ryu jujitsu happens to have the technique of seizing a sword and using it to fight back.
Ogata directly used the sword grabbing technique in Shiranui-ryu Jujutsu to snatch the sword from the hand of the "beggar samurai", then turned the sword and pierced the heart of the "beggar samurai".
[Ding! Shiranui-style ninjutsu and Shiranui-style jujutsu, kill the enemy]
[Acquire 90 personal experience points and 90 experience points for the Ninjutsu "Shiranui-ryu Ninjutsu"]
Since he agreed to teach the apprentices of the Hosei Sword Hall in swordsmanship and jutsu, Ogata's experience bars have been increasing in experience points in an orderly manner these days.
It was probably the day before yesterday that Ogata's Shiranui-ryu ninjutsu was finally upgraded due to full experience, reaching level 7, contributing 2 skill points to Ogata.
After Ogata killed the "beggar samurai" with one move, the "loud-voiced samurai" and the villagers who had been chasing him finally arrived late.
"Oh! Your skills are very good! The loud-voiced samurai" praised Ogata with his loud voice.
Just now, the "Loud Samurai" saw clearly how Ogata subdued this scum with his neat skills, and how he grabbed the sword and killed this scum.
After praising Ogata, the "loud-voiced samurai" turned his gaze and cast his disdainful gaze on the "beggar samurai" who had been killed by Ogata.
"Tch...such a scumbag, it would really be easier for him to die." After saying that, the "loud warrior" spat on the ground.
The villagers who came from all directions also joined in scolding the dead "beggar warrior".
But there are only a few villagers who dare to scold the "beggar samurai".
Most of the villagers only dared to cast resentful glances at the "beggar warrior".
"Are you all samurai invited back by other villagers? The loud-voiced samurai" shifted his gaze to Ogata again.
"Well." Ogata stood up slowly, "Are you also the samurai who were invited back?"
"That's right! The loud-voiced samurai" grinned, "My name is Masaomi Hosaka!"
"Mashima Goro." Ogata announced the door to his house, and then also introduced Amachi behind him, "This is Uchiko Amachi."
"I am Shinzaburo Tsuchiya." Tsuchiya on the side also announced his home.
"Oh! The Loud Samurai", that is, Hosaka, raised his eyebrows, glanced at Omachi behind Ogata, and said with a smile, "You actually have such a beautiful wife! I'm so envious!"
After saying that, Huosaka glanced at Ogata and Tsuchiya.
"Counting you two, this village has invited 6... ah, no, 5 warriors. There are more than I expected."
"Five?" Sukezo, who had just dodged aside, had now returned to Ogata and others.
As soon as he returned to Ogata and others, Sukezo asked the nearby villagers:
"Did you successfully recruit 3 warriors?"
Ogata remembered that Sukezo once told him that their village sent several groups of people to different nearby towns to hire samurai.
People like Kawasaka should be the samurai successfully recruited from other towns and cities by the other groups of villagers who went to recruit samurai.
"To be precise, there are 4 samurai." Kasaka shrugged, then nuzzled at the "beggar samurai" at his feet, "This guy is also one of the samurai who was invited back."
"But this guy has evil intentions and is a scumbag."
"This guy was brought back to this village this morning."
"He just came to this village and he was walking around sneakily."
"I felt something was wrong with this guy, so I kept an eye on him. No matter where he went, I followed him secretly."
"Then just now, this guy finally showed his true qualities."
"He just sneaked into a certain family's home and planned to violate that family's daughter."
"Because I had been paying attention to him, I rushed in in time and planned to kill this scumbag with one knife."
"But this guy's running speed is really fast. I wonder if I have practiced and let him escape from my knife."
"I probably don't need to say more about what happened next."
"This guy is also unlucky. He just ran into you when he escaped."
Kasaka raised his gaze and looked at Ogata and others.
"Is that girl okay?" Amachi asked.
"It's okay, it's okay." Huosaka waved his hand, "As soon as this scumbag rushed into the house with his front legs, I rushed in with my back legs. This scumbag didn't even have time to tear off her clothes. But the girl seemed to be hurt.
A little frightened."
"This scumbag probably doesn't really want to help this village."
"He probably thought this was an opportunity to enter other people's villages openly, so he pretended to agree to help."
"Then after entering the village, the murderous look was revealed."
"After he came to this village this morning, the reason why he was sneaking around was probably because he was looking for a house with a more beautiful woman."
"This kind of scum is really annoying..."
Kawasaka raised his hand and scratched his cheek.
"It is because of such scum that the reputation of our samurai has been ruined."
"In a word, that's it. Originally, the villagers invited four samurai."
"Then one of them was a scumbag with evil intentions and has already fallen here. So there are three left."
"Counting you two newcomers, there are now a total of 5 samurai in this village."
Kawasaka raised five fingers towards Ogata and others.
At this moment, a man with a weathered face rubbed his hands and walked slowly towards Huoshan.
"Master Samurai..."
This man looks like he is in his 40s, but his voice is very young. Just listening to his voice, you would think he is only in his early 30s.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Huosaka looked at the man.
"I am Ah Jiao...ah, the father of the girl who was almost defiled by that warrior. I have heard the specific story from Ah Jiao."
The man bowed deeply to Huosaka.
"Thank you very, very much for saving my daughter."
"Hahahaha!" Huosaka laughed heartily, "It's just a small favor! How is your daughter doing now? Is she still crying?"
"Still crying..." The man smiled bitterly, "Her mother is with her now. Alas... Her mother and I just left home for a while due to business, and something like this happened...
"
"Are you still crying..." Kawasaka raised his hand and scratched his cheeks, "That's really difficult to handle... I don't know how to make a woman stop crying... Well, anyway, you two stay with me tonight
Stay with your daughter, comfort her and so on."
Gu...
At this moment, Huosaka's stomach suddenly made a moderate noise.
"Oh..." Kasaka, who had no shame on his face, patted his belly, "My belly is really smart. It will growl when it's time to eat."
After saying that, Huosaka turned to look at the villagers surrounding him not far away.
"Hey! It's dinner time now! Can you cook?"
"Yes, yes!" An older man among the villagers nodded hurriedly, "We will prepare dinner for you now!"
"You must have worked very hard to come to this village!"
Kasaka turned his head and glanced at Ogata and others.
"Let's eat together! You can also take advantage of the meal to get to know the other two samurai."
"The rice in this village is quite fragrant, and the man in charge of cooking for us is pretty good at cooking."
…
…
Inside a fairly spacious wooden house made of wood and thatch in the village
Huhu...
Waves of hot steam came out along the cracks in the pot lid, turning into thin winds one after another.
This house is a common house type in rural areas of this era and has only one room.
There is only one room in the whole house, and this room is used as both a hall and a bedroom.
The owner of the house eats, drinks, sleeps, and entertains guests in this single room...
At this moment, there are seven people in this house.
Ogata, Amachi, Tsuchiya, Higasaka, two samurai whose names Ogata still doesn't know, and an old man who is sitting next to the pot and observing the heat.
According to what Huosaka just introduced, this old man is one of the villagers in the village. He is responsible for helping their samurai cook, and his name is Yuzao.
The warriors invited by the villagers were all gathered here at this time.
Ogata, Amachi, and Tsuchiya were brought in just now and sat down on the floor.
As soon as he sat down on the floor, Ouri looked at the two samurai in front of him whose names he still didn't know.
Each of these two warriors has its own characteristics.
One of them is very young, probably only about 17 years old.
He was a little cautious, and after Ogata and the strangers came in, he didn't even know how to place his hands.
The other person is slightly older, probably between 25 and 30 years old.
He was sitting upright from beginning to end, with his back and neck straight, and his eyes not squinting. There was a certain elegance in his movements.
You can tell at a glance that he is a well-educated person.
If it weren't for the tattered and old clothes on his body, others would have thought he was a descendant of some samurai family.
At this time, Huosaka stretched out his right arm and hugged the very cautious young samurai.
"This is my apprentice Mizuno Yogoro."
As soon as Huosaka finished speaking, the young samurai whom he held his shoulders quickly bowed his head and saluted Ogata and others.
"I'm here, Mizuno Yogoro, please give me some advice!"
After Huosaka and Mizuno introduced themselves, the samurai who was sitting not far away from them with an elegant air in his gestures also parted his lips and said softly:
"Jincheng Sheng. Please give me more advice."
After Mizuno and Jincheng introduced themselves, Ogata and others also began to introduce themselves.
Huosaka, Mizuno, Kaneshiro, Tsuchiya plus Ogata, excluding the scumbag samurai who was killed by Ogata, these are the five samurai currently invited to this village.
"Huosaka, Mizuno, Jincheng, Tsuchiya..." Huosaka grinned, "We are really destined. If there is another person with the word "wood" in the last name, it will just make up the five elements."
Huosaka's remarks made everyone present couldn't help but smile a little.
"The rice is ready." The old man named Yuzo, who was responsible for helping Ogata and others prepare the meals, said as he lifted the lid of the pot.
Balls of milky white steam emerged as the lid of the pot was lifted.
In the pot, there is a full bowl of white rice.
The only side dishes prepared by the villagers for Ogata and others were pickles and radishes.
No fish, no tofu and no soup.
But judging from the current situation of the village, pickles and radishes should be the best food the villagers can produce.
After telling Zao that the rice was cooked and ready to be eaten, Ogata and others started to enjoy the meal.
Since breaking away from the feudal clan, Ogata has been living a life that is neither luxurious nor restrained, so he has no feelings about tonight's dinner.
But Kasaka and the others are different.
Just by looking at their clothes, you can tell that their daily lives must be filled with one meal and one meal.
Therefore, after revealing the truth with Zou, Huosaka and others' eyes immediately lit up.
After taking his bowl of rice from Yuzao, he immediately gnawed at the rice in his hands like a pig gnawing at food.
When we set out for this village today, Tsuchiya told Ogata that the reason why he agreed to come to this village to help was just so he could eat white rice.
Therefore, among all the people, Tsuchiya ate the most urgently and worked the hardest.
Hosaka's eating style matches his rugged appearance very well and he eats quite boldly.
Should I say that he is worthy of being a master and disciple? Compared with Higasaka, Mizuno's heroic eating style is even worse.
Mizuno was eating like a powerful general on the battlefield. Compared with the reserved look just now, he looked completely different.
As for Jincheng, he maintained an elegant posture even when he was eating.
Keep your back and neck straight, relax your shoulders, hold the rice bowl in front of your chest, and when you use chopsticks to bring the food to your mouth, only wet the tips of the chopsticks a little.
Kasaka is the kind of person who is quite familiar and lively, and he keeps talking while eating.
Thanks to Higasaka's liveliness, the meal was not too dull. At the same time, Ogata learned from Kawasaka that Kawasaka and Mizuno were the first to come to this village.
The two of them arrived in the village in the evening the day before yesterday.
Then this morning, the "beggar warrior" arrived in the village.
Jincheng arrived in the village this afternoon.
And Ogata and the others are the last group, having arrived just now.
Jincheng's appetite seems to be very small.
After eating only one bowl, he put down the bowl with not even a grain of rice left in his hands, then clasped his hands together and said softly: "I'm full."
Even putting his hands together and bowing his head to the bowl in front of him was so elegant.
Huosaka was sitting next to Jincheng.
He glanced sideways at Jincheng beside him, grinned, and asked aloud:
"Jincheng, from the first time I saw you this afternoon, I noticed that you have a very elegant personality. You have the same way of standing and the same way of sitting down."
"I didn't expect that I would eat so well."
"You should be a child of a wealthy family, right?"
Regarding Huosaka's question, Jincheng remained silent.
Facing the silent Jincheng, Huosaka immediately said:
"Well, if you don't want to talk more about your past, I won't force you to do so."
"No." As soon as Huosaka finished speaking, Jincheng immediately said, "There is nothing shameful about my past. If you are curious, I am happy to tell you. It can just pass the leisure time after dinner."
Jincheng took the water glass on the side, took a sip of the water in the glass, and slowly told his past events.
It turns out that Jincheng really does come from a wealthy family.
He was born in a Hatamoto family in Edo with a salary of 3,500 koku.
3,500 koku was nothing among the Hatamoto samurai of Edo, but for middle- and lower-level samurai everywhere, it was an unattainable number.
While living a life of adequate food and clothing, he also received a strict education.
At first glance, Jincheng seems to be living a life that ordinary people would envy.
But in reality, life in Jincheng is quite hard.
Because he is the third son in the family.
"Oh?" Kasaka raised an eyebrow, "So you're Osuke?"
"Yeah." Jincheng nodded, "That's right."
Those who do not inherit the family fortune.
Japan in the Edo period also practiced the eldest son inheritance system.
The family property is inherited by the eldest son.
Those who do not inherit the family business are called "Ejie".
Jincheng is the third son in the family, with two older brothers in front of him. When it comes to inheriting the family business, no matter what the turn, it will never be his turn.
"Osuke" is also a pretty miserable group of people from some aspects.
Since they cannot inherit the family business, they can only make their own way out.
Some families are kinder and will support their Ozukis.
But some families are not so friendly to the Eskers, and adopt a free-range policy towards the Eskers, letting them fend for themselves, or simply giving them some inconspicuous jobs so that they will not starve to death.
How can the way out for warriors be so easy to find?
Due to various reasons such as class attributes, there are many jobs that samurai are not willing to recruit, or samurai simply cannot do.
Jincheng's family belongs to the type that is not very friendly to Esuke.
Jincheng's father randomly found a job for Jincheng as a house guard for another Hatamoto family.
Jincheng, who did not want to be guarded by others and was only interested in swordsmanship, simply took his sword and left his hometown to practice martial arts.
Before I knew it, I wandered here.
After Kawasaka listened quietly to Jincheng's story about his past, he grinned:
"In that case, you are training as a warrior. Do you want to wander with us in the future? Let's form a team together to make a living by catching wanted criminals."
Ogata, who was sitting opposite Higasaka, couldn't help but raise his eyes to look at Kawasaka.
"My apprentice and I are now wandering around, making a living by catching wanted criminals."
As Kasaka spoke, he took out a large pile of crumpled paper from his arms and showed it to Ogata and others.
"These are the wanted posters I have collected so far. After I finish helping in this village, I and my apprentice will continue to look for these wanted criminals."
Looking at the pile of wanted posters that Kasaka showed them, the eyes of Ogata and Atachi became strange.
Because...the first one in this pile of wanted posters showed a face that Ogata was very familiar with.
Ogata: "Can you show me these wanted posters of yours?"
"Take it! Take a look at it as you like!"
Kasaka directly handed Ogata the stack of wanted posters in his hand.
After receiving the stack of wanted posters, Ogata directly picked up the one placed at the top.
No matter how you look at it, I look so ugly...it doesn't depict my handsomeness at all...
The first one placed at the top of the pile of wanted notices in Kawasaka is Ogata's wanted notice...
Ogata always felt that his wanted poster made him look ugly.
But the strange thing is that bounty hunters can always accurately identify him through wanted posters...
And what hurt Ogata the most was that Amachi once said to Ogata: Doesn’t the wanted poster look like you?
The "heartache" these words left for Ogata still remains to this day.
"You actually want to arrest Ogata Ittosai?" Ogata raised his wanted order.
"How is that possible!" Higasaka laughed, "Don't you know how much I weigh? I'm going to capture Ogata Ittousai? I don't have enough heads to chop him off!"
"I just brought Ogata Ittousai's wanted notice with me. If one day I really encounter Ogata Ittousai, I will definitely run away without saying a word!"
Ogata turned his attention back to the wanted poster in his hand.
"Ogata Ittousai now offers a reward of 500 taels... I remember that he seemed to have offered a reward of 300 taels before..."
When he first obtained this wanted warrant, Ogata noticed that his bounty had increased.
It has risen to 500 taels.
Since leaving Kyoto, Ogata has never paid attention to his wanted order.
This is the first time Ogata has received his wanted warrant since leaving Kyoto. It was only now that Ogata learned that his bounty had increased so much.
"This is the latest wanted order!" Kasaka said, "I just got it a month ago! After Ogata Ittousai captured Nijo Castle in Kyoto, the shogunate raised Ogata's bounty from 300 liang
To 500 taels.”
"Ogata Ittousai is probably the most valuable wanted criminal right now." A look of longing appeared on Kasaka's face, "500 taels... With 500 taels, I won't need to work anymore for the rest of my life."