"How?" Amachi asked Ogata, who had just used a telescope to take a look at the Red Moon Fortress from a distance, "What does the Red Moon Fortress look like?"
"It's too far away and I can't see clearly. I can only see a wooden fence and a river next to it."
Ogata handed the binoculars in his hand towards Omachi.
"Would you like to take a look at it?"
"I don't need it." Ating shook his head, "Anyway, we'll be here soon."
At this time, a very young boy suddenly came.
After the young man said something to Aizan who was next to Ogata, he quickly left and ran towards the back of the team.
"What did that person just say?" Ogata asked.
"That young man is here to convey the village chief's order." Ayizan said, "The village chief just gave the order: Rest where you are for a while."
"Rest in place now?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, "Heye Zhe is already very close."
"The young man just said the reason." Ayizan said, "We have been walking continuously for a long time, and many old and weak people are already feeling very tired."
"Although Heye Zhe is already right in front of us, the distance left is not too short."
"It's a bit too reluctant to let the old and weak people in the team who are already tired continue to walk the remaining distance."
"Anyway, there is still some time before dark, so there is no rush to enter Heyezhe."
"That's why the village chief decided to rest for a while, and then finish the final stretch of the road after he's almost rested."
Ogata was not in a hurry at first. Since Chief Chepke decided to continue resting for the sake of the elderly and weak in the village, Ogata would not say anything more.
At this moment, Ogata suddenly remembered something.
"Have a rest..." A strange smile appeared on Ogata's face, "Aisuma and the others should be very happy..."
Hearing Ogata's emotion, Atachi couldn't help but smile strangely.
Ogata felt that Ashley's grandma was really underestimating her talents by staying here in Ezochi.
He felt that Ashley's grandma should go to a big city like Osaka, Kyoto, or Edo to become a storyteller, and she would definitely make a lot of money every day.
…
…
It is indeed what Ogata said - after receiving the order of temporary rest from the village chief of Chepke, the people of Red Moon Fortress headed by Aisuma were very happy.
Finally they could continue listening to the story.
…
…
"Mother-in-law! You are here!"
Aisuma said in an excited tone to Ashley's grandmother who was slowly walking towards them.
"Hohoho..." Grandma covered her mouth and smiled, "Sorry, I kept you waiting for so long."
In front of grandma, there were people from the Red Moon Fortress sitting in various postures on the snow.
Everyone looked at grandma with anticipation and a bit of impatience.
"Mother-in-law! There happens to be a fallen dead tree here!" Aisuma took her grandma's hand and led her to a dead tree lying across the ground.
The snow on the dead trees had just been swept away by Aisuma and the others.
Grandma was not polite and sat directly on the dead tree, folding her hands on her legs.
"Where did I talk about last time?" Grandma asked.
"It talks about a white-skinned man who wanted to escape, but he was blocked by Majima Goro!" Aisuma said.
"Oh, there it is." Grandma raised her hand and patted her head, "I remembered."
"That... mother-in-law." Aisuma suddenly said with a cautious tone while making a strange expression, "Is there any way to finish the story... today?"
"Hoo ho ho..." Grandma covered her mouth and let out her very unique "ho ho ho" laughter, "The story has come to an end. Grandma promises you that she can finish the story during this break.
Completely finished."
After saying that, grandma cleared her throat and then said slowly:
"Speaking of which, the white-skinned man who planned to escape on horseback fled all the way."
"Just when he was about to escape from the village, Majima Goro jumped out from the side."
"He just stood in front of the white-skinned man who was trying to escape on horseback."
"At this time, there was no extra time or energy left to change direction, so the white-skinned man decided to hit Majima Goro on horseback."
…
Aisuma and others, sitting in front of her in various postures, listened attentively to grandma's story.
Grandma used to tell the young children in the village about heroic epics passed down from generation to generation, so she had already developed a sharp storytelling ability.
Grandma knew that if she finished telling Ogata's story too quickly, she would be in the same situation as before, with nothing to do when it was time to rest.
So grandma made a very smart decision - to tell Ogata's story as long as possible.
So grandma relied on her storytelling skills that she had honed by telling stories to the children in the village. Until now - several days have passed and she still hasn't finished telling Ogata's story...
In order to avoid the situation where Aisuma and the others got tired of hearing about it, grandma kept a careful eye - every time she would stop at the most exciting moment to whet Aisuma and the others' appetite, so that Aisuma and the others would be able to
Then listen to the subsequent content and keep asking her to come and tell stories.
So - since walking with the villagers of Qina Village, sitting around grandma's lap like this and listening to grandma talk about the specific process of Ogata's "one man saving the village" has become a habit every time Aisuma and the others take a break.
Things that must be done in time.
Ogata, who is the protagonist of the story, learned about this not long after Ashley's grandmother started telling Esuma and the others his story.
When he learned that Ashley's grandma had managed to tell the story of his "saving the village alone" for so many days, Ogata was simply shocked...
Ogata has attended several times.
That night when the village was attacked, the elderly grandmother did not participate in the battle, but hid at home.
Although she did not witness Ogata's battle with her own eyes, she heard about Ogata's deeds from different people afterwards, so she didn't worry about running out of content to tell, and what she told was generally correct.
Through the few times of listening, Ogata discovered that grandma was able to tell his story for so long, not through any complicated method, but just by dragging out the plot in a very ordinary way.
His actions like drawing a knife to block could even make grandma talk about it for a minute.
But somehow Grandma He is very eloquent.
She was able to talk about such trivial content in a dazzling way. Even though she knew that her talk was very slow, she still couldn't help but want to continue listening.
After attending her grandma's "story gathering", Ogata's first feeling was that it was a pity that Ashley's grandma didn't want to be a storyteller.
But grandma is also a conscientious person.
She knew that the Red Moon Fortress was approaching, so she knew that now should be their last time to rest.
Therefore, grandma did not continue the water story this time, and ended Ogata's story very cleanly, so that Aisuma and the others no longer have to keep their appetites.
At the end of the break, grandma just finished telling the story.
When they learned that the story was finally over, Aisuma and the rest of the people in the Red Moon Fortress all felt as if a big stone had fallen from their hearts, and the breath that had accumulated in their chests was finally let out.
After the rest time has passed, the team starts again.
After the team set off again, Aisuma volunteered to let the residents of the Red Moon Fortress walk at the front, so that they could communicate with the compatriots on the city wall later and let them go.
There was no reason to refuse such a proposal, so Chepke readily agreed.
…
…
The team that started again approached the Red Moon Fortress little by little.
The fortress, which could only be seen vaguely as a shadow, now gradually condenses into a clear entity.
When he used the telescope to observe the Red Moon Fortress for the first time just now, Ogata couldn't see it very clearly because it was still far away from Taiyuan.
After getting closer and closer to the Red Moon Fortress, Ogata finally gradually saw the specific appearance of the Red Moon Fortress and its surrounding environment.
The Red Moon Fortress is built along the river.
There is a "ji"-shaped river flowing around it. The river channel is very wide and the water is very fast. It will not freeze in such a cold day.
The Red Moon Fortress was built within the character "ji".
To give a vivid example - the Red Moon Fortress and the river flowing next to it can just form the word "fan".
The river is the "ji" in the word "fan", and the Red Moon Fortress is the "丶" in the word "fan".
The fortress faces rivers on three sides, and Ogata and the others are currently approaching the wall that is not adjacent to the river.
The wall not facing the river has a huge gate.
Be it walls or doors, they are all made of wood.
After getting closer to the Red Moon Fortress and being able to see the appearance of the Red Moon Fortress more clearly, Ogata was surprised to find that the Red Moon Fortress was actually a structure of twin walls.
There is an outer city wall, and there is an inner city wall inside the outer city wall.
The height of the inner city wall is higher than that of the outer city wall.
According to Ogata's visual inspection, the height of the outer city wall is about 4.5 meters.
The height of the inner city wall is about 5.5 meters.
This double city wall structure has two major advantages.
1: The attacker must break through two walls in succession to capture this fortress.
2: The defender can carry out three-dimensional attacks through the two city walls. Soldiers responsible for close combat stand on the outer city wall to face the enemy, while archers, musketeers and other soldiers responsible for long-range attack stand on the inner city wall that is higher than the outer city wall to deal with incoming attacks.
The enemy shoots down.
In addition to its double city wall structure, Red Moon Fortress also has a very eye-catching feature.
"Hey." Atachi turned his head and whispered to Ogata beside him, "Why is the wall of Red Moon Fortress so strange? It's bumpy."
"Ah...yes, yes, it's very strange..." Ogata said something casually, and after dismissing Atachi, he continued to look at the uneven walls of the Red Moon Fortress with stunned eyes.
Atachi, who had never seen the world, could not recognize this kind of castle wall.
But as a time traveler, Ogata recognized it.
Ogata had read an introduction to this kind of fortress in a book.
This style of wall is an important feature of some famous fortress.
"Bastion..." Ogata murmured in a low voice at a volume that could only be heard clearly.
Bastion - a large-scale killing weapon that came into being after the introduction of firearms in the West.
After gunpowder and firearms were introduced to the West and the West entered the age of firearms, urban offensive and defensive warfare entered a new stage. The next short period was the golden age of the attacker.
Old-fashioned fortresses cannot defend against new weapons such as firearms.
One after another, fortresses succumbed to the power of cannon.
But Westerners are not stupid either.
But half a century later, a new type of city defense system - the bastion - appeared on the stage of history.
The essence of the so-called bastion is to change the fort from a convex polygon to a concave polygon.
Such an improvement would expose the attacker to more than one bastion face regardless of attacking any point in the castle, and the defender could use crossfire to carry out multiple strikes.
To put it simply, no matter where the attacker attacks, he will be attacked simultaneously from 2 to 3 or even more directions.
After the birth of the bastion, the West returned to the era of "the defenders took advantage and the attackers suffered the most".
A bastion coupled with a sufficient number of soldiers and weapons can completely withstand enemy attacks several times or even 10 times greater.
At this moment, Ogata could vaguely see many figures swaying on both the outer and inner city walls - these figures should be the security personnel responsible for standing on the wall and guarding the outside.
The security personnel on the wall have discovered Ogata and the others, and the figures are shaking rapidly.
After approaching the fortress for some distance, Aisuma, who was walking in front, shouted something to the security personnel on the outer wall.
Later, the security personnel on the outer city wall also responded with a few words in Ainu that Ogata could not understand.
Then, Oubono saw the gate of the fortress being slowly opened.
There is no moat around the fortress, but the gate of the Red Moon Fortress is a very European-style suspension bridge gate.
Most of the villagers in Qina Village have never entered the Red Moon Fortress.
Therefore, Ogata, Amachi, and the villagers of Qina Village, after slowly entering the Red Moon Fortress along the open door, they turned their heads frequently and looked around.
When the team first entered the fortress, many security personnel wearing their Red Moon Fortress's iconic bright red uniforms and holding various weapons gathered around them.
After Esuma, who was walking at the front of the team, said something to them, the security personnel immediately stepped aside and opened a path for Ogata and his companions to pass.
After passing through the gate of the outer city wall, Ogata looked around - there was actually nothing interesting to see around him.
There is almost nothing between the inner city wall and the outer city wall, only some people with weapons can be seen going between the two walls.
The distance between the inner city wall and the outer city wall is about 15-20 meters.
The inner city wall, like the outer city wall, is a bastion-style enclosure.
After Ogata and the others passed through the gate of the outer city wall, the gate of the inner city wall also opened.
After passing through the gate of the inner city wall, Ogata and the others finally entered the Red Moon Fortress.
After passing through the gate of the inner city wall and looking around, you can see private houses full of Ainu style.
Now many residents of Red Moon Fortress have gathered around to join in the fun after receiving the news that "someone is visiting".
Although we have not officially entered the residence of the residents of Red Moon Fortress, but now we stand under the inner city wall and look around - the number and density of private houses are far beyond Ogata's imagination.
What also exceeded Ogata's imagination was the bustling level of the Red Moon Fortress. Although it was still far away from the residents' residence, Ogata could already hear the noise.
Ogata looked back at the inner city wall behind him - it must be said that the defense system of the Red Moon Fortress is not qualified to describe it with the word "powerful".
Double wall structure + bastion-style fence = a nightmare for the attacker.
The most powerful thing about the bastion is not its defense, but its firepower.
The design of the bastion's walls left no blind spots for the defenders.
The design of the double city walls allowed the defenders to carry out three-dimensional attacks.
In other words, those who attack the Red Moon Fortress, no matter which direction they attack, will be attacked from the front city wall, the side city wall, and the inner city wall - at least three directions.
Ogata guessed that the Lucians who built this fortress must have planned to use this fortress for military purposes.
If it was just to set up an ordinary outpost, it would definitely not be built such a time-consuming and labor-intensive double city wall-style bastion.
However, probably because of the lack of manpower and material resources in a distant foreign country, the construction of the walls of Red Moon Fortress is still a bit crude.
The wall is not made of stone, but of wood.
This kind of wooden wall is destined to deviate from the defensive power of the Red Moon Fortress. No matter how hard the wood is, it cannot be stronger than the artillery. If the artillery is allowed to hit the city wall directly, the consequences will be disastrous.
And according to Ogata's observation, there are not many towers and other facilities on the fence.
However, it is not easy to build such a wooden fortress with a double wall structure in a distant foreign country without financial, human, and material resources.
If the walls of the Red Moon Fortress are made of stone, and there are sufficient towers and other facilities, then the Red Moon Fortress will be a genuine copper wall and iron wall.
More and more residents of Red Moon Fortress gathered around to join in the fun.
They looked at the villagers of Qina Village, as well as Ogata and Amachi with curious eyes.
Compared to the villagers of Qina Village, Ogata and Omachi, who naturally had completely different faces and wore completely different clothes, attracted the attention of the residents of Red Moon Fortress.
"It feels like we are being watched like animals..." Amachi, who didn't like being looked at like this, complained in a low voice to Ogata beside him.
"Perhaps Kazuto is very rare in Red Moon Fortress." Ogata said with a bitter smile, "It's probably been a long time since Kazuto visited Red Moon Fortress...perhaps Kazuto has not even been visited."
"We should be the only two Kazuo people in Red Moon Fortress now."
…
…
At this moment——
Red Moon Fortress, somewhere——
"Hey! It's time to let me out, right? I've said it many times! I'm not a spy of the shogunate! I hate the shogunate the most! How can I do anything for the shogunate!"
An angry old voice came from a certain private house.
The words spoken by this voice were in somewhat non-standard Ainu language.
Two young men holding bows and arrows were guarding the door of this private house.
"It's so noisy!" one of the two young men shouted, "Quiet! After confirming that you are indeed not a spy from Kazuto, we will naturally let you go!"
"How long will it take?!" The old voice sounded again.
"I don't know!" the young man said.
"Then can you give me some paper and pen, or return my luggage to me? There is nothing in this room, are you trying to suffocate me to death?"
"No! We won't return your luggage to you until we confirm whether you are a spy!"
"That's enough!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of kicking on the wall came from the private house.
"Why is my luck so bad lately..."
The angry voice in the house turned into a voice that was both angry and annoyed.
"First, I met an inexplicable village doctor in a certain village... and I was kicked out of the village."
"Now he is being arrested as a spy of the shogunate again..."
"That's enough!"
The sound of kicking the wall was heard again in the room.
*******
Can anyone guess who this person is being held as a spy?
*******
Yesterday, a book friend asked: Does the book "What to Do If You Encounter a Bear?" contain any popular science on what to do if you encounter a bear that has eaten human flesh.
The book does mention what to do if you encounter a bear that has eaten human flesh.
According to the author, there is only one way to deal with a bear that has eaten human flesh: just let nature take its course (
Once a bear eats a human, it will no longer have any respect for humans, and the "arm-to-monkey method" popularized at the end of the last chapter will no longer work. There is no other way but to pray for a miracle.
However, the author of this book proposes a very useful method to prevent bears from approaching - constantly twisting plastic bottles.
Bears, whether they have eaten human flesh or not, hate the "clacking" sound made when twisting plastic bottles. After hearing this sound, the bear will often leave directly.