Chapter 552 Red Moon Fortress, prepare for battle! [4800 words]
What Chanup just said was not like Uppanu shouting at the top of his lungs, but in an extremely calm tone.
But these words spoken in a calm tone were far more sonorous and powerful than each of Upanu's roars just now.
Upanu originally had thousands of words he wanted to yell at Chanup who had bewitched the young children in his village with his "evil words", but all the words he had prepared were now wiped out because of Chanup's words just now.
It's stuck in the throat.
"...Why are you here with me?" Upanu said in a deep voice, "Are you...wanting to persuade me to go crazy with you?"
"No." Chanup shook his head, "I just heard that you were about to get into a fight with the young people in your village, so I came over to see how you were doing."
"It seems that you still insist on surrendering to Kazuto..."
"Ha." Upanu sneered, "I'm not as fickle as you."
"I'm curious - how do you become so changeable?"
"Obviously, until today, you have been hesitant and silent in every meeting."
Unexpectedly, Upanu became curious about the change in the mentality of the person in front of him who he had just hated for using "demon words" to confuse people.
"There is no complicated reason." Chanup said slowly, "I just figured it out and no longer hesitated and was confused."
"I figured it out - I really have no way to just hand over this new home that was built with countless sacrifices to Kazuto."
"There is no way to just let our descendants become 'Ainu'."
"...But the difference in combat power between us and Kazuto is too great." Upanu gritted his teeth.
"Well, you're right."
Chanup smiled.
He was clearly chatting with the man in front of him, and they might get angry with each other in the next moment, and they turned around and exchanged words full of tense atmosphere, but Chanup showed a relaxed smile.
"This is a battle of great disparity."
"Our odds are horribly low."
"Our bloody battle, the epic battle, maybe no one can record it and pass it on to future generations."
"But - Upanu."
"'Can it be done' and 'Should it be done' - don't you think the latter is far more important than the former?"
After saying that, Chanup said no more and turned to leave.
Upanu said nothing.
He was silent.
He didn't chase Chanup, or watch Chanup leave.
He just lowered his head slightly and remained silent.
Retannoe, who had just sent a message to Chanupunpu, informing him that Upanu was about to start a fight with his tribesmen, had been standing not far away the entire time.
After Chanup slowly walked back to him, Retannoe asked in a low voice:
"I thought you would spend a lot of time trying to persuade Upanu to stop being obsessed with being Kazuto's dog."
Chanupu did not respond to Retannoe's words. He just smiled and said sternly to Retannoe:
"Retannoe, please help me summon all the 'old guys' now. Just summon them to my house."
Old guys - a common phrase used by Chanupu and the others. They refer to all the "big shots" in their Red Moon Fortress who are qualified to participate in high-level meetings as "old guys".
"What do you want to do?" Retannoe asked.
"What else can we do? Of course, let's discuss together how to defend our homeland." Chanup said, "Anyway - I'm sorry to bother you. I have to go somewhere now and will meet you soon."
…
…
Red Moon Fortress, somewhere——
"Hey! What happened? Can't you tell me? I heard two very loud cannons during the day today! What's going on with these cannons? Did someone attack here?
"
Lin Ziping pressed his face against the window and shouted to the young man guarding him outside the window.
As of this afternoon, Lin Ziping was still living his usual life - staying in this prison converted from an uninhabited residential house, doing nothing.
Until——there was an extremely noisy noise and the sound of two artillery fire outside.
Lin Ziping was no stranger to the sound of artillery. As soon as he heard it, he recognized that it was the unique bombing sound of artillery.
Why is there the sound of artillery here in Ezochi?
Lin Ziping was startled by the sound of the two artillery fire and jumped up. He hurriedly asked the person guarding him outside the house what happened - but the guard outside ignored him at all.
Because the guards didn't know what was going on outside.
There were several changes of guards during this period, but when faced with Lin Ziping's inquiries, they either gave unclear answers or ignored Lin Ziping.
"Stop making noises." The extremely impatient voice of the guard came from outside the door. "You have been making noises since just now. I have no obligation to tell you in prison...Ah! Mr. Chanup? You
Why are you here?"
"I have something to do with the man in the cage. Please open the door."
——Hmm? Someone is coming?
As soon as Lin Ziping cast a doubtful look at the prison door, he saw the prison door being slowly opened, and an Ainu man of similar age slowly walked into the prison.
As soon as the middle-aged man entered, he closed the prison door himself and placed himself in the same cell with Lin Ziping.
Before Lin Ziping could ask who this middle-aged man was, the middle-aged man took the lead and said in fluent Japanese:
"Mr. Lin, although this is not the first time we have met, in terms of 'official meeting', this is indeed our first time."
"First time we meet, my name is Chanup."
"Chanup?" Lin Ziping raised his eyebrows.
Since the middle-aged man in front of him can speak fluent Japanese, Lin Ziping is also happy to communicate with him in Japanese.
"Why did Heye Zhe's top leader suddenly come to find me, a prisoner?"
As a scholar who has studied the Ezo Territory for many years, Lin Ziping naturally has a lot of understanding of Heye Zhe, who is very famous in the Ezo Territory.
The name of Heye Zhe's top leader is Chanup - this kind of thing is not a secret. Lin Ziping naturally knew it a few years ago.
When Lin Ziping looked at Chanupu up and down, Chanupu was also looking at Lin Ziping.
This time, it was the second time the two of them met.
Their last meeting was rather awkward - the young tribesmen brought Lin Ziping, who was sneaking around outside the city and suspected of being a spy, back to Chanup for inspection.
At that time, Chanup took a quick look at Lin Ziping and then ordered Lin Ziping to be taken to prison to carefully check his identity.
"I'm here just to bring a message to Mr. Majima," Chanup said.
"Mr. Majima?" Lin Ziping frowned slightly, "Although I am very concerned about what Mr. Majima wants you to bring me, but before that, can you tell me what happened today? What happened with today's cannon?
thing?"
"Don't you know what happened?" Chanup asked.
"I kept asking the people responsible for guarding me what happened," Lin Ziping said, "but they didn't tell me at all."
"That's it..." Chanupu said slowly, "What exactly happened... In a nutshell, Kazuto's army came to fight."
Chanup briefly described what happened today in as simple words as possible.
After Chanupu finished his brief description, Lin Ziping's eyes widened: "The shogunate...is coming...?"
"Mr. Majima, he has left here now for some reasons." After briefly telling Lin Ziping what happened today, he changed the topic back to the main topic he came to Lin Ziping to talk to Lin Ziping about this time.
"Before he left, he asked me to bring you a message for him."
Before Ogata was about to leave the Red Moon Fortress on his carrot, he mentioned Lin Ziping to Chanup who came to see him off - he asked Chanup to bring a message to Lin Ziping for him.
"Mr. Majima left?" Lin Ziping quickly put away the surprise and shock on his face, "What did he do?"
After Ogata came back with the injured A-Machi, he met Lin Ziping once, but the two didn't talk too much in that meeting. In that meeting, Ogata only exchanged words with Lin Ziping.
Ping An, and told Lin Ziping that due to some accidents, he did not bring back books that might prove his identity as a scholar, and said that he would find another way to get him out of the cell later.
After that meeting, Lin Ziping never saw Ogata again.
"I'm sorry. Please allow me to keep it a secret as to what Mr. Majima went to do." Chanup shook his head.
"Then what did Mr. Majima ask you to bring?" Seeing that Chanup kept it a secret, Lin Ziping was not upset and quickly changed the topic.
"It's just a simple sentence."
Chanup cleared his throat, then imitated Ogata's tone and said:
"'Mr. Lin, for some reasons, I will be missing for a short period of time. When I come back, it will be much easier for you to get out of the cell. I hope you will wait patiently for me to come back, and remember that you and I
A promise made.'"
"Is that all?" Lin Ziping asked rhetorically.
Lin Ziping naturally knew what the "promise" Ogata was talking about - he and Ogata had agreed that if Ogata could help him regain his freedom, Lin Ziping would take Ogata and the others to the building with the strange doctor.
village.
"That's right." Chanup nodded, "I have a lot of important things to do in the future, so I can't stay here for too long."
"Now that the words have been brought, it's almost time for me to leave."
"Wait a minute!" Lin Ziping said urgently, "Before leaving, can you let me ask you a question?"
Lin Ziping put on a serious face.
"How do you plan to deal with Kazuto's army outside the city?"
Regarding the question suddenly thrown by Lin Ziping, Chanup raised his eyebrows and then smiled:
"We will defend our homeland and fight until the Japanese retreat or our fortress is breached."
After that, Chanupu said no more and quickly left Lin Ziping's prison.
Lin Ziping stood there blankly, watching Chanup's leaving figure.
Even after Chanupu had left for a long time, Lin Ziping still stood there, motionless.
After a while, Lin Ziping gritted his teeth, quickly ran to the wall next to him, and kicked the wall bitterly.
"What on earth are Matsudaira Sadanobu, Kitagawa Toshiki and those people thinking... Why do they want to send troops to the Ainu...!"
"damn it……!"
He kicked the wall hatefully and growled lowly.
…
…
Red Moon Fortress, Chanup’s home——
"Is everyone here?" Chanup looked around at the people sitting around him.
"Upañu hasn't come yet." Retannoe, who was sitting next to Chanupu, replied, "The only one missing is Upañu."
Upanu is also one of the people qualified to participate in such high-level meetings - but until now, Upanu has not been seen.
"... Then we won't wait for him." Chanup said, "Let's get started."
Chanup looked around at the people in front of him again.
"I have decided to defend my home until the last moment." Chanup said bluntly, "Does anyone else have any objections?"
The eyes of the "War Faction" headed by Retannoe have focused on those "Procession Faction" who were very active before.
At this moment, these Lord Subjugationists either bowed their heads and remained silent, or loudly praised Chanup, showing that they were connected, and indeed they could not bow down to Kazuto.
Chanup's speech just now allowed the "main war faction" to completely overwhelm the "main surrender faction".
The residents who accounted for the vast majority of the population of the Red Moon Fortress and had experienced the suffering of the "southern migration" 10 years ago - almost all of them were inspired by Chanup's speech to defend this hard-won goal.
The fighting spirit of the homeland.
And those residents who had not experienced the "southern migration" 10 years ago were also inspired by Chanup's speech just now.
These residents who had not experienced the "southern migration" 10 years ago basically had to abandon their original homes and move into Heye Zhezhong due to various reasons.
Their feelings for He Yezhe are no shallower than those of the "aboriginals" who have experienced the "southern migration".
Now the temperature in the entire Red Moon Fortress seems to have risen several degrees due to the high fighting spirit and enthusiastic emotions of the residents.
These "Lord's Surrender" people are not blind people. They can naturally see that no matter how they talk about surrender now, no one will respond to them.
However, some of the "pro-defence faction" people were indeed moved by Chanup's speech just now, and completely switched sides to the "pro-war faction" side.
Seeing that no one spoke, Chanup nodded.
Just when he was about to say something, the curtain at the door of the room was suddenly opened.
Everyone, including Chanup, immediately focused their attention.
I saw a middle-aged man, with an expression that made it difficult to understand his specific emotions, slowly walked to the opposite side of Chanup, and then sat down cross-legged.
"Upanu..." Chanupu said softly, "I thought you weren't coming..."
"You came just in time, the meeting has just begun."
"If you have something to say, just say it now."
Upanu's departure caused a change in the expressions of everyone present.
The faces of "militant" people like Retannoe became ugly.
Some of the "surrender faction" who were still worried about "surrender" cast hopeful glances at Upanu.
Upanu is worthy of being the center of attention.
Not only did he make almost everyone's expressions change as soon as he showed up.
After he sat down, he just said one sentence and everyone's expressions changed again.
"...Chanupu, tell me." Upanu said softly, "Tell me how you plan to deploy defense."
Upanu's simple words made Chanupu involuntarily shrink his pupils in surprise - the others also had similar reactions.
After showing a faint smile to Upanu, Chanup looked serious and said loudly:
"Since no one has any objections, we will prepare for war with all our strength."
"To deal with the people outside the city, we must first increase the number of sentries on the city wall and strengthen our vigilance."
…
A large number of young and strong young men, armed with bows, arrows and spears, quickly ran up the inner and outer city walls. The number of sentries on the city walls doubled to twice the usual number.
All the people standing guard on the city wall were standing ready, their eyes wide open, and they were carefully observing every move of the army outside the city.
…
"Open all warehouses, check and count all food, drinking water and medicines in stock. The inventory is also carried out uniformly."
…
The doors of the warehouses dedicated to storing grain and drinking water were wide open. Tribesmen who were ordered to come to inspect and count were shuttled back and forth in the warehouses.
In Cunoya's clinic, while smoking a cigarette, Cunoya said in a lazy tone to the young people in front of her: "Are you the people sent by Chanup to help me count the medicines? Let's start.
Let's work."
…
"In addition to food and drinking water, weapons must also be comprehensively inspected and counted, and the weapons must be distributed."
…
Bundles of arrows and spears were brought out, counted, and distributed one by one.
The sound of sharpening arrowheads and spear points echoed throughout the Red Moon Fortress.
…
"This battle is related to the survival of our homeland, so we can't hold anything back...Bring out all those muskets."
…
In the Red Moon Fortress, a group of tribesmen rushed towards an inconspicuous warehouse.
There is only one thing in this warehouse - a row of neatly arranged flintlock guns with a red moon engraved on the handle of the gun...
And such muskets - they have 80 of them.
…
The Red Moon Fortress is like a machine running at full speed. Under Chanup's dispatch and arrangement, everyone is doing their work in an orderly manner.
Count and organize the food and medicine in stock...
Standing on the city wall, guarding against others...
It's just that this busy preparation for the war only lasted for 3 days.
Because 3 days later, just 3 days after Ogata left the Red Moon Fortress——
The 5,000-strong main force led by Inamori is here!