Chapter 665 The undead attack and the people who came to kill Ogata from thousands of miles [6000]
The bamboo hat on Ogata's head and the towel on his face had been washed away by the current during the duel with Uohachiro in the water just now.
Therefore, Ogata is now in a "pure no-makeup" state.
Ogata, who was in his "pure makeup" state, rubbed his eyes vigorously, and then looked intently at the old friend in front of him.
"Ishikawa...sama...?"
…
…
Osaka, Osaka Castle——
The current situation of the originally majestic Osaka Castle... can be described as extremely bleak.
All four entrances and exits were blasted open by cannons. The Toyotomi generals rushed into Osaka Castle from all directions and wantonly slaughtered every Tokugawa samurai who appeared in front of them.
Be prepared to attack the unprepared.
The majority defeats the minority.
A battle in which there is no doubt about the outcome.
Although the resistance of the Tokugawa samurai responsible for guarding Osaka Castle was not unheroic, in the face of the flintlock rifles of the Toyotomi samurai, their resistance was more than heroic but lacking in effectiveness.
But even so, it still took the Toyotomi Army a lot of time to completely eliminate Osaka Castle.
After all, Osaka Castle is so large that it would take a long time just to walk around it.
"Hey, have you found 'Lao Naka' Matsudaira Sadanobu and 'Osaka Jodai' Hotta Masajun?"
In a certain corridor of Osaka Castle, Zaemon Zaemon, who was responsible for leading the troops to attack Osaka, carried his large naginata and asked a subordinate in front of him who had a lot of blood on his body.
"No." The subordinate replied, "We have searched every corner of Osaka Castle, but we have not found any trace of Matsudaira Sadanobu and Hotta Masajun, nor have we found any secret passages."
Zuemon curled his lips: "Should we let them run away...forget it, they two are not important. Anyway, Toyotomi-sama's order to me is 'it's best to catch them both, it doesn't matter if you can't catch them'"
.”
"Send an order to everyone - withdraw your troops. Withdraw from Osaka City and assemble in the southwest of Osaka City."
"yes!"
"Also - tell everyone not to relax because Osaka Castle has fallen."
Left and right gate raised his eyebrows and smiled.
"We still have a big battle to fight to 'annihilate Shura'."
"Shura might be more difficult to deal with than Osaka Castle."
Just now, Zuemon also received an order to launch the "Plan B" to encircle and suppress Ogata.
When he first received this order, Uemon was extremely excited.
The task of "capture Osaka Castle" was far easier and less interesting than Uemon thought.
Therefore, when he learned that "Plan B" had been launched, Zuemon quickly sent an order: speed up the purge of Osaka Castle, and whoever dares to slack off will be punished on the spot.
He couldn't wait to join the encirclement and suppression campaign against Ogata as soon as possible.
After watching this subordinate leave, Zuemon raised his big palm-like hand and scratched the back of his head, and then muttered in a volume that only he could hear clearly:
"Toyotomi-sama is really strange... he requested that all facilities and places related to the Edo shogunate such as Osaka Administrative Office and Dojima Rice Market be burned down, but he only requested to keep Osaka Castle and ordered me to ensure that Osaka Castle is preserved as much as possible.
in perfect condition.”
"I really want to set fire to Osaka City... Burning such a majestic city would be a spectacular scene...!"
Left and Right Gate smacked his lips, with a look of deep regret on his face.
Suddenly, very unexpectedly——
"Saemon-emon Zaemon-sama."
A cold female voice, reminiscent of ice cubes, sounded behind Zuoemon.
Listening to the female voice that suddenly came from behind him, Zuemon looked calm.
It was as if he had known for a long time that there was someone else behind him.
Left and right gate turned his head and looked at the woman who had appeared behind him at some unknown time and was now kneeling on the ground.
To be more precise, she is a beautiful woman wearing an Iga kunoichi uniform.
"Lord Yoshijiu sent me to remind you."
This kunoichi not only had no emotion in her voice, but also had no emotion on her beautiful cheeks. She spoke slowly in her cold voice with no expression on her face.
"After the fall of Osaka Castle, every cannon must be returned to the main formation intact."
"Ah...he's here to remind me to send back the cannon..." Zuoemon pulled down the corners of his mouth and stretched out his fingers to pick out his ears, "That guy Yoshihisa is really as verbose as ever..."
"I know these cannons are precious, but is it necessary to send someone to remind me to send the cannons back to our formation intact..."
"Hey, kunoichi, you came just in time. I have just wiped out Osaka Castle."
"Go back to the main formation and tell Yoshihisa: Your reminder, I, Zaemon-emon, and Zuemon, are aware of it. Osaka Castle has been cleared, and we will immediately send people and horses to transport all these cannons back to the main formation."
After finishing speaking, Zuemon waved his hand, indicating that the kunoichi could leave.
The kunoichi lowered his head, bowed to the left and right guards, and then stood up slowly.
But just when she was about to turn around and leave, Zuemon suddenly raised his eyebrows.
"Huh? Wait a minute."
The kunoichi turned her half-turned body back.
After Zuoemon looked at the face of the kunoichi in front of him for a while with the eyes of an archaeologist looking at archaeological remains, Zuoemon showed a smile that narrowed his eyes to a slit.
"No wonder you always look familiar."
"I remember you."
"You are Chuguang, right?"
"The kid who was picked up and adopted by that guy Yoshihisa because he was too talented."
"My lord, you actually remember me, I'm really frightened." The kunoichi...or Hatsuko said calmly.
If there were any "fans" of Chuguang here now, they would definitely be shocked.
The sacred and unattainable "Osaka's best artist" in their eyes is now dressed in such a shameless manner.
The upper body is like a sleeveless kimono, exposing all the skin of the arms, and the lower body is like a short skirt, covering only about half of the thighs. It is tied with black leggings that cover the entire calf, and the feet are black socks and black straw sandals—
-This is the style of Iga's kunoichi uniform, and it is also Hatsumi's current attire.
In terms of exposure, Iga's kunoichi uniform is not as good as the Shiranui kunoichi uniform that exposes the entire back and the skin of both arms, but it is still far better than ordinary women's clothing of this era.
"The reason why I am deeply impressed by you is because I remember that Jijiu has always been partial to you."
Zuemon shrugged.
"If I remember correctly, until tonight, you have been lurking in Shinmachi, Osaka, as a musician, collecting information for me, the Toyotomi clan, right?"
"Actually, with your appearance, the most suitable disguises and hiding places for you are You Nu and You Kuo."
"With your appearance and temperament, you can easily become the top star in any travel agency."
"In terms of the efficiency of gathering intelligence, it is easier to collect useful intelligence by pretending to be a popular travel girl."
"But Yoshihisa didn't do that."
"He didn't ask you to pretend to be a wandering girl, but asked you to pretend to be a more relaxed musician who doesn't need to sell your body."
"Judging from the current situation, Jijiu still prefers you in this grand battle tonight."
"Since you are here to deliver a message to me, it means that your mission tonight is to serve as a 'messenger'."
"I didn't ask you to do that kind of dangerous mission, but asked you to be a 'messenger' who is safer in comparison. It's obvious that Jijiu has a preference for you."
"Obviously based on your status, asking you to serve as a 'messenger' is simply overqualified."
In response to Saemon's words, Hatsuko's expression was expressionless.
She listened expressionlessly.
There was a hint of... impatience hidden between his brows and eyes.
"Oh? Don't you like hearing about this topic?" After noticing Hatsumi's expressionless face, Zuemon laughed a few times, "Since you don't like hearing about it, I won't talk about it either."
Afterwards, Zuemon waved his hand towards Hatsuko.
"Okay, go back to the main formation and convey what I just said to Jijiu completely."
Chu Guang whispered "Yes" in a low voice, then lowered her body weight and ran towards the end of the corridor behind her.
In just the blink of an eye, she completely disappeared from Uemon's eyes.
"Okay..." Zuemon stretched hard, "I'll leave Osaka Castle as soon as possible..."
Zuemon carried his large naginata and walked towards the southwest exit of Osaka Castle at a leisurely pace.
After passing through several corridors, Zuemon came to a place... the "Bloody Mill".
This is a corridor strewn with corpses.
There were a total of 10 corpses lying in this corridor, which was not too long.
A small-scale battle just broke out here.
The Tokugawa samurai responsible for guarding Osaka Castle and the Toyotomi samurai attacking Osaka Castle encountered each other on this corridor.
The battle...or rather the one-sided massacre, thus began.
This kind of unavoidable corridor is the most conducive terrain for musketeers.
The 10 corpses in the corridor are all samurai responsible for guarding Osaka Castle.
The air is still filled with the faint smell of gunpowder and gunpowder smoke.
The blood flowing from their bodies dyed the floor of this corridor dark red.
Ignoring the corpses in the corridor and the blood stains on the ground, Zuemon continued walking along the corridor leisurely.
at this time!
Just when Zuemon walked to the middle of this bloody corridor, a pile of corpses behind him moved.
Immediately afterwards, a corpse covered in blood was gently moved away.
A pair of eyes filled with hatred appeared from the shadow between the corpse and the corpse below him.
He stared hard at Zuemon who was still walking leisurely.
-He didn't notice me...
——This is a good opportunity...
——Even if you die, you have to find a thief to back you up...!
A young warrior who had been shot in the abdomen and whose cheeks were extremely pale due to severe blood loss crept out of the pile of corpses.
This young samurai is named "Ichiro Arii" and is one of the guards responsible for guarding Osaka.
In the encounter that just took place in this corridor, he was unfortunately shot through the abdomen by a bullet.
But he was very lucky - the bullet did not hit his vital part and he was not killed immediately.
He remained unconscious.
I have been in a coma until now.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Zuoemon strolling along the corridor.
Although he did not die directly like other companions, Arii also knew that he was just hanging on for a breath now. He had lost too much blood and could not live long.
Arioi, knowing that his death was approaching, cast his hateful eyes on Zuemon.
Just die! Even if you die, you have to find someone to support you - this is the only thought left in Ariui's mind.
Zuemon didn't seem to notice Ariui, who was now crawling out of the pile of corpses behind him, and continued to walk forward on his own.
Seeing that Zuemon didn't notice him, Ariei felt more confident.
Slow down your breathing.
Hold the knife tightly in your hand.
With steps that made no sound, he slowly approached Zuoemon from behind.
——8 steps...7 steps...6 steps...
While approaching the left and right gates, he counted the distance between himself and the left and right gates.
Every time he took a step closer to the left and right gates, Ariei's breathing became heavier.
——5 steps...4 steps...3 steps...!
The feet of those who have a well have a meal.
The anger, fear, and tension squeezed in my heart poured out at this moment!
"Thieves! Die!"
Ariei poured all the strength he had left into his hind legs, kicked off the ground suddenly, and leapt over the remaining three steps to Zuemon.
laugh!
The feeling of the blade piercing into flesh was transmitted to Ariui's hands.
——Successful!
His knife accurately penetrated Yoshiemon's back, pierced his vitals, and then emerged from his chest.
A joyful smile bloomed on Yujing's cheeks - however, this joyful smile only lasted for a moment before freezing, and then slowly dissipated.
Because he saw... Zuoemon slowly turned his head expressionlessly and looked at him with admiration.
"Even if I die, I still have to bring another enemy to my back."
"I admire your courage."
"It's not in vain that I've been waiting for you to rush over."
"Looking at your courage, I'll leave you with a complete body."
Youjing's mouth opened uncontrollably.
His face became even paler than before.
"No... it's possible..." Arii murmured, "I should... pierce your vitals..."
Ariei probably didn't expect that these words of his were actually his last words.
call!
The last image Ariei saw in his life... was a huge naginata falling from the sky.
Poof!
Like slicing a watermelon, Uemon used his big naginata to chop off Arii's head.
Yujing's head was split from the forehead to the throat, split into two neat halves.
"Well... the knife penetrated my body, and it still hurts..."
Zuemon shook off the remaining blood on the big naginata and pulled out the sword that had penetrated his body.
The moment he pulled the knife out of his body, a strange scene that made people's hair stand on end appeared on Uemon's body.
I saw many red blood streaks "growing" from Zuemon's wounds.
These red blood threads were intertwined together, and within a short time, the huge penetrating wound on Zuoemon's body was restored to its original state.
"You didn't expect that, did you?"
The left and right guards threw the drawn sword to the side and said in a joking tone towards Arii's body.
"Just piercing the vital points of my abdomen is not enough to kill me."
…
…
Osaka, somewhere——
"Although the wound on your leg is not deep, it is not shallow either." The old man kneeling beside Ogata looked at the wound on Ogata's leg carefully, "I don't have any medicine on me now.
I only brought a little linen..."
"Anyway, let me bandage your wound with linen first to stop the bleeding from your wound."
After that, the old man opened a large package beside him and took out a roll of linen.
"You need to find a skilled doctor to treat your injury, otherwise you will leave an ugly scar on your leg."
"Haha, it doesn't matter. I have too many scars anyway." Ogata said in a half-joking tone, "It doesn't matter to me if I have one more scar or one less scar."
Ogata had already taken off his original clothes that were soaked with river water.
He has now changed into clothes that are clean and dry, but a little too small.
The set of dry clothes he was wearing was provided to him by the old man in front of him.
"...Thank you very much, Ishikawa-sama." Ogata said his heartfelt thanks to the old man in front of him who was bandaging his wounds.
"Hahaha." The old man smiled.
Facing Ogata's thanks, the old man smiled and nodded without saying much.
Looking at the old man, Ogao slowly asked with doubt:
"Master Ishikawa, why are you here?"
This old man was the owner of the Ishikawa Kenkan who competed with the Sakakibara Kenkan when the Sakakibara Kenkan was still there - Ishikawa Hyōma.
This is the first time Ogata has met people from his hometown since he left the Hirose Domain.
Although Ogata had quite unpleasant experiences with Toyama and others at the Ishikawa Sword Hall, Ogata had no ill feelings toward the owner of the Ishikawa Sword Hall.
Not only did he not have any bad feelings, he also had some respect for Ishikawa Hōma.
The pile of moths that were organized in Yuanshan were all done with Ishikawa's soldiers and horses on his back.
Ishikawa, who didn't want to make things bigger and cause trouble, tried his best to dissuade him and scolded Toyama and others for not making trouble, but he couldn't control Toyama and others at all.
"Hahaha..." Ishikawa showed an awkward smile, "Ogata-kun, before that, can you tell me - have you ever met Itagaki? That's Itagaki Shichigoro, do you remember him?"
Ogata: "Itagaki Shichigoro?"
When he heard the name "Itagaki Shichigoro", Ogata was immediately startled.
Ogata naturally remembers who Itagaki is.
The first person Ogata killed after arriving in the Edo period was one of Toyama's younger brothers.
When Toyama and others went to the Sakakibara Kenkan and the izakaya where Ogata worked to make trouble for Ogata, Itagaki was the one who led the team to the izakaya where Ogata worked.
After failing to find Ogata in the izakaya, Itagaki shamelessly injured Asaki, Afu and his daughter.
Ogata then attacked the Ishikawa Kenkan and helped his fellow swordsmen and Asaki from the izakaya. When Afu and his daughter took revenge, Ogata specifically took care of Itagaki and beat Itagaki half to death.
Since then, Itagaki, who was seriously injured, has been recuperating at home. Because of this, after beating Itagaki half to death, Ogata never saw him again.
"No." Ogata shook his head, "After beating him seriously, I never saw him again."
"Is that so...Does that mean he hasn't found you yet..."
Ishikawa's face showed an expression that seemed to be both regretful and thankful.
"Ogata-kun, I'm not afraid of your jokes...I left Hirose Domain this time just to find Itagaki and the others."
"Not long after you resigned from the feudal clan, Itagaki resigned from the feudal clan along with several other people in my sword hall who also respected Toyama."
"On the eve of breaking away from the feudal clan, they sent a letter to the sword hall. The letter said: We are going to find Ogata Issei to avenge Senior Brother Toyama. We will never return home until we take the head of this thief."
"When I received this letter from Itagaki and the others... I was quite upset..."
Ishikawa smiled bitterly.
"I only had one thought at the time: I was a real failure as a master."
"Tell Yuanshan not to expand the dispute anymore - Yuanshan didn't listen to me."
"After Toyama died performing martial arts in worship of gods because he didn't listen to my advice, I advised Itagaki and others to stop here and stop doing stupid things - Itagaki and the others didn't listen to me either."
"If I were a master who could discipline my disciples well... maybe this series of disputes and tragedies would not have occurred."
"From the source, this series of disputes between you and Yuan Shan is due to Yuan Shan's fault."
"Because of Yuanshan's fault, one tragedy after another has occurred like a chain reaction."
"I no longer want more people to be injured or even die because of this dispute that started in the wrong place."
"If I just let Itagaki and the others continue to be so stubborn, then what I, the master, have done is really a failure."
"So I closed my Ishikawa Kenkan, left Hirose Domain, and looked for Itagaki and the others."
"I don't know where Itagaki and the others are looking for you, so I can only look for you aimlessly."
“I came to Osaka about a month ago.”
"This place is one of the areas where poor people live in Osaka."
Ishikawa stretched out his finger and pointed at the ground beneath his feet.
"There is a very cheap hotel here. Well, it's that house, did you see it? That house is the hotel where I stayed recently."
Ishikawa pursed his lips towards a two-story wooden house not far away that looked like a dilapidated building.
"Because I don't have much money left, I have been staying in that cheap hotel during this time."
"Now there are fires and gunshots for unknown reasons all over Osaka, so the residents here are so scared that they have fled."
"I originally didn't plan to escape with the people here, because I looked at the location of the fire. Every fire location is quite far away from here, and the fire may not burn here, so I didn't follow the people here.
Residents, please leave this place together.”
"But just now, I realized that I couldn't run anymore."
"The speed and scope of the fire's spread far exceeded my imagination."
"A neighborhood not far from here has been affected by fire."
"It would be dangerous to stay here any longer, so I quickly left the hotel and prepared to escape to a safe place."
"As a result, I just left the hotel and I met you, who was wet."
"Fate is indeed a wonderful thing... I never thought that I would meet you before Itagaki and the others."
*******
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This "old friend" is Ishikawa Hyōma. Didn't you expect that?
Those who have forgotten the plots related to Ishikawa Hyōma, Toyama, Itagaki and others can review Volume 1. Ishikawa Hyōma is the one who is treated as farts by Toyama and others no matter how much he tries to persuade Toyama and others not to do stupid things.