I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

I Became a Swordsman in Ancient Japan Volume 1 Life of a Samurai from Zero Chapter 439 Butterfly Island, River, Female Corpse [8400 words] Today's weather is a bit colder than yesterday.

From time to time, there will be a cold wind that can make people's skin stand up.

Looking at the weather, Edo should have completely entered autumn, and there will no longer be two seasons of summer and autumn.

After breakfast, Ooyo went out alone, preparing to meet those people who needed to meet with them before leaving Edo.

Although today's weather is colder than the previous days, Ogata's clothes are still thin.

Black tabi socks, white hakama, white kimono, dark blue haori, and a black scarf around the neck—this is what Ogata is wearing now.

"Life force" is directly proportional to the health of the body.

After absorbing the "Immortal Poison" for the second time, Ogata's physical health has improved a lot along with his "vitality".

Others have to wear many layers of clothes to barely keep out the cold weather. Ogata only needs to put on a haori and a scarf on top of his summer clothes.

Leaving the residence alone, Ogata walked straight towards a certain place.

To get to that place, you have to go through a fairly lively street market.

When Ogata entered the market, it was almost 9 o'clock in the morning, and many pedestrians were already shuttling through the market.

When he first stepped into this market, Xu Fang couldn't help raising his eyebrows.

Because he felt—the atmosphere around him was weird.

Within the range of vision, many people were discussing something with the people around them solemnly.

--What happened?

Just as Ogata continued to walk forward with this question in mind, he suddenly heard the conversation of two samurai not far from him.

These two samurai, one tall and one short, seem to be a pair of friends who met here by chance.

The shorter samurai greeted the taller samurai, and then asked the taller samurai:

"Mr. Yijuin, what's wrong with you? Why is your face so serious, what happened?"

"Itano-kun, don't you know?" The tall samurai sighed softly, "Last night, thieves attacked the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office."

"The Beiding Enforcement Office?" The short samurai exclaimed, "The Beiding Enforcement Office was attacked by thieves?"

"Yeah." The tall samurai nodded with a sullen face, "All the officials who stayed at the Beiding Enforcement Office last night were all killed."

"Why do thieves attack the Beiding Enforcement Office?" The short samurai was puzzled, "There is nothing valuable in the Enforcement Office. Could it be that the gang of thieves who attacked the Enforcement Office were the kind of people who had problems with their heads and were full of thoughts about wanting to buy money?" Revenge on the madman of the shogunate?"

"Who knows..." The tall warrior sighed.

"How is the investigation going now? Have the government officials found out who the murderer is?"

Hearing this question from the short samurai, the tall samurai's expression became complicated.

After a moment of silence, he slowly said:

"Now the Beiding Temple has been blocked, and the government is still investigating."

"but……"

Speaking of this, the tall samurai 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 the remnant of Toyotomi..."

"...Who?" The short warrior opened his eyes wide.

"The remnants of Toyotomi." The tall samurai repeated what he had just said, "It is said that the thieves who attacked the Kitamachi Enforcement Office painted a family crest of Toyotomi's family on a certain wall of the Kitamachi Enforcement Office.

"

"I heard that there is a sentence written next to the family crest of the Toyotomi family."

"As for what it is, I don't know."

"Aren't you joking?" The short warrior's eyes were still wide open, and his eyes and face were full of shock.

The tall samurai shook his head slightly.

"Actually, I don't know if it's true or not...I just heard what I just heard from another friend of mine."

"It seems that some people have gone to ask the officials of the shogunate to verify whether there is really a painting of Toyotomi's Taiko pauli tree on the wall of the Kitamachi Prefectural Office."

"But the officials of the shogunate kept silent and did not disclose any information. They only kept saying that they were still investigating and still investigating."

"...Leaving aside whether the family crest of the Toyotomi family is actually painted on the wall of the Kitamachi Magistrate's office." The family crest...doesn't mean that the thieves who attacked the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office are the remnants of the Toyotomi Clan?"

"Didn't the Toyotomi family's bloodline be severed in the Battle of Osaka two hundred years ago?"

"The thieves who attacked the execution office must have painted Toyotomi's Taiko tree just for fun, right?"

"Who knows..." The tall samurai let out a long breath, "Anyway—let's wait for the results of the shogunate's investigation first."

Ogata stopped not far away, silently eavesdropping on the conversation of the two warriors.

Hearing this, Ogata also had a general idea of ​​what happened.

"The Kitamachi Magistrate's Office was attacked..." Ogata looked a little surprised.

The prefectural office of Edo is the city hall of Edo.

It is impossible for a thief who is only for money to attack this kind of place that not only has no money to take, but also arouses the hatred of the shogunate.

So there are two possibilities regarding the identity of the thief.

The first possibility: The culprit who attacked the execution office was a murderer who did not hesitate to die for the pleasure of killing, but it happened that last night the place of killing was the Kitamachi execution office in Edo.

Another possibility is that the thieves are people who hate the shogunate and want to take revenge on the shogunate.

Now that the world is in a bad place, not to mention the civilians, many middle and lower-level warriors are living in extremely difficult times.

Because of the hardships of life, they feel resentment towards the shogunate—there are not many such people.

——Toyotomi's Taiko Kiri...

Ogata whispered in his heart.

——4 months ago, a group of lunatics who planned to take revenge on the shogunate and destroy Kyoto just appeared in Kyoto...

——Now there is another group of villains who attacked the Kitamachi Prefectural Office in Edo and painted Toyotomi's family crest on the wall...

——It’s such an uneven world...

...

...

Edo, the residence of Ogata and the others——

Although Lin's injuries were not as light as Mamiya and Genichi's, they were not as severe as Mucun, Asai, and Shimada.

After so many days of recuperation, apart from not being able to do too much strenuous exercise, I can basically move about freely.

After breakfast, Lin silently stayed in her room and calculated the accounts, calculating and checking how much they spent on the gourd house during this trip to Edo.

Lynn sat cross-legged in front of a low desk with an account book spread out. There is a small abacus on the left side of the ledger, and an inkstone on the right side.

Lin's left hand was placed on the small abacus, and her five fingers danced nimbly on the abacus, moving the beads on the abacus, while her right hand held a brush dipped in ink, and from time to time wrote on the account book spread out on the table. what.

Just when Lin was concentrating on keeping accounts, Yuan Yi's voice suddenly sounded from outside the room:

"Xiao Lin, it's me. Is it convenient for me to come in?"

"It's Uncle." Lin stopped the brush in her right hand, "Come in."

The door was pulled open.

Yuan Yi walked slowly into the room with a small cloth bag in his arms.

"Huh? Xiaolin, are you keeping accounts?"

"Yeah." Xiaolin nodded lightly, "I'm checking the expenses from entering Edo to now."

"How? Have you figured it out?"

"Not yet. But according to my estimate, four thousand taels is enough." Lin said in a calm tone, "It cost at least three thousand taels just to buy the big tube."

"Four thousand taels..." Yuan Yi was stunned, "It's almost half of our savings in the gourd house..."

"Compared with being able to eliminate the hidden danger in Shiranui, this little money is nothing." Lin smiled, "If the money is gone, I can earn more. It can be as short as 2 years or as long as 3 years. Make money back."

"This decisive battle with Shiranui is really a blessing in misfortune."

Speaking of this, Lin sighed lightly, and then said with emotion:

"Although the money spent was more than I expected. But Kuro 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 money or less, as long as Jiulang and the others are safe and sound."

After that, Lin turned her head and glanced at Yuan Yi behind her.

"Uncle, what did you ask me for? What's the matter?"

"It's nothing." Yuan Yi smiled, "I just came here to tell you - I'm planning to go out for a while."

Yuanyi patted the cloth bag in his arms.

"I haven't drawn much recently."

"So I plan to take advantage of the good weather today to draw some beautiful scenery outside."

"Huahua..." Lin's expression became a little weird.

Lin knows best about Yuan Yi's painting skills.

In Lin's eyes, no matter what Yuan Yi paints, it's actually the same - they are all so unbearable to look directly at.

"... Uncle, although the 'Imperial Trial' is over now, there is no guarantee that all your enemies will leave Edo now." Lin raised her concerns.

"I know." Yuan Yi shrugged, "But this kind of thing doesn't matter now, right?"

"I was cautious before, but I just didn't want people in Shiranui to know that 'Genichi Kinoshita is in Edo' and make Shiranui feel wary."

"And now that the fire is gone, there is no need to worry about 'Genichi Kinoshita being in Edo' being exposed."

"If there are enemies who recognize me now and come to challenge me, then let them come."

"I, Kinoshita Genichi, have never been afraid of anyone since the first time I held a sword."

"...I see." After thinking for a moment, Lin nodded slowly, and then turned her gaze back to the account book in front of her, "Uncle, just pay attention to your own safety."

"It should be to make my enemies pay attention to safety." Yuan Yi grinned, "If you didn't meet me, or if you met me and pretended that you didn't see me, you could live longer."

After notifying Lin, Yuanyi held his bag of painting tools in his right hand, rested his left hand casually on his two sabers, and strode out of the house.

Then I wandered aimlessly, holding the idea of ​​"trying my luck", looking for beautiful scenery worth painting.

Unknowingly, Yuanyi walked into a commercial area.

There are various shops on both sides of the street.

Countless pedestrians shuttled on the street, or entered and exited a certain shop, or walked straight forward without turning their eyes.

Yuan Yi was not interested in painting shops, and after looking around the street, he was about to leave.

However - just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a conversation from two women who were chatting not far away that made Yuan Yi's pupils shrink slightly.

"Mrs. Gui, have you heard? It is said that the remnants of the Toyotomi Clan attacked the Kitamachi Prefectural Office in Edo last night."

"Toyotomi? What is that?"

"Oh, Mrs. Gui, don't you know the Toyotomi family?"

Yuan Yi's footsteps subconsciously stopped.

Standing there, there was a bit of astonishment and surprise on his face.

He pursed his lips tightly, and after standing there for a while, he strode towards the two women.

"Sorry." Yuan Yi broke into the conversation between the two women.

Genichi's sudden interjection startled the two women.

"Sorry for scaring you." Yuan Yi bowed slightly and apologized, "Can you please tell me in detail what you talked about just now?"

The two women looked Yuan up and down several times with hesitant eyes.

"I don't know the details..." one of the women said slowly, "I just heard it from my husband..."

...

...

Edo, the residence of Ogata and others——

Lynn is still concentrating on keeping accounts.

Suddenly, another voice sounded outside the door, interrupting Lin's concentration.

"Xiaolin, it's me."

Listening to the human voice that was just heard 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, then turned around, faced this person, and cast a puzzled look at him.

"Uncle, why are you back? Didn't you go to paint?"

The person who entered the room was Genichi who just went out to paint.

After casting her eyes full of doubts on Yuan Yi, Lin found that Yuan Yi's expression was somewhat solemn.

"...Xiaolin."

Yuan said in a deep voice.

"I just... heard some... things outside."

"Nobuhide... seems to be in Edo now."

Hearing what Yuan Yi said just now... No, it should be said that after hearing the name "Nobuhide" from Yuan Yi's mouth, Lin's pupils shrank slightly.

Genichi told Lin one by one what he had heard from the two women just now.

After Yuanyi's voice fell, Lin slowly lowered her head.

"...Attacked the Kitamachi Enforcement Office in the middle of the night, killed all the officials stationed in the Enforcement Office, and then painted 'Taige Tong' on the wall..."

Lin suddenly sneered.

"It's really like what that person would do."

After finishing speaking, Ben Lin turned her body back, faced the desk covered with ledgers, picked up a brush, and continued to scribble something on the ledger.

"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."

"Even if he immediately leads his subordinates into Edo Castle and kidnaps the shogun, it's none of my business."

"I don't care where or how that person is now."

"Whatever he likes to do is his freedom."

"Compared to that person's current movements, I care more about what I have for lunch today."

"Uncle, thank you for coming back to tell me this."

"I'm going to settle the score."

"Uncle, if you still want to continue painting outside, go quickly."

"If you keep procrastinating like this, it will be noon."

Because Lin turned her body back, Genichi could only see Lin's back now.

Yuan opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

But just as he opened his mouth, Genichi closed it again.

Then he left the room without a word.

After Yuanyi left, the trouble in Lin's hand slowly stopped on the paper of the ledger.

Lin lowered her head, and her eyes shot straight at the ledger in front of her.

Obviously the place where the eyes are looking at is the account book on the table, but Lin's eyes seem to be looking at other, more distant places...

After a long while, the sound of the brush sliding on the paper resounded in the room again.

...

...

Edo, Yoshiwara——

Ogata walked along the road that he had traveled countless times before, arrived at the Japanese Embankment, stepped on the Fifty Ways, and then passed through the wide Yoshihara gate.

Pass through the gate of Yoshihara, enter Yoshihara, and you will see the headquarters of Shirobei Club on the right hand side.

Standing in front of the Shirobei clubhouse, Ogata couldn't help feeling a little emotional.

Some acquaintances in the Shirobei clubhouse, led by Shirobei and Keeimon, were the first people Ogata wanted to say goodbye to.

Shirobei and Qingweimen are very friendly. During the period of lurking in the Shirobei clubhouse, Ogata also received some care from these people, big and small. So it's still pleasant.

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 clubhouse, and then said to the two officials standing guard in front of the clubhouse:

"Excuse me, is Lord Shirobei in the club now?"

The current Ogata is naturally wearing that human skin mask, incarnate as "Mashima Goro".

One of the two officials standing guard in front of the clubhouse unexpectedly recognized Ogata, and shouted in a surprised tone:

"Huh? Isn't this Mashima-sama?"

During the time when Ogata was lurking in Yoshihara, he did a lot of great things to make him famous.

So Ogata is considered a half-celebrity in the Shirobei Clubhouse, and many officials in the clubhouse recognize Ogata.

"Well, it's me." Ogata nodded, "Is Lord Shirobei there? I need to find him."

"Yes, yes." The official who recognized Ogata just now nodded vigorously.

The officer led Ogata into the Shirobei clubhouse, and then led Ogata all the way to Shirobei's office

Entering the office, Obi saw Shirobei who was working at his desk.

Shirobei was also surprised when he saw Ogata.

"Mashima-kun?" Shirobei exclaimed, "It's been a long time since I saw you... If it wasn't because Guasheng told you about you before, I really thought you had some accident and disappeared..."

Now that I don't know the fire is extinguished, naturally there is no need to lurk in Yoshihara anymore.

So when Ogata was recuperating in that house before, he asked Guasheng to tell everyone in the Shirobei clubhouse for him that he would no longer work here in Yoshihara because of some things.

This is the first time that Ogata has appeared in front of Shirobei since the decisive battle with Shiranui - indeed, it has been a long time.

"Master Shirobei, long time no see." Ogata smiled, "May I trouble you with something?"

"What's up?"

What Ogata wanted to trouble Shirobei to do was also very simple - to help call some people headed by Keimon. He has something important to say to these people, including Shirobei.

Call some people who are acquainted with each other on weekdays, and it is also convenient for Xu to say goodbye to all of them.

This kind of thing is just a trivial matter to Shirobei, and the people Ogata just pointed out happen to be in Edo now, so Shirobei immediately sent an order to Keeimon and others to come.

Soon, some people who were familiar with Ogata, headed by Keimon, came to Shirobei's office one after another.

After everyone arrived, Ogata greeted them first, and then got straight to the point, telling them that he was leaving Edo for some things and going to Ezo.

These people present are the group of people who have a close relationship with Ogata in the Shirobei clubhouse.

Seeing that Ogata came to say goodbye, some people headed by Shirobei showed sadness while cheering Ogata up, asking Ogata to pay attention to safety during his subsequent trip to Ezo.

However, some people headed by Keimon spoke out to persuade Ogata to stay in Edo and continue to work here in Yoshihara.

But Ogata would naturally not accept their persuasion.

After politely rejecting their request to stay and saying goodbye to Shirobei and the others, Ogata left the Shirobei clubhouse.

But he did not leave Yoshihara immediately.

Instead, he stood outside the gate of the Shirobei clubhouse, raised his head, and let out a long breath facing the sky.

Then he muttered in a low voice that only he could hear clearly:

"Then... the only ones left to say goodbye are him and him..."

...

...

At this very moment—

Kii Fan, Butterfly Island, the source of the Linong River——

Fujiwara, with his helmet on and fully armed, looked seriously at the fishermen who were constantly throwing nets into the Linon River in small boats.

The fishermen cast their nets into the river again and again, and then reeled in the nets again and again—there was nothing in the nets.

Looking at the fishermen who had been fruitless all this time, Fujiwara's serious face gradually showed a bit of frustration, and he thought to himself:

——Today should be fruitless again...

As of this spring, Masa Inamori, also known as "Tiger Inamori", was in charge of leading 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, the task of leading the army to monitor Butterfly Island fell on Fujiwara's shoulders.

After the replacement of the commander-in-chief, a new change was made to the handling of Butterfly Island.

Originally, the shogunate's plan was to mobilize felons from all over the country, and let this group of people who don't care if they die to consume the number of monsters on Butterfly Island as much as possible.

The shogunate's plan failed.

No matter what method is used, the "ogre" on Butterfly Island cannot be killed, and the felons sent to the island are wiped out.

So the shogunate had no choice but to use the last method they wanted to use—dispatching the army again to forcibly suppress these "ogre ghosts" on Butterfly Island.

Before concentrating the felons across the country, the shogunate sent troops to land on the island to exterminate the ogres on the island.

At that time, there was very little information, and almost nothing was known about ogres, so the FA match ended in a disastrous defeat.

It was precisely because the casualties in that battle were extremely tragic that the shogunate came up with a plan to "let the felons deal with the cannibals" - after all, the soldiers had to pay a lot of pensions when they died, and the felons died when they died up.

After the shogunate decided to send troops to the island for the second time to exterminate the ogres, because they were more experienced than before and had more information about ogres, the second landing operation was more difficult than the first. A landing operation is much smoother.

Because the ogre can't be killed no matter how hard it is, so in the second landing operation, the main weapon of the shogunate army is-fishing nets.

The shogunate bought a large number of fishing nets for the second landing on the island.

Use crowd tactics and let soldiers act in groups.

Several soldiers were responsible for containing the ogres, while others cast out fishing nets to trap the ogres—this was the tactic used by the shogunate army in their second landing on the island.

Trapping the Ogre Operation - This is currently the only way to deal with these unkillable monsters.

In June, the second landing operation on Butterfly Island officially began.

It took a full three months to finally trap all the ogres on the island with fishing nets.

Then, it took another half a month to thoroughly check every corner of the island, and after confirming that all the ogres on the island had been captured by them, Fujiwara, who succeeded Inamori as the general, was finally relieved. tone.

In addition to buying a large number of fishing nets, they also made and purchased a large number of wooden cages that are as tall as a person for detaining prisoners.

These wooden cages were used to hold ogres that were successfully trapped with fishing nets.

After the ogres that were successfully trapped with fishing nets were taken into wooden cages, they were transported to a certain place in Kii Fan and imprisoned.

The second landing operation was barely a success.

Although there is still no way to kill the ogre, there is no other way but to trap the ogre.

But at least Butterfly Island is safe now, and the ogres are now caught and controlled by the shogunate.

It's just that... the shogunate paid a slightly larger loss.

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 it.

The number of cannibals on the island is only in the early 300s.

It took more than 1,200 casualties to barely control the 300 ogres on Butterfly Island...

Every time he recalled the number of casualties, Fujiwara felt heavy and shuddered.

Sometimes, Fujiwara couldn't help but think: 300 ogres caused their shogunate army to suffer more than 1,200 casualties.

What if 3,000 ogres appear in the future?

If 3,000 ogres show up on some island someday, what are they going to do with them?

Thinking of this, Fujiwara didn't dare to think about it...

After confirming that Butterfly Island was completely safe, the shogunate officially ordered: to conduct a comprehensive investigation on Butterfly Island to investigate how the ogre appeared.

The first investigation target is the river that all the islanders of Butterfly Island depend on for survival—the Linong River.

According to the residents of Butterfly Island who are still alive: there is a high possibility that there is something wrong with the Linong River.

Among all the residents on the island, only the monks of Tenmanji Temple, who usually drink well water, did not become ogres after death.

So the shogunate recruited a large number of fishermen, brought these fishermen to Butterfly Island, and asked them to start salvage work at the source of the Linong River and check the bottom of the source of the Linong River.

The salvage work has been carried out for more than ten days.

Every day, Fujiwara comes to see how the salvage of the bottom of the source of the Linong River is going.

I come to see it every day, and I am disappointed every day - I have been salvaging for more than ten days, but there is no result.

This made Fujiwara involuntarily feel anxious.

Because the surviving islanders obtained information that "the water on the island may be problematic", whether it is the second army landing on the island or the current investigation of Butterfly Island, everyone on the island uses water for daily use. from land.

Buckets of water are transported from the land to the island by special personnel.

The water transported every day and the cost to be paid are astronomical figures.

That's why Fujiwara was so impatient because there were no results. Every day he stayed here would cost him an extra day.

"Master Fujiwara."

At this moment, a young general in the same helmet and armor leaned towards Fujiwara from behind.

"This month's baggage has already been transported into the camp just now."

"Yeah." Fujiwara nodded lightly, "Thank you for your report, I'll confirm it later..."

Before Fujiwara finished speaking, an exclamation with a strong expression of surprise interrupted Fujiwara's words.

"Hey! Come and help! I seem to have caught something very heavy!"

The owner of this shout was a fisherman who was fishing at the source of the Linon River.

This fisherman is standing on a fishing boat, holding a fishing net tightly with both hands, his legs are slightly bent, and he is in a half-squat position-his appearance looks like he is pulling a carrot.

His feet firmly supported the fishing boat under his feet, and he kept pulling up the fishing net in his hand with all his strength.

His arms had burst out with blue veins, which showed that he was really exerting all his energy now.

However—despite his best efforts, the fishing net in his hand still remained motionless.

After hearing the news, the fishermen around came to help.

With the concerted efforts of everyone, the fishing net finally moved and was slowly pulled up.

Attracted by the movement here, Fujiwara hurriedly stood by the river, staring at the fishing net that was about to come out of the water.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, this extremely heavy fishing net finally came out of the water.

The moment the fishing net came out of the water, Fujiwara's pupils shrank suddenly, almost screaming.

But after all, he is also a military general who has seen a lot of great things in the world, so when the screams welled up in his throat, he suppressed them back with brute force.

Fujiwara's concentration does not mean that other people have such concentration.

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah--!"

"It's a person! The person has been fished out!"

"It seems to be a woman!"

"Namo Amitabha! Namo Amitabha!"

...

The fishermen present were in a mess.

He almost threw the body that was finally fished out of the river back into the river.

"Don't panic!"

Fujiwara yelled.

"Drag this corpse up!"

Fujiwara's roar reassured everyone present.

Following Fujiwara's order, the fishermen dragged the body ashore.

After untying the fishing net, Fujiwara finally had a complete look at the corpse.

It is a female corpse.

Her body was so decomposed that she could no longer see her appearance and age clearly.

There are a lot of big stones tied to his body - that's why the fishermen just spent so much effort to successfully salvage it.

"This woman..." Fujiwara murmured, "was she thrown into the river...?"

If it is suicide, there is no need to tie so many stones on your body.

And with the strength of a woman, with so many heavy stones tied to her body, she might not even be able to crawl, let alone jump into the river.

With so many stones tied, it's like... making sure the body doesn't get swept away by the river...