I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

After splitting Mogami's head in half with a single knife, Ogata squatted down and wiped the blood, fat and brains left on Da Shitian's blade with the hakama on his upper and lower body.

After wiping the blade and putting the knife back into the sheath, he saw a leather water bag next to the top, and washed his cheeks that were now stained with a lot of blood with the water in the water bag.

When beheading the top guards swarming up just now, because the space was too narrow, there was nowhere for Ogata to hide from the blood splashed on his body, so a lot of blood spattered on his face and armor.

After quickly washing his face, Ogata let out a long breath: "Okay...it's time to leave here..."

The difficulty of leaving the camp safely is, to some extent, higher than the difficulty of rushing into the camp.

But Ogata also had a plan for how to get out of here.

The plan he drew up to leave the camp was also rather simple and crude.

But before officially leaving the camp, Ogata had one more thing to do.

Ogata glanced at the bloody armor he was wearing now, and then looked at the soldier lying not far from his feet, whose armor was not stained with much blood at all.

"I need to change a piece of armor first..." Ogata murmured as he began to take off the armor on his body.

While taking off the armor on his body with skillful movements, Ogata suddenly thought of it - he had obviously never served in the army, but he seemed to have accumulated quite a lot of experience in wearing armor without knowing it...

...

...

There are two stables in the camp of the First Army, one is located in the south of the camp and the other is located in the north of the camp.

At this moment, whether it is the "South Stable" in the south or the "North Stable" in the north, the horses are extremely restless, constantly pawing their hooves and neighing.

Naturally, this kind of temporary stable would not be made with any particularly complicated craftsmanship, let alone a stall for each horse.

Gather the horses together and surround them with thin wooden fences - this is how this temporary stable on the march was made.

The horses used in the army are not very tall, so the wooden fence used to enclose the horses does not need to be too high.

Due to various reasons such as inconvenient transportation, Japan has not introduced excellent horse breeds from overseas for a long time. Until now, whether it is civilian horses or military horses,

Japan uses native horses.

The most notable feature of native Japanese horses is their shortness and weakness.

The average shoulder height is only 1.2 meters, and the overall height may not be as tall as a person.

With such a thin body, his strength is naturally not much.

Among the various types of horses in Japan, the best horse breed is the Kiso horse—although the Kiso horse is actually just a taller one among the dwarfs, and the average shoulder height of the Kiso horse is only 125cm-135cm.

In the Warring States Period two hundred years ago, the powerful princes who once shook the country—the Takeda family used Kiso horses to fight horses and formed the famous "Takeda Cavalry".

Two hundred years later, the Edo shogunate, which ruled the whole country, mainly used Kiso horses, which were better than other local horse breeds, as war horses for the army.

Now the horses stored in the stables in the First Military Camp are all Kiso horses.

Horses are generally poor, so horses that can be used for combat are extremely scarce, which directly limits the development of cavalry, and Japanese cavalry has always been an extremely expensive unit.

There were 3,000 generals in the First Army, and only 150 real cavalry and cavalry charged on the battlefield.

There are only 200 horses in each of the two stables located on the north and south sides-these 400 horses are all the horses of the First Army.

The area of ​​the camp with 3,000 people stationed is not very large.

The camp was attacked, and most of the camp was in chaos, and the noise of the soldiers and the sound of the flames were transmitted to the stables—the noise and the thick smoke that kept drifting to the stables made the The current "South Stable" and "North Stable" are the culprits of the extreme emotional instability of the horses.

Many of the horses in the stable were startled by the clamor, noise, and smoke from the flames.

The horses in the stables were frightened on a massive scale - no small matter.

Regardless of the "South Stable" or the "North Stable", the heads of these two stables are now shuttling back and forth in their respective stables, directing their subordinates to appease the emotionally unstable horses.

...

...

The First Military Barracks, the "South Stable" in the south——

咴咴咴——!

咴咴咴咴咴咴咴咴——!

"Quiet the horses! Hey! You guys! Don't be lazy! Go and calm the horses!"

The general in charge of managing the "South Stables" was patrolling the stables vigorously, and at the same time directed his subordinates to appease the horses, which were still very emotionally unstable.

"Hey, it is said that our camp is now being attacked by a large group of Ezo, is this true?"

In the south stable, the two young men comforted the horses while lowering their volume and whispering to each other.

"It should be... There should be no other possibility for our camp to be in such a mess, except for a large group of Ezo who are hostile to us."

"Then those Ezo who attacked our camp were repelled?"

"I don't know. But I guess it's only a matter of time before the Ezo who attacked our camp were repulsed. Although the Ezo can take advantage of us by sneak attack, their equipment is too inferior to ours, so they were repelled It's just a matter of time."

"Hey! You two! What are you whispering there!"

At this time, a sharp shout sounded from behind the two young men.

After hearing the yelling, the two young men immediately looked back like thieves who had been caught stealing something, and looked back at the owner who was standing not far behind them—— Head of their "South Stables".

Although there are no thousands of horses in the stables, and there is no "ten thousand horses screaming together", the neighing of nearly a hundred horses in unison is enough to make people feel that the eardrums are about to burst.

The "head of the stable" whose head was about to explode after being quarreled by these horses was already in a very bad mood.

When patrolling around and commanding his subordinates to appease the horses, Yu just saw that these two subordinates were not concentrating on appeasing the horses there, but were whispering there.

He got angry all of a sudden, scolding loudly without any politeness.

"Give me all the attention! Don't let me see you whispering there again!"

The two soldiers who had just whispered to each other quickly nodded and bowed, repeatedly expressing that they would not commit another crime.

After Hao Sheng scolded the two soldiers, the "head of the stable" continued to patrol around.

However, it didn't take long for the "head of the stable" to see another scene that made him angry again-he saw an ashigaru who did not know which unit he belonged to, with a long gun in his hand and two knives tied around his waist. The handle and the sheath stood carelessly at a corner of the stable, as if they were looking at the wooden stable fence in front of them, wondering what they were doing.

This Ashgaru was quite tall, and the fence of the stable was slightly shorter than him.

Just when the "stable manager" was about to rush forward and ask loudly which unit the Ashgaru belonged to and what he was doing here, a scene that made his pupils constrict suddenly appeared - he saw the Ashgaru suddenly take off his waistcoat The handle of the knife, and then slammed the knife towards the thin stable fence in front of him...

Seeing the light of the knife flickering several times, the ashigaru cut out a gap that was not too big or small, almost enough to accommodate two horses walking side by side...

...

...

The First Army Barracks, somewhere in the camp——

——What's going on in the camp now...

While Lihua was thinking this in his heart, he turned his head frequently to look at the entrance of the tent next to him, his eyes were full of unconcealable anxiety.

At this moment—a calm male voice that seemed to contain no emotion suddenly sounded from Tachibana's side:

"Tachibana. Be safe and don't be impatient."

Hearing this voice, Tachibana was stunned, then slightly lowered her head shyly:

"Yes... sorry, my lord, I made you laugh..."

The person who just reminded Tachibana aloud is now sitting on a small horse tie, sitting next to Tachibana Matsudaira Sadanobu.

After learning that the camp was attacked, Matsudaira Sadanobu followed Sheng Tianmu's suggestion and quickly left the commander's tent.

After leaving the coach's tent, Matsudaira Sadanobu hid with Tachibana, his guards and others in an inconspicuous tent in the camp.

Ever since he hid in this tent, Matsudaira Sadanobu has been sitting on a pony tie, with his hands naturally resting on his lap, eyes closed and rested.

Matsudaira Sadanobu's unmoving appearance formed a very sharp contrast with Tachibana who was sitting next to him and whose face was no different from the big words "I'm panicked".

After hearing the reminder from Matsudaira Sadanobu just now, Tachibana cleared his throat, then straightened his back, adjusted the expression on his face, and tried to make himself look as calm as Matsudaira Sadanobu.

But for Tachibana, who is still too young and lacks experience, it is naturally impossible for him to change his personality instantly because of a reminder from Matsudaira Sadanobu.

Even though he tried his best to pretend, the look of anxiety could not dissipate in Tachibana's eyes for a long time.

"Master Laozhong." Tachibana asked Matsudaira Sadanobu uncontrollably, "Should we send someone to ask Lord Kansheng Tianmu: How is the situation in the camp now?"

As soon as Tachibana's voice fell, Matsudaira Sadanobu responded without thinking:

"Tachibana, don't worry. If there is any new change in the situation in the camp, Sheng Tianmu will send someone to inform us immediately."

Seeing that Matsudaira Sadanobu did not agree to send someone to Sheng Tianmu to inquire about the situation, Tachibana could only suppress the anxiety in his heart, and continued to wait silently with Matsudaira Sadanobu in this tent.

But Tachibana didn't stay silent for a long time, as if he had something to say, he frequently looked sideways at Matsudaira Sadanobu beside him.

The look of hesitation and firmness on Tachibana's face went back and forth.

In the end—resolute won out.

"My lord." Tachibana no longer hesitated, and said cautiously to Matsudaira Sadanobu next to him, "Is there any discomfort in your body or any troubles?"

"No." Matsudaira Sadanobu replied almost without hesitation, "Why do you ask?"

"Because I look down at your complexion and it seems a bit bad..."

After hiding in this camp together with Matsudaira Sadanobu, Tachibana immediately noticed that Matsudaira Sadanobu had a strange face...

Outsiders may not be able to see any changes in Matsudaira Sadanobu, but Tachibana, who has been an attendant for many years and sees Matsudaira Sadanobu's face most every day, immediately recognized the unusual expression on Matsudaira Sadanobu's face.

According to Tachibana's experience - Matsudaira Sadanobu showed such an expression, either he was not feeling well, or there was something disturbing his mind.

As soon as Tachibana finished speaking, the corner of Matsudaira Sadanobu's mouth twitched slightly, and he said with a smile:

"Lihua, you worry too much."

"There's nothing wrong with my body. There's nothing bothering me."

"Probably because the light here is dim, which made you misread."

After Matsudaira Sadanobu said so, Tachibana didn't dare to say anything more or ask more questions. After agreeing, he continued to sit and wait obediently with Matsudaira Sadanobu in this tent.

Suddenly—there was a loud sound of horseshoes outside the tent.

The sudden sound of horse hoofs that were extremely close to them naturally surprised everyone in the camp.

Matsudaira Sadanobu also half-opened his eyes, frowning slightly.

"Fa, what happened." Tachibana jumped up from the horse tie.

"Tachibana, stay safe and don't be impatient." Matsudaira Sadanobu reminded Tachibana again, then turned to look at a guard next to him, "Go outside and check the situation."

The guard standing next to Matsudaira Jonobu is the core component of Matsudaira Jonobu's guard - the red cavalry.

After receiving the order from Matsudaira Takanobu, the guard immediately nodded and said "yes", and then rushed out of the camp quickly, holding the knife at his waist.

Not long after, the guard came back.

"My lord, it was the soldiers in the camp who discovered a suspicious person who was leaving the camp from the south on horseback."

"The sound of horseshoes just now is the cavalry going to chase the suspicious person."

As soon as the guard's report fell, Matsudaira Sadanobu's brows that were only slightly frowned immediately frowned: "Suspicious person?"

...

...

Ogata grabbed the horse's mane and steered the horse galloping on the snow field outside the camp.

If you want to leave the camp, you must not leave on foot. It is a waste of time, and it is very easy to be discovered and then chased by the pursuers.

So if you want to leave this place, the most effective way is to snatch a horse, and then ride away.

After Ogata put on a clean set of armor, he transformed into an ordinary soldier again, frantically fishing in troubled waters in the camp again.

The stables are not difficult to find—the camp is not particularly large, and many horses neighed loudly because of fright. Ogata followed the faint neighing of the horses to find them all the way, and found it smoothly. "South Stables".

There is not much time left for Ogata.

The evening mist was about to disperse, and if the time dragged on for too long, it would inevitably make people suspicious of this solitary figure.

So Ogata didn't play any gimmicks that would take a considerable amount of time as to how to steal the horse.

Running to the stables, splitting the wooden stable fences that are not as hard as human bones, and then picking a horse at random to escape-this is Ogata's method of stealing horses.

Simple and crude, but effective.

Before the managers at the stables had time to react adequately, they saw an Ashgaru who jumped out of nowhere and split the fence of the stables with a knife, and then rode a horse that split away from them with lightning speed. The nearest horse to the gap, and then fled from the gap——by the time the management staff next to the stables reacted, Ogata had already left on his horse.

The fly in the ointment is that none of the horses in the stables are equipped with saddles and other harnesses.

For the health of the horses, but also to allow the horses to have sufficient rest, the horses are only equipped with saddles and other harnesses when the horses are used, and the horses are usually separated from the harnesses.

Therefore, Ogata could only sit directly on the horse's back, and then hold the horse's mane to control the horse.

Fortunately, these horses are all well-trained war horses. Even without saddles and other harnesses, it will not have much impact on riding, but it will make the rider quite uncomfortable.

The situation was urgent, so Ogata stopped picking and choosing, and just fled the camp on his stolen "naked horse".

After discovering the horse thief Ogata, the person in charge of the stable immediately reported the matter to his superiors.

And when Ogata rode his horse on a rampage in the camp, when he rushed straight out of the camp, he also attracted the attention of many people along the way-after all, soldiers wearing ashigaru special "royal loan" basically don't have the right to ride horses .

Of course—some people mistakenly thought that Ogata was a soldier who was authorized to ride a horse and deliver military orders in this emergency situation.

At this time, Ogata was not worried whether someone would find out that he was a "fake soldier".

Because the order of the camp has not yet been restored, it is difficult for the subordinates to report the news of "discovering suspicious cavalry" quickly, and then gather troops to pursue Ogata.

It wasn't until Ogata rushed out of the camp with one man and one horse, that Ogata heard some faint noises coming from behind—this was probably the sound of the camp gathering soldiers and horses to chase Ogata.

At this time, it is obviously too late to pursue Ogata.

Compared with all the thrills of entering the camp, the process of leaving the camp was much smoother than Ogata imagined.

Ogata, who was sitting on the horseback, let out a long breath.

With a smile on your face, you feel the headwind that comes from galloping your horse.

...

...

Tachibana looked nervously at Matsudaira Sadanobu in front of him.

The guards of Matsudaira Sadanobu headed by the red cavalry, like Tachibana, cast a nervous look at Matsudaira Sadanobu in front of him.

The reason why they did this was because - the tent in front of them was standing above the tent they just hid in.

Just now, after learning that a "suspicious person" rode his horse and left the camp from the south, Matsudaira Sadanobu said to Tachibana very abruptly: "Help me to stand above the tent."

Tachibana was naturally extremely puzzled by Matsudaira Sadanobu's sudden order.

Tachibana didn't dare to ask "why" to Matsudaira's order, but for the sake of Matsudaira's safety, he still mustered up the courage to tell Matsudaira that "this is too dangerous" and told Matsudaira not to do this.

To Tachibana's suggestion, Matsudaira Sadanobu only responded coldly:

"Stop talking nonsense."

Seeing that Matsudaira Sadanobu seemed a little angry, Tachibana was so frightened that his legs almost went limp, so he didn't dare to say anything more, and helped Matsudaira Sadanobu to climb to the top of the tent where they were hiding.

At this moment, Matsudaira Sadanobu was just standing on the top of the camp tent.

But Tachibana and the others surrounded the tent with nervous and panicked faces, for fear that Matsudaira Sadanobu would fall from the top of the tent.

Matsudaira Sadanobu seemed not worried that he would fall from the top of the camp tent. After standing upright on the top of the tent, he took out a telescope from his arms.

This telescope was presented to him by a foreign businessman from Holland a year ago. It is not only exquisite in workmanship, but also amazing in its effectiveness. It can see farther than ordinary telescopes.

Sadanobu Matsudaira carried this telescope with him, thinking that this telescope would be useful in the investigation of the Strait, but it was a pity that he did not take out the telescope and use it once after the investigation was over.

Matsudaira Sadanobu never expected that the telescope did not come in handy for investigation work, but it came in handy at this time.

Matsudaira Sadanobu pulled the binoculars away and looked towards the south of the camp.

After scanning back and forth a few times, Matsudaira Sadanobu finally saw - a soldier in ashigaru armor was riding away on a horse without any harness.

The telescope in Matsudaira Sadanobu's hand has reached its limit, and he can no longer see further.

So, Matsudaira Sadanobu narrowed his eyes, trying to see the face of the "suspicious person" clearly with his own naked eyes.

It's a pity—no matter how hard Matsudaira tried to look, he could only see a blurry shadow, unable to see the face of the "suspicious person", and could only watch helplessly as the "suspicious person" gradually moved away from his field of vision ...

After the "suspicious person" completely disappeared within Matsudaira's field of vision, Matsudaira put down the telescope in his hand.

Then there was a silent sigh.

His face is full of complex expressions that even outsiders can clearly recognize.