I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 1070: The Legend of [Wine of Immortality] [5600]

Silika and Mahel parted ways in Hakodate Bay.

Mahel returned to his flagship, the Napoleon, and personally presided over the repair work, issuing a death order to "repair the ship at all costs."

"You bunch of idiots! How many times have I told you! Don't underestimate the Shogunate! Be prepared to fight at any time! If you had been more cautious, you wouldn't have ended up like this! Not only did you let the enemy ships break into the port easily, but you also let them escape unscathed! I really want to shoot you all! Idiots! A bunch of idiots!"

Even from a distance, Mael's roar could be heard.

Xilika didn't understand French, but from Maher's tone, he could tell that he was extremely angry, even crazy.

No matter how well-educated Maher was, he could not withstand the grief and anger brought about by this humiliating defeat.

Faced with Mahel's angry rebuke, the crew members endured it silently, not even daring to breathe.

After suffering such a shameful defeat, even the thickest-skinned person would be unable to utter a word of defense.

How Mael will deal with the relevant responsible persons and how to repair the warship are not within the scope of Xilika's interference.

He was completely unable to help with ship repairs and could only pray secretly, hoping that the maintenance divisions under Mahel were all skilled masters who could restore the three ironclad battleships to their original state.

After leaving Hakodate Bay, Xilika returned to Goryokaku under the escort of several trusted men.

As soon as they passed through the gate of Goryokaku, a confidant beside Xilika suddenly said:

"... Xilika, I don't like that Mael."

The speaker is one of Xilika's most trusted friends, whose name is "Hepoyi", which means "iron".

As the name suggests, this is a young man as strong as iron.

He has dark skin, a lean body, and hard muscles all over his body, just like iron.

Without waiting for Xilika to respond, Hepoyi continued on his own:

"We have no relationship with him, and he is not even an Ainu."

"He is a foreigner, but he spared no effort to support our 'Yamato Conquest'."

"Not only did he provide us with free guns, instructors, and 'Berserker Water', but he also personally commanded three ironclad warships to assist us in the battle."

"There is no such thing as prey that will walk into your trap obediently."

"He must have other intentions in helping us."

"Xilika, you must be more careful."

Xilika squinted his eyes and glanced at Hepoyi:
"Hepoyi, thank you for your advice."

"I'm just like you. I don't like that Mahel either."

"His identity is suspicious, his behavior is suspicious... He is full of mysteries, and it is impossible to guess what he is thinking."

"Weapons, instructors, 'Berserker Water'... any one of these things would cost a lot, but he gave them to us for free."

“Everything that’s free has a very high price.”

"He was definitely trying to take advantage of us, there's no doubt about that."

"Although we really don't want to deal with him, it is undeniable that... we really need him right now."

After these words were spoken, He Poyi pursed his lips with a serious expression.

Xilika continued silently:

"We need his guns, we need his ships, we need his instructors, and we need his 'Berserker Water'."

"Without his help, relying solely on our own strength, the 'Yamato Conquest' will always be an illusory dream."

"He's definitely using us - whatever, I don't care, it's no big deal."

"I'm not afraid of being used, I'm just afraid that I'm useless."

"He's using me, and I can use him, each of us gets what we want."

"We and him just need to keep the status quo."

"Don't distance yourself from him, but don't get close to him either. Stay alert at all times. If he does something that's detrimental to us..."

Xilika paused here, raised his hand and made a "beheading" gesture on his neck.

Upon seeing this, his close associates, led by He Poyi, all showed stern expressions and responded in unison.

……

……

When Xilika returned to the bedroom, the ceiling of the corridor behind him suddenly began to move strangely - Ogata slid down from the ceiling and fell back to the ground silently and steadily.

I guess Xilika never imagined that just now, his fate was completely dependent on Ogata's thoughts!
As long as Ogata had the intention, he could easily kidnap Xilika, and even if his confidants were present, they would not be able to stop him.

However, after much deliberation, Ogata decided to let Xilika go.

First of all, now is not the best time to kidnap Xilika.

Secondly, Xilika is not the key to solving the mystery of "immortality" - Maher is!

Ogata recalled the conversation he had just overheard and murmured:
"'Berserker Water'..."

Berserker is a name full of Western characteristics.

Ogata secretly guessed that the "immortality" of the "Ainu Coalition" must be related to this so-called "Berserker Water"!
In this case, kidnapping Xilika is completely useless, as he probably doesn't know the details of the "Berserker Water".

The person he should be looking for is Mahel, who can produce "Berserker Water"!
At this moment, Ogata seemed to remember something, his eyes flickered slightly, and he muttered:
"'water'……"

Since it is water, it must be a liquid... Somehow, Ogata suddenly recalled the legend of the "wine of immortality" that he had heard many years ago.

……

……

The next day—

Hakodate, Goryokaku——

"Don't waste time! Move all these stones to the wall!"

"Wait wait wait! We're here to fight! Why are you asking us to keep moving rocks?"

"What do you know? We are preparing for war now! These stones are important weapons! When the enemy climbs up the wall, we can use these stones to hit them! If you find it hard, please leave! What we need are strong warriors! We don't need babies who haven't been weaned yet!"

As soon as the sky turned light, Goryokaku was filled with various sounds, including anxious shouts and hurried footsteps.

In order to protect morale, Xilika blocked the news and did not let the bad news of last night's "fleet defeat" spread. He only said that last night's continuous bombardment was an exercise.

Last night, when Xilika and Mael went to Hakodate Bay to check the battle situation, Ogata did not follow them - it was easy for him to run away, but it was not so easy to come back.

Although Ogata was not clear about the details of the "Battle of Hakodate Bay" last night, he knew with his butt that it must have been the work of Qing Deng.

Before the two armies even engage in battle, they already give the enemy a warning...very much like Qingdeng's style.

Today, Ogata, Aikon and others finally received their task: to move baskets of stones onto the city wall.

Stone is the best weapon for defending a city.

Firstly, there are many of them and they are easy to collect; secondly, they are powerful and can knock someone unconscious or kill them with just a throw.

Never underestimate stones. The famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi had a dark history of being knocked unconscious by a stone just as he entered the battlefield.

Xilika sent a large number of people to collect stones outside the city, and then transported these stones back into the city and put them on the city walls.

In addition to collecting stones, Xilika also sent a lot of people to hunt to store food and collect dry firewood for burning.

It seems that he is ready to fight a protracted war with the Shogunate.

The task was to "move stones onto the city wall"...which was exactly what Ogata wanted.

In this way, you can walk around openly and observe the current situation of Goryokaku.

While working step by step, Ogata continued to observe everything inside the fortress.

He noticed that only a small number of people were able to equip themselves with guns and receive the most advanced military training - Ogata guessed that most of these people were Xilika's direct troops.

"Volunteers" like them who joined later could only do odd jobs such as reinforcing the fortress and carrying weapons.

It is not known whether Xilika intentionally favored his own people, or whether there were not enough guns, artillery and instructors to enable all soldiers to be "firearmed".

At this moment, Ogata and Aikon were standing side by side on the south wall, stacking baskets of stones neatly.

Yaikoon carefully glanced around and after confirming that no one was around, he turned his head inconspicuously and whispered to Ogata:

"Akonglu, when does Mr. Tachibana plan to launch the general attack?"

"I don't know. I guess it will be soon. In no more than 5 days, Tachibana-kun will lead thousands of troops to recapture Goryokaku in one fell swoop."

"I think he'd better launch the attack as soon as possible. The longer he delays, the more perfect the defense of this fortress will be."

Yaikoon frowned slightly as he spoke, looking at the piles of rocks in front of him with a serious expression.

All the stones within a five-mile radius seemed to have been gathered here.

Yaikoon only knew how to hunt, not how to fight, but he also knew that if the attackers wanted to capture Goryokaku, they would have to climb the city walls, and the defenders would only need to throw stones down to cause huge casualties to the attackers.

With so many stones...it's no problem to squander them in a year or two.

In addition to stones, the "Ainu Coalition" also stockpiled other city defense equipment, such as wooden beams, kerosene, and the classic gold juice - boiled manure.

In this era when medical technology is not very developed, golden juice is a well-deserved "lethal weapon" that will kill anyone who touches it!

Boiling feces can scald a person to death. Even if the person does not die on the spot, the bacteria in the feces can invade the body through the wound and cause extremely serious infection.

The person who survives the golden juice is the true "chosen one".

The Ainu people, who did not even have a city, could never have known how to defend a city.

It is not difficult to guess that it must have been taught by the French instructors.

Looking at the city defense equipment everywhere... Yaiko couldn't help but smack his lips.

If a head-on battle breaks out, the Shogunate will definitely pay an extremely heavy price!
Just as Yayikong was secretly sweating for Qingdeng, a cold voice suddenly sounded from behind him:

"Ayikon! Long time no see!" Yayikon was stunned, and Ogata beside him was also stunned.

A familiar voice... The next moment, the two of them turned their heads back at the same time - only to see Xilika holding his red scabbard sword and striding towards Yaikoon.

The sudden appearance of the supreme leader caused everyone around him to stop what they were doing and look at Xilika with admiration.

Xilika waved his hand, signaling everyone to continue with their work and not to bother with him.

He quickened his pace slightly and stopped in front of Yaikoon.

The surprise on Yaikong's face was only fleeting, and he quickly returned to his calm state and responded indifferently:

"Xilika, long time no see."

"Yikong, I didn't expect it was really you."

Xilika pulled the corner of his mouth, revealing a faint smile.

"When I heard that Yaikoon of Murokonkala was coming to help, I couldn't hold my ears. No matter how much I persuaded you, you were unwilling to fight alongside me."

Yayikong smiled:

"I changed my mind. I originally thought that your 'Ainu Alliance' was an unrealistic delusion, but I didn't expect that you would actually realize it. I suddenly felt that the 'Yamato Conquest' was not impossible, so I came to help you. I tried to call for action in the village, but unfortunately, the people in my village don't like fighting and just want to live a peaceful life, so only a few people are willing to join me in the war. Please forgive me."

"It doesn't matter. I won't force anyone to go to the battlefield. People who are forced to go to the battlefield are unreliable and will only hinder us. I only welcome those who volunteer to go to the battlefield."

At this time, Xilika noticed Ogata next to Yaikoon - Ogata's clothes had the unique patterns of Murokonkara.

"Ayikon, who is this?"

Yayikondi said:
"This is my good friend from the same village, his name is 'Ilanqili' (powerful warrior)."

Xilika glanced around, carefully examining Ogata, with a hint of doubt between his brows:

"Ilanqili? I don't think I've seen you before."

Ogata smiled slightly and answered with a prepared answer:

"I am a loner. I either stay at home or go out hunting every day. Whenever you come to visit Shikongkala, I happen to be out hunting, so we have no chance to meet."

Xilika and Shikongkala did not have a deep friendship, and Shikongkala was a large village with a large population, so it was naturally impossible for Xilika to remember the appearance and name of every able-bodied man in Shikongkala.

Therefore, he did not doubt it, nodded to Ogata, and then fixed his gaze on Aikon again.

"Yikong, I'm very happy to see you here. With a sharpshooter like you, I'm like having the strength of a hundred people!"

Yaikoon shook his head:
"Xilika, you think too highly of me."

"I am no longer young, and my arrows are not as fast or accurate as before."

"What's more...even though I don't care about worldly affairs, I know that this is no longer the era of bows and arrows."

As he spoke, he turned his head and looked at the soldiers who were practicing guns and artillery not far away.

Xilika pursed his lips and said in a deep voice:

"Guns and artillery are powerful, but bows and arrows cannot be ignored."

"When the ammunition runs out and the guns are useless, we will use our traditional Ainu weapons to fight the enemy to the last moment!"

Yayikong gave a bitter laugh and murmured softly:

"Use a bow and arrow to make a final stand... I hope this scene will never happen."

Xilika did not respond, but showed a serious expression.

Just as the two of them were silent—

"Sirika, can I ask you a question?"

The sudden question stunned both Xilika and Yaikoon.

Xilika turned his head and looked at Ogata in surprise who suddenly interrupted him.

Although he was surprised, he did not ignore Ogata, but nodded very friendly:
"go ahead."

Ogata was not polite. He nodded his chin towards the red scabbard sword in Xilika's hand and asked directly:

"Why do you always carry a knife with you?"

Perhaps because this question has been asked many times, Xilika did not seem surprised and answered without hesitation:

"This is called a katana. I once learned the Japanese sword technique, so I use the katana as my sword."

Ogata raised his eyebrows:

"You actually learned the sword technique of Kazuto?"

Xilika nodded slightly:

"Not only do I use Japanese swords as weapons, I am also very good at Japanese language."

Ogata changed his tone to a half-joking one:
"To be honest, I thought you were the kind of person who hated Kazuto so much that you would rather die than have anything to do with him."

Xilika twitched the corners of his mouth - he seemed to be not very good at smiling. Every time he twitched the corners of his mouth, he couldn't tell whether he was really smiling or just pretending.

"Although I consider the Wa people to be my mortal enemy, I know better than anyone that the Wa people are much stronger than us Ainu people."

"They can forge swords that can cut through iron like mud, but we don't even know how to forge iron."

"They can build huge fortresses as big as hills, but we can only build thatched houses."

"How can we defeat our enemy if we don't even understand him?"

"If you want to defeat Kazuto, you have to study Kazuto and learn from him."

"So I learned how to speak to people, how to use a knife to fight people... There are still many things I want to learn."

Ogata lowered his eyelids and looked at Xilika thoughtfully... After a while, he asked quietly:
"I don't know how powerful Kazuto is. Since you dare to fight Kazuto, you must be sure of victory, right?"

Faced with this extremely sharp question, Xilika did not respond immediately.

Silence fell... At this moment, the birdsong in the distance seemed particularly clear and loud.

About 10 seconds later, he met Ogata's gaze and slowly said:

"...Of course we have the confidence to win."

"The people are in the midst of a massive civil war. They have split into two major factions, the East and the West, and are constantly fighting each other."

"In order to deal with the civil war that could break out at any time, they definitely cannot spare enough troops to attack us."

"There is no better time than now... We must seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and take back our ancestors' land in one fell swoop!"

"No matter how bad it is, we must defend this fortress! No one can ever set foot on this land again!"

Xilika said this and stomped his feet hard, stepping on the city wall beneath his feet.

"I have no other wishes in this life. If I can take back the land of my ancestors, I will die without regrets!"

At the end of his words, his tone became extremely excited, almost roaring.

After calming down a bit, he raised his eyes and looked at Ogata deeply.

"…Your name is 'Ilankili', right?"

"Yes."

"..."

"..."

The two looked at each other silently, their eyes met.

Xilika's eyes were sharp, but Ogata was not afraid at all.

Judging from Xilika's expression, he seemed to have a lot to say.

But in the end, he only uttered this sentence:

"…We will win. We, the Ainu, will definitely win."

After leaving these words, he said no more, turned around and left silently, leaving behind a lonely, gradually receding back.

After Xilika walked away, Yayikong turned his head and looked at Ogata helplessly, whispering:

"The stare you guys gave each other just now was so scary... I almost thought you were going to fight."

Ogata smiled and said nothing.

Yaikoon looked at Ogata, then looked in the direction where Xilika left:
"...Akonglu, what do you think of Xilika?"

After thinking for a moment, Ogata said calmly:
"He is a good man."

"It seems that he really wants to retake the old land of the Ainu people, rather than seeking personal gain."

"I don't care about the historical grievances between the people and the Ainu, so I don't have any ill feelings towards him."

"It's just that...should we say he is optimistic or stupid?"

"He understands the current situation very well. The people are indeed mired in the quagmire of civil war right now."

"If you want to 'take advantage of the situation', now is indeed a rare and golden opportunity."

"However, he misjudged the Shogunate... or rather, he misjudged Tachibana-kun's strength."

"He thought that Ju Jun had no time to care about the war in the north. Unfortunately, he didn't know that Ju Jun only needed to devote a little bit of his strength to defeat them."

"If he really wanted the Ainu to live a good life, he shouldn't have acted recklessly and started a war."

"He is simply gambling blindly - risking the lives of countless young people to participate in a losing game."

At this point, Ogata paused, then changed his tone to one that left no room for doubt, and added calmly:
"When Tachibana-kun leads the Shinsengumi to attack us, he will probably wake up."

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