I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 1155 Souji Awakens! Tomorrow is the day of the decisive battle!

In an instant, everyone's eyes were focused on Qing Deng.

Qingdeng hadn't finished speaking:

"It is clear that the combat power of the 'Northern Army' far exceeds our expectations."

"If we lose too many troops before we get back to Dajin, we may not be able to fight them."

"Therefore, while recovering the bird's feathers, we must minimize our own casualties."

Upon hearing this, Harada Sanosuke couldn't help but swallow hard.

He was straightforward and always said what he thought, so he spoke first:

"...Isn't this a bit too difficult?"

Through the battles of yesterday and today, everyone on the scene has a clear understanding of the fighting capabilities of the "Southern Army".

Without a doubt, the opponent was the most powerful adversary they had ever encountered!

Although they were able to fight the Shinsengumi to a standstill only with the support of the "Decisive Battle of Yodo" and their numerical superiority, their fighting spirit should not be underestimated.

Facing such a formidable enemy, defeating them is already difficult enough, let alone minimizing casualties while achieving victory.

No sooner had Harada Sanosuke finished speaking than Aoto smiled and replied in an unquestionable yet slightly teasing tone:

"Isn't this exactly what we do best?"

Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter, as if amused.

Hijikata Toshizo, Serizawa Kamo, and others even struck small poses such as "crossing their arms over their chests," "raising their chins," and "puffing out their chests."

Such an expression, such actions, seem to say: That's right! Exactly!
Despite the differences in age, personality, and political views among the people present, one thing was common to them—they were all proud of the achievements of the Shinsengumi and full of confidence in its strength!
……

……

Toba, South Palace of the City—

At this moment, the atmosphere of joy and happiness was filled with the spirit of the "Southern Army".

Looking up, one could see that Katsura Kogoro, Goto Shojiro, and the others were all beaming with joy.

Even the usually taciturn Saigo Kinosuke showed a rare relaxed expression, his facial wrinkles smoothing out.

Despite their defeat today, instead of wailing and lamenting, they were as happy as if their wife had just given birth…

This was because they had just received definite news of victory from their allies in the north (the Northern Expeditionary Army): the Aizu army had been routed! The capture of Ōtsu was imminent!
To call this victory a "shot in the arm" to the soldiers of the "Southern Army" seems too mild and inappropriate!
Today they poured all their strength into it, used every means at their disposal, and committed all their troops, yet they still failed to capture Fushimi, suffering heavy casualties... Fushimi's defensive strength far exceeded their offensive strength.

Defeat is not terrible; what is terrible is losing despite giving it your all and having absolutely no hope of victory!

They were initially worried about what to do in the upcoming battles... but now, that worry has vanished!
They could almost see this scene: the Shinsengumi's top brass, including Qing Deng, were jumping up and down in anxiety because of the rapidly deteriorating battle situation!
Katsura Kogoro took a deep breath, then said to Saigo Kichinosuke with a face full of emotion:
“Mr. Saigo, that ‘army’ did not disappoint us.”

Saigo Kinosuke nodded and softly echoed:
"Although I am very disappointed that I was unable to defeat Tachibana Aoto head-on, my little 'ambition' is insignificant compared to the overall situation."

Regarding "how to defeat Tachibana Aoto", Saigo Kichinosuke and others prepared two plans.

One of them was that the "Southern Army" marched eastward in an orderly manner, treating the "army" as if it did not exist, and fought as it should.

Although that "army" was renowned worldwide, Saigo Kinosuke and the others had never personally witnessed its might, so they dared not place 100% trust in it.

Therefore, Saigo Kichinosuke did not place all his hopes for victory on it. He spared no effort in attacking Toba and Fushimi, acting entirely on the premise that "that 'army' is unreliable."

Of course, there was also some personal motive on Saigo Kinosuke's part—he was eager to confront Aoto head-on.

Secondly, the "Northern Shogunate Army," with the assistance of that "army," outflanked the Shinsengumi!
As things stand, the former has no chance of success, but fortunately the latter has been successfully implemented.

The Aizu army collapsed quickly, and the route from northern Omi to Ōtsu was now unimpeded!
In at most 3 or 4 days, the Northern Army will be at the gates of Dajin!
The day Otsu Castle falls will be the day the Shinsengumi perishes!

Upon realizing this, many people at the scene became even more excited.

At that moment, someone not far from Saigo Kinosuke could no longer contain his excitement and shouted:
"The Shinsengumi is finally doomed!"

His remarks were merely a spontaneous expression of his feelings.

However… as soon as he finished speaking, Saigo Kinosuke’s face darkened as if he had heard some unforgivable fallacy.

Immediately afterwards, he turned his head and gave the other person an incredibly terrifying look.

"...While we are happy, we should not be too optimistic. The Shinsengumi is only temporarily in trouble, and is far from being helpless."

The other party suddenly shuddered.

Overwhelmed by Saigo Kinosuke's aura, he quickly lowered his head and stammered an apology:
"I'm so sorry, I was too excited... I said something inappropriate... Please forgive me..."

Saigo Kichinosuke ignored him, raised his chin, and surveyed the crowd with a serious expression.

"Don't let your joy go to your head! The battle is not over yet!"

He adopted an extremely confident tone and continued, enunciating each word clearly.

"Tomorrow, the Shinsengumi will surely attack us with a death-defying spirit!"

……

After a pause, Qingdeng continued speaking slowly and deliberately:
"The more difficult the predicament, the more it can inspire our fighting spirit."

"Turning adversity into advantage and turning the tide in desperate situations—that's how we've come this far."

"Given the speed of the 'Northern Army's' advance, our time is extremely tight."

"We must retrieve the bird's feathers within one day tomorrow."

"Only in this way will we have enough time to set up defenses for Otsu."

"Presumably, Saigo Kichinosuke on the other side has already received intelligence about the 'successful southward advance of the Northern Expeditionary Army'."

"He will surely anticipate that we will launch a 'all-out attack' tomorrow."

"For the Southern Army, whether or not they can capture Fushimi is no longer important."

"As long as they can hold us off until the 'Northern Army' captures Otsu, it will be their victory."

"Without a doubt, they will hold their ground against Bird Feather and will never let us have our way, and we will have no choice but to run headlong into this impenetrable wall."

……

After explaining the current situation, Saigo Kinosuke lowered his eyelids:

"Everything has returned to the state it was at the beginning of the war."

"However, the roles have been reversed."

“We became the ‘defenders’ and the new selection group became the ‘offenders’.”

……

Qingdeng chuckled softly a few times.

"However, this saves trouble. I was initially worried that the battle would last too long. But now, the situation is very clear."

……

Saigo Kinosuke sneered a few times.

"I never expected the day of the decisive battle to arrive so soon."

……

Aoto/Saigo Kichinosuke took a deep breath—

"Tomorrow is the day of our decisive battle against the 'Southern Army' and the 'Northern Army'!"

……

Fushimi, Fushimi Magistrate's Office—After the military council concluded, everyone solemnly withdrew one by one.

Before they left, Qingdeng specifically instructed them: "Rest early tonight so that you can conserve your energy for tomorrow's decisive battle."

Iinuma Sadakichi was also taken away and well taken care of.

In order to deliver the news of the "loss of the northern front" to Qingdeng as soon as possible, he rode his horse at full speed almost without stopping. He was extremely exhausted, and he had only managed to keep going until now thanks to his amazing willpower and the resentment of the "defeat in Aizu".

Just as Hijikata Toshizo lifted his buttocks to leave, Aoto suddenly called out to him:
"Sui San, stay here for a moment."

Hijikata Toshizo paused for a moment, exchanged a glance with Aoto, and then silently stood still.

After everyone else had gone far away, Qingdeng said directly to him:
"Sui San, what are your thoughts on that 'Western Legion' that serves the 'Northern Army'?"

Hijikata Toshizo narrowed his eyes, a strange light flashing in them.

After a long silence, he spoke softly:

"...I don't think they were mercenaries."

"Although the Aizu army's combat strength was far inferior to that of the Shinsengumi, they had at least received training from the French officer corps and possessed a considerable amount of firearms."

"A force capable of crushing the Aizu army with overwhelming force... this doesn't seem like the fighting power of a mercenary group."

"Considering that the Southern Dynasties had contact with Britain..."

At this point, Hijikata Toshizo paused, briefly gathering his strength, before unleashing the rest of his words in one breath:
"I suspect that 'Western Legion' is actually a regular British army!"

Qingdeng listened quietly.

After Hijikata Toshizo finished speaking, he narrowed his eyes, his gaze becoming deep.

“…Sui San, you and I are thinking the same thing. If that ‘Western Legion’ was a regular British army, then everything makes sense.”

Whenever people talk about 19th-century Britain, they always think of the unparalleled Royal Navy.

This mindset is so deeply ingrained that people often forget that modern Britain also has a formidable army!

No matter how powerful a warship is, it can only drift on the sea.

To occupy territory, we still have to send the army to charge into battle.

Without a powerful army, how could Britain have become the "empire on which the sun never sets," with its territory spanning seven continents and four oceans?
Given the British’s peculiar tendency to “stir things up”... they might actually have their regular army disguised as mercenaries to secretly assist the “Southern Dynasty”!
As Qing Deng just said, if that "Western Legion" was the regular British army, then both the "endless barrage of cannon fire" and the "unparalleled combat power" can be explained.

It is not shameful for the Aizu army to be defeated by the British army—I ask you, in the world today, which army can completely defeat the British army?

Although all of the above are Qing Deng's personal conjectures and there is no evidence yet, he felt that he should not be complacent.

If this conjecture is true... then we're in trouble!
The strength of the British army is self-evident.

The thought of facing the army of the "Empire on which the sun never sets" weighed heavily on Qing Deng's heart.

He was worried that this would affect morale, so he deliberately didn't tell everyone that "the British army might join the war."

After a moment of silence, Hijikata Toshizo let out a long sigh:

"...In short, let's try to gather intelligence first. We won't come up with anything by just thinking about it here."

Qingdeng nodded slightly:

"Yes, you're right. We'll investigate the truth in detail later. For now, let's focus our efforts on dealing with the 'Southern Army' in front of us!"

Hijikata Toshizo nodded vigorously, returning the look with eyes brimming with fighting spirit.

……

Osaka, the headquarters of the Gourd House, Souji's bedroom—

Atachi, wrapped in a quilt, curled up like a cat, sleeping beside Souji's bed... The huge room contained only the two of them.

She and Souji weren't close—to be precise, they'd barely exchanged a few words.

However, she inexplicably developed a strong liking for Souji.

Perhaps it was the chief's cheerful personality that suited her temperament.

During the time that Souji was suffering greatly from the "counterattack" of the "power of immortality," Atachi stayed by her side, wiping her sweat and changing her sweat-soaked clothes.

Ogata's advice was indeed effective.

After applying an ice pack to Souji's forehead, her expression did improve slightly.

Of course, this method can only play a supplementary role in the end.

Whether she can overcome this difficulty ultimately depends on herself.

Despite her advanced age, Atachi still retains two special skills she honed in her youth: "being able to fall asleep anytime, anywhere" and "having very short sleep durations."

Suddenly, she slowly opened her eyes, turned her head, and looked out the window.

"It's dawn..."

The sky outside the window was still dark.

However, white light had already begun to appear on the eastern horizon.

The chirping of birds coming out to forage filled the air.

Soon after, morning mist began to emerge, followed by the sunrise that dispelled it.

Atachi turned her gaze away from the window and looked at Souji beside her.

She was still fast asleep... but thankfully, her condition had improved considerably compared to yesterday; at least she no longer frowned and looked pained.

Atachi straightened up slightly and reached out to touch Souji's forehead—

"……what?"

She raised her eyebrows slightly and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"It's so cold..."

Before she fell asleep, the chief's forehead was still burning hot, like a red-hot iron.

Now, his body temperature has dropped significantly and is no longer hot to the touch... it is no different from a normal person's body temperature!

—Could this be a sign that she has successfully absorbed the 'power of immortality'?
Although her husband is the possessor of "immortality," Atachi has no idea about the ins and outs of it—because she is not interested at all.

Since you don't understand it yourself, go find someone who does!

While she was thinking, she had already pulled off the quilt covering her body and moved her lotus-like steps quickly and steadily, preparing to wake Ogata up.

Although he is definitely still sleeping now, due to the influence of the "power of immortality," he can go without sleep for several days and nights without any major problems.

Therefore, Atachi felt no remorse whatsoever for "forcibly waking Ogata".

Sometimes, due to itching or other reasons, she would often do similar things.

Just as Atachi was about to push open the door and step outside—

rustling...

She suddenly heard the sound of fabric rubbing behind her.

Atachi froze on the spot, then reflexively turned around and looked back—

The commander, who had just been lying flat in bed, opened his eyes and sat up.

She looked completely bewildered, with a few clumps of messy hair on her head, looking around blankly.

A moment later, she met the gaze of the stunned Atachi.

Before Atachi could speak, she asked softly:
"Is there any food...? I'm so hungry..."

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