I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 951: The Sword Master's "Unfinished Business"

Everyone's eyes were focused on Shuten-doji, waiting quietly for his specific instructions.

After thinking for a while, Shuten-doji said in a deep voice:
"…Our military strength is already stretched to a very limited extent, and we cannot make any more sacrifices."

At this point, he turned his head and shouted to Sukuna:

"Bring up all the 'fireworks'!"

……

……

Akasaka Gate, Toyamon Gate——

"The enemy is clearly losing! Drive them out!"

After roaring, Tokugawa Iemochi shouted loudly, and regardless of the dissuasion of those around him, he raised the sword in his hand, stepped forward and joined the battle.

The Russian soldiers could not understand Japanese and did not know what the "Shogun" meant.

The members of the Raiders were not so ignorant.

They have seen through Tokugawa Iemochi's true identity through his appearance and the series of words he shouted.

"Kill him! He is Tokugawa Iemochi! As long as we kill him, we will win this battle."

"Don't worry about the others! Prioritize dealing with Tokugawa Iemochi!"

"Kill! The fall of the Qing Dynasty begins today!"

A large number of enemy soldiers rushed towards Tokugawa Iemochi from all directions.

Faced with this sudden crisis, Tokugawa Iemochi was not panicked at all.

While holding up his knife, he calmly scanned the battle situation.

"Damn you traitor! God's punishment!"

An enemy soldier roared and rushed towards Tokugawa Iemochi.

The knife raised above his head chopped hard at his head.

Judging from the perspective of swordsmanship, his sword strike was very good, with sufficient power, straight blade lines, and accurate control of the spacing.

However, he misjudged one thing: Tokugawa Iemochi was never a spoiled person!
Although he was the Shogun, he always maintained the habit of exercising and practicing swordsmanship.

Due to his limited talent, he is not a martial arts master with extraordinary skills, but he is definitely not a weak scholar who can't even tie a chicken!

He stared at the enemy's sword path, suddenly raised the sword in his hand, and held it diagonally above his head.

With a clang sound, two steel knives collided in the air.

Immediately afterwards, the enemy's sword slid to the side along the blade of the sword like a slide.

This move is the most classic way of dissipating force in swordsmanship.

After resolving the enemy's offensive, Tokugawa Iemochi immediately launched a counterattack.

His technique of switching from defense to offense is quite adept.

In just a blink of an eye, he adjusted the knife in his hand to the upper right section, and then chopped it down cleanly!

Phew!

The blade of the sword cut through the enemy's entire body, and blood spurted out.

After shaking a few times, the enemy's body fell to the ground with a "thump".

The general not only joined the battle in person, but also chopped down an enemy soldier with his own hands... cheers that boosted morale rang out again around him.

Although Tokugawa Iemochi's bravery impressed the soldiers, he was still the supreme commander of the shogunate army.

If anything happened to him, it would cause an irreparable and serious blow to the shogunate.

It is too dangerous to be exposed to the enemy's blade for a long time.

So, a group of soldiers cheered up and planned to go forward to protect Tokugawa Iemochi.

But... they all stopped after taking just a few steps.

It’s not that they didn’t want to support Tokugawa Iemochi, but they realized belatedly that the other side didn’t need their protection at all - because he had a very reliable bodyguard beside him!

"Watch out! This guy is the 'Sword Saint' Otani Seiichiro!"

"Don't back down! Even if he is the 'Sword Saint', he is already an old man!"

"What's there to be afraid of, an old 'Sword Master'?"

Several enemy soldiers formed a rough fan shape and surrounded Tokugawa Iemochi.

However, they were very afraid of the old man who was guarding Tokugawa Iemochi, and they hesitated and never crossed the short distance of a few steps.

Even though they encouraged and cheered each other on, they still didn't dare to step forward and confront the blade of the "Sword Saint"!
Throughout history, the only swordsmen who have held the title of "Sword Saint" are Kamiizumi Nobunaga and Tsukahara Bokuden in the Warring States Period, Ogata Ittosai 70 years ago, and Otani Seiichirō today.

Faced with such a rare and powerful person, they couldn't help but be nervous and cautious.

Seeing that the enemy soldiers did not dare to move forward, Seiichiro Otani was too lazy to continue to waste time with them!
In a flash, he stepped forward and chopped the first man's chest like a flying swallow. Then he adjusted the blade and slashed it upwards, knocking the second man to the ground. Then he turned the movement of retracting the blade into an attacking move, and cut open the stomachs of the third and fourth men in one breath.

Finally, he misstepped and retreated to the side of Tokugawa Iemochi.

His sword was so fast that the enemy soldiers couldn't even react, let alone block or dodge. Some of them didn't even realize they had been chopped.

Elodie didn't know Seiichirō Otani and Kiyon Kubota, she had only heard of their names.

A big part of the reason why Seiichiro Otani is honored as the "Sword Saint" is because of his outstanding contributions to Japanese swordsmanship.

His greatest contribution was standardizing the length of bamboo swords.

Before that, because of the low average height, swordsmen generally could not wield long swords, so for a long time, the 73cm bamboo sword was the mainstream of Japanese swordsmanship.

It was not until the sudden emergence of the "Seven-foot Unparalleled" Oishi Jin that this "mainstream" was shaken.

Oishi Shin, who was seven feet (2 meters) tall and held a five-foot-three-inch long sword (1 meters) in his hand, was invincible throughout Edo, and countless strong men were defeated by his sword.

Influenced by this, long swords became popular in the fencing world for a time, and the concept of "the longer the sword, the better" became an indisputable truth.

The swordsmen rushed to pick up their long swords, fearing that their swords would be half an inch shorter than others, without caring whether they could use such long swords.

Seiichirō Otani could not stand this kind of atmosphere, so he used a short sword (73cm) that had been abandoned at that time and knocked Oishi Shin to the ground despite the height difference of several dozen centimeters.

After defeating Oishi Susumu, Seiichiro Otani used this record and his own prestige to carry out a major reform of Japanese swordsmanship, unifying the length of bamboo swords to the current 4 shaku (1 meters), completely ending the fallacy that "the longer the sword, the better."

From then on, the bamboo swords of all martial arts schools were of the same length, and there was no more blind pursuit of long swords.

Seiichirō Otani's feat of standardizing the length of bamboo swords can be said to have laid the foundation for current Japanese swordsmanship.

If there had not been such a prestigious master to integrate everyone's ideas, I am afraid that everyone would still be arguing about the optimal length of the bamboo sword until today.

Of course, the main reason why he was awarded the title of “Sword Saint” is his unparalleled strength!

There are so many anecdotes about how Seiichirō Otani overcame his enemies that it would take a whole day and night to tell them all.

All in all, before he grew old and weak, Seiichiro Otani was always synonymous with "invincible"!
With him guarding Tokugawa Iemochi, no matter how the enemy soldiers advanced or how desperately they attacked, they could not get close to Tokugawa Iemochi.

Judging from the overall effect, Tokugawa Iemochi's brave charge played a role that cannot be underestimated.

The head of the Shogun... if they cut it off, they will win the battle - this huge temptation made it impossible for the soldiers of the Special Forces to maintain their rationality.

They rushed to Tokugawa Iemochi, regardless of anything else.

Leaving their positions without permission... thus causing their formation to become messy and shaky!
Elodi seized the opportunity and shouted "Follow me", squeezing out the remaining strength in his body, intensifying the offensive, trying to drive the enemy out of the imperial gate in one go!
To make a vivid analogy... the enemy is like someone who swung his fist to defeat Tokugawa Iemochi. His fist was raised, but his vulnerable ribs were exposed - Elodie took the opportunity to deliver a heavy punch, hitting his exposed ribs!

Her attack had an immediate effect.

With high morale that seemed to be helped by God, the soldiers swarmed forward and fought fiercely without fear of death.

The enemy was defeated and suffered heavy casualties.

Those who were still alive quickly retreated back to the ground along the same route they had come - the long ladders.

The enemy troops at Dulu Gate retreated like a tide.

The defenders took advantage of the situation and attacked, chopping down those who didn't have time to escape, and then cut and knocked down the long ladders.

At this point, there were no more enemy soldiers at the Dulu Gate.

"The enemy retreated! We won!"

"We've secured the Akasaka Gate!"

"Woooooooooooooo..."

Faced with this victory that was achieved with great difficulty, many people cried with joy.

Elodie was breathing heavily, racing against time to adjust her physical and mental state, while looking around blankly.

Just now, she felt desperate because she had no other options.

Unexpectedly, after just over ten minutes, the situation on the battlefield took a dramatic turn!

The Shogun and the Omidaisho led the army in person; the arrival of the "Sword Saint"... these unexpected reinforcements helped them overcome the most difficult difficulties.

At this moment, Elodie deeply realized what "the battlefield is ever-changing" meant.

The enemy soldiers retreated... Normally, this was a good thing.

Even if it is just a temporary retreat, it can buy them a moment of respite and allow them to adjust their state.

But... facing this scene, Elodie did not feel happy or relaxed.

Including the previous battle of Hachioji, she has fought two battles with the Faqi coalition.

Elodi had a very clear understanding of how difficult this group of powerful enemies was.

His mind was so cunning and his methods so rich that every joy she felt now was mixed with an ominous premonition.

Somehow, at this moment, she suddenly recalled the scenes when Goryeo Gate was about to fall.

The enemy also retreated...

The enemy also stopped attacking...

It was as if the heavens were teasing her. At the moment when her heart began to beat an uneasy rhythm—

Rolling and rolling...!
Suddenly, there was a rapid sound of wheels turning from far away outside the imperial gate!
In an instant, Elodie's pupils suddenly shrank into pinholes.

She quickly ran to the edge of the imperial gate and looked out - there were 12 large carts rushing towards them!
All the scenes were the same as before.

Each cart was loaded with wooden barrels... perhaps they were too lazy to hide it - in fact, there was no need to hide it anymore, as Elodie and the others knew what these barrels were - so these carts were no longer covered with straw mats.

Looking at this convoy which was even larger than the previous one, Elodie suddenly felt a chill spreading from the bottom of his heart to every part of his body, and then went straight to the top of his head!
The next moment, as if by reflex, she yelled at the top of her lungs:
"Quick! Stop them! Those are bombs! We can't let these bombs get close to the Imperial Gate!"

After hearing the word "bomb", the faces of Tokugawa Iemochi, Tenshoin, Otani Seiichiro and others changed immediately.

They immediately realized that these wooden barrels were the culprit that caused the Koryo Gate of Akasaka Palace to become a pile of ruins.

The enemy still has so many bombs... From this perspective, they really spent a lot of money and worked hard to capture Edo.

Kondo Shusuke cursed:

"Damn! How many bombs do they have?!"

Unlike before, this time, Elodi and his men had two archers.

In a blink of an eye, Tenshoin and Kubota Kiyone stepped forward at the same time without saying a word, drew their bows and arrows, and sniped at the enemy soldiers who were pushing the vehicles violently.

Their archery skills are indeed superb.

Even though the distance was quite long, and even though the enemy soldiers had most of their bodies hidden behind the vehicles, we could still hit the target with every shot!
Arrows were shot into the air.

One enemy soldier fell to the ground dead.

However...the number of enemy soldiers is too large!
Each cart is pushed by at least 4 enemy soldiers.

Even if Tenshoin and Kubota Kiyon pulled sparks from the bowstrings in their hands, it would be a drop in the bucket.

Although other soldiers picked up muskets and bows and arrows and came forward to support, their archery (gunmanship) skills were far inferior to those of Tenshoin and Kubota Kiyone. They were unable to accurately hit the enemy soldiers, and in the end they only served as an "atmosphere group."

At this time, a new unexpected situation occurred.

Tianzhangyuan fired new arrows and shot down another enemy soldier.

As the enemy soldier fell forward, he accidentally hit the vehicle in front of him. The vehicle shook a few times and several barrels on the vehicle rolled off.

After these wooden barrels fell to the ground, they immediately bounced several inches high, making crisp "dong" and "dong" sounds.

Anyone with a little common sense knows that a wooden barrel filled with things will not bounce so high or make such a crisp sound.

Tian Zhangyuan immediately understood what was going on, and his expression became particularly ugly:
“Some of the carts weren’t loaded with bombs!”

As soon as these words were spoken, an atmosphere of astonishment and annoyance suddenly rose at the scene.

The enemy's tricks are clearly revealed.

They deliberately brought a bunch of carts without bombs to confuse Elodie and others and increase the difficulty of defense!
Good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes singly... Suddenly, a certain soldier screamed:
"A new vehicle has appeared!"

At the end of the street directly opposite the Imperial Gate, 12 more large carts arrived!

Elodie never believed that the enemy had so many bombs.

The vast majority of these cars must have been loaded with empty barrels.

Only a few of them actually contained bombs.

They were already severely understaffed.

In this unfavorable situation, you have to be distracted to distinguish which vehicles are safe and which vehicles are dangerous...

At this time, although no one said it explicitly, the same thought emerged in their hearts: Dulu Gate is in danger!

At this critical moment, Tokugawa Iemochi suddenly spoke out:
"Retreat! Abandon the ferry gate!"

Hearing this, everyone turned their heads and cast surprised looks at each other.

Tokugawa Iemochi recited Takeda Shingen's famous words quickly without pausing:

"'People are the city, people are the wall, people are the moat'!"

“As long as there is life, there is hope!”

"Abandon the Imperial Gate! Retreat immediately!"

Give up Toyagumo Gate... This gate is the last gate of Akasaka Gate.

This move is equivalent to completely giving up on Akasaka Gomon!

This will create a huge hole that is difficult to fill in the defense line of "Sanjushiroku Mitsufu"!
However, since the Shogun gave the order personally, no one dared to disobey.

The soldiers retreated hastily, running down the imperial gate quickly and orderly and moving to a safe area.

Tokugawa Iemochi did not leave with the soldiers, but stayed behind to cover the rear.

He insisted that others go first, and he was willing to leave only after all the soldiers had withdrawn.

Also staying behind the Imperial Gate were leaders such as Elodie, Kondo Shusuke, and Otani Seiichirō.

Tenshoin and Kubota Kiyon stood still and continued to shoot at the enemy soldiers pushing the carts, trying to slow down the convoy's advance.

At this moment, the sense of time of both the enemy and us became strange.

Only a dozen minutes had passed, but it felt like a dozen hours.

Finally... under the gazes of countless people, the carts arrived right below the ferry gate.

At the same time, all the guards on the imperial gate had withdrawn.

The only people who have not left are Tokugawa Iemochi, Elodie and others!

"Your Highness! Go!"

Seiichirō Otani shouted and then escorted Tokugawa Iemochi to the rear.

As they began to evacuate, Tokugawa Iemochi turned and shouted to Tenshoin:

"Mother! Follow me now!"

Seeing that the evacuation work was entering its final stage, Tenshoin and Kubota Kiyon finally put away their bows and left their shooting positions.

Elodie and Kondo Shusuke followed closely behind.

Just as they were retreating in a hurry... outside the imperial gate, Shuten-doji once again raised the Japanese bow in his hand.

The rockets mounted on the bow were burning brightly.

He quickly adjusted the position of the arrow, aimed at the barrels of gunpowder, and pulled the bow like a full moon.

Then he whispered another slogan that the Japanese often shouted when setting off fireworks:
"Ka~gi~ya~"

The next moment, the power accumulated in his arms suddenly bounced away.

Whoosh!
The rocket shot out and hit a powder keg.

In an instant... at the moment when the burning arrow sank deeply into the barrel -

Boom! ! !

A mushroom-shaped cloud of fire rose into the sky!

This explosion is even more powerful than before!
The surging flames swept across most of the ferry gate in a blink of an eye!
At the moment the explosion occurred, Elodi and his group had just left the Imperial Gate.

Although he walked down the Imperial Gate, he was not completely out of the explosion range.

In fact, they only needed to take a few more steps to reach safety.

If Tokugawa Iemochi had ordered the retreat a little earlier...

If the convoy had approached more slowly...

If Shuten-doji had shot the arrow a little slower...

Sadly, none of these “what ifs” happened.

No one knows what the right decision is.

The only thing people can do is to do their best and then accept the results calmly.

In an instant, a strong impact force accompanied by thick smoke and dust rolled towards Elodie and others.

Also blown away were countless broken bricks and tiles.

"Lie down!"

In a hurry, Elodie heard the shout of Seiichirō Otani.

Without thinking too much, she dived forward and fell to the ground.

The shock wave from behind was like a passing hurricane, almost blowing her away.

She held her head with both hands to protect it, and gritted her teeth to endure the pain that almost tore her eardrums.

……

……

“…Ugh…! Ahem!”

She coughed hard to get rid of the dust and smoke she accidentally inhaled.

Similar scenes, similar feelings, similar pain... everything is so similar.

Elodie almost thought she had experienced the legendary time travel and returned to a few dozen minutes ago.

Elodie shook her head vigorously, as if trying to get rid of the pain and dizziness in her mind.

Rustle...the countless dust sprinkled on his head fluttered down.

After regaining consciousness a little, she began to check her entire body - fortunately, all the parts were still there, not a single one was missing.

Unfortunately, the "buzzing" that had finally slowed down regained control of his eardrums.

This time it was even more serious. Not only did a honeycomb grow deep in the ear, but it also caused repeated needle-like pricking pains.

After touching her two ears and finding that there was no bleeding, she was shocked: It hurt so much, but there was no bleeding?

Just as she was about to stand up with her hands on the ground, she suddenly heard a voice beside her that made her feel uneasy:
“Cough, cough, cough, cough…!”

A cough mixed with the sound of water... Elodie's face changed color, and she turned her head hurriedly to look at Kondo Shusuke beside her.

"Mr. Kondo, what's wrong with you?"

Kondo Shusuke was seen lying on the ground with a look of pain on his face, his clothes on the back were stained with blood, and the scope of the bloodstain was expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Kondo Shusuke grinned, trying to look calm and composed:
"Just now... I was a little slow in lying down... and a brick hit my back exactly..."

"It seems that my luck is not good this time..."

"What a pity... If I were 10 years younger, I would definitely be able to avoid this stone..."

Elodie's expression changed several times when she heard this.

She doesn't understand medicine.

However, she understood that vomiting a large amount of blood meant that she had suffered serious internal injuries!
Just as his mind was stunned by the intense panic, an old male voice came from not far away and continued Kondo Shusuke's words:
"Hehehe... I agree... If I were 10 years younger, I would never have ended up like this..."

Elodie looked in the direction of the voice, and her already pale face suddenly became even uglier.

The speaker is Kubota Kiyon.

He was also injured, and his injuries were much more serious than Kondo Shusuke's!

His right leg was covered in blood and a fist-sized stone lay beside it.

It is not difficult to imagine that he must have been hit on the thigh by a flying brick just like Kondo Shusuke because he lay down a little too slowly!
"Are you all okay?"

Tianzhangyuan's voice brought Elodie's mind back to reality.

Elodie turned her head to look at Tianzhangyuan - she was not injured, but her body was covered in dust, the ribbon that tied her hair had fallen off, and her three thousand strands of black hair were scattered down.

"General! Are you okay?"

The sound of Seiichirō Otani's words made everyone nervous.

They all turned their heads to check Tokugawa Iemochi's current situation.

At this moment, Seiichirō Otani supported him and wiped the blood off his forehead with a solemn expression.

Tokugawa Iemochi opened his eyes with all his strength, touched his forehead, and said softly:
"I'm fine... I just... got scratched by a rock... I feel a little dizzy..."

After confirming that Tokugawa Iemochi was still alive, Tenshoin and others breathed a sigh of relief.

However, he is now in a "half-awake" state.

Although he was not unconscious, his consciousness was blurred and he could not even utter a complete sentence.

Although they were so close to the center of the explosion, no one died. Only Tokugawa Iemochi, Kubota Kiyone and Kondo Shusuke were injured... This result was considered very lucky.

"General, please hold on a little while, the enemy is coming soon."

After saying that, Seiichirō Otani put one of Tokugawa Iemochi's arms on his shoulders and helped him up.

He had just finished saying "The enemy is coming soon" when he heard the sound of dense footsteps.

Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!
The dull and dense footsteps were approaching them.

Seiichirō Otani looked in the direction of the sound—and saw a large group of enemy troops coming into his sight.

There were a lot of enemies, at least three hundred of them... They must have wanted to finish the job in one battle, so they sent all the troops they could.

Among the vast number of enemies, Seiichiro Otani keenly spotted a conspicuous guy.

This man was wearing a large armor from the Heian period. He had the elegant temperament of a scholar and the handsome features of a Kabuki actor.

Although it was just a personal intuition, Seiichiro Otani was very sure: this person was the enemy's general!
His eyes were fixed on Shuten-doji. He slowly lowered his eyelids, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.

"...Your Highness Tianzhangyuan, please take the general to the rear."

As he spoke, he handed Tokugawa Iemochi on his shoulder to Tenshoin without further ado.

"I still have things to accomplish."

Clank, clang, clang... As soon as he finished speaking, the knife appeared!
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“Things left unfinished” – that’s such a cool line.