The name of the great swordsman begins in Okehazama.

"Surround them first!" Okabe Motonobu adjusted his helmet and drew his long sword.

"It's a deal, right? One-man raid!"

Shinsuke assumed the starting stance of the "Dragonfly Eight Forms," ​​raising his sword high above his right shoulder, a posture that resembled the way people used to carry funeral banners in the village. Even he himself felt that this stance was full of openings.

"A one-man attack?" Okabe Motonobu sneered. "I show no respect to those who kill my lord! Kill!"

"You lack martial ethics!"

Before Shinsuke could finish speaking, two armored samurai rushed at him. He instinctively swung his sword to drive them away, but instead unleashed a powerful kasaya-zaki (a type of samurai attack).

He felt as if the force was coming from his toes, ankles, knees, and all the way up his upper body. With one slash, he sliced ​​off half of one of the warriors' heads.

There was no recoil from the knife; it felt like cutting tofu.

This is not only because of the miraculous force, but also because the sword strike was extremely steady.

The other samurai, who had probably never seen such a death in his life, took a step back in fright.

Maeda Toshiie forced two samurai back with a single spear thrust, then turned and saw the scene, urging, "Take his life! If not, I'll do it!"

He was truly desperate; his brothers on the periphery were his closest relatives and friends. He had been wandering for a year, and he couldn't bear to lose these brothers who had fought alongside him through hardship when he was poor.

These two blows today have completely shattered Shinsuke's confidence.

"I know you're in a hurry..."

With a single step, he reversed the direction of the blade and finished off another samurai.

The blood of the two warriors stained his armor, making him look like a demon returned from hell.

Dozens of foot soldiers surrounded him, but dared not approach. Shinsuke swung his sword, and blood flew like steel needles towards their faces. The men immediately dropped their spears, covered their eyes, and screamed incoherently.

Okabe Motonobu was historically considered a "valiant" general. After the fall of the Imagawa clan, he joined the Takeda clan but ultimately died fighting the tortoise (Tokugawa Ieyasu). Seeing Shinsuke's exceptional martial prowess, he immediately charged at him with his spear.

The two exchanged only one blow before his spear was cleaved in two. He hurriedly threw it away and then drew his longsword from his waist.

The two pieces of stick flew over, but Shinsuke deflected them with a single slash. Instead of retreating, Motonobu took the opportunity to close the distance between himself and Shinsuke by two steps.

Soza Samonji is a tachi, measuring 2 shaku 6 sun (approximately 78 cm) in length, while Motonobu's longsword is a tachi, about 2 shaku 2 sun (approximately 66 cm) in length. Motonobu anticipated Shinsuke's wide, sweeping movements and intended to use close combat to make it difficult for him to exert his full power. In this way, even if Shinsuke managed to strike him, he might not be able to penetrate his armor.

"Clang!"

The two swords clashed at the midpoint, and Motonobu lunged forward again, their elbows almost touching. He had intended to push Shinsuke away with an elbow, but realized he had underestimated his opponent's strength.

The foot soldiers were terrified, but Maeda Toshiie was not. Seeing the two locked in a stalemate, he swept away his own enemies with a single spear thrust and immediately lunged at Motonobu.

Yuanxin quickly retreated, but this retreat gave Xinzhu an opportunity.

With a single step, he cleaved through gold and shattered stone.

Yuan Xin's breastplate fell off in half, and his knees slammed to the ground with a thud.

Although Motonobu refused the duel first, Maeda Toshiie's help made Shinsuke feel that the duel was not enjoyable.

With a loud "clang".

It turned out that one of Yuan Xin's lieutenants was so frightened that he dropped his sword on the ground.

"Pick it up!" Shinsuke pointed the knife at him, like a demon. "I'll let you pick it up!"

As a result, that guy ran away without looking back, and it looked like he was crying.

When the Imagawa soldiers saw their commander killed and his deputy flee, they scattered like birds and beasts. Maeda Toshiie acted swiftly, quickly beheading several men, and not forgetting to carefully collect Sasa Masaji's head.

"Lord Mori, you are truly valiant! Why don't we take advantage of the chaos and seize Narumi Castle!"

Shinsuke wiped the blood off his knife with a strip of cloth, looked at Maeda Toshiie who was packing up, and asked with a smile, "Lord Maeda, do you believe that I can charge into Narumi Castle right now and kill three thousand men all by myself?"

Maeda Toshiie didn't seem to understand, his eyes constantly shifting between the "package" and Shinsuke's face.

"I might not be able to beat three thousand. How about this, we each take fifteen thousand?"

"Sir, please don't joke around!"

"You know I was joking!"

Completely unconcerned about the bloodstains on his hands, Li Jia scratched his head and asked awkwardly, "Where to next?"

"Go back to Cheongju City to claim your credit. You'll get a share of the credit, and that spear you stabbed won't be for nothing. Those two samurai's heads are yours."

"Lord Mori, thank you so much!"

Xin Zhu waved goodbye, mounted his horse, and swayed leisurely towards Qingzhou City. Only halfway there did he remember to check the system's new rewards.

...[Shrinking Ground] provides explosive power when moving...

The name sounds familiar, but the effect probably isn't as outrageous as in the Rurouni Kenshin anime.

It was already dusk in Cheongju City.

Nobunaga had already displayed Imagawa Yoshimoto's head in the castle, and Yoshimoto's body had been brought back. After clearing out the strongholds within their territories, the generals returned to the castle one after another.

As is customary, an evaluation meeting is held after the war to determine the merits of the generals.

The generals had already gathered at the Honmaru Palace under the summons of the chief retainer, Hayashi Hidesada, but Nobunaga was nowhere to be seen.

This wasn't because Nobunaga had lost his mind again, but because Shinsuke hadn't returned yet. Killing Yoshimoto was absolutely a crucial part of this assessment, and Nobunaga, as the lord, couldn't bring himself to wait for a retainer.

Inside Nobunaga's residence.

The monkey is diligently massaging Nobunaga.

"Monkey, has that bastard Mori come back yet?"

"I have already given instructions to the commander guarding the city gate..."

"Iwamuro, go to the city gate yourself and ask. If we delay any longer, we'll lose all our will to win!"

Shigenobu Iwamuro immediately put on his shoes and ran out.

"By the way, where's Inuchiyo?"

"They haven't come back yet!"

"He didn't die in battle, did he? Even with divine intervention, he could still die?" Nobunaga suddenly remembered something, but he didn't say it aloud.

Surely those two damned stubborn bastards didn't get into some kind of mess together!

A moment later, Chongxin ran back. "My lord, they've arrived! But they wish to clean themselves up before paying their respects!"

"Them? Who else?"

"Maeda... Toshiie!"

Nobunaga kicked the monkey away, laughing and scolding, "Nonsense! It's not like it's a woman! Tell them to go straight to the castle tower!"

……

At the evaluation meeting, everyone still bore the lingering scent of blood, except for Shinsuke, who was an exception. When he first entered, he consciously sat down in a spot by the corridor, but Fujikichiro pulled him into the back room, leaving two buttock prints on the corridor floor.

It was red mixed with mud... like something you'd just pooped when you had hemorrhoids.

Maeda Toshiie had not yet been reinstated as a retainer and could only wait outside the palace for an audience, thus avoiding the humiliating part.

Lin Xiuzhen, the chief steward, saw her new assistant "in such a bad state" yet still coming to claim credit, and a rare look of pity appeared in her eyes.

A short while later, Nobunaga also entered, and he nodded to Hayashi Hideyoshi, who was sitting in the main seat.

"Enough with the grand pronouncements, let's begin!"

Lin Xiuzhen immediately cleared her throat. "The main purpose of this evaluation is to determine the merits of the generals. So, let's begin the first inspection now."

The so-called first inspection is to verify the head. For retainers, the head will be verified on the spot, while for ordinary soldiers, the head will be verified by a designated person after being reported by the retainer.

As soon as Shinsuke settled down, he saw the senior retainers retreating one after another, and he could only move back as well, leaving a lot of bloodstains on the wooden floor, which made Nobunaga frown.

Before long, many wooden boxes and sacks were brought in, and one exquisite wooden box was placed in front of Shinsuke by Fujikichiro himself.

Lin Xiuzhen glanced at Xinzhu, her eyes filled with even more pity.

"The greatest credit for this battle belongs to Liang Tianzheng..."

Shinsuke was dumbfounded. Killing the commander-in-chief wasn't the primary achievement?