I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 639 Mr. Orange, let's go! Let's go pull it together! [4400]

Pat, pat, pat, pat, pat...

The rapid hoofbeats, like a torrential downpour, came straight towards Qingdeng.

A knight from Aizu galloped at full speed, and in the blink of an eye, he had already closed in on Aoto.

His shouts unsurprisingly caused a commotion in the surrounding area.

"Hey! What happened?"

"It looks like the enemy army is attacking!"

"What?! The rebel army has attacked?! Weren't they supposed to be coming back?"

Who knows!

"Oh no! Run! Quick, get a knife! A battle is about to break out!"

……

In an instant, the commotion and commotion spread rapidly.

Coincidentally, apart from Aoto and Kondo Isami, there were no other executives in this area.

The commander and his team were digging in another direction.

At first, the soldiers in the trenches just looked at each other, all of them at a loss.

Immediately afterwards, someone, whoever started it, suddenly threw down the tools in their hands, jumped out of the trench, and tried to return to the camp to retrieve their equipment.

Then comes the classic "group influence".

More and more people are following suit.

Clang, clang... The hoes and shovels that were thrown down covered most of the trench.

The once orderly construction site suddenly became chaotic.

Seeing this, Qing Deng raised his eyebrows sharply, then raised his head and shouted:

"quiet!"

The loud sound spread in all directions, covering the entire venue.

After being enhanced by "Piercing Clouds and Splitting Stones +3", Qingdeng's voice sounded like it was being amplified.

At that moment, the authority of "Nioh" acted as a stabilizing force.

As if a "time freeze" spell had been cast, the noisy and chaotic scene instantly fell silent.

After stabilizing the situation, Aoto turned his head to look at Kondo Isami beside him.

"Kondo-kun, go to the main camp immediately and inform Hijikata of the situation here. Tell him to notify all the captains of the Battōshi squad and have them lead their respective squads to prepare for battle and be ready to fight at any time!"

Kondo Isami nodded vigorously.

"Okay! I'll go right now!"

Before he finished speaking, his figure had already disappeared into the distance, quickly vanishing from Qingdeng's sight.

At the very moment Kondo Isami took off running, Aoto turned to his followers and gave the order:

"Bring me the ox! Take me to where we found the enemy!"

……

……

"Moo~~!"

Luo Bo, who had just returned to the cowshed, was brought out to work again without complaint. He carried Qing Deng at breakneck speed, closely following the Aizu knight who had just come to deliver the news.

Although there's a risk of biting your tongue when talking while riding a bull (or horse) at full gallop, there's no time to worry about that right now.

Aoto asked the Aizu knight who was leading the way:

How many enemy troops are attacking? Is it a large enemy force?

To fend off the oncoming gale, the Aizu Knight opened his mouth wide and answered at the loudest volume he could muster:

"A large scout team is approaching! Nearly thirty in total! They have run into the small team personally led by Lord Sagawa! The two sides have already engaged in combat!"

Upon hearing this, Qing Deng's face turned solemn.

Throughout the journey, he held his breath and focused his ears—activating both "Wind Sensing +1" and "Focus"—to capture every movement and stillness in the wind.

However, no matter how hard he concentrated, he couldn't hear a single noteworthy sound.

It was very quiet... with only intermittent chirping of insects and birds, but no neighing of horses or shouts of battle that should have been heard during a cavalry clash.

A moment later, a familiar figure came into view.

"Sagawa-kun!"

Sagawa Kanbei and several other Aizu knights were squatting on the ground along a narrow path, forming a circle, seemingly examining something.

"Hmm? Lord Tachibana, what brings you here?"

Sagawa Kanbei stood up, looking surprised.

"Enemy troops are attacking—such a momentous event has occurred, how can I not personally go to the scene to investigate?"

"Enemy attack? Well, if you insist on calling it an 'enemy attack'... that's not wrong, but in the end it's just a wave of scouts."

Qing Deng dismounted and quickly walked to Sagawa Kanbei's side.

"Huh? What's this?"

Aoto looked at Sagawa Kanbei's feet—a short, unremarkable young man lay sprawled on the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices, his head twisted behind him like a limp noodle, his body completely lifeless.

"This guy is the bandit I just shot down."

"After suddenly encountering a scout squad of the bandits, I immediately led my team to attack. After killing two of them, they scattered like birds and beasts."

"While chasing them, I shot down this guy's horse with an arrow."

Sagawa Kanbei gestured with his lip toward the corpse at his feet.

"This guy fell off the horse, broke his neck, twitched a few times, and then died."

"I wanted to continue the pursuit, but considering that it was already late at night and pitch black all around, it was not advisable to pursue too far, so I stopped after shooting this guy."

Aoto listened quietly to Sagawa Kanbei's report.

"They sent out more than thirty scouts at once... The bandits have quite a few horses..."

Having a large number of horses means having abundant transportation capacity and sufficient scouts.

Sagawa Kanbei shrugged and replied dismissively:

"That's normal, isn't it? The capital region is a rich land. This bandit army has been burning, killing, and looting everywhere since they started their rebellion. They must have stolen quite a few good horses."

The Kyoto region was one of the first areas in Japan to be developed.

After more than a thousand years of development, the capital region has become extremely polarized.

Some villages are so poor it's shocking.

Some villages are so wealthy that even ordinary villagers own horses for transportation.

"..."

Qingdeng silently squatted down and carefully examined the scouts' and horses' corpses, which were beginning to cool.

The horse is the kind commonly seen in rural areas, used specifically for hard labor as a pack animal; it is quite robust in size.

The advantages of this type of horse are its docility and ease of care, but its disadvantages are its small size and lack of explosive power, making it unsuitable for use as a warhorse.

However, having a horse to travel on is always better than trying to get around on foot.

Unless in certain special terrains, horses are essential equipment for scouts.

Without horses, it would be impossible to quickly and flexibly collect and deliver intelligence.

Using infantry to gather intelligence... regardless of efficiency, the sheer exhaustion of the scouts would be enough to kill them.

Qingdeng murmured:

"The rebels actually know to send scouts to gather intelligence... "

Sagawa Kanbei shrugged again and chuckled:

"There's nothing wrong with that, is there? Anyone who has listened to a few stories of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms on the street knows the principle that 'in the art of war, scouts come first. Cavalry is used in flat terrain, and infantry is used in dangerous terrain.'"

"Although the bandits had many horses, from my observation, these bandits generally did not know how to ride horses."

"Their horsemanship is only at the level of 'getting the horse to run'."

"Moreover, their use of scouts was incredibly stupid."

“To form a team of more than thirty people…that’s utterly stupid!”

The "Hundred Strategies for Warfare - Scouting" states: "Each group of five men forms a squad, each carrying a white flag. When the enemy is far away, the troops move forward, backward, left, and right in succession to observe. If enemy troops are spotted, they move closer in turn and inform the commander-in-chief, ordering the troops to prepare in advance. The principle is: 'He who anticipates the unexpected will win.'"

"The size of the scout squads sent to scout out enemy positions should be as small as possible."

"The rebel army organized more than thirty scouts into a team and moved in large groups. Wouldn't that make them extremely easy to expose?"

"Hmph! If it weren't for the darkness, I'm confident I could wipe out this bunch of idiots!"

Having said that, he arrogantly raised the bow in his hand, his cheeks filled with an intense, undisguised disdain and mockery.

"On the other hand... since scouts have come here, it means that the main force of the enemy army is not far away. Lord Tachibana, we must build the city as soon as possible and complete the preparations to meet the enemy!"

"..." Qing Deng ignored Sagawa Kanbei's boasting and silently pursed his lips, pretending to be deep in thought.

……

……

Ueno Basin, Shinsengumi camp, supply depot—

Qingdeng returned to the camp along the original route, lifted the order for combat readiness, and ordered the soldiers to continue working on the project. He then continued to inspect various parts of the camp.

Aoto arrived at the supply depot managed by Yamanami Keisuke.

He had barely arrived when he saw Yamanami Keisuke carrying a brightly lit candle, rushing towards him in a few quick steps.