I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The young man scratched his head and pursed his lips.

"Calling him a remnant of the Ōshio Party... isn't entirely wrong. After all, he participated in the 'Ōshio Heihachirō Uprising' 26 years ago,"

Qingdeng raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? This old monk was once a member of the rebel army?"

"Sir, are you familiar with the 'Ōshio Heihachirō Rebellion'?"

Qingdeng nodded slightly.

"Yes, I have some knowledge of it."

"That's settled then! Since you know about the 'Ōshio Heihachirō Rebellion,' I'll save myself the trouble of explaining!"

As he spoke, the young man cleared his throat forcefully, then adopted a storyteller's melodious tone and began to recount the story vividly:

"On February 29, 26 years ago, in the eighth year of the Tenpo era (1837), Ōshio Heihachirō and his apprentices launched an uprising."

"In addition to 20 leaders such as Ōshio Heihachirō, about 300 farmers from nearby rural areas participated in the uprising."

"They marched under the banner of 'saving the people,' storming the residences, rice shops, and cloth shops of wealthy merchants, and distributing the looted money to the poor."

"It's said that they robbed 40,000 taels of gold from Konoikeya Shohei's house alone! 40,000 taels!"

"Upon hearing the news, the shogunate army rushed to the scene and engaged in an artillery battle with the rebel army in Uchino-cho."

"Although the rebel army was very powerful, the peasants were no match for them. They scattered completely as soon as the battle began, leaving only Ōshio Heihachirō and his students to hold on."

"Not long after, the uprising was completely suppressed."

As the young man spoke, he gestured towards the old monk not far away.

"This guy's name is 'Togoro,' and he was one of the 300 peasants who participated in the uprising but quickly collapsed when they encountered a tough battle."

"This guy is deeply ashamed of his escape back then."

"If the farmers had not fled at that time, but had stood firmly with Ōshio Heihachirō, then even if they were ultimately doomed to defeat, they would not have lost so badly."

"Moreover... if they can fight to the last moment, they might be able to turn the tide of the battle."

“I did not experience the uprising 26 years ago, but I heard from my elders that at that time, all the people of Osaka were watching and waiting.”

“When Ōshio Heihachirō launched his uprising, it was during the height of the Tenpo Great Famine.”

"The people of Osaka have long hated corrupt officials who levy exorbitant taxes and those merchants who hoard goods and speculate on prices. They want to get rid of them as soon as possible."

"But everyone is afraid of dying."

"It is too much to ask of people to put down their hoes and sickles and instead pick up swords, spears and clubs to fight a life-or-death battle with the shogunate army."

"So everyone was thinking: if the rebel army could gain the upper hand and withstand the suppression of the shogunate army, then they would join the uprising and fight against the shogunate together."

"In other words, if the rebels can fight for a long time, they can inspire the people's fighting spirit and gather even stronger forces."

"In this way, even if we don't eliminate the shogunate, we can at least force the shogunate to make concessions in exchange for a peace treaty with favorable terms."

"But as a result... the rapid retreat of those 300 peasants completely shattered the morale of the rebel army, to the point that no one dared to join the uprising anymore, and they simply stood by and watched."

"Togoro believed that it was their cowardice that caused the uprising to fail."

"To atone for his sins, he became a monk and would chant Buddhist scriptures every day as he walked through the streets and alleys of Osaka, hoping to help the souls of those who died in the uprising of that year to find peace."

"He has persisted in this behavior for a full 26 years, and still does today."

"Because Ōshio Heihachirō had extremely high prestige in Osaka, and Toukorō had not done anything outrageous, the shogunate just let this guy do as he pleased."

"Well, this guy is just lucky."

"If this were under the rule of Duke Jiaguang, this old fellow who dared to recite scriptures for traitors would have been thrown into prison long ago."

[Note: Lord Iemitsu refers to the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, who was known for his strong and decisive actions and for his bloody suppression of the Shimabara Rebellion.]

The young man paused at this point.

A moment later, he switched to a blatantly sarcastic tone, unabashedly mocking:

"Alas, if only I had known this would happen, why did I do it in the first place?"

"These so-called 'patriots' and 'righteous army' are all the same!"

"They talk a good game, always spouting slogans like 'saving the people' and 'restoring order to the world'."

"But what happened in the end? They scattered like birds and beasts as soon as they encountered the slightest setback."

"They can only share wealth and honor, but not hardship; they're hopeless!"

"If I were Ōshio Heihachirō, and I saw with my own eyes how the person I worked so hard to protect 'repaid' his kindness, I'm afraid I would be heartbroken and tremble with fear."

"However... in my opinion, that Ōshio Heihachirō isn't a good person either!"

"If he truly cared for the people, he shouldn't have put them in danger."

"It's all his fault for launching an uprising in Osaka Castle without authorization, which has caused great suffering to the people of Osaka."

"The rebel army and the shogunate army are engaged in fierce fighting. The flames of war are everywhere. In just one day, 112 cho (towns) of the city were burned down, which is equivalent to one-fifth of the 620 cho (towns) of Misato, Osaka. Thousands of houses were reduced to ruins... It's really too tragic!"

"Hmph! What 'Mr. Big Salt'... he's just a reckless idiot!"

The young man made no attempt to conceal his volume.

He probably didn't expect that... every word he said was overheard by the old monk who was not far from him.

The old monk, who had kept his head down since his appearance, suddenly raised his head, his eyes blazing with anger as he glared at the young man.

"You heartless bastard!!"

As he roared, he darted forward, rushed to the young man, and grabbed him by the collar.

"What do you young people know?!"

"How could you young people possibly understand the greatness of Mr. Daishio?!"

"Why did Mr. Daishio resolutely give up his comfortable life and risk his life to stand up for us poor people?!"

"You beasts are ungrateful enough, but you even have the nerve to make sarcastic remarks!"

"The biggest flaw in this world right now is that there are too many wicked creatures like you, and too few true heroes!"

"I beat you to death!"

After saying that, the old monk raised his fist and punched the young man in the face.

Although he is not young, his strength is quite formidable.

With just one punch, the young man's face was bruised and battered.

The old monk kept throwing punches, as if he wouldn't stop until he had smashed the other person's face.

"Aaaaaaah! You're insane! Let me go!"

The young man screamed and struggled, finally managing to break free from the old monk's control.

The old monk's imposing presence and powerful punches completely crushed the young man's courage.

The moment he regained his freedom, he didn't hesitate to run away with his head in his hands.

It was obvious that the old monk was not willing to let the other party off the hook.

He stubbornly chased after him, sticking close to the young man and giving him a series of blows to the back of the head.

On one side was a young man who was constantly being beaten and screaming, and on the other side was an old man who was constantly throwing punches and roaring... This strange combination gradually faded into the distance and soon disappeared from Qingdeng's sight.

Qingdeng had been quietly watching as the old monk beat the young man.

In fact, if he wanted to, he could have easily stopped the old monk for the young man.

However, Qingdeng had no such intention at all—on the contrary, he was quite happy to see the old monk teach this ungrateful young man a lesson.

The young man's words reminded Qing Deng of the famous saying: When a warrior dies, the first things flies notice are his flaws and wounds. They swarm and buzz around him, feeling smug, thinking themselves more heroic than the fallen warrior. But the warrior is dead and can no longer swat them away. So the flies buzz even louder, believing themselves to be immortal voices, for their perfection far surpasses that of the warrior. However, a flawed warrior is still a warrior, and a perfect fly is still just a fly.

Willing to give up a comfortable life, selflessly standing up for the poor, and even sacrificing their lives for it—this spirit of great love transcends time, race, and nationality, and is enough to evoke empathy from all of humanity.

Ōshio Heihachirō is a genius of his time, so what are you, a clown, anyway?

However, the outrageous remarks made by the young people did give Qing Deng some food for thought.

The appeal of the name "Dayan" is gradually fading...

Previously, Qing Deng had heard that the people of Osaka were very grateful for the kindness of Ōshio Heihachirō and always respectfully called him "Ōshio-sensei" or "Heihachirō-sensei".

Even now, the legend of "Ōshio is not dead, he will definitely come back to lead everyone" still circulates among the people of Osaka.

Now it seems... that's not entirely true.

Ōshio Heihachirō was a historical figure from 26 years ago.

26 years... such a long time is enough for the elderly to pass away and for the young to grow up.

Perhaps the older generation still remembers the kindness of Ōshio Heihachirō, but younger people have a completely different view of him.

Thinking of this, Aoto, who already respected and admired Oisho Heihachiro, couldn't help but feel complicated.

Despite his mixed feelings, there was one thing that Aoto firmly believed: even if the world had forgotten Ōshio Heihachirō, the Ōshio Party would continue to fight!

The people he knew before, such as Ebina and Abiko, had already proven to him through their actions that those who were still fighting under the banner of "Oisho" were a group of unwavering idealists.

Based on currently available intelligence, the military strength of the Great Salt Party is far from excellent.

However, if we only consider intelligence capabilities, they did a better job than the Fazhu Party!

For the past 26 years, they have been cautiously evading the pursuit of the government and the persecution of their faction, carefully developing and growing stronger, and quietly observing the national situation in anticipation of any change in the world.

Upon realizing this, Qingdeng couldn't help but stretch his neck and look around, as if searching for something.

Although it was just his personal intuition, he always had this premonition: that long ago, someone had been lurking around him as a spy for the Great Salt Party...

……

……

When Aoto arrived in Osaka, it was already close to evening.

It's late at night, definitely not a good time to make a visit.

Thus, under the arrangement of Mr. Kiryu, Aoto checked into a luxury hotel under the Karasuya brand.

After resting overnight, I plan to visit Kinoshita Mai's grandmother the following morning.