I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Although they became the first unit to breach the main camp of the Special Forces, they paid a considerable price for it.

Their numbers have decreased from over a hundred to forty or fifty.

Since it is the enemy's main camp, its defensive strength should not be underestimated!

In the blink of an eye, like ants disturbed in an anthill, squads of enemy soldiers emerged from different places and corners, rushing towards Kondo Isami and his men!

Kondo Isami and his companions were like a small boat on a vast ocean, facing the surging waves from all directions all by themselves!

To fight against overwhelming odds... for ordinary people, this is a tremendous crisis. But for Kondo Isami, the stronger and more numerous the enemy, the more it fuels his fighting spirit!

The talent "Lone Wolf" is activated!

In the blink of an eye, Kondo Isami let out a short shout and charged forward like a raging torrent, swiftly slashing at the Nagasone Kotetsu in his hand. In the blink of an eye, three people fell to his blade.

With another swing, two more people were cut down to the ground.

With his superb skills, he effectively used the action of sheathing his sword to turn it into a fierce attack.

As he pulled Nagasone Kotetsu back to his side, he took the opportunity to slash down an enemy soldier beside him.

He lowered his upper body, charged forward headfirst, and repeatedly unleashed attacks, cutting down every enemy soldier that appeared in his field of vision.

Even as the splattering blood blurred his vision, he never stopped walking or holding the knife.

He brought all the techniques of the Natural Rishin-ryu school to their fullest potential, making him invincible.

Finally, he successfully fought his way to the flag with three stars and one character!

At the very instant the flagpole, as thick as a bowl, entered his striking range, he raised his blade, held it at the upper right, and slashed down diagonally!

With a snap, he made a clean cut.

The flag, several meters high, swayed a few times before slowly falling to the ground.

While suppressing his excitement and agitation, Kondo Isami raised his Nagasone Kotetsu high, the tip of the blade pointing to the sky, and shouted:

"The enemy's main force has been breached!"

As the flag of the Ichimonji and Sanxing fell to the ground with a crash, the soldiers around Kondo Isami, as well as those a little further away, erupted in thunderous cheers, spontaneously shouting "Eh! Eh! Oh!" in triumphant celebration.

The flag of the Special Forces fell, but the soldiers of the Special Forces here showed no intention of retreating.

They seemed determined to fight to the death, attacking Kondo Isami and his men with a fearless spirit, as if saying, "Even if I die, I'll take you down with me."

As it turns out, momentum is indeed the most important combat quality.

After cutting down the flag of the Special Forces, Kondo Isami couldn't help but feel a surge of joy. His previously tense nerves relaxed, and fatigue and pain washed over his body like a tide.

This caused his momentum to dissipate by more than half, making it impossible for him to recover his previous valiant state in a short period of time.

Faced with the enemy's fierce attack, he struggled to cope and was overwhelmed.

"Drink it! Aa ...

Suddenly, a hoarse shout rang out behind Kondo Isami—an enemy soldier swung his sword and charged forward, his momentum overwhelming, slashing at Kondo Isami's back like Mount Tai crashing down.

Kondo Isami didn't have time to turn around and could only retreat to the right on instinct.

His dodging speed was almost indistinguishable from his opponent's slashing speed.

It was difficult to tell whether he dodged first or whether the other person's knife struck him first.

At that critical moment, a sword suddenly appeared from the side, blocking the slash for Kondo Isami, and then drew a beautiful arc in mid-air, cutting down the enemy soldier.

"Yong, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Kondo Isami turned his head, and after seeing who it was, he twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing a smile that was half helpless and half mocking:

"Tachibana-kun, I've discovered that you're very good at 'making a timely appearance,' always appearing at the most opportune and clever moment."

Qing Deng smiled slightly, flicked his right wrist, twirled the sword to shake off the remaining bloodstains, and then moved to Kondo Isami's side to stand next to him.

The enemy soldiers formed a crescent-shaped formation and surrounded the two of them.

"Yong, can you still fight?"

"No problem!"

The next moment, the two swordsmen of the Tennen Rishin-ryu school strode towards the enemy group in front of them.

……

……

The wind and snow gradually stopped, and the clouds thinned.

The sun slowly climbed to its highest point in the sky.

The gentle warmth seeped through the gaps in the clouds and spread to the earth.

The road from the mountaintop to the eastern foothills was littered with mangled corpses!

There are remains of Shinsengumi members wearing light blue haori, as well as remains of Kiheitai members.

Today, many members of the Kiheitai still resolutely take "Decisive Battle Elixir" in preparation for their battle against the Shinsengumi.

Many people, like Shinsaku Takasugi, swallowed the red pills without hesitation today, even though they had already taken the "Decisive Battle Pill" yesterday, determined to die for it.

With the support of the "Decisive Battle of the Lake", they made up for their deficiencies in manpower and morale, and inflicted great damage on the Shinsengumi.

Therefore, at first glance, it is impossible to tell which side has more corpses!

It can truly be said that a road was forged with blood!

Despite the immense hardship and countless deaths, as if the entire Nangong Mountain was stained crimson with blood, such a huge sacrifice was not without reward.

The various fronts of the Special Forces finally could not withstand the fierce attack of the Shinsengumi.

At this moment, looking across the entire Nangong Mountain, not a single member of the Special Forces could be seen!

They were driven out of the Nangong Mountain area by the Shinsengumi members!

Although there were still quite a few remnants left, who could have caused the Shinsengumi considerable trouble if they had fought to the bitter end, perhaps having received orders to "retreat," they ceased fighting and withdrew without looking back.

Aoto speculates that with Takasugi Shinsaku dead, the person in charge of commanding the Special Forces should be their strategist, Ōmura Masujirō.

After the entire army was driven out of Nangong Mountain, Qingdeng did not act rashly but calmly ordered a retreat to preserve the last remaining strength. He had to give high praise to this decisive and wise decision.

The vast Nangong Mountain was the Kiheitai's greatest asset in blocking the Shinsengumi.

On the vast plains, they could not stop the Shinsengumi's offensive at all.

If the battle were to take place on a plain, the Shinsengumi's two elite units—the artillery (11th Division) and the cavalry (7th and 10th Divisions)—would have the opportunity to unleash their power.

Moreover, the current Shinsengumi also has the Aizu Iron Cavalry as an external force to assist them.

Plains are not like mountains; they lack complex terrain to avoid artillery fire.

Regardless of the attacks by the Seventh and Tenth Divisions, the saturation bombardment by the Eleventh Division alone was enough to cause chaos and defeat for the Special Forces.

Therefore, for the surprise attack team, without the barrier of Nangong Mountain, there was no point in continuing the battle.

Even if they continue fighting, they won't be able to hold out for long; it will only increase casualties.

Qingdeng gave a clear order: there is no need to pursue the enemy. If they leave Nangong Mountain, let them go and leave them alone.

So the members of each squad of the Shinsengumi stood at the foot of the mountain east of Nangong Mountain, staring blankly as the fleeing enemy troops went by.

The elite troops left Nangong Mountain and Sekigahara... What this meant was something the soldiers couldn't quite grasp in a short time.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, someone suddenly shouted, "Changzhou has retreated!"

Immediately afterwards, cheers resounded throughout each squad and the entire Nangong Mountain!

"We've taken Sekigahara!"

"We won! We won!"

"Long live the Shinsengumi!"

"Long live the Emperor Qingcheng!"

"Hey! Hey! Oh!"

"Hey! Hey! Oh!"

"Hey! Hey! Oh!"

……

The noisy cheers gradually merged into a unified, increasingly loud and triumphant roar.

Compared to the increasingly enthusiastic and high-spirited atmosphere, Qing Deng's reaction was very calm.

He casually tossed aside the nameless knife he had picked up at random, staring expressionlessly in the direction the elite troops had fled, his face showing little joy.

After a short while, he slightly raised his gaze and looked at the distant eastern horizon.

Standing beside him, Kondo Isami said calmly:

"What a hard-fought victory..."

Qingdeng nodded slightly:

"Oh, yes."

The exact number of casualties today has not yet been tallied.

However, just by looking at the corpses scattered all over the ground, you can tell that the number is definitely not small!

Neither the overall combat strength of the elite team nor the terrifying "Decisive Battle" was within Qing Deng's and others' expectations.

Not only were the casualties heavy, but the time it took to capture Sekigahara also exceeded their expectations.

Before the battle began, Qing Deng and his men planned to break through Sekigahara within two days.

Meanwhile, Takasugi Shinsaku and his men on the other side planned to hold off the Shinsengumi at Sekigahara for at least three days.

Ultimately, this battle, destined to be recorded in history, lasted for two and a half days... In terms of duration, the two sides were evenly matched, with neither gaining an advantage.

While it cannot be called a Pyrrhic victory, it was indeed, as Kondo Isami said, a hard-fought victory.

At that moment, Kondo Isami suddenly grinned, revealing his teeth in a wide smile that could easily fit a fist:

"Tachibana-kun, let's have some fun for now."

"In any case, we have won the second Battle of Sekigahara, which lasted two and a half days!"