I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"So... Lord Shuten-dōji, what should we do now?"

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Chapter 951 The Sword Saint's "Unfinished Business"

All eyes were focused on Shuten-dōji, and everyone waited quietly for his specific instructions.

After pondering for a long time, Shuten-dōji said in a deep voice:

"...Our forces are already stretched thin, and we cannot afford to make any more sacrifices."

At this point, he turned his head and called out to Su Nuo:

"Bring up all the 'fireworks'!"

……

……

Akasaka-Mikado, Watari-Yaguru-mon—

"The enemy's defeat is evident! Drive them away!"

After roaring, Tokugawa Iemochi shouted, ignoring the advice of those around him, raised his katana, stepped forward, and joined the battle.

The Russian soldiers couldn't understand Japanese, nor did they know what "Sei-i Taishogun" was.

The members of the Special Forces were not so ignorant.

They had already seen through Tokugawa Iemochi's true identity through his disguise and the series of words he uttered.

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

"Forget about everyone else! Deal with Tokugawa Iemochi first!"

"Kill! The day is the day to overthrow the Shogunate!"

A vast number of enemy soldiers rushed toward Tokugawa Iemochi from all directions.

Faced with this sudden crisis, Tokugawa Iemochi remained calm.

As he raised his knife, he calmly scanned the battlefield with his eyes.

"Damn traitors! May they be punished by Heaven!"

An enemy soldier roared and charged at Tokugawa Iemochi.

He raised the knife above his head and chopped it down hard on the head.

Judging from a swordsmanship perspective, his strike was quite good; it was powerful, the blade was straight, and the control of the distance was very accurate.

However, he misjudged one thing: Tokugawa Iemochi was never a pampered person!

Despite his high rank as the General Who Subdues the Barbarians, he always maintained the habit of exercising and practicing swordsmanship.

Due to his limited talent, he was not a martial arts master with extraordinary skills, but he was by no means a weak scholar who couldn't even kill a chicken!

He focused on the enemy's sword path, then suddenly raised his katana, holding it diagonally above his head.

With a clang, the two steel knives clashed in mid-air.

Immediately afterwards, the enemy's sword slid to the side along the blade of the katana, as if it were on a slide.

This move is the most classic technique in swordsmanship: neutralizing force.

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

His skill in switching from defense to offense was quite adept.

In the blink of an eye, he positioned the knife in his palm to the upper right and then swiftly chopped it down!

Pfft!

The katana's blade sliced ​​through the enemy's entire body, and blood spurted out.

After swaying a few times, the enemy's body collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The general not only joined the battle himself, but also personally cut down an enemy soldier... and cheers of high morale rang out again.

Although Tokugawa Iemochi's bravery was deeply admired by his soldiers, he was, in any case, the supreme commander of the shogunate army.

If anything were to happen to him, it would deal an irreparable and severe blow to the Shogunate army.

Being exposed to the enemy's blades for an extended period of time is far too dangerous.

Therefore, a group of soldiers rallied their spirits and prepared to go forward to protect Tokugawa Iemochi.

However... they all stopped in their tracks after taking only a few steps.

It wasn't that they didn't want to support Tokugawa Iemochi, but rather that they belatedly realized he didn't need their protection at all—because he had a very reliable bodyguard by his side!

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

"Don't back down! Even if he is a 'Sword Saint,' he's already an old man on his deathbed!"

"What is there to fear from an aging 'Sword Saint'?"

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

However, they were very wary of the old man guarding Tokugawa Iemochi, and their steps were slow and hesitant, unable to cross the short distance.

Despite encouraging and inspiring each other, they never dared to step forward and directly confront the "Sword Saint's" blade!

Throughout history, only a few swordsmen have held the title of "Sword Saint": Kamiizumi Nobutsuna and Tsukahara Bokuden from the Sengoku period, Ogata Ittosai 70 years ago, and Otani Seiichiro in the present day.

Such a rare and powerful individual cannot help but make them tense and cautious.

Seeing that the enemy soldiers dared not advance, Otani Seiichiro was too lazy to waste any more time with them!

In the blink of an eye, he stepped forward and, like a swallow in flight, slashed fiercely at the chest of the first man. Then, he adjusted the blade, flicked it upwards, and knocked the second man to the ground. Immediately afterward, he turned the action of sheathing his blade into an attack, slicing open the abdomens of the third and fourth men in one go.

Finally, he stumbled and retreated to Tokugawa Iemochi's side.

His sword speed was extremely fast. Not to mention blocking or dodging, the enemy soldiers couldn't even react in time. Some of them didn't even realize they had been cut down.

Elodie didn't know Otani Seiichiro and Kubota Kiyone; she had only heard of their names.

One of the main reasons why Otani Seiichiro is revered as the "Sword Saint" is his outstanding contributions to Japanese swordsmanship.

His greatest contribution was standardizing the length of bamboo swords.

Prior to this, due to their low average height, swordsmen generally could not wield long swords effectively, so for a long time, the 73cm bamboo sword was the mainstream of Japanese swordsmanship.

It wasn't until the sudden emergence of the "unparalleled seven-foot-tall" Da Shi Jin that this "mainstream" was shaken.

Standing seven feet tall (2.1 meters) and wielding a five-foot-three-inch (1.6-meter) longsword, Oishi Susumu was invincible throughout Edo, and countless strongmen were defeated by his sword.

As a result, longswords became popular in the swordsmanship world, and the idea that "the longer the sword, the better" became an unquestionable truth.

The swordsmen eagerly picked up their longswords, fearing that their swords were even slightly shorter than theirs, completely disregarding whether they could actually wield such long swords.

Otani Seiichiro couldn't stand this trend, so he used a short sword (73cm) that had been abandoned at the time, and despite the height difference of several tens of centimeters, he knocked Oishi Susumu to the ground.

After defeating Susumu Oishi, Seiichiro Otani used this achievement and his own prestige to carry out a major reform of Japanese swordsmanship, standardizing the length of bamboo swords to the current 4 shaku (1.2 meters), completely ending the fallacy that "the longer the sword, the better".

From then on, all schools used bamboo swords of the same length, and no longer blindly pursued long swords.

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

Without such a highly respected master to unify everyone's ideas, we would probably still be debating the optimal length of bamboo swords to this day.

Of course, the main reason he was able to earn the title of "Sword Saint" was his unparalleled strength!

There are so many anecdotes about how Otani Seiichiro subdued all the heroes that it would take a whole day and night to tell them all.

In short, until he grew old and his strength declined, Otani Seiichiro was always the epitome of "invincible"!

With him guarding Tokugawa Iemochi, no matter how the enemy soldiers rushed forward or attacked desperately, they could not get close to Tokugawa Iemochi even a step.

Overall, Tokugawa Iemochi's valiant charge played a significant role.

The head of the Shogun... if we cut it off, we will win this battle—this enormous temptation made the soldiers of the Special Forces lose their minds.

They rushed toward Tokugawa Iemochi, disregarding everything else.

By leaving their positions without permission, they caused their formation to become disordered and shaky!

Seeing this opportunity, Elodie shouted "Follow me!" and used up all her remaining strength to intensify her attack, trying to drive the enemy out of the palace in one fell swoop!

To use a vivid analogy... it's like the enemy is throwing a punch to defeat Tokugawa Iemochi. The fist is raised, but the vulnerable side rib is exposed—Elodie seizes the opportunity to deliver a powerful punch, hitting the exposed side rib right in the middle!

Her attack had an immediate and effective result.

With their morale soaring as if divinely inspired, the soldiers swarmed forward, charging fiercely and fearlessly.

The enemy forces suffered repeated defeats and heavy casualties.

Those who were still alive quickly retreated back to the ground along the path they had come from—the long ladders.

The enemy troops on the ferry gate retreated like a tide.

The defenders seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack, cutting down those who couldn't escape in time, and then chopping down and overturning the long ladders.

From then on, there were no more enemy soldiers on the ferry gate.

"The enemy has retreated! We have won!"

"We've held off Akasaka Mikado!"

"Waaaaaaah..."

Faced with this hard-won victory achieved through countless hardships, many people wept with joy.

While panting heavily, Elodie tried her best to calm herself down, and stared blankly around.

Just now, she was feeling desperate because she had no other options.

Unexpectedly, just over ten minutes later, the situation on the battlefield underwent a dramatic reversal!

The General of the Expedition and the Imperial Guard personally led the expedition; the arrival of the "Sword Saint"... these unexpected reinforcements helped them overcome the most difficult ordeal.

At this moment, Elodie deeply understood what it meant to be "a single breath can change everything on the battlefield."