I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Although it is unclear who this old man is, judging from his actions, he clearly knows artillery.

As a result, the team members all straightened up, stopped looking around, and each went about their own business.

The gun barrel was cleaned, the propellant charge was reinserted, and the shell was loaded tightly... Finally, Ōshio Heihachirō, who was in charge of aiming, adjusted the direction of the cannon muzzle.

Once everything was ready, he turned to the archer beside him and shouted:

"put!"

The archer immediately set fire to the medicine chamber.

In an instant, with a loud "boom," the surrounding air vibrated, and the shell shot out! It hit several enemy soldiers in the distance, blasting them all into the air!

"Hit! Hit!"

The team members cheered continuously.

Heihachiro Ooshio also breathed a sigh of relief, a faint smile appearing on his cheeks.

Unfortunately... before they could even celebrate for a moment, several shells landed around them, raising a dust wave several feet high...

……

……

"Huff...! Huff...! Huff...! Huff...!"

Shintaro Toujou, who had just been brought back from the front lines, leaned against the brick wall behind him and greedily inhaled oxygen.

Beside him, a rather young doctor used scissors to cut open his khaki, revealing a bloody wound on his right leg.

"I'm going to stitch up your wound. It will hurt a lot, so please bear with it!"

As the doctor spoke, he pulled out a sharpened fishhook.

Without hesitation, Shintaro Toujou said seriously:

"Go ahead and do it. Be quick, I need to get back to the battlefield as soon as possible!"

"Understood!"

The doctor nodded solemnly and immediately began the treatment.

The next moment, excruciating pain, like needles pricking his nerves, repeatedly stimulated him. Shintaro Toujou gritted his teeth and endured it without uttering a sound.

This place is a "temporary hospital" where many wounded people are sent for centralized treatment.

Today's battle was exceptionally fierce and dangerous.

The fresh troops sent by the other side were not just in good condition; they had clearly received professional training and were quite capable in combat.

Even more astonishing is their exceptionally strong fighting spirit; they are incredibly brave and tenacious in their attacks, and even when they suffer heavy casualties, they do not easily retreat.

The city's defenders, already on the verge of collapse, naturally found themselves struggling against such a formidable force!

The battle has progressed to this point, and there is an emergency situation in all areas.

When Shintaro Tojo was carried to this location due to a leg injury, the front line he was in charge of was already in dire straits.

We must return to the front lines as soon as possible! Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable!

With this thought in mind, Shintaro Toujou became even more anxious.

"Doctor, is it still not done?"

"This is just the beginning! Don't rush! I'll let you know when it's finished!"

After answering without looking up, the doctor said nothing more and continued to meticulously stitch up Shintaro Toujou's leg injury.

To distract himself, Shintaro Toujou had to turn his gaze around and scan his surroundings.

Looking up, one sees wounded everywhere, their groans and cries filling the air.

What is remarkable is that the vast majority of them were militiamen who were hastily mobilized after being inspired by Qingdeng!

At first, like many others, Shintaro Toujou didn't take the militia seriously.

They believed that they were simply acting on impulse and without any sense of urgency.

Once the initial enthusiasm fades and the passion subsides, the cunning and cowardly "nature" of the common people will be revealed.

Unexpectedly, the reality that finally appeared before him slapped him in the face and opened his eyes wide—the militiamen's fighting spirit was terrifyingly tenacious!

Some people were so afraid they were trembling.

Some people are so nervous that they freeze in place.

Some people went mad because they couldn't adapt to the battlefield.

But very few people threw down their weapons and turned to run away!

If it had been a month ago, before this battle began, he would never have imagined that ordinary people could unleash such power!

At this moment, Shintaro Toujou belatedly realized something: he seemed to be one of these "hard-working bastards".

—This battle has nothing to do with me, yet I'm so deeply involved…

Shintaro Toujou pondered to himself, a complex expression, neither a smile nor a frown, appearing on his lips.

He was put into this battle under orders from Ōshio Heihachirō.

At the beginning, he was completely in the "just do your best" mindset.

Unbeknownst to him, he had come to regard this battle as his own, giving it his all and even urging the doctor to stitch up his wounds as soon as possible so that he could return to the battlefield sooner.

Since the "Ōshio Heihachirō Uprising," he had become accustomed to decadence and self-abandonment.

When was the last time you were able to "wholeheartedly devote yourself to something" like this?

At that moment, Shintaro Toujou suddenly noticed an injured person lying next to him.

This person, like him, had a large gash in his leg, and a doctor was stitching up his wound.

Because he received treatment earlier, his wound was almost completely stitched up.

Shintaro Toujou glanced at the man a few more times—he was in his thirties, with a weathered face and a scholarly air about him. It was clear at a glance that he was not a samurai, but more like a private tutor.

At that moment, he shouted out the same words that Shintaro Toujou had just shouted:

"Doctor, please hurry! I need to get back to the battlefield as soon as possible!"

Driven by curiosity, Shintaro Toujou asked softly:

"...Aren't you afraid, my lord?"

The sudden conversation startled the young man.

He turned his head, looked Shintaro Toujou up and down, and smiled:

"Of course I'm scared. But... the thought that 'Otsu will fall if we don't go into battle' gives me strength back."

Shintaro Toujou pursed his lips and asked again:

“You can escape, can’t you? The enemy has only surrounded the east and north sides of Dajin City, while the west and south sides are wide open. If you really want to escape, you can fly far away.”

The young man smiled and shook his head:

"As I just said, if we don't go into battle, Otsu will fall."

"Therefore, we cannot run away."

"My lord, did you hear Lord Niou's speech before the war began?"

Shintaro Toujou shook his head:

"I arrived in Otsu very late, so I was unable to listen."

"I see. That's a real shame."

The young man took a deep breath and pretended to recall something.

"On that day, Lord Niou spoke of his ideals and asked us to lend him a hand..."

"I'm just a nobody teaching at a temple school; I don't understand any profound principles."

"However, I understand one thing—if it is Lord Niou, he truly wants to realize this ideal and would never deceive us."

"If I can die for this grand ideal, then I will have died a worthy death!"

"I believe that everyone was moved by Lord Niou's ideals, which is why they chose to fight to the death and never retreat."

At the very moment the young man finished speaking, the doctor treating his injury tore off the sutures, looked up at the young man, and said:

"Alright! The wound is stitched up! But you must be very careful! It would be very dangerous if the wound reopened!"

"Okay, thank you. I'll be more careful."

After offering a brief thank you to the doctor, the young man struggled to his feet.

"Although we didn't have time to chat for long, it's fate that we met. My name is Risaburo, what's yours?"

The young man solemnly introduced himself.

"East……"

He subconsciously wanted to say "Shintaro Tojo".

But when he tried to speak, for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to utter the pseudonym he had used for nearly thirty years.

Seeing Shintaro Toujou suddenly freeze, the young man felt strange but didn't ask any further questions.

He nodded to Shintaro Toujou and smiled:

"Your Excellency, I shall take my leave now!"

After saying that, he picked up a bamboo spear from the side, used it as a cane, and limped away from the "temporary hospital" to the battlefield.

Shintaro Toujou watched the young man's receding figure, a variety of expressions appearing on his face, eventually blending into an indescribable complex emotion.

Suddenly, a young male voice came from not far away:

"...You're Shintaro Toujou?"

Shintaro Toujou raised his gaze and looked in the direction of the sound—a young man covered in blood, holding a sword in his hand, was staring straight at him.

"...I recognize you. You're that famous Sagara Sozo, right?"

Xiang Le Zong said three times: