I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Dongcheng grinned.

"I've met him a few times. This guy is a samurai from the Koriyama Domain, a major domain. He's an excellent spearman who made many outstanding contributions in the campaign against Ōshio Heihachirō 23 years ago, thanks to his superb spear skills."

“Ooshio…Heihachiro…?” This time, it was Aoto’s turn to show a hint of surprise on his cheeks.

"Tachibana, you should know who Ōshio Heihachirō is, right?" Toujou Asahito gave him a teasing look.

"Of course I know... there's no way I wouldn't know this person, right?"

"Hahaha! That's true!" Dongcheng laughed heartily. "In this country, there's no one who doesn't know this name!"

Tojo's statement may be a bit of an exaggeration... but the fact that "Ōshio Heihachirō" is a famous playwright is beyond doubt!

This person was originally an ordinary member of a martial arts family. Compared with his peers, his biggest difference was that he was studious from a young age and had a strong personality.

To bring glory to his family, he diligently studied both literature and martial arts.

It wasn't until he was 20 years old and began to encounter various social realities that he couldn't see in the academy that he gradually realized that his past ambitions for fame and integrity were just driven by competitiveness.

Realizing this, Ōshio Heihachirō felt extremely ashamed, realizing that he was just a novice who was far behind in terms of both academic knowledge and personal cultivation.

After this epiphany, Ōshio Heihachirō began to devote himself to studying Confucianism and improving his academic qualities—this was Ōshio Heihachirō's first transformation in life.

However, the more Ōshio Heihachirō embarked on the path of Confucianism, the more confused he became.

At that time, the prevailing trend in Japanese Confucian academic circles was a passion for seeking knowledge, a prevalent culture of exaggeration, and a serious disconnect from reality. After delving into Confucianism, Ōshio Heihachirō not only did not feel that his academic cultivation had improved, but he also felt increasingly confused and bewildered.

Through a series of coincidences, Ōshio Heihachirō discovered "Shenyinyu" by Lü Xinwu, a Confucian scholar of the Ming Dynasty. Through it, he learned for the first time about the great spiritual wealth left behind by Wang Yangming, the "Sage of a Thousand Ages": Yangming's philosophy of mind.

Heihachiro Ōshio, overjoyed at finding a treasure, began to devote himself to studying Yangming's philosophy of mind. After countless years of research, he finally reached a state where sincerity was the goal, innate knowledge was the means, external temptations were rejected, and the true meaning of the mind—the principle of Heaven—was clarified.

This marks the second transformation in the life of Ōshio Heihachirō.

Although Yangming's philosophy is highly idealistic, it is actually a pragmatism that advocates putting virtue first—the so-called "unity of knowledge and action".

Heihachiro Ōshio further developed this foundation, closely integrating it with reality and transforming it into a field of knowledge useful to society.

The highly accomplished scholar, Ōshio Heihachirō, initially only lectured in his spare time.

Later, as his reputation grew, he gained more and more disciples.

In order to have a better teaching environment, Ōshio Heihachirō opened a school in his home in 1823, named "Shinshin-dō", and formulated eight articles of oath for enrollment, eliminating empty theories and strictly implementing the Ōshio school's tenet of pragmatism.

Besides the samurai class, many of the disciples of Seishin-do were farmers from farming families near Osaka.

Although Heihachiro Ōshio was a samurai, he had no class consciousness. He had a deep affection for farmers and often visited the rural areas near the city, mingling with the poor people at the bottom of society.

He always maintained that farmers are very simple and honest, and if they are educated, they can certainly be made to have the mindset of a saint.

Besides "respect," Ōshio Heihachirō also felt immense sympathy for the farmers who suffered greatly from natural disasters and man-made calamities, and therefore deeply hated the corrupt Edo Shogunate and the privileged merchants who were indulged by the Edo Shogunate.

Ōshio Heihachirō's resentment towards the Edo Shogunate grew daily.

This intense discontent with the incompetent Edo Shogunate finally "exploded" in the winter of 1837.

The trigger was the Tianbao Famine (1832-1833), which caused millions of poor people to starve to death.

In the first year of Tenpo (1830), there was a major earthquake in Kyoto and the Yodogawa flooded in September.

In March of the second year of Tenbao (1831), the Yodogawa flooded.

In the third year of Tenpo (1832), agricultural harvests failed in various regions. By the fourth year of Tenpo (1833), a great famine had occurred throughout the country. Coupled with the devastating floods in Dewa and Oku, as well as the continuous natural disasters such as the great storms in Kanto, rice prices continued to rise.

The sudden outbreak of famine plunged the poor into dire straits.

Many desperate disaster victims had no choice but to send their wives and daughters to sell their bodies on the roadside in order to buy or exchange rice.

The Edo Shogunate did attempt disaster relief... but their relief efforts were like the appendix in a person—it was practically the same whether they had it or not.

When the poor were suffering from famine, Ōshio Heihachirō, who always sympathized with and helped the poor, stepped forward, sold all his books for 620 taels of gold, and distributed it to 10,000 poor households.

However... this amount of money is always a drop in the bucket.

Ōshio Heihachirō witnessed an increasing number of poor people starving to death, while the Edo Shogunate was powerless to stop it. Although he used all his wealth to help them, it was to no avail.

Resentment towards the Edo Shogunate had reached its peak... In the end, Ōshio Heihachirō decided to take a desperate gamble! He rose up in rebellion!

This scholar, who initially strived to bring glory to his family, has now completed the final transformation of his life—deciding to risk everything to mend the cracks in the sky with his own hands.

He led his disciples in secretly manufacturing weapons such as cannons and gunpowder in preparation for the uprising.

The uprising was originally scheduled for February 29th, but due to betrayal, it had to be brought forward.

Ōshio Heihachirō and his disciples, along with the mobilized poor people, raised the banner of "saving the people" and marched into Osaka, where they engaged in fierce battles with the shogunate army.

Due to limited manpower and resources, the homemade weapons used by the rebel army were actually quite rudimentary... but the corrupt shogunate army was still defeated and suffered heavy losses.

Upon hearing the news, the Edo Shogunate immediately mobilized the armies of the nearby Amagasaki, Kishiwada, and Koriyama domains to reinforce Osaka.

Although the rebels fought very hard, they were still defeated by the shogunate army, which had an overwhelming advantage in manpower and military strength.

After the uprising was suppressed, the Edo Shogunate cast a wide net across the country to search for Ōshio Heihachirō and others. It was eventually discovered that Ōshio Heihachirō and his adopted son were hiding in a detached house belonging to the Miyoshiya Gorōbei family in Shinobu-gake-cho, Osaka City.

The Osaka magistrate immediately dispatched a large force to surround the house. Knowing he could no longer escape, Ōshio Heihachirō lit the prepared explosives, and with a loud bang, the house exploded, causing him to burn himself to death.

After the flames died down, the shogunate officials pulled two charred corpses from the ruins, their faces completely unrecognizable.

The Edo Shogunate, thinking it could finally relax, issued a proclamation to reassure the people—but no one paid any attention.

The fierce battle between the rebel army and the shogunate army in Osaka resulted in the burning of countless houses and the displacement of many townspeople. However, instead of hating Ōshio Heihachirō, they respectfully called him "Ōshio-sensei" or "Heihachirō-sensei".

After all, they're not blind—they can still tell who truly cares for them.

Out of admiration and commemoration for Ōshio Heihachirō, countless writers and artists set out.

In April and May of that year, storytellers from Kyushu began to weave stories about Daishio's deeds into popular narratives.

In the "theatre world," Kabuki plays praising Ōshio began to appear in Kyushu in 1838, but to avoid suspicion, the era was changed to the Muromachi Shogunate period. The characters' names were also changed; Ōshio Heihachiro became Koshio Teihachi. In this play, Koshio Teihachi acts as a righteous envoy, while the town magistrate displays his utter ugliness. While a typical play lasts for 20 days, plays about the Ōshio uprising were performed for over 100 days and were still sold out. It was not uncommon for people to travel dozens of miles to see the play.

The legend that "Mr. Salt is not dead! He is still alive" has never disappeared—this legend is not unfounded.

After Ōshio Heihachirō detonated the bomb, the shogunate officials only found two charred corpses in the ruins that were unrecognizable... It's not impossible that the dead were Ōshio Heihachirō's doubles.

Some say that Heihachiro Ōshio fled to Nirayama in Izu; some say that he fled to Kyushu; and some even say that he crossed the sea to the mainland, or even that he sailed to the West on a black ship.

Even now, many people firmly believe that Mr. Ōshio is still alive! And that he will return! He will lead them, the poor, to fight against the evil Edo Shogunate once again!

Heihachiro Ōshio, who has essentially become a symbol of faith, still enjoys an exaggerated level of fame and influence 23 years later.

The Koriyama Domain, with a staggering 15 koku of grain, was one of the domains that sent troops to reinforce Osaka and suppress the Ōshio Heihachirō Rebellion. Considering Tada Kōemon's age... if he was from the Koriyama Domain, then it is indeed possible that he participated in the Battle of Osaka 23 years ago.

This madman who spouts nonsense actually has such a past… Upon learning of this, Souji couldn’t help but ask:

"Since this person is a general with outstanding martial arts skills and has made outstanding achievements on the battlefield... then why has he fallen to such a state today?"

"Well... I heard some stories about Tada Kōemon from a friend a while ago."

Dongcheng chuckled coldly a few times.

"It is said that he made a mistake and was demoted to a ronin and expelled from the domain by the lord of the Koriyama Domain three years ago."

"Wrong?" Souji asked curiously, "What wrong?"

"I don't know about that."

Dongcheng shrugged and continued:

"Well, that happens all the time."

"Moving to the right is as difficult as climbing to heaven, while moving to the left is a piece of cake."

"Many feudal lords are now so poor that they can only make ends meet by borrowing money from the wealthy merchants of Osaka."

"Even the finances of those powerful vassal states weren't much better."

"In order to save on government spending, they often had to cut the salaries of the feudal lords under various pretexts, or even demote them directly."

At this point, Dongcheng chuckled coldly a few more times, then switched to a tone full of mockery and sarcasm:

"No matter how much merit you have rendered to your lord, when the situation requires it, your lord will abandon you without the slightest hesitation."

"Hmph, this is the tragedy of us so-called 'warriors'."

After saying that, Dongcheng patted the dust off his palms and knees and stood up slowly.

"Ju, you are also a government official, so you should be very familiar with the investigation process, so I won't say anything more."

"You have had close contact with Tada Kōemon, so we have to trouble you and your friends to come to the magistrate's office for a while. We need to ask you about the details of the case."

Qing Deng gave a helpless wry smile: "Please make sure your subordinates are quick when they're questioning me, so as not to waste too much of my and my friends' time."

“That’s natural.” Dongcheng nodded.

"Ah, Lord Tojo, may I go to the North Zone Office later? I have an urgent matter to attend to now."

The "urgent matter" that Qing Deng mentioned was naturally taking Elodie home.

Do things thoroughly. Since Qingdeng secretly brought Elodie out, he naturally had to take responsibility for sending Elodie back to the settlement safely and back to the warm bed in her room.

Qingdeng was part of their "three-way" group, not some complete stranger. Perhaps out of trust in Qingdeng, Dongcheng said without hesitation:

"Sure. As long as you can report to the Northern Frontier Office before noon tomorrow."

Qingdeng: "I am extremely grateful."

……

……

Hijikata, Nagakura, and Harada, these troublemakers, all expressed strong dissatisfaction with the fact that they had to temporarily go to the Hokuban Police Station to cooperate with the "three-round" investigation.

Especially Harada—since he went to the Hokuban-sho (Northern Frontier Office), he couldn't even watch the fireworks!

However, although Hijikata and the others were dissatisfied, they dared not speak out.

Firstly, cooperating with the government in investigating cases is a matter of course and there is nothing wrong with it.

Secondly... they are not reckless or mindless people; they can clearly distinguish which people and forces are not to be trifled with.

Qing Deng and his group, accompanied by two of Dong Cheng's subordinates, slowly left the blood-soaked street.

After Qing Deng and his group left, Dong Cheng directed his remaining subordinates to do their own things—to question people in the vicinity, to search for any other victims, and to form a human wall outside to prevent any unrelated people from approaching the area…

In the blink of an eye, the once noisy crime scene was now left with only Dongcheng.

"..."

Higashijo looked around at the desolate surroundings, then slowly lowered his chin and stared at the corpse of Tada Kōemon at his feet.