I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Ancient Japanese weddings are mainly divided into three types: weddings in front of gods, weddings in front of Buddha, and weddings in front of people.

　　 These three types of weddings, you can roughly infer the difference between them just by looking at their names.

　　God pre-style wedding, as the name suggests, is a wedding held in a shrine. It is the most complicated procedure among the three types of weddings.

　　 The pre-Buddha wedding is a wedding held in a Buddhist hall. It is the wedding that is least used by people among the three types of weddings.

　　 Whether it is a wedding before the gods or the wedding before the Buddha, the links are quite complicated.

　　 Take the most complicated pre-divine wedding as an example-if it is to hold a pre-divine wedding, it may take half a day to complete the complicated procedure.

　　 first is the participation ceremony.

　　With the accompaniment of Gagaku, the priest and maiden who presided over the festival lead the bride and others to the main shrine’s main hall.

Under the guidance of the witch and dowry, after entering the temple, the bridegroom’s relatives sit on the right side when facing the god, and the bride’s person sits on the left side facing the god. The relatives are based on the closeness of blood relationship. Take the seat from the place closest to the gods in order.

　　 is followed by a repair ceremony. "Xiuhu" means a ritual to cleanse the body and mind. The bridegroom, bride and all attendees will be blessed by the Lord of the fast.

　　 is followed by the admiration of the Lord Zhai, which starts the ceremony by the Lord Zhai. All attendees must bow to the gods with Zhaizhu, and then Zhaizhu cut off the "bestowment" ceremony and reported to the gods that the bride and groom are about to get married.

　　 Until this time, the wedding has officially started. The bride and groom will then have to perform a series of complex activities such as three dedication awareness, reciting oaths, witches dancing blessing dance, jade string worship... and so on.

　　 On the complexity of the wedding, the wedding before the Buddha and the wedding before the gods are not much better.

　　Because there are many links and large battles in the pre-sacred wedding and the pre-Buddha wedding, only those who have a little surplus in the family have the ability to hold weddings in shrines and temples.

　　 Therefore, the weddings held by most civilians and some samurai are pre-personal weddings with simpler procedures and almost no cost.

　　 Pre-person weddings are basically held in the groom’s home.

　　 The bridegroom took the bride to his home, and then held the three offering ceremony and pronounced the oath under the witness of relatives and friends. After reading the oath, the wedding can be declared over.

　　 If it is troublesome, even the three offering ceremony can be omitted. After the bride is received in his own home, the oath shall be read under the witness of relatives and friends, and then the wedding can be declared over.

　　Because pre-personal weddings are almost costless, most of the weddings held by civilians are pre-personal weddings.

　　 No matter how poor you are, you always have the ability to take the bride into your own home and invite all your friends and relatives here, right?

　　 Because of the few links, a pre-personal wedding usually only takes 10-15 minutes.

　　 The wedding held by Ogata and Amachi today is a pre-personal wedding.

　　 Marriage here in Japan also pay attention to good days and auspicious days.

　　 Although Ogata doesn't pay much attention to this, but after a few thoughts, he decided to go to the village and do what he can to make the wedding as ritual as possible.

　　 After deciding to hold a wedding in Edo before officially leaving for Ezo, Ogata and Amachi began to find a suitable date for their marriage.

　　 Finally—they chose today, which is November 11.

　　Because the wedding was held in the afternoon, after getting up this morning, the two of them decided to take advantage of the time in the morning and take a stroll outside.

　　 So, the two of them played on the Guangxiao Road in Ryogoku this morning, and then they listened to Tanle storytelling together.

　　 The place where the two held their wedding was naturally held in the house they borrowed from Dongcheng House.

　　 held in the most spacious room in this house.

　　 At this moment, the relatives and friends invited by Ogata and Amachi have gathered.

　　 Uncle Kei, who is currently the only relative of A-cho, and a group of people from the gourd house headed by Lin and Genichi are naturally present.

　　 In addition to Uncle Kei and the group of Gourd House, Ogata also invited Kondo and Guao over.

　　 Uncle Kei, the gourd house group, Kondo, and Guasheng, a total of 9 people-these are all the guests attending the wedding of Ogata and Amachi.

　　 They were all dressed in formal attire, and they sat on both sides of the room, quietly waiting for the two main characters to arrive today.

　　 Ogata has never directly talked about his relationship with Amachi with the people in the gourd house.

　　 But it doesn't matter if Ogata says it or not.

　　 Lin and the others are not stupid, they have long seen that the relationship between Ogata and Amachi is not ordinary.

　　 Therefore, "Ogata and Amachi have a very close relationship" has always been a tacit thing in the hearts of Huluya and others.

　　 Therefore—Lin and the others were not surprised when Ogata and Amachi announced to the gourdiya group a few days ago that they were planning to hold a wedding before leaving Edo.

　　 Lin is quite bold.

　　 After Ogata announced that he was going to have a wedding with Amachi, he directly allocated a sum of money to Mamiya and the others, asking them to buy a dress immediately.

　　 A few days ago, after receiving Ogata’s invitation, Kondo and Guao did not hesitate to say that they would go.

　　 Although Kondo is a little honest, he is also a rough but subtle person, sloppyly attending other people's weddings—and he is still his own master's wedding. Kondo cannot do this kind of thing.

　　 So, Kondo went around to ask friends who lived in Edo these days, and successfully borrowed a suit.

　　 And Guasheng has lived in Edo for so many years, and I don’t know how many weddings I have attended with friends, so she naturally has formal dresses for formal occasions.

　　Although Lin, Makimura, and Asai have long been healed from their injuries, they can still do things like wearing formal clothes and sitting at the wedding.

　　 Not long after everyone had their own seats, the two protagonists finally arrived.

　　 It was Ogata who entered the room first.

　　 wears a black haori with long sleeves and a long hem on the upper body, and is embroidered with bellflower patterns in 5 places on the back of the haori. The bottom clothes under Haori are all black. He wore a black and white striped hakama on his lower body, a belt tied in a cross knot, and white socks on his feet—this is Ogata’s current attire.

　　 Ogata’s current suit is a very standard "monsuke haori hakama".

　　The so-called "monsuke haori hakama" is the highest-level male dress in the Edo period, and it is generally worn only on special occasions such as marriage.

The 　　 family pattern was originally only used by the nobles of Gongqing, but in the Warring States period, the family pattern began to be widely used by the children of the Wu family.

　　 In the current Edo period, even many common people have family crests.

　　 Although Ogata came from a poor family of samurai in the Hirose clan, he was also a child of the samurai family, so Ogata naturally also has a family pattern.

The 　　 bellflower pattern is the family pattern of the Ogata family.

　　 As for why his family's family pattern is bellflower pattern, Ogata is not quite clear.

　　 Perhaps it was just because his ancestors thought that the pattern of bellflower was very handsome, so he chose the pattern of bellflower to make the family pattern of the Ogata family.

　　Many families choose the family pattern so casually.

　　 After the family pattern became popular, except for the chrysanthemum pattern representing the imperial family and the sunflower pattern representing the shogunate, other family patterns tended to be abused.

　　Many samurai and common people's families look at what family crest is more handsome, so they choose this family crest as their family crest.

　　 After deciding to hold the wedding with Amachi, Okinawa immediately found a clothing store that could customize clothes, and asked the shopkeeper to help prepare a set of Monsuke Haori hakama embroidered with the Ogata family's pattern.

　　 Ogata made the order on the same day, and received the clothes the next day.

　　Because the hakama hakama is very well prepared-prepare a large number of hakama hakama without home pattern in advance. If the customer wants to embroider any home pattern, we can embroider it immediately.

　　The hands and feet are quick, maybe it only takes one or two hours to prepare the "monsuke haori hakama" that meets the customer's requirements.

　　 The clothes shop where Ogata ordered clothes is very conscientious.

　　When Ogata came to pick up the clothes, he also gave Ogata a small gift-a fan with their Ogata bellflower pattern carved on the handle of the fan.

　　 In Ogata’s impression, this seems to be the first time he wears clothes embroidered with his own family pattern.

　　 The one who followed Ogata into the room was naturally Amachi.

　　 Amachi lowered his head slightly, folded his hands in front of him, followed behind Ogata, and walked slowly into the room.

The hair is combed into a bun of Kindaka Shimada, and the kimono, gown, bottom of the gown, belt, and tabi are all white as snow. The accessories such as sword, lace and Suehiro on the chest are also white, and they are worn on the head. Wearing a headdress called "Kakuin"—this is what Ah Ding now wears.

　　 The costume of Ading is naturally the wedding gown that girls wear when they get married-Bai Wugou.

　　 There are generally two types of white and non-glossy headdresses: white cotton hats and horns.

A "white cotton hat" is a big oval hat. Wearing a "white cotton hat" means not letting anyone but the groom see the bride's face before the end of the wedding, and it also means not to bring the bride's hair to the groom's house. The "spiritual power" hidden in, means eliminating disasters.

As for the "corner hidden", it is to wrap a circle of white silk around the bride's hair bun, and then wear coral hairpin or silver hairpin for decoration. The hope of Germany.

When 　　 was shopping for Bai Wugou, Ah Ting thought that the "white cotton hat" was too ugly. He wore it like a helmet, so he chose "Kakuyin" as his white Wugou headwear.

　　 The two who finally arrived at the scene walked to the northernmost end of the room without rushing or changing, and then sat side by side.

　　 On the right hand side of Ogata sits Genichi, Makimura, Kondo, and Kayu in order.

On the left hand side of 　　Amachi, there are Uncle Kei, Lin, Makimura, Asai, and Shimada in order.

　　 Generally speaking, the parents closest to the bride and groom are the parents of the bride and groom.

Both Ogata and Amachi’s parents are no longer alive. Although Keishu and Amachi are not related by blood, they are closely related to each other as an uncle and nephew, and Amachi has always regarded Qingshu as his half-father, so Kekishu Sitting in the position closest to Ah Ding, there is no problem at all.

　　 But who should sit in the position closest to Ogata? This is difficult.

　　 After discussion with Lin and others, it was finally decided that Yuanyi would take this position.

　　Genichi can be regarded as Ogata’s master.

　　 A while ago, Ogata has just developed two new tricks, "Dragon Tail·Shanshen" and "Shui Luo· Erlian" under the guidance of Genichi.

　　 So Genichi is undoubtedly the best person to sit in this position.

　　 After the two protagonists, Ogata and Amachi, arrived, the wedding officially began.

　　 first is the three offering ceremony.

　　 A small table was placed in front of 　　 Ogata and Amachi. On the table, a small, medium, and large red light-bottomed wine glass and a jug of wine were prepared early in the morning.

　　Ogata first picked up the smallest size wine glass, poured almost half a glass of wine, and then held the small wine glass to his lips.

　　 There are regulations on how to drink these wines.

　　 Don't be stuffy in one mouthful, you have to drink it in three portions.

　　 In the first 2 sips, I only let my lips squeeze the wine lightly, until the third sip I completely drank the wine in the glass.

　　 After drinking the drink from the clean glass, Ogata handed the small glass in his hand to Amachi beside him.

　　 After refilling the small wine glass with half a glass of wine, Amachi repeated Ogata's steps just now, and drank the wine in the glass three times.

　　 After both of them finished drinking with this small wine glass, Ah Ting put down the small wine glass in his hand and picked up the medium-sized wine glass.

　　 This time I changed to Ah Ding to drink first.

Amachi poured half a glass of wine into this medium glass, and drank it in three times as before, then handed this medium glass to Ogata, and poured half a glass of wine into this medium glass, and then Ogata also divided it three times Drink the wine in the medium glass.

　　 After drinking the wine in the medium glass, Ogata put down the medium glass, picked up the largest glass, and then repeated the drinking steps just now.

　　 First, he drank the wine in the clean glass in three sips, and then handed the big wine glass to Amachi who was next to him to drink.

　　 This is the "Three Offering Ceremony". The "Three Offering Ceremony" is also called "Three Three Nine Degrees", which is a bit similar to China's "Jiao Cup Liquor".

　　Three wine glasses of different sizes symbolize heaven, earth, and people.

　　 "Three" is an auspicious positive number in Japanese culture, so the drinks in these three glasses are drunk three times.

　　 The three wine glasses are divided into three drinks, so both the bride and groom have to drink nine sips. In Japanese culture, "nine" is a very positive number, representing supreme joy and auspiciousness.

　　 After the "Three Offerings Ceremony" was held, the next session was "Oath Reading".

try{mad1('gad2');}catch(ex){}　　The bridegroom is responsible for recitation of the oath. The bride only needs to recite his own name when reciting the vow’s name at the end.

　　 By the way-Ogata and their oaths were written by Mamiya.

　　 When Ogata was about to find professionals to help transcribe the oath, he just said quietly in Mamiya next to Ogata:

　　 "I have attended many weddings before, so I will write an oath."

　　 So Ouji held a try and asked Mamiya to help write the oath.

　　 And the oath written by Mamiya is really quite formal...

How formal is 　　?

　　 is so formal that the entire oath is written in ancient Japanese that is thousands of years ago...

　　 Of course, Ogata doesn’t speak ancient Japanese. Rather, there are few people who can speak ancient Japanese. Only the kind of people who have received very high education can understand ancient Japanese.

　　 These days, Ogata has been practising secretly reading this oath, until the tongue is almost knotted, only to reluctantly read this oath in ancient Japanese.

　　 After the "Sanken Ceremony" was held, Ogata took out the vow that Mamiya had written for him early in the morning, and began to read it aloud:

　　 "Choose this auspicious day for the wedding."

　　 "From now on, we must respect and love each other, organize families, share joys and sorrows, and live forever."

　　 "May we both be happy forever, and I swear by this."

　　 "The second year of Kuanzheng, November 11."

　　 "Husband: Ogata Itase."

　　 After Ogata’s voice fell, Amachi immediately said loudly:

　　 "Wife: Tachi."

The oath of 　　 is generally very short, but because this oath is written in complicated ancient Japanese, Ogata’s short oath took almost half a minute to finish.

　　 After reading the oath in Ogata and Amachi, the wedding was over.

　　 It takes less than 10 minutes from the arrival of Ogata and Amachi to the completion of the wedding—the pre-person wedding is so short.

Some poorer courts may omit the "Three Dedication Ceremony" when holding a pre-style wedding. If the "Three Dedication Ceremony" is omitted, the time will be shorter, and only the affirmation will be enough. If it is fast enough, the wedding can be completed in only 2 minutes.

　　 The wedding was over, and it was a banquet.

　　 Acho temporarily retreated, replaced the white Wugou on his body, and replaced it with a red and yellow color gown.

　　The so-called "wearing gown" is actually a female dress, which is only worn on various formal occasions.

　　 Bai Wugou is also called "white gown".

　　 And "color gowns" are colorful gowns.

　　According to the rules, when the bride finishes the wedding and begins the banquet, she has to change to a white gown and wear a colorful gown.

　　 And the coloring gown must have the husband's family pattern on it, which means that he is infected by the husband's family style and is reborn in a new family.

　　 Now this set of red and yellow color gowns that Amachi has put on is embroidered with the Ogata family pattern: Bellflower pattern.

　　 This color gown from Amachi was naturally bought newly, and the people at the clothing store embroidered Ogata's bellflower pattern on it.

　　 After changing clothes in A-cho, the banquet can be officially announced, and the originally solemn room gradually becomes lively.

　　...

　　...

"By the way, I didn't know that Ogata's family pattern is lisianthus flower until the other day when Brother Ogata went to make a custom-made hakama hakama." Makimura poured wine into his mouth while still sitting. Ogata in the main seat said so.

　　 Mucun is a physique that recovers quickly from wounds. Although it is still far from being healed, she can barely jump around and drink heavily.

“After all, I’ve never said it before.” Ogata sipped his glass of wine and continued, “To be honest, I’ve forgotten the last time I wore clothes embroidered with family patterns, or used engraved When is the household pattern utensils."

　　In Ogata’s impression, this was the first time he wore clothes embroidered with their Ogata’s bellflower pattern after traveling to the Edo period.

　　 On weekdays, there are actually very few opportunities to wear clothes with your own house pattern or use appliances with your own house pattern.

　　 "The bellflower flower..." Mamiya said in a half-joking tone, "Unexpectedly, Ogata-kun, your family used the beautiful and famous "flower-shaped family pattern"."

　　 "Is the "bellflower" the family crest given by your ancestors, or the family crest chosen by your ancestors?"

As soon as 　　Mamiya's words fell, Okinawa shrugged with a wry smile, and said:

　　 "I don't know. I think my ancestors thought that the pattern of bellflower is very handsome, so let's use the pattern of bellflower as the family's family pattern."

　　 Random use of family patterns was actually very common in the Edo period. Many warriors and commoners regarded the family crest as handsome, and regarded it as the family crest.

　　 Because of the abuse of family crests, according to the statistics of later Japan, there were more than 12,000 family crests in Japan during the Edo period.

"The bellflower pattern is pretty good." Makimura carefully looked at the bellflower pattern that will be embroidered on Ogata's haori, and grinned, "It looks very elegant. After the old man Ogata put on the clothes with the bellflower pattern, the whole People have become more refined."

　　 "I think so too." Amachi sitting next to Ogata echoed with a smile.

　　 Ogata still agrees with what Makimura said just now. He also thinks that the bellflower pattern is very beautiful.

　　 It's better to say-"Flower-shaped family pattern" is not ugly.

　　 Every kind of "flower-shaped family pattern" has a very high value.

　　...

　　...

　　Makimura and Kondo are both kind of life treasure characters.

　　 Especially Kondo.

　　 For this wedding, in addition to Uncle Kei and the group of Gourd House, Ogata also invited Kondo and Guao over.

　　The melon is not bad. I worked with Uncle Qing to rescue the "smear" in Shiranui, so I knew him very well. I also had a brief time with the group of Huluwu.

　　 And Kondo doesn’t know anyone except Ogata and Amachi.

　　 It is someone who is not very good at communicating with people. It will be embarrassing to participate in this kind of wedding where you basically don’t know anyone, and I don’t know who to talk to.

　　 But this kind of thing doesn't happen to Kondo.

　　 is the self-familiar Kondo, and everyone who was present at such an astonishing speed has been acquainted...

　　While getting acquainted with everyone present, he did not forget to promote the place where he is now working-Beifeng House.

　　 It is also thanks to Kondo, who is familiar with himself, and Makimura, who is also familiar with Kondo, that makes this small banquet gradually lively.

　　 Everyone was sitting properly.

　　 After the atmosphere of the banquet gradually became lively, everyone slowly stopped sitting in their original positions.

　　 Ogata and Amachi stepped down from the main seat and sat down with Lin and the others, drinking and chatting.

　　 Lin and they no longer sit in two rows properly, and everyone sits where they want to sit.

　　 The wedding of Ogata and Amachi started at about 15:00.

　　 It is autumn, and the sky is getting dark fast, so before I know it, the sky is slowly getting darker.

　　 Ogata can't remember how much he drank.

　　 Today is my happy event. It is the happiest day since this year. In addition, I have recovered nearly 70% of my injuries. It doesn't matter if I drink a little bit more, so Ogata indulges himself a little bit.

　　 For Genichi, Makimura, and Kondo’s toasts, Ogata is always there.

　　 And Genichi, Makimura and the others are also very rude, filling Ogata with wine round after round.

　　Although Ogata's drink volume is okay, but this way of drinking is really unbearable.

　　 When night fell, Ogata already felt his head hurt.

　　 On the other hand, Yuanyi, Mucun and them—still very energetic.

　　They are all kind of wine tycoons, especially Yuanyi. Yuanyi is usually the kind of fierce man who drinks wine as water and can drink for a day.

　　 For them, such a little wine is only to the extent that it can make them slightly drunk.

　　 In order to cheer himself up a little bit, Ogata temporarily left the table in the name of going to the toilet, intending to blow the air outside to boost his spirit.

　　 There is a window in a corridor of the house.

　　 Ogata, who temporarily left the table, walked quickly to this corridor, opened the window of this corridor, and then stretched his head out of the window.

　　 The cold night breeze is blowing.

　　 Ogata’s face is now faintly red because he has drunk a lot of wine, and it feels a little hot to the touch.

　　'S slightly hot face touched the cold night breeze, inexplicably comfortable.

　　 reminds Ogata of the feeling of returning to the air-conditioned room from the hot outdoors in the summer of his previous life.

　　 Under the blowing of the cold night breeze, the pain in his head was slightly reduced.

　　 Just as Ogata was enjoying the night breeze and regaining her spirit silently, a female voice with a bit of surprise in her tone sounded beside Ogata:

　　 "Ogata-sama, are you here to blow your hair too?"

　　 is the voice of melon.

　　 Ogata turned his head to look, and saw that Guasheng, who was flushed with the same blushing face, was walking towards him slowly.

　　Guansheng put life back on track some time ago.

　　 Continue to work at Yoshihara as before, and continue to defend Yoshihara with the name "Yoshihara Concentric" given to her by the wandering girls.

　　 In order to attend Ogata’s wedding, Guasheng took a day off today.

　　 "Yes..." Ogata said with a wry smile, "Gen, they are too good to drink, so I came out to take a breath."

　　 "I also came out to rest." Gua Sheng also smiled bitterly, "I don't drink very well. I drank a little more just now, so I don't feel very comfortable now, so I also want to come out and breathe..."

　　 Ogata will stand next to him, giving up part of his position to Guasheng.

　　 Guasheng walked slowly to the part that Ogata gave up just now, and stood by the open window side by side with Ogata.

　　 After a night wind blew silently together, a smile slowly appeared on Gusheng's face.

　　 After this smile appeared, Gua Sheng broke the silence between the two:

　　 "It feels like a dream during this time."

　　 "Ichitosai, whom I have always respected and admired, suddenly appeared in front of my eyes."

　　 "I worked in Yoshihara for a while with Ichitosai who worshipped."

　　 "Then Ichitosai avenged me and destroyed the nasty place in Shiranui."

　　 Speaking of this, Guasheng paused.

　　 then turned his head and cast his serious eyes on Ogata.

　　 "There are so many places to thank you. Thank you very much."

　　 "I want to thank you too." Gusheng just finished his words, and Xuyi smiled, "Thanks to you, I had a great time working in Yoshihara."

　　 "I just did what I should do as a senior." Gua Sheng smiled and responded jokingly.

　　 After being silent for a while, Guasheng then asked:

　　 "Now that the wedding with Ms. Acho is over, are you going to leave for Ezo land too?"

　　 "Hmm." Ogata's expression became a little serious, "We are going to leave in a few days."

　　Guansheng's expression is also a little more serious: "Although I don't know Ezo land very much, I have also heard of how dangerous Ezo land is."

　　 "It is said that last year, Ezo just had a riot."

　　 "So-you must pay attention to safety."

　　 "Well. Of course." At this point, Ogata's serious expression gradually disappeared, and then joked, "I went to Ezo with the mood of going to Longtan Tiger Den."

　　 "When you are done with your own affairs, you are always welcome to return to Edo."

　　 The serious color on Gua Sheng's face also faded.

　　 "When you come back, you can come to me at any time. I will do my best to treat you to a delicious meal."

　　 "At that time, you can also tell me what you saw and heard in Ezo."

　　Guansheng’s cheeks are filled with a smile.

　　 "Unless something happens, I will definitely be in Yoshihara."

　　 "Are you going to keep working at Yoshihara?" Ogata asked.

　　 "Of course." Guasheng replied without hesitation, "Yoshihara is now my home for me."

　　 "And, it's like Master Ogata, you have something you should do now."

　　 "I also have...what I should accomplish."

　　 Guasheng cast his gaze out of the window and looked into the distance.

try{mad1('gad2');}catch(ex){}　　 "Although my strength is rather weak."

　　 "Although my help to the Yoshihara girls is only a symptom rather than a permanent cure."

　　 "But I still want to do my best to help these disadvantaged girls."

　　 "After all, someone just told me a while ago."

　　 Guasheng returned his smiling eyes to Ogata.

　　 "‘If you can give a light, give it a light. Even if the light is like a firefly, it can bring some light to the darkness. There is no need to wait for a torch to illuminate the darkness.’"

　　 Guasheng chanted the words Ogata had told her before softly.

　　 "I decided to stay in Yoshiwara."

　　 "To shine as far as I can."

　　 Ogata looked at the melon next to him, a little surprised in his eyes.

　　 This sentence was said to Guasheng when he and Guasheng were sent to support a certain tea house.

　　 That night, I also encountered Takikawa who was making trouble in the tea house—but that's a story.

　　 At that time, Guasheng met a certain "Yunou Hara" whom he had met before, and was very emotional, and doubted the work he had done all the time. I wondered whether his work was meaningful, and whether he helped Yoshihara's Yunyu.

　　 At that time, looking at the confused melon, Ogata took advantage of the flow and said this famous saying that a great writer in the previous life said.

　　 The Guasheng now is completely different from the Guasheng at that time.

　　 The current Gusheng has firm eyes in his eyes, without a trace of confusion.

　　 Looking at the melons who had been so different from before, a smile appeared uncontrollably in the depths of Ogata's eyes.

　　 "It seems you don't seem to be confused anymore."

　　 "Because I was inspired by someone."

　　 Guasheng looked at Ogata.

　　 "Whether it is a feudal clan's daimyo, or the powerful Shiranuiri and the shogunate, that person never flinches in the face of these behemoths."

　　 "I decided to learn from his courage."

　　 "Go straight down on the path you want to take without going forward."

　　 Ogata's pupils were a little bit more surprised.

　　After looking straight at Guasheng for a while, Ogata slowly reduced the astonishment in the depths of his eyes.

　　 replaces "surprise" with a faint "satisfaction".

"...Well said. Melon." Ogata nodded softly, with a touch of relief in his eyes and face, "When I fight in Ezo Land or other places, you have to work hard. "

　　 I will return to Edo again when everything is settled in the future. "

　　 "By then, you can ask us to eat something delicious."

　　 "It would be great if it were to take us to a delicious restaurant that only Edo locals know."

　　 "I will." Gua Sheng followed with a smile, "By then, you can rest assured and eat boldly. I still have a lot of savings."

　　 Hearing this joke of Guasheng, Ogata and Guasheng laughed softly at the same time.

　　...

　　...

　　 After the night darkened—

　　Edo, Kitamachi Magistrates' Office—

　　Because of Edo’s implementation of the "Month-Ban Account System", Minami and Kita-chos implemented the "Month" as a unit to manage Kyoto in turn.

　　 Last month, in October, the Kitamachi Magistrate was responsible for managing Edo.

　　 Now it’s November, and the responsibility for managing Edo naturally falls on the Minamimachi Magistrate.

　　 But-although the Kitamachi Magistrate has nothing to do this month, it does not mean that the Kitamachi Magistrate is now empty.

　　 There are still a small number of officials staying at the Kitamachi Magistrate’s Office to prevent outsiders from breaking into the Magistrate’s Office.

　　 converted to the time unit of the modern earth, it is almost 23 o'clock now.

　　 In this era, it is a proper late night.

On the left and right sides of the gate of the Kitamachi Magistrate’s Office, there are two officials holding thorns in their hands.

　　 Because the night was already deep, sleepiness surged up uncontrollably, causing the four officials to yawn frequently.

　　 At the same time, because it is late at night, there are no pedestrians on the street in front of the four.

　　 Except for the "whoop" sound of the night breeze, there is no other sound.

　　 This too quiet environment aggravated the sleepiness of the four of them.

　　 Just as they concentrated their minds and struggled with the sleepiness in their minds, and waited for the shift time to come, a burst of strange music suddenly came into their ears.

　　 This strange music came from the end of the street on their left.

　　 The music is getting louder and louder—the music is approaching the four of them.

　　 The four people frowned and looked towards the street on the left.

　　 The humidity is heavy tonight, and there is a thin mist everywhere.

　　 A figure slowly emerged from the misty street with no rush.

　　 After seeing the appearance of this figure, the brows of the four officials wrinkled deeper.

　　 The appearance of this figure is not strange.

　　 The Fukusa Kasa that can cover the whole head with the head wear, this kind of Fukusa Kasa is called "Tenkai". Both hands are wearing armours, a cassock is hung on the neck, a pair of dirty white stockings are worn on the feet, the legs are tied to the feet, and a knife without a knife is hung on the back of the waist. Holding the shakuhachi in both hands, playing there.

　　 This person is extremely burly, he should be a man, and he is a particularly strong man.

　　 Looking at this person's weird dress, an official raised his eyebrows and muttered in a puzzled tone: "Void monk?"

　　 There are many tribes of Buddhism in Japan.

　　 Among these many tribes, there is a very famous sect: Puhuazong.

　　 People usually call the monks of Puhuazong as "empty monks".

　　 The Void Monk is arguably the most special monk.

　　 Void monks all wear a deep grass hat named "Sky Cover" that can cover the entire head. They wear hand armors on both hands, without shaved or monk clothes, and only hang a robe on the neck.

　　The time they spend wandering around is much longer than the time they spend in the Buddhist temple.

　　 The Void Monk spends most of his time in wandering around the year.

When 　　 wandered around, he would often carry a musical instrument called "Shakuhachi".

　　 wandered aimlessly while playing the shakuhachi, basically relying on begging for food while wandering around.

　　 The Void Monks are special not only because they dress very strangely.

　　 What is special about them is that the Shogunate gave them quite a few privileges.

　　Puhuazong is not a sect that anyone can convert to.

　　 Only the children of the Wu family can convert to Puhuazong.

　　 In other words, civilians cannot enter the Puhua Sect and become nihilistic monks.

　　Because the Puhua Sect only accepts the children of the martial arts, every nihilistic monk is a "former warrior."

　　 The shogunate gave the nihilistic monks of the Puhua Sect two great privileges.

　　 The first privilege is the power of the saber. Every imaginary monk can wear the sword.

　　 The second privilege is to be able to travel around Japan freely without any hindrance.

　　 The reason why the shogunate gave these two privileges to the nihilistic monks is also very simple-the shogunate and the Puhua sect are cooperative.

Since the birth of Puhuazong, there has always been an atmosphere and culture that encourages monks to wander around.

　　 So the Edo shogunate simply cooperated with Fuhuazong—giving them these two privileges, allowing them to travel around more conveniently.

　　Puhuazong only needs to do one thing to return the shogunate.

　　 That is the secret agent who served as the shogunate, investigating the movements and people's sentiments of the feudal lords.

　　In other words, many nihilistic monks are actually secret agents of the Edo shogunate.

　　 wandering around in the name of spiritual practice, acting as a spy.

　　 The Edo Shogunate also specially helped Puhuazong build a new Buddhist temple-Suzuho-ji Temple, which is located in Edo.

　　 The phantom monk who suddenly appeared at the entrance of the misty street, while blowing the shakuhachi in his hand, walked unhurriedly towards the four officials guarding the gate of the Kitamachi Enforcement Office.

　　 The strange music heard by the officials came from the shakuhachi in the hands of this imaginary monk.

　　 Looking at the vanity monk slowly approaching them, the brows of the four officials wrinkled deeper.

　　 "Stop!" An official sent the thorn in his hand and pointed directly at the vain monk, "If you are here to beg for food, please leave, we don't have any extra food on our body now."

　　 "Leave now!"

When the officer pointed the thorn in his hand at the imaginary monk again, the other three officers also hurriedly followed up, slanting the thorn in his hand as if facing an enemy, and pointed the thorn at the imaginary monk again. .

　　 There is a reason why these four officials are so nervous.

　　 The reputation of the Void Sang is getting worse and worse recently.

　　The reason is that many thieves pretend to be nihilistic monks, wandering around as nihilistic monks, and then commit crimes.

　　 No one knows if the imaginary monk in front of him is a real monk.

　　 It's late at night, and there are no dogs in the street at this time. This nihilistic monk suddenly walked towards them while blowing the shakuhachi in the middle of the night-how suspicious it really looked.

　　 When the official yelled "Stop", the vanity monk had already stopped.

　　 But-although he has stopped, the movements of his hands have not stopped.

　　 He stood on the spot and continued to play the shakuhachi in his hand.

　　 Because this imaginary monk wears a "sky cover" that can cover the head, the officials can't even see the face of the imaginary monk.

"Didn't you hear what we said?" The officer shouted again in an impatient tone, "Don't blow! Leave quickly! If you don't leave, we will treat you as a suspicious person! Let you eat for a while. Prison food!"

　　The voice of the official officer fell, and the Void Sang finally stopped playing the shakuhachi in his hand.

　　 Then...

　　噌!

　　 The sound of the sharp blade unsheathing suddenly exploded.

　　 Void Seng loosed his hands at a very fast speed, released the shakuhachi in his hand, and then leaned his hand to the back, and pulled out the knife without a knife hanging on his back.

　　 His grip is very strange, not a front grip, but a reverse grip.

　　 At the same moment when he pulled out the knife at his back with his backhand, the Void Monk turned into an afterimage and rushed towards the four officials in front of him.

　　 The blade flashed.

　　 The knife in the hands of the Void Monk swung 4 times in a row, throwing out 4 handfuls of blood.

After swinging the 4th sword, the Void Monk swiftly jumped to the distance, avoiding the blood spurting from the officials' bodies, and at the same time swiping the knife in his hand towards the ground. The blade sprinkled outwards, dripped onto the ground, and turned into a dark red arc on the ground.

Snapped.

　　 Shakuhachi's landing sound sounded.

　　 After this imaginary monk spilled the blood attached to his blade, the shakuhachi he had just released just hit the ground.

　　 When the Void Monk returned his sword to its sheath, a compliment sounded from where he had just appeared:

　　 "Luo Luo, you seem to be better at UU reading www.uukahnshu.com."

　　 As soon as this compliment fell, a young man slowly emerged from the misty street.

　　 This young man has a delicate face, and he wears an exquisite knife with a purple handle on his waist.

　　 A burly man who was not inferior to this imaginary monk followed closely behind the young man.

　　 After the young man appeared, the Void Monk immediately bowed and saluted the young man.

　　 "Master Toyotomi. Thank you for your compliment."

　　Youth—that is, Toyotomi smiled, then put on a tone of helplessness and continued:

　　 "But every time you kill, do you have to blow your shakuhachi first?"

"This is my habit." The nihilistic monk called "Lo Luo" by Toyotomi said in a calm tone. "If I don't play my own funeral music before killing someone, I will feel when I kill someone. Very unaccustomed."

　　 "Forget it, as long as you like it." After that, Toyotomi strode towards the gate of the north magistrate in front of him, "Koharu, Lou Luo, come with me, and we will surprise the shogunate together."

　　 "Yes!"*2

　　 The strong man who appeared with Toyotomi is Gao Qing.

　　 After he shouted "Yes" in unison with Lou Luo, he followed Toyotomi to stride towards the gate of the Kitamachi Magistrate where no one was defending anymore.

　　*******

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　　 In the comments of the corresponding paragraphs of this chapter, I have posted pictures of motifs, hakama hakama, white Wugou, and white cotton hat. If you are interested, please click on it and take a look.