I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

When Ogata was coughing, the old man who called himself Yujin continued.

"I probably saw them two more than a year ago."

"The two impressed me quite deeply, so I still remember them both."

After coughing hard and barely calming his breath, Ogata asked the old man named Yujin anxiously.

"Have you seen these two people?! Do you know where they are?"

While asking, he also carefully looked at Tang Shen's appearance.

Tang Shen seems to be at least 60 years old, and his black face shows that this face has been associated with the outside sun for a long time.

The gray beard on his chin did not match his energetic eyes.

He wore a furry hat like a dog-skin hat, a scarf around his neck, gloves on his hands, and moccasin boots on his feet. Only the skin of the face was exposed.

Although Tang Shen's clothes were too thick, he couldn't see his figure clearly, but judging from his tight facial skin, his figure should be thin.

He held a thick wooden crutch in his arms. This crutch was half a bowl thick and could be used as a pole.

"I don't know, I and them are just a fate. After seeing them more than a year ago, I haven't seen them again."

"Then can you tell us, where did you meet them at the time?" This time, Ah Ding asked.

"It's okay, it's okay. But—" Yujin opened his small eyes slightly, and looked at Ogata and Amachi. "What do you two do with those two? Are you his relatives?"

"I have a disease that is very difficult to treat." Ogata said, "I heard other doctors introduce that these two are very skilled doctors, maybe they can cure my disease, so I went all the way to find out. they."

"That's it... Forget it, anyway, those two people are not relatives to me, you want to know how I met the two at the time, then I'll tell you."

"Most of my pets are hunted by myself."

Tang Shen puffed up at the pile of wooden cages in front of him that contained various small animals.

"So every once in a while, I will go deep into the wild to hunt animals."

"When I was out hunting animals more than a year ago, I encountered a big blizzard."

"In order to avoid the blizzard, I hid in a certain cave."

"As soon as I hid in that cave, I saw the two people."

"The two people were also to avoid the blizzard. At that time, it was dark. They didn't have enough energy and time to find other shelters, so I asked if I could share this cave with them."

"The cave is so big that it won't be crowded even if 10 people go in."

"I have lived so long and have seen a lot of storms, so even if they want to make trouble, I still have a way to deal with them, so I allowed them to come in."

"What happened next is still fresh in my memory."

"The younger of the two, when they first entered the cave, kept silent. I greeted him, and he ignored me."

"When I was cooking, he was sitting next to me and stared at me cooking without expression."

"I don't care too much. I just think of him as the kind of person with a more withdrawn character."

"Then—when my meal was almost ready, the guy suddenly laughed."

"Showing a very happy smile and making that kind of "hehehe" laughter."

"I didn't say anything with the older person who was with him at the time. He just laughed inexplicably like that."

"Can you imagine that kind of scene? It's a person who has been stubborn and silent just now, suddenly showing a very happy smile and making a'hehehe' laugh."

"When I saw that guy suddenly laughed out of nowhere, my goose bumps were all up."

Ogata imagined the picture.

A person who had been expressionless just now suddenly laughed out inexplicably in the next second, and the laughter was still "hehehe"-this picture was indeed quite frightening.

"After this guy laughed out loud, the older person who was with him grabbed the guy's shoulder with one hand, shook the guy, and said,'Wake up, don't be like this'."

"The older guy didn't show any surprise when he saw the young guy who was walking with him suddenly let out a weird laugh."

"I thought that young guy might have a problem here."

Tang Shen stretched out his finger and poked his head.

"I remember I cooked a pot of fish soup that night."

"I will share my pot of fish soup with those two people."

"While drinking the fish soup I cooked, the young man finally spoke."

"He chatted three words with the old guy who was with him."

"Chat?" Ogata interrupted. "What did they talk about?"

"Nothing special." Tang Shen shrugged, "just talked about three sentences."

"The young man said to the old guy:'I don't know if Junior Brother Xuanren has a good dinner right now.'"

"Then the old guy said: ‘who knows, he has never had the habit of eating dinner before’."

"Then the young guy said again: ‘I finally helped him correct the bad habit of skipping dinner. I really hope he can keep it and don’t let this bad habit repeat itself."

"They talked about these three sentences and stopped talking after they finished talking."

As soon as Yujin's words fell, Ogata and Amachi's eyes lit up.

They heard a familiar name: Xuan Ren.

Xuanren——Xuanzheng's little apprentice, Xuanzhen's junior.

In the summer of last year, Ogata and the others took a lot of effort to finally find Xuanjin in Kyoto, who was left in Kyoto by Xuanzheng and Xuanzhen, and knew nothing about what their masters and brothers were doing before.

It was through Xuanren's mouth that Ogata learned that Xuanzheng and Xuanzhen had come to Ezo land.

While Ogata and Amachi were secretly excited, Yujin went on to say:

"The two of them went to bed after eating."

"They left at dawn."

"Since that night, I haven't seen them again."

Tang Shenyan briefly explained the whole story of his encounter with the master and apprentice.

"Did those two talk about anything? Or did they tell you anything?" Ogata asked.

"No." Tang Shen shook his head, "The two of them were very silent."

"The two of them only talked about the three sentences I just said during the meal."

"Then I didn't say anything again."

"That guy didn't talk to me from start to finish."

"As for the old guy only greeted me when he entered the cave, and said goodbye to me when he left the next morning, he didn't say anything else to me."

"Then do you remember which direction they two left?" Ogata continued.

"Remember. They went north."

"Northern?" Ogata raised an eyebrow.

"Well. I only know that they have gone north. As for where they are going, I don't know."

"I remember I saw them both in the Matsumae Clan near Xiongshi."

"If you go northward from that place...you will leave the Matsumae clan and enter Ezo's territory."

"Ezo's site...?" Ogata's brows frowned. "That means...Is it possible that the two of them went to Ezo's site..."

"Perhaps." Tang Shen shrugged, "I haven't seen the two of them since the brief meeting anyway."

"...Thank you very much." After thinking for a while, Ogata stood up, bowed solemnly to Yujin and thanked him.

And Amachi also hurriedly stood up with Ogata and bowed to Yujin.

Ogata: "A little thank you, it's not a tribute."

Ogata has two purses.

A purse is dedicated to holding relatively large amounts of money.

The other purse is dedicated to a smaller amount of money.

Ogata took out three douban silver from his coin purse, and handed it to Yujin.

"Oh!" Tang Shen raised his eyebrows, "Would you like to thank me? Thanks a lot, then I will accept it unceremoniously."

After all, Yujin accepted the three douban silver that Ogata handed without hesitation.

"Hehe, there will be money for wine in the next few days."

After receiving the broken silver from Ogata, Yujin raised his head and asked Ogata:

"Are you planning to go to Ezo's site to find those two people?"

"If you plan to go to Ezo's site to find those two people in the future, for the sake of thanking you just now, let me tell you a piece of information that might be useful to you."

"You go to Rong Street to the east and find a fur shop called'Dahewu'."

Tang Shen raised his hand and pointed to the east.

"The owner of that fur shop has a part-time job in renting out a dog sled."

"You can rent a dog sled from them."

"Although you can't take you to the Ezo site, it's okay to take you to the northern border of the Matsumae clan."

"If you are willing, you can rent a dog sled."

"Dog sledding...Thank you, your information is indeed very useful to us." Ogata bowed to Yujin again.

Tang Shen smiled and waved his hand: "You don't need to be so polite."

...

...

Ogata and Amachi bid farewell to Yujin and left in front of Yujin's pet stand.

After leaving Yujin's pet stand far behind him, Ogata can finally breathe.

Although the various small animals in the cage in the pet stall of Tangshen are very cute.

But they are really smelly...

Especially the red fox.

Tang Shen also seemed to know that the red fox had a strong smell, so he put the wooden cage that contained the red fox in the back.

But even so, Ogata can still smell the "body smell" that is constantly emanating from the red fox, which is far superior to the animals in other cages.

After leaving Yushen’s pet stall, Ah Ding mumbled immediately:

"Good luck... I found the clue so quickly..."

"Yeah..." Ogata couldn't help but exclaimed with emotion, "The luck is so good that I feel incredible..."

Ogata felt that his luck was more and more miraculous.

He always feels that his luck has been jumping repeatedly between the extremes of "extremely bad" and "extremely good."

Sometimes luck is too bad-the first day I entered Kyoto last summer, I was inexplicably involved in a series of troubles.

But sometimes it’s not good enough—take Kyoto as an example. Although I was inexplicably involved in a series of troubles on the first day I entered Kyoto, I met again with Amachi on that day.

This time, Ogata's luck jumped to the extreme of "excellent" again.

Originally, both Ogata and Amachi were ready to fight a "protracted battle" and it took an unknown amount of time to find relevant clues.

But who wanted to find a clue from the first person who asked the question on the first day.

And it's still a very useful clue.

Based on the information provided by Tang Shen just now, it is basically certain-the two are Xuanzheng and Xuanzhen. After all, there should be no one who would say "Junior Brother Xuanren" besides Xuanzhen.

But the information Yujin just mentioned has one thing that Ogata cares very much about.

That is--Xuanzhen's state is quite strange.

The face was expressionless for the first second, and a strange smile suddenly appeared in the next. Xuanzheng was shaking his shoulders while saying "Don't be like this"-no matter what you think, it feels very abnormal.

Not only Ogata cares about this place, but Amachi also cares about Xuanzhen's state.

"A Yi." Ah Ding hesitated, "That Xuan Zhen...is there something wrong with his sane?"

While talking, Ah Ting nodded his head with his finger.

In Ah Ding’s cognition, the only people who have a blank face in the last second and a sudden laugh in the next are probably the only ones who have problems with their heads.

"...I don't know." Ogata shook his head, "No one knows what's wrong with that person except seeing the mysterious side with his own eyes."

"That's right...what are we going to do now?" Ah Ding asked, "Should we go north to find new clues?"

"...This can only be done." Ogata sighed lightly, then smiled bitterly, "Since it is rare to find the clues of the two people going north, we can only follow the north to find new clues."

"How to find?" Ah Ding asked next.

"Since the two of them are very likely to enter Ezo's territory...then you can only ask the Ezo settlements in the north."

"A set of settlements ask the past."

"There is no other way but this."

"Should you ask me from one settlement to another..." Ah Ding also smiled bitterly, "I really hope that the Ezo settlements we met can be kinder..."

...

...

Now that useful clues have been found, there is no need to stay in Matsumae Castle.

After a brief discussion with Amachi, Ogata came to an unanimous decision-Heyaki was very fast, and he set off directly north today.

Now that they have decided to leave today, the two plan to go to the fur house that Tangshen recommended just now that has a part-time "dog sledding" service.

The two went back to the hotel first and took all their luggage.

They didn't expect that this hotel, which they thought would have stayed in for a long time, would withdraw so soon.

The two of them took their luggage and went to the east of Songqian City. After looking for the street named "Rongjie", they went to a shop directly.

Soon, he found the fur shop that Tang Shen just mentioned—Dahewu.

Dahewu is a very stylish shop, with three floors alone.

After entering the first floor of the big room, Okinawa saw a variety of fur products on the shelves.

Ogata didn't come here to buy furs, so he didn't take a look at the furs, and went straight to the counter on the first floor.

A middle-aged man was sitting behind the counter on the first floor.

Ogata directly explained his intentions and said that he would rent a dog sled.

The middle-aged man was also unambiguous, saying that he could only send them to the place close to the northern border of the Matsumae clan as far as he could, and then directly quoted a price.

Even if they could only be sent to a place close to the northern border of the Matsumae clan, Ogata was satisfied. Although the price was expensive, it was not unacceptable, so Ogata gave the money happily.

After giving the money, the middle-aged man called a clerk in the store, and after telling him something, he led Ogata and Amachi to the backyard of their large apartment.

Before getting close to the backyard, Xu convenient heard the barking "barking" dog.

After entering the backyard, Ogata's strong smelt peculiar to dogs pounced on Ogata's face.

There are dozens of dogs of different colors in the backyard.

These dogs are large dogs, big enough to be used as mounts for children.

Each dog has strong hair, strong enough to make people rush to rubbing.

"Oh, so cute." Ah Ding beamed his eyes, "Can I touch them?"

"Please," the middle-aged man said in a somewhat proud tone. "Our dogs here have been specially trained. They are not afraid of people and will not bite, as long as you don't provoked them. That's it."

"You wait here for a moment. The guy responsible for pulling you will be here soon."

The middle-aged man stayed where he was, following Ogata and the others, waiting for the arrival of the guy in charge of Raokata and Amachi he just said.

Compared to dogs, Ogata actually prefers cats. He is a pure "cat pie".

And Amachi's preferences seem to be the opposite of Ogata. Compared with cats, Amachi seems to prefer dogs.

Because of different preferences, Ogata does not have such a strong desire to rub the dog.

Only after a while, a young male voice finally sounded behind Ogata and Amachi:

"Sorry for keeping you waiting!"

Ogata turned his head and looked back.

After seeing the face of the master of this young male voice, Ogata was taken aback.

The owner of the voice is a very young man, who looks like he is in his early 20s.

The reason why Ogata was stunned was because this person's facial features were somewhat special.

Not pure and human face.

His facial features are deeper than those of ordinary people, but not too deep.

To give an image metaphor... This person's facial features are between Heren and Ezo.

"Two guest officials, my name is Ichiro Nakahara." While bowing to Ogata and Amachi, the young man said loudly in "Matsumae Clan-style Japanese" mixed with local accents, which was not standard enough. I will be responsible for helping the two to drive the sledge."

...

...

Because it is impossible to drive a dog sled in the city, Ogata and the others had to drag the sled and the dog to the outskirts of the city.

In just over half an hour, they brought the sled and the dog to the outskirts of the city.

Then-

"Can the dog pull so fast?" Ah Ding looked at the four big dogs pulling the sled ahead with a look of surprise.

Just now, Ogata and Amachi got on a huge sleigh large enough to seat four people.

The sled is a long strip, and passengers cannot sit side by side. They can only sit upright like a motorcycle.

Ichiro Nakahara, who was in charge of driving the sledge, sat in the front row, then Ogata sat behind Nakahara, and Amachi sat at the back.

Responsible for pulling this huge sled are four of the big dogs that I saw in the backyard just now.

The young man named Zhongyuan was sitting in the driving seat and only yelled at the four big dogs pulling the sled ahead, and the four big dogs rushed forward pulling the sled like a conditioned reflex.

The speed is far beyond the imagination of Ogata and Amachi.

Both of them saw a dog pulling a sled for the first time.

Before, the two of them had only heard of dog sledding as a characteristic transportation tool in Ezo land.

The dog sledding was originally a means of transportation for the Ezos in Ezo land.

Many Ezos who can afford a dog use it as a means of transportation.

Matsumae Clan also enjoyed cultural exchanges invisibly when he fought Ezos for many years.

The dog sledding was a means of transportation that Matsumae-han and the people learned.

For some unknown reasons, animals in Ezo land are generally very large, and dogs are no exception.

The dogs in Ezo land are big and strong, and a few dogs can pull the sled with people sitting on them.

It was the first time Ogata saw dog sledding and the first time he took a dog sledding.

Unexpectedly, the two of them whose dogs can pull the sled so fast, their faces looked surprised.

"Hahaha." Zhongyuan smiled, "this speed is nothing. In addition to dogs, cats can actually pull sleds, and the speed is not slow."

"Can cats pull sleds too?" Ah Ding exclaimed.

"Yeah." Zhong Yuan nodded, "but I have only heard of it, I have never actually seen it."

"I heard that Lucia cats are big and strong, so many people here use cats to pull sleds."

Matsumae Clan was originally a small clan with only 10,000 stones in total.

Nakahara said: By about 4 in the afternoon, you will be able to reach the northern border of the Matsumae clan.

Central Plains never asked Ogata why they went to the northern border of Matsumae Clan. Only concentrate on driving the sledge.

He held something like a joystick in each of his left and right hands.

Ogata asked Nakahara what these two joysticks did. Nakahara said that the two joysticks were used to adjust the direction, and he used these two joysticks to control the direction of the sled.

All around him is snow except for snow. Ogata is tired of seeing such a scenery from Ou's side.

After the sled drove to a relatively flat place, in order to pass the time, Ogata asked Nakahara in front of him a question he had been curious about ever since he saw Nakahara.

"Mr. Zhongyuan, are you a naturalized Ezo?"

Having said that, Ogata glanced at the profile of Nakatara that was full of Ezo characteristics.

"Hahaha." Zhongyuan laughed a few times, "No, I'm not a naturalized Ezo."

"It's just that my ancestor was a naturalized Ezo."

"My ancestors lived in Songqian City during the Yuanlu reign (AD 1688-AD 1703) and became a naturalized person."

"My grandma is Ming He Ren, so I have both He Ren blood and Ezo blood in my body."

"During the Genroku reign?" Ah Ding said, "Isn't that a hundred years ago?"

"Yes." Zhongyuan nodded, "So I can't be considered a naturalized Ezo, I am a native of Matsushita."

"Now I can't even speak a single Ezo dialect, I can only speak peaceful human language."

"It's more like a person than a person."

"only……"

Speaking of this, a bit of bitterness appeared on Zhongyuan's face.

"Even if I am a native of Matsumae who was born and raised in Matsumae Castle, many people in the city still treat me as Ezo..."

"Kazuto treats me as an Ezo. The Ezos in the city treat me as a Koto..."

"Fortunately, the owner of the shop does not discriminate against Ezo and is willing to hire me as a man in the shop."

"Otherwise, I would be discriminated against by others and by Ezo, then I really don't know how to live."

After that, Nakahara paused, and then quickly turned around and apologized to Ogata and Amachi.

"Ah, sorry, sorry, it seems to have said some heavy topics that are not very interesting."

"Sit firmly! We have entered a flat area, I want to speed up the dog!"

After that, Zhongyuan yelled to the four big dogs in front of him, and then the four big dogs accelerated again, pulling Ogata and others straight forward.

...

...

at the same time--

Ezo land, a certain river——

Rustle...

The sound of using a rice sieve to sift rice sounded one after another on the river.

Eleven men of different ages stood on the bank of the river, holding something like a rice sieve, and constantly shaking the "rice sieve" in their hands by the river water, as if they were sifting something.

Although their actions are like sieving rice, and the thing in their hands is also very similar to a rice sieve, they are not actually sieving rice, and the thing in their hands is not a rice sieve.

Their "rice sieve" is filled with dirt that has just been salvaged from the river.

The utensils in their hands are utensils specially used for sifting gold sand.

They are panning for gold.

At this time, one of the 11 people was extremely strong and sturdy man shouted to the other 10 people:

"Hey! Take a break! Take a break for a while!"

As the brawny man's voice fell, the other 10 people straightened up very obediently, put down the tools they used to pan for gold, and walked towards the camp they had set up not far from the shore.

These 11 people are a group of gold rush groups.

At a time when gold mining has been banned by the shogunate and hated by Ezo, gold mining has become a life-threatening activity with the head pinned to the waist.

Under such pressure, in order to survive, the gold diggers also clumped together.

After the 11 gold prospectors returned to their camp, they sat around a large rock, regaining their strength, while chatting one after another.

"Today I got nothing again." Some very short figure sighed.

"This river doesn't seem to have gold." The person sitting next to him responded.

"Let's look for another two days in this river." The brawny man who let everyone rest just said, "If you still get nothing in two days, then look for another river."

This brawny man can be regarded as their leader, not only is superb swordsmanship, but also has a wealth of gold panning experience.

In such a wild forest, their only entertainment is to chat together.

After chatting briefly with the people around him, the leader suddenly turned his head and said to a warrior who was sitting not far away, who was as thin as a monkey:

"Hey, Grandfather Jiang! Tell us more about the fun facts about you when you were a bounty hunter."

The skinny samurai who was suddenly named was stunned, and then smiled bitterly:

"Boss, the story I can tell is basically finished."

Grandfather Jiang-It looks like a nickname, but it is actually a serious surname, but it is relatively rare.

Grandfather Jiangmoto was a bounty hunter who lived on bounty.

But his skill is mediocre, saying that he is a bounty hunter, but he has never actually caught or killed a wanted criminal.

Having had enough of a poor life, he decided to fight hard-come to Ezo land to pan for gold and get rich.

Determined to break the boat, he snatched some money from a certain Mipu.

Then through various means, smuggled to Ezo land.

Not long after entering Ezo land, I saw this group of gold prospectors.

At the invitation of this group of gold prospectors, grandfather Jiang joined them, became one of them, and followed them to go for gold.

Grandfather Jiang joined them-this was probably more than 3 months ago.

During these three months, Grandfather Jiang followed them around Ezo, panning for gold.

While beware of the shogunate, also beware of Ezo.

Ezo basically hates gold diggers because they think they have ruined their peaceful lives, as well as forests and rivers.

The number of gold diggers who died in the hands of Ezo is far greater than the number of gold diggers who died under the sanctions of the shogunate.

When everyone was resting, in order to pass the time and relax, during these three months, grandfather Jiang was often asked to talk about the interesting things he had encountered when he was a bounty hunter.

After telling the story for more than three months, all the interesting things worth telling about in the belly of grandfather Jiang have basically been told.

Grandfather Jiang's complaint of "I almost have no story to tell" just fell. An older samurai sitting next to Grandfather Jiang smiled and said:

"It's okay! Tell whatever story you think of. Your eloquence is good, and I love listening to you telling stories."

As soon as the voice of the samurai fell, the others responded.

The reason why their leader suddenly asked grandfather Jiang to tell a story was not without reason.

Grandfather Jiang's eloquence is very good, and telling stories is vivid and interesting.

Moreover, although grandfather Jiang had never caught a wanted criminal before, he had encountered many eye-opening things that everyone loved to hear.

Since grandfather Jiang joined the group, listening to grandfather Jiang's stories has become one of the important pastimes for everyone.

Bathed in expectant gazes from everyone, grandfather Jiang scratched his hair with a wry smile, and after thinking for a moment, said:

"Then let me tell you the story of my encounter with Ogata Ichitosai in Kyoto."

"Oh?" The leader raised his eyebrows.

Everyone at the scene cast interested gazes at grandfather Jiang.

"Have you encountered Ogata Ichitosai?" The leader exclaimed in a low voice.

"Yeah." Grandfather Jiang, who still maintained a wry smile, nodded, "I happened to be in Kyoto last summer."

"Then it happened that Ogata Itosai burned Nijo Castle on fire..."

"At that time, when I learned that Ogata Itosai had invaded Nijo Castle, many ronin flocked into Nijo Castle, planning to take Ogata Itosai's head and get rich overnight with Ogata Itosai's head."

"I thought so too."

"Although Ogata Itosai is strong, under the siege of so many people, there may be some flaws in it, and then I just beheaded him."

"Under such a fluke, I followed the others into the castle tower in Nijo Castle."

"When I first went to the castle tower in Nijo Castle, I regretted it."

"Ogata Ichitosai-he is not a human at all."

"Being besieged by so many people, but able to stand still."

"All those who dare to step forward, come and kill one by one, and kill one by one."

"No one can be close, no one can be an enemy."

"When I was the closest to Ogata Itosai, it was only 5 steps."

"It just happened to witness how Ogata Ichitosai, who was covered in blood, slashed a ronin holding a spear in half..."

Speaking of this, grandfather Jiang trembled violently as if recalling something terrible.

"I still remember Ogata Ichitosai's posture when he was slashing people and the look in his eyes like evil spirits..."

"I still remember Ogata Ichitosai's terrifying eyes...I can remember forever..."

"I'm not afraid that you will laugh at me."

"I almost had a pee at the time."

"Then ran away."

"I ran away lifelessly before Ogata Ichitosai was in front of my eyes."

"At that time, many people, like me, realized that taking Ogata Ichitosai's head was an extremely stupid thing, so they ran away lifelessly."

"After I escaped from Nijo Castle by chance, I was deeply aware of how bad my skills are. Compared with that kind of monster, it's not worth mentioning."

"So it didn't take long before I left Kyoto and came to Ezo land to pan for gold."

The crowd headed by the leader heard it with gusto~www.wuxiahere.com~ When the voice of grandfather Jiang fell, the leader grinned and said:

"Your boy has even encountered Ogata Ichitosai! Why didn't you talk about it earlier?"

"Because this is not such a glorious thing." Grandfather Jiang raised his hand and scratched his hair again.

"How can there be any glorious and dishonorable! The most important thing for people is to live! No matter how great you are, if you die, you won't be able to sing!" The leader laughed a few times, "Tell us more about you. I saw the details of Ogata Ichitosai in the castle tower at that time! I want to hear more!"

After hearing the simple comfort from the leader, grandfather Jiang smiled with some relief and joy.

"Details... I have only seen Ogata Ichitosai up close. Ogata Ichitosai is very similar to the portrait painted on the wanted order. The artist responsible for drawing Ogata Ichitosai's wanted order is really skilled. ."

Grandfather Jiang continued to talk about his previous encounter with Ogata in Kyoto.

The others listened carefully.