Volume 6: Edo Castle Imperial Court Test Chapter 390 "Why Burn Nijo Castle?"
"Ogata."
Just now, when Hasegawa learned that Majima was Ogata, he was so surprised that he changed his kneeling position to a slumped position on the ground.
Hasegawa asked Ogata softly while adjusting his posture to a standard kneeling position.
"What's wrong with your face? Are you wearing a human skin mask?"
"That's right." Ogata raised his hand and touched the lifelike human skin mask covering his face. "Master Hasegawa, you actually know about human skin masks."
"I am the commander of the Fire Thieves Kai, and I have seen too many strange people and strange things." Hasegawa said calmly, "I do have some knowledge. You are wearing a very rare one."
Hasegawa looked back and forth between Ogata and Makimura with a complicated gaze.
After a long while, he finally opened his lips and spoke softly.
The complexity of the emotions in his tone is comparable to the complexity of the emotions in his gaze.
"Although I can roughly guess that the reason why you are looking for the location of Shiranui and exploring Shiranui's movements is definitely not to personally visit and give gifts to the Shiranui ninjas."
"But I still hope you try not to make too much noise."
"Especially don't steal things or set fires."
"I am the leader of the Fire Thief Kai after all."
"If you steal anything or start a fire, I'll make it very difficult for you."
"There are already many criminals on the loose, waiting for us to catch them one by one."
"I don't want to increase the number of prisoners we need to catch."
"Many of the criminals we need to catch are my acquaintances - I don't want this to happen in front of me."
"Well...we will try our best..." Ogata said with a wry smile.
Hasegawa shifted his gaze and looked at Ogata who had spoken.
Looking at Ogata, the emotions in Hasegawa's eyes became more complicated .
"He looks nothing like Ogata Ittosai, but his voice is Ogata Ittosai's... It's really weird no matter how I look at it."
After making a little joke, Hasegawa changed his tone to a serious one.
"…Ogata Ittosai. Although it is a bit inappropriate to ask you this question at this time, as the leader of the Fire Thieves Kai, I cannot avoid this question."
"Ogata Ittosai, why did you attack Nijo Castle and burn down its castle tower three months ago?"
When Ogata heard Hasegawa's question, he was stunned at first.
Then a helpless smile slowly appeared on Ogata's face.
In fact, long before meeting Hasegawa, Ogata had guessed that Hasegawa would definitely ask him this question.
After all, Hasegawa specialized in catching thieves and arsonists. After meeting Ogata, there was no reason for him to remain silent about the burning of the Nijo Castle tower.
"Ogata Ittosai, you are not a shogunate retainer, so you may not know."
Hasegawa also showed helplessness on his face, just like Ogata at this moment .
"The general was furious when he learned that the castle tower of Nijo Castle was burned down."
"Directly request that we, the fire thieves, immediately begin tracking down Ogata Ittosai to see if he is still alive."
"If Ogata Ittosai is still alive, arrest him immediately."
"I was actually quite shocked when I learned that you attacked Nijo Castle and burned down its castle tower."
"I have always thought that if I could meet you again one day in the future, I would definitely ask you in person: why did the man who raised the sword of justice to avenge his master want to go against Nijo Castle?"
After saying this, Hasegawa cast his sharp gaze towards Ogata.
Bathed in Hasegawa's sharp gaze, Ogata smiled bitterly and said softly:
"Mr. Hasegawa, first of all - I didn't burn down the Nijo Castle tower myself."
"During the chaos, someone knocked over the candles used for lighting, causing the fire to get out of control."
"But I will not shirk my responsibility for the burning of Nijo Castle."
"After all, I am indirectly responsible for the burning of the Nijo Castle's castle tower."
"As for why I want to attack Nijo Castle..."
After a moment of silence, Ogata smiled bitterly and shrugged:
“The reasons are complicated.”
"Mr. Hasegawa, you can understand that I have some grudge against the ninjas in Shiranui."
"So we took advantage of this good opportunity when they all gathered in Nijo Castle and captured them all in one fell swoop."
"By the way, I also lured those bastards who were hiding in the six major sword halls and trying to set fire to Kyoto, but who for some reason targeted me, to Nijo Castle and took care of them as well."
"I attacked Nijo Castle not because I was crazy - you can rest assured about that."
The complex look in Hasegawa's eyes became even more intense.
"...Aren't you afraid of death and the crazy revenge of the shogunate?"
"If I were afraid of these things, I would not have charged at Matsudaira Gennai who was protected by hundreds of samurai." As soon as Hasegawa finished speaking, Ofang responded to him in a joking tone.
“…Hahaha.” After a moment of silence, Hasegawa chuckled a few times, “I really wish… I could have your courage…”
Hasegawa's tone was odd.
As if it meant something.
“…Whatever.” Hasegawa sighed. “Although the castle tower of Nijo Castle was burned down, the fire was confined to a corner of the tower and did not spread out.”
"At the same time, we also caught those bastards who were planning to burn down Kyoto."
"From this point of view, I would like to thank you..."
After saying this, Hasegawa bowed to Ogata.
"No need." Ogata chuckled a few times, then turned slightly to avoid Hasegawa's greeting. "It's just a trivial matter. I'm not risking my life to do this just to get others' thanks."
"Ogata Ittosai, I'll just remind you. Although I won't send anyone to arrest you now because I need a favor from you."
Hasegawa continued.
“But only for now.”
"You must remember to carefully conceal your whereabouts in the future. Don't let outsiders find out that Ogata Ittosai is still alive."
"If word gets out that Ogata Ittosai is still alive, the Shogun will surely order me to lead a large force of fire thieves to capture you."
"If the general orders me to lead a large army to capture you, I will not disobey."
"so……"
Hasegawa deliberately didn't finish his words.
Even though he didn't finish his words, he successfully conveyed his meaning to Ogata.
"I understand." Ogata nodded with a hint of helplessness on his face, "I will... do my best."
…
…
Now that the cooperation has been agreed upon, there is naturally no reason to stay in the Fire Thieves Headquarters.
After exchanging pleasantries with Hasegawa for a while, Ogata and Makimura walked out of the Fire Thief Kai's headquarters together.
Before leaving, Hasegawa told Ogata and Makimura to come to the headquarters of the Fire Thief Kai again tomorrow.
By tomorrow, he would have a map of Edo and its surrounding areas ready, and would plot the approximate location of Shiranui's base on the map.
As soon as he was away from the headquarters of the Fire Thief Kai, Makimura let out a long sigh and then said:
"It went much more smoothly than expected. It's great that Lord Hasegawa agreed to cooperate with us so readily."
After sighing softly, Hasegawa asked Ogata:
"Brother Ogata, what are we going to do now?"
"Need I say more?" Ogata adjusted the sword at his waist. "Since we have agreed to cooperate with Hasegawa, we naturally have to start working."
"Let's go find the nearest registration and sign up for it."
…
…
"Greetings."
Mucun grabbed a passerby at random.
"Excuse me, do you know where the nearest registration place for the 'Gozen Test' is?"
Edo Castle had a population of one million and its area was so huge that there must have been more than one registration location for the "Imperial Examination".
Ogata and Makimura's target was naturally the registration location closest to here.
As soon as Mucun finished asking the question, the passerby did not answer immediately.
Instead, he looked up and down Makimura and Ogata who was standing next to Makimura with strange eyes.
"Just go straight along this road, then turn right, then go straight for a distance and turn left."
The passerby quickly read out a series of words as if he was naming a dish.
Fortunately, the words he read out were not too many, so Ogata and Makimura managed to remember the location of the registration place closest to them.
Before Ogata and Makimura could thank the passerby, he quickly ran away from their sight.
Looking at the passerby who was rapidly shrinking in their field of vision, Ogata and Makimura simultaneously smiled bitterly.
"Brother Ogata, did you see the look in his eyes just now?" Makimura spoke first.
"Ah, I saw it." Ogata raised his hand and scratched his hair, "That person just now was not very good at hiding his emotions..."
Although the passerby tried his best to conceal his gaze on Ogata and Makimura, Ogata and Makimura could still detect a hint of disgust in the passerby's eyes.
"Isn't he the kind of person who hates outsiders?" asked Mucun.
You can tell from the accent that Makimura is not from Edo. Although he no longer lives in Kyoto, it is difficult to get rid of the accent. Even now, Makimura still speaks with a strong Kyoto accent.
"…He might have thought we were ronin who came from far away to participate in the 'Imperial Trial'," Ogata said.
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Makimura nodded slightly and said with a wry smile: "That should be it..."
The people of Edo had a lot of opinions about the ronin who came from afar to participate in the "Imperial Trial" - Makimura also knew about this.
To put it bluntly, ronin are a group of unemployed vagrants.
Moreover, they are a group of unemployed vagrants who are armed and may even have some skills.
Although these ronin who poured into Edo were certainly not all bad people.
But as long as there were a few foreign ronin who did bad things in Edo, the local people of Edo would inevitably take a sharp turn for the worse in their impression of these foreign ronin.
Moreover, the number of foreign ronin causing trouble in Edo during this period is not just one or two...
The Shirobei Society even had to post a recruitment notice for "temporary workers" due to the increase in the number of ronin and the deterioration of security in Yoshiwara - you can imagine how destructive the ronin were and how much trouble they caused to the local people in Edo.
Ogata and Makimura, who could fully understand why the passerby was looking at them strangely, followed the route the passerby had just mentioned and went to the registration place for the "Imperial Examination".
Although the passerby's gaze showed that he did not welcome outsiders like Ogata and his friends, he did not fool Ogata and Makimura and accurately told them the location of the registration place.
The registration location is next to a Tsujiban.
The so-called Tsujiban are the sentries of this era.
The original intention of designing Tsujiban was to prevent samurai with mental problems from running into the streets and killing people to test their swords.
There is a small wooden house located at the corner of the street. Many figures can be vaguely seen moving inside the house. Six policemen holding spears are standing on both sides of the door of the wooden house - these are the Tsujiban at this corner of the street.
The six officers holding bayonets and guarding outside the Tsujiban gate scanned the surroundings with vigilant eyes.
Next to this Tsujiban, there was a wooden table that was barely big enough for two people to sit side by side.
Two young men wearing haori with the "three-leaf sunflower pattern" of the family crest of the Tokugawa family, the family that ruled the Edo Shogunate, were sitting behind this wooden table.
On this wooden table is stacked a small "paper mountain".
As if to let everyone coming and going know that this place is the registration site for the "Imperial Examination", a large flag with the four big characters "Imperial Examination" printed on it was erected next to the wooden table.
At this moment, a ronin happened to be standing in front of the table, talking to the shogunate official sitting behind the table.
The person standing in front of the table must be here to sign up for the "Imperial Examination".
The young man who was standing at the table to sign up looked like a typical ronin.
Greasy and tangled hair, clothes so dirty that you can't tell their original color, a face covered with dirt and dust, and beads of sweat dripping from the forehead from time to time, leaving faint white marks on the face.
It was unknown how long he hadn't taken a bath. Ogata could even vaguely see flies flying around his body.
The two shogunate officials sitting behind the desk seemed unable to tolerate this man's body odor. They frowned, held their breath, and looked very unhappy.
When Ogata and Makimura arrived at the registration site, the ronin had just completed his registration procedures. He strode away from the table with a high-spirited look.
Only after the ronin left did the two shogunate officials sitting behind the desk finally feel relieved. They heaved a sigh of relief and fanned their noses vigorously.
After the ronin left, Obe stepped forward to fill the empty seat at the table that he had just left.
"How are you?" Ogata asked simply, then went straight to the point, "I want to participate in the 'Imperial Trial'."
Seeing that another person who wanted to take part in the "Imperial Trial" had arrived, the two officials hurriedly stopped fanning their noses.
One of them quickly pulled out a new piece of white paper from the pile of paper placed in the corner of the table.
The other person took out a stack of old papers.
Ogata was also very familiar with this stack of old papers - it was a wanted warrant.
——No wonder the major registration sites are set up next to Tsujiban...Once a wanted criminal is found on the run, he will be arrested on the spot...But apart from me, there shouldn't be other wanted criminals who would come to participate in the "Gozen Test" so brazenly...
"What's your name? Where are you from? How old?"
"Mashima Goro, Izumo Ronin. 21 years old." The official's voice brought Ogata's attention back to reality.
While the official was asking Ogata questions and writing them down on the paper in front of him, another official sitting next to him, who was holding a large stack of wanted warrants, was rapidly flipping through them.
There were no ID cards in this era, and it was impossible to find out a person's household registration in a very short time, so the registration process was very short.
You just need to tell us your name, where you are from, your age, the martial arts style you use, and so on.
After quickly completing the registration for the "Imperial Trial", Ogata suddenly heard a voice that sounded a little strange, but he felt like he had just heard it recently, speaking beside him:
"Hmm? Is that you?"
As soon as this strange yet somewhat familiar voice fell, Xu Fang quickly looked back.
After seeing who the owner of the voice was, Ogata frowned immediately.
After seeing who this person was, Ogata instantly understood why the voice was both strange and familiar.
The owner of this voice was none other than Takigawa Heiichiro, who could recite "The Analects of Confucius" in Chinese and claimed that he would show his proficiency in the "Imperial Examination" in order to gain the appreciation of Matsudaira Sadanobu.
