In addition to the officials on duty at the main gate, there were also some officials standing guard and patrolling inside the Kitamachi Bugyosho.
The monk named "Louluo" killed people so quickly that the four officers standing guard at the door did not even have a chance to make a sound before they were beheaded one by one.
Therefore, the other officials who stayed in the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office did not know that three uninvited guests were gradually approaching them...
Bang!
Toyotomi simply raised his foot and kicked open the door of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office.
The loud noise broke the silence around.
The moment Toyotomi kicked the door open, Lou Luo and Gao Qing, who were standing on Toyotomi's left and right sides, drew their weapons respectively.
Lou Luo pulled out the sword without a hilt hanging on his waist with his backhand.
Gao Qing pulled out the katana from his left waist.
After drawing their respective weapons, the two of them rushed towards the interior of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office from different directions like two arrows shot from a bow.
Soon, shouts and screams echoed in every corner of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office...
Lou Luo’s sword was very fast. Any official he targeted would be killed with one blow before they even had time to defend themselves.
The extremely fast speed of the knife was totally inconsistent with his burly figure.
Gao Qing is also the type whose swordsmanship style is very mismatched with his body shape.
He is even more muscular than Lou Luo.
But he is a "skilled" warrior.
Use skilled techniques to defend, dodge, and counterattack.
Every time he swung his sword, he would surely take the life of an officer, and every strike would hit the vital point.
Toyotomi did not take action.
He walked slowly into the Kitamachi Bugyosho and handed over the task of eliminating all the officials inside the Kitamachi Bugyosho to his two subordinates.
"It's worthy of being one of the magistrates' offices in Edo," Toyotomi said in a praiseful tone as he looked around. "It's really quite impressive."
"Who are you?! Why are you attacking the magistrate's office?!"
Just as Toyotomi was looking at everything around him with interest somewhere in the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office, he suddenly heard an angry shout from the front.
Toyotomi turned his gaze forward.
He saw a young officer who was about the same age as him, probably in his early twenties, glaring at him.
The officer drew his sword and assumed a mid-range stance, with the tip of the sword pointed directly at Toyotomi.
These officers who are responsible for maintaining law and order are generally not allowed to draw their swords at will.
The officers responsible for maintaining law and order were usually only allowed to use catching tools such as the jūte and saimatā, and were only allowed to draw their swords after obtaining permission from their superiors.
The only exception is the Fire Thief Kai.
As the most special law enforcement agency, the Fire Thieves' Office is mainly responsible for dealing with the most vicious thieves and arsonists on weekdays. Therefore, the officers of the Fire Thieves' Office have the privilege of drawing their swords freely.
In addition to being able to draw their swords freely, the privileges enjoyed by the Fire Thief Kai officials include being able to use various weapons that ordinary officials cannot use, such as: cannons.
This is a special situation - unidentified villains suddenly broke into the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office and killed anyone they saw, so the young officer no longer cares about the rule that "you cannot draw your sword casually".
Toyotomi briefly looked at the young official.
Just by looking at the young officer's standing posture and the way he held the sword, he could tell that the young officer had some skills in swordsmanship. No wonder he ignored the prohibition of "not drawing the sword casually" and prepared to draw the sword to fight the enemy.
"This is the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office in Edo!" the young official shouted again with a righteous look on his face, "We will never allow thieves like you to do this!"
After saying that, he ran towards Toyotomi quickly with a knife in hand.
"I don't hate people like you who are full of righteousness."
After saying this with a hint of joking, Toyotomi leisurely spread his legs and stood still.
The young officer slid forward and swung his sword at Toyotomi without any hesitation after Toyotomi entered his optimal attack range.
His slash was extremely powerful, and one could tell at a glance that it was a slash that could only be made by someone who had practiced swordsmanship for many years or had a unique talent in swordsmanship.
But even such a powerful attack was easily dodged by Toyotomi.
Toyotomi quickly stepped to the right and dodged the young officer's slashing attack.
The next moment after dodging the slash, Toyotomi suddenly raised his right hand and placed it on the purple handle of the katana on his left waist.
There was a flash of knife.
The katana popped out of the sheath, drew an arc with a cold glow, and cut the vital part of the young officer's neck.
With his vital parts injured, the young officer didn't even have the chance to scream before he slowly fell forward to the ground.
After beheading the young official with one strike, Toyotomi swung the knife in his hand downward heavily, sprinkled the blood on the blade, and then sheathed the knife.
Then, as before, he walked slowly into the depths of the magistrate's office, looking at the interior layout of the Edo Kitamachi magistrate's office with interest.
…
…
Gao Qing: "Lord Toyotomi."
Gao Qing and Lou Luo returned to Toyotomi almost at the same time.
"How is it?" Toyotomi asked his two subordinates, "Have they all been cleared out?"
"It's been cleared out." Gao Qing replied immediately.
"Very good." Toyotomi nodded slightly, then turned his head to look at a wall next to him.
There is nothing on this wall.
There was nothing written on it, nor anything hanging on it.
"Let's just choose this place."
Looking at the wall in front of him, Toyotomi showed a look of satisfaction on his face.
"Gao Qing."
"exist!"
"Please help me get some paint." Toyotomi took out a huge brush from his arms.
This brush is brand new and you can tell at a glance that it was bought not long ago.
"yes!"
"Louluo, you go outside and keep watch. If government support arrives, notify me immediately."
"yes."
After receiving the new task, Lou Luo's head with the canopy nodded slightly, then walked out slowly.
Not far away there was the body of a man who had just been killed by Gao Qing. Gao Qing quickly dragged the body of the officer over.
Toyotomi was writing something on the wall in front of him with the brush he had just bought.
Soon, Toyotomi wrote everything he wanted to write on the wall.
"Very good." Toyotomi took two steps back, looked at what he had written on the wall several times, and smiled happily, as if he was very satisfied with what he had written.
At this moment, Lou Luo ran towards him quickly.
"Lord Toyotomi," Lou Luo said, "reinforcements from the government have arrived."
"So fast?" Toyotomi raised his eyebrows, with a flash of surprise in his eyes. "The speed of the officials is a little faster than I thought."
After Toyotomi and his men broke into the magistrate's office, angry shouts and screams were heard one after another, and it was inevitable that reinforcements from the government would be attracted.
It's just a matter of going faster or slower.
"Now that the weather is getting colder, I wanted to burn down the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office to warm up the people of Edo."
After saying that, Toyotomi casually threw the brush in his hand aside.
"Since the shogunate officials are here, let it go."
"Anyway, the most important thing, this painting and this line of words, have been completed."
Toyotomi once again turned his gaze to the wall in front of him.
To be more precise, it was projected onto the graffiti he had just completed on the wall.
“I will use this painting and these words to tell the shogunate and the world.”
The corners of Toyotomi's mouth slowly curled up, revealing a smile that was only cold.
"The war from 200 years ago hasn't ended yet."
"Gao Qing, Lou Luo. Let's go."
After saying that, Toyotomi turned and left.
Gao Qing and Lou Luo followed quickly.
"Lord Toyotomi." Gao Qing asked after quickly catching up, "Are we going to stay in Edo next?"
"No." Toyotomi said, "There's no point in staying here any longer."
"It's been a while since we left Ryukyu."
"It's time to go back."
Having said this, Toyotomi paused as if he remembered something.
Then he changed to a half-joking tone and said to Gao Qing beside him:
"By the way - it's been a while since I heard from my friends in Ezo."
When talking about the word "friend", Toyotomi emphasized the tone.
"After that, just send someone to Ezo to say hello to our friends there."
…
…
Hanshichiro was a member of the Edo Minamimachi Magistrate's Office.
It's his turn to work the night shift tonight.
A while ago, the "Imperial Trial" attracted many ronin.
The increase in the number of ronin made Edo not very peaceful during that period.
From time to time, we hear news that there are vagrants causing trouble somewhere.
Now that the "Imperial Trial" has ended, the ronin who were originally attracted by the "Imperial Trial" are slowly leaving.
As the ronin left, the public security situation in Edo gradually returned to the situation before the "Imperial Trial" was held.
It had been two days since Hanshichiro received any news of any ronin causing trouble.
Just when Hanshichiro thought that his shift tonight would still be spent in peace, an urgent report suddenly reached him who was sitting in the Minamimachi Magistrate's Office.
Originally, because it was late at night, Ban Qilang was still a little sleepy.
But after receiving this urgent message, he instantly disappeared from all sleepiness.
The content of the urgent report he received was that unknown people attacked the Kitamachi Magistrates' Office.
When he first heard this urgent report, Banshichiro thought he had heard it wrong.
He had heard many urgent reports of attacks on shops and banks.
But it was the first time in his life that he heard the urgent report that the Kitamachi Bugyo had been attacked.
After confirming the contents of the urgent report again and again, Hanshichiro quickly gathered all the people and rushed to the Kitamachi Bugyosho.
After seeing the four officers lying outside the gate of Kitamachi Magistrate's Office from afar, Hanshichiro felt as if his heart dropped.
Next to the four officers lying on the ground were squatting two Okayin who had arrived at the scene before them. They were examining the four officers lying on the ground with stern faces.
Seeing Hanshichiro coming, the two Okabiki quickly stood up and bowed to Hanshichiro.
The police system in the Edo period was divided into four levels from top to bottom: Daibanto, Yoriki, Doshin, and Okabiki.
Bowing to Yuriki - for the lowest-ranking Okinawans, this was just a conditioned reflex.
Hanshichiro waved his hand to the two Okabiki, indicating that they did not need to be polite, and immediately asked them:
"How is it going?"
"All four of them are dead." One of the two men glanced at the four officers lying at his feet. "They were all killed in one blow, stabbed in the vitals. The murderer's swordsmanship is very advanced."
"The rest of the people are now in the Enforcement Office." Another person replied, "The situation inside doesn't seem to be very good either."
After listening to the reports from the two Okabiki, Hanshichiro's already ugly expression became even uglier.
"Thank you for your hard work." After simply comforting the two Okain who had just reported the situation to him, Hanshichiro led the subordinates he had just brought with him and strode into the Kitamachi Bugyosho.
After walking a few steps, he saw another corpse...
After learning that their superior had arrived, the officers who had arrived at the scene before Hanshichiro came forward to report the situation to him.
After listening to the reports from his subordinates, Hanshichiro had some basic understanding of the current case.
First of all——all 14 officers who were in charge of guarding the Kitamachi Bugyosho tonight were killed.
Moreover, they were all killed with one strike, which shows that the murderer's swordsmanship was quite advanced.
There were no witnesses.
The first person to report the case was a young man who lived nearby. He was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly awakened by screams coming from the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office.
He did not dare to approach the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office, so he chose to find nearby officials and report the case to them.
A noteworthy clue is that a resident living nearby reported hearing the sound of shakuhachi.
But it's a pity - because the music of the shakuhachi was very soft, he didn't pay much attention to it at the time, and didn't go out to see who was playing the shakuhachi.
Just as Hanshichiro was silently listening to his subordinates' reports, a Okabiki rushed towards him in a hurry.
"Master Hanshichiro! Please come over here! I found a very strange painting and a line of very strange words on a certain wall!"
"Paintings? Words?" Hanshichiro frowned, "Take me there!"
"yes!"
This Okain led the way, with Hanshichiro following behind with big strides.
After being taken to a more remote place, Hanshichiro's pupils shrank at the sight in front of him.
This place is a remote area within the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office.
It should have been an inconspicuous place, but it became conspicuous because there were some extra things on one of the walls.
A large pattern was drawn on the wall in blood.
If someone has little knowledge of history, they may not recognize what this pattern is, but just think it is very beautiful.
Hanshichiro was born into a hatamoto samurai family and his education level was far above that of ordinary civilians and samurai.
So Hanshichiro recognized what the pattern was at a glance.
This is a family crest.
And it was a family crest that should have disappeared for nearly 200 years, and should never appear again in the future...
"Taikogiri..." Hanshichiro murmured subconsciously, revealing the name of this family crest.
The family crest painted on the wall is the Taiko Paulownia, the family crest of the Toyotomi family, which is believed to have disappeared 200 years ago.
After unifying the world and establishing an unprecedented hegemony, the emperor bestowed the "Paulownia pattern" on Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
In order to show the nobility of their Toyotomi clan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi made a slight modification to the "Paulownia pattern" bestowed on him by the emperor, creating a completely new Paulownia pattern, and then set this new Paulownia pattern as the family crest of their Toyotomi clan.
For the sake of convenience, people usually call the new paulownia pattern transformed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi "Taikoku Paulownia".
On the wall, next to the large "Taikoku Paulownia" painted in blood, there was a line of words written:
[We will avenge the Battle of Osaka]
Perhaps because it is inconvenient to write on the wall, every word in this line of words is crooked.
It looks really creepy.
Hanshichiro stared blankly at the words "Taikoku Paulownia" on the wall and these extremely creepy words.
A fellow who was standing next to Hanshichiro asked him suspiciously:
"Master Yoriki, what does 'Battle of Osaka' mean?"
Although this fellow could read, he knew little about history.
"...a famous battle at the end of the Warring States Period two hundred years ago."
Hanshichiro said softly.
"Lord Ieyasu launched the Battle of Osaka, and through the two battles of the Winter Campaign of Osaka and the Summer Campaign of Osaka, he completely annihilated the Toyotomi clan..."
After briefly explaining to his subordinates what the "Battle of Osaka" was, Hanshichiro felt cold sweat beginning to break out all over his body.
Just because a terrible guess emerged from Hanshichiro's mind...
"Are the remnants of Toyotomi still alive...?"
Hanshichiro felt his lips trembling slightly.
…
…
The next day——
morning--
Last night, I drank with Genichi and the others until late at night.
As expected, Ogata drank himself to death.
Except for Genichi who still had some strength left, Makimura and the others were all drunk and unconscious.
Kondo drank too much and couldn't even walk straight, so he stayed overnight at Ogata's place.
Uesugi didn't drink like Kondo did, as if she had never drunk alcohol in her life, so she was still sober until the end of the party last night.
After the party, Ueura returned to her home in Yoshiwara.
Just now, Ogata finally woke up.
After waking up, my head didn’t hurt as much as I imagined, and my mind was still relatively clear.
According to Ogata's guess, this should also be one of the benefits that "vitality" brings him.
The increase in "vitality" made Ogata recover from his drunken state faster.
The bed next to me, that of Ating, was empty—she must have gone to prepare breakfast.
There is a kitchen in this house, and recently it has been Atachi and Mamiya, who were less seriously injured, who have been responsible for preparing meals for everyone every day.
After getting up, Ogata walked to the bed and looked at the sky.
According to Ogata's estimation, it was probably around 7 o'clock in the morning.
After confirming the current time, Ogata left the room and went to the kitchen, intending to look for Atachi.
After arriving at the kitchen, as expected, I saw Ating busying around in the kitchen.
After saying hello to Atachi, Ogata simply washed up and returned to his room.
After returning to the room, Ogata stood in the middle of the room, stretched his body, and then gently touched the wounds that were still wrapped in linen and had not yet healed.
Now, 70% of the sackcloth on Ogata's body has been removed, and the remaining wounds that have not yet fully healed are recovering very well. It is only a matter of time before they are fully recovered.
After confirming that today's wound had healed well, Ogata turned his head and looked at the knife rack placed in the corner of the room.
The swords hanging on the sword rack are naturally Ogata's two swords: Daishakuten and Daijizai.
Looking at his two swords and thinking for a while, Ogata quickly walked to the sword rack and took down Daishiten.
After drawing his sword, Ogata assumed a standard mid-section stance.
In order to recover from his injuries, he has been living like an old grandfather recently. This is the first time he has held a sword since the battle with Shiranui.
Feeling this familiar touch made Ogata feel at ease.
Now that his body has recovered enough to swing the sword, Ogata decided to confirm the physical fitness enhanced by the "Immortality Poison".
Ogata stared straight ahead.
After firmly stepping on the tatami with his feet, he swung the knife from top to bottom at the air in front of him.
call--!
The sound of breaking wind was enough to make an ordinary person feel his scalp tingling.
Although he had prepared himself mentally, Ogata was still a little startled when he heard the sound of the wind breaking when he swung his sword.
After absorbing the "Immortal Poison" for the second time, Ogata's strength increased to 20 points.
The sudden increase in strength has greatly increased the power of Ogata's sword swings.
Ogata felt that even with only one hand, he could chop a living person from the top of the head to the crotch.
"There are fewer and fewer people in the world who can defeat me."
After muttering this in a half-joking tone , Ogata pulled up his personal system interface.
The battle with Shiranui allowed Ogata to upgrade both his Sakakibara Ittoryu and Muga Two-Sword Ryu, and his personal level was also raised by one level. Taking into account the skill points he had accumulated before, Ogata now has a total of 6 skill points.
Ogata had already made a plan on how to spend these 6 skill points.
However, because his previous injuries had not healed and his body could not be used carelessly, even if he spent these skill points he would not be able to immediately test the effects of the upgraded martial arts.
So Ogata put the matter of skill points on hold for the time being, and would use them up once his body was almost fully recovered.
Now is a great time to use up all those skill points.
First of all - Ogata upgraded his "stepping step".
[Ding! Consume 4 skill points, Wuwo's ​​two-sword martial arts skill, stepping forward, is upgraded to a "master-level" skill]
[Currently remaining skill points: 2 points]
After the system sound fell, Ogata took a deep breath and imagined that there was an enemy in front of him attacking him.
Faced with these imaginary attacks, Ogata slid his feet and used "stepping steps" to avoid them.
The moment he used the "stepping step", Xu Fang immediately felt the change of the "stepping step".
To give a more vivid example, Ogata's current "stepping" is like applying lubricant on the soles of his feet compared to before.
Dodge faster.
At the same time, the grasp of dodge distance is more accurate.
The physical energy required is also less.
After confirming the changes in the "stepping steps", Ogata nodded with satisfaction, and then opened his system interface again.
Ogata used one of the remaining 2 skill points to unlock "Starfall".
Starfall - A new sword skill unlocked after the Wuwo Two-Sword Style is upgraded to level 11.
It is also the last sword skill.
A powerful 13-hit series of slashes - this is the secret of Muga's two-sword style.
[Ding! Consume 1 skill point to unlock the Wuwo Two Swords Martial Art: Starfall! ]
[Currently remaining skill points: 1 point]
Ogata hadn't figured out how to use this last skill point yet, so he decided to save it for the time being.
After the system sound that reminded Ogata that "Starfall" had been unlocked sounded, Ogata checked his personal status:
[Name: Ogata Noriyoshi]
[Current personal level: Lv34 (480/5200)]
Personal attributes:
Strength: 20
Agility: 18
Reflexes: 15
Stamina: 21
Vitality: 36
【Skill:
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 12th level (905/9000)
Wuwo's ​​dual swordsmanship level: 11th level (1300/12000)
Shiranui Style Ninjutsu Level: 6th Stage (3210/4500)]
[Remaining skill points: 1 point]
…
[Sakakihara Itto-ryu (12 steps):
Climbing: Intermediate
Water Fall: Advanced
Bird Thorn: Master Level
Dragon Tail: Advanced
…
【Muga Nisshin (11th level):
Step: Master
Blade Return: Master
Flow: Master
Breath of the Source: Grandmaster
Raikiri: Beginner
Cicada Rain: Elementary
Starfall: Primary
…
【Shiranui Style Ninjutsu (6th stage):
Shiranui Stealth Technique: Intermediate
Shiranui Style Jujutsu: Advanced
Shiranui Style Breath Holding Technique: (Not unlocked)]
…
Ogata's current personal condition can only be described as "horrible".
It goes without saying that he is very proficient in swordsmanship, and in hand-to-hand combat he is also proficient in the "advanced" Shiranui-ryu Jujutsu.
The stealth skill includes the "intermediate" Shiranui style stealth technique.
For long-range attacks or sneak attacks, the revolver is a powerful weapon.
What's more, Ogata still has his strongest trump card: the state of no self.
Ogata feels that there are probably not many people in the world who can defeat him with certainty - of course, the premise is that the opponent's weapons are bare hands or cold weapons, rather than muskets or cannons.
Just as Ogata was about to pull out Da Zi Zai to test the newly unlocked "Starfall", the door was suddenly opened.
After opening the door, Atachi raised an eyebrow when he saw Ogata holding the Great Shakuten.
"What are you doing?"
Ogata smiled awkwardly: "Nothing, just some normal exercise."
"Don't move around until you're fully recovered." Atachi scolded Ogata unhappily, then continued, "Breakfast is ready, come and have breakfast."
"good."
Ogata put Daishakuten back on the knife rack and left the room one after another with Atachi.
As soon as he left the room, Omachi suddenly asked Ogata:
"What are your plans for today?"
Ogata pondered for a moment:
"We'll be leaving Edo in a few days."
"So... I plan to take advantage of the nice weather today to meet some people in Edo and say goodbye to them properly."
"Some people? Who?" asked Ating.
"There are both government officials and... people with more complicated identities."
At this point, Ogata couldn't help but smile helplessly.
"Now that I think about it carefully, I have unknowingly become a person who has connections with both the black and white worlds..."