The weather today is a little colder than yesterday.
From time to time, there would be a cold wind that would give people goose bumps.
Judging from the weather, it should be completely autumn in Edo and it will no longer jump back and forth between summer and autumn.
After finishing his breakfast, Obe went out alone to meet the people he needed to see before leaving Edo.
Although the weather today was colder than in previous days, Ogata's clothes were still thin.
Black tabi socks, white hakama, white kimono, dark blue haori, and a black scarf around the neck - this is what Ogata is wearing now.
"Vital energy" is directly proportional to the health of the body.
After absorbing the "Immortal Poison" for the second time, Ogata's physical health and "vitality" improved significantly.
While other people had to wear many layers of clothes to keep warm in the cold weather, Ogata only needed to wear a haori and a scarf over his summer clothes.
Ogata left his residence alone and walked straight towards a certain place.
To get to that place, one must pass through a fairly busy street market.
When Ogata entered the street market, it was almost 9 o'clock in the morning, and there were already many pedestrians walking around in the street market.
When he first stepped into this street market, Xu Fang couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Because he felt that the atmosphere around him was weird.
Within the field of vision, many people were discussing something with the people around them with serious expressions.
——What happened?
Just as Ogata continued walking forward with this question in mind, he suddenly heard a conversation between two samurai not far from him.
The two warriors, one tall and one short, seemed to be a pair of friends who met here by chance.
The shorter warrior took the initiative to greet the taller warrior, and then asked the tall warrior:
"Ijuin-kun, what's wrong with you? Why do you look so serious? Did something happen?"
"Itano-kun, don't you know?" The tall samurai sighed softly, "Thieves attacked the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office last night."
"The Kitamachi Magistrate's Office?" the short samurai exclaimed, "The Kitamachi Magistrate's Office was attacked by thieves?"
"Yes." The tall samurai nodded solemnly, "All the officials who stayed at the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office last night were killed."
"Why would thieves attack the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office?" The short samurai was puzzled. "There is nothing valuable in the magistrate's office. Could it be that the thieves who attacked the magistrate's office are crazy people with problems in their heads, who are obsessed with revenge against the shogunate?"
"Who knows..." The tall warrior sighed.
"How is the investigation going now? Have the officials found out who the murderer is?"
Hearing the short warrior's question, the tall warrior's expression became complicated.
After a moment of silence, he slowly said:
"The Kitamachi Magistrate's Office has been sealed off, and the government is still investigating."
"but……"
Having said this, the tall warrior fell silent again.
After hesitating for a while, he seemed to have finally made up his mind and spoke word by word:
"I heard that... the murderer is a remnant of Toyotomi..."
"Who?" The short warrior's eyes widened.
"The remnants of the Toyotomi family." The tall samurai repeated what he had just said. "It is said that the thieves who attacked the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office drew a Toyotomi family crest on a wall of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office."
"I heard that there is a sentence written next to the Toyotomi family crest."
"As for what it was, I don't know."
"Are you kidding?" The short warrior's eyes were still wide open, and his eyes and face were full of shock.
The tall warrior shook his head slightly.
"I actually don't know whether it's true or not...I just heard what I heard from another friend of mine."
"It seems that some people have asked the shogunate officials to verify whether the wall of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office really has the Toyotomi clan's Taiko Paulownia painted on it."
"But the shogunate officials kept their mouths shut and refused to reveal any information. They just kept saying that they were still investigating, still investigating."
"...Let's not talk about whether there is really a Toyotomi family crest painted on the wall of Kitamachi Magistrate's Office." The short samurai said in a deep voice, "Even if there is really a Toyotomi family crest painted on the wall of Kitamachi Magistrate's Office...it doesn't mean that the thieves who attacked Kitamachi Magistrate's Office are the remnants of the Toyotomi clan, right?"
"Wasn't the Toyotomi clan's bloodline cut off in the Battle of Osaka two hundred years ago?"
"The thieves who attacked the magistrate's office probably just drew the Toyotomi tree for fun, right?"
"Who knows..." The tall samurai let out a long sigh, "Anyway - let's just slowly wait for the shogunate's investigation results to come out."
Ogata stopped not far away, silently eavesdropping on the conversation between the two samurai.
After hearing this, Ogata had a general understanding of what had happened.
"The Kitamachi Magistrate's Office was actually attacked..." Ogata's face was filled with surprise.
The Edo Magistrates' Office was the city government of Edo.
There is no way that thieves who are only after money would attack a place where not only is there no money to be taken, but it would also greatly incur the hatred of the shogunate.
So there are only two possibilities about the thief's identity.
The first possibility is that the thieves who attacked the magistrate's office were a group of murderers who were not afraid of death and who killed people for fun. They just happened to choose the Kitamachi magistrate's office in Edo as the murder location last night.
Another possibility is that the thieves are helping people who hate the shogunate and want to take revenge on it.
The world is in a bad state now. Not to mention the civilians, many middle and lower-level warriors are having an extremely difficult time.
There were quite a few people who harbored resentment towards the shogunate due to their difficult lives.
——Toyotomi’s Taikogau tree…
Ogata whispered in his heart.
——Four months ago, a group of lunatics appeared in Kyoto who were planning to take revenge on the shogunate and destroy Kyoto...
——Now, a group of villains have appeared again, attacking the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office in Edo and painting the Toyotomi family crest on the wall...
——This world is really not peaceful...
…
…
Edo, where Ogata and his family lived——
Although Lin's injuries were not as minor as those of Mamiya, Genichi and others, they were not as serious as those of Makimura, Asai and Shimada.
After so many days of rest, I can basically move freely except that I cannot do any strenuous exercise.
After breakfast, Lin stayed quietly in her room, counting the bills, calculating and checking how much money their Huluya had spent during this trip to Edo.
Lin sat cross-legged in front of a low table with an account book on it. On the left side of the account book was a small abacus, and on the right side was an inkstone.
Lin's left hand was placed on the small abacus, and her five fingers moved flexibly on the abacus, moving the beads on the abacus. Her right hand held a brush dipped in ink, and from time to time she wrote something on the account book spread out on the table.
Just as Lin was concentrating on keeping the accounts, Yuan Yi's voice suddenly rang out from outside the room:
"Xiao Lin, it's me. Can you let me in?"
"It's Uncle." Lin paused with the brush in her right hand, "Come in."
The door was opened.
Yuan Yi walked slowly into the room holding a small cloth bag.
"Hmm? Xiaolin, are you keeping accounts?"
"Yeah." Xiaolin nodded gently, "I'm checking the expenses from entering Edo to now."
"How is it? Did you figure it out?"
"Not yet. But according to my estimation, there must be four thousand taels." Lin said in a calm tone, "Just purchasing the big barrel cost at least three thousand taels."
"Four thousand taels..." Yuan Yi was shocked, "That's almost half of our savings in Hulu House..."
"Compared to being able to eliminate the hidden danger in the Shiranui, this little money is nothing." Lin smiled, "If the money is gone, I can earn it again. In two years at the shortest, three years at the longest, I can earn the money back."
"This decisive battle with Shiranui is truly a blessing in disguise."
At this point, Lin sighed softly, and then continued with emotion:
"Although the money spent was a little more than I expected, but Jiulang and the others are still alive. No one is missing, and no one is disabled."
"For me, this result is enough."
"It doesn't matter whether we spend more or less money, as long as Jiulang and the others are safe."
After saying that, Lin turned her head and glanced at Yuan Yi behind her.
"Uncle, what do you want me to do? Is there anything?"
"Nothing." Yuan Yi smiled, "I just came to tell you that I'm going out for a while."
Genichi patted the cloth bag in his arms.
“I haven’t been painting much lately.”
"So I plan to take advantage of today's good weather and paint some beautiful scenery outside."
"Drawing..." Lin's expression became a little strange.
Lin knew best how good Yuanyi was at painting.
In Lin's eyes, no matter what Genichi painted, it made no difference - they were all so unbearable to look at.
"… Lord Bo, although the 'Imperial Trial' has ended, there is no guarantee that all your enemies have left Edo." Lin expressed her concerns.
"I know." Genichi shrugged, "But this kind of thing doesn't matter now, right?"
"I was cautious before, just because I didn't want the people in Shiranui to know that 'Kinoshita Genichi is in Edo' and make Shiranui wary."
"And now that Shiranui has been extinguished, there is no need to worry about the news of 'Kinoshita Genichi in Edo' being exposed."
"If any enemies recognize me now and come to challenge me, let them come."
"I, Genichi Kinoshita, have never been afraid of anyone since I first held a sword."
"...I understand." After thinking for a moment, Lin nodded slowly, and then turned her eyes back to the account book in front of her, "Uncle, just be careful about your own safety."
"It should be to tell my enemies to be safe." Yuan Yi grinned, "If they hadn't met me, or if they had met me and pretended not to see me, they would have lived longer."
After informing Lin, Genichi strode out of the house, holding his bag of painting supplies in his right hand and casually placing his left hand on his two swords.
Then I wandered around aimlessly, trying my luck and looking for beautiful scenery worth painting.
Before he knew it, Genichi had walked into a commercial area.
There are various kinds of shops on both sides of the street.
Countless pedestrians were walking through the streets, some entering and exiting shops, or just walking straight ahead without looking around.
Yuan Yi had no interest in painting shops, and after looking around the street, he prepared to leave.
However, just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a conversation between two women who were chatting not far away, which made Yuan Yi's pupils shrink slightly.
"Mrs. Katsura, have you heard? It is said that the remnants of the Toyotomi clan attacked the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office in Edo last night."
"Toyotomi clan? What is that?"
"Oh, Mrs. Katsura, don't you know Toyotomi?"
Genichi's steps subconsciously paused.
Standing there, with a look of astonishment and surprise on his face.
He pursed his lips, stood there for a while, then strode towards the two women.
"Excuse me." Yuan Yi interrupted the conversation between the two women.
Yuanyi's sudden interruption startled the two women.
"I'm sorry for scaring you." Yuan Yi bowed slightly and apologized, "Could you please tell me in detail what you just talked about?"
The two women looked Yuan up and down several times with hesitant eyes.
"I don't know the details..." one of the women said slowly, "I only heard it from my husband..."
…
…
Edo, the residence of Ogata and others——
Lin was still concentrating on keeping the accounts.
Suddenly, another voice was heard outside the door, interrupting Lin's concentration.
"Xiaolin, it's me."
Hearing the voice that she had just heard a while ago, Lin's brows immediately frowned.
"Come in."
After the owner of the voice entered the room, Lin put down the brush in her hand, turned around, faced the man, and gave him a puzzled look.
"Uncle, why are you back? Didn't you go out to paint?"
The person who entered the room was Yuan Yi, who had just gone out to paint.
After casting a doubtful look at Genichi, Lin discovered that Genichi's expression was somewhat solemn.
"...Xiaolin."
Yuan Yi said in a deep voice.
"I just heard some...things outside."
"Nobuhide seems to be in Edo now."
After hearing what Genichi just said... no, it should be said that after hearing the name "Nobuhide" from Genichi's mouth, Lin's pupils shrank slightly.
Genichi told Lin everything he had just heard from the two women.
After Genichi finished speaking, Lin slowly lowered her head.
"…They attacked the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office in the middle of the night, killed all the officials stationed there, and then painted 'Taikotsu' on the wall…"
Lin suddenly sneered.
"That's indeed something that person would do."
After saying that, Bian Lin turned back, faced the table with the account book, picked up the brush, and continued to write something on the account book.
"That person might really be in Edo now."
"To me, it doesn't matter where that person is now."
"It's equally irrelevant to me what that person is doing now."
"Even if he leads his men into Edo Castle right now and kidnaps the Shogun, it has nothing to do with me."
"I don't care where that person is or how he is now."
"He is free to do whatever he wants."
"Compared to that person's current movements, I care more about what to eat for lunch today."
"Thank you for coming back to tell me this, Uncle."
"I'm going to get on with the reckoning."
"Uncle, if you still want to continue painting outside, then go quickly."
"If we keep dragging it out like this, it will be noon soon."
Because Lin turned her body back, Genichi could only see Lin's back.
Yuan opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.
But as soon as his mouth opened, Genichi closed it again.
Then he left the room without saying a word.
After Yuanyi left, the brush in Lin's hand slowly stopped on the pages of the account book.
Lin lowered her head, her eyes fixed straight on the account book in front of her.
Although her eyes were clearly looking at the account book on the table, Lin's eyes seemed to be looking at something else, somewhere farther away...
After a long while, the sound of the brush sliding across the paper was heard again in the room.
…
…
Edo, Yoshiwara——
Ogata followed the road that he had walked countless times recently, arrived at Nihon Tsutsumi, stepped onto Gokuken-michi, and then passed through the large Yoshiwara Gate.
After passing through the Yoshiwara Gate and entering Yoshiwara, you can see the Shirobei Kaiso Headquarters on the right.
Ogata stood in front of the door of Shirobei Club and couldn't help feeling a little emotional.
The first people Ogata wanted to say goodbye to were some acquaintances from the Shirobei Club, including Shirobei and Keiemon.
Shirobei, Keiemon and the others were all very friendly, and during the time he was lurking in Shirobei's club, Ogata received a lot of care from these people, both big and small, so the time he was lurking in Yoshiwara was quite pleasant.
Now that he was about to leave Edo, Ogata felt that he had to say goodbye to Shirobei and the others no matter what.
Ogata walked towards the Shirobei Club and said to the two officers standing guard in front of the club:
"Excuse me, is Lord Shirobei in the clubhouse now?"
The current Ogata, naturally, is wearing that human skin mask, transformed into "Mashima Goro".
One of the two officers standing guard in front of the clubhouse recognized Ogata and shouted in a surprised tone:
"Hmm ? Isn't this Majima-sama?"
During the time that Ogata was lurking in Yoshiwara, he did many things that were enough to make him famous.
Therefore, Ogata was considered a semi-celebrity in the Shirobei Club, and many of the club's officials recognized Ogata.
"Yes, it's me." Ogata nodded, "Excuse me, is Lord Shirobei here? I need to see him for something."
"Yes, yes, yes." The officer who recognized Ogata nodded vigorously.
The officer led Ogata into Shirobei's club, and then took him all the way to Shirobei's office.
After entering the office, Oba saw Shirobei working at his desk.
Shirobei was also surprised when he saw Ogata.
"Mashima-kun?" Shirobei exclaimed, "It's been a long time... If it weren't for what Ueyu said about you before, I would have thought you had met with an accident and disappeared..."
Now that the Shiranui has been extinguished, there is naturally no need to lurk in Yoshiwara anymore.
So when Ogata was recuperating in that house, he asked Uesugi to tell everyone in the Shirobei Club on his behalf that he would no longer work in Yoshiwara due to some things.
This was the first time Ogata had appeared before Shirobei since the decisive battle with Shiranui - indeed, it had been a long time.
"Lord Shirobei, long time no see." Ogata smiled and said, "Can I trouble you with something?"
"What's up?"
What Ogata wanted Shirobei to do was very simple - to help call some people headed by Kei'emon. He had something important to say to these people, including Shirobei.
He called some people he was familiar with to say goodbye to them all.
This kind of thing was just a small matter to Shirobei, and the people that Ogata had just ordered happened to be in Edo, so Shirobei immediately sent out orders to ask Keimon and others to come over.
Soon, some people who were familiar with Ogata, led by Keiiemon, came to Shirobei's office.
After everyone arrived, Ogata first greeted them, and then went straight to the point, telling them that he was leaving Edo and going to Ezo because of some matters.
The people present were all those who had a close relationship with Ogata in Shirobei Club.
Seeing that Ogata came to say goodbye, some people led by Shirobei looked sad, but at the same time they encouraged Ogata and told him to be careful during his future trip to Ezo.
Some people, led by Kei'emon, spoke out to persuade Ogata to stay in Edo and continue working in Yoshiwara.
But Ogata would naturally not accept their request to stay.
After politely declining their invitation to stay and saying goodbye to Shirobei and the others, Ogata left the Shirobei Club.
But he did not leave Yoshiwara immediately.
Instead, he stood outside the gate of Shirobei Club, raised his head, faced the sky and let out a long breath.
Then he muttered in a low voice that only he could hear:
"Next... the only ones left to say goodbye are him and him..."
…
…
At this moment——
Kii Domain, Choushima Island, the source of the Rinong River——
Wearing a helmet and armor and fully armed, Fujiwara looked solemnly at the fishermen who were riding on small boats and continuously throwing fishing nets into the Linong River.
The fishermen threw their nets into the river again and again, and then pulled them in again and again - there was nothing in the nets.
Looking at the fishermen who had not caught anything, Fujiwara's serious expression slowly turned into a bit of frustration, and he thought to himself:
——It seems that there will be no gain today...
Until this spring, Masaya Inamori, also known as "Tiger Inamori", was in charge of commanding the army to monitor Chou Island.
But after the spring, Inamori was transferred to the north to monitor the Lucia people who had been making small moves recently.
After Inamori was transferred out, the responsibility of leading the army to monitor Choujima fell on Fujiwara's shoulders.
After the replacement of the commander-in-chief, new changes were made to the handling method of Diedao.
Originally, the shogunate's plan was to mobilize all the serious criminals in the country, and use these people who didn't care about their deaths to reduce the number of monsters on Butterfly Island as much as possible.
But the shogunate's plan failed.
No matter what methods they tried, they couldn't kill the "man-eating ghost" on Butterfly Island, and all the serious criminals sent to the island were wiped out.
Therefore, the shogunate had no choice but to resort to the method it least wanted to use - sending out the army again to forcibly suppress these "cannibal ghosts" on Butterfly Island.
Before gathering the most serious criminals from across the country , the shogunate sent troops to the island to eliminate the cannibals on the island.
At that time, there was very little intelligence and almost nothing was known about cannibals, so the battle ended in a disastrous defeat.
It was precisely because the casualties in that battle were extremely tragic that the shogunate formulated the plan of "letting serious criminals deal with cannibals" - after all, if soldiers died, they would have to pay a large amount of pensions, while if the serious criminals died, they would just die.
After the shogunate decided to send troops to the island for the second time to eliminate the man-eating ghosts, the second landing operation went much smoother than the first because they had more experience and more information about the man-eating ghosts than before.
Because the cannibals could not be killed no matter what, the main weapon of the shogunate army in the second landing operation was the fishing net.
The shogunate purchased a large number of fishing nets for use in the second landing operation.
Use human wave tactics and let the soldiers act in groups.
Several soldiers were responsible for restraining the cannibals, while others spread out fishing nets to trap the cannibals - this was the tactic used by the Shogunate army in the second landing operation.
The action of trapping the cannibals is currently the only way to deal with these unkillable monsters.
In June, the second landing operation on Die Island officially began.
It took three full months of effort before all the cannibals on the island were trapped using fishing nets.
Then, it took another half a month to thoroughly check every corner of the island. After making sure that all the cannibals on the island had been captured, Fujiwara, who succeeded Inamori as the general-in-chief, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In addition to buying a large number of fishing nets, they also made and purchased a large number of human-sized wooden cages that were specially used to hold prisoners.
These wooden cages are used to imprison cannibals that are successfully trapped in fishing nets.
After the cannibals that were successfully trapped in the fishing net were put into wooden cages, they were transported to a place in the Kii domain and imprisoned.
The second landing operation was barely a success.
Since the method of killing the cannibal ghost has not been found yet, there is no other way except to trap the cannibal ghost.
But at least Butterfly Island is safe now, and the cannibals have been captured and controlled by the shogunate.
It’s just that... the losses suffered by the shogunate were slightly greater.
During this three-month battle, the shogunate army suffered more than 1,200 casualties...
Die Island is a small island, so there are not many people living on it.
The total number of cannibals on the island is only over 300.
It took more than 1,200 casualties to barely control the 300 cannibals on Butterfly Island...
Whenever he recalled the number of casualties, Fujiwara felt heavy-hearted and shuddered.
Sometimes, Fujiwara couldn't help but think: 300 cannibals caused more than 1,200 casualties to their shogunate army.
What if 3,000 cannibals appear in the future?
If 3,000 cannibals appeared on an island in the future, how would they deal with them?
When he thought of this, Fujiwara didn't dare to think about it any further...
After confirming that Chou Island was completely safe, the shogunate officially ordered a comprehensive investigation of Chou Island to find out how the cannibal ghosts appeared.
The first target of the investigation was the Linong River, the river on which all the islanders of Diedao depend for their survival.
According to the surviving residents of Die Island, there is a high probability that something has gone wrong with the Linong River.
Among all the residents on the island, only the monks of Tenmanji Temple who usually drank well water did not turn into cannibal ghosts after their death.
So the shogunate recruited a large number of fishermen, brought them to Choujima, and asked them to carry out salvage work at the source of the Linong River and inspect the riverbed at the source of the Linong River.
The salvage work has been going on for more than ten days.
Fujiwara would come every day to see how the salvage work on the bottom of the Linong River's source was going.
I come here every day, but return disappointed every day - I have been fishing for more than ten days, but have not achieved anything.
This made Fujiwara feel anxious involuntarily.
Because of the information obtained from the surviving islanders that "the water on the island may have problems", whether it is the second military landing operation or the current investigation of Die Island, the daily water of everyone on the island is obtained from the land.
Special personnel transported buckets of water from the land to the island.
The amount of water that needs to be transported every day and the cost that needs to be paid are astronomical figures.
That's why Fujiwara is so anxious because there has been no results yet - every day spent here means one more day's expense.
"Master Fujiwara."
At this moment, a young general also wearing a helmet and armor approached Fujiwara from behind.
"This month's baggage has just been transported into the camp."
"Yes." Fujiwara nodded gently, "Thank you for your report. I will go and check it later..."
Before Fujiwara could finish his words, an exclamation with a strong sense of surprise interrupted him.
"Hey! Come and help me! I think I caught something very heavy!"
The person who shouted this was a fisherman who was doing salvage work at the source of the Linon River.
The fisherman stood on a fishing boat, holding a fishing net tightly in both hands, with his legs slightly bent in a half-squatting posture - he looked like he was pulling carrots.
He held on to the fishing boat with his feet and kept pulling the fishing net in his hands upwards with all his strength.
Veins on his arms were bulging, showing that he was really trying his best.
However - despite his best efforts, the fishing net in his hand remained motionless.
Upon hearing the news, the surrounding fishermen rushed to help.
With everyone's concerted efforts, the fishing net finally started moving and was slowly pulled up.
Attracted by the movement here, Fujiwara hurriedly stood by the river, staring at the fishing net that was about to emerge from the water.
In full view of everyone, this extremely heavy fishing net, which had caught something unknown, was finally pulled out of the water.
The moment the fishing net came out of the water, Fujiwara's pupils suddenly shrank and he almost screamed.
But he was, after all, a military commander who had seen a lot of the world, so when the scream came up to his throat, he used brute force to suppress it.
Just because Fujiwara has such determination doesn’t mean that others have the same.
“Aaaaaaaaa——!”
"It's a person! They've fished him out!"
“It looks like a woman!”
"Namo Amitabha! Namo Amitabha!"
…
The fishermen present were in chaos.
The body that was fished out of the river with great difficulty was almost thrown back into the river.
"Don't panic!"
Fujiwara yelled.
"Drag this body up!"
Fujiwara's roar made everyone present feel a little more at ease.
The fishermen followed Fujiwara's orders and dragged the body ashore.
After untying the fishing net, Fujiwara finally saw the appearance of the corpse clearly.
It was a female corpse.
Her body was so badly decayed that it was impossible to discern her features or age.
There were many big stones tied to its body - that's why the fishermen had to spend so much effort to successfully salvage it.
"This woman..." Fujiwara murmured, "Was she thrown into the river...?"
If it was suicide, there would be no need to tie so many stones on your body.
Moreover, with a woman's strength, she might not even be able to crawl with so many heavy stones tied to her body, let alone jump into the river.
Tied with so many stones, it's like... to ensure that the body won't be washed away by the river...