Ogata did not understand military strategy, so he could not understand the level of sentry deployment of this group of bandits.
But Ating could understand it - although he was not very proficient in it.
When Ah-Machi was undergoing ninja training, he had received training on "how to judge the enemy's defensive status".
Even Ating, who was not very proficient in this "subject", could see that the sentry posts of this group of bandits were poorly arranged.
Let’s not talk about the fact that all the sentries were not paying attention.
The placement of the sentries was also a mess.
According to Atachi, the location of the sentry post of this gang of bandits gave her the feeling that it was placed according to their mood.
The number of sentries is also totally insufficient.
In a nutshell: there should be no one among this group of bandits who knows how to set up camps and place sentries.
But think about it from another perspective: it is normal that there are no such talents.
After all, apart from peasant uprisings, there has been no war in this country in the past two hundred years.
The samurai didn't know how to use weapons. It was normal for these "former samurai"-turned-bandits to not know how to set up camp and set up sentry posts, which were related to war.
A-Cheng said: The only advantage of this gang of bandits' sentry arrangement is that they know how to deploy secret sentries.
The deployment of a secret sentry is much more difficult than that of a whistle.
Where is it suitable to place secret sentries, where placing secret sentries is unnecessary, and where placing secret sentries will only have a counterproductive effect...these are all matters that require extremely high technical content.
This group of bandits even arranged their visible sentries so poorly, not to mention their hidden sentries, which were almost randomly placed.
When he was undergoing ninja training, Ating had also been trained on "how to find the enemy's secret sentries" - of course, Ating didn't learn this "lesson" very well.
However, the knowledge that Ating knew was more than enough to deal with this group of bandits who had set up their sentries in a mess.
At this moment, A-Ming discovered a secret sentry ahead - a thin bandit standing in the darkness.
As expected, the bandit was also slacking off and was not keeping watch seriously at all. He just kept yawning.
Ogata and Atachi looked at each other.
Let me do it—Ogata said to Atachi with his eyes.
And Ating didn't say much, just nodded and stayed where he was.
In order to prevent the sword at his waist from hitting something and making unusual noises, Ogata carefully held the sword at his waist with his left hand, half-crouched, used the Shiranui-style stealth technique, and slowly approached the bandit who was standing guard from behind.
The bandit was not concentrating on keeping watch at all, and he did not seem to have the ability to detect Ogata, who possessed the "intermediate" Shiranui-style stealth technique.
Approaching the bandit from behind, Ogata quickly jumped up, covered the bandit's mouth with his left hand, and quickly pulled out the Great Freedom with his other hand, using the Sakakibara Ittoryu's bird spike to pierce into the back of his neck and out from his throat.
The shorter Da Zizai is more suitable for assassination.
Just like piercing through a piece of wet rice paper, Da Zizai easily pierced the bandit's throat.
Under the effect of the last breath, the bandit burst out with powerful strength and struggled violently, trying to break free from Kaioga's control.
Unfortunately, Ogata's current strength is 20 points.
In Ogata's eyes, the bandit's struggle was like a puppy in his arms trying to kick its legs.
After struggling for only a moment, the bandit slowly stopped moving as his vitality slowly faded away.
“Two…”
[Ding! Sakakibara's sword style: Bird Stab, kill the enemy]
[Gained 70 personal experience points, 65 sword skills "Sakakibara Ittoryu" experience points, and 10 ninjutsu "Shiranui Ryu Ninjutsu" experience points]
[Current personal level: Lv35 (720/5400)]
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 12th Stage (4220/9000)]
[Shiranui Style Ninjutsu Level: 6th Stage (4080/4500)]
Because Ogata had just used the Shiranui-style stealth technique to sneak up behind the bandit before launching the attack, the system determined that the Shiranui-style ninjutsu also gained some experience points.
Although it's not much, it's better than nothing.
After laying the lifeless bandit in his arms flat on the ground, Ogata waved to Atachi, indicating that it was safe.
Tonight even the heavens are helping Ogata and the others - it is a cloudy night, with thick dark clouds separating the sky from the earth, and the moonlight is blocked above the clouds.
The dim view made it easier for Ogata and the others to hide their figures.
The two continued to move deeper for a distance, and then they found a visible sentry post of the bandits.
This time, not only was an open sentry discovered, but a hidden sentry was also found not far from the open sentry.
The distance between the two sentry posts was very close, and if you killed the bandits at either sentry post, you would be discovered by the bandits at the other sentry post.
Therefore, if he wanted to avoid being discovered, he had to kill both of these bandits at the same time.
So Ogata and Atachi exchanged glances again.
Without any communication, just by exchanging glances, the two made the decision and assigned the tasks.
Ogata walked towards the bandits who were on guard.
Ating walked towards the bandit who was on guard.
Amaji's movements were gentler and less likely to be detected than Ogata's - because she also had the Shiranui-ryu Breathing Technique: a technique that reduced her own breath by controlling her breathing rhythm.
Because Ogata felt that the Shiranui style breath holding technique was useless to him, he never spent any skill points to learn it.
Ogata repeated the steps he had just used to assassinate the bandit under the sentry: using the Shiranui-style stealth technique to sneak around behind the bandit, then using the bird thorn to pierce his throat, killing him with one blow.
At the same time that Ogata killed the bandit at the visible sentry post, Atachi also killed the bandit at the hidden sentry post.
A-Machi used the Shiranui-ryu assassination technique - a sword technique specifically designed for assassinations.
After covering the bandit's mouth with his left hand to prevent him from making any sound, he laid the wakizashi of his right hand flat and accurately stabbed the bandit's heart along the gap between his ribs.
The reason why the blade was kept flat was to avoid being blocked by the bandit's ribs when piercing the bandit's heart.
Atachi, who used the Shiranui-style assassination technique, was much more efficient than Ogata, who simply stabbed the bandit's throat violently.
Although A-machi's skills in the other three of the four techniques of the Shiranui-ryu except for Jujutsu - stealth technique, assassination technique, and breath-holding technique - are only lagging behind those of his peers, they are still more than enough to deal with this group of weak bandits.
"Three, four..."
After silently memorizing the number of bandits he and A-Ming had killed, Ogata continued to move deeper into the bandit base with A-Ming...
…
…
"ha……"
A bandit with a big beard who was carrying a bottle of cheap wine yawned loudly, and then said to a fellow bandit with a small beard who was sitting not far from him:
"What time is it now?"
The bandit with a big beard and the bandit with a small beard have been friends for quite a long time.
Both of them were samurai who were ruthlessly abandoned by their respective feudal states due to the "Tenmei famine".
After becoming ronin, they got to know each other by various coincidences.
After working as a thief for several years with several other companions, he was invited by the leader of this bandit group, Koizumi, two months ago, and joined Koizumi's team, transforming from a thief to the bandit he is today.
As soon as the big-bearded bandit finished speaking, the small-bearded bandit looked up at the sky:
"It's cloudy now, so I can't tell what time it is. But it should be quite late."
After saying that, the bandit with the small mustache raised the inferior wine in his hand again and poured it into his mouth forcefully.
In this desolate forest, drinking big gulps of wine became one of the few pleasures for these bandits.
After dinner, the bandit with a big beard and the bandit with a small beard sat face to face under a tree, drinking cheap rice wine and chatting about all sorts of things.
After the man with the small mustache took a sip of wine into his mouth, the man with the big mustache followed suit and raised the bottle with a sip of wine left in his hand.
After drinking the remaining wine in the bottle, he threw the empty bottle aside and said casually:
"By the way, have Ohno and his team, who were sent to 'negotiate' with that little village, not returned yet?"
"It seems so." The man with the mustache nodded. "I heard that the boss is very worried now. If Ohno and the others haven't returned by tomorrow morning, he will lead all of us to that small village to see what happened."
"Ha." The bearded man sneered, "Could it be that Ohno and the others were killed by those villagers?"
"How is that possible?" The man with the mustache laughed sarcastically. "The total population of that village is less than a hundred, and there are only about 30 young and strong men at most. How can they deal with Daye and his men?"
"Really? Why go to all that trouble to send people to negotiate with the villagers?" The bearded man curled his lips in dissatisfaction. "Wouldn't it be better to just rush over and rob all the money and women in their village?"
"You don't understand this, do you?" The man with the mustache smiled and took another sip of wine. "If we just rob the village of all its money and women, it would be equivalent to indirectly forcing all of them to death. It would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs."
"We only need half of their money, and we can save the people in that small village from starving to death."
"That way, we can grab another wave next year."
"And if we take all the money from that village in one go, it will easily attract the attention of the government."
"If we only take half of the village's money in a 'friendly' way, the government will think we are not a big threat and will focus more on dealing with the other bandits who pose a greater threat."
"Humph, I don't understand these principles." The bearded man snorted coldly, "The reason I became a bandit is to live a free life of drinking and playing with women."
"I just want to live this kind of life as soon as possible."
"Who wouldn't want to live a life like this?" The man with the mustache shrugged and took another sip of the cheap rice wine. "Who wouldn't choose to be a bandit just to live a more enjoyable life than before?"
"My only wish now is to live a happy life for a while longer before I am wiped out by the officials."
"Hey." The big beard cast an unhappy look at the small beard, "What do you mean by 'before you are wiped out by the officials'? Don't say such unlucky words."
"I'm just telling the truth." The mustache man shrugged. "Since the outbreak of the 'Tianming Famine', the number of bandits in our Ou has increased and they have become stronger. It's simply because the government has no time to take care of us."
"The government has no time to take care of us, and a large number of samurai are forced to become ronin for various reasons, so that each gang of bandits has fresh blood joining, so that the various gangs of bandits in Oshu can continue to grow and develop."
"The 'dawn famine' is now over."
"Peace has gradually returned to various places, and the government has gradually begun to have the strength to deal with us bandits."
"We never know when we will be wiped out by the government."
"Tsk!" The bearded man spat hard on the ground. "You are such a rude person! Can't you say something nice? I don't want to talk to you anymore! I have to pee!"
After saying that, the bearded man grabbed the knife placed beside him and walked quickly towards the darkness not far away.
The man with the small mustache smiled wryly and watched the man with the big mustache go to pee.
"Where are you going to pee?"
"Of course I'm going to pee somewhere where you can't see me. I can't pee if there are other people around."
After the big bearded man completely disappeared from his sight, the bandit with the small mustache retracted his gaze and began to drink while slowly waiting for the big bearded man to come back.
But gradually - the mustache guy began to notice something was wrong.
He found that the bearded man seemed to be too slow.
The man with the little mustache drank up all the wine in the bottle, and the man with the big mustache did not appear in front of him again.
Even if you're taking a shit, it wouldn't take so long.
"Could it be that he drank too much and passed out in front of the enemy..." The man with the small mustache muttered to himself as he grabbed the sword in his arms, stood up, and walked in the direction that the man with the big mustache had just left.
The bearded man did drink a little too much tonight, so the bearded man suspected that he was drunk while peeing and fell to the ground.
If that's the case, then we need to drag him back to bed quickly.
It's easy to die if you lie down in the snow all night.
Because some people were already asleep, the man with the small mustache didn't dare to shout the man with the big mustache's name loudly. He could only hold the knife and follow the direction where the man with the big mustache had just left.
It's a cloudy day now, without any moonlight.
Although my eyes have long been accustomed to the darkness, I still can't see the things at my feet.
In order to avoid tripping or kicking something, the man with a mustache could only slow down his pace and move forward inch by inch.
But because it was so dark, the man with the small mustache looked around and could only see darkness. He could not find the man with the big mustache at all.
Just as the man with the small mustache was thinking about whether to go back to find a torch or call others to look for the big mustache, he suddenly felt that his right foot seemed to have kicked something.
A piece of...something with a bit of elasticity.
Feeling puzzled, the mustache man bent down and looked at his feet.
It doesn't matter if you don't look at it, but once you look at it, your whole soul will be scared to death.
His eyes immediately widened in horror!
The thing lying at his feet, which he had just kicked, was a bearded man.
To be more precise, it was the bearded man's body.
The bearded man was lying on the ground with his throat pierced by a sharp weapon.
Large streams of blood were gushing out from his pierced wound, dyeing the white snow beneath him blood red.
Anyone with a bit of common sense and a normal brain would know that having a sharp weapon pierce through the throat would definitely lead to death. The bearded man, with his eyes wide open and no trace of life in them, was now dead beyond death.
His eyes, which had lost their luster, still retained a hint of fear and astonishment.
Looking at the bearded man who died in a tragic way and with his eyes open, the bandit with the small mustache immediately felt his legs go weak and he almost fell to the ground.
It’s just that the man with a small mustache was not someone who had never seen blood, so he quickly calmed himself down and regained his composure, even as he nearly collapsed to the ground.
The man with a mustache immediately opened his mouth, ready to shout loudly.
However... as soon as the man with a mustache opened his mouth, he felt an extremely powerful hand reaching out from behind him and covering his mouth, preventing him from making any sound.
Then, the mustache bandit felt a sharp pain in his throat - a wakizashi pierced his throat from behind.
Although because of the angle of view, he couldn't see the condition of his neck.
But the mustache guy was sure that warm blood would gushed out from the wound in his throat like a fountain.
The strong desire to survive caused the mustache man's body to burst out with amazing strength, and he began to struggle frantically!
However, the man standing behind the mustache man and holding him down was very strong, and the left hand covering the mustache man's mouth was like an iron clamp, holding him tightly.
No matter how hard the man with a mustache struggled , he could not break free of the control of the person behind him, nor could he make a sound.
After a few seconds, the mustache man's strength slowly weakened.
The light in his pupils slowly faded away.
Finally—his hands dropped limply, and he stopped struggling.
The last words that the mustache boy heard before he completely lost consciousness were:
“11…”
…
…
Hizaka and the others stayed where they were, anxiously waiting for Ogata and Atachi to return.
Hizaka crossed her arms over her chest, her legs shaking in impatience.
Tsuchiya held his sword in front of his chest, sat aside, and closed his eyes to rest.
Jincheng stood next to the earth house, frequently looking in the direction where Ogata and Atachi had just left.
Mizuno was entrusted with an important task - standing next to Ohno and being responsible for monitoring Ohno.
Mizuno, with his hands still tied behind his back, sat on a rock.
At first glance - he seems very well behaved.
But in reality - he had been secretly observing the situation of Hizaka and the others since just now.
No, it should be said that after being captured, he has been observing these warriors invited by the villagers of that small village and evaluating their respective strengths.
The most powerful guy, of course, was Ogata, who single-handedly defeated him and his 11 subordinates.
Everyone else was very respectful to that guy, he must be the most powerful.
And now - this most powerful guy has left here with a beautiful woman.
Listening to the previous conversation between these people, this most powerful guy and the beautiful woman seemed to be a couple, and the two of them planned to sneak into their base and assassinate his companions.
Ohno wasn't sure whether those two guys had the ability to assassinate all his companions, and he didn't have the time to think about this issue now.
Since being captured, Ohno has been thinking about how and when to escape.
He became a prisoner of these warriors - whether he would live or die was still unknown.
He had done many evil things in the past, so he naturally tended to think in a bad way.
If I continue to be their captive, I will probably be in great danger - Ohno was sure of this.
Before, because the guy with extremely strong swordsmanship was always present, Ohno didn't dare to do anything rash.
And now—that guy isn't here.
There are only these four warriors left around.
There's no better time than now to escape.
Ohno looked up and glanced at the four warriors around him again.
Hizaka and Kinjo anxiously await the return of Ogata and Atachi.
Tsuchiya sat aside with his eyes closed and rested.
Mizuno, who was responsible for monitoring him, was conscientious and always kept up the spirits. He stood beside Ohno and monitored him.
After observing the situations of the four samurai around him, Ohno began to calculate in his mind how long it would take him to escape back to his base.
Since choosing this place as their new base, Ohno has lived here for some time, so he is quite familiar with the surrounding area of ​​the base.
He is now in the southwest corner of the stronghold.
It would take about 30 steps to run from here to the base and to a position where I could receive support from my companions.
In other words - as long as he could finish these 30 steps and lead his companions over before Hizaka and the others caught up and hacked him to death, he might be able to be saved.
So, Ohno looked at it and took a deep breath, letting his heart beat a little slower.
Then he raised his head and looked at Mizuno beside him:
"Samurai-sama."
"What?" Mizuno asked.
"..." Ohno said something in a very light tone.
Mizuno, who didn't hear clearly what Ohno was saying, frowned.
"What did you say?"
Mizuno asked as he subconsciously leaned towards Ohno.
This is the moment Ohno was waiting for.
As Mizuno leaned forward towards him, Ohno suddenly jumped up, pushed Mizuno away, then spread his legs and rushed towards the stronghold with all his might.
Because of the unexpected attack on Ohno, Mizuno was knocked hard and sat down on the cold snow.
After being knocked down, Mizuno was stunned for a moment before finally reacting and shouting:
"Ohno, he wants to escape!"
Mizuno's reminder was actually a little late.
As early as when Mizuno was knocked away, Hizaka and others heard the strange noise and turned around to see what was going on.
After seeing Ohno running wildly with his hands tied behind his back, Hizaka drew the swords at their waists in a rage and chased after Ohno.
While running away, Ohno opened his throat and kept shouting at the highest volume he could:
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
Ohno's shout broke the silence around him.
Noise began to be heard from the bandit stronghold not far away.
The expressions of Hizaka and the others began to turn ugly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Driven by the desire to survive, Ohno burst out with extremely strong strength and speed.
Hizaka and the others were unable to catch up with Ohno quickly for a while.
Jincheng has the fastest speed.
Although the distance between Jincheng and Ohno was getting closer and closer, he still couldn't catch up in time.
One after another, the bandits rushed out of the stronghold following the sound and ran towards Ohno who kept shouting.
"Hmm? Isn't this Ohno?"
A familiar voice came from in front of Ohno.
Hearing this familiar voice, Ohno couldn't help but feel at ease.
This was the voice of Matsumoto, with whom he had a very good relationship.
Like Ohno, Matsumoto is also one of the veterans.
When they were just "Roadhogs", they fought side by side.
As the footsteps approached, Ohno saw the familiar face of Matsumoto.
Matsumoto, who was leading a dozen of his men, was slightly surprised when he saw Ohno, and then asked:
"Ono, you're back? What happened?"
"We'll talk about this later! Help me stop those people behind me first!"
Matsumoto looked behind Ohno and saw Hizaka and others chasing after Ohno.
Although they didn't know what had happened, Higasaka and the others knew at a glance that they were not their friends, so Matsumoto immediately led his subordinates to meet Higasaka and the others.
Huosaka and Jincheng looked at the dozen or so bandits in front of them who were led by Ohno, and their faces looked ugly as if they had just eaten a piece of shit.
He dared not go forward and could only stop, clenching the knife in his hand and staring at the bandits in front of him who were led by Daye.
There were 13 people in total - judging from the number of people alone, Hizaka and his team were at an overwhelming disadvantage.
Seeing that Hizaka and others stopped, Matsumoto, who still didn't know what the current situation was, waved his hand, signaling his subordinates behind him to stop and ask Ohno what the current situation was first.
Ohno quickly ran towards Matsumoto, hid behind him, and said to him urgently:
"Be careful! These people are the warriors hired by that broken village! All my subordinates were killed!"
Oono's words alone made Matsumoto frown.
And Ohno then said:
"Two of them just sneaked into our base, intending to assassinate our companions and leaders! Have you spotted the intruders?"
"Intruder?" Matsumoto looked puzzled. "No, I didn't find any intruder."
Hearing Matsumoto's words, Ohno's face turned pale - didn't he notice the intruder?
Is it that the intruders have not been able to successfully infiltrate their base until now, or... their infiltration techniques are too sophisticated?
Matsumoto, who had never personally experienced how advanced Ogata's swordsmanship was, saw Ohno's face suddenly turn pale, so he raised his hand and patted Ohno's shoulder, saying confidently:
"Don't worry! Ohno! We have a leader! You should know how powerful Boss Koizumi is, right?"
"If there are two ignorant guys sneaking into our base, our leader will definitely find them in time and kill them!"
As soon as Matsumoto finished speaking, a voice suddenly sounded from behind them:
"Boss? Are you referring to this man?"
As soon as this strange voice fell, Ohno's body shook violently.
Matsumoto just looked surprised and confused, then turned his head towards the sound.
As soon as they turned around, they saw a man and a woman walking towards them slowly with knives in hand.
When Matsumoto turned his gaze over, the man threw the round object in his left hand.
The round object drew a beautiful parabola and then landed steadily at Matsumoto's feet.
Matsumoto lowered his head and took a closer look—it was a head.
It's the head of their leader Koizumi...