The weather is very good today and it's not snowing.
There were no unexpected situations along the way.
So Ogata and his men arrived at the northern border of Matsumae Domain very smoothly in the afternoon.
After successfully sending Ogata and Atachi to their destination, Nakahara said goodbye to them and drove the sled back to Matsumae Castle.
After watching Zhongyuan driving the sled back to the original place, A-Ming turned his head, looked to the north, and then let out a long breath.
"Okay, from now on ... we can only walk."
"Fortunately, we are already used to walking." Ogata joked as he took out a map from his pocket.
This map was given to them by Soichiro Nishino on the ship.
This is a simple map of Ezo.
But it's quite brief.
Only the Matsumae domain and part of the area to the north of the Matsumae domain are drawn.
In this map, there are some red dots drawn to the north of Matsumae Domain - these red dots are the settlements of Ezo.
Ogata planned to rely on this map to find these "red dots" one by one and collect clues.
Maybe some Ezo people in some Ezo settlement happened to run into Xuanzheng, Xuanzhen and the others.
And who knows - maybe Xuanzheng and Xuanzhen are in some Ezo settlement right now.
"We are about to enter the Ezo territory." Ogata put away the map in his hand, and then said seriously to Atachi beside him, "You must be careful at all times."
Unnaturalized Ezo, Russians, gold diggers... The Ezo region, which is now home to all kinds of people, is not peaceful, so you must be extra careful - Ogata has heard similar reminders countless times since he was still in Edo.
"I'm a female ninja." Atachi smiled and said in a half-joking tone, "Saving our lives is what we ninjas are best at."
…
…
2 days later——
Today, Tang Shen is sitting behind his stall as usual, waiting for customers to come.
Wooden cages holding various animals were neatly placed in front of and on both sides of Tang Shen.
Tang Shen held his cane, which was half the thickness of a bowl, in his arms, sitting on the ground with his head lowered and his eyes closed to rest.
"Mr. Tang Shen, long time no see. It's been more than 3 months. You are still as energetic as ever."
A familiar male voice sounded in front of Tang Shen's stall.
After quickly opening his eyes, Tang Shen immediately looked towards the stall.
Standing in front of the stall was a middle-aged man who was quite familiar to Tang Shen.
The middle-aged man was looking at Tang Shen with a smile.
Looking at this middle-aged man, Tang Shen also smiled.
"Oh! It's you, Mr. Yamamoto! Long time no see! Are you here to get the goods so early this year?"
"Yes." The middle-aged man called 'Sir Yamamoto' by Tang Shen shrugged, "The pets I bought from you last time were sold out very quickly, and our furs are also almost sold out, so we have to leave earlier this year to purchase more."
Yamamoto - this middle-aged man is an old customer of Tang Shen.
He was a wealthy businessman from Kyoto who specialized in fur business. He specialized in selling fur produced in Ezo.
Due to various reasons such as the vast land and sparse population, the various wild animals in Ezo are not only numerous, but also have thick and dense fur to keep warm.
Therefore, animal furs from Ezo have always been a best-seller.
In addition to selling fur, Yamamoto also works part-time as a pet seller.
As an ancient capital with a history of thousands of years, Kyoto has no shortage of princes, nobles, and samurai families who have both spare money and free time.
Cute pets have always been best sellers among these "superiors".
The red fox, pika, red squirrel, etc. of Ezo are cute animals that are only found in Ezo and not in Kyoto. They are extremely popular.
Therefore, Yamamoto is Yushin's most important customer and the one who frequents Yushin's business the most.
Every time Yamamoto came to Ezo to purchase furs, he would also buy these cute little animals unique to Ezo from Yugami and then transport them back to Kyoto for resale.
Yamamoto glanced at the wooden cages placed in front of Yushin.
"How many animals do you have this time?"
"32 in total." Tang Shen replied, "5 red foxes, 14 pikas..."
Tang Shen reported the number of various types of animals one by one.
After Tang Shen finished speaking, Yamamoto said:
“It seems like there are fewer animals this time.”
"I'm getting old." Tang Shen gave a bitter smile, "My skills are not as good as before."
Yamamoto bent down and carefully examined the animals in the cages.
After selling pets for so long, Yamamoto has developed some insight.
Yamamoto could tell at a glance which animals were healthy and which were sick.
After briefly checking the status of all the animals in the cage, Yamamoto nodded:
“Although the number is smaller this time, every animal is healthy.”
Yamamoto stood up.
"All right. I want all your animals. Name your price."
Yamamoto is not only the most important person who frequents Yushin's business, but also Yushin's favorite customer.
Because Yamamoto was very generous, every time someone came to patronize his business, they would buy all of his animals at once - except those that looked unhealthy.
Afterwards, Tang Shen started a brief "business war" with Yamamoto.
Although Yamamoto is an old customer of Tang Shen, he still has to bargain for the price and return the price.
After several rounds of bargaining, Tang Shen and Yamamoto finally agreed on a price acceptable to both parties.
After giving all the money to Tang Shen, Yamamoto immediately called his men and asked them to move all the pets that Tang Shen had spread out to the bed.
As one of the famous wealthy businessmen in Kyoto, Yamamoto naturally has a large number of employees under him.
Soon, the wooden cages containing various animals that were piled up like a mountain in front of Tang Shen were emptied.
After all the animals were moved away, Yamamoto chatted briefly with Tang Shen and then said goodbye to him.
Selling fur is Yamamoto's main business, so he also needs to be busy negotiating with local fur traders about purchasing.
After Yamamoto left, Yushin looked at the empty stall with joy on his face.
As a businessman, there is nothing more satisfying than selling out your merchandise.
"Looks like I have to go hunting again..."
Tang Shen muttered to himself as he slowly stood up from the ground using his crutches to support himself.
Since the animals have been sold out, there is naturally no need for Tang Shen to stay here any longer.
There was a cart parked behind Tang Shen.
The owner of this cart is Tang Shen.
Tang Shen used this cart to push his animals to the street corner connected to the port to sell them, and then pushed the animals back in the afternoon.
Just as Tang Shen was about to turn around and push his cart home——
Bang.
"Hey! Don't you look where you're going?!"
Because the animals were sold out and he was so happy, Tang Shen didn't notice that there was a strong man walking very close to him.
Tang Shen was so excited that he forgot himself and accidentally bumped into the sturdy man, making a not-so-light but heavy sound of flesh collision.
The thick and long walking stick in Tang Shen's hand, which was half the thickness of a bowl, accidentally slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground in the collision.
The sturdy man who was accidentally bumped into by Tang Shen was wearing ordinary coarse clothes and had no sword on his waist - he was an ordinary civilian.
But he was obviously a man with a bad temper. After being bumped into by Tang Shen, he immediately cast an extremely displeased look at Tang Shen and shouted at him angrily.
Tang Shen was startled and hurriedly bowed to the strong man to apologize.
"I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!"
Looking at Tang Shen who was respectfully bowing to him and apologizing repeatedly, the sturdy man felt his anger subsided a little.
"Hmph!" The sturdy man snorted coldly, "Watch your way carefully next time you walk!"
After saying some vicious words, the burly man strode away.
As soon as the burly man left, a young man who happened to have witnessed the whole incident ran towards Tang Shen from not far away.
"Old man, are you okay?" The young man cast a caring look at Tang Shen.
"It's okay..." A bitter look appeared on Tang Shen's face, "It's just that I accidentally bumped into his left shoulder just now and it hurts a little now..."
Tang Shen said as he rubbed his left shoulder.
"That guy is really..." The young man raised his eyes and looked in the direction where the strong man just left, "He has the nerve to be so rude to an old man for such a small matter."
While complaining about the rudeness of the burly man just now, the young man bent down and helped Tang Shen pick up the crutch that accidentally fell out of his hand after he bumped into the burly man.
The young man held the crutch in his right hand and lifted it up, then his expression suddenly changed.
"Old man, is your walking stick filled with lead? Why is it so heavy?"
Tang Shen's walking stick is not actually ridiculously heavy, but for a wooden walking stick, it seems a little too heavy.
After taking the crutch back, Tang Shen smiled:
"Who would use a cane filled with lead? My cane is just made of special wood, so it's a little heavier."
"Thank you, young man."
After thanking the young man, Tang Shen quickly walked to his cart which was placed next to him, pushed the cart, and headed straight towards his home.
…
…
Both Ogata and Atachi are people who are used to living a life of hardship and exposure.
A-Machi had received relevant ninja training and had often slept in the open air when carrying out those missions in the past.
Not to mention Ogata, in the more than a year since he left the Hirose Domain, he had spent more days sleeping outdoors than staying in comfortable hotels.
Therefore, the two of them did not feel uncomfortable with the current "trip to Ezo".
During the day, they followed the map and headed straight for the Ezo settlement closest to the Matsumae domain. At night, they took turns sleeping, with one person sleeping while the other was responsible for going to bed.
Before they knew it, it had been five days since the two of them left Matsumae Domain and headed north.
…
…
Ating looked at the sun setting in the distant sky and murmured in a low voice: "It's almost dark..."
As soon as Atachi finished speaking, Obe on the side continued with a helpless tone:
"That's the bad thing about winter. It gets dark so quickly."
According to Ogata's calculation, it was probably just past 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
But at this time of year, in Ezo, which is located at a relatively northern latitude, it was almost dark.
"Let's speed up a bit." Ogata looked around, "This place isn't very suitable for camping."
Ogata and the others are now in a forest.
The area is surrounded by dense trees and is not suitable for camping.
"Yeah." After A-machi nodded slightly, he quickened his pace along with Ogata.
Before they had walked a few steps, Ogata and Atachi suddenly heard some unusual noises.
I looked in the direction of the sound and saw that they were two deer.
These two deer have long and big antlers on their heads, and their smoky brown hair has a few white spots. They look very majestic, and even though they are covered with thick fur, you can still feel the powerful strength hidden in their four hooves.
The two deer seemed to have discovered Ogata and Atachi as well.
Without even looking at Ogata and Atachi, they spread out their four hooves and quickly left their sight.
Looking at the two deer that left in a hurry, Ating sighed:
"There are so many deer in Ezo..."
During the five days they traveled deep into the heart of Ezo, north of the Matsumae Domain, Ogata and Atachi did not see a single soul except themselves.
Whether it was the Japanese, Ezo, or Russian people, Ogata and the others didn't see a single one.
On the contrary, I have seen quite a few animals.
So far, the animals that Ogata and A-machi have seen the most are deer, followed by squirrels, rabbits and other small animals.
Deer can be seen everywhere. You can see deer every distance you walk.
Because they have seen deer so many times, Ogata and Atachi are no longer surprised when they see deer.
"Those two deer were really big," Ah-Ming said casually, "They must be the biggest deer we have ever seen."
"Speaking of big, this deer is not considered big." Ogata smiled, "I heard that in Tangtu and Nanman countries, there is a kind of deer called 'moose'. These deer are considered big."
"At the shoulder height alone, moose are generally 6 to 8 feet tall (one foot is 30 centimeters)."
"Ah, I've heard about this kind of animal before." Ah-Ming nodded. "If I have a chance, I really want to see with my own eyes whether this moose is really as big as the rumors say."
"In addition to moose, I also want to see what a unicorn looks like."
A-Ting touched her swan neck.
"I heard that the Qilin's neck is very long, about 3 or 4 times as long. (1: 1.818 meters)"
"And I heard that if you touch a Qilin, you will be blessed with the Qilin's auspiciousness, and you will become lucky for a period of time afterwards."
"I wonder if it's really that magical. If I have the chance, I really want to see a Qilin with my own eyes."
The time on the road is always boring.
So in order to pass the time, Ogata and Atachi would often chat casually about all sorts of topics like they are doing now.
Although Ogata had never seen a moose in person, he had seen a photo of it on the Internet - a moose standing next to a car.
With the moose as a reference, the small car seemed tiny.
This picture allowed Ogata to intuitively feel the huge size of the moose and had a great impact on him.
The "Qilin" that Ating just mentioned, although it has a very domineering name, is actually just a very common animal in Africa.
This animal is the giraffe.
Why are giraffes called Qilin? It all started with a eunuch named Zheng He.
When Zheng He sailed to the West in the early Ming Dynasty, he discovered giraffes in East Africa when he arrived there.
Because the appearance of the giraffe was very similar to the Qilin recorded in books, Zheng He determined that the giraffe was the legendary auspicious beast Qilin and excitedly brought the Qilin back to his country.
In this way, Zheng He successfully changed the way Japan called giraffes.
As a time traveler, Ogata naturally knew that the so-called Qilin was just an ordinary animal, not some legendary auspicious beast, and touching it would not bring any auspicious aura.
But it was not convenient for Ogata to explain the true face of Qilin to Atachi, and he also did not have the heart to break Atachi's beautiful fantasy about Qilin.
Therefore, Ogata could only smile with a bit of weirdness and responded casually:
"I can only hope that one day in the future, the shogunate will be able to send someone across the ocean like the Ming Dynasty did in Tangtu, and bring back one or two unicorns like Zheng He did."
"This way we can also see the beauty of Qilin."
"Well... Actually, compared to Kirin..." Atachi pondered for a moment, "I would rather the shogunate bring back lions and tigers."
"Lions and tigers?" Ogata asked. "Why?"
"Because lions and tigers are animals that we don't have in Japan." Atachi said, "I've heard since I was a child that lions and tigers are very ferocious animals."
"I don't know which is more ferocious, a lion or a tiger, or a wild boar or a bear."
"I think wild boars are stronger. There is probably no animal in the world more powerful than a wild boar."
"Hmm? Have you ever encountered a wild boar?" Ogata asked back.
"Yeah. Before I left the Shiranui, I once encountered a wild boar during a mission."
"My companion who was on the mission with me was accidentally attacked by this wild boar."
"He was in bed for half a year before he was able to get out of bed."
There are neither lions nor tigers in Japan.
Although there are no lions or tigers in Japan, there are wild boars.
Because there are no other equally ferocious animals for comparison, and because wild boars are indeed quite ferocious, a idiom related to wild boars was born: "Pig's sudden advance."
It means to move forward courageously.
"Fortunately, there are no wild boars in Ezo." Ating shrank his neck. "I heard that even the most experienced hunters dare not attack wild boars casually."
"The wild boar is very stubborn. If you provoke it, it will not stop until it kills you with its fangs."
"So when hunting wild boars, it's either the wild boar or you. If you can't kill the wild boar with one blow, then you're doomed."
"Although there are no wild boars in Ezo, there are equally scary animals - bears." Ogata said with a wry smile.
When I was still living in Kinno-cho, I heard a lot of stories about his past hunting days from a "former hunter" named Shimasuke.
The most heard story is the bear hunting story.
Shimasuke never tires of telling Ogata and his listeners that bears are extremely dangerous and that even the most experienced hunters would not be careless when hunting bears.
"That's true..." Ating muttered, "Although I have never seen a bear, I heard that a bear can smash a person to pieces with just one blow..."
"Bears are scary, but they're not that dangerous," Ogata consoled him. "I think we need to pay more attention to wolves than bears."
“People are afraid of bears, and bears are afraid of people.”
"As long as you don't provoke the bear, it will not actively attack humans under normal circumstances."
"Besides, it's winter now, and bears are basically hibernating."
"You seem to know a lot about bears." A-Machi looked at Ogata with a hint of admiration. "Have you ever done any special research on this?"
Being looked at like this by Atachi made Ogata feel a little happy, and a smile appeared on his face involuntarily.
"I haven't investigated it, but I have heard about the habits of these bears from a 'primitive hunter' before."
What Ogata just said was just a copy of the knowledge that the "original hunter" Shimasuke told him.
"When you encounter a bear, you can't play dead or run away. You definitely can't outrun a bear. Stand still, look straight at the bear, and even better, talk to the bear."
Being looked at by Atachi with such eyes, Ogata's sexual desire also came up.
He talked eloquently, plagiarizing all the knowledge he had learned from listening to Shimasuke's hunting stories...ah, no, he relayed them one by one.
"As long as you stand still and look the bear straight in the face, it sends a signal to the bear that you are harmless and not a threat to your life."
"Once the bear is sure that its life is not in danger, it will leave."
"But not all bears are immune to humans."
"There is a kind of bear that will actively attack humans even if humans don't provoke it."
"That's the bear that ate human flesh."
"After a bear eats human flesh, it can no longer eat anything else. It can only eat human flesh for the rest of its life."
"So when facing a bear that has eaten human flesh, it's useless even if you stand still. They will be happier if you stand still."
"A bear that has eaten human flesh can only eat human flesh for the rest of its life... " Ating shrank his neck again, "How terrifying..."
"It's very rare to see a bear that has eaten human flesh."
Ogata smiled and shrugged, comfortingly.
"Among a hundred bears, perhaps not one has ever eaten human flesh."
"So the probability of encountering this kind of bear is very..."
“Ah ...
Before Ogata could finish his words, a roar that seemed to shatter all the surrounding trees suddenly reached the ears of Ogata and Atachi.
They were both stunned, then quickly turned their heads towards the sound.
They saw a big brown bear rushing towards them from the southwest using all four paws!
The bear charging straight at them reminded Ogata of the large trucks in his previous life - they were exactly the same in terms of speed and pressure.
In his previous life, Ogata had read some information about bears on the Internet - a bear's sprinting speed could be as fast as a truck traveling at 60 kilometers per hour.
At this moment, Ogata truly felt that this introduction was not written randomly.
In just a moment, the bear, which was a long distance away from Ogata and Atachi, rushed to the two of them, then raised its paw, which was bigger than Ogata's head, and slapped Ogata.
If it were an ordinary person, there would be nothing else to do except waiting for his head to be smashed like a watermelon.
But Ogata is not an ordinary person after all.
After the bear raised its paw, Osamu, whose reflexes and agility were far superior to those of ordinary people, immediately hugged Ating beside him and rushed to the snow with him.
He avoided the bear's paw just in time.
The bear's paw did not smash Ogata's head, but instead smashed the big tree as thick as two bowls behind Ogata and Atachi.
Facing the bear's paw, such a thick tree trunk was like glass and was easily smashed to pieces.
When the first strike missed, the bear immediately deployed a second one.
It raised its other front paw and pressed heavily towards Ogata and the other man who had just rushed aside with Atachi in their arms.
Ogata continued to hold onto Atachi tightly and rolled on the snow, once again avoiding the attack from the big bear.
The bear's paw hit the place where Ogata and the other man had just fallen, splashing a lot of snowflakes.
This time, Ogata dodged and moved directly to a place several steps away from the bear.
Before the big bear could launch a new attack, the two of them quickly stood up.
Ating took out her Suying gun and pointed it at the big bear.
When Atachi was about to pull the trigger, Ogata immediately shouted to Atachi:
"Don't hit it in the head! Hit it in the belly!"
At this moment, the "bear hunting advice" he had heard from the "former hunter" Shimasuke appeared in Ogata's mind - when hunting a bear, never attack the bear's head.
This is because the bear's skull is very hard, almost as hard as steel. Even with a cannon, you may not be able to penetrate the bear's skull.
After hearing Ogata's reminder, although he didn't know why, Atachi quickly adjusted the position of the gun muzzle, aimed at the bear's belly, and fired all four bullets in the Suying gun chamber in one breath.
At the same time that Atachi took out Suzakura, Ogata also took out his Kasumi Nagi.
He wants to let this bear experience the power of human beings!
Bang, bang, bang…
Ogata and Atachi used up all of Kasumagami and Motoyuuri's bullets in one go.
Eight gunshots broke the silence of the woods.
The bear was so big and so close to the two of them, there was no reason why Ogata, who had never practiced shooting, would miss.
All eight bullets penetrated the bear's belly.
“Aa ...
A roar of pain emanated from the bear's huge mouth.
The eight bullets failed to kill the bear immediately.
While roaring, he raised his two front paws high, then swung his right palm and slapped Ogata's head again.
Those 8 bullets just now are still useful.
The bear's movements were much slower and its strength was not as terrifying.
Ogata lowered his body to avoid the bear's palm, then gritted his teeth, handed Kasumi to his left hand, then reached out his right hand for the Daishikuten on his left waist, and then pounced towards the big bear in front of him like an arrow.
The sword flashed.
When he was about to pass by the bear, Ogata used Raikiri from his Muga Two-Sword Style and slashed hard at the bear's belly.
“Ah…”
The big bear, which had suffered another severe blow to its belly, had weakened its roar.
It swayed a few times like a drunkard, and then fell heavily to the ground.
Ogata did not dare to be careless. After taking Kasumagami back into his arms, he pulled out the Great Freedom Sword with his left hand, then pounced on the fallen bear with both swords , aiming at its neck and frantically finishing off the bear with the sword.
He swung both swords and stabbed the bear's neck more than ten times alternately. Only when the bear was soaked in a pool of its own blood did Ogata finally stop.
"It's so scary..." Until this moment, Ating's lips and face were still pale.
From the time the bear suddenly appeared and attacked them to the time Ogata and his team killed the bear, only about half a minute passed in total.
This half minute felt like several hours to Ogata and A-machi.
While reloading Suying's bullets, Ating slowly approached the bear, which was deader than dead.
Ogata also wiped off the bear blood and bear fat that were on Daishikuten and Daijizai, sheathed his sword, took out Kasumagami, which he had just stuffed into his arms, and reloaded it.
"This bear is so big..." Ating murmured, "If it stands up, it will be almost as tall as two of me put together..."
What Ating said was a bit exaggerated. According to Ogata's visual estimation, if the bear stood up, it would be about 2.5 meters tall, not as tall as two Atings put together - but such a height was already terrifying.
"It's not that tall. What if there are two of you? At most, there's only one and a half as tall as you..." Ogata turned his head and looked at the tree that was smashed by the bear. He whispered, "It's worthy of being a bear... Humans can't compare to it at all..."
The strongest opponent Ogata had ever encountered was Shuntaro, the leader of the "Four Heavenly Kings" in Shiranui.
But now, Ogata feels that this record can be renewed.
The strongest opponent he has ever faced is this bear.
Although this bear does not know any martial arts, it has wild instincts and strength and speed far superior to humans.
In the face of absolute power, skills and such are actually completely useless...
In terms of strength and speed, compared to this bear, Shuntaro is - to be frank, he is nothing but trash...
Each attack of this bear is basically a killer move, and if you get hit by it, you will definitely die...
Until now, recalling the brief bear fight just now, Ogata still feels a lingering fear.
If it were someone else with lesser skills, his body would have been smashed to pieces long ago.
After witnessing how the bear rushed at a speed comparable to that of a truck speeding on the highway, and how it smashed a thick tree with one palm, Ogata knew that it was time for Kasumigaseki, who had not been used for a long time, to appear.
Even if he had reached the "selfless state", Ogata was not absolutely sure that he could defeat such a big bear in close combat...
After all, no matter how much improvement the "selfless state" brings to Ogata, it will not allow Ogata's physical fitness and swordsmanship level to transcend the limits of human flesh...
Even if the body is enhanced to the limit, it is still just a slap for the bear...
"Ayi, you just said that only bears that have eaten human flesh will attack humans, right?" A-Ting swallowed, "That means... has this bear eaten human flesh?"
"Maybe..." Ogata twitched his lips, "Our luck is so bad... Just now we were talking about how rare bears that have eaten human flesh are, and then we immediately ran into a bear that may have eaten human flesh and attacked us..."
“Ah ...
At this moment, the same scene as before happened.
Before Ogata could finish his words, another roar broke out into the sky.
The two men, their nerves still tense, quickly turned their heads to look towards the source of the roar.
The roar came from a huge bear that was bigger and stronger than the dead bear next to Ogata and Atachi.