The children surrounding Ayaka were chattering away, while looking with curiosity at the two strange Japanese people, Ogata and Atachi, as well as Nakushi and Nusa, who were carried on the backs of Ayaka and Ogata.
"Lucians?" Ogata frowned. "What happened? Are there...Lucians planning to plunder your village?"
“No, it’s not.” Ayaka shook his head with the helpless look on his face. “Mashima, do you remember what I told you before?”
"There was a group of Lucia people who stayed temporarily in our village."
Ogata began to reminisce.
Then I quickly recalled that Ayaka had indeed said something similar.
On the night when they killed the man-eating bear, when Ayaka asked Ogata and the others what weapons Motoya and Kasumi had, he told them that he had seen a pistol among a group of Lucia people who had stayed in his village for a while.
"The Lucia people who stayed in our village before are back again." Ayaka said, "They just left two months ago, why are they back again..."
Ayaka muttered as he led Ogata towards the village where he lived.
The village where Ayaka lived was called "Kumar".
Just now when it was still quite far away, I couldn't see it clearly.
Now as he approached the village, Ogata gradually saw the whole picture of the village.
The architectural style of the Ezo villages is quite different from that of the Wa people's villages.
The houses of Ezo were all made of dry yellow grass and wood that Ogata could not name.
Although the architectural styles are very different, the rural atmosphere that permeates the air is the same for both.
After Ayaka led Ogata and the others into the village, they were immediately met with curious and puzzled looks.
Perhaps the news that "Aiyaka brought two Japanese people back to the village" spread, more and more people appeared and gathered around, looking at Ogata and Atachi with curious eyes.
Ayaka was talking in Yakushi language to the people who were approaching.
Ogata guessed that he was probably explaining to everyone who Ogata and Atachi were.
Just as Ogata stood silently behind Ayaka, allowing Ayaka to slowly explain to the people around him, a Japanese voice with a strange accent suddenly came into Ogata's ears.
"Aiyaka! It's been such a long time!"
"Ah." Ayaka looked in the direction of the voice, "Vashili, it's you. It's been a long time."
When the Japanese voice with a strange accent sounded, Ogata also looked over.
After seeing the appearance of the owner of this voice, Ogata couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
She has facial features deeper than those of the Ezo, fair skin, and wears very Western-style clothes.
"Lucian..." Ogata murmured in a low voice that only he could hear.
There were three Lucia people in total, walking towards Ogata and his group at a moderate pace.
The height of the three people is about the same as Ogata, around 1.7 meters.
The one who had just greeted Ayaka in Japanese and was called "Vashili" by Ayaka was the one walking in front of the three people - a young man with curly brown hair and green eyes.
These three men did not carry any weapons and just walked up to Ayaka with empty hands.
"Vashili." Ayaka asked Vashili first, "Why did you come to stay with us again?"
"There were many mistakes in the last map we drew," said the young man whom Ayaka called Vashili with a wry smile. "So our leader had no choice but to lead us back and redraw the map."
"Where is your boss?" Ayaka asked.
"He led some people to map the area yesterday." Vashili shrugged. "He's not here for now, but - he should be back soon."
After saying that, Vasili looked up and down at Ayaka and Ogata and others standing beside Ayaka.
Looking at Ogata and Atachi, Vashili could not hide the surprise in his eyes.
After looking at Ogata and Atachi several times, Vashili withdrew his gaze and then looked at Aiyaka again.
"Aiyaka, I heard everything." Vashili said, "You went to hunt man-eating bears. How was it? Did you succeed in hunting down the pair of man-eating bears? And who are these two?"
The "two people" that Vasili mentioned were naturally Ogata and Atachi.
"These two are the guests I invited back."
Ayaka answered without hesitation.
"Thanks to the assistance of these two guests, the two man-eating bears are now dead."
"Those two man-eating bears were killed by these two people. I basically did nothing."
"Oh?" Vashili raised his eyebrows, then looked at Ogata and the other man again. The surprise in his eyes was much stronger than before. "Both man-eating bears were killed by these two people?"
Vashili grinned.
"It seems that you have invited back some very impressive guests, Aiyaka."
"By the way, I haven't seen a Japanese person in a long time."
"Hello. My name is Vasily. My full name is very long, so you can just call me Vasily."
After saying this, Vasili bowed slightly to Ogata and Atachi, following Japanese etiquette.
"Hello." Ogata returned the greeting, "My name is Majima Goro."
A-Ting: “My name is A-Ting.”
After greeting Ogata and the other two, Vashili waved to Ayaka.
"Aiyaka, I have something else to do, so I'll leave now. If you have time, come to our place and have a drink with me."
"Oh? Are you busy?" asked Ayaka.
"I've been busy keeping accounts today." Vashili shrugged with a wry smile, "You know, I've always been in charge of our group's finances."
"At the rate I'm going, I won't be able to finish the calculation until late at night."
"I just heard that you were back, so I took a break from my busy schedule to come out and see you."
"That's it. I'm going to go back and continue with my account. See you later."
After speaking, Vashili waved to Ayaka again.
This time he not only waved to Ayaka, but also to Ogata and Atachi.
While waving his hand, he led the other two Lucia people behind him and walked away.
…
…
at the same time--
Matsumae Castle, the residence of Matsudaira Sadanobu——
"Mr. Laozhong."
Tachibana knelt on one knee in front of Matsudaira Sadanobu and reported respectfully.
"My Lords, everyone is here."
At this time, Matsudaira Sadanobu was sitting behind a desk, writing furiously.
After Tachibana finished speaking, Matsudaira Sadanobu said in a calm tone:
"Yeah. Got it."
After saying this, Matsudaira Sadanobu put down the brush in his hand and stood up from behind the desk.
At this time, Matsudaira Sadanobu was not dressed casually.
Instead, he wore the most formal dress among shogunate officials - the haori.
The white inner garment, dark green shoulder garment and hakama were all clean as new without exception.
The shoulder garment is embroidered with the family crest of the Tokugawa family, the family that ruled the entire Edo Shogunate: the three-leaf sunflower crest.
Like Matsudaira Sadanobu, Tachibana was wearing the most formal, clean dress, with the same three-leaf sunflower embroidered on it.
"Tachibana, let's go."
After leaving these words lightly, Matsudaira Sadanobu adjusted the wakizashi on his left waist and walked out of the room with big strides.
Tachibana responded loudly with "yes", then quickly walked to the sword rack in the corner of the room and took down the katana of Matsudaira Sadanobu - Naga Sone Kotetsu - hanging on the sword rack.
Then he took the long Sone Kotetsu of Matsudaira Sadanobu in his arms and followed behind him at a speed a few steps slower than Matsudaira Sadanobu.
After leaving the room, Matsudaira Sadanobu asked Tachibana who was walking behind him without turning his head:
"How are the dishes being prepared?"
"Everything is ready." Tachibana said immediately, "You can serve it any time."
"Very good." Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded.
…
…
Tonight, a grand banquet will be held in Matsumae Castle.
A banquet for Matsudaira Sadanobu, the commander-in-chief of the shogunate army, Inamori, and the generals-in-chief of various troops sent by the Oshu domains.
There are a total of 31 feudal states in the Ou region. At the request of the shogunate , these 31 feudal states must send their respective troops north to Ezo to assist the shogunate in conquering the Ezo people entrenched in the Red Moon Fortress.
31 feudal states, 31 armies - yesterday, all 31 armies finally arrived at Matsumae Domain.
Because Matsumae Castle is just a small city and cannot accommodate so many troops, the various troops are currently stationed in various places in Matsumae Domain.
After receiving the news that all troops had successfully landed in Matsumae Domain yesterday, Matsudaira Sadanobu immediately issued orders to all troops:
The chief generals of each feudal army immediately came to Matsumae Castle. Matsudaira Sadasin wanted to hold a banquet in which the chief generals of each feudal army would participate.
This banquet can also be regarded as a welcoming banquet.
On behalf of the shogunate, Matsudaira Sadanobu welcomed and thanked the Oshu clans for their help.
The shogunate planned to send 10,000 troops to conquer the Red Moon Fortress this time - 5,000 shogunate troops stationed in the north early in the morning, plus 5,000 feudal troops composed of troops from the Oshu domains.
At present, the shogunate's goal of "sending 10,000 troops" has been successfully achieved - the actual number of troops dispatched has slightly exceeded the planned target.
The Oshu clans sent a total of about 5,300 troops, so the total strength of the shogunate's army currently assembled in the north is over 10,300.
Among them, the Aizu clan sent the most troops.
It is generally believed that in terms of military strength, the Aizu clan is undoubtedly the best in Oshu.
In response to the shogunate's call, the Aizu clan lived up to their reputation as "the most militarily powerful clan in Oshu" - they sent a total of 2,000 troops.
They also brought 90 iron cannons, 2 national bombs, and 13 large barrels of various types.
The second domain to send out the most troops was the Sendai Domain.
The Sendai Domain sent 1,800 troops.
In addition to having slightly fewer troops than the Aizu Domain, the number of firearms they brought was also slightly less than that of the Aizu Domain - they only brought 75 teppans, 1 kokubō, and 8 kōgeki daigan.
The combined forces of the Aizu and Sendai domains totaled 3,800 men, accounting for most of the combined forces of the various domains, which totaled about 5,500 men.
Troops from another 29 feudal states made up the remaining 1,500 men.
It is actually not surprising that the number of troops dispatched by each feudal domain varies greatly.
Due to differences in territory, grain production, industrial conditions and other factors, the strength of each fiefdom varied greatly.
Although there were 31 feudal domains in the Ou region, only two of them, namely Aizu and Sendai, could be called "powerful domains".
Among the 31 feudal domains in the Oyu region, there were 16 domains with a total koku of only 10,000 to 20,000 koku, accounting for more than half of the Oyu domains.
The domain that sent the least troops was the Yonezawa Nitta Domain, which was famous throughout the country for its poverty and everyone knew that this domain was extremely poor. It only sent 20 soldiers.
Of the 31 feudal armies sent to the north, only seven, led by Aizu and Senshu, were equipped with firearms.
The firearms of these seven feudal armies plus the firearms of the shogunate army - currently the entire army has a total of 720 iron cannons, 12 national bombs, and 81 large barrels of various types.
Among the Oshu domains, only Aizu and Sendai experienced national collapse.
Matsudaira Sadanobu learned five days ago that the total number of firearms of the shogunate and various feudal armies was only this number.
When receiving this data, Matsudaira Sadanobu felt very heavy.
Because this kind of firepower is completely incomparable to the firepower that the shogunate had when the Edo shogunate was first opened.
In terms of firepower, they may not be as good as the top princes in the Warring States Period two hundred years ago.
Two hundred years ago during the Warring States Period, Oda Nobunaga, who almost unified the world, mobilized more than 3,000 cannons when he fought the famous decisive battle with the Takeda clan - the Battle of Nagashino.
Matsudaira Sadanobu deeply felt how seriously the shogunate's power had declined.
At the same time, he also deeply felt how heavy the burden on his shoulders was as a senior councilor of the shogunate.
…
…
After walking through many corridors, Matsudaira Sadanobu finally arrived in front of two magnificent paper sliding doors.
Standing in front of the door, after making final adjustments to his clothes and the wakizashi on his left waist, Matsudaira Sadanobu winked at Tachibana behind him.
Tachibana nodded gently, then he walked quickly forward holding Matsudaira Sadanobu's chief Sone Kotetsu and opened the two paper sliding doors for Matsudaira Sadanobu.
As the paper sliding door was pulled open, the scene behind it gradually appeared before Matsudaira Sadanobu's eyes.
Behind the paper sliding door is a huge room.
The floor is covered with clean tatami.
The most honorable main seat is facing the door.
So if you look inside through the paper sliding door, you can see the main seat of the room.
There were two seats on the main seat - one of which was already occupied by Inamori.
The other seat was still empty - this empty seat was the seat of Matsudaira Sadanobu.
The 31 generals of each feudal army sat on the left and right sides of the main seat in order of their status.
After Tachibana opened the paper sliding door and Matsudaira Sadanobu appeared in front of everyone in the room, whether it was Inamori who was sitting in the main seat or the 31 generals of the various feudal armies, they all lowered their heads and saluted Matsudaira Sadanobu respectfully.
Matsudaira Sadanobu strode into the room and sat down in the seat prepared for him early in the morning.
According to the appointment of the shogunate, Inamori will serve as the commander-in-chief of this 10,000-strong army composed of the shogunate and the Oshu clans.
Inamori was promoted again.
He was promoted from a general who was stationed in the north and commanded 5,000 shogunate troops in the north to the commander-in-chief of the entire army, commanding the 10,000-strong coalition force of the shogunate and the Oshu clans.
Matsudaira Sadanobu only had the right to supervise this army, but did not have any command authority.
However - that's just what he said, but no matter who it is, even Inamori, no one dared to look down on Matsudaira Sadanobu or disobey his words.
Who would have the guts to disobey the words of Matsudaira Sadanobu, the second-in-command of the shogunate and the most powerful man in the world?
Inamori was the general commander of the entire army, and although Matsudaira Sadanobu had no command authority, it was impossible for Matsudaira Sadanobu to sit in a position other than the main seat.
Therefore, Matsudaira Sadanobu simply gave direct instructions - to place his seat and Inamori's seat side by side on the main seat.
"Gentlemen." Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was sitting in the main seat, said to everyone in front of him with a smile, "Thank you for coming."
"On behalf of the shogunate, I would like to thank you."
After saying some routine polite words, Matsudaira Sadanobu asked his attendants to bring the food and announced the start of the banquet.
Plate after plate of delicious food was brought up and placed on the table in front of each person.
Since taking office as the new and old councilor of the shogunate, Matsudaira Sadanobu has been strongly encouraging officials of the shogunate and the feudal domains to be frugal.
Therefore, the dishes served at the banquet hosted by Matsudaira Sadanobu were naturally not luxurious. They were just some local delicacies that were very common in the Matsumae domain.
To add to the fun, Matsudaira Sadanobu also invited some geishas and dancers to sing and dance.
The banquet gradually became lively amid the singing and dancing of geishas and geishas.
The serious atmosphere that originally permeated the air slowly dissipated, and joy replaced it.
At this time, Matsudaira Sadanobu also had a smile on his face and was chatting with people he knew.
…
…
"Lord Gamo." Matsudaira Sadanobu smiled at a young man sitting not far from him, "Lord Kaishu, how is your neck lately? Does it still hurt?"
As soon as Matsudaira Sadanobu finished speaking, the young man whom he called "Lord Gamo" quickly put down his bowl and chopsticks and responded in a neither humble nor arrogant manner:
"Thank you for your concern, Lord Laozhong. The lord recently invited a famous doctor. Under the treatment of that famous doctor, his neck has recently gotten much better."
The "Lord Aizu" that Matsudaira Sadanobu mentioned just now was naturally referring to the current lord of the Aizu domain.
Before he became the elder councilor of the shogunate and was still the lord of Shirakawa Domain in the Ou region, Matsudaira Sadanobu had a good personal relationship with the lord of Aizu Domain.
The young man sitting not far from Matsudaira Sadanobu was a well-known warrior in the Aizu Domain, Gamo Royuki. He was 26 years old.
Matsudaira Sadanobu had often heard of Gamo's bravery.
Although he is not particularly tall, only about six feet and three inches (161cm), he has extremely high attainments in the use of the katana.
The total length of a katana is generally slightly longer than a tachi, and it is a sword suitable for wielding on horseback.
When it comes to the skill of wielding a katana, Gamo has no rival in Oshu - Matsudaira Sadanobu had heard such rumors a long time ago.
And Pu Sheng is not a person who has gained fame for nothing.
As far as Matsudaira Sadanobu knew, the "Tachijutsu" used by Gamo was a skill he created himself that could unleash powerful power on horseback.
Gamo once personally demonstrated his martial arts in front of the lord of Aizu Domain: with only a horse and a sword, he defeated an elite cavalry team of 30 people and became famous in one battle.
The lord of Aizu Domain not only sent 2,000 troops to help, but also let this famous general under his command lead the team - this shows the loyalty of Aizu Domain to the shogunate and its active response to the shogunate's call.
2,000 troops——this is more than half of the entire Aizu domain’s military strength.
After chatting enthusiastically with Gamo for a few words, Matsudaira Sadanobu turned his attention to the middle-aged man sitting next to Gamo.
"Master Sheng Tianmu, what's wrong? Why do you look like you have no appetite?"
"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Mr. Zhong." The middle-aged man, who was called "Tianmu" by the Zhong, smiled awkwardly, "As I get older, my appetite has gradually become smaller. I can't eat as much as before."
After saying this, the middle-aged man sighed softly.
"I really miss the days when I was young when I could eat a big bowl of rice with just one fish."
Although this middle-aged man is old and even his beard and hair are slightly gray, he is actually a famous general like Gamo.
However, he was not a fierce general from the Aizu domain, but a fierce general from the Sendai domain - Namatemuro Soemon, the leader of the "Seven Spears of Senshu".
The current lord of Sendai Domain is a man who is fond of military tactics and martial arts.
Being fond of military tactics and martial arts, he created the honorary title of "Seven Spears of Xianzhou" in imitation of the "Seven Spears of Jianyue" that had made a great name in the Warring States Period 200 years ago.
This honorary title is awarded to the seven bravest warriors in the army.
Sheng Tianmu is one of these seven people - and he is also the bravest one.
Sheng Tianmu, who is 43 years old this year, has a huge body of nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall, which contains strength that is not at all like that of a middle-aged person.
He learned the ancient spear technique - Taneda-ryu. He is good at using the three-point spear.
The so-called three-room gun, as the name suggests, is a gun that is three times as long (1 room: 1.818 meters).
Although Matsudaira Sadanobu had never actually seen Namatame in battle, he had heard of it - the sight of Namatame riding on a warhorse, wielding a three-pointed spear, and roaring was enough to remind people of the famous general in history: Honda Tadakatsu, so some people also called Namatame "the reincarnation of Honda Tadakatsu."
Honda Tadakatsu was a fierce general under the command of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo Shogunate more than 200 years ago. He followed Tokugawa Ieyasu in his campaigns and made great contributions to the founding of the Edo Shogunate.
Because of his bravery in battle, Honda Tadakatsu was given many titles such as one of the Three Heroes of Tokugawa, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Tokugawa, one of the Sixteen Divine Generals of Tokugawa, "Japan's number one, the bravest warrior of ancient and modern times", the Flying General of Mikawa, the Demon Heihachi, Japan's Zhang Fei, the most powerful general of the Warring States Period...
Sheng Tianmu was called "the reincarnation of Honda Tadakatsu" - it can be seen that his martial arts skills must be quite extraordinary.
However, although Shengtianmu's martial arts were extraordinary, Matsudaira Sadanobu had heard that he was rather arrogant and liked to brag about his martial arts - although he did have the capital to brag.
The Sendai Domain also responded very positively to the shogunate's call.
In addition to sending out 1,800 troops, five of the "Seven Spears of Xianzhou" were also sent to lead the team.
Sheng Tianmu, the leader of the seven spears, is one of these five people.
The lord of Sendai Domain was so bold as to directly dispatch five of the "Seven Spears of Senshu" that he surprised Matsudaira Sadanobu a little.
Matsudaira Sadanobu knew that a big part of the reason why the lord of Sendai Domain was so arrogant was just to compete with Aizu Domain.
But Matsudaira Sadanobu knew this - the Sendai samurai had always wanted to prove that they were not inferior to the Aizu samurai.
The will not to lose to the Aizu Domain made all the samurai of the Sendai Domain very motivated.
Matsudaira Sadanobu was also happy to see the fierce competition between the feudal domains.
After all, the competition between the fiefs can also motivate them to strive to perform better on the battlefield.
Looking at Gamo and Nakatenmoku who were standing next to each other, the smile on Matsudaira Sadanobu's face involuntarily became more intense.
The lineup of brave generals in the army was much more luxurious than he expected.
Inamori, who is sitting next to him now, is also a brave general who can be called one in a million.
At present, the baggage, troops and generals are all in place.
——The full-scale attack on Red Moon Fortress...is about to begin.
Matsudaira Sadanobu said this in his heart without showing any emotion.
…
…
at the same time--
Ezo, Kuma Village——
Gurgle gurgle gurgle…
The big pot in front of Ogata and Atachi had already boiled the soup, which was bubbling out continuously with the sound of "gurgling".
In the soup were two bear paws, which were now red.
"...It looks so weird..." Ating muttered, "This bear paw is just like a human foot..."
Three days ago, Ogata followed Ayaka's advice and took the bear paw of the man-eating male bear in addition to the bear skin and bear gall.
Because the paws of the man-eating male bear were so big, bigger than a football, it would be impossible to carry all four paws, so Ogata and his friends only took two paws.
It was almost evening when Ogata and his companions arrived at Kuma Village, where Ayaka lived.
At this moment, the sky has darkened.
Currently, Ogata and Atachi are at home in Ayaka.
Ayaka's family is a big family.
Ayaka himself, his wife, Ayaka's parents, and his grandmother who is still alive, a total of five people, all lived under the same roof.
Although there are many family members, Ayaka's house is very big so it doesn't feel crowded.
Ayaka's house can accommodate two more people, so Ayaka invited Ogata and Atachi to stay in his house during this period of time.
Ogata and his friends had no reason to refuse Ayaka's invitation, so they accepted it and, together with Atachi, packed their luggage and moved into Ayaka's home.
Three days ago, after encouraging Ogata and his friends to take off the bear paw, Aiyaka promised Ogata and Atachi that he would ask his grandmother, who was very good at cooking bear paws, to make a delicious bear paw dish for them.
And now, Ayaka has kept his promise.
The two bear paws being boiled in the pot were the ones that Ogata and his companions had taken from the man-eating male bear.
The first dinner that Ogata and his friends had in the Kuma village was bear paw dish prepared by Ayaka's grandmother.
Ayaka's grandmother was sitting next to the pot at this time, checking the fire carefully.
When Ogata and Atachi were first brought home by Ayaka, Ayaka's family members were surprised at first.
But after hearing Ayaka say that the two of them were "bear fighting warriors" who hunted and killed the two man-eating bears, Ayaka's family members immediately softened their attitude towards them.
Ayaka's grandmother sat by the pot, concentrating on cooking bear paws.
Ayaka sat in front of Ogata and the others.
His parents and wife were sitting behind Ayaka.
After hearing Ating's muttering "bear paws are like human feet", Ayaka laughed a few times.
“I felt the same way when I first started eating bear paws,” Ayaka said. “After the skin was peeled, the bear paws really looked like human feet.”
"But don't worry."
"Although it looks a bit ugly, the taste will definitely not disappoint you."
"How long will it take to make this bear paw?" Ogata asked.
"Very soon. It will be ready in a little while."
There is nothing to do while waiting for the bear paw to be cooked.
So Xu Fang simply asked Ayaka who the Lucia man named Vasili whom he had just met was.
After hearing Ogata's question , Ayaka slowly replied:
"That group of Lucia people came to draw a map."
"According to them, they are only here to map the surrounding terrain."
"He stayed temporarily in our village more than two months ago."
“Although they are staying temporarily, they are actually just setting up camp next to our village.”
"Our village is close to the river and is the best place to set up camp."
"More than two months ago, they just left after drawing a map of the terrain near our village."
"I didn't expect that after more than two months, they would come back again."
"According to what Vashili said just now, they made a mistake in drawing the map, so they had to come back again."
"Is that Vasili the leader of that group?" A-Ming asked, "He speaks Japanese really well."
“No.” Ayaka shook his head.
"That Vasili is just the second in command of his group."
"Their real boss is a man with red hair. Their boss speaks Japanese very well."
"I even suspect that their eldest brother has been learning Japanese since he was a child. He speaks Japanese just like a Japanese."
"Although their behavior is quite rude, their discipline is pretty good."
"When he was staying near our village more than two months ago, he never did anything inappropriate."
"So we just let them stay here temporarily and draw pictures."