Everyone except Yashili heard the strange sound that sounded very much like a woman's scream, which meant that Ogata was not being overly suspicious or mishearing.
Ogata was very concerned about the woman's screams. Without thinking much, he grabbed the Daishikuten placed on the right side of his body, inserted it back into his left waist, and then followed the direction where the sound came from.
A-Ming, Aizan, and Yashili followed Ogata without hesitation.
As for Tang Shen, after hesitating for a while, he shouted to his sled dogs, asking them to stay in the cave.
The IQ of these sled dogs is not low. Under the training of Tang Shen, they are very obedient. After receiving Tang Shen's order to "stay here", they all wagged their tails, stuck out their tongues, and lay on the ground in the cave, not moving at all.
After dealing with his sled dogs, Tang Shen picked up the walking stick he always carried with him and caught up with Ogata and the others.
After following the sound of the woman's screams she had just heard , Ating's extremely strong eyesight came in handy again.
"I saw several figures flash through the woods in the northeast direction." A-Machi lowered her voice and whispered to Ogata who was walking in front of her.
Ogata did not respond to Atachi, but just nodded slightly, then lowered his center of gravity a little and walked slowly in the direction that Atachi had just said.
As they gradually approached the northeast direction that Atachi had just mentioned , strange sounds came into the ears of Ogata and the others, and they became clearer and clearer.
These strange noises sounded very much like a man's whispering, and... the sound of clothes being torn.
After gently pushing aside the branches of a bush in front of them, Ogata and the others finally saw who were making the strange noises - four soldiers in armor.
The four soldiers are now holding a little girl to the ground.
Judging from the little girl's clothes, it is not difficult to tell that she is an Ainu.
The four soldiers each performed their duties - two of them held down one of the little girl's hands, one held down the little girl's legs and spread them apart, and the other tore off the little girl's clothes.
The girl's mouth seemed to be tied with cloth, so she couldn't speak and could only make low whimpering sounds.
These four soldiers were immersed in their bestiality, so they didn't notice Ogata and others not far away.
Seeing this scene, the faces of A-Ting, Ayizan and Yashili turned pale instantly.
However, there was no major change in the expression on Ogata's face, and his face looked normal.
He simply narrowed his eyes slightly, then raised his left hand and pressed it on the mouth of Da Shitian's scabbard, with his thumb resting on Da Shitian's sword guard, and pushed forward, causing Da Shitian's blade to pop out of the scabbard.
Yugami, who was crouching not far from Ogata, noticed Ogata's action, and then quickly raised his hand to press Ogata's right shoulder, then lowered his voice and whispered to Ogata:
"Wait a minute, do you know the little girl who is being pinned down?"
"If you don't know that little girl, just pretend you didn't see her and leave."
"Didn't you see what those four people were wearing?"
"They are all wearing armor, so they must be soldiers in the army. If you hurt the soldiers in the army, it will be a big trouble..."
Before Tang Shen finished speaking, Ogata, who had been listening attentively, seemed to have no patience to hear Tang Shen continue. He shook off Tang Shen's hand on his shoulder, then held the knife at his waist, rushed out of the bushes, and rushed straight towards the four soldiers.
The first person Ogata aimed at was the tall soldier who was tearing the girl's clothes.
After the tall soldier's neck was already within Ogata's sword circle, Ogata raised his hand and grasped the hilt of Daishikite's sword, and the sword light poured out from the sheath.
Muga's two-sword style: Raikiri.
Although Raikiri is not very useful as a sword-drawing technique in frontal combat, if you want to launch a sneak attack on the enemy, there is no sword skill better than this one.
The sharp blade of Da Shitian cut through the skin, flesh and bones of the soldier's neck from left to right, just like cutting through water, and easily chopped off the soldier's head, causing his head to fly to the right by inertia.
After beheading the tall soldier, Ogata turned the blade of Daishikten and pointed the tip of the blade at the neck of the soldier who was holding the girl's feet.
Sakakibara Ittoryu - Torashi.
The tip of the knife pierced the air and pierced the soldier's throat.
[Ding! Use Sakakibara's sword style, Bird Thorn, to kill the enemy.]
[Gain 70 points of personal experience and 70 points of swordsmanship "Sakakibara Ittoryu" experience]
[Current personal level: Lv38 (540/6000)]
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 13th Stage (5725/12000)]
Ogata had no lack of experience in dealing with armored foes.
Earlier on Choujima, Ogata had his first encounter with soldiers in armor.
Neck, face, armpits, back knees, feet - these five places are not protected by armor, so just attack these five places.
It was not until Ogata had killed two people in a row that the remaining two soldiers who were holding the girl's hands finally realized that there were uninvited guests.
"Damn it..." The soldier who was holding the girl's left arm picked up the spear placed aside and cursed with a terrified face, using the curse words to relieve his frightened heart.
However, he had just uttered the first two syllables of the word "Fuck" when Daishikatsu's blade shut his mouth forever - Ogata used a dragon tail to chop his face apart, and his brain mixed with blood flew out.
The last soldier knew that it would take too much time to pick up the spear on the ground and he would not have enough time.
So he roared and opened his arms and rushed towards Ogata who was only a few feet away from him.
He had learned a little sumo, and he planned to use his sumo skills to pin Ogata down.
He succeeded in hugging Ogata - but it was of no use.
After hugging Ogata, he was surprised to find that Ogata, who didn't look very strong, was much stronger than he thought...
He felt like he was hugging a bear.
Even without using sword skills, Ogata can easily defeat most samurai with poor skills just by relying on his current strong physical fitness.
With his 20 points of strength, Ogata was able to break free from the soldier's arms with just a slight struggle.
Then he raised his left hand that was not holding the knife, pressed the soldier's face, and pinned him to the ground with brute force. Then he put the blade of Da Shitian's knife close to his neck and slashed it hard...
Scalding blood gushed out like a fountain along the cut carotid artery, but Ogata, who was lying on top of the soldier, took a step forward and dodged to the side, preventing the blood from splashing on him.
In just a moment, the four soldiers who were originally full of bestiality all turned into corpses with their body temperature constantly dropping.
Tang Shen stared at the scenes that just appeared before his eyes and at Ogata in amazement.
The little girl who was rescued by Ogata was also stunned.
The little girl, with a pale face and the fear of being sexually assaulted just now still lingering on her face, looked at Ogata with a human face who suddenly appeared in horror.
Ayizan and Yashili, who knew how powerful Ogata was, immediately came out of the bushes after Ogata knocked down the four soldiers and ran towards the little girl who was almost violated.
Ogata and others arrived just in time. If they had arrived a little later, the last piece of clothing on the little girl would have been torn.
Yashili helped the little girl put her clothes back on and gently comforted her: "Don't be afraid, it's okay. (Ainu)"
Seeing the familiar Ainu faces and hearing the familiar Ainu language, the little girl's emotions gradually calmed down and the fear on her face slowly faded away.
After his emotions had stabilized, all the anxiety and fear that had been accumulating burst out in one breath.
“Woo, woo, wooaaaaaaaah!”
The girl howled and clutched Yashili's clothes tightly.
"Save, save my father and mother! Save my father and mother! (Ainu language)"
Ayi Zan: "Child, calm down, take a deep breath, and tell us slowly what happened. (Ainu)"
…
…
Takta Village——
Mogami leaned on his sickle spear with one hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a sweat towel in the other.
While wiping the sweat off his face, he looked at the scene in front of him with pride.
The scene before Mogami was filled with blood and flesh.
Dead bodies could be seen everywhere—mostly the bodies of the villagers of Takta Village.
Wherever you go, you can see corpses, blood, internal organs, broken limbs, and faces full of fear.
Judging from the results, Mogami's actions tonight were undoubtedly a great success.
Their surprise attack was quite successful. When the leader gave the order to launch the "attack" and his soldiers emerged from their hiding places and rushed towards Takta Village from all directions, no villager in Takta Village noticed that danger was approaching.
Because they didn't notice it in advance, they were caught off guard.
It was not until Mogami and his men had killed their way into their village that some villagers finally picked up bows and arrows and spears and began sporadic counterattacks.
After giving the order to launch the attack, Mogami took the lead, wielding the sickle spear in his hand, sweeping the sharp blade at all the Ainu who appeared in his field of vision.
Although he has always been questioned whether he is capable of bearing the title of "Seven Spears of Xianzhou", it does not mean that he is a good-for-nothing. As far as spearmanship is concerned, he is better than most of the unlearned warriors.
Being caught off guard + the attacking enemies outnumbered them + the attacking enemies were well prepared + their weapons and equipment were backward = being defeated.
Before the battle began, in order to ensure his own smooth political career, Zuo Shang ordered all the generals and soldiers not to commit any acts of rape or looting, and if discovered, they would be severely punished.
So since the battle began, every soldier was focused on killing the enemy.
Not long after the battle began, the sporadic resistance in Takta Village was completely wiped out, and the remaining villagers began to flee.
However, faced with soldiers who launched the attack only after completing careful deployment, few villagers managed to escape successfully.
The villagers who managed to escape from the village were not completely safe. Some soldiers, who were bloodthirsty, chased after the villagers who had managed to escape with swords and guns...
Less than half an hour passed from the start of the attack until there were no Ainu left standing in Takta Village.
Mogami looked complacently at the hellish scene filled with blood and flesh in front of him, feeling happy that he had successfully completed the task assigned to him by his uncle. He couldn't help but imagine how his uncle would praise him for completing the task successfully.
"Megami-sama!"
At this time, a deep male voice sounded from behind Zuigami.
"Izawa-kun. How many casualties are there?" Mogami looked in the direction of the voice.
Ize - the owner of this deep male voice is a general in their Sendai Domain army.
He was a military commander with outstanding talents, who was highly appreciated by Sheng Tianmu.
In order to help his nephew complete the mission successfully, Sheng Tianmu specially sent this general whom he admired very much to assist Mogami.
"A total of 9 people died and 21 were injured, none of them were seriously injured. 9 soldiers who went to chase the fleeing Ezo have not returned yet." Izawa reported the casualties of this battle in a concise manner. "Most of the soldiers who died were accidentally hit by the poison arrows of Ezo. Some of the injured soldiers were accidentally injured by their own people."
"Poison arrows? These arrows from the Ezo are poisoned. They are really troublesome..." Mogami let out a long sigh. "What happened to the nine soldiers who chased the fleeing Ezo and haven't returned yet? Did something unexpected happen?"
"I don't know." Yize frowned slightly and shook his head. "Maybe something unexpected happened, or maybe they are still chasing the fleeing Ezo. These Ezo are familiar with the nearby terrain and are also used to running in the mountains. So it should take a lot of effort to catch up with them."
Mogami was silent for a while, then gave an order to Izawa:
"Yize, I will give you 30 soldiers. You take them to clean up this place and burn all the dead bodies. This place is very close to our army's marching route. If a plague breaks out, it will be troublesome."
Ize: “Yes.”
"While cleaning the battlefield, wait for the soldiers who have not returned yet to come back. If any soldiers have not returned before dawn, treat them as missing. You will take the soldiers responsible for cleaning the battlefield and the soldiers who have returned back to the camp to report."
"Yes!" Yize nodded again.
"I will now lead the troops back to the camp to report." After saying this, Mogami couldn't help but reveal a happy smile as he was expecting to receive praise from his uncle.
…
…
Somewhere——
Matsudaira Sadanobu used a fallen and withered tree trunk as a chair, sat on it, and in the light of the campfire in front of him, carefully read "Han Feizi", which he had read countless times.
His set of "Han Feizi" is the "original Chinese version" from the Tang Dynasty and is very valuable.
For Matsudaira Sadanobu, who received "elite education" since childhood, "accessible reading of Tang Dynasty classics" was just a small and insignificant advantage of his.
The guards, led by Tachibana, formed an airtight protective circle around Matsudaira Sadanobu, closely guarding his safety.
Da da da da…
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves reached Matsudaira Sadanobu's ears.
This is the sound of soldiers returning from their mission to check the road conditions for tomorrow's trip.
"Sir!" After the soldier rode his horse to a place not far from Matsudaira Sadanobu, he rolled off the horse, then trotted all the way to Matsudaira Sadanobu and knelt on one knee.
"One li ahead (equivalent to 3.924 kilometers in modern times), we have found our army's camp!"
"Our army's camp?" Matsudaira Sadanobu turned his eyes away from the book in his hand, "Which army is it?"
"I saw a lot of flags embroidered with bamboo and sparrow patterns! This should be the camp of the First Army!"
Bamboo sparrow pattern - the family crest of the lord of Sendai Domain.
"The First Army? According to their marching speed, they are almost here now." A faint smile appeared on Matsudaira Sadanobu's face. "What a bridge! I can unexpectedly run into Nakatenmu's troops here."
Matsudaira Sadanobu looked up at the sky.
After confirming that it was not too late and that the weather was good tonight, Matsudaira Sadanobu closed the book in his hand.
"Tachibana, quickly prepare to set off." Matsudaira Sadanobu ordered, "Since we have a rare chance encounter, let's go and say hello."
…
…
The First Army Camp, the Commander-in-Chief's Camp——
Sheng Tianmu, who was only wearing a simple white suit, was bending over to deal with a pile of paperwork.
As the commander of the First Army with 3,000 soldiers, he had to deal with a lot of complicated tasks every day. The moon was already high in the sky, and everyone else was about to go to bed, but Sheng Tianmu still had a lot of work to do.
After working continuously for an unknown period of time, Sheng Tianmu felt his neck and shoulders were a little sore, so he decided to go outside the tent to get some fresh air and relax his nerves which were tense from handling military affairs.
Sheng Tianmu picked up the battle feather ornament placed aside, put it on, and strode out of the tent.
Although the main function of the battle feather zhi is to make the generals look more handsome and cooler and to make it easier for them to show off, the battle feather zhi still has some functions of keeping warm.
As soon as he walked out of the tent, Sheng Tianmu instantly felt gusts of night wind blowing towards him.
The weather tonight is really good. Not only is the moon high in the sky, but the night wind is also quite gentle, neither strong nor cold. It makes people feel particularly comfortable when it hits their skin.
The commander's tent where Sheng Tianmu lived was built on a high slope. When he stepped out of the tent and stood on the slope looking down, he could see most of the camp of their First Army.
Inside the camp, flags stood in rows, with military flags embroidered with different family crests fluttering in the gentle night breeze.
Looking at the military flags that came into view, Sheng Tianmu sighed heavily, then with a slightly sad look on his face, he whispered in a tone that only he could hear:
"The military preparations are in disrepair..."
The First Army led by Namatemoe was a 3,000-man army composed mainly of troops from the Sendai Domain, as well as a large number of troops from other domains.
Up to now, Sheng Tianmu has taken over and commanded the First Army for some time. Sheng Tianmu has already seen the appearance and performance of the troops of other feudal states in the First Army except their Sendai Domain.
If Sheng Tianmu were to evaluate the troops of the other feudal states in the First Army except for their own Sendai Domain, it would be - horrible...
In some of the wealthier feudal domains, such as Yonezawa and Morioka, their samurai were better, and some of the samurai in their troops still looked like samurai.
As for the less wealthy feudal states, such as Kuroishi and Yonezawa Nitta, their samurai had no samurai style except for the swords on their waists. Just looking at their movements, you can tell that they are the kind of people who neglect to exercise on a daily basis... or even never exercise at all.
Such warriors have no way of fighting any tough battles and can only be placed in the army to boost morale.
According to Sheng Tianmu's observation, among the 3,000 soldiers in their First Army, almost one-third were the kind of soldiers who could only be placed in the military formation to boost morale... If they were asked to fight a tough battle, they would probably be defeated before they even saw the enemy.
Sheng Tianmu knew that Japan had been enjoying peace for a long time, and that the military equipment of various feudal states had been in disrepair, so before taking over the First Army, Sheng Tianmu had already prepared himself mentally to "see many samurai who don't look like samurai."
However - although he was mentally prepared, after seeing such a large number of degenerate and corrupt warriors with his own eyes, Shengtianmu was still a little shocked and felt sad about it.
After seeing such a large number of "Fallen Warriors", in addition to being shocked, Sheng Tianmu also felt a little fortunate.
Fortunately, the samurai of the three armies, the Shogunate Army, the Aizu Army, and the Sendai Army, which made up the majority of their 10,000-strong army, still retained some of the legacy of the Warring States Period.
Although Namatemaki had always disliked the Aizu Domain and regarded Aizu as a rival, he had to admit that the samurai of Aizu were very powerful and were the kind of samurai who could be dragged to the battlefield to fight.
Just when Sheng Tianmu was still immersed in his lament about the decline of military equipment, a general suddenly ran towards him in a panic.
"My Lord! My Lord!"
"What's the matter?" Sheng Tianmu looked at the soldier.
"The old eunuch has come to visit unexpectedly!" the general said loudly, "The old eunuch is outside the camp now!"
"Master Zhong?!" Sheng Tianmu's pupils suddenly shrank.
…
…
Takta Village——
"These Ezo women are so ugly." A soldier with a scar on his face said to a companion behind him while moving a female corpse, "Why do they have tattoos on their faces? They look disgusting."
"Who knows." His companion shrugged, "Maybe the men in Ezo like girls with tattoos on their faces."
The scarred soldier and his companion are now carrying corpses in an inconspicuous corner of Takta Village.
Both were part of a group of 30 soldiers left behind to clean up the battlefield.
The two of them had just taken down a large wooden board from a house in the village. They placed the corpse on the board and then carried it out in one go, which greatly improved the efficiency of carrying the corpse.
"I can't understand it." The scarred soldier curled his lips, "Such a good face, but they had to destroy it like this...Looking at such an ugly face, my body is all droopy."
"Come on. After you haven't seen a woman for a month or so, let alone these Ezo women with tattoos on their faces, I'm afraid you'll get erections just by seeing a bitch."
"I'm not that perverted." The scarred soldier said unhappily, "But having said that - although these Ainu women have ugly tattoos on their faces, once the lights are turned off, you can't see any tattoos."
"Hey, this Aizo woman is pretty, and she doesn't have any tattoos on her face. Hey, come and see! I found a very beautiful Aizo woman. It's such a pity that such a beautiful Aizo woman died... Hmm? Did you hear me?"
The scarred warrior turned his head with a puzzled look and looked at his companion who had not responded to him.
However - as soon as he turned his eyes away, he saw his companion falling limply to the ground.
And a young samurai rushed towards him with a wakizashi in his hand that was still dripping with blood.
The scarred warrior didn't even have time to utter a word before the young warrior rushed to him, covered his mouth and nose with his left hand, and pressed the wakizashi in his right hand against his neck...