Almost no one knew that while Upanu was giving his passionate "speech", Chanup was listening below.
After learning from his daughter Asuma that Upanu was about to give a "speech", Chanup immediately asked Asuma to lead the way and rushed to the scene under her leadership.
But he arrived a little later - he was just a little faster than Retano and the others.
After arriving at the scene, Chanup hid in an inconspicuous place, so except for Aisuma who accompanied Chanup here, no one noticed that their "supreme leader" was also listening to Upanu's "speech".
When Chanup arrived at the scene, he only heard Upanu shouting at the top of his lungs, "Let's surrender!", followed by "If we surrender, we can avoid this losing battle! Everyone can live, and our tribe can survive!"
Then, Chanup saw Retanoe and others rushing forward, pulling Upanu off the barrel he was standing on, and dismissing all the onlookers.
Looking at Upanu who was dragged away by Retannoe and others, Çanup smoked quietly, then said to Aisuma beside him, "Aisuma, thank you for your hard work. You haven't had much rest since just now, right? Go home and have some rest first." Then he turned around and left silently.
"Father, where are you going?" Asuma asked.
"Don't worry about me." Chanup said, "You haven't had any rest since just now, right? Go home and rest now, I will be back soon."
…
…
"Upanu, although I already know that you are a coward, I didn't expect you to be so cowardly." After dragging Upanu to an empty corner, Retannoe said this to Upanu viciously.
"You actually advocated surrender in public... you bastard!"
Reitannoe, who already had a bad temper, could no longer suppress his anger. He raised his hand and punched Upanu hard in the face, knocking Upanu to the ground.
Those who had just followed Retannoe to drag Upanu away now hurriedly pulled the two apart.
After being hit hard by Retannoy, Upanu did not show any anger.
After touching the place where he had been hit, he whispered:
"It doesn't matter how you laugh at me. All I want is for everyone to survive and for the tribe to continue."
It would have been better if Upanu didn't say anything. His words made Retannoe even angrier.
Just as Retannoy was about to hit Upanu with a few more punches, a calm and dignified voice suddenly sounded from behind them:
"That's enough, Retannoy. It's disgraceful to be fighting among yourselves at this time."
"Chanoup?" Retannoe turned his head and looked at the owner of the majestic voice - Chanoup.
Chanup held his pipe and slowly walked towards Retannoe and others .
"Chanoup, why are you here?" asked Retannoy.
"You and I should have arrived at Upanu's 'speech' at about the same time." Chanup said, "After I saw you dragging Upanu away, I secretly followed you."
Chanup looked at the wound on Upanu's face that had just been caused by Retannoe.
"Retannoy, calm down."
"If we kill each other now, it will only make the people outside the city laugh."
"Upanu, you too. Calm down, too."
"At this time, if you loudly preach 'surrender', it will only make everyone more uneasy."
"If we get into chaos internally, the people outside the city will just laugh at us."
"Since what I did was wrong... then Chanup, you tell me - what should we do now?" Upanu laughed at himself with a bit of sadness in his eyes, "Isn't it time for you to say something and do something? Stop playing dumb!"
"...How about we try to contact the Japanese outside the city first?" Chanup slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, "Maybe we can use peaceful negotiations to drive them away."
"Ha." Retannoy sneered, "Chanoup, you've been pretending to be dumb all this time. Now that you finally open your mouth to speak, is this the only stupid thing you can say?"
"The Japanese mobilized such a large army to attack us. The money spent must be incalculable."
"Do you think you can use peaceful negotiations to talk the Japanese out of spending so much money?"
"Anyway... let's try it first." Chanup let out a long sigh.
…
…
Asuma always respected her father and rarely disobeyed Chanup.
After Chanup told her to "go home and rest first", Aisuma obediently went home as her father instructed.
And I was indeed a little tired. I hadn't rested since a while ago and had been running around to maintain order.
Aisuma was good at hunting and was very fast on his feet. In just a short while, he returned to the doorstep of their home.
Now, many of the people who had gathered in front of Chanup's house have dispersed - only 13 people in total.
Although there were fewer people, the 13 people immediately surrounded Chanup her.
With anxious faces, they asked Aisuma all kinds of questions: Has Chanup come back? How is Chanup now? Is there any way to drive away the people outside?
It took some effort for Asuma to answer the questions asked by these people one by one and break out of their encirclement.
As soon as he opened the door curtain and entered the house, the voice of Tang Shen immediately came to Aisuma.
"Huh? Why are you the only one back? Where's Chanup?"
"Father seemed to have something to do, so he let me come back alone to rest."
Aisuma has now become somewhat accustomed to this guest who has been staying in their home for a while.
An old man who had never been seen before was walking arrogantly on the road - this would always cause all kinds of trouble, so these days, Tang Shen had been staying in Chanup's home and had hardly left Chanup's home.
During the time that Tang Shen was staying in their house, he had been well-behaved and had not done anything to displease Aisuma, so Aisuma allowed this old man, who was suspected to be an old friend of her father, to live in their house.
Aisuma had only one thing that she was very dissatisfied with regarding Tang Shen - Tang Shen never told her much about himself.
As for this guy who is suspected to be an old friend of her father, Aisuma has always been curious about his identity and how he knew her father.
However, no matter what he was asked, Tang Shen was very secretive about his own affairs and his past with Chanup - which made Aisuma a little unhappy.
After taking off the bow on his back, Asuma looked around.
"Hmm? Mr. Tang Shen, have you seen Otung Pui?"
"Your brother? He hasn't come back yet." Tang Shen said.
"Didn't he go home?" Asuma was stunned.
Tang Shen nodded.
"That's strange..." Asuma muttered, "I ran into him when I was maintaining order just now, and asked him to go home... Is he wandering around somewhere again ? He is such a worrying child..."
After saying that, Aisuma sat down not far from Tang Shen and massaged her legs which were sore from not having rested since just now.
Tang Shen glanced at Aisuma for a few times, then cleared his throat: "How is it? Did the guy named Upanu say anything?"
"When my father and I arrived, it was already a little late. So we didn't hear anything."
Aisuma briefly told Tang Shen everything she had seen and heard after accompanying Chanup to Upanu's "lecture site".
After finishing the explanation, Asuma let out a long sigh:
"I thought that Mr. Upanu, who had fought with Kazuto and had a blood feud with him, would definitely choose to fight Kazuto to the death... I didn't expect that..."
Tang Shen: "Hmm? Did that Upanu fight with Kazuto?"
Asuma nodded: "He participated in the Battle of Kunasilimenasi three years ago."
Yushin said "Oh" and "I see", and then he didn't ask any more questions. Yushin, who had lived in Matsumae for a long time, naturally knew about this battle that ended in the Ainu's tragic defeat...
Tang Shen didn't say anything else, just lowered his head, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Aisuma, who was not familiar with Tang Shen, also did not say anything, but silently massaged her sore legs.
It was not until a long while later that Tang Shen suddenly said:
"...Actually...surrender is not an unacceptable option..."
"Huh?" Aisuma looked at Tang Shen.
"If we fight head-on, our chances of winning are slim." Tang Shen continued, "Rather than fighting a battle with such slim chances of winning, it is better to surrender... Although it may be humiliating and you may lose some freedom, at least you can stay alive..."
Hearing Tang Shen's words, Aisuma instinctively wanted to refute him.
But as soon as he opened his mouth, he couldn't utter the words of rebuttal.
Because——Aisuma didn’t know what to say to refute Tang Shen…
After glaring at Tang Shen with a complicated look, Aisuma closed her slightly open lips again, lowered her head, rubbed her legs attentively, and no longer paid attention to Tang Shen.
…
…
The Red Moon Fortress is half surrounded by a river in the shape of a Chinese character "几". The Red Moon Fortress and the river that half surrounds it can form the Chinese character "凡".
There are wide rivers on the north, east and west sides, and only the south side is connected to the land. At the same time, only the southern wall has a gate for entry and exit.
Therefore, for the Shogunate army, they only need to set up camp on the south side of the Red Moon Fortress to block the only entrance and exit of the Red Moon Fortress and completely surround the Red Moon Fortress.
After the enemy arrived at the city, the soldiers of the First Army quickly set up camp to the south of the Red Moon Fortress and established a large number of surveillance posts to monitor the Red Moon Fortress's every move.
At this moment - almost all the surveillance posts saw: the gate of Red Moon Fortress suddenly opened slowly.
Three dog sleds drove out through the open gate and headed straight for the military camp.
According to the estimation of the soldiers at the surveillance post, there were about ten people sitting on the three dog sleds.
There was finally movement in the Red Moon Fortress - the soldiers on the surveillance post naturally immediately conveyed the news to their general general Katsura Yoshimasa.
Upon hearing the news, Gui Yizheng laughed loudly: "It seems that those barbarians want to negotiate with us. Let them in! I want to hear what they have to say!"
…
…
Although some people, led by Reitannoe, disagreed with Chanup's proposal to "talk to others" and felt that it was just a waste of time, Chanup still insisted on his own opinion.
Finally, at Chanup's insistence, a delegation of envoys was sent to negotiate with the Japanese.
The leader of the delegation was a middle-aged man named Glock.
Not only could he speak Japanese, but he was also an expert in Japanese affairs. He was familiar with Japanese etiquette and knew how to deal with them. He was eloquent and smart, so he was chosen by Chanup to be the leader of the envoy group, with full responsibility for the negotiations with the Japanese.
Glock and his entourage drove the dog sled, and in the blink of an eye, they were close to the gate of the Japanese military camp.
When Glock got closer, he saw a warrior dressed as a general, leading dozens of soldiers, standing under the gate.
This general and these dozens of soldiers were the "reception staff" sent by Gui Yizheng to receive Glock and others.
"We don't come here with hostility!" Glock was the first to shout to the "reception group" under the gate, "We want to talk to you! Please let me see your general!"
The general who was in charge of receiving Glock and the others looked Glock up and down with a cold gaze and said indifferently:
"Welcome. Please allow us to check if you are carrying any weapons."
After he finished speaking, the general made a gesture to the dozens of soldiers behind him without saying anything. These dozens of soldiers immediately stepped forward to surround Glock and others, and then checked Glock and others' bodies from head to toe.
Glock was naturally extremely dissatisfied and displeased with this somewhat rough physical examination by He Ren.
But he had no money to get angry, so he could only hold it in.
After confirming that Glock and his men were not carrying any weapons, the general waved his hand at Glock:
"Come with me."
Led by the general, Glock and others walked through the gate and slowly walked into the depths of the military camp.
Although he was mentally prepared, after driving the dog sled to the gate of the Japanese military camp and looking at the endless military tents around him, Glock couldn't help swallowing out of fear and nervousness.
The performance of the entourage behind Glock was similar to that of Glock.
After walking to the deepest part of the military camp, the commander-in-chief's tent where Gui Yizheng was located finally appeared in his field of vision.
At this moment, outside the commander's tent, 100 soldiers in helmets and armor lined up in a neat square formation in front of the tent entrance.
This was a performance designed by Gui Yizheng on a whim - in order to intimidate the envoys sent by the Red Moon Fortress.
The performance designed by Katsura Yi-zheng was quite successful.
Looking at the neat square formation, the long spears that were like a dense forest, and the armor that reflected the cold light under the sunlight, Glock and his men could not hide their fear and panic even though they tried their best to conceal it.
After passing through the dense square formation of 100 soldiers and entering the commander-in-chief's tent, Glock saw Katsura Yoshimasa sitting on the main seat, holding the sword at his waist.
Gui Yizheng originally wanted to call all the generals of their First Army to come over to boost their morale, but then he changed his mind and thought it was not worth mobilizing such a large force just for a group of barbarian envoys.
So after weighing the pros and cons again and again, Gui Yizheng decided that he would be the only one to meet the envoys of the barbarians, while the other generals would continue to do their respective tasks.
After Glock and the others entered the tent, before they could say anything, Gui Yizheng spoke first:
"I am General Katsura Yoshimasa!"
Gui Yizhen, sitting upright on a stool, straightened his back, looking very majestic.
"Why have you come here this time? If you don't have an explanation, I will not let you off easily!"
The entourage behind Glock turned pale due to the overwhelming aura of Gui Yizheng.
Glock was able to keep his composure. He bowed to Katsura Yoshimasa in a dignified and dignified manner and said in fluent Japanese:
"Lord Gui, we come for peace!"
"We want to have a good talk with you!"
Glock was about to continue speaking when Gui Yizheng waved his hand and interrupted him rudely:
"We have nothing to discuss with you."
"You have no moral integrity and are acting like beasts. There is nothing we can discuss with you, a bunch of unkind and unjust rats."
"We must have some misunderstanding!" Glock said anxiously, "We have never incited the citizens of Matsumae Castle! We have never done such a thing! It must be a misunderstanding! We are willing to assist you in the investigation!"
As a general who was qualified to lead an army of 3,000, Katsura Yoshimasa naturally knew that the "naturalized Ezo riot" that had occurred in Matsumae Castle had nothing to do with the Red Moon Fortress. They were just throwing dirty water on the Ainu people in the Red Moon Fortress to use it as an excuse to start a war.
Knowing that they were just trying to throw mud at him, Gui Yizheng naturally would not admit that Red Moon Fortress was innocent.
"Misunderstanding?" Gui Yizheng sneered, "You are still quibbling here! Since you have no intention of admitting your guilt, there is nothing more for me to talk to you about."
Looking at Gui Yizheng who stood up and left, Glock was shocked and said quickly:
"Lord Gui! Please wait!"
Gui Yi Zheng was watching Glock's frightened expression with great interest - their frightened expressions gave Gui Yi Zheng a different kind of pleasure.
"I have nothing to discuss with you!" Gui Yizheng sat back down, "You either open the city and surrender, or wait to suffer my wrath. There is no other option!"
The generals, led by Commander-in-Chief Inamori, had actually anticipated this long ago - the barbarians of the Red Moon Fortress would most likely come to them for peace talks.
Prior to this, Inamori had already discussed with Katsura Yoshimasa - if the barbarians of the Red Moon Fortress came to negotiate, they would not accept any options except opening the city and surrendering.
They spent an astronomical amount of money to launch this expedition.
The purpose of their expedition this time was to capture the Red Moon Fortress, which was located in a strategic location.
If they cannot capture the Red Moon Fortress, no matter what conditions the barbarians in the Red Moon Fortress offer, it will not be enough to make up for the losses they incurred in this expedition.
At this moment, Katsura Yoshimasa was just following Inamori's orders.
Glock was so anxious that his face was covered in sweat at Gui Yizheng's tough attitude, but he still expressed their request tremblingly.
"Lord Gui, we sincerely want to restore peace with you!"
"Humph." Gui Yizheng sneered, "Since you really want to restore peace, then don't waste time and surrender quickly."
Glock's clothes were soaked with cold sweat...
…
…
After sending out the delegation headed by Glock, the senior officials of the Red Moon Fortress headed by Chanup gathered in a small room, anxiously awaiting the return of the delegation.
Although there are people like Reitannoe who have no hope for this peace talk, there are also people who have strong hope for this peace talk.
After everyone's long wait, the envoys finally returned, much earlier than they expected.
Glock and his men returned with frustrated looks on their faces.
Looking at the depressed Glock, without allowing Glock to speak, Chanup and the others already knew the outcome.
Glock briefly informed Chanup and others of the negotiation process.
Their negotiations could be described in one word: failure.
Before Glock set off, Chanup told Glock that their biggest bargaining chip did not impress Gui Yizheng at all.
No matter what Glock said or negotiated, no matter what conditions he offered, Gui Yizheng's attitude was extremely tough and he would not accept any options except surrender.
After Glock finished his report, Chanup's face darkened, with a hint of resentment and anger emerging on his face.
But as his face turned gloomy, a gleam of light appeared in Chanup's eyes.
After listening to Glock's report, Reitannoe slapped his thigh and yelled:
"Look! The Kazutos don't even want to negotiate with us! They just want to destroy us."
As soon as Reitannoë finished speaking, the other pro-war figures spoke up in agreement.
"That's right! We shouldn't waste time negotiating with people!"
"What a bullshit to incite their townspeople. I think they are just looking for an excuse to start a war with us. Their purpose is to seize our land."
"Fight them!"
When the war advocates were excited, Upanu's voice sounded at an inopportune time:
"You bunch of lunatics, do you really want to die?"
It would have been fine if Upanu hadn't said anything, but as soon as he spoke, he aroused the anger of Retannoe and others.
Faced with the abuse from Retannoë and others, Upanu was not to be outdone.
As expected, the pro-war faction and the pro-surrender faction started arguing again.
But what was different from the past was that when the war faction and the surrender faction started arguing, Chanup said in a calm tone:
"Stop arguing."
Both the pro-war faction and the pro-surrender faction slowly stopped their quarrels and cast surprised glances at Chanup.
During this period, Chanup played dumb and did not express any opinions. When the two factions started a war of words, he never spoke out to stop them.
Like now. This is the first time that someone has spoken out to stop a verbal fight.
"The wolfish ambitions of the people are now clearly revealed."
Chanup said slowly while smoking a cigarette.
"The townspeople who so-called incited them were probably just throwing dirty water on us and using it as an excuse to start a war. War is like this, and fabricating reasons for war is just the norm."
"They just want to seize our land and occupy our homes. No matter what conditions are used, there is no way to make them withdraw their troops except to surrender in Kaesong."
"Then let's surrender quickly!" Upanu said anxiously, "As long as we surrender..."
Before Upanu could finish his words, Chanup sneered.
"Surrender?" Chanup sneered several times, his shoulders shaking slightly with laughter. "Surrender will only delay our death."
"And - the 'death' that comes with surrender is a 'death' that is more terrible than the death of the body?"
"Chanoop?" Upanu looked at Chanoop in surprise.
For some reason, Upanu instinctively sensed that Chanup seemed a little strange at this moment.
No.
It shouldn't be said to be strange.
It should be said that it is somewhat different from the past.
In the past, Chanup always had a blank expression on his face during every meeting and just kept smoking.
Although Chanup still had a blank expression on his face at this moment, Upanu suddenly discovered that Chanup's eyes were a little different from before.
Now Chanup's eyes are as sharp as a knife, like an eagle circling in the sky.
And Retannoe also noticed the changes in Chanup at this time.
If Upanu was just stunned when he noticed the change in Chanup, then Retannoe was shocked.
As an old acquaintance of Chanup, Reitannoe was very familiar with this look - it was this look that Chanup had when he led them to find a new home 10 years ago.
Noisy.
At this moment, there was a sudden noise outside the house.
"What's going on?" Reitannoe frowned and looked out the window.
As soon as Reitannoë finished speaking, a voice that was quite familiar to Reitannoë sounded outside the house:
"Mr. Chanup! Mr. Chanup!"
"Puccina?" Retannoy's eyes widened in surprise.
The voice coming from outside the house was the voice of Puccina, Retannoy's only son.
Chanup was also very surprised by the sudden sound of Puchina outside the house. He raised his eyebrows, then stood up and walked out.
As soon as he stepped out of the house, the scene that appeared in front of Chanup made his pupils shrink in surprise.
I saw more than a dozen young men holding spears and carrying bows and arrows on their backs, standing outside the house.
After Chanup came out, they looked at Chanup with flaming eyes, and the leader of these dozen young men was Puchina.
"Puccina, what are you doing?" Retano looked a little at a loss.
After Chanup walked out of the house, the rest of the people, led by Retannoe, followed Chanup to see what was happening outside the house.
"Father, as you can see." Puccina shook the spear in his hand, "We are ready to defend our home until the last moment."
Although Puchina's words were brief, his tone was powerful.
"Mr. Chanup," Puchina said word by word, "We came here just to tell you - whether you want to surrender or fight to the death in the end..."
Puccina waved to the dozen or so young men surrounding him and said, "We will all fight Kazuto until the last moment."
"Are you crazy?" As soon as Puchina finished speaking, Upanu, who was standing behind Chanup and had also seen the scene outside the house, said anxiously, "Do you know how powerful the He people are? How can you beat the He people? You are just sending yourself to die in vain."
Puccina reacted calmly to Upanu's rebuke.
"We know," Puccina said calmly, "Mr. Upanu. In fact, I was listening to your speech just now."
"Although we have never fought anyone, we know how powerful their armor and weapons are."
"Even if we can fight ten of them, we can't defeat someone with an army of ten thousand."
Upanu: "Then you..."
Before Upanu could finish his words, Puchina interrupted him with righteous words.
"But we would rather die in battle than give away our home, which we have worked so hard to build, to others for nothing."
"Even if we defend this place to the death, our chances of winning are slim, but we don't want to give up just like that."
Just now, after listening to Upanu's "speech", Puchina returned home without saying a word.
When he returned home, he put down the dried deer that he had originally intended to give to Asuma.
He raised his spear and bow.
Then he gathered like-minded people from all over.
He called upon all those who, like him, were unwilling to surrender and give up their homes to others for nothing.
At this moment, the dozen or so young men standing beside Puchina were the patriots summoned by Puchina.
At this moment, Chanup's emotions have calmed down.
He glanced at Puchina and others in front of him with a calm gaze, and said slowly:
"Young people, I understand your feelings and your thoughts."
"But do you know that if you fight to the death with Kazuto, your chances of winning are slim. You are very likely to lose, and you are also... very likely to die?"
“…In the beginning, when we migrated south to find a new home, countless people made sacrifices and finally made it here and built a new home here. Now, we are just doing again what our predecessors did.” Puchina’s tone was full of determination.
Chanup seemed to be surprised by Puchina's words, and a hint of surprise flashed across the depths of his eyes.
Then - this fleeting look of surprise transformed into an extremely dazzling light.
"...Everyone." Chanup turned around and looked at Reitannoe and others behind him, "Go and gather everyone. Have everyone gather at the 'old place' this evening."
"Everyone?" someone exclaimed.
"That's right." Chanup nodded, "That's everyone. Among the one thousand residents of Heyezhe, not a single one can be absent."
"Chanoup, what are you doing?" asked Retannoy.
Chanup smiled mysteriously and said, "You will know by this evening."
After saying this, Chanup paused.
After a pause, he looked at Retano with a faint smile.
"Retannoe," said Chanup. "I am not old yet."
"I am still the 'hero' who successfully led everyone to find a new home."