Chanup did not shout at the top of his lungs like Upanu did, but spoke in a very calm tone.
But these words, spoken in a calm tone, were far more sonorous and powerful than any of Upanu's previous roars.
Upanu originally had thousands of words he wanted to shout at Chanup, who had bewitched the young children in his village with his "evil words", but all the were now blocked in his throat because of Chanup's just words.
"...What are you doing here?" Upanu said in a deep voice, "Are you...trying to persuade me to go crazy with you?"
“No.” Chanup shook his head. “I just heard that you were about to get into a fight with the young men in your village, so I came to see how you were doing.”
"It seems that you are still determined to surrender to Kazuto..."
"Ha." Upanu sneered, "I'm not as fickle as you."
"I'm actually very curious - how do you manage to be so fickle?"
"Until today, you have always been hesitant and silent in every meeting."
Upanu was rarely curious about the change in the mood of this peer, whom he had just hated for using "evil words" to deceive everyone.
"There's no complicated reason." Chanup said slowly, "I just figured it out and I'm no longer hesitant or confused."
"I've figured it out - there's really no way I can just hand over this new home that took so much sacrifice to build to Kazuto."
"There is no way we can just let our descendants become 'Ainu'."
"…But the gap between our fighting power and Kazuto's is too great." Upanu gritted his teeth.
"Well, you're right."
Chanup smiled.
Although she was chatting with the man in front of her in a tense atmosphere that could escalate into a fight at any moment, Chanup smiled in a relaxed manner.
“This is a battle of unequal strength.”
“The odds against us are horribly low.”
"Our bloody and heroic battles may never be recorded or passed down to future generations."
"But ah—Upanu."
"'Can it be done' and 'Should it be done' - don't you think the latter is far more important than the former?"
After saying this, Chanup turned and left without saying another word.
Upanu said nothing.
He was silent.
He did not chase after Chanup or watch him leave.
He just lowered his head slightly and remained silent.
Retannoe, who had just informed Chanupu that Upanu was about to fight with his people, had been standing not far away the whole time.
After Chanup walked slowly back to him, Retannoy whispered:
"I thought you would take some time to persuade Upanu to stop being so stubborn and stop thinking about being a dog for others."
Chanup did not respond to Reitannoe's words. He just smiled and said to Reitannoe seriously:
"Rétannoy, help me gather all the 'old guys' now. Just gather them at my house."
Old guy - a common term used by Chanup and his people. They used to call all the "big guys" in their Red Moon Fortress who were qualified to attend high-level meetings "old guys".
"What are you going to do?" asked Retannoy.
"What else can we do? Of course, we should discuss how to protect our homeland together." Chanup said, "Anyway - thank you for your help. I have to go somewhere first and will meet you soon."
…
…
Somewhere in Red Moon Fortress——
"Hey! What happened? Can't you tell me? I clearly heard two loud artillery fire during the day! What's with that? Is someone attacking here?"
Lin Ziping pressed his face against the window and shouted at the young man who was guarding him outside the window.
Until this afternoon, Lin Ziping was still living his life as usual - staying in this prison converted from an uninhabited house, doing nothing.
Until—there was an extremely loud noise outside, and two gunshots.
Lin Ziping was no stranger to the sound of artillery. He immediately recognized it as the unique sound of artillery bombardment.
Why is there the sound of artillery here in Ezo?
Lin Ziping was startled by the two cannon shots and jumped up. He hurriedly asked the person guarding him outside the house what had happened - but the guard outside simply ignored him.
Because the guards didn't know what was happening outside.
Several guards were replaced during this period, but when faced with Lin Ziping's questions, they were either vague or ignored Lin Ziping.
"Stop making noise." The guard's impatient voice came from outside the door. "You have been making noise since just now. I have no obligation to talk to you who is locked up...Ah! Mr. Chanup? Why are you here?"
"I need to find the man in the cage. Please open the door."
——Hmm? Is there someone coming?
Just as Lin Ziping cast a puzzled look towards the prison door, he saw the prison door being slowly opened, and an Ainu man of similar age to him walked slowly into the prison.
As soon as the middle-aged man entered, he closed the prison door by himself and locked himself and Lin Ziping in the same cell.
Before Lin Ziping could ask who this middle-aged man was, he spoke in fluent Japanese:
"Mr. Lin, although this is not the first time we have met, it is indeed the first time we have 'formally met'."
"Nice to meet you. My name is Chanup."
"Chanupu?" Lin Ziping raised his eyebrows.
Since the middle-aged man in front of him can speak fluent Japanese, Lin Ziping is happy to communicate with him in Japanese.
"Why did He Yezhe's top leader suddenly come to me, a prisoner?"
As a scholar who has been studying Ezo for many years, Lin Ziping naturally knows a lot about He Yezhe, who is extremely famous in Ezo.
The head of Heyezhe was named Chanup - this kind of thing was no secret. Lin Ziping naturally knew about it several years ago.
While Lin Ziping was looking Chanup up and down, Chanup was also looking at Lin Ziping.
This was the second time they met.
Their last meeting was rather awkward - the young tribesmen brought Lin Ziping, who was sneaking outside the city and was suspected of being a spy, back to Chanup for inspection.
At that time, Chanup took a quick look at Lin Ziping and ordered Lin Ziping to be taken to jail and his identity to be carefully checked.
"I'm here just to bring a message for Mr. Majima," Chanup said.
"Mr. Majima?" Lin Ziping frowned slightly. "Although I am very concerned about what Mr. Majima wants you to tell me, but before that, can you tell me what happened today? What was the reason for the cannon fire today?"
"Don't you know what happened?" asked Chanup.
"I kept asking the people who were guarding me what was going on," Lin Ziping said, "but they wouldn't tell me."
"I see..." Chanup said slowly, " What exactly happened... In a nutshell, a large Japanese army attacked us."
Chanup briefly described what happened today in the simplest terms possible.
After Chanup finished his brief account, Lin Ziping's eyes widened: "The shogunate...is attacking...?"
"Mr. Majima has left for some reasons." After briefly telling Lin Ziping what happened today, he changed the subject back to the main topic he came to see Lin Ziping for this time. "Before he left, he asked me to bring you a message from him."
Before Ogata was about to leave the Red Moon Fortress on his carrot, he mentioned Lin Ziping to Chanup who came to see him off - he asked Chanup to give Lin Ziping a message for him.
"Mr. Majima left?" Lin Ziping quickly put away the surprise and shock on his face and asked, "What did he do?"
After Ogata brought the injured Ating back, he met with Hayashi Ziping, but the two did not talk much during that meeting - during that meeting, Ogata only reported safety to Hayashi Ziping, and told him that due to some accidents, he did not bring back the books that might prove his identity as a scholar, and said that he would find another way to get him out of the cell later.
Since that meeting, Lin Ziping never saw Ogata again.
"Sorry. Please allow me to keep it a secret about what Mr. Majima did." Chanup shook his head.
"Then what did Mr. Majima ask you to bring?" Seeing that Chanup kept it a secret from him, Lin Ziping was not annoyed, but quickly changed the subject.
“It’s just a simple sentence.”
Chanup cleared his throat, then imitated Ogata's tone and said:
"'Mr. Lin, I will be missing for a short period of time for some reasons. When I come back, it should be much easier to get you out of the cell. I hope you will wait patiently for me to come back and remember the promise you made to me.'"
"Is that all?" Lin Ziping asked back.
Lin Ziping naturally knew what the "promise" Ogata was talking about - he and Ogata had agreed that if Ogata could help him regain his freedom, Lin Ziping would take Ogata and the others to the village with the strange doctor.
"That's right." Chanup nodded. "I have a lot of important things to do later, so I can't stay here for too long."
"Now that I've got my message across, it's almost time for me to leave."
"Wait a minute!" Lin Ziping asked anxiously, "Before you leave, can I ask you a question?"
Lin Ziping put on a serious expression.
"How do you plan to deal with the Japanese army outside the city?"
In response to Lin Ziping's sudden question, Chanup raised his eyebrows and smiled:
"We must defend our homeland until the Japanese retreat or our city is breached."
After saying that, Chanup said no more and quickly left Lin Ziping's prison.
Lin Ziping stood there in a daze, watching Chanup's departing back.
Even after Chanup had left for a long time, Lin Ziping still stood there, motionless.
After a long while, Lin Ziping gritted his teeth, ran to the wall next to him, and kicked it angrily.
"What on earth were Matsudaira Sadanobu and Kitagawa Toshiki thinking... Why did they send troops against the Ainu...!"
"damn it……!"
He kicked the wall angrily and growled in a low voice.
…
…
Red Moon Fortress, Chanup's home——
"Is everyone here?" Chanup looked around at the people sitting around him.
"Upanu hasn't come yet," said Retannoe, who was sitting next to Chanup. "Only Upanu is missing."
Upanu was also one of the people qualified to attend this high-level meeting - but until now, Upanu had not been seen.
"...Then let's not wait for him." Chanup said, "Let's get started."
Chanup once again looked around at the people in front of him.
"I have decided to defend my homeland until the last moment." Chanup said bluntly, "Does anyone have any objections?"
The attention of the "war faction" led by Retanoë was focused on those "surrender faction" who were very active before.
At this moment, those who advocated surrender either bowed their heads in silence or praised Chanup loudly, indicating that they had reached an understanding and would not bow down to the enemy.
Chanup's speech just now made the "war faction" completely overwhelm the "surrender faction".
The majority of the population of Red Moon Fortress had experienced the hardship of the "migration to the south" 10 years ago - almost all of them were inspired by Chanup's speech to defend their hard-earned homeland.
Those residents who did not experience the "migration to the south" 10 years ago were also boosted in morale by Chanup's speech.
These residents who did not experience the "migration to the south" 10 years ago basically had to abandon their original homes and move into Heyezhe Middle School for various reasons.
Their feelings for He Yezhe are no less than those of the "indigenous people" who experienced the "migration to the south".
Right now, the temperature in the entire Red Moon Fortress seemed to have risen several degrees due to the residents' high morale and enthusiastic emotions.
These "surrender advocates" are not blind. They can naturally see that no one will respond to them if they talk about surrender now.
However, some of the "pro-surrender" people were indeed moved by Çanup's speech just now, and completely switched sides to the "pro-war" side.
Seeing that no one spoke, Chanup nodded.
Just as he was about to say something, the curtain at the door was suddenly pulled open.
Everyone, including Chanup, immediately turned their attention over.
A middle-aged man, with an expression that made it difficult to understand his specific emotions, walked slowly to the opposite side of Chanup and then sat down cross-legged.
"Upanu..." Chanup said softly, "I thought you were not coming..."
"You've arrived just in time. The meeting has just begun."
"If you have anything to say, say it now."
Upanu's departure changed the expressions of everyone present.
"War advocates" like Reitannoue looked grim.
However, some of the "surrender faction" who were still concerned about "surrender" cast hopeful eyes on Upanu.
Upanu is indeed a focal point.
Not only did he make almost everyone's face change as soon as he showed up.
After he sat down, he said just one sentence, and everyone's expressions changed again.
"... Chanup. Tell me," Upanu said softly, "Tell me how you plan to deploy the defense."
Upanu's simple words made Chanup's pupils shrink in surprise - the others had similar reactions.
After showing a faint smile to Upanu, Chanup said in a serious tone:
"Since no one has any objections, let's prepare for the battle with all our strength."
"To deal with the Japanese outside the city, we must first increase the number of sentries on the city walls and strengthen our vigilance."
…
A large number of young and strong men, armed with bows and spears, quickly ran up the inner and outer city walls. The number of sentries on the walls increased to twice the usual number.
All the people standing guard on the city wall were on high alert, with their eyes wide open, carefully observing every move of the army outside the city.
…
"Open all warehouses, check and count all food and water in stock. Count medicines as well."
…
The doors of the warehouses that were used to store food and drinking water were wide open. The tribesmen who were ordered to inspect and count were moving back and forth in the warehouses.
In Kunoya's clinic, Kunoya smoked a cigarette and said to the young men in front of her in a lazy tone: "Are you the people sent by Chanup to help me count the medicines? Then start working."
…
"In addition to food and water, weapons will also be thoroughly inspected and counted before being distributed."
…
Bundles of arrows and spears were carried out and counted before being distributed one by one.
The sounds of sharpening arrows and spear tips could be heard throughout the Red Moon Fortress.
…
"This battle concerns the survival of our homeland, so we can't hold back at all... Take out all those muskets."
…
Inside the Red Moon Fortress, a group of tribesmen quickly ran towards an inconspicuous warehouse.
There was only one thing in this warehouse— a row of neatly arranged flintlock rifles with a red moon carved on the handles...
And they had 80 of these muskets.
…
The Red Moon Fortress was like a machine running at full speed. Under Chanup's dispatch and arrangement, everyone was doing their work in an orderly manner.
Counting and organizing the food and medicine in stock...
Standing on the city wall, on guard against the enemy...
However, this busy preparation only lasted for 3 days.
Because three days later, three days after Ogata left the Red Moon Fortress—
The 5,000 main force led by Inamori is here!