7 miles south of Red Moon Fortress (about 28 kilometers today), on a wide plain—
The sun rose from the other side of the mountain, seeming listless. The sunlight shining on the vast snow-covered land was extremely dim, making the atmosphere in the shogunate army camp on the plain even more heavy.
Looking around, every soldier in the camp looked depressed and decadent. Almost everyone lowered their heads, without a smile on their faces.
There was silence everywhere in the camp - the only sound was the screams of the wounded as they were being treated.
In the center of the camp, in a luxurious tent, all the generals in the army gathered.
"Is everyone here?"
In the tent, Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was sitting on the first seat, looked around at the generals in front of him.
The number of generals in the camp is much less than before...
"Everyone is here." A soldier sitting not far from Matsudaira Sadanobu said respectfully.
Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded and said, "Then let's start the military meeting."
"I won't waste any more time talking to you. I'll just get straight to the point."
"We will gather the remaining troops of the next two days, and after two days, the entire army will retreat and withdraw from Ezo."
Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was always decisive in his work, made the generals in the camp show complex and diverse expressions with just three concise sentences.
"Retreat?!" A young general with a thick sackcloth wrapped around his head shouted, "Master Lao Zhong! We haven't lost yet! We have gathered 6,000 soldiers now! We still have the strength to fight! We haven't lost yet!"
After the crushing defeat to Ogata, the entire army was in complete disarray.
Fortunately, Matsudaira Sadanobu showed up in time and personally took charge of the gathering of the remaining soldiers.
Matsudaira Sadanobu stepped forward in time and calmed the minds of the generals like a stabilizing force when Inamori was killed.
With a backbone, the generals gradually returned to their proper state, each performing their duties and gathering the remaining soldiers that were scattered all over the place.
After several days, they had successfully gathered 6,000 soldiers and some baggage that had been abandoned on the road.
As soon as the young general finished speaking, several voices echoed him:
"Yes! Lord Laozhong! We can fight again!"
"The disastrous defeat a few days ago was just a sneak attack by the executioner Itosai! If we fight again, we will never make the same mistake again! We will definitely win in one battle!"
"Lord Laozhong! Let us fight again!"
…
Matsudaira Sadanobu did not interrupt these people's speeches, but just quietly placed his hands on his legs and tapped his right thigh rhythmically with his right index finger.
After letting these generals speak impassionedly for a while, Matsudaira Sadanobu said in a calm tone:
"Fight again? Have you taken a good look at the state of these remnants of the army that have been gathered together? Do you think such an army can fight again?"
With just one sentence, Matsudaira Sadanobu choked the group of people who had just threatened to "fight again".
"The morale of the entire army has been completely destroyed. If we ask them to launch a new attack on the Red Moon Fortress, I'm afraid they will just mutiny." Matsudaira Sadanobu continued, "And - have you ever thought about the baggage problem?"
"When the whole army fled, they abandoned a large amount of baggage, including a considerable amount of food and fodder."
"Our army's current baggage reserves are not enough to launch a new attack."
"While we have enough baggage reserves to withdraw the remaining troops back to our homeland, retreating quickly is our best option at the moment."
As soon as Matsudaira Sadanobu finished speaking, a hoarse shout suddenly rang out:
"Lord Rochu! Are we really going to retreat like this? We have suffered such a great humiliation because of the executioner Ittosai, are we really going to retreat like this?"
Everyone in the camp, including Matsudaira Sadanobu, focused their attention on the owner of the shout - Gamo.
From a certain perspective, Gamo's experience during this period can be regarded as a blessing in disguise - as a general of the Aizu army, he had been recuperating in the rear since he was seriously injured by Kamado, so he perfectly avoided Ogata's surprise attack.
After the army was defeated, Pu Sheng, whose wounds had not yet healed, kept holding on to gather the defeated soldiers and made great contributions to the gathering of the defeated soldiers.
Because he was the general-in-chief of the Aizu army, Gamo sat very close to Matsudaira Sadanobu.
After everyone focused their attention on him, Kasumi, whose cheeks flushed with emotion, continued loudly:
"Master Laozhong, we have already paid a huge price to conquer the Red Moon Fortress! I really don't want to retreat like this!"
These days, in addition to gathering the remaining soldiers, Matsudaira Sadanobu has also been in charge of the statistics of casualties.
The casualties of ordinary soldiers are difficult to count, but the casualties of generals are easy to count.
Not counting the casualties among ordinary soldiers and supplies, the casualties among generals alone were extremely heavy...
It has been confirmed that there are nine generals with names and surnames who died at the hands of Ogata, led by Inamori.
The losses were so heavy and in the end they had to return empty-handed - this was really hard for Pu Sheng to accept.
The shouting of Pu Sheng just now can be said to have expressed the thoughts of many people present. After Pu Sheng finished speaking, many people showed expressions of sorrow or pain.
"... Gamo-kun." Matsudaira Sadanobu said calmly, "I understand your feelings."
After he finished speaking, Matsudaira Sadanobu raised his head and looked around.
"Everyone, I hope you all understand that I don't want to lose this battle any more than any of you here."
"But the truth is so cruel - we have been defeated and have to retreat. It is useless to accept this fact no matter how unwilling we are to do so."
Gamo opened his mouth as if he wanted to refute Matsudaira Sadanobu.
But after opening and closing his lips for a long time, Kasumi finally closed his mouth and lowered his head with a dejected look on his face.
"Let's all go."
Matsudaira Sadanobu, his expression still calm, stood up from his stool.
"Everyone, please continue to act according to the plan."
"After gathering the remaining troops for another two days, the entire army will retreat."
After saying that, Matsudaira Sadanobu was the first to walk out of the tent with his hands behind his back.
As soon as Matsudaira Sadanobu walked out of the tent, his nickname, Tachibana, immediately came to greet him.
"Tachibana, let's go."
"yes."
Matsudaira Sadanobu, escorted by his guards, walked with Tachibana, one in front of the other, on the way back to the tent where they were staying.
Halfway through, Matsudaira Sadanobu suddenly asked Tachibana behind him:
"Tachibana, what's the matter? Are you also dissatisfied with my order for the entire army to retreat?"
"No!" Tachibana said immediately.
"Tachibana." Matsudaira Sadanobu turned his head and glanced at Tachibana, "Your expression has already revealed everything you are thinking."
"?!" Tachibana was startled, pursed his lips, and slowly lowered his head, "... Lord Rochu, if we withdraw like this... when we return to Edo, I'm afraid countless people will impeach you..."
"I know." Matsudaira Sadanobu turned his gaze back to the front. "After all, I was the one who initiated and supervised this battle. When I return, I'm afraid even the Emperor will follow suit and add insult to injury. After all, my relationship with the Emperor has always been bad."
Tachibana: “In that case…”
"Even so, we have to withdraw our troops." Before Tachibana could finish her words, Matsudaira Sadanobu interrupted her and said, "There is no point in continuing a battle that has no chance of winning. If the remaining troops are wiped out, it will be a disaster for the shogunate. So - calm down, Tachibana."
Tachibana raised her eyes and looked at the back of Matsudaira Sadanobu who was walking forward firmly in front of her, and her eyes slowly turned red.
He held back his tears and said through gritted teeth:
"It's all the fault of that damn executioner...!"
Immersed in his unwillingness, Tachibana did not notice that when he shouted the word "executioner", Matsudaira Sadanobu's pace slowed down by half a second, but soon, his pace returned to normal.
…
…
Red Moon Fortress——
"Good, your wounds are healing well." Kunoya checked the wounds of the wounded man in front of her and nodded, "Rest for another two or three days, and you should be able to get out of bed."
In order to facilitate the treatment of the wounded, Chanup vacated more than ten empty rooms to accommodate the wounded.
During this period, Kunoya spent more time here than in her own home or clinic.
After looking at several wounded soldiers in one breath, Kunoya let out a long sigh. Just as she was about to take a break, she heard an urgent shout from behind her:
"Cunoya! Kunoya! Come and take a look at his wound!"
Kunoya turned around and saw several young men carrying a man whose upper body was stained with blood, running towards her quickly.
"You..." Kunoya raised her eyebrows and glanced at the guys in front of her, "Are you the ones sent by Chanup to scout the movements of the Japanese army?"
"Yes!" answered a young man who was carrying the bloody man. "Today, when we were out scouting the movements of the Japanese army, we accidentally walked into the territory of a bear that missed hibernation and had an extremely bad temper! When it saw us, it probably thought we were invading its territory, so it immediately rushed over to attack us!"
Although he successfully defeated the He army, Chanup still did not dare to relax completely before confirming that the He army had completely withdrawn from this place. So these days, he sent some people who were still able to move freely to scout the movements of the He army and confirm the approximate location of the He army.
"Were you attacked by a bear..." Kunoya glanced at the bloody man, "Come with me, there's an empty bed here."
Kunoya led them to an empty blanket in the corner of the room, and asked the boys to put the bloody man on the blanket. Then Kunoya took out a pair of scissors from her arms, cut open the clothes on the bloody man's chest, and carefully looked at the bloody man's wound.
"The bear's claws scratched your chest... The claw marks are really big. The bear that attacked you was quite big. This kid is very lucky. If he had been closer to the bear, he would have been broken into two pieces by the bear's claws."
"Can he be saved?" someone asked.
"The wound is not very deep, there is a chance he can be saved." Kunoya said calmly, "I will do my best, but whether this young man can be saved depends on his luck."
After saying that, Kunoya called an assistant who was not far away over, and like chanting a spell, she read out a series of medicines to the assistant, asking the assistant to bring all the medicines she read out quickly.
After the assistant left quickly to get the medicine, Kunoya heard a young man who had just carried the bloody man say angrily:
"Damn Unkamuyi..."
Kunoya glanced at the young man and said, "Did you kill the bear?"
"Of course!" the young man said without hesitation, "It attacked us. If we hadn't reacted quickly, my friend would have died at the bear's claws! The bear had transformed into the hateful Unkamuyi. Of course we couldn't let it go! We shot it to death with poison arrows!"
"Damned Unkamuyi..." Kunoya repeated in a low voice what the young man had just said, and then let out a low laugh as if she was amused.
"Cunoya, what are you laughing at?" the young man asked.
"Nothing." Kunoya shrugged. "It just suddenly occurred to me... It should be considered a very interesting thing."
…
…
Red Moon Fortress, Kunoa's clinic—
"Skulucci." Ogata asked Skulucci, who was sitting next to him, "What are you writing?"
"I'm writing poetry," Sculucci replied. "I don't know why, but I've been feeling very inspired these days. Okay, you be quiet for a moment. I just had a new idea, and I need to write it down right away."
After saying that, Skulucci turned to a new page in his notebook, picked up the pen, and then wrote quickly:
…
[The army, coming for slaughter and pillage, attacked the village.
The red-haired boy's father lost his head.
The mother disappeared in an attempt to protect the boy.
The boy cried and wailed.
He prayed for the arrival of a noble knight to save him from the water and fire.
But the knight was not seen for a long time.
Is there no one willing to be that noble knight?
Yes, there are.
The red-haired boy soon found someone who was willing to become the noble knight.
In the mirror.
…
After putting down the last stroke, Sculucci held the notebook away from his eyes, holding the notebook in one hand and stroking his chin with the other.
"Hmm... I still feel like it's a bit weird..."
"Can I see your poem?" Ogata asked half-jokingly.
"That won't do. You and others probably can't understand the poetry we write. And the poem I just wrote is a bit terrible. It's not worth showing to outsiders."
After Sculucci put his notebook back into his arms, he moved his eyes to look at Ogata for a few times.
"You have a really good recovery ability. When I came to see you yesterday, you looked a little pale, but today your face is much rosier."
"This is one of my few strengths," Ogata said as he sat up from the blanket.
"Won't you lie down?" asked Sculucci.
"I have been lying down since this morning. After lying down for so long, it is time to sit down."
"Would you like some water?" asked Atachi, who was also sitting next to Ogata.
Ogata shook his head.
"If Vasili were here, he would be so jealous of you." Skulucci said jokingly, "We are both injured, but you have a beautiful woman by your side. He can only have me by his side."
When he defeated the seven formations of the shogunate army, although Ogata was wearing extremely high-performance armor at that time, it was unlikely that he would not be injured at all in such a fierce battle even with the protection of armor.
After the battle, when checking his injuries, it was found that Ogata had an astonishing 11 wounds all over his body.
When Ogata was fighting a bloody battle with the shogunate army, he was completely focused on how to defeat the shogunate army and didn't pay any attention to the new wound on his body . So after the war, when he learned that he had so many injuries on his body, Ogata was also surprised.
In the past few days, Ogata and Atachi, whose injuries have not yet healed, have been staying in Kunoya's clinic, receiving treatment from Kunoya. Although Ogata has many injuries, they are just ordinary skin injuries. Ogata, who has a high value of "vitality", only rested for a few days, and his complexion has greatly recovered.
Seeing that Skulucci mentioned Vasili, who was also an old acquaintance of Ogata, Ogata asked:
"Skuluchi, how are Vashili and the others doing now?"
"They are either eating or having sex every day now." Sculucci shrugged, "Except that life is a little boring, everything is fine."
"This time...thank you so much for your help." Ogata said softly with emotion.
Including Skulucci, there were 64 people who came to assist Ogata. After a bloody battle with Ogata and the shogunate army, 20 people died and most of the remaining survivors were injured.
The casualties were tragic...
Facing Ogata's words full of gratitude, Skulucci just smiled and shrugged:
"Me, Vashili and the others, we just did what we wanted to do. So there's nothing to thank us for."
"Besides—we were paid handsomely."
Skulucci grinned.
"Last night, Chanup suddenly came to our place and told us that they would be able to collect half of their property and send it over in a few days. Vasili and his men were so excited that they didn't fall asleep until almost dawn."
"In terms of compensation, we actually made a profit."
After saying this, Skulucci stood up from the floor.
Looking at Skulucci who was standing up, Ogata asked, "Are you leaving?"
"Yeah." Skulucci nodded. "I've stayed here long enough. It's time to go back and see how those guys under my command are doing."
"If I wasn't watching them, God knows what they would do to kill time."
"Anyway - that's all for today's visit. Take care, Ogata-kun. I'll come see you again tomorrow."
After saying that, Skulucci hurriedly left from the sight of Ogata and Atachi.
After Skulucci left, Ogata and A-Machi looked at each other in bewilderment - they were the only two left in the clinic.
"Skulucci is right." Atachi looked at Ogata's face carefully several times, "You look much better today. I really envy your physique..."
Ating smiled bitterly and patted her upper chest which was still wrapped in sackcloth.
"I really want to have a physique like yours... When will my injury heal quickly..."
At this moment, just as Ah-Ming finished speaking, a loud response came from outside the house:
"If you want your injury to heal faster, get more sleep and eat more."
Ogata and A-machi looked towards the door of the clinic—Kunoya strode into the clinic holding her cigarette, which seemed to have just been extinguished.
"Kunoya." A-Ming said, "You're back."
"Yeah. I'm not that busy today, so I came back early to rest." Kunoya, who seemed to be in a good mood, smiled as she took out the tools for cleaning the pipe from the cabinet in front of her.
Looking at the smiling Kunoya, A-Ming asked, "Kunoya, you seem to be in a good mood today. Did something good happen?"
"Nothing good happened." Kunoya said, "It's just that something happened today that made me feel very emotional."
"Something that makes you feel emotional?" Ating looked puzzled.
Ogata, who was standing by , was now looking at Kunoa with curiosity.
"Just now, a group of guys carried back a young man who was injured by a bear..."
Kunoya briefly summarized what had just happened in a few words.
"You two should know what 'Uenkamuyi' is, right?"
Ogata and Atachi nodded. They were no strangers to "Uenkamuyi". Not long after they set foot on Ezo, they were attacked by Uenkamuyi.
Unkamuyi is an Ainu word meaning "evil god".
The Ainu people believed that gods resided in the bodies of every animal except deer.
If an animal attacked a human, the Ainu people believed that the god residing in the animal had become an evil god, that is, had degenerated into an "Unkamui".
Once they have fallen into the state of "Uenkamuyi", they will be listed as targets for killing and will be expelled at all costs.
Seeing that Ogata and Atachi both knew what "Uenkamuyi" meant, he smiled meaningfully and said quietly:
"We, the Ainu people, classify animals that harm humans as 'Uenkamuyi' and expel them at all costs."
"But what did these animals, which we classified as 'unkamuyi', do wrong?"
"Most of them are just hungry and want to eat, and then humans happen to appear in front of them, or they attack humans who invade their territory."
"From their perspective, they are just living according to their instincts. The only thing they are doing wrong is affecting the lives of us humans."
"The criteria we use to judge whether an animal is an 'unkamuyi' is completely selfish."
"Animals that don't provoke us humans are good gods, and animals that provoke us humans are evil gods."
"According to selfish standards, they gave animals the title of 'Uenkamuyi', and then gave themselves the righteous title of 'expelling evil gods' to expel the so-called 'Uenkamuyi'."
"Do you think this behavior is very similar to the invasion of our country by the Japanese army this time?"
Kunoya turned to look at Ogata and Atachi, the meaningful smile on her face now becoming more intense than ever.
"In the eyes of the people, according to their standards, we are probably their 'Uenkamuyi', and we must be expelled."
"Our behavior of expelling the animals that harmed us humans is not much different from the invasion of the Japanese army against us this time - both are attacking what they see as 'Uenkamuyi'."
"Whether it's the Japanese or the Ainu, their culture and living habits are completely different, but there are some things that are exactly the same."
"Or maybe it's the same for humans everywhere."
"They will label others as 'Uenkamuyi' according to their own preferences and standards, and then label themselves as 'expelling evil gods'."
"So what is Unkammui? Who is Unkammui?"
After Kunoa finished speaking, Ogata and Omachi showed completely different expressions.
Ogata looked at Kunoa with a slightly surprised look, pursed his lips, and a thoughtful look appeared on his face.
As for Ating——
"Hmm..." Ating groaned, his face tense as he tried to think, "Kunoya, what you just said... feels a little hard to understand, I don't quite get it..."
“Hahaha.” Kunoya laughed a few times. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. What I just said was just what I felt at the moment. Just think of what I said just now as a complaint.”
"If you're really curious about what I just talked about, you can ask your husband."
"I saw your husband's expression - he should have understood what I just said."
A-Machi turned to look at Ogata, who was suddenly called by Kunoya. He was looking thoughtful, and was stunned by Kunoya's sudden call.
After looking at A-Machi and then at Kunoya, Ogata scratched his hair:
"If you want to know what Kuroya just said, I can indeed try to explain it to you... But I'm not very good at talking, so I don't know if I can explain it to you clearly."
"Well... forget it. No need to explain to me." Ating smiled brightly. "I have never been interested in such profound truths that seem to be full of philosophy. I also hate listening to profound truths the most."
"Anyway, no matter how philosophical the truth is, it's not as important as 'what are you and I going to eat tonight'."
Looking at the carefree smile on Atachi's face, Ogata was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but smile as well.
"...Yes. You are right." Ogata smiled, "What does 'Uenkamuyi' have to do with us? Instead of thinking about these big principles, we might as well think about what we should eat tonight."
"I really want to eat fish!" Ating raised his hands high.
"I kind of miss the taste of fish, too," Ogata agreed.
"Don't even think about fish." Kunoya said unhappily, "Just eat the 'injured meal' I prepared for you."
Ogata and Atachi's expressions fell at the same time.
…
…
Volume 7: "Unkamuyi"——The End!
…
…
Volume 8 (Final Volume) "Ittosai" Trailer:
…
"Mr. Ogata, go to the holy land of Koyasan. You may find everything you want there."
…
"You are already an enemy of the dynasty, and now you want to be an enemy of Buddha?!"