"In about an hour, we will reach the northern part of Oshu."
In the center of the cabin, a short and stocky warrior, one of the eight guards on board, was loudly announcing to everyone in the cabin.
"So you can almost get ready to disembark."
After saying this, the short and stocky warrior held the knife at his waist and walked out of the cabin quickly.
After he finished speaking, cheers of varying heights rang out in the cabin.
Riding on a ship in this era is extremely uncomfortable. Not only does the ship shake violently, but there is also no entertainment on board, making life as depressing as it can be.
This boat ride was the most uncomfortable one Ogata had ever experienced.
Excluding the boat that Choujima took, Ogata has taken a boat three times so far.
The first time was from Owari to Edo, traveling with the group of people from Hyakuya.
The second time was from Ou to Ezo, riding on the favorable ship of the great merchant Nishinoya.
The third time is now.
The first time, it wasn’t too boring because I was traveling with a bunch of acquaintances from Hulu House.
Although there were not many acquaintances traveling with me the second time , it was not that uncomfortable because we were on a luxurious ship and could move around freely.
But this time... not only are there not many familiar people around me, the ship I'm on is not a very luxurious one, and the range of my activities is extremely limited.
This made Ogata's boat ride extremely uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the voyage did not take long.
After several days of sailing, they were finally going to land on mainland Japan again.
The current time is just after noon. According to what the guard just said, they will be able to land in the northern part of Oshu in another hour. That means that at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, they will be able to leave this ship that makes Ogata and Atachi, who is prone to seasickness, extremely uncomfortable.
"Hold on a little longer." Ogata encouraged Ah-Ming while tidying up her hair, "In another hour, we can get off the boat."
Hearing Ogata's encouragement, Atachi slightly opened his eyes.
"I don't want to take a boat ride this year..."
After saying this weakly, Ating closed his eyes again.
After taking care of Atachi's hair, Ogata, who had nothing else to do, simply started packing his and Atachi's luggage.
But there was nothing much to pack for him and Ating, so they had packed everything in just a short while.
However, at this moment, Azuki's voice suddenly came from behind Ogata:
"We're finally getting off the ship..." Azuki said with emotion, "I'm a little reluctant..."
"Oh? Do you like riding on a boat?" Ogata asked back.
Because in the past few days, Azhu, who was sitting not far from Ogata and the others, would come over to chat from time to time, so after a while, Ogata got used to the feeling of Azhu's voice popping up out of the blue.
"I seldom take a boat. This is actually my second time taking a boat in my life. The first time was when I took a boat to Ezo."
“So I think taking a boat ride is quite new.”
"But I'd be glad to get off the boat quickly if I could."
"After all, I always feel that riding on this ship is very dangerous."
"Danger?" Ogata raised an eyebrow. "Are you afraid of a storm?"
"It's not just the storm that's the problem." Azhu said, "It would be dangerous if someone attacked us from the sea."
"The ship is shaking like this. I'm not used to the feeling of the ground shaking under my feet."
"It's hard to defend yourself when the 'ground' beneath your feet keeps shaking."
"And our ship has only eight guards in total. Excuse me for being blunt - if a large group of people came to attack us, our eight guards would probably collapse in one blow..."
"You're afraid of this..." Ogata laughed dumbly, "You're worrying too much."
"Let's not talk about other sea areas for now. This is the sea area between Ezo and the Japanese mainland."
"There are basically no pirates here."
Before going to Ezo, Ogata had brushed up on some knowledge about Ezo, so he knew that because there were few ships passing through, there were very few... or even no pirates at all in the sea area between Ezo and the Japanese mainland.
There are many pirates in the waters between the four places of Tang, Korea, Japan and Ryukyu, because there are the most ships passing through these places, the place is the most mixed with good and bad people, and it is most convenient for pirates to stay and develop.
"Nothing is absolute in this world." Azhu continued, "Maybe a group of pirates who suddenly want to hang out in this sea area will appear."
"It's such a low probability event, it's unlikely that we would encounter it so coincidentally." Xu said helplessly.
…
…
While Ogata and Azuki were chatting with each other——
—That guy is talking to that kid again...
Isshiki thought this in his mind while secretly observing Ogata who was chatting with Azuku in the distance.
Ever since the unpleasant friction with Ogata, perhaps because of boredom, having nothing to do, and the fact that they shared a cabin, Isshiki always couldn't help but secretly observe Ogata, who left a very bad impression on him.
After starting to observe Ogata, Isshiki quickly discovered that Ogata would chat with the girl (Azuki) who had a petite figure but a big breast from time to time.
Once you have a stereotype about someone, you will often have all kinds of preconceived ideas when you get along with him.
Ever since he heard Ogata belittle his favorite swordsmanship with his own ears, Isshiki had a very bad impression of Ogata.
This makes Isshiki's eyes filter all of Ogata's actions through a layer of "tinted glasses".
Plus, Isshiki is a person with a very rich imagination.
For example, now——
——That guy is chatting with that kid again. Could it be that he really has a crush on that kid?
——That child looks to be only 15 years old...
Isshiki continued to observe Ogata who was still chatting with Azuku, and said this in his mind with a tone of worry and disgust.
In the Edo period, girls aged 15 were considered adults and eligible for marriage.
But Isshiki happened to be a person whose ideas in this regard were somewhat different from those of the rest of the world.
He believes that the minimum marriage age for women should be 16.
Because according to his observations and discoveries, girls who get married under the age of 16 are still relatively weak in body. At such a young age and with such a weak body, they are not able to endure the pain of childbirth.
Ogata and Azuku were chatting, and in the eyes of others, they were just two normal friends chatting.
However, because of his bad impression of Ogata, Isshiki couldn't help but be biased in everything he did towards Ogata.
So I often saw Ogata and Azhu chatting, and I couldn't help but wonder: The reason why Ogata often chats with Azhu is that he has a crush on her...
The more Isshiki, who had a very rich imagination, thought about it, the more possible it seemed.
This preconceived idea made Isshiki look at Ogata more and more strangely.
——The woman lying beside Majima Goro who had been taking good care of him, she should be Majima Goro’s wife…
——He already has a wife, but he still flirts with other girls... and they are still such young girls.
——Does he still want to take a concubine?
——Humph! How shameless!
Isshiki not only snorted heavily in his heart, but also snorted heavily in reality. The look he cast towards Ogata was filled with more disgust.
…
…
“Hu…ha…hu…ha…”
Yi Tong was sleeping soundly in his hammock.
But at this moment, a violent knock on the door suddenly sounded from outside.
As the knock on the door sounded, a loud shout mixed with anxiety and a hint of joy reached Yi Tong's ears.
"Lord Yitong! Lord Yitong!"
Under the combined attack of the knocking on the door and the loud shouting, Yi Tong slowly opened his eyes.
"what……"
Yi Tong rubbed his eyes and slowly stood up.
"Did we hit land, or is there a storm approaching?"
"Neither! We found a ship ahead!"
"Oh?" Yi Tong's eyes lit up, "Ship?"
Yi Tong quickly jumped off the hammock, rushed out of the room and headed straight for the deck.
After reaching the deck, he immediately climbed up the mast and reached the lookout tower on the mast.
On the observation deck, four men were using telescopes to observe the surroundings of the ship.
As a pirate who could even buy Western ships like this, it was natural that he would not be short of extremely convenient gadgets like telescopes.
The telescopes purchased by Yitong are currently the most advanced telescopes in Europe.
"Where is the boat?" As soon as Yi Tong climbed onto the observation tower, he asked his subordinates directly.
"In the southeast direction!" one of the subordinates answered while handing the telescope in his hand to Yi Tong.
After taking the telescope, Yi Tong immediately picked up the telescope and looked towards the southeast.
Their observation tower is very high, and equipped with the most advanced telescope currently available, it may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that they have "clairvoyance", but there is no doubt that they have "hundred-mile vision".
As soon as his eyes were put to the camera, Yi Tong suddenly saw that on the southeast sea, a ship was sailing south alone.
Looking at the ship in the camera, a hideous smile slowly appeared on Yi Tong's face.
"It's a stowaway boat..."
As an experienced pirate, Yi Tong recognized at a glance that this lonely, inconspicuous ship was a smuggling boat that helped people travel between Ezo and mainland Japan.
"Smuggling boat?" The eyes of the subordinates standing beside Yi Tong lit up.
As pirates who make a living by trafficking in people, they naturally understand what the smuggling ship means to them - it means a very tempting piece of cake.
There are usually no armed forces on the smuggling boats, so they can be easily captured.
There must be a lot of illegal immigrants on the ship, and there might be a lot of goods that can be sold at high prices.
At the same time, because "helping people smuggle" itself is a gray industry that is not very visible, even if they are robbed by pirates, these smugglers who help people smuggle would most likely not dare to report to the police and seek help from the government.
In fact, Yi Tong and his group had robbed smuggling boats many times before, and they made a lot of money every time.
However, the smuggling boats that we had robbed before were all encountered in the Tsushima Strait. This was the first time we encountered a smuggling boat between Ezo and the Japanese mainland.
"Boss," one of the subordinates asked, "how about it? Do you want to do something?"
Yi Tong licked his lips at this time, with excitement shining in his eyes.
He was a pirate. If he was a pirate, then when faced with this fat piece of meat right in front of him, there was no reason for him not to rush over and take a bite.
But at this moment, what another subordinate said made Yi Tong's expression pause.
"Then...should we go and warn the guests on our ship first?"
The subordinate's words suddenly reminded Yi Tong that they were carrying a group of distinguished guests on their ship who had to be sent to Satsuma Domain.
Robbery is a big deal. Even if it is just a small smuggling boat, bloody fights are bound to break out after the robbery.
There are distinguished guests like Gongbu on their ship now. If they rush forward to rob the smuggling boat without warning the guests, it would be impolite.
So, after a long silence, Yi Tong slowly said:
"Hey, you. Go tell the helmsman to maintain the current distance between you and the stowaway boat and follow closely behind it."
After thinking it over, Yi Tong finally decided that he had to say hello to Gongbe and the others first.
After leaving this order, Yi Tong climbed down the observation tower with agility and rushed to the room where Gongbe and others lived.
"Miyabe-sama! Are you there?"
"Lord Yi Tong? Please come in." The voice of the palace minister came from the room.
After getting Gongbu's permission, Gongbu opened the door of the room and walked in quickly.
As soon as he entered, Yi Tong saw Gong Bu sitting cross-legged on a hammock reading a book.
Under the hammock, sat a blind man holding a katana.
Yi Tong was not very familiar with this blind man. He only knew that his name was Morimaru and that he was almost inseparable from Miyabe.
When walking normally, blind people use the sword in their hands as a guide stick.
"Master Yitong," Gong Bu asked softly, "Why did you come here so suddenly?"
"An extremely fortunate thing happened to me."
Yi Tong licked his fat lips, and then told Gong Bu everything about how he had just discovered the smuggling boat and was going to rob it.
"...I see." Gongbe nodded gently, and then smiled softly at Yitong, "Master Yitong, congratulations. I unexpectedly encountered a smuggling boat here."
"Yes. Smuggling boats are indeed rare in this sea area. This is also the first time I encountered a smuggling boat on the way out of Ezo." Yi Tong licked his tongue again, "Lord Miyabe. You should also know what a smuggling boat means to a pirate like me who makes a living by trafficking people."
"I was not able to kidnap many high-quality girls during my vacation in Ezo this time. I am feeling depressed."
"Now that we have come across this smuggling boat, it can be used to compensate for some of the losses."
"I plan to take some time to intercept the stowaway boat."
"I hope you won't be offended, Lord Gongbu."
As soon as Yi Tong finished speaking, Gong Bu waved his hand:
"We are just passengers on your favorable ship. We have no intention and will never interfere with the command of this ship."
"Master Yitong, do whatever you want to do."
"If necessary, I can also send my subordinates to assist you."
Having said this, Miyabe turned his head to look at the blind man who had been sitting quietly not far from him: Morimaru.
"Although I have few people, I still have experts who can defeat ten of them with one."
"Hahahaha!" Yi Tong laughed triumphantly, "Master Gongbe, thank you for your kindness!"
"But facing a mere smuggling boat, we can easily capture them with our own strength!"
…
…
"We can reach the shore in half an hour!"
The short and strong guard who had informed Ogata and others of the landing time returned to the cabin again and announced the new landing time to everyone.
"For those who haven't started packing yet, start now!"
"Once we get ashore, you won't have much time to leisurely stroll around..."
Before the short and stocky guard could finish his words, the cabin door was flung open.
It was another guard who opened the door.
"What's wrong?" The short and strong guard frowned and looked at his colleague.
The guard hurriedly ran to the short and strong guard and whispered something to him.
The short and strong guard's face changed drastically, and then he rushed out of the cabin anxiously following his colleague.
Watching the two guards leaving in a hurry, an uneasy atmosphere slowly emerged and spread in the cabin.
"What's wrong?" Ating, who was still lying dead, asked in a low voice.
"I don't know..." Ogata frowned slightly.
…
…
"...It seems something has happened." Isshiki's grandfather: Isshiki Naoshu looked at the door of the cabin and said in a deep voice.
Isshiki said nothing.
She pursed her lips, then silently raised her hand to touch a large cloth bag beside her...
…
…
"Hahaha! Forward, forward!"
Yi Tong stood at the bow of his pirate ship with his arms folded over his chest, laughing loudly.
"What good luck!" Yi Tong's tone was full of pride, "Even the gods and Buddhas are helping me!"
At this moment, his pirate ship has now fully spread its sails and is moving at full speed.
Target——the smuggling boat ahead!
The northwest wind is blowing now, which is a good tailwind for Yi Tong and others who are chasing the smuggling boat in the southeast direction.
After fully spreading the sails, the pirate ship under Yi Tong's feet cut through the waves at an extremely terrifying speed.
"Boss!" A subordinate holding a telescope beside Yi Tong shouted, "It seems the other side has discovered us! They are running away at full speed now!"
"Escape?" Yi Tong laughed grimly, "I want to see how their little shabby boat can get rid of us!"
The ship under his feet was a European three-masted sailing ship that he had bought from the Dutch at a large price.
Although it is an outdated ship in Europe, it is undoubtedly a super battleship with superb performance in Asia.
The only drawback was that after buying the ship, Yi Tong no longer had any extra funds, so it was unable to add cannons to the ship.
So the ship under Yi Tong's feet is just a larger transport ship, not a warship.
The smuggling boat in front is only one-third the size of Yi Tong's pirate ship, and it only has one sail. In terms of speed, there is no way it can compete with Yi Tong's three-masted sailing ship.
Although the smuggling boat had done its best to escape, the distance between it and the pirate ship of Yi Tong was still being ruthlessly shortened little by little...
At this time, Gong Bu also stood with his hands behind his back and walked slowly to Yi Tong's side.
Behind Miyabe followed Morimaru, who seemed like a conjoined twin to him.
Because the blind Morimaru was using the sword in his palm to explore the way, the sound of the bottom of the scabbard hitting the deck could be heard continuously.
"Is that the ship that is the stowaway boat? Master Yitong, it's amazing that you can tell at a glance that the ship is the stowaway boat."
"Hahahaha! I've been on the sea for so long, I still have some vision! I hope there are some high-quality 'goods' on that ship."
An obscene light flashed in Yi Tong's eyes.
"My subordinates and I haven't played with women for a long time."
"Ah, Lord Miyabe, after we have robbed some high-quality goods from that smuggling ship, would you like me to send some of them to you as well?"
"We don't need it." Miyabe, with his unchanging smile on his face, shook his head and refused without hesitation.
While Yi Tong and Miyabe were chatting there, the distance between the pirate ship and the smuggling boat had unknowingly shortened to the point where the two ships began to move forward in parallel.
"Hey! Everyone on this ship, listen up!"
Yi Tong used his loud voice to shout at the smuggling boat that was already within reach .
"I won't talk too much nonsense with you!"
"We are pirates!"
"You should have realized that it is impossible for you to get rid of us, right?"
"If you know what's best for you, stop the boat!"
"As long as you cooperate, we will never harm any of your lives!"
Yi Tong had a very loud voice. His shouting not only covered the entire deck of the smuggling boat, but also penetrated the deck and reached the ears of Ogata and others in the cabin.
As soon as Yi Tong finished speaking, the cabin was thrown into chaos.
"Pirates?!"
"Why are there pirates here?"
"What, what should we do? How many pirates are coming?"
…
"There are really pirates attacking us..." Azhu's face turned pale at this time.
"Grandpa." Isshiki's face showed a bit of anxiety at this time, "It turned out that pirates came to our door... Why are there pirates in this sea area?"
Zhi Zhou, with an extremely gloomy expression, did not answer Isshiki's question. He just kept a gloomy face and lowered his head slightly, as if he was thinking about something.
In the chaotic cabin, there was only one person whose face showed no panic or fear.
"It's pirates..." Ogata's slightly frowned brows slowly relaxed, "I thought a storm was coming..."
The only thing left on Ogata's face was confusion as to why there were pirates in this place.