"Mr. Saburo, what should we do now?"
On the smuggling boat, two guards asked anxiously to a middle-aged man in front of them with half-white hair and beard.
Simply put, this middle-aged man called "Mr. Sanlang" is the person in charge and captain of this smuggling boat.
At this moment, looking at the pirate ship that was almost approaching their faces, Saburo's face turned pale and cold sweat broke out on his body.
Anyone with eyes and brains can see that this pirate ship, which has circled twice more than their smuggling boat, is much faster than their smuggling boat. There is no way their small smuggling boat can get rid of that pirate ship no matter what.
After some entanglement and hesitation, Saburo sighed:
"... Fold up the sails and stop the boat..."
…
…
The stowaways sitting in the cabin could clearly feel that the shaking of the ship beneath them suddenly became smaller.
The ship was no longer moving forward.
The sudden stop of the ship instantly made the uneasy atmosphere in the cabin even more intense.
Some of the more timid people even began to sob.
Of course - where there are timid people, there are naturally brave people.
"This shouldn't be... my fault, right...?" Azhu covered his mouth tightly with both hands, with a guilty look on his face, "I was just joking just now... I always say that I want to pick up money on the ground, but I have never succeeded once..."
"Why did pirates really come to my house when I just made a joke about worrying about pirates coming to my house today..."
After muttering this in a wronged tone, Azhu stood up.
"Mr. Goro, Ms. A-machi." A-tsuki said to Ogata beside him, "You stay here, I'll go outside and take a look!"
After saying this, Azhu put on a firm expression that said, "This is my fault, I can't escape it." Without waiting for Ogata and the others to respond, he shook off his black robe and ran towards the cabin door.
"Wait! I'll go with you..."
Before Ogata could finish his last words, "I'll go with you," Azhu's figure had completely disappeared from his sight.
"...What a lively child." After complaining in a helpless tone, Ogata turned to look at Atachi, "How do you feel now? Can you sit up or stand up?"
"Don't expect me to have any outstanding performance on the ship..." Ating said with a wry smile.
"Then you can continue to rest here." Ogata raised his hand and grabbed the cloth bag containing Daishiten and Daishizai, "I'll be back soon."
…
…
At the same moment when Azhu left the cabin first——
"... Grandpa." Isshiki said solemnly to Naoshu beside him, "Let's go to the deck and take a look."
"Okay." Zhi Zhou nodded without any hesitation.
Isshiki and Naoshu each grabbed a large cloth bag at their side, and then quickly ran out of the cabin in two steps .
There were many other brave people like Ogata, Isshiki, and Azuki who rushed to the deck to find out what was going on.
After quickly running out of the cabin and climbing onto the deck, Isshiki saw a "mountain" standing to the left of the smuggling boat under their feet.
——So big!
Isshiki cried out in his heart with astonishment.
That "mountain" is exactly Yi Tong's pirate ship.
Isshiki stared blankly at the ship in front of him, which looked as big as a mountain in his eyes, with a look of shock on his face.
Since the issuance of the isolation order in the 10th year of Kanei (1633 AD), the long-term isolation not only led to the extremely backward shipbuilding industry of Japan at that time, but also caused the vast majority of Japanese people at that time to have no vision.
The crew members of the smuggling boat, who were mainly guards, as well as Isshiki and other stowaways who ran to the deck to check the situation, all looked as if they had seen a god after seeing this pirate ship.
Yi Tong has now left the bow and stood on the side of the deck opposite the smuggling boat.
He had been carefully observing the expressions of everyone on the smuggling boat since just now.
After seeing the shocked faces on the smuggling boat, Yi Tong felt secretly happy and was glad that he had made the right decision by spending all his savings to buy this ship from the Dutch.
But at this moment, Yi Tong suddenly discovered that there was a person on the smuggling boat who did not show a shocked expression.
This ordinary-looking guy was moving his eyes calmly, scanning the Yi Tong ships.
This person is Ogata.
In the eyes of other Japanese of that era, Yi Tong's sailboat might be considered a behemoth.
But for someone like Ogata, who had seen various 21st century warships such as aircraft carriers with a displacement of tens of thousands of tons on television, the Internet and other channels in his previous life... after seeing Yi Tong's ship, Ogata's only thought was - "Ah, it's a three-masted sailing ship."
Although Ogata did not show any shock at his warship like the others, which made Yi Tong a little unhappy, Yi Tong did not take it too seriously and just regarded Ogata as someone with a slightly slow brain.
“Ahem…”
After clearing his throat, Yitong shouted to the people on the deck of the smuggling boat:
"Who is in the captain's cabin of your ship?!"
After hesitating for a while, Sanlang gritted his teeth and stepped out of the line.
Before he could say anything, Yi Tong continued to shout triumphantly:
"Call up the rest of the stowaways in your cabin!"
"What stowaway?" Sanlang tried to remain calm. "Your Excellency, you..."
"Don't play dumb with me!" Yi Tong interrupted San Lang rudely, "I have been sailing the sea for many years! Can't I tell what kind of ship you have?!"
"Don't waste any more time with me! Hurry up and call out everyone on your ship!"
Having said this, the smile on Yi Tong's face slowly turned ferocious.
"As long as you cooperate, I won't hurt you!"
"I will only take the women who can be sold for money. As for the property on the ship and the rest of the people on the ship, I will not take them or harm them."
"Of course, the premise is that you all have to listen to me carefully!"
"Otherwise, I and my 63 brothers will kill you all! And burn your ship into firewood!"
After he finished speaking, Yi Tong winked at a one-eyed burly man behind him.
The one-eyed burly man nodded, turned around and shouted to the 17 men behind him: "Follow me!"
Then, the one-eyed strong man took the lead, drew the knife from his waist, and after a run-up, jumped off the side of the ship and jumped onto the deck of the smuggling boat, and his 17 subordinates followed closely behind.
Yi Tong’s pirate ship and the smuggling boat are now almost stuck together, so as long as you flip over the side of the ship and jump down, you can jump onto the deck of the smuggling boat.
After 18 pirates including One-Eye jumped onto the deck of the smuggling ship, the atmosphere on the deck suddenly became tense.
The reason why Yi Tong let Duyan and the others board the deck of the smuggling boat was to put pressure on everyone on the boat.
And what he just said, "I and my 63 brothers will kill you all," was also a deliberate attempt to expose the number of people on the smuggling boat to make them retreat.
It must be said that the results of Yitong's "psychological warfare" perfectly met his expectations.
After One-Eyed Man and his companions jumped onto the deck of the smuggling boat, Saburo and his companions felt as if they had lost their parents.
Duyan is Yi Tong's right-hand man and also his capable general.
His height, converted into modern Earth units, is 1.9 meters, far exceeding the average height of Japanese men of that era.
He is not only tall, but also strong. Even when he is wearing clothes, you can clearly feel the strong muscles underneath his clothes.
The horrifying appearance that only one eye socket had an eyeball, while the other eye socket was empty, also added a lot of ferocity to his face.
A man with such a terrifying appearance made the hands and legs of some guards on the smuggling boat tremble just by standing on the deck.
Saburo is now sweating profusely.
There were only eight guards on their entire ship.
And now there are 18 people boarding the deck of their ship alone.
According to what Yi Tong just said, he counted 63 subordinates. The difference in the number of people between the two sides is huge.
What's more, there is a huge gap in the quality of the fighters on both sides that is visible to the naked eye.
The eight guards on the smuggling boat were all wanderers with nowhere to go and nothing to do.
In this long period of peace, warriors generally have no practical combat experience.
These eight guards were all without exception - all were warriors who had only wielded wooden swords before and had no experience in fighting with real swords.
As for Yi Tong and others... they are desperadoes who make a living by doing evil things, and they have seen far more blood than the guards on the smuggling boat.
The visible disparity in combat power made these guards lose the will and determination to resist.
"Master Sanlang..." A guard standing in front of Sanlang whispered, "Why don't we just do what they say... They are just a bunch of illegal immigrants anyway... Let them take a few women away..."
As soon as the guard finished speaking, the other guards cast panicked glances at Saburo.
When everyone on the smuggling boat heard Yi Tong say that they only robbed "women who could be sold" and nothing else, they immediately realized that this group of pirates were the kind that specialized in human trafficking.
Saburo, who was hanging his head at this moment... was now extremely conflicted.
As a smuggler, his professional ethics told him that he should protect the guests who paid him to help them smuggle.
But his desire to survive and his rationality told him that he must not fight this group of pirates head-on, but must do what they say, and maybe he could survive.
Two completely opposite ideas were entangled and fighting in Saburo's mind.
In the end, rationality and the desire to survive overcame professional ethics.
If they were to engage in a head-on confrontation with these pirates, it would most likely not be the pirates who would take Saburo's head, but the guards on their ship.
These guards were just "former ronin" who came to work for them just to make a living.
If these guys who are just trying to make a living were allowed to fight to the death with these pirates, Saburo was sure that these "former ronin" would definitely not listen to his orders, and might even turn the tables and kill Saburo first, and then apologize to these pirates with a smiling face, saying "This guy just went crazy, we never intended to disobey you."
After letting out a long sigh, Saburo said in a deep voice:
"...I understand. I will ask the rest of the people in the cabin to come out now..."
Seeing that Sanlang had given in, Yitong laughed with satisfaction:
"One-Eye! Follow this old guy! Help him get the rest of the people on the ship onto the deck! If anyone disobeys, give them a little pain!"
The one-eyed man grinned, nodded, and then shouted at Sanlang: "Old man! Lead the way! Where are the other stowaways hiding?"
Saburo, whose face had turned ashen, slowly turned around and prepared to take One-Eye to the cabin where the stowaways were staying.
After going up to the deck, Azhu pulled up the hood of her black robe to cover her entire head. With the cover of the black robe, Yi Tong and the others did not notice that there was a "high-quality product" on the deck that he had been thinking about.
Azhu, who is still a child, is now looking around with a helpless and panicked look on his face.
Faced with this sudden change, Azhu is now completely panicked.
——Why not... run away...?
Such a thought popped up in Azhu's mind.
But as soon as this thought popped up in Azhu's mind, she dismissed it herself.
There is boundless ocean all around, where can you escape to?
As for fighting this group of pirates...
Azhu never considered this idea from beginning to end...
When Azhu was at a loss, Isshiki, who was standing not far from her, also had a look of anxiety on his face.
“Grandpa, let’s fight off these pirates…!” Isshiki gnashed his teeth and growled at Naoshu beside him, “How can we just watch these beasts do evil…!”
"Don't be silly." Nao Zhou answered without hesitation, "You just heard it. This group of pirates, including the ugly man who kept talking, has a total of 64 people."
"With such a large number of people, and the fact that we are fighting in such a narrow terrain, how can we easily repel this group of pirates?"
"This, this might just be their bluffing. They might not have that many people." Isse said anxiously.
"Even if there weren't so many people, a ship this big, with a number of pirates on board, is definitely far beyond what you and I can easily deal with."
"For now, just be patient and wait and see what happens."
"When facing a battle with such a huge disparity in combat power, we must learn to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to strike."
After hearing what his grandfather said, although Isshiki looked unwilling, he finally chose to grit his teeth and follow his grandfather's instructions, waiting and watching the situation and waiting for the right opportunity to act.
but.
Just at this moment.
Just when the rest of the people had either succumbed to the pirates' tyranny, or were at a loss, or were looking for an opportunity to act -
"Ah. Now I remember..."
A man's voice sounded.
Everyone on the deck, including Ant Tong and others from the pirate ship, cast varying looks at the owner of the male voice.
"Mashima Goro...?" Isshiki asked in surprise.
Azhu now also looked at the owner of the male voice with surprise.
The owner of this male voice is Ogata.
Ogata raised his head and looked at Yitong.
"Hey, you, are you called Yitong Chouwulang?"
Ogata directly called Yitong "you guy", which made Yitong a little unhappy, but because he was in a good mood, Yitong chose to ignore Ogata's rudeness.
"Hmm? You know me?" Yi Tong crossed his arms, "Yes! I am Yi Tong Ugly Five Lang! I didn't expect that someone in this remote place would know me."
Ogata narrowed his eyes slightly: "It's really you..."
Just now, when he heard Yi Tong claim that he only robbed women and nothing else, Xu Fang suddenly remembered that before, in Tohe Village, he seemed to have heard the village chief say that a group of pirates who specialized in robbing women appeared in the north of Ezo.
But because it happened so long ago, Ogata couldn't remember the pirate's name for a moment, and only just now did he finally remember the name "Antō Uguro" .
"Hey, kid." Yi Tong was somewhat interested in this young man who could recognize him. "How did you recognize me... Hey! Kid, what do you want to do?"
Yi Tong's face changed.
Just because he saw Ogata silently untying a large cloth bag in his hand.
"While you can still breathe, take a few more breaths of fresh air."
Ogata said in a calm tone.
"You won't be able to breathe any more soon."
As he finished speaking, the white cloth that had been wrapping the contents of the bag fell off, revealing what was inside - Ogata's swords: Daishakuten and Daijizai.
For a long time, the thieves that Ogata hated the most were human traffickers.
If a thief were sentenced to beheading, Ogata would feel that the punishment was too severe and that the crime did not deserve it.
However, if a human trafficker were sentenced to beheading, Ogata would feel that the punishment was too light and that it needed to be increased a little.
These pirates wanted to harm the ship where he and Atachi were, and they were also a group of sinful human traffickers - either of these two reasons was enough for Ogata to not show mercy to them.
On the pirate ship, looking at Ogata who had inserted Daishakuten and Daijizai back into his left waist, he was stunned for a moment, and then -
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Yi Tong laughed mockingly.
"What? Are you going to kill me?"
"Did you see that? I'm standing right here now, come and kill me!"
Yi Tong opened his arms and mocked Ogata below.
"Then you just wait for me."
Ogata raised his hand and placed it on the hilt of Daishikuten's sword, slowly drawing the sword from its sheath, and then readying the sword.
On the deck, when everyone was either surrendering, or confused, or still wanted to wait and see what would happen, only one person chose to draw his sword against the bandits.
Isshiki stared blankly at Ogata, who was holding a sharp blade with no fear on his face.
A hint of hesitation appeared in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.
He ran towards Ogata with a determined look, and while running towards Ogata, he quickly untied the large package in his hand.
"Let me help you!" Isshiki, who was standing on Ogata's left, put his right shoulder against Ogata's left upper arm - because he was shorter than Ogata, he couldn't stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Ogata in the true sense.
The cloth bag in Isshiki's hand was opened - inside was a black and white katana.
"Ryoma!" Naoshige's expression changed drastically due to Isshiki's sudden action.
Looking at Isshiki who suddenly stood beside him, Ogata's face was filled with surprise.
"Hey." Isshiki inserted the black and white katana into his left waist and asked Ogata, "How is your swordsmanship?"
"Well... I feel like I'm just an average swordsman, and I still have a long way to go." Ogata smiled, "But if we talk about experience in fighting against others, I'm pretty confident."
"A real sword fight is completely different from sparring with others using wooden swords in the dojo." Isshiki subconsciously took what Ogata just said about "rich experience in fighting others" as meaning that he often sparred with others in the dojo.
"If you encounter any danger later, call me."
Isshiki said as he slowly drew his sword from its sheath.
This is a beautiful katana with a blade as slender as a seedling.
The blade reflected a sharp light under the light of the sky.
"I will do my best to help you."
"Would you like to help me..." Ogata smiled.
"What are you laughing at?" Isshiki scolded angrily, "I'm not saying anything polite. If you are really in danger, tell me immediately, don't try to be brave."
"...Yeah." Ogata suppressed his smile and nodded, "I understand. When I really need your help, I will call you."