Even though we haven't seen each other for several years.
Even in these few years, the appearance has changed dramatically.
Azhu was also absolutely sure that he could recognize his younger sister Ajiu at first sight.
There is no special reason.
It's just because she is Ajiu's sister.
Just now, in Longshui Temple, when Azhu saw Chu Guang for the first time, he almost screamed out of excitement.
There is no mistake, I found her, I found her - the next moment after seeing the first light, Azhu shouted excitedly in his heart.
After shouting excitedly in his heart, Azhu wanted to throw himself on Chuguang directly. He hugged Chuguang tightly, and cried with joy while repeating over and over again, "I found you", "I finally found you".
However, Yoshihisa and the brand woman were still alive and fighting with Genichi and others at that time, so Azuki had to suppress his excitement and temporarily treat Hatsumi as a stranger. Following Genichi's orders, he dragged Hatsumi, who was lying on the ground and easily injured, to the corner of the room and protected her.
Azhu kept suppressing his excitement and desire to recognize Chuguang.
He remained suppressed until the battle with Yoshihisa and others was over.
This continued until they took the "captives" Hatsumitsu and Shibata and moved from Ryushui Temple to the Buddhist temple where they had been hiding.
I have been suppressing it until... now it is hard to play dumb anymore, hard to suppress the excitement in my heart anymore.
The two sentences that Azhu just said naturally attracted the attention of everyone present.
Fuma, Asai, and Shimada all knew why Azuku followed Ogata.
Therefore, after Azhu's shout died down, they all looked at Azhu and Chuguang with surprised eyes.
Hatsumitsu and Shibata, their current status is that they are captives of Atachi, Genichi and others.
But even though they were captives, Ating and his men treated the two men very well. They did not tie them up roughly with hemp ropes, but only tied their wrists and ankles.
At this moment, Azhu looked at the beautiful captive in front of her with excitement and anticipation, as if she would cry out at any time.
However... after Azhu shouted "You are Ajiu, right?", less than a breath passed, and the expression on Azhu's face... slowly froze .
Because she saw... Chu Guang was looking her up and down with a puzzled look.
"Ajiu...? Sorry, you got the wrong person." Chuguang frowned slightly, "My name is Chuguang, not Ajiu."
"Yes, yes." Shibata, who was sitting next to Chuguang, nodded suddenly, "You must have recognized the wrong person. Her name is Chuguang, not Ajiu."
The expressions of Fuma, Shimada, and Asai also froze.
The three of them tacitly turned their gazes, which had become even more astonished, back to Azhu.
"Did you recognize the wrong person?"
With a dazed look on her face, Azhu repeated in a low voice what Chuguang had just said to her.
"Yeah." Chu Guang nodded. "Chu Guang is the name my parents gave me. I have never had the name Ajiu. You must have mistaken me and your family."
The moment Chu Guang finished speaking, Azhu's eyes, which were already very round and big, became even rounder.
Azhu stared at Chuguang with her wide eyes.
The two girls' stare at each other did not last long.
After only a moment, Azhu took the initiative to move his gaze away and focus on his toes.
"...I see...it seems I must have mistaken someone..."
Azhu half-closed his eyes, revealing a lonely expression, and the tip of his nose was slightly red.
"I'm sorry to bother you... because you look a lot like my long-lost sister..."
“…It’s okay.” Chu Guang lowered his eyes and looked at his toes. “It’s common to mistake someone for someone else.”
Fuma, Asai and Shimada looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Master Fuma! Please say something to comfort that girl." Asai and Shimada looked at Fuma and said so.
After understanding the meaning of Asai and Shimada's eyes, Fuma couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.
What Fengmo is least good at is comforting others, especially comforting young people who are under 20 years old.
But what can he do? He is the oldest person among all the people present, and also the one who has the closest relationship with Azhu, so apart from him, there is really no other suitable person for the job of "comforting Azhu".
"Ahem...um...Azuki, don't be too sad. You will find your family one day. Oh...oh, by the way! Do you want some candy? I have a bag of konpeito here."
After squeezing out words that he thought would comfort Azhu from his stomach like squeezing toothpaste, Fuma reached into his arms, intending to take out the candy.
"Thank you... I love eating Konpeito the most..." After wiping his eyes and nose with the back of his hands, Azhu sat next to Fuma in a well-behaved posture.
"Come on, eat as much as you want." Fengma handed a small bag of konpeito to Azhu, "But don't eat too much. If you eat too much konpeito, your teeth will get damaged easily."
"Sir... don't mention such a depressing thing as breaking teeth at a time like this..." After glancing at Fuma with a helpless look, Asai turned his gaze back to the window.
And just as Asai turned his gaze back to the window, his expression immediately froze.
"Master Genichi and the others are back!"
As Asai had just finished speaking, the sound of dense footsteps could be heard outside the door.
Then——
Wow.
The door was opened.
A group of people, headed by Genichi, covered in blood, walked into the room through the open door.
…
…
Following closely behind Genichi, Obaya saw many familiar faces after entering the room.
"Master Ogata! You're finally back!" With his nose no longer red, Azhu quickly ran to Ogata and circled around him, looking at him carefully from head to toe with his eyes wide open. "Are you not injured anywhere?"
"Azuki, I'm fine." Ogata smiled, "Azuki, Master Feng, Asai, Shimada, I'm relieved to see that you are all okay."
"I was just worried that Master Genichi and the others might not be able to find you. It seems I was worrying too much." Asai, who rarely smiled, rarely smiled.
Shimada, who had been lying on his back on the ground resting due to a leg injury, quickly raised his upper body. After seeing the familiar figure among the returning Genichi and others, a happy smile immediately bloomed on Shimada's face.
"Ogata-senpai! I'm so glad you're okay! Hmm? Ogata-senpai, who is the person you're dragging with your right hand?"
"He is an important prisoner. When he wakes up, we must get some information out of him."
"Brother Ogata! I finally see you!" Fuma, who was suffering from a backache, ignored the pain in his back and struggled to get up from the ground. "When I knew you were missing, you were really worried about me. After knowing you were in the northwest of Osaka, I wanted to save you, but my waist couldn't bear the burden after tossing and turning for half a night, so I can only stay here with the injured Asai and Shimada, and Azhu who is responsible for taking care of us...ah, my waist hurts so much..."
"Master Feng, I heard that your waist is hurting, you'd better lie down quickly..."
After greeting his companions one by one, Ogata slowly moved his gaze to...Hatsumitsu and Shibata who were sitting in the corner of the room.
When following Master Genichi to the temporary base set up by the Gourd House group, Ogata had already learned many things he didn't know from A-Machi -
What happened to A-Ming and Huluya's group tonight?
How did Ating and his companions discover Ryushui Temple, and how did they defeat the enemies inside the temple.
And...how did A-machi and the others accidentally meet Hatsumitsu, and then learned from Hatsumitsu that he was northwest of Osaka at that time.
When Ogata was looking at Hatsukimi, Hatsukimi was also looking at Ogata.
At this moment, Hatsumitsu's red lips slightly opened, showing an expression of disbelief towards Ogata.
"Ogata Ittosai..." she murmured, "You actually... captured Soemon alive?"
"Souemon? Oh, so this guy's name is Soemon?" Ogata turned his head and glanced at his right hand.
His right hand was now dragging an armless, unconscious "giant" like a dead dog - this "giant" was none other than Soemon.
Ogata casually threw Soemon, who was dragging with his right hand, to the ground and said, "This man should know a lot of useful information, so I will spare his life."
"Ms. Hatsumitsu, I have heard about you in detail from my wife and Ms. Isshiki. I was really surprised when I learned that the 'first geisha in Osaka' I knew was actually an Iga ninja lurking in Osaka..."
"Ms. Isshiki?" Hatsukiri's eyebrows suddenly raised, and then he moved his gaze to look to Ogata's left and right.
Because her attention had just been drawn to Soemon, who was being dragged by Ogata, Hatsukiri did not notice until now that to the left of Ogata stood a girl who had just been separated from her for over an hour.
"...Ms. Hatsumitsu." Isshikika pursed her lips and whispered to Hatsumitsu, "We meet again..."
"...Now no matter what happens in front of me, I won't be surprised." Chu Guang said half-jokingly after a moment of silence.
…
…
Somewhere about 8 kilometers northeast of Osaka——
"How is it? Has the person sent to Osaka to check the situation come back?" Baba asked the deputy general in front of him anxiously.
"No." The deputy general made a bitter face and shook his head vigorously, "He has not returned yet."
"Why haven't you come back yet..." Ma Chang curled his lips in an impatient arc, holding the knife at his waist, and continued to walk around in circles with an anxious look on his face.
After learning that something unusual had happened on Mount Koya, Matsudaira Sadanobu immediately ordered Osaka Castle Lord Horita Masahiro to secretly assemble all the troops in Osaka and surrounding areas.
This order has been implemented for quite some time.
Matsudaira Sadanobu's intended goal was to assemble an army of at least a thousand people.
However, due to various reasons such as the weakening administrative capacity of the shogunate and the disrepair of military equipment, only half of Matsudaira Sadanobu's predetermined goal has been achieved so far - only 500 people have been mobilized.
The garrison of these 500 mobilized soldiers was located in an inconspicuous forest area about 8 kilometers northeast of Osaka.
The person who is currently taking on the important task of commanding these 500 soldiers is this middle-aged man who is currently spinning in circles anxiously - Tomitaro Baba.
Ma Chang’s current task is to command these 500 soldiers and silently wait for the rest of the troops to complete mobilization and assembly.
The garrison of these 500 soldiers was 8 kilometers away from Osaka. At such a long distance, Baba and his men naturally couldn't even see the shadow of Osaka.
However - although they couldn't see Osaka's shadow, they could still see the faint light of the fire.
Since nightfall, Baba and others have seen orange-red lights flashing in the direction of Osaka.
This orange-red light looks particularly dazzling against the backdrop of the night and the moonlight.
As Japan's current first commercial capital, Osaka's housing density is even higher than Kyoto and even higher than Edo.
In the Edo period, there was an equation that was close to the truth:
The denser the houses in a city, the easier it is to be burned down by a fire.
The Tenmei Fire occurred a few years ago during the Tenmei period, burning down 80% of Kyoto’s buildings.
The "Meireki Fire" occurred during the Meireki period over a hundred years ago, reducing two-thirds of Edo to ruins.
Osaka was very lucky. It did not suffer from a major fire that reduced half of the city to ruins like Kyoto and Edo.
But it just hasn’t happened yet.
After seeing the orange-red lights, a terrible guess popped up in Baba's mind uncontrollably - is Osaka also experiencing a major fire like the "Tenmei Fire" and the "Meireki Fire"?
This guess made Ma Chang break out in a cold sweat, and the cold sweat oozing out of every pore of his body directly wet his clothes.
He made a prompt decision and sent some people to Osaka to find their superiors and inquire about the situation.
As for myself, I was ready to lead the entire army to Osaka to participate in disaster relief at any time.
Baba was a native of Osaka, and he could not suppress his anxiety when he thought about the fire ravaging his hometown.
If it weren't for his duty to manage the army, which prevented him from leaving the base at will, Baba really wanted to go to Osaka in person to see what his beloved hometown was like now.
"Master Maba!"
At this time, another deputy general of the horse farm ran towards the horse farm with a terrified look on his face.
"What happened?" Baba stopped circling his feet and asked, "Did the people sent to Osaka to check the situation come back?"
"No, no!" The deputy general answered in an anxious tone, "It's the old Zhong Lord who has arrived! The old Zhong Lord is outside Yingkou now!"
"What?!" Ma Chang's pupils shrank slightly, and he took two steps back in shock at the deputy general's words.
Then, Ma Chang's body performed a movement that was no different from a conditioned reflex - he spread his legs and ran towards Yingkou.
After Yingkou of the military camp appeared within the horse farm's field of , a middle-aged man with his hands behind his back, standing outside Yingkou, also appeared in front of the horse farm.
"Mr. Zhong!" Mr. Ma Chang slid to his knees in front of the middle-aged man with a neat movement and greeted him loudly.
Being addressed as "Mr. Lao Zhong" by the horse farm in a very respectful tone - the identity of this middle-aged man is naturally obvious.
"Baba, get up." The middle-aged man...or rather, it was Matsudaira Sadanobu, who leaned over and helped Baba up.
Matsudaira Sadanobu currently looks a little embarrassed.
To be more precise - it was Matsudaira Sadanobu and the others around him, all of whom looked somewhat disheveled.
On the left of Matsudaira Sadanobu is the young lady Tachibana who is almost inseparable from him.
To the right of Matsudaira Sadanobu is the Osaka Castle Lord: Horita Masajune.
Behind the three of them stood five warriors dressed as guards.
There was a lot of mud on everyone's clothes.
There was a hint of fatigue and panic on everyone's face - except for Matsudaira Sadanobu.
Although there was a hint of fatigue between Matsudaira Sadanobu's brows, there was no trace of panic.
His expression was calm, peaceful and composed, as if even if the mountains before him collapsed, it would not change the expression on his face in the slightest.