"No, the infamy he has received may even exceed that of Oda Nobunaga." Fuma added, "At least when Oda Nobunaga burned down Mount Hiei, he still had some moral integrity."
"And now...if you attack Koyasan, then in the eyes of outsiders, you will be a group of thugs who attack a holy place for no apparent reason."
Asai, who always had a quick temper, opened his mouth and subconsciously wanted to refute Fuma's words.
But after opening his mouth, he found that he had no way to refute what Fengmo had just said, because what Fengmo said was all true.
Since Buddhism was introduced to Japan, due to Japan's unique cultural soil, Buddhism developed into an exaggerated behemoth in Japan. It was not until the establishment of the Edo Shogunate two hundred years ago that the influence of Buddhism was finally suppressed.
The Edo Shogunate adopted many measures to suppress the power of Buddhism, such as prohibiting Buddhism from training monk soldiers and forming private troops.
Under the Edo Shogunate's many means of suppression, important Buddhist sites, headed by Koyasan, finally began to behave like Buddhism should. The monks focused on worshiping Buddha, and it was no longer like before when each important Buddhist site had its own private land and troops, no different from warlords.
But precisely because of this, the infamy that one would incur today for trespassing and destroying Buddhist holy sites like Mount Koya might even exceed that of Oda Nobunaga .
More than two hundred years ago, after Oda Nobunaga burned down Mount Hiei, another holy place known as one of the "two major centers of Japanese Buddhism" together with Koyasan, he was forever branded as an "enemy of Buddhism" and is still cursed by many devout Buddhists. However, there are still some people who give positive comments on Oda Nobunaga's act of burning Mount Hiei.
Buddhism before the Edo period was indeed too arrogant.
Having their own land, not having to pay taxes to the government, and being able to form their own private army... these actions are beyond the duties of a monk.
The monks of Mount Hiei were even more arrogant. Not only did they eat meat, drink alcohol, and indulge in sensual pleasures, they also turned Mount Hiei into a fortress, formed an astonishingly large corps of monk soldiers, and interfered in national affairs.
As to why Oda Nobunaga destroyed Mount Hiei, a conclusion had been drawn by the Edo period - it was both to take revenge on Mount Hiei, which was against the Oda family at the time, and to suppress the Buddhist forces in Japan.
After Tokugawa Ieyasu completed the great cause of unifying the world and ending the Warring States Period, the Edo Shogunate was able to successfully suppress the Buddhist forces, in large part because Oda Nobunaga had paved the way for them. The disappearance of Mount Hiei caused great damage to the Buddhist forces.
Therefore, after Oda Nobunaga directly changed the "two major centers of Japanese Buddhism" to "Koyasan alone", many people praised Oda Nobunaga.
But now times have changed.
Buddhism today is not as annoying as it used to be.
If we say that Buddhism in the past was a ferocious tiger, then Buddhism now is a trained sheep.
In the past, if you attacked Buddhism, perhaps many people would give you thumbs up.
Nowadays, if you attack Buddhism again, people will probably just think that you are crazy.
"……alright."
At this time, Genichi's voice interrupted the conversation between Asai and Fuma.
"Let's decide what to do next after we get enough information from that Soemon."
"That Soemon might know some other, more useful information."
"...I understand." Asai let out a long sigh and nodded gently.
"Let's go." Genichi patted Asai's shoulder and strode towards the room that was being used to torture Soemon. "Let's go see if that big guy is willing to cooperate with us."
When everyone entered the room where Mamiya, Makimura and Soemon were, Makimura was just putting down an empty bottle of water.
When the white cloth covering Soemon's face was removed, tears and snot covered Soemon's entire face.
Even with a body strengthened by the "power of immortality", it is difficult to resist the stress response of feeling like you are about to drown.
Finally able to breathe normally through his mouth and nose, Soemon gasped heavily and greedily inhaled the air around him, while glancing at Genichi and others standing beside him with a hostile and vigilant look.
However, when his eyes swept over Ogata, his expression froze uncontrollably, and an unconcealable look of fear appeared in his eyes.
"Your name is Saemon Uemon Soemon, right? What an interesting name." Genichi squatted beside Soemon.
After Genichi squatted down next to him, Soemon quickly withdrew his frightened gaze from Ogata and looked at... or rather, glared at Genichi.
"We already know a lot of information about you."
Genichi spoke slowly in a casual tone, as if he was chatting with an old friend.
"For example: you obtained the 'power of immortality' with the help of Bingou Maru, your master is Toyotomi Nobuhide, and you are an important confidant of Toyotomi Nobuhide."
As soon as Genichi finished speaking, Zuoemon said expressionlessly:
“…I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Genichi ignored Soemon's words and continued on his own:
"We have some questions we want to ask you."
"As long as you can answer our questions, we will stop torturing you with waterboarding."
"First question - we have a companion named Kinoshita Lin who was captured by you. She is about this tall and is a girl. Do you know where she is now?"
Ogata had a rough guess as to how Soemon would react after hearing Genichi's interrogation - he would probably be very stubborn and say nothing.
After all, Soemon doesn't look like the kind of person who would give in easily.
But who would have known - Soemon's reaction was completely different from what Ogata had guessed.
"Kinoshita...Rin?" Soemon's eyes widened, and then he shifted his gaze and looked at Genichi carefully from head to toe, "You...could you be Toyotomi Genichi?"
The corner of Genichi's eye twitched slightly: "…If I say 'yes', then what?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Soemon, who had been looking stern just now, actually slowly...smiled.
"Ha ha!"
He laughed a few times.
"Seeing is believing."
Having said this, he changed his tone to a sarcastic one:
"Since he is Toyotomi-sama's great-uncle, I can't be too disrespectful. I have to be a little more honest."
"Nice to meet you, Master Toyotomi Genichi."
"You were right. My master is indeed Lord Toyotomi Nobuhide."
"When Toyotomi-sama chatted with us on weekdays, he often told us that he had an uncle whom he had never met, and he didn't even know whether he was dead or alive until he left home to revive Toyotomi."
Soemon's words caused the expressions of people including Mamiya and others in Gourd House to change slightly.
Ogata, who had learned about Genichi and Lin's past not long ago, couldn't help but secretly glance at Genichi's expression - Genichi looked uneasy.
However, a hint of guilt could be vaguely seen in his eyes.
"You..." Mamiya was about to say something to Soemon, but Genichi raised his hand to signal him to be quiet.
"Lord Toyotomi once said this," Soemon continued in a smug tone, "'If the uncle is still alive, he is really cruel. For so many years, he has never come back to see his brother and his family.'"
"Shut up!" Asai shouted angrily, as if he couldn't bear it any longer. "That bastard Toyotomi Nobuhide, you have the nerve to call me 'cruel'?"
"If it weren't for that bastard Toyotomi Nobuhide who took away all the money and valuables in the house when he ran away, my lord..."
"Asai, that's enough." Genichi glanced at Asai, then returned his gaze to Soemon, "Nobuhide actually told you such a private matter... It seems that you are indeed Nobuhide's confidant."
"I don't have time to listen to Xiu's comments and prejudices about me."
"I just want to know what's wrong with Nobuhide, why he kidnapped his sister, and where he took his sister."
"Why did you capture Toyotomi Rin... well..." Zuoemon's mouth curled up in a mocking arc, "The brother missed his sister, so he captured his sister to reunite with him. What's wrong with that?"
"Don't say these things. I don't believe a word of them." Genichi's voice became extremely low. "If Nobuhide and Xiaolin had such a good relationship, then when Nobuhide left home, he would not have taken away all the valuables and belongings in the house, leaving Xiaolin to live a life of hunger and cold."
"That's true." The mockery on Zuoemon's face became even more intense. "Sorry, the reason I just made up was too stupid. I will try to make up a more reasonable one later."
"Please give me some time. I will start to make up the reason why Lord Toyotomi captured Toyotomi Lin and where Toyotomi Lin is now."
"...It seems that no matter what we ask, you won't answer obediently..." Genichi, with a slightly gloomy face, slowly stood up, "Mamiya, Makimura, I'm counting on you."
Without saying a word, Mamiya immediately covered Soemon's face with the white cloth again.
And Makimura immediately picked up another bottle full of water and poured the water in the bottle onto Soemon's face in a tacit understanding.
“Gu…cough cough! Gu! Cough cough——!”
Choked by the water, he could only cough intermittently. With his body tied up by the chains, Soemon struggled like a maggot, no longer showing the arrogance he had just shown.
"When you are willing to talk to us calmly, we will stop torturing you." Genichi said lightly to the struggling Soemon.
"Master Genichi." Makimura, who was pouring water on Soemon's face, asked, "What are we going to do with the two prisoners outside?"
The two captives that Makimura was referring to were naturally Jie Zheng and Aqing, who were captured by Genichirō and his men and have not yet woken up.
"Those two have slept for a long time... It seems that we beat them too hard before we set out for Longshui Temple just now in order to let them sleep longer..." Genichi smiled, and then said seriously, "Wake them up now and continue to interrogate them."
"Just ask them two things - Xiaolin's whereabouts, and details about Mount Koya."
"Though those two men's positions in the Toyotomi army are certainly not as high as Soemon's, they may know some useful information."
…
…
After receiving Genichi's order, the people from Huluwu immediately used the rough method of "sticking their heads into a bucket full of water" to wake up Jie Zheng and Aqing.
After waking up the two men, everyone did not rush to torture them immediately.
Instead, he first took them to see Soemon, who was taken prisoner like them.
Of course, Jie Zheng and Aqing knew Soemon, one of the "Three Demons".
While taking these two people to "visit" the captured Soemon, everyone also told them in vivid detail: Toyotomi's troops in Osaka had been defeated by them, and the captured Soemon was the evidence.
The purpose of doing this is simple: to undermine the morale of these two people to the greatest extent.
And this little trick was quite successful - after seeing the captured Soemon and learning that their troops in Osaka had been defeated by them, the expressions on Jie Zheng and Aqing's faces immediately changed wonderfully.
After undermining the morale of the two men, the Huluwu team began to interrogate them step by step.
Soemon, Keishō, and Aharu——the sounds of the three of them struggling rose one after another.
While the group of people in the gourd house were working together to torture the three captives, the rest of the people who had nothing to do were doing their own things while waiting for the interrogation results to come out.
For example - Isshikika felt a little tired, so she found a room to rest.
For example, Atachi, who was sitting in a corner of the Buddhist temple, was rubbing Ogata's face hard.
"...After absorbing the 'power of immortality', did your body really not experience any discomfort?" A-Machi had been pestering Ogata and asking this question since a while ago.
"I'm fine." Because Atachi was rubbing his face, Ogata's tone of voice was a little unclear. "Look at my expression now - does it look like the expression you would have if you were not feeling well? Except that my physical fitness has become better than before and my recovery ability has become stronger than before, there is no change in other parts of my body."
"…If you feel unwell in any way, don't hide it from me." Amaji slowly released her hands that were rubbing Ogata's cheeks.
"Don't worry. If I really have any discomfort, I should not be able to hide it from you who know me better than anyone else, right?" Ogata smiled and raised his hand to tidy up the hair on Ah-Ming's head. "Ah-Ming, I have a small favor to do now. I hope you can help me."
"A little favor?"
"Just... can you help me fix these two short guns?"
After saying that, Ogata used his usual confidence to ask Atachi to help him wash clothes, took out Kasumi and Umezen, which were unusable because they were soaked in water, and handed them to Atachi in front of him.
"Wow..." With her beautiful eyes wide open, Atachi carefully looked through the pistol handed to her by Ogata, "It's seriously flooded..."
"I can't help it..." Ogata, with an embarrassed look on his face, raised his hand and scratched his hair, "After all, I fell into the river twice. Please help me fix it. With my poor skills, I will probably just completely destroy these two guns."
"Really..." Ating smiled helplessly, "It's no problem for me to help you fix it. But you have to help me."
After saying that, A-machi sat down on the ground and disassembled Kasumigaseki and Umezen with skillful movements.
"Go get me half a bucket of water now, and I'll give your Kasumi and Umezen a thorough cleanse."
"good."
"There is a well in the courtyard of this temple. Do you know where it is?"
"Know."
"Go quickly and come back soon."
"Yeah, okay."
Ogata walked quickly towards the temple's courtyard.
I have to say that the life of the monks in this temple is really comfortable. There is a well in the courtyard of the temple, making it extremely convenient to get and use water.
The temple was not big, so it only took a short while for him to reach the courtyard where the well was.
But the moment he arrived at the courtyard, Ogata was so shocked by the scene before him that he stood there in a daze.
"Master Genichi, Master Fuma. What are you doing?"
Ogata saw that Genichi and Fuma were squatting beside the well in a strange posture.
Fuma was shirtless, with his back to Genichi.
And Genichi kept scooping up water from a bucket beside him with both hands and splashing the water on Fuma's back...
"Oh, it's Ogata-kun." After taking a look at Ogata, Genichi turned his gaze back to Fuma's back, "Kanmi said that his back pain has not been relieved, so I splashed cold water on his back and used cold compress to help him relieve the pain. How is it? Kanmi, do you feel that your back pain has been relieved?"
"It seems a little bit..."
"It's a pity that all the residents around here have fled. I want to buy medicine for you, but I don't know where to buy it."
"...Lord Gendai, Lord Fuma."
"Hmm? Brother Ogata, what's wrong? Why do you suddenly look so serious?"
"Tonight... Thank you so much. If you hadn't saved Ah-ting in the hotel in time, I really don't know what would happen to Ah-ting now..."
"Hahaha. I didn't actually do anything." Feng Mo laughed heartily, "No need to thank me so solemnly."
"We helped you a lot, and you helped us a lot." Genichi smiled, "Thanks to you for capturing that Soemon, we had the opportunity to torture the high-ranking personnel of the Toyotomi army to get information."
“Have those people from Soemon spoken yet?”
Ogata: "As far as I know - not yet. The torture is still going on."
"Tsk... you're really stubborn... oh, by the way, Ogata-kun, are you going to use the well?"
"Yeah. Let me get some water."
"This well is good in every way, except that the mouth is a little narrow." Genichirō said with a smile as he and Fuma moved to the side to make enough space for Ogata to fetch water.
After simply thanking the two of them, Xu Xiang took down the bucket used to draw water from the wellhead.
However, when Ogata was about to throw the bucket in his hand into the well, he suddenly stopped as if he remembered something important.
"...Master Genichi, Master Fuma. I want to ask you a question... which may be a little strange."
Ogata put down the bucket in his hand and looked at Genichi and Fuma.
"Have you ever tried to talk to yourself in a space that is more realistic than reality?"
"...Huh?" Genji tilted his head and looked at Ogata with a puzzled look, "What do you mean?"
Just as Ogata was about to give a detailed introduction——
"Talking to oneself?" Feng Mo raised an eyebrow. "Isn't this 'one is all, all is one'?"