"The man you captured is finally willing to speak? So soon?" Ogata turned his head and looked for Makimura following the voice.
As soon as Makimura's voice sounded, A-machi immediately pulled her hands out of Ogata's palms.
"Yeah. It was really not easy." Makimura's burly figure appeared from behind the corner of the corridor beside Ogata, "Mamiya used a little trick and finally made that guy talk."
"Plan? What did Mamiya do?" Ogata slowly stood up and brushed off the dust on his butt.
"Well... before we talk about this." Makimura walked quickly to Ogata's front, and then patted Ogata's shoulder with a force that was neither light nor heavy, "Brother Ogata, tell me about your business first."
"After absorbing that 'power of immortality', your body didn't show any abnormalities, did it?"
Hearing this question, which he had heard countless times, Ogata smiled helplessly.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Except that my physical fitness and recovery ability have become much better than before, everything else is the same. Tell me quickly what trick Mamiya used to make that prisoner speak so quickly."
"This plan is not complicated..."
…
…
Time goes back to not long ago——
"Puff... cough cough... coo coo coo..."
Asai, with an anxious look on his face, poured all the water in the bottle onto Jie Zheng's face, then pulled away the white cloth covering Jie Zheng's face.
However, before he could ask anything, Jie Zheng started to cough, spit out saliva and snot, and said incoherently:
"I... cough... I won't say anything... cough cough...!"
"Damn it!" Asai, who was in a bad mood, gritted his teeth and said, "This guy is such a trouble... I really want to chop him to pieces..."
"Hmm..." Shimada nodded, "I agree..."
Asai was already impatient, and Shimada's face looked equally ugly.
Jie Zheng's overly stubborn attitude had almost exhausted the patience of the other two.
"Again." Asai covered Jie Zheng's face with the white cloth again, "I want to see how long this guy can last."
"Asai. Stop for a moment."
"Hmm?" Asai was stunned, then turned to look at the person who called him just now, "Mamiya? Hmm? Why are you here too, Makimura? Don't you two need to interrogate that Soemon and that female ninja?"
The person who called Asai was none other than Mamiya.
Mamiya was standing at the corner of the corridor not far away, and next to him was Makimura.
It's no wonder that Asai was confused by the sudden appearance of Mamiya and Makimura.
Because according to the distribution of tasks, Mamiya and Makimura should be busy interrogating Soemon and Aharu now.
They currently count three prisoners - Soemon, Kosho, and Haru.
Regarding how to torture these three people, Mamiya and others made the following arrangements:
Makimura, who had the most experience in torture, tortured Soemon alone. Soemon was tied to a wooden pillar with iron chains and could not even move. Makimura alone was enough to torture Soemon.
Mamiya was solely responsible for interrogating Haru.
Asai and Shimada were jointly responsible for dealing with Jie Zheng.
Three groups of people carried out the torture in different places.
"Asai, Shimada, don't worry about that guy for now." Mamiya glanced at Jie Zheng who was still coughing and hadn't caught his breath yet, "You two come here first."
Although they were wondering what Mamiya was up to, Asai and Shimada still stood up obediently and walked towards Mamiya.
Jie Zheng and the others were tied up tightly and there was no way they could escape, so Jian Gong and the others could leave them alone for the time being without any worries.
Mamiya led Makimura, Asai and Shimada and quickly came to an empty corner, where they finally stopped.
"Asai, Shimada, how is it?" Mamiya paused and immediately asked Asai and Shimada, "Does the guy you two are interrogating show any signs of intending to speak?"
"No." Asai shook his head without hesitation, "That guy is so stubborn. I really want to kill him with a knife."
"We haven't achieved any results here either." Mamiya said, "Both the Soemon and the female kunoichi are very stubborn and refuse to say anything."
"If this continues, I don't know when they will let go."
"So - I think we should try another method to torture them."
"Another method?" Shimada raised his eyebrows. "Is there any torture method more severe than water torture?"
"It's not about using any new torture methods, but about trying to break their morale."
"The reason they were able to withstand waterboarding is simply because of their strong will and high morale."
"So - as long as we can deal a heavy blow to their morale, then things will be much easier going forward."
Mamiya leaned against the wall behind him and told the story.
"That Soemon was a close confidant of Toyotomi Nobuhide."
"He is regarded as a confidant by Toyotomi Nobuhide, and he is now showing an attitude of not surrendering even at the cost of his life. It can be concluded that he is extremely loyal to the Toyotomi clan. It will be very difficult to get him to reveal information."
"As for the Iga kunoichi, it can be seen that she must have received relevant training, and it is also not easy to make her give in."
"So, for now, let's start with the guy you guys are in charge of, Asai."
"What should we do?" Asai asked, "We have been waterboarding him non-stop. Don't tell me to increase the intensity of the torture. If we increase the intensity of the torture, he will probably drown."
"The reason I called all of you here is to announce to you a little trick I just thought of." An intriguing smile appeared on Mamiya's face, "Later, I need you to cooperate with me a little. If my plan succeeds, it should be able to greatly undermine that guy's fighting spirit."
…
A moment later——
…
——I won’t say anything…I won’t say anything…
——Toyotomi... is my hope for success...
——As long as you hold on... maybe there will be a glimmer of hope... hold on...
Jie Zheng, whose breathing had become regular, closed his eyes and encouraged himself in his heart over and over again.
However, no matter how he encouraged himself... the words that Mamiya and others had said to him before always popped up in his mind automatically -
(Your Toyotomi clan's troops in Osaka have been defeated)
Along with these words, what popped up in Jie Zheng's mind was Soemon, who was also imprisoned and taken to see by Mamiya and others.
——Have our Toyotomi army...really been defeated...?
As soon as this thought came to mind, Jie Zheng immediately shouted in his heart:
——No! You can’t have such pessimistic thoughts!
——It's just that Lord Soemon was captured! That doesn't mean anything! The Osaka troops must still be fine now!
——In fact, it’s good that Lord Soemon was captured.
——Lord Soemon is Lord Toyotomi’s confidant. Now that he has been captured, the Toyotomi army will do their best to rescue him.
——This way, I can also have a chance to be rescued. That’s right… I have to hold on…
A series of self-comforts helped Jie Zheng calm down from his panic.
However, even though he had regained his composure, Jie Zheng still felt a little uneasy in his heart...
Snap, snap…
At this moment, footsteps were heard from the end of the corridor beside me.
Jie Zheng turned his head and saw that it was Asai and Shimada who came back.
After taking a look at Asai and Shimada who had returned, Jie Zheng turned his gaze back, with a disdainful expression on his face, and didn't even look at the two of them again.
"Alright!" Asai said loudly, "Let's get on with it! Just grit your teeth, Shimada, you stay here, I'll go get some water, and this time I'm going to fill both buckets."
"yes."
——It’s up to you.
Jie was thinking to himself.
——No matter how you torture me, I won’t give in... huh?
Jie Zheng's eyes suddenly opened wide.
Because he saw - not far in front of him, a man with glasses was escorting a girl who looked quite familiar.
When the man with glasses and the girl passed in front of Jie Zheng, the girl noticed Jie Zheng, stopped, turned around and gave Jie Zheng a surprised look.
"I... seem to have seen you before. Are you from the Musketeer Corps?"
The girl looked at Jie Zheng in surprise.
At this time, Jie Zheng was looking at the girl in shock.
"Are you... the first light of Iga?"
Jie Zheng has a good relationship with Aqing, who is a female ninja in Iga. Therefore, through Aqing's relationship, Jie Zheng unknowingly got to know some celebrities in Iga - including Hatsumitsu.
Hatsumitsu is undoubtedly a celebrity in Igali, and almost everyone knows that Yoshihisa is very fond of Hatsumitsu, whom he raised, and trains him as his own successor.
"Chu Guang!" Jie Zheng said hurriedly, "You... were also arrested?"
He vaguely remembered that Chu Guang should be responsible for staying behind in Longshui Temple tonight and serving as a messenger.
"Longshui Temple was attacked unexpectedly, and all the troops left behind were wiped out. Lord Jijiu and Lady Lao were all killed..." Chu Guang showed a sad expression, "Many people, including me, were captured..."
Before Chu Guang finished speaking, the man standing behind her, escorting her glasses, shouted loudly.
"Stop talking nonsense! Keep moving forward!"
After being yelled at by Glasses, Chu Guang quickly shut her mouth and continued to let Glasses push her forward obediently.
Jie Zheng stared with his dull eyes, looking stupidly at Chu Guang's figure that was about to disappear from his sight.
"Why do you have such an expression?" At this time, Jie Zheng heard Asai beside him sneer, "Didn't I tell you when I took you to see Soemon, whose hands we had cut off? All of your Toyotomi troops in Osaka were defeated by us."
After that, Asai covered Jie Zheng's cheek with the white cloth again: "Now, let's continue to feed you water."
…
After escorting Hatsumitsu to a place where Jiezheng couldn't see him, Mamiya let out a long sigh:
"Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Chuguang."
"As long as it can cause trouble to the Toyotomi clan and Iga, I am happy to do it." Hatsukiri smiled meaningfully and shrugged, "Luckily, that guy just now recognized me. If he didn't recognize me, your plan would have completely failed."
"Yeah. It was a close call." Mamiya let out a long sigh again, "Luckily he knows you. Next... just wait and see if that guy's fighting spirit will be destroyed."
…
The endless stream of water poured onto Jie Zheng's face again.
However, compared to the physical pain, the pain in his heart at this moment made Jie Zheng feel more tormented.
The words that Chu Guang had just said to him kept echoing in Jie Zheng's mind over and over again uncontrollably.
——Ryusui Temple... was breached...? Lord Yoshikyu and Mrs. Lao... are both dead...?
——In this case... it makes sense why Soemon-sama was captured alive...
——Were the Osaka troops...really defeated?
——No... Impossible...
——But... even the Hatsumiguchi who stayed behind in Ryusui Temple was captured...
Waterboarding is an extremely painful punishment.
Water continuously poured into the mouth and nose, causing the trachea and lungs to secrete a large amount of thick mucus due to irritation. The mucus and saliva flowed out of the mouth and nose uncontrollably, and the victim suffered from suffocation.
It takes a strong will to survive waterboarding.
Psychological defenses are a very strange thing.
As long as your will is shaken a little, your psychological defenses will collapse at an alarming speed.
Jie Zheng is now in such a situation.
Chu Guang's appearance just now and her words just now greatly .
At this moment, a thought was "surge" back and forth in Jie Zheng's mind - were the Osaka troops really defeated?
At a time when his will and beliefs were already wavering, he happened to be suffering from painful water torture.
The tremendous pain of water torture made it difficult for Jie Zheng to concentrate on thinking, and it also accelerated the collapse of Jie Zheng's psychological defenses.
Finally - Jie Zheng's psychological defenses collapsed, and he completely lost the strength to resist the water torture.
"I'll tell you... cough! cough! I'll tell you... everything!"
Jie, with his face covered with a white cloth, was mumbling incoherently.
Hearing Jie Zheng's incoherent mumbling, joy welled up on Asai and Shimada's cheeks.
…
…
Time goes back to the present——
Ogata and A-machi followed Makimura to the place where Jie Zheng was being tortured, and listened quietly to how they used little tricks to undermine Jie Zheng's fighting spirit.
"That Hatsumitsu actually agreed to help you so readily?" Ogata asked back.
"Yes." Makimura nodded. "When Mamiya went to see her, she agreed very readily. She said that as long as it could cause trouble for the Toyotomi clan and Iga, she would be happy to do it."
While Ogata and Makimura were talking, they had already arrived at the place where Jie Zheng was being tortured.
Because waterboarding is so painful, the victim often suffers from stress response and incontinence due to excessive pain.
Although Jie Zheng did not suffer from fecal incontinence, he urinated very comfortably. Therefore, when people got close to Jie Zheng, the unpleasant smell of urine kept entering his nostrils.
Ogata and others were the last to arrive.
Gourd and his group, Fuma, Azhu, and Isshikika, who had just gone to a room to rest, are now gathered together.
Seeing Ogata and Amachi coming, when everyone was finally together, Genichi first greeted Ogata and Amachi briefly, then squatted down beside Jie Zheng.
"All right," Genichi said, "tell me everything you know. Don't leave anything out."
Jie Zheng looked disheartened and had lost all hope in life. He hung his head and spoke in a weak tone.
"I... don't know any Kinoshita Lin..."
"I'm not sure what the mission is about, capturing Kinoshita Rin..."
"But I remember... the 16th Division was ordered to go to Maruyama Town tonight to carry out a special secret mission... The mission content... seems to be to capture someone... and then take that person to Koyasan..."
After hearing the place names "Maruyama-cho" and "Koyasan", the people from Huluya, led by Genichi, exchanged glances, and then turned their attention back to Jie Zheng.
"…How much do you know about the strongholds of the Toyotomi clan in Koyasan?" Genichi asked. "No matter how capable the Toyotomi clan led by Nobuhide is, it is impossible for them to assimilate the entire Koyasan into their own people. Which places in Koyasan are the strongholds of the Toyotomi clan? Is there a place on Koyasan specifically used to detain people?"
"I...have rarely been to Koyasan's base...Koyasan is...the most important base of Toyotomi-sama in mainland Japan..."
"It's not possible for someone of my level to come in and out as they please..."
"I only know that... the abbot of Koyasan Sengenji Temple... Master Sengen is our ally..."
"...It seems that you are still stubborn." Asai silently picked up the water bottle at his feet.
"I... didn't lie..." Jie Zheng shuddered, "I'm really not familiar with Koyasan..."
"...Then let's change the question." A thoughtful look appeared on Genichi's face, "How many troops does Nobuhide currently have deployed on Koyasan?"
"That... I don't know either... I only know that Lord Toyotomi has deployed a large number of Iga ninjas for security at various strategic locations on Mount Koya..."
"So, besides the musketeer corps and the Iga ninjas, does Nobuhide have any other armed forces under his command?" Genichi asked.
"I don't know about that either... I'm just a middle-level cadre in the musket unit... I really don't know a lot of things..."
"...That's true." Genichi sighed and slowly stood up, "Asai, take this guy away for now."
Asai responded, then walked to Jie Zheng's side, ready to drag him away.
But at this moment——
"I have a question for you."
Speaker: Ogata.
Asai stopped dragging Jie Zheng's hand, and along with the others, cast confused glances at Ogata.
"A few days ago, Isshiki Naomasa of Isshiki Sword Hall and his son and daughter-in-law were captured by your Toyotomi army." Ogata asked word by word, "Do you know where they were taken?"
As soon as Ogata asked this question, Isshikika, who was standing not far from Ogata, was stunned.
"Ishiki... I seem to have some impression... Before, Lord Lou Luo seemed to have been ordered to move someone away... But where he was moved to... I don't know..."
"...Thank you for your answer." Ogata said calmly, "I don't have any other questions. Asai, drag this guy away."
Asai nodded, then dragged Jie Zheng away like a dog.
After Asai came back, Shimada said in a deep voice:
"Maruyama Town... that's where the lord was captured..."
"Hmm..." Mamiya nodded, "Combining all the information we have so far... it is very likely that the lord was captured and taken to Mount Koya."
"Tsk... Damn it..." Makura scratched his hair hard and cursed, "I was caught in such a troublesome place..."
"There is still too little information..." Genichi frowned slightly, "Nobuhide's force deployment on Mount Koya, the location of the base... There is no information at all."
"Let alone the deployment of Toyotomi Nobuhide's troops and the location of his strongholds on Mount Koya," Mamiya added silently, "we don't even know the topography and conditions of Mount Koya. We don't even know where Sengenji Temple is on Mount Koya."
"Mamiya," Makimura asked, "haven't you memorized a map of Mount Koya before?"
"Don't treat me like a god." Mamiya rolled his eyes at Makimura. "I don't believe in Buddhism, and I've never been to Koyasan before. I don't even know how many temples there are in Koyasan."
"Is there a store nearby that sells maps of Koyasan?" Shimada asked.
"All the citizens of Osaka have fled long ago." Asai's mouth drooped slightly, "You can buy it even if you want."
When the group of people in the gourd house were talking to each other——
"……that……"
A pleasant female voice, which seemed a little unfamiliar to everyone in Hulu House, suddenly interrupted the conversation.
After a few flashes of surprise in the eyes of Yuan Yi and others , they all looked towards the owner of the female voice.
Under everyone's gaze, Isshikika couldn't help but show a bit of nervousness on her face. She swallowed her saliva, took a deep breath, and calmed down her nervousness a little before she slowly said:
"I have been to Koyasan many times..."
“I wouldn’t say I’m very familiar with Mount Koya though.”
"But I am familiar with the general topography of Koyasan, as well as... the locations of major temples such as Sengenji..."