During the conversation between Toyotomi Nobuhide and the old monk just now, both of them kept their voices down, so neither Hasegawa nor Isshiki Naoaki and others could hear their conversation clearly.
However, although he did not hear the conversation clearly, Hasegawa still vaguely heard some individual words.
He heard Toyotomi Nobuhide seem to call the old monk "Master"...
——Master…?
Hasegawa's brain was working rapidly at this moment.
"...In my impression, the abbot of Sengenji Temple in Koyasan is an old monk who is respected as Sengen Shonin and has profound Buddhist knowledge. Could it be that... you are Sengen Shonin?"
Hasegawa stared at the old monk's face and spoke word by word.
"Hmm?" The old monk raised his eyebrows and looked at Hasegawa, "...Yes, I am Master Xianyuan. It's surprising that you know me, Mr. Hasegawa. Have we met before?"
"I've always remembered it..." Hasegawa gritted his teeth, "The reason why I'm locked up here now... is also thanks to your Xianyuan Temple!"
Hasegawa felt that he would never forget how he had fallen into this situation.
It was because the Sengenji Temple in Koyasan reported to the government that the Buddhist artifacts in their temple were frequently stolen, and ordinary police officers were unable to catch the culprits, so they dispatched the Hōtsuke Thief Kai, who was specifically responsible for catching arsonists and thieves.
After being captured by the Toyotomi clan, Hasegawa obtained confirmation from Toyotomi Nobuhide that the so-called theft of Buddhist artifacts from Sengenji Temple was actually just a bait carefully designed to capture Hasegawa and lure him to Koyasan.
"You bastard..." Hasegawa glared at Master Xianyuan fiercely, "You are a monk, and a monk respected as 'Master' by the world, but you actually colluded with the thugs who wanted to overthrow the shogunate!"
"Do you still have any sense of self-awareness and shame as a monk?!"
Hasegawa's tone was passionate.
Faced with this passionate criticism, Master Xianyuan looked down upon Hasegawa with a cold gaze.
"You're criticizing me for not having the self-awareness and sense of shame that a monk should have..." Master Xianyuan sneered, "Then, Mr. Hasegawa, I want to ask you a question - what do you think a monk should have the self-awareness and sense of shame that a monk should have?"
"Concentrate on worshipping Buddha with a compassionate heart and don't interfere in worldly affairs." Hasegawa answered without hesitation.
"Heh." As Hasegawa finished speaking, Master Xianyuan sneered again, "Your answer is exactly the same as what I expected."
"At present, most people in the world are like you, thinking that the duty of monks is to concentrate on worshipping Buddha and not to interfere in anything other than worshipping Buddha."
At this time, Master Xianyuan slowly turned his head and asked Toyotomi Nobuhide beside him.
"Lord Toyotomi, would you allow me to talk to Lord Hasegawa about the true duties of a monk and why I want to join the Toyotomi Army?"
"Please go ahead." Toyotomi Nobuhide smiled and made a 'please' gesture to Master Xianyuan, "But be careful not to talk too long."
"I understand." Master Xianyuan nodded, then turned his gaze back to Hasegawa.
"Time is of the essence, so I'll keep it short."
"Mr. Hasegawa, let me tell you what the true duty of a monk is."
At this moment, Master Xianyuan's tone suddenly rose several degrees.
"The real duty of a monk is to make as many people as possible believe in Buddhism."
"This is what we monks should do."
"I have spent most of my life preaching."
"But in the end, I found that the power of just one person or one temple is too weak."
"If we can get the full support of the government, we will be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort when we fulfill our true duty as monks."
"However, the Edo Shogunate, which currently rules Japan, has no intention of allowing Buddhists to spread across the country. Not only is it unwilling to do so, it also uses various methods to suppress Buddhism."
"On the other hand, Lord Toyotomi is willing to support Buddhism and spread Buddhism after rebuilding the Toyotomi Empire."
"It is unlikely that the Edo Shogunate will change its mind and devote the whole country's strength to support Buddhism."
"So, I chose to stand with Lord Toyotomi. I chose to do my best to help the Toyotomi clan regain the throne of 'people of the world', so that people who worship Buddhism can one day in the future, with the help of the Toyotomi clan, spread all over the world."
"So, Mr. Hasegawa, do you understand? I have not lost the self-awareness and sense of shame that a monk should have. On the contrary, I am now fulfilling my duties as a monk more diligently than any other monk."
As soon as Master Xianyuan finished speaking, Hasegawa, who had already revealed an expression of "I can't stand it anymore", suddenly grabbed his hands on the railings of the cell and pressed his face against the gap between the railings.
"Since I became the chief of the Fire Thieves, I have heard all kinds of twisted arguments from many criminals who refused to repent after being arrested."
"But this is the first time I've heard such outrageous and crazy talk!"
"What crazy things were you talking about just now!"
"Let me ask you - for you, as long as you can spread Buddhists all over the world in the future, then even if this country falls into war and countless people are killed and injured, it doesn't matter?"
"Yes. That's right." Master Xianyuan nodded without hesitation. "The country is in chaos and countless people have died and been injured. These are just short-term pains."
"If we can achieve the great cause of spreading Buddhism , this little pain will not be worth mentioning at all."
Hasegawa had anticipated that Master Xianyuan would definitely come up with some twisted ideas.
But he didn't expect that Master Xianyuan's response would be so quick, without any hesitation or thought.
He also didn't expect that Master Xianyuan's logic could be so twisted... Hasegawa was so shocked that he stood there in a daze.
At this moment, Toyotomi Nobuhide, who had been listening silently, suddenly stretched out his right little finger and picked his ear.
"Master, it is a bit too much to ask Mr. Hasegawa to understand your ambitions and good intentions in a short time."
"Hmm." A hint of melancholy appeared on Master Xianyuan's face, and he sighed silently, "I have long been accustomed to the feeling that my ideals and aspirations are not understood by others."
"Okay, it's almost time. Let's go, Master, you and Mr. Hasegawa have talked long enough. It's time to go see my sister together."
"Yes, alright. Lord Toyotomi."
"We are leaving, Mr. Hasegawa." Toyotomi Nobuhide smiled elegantly and waved to Hasegawa, "I will come to talk to you next time when I have time."
After he finished speaking, Toyotomi Nobuhide put his hands behind his back, turned around and walked along the corridor they had just come from, in the direction they came from. Master Xianyuan followed closely behind Toyotomi Nobuhide.
"Wait! Come back!"
Hasegawa roared and shook the bars of the cell vigorously, shaking off a lot of dust.
The two Toyotomi men no longer paid any attention to Hasegawa and continued walking out of the cell on their own.
When the two of them reached a place where they could no longer hear Hasegawa's roar, Master Xianyuan lowered his voice and whispered to Toyotomi Nobuhide:
"Master Toyotomi, judging from Mr. Hasegawa's appearance... In my opinion, it will be difficult to subdue him..."
"Well... it's within my expectations." Toyotomi Nobuhide smiled. "After all, he is a retainer of the shogunate. He has a high status and reputation in the shogunate and among the people. He is far from being comparable to those ronin who have no place to live, no money and no fame."
"It will take a lot of time and effort to convince him to abandon the shogunate and join Toyotomi."
"I'm afraid that after spending a lot of effort and time, Mr. Hasegawa will still refuse to budge and swear to be loyal to the shogunate until death." Master Xianyuan said silently.
"If, in the end, I still can't convince Mr. Hasegawa..." Toyotomi Nobuhide's face slowly showed an intriguing color, "Then... it's really a pity. I can't let such a precious talent who is good at training soldiers become our companion."
After this brief conversation, Toyotomi Nobuhide and Sengen Shonin stopped talking.
The two walked quickly on the dim path in silence.
After crossing countless avenues and paths and turning countless corners, the two finally stopped.
They stopped in front .
This is a unique cell, mainly unique in two places:
1: The outside of this cell was heavily guarded. There were 8 musketeers holding flintlock rifles, standing solemnly outside the cell door, guarding the cell. After seeing Toyotomi Nobuhide and Sengen Shonin, these 8 musketeers immediately bowed to the two.
2: This cell is extremely luxurious.
The space is quite spacious and even if 6 people live in it , it will not feel crowded at all.
The floor of the cell was covered with tatami, and daily necessities such as bedding and toilets were placed in the corners of the cell. Everything in the cell was brand new, and the tatami on the floor even exuded the fragrance of straw.
Such a luxurious and spacious cell, but there is only one occupant in it.
A young girl was leaning against the wall, her eyes closed, and snoring faintly.
Looking at the girl in the cell, Toyotomi Nobuhide's eyes softened instantly.
"Xiaolin...long time no see..."
Toyotomi Nobuhide loosened his hands that had been behind his back, stretched them out in front of him as if he was going to caress the girl's cheek, and placed his ten fingers lightly on the cell bars that separated him from the girl.
"Last night, after the musketeers of the 16th Division successfully captured Miss Toyotomi alive, they immediately followed your orders and sent her to Koyasan without stopping."
Master Xianyuan at the side answered slowly and respectfully.
"After being captured , Miss Toyotomi continued to struggle and try to escape. In order to avoid any accidents, the 16th Division used the drug that you allowed to make people fall into a sweet sleep on Miss Toyotomi."
"According to the dosage used by Unit 16... Miss Toyotomi will probably not wake up naturally until the afternoon."
"Lord Toyotomi, do you want to forcefully wake Miss Toyotomi up now?"
"No, no." Toyotomi Nobuhide said quickly, "My lovely sister is sleeping soundly, why wake her up? I'm not in a hurry to talk to Xiaolin right now."
"Just let Xiaolin continue to sleep."
"Wait until she wakes up naturally."
After saying that, Toyotomi Nobuhide turned to the eight musketeers who were in charge of guarding Lin and said sternly:
"You continue to stay here. When the girl in the cell wakes up, notify me immediately."
"Yes!"*8
The guards responded in unison.
After giving these instructions to the guards, Toyotomi Nobuhide continued to look at Lin through the railings as if he was looking at a fine work of art.
"Lord Toyotomi," asked Xianyuan Shangren, "Do you want to open the cell..."
Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Toyotomi:
"No need. I can just stand outside the cell and look at her through the bars like this."
At this time, Toyotomi Nobuhide, who had been looking at Lin through the railing, looked a little softer.
"I haven't seen you for so many years... Xiaolin doesn't seem to have grown much taller. She's still that short."
He continued, half jokingly:
"I had a vague feeling that Xiaolin looked a lot like her mother before, and now it seems - it's true."
"Just now I almost thought I saw my mother getting younger."
"Ms. Toyotomi looks a lot like you." Master Xianyuan looked at Lin in the cell, then looked at Toyotomi Nobuhide beside him, "Especially the area around her eyebrows and eyes."
"After all, we are siblings from the same father and mother. People have often said that my sister and I look alike. But unfortunately, my sister and I only have our facial features in common." Toyotomi Nobuhide smiled and shrugged, "The rest, whether it's height or personality, there is no similarity at all."
After saying this, Toyotomi Nobuhide withdrew his hands from the railing and stood up straight.
"Let's go, Master, let's go back."
"Lord Toyotomi, are you going to leave now?" Xianyuan raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Will you not look at Miss Toyotomi for a while longer?"
"Xiao Lin is still sleeping now. It's pointless to just stare at her when she can't move. When she wakes up, we can meet her and talk in detail."
Toyotomi Nobuhide turned around without any hesitation, and even without looking back at Xiaolin, and walked out along the way he came.
After walking a few steps, I heard him suddenly ask Master Xianyuan:
"Oh, yes, Master. Is Xiaolin's sword in your possession now?"
"Yes. Miss Toyotomi's two swords are currently being temporarily stored at Sengenji Temple."
"Send Xiaolin's sword to me later."
"yes."
"Ah, and——"
Toyotomi Nobuhide didn't intend to give Master Xianyuan any chance to catch his breath, and immediately threw a new question to Master Xianyuan:
"Master, what time is it now?"
Master Xianyuan took out a pocket watch from his pocket:
"8:43."
"8:43? That still leaves some time until noon. Master, can you do me a favor?"
"Please go ahead."
"Today at noon, I plan to hold a banquet to celebrate the reunion of my sister and I." Toyotomi Nobuhide's mouth slowly raised an elegant arc, "Can you help me prepare it?"
"Another banquet?" Xianyuan, who had always been calm, showed a rare helpless look in his eyes. "Lord Toyotomi, you really like banquets... You can always hold banquets under various pretexts."
Toyotomi Nobuhide spread his hands:
"I like to have a meal with a bunch of people."
"Okay... I understand." Master Xianyuan put the pocket watch back into his arms, "I'll go get ready later. Fortunately, there is still an hour and a half before noon, so there is still plenty of time to prepare..."
"Excuse me, Master."
"Who should we invite to the lunch party?"
"I would like to ask all the officials who are currently staying in Koyasan to do so."
As soon as he finished speaking, Toyotomi Nobuhide seemed to remember something, and after a pause, he continued:
“…Invite Prajna to the banquet as well.”
"Prajna?" Master Xianyuan frowned slightly.
"Hannya played a great role in last night's 'Osaka Spring Campaign and Suppression of Ogata'." Toyotomi Nobuhide said, "It was he who discovered that Ogata Ittosai was currently in Osaka."
"I decided to take advantage of the banquet held at noon today to reward him generously."
"Ah, and - by the way, let's invite Kikutaro from Shiranui to the party as well."
"I don't know Huo Li?" Master Xianyuan frowned even more tightly, "Why is that? In terms of status and achievements, they should not be qualified to attend the banquet, right?"
"Those idiots in Shiranui seem to be quite critical of me recently."
Toyotomi Nobuhide narrowed his eyes slightly.
"They feel that I have hidden them and not given them the opportunity to make meritorious contributions."
"They were clamoring a few days ago, saying that they also wanted to participate in the 'Osaka Spring Campaign and the Suppression of the Osaka Battle', and asked me to give them a chance to personally avenge their Shiranui."
"Oh, those idiots, they talk so nicely, but if they really have to deal with Ogata Ittosai, I'm afraid they will run faster than anyone else."
"However, even though they are just a bunch of idiots, they are still part of our Toyotomi Army. We cannot ignore them too much."
"Let's just appease them at the banquet at noon today."
"Okay... I understand." Master Xianyuan nodded and silently wrote down all of Toyotomi Nobuhide's instructions.
"Master, I'll leave it to you today at noon."
"…Lord Toyotomi."
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
"It's a rare opportunity to come to the prison today... Do you want to go see Xuan Zheng?"
"...No need." Toyotomi Nobuhide said coldly, "What's the point of meeting him? If I meet him now, he will just nag and make me feel uneasy."
"Wait until he calms down, then go see him."
"……yes."
…
…
The cell where Hasegawa was imprisoned——
Hasegawa paced in the cell with an angry look on his face.
——That Toyotomi Nobuhide...is not a good guy after all...!
From what Master Xianyuan said just now, Hasegawa has seen clearly - since he can be a companion to such a person with twisted thoughts, Toyotomi Nobuhide must not be a normal person!
"I really can't stay in a place like this for long..."
Hasegawa, whose feet were sore from pacing in the cell, sat down on the ground and scratched his hair, which had become pale due to his age.
"We have to think of a way to escape from here..."
Hasegawa turned his head and looked around the cell.
Although Hasegawa had seen the interior of this cell thousands of times in these days.
But even so, after once again taking a closer look at the internal structure of the cell where he was currently staying, Hasegawa couldn't help but twitch his lips in shock.
—Escape from here... that sounds good... but how can we escape... there is not even a window...
"well……"
Hasegawa sighed and dropped his head to his chest.
“Woo… woo…”
As soon as Hasegawa's head drooped, he suddenly heard a few low sobs.
Hasegawa raised his eyebrows slightly and turned to look in the direction of the sound.
The sobbing sounds came from the cell where a new resident had just arrived.
Isiseshi covered her face and cried.
Her husband, Yi Se Ru Shui, and her father-in-law, Yi Se Zhi Zhou, tried to comfort her with sad looks.
"Oh, sorry, Mr. Hasegawa, did I disturb you?" After noticing that Hasegawa was looking at them, Isshiki Naoshu smiled apologetically at Hasegawa, "Please forgive me, she has been sent to a new place, and my daughter-in-law is very scared now..."
"It's okay... I don't care."
"Thank you...sorry for bothering you." After smiling a few more times at Hasegawa, Isshiki Naoshu concentrated his attention and continued to comfort his daughter-in-law together with his son.
Hasegawa pursed his lips and looked at Isshiki who was still crying, as well as Rusui and Naosuke, who were also in a very bad state of mind but were trying to cheer up Isshiki.
——…What am I doing? !
Hasegawa raised his hand and slapped himself hard on the face.
——The innocent people who are being held captive by Toyotomi Nobuhide...are not just me...!
A determined light slowly bloomed in Hasegawa's eyes.
He lowered his head and looked at his wrists.
——This is the first time I feel so grateful that I opened a place that teaches prisoners a skill...
Hasegawa grasped his left wrist with his right hand.
Kara.
The sound of bones dislocating could only be heard by Hasegawa himself.