I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 913: The Blond Valkyrie! [6300]

"They were able to acquire steam warships and hire a large number of Slavs for their own use. I guess the French Party must have a lot of connections in Europe."

In response to Qing Deng's question, Miss Jin was silent for a while, then shook her head:
"I'm sorry, we haven't received any relevant information yet."

"But, An Yi, I agree with you."

"We have purchased advanced steam warships and formed a 'Slavic Corps' with a size of more than 2,000 people. Without the assistance of capable people from Europe, it would be impossible to accomplish these two things."

"According to my personal guess... the Fazhu Party is very likely cooperating with a European arms dealer."

"If that's the case, then everything can be explained."

After hearing this, Qing Deng couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and muttered:

"Arms dealer..."

Somehow, when she heard the word "arms dealer", the image of Elodie's biological father, Mael d'Orleans, emerged from her mind.

The reason why I suddenly thought of this person was because Elodie said that his father started out in the arms business!

Qing Deng clearly remembered that Elodie had commented on Maher: If he had gone across the ocean to Japan simply to get his daughter back, that was not something Maher would do.

Thinking of this, Qing Deng frowned subconsciously and thought to himself:

——It shouldn’t be such a coincidence…

Just as his thoughts were still wandering, Ms. Jin spoke again, bringing his thoughts back to reality:
"An Yi, this is all the information we, the Great Salt Party, know right now."

"If we get new information someday, I'll have Tojo Shintaro tell you."

Qing Deng sat up straight and responded solemnly:
"Ms. Jin, thank you for your generous help. It really helped a lot. I will never forget it."

Miss Jin smiled:
"You're welcome. We are just getting what we need."

At this critical moment, Qing Deng would naturally be happy to see a powerful helper coming to his aid.

Qing Deng had no doubt about the intelligence gathering capabilities of the Great Salt Party.

The information Miss Jin just provided basically matched the information he currently had.

Even before this, there were reports that there were a large number of Westerners in the Choshu army that marched straight to Kanto.

It seems that these Westerners should be the "Slavic Legion" that Miss Jin just mentioned.

After Qing Deng pondered for a moment, he said faintly:

"The Choshu clan and the Hoshin party are in cahoots with each other... what a troublesome combination."

"But...if you think about it from another perspective, this might be a precious opportunity to solve the problem once and for all."

The content of these words instantly attracted the attention of Miss Sumire and Tojo Shintaro.

Facing the doubtful looks from the two, Qing Deng explained calmly:

"The Special Forces are the last elite troops of Choshu."

"As long as the special forces are eliminated, Choshu will be completely reduced to a sick tiger without claws and fangs."

"Similarly, the 'Slavic Legion' should be... no, it must be the trump card of the French Punishment Party!"

"No matter how well-connected and powerful the Fazhu Party is, it is ultimately just an association."

"Even if there are arms dealers or other forces supporting us, the money needed to support a mercenary corps of 2,000 people is definitely an astronomical figure."

"Such a large sum of money is definitely not something an association can easily afford."

"I dare to conclude that the 'Slavic Legion' is a valuable force that the French Party has finally established by selling everything they have and spending countless time and energy."

"In fact, the reason why they were able to successfully launch a surprise attack on Nobi was purely because the timing of their attack was so good, and they cleverly took advantage of the window of opportunity when we were marching west to attack the two countries of Chang and Zhou."

"In order to conquer Choshu, we mobilized troops from the Gyeonggi and Nobi domains, leaving the two regions with very little manpower, which allowed them to take advantage of the situation."

"This golden opportunity only comes once!"

"For Choshu, this is a surefire way to bring the domain back to life."

"For the Hoshin Party, this is the precious opportunity they have been waiting for to completely destroy the shogunate."

"Therefore, from the moment they landed on the Nobi coast, Choshu and the Hoshin Party had no way out."

"Either you win or you die!"

"In this battle where victory is a must and defeat is not allowed, and if we miss the opportunity, we don't know how long we will have to wait. The Fazhu Party has no reason not to send out all its forces!"

"In other words, in the next battle, I will most likely encounter important cadres of the Law-Slaying Party such as Otakemaru and Shuten Douji, and even their leader, Yamata-no-Orochi!"

"Therefore, this battle is not only a decisive battle between me and Changzhou, but also a decisive battle between me and the Fazhu Party!"

"With this one battle, we can defeat Choshu and the Fazhu Party in one fell swoop!"

Listening to Qing Deng's bold words, Miss Jin blinked in shock, then smiled faintly:

"You want to defeat Choshu and the Fazhu Party in one fell swoop... you have a big appetite."

"But, hearing you say that, it doesn't seem impossible."

"Let's not talk about what happened in Changzhou for now."

"If you succeed in destroying the 'Slavic Legion' and successfully kill Yamata no Orochi, Otakemaru, Shuten-doji and others, then the Law-Extermination Party will indeed be completely wiped out."

"Haha, my heart beats faster when I think of this."

At this point, she held her head high, stared straight at Qing Deng, and changed her tone to one that was half teasing and half serious:

"In that case, An Yi, I wish you a successful start! You must wipe out the Fazhu Party in one fell swoop!"

Qing Deng smiled and said:

"I will do my best!"

……

……

Hachioji area——

"Whoosh...! Whoosh...! Whoosh...!"

The horse galloped, breathing heavily, sweat splashed everywhere, and mud and dust flew.

Hijikata Toshizo held high the flag with the word "sincerity" in one hand and tightly grasped the reins with the other. No matter how strong the headwind was, he remained unmoved.

Suddenly, without turning his head, he shouted:

"Tetsunosuke, hold on a little longer! We'll be there soon!"

Ichimura Tetsunosuke, who was half a body length behind him, responded loudly:
"Mr. Hijikata, you worry too much! I'm fine! I can even ride all the way to Matsumae Domain in one go!"

Matsumae Domain, the hometown of Nagakura Shinpachi, is located at the southernmost tip of Ezo (Hokkaido) and was the de facto northernmost part of Japan during the Edo period.

Hijikata Toshizo glanced at Ichimura Tetsunosuke who was standing behind him.

Looking at the other person's slightly trembling back and legs, he couldn't help but feel secretly amused.

However, he did not expose the other party. He silently withdrew his gaze and focused on the road ahead again.

After leaving Otsu, Hijikata Toshizo rode non-stop - in the physical sense - straight to the Hachioji area.

When one horse got tired, they would switch to another one. Since they had eight horses in total, they didn't have to worry about horsepower.

Although Hijikata Toshizo's physical fitness cannot be compared with Qing Deng's, it is still far superior to that of ordinary people.

In his eyes, this little bit of hard work is not worth mentioning.

On the other hand, Ichimura Tetsunosuke is not known for his physical strength or martial arts, so he is not so at ease.

However, he was worthy of being the good boy that Hijikata Toshizo spotted at first sight and promoted to his junior high school.

No matter how hard or tiring the work was, he never complained and always persevered.

After three days and three nights of running, Hijikata Toshizo felt that the surrounding scenery was becoming more and more familiar.

Hachioji is adjacent to Tama.

To be frank, these two places are basically one and the same!

As a farmer's son from Tama, Hijikata Toshizo has been to Hachioji many times since he was a child. This place is basically half of his hometown.

Therefore, looking at the increasingly familiar scenery around him, he concluded in his heart: they will soon arrive at Hachioji!
The master and servant trudged for a long distance, one after the other, and entered an unknown forest... Suddenly, something strange happened!
Ta, da, da, da, da, da, da!

Suddenly, there was a sound of dense footsteps in front of them.

A group of militiamen armed with muskets - about a dozen of them - emerged from the bushes, stood on the road, and blocked the way for the two men in an instant.

This group of militiamen were not running around in disorder.

After occupying the road, they quickly formed into two horizontal rows, with the first row squatting and the second row standing up.

Then, they all raised the muskets in their hands, with the black muzzles pointing directly at Hijikata Toshizo and Ichimura Tetsunosuke!
Upon seeing this, Hijikata Toshizo hurriedly tightened the reins in his hands and stopped the horse under his crotch, and Ichimura Tetsunosuke followed suit.

At the same time when the master and servant reined in their horses, someone from the militia loudly asked:

"Who are you?!"

Faced with this sudden change and the terrifying gun muzzle so close to him, Hijikata Toshizo was not afraid at all and remained very calm.

He slowly raised the Honesty flag in his hand and responded loudly:

"I am the vice-captain of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizo!"

"I have been ordered by the Army President General Tachibana to come and assist Hachioji with his thousand men!"

"May I ask if you are all soldiers of the same mind?"

Although he used the sentence structure of a question, his tone was affirmative.

In fact, after this group of militia appeared, Hijikata Toshizo saw through their true identities at a glance.

Upon hearing that the visitor was the famous "Deputy Captain of Ghosts", there was a great commotion among the militia.

They looked at each other, you looked at me, I looked at you, and they all saw expressions of surprise and surprise on each other's faces.

At this time, someone exclaimed:
"Hmm? Are you Hijikata?"

Hijikata Toshizo looked in the direction of the voice, staring straight at the other person's face, and after thinking for a moment, he showed a look of sudden enlightenment:
"Are you Niu Sanlang?"

"That's right! It's me! I didn't expect you would still remember me!"

"Of course I remember! After all, you and I are both participants in the 'Miscellaneous Dormitory'!"

Scattered fish sleeping - one of Hijikata Toshizo's favorite activities in the past.

Simply put, this is an activity that is widely practiced in rural Japan, where all the young and old in the village squeeze into the same room and sweat it out.

The young man, whom Hijikata Toshizo called "Ushizaburo", put down his rifle and called on his companions to lower their guard.

"Quick! Put down your cannons! Don't hurt your own people! The enemy is definitely the Shinsengumi's vice-captain Hijikata Toshizo!"

Seeing the huge flag with the word "誠" in Hijikata Toshizo's hand, and seeing that it was personally verified by Ushi Saburo, the militiamen had no doubts and breathed a sigh of relief, put down their guns, and lifted their alert.

In this way, the slightly tense atmosphere completely disappeared.

Niu Saburo took two steps at a time and ran to Hijikata Toshizo with a sad face:
"Satoshi...ah, no, Vice Captain! You're finally here! We've been waiting for General Tachibana's reinforcements!"

Hijikata Toshizo said calmly:
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. Who is currently in charge of commanding the Thousands of People? Take me to see him!"

The war was urgent, and Hijikata Toshizo was chatting with an old friend without any hesitation and got straight to the point.

Although Niu Sanlang was a farmer who could not read a single word, he still knew what he should and should not do.

He nodded vigorously, then, at Hijikata Toshizo's instructions, climbed onto the horse, sat behind him and led the way.

As for the other militiamen, they will stay here and continue to guard the area.

The horse, which had just stopped for a short while, started moving again with all four hooves and galloped away.

"Deputy Captain! After we get out of this forest and run a short distance, we will find our large army of thousands of people with one heart!"

At this point, he paused, and then changed his tone to something meaningful:
"Deputy Captain, you may not believe it when I tell you this!"

"The person currently in charge of commanding our thousand men is neither an elder in the village nor a high-ranking official sent by the shogunate."

"It's the blonde girl who came to check the accounts a while ago!" Upon hearing this, Hijikata Toshizo was stunned on the spot.

"Blondie?"

He tilted his head slightly and asked back, as if he wanted to confirm whether he had heard it wrong.

Niu Sanlang nodded vigorously:
"That's right! It's her!"

"This girl is really amazing! She is worthy of being General Tachibana's apprentice!"

"Thanks to her, we were able to stabilize the morale of the troops!"

……

……

A few days ago——

Hachioji, a certain house——

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The monotonous sound of plucking beads dominated the entire room.

Elodie bent over her desk, working attentively. On the table were the account books of Qianren Tongxin over the years. She manipulated the abacus in one hand and wrote with a brush in the other.

After working continuously for an unknown period of time, she gradually felt tired and her concentration became obviously inattentive.

Therefore, she silently put down the brush in her hand, then stretched her body vigorously, and then the crisp sounds of "crack" and "crack" of her bones stretching were heard.

While relaxing her body, she turned her head to look at the sky outside the window - the bright sunshine spread across the earth like silk.

——It’s time to take a break anyway, so why not go for a walk outside?

Just like that, she slowly stood up, walked towards the entrance with light lotus steps with great interest.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw a tall figure - Shimada Kai, who was waiting outside the door, stood up straight and said respectfully:

"Director, have you finished your work?"

Elodie smiled bitterly and shook her head:

"Not yet. How can we check the account books accumulated by thousands of people over the years so quickly?"

"It will take at least another seven days to complete the task."

"I'm a little tired, so I came out for a walk and relax."

Shimada Kui nodded:

"I see. Then, Director, please allow me to come with you!"

Elodie smiled helplessly:
"Well, this is your job after all, let's go."

She said this as she was about to take a step.

Suddenly, she seemed to remember something, turned her head and looked at Shimada Kai's left arm:

"By the way, is your arm okay?"

Shimada Kai chuckled and stretched out his left arm in front of Elodie.

"It's out of the way now!"

Seeing that the other party didn't seem to be showing off, Elodie smiled with relief:

"That's good! I'm so sorry to have you do such a boring mission. With your ability, you should have made great achievements on the battlefield."

Hearing Elodie say this, Shimada Kai hurriedly said:
"Please don't say that! 'Protecting the Chief' is such an important task! I feel honored to be able to take full charge of this task!"

As they talked, they walked towards the fields not far away.

Judging from the actual results, Shimada Kai is indeed an excellent bodyguard. He did not disappoint Qing Deng's expectations and he carried out his duty of "protecting Elodie" to the extreme.

When Elodie was working in the room, he waited outside the door the whole time and strictly prohibited any unauthorized persons from entering.

He always stayed by Elodie's side when she went for a walk or went somewhere else.

No matter when or where he is, his left hand always presses the sheath of the sword at his waist, and his right hand is slightly raised - an expert can tell at a glance that this person is always in a "battle-ready state"! Once the situation is not right, he will immediately draw his sword to fight!

Seeing such a sharp-tongued person, anyone with a little bit of insight would tactfully walk away and would never dare to come forward to cause trouble for Elodie.

In fact, Elodie was not treated unfairly after coming to Hachioji.

Most people just looked at her with curiosity.

To put it bluntly, Hachioji is a pure rural place, and most of its residents are country folk who have never left the village.

Therefore, naturally, they had never seen Westerners.

They were full of curiosity about Elodie, who had high eyebrows, deep eyes, blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Look, her hair is yellow."

"It's not yellow, it's gold."

"Her skin is so white, so white that it almost reflects light."

"She has a really strange appearance, with a very straight nose."

"She's not tall, but her breasts and butt are quite plump."

When the villagers of Hachioji first met Elodie, similar discussions were heard all over the place.

Of course, there were many people who cast malicious glances at her.

Even if they have never seen a Westerner, it does not prevent them from repeatedly hearing negative news about Westerners.

Although they are not quite clear about what the "Black Ship Incident", "dumping of goods" and "destruction of the small peasant economy" are, they have a simple understanding: all the chaos in recent years are ultimately the fault of Westerners!
However, as of today, Elodie has not encountered any accidents.

The actions taken by those who obviously had ill will towards Elodie were limited to "glaring" and "saying bad things".

Blow up the auditor's helicopter with a rocket... Ah, no! Such a stupid thing as "assassinating the auditor" never happened.

This may be because the protection provided by Shimada Kai and others was quite adequate.

All in all, for Elodie, the auditing work these days went very smoothly. Not only did she not feel bored or panic, but she also felt vaguely comfortable.

The pastoral scenery of Hachioji aroused her endless admiration.

Whenever she was tired or had free time, she would always go for a walk nearby and enjoy the scenery with interest.

After chatting with Shimada Kai for a while, she headed straight out of the village.

Shimada Kai followed closely beside him, performing his duties as a "bodyguard" meticulously.

Along the way, they met many villagers.

Some people glanced at her and walked away silently.

Some people also greeted very enthusiastically:

"Good morning, Director!"

"Master, are you going for a walk?"

"Master Director, you have worked hard!"

Elodie's friendly and cheerful demeanor, as well as her gentle attitude without any pretense, have won the favor of many villagers.

Although she felt embarrassed by the prestigious title of "Director", whenever a villager greeted her, she would respond positively and with equal enthusiasm.

Soon after leaving the village, a vast flat field came into Elodie's sight.

The interconnected ridges cut the huge fields into neat pieces.

It is the slack season for farming now, so no one is doing farm work here. Apart from the sound of the wind, there is no other sound, which makes the place seem quite lonely.

The Hachioji Thousand People United is a militia that is half soldier and half farmer. They farm during the busy farming season and train during the slack farming season.

Therefore, all male villagers who have reached adulthood are busy with military training at this time.

In a vacant lot not far from this field, there was a bustling scene—

"Come on!"

"Quick! Run!"

"Stop dawdling!"

The villagers are conducting various military trainings.

They were either exercising or practicing formations, it was very intense.

Even Elodie, who was far away in the field, could faintly hear the sounds of their training.

Just as Elodie was standing with her hands behind her back, admiring the mountain scenery in the distance with great interest...she suddenly saw a "small green dot" appear from the horizon in front of her, and then move straight towards her.

She blinked and looked carefully - this "little green dot" was actually a samurai wearing a light green feather robe!
He rode a fast horse, galloping over in a dusty state.

Wearing a light green haori - this dress feature couldn't be more obvious.

Looking at the Shinsengumi soldier who suddenly appeared, Elodie and Shimada Kai were stunned.

This man had good eyesight and spotted Elodie from a distance. He shouted excitedly:
"Director! Are you the director?!"

Upon hearing this, Elodie perked up and responded loudly:

"That's right! I am Elodie de Angoulême, the head of the Shinsengumi!"

As she finished speaking, the man who was tightening the reins in his hands stopped right in front of her:

"Director, come with me! Something big has happened!"

……

……

This soldier was the messenger sent by Qingdeng to inform the thousands of people to "make preparations for defense immediately."

The Choshu army launched a surprise attack on Nobi, and Kanto was in danger - in a blink of an eye, the news spread throughout the village!
Suddenly, the air in the village was filled with tension and panic, and there was chaos everywhere.

"Nobi was lost? This, this, this is unacceptable!"

"Hurry up and prepare for battle! The Choshu Army is coming soon!"

"Prepare for war? Can we defeat the Choshu Army?"

"It's not a question of whether we can win or not, but we must fight!"

……

Disputes, quarrels, conflicts...Looking at the chaos in front of her, Elodie frowned unconsciously.

"Please be quiet!"

she says.

No one at the scene paid any attention to her and continued to argue with each other.

"Please be quiet!"

she repeated.

The quarrels and conflicts remain.

"Quiet, everyone!"

At this moment, Elodi lost her patience. She shouted angrily, drew the sword from her waist, and chopped at the big tree beside her.

Boom!
The huge sound of chopping instantly suppressed all the sounds at the scene. No one spoke anymore. They all turned their heads and looked at Elodie in surprise.

"Really...don't let me be so rough..."

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PS: Arranging Elodie and Shimada Kai to go to Hachioji is to allow them to participate in this battle reasonably.