I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

"Hurry up! Here! There seems to be a samurai fighting!"

"Stop it all! Obediently just grab it!"

At this moment, loud noises and footsteps suddenly sounded outside the alley.

Ogata and the "Men in Black with Two Swords" both looked towards the entrance of the alley.

I saw the official messengers with various types of traps running towards them at a fast pace.

Ogata thought to himself:

Is the official here?

It's rather strange that there is such a big commotion on their side, if it doesn't attract officials.

Looking at the officials rushing towards this side, the "man in black with double knives" took the lead in retracting the two knives in his hands to his back, and then jumped onto the roof next to him in two steps, before quickly disappearing.

Seeing that the "man in black with two swords" took the initiative to put away his swords and leave the battle, Ogata also put away his two sabers.

Ogata did not go after the "man in black with two swords".

Compared with chasing the "man in black with two swords", there is an obviously more urgent matter waiting for Ogata to do.

"It feels like there are more and more problems"

After such a soft sigh, Ogata held the saber at his waist and ran towards another alley

He ignored the shouts of the officials behind him.

Raised his speed to the highest speed.

While getting rid of the pursuit of the officials, he rushed towards Yoshihara.

Shuntaro doesn't want to get in touch with officials.

If you do something to the officials of the shogunate, it will cause a lot of trouble.

So after seeing the official messenger appear, Shuntaro took the initiative to withdraw his knife and fled that alley.

Shuntaro turned his head and looked in the direction of the alley where he fought the "White Fox" just after fleeing until he could no longer see the official servant.

His eyes were full of complexity.

"Master Shuntaro!"

A series of noisy footsteps appeared from Shuntaro's side.

Shun Taro followed the reputation, it was Zhou Taro and the others.

"Master Shuntaro! Finally found you! How is it? Did you find that traitor?" Zhou Taro asked.

"I found it." Shuntaro said softly, "But that traitor has other accomplices, so let him escape, although I have asked the rest of my subordinates to chase, but I don't know if they can be chased. "

"Anyone else?!" Zhou Tailang gritted his teeth, "What a tough guy!"

"In short," Shuntaro said lightly, "Let's make preparations for the possible failure of tonight's mission."

"Master Shuntaro! Master Shuntaro!"

Before Shuntaro finished speaking, a sharp shout suddenly sounded from behind Shuntaro, interrupting Shuntaro's words.

Shuntaro turned his head and saw a panting, sweating ninja running towards him.

Shuntaro frowned. In his memory, there was no such person among his subordinates tonight.

"Master Shuntaro! Haha finally found you!"

"Who are you? I don't remember that I have you among my subordinates tonight."

"Master Shuntaro! I just came out of the village! I'm here to report to you!"

The ninja's face was full of panic.

"Master Shuntaro! Please go back to the village now!"

"Going back to the village now? What happened?" Shuntaro-sama frowned even deeper.

"Yan, Lord Yanmo is dead!"

Edo, Yoshiwara

"Ha" Keemon yawned big.

A young official who was walking behind Keeimon smiled and said, "Master Keeimon, you seem to be sleepy, why don't you take a break?"

"Yeah, I caught a thief this morning. After several hours of interrogation from day to night, that guy finally admitted that he was also responsible for the previous thefts. He was exhausted."

After saying that, Keemon yawned again.

Tonight, Keemon is on the night shift.

It was already early morning, and the gate of Yoshihara had been closed long ago, leaving only the small sleeve door next to the gate for people to enter and exit.

At this time, few people would enter or exit through the sleeve door.

All the playgirl houses are closed.

There are no more tourists on the street.

Tourists who choose to stay overnight in Yoshiwara begin to immerse themselves in the gentle countryside.

The only people who would be walking around the streets of Yoshiwara at this point in time were the officials of the Shirobei Clubhouse.

The Shirobei clubhouse, which shoulders the important task of governing and protecting Yoshihara, will never close its doors for rest no matter what time of day it is.

The officials who were on duty tonight, carrying lanterns with the word "Clubhouse" printed on them, patrolled the streets of Yoshiwara and stood guard at various posts.

Keeimon, who happened to be on the night shift tonight, led four subordinates to carry out a night patrol on a certain street on the east side of Yoshihara.

The best activity to pass the time in this boring, dreary patrol duty is chitchat.

"Hey, have you heard? The shogunate seems to have sent more troops to Ezo." An official said casually.

"Another increase in troops?" Qingweimen answered, "How much more?"

"It seems that 500 troops from the Aizu Clan have been added. There should be 5000 troops gathered in Ezo Tina now."

"5000 troops, tsk tsk tsk, a veritable army. How many years has the shogunate not assembled such a large-scale army?"

"Heh." A certain official sneered, "I heard from a certain samurai friend of mine that the shogunate's finances are quite tight now because of the heavy troops gathered in Ezo."

"The shogunate is also in decline now," the official said, "200 years ago, when the Toyotomi family was in a decisive battle, the shogunate could mobilize nearly 20 troops, but now it is only gathering 5000 troops in Ezo. It’s going to strain the finances.”

"I've been hearing news about Ezo Land recently. I heard that the country of Lucia has frequently sent expeditions to Ezo Land during this time."

"That's right, the shogunate gathered heavy troops in Ezo just to guard against Lucia."

"Speaking of the country of Lucia." Qingweimen, who had been listening quietly just now, now had a faint look of memory on his face, and said, "Have you ever heard of Lin Ziping?"

"Lin Ziping? I've never heard of it."

"Is it a samurai?"

"Lin Ziping, I've heard this name before, it's that strange man, right?"

"That's right." Qingweimen nodded, "It's that strange person Lin Ziping."

"The strange man Keemon-sama, how is this man so strange? Tell us about it."

Strange people and strange things, most people like to hear.

The few officials who didn't know who Lin Ziping was, all cast curious glances at Qingweimen.

"I don't know the specific story about Lin Ziping. I just heard about this person's deeds from a tourist who came to Yoshiwara before."

Keeimon cleared his throat, and continued:

"I heard that Lin Ziping behaved very strangely."

"Don't read the good Four Books and Five Classics, but read some messy books."

"It's fine to read some messy books. He is not honest and peaceful. He always writes to the shogunate and puts forward some weird suggestions."

"It's like opening the sea ban."

"Reorganize the army."

"Ask the shogunate to develop Ezo land."

"Use force to stop Lucia's invasion of the Ezo land."

"Using force to stop Lucia's invasion of Ezo, I understand and agree with it." An official said, "But what does it mean to open the sea ban and develop Ezo? Is there any benefit to these two? "

"That's right, in the icy and snowy land of Ezo, there are not even a few pieces of arable land suitable for farming. What is there to develop?"

"That's why you say that Hayashi Tzu-hei is a strange person." Qingweimen laughed, "Because he always said some strange things and did some strange things, so he is called a strange person?"

Before Keeimon could finish his sentence, he was cut off by the astonishment welling up in his heart.

This involuntarily made Keemon feel a strong sense of astonishment that his body was falling, and it also made Keemon stop unconsciously.

Keemon saw the light.

A reddish orange light came from afar.

And this beautiful light is getting brighter at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It was obviously a very beautiful color, but Keemon felt his hair stand on end, and a coolness rose from the soles of his feet and flooded his whole body.

Without any hesitation, Keemon's body moved before his brain.

He lifted the hakama on his lower body, and ran towards the place where the light came out.

The 4 subordinates who were following Keemon also had the same reaction as Keemon.

After seeing this ray of light, they were stunned at first, and when they noticed that Keemon raised his lower body and began to run wildly, the four of them who finally came back to their senses hurriedly followed behind.

As the light gradually approached, Keemon gradually heard screams and screams.

I have spent most of my life in Yoshiwara, and Keeimon has long been familiar with the layout of Yoshihara.

After taking shortcuts one after another, Keimon finally saw the true face of this ray of light.

As Keemon had guessed, it was flames.

Red and orange flames enveloped a dilapidated low house with a height of two stories.

The flames have already climbed to other surrounding houses at an extremely fast speed along the logs.Burning logs collapsed and fell.

The flames devoured everything that could catch fire, spewing out a lot of sparks, and the scorched wind carried a little bit of sparks and blew them onto Keemon's face.

Mars pricked the skin, thick smoke irritated the eyes and nose, and just taking a breath, a burning pain began to appear in the throat.

Looking at the raging flames in front of him, Keemon's face turned pale instantly.

This is the residential area of ​​Yoshiwara,

It is early morning.

At this point in time, almost all the residents in the residential area were still asleep, so many people didn't realize that the place was on fire.

Only a few people who lived near the burning house were awakened by the smoke, saw the flames and screamed.

Although Keemon was also taken aback by the flames, fear and shock took over his body for a split second, and Keemon immediately regained control of his body.

Keeimon turned around and quickly issued one order after another to the four subordinates behind him.

"Listen!"

"Go back to the Shirobei clubhouse and wake up Shirobei-sama!"

"Go outside Yoshiwara and call all the town firefighters you can call!"

"Go to various places in Yoshihara, and call on all the colleagues who are currently patrolling to come to me for support!"

"You and I evacuate the nearby residents together!"

Keeimon methodically issued one order after another.

After Keimon gave all the orders in an orderly manner, the four people responded in unison, and then began to follow the orders that Keemon had given just now.

When Qingweimen and his subordinates who he ordered him to stay and assist the evacuation of the nearby residents separated into two groups, he couldn't help turning his head to look at the flames that were spreading faster and faster.

damn it!

Keimon couldn't help cursing angrily in his heart.

It is now October, which happens to be the time when the sky is dry and things are dry.