I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

There was no furniture in it, and even without stepping into the house, Ogata could feel that the house was very damp, and the air was filled with an unpleasant, pungent musty smell.

In the empty room, a person sat cross-legged on the ground.

Is an old man.

He is about 50 years old, with black and white hair and beard.

He shaved his head, but because he hadn't taken care of it for a long time, a little hair had grown on the top of his head.

Yuedai head is so troublesome, the top of the head must be shaved every once in a while, otherwise hair will grow on the top of the head, which will make the already ugly hairstyle even uglier.

Except for the hair growing on the top of the head, the sideburns that don't need to be shaved and the bun on the top of the head are now messy, and Ogata can see a lot of dandruff on his hair from a long distance away.

His lips and chin were covered with a thick beard not so common in this day and age.

In the Edo period, beards were not very popular among the samurai class or the civilian class.

Therefore, the probability of meeting a samurai or civilian with a thick beard on the street is not very high. The most common ones are all kinds of "white-faced and beardless" samurai or civilians.

An old man with a bushy beard, which is rare in this era, is as messy as his hair.

Although the light in the room is rather dim, Ogata can still clearly see that the old man's complexion is darker, which means that he has been associated with the sun for a long time.

Moreover, Ogata also found that this person's body was unexpectedly strong.

Even wearing thick clothes, Ogata could feel that this person's body was strong, not that kind of frail figure.

At this time, he was sitting cross-legged on the ground, as if in a daze.

After the curtains were drawn, he noticed the movement for the first time, and then turned his head to look at the window.

After finding Ogata and Atachi who were looking into the house along the window, the old man was taken aback for a moment, then hurriedly stood up, and then quickly rushed to the edge of the window, facing Ogata and the others.

"Kazuto?" The old man looked at Ogata and Atachi's Kazuto-style faces in surprise, "Are you also captured as spies? Ah, it seems not."

After taking a look at Ogata's untied hands and the lack of escorts around him, the old man asked himself this question.

"Who are you?" The old man asked a new question like a cannonball, "Why are you both looking at me outside the cell, but I can only look at you inside the cell? Hey ! It's so unfair!"

The second half of the old man's sentence was to the two guards who were in charge of guarding him.

The old man said this sentence in Japanese, so the two guards did not understand what the old man was saying.

But after the old man's voice fell, the two guards showed a wry smile, then turned their heads and said something to Ogata and A-cho next to them.

After the two guards finished speaking, the "guide boy" immediately translated for Ogata and the others:

"They said that this man is obviously very old, but he is very lively."

The "guide leading the way" hesitated for a while, and then spit out the word "lively" with a troubled expression on his face.

"So the two of them were almost annoyed to death by this old man's quarrel, and they finally calmed down for a while just now."

I feel like a person with a strong personality.

After complaining silently in his heart, Ogata turned his head and looked at the old man again.

"It's the first time we've met, Mashima Goro." Ogata said, "Because of some reasons, Zai and Ueko are now guests of this Red Moon Fortress."

"This is Uchiko Mashimacho."

"Gui'an." At this time, Ah Ding also saluted the old man, "Just call me Ah Ding."

"Guest?" A look of astonishment appeared in the old man's eyes.

After looking up and down at Ogata and Atachi several times with astonished eyes, he cleared his throat and said seriously:

"I'm meeting you for the first time, my name is Lin Ziping." The old man introduced himself, "I'm a scholar, although I prefer to be called Mr. Lin, but if you find it troublesome, you can just call me Lin. "

"Scholar?" Ogata raised his eyebrows.

Lin Ziping, the old man, nodded heavily.

"Have you ever heard my name? I remember that I seem to have the foresight to be called the North Gate by some people."

Ogata and A-Machi shook their heads in tacit understanding at the same time.

Ogata never paid attention to the academia of this era.

Let alone A-Machi.

As a scumbag who doesn't even know a few Chinese characters, Ah Ding has no interest in academia.

"It's fine if you haven't heard of it, anyway, it's just some boring name."

Lin Ziping didn't seem to feel sad at all that Ogata and Ah-Ming didn't hear his name.

"In order to study academically, I came to Ezo for a new investigation."

"Just a few days ago, I arrived nearby to study the surrounding terrain and landforms."

"Then he was caught by the people from the Red Moon Fortress."

"They took me here forcibly on the grounds that they suspected that I was a spy, and kept me locked up like this."

At this time, the "guide boy" on the side added:

"When we found him, he was squatting on a hill, recording the surrounding terrain."

"After searching behind him, I found that he has a large number of hand-painted maps and records of the topography and landforms of various places."

"We strongly suspect that he is a spy sent to collect our intelligence, so we decided to bring him back and release him after confirming that he is indeed not a spy."

"There are a lot of hand-painted maps and records of the topography and landforms of various places." Ogata turned his head and looked at Lin Ziping speechlessly, "You are regarded as a spy, it is quite reasonable."

"This boss should feel lucky." The "guiding boy" had a cold light in his eyes, "He didn't have gold panning tools or gold dust on him at that time."

"If gold digging tools and gold dust were found on him, we wouldn't treat him so gently."

"I won't do such boring and time-wasting things as panning for gold." Lin Ziping immediately said angrily, "There are more important things waiting for me to do!"

After all, Lin Ziping turned his gaze back to Ogata and Ah Ding.

"Mr. Mashima! Ms. Machi! Since you are the guests of the Red Moon Fortress, can you help me talk to the high-level officials of the Red Moon Fortress? I am not a spy of the shogunate!"

"Look at my age."

Lin Ziping pointed to his black and white hair.

"Is it possible for the shogunate to send such an old man as a spy?"

"That's hard to say." The "guiding boy" said lightly.

After giving Lin Ziping a ruthless reply, the "guide boy" turned his head to Ogata and asked:

"I almost forgot the business, how about this old man, is this the person you are looking for?"

Ogata shook his head: "No, he's not the one I'm looking for."

"Huh?" At this moment, Lin Ziping raised his eyebrows suddenly.

He looked at Ogata, and then at Machi.

"Are you two looking for someone?"

"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "My wife and I are looking for two doctors now."

"Doctor?" For some reason, Lin Ziping frowned suddenly.

At this time, Ogata suddenly thought that before Lin Ziping was arrested, a large number of hand-painted maps of Ezodi were found on his body, which meant that Lin Ziping had traveled to many places in Ezodi.

He might have a clue.

"Mr. Lin." Ogata said to the old man full of personality in honorific terms, "Let me ask you, have you ever met these two people?"

Ogata informed Lin Ziping of the age and appearance of Xuanzheng and Xuanzhen.

After Ogata's voice fell, Lin Ziping lowered his head and remained silent, as if he was remembering something.

Oufang was puzzled, and when he was about to ask Lin Ziping what was wrong, Lin Ziping suddenly raised his head slowly, and said to the two of them:

"It's really a coincidence. Not long ago, I just met a strange doctor in an Ainu village."

"The doctor is the village doctor of that village, but he is a kind person."

Ogata's eyes widened slightly in surprise: "Can you tell us more about it?"

"I remember this should have been more than a month ago."

"I passed by an Ainu settlement."

"The villagers in that settlement don't hate Heren, so they treat me kindly."

"I found that doctor in that settlement."

"Because there are very few Kazutos who have lived in Ainu settlements for a long time, I have a deep impression on him."

"He is the only person in that village. His hair is pale, his face is vicissitudes of life, and his voice is very hoarse. He looks like he is in his 50s."

Ogata's brows were already furrowed at this moment.

The two characteristics of pale hair and the appearance of being in his 50s do not match Xuanzheng or Xuanzheng.

And Lin Ziping's narration is still going on at this time.

"That guy said his name was Zhongshan, and for some reason he drifted into this village and became a village doctor."

"He didn't tell me exactly why he was there."

"The villagers in that settlement seem to respect that man."

"That Zhongshan looked quite normal at first."

"When passing through this settlement, he even invited me to sit at his house for a while."

"I'm also very interested in this Kazuto who lives alone in the Ainu settlement, so I accepted his invitation to sit at his home for a while."

"Then, after arriving at Zhongshan's home, I found a cubicle in Zhongshan's home."

"You should also know that the vast majority of Ainu homes have no partitions, and each home has only one living room. The food, clothing and housing of the whole family are settled in this living room."

"I was curious, so I asked Zhongshan if that cubicle was his bedroom for sleeping?"

"But who would have thought that just after I asked this question, Zhongshan, which was originally normal, suddenly became"

Lin Ziping fell silent.

Like thinking about words.

After a while, he said slowly:

"Get hysterical."

"He growled and told me not to go near that cubicle."

"Just now he kindly invited me to his house for a sit-down. After I asked that question, he drove me out of the house like crazy and told me to leave the village quickly."

"As I said just now, the villagers in that village respect that Zhongshan."

"So after Zhongshan drove me away, other villagers also changed their kind attitude and waved all kinds of weapons to drive me away."

"I was so scared that I ran away in a hurry."

Ogata and Ah Ding have been quietly listening to Lin Ziping's narration.

After Lin Ziping's voice fell, the expressions of both Ogata and Atachi became serious.

"Why does it sound like a ghost story?" Ah-Ming said, "Aren't you making it up?"

Although A-Ming likes to listen to stories, he has always been insensitive to horror stories and ghost stories.

"I'm not making up nonsense." Lin Ziping showed an angry look. , "Everything I said just now is true!"

"Then will you go to that village again?" At this time, Ogata asked.

"How could I go to that village again?" Lin Ziping said, "That Zhongshan looks crazy, how could I go there again!"

Ogata lowered his head at this moment, thinking deeply.

According to the appearance of Zhongshan mentioned by Lin Ziping just now, it seems that Zhongshan is neither Xuanzheng nor Xuanzhen.

But this Zhongshan is a doctor, and this feature is consistent with Xuanzheng and Xuanzhen.

And the characteristic that Zhongshan looks neurotic is consistent with Xuanzheng

After thinking for a while, Ogata made up his mind.

"Mr. Lin." Xu Fang looked up at Lin Ziping and said seriously, "Can you tell us where the village is?"