I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

It is not only the No.1 big city and political center of Japan, but also the commercial center of Japan.

At any time, a large number of merchants from south to north entered or left Edo, bringing various commodities from all over the country and even foreign countries to Edo.

These merchants from all over the world undoubtedly injected great vitality into Edo.

The commercial development of Edo is not only reflected in the fact that a large number of merchants from all over the country will come here to do business, but also in the large number of shops opened in Edo Castle.

Countless merchants settled down in Edo, selling their own specialty products.

The sunlight slanting down from the sky casts the shadow of a row of shops on the left side of a certain avenue onto the spacious rammed earth road, and onto the heads and shoulders of pedestrians walking on this avenue.

As for the storefronts of the row of shops on the right, they are bathed in dazzling sunlight.

The eaves of these densely packed shops are basically not high, and the area may be large or small.

All kinds of signs are hung on these shops.

"Kansai miscellaneous goods", "Kanya", "Nanban goods", "Suharaya", "Okura tea house"... There are all kinds of signs.

Edo is not only prosperous in commerce, but also has a variety of entertainment activities.

Ryogoku Hirokoji-one of the most famous happy streets in Edo.

There are not only a large number of folk art venues here, but also a large number of artists performing their specialties on both sides of the street.

There are performances of "wrestlers" who lift huge straw bales filled with rice or large rocks.

Some perform animal juggling with monkeys, dogs and other animals.

There are storytellers.

Even though it is winter now, less than 3 years have passed since the terrible "Tenming Famine", and even though the country's situation has not been revitalized, there are still a large number of townspeople and samurai there every day. .

The various crises and difficulties that the country is currently encountering seem to have nothing to do with Edo Castle, and none of these things seem to have the slightest impact on Edo Castle.

Edo Castle is still so radiant, welcoming people with clever smiles, drunk with gold... Every corner is filled with incomparable comfort and luxury...

……

……

If you want to say who is the most popular storyteller in Ryogoku Hirokoji, then many people may say the same name-Tachikawa Tei Tanraku.

The stories that Tan Le is best at telling are household names.

But today, he didn't say what he is good at.

Instead, it tells the story of "Oni no Heizang", which has been very popular with the townspeople and samurai of Edo in recent years.

"In other words, it was the end of autumn and the beginning of winter two years ago, the cool wind was biting, and dusk was approaching."

Just by the tone of his speech, one can see the high level of Tan Le.

The ups and downs of the accent sounded very comfortable.

The audience in the audience all stared at Tanle on the stage, and listened carefully to Tanle's story of "Onitira chasing Mato Tokujiro".

"Hasegawa Heizo-sama led the officials of Huofu Thief Kai, along the country road, hunting down the notorious Masao Tokujiro."

"Who is the true sword Tokujiro?"

"As the name suggests, he is a master of swordsmanship who is good at using Shinto style and has extremely superb swordsmanship!"

"It's a pity that this person's mind is not righteous, and he didn't use his superb swordsmanship on the right path."

"In today's world, which thief's swordsmanship can be better than the real sword Tokujiro who is also a thief."

"Then maybe only the 'Executioner Ittosai' who committed the crime of 'Killing the Master' last fall can crush the real sword Tokujiro."

"The real sword Tokujiro is not only strong in swordsmanship, but also quite cunning!"

"His favorite tactic is to pretend to be an official, pass the checkpoint swaggeringly, and then kill and set fire all the way, from the northeast all the way south to the Kanto."

"After learning that this murderous lord has come to Kanto, the current chief of our Huofu Thief Gai—Hasegawa Heizo-sama, immediately started to organize the encirclement and suppression of Tokujiro Matou!"

"Who is Hasegawa Heizo?"

"Hasegawa Heizo-sama, his real name is Hasegawa Nobuichi."

"It has only been a few years since he took over the position of Huofu Thief Gai's chief, and he has arrested all the vicious thieves!"

"It's like the rebirth of 'Ooka Echizen'! People call it 'Oka Oka'!"

"Feared by thieves all over the world, they call it 'Ghost Level'!"

"According to rumors—in order to chase down Tokujiro Matou, Master Heizo Hasegawa mobilized nearly half of their officials to pay for the thieves!"

"It took nearly one and a half months, and Hasegawa Heizo-sama finally managed to find the location of Tokujiro Mantokujiro, and forced Tokujiro Mantokujiro into a desperate situation!"

"Madao Tokujiro was chased all the way to a wooden bridge in the countryside."

"And the officials of Huofu Thief Kai have already blocked the front and rear ends of this wooden bridge, making it difficult for Masaru Tokujiro to fly!"

"Seeing that he has no way to escape, Matou Tokujiro drew his sword, planning to fight the last trapped beast! Even if he dies, he will have to drag a few officials who have paid for the thieves to his back!"

"Hasegawa Heizo-sama has seen his attempt."

"So—he didn't send any of his men into battle."

"Only one person drew his knife and stepped onto the wooden bridge!"

Hearing a "pop", Tan Le raised his hand and patted the table.

He has now reached the climax of the story.

All the audience in the audience pricked up their ears attentively.

"Hasegawa Heizo-sama, you came forward to confront Masaru Tokujiro alone like this!"

"The swordsmanship used by Mr. Hasegawa Heizo is a swordsmanship passed down from generation to generation in their Hasegawa family. It is a set of powerful swordsmanship with both offense and defense!"

"Hasegawa Heizo-sama and Matou Tokujiro stand facing each other on the wooden bridge!"

"I saw Matou Tokujiro let out a snarl, and swung his sword first to kill Hasegawa Heizo-sama!"

"If it were a swordsman with an average level of swordsmanship, in the face of Tokujiro's slash, I'm afraid he didn't even reflect it, and his head fell to the ground!"

"But Hasegawa Heizo-sama neither dodges nor dodges!"

"I saw the sword light flash twice!"

"The first sword light cut off the right hand of the real sword Tokujiro holding the sword!"

"The second sword light cut off the hamstring of Tokujiro Matoujiro's left foot!"

"With just two swords, Hasegawa Heizo-sama defeated the murderous man Tokujiro Matou, and arrested the murderer!"

"The real sword Tokujiro, who did all kinds of evil, was finally defeated by the real 'ghost'!"

"If you want to blame, you can only blame him where he went, he came to Kanto!"

Chapter 118 The Executioner Yidao Zhai

"it is good!"

There was constant applause from the audience, and copper coins were thrown onto the stage in a clatter of lectures.

Looking at the copper coins scattered like a rainstorm, Tan Lexi smiled.

"But—even if Tokujiro Matou didn't come to Kanto, it's useless!"

"Hasegawa Heizo-sama has always been jealous of evil!"

"Once the thief is found, even if the thief is in the remotest corners of the world, he will lead Huofu Thief Kai's officials to chase after him!"

"Unless the culprits are brought to justice, I will never give up!"

The yamen that specializes in catching arsonists and vicious thieves - Huofu Thief Gai's newly appointed chief in recent years: Hasegawa Heizang, his legendary stories have become the townspeople and samurai of Edo Castle in the past two years. favorite.

Everyone loves to listen, so storytellers like Tan Le naturally love to talk.

Not only storytellers like to talk, but it is said that even some well-known rakugo masters have begun to compile various jokes based on Hasegawa Heizo.

Today, he successfully made a fortune with the story of "Hasegawa Heizo chasing the real sword Tokujiro" again, which made Tan Le laugh so hard that even his eyes narrowed.

At this moment, a question suddenly sounded from the audience:

"Tanle! You just said that among all the thieves in the world today, the only one whose swordsmanship can beat Masato Tokujiro is the 'Executioner Yidaosai'. Is this true?"

The person who asked this question was an ordinary young man dressed as a craftsman.

Hearing his question, Tan Le was slightly taken aback.

Recall every word he just said.

I realized that I had actually said this sentence.

"Dang, of course!"

Talk Lego.

"Madao Tokujiro's swordsmanship is strong, but compared to 'Executioner Ittosai', he is far behind!"

"Just comparing the number of beheads between the two is enough to see the gap between the two!"

As soon as Tan Le's voice fell, the audience immediately remembered the low voice of discussion.

"'Executioner Yidao Zhai'... who is that?"

"I have never inquired carefully about what powerful thieves have appeared in the world."

"It's actually called 'Executioner'... Could it be another murderer?"

"Don't you guys even know that person... How closed are you guys' daily lives..."

"It's fine if the people in the backcountry don't know who 'Executioner Yidaosai' is, but you townspeople who live in Edo don't even know... Don't you usually go out of your house?"

……

Tan Le licked her lips as she looked at the audience who were discussing "The Executioner's Yi Dao Zhai".

If possible, he would like to tell everyone the story of "The Executioner Yidao Zhai" now.

After all-the story of "The Executioner Yi Dao Zhai" is full of drama.

This kind of dramatic story is the favorite of storytellers like Tan Le.

But—Tan Le did not dare to tell the story of "The Executioner Yi Dao Zhai"...

Some listeners didn't know what "Executioner Yidao Zhai" did, but Tan Le knew it all.

"Executioner Yidao Zhai" killed the lord, and beheaded Matsudaira Gennai, the lord of the Hirose feudal domain, and more than 100 guards. Although such a story is full of drama, as a novelist, he dare not put it in a grandiose manner. speak out.

The person killed by this "Ichidao Zhai" was the vassal daimyo and the lord of the Hirose domain.

If someone with a heart finds out that he, as a storyteller, was promoting the heinous "Yidao Zhai" deeds in public, I'm afraid it will cause a lot of trouble.

Therefore, Tan Le could only laugh and say a few words on the scene, and perfunctorily dismissed the topic of "the executioner's one-knife fast".

In fact, when he told the story of "Hasegawa Heizo chasing Masato Tokujiro" just now, he said "Among all the thieves in the world today, only 'Executioner Yidaosai' can suppress Masato Tokujiro." ——This sentence came out of his mouth when he was excited.

He didn't study carefully what kind of high-powered thieves there are in the world today.

Whether the skill of "Executioner Yidao Sai" is higher than that of Masaru Tokujiro, and whether there are any more powerful thieves-Tan Le doesn't know the answers to these questions, and he is not interested in finding out.

……

……

That night——

Kinki area, Tatsuno clan——

In a certain wilderness of Longye Fan, there is an ancient temple that has been abandoned for a while.

In this ancient temple, which is neither too big nor too small, 5 travelers who planned to spend the night gathered here.

These five travelers were all without exception—all of them were vagrants with knives stuck in their waists, but they had nowhere to return and no one to serve.

Four of the five ronin sat around and chatted there.

The other ronin did not join their chat.

Instead, he sat in a corner of the ancient temple with his Dato and Wakizashi in his arms, covering his face with a bamboo hat, and the dirty light onion-colored haori that wrapped tightly around his body rose and fell rhythmically ups and downs.

Judging by the appearance of this ronin, he should have fallen asleep.

The other 4 ronin who were sitting not far away looked at this ronin who seemed to have fallen asleep holding a knife.