Pawn Crossing the River

There is a shrine on the back mountain outside the village. When a Hatamoto was stationed nearby, he used the shrine as his residence and drove away all the shrine maidens and priests, so the shrine has been abandoned.

However, there was a fire in the shrine at this time. A group of men tore down some of the shrine floor, chopped it into firewood, built a bonfire, and sat around the fire, grilling meat and talking and laughing loudly.

Looking at the attire of these people, they all wore simple armors. Although they were dilapidated, they were obviously not ordinary bandits, but more like deserters who had turned into bandits.

People are afraid of evil people, and ghosts are also afraid of evil people. If the murderous intention is serious, ordinary ghosts will not dare to get close.

As for zombies and the like, they are not afraid either. Do they really think that the swords and guns in their hands are just decorations?

There is another girl in the corner of the shrine. She is pretty, but her clothes are messy, revealing some white and greasy skin. Her hands and feet are trapped by ropes, and her mouth is stuffed with rags, making her unable to move.

While eating the meat, these deserters glanced at the girl from the corner of their eyes, who looked like a lamb to the slaughter.

At this moment, a figure appeared outside the door.

The deserters immediately became alert, stretched out their hands to grab the weapons beside them, and all looked out the door.

This figure walked into the shrine unhurriedly. The firelight illuminated his face, and he turned out to be an Onmyoji.

The onmyoji looked around and said with a smile: "Travellers passing by, can we warm up together by the fire?"

The faces of these deserters were slightly solemn. In the middle of the night, in the place where hundreds of ghosts roamed at night, an Onmyoji suddenly appeared. It looked a bit weird no matter how you looked at it.

The leading deserter stood up, holding a nodachi in his hand, put it on his shoulder, and said loudly: "If you go somewhere else, you are not welcome here."

The Onmyoji was none other than Qi Xuansu. He ignored the deserter leader and said behind him, "Come and see if that's your friend."

The little witch holding the Kagura bell leaned out from behind Qi Xuansu, looked at the girl who was tied up, nodded repeatedly and said, "That's her."

For an instant, the deserters' eyes were fixed on the little witch. Her already ferocious expression became even more ugly, her bloodshot eyes seemed to bulge out of her sockets, and saliva flowed from the corners of her mouth. This behavior was beyond normal. category, if nothing unexpected happens, they will turn into monsters sooner or later.

"That's good." Qi Xuansu nodded and raised his hand to shoot.

The deserter leader's eyes suddenly opened wide, a deep blood hole appeared on his forehead, and he fell to the ground.

In terms of experience in using fire guns, Zhang Yuelu was not as good as Qi Xuansu. When it comes to sneak attack skills using fire guns, Taoist Sanxiu may not be as good as Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu didn't give others any time to react and fired continuously.

Several other deserters fell to the ground instantly, and they were all shot between the eyebrows, exactly.

Because it uses ordinary projectiles with low power, it can be fired continuously. The "Dragon Hand Cannon" and "Dragon Hand Cannon" need to fire the extremely powerful "Dragon Eye" series, so it is difficult to fire continuously.

There is also a mechanical gun that can be fired continuously. One gun can create the effect of a hail of bullets.

However, there is still a big problem. When fired continuously, the power of the projectiles will become smaller. Against the black-armored heavy cavalry of the man in black, it will not break the defense at all, just like scratching an itch. As long as the Xuan Jia Heavy Cavalry gets close, it will be a one-sided massacre, so this machine gun, formerly known as the "Thunder Gun", is not taken too seriously.

It was only then that the little witch finally understood what Qi Xuansu meant by "the world has changed." It was indeed different. If you use Tai Dao to kill, you may be in danger. Bows and arrows and spells will also consume physical strength. You can use firearms, just hook your fingers.

If this kind-hearted Onmyoji hadn't helped her, she might have fallen into the hands of these bandits if she had stumbled here alone.

This Onmyoji master is really a good person.

By the way, she even forgot to ask the Onmyoji master's name.

Qi Xuansu put away the fire blunderbuss and took the initiative to explain: "I dare to walk outside alone. One is to rely on yin and yang skills, and the other is to rely on fire blunderbuss. Yin and yang skills can drive out demons, and fire blunderbuss can eliminate evil."

】

The little witch murmured: "I also want to save money to buy a firecracker. This thing is much easier to use than bows and arrows. No wonder those samurai masters say that the men in black in the Central Plains are invincible. It is really terrifying."

Qi Xuansu reminded: "Your friend is still tied up."

The little witch woke up from a dream and hurried to untie her friend.

After a while, the little witch led her friends over to say thank you.

Qi Xuansu was a little impatient with Linzhou's custom of saying half of his sentence was thanks and apology, so he waved his hand and said: "Okay, we should go to the shrine. ”

Of course, Qi Xuansu can try to directly break through the heavy blockade of Duoji County, and there is a high probability of success, but the follow-up will be very troublesome, which means that he can only hide his head and tail like a street rat, cannot enter the city, and cannot show his face in front of people, so he disguises himself as Harima Ryu Yin Yang The teacher is meaningless.

The key is that after Ise Shrine was alerted by Onmyoji Tsuchimikado, he was already on guard and would take action at the slightest sign of trouble. This is the head of the three major shrines. With King Sai personally in charge, Qi Xuansu doesn't dare to confront Ise Shrine with his modest skills, so it is better to sneak past than to rush through.

There is a suspension bridge on the mountain behind the village. After crossing the suspension bridge, you will reach the territory of Taji County. Then go down the mountain and walk a hundred miles to the north. There is Yoshida Castle, where the shrine of the little shrine maiden is located.

Because the merchant's daughter was just an ordinary person, she had been tied up for a long time, and her hands and feet were difficult to move. She had to be supported by a little witch to walk. Qi Xuansu couldn't show off his cultivation and directly led the two of them to fly away, so the three of them walked very slowly. , by the time the three of them crossed the suspension bridge and went down the mountain, it was already dark.

At this moment, a huge shadow passed over the three people.

The little witch's face changed drastically: "It's 'Crane Boat'! Hide it quickly!"

After that, she plunged directly into the grass nearby, and Qi Xuansu and the merchant's daughter had no choice but to follow suit.

Speaking of "Crane Boat", Qi Xuansu is quite familiar with it, because it is a product of the Taoist sect. It is a small flying boat that looks like a flying crane. In addition, people in the Taoist sect also prefer birds like cranes, hence the name. "Crane Boat".

The "Crane Boat" can usually only carry two or three people. In addition to reconnaissance, its main function is to launch the "Fengyan" series and bombard ground targets from a high position. Because the "Crane Boat" is small in size and its driving core is a dragon ball imitated by Daomen, which is inherently defective and cannot fly long distances, it is usually mounted on the "Yinglong" and is transported to a designated location by the "Yinglong". Take off from the deck of "Yinglong", and after completing the mission, return to "Yinglong".

There has been no war in the Central Plains for a long time, and the "Crane Boat" rarely appears in front of the world. Many people have only heard of its name and have never seen it. But Fenglinzhou was different. "Crane Boats" were dispatched in large numbers to face the troops on the ground, just like heavy cavalry facing light infantry. It was a completely one-sided massacre. The Zunping Faction in Fenglinzhou had already reached the point where they talked about "Crane Boats". Boat" and the color changes.

This is also the reason why the Prime Minister has never betrayed the Taoist sect, because Mu Qiang is engraved in his bones, and the power of the Taoist sect is obvious to all. Everyone in the Prime Minister Toyotomi's house has always believed that as long as the Taoist sect personally launches the attack, everything will be fine.

In fact, this is indeed the case. Qingwei Zhenren quickly cleared out the inside and outside of Xiujing. With the combination of Xuanjia heavy cavalry and "crane boat", he was invincible and almost unstoppable. The hearts of the Prime Minister Toyotomi quickly gathered together.

Faith is the most precious.

To put it bluntly, the reason why Master Qingwei directly appointed the candidate for Regent Guan Bai without any objection was because the Taoist sect had not lost a single victory in a series of wars recently, which gave Master Qingwei great prestige and confidence.

To put it another way, why do the Zunban faction insist on assassination? In the final analysis, you can't win on a frontal battlefield, so you can only take a sideways approach.

Now that the Dao Sect has initially mastered the sky of Fenglin Continent, it can attack at will and be invincible. However, it is severely lacking in ground troops and cannot yet achieve effective occupation. Therefore, it needs to integrate the Toyotomi Prime Minister's Palace and recruit various local snake forces.

???????????????It now seems that Daomen's vanguard troops have arrived in Ise territory, but they have not yet launched a full-scale attack, and are only focusing on harassment.

Qi Xuansu asked: "Where are these 'crane boats' going?"

The little miko said with lingering fear: "We should go to Jiuju Castle, where there are many samurai masters. These 'Crane Boats' never target civilians, only the castles of daimyo, feudal lords, or shrines affiliated with the shrine. Fortunately, we are in the woods. If If they see me wearing a witch costume, they will definitely not let me go.”

Qi Xuansu thought to himself: Do you know how expensive the "Fengyan" series is? Do you know how much consumption of "Xuanhuang" is? How can it be targeted at a little witch like you who can't figure it out? It's like using artillery to kill mosquitoes and killing chickens with a butcher's knife.

While the two were talking, several more "crane boats" passed by in the sky.

Now that the "Crane Boat" has arrived, it means that there will be a "Yinglong" not far away. This is not the "Yinglong" that has just met the threshold of 400 people, but a full-scale "Yinglong" with various The formations are all available. If the shrine sends out heavenly masters to intercept the "Crane Boat", it will become a living target for "Ying Long".

Qi Xuansu was somewhat glad that he did not fly with the wind and did not die in the hands of Ise Shrine. It would be too unfair to be bombarded to death by one of his own people. After all, he didn't have Qingyun who banished the immortal. If he was hit by a gun from the front, even if he had the Immortal Immortality and the Shinto Golden Body, they would probably be torn apart. The only thing that could be preserved intact was probably the "Heart of the Immortality Stone".

The three of them waited for a while, but when no more "Crane Boat" passed by, they came out of the hiding place and continued to Yoshida Castle.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, and they didn't encounter the "Crane Boat" again. They just met a group of samurai affiliated with the shrine. However, with the little witch appearing, it didn't embarrass Qi Xuansu too much.

When Yoshida Castle was in sight, the little miko suddenly remembered: "Master Onmyoji, my name is Asai Dang, you can call me A Dang. I haven't asked Master Onmyoji's name yet."

"So you are from a noble family," Qi Xuansu said, "I am from a commoner family and have no surname. Our founder of Harima Ryu is called Daoman, so you can call me Daochang."

Qi Xuansu played a little trick. Taoist priest is the honorific title of Taoist priests, but the word "长" here has the "long" sound of "long and short", not the "long" sound of "长You".