I formed the strongest swordsman group

"Quan Huo pays the thieves to change up and down. I have dealt with the 'One-armed Party' the most times."

Kimura shook his head and talked eloquently.

"I have participated in a total of 3 operations to encircle and suppress the 'One-armed Party'. Counting this time tonight, it is 4 times."

"The 'One-Armed Party' is nothing special except for being a little cunning and being able to run a little bit."

"Whenever we launch a siege against the One-Arm, the traitors of the One-Arm crumble like snow thrown into boiling water."

Kimura sneered "Oh".

When he sneered, he stared straight at Qingdeng—and he didn't know whether he was mocking the weakness of the "one-armed party" or ridiculing Qingdeng's ignorance.

"You said that the 'one-armed party' occupies a favorable location? Well, then, have you heard the old saying: 'The weather is not as good as the location, and the location is not as good as the harmony of people'."

"Admittedly, I admit that what you said is correct. The 'One-armed Party' fighting in their own stronghold does indeed have a geographical advantage."

"But we have both time and harmony!"

Kimura raised his finger to the sky... To be precise, he pointed to the full moon above his head.

"Tonight is a moonlit night, and all parts of Edo are as bright as day. Even if you don't carry a lantern, you can still walk on the streets as usual."

"Without the extremely conspicuous obstructive lanterns at night, it will be difficult for the rebels of the 'One-armed Party' to find us."

"This is of great benefit to us in completing the siege of the 'One-Armed Party' stronghold!"

"This is the time."

"I fire to pay the thieves to change each team, they are all well-trained and battle-hardened elite divisions."

"On the other hand, the 'One-armed Party'-I have just described their incompetence in detail. Any one of our squadrons is enough to defeat them!"

"What's more, we are also sitting on a series of sophisticated weapons such as armor, bows and arrows, and iron cannons."

"This is harmony between people."

"In addition, our battle tonight is still a surprise attack! Hmph, those traitors must be sleeping right now! They don't even know that their doomsday is imminent!"

"Be prepared to defeat those who are unprepared, with my elite division who possesses the time and harmony of people, how can the shrimp soldiers and crab generals who are fighting against the end of the road not be sure of winning?"

As soon as Kimura's words fell, Tsuchida at the side quickly echoed:

"That's right! Master Kimura is right! Just sending out my Seventh Squad is enough to beat the rebels of the 'One-Armed Party' to their knees! No need to send two Squads!"

Speaking of this, Tsuchida paused as if thinking of something.

After a while, he sneered and sneered "heh":

"Tachibana, you proposed to send out two divisions, isn't it because you are greedy for the achievements of 'destroying the One-armed Party', you want to get a piece of the action, and you want to ask Mr. Kimura to send your third division to participate in the attack?"

After finishing speaking, Tsuchida did not forget to show a smug expression—his complacency that he was glad that he could monopolize the achievement of destroying the "One-armed Party" was beyond words.

In essence, anyone with a discerning eye can see the intention of Kimura's battle plan that "the third and fifth divisions are responsible for encircling the enemy's strongholds, and the seventh division is responsible for the surprise attack".

To put it bluntly, it is to give up the opportunity to make meritorious service to his lackey Tsuchida Masayoshi.

Organize subordinates to surround a longhouse consisting of only more than 30 houses - such a task has basically no technical content, so naturally there will be no merits to speak of, just a drudgery with no benefits.

It is quite different to rush into the enemy's stronghold and wipe out the bandits.

The "One-armed Party" has been a headache for the government for a long time. Otherwise, Kurosawa and Okubo would not have organized the encirclement and suppression operation that day after determining where the base of the "One-armed Party" was, and dispatched 3 detachments in one go.

If the "One-armed Party" can be wiped out neatly, then the credit must be not small.

Moreover, the longhouse was not so big that two squadrons were required to encircle it, and it was more than enough to spare one or half a squadron to participate in the attack on the "One-armed Party".

Therefore, Kimura's combat arrangement, its intention of "supporting the dog's legs and crowding out Qingdeng" can be said to be obvious.

Qingdeng tilted his eyeballs indifferently, and glanced at Tsuchida.

Tsuchida, caught by Qingdeng's eyes, suddenly felt his neck tighten.

The scenes of Qingdeng directly threatening Kimura with his sword this morning flashed before Tsuchida's eyes.

Tsuchida, who was arrogant a second ago, died down like a defeated rooster.

Although he still tried his best to put on an expression of "I'm not afraid of you", even though he thought so in his heart, his body was very honest—his head was lowered, and he didn't even dare to look at Qing Deng again.

"A merit of the level of 'destroying the remnants of the extermination of the barbarians' is not so great that it is worth fighting for."

When Qingdeng read the words "remnant party", he deliberately slowed down and emphasized his tone.

The expressions of Kimura and Tsuchida immediately became a little ugly.

How could they fail to understand Qingdeng's implication - I once sought fame from the barbarian group in its heyday! I haven't paid attention to the remnants of the barbarian group!

As soon as Qingdeng's words came out, Tsuchida's situation immediately became embarrassing

Ju Qingdeng has defeated the Kobari group in its heyday head-on more than once, and even the leader of the bandits, Kanno, was awarded the head under his sword, but he is complacent about being able to monopolize the feat of annihilating the "remnant party" of the Kobari group... …Compared with the two, Tsuchida looks like a clown who knows nothing about the sky and the earth.

Kimura stood up and broke the deadlock of the argument with an undeniably strong word.

"Okay, let's stop the meaningless discussion here! All in all - the plan will not be changed in any way! Go down and take your places!"

After all, Kimura turned around and left without any hesitation.

As soon as Kimura left, Tsuchida glanced at Qingdeng with a resentful look on his back, and then left resentfully.

Qingdeng scanned the formation where he was the only one left, and raised his hand to scratch his hair.

——Forget it, since Kimura insists on giving Tsuchida the opportunity to make meritorious service, and not giving me any merit, then let him go.

Kimura is the "frontline commander in chief", and all military orders come from him. It has the absolute power to do what it says, and the rest must obey its orders unconditionally.

Kimura had already let go of his cruel words of "the plan will not change", so Qingdeng couldn't persuade him anymore.

What's more, based on the current relationship between Qingdeng and Kimura, it would be a ghost if Kimura would listen to Qingdeng.

Moreover, from the perspective of "making the best use of people", there is nothing wrong with Kimura's plan.

Qingdeng is a newcomer who is not even familiar with the series of operations of Huofu Thief Kai, so it is very reasonable to send Qingdeng to do relatively simple work, and he cannot be criticized in any way.

Even if Qingdeng appealed to the authorities, accusing Kimura of not leveling the bowl of water and favoring Tsuchida, Kurosawa and Okubo would certainly not pay attention to Qingdeng's appeal.

Anyway, it's not an important task whose merits are so great that they must not be compromised. If it is given to Tsuchida, it will be given to Tsuchida.

After briefly clearing up his mood, Qingdeng turned back the same way and joined his subordinates.

About 20 minutes later, Kimura stood on a simple high platform made of wooden boxes and announced the assembly of the entire army.

Three fan teams, with a total of 180 people, plus the two captains Qingdeng and Tsuchida, lined up in a neat square in front of Kimura.

"Everyone! I think you all know what we are going to do tonight!"

Kimura's pre-war mobilization was quite impassioned.

After listening to Kimura's speech, many people were refreshed and beaming.

After the simple mobilization speech was over, following Kimura's sentence "Attack!", the three squadrons divided into six groups, and went straight to Sumimachi along different directions and streets, and went straight to the base of the "One-Armed Party".

When Qingdeng led the soldiers of the 3rd Division out of the camp, the pointer of the pocket watch happened to point to 10:30.

At this point in time, Edo, except for the "city that never sleeps" Yoshihara, was already as quiet as if it had sunk into a deep dark sea.

Every street has a similar scene: quiet and quiet, the low whistling brought by the autumn wind blowing from time to time has become the only sound on the street. The streets of every street are covered with bright moonlight like hoarfrost.

Under the guidance of Xiaohui, Qingdeng and others galloped. Their rapidly shaking figures projected on the ground added a shadowy scene to the silent Edo.

After a while, the three teams arrived at their destination smoothly.

The soldiers of the 3rd Division and the 5th Division advanced from the east and west respectively, and it took less than 5 minutes to work together to completely surround the entire longhouse.

As for the members of the Seventh Division, they gathered in front of the wagashi store, ready to attack at any time.

Tonight's battle will focus on the word "fast".

With a sharp and fast attack like a gust of wind and raging waves, the enemies have no time to react, and the enemies are dizzy, and they are taken away in one go.

Therefore, after all the teams were in their positions and ready for battle, Kimura nodded slightly to Tsuchida beside him.

Tsuchida, who understood, nodded back to Kimura, took a step forward and pulled out the saber at his waist.

He raised the saber over the back of his head and swung it forward vigorously, shouting vigorously:

"Break the door! Give it to me!"

As soon as Tsuchida's words fell, the members of the Seventh Squad, who had already been ready in their respective positions, immediately started to act.

The two team members closest to the wagashi shop, holding knives in their hands, took a stride, and after a simple run-up, they used their thick shoulders as "hammer heads" and flew into the shop door.

The wooden store door has been around for some years, and the facade is covered with mottled decay.

This kind of rotten door that can be easily kicked open with a light kick, how can it withstand the "bomb impact" of two adult men?

With a loud bang of "Frame Dang", the door was directly knocked into the air. The two soldiers who hit the door fell into the house together with the door panel.

At the same time, the following team members straddled their bodies and followed closely.

Six soldiers rushed in first, carrying wooden shields as big as their body.

Immediately afterwards, musketeers armed with matchlock guns filed in.

The Seventh Division is a unit composed of the fifth division of the first iron gun group, so the arquebus is their standard weapon.

The match that has been ignited is like a dreamy firefly in the dark room.

The shield soldiers raised their huge shields and joined together to form a solid "spherical shield", protecting the musketeers in the "ball", ensuring the musketeers' personal safety and shooting space.

The musketeers hiding behind the shield soldiers poked their arquebuses out from the gaps in the shields, pointing their black and cold muzzles in all directions.

The two soldiers who knocked on the door had turned over at this time, holding their swords tightly, and guarding the open shop door with their wings, to prevent any unrelated people from approaching.

The wagashi shop where the "one-armed party" hides is a very typical "two-story structure".

At this moment, a loud voice sounded from the second floor:

"Hey! What's happening!"

"Go! Go and see!"

"Brothers! Don't sleep! Don't sleep! There are strange movements downstairs!"

...

The sound of hurried footsteps smacked the wooden floor.

Two young samurai in white pajamas with loose hair appeared at the stairway with swords in hand.

Seeing this, the musketeers hiding behind the shield raised their guns and shot without any explanation.

boom! boom! boom! boom! boom!

Although the accuracy of the matchlock guns was poor, the straight-line distance between the muskets and the two young warriors was only about 5 meters.

In such a distance, the matchlock gun's accuracy is still very guaranteed.

After 5 gunshots, the two warriors who had just descended to the stairs before they could even see the scene in front of them fell into a pool of blood with "two holes in each body".

The soldiers who emptied their guns loaded new ammunition with movements that were not proficient but not unfamiliar.

In order to cover the reloading of their companions, the advance of their group of "balls" was temporarily stopped.

The rest of the "balls" behind them took their place and pushed into the depths of the room.

The movement and battle of the members of the Seventh Division are carried out in units of "groups", and each group is a "round hedgehog" composed of a shield and an arquebus.

Another new samurai rushed down with a knife-this time three people came down in one breath.

The three of them took a breath the moment they saw the matchlock guns with beautiful metallic luster and the iconic black clothes.

"Ah! It's Huo Fu Thief Kai! The officers and soldiers of Huo Fu Thief Kai are here!"

"Go back! Go back! It's Huo Fu Thief Kai! There are iron cannons! Lots of iron cannons!"

"Damn it! Why are the officers and soldiers of Huo Fu Thief Kai here?!"

The three shouted cursingly while scrambling to escape upstairs along the original road.

boom! boom! boom! boom! boom……

The gunfire rang out again.

Because they ran fast enough, the dense rain of bullets only hit the positions where the three warriors were standing just now. Only one unlucky guy was half a beat slower, and his calf was accidentally hit by a stray bullet, but this person still jumped back to the second floor with one foot relying on his tenacious will.

There was no one on the first floor of the house, so the soldiers of the Seventh Division, who did not encounter any resistance, captured the entire first floor in less than 3 minutes.

The soldiers guarding the stairway looked at each other and began to advance in an orderly manner upstairs.

At this moment, a voice came from the second floor:

"The first floor is full of officers and soldiers reformed by Huo Fu Thief! No matter how stupid we stay here, we will be wiped out sooner or later! Let's jump out the window and leave!"

"Hey! Wait! Let's see what's going on outside the house first!"

This intersecting dissuasion was still half a step too late after all.

A young man with a childish face, who should be under the age of double ten, regardless of his hair and pajamas, hurriedly opened a window on the second floor and jumped to the eaves outside the window.

The moment his feet just stood on the sloping eaves——

boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom……

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...

The sound of projectiles exiting the chamber and the vibration of the bowstring covered the young man from all directions.

The fifth team under Kimura's command is also a unit that is also served by the first iron gun team.

The third and fifth teams in charge of the "siege" have been bored for a long time because they have nothing to do.

I finally found a fool who just jumped out of the window without even looking at what was going on outside the window—all the team members of the third and fifth teams who could see this young man saw this, without saying a word, directly Pick up the bow and arrow and the iron cannon, raise the bow and release it, raise the gun and shoot.

Ever since, this young man has become the person who died the worst since the start of the battle tonight - 6 arrows were stuck in his body, and 4 more holes were opened in his body.

He didn't even have time to let out a scream, and after shaking his body lightly a few times, his eyeballs rolled upwards—he fell to the ground, and then fell to the ground along the sloping eaves, stirring up a cloud of dust.

"What's happening? What happened?"

"Where is the movement? Is this the sound of iron cannons firing?"

"Yeah! Dead! Dead!"

...

One after another, nearby residents began to be awakened by thunderous gunfire.

They pushed open the windows and walked out of the house, wanting to see what was going on outside.

Then, as no surprise, they were intimidated by the soldiers of the third and fifth teams in charge of the "siege":

"What are you looking at?! It's all gone! It's all gone!"

"Give me what you should do!"

"Huo pays the thieves to handle the case instead! The idlers leave quickly!"

Huofu Thief Kai - this word is like a spell. Everyone who heard this word changed their expressions and left in a hurry.

"Hey! Yes, it's Huo Fu Thief Kai!"

"Shut the window! Shut the window!"

"Mom, what is Huo Fu Thief Kai?"

"I'll explain to you later! Now close the windows tightly!"

...

In a blink of an eye, all the open windows and doors were closed.

Those chattering voices disappeared completely.

Seeing this, Qingdeng was not only dumbfounded, but thought:

——Although the functions of the "Three Returns" of the Huofu Thief Kai and the Pursuing Office are both to catch thieves, the working environment of the two is really very different...

Because of the small number of people in the "Three Backs" of the Enforcement Office, there are only a few people who can investigate the case, and there are more opportunities to contact the people directly. Get closer to the "three times" of the execution office.

The privilege of "freedom to enter and exit samurai land, town residents' land and temple land, arrest people at will, and interrogate people at will" changed by Huofu Thief is really terrible and frightening.

Since the establishment of the army, there are countless innocent people who have been wronged and arrested by Huofu thieves, and poor people who have been beaten into tricks.

On the one hand, the common people respect the Huofu Bandit Kai who has been fighting all kinds of vicious criminals for many years, and on the other hand, they are afraid of the power of life and death at their hands.

This made Huofu Thief Gai's reputation among the common people not very high.

Huofu Thief Gai is only popular in certain special periods, and it is very popular among the people—for example, 70 years ago, under the command of the legendary warrior, Hasegawa Heizo known as "Onitira", Huofu Thief Kai entered the An unprecedented heyday.

Except for these very rare periods, when the common people see the "men in black", they will basically walk around, for fear of getting involved with these guys in black.

At the same time when the onlookers were dismissed, a team member ran out of the house and reported the battle situation to Mucun, Tsuchida and others outside the house.

After learning that the battle inside the house was going smoothly, both Kimura and Tsuchida showed a satisfied and relaxed expression.

Being caught off guard, panicked, defeated by the might of the matchlock gun... The series of performances of the "One-armed Party" were not at all what Kimura and Tsuchida had expected.

"Master Kimura!"

Tsuchida said triumphantly to Kimura.

"At this speed, I will be able to wipe out all the traitors in this house in less than a stick of incense!"

Kimura nodded slightly, then with a happy smile, he turned his head and looked at Qingdeng not far away.

There was a hint of disdain and provocation in the eyes that glanced at Qingdeng and then quickly retracted.

On the one hand, Kimura is proud of his accurate judgment, but on the other hand, he feels contempt for Qing Deng who made a wrong judgment.

His eyes conveyed such a message: Humph! how? Am I right? "One-armed party" is a gang of mobs! Just sending one seventh team is enough to beat them to pieces, so there is no need to send two teams at the same time!

——When it comes to commanding troops, I am a professional! That guy didn't even have a detailed understanding of our combat power, so he made random judgments!

Thinking of this, a different kind of sense of superiority filled Kimura's heart, his head could not help but be raised, and his hands were subconsciously put behind his back.

Of course, Qingdeng didn't know about these small things in Kimura's heart.

At this moment, he is staring intently at the wagashi shop in front of him, where gunshots can be heard from time to time.

The originally stretched brows are slowly wrinkled at this moment.

— something... not quite right...

The battle is going well, and it won't be long before all the thieves in the house can be wiped out—judging from the information and battle situation received so far, it should be... no, it must be like this!

However……

Qingdeng himself couldn't say why.

He could feel his heart beating faster now.

There is a strange sense of foreboding...

This ominous premonition made Qingdeng's nerves and muscles tense unconsciously, and his right hand unconsciously reached out to his left waist, pressing down on the hilt of the ghost knife.

...

...

At this very moment—

In the eyes of Kimura and Tsuchida, this wagashi shop can be taken down immediately——

The "one-armed party" who was caught off guard is now a literal mob.

The vast majority of them have been wandering in sweet sleep until just now.

They were awakened by the sound of breaking the door, footsteps, and gunfire from Huofu robbers, all of them were in pajamas, and all of them were in a state of confusion.

The officers and soldiers of Huo Fu Thief Kai, who are much more ruthless in killing people than the "Three Returns" of the Enforcement Office and the Yashu Governor, are approaching.

The outside of the house was surrounded like an iron barrel, making it difficult to fly.

These people who were stunned by the set of fast punches modified by Huofu Thief couldn't even tell the difference between southeast and north.

Or stay in the room blankly.

Or gritted his teeth and rushed out of the room, ready to fight to the death with the officers and soldiers.

Or run around in a panic.

Those who wanted to die with the officers and soldiers, and those who ran around like headless chickens, were shot to death one by one by the soldiers of the Seventh Division like a turkey.

So far, the Seventh Division, which has taken advantage of surprise attacks and equipment, has remained uninjured so far.

The "One-Armed Party" was uninjured, causing all the members of the Seventh Division to show relaxed smiles as if they were relieved.

The battle will be over soon - most of the members of the Seventh Division thought so.

...

...

At the same time, in a certain room——

"Ah! Damn it! Damn it!"

A samurai with only one arm paced anxiously in a room on the second floor.

"How could the officers and soldiers of the Huo Fu Thief Kai know that we are hiding here! Damn it! Damn it!"

The one-armed warrior hammered the wall with his only arm, his face was full of resentment and unwillingness, his face was ashen...

"It's over...it's over...surrounded by so many officials sent by fire thieves, how can we break out..."

Just when the one-armed warrior was doing this desperate monologue——

"Gao Long, you are the leader of your team. How can you be so panicked? With your appearance, how can you control your subordinates?"

The one-armed warrior is not alone.

In a corner of the room, sitting cross-legged, holding a shamisen in his arms, with a pair of swords symbolizing the status of a samurai stuck in his left waist, a young man with a Changzhou accent, stroking the shamisen strings with his head down.

"Gaoshan-kun!" the one-armed samurai said anxiously, "How do you want me to calm down in such a situation?! The official sent by Huofu Thief is here!"

The long-faced young man stopped playing the piano, raised his head and looked at the one-armed warrior.

"Huo Fu Thief Changing... so what?" the long-faced young man smiled, "I can't help it... For the sake of all of you being patriots, let me help you this time."

After all, the long-faced young man put down the shamisen in his arms, stood up leisurely, and walked to a closet next to him without haste.

After confirming that the cabinet surface of this wardrobe is still thick, the long-faced young man pulled it off with all his strength, and then slowly walked out of the room with it.

Outside the room is a corridor that is neither long nor short.

When the long-faced young man walked out of the room, he happened to bump into a team member of the Seventh Division who appeared at the end of the corridor.

Because of the dim light and the obstructed viewing angle, the team members did not find the long-faced youth.

So, the long-faced young man standing carelessly in the middle of the corridor held the cabinet in one hand and slowly pulled out the saber at his waist with the other.

The silver-white knife surface reflecting the only light around has become the only "light source" in this space.

The sudden appearance of this "light source" finally made the soldiers not far away find someone here. They hurriedly raised their guns and pointed the black muzzle at the long-faced young man.

At the same moment when the soldiers raised their guns, the long faces calmly and calmly set up a posture with one hand holding the shield and the other holding the knife——

"Choshu Domain, Yagyu Shininryu, Takasugi Shinsaku... come out!"

*****

*****

On the first day of physical recovery, a long-awaited 7200-word chapter came... It is really unreasonable not to vote for the monthly ticket! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)

It just so happens that it is the end of the month again, and those who still have a monthly pass, please be sure to vote for this book!

Ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a recommendation ticket!

The author misremembered Masayoshi Tsuchida's number in the last chapter. Masayoshi Tsuchida is the captain of the 7th Division, and the captain of the 6th Division is the "red-eyed monster" Motozo Hosaka. (Leopard dead.jpg)

This chapter is also the first time to reveal the strength of Huofu Thief Kai, the only remaining armed force with a little fighting power.

As a unit that Akari has reminded countless times in this book that "this is the last bit of the Edo shogunate and has some combat effectiveness", it still needs a little bit of cards.