Time goes back to the evening of the previous day.
It was already dark when Tuka led more than 20 well-laden men ashore and returned home.
Everyone held torches and walked through the woods into the village laughing and joking, and agreed to pick up the goods from the Thor the next morning. Just as he was about to wave goodbye, hundreds of people came out from behind the houses in the village and from the shadows of the fences, huffing and puffing.
Before these Ainu people could see who was coming, dozens of Jumonji spears and straight guns emerged from the darkness with sharp edges, surrounding Tuka and the others.
"Who!" Tuka was shocked. He immediately woke up from the alcohol, threw the two bottles of wine he was carrying towards the dark figure in front of him, and reached for the short knife at his waist.
Unexpectedly, as soon as his hand was placed on the handle of the knife, a long blade feather spear was already pressing heavily on his neck. The sharp blade-like gun tip cut through the skin, and a trace of blood immediately flowed down.
The Shachuan people next to him were shocked when they saw it. Everyone casually threw away the goods on their shoulders. Some pulled out the short knives they had exchanged for the Thor, while others held wooden spears or bows and arrows, and rushed towards the black shadows around them to fight.
In the darkness, the attackers wielded spears that were one to two meters long, stabbing the Ainu to the ground from the front and sides.
Continuous screams echoed over the village. Soon, apart from Tuka, who had been restrained early in the morning, only half of the other Shachuan people standing in the field were left.
The massacre in the clearing caused uproar among the families in the village. Seven or eight Ainu women screamed and broke free from the obstruction of their family members. They rushed out of the house and ran towards the clearing.
"Wow!" The sound of a samurai sword being unsheathed sounded. Several rays of cold light kept passing by, and these women fell into the empty field one after another.
Tuka's eyes were about to burst at this moment, but he had no choice but to be restrained by others, so he could only shout: "Stop it! Let the woman go!"
At this time, a voice sounded from more than ten steps away: "Chief Tuka, tell your people not to act rashly again! Otherwise..."
Tuka didn't wait for the man to finish speaking, and shouted hurriedly, asking the tribesmen not to move.
In the dark night, a man took out flint and tinder gold from the "fire bag", cracked it a few times, and the cattail spikes mixed with saltpeter powder were quickly ignited. Immediately afterwards, white lanterns with circular split rhombus patterns painted on their surfaces lit up one after another.
At this time, Tuka finally saw clearly that what was painted on the lantern was the family crest of the Matsumae clan.
"What are you going to do?!" He didn't expect Matsumae-han to react so quickly. Something happened just in the afternoon, and these guys came in the evening.
"Put down your weapons!" Several gun-wielding warriors with bowls tied around their heads shouted. The surviving Ainu had no choice but to drop their weapons and squat on the ground dejectedly.
At this time, the surrounding warriors moved out of the way. A man wearing a small sleeves and a haori outer cover followed a samurai and walked in from outside the crowd.
"Is that you?" Through the light of the lantern, Tuka could clearly see the two leaders.
The samurai who came over was the leader of the four Matsumae clan samurai who boarded the Thor in the afternoon; as for the man next to him, he had never seen it before.
The leading samurai looked stern and said sternly: "The Sachuan clan colluded with the foreign barbarians and killed the Matsumae family samurai. On the order of Lord Shimamoru, we will capture all the Sachuan clan! Tie these people up!"
"おー!!!" All the warriors present responded in unison, and then a dozen warriors came forward with ropes and tied the hands of Tuka and others who had put down their weapons.
Tuka and several tribesmen struggled while shouting angrily at the warrior who gave the order: "The Sagawa tribe is not under the jurisdiction of the Matsumae clan, why are you arresting us?!"
The leading samurai sneered, pointed at the man wearing a haori beside him and said: "This is Hidaya Kyubey. He has been authorized by this domain. From now on, the trading rights in Sagawa will belong to Hidaya."
At this time, Hida Yakubei smiled apologetically and bowed to the samurai, saying, "Thank you very much, Sekiguchi-sama."
What the samurai was talking about was the "place request system" implemented by the Matsumae clan mentioned earlier.
In other words, the Matsumae Domain granted trading rights and fishing and hunting rights to Sagawa to Hida Yakuhei and levied taxes on him. Tuka and the tribesmen he led have changed from local masters to indigenous laborers squeezed by Hida House.
Tuca struggled hard and shouted: "Where is my family?!"
"Your family are all in the house over there. If you leave the house without orders, you will be killed immediately." The leading warrior saw that the Ainu people present had been tied up, and then waved his hand, and a dozen warriors escorted him Tuka and others entered the largest house in the village - Tuka's own home.
Immediately, several officials from the Sapporo Tax Office began to torture Tuka and others in turn, asking them to tell everything about the Thor.
It is said that during the Edo period, the government's attitude towards suspects was just eight words: be ruthless and never forgive.
Because the samurai was shot and killed during the day, these officials would only be more ruthless against the Ainu people who were colluding with the foreign barbarians in front of them.
As soon as he entered the door, Tuka's clothes were stripped off. Before he could react, an official with a bamboo whip full of thorns whipped him hard on the back.
The thorns of the bamboo whip dug deeply into his back, and Tuka immediately felt excruciating pain. At this time, even if he wanted to confess, he couldn't say anything, and all his mouth was used for wailing.
After Tuka was whipped more than a dozen times, the officials who tortured him temporarily stopped. According to these people's past experience, basically if they are whipped 50 times in a row, no matter how strong a person is, they will die of anger.
"Master Patriarch! Tell me. What is your relationship with the foreigners on that big ship? How many people are there? Where do they come from?"
"I, I just met them today... today. Where did they come from... they didn't, didn't say." Tuka had run out of energy to shout and spoke intermittently.
Several officials looked at each other and it seemed that they did not get the answers they wanted in the first round of torture. At this time, one of the officials nodded, and the other two people immediately tied Tuka's hands and feet behind his back, and then hoisted him up, about three or four inches above the ground. Then the prickly bamboo whip began to shine again.
The second round of interrogation began.
Outside the house, a dozen Ainu people kneeling on the ground were frightened to death when they heard the howls coming from the big house.
A warrior looked at these natives and yelled: "If you don't tell the truth, not only will you be whipped, but you will also be executed tomorrow morning!"
"What do you think their leader's name is?!" The sound of whipping in the room stopped again, and an official asked fiercely.
"ら...い...じ...ん." Tuka's body was already covered with scars, and many of the wounds were punctured with large and small bamboo thorns.
"Nonsense! How could anyone call him such a name! Hit him again!" The interrogating official became furious. According to the descriptions of the three samurai who came back, those people all had oriental faces. They were obviously a group of foreign pirates who dared to claim to be gods.
After a few more whips, Tuka was already unconscious.
After that, the dozen Ainu people kneeling outside the house were tortured. In the end, the officials obtained the same confession as what Tuka had said before.
After the leading warrior named Sekiguchi received the report from the interrogating official, he couldn't figure it out for a while.
It is said that the negotiators under his leadership were shot and killed by a group of inexplicable foreigners, which was really unprecedented. If we let it go, which tribe in Ezo will be afraid of Matsumae Clan in the future?
For the Matsumae clan, the death of one of his samurai was nothing, but the loss of the clan's face was a big deal.
So after he and his men left the Thor and landed in despair, they immediately hurried back to the tax office in Sapporo.
The official in charge of the Sapporo Tax Office was furious after hearing Sekiguchi's report. The Matsudaira clan had never suffered such a big loss. He immediately ordered Sekiguchi to lead dozens of warriors of the clan and ronin and servants recruited from several merchants to rush to Shachuan overnight to try to repel the foreign barbarians.
But Sekiguchi knew that the opponent's ship was too big, and the Ainu's small boat or the sekiguchi of this domain would definitely not be able to knock it down.
While everyone was thinking about it, a ronin leader suddenly suggested that he had a mixed Ainu and Islander under his command. He could have this person disguise himself as a member of the Sagawa tribe tomorrow and go to the big ship to report the news; to lure those on the big ship. Land and then ambush them.
Sekiguchi's eyes lit up, this was a good idea. As for the location of the ambush, it was chosen in the dense forest southwest of the village. There are thick bushes there, and if the more than a hundred people under my command hide there, the foreign barbarians will definitely not be able to find them.
Guan Guan was still a little wary of the musket in the hands of the foreign barbarians that could kill his men with one shot without igniting it. He thought for a while and ordered his men to build wooden shields overnight.
Fortunately, in the villages of the Shachuan tribe, in addition to leather goods, the most abundant materials are birch wood, which is very convenient to make wooden shields. By daybreak, a dozen wooden shields were ready and camouflaged with moss and mud.
When the samurai set out to enter the ambush site, they saw at the pass a forest of swords and guns, thick wooden shields, and seven or eight iron cannons. They felt relieved, so they sent out the mixed-race Ainu spy, and then the samurai ronin passed by. Put on a disguise and wait for the other party to come ashore.
…
Sekiguchi has been bleeding from his crotch since he was shot. He kept rolling on the ground, trying to resolve the severe pain in his lower body. The two men rushed forward with their backs bent. When they saw the injured position of Guan Kou, they were helpless for a moment.
You can't take off your pants in public...
One of the men took out a handkerchief from his pocket, sprinkled some styptic powder on it, then hurriedly wrapped Sekiguchi's crotch, then put him on his back and ran towards the village.
Their horses were tied up in the village. The injuries were so severe that Sekikou could only be taken back to the Sapporo Tax Office for treatment.
At the entrance of the village outside the woods, Hida Ya Kyubey and several of his men were anxiously waiting for news from the front. He originally thought that after this battle, all the fur goods, fishing and hunting business in Shachuan would be his.
But he was very surprised by the whistling sounds coming from the other side of the woods. Just as he was about to send one of his men to see what was going on, he saw a warrior running out of the woods with a man on his back, followed by another.
"What's going on?" Hida Yajubei stepped forward and asked.
"Master Sekiguchi was hit by a barbarian iron cannon and was seriously injured. We have to send him to Sapporo quickly." The samurai carrying Sekiguchi stopped and the other man hurriedly went to lead the horse.
"How is the battle ahead?"
"The Yi people's iron cannons are very sharp. Kyubey, I advise you to come with us."
While the two were talking, a continuous "bang bang bang" sound like a heavy rain came from far away from the beach. The expression of the samurai who was carrying the pass changed, and he lost his voice and said: "Why is this barbarian's musket so sharp! Jiubey, it seems that our side is in danger, please run away."
After saying that, he and his companion who led the horse helped the pass to the horse. In the panic, the two of them touched the wound on Sekiguchi's crotch. The unconscious Sekiguchi let out a scream and fainted completely.
The two warriors didn't care about this. After getting on their horses, they grabbed the reins of the horse at the pass and galloped towards the east.
Hida Yakubei was so frightened that he didn't know what to do and quickly called his men to run away together. As for those ronin who have been recruited, just wish yourself good luck...
