"Shimazaki...Kondo, Isamu, have you heard the recent news?" Hijikata Toizo sat on the eaves with a straw stick in his mouth.
Shusuke Kondo's body can no longer support him to carry out more activities and has retreated behind the scenes. Shusuke Kondo is regarded as his father and Isamu Shimazaki, who has been with him since he was a child, also inherited the surname Kondo.
From the young Miyagawa Katsugoro, to Shimazaki Katsuta, to Shimazaki Isamu, and now Kondo Isamu.
"I heard." Kondo stood on the roof, looking at the sea in the distance, "Where is Souji?"
"Souji is training those disciples." Hijikata Toshizo did not go to see the sea. He was a little absent-minded. "Now that you have heard about it, what are your plans?"
"Wait and see."
"Wait and see?"
"That's right." Isamu Kondo closed his eyes, "The disciples of Natural Rishin-ryu are not strong enough yet. If there are only a few of us, no matter how powerful a single person is, we will not be able to stand firm in the troubled times. .”
"But Okita's teaching methods...are a bit rough?" Another voice came from below.
"Saito." Isamu Kondo called out his name.
"It's good to be rough, but Okita's mental state... is indeed a bit wrong." Toshizo Hijikata sighed.
"When did it start?" Isamu Kondo sat down, "Did she retire from Mr. Shusuke? Or did she get a waiver?"
"Earlier." Saito pointed his finger, "It seems that you two really don't understand Okita."
"What do you know?" Kondo and Hijikata, who looked very calm, tilted their heads at the same time.
Saito rolled his eyes and sighed: "Forget it, you better not know."
Okita has been emotionally unstable since leaving Zuo Cun.
In other words, these two people are deliberately avoiding and pretending to be stupid?
Saito glanced at the two people talking suspiciously.
Well, why do you want to explore so much?
...
"The explosive power is completely insufficient. How are you going to fight your opponents like this?" Okita Souji glared at the opponent lying opposite her who was knocked to the ground by her.
"Teacher Okita, I..." The students who were knocked to the ground did not dare to refute Okita Souji.
Okita Souji grabbed his collar: "You."
She looked at the other students watching around her: "And you."
"Listen to me."
"What kind of era do you think you live in? A peaceful era where practicing swordsmanship is just for fun?"
All the students lowered their heads and no one dared to speak.
Throwing the student to the ground, Okita turned back and came to the wall.
Okita pulled out his katana from the wall and stood in the center of the dojo.
"Tell me, what is this?"
"Knife fight."
"knife."
"The famous sword California Kiyomitsu."
Various answers.
Okita's eyes scanned everyone through the blade.
"This is a knife, this is a weapon for killing people!"
She hates that iron cannot become steel.
"Why do you think you picked up such a weapon?"
"Those who can gather here and want to pick up the sword are all ambitious people."
"...I know who your enemy is, and I know even better the strength of your enemy, so don't think that this thing can be used with just brute force."
"...This era needs more people to save it, so when you take the next test, don't show me this soft-footed shrimp attitude." Okita Souji's eyes were cold. Harsh.
"Yes!" Many students in the trial defense hall responded in unison.
"Rintaro-kun, Souji, has he been like this before?" Genzaburo Inoue asked the man next to him.
Rintaro Okita smiled awkwardly: "Souji is quite gentle. Maybe she is only like this when she is teaching students."
He put the tea cup aside, with a trace of nostalgia in his eyes: "Sure enough, he is still the same Souji he was when he was a child, and he is cuter..."
...
time flies.
The past few months have seemed peaceful, without any major disturbances, at least for Zuo Cun.
The shogunate organized a patrol team, but the results were not good. The base of two hundred people was still too large. Compared with the flexible bandits, these vassal soldiers were too cumbersome. In a total of half a year, only two groups of bandits were wiped out.
Samura and Ryoma found the Edo side. Samura did not go to the trial defense hall, nor did he take any other unnecessary actions. He just found Katsu Kaishu, the respected founder of the new navy.
After Katsu Kaishu learned about Zuo Cun and Ryoma's intentions, he did not choose to expel them. Instead, he admired these three young people (Miss Aaron was also included).
But he didn't agree to Samura and Ryoma to follow them to Tosa.
"What I do is not for any government. Everything I do is for this country, nothing more."
Katsu Kaishu said this to the three people.
In the end, the two people stayed with Sheng Haishu, and they never mentioned taking Katsu Haishu away, but learned from Sheng Haishou's knowledge about the navy.
Everything seemed so peaceful.
Until July.
A group of "anti-foreigners" frantically attacked the British Embassy.
"Who did this? Has anyone claimed responsibility for this?" Tokugawa Iemo looked out through the curtains with a gloomy look.
The entire shogunate was silent, and everyone was silent.
"This is the second time. The second time a foreigner has died on Japanese soil." He gritted his teeth and slammed the table, with veins popping up on his forehead. "An American died in January. In July, another British diplomat died."
"How many foreigners are there in Japan? Can't we protect such a small number of people!?"
"You think about it in yourselves, what should I give James in January? How much money and materials will it take to settle the matter?"
"A fight against foreigners, is this the result you want to see?"
"Kill all the foreigners on our land? Then American warships, Russian warships, British warships, and Dutch warships all sailed to Edo to put cannons in our mouths?"
"I know what you want to do, but before you do these things, can you be smarter?"
"No matter what my people do, it's me in the end. We need to shoulder this responsibility, and we are almost running out of ammunition and food!"
"Now there are bandits all over the country, people are panicked, various parties and organizations are rising, and tax revenue is simply not enough! Do you really want to plunge us into civil strife and division in front of the whole world?"
Tokugawa Iemo roared.
This was the first time since he became a general that he was so angry.
He breathed heavily, a hand on his forehead.
"Check, arrange for someone to check. I need to know who attacked the British Embassy this time."
