Just when Eiichi Shimizu finished speaking, the originally noisy scene suddenly fell into silence.
The aunt who whispers.
The uncle with an indifferent expression.
A young girl with a shocked expression on her face.
Qingdeng remained calm.
All the people at the scene, regardless of age or sex, seemed to have been cast by time-pause magic. They were motionless and even their breathing became much softer.
It wasn't until a long time passed that the still time began to flow again.
"Hey, what did he just say?"
"Eiichi Shimizu is... making a war announcement to Nioh?"
"Oh, it's going to be a lot of fun now!"
"Will 'Nioh' be here?"
"It can't be such a coincidence, right?"
…
Sanako and Souji turned their heads sideways at the same time with great tacit understanding, and looked at Aomori who was standing behind them.
After seeing Qing Deng still looking calm and composed, their slightly tight facial lines finally relaxed a little.
At this time, Shimizu Eiichi spoke again:
"I believe everyone present is more or less aware of what happened last night, right?"
At the same time that Shimizu Eiichi's hoarse voice sounded again, all the people present who were whispering immediately shut their mouths in a wise manner - no one dared to make noise when the number one killer of the Shimizu clan was delivering a speech.
"Although from a standpoint, Tachibana Aoden, who caused us heavy losses, is a hateful guy, at the same time, I have to admit that he is worthy of the title of 'Benevolent King'."
"... Such superb skills are amazing."
"However, if we look closely at his performance last night, he just took advantage of our unpreparedness to kill some insignificant characters."
"How unreasonable is it to act like this?"
"If you have the guts, come here!"
Qing Shuirong suddenly raised his voice, and his aura also changed accordingly, and his every move was filled with vitality and strange confidence.
Aoto had experienced a similar aura from Naoki Ii, Iemo Tokugawa, Tenzouin and others - an aura that had the power of life and death in the world in which he lived.
"Tachibana Aoden, I'm right here!"
"My important subordinates are all here too!"
"If you want to fight, then we will accompany you to the end!"
"To show my respect for you, I have issued an unprecedented mobilization order!"
"I have mobilized the maximum amount of weapons and the maximum combat power here, in this Qingshui Residence!"
"Ju Qingden, this is a 'feast' specially prepared for you!"
"Ju Qingden, just let your horse come over!"
"We are waiting for your arrival at any time!"
After finishing speaking, Qingshui Eiichi once again glanced around with a scornful gaze, then turned around leisurely and walked back to Qingshui Residence at a leisurely pace.
"Blood Tiger" Sakurai Shitaro and others followed closely behind him and filed in.
After a while, silence returned outside the gate of Qingshui Residence.
The group of Yakuza responsible for transporting supplies continued to work and continued to carry weapons into Qingshui Residence.
It was as if nothing had happened, leaving the ignorant crowd all over the place looking at each other.
After a while, the scene became less violently commotion.
"It's really a battle post..."
"Hiss, hiss... look, my goosebumps are rising! The all-out war between 'Nioh' and the Qingshui clan... I can't help but feel excited just imagining it!"
"Don't get too excited there. Whether Ju Qingden dares to accept the challenge or not is still a question."
"'Nioh' will definitely come!"
"I don't think so. Did you see it just now? The martial arts masters of the Qingshui clan gathered together, and Eiichi Qingshui personally took part in the battle, and also prepared such a large number of weapons. Such a large amount of equipment, all Enough to arm an army of 300 men!”
"Sigh... Why has it been so uneventful recently... What kind of group was that some time ago? Oh, yes, the anti-barbarian group was causing trouble there. It was finally eliminated, but new turmoil emerged... …”
"I hope that 'nioh' can give the Qingshui clan some color like he did with the heavy damage to the anti-barbarian group."
"It's impossible, right? It's not like you don't know that the Qingshui clan is much more powerful than the rebel group!"
"I know, so I don't expect Nioh to do anything to the Qingshui clan. As long as they suffer a little bit, I will be satisfied."
"I just hope they don't fight too fiercely...at least they don't set fire to it."
…
"Hey, that Tachibana Aoden is in trouble now. Whether he 'accepts the challenge' or 'doesn't accept the challenge', he will feel very uncomfortable."
"Yes. If you accept the challenge, you will definitely die; if you do not accept the challenge, you will be regarded as a coward."
"If it were me, I would definitely choose the latter - although it would be embarrassing, at least I can save my life."
"Hey, hey, right? In addition to 'certain death' and 'being treated as a coward,' Tachibana Aoden has a third option - kill everyone in Qingshui Residence, and then walk in from there. , just walk out from there.”
"Tch...you think he is Ogata Ittosai?"
…
Discussions with different contents were heard all around.
Those with excited and excited expressions at this moment are mostly young people.
In short, they are a bunch of ignorant people who have never experienced combat.
Throughout the ages, those who welcome blood and fire, except for those who can benefit from it, are mostly half-little ghosts who are very young, have only passion and energy, and think they are mature in thinking.
The elderly uncles and aunts all expressed concern about the Qingshui clan's big move.
A random sneeze by the big shots is like a hurricane that is difficult to withstand for ordinary people like them.
Especially the people who live nearby are even more worried.
They were afraid that one day in the future, knives, arrows, flames, and human severed limbs would fly out of Qingshui Residence and fall into their homes...
Of course, there are also some people who are just having fun.
These people probably live far away from the Qingshui Residence. They think that no matter how fierce the fight between "Nioh" and the Qingshui clan is, it will not involve them, so they hold a "no matter what happens, no matter what" attitude from beginning to end. It’s none of my business anyway” mentality.
After seeing that there was no excitement to be seen, the onlookers gathered near Qingshui Residence left in twos and threes.
Soon, only a few people remained in the same place - Qingdeng and others were among them.
Sanako and Souji once again turned their heads sideways and carefully looked at Qingto's expression.
Deep in their beautiful eyes, there are complex colors that are difficult to hide.
Qingden knew what they were thinking.
In order to make the two girls relax, he smiled slightly:
"let's go."
Qingdeng turned around and left without hesitation.
Sanako and Souji quickly followed up, taking three steps at a time.
"That...Tachibana-kun."
Abruptly, the director-general hesitated and whispered:
"You must never do something stupid when your head gets hot..."
Hearing the sincere reminder from the General Secretary, Qingden couldn't help but laugh.
Faced with the battle invitation thrown by Shimizu Eiichi, "to challenge" or "not to challenge" - this is indeed a difficult question for Qingto, no matter which one he chooses, it will lead to serious consequences.
Needless to say the former.
In addition to extraordinary high-end combat forces such as Eiichi Shimizu and "Blood Tiger" Shitaro Sakurai, middle and low-level combat forces who are not strong but certainly large in number, as well as a large number of swords, guns, armor, bows and arrows and other equipment, the inside of Shimizu Residence Most of them also hide a large number of firearms.
Although the shogunate has not issued a strict ban, it has been strictly controlling the circulation of firearms.
There are certainly people who are confused by chanting sutras, but at least among the senior officials of the shogunate, there are not many such fools.
Most of the senior officials in the shogunate are sensible people, and they all know deeply that swords and guns are simply useless in the face of firearms that have been iterated to the current version.
That is to say, those radical anti-foreigners who are ignorant and have not opened their eyes to the world still foolishly believe in "spiritual theory" and think that they can split the bullets coming from the air and lift the bullets with their so-called fighting spirit and morale alone. A steam battleship in the sea.
However, the shogunate Nara's extremely capable grassroots management ability...
They are right - although there are, but
Relying on the power of "the strongest Yakuza Group in Kanto", Eiichi Shimizu can purchase a large number of firearms from overseas with just a move of his mouth.
In addition, Qingshui Residence itself is a big trouble that is difficult to deal with.
Qingshui Residence adopts the architectural style of the Azuchi-Momoyama period as a whole, and its main focus is luxury and unrestrainedness - in other words, the terrain in Qingshui Residence is very complex.
Not only are there numerous houses and complex passages, but there is also the Qingshui Tower, a vantage point with a good view from which you can overlook the entire Qingshui Residence.
With just a few modifications, Qingshui Residence can be transformed into an impenetrable fortress.
Attacking a fortress with a large number of combatants, many of whom are top-notch experts, and equipped with weapons, food and other supplies... Even if it is as strong as Qingdeng, even if it has the most optimistic plan, it is likely to be disastrous.
However, if Qingden doesn't fight...
As the saying goes: Yakuza is a creature that cannot survive if it loses face.
But what about samurai?
For a long time, the Edo shogunate has been trying its best to promote the so-called "bushido".
Early Bushido still had many merits.
It originally had a set of self-contained moral codes, the core of which is eight characters, namely: name, loyalty, courage, righteousness, etiquette, sincerity, restraint and benevolence.
The importance of these eight words decreases in order.
The first one is "reputation", and the next seven words are virtues recognized by everyone such as self-denial, courage, humility and so on.
For a samurai, the most important thing is "reputation", and only by completing the next seven words can you gain reputation and become a respected and true samurai.
However, as Japan entered the Edo period, in order to maintain their dominance, the feudal rulers headed by the Tokugawa family misinterpreted Bushido without authorization and carried out drastic transformation of Bushido, simplifying the original eight-character core into three. The characters are name, loyalty, and courage.
Therefore, under the hand of the Edo shogunate, benevolence, self-restraint, and honesty were all dispensable things. The samurai only needed to have a strong sense of honor, a sense of loyalty that would never betray their master, and the ability to kill enemies for their master. Strong force is enough.
In this way, the Edo shogunate introduced a number of measures and systems to spread this distorted bushido ideology.
For example, "Killing the body to avoid", as long as the conditions are met, the samurai can kill rude civilians at will.
Another example is the famous "revenge". The Edo shogunate gave the samurai the right to legal revenge.
As long as one's honor is seriously damaged, such as parents being killed or wife being robbed, one can apply for "revenge" from superiors.
After the application is approved, you can justifiably go to your enemies to settle accounts.
If your enemy is out of town, the government will also issue a pass to you. Some kind-hearted officials will even give you some money.
When you go through all kinds of hardships to kill your enemy and succeed in revenge, the government will often praise and affirm your behavior, and the law will usually give you a more lenient judgment - allowing you to commit seppuku, making you decent. Go to hell.
Therefore, under the leadership of the Edo shogunate, the distorted concept of honor of "use your sword to defend your honor" dominated the spiritual world of the samurai.
Throughout the Edo period, the culture of dueling has been prevalent.
Any little incident can become a reason for the samurai to duel.
You touched my knife, you just scolded me, you touched my wife’s little hand, “What are you looking at?”, “What are you looking at?”…
There was a time when warriors who first signed each other's numbers and then drew swords to cut each other could be seen everywhere by the river beach, beside the bridge, on the grass.
Because the private fights between the samurai were so cruel and fierce, the Edo shogunate had to start to remedy the situation and issued clear regulations strictly prohibiting private fights among the samurai.
The promulgation of this law had some effect, and the warriors no longer fought over trivial matters.
However, the dueling culture did not disappear because of this, and warriors still regarded honor as their fate.
When one's honor is seriously damaged, if one does not take immediate and effective targeted action, someone will stab him in the back...
Currently, Qingdeng is caught in such a predicament...
What Shimizu Eiichi did just now was basically... no, not "basic", but "complete" - it was completely "flying dragon riding on the face"!
First, he criticized Qingdeng's surprise attack last night as nothing remarkable.
Then he asked Qingdeng by name to come here to decide the outcome.
Although at first glance, the Qingshui clan’s behavior of assembling a large amount of combat power, trying to fight with more and less, and inviting others to come over for a decisive battle at their own home court, seems very cheap, but in fact, it will have another impact on the Qingshui clan. There are not many people who look at each other.
Wearing good gear to hunt tigers – there’s no shame in that.
Qingden is that fearsome tiger.
All in all, if Qingto fails to respond to Eiichi Shimizu's provocation, he will be criticized by the world.
If he refuses to fight, there will definitely be a lot of good people out there spreading the word: "Benevolent King" is nothing great, he only dares to bully the weak, and when he encounters an opponent that is difficult to defeat, he will tuck his tail between his legs and run away.
From now on, although Qingdeng cannot be said to be socially dead, there is a high probability that he will bear a very unpleasant reputation.
As soon as he thought of this, Qingdeng unconsciously raised his right hand and pressed the hilt of Echizenzumi's sword at his waist.
At this moment, a cold little hand stretched out from the side unexpectedly and pressed Qingdeng's right wrist.
"Miss Sanako?"
Qingden raised his eyes and cast a surprised look at Sanako who suddenly held his hand.
**********
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Time flies so fast! In the blink of an eye, Volume 2 has been written for more than 10 months. I have been writing since October last year until now.
Leopard is guilty! I almost always fail every day! (Crying leopard head.jpg)
(End of chapter)
