I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 904: Return? Or continue to attack Changzhou? [4300]

"'Fight for Mr. Tachibana'...? Harada-kun, forgive me for being blunt, but what makes you think that if you follow Mr. Tachibana, a better world will eventually come? He is not a god or Buddha."

Shannan Jingsuke frowned slightly and asked a blunt question without any euphemism.

Harada Sanosuke's response was equally straightforward:

"Hey, intuition!"

"Intuition?"

Under the astonished gaze of Yamanami Keisuke, Harada Sanosuke scratched his hair and continued:

"Although this statement seems to be childish, my intuition tells me that if you trust Mr. Ju more, you will not go wrong!"

“My intuition has always been pretty accurate.”

"It is precisely because of this accurate intuition that I have been able to escape danger many times."

"So... Mr. Shannan, you might as well trust Mr. Tachibana more."

"You should know better than me how powerful Mr. Ju is."

Shannan Jingsuke gritted his teeth:

"But... his great ability does not mean that he has the ability to command the world like Yu Tang..."

"Mr. Tachibana can do it!"

The sonorous words interrupted the hesitant murmurs.

Harada Sanosuke stared straight at Yamanami Keisuke, and his firm gaze without any confusion made the latter subconsciously look away, not daring to look at him.

"Hasn't Mr. Tachibana made the thousands of people in Qinjin Domain live a peaceful and stable life?"

"Although it is still a long way from the 'Yu and Tang Era', at least under the protection of Mr. Ju, no blind guy will dare to cause trouble in Qinjin!"

"Mr. Shannan, what I'm going to say next may be strange, I hope you can listen to the end."

"I think you underestimate Mr. Orange."

"Do you really think that Mr. Tachibana's lifelong ambition is just to be the lord of a city and a place, and then quietly work for Tokugawa and guard the borders for the shogunate?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Shannan Jingsuke seemed to have heard some "devil's voice". His expression suddenly changed and even his face turned pale. He subconsciously raised his eyes and looked towards the entrance of the tent, fearing that there might be ears on the other side of the wall.

"Harada-kun, don't say such nonsense!"

Harada Sanosuke ignored his warning and continued:

"No! Now that things have come to this, I must make things clear!"

"Indeed, Mr. Tachibana always looks calm and has no desires or demands."

"But my intuition tells me that Mr. Ju has great ambitions hidden deep in his heart!"

"I'm not making this up! I have evidence!"

"How could a person who has no intention of fighting for the world work so tirelessly to strengthen the national strength of the Qinjin Domain and improve the combat effectiveness of the Shinsengumi?"

"If we are talking about maintaining the stability of the capital, then our current combat power is too much!"

"Mr. Ju currently possesses enough energy to conquer the world!"

"My guess is that it's probably because Mr. Tachibana has a very deep friendship with Daiki-kun and Daimida, so he doesn't have the heart to challenge the shogunate."

"Therefore, I often can't help but wonder: If one day, Daiki-kun and Dai-mi-dai-sho are gone, will Mr. Tachibana be able to express his 'great ambition' without any scruples?"

"What kind of world does Mr. Tachibana want? I'm not very smart, so I don't have any idea."

"But I can be sure... no, I can be sure that Mr. Tachibana will never consciously let the farmers live a miserable life in order to maintain his own status."

"I want to follow Mr. Ju to conquer the world!"

"I want to see with my own eyes what kind of world Mr. Tachibana will create!"

"The above are the sincere words of me, Harada Sanosuke."

"Mr. Shannan, if you are interested, please continue to bear witness with me."

"If one day Mr. Tachibana lets us down... at least we'll have someone else to complain to."

Harada Sanosuke finished speaking.

He ended his impassioned speech with a smile and a teasing tone.

"..."

Shannan Jingzhu remained silent for a long time, his eyes flickering.

After a while, he spoke slowly - with a self-deprecating smile.

"...Harada-kun, you impressed me."

"To be honest, I always thought you were stupid."

"Now it seems... maybe you are the wisest person in the Shinsengumi!"

"The so-called 'great wisdom appears foolish' probably refers to people like you."

Harada Sanosuke laughed:
"Mr. Shannan, you are too kind!"

"I can't bear the reputation of 'great wisdom but appearing foolish'."

"I am indeed very stupid. If I were smart, I wouldn't be unable to recognize all Chinese characters today!"

"I am just a person who acts purely on intuition. Once I have made up my mind, I will never give up. I have come this far by sheer luck."

After they finished speaking, the two smiled at each other.

Compared with just now, Shannan Jingsuke seemed like a different person at this moment.

He seemed to have figured something out, or let go of something. His confused eyes and melancholy expression disappeared instantly.

There is a peaceful atmosphere inside and outside the tent.

However... this peace only lasted for a moment.

Suddenly, there was a sound of hurried footsteps coming from outside the tent, approaching from afar.

The sound arrives before the footsteps:
"Shannan! Shannan!"

It was the voice of Hijikata Toshizo.

With a whoosh, Hijikata Toshizo opened the tent curtain and half of his body stuck inside.

"Sannan! Hmm? Sanosuke, why are you here? Well! I'll just inform you at the same time!"

Hijikata Toshizo's expression was particularly ugly, and the lines on his handsome facial features were tense.

For a long time, Hijikata Toshizo, who was both wise and brave and had experienced many storms, had always been known as "not changing his color when Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, and not blinking when a deer appeared on his left."

At this moment, he was so out of control...It was the first time for both Yamanami Keisuke and Harada Sanosuke to see this!

The two immediately realized that something big must have happened!

At this moment, the two of them immediately completed the identity change - Yamanami Keisuke became the "Shinsengumi Chief" and Harada Sanosuke became the "Shinsengumi Tenth Division Captain".

Yamanami Keisuke subconsciously grabbed the sword beside him and asked quickly:
"Hikata-kun, what happened?"

Hijikata Toshizo said in a deep voice:
"Come with me! We'll talk while we're on the road!"

Harada Sanosuke asked:
"Hurry? Where are we going?"

"Let's go to the main camp! Tachibana is waiting for us!"

Before he could finish his words, he snatched it away.

Although Yamanami Keisuke and Harada Sanosuke didn't understand why, they followed immediately.

……

……

Ta-ta! Ta-ta! Ta-ta! Ta-ta! Ta-ta!

Three fast horses roared past, the sound of their hooves was so loud that it startled countless birds along the way.

Led by Hijikata Toshizo, Yamanami and Harada mounted the fastest horses, hurriedly left the vanguard camp, took a shortcut, and headed straight for the central army.

Fortunately, it is a sunny night and the moon is very round. The bright moonlight fills the earth, saving the trouble of carrying a lantern.

On the way, Hijikata Toshizo explained the situation to the two of them in a concise manner.

After he finished speaking, the two of them were first stunned like clay sculptures or wooden carvings, and then they couldn't help but stare with their eyes wide open, their facial expressions dominated by intense shock.

Even the mature and steady Shannan Jingsuke couldn't help but fall into a moment of daze.

Harada Sanosuke screamed out:
"What?! The special forces raided Owari Domain across the sea?!" Hijikata Toshizo corrected him without any sadness or joy:

"Not just the Special Forces. According to reports, a large number of Western faces were found in the army that attacked Owari Domain."

"Westerners? This, this... people from Choshu collude with Westerners? What on earth is this?!"

No wonder he was so surprised.

In recent years, Choshu has been implementing a radical policy of expelling foreigners.

Not long ago, they were fighting the Westerners to the death in the "Shimonoseki War", but now they have united with each other again, which would surprise anyone.

About 10 seconds later, Yamanami Keisuke finally recovered.

He gritted his teeth, his brows furrowed into the shape of a "川" character, and even his hands holding the reins unconsciously increased the strength.

"Owari Domain... This location is not good...!"

As a well-educated and knowledgeable man, Sannan Keisuke certainly knew how dangerous the geographical location of the Nobi Plain was.

The familiar saying “He who controls Meinong controls the world” is no joke!

"Stop talking! The horse is running so fast, be careful not to bite your tongue!"

Yamanami and Harada both turned their heads to look at Hijikata Toshizo in front of them.

Hijikata Toshizo continued in a solemn tone:

"Hurry up!"

"Let's talk about it in detail after we meet with Tachibana at the main camp!"

After saying this, he said no more and continued on his way in silence.

Yamanami Keisuke and Harada Sanosuke looked at each other, then simultaneously lowered their upper bodies and raised their center of gravity, trying to reduce the pressure on the horses and increase speed as much as possible.

……

……

The three of them galloped all the way, running back and forth for half an hour, and finally saw the candlelight in the central army camp.

When the guards at the camp saw unknown people approaching, they immediately drew their weapons and stepped forward to intercept them.

After seeing the face of the person coming clearly, they hurriedly stood on both sides and made way.

"It's the vice-captain, the commander-in-chief, and the captain of the 10th squad!"

"Let them go! Let them go now!"

No galloping on horseback is allowed in the camp - this is one of the basic military rules of the Shinsengumi.

Therefore, after passing the inspection of the guards, Hijikata Toshizo and others tightened the reins in their hands and stopped the horses under their crotches.

They couldn't wait to dismount before the horses stopped.

“Ouch…! Ouch…!”

Accompanied by groans of pain, the three horses they were riding began foaming at the mouth as soon as they stood still and collapsed to the ground.

In order to reach the central army camp as quickly as possible, they almost broke the whips in their hands and squeezed out all the horses' strength.

As we all know, horse riding is a physically demanding activity.

After nearly half an hour of continuous speeding, they already felt numbness in their waists and backs and pain in the inner thighs.

However, the situation is urgent.

A sense of responsibility drove them to take big steps and rush to the main camp without stopping.

In a moment, a huge flag with the word "誠" came into their sight.

Below the flag with the word "誠" is the main tent of the camp.

The "Royal Guards" composed of the elite swordsmen of the First Squadron firmly guard this place.

Before entering the big tent, Hijikata Toshizo and others heard noisy noises.

"Return! We must return as soon as possible!"

This is the voice of Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, the lord of Owari Domain.

"Return? Are we just going to give up halfway?!"

This is the voice of Matsudaira Yōho, Lord of the Aizu Domain.

Hearing this, the three of them took a few quick steps and drew aside the curtain of the big tent. In an instant, the heat from the crowd and the strong "smell of gunpowder" rushed towards them.

Qing Deng sat in the first seat with an expressionless face.

The other generals sat on both sides of him in order according to their status.

Before Hijikata Toshizo and his men arrived, the generals in the tent were already arguing fiercely.

Only after they lifted the curtain and entered the tent did things finally calm down a bit.

Hijikata Toshizo bowed slightly:

"Sorry, we're late."

Qing Deng raised his chin:
"You've arrived much earlier than I expected. Please take a seat."

The three of them responded in unison, walked into the tent and looked for their respective seats.

At this point, all the senior generals of the Long March Corps have arrived.

Looking up, except for a very few people like Qing Deng and Hijikata Toshizo, the expressions of the rest of the people were as ugly as they could be.

If you think about it, this isn't surprising.

Before tonight, they all smiled, fully believing that Changzhou was finished and that the army would sweep away the two kingdoms of Changzhou and Zhou with an unstoppable force.

I didn't expect... Changzhou actually had such a hidden card!
The Choshu army launched a surprise attack on Owari Domain across the sea, and Nagoya Castle fell... When this news came, the scene was truly like a bombshell!
First of all, most people have never thought of such a tactic.

Taking a ship and crossing the ocean to attack the enemy's rear... they had never heard of such tactics!

Secondly, the fall of Owari Domain would inevitably have an extremely serious impact on the current expedition to Changchun.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Choshu army's capture of Owari Domain was equivalent to cutting Japan in half!

With Owari Domain as its base, the Choshu army could attack from all directions.

To the west, you can go straight to Qingdeng’s base camp Qinjin Domain, and then seize Kyoto.

Go east... and you can attack Kanto! Occupy Edo!

The sudden change left many people at a loss as to what to do.

What should I do next?
Should we continue to attack Choshu?
Or should we return to Owari to provide assistance?
"General Tachibana!"

Suddenly, a loud shout attracted the attention of everyone present.

Everyone raised their eyes and looked in the direction of the voice - the speaker was Tokugawa Yoshikatsu.

Tokugawa Yoshikatsu looked at Qing Deng with a look that was half annoyed and half pleading:

"General Tachibana! Please order the troops to return as soon as possible! Recapture Owari before the Choshu army loses its foothold!"

The fall of Owari Domain...The person who was most anxious about this was undoubtedly the lord of Owari Domain, Tokugawa Yoshikatsu.

He was originally opposed to the "Choshu Expedition" and did not want to get involved in this war. He was only forced by the shogunate to lead his troops into the war reluctantly.

He was forced to do a job he didn't want to do, and before he finished the work, he suddenly learned that his house had been occupied and his family members were all in danger... Even if all the words in the world were used, it would be difficult to accurately describe his current state of mind.

In this case, his anxiety and panic, as well as his current loss of composure, are indeed understandable.

His proposal was clear: Return immediately! Defeat the Choshu army! Liberate Owari!

Of course, if some people advocate returning, there will naturally be others who oppose it.

As expected, as soon as Tokugawa Yoshikatsu finished speaking, voices of opposition were heard immediately:
"Return?! We have already fought this far! You want us to return?!"

Right opposite Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, the lord of Aizu Domain, Matsudaira Yoshiyasu, frowned and glared at him.

"If we go back now, all our efforts will be wasted!"

Tokugawa Yoshikatsu immediately launched a sharp rebuttal:

"Matsudaira Higo-no-kami, stop talking nonsense here! It's not your Aizu domain that's been conquered, so of course you're not in a hurry!"

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