I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 909: Qing Deng/Shuten Douji: "Let's go to the place where the world is divided into two!" [7100]

Of course, Qing Deng couldn't say it so bluntly, but that's the general idea.

Qing Deng didn't want someone to jump out and cause trouble in the rear when he was leading his troops to fight against the Choshu army.

Although most of the feudal lords in the capital were called upon to go on the Western Expedition, they were powerless even if they wanted to cause trouble, but it was always a good idea to be more cautious.

After dealing with the various feudal lords in the capital for such a long time, Qing Deng has finally come to understand that every one of them is a group of guys who are good at sitting on the fence!

Gyeonggi Province was the main battlefield for the struggle between the "Sonjo faction" and the "Shogunate faction". Over time, the feudal lords in Gyeonggi Province all developed a "flexible" posture.

When the "Zunyang Faction" was in power, they rushed to curry favor with the imperial court.

When the "pro-shogunate faction" became powerful, they all became loyal to the shogunate.

Qing Deng would never believe it if they said that after learning that Nobi had fallen, they had no thoughts of "surrendering to Choshu" or the urge of "flirting with Choshu"!

Therefore, when he was halfway back to Otsu, Aoto had already sent a large number of envoys to the various feudal lords in the capital to inform them that "Tachibana Aoto will soon return to Otsu."

The King of Mercy has returned - this sentence can not only boost the morale of one's own soldiers and civilians, but can also be used to deter the villains who are indecisive!
As expected, as soon as Qingdeng sent out the envoy, the various vassal states in the capital immediately sent people to Tianjin to express their loyalty.

Things like "We have irreconcilable ties with Choshu!" and "We swear to stand with the shogunate!"... In short, they are all clichés.

Some vassal states were quite sensible and took the initiative to request troops to help.

Although they were very enthusiastic, and seemed to be saying "I won't go back unless you agree", Qing Deng politely declined all their requests for help.

Qingdeng didn't expect them to send troops to join the war, as long as they guarded their own land and didn't cause trouble.

Besides, even if they mobilized troops to help, it would be of no use.

According to the information currently known, the Choshu army, which captured the two castles of Nagoya and Sunpu with an unstoppable force, possessed quite advanced guns and cannons, and there was no obvious generation gap compared to the Shinsengumi's equipment.

In other words, the next battle will be a modern war with guns and cannons bombarding each other!

In a battle of this level, there is absolutely no room for feudal troops to intervene.

If the armies of the various vassal states in the capital were sent into such a battlefield, they would probably not be able to hold out for even half an hour before being defeated and thrown into disarray.

By then, Qingdeng will have to spend more effort to gather the remaining soldiers and prevent morale from declining, which will not be worth the cost.

……

……

Just three days after Qing Deng rushed back to Otsu, the "Second Army" led by Hijikata Toshizo arrived safely in Otsu!
That afternoon, Kondo Isami's "Third Army" arrived in Otsu.

The next morning, Yamanami Keisuke's "Fourth Army" arrived at Otsu.

At this point, the "Second China Return", which lasted a total of 13 days, was officially declared over!

13 days, 350 kilometers...the infantry's daily marching speed reached an astonishing 26.9 kilometers!

Such an achievement has already surpassed the "First Great Return to China" of the Hashiba Army!
When the Hashiba army rushed back to the capital, their daily marching speed was only 20-25 kilometers.

Of course, it is easy to imagine that such an amazing achievement was achieved at a considerable cost.

In order to boost morale, Hijikata Toshizo and others did not ride horses, but traveled on foot like ordinary soldiers!
The superiors did not just talk, nor did they order them to work hard and fight like crazy. Instead, they ate the same food and suffered the same hardships as them... In this way, how could the three armies not fight for their lives?
After Yamanami Keisuke led the "Fourth Army" to Otsu, Qingdeng immediately summoned him, Hijikata Toshizo, and Kondo Isami.

At this moment, looking at the three people sitting side by side in front of him, Qing Deng pursed his lips and sighed with mixed feelings:
"Saizo, Yong, Jingsuke, thank you for your hard work...!"

Hijikata Toshizo smiled and spread his hands:

"I don't think it's hard. To me, this is nothing. The soldiers with average physique are the ones who have the hardest time. It's really hard for them to hold on until now..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kondo Isami and Yamanami Keisuke both nodded in agreement.

All three of them are swordsmen who are capable of taking on a hundred men at once, so they naturally wouldn't lack physical strength.

On the other hand, ordinary people... they don't have this ability.

Qing Deng naturally knew clearly about the current situation of the infantry.

After Hijikata Toshizo's "Second Army" successfully arrived at Otsu, he couldn't wait to go and check it out.

Although he had prepared himself mentally, he still felt depressed after witnessing the tragic situation of the infantry.

With only two legs, running 2 kilometers in 13 days... Just looking at these numbers, it is not difficult to imagine how painful this march was.

There is very little rest time, not even for meals... It is hard to describe the physical exhaustion and mental torture this causes to people with concrete words.

There are even many people who run while sleeping - with their eyes half closed, the whole person is in a dazed state of half asleep and half awake, and they move forward purely on instinct.

The Shinsengumi soldiers were able to endure this tremendous suffering and successfully complete the arduous task of the "Second Great Return to China" mainly thanks to two things - discipline and physical strength.

There is no need to say much about the former.

The first article of the Shinsengumi Code is "All actions must be under command."

For a long time, the Metropolitan Inspection Bureau has proved one thing to all members of the Shinsengumi with its solid and outstanding achievements: their swords will never show mercy due to any external conditions!
[Note: The Shinsengumi’s military police, led by Kondo Isami]

It is certainly tiring and painful to continue running forward.

But if you stop and disobey the military order to "return to Otsu as soon as possible", the knife of the Inspection Bureau will chop you down!
It’s not difficult to decide what to choose.

In order to save their lives, they could only grit their teeth and hold on, using perseverance and the desire to survive to make up for their lack of physical strength.

As we all know, the desire to survive has extremely strong energy and can stimulate the hidden potential in the human body.

If strict military discipline played a decisive role, then the latter... that is, a strong physique, played an important role.

Since the formation of the Shinsengumi, Qing Deng has spared no effort to improve the food standards of the soldiers.

There was plenty of rice, and from time to time you could eat greasy meat, fish and eggs.

Although from a modern perspective, this level of food is nothing, but compared with the food of other armies of the same era, the mere "all you can eat rice" is enough to make countless people envious.

Facts have proved that the money Qingdeng spent on this was not wasted.

Thanks to their strong bodies nourished by rich nutrition, most of the team members successfully survived the difficult journey home.

But even so, after arriving at Otsu, many soldiers were so exhausted that they almost died.

Many people took off their leggings and found that their legs were red and swollen like their legs and had basically lost all feeling.

As for those who fainted from exhaustion as soon as they stopped, there are countless of them.

However, the number of people who fell behind due to lack of persistence was far less than Qing Deng had expected.

Such a result was really beyond their expectations.

In response to Hijikata Toshizo's words, Qing Deng nodded slightly and sighed:
"Yeah, you're right, everyone has worked hard."

"This time, everyone has made a contribution!"

"I will definitely reward you handsomely later!"

After hearing this, Hijikata Toshizo grinned and said half-jokingly:
"Reward you all? If we want to reward all the soldiers who participated in the 'Second Great Return from China', the cost will be quite high."

Qingdeng smiled slightly:
"Isn't it that after making so much money, you want to spend it all at once when it's time to spend it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere at the scene became a little more relaxed.

However, in just a moment, Qing Deng restored the atmosphere in the room to solemnity.

"We will discuss the specific reward details later."

"Now, let's talk about the current war."

When Hijikata Toshizo and others heard this, they knew that the main topic would come next, so they calmed down, restrained their expressions, and stared at Qing Deng intently.

Shannan Jingsuke couldn't help but ask first:

"Qing Deng, what is the current situation of Nobi?"

Because he had just returned and his body was still covered with dust that he had not had time to wash off, he was not yet aware of the current battle situation.

Qing Deng said in a concise and deep voice:
"They looted the entire city of Nagoya, then gathered all their troops and supplies and marched eastward."

"Four days ago, they captured Sunpu Castle without any effort."

"After a brief rest, they abandoned Sunpu Castle the day before yesterday and continued to march eastward, heading straight for Edo."

Before Qing Deng finished speaking, Shannan Jingsuke was unable to control himself and froze on the spot, his expression dominated by intense shock.

Fortunately, he was the chief of the Shinsengumi and the elder of the Qinjin domain, and he had developed a strong heart after experiencing countless storms.

After just a few breaths, he calmed down and muttered:
"...Their goal is very clear, they are here to capture Edo and destroy the shogunate!"

Hijikata Toshizo curled his lips, his cheeks filled with disdain.

"Let's not talk about Nagoya Castle for now, what about Sunpu Castle?"

"How come they couldn't hold out for even half a day when they had such a strong city and knew in advance that the Choshu army was going to attack?"

"What a waste!"

Kondo Isami smiled wryly to smooth things over:
"It can't be helped. You are not unaware of the slackness of the military preparations of the shogunate."

"Sumpu Castle has never experienced a war since the opening of Edo."

"It is inevitable that the fighting power will be weakened after a long absence of war."

"To be honest, the fact that the defenders of Sunpu Castle dared to fight in the battlefield instead of abandoning the city and running away has exceeded my expectations."

"You really can't be too demanding of others."

Shannan Keisuke took over the conversation:

"It only took such a short time to march from Nagoya Castle in Owari to Sunpu Castle in Suruga... The speed of the Choshu army should not be underestimated...!"

Hijikata Toshizo, who was used to being sharp-tongued, added at the right time:
"Sometimes, a traffic road that is too good can have the opposite effect..."

The "very excellent traffic road" he mentioned was naturally referring to Donghai Street.

The difference between the "Five Streets" headed by Donghai Street and other roads of the same era is like the difference between a highway and an ordinary road.

The Choshu army that headed straight for Edo was not large in size.

According to currently known intelligence, its size will not exceed five thousand people.

Small size means flexibility.

On this basis, coupled with the extremely superior road conditions of the Tokai Street...it is not surprising that the Choshu Army can march at such a fast speed.

If you spread out the map, it is not difficult to find that the current Choshu army is very close to Edo!

Further east from Sunpu Castle are Sagami Province and Musashi Province... Further east from Musashi Province is Edo!
Kondo Isami sighed:
"There is no time to lose..."

"Their good days are over!"

Qing Deng's sudden shout attracted the attention of Hijikata Toshizo and others.

"What are we gathered here for?"

"Now, all the troops have returned to Otsu smoothly."

"Now that everyone is here, we can finally hold a formal military meeting!"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze, letting his eyes pass through the faces of the three people in front of him one by one.

"Sui San, go gather the deputy captains and above!"

"I will hold the first military meeting of this battle!"

……

……

Donghai Street, somewhere——

Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!

Metal equipment such as muskets and chain mail collided with each other, making crisp and harsh sounds.

Looking ahead, a huge army of thousands of people was marching slowly along the streets of Donghai.

The special forces team with 2,000 soldiers and the "Slavic Legion" with 2,000 soldiers, totaling 4,000 soldiers and horses - they held their heads high, their brows were filled with joy, and they marched towards Guandong with great momentum!
They captured Nagoya and Sunpu castles one after another, and were invincible, with no one to match them... No wonder their morale was so high.

If you look down from above, this army attacking Edo directly looks like a spear piercing the heart of the shogunate!

"Amano Spear" - the code name of this operation was taken from this.

In that legendary mythological era, Izanagi and Izanami, under the order of the god of the jungle, used the Amanuma Spear to stir up the chaos of the world above. A drop of water dripping from the tip of the spear became the silt energy Goroshima, completing the creation of the world.

And now, the Hoshin Party and the Choshu clan are also going to use their "Amano Spear" to create a new world!

At this moment, at the main camp of the central army, Shuten-doji was riding majestically on a tall horse. Interestingly, he was not wearing the popular chain mail that was easy to move, but a dark red armor in the style of the Heian period.

The spade-shaped pith on the front of the helmet is raised high, reflecting star-like light under the sunlight.

Great armor... Not to mention in today's era, even in the Warring States Period three hundred years ago, this was already an outdated armor.

The popular armor during the Warring States Period was the Juzu, whose typical feature was a slight curve on the breastplate, which could effectively reduce the lethality of bullets.

The most notable feature of the great armor is that it is square and box-like, with the breastplate, back armor and shoulder armor all flat, and cannot protect against bullets at all.

In a nutshell, this armor is simply not suitable for the current battlefield environment.

Katsura Kogoro once found an opportunity to ask the person involved why Shuten-doji wore such outdated and heavy armor.

When asked, the other party replied:
"There's no special reason. It's just my personal preference. Don't you think I look very heroic in this armor?"

Any normal army can only have one leader.

The nominal commander-in-chief of this "united army" was none other than Shuten-doji.

Let Shuten-doji be the boss... Katsura Kogoro and others from the "Choshu clique" were quite dissatisfied with this.

However, no matter how dissatisfied they were, they could only endure it and not get angry.

After all, the "Amano Spear" was planned by the Fazhu Party, and the three warships used to transport the troops were also obtained by them with great effort. They took great credit for it, and letting them be the general-in-chief of this "United Army" was indeed not considered as suppressing Choshu.

Just as Shuten-doji was sitting on his horse, gazing at the eastern horizon with high spirits, a deep male voice came from beside him:

"Master Shuten-doji, urgent letter!"

I saw Kappa riding a fast horse, handing over the letter in his hand breathlessly.

"Kappa, thank you for your hard work."

Shuten-doji reached out to take it, pulled out the letter, and read it quickly at a glance.

After a while, he seemed to have seen something interesting, his eyebrows raised slightly, his eyes flashed with excitement, and the corners of his mouth stretched to the left and right, almost reaching his ears.

"... Kappa, help me pass the message to the entire army - stop advancing and rest on the spot!"

Katsura Kogoro happened to be next to Shuten-doji at this time.

When he heard Shuten-doji's order to stop the march, he immediately asked:

"Shuten-doji, what happened?"

Shuten-doji put away the corners of his lips that were raised high, pursed his lips and smiled, slowly put down the letter in his hand, turned his head and looked towards the west behind him - at this moment, the excitement in his eyes became even stronger.

"The Shinsengumi... Niou is here!"

……

……

Qinjin Fan, Dajin, Judi, military conference room——

The general-in-chief, three chiefs (deputy chief, director, chief general), three assistants (deputy chief's assistant, director's assistant, chief general's assistant), captains of each team, vice-captains of each team...all the senior generals of the Shinsengumi are here!
Qing Deng sat on the main seat with his horse and sword in his hands, and the others sat on his left and right sides in order according to their status.

Some of them looked exhausted, and it was obvious that they had just arrived in Otsu. They were called to the meeting without even having time to change their clothes.

Although their faces were filled with fatigue, they all perked up and stared intently at the map in front of them.

In front of them was a detailed map that showed the topography from the capital to Edo, as well as the locations of various important gateways.

"…The above is the current battle situation."

Yamanami Keisuke said this while taking back the thin stick in his hand that was used to mark various places on the map and sitting back in his original position.

Just now, he gave a concise summary of the current situation.

After learning that Sunpu Castle had fallen and the Choshu army had penetrated deep into the heart of Suruga Province, many people present were stunned.

Harada Sanosuke scratched his hair:

"Hey, hey... Isn't this bad? Judging from the map, the Choshu army is almost reaching Edo!"

Nagakura Shinpachi said in a deep voice:
"There's no other way... I can only hurry on my way."

Fujido Heisuke twitched his lips:
"Are you kidding me... We just completed the 'Second Great Return to China' and now we are about to launch the 'Great Pursuit of Tōkaidō'?"

Inoue Genzaburo shook his head:
"Impossible. The soldiers are tired. They have tried their best to get back to Otsu as soon as possible! They are no longer able to launch any 'Tokaido Great Pursuit' in such a short time..."

Harada Sanosuke said urgently:
"Even so, we have no choice but to fight! Master Kondo, Aunt Fumi...they are still in Edo! If Edo falls, won't they be in trouble?!"

Everyone was arguing about it.

The originally quite quiet military meeting room gradually became noisy.

"..."

Suddenly, Qing Deng silently stretched out his hand and pressed it a few times.

Seeing this, everyone shut up and stopped arguing.

The military meeting room, which was noisy a second ago, now became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"Don't be impatient."

Qing Deng said slowly as he retracted his outstretched hand.

"Before we consider 'pursuit', we must first consider 'how to defeat the enemy forces that come to intercept us'."

As soon as these words were spoken, many people cast confused looks at Qing Deng.

Fujido Heisuke tilted his head:

"'The enemy army is coming to stop us'? Mr. Tachibana, hasn't the Choshu army already penetrated deep into the heart of Suruga Province? How could they come to stop us?"

Qingdeng smiled slightly:
"No, they will definitely split into two groups. One group will continue to attack Edo, and the other group will return to the east to block our westward advance!"

His tone was so powerful that it made people unconsciously believe it.

Nagakura Shinpachi asked intermittently:

"This... Mr. Ju, could it be that you have already received relevant information?"

Qingdeng shook his head:

"No, this is my personal judgment. If I were the general of the Choshu army, I would definitely split my troops into two groups! If I don't try to stop the Shinsengumi's front and try to delay time, I will never dare to let go and attack Edo!"

……

……

Suruga Province, the main camp of the Choshu Army, the main camp——

"...In summary, this is what happened. Aoto has led the Shinsengumi back to Otsu."

The kappa standing beside Shuten-doji calmly recounted the information he had just learned about the "Return of the King of Nioh".

In an instant, the atmosphere inside and outside the camp was filled with panic!

Nioh is coming!

The shock this sentence brought to the generals in the camp was no less than "a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers suddenly descended on their heads"!
The "Choshu" generals, who had been defeated again and again by Qingdeng and had never gotten any good results under his sword, all had pale faces.

Even Katsura Kogoro and Takasugi Shinsaku couldn't help but frown and clench their fists as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Although the cadres of the Law-Execution Party managed to remain calm, the expressions on their faces also became very ugly - of course, with the exception of Shuten-doji, who had a calm smile on his face since just now, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking at the moment.

“This, this is impossible…!”

Nu Nu took a deep breath and her face turned pale.

"From the heart of Choshu to Otsu... they covered such a long distance in just 13 days?! This is impossible!"

Nune expressed the thoughts of many people present - they could never imagine that the Shinsengumi could get back to Gyeonggi in such a short time!

"Nu Nu, don't panic."

Suddenly, Shuten-doji glanced sideways and gave Nunu a reproachful look.

"Although you are new here, you are a cadre of our Fazhu Party. It is inappropriate to be so rash."

“Yes, yes… I’m sorry to have embarrassed you…”

Nu Nu lowered her head, her face full of guilt.

Faced with Shuten-doji's rebuke, she didn't dare to refute at all, and just silently admitted her mistake like a good child.

The next moment, Shuten-doji straightened his body slightly and spoke in a clear voice:

"As you have just heard, the King has returned."

"It's wartime now, wasting time is a serious crime, so I'll be frank - I'm going to split the troops into two groups! I'll command one group and continue to attack Edo in the east! The other group will be commanded by others and will return to the west to set up a defense line to block the advance of the Shinsengumi!"

In a flash, astonished eyes wandered around the camp.

The cow ghost smacked his lips:

"Divide, divide the troops? Lord Shuten-doji, this is not right, right? Now that Nioh is back, we should concentrate our forces and try to take over Edo as soon as possible, right? Why should we disperse our already limited forces?"

Shuten-doji said calmly:
"At this moment, Niou is right behind us. In this situation, can we concentrate on attacking Edo?"

This sentence left those who looked puzzled speechless.

Shuten-doji continued:

"It took the Shinsengumi only 13 days to rush back to Otsu from the heart of Choshu - this shows that they had a strong marching ability."

"Since they can rush back to Otsu at such a speed, there is no guarantee that they can chase us at the same speed."

"Don't underestimate Edo Castle!"

"Edo Castle is an iron wall built by the Tokugawa family at great expense!"

"What's more, there are unknown fighting forces such as Seiichiro Otani and Sadayoshi Chiba in Edo Town."

"If we fail to capture Edo for a long time, and the Shinsengumi takes this opportunity to chase us and hit us in the ass... What should we do at that time?"

Everyone: "..."

No one refuted.

After a moment, Haifangzhu said quietly:
"But... do we have enough troops to attack Edo and intercept the Shinsengumi?"

Shuten Doji smiled slightly:
"Don't worry! As long as we hold that place, we can hold back the Shinsengumi with only a few troops!"

……

……

Qinjin Fan, Dajin, Judi, military conference room——

"In my opinion, the Choshu army that turned back to stop us will definitely deploy defenses here."

After saying that, Qing Deng leaned down and pointed at the map in front of him.

When everyone saw where he was pointing, they all showed a playful look on their faces, and their facial expressions changed wonderfully.

Nagakura Shinpachi took a deep breath:
"Eh... isn't this place...?!"

Fujido Heisuke blinked blankly:

"Starting a war here? Is this true?"

Harada Sanosuke looked confused:
"What's going on? What's this place? Okehazama?"

Shannan Jingsuke smiled slightly:
“It’s not Okehazama. It’s more famous than Okehazama!”

Hijikata Toshizo sneered:
"After 'The Great Return of China', are we going to imitate the famous scene from the Warring States Period again?"

Qing Deng ignored everyone's complicated emotions and said calmly:
"The Choshu Army will definitely deploy defenses here! So we must prepare early!"

……

Aoto/Shuten-doji:

"Immediately head to the place where the world is divided into two - Sekigahara!"

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PS: I suddenly want to write a modern fiction with a shrine maiden, a female ghost, a female samurai, and a female ninja, just like "Senren Banka". I will start writing when I have the chance in the future.