Chapter 19 19. On the Sword Sanuki

Sakamoto Ryoma's request for a trip to the feudal government was quickly approved.The purpose of this trip is to go to the castle of Marugame in Zanzhou to learn swordsmanship with others.In fact, his real purpose is to take Changzhou directly from Marugame, and meet with Zhishi of King Qin of Changzhou at the foot of Hagi Castle to investigate the actual situation of the falling curtain movement. Only by traveling thousands of miles and seeing it with your own eyes can you know the authenticity.This is the law that Ryoma, who doesn't like reading, naturally follows. Wushi chanted about Changzhou all day like he was chanting sutras, but he had to go and see what Changzhou was like.Even if Wushi can successfully unite the whole feudal clan according to his own plan and join the movement to break the curtain, if Changzhou fails to unify its opinions, it will inevitably be defeated by the shogunate.

Around mid-October, Ryoma arrived in Marugame, Zanzhou.Marugame is the castle town of the 51,500 stone fiefdom of the Kyogoku clan. The main city is Horai Castle, which is small and beautiful.The shops here also look more elegant and elegant than those in Tosa. Although there are only 50,000 stones, it is worthy of being a famous prince, and its castle town is extraordinary.Ryoma walked along the main road in Honcho, sighing.In the same Shikoku, Tosa was very rough.It's incredible.Longma came from the city of 240,000 shi, but felt that his hometown was rustic. This may be because Zanzhou was influenced by the customs of Kyoto.

Ryoma walks into a tavern. "boss!" "coming." When Ryoma saw it, she was a neatly dressed, petite woman, a bit out of place in this sloppy tavern. "What's your name?" "Ah Chu." The woman said cheerfully, "You are Tosa's samurai master, right?" "Can you see it?" "It can be heard from the accent, and it can also be seen from the appearance." "Look?" "They all look like tuna." "Ha ha." Ryoma liked this Ah Chu a little bit. "If the boss is here, I would like to ask, who is the most powerful swordsman here?"

"The first is, of course, Mr. Fujisawa Gensai who lives in Doi Town, and then Mr. Yano Ichinojo, the head of the feudal kingdom's swordsmanship instructor, and the rest is just a big stick." "What a sharp mouth. I'm also a Tosa who wields a big stick. Can I compete with them?" "Oh, how can I, a waiter girl in a tavern, understand this matter?" "That's right." Ryoma laughed loudly, "Let me ask the boss. When will he come back?" "I am the boss here." Ah Chu said calmly. "Haha, you?" He looks only seventeen or eighteen years old, how could he be the boss?But she is obviously not an ordinary woman, with a high spirit and a quick figure. Although she is in Sanuki and looks a little darker, she can be called an Edo woman.Ryoma is deeply influenced by his sister Otome, and he likes this kind of capable woman very much.he laughed.

"What's so strange? My parents died early. Although this store is small, it's a pity to throw it away, so I started to operate it." "No, it's a pretty tavern." "yes?" After all, it is still a woman.She looks happy.Although she is very shrewd, she can see the innocence from her smiling face, and there is no trace of slickness left by the years on her face.It seemed that he was tempted by her, and Ryoma secretly screamed that it was not good. The wine was served.Ryoma drank a cup in one go. "I heard that there are merchant ships from Sanuki going to Kyoto, which are very profitable. People are good at doing business. The merchants say that the man from Sanuki is the woman from Awa."

"A man from Sanuki, a woman from Awa, a scholar from Iyo, and an oni warrior from Tosa Kochi." "That's right, it's unreasonable for a ghost warrior with high knowledge to say that." Longma smiled wryly. This remark refers to the characteristics of the people of the four countries and four states.The men in Sanuki are good at doing business, the women in Awa are very charming, and the people of Iyo are better at reading than martial arts. Compared with the people of these three places, the people of Tosa are simply alien, simple and rough.During the Warring States Period, the Nagasoga tribe who rose up in Tosa led his soldiers over the mountains of Shikoku, invaded the other three states, and soon conquered the entire Shikoku by force.In a word, Tosa was the invader who terrified the other three prefectures of Shikoku.

"Would you like a drink?" "Yeah." Ah Chu readily raised his cup. Fortunately, it was past noon and there were no other customers in the store. "Do you like to drink?" "I like it very much." "Then you go and warm up two liters of wine, we each have one liter." "One liter? It really is a ghost warrior." In the evening, Ah Chu was too drunk to stand still.She had been trying to manage the tavern business and had never had so much to drink during the day.She probably also hit it off with Ryoma at first sight. When it was time for dinner, some people who looked like students who were practicing swords in the martial arts hall under the city came to the tavern one after another.Some carpenters, masons and walkers also came to the shop.

"Chu." "Chu." Everyone shouted Ah Chu's name as soon as they came to the tavern.It is the custom in the shop that Ah Chu pours the first glass of wine.Most of the guests come for this reason.But this time, Ah Chu just casually responded "Come on", and still stayed around Longma. Everyone looked at the stranger with resentment and speculation. "Who is he?" He has a dusty look, his hair seems to have not been combed for several days, and the hair on the temples is curled up, like Fudo Myo in ragged clothes.But his smiling face made even men fall in love with him.

He's from Tosa, you can tell from his accent.The Tosa dialect is not as cadenced as the dialects in Edo and Kyoto, but every pronunciation is very clear, and even difficult to distinguish sounds can be distinguished. "Samurai on the way," a rogue-looking man put his hands in his arms and walked over casually, "Didn't you take Ah Chu down?" Ryoma suddenly put his hand into the man's arms. "Ouch!" Ryoma grabbed his wrist and pulled out a short knife with a white sheath smeared with oil. "You just hold this kind of thing and talk to people?"

"Brat." "Don't be brave. I heard that Sanzhou Marugame Castle Town is a town of etiquette. I just came to Baodi. Could this be your meeting ceremony?" Ryoma just grabbed the man's wrist, but the man seemed to be in pain, twisted his body and said, "Let me go." "It's really loud." Ryoma opened the lid of the wine bottle with his left hand, and said, "How about it? Let's have a drink." He handed the bottle to the man's left hand.The man took it and threw it at Ryoma's face.When Ryoma turned his head, the wine bottle hit the opposite wall.Ryoma let go of his hand.The man fell backwards, staggered and bumped into a fencing student who happened to enter the door.

"What are you doing!" The young warriors were all angry.They just waited to fight. "It's rude to hit me." "Sloppy. Sorry." "Have the guts to report your name." "Tosa Sakamoto Ryoma." Everyone changed color.As long as you are a swordsman, no one knows the name of Longma. However, none of them was sensible, relying on their numbers and power, they continued to show off their prestige. "What? Sakamoto of Tosa?" A samurai folded his arms across his chest in protest.From this point of view, these people have backgrounds, and maybe there are gangsters. "Masters, I'm in this area, known as Tuqide. Let me meet this one." Ryoma laughed.There is a river called Tokigawa that flows through here, probably it was born by the river of this river.Tu Qide's appearance is quite likable, and Ryoma actually has a good impression of him.It's funny to say, he looks like a teapot has been smashed. "Fight and fight, Tuqide." The young warrior behind him began to boo.So rough, no doubt a disciple. "Tu Qide, you are a well-known chivalrous man in this area, if you fail to step down here, it will be a shame." "Shut up!" Tu Qide stabbed Longma with a knife.Ryoma grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door. "Tu Qi De," Long Ma said, "I'll give you money, so be honest." "I do not need." Tu Qide threw out a piece of vermillion silver that Longma stuffed into his left hand. "No need? If this can make you honest faster than money, then I will do what you want." Ryoma raised his hand and hit him hard on the right cheek.Tu Qide staggered a few times and fell to the ground. "How can you go against a warrior like this. Take that piece of vermilion silver as compensation." Ryoma walked into the store. The young warriors held their breath.There is only one man who looks like a crooked melon, and he is not willing to show weakness at all. "Hmph, beat me up, are you relieved?" He scolded. Ryoma was speechless.The vassals in the famous vassals should have moral character, but I didn't expect this group of people to be so bad. He sat down bravely and ordered: "Ah Chu, the wine is cold, pour me a new one." Then he glanced at the samurai next to him and said, "Don't draw your swords, absolutely don't draw your swords. The warriors pull out When the sword comes, there will be blood. Whether you win or lose, it will hurt your status and family fortune. Don't lose the family business left by your ancestors just because of a small pettiness." Longma Gudong took a sip of wine, and said: "My The rough Tosa would like to offer a toast to everyone." He walked around aggressively.That clearly means that anyone who dares to be dishonest will be killed.A group of young warriors were already pale and trembling. "Hahaha." Ryoma suddenly changed his attitude, and said, "It's really hard to be a samurai. You can cut seppuku and deprive you of your identity at every turn." His eyes were different from before, and they became very close, looking at those young men as if they were his beloved brothers. warrior. The warriors all lowered their heads, they were already intimidated by the dragon horse. Ah Chu's heart suddenly moved.In this line of work, she has met many men, and sometimes even feels disgusted, but she has never seen a man with such kind eyes as Ryoma. "The samurai were scattered among the more than three hundred feudal clans. They ruled on one side, and no one obeyed the other. Therefore, everyone will definitely not drink the wine toasted by me, a Tosa feudal official of unknown origin. But what are we talking about here? Marugame's Kyogoku family , Tosa’s Yamauchi family, Japan will perish.” "Mr. Sakamoto," a samurai stood up, "please give me a cup." "Hold on, an extremely honest person like you is disgusting, I won't give you the cup." The young samurai suddenly felt fooled. "I just scanned it..." Long Ma said with a happy expression, "Those friends of yours are still looking at me aggressively. People like that will become big things in the future. But in the wine market Being stared at by someone like that makes it hard to drink. You should discuss it with that person. If you want, we might as well book this small shop and have a drink." After finishing speaking, he stood up. "Where are you going?" "Chu, I want to sleep, you go make the bed. Let them discuss it while I'm sleeping, so that Marugame and Tosa can reconcile." "I'll take you to the second floor." Ah Chu led the way. "Liar!" The young warrior who was aggressive just now shouted angrily. He is Matsuki Zenjuro, the second son of Matsuki Juro Zaemon, a horse-riding samurai of the Marugame Domain, and a senior disciple of Yano Ichinojo, the head of the swordsmanship instructor in the domain, and acts as an acting instructor. It is said that his swordsmanship has surpassed that of his master.He is the eldest of these fencing students and the best in kung fu.Naturally, only he is still full of airs. When Longma reached the second floor, he asked Ah Chu to spread the quilt, and snored loudly as soon as he lay down. Although he is a weird person, he is very courageous, the clever Ah Chu couldn't help but think. When she went downstairs, Zenjuro Matsuki asked seriously, "What is that kid doing in Marugame?" "It is said that it is to learn swordsmanship with others." Ah Chu has already seen that this is not his real purpose. Ryoma wants to win over Marugame Fan when he has something to do in the future.This is one of the purposes of his trip.Like Takeshi, just starting an incident in Tosa will not achieve great things.He wants to develop comrades in other domains.Although Ryoma is lobbying, but because he is not good at speaking, he intends to act in his own way.Although this is a small feudal clan with only 50,000 shi, there must be many useful materials.Ryoma's attention is drawn to the aggressive young samurai Zenjuro Matsuki, who will come in handy in the future. After sleeping soundly on the second floor, he opened his eyes and saw that the room was already pitch black.He was about to get up when he noticed someone in the corner of the room. "Who?" "It's me, Ah Chu. I'll light the lamp right now. I thought you were dead, so I came up to take a look. I didn't expect the snoring to be so loud." Ryoma smiled wryly and stood up. "Those people downstairs are already waiting anxiously?" Ah Chu laughed out loud. "How could they wait for you? An outsider, drunk, let others wait outside, and ran upstairs to sleep alone. No matter how stupid a Marugame samurai is, he can't be so good-tempered." "Really?" Ryoma laughed. "Everyone got angry and said they were going to kill you at night." "Lie, how could a little fencing student have such courage? He must have sneaked away without knowing what to do. Matsuki Zenjuro is the only one who is so angry and yelling that he wants to kill me?" "Indeed." With a click, Ah Chu hit the flint and steel.Because it was too wet, I didn't hit it. "Can't hit?" "I'm good at lighting fires." In fact, Ah Chu's hands were shaking.She wanted the room to remain dark like this. "Achu, is that Songmu man very famous among the young warriors in the city?" "That's right." Ah Chu turned slightly contemptuous, "He comes from a good background, but since he was a kid, he has been playing around, and he's already in Yuanfu, and he still fights with hairy kids on the banks of the Tuqi River, so even now those low-ranking warriors still love to play with him." Let's drink together." "Okay, I really want to fight him." Ryoma clapped his hands.If Zenjuro Matsuki is wined over, dozens of samurai from the Marugame Domain can be summoned once an incident occurs. Hearing this, Ah Chu secretly complained, and finally lit the fire and lit the lamp, and the room suddenly brightened. "It's great. It's hard to be in the dark with beautiful women." That's why you talk so hard?Ah Chu was a little disappointed.The feeling that she expected him to hug her had completely disappeared. "Are you hungry?" "hungry." "Go and prepare the meal now." Ah Chu stood up angrily. "Ah Chu, go and find me an inn." "Are you going to live here long?" "I thought it would take four or five days to go around the martial arts hall under the city." "Why don't you just live here." She said in a hurry, and looked at Ryoma's face by the light.Ryoma was pondering. "That's it." He said loudly, "but are there any men here?" "No, there is only one maid, and she doesn't stay here at night." "Then you are really careless. My character is not very good." So what?Just now I hated being alone in the dark so much.Ah Chu thought to himself. The street market has quieted down.Unlike Kochi, Marugame prohibits people from walking on the streets after sunset. "What time is it?" "Just arrived in Xushi. So the store has..." "It's already closed? Oh, the night is really long in the city of Mr. Sanzhou Marugame Kyoju." "What about Kochi Castle?" "People there are still staying up late. Drinking alcohol, or talking loudly, even the sons of merchants are studying, and the young people are fishing for hackers. The people there are full of blood, and there will be riots soon." "What do you mean by hacking?" "You know Kochi very well." "Didn't you just mention it?" "yes?" Ryoma's wine doesn't seem to be fully sober yet. Ah Chu prepared dinner. "You can eat together too. I'm not used to being served by the side like this." "Then I will eat too." Ah Chu also started to eat.Although she is small, she has a good appetite.The sound of her chewing salted radish is very clear and pleasant. "What do you mean by fishing for Becks?" According to etiquette, men and women have different seats at the age of seven.At this time, Confucianism has penetrated into the whole society, only Tosa Kochi Castle is relatively enlightened.If there is an unmarried woman in the family, the elders will invite young men and women to the home.These people are "fishing Becks".The woman's parents will entertain these fishermen.Women may find a suitable husband-in-law from it, and fishermen may also get married by fate. This is a peculiar custom, and fishing for becks is usually done in disguise.The sons of sergeants and rural scholars may dress up as merchants, the sons of merchants may dress up as firefighters, and the girls often dress up as dancers.They will go to the house where guests are entertained in the evening, and then play together until the third watch rooster crows, perform Nagasaki magic, sing Zaemon tunes or play joruri, even those without much talent will sing two or three self-made songs ditty. "It's very lively." Ah Chu looked displeased, "Did you also catch Mrs. Sakamoto?" "No, I'm not married yet." Ryoma also replied with a displeased face. That night, they slept side by side. When Longma was about to fall asleep in a daze, Ah Chu got into his bed and said angrily, "Please let me be your woman." Her small body was hot. "Do you have a cold?" "Ok?" "The body is hot." "Humph." Ah Chu hated Longma for playing dumb, so he gritted his teeth and pinched Longma's chest hard.She exerted a lot of force, and the next day Ryoma had a bruise on his chest. "It hurts." "Do you still want me to pinch it?" "Forgive me." Ryoma was anxious, and Tosa's words came out. At night, Ah Chu finally didn't go back to sleep in his own bed.The next morning, when Ryoma opened his eyes, Ah Chu had already tidied up.There were busy voices downstairs.She had gotten up and went to clean up.A nice hostess. In the morning, Matsuki Zenjuro sent someone to find Ryoma and asked him to go to the martial arts school.Ryoma immediately made preparations, and went all the way to Yano City's martial arts gym. A disciple brought Ryoma to the hall.In the small yard, zinnias look extraordinarily beautiful in the sun.It's going to be winter soon.Ryoma was thinking so when Yano Ichinojo came out.He is older than Ryoma imagined, and very arrogant. "You are Sakamoto of Tosa?" Ryoma let out a "hmm", nodded and said nothing again.He has such a temperament, but Yano is annoyed. "Are you here to mess things up?" He looked contemptuous.Smash-ups are only for wandering swordsmen, and every dojo will give them a small amount of money to drive them away. "No, it seems that you invited me. Matsuki Zenjuro said so." "Forgive me for being rude, our Marugame's kung fu is rough, if you dare to make trouble here, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get out of your body." "Oh." "The disciples are also very rude, and even I, the master, find it difficult. Sakamoto," Yano Ichinojo smiled cunningly, and said, "What do you think?" "what?" "Although our martial arts school prohibits our disciples from competing with people from other sects, for those who take the initiative to challenge, we will use wheel fighting." "Wheel battle?" Ryoma was taken aback. "It can't be..." Long Ma thought for a while, and said, "Isn't it because you want to find trouble and fight?" "I want you to know the essence of our school. We also know that your Excellency is studying the Beichen One-Sword Style, and I would like to ask you to give me some advice." Soon, Matsuki Zenjuro appeared.He bowed to his master, smiled and nodded to Longma, and said, "The arena has been cleaned up." Ryoma stood up. "Can you lend me your armor and bamboo knife?" "Of course, even though our school is rough, we will never let you go into battle with bare hands." When Ryoma stood on the field and looked around, he was taken aback.This genre still uses the old practice method.Although everyone wore helmet armguards, they did not wear chest guards.Swordsmanship armor was originally created by Ryoma's uncle Chiba Shusaku and his master Nakanishi Chubei. Some schools are very stubborn against using armor in practice. They just wear a layer of commoner clothes, and they will be injured if they are cut by a bamboo knife.The same is true of this martial arts school, it is almost the same as going to the battlefield.If you are not careful, you may be knocked out or even die. Zenjuro Matsuki asked Ryoma to choose the bamboo sword himself, and Ryoma took a long sword without thinking. Ryoma did as they did, only put on the helmet and armguards, and walked to the center of the arena.The referee is Kanda Kahei, a veteran of the martial arts school, who is over fifty years old. "Sakamoto, we will dispatch all our members for this competition, do you accept it?" "no problem." Although Long Ma said so, he knew that there were nearly thirty people on the other side, and this was not an easy task.Also, there are no breaks in between.In addition, the armor here is different from Beichen's one-sword style. If you are hit by the opponent, you will be injured, and you will be more prone to fatigue.If Ryoma fell down, the opponents would swarm up and beat him up. Longma picked up the bamboo knife and tied his horse's stance. The first person to go into battle also came out, squatted in a horse stance, and then slashed at his head with a knife. Ryoma hit the opponent with one quick blow.Because he was not wearing armor, the man was hit hard by Ryoma and immediately fainted to the ground. However, as soon as this person fell, the next person had already attacked Ryoma.This person holds the knife in the middle.The moment he was about to raise the broadsword above his head, Ryoma took a big step forward with his right foot and hit him on the upper arm. The opponent's bamboo knife flew out and fell to the ground. The next person took a knife and slashed at Ryoma's knife. Ryoma lifted his sword and lightly hit the armguard, and his bamboo sword was also thrown away.It turns out that everyone's kung fu is so poor. After Ryoma got the essentials, he let go a lot, and knocked down a dozen people to the ground without any effort.But starting from the eleventh person, it became difficult to deal with.Its momentum is quite different from just now. Seeing that the opponent was slashing towards his face, Longma hurriedly accepted the move, thus giving the opponent an opportunity to take advantage of.It's a cunning tactic.The attacker will suddenly run behind Ryoma and attack. Ryoma is not good at dealing with this kind of melee, so he retreats step by step. There are two people who use this tactic.Ryoma cleverly made judgments and mainly attacked the opponent's body and armguards.Wearing this armor, this method of attack is the most effective. The fifteenth man deliberately dropped his knife and rushed forward with his bare hands.Ryoma dodged and hit him in the neck with a knife.But the opponent was still not to be outdone, and rushed towards Longma.Ryoma's figure couldn't help being a little messed up. At this time, another person quickly attacked Ryoma.Ryoma hit the back arm of the man in the back, and the man passed out on the spot.But the man with the bare hands still didn't give up, and wanted to catch the dragon horse.This is obviously a foul, but the referee did not speak.Longma couldn't help but get angry and kicked him.Thus entered the chaos.Things have reached this point, it is no different from the battlefield. By the time the twenty-fifth man had been defeated, Ryoma was out of breath, and his hands and feet were too tired to control him. Zenjuro Matsuki, who was sitting in front of the lower seat, saw the timing and said, "Let me do it." He stopped the next person who was about to enter the stage with his eyes, then saluted his master Yano Ichinojo, picked up the knife, and stood up. Ryoma is no longer complacent.Although he felt that he still had some strength, after all, he had challenged twenty-five people, and his breathing became disordered.With such a tired body, it is difficult to fight against Matsuki Zenjuro. "Mr. Matsuki is coming this time?" Ryoma wore a helmet and smiled, "Have you cleaned up the arena?" Ryoma was trying to buy himself time.Under his feet, two were hit in the ribs and lying on the ground unable to move, and one passed out.What he meant was to drag these people down. "No need." Song Mu said, "According to the practice of this martial arts school, let them stay on the field." "It's cruel. If you don't care, they may lose their lives." While talking, Ryoma kept walking back and forth.If you stand there still, the blood will flow up the leg.This will make the legs more tired and heavy, hindering movement. "I'll clean it up for you." Ryoma said, and slowly walked half a circle along the arena, but didn't get close to the pine tree. "No, that's it." Pinewood said in a deep voice.He is also looking for an opportunity to make a move.But Ryoma was walking ten paces away from him. Between the two sides, there were three fallen doormen.Matsuki can only attack Ryoma by jumping over the three of them. Ryoma adjusted his breath while swimming away.His physical strength gradually recovered, and his breathing began to become even. The husband sword is instant.This is the essence of swordsmanship summed up by Chiba Shuzuo, the founder of Beichen Yidao Style learned by Ryoma.This sentence means that the outcome of swordsmanship should be decided in an instant.Chiba Shusaku also once said: The heart and strength are the same.This sentence means that only when the heart, qi and strength are integrated, can you win. Ryoma is adjusting and trying to get to that state.So he just kept going.But Zenjuro Matsuki didn't want to give him this chance, he jumped over the doorman lying on the ground and approached step by step. "Hey!" He began to lure Ryoma to make a move.But Ryoma held the knife in the lower section and did not respond. Pine raised the long knife above his head, and firmly dismounted.Then, he jumped up with a whoosh, wanting to jump over another doorman.The moment he jumped up, Ryoma's sword slashed towards him like the wind. Pine was cut by the dragon horse and fell suddenly on the field. Ryoma threw away the knife and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Matsuki." Matsuki Zenjuro was hit hard in the ribs and couldn't stand up. "The so-called swordsmanship is nothing more than that." Ryoma walked away from his eyes and left, "It's interesting. I was also keen on practicing swords for a while and couldn't extricate myself. But whether it's victory or defeat, fighting with swords is just a matter of time. It's an outdated fighting style. If this kind of competition goes on for another hundred years, the world will not change for the better." I went to a martial arts gym to compete with others, but I said something like this.What a weirdo.Pine thought.But he fell to the ground, in extreme pain, unable to speak, unable to speak to Ryoma at all. Ryoma returned to his room, changed his clothes, picked up a pen, and wrote a short message standing up. "Give this to Mr. Matsuki. Oh, no, I'll give it to him when he's better." He handed the letter to a young disciple and walked out of the martial arts hall. Of course, the disciples here were very indifferent to him, and no one Come out and send them off. He went straight back to Ah Chu's tavern.There are many guests in the tavern.Ah Chu was greeted and sent off in high-heeled clogs, full of energy. The dragon horse went up to the second floor.After he slept for an hour, he was woken up by Ah Chu. "It's not good." Ah Chu said briefly, "What you did in the Yano City Zhicheng Martial Arts Hall has already spread throughout the castle town." "so what?" "People heard that the legendary Tosa hero is in my Ahchu shop, and they all came here." "I have become the signboard of your tavern? You should be happy that the business is so good." "Stop joking." Ah Chu said with a serious face, "My regular customers are all very angry." "Ah, this is not good." Ryoma jumped up and was about to go downstairs. "Where are you going?" "It's causing trouble to your store, I'll go down to appease you." "No!" Ah Chu said decisively, "I can take care of things in my own shop." She was very calm. "It's just that I heard that the disciples of Lord Yano's martial arts school say that you cannot leave Marugame castle alive." "Oh?" Ryoma leaned back and closed his eyes with a serious face. "Scared?" "Fear." "Then you can run away tonight." Ah Chu looked at him and said. I'm too naive, in order to show useless swordsmanship and ruin people's reputation.I originally came here to develop comrades from the young samurai of the Marugame Kyogoku family in the name of practicing swordsmanship, but unexpectedly, I made enemies instead.You're still too young, you... A bitter expression appeared on Ryoma's face, making Ah Chu feel cold all over. After the moon had risen at night, there was a knock on the door.The voice hesitated. Ah Chu jumped up.She decided that the person who knocked on the door must be someone from the Yano Martial Art Museum, quickly put on her clothes, handed the long and short swords to Ryoma, and said to him, "I will open the window on the second floor. The eaves of my house are short, you can jump down." "escape?" "Of course. Didn't I persuade you in the evening to flee from the city quickly?" Ah Chu wept softly. Ryoma stood up and said, "Okay, don't cry. I hate people crying the most." "Idiot, do you think people are willing to cry!" "Oh." "You fool." Ah Chu cried and beat Longma's chest, then hugged Longma.She is petite, as if hanging on the neck of a dragon horse. "But Ah Chu, I heard the knock on the door, it seems that he didn't intend to provoke you." "Can you hear it?" Ah Chu stopped crying. "Of course I can hear it. That voice... yes, it should be someone who is at a loss." "what?!" "Open the door for him, and if you ask me, tell him I'm upstairs." Ah Chu went downstairs, opened the window latch, and pushed the window halfway, a gust of wind rushed in from the darkness outside. "Who?" She held a candle and shone it. In the candlelight, I saw a very haggard samurai face. It was Matsu and Ki Zenjuro. "Is Mr. Sakamoto there?" "Mr. Pine, are you here to seek revenge?" "No." He showed Ah Chu a letter, the words on it were in Ryoma's handwriting.Ah Chu saw that the paper said: "The country has undergone great changes. If you want to make a difference for the world, please come to Ah Chu's shop tonight for an interview." Ah Chu read it happily in a low voice. "So here I am." "Really?" Ah Chu returned the letter to him. "Is he there?" "Yes." Ah Chu glanced at the roof.Ryoma's snoring was so deafening that the ceiling trembled. "That's him." Zenjuro Matsuki sat down on the first floor. "I'll wait for him here until he wakes up." I cannot sleep without waking him.Ah Chu began to calculate.She immediately went up to the second floor, woke up Ryoma who was already asleep, asked him to get dressed, and pushed him downstairs. Ryoma explained the current general trend of the world to Matsuki Zenjuro in detail. Zenjuro Matsuki had no idea what was going on in the world today. He was ignorant of the servility of the shogunate, the toughness of foreign envoys, and the movement of the Mito clan's anti-barbarian faction. Now that the pine wood knew these things, it was like dry wood meeting a raging fire, and it burned blazingly.Ryoma had already seen that he was born with passion. "In such a situation, how can we still sit still?" Song Mu excitedly shouted, "Drink, drink." Ryoma poured him wine.Come to think of it, Song Mu was beaten by Longma during the day, but at night he listened to his talk about the world and drank with him.There must be some reason for this. "I do." He trembled excitedly. Ryoma didn't ask him "what are you going to do" maliciously like others, in fact, even Ryoma himself didn't know what he was going to do.That's why he was going to Changzhou. To "do" a samurai is to give up his life.If you want him to cut seppuku, Pine will draw the knife on the spot.It was this peculiar courage that opened the prelude to the grand epic of the Meiji Restoration.At this time, there were no newspapers or broadcasts, and the information was much more blocked than people imagined.Ryoma's role at this time is equivalent to that of a journalist in later generations.He spread to Marugame what Takeshi Hanheita had collected from Edo.Next, he will go to Hagi Castle to interview current events, and then bring back what he interviewed to Tosa and tell his comrades. At this time, the famous Qin Wang Zhishi, everyone is like this.Yoshida Shoin, Kiyawahachiro, Saigo Takamori, Katsura Kogoro, and Sakamoto Ryoma are constantly traveling around, making friends with people with lofty ideals, spreading the situation from top to bottom, and uniting comrades from all over the country, so that everyone's fighting spirit is high.In short, these famous people with lofty ideals in history used their own two feet to visit various places, and then used their own two feet to spread them everywhere. "I'm not saying what to do now, but I hope you can respond when something happens in the future." "I understand. Just treat Sanzhou Marugame as my life, and take it whenever you need it." A few days later, Ryoma decided to leave Marugame. On the day of departure, Ah Chuchou got up and started busy preparing for Longma.There is a bathtub in Ah Chu’s house.She boiled hot water and put it in for Ryoma to bathe.She rolled up her sleeves and skirt to bathe Ryoma and see him off.She rubbed his back and even washed every nail for him.But she still put on an annoyed face. "You take care of me," Ryoma said while soaking in hot water, "but I don't say thank you. Talking casually is like lying. This is the happiness of a person's life." "how is it like?" "I can't tell." But Ryoma knew it very well.Thank you when the flowers bloom.This kind of short-term relationship is called love.With fruit, it becomes something else. That's good, Ryoma thought to himself, and the smart Ah Chu also knew this. "You say it, women are like this, if you don't say it, women won't understand. If you say it, this sentence will become a treasure in a woman's life." After Ah Chu finished speaking, she tried her best to hold back the surging emotions in her heart.Her two fists resting on Ryoma's back trembled, and she cried.However, the crying soon stopped. "I don't cry because I'm sad. I'm so happy these days." "So you cry?" "This is too much happiness, a parting ceremony." "If it's a ceremony, then I'll cry too." "Oh." Ah Chu said happily, "But, you must not be good at crying, right?" "Did I cry when I was little?" "It was the same when I was a child." "If you want to talk about crying, I am the number one in the city. I was timid when I was young, and I never made people cry." "But now I'm making Ah Chu cry." Ah Chu said, stroking the lush black curly hair on the dragon horse's back with some fear, "I thought it was only on the chest, but it turned out that it was even on the back." "Yeah." Ryoma didn't want people to mention this.While pouring water on those hairs, Ah Chu said, "You will definitely become a big shot." "I can't become someone. But after a hundred years, some people should still remember that there was such a person as me. I want to become such a person." "One of the women Ryoma Sakamoto loved was Hatsu from Marugame, will you remember this?" Hatsu said innocently.Suddenly, she remembered again and said, "By the way, we made an agreement just now, you are crying!" "Crying?" Ryoma was reluctant, but because of Ah Chu's entanglement, he decided to put on a show and show Ah Chu his childhood stunts.But when he was pretending to cry, he gradually felt sad, and he really cried.The childish heart recovered, and even he himself was a little panicked. Ah Chu sighed.