Chapter 3 Chapter One

Aoki Dazen is a wanderer in his thirties, who has been living in Junfu City in Yiyuan, Jinchuan for nearly a year.A former retainer of Hojo, he lost his lord due to his misbehavior and blunder.Other than that, no one knows more about him. If the retainers of the Imagawa family meet Aoki Ozen on the road, they will all stay away.There was always something indescribably repulsive about the person's countenance and gestures.He has a pale complexion, a wound between his eyebrows, thin lips, a tall stature, and his left shoulder protrudes slightly when he walks.Although the facial features are quite correct, but his posture vaguely reveals a cruel meaning.

He is very good at swordsmanship.No one can tell what kind of school he has learned, only know that he has a murderous aura that can kill the opponent with a single blow, and his sword is very fast. In the spring of this year, a swordsmanship competition was held in the square in the city, and ronin were allowed to participate.At that time, Dashan showed superb swordsmanship, and no one could surpass him.More than a dozen warriors who claimed to be good at swordsmanship were all knocked down by him.Everyone was stabbed in the chest from bottom to top by a wooden knife, and fell to the ground on their backs. One of them vomited blood, and the others were slightly or seriously injured.Since then, the reputation of Ronin Aoki Dashan has spread.However, despite this, he still failed to be an official in the Imagawa family.Even though he has sharp swordsmanship, he is still not trusted and alienated by people.

On this day, Aoki Dazen walked out of the room where he lived as a diner.Just as he was about to go out, a servant came over and said a few words to him, but he remained silent as usual.The servant told him that the master of the house was back, but he didn't know whether he heard it or not. Anyway, he turned around and walked slowly towards the wooden door of the backyard angrily.Judging from his behavior, he may have heard the servant's words and deliberately avoided meeting the owner of the house. About a while later, he appeared on the bank of the Abe River, walked down the river bank from the sharp turn of the river bank with the same steps, passed behind two or three farmhouses, and walked into a dilapidated temple next to the bamboo bushes.

"anyone there?" Dashan asked in a low voice on the wooden porch at the main entrance of the temple, but no one responded, so he opened the wooden door and turned into the narrow atrium.In the courtyard, there are some low, messy and unclimatic trees, and the ground is full of rocks. "Is anyone there?" he called again.He noticed that there seemed to be movement in the house, so he sat down on the corridor. "Who is it?" A slightly hoarse voice sounded. "I am Aoki Taizen." He replied arrogantly.There was no response from the house. "I am Aoki Taizen!"

He repeated it, his eyes still staring at the cluttered bushes in the courtyard, the sun shining on them has gradually become cool for the past two or three days. At this time, there was a "dang" sound next to him.One landed in the hallway beside him.He picked up the small pan and glanced at it: there was a cast pattern in the shape of a crocodile eye on the front, a paulownia leaf shape on the bottom, and the word "Suruga" engraved on the back. "Is there only one?" Aoki Taizen sneered from his nose. "You liar!" He said disgustedly, "Samurai who travel and practice will be surprised when they hear your bragging. You actually said that you have traveled to various states in Japan, learned about customs, studied and investigated maps of various places, He also knows the geography of various places!"

After finishing speaking, Da Shan couldn't help sneering, his laughter was deeper than his voice, it was an uncontrollable laugh full of contempt and disgust.He usually doesn't talk much and is taciturn, but now he talks on and on alone. "You liar! Didn't you claim to be proficient in the art of war, familiar with the mysteries of using troops to conquer cities, and what else, a master of swordsmanship? I really want to see your martial arts. If you want to compare pictures, I, Aoki Taizen, would be willing Anytime!" There was still no response in the room.He seemed a little annoyed, and shouted:

"Give me another one! Although you and I are both wanderers, you are a good deceitful guy, you must be much richer than me. Give me another one!" As soon as the words fell, another small sentence fell on the corridor, making a soft noise.Maybe it was thrown from the gap in the sliding door. "Then I'll accept it. As for your liar's skin, I'll expose it in ten days." Aoki Dazen stood up and said, "I have something important to do today. Tonight I want to talk to Kai Takeda The important ministers discussed the matter of serving the Takeda family. I am tired of this Junfu Castle."

After saying this, Aoki Dazen wanted to leave.After walking two or three steps, the hoarse voice sounded again: "Wait a minute!" "What's up?" "Who is the important minister of the Takeda family you mentioned just now?" "It seems that you are also very concerned about this matter. He is so-and-so Sakagaki, and I don't know his name yet." After these words, the two were silent for a while. "Do you think it's that easy to be an official?" A hoarse voice said. "Then I don't know, I have to try it out." Aoki Dazen walked two or three steps forward, at this moment the sliding door was opened, and a thin and small person came out on his knees, his appearance and figure were all different from ordinary people.

"Is there anything else?" Aoki Dazen turned around and asked. "Let me teach you a way—listen carefully, if it is called Sakagaki, then it must be Sakagaki Nobukata. The Sakagaki family has been the family members of the Takeda family for generations. Today, two important figures in the Takeda family , it’s Amari Kotasu and this Sakagaki Nobukata. They are not the ones who can easily let Ronin become an official. If you want to be an official, there is only one way in front of you. Listen carefully: you, go to block the way and attack that Nobukata Sakagaki!" "Blocking the road attack?! Why is that!"

"Let me tell you. You attack him first, and I will save him when it is critical." Aoki Dazen didn't understand the intention of the other party's words for a while, and only heard the small man continue to say: "If you do this, an extraordinary relationship will be established between me and Nobukata Sakagaki. For a person, the grace of saving one's life is a great kindness. I also want to leave the Takeda family very much. I am in Takeda When you are appreciated, I will definitely recommend you!" "Are you going to play a play?" Aoki Dazen spit on the ground, then stared straight at the other party.

"Well, other than that, there is indeed no better way to be an official." "you liar!" "If you don't want to do it, you can go." Aoki Taizen seemed to think about it, and then returned to the corridor. "Finally revealed your true nature, you yin and yang eyes!" The eyes of the person sitting in the corridor were indeed like this, one eye was cloudy, the other eye was bright, the difference between the two eyes was significant, and it was impossible to judge where his eyes were looking. When Aoki Dazen returned to the corridor, the person in the corridor stood up with his right hand missing the middle finger, stood up, and immediately walked into the room.He was small, not more than five feet tall at best. Aoki Dazen laughed loudly as if no one was around, but the man who walked into the room did not laugh, he was in a somewhat dark room, facing the red chrysanthemums in the courtyard.Dashan couldn't tell where he was staring. "It's a bit difficult to attack him without hurting him. For me, Aoki Dazen, this is the first time." Dashan said, but the people in the room did not answer as before . "What are we going to do? Why don't you say something, Kansuke Yamamoto!" Dashan was in a hurry, and suddenly shouted excitedly, his pale face tightened suddenly. "It's okay to get hurt a little bit, but you can't kill him. If you do that, you'll be beaten like a chicken." A calm and hoarse voice came from the room. Aoki Taizen hates Kansuke Yamamoto.About half a year ago, when Dashan met this person for the first time, he hated him from the bottom of his heart.Maybe it's because they have different temperaments. In short, as soon as Dashan heard this person's voice, he wanted to scold him, insult him, and humiliate him until he didn't dare to vent his anger.For this reason, Dashan came to Kansuke Yamamoto's house, asking for a little money with the cheekiness was just a matter of passing, and it was a stronger desire to humiliate him by saying some ugly words. The name of Ronin Yamamoto Kansuke is still widely spread in the Imagawa family's territory.He was originally a ronin of Niuqi, who came to Junfu City nine years ago.In the past nine years, he has applied several times to be an official in the Jinchuan family, but for some reason, he has not been appointed until now, and now he is enjoying his free time under the shade of Yuan Zhongyin of the Jinchuan family's Anyuan.Zhongyin has been taking care of Kansuke for many years, and he has not been short of rice and salt. There are rumors outside that this is because Kansuke and Zhongyin are related.If this is not the case, since he can't devote himself to serving the Jinchuan family, that is to say, this person has no talent, why should Zhong Yin, as the elder of the family, treat him kindly? It is said that Kansuke's swordsmanship is very popular, and none of Imagawa's retainers can stop him.However, no one has seen him holding a sword with his own eyes, let alone heard that he has been on the battlefield and killed the enemy.I'm afraid that most of the rumors that he possesses the skill of "walking" are caused by his appearance that is very different from ordinary people-he is no more than five feet tall, dark complexion, one eye is bright, one eye is cloudy, not only lame, Moreover, the right hand is missing the middle finger, and the age is nearly fifty. The number of times he came out of his residence and walked around the city is also a handful throughout the year.Children might look back whenever he passed people, but adults would be used to it.His terrifying face and posture made people feel daunting but pitiful.Although the children would look at him curiously, they were unwilling to follow him half a step out of fear. It is said that he has been traveling all over the country since he was twenty years old, he is good at military affairs, he is proficient in ancient and modern military tactics, and he is an expert in attacking cities and territories.However, despite this, he was unable to serve as an official in the Imagawa family after all, and he has been a wanderer for nine years.It might be better to say that it was this kind of experience that made his reputation even higher.The general rumor is this: Among the close friends of the master of the Imagawa family (Yoshimoto), there are people who are jealous of his wisdom, experience, and talent. Because of these people's manipulation of power, he was repeatedly rejected by the Imagawa family.In recent years, some people have even speculated that the person who hindered Kansuke's career as an official may be his protector Tadano Anhara himself. But no matter what, among the retainers of the Imagawa family, there are quite a few people who quietly visited Yamamoto Kansuke's house.It is said that at night, his residence is like a private school. Only Aoki Taizen did not believe all the rumors about Yamamoto Kansuke. "Damn liar!" Da Shan always thought so.It's not that he came to such a conclusion because of analyzing various rumors about Kansuke, the reason why he didn't believe Kansuke was probably relying on his own intuition.No matter what, he couldn't imagine the appearance of Kan's assistant holding a sword. If he tried to imagine it, the posture must not be said to be sassy at all, and it would give people a rather weird feeling! Aoki Taizen and Yamamoto Kansuke first met about half a year ago.From the moment he saw Kansuke for the first time, he decided that this person could not be trusted. "How could someone who knows how to use a sword look like this!" he thought.He really wanted to have a sword fight with Kansuke to expose the liar, but no matter how much he asked, Kansuke would never agree, always thinking of one or another reason to shirk. Whenever Dashan had a whim, he would go to Kansuke Yamamoto's house to scold him, but Kansuke always kept silent about it.For Aoki Taizen, venting his contempt and disgust to Kansuke seems to be the only joy in his poor and boring ronin life.Dashan himself knows nothing about the use of military tactics and the status of the countries, so he cannot make judgments from these aspects, but he believes that this should be consistent with the situation in terms of swordsmanship.There is not a single soldier in hand, so what are you talking about siege the city!It is also very suspicious to say that he has traveled all over Japan.Dazen once asked Kansuke about the customs and customs near his birthplace Odawara, but Kansuke still kept silent.It can only be assumed that Kansuke is completely unaware of this. Today, Kansuke unexpectedly showed him the nature of a liar, and he was very satisfied with this, even walking on the embankment of the Abe River was much lighter than usual.The matter of blocking the way and attacking Nobukata Sakagaki, even if it was just a play, could relieve his long-standing boredom and depression.Kan help the liar!Even if he can deceive everyone in the world, he can't deceive me, Aoki Taizen! One side of the road at the foot of Dashan is the river beach of the Abe River, and the other side is extremely low-lying, and a barren field that has not been cultivated for a long time extends into the distance. "It seems that this year's rice will not be harvested!" Thinking of this, Da Shan's mood quickly dimmed.When it comes to rice, the problem becomes urgent.As long as there is no rice harvest, many people will abandon the land and become displaced every year, so that the number of people who cultivate the fields will become even rarer.In the first ten days of this month, it rained heavily for ten consecutive days, causing severe flooding everywhere in the east of Kyoto.In this area alone, countless homes have been washed away by the flooding of the Abe River.The fields were washed away, and the cattle, horses and livestock were washed into the sea.Last year, that is, there was a storm in the spring, and another storm in the early fall a little later than now.Every year, unlucky things happen one after another. Do you want to go to Kai Shiguan... The place of Kai may not be satisfactory.It's not a happy thing to say that working with Kansuke Yamamoto, but even with such a cripple as a company, it is more or less courageous than going to a completely unfamiliar foreign country alone. But, that guy is really annoying!Aoki Dazen stopped suddenly.Nasty anyway!Dashan thought so.Although Dazen himself is also an unpopular man, he couldn't restrain his disgust for Kansuke Yamamoto.When he was young, he used stones to kill caterpillars in the sweet potato field and rolled them on the ground. It seemed that he would not be happy if he didn't do this.This is how he feels about this well-known ronin Kansuke Yamamoto at this moment. It was the beginning of August at this time, and although there was not a slight breeze, the night was already a bit chilly, and it was the time when autumn was getting stronger. Not far from the residence of the Imagawa family, surrounded by the residences of the samurai, there is a gentle slope that connects to the place where merchants and commoners gather.This ramp is full of business travelers during the day, and no passers-by have passed since sunset, except that occasionally groups of night robbers rush across here.The shops on both sides of the street also closed their doors tightly. Aoki Dazen had been standing under the big hackberry tree beside the gentle slope road for about half a minute, and he was waiting for Nobukata Sakagaki, the important minister of the Takeda family who was about to pass by.Four or five years ago, Takeda Nobutora, the former commander-in-chief of the Kai Takeda family, was exiled by his son and sent to live in the Imagawa family.Today, Nobukata Sakagaki came to the city to greet Nobutora. At night, he had to go back to the residence of Hanjiro Touno who came here with Nobutora.Aoki Dazen planned to intercept Xinfang on his way back. Dashan did not meet with Kansuke Yamamoto today, but the pre-agreed location is undoubtedly under this hackberry tree next to the gentle slope. Will come out, draw the knife and chop.If there are people walking with Xinfang, whether it is two or three people, they should be killed by the roadside.At this time, Kansuke Yamamoto will appear.After two or three rounds of fighting between the two, Da Shan saw the opportunity and jumped into the woods beside the road, that's fine.This is the end of the matter. Aoki Taizen looked around at the surrounding darkness.Although it is dark, it is not completely dark. There are faint and faint lights flickering in the darkness.Not far away in such darkness, the little man must have been watching this place with his yin and yang eyes. Dashan finally couldn't bear the long silence. "Hey, cripple! Kansuke!" He tried to call out in a low voice, but when he listened carefully, there was no response from the other party.Da Shan let out an unpleasant "tss" and leaned down. After another half a quarter or so, the surrounding darkness could no longer make him suppress the ferocious killing desire in his heart.Be it thieves or wild dogs, if they come, they will all be killed by the sword immediately! At this moment, Dashan suddenly heard the sound of footsteps gradually coming from the gentle slope, getting closer and closer.From the sound of footsteps, there was more than one person in number.When the group of people came close, Da Shan saw clearly that there were three of them. Da Shan stood still, and when the three passed by, he suddenly shouted: "Saeki masters water!" Needless to say, this name was just called by him without thinking. The group of three who were going forward stopped in unison. "We are not the Saeki you mentioned, you have misunderstood us." One of them said. "Don't try to lie and get away with it, you can't fool me! I came here on purpose to take your life!" "Why should I lie!" said the other party.Before he finished speaking, he suddenly saw Da Shan pull out his sword suddenly, and the other party hurriedly dodged back.At this time, another steady voice sounded: "Wait a minute! If you admit the wrong person, you will be in trouble! I am a retainer of the Kai Takeda family, named Sakagaki." Is Sakagaki finally here?Dashan was thinking like this, while yelling violently: "Whether you are Sakagaki or what, just take your life!" "A thief!" With this cry, the other party also drew out his knife. At this time, there are two Taisao in front of Aoki Dazen, and behind the two holding the swords, the steady voice said again: "Be careful, don't get hurt! Just drive him away!" Dashan saw that the two people who were confronting him with the saber were not Sakagaki, so he jumped up suddenly, raised the sword high, and slashed down from the shoulder of one of them, only heard a scream, and the opponent fell to the ground immediately.Dashan stepped back slightly to avoid the other person's blade, and when he stepped on again, the Taisao quickly slashed at the person's calf, and another scream sounded. In the blink of an eye, the two attendants had been cut down by Dashan, and Sakagaki had no choice but to draw his sword to fight.The two had just fought for two or three rounds when Da Shan heard the other's rapid panting. "Could it be that you made a mistake? Next, it's Takeda's retainer Nobukata Sakagaki!" said the other party. However, Dashan did not answer. "So, you really are a thief?" As Da Shan pressed forward, he anxiously considered how to deal with this invincible opponent.But at this time, the opponent suddenly stepped forward and switched from defense to offense.As expected of Sakagaki, his swordsmanship is much better than those two attendants just now.Thinking like this, Da Shan stepped forward, grasped the right wrist of the opponent, leaned on the opponent's body, and pushed the opponent towards the side of the road step by step with his own body strength. "who?" Suddenly, the light of a lantern came from the side.With the help of the light, Da Shan could now clearly see the face of his opponent who had been pressed against the dirt wall.Hearing that he was an important minister, Da Shan always thought that the other party was an old man, but unexpectedly, the other party looked much younger than his guess, and he was a middle-aged warrior. "I met a thief on my way, and I have trouble parrying it." Seeing someone coming, the other party hurriedly replied. "I'm here to help!" It was clearly Kansuke's voice.Dazen let go of Sakagaki and jumped back.From here is the martial arts scene of this play.Dashan thought so. It was too late to say it, but it was so fast, Dashan felt a sharp knife and phoenix rush towards his face.Da Shan couldn't help but let out an exclamation, and jumped back again, but unexpectedly, his feet staggered, he didn't know if he tripped over a stone or something, and fell on his back to the ground. At this time, the second and third swords mercilessly cut over.This is still acting, Da Shan only felt the murderous aura of killing people overwhelmingly suppressed him. This is not an agreed move!Da Shan rolled all the way along the gentle slope, and finally jumped up. At some point, he was cut between his eyebrows, and blood poured into his eyes, but he had no time to wipe it away with his hands. "Kansuke!" While shouting, Dashan jumped into the miscellaneous forest on the right.If it was acting, Kansuke would stop and stop chasing him. However, when he turned his head, he found that Kansuke's sword was approaching closely. This momentum clearly indicated that no matter where he fled, he would pursue him closely and never give up. "Are you crazy!" Aoki Dazen shouted loudly. "I'm not crazy." A cold and deep voice sounded, "Look at the knife!" Kansuke said. "bring it on!" Qingmu Dashan shouted loudly, at the same time he felt that things had completely changed, the other party really wanted to take his life, so of course he had to fight hard to kill him.At this time, the disgust towards the cripple surged in Da Shan's chest again, and it was dozens of times stronger than before. However, a feeling of fear that he had never felt since he was born quietly rose from the bottom of Aoki Taizen's heart.The sword in the opponent's hand stood still at an incredibly low position.The short man pressed Qi Xian almost to the ground, staring at him with a pair of yin and yang eyes.Dashan now has no way in and no way back. The distance between the two was gradually shortened under the pressure of the opponent, and Aoki Dazen felt that he could no longer move.When the opponent's knife flashed by, Dashan suffered severe pain in his shoulder, and then his right hand and calf were stabbed in turn. "Stop! Stop!" Aoki Dazen screamed as hard as he could, but his cry was like a mud cow entering the sea, no matter how much he shouted, the opponent's blade was still merciless. Dashan felt that the body of his opponent Kansuke Yamamoto was gradually getting taller, while his originally thin and tall stature gradually became short and ugly.In fact, one eye of Aoki Dazen could no longer see, and one foot was also beheaded. "what--!" With a scream before dying, Da Shan was chopped into two pieces from his shoulders.

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