arrival.

The "Five Streets" were first built in 1601. At first, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo shogunate, built the "Five Streets" for a very simple purpose, just to enhance the Edo shogunate's control over Kanto.

Kanto is the Edo shogunate...or the foundation of the Tokugawa family.

The "Tenryo" under the direct jurisdiction of the Edo shogunate, as well as the pro-domain daimyo who are close to the Tokugawa family, and the generational daimyo, are mostly in the Kanto region.

However, with the formal formation of the "Appointment Transfer" system in 1635, the "Five Streets" gained an additional layer of significance to facilitate the "three hundred princes" coming to Edo.

In order to weaken the strength of each vassal, the Edo shogunate made a rigid rule: the lord of each vassal country must go to Edo once a year to assist the shogunate in handling government affairs for a period of time before returning to his own vassal. The round trip expenses are all borne by each vassal.

Commitment - this is the "interpretation of the pilgrimage".

The samurai class is a group that can no longer survive on the road if they lose face.

Therefore, in order to show off their wealth, many famous people used pomp and show off their wealth when attending the ceremony, regardless of financial pressure.

Just 19 years ago, in 1841, when the lord of the Kii Domain went to Edo for a pilgrimage, he mobilized 1,639 samurai, 2,337 workers and 103 horses.

Nearly 4,000 people and countless supplies were mobilized just to give the feudal lord a better appearance when he went to Edo... This incident became an excellent after-dinner conversation topic.

These vassal lords who loved to show off their wealth greatly enhanced the supply capacity of each camp.

The pilgrimage teams of daimyo often numbered thousands of people. In order to absorb this huge logistical pressure, each temple had to "self-evolve".

After nearly three hundred years of long trials, no matter how to arrange people to stay or provide supplies on time and in quantity, each camp is very familiar.

To put it simply: every camp on the "Five Streets" is a large, time-tested supply depot.

Can it withstand thousands or even thousands of pilgrim teams, let alone an army with only 300 people, which has neither a large number of horses nor heavy weapons such as artillery, and all members are lightly equipped?

Under the skilled management of Hachioji's quarters, it took less than half an hour for the entire army to complete a series of procedures for entering the quarters.

The soldiers spread out and checked into different hotels.

Compared with ordinary soldiers, Qingdeng was undoubtedly happy to have the privilege of riding a horse. He could use military horses to travel when marching.

However, anyone who has had relevant experience knows that riding a horse is not an easy task.

The hard saddle can grind your buttocks, and the insides of your thighs will smoke.

Qingdeng is in this state now.

Qingdeng, who seldom rides horses, had his legs spread out in an awkward "O" shape when he climbed down from the saddle. Without this posture, he would not be able to walk at all.

After riding a horse for most of the day, Qingdeng's buttocks and legs were in severe pain. He wanted to go to bed directly after dinner.

But as soon as Fang returned to the room, he heard a very noisy sound coming from outside.

Qingdeng, who was very curious, put on his clothes again and left the room. After checking around outside, he realized that there were a group of over-energetic guys who were not tired after marching for most of the day and were just killing time.

I found some open space in the dormitory and tested my martial arts there.

A group of people were holding bows and arrows and competing against a big tree.

There was also a group of people holding bamboo swords that they got from nowhere, and gathered in a circle to exchange sword skills in a physical way.

Compared to archery, swordsmanship obviously aroused Qingdeng's interest more.

Qingteng tightened the haori around his body and walked towards the area where the sound of bamboo swords clashing was constantly heard.

At this time, two people were fighting in a circle of onlookers. After seeing who these swordsmen were, Qingden raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Drink ah ah ah!"

Kanazawa Chusuke, the captain of the second division and the deputy general in this Western Expedition, raised his sword in the upper position and stepped forward to slash his opponent's shoulder.

His opponent's fighting style was extremely fierce. After knocking away the incoming bamboo sword, he flew forward like a flying swallow and swung his sword straight into Kanazawa Tadatsuki's body.

Snap! Snap!

The two bamboo swords collided twice in mid-air.

The next moment, the two people jumped away, then quickly turned around and fought with each other again.

However, this time, Kanazawa Chusuke's sword speed was even faster.

The tip of the bamboo sword draws a slash and hits the opponent's right wrist holding the sword in a diagonal direction - hand chop, a classic fighting method of Beichen's Itto style.

The opponent cried out in pain and dropped the bamboo sword in his hand to the ground.

Kanazawa Chusuke turned the edge of his sword, put the tip of the sword against his opponent's throat, and said calmly: "You lose."

As soon as Kanazawa Chusuke finished speaking, there were bursts of cheers from around him.

Qingden, who was standing nearby, nodded slightly - the move Kanazawa Chusuke performed just now was truly superb. It should not be done by anyone who is not well versed in the art of swordsmanship.

Kanazawa Tadatsuki, who successfully received a beautiful victory in his arms, let out a sigh of relief, then pulled up the shirt on his chest and wiped the sweat on his face.

It was at this time that he discovered Qingdeng who was watching not far away.

"Ah! Tachibana-kun!" Kanazawa Chusuke showed his big white teeth, waved vigorously to Qingto, and said hello, "Why are you here?"

Although there were few contacts and exchanges with Kanazawa Chusuke, Ayoto had always liked people with enthusiastic and unrestrained personalities, so he had always had a good impression of this strong man with a bold and unrestrained personality.

"I heard a lot of noise coming from outside the hotel, so I came out to take a look."

Aoto smiled and walked slowly towards Kanazawa Tadatsuki.

"Kanazawa-kun, I didn't expect to see you here."

Kanazawa Chusuke laughed.

"It's okay to be idle in the hotel. It's better to come out and stretch your muscles to prepare for the upcoming battle!"

Speaking of this, Kanazawa Chusuke seemed to have thought of something, and his voice paused. Then, he said with expectation:

"Ji Jun, since you happened to be here and it's a rare opportunity, do you want to come down and compete with us in the last game?"

This is what I've been waiting for!

After thinking this excitedly in his heart, Qing Deng patted his chest happily:

"Okay! Then I'd rather be respectful than obey!"

I've long heard of Kanazawa Chusuke's reputation as the "Dog of Fire".

How can you miss this great opportunity to copy your talent?

My buttocks and the inner sides of my legs no longer hurt much.

After learning that Aoto was going to leave the ring to compete with Kanazawa Chusuke, the surrounding crowd immediately burst into exclamations and cheers.

The captain of the third division and the captain of the second division, Niou and the fire dog... Such "powerful confrontations" are rare!

Qingden took off his haori, took the bamboo sword handed to him by others, and stood on the east side of the battle circle.

Kanazawa Chusuke moved his right shoulder a few times and stood still on the west side of the battle circle.

In accordance with the rules of kendo, both parties raised their swords in front and bowed to each other from a distance.

Kanazawa Chusuke, who has learned the Hokatsu Ittō-ryu, has adopted a very classic construction of the Hokatsu Ittō-ryu: the sword is held in front of the body in the middle, and the tip of the sword twitches slightly to prevent the movement from becoming stiff.

Aoshino adopted a blue-eyed stance, with the tip of his sword pointing diagonally at Kanazawa Tadatsuki's right eye.

In the next moment, two afterimages passed each other at a dizzying speed. At the moment when the afterimages crossed each other, the sound of three bamboo swords striking each other and two short shouts sounded at the same time.

In just a blink of an eye, the two of them had passed three moves in a row!

Immediately afterwards, as if being bounced away, the two people quickly staggered and jumped back to their original positions.

Footsteps slid and the ground creaked.

Kanazawa Chusuke still adopts the classic posture of Beichen Itto style with the tip of the sword twitching slightly.

Qingden also continued to raise his sword in the blue-eyed posture.

Everything was exactly the same as the scene 5 seconds ago... It was as if the two of them had not moved at all just now.

Among the spectators gathered around, exclamations full of admiration suddenly came out.

Qingden casually glanced at his right wrist with his peripheral vision - there was still a faint numbness in his right palm, as if an electric current had just passed through it.

The brief confrontation just now almost gave Qingden the illusion that he was not fighting a swordsman from Beichen's Itto-ryu, but a swordsman from Shinto's Wu-Nian-ryu and Shisen-ryu!

Kanazawa Chusuke's strength is very strong. The sound of the sword cutting through the air is not a "whooshing" sound, but a "booming" sound. It can be seen from the middle foot that the swiftness of his slashing is very strong. But this is natural, after all.

His physique is right there.

It has been a long time since I fought against such a "powerful" opponent... A faint smile, like an old friend reunited after a long absence, floated on the corners of Qingdeng's lips.

At this time, Qingto looked at Kanazawa Chusuke across from him and took the opportunity to grin, revealing a pair of big white teeth that were quite conspicuous in the dark night.

Although Aoto does not have the ability to read minds, he can miraculously understand Kanazawa Chusuke's voice - excitement and expectation - which is exactly the same as Aoto's.

As early as just now, when Kanazawa Chusuke took the initiative to invite him to come down for a sparring match, Qingto could tell - this man was also a militant who was happy to hear the war!

It was late and then fast, as if the camera was suddenly pressed to speed up. The two people who were still standing peacefully in the first half second turned into blurry afterimages again in the second half.

"Ha!" Kanazawa Chusuke lowered his body and rushed out, his steps moving very fast. The momentum contained in the sword and body made people dare not be careless. In the blink of an eye, his sword was in front of Qingto.

The bamboo sword rushed towards him unexpectedly, creating a strong wind that blew all Qingdeng's hair away.

Qingdeng calmly lowered the tip of his sword, only to hear the swords clashing, making a clanging sound, and the sound waves scattered in the night.
To be continued...