?”

"Duke Dashu, you are a general who conquers the barbarians. Now that the barbarians and the Di have invaded, you don't think about conquering the barbarians. You only know how to fight cowardly to avoid the enemy."

"I didn't expect...the dignified leader of the Wu family has fallen so low?"

"If anyone under the power of Dongzhao knows that his descendants no longer have the heroic spirit that a warrior man should have, I'm afraid he will be heartbroken."

The power of Tosho appears - Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo shogunate.

After saying that, Sanjo Sanimi raised the elephant wat in his hand, lightly covered his mouth and nose with the elephant wat, closed his eyes slightly, shook his head slightly, and put on a look of sorrow and regret.

The leader spoke, and the other ministers of the Zunhuo faction rushed forward like wild dogs smelling the smell of meat, and attacked Tokugawa Iemo without any scruples.

"Weak! Too weak!"

"How can we bow to Yi Di?!"

"Excuses! Excuses! They are all excuses! Master Dashu, your shogunate just wants to protect itself!"

…

Facing the massive criticism from Sanjo Sanimi and others, Tokugawa Iemo changed his previous elegant and gentle appearance as if he couldn't bear it anymore.

He lowered his eyelids, raised his eyebrows, and stared straight at Sanjo Sanimi not far away.

"Sir Zhongnayan, what you just said is so impassioned!"

[Note·Zhongna Yan: Three real and beautiful official positions, from the third grade.]

Perhaps because he was angry, or simply because he didn’t want to give the other party a good look, Tokugawa Iemo stopped using honorifics and said directly and loudly:

"I've been talking for a long time about how big the gap is between us and the Western countries. Didn't you understand?"

"Or are you saying that you have lost your ability to think normally after living in the palace for a long time?"

Tokugawa Iemo's sharp and merciless rebuke directly broke Sanjo Sanimi's defense.

His face turned red instantly.

Then, he snorted coldly and launched a counterattack without showing any weakness:

"I have indeed lived in a deep palace for a long time, but I understand one truth - weapons are of course an element of war, but they are by no means the decisive factor in victory or defeat. What determines victory or defeat is the human heart."

"As long as we are united as one, we can be invincible! What enemy cannot be defeated? What enemy cannot be destroyed?"

After hearing this, Tokugawa Iemo was so angry that he laughed instead.

He raised the corners of his lips and sneered:

"Huh! Talking to you frogs in the well is really a waste of time!"

Tokugawa Iemo's words not only broke Sanjo Sanmei's defense, but also caused every minister of the Zunbo faction present to enter a "red-temperature state."

"Discourteous! So rude! How dare you be so rude?!"

"Don't be so presumptuous!"

"Mr. Dashu, even if you are a general conquering the barbarians, you must not be rude to your ministers!"

At this time, the ministers of the Samu faction headed by Kujo Naotada joined the "battlefield"——

"You have never taken Mr. Dashu seriously since just now. Who is the most presumptuous and rude one?"

Kujo Naotada's words immediately aroused the echo of many people.

People from the two groups were quarreling extremely loudly... The small imperial palace, which symbolizes solemnity and solemnity, became extremely noisy, like a vegetable market in the morning.

At this moment, the only two quiet places inside and outside the small imperial palace were where the "shogunate trio" (Tokugawa Iemo, Hitotsubashi Keiki, and Matsudaira Harugaku) ​​were sitting, and behind the imperial curtain.

Since the beginning of the meeting, Emperor Tōhito has been sitting behind the imperial curtain, neither moving nor saying a word.

It's not that he's fishing.

According to Shinto records and traditional Japanese concepts, the emperor is a descendant of Amaterasu and is the incarnation of the god in the human world.

Therefore, in order to maintain the emperor's "divinity", when meeting ministers, the emperor would rarely step out of the imperial curtain, and he would hardly speak. Whatever he wanted to say would be conveyed by his attendants.

He just sat there silently...like a statue.

After calming down, Tokugawa Iemo looked at his nose and heart and remained silent.

Behind him, Hitotsubashi Yoshiki and Matsudaira Harugaku both had impatient expressions on their faces - after wasting such a big effort, Luo Feile spent a long time, but the negotiation still didn't make any substantial progress, anyone would feel impatient.

For a moment, Tokugawa Iemo closed his eyes and raised his head to face the ceiling above his head.

"Alas..."

Sighing softly...

…

…

2 days later——

Wenjiu three years (1863), May 1st——

Kyoto, Mibu Township, Shinsengumi camp, Aoto's private training ground——

In order to facilitate his martial arts practice, Qingdeng transformed a large room of more than 200 square meters into his own dedicated dojo.

At this moment, Qingden, wearing kendo uniform, stands in front of a human-shaped wooden stake, lowering his waist, hanging his right arm loosely, and supporting Vairocana around his waist with his left hand.

He stared straight at the wooden stake, silently adjusting his breath.

About two-quarters of an hour later, he suddenly twisted his waist, stepped forward and squatted down, and his originally drooping right hand reached for the handle of the knife at his waist with lightning speed.

At this moment, the light in this space seemed to dim at this moment.

When the purple light flashed... the human-shaped wooden stake was motionless.

Qingden habitually curled his sword, shook off the blood that did not exist on the blade, and then put Vairocana back into its sheath with the sword in his backhand.

Choking, choking, choking, choking, choking…

The blade of the sword rubbed against the sheath, making a slow but crisp clang.

Next, a magical scene happened.

At the moment when the blade was completely sheathed and the tenon was re-embedded into the sheath mouth, the human-shaped wooden stake suddenly made a subtle "click" sound.

Immediately afterwards, the upper part of the wooden pile slowly slid down, and the diagonal fracture was neat and clean.

Qingdeng turned around, looked at the wooden stake that had been cut into two pieces, and shook his head gently.

"Alas...it still doesn't work..."

Judging from the results alone, Qingdeng indeed used a neat sword-drawing technique to cut off the wooden stake beautifully.

However...this is not the result Qingdeng is pursuing.

"What exactly is the 'first before' that Mr. Kiryu said..."

Ever since he came to Kyoto...or rather ever since he learned the secret of the art of sword drawing from Mr. Kiryu, Aomori has been pondering the true meaning of "first of all".

When Mr. Kiryu taught the secret of "Snap" of Ryukyu, every word he said was still ringing in his ears——

The art of drawing a sword...or in other words, the essence of "sword art" lies in this.

What should be pursued in swordsmanship is not the power to destroy the dead, nor the speed of lightning, but "strike first to gain the upper hand".

Everything else is a crooked way that deviates from the essence.

The so-called "being first" means seeing through everything about your opponent.

Your opponent's expression, behavior, and thoughts are all invisible to you. It's like a god overlooking his own plaything.

His attacks cannot threaten you because you have already seen through his intentions.

And every blow and every move you make can land easily on the opponent, because you already know how he is going to defend and dodge next.

What you have to do is just like calculating the formula "1+1 equals", and launch the attack to a position and trajectory that will never make a mistake.

If we can combine the "first move" to see through the opponent with the "moment" that moves like thunder...then the most powerful sword-drawing technique will be born.

If you want to achieve the state of "first come first"...I'm sorry, I don't know what exactly I need to do to achieve this state.

Even the experienced boss Kiryu failed to realize that "first comes first"... Qingto was mentally prepared that "he will definitely run into obstacles everywhere".

In fact, it is.

Whenever he has some free time, Qingdeng will think hard and try to understand the true meaning of "first come first".

The result...so far, I haven't even figured it out.

In fact, not to mention being "the first", Qingden still has only a little understanding of the secret of flowing light - the moment.

According to Kiryu's boss, "Setsuna" is a super-fast sword-drawing technique.

It requires the use of all muscles and strength of the whole body.

He rushes towards the enemy with the momentum of a pig, squeezing out all the energy in his body with every step he takes.

When taking the last step, take advantage of the opportunity of pushing off the ground to transmit the power of the legs up, and then concentrate it on the arm holding the knife.
To be continued...