The fierce battle lasted for two and a half days, even Qingdeng could not help but feel tired.

If there was a bed now... no! Don't call it a bed! Even if it was just a flat pit dug for Qingdeng, he would crawl into it like a seal and sleep.

Although he really wanted to rest now and had an extremely urgent desire for a warm and soft bed, he knew very well: now is not the time to rest!

He took a deep breath, braced himself, his relaxed expression tightened again, and said to Kondo Isamu sonorously:

"Yong, help me send an order to the cavalry in the rear - assemble immediately and prepare to attack!"

Isamu Kondo raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth subconsciously, wanting to say something.

But he quickly recovered, closed his newly opened mouth, and said solemnly:

"Well, I understand."

The victory in the Second Sekigahara Battle was certainly exciting.

However... this is just the beginning.

The life-and-death bloody battle with the Qi soldiers in Sekigahara is just a "process", not a "goal".

The ultimate goal of Ayoto and the others remains unchanged, which is to rush to Kanto to stop the French and Qi coalition forces! Save Edo!

If we win Sekigahara but lose Edo... it means the strategy has failed! All the blood shed in the past two and a half days will be in vain!

Therefore, from the very beginning, Qingto was preparing to "rush to the aid of Kanto" after taking Sekigahara.

He deployed all the cavalry, including the Aizu cavalry, in the rear as a reserve force.

Even when the battle situation was the most tense and intense, they were never sent to help.

Firstly, it is because sending cavalry to fight in mountain warfare is like asking a rooster to lay eggs - it is not its job, so don't let it do it.

Secondly, if you want to rescue Edo, you can only rely on the high mobility of the cavalry!

As far as the current situation is concerned, there is no doubt that the infantry are no longer able to participate in the subsequent "rush to the aid of Kanto".

First came the "Second Great Revolution of China", rushing back to Gyeonggi from Changzhou at an abnormal speed.

After a short rest, they rushed to Sekigahara and started a life-and-death bloody battle with the strongest troops of the Choshu clan.

The continuous high pressure has made the Shinsengumi infantry exhausted and overwhelmed.

Let them reenact the "Second Great Revolution of China" and cross the entire East China Sea street at that exaggerated speed to Kanto... This is undoubtedly a fantasy!

No matter how elite the infantrymen of the Shinsengumi are, they are still mortal bodies.

Since the infantry can no longer run...all hope of rescuing Edo can only be pinned on the cavalry!

Qingdeng tried his best to preserve the physical strength of the cavalry for this moment.

Now that the immediate obstacles have been cleared, it's time to lead all the cavalry to Kanto!

It's not time to rest yet...the real battle comes next!

Just when Isamu Kondo turned back and prepared to convey the military order, a messenger from the Ninth Division hurriedly pushed aside the bushes and ran towards Aomori in mourning.

"Lord, lord! I finally found you! The eighth prince came with news! The eighth prince came with news!"

Hearing this, Qingto and Isamu Kondo were both stunned.

News came from the Eighth Prince... Coupled with the sad expression on the commander's command... a very strong sense of foreboding suddenly came to Qingden's heart.

He asked hurriedly:

"What's wrong with the Eighth Prince?"

The messenger said in a trembling voice:

"Eight, the eighth prince was lost 2 days ago, lost!"

…

…

2 days ago——

Hachioji, somewhere——

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The continuous sound of explosions was the only sound here and now, and all other movements were covered up by it.

The artillery shells of the French-Qich coalition seemed to be endless.

Every morning, they would wash the ground with artillery shells and repeatedly bomb the position where thousands of people were concentrated. Only after it was blown to the surface of the moon, would they send infantry forward to fight.

At this moment, the soldiers who were united by a thousand people...corrected, it should be said that the defeated soldiers who were united by a thousand people were hiding in the bomb shelters, waiting numbly for the bombing to end.

No matter how you judge it, the combat power and achievements of thousands of people working together are amazing!

As a militiaman, he was able to withstand the fierce attack of the tiger and wolf troops on the undefended plains for five days!

This kind of achievement was beyond the expectations of both the enemy and our own people.

No matter it was Hijikata Toshizo, Elodie and others, or Shuten Doji, Katsura Kogoro and others on the opposite side, they never thought that this "Hachioji Offensive and Defensive Battle" would last for such a long time!

However... no matter how brave the thousands of soldiers are, they still cannot cover up this huge gap in combat power.

So far in the war, the casualties of thousands of soldiers working together... are unbearable to watch.

In a word, there are only a thousand or so soldiers who can still move and have not escaped.

Reducing nearly half of the workforce but not collapsing... To be honest, this is already an amazing achievement.

However, it has reached its limit.

Although no one said it explicitly, everyone could feel it: today is the "last day"!

At this moment, Toshizo Hijikata was sitting alone in a certain bullet shelter.

The fierce fighting for days and the heavy pressure made him look extremely embarrassed.

His face was red and black, his long black trench coat and black suit were stained with blood, and there was thick mud stuck to the soles of his boots.

Although his body was full of filth, the looming arrogance on his face never dissipated.

At this moment, he was silently looking through the photos in his hand.

These photos were the ones he had previously asked photographer Kenzo Tamoto to take of the Shinsengumi generals.

There is a group photo of the Shinsengumi generals, a group photo of the "Tsueikan faction", and a photo of him with Nagakura Shinpachi and Harada Sanosuke (the three major prostitutes of the Shinsengumi)...

Among these many photos, his eyes stayed on two photos for a long time.

One is a photo of him and Isamu Kondo, the general manager.

Kondo Isamu crossed his arms, grinned widely, and had a refreshing look on his face.

Souji stood between Isamu Kondo and Toshizo Hijikata, with a bright smile and his eyes bent into beautiful crescents.

Perhaps influenced by these two people, Toshizo Hijikata, who usually has a straight face, shows a calm and warm smile in this photo.

As for the other photo, it is a photo of him and Qingdeng.

Compared to the photo of him with Isamu Kondo and Souji, the photo of him and his brother-in-law Aoto is much more serious.

The two of them sat upright on two horse harnesses placed side by side, with their hands on the sabers around their waists, and their expressions were solemn.

Hijikata Toshizo's eyes glanced back and forth between the two photos, and emotions slowly appeared on his originally expressionless face - the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, and a smile emerged.

Suddenly, the explosions outside suddenly stopped.

The extremely noisy world suddenly became quiet.

The only sound around was the "buzzing" sound deep in my ears.

The shelling has stopped, which is both a good thing and a bad thing.

The good thing is that you no longer have to listen to this continuous, maddening explosion.

The bad thing is... after these five days of fierce fighting, the soldiers with thousands of people all understand what the end of the bombardment means - the infantry of the French-Qich coalition are about to come over!

At this time, a childish voice came into Hijikata Touzan's ears:

"Mr. Hijikata, are you looking for me?"

A short figure got into the bullet hole where Toshizo Hijikata was hiding - it was Tetsunosuke Ichimura, the nickname of Toshizo Hijikata.

Looking at Tetsunosuke Ichimura who was ducking in front of him, Toshizo Hijikata quickly put away the photo in his hand.

"Tetsunosuke, I have a very important task for you."

A very important task - upon hearing this set of words, Ichimura Tetsunosuke immediately cheered up and held his chest high:

"Mr. Hijikata, please do as you please! No matter what kind of mission it is, I will not let you down!"

Hijikata Toshizo smiled slightly:

"Well said."

After that, he took out a piece of dirty cloth from his waist, and then took out a photo from his arms - this was a solo photo of him, with his hair slicked back and wearing a handsome long black windbreaker.

Wearing a crisp black suit and big shiny leather boots, Izumi Mamoru Kanesada held his hands on his waist and looked diagonally towards the camera lens.
To be continued...