She took several deep breaths with exaggerated movements, and used her willpower to forcibly resist the urge to draw the knife.

Then, she lowered her head again and looked at Vairocana in her hand, meditating.

Suddenly, she raised her gaze and cast a fiery look at the old man.

"Mr. Kondo, can you let me keep Vairocana?"

"I want to hand it to the master with my own hands!"

A look of surprise flashed in Kondo Shusuke's eyes.

He stared directly at Elodie, looking at each other, as if he was thinking about something.

Regarding the girl's sudden request, he didn't say much, he just nodded vigorously:

"sure!"

"If you are willing to keep it for me, I'd love it."

"I'm getting older now, and my memory has become really bad."

"If you let me keep this knife, I'm afraid I'll forget where I put it after a while!"

…

…

Three days later, early in the morning——

Edo, Edo Castle, Ohiroma——

Tokugawa Iemo, who was dressed in military uniform, was sitting on the main seat, holding the tachi on his waist with his left hand, placing his right hand on his right leg, closing his eyes and concentrating.

In order to show his determination to defend Edo and never retreat, and also to remind himself to maintain fighting status at all times, he only wore armor and was neatly dressed in recent days.

At the same time, he has been staying in the big room a lot recently, and he will sit here even if he has nothing to do.

In this way, it is not only convenient for him to issue orders, but also convenient for his subordinates to find him.

At first, many people felt that his declaration of "vowing to live and die with Edo" was just a rant.

The cowhide blows loudly, but when the danger really comes, he escapes faster than anyone else - such people are everywhere in the long history.

After a few days, send a few eloquent people to say something like "The meaning of the ancient Spring and Autumn Annals: if the law is not respected, how can a general and a president kill himself?" and other such beautiful words to give Tokugawa Iemo a step forward.

, he will borrow the donkey to get off the slope - most people think so.

Everyone was mentally prepared that "Tokugawa Iemo will definitely leave Edo."

Please collect_()

However... today, they suddenly discovered: Tokugawa Iemo seemed to be serious!

It seems that he really intends to defend Edo! He is unwilling to withdraw!

Although the shogunate was full of insects and "crooks" filled the court, there were still some loyal ministers.

No matter what, Tokugawa Iemo has always been the legitimate and legitimate supreme leader of the samurai family and the fourteenth shogun of the shogunate.

Those loyal ministers could not watch their general in danger.

Therefore, they either wrote letters and submitted suggestions, or met in person and urged them face to face. Every day, people begged Tokugawa Iemo to leave Edo and seek refuge in Ou or other places.

You know, faced with such a proposal, Tokugawa Iemo had only one response: stern rejection.

"I have said it before, I swear to live and die with Edo! Either I will survive with Edo, or I will perish with Edo!" - He used these words to block all suggestions to leave Edo.

Not only did he not withdraw, he also refused to let his warriors withdraw.

On the day he gave the order to prepare for war, Tokugawa Iemo ordered that all samurai in Edo town - whether it was Hatamoto or imperial family members - must stay! They were not allowed to leave Edo!

To put it simply: civilians can evacuate, but warriors cannot evacuate!

Any samurai who absconds privately will be regarded as a defector and will be severely punished!

At first glance, it seems cruel.

In essence, there is nothing wrong with Tokugawa Iemo's order.

What is a samurai?

In a word: professional soldiers dedicated to fighting!

During the shogunate era when the samurai were in power, civilians could not serve as soldiers. It was the privilege and obligation of the samurai to go into battle to kill the enemy and expand territory.

Otherwise, where did their name "Samurai" come from?

Letting soldiers fight is a matter of course.

Of course, Tokugawa Iemo had long been displeased with the drunken and unprogressive Naomi.

[Note: Zhishen: the collective name for Hatamoto and Yujia.]

Everyone is aware of Tokugawa Iemo's hostility towards the Naogami.

"Promoting military reform and enhancing the combat effectiveness of the shogunate" has always been Tokugawa Iemo's key policy direction.

However, the Zhishen people have long since become an extremely solid interest group that is impenetrable to needles and water.

Reforming the current military system is tantamount to destroying their jobs. Naturally, they will fight Tokugawa Iemo to the end.

Their constraints at every turn made Tokugawa Iemogo's military reforms difficult to advance smoothly, and it was not until the past two years that there was finally some improvement.

Thinking of the grievances between the two sides... Tokugawa Iemo forced the direct ministers to stay. It is difficult not to think that he was deliberately retaliating against these worms.

All in all, relying on this order that "the samurai must stay and cannot be disobeyed", Tokugawa Iemo managed to amass a garrison of 30,000 people!

Although there is a big gap from the famous "80,000 Banners", this is undoubtedly a large-scale army!

However, if you think about it, those direct ginseng that rushes to the shelves must have no fighting power.

According to the report submitted by Katsu Rintaro a while ago, not to mention swinging the sword, many people can't even sheath the sword, and there are many people who cut their palms when they sheath the sword.

Obviously, these guys can only play the role of "battlefield atmosphere group", and they cannot be expected to perform well on the battlefield.

The only troops that can really be put to use and can fight tough battles are a few troops represented by the military army and the fire-fighting bandits. Their strength is about 3,000 people.

Of the 30,000-strong army, only 3,000 men could fight... Tokugawa Iemo was not surprised by this result.

He had no hope for those guys from the beginning.

The reason why I issued the "must stay" order was purely because I didn't want to make these guys' lives too comfortable.

Lying on the merits of your ancestors, you have enjoyed more than two hundred years of blessings, but when it comes time for you to fulfill your obligations, you just slap your butt and run away... How can there be such a good thing in this world!

To be honest, Tokugawa Iemo would rather see more of these useless wastes that only waste money and food die!

Just when Tokugawa Iemo was closing his eyes and concentrating, he suddenly heard the familiar sound of footsteps approaching from far away.

He asked aloud without opening his eyes:

"Mother, what's wrong?"

Tenzouin, who was fully armed with a naginata in his hand and a bow and arrow on his back, strode into the wide room and walked straight towards Tokugawa Iemo.

Like Tokugawa Iemo, she only wore armor during this period.

"It's nothing, I just wanted to come and see you suddenly."

As she spoke, she moved to Tokugawa Iemo and sat down with her knees bent.

"Jia Mao, it is said that your appetite has been very poor recently and you have hardly eaten. What happened? It makes you forget about food and drink."

"No, it's nothing."

Tokugawa Iemo smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Nothing big happened. It's just because... I'm very nervous, so I don't have much appetite, that's all."

After that, he specially showed his right hand to Tianzhang Court - his right palm was trembling slightly, as if he was swinging.

Tianzhangyuan saw this and smiled slightly:

"Jia Mao, you don't have to be ashamed of this. Because..."

Her words stopped at a strange place.

Then, she stretched out her right hand - her palm was trembling.

"I am also very nervous. I have made an oath to 'defend Edo to the end,' but to be so nervous is really embarrassing."

Seeing that his beloved mother was just like him, Tokugawa Iemo was slightly startled, and then he burst into laughter. Miraculously, at this moment, the trembling frequency of his palms was greatly reduced, and his expression became much more natural.

Suddenly, Tianzhang Academy suddenly raised a new question:

"Jia Mao, is there any news about Sheng Qing?"

Tokugawa Iemo replied without thinking:

"No, no news yet."

"That's it..."

"..."
To be continued...