After working together with Kondo, Shinpachi and Harada to solve this large wave of rakshasas, everyone found that everyone was covered in blood, tattered clothes, dusty faces, and colorful bodies, and the blood bars and blue bars were in a state of imminent emergency, and morale was also quite low.

Saito, Harada, and Shinpachi all argue that this battle cannot continue - that any further fight will be the rhythm of total destruction. However, Kondo still believed that since he wanted to serve the shogunate, and the shogunate gave money and guns to support him, he had great hopes for their Shinsengumi, so they should sacrifice their lives here to serve the country, instead of temporarily retreating like the three team leaders mentioned yì and planning to come to Japan.

Shinhachi is very angry. This time, even Harada couldn't stop him.

"Mr. Kondo, what about the 600 reinforcements in Aizu that you mentioned?! My team is almost completely wiped out, and if we continue to fight, we won't even have time to carry out seppuku -- look at what those guys are using to attack us!

Shinpachi exerted a rare eloquence, as if he had been holding a breath in his chest and suppressed it for a long time, and now he finally broke out violently and uncontrollably.

"What about our side?!Where did that bastard go to Yuuki?! There were few artillery pieces in the first place, and now the gunners don't know how to operate the guns at all! They will just stand there in a daze and wait for the other side to come and blow them up with their cannons! And those hunters who keep saying that they want to serve the country, and as soon as the cannon goes off, they run away! There are still people who are busy running away and fall into the shell crater and break their legs! Look at this kind of scene! This is not the era when Shido and Taidao alone can win!!"

Kondo blinked as if he couldn't react. After a while, as if he had finally digested Shinhachi's rare tirade, he felt a little incredulous, stared at Shinpachi for a while, and then sadly turned his gaze to the other most reliable cadres of the Shinsengumi.

He looked at Harada, who frowned and scratched his nose with his hand as if he was uncomfortable, as if he was saying, "Well, I think Shinpachi has a point, how about trying it?"

He looked away in disappointment and looked at Saito again. Yes, Saito has always been Ah Sui's most loyal follower, and he has a vague ancient samurai spirit in him, he will understand his thoughts.

However, Saito just stood there silently, lowering his gaze slightly, his right hand pressing on the handle of the sword, which had been re-sheathed at his waist and seemed to have been wounded countless times because he had been fighting for too long.

He finally felt a pang of disappointment, wondering why these brothers who had followed him for so many years suddenly couldn't understand his thoughts and spirits, so he looked hopefully at Kiyohara Yukiha standing next to Saito - he now felt that this girl was Ah Sui's most loyal follower compared to Saito, and he was convinced that if Ah Sui was here, he would have understood him, then even if Ah Sui was not there, this girl would have acted according to Ah Sui's ideas, wouldn't she?!

However, the girl, who looked as wolf as several other big men, stood there and looked back at his face calmly, and said without hesitation, "Mr. Kondo, please retreat." Because Mr. Hijikata gave me such a task before leaving, when the most dangerous moment comes, Ichi-kun and I will protect you and retreat safely to the rear. ”

Kondo felt a thunderbolt from the sky and couldn't believe it.

...... What is she talking about?!

Is she saying that even Ah Sui has lost confidence in this war and is not optimistic about him?!

This fact seems to have knocked down Kondo, who is clearly at a huge disadvantage, but still adheres to his characteristic of always being confident in his own strength, and intends to fight to the end here.

Later, with a handful of his subordinates who survived the fierce battle, Kondo returned to Edo with the rest of the cadres. The Battle of Kofu ended in defeat.

However, worse things are yet to come.

At the time of the Battle of Kofu - no, it should be said that some of the differences in ideas and concepts between Shinpachi and Kondo before and after the earlier Battle of Toba Fushimi, as well as the fact that they did not give the order to retreat during the Battle of Kofu and caused more needless casualties among the soldiers, brought the anger and resentment accumulated by Shinhachi, who was straight-tempered, to the highest point.

Then it erupted.

After leaving a sentence of "From now on, I will fight in my own way", Shinpachi resolutely quit the Shinsengumi.

His good friend Harada marched and retreated with him, and left together at the same time.

This explosive news hit Kondo, Hijikata, and Heisuke, who was a Rakshasa so decided to stay on the team.

Liu Quan was also surprised, but quickly picked up his spirits and threw himself into the heavier team work.

At such times, there is not so much free time to be sentimental or depressed.

Especially now after the defeat of Kofu, the situation in Edo is almost clear---the man who has faced Kondo and Hijikata with an attitude of "what can you come back from there alive", and he refuses to allow them to meet with each other.

Some of the big names of the shogunate who remained in Edo basically belonged to the Lordwa faction, and the big names of the main war faction, such as Aizu Gong Matsudaira Yoho and his younger brother, Matsudaira Jokei, the lord of the Kuwana domain, and some officials who had appreciated the Shinsengumi in the past, have almost all been cleared out of Edo.

In this case, Kondo and Hijikata were named Makuto, and they also had the titles of Daimyo and Hachimoto, respectively, but they did not receive any support in Edo. After the defeat of Kofu, the temporarily recruited soldiers also fled from the team one after another, and even the law of the bureau established by the Hijikata that "those who leave the team without permission must be seppuku" was ignored.

Now Shinpachi and Harada are gone again. The Shinsengumi cadres were in a state of extreme shortage, and the heavy work almost crushed the earthwork. Although Saito and Yanagizumi did their best to share it for him, there were some official duties and negotiations that he had to do as deputy chief. He was so busy that he couldn't even eat, and often worked all night without sleep, and his conversation with Liu Quan was reduced to extremely concise official responses such as "Kiyohara, how was that thing going", "Kiyohara, this matter will be handed over to you, please".

Bad news one after another.

Soon, the Shinsengumi were forced to move to a small town located on the Shimoso Terrace along the Edo River, Nagayama.

It's not far from Edo, but Kondo and Hijikata, who had been ostracized in Edo Castle and even had been explicitly hinted by some bigwigs to "stop doing unnecessary things, especially not to destroy the tacit understanding we had reached with each other without permission," had to make other plans to recruit soldiers and train according to Western methods.

Nagaruyama is a small place not too far from Edo, but also secluded and low-key. Here, the Shinsengumi resumed Western-style drills. Although the cadres were still working very hard, and their expressions were solemn all the time, judging from the training of the soldiers, it seemed that the hope of "reviving the former prestige of the Shinsengumi and fulfilling the important duty of the Shinsengumi" was rekindled.

However, one night, when Sannan Hesuke, who was a rakshasa, returned from patrol, his face was extremely ugly.

Then everyone learned what had happened that night.

When Yamanan Heisuke was patrolling, he encountered a group of rakshasas that they had never seen before, and soon realized that this was a new type of rakshasa created by Chizuru's father, Yukimura Tsunamichi, for the new government army, and perhaps the rakshasas that Kondo and others encountered in Kofu and could move in broad daylight were also them.

However, after a few rounds of fighting, the opponent suddenly froze, and then let out a miserable scream, and the whole person turned into ashes without warning!

Tenki Jiushou then appeared and told Sannan Hesuke a huge secret - the power of the rakshasas, including their amazing strength, superior arm strength, and agility, were all the powers they had hidden in their bodies, and after becoming the rakshasas, they were able to draw these powers in a big way, and the consequence was that after these powers were quickly consumed, their lives would disappear.

In other words, Rakshasa is a shortened life in exchange for a massive increase in strength.

Although Liu Quan already knew about it, no one else seemed to know. At the makeshift meeting in the deputy chief's room, everyone had a solemn face and an ugly expression.

However, now everyone has no other way to go, so they can only follow the path that has been chosen without hesitation, and rush down with a sullen head.

After everyone left, Liu Quan, who was the acting leader of the Ichiban group, walked last, but hesitated for a moment when he was about to step out of the door.

Still kneeling behind her, the earth???

Liu Quan paused at the door, and looked back at the earth.

Hijikata was still holding the unfinished cup of tea in his hand, and he was looking up at her slightly in confusion, his face full of question marks.

The expression that didn't often appear on the deputy chief's face made him look a little cute and completely out of line with his image for a moment, and for some reason he suddenly knocked down Liu Quan.

She whispered, "...... It was great that Mr. Hijikata was stopped in time that day. ”

Hijikata: "...... What are you talking about, you?"

Liu Quan: "I'm talking about when I'm on the outskirts of Yodo City...... Ignoring the order of the deputy chief, I rushed over desperately, just in time to stop Mr. Hijikata from drinking the water......"

Hijikata was slightly stunned, and after a moment, he smiled.

"Ah, that's what you're talking about. ”

The deputy put down his teacup and stood up.

"Although it seems unfair to those companions who have become rakshasas...... However, I have to say, you really dare to do it. ”

There seemed to be a faint smile in the deputy chief's voice.

"With a wave of my hand, it hit my already gunwound on the shoulder...... For a moment, I felt that even the worst knife wounds I had suffered before did not hurt like this...... Thinking about whether this guy is planning to kill me, the ruthlessness of the attack is not inferior to that general of the western ghost-"

Rarely, there was a clear, light-hearted joke in the deputy chief's tone.

"If I had to do it again, I'd do it again. Willow Springs, without warning, interrupted him.

"If you don't give up this dangerous idea of 'in order to make yourself infinitely stronger, it doesn't matter if you become a rakshasa', I won't give up this kind of ruthless method as the general of the West Ghost for a day. She looked Hijikata in the eye and said word by word.

"Moreover, next time I will definitely be more ruthless than the one in Diancheng. It doesn't matter if it's going to knock you out. Bleeding or something, aggravating injuries or something...... I'll do anything if I can stop you. She said clearly, in an unusually stern tone.

Hijikata seemed stunned, and looked at her with slightly wide eyes. After a moment, his expression softened, revealing a smile of "I can't help it".

"Well, I'm really convinced. ...... You're just like my sister. ”

Liu Quan: ......!!!Who wants to be your sister, flip the table!!Deputy Chief, your character is a few years older than me, you are already a thirty-year-old man, haven't you forgotten?!I haven't received a good person card before, and I have even received a sister card in the world of my life--that the other party preemptively said something like "In my heart, you are like a little sister"-but this is really the first time I have received a sister card!!I thought that even if I wanted to receive a sister card, I would receive it from Xiaoyi, after all, he is a young man, okay!! Deputy chief, your boyfriend's power is really negative, right?