"Your Excellency the Chief, we might as well set a ......fire in Tokyo," Commander Yagyu made a suggestion to Toshizo Hijikata.

Without waiting for Yanagi to finish speaking, Hijikata Suizo said angrily: "Shut up!" ”

Generally speaking, everyone felt that Hijikata was a very resourceful person, and since he wanted to abandon Tokyo, it was likely that the Meiji army would make full use of Tokyo as a base for attacking the Tohoku region. It is not inconceivable to set Tokyo on fire and turn it into a sea of fire. However, Hijikata didn't think about it at all, so he stopped drinking. Liu Sheng felt a pang of regret in his heart.

"Chief, if the Meiji Army is allowed to occupy Tokyo......," Yanagi continued to try to persuade.

"Since we can take Tokyo, we can definitely conquer Tokyo again. Moreover, our glorious Wehrmacht is committed to defending the people and will never allow the destruction of the people. Hijikata said with great anger. He was born into a commoner and experienced a lot as a teenager, but his class feelings for ordinary people were not shaken in the slightest by becoming a big man in the Hokkaido regime.

When the Ezo Republic was first established, Hijikata decided that "the establishment of the Ezo Republic was a demonstration of determination to resist the Meiji government, and there was no reason for the people to suffer for it," so he blocked Takehiro Enomoto's proposal to collect heavy taxes in Hokkaido. The Hokkaido government was able to transform from a remnant of the shogunate into a republic based on the Japanese people, and a number of civilian-born cadres led by Toshizo Hijikata played a decisive role. Let Hijikata kill the enemy on the battlefield, and he won't frown. But he will never allow the people of the hostile side to be harmed by the three years of the earth.

Fearing that guys like Yagyu would act privately, Hijikata asked Harada's division to be the last to withdraw from Tokyo. "Harada, no one will be allowed to harm the people, can you do it?"

Harada was 185 tall, which was a rare tall figure among Japanese people at this time. After listening to the order of Hijikata Suisan, he smiled heartily, "Chief, can you cut it down if you encounter a troublemaker?" ”

Hijikata snorted lightly, "Those who try to set fire to it will be killed!" ”

However, remembering Harada's insistence on a decisive battle with the Meiji army in Tokyo, he followed again, "You also have to retreat as planned." ”

"Don't worry, chief. My stomach has already tasted metal, and I don't want to do it again. Even if I do it again, I'll wait until I cut off the head of Youpeng in Yama County. "Tall and dignified, but this spear hero, who has been recognized as a beautiful man since the Shinsengumi era, always has a sense of frivolity when he speaks.

Hijikata just snorted, he had long been accustomed to Harada's frivolity. This guy is in a sense a bastard who doesn't know the seriousness, and once because of an argument with someone, he simply played seppuku by himself. Although he was lucky enough to save his life, he was left with a scar left on his stomach. The so-called "my stomach has tasted metal" refers to this bastard.

However, although Harada has an impatient personality and speaks frivolously, he is unexpectedly disgusted with bullying and oppression. With special respect for women, this guy was almost elected as the director of the "Women's Department", which is very important in the Republic of Hokkaido, with a high vote. It was not because someone deliberately wanted Harada to be reorganized, but because he sincerely agreed with the policy of "equality between men and women" from the Republic of China and publicly declared his support. As a result, women are eager for this big man to be the head of the women's department. If Harada hadn't personally pleaded with the women's representatives and recommended his wife to be the director of the women's department, I am afraid that he would have been elected.

After there is such a person, the only thing that Hijikata is worried about is that after this guy looks up to the sky and roars, he will lead his troops to fight desperately with the Meiji army that has caught up. He was not at all worried about the harm to the people.

The retreat of more than 100,000 people was a big operation, and the Turkish side needed to devote all its energy to command and dispatch, and the security work was entrusted to Harada. Harada lived up to his mission, and every time he withdrew troops from a chome, he sent a team to maintain law and order and stabilize the mood of the local people. At the same time, it suppresses those forces that are ready to move. No matter how unserious his words were, Harada did not dare to slack off on his responsibilities at all. Everyone in the army thinks differently, and the slightest slack can be a big problem.

"Division commander, someone is trying to loot in Ginza!" When his subordinates rushed into the division headquarters, Harada had just returned. Under the command of the third year of the earth, the troops chose to set off lightly, and all useless baggage that was not conducive to long-distance marches was abandoned. Harada simply sold these things at low prices in various regions or gave them to the poor people of Edo. Harada just felt that these things were to be fought over by the hooligans after retreating, and that it was better to give them to the poor.

When he heard that someone had looted Ginza Ding, Harada was furious. At this time, his troops were already scattered in Tokyo, and in addition to maintaining order, he also created the illusion that the Hokkaido Army had not withdrawn. In fact, these people are all ready to pack, and they can all evacuate Tokyo within a few hours with a single order.

With only one regiment left in hand, Harada simply led a battalion of troops to Ginza. Whether it's soldiers from other units or ruffians ready to move, Harada is ready to kill them.

At this time, every house in Ginza is closed, every house is doored, and there is no one to be seen on the empty streets. Just as the troops were trying to search for the looters, Harada's whole person became alert. He smelled a faint smell of blood, which was not what it smelled like on the battlefield. On the battlefield, there is more of the smell of gunsmoke, the smell of blood, and the smell of human flesh that is difficult to hide. The body is almost not intact after a shell goes down, and even if it is killed, it may not have a lot of bleeding. A large number of deaths were caused by internal bleeding. But the smell of blood at this time was so strong, it was the smell caused by a large amount of blood spurting after the blood vessels were cut. Empty streets, the smell of blood. The feeling of being in Kyoto and playing with the Restoration people unconsciously began to recover. This made Harada's whole person instinctively high-spirited.

"Division commander, someone was killed, and our brother was also injured." The soldiers who ran in front shouted to Harada, and the faces of the soldiers who had been tested on the battlefield were quite ugly.

Harada didn't care so much, he walked forward quickly. Soon a dozen dead people were seen in the streets, and seven or eight more wounded were sitting against the door on the side of the street. The wounded soldiers had already been bandaged, and when they saw the division commander coming, they hurriedly introduced the situation, "These people seem to have brought a few Tokyo hooligans after putting on makeup." Looks like they want to set it on fire. We went up to stop it, and they immediately started to do it to us. ”

He heard and knew this, but Harada's attention was mostly on the corpses. All the corpses were killed with a single sword, and the attack was clean. At a time when muskets dominate the battlefield, there are not many people who can swing such a slash. If you hadn't cut down dozens or hundreds of people, you wouldn't have been able to do such a thing. Not even the so-called swordsman. This is a killing slash, a technique that has only been perfected by constantly slashing humans.

"Who saved you?" Harada asked without replying.

"Short, red-haired," the wounded soldier recalled.

"I'm very fast, I can't see ...... clearly"

"It looks like a cross scar on ...... face," replied the soldier with better eyes.

"Cross scars?" Harada suddenly turned around and asked.

The wounded soldiers were taken aback by Harada's actions, and what appeared on the faces of Harada's division commander was a ecstasy they had never seen before. At this moment, Harada's whole person looked like a different person. Even if he usually speaks lightly, he still has the majesty and demeanor that he should have as a division commander. However, at this moment, Harada looked as if he had turned into a beast of prey that was happy to see his prey.

Subconsciously swallowed his saliva, and the sharp-eyed soldier replied, "It seems to be ......"

Before Harada could speak, the soldiers who followed Harada had already shouted, "There's someone over there!" ”

"Give me my spear." Harada shouted to the guards. Over the years, Harada had his guards carry his spear, which, like Hijikata's Japanese sword, was also a gift from China to Harada, and was made of the finest materials for both the blade and the barrel.

Holding the spear, Harada opened the pistol holster on his waist and shouted to his subordinates, "A few people follow me, and the others block the street." ”

A large amount of blood is sprayed on the ground, and when a person steps on it, the soles of his feet will be stained with blood, and then more things will be stained. In the battle with the Restorationists in Kyoto, Nakada has accumulated a lot of tracking experience. He can see the difference in what seems to others to be an ordinary path.

Leading the guards all the way down the tracks, Harada felt that the technique had become rusty after not using it for a long time. His eyesight and judgment were far less sharp than those of his youth. Just when he felt that he had no way to continue, Harada saw a familiar figure appear in the alley in front of him.

It was the figure of Saito, who is now the chief of the Hokkaido Police, and it was the figure of the Okita Soji who died young. The man stood calmly in the alley, low-key, but with a feeling of being unsheathed.

"Stop, don't do anything." Harada ordered the guards to stop, and he walked towards the figure step by step with his spear in hand. As if facing an old friend, Harada was the first to speak, "Long time no see, I thought you had died in some unknown place." ”

"Are you preparing for someone to burn Tokyo?" The man in the alley said in a deep voice.

"Yes, I'm really grateful that you killed those bastards." Harada replied cheerfully.

"I'm waiting for you here, not to do anything with you." The man continued to take a stand.

"I've always wanted to do it with you, and now that I have such an opportunity, I don't want to let it go." Harada didn't seem to realize the identity of his division commander at all, and said loudly with the attitude of the leader of the new selection group back then.

As if he hadn't heard Harada's provocative words at all, the people in the alley continued to speak calmly, "Don't you want to know who leaked your information to the Meiji Army?" ”

Harada finally stopped approaching, and the Hokkaido Army's final decision to retreat was not entirely because the young man named Qi Rui was really convincing, but because the Hokkaido Army itself did encounter too many difficulties. One of them was that the Hokkaido Army felt that there were people within it who were informing the Meiji Army. Before entering Tokyo, the intelligence of the Hokkaido Army did not have this problem. Therefore, the Hokkaido Army had to suspect that there were people inside who were colluding with some people in Tokyo.

The constant leakage of information was too much of a threat to the troops, and Harada had to accept the order to retreat before the internal traitors could be eliminated. No matter how much he wanted to do it with the old enemy in front of him more than ten years ago, his sense of responsibility as a division commander still restrained Harada's actions.

"Why are you telling us this?" Harada stopped completely, and Masaseki asked. The person on the other side seemed to be still working for the Meiji government, and in a completely different position, he did not tell Harada about the reason for the spies.

"I don't like the Tokugawa family, and I didn't expect you to really do nothing to the people." The man on the other side gave two reasons. Then he said a name. Harada was stunned, the name was obviously much more than he expected. Just as he was stunned, the man suddenly turned and disappeared into the street. Harada's guards hurriedly chased after him, but no one was seen again.