When the names of the representatives of each feudal clan were signed in the peace treaty, it was time for the Kumamoto-Kokura Armed Group (hereinafter referred to as the "group"), which had been entrenched in the northeastern part of Kyushu Island, to deal with it.

Late that night, the motorized convoy heading south from Kokura Port finally arrived in the Kiyama area. This batch of more than 10 tons of baggage, mainly composed of dry food, vegetables, and medicine, brought much-needed food to the Iida Naokai group, which had not been replenished for almost a week, and temporarily alleviated the risk of this army of more than 8,000 people disintegrating into bandits.

Of course... This batch of supplies has to be paid. And after the war was completely over, the prisoners of war who were besieged in the Tosu-Kiyama area were also forced to do hard labor, instead of patting their butts and going home.

On the 11th, I took a boat from Kitakyushu to Kokura, and then followed a convoy to Kiyama to deal with the surrender of the Kumamoto-Kokura group.

After a long time of jolting on the wagon, the convoy finally reached the north of Kiyama along the road built by the prisoners of war captured during the Kokura landing. This little-known Japanese town has been urgently fortified by the Hosokawa family, who fled to the city in a hurry, and the castle towers are covered with crudely shaped bulletproof bunkers, and even watchtowers made of bamboo have been erected outside the walls.

Some Japanese soldiers had already moved out of the city and built a bunch of improvised huts near the base of the city walls. When we arrived, the soldiers were registering their surrender with the paperwork sent by our army.

Looking at the mile-long line that stretched along the road on either side, I patted the night owl sitting next to me, "How many people are here to register?" ”

The night owl rubbed his face and reluctantly opened his eyes to look at me: "A few thousand, probably more than two thousand, I haven't counted." ”

"Lao Tzu is sleepy, let me sleep for a while."

I touched my nose and decided not to disturb the spy leader to catch up on sleep.

While the carriage was lining up to enter the city, I jumped out of the carriage and walked past the people who were lining up.

Fang Hai on the side whispered to me that these people who had registered out of the city were all elite troops in the group, and even in the most difficult period of the past few days, they could get enough food to fill their stomachs - of course, the taste was not guaranteed.

I nodded, looking at the Japanese people a few meters away. The men were dressed in stinking clothes, their hair was messy around their necks, and the dirt of oil and dust was almost visible on them. Flies flew around them, and occasionally a few would-be people could be seen feeling something out of their necks and putting it in their mouths to bite.

"It's a flea." Fang Hai said to me.

There was a faint creaking sound in my ears, and I quietly moved away from these people.

"Are these people really elite?"

"Yes, in a group of almost 8,000 people, these are already in the best condition."

Fang Hai suddenly let out an "oh", as if he remembered something. He added, "There was a regiment of the Karatsu clan that was also in it, and it was in charge of logistics during the battle of the middle line, when they saw that the situation was not good, they ran away, and converged in Tosu and Kumamoto. The unit was in good shape, looking like the newly retired unit. ”

"Where are they?" I suppressed the smile that spread to my lips and asked faintly.

"It's still in town. The Hosokawa family and Naokei Iida are also inside. ”

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Accompanied by the guards, the motorcade slowly moved through the filthy out-of-town garrison like a refugee camp, and slowly entered the city.

Outside a courtyard where Hosokawa Tadashi was staying, I met Lieutenant Xu Xiaochen, who was stationed there.

"See you again." After saluting each other, I smiled and walked into the courtyard with each other.

"Comrade Major, this is Hosokawa Tadashi, the lord of the Ogura Domain."

Inside the courtyard – let's call it the courtyard for now. At that time, I couldn't see what the building was made of, it was a bit like a large courtyard that had been rebuilt after a bunch of Japanese-style buildings had been bulldozed, and there was some defensive structure - Xu Xiaochen pointed to a middle-aged man kneeling in the middle of the courtyard and said to me.

I glanced at the man faintly, but I was quite interested in an old man next to him: "Is that Iida Naokei?" ”

After Xu Xiaochen nodded yes, I turned my head with a smile and looked at the two for the first time.

So Hosokawa Tadashi watched the Song officer in the blue military uniform walk slowly to the middle of the courtyard, and called for someone to move a chair and sit down steadily.

The situation in the back courtyard is a bit special.

I sat alone in a chair with my legs apart, my hands pressed on my knees, and a smiling expression on my face that almost carved the word "contempt" into my face. Hosokawa and Iida, on the other hand, sat on their knees in a regular manner, maintaining a horizontal height difference of nearly one meter from me.

Under the watchful eyes of a dozen soldiers (mainly to prevent Iida from attacking), I looked at the two men and remained motionless for more than ten minutes before I slowly said, "Hosokawa Tadashi, Iida Naokai?" ”

I used this sentence in Chinese, and the two immediately bowed their heads and replied in Chinese: "Yes, Your Excellency." ”

I leaned forward with a smile, only a few meters away from the two of them: "I was defeated by my Ao Song, do you have anything to say?" ”

The two were silent for a while, but Iida spoke first: "Your country has a strong army, and the warriors are not afraid of life and death, and they do not complain about the defeat of the country." ”

I scoffed, leaned back in my chair, and wondered how I was going to behave like a domineering imperialist next.

And then I thought it was boring. These two widows are obviously subdued, looking like obedient and angry little daughters-in-law, with my bad attitude, they don't even dare to sink their faces, let alone protest awe-inspiringly.

So I got up a little boredly and motioned to Fang Hai to invite the night owl who was still sleeping in the carriage to come over. It's better to leave professional matters to professionals, and I'll go see my dear comrade mole.

In order to make a splash for the mole, the meeting took place in the playground, which was less than a hundred meters from the courtyard.

Well, I'm sure this playground was built in the last few days. Demolished wood and bricks are piled up in the corner of the playground.

The mole's legion was assembled in this playground, nominally because the Austro-Song military was very interested in this unmistakable and victorious unit, and wanted to review it specifically.

So my first meeting with the mole was in this playground that housed nearly 400 exiled troops from Tangjin and more than 200 Ao-Song garrisons.

In front of countless soldiers and Japanese people in the city, I naturally couldn't just go up and shake hands with the mole. Since the mole has already stated before, he wants to continue to lurk in Edo and not jump back to us. Therefore, this meeting we will try to elevate the status of the mole in the eyes of the shogunate.

Therefore, at my request, all the officers present showed their most serious side, all of them in strict uniforms, with a straight posture, with the fierce spirit of a veteran of a hundred battles on their faces, and the appearance of an invincible officer corps.

After all his ashigaru men lined up, Ozaki quietly swallowed his saliva and shouted: "The whole army is solemn!" ”

After a short sound of footsteps, Ozaki gave Kei Oda beside him a look (Note 1), and as soon as he lifted his skirt and lowered his tail, he strode towards the Australian Song Officer Corps, which was more than ten meters away.

Oda Kei looked at Ozaki's back as he gradually moved away, and his lips couldn't help but purse together. He still vividly remembered who had pulled him up from the pile of corpses outside the Void Fortress, carried him all the way down the mountain, and carried himself out of the encirclement afterwards.

Then he saw that the tall blue-clad officer at the head of the group also took a few steps forward, stopped Ozaki from bowing, and took him by the hand and talked with him very happily, and walked towards him together.

After the two approached, Oda vaguely heard the officer's words, probably "Japan's Zhang Fei", "the world's warrior", "the flower of a famous general" or something. His words were full of admiration for the Ozaki Army, and he even exclaimed, "If Tokugawa Ieyasu had let Ozaki-kun lead the troops, they would have met under Nagasaki Castle by now."

Note 1: According to the Mole himself, Kei Oda was only injured in the leg outside the Void Fortress, and it was not life-threatening... And this guts guy shamelessly hid in Ashigaru's corpse until Ozaki turned him over.

The ghost blows the lamp