Arima Shinjima and a few retinues hurriedly ran from the position of Higashifukuyama to a village on the edge of the Tejo River, which was the headquarters of the Chinese region's royal army. When he arrived at the village, the anger in his heart was even more irrepressible. The village that used to be heavily guarded now looks chaotic, and many samurai ronins are constantly carrying all kinds of supplies from the village, looking at the direction of the horse-drawn carts and ox-carts leaving, it is obvious that they are far away from the defensive line.

The entourage of Arima Shinjima couldn't help but want to stop these ronins and ask the reason, but they were stopped by Arima Shinjima, "Don't waste time, go directly to the shogunate and see what these Choshu people want to do." ”

These samurai ronin, who were busy coming in and out, had no time to care about things outside of them, and the people of Arima Shinjima entered the village so unimpeded, and no one stopped them. It wasn't until they reached the mansion in the center of the village, where the shogunate of the Emperor's army was located, that they saw several unfamiliar samurai guarding the door, not allowing them to enter the mansion, and began to ask about their identities and origins.

The retinue of Arima Shinjima was furious at this, and pushed away the samurai who wanted to get them to unload their swords and said, "This is Lord Arima Shinjima of the Satsuma Domain, and one of the three generals of the Imperial Army, how dare you bastards be so rude?" What about Takasugi Moto, who guarded the shogunate before? Hurry up and let him come out and apologize to Arima-sama..."

The number of this group of gatekeepers was not as large as the number of people brought by Arima Shinjima, and seeing that this group of Satsuma samurai was about to draw their swords at the slightest disagreement, the samurai who took the lead stopped his subordinates from stepping forward, and saluted Arima Shinjima in the middle of the crowd and apologized: "I didn't know that Arima Temple came in person, and I ask for your forbearance for the rudeness just now."

However, there were ronins who pretended to defect to the Emperor's army, but after infiltrating the shogunate, they tried to assassinate several adults, so Yamamoto Hall and several other lords ordered that outsiders must hand over their knives before entering the shogunate, which is not our own opinion.

As for Takasugiden, he was sent to Fukuyama Castle by Yamamoto to negotiate with Marquis Mizuno, and he is not here at the moment. ”

Arima Shinjima stared at the samurai leader and said coldly, "So now that you know who I am, do you still want me to untie the sword?" ”

The samurai leader glanced at the group of Arima Shinjima, then stepped aside and said, "Since Arima Hall has come in person, the villain naturally does not dare to stop it, please." ”

Although the samurai guarding the gate moved out of the way, Arima Shinjima still stared at the samurai suspiciously for a long time, and then left a few people to guard the horses, and approached the courtyard with three or four retinues.

The mansion occupied by the shogunate was originally just the property of a rural landlord, so the layout of the house was not very complicated. In a wall of cobblestones, yellow mud and straw, there was a large front yard where the grain could be dried, followed by a main house where the owner lived, then a small backyard and several longhouses or side houses for the subordinates.

The quarrel outside the door of Arima Shinjima and others had obviously alarmed the people in the courtyard, so when Arima Shinjima entered the front yard, Goroubei Yamamoto, the leader of the Choshu Domain, also walked out of the main house with someone.

After Goroubei Yamamoto, who was standing under the porch, saw Arima Shinjima, not only did he not come up to greet him as affectionately as before, but stood on the spot and asked Arima-Shinjima with an indifferent face: "Arima Hall is not holding a position on Higashifukuyama, what are you doing here?" ”

After sensing that the other party's attitude was wrong, Arima Shinjima immediately stopped, and before he could figure out how to answer Yamamoto Goroubei's question, some of his companions who came with him couldn't help but reprimand the other party: "You Choshu clan are embarrassed to ask why?" Everyone said that they would stick to Higashifukuyama, and your Choshu domain would guard the east, and we, the Satsuma domain, would guard the west. As a result, last night, all of your Changzhou Domain slipped away, and you didn't even say hello, are your Changzhou Domains planning to betray the Governor Alliance?"

The rebuke of the Satsuma samurai had not stopped, and the samurai leader who had just been guarding the gate had already rushed into the courtyard with a group of people from outside the gate, surrounding Arima Shinjima and the others.

Arima Shinjima immediately formed a back-to-back battle formation with his companions, and then he stared at the Yamamoto Goroubei under the main house porch and asked in a deep voice, "Yamamoto Palace, what do you mean by this, did your Choshu Domain really betray us?" ”

It's good that Arima Shinjima didn't make a sound, but as soon as he spoke, the samurai of the Choshu Domain who surrounded them immediately scolded them excitedly: "The treacherous Satsuma villain, do you still want to disguise your loyalty at this time?" Obviously, you bastards betrayed our Choshu Domain first..."

Amidst the shouts and scolding of these Choshu samurai, Yamamoto Goroubei finally came from under the corridor, he separated the encirclement of the Choshu domain samurai, and after letting them shut down, he said to the confused Arima Shinjima and the others: "Arima Temple, do you really not know? Three days ago, the Osaka Daily published a joint statement between Satsuma Hou and the shogunate.

Satsuma claimed that his family absolutely did not support the cause of the Emperor, and that if there were any Satsuma feudal clans who joined the Satsuma Army, they should abandon the darkness and surrender to the Shogunate Army as soon as possible, and assist the Shogunate and the Imperial Court in quelling the rebellion. If they still refuse to repent of the news, not only will the names of these Satsuma clan warriors be expunged, but their families will also be expelled from their homes..."

"How is that possible? This must be a rumor of the shogunate. Is it just because of a newspaper printed by the shogunate that you are going to attack the comrades who are in high esteem? Arima Shinjima was shocked in his heart, but he denied it with a strong expression on his face.

Goroubei Yamamoto stared at his face for a long time before he took out a crumpled newspaper from his bosom and handed it to him, saying, "If you don't believe it, take a look for yourself." In addition, the Shogunate Army had already entered the Shogunate's territory on Kyushu Island three days earlier, and the Satsuma Division was also in the Shogunate Army's sequence. Now what else do you have to say? ”

Arima Shinjima took the newspaper and read it at a glance, although his whole body trembled after reading it, but he finally crumpled the newspaper into a ball, looked at Yamamoto Goro Bei with red eyes and shouted: "I still don't believe it, the shogunate army only sent troops at the end of October, how could it be that the family surrendered to the shogunate like this, this must be a conspiracy of the shogunate." ”

At this time, Yamamoto Goroubei calmly reminded the other party: "Satsuma Marquis did not surrender to the shogunate, he was in the same stream as the shogunate, otherwise how could he join the shogunate so quickly." I don't care if you know it or not, now you and your men have disarmed me first, so as not to hinder the retreat of our army. ”

Arima Shinjima had not yet digested the news of the Satsuma Domain's defection, but when he heard the news from Goro Yamamoto that shocked him, he suddenly couldn't help but say: "Are you crazy, Higashifukuyama is the most favorable place to block east of the Ashida River, and it took us more than a month to perfect the Higashifukuyama position." Discarding it now, the east of the Ashida River is equivalent to giving it to the shogunate army, are you planning to destroy the city wall? ”

"If you continue to defend Tofukuyama, will you Satsuma betray you Satsuma again...", a Choshu feudal samurai couldn't help but retort angrily, but Yamamoto Goroubei quickly stopped his companion's angry words, and he calmly said to Arima Shinjima: "The Choshu-Satsuma alliance can no longer be sustained, and a disunited alliance cannot hold the position of Higashifukuyama."

Moreover, now the family's top priority is no longer the cause of honoring the king, but the life and death of the family. With the strength of the family, trying to defend such a long front from Nagato to Fukuyama is undoubtedly self-defeating. What's more, the Mizuno clan of the Fukuyama Domain has always turned a blind eye to the actions of the Emperor's army before, and just clinging to Fukuyama Castle does not mean that they are our allies.

Since even the princes of Satsuma, who had an alliance with our Choshu Domain, betrayed us, how could we believe that when the Shogunate army launched an attack on Higashi-Fukuyama, the Fukuyama Domain would stay at home and do nothing? The withdrawal of our army to the border of our home is a foregone conclusion, so you might as well hand over your weapons and rest for a while. For the sake of our friendship in the past, I don't want to do it to you now. ”

Under the aggressiveness of Goroubei Yamamoto, Arima Shinjima, who has been practicing kendo for many years, calmed down and figured out one thing in a short moment, whether it was the shogunate or the lord, they should not want him to continue to live. If he dies here, maybe his family won't be affected, otherwise I'm afraid his family will be implicated.

After thinking clearly, he took a deep breath, put his hand on the hilt of his sword, and said, "My father once told me that he wanted a Satsuma samurai to hand over his weapon unless he first cut off his head.

I don't know what happened to my family, but I will not give up the great cause of honoring the king, and even if I die, I hope to die on the battlefield. Since you Choshu Domain are unwilling to hold on here, then we, the Satsuma Lords, are willing to hold on to this place alone.

Now Yamamoto Palace, you can decide, either let us go back to fight against the shogunate army, or let me learn the Choshu Domain's Wunianliu swordsmanship. ”

The performance of refusing to show weakness on the verge of death on Arima Shinjima made a cadre of Choshu feudal clans extremely annoyed, and at that time, there were Choshu feudal clansmen who regarded themselves as extraordinary in swordsmanship who wanted to be out of the ranks, and wanted to compare them with Arima Shinjima.

However, Yamamoto Goroubei finally stopped his companion from attacking, and after he made people get out of the way, Fang said to Arima Shinjima: "Regardless of whether Arima den said this sincerely, I think that the comrades of the Emperor should not fight each other with swords.

I let you go, hoping that you Satsuma samurai will prove by your deeds that your name of loyalty is more than just words. Arimaden, please remember that when we meet again, we will be enemies. ”

Arima Shinjima was still sheathed, and it seemed that he wanted to say something, but after all, he was silent and took people away. His departure, like his arrival, failed to startle most of the people in the village.

While the feudal lords of the Choshu Domain were still muttering that they shouldn't just let Arima Shinjima and the others go, Gorou Yamamoto glanced at these subordinates and reprimanded, "Is it time to get entangled with the Satsuma?" Is this family still waiting for us to rush back to defend it? Get back to work..."

At the same time, Takasugi Moto, who had been in contact with the Fukuyama Domain, also walked out of Fukuyama Castle. Mizuno Katsutoshi, the lord of the Fukuyama Domain, accompanied his father Mizuno Katsunari to stand on the city wall and watch Takasugi Moto's departure, and he couldn't help but say to his father, "Father, are we really going to do nothing and watch them withdraw from the Ashida River?" ”

As a genealogical retainer of the Tokugawa clan, after the Tokugawa clan lost western Japan, he became an external daimyo of the Toyotomi family, and the Mizuno family has also been cautious and cautious over the years. When the rice riots in the Chugoku region turned into a rebellion against the kings behind the Choshu and Satsuma domains, Mizuno Katsumoni reduced the forces of the domain to the vicinity of Fukuyama Castle and allowed the armies to move freely on the periphery.

However, when the current situation changed again, Mizuno Katsunari naturally had other plans, and he said to his son: "Now send troops to intercept these royal army, although the results will be great, but it will offend both the shogunate army and the Choshu domain." Sometimes it's not a good thing to make too much merit, especially for foreign vassals like us.

Of course, we can't just watch them cross the river and do nothing, so we will have no time to explain when the shogunate arrives. Wait until their army is halfway through before you send your troops, so that we have an account for both sides. In addition, I will rush to Okayama early tomorrow morning and personally ask the shogunate for guilt..."

(. = )