January 18, 2nd year of leniency——

Edo –

Today is a rare sunny day in the middle of winter.

The warm sunlight shining obliquely from the clear blue sky brings warmth to Edo Castle, the heart of Japan.

Edo is the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate and the center of all of Japan.

It is not only the most populous city and political center in Japan, but also the commercial center of Japan.

At any given time, a large number of merchants from the north and south entered and left Edo, bringing to Edo a variety of goods from all over the country and even from foreign countries.

These merchants from all over the world undoubtedly injected a strong vitality into Edo.

The development of commerce in Edo is reflected not only in the large number of merchants from all over the country, but also in the large number of shops that have opened in Edo Castle.

Countless merchants have made their homes in Edo and sold their own special goods.

The sunlight slanting down from the sky casts the shadow of the row of shops on the left side of a certain avenue on the wide rammed earth road, on the heads and shoulders of the pedestrians walking on the avenue.

The row of shops on the right is bathed in dazzling sunlight.

The eaves of these densely packed shops are basically not high, and the area is large or small.

These shops are decorated with a variety of signs.

"Kansai Miscellaneous Goods", "Key House", "Nanban Goods", "Suhara House", "Kokura Tea House", ...... There are a variety of signboards.

Not only is Edo a prosperous business, but there is also no shortage of entertainment activities.

Ryogoku Hirokoji – one of Edo's most famous pleasure streets.

Not only is there a large number of opera venues, but also a large number of artists perform their specialties on both sides of the street.

There are performances of "wrestlers" who lift huge bales of rice or large rocks.

There are people who juggle animals such as monkeys and dogs.

There are storytellers.

Even though it is winter, less than three years have passed since the terrible "Great Famine", and although the situation of the country has not been revitalized for a long time, there are still a large number of townspeople and samurai who are still having fun there every day.

It seems that none of the current crises and difficulties encountered by the country have anything to do with Edo Castle, and none of these events seem to have any impact on Edo Castle.

Edo Castle is still so radiant, smiling and welcoming, and drunk with gold...... There is an unparalleled luxury of comfort in every corner......

……

……

If you want to say who is the most popular storyteller in Ryogoku Hirokoji, then there are probably many people who say the same name - Tachikawa-tei Tanraku.

The story that Tan Le is best at telling is a household name.

But today, he didn't talk about what he was good at.

Rather, it tells the story of "Oni no Heizo", which has been very popular with Edo townspeople and samurai in recent years.

"In other words, it was the late autumn and early winter two years ago, the cool breeze was biting, and the dusk was approaching."

Just by the tone of his speech, you can see the high level of conversation.

This tone of intonation and frustration is very pleasant to hear.

The audience in the audience all looked directly at Tanle on the stage, and listened carefully to Tanle telling the story of "Kihei chasing the real sword Tokujiro".

"Hasegawa Heizou-sama led the officials who were set on fire to the thieves and followed the country roads to hunt down the infamous Tokujiro Shintokujiro."

"Who is the real sword Tokujiro?"

"As the name suggests, he is a master of swordsmanship who is good at using Shinto and has extremely superb swordsmanship!"

"It's a pity that this person's heart is not right, and he didn't use his superb swordsmanship on the right path."

"If you talk about today, which thief's swordsmanship can beat the real sword Tokujiro who is also a thief."

"Then it may be that only the 'executioner Ichisai' who committed the great crime of 'killing the master' last autumn can crush the real sword Tokujiro."

"Matokujiro is not only strong in swordsmanship, but also quite cunning!"

"His favorite technique is to disguise himself as an official, swagger through the checkpoints, and then kill people and set fire all the way, from the northeast all the way south to kill Kanto."

"After learning that this murderer had come to Kanto, the current prefect of our Hofu thief reform, Lord Hasegawa Heizo, immediately began to organize the encirclement and suppression of the real sword Tokujiro!"

"Who is Hasegawa Heizo?"

"Hasegawa Heizou-sama, whose real name is Hasegawa Nobuyi."

"It's only been a few years since I took over the position of Huofu thief and chief, and I have arrested all of them as a vicious thief!"

"It's like the reincarnation of 'Ooka Echizen'! It's called 'Imooka'! ”

"Feared by thieves all over the world, call it 'Onihei'!"

"According to rumors, in order to pursue the real sword Tokujiro, Lord Hasegawa Heizou mobilized them to pay the thieves to change nearly half of the official errands!"

"It took nearly one and a half months for Hasegawa Heizou to finally succeed in tracking down the location of Tokujiro Matokujiro and forcing Tokujiro Matokujiro into a desperate situation!"

"Tokujiro Matoji was chased all the way to a wooden bridge in the countryside."

"And the officials who changed the fire pay thieves have already blocked the front and back ends of this wooden bridge, making it difficult for the real sword Tokujiro to fly!"

Seeing that he had no way to escape, Tokujiro pulled out his knife and planned to do the final battle of the trapped beasts! Even if you die, you have to pull a few officials who pay the thieves to change their backs! ”

"And Hasegawa-sama Heizou saw his intentions."

"So- he didn't let any of his men go into battle."

"Alone he pulled out his knife and stepped on the wooden bridge!"

Hearing only the sound of "pop", Tan Le raised his hand and slapped the table.

He had reached the climax of the story by this point.

The audience pricked up their ears attentively.

"Lord Hasegawa Heizo, so alone stepped forward to fight with the real sword Tokujiro!"

"The swordsmanship used by Lord Hasegawa Heizou is the swordsmanship that has been passed down from generation to generation by their Hasegawa family, and it is a set of powerful swordsmanship that is both offensive and defensive!"

"Hasegawa Heizo-sama and Tokujiro Mato stand opposite each other with swords on the wooden bridge!"

"I saw that the real sword Tokujiro let out a loud shout, and took the lead in swinging the knife to kill Lord Hasegawa Heizo!"

"In other words, a swordsman with an average level of swordsmanship, in the face of this slash of the real sword Tokujiro, I am afraid that he will not even reflect the reaction, and his head will fall to the ground!"

"But Hasegawa-sama Heizou doesn't dodge or hide!"

"I saw 2 flashes of sword light!"

"The first sword light cut off the right hand of the real sword Tokujiro holding the sword!"

"The second sword light cut off the hamstring of Tokujiro's left foot!"

"With just two swords, Hasegawa Heizou-sama defeated Tokujiro, the real sword who had killed countless people, and arrested this murderer!"

"The real sword Tokujiro who does all kinds of evil is still defeated by the real 'ghost' in the end!"

"If you want to blame, you can only blame him for where he went, he actually came to Kanto!"