The stone height was restored to 369,000 stone.

The great hegemony of the Mori clan was destroyed at the hands of the Tokugawa clan... The feudal lords of the Choshu clan were extremely unwilling to do so.

This historical grudge made quite a few Choshu feudal lords extremely hostile to the Edo shogunate.

According to legend, because Edo is located to the east of the Choshu Domain, many Choshu Domain warriors would specifically move their feet when lying down and point their soles toward the east, which meant "to step on the Edo shogunate under their feet."

”.

As for the Edo shogunate, they also disliked the Choshu clan.

As the saying goes: a skinny camel is bigger than a horse... not to mention this "camel" is not skinny to death.

Although the land area under the Choshu clan that was dismembered by the Edo shogunate, the annual agricultural output was only a fraction of its peak, its commerce was extremely developed.

Choshu Domain spanned the Shimonoseki Strait through which all shipping between Tang Dynasty, Korea and Osaka must pass.

Relying on this unique geographical advantage, the Choshu Domain accumulated massive wealth through trade and transportation.

The actual annual income of the entire vassal ranks among the top among the "three hundred princes".

Continuously resolving historical grievances + national power that cannot be underestimated = the Edo shogunate has always been extremely wary of the Choshu clan.

In recent years, as the authority of the Edo shogunate has gradually declined due to the influx of internal and external troubles, this saying has gradually spread in the market -

The Edo shogunate has weakened! The opportunity to overthrow that has been waiting for three hundred years has come! The feudal lords of the Choshu clan are beginning to make a move!

It is unclear whether such a statement is true or false, but the existence of such rumors undoubtedly aggravated the tension between the Tokugawa samurai and the Maori samurai.

The civil relations between the Edo shogunate and the Choshu clan are currently delicate. Among the remnants of the anti-barbarian group that had caused so much trouble for Edo, a Choshu feudal lord was found... It is hard to ignore such a signal.

Takasugi Shinsaku did not state his name, and his self-introduction continued:

“Friends who are close to me like to call me ‘Changzhou Madman’.”

Takasugi Shinsaku smiled.

"I quite like this nickname, so I gave myself a nickname: 'Toyo Ichi Kuangsheng'. Nioh, if you think my name is difficult to pronounce, you can just call me 'Kangsheng'."

Ayoto ignored Takasugi Shinsaku's wise words.

"Why are the people from Choshu Domain here?"

"Nioh, your question is a bit strange. Which law stipulates that people from the Choshu Domain cannot enter Edo?"

"Then let me ask another question - since you are not a member of the anti-barbarian group, why are you here?"

"Well..."

Takasugi Shinsaku shrugged.

"This kind of question is irrelevant. Nioh, it's rare that you and I are alone, so let's talk about something more interesting."

"Something more interesting?" Qingden smiled, "For example?"

"Haha, let me tell you the truth - Niou, I admire your talents very much. Are you willing to serve me, Changzhou?"

Takasugi Shinsaku put on a peaceful smile.

But just when he opened his mouth and was about to say something else——

"Thank you for your kindness. I don't want to."

Qingden threw the olive branch thrown by Takasugi Shinsaku back along the original path without hesitation.

For a moment, Takasugi Shinsaku was stunned.

After he glanced at Qingdeng blankly for a few times, he smiled bitterly and said quietly:

"Ha... you refused so readily... is our Choshu clan so unattractive?"

"It has nothing to do with the so-called 'attraction'." Qingnobo said calmly, "Then I want to ask you instead - if a feudal lord of the Aizu Domain asks you now: 'Are you willing to serve the Aizu Domain?', you

What will be the response to this?”

Who is Shinsaku Takasugi to Ayoto?

A stranger whose last name was unknown until more than a minute ago...

Seito had never been to Choshu Domain and had no friends living in Choshu Domain.

For a blank check proposed by a stranger, he left everything he owned and went to a strange place that was nearly half of Japan away from Edo... Aoto would only accept this if his brain was damaged.

Outrageous invitation.

At this moment, Qingdeng couldn't help but sigh in his heart:

——I am really popular enough now...

——Not only did that group of unknown mysterious people treat me with courtesy, but even the people from the Choshu Domain also favored me, and even directly tried to win over me.

The so-called "unidentified mysterious person" refers to the mysterious group that he encountered more than 2 months ago...that is, on the night when he accompanied Sanako to play at the fireworks display, claiming that "we are not patriots against the foreigners"

gang.

Qingdeng was very curious about the true identity of this group of people for no reason.

In the past two months, he has used his personal connections and channels from time to time to investigate those mysterious guys - but found nothing.

After listening to Aoshito's implicitly sarcastic rhetorical question, Takasugi Shinsaku put his hands on his hips and smiled self-deprecatingly.

"Hmm... That's right. If it were me, I wouldn't have accepted such an abrupt 'invitation to become an official'. Nioh, I'm sorry, it's me, Meng Lang."

"To be honest - are you from Changzhou or somewhere else... I have no interest in this. I only care about one thing at the moment - tell me, is it a fight or a surrender?"

"..." Takasugi Shinsaku raised his gaze and cast a meaningful glance at Qingden.

Qingdeng: "I don't think you are naive enough to think that I will let you go just because you claim that you have nothing to do with the anti-barbarian group, right?"

Takasugi Shinsaku shrugged his shoulders and then spread his hands:

"Nioh, I just said that I admire you very much, so if possible, I don't want to fight with you. Can't we live in peace?"

"That won't work. Today is the first day that I changed from serving thieves in the fire to serving the public. I don't want to be charged with 'letting criminals go privately' on my first mission."

"That's it..." Takasugi Shinsaku murmured, "That's the case... that's such a pity..."

Takasugi Shinsaku clasped his hands behind his back and laughed silently.

"Yagyu Shininryu... Takasugi Shinsaku."

At the same time, Qingdeng also laughed as if nothing had happened.

"Natural Rishin-ryu - Tachibana Aoden."

On the east side of the long and narrow corridor where the two of them were, there was a thick wall embedded with windows one after another.

At this moment, the moon climbed up.

The bright moonlight penetrates the window and shines into the corridor. Between Aonto and Takasugi Shinsaku, a cool color between silver and pearl flows.

In an instant...the next scene indeed happened in an instant.

Bang!

Bang!

Two huge thumps sounded at the same time!

Aoto and Takasugi Shinsaku rushed towards each other at the same time! Their flying figures and wildly dancing blades disturbed the moonlight!

clang!

The two cold lights striking each other turned into the clang of gold and iron striking each other.

The two swords collided, separated, collided again, and separated again.

The two knives collided repeatedly, creating a series of exploding sparks.

The sparks generated when the swords of the two sides clashed became the only source of light besides Xiaohui in the long and narrow corridor under their feet.

Natural Rishin-ryu·Sword of Ignorance!

Qingden saw the opportunity and used Xia Dan to launch one of his best sword skills.

Dingguishen turned into a shooting star and fell straight into Takasugi Shinsaku's chest.

Takasugi Shinsaku tilted his head, causing the "shooting star" to unfortunately miss him.

However, this "meteor" still had some results - it scratched Takasugi Shinsaku's shirt.

Almost at the next moment, Takasugi Shinsaku launched a sharp counterattack. He quickly adjusted the position of the blade and lifted it from bottom to top towards Aoden's waist.

With quick eyesight and quick hands, Aoto retracted the thrust sword and used the sword blade to deflect Takasugi Shinsaku's sword path.

Takasugi Shinsaku's offensive has not ended.

While he put the knife back in front of him, he let out a low shout, moved sideways to Qingdeng's left side, then lowered his body, and swung the knife to strike Qingdeng's left shoulder.

Qingto's body reacted one step ahead of his brain - he quickly took two steps back, while dodging, he hit Takasugi Shinsaku hard, but he was easily relieved by the opponent who promptly changed his attack to defense.

Get out of the way.

Awesome... Qingdeng sighed inwardly.
To be continued...