Oishi Naizangsuke was born in the second year of Manji (1659) and died in the sixteenth year of Genroku (1703). He was famous for his loyalty and revenge, and was the organizer of the world-famous "Ako Incident".

In the fourteenth year of Genroku (1701), the fifth generation general of the Edo shogunate, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, specially ordered the Lord of the Ako Domain to serve as a "gosho" (reception staff) in order to welcome and entertain the envoys sent by Emperor Higashiyama to Edo.

However, Asano was not familiar with the rituals and ceremonies of the shogunate, so the shogunate ordered Kira Uenosuke, who was familiar with court etiquette, to assist Asano.

Kira has always looked down on Asano, and instead of helping Asano, he made Asano look bad and ridiculed him for not knowing the general situation.

When the emperor's envoys arrived, Asano acted ugly and made jokes.

Asano knew that Kira deliberately made him embarrassed in front of the public, so he was furious.

For Yixue's shame, he drew his sword angrily on the last day of the ceremony and stabbed Kira.

Blatantly committing murder in the main hall... Asano's behavior angered General Tsunayoshi.

General Tsunayoshi immediately ordered Asano to commit seppuku immediately and confiscate the Ako Domain's territory.

Asano committed seppuku and committed suicide, but Kira was acquitted. Ishiuchi Kurosuke, the leader of the Ako clan, and many retainers of the Ako clan were very dissatisfied with this verdict.

[Note: Ie-ro: an official position in the feudal state during the Edo period. Ie-ro is to the feudal state, similar to what laozhong is to the shogunate. He is responsible for commanding all the samurai in the domain and taking charge of all affairs in the domain]

In order to avenge his lord, Oishi Naizosuke made a covenant and an oath with the retainers of the Ako Domain who were also determined to take revenge, and then went to various places to seek survival, waiting for the opportunity to come.

It can be said that Oishi Zangsuke, who vowed to kill Kira, tried his best.

He left his wife and son, and went to Gion, Kyoto alone to find a geisha. He did this deliberately to make the Kira family think that he was corrupt.

Oishi is the patriarch of the Ako Domain and the head of the retainers of the Ako Domain, so the Kira family, who are afraid that the retainers of the Ako Domain will come to seek revenge, are most concerned about Oishi's actions.

After learning that Oishi leads a bohemian and absurd life every day, the Kira family lowered their guard.

In the fifteenth year of Genroku (1703), Oishi decided that the time was ripe and began to secretly summon comrades scattered across the country.

Including Oishi, there were a total of 47 Ako retainers who went to Edo with a death wish for revenge.

On December 15, Oishi Naizo's assistant led Ako's retainers to storm Kira's residence and took Kira's head on the spot.

Afterwards, Oishi and others surrendered and allowed themselves to be detained by the shogunate officials, awaiting judgment.

In the 16th year of Genroku (1704), the shogunate ordered them to commit seppuku collectively.

Later generations will invade Kira's residence and kill the 47 Ako retainers who were collectively known as the "Ako Forty-seven Martyrs".

This favoritism incident to avenge the Lord is also known as the "Ako Incident" or the "Genroku Incident".

After the "Ako incident" occurred, the whole country was in an uproar.

Oishi Naizangsuke became a model of "loyal minister" in one fell swoop, and his name became synonymous with "forbearance" and "suffering hardship".

Kikuchi Senmiu compares Tachibana Takayuki to Oishi Uchizosuke...

If Tachibana Takayuki is really as Kikuchi said, he deliberately committed suicide in order to make the Shimizu clan relax their vigilance and infiltrate the Qingmizu clan to collect intelligence... Then Tachibana Takayuki's approach is worse than Oishi Naizou's.

And nothing less than that.

As if they had agreed in advance, Saege and Yae turned their little heads sideways in uniform movements and glanced at Qingden.

After seeing Qingdeng's indifferent expression, they seemed to feel relieved and looked away from Qingdeng.

Admittedly, from the outside, Qing Deng looked calm and composed.

However, in fact, Qingdeng's heart is not as peaceful as his appearance...

Although the theory that "Takayuki Takayuki was pretending to be addicted to gambling" has not been firmly confirmed, it is purely Kikuchi Sensui's personal conjecture.

Although Tachibana Takayuki is just a "strange relative" to Aoto, Aoden does not have deep feelings for Tachibana Takayuki.

However, at this moment, Qingdeng's heart still surged uncontrollably.

What kind of strong will and belief does one have to be willing to personally tarnish one's reputation in order to solve a case, and to bear gambling debts that ordinary people cannot repay in their lifetime...

"I have always believed... No! I have always believed that Mr. Tachibana pretended to be addicted to gambling in order to lower the vigilance of the Qingshui clan and collect information from the Qingshui clan, and deliberately visited the Qingshui clan's casinos all day long!"

"At that time, I was... full of hope..."

"At that time... I thought that as long as there was a powerful 'three times' samurai like Mr. Tachibana... one day I would be able to clear away the injustice done to Aqi and Aden..."

"However...however...in June of the sixth year of Anzheng's reign (1859)...suddenly...I received a piece of news like a bolt from the blue..."

"Mr. Orange... contracted tiger-wolf dysentery... and passed away..."

Speaking of this, Kikuchi Qiansui's tone gradually became serious.

His hands, which were naturally resting on his thighs, slowly tightened and clenched into fists.

"How can there be such a coincidence... How can there be such a coincidence...! How can there be such a coincidence!"

"It's not the fifth year of Ansei (1858)! The epidemic of tiger and wolf dysentery has long passed! How could Mr. Tachibana suffer from tiger and wolf dysentery at this time?!"

"The beasts of the Qingshui clan must have discovered that Mr. Tachibana was investigating them, so they sent a killer to kill Mr. Tachibana!"

"That must be it!"

"That must be the case!

"

Kikuchi Sensui's appearance right now... can be described as crazy.

He gnashed his teeth like a crazed beast, and his hard teeth creaked as if he would pounce at any moment to bite Qingden.

Saege and Yae unconsciously stood half a step sideways, ready to block the gap between Aomori and Kikuchi Sensui with their bodies at any time.

"It's not enough to kill Aqi and Aden, now I've killed Mr. Orange... Damn it... Damn it... Damn it...!"

Every time Kikuchi uttered "Damn it", his eyes turned red.

Within a moment, hot tears rolled out of his eyes and trickled down his nose and cheeks.

"The moment I learned about Mr. Tachibana's death... I felt like something was broken in my brain..."

"I can't remember clearly what happened after that..."

"I just remember that I seemed to have fainted on the spot."

"When I woke up, what I did after waking up... I can't remember at all..."

"I only remember that I seemed to be drinking all the time, sleeping when I was tired, and stuffing whatever I could into my mouth when I was hungry..."

"By the time I regained my consciousness and could remember things again, it was already November of the first year of Wanyan (1860)..."

"Haha... In other words, I didn't 'wake up' until not long ago. Before that, I had been living a chaotic life where I didn't even know what I was doing..."

This is probably the body's self-protection mechanism... Qingdeng thought to himself.

When a person's body or mind suffers great damage, the brain will automatically lose its memory and erase the memory to forget the pain.

His beloved wife and sister-in-law died tragically; Tachibana Takayuki, whom Kikuchi regarded as the "only hope", also suffered an accident...

To be honest, it would not be surprising at all for Kikuchi to go crazy and suffer from serious mental illness after suffering such major blows that destroy his mind one after another.

"After 'waking up' from that chaotic state...I felt like there was nothing inside me..."

As Kikuchi spoke, he showed a half-smile, a weird expression that seemed both sad and self-deprecating.

"Mr. Orange is no longer here... I'm afraid the injustice done to Aqi and Aden will never be cleared away..."

"When I think of this, I feel weak all over..."

"Haha... This is probably what the ancients often said, 'There is no greater sadness than death'..."

"I no longer have the energy to track down the real culprits who killed Aqi and Aden... I don't even have the energy to resent the real culprits who killed Mr. Ju, Aqi and Aden..."

"Everything is fine..."

"That's it..."

"I gave up..."

"Maybe this is my life..."

"Perhaps I was a heinous traitor in my previous life, so I ended up in this situation in this life..."

After finishing speaking, Kikuchi leaned against the wall behind him and lowered his head.

He was obviously still breathing, he was obviously still alive, but there was no light in his eyes, and he looked like a walking corpse.

No, I should say... Kikuchi now is like a walking dead...

Qingden subconsciously wanted to say something to comfort Kikuchi, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out.

How far must human language be exhausted, and how far must human eloquence be exerted, in order to comfort Kikuchi, who has suffered injustice and grief?

Qingden's knowledge and life experience are so pale and powerless in the face of Kikuchi's tragic experience...

For a moment, silence dominated the smelly thatched house.

A heavy silence fell between Qingden and Kikuchi.

In this silence——

"...Tachibana-kun...what do you think?"

Kikuchi suddenly asked Qingnobo a confused question.
To be continued...