!【4800】

Okada Izo—born in Tosa, with a low status, just an ashigaru.

What is ashigaru?

Generally speaking, it can be understood as the corporal among corporals!

In the strict-class Tosa Domain, corporals were already suffering from discrimination.

And it is not difficult to imagine how miserable the life of Ashigaru, who is even humbler than an ordinary corporal, is.

It can be said that except for the right to "name Saber", the living conditions of Ashigaru people like Okada Izo are basically the same as poor peasants!

The family is surrounded by walls, hungry and cold, and half-dead.

The above is the environment where Okada Izo grew up.

With no money, no power, and no power...the only skill he could acquire was swordsmanship.

Hanheita Takeichi discovered Okada Izo, who had extraordinary swordsmanship talents, and accepted him as his disciple, teaching him the swordsmanship of Ono Itto-ryu.

Soon after, he was sent to Edo for further study.

Under Takeichi Hanheita's personal recommendation, Okada Izo successfully entered the sect of Shigakukan, one of the "Three Great Masters of Edo", and learned Kagami Akechi-ryu from the great swordsman Momoi Haruzo.

In the first year of Manen (1860), he accompanied Takeichi Hanheita on his travels and training in the defense ministers and Kyushu areas. On the way, he learned the Jichi-style swordsmanship in Bungooka Domain, and the name "Swordsman Izo" began to be known to everyone.

After Takeshi Hanheita established the Tosa Kinou Party, Okada Izo naturally joined the organization and served Takeshi Hanheita.

Looking back on Okada Izo's past life, it is not difficult to find that Takeichi Hanheita is simply his reborn parent!

It was Hanheitai Takeichi who taught him swordsmanship and gave him a skill to possess.

It was Takeichi Banheita who guided him and gave him a broader platform.

It was Takeichi Hanheita who dragged him out of the cesspit-like bottom of Tosa!

Anyone with a little conscience will always remember this great kindness.

According to legend, Okada Izo had an almost fanatical admiration for Takeichi Hanheita.

On weekdays, he always says, "For Teacher Wushi, I will risk my life!"

Takeshi Hanheita is a handsome gentleman that everyone praises... In fact, from the surface, this is indeed the case.

The true case that best reflects Takeichi Hanheita's character is the love story between him and his wife.

Hanping Tai of Wu City had a wife named Tomiko.

The husband and wife raise their eyebrows together, and the husband sings and the wife follows.

The only fly in the ointment is that Fu Zi has not had any children for a long time.

In the feudal era, being childless was a major event that should not be taken lightly!

Therefore, the disciples of Takeshi Hanheita gathered together and, with Tomiko's consent, decided to help their teacher take a concubine.

They first let Tomiko return to her parents' home temporarily, and then sent a beautiful woman to Hanheita's home in Takeshi.

After a period of time, the disciples came to check the situation and were surprised to find that the woman was still in perfect condition.

Afterwards, Wu Shi Banping scolded his disciples and strictly prohibited such things from happening again.

This is just one of many incidents that reflect Takeshi Hanheita's outstanding character.

There are simply too many good deeds Wushi Banpingtai has done to "be charitable" and "help others generously".

At first glance, he appears to be a good man with perfect personal ethics.

However... Ever since Takeshi Hanheita led the territorial Zuoqin royal party to Luo, there has been a rumor circulating in the market: Takeshi Hanheita is actually a cruel person who is very cruel to himself and even more cruel to others!

He is very fond of using physical means to remove obstacles.

To put it simply, he particularly likes to imitate the "Old Stories Outside the Sakurada Gate" and assassinate key figures of the enemy faction! In order to achieve the purpose of weakening the enemy!

As long as there are no political opponents, no one can oppose me!

The powerful and loyal Okada Izo is simply a "sharp blade" that is easy to use!

As a result, he often sent Okada Izo to assassinate those who opposed him.

Okada Izo, who regarded Takeichi Hanheita as a god, took over these dirty jobs without thinking and willingly, and wielded the "Tenchu" sword.

According to statistics, the number of people who have fallen to Okada Izo’s sword has reached a shocking number!

On August 2, Bunkyu's second year (1862), he assassinated Tosa Domain's Yokome Inoue Saichiro in Dotonbori, Osaka.

On August 20, the second year of Bunkyu, Homma Seiichiro was assassinated in Sanjo Wooden Town, Kyoto. On the same day, Gento Ugo, a subordinate of former Sekishiro Kujo Shochu, was assassinated in Tongmaruta Town, Kawaramachi, Kyoto.

On August 30, the second year of Bunkyu, he assassinated Shimada Sakon's subordinate Saru no Bumiyoshi at the source of the Sanjo River in Kyoto.

On September 23, the second year of Bunkyu, four people including Kinsaburo Watanabe, Shigezo Ogawara, Roku Morimori, and Sukeno Ueda were assassinated in Ishibesu, Ezhou.

On January 22, the third year of Bunkyu's reign, Ikeuchi University was assassinated near Namba Bridge in Osaka.

…

Horrible record...

Bloody record!

"Swordsman Izo" turns into bloody "Man Kills Izo"!

In terms of performance alone, looking at Japanese history, there are probably not many assassins who can compare with Okada Izo.

In fact, among the so-called "four great men", Kawakami Hikosai, Tanaka Shinbei and Nakamura Hanbei all seemed to make up the numbers.

Although these three people possess great strength, they do not have any outstanding records.

They did not kill anyone. It is not appropriate to call them "human killers".

Only Okada Izo is different.

Just based on this long list of murders, the title of "killing people to hide them" is definitely true!

Of course, the above are all speculations of the world, and there is no conclusion yet.

If it's just a normal little fight, then that's it.

However, a major case of this level cannot be done randomly!

This case has a lot of implications. If you want to convict someone, you must produce decisive evidence!

Otherwise, you will not be able to convince the public.

To this day, the government has never obtained irrefutable evidence that Okada Izo killed innocent people.

Although based on various existing clues, it has been basically determined that Takeshi Hanpeita is a ghost, and Okada Izo is indeed a heinous murderer.

But...strong evidence is lacking.

When Okada Izo kills people, he always chooses to do so at quiet times at night and in inaccessible places.

In this way, it is naturally extremely difficult to find human witnesses and physical evidence.

What’s even more ruthless is that after Okada Izo kills people, if he finds witnesses, he will also kill the witnesses with his own hands!

There are no less than 5 cases with the same situation - the bodies of civilians with frightened faces and stab wounds in the back were found near the murder scene...

Under such circumstances, how can we collect evidence?

The Tosa Kinou Party has always strenuously denied the accusations that "Okada Izo was killing people" and "Takeichi Hanheita ordered Okada Izo to assassinate others."

They hit on the Achilles heel of "the government's lack of evidence".

They knew that this man was the murderer, but they couldn't do anything about him... In this regard, the government had no other choice but to lament.

To this day, Okada Izo is still at large, and Takeshi Hanheita is still sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai.

He speaks with a strong Tosa accent and is proficient in Ono Itto-ryu and Kagami Akechi-ryu... If the information provided by Toudo Heisuke is accurate, then the assassin who attacked Toudo Heisuke tonight is most likely Okada Izo.

Facing such a killer, Toudou Heisuke is lucky to be able to return safely with all his beard and tail intact.

At this time, Hijikata Toshizo changed into a serious tone and said seriously:

"Leave aside the true identity of the murderer."

"A master with extraordinary strength is targeting us - this is the only thing that can be confirmed at the moment."

"Even Todo is no match for him."

"In this way, the only people in the new selection team who can deal with this guy on their own are probably you, me, Asheng, Souji, Manxin, Saito and Serizawa Kamo."

Man Shin—that is, Nagakura Shinpachi.

Because Nagakura Shinpachi behaved rudely and would rush like a wild bull whenever there was a battle, Hijikata Toshizo gave him this nickname.

However, the only people who can call Nagakura Shinpachi "manxin" are Ainoto and Hijikata Toshizo.

Hijikata Toshizo talks the most.

Only occasionally would Qingdeng call out "Quan Xin" on a whim.

"Tachibana, our opponent is already here, we can't show weakness."
To be continued...