About 1 minute ago——

Ikedaya, front door——

"Come on! They are tired!"

"Don't let them have a chance to breathe!"

"Come together!"

There were quite a few people screaming and running toward the front door.

After all, Yoshimura Kanichiro and Chief Souma, who are responsible for guarding the front door, are not monsters like Souji.

After repeated fierce battles, they were sweating profusely and their breath was disordered.

Yoshimura Kanichiro wiped the sweat from his face and said to Chief Souma in his difficult southern clan accent:

"Soma, someone is here again."

Chief Souma, who was not good at martial arts, had no strength to even open his eyes. His eyes were half-closed and his face was as pale as paper.

"Well, I saw it... Yoshimura, can you still fight?"

Yoshimura Kanichiro smiled bitterly and said:

"To be honest, I only have 20% of my strength left..."

"Then you are better than me. I only have half my strength left. Alas... I really don't want to fight anymore."

Although he was complaining, his movements were not slow at all, and he readied the knife tiredly but firmly.

Yoshimura Kanichiro also put his feet firmly on his feet, took a good posture, and stared closely at the enemies that appeared again and killed them directly.

The two of them are indeed the newcomers who are highly favored by Qingdeng. Until now, no one has managed to escape, and the front door has always been as stable as rock.

They stand proudly and majesticly, guarding the door firmly, just like door gods.

However, there are still many people with lofty ideals who are still fighting against a trapped beast.

Although the Shinsengumi side were all elite, they only had 8 people after all.

Only four people broke into Ikedaya.

Isamu Kondo was busy dealing with Daizo Miyabe.

The general manager, Nagakura Shinpachi is fighting with Prajna.

Only Gensaburo Inoue was left to deal with other patriots.

Although Inoue Genzaburo is an experienced and reliable backbone, no matter how powerful he is, he cannot stop all enemies with two hands and a sword.

Therefore, many people with lofty ideals luckily escaped Inoue Genzaburo's blade, escaped from the second floor of Ikeda House, which had turned into a Shura battlefield, and jumped to the front or back door.

Although most of these guys who are running away are just a group of unworthy soldiers and generals with no abilities, their number is a big trouble.

Seeing that Yoshimura Kanichiro and Chief Soma were already exhausted, those guys who were lurking and thinking about "the mantis stalking the cicada, the oriole behind" were all like cats smelling fishy smell, and they were all swarming.

It rushed out like a cockroach.

Probably because they knew that such a great opportunity was rare, so everyone worked hard and the momentum should not be underestimated.

This time, there were 6 patriots who came out to kill them.

Kanichiro Yoshimura held his breath.

Chief Souma gritted his teeth.

The two squeezed out the remaining energy in their bodies, dragged their exhausted bodies, and tried their best to stop him.

The spirit is commendable, but the power of the spirit has its limit...

At this critical moment when they were about to die, a violent afterimage suddenly broke into everyone's field of vision.

Immediately after the afterimage, there were 6 shining sword lights!

When the light of the sword dissipated, the six patriots who had been so vicious just now opened their eyes wide with fear on their faces.

They were first seen standing frozen as if they were immobilized, then blood spurted out from their bodies, their feet were shaking, and then they were like withered rice, unable to get up again.

Under the rain of blood flying all over the sky, a young samurai wearing a light green haori maintained his sword-drawing posture.

The sudden arrival of reinforcements caused Kanichiro Yoshimura and Chief Soma to fall into brief consternation.

The former was the first to react, with a look of surprise on his face:

"Captain Saito!"

Saito stood up, wiped away the blood on the blade, and asked bluntly:

"Where are Mr. Kondo and the others?"

The horse master immediately replied:

"They are all on the second floor of Ikedaya! Captain Saito, please go and provide support!"

As soon as Saito heard this, he stopped lingering and immediately rushed into Ikeda House.

In order to save time, he did not go through the main door. Instead, he jumped up, grabbed the eaves on the first floor of Ikeda House, flipped up, stood on the eaves, and then broke the window and jumped into the second floor of Ikeda House.

As soon as Saito stepped forward, Kanichiro Yoshimura and Chief Soma heard a large number of footsteps coming from far and near behind.

He turned around and looked - it was the "East Route Army" led by Hijikata Toshizo!

"Vice Chief Hijikata!"

Chief Xiangma showed a look of relief on his face and took three steps at a time to meet him.

Seeing that it was Sōma's chief planner who had arrived, Hijikata Sue San got straight to the point:

"Souma, how is the situation?"

At this critical moment that determines tonight's victory or defeat, the horse planner will not sit there and talk nonsense.

Toudo Heisuke and Nakazawa Qin guarded the back door; Kondo Isamu led Souji and others to attack, but the current situation was unknown... He explained Kondo Isamu's combat deployment and his current situation clearly one by one.

At this time, Yoshimura Kanichiro looked around Hijikata Toshizo and found that Aoto was not behind him, so he couldn't help but ask:

"Deputy Chief Hijikata, where is my lord?"

Hijikata Toshizo said calmly:

"Tachibana went to do other things. I'll be back in a moment."

After learning the general battle situation from Chief Soma, Toshizo Hijikata quickly issued precise orders without thinking:

"Yoshimura, Soma, thank you for your hard work. Please step back and rest for now."

"Zanosuke, lead Matsubara to support the back entrance of Ikedaya."

Matsubara—that is, the deputy captain of the 10th Division, Matsubara Tadashi.

Harada Sanosuke yelled "Ouch!" and raised his gun above his head.

"Hohoin-ryu, captain of the 10th Division of the Shinsengumi, Harada Sanosuke, comes out!"

He announced to the house like a kabuki actor, shouting "Come out of battle" and ran towards the back door. Matsubara Tadashi chased after him.

"Brothers from the Gu family, please stay at the front door!"

The Tani brothers - Sanjuro Tani and Mantaro Tani.

"Serizawa, Niimi, Nakazawa, come with me!"

Zhongzawa Zhen only nodded vigorously.

Serizawa Kamo and Niimi Nishiki silently drew their swords in their hands.

Uh-huh—Hijikata Toshizo pulled out the Izumi Mami Kanesada from his waist, looking high-spirited.

"superior!"

He held Izumi Mamoru Kanada in front of his chest, took Kasumdan stance, strode through the front door, and rushed into Ikeda House.

Serizawa Duck, Shinami Nishiki and Nakazawa Sadashi filed in.

As soon as I entered Ikeda House, the strong smell of blood hit my face and was nauseating.

In all the major and minor battles since the establishment of the Shinsengumi - from the "Battle of Iga" that quelled civil unrest to the "Battle of Yamato" that destroyed the Tenchu ​​Group - Hijikata Toshizo, Serizawa Kamo and others have not missed a single battle. .

Therefore, they are already accustomed to such bloody scenes.

On the other hand, Nakazawa Sadashi was not very adaptable.

The recruit group he and his sister Qin Nakazawa had joined before were only at the level of a "security brigade" and had not fought any big battles, hard battles, or bloody battles.

For this reason, he could not help but frown, hold his breath, and his face turned slightly pale.

The group of people passed through the entrance hall and arrived at the stairs without any danger - until then, they finally met a few living people.

I saw two young women - they were Ikedaya's tedai ​​- sitting beside the stairs, hugging each other closely, shivering, they were all frightened, their eyes were straight, their expressions were stiff, they looked like clay and wood sculptures.

Hijikata Toisho glanced at them, then withdrew his gaze, ignored them, and continued moving forward.

When I climbed the stairs and reached the second floor, the scene in front of me suddenly changed.
To be continued...