Whenever it is mentioned that "the eighth prince and a thousand people are united", people will always praise him for his simplicity and loyalty.

"Excellent combat power", "more reliable than the 80,000-horse cavalry" and so on.

But in fact, even if they are blown to the sky, it will not change the fact that they are a militia armed with half peasants and half soldiers.

They have not fought a war since their inception.

The purpose of the first shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu's formation of the Thousand People Together was to deal with the Toyotomi family and prevent Toyotomi's army from advancing eastward.

Although Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the Komaki-Nagakute Battle (1584), the size gap between the two sides was too large, and the tactical victory could not cover up the strategic decline.

At that time, the Toyotomi family was really at its peak. Anyone who was caught would be beaten. Even someone as powerful as Tokugawa Ieyasu had to give in.

As a last resort, he could only surrender and submit to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Since then, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu have become a pair of textbook-level "superficial brothers".

With a smile on his face, he secretly wanted to stab the other person.

In order to weaken the power of the Tokugawa family, Toyotomi Hideyoshi forcibly changed Tokugawa Ieyasu's territory and moved it from Tokaido to Kanto.

At that time, the Kanto Plain was full of swamps, extremely poor, and with the remnants of the Hojo Party inside and the Toyotomi family's vassal lords outside, it was a good place to trap the Tokugawa family.

Tokugawa Ieyasu did not surrender, and one of his countermeasures was to establish the Hachioji Thousand People Unity.

Although the Kanto Plain is a vast plain with huge economic potential, from a military point of view, it is unsafe and undefended, and the national defense pressure is huge - this is one of the important reasons why Toyotomi Hideyoshi moved Tokugawa Ieyasu to Kanto.

In this case, manpower can only be used to make up for the shortcomings of geographical location.

Thus, Thousands of People with One Mind came into being.

Directly forming a demobilized army would easily irritate the Toyotomi family and cause troublesome disputes. Moreover, the Tokugawa family did not have the extra financial resources at that time, so they settled for the next best thing and established a militia that was half soldiers and half farmers.

Thousands of people were deployed together at the junction of Kai Kingdom and Kanto (Hachioji). At first glance, they were used to prevent Toyotomi's army from advancing eastward.

There is no need to elaborate on the subsequent historical trends.

The Tokugawa family attacked and destroyed the Toyotomi family, and the country changed hands.

Until the day when the Toyotomi family fell, thousands of people worked together and did not confront the Toyotomi army.

Judging from the results, Tokugawa Ieyasu's formation of Thousand People Together is regarded as the formation of Loneliness.

After Tokugawa Ieyasu came to rule the world, there was no force in the world that could threaten his status.

In this way, the meaning of the existence of thousands of people becoming united becomes subtle and dispensable.

However, Tokugawa Ieyasu did not cancel the establishment of a thousand men because of this, and this special army has been preserved.

The descendants of thousands of people are all proud of their bounden duty of "defending the country's borders".

Under the influence of this sense of superiority, they usually opened their mouths to "serve the shogunate with loyalty" but kept silent "to destroy the shogunate thieves".

Each and every one of them behaved like loyal ministers and good generals, with the heroic spirit of "if the shogunate is in trouble, even if they sell their mothers, wives, and daughters, they will go into battle to kill the enemy."

However... at this moment, with the news that "the Changzhou Army is coming", it once again proves the eternal truth: "When the tide recedes, you will know who is swimming naked."

These guys who were usually "loyal and brave" have now changed their faces.

There are those who advocate "vigorous fighting".

There are people who threaten to "retreat".

What's more, they sneaked home without even saying hello, ready to pack up their belongings and run away.

When there is peace and quiet, everyone is a brave warrior who actively participates in military training.

But when it came time to go to the battlefield... everyone showed their true colors.

It is clear at a glance who is the warrior and who is the idiot.

This is different from talking nonsense. Once on the battlefield, people will really die...!

When those idiots think of this, they no longer have the courage to continue playing the role of "loyal ministers and good generals".

Elodie stood quietly, watching all this with an expressionless face.

These noisy and chaotic scenes are all within his sight.

Kui Shimada and other team members guarded her closely, guarding against anyone else approaching her.

Looking at the villagers who were getting noisier and more violent, Shimada Kui couldn't help but smile bitterly.

He could see at a glance: Thousands of people are in urgent need of a person with high prestige and sufficient ability to inspire and lead them!

Although the "fighting faction" and the "evacuation faction" were quarreling fiercely, in fact, the vast majority of the villagers were simply panicked and didn't know what to do now. They neither advocated fighting nor advocated withdrawal. Just plain confused.

If a strong person were to lead them, not only would they "immediately transform into tigers and wolves", they would at least be determined to fight.

On the contrary... if this depressing atmosphere of "escape is justified, disobedience is not guilty" continues to permeate, under the influence of the "herd effect", the villagers will probably scatter...

Thousands of people with one mind naturally have a unified head, that is, one thousand people with one mind.

However...Qingdeng, who is the leader of Thousands of People with One Heart, is now far away, and there is nothing he can do to control Thousands of People with One Heart.

Shimada Kui naturally didn't want to see the situation continue to be chaotic like this. He was secretly anxious, but he was helpless.

After a while, he simply gritted his teeth and thought to himself as if he was giving up on himself:

——Forget it! This matter is not my business! I have only one task now, and that is to protect the head of the room!

From just now, he has been urging Elodie to leave this place as soon as possible.

These guys were really arguing, and God knows if they would do anything drastic next.

Once Elodie is involved, injured or has a more serious accident, then he, the "captain of the bodyguard", will be the one to blame!

However, no matter how much he tried to persuade her, Elodie turned a deaf ear.

Then, he heard Elodie's three "Quiet" sounds.

Then...he saw the knife she suddenly struck!

Although Elodie is a purely civil servant, as Qingden's apprentice and swordsmanship enthusiast, she has always maintained the habit of wearing a sword.

Qingdeng's preference for his apprentice was obvious to all.

He put a lot of thought into giving Elodie a good knife that would fit her hand.

After asking around for sword dealers, he finally found this sword of excellent quality—Yamato Moritai!

Yamato and stability - one of the fifty things to do well.

The four levels of "The Greatest Property", "Great Property", "Good Property", and "Business" are divided according to the sharpness.

A sword that can cut through 50% to 60% of the thickness of a human body is considered a good asset.

Since it can be listed as a good karma, it goes without saying that the sharpness of Yamato Moritai is needless to say.

It is not difficult to split a tree trunk with a good thing in hand - provided that your knife has a straight tendon and sufficient strength.

Elodie did not draw the sword with both hands, but suddenly drew the sword with her right hand with one hand! Then she slashed with a cassock slash, hitting the tree trunk next to her!

The next moment, a long and deep smooth cut was cut diagonally on the tree trunk!

Swinging the sword with one hand, he can actually chop out such a straight tendon with such fierce force...

Such a sharp sword even Shimada Kui, who was extremely skilled in swordsmanship, couldn't help but be stunned.

Although Elodie has been a member of the Shinsengumi for a while, she rarely draws her sword in front of others.

Most of the members of the Shinsengumi have little idea of ​​her true strength.

All I know is that she is Niou's only apprentice, and it is said that her swordsmanship is good - that's all.

It was only at this moment that Shimada Kuai finally saw Elodie's swordsmanship with his own eyes.

He looked at the huge cut on the tree trunk, and then looked at Elodie beside him, and he was shocked: This little girl looks like she has thin arms and legs, but she is also an unrecognizable person!

Elodie's sudden draw of the sword, followed by a huge slashing sound, instantly attracted the attention of everyone present.

In an instant, everyone, no matter who was fighting or retreating, turned their heads and looked at Elodie in confusion and surprise.

Elodie scanned the whole place, looked at the villagers who had finally calmed down, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Everyone, what are you arguing about?"

As she spoke, she lowered her eyelids with a sharp gleam in her eyes.

"Who are you?"

"You are the 'Eighth Prince, Thousands of People with One Heart', aren't you?"

"Ever since two hundred and eighty years ago, you have had only one responsibility, and that is, 'when a foreign enemy invades Kanto from the west, transform into a barrier and bravely stop the enemy', isn't it?"

At the end of her words, she suddenly raised her voice with such shocking momentum that everyone present fell silent.

The silence is only temporary.

After a while, someone stiffened his neck and retorted:

"But, but, this thing is too sudden! We are suddenly asked to go to the battlefield! This will kill people!"

After this man stood up, many people immediately followed and echoed.
To be continued...