Facing the hordes of warriors, the farmers trembled and obeyed.

But if you are a lone warrior, the situation is completely different!

As long as there is a war, there will always be a winner and a loser.

The victor chases death to the north, while the loser abandons his armor and pursues his troops.

The armor, clothes and weapons worn by warriors are all valuable items.

Ever since, a new way to make a fortune was born!

Whenever a samurai fled due to defeat and became alone, he would become a "big fat sheep" in the eyes of the farmers.

If you sharpen the bamboo, it will become a light and easy-to-handle weapon that can kill samurai masters!

Unless he is a fierce man, no matter how powerful the warrior is, he will not be able to escape death when facing a dozen or even dozens of peasants holding bamboo spears and swarming them.

In order to hunt down these lone warriors, farmers even formed professional teams.

Some people are responsible for collecting intelligence, some are responsible for checking locations, some are responsible for making weapons, some are responsible for attacking, and some are responsible for selling stolen goods.

When they heard where a war was going on, they immediately ran to the battlefield and lurked silently, hunting down the fleeing and lonely warriors.

Akechi Mitsuhide, who killed his lord Oda Nobunaga and coined the idiom "Three Days Under Heaven", died at the hands of farmers' bamboo spears.

In the tenth year of Tensho (1582), Mitsuhide Akechi fought a decisive battle with Toyotomi Hideyoshi on Mount Tenno, and retreated in embarrassment after defeat.

While passing through Yamashina Ogurisu Village, he was killed by local farmers with bamboo spears, his head was chopped off, and he was sent to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's military camp for reward.

A generation of heroes died in such a funny and tragic way, which is truly a model of black humor.

Such a way of death is similar to that of Li Zicheng, who died in Jiugong Mountain.

The hunting warriors... look cold, but that doesn't mean the farmers are too cruel.

Compared with the evil done by the warriors as the ruling class, these actions of the peasants are really nothing to mention.

During the Warring States Period, it was not uncommon for the samurai lords to raise the tax to 90% and forcefully occupy 90% of the people's income.

As for robbing women, killing good people and taking credit, burning farmers' houses for lighting, etc., it is even more common.

Farmers are the most cunning, loyal on the surface but the best at lying. The so-called farmers are the most stingy and cunning, but it is the violent and unruly warriors who force them to be like this.

Shimada Kui never expected that to this day, there would actually be a "fallen warrior hunter", and by chance, they would run into it...

Presumably the nearby farmers learned that Hachioji was fighting a war, so they picked up this long-abandoned "traditional performance", mobilized their manpower early, and lurked here, preparing to make a fortune.

"'Falling Warrior Hunter'...?!"

As soon as Shimada Kui finished speaking, Elodie muttered and lowered her face.

Although she didn't understand Japanese history, she still heard about this traditional art of Japanese farmers.

At this moment, both Elodie and Kui Shimada had complicated and unspeakable expressions on their faces.

No wonder they are like this.

This is the border of Kanto.

In other words, these people are all farmers from Kanto.

Together with thousands of people, they fought bloody battles at Eight Princes for five days and nights. What was their purpose?

In order to block the front of the French and Qi coalition forces!

In order to buy time for the defenders of Edo to deploy their defenses!

In order to buy time for the people of Kanto to evacuate!

They fought bloody battles and suffered numerous casualties, but in the end they were hunted by the farmers in Kanto...

Their emotions are so complex that it is difficult to describe them in specific words.

At this time, a thin young farmer with sunken cheeks came forward with a knife - he should be the leader of this group - licked his lips and shouted excitedly:

"Kill those two men! Leave the woman behind! Don't hurt the woman!"

Having said that, he stared greedily at the Yamato Mamoru Yasada in Elodie's hand, and the Izumi Mamoru Kanesada on Hijikata Toisho's waist.

Anyone with a sharp eye can see that these two knives are extraordinary.

Apart from these two knives, the other object that was also looked at repeatedly was Elodie herself.

Strands of licking gazes traveled up and down Elodie's body.

Although Elodie is a Westerner and her appearance does not conform to the current Japanese aesthetics, who calls her a woman?

In the lower class society, women are an extremely important resource.

Regardless of her appearance, Elodie's fair skin is enough to make these farmers salivate.

In ancient Japan, white women were regarded as beautiful, and white skin was one of the important criteria for measuring a woman's appearance.

Such a woman with skin as white as snow stood in front of them... It was rare that they didn't pounce on her immediately.

Their unabashedly animalistic gazes made Elodie, who was used to "talking and laughing with great scholars but no casual contacts", feel very uncomfortable and had goosebumps all over her body.

Seeing that these guys were about to attack, Elodie immediately took a stance, raised her sword to the middle, and instantly entered combat mode.

However, as soon as she raised the knife with her front foot, Shimada Kui's voice came from beside her back foot:

"Chief, wait a minute."

Although Shimada Kui came from a samurai family, he was not considered a wealthy family. He had gone through many hard times and often clashed with the lower classes of society, so he understood and sympathized with the plight of the farmers very well.

It was purely the harsh living environment that forced them to be like this.

Therefore, he did not show contempt or hatred when facing this group of farmers who were obviously here to hunt them.

Both he and Elodie were bruised and exhausted.

Not only that, he was also carrying a dying Hijikata Toshizo on his back who was in urgent need of quiet healing.

Under such circumstances, it is not rational to start a conflict with these farmers.

Shimada Kui did not doubt Elodie's ability, but he knew very well that she lacked experience in dealing with farmers.

So, he took the initiative to come forward and initiate negotiations.

I saw him holding his head high, looking around fearlessly, and loudly said:

"Everyone! I am the deputy captain of the Shinsengumi 1st Squad, Kui Shimada!"

Shinsengumi—when they heard this title, the farmers who were ready to move a second ago were all stunned in place.

The Nioh's tribe, the strongest army of the shogunate, the strongest swordsman group...the reputation of the Shinsengumi has spread far and wide, even in remote areas.

Seeing that the name of the "Shinsengumi" successfully suppressed these people, Shimada Kui immediately cheered up and his tone was a few degrees higher:

"We just passed by here by chance and didn't mean to disturb you!"

"If there is any offense, please forgive me!"

"We don't want to have a dispute with you! Please let us go!"

"We just want to leave here safely and have no other evil thoughts!"

After that, he raised his hand and grabbed the placket at the chest, pulled hard, and pulled open the stitches, revealing the middle layer of the placket - there were three small gold coins hidden inside.

This was a habit he had developed while still struggling in the marketplace before joining the Shinsengumi.

Sew money into the middle layer of the skirt for emergency use.

This approach has many benefits.

First of all, it is not easy to be stolen, and secondly, you don’t have to constantly touch whether the money is still there. You can always feel the presence of coins on the skin of your chest.

"There are three small judgments here, which can be used as money to buy the way!"

One small gold coin is equal to one tael of gold, and three small gold coins is equal to three taels of gold.

Three taels of gold... Although it is not a huge amount of money, for the poor farmers, this is already a lot of money.

The big names who moved out of the Shinsengumi came first, and the money and bribes came later...a combination of kindness and power. Shimada Kui is not a professional lobbyist. He is better at doing things than talking. This is the limit of what he can do.

Facts have proved that his set of punch combinations is effective.

The farmers, who had been aggressive until now, now became much more docile.

They looked at each other, their eyes full of hesitation, panic and worry.

They were not impressed by the money in Kui Shimada's hands, they were mainly impressed by the reputation of the Shinsengumi... to be more precise, they were shocked by the reputation of Aomori!

Aoto made his fortune in Edo.

Whenever Qingdeng creates some great deeds or achieves something, the people of Kanto are the first to know.

For this reason, Qingteng has a very high prestige in Kanto, and many scholars and people in Kanto respect Qingteng.

Because they know all kinds of deeds of Qingden, they know very well how terrifying Nioh's fighting power is!

Those who touch the "Benevolent King"... they have to consider the price behind this.

What a pity that their hesitation lasted quite short-lived.

In just a moment, accompanied by unpleasant yelling, shouts came out one after another:

"Stop doing this with us!"

"That's right! You want to bribe us with just three taels of gold! Who are you looking down on?!"

"Kill you, everything on your body will be ours!"

"Stop using the Shinsengumi to oppress us! Just kill you all, God knows who did it!"
To be continued...