The Ancestral Legacy Begins in the Wild West

Chapter 108 Frankness and Honesty at the Negotiation Table

In the Shinsengumi's quarters, the air was so stuffy it felt like it was about to drip water.

In the lobby, more than twenty people sat upright. They were all injured, some with bandages and some with blood seeping from their cuffs, but not one of them made a sound.

Opposite them sat a person who should never have been here at all: Sakamoto Ryoma.

Having always encountered conflict with the Shinsengumi and even been hunted down when he came into contact with them, he seemed to have never imagined that he would have the opportunity to come to this place, looking around with great curiosity.

Of course, he also knew that the Shinsengumi itself had bigger problems than he did, so he remained casual and did not say anything, simply observing the situation.

Kondo Isami sat in the main seat, motionless, with Kotetsu, which had not yet been properly cared for, resting on his lap.

No one knew whether he was resting or thinking about something. And no one dared to ask. Everyone remained silent until footsteps sounded from outside the door.

Hijikata Toshizo pushed open the door and entered, his haori stained with blood, his expression as cold as a knife. He entered without saying a word, went straight to his seat, picked up the cold tea on the table, and gulped it down.

"Can't be pried open."

He had just swallowed half a mouthful of tea when he said in a somewhat hoarse voice, "Since we brought him back, he hasn't said a single word."

The crowd finally stirred. Some whispered among themselves, some exchanged glances, and some sighed.

"What do we do now?" a member asked in a low voice, his voice filled with confusion. "The shogunate has officially ordered us to disband."

Saito Hajime, standing to Kondo's other side, immediately raised his head, his voice cold and hard: "Those weirdos from the Shogunate faction are lumping us together with the anti-shogunate faction for extermination. What's the point of what they're saying?"

Having experienced two attacks by this group, he was naturally already disappointed with the shogunate and even quite indignant.

However, the Shinsengumi was originally formed by eliminating a group of pro-shogunate ronin, and they were a pure-blooded pro-shogunate organization. Their so-called Bushido spirit was indeed deeply rooted.

Therefore, even at this critical juncture, some of the veteran team members present disagreed with his words and frowned upon hearing them.

Hijikata Toshizo didn't join their argument; he simply turned his head and looked at Sakamoto Ryoma: "Putting all that aside, what gives this guy the right to be here?"

Sakamoto Ryoma spread his hands, a somewhat helpless smile on his face: "I'm truly sorry for not arriving immediately. But I have a proper job; I'm the head of the Kobe Naval Training Center, and I only come to Kyoto occasionally."

He paused, his smile fading slightly: "Besides, I don't have much contact with the radical Mr. Gui and his group. They didn't even tell me about this plan, so it was already quite an achievement that they managed to get here in the end."

He then changed the subject: "Besides, after what happened a few days ago, my mentor, Mr. Katsu Kaishu's, training center has been closed. The shogunate said that some of our students were involved in the 'honoring' activities, and now Mr. Katsu and I are both unemployed."

He shrugged, picked up his cold tea and took a sip: "As a free man, I can certainly sit at the same table as you unrecognized Shinsengumi."

Katsu Kaishu was an anomaly among the powerful figures of the late Edo period. He was the only pro-China and anti-war figure under the Shogun, had a good relationship with Li Hongzhang, and openly opposed the First Sino-Japanese War.

After the death of Beiyang Fleet Admiral Ding Ruchang, he wrote a poem to mourn him and at the same time criticized his own country's generals.

His most famous deeds, besides negotiating with Saigo, the leader of the anti-shogunate faction who fought all the way to Edo (Tokyo), and facilitating a bloodless surrender of the castle to save the people of Tokyo, were supporting Sakamoto Ryoma.

This was a turning point in their lives.

However, Hijikata Toshizo's relationship with him remained as bad as ever: "So this is your so-called reform? Hiding when things go wrong, then coming in to participate afterwards. Where were you when the streets of Kyoto were burned and blown up!?"

"Hijikata."

Kondo Isami reluctantly intervened, saying, "I invited Ryoma."

Hijikata glanced at the bureau chief, then finally fell silent. He picked up his teacup, took another gulp, and slammed it down again: "So, what should we do now?"

Silence fell over the lobby once again.

As mentioned before, their Shinsengumi are staunch supporters of the Safu faction, and their representatives are actually Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo.

They should have been given important positions after the Ikedaya Incident, and then fought to the very last moment until the Battle of Fushimi-Toba, when the shogunate's forces collapsed. Ultimately, they were all beheaded.

But that was the original course of history.

The shogunate in this world is completely different from that in history; it also imprisons the emperor and attempts to close the country off again. But with that group of eccentric individuals, it seems they no longer need the Shinsengumi.

These old-school samurai were taught from a young age to be loyal to the shogun.

But the injuries suffered by the brothers who had walked with them to this day, and the knives and guns that were wielded against them, were all real.

After Hijikata's question, Saito Hajime replied: "Do we really still have a choice about what to do?"

All eyes turned to him.

He was present during both attacks by that group of strange men, and his old wounds hadn't fully healed before new ones appeared: "Where else can we go? Beg the shogunate to take us in? Become gatekeepers for high-ranking shogunate officials?"

He stated the current situation, but sure enough, one of the older members spoke up: "Our Shinsengumi was established to support the shogunate. Now that the shogunate no longer needs us, we should naturally disband—"

However, Saito Hajime immediately retorted: "That's because we used to believe that only the shogunate could maintain order, and that protecting the shogunate was protecting the country."

His voice was somewhat agitated, but he quickly suppressed it: "But is the current shogunate still worth our continued protection?"

No one answered him; the entire hall was deathly silent.

Just then, before the two sides were fully opposed, "click—" the sliding side door of the Japanese-style room was slowly opened.

Everyone's eyes turned to that direction at the same time.

Zhang Chang'an walked out of the door, holding a white cloth in his hand, wiping the oil and blood stains on his fingers. His movements were slow, and his steps were steady as he walked straight through the crowd, as if he had not heard the argument here at all, nor could he tell the atmosphere here.

Behind him, Okita Souji leaned against the wall, his blanket completely stained with blood. His face was frighteningly pale.

The mechanical lung in his chest had been repaired and was running smoothly, but he felt completely drained of energy and remained motionless in place.

In another room nearby, Nagakura Shinpachi's legs were wrapped in bandages, and blood was still seeping out. Also in the room was Harada Sanosuke, who had lost a lot of blood and was covered in bandages.

With his back to these people, Zhang Chang'an finished wiping the last finger, tossed the cloth aside, and calmly said, "Captain Okita's mechanical lung has six cracks, both inside and out, and was almost completely ruined. Five of the ten blood vessels in his body are blocked, and two of the remaining five were severed by sword wounds."

"Captain Nagakura was hit by that Yagyu Tajima-no-kami Muneyoshi, who fractured his left tibia. He also used a sword technique that deflected his sword without a blade to cut three wounds under his ribs, the deepest of which was less than half an inch from his liver."

"And Captain Harada, he has ruptured tendons in both hands, four broken ribs, and a dislocated and fractured right shoulder joint. He has a total of seventy-one penetrating and laceration gunshot wounds."

The people inside the room became even quieter than before as they listened to his words.

But that's not the point. The key point is that, while they were silent, Zhang Chang'an, a Han Chinese man whom they considered just an ordinary craftsman, reached into his robes.

Everyone just watched as he pulled something out of his pocket.

With its pitch-black background and dark red patterns, it gleams eerily under the light, and the strange patterns and carvings make it look like the face of a demon.

Under the moonlight, the mask slowly covered Zhang Chang'an's face, fitting perfectly.