He changed Tiwat

However, the "September 1st Massacre" did not cause much of a stir on Narukami Island on the day of the incident, and the bloody crackdown carried out by the Kansei Magistrate successfully brought the situation on the outlying island under control in a short period of time.

Inazuma was already under the oppressive rule of the shogunate, and the people of Inazuma did not have the same level of "freedom of speech" as the people of Liyue or Fontaine. In fact, there was not even a single newspaper in the entire Inazuma, nor were there any journalists who could spread the news of the island tragedy throughout the entire Inazuma region.

On the day the incident occurred, the outlying island was sealed off by the Kansei Magistrate, allowing entry but not exit, thus becoming a de facto isolated island.

However, if a telephoto lens were used to take an aerial view of the outlying islands, it would be possible to discover that during the suppression of the protesting civilians by the Kansei Magistrate, several young men dressed in the uniforms of the Shogunate Army's foot soldiers took advantage of the chaos to quietly pass through the checkpoint between the outlying islands and the main island.

These young men in military uniforms, hiding and sneaking their way through the area, arrived at Konta Village, located in "White Fox Field," at dusk.

Old Man Yasuda, who patrols the village entrance year-round, immediately recognized the young man leading the group.

"Erlang? Why are you back?"

The young man named Erlang made a "shh" gesture to Lao Tongxin and whispered, "Uncle Yasuda, I've come back to see my father."

Behind Jiro, two more people called out, "Uncle Yasuda."

Yasuda paused for a moment; he recognized the two men as well.

They were twin brothers; the older brother was named Yoshino Koheita, and the younger brother was named Yoshino Koheiji.

The two brothers looked exactly alike, the only difference being that the older brother had long hair and the younger brother had a buzz cut—but after joining the army, both of them changed their hairstyles to buzz cuts, and Yasuda couldn't tell which one was the older brother and which one was the younger brother for a while.

Upon seeing the three young men, Lao Tongxin understood what was going on. Without asking any more questions, he quickly led the young men into the village and into the courtyard of Chai Men's house.

—Jiro, whose full name is Shibamon Jiro, is the only son of Shibamon Katsumi, a villager from Konta Village.

When Mr. Shibamon Katsumi saw his son, he was so angry that he immediately picked up a bamboo sword and slapped him across the face, shouting, "Our Shibamon family has been loyal for generations! We have been serving His Highness the Great Lord for more than two thousand years, shedding blood and slaying demons! And you actually deserted? How could my Shibamon family produce such an unfilial son!"

The "Konda Ikki" incident that gave Village Chief Konda Densuke a major headache was caused by this rascal getting drunk and leading the village's young men to attack the tax collector of "Duanqianfang".

The two Yoshino brothers were also young men who did foolish things with Jiro at the time.

These two brothers lost their parents at a young age and lacked discipline. They often went to Chai Men's house to freeload meals and always caused trouble when they were with Erlang. The old people in the village had no way to deal with these energetic and reckless young men.

They were already stealing melons and raiding chicken coops in the village, but they ended up getting involved with the shogunate...

Stealing tax money was a very serious crime. At the time, the magistrate of the Heavenly Territory classified the matter as treason. Konta Densuke later spent a lot of his savings to pull strings and barely managed to settle the matter under the guise of a "shoya uprising." To show their remorse, these young men all joined the Heavenly Territory's army as a way to atone for their crimes.

The shogunate army suffered a major defeat at Kannazuka the day before yesterday, and many of the routed soldiers fled back to Narukami Island. Jiro and his men probably followed the routed soldiers home.

This is certainly considered "desertion," at least in the eyes of the stubborn old Mr. Keji, it is a great disgrace to the family name.

In fact, the Tenryo Magistrate wouldn't pursue the deserters too much after their defeat—mainly because pursuing them would be endless, and the number of deserters to catch would probably be more than the number of loyalists in the Town Magistrate.

Therefore, generally speaking, if these defeated soldiers return and report to the Tianling Enforcer within half a month, they will be treated as having been separated from their unit, and there will be no problem once they rejoin the unit.

Ordinary families worry about their children's safety, and seeing their children come back alive is more important than anything else. Why would they care about deserters? Only this old man, Keji, who was obsessed with loyalty to the emperor and serving his country, would be so angry that he hit someone.

Even the usually unruly Erlang was unusually obedient. He was given a severe beating by his father, but he just covered his head and took the beating without resisting at all.

But the more he acted this way, the angrier Mr. Keji became, and the more violently he whipped him.

Yasuda and the others tried to stop him, but the enraged old man Katsumi attacked anyone in sight, and they couldn't stop him at all.

When Grandma Eri returned from her outing, she snatched his bamboo knife away, yelling, "What are you yelling about, you old man! I could hear you howling all the way from the Coral Palace!"

"You old hag!?" Mr. Ke-yi, having been "disarmed" by his wife, wanted to curse but dared not. He stood there in a daze for a while before finally managing to squeeze out, "...Wait, what are you doing at the Coral Palace?"

Grandma Huili glared at him: "What business is it of yours if I go to the Coral Palace? You old geezer, I've had enough of you! I won't take you with me to Sky Island!"

The old man, Keji, stamped his foot: "Fine! I've lived long enough, and I'm ready to fight this traitor to the death! I'll fight you, you traitor from the Coral Palace, to the death!"

Yasuda and the others covered their mouths and chuckled. Only a stubborn old man like Mr. Katsumi would take what Grandma Eri said in anger seriously.

Grandma Huili completely dismissed the old man's nonsense, mercilessly mocking, "Ha! You? Still fighting to the death? You can't even handle a simple game of chess with a young person without clutching your heart and grumbling for ages!"

"I...I...!"

Mr. Keji blushed.

"I've never even won a single game of this stupid chess!"

"You, you...!"

Mr. Keji covered his chest.

"You think you can bully your wife just because you raise your voice? Don't you even know who you've beaten in your life? You're always so reckless! You can't even beat me. When you get to the battlefield, with those huge cannonballs raining down on you, let's see how you disgrace the family's heirloom weapons and famous swords!"

Grandma Huili slammed her bamboo sword down with a majestic flourish, ending this beautiful combo.

Mr. Keji pointed at his wife, calling her "old woman," for a long time before finally uttering the villainous exit line, "You just wait!" and running back into the inner room.

Grandma Huili helped her beaten son up and tenderly rubbed the bruises off his face.

The Yoshino brothers, who had been watching for a while, were a little worried that Katsumi's father might have gotten sick from anger. They asked if they should go and check on him, but Grandma Eri shook her head: "It's alright, don't worry about him. He went back to his room to look up words in the dictionary."

The Yoshino brothers scratched their heads: "Why is our father looking up words in the dictionary?"

Grandma Eri snorted: "Studying how to win an argument against me..."

Even Erlang, who had just been beaten, couldn't hold back his laughter, and the rest of the group burst into laughter. Mr. Keji, who was in the inner room, heard the laughter outside, covered his face and continued to flip through the dictionary with a fierce expression, vowing that he would beat the old woman one day.

After laughing, Granny Eri put on a serious face and pointed outside, asking, "Jiro, who are those people in the courtyard? They don't look like foot soldiers of the shogunate."

The only people who followed Yasuda into the house to find Mr. Katsumi were Jiro and the Yoshino brothers from Konta Village. The people standing in the yard were not from the village. Mr. Katsumi, who was in a bad mood, did not go to entertain them and just left them to stand there in the yard.

When Grandma Huili returned home, she made a point of observing the people in the yard.

The Shiba family is a samurai family, and Mr. Katsumi was also a samurai in his youth, so he was quite skilled in martial arts. Grandma Eri was able to easily take the bamboo sword from her husband, so she was no ordinary old woman—she was an adventurer in her youth, traveling all over the country with a naginata, and she was quite skilled. Even in her old age, she could easily handle her husband.

In Grandma Huili's eyes, those people were always in a "state of readiness for battle." They didn't relax at all while staying in the yard; their bodies were tense. Some of them even had their hands in their sleeves or chests, clearly carrying weapons, and their expressions were very wary.

Most of the foot soldiers conscripted by the Tenryo magistrate were farmers, and few were as elite as these; they didn't look like defeated soldiers at all.

Jiro hesitated for a moment, pursed his lips, looked at Yasuda, who looked worried, and then at the Yoshino brothers, who looked reluctant. Finally, he knelt down with a thud towards the door of the inner room.

"Dad, Mom, your unfilial son, Jiro, is wanted by the Shogunate. I've come back today to see you both one last time."

The key figures of Konta Village—Konta Densuke, the sorority, Imaya Saburo, the villager, Tejima, and Yasuda—all gathered at the Shibamon family's house tonight.

The tradition of Konta Village has always been to help and support each other. There is no reason to abandon one's fellow villagers. When Jiro and his gang caused such a big mess before, the old village chief of Konta and Tejima and others risked their lives to settle things.

But upon seeing the two wanted posters on the table, Konta Densuke and the others remained silent.

One of the arrest warrants reads:

[Bounty offered for: Jiro Saimon, Koheita Yoshino, and Koheiji Yoshino]

Charges: chasing after telegrams; robbery; night raids; plotting to murder a superior; distributing money to innocent villagers in an attempt to rebel.

A generous reward will be given for either capturing these three alive or executing them!

The word "chasing lightning" is generally used in other countries to describe someone who is agile and quick in action, but in Inazuma it is a derogatory term.

Inazuma is the land of the Thunder God. People regard lightning as the general's gift and majesty. "Chasing lightning" is an inverted sentence that has been passed down from ancient times. It means being chased by lightning. In ancient times, it was called "escaping the domain". In modern times, it means "fugitive" or "deserter".

The three young men from Konta Village who joined the army were already wanted by the Tenryo magistrate.

This indicates that their escape was not a recent event, but rather occurred after the reporting deadline for separated soldiers, meaning at least half a month ago, or at least before the Battle of Meizuina...

At that time, the escape was not because the main force was separated after the defeat, but because the soldier genuinely fled from the military camp.

"Robbery; night raids; plotting to assassinate superiors; distributing money to innocent villagers in an attempt to rebel." — This is the old case from the "Konda Ikki" uprising.

Back then, Jiro and the Yoshino brothers, drunk, took advantage of the night to raid the shogunate's tax collectors and robbed all the tax money from Konta Village. They even proudly acted like "heroic thieves" and went door-to-door to return the tax money... At that time, thanks to Teshima's cover and Konta Densuke's wit, the incident was covered up.

The Tenryo Magistrate's Office added these previously dismissed charges to the arrest warrant, clearly as "retaliation," intending to implicate the entire Konta Village.

As for who harbors a grudge against Konta Village... it's none other than the "Tax Collector" manager, Takatsukasa Asahide, who was beaten up when he came to Konta Village to collect taxes.

The reason the shogunate hasn't sent anyone yet is because the war at the front is intense and they can't spare any manpower. Once they can free up their forces, the entire village of Konta will likely face annihilation.

Chaimenke was trembling all over, too angry to speak.

How much effort and savings did everyone in the village put into protecting these few rascals? They finally managed to calm things down and even gave them a chance to earn merit, but these kids actually deserted!

Grandma Huili was at a loss, and could only gently pat her husband's back to comfort him. She knew that the trouble her son had gotten into was not something that could be solved by beating or scolding him.

Teshima, meanwhile, was looking at another wanted poster.

The wanted poster had the following text printed on it:

[Bounty: Shiro Midorikawa and his entire family]

Charges: chasing lightning; banditry; piracy; robbing officials; ambushing samurai; kidnapping his mother as a hostage in an attempt to defy the government.

A hefty reward will be given for the capture or execution of this person and his accomplices!

The companions that Jiro and his group brought back were the so-called "Shiro Midorikawa's retinue".

Judging from the charges on the wanted poster, they are similar to Jiro and his group. These people are also deserters who became outlaws and sea monsters after escaping. Therefore, their crimes include "gathering bandits; sea piracy; robbing officials; hunting samurai." In this day and age, it is not surprising for deserters to become mountain bandits and sea pirates. Many of the sea monsters in Inazuma Wilderness were once highly respected high-ranking samurai.

Strangely, among the charges against Midorikawa and his accomplices was "abducting an elderly mother as a hostage in an attempt to defy the government."

Teshima is old enough to be called "grandpa" and has a wide range of knowledge, but he has never seen a thief bring his elderly mother along... and using his mother as a hostage to fight against the government sounds too bizarre.

His gaze fell on Midorikawa Shiro, who was sitting opposite him.

After losing his God's Eyes, Teshima forgot many things, but he always felt that Midorikawa Shiro in front of him looked somewhat familiar.

Midorikawa Shiro was a young man in his early thirties, with a fair complexion and no beard. He had a calm and resolute demeanor and wore a chonmage hairstyle commonly seen on samurai heads. He must have been a samurai of some status in the past.

Seeing Tejima scrutinize him, Midorikawa Shiro bowed respectfully and introduced himself: "I am Midorikawa Shiro, former instructor of the 'Midorikawa Jigen-ryu' school. When I was young, I went out to train and was fortunate enough to receive guidance from Mr. Tejima, which I still cherish to this day... I never expected to meet you here."

Is this another forgotten old friend?

Teshima gave a wry smile.

Village chief Konta Densuke coughed and asked Jiro and the Yoshino brothers, who were kneeling in front of the hall, "Tell me, why did you desert?"

“We didn’t want to be deserters, it’s…” The Yoshino brothers tried to explain, but Jiro spoke up first: “Father, Mother, Uncle Densuke, Mr. Teshima, Uncle Yasuda… and Uncle Imaya, please believe me, we didn’t want to be deserters, but we didn’t want to kill our fellow villagers on the battlefield.”

Chapter 179 Alas, the glory of the body turned into the defeat of the nation; the people of the world were filled with jubilation. [4k5]

"You mean...fighting among the villagers?"

Upon hearing what Shibamoto Jiro said, the old village chief's eyes widened in surprise.

Konta Village, located near Inazuma Castle, is situated in the heart of the Tenryo (Konta territory), and its loyalty to the shogunate is far greater than that of impoverished villages like Hisaki Village. Many families in the village have ancestors who participated in the war against the "Dark Calamity" five hundred years ago; it's no exaggeration to say that Konta territory is known for its generations of loyal officials.

When the village's young men joined the army, they naturally all went to the Shogunate's army.

Back when the young men in the village joined the army, it was these old men who sent them to the military station together. Besides a few rascals like Jiro, there was also the boy from the Ishikawa family, the second son of the Ono family... Everyone agreed that once they went to war, they would be like brothers, and the villagers would definitely take care of each other. How could they possibly kill each other?

Not only the old village chief, but the other elders also looked at Erlang with some suspicion, including his parents—although the elders tend to believe their own children, Erlang's words were hard to believe.

Only Saburo Imaya, who had been silent all along, seemed to remember something and suddenly asked, "Jiro, the villagers you mentioned, could they be... Sakujiro?"

Jiro nodded vigorously: "That's right, Uncle Imaya, we encountered Sakujiro, who had joined the resistance, on the battlefield. We had no choice but to flee in order to save him!"

Everyone else's eyes immediately focused on Saburo Imaya's face.

Like the Saimon family, the Imaya family were descended from high-ranking samurai. Moreover, the Imaya family's ancestor had served in the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Imperial Court, working as an accountant managing land and finances, making him one of the most learned people in the village. Saburo Imaya served as a private school teacher in the village, and it could be said that every child in the village was his student.

The Sakujiro that Jiro mentioned was originally a neighbor of the Imaya family, and was also a samurai family in Konta Village.

The two families have always been on good terms. Sakujiro and Kasuke, the son of the Imaya family's Tenryo magistrate, grew up together and their relationship was no different from that of brothers.

Sakujiro's parents passed away when he was a teenager, and the Imaya family adopted him. Sakujiro's name is still on the Imaya family register.

Both children made Saburo Imaya proud. Keisuke Imaya had a talent for martial arts and learned excellent swordsmanship from Mr. Teshima, successfully entering the Tenryo Magistrate's Office. Sakujiro, on the other hand, was intelligent and studious from a young age. He could recite every book in the house by heart and was more knowledgeable than his teacher, Saburo Imaya.

Unfortunately, in Inazuma, lower-ranking samurai descendants without noble status could not become civil officials in the imperial court, so Sakujiro's talents had no place to be displayed in Inazuma.

So Sakujiro set sail early to travel to various countries in Teyvat.

Later, the shogunate issued the "National Isolation Edict," and the Imaya family lost contact with this adopted son.

Until a little over a month ago, Sakujiro suddenly smuggled himself back to Inazuma, but was unfortunately discovered by patrolling Tenryo magistrate soldiers when landing, and was even wanted as a spy for the resistance.

At that time, Sakujiro fled back to the Imaya family for protection.

He told his adoptive parents: "Since I was little, I've longed for the outside world and always wanted to escape this unchanging Inazuma. On this journey, I witnessed the freedom of Mondstadt, the contracts of Liyue, the wisdom of Sumeru, and the justice of Fontaine..."

"In those countries, I witnessed what kind of life an ordinary person could live—I could be an adventurer, a merchant, study at the academy or academy, or pass exams to become a civil servant and take a government position... I could even spend my whole life playing the lyre, reciting poetry, and immersing myself in art..."

"A samurai's son doesn't have to be born to inherit the family name and wield swords; a swordsmith's son doesn't have to spend his whole life in the workshop; and there will be no magistrate from the magistrate's office who will levy taxes on your property or even your life in the name of the gods..."

"In those countries, people can choose how they want to live their lives."

“I’m so glad I left Inazuma. But just as I was feeling relieved, I heard that Inazuma had implemented a policy of national isolation.”

“I am a deserter. I was once proud of my escape from this country, and I thought I was the luckiest and smartest person... But then, I met Manyo of the Maple family in Liyue. He had finally escaped, but he was preparing to go back. He said he wanted to save his country.”

“That day I realized that I am a native of Inatsuma, my home is in Inatsuma, and wherever I go, I carry the scent of my hometown soil. What I should really do is not to run away, but to bring those things from the outside back to my hometown.”

"I want to change this country."