The entire Shinsengumi army went south... Hearing this, Matsudaira Yoshiho and Saigo Kinosuke cast surprised glances at Aomori one after another.

Saigo Kinosuke asked in a deep voice:

"Tachibana Military Department, are you planning to go on an expedition...immediately?"

Qingdeng nodded:

"That's right, set off immediately!"

"It is my duty to protect the capital."

"Now that there is a war in Gyeonggi Province again, it is my duty to do so."

"It just so happens that all the soldiers of the Shinsengumi have now left their camps, completed mobilization preparations, and are ready to go."

"As long as you bring enough food and baggage, you can go south immediately!"

There is nothing to criticize in what Qingdeng said.

He was originally the highest military commander in the Gyeonggi region.

Gojo Town is located in the Yamato area, very close to Kyoto, just south of Nara, and can even be said to be right under Aoto's nose.

A group of "rebellion warriors" who came from nowhere attacked the shogunate's territory, openly raised a flag of rebellion, and committed the atrocity of massacring the agency. It was really reasonable for Aoto to personally lead the Shinsengumi to quell the rebellion.

As soon as Qingden finished speaking, another voice of questioning sounded in front of him.

This time it was Matsudaira Yongho who asked:

"Tachibana Military Department, from what you said, do you plan to bring all the Shinsengumi's troops with you?"

The Second Army of Huisa continues to blockade the Imperial Palace, and it is up to you to deal with the Changzhou Army - these were Qingdeng's exact words.

It is not difficult to tell that Qingdeng is planning to divide two war zones.

The Second Huisa Army with 3,000 troops will be responsible for the Kyoto battlefield and expel the Changzhou Army.

The Shinsengumi, which also has 3,000 troops, will be solely responsible for the Yamato battlefield and fight against the Tenchu ​​group!

Qingdeng nodded again.

"That's right, the entire Shinsengumi army is dispatched! Defeat the rebels with thunderous momentum!"

After hearing this, Matsudaira Yongho frowned slightly, and then expressed his doubts:

"Tachibana Military Department, is it necessary to mobilize so many troops?"

As he spoke, he raised the scroll in his hand.

"Judging from the available intelligence, the scale of this rebel force is not large."

"The Shinsengumi has 3,000 troops."

"Using 3,000 troops to fight against a lonely rebel army would be overkill."

"No matter how fast this rebel army moves, it is impossible to gather a large number of people in a short period of time."

"In my opinion, only half of the Shinsengumi's troops are needed to defeat the rebels!"

As soon as Matsudaira Yongho finished speaking, Qingden replied calmly:

"No."

"Higo-sama, I don't think so."

"We are currently very short of information."

"We still don't know much about the specific situation of this rebel group."

“We must not underestimate the appeal of ‘respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians’.”

"Today, there are still many people who have illusions about fighting the foreigners and sympathize with the imperial court and Changzhou."

"Especially in Gyeonggi, where the 'respect for hostility' prevails, there are many such people."

"Therefore, after the rebels issue a call to 'support the imperial court and annihilate the shogunate', they will have a high probability of receiving widespread response."

"Perhaps at this moment, many people have joined his banner."

"When our troops arrive in Yamato, the rebel forces will increase in strength by who knows how much."

"In addition, it is different from the rebel army that rebelled in Ise before."

"There must be many warriors involved in the rebellion this time."

"You should also know very well, 'With or without the help of a large number of warriors', the difference is as big as the world."

"Although there are tens of thousands of people in the former group, most of them are farmers and they are just a ragtag group of people."

"Although the latter are few in number, they have many warriors."

"In this way, in terms of comprehensive combat power, the latter may still be higher than the former."

"You can never go wrong if you anticipate the enemy and use it broadly."

"I will never fight a battle without certainty."

Speaking of this, Qingdeng paused and changed into a solemn tone:

"The Emperor's 'Yamato Travel' is coming soon."

"The rebels who call themselves the "Tenchu ​​Group" showed up early and late, and it happened to be that they started to cause trouble at this time."

“Moreover, the so-called ‘imperial government’ has been established, which is obviously prepared!

"Whether they are colluding with Changzhou is unclear."

"But what is certain is that they raised their troops to support the 'Yamato Yukyo'!"

"The rebels' current goal is very clear, which is to capture Takatori Castle and then use it as a stronghold to fight against the shogunate."

"They still don't understand the situation in Kyoto."

"Just imagine, once they learn that Kyoto has changed, Xin, Hui, and Sa have formed a coalition and are working together to expel Changshu, what will they do?"

"It's impossible for them not to understand that Changzhou is a solid fortress of the Zunbang faction."

"The expulsion of Choshu from Kyoto is equivalent to the victory of the Samu sect over the Zunbo sect."

"Their desire to respect the king and fight against the barbarians will fall into an unprecedented low ebb."

"In other words, in order to avoid this situation from happening, they will definitely lead their troops northward and work hard to stop us."

"Instead of waiting for them to capture Gaochei City and become bigger and stronger before causing us trouble, it is better to send troops as quickly as possible now to uproot this rebel army!"

Aoshito's words caused a long period of silence and reflection between Matsudaira Yōho and Saigo Kinosuke.

They are all good people, so they naturally understand the stakes involved.

The sudden appearance of this rebel army... From a certain perspective, this can be regarded as one of the consequences of inconvenient information exchange.

In fact, except for people like Aoto and Tokugawa Iemo who were in high positions and were able to obtain information from different channels, many scholars and people...especially those in rural areas did not know that the war in Shimonoseki had been going on for a long time.

It's over.

I didn't even know that Changzhou was beaten to a pulp and was beaten badly.

At first glance, it seems quite ironic.

The "war against the foreigners" that the patriots were concerned about has been completely defeated, but they still don't know it, and they are still dreaming of honoring the king and resisting the foreigners.

They thought that Changzhou was still at war with the Western countries.

As long as we understand this, it is not difficult to understand why until this time, there were still people calling on Lao Shizi to "support the imperial court" and "expel the barbarians", and even raised troops to raise troops for this purpose.

Therefore, it is not impossible for Qingdeng to say that the scene in which "the Tenchu ​​team ascends to the top and shouts, and those who respond will gather" will happen!

In addition, Qingdeng's concerns about Gaotori Castle are not groundless.

Although Gaotori City is one of the few famous cities and is synonymous with "copper wall and iron wall", but... no matter how strong the city is, it still needs a sufficient number of troops to defend it.

There are countless fortifications that claim to be impregnable, but turn out to be vulnerable to a real attack.

Today's Japan is in an era of "big competition".

The shogunate army that once flattened all the princes in the world has fallen to this level.

Takatori is just a small vassal with average national power, and its military strength... in terms of high emotional intelligence, is lackluster.

No one knows the current level of the Takatori domain's military forces.

Whether they can stop the Tenchu ​​team... This really has to be a big question mark.

As Matsudaira Yongho said before, if Takatori Castle falls, the rebels will be able to obtain a rear base that is difficult to attack!

By that time, it will not be that easy to put down this rebel army.

While Matsudaira Yōho and Saigo Yoshinosuke remained silent, Aomori spoke again:

"The Choshu Army stationed in Kyoto can only hold 2,000 people to death."

"The total strength of the Huisa Allied Forces exceeded 3,000."

"3000 versus 2000, the advantage is on our side!"
To be continued...