Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 323: Makimura’s Water Torture
Kyoto, Nijo Castle (Nijo Imperial Palace).
Nijo Castle consists of two major building complexes - Honmaru Palace and Ninomaru Palace.
Karamon - the main gate of Ninomaru Palace.
First, pass through the Higashi-Ote Gate, enter Nijo Castle, and then enter the Kara Gate to enter the Ninomaru Palace.
After passing through the Karamon Gate and entering the Ninomaru Palace, turn left to enter the Ninomaru Gardens.
The Ninomaru Garden adopts a corridor-style style. The most conspicuous feature of the Ninomaru Garden is that it has a huge pond.
There are three islands in the pond, one large and two small.
The larger island is named "Penglai Island", and the other two smaller islands are named "Turtle Island" and "Crane Island" respectively.
Tonight's banquet will be held on a grassland on Penglai Island.
The reason why the banquet should be held on the grass was proposed by the Owari domain daimyo, Tokugawa Munemichi, who decided to hold the banquet.
The purpose is to experience the feeling of a picnic.
Holding banquets in luxurious palaces - Tokugawa Munemitsu was already tired of this.
Just now, this grand banquet began.
The absolute host of this banquet - Tokugawa Munemitsu undoubtedly sat at the head of the table.
The attendees sat on the left and right sides of Tokugawa Munemitsu according to their social status.
The Kyoto Shoshidai - Toda Tadahiro was sitting in the first seat to the right of Tokugawa Munemichi.
Then, in order of rank, there was Osaka Castle Lord Horita Masahiro, and Temple and Shrine Magistrate Ota Sukeai …
After taking a sip of wine, Tokugawa Munemichi, with a slightly red face, whispered to Toda who was sitting below:
"Lord Toda, today I sent people to take a look at several burned areas in Kyoto."
"You did a good job. Although the burned areas have not been rebuilt yet due to lack of funds, no one is left homeless now."
Seeing Tokugawa Munemitsu praising him, Toda quickly sat up straight and skillfully put on a bright smile on his face.
"Lord, you flatter me. I just did what I had to do."
Toda Tadahiro is nearly 50 years old.
Short and fat - these two words should be the first impression of most people when they see Toda Tadahiro. His fat belly, which looks like a big quilt stuffed inside, is extremely conspicuous.
As Toda bent down and uttered all kinds of humble words to Tokugawa Munemachi, a smug sneer appeared on his fat face.
However, because Toda Tadahiro was pressing his forehead against the ground at that moment, no one could notice the smug smile on Toda's face.
The officials sent by Tokugawa Munemitsu to inspect the status of the burned area had already been bribed by Toda.
The burned areas that Toda took the bribed officials to see were burned areas that had been specially "tied up" by Toda.
Toda had received word of this before - when Tokugawa Munemune came to Kyoto to watch this year's Gion Festival, he would also send someone to check on the reconstruction progress of Kyoto.
Toda, who received the news in advance, sent people to drive away all the residents in the burned areas close to Nijo Castle before Tokugawa Munemichi arrived in Kyoto.
This is the truth behind "All arrangements have been made for the victims of the Tianming Fire".
Tokugawa Munemitsu was still praising Toda Tadahiro's ability.
Hearing these compliments from Tokugawa Munemichi, the smug look on Toda's face became even more intense...
…
…
Standing not far away, Kotaro watched the banquet coldly.
There were a total of 28 ninjas responsible for guarding Nijo Castle.
Kotaro is one of these 28 people and is also the overall person in charge of this mission.
At this moment, Kotaro was standing in a dark area not far from the banquet, silently watching the banquet.
"As expected of the most powerful daimyo - this is a banquet hosted by the Lord of Owari Domain..."
Kotaro sighed in a low voice so that only he could hear it.
Kotaro couldn't recognize the quality of the clothes worn by the people at the banquet.
But he recognized the quality of the food they ate.
The food these people ate at the banquet were all genuine delicacies from the mountains and the sea.
Let alone Kotaro, even the leader of their Shiranui, Enma, might not be able to eat this kind of food in his entire life...
After quietly lamenting the extravagant lifestyle of the upper class, Kotaro stretched lazily.
"What a boring mission..."
"Kotaro, you're right. This mission of 'defending Nijo Castle until this gang's party is over' is indeed boring."
"Heitaro, you're here."
A figure slowly emerged from the darkness behind Kotaro and gradually took a specific shape.
Heitaro - One of the jonin who accompanied Kotaro to defend Nijo Castle.
After standing next to Kotaro, Heitaro continued:
"What's so good about defending Nijo Palace... It's impossible for someone to attack Nijo Palace without knowing what's good for them..."
"Although it's impossible for anyone to attack the Nijo Palace," Kotaro smiled, "the shogunate still has to do some superficial work."
"Kotaro." Heitaro suddenly changed his tone to a more serious one, "The four people in charge of looking for A-machi, Ryutaro, have not returned to report until now."
Hearing what Heitaro said, Kotaro's brows slowly frowned.
There are 32 ninjas coming to Kyoto this time.
28 of them were responsible for guarding Kyoto, and the other 4 were responsible for tracking down the defecting Atachi while the rest were guarding Nijo Castle.
Kotaro gave the task of tracking down Atachi to Ryutaro and the other three.
Kotaro had made an agreement with Ryutaro and the other three who were in charge of tracking Atachi: he must report to them regularly.
Now the agreed time has passed, but until now, Ryutarou and his team have not come back to report...
This made Kotaro prepare for the worst in his heart...
"…Heitaro, you secretly take three Chunins to find Ryutarou and the others."
Hearing what Kotaro said, Heitaro looked surprised.
"Kotaro, we must leave at least 28 people to guard Nijo Castle." Heitaro said in a deep voice.
The agreement that Shiranui made with the shogunate was to send at least 28 powerful ninjas to guard Nijo Castle until the banquet of Tokugawa Munemachi was over.
The banquet of Tokugawa Munemachi and his men was still going on. It would be troublesome if they found out that the number of ninjas guarding Nijo Castle had decreased and did not reach the number agreed in advance.
"Don't worry." Kotaro shrugged. "These people are busy eating, drinking and having fun. They don't care whether our numbers are small or not."
"They wouldn't notice if four people were missing."
"Anyway, Nijo Castle is very safe. No one would dare to attack Nijo Castle, so it doesn't matter if there are four more or four less guards."
"Go quickly. Regardless of whether you find Ryutarou and the others or not, come back and report in one hour."
"...Yes!" After hesitating for a while, Heitaro responded loudly, "Yes".
…
…
In an uninhabited house on Sanjiuji Street, Kyoto .
After capturing the bald man and inspecting the three-story building to confirm that no other enemies were still hiding in the building, Ogata and his group left the building and took the bald man to an uninhabited house some distance away from the three-story building.
While moving to this uninhabited house, Ogata and Makimura exchanged information with each other.
Makimura, Hasegawa and others also learned that the wife and daughter of the master of the Xuangakukan had been kidnapped and had been rescued by Ogata and others, as well as the existence of Ryunosuke and Tsuruga.
This uninhabited house seems to have been a tea house with two floors.
At this moment, Ogata and his group were all on the second floor of this teahouse.
"Yes, tie him up like this." Makimura said to Hasegawa.
"Makino." Hasegawa followed Makino's instructions and tied the bald man's hands tighter. He asked Makino, "Why do you tie him up like this?"
The bald man was now tied to a piece of removed paper sliding door.
The bald man with his hands and feet tied to the paper sliding door was not lying flat on the ground.
The bald man's feet were tied to the south side of the paper sliding door, and his hands and head were tied to the north side of the paper sliding door.
There were a lot of things padding under the south side of the paper sliding door, making the bald man appear in a strange posture with his feet padded high, his feet above his head, and his nostrils slightly facing upwards.
Makimura, Ogata, and Hasegawa worked together to tie the bald man into this strange posture.
"Why do you want to tie him up like this?" An intriguing smile appeared on Mucun's face. "You will know later."
"Makimura-senpai." Shimada walked quickly towards Makimura holding a large can of water. "I got the water you asked for!"
"Well, thank you for your hard work."
Makimura, Ogata, and Hasegawa all had their heads tied up and shaved.
Shimada followed Makimura's instructions and went to find water.
As for Ating , she was doing nothing but holding Pogi and playing with him.
After taking the large can of water from Shimada, Makimura whispered to Ogata and Hasegawa beside him:
"Okay, you two, back off a bit."
Although they didn't know what Makimura was going to do, Ogata and Hasegawa still followed Makimura's instructions and stepped back a few steps and stepped aside.
Mucun held the large jar of water in his hand and walked slowly to the bald man's head.
"What are you going to do?" The bald man looked at Mucun with horror.
"I have a lot of questions for you." Mucun said to the bald man in a cold tone without any emotion or color, "But I know - you will definitely not tell me everything you know."
"So - I'm going to let you have a taste of pain first."
"This is a method of torture I discovered by chance when I was still serving as Yoriki in Kyoto."
"This is the most powerful torture method I have ever described."
“It’s very easy to use, and all you need is a little water.”
"It's extremely powerful. Until now, I haven't found anyone who has the ability to survive this torture."
"No one."
After emphasizing "no one", Makimura tied the rag that Ating had just used to block the bald man's mouth to the bald man's face.
Because his head was restrained and could not be turned freely, the bald man's face could only face the ceiling straight ahead.
After tying the cloth on the bald man's face, Mucun tilted the jar of water in his hand and poured the water in the jar onto the bald man's face covered with the cloth.
The water in the jar formed a stream that was neither slow nor fast and poured onto the bald man's face.
It is not difficult to see from Mucun's skillful way of pouring water that this is definitely not the first time he has used this trick on someone.
When the water first poured on the bald man's face, it was difficult for him to remain calm.
But after just a few breaths, the bald man began to struggle.
After a few more breaths, the bald man's struggle suddenly became several times more intense!
The force of his struggle was so great that people present began to think that the hemp ropes might not be able to tie him up.
“Shimada!”
“Ah, yes!”
"Come and give me a hand, hold him down and don't let him move!"
"yes!"
Following Makimura's instructions, Shimada quickly ran to the bald man's side, pressed his shoulders, and suppressed his violently struggling body.
However - judging from the expression on Shimada's face and the bulging veins on Shimada's arms, it is not easy for Shimada to suppress the bald man.
Ogata had sparred with Shimada once, so he had a rough idea of Shimada's strength and speed.
In terms of strength, Shimada is one of the best. You can tell at a glance that he is the kind of person who never neglects exercise.
Shimada, who was not weak in strength, still had a hard time suppressing the bald man. One can imagine how violently the bald man struggled.
Looking at Makimura, who was pouring water on the bald man's face with an expressionless and indifferent face, Ogata thought to himself:
——It’s very similar to water torture in the United States on modern Earth…
When he discovered that Makimura's so-called torture method was to pour water on the bald man's face, Osamu suddenly thought that Makimura's torture method was very similar to waterboarding in the United States on modern Earth.
Before coming to the Edo period, Ogata learned about the existence of water torture by chance.
As far as Ogata knew, waterboarding was a very cruel torture.
This torture will make the prisoner feel like he is suffocating and drowning.
The reason why water torture is cruel is that during the process the prisoner, who is unable to breathe, opens his mouth wide and swallows hard under the control of the nervous center. A large amount of water is sucked into the stomach, lungs and trachea, causing the prisoner to vomit and cough in the water, his lungs and trachea to secrete a large amount of thick mucus, and he suffers from incontinence. He suffers from indescribable pain and is constantly dying and coming back to life.
Because water torture is cruel, few people can endure it.
While pouring water on the bald man's face, Mucun was also observing his condition.
When he noticed that the bald man seemed to be about to die, Mucun immediately stopped watering, then bent over and removed the cloth tied around the bald man's face.
"Puff! Ouch! Ouch! Ha...ha...ha...Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Cough, cough, cough! Ouch! Cough, cough! Ha...ha...cough! Cough, cough, cough! Cough, cough! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"
As soon as Mucun took off the cloth, the bald man immediately started coughing and vomiting violently, vomiting a lot of water.
His face was covered with snot and saliva.
After quietly waiting for the bald man to recover a little, Mucun silently tied the rag around his face again.
"Wait, wait! Wait a minute..."
The bald man seemed to want to say something, but Mucun ignored him and silently tied the rag around the bald man's face again.
Because the rags were tied back on his face, the bald man could no longer utter a word and could only utter meaningless whimpers.
After tying the rag around the bald man again, Mucun used waterboarding on him again.
…
…
Mucun used water torture on the bald man three times.
After the third water torture was over and Mucun once again took off the cloth tied around the bald man's face, the bald man immediately vomited and said to Mucun in a pleading tone with a crying tone:
"I said! Cough cough! Ha...ha...ha...oo! Ouch! Ouch! What did I...cough cough cough! Ouch! Cough cough! I...I'll tell you everything! Ha...ha...cough! Cough cough cough! I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you whatever you ask me! Please let me go!"
"Well then." Mucun threw aside the jar with little water left in his hand. "This is what you said. You just answer whatever I ask you later. If you dare to hide it, I will let you drink more water. Anyway, there is a well next to us, and there is plenty of water."
