I formed the strongest swordsman group

Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi Town——

——This... is the testing hall?

Qingdeng looked suspiciously at a house in the distance with a slightly plain appearance.

Outside a modest house, there is a plaque with a string of Chinese characters written "Natural Lixinliu Examination Hall".

——Why can't I hear any sound of sword practice?

In the test hall, it was quiet...

I couldn't hear the sound of bamboo swords hitting each other, and it felt like there was no one in the test hall...

With this question in mind, Qingdeng walked slowly towards the examination hall.

And just a few steps forward, Qingdeng suddenly saw a tall and strong young man walking out of the hall carrying a bucket and a rag.

The young man walked up to the plaque that read "Natural Psychological Liuyu Examination Hall"—he probably wanted to wipe the plaque.

At this moment, the young man found Qingdeng who was walking towards their sword gym.

Qingdeng and the young man looked at each other, and their eyes collided in mid-air.

Then—

thump.

The sound of buckets and rags falling to the ground sounded.

The young man directly threw the bucket and rag in his hand to the ground firmly, and then appeared in front of Qingdeng with a speed like a flash.

"Good morning! Excuse me, are you here to learn swords at my guard hall?"

The young man who suddenly appeared in front of him startled Qingdeng, and subconsciously took two steps back.

Seeing Qingdeng retreating quickly, the young man was taken aback for a moment, and then showed shame.

"I'm sorry, sorry, I was impatient, and I'm really sorry to scare you."

After finishing speaking, the young man cleared his throat, and then showed Qingdeng a somewhat naive smile:

"Isamune Kondo! It's the teacher of this test hall! Excuse me?"

[Note · "Shifan Dai" can be understood as an acting master, responsible for assisting the master of the sword hall to carry out teaching tasks. 】

After Isamu Kondo finished his self-introduction, Qingdeng quickly and politely reported to his house, and briefly explained his reason for coming:

"I'm on the orange tree. I heard that your hall is a sword hall with excellent martial arts, so I want to enter your hall to practice swordsmanship."

While reporting to his family, Aomori looked at Isamu Kondo's face from top to bottom.

Isamu Kondo's first impression of Qingdeng...was that he was very energetic.

Thick eyebrows and big eyes, eyes full of spirit, tall and strong, about 1.8 meters tall, looks quite energetic.

Among his facial features, the one that left the deepest impression on Qingdeng was his mouth.

His mouth is very large.

This big mouth feels like swallowing a fist raw, and there is no problem at all.

However, although this person's mouth is big, it didn't have much negative effect on his appearance. Looking at his whole face, he still feels quite handsome, that kind of masculine handsome guy.

The only fly in the ointment is...he has a monthly haircut.

This ugly hairstyle directly made Kondo's appearance 50% off.

Tsukishitou was the most popular hairstyle in Japan during the Edo period, none of them. About 9 out of 10 men have this hairstyle.

Its general appearance... can be understood as a variant version of "Mediterranean".

All the hair on the top of the head is shaved, leaving only the hair at the back of the head and the temples, and the hair at the back of the head and the temples is braided into a bun and placed on top of the shaved head—this is Yuedai head.

This hairstyle, because it is cool and convenient to wear a helmet, and you don’t have to worry about your hair spreading out to cover your sight when fighting with others, so it first became popular among the warrior class, and then led the common people to start wearing this hairstyle.

Looking at Kondo's Tsukiyo hairstyle, the corners of his mouth twitched. Qingdeng couldn't help but raised his hand to touch his own hair - he was very lucky: his hairstyle was Zongfa, not Tsukiyo.

The so-called total hair is to keep the hair on the top of the head and only braid the hair into a bun.

Although Qingdeng also thinks this hairstyle is ugly, but no matter how ugly it is, it is ten million times better than Yuedai's hairstyle.

"Oh! I really want to learn swords!"

The smile on Kondo's face instantly became warmer.

However, at the next moment, Kondo's smiling face suddenly froze, and then the smile turned into embarrassment.

"Ah... I almost forgot... Our master is not in the sword hall today... If you want to learn a master, you have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest..."

"Tomorrow?" Qing Deng stared

Japan is also a country that attaches great importance to the term "respecting teachers and respecting morality".

To learn swords in the sword hall, you usually have to pay homage to the master in the sword hall, and then do a bunch of miscellaneous etiquette before you can be regarded as an introduction, and you can officially start learning swords.

Therefore——if the master of the sword hall happens to be absent, then during the period when the master is absent, no new apprentices are generally accepted.

"I'm sorry..." Kondo's face was filled with apology, "but Master is indeed not here today... If you want to get started, please choose a date."

The sword of Damocles of the "Radical Anti-barbarians" is now hanging over Qingdeng's head all the time. Under the current situation, Qingdeng doesn't want to waste a day. He just wants to learn the sword as soon as possible and copy his talent as soon as possible. , asked him to come back another day, he naturally refused to do it.

"I don't have time tomorrow! Do I have to wait for the master from your hall to come back before I can start learning swords?"

After today's holiday, Qingdeng will have to go to the execution office to work tomorrow, and it will take at least 2 days before he can have another holiday.

"This..." Kondo showed a troubled expression.

Seeing Kondo's embarrassed expression, Qingdeng suddenly remembered the "new customer benefits" that Kiryu's boss gave him just now.

Qingdeng took out from his arms the note that Kiryu's boss gave him just now, with the four big characters "Kazushin Kiryu" written on it.

Before he could say anything in the future, Kondo opened his eyes when he saw the note.

"This is... are you introduced by Mr. Kiryu?"

"Yes." Qingdeng nodded hastily, "Mr. Kiryu introduced you to me."

"Did Mr. Kiryu introduce you..."

Kondo's brows were a little more tangled.

After a while, I saw him let out a sigh of relief, and nodded vigorously:

"...Well, since it was introduced by Mr. Kiryu, let's make an exception."

"How about this - you pay the tuition fee today, and write down your information in the apprentice book, and when the master comes back later, he will make up the apprentice ceremony. What do you think?"

For Qingdeng, these introductory procedures are fine, as long as they allow him to learn swords and fight with people as soon as possible.

"Of course." Qingdeng nodded vigorously without thinking.

"Then come in with me!"

Kondo turned around and picked up the bucket and rag he had thrown on the ground just now, and led Qingdeng into the testing room.

The guard house is a very typical architectural style of this era - a house surrounded by a circle of earth walls, and the gap between the house and the earth wall is a small courtyard.

Qingdeng took the note that Kiryu gave him into his arms, and asked Kondo curiously.

"Kondo-kun, do you have a deep friendship with Mr. Kiryu of Senshiya?"

"Well... To be precise, it is with my father... ah, that is to say, I have a deep friendship with the master." Kondo sighed, "When the master planned to build a medical examination hall here, Mr. Kiryu Helped us a lot.”

"Father?" Hearing the "father" that Kondo accidentally blurted out just now, Qingdeng raised his eyebrows.

He suddenly recalled—Boss Kiryu seemed to have told him just now: the current owner and master of the test guard hall is the third generation head of the Tianran Lixin School: Shusuke Kondo.

It happened to be the same surname as the Kondo Isao in front of him.

"I didn't expect you to be the young master of this sword gym." Qingdeng laughed, "It must be very hard for you to be the young master of the sword gym, right? To help manage the sword gym, when you usually practice swords, you will be extra" care'."

"That's right." Kondo sighed with a wry smile, "Since I was a child, I have been reprimanded more than other brothers in the sword gym... Sigh, this is also the responsibility that people like us have to bear." .”

After the two chatted briefly, the atmosphere between them became much more harmonious.

"Mr. Ju, have you ever learned swordsmanship before?"

"Just learning a little wild way from my late father is almost equivalent to not learning swordsmanship."

"That is to say, you have a little foundation."

At this time, Kondo shifted his gaze down to look at the seal cage on Qingdeng's right waist.

"You have the seal cage of the Enforcement Office hanging around your waist. I wonder if you are serving the public in the North Fan School or the Southern Fan School?"

Qingdeng always carried this official seal that could prove his identity as an official working in the city government, tied around his right waist.

"Yeah." Qingdeng nodded, "I serve in the Beiding Magistrate's office. I'm Tongxin from Dingding."

"Dingding back?"

Kondo was taken aback for a moment as if he had heard some terrible secret.

I saw a look of admiration slowly appearing in the eyes that this strong man cast towards Qingdeng.

"I didn't expect you to be the same heart of Ding Dinghui..."

"I'm not afraid that you will know—I have always admired the 'three times' samurai who have been working hard to maintain the law and order in Edo."

"All along, you have worked so hard to maintain the law and order in Edo."

After finishing speaking, Kondo stopped and solemnly bowed to Aoto.

"You're too serious." Qingdeng stood sideways with a helpless face, not being greeted by Kondo, "Our 'three times' are just doing what we should do."

Edo, which will be renamed "Tokyo" in later generations, is currently the largest city in Japan.

In order to prevent the administration responsible for the management of Edo from having too much power, Edo was set up with two enforcement offices - the North Town Executive Office and the South Town Executive Office, referred to as "North Fan Office" and "Nan Fan Office". The towns are governed separately.

To put it simply - Edo has 2 city governments and 2 mayors.

The place where Qingdeng currently works is the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office.

The most shameless and greatest privilege that the samurai class has is that they have a lot of money.

Japan in the Edo period did not have an imperial examination system, and adopted a system similar to that of the pre-Qin period in China.

And those who are responsible for being officials in the government are the samurai class.

Only people of the samurai class can be officials in the government, and civilians are absolutely not qualified to be officials. Certain official positions could only be held by members of certain samurai families.

Common people can only live forever in the three classes of "agricultural, industrial and commercial", and it is absolutely impossible for civilians to have official status.

In modern terms, it means: warriors don’t need to take any civil service examinations at all, they are born to be responsible for being civil servants and officials for generations.

The political ecology of Japan in the Edo period can be roughly summarized as "father dies and son succeeds" and "higher-level official positions are held by higher-level samurai in turn, and lower-level official positions are held by lower-level samurai in turn."

It was Qingdeng who took his father's place, and became the concentric of the Edo North Fan.

Edo's two major administrative offices manage Edo, which has a population of one million. Many people may think that the Edo administrative office, which shoulders such a heavy responsibility, must have a lot of office staff.

But in fact... the situation is terrible.

Take Beifan, which Qingdeng belongs to as an example—not counting the miscellaneous workers responsible for sweeping the floor, there are a total of officials in the Beiding Magistrate Office: 1 in Dingfeng, 25 in Yuli, and 120 in Tongxin.

Township is similar to mayor, Yuli is similar to middle-level cadres, and Tongxin is grassroots personnel.

The above are all the officials of the Beifan Institute... a total of 146 people...

The establishment of the Southern Fan Office is exactly the same as that of the Northern Fan Office, so the sum of the number of people working in the two enforcement offices is only a pitiful 292 people...

As an important government organization responsible for managing the entire city, the Executive Office naturally has many departments, and each department has different tasks.

For example——"Healthy Seeds" has 1 member and Li, and 2 members of Tongxin. Responsible for supervising the condition of the poor receiving treatment in health centers.

"Dingqiaoke" has 1 Yuli and 2 Tongxin under its jurisdiction, responsible for patrolling and inspecting all bridges in Edo City.

The departments responsible for catching thieves and solving crimes, maintaining public order in Edo, and performing modern police functions are the Dingcho Hui, Temporary Hui, and Secret Hui, which are collectively referred to as the "Three Hui".

The department that Qingdeng belongs to is Ding Ding Hui.

The daily work of Dingchohui is to patrol all over Edo, and when a case comes, he is responsible for handling and solving the case.

The temporary Hui selects elites from those who have worked in the Ding Ding Hui for a long time to form the department, which is responsible for guiding and assisting Ding Ding Hui.

The Secret Return is responsible for espionage activities, and is responsible for patrolling various urban areas in Edo after disguised, collecting information for the colleagues of the Dingmachi Return and the Temporary Return.

Once there is any crackdown on large-scale criminal organizations, such as the arrest of the "Renyizhong" last night, all of them will be handed over to the "Three Backs".

There are already very few office staff in the Enforcement Office, and naturally there will not be many people who can be assigned to the "three times".

Regardless of whether it is the Northern Fansuo or the Southern Fansuo, the Dingding Hui only has 2 Yuli and 6 Tongxins under its jurisdiction.

The organization of the Temporary Hui is the same as that of the Dingding Hui, and it also has 2 and 6 concentrics under its jurisdiction.

And the hidden department is the department with the smallest number of people in the whole enforcement office - there are only 2 concentrics, without the power to serve as middle-level cadres, and all members are directly under the direct command of the town's execution.

That is to say—the combination of the two enforcement offices in the south and the north, the police forces in the whole city responsible for catching thieves and maintaining law and order, there are only 8 and 28 concentric police forces, a total of 36 people...

If in a novel, the author of the novel makes the setting that "the regular police in a city with a population of one million are only a little like this", there must be some people who are self-righteous and think that they are masters of urban management, but in fact they just lack knowledge. In addition, readers who think they are smart are forced to say something like "the author is so bad, how can there be so few regular policemen in a city with a population of one million, don't write if you can't write".

However, this is an ironclad fact that there are indeed only so few regular police officers in Edo.

Because the "Three Backs" samurai shouldered the function of guarding the city's law and order, it was natural that they were welcomed and respected by some people.

Judging from Kondo's current appearance, he should belong to this type of person.

After Qingdeng revealed his identity, Kondo's attitude towards Qingdeng became significantly more enthusiastic.

He enthusiastically introduced the testing hall to Qingdeng, a new disciple, in detail.

"Our testing hall usually opens at 5:00 am (8:00 am) and closes at 6:00 pm (6:00 pm)."

"Usually in the afternoon, there will be more apprentices who come to practice swords."

"Because many people like to sleep late in the morning, there are often not many apprentices who come to practice swords in the morning."

"Just like now - there is only one apprentice who is practicing swords in the dojo, and you will see him later."

Having said that, Kondo suddenly paused, then showed a meaningful smile, and whispered to Qingdeng:

"You will be surprised when you see the only apprentice who is practicing sword in the dojo later."

"Let me remind you first—that person is a boy."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Qingdeng asked suspiciously, "Does that person look like a girl?"

"Well...you'll know later." Kondo smiled mysteriously.

When Qingdeng and Kondo were talking, they were already very close to the Dojo of the Test Guard Hall before they knew it.

call……

call……

At this time, Qingdeng faintly heard the sound of the bamboo sword being swung through the air in the dojo.

The doors of the dojo are now open.

Kondo, who was leading the way, quickened his pace a little, then stood at the entrance of the dojo and looked into the dojo.

"Here, that is the only apprentice I told you just now who is currently practicing swords in the dojo. He is practicing swords. Let's go in later."

Qingdeng, who had been following closely behind Kondo, looked into the dojo after hearing Kondo's words——

"Well……!"

The moment his line of sight touched the figure in the center of the dojo, Qingdeng immediately subconsciously let out a low exclamation due to the strong sense of shock.

I saw standing in the center of the dojo... a beautiful boy who couldn't think of any adjectives to describe him other than cute.

*****

*****

New book set sail! Nearly 10,000 words were updated today!

Posting so many words in the new book issue is quite conscientious QAQ

Ask for all kinds of support! Ask for a recommendation ticket! Ask for a monthly pass! Ask for collection!

[Japanese history class starts~]

Beifansuo and Nanfansuo—just looking at the names, many friends must think that the northern half of Edo is under the control of the Beifan, and the southern half of Edo is under the control of the Nanfan.

In fact, this is not the case.

How the two municipal governments of the North Fansuo and the Nanfansuo managed Edo - the following chapters will reveal to you.

There are bound to be readers who are curious about how to maintain law and order in such a huge Edo with only a total of more than 30 police officers.

In fact, let the author tell you: for the plot of the novel, the author has magically changed the number of "three times" samurai.

[The real "Three Times" in history has fewer people than the number designed in this book! ! ! 】

The "three times" in history did not have the strength and power to serve as middle-level cadres, and all concentricities were under the direct jurisdiction of the town. The "three times" of the South and North Divisions add up to number 25 and 6.

The reason why the Southern and Northern Divisions can rely on so few policemen to maintain the law and order in Edo is because they have two very special systems.

These two systems will be revealed in later chapters.