I formed the strongest swordsman group

In 1854, Katsu Rintaro was promoted to be the official translator of Guafulanshu in foreign countries, and was specifically responsible for the translation of Tibetan books (Western books).

In 1855, Katsu Rintaro joined the Haiphong inspection team to investigate the defense system in the area from Ise to Osaka Bay.

In the same year, he entered the Nagasaki Naval Training Institute to study navigation and served as the head of the Navy's cadets. His function was similar to that of the captain of the Naval Cadet Academy.

Because he is proficient in Dutch, he also serves as a supervisor, responsible for the communication and liaison between military students and Dutch instructors.

He studied at the Nagasaki Naval Training Institute for five years, and returned to Edo after graduation to serve as a teacher at the Naval Drilling Institute, equivalent to the director of the Professor Department of the Naval Academy.

In January 1860, that is, more than two months ago, after the shogunate signed the "Japan-US Treaty of Friendship and Commerce" with the United States, it decided to send envoys to the United States in exchange for the ratification of the treaty. Katsu Rintaro was appointed as the shogunate. Just bought it from the Netherlands The brand new warship: the captain of Xianlin Maru, escorting envoys across the Pacific Ocean.

A few days ago, Qingto mentioned the mission of Katsu Rintaro and others in the chat with Inotani and others.

After more than two months of arduous sailing, Katsu Rintaro returned to Japan not long ago.

As soon as he returned to China, Katsu Rintaro was appointed as the head of the Fan Shu Diao Institute (the boss of an institution specializing in the study and teaching of Western culture) and a professor of artillery at the Kobu Institute.

The current shogun, Tokugawa Jiashige, appreciated the talents of Katsu Rintaro.

Qingdeng had heard from some of his colleagues: Tokugawa Ieshige seemed to intend to let Katsu Rintaro return to the navy, to make Katsu Rintaro fully responsible for the establishment of the shogunate navy, and to let Katsu Rintaro be the first "Marshal" of the shogunate.

Of course, the above are all rumors. No one knows whether Tokugawa Iemo really intends to make Katsu Rintaro the "Admiral of the Navy".

But Tokugawa Jiamo is right that he appreciates Katsu Rintaro very much.

Not only Tokugawa Jiashige thinks highly of this person, but the current "Queen Dowager": Tenzhangin Atsuhime also favors the talented Katsu Rintaro.

A mere low-level banner, and it took only 6 years to become a strong contender for the "Admiral of the Navy"... This kind of promotion speed, let alone Edo Japan, where the hierarchy system is strict, can be placed in any country. It is shocking.

What is your identity and family salary, then you can only be an official of what level - this sentence has written the political culture of the Edo period.

Some positions are even directly limited to people from a certain family. For example, the "Queen's Sword Tester" of the shogunate can only be held by the frightening "Kensha family": members of the Yamada Asaemon family. to serve.

Unless a low-level royal family with 100 Shijialu like Qingdeng is appreciated and promoted by a big man like Katsu Rintaro, no matter how dazzling achievements he has made, he can only go around in the low-level position of "Tongxin" until death. .

"Original Tachibana Qingdeng" once met Katsu Rintaro in the Beiban Office by chance, so Qingdeng felt that this person was very familiar after seeing Katsu Rintaro, and only after hearing Yongcura's muttering just now did he finally recall this. Who is middle-aged.

In addition to his legendary political experience, some anecdotes of Katsu Rintaro are also quite famous.

He often holds a huge globe that he is quite precious, and visits the residences of various high-ranking officials and daimyo, and uses this globe to promote the "necessity of founding a country".

It is said that his words are quite routine.

First, put the globe on the person's face and ask, "Do you know where our country of Japan is?"

No matter how others answer, he will point out Japan's position on the globe with a serious face: "That's right! Our country of Japan is this small island country hanging in the East Ocean, so you know the United States, the continent of Europe Where are you again?"

After introducing the positions of the major countries and the size of their dominion one by one, Katsu Rintaro will start to get to the point, proclaiming how vast the world is, and blending with the world is the current trend of the times, and then practice the "Law of Locking the Country" "Too undesirable, baa baa baa ba...

Not to mention, Katsu Rintaro's eloquence is still very powerful.

He just relied on his stereotyped rhetoric and routines to convince many people, causing one after another senior shogunate officials and vassal daimyos of the centrist or anti-barbarian faction to turn their heads to the founding faction.

Seeing Katsu Rintaro holding a globe and not knowing where he was going, Qingdeng guessed: He should be planning to promote his founding idea to someone again.

Katsu Rintaro was recently appointed as the gunnery professor at the dojo, so it's not surprising that he showed up in the dojo.

Counting the experience of "Original Ju Qingdeng" meeting Katsu Rintaro in Beipan, this was Qingdeng's second encounter with Katsu Rintaro by chance, and it was also the first time he saw Katsu Rintaro going out holding his very famous globe.

"It turns out that he is really that Katsu Rintaro..." Yongkura grinned and smiled, "It's exactly the same as the rumors I've heard... He's an ordinary-looking person."

"The samurai around him should be his bodyguards, right?" Harada interjected at this moment, "The number of bodyguards is really exaggerated, and all of his bodyguards seem to be ruthless characters."

"After all, it is less than a month since the shocking change outside the Sakurada Gate." Fujido expressed emotion, "A minister like Mr. Sheng who advocates the founding of the country should increase his own guards. .”

Since the "Chang outside the Sakurada Gate" incident in which the elder Jingyi was assassinated, all the important ministers of the shogunate... especially those who advocated the founding of the country on weekdays have either actively or passively increased the number of their guards.

When Qingdeng and his group met Katsu Rintaro suddenly, they all looked at him from a distance with the mentality of "Oh, he is a very famous celebrity on weekdays".

Not one of them is a fan of this Katsu Rintaro.

So after Katsu Rintaro walked away, Qingdeng and others also lost interest in measuring him again.

Withdrawing his gaze, he continued to head towards the sushi restaurant that Harada highly recommended.

"Harada, how long will it take to get to the very delicious sushi restaurant you mentioned?" Yongcura raised his hand and touched his shriveled belly.

"Hurry up. Turn the intersection ahead and you'll be there. Let me tell you, that sushi restaurant not only has delicious sushi, but they also have a very cute dog. You can eat sushi while eating sushi." Petting the dog." Harada smiled innocently.

...

Driven by Yongcang and Harada, two unrestrained characters, the group headed towards the sushi restaurant lively again.

And just when Qingdeng and the others set off on the road again, Katsu Rintaro who Qingdeng and the others had been looking at suddenly turned his head and looked straight at Qingdeng and his group who were drifting away from them...

But because Katsu Rintaro was already far away from Qingdeng and the others, he could only see blurred figures from behind.

"Mr. Sheng." After seeing his appearance, he asked doubtfully, "What's wrong? What are you looking at?"

"Huh? It's nothing." Katsu Rintaro turned his head and laughed a few times, "I just suddenly caught a glimpse of the group of samurai over there who are taller than each other, so I couldn't help but take a few more glances."

After all, Katsu Rintaro closed his eyes and mind.

"You have to speed up your pace a little bit." Katsu Rintaro said to the guards beside him while tightening the globe in his arms, "You can't make Marquis Fukui wait too long."

"Mr. Katsu." The guard who asked Katsu Rintaro "what are you looking at" said again, "Marquis Fukui's mansion is a little far away from here. Do you want to ask for a sedan chair?"

"Hahahaha, no need." Katsu Rintaro laughed a few more times, "I've been a little neglected to exercise recently, and my body has become a lot weaker."

"This is not possible. Without a healthy body, no ambition can be realized."

"I plan to try to walk on two legs no matter where I go in the future."

"and--"

Katsu Rintaro changed into a half-joking tone at this time.

"Not taking a sedan chair...it's also convenient for me to run away when I meet an assassin on the street."

When Katsu Rintaro said this, he happened to pass by a rather small tea house with his guards.

There was only one table of guests in this tea house, a one-armed warrior and a young warrior with an indifferent expression were sitting opposite each other.

The two warriors ordered a lot of tea and refreshments, but the strange thing was that neither of them chatted.

The young warrior lowered his gaze slightly, as if resting his mind, and hardly ate the refreshments on the table, only lifted the teacup from time to time and brought it to his lips to take a few sips.

The one-armed samurai sitting directly opposite him was facing the open shop door of the tea house.

He swept the refreshments on the table until his lips were glossy.

At first glance, this one-armed samurai seems to be just enjoying a meal in a very ordinary way, but after a closer look, he can find that he has been raising his eyes from time to time to scan the street outside the tea house.

When Katsurintaro was joking with his subordinates around him, while passing by the shop door of the tea house, the one-armed samurai immediately shrank his pupils, then hurriedly put down the teacup in his hand, lowered his voice, and looked at the young man opposite him. The warrior whispered:

"Mr. Kanno, the middle-aged man outside holding a globe is Katsu Rintaro."

Kanno raised his eyebrows, and while putting down the teacup in his hand, he tilted his head back slightly, and looked behind him from the corner of his eye...that is, looked outside the tea house.

He managed to catch Katsu Rintaro's face from the corner of his eye before Katsu Rintaro's figure disappeared from his field of vision.

"I see... that person is Katsu Rintaro... Very good, I remember his face."

"That... Mr. Kanno, I'm actually quite puzzled." The one-armed samurai sighed helplessly at this moment, "Why do you have to come to see what this Katsu Rintaro looks like?"

"No reason." Kano said flatly, "It's just pure curiosity."

"Taking advantage of a little free time in the past few days, come over and see what this subordinate Banner, who has jumped into the dragon's gate in just 6 years, looks like."

"Hmph, the more I think about it, the more irritable I become..."

Kanno suddenly tightened his grip on the teacup, and the teacup made a strange "squeak" sound under his grasp.

"This kind of national traitor who harms the country and the people and bows his knees to the barbarians is going straight up."

"But us true patriots have been unable to stretch our ambitions..."

"There are too many traitors in the shogunate."

"Mr. Kanno, shall we try to give the national thief Katsu Rintaro to..."

The one-armed warrior raised his hand and stroked his neck.

"There's no rush." ​​Kanno said lightly, "There's no need to rush Katsu Rintaro to Tenchu."

"Sooner or later we will kill national thieves like Katsu Rintaro, but not now."

"Things have to be done one by one and done one by one."

Kanno drank the remaining tea in the teacup in one gulp, then put the teacup heavily on the table.

"Pay the bill and go back."

"It's almost... It's time to go back to the stronghold to see how everyone is preparing for tonight's operation."

A cold light flickered in Shenye's pupils at this moment.

...

...

In the Edo period, sushi was not a very popular food.

The average price of ordinary nigiri sushi is 8 ren, while a bowl of hot soba noodles usually only costs 16 ren.

But who told Qingdeng to have enough surplus money now?

After receiving this quarter's salary just issued, Qingdeng's current deposit has successfully broken through 300 taels.

If it's just a sushi meal, Qingdeng can still afford it.

After arriving at the sushi restaurant that Harada highly recommended, Qingdeng let them order casually and relax a bit.

Although drinking at noon seemed a bit out of place, Qingdeng still ordered two warm sake to cheer him up.

Dinner is one of the easiest ways to bond with one another.

After eating five flavors and drinking three times, Qingdeng learned more about his three new subordinates by observing their words and deeds.

Yongcang Shinpachi has a bold personality.

Harada Sanosuke has a simple and honest personality.

Todo Heisuke has a straight personality.

Yongcang's words and deeds are straightforward and bold.

Harada always has a silly smile on his face, although it is a little impolite to say so... But his always smiling appearance gives people a feeling of "this person doesn't look very smart"...

Fujido's conversation is extraordinary, it can be seen that he has received a very good education.

I don't know if it was influenced by his own education, but Fujido behaved very politely, so polite that it made people feel a little too straight.

Whether Qingdeng, Saito, Yongcura, or Harada, no matter who Todo spoke to, he always used honorifics.

While eating sushi, the informal Yongcura once mentioned to Fujido that there is no need to use honorifics for him, but his proposal was rejected by Fujido.

"Among all the people here, I am the youngest. Mr. Saito, who is the same age as me, has long followed Mr. Tachibana, so you are all my seniors. How can I speak to my seniors in an ordinary tone?" ——Tohdo responded to Nagakura in this way.

Seeing that Todo insisted on using honorifics, Yongcura did not force him to change his habits, and let Todo continue to use honorifics to talk to them.

Both Yongcang and Harada can drink very well, and they didn't even blush after drinking several glasses of sake.

Fujido doesn't hold such a good amount of alcohol anymore.

He only drank a small glass of wine, and his face was as red as a monkey's butt.

Perhaps affected by the alcohol, Fujido, who had always been a bit reserved, let go a little bit.

Words and deeds began to become a little uninhibited.

"Mr. Orange, I am so happy to be under your command."

Fujido, who was sitting on Qingdeng's right, hiccupped and said to Qingdeng excitedly.

"I've always wanted to see you since I heard that you beat the crowd with a few and defeated those lunatics who didn't know what a real 'rejecting barbarians' was."

"I really admire you so much! You were able to win a battle with such a disparity in numbers!"

"I have a lot to learn from you! I hope you will teach me in the future!"

Fujido's eyes on Qingdeng were full of admiration and admiration.

His gaze reminded Qingdeng of Okita——Okita often looked at him with this gaze.

Whenever Okita looks at him like this, for some reason, Qingdeng can't help but make up for Okita the image of a dog's tail growing from the back that is constantly swaying from side to side.

Maybe it's because the way Okita looks at Qingdeng with admiration looks so much like a little dog with its front paws up to its master, sticking out its tongue, and begging the master to come and play with him—and it's still The kind of Shiba Inu that looks a little silly.

Qing registered that Kiryu had mentioned to him: this Todo admired him very much, and after learning that the same heart who recruited Okabiki was Tachibana Qingto, he immediately expressed his willingness to join Qingdeng's command.

Recalling the words Kiryu mentioned to him, Qingdeng smiled at Fujido after taking a sip of his drink in response to the gaze Fujido cast on him:

"Todo-kun, you don't need to treat me as some great hero. Just treat me with a normal heart and treat me like an ordinary person."

"That can't be done." Fujido shook his head like a rattle, "In that case, it would be too rude to you."

Seeing Fujido's firm attitude, Qingdeng could only smile helplessly.

Both Yongcang and Harada have big appetites, they can eat more than twenty of such a big piece of sushi.

Everyone has almost eaten sushi now, and everyone has entered the stage of drinking and chatting.

After drinking some more wine, the topic unknowingly shifted to talking about the reasons why each of them wanted to join Qingdeng's command.

"I don't have any particular reason, I just want to give it a try because I think the rewards are a lot."

Harada burped heavily, then raised his hand to pat his stomach.

"I was originally from the Iyo Matsuyama Domain in Shikoku Island. A few years ago, because I didn't die during seppuku, I had to leave the domain and become a ronin. I lived here in Edo, relying on my Hozo-in spear skills to make a living."

"Because under the command of Mr. Tachibana, I can receive 2 taels of gold every month, which is higher than any job I have done before. In addition, I heard that Obiki doesn't need to do any mental work. , so I decided to be Mr. Tachibana's Okabiki."

"Have you ever done seppuku?" Fujido opened his eyes wide.

Harada chuckled, then raised his hand and opened the skirts on both sides of his kimono, revealing the very conspicuous scar on his stomach.

"See? These are the scars from my seppuku!"

Yongcang, who was sitting next to Harada, glanced at the wound on Harada's stomach in surprise, and asked, "Can I touch it?"

"Of course! Feel free to touch!"

Yongcang stretched out his fingers and pinched the wound on Harada's stomach.

"You didn't die after harakiri..." Qingdeng clicked his tongue. After meeting Harada for the first time in Qianshiwu and seeing the wound on Harada's stomach, Qingdeng felt that this wound was like a seppuku incision , I didn't expect him to guess correctly, "How could you cut seppuku? Did you commit something in the feudal kingdom?"

"It's nothing wrong." Harada stretched out his fingers and picked his nostrils, "It's just that when I was arguing with a certain samurai over a trivial matter, I was ridiculed by the samurai as a 'little official who doesn't even know the etiquette of seppuku'. However, I pulled out the Wakizawa from the waist and showed him the seppuku on the spot."

"I just stabbed a knife in my stomach, who wouldn't know how, an eight-year-old child knows how to cut seppuku."

Qingdeng: "..."

Saito: "..."

Yongcang: "..."

Fujido: "..."

Everyone stared at the wound on Harada's stomach in silence.

The reason for harakiri is really too speechless! Even when I looked at the injury on Harada's stomach again, I couldn't help but feel that it was funny!

"My reasons are similar to Harada's." After dismissing the topic of Harada's seppuku, Yongcang took over the topic of why he joined Qingdeng's command, "I'm currently traveling around and practicing as a warrior."

"And to do martial artist training, travel expenses are essential."

"So I want to do a job with as high a salary as possible, and strive to save enough money as soon as possible to support my martial arts training for at least several months."

"I want to broaden my knowledge." Fujido answered, "Mr. Ito told me: I can't do it if I practice swords in the sword hall all the time. While practicing swordsmanship, I have to try my best to broaden my knowledge. I can't do that. I'm a very closed person, so I just want to try to do something that I've never done before."

"I'm a little interested in Okabiki's work, and I admire Mr. Tachibana, so I decided to try to be a concentric Okabiki."

"Hi...!" After pouring another big gulp of wine into his mouth and having a huge belch, Harada grinned and asked Qingdeng, "Mr. Orange, when will we be able to accomplish some big tasks?" ?”

"I can't wait now. I want to do some interesting big tasks as soon as possible, such as preventing the radical 'anti-barbarians' thugs from attacking somewhere."

"How can there be so many big tasks to do." Qingdeng shrugged, "You will officially start working tomorrow."

"I'll teach you how to patrol first."

"Helping me patrol the streets is your main task."

"Large missions and so on, these are hard to come by, it's not so easy for us to meet..."

"Tangerine, Tangerine, Orange, Tangerine Dengdeng!"

Suddenly, a loud shout sounded outside the sushi restaurant.

Startled by the huge shout, Qing Deng was startled, then turned around and threw it - at the door of the sushi restaurant, stood a young man covered in sweat and breathing in a mess.

"Master Ju Qingdeng... ha ha ha... finally... ha ha... found you...!"

The young man quickly ran towards Qingdeng while taking out a seal cage from the enforcement office.

"Master Feng Xing issued an emergency summoning order, requiring all 'three-time' officials who are on vacation to immediately cancel their vacation and return to the Beifan Office."

"Please report to Beifan Office immediately!"

***********

***********

A new big plot has officially begun.

Ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a recommendation ticket! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)

Many important characters have appeared in this book so far. In order to make it easier for you to know these characters, I will post the ages of the current main characters in this book:

Qingdeng: 18 years old

Saito: 16 years old

Fujido: 16 years old

Harada: 20 years old

Yongcang: 21 years old

Kondo: 26 years old

Earthwork: 25 years old

Okita: 16 years old

Mai Kinoshita: 15 years old

Kiryu: 92 years old

Elodie: 12 years old

Sanako Chiba: 22 years old

Élodie de Angoulême: 12 years old

Iemo Tokugawa: 14 years old

Atsuhime of Tianzhangyuan: 24 years old

*****

*****

As you can see, everyone is quite young and immature at this time, and few people are over 20 years old.