I formed the strongest swordsman group

"Mr. Orange, tonight... Thank you so much."

Katsu Rintaro sincerely bowed almost 90 degrees to Qingdeng.

"Mr. Sheng, there is no need to be too polite." Qingdeng raised his hand to help Katsu Rintaro up, and said modestly, "I was just lucky for a while, and I did what I should do as a 'three-time' samurai."

After learning that Katsu Rintaro wanted to see him, Qingdeng guessed that Katsu Rintaro wanted to thank him in person.

Anyway, he happened to be free now, so Qingdeng took the initiative to greet Katsu Rintaro.

As Qingdeng expected - after seeing him coming, Katsu Rintaro immediately saluted him respectfully and thanked him solemnly.

Katsu Rintaro was older than him, and from the point of view of his official position, Katsu Rintaro was older than him by many levels, so even though he had saved Katsu Rintaro now, Qingdeng did not confront him with any casual and disrespectful attitude. To Katsu Rintaro, when speaking with Katsu Rintaro, he always uses honorifics.

After thanking Qingdeng several times in one breath, Katsu Rintaro straightened up and showed Qingdeng an expression of mixed feelings.

"Mr. Orange, I have heard your name before."

"It's really well-deserved... It's worthy of being the young Yingjie who has recently gained fame."

"Um?"

Katsu Rintaro suddenly opened his eyes wider, and looked Qingdeng carefully from head to toe.

"Mr. Orange... Have we met recently? Why do I always feel that you seem familiar."

Qingdeng raised his eyebrows, laughed and said: "When I went out to eat at noon today, I passed by the gate of the martial arts institute. At that time, Mr. Sheng, who came out of the martial arts institute, passed by you. It was probably at this time that you saw him. You know me, so you have an impression of me."

Katsu Rintaro showed a look of sudden realization: "Yes, yes, yes, I remembered, you are one of the tall men I saw outside the lecture hall at noon today."

"Haha, from the looks of it, the two of us seem to have a strange fate."

After expressing a little bit of emotion in a half-joking tone, Katsu Rintaro turned his head, and looked at the Fanshu Institute next to him with a little bit of sadness in his eyes.

"Mr. Orange, you not only saved us tonight, you also saved this bookstore."

"If you hadn't arrived in time, this academic center, which was built with countless people's painstaking efforts, would be completely destroyed by those lunatics..."

"You have been kind to me and to our fanshutiao."

Katsu Rintaro turned his gaze back to Qingdeng's face, showing a grateful smile.

"Mr. Orange, if you need help with anything in the future, just come to us. Wherever we can help, we will do our best to help!"

"Do your best to help..." Qingdeng smiled, "...coincidentally, Mr. Sheng, I happen to need your help with something right now."

Katsu Rintaro was stunned for a moment, then quickly said: "What's the matter? Please tell me."

"Actually, it's nothing, I just have a question I want to ask you."

Qingdeng raised his hand and made a gesture of pulling the trigger.

"Mr. Sheng, how did you get that revolver of yours?"

Outside the police station, during the fierce battle with the "encirclement team" of the "dispossessing barbarians", Qingdeng had been hearing faint gunshots coming from inside the police station.

After the war, he asked someone to inquire, only to know that these gunshots all came from a revolver owned by Katsu Rintaro.

"Huh? Mr. Orange, why are you asking this?"

"Just curious." Qing Deng said casually.

"Oh..." Katsu Rintaro nodded lightly, and then without doubting him, he reached out and took out a black revolver from his pocket, "This gun was taken from me when I went to the United States two months ago. Received it from a friend of mine in America."

"Although it is very powerful, it is troublesome to load and aim. If you don't train hard, whether you can hit a distant target depends entirely on luck."

"That's it..." Qingdeng murmured, "A gun from a friend..."

——So I didn’t buy it myself...

Qingdeng couldn't help but feel somewhat regretful.

He was thinking about finding out about ways to buy guns from Katsu Rintaro...

For Qingdeng, whose soul comes from the 21st century, he has long coveted guns.

If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't find a way to buy a gun, he would have stopped practicing swordsmanship and went to buy a pistol instead!

I couldn't get what I wanted from Katsu Rintaro... Although Qingdeng was regretful, he was not in a hurry.

——Forget it...a weapon like a pistol...Let's just let it happen...

Qingdeng comforted himself in his heart.

...

...

Tonight was a sleepless night for many people in Edo.

Needless to say, the "Three Returns" of the Enforcement Office have been working hard since daytime today in order to hunt down the rebel group.

In order to escape the fire, the people fled to a safe place with their families.

In order to prevent the spread of the fire, the officials of the town fire department all had their faces blackened by the fire.

After nearly an hour of fighting, the fires in various parts of Edo were finally extinguished gradually.

The ability to extinguish the fire so quickly was thanks to two things.

One: the cooperation of God.

Although there was a slight night wind tonight, the wind was not strong overall. Without the help of the wind, the speed of the flame spread was greatly slowed down, leaving enough time for the officials of the fire department to remove the fire belt.

Two: The Shogun...that is, the mobilization of Iemo Tokugawa.

Tonight is not just a "sleepless night" for the townspeople, the magistrates, and the officials of the town fire department.

The Supreme living in Edo Castle, he has not slept until now...

...

Edo, Edo Castle, Fujimi Yagura——

"Master General, the fire in Edo City has basically been extinguished." A member of Iemo Tokugawa knelt on one knee behind him, and reported respectfully to Iemo Tokugawa who was standing by the window.

At this moment, Tokugawa Iemo, who was standing by the window, was holding the window sill with his hands, pursing his lips tightly, and looking at the world outside the window with a solemn face.

And beside him stood the "Empress Dowager of the Dynasty": Tianzhangyuan - she stood side by side with Tokugawa Jiamao, and looked at the window view with Tokugawa Jiamao.

Outside the window, in the cities and towns of Edo, the thick smoke that was still very strong just now has basically dissipated.

The fire that originally illuminated half of the sky had almost disappeared at this time.

Under the shroud of night, the castle towns of Edo were once again plunged into darkness.

Looking at the city where there was no longer any fire, and listening to Xiao Xing's report behind him, Tokugawa Kashige's tense face finally relaxed gradually.

"It's finally extinguished... Let the town fire department count the damage as soon as possible. I have to give me an accurate number of how many people died and how many houses were burned."

"yes!"

"Okay, you go back first."

Xiao Xing lowered his head, said "yes" in a loud voice, and then exited the room in a swift but polite manner.

As soon as this little surname left, Tianzhangyuan, who had been standing beside Tokugawa Kamo just now, smiled slightly.

"...Master General." Tianzhangyuan asked with her wonderful ethereal voice, "It's great, the fire in the city is finally extinguished."

Tokugawa Iemo smiled wearily: "It's been a long night..."

Edo Castle, the residence of the generals, is located in the center of Edo. If there is any big movement in the castle town of Edo, it will not escape the eyes of Edo Castle.

When the flames erupted from various cities and towns such as Edo's Pan Town, Edo Castle detected the change at the first time.

Although there is a wide moat on the periphery of Edo Castle, there is still no carelessness in the face of fire.

Two hundred years ago, the "Ming Dynasty Fire" that burned two-thirds of Edo into ruins spread to Edo Castle, and burned down the castle tower of Edo Castle, which was the highest in the country at that time. up.

Although there is no wind tonight, as long as you move quickly, there is great hope to prevent the fire from getting out of control, but so many places are on fire at the same time, after all, the momentum is still a bit scary. To be cautious, the officials in Edo Castle who are in charge of serving Tokugawa Ieshige finally Still decided to escort Tokugawa Jiamao to a safe place.

At that time, Tokugawa Iemao had already fallen asleep, and his attendants urgently woke up Tokugawa Iemao, intending to take Tokugawa Iemao to escape from Edo Castle temporarily through the tunnel.

After waking up in a daze, Tokugawa Iemo had a serious face after figuring out what happened.

"Ridiculous! As the general who conquered barbarians, I fled before the fire in the city was completely out of control. Wouldn't it make people laugh?"——Severely reprimanded and advised him to leave Edo Castle temporarily with these words After a meal for those people, Tokugawa Jiamao insisted on staying.

Also requesting to stay in Edo Castle was Tianzhang Court: "With such a fire, it is far from the point where we need to leave by tunnel."

Tokugawa Ieshige put on his clothes and boarded together with Tensho-in Temple. When the weather is fine, you can overlook Mount Fuji and have a panoramic view of the entire Edo city, the tallest building in Edo Castle - Fujimi Yagura.

While keeping an eye on the fire-fighting situation in the tallest building in Edo Castle, he also issued a mobilization order in person: recruiting Huofu Thief Kai and other troops to participate in the fire-fighting.

This mobilization order of Tokugawa Jiashige played a big role.

Although Huofu Thiefkai and other troops do not have very professional firefighting skills, they are still capable of helping guide the townspeople to evacuate to a safe place, helping to demolish houses and so on.

With the addition of this group of staff from Tokugawa Ieshige, the pressure on the town firefighters in Edo was greatly reduced.

With the two major assistances of "Tianshi" and "Renhe", Dinghuoxiao finally extinguished the sudden fire tonight.

The strings that had been tense were loosened... Iemo Tokugawa suddenly felt tiredness flooding towards him like a tidal wave.

But now is not the time to rest in peace.

Tokugawa Jiamao raised his hand, pinched the center of his brows vigorously, and said in a deep voice: "Afterwards... we have to ask the people who changed the fire to pay the thieves to find out who is so bold as to wantonly set fire to the town..."

Huofu Thief Kai - a special security force in Edo.

The initial function of this special force was to catch thieves and arsonists.

But with the passage of time, after several reorganizations, their actual functions have gradually evolved to be responsible for handling all kinds of serious and major cases, and arresting those who are no longer capable of being solved by the enforcement office alone. the heinous criminals of

In a word-the criminals that the officials of the execution office can't catch, they catch! Criminal groups that are difficult for the officials of the enforcement office to crack down on, they are here to crack down! They can manage what they can't manage, and they can manage what they can manage.

Under his name, he directly manages the very important armed forces in the shogunate military system - the first group.

The Sense Group is a vanguard force with a long history, mainly equipped with long-range weapons such as bows, arrows and muskets. It has repeatedly charged on the battlefield for the Tokugawa family and made countless contributions to the Edo Shogunate.

That is to say, the combat power and equipment that Huofu Thief Kai can mobilize are much stronger than those of the Enforcement Institute.

The Enforcement Office can only use various cold weapons, while Huofu Thief Kai can mobilize a large number of bows and arrows, firearms, and even war horses.

Therefore, the substantive positioning of Huofu Thief Kai is similar to the WU police force in the 21st century.

It is a security organization in name, but it is actually an army, one of the most important and most powerful standing armies of the shogunate.

Any fool can see that the fire tonight must have been artificially set on fire!

How could it be such a coincidence that so many cities and towns caught fire at the same time!

Tokugawa Jiamao is really on fire now.

Arson in Edo... How unreasonable! It is simply disregarding the millions of souls in Edo!

If the tragedy of the Great Fire in the Ming Dynasty were to repeat itself, how many people would die in the flames!

At this time, Tokugawa Jiamao had secretly made up his mind - no matter what, the thieves who set the fire tonight must be found out and severely punished!

Tenzhangin, who was standing beside Iemo Tokugawa, looked serious after hearing Iemo Tokugawa's firm murmur.

Like Iemo Tokugawa, she was quite angry that someone had set fire to all over Edo tonight.

At this moment, a notification sound suddenly sounded outside the room:

"Master General! There is an urgent order from the execution office!"

The owner of the notification sound was the little surname who had just exited the room.

"An urgent order from the execution office?" Tokugawa Iemo frowned, "Come in!"

Wow——the door was opened, and the little surname returned to Tokugawa Iemo and the others.

He quickly ran to Tokugawa Jiamao and knelt down, and then put a fastened scroll in his hand.

Tokugawa Jiamao took the scroll, and then raised his hand, signaling this little surname to go out for now.

After the little surname left the room again, Iemo Tokugawa untied the scroll and spread it out.

Looking at the words on the scroll at a glance - Tokugawa Kashige's expression suddenly changed.

Noticing the change in Tokugawa Iemo's expression, Tenzhoin hurriedly asked:

"My lord, what happened?"

"..." Tokugawa Iemo, with a sullen face, handed the scroll in his hand to Tianzhangyuan without saying a word.

Tianzhangyuan took the scroll and took a quick look—then, like Iemo Tokugawa, his expression changed drastically.

After layers of reports, the seriousness of the "arson incident" tonight: "The attack on the Tibetan bookstore" was finally submitted to the supreme ruler of the Edo shogunate at this time.

In this scroll, Susui and Atsukawa jointly detailed what happened today in a rigorous style.

Tonight, the Enforcement Office set up defenses in order to guard against the barbarians; the Fanshu Institute was attacked; Katsu Rintaro and others who stayed in the Fanshu Institute almost died...

At the end of the scroll, Susui and Atsukawa also pointed out that they seriously suspected that the "arson incident" tonight was also the work of the Koi group.

A simple scroll made Tokugawa Jiashige and Tianzhangyuan look at it with horror.

The Tibetan Book Institute is an academic center dedicated to the study of Western studies built by the shogunate with a lot of money. It is the hope of revitalizing the country in the eyes of Tokugawa Ieshige and Tenzhoin.

As for Katsu Rintaro, he is an important minister that both of them value very much.

The outside world has been rumored that Tokugawa Jiashige intends to let Katsu Rintaro be the first "Marshal" of the Edo Shogunate... This rumor is actually not wrong.

Tokugawa Jiamao really intended to allow this valuable talent who is proficient in Western military science to form the naval force of their shogunate.

Seeing the content of the attack on the Fanshu Institute and Katsu Rintaro who happened to be working in the Fanshu Institute tonight in the scroll, both Tokugawa Jiashige and Tianzhangin were shocked into a cold sweat.

After seeing that the Fanshu Institute was not completely destroyed and Katsu Rintaro was rescued, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"The barbarian group..." Iemo Tokugawa raised his hand again to press the center of his eyebrows, with an extremely solemn expression, "Tsk... What a wave of unrest, and another wave..."

Tokugawa Iemo closed his eyes and let out a heavy and long sigh.

During this period of time... To be precise, since the "Changes outside the Sakurada Gate", Tokugawa Ieshige has basically never stopped to rest, and his spirit has been in a state of high tension.

In order to restore the chaotic shogunate due to the death of Ii Naosuke as soon as possible, Tokugawa Jiamo quickly promoted Ando Nobumasa, whom he trusted quite, as the head of the old middle school.

But how can the chaos caused by Jingyi Naosuke's death be easily resolved?

While solving the confusion caused by the power vacuum, Tokugawa Jiashige also had to devote his mind to dealing with the war issue.

Because the assassins who assassinated Ii Naosuke were basically Mito feudal vassals, many ministers aggressively demanded to launch the "Mito Conquest" during this period of time, calling the shogunate army and feudal armies from various feudal clans to conquer the Mito feudal clan!

If there is a main battle, there will naturally be a main peace.

Regarding whether to conquer Mito, the main combat faction and the main peace faction are almost evenly matched, and the two parties are arguing fiercely, which makes Tokugawa Jiashige feel dizzy.

All kinds of internal troubles within the shogunate have not yet been resolved... foreign troubles have emerged one after another...

Ieshiro Tokugawa has also heard a little about this "barbarian group" that assembled more than 200 people to attack and kill French businessmen more than two months ago.

He thought it was just a "radical anti-barbarian" organization with a slightly larger scale, but now he realized after reading the report on this scroll - this anti-barbarian group is far more crazy and terrifying than he imagined !

It is no longer a hostile organization that can be treated normally...

Internal and external troubles came one after another... Even the strong-minded Tokugawa Jiamao couldn't help but feel a little heavy and tired.

But the good news—it’s not just bad things that keep happening.

Tokugawa Jiamao took back the scroll.

Since everything that happened tonight is written in the scroll, it is also written about who turned the tide and saved Katsu Rintaro and Fanshu Tiaosuo.

"Juqingdeng..." Iemo Tokugawa chewed on the name lightly.

Hearing Tokugawa Jiashige's chewing, Tianzhangin slowly said with a surprised expression: "It's really unbelievable... This person can make another great achievement so quickly..."

Both Tokugawa Kashige and Tenzhangin are no strangers to the name "Juqingdeng".

The last name written in the "Talent Book" that Ii Naosuke handed over to Tokugawa Ieshige was "Juqingdeng".

After getting this "talent book" from Naosuke Ii, Iemo Tokugawa immediately shared it with his most trusted person: Tenzhangin.

For this "Talent Book", Tianzhang Academy gave a very high evaluation. Most of the people written on it are Yijie who is very optimistic about Tianzhang Academy.

Because she also read through the talent book, Tianzhangyuan also knew that Tachibana Qingdeng was one of the talents that Ii Naosuke strongly recommended to Tokugawa Jiashige.

"Ju Qingdeng...Ju Qingdeng..." Iemo Tokugawa muttered Qingdeng's name a few more times before showing a smile:

"It seems that Jingyi did not recommend the wrong person to me..."

Having said that, Tokugawa Iemo suddenly put on a hard face, looking depressed.

"General, what's the matter? Why do you look troubled?" Tenzhangin asked curiously after noticing the distressed expression on Tokugawa Iemo's face.

"Oh...it's nothing." Iemo Tokugawa shook his head, "I'm just...thinking about how to cultivate this Ju Qingdeng."

"Now I can confirm that the Juqingdeng recommended to me by Jing Yi is indeed very courageous, with outstanding action, decisiveness, military force, and commanding ability. He is worthy of our attention and training."

"Such a talented person, we can't just throw them away."

"However, I'm a little worried about how to train this person."

Tokugawa Iemo sighed silently.

"Judging from Ju Qingdeng's current performance... the army is the place where he can best show his talent."

"I'm thinking—whether Ju Qingdeng should be transferred to the big team or some other unit..."

Before Tokugawa Jiashige finished speaking, Tianzhangyuan interrupted:

"My lord general, no."

"I think that if you want to further train and cultivate Ju Qingdeng, the best way is to maintain the status quo—let Ju Qingdeng stay in the 'Three Backs' of the Enforcement Office."

"Oh? Why?" Tokugawa Jiamao asked quickly.

To Tokugawa Jiashige, Tianzhangyuan is not only his adoptive mother and the most trusted person, but also his think tank.

Iemo Tokugawa, who is only 14 years old this year, still has too much immaturity and ignorance in the administration of the shogunate.

On the other hand, 10 years older than Tokugawa Iemo, before marrying far away to Edo, but the Tianzhangin of the princess of the Xiongfan and Satsuma domain, was used to all kinds of political tricks.

Therefore, Tianzhangyuan, who is smart, wise and familiar with politics, can well make up for Tokugawa Jiashige's shortcomings in this regard.

Once Tokugawa Jiashige encountered something difficult to decide, he would often ask Ji Tianzhangyuan.

"My lord general, in your opinion: which one is more tempered, the prison where the thugs who are now doing their best to deal with the 'radical extermination faction', or the decaying army?"

Tianzhangyuan's words were extremely sharp.

Directly use the term "rotten" to describe the current shogunate army.

But after Tokugawa Jiamao listened, he didn't show any displeasure.

Tokugawa Jiamo pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"My lord general, except for a very small number of troops such as Huofu Thief Kai, you should also know what most of the troops look like now."

At this time, Tianzhangyuan continued to speak in her ethereal voice without rushing.

"Nearly three hundred years of peace...has already corrupted most of the troops."

"If you transfer Ju Qingdeng to the army now, it will be called a legacy of the sea. Staying in that kind of place where even the air is filled with a rotten smell will only wipe out a person's vigor."

"So the concubine thinks that the best way at present is to let Ju Qingdeng stay in the "three times" of the enforcing office."

"Right now, the Edo Executive Office is the front line against the 'radical anti-barbarian faction' in Edo. It is fighting those crazy thugs every day."

"It's perfect for Ju Qingdeng to stay in the practice and accumulate qualifications."

"Wait until Ju Qingdeng has been trained in the enforcement office for a few years and has accumulated certain qualifications, then transfer Ju Qingdeng to Huofu Thief Kai."

"Huo Fu Thief Kai?" Tokugawa Iemo winked at Tianzhangyuan.

Tianzhangyuan nodded:

"Huofu Thief Kai is very suitable for Juqingdeng's future destination."

"One, Huofu Thief Kai is a special security force of our shogunate. Ju Qingdeng, who was born in the "Three Returns" of the Executive Office, was able to quickly adapt and take over related work after being transferred to Huofu Thief Kai."

"Second, Huofu Thief Kai is one of the very few units that has not been completely corrupted. It is the best place for a hero like Ju Qingdeng who has the 'talent of a general'."

Iemo Tokugawa listened carefully to every word and sentence of Tenzhangin.

"……I see."

Iemo Tokugawa nodded solemnly.

"Then according to what my lord mother said, let Ju Qingdeng continue to stay in the practice house to exercise!"

After all, Tokugawa Iemo smiled.

"Then...Master, let's talk about what rewards we should give to Ju Qingdeng who has made another great contribution tonight."

"Protecting the Shenghe Fanshu Institute... This is an achievement that cannot be ignored."

"Master General." Tianzhangyuan asked back, "What kind of reward do you personally think should be given to Ju Qingdeng?"

Iemo Tokugawa pondered for a moment:

"...Since I have decided to train Ju Qingdeng properly... then I think that from now on, I will gradually upgrade my status as Ju Qingdeng!"

"Ju Qingdeng is currently only a member of the Royal family of 100 Shi Jialu. This status is really too humble."

"If you want to entrust him with important responsibilities in the future, you can't let his status remain low like this."

"Mother, I want to add 400 shi to Juqing Deng!"

"400 stones?" Tianzhangyuan's beautiful eyes widened even more, with a look of surprise on his face.

But after a brief surprise, the astonishment on Tianzhangyuan's face quickly turned into a thoughtful one.

"...Although giving Juqing Deng Zenglu 400 stones in one go... is a bit out of the ordinary." Tianzhangyuan said slowly, "But it is not completely impossible..."

"I want to take advantage of this opportunity to boost everyone's morale." Tokugawa Jiamao said with a smile, "I will tell everyone through Juqingdeng that it is no longer what it used to be. Now you only need to make great contributions, and the shogunate will not be defeated." Will be stingy with rewards!"

*****

*****

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