I formed the strongest swordsman group

If Qingdeng remembers correctly... the day before yesterday when he was patrolling the road, he happened to meet Kinoshita Maihou, and the child told him that she was going to meet her friend at Fujisawa Juku on the Tokaido.

In 1603, after the establishment of the Edo Shogunate, in order to strengthen the rule of the country, the Edo Shogunate started from Edo and built five avenues collectively known as "five streets" connecting major economic and military locations across the country.

The five roads are: Tokaido, Zhongsendo, Nikko, Oshu and Koshu.

In order to facilitate the transfer of personnel and materials, as well as to promote the development of commerce, the shogunate set up a large number of camps and post stations along the five avenues.

Tokaido, which connects the two big cities of Edo and Kyoto, is the busiest and most trafficked avenue among the "five streets".

There are 53 lodgings in total in Tōkaidō, and Fujisawa-juku, which Arima mentioned just now and where Mai Kinoshita was going to meet her friend, is one of the lodgings in Tōkaidō.

In addition to being used by the government for political and military purposes, ordinary travelers and businessmen can also freely use the "Five Streets" and every station along the way to travel to and from various places, and the demand for accommodation, dining and shopping has greatly increased.

As a result, large-scale settlements gradually gathered around most of the boarding places on the "Five Streets", and gradually evolved into cities.

This kind of city town formed around the station is called "station town".

Fujisawa is a typical example.

Fujisawa Juku is still a dormitory in name, but it has actually become a large-scale town.

Teahouses, izakayas, brothels, casinos, bathhouses... Fujisawa Juku has all the things that are usually found in cities and towns.

"Master Arima." Qingtoeng asked, "Did something happen to Fujisawa Juku?"

"There have recently been a group of very skilled thieves at the Fujisawa lodging." Arima said, "They specialize in stealing money from travelers at the lodging."

"The amount involved has reached as high as 200 taels of gold."

"Facing this gang of thieves who couldn't be caught no matter how hard they tried, the officials at Fujisawajuku were completely at a loss, so they asked our Edo Magistrate for help and asked us to send a concentric to support them."

"Fujisawa-juku is one of the most important lodgings in Tōkaidō, and it's not very far from Edo. After weighing the pros and cons, Mr. Susui decided to accept Fujisawa-juku's request for help, and personally called Tachibana-kun to take charge of the matter." case."

"Master Susui personally called me by name?" Qing Deng was taken aback.

"Your good performance in Granny Ping's case before seems to have really changed Mr. Susuki's opinion of you. He will personally name you to be in charge of this case, which is the first time he really started to regard you as a Dingchou member's performance."

"In short—work hard, Tachibana-kun."

"Strive for Fujisawa Suku, and once again earn a performance that can make everyone shine."

Qingdeng laughed a few times: "Is it a theft...Master Arima, you put me under a lot of pressure by saying that."

"The lower officials are not gods. It is impossible for every case to be lucky enough to be solved beautifully."

"Just do your best."

After finishing speaking, Arima took out a document with the seal of the executive office from the desk case, and then took out 2 taels of gold from a lacquered box next to it.

"This is your current document, keep it. If you lose it, you won't be able to live in the dormitory for free."

"These 2 taels are your travel expenses, don't spend them indiscriminately, as much as you spend on the travel expenses, it will be painful when you come back to report the consumption details. The last time Iguya was on a business trip, it was because I took most of the travel expenses with you The woman was lingering, and was severely criticized by Mr. Susui."

For those who came to the dormitory due to the official business of the shogunate, the dormitory must provide the service of "people and horses standing up" free of charge.

Each camp must be equipped with certain logistics personnel and horses. The so-called "people and horses standing up" is a system in which the camp assists officials to replace personnel and horses, and provides housing and meals for officials for free.

Therefore, the current document that Arima handed over to Qingdeng at this time is very important. If there is no document that can prove that he is an official servant with official duties, he will not be able to live and eat for free in various lodgings. up.

After collecting the documents and travel expenses from Arima, and solemnly saying goodbye to Arima, Qingdeng strode out of Arima's office, ready to go home and prepare for business.

As soon as he turned on the corridor leaving the prison, Qingdeng suddenly saw one of his seniors: Pig Valley walking towards him.

I saw Inoya with one hand on his hip, and holding a palm-sized piece of paper in the other hand, walking forward, showing a strange smile, staring happily at the piece of paper in his hand.

"Mr. Inoya!" Qingdeng took the initiative to say hello to Inoya.

"Oh?" After hearing Qingdeng's voice, Inotani looked away from the piece of paper in his hand, "Oh, it's Tachibana-kun."

"What are you looking at?" Qing Deng cast a bewildered look at the piece of paper clutched in Zhu Gu's hand, "I was so fascinated by it, I almost walked up to you, and you didn't even see me."

"Hey..." Inoya gave a strange laugh, and turned the piece of paper in his hand towards Qingdeng.

The piece of paper in Inoya's hand turned out to be a small painting.

A portrait painted in the style of Ukiyo-e.

Qingdeng doesn't quite understand the paintings of this era.

After he looked carefully, he could vaguely see... what this painting depicts seems to be a little girl with blond hair and blue eyes.

"This is a good thing I got from an old friend of mine when I went to Yoshiwara yesterday...ah, no, when I went to Yoshiwara to meet friends."

"Mr. Tangerine, do you know Elodie de Angoulême?"

Qing Deng shook his head blankly.

"She is the granddaughter of a French businessman who is currently residing in Osaka." Inotani smiled again, "I have heard of her name a long time ago."

"Although he is a barbarian, it is said that he has skin smoother than silk, and a face that is ridiculously beautiful, which is very suitable for us Japanese."

"The painting in my hand is said to be a portrait of her painted by a painter who has seen this Elodie up close."

After all, Inotani turned the painting in his hand to himself again with a look of emotion.

"It's really beautiful... If this painting is indeed the true appearance of that Elodie, then this person is really a little beauty..."

"Hey... I really want to see what she looks like with my own eyes... Hehe..."

If he didn't wipe his mouth again, the saliva might be dripping from the corner of Inoyagi's mouth.

——How did you see that this Elodie is very beautiful from this kind of painting...?

Qingtou, who doesn't appreciate ukiyo-e at all, doesn't understand how Inotani sees that the girl in this painting is a little beauty...

"If this painting is really a true portrait of that Elodie...then this Elodie looks so young." Qing Deng frowned at the painting in Inoya's hands, "Everyone is small. "

"Yes, this Elodie is indeed very young. It is said that she is only 12 years old this year."

"12?" Qingdeng stared, then looked up and down Inoya with strange eyes, "...Mr. Inoya, as a man in his early 30s, you can't...at least you shouldn't treat a 12 A year-old girl in heat..."

"I'm not in heat." Inogu said solemnly, "I'm just admiring beauties normally."

"Do you need to care how old she is to appreciate a beauty?"

Inotani stuffed the portrait of Elodie back into his bosom.

"Okay, in the enforcement office, it's better not to talk about this."

"If Master Arima finds out that I'm talking about women again during the official hours, he will definitely criticize me again."

"Mr. Ju, why are you in such a hurry? Is there something urgent?"

Qingdeng took out the passing document he had just obtained from Arima from his pocket, and beckoned to Inoya: "I'm going to Fujisawa Juku's on a business trip."

Qingdeng told Inoya briefly and concisely the detailed reasons for his business trip to Fujisawa-juku.

"Oh...Fujisawa Juku..." Inotani grinned, "It's okay to go to that place on business, it's very close to Edo, so it won't be very tiring. The last time I went to Kyoto on business, it was really tiring kill me..."

"Do you want me to bring back some souvenirs from Fujisawa Juku?" Qingdeng asked half-jokingly.

Inoya couldn't help laughing: "Fujisawa-juku is only 3 days away from Edo, and there is a fart of local souvenirs. You don't need to bring any souvenirs, you can just investigate the case there."

*****

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