I formed the strongest swordsman group

"Ishizaka-kun, what did the court say?"

Qinghe Hachiro turned to look at the samurai sitting on his right.

The man cleared his throat and said seriously:

"Lord Qinghe and Lord Sanjo Sanemi greatly appreciate our plan and are willing to provide us with all the support they can."

Sanjo Shimei - the leader of the imperial court's Zunban faction.

In order to revive the imperial power, realize the respect for the king and repel the barbarians, and restore the status of the emperor and the ministers, the ministers of the Zunban faction headed by Sanjo Mimi are working closely with the Choshu clan.

Qinghe Hachiro nodded slightly, with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Then he turned to look at the other person.

"Ikeda-kun, what's the response from Choshu?"

"……well."

Ikeda sighed heavily.

"Master Qinghe, I really don't have the face to see you..."

After that, he bent over, placed three fingers of his hands on the ground, buried his head deeply, and touched his forehead lightly to the floor - it was a standard earth seat.

Qinghe Balang frowned slightly when he saw this.

"Ikeda-kun, raise your head quickly. What happened? Please tell me in detail."

Ikeda maintained his seated posture and replied respectfully:

"Lord Qinghe, I have not been able to complete the task of 'contacting the Choshu Domain and reaching cooperation with them' as assigned by you."

"Changzhou people are very cautious."

"It's so cautious that I think they don't want to cooperate with us at all."

"I have personally visited their homes several times to explain our plans to them face to face."

"However... although they always say 'willing to cooperate with you', 'you are outstanding patriots who understand the righteousness' and other pleasant words, in reality they have been perfunctory with me."

"So far, let alone Takasugi Shinsaku, Katsura Kogoro and Kusaka Genzui, I haven't seen anyone with any status in the Choshu Domain."

"Nothing has been accomplished, and time has been wasted... I really feel ashamed of myself..."

After speaking, Ikeda buried his already drooped head a little lower.

After listening to Ikeda's explanation attentively, Qinghe Hachiro narrowed his eyes and muttered:

"It seems... the people of Changzhou are not willing to trust us yet..."

A thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

After a moment, his originally narrowed eyes gradually relaxed, and a peaceful smile appeared on his lips.

"Ikeda-kun, don't lose heart, this is inevitable."

As Qinghe Hachiro said this, he stretched out his palms and helped Ikeda upright with his own hands.

"A stranger came unexpectedly and shouted something about 'seizing the power of the Shinsengumi and transforming the Shinsengumi into a powerful force that upholds the great cause of respect'... If it were me, I wouldn't believe him easily."

"At this stage, we can only show our sincerity little by little and slowly gain the trust of Changzhou people."

"The Choshu Domain is currently the most powerful Zunban faction."

"Therefore, for us, who are still weak, whether we can obtain external support from the Choshu Domain is a top priority."

"Ikeda-kun, the burden on your shoulders is heavy...but I believe you will not let me down."

"I believe in your abilities - and that is why I entrust you with this most important task."

"So, keep your head up and don't be discouraged anymore."

"You can't accomplish anything if you look downcast and depressed."

Listening to Qinghe Hachiro's encouragement, Ikeda's eyes burst with emotion.

"Yes! I will definitely fulfill my mission!"

Just like the most devout believer paying homage to his god, Ikeda lowered his waist again with excitement and respect - again the most standard earth seat - and at the same time, he kowtowed heavily to Qinghe Hachiro .

The forehead touched the floor, making a crisp "thunk" sound.

Qinghe Hachiro smiled slightly and patted Ikeda on the shoulder with neither light nor heavy force to show encouragement.

At the same time, his eyes fell on another warrior.

"Sugiura-kun, what about you? Have you made any significant progress in the tasks assigned to you?"

"..."

The samurai called "Sugiura" didn't say anything immediately.

After being silent for about 5 seconds, he let out a long breath silently.

"Lord Qinghe, I kind of underestimate Saitoichi..."

Hearing this, Qinghe Balang frowned again.

Before he could ask further questions, Sugiura continued to explain:

"After being assigned to the Third Division, I have been faithfully advancing the tasks assigned by you, trying to attract as many ordinary soldiers as possible to join our ranks."

"At first, I thought Saitoichi, who commanded the Third Division, was just a taciturn roughneck who had no talent except swordsmanship."

"I didn't expect... this person's mind is unexpectedly quick."

"Just recently, something I've done seems to have alerted him."

"I'm worried that if I continue to act, I will alert others, so I don't dare to act rashly."

Having said this, he changed into an apologetic tone.

"Lord Qinghe, I'm really sorry..."

As soon as he started to apologize, Qinghe Hachiro shook his head slightly and extended his hand to make a "no need to say" gesture.

"Sugiura-kun, you don't have to apologize."

"Saitoichi is indeed not a fuel-efficient lamp."

"Like you, I didn't pay much attention to this person before."

"It was only later, after my interactions with the Shinsengumi generals gradually deepened, that I was shocked to realize that this person was no ordinary person."

"Don't panic when things change, don't fear in the face of danger, distinguish between public and private affairs, and understand the subtleties... Among the newly selected members, apart from Tachibana Aotobu and Hijikata Toshizo, Saito Kazuchi is the most talented general."

"According to my observation, he has a very deep friendship with Tachibana Aoden."

"Tachibana Aoden trusts him very much, and he is also very loyal to Tachibana Aoden."

"In addition, he is the kind of person who takes life and death very lightly."

"I don't care about my own life, nor do I care about the lives of others."

"If he finds out that someone is plotting to overthrow the Shinsengumi, he will definitely kill everyone with a knife without blinking an eye, and eliminate everyone who opposes Tachibana Aoden."

"You can't be too careful when dealing with such a ruthless and loyal guy."

"Therefore, your judgment is correct."

"Since the other party has been alerted, you should keep a low profile."

Speaking of this, Qinghe Hachilang slowly turned his eyes, passing his eyes across the faces of everyone present one by one.

"You all remember, the Shinsengumi's Tachibana Aotobu, Okita Souji, Kondo Isamu, Nagakura Shinpachi and Saito Ichi, unless absolutely necessary... No! No! No matter when or where they are, Never have a head-on conflict with these five people!"

"If you accidentally come into contact with them, don't hesitate - just run away!"

…

…

Next, Qinghe Hachiro asked many more questions.

time flies……

After about half an hour, he finally stopped asking questions.

"I already understand the general situation."

Qinghe Hachiro's face was filled with a helpless wry smile.

"Although our grand plan of 'capturing the Shinsengumi' has made considerable progress, it is still a 'long and arduous road ahead'..."

The moment he finished speaking, the atmosphere of the scene changed.

The air became heavy.

The emotion called "regret" permeated the surroundings.

Ikeda gritted his teeth and slapped his thigh hard with an angry look on his face.

"Damn it! If our original plan could be carried out smoothly, we wouldn't be in such a passive situation now!"

As soon as this statement came out, it immediately aroused fierce agreement from everyone present.

The "original plan" mentioned by Ikeda... simply put, is to "use the manpower and material resources of the shogunate to build an army that serves the imperial court."

This all starts with Tokugawa Iemo’s “decision to go to Beijing”——

In order to promote the integration of the public and military forces and discuss matters against the foreigners, Tokugawa Iemo planned to go to Kyoto in person to meet with Emperor Tōhito.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kiyokawa Hachiro, on the grounds of "preparing for unexpected situations that may occur after the shogun enters the capital", presented to the shogunate through the swordsmanship professor Matsudaira Shosuke of the Kyobu Institute "openly recruiting ronin from Edo to form a force for the purpose of protecting the shogun". The new army went to Beijing together" strategy.

At the same time, the chief tax officer of Songping was asked to report the pardon of Qinghe Hachiro, and stated that "Qinghe Hachiro is the leader of the rogues, and only by relying on this person can the recruitment of the new army be completed."

In other words, Qinghe Hachilang was appointed as the general of the new army.

Matsudaira Shosuke is a rare outstanding swordsman in the Tokugawa family. He has a lot of say in the shogunate and has a deep friendship with Qinghe Hachiro.

After Qinghe Hachiro became the general of the new army and successfully led the army to Kyoto, he showed off to the entire army: Although we were recruited by the shogunate and came to Kyoto to protect the general of Shangluo, we are ronin after all and cannot Eat the salary of the shogunate. We must become a team that can move independently and freely in the name of the Emperor, and be the vanguard of honoring the Emperor and resisting the foreigners.

Deceive the shogunate, use the shogunate's money and food to recruit soldiers and form a new army, wait for the new army to arrive in Kyoto, far away from the shogunate's ruling center (Kanto), and then take this new army into your own private tribe - the above is enough. It was the "original plan" of Qinghe Hachiro and others.

It must be said that their plan was extremely bold.

As early as the spring of the first year of Bunkyu (1861), Qinghe Hachiro established an organization with the guiding ideology of "respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians" and the goal of overthrowing the shogunate: the Huwei Society (also known as the Hero Society).

After the shogunate found out about his intentions, he immediately issued a search order. Qinghe Hachiro killed the police officers who came to arrest him and barely escaped.

Not long after, he planned unrest in Kyoto, and then failed again, and the bounty on his body became more and more.

Such a "terrorist" with a long criminal record and his name on the wanted order dared to blatantly propose to the shogunate "building a new army" and also asked the shogunate to pardon him and appoint him as the general of the new army...

I really don’t know where Qinghe Hachiro and others got the courage.

However... with such an outrageous plan, they were actually half successful!

After a series of suggestions were presented to the shogunate through the Matsudaira Chief Tax Agency, such as "recruiting rogues", "pardoning Hachiro Seikawa", and "letting Hachiro Seikawa lead the new army", the shogunate quickly responded.

The person who made the final decision on this matter was Tokugawa Iemo.

He readily adopted most of Qinghe Hachiro's suggestions.

It not only fully supports the "building of a new army", but also restores Qinghe Hachiro's innocence - up to this point, Qinghe Hachiro and others' plans have been carried out smoothly.

However... what happened next was not as they expected.

Tokugawa Iemo did not hand over the position of general of the new army to Hachiro Seikawa. Instead, he named Aoshito the "Gyeonggi Town Governor" and assigned the command of the new army to his name.

As for the subsequent story, there is no need to elaborate.

Seito named this new army the "Shinsengumi".

Qinghe Hachiro was the initiator of the new army. In addition, he himself did have quite a reputation among the rondos of Edo.

So, in order to take care of the mood of the "Qinghe Faction", Qingto promoted him to the staff of the Shinsengumi.

After Ikeda, Ishizaka joined the ranks of complaints:

"That Ju Qingden is really looking down on people! He actually made Lord Qinghe a staff officer... The more I think about it, the more angry I get! What a bullshit advisor! Isn't this an obvious attempt to seduce Lord Qinghe?"

The deputy chief is in charge of military affairs, the chief is in charge of discipline, the chief is in charge of internal affairs, and the chief is in charge of finance. The "four chiefs" of the Shinsengumi are all important positions with real power.

On the other hand, the staff officer...

In terms of status, the status of the staff officer is equivalent to that of the "four chiefs".

However, the staff officers are not responsible for specific matters in a certain area like the "four chiefs".

Its only mission is to advise Qingdeng - and this gives considerable room for maneuver.

If Qingdeng reuses the staff, then the status of the staff will rise sharply and gain huge power over the "four leaders", just like the eunuchs in ancient China.

On the other hand, if Qingdeng squeezes out the staff, then the staff will be reduced to a false position with no say and no sound.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Qingdeng created the position entirely based on people - he simply created the position of "staff officer" just to sideline Qinghe Hachiro and promote Qinghe Hachiro as a mascot!

Nominally, it is an important position responsible for assisting Qingdeng.

But in fact, whenever there was a major event, Qingdeng would either completely ignore Qinghe Hachilang's opinions, or directly exclude Qinghe Hachilang from participating in the meeting.

They were given great titles and adequate treatment, but no real power was given at all.

Qingdeng's behavior has long made everyone in the "Qinghe Sect" angry.

Facing his indignant subordinates, Qinghe Balang smiled slightly.

"Okay, everyone, calm down."

"These actions of Tachibana Aoden are all within my expectations."

Speaking of this, he sneered.

As he continued, he changed to a sarcastic tone.

"In my opinion, with his way of spending money randomly, it won't be long before the Shinsengumi is in my possession! So for now, I'll just let him have his way!"

**********

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Although I really want to continue to rest, Leopard Leopard really doesn’t have a leave note (Leopard Leopard Head in tears.jpg)

Seeing how hard Leopard has worked, please be sure to vote for this book! (Leopard head crying.jpg)

PS: According to historical facts, Qinghe Hachiro's plan was basically successful. The shogunate really made him the general of the new army, and he really took most of the new army into his own private army... This world is indeed It's a huge grassroots team, and the plot of my novel is actually more logical than reality...