I formed the strongest swordsman group

Keigi Director... Before explaining this position, we have to explain Hachishu Director first.

Hachishu Director - the full name is "Kanto Hachishu Director", abbreviated as "Hachishu", and is called "Hachishu Lord" by the common people.

In simple terms, it can be understood as a special policeman.

Responsible for constantly patrolling the eight provinces of Kanto to crack down on criminals and people with no fixed residence. They have the privilege of being able to walk freely in any territory within the Edo Prefecture, regardless of whether it is a heavenly domain, a temple or a private domain.

Those who serve as Hachishu Directors are basically lower-level samurai with a salary of 30 taels and 3 people supporting them, or 20 taels and 2 people supporting them.

Although their status is not worth mentioning, their social status is quite high.

Their daily task is to patrol the eight provinces of Kanto back and forth. Due to this characteristic, many novelists and dramatists are keen on creating chivalrous stories with Hachishu Directors as the protagonists.

The plots are similar: the Eight States Director came to a new place and found that the place was full of evil, either corrupt officials were levying heavy taxes or the Yakuza were acting recklessly. With his strong strength, the Eight States Director suppressed evil, promoted justice, and won the heart of a girl. Then, under the tearful gaze of the young girl and the villagers who were grateful to Dane, he left and disappeared in the sunset, just like an American western.

Thanks to these literary and artistic works, the social status of the Eight States Director rose sharply.

Over time, the general public generally held a positive view of it.

After the "August 18th Coup", although the Choshu forces were expelled from Kyoto, the radicals headed by Kusaka Genzui did not give up.

Shortly after the coup, a large number of Choshu patriots...ah, no, a large number of lunatics spontaneously sneaked back to Kyoto, vowing to get back their place.

Since you can't fight head-on, launch a terrorist attack!

They harassed the shogunate and everything related to it in various ways, especially the Shinsengumi, Aizu Army, and Satsuma Army, which had caused them to fall into such a state.

Or they attacked the soldiers who were alone; or they tried to poison the military rations; or they threw torches into the military camp to try to start a fire... Some people even planned to assassinate Qing Deng!

To be honest, their ambition is commendable, and they challenged the highest difficulty right from the start.

Unfortunately, history has proved time and again that in the face of overwhelming absolute strength, spiritualism does not work.

Therefore, before the assassin began to act, his ridiculous ending was already doomed - he was knocked to the ground without even breaking through the gate of the Shinsengumi's garrison.

For the convenience of calling, and to express contempt for them, Qing Deng and others nicknamed this group of terrorists from Choshu the "Choshu Madman Group".

Although the "Choshu Madman Group" was quickly suppressed by the joint efforts of Qinjin, Aizu, and Satsuma, and these large-scale terrorist attacks were banned one by one, those small-scale harassment actions, like "mosquito humming", have been repeatedly banned.

Although mosquitoes bite you a few times and suck your blood a few times, it will not kill you, but the "buzzing" sound is really annoying! And the swollen and itchy red envelopes also make people very manic.

If you don't drive them away, these mosquitoes will become more and more arrogant and push your nose and face.

Go and drive them away, they run so fast that you can't hit or crush them!

Before the shogunate completely stabilized the security of Kyoto, Choshu jumped out again like a dog smelling shit to disgust the shogunate.

After Choshu launched a general military mobilization throughout the domain, it actively prepared for war on the one hand, and sent countless spies and secret agents to Kyoto on the other hand, ordering them to collect intelligence while creating as much trouble as possible for the shogunate, distracting its energy and consuming its resources.

Therefore, with the strong support of the Choshu officials, since the beginning of this spring, the "Choshu Madman Group" that Qing Deng and others had finally suppressed has gradually revived, and terrorist attacks in Kyoto have increased again.

Burn your house today, send a threatening letter tomorrow, and assassinate a lone shogunate official the day after tomorrow... It's annoying! They are simply a group of hopeless terrorists!

"Protecting Kyoto" is the responsibility of Qing Deng, the governor of the capital.

The resurgent "Choshu Madman Group" is wreaking havoc everywhere, seriously endangering the lives and property safety of the people of Kyoto, and Qing Deng is naturally responsible.

After suffering setbacks, the current "Choshu Madman Group" has learned a lesson and become more cunning.

They are now completely hidden in the shadows, never easily exposed to the sun, and it is difficult to track their whereabouts, and then it is difficult to eliminate them.

The simple human wave tactic is no longer effective, and it may be fooled.

In this case, the best way to break the situation is to send out a criminal investigation expert who is observant!

Collect intelligence, follow clues, find the base of the "Choshu Madman Group", and then completely eliminate them!

However... Although the current Shinsengumi has a strong military force with many soldiers and generals, they are basically some rough men with big muscles and empty heads.

Let them charge into battle, kill generals and seize flags, it's okay.

But if you want them to investigate the case and find the thief, forget it.

Although Nagakura Shinpachi, Harada Sanosuke and others have served as Okabiki of Aoto and solved many cases with Aoto, they are basically doing the hard work, and the brainwork is left to Aoto.

In short, sending these rough guys to investigate the case is no different from sending Souji to manage the accounts.

Funny enough, the only person in the Shinsengumi who has knowledge of criminal investigation is Aoto.

Qing Deng now holds several positions, and there are countless official duties waiting for him to handle one by one every day when he opens his eyes.

It is obvious that he can no longer go to the front line to investigate cases as before.

How can a dignified governor of the capital do the work of Dingcheng Huitongxin?

Even if Qing Deng is willing to go, his retainers and generals will strongly dissuade him.

Professional matters should be handled by professionals.

Since he lacks criminal investigation talents, he will ask for external help! Find a real criminal investigation expert to fill the vacancy!

In this way, under Qing Deng's suggestion, Tokugawa Iemochi created a new position with a stroke of his pen, namely "Kyoto Director".

From its name, it is not difficult to recognize that this position is modeled after the Eight States Director.

The main job of the Kyoto Director is to patrol Kyoto back and forth and arrest criminals.

Just like the Eight States Director, the Kyoto Director has the privilege of being able to walk around freely within his jurisdiction, regardless of whether it is a heavenly domain, a temple or a private domain.

As we all know, the temple and shrine domain is only managed by the temple and shrine magistrate, and the heavenly domain is only managed by the town magistrate.

Even when catching a thief, the two regions do not interfere with each other.

This has led to the disadvantage of being too big to be caught.

For example: if a criminal escapes from the heavenly domain to the temple and shrine domain, the officials of the magistrate's office who are chasing him can only stare blankly, stand outside the temple and shrine domain, and let the criminal run away - they cannot interfere in the affairs of the temple and shrine domain.

Once they cross the border to catch someone, they are "choking the line".

Faced with this situation, the officials of the magistrate's office can only notify the temple and shrine magistrate to take over the task and be responsible for the subsequent arrest operation.

If the criminal is very good at escaping and runs back to the Tenryo from the temple and shrine territory, then the temple and shrine magistrate can only hand this task back to the town magistrate...passing the buck back and forth.

I don't know how many criminals have escaped in this process of passing the buck.

The privilege of "natural access to all territories" possessed by the Eight States Directors and the Kyoto Directors corrects this drawback and greatly enhances the efficiency of handling cases.

In fact, Qing Deng originally wanted to directly entrust the Kyoto Magistrate's Office to help investigate the "Choshu Madman Group".

However... the Kyoto Magistrate's Office is rotten to the core!

To put it bluntly, all the officials of the Kyoto Magistrate's Office are insects!

Either they are greedy officials who are blinded by greed, or they are mediocre officials who are in office for nothing.

Let alone letting them be useful, Qing Deng should be thankful that they don't make things worse.

The Gyeonggi Pacification Envoy has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of Kyoto.

Even if he had the power to intervene, the current Kyoto Magistrate's Office was in a state of deep-seated trouble, and Qing Deng had no way to start governing it.

To be honest, in Qing Deng's opinion, there was no other way to rectify the Kyoto Magistrate's Office except to "cut the Gordian knot".

How could the "Choshu Madman Group" be eliminated with this group of insects?

Rather than bothering to treat this rotten wood that was rotten even at the root, it would be better to start from scratch and plant and cultivate a new bud.

Qing Deng and Tokugawa Iemochi were well aware of this, so the "Kyoto Director" was born.

From the perspective of organization, the Kyoto Director was subordinate to the Gyeonggi Pacification Envoy, under the jurisdiction of Qing Deng, and directly commanded by Qing Deng. The two sides were in a direct superior-subordinate relationship.

Today, the newly appointed "First Generation Kyoto Director" will arrive in Kyoto as scheduled.

As his superior and host, Qing Deng should host a banquet to welcome him.

Maybe this is fate - the other party happens to be an acquaintance of Qing Deng.

…

…

Gion, the largest geisha district in Kyoto.

Although people always think of geisha, geisha and geisha when talking about "Gion", in fact, apart from the factor of geisha, Gion is one of the most prosperous areas in Kyoto.

From ordinary izakaya to high-end restaurants, everything is available.

Because there are many geisha here, plus the environment is good and the transportation is convenient, dignitaries often hold banquets in Gion.

Today, the welcoming banquet prepared by Qing Deng to welcome the director of Kyoto was held in Gion.

…

…

Kyoto, Gion, a high-end restaurant -

"Mr. Dongcheng, long time no see."

As he said, Qing Deng raised the wine glass in his hand.

The fat man sitting next to him saw this and raised his wine glass.

With a crisp sound of Ding, the two wine glasses touched each other lightly.

"Tachibana-kun... No, I should call you 'Your Highness' now. You don't have to be polite. You are now my direct superior. I am at a loss for words when you are so polite."

The fat body, messy hair, dull complexion... Such an eye-catching appearance is none other than Qing Deng's old acquaintance: Tojo Shintaro!

Criminal investigation talents who are good at investigating cases and can see through fire are very rare.

If Nishino Hojiro had not died, he would be a good candidate.

Although Nishino Hojiro has a bad temper, his criminal investigation talent and his hatred of evil are exactly what Qing Deng needs most now.

If he becomes the director of Kyoto, he will definitely work hard and will not stop until the "Choshu Madman Group" is completely eliminated.

What a pity...The man is gone, and these fantasies are meaningless.

Finally, after careful searching and repeated discussions, the final candidate was finally decided upon, namely, Shintaro Tojo.

Just like that, with an order from his superior, Tojo Shintaro left the Edo Kitabansho where he had served for more than ten years and went to Kyoto to take up the post of "First Generation Kyoto Director".

Once upon a time, Aoto was the samachikai tongxin, and Tojo Shintaro was the samachikai yoriki, and the two sides were in a superior-subordinate relationship.

Now, the relationship between the two has returned to being a superior and a subordinate, but the order has been reversed.

Having said that, Tojo Shintaro had never bullied Aoto before.

So Aoto didn't have the kind of refreshing feeling of "Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west, don't bully the poor young man", "Hahaha! You have come to this day too!"

After more than half a year, Tojo Shintaro's appearance is still the same, so shabby that people can't bear to look at it.

His fat belly has grown a circle, and his bird's nest-like hair seems to be even more messy.

However, despite his appearance, no matter what, he is also the yoriki of Kitabansho samachikai.

Although his ability is not enough to be called a "super detective", he has rich experience in criminal investigation that is far beyond the reach of ordinary people.

In short, Tojo Shintaro is a rare and powerful person.

After learning that the person who served as the "First Generation Kyoto Director" was Tojo Shintaro, Qing Deng couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It was because the Kyoto Magistrate's Office was not useful that Qing Deng specially proposed to establish a new position.

If the person sent to assist him was also an incompetent drunkard, Qing Deng would really want to cry without tears.

In the next period of time, he and Tojo Shintaro will work hand in hand to fight against the traitors.

Therefore, it is definitely right to build a good relationship with each other.

In order to express his importance to each other, Qing Deng specially ordered people to prepare today's welcoming banquet.

The restaurant they are in is the largest and most advanced restaurant in Gion, without a doubt.

Its gorgeous decoration alone is enough to make ordinary people afraid to approach.

In addition to Qing Deng, his important generals who could squeeze out time - such as Yamanami Keisuke, Nagakura Shinpachi, and Harada Sanosuke - also came to attend today's welcoming banquet.

As for the food, it is naturally as rich as it can be.

Unlimited rice, fresh sea bream, mellow miso soup, premium sake... Just from the luxury of the dishes, this is already the most top-notch feast in the Edo period!

Good rice, good dishes, good wine... Today's welcoming banquet is more than that.

Speaking of the top banquets in the Edo period, there is a group that is indispensable-

Just as Qing Deng and Tojo Shintaro were clinking glasses, suddenly, light, fast and not chaotic footsteps suddenly sounded outside the room.

In a moment, accompanied by a light "whoosh" sound, the paper sliding door of the room was gently pushed open.

Then, one after another, beautiful women wearing gorgeous furisode, flower buns on their heads, and sashes around their waists entered like butterflies flying through flowers, and moved gracefully in front of Qing Deng and others.

There is no doubt that they are the business cards of Gion - beautiful geishas!

They are worthy of being the symbols of words such as "beauty", "elegance" and "vitality". As soon as they appeared, they brought a touch of bright color to the room and made the atmosphere lively.

After more than ten geishas appeared, they divided into two rows in the middle of the room, facing each other.

Then, they were seen bowing slightly, as if they were welcoming their emperor.

From a certain perspective, they were indeed welcoming their emperor.

Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap...

A new and extremely pleasant footsteps came from the direction of the corridor.

Soft but charming footsteps.

A calm and elegant way of walking.

Just hearing the footsteps, one can instinctively imagine: the owner of these footsteps is definitely a stunning beauty!

In fact, it is true.

After a while, Qing Deng and others all felt that the light in the banquet hall was a little brighter.

This was not because a few more candles were lit, but because someone had arrived - her appearance added a brilliant glow to the banquet hall!

I saw a beautiful woman wearing green sleeves and her hair tied into a "peach cut" bun, walking through the door and into the banquet hall.

This woman is really a beauty!

Her eyebrows and eyes are picturesque, her lips are red and her teeth are white, she is graceful and elegant, with a gentle smile on her face, as fresh and refined as a lotus out of water, and her face is covered with just the right amount of white powder.

The dim light of the candlelight and the white powder make her face look particularly delicate.

The beauty of this woman can be best described by the famous line in "The Book of Songs: Wei Feng Shuo Ren" - a beautiful head and eyebrows, a charming smile, and beautiful eyes.

Her identity as a geisha, coupled with her natural beauty, is self-evident - Miss Ziyang, who has many reputations such as "the most beautiful woman in Kyoto", "the first geisha in Kyoto", and "the pearl of Gion"!

She did nothing, just walked slowly and showed her face, but she showed the terrifying dominance of "the first geisha in Kyoto"!

The geishas who just appeared on the stage are all top-notch beauties who can turn heads more than 70% when they walk on the street.

But when Ziyang appeared, all the geishas in the audience were immediately eclipsed!

Just like the bright moon to the fluorescent light, who can compete with it?

Ziyang took a light lotus step and came to the center of the banquet hall, leading the geishas to bow to Qing Deng and others.

Then, they dispersed and began to perform songs and dances.

By the way, geisha is geisha, and prostitute is prostitute. The two cannot be confused. The former sells art but not her body, so she is not a prostitute.

Therefore, Qing Deng did not break the promise he made to his wives that he would "never have an affair with prostitutes".

While eating and drinking, geisha were invited to help liven up the atmosphere - this was the classic process of a high-end banquet in the Edo period.

In other words, Qing Deng did things completely according to convention!

Everyone did this, I was just following the crowd! Even if the wives were here, they had no say - Qing Deng thought to himself confidently.

…

…

Geisha is a technical job.

A pretty face is the stepping stone to becoming a geisha.

But if you only have a face, you can't go on this thorny road for a long time.

The reason why Ziyang became the recognized "No. 1 Geisha in Kyoto" is not only because of her beauty, but also because of her extraordinary talent!

Impeccable dancing posture; graceful singing voice; outstanding emotional intelligence; knowledge and responsiveness that can handle any topic... She has achieved top-notch performance in all aspects, which is why she is able to stand at the top of Gion.

When the song and dance performance began, Ziyang was seen dancing gracefully with a folding fan in her hand.

The local plucked the strings of the zither, and the melodious music went up the pillar.

A group of geishas stood behind Ziyang, dancing with her and acting as supporting actors.

[Note: The local geisha are women who play the shamisen and sing songs. They do not wear a bun, heavy makeup, and simple clothes. ]

Even a layman like Qing Deng can see how exquisite Ziyang's dancing skills are.

She is not just posing and showing off her figure.

She is cleverly exerting her strength in every move.

While ensuring beauty and elegance, she also does not lose the sense of power.

Her steps are light, her posture is graceful, and her expression is charming.

Not to mention the person himself, even the corners of his clothes seemed to come alive, like fluttering butterflies.

Even Qing Deng, who was not interested in singing and dancing, could not help but watch.

What a pity... Qing Deng really couldn't appreciate songs and dances.

Just as he said to Hijikata Toshizo today, he was a vulgar man who didn't understand elegance.

Compared with the dancing of the girls, he preferred to watch the strong men dancing with swords, at least the latter was something he was familiar with.

Of course, the superb performances of the geishas always made the atmosphere of the scene more lively.

After the singing and dancing, the geishas came to Qing Deng and others leisurely, serving food and wine, and chatting with them.

Laughter and laughter, one after another.

Facts have proved that inviting geishas to add to the fun is a wise move.

Although Qing Deng and Tojo Shintaro are old acquaintances, their relationship is not good enough to be called "friends".

The age gap of more than 20 years also makes them lack topics that can resonate.

As far as Qing Deng knows, Tojo Shintaro is not married, and he is still single in his forties.

In this way, the universal topics used to fill the time during the chat - "Are you married?", "How is your wife?", "How old are your children?" - are no longer useful.

Yamanami Keisuke, Nagakura Shinpachi and others who accompanied him to the banquet were not familiar with Tojo Shintaro at all, and had nothing to say.

After exchanging pleasantries, they could only chat about awkward things.

Thanks to the arrival of the geishas, ​​Qing Deng and others were finally rescued from this dull atmosphere.

As professional geishas whose job is to make guests happy, they are all masters of chatting and stirring up the atmosphere.

With the enthusiastic company of the geishas and their sweet words, the atmosphere on the scene was full of joy and happiness.

Nagakura Shinpachi and Harada Sanosuke, the two lively treasures, quickly "fell" into it.

As expected, Nagakura Shinpachi, who was drunk, started to dance his weird dance with only emotion but no skills.

Then, Harada Sanosuke also...

"Do you know how I got this scar on my stomach? When I was still in the middle of Iyo Matsuyama Domain, a jerk said that I was a "small official who didn't even know the etiquette of seppuku". I was so angry that I decided to commit seppuku in front of him. Look! This is the scar left after seppuku!"

...

As the most famous person at the scene, Qing Deng was naturally the one who "enjoyed" the best geisha.

"Tachibana-sama...ah, no, now you should be called "Your Highness" or "Aki-sama"."

Zi Yang sat on the left side of Qing Deng, keeping a subtle and ambiguous distance from Qing Deng.

"Your Highness, I haven't seen you for a long time. The last time I saw you was in the middle of last year."

Zi Yang said delicately while pouring wine for Qing Deng with skillful movements.

"Why don't you come and see me more often?"

As she spoke, she blinked a few times, shrunk her shoulders slightly, and looked up at Qing Deng, revealing a wronged look.

For the sake of Leopard's hard work, please vote for this book! (crying leopard head.jpg) Please vote for the monthly ticket! Please recommend! (crying leopard head.jpg)

PS: "The most beautiful woman in Kyoto" makes a long-awaited appearance again! Because she hasn't appeared for so long, Leopard has forgotten her name.