The first year of Wanyan (the seventh year of Anzheng, 1860), March 19——
Edo, Kinyanagi Town, a certain cloth shop——
Sitting cross-legged behind the counter, the store owner—a balding middle-aged man—was calculating with his left hand and scribbling on the account book with his right hand.
After a while, he let out a long sigh, closed the account book with a tired look, stretched out his right thumb and pressed hard on the frown between his eyebrows.
"Dad." The young daughter of the shop owner came over with a cup of hot tea, "The tea is ready."
"Oh..." The shop owner tried his best to smile at his daughter, "Thank you."
The shop owner took the hot tea from his daughter, blew it gently for a while and then sipped it.
Seeing the remaining sadness on her father's face, the daughter couldn't help but hesitate and said:
"Dad...the store's business...hasn't improved recently?"
"Ah...hahaha..." The shop owner paused to sip the tea, then sneered and put the tea cup in his hand on the counter, "It's improving... there's still a little improvement, it's not as good as the last time.
Yue is a little better."
After saying that, the store owner sighed forcefully.
"Sigh...how on earth did those barbarians manage to weave such good cloth and at the same time keep the price so low..."
Since the country was forced to open under the threat of Western countries and a large amount of Western goods poured into the country, the business of the shop owner's cloth shop has become increasingly difficult.
The shop owner still hasn't figured it out yet - why can those Yi people's cloth be so well woven and so cheap at the same time?
After seeing the cloth sold by the Yi people for the first time, the shop owner was so shocked that he almost forgot to blink.
His hands kept touching the Yiren's cloth, and he couldn't believe the touch he felt on his palms.
Such good cloth can only be sold for such a small amount?! With such a small amount of money, you can’t even make back the cost, right?
Foreigners' cloth is of better quality and cheaper than yours, so what can you do to compete with them?
As a result, the business of their cloth shop has become increasingly difficult...the income has dropped by more than half compared to before the country was opened.
"...Daddy." The daughter hesitated for a while, then took a deep breath, "Why don't you... let me find a job outside."
"I am 14 years old this year and can work."
"I happened to see a teahouse in the next town waving at the door yesterday."
The store owner was stunned for a moment, and then showed his daughter a touching smile.
"Don't worry too much about things at home." The store owner raised his hand and rubbed his daughter's head lovingly, "No matter how bad our business is, it won't make our whole family hungry."
Suddenly, there was the sound of the door curtain being lifted open and the sound of footsteps coming in from the door of the store.
"Welcome to the light..." The shop owner reflexively gave out a formulaic smile.
He was only halfway through saying "Welcome" when the rest of his words got stuck in his throat.
The only people who entered the store were four samurai with swords on their waists.
The hair and stubble of these four warriors were messy, and their bodies and clothes were quite dirty. They had not been washed for an unknown period of time.
Looking at these four samurai who all looked like ronin, the shop owner felt a bit of an ominous premonition in his heart...
He quickly motioned with his eyes to his daughter beside him to quickly enter the back of the shop - but unfortunately his daughter did not notice his eyes.
"Are you the owner of this store?" The leader of the four samurai, a middle-aged man with a big nose, asked the store owner loudly.
Big Nose's accent was very thick, coming from the northeastern Oshu region. The accent was so strong that the store owner could hardly hear what the man was saying.
"Yes, yes!" The shop owner hurriedly rushed out from behind the counter, with a flattering smile on his face, "I wonder if the guests are..."
Before the shop owner finished speaking, Big Nose interrupted him angrily:
"We are the people with lofty ideals to fight against the barbarians!"
"We are about to go to Nagasaki and join the rest of our comrades to annihilate all the barbarians gathered in Nagasaki!"
"But I am suffering from insufficient travel expenses at the moment."
"So I want to come and borrow some travel expenses and military expenses from your shop."
"After the great cause of resisting the foreigners is completely victorious, we will repay double the amount we borrowed!"
The flattering smile on the shop owner's face froze instantly.
His reaction was also very quick, and he quickly adjusted the expression on his face.
"Uh...this..."
The shop owner wiped the cold sweat from his forehead without leaving a trace.
"Ah hahahaha, it turns out that all of you are patriots who are determined to fight against the foreigners! It's amazing! I respect the patriots who fight against the foreigners the most!"
The store owner said a lot of nice things to these four people.
What about "you guys are so amazing" and "I have long disliked those barbarians"...
Big Nose and others were very impressed by the shop owner's praise, and they all showed proud expressions.
After coaxing these four people with the eloquence he had honed over so many years of business, the store owner changed the topic——
"Master Samurai, I also want to help you and contribute my share to the great cause of repelling the foreigners."
"But our store is just a small store... It is already very difficult just to support our family, and we don't have any money to borrow..."
As soon as the shop owner said this, the expressions of Big Nose and others who had just looked proud due to the shop owner's praise changed instantly.
"What?!" Big Nose frowned, "Don't you want to support our great cause of fighting the foreigners?"
"No, no, no!" The shop owner waved his hand quickly, "I didn't think so! I really want to support you, but I really don't have any money!"
"Boss, this is because you don't understand justice!" Big Nose straightened his chest, raised his head, and put on an awe-inspiring look, "Haven't you heard this sentence? Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world!
"
"Right now, the Western barbarians are wantonly desecrating the land of our Kingdom of God."
"At this time of national crisis, everyone should stand up, fight the enemy bravely, and serve the country with loyalty!"
"Think about those patriots who hold swords in their hands and are not afraid of hardships and dangers to fight with those barbarians and traitors."
"They can even forget about their own life and safety. Now they are just asking you to lend some money, and you are so nagging that you don't want to borrow money."
"It's not like we won't pay you back. Didn't I just say that? After the great cause of resisting the foreigners is completely won, we will pay you double the money."
The shop owner was now so anxious that he almost cried.
"Sir Samurai, it's not that I don't want to give money! But our family really has no money!"
"Ah!" At this time, a guy as thin as a hemp stalk standing behind Big Nose raised his hand and pointed at the shop owner's counter, "You guy, you are actually using foreign things?"
Ma Zhuo rushed to the counter and grabbed a Western pocket watch on the counter.
"Okay!" Big Nose raised his eyebrows, "No wonder you don't want to lend us money. It turns out you are a national traitor who uses barbarian things!"
Uh-huh—Big Nose pulled out the saber from his waist.
"Ah!" The store owner's daughter was so frightened that she took a few steps back, and the color on her face quickly dissipated.
The shop owner was also frightened by the knife gleaming in Big Nose's hand, but he still forced himself to be calm and said quickly: "Takeru, samurai-sama! This pocket watch was given to me by my friend, not bought by me...
…”
"So what if you didn't buy it?" Big Nose shouted, "Whether you bought this pocket watch or someone else gave it to you, if you use something from a foreigner, you are a traitor to the country!"
"Let me ask you one last question!" Big Nose glared at the shop owner fiercely, put the knife on the shop owner's neck, and pointed the blade at the shop owner's carotid artery, "Are you willing to support our great cause of expelling the foreigners?
"
Feeling the cold metal touch on his neck, the shop owner shook vigorously a few times.
The store owner does not dare to fight against these vicious so-called "patriots" any longer.
Shivering, he stumbled back to the counter, took out a small brocade box from the cabinet under the counter, and with slightly trembling fingers took out a handful of finely chopped copper coins contained in the brocade box. This pile of copper coins was mixed with
A few scattered silver coins.
Big Nose grabbed the coins from the shop owner's hand and stuffed them into his arms, then waved his big hand without even saying "thank you" and waved his three companions behind him to leave quickly.
After they hurried out of the cloth shop, they suddenly discovered that there was a lot of noise at both ends of the street.
He turned his head and looked to the left and right - Aoto led Saito and the heavily armed members of the Koyanagi Town's own ban, and came towards them in a mighty manner.
"Oops!" Looking at Qingden's waist and the ten hands tied with red tassels, Big Nose's expression suddenly changed, "It's the Tong Xin from the training center who's here!"
He glanced around anxiously, looking for a way to escape.
There are only two directions in which they can escape - the east intersection and the west intersection.
These two intersections are now blocked by Qingdeng and his men.
There are 12 self-banners in the west, and there are fewer people in the east, only 8 self-bangers, but the east is the direction where Aoto and Saito personally lead the team.
After weighing the situation, Big Nose gritted his teeth and charged towards the west. At this time, he and his companions all had their swords drawn and their claws bared.
The most common catching tools used by Okabiki and his own soldiers when capturing prisoners were long ladders and spurs.
The so-called "thorn fork" is a long and large iron fork.
First use a long ladder to control the prisoner's movements, and then use a thorn fork to pass through the gap between the long ladder's crossbars and stab the prisoner.
Because the attack distance of the thorns is too long, and when catching criminals, they usually hit one more time, so even a very skilled martial arts master will be caught if he is not careful.
After seeing Big Nose and others coming towards them, the 12 members of their own army at the west intersection immediately set up their formation skillfully.
Six of them grabbed three ladders to control the escape direction of Big Nose and others, while the other six took prongs and stabbed them through the gaps between the ladder bars.
Just by looking at Big Nose’s knife-holding movements and footwork, you can tell that they don’t know any martial arts at all.
In an instant, the two companions with the big nose were skewered by the servants' thorns and nailed to the ground, unable to move.
Taking advantage of the moment when the servants were dealing with his two companions, Big Nose and the thin man managed to escape through the defense line formed by the servants.
However... before they could escape a few steps, Qingdeng had already led the rest of the soldiers to catch up from the east...
Big Nose and Thin Ma Zhu were both very slow, and their speed was far slower than Qingdeng.
Since he acquired the talent of "strengthening muscles", which prevents muscles from getting tired easily, and his leg muscles are no longer prone to fatigue and soreness, Qingdeng's sprint and long-distance running abilities have been significantly improved.
Qingdeng was the first to catch up with the slowest runner, Shou Ma Zhu.
He raised his big hand, grabbed Shou Ma Zhu's back collar, raised his foot and kicked Shou Ma Zhu's right knee hard.
Shoumazhu screamed, his center of gravity was unstable, and he fell forward.
After the thin hemp stalk fell down, the servants who were following Qingdeng rushed forward, suppressed the thin hemp stalk, and took out the thick hemp rope to tie the thin hemp stalk.
After subduing Shou Ma Zhu, Qingden then went after Big Nose.
Big Bi also realized that he couldn't outrun Qingdeng at all. If he didn't try to do something, it would only take a few seconds for him to be overtaken by Qingdeng.
Then, Big Nose made a nondescript sound, slashed the knife in his hand backwards, and slashed towards Qingdeng.
How could he, who had never practiced swordsmanship at all, and whose sword speed was astonishingly slow, be able to escape Qingdeng's "Eagle Eye"?
With a quick glance, Qingden saw the path of the slashing attack clearly. He drew his sword sharply, pulled out the Dingguishen from his waist, and struck the blade from bottom to top, knocking the big-nosed sword away directly.
The next moment, Qingdeng freed up his left hand and used his favorite move recently - using his left hand to firmly hold Dabi's right hand to prevent Dabi from using his dominant hand to draw a weapon, he twisted his body and
An over-the-shoulder throw knocked Big Nose to the ground.
When Big Nose, who was hit so hard that his eyes were filled with stars, recovered, his servants had already pounced on him like tigers descending from the mountain...
…
…
"Sir Tongxin! Thank you very much!"
The owner of the cloth shop who had been robbed of money just now, holding the money he had snatched back from Big Nose and the others, looked like he was about to cry, and kept bowing to Qingdeng to thank him.
The shop owner's daughter also followed her father and kept bowing to Qingdeng to thank him.
Qingdeng, who was not particularly good at dealing with such situations, could only say self-effacing words while asking the shop owner and others to straighten up quickly.
Looking at the store owner and his daughter who were about to cry with joy after the disaster, Qingdeng couldn't help but feel deeply in his heart.
The owner of this cloth shop was also very lucky - Qingdeng happened to be patrolling nearby just now.
He had just heard a report from Koyanagi Town's own station: Someone saw four habitual criminals who often extorted money under the banner of "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world" appeared in Koyanagi Town.
After learning of this tip, Ayoto without any hesitation hurriedly led Saito and his subordinates to get their equipment and chase the four habitual criminals where they were seen. They arrived just in time before the four habitual criminals finished robbing
Qian, caught them before they escaped.
Naoki Ii was assassinated outside Sakurada Gate - this undoubtedly earth-shattering event happened more than half a month ago.
Although only half a month has passed, a lot has happened during this time.
Japan also has the habit of changing the era name to remove bad luck once something bad happens.
Just yesterday, exactly half a month after Ii Naobi was killed, the Kyoto court changed the era name at the suggestion of the Edo shogunate.
The era name was changed from "the seventh year of Anzheng" to the current "first year of Wanyan".
The assassination of the elder... With such a bad incident happening, the shogunate will naturally not let it go.
The shogunate immediately organized a "task force" composed of cronies to arrest all fugitives involved in the "Sakuda Gate Incident".
Ayoto and his group of "capital police", who were not qualified to participate in this politically significant arrest operation and could only succeed but not fail, were responsible for maintaining public order in Edo during this period.
The assassination of Ii Naomi... This incident can be said to have greatly boosted the morale of the "anti-barbarian faction".
In the eyes of the "anti-barbarians", the group of Mito feudal lords who successfully killed Ii Naomichi, who insisted on "founding the country", were simply great heroes.
Look! The vassals of Mito Domain are so brave that they dare to kill even the elders. How can we be afraid?
The soaring morale of the "anti-barbarian faction" caused Edo... no, the security situation across the country to deteriorate instantly...
A large number of "anti-Barbarian patriots" have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.
Abuse or directly kill the so-called "national traitors" in their eyes, and force wealthy families to pay the military expenditures needed to "save the country and get rid of the barbarians"...
This suddenly strong trend of resisting the foreigners has also led many local hooligans to follow suit. They pretend to be "patriots to resist the foreigners", imitate the style of the "patriots to resist the foreigners", extort money everywhere, and even directly claim to "dedicate themselves to the great cause of resisting the foreigners".
"It's your honor" to rob civilian girls.
The number of various cases related to "resisting foreigners" has skyrocketed in just half a month.
In order to reverse the deteriorating public security situation in Edo, the shogunate had to issue two orders to the Edo Executive Office.
Order No. 1: The "monthly transfer" system is temporarily suspended.
In other words, for the time being, the southern and northern administrative offices will no longer be allowed to take turns managing Edo on a monthly basis. All officials of the two administrative offices must go to work regardless of the month until the public security situation in Edo is restored.
Because of this order, the officials of the Nanfan Institute who were supposed to take paid leave in March had to bite the bullet and tie up their seals and return to the government.
Order No. 2: At all costs, suppress all lawless people in Edo City who are doing evil under the banner of "repelling the foreigners"!
Faced with this fatal order issued by the shogunate, the Southern and Northern Administrative Offices had to divide the "Three Chapters" into two groups.
One group is responsible for handling cases that are not caused by "anti-foreigners".
The other group is responsible for calming down the rising tide of resistance.
Qingdeng was assigned to the latter.
During this period, Qingnobo's daily task was to patrol the streets of Edo and hunt down the so-called "anti-barbarian patriots" who were causing trouble everywhere.
The achievements are also remarkable. Counting Dabi and others who were just captured by Qingdeng, in more than half a month, four batches of "anti-foreign patriots" have fallen into Qingdeng's hands.
The rest of the colleagues who are responsible for fighting against the "anti-foreigners" have also achieved outstanding results - but even though they have worked very hard to crack down on these lunatics, the "anti-foreign wind" that has gone wild still shows no sign of stopping...
At this time, a middle-aged man quickly ran up to Qingdeng.
"Tachibana-sama! Those four guys have been tied up!"
This middle-aged man was none other than the head of the family of Koyanagi Town, Haitaro, who had despised Ayoto when he came to this Koyanagi Town to investigate the case of "Grandma Ping's murder".
Aoshinobu is no longer the "idiot Noboru" he used to be. He is now a rising star who has become famous in Edo.
The change of identity has caused Hui Dalang's attitude towards Qingdeng to undergo earth-shaking changes.
At this time, when Hui Dalang faced Qingdeng, there was no contempt in the depths of his eyes, only sincere respect and respect.
"Yeah." Qingdeng nodded, "Thank you for your hard work. Let's take them back to the prison."
"Yes!" After bowing respectfully to Qingdeng, Hui Dalang turned around and shouted to his servants, "Take them away!"
"Get up! Go! Go!"
"Everyone stand up!"
…
The servants on their own side used slightly rough movements to drive away Big Nose and others who were now tied tightly and led into a long queue with a long hemp rope.
Big Nose and the others no longer had the same momentum as they had just shouted to the cloth shop owner, "Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world." They all drooped their heads, like a defeated rooster.
Many townspeople gathered around to watch the excitement.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? What happened?"
"Another group of 'anti-barbarian patriots' who are robbing and extorting money have been caught."
"Tsk...Why are these scumbags like cockroaches, and they can't be killed...Huh? Isn't that person Tachibana Aoden?"
"Yes, it's the one who caught the murderer of Granny Ping!"
…
This is the place where Aoshinobu solved the "Murder Case of Granny Ping": Koyanagi Town, so this place is considered the place with the most famous name of Aoshinobu.
Naturally, the most people here recognize Qingdeng.
During this period of time, Qingdeng has actually become accustomed to the feeling of being recognized by passers-by on the street, so even though he is being watched by people who recognize him, Qingdeng still looks as normal.
Hui Dalang, who was standing beside Qingdeng, was watching his subordinates take away Big Nose and others. He sighed with emotion: "This world is really getting more and more chaotic..."
"...Tachibana-sama."
Hui Dalang turned his head and asked Qingdeng in a somewhat helpless self-deprecating tone.
"What will it take for this ridiculous 'repelling the foreigners' to stop?"
Qingdeng, who was suddenly asked such a question, was stunned for a moment, and then sighed silently: "...How could I know about such a thing?"
…
…
After the shogunate issued a fatal order to curb the atrocities of the "anti-barbarian patriots", the southern and northern branches now have two Tongxins on night duty in their respective execution offices every night to deal with all emergencies that occur at night.
Aoto, who did not need to work the night shift today, led Saito back to the trial defense hall with a bit of fatigue after spending another day of "patroling the streets of Edo from morning to night."
As soon as he climbed up the high slope where the imperial examination hall is located, Qingden saw Okita holding a broom and sweeping the dust outside the gate of the imperial examination hall.
"Ah, Tachibana-kun, Saito-kun, you are back." Okita held up his broom and hurriedly greeted Ao and Sai who had returned, "Don't you have to work the night shift today?"
"Yeah." Aoto nodded and took off the scarf around his neck - it's obviously almost late March, and the weather in Edo is still surprisingly cold. "It won't be my turn to work the night shift until the day after tomorrow."
"That's right..." Okita nodded, "Then go back to the house and take a rest. Auntie and Mr. Kubei will have dinner ready soon."
As a housewife, A Bi takes care of all the housework in the hospital.
From what Okita told me: Gensaburo Inoue will also share some of the housework in the Imperial Guard Hall.
In Okita's introduction, Genzaburo Inoue, who also lives under the same roof as the Kondo family, is an old man who loves to do housework. He often takes the initiative to help... and even directly competes with Abi to do the housework.
Now that Inoue Genzaburo is temporarily away from the test hall because he has returned to his hometown for business, the burden on Abi's shoulders has not increased because of this - because there is Jiubei to help Abi.
Kubei, who has served Tachibana-kun for so many years and is very good at handling all kinds of housework, has been very proactive and actively helped Abi share all kinds of housework in the imperial examination hall after living in the imperial examination hall with Qingto and Saito.
Housework.
Cooking is considered Kubei's best skill. Almost every meal, Kubei would get into the kitchen to help Abi.
Because Kubei has always been very enthusiastic about helping with housework, Kubei is now considered the one in Qingto's group who is most familiar with Abi.
After entering the Trial Guard Hall and resting for a while, Abi, Jiubei and the others brought out sumptuous meals from the kitchen and invited everyone to come and have dinner.
The income of the Trial Guard Hall has increased recently, and the meals in the Trial Guard Hall have also become a lot richer in the past few days.
After finishing his dinner quickly and sitting on the ground to rest for a while to allow the food in his stomach to digest, Qingden entered the dojo and prepared to start today's exercise.
Even though he was very busy during this period, Qingdeng did not neglect his physical exercise.
I have been practicing hard for so long without any slack, and the effects of exercise have gradually appeared.
Qingdeng's body became much stronger, and his body that was originally like a "white-cut chicken" began to become more angular.
When Aoto placed his palms on the wooden floor of the dojo and started to do push-ups, Okita suddenly ran into the dojo quickly and came to Aoto:
"Jijun, there is a guest coming to see you!"
"Guest?" Qingdeng was stunned for a moment, then quickly asked, "Is he a servant of the execution office?"
"It seems not." Okita shook his head, "They are two people who covered themselves very well, and one of them is a little girl."
——Cover yourself so tightly? Little girl?
Qingdeng hurried to the gate of the trial defense hall with doubts.
There were quite a few people outside the gate.
A total of eight warriors with a fierce aura in their faces and bodies gathered around two figures, one large and one small.
One of them was quite petite, wearing a white and yellow women's kimono, and a pair of yellow straw sandals.
The other person has a larger body, wearing an ordinary kimono and hakama, and his huge belly pushes up the fabric on his belly.
Both of them were wearing snow hats with deep brim, and their faces were covered with windproof cloth to completely cover their faces.
After seeing these two people... to be precise, seeing the big belly, a strong sense of familiarity came to Qingdeng's heart...
Before Qingdeng could say anything, he saw the pot-bellied man taking off the bamboo hat on his head and the wind-proof cloth on his face.
"Mr. Orange, long time no see."
"Mr. Angoulême?" Qingden was surprised.
The woman in the yellow kimono also took off all kinds of "equipment" on her face, revealing her golden hair and a pair of blue eyes.
"Mr. Tachibana." The blond loli bowed to Qingden in a very standard manner and said in a energetic voice, "Long time no see!"
These two people were the grandfather and grandson of the Angoulême family who had not seen each other for more than a month - Antoine and Elodie.
The saucy actions of these "anti-Barbarian patriots" in this book are all historical facts, and the author is not exaggerating in the slightest.
Although the "anti-barbarian patriots" at the end of the Tokugawa period are portrayed as great and upright under the exaggeration of some literary and artistic works in the island country, the "anti-barbarian patriots" in real history are a very disgusting group. They are either opportunists or
They just want to use the slogan of "rejecting the foreigners" to commit murder.
There is probably not 1 out of 100 people who are truly ambitious and just in their means.
This chapter has been completed!