——A sense of space?
He has a strong sense of space... Qingnobu finally understands why Harada can grasp the distance between himself and his opponent so well.
This talent may not be of much use in daily life, but in combat, it is of great use.
A strong sense of space means that you can better see the distance between you and the enemy, and you are less likely to make the stupid mistake of "not retreating when you should retreat, and not advancing when you should advance."
If Qingdeng wants to be a painter or architect one day in the future, this talent will also be very useful - but Qingdeng has no intention of becoming an artist or architect.
Overall, this is also a very effective talent.
He actually got two very useful talents from Harada and Toudo... Aoden couldn't help but feel very good.
Harada had put down the wooden gun in his hand. Seeing that the assessment was over, Kiryu, Mai Kinoshita, and Nagakura, who had been watching the battle, slowly walked towards Aomori.
As soon as he came to Aoto's side, Kiryu took the lead and asked Aoto:
"Tachibana-kun, the strength of your legs... seems to have increased a lot compared to the previous battle with Chiba Sword Hall in the 'Plum Blossom Festival'. Have you done any special training recently?"
"Uh, yes." Qingdeng nodded vigorously, and then went down the slope to make up a lie on the spot, "I have been focusing on training the strength of my legs recently."
Apart from using "I have done special training recently" as the reason, Qingden could not think of any better excuse to explain why his legs suddenly became much stronger.
Kiryu seemed to have no intention of worrying too much about this issue. After listening to Qingto's explanation, he nodded gently and said with a smile:
"I see, then it seems that you, Tachibana-kun, have a physique that can be easily enhanced."
"I have an... no more, no less, an old friend who happens to have been with me for 70 years."
A smile of memory appeared on Kiryu's face.
"Like you, his physical fitness is very easy to improve. I don't see how hard he works out, but his physical fitness can increase at an extremely fast speed, which is extremely enviable."
It seemed that his explanation just now had successfully deceived Kiryu.
Being able to get rid of this problem so easily... Qingdeng secretly felt a little lucky.
Ayoto didn't notice that Mai Kinoshita, who was standing behind Kiryu, was looking at him with a rather strange look.
After listening to Qingdeng's explanation of why the strength of his legs had increased so much, she blinked hard at Qingdeng several times, with a faint look of confusion hanging in her pupils.
Then, a thoughtful expression appeared on both cheeks.
After a while, as if she had successfully solved some of the questions in her mind, the thoughtful look on her face suddenly disappeared, her eyes widened, her red lips opened slightly, and she took a breath of cold air.
The confusion in the depths of his eyes slowly turned into...a look of emotion.
Kinoshita Mai pursed her lips tightly and cast moving glances at Qingden.
But because of the angle of his gaze and the fact that Qingto's current attention was not on Kinoshita Mai, Qingto didn't notice the subtle change in Kinoshita Mai's expression at all.
Qingto's attention was now focused on Harada and Toudo, who were approaching him.
"Tachibana-kun, how are you?" Kiryu glanced at Harada, Toudo and Nagakura beside him, and asked with a smile, "Are you satisfied with all the people I have chosen for you?"
The corner of Qingden's lips curled up slightly: "Boss Kiryu, I came to you to help find the right candidate. You really found the right person."
Originally, Aoden never expected that all of his Okahiki would be outstanding warriors, because he thought this was too unrealistic. If Kiryu could help him find three people with outstanding physical strength and not afraid of hardship, he would be satisfied.
.
He never expected that... Kiryu could be so awesome, and the three people recommended to him were all top experts.
As for the performance of Harada and Toudo in the assessment just now... Aomori can only describe it as "If you are not satisfied yet, then you are too greedy."
The skill of the two greatly exceeded Qingdeng's expectations.
Nagakura, Harada, Toudo... Qingto felt that with the strength of the three of them, they could completely overwhelm most of the apprentices in the Imperial Guard Hall.
Especially Nagakura. In the sparring match with him more than a month ago, Qingto still remembers the sense of oppression that Nagakura brought him.
If you miss these three people... you may not be able to find a better candidate than these three for a long time in the future.
So - Qingden moved his eyes, scanned the faces of Nagakura, Harada, and Toudo one by one, and said seriously:
"Let me confirm: all three of you want to join me and be my Okabiki, right?"
As soon as Aoto finished speaking, Nagakura, Harada, and Toudou nodded vigorously without thinking.
After Harada nodded, he chuckled a few times: "This kind of job pays 2 taels of gold per month, and it is a job that does not require any use of your brain. If you miss it, it will be difficult to find it again."
Qingdeng, who had confirmed that the three of them really wanted to join him... smiled:
"That being the case...are all three of you free at noon today?"
"Come have lunch with me later. I'll treat you to a nice meal."
"We will all be working together in the future, so it is necessary for us all to get to know each other well."
Hearing Aoshito's words, Nagakura, Harada, and Toudo were all stunned for a moment, and then all looked excited.
…
…
After testing the strength of Harada and Toudo, the time was approaching noon.
Seeing that it was almost lunch time, Aoto planned to use today's lunch to get acquainted with his three new subordinates, and was about to bid farewell to Kiryu and Kinoshita Mai and leave Chishiya.
"Boss Kiryu, I'm under your care again this time." Qingto thanked Kiryu, took out his wallet and handed Kiryu the agency fee this time.
Kiryu, who generously accepted the agency fee, laughed: "If you still want to continue to recruit Okabiki, you can come to me again."
"I don't plan to expand my team for the time being." Qingden smiled, "Supporting three people... This is the limit of my current financial resources. If I recruit more people, I can
I can’t afford it anymore.”
After paying the agency fee, and then chatting with Kiryu and Mai Kinoshita for a few words, Qingto waved his hands to the old man and the young man, and led Saito, Nagakura and others to the next big restaurant to invite him.
These new subordinates have a good meal.
"Tachibana! Where are you taking us to eat?" Harada asked, sucking the saliva from his mouth.
Just now, after hearing that Aoto wanted to invite them to lunch, Harada had the most violent reaction: his eyes were gleaming and he kept swallowing saliva.
"Hmm...how about sushi?"
Harada: (swallowing) "Sushi? Okay, okay! Let's go eat sushi! I happen to know a great sushi restaurant! But that sushi restaurant is a little far away from here."
…
The sound of Qingdeng's conversation gradually faded away.
As Qingto and his party left, the Thousand Things House, which was lively just now, suddenly became quiet and deserted.
"Great, I have successfully recommended three samurai to Qingteng who can satisfy him..." Even though Qingteng's figure had already left, Kinoshita Mai's eyes were still looking straight at the closed bed.
Door.
Even now, she is still staring at the shop door...with a hint of regret hidden in her eyes.
Kiryu smiled and said nothing. He put the agency fee that Qingtou had just given him into the drawer under the counter and said:
"Young Master, it's almost time for us to have lunch."
"I'm going back to the kitchen to cook. If any guests come, just call me."
"Yeah!" Kinoshita Mai pecked her head, "Mr. Kiryu, I want to eat saury for lunch today!"
Meow!
Duoduo, who was standing at the feet of Kinoshita Mai, meowed at Kiryu at the right time.
"Look, she said she wants to eat Duoduo too!"
Kinoshita Mai lifted Duoduo and held her in her arms.
"I'll fry the saury for you tomorrow." Kiryu said, "Let me eat radish at noon today."
"I don't want to eat carrots!" Kinoshita Mai protested urgently.
"You have to eat it even if you don't want to. Radishes are rich in nutrients. Eating more radishes is good for your health."
"But……"
Kinoshita Mai wanted to say something else, but Kiryu had already spoken before her:
"If you don't eat all the radishes at noon today, I will send a letter to Osaka and report to the master...to your grandma: Young master, she refuses to listen to my advice and insists on being a picky eater."
"Uh-huh...!" Kinoshita Mai's expression froze.
After leaving this warning lightly, Kiryu turned around and returned to the back room of Qianshiya.
Kinoshita Mai, whose frozen expression gradually softened, stuck out her tongue at Kiryu's back, made a face, and then sat behind the counter with Duoduo in her arms.
Suddenly - just as Kinoshita Mai sat down behind the counter, the door of Chishiya's shop was opened with a "swish"!
The door puller was a panting young man.
The young man was out of breath, hunched over, holding on to the open door of the shop with one hand, and supporting his thigh with the other.
He quickly raised his gaze and glanced around the front hall of Qianshiya. He found Kinoshita Maiquesi sitting behind the counter. He released the hand holding his thigh, touched his waist and took out a
The seal cage of the observatory.
"Please, is Tachibana Aoden-sama here?"
The young man asked Kinoshita Mai in this brisk voice while showing Kinoshita Mai the inrō of the shrine in his hand.
"I'm from Kitabansuo! I'm looking for Lord Tachibana Aoden!"
"Huh?" Kinoshita Mai was startled.
Kiryu, who had just entered the back room, turned back to the front hall because he heard strange noises in the front hall.
"Who are you?" Kiryu frowned at the young man.
"I'm from the Kitabansuo! I'm looking for Tachibana Aoden-sama!" The young man repeated what he just said loudly, "Is Tachibana Aoden-sama here?"
…
…
Edo, Kanda Ogawa Town, on a certain street——
"If there is any sushi that is the most delicious... then it has to be salmon sushi." As Harada said, he plucked out a nose hair protruding from his nostril, and then flicked it to his side.
"Ah, I feel the same way." Nagakura agreed, "I also think salmon sushi is the most delicious."
"Then our food tastes are quite similar." Harada laughed, "Mr. Tachibana, what about you? What kind of sushi do you think is the best?"
"Me? The most delicious sushi..." Qingto pondered for a moment, "Eel sushi. But it's not so much that I like to eat eel sushi, it's more that I like to eat eel."
"Oh, the eel sushi is indeed very good. I know there is a shop where the grilled eel tastes great. I will take you to try it next time I have the opportunity."
Ainoto and others decided to have a sushi dinner at noon today, and led the way to a certain sushi restaurant that Harada said was quite delicious.
Nagakura, Harada, and Toudo just met each other today.
Aoto and Saito had just met Harada and Toudou. Although they had met Nagakura before, they only had a brief relationship with him.
Although they were not very familiar with each other, they had a lively conversation on the way to the sushi restaurant.
The reason is that both Nagakura and Harada are very familiar people. They have been very proactive in finding topics to chat along the way, so that the atmosphere among everyone is not too boring.
"I have worked in this place before." Harada pointed around, "I worked as a bodyguard for a merchant here for a period of time, so I am quite familiar with this area! I know how many trees there are in this area.
Got it!"
"Huh? Here..." Todo, who was walking beside Harada, seemed to recall something at this time. He raised his head and looked around, "Here... I have some impression. I remember that the martial arts school is nearby here?"
"
"Yes." Harada replied, "The martial arts school is located here. Look, the large house in front is the martial arts school!"
Ayoto looked in the direction pointed by Harada's finger - just in front of them, there stood a rather large building complex.
"That's the martial arts school there..." Qingdeng murmured, "This is the first time I've seen it."
Six years ago, the Edo shogunate, who was deeply aware of the power of Western powers, opened a school in 1854 that not only taught traditional martial arts, but also gunnery and Western-style military affairs in order to consolidate national defense.
This military academy is the "Martial Arts Institute".
The Edo shogunate has always been very concerned about the operation of this martial arts institute. It spent a lot of money to recruit famous teachers and devoted a lot of resources to continuously expand the scale of the martial arts institute...
In 1857, after the merger of the Military Academy and the Warship Drill Institute, which was specially used to train naval personnel, the Military Academy has now become a large military academy with both navy and army.
The Edo shogunate made great efforts to open a martial arts school, so naturally not just cats and dogs could study there.
Only Hatamoto's children can become students of the Kōbu School, which means that vassals from various vassal states, as well as imperial family members like Ayoto, are not qualified to go to the Kōwushō for further training.
Because the Jianwu Institute was outside the jurisdiction of Qingdeng's office and far away from where he lived, Qingdeng had never seen the full picture of this famous Jianwu Institute until now.
Qingdeng was not particularly interested in the martial arts academy. He looked at the door of the martial arts academy for a few times and then looked away.
However, suddenly - the heavy door of the martial arts school was suddenly pushed open slowly.
Immediately afterwards, a middle-aged man, surrounded by several warriors who looked like bodyguards, was seen striding out of the martial arts academy along the pushed open door.
This middle-aged man is about forty years old, with a lean build, slightly dark skin, and gray hair on his temples. He has an ordinary appearance and an ordinary temperament. He is the kind of person who would not be able to find him if he were thrown into the sea.
type.
Logically speaking, such an ordinary-looking middle-aged man should not attract too much attention from Qingdeng and others.
But in fact, when this middle-aged man came out of the martial arts training center, his figure immediately attracted the attention of Qingdeng and his party.
It's not because there's anything special about this person's clothes or other parts of his body.
It's because this person is holding something very rare in Japan today - a globe.
This globe is very large, with a diameter of about 40cm. The middle-aged man held the globe tightly in his arms with both hands, as if holding some treasure.
Suddenly, a piece of cherry blossom petal stained with mud fell on the globe, blown by the breeze.
When the middle-aged man saw this, he immediately blew away the cherry blossom petal with a nervous look on his face, and then wiped the area on the globe that was stained by the cherry blossom petal just now with his sleeve.
A guard next to him opened his mouth and said something to him.
Although the distance was somewhat far away, Qingden could vaguely hear the guard seeming to ask the middle-aged man if he wanted to help him get the globe.
The middle-aged man waved his hands and moved his lips.
Although he couldn't hear what the middle-aged man said to his guard, Qingdeng guessed from his actions that this man was politely refusing the guard's request to "help get the globe."
Qingdeng always felt that this middle-aged man's face looked a bit familiar...
While Qingdeng was carefully studying the middle-aged man's face and thinking about where he had seen this middle-aged man, he suddenly heard Nagakura beside him mutter hesitantly:
"Struggling down the street with a globe in his arms... he couldn't be that Katsu Rintaro, right?"
Nagakura's muttering made the confusion and thinking look on Qingden's face instantly dissipate.
"Yes." Qingden showed a look of sudden realization, "I remembered... Nagakura, you guessed it right, this middle-aged man holding the globe is really the Rintaro Katsu."
As soon as Qingto finished speaking, everyone around him...including Saito, all changed their expressions slightly, and then they all focused their eyes mixed with surprise, curiosity and other emotions on the middle-aged man...that is, Katsurin Taro
on the body.
"He is the Katsurin Taro who is very loved and respected by the shogun now..." Todo said to himself.
Rintaro Katsu: One of the most dazzling rising political stars in recent years.
Anyone who pays a little attention to the recent political situation in Japan will basically know about this legendary figure who can be called a model of diaosi's counterattack.
Qingdeng's memory contains a lot of information about this person.
Katsurin Taro was born in a lower-level Hatamoto family. In this society with extremely strict hierarchical system, his family status could only be a minor official in the government.
However, this man just relied on his talent and luck to change his fate against the odds.
As early as 1841, before the Western powers invaded Japan, this man watched a Western-style artillery launch and gun array military exercise conducted by a certain gunnery expert, and realized that it was no longer about wielding swords and guns.
era, so he resolutely gave up swordsmanship and changed to learn military knowledge such as Western weapons and warships.
In 1853, after the black ship fleet of the United States "visited" Japan, the shogunate, which was at a loss in the face of the Western invasion, widely solicited opinions from the shogunate, the lords of the feudal lords and even the townspeople on the issue of coastal defense.
It was at this time that Rintaro Katsu, who had studied Western military for more than ten years, submitted a "Coastal Defense Opinion" to the Tokaku.
This opinion letter by Katsu Rintaro was greatly appreciated by Masahiro Abe, the leader of the old school who was in power at the time. He promoted Katsu Rintaro regardless of his family status.
Sheng Rintaro rose to prominence.
*******
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There were a lot of personal things yesterday, so today’s updates are a little less.
I'll try to update as many as possible tomorrow (Leopard Head Cries.jpg)
This chapter has been completed!