4200】
The evidence that Qinghe Hachiro plotted a rebellion was very conclusive, and Kinoshita Mai thought that Qinghe would immediately order the elimination of the "Qinghe Sect".
In her opinion, a traitor...especially such an ambitious and talented traitor is someone who must be eradicated immediately.
Therefore, after learning that Seito planned to temporarily let go of the "Qinghe Sect", Kinoshita Mai acted extremely shocked.
However, she was shocked, and she did not raise any questions about Qingdeng's decision.
Although compared to Sanako and Souji, Kinoshita Mai's words and deeds always exude a naive aura that is not very smart, but she never makes mistakes when it comes to big matters.
She has never misunderstood her role because of her special relationship with Ayoto - she is Ayoto's lover, the captain of the 9th Division of the Shinsengumi Batto Squadron, and a subordinate of Tachibana Ayoto, the governor of Gyeonggi Province.
.
In private, she still laughed and played with Qingdeng as she pleased as before.
But she never said a word on important matters involving the Shinsengumi.
She, as a squad leader, has no authority to dictate any decision made by the Shinsengumi general.
However, she has always been puzzled by Qingdeng's bizarre practice, which is similar to "raising tigers for disaster".
So, taking advantage of today's opportunity, she finally couldn't help but pour out all her confusion.
Qingden raised his gaze and looked at Kinoshita Mai's pretty face - the look of confusion on her cheeks was clearly reflected in his eyes.
After chuckling a few times, Qingden put down the brush in his hand, turned around, came face to face with Kinoshita Mai, and said slowly:
"Qinghe Hachiro is indeed a rare talent."
"It's just that, in my eyes, he is just a clown with a high heart."
"Compared with the strong opponents I have faced before, he is really nothing worth mentioning."
Speaking of this, Rakshasa... the face of this oppressive enemy who once forced Qingdeng to a desperate situation flashed through his mind.
"Taking his life is as easy as flipping the palm of your hand."
"As long as I want, I can send him and his followers to the West at any time."
"but--"
His conversation suddenly changed.
"As I said before, it is not the best time to kill him yet."
"There is not much benefit in killing him now."
"It's nothing more than cleaning up the door and eliminating hidden dangers."
"To me, the existence of Qinghe Balang and his gang members is far from being called a 'trouble'."
"The threat they pose is not enough to make me feel deeply afraid."
"In terms of prestige, the ten Qinghe Eight Langs combined are not as good as one 'Benevolent King'."
"Although he is now actively trying to win the favor of the soldiers through various means such as 'writing family letters on behalf of others' and 'talking with others'."
"But with just this little trick of his, he can't catch up with me even if he spends several years of effort."
"My prestige is based on my true ability and solid military exploits, one sword at a time."
"And his prestige is based on heart-to-heart conversations, writing family letters, and various false names such as 'a talented man with both civil and military skills' and 'an extraordinary person with ideals'."
"As a result, his prestige will naturally be difficult to compare with mine."
"Unless he has made great achievements that attract world attention, there is no way he can surpass me in prestige."
"In addition, the core power of the Shinsengumi is also firmly in my hands."
"The deputy chief, chief, director, and most of the captains of the Ba Dao Team are all my people."
"Xiaoji, Sanako, Hijikata, Keisuke, Kondo-kun and Hajime are all outstanding talents who don't need me to worry about them."
"It's not that easy for Qinghe Hachilang to seize power."
"With just a little attention, he could never gain the upper hand."
"Therefore, there is no need to be afraid or worried about the existence of the 'Qinghe Sect'."
"Under my suppression, they can't make any trouble."
"If they want to usurp the power of the Shinsengumi, their only feasible method is to obtain support from external forces."
"Judging from the intelligence you have collected so far, Qinghe Hachiro is indeed doing this."
"He is actively contacting the ministers of the imperial court who respect the king, as well as the forces of the Zongban faction headed by the Choshu clan."
"So... if we think about it from another angle, this will be a great opportunity for us to 'get in touch' with the forces of Zunxu."
Hearing this, Kinoshita Mai couldn't help but widen her beautiful eyes, with a puzzled look on her pretty face.
"Getting in touch" with the Zunban forces...what does this mean?
Kinoshita Mai, who was aroused by Aoshinobu's explosive remarks, had a strong curiosity. She couldn't help but hold her breath and listened more carefully.
Qingdeng paused for a moment, thought about his words for a while, and then continued:
"Nowadays, we know absolutely nothing about the details of the major forces of the Zunban Sect."
"Take the Choshu clan as an example——"
"How many troops do they have stationed in Kyoto? What kind of troops are there?"
"Who are the important officials currently stationed in Kyoto?"
"What are the trends of core executives such as Takasugi Shinsaku, Katsura Kogoro and Hisasaka Gensui?"
"We are completely blind to this vital information."
"You can't fight a war without intelligence."
"We urgently need a 'wedge' to clamp into the Zunban forces."
"And Qinghe Hachiro and his gang members are very suitable to serve as this 'wedge'."
"If used properly, the 'Qinghe Sect' may become an 'important bridge' for us to explore the overt and covert reality of the Qing Zunbang Sect's power."
After saying that, Qingdeng raised his right palm, gestured with a knife, and drew it twice on his neck, while curving the corners of his mouth and showing a soft smile.
…
…
7 days later——
Wenjiu three years (1863), March 25——
On this day, a brand-new organization under the Zhenfu Mansion, the Newly Selected Chamber of Commerce, which Qingdeng and others looked up to, officially opened!
"Nioh, why don't you use the opening ceremony of the newly selected chamber of commerce to promote it? Everyone in Kyoto must know that Nioh owns a chamber of commerce!" - At the strong suggestion of Iwasaki Yataro, Aoto gave him the order without hesitation.
During these seven days, we spare no effort to publicize the establishment and opening of the Xinsheng Chamber of Commerce.
After a fierce publicity campaign, most people in Kyoto already know that Nio Tachibana Aoto will formally establish a new organization in the form of a chamber of commerce on March 25.
Therefore, when the day came when the Xinsheng Chamber of Commerce officially opened, countless people heard about it and came to join in the fun.
Rensheng Township, which was usually inconspicuous and had no sense of existence except for Rensheng's ravings, suddenly became very lively.
[Note: Imsei Kyogen: This is a silent play held every year at the Imsei Temple. It is famous for its arrogance about chaos, and is known as the Imsei Kyoryan. On the stage of the main Buddhist temple in Rensheng Temple, the natives of Imsheng put on masks, followed the crocodile mouth, and played the flute.
, dancing to the beats played by taiko drums and other musical instruments.】
Inside and outside Rensheng Township, there is a sea of people and a constant flow of people.
Seito dispatched the 4th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Divisions at once, and cooperated with the officers of the Kyoto Enforcement Station to finally maintain order.
The so-called opening ceremony is nothing more than Qingdeng coming to the stage in person, saying a few official words that are neither salty nor bland, and then personally writing and replacing the door plaque for the newly selected chamber of commerce.
Aoto and Yataro Iwasaki didn't care much about this simple ritual.
The form doesn't matter.
As long as everyone in Kyoto knows about the existence of a brand-new organization like the Shinseng Chamber of Commerce, it will be fine.
After making a boring speech, Qing Deng personally took up the pen in front of everyone and wrote a plaque for the newly elected chamber of commerce.
Unlike ancient China, door plaques in Japan's Edo period were not often hung above the door, but were usually hung on the side of the door. Moreover, the direction of the book was not horizontal, but from top to bottom, right to left.
On the huge door plaque, which is one foot wide and two feet long, the words "Gyeonggi Town Fufu" are written on the right side, and four slightly larger Chinese characters are written on the left side: "Xinxuan Chamber of Commerce".
[Note: 1 shaku in the Edo period is approximately equal to 30 centimeters in modern times]
The office of the Sinseng Chamber of Commerce is located not far from the Sinsengu Village.
Yagi Gennosei, a large landowner in Imbu Township who wanted to be on good terms with Aoto, after learning that Aoto was going to establish a new organization, was very polite and generously donated a house belonging to the Yagi family for free.
Although the area of this house is not large, and the appearance is not grand, it is more than enough to serve as the office location of the newly selected chamber of commerce, which is not currently large in size.
The various factions in Kyoto were paying close attention to Qingto's every move.
After the Nanmu Group was uprooted, it didn't take long before such a big movement started again... The eyes of various factions were instantly focused on this new chamber of commerce.
On this day, Satsuma Domain, Choshu Domain, Tosa Domain and other factions sent spies to watch the opening ceremony of the newly elected Chamber of Commerce.
Although the leaders of various factions were surprised by the establishment of the newly elected Chamber of Commerce, they did not pay much attention to it.
Saigo Kinosuke (Satsuma Domain), Takasugi Shinsaku (Changshu Domain), Takeichi Hanheita (Tosa Domain) and others were all more or less aware of the Shinsengumi's financial crisis.
Therefore, they have long been convinced that in order to ensure the stable operation of the Shinsengumi, Seito will actively take various measures to save himself.
However, Qingdeng's self-rescue method turned out to be business... This was beyond their expectation.
Anyone with a normal mind knows how difficult it is to do business.
Anyone who dares to say that "doing business is easy" or "doing business is simple" is either ignorant or they are bragging.
Qingdeng's work history has long been stripped by various factions.
It was not until he was promoted to the position of side minister and imperial official that Qingteng officially came into contact with politics, so his work history was not difficult to obtain.
Therefore, it is not difficult to find out that Qingdeng had very little contact with business-related matters before.
Since entering politics, apart from the military, the work affairs that Qingdeng has been exposed to the most are actually contract projects!
For example: when the Kanda water supply in Edo was clogged, Aoto led a team to clear the pipes himself.
The lack of work experience caused Saigo Kinosuke and others to have great doubts about Aonto's ability to handle complex business transactions.
After the opening ceremony of the Shinseng Chamber of Commerce, Saigo Kinosuke and others learned from the spies they sent: the first president of the Shinseng Chamber of Commerce was a young man named Yataro Iwasaki.
Naturally, Saigo Kinosuke and others did not know who Yataro Iwasaki was.
So, they immediately launched an investigation.
The results of the investigation were shocking to them.
Yataro Iwasaki was actually just an underground ronin of the Tosa Domain before! He was a "three-no" person with no official position, no qualifications, and no origin!
Everyone in the various factions was extremely puzzled by Qingdeng's extremely strange personnel appointment.
Is there no talent in Zhenfu Mansion?
Although the scale of the Zhenfu Mansion is still small, it should not be able to find even a slightly reliable talent, right?
Why use an underground ronin from Tosa Domain?
The person who was most shocked by this was Wu Shi Hanping Tai.
He really couldn't understand why Tachibana Aomori paid so much attention to this guy who had no status in Tosa Domain before and was no different than a piece of mud?
All in all, based on all the known information, the leaders of the major forces unanimously made the same judgment - the newly selected chamber of commerce will probably make a muffled "plop" like a stone thrown into the sea, and then...
There is no more.
This should be just a crude attempt by Tachibana Aoshinobu to see if he can support the Shinsengumi through business - they all thought so.
Therefore, the major forces did not take the newly elected Chamber of Commerce to heart and simply sent people to monitor its subsequent movements without taking any further action.
It's ridiculous... 7 days ago, after Seito announced to the Shinsengumi generals the products that the Shinsengumi Chamber of Commerce would sell in an emergency meeting, Qinghe Hachiro, who was quick-thinking, immediately became acutely aware of the hidden value of that little silver.
What terrible energy.
After the meeting, he not only immediately shared the contents of the meeting with his party members, but also tried to pass on relevant information to the major pro-protest forces in Kyoto, hoping to make them clearly aware of the huge threat of the newly elected chamber of commerce.
However... because he has not yet established contact with any force, even if he wants to pass on information, he has no way to do it...
At this moment, Saigo Kinosuke and others never thought that this chamber of commerce, which they did not take seriously, would cause such a terrible storm in the future...
…
…
Kyoto, Gion, Hyakuya——
To some extent, the geishas of the Edo period are very similar to the idols of modern society.
He has a beautiful face, is proficient in talents, and makes a living by "selling dreams". Once he is no longer young, he is forced to graduate.
Not only that, geishas, like idols, need to constantly practice their talents and work hard to improve themselves when they are not working.
During the day, geishas often get together to practice singing and dancing, study hairstyles and clothing, and discuss the latest fashion trends.
Today, all the geishas in Hyakuhana are practicing new songs together.
Because more and more samurai from all over the world are pouring into Kyoto, in order to cater to their tastes, the geishas in Gion are now working hard to learn and sing songs from various places.
Ziyang also participated in today's practice.
"Huh? Miss Ziyang, have you changed the mirror?"
This voice instantly attracted the attention of everyone present.
*******
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Please give me a monthly ticket! Please give me a recommendation vote! (Leopard Head Cries)
The temperature in Guangzhou has cooled down again... This month has been really difficult. I got sick at the beginning of the month and recuperated in the middle of the month. My physical and mental condition finally recovered. However, the weather cooled down again and I turned back into a useless leopard who can't live without a warm bed... ( Weeping Leopard (leopard head)
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This chapter has been completed!