Chapter 225 I, Ju Qingdeng, will never be with Tianzhangyuan’s eldest sister
What happened!【6600】
After Arima finished speaking, the living room was suddenly surrounded by silence.
"……Um?"
After a while, Qingdeng broke the silence with a confused "hmm".
"This... Lord Arima, is the news confirmed?"
Arima nodded lightly with a determined look on his face.
Arima, who is known for his serious personality, is showing such an expression, so Aoto can't help but not believe it...
Qingdeng's eyes flashed with disbelief.
"I was promoted directly to the captain of the third division of the Fire Thieves Kai team and the leader of the seventh division of the first bow group... This promotion span is a bit too big..."
What Arima Shicai mentioned before: the 500 koku increase in salary and the promotion of the family status to the "flag base" were all within Aishoto's expectations.
Qingdeng had long expected that based on his great achievements this time, his family fortune was only a sure thing. Maybe his family status could also be improved, from "imperial family" to "flagship"
.
But what Arima said later was completely beyond Qingto's expectations...
He had received rumors before that he might be transferred to Huo Fu Thieves.
Regarding this rumor, which was unknown to be true or not, Qingdeng could only guess at first: even if he would be transferred to fight against thieves, he would probably only serve as a force in a certain division.
From the "Three Chapters" of Tongxin in the service station, to being promoted to Yu Li, who changed the way to punish the thieves... In this era when the class is extremely solidified and the promotion of officials is difficult to achieve, this is a very valuable rightward move.
Qingteng never expected that his promotion span would be so exaggerated - surpassing the level of "Yu Li" and directly taking charge of a division and a team of the Advanced Archers as the "Team Captain".
The Archer Group and the Iron Cannon Group - the Archer Group and the Iron Artillery Group, which are directly under the shogunate, are the two standing armies of the shogunate.
The so-called "iron cannon" is a musket.
The Edo shogunate closed itself off, did not communicate with the outside world, and did not pay attention to the development of science and technology. Therefore, the advanced iron artillery group is still using matchlock guns that are hundreds of years out of date.
The matchlock gun has the fatal flaw of having to spend a lot of time filling the next bullet after shooting, so bows and arrows have become an important presence when filling the matchlock gun.
In a word - just because the Edo shogunate is still using this backward firearm that has long been put in museums in the Western world, bows and arrows still have a role that cannot be ignored until now.
Both the vanguard archery group and the vanguard iron artillery group are the troops that lead the battle for the general in wartime, so the candidates are selected from those with outstanding martial arts skills.
When the Edo shogunate was founded, there were a total of 34 groups of sage bow groups and sage iron cannon groups. However, since a hundred years ago, the grouping has been reduced to 8 groups of sage bow groups and 20 groups of sage iron cannon groups.
As the standing army of the shogunate, whether it is the advanced bow group or the advanced iron cannon group, both groups were idle in the Taipei era when there were no big battles to fight.
In order to give the second group something to do, the Edo shogunate assigned them a lot of "part-time jobs".
Outside of military drills, the second group needs to be responsible for guarding the gates of Edo Castle, guarding the general when he is out, and responsible for setting down fires and firefighting for thieves and reforming!
There are only about 30 "Sankai" samurai who specialize in catching thieves in the North and South Edo Offices. They maintain the security of Edo with such a pitiful number of people... I wonder what the burden is on the shoulders of the "Sankai" samurai.
How stressful it is.
It is abnormal to be safe and stable, but it is normal to be extremely busy.
Moreover, the Edo Executive Office cannot control the entire Edo. The Edo Executive Office is only responsible for the administrative, judicial, and police work of Edo civilians.
For example, temple grounds and samurai lands... that is, "the boundaries of shrines and temples" and "the residences of samurai" are not under the jurisdiction of the shrine.
The temple grounds are managed by the temple officials.
Temple priest - a very prominent official position. Responsible for the jurisdiction of the temple territory and its residents across the country, as well as professions such as priests, monks, onmyoji, gakuto (people who make a living by playing music), go and shogi masters, etc.
Under the supervision of the temple community, there is a Ginmimono Service, which is responsible for resolving disputes within the temple territory, reporting and investigating criminal cases, etc.
Once an incident occurs within the temple's territory, its general prosecutors and minor prosecutors will dispatch to summon or arrest suspects for investigation.
Because the temple grounds were not under the jurisdiction of the Edo administration, the "Sanchai" samurai could not enter or leave the temple grounds at will.
Even if a crime is committed in Edo-machi, which is under the administrative jurisdiction of Edo-machi, once the person escapes into the temple territory, the people from the town administrative office cannot go in and arrest the person at will.
If you encounter this situation, you can only contact the major prosecutor requested by the temple administrator, and the minor prosecutor will go out to arrest the prisoner, or you can enter the temple grounds and arrest the prisoner with the permission of the temple administrator.
The same is true for the Wu family.
If the samurai in the Edo samurai area commit a crime, the responsible public prosecutor will be responsible for handling the crime.
Once a crime occurs in towns, samurai lands, temples and other places, the responsible officials must be contacted every time, which creates a great obstacle to reporting criminals.
In order to solve this problem and relieve the pressure on law enforcement officials such as the "Three Chapters", the "Eight States Directors" and the "Huo Fu Thieves Reform" came into being.
The so-called "Eight Prefectures" refers to the "Eight Prefectures of Kanto": Sagami, Musashi, Anfang, Kamisou, Shimotsou, Hitachi, Ueno, and Shimono.
The eight states directors are a special kind of patrol police.
There were only 8 officials at first, but later due to social unrest, the number has been expanded to 15.6.
Their daily job is to ride horses and lead their men around aimlessly in Kanba Prefecture. As long as they meet gangsters, they can arrest them without any hindrance, no matter where they are in daimyo territory, samurai territory, temples, shrines, or townsfolk.
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You are free to use violence against prisoners and suspects. If you encounter prisoners or suspects who resist and are difficult to subdue, you can directly kill them.
To distinguish them from the "Three Chapters" samurai, the ten hands used by the eight states directors were tied with purple cherry blossoms.
As for the Huo Fu Thief Kai, it is the "Special Police Force".
All members of the Fire Thief Kai are basically composed of soldiers from the Advanced Bow Team and the Advanced Iron Cannon Team.
Therefore, Huo Fu Thieves Kai has the common name of "Additional Service".
The highest commander of the Fire Rogue Group is concurrently served by the First Hand Bow Head or the First Hand Iron Cannon Head (the highest commander of the First Hand Bow Group or the First Hand Iron Cannon Group).
In order to facilitate work, the officer's house would be used as a prison. Therefore, the prison converted by the thieves was not fixed.
Unless there are some exceptions, the term of office for the highest officer of the Hufu Thief Reform is basically about one year, so the position of the government office is basically changed every year.
Like the Yashu Directors, fire thieves can freely enter and exit all areas such as samurai lands, town lands, and temple lands.
However, compared with the Eight Prefecture Directors, the Huo Fu Thieves Reform is very different in one aspect - it is not only an independent security force, but also an independent judicial authority.
After the prisoner is captured by the execution center, if he wants to be tortured and interrogated, he has to be notified at all levels and go through a lot of complicated procedures before he can be tortured.
There is no need to go through such a complicated interrogation procedure in order to change the situation.
Rather... they have no so-called interrogation procedures at all.
After they catch the prisoner, they can directly take him back to the prison and torture him severely without having to say hello to anyone or go through any formalities.
This kind of power to freely use lynching is somewhat similar to the Jin Yiwei of the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.
Since there are almost no restrictions on torture and interrogation of suspects, the torture methods used by Huo Fu Thieves are extremely harsh.
Therefore, there is a saying that has been circulating among the people: "Once you are arrested by thieves, you will never come back alive."
Being able to freely enter and exit any place, and having the privilege of using lynching freely... This is not the most frightening thing about the Huo Fu Thieves Kaifa. The most frightening thing is their fighting power.
All members are members of the Advanced Bow Team and the Advanced Iron Cannon Team who are professional soldiers, and can freely use heavy weapons such as bows, arrows, and muskets... The combat effectiveness is not "three times" at all, and the eight states directors and other security officers
What the organization can match.
Although as the shogunate deteriorated, the quality of the generals of these standing armies inevitably weakened a lot, but a skinny camel was ultimately bigger than a horse.
Currently, there are 8 divisions in the Fire Thief Kai. Each division is manned by one of the first-hand bow team or the first-hand iron cannon team.
The third division of the Fire Thieves Reform was formed by the seventh division of the Archer Group.
Qingteng, who became the captain of the third division, naturally became the leader of the seventh division.
He was promoted to a small archer general capable of commanding dozens of archers in one fell swoop from Sadachi Hui Tongxin, who had only a few Okahiki under his direct subordinates... Such a promotion speed and promotion span was truly a "rocket-like promotion".
--Too strange……
The more Qingdeng thought about it, the more he felt that his speed of promotion was a bit strange.
Although he had indeed made great contributions in the decisive battle with the anti-barbarian group more than two months ago... Qingden always felt that his level of achievements was not enough to earn him such a high promotion.
Moving to the right is as difficult as climbing to the sky, moving to the left is as easy as turning the palm of your hand - this is a saying that is particularly popular among the martial arts.
The Edo shogunate was notoriously stingy when it came to promotions and promotions! It was also extremely generous and generous when it came to convicting and demoting people.
Since Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo shogunate, ended the chaotic times of the Warring States Period and created a long-lost era of peace, the comfortable and stable world has led to a population explosion, and the number of samurai has increased dramatically.
The samurai who were not engaged in production were all supported by the salary, gold and rice from the shogunate and the feudal government.
Therefore, in order to reduce financial pressure as much as possible, both the shogunate and the local vassals vigorously control the number of officials who move to the right every year and the promotion span of each official who moves to the right. At the same time, they often punish them with nitpicking.
The samurai who were relegated to errands.
There are countless members of the samurai family who were deprived of their official status, or even removed from their samurai ancestry and demoted to commoners just for making some minor mistakes.
The Edo shogunate, who "did not want to give it to his subordinates even after polishing the official seal", unexpectedly promoted him, a member of the royal family who had not made any earth-shattering achievements... No matter how you think, it is strange!
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster.
So Aomori couldn't help but asked Arima across from him:
"...Arima-sama, the speed at which I was promoted...is a little too fast? Do you know any secret information about this?"
Arima smiled bitterly with a look of helplessness on his face.
"When I learned what rewards you had received from Mr. Bojing today, I was shocked for a long time."
"It's a coincidence that I also directly asked Lord Boi if he knew why your promotion speed was so exaggerated."
"But unfortunately, Mr. Boi doesn't know the inside story."
"But I guess... this may be the handiwork of Lord Dashu."
"Master Dashu?" Qingdeng raised his eyebrows.
"'Duke Dashu asks you to go to the city on August 28th'."
Arima repeated what he had just said.
The so-called "climbing the castle" is the general name for entering Edo Castle where the shogun lives.
Because his status was too low, Ayoto had never entered Edo Castle, which had a status similar to the Forbidden City in Tang Dynasty.
"I personally think this is a very positive signal."
"This means that Dashu Gong is most likely interested in you who have performed extraordinary feats, and wants to see you in person."
"If Mr. Dashu really recruited you to Edo Castle for this reason, then it would make sense why you were promoted so abruptly."
"You rose to great heights because you were highly appreciated by those above you... There is a ready-made precedent within the shogunate."
"Who?" Qingdeng asked subconsciously.
Arima smiled calmly:
"Katsu-sama, who was rescued by Tachibana-kun before. He was just a junior Hatamoto, and now he is about to be promoted to a new warship leader."
Warship Officer: A new official position established by the Edo shogunate after the founding of the country due to the power of the great powers. It is responsible for purchasing, building warships and practicing warship technology. Its main responsibility is to strengthen the navy.
The "Katsu-sama" mentioned by Arima is none other than "Katsu Rintaro, the gunnery professor of the Toshu Tiao Institute and the Kōbu Institute of Artillery" that Seito saved during the "Battle of the Toshu Tiao Institute" a few months ago.
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Katsurintaro, who was born as a junior Hatamoto, rose to prominence because he was deeply appreciated by his former senior officer Abe Masahiro.
Tokugawa Iemoji, who inherited the position of shogun two years ago, also admired Katsurintaro very much and has been cultivating him vigorously.
In terms of the speed of promotion of official positions, compared with Katsurintaro, Ayoto is really dwarfed.
Confirmed news has been received: Rintaro Katsu has been promoted to the new warship chief and will be fully responsible for the construction of the shogunate navy.
Qingteng, who was very benevolent to both Shenglintaro and Fanshudiao, had been keeping in touch with Shenglintaro in the past few months. Qingteng also visited Fanshudiao Institute several times in his spare time.
Although Katsurin Taro is a genius with extremely proud talents and resume, his personality is quite approachable. He is a gentle and humorous old man. Aoto gets along quite well with him and has a good relationship with him.
Thinking of this, Qingdeng suddenly realized: Unknowingly, his current connections seemed to have become a bit big...
Even the future warships became his friends. He also had a close relationship with the scholars at the Tibetan Studies Institute who were deeply versed in Western knowledge.
"all in all--"
Arima followed what he just said and continued:
"What is the specific reason? Even if we think about it dryly, we can't think of a reason."
"let it go."
"Remember to take your clothes out in the sun these days. If they get dirty, wash them in time."
"We can't behave badly in front of the emperor when we board the city on the 28th."
Speaking of this, Arima seemed to have thought of something, paused for a moment, and then smiled.
"If you're lucky... you might even be able to see His Highness Tianzhangyuan on the 28th."
Her Highness Tenjoin...a woman known to everyone in Edo and the dream lover of countless Edo men.
As we all know: As the mother of the current shogun Tokugawa Iemo Yori, Tenzouin is a die-hard supporter of Tokugawa Iemo, and the mother and son often "appear together".
When I went to see Tokugawa Iemo on the 28th... it was really possible to see the famous Tenjoin.
"Lord Arima." Qingteng asked out of curiosity, "Have you ever met His Highness Tianzhangyuan?"
Arima's status was just right to reach the threshold of the city. On the 1st, 15th and 25th of every month, as well as during holidays, Arima had to dress up and enter Edo with other officials.
City, say hello to the shogun, and celebrate the festival with the shogun.
"No." Arima shook his head, "His Royal Highness Tianzhangyuan rarely attends public events. And when I go to the city, I can only accompany him at the last table. The seat is so far away that even Dashu Gong's face cannot be seen clearly. I have never had the opportunity to see His Highness Tianzhangyuan.
of beauty."
"Sir Arima, hearing your tone...do you really want to meet His Highness Tianzhangyuan?" Qingto asked in a half-joking tone.
"I'm just curious about His Highness Tenzouin's appearance." Arima said calmly, "I've heard that His Highness Tenzouin has an appearance that is as good as a fish or a wild goose. It is said that the only person in Edo who can rival His Highness Tenzouin in terms of beauty is Xiao Chiba.
Chiba Sanako from the Sword Hall."
——Can you actually compete with Sanako-san in terms of beauty?
Upon hearing this, Qingdeng, who had previously been indifferent to Tianzhang Yuan, couldn't help but become a little curious about this widow who was said to be a virgin.
Arima, who noticed the change in Qingto's expression at this moment, chuckled "hehehe" a few more times.
"What? Mr. Tachibana, are you like those guys who always want to soothe the lonely hearts of young widows, have you developed a strong interest in His Highness Tianzhangyuan and have strange thoughts?"
"No," Qingdeng said angrily, "I just suddenly became curious about His Highness Tianzhangyuan's appearance."
Qingdeng paused for a moment, then continued in a joking tone:
"I'm not as boring as those people, always thinking about things that are impossible to happen."
"I, who have just been promoted to the rank of Hatamoto Samurai, can relieve the loneliness of His Majesty Tenzōin—is this possible?"
…
…
After the game against Xuanwukan, "peace" once again dominated Qingdeng's life.
If anything worth mentioning happened in the past few days... it should be that after a short and intense discussion, Qingdeng's schedule for August 25th was fully booked - the day of the 25th
, Aoto is going to the fireworks display with Souji, Kondo, Hijikata, Inoue, Saito, Nagakura, Harada, and Toudo to watch the fireworks.
At Souji, Nagakura sobered up and learned of Harada's plan to "watch the fireworks together". Souji, who is naturally playful, shouted "I'm going! I'm going!", although Nagakura was right.
I'm not that enthusiastic about this kind of activity, but I don't hate it either. I said, "If everyone goes, then I'll join in the fun."
When everyone was discussing this activity, Toudou Heisuke happened to come to visit, so Aitobo and the others took advantage of the situation and invited Toudou, who currently has a good relationship with the Kaiwei Hall.
Todo is also the kind of person who loves to have fun.
Faced with Qingdeng's invitation, he nodded almost without thinking.
Originally, Shusuke and his wife, Okita Hikaru and his wife, and Aoden's old servant Jiubei were all invited, but they all declined politely.
Shusuke and his wife, Jiubei said that they were old and could not afford such a joyous celebration.
Hikaru Okita has a completely opposite personality to Souji.
The General Secretary likes to be lively, and those bustling places and noisy activities are the General Secretary's favorite.
But Okita Hikari likes to be quiet. The more people are happy and the horses are barking, the more she wants to stay away. Secluded ancient temples, deep winding paths...these are the places where Okita Hikari is favored.
In short - on the 25th, these young people who live in the Imperial Guard Hall, plus Hijikata and Toudou, are going to go to the fireworks display together to have a good time.
After finalizing the details of the itinerary with the Director-General and others, Qingto realized belatedly that he seemed a little busy during this year's fireworks display, which officially started on August 23...
On the 23rd, I have a date with Mai Kinoshita. On the 24th, I will hold a swordsmanship performance with Sanako and Chiba Jutaro on the street at the conference site. On the 25th, I will watch the fireworks again with Souji and others...
This fireworks display will only be held for 3 days in total. During these 3 days, Qingdeng and he will carry out different activities with different people every day...
Although he was very busy, Qingden didn't hate this feeling.
time flies.
Unknowingly, time has quietly arrived on August 23rd...
…
…
In the first year of Wanyan (1860), on August 23, in the morning——
Edo, settlement, Angoulême house——
"Master! Master! Listen to me!"
Today is the day when Qingden comes to the residence to teach Elodie swordsmanship.
He entered Angoulême's house with ease and said hello to Elodie and the maid Leroy. Then Elodie suddenly shouted to Qingden in an excited tone.
"I have something great to tell you!"
Looking at Elodie who was so happy that she seemed to jump up, Qingden said curiously:
"Good thing? What good thing?"
"Grandpa, he agreed to take me to the fireworks display to watch the fireworks!"
"oh?"
Qingdeng raised his eyebrows in surprise - truly, truly surprised.
Anthony actually agreed to take Elodie to watch the fireworks... This was beyond Qingden's expectation.
Qingdeng thought Anthony would reject Elodie's plea on the grounds that "it's too dangerous to go to such a busy place. What should I do if I encounter someone from the 'radical anti-barbarian faction'?"
"Are you and your grandpa going to watch the fireworks together?" Qingdeng asked.
Elodie shook her head: "No. Miss Leroy and several bodyguards hired by Grandpa will go with us."
"Did you hire a bodyguard?"
"Well! Grandpa said that he would only dare to take me out to watch the fireworks if we bring bodyguards and cover our faces with headscarves and masks!"
Qingto nodded. He hired bodyguards and covered his face that was completely different from those of Asians... If this was the case, then the probability of encountering danger at the fireworks display would indeed be reduced a lot.
No matter what, it is a good thing that Anthony is willing to take Elodie out for fun.
A 12-year-old girl is bored at home every day and does not go out. This will affect her mental development.
"Elodie, this is great." Qingden sighed and said with a smile, "My wish to participate in the fireworks display will finally come true."
"Yes!" Elodie nodded vigorously with a bright smile.
"When are you going to watch the fireworks?"
"No.25!"
"On the 25th? Then we have a chance to meet at the conference."
"Master, are you going to watch the fireworks on the 25th too?"
"Yeah. On the 25th, I'm going to go to the fireworks display with my friends from the sword gym to make a fuss."
——To be more precise, we have the opportunity to meet him at the conference no matter what day he is...
Qing Deng silently added this sentence in his heart.
——I’m going on a date with Ah Wu tonight...
A man and a woman go out to play together... This is the first time for Qingdeng.
Thinking of this, Qingdeng couldn't help but feel a little distracted.
Kinoshita Mai's pretty face kept reappearing in Qingden's mind.
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Today is the last day of this month. Book friends who still have monthly tickets on hand, please be sure to vote for this book. After today, all monthly tickets on hand will be invalid. (Leopard Death.jpg)
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As the new January is approaching, the much-anticipated "Fireworks Conference" is finally about to begin! Please stay tuned to see how "Time Management Master" Qingdeng spends these three days of the conference.
PS: For Edo's fixed fire attack, 3 groups are selected from the starting bow group, and 7 groups are selected from the starting iron cannon group.
"Ding Huo Xiao" and "Machi Huo Xiao" who have appeared many times in the previous plot are two completely different fire brigade.
The former is an official fire brigade, all members of which are samurai, and is mainly responsible for besieging Edo Castle where the shogun lives.
The latter is similar to a civilian fire brigade, which is responsible for putting out fires for civilians.
