Seven years ago, in the sixth year of Kayei (1853), the American fleet knocked on the door of Japan and then signed the first unequal treaty in Japanese history: the "Japan-US Goodwill Treaty".
Since then, the great powers such as Britain and France, like cats that smelled something fishy, came to Japan one after another to sign various treaties.
Two years ago, in the fifth year of Ansei (1858), Japan signed a new treaty with the United States: the "Japan-U.S. Treaty of Friendship and Trade."
In this treaty, Japan agreed to the United States sending a minister to Edo, and the American Embassy was officially born in Japan.
These foreign embassies are naturally the key targets of the "radical anti-foreigners" people.
They have launched countless harassments, large and small, against the embassy and the people working there.
At present, the idea of "rejecting the foreigners" is spreading more and more widely, more and more people are joining the anti-foreigner movement, and the attacks on the embassy are becoming more and more intense.
If the minister and others in the embassy were killed by the "radical anti-barbarian faction", it would be a serious international problem, so the shogunate decided to add security guards around the embassy.
But recruiting guards always takes time.
Therefore, while waiting for the recruitment of guards to be completed, "Original Tachibana Aoden" was assigned to the American Embassy as a "temporary guard" a month ago.
"Original Orange Qingteng" only worked as a temporary guard at the American Embassy for 7 days in total, and during these 7 days, "Original Orange Qingteng" did nothing.
He only patrolled the embassy every day, but he was still targeted and hated by the "radical anti-foreigners".
They believe that this kind of help to foreigners is simply an unforgivable crime.
It's a national traitor! Destined to die!
It was not the first time that people from the "radical anti-foreign faction" had assassinated Qingdeng.
10 days ago, they carried out the first assassination of "Original Orange Qingden".
"Original Orange Qingden" is very lucky.
He was besieged by four assassins at that time, and when he was about to beheaded, suddenly a group of "crowds" came to help him like tonight.
The assassins who didn't want their faces exposed quickly fled.
That time, "Original Orange Qingden" really almost died.
The assassins raised their knives high while loudly counting the so-called "crimes" of "Original Tachibana Aoden".
Thanks to these "careful actions" of these assassins, otherwise "Original Orange Qingden" would not even know why he was targeted by the "radical anti-barbarian faction".
"Okay." Jiubei carefully checked the linen he had tied on Qingdeng's wound. After confirming that there was no problem, he nodded, "It's bandaged. Young Master, check if it's wrapped too tightly or not." Too loose."
"It's wrapped perfectly, Kubei, thank you for your hard work."
"Huh?" Jiubei looked confused and leaned his right ear against Aoto.
Seeing this, Qingto smiled helplessly, and then moved his mouth to Jiubei.
"I say! The wrapping is perfect! Kyubey! Thank you for your hard work!"
"Oh..." Jiubei nodded gently as if he had just woken up from a dream, "As long as there is no discomfort, it will be fine if there is no discomfort."
This old man, who had served the Orange family for more than thirty years, had become increasingly inoperable and forgetful since he got older.
Talking to Kyubey with a voice that sounded like he was shouting at his enemies - this was one of the daily scenes of the Tachibana family.
Qingdeng stood up and jumped on the spot a few times.
After confirming that there was no major problem with the leg bandage and that it would not affect Qingdeng's activities, Qingdeng raised his head and sighed.
Seeing this, Jiubei hurriedly came forward.
"Young Master, I have worked really hard for you tonight. You have been attacked by the 'rejecting barbarians' again. You must be frightened."
"Well, yes..." Qingdeng sighed again and raised his hand to scratch his hair, "I was really scared..."
——I almost got hacked to death right after I crossed over...
——So what is my current situation... I just crossed over and was targeted by a group of terrorists...
That group of "radical anti-foreigners" are undoubtedly a group of terrorists no matter from which angle they are viewed.
And the kind of terrorists who can't reason with them and are hell-bent on killing you.
When Qingdeng felt melancholy about his current situation——
Boom, boom, boom!
Suddenly there was a very rough knock on the door.
This sudden knock on the door seemed to be magical, making Jiubei's face turn pale instantly.
"I'm coming!"
Jiubei responded urgently and ran towards the door quickly.
Aoto, who didn't know what was going on, followed Kyubei with a confused look on his face.
Wow...
The wooden door was opened.
Standing outside the room were three young men.
The young man leading the group was wearing rather plain clothes and a low-brimmed bamboo hat.
After Kyuubei opened the door, he immediately raised the hat on his head, revealing a face whose beauty was ruined by a huge scar stretching from the left ear to the right ear.
"Good evening, Tachibana-sama."
Scarface smiled and greeted Qingto who was standing behind Jiubeyi warmly.
"As you can see, I'm here again. Have you saved enough money this time?"
——Saving money? Who are these people?
The confused look on his face became more intense, and Qingden quickly looked up the memory of "Original Orange Qingden".
While Aoto was trying to look up the memory of "Original Tachibana Aoto", the frightened Kyuubei returned to the back room in three steps and then walked back quickly from the back room.
When he came back, there was a small paper bag in Jiubei's hand.
"Here you go." Jiubingwei stuffed the small paper bag into Scarface's arms.
Scarface opened the paper bag - inside the paper bag was full of money.
"Is it just that little this time..." Scarface curled his lips, "Is it too little?"
"Please be accommodating." Jiubei said quickly.
Scarface glanced at Jiubei.
"...Well, let's be accommodating this time."
After that, he fiddled with the money in his hand, quickly counted the amount, and then took off a small abacus from his waist.
"Well... after deducting the money you paid back this time... Mr. Ju, your father's current gambling debt is 520 taels of gold."
Scarface, who was fiddling with his calculations, smiled and stuffed the money Jiubei just gave him into his arms.
"The debt is now only 520 taels of gold. It's gratifying. It's gratifying. Keep working hard, Mr. Tachibana."
Scarface lowered the hat on his head.
"The money has been received, so I won't bother you anymore."
"I'll come back later. Please be sure to prepare a more decent amount then."
"The money you prepared tonight is really too little. Normally, I wouldn't even bother to collect it."
"But since you have been working hard to repay the money, I will be accommodating tonight."
"Next time please don't fool me with such a small amount of money."
"otherwise……"
Scar faced Qingden with a bright and warm smile, which made his eyes narrow into slits.
"You don't want to live a life where you can't even sleep well, right?"
"Have a good night's sleep tonight."
After saying that, Scarface pushed down the bamboo hat on his head, then waved his hand and led the two young men behind him to leave in a swaggering manner.
Qingden stared blankly at Scarface's leaving figure.
Just now, he finally digested "Original Orange Qingden"'s memory related to "debt" and found out who this scarred face was.
They are "Yakuza"!
In modern terms, the Scarface just now is the so-called gangster.
Qing Teng, who graduated from the police academy in his previous life, is familiar with the underworld.
When I was studying in the police academy in my previous life, there was a senior who specialized in studying evil forces and taught Ayoto about Japanese gangsters.
The origins of Japan's yakuza can be traced back to the Edo period - the era in which Aoto is currently living.
The predecessor of the Japanese yakuza was a group of low-level members of society in the Edo period who banded together for survival.
But gradually, the organization where these people at the bottom work together to survive slowly began to deteriorate. They began to engage in shady but extremely profitable activities such as pornography, gambling, and lending, in order to seek profits and strengthen themselves.
In the Edo period, there were no such terms as yakuza or yakuza. People at this time derogatorily called these people who were engaged in underworld activities "Yakuza".
Yakuza is the transliteration of the Japanese word "ヤクザ", which means "bad person" or "Yakuza".
In the 20th century, Japanese gangsters gave themselves the name "Yakuza" in order to put money on their faces.
Why did Yakuza come to ask Qingdeng for money?
This is a long story again.
It's all because Qingdeng has a bastard father...
Aoden's father: Tachibana Takayuki was originally a healthy, cheerful, middle-aged man with no bad habits.
However, fate played a trick on him - he accidentally became addicted to gambling a year ago.
People who are addicted to gambling all have the same characteristic: they always think that they will definitely win the next gamble. Once they are on the gambling table, they will never leave the table until they have nothing to gamble with.
Tachibana Takayuki just kept gambling, kept gambling... until half a year ago, he suddenly contracted an incurable disease and died of the disease before he finally stopped.
Although it was only half a year between his addiction to gambling and his death, Qingdeng's father still owed a huge gambling debt - a full 600 taels of gold!
The price of one tael of gold in this era is almost equivalent to 128,800 yen in modern Japan.
600 taels of gold is 77.28 million yen...
Converted into RMB, it is nearly 4 million...
[Note: The conversion between Japanese yen and RMB is based on the exchange rate when the author wrote this chapter]
It can be seen what an astonishing astronomical figure 600 taels of gold is.
In the Edo period, basically only Yakuza would open and operate casinos. Ordinary merchants will never get involved in the casino business.
The power behind the casino where Qingteng's father incurred gambling debts was the Yakuza Group, commonly known as the "Shimizu Clan."
The Yakuza of the Edo period adopted a family-centered organizational structure, so people generally refer to them as the "XX Clan" or "XX Party".
The "Shimizu Clan" is no ordinary Yakuza.
They were extremely powerful and involved in all walks of life in Edo. It is recognized as "the most powerful Yakuza group in Edo".
The Scarface just now was from the "Qingshui Clan".
Tachibana Takayuki's popularity is actually quite good. Even if he suddenly turns into a gambler who indulges in gambling all day long, there are still a few people who will never leave Tachibana Takayuki.
After Tachibana Takashi died of illness, these close friends of his immediately united together and decided to work together to find an official position for Qingteng, so that the Tachibana family would not collapse due to the lack of financial resources.
After some operations, they successfully allowed Aonto to inherit Takayuki's official position half a year ago and became the new co-founder of Edo Kitabansho Town.
Aonto inherited Takayuki Tachibana's official position - this is certainly a good thing.
But what Aomori inherited... was also the huge debt Tachibana Takayuki owed to the "Shimizu Clan"...
Qingdeng's father died, and his gambling debts naturally fell on Qingdeng's shoulders.
In the six months since Qingdeng's father died, people from the "Qingshui Clan" would come to collect debts from time to time.
It is natural for a father to repay his debts and his sons to repay his debts, not to mention that the debtor is still Yakuza, who has always ignored law and order...
I quietly paid off my debt for half a year, and successfully repaid my debt from 600 taels to only... 520 taels...
Snapped!
Qingden raised his head slowly, then suddenly raised his hands and pressed his cheeks.
——Not only was he targeted by terrorists, he was also targeted by the Yakuza Group, the most powerful group in the city...
——What kind of beginning of hell is this? !
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