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 said 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 contribution 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 Ayoto'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 Huo Fu Thieves Kai, 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 official servants is as difficult as climbing to the sky, this is an extremely valuable move to the right.
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 "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.
Because the Edo shogunate closed itself off to the outside world and did not pay attention to the development of science and technology, the advanced iron artillery group is still using matchlock guns that are hundreds of years out of date.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 that it takes a lot of time to refill the next bullet after shooting, so the bow and arrow have become an important presence when refilling the matchlock gun.
In a word - just because the Edo shogunate is still using this backward firearm that has long been placed in museums in the Western world, bows and arrows still have a role that cannot be ignored until now.
Both the Advanced Archer Team and the Advanced Iron Cannon Team are the troops that spearhead the general's battle 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 group 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, the two groups are idle in the peaceful era when there are 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 thirty "Sankai" samurai who specialize in catching thieves in the Edo North and South Offices. With such a pitiful number of manpower, they maintain the security of Edo... 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 was 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 enshrinement.
The temple grounds are managed by the temple officials.
The temple community holds a very prestigious official position. Responsible for the jurisdiction of temple territories and their residents across the country, as well as professions such as priests, monks, onmyoji, gakuzu (people who make a living by playing music), go and shogi masters.
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 be dispatched 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 exit 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 or minor prosecutor requested by the temple to arrest the criminal, 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 committed a crime, the responsible public affairs party would be responsible for handling the matter.
Once a crime occurs in towns, samurai lands, temples and other places, the officials in charge must be contacted every time, which greatly hinders the reporting of criminals.
In order to solve this problem and relieve the pressure on law enforcement officials such as the "Sanchai", the "Eight States Directors" and the "Huo Fu Thieves Reform" came into being.
The so-called "Eight States" refers to the "Eight States of Kanto": Sagami, Musashi, Anfang, Kamisou, Shimotsou, Hitachi, Ueno, and Shimono.
The eight state directors are a special kind of patrol police.
There were only 8 officials at first, but due to social unrest, it has now expanded to 15 or 6 officials.
Their daily job is to ride horses and lead their men around aimlessly in the 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, temple grounds, or townsfolk. .
Free to use violence against prisoners and suspects. If a prisoner or suspect resists and is difficult to subdue, he or she can be killed directly.
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 Thieves 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 officer 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 the work, the officer's house will be used as the office. Therefore, the prison where the fire-paying thieves were transferred was not fixed.
Unless there are some exceptions, the term of office of 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 bandits can freely enter and exit all areas including samurai lands, town lands, and temple lands.
However, compared with the Eight Prefectures Directors, the Huofu Thieves Reform has a very powerful difference - it is not only an independent security force, but also an independent judicial authority.
After the prisoner is captured by the prison, if he wants to be tortured and interrogated, he must 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 complicated interrogation procedures when changing the rules of fire-paying thieves.
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 were almost no restrictions on the torture and interrogation of suspects, the torture methods used by Huo Fu Thieves were extremely harsh.
Therefore, there is a saying that has been circulating among the people: "Once you are arrested by a gangster, you will never come back alive."
Being able to enter and leave any area freely, and having the privilege of using lynching freely... This is not the most frightening thing about the Huo Fu Thieves Reform. The most terrifying 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 completely different from other security forces such as the "Sankai" and the eight states directors. than 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 Huofu Thieves Kai. Each squadron is manned by one of the vanguard bow group or the vanguard iron cannon group.
The third division of the Huo Fu Thieves Reform was concurrently served by the seventh division of the Archers.
Qingto, who became the captain of the third division, naturally became the leader of the seventh division.
He was promoted to a young archer general who could command dozens of archers in one fell swoop from Sadachi Hui Tongxin, who had only a few Okahiki under his direct subordinates... This kind of speed and span of promotion 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 did make great contributions in the decisive battle with the Yi group more than 2 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! He was extremely generous and generous in convicting and demoting people.
Since Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo shogunate, ended the chaos 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 are not engaged in production can all be 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 and find faults. The warriors who were relegated to errands were relegated.
There are countless members of the samurai family who were deprived of their official status, or even directly removed from their samurai ancestry and demoted to common people just for making a small mistake.
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 imperial family who had not made any earth-shattering achievements... No matter how you thought, it was 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 bit too fast, isn't it? 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 Mr. Boi if he knew why your promotion speed was so exaggerated."
"But unfortunately, Master Boi doesn't know the inside story."
"But I guess... this may be the handiwork of Lord Dashu."
"Master Dashu?" Qingden raised his eyebrows.
"'Shu Gong 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 sign."
"This means that Dashu Gong is very likely to be interested in you who have made extraordinary achievements, and wants to see you in person."
"If Mr. Dashu really recruited you into Edo Castle for this reason, then it would make sense why you would be promoted abruptly."
"He rose to great heights because he was highly appreciated by those above him... There is a ready-made precedent within the shogunate."
"Who?" Qingdeng asked subconsciously.
Arima smiled calmly:
"Katsu-sama, who was saved by Tachibana-kun before. He was just a junior Hatamoto, and now he is about to be promoted to the new warship leader."
Warship enshrinement: a new official position established by the Edo shogunate after the founding of the country due to the power of the great powers. Responsible for purchasing, building warships and training warship technology. The 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" who was rescued by Seito during the "Battle of Fanshu Tiao Institute" a few months ago. .
Katsurintaro, who was born as a subordinate Hatamoto, rose to prominence and skyrocketed because he was highly appreciated by his former senior lieutenant, Masahiro Abe.
Tokugawa Iemo, who inherited the position of shogun two years ago, also admired Katsurin Taro very much and has been cultivating him vigorously.
In terms of the speed of promotion of official positions, compared with Katsurin Taro, Ayoto is really dwarfed.
Confirmed news has been received: Rintaro Katsu has been promoted to the new warship commander and will be fully responsible for the construction of the shogunate navy.
Qingteng, who was very benevolent to both Shenglin Taro and Fanshu Diao, had been keeping in touch with Shenglintaro in the past few months. Qingteng also took advantage of his free time to visit Fanshu Diao Institute several times.
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. Qingto 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 have become his friends. He also has a close relationship with the scholars at the Fanshu Diao Institute who are 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 Tenzouin.
"Lord Arima." Qingdeng asked out of curiosity, "Have you ever met His Highness Tianzhangyuan?"
Arima's position is just right to touch the threshold of the city. On the 1st, 15th and 25th of every month, as well as during holidays, Arima had to dress up in costumes and enter Edo Castle with other officials to 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. Moreover, 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 chance to see His Highness Tianzhangyuan. of beauty."
"Lord Arima, hearing your tone...do you really want to meet His Highness Tianzhangyuan?" Qingteng asked in a half-joking tone.
"I'm just curious about His Highness Tenzouin's appearance." Arima said calmly, "I have heard that His Highness Tenzouin has an appearance that is like a fish and a 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 swordsmanship hall."
——Can you actually compete with Sanako-san in terms of beauty?
Upon hearing this, Qingdeng, who had previously been indifferent to Tianzhang Court, 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. Ju, are you like those guys who always want to soothe the lonely hearts of young widows, and you have 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 with 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 , Ainoto wants to go to the fireworks display with Souji, Kondo, Hijikata, Inoue, Saito, Nagakura, Harada, and Toudo to watch the fireworks.
After Souji and 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 event, Toudou Heisuke happened to come to visit, so Aitobo and the others took advantage of the opportunity and invited Toudou, who currently has a good relationship with the Shiwei Hall.
Toudo 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, his wife, and 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 enjoy the place and the more she wants to stay away from it. Secluded ancient temples, deep winding paths...these are the places that Hikaru Okita favors.
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 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 that officially started on August 23...
On the 23rd, I have a date with Mai Kinoshita. On the 24th, I will hold a swordsmanship show with Sanako and Chiba Jutaro on the street at the convention 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 three days, Qingdeng and he carried 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...
…
…
The first year of Wanyan (1860), August 23, 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 walked into 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've got 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—genuine and genuine surprise.
Anthony actually agreed to take Elodie to watch the fireworks... This was beyond Qingden's expectation.
Qingdeng thought that 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 meet 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 after we bring bodyguards and cover our faces with headscarves and masks!"
Qingden nodded. They hire bodyguards and hide their faces that are completely different from those of Asians... If this is the case, then the probability of encountering danger at the fireworks display can 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, that's 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.
"What day do you plan to watch the fireworks?"
"No.25!"
"On the 25th? Then there's a chance we can 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 precise, no matter what day, we have the opportunity to meet at the conference...
Qingdeng 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.
*******
*******
Today is the last day of this month. Book friends who still have monthly votes on hand, please be sure to vote for this book. After today, all monthly votes on hand will be invalid. (leopard death.jpg)
Asking for a monthly ticket! Please vote for recommendation! (Leopard head crying.jpg)
As the new January is approaching, the much-anticipated "Fireworks Display" is finally about to begin! Please stay tuned to see how "Time Management Master" Qingden 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, responsible for putting out fires for civilians.
(End of chapter)
