I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 782 The whole country is shocked! All the major businessmen support Qing Deng! [4200]

Kyoto, Mibu-go, Shinsengumi garrison, a certain courtyard——

Hijikata Toshizo, who was sitting cross-legged on the corridor, stuffed a rice ball into his mouth and said incoherently:

"It's so slow... Why hasn't there been any news from Osaka yet?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kondo Isami next to him said helplessly:
"A-Sui, you are too impatient."

Shannan Jingsuke nodded and agreed:

"Kondo-kun is right."

"'Can we form an alliance with Huluya'——This concerns the future of the Qinjin clan."

"For such an important meeting, it is understandable that it is slow."

Hijikata Toshizo, Kondo Isami, and Yamanami Keisuke - the three of them sat side by side, eating, and chatting from time to time about recent interesting news and government affairs.

During the time that Qing Deng went to Osaka, the three of them took on the main responsibility.

Because of this, they've been spending a lot more time together lately.

Long before Qing Deng went to Osaka, his think tanks had developed a thorough and detailed plan on the topic of "how to build the Qinjin Domain".

Everything is ready, only money and food are missing!
As long as the money and grain arrive, all projects, whether it is reclaiming land or building bastions, can be launched and started immediately!
After swallowing the rice ball in his mouth, Hijikata Toshizo raised his eyes and looked into the distance, as if in deep thought.

"If Tachibana fails... then our future will be difficult."

Kondo Isami and Yamanami Keisuke were silent. They pursed their lips and looked solemn.

Although this topic is very heavy, so heavy that people don't want to face it, they have to admit that whether Qing Deng's "Osaka trip" can be a complete success is a huge variable.

Hijikata Toshizo and others did not know about the Calabash House.

They had only heard a few words about this organization from Qing Deng and Kinoshita Mai.

All we know is that this is a low-key business group with incredible energy.

Although due to various reasons such as institutional defects and historical legacies, the special group of "Osaka tycoons" was born.

However, since its establishment, the Edo Shogunate has always insisted on promoting and maintaining the social hierarchy of "samurai, farmers, merchants and artisans."

"Samurai are the noblest, merchants are the lowest" - this idea has been popular in Japan for hundreds of years.

Under this influence, people like Hijikata Toshizo had huge prejudices against the "merchant" group.

In their perception, businessmen are extremely ruthless beings.

On the one hand, as long as there is profit to be made, they dare to go against the world.

But on the other hand, if there is no profit to be gained, they will show amazing stinginess and disregard human ethics, morality and social norms.

Is Huluwu willing to form an alliance with the Qinjin clan, which was just established and still very young?
I'm afraid even Qing Deng himself can't explain this kind of thing...

Always be pessimistic and prepare for the worst - this is a basic quality that a leader should have.

Although on the surface, Hijikata Toshizo and others all acted confident that "Aoto can definitely do it", this was just a means to stabilize people's hearts.

In fact, they had secretly prepared themselves for the possibility of a "breakdown in negotiations" and had drawn up a series of remedial measures for this purpose.

The first thing is to find a good "next buyer".

Huluwu is not the only force with money and food.

They can just go and cooperate with the "next buyer".

If even this trick doesn't work, then they can only resort to the last resort - pinning their hopes on Yataro Iwasaki.

To put it simply, it is to expect that the newly selected chamber of commerce can find new big business opportunities, or develop new popular chambers of commerce, so as to raise enough money and food for the Qinjin clan.

Regardless of whether this method is successful or not, relying solely on the newly elected chamber of commerce would be too inefficient.

After all, the first priority of the Shinsen Chamber of Commerce is to support the Shinsengumi to ensure the normal operation of the latter.

It would take who knows when the Xinxuan Chamber of Commerce would raise enough money and grain to promote the "Fan State Construction"...

Just when Hijikata Toshizo and the others were looking worried, suddenly, Souji's voice came from afar:
"Mr. Hijikata! Mr. Hijikata!"

Along with the shouts, the sound of "da da da da" footsteps gradually approached and became louder.

In order to speed up his pace, Soshitari pulled the hem of his trousers and ran excitedly towards Hijikata Toshizo and others.

Thanks to Sanako's "self-explosion", Souji's "true identity" has been revealed to the world.

"Okita Souji is a girl" - on the day when this shocking news spread, the sound of "heartbreak" echoed in every corner of Kyoto.

First of all, countless girls’ hearts were broken.

Women in the Edo period generally liked men who were cheerful, had fair skin, loud voices, were full of masculine energy, and had masculine looks.

The representative figure is the Kabuki actor, the eighth generation Ichikawa Danjuro, who committed suicide not long ago (1854).

Because he is so handsome, he is fanatically pursued by girls. Even his spit is collected by some people and worshipped like a sacred object.

After the eighth generation leader Ichikawa Danjuro committed suicide for no reason, countless women were heartbroken and cried until their eyes almost popped out. A painter even specially painted this grand scene.

To be fair, Souji's feminine appearance due to his disguise as a man does not conform to the aesthetics of the Edo period.

However, she at least met the criteria of being cheerful, fair-skinned and having a loud voice - especially "cheerful" and "fair-skinned".

Her cheerful personality that seemed to radiate light all over her body and her sun-like smile attracted countless girls.

There are so many girls who admire and pursue Souji.

For example, the daughter of a nearby clinic really likes Souji.

She always comes to see Souji, sometimes bringing him homemade bento, sometimes bringing him Souji's favorite sweets.

The crazy pursuit of these girls made Souji very embarrassed - she could not respond to their feelings, but she could not explain the reason.

Immediately afterwards, countless Taoists had their hearts broken.

Strangely enough, women in the Edo period liked masculine men, while moralists, on the other hand, preferred delicate, girlish men.

Souji's appearance is exactly what these guys like!
Although I haven't counted carefully, it's hard to say whether the people who admire the "male version of Souji" are mostly men or women...

The crazy pursuit and entanglement of the Taoists made Souji feel even more embarrassed.

From another perspective, Sanako's "self-destruction" can be regarded as a relief for Souji.

From now on, she no longer has to endure the pursuit and harassment from her homosexuals and people of all walks of life.

On the other hand, the exposure of her "true identity" also made many men feel relieved.

Souji's handsome appearance makes many straight men's hearts beat faster.

This caused the latter to fall into a deep dilemma - am I also trapped in the Tao?

When the news that "Souji is a girl" came out, they immediately felt relieved - Great! I really do like women!
At the same time, many male compatriots were ecstatic.

Men are such simple creatures that they can feel ecstasy from the bottom of their hearts just by having a beautiful woman around them.

Of course, no matter how excited they are, up to now, no one has dared to pursue Souji openly.

The reason is quite simple.

At the same time when Souji revealed his "true identity", the news that "'Niou' Tachibana Aoto is going to marry Souji's daughter" also spread.

Who has the confidence to compete with "Nioh"?

Women and people of all walks of life were not able to pursue her; ordinary men did not dare to pursue her - and just like that, Souji lived a long-lost peaceful life.

Because the "true self" has been revealed, there is no need to hide it anymore.

However, because she is used to wearing men's clothes, Souji still wears men's clothes. Even when she is wearing casual clothes, she rarely wears women's kimono and ties her hair into a Shimada bun like Kinoshita Mai.

The only change on her body was that she took off her breast wrap.

At first glance, except for her swollen breasts, her appearance was no different from before.

Seeing Souji suddenly running over, Hijikata Toshizo and others, knowing that something urgent had happened, hurriedly stopped what they were doing.

The general's pace was very fast.

She was outside the courtyard the previous second, and the next second she was already in the center of the courtyard.

Before the other party could ask a question, she took the lead and said cheerfully:
"Tachibana-kun, he succeeded! Calabash House agreed to form an alliance with us!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere on the scene suddenly changed - the heavy atmosphere dissipated and was filled with an air of surprise.

Kondo Isami murmured blankly:
“Successful…?”

Although Yamanami Keisuke didn't say anything, his face was filled with surprise and joy.

Hijikata Toshizo was the first to recover from his shock, and asked pointedly:

"How much money is Calabash House willing to provide us? What is the duration of the covenant?"

Souji raised a fist.

This move confused the other side.

A fist - how many numbers is that?
Fortunately, the general manager quickly solved their doubts.

"No, no limit!"

She said in a loud voice, unable to suppress her excitement:
"There is no specific number! Hulu House will provide us with unlimited support!"

"Besides, it doesn't cost us anything!"

"The only thing we have to do is to deal with the Fazhu Party wholeheartedly and wipe it out completely!"

Suddenly, the whole place was silent - only the sound of heavy breathing remained.

No matter it was the bold and unrestrained Kondo Isami, or the calm and steady Hijikata Toshizo and Yamanami Keisuke, they all showed the same look at this moment - dumbfounded, looking at Souji with disbelief.

It was not until a long while later that Kondo Isami swallowed hard and raised a question:
"Xiao Si...you are not kidding us, right?"

The chief replied angrily:
"Although I like to joke around, I will never talk nonsense about such an important matter."

Everyone present knew Souji's personality very well, and they knew that she was not the kind of person who spoke without thinking.

Hijikata: “…”

Kondo: “…”

Shannan: “…”

They looked at each other, as if they wanted to share their surging and passionate emotions with each other.

In a moment, Hijikata Toshizo grinned, revealing his snow-white teeth, with the corners of his lips raised in an excited arc.

"Asheng, Shannan, we are going to be very busy from now on!"

……

……

Kyoto, the streets and alleys——

"Hey! Did you hear that?"

"Ah? What's wrong?"

"Oh my, you are so uninformed!"

"That's right! It's such a big thing, and you don't even know anything about it!"

"Oh, stop playing dumb! Tell me, what happened? Did the people from Changzhou attack us?"

"No! There's something going on in Osaka!"

"The big merchants in Osaka have issued statements one after another! They expressed their full support for 'Niou'! Providing the Qinjin Domain with all-round material support such as money, food, livestock, etc.!"

"The big businessmen in Osaka? Who are they?"

"Kageda-ya, Saikai-ya, Gan-ya, Fan-ya, Nanahiko-ya... Ma'am, there are too many! I can't count them all!"

"What? Aren't these powerful and wealthy merchants?"

"That's why I said this is a big deal! It's incredible that these big merchants are helping Nioh together!"

"Why is this so? Aren't the wealthy businessmen in Osaka always extremely stingy?"

"It is said that this is another credit to King Ni!"

"Legend has it that he went to Osaka alone and used his eloquence to persuade the wealthy businessmen there to lend a helping hand willingly! This is how the current grand situation came about!"

"Ren Wang is actually proficient in the art of strategy?"

"What's so strange about this? Have you forgotten? Not long ago, he single-handedly persuaded the British fleet in Edo Bay to retreat without any soldiers!"

"Ah, that's true..."

"Suddenly, they have received countless money and food... Hey, if this happens, won't the Qinjin Clan rise rapidly?"

"That's for sure! As long as we have money and food, we can solve most of the problems in this world!"

"I dare to conclude that within five years, the Qinjin Clan will become a powerful clan that dominates the world!"

……

……

Osaka, Kyoto, Nara... More and more towns and cities received the breaking news that "Osaka tycoons jointly invested to sponsor the Qinjin clan."

As of now, it is still spreading rapidly.

I believe it won’t be long before this news spreads across the country.

Wherever this news spread, there would be exclamations of surprise.

Shock……

It's really shocking!
It is not difficult for any normal person to guess what will happen when this huge amount of money and grain is handed over to the talented and ambitious "Niou" Tachibana Aotoshi!
After gaining the recognition of Kinoshita Lin and becoming her grandson-in-law, Qing Deng gained a deeper understanding of Huluwu.

Huluwu is not a traditional business that “buys low and sells high”.

To put it simply...it's more like an investor!

Once we find talents or businesses that are worth training, we will invest in training and helping them.

Although there may be occasional situations where "investments fail and all money is lost", the gains are always greater than the losses.

Over time, Huluwu has built a huge network of contacts!

From Ezo in the north to Kyushu Oshima in the south...businesses that have benefited from Huluya are spread all over the country!

In Osaka alone, businesses associated with Huluya include but are not limited to the big grain merchant "Jingtianya", the big wine merchant "Saikaiya", the big fruit merchant "Ganya", the spice merchant "Fanya"...all of them are well-known names!
This is exactly why Calabash House is not well known - they are always hiding behind the scenes and rarely come to the front!
In this era of underdeveloped information exchange, it is difficult for ordinary people to know about the existence of Hulu House.

When Kinoshita Rin issued the call to "fully support Tachibana Aoto", the "network of contacts" under his command quickly started to work!

Major businesses such as Jingtianwu and Xihaiwu have responded!
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ps: It is said that in history, Souji was a macho man - this just fits the definition of "handsome guy" in the Edo period.