I formed the strongest swordsman group

1 year and 8 months later—

In the second year of Wenjiu (1862), December 1st——

The sky in early winter is blue and clear, and the sun is soft.

Due to the cold weather, the streets and alleys of Edo and between the tiles are covered with white snow.

Pedestrians on the road have already put on thick winter clothes, looking bloated and funny.

With the arrival of cold winter and the reduction of water volume, the number of canoes and small boats on the Sumida River, Kanda River and other rivers has decreased significantly.

However, with the coming of the Spring Festival, many households have placed exquisite pine trees outside their doors.

Classic New Year products such as oranges, mirror cakes, and red envelopes have already appeared on the shelves of various shops.

From Nagigawa in the west to Naito Shinjuku in the east, the huge Edo is full of strong "New Year flavor".

The cries of the shopkeepers echoed in the streets and alleys.

The woman with the basket in her hand casts a scrutinizing look at the dazzling array of goods on the shelves.

Young people with nothing to do got together, looked here and there, and went wherever the excitement was.

The children ran away laughing and playing.

At the school, dojo and other places where young samurai often gather, rumors spread from time to time, "What are the Changzhou people trying to do? Are they trying to 'take the emperor to order the princes'?!", "It must be done as soon as possible. Stop the chaos in Kyoto!", "Kawagami Hikosai, Okada Izo, Tanaka Shinbei... It's unreasonable to kill people who are making troubles in Kyoto! Do they think that they can change the world with just a mere sword? ?!" and other such impassioned speeches.

Bustling and bustling, strands of lines line.

Although there are "Xiyi" outside and "rebellious parties" inside, the country's situation is becoming more and more chaotic day by day. The feudal lord, Matsudaira Yoho, can't suppress the chaos in Kyoto", "Satsuma, Choshu, and Aizu will declare war on each other at any time", "war is about to break out in the Gyeonggi area" and other news are constantly circulating.

But... perhaps it is due to the regional character of "there is wine today and the drunkenness today" and "Edo people don't save overnight money". Whether it is the western countries that are constantly advancing overseas or the chaos in the Gyeonggi area, they have not succeeded. It affected the food, drink, housing and transportation of the people in Edo, and carpe diem in time.

They are still like climbing to the spring platform, happily welcoming the arrival of the new year.

The largest city in Japan is still full of feasting, extravagance and extravagance...

...

...

Edo, Asakusa Mimon Nei Hirokoji, Yoshikawa Restaurant——

The mellow aroma of wine, strong vegetable aroma, and alluring fragrance of powder continuously wafts out from the kiosk, fragrant half the street.

The history of restaurant, almost the same as that of izakaya, also began in the Edo period.

The so-called "ryotei" can be understood as a high-end restaurant, and the objects served are mostly affluent upper-class people in society. Ordinary Japanese restaurants cannot be called "ryotei" casually.

At this moment, in a certain private room of Yoshikawa Restaurant, a middle-aged man over half a century old was toasting the young man in front of him with a flattering smile on his face.

"Master Hayakawaya, you would like to honor your presence by coming here today, the small shop is really flourishing!"

Old-fashioned and nasty flattery.

The young man who was called "Hayakawaya" was obviously used to being flattered by others.

Facing the flattery of the middle-aged man, he was completely unmoved, and stretched out the wine glass in his hand with no expression on his face, filled it up, and drank it down in one gulp.

There is a word "house" in the surname-a very typical businessman's name.

"Kichikuro, is Suzune here?"

Hayakawaya said with restraint and impatience.

Ji Jiulang was half terrified, half nervous and hurriedly said:

"Come here! She's coming soon!"

As soon as his words fell, soft footsteps came from far and near in the direction of the corridor.

Immediately afterwards, two maids kneeling outside the door of the private room pushed open the paper sliding door with exquisite pictures, and a young girl with shamisen in her arms entered the room slowly.

The girl has a pair of clear and handsome willow eyebrows, smooth and slender eyelashes, a straight nose bridge, full red lips, and intellectual brilliance in her eyes—she is a very beautiful beauty.

In addition, her dress is also extremely decent, elegant, and impeccable in everything.

She wore a goose-yellow inner jacket, a light blue feather weaving jacket, and a creamy white delicate belt wrapped around her soft slender waist.

A pair of immaculate white foot pockets wrapped her full insteps and beautiful slender feet all the way to the ankles.

Her evidently trained light and generous gait has an air of grace, simplicity and pleasing charm.

Seeing this woman's arrival, Hayakawaya's eyes lit up immediately, he immediately put down the wine glass in his hand, clapped his hands and laughed:

"Oh! Lingyin, you are finally here!"

Suzune bowed gracefully, and bowed to Hayakawaya in front of him in a nonchalant manner, with a standard that could not find any faults.

"Master Hayakawaya, Guian, you..."

Before she finished speaking, she was roughly interrupted by the other party:

"Come on! Stop talking nonsense! Quick! Come to me!"

While talking, Hayakawaya slapped the tatami beside him vigorously.

Ever since Lingyin entered the room, his eyes had never left his neck, waist, chest, ankles, etc., with a salivating and disgusting appearance.

As soon as Hayakawaya's request came out, Suzune's expression froze immediately.

Having worked at Yoshikawa restaurant for many years, she is very skilled in how to deal with customers' difficulties.

She reacted quickly, and replied neither humble nor overbearing:

"Master Hayakawaya, the little girl is a musician, not a playboy."

Jikuro also said with a smile on his face:

"Master Hayakawaya, I'm very sorry, the music performers in our shop don't provide this kind of service..."

After all, kiosks are high-end places, and they cannot be compared with those low-end pubs and restaurants on roadside corners. It is impossible to provide the kind of service of "playing the piano for you during the day, and accompany you to study how to use the human body to produce voices at night".

The musicians, kabuki, and maiko at the Yoshikawa restaurant are all very serious craftsmen, who only sell their skills but not their bodies.

However, Hayakawaya did not buy into the argument of the two.

"What are you talking about?"

He slammed on the tatami beside him, and the loud noise made Suzune and Jikuro jump.

"Wandering girl who sells laughter? Doesn't provide this kind of service? What a mess!"

"Did I ask her to undress immediately? Did I order her to sleep with me at night?"

"I just let her sit next to me, I want to get closer to her, and I want to talk to her more personally!"

"I came here condescendingly just to chat with Lingyin! Otherwise, ghosts would come to a shop like yours!"

His own shop was slandered, and his own personality was also belittled... Suzune and Kichikuro's complexions became very ugly.

But they didn't dare to attack, they could only swallow their anger and grievances forcefully back into their stomachs.

Hayakawaya is one of the messengers with all-hands-eyes in Edo.

Zacha—that is, the group of giant merchants who monopolized the Lumi trade of warriors such as Qiben and Yujia, and were extremely wealthy.

This unreasonable young man-Hayakawaya Danshichiro-is the current head of Hayakawaya: the seventh son of Hayakawaya Shotaro.

According to the regulations of the Edo Shogunate, there is no "separate inheritance" of family property from the daimyo of the separatist party to the peasants with only a few parts of Susukida.

All family property must be passed on to the eldest son. If the eldest son is gone, it will be passed to the second son. If the second son is gone, it will be passed to the third son. If the son is gone, it will be passed to the eldest son, and so on.

When the family property was inherited, the other sons either stayed at home and ate their old age, or went to find another way out by themselves.

This is why the cultural celebrities and martial arts celebrities in the Edo period were often the second and third sons in the family - because the eldest son was busy inheriting the family business, he couldn't get a penny, and he didn't want to be a rice bug in the family. The second and third sons of the family can only fiddle with other businesses and develop in other fields.

Hayakawa Yadan Shichiro knew that as his father's seventh son, he basically had no possibility of inheriting the family business, so he was very self-aware since he was a child - he became a well-known playboy in Edo...

Proficient in eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, spending money like water, lustful and coquettish, bullying others... the common vices of dudes, he does not lose any of them.

Although they are all pursuing pleasure, there is an old saying that goes well - "Everyone has his own ambitions".

They are both playboys, but some like to eat and drink, some like to gamble, and some like to listen to operas.

As for Hayakawa Yadanshiro, he was more ordinary—he liked women.

Almost every day, you can see him spending a lot of money in Yoshihara, Okaka and other romantic places.

The women around him changed one after another, spending all day in the crowd of women.

If he is just lustful and only vents his endless desire on the girls, then that's fine.

However...he often used his power to bully daughters from good families.

In order to take over the woman he likes, he even resorted to some very despicable methods, semi-coercing or even forcing the other party to submit.

In the "Edo dandy circle" with a very bad reputation, Hayakawaya Danshiro belongs to the category of people with a very bad reputation.

Just when Suzune and Kichikuro didn't know what to do, Hayakawaya Danshiro suddenly put on a pleasant expression.

"Lingyin, don't worry, I really just want to get closer to you and listen to your sweet voice more clearly. I will never do anything excessive to you."

After all, he patted his chest seriously.

snort! You probably told no less than 10 women this kind of nonsense! Lingyin slandered. She didn't believe a word of Hayakawa Yadan Shichiro's rhetoric.

When she really sat next to him, he would definitely first rub her legs and hug her shoulders without any trace, then touch her feet, kiss her face...just like this step by step, step by step, he would molested her.

If he really didn't do anything, just to get close to her and chat with her, it would also have a very bad impact on her reputation.

She is a serious musician who does not sell herself, but only serves the upper class in society.

It can be said that "innocence" is her biggest signboard.

If there is a black history of "sit with a customer", how will she mess around in the future?

Seeing that Suzune was still hesitating and standing still, the smile on Hayakawa Yadanshiro's face disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Instead, there was an increasingly intense look of impatience.

"Tsk! You are such a troublesome woman! Don't you have ears? Didn't you hear me calling you over? Do you have to wait until I get angry before you can understand people?"

Hayakawa Yadanshiro tore off the mask of hypocrisy, and slapped the tatami next to him vigorously again.

The loud sound... or the threat hidden in his words made both Suzune and Jikuro tremble.

Although Yoshikawa restaurant is above the thousands of restaurants in Edo, it can only be ranked at the bottom among many restaurants in Edo in terms of brand name.

"That... the bell...?"

At this time, Jikuro slowly turned his head to the side, with a slumped face, and cast a meaningful look at Suzune.

Such a gaze, such an expression... His meaning is very obvious...

Even Mr. Kikuro, the only one he can rely on now, bowed his knees and surrendered... Suzune clenched her lower lip, her pretty face was stained with grievance and resentment.

The delicate figure of the shamisen hugged subconsciously because of deep anxiety, like catkins swaying in the strong wind, without any support.

Suddenly, at this moment, she suddenly seemed to remember something, and she was taken aback.

Immediately afterwards, she took a deep breath, summoned up her courage and said loudly:

"Master Hayakawaya! I have a little friendship with Master Tachibana! Can you give Master Tachibana some favors!"

Hayakawa Yadanshiro was stunned.

"Tachibana? Which tachibana?"

In Japanese, tachibana can be written as "立花" or "立花", and it can also be written... the surname of the adult who has been messing with the situation since 2 years ago.

Now that the matter has come to this point, Lingyin has no room for repentance, she can only bite the bullet and continue to say:

"That Tachibana-sama who is also the servant of the imperial court!"

Hayakawa Yadanshiro was taken aback for a second, then he murmured slowly as if chewing every word:

"Oh... that's the 'King Nio'..."

If you want to say who is the most famous celebrity in Edo in recent years, it is undoubtedly the "King Nio"!

Since Qingdeng broke through Qingshui Mansion, the reputation of "King Ren" has spread from the original only in the Kanto region and Kyoto, Osaka and other prosperous places, and spread to all parts of the country in one go!

From Songqian in the north to Satsuma in the south, "Juqingdeng" has become a name that everyone knows.

Especially after the Edo shogunate gave him a rich and rare reward, it made him more legendary.

The family salary has been increased by 4000 shi, and several ranks have been promoted. From the original Huofu thief to the captain, he has moved from the right to a side member and imperial servant... How many years has it been since the shogunate had such a dazzling new political star?

There are two main types of close ministers of General Zheng Yi, one is called "side servants" and the other is the "side people" Qingdeng currently works for.

The former is responsible for passing on the general's orders to the old middlemen, and the treatment is comparable to that of the old middlemen, and they are usually selected from among those whose family income is more than 10,000 shi.

In the first year of Zhenxiang (1684), after Masatoshi Hotta, who served as the boss, was assassinated, the power of side servants increased accordingly.

Yoshiho Yanagisawa (servant of the fifth shogun Tsunakichi), Mabe Kanbo (servant of the sixth shogun Ieno and seventh shogun Ietsu), Tanuma Yoshiji (servant of the tenth shogun Ieji), Mizuno Tadashiro (The side servants of the eleventh general Jiaqi) are all very famous side servants.

The number of side members is 5-8, and their status is lower than that of side employers. Although they can also participate in politics, the political figures they can get in touch with and the political events they can interfere with are definitely not as good as side employes.

Qingdeng's family salary has not reached Wanshi, so he is naturally not predestined to be a side-employer.

However, it is precisely because the specific functions of the side crowd are not so clear, so Iemo Tokugawa has been given considerable room for manipulation.

With the full support of Iemo Tokugawa, Qingdeng's real status... can be summed up in one word: he is called a side member, but he is actually a side servant!

Tokugawa Jiashige has not yet set up his own servant, so he almost uses Qingdeng as a servant to train and cultivate.

Not too important political affairs... especially those related to military affairs, Tokugawa Jiashige mostly handed over to Qingdeng to handle.

Qingdeng also had the right to sit beside Ieshiro Tokugawa when holding a summit meeting in which only the Shogun, Laozhong, and Wakenyose participated.

Let me give an example of an image that may not be particularly accurate, but it is generally not bad-if the old middlemen headed by Nobuyoshi Matsudaira are prime ministers, then Qingdeng is now the Minister of Military Aircraft Department! Power is in your hands!

What's more, he is also the imperial servant in charge of Ooku's affairs.

Don't underestimate Da'ao's energy.

No matter in which era or country, the political energy of concubines in the harem cannot be ignored.

Leaving aside those complicated manipulations, just talking about the most simple and easy-to-understand pillow gossip—a pillow gossip from a certain concubine might be able to affect state affairs, or even shake the foundation of the country.

Ever since Qingdeng took office as a servant of Yutai, Tianzhang Court has expressed the greatest support for his appointment.

She personally took the lead in cooperating with all Qingdeng's work, and the officials under her, such as Yu Nianji, Yu Zhongji, Yu Ke Hui Shi, had to follow her.

Except for the newly arrived Kyoto women headed by He Gong who don't show Qingdeng's face very much, all the women in the Tianzhang Academy are all obedient to Qingdeng—this naturally further strengthens Qingdeng's reputation. power.

Even a blind person can see that Tokugawa Iemo and Tenzhangin intend to focus on cultivating Qingdeng.

Ju Qingdeng was very favored—this kind of political signal raised his political status invisibly.

To put it bluntly...the current Qingdeng can walk sideways in Edo!

Even if it is an old middle-aged and a famous vassal, when they see Qingdeng, they have to greet Qingdeng politely and do enough superficial work.

This is true even for these bigwig-level figures, let alone a messenger who has no other merits except being rich.

Zacha can only bully the powerless common people and middle and lower-level warriors.

Facing high-ranking warriors with lofty political status... especially high-ranking warriors like Qingdeng, they were absolutely untouchable.

Looking at Suzune who threatened to have friendship with Tachibana Qingdeng, Hayakawa Yadanshiro blinked, then laughed loudly:

"Do you have friendship with Ju Qingdeng? Then you should quickly invite Ju Qingdeng!"

Saying that, Hayakawa Yadanshiro showed a disdainful and contemptuous expression.

"Hmph, Suzune, I'll let you go this time. It's a rare opportunity, so let me give you a piece of advice: In a place like Edo, don't casually report the names of important people, as this will only lead to embarrassment."

His ridicule towards Lingyin was beyond words.

What is Juqingdeng's identity?

What is your ring tone?

The former is a dignified official with great power.

You who are just a musician, can you have a relationship with the other party?

stop teasing me!

Hayakawa Yadanshiro decided that Suzune was bragging for self-protection, and laughed unconsciously.

Just when his patience was exhausted, he stood up leisurely, ready to walk over, and when he took Lingyin into his arms with his own hands——

Boom!

The originally closed door was suddenly pulled open.

A young samurai who appeared to be around 20 years old strode into the room.

I saw this young man wearing a black lacquer hat with gold leaf inside, which symbolizes a high-ranking vassal, and a dark red silk-patterned kimono (kimono with a family crest) on his upper body. A haori hakama (dress with a jacket and a hakama), with three swords on the left waist—one is an ordinary wakizasa, the other is a black-and-red sheathed sword, and the last is a It is an ancient sword with a black and purple handle and sheath.

After the young man entered the room, he was not in a hurry to speak.

Instead, he put his left hand on his hips first, with the three knives on his palm close to his waist, tilted his head, and scanned the room with calm eyes. His face was drawn one by one, and finally he said softly in an indifferent tone:

"I seem to hear someone calling my name. Who is it? Who is calling my name Ju Qingdeng?"

*****

*****

The third volume of "Rising Clouds", officially started serialization!

Ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a recommendation ticket! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)

The total number of words in this volume is more than 1 million words. It may be another super long novel comparable to the previous volume. Please be prepared~~

Satsuma Fan, Changzhou Fan, Aizu Fan and other vassal powers have all stepped onto the stage of history; Kawagami Hikosai, Okada Izo and others have also begun to emerge... The beginning of this volume is full of "the storm is coming" "'s momentum, even the leopards can't wait to write the following plot quickly~~

Push a book today!

"Tokyo: This narration is wrong! "

Traveling through Tokyo, a 30-year-old soul with an 18-year-old body thought he had made money, until he got the diary that seemed to be the original body, and the narration that sounded wrong...

【Tsk tsk, who will be the target of the diary owner? Or a hunter hiding in the dark waiting for the lost lamb to be caught? 】

This book is also called "My Neighbors and Me"

【Tokyo】+【Love】+【Suspense】+【Narration】+【Reversal】