I formed the strongest swordsman group

The first year of Yuanzhi (1864), December 28th——

In two days it will be New Year's Eve.

The arrival of the New Year slightly diluted the shadow of war.

The smell of blood in the air was gradually replaced by a festive atmosphere.

As the people who had fled to avoid the disaster returned one after another, the smell of life once again descended upon this devastated town.

Shops opened one after another.

There are more and more pedestrians on the street.

The shouts in the market became louder and louder.

Chinese New Year essentials such as mirror cakes and Tusu wine are put on the shelves.

Families with a little financial resources put door pine trees and shulian decorations in front of their doors, which made people feel the arrival of the New Year intuitively.

The "New Year atmosphere" is in the air, and everything seems to be back on track.

Compared with the scenes of shouting and killing and blood flowing a while ago, it really seems like a lifetime ago.

In recent days, probably the only major event worth mentioning is the Emperor's announcement of a change of era name.

Too many things happened this year, with various major events following one after another, making it hard to breathe. People almost forget that the series of major events such as the "Ikedaya Incident", "Kyoto Summer Campaign", "Choshu Conquest", "Second Battle of Sekigahara" and "Edo Siege" all happened within just a few months!

From summer to winter... in just half a year, the situation in the world has changed several times.

Looking back at the summer not long ago, Choshu, which had been defeated repeatedly, was already on the verge of death.

At that time, everyone in the world felt that Choshu was finished and no longer had the ability and qualifications to compete for the world.

But in winter, Choshu joined forces with the Fazhu Party and launched a brilliant counterattack, forcing the shogunate into a desperate situation!

Although they did not succeed in capturing Edo, they did inflict a heavy blow to the shogunate, reversed an originally doomed situation, and turned a dead chess piece back into life!

Immediately afterwards, the feudal lords on the front line of the expedition took advantage of the situation and rubbed salt into the shogunate's "wound".

After fighting for more than half a year, all forces are back to square one - the world situation is confusing and no one knows who will win!

Such a dramatic turn of events is both cruel and tinged with black humor.

The imperial court felt that this year would be an eventful one, so in order to seek a good omen, it decided to abandon the existing era name "Genji" and change it to "Keio" after the New Year.

Apart from this, there is nothing else worth mentioning.

The samurai and common people of Edo were busy rebuilding their castles and towns and celebrating the New Year.

All is gentle, all is calm.

…

…

Somewhere in Nihonbashi——

"Kid! Go away! I only want adults here!"

"I, I'm as strong as an adult! Please! Let me work with you!"

"I'm still short of three people! Three more!"

"Me, me, me! Choose me! Look at me! I'm so strong!"

"I'm not picky about my work! Whether it's sifting sand or carrying wood, I can do it!"

"Huh? You're a samurai? We don't want samurai here!"

"Wu-Wu can't a warrior come and move the wood?"

"If you don't want to be freed, then go away! Go find someone else!"

…

At this moment, countless foremen were recruiting laborers in Nihonbashi.

Because it is the starting point of the "Five Streets", young people who come to Edo to work and make a living will first settle in Nihonbashi.

Because of this, foremen who are in urgent need of labor have set their sights on this piece of land full of traces.

They stand in a conspicuous place, announce loudly how many people they want and what the restrictions are, and then pick out the people they like from the crowd that flocks in.

After recruiting enough people, they would take the newly recruited laborers directly to the construction site and start working.

The brutal war brought profound damage to Edo.

The artillery fire of the French and Qi coalition forces destroyed more than 40% of Edo's ground buildings.

There are broken walls and ruins everywhere.

There are buildings and roads everywhere that are in urgent need of repair.

There are construction sites everywhere waiting to start.

There are business opportunities everywhere!

The civil engineering industry, which had been dormant for a long time, has become prosperous again.

Foremen from all over Edo went out together to take on big orders.

This "cake" was so tempting that even foremen from other places were attracted.

Foremen from other places united with each other, gathered a large number of people - most of these guys had dragons and phoenixes tattooed on their bodies - and rushed to Edo with great momentum, vowing to get a piece of the pie.

Anyone who is capable of engineering is not a good person - this truth is true in ancient and modern times, in China and abroad.

As expected, a fierce conflict broke out between the two sides, alarming even the Edo Bugyosho.

The riot was finally suppressed after a large number of officials were dispatched by the Executive Yuan to stop the fight and mediate.

The end result was that all the foremen from other places were expelled, and the local foremen in Edo were able to monopolize the nutritious pie of "post-war reconstruction".

Such results are not surprising.

It is natural that outsiders cannot defeat the local tyrants.

In any case, Edo's "post-war reconstruction" was finally put on the agenda and started quickly.

Suddenly, construction sites emerged one after another.

The "rustling" sound of sifting sand, the "ping-pong" sound of knocking things, the "ding-dong-dong" sound of hammering...all kinds of sounds unique to construction sites, one after another.

It is well known that civil engineering projects always boost the local economy.

Thanks to the hard work of these workers, people's livelihood in Edo quickly recovered.

A large number of businesses discovered this valuable business opportunity and rushed to various construction sites, setting up food stalls to make money from the workers.

Even some honest people who usually do not do business picked up their shoulder poles and sold simple food such as tea and glutinous rice balls to the workers.

As the saying goes, "food, sex and nature are part of one's nature", so not only the catering industry, but even women working in special industries are eyeing the wallets of these workers.

"They will get their wages today, so cheer up." - Such words can often be heard from the nightingales recently.

[Note: Nightingale: A cheap prostitute who solicits customers on the street. Most of them appear in front of Honjo, Samegawa Bridge, and Senso-do.]

These scenes seem like a replay of the "Reconstruction of the Ming Calendar".

After the "Furisode Fire" burned down two-thirds of Edo, the shogunate launched the vigorous "Meireki Reconstruction".

The impact of this reconstruction was so far-reaching that it affected every aspect of Edo.

It is no exaggeration to say that its influence has not been eliminated until now.

While repairing the buildings, the shogunate made major adjustments to the original urban planning and built a large number of wide roads specifically for fire prevention, namely Hirokoji.

Thanks to this series of ingenious new layouts, there has never been a serious fire in Edo since then, and the people of Edo have been able to stay away from the power of Zhurong.

The "Meireki Restoration" also allowed the Edo people to have healthier and more complete eating habits.

In order to adapt to the heavy civil engineering work, the workers naturally ate more and better, which directly promoted the development of Edo's catering industry.

Many foods and restaurants that are familiar to us today appeared during this period.

Not only that, the eating habits of Edo people have also undergone tremendous changes, from the original "two meals a day" to the common "three meals a day" today.

Judging from the results, the "Meireki Restoration" not only gave Edo a new life, but also allowed the samurai and common people of Edo to have a better life.

With the vivid example of "Meireki Reconstruction" as a reference, many Edo people were optimistic and thought: This war might become an opportunity for Edo to be "reborn" again!

…

…

"Boys! Follow me! Our job is to repair the bridge in Okemachi! This job is not difficult! Since we meet by chance, I will treat you to a drink tonight! Just consider it a welcome party for you!"

As soon as the foreman finished speaking, cheers louder and louder rang out around him.

About twenty strong and sturdy young men surrounded the foreman, and the group hurriedly left Nihonbashi and ran towards Okemachi.

With the foreman's encouragement, they were all eager to get started and were extremely excited, unable to wait to show their skills on the construction site.

Where young people gather, there is always noise.

Although everyone came from different places and didn't know each other, they started chatting enthusiastically in a short while.

"Okemachi... I remember the famous Chiba Sword Hall is in Okemachi, right?"

“That’s right!”

"Great! Then maybe we can run into Chiba Sanako, the 'most beautiful woman in Edo'! I've heard that Chiba Sanako is a beauty that only appears once in ten years! If I can meet her, I can brag about her to my fellow villagers when I return home in the future!"

Upon hearing this, the foreman sneered, "Ha!" and turned to look at the other party with a playful expression:

"Want to meet Chiba Sanako? That's a nice thought! Unfortunately, your idea is doomed to fail! Chiba Sanako has already married and moved to another place! It is said that she even has a child now!"

"What? Chiba Sanako is married?! Which bastard is so lucky!?"

"'Niou' Tachibana Aoto."

"Oh... uh uh... sorry... I just spoke out of turn and accidentally offended Lord Niou, please don't spread the word..."

The foreman smiled brightly:

"Don't worry! Lord Niou is different from other masters! He is very friendly and open-minded! He won't care about such a small matter! Even if your lies just now reach his ears, he will definitely just laugh it off!"

When talking about Nioh, everyone became excited.

There are two topics among men that are eternal and transcend age, region, and race.

One is "sex" and the other is "keyboard politics".

They had just talked about the former, it was time to start the latter!

In this way, the topic of the crowd smoothly transitioned from "the most beautiful woman in Edo" to "Niou" who had just made a contribution to saving the country.

"Your Majesty, Niou is truly amazing!"

"It's a pity that I have an old mother at home and I can't bear to leave her. Otherwise, I really want to go to Otsu to seek refuge with Lord Niou!"

"Lord Niou has done something extraordinary again, and it is a great feat that saved Edo and the shogunate! I wonder what kind of reward he will get this time!"

"Reward? I think it's difficult! Haven't you heard of storytelling? The most difficult thing to reward is extraordinary achievements! Besides, Lord Ren Wang has already given us nothing to reward!"

"That's right! In terms of fiefdom, he is a daimyo who owns 400,000 koku of territory; in terms of official position, he is the army president who is in charge of all the army forces of the shogunate. What else can the shogunate give him?"

"'Army President' is already a job based on the person! If you want to create a new job, what should it be?"

"'Grand Commander of the Army and Navy'?"

"Fool! How could a mere official be allowed to hold such great power?"

"In my opinion, at most we can grant more land to Lord Ren Wang, and then contact the court to promote his official rank."

"Such a reward is too shabby!"

Everyone was discussing "Niou's Reward" enthusiastically. They were so engrossed in the conversation that no one could convince anyone else.

But at this moment, a guy with a simple and honest face suddenly interrupted:

"Lord Niou has great strength and is highly respected by the people. He can establish himself as the new general, right?"

Suddenly, the whole place was silent...

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone stopped talking.

Their eyes widened, and then they turned their heads at the same time, casting shocked and resentful looks at the foul-mouthed guy.

At the same time, the foreman leading the way in front suddenly changed color.

"Don't say such things!"

He glared at the other person fiercely with a vicious look.

"Can you just say something like that?!"

The other party realized belatedly that he had said the wrong thing and hurriedly bowed his head to admit his mistake:

"S-Sorry... I said the wrong thing..."

Your sincerity is commendable, but it is too late!

"Get out of here! I don't want you anymore! Go wherever you want!"

"Eh? Foreman, I..."

"Get out of here!"

"I……"

"roll!"

Seeing that the foreman had made up his mind, the man dared not say anything else. He lowered his head gloomily, turned away dejectedly, and disappeared into the crowd in the blink of an eye.

After watching the other party run away, the foreman took several deep breaths and looked around with lingering fear, observing the people around him.

At this moment, what seemed like a peaceful crowd to others looked like a gloomy and terrifying dark forest in his eyes, as if countless jackals were lurking!

Then, he murmured slowly with a heavy expression:

"Especially at this critical moment, don't say such things..."

…

…

The foul-mouthed guy is gone.

But the negative impact he brought is still there.

Because of his words, everyone stopped chatting and hurried on their way silently, running towards Okemachi as if escaping.

What is striking is that several people have been particularly quiet since just now.

These people walked silently at the end of the team, and they didn't say a word even when it was the noisiest and the atmosphere was the most lively.

Suddenly, one of them tilted his eyes slightly and looked towards Edo Castle in the distance, his eyes were deep...

…

…

December 28th...For most of the samurai and civilians in Edo, this day was nothing special. It was just two days before New Year's Eve.

There were no surprises or shocks on this day, which seemed to be the best annotation of the word "calm".

However... this peace only lasted until noon.

At noon today, a sudden shocking news broke the peace of Edo - the shogunate announced that it would transfer the Shinsengumi to the "Thirty-six Mitsuke" to guard Edo Castle!

The reason given by the shogunate for this transfer order was that "after the war, the defense of Edo Castle became extremely empty, and for safety reasons, the Shinsengumi was temporarily stationed in 'Sanjuroku-mitsuke'."

On the surface, this reason is impeccable.

The brutal war a while ago did cause heavy casualties to the general's personal guards - the big group, the small group and the academy group.

At that time, Shuten-doji and his men's sudden advance turned Edo Castle into a "bloody castle"...

It was impossible to make up for the loss of the Imperial Guard in a short period of time, so the Shinsengumi was transferred to defend Edo Castle - at first glance, it seemed nothing wrong.

It’s just… although this order seems to be nothing wrong, everyone can taste something different from it!

Transferring foreign troops to replace the imperial guards - no matter in which era or which country, this is an unusual signal!

What's more, everyone knows that the Shinsengumi is nominally the shogunate's army, but in essence it is Aoto's private army!

"Sanjuroku-mitsuke" is an important defense line of Edo Castle. Whoever controls "Sanjuroku-mitsuke" controls Edo Castle.

Transferring the Shinsengumi to garrison the "Sanjuroku Mitsuke"... This is equivalent to letting Aoto take control of Edo Castle!

It's so unusual... Especially at this time when the news that "Ju Qingdeng is going to rebel" is spreading among the people in the market, it makes people think a lot!

I don’t know when it started, but everyone has been saying that Tachibana Aoto is the An Lushan and Akechi Mitsuhide of the modern era, and he is about to rebel!

Please give me a monthly ticket! Please give me a recommendation ticket! (Leopard head crying.jpg)