The predecessor of Yakuza in the Edo period was a group of filthy people.

Those who belong to the untouchable class have been unable to stand up for generations and cannot engage in normal jobs. Their extremely low social status makes them suffer discrimination from the world.

In order to change this miserable situation, they had to unite.

At the beginning, most of their purposes for forming associations were very simple, just to jointly defend against foreign aggression.

However... there is such a truth in the world: "Strong 'power' can make people lose their true nature."

Being addicted to powerful "power" and unable to extricate themselves, gradually changing their temperament and losing their original intention - there are countless such people and such things from ancient times to the present.

This kind of phenomenon is most likely to happen to those who have a very low social status and have experienced various injustices in the world.

In the past, he was just an ant who was despised by everyone and could be stepped on by anyone. Suddenly he gained the ability to do something in this world... How many people in this world can resist such a thing?

lure?

This feeling of "from hell to heaven" is simply irresistible!

The people who gathered together gradually became more alive after tasting how intoxicating the power of unity was.

Evil thoughts are growing crazily in their hearts - money, power, women... As long as they work together, they can have the opportunity to have these things that they never dared to think about before!

These evil associations who lost their true nature began to get involved in various activities that destroyed human relations, and slowly embarked on the road of gang crime.

This is how the earliest Yakuza group was born.

In the beginning, most of the people who would become Yakuza were filthy.

However, as the Edo shogunate and various vassal states weakened due to their inability to escape the law of historical cycles, the world became increasingly difficult, and more and more groups joined or formed new Yakuza organizations.

Traffickers and pawns engaged in dirty business, thieves who lick blood from their swords, wandering girls who sell their youth and body...and desperate samurai warriors!

The samurai who were not engaged in production basically relied on the rumi and rumin issued by the shogunate and the feudal state.

In this social environment with almost no class mobility, the family fortune and salary inherited by the samurai from generation to generation had little hope of increasing.

In the early 17th century, when the Edo shogunate was first established, your ancestor's family salary was 30 dan. Now, more than 200 years later, your family's family salary is most likely still 30 dan.

The stable family income of the middle and lower-level samurai was already extremely meager, and as a result, it was deducted by the shogunate and the feudal state.

When the shogunate's finances encountered difficulties due to natural and man-made disasters such as food shortages, they would often use their "big killer weapon" that could make the samurai under their command panic all day long: Kiki.

The so-called "borrowed knowledge" is the policy implemented by the Tokugawa clan to reduce the rumi or rumin of retainers in order to increase fiscal revenue.

In name, it is expropriation and borrowing, but in fact it is open robbery.

The money and grain "borrowed" by the Tokugawa clan are like salt falling into water - beautiful crystal salt grains fall into the water, and then... there is nothing more. The salt grains disappear without a trace, never to be seen again.

not see.

Of course, it is not uncommon for the Tokugawa clan to repay money and food honestly. But the frequency is so rare that it is embarrassing.

The samurai had no excuse for this barbaric behavior that was clearly meant to steal money.

It is the duty of warriors to be loyal to their lord, so what if I lend you some money and food?

It is even common to directly expropriate half of the money and food. Because this kind of thing happens so frequently, there is a proper term: "half-knowledge", which means that half of the salary, gold and rice are expropriated and borrowed.

Earning a constant meager salary; the salary was withheld from time to time by the master; in order to defend the glory of the facade, one had to pretend to be fat, spending a lot of money to maintain the sword, purchase costumes, hire servants... Such a fragile family economy,

It is destined that as long as there is a slight disaster, groups of middle- and lower-level samurai will go bankrupt.

In order to earn a living, many down-and-out warriors from weak families had to take desperate risks and embark on the path of crime, becoming the "fresh blood" of the Yakuza group.

Compared with the common people, the average martial arts level and education level of warriors are naturally much higher.

Therefore, those Yakuza groups that successfully absorbed a large number of down-and-out warriors developed by leaps and bounds - the "Shimizu Clan" is a notable example.

Therefore, a behemoth like the "Qingshui Clan" cannot be simply regarded as an ordinary gangster organization. It is more accurate to regard it as an "armed criminal group" with strong combat effectiveness!

Of course, the current status of the "Qingshui Clan" is not entirely due to the superb quality of their members.

The backers behind it provided a lot of help.

It would have been impossible for the Yakuza group to develop into such a large scale without having several backers in the government and among the people to protect them.

No one knows who and what forces are behind the "Qingshui Clan"... People only know that no matter how countless evil deeds the "Qingshui Clan" commits, they can always get off the ground safely, and the government can do nothing against them!

It can be seen how powerful the backer behind it is...

The strong organizational fighting power and the unidentified solid backer - the "Shimizu Clan" holding these two important weapons made the people of Edo frightened.

Not to mention helpless ordinary people, even many ordinary samurai with no identity or background would choose to take a detour after seeing someone from the "Qingshui Clan" on the street, trying to avoid having anything to do with the "Qingshui Clan"

.

Regardless of his personal feelings of "hating evil forces", from the practical perspective of "being associated with such a violent group that has done all bad things and has no conscience, it is easy to get into trouble", Qingdeng does not want to be with "

"Shimizu Clan" has any intersection.

Sasaki smiled indifferently at Aoto's indifferent attitude.

"Many of the stalls here are guarded by our 'Qingshui Clan'. So I am leading my subordinates to patrol this place. Mr. Tachibana, are you waiting for someone now?"

"What do you think?" Qingdeng did not change his indifferent tone.

"Hahaha, predicting your future whereabouts... I'm not that capable."

Sasaki's laughter greatly diluted the stiff atmosphere created by Aomori's cold attitude.

"Since I have something important to do now, I won't bother you much."

Perhaps from Qingdeng's indifference, he realized that Qingdeng had no intention of chatting with him at the moment... Or maybe he had work to deal with, so it was not convenient for him and Qingdeng to hang out here.

In short, after adding in a gentle manner, "Excuse me for pardoning my company for now," Sasaki bowed and bowed politely and elegantly to Qingteng.

"Mr. Orange, I wish you a wonderful night tonight."

After saying this, he turned around, led his subordinates on his left and right sides, and walked away without stopping.

Qingto silently stared at Sasaki's leaving figure...until his figure completely blended in with the crowd, he slowly turned his gaze away.

——What on earth do the people of the "Qingshui Clan"... want to do...?

The questions that popped up in his mind like bubbles of boiling water made Qingden's brows frown slightly unconsciously.

I don't know if it was his misunderstanding, but he always felt that the attitude of the "Qingshui Clan" toward him seemed a little too enthusiastic!

If the "Qingshui Clan" wants to have a good relationship with him who is currently rising to the top...then it seems that there is no need to show favor to him in this way.

Qingdeng's intuition told him that the reason why the "Qingshui Clan" treated him so well was most likely due to some deeper reason.

As for the reason... Qingdeng couldn't figure it out.

The strong questions swirling in his mind caused Qingdeng's face to be covered with a looming "black mist".

However, after a moment, as if some magic had been cast on him, the "black mist" on Qingden's face suddenly dissipated.

Because at this moment, a female voice as sweet as a silver bell sounded from behind Qingdeng:

"Qing, Qingden! Sorry! I'm late!"

The sound that sounded this time was no longer a sound that would make Qingden's expression darken, but a sound that would instantly soften the lines of his cheeks.

"Good evening, Ah Wu, I just arrived and..."

As Qingto spoke, he turned around following the sound and came face to face with Kinoshita Mai who finally arrived.

Immediately afterwards, Qingdeng's expression froze, and the unfinished words in his mouth stopped.

The world is separated - this is what Qing Teng sees right now.

The "light" was all concentrated on Kinoshita Mai's body, making Kinoshita Mai's delicate body and everything around her form a very sharp contrast and a very inconsistent atmosphere.

"Dark" and "light" complement each other...the existence of "dark" greatly sets off the shining of "light".

The too strong difference between light and dark caused the world in Qingnobo's eyes at this moment to be divided into two parts: "Kinoshita Mai" and "the place where Kinoshita Mai's figure is not visible".

Mai Kinoshita, who loves the color red very much, was wearing a bright red yukata just as Aonto expected.

A clean and brand-new cute yukata, embroidered with a large number of exquisite and complicated decorative patterns.

A wide, goose-yellow belt that reached below the southern hemisphere covered her slender waist.

The hem of the yukata only reaches the calf, and a pair of white calves that just look at it must feel very smooth are exposed generously.

Going down her graceful calves, she is wearing no socks, but her cute little feet are wearing flat clogs with red buttons.

The characteristic of yukata is that it is thin and light...which means that yukata is much slimmer than ordinary kimono.

For women whose bodies are no different from men's, there is no big difference between wearing a yukata or a regular kimono.

But for a "big" girl like Kinoshita Mai, the difference between a yukata and a regular kimono is huge.

The thin fabric clung to Mai Kinoshita's skin...the presence of a heavy object was greatly highlighted.

These two large and heavy objects were naturally placed on the goose-yellow belt that stretched below the southern hemisphere according to gravity.

This gorgeous yukata and this exquisite goose-yellow belt were both first for Aoden to see.

If Aoto was asked to simply comment on Mai Shimo Kinoshita's costume, apart from "so cute and very suitable for Kinoshita Mai", Aoto could not think of any other more suitable adjective.

If it were just the cute clothes, it would be impossible for Qingdeng's expression to undergo such a wonderful change at this moment.
To be continued...