…

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Edo, suburbs, a certain village——

Several farmers carrying hoes walked side by side to the fields, talking in high spirits.

"If you can achieve great achievements, it is not impossible to become the master of a city and a place, or even become the next Toyotomi Hideyoshi!"

"Hmph! Come on! Do you know martial arts? Do you know how to swing a sword? You are just a farmer who knows how to swing a hoe, and you still want to be the master of a city and a place? You still want to be the next Toyotomi Hideyoshi?"

"Toyotomi, wasn't Toyotomi Hideyoshi a farmer before he became famous? Didn't he also step by step from a peasant to the throne of the "people of the world"? If he can do it, why can't I do it?"

…

…

Edo, somewhere——

A samurai in simple clothes bent down to pick up a tile tabloid that fell on the ground.

Although the tabloid was somewhat stained by footprints and dirty water, the words on it could still be vaguely legible.

"The envoy of Gyeonggi Town..."

The samurai held the tabloid in one hand, stroked the knife at his waist with the other, and muttered softly.

His whole body, mind, and attention were firmly attracted by the words "Gyeonggi Town Governor" and "Conscription" in the tabloids.

At this time, a handsome businessman came behind him.

"Hey! Shojiro! Shojiro! Oishi Shojiro!"

The warrior's body shook a few times, he came back to his senses, and followed the voice to the merchant.

"Huh? Boss, what's wrong?"

"You actually asked me 'what's wrong'... It's time to go!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was distracted just now."

Oishi Kazujiro folded the tile tabloid in his hand and stuffed it into his arms.

"Really... Shojiro, although your skills are indeed very powerful, you have to be more attentive! I spent a lot of money to hire you as a bodyguard, you have to let me have a

It’s good to have a feeling of ‘value for money’, or even ‘value for money’!”

"Hehehe, I'm sorry, I will pay attention to it later."

…

…

…

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Edo, Ito Dojo——

"Suppress the capital...the capital..."

Ito Ozo stared blankly at the tile tabloid in his hand, thoughtfully.

…

…

Edo, a certain hotel——

"Serizawa! Serizawa! Serizawa!"

A thin samurai took three steps at a time into a bedroom that smelled of alcohol.

In the room, a muscular man with a strong build and a height of more than six feet (1.8+) was lying on his back on the tatami, his arms behind his head, and his face covered with an open book of "Big Brother".

"History of Japan".

"Uh...! Xinjian, it's so noisy...!"

Serizawa scolded impatiently in a lazy voice as if he had just woken up.

Niimi ignored Serizawa's complaints, sat cross-legged next to him, handed out the tabloid in his hand, and said quickly:

"Serizawa, don't sleep, get up quickly! The shogunate ordered Tachibana Aoden to form a new combat force and select a day to send troops to Luo!"

"Um?"

Serizawa sat up in a hurry.

The "History of Japan" covering his face naturally fell to the ground.

I saw that he had a leopard's head and eyes, a swallow's jaw and a tiger's beard. Just by looking at his face, you could instinctively feel that this person was not easy to deal with.

Serizawa snatched the tabloid from Niimi's hand, and went down to read it quickly.

After a while, he grinned.

Immediately afterwards, uncontrollable laughter escaped from his mouth.

"Ha, haha...hahahahahaha!"

After laughing to his heart's content, he grabbed the knife beside him and pulled out half of the knife blade with a "pop" sound.

The sharp blade reflected his crushed eyes, which were shining fiercely.

"After being dormant for so long... we can finally show off our talents!"

…

…

Edo, somewhere——

Qinghe Hachiro read the tabloid in his hand with a gloomy expression.

Every time he reads a word or a sentence, the clouds gathering in his cheeks become a little thicker.

Finally, before he had read all the contents of the tabloid, he crumpled the tabloid into a ball with an impatient expression and threw it away.

"Hmph! The road to realizing righteousness is indeed full of thorns...!"

…

…

Edo, trial defense hall, dojo——

Kondo Isamu held a bamboo sword in his hand, inspecting, instructing, and correcting the swordsmanship movements of the apprentices as usual.

Gradually, he noticed a sense of dissonance - the apprentices were acting strange today.

There were quite a few people who were very inattentive, always whispering, and the content of their conversations made him very concerned.

"Hey, do you know?"

"Well, I heard about it on the way to the trial clinic."

"Are you interested in signing up?"

"I really want to go, but... my wife is seven months pregnant, and I really can't abandon her."

"Me too. Not only do I have a pregnant wife, but I also have a son who is just over 4 years old. If I die in a foreign country, they, orphans and widowers, will not be able to survive in such a troubled world."

Listening to the conversation of these people, Isamu Kondo finally couldn't restrain his overwhelming curiosity. He stopped one person and asked:

"Fujii-kun, what are you all whispering to each other?"

"Ah, little master, don't you know?"

Although Kondo Isamu has officially inherited the position of the fourth generation head of the Tenurishin-ryu clan, the more senior apprentices still habitually call him "young master" and Kondo Shusuke "master" or "senior master".

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh, hasn't Mr. Tachibana told you yet?"

"Qingdeng has not returned home since he went to serve his duties yesterday. He only asked someone to tell us, 'He will not come back tonight to eat and sleep.'"

"That's it... little master, there's big news! Mr. Tachibana has been promoted to the governor of Gyeonggi Province! The shogunate will recruit talents with ambitions to serve the country and form a new army, led by Mr. Tachibana himself.

By February next year, Mr. Tachibana will lead this brand-new army to help Gyeonggi!"

In an instant, Kondo Isamu's thick eyebrows shrugged at the raised corners of his eyes.

"Extensive recruitment of talented people who have the ambition to serve the country...tell me in detail!"

…

…

Edo, Chishiya——

The account books, pen holders, inkstones and other items on the counter were all pushed aside to make room for the latest tile tabloid that Boss Kiryu had just bought.

Boss Kiryu sat cross-legged with his arms folded across his chest.

Kinoshita Mai lay on his back, her little head sticking out of his shoulder.

The two of them read tabloids intently together.

"Tachibana-kun, are you going to Kyoto..."
To be continued...