Trial Guard Hall, Isamu Kondo's room——

Kondo Isamu sat cross-legged by the window, looking up at the night sky outside the window... Correction. It seems inappropriate to say "he was looking at the night sky".

To be more precise, he seemed to be looking up at the night sky, staring blankly at something in front of him, or he was looking at nothing at all.

His whole mind was immersed in a torrent of thoughts.

After a while, he murmured to the air:

"Kyoto...?"

…

…

Wenjiu three years (1863), January 3——

Asakusa - a prosperous area centered on Sensoji Temple.

The bustling Yoshiwara is located in Senshu Village behind Sensoji Temple.

In addition, it is known as the Edo Three Theaters...that is, the three most famous and powerful kabuki theaters in Edo: "Ichimuraza", "Nakamuraza", and "Moritaza", all of which are located in Saruwaka in Asakusa.

Town.

There are both "Peach Color Theme Park" and "Drama Theme Park". With the blessing of this unique location advantage, Asakusa is known as the "Happy Place" by Edo people and is the unshakable "Japan's No. 1 Bustling Street"

”.

Even now that the pilgrimage handover system has been overhauled and the flow of people in and out of Edo has dropped sharply, Asakusa is still extremely lively.

Even on weekdays, Asakusa's prosperity is so dazzling and eye-catching, let alone today.

Today is the day when the Zhenfu Army officially starts recruiting troops, and the recruiting location is in Asakusa.

As for how to describe the flow of people in Asakusa today... just using idioms such as "crowded" and "water-filled" to describe it seems too unrealistic and inappropriate.

"My dear...this number of people is too exaggerated..."

The General Secretary used his palms as a canopy and placed it on his brow bone. He stood on tiptoes and looked at the flow of people in front of him.

Since the beginning of winter, sunny days have been quite rare.

Under the gray clouds unique to winter, the streets of Asakusa are covered with a layer of chaotic colors.

Black, flesh-colored, red, green, cyan...all colors are available.

The true identities of these "colors" are real people.

There are both men and women, old and young. You can see not only senior warriors with swords on their waists and well-dressed clothes, but also common people with shabby clothes and sallow complexions.

To use a vivid but inelegant metaphor... the streets of Asakusa at this time looked like ditches full of debris.

The "water flow" flows forward slowly.

The "clutter" floating on the water...that is, people moving slowly along the current.

Such a terrifying flow of people made the director secretly speechless.

"Are these people all here to sign up to join the Suppressing Army?"

Toshizo Hijikata, who crossed his arms and walked side by side with Souji, shook his head:

"Of course not. A considerable number of people obviously come here to join in the fun."

Everyone from the Trial Guard Hall, led by Isamu Kondo, the general manager, came to join in the fun today.

They all wanted to come and see how bustling the "Zhenfu Army Recruitment Site" would be and what method Qingdeng would use to select soldiers.

Also coming to join in the fun today were the Chiba brother and sister and the old and young duo from Chishiya.

Although the three groups of people are not in the same place, they are heading in the same direction.

In this crowded environment, even walking around was extremely strenuous, let alone running.

The way the crowd moves is not to walk, but to squeeze - whenever there is an empty space in front of them, they immediately squeeze through.

January is a holiday month for Edo Minami.

However, due to a serious shortage of manpower, all the co-workers were temporarily pulled over to work overtime due to the "three rounds" of Nanfan Institute.

The government mobilized a large number of police forces including the "Three Chapters" of the Enforcement Office and its own division to finally maintain public order in Asakusa.

Thanks to this, although Asakusa is noisy, it is generally peaceful, and there have been no serious incidents such as stampedes.

In this way, after repeated pushing and squeezing, Souji and others finally arrived at their destination - the open space in front of Sensoji Temple.

I saw a temporary and simple high platform standing in the center of the spacious open space.

This is the recruitment meeting place for the Fu army in Gyeonggi Town.

As they approached the venue, the crowd split into two parts.

Those who sign up to join the army should go to the east side of the high platform.

People who came to watch the excitement moved to the west and south of the high platform.

The north side of the high platform is open and no other people are allowed to approach - after a while, Qingdeng will come from this direction.

In order to prevent outsiders from approaching, dozens of heavily armed fire thieves and warriors formed a tight human wall shoulder to shoulder, isolating the crowd from the outside, and created a strange path between the high platform and the crowd.

Nearby "vacuum zone".

The samurai responsible for leading this team is none other than Aoto's old friend, the Fire Tiger Mizushima Rensaburo.

After experiencing the previous series of changes, Huo Fu Thief Kai's vitality has been seriously damaged.

My grandson Chutaro, the captain of the first division, and Chusuke Kanazawa, the captain of the second division, died.

The captain of the third division, Tachibana Aoto, moved to the right.

Kimura Suma, the captain of the fifth division, and Genzo Hosaka, the captain of the sixth division, were executed.

There are 5 fewer captains out of the 8, and they are basically all powerful people.

Mizushima Rensaburo became the strongest member of the Fire Thieves Kai in this way.

Although new people have been selected to fill the vacancy of the captain, as the saying goes, "A thousand troops are easy to get, but a general is hard to find." The abilities of these new people cannot be compared with Qingdeng, my grandson and others.

In the short term, Huo Fu Thief Gai will not even think about returning to its past glory - although it has no "glory" in the past.

For a long time, various departments of the shogunate and various armies, including the Huofu Thief Kai, have been constantly repeating the process of "decline, decline, and decline again".

…

…

Time passes.

Just when the clock of time in the distance struck five bells (five o'clock in the morning, that is, 8 a.m.), the man who created today's grand occasion finally appeared to everyone's expectation.

"Moo moo~~"

Qingdeng was seen wearing a kendo uniform, riding a carrot, and without any entourage, he walked slowly from the north to the bottom of the high platform, and then slowly stepped onto the stage under the glare of countless eyes.

Obviously he didn't do anything, he just appeared in everyone's sight, but the scene was already boiling.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh!"

"Tachibana-sama!"

"Lord Niou!"

…

Thunderous cheers.

The shouts and shouts are endless.

Even the members of the Trial Guard Hall who were familiar with Qingden, the Chiba brother and sister, and the young and old duo of Chishiwu couldn't help but be alarmed by the majestic heat that permeated the surroundings.

"Is this the influence of Niou..."

Kondo Isamu murmured to himself.

Hijikata Toshizo shrugged and said with a smile:

"What do you think? Don't underestimate the importance of a good official who can do practical things in the hearts of the people. Asheng, I dare to bet you - at least half of the people here come here because they admire Ju."

…

…

Qingdeng stood in the center of the high platform, looked around the platform, and then stretched out his hand to press down a few times in mid-air.

Seeing this, the crowd became silent.

After a while, the noisy venue fell silent, and you could hear a needle drop.

"I believe you all know why I am here today."

After the reinforcement of "Cloud-Splitting Stone +1" and "Orioles' Cry", Qingdeng's loud and clear voice clearly spread to every corner of the venue.

"Time is precious, so I won't waste any more nonsense."
To be continued...