Matsudaira Harugaku raised his eyes and stared straight at Hitotsubashi Kexi's back.

Although he used an interrogative sentence structure, his tone revealed a strong affirmation.

"..."

There was another brief silence.

Another deep-toned reply.

"...Although this is just my intuition, I always firmly believe that Tachibana Aoden is definitely not a loyal minister of the shogunate!"

"Whenever I meet with him, I feel like I'm in the company of a jackal."

"Therefore, I have always regarded Tachibana Aoden as my number one enemy."

Matsudaira Chunyue asked tentatively:

"Master Hitotsubashi, what you mean is that... you suspect that Tachibana Aoden is a duplicitous villain or a greedy careerist?"

"But... in my opinion, Ju Qingden does not look like such a person. According to my observation, he does not have a strong greed for money and power."

Ichihashi Qingxi twitched the corners of his mouth and sneered, "Humph."

"Who knows about this kind of thing?"

"The Duke of Zhou is afraid of the day of rumors, but Wang Mang is humble and does not usurp the time."

"What's more... things like 'ambition' will grow."

"Chunyue, have you ever been hungry? Have you ever lacked the company of a beautiful woman?"

An incomprehensible question... Although Matsudaira Harugaku didn't understand why, he still answered quickly:

"No. I have never been hungry. As early as the age of 12, I had tasted the pleasure of fish and water with the maid."

Hitotsubashi smiled silently with joy.

"Me too. Ever since I was born, I have never known what hunger and impatience are."

"The treasures that are unattainable in the eyes of ordinary people are just ordinary things that are within easy reach for me."

"Both you and I were born into a wealthy family, and have been accustomed to a life of fine clothing and fine food since childhood."

"A beautiful woman who is used to eating delicacies from mountains and seas and tired of playing with the beauty of the country."

"For this reason, ordinary-tasting food and average-level kunoichi cannot impress us at all."

"But... ordinary people are not like this."

"I'm ashamed to say that this is something I only recently understood."

Speaking of this, Hitotsubashi Yingxi lowered his head and lowered his gaze.

He and Matsudaira Harugaku are currently on the top floor of the Hitotsubashi Residence.

As a symbol of the status of the noble "Gosankyō", the Hitotsubashi residence is a four-story mansion - an extremely large building in the Edo period.

Therefore, looking from the current perspective of Hitotsubashi Kei, the cobweb-like streets, dotted houses, rows of tiles, and the vast land are all under his overlook.

"I stood 'above' for so long that I ignored how terrifying the desire to be turned on was."

"The desire to be turned on tends to grow wildly."

"A person who has been hungry for too long will easily develop a mentality similar to 'revenge' after tasting delicious food for the first time."

"He'll be constantly chasing more and better food."

"Before he became a benevolent king praised by the world, Tachibana Aoden was just an imperial family member with a meager family income of only 100 koku."

"From the unknown Buddhist monk Tongxin to the world-famous governor of Gyeonggi Province, in the process, he saw the beautiful scenery that he had never seen before."

"From now on, can he still look at the things around him with the same eyes as before?"

"Doesn't he have any new pursuits for food, women, money, and power?"

"Wouldn't he want to go further and see what the upper scenery is like?"

As Hitotsubashi's joyful words fell, silence enveloped the interior and exterior again.

After listening to the other party's impassioned speech attentively, Matsudaira Harugaku looked deep in thought.

After a moment, he let out a long breath.

"...Mr. Hitotsubashi, you are right."

"'Money' and 'power' are the two most poisonous poisons that can corrode people's minds."

"No matter who you are, you may be dominated by greed."

"With such a low background, Ju Qingden has never tasted the beauty of 'money' and 'power' before."

"And now, he has become a dignified governor of Gyeonggi Province."

"Every word and deed he says can determine the livelihood of thousands of people and even affect the trend of the entire world."

"He holds a high position, is famous for a while, and holds the power to kill... No one can say whether his mentality will be distorted in such a situation."

Speaking of this, Matsudaira Chunyue's conversation suddenly changed.

"Fortunately, judging from the current situation, Tachibana Aomori and his Shinsengumi should be able to settle down for a long time."

"Although Tokugawa Iemo has given Tachibana Aoden great financial autonomy and allowed him to find ways to raise funds on his own, no matter how capable he is, he cannot create money out of thin air."

"Developing financial resources is not a simple matter."

Speaking of this, Matsudaira Chunyue seemed to recall some painful memory, the corners of his mouth twitched, and his face was filled with bitterness.

"I guess Tachibana Aoden must be worried about the Shinsengumi's military expenses right now."

"He will definitely spend a lot of energy trying to solve the financial problems of the Shinsengumi."

"If the money matter is not resolved, whether he wants to be a loyal minister of the shogunate or become the next An Lushan, he will be unable to talk about it."

"Until the Shinsengumi has stable financial income, he will have no time to take care of other matters."

"So, we don't have to worry about him causing any trouble for the time being."

Hitotsubashi nodded slightly to show his approval.

At the same time, his expression gradually relaxed and his facial lines softened.

"Well, this is the only good news in the near future."

…

…

7 days later——

Wenjiu three years (1863), March 18——

Kyoto, Mibu Township, Shinsengumi camp——

It was about seven o'clock.

Spring is approaching, the days are no longer short, the sun is now high in the sky, and the pale golden sunlight flows across the earth.

Qinghe Hachiro strolled on the sunny corridor.

On the right hand side are paper sliding doors, and on the left hand side are small gardens and the endless sky.

He turned his head to the side, looked up at the sky, facing the golden glow of washing his face, and recited the ancient text "Man'yoshu: Thirty-two Plum Blossom Songs with Preface" quite elegantly:

"At that time, the moon was in early spring, the air was gentle and the wind was gentle... Oh, what a pity. If the original appearance of the garden could be preserved, it would be a beautiful scenery..."

After saying that, Qinghe Hachiro sighed and lowered his gaze, looking at the garden under the sky... Correction, it is the "original garden" that has been turned into wasteland.

Previously, this place was a very classic Japanese garden.

The veranda next to the garden, the courtyard full of spring scenery, and the frightened deer "knocking".

The so-called frightening deer is a small bamboo tube for pouring water, also known as tiansui, monkdu, and bird frightening device. It is one of the most representative water vessels in Japanese gardens.

Water is introduced into the bamboo tube, and a certain amount of running water is stored through the lever principle to shift the balance of the two ends of the bamboo tube - the same principle as a seesaw - one end of the bamboo tube hits the stone to make a crisp sound.

The original intention of its design was to use the sound it made to disturb the birds falling into the garden. It was only later that it gradually evolved into a Zen-like landscape design.

Qinghe Hachilang, who considers himself an elegant man, has always been fond of Jinglu.

Therefore, he liked this garden very much.

He could imagine how pleasant it would be to lie leisurely on the veranda when spring came, enjoying the gentle breeze and listening to the crisp sound of frightened deer knocking on rocks.

However... He has an empty name and no power, so he is really a man of few words.

Although he had tried his best to dissuade him, Seito, who was the sole talker of the Shinsengumi, was still stubborn - he directly used the excuse that "military important areas do not need these useless things", just like the original manufacturing

The No. A training ground and the No. B training ground have shoveled this garden clean.

Even the Jinglu Tower that Qinghe Hachilang liked very much was directly sold by Qingdeng.

The garden that was originally filled with beautiful green plants was now only bare loess.

Qingden plans to transform the land into stables.
To be continued...