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Suddenly he heard the word "Benevolent King"... Qingdeng subconsciously lowered the bamboo hat on his head while continuing to drink alone.

Listening to everyone's mindless praise of him, he felt secretly amused and could not help but curl up his lips.

He originally wanted to continue listening and learn more about people's livelihood.

Unexpectedly, after the "keying" was completed, everyone in the room began to discuss the recently discovered Okinawan place with extremely high cost performance...

Sure enough... once men get together, the topic they talk about is either "key politics" or "astringency".

Ayoto lost interest, left the drink money on the table, and strode out of the izakaya.

As soon as I opened the door curtain, a billowing heat wave hit my face.

Qingdeng walked to the street and watched the surrounding street scene with great interest.

Sellers carrying poles and hawking everywhere; women shopping for vegetables in a hurry; children laughing and playing; the increasingly dense flow of people... These sights all make a satisfied color appear on their cheeks.

The people of Otsu probably never thought that their revered Nioh would often appear by their side, eating simple meals with them, and sometimes chatting about the past and present together.

Since the beginning of spring this year, Qingdeng has found a new way to relax, which is traveling incognito.

Dress up and pretend to be an ordinary samurai, go into izakayas, teahouses and other places, listen to the voices of the people, and carefully observe the changes in the Qinjin clan.

Building a country step by step, step by step, making it strong and making its people prosperous... It is difficult to use specific words to describe the sense of accomplishment it brings!

More than half a year has passed since Qingdeng became the leader of the Qinjin clan.

For this land, Qingdeng has gradually become familiar with it from being unfamiliar at first, and knows its ins and outs.

Since the "August 18th Coup", after several months of peace, the whole of Japan has once again been shrouded in the clouds of war.

At this critical juncture, Qinjin Fan must be particularly strong in order to stand firm in this whirlpool called "era"!

When he thought of this, Qingdeng felt that the skin all over his body became tight and his nerves tensed up.

The lingering sense of crisis urged him to continue working hard and find ways to make Qinjin Fan stronger.

However, even if these utilitarian elements are put aside and just talk about feelings, Qingdeng sincerely hopes that the working people in his territory can live a better life.

Therefore, whenever he sees the ever-changing streets, whenever he sees the prosperous market, whenever he sees the flourishing vassal state, Qingden will feel particularly satisfied!

My heart was filled with a heavy sense of accomplishment, and most of my fatigue was reduced. I immediately felt sincerely that my long-term efforts were not in vain!

At the same time, the whole body will be rekindled with surging energy and motivation.

In terms of practical effects, there is really no better way to relax than this.

Qingden raised his head and glanced at the sky.

After realizing that the sun had set in the west, he murmured:

"Go back..."

With that said, he turned back and embarked on the road back to Judi.

It will still take a long time for Otsu Castle to be completely completed.

Before that, Qingdeng's family could only live in Judi.

Therefore, in order to improve the quality of life and provide a better growing environment for future little lives, at the beginning of this year, Qingdeng spent money to fully double the expansion of Judi and built more scenic spots.

A more beautiful garden.

In this way, his home became one of the largest and most luxurious mansions in Otsu.

His steps are very fast.

After a while, a towering shadow gradually appeared in front of it - it was the Otsu Castle that was gradually growing in size!

Kinoshita Rin is really reliable.

After learning about Qingdeng's need to "build a bastion", she immediately found a designer from Prussia named "Leiner".

This person is indeed the candidate recommended by Kinoshita Rin, and he does have some abilities.

After actually inspecting the geographical environment of Dajin, he customized a huge eight-pointed star-shaped fortress covering an area of ​​300,000 square meters!

To be honest, just looking at the design drawings, Qing Deng's eyes are filled with brilliance.

If you want to break this bastion, you must either find a way from the inside, or you can only mobilize a large number of artillery to carry out continuous bombardment - he is so sure!

Qingdeng was full of expectations for this giant fortress that was like the incarnation of the word "impregnable".

When submitting the design drawings, the designer also submitted a budget sheet.

Although he had been mentally prepared in advance, Qingdeng couldn't help but take a breath after seeing the specific figures on the budget table.

According to what this budget table shows, the waterway project requires at least 20,000 taels of gold, the budget for civil engineering and stone wall projects is 100,000 taels of gold, and the budget for construction projects is 30,000 taels of gold... All things considered, the total budget is 200,000 taels of gold!

And that doesn’t include the cost of hiring workers!

Although this is a dizzying astronomical figure, but... Youdao is "all things in the world, as long as you have money, you can solve 9999 of them"!

With the full support of Huluwu, although Qingdeng cannot be said to be accumulating wealth, he can also be said to be wealthy.

With a single order from him, the granaries and treasury were all opened!

Recruit workers, purchase materials, and start construction quickly!

Giant trees and boulders were gradually transported into the construction site.

Shouting, panting, horses neighing, cows croaking, wheels turning...the construction site is shrouded in huge noise all day long.

Because the work is hard, some workers just pick up their buckets and run away every day after receiving their daily wages.

But at the same time, new people are rushing into the construction site every day.

The world today is very bad. No matter how hard the job is, there are still people rushing to do it.

As they come in and out...the total number of workers remains roughly around 6,000.

This was a large-scale project of astonishing scale, so Kinoshita Rin specially sent several capable men under her command to assist Aomori and help oversee the construction process of the city.

Qingdeng is not too worried about the money issue.

What he is most worried about now is time.

At present, the "Changzhou Expedition" is about to begin.

The "August 18th Coup" in the middle of last year caused great changes in the political situation across Japan.

Choshu fell into the abyss and became an enemy appointed by the emperor to disrupt the government.

Since the "Black Ship Incident", Changshu has been trying new ways to disgust the shogunate.

Tokugawa Iemo could not wait to get rid of this extremely disobedient rebellious traitor.

So... how could he let go of this great opportunity to completely eliminate it?

As early as September last year, Tokugawa Iemo began preparations for the Western Expedition.

What a pity...there are too many problems within the shogunate!

It's like a tangled mess that even if you want to sort it out, there's no way to do it.

Even though the "Ichitabashi faction" has completely lost power and Tokugawa Iemoge has become the absolute leader of the shogunate, the so-called "politics" is not so simple as to rely solely on the words and orders of the general to conquer the barbarians.

People will obey orders and act obediently.

There were many people within the shogunate who did not want to fight.

Among them, those with the greatest resistance and the loudest opposition were actually the core military force of the shogunate, that is, the direct disciples.

You're kidding! When my ancestors fought the Sekigahara War and annihilated the Toyotomi family, they did all my life's work! I came to this world just to enjoy happiness! Eat, drink, go to the theater, go to Yoshiwara to play with women,

What joy! What kind of war are you fighting?

The generals were strongly opposed, and the civil servants were also shaking their heads in denial.

The rhetoric used by civilian officials was nothing more than the same old clichés of "lack of food and pay", "the combat distance is too long", "the morale of the army is low" and "the benefits are not great".

This is war... real blood and fire!

This is no longer a simple struggle for interests, it is related to the life and death of countless people!

In order to avoid this war, those people and factions who usually showed a submissive appearance in front of Tokugawa Iemo formed an alliance one after another, fought hard based on their reasons, and vigorously opposed the "Changshu Expedition" without giving in at all.

Under heavy resistance, Tokugawa Iemo could be said to be dancing in shackles, beating mice in a china shop, and advancing the war agenda with great difficulty.

It took nearly a year, and after repeated coercion, inducements, and compromises, Tokugawa Iemocai finally managed to integrate the hearts of the people within the shogunate and complete war mobilization.

The "rumors" claimed by the people in the izakaya just now are all true.

This time, Tokugawa Iemo decided to issue an unprecedented mobilization order!

Not only the 80,000 bannermen must be dispatched, but also the Qinjin Domain, the Aizu Domain, and the 21 Western Domains headed by the Satsuma Domain, a total of 200,000 troops! Attack Choshu in five groups!

As a core confidant of Tokugawa Iemo, Aomori has received reliable news not long ago - this "Changshu Expedition" will be led by Matsudaira Yoshiho's Aizu Army and his Shinsengumi as the main forward force!

The tentative time for the expedition is November this year.

When thinking about a battle plan, one must not be blindly optimistic and must take the worst-case scenario into account - this has always been Qingdeng's good habit.
To be continued...