The first year of Yuanzhi (1864), September 20——

Qinjin Fan, Dajin, Judi——

"Hmm...Zao, Sanako, are you still okay...?"

Qingdeng gritted his teeth, his face was covered with fine beads of sweat, his expression was happy, and he kept grabbing the quilt under him with his fingers.

Sanako raised his hand angrily and slapped his back hard.

"Really, this won't work? Just bear with it and keep at it!"

After saying that, she picked up the burning moxa stick again and stabbed it into Qingden's back.

"Ahhhhhh...!"

Qingdeng screamed again.

"Don't scream! Just be patient! You'll be fine soon!"

The man took off his upper body clothes and lay face down on the bed; the woman took an unknown burning object and stabbed it on the man's back... At first glance, she thought the young couple were playing some novel game.

In fact, anyone who knows a little bit about acupuncture knows that Sanako is giving Qingden moxibustion.

Moxibustion - the moxibustion method in traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture therapy uses moxa sticks made from moxa leaves to generate moxa heat to stimulate acupuncture points or specific parts of the human body. It regulates the disordered physiological and biochemical functions of the human body by stimulating the activity of meridian qi, thereby achieving disease prevention.

A kind of treatment method for the purpose of curing diseases, it is actually the famous Eastern mysterious power.

Sanako's great-grandfather, Chiba Koemon, was a famous "swordsman and doctor". Although he practiced medicine as a profession, he loved swordsmanship more than medicine and was very skilled.

In addition to swordsmanship, he also passed on to his descendants the medical skills he had honed over decades of practicing medicine.

When it came to Sanako's generation, her brothers (Chiba Eijiro, Chiba Jutaro and others) had little interest in medicine.

In fact, Sanako also has no interest in medical skills.

However, she has a special liking for acupuncture and thinks that this technology that can cure patients with just a few needles is very magical.

So, while practicing martial arts, she worked hard to learn the acupuncture techniques passed down from her ancestors.

And this became Sanako's biggest support when she argued with her brother Chiba Jutaro, who was unwilling to marry.

"Brother, don't worry about my future. In the worst case, I will open an acupuncture parlor! I don't believe in my skills, and I will have no food to eat!"

Whenever Sanako said this sentence, Chiba Jutaro would be speechless.

As Sanako's elder brother, he naturally knows how amazing the other person's craftsmanship is.

Although I dare not say that it is the reincarnation of Hua Tuo, it is definitely at the level of "if a store is opened for business, there will definitely be no shortage of customers."

To be honest, Sanako's face alone can attract countless old perverts to come and help her.

Qingdeng doesn't like acupuncture, whether it's the traditional method of poking the body with fine needles or moxibustion.

The reason for this is all because he watched a certain horror movie in his previous life.

When a character in the movie was undergoing acupuncture, he accidentally fell off the bed and landed on the side full of fine needles, and all those fine needles pierced his body...

From then on, Qingdeng had a great psychological shadow on acupuncture.

Every time he saw acupuncture, he couldn't help but think of this movie... which triggered strong resistance.

After the battle with Prajna, although Qingden was not fatally injured, he suffered a lot of wounds, large and small, 17 in total.

In order to help Qingdeng recover as soon as possible, Sanazi volunteered, saying that he would use ancestral moxibustion to activate Qingdeng's qi and blood and enhance his ability to resist disease.

Faced with Sanako's enthusiasm, Qingto was very moved and then refused.

I wonder how he could defeat the strong-willed Sanako?

Under Sanako's strong request, he could only obediently strip off his upper body, lie on the bed, and let the other party play with him - just like what Qingden did to his wives on weekdays.

In this way, Sanazi would personally perform moxibustion on Qingden every few days.

Not to mention, her craftsmanship is indeed amazing.

Although the process of moxibustion is very painful, Qingden will feel much lighter afterward.

About twenty minutes later, today’s moxibustion was finally over…

"Zonako, I always feel that today's moxibustion will take much longer than usual."

"Huh? Is there such a thing?"

Sanako tilted her head, as if confused - there was a faint smile hidden in her eyes.

"...Let me tell you, you probably didn't deliberately extend the treatment time just to watch me in a more miserable state, right?"

"Well... I can only say: it's up to your imagination."

After saying that, she smiled triumphantly and looked at Qingden who looked helpless very happily.

Since getting married, Sanako has become a lot more cheerful.

Although in front of outsiders, she is still the dignified and dignified Yamato Nadeshiko, in private, she often shows her cunning side like before.

"Okay, don't be naked. Get dressed quickly. It's autumn now, so don't catch a cold."

While Qingteng was getting dressed, Sanako put away his equipment and cast a concerned look at him:

"Qingdeng, how do you feel now? Does the wound still hurt?"

"The pain is gone and my body is recovering well. I think I will be fully recovered in ten days and a half at most."

Hearing this, Sanazi smiled tenderly:

"Well, that's good."

The Summer Battle in Kyoto was already a month ago.

In the past month, nothing major happened, whether it was Qingdeng's own personal affairs or official business outside.

Aoto concentrated on recovering from his injuries. As long as it was not confidential or important, he would leave it to Hijikata Toshizo and Shannan Kei to help them deal with it.

Registering those with meritorious service, treating the injured, and providing care for the deceased are all tedious tasks.

After the Battle of Kyoto Summer Formation, 59 members of the Shinsengumi died and 177 were injured.

Compared with the astonishing results, these casualties are nothing to mention.

Choshu's casualties were more than ten times that of the Shinsengumi.

But despite this, Qingdeng still felt pain in his heart.

After all, his troops are very valuable, and they are all good soldiers and generals who are well-paid and well-fed.

For Qingdeng, even if he is just an ordinary soldier in the army, every death or injury is a huge loss.

Recruiting troops and replenishing losses is also a tedious task.

If there was anything major that happened recently, it would probably be the imperial court declaring Changzhou an "unforgivable enemy of the DPRK."

Even without coercion and inducement from the shogunate, the emperor spontaneously wrote articles criticizing Choshu in the harshest terms.

Although the reason for the war proposed by Choshu when he launched the Eastern Expedition was very high-sounding, saying that the emperor was deceived by villains and wanted to welcome the emperor back to Choshu, but...

As we all know, those who say they want to clean up their affairs will end up being extra clean in the end.

Not only the "jun side" was cleared, but the "jun" was also cleared along with the ground.

Therefore, the emperor did not think that Changzhou had any good intentions.

From the emperor's perspective, what Changzhou did was no different from An Lushan and others.

Although the imperial court had declared Choshu to be an enemy of the DPRK since the "August 18th Coup", in order to show its attitude, especially the emperor's great dislike for Choshu, as soon as the summer battle in Kyoto ended, the imperial court immediately issued a warning to Choshu.

Zhou added an extra title, calling him "the most evil enemy of the DPRK".

In this way, Changzhou's situation became increasingly precarious.

On the contrary, this greatly benefits the shogunate and the Samu faction.

As early as the beginning of this year, the news that the shogunate was going to launch an expedition against Choshu had spread everywhere.

Nowadays, Changzhou's national power has been greatly reduced. Is there any reason not to take advantage of its illness and kill it?

Anyone you pick up on the street will know that it won't be long before a new, larger-scale war will ignite throughout Changzhou.

With this great sense of "crushing the heinous enemy of the DPRK", when launching the "Changzhou Expedition" in the future, it will definitely achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Of course, launching the Western Expedition to conquer Changzhou must be several months away.

Aoto, who had fought two consecutive battles, the Battle of Ikedaya and the Summer Battle of Kyoto, did not want to think about such a distant matter for the time being.

After getting dressed, Qingdeng turned to look at the sky outside the window.

The blue sky, the white clouds that rolled and relaxed... looking at this beautiful scenery, Qingden lowered his eyelids and thought.

After a moment, he said to Sanazi coldly:

"Sanako, the weather is nice today, let's go for a walk in the yard together?"

Sanako blinked her beautiful eyes a few times, with a look of surprise on her face:

"Yes, yes...but why so suddenly?"
To be continued...