I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The sudden onset of a cold night after sunset, both icy and biting, silently reminds people of the undeniable fact that late winter is not yet over.

The crescent moon, half-hidden by thin, wispy clouds, quietly rose and climbed over the mountain.

Looking around, the entire Ueno Basin is bathed in the bright, silvery moonlight.

A night breeze rustled through the trees, and a misty haze hung over the mountaintop.

The mist, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing, constantly creates shadows of varying depths. Against the backdrop of the night, it seems as if some indescribable, terrifying monster is lurking in the ethereal clouds, swallowing up half the sky and blurring the outline of the mountains.

For the Shinsengumi, the most pressing need right now is undoubtedly time.

In a few days, a vast army of bandits will surround this place.

Every second counts, and time waits for no one... We must build a usable defense system as soon as possible.

Therefore, as the sun was about to set, Qingdeng issued a strict order: "No one shall rest until a satisfactory progress is achieved!"

And so, even though it was the dead of night and the sky was dark, the Shinsengumi soldiers still did not put down their earth-moving tools.

The camp of the Shinsengumi was bathed in a warm orange glow from the torches.

The sounds of shoveling soil, sawing wood, and shouts of "One, two, three, pull!" echoed continuously.

All civil engineering work was supervised by Director Kondo Isamu.

Before being adopted by the Kondo family, Kondo Isami was a native farmer.

He was skilled in both wielding a hoe and felling trees, making him the perfect candidate for this task.

Chief of Staff Keisuke Yamanami was in charge of directing the supply teams and arranging for the orderly storage of supplies such as food and medicine.

After determining the location of the camp, Qingdeng personally decided on the locations of the two most important places in the military camp—the supply depot and the toilet.

The supply depots were located on dry, high ground, while the toilets were built downwind of the water source.

No one knows how long this battle will last.

To ensure a safe outcome, Qingdeng spent a large sum of money and ordered Iwasaki Yataro to raise a large amount of supplies and livestock to transport them.

In addition, Yagi Gennojo (a big landowner and local bully in Mibu-go) once again presented Aoto with a big gift.

He lent Qingdeng a considerable number of dwarf horses free of charge.

With his simple "money power" and abundant transportation capacity, Qingdeng managed to bring in enough supplies to sustain the entire Shinsengumi army for a whole year.

Arranging for staff to move massive amounts of supplies into the warehouse and then checking each item against the records to confirm which items had arrived and which were missing... this was a rather tedious task.

Entrusting it to Yamanami Keisuke, who is calm, collected, and skilled in paperwork, is the right thing to do.

The Shinsengumi's command structure is "one orange, two earthen houses, three near, four southern mountains."

With a major battle looming, Qingdeng had many important matters to attend to and could not remain at the main camp indefinitely.

There are no convenient communication tools available nowadays, so if something major happens while Qingdeng is away from the camp, it would be difficult to contact him immediately.

Therefore, the task that Aoto assigned to Vice Commander Hijikata Toshizo was to stay at the main camp and be ready to deal with any emergencies at any time.

As for the captains of the sword-drawing squad, led by Souji, and Kiyokawa Hachiro, they were all sent by Aoto to participate in civil engineering work.

The Shinsengumi is currently small in number, but even a mere 10 people are an indispensable source of labor.

The "Shiweiguan faction" always obeyed Qingdeng's orders without question.

As soon as Qingdeng gave the order to "go dig the soil," they rolled up their sleeves without hesitation and threw themselves into the "construction site."

On the other hand, Kiyokawa Hachiro, Serizawa Kamo, and Niimi Nishiki... these three were quite resistant to Aoto's order.

Their thoughts were the same—how could we, as dignified warriors, wield such vulgar tools like farmers?

However, when they saw that even the girls Sanako and Kinoshita Mai were working hard to dig soil and move stones, they had nothing to say and silently picked up the hoes and shovels that they had previously looked down upon.

While the Shinsengumi soldiers were transforming into construction workers, Aoto was not idle either.

As the supreme commander of the entire army, he had to consider more complex and heavier matters than anyone else.

After issuing a series of orders to the entire army and entrusting the three major tasks of "temporary command," "supervising the project," and "arranging supply teams" to Toshizo Hijikata, Isami Kondo, and Keisuke Yamanami respectively, he rode his radish around the Ueno Basin without any attendants.

At this very moment, a man and an ox are standing on the mountainside.

"call……"

Qingdeng opened his mouth slightly and exhaled translucent hot air.

He squinted, a thoughtful look flashing beneath his long eyelashes, scanning his surroundings back and forth. Every now and then, he would raise his monocular telescope to gaze into the distance, as if trying to imprint the scene around him deeply into his mind—and in fact, he did.

"Night Vision", "Sharp Eyes +5", "Photographic Memory", "Focus", "Divine Brain +9" - these five talents are activated at the same time!

Night vision allows him to be unafraid of being concealed by the night.

"Sharp Eyes +5" allows his vision to span countless spaces.

"Photographic memory," "concentration," and "Divine Brain +9" made his brain work like lightning, memorizing everything he saw like a rubbing.

Even those who know nothing about military strategy know the importance of terrain to military operations.

Any reasonably competent military strategist would pay attention to terrain.

What Aoto is currently doing is memorizing the surrounding terrain so that he can reach the point where "no matter when or where, as long as there is a slight thought, he can clearly recall every detail of the Ueno Basin!"

Qingdeng blinked and looked down at the land below.

—If the enemy army attacks, this gentle slope will be an excellent starting point for their attack.

One thought has barely settled before another arises.

—This is an excellent campsite nearby…If it were me, I would definitely camp here.

Thinking of this, Qing Deng subconsciously turned his head and looked at the Shinsengumi camp in the distance behind him.

A moment later, he took out a charcoal pencil and a sturdy sheet of Xuan paper from the leather bag hanging on the side of the radish.

So-called sized Xuan paper is Xuan paper made by brushing a layer of alum water onto raw Xuan paper or by performing other processes (such as sprinkling gold or printing). It has good water resistance and is not easily damaged by water. It is suitable for painting meticulous brushwork because it can withstand layers of rendering, and the colors and ink will not bleed due to water penetration.

Qingdeng spread the prepared Xuan paper on the ox's head on the radish, and then skillfully drew the picture with his brush.

The talent of "art master" is activated!

Qingdeng's talent for painting is 11 times that of the average person.

Qing Deng had no intention of becoming a painter and was not interested in painting, so ever since he acquired this talent, he had never used it or systematically learned painting techniques.

Nevertheless, even with "11 times the effort of an ordinary person," Qing Deng's paintings were still far superior to those of ordinary people.

Qingdeng's ability to "have a mental image" does not mean that others can possess such a skill.

Therefore, in order to familiarize Hijikata and others with the battlefield terrain, and to facilitate the demonstration of his positional command and troop deployment to everyone later, Aoto decided to draw a military map of the Ueno Basin on the spot.

In just 10 minutes, the originally blank Xuan paper was filled with many grand yet clear lines.

Qingdeng picked up the completed map, glanced at it a few times, and then stuffed it back into the saddlebag with a satisfied look on his face.

"Almost there... I've memorized the terrain here..."

As he spoke, he turned the bull's head and gently tapped its belly.

"Radish, let's go! Let's go to the next place!"

"Moo~~"

……

……

About an hour later—

Ueno Basin, the Shinsengumi's camp—

"It's Lord Niou! Lord Niou has returned!"

Four guards rushed to greet Qingdeng as he returned.

Qingdeng dismounted from the ox, handed the reins to them, and strode into the camp.

He didn't even have time to catch his breath or drink a glass of water before heading straight to the construction site where trenches were being dug.

Upon arriving at the scene, Aoto saw Kondo Isami, who was covered in dirt and mud.

Aoto glanced at Kondo Isami, then turned his gaze to the side to check the progress of the trench excavation.

Instantly, his brows furrowed.

At that moment, Kondo Isami noticed Aoto walking towards him.

Before the two could even exchange pleasantries, Qingdeng abruptly asked:

"Kondo-kun, what's going on? So much time has passed, why have you only dug a few shallow trenches? This result is not satisfactory!"

Upon hearing this, Kondo Isami gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"Lord Tachibana, many of our soldiers simply do not know the skills of digging and excavating soil."

"Many people are only touching a hoe and shovel for the first time today."

“Some people don’t even know what a hoe is for.”

"It took me a lot of effort and time to teach them how to use hoes and shovels."

At this point, Kondo Isami stretched out his hands to show Aoto the mud and dust covering his body.

"If you have a kabuki perform the work of a cook, the process will naturally be slow."

After hearing Kondo Isami's explanation, Aoto's face immediately turned serious.

Suddenly, a rapid shout rang out from behind Qing Deng:

"It's bad! The enemy is attacking! The enemy is attacking!"

*******

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Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets! (Leopard crying.jpg)

Yesterday I went to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai. Everything was great except for one thing – there were too few seals!

The entire park only houses one pond of spotted seals! There's no separate enclosure! Even manatees have their own "manatee enclosure"! Why don't the seals have their own? The poor spotted seals are forced to share a park with turtles and seabirds (crying leopard head.jpg)