I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

No one who isn't from a respectable family with a clean background!

Those skilled in martial arts will be given priority in recruitment!

People with special skills, such as exceptional eyesight or hearing, will be given priority in admission!

Qingdeng got a taste of what it's like to be an unscrupulous capitalist.

If you don't do it, plenty of others will!

The conscription period set by Qingdeng was one month.

Use one month to recruit soldiers, then two months to train new recruits, and within three months to build a disciplined and elite force!

Unfortunately, due to being overwhelmed with other matters, Qing Deng simply didn't have the energy to "practice what he preached" as he had last time.

Not being able to compete with the applicants and missing a chance to fully exploit their talents... this was truly a great pity for Qing Deng.

After entrusting the conscription matters to Hijikata Toshizo and Kondo Isami, Aoto set about another important matter—establishing a cavalry unit and an intelligence agency!

Qing Deng had been thinking about these two special units for a long time.

Even those who know nothing about military affairs know how important highly mobile cavalry and intelligence agencies used for gathering information are.

We can't keep asking Aizu for troops every time we encounter a war.

After a while, it's not easy to repay this favor.

Now is the time to assemble these two crucial units!

Speaking of which, Qingdeng recently made a windfall.

The resounding victory in the Battle of Iga not only demonstrated its formidable power but also highlighted its value as an investment target and a potential employer.

Recently, merchants from Osaka, Kyoto and other places have flocked to Mibu-go to visit Aoto, all smiles and addressing him as "Tachibana Hyōbu".

Then came phrases like "I admire them very much," "I have long admired them," and "I want to contribute my efforts to the Shinsengumi," etc. In short, they were all cunning words that were neither official nor commoner, but rather a mix of both.

In short, its main point can be summarized in one sentence: "We are willing to contribute money to support the Shinsengumi!"

Upon hearing this, Qing Deng couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

He was certain that they had made similar remarks to the leaders of the Satsuma and Choshu factions.

By simply changing the subject, these "standard phrases" can be applied to anyone.

Merchants are profit-driven, and hedging their bets is a specialty of them; they understand the "way of survival" even better than the Duke Yansheng.

But it doesn't matter! As long as there's money to be made, Qingdeng is happy to play along with their act.

Qingdeng curled the corners of his mouth into a friendly smile and skillfully engaged in a lively exchange with the businessmen.

With the added advantage of the talent "Trickster +1" and the experience gained from mingling with Sanako, Kinoshita Mai, and Souji, Aoto had long since honed his "flexibility" in speaking to people in a way that suited them.

Afterwards, he received a "sponsorship fee" that far exceeded his expectations... a full 3 taels of gold!

The unit is "ten thousand"! The category is "gold"!

The majority of the investment came from Osaka merchants.

It is a well-known fact that Osaka merchants are incredibly wealthy.

Qing Deng had never been to Osaka, and his knowledge of Osaka merchants was limited to hearsay.

After accepting the 3 gold coins, he finally understood why "when the Osaka merchant was angry, all the feudal lords in the world were shocked."

At the same time, I also gained a deep understanding of just how large the gap between the rich and poor in Japan is nowadays.

The bandit army led by Shibasaki Renjuro plundered most of Ise, but in total they only managed to squeeze a few thousand taels of gold from the people of Ise.

These wealthy merchants could casually spend money in quantities measured in "ten thousand taels"...

The social classes of "scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants" have completely disappeared.

Now that you've unexpectedly received a windfall, don't waste it!

Qingdeng used all 3 taels of gold to purchase warhorses.

Japan has eight native horse breeds, most of which belong to the Mongolian horse breed, generally showing a trend of "lower in the south and higher in the north".

Horses closer to the south are shorter and more suitable for pack animals; horses closer to the north are taller and more suitable for war horses.

The Kiso horse from Kai province and the Nanbu horse from the Tohoku region are the most suitable breeds for use as warhorses.

During the Sengoku period, the powerful Takeda cavalry and Date cavalry used Kiso horses and Nanbu horses, respectively.

Speaking of Northeast China... isn't this a coincidence? Qingdeng happens to know someone who has some influence in the Northeast region.

Aoto personally went to Kinkai Komyoji Temple (the main camp of the Aizu army in Kyoto) and met with Matsudaira Katamori, informing him of his horse-buying plan.

The other person is indeed a straightforward person.

He not only introduced Qingdeng to horse merchants in Northeast China, but also gifted him 10 fine horses.

Following that, Qing Deng used his connections to contact horse merchants in the Kai region and purchase Kiso horses from them.

Japan is just a small island nation with a relatively small land area. Even the northeastern part of Japan, which is separated from the capital region by half a kilometre, is not that far away.

So, not long after, Nanbu and Kiso horses from Tohoku and Kai provinces began to enter the Shinsengumi settlement.

Once the warhorses arrived, Qingdeng immediately launched a large-scale selection process throughout the army, choosing soldiers who knew how to ride horses or were tall and suitable to be trained as cavalrymen.

Since we are going to form a cavalry unit, we need a sufficiently spacious racecourse.

There's not even a place where horses can run, so how can we possibly build a cavalry unit?

Building a racetrack in Mibu Township... Putting aside the severe lack of space, the loud noise from the galloping horses alone is enough to draw unanimous complaints from all the residents of Mibu Township.

So Qingdeng spent a large sum of money to purchase a flat wasteland in the southern suburbs of Kyoto.

Fortunately, real estate had not yet emerged in 19th-century Japan, so buying land and houses didn't cost much.

Of course, having a racecourse alone is not enough.

All supporting facilities and logistical personnel, such as stables, pastures, veterinarians, and feeders, must be in place.

Cavalry truly lived up to its reputation as the most expensive type of soldier in the era of cold weapons... The cost of supporting one cavalryman was enough to support several, or even a dozen, infantrymen.

Incidentally, under Qingdeng's mandatory requirement, all officers of the Draw Sword Squad, from the captain to the higher ranks, had to learn to ride horses.

His order drew questions from many, including the commander-in-chief—do those of us who only know swordsmanship need to learn horsemanship? We can't even cut down the enemy while we're on horseback.

Qingdeng's reply was simple: You don't have to use the skill of "riding," but you must have it! To put it bluntly, if we ever lose a battle in the future, knowing how to ride a horse could save your lives.

And so, these days, you can often see Souji and the others diligently practicing their riding skills at the racetrack.

The learning process for most people, such as Nagakura Shinpachi and Saito Hajime, was relatively smooth.

Within a few days, they were able to ride horses quite skillfully.

On the contrary, Souji and Kinoshita Mai... I don't know if these two are just too untalented or what, but their screams kept echoing through the racetrack...

……

……

The Shinsengumi's racecourse in the southern suburbs of Kyoto.

Sanako raised her hands and took the reins of Souji and Kinoshita Mai's mounts, one on each side.

"Miss Sasasasasasasasasa! Please don't let go! You absolutely can't let go! If you let go, I'll break off all ties with you!"

The commander-in-chief clung tightly to the horse's neck with both hands and gripped the saddle with both legs, his entire body pressed against the horse's back.

Sanako offered a helpless consolation:

"Don't worry, this height won't kill you. At most, you'll break your arms and legs."

With tears welling up in his eyes, the commander immediately put on a tearful appearance.

"Waaaaah! You're making me even more scared!!"

Kinoshita Mai, standing nearby, wasn't much better off.

Kinoshita Mai lay directly on the saddle, looking just like a curled-up cat, with her two front paws tucked under her body.

Seeing this, Sanako said irritably:

"Miss Kinoshita, are you trying to keep warm? You can't ride a horse lying on its back. Quick, stretch out your hands, grab the reins, and then stick your legs out and step into the stirrups."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Let me catch my breath! Let me catch my breath! Ahhhhhh! Don't move! If you move, the horse will move too!"

It seems these two will need to spend a lot of time and effort to learn how to ride a horse...

Besides Souji and Kinoshita Mai, there was another person whose riding skills surprised Aoto.

This time, the unexpected event was not frightening, but rather a pleasant surprise—Harada Sanosuke actually possessed extremely high equestrian skills.

He had never ridden before, but as soon as he sat on the horse, he immediately became skilled and adept at controlling it.

That's perfect!

Harada Sanosuke was skilled in using long polearms that could be used with great power on horseback, making him a suitable candidate to be trained as a cavalry general.

After assessing the soldiers' horsemanship skills and talents, Qingdeng made a major adjustment to the composition of the new selection group.

He reorganized the 7th and 10th Divisions into a cavalry unit.

Sanako and Harada Sanosuke remain the captains of these two units.

These two cavalry generals, both of whom were skilled in using long weapons, were appointed to lead the Shinsengumi cavalry.

After establishing the basic framework of the cavalry unit, Aoto handed over the follow-up work to Yamanami Keisuke to handle gradually.

He then rushed off to handle his next priority: establishing an intelligence unit!

Turning the Ninth Division into a specialized intelligence unit was something Qing Deng had decided on long ago.

Therefore, under his deliberate arrangement, the members of the Ninth Division were either ordinary-looking people who could be easily lost in the crowd, or agile individuals who could move like rabbits.

Furthermore, he appointed Kinoshita Mai, a female ninja skilled in movement and stealth, as the team's captain.

In essence, "collecting intelligence" is a task that can be difficult in some ways, but is also quite simple in others.

Simply put, gathering intelligence is not a very difficult task.

The most difficult and torturous task for decision-makers is how to astutely identify the correct intelligence from this pile of information and use it effectively.

Modern entertainment works often exaggerate the process of intelligence gathering, portraying it as something incredibly sophisticated, or even ridiculously exaggerated.