I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"If we have this spare money, we might as well give it to the Shinsengumi."

"If I could get this money, I could build a fully armed army of three thousand within six months."

"The shogunate always complains about being poor, but it always manages to produce staggering amounts of money."

"That's really puzzling."

£10 – which is equivalent to about 27 taels of gold.

27 taels of gold... Qing Deng couldn't help but think of the pitiful 3000 taels of gold he received when he first went to Luoyang.

First they used a million taels of gold to attack Luoyang, and now they're preparing to use 27 taels of gold to pay reparations...

When money is needed, various forces obstruct it in every way.

When they need to save money, they keep wasting it.

Thinking of this, Qing Deng felt extremely unhappy, and he had an impulse to transform from a "general of the Tokugawa army" into a "patriot who opposes the Tokugawa shogunate".

How could the shogunate possibly win the hearts of the people with such a despicable character?

No wonder the shogunate's authority is declining and its strength is weakening.

"Qingdeng, you can't say that."

As he spoke, Katsurin Taro shrugged.

"This 27 taels of gold is truly the last of the shogunate's money."

"If this money is handed over, how to pay the salaries of the officers this year will become a big problem."

"It's better to pay up than to watch Edo turn into a sea of ​​fire."

Qingdeng remained silent, his face expressionless.

Katsurin Taro also fell silent.

Before they knew it, more and more houses appeared on both sides of the road, and the trees became increasingly sparse—they had entered the town of Edo.

To be honest, at first, Qing Deng almost thought he had come to the wrong place, that he had come to some remote little town instead of Edo.

Compared to four months ago, Edo has become much more desolate.

Looking around, there were few people.

Listening closely, the sounds were few and far between.

It was completely devoid of the vibrant life and flourishing of all things that it once was.

The few pedestrians I happened to encounter all had their heads down, their expressions blank, and their steps hurried.

The reason for this situation was, of course, the serious threat posed by British warships, which led to a considerable number of townspeople fleeing to other places.

But the main reason is the abolition of the Hajj pilgrimage.

According to the regulations for the sanjin kōtai, except for a very few remote domains—such as the Tsushima-fuchu Domain on Tsushima Island—most daimyo had to travel to Edo every year and stay there for nearly half a year.

When a famous person travels far away, they are naturally surrounded by a large retinue.

Thanks to this, more than half of Edo's population was transient throughout the year.

This naturally greatly boosted various industries in Edo, such as inns and restaurants.

In layman's terms, tourism was a vital pillar industry in Edo.

Now, under strong pressure from domains such as Satsuma, the shogunate abolished the sanjin kōtai a year ago.

The daimyo's wife and children, who were being held captive in Edo, were also released one after another.

As a result, Edo, having lost its transient population, inevitably declined further.

Qingdeng and his group continued forward for a while before finally encountering a fairly dense crowd.

Upon seeing the arrival of well-dressed shogunate officials, the people on the street immediately and mechanically dispersed, standing on both sides of the street to make way.

Qingdeng turned his head and looked around.

Then they saw that all the people on the roadside were looking up, their eyes cold and wide as they stared at the officials on horseback, their eyes devoid of their former awe.

He looked as if he were looking at his enemy.

No one spoke; the surroundings were eerily quiet, chillingly so.

Apart from the sounds of Qing Deng and his companions' mounts walking and people breathing, there were no other sounds.

Despite having prepared himself mentally, Qingdeng was still taken aback by what he saw.

The general public doesn't understand economic or political issues.

All they know is that it's getting harder and harder to make money, that their days are getting more and more difficult, and that they've been living in fear of shells falling into their homes.

Shocked and frightened, they naturally turned their anger towards the shogunate, which was supposed to protect them.

Suddenly, Katsura Rintaro said to Aoto in a self-deprecating tone:

"Qingdeng, you may not know this."

"Recently, a waka poem has become popular in Edo town."

He cleared his throat with a "cough cough cough," and then sang softly:

"These days of soaring prices are truly frustrating!"

"Department store prices only go up, never down; rice prices remain stubbornly high."

"We can't even afford two servings of rice, let alone delicate pastries~"

"At this time, let alone luxuries, even salt is in short supply."

"Spices are too expensive to make pickles, and restaurants are shortchanging customers on rice!"

"No discounts whatsoever, and drunkards are lying everywhere."

"There are no cheap things in this world, the bitterness and helplessness are unbearable."

After listening, Qing Deng immediately gave his comments:

"Although as a retainer of the shogunate I should not make such a comment, I still want to say: it is a really catchy and accurate song."

Katsura Rintaro wore a complicated expression:

"Yeah, I feel the same way."

Qingdeng and his group silently endured the eerie stares of the people on both sides and continued forward.

A walk that should have taken five minutes felt like it took half an hour.

In the midst of this tranquility... suddenly, someone shouted:

"Hey! Look! Isn't that Niou?"

That shout was like a boulder falling into a calm pond.

In an instant, ripples spread across the entire pond!

In the blink of an eye, the entire audience was astonished.

The heads that had been buried deep inside began to rise.

A flurry of gazes fell upon Qing Deng.

An instantaneous, fiery atmosphere was created.

"It really is Niou!"

"Lord Niou! You've finally returned!"

"Lord Niou! Have you returned to stop the British warships?"

"Lord Niou! You must save us!"

……

His indifferent gaze turned fiery.

His indifferent expression turned agitated.

One after another, cries of "Lord Niou" echoed throughout the streets.

It was like throwing a fire into a snowdrift; the reaction was so intense that even Qing Deng was taken aback.

If even Qingdeng is like this, then it goes without saying that it's the same for others.

The accompanying shogunate officials were all startled by this sudden change.

Some emotionally charged people even rushed to the front of Qing Deng and his group, trying to grab Luo Bo's hooves.

The radish was so frightened that it started making loud "moo moo moo" noises.

Qingdeng lowered his eyelids, appearing deep in thought.

After a moment, he took a deep breath and said loudly:

"Fellow citizens of Edo! As you can see, I am Tachibana Aoto!"

To make himself more visible to the people, he gently tapped the ox's belly, spurred it forward, and brought it to the very front of the formation.

A shocking scene unfolded once again—the previously noisy crowd quickly fell silent.

They stared intently at Qing Deng, all patiently waiting for him to speak next.

"I know that the British fleet in Edo Bay is causing you great anxiety!"

"Now, you don't need to live in fear anymore!"

"My return this time is to stop the British warships in Edo Bay!"

"I cannot guarantee you that I will succeed!"

"But I can assure you—I swear to live and die with Edo!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the people present went wild, shouting cheers that seemed to stop the clouds in their tracks.

The atmosphere was so enthusiastic and uplifting that it was hard to believe that the people cheering were the same group who had been so lifeless just moments before!

One after another, cries of "Lord Ren-ou" surrounded Qing Deng.

Surrounded by people, Qing Deng wore a gentle smile as he scanned the crowd.