I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Rintaro – also known as Okita Rintaro, Okita Hikaru's husband who married into the family, and Souji's brother-in-law.

Qingdeng raised his eyebrows sharply, letting out a gasp he could hardly contain:

800 people? That many?

800 people—that number is almost approaching that of the three major sword-making schools of Edo, with Genbukan as the leader!

Calling Shieikan the hometown of Aoto... that's not wrong.

It's no exaggeration to say that Shieikan was the starting point of Seido.

It was both the starting point for his growth and the starting point for his current network of connections.

Without the Shieikan, Aoto wouldn't have been able to meet the "Shieikan Heroes" led by Souji, and consequently, he wouldn't have been able to meet the members of the Chiba family.

Therefore, the testing center not only provided him with the core team for achieving great things, but also provided him with two wives.

Based on this deep affection, it is no exaggeration for Qingdeng to regard Shiweiguan as his hometown.

As Qingdeng grew into the powerful and influential King Ren, the reputation of Shiwei Hall also rose accordingly.

Today, Shieikan is no longer the obscure "taro dojo" with few apprentices.

And the Natural Rinnegan style is no longer the despised "peasant swordsmanship".

Initially, the Tennen Rishin-ryu style was contemptuously called "farmer's swordsmanship" by others, firstly because most of its disciples were farmers from Tama, and secondly because the Tennen Rishin-ryu style's moves were very simple, not fancy, and seemed rustic.

It's one thing to mock its audience, since it's a fact. Previously, only farmers in Tama would study the Natural Rishin-ryu style.

However, to ridicule the techniques of the Natural Rishin-ryu school is utter ignorance.

To put it more elegantly, the Natural Ryōshū style inherits the ancient style of the Warring States period.

To put it simply, the Natural Ryōshū school is a school that only pursues practicality.

They only pursue clean and efficient kills, so naturally they don't use any fancy moves.

Since the end of the Yuanhe era, warriors no longer needed to wield swords and spears. Practical martial arts lost their fertile ground for development, and in turn, schools that looked beautiful but were actually just empty shells and flashy styles arose.

These ornate styles have greatly influenced people's aesthetic sense.

When people judge the level of a martial arts style, the standard they use is no longer its practicality, but whether it is gorgeous and elegant.

In recent years, with the rise of the Zunjang movement, a "retro trend" has emerged across Japan.

People gradually abandoned those fancy styles and began to pursue practical martial arts techniques that could break through enemy lines and kill enemies.

Thus, following the Warring States period, Japanese martial arts ushered in a long-awaited second spring—unfortunately, in this era dominated by guns and cannons, the rise of swordsmanship was meaningless.

The reason why Shieikan has been able to achieve its current prosperity is not only because of Aoto's "endorsement", but also because of the practical attributes of the Natural Rishin-ryu, which are very much in line with the current trend.

After exchanging pleasantries with Okita Hikaru for a moment, Qing Deng turned his gaze to the large, fat man not far away and greeted him first.

"Mr. Dongcheng, it's been a long time."

The other party nodded slightly and replied:

"Tachibana-kun, it's been a long time."

Obese body, dirty clothes, unkempt appearance... Such a striking appearance is none other than a familiar face to Qing Deng—Hitagi Shintaro, the leader of the "Higashijo Group," Kitaban Sadachou-machi.

Back then, the Hokuban-sho-cho district had two major factions: the "Arima Group," to which Aoto belonged, and the "Tojo Group," to which Nishino Hosojiro belonged.

Although the two factions occasionally cooperated, they were more often in competition, frequently attacking each other in order to win the best cases.

Whenever Qingdeng recalls these past events, he is filled with a myriad of emotions and truly understands what it means for "times to change".

He had long since left the Northern Frontier Office.

His three senior colleagues—Hideyuki Arima, Hanjiro Inoya, and Seiji Ushiyama—are no longer "Capital Police."

Aoto has never forgotten the support and help Arima and others gave him back then.

After Tachibana Takayuki died unjustly, they continued to investigate the cause of their old friend's death in their own way.

Two years ago, during the investigation into the true cause of death of Gensuke Yoshiyuki and Tachibana Takayuki, the information provided by Arima Hideyuki was of great help to Aoto.

Qingdeng will always remember the kindness of these three senior figures.

Therefore, not long after he was promoted to a powerful position as a retainer and attendant to the emperor, he began to reciprocate the favor.

At that time, Qing Deng was no different from a powerful minister and was greatly favored by the general and the Grand Minister.

For him at the time, promoting Arima and others was an easy task.

Therefore, through his maneuvering, Arima and the others were all promoted to the right, rising several ranks in succession.

Arima Hideyuki was promoted to the position of Director of Construction, in charge of all construction projects, large and small, undertaken by the shogunate for the outer perimeter of Edo Castle. He had subordinate officials including the Director of Construction, the Head Builder, and the Head Builder of Kyoto.

Inoya Hanjiro was promoted to Forest Magistrate, in charge of managing the shogunate's forests. All aspects of logging, planting, maintenance, and transportation were managed by this position.

Ushiyama Masaji was promoted to the rank of Fukōbōgyō, in charge of the maintenance of the stone walls, moat, and bridges in Edo Castle, as well as the management of vacant houses and bairyo-yashiki (large houses bestowed by the shogunate upon its retainers) in Kanda, Tamagawa River, and Edo City.

Two of them are in charge of civil engineering, and one is in charge of forestry... Anyone with a little common sense knows how much power these three positions wield!

Qingdeng's high regard for these three seniors is evident.

The members of the "Arima Group" have all gone their separate ways... In other words, the "Arima Group" of the Hokuban Institute no longer exists.

As for the "East City Group," it has also undergone tremendous changes.

Shintaro Tojo remains the leader of the Tojo Group, the head of the Hokuban-sho (Northern District Office) and a key member of the Tojo Group. However, the core member of the Tojo Group is Hosojiro Nishino, who is known as the "Number One Detective in the Hokuban-sho".

He tragically died in the line of duty two years ago while investigating the illusory substance.

The Arima Group has disbanded, and the Tojo Group has lost its key figure... The intense rivalry between the two groups back then will never happen again.

Whenever he thinks about it, Qingdeng feels inexplicably sad.

Aoto had a pretty good impression of Shintaro Tojo.

Although he was the leader of the “hostile forces”, Qing Deng did not dislike him.

He is easygoing and approachable, making him a competent leader.

His only flaw... is probably that he's too sloppy and indecent.

He doesn't like to take showers, so his body and clothes are always dirty. He often picks his nose in public, which is really disgusting.

In addition, his alcoholic lifestyle is also highly criticized.

It is said that he goes to an izakaya every night to drink, often staying up all night.

He had a huge appetite, and every meal consisted of large amounts of meat and fish, which eventually led to his incredibly obese body.

Interestingly, this greasy, fat man is also a very mysterious person, with many secrets.

For example: his past.

For example, his skills.

Shintaro Toujou rarely talks about his past, and even when he is drunk, he remains tight-lipped about his past.

At the same time, almost no one knows about him when he was young.

People don't even know his exact age.

Based on his appearance, we can only roughly estimate that he is close to 40 years old.

As for his fighting skills, that remains a huge mystery.

Rumor has it that although Shintaro Toujou is quite overweight, he is actually very agile and a rather nimble fat man.

To date, there is still no definitive conclusion on this matter—because no one has ever witnessed him subduing his enemy.

After a brief greeting, Qingdeng got straight to the point:

"Mr. Dongcheng, what are you doing here?"

Logically speaking, Shintaro Tojo, who is the head of the town and the source of power, should be in his office dealing with paperwork right now.

Shintaro Toujou shrugged and replied:

"It's fire season again, and Gao Jijian's colleagues are extremely busy."

"Because of the shortage of manpower, the 'Sankai' samurai who are currently free have been sent to assist Takazumi Mikai."

Takashimi Miki—one of the important departments of the Magistrate's Office, was responsible for patrolling the city, inspecting timber and goods in shops that were left haphazardly, and reminding people to prevent fires.

The reason I'm here is because of that—

Shintaro Toujou raised his right index finger and pointed to the courtyard not far away.

"Look at your pile of timber, it's all piled up in a mess, it's really dangerous."

"If something goes wrong, it could lead to a serious accident."

Following the direction pointed out by Shintaro Tojo, Aoto looked over.

In the corner of the yard, there was a pile of timber as high as a small mountain.

Qing Deng couldn't help but ask:

"Miss Okita, what's the deal with these pieces of wood?"

Hikaru Okita gave an awkward laugh.

"Uh... well... recently the number of apprentices at our Shiwei Hall has skyrocketed."

"So Master Kondo planned to expand the dojo."

"These timbers are for future expansion plans."

"It's really our fault...we just piled the timber haphazardly in the yard."

"Mr. Dongcheng discovered this pile of haphazardly placed timber, so he came to order us to rectify it."

"I was negotiating with him when you arrived, Tachibana-kun."

At this point, Hikaru Okita clasped his hands together in front of him, turned to the side, and bowed to Shintaro Tojo.

"We are very sorry! We will deal with these timbers immediately!"

Improperly piling up timber was indeed a serious safety hazard during the Edo period; otherwise, the magistrate's office would not have set up a special department to inspect this matter.

Shintaro Tojo nodded.

"Considering this is your first offense, I will waive the fine this time."