I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

He kept touching and kneading the barbarian's cloth, unable to believe the sensation in his palms.

Such good fabric, and you're only selling it for this little money?! You can't even recoup the costs, can you?

Foreigners' fabrics are of better quality and cheaper than yours. What do you have to compete with them?

As a result, their fabric shop business became increasingly difficult... their income dropped by more than half compared to before the country opened its doors.

“...Father.” The daughter hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath. “How about...I go outside and find a job?”

“I’m 14 years old this year, and I can work now.”

"I happened to see a teahouse in the next town waving for customers yesterday."

The shop owner was taken aback for a moment, then gave his daughter a touched smile.

"Don't worry too much about things at home." The shop owner raised his hand and affectionately patted his daughter's head. "No matter how bad our business is, it won't leave our whole family starving."

Suddenly, the sound of the curtain being lifted and footsteps entering came from the shop door.

"Welcome..." The shop owner reflexively forced out a formulaic smile.

He only got halfway through saying "Welcome" before the rest of the words got stuck in his throat.

Upon entering the shop, one could see four samurai with swords at their waists.

The four samurai had messy hair and stubble, and their bodies and clothes were extremely dirty, as if they hadn't been washed in a long time.

Looking at the four samurai, all dressed as ronin, the shopkeeper felt a vague sense of foreboding...

He quickly gestured with his eyes for his daughter to go into the back of the shop—unfortunately, his daughter didn't notice his gesture.

"Are you the owner of this shop?" the leader of the four warriors, a middle-aged man with a large nose, asked the shop owner in a loud voice.

The man with the big nose had a very heavy accent, from the northeastern region of Aozhou. The shop owner almost couldn't understand what he was saying because of the accent.

"Yes, yes!" The shop owner hurriedly rushed out from behind the counter, his face beaming with a fawning smile. "May I ask who you gentlemen are...?"

Before the shop owner could finish speaking, the big-nosed man interrupted him in a gruff voice:

"We are patriots who are determined to repel the barbarians!"

"We are heading to Nagasaki to join the rest of our comrades in annihilating all the barbarians gathered there!"

"But we don't have enough money for the trip."

"Therefore, I would like to borrow some travel expenses and military funds from your shop."

"Once we achieve a complete victory in the cause of expelling the barbarians, we will repay the loan amount double!"

The shop owner's ingratiating smile froze instantly.

He reacted quickly, and soon he adjusted his expression.

"Uh... this..."

The shop owner subtly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Hahaha, so you gentlemen are patriots dedicated to repelling the barbarians! How remarkable! I have the utmost respect for patriots dedicated to repelling the barbarians!"

The shop owner said a lot of nice things to the four people.

Phrases like "You guys are amazing" and "I've disliked those foreigners for a long time"...

Big Nose and the others were very pleased with the shop owner's praise, and they all showed smug expressions.

After using the persuasive skills he had honed over many years of business to coax the four people, the shop owner suddenly changed the subject—

"Sir Samurai, I would also like to sponsor you and contribute my efforts to the cause of expelling the barbarians."

"But my shop is just a small shop... We're already struggling to make ends meet, and we don't have any money to lend out..."

Upon hearing the shop owner's words, the expressions of Big Nose and the others, who had just been beaming with pride at the shop owner's praise, instantly changed.

"What?!" The big-nosed man frowned. "So you're saying you don't want to support our great cause of expelling the barbarians anymore?"

"No, no, no!" the shop owner quickly waved his hands. "I didn't mean that! I really want to support you, but I really don't have any money!"

"Boss, this is what happens when you don't understand the greater good!" Big Nose puffed out his chest, raised his head, and struck a righteous pose. "Haven't you heard the saying, 'The rise and fall of the nation is the responsibility of every citizen'?"

"Right now, the Western barbarians are wantonly defiling the land of our divine kingdom."

"At this critical moment for our nation, everyone should stand up, fight bravely against the enemy, and serve our country with utmost loyalty!"

"Think about those patriots who took up their swords and fought bravely against those barbarians and traitors."

"They can even put their own lives and safety aside, and now they're just asking you to lend them some money, and you're whining and refusing to lend it."

"It's not that we won't pay you back. Didn't I just say that we will pay you back double the money after the great cause of expelling the barbarians is completely won?"

The shop owner is so anxious he's about to cry.

"Sir, it's not that I don't want to pay! It's just that my family really doesn't have any money!"

"Ah!" At this moment, a skinny guy standing behind the big-nosed man pointed at the shop owner's counter and said, "You, you're actually using barbarian stuff?"

Ma Gan dashed to the counter and grabbed a Western pocket watch from it.

"Well, well!" The big-nosed man's eyebrows shot up. "No wonder you didn't want to lend us money. Turns out you're a traitor who uses foreign things!"

With a whoosh, Big Nose drew the sword from his waist.

"Ah!" The shop owner's daughter was so frightened that she took several steps back, and the color quickly disappeared from her face.

The shop owner was also quite frightened by the gleaming knife in the big-nosed man's hand, but he still tried to remain calm and said quickly, "Sir, this pocket watch was a gift from my friend, I didn't buy it..."

"So what if you didn't buy it?" the big-nosed man shouted. "Whether you bought this pocket watch or someone else gave it to you, using a foreigner's possession makes you a traitor!"

"I'll ask you one last time!" The big-nosed man glared fiercely at the shop owner, placing his katana against the shop owner's neck, the blade aimed at the shop owner's carotid artery. "Are you willing to support our great cause of expelling the barbarians or not?"

Feeling the cool metallic touch on his neck, the shop owner shuddered violently a few times.

The shop owner dared not fight any further against these fierce-looking so-called "patriots".

He stumbled and staggered back to the counter, took out a small brocade box from the cabinet under the counter, and with slightly trembling fingers took out a handful of small copper coins from the box, mixed with a few silver coins.

Big Nose grabbed the loose change from the shop owner's hand and stuffed it into his pocket. Without even saying "thank you," he waved his hand and told his three companions behind him to leave quickly.

After rushing out of the fabric shop, they suddenly discovered that both ends of the street were extremely noisy.

Turning their heads to look to the left and right, they saw that Aoto was leading Saito and the fully armed members of the Koyanagi-cho Self-governing Army, charging towards them in a mighty force.

"Oh no!" Big Nose's expression changed drastically when he saw the Magistrate's Office Inro and the jitte with red tassels on Qing Deng's waist. "It's the Magistrate's Office's Doshin!"

He frantically scanned his surroundings, searching for a way to escape.

They only have two escape routes—the intersection to the east and the intersection to the west.

Both intersections are now blocked by Qing Deng and his men.

There were 12 of their own servants on the west side, and only 8 on the east side, but the east side was the direction personally led by Aoto and Saito.

After weighing his options, Big Nose gritted his teeth and charged westward, his companions all drawing their swords and brandishing their claws.

The most common traps used by the guards of Okabiki and his own men when arresting criminals were long ladders and spiked forks.

The so-called "spike" is a long, large iron fork.

First, use a long ladder to control the prisoner's movements, then use a spiked fork to pry the prisoner through the gaps between the horizontal bars of the ladder.

Because the attack range of the spiked fork is so long, and because it is usually a case of multiple people fighting one when capturing criminals, even a skilled martial arts expert can be controlled if he is not careful.

Upon seeing Big Nose and his men charging towards them, the 12 local servants at the western intersection immediately and skillfully formed a battle formation.

Six of them grabbed three ladders, blocking Big Nose and the others' escape route, while the other six used spiked forks to poke them through the gaps in the ladder bars.

Just by looking at the way Big Nose and his companions hold their knives and move their feet, you can tell that they know absolutely nothing about martial arts.

In the blink of an eye, Big Nose's two companions were impaled on the spears of the servants and pinned to the ground, unable to move.

While the servants were busy dealing with his two companions, Big Nose and the skinny guy narrowly escaped from the line of defense formed by the servants.

However... before they could escape even a few steps, Qingdeng had already led the remaining servants to catch up from the east...

Both the big-nosed man and the skinny man walked very slowly, their pace far slower than Qingdeng's.

Since acquiring the "strong muscle" talent that makes muscles less prone to fatigue, Qingdeng's sprinting and long-distance running abilities have improved significantly, as his leg muscles have become less prone to fatigue and soreness.

Qingdeng was the first to catch up with the slowest runner, the skinny guy.

With a swift movement, he grabbed the skinny man by the back of his collar and kicked him hard behind the back of his right knee.

The skinny guy let out a miserable scream, lost his balance, and fell face-first into the dirt.

After the skinny guy fell, the servants who were following Qingdeng rushed forward, pinned him down, and took out thick hemp ropes to tie him up tightly.

After subduing the skinny guy, Qingdeng immediately went after Big Nose.

Big Nose realized that he couldn't outrun Qingdeng at all. If he didn't do something, Qingdeng would catch up with him in just a few seconds.

Then, Big Nose let out a strange, incoherent gasp and swung the knife in his hand backward with force, aiming at Qing Deng.

His sword speed, which was incredibly slow and showed no signs of training, was no match for Qing Deng's "eagle eye".

With a quick glance, Qing Deng saw the trajectory of the slash, then suddenly drew his sword, pulled out the Ding Gui Shen sword from his waist, and slashed upwards, knocking the big-nosed man's katana away.

The next instant, Qing Deng freed his left hand and used a move he had been using recently—he used his left hand to forcefully grab Big Nose's right hand to prevent Big Nose from reaching for his weapon with his dominant hand. Then, he twisted his body and threw Big Nose to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw.

When Big Nose, who was seeing stars from the fall, came to his senses, his own servants pounced on him like tigers descending from the mountain...

……

……

"Master Tongxin! Thank you so much!"

The cloth shop owner, who had just been robbed, held the money he had taken back from Big Nose and his gang, and bowed repeatedly to Qingdeng, looking like he was about to cry.

The shop owner's daughter also bowed repeatedly to Qingdeng to express her gratitude, along with her father.

Not particularly adept at handling such situations, Qingdeng could only speak modestly while urging the shop owner and others to straighten up.

Looking at the shop owner and his daughter, who were almost crying with joy after surviving the ordeal, Qingdeng couldn't help but feel deeply moved.

The owner of this fabric shop was also very lucky—Qing Deng happened to be patrolling nearby just now.

He had just received a report from the local police station in Koyuu Town: four habitual criminals who frequently extorted money under the guise of "every man has a responsibility for the fate of the nation" had appeared in Koyuu Town.

Upon receiving this intelligence, Qing Deng immediately led Saito and his own men, equipped with all necessary gear, to the location where the four habitual criminals had been spotted. They managed to apprehend the criminals just before they could flee after robbing the money.