I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Idiots! What are you good for? Why can't you even move a box properly?!"

“No, no, no action!”

They quickly cleaned up, stuffed the fallen rifles back into the box, and then hurriedly carried them away.

In the 19th century, Europe and America were in a state of "vigorous growth and flourishing of all things," and the monster called "capitalism" was growing wildly.

Simply put, their market is in a state of "order within chaos, chaos within order; both chaotic and orderly."

If you have that money, you can buy almost anything you want in the market.

Therefore, if you have the connections, it's not difficult to buy guns and cannons.

Not only can you buy, but if your purchase volume is large enough, the seller might even offer free shipping and express delivery.

In order to counter the persecution of the Party by the law, the Gourd House would naturally not let go of firearms, such a powerful weapon.

Under Kinoshita Rin's instructions, the purchasing strategy of the Gourd House was very clear: they did not engage in "international brands".

Whether it's muskets or cannons, they all focused on just one product.

We only buy the M1861 rifle.

As for artillery, they only purchased the most advanced field guns available at the time: the 10-pound Parrot rifled gun.

This cannon also proved its worth in the current Civil War, with both the North and South equipping themselves with it on a large scale, numbering over 700.

This artillery piece has a caliber of 76 mm and produces shells weighing 4.5 kg, which are no longer round shells.

The most distinctive feature of the Parrot rifled gun is that it uses a rifled barrel instead of a smoothbore.

After the shell is fired, the projectile expands under the action of the propellant gas, thus embedding itself into the rifling and causing the shell to spin, which greatly improves accuracy and extends range.

The Parrot rifled gun has a theoretical maximum range of over 4000 meters, but its actual combat range is around 2000 meters.

The stock of gourd houses is not much.

They currently have only 200 M1861 rifles that they can immediately provide to Qin Jinfan.

As for the Parrot rifled gun, there were only a mere five of them.

Although the quantity was small, it was enough to free Qingdeng from the predicament of "having no firearms"!

……

……

Kinoshita Rin gave precise instructions in a methodical manner.

Mr. Kiryu and the others listened attentively.

The person receiving a specific task—such as Mogami Yoshikiyo, who was tasked with contacting Mr. Smith in the United States—would stand up and loudly proclaim, "Yes!"

After she finished speaking, she slowly turned her head to look at Qingdeng beside her.

"An Yi".

The sudden roll call made Qingdeng instinctively straighten his back and look in the direction of the voice.

"I, this old woman, have done everything I could. Now... it all depends on how you perform."

"I will not tell you what to do, much less interfere in Qin Jinfan's internal affairs."

"If you still fail to achieve anything immediately despite my strong support, I'll be angry."

"In short, let's give Qin Jin Fan a fresh start as soon as possible."

At this point, Kinoshita Rin paused.

Then, she smiled and adopted a half-joking tone:

"I'm really looking forward to it... looking forward to Qin Jin Domain becoming a powerful nation that fears no force!"

Upon hearing this, Qing Deng smiled slightly, then spoke in a passionate and impassioned voice:

"Grandma, please look forward to it. What I'm best at is exceeding other people's expectations!"

……

……

On the outskirts of Kyoto, in Iwakura Village, lies the hermitage of Iwakura Tomomi.

Iwakura Tomomi: "..."

Katsura Kogoro: "..."

The two sat facing each other.

They stared at each other, neither of them saying a word.

Iwakura Tomomi sat crookedly, a pipe dangling from his mouth, puffing out clouds of smoke.

A moment later, he suddenly grinned, as if speaking to Katsura Kogoro in front of him, yet also as if talking to himself, and began to speak in a low voice:

"I seem to have been too arrogant..."

"Although I hate to admit it, I really underestimated Tachibana Aoto..."

"This guy... he's a monster!"

At this point, his face suddenly darkened, and his expression became extremely solemn and frightening.

"How did he do that...?!"

"How was he able to persuade Osaka's tycoons to invest in him...?!"

"Damn it...! My chessboard has been messed up again...!"

Squeak, squeak, squeak—he squeezed the pipe tightly, and the pipe made a squeaking sound as it struggled to bear the weight.

Katsura Kogoro remained silent, letting Iwakura Tomomi hurl insults and vent his anger.

About five minutes later, Iwakura Tomomi gradually stopped talking, and her emotions calmed down.

A moment later, he slowly raised his eyes and stared straight at Katsura Kogoro.

The violent look on his face had faded.

Instead, they wore bright and cheerful expressions.

“Mr. Gui, I am now somewhat interested in your proposal of ‘secret cooperation between the imperial court and Changzhou’.”

"..."

Katsura Kogoro remained silent.

However, the slight upturn of his lips already revealed his true feelings.

……

……

Satsuma Domain Residence —

Saigo Kinosuke stood upright on the veranda, hands behind his back, basking in the bright sunlight, and looked around the courtyard with great interest.

Suddenly, Komatsu appeared behind him with a knife.

“Saigo-kun, that Tosa samurai who calls himself ‘Sakamoto Ryoma’ is here again.”

"He vehemently claimed that 'only by realizing the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance and working together to overthrow the Edo Shogunate can Japan have a bright and glorious future.'"

Saigo Kinosuke raised an eyebrow:

“'Japan'? Ha, what a strange fellow…”

As he spoke, he looked up at the boundless sky.

"...Komatsu-kun, get rid of him. I don't need to see him right now."

Komatsu narrowed his eyes, a wry smile playing on his lips.

"'Temporarily'... Okay, I understand."

After saying this, he bowed slightly and then retreated into the far corner of the corridor in two quick steps.

Saigo Kichinosuke withdrew his gaze from the other person and looked into the distance.

A moment later, he murmured softly in a voice only he could hear:

"'The alliance between Sachang and Changchun'... now is not the best time for an alliance..."

*******

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

PS: Thank you to reader [Ice Dance Ye Yang]! Although we haven't reached the chapter about Qing Deng's wedding yet, he has already drawn fan art of the female protagonists wearing white kimonos for free! This book finally has fan art too! (crying leopard head.jpg)

This reader has already posted the picture in the comments section of Qidian.com. Interested readers can check it out! (LeopardHi.jpg)

Chapter 784 The Mysterious Blonde-Haired, Blue-Eyed Middle-Aged Man [4200 words]

night--

Osaka, the headquarters of the Gourd House, and Aoto's residence—

Since the alliance between the two parties was established, and the marriage with Kinoshita Mai was arranged, Aoto has been living at the headquarters of the Gourd House.

Even disregarding his status as "grandson-in-law," the mere presence of Aoto's long list of titles, such as "Lord of the Hatatsu Domain" and "Commander-in-Chief of the Shinsengumi," would make it impossible for the Karashiya to treat him with disrespect.

Under Kinoshita Rin's arrangement, Aoto's clothing, food, housing, and transportation were all top-notch.

The pajamas were made of silk.

The food was all delicacies from land and sea.

The living quarters consist of a spacious bedroom with 24 and a half tatami mats.

Four servants were always by Qingdeng's side, on standby 4 hours a day, to make up his bedding, change his shoes, and be ready to meet all of Qingdeng's reasonable requests.

Most likely, this was to prevent Qing Deng from changing his mind or having an affair. All four waiters were young boys around fourteen years old, with shaved heads, and none of them were women.

[Note: Shaving the forehead: According to Japanese tradition, boys begin growing their hair at the age of three. Upon reaching adulthood, the hair on their forehead is shaved off, and they grow a topknot instead. Not shaving the forehead indicates that the boy is a minor.]