I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Wow~~ I've known you for so long, and this is the first time I've read one of your haiku."

When people talk about Hijikata Toshizo, their preconceived notions are nothing more than that of a sharp-tongued, womanizing, and bad-tempered person.

You probably never would have guessed that the dignified "Demon Vice-Commander" is actually such a refined person.

Hijikata Toshizo had a particular fondness for refined things, especially haiku.

Whenever he had free time, he would pick up a pen and paper and happily create haiku. He even gave himself the nickname "Toyotama".

According to Souji, his collection of haiku has already filled several large volumes.

It's a pity that, although he loved writing haiku, he rarely showed his work to outsiders.

As a result, it is only now that Qingdeng has finally had the opportunity to read his masterpiece.

As Qingdeng recalled what he had just seen, he repeated softly:

"The warbler, and the sound of the duster... what's next?"

Hijikata Toshizo gave Aoto a disgruntled look.

Although he looked impatient, as if he was very reluctant to talk to Qingdeng about this topic, at the same time, the corners of his lips were slightly upturned, as if he was secretly pleased. Overall, he presented a strange "reluctant yet welcoming" appearance.

"Oh dear, I just can't do anything with you! Since you're so curious, I'll make an exception and read it to you today!"

As he spoke, he straightened his clothes, sat up straight, cleared his throat forcefully, then half-closed his eyes, a look of rapture on his face, and softly recited:

"The warbler's song—even the duster's melody—can't stop!"

"..."

"Hey, don't stay silent, give me some feedback."

"Ah, sorry... I don't understand haiku, so I didn't quite understand what your haiku meant."

"Ah, it truly is a beautiful song... meaning that the warbler's song is so lovely that I couldn't help but stop dusting and listen to the bird's song with complete concentration."

"...Huh? Is that all?"

Hijikata Toshizo was engrossed in his own world, his eyes half-closed as if lost in thought, his expression one of blissful absorption.

"After listening to this haiku, didn't such a scene come to mind? A gentle breeze, a peaceful afternoon, birdsong that comes and goes... What a beautiful scene..."

"So why are you carrying a duster?"

"It's not that I'm holding a duster! The duster and all that are irrelevant! It's all about the mood! The atmosphere! Sigh... never mind! You and Xiaosi are just like each other! You have no taste for elegance! Talking about haiku with you is like casting pearls before swine!"

Seeing that the other party seemed to be throwing a tantrum, Qingdeng quickly put on a carefree smile to ease the atmosphere.

"Don't be angry. I am indeed a vulgar person who doesn't appreciate elegance, but I think your work is quite interesting. Let me hear some of your other works."

"No need, you won't appreciate the subtlety of haiku."

"Then let me hear your most confident work. Maybe after listening to your masterpiece, I will be able to appreciate the subtlety of haiku."

"If you want to understand haiku, just go and appreciate the works of masters like Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa. I know my own level very well; there's not much to read in my works."

Although he said that, his hands seemed to have a mind of their own, quickly opening the booklet and flipping through the pages with a "whoosh".

Immediately afterwards, that strange "reluctant yet welcoming" expression reappeared on his face.

He licked his lips, his eyes gleaming, and the corners of his lips turned up in a wide smile that he couldn't suppress.

"I am best at writing poems about scenery. When it comes to my most confident works, or my favorite works, they are my poems about scenery."

He turned a page.

"Hmm... this song isn't very good; the mood is terrible."

He turned another page.

"This piece... lacks rhythm and doesn't showcase my skill at all."

He turned another page.

"This one... Oh no, this one is too good. Even if I recite it to you, you won't appreciate its beauty. Hmm... It's so hard to choose..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly straightened his face and slapped his thigh, as if an amnesiac had suddenly regained his memory:

"Wait a minute! We're not having a poetry gathering! What are we talking about haiku for! Tachibana, it's all your fault for interrupting, you made me do something silly too!"

Qingdeng looked completely innocent and pointed to himself:

"Huh? Is this my responsibility?"

Hijikata Toshizo remained unfazed, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with him.

"Here you go! This is the place I wanted you to see; you're not allowed to read anything else!"

He flipped the booklet to the very first page and shoved it into Qingdeng's arms.

After this little hiccup, their conversation finally got back on track.

Having laughed and made a scene, the two quickly composed themselves and transformed back into the decisive and ruthless "Niou" and "Demon Vice-Commander".

After receiving the booklet, Qingdeng held it with both hands and quickly scanned it, reading ten lines at a glance.

Hijikata Toshizo remained silent and waited quietly.

About 10 seconds later, Qingdeng quietly closed the booklet in his hand, his face expressionless and his tone neither sad nor happy:

"What's coming will eventually come... Changzhou is going to fight us to the death."

Hijikata Toshizo shrugged.

"The people of Changzhou have always been mentally unstable, so it's no surprise that they would do something like this."

The shogunate's "Chōshū Conquest" was already common knowledge, so how could the people of Chōshū not know about it?

After the disastrous defeat in the Shimonoseki War and the setback of being expelled from Kyoto, most people, including Aoto, thought that the radicals in Choshu would calm down a bit, or at least that the conservatives would be able to regain some of the discourse power.

Unexpectedly... the Choshu radicals, led by Genzui Hisaka, not only failed to learn their lesson and reform themselves, but instead became even more insane!

They blamed the shogunate for their miserable situation.

The shogunate went back on its word! They said, "We'll begin expelling the barbarians on May 10th," but when that day actually came, they just stood by and watched! Not only did they not expel the barbarians, but they also stabbed Choshu in the back! They caused us to be expelled from Kyoto and unjustly bear the infamy of being "enemies of the court"!

Yes, we did nothing wrong! It's all the shogunate's fault! It's all the shogunate's fault!

Thus, they completed their ideological cycle, becoming increasingly hostile to the shogunate, as well as the Aizu Domain, Satsuma Domain, and the newly established Hatatsu Domain, which were now on the shogunate's side.

To vent their anger, they resorted to "spiritual victory methods."

They called Satsuma "Satsu thief", Aizu "Aizu traitor", and Hatazu "Katsu demon".

When they practiced martial arts and wielded bamboo swords, they would often shout in unison, "Destroy the Qin demons," "Slay the traitors," and "Down with the Sa thieves," and write these three derogatory terms on the soles of their shoes, signifying "to trample them underfoot."

In this way, after experiencing one defeat after another, the radical faction in Choshu not only did not weaken, but instead grew stronger! They tightened their grip on the national government of Choshu even more firmly!

Qingdeng couldn't think of any other feeling besides being amazed by the result.

He once again deeply realized that nothing in this world is more ever-changing than "reality." You never know how it will develop next. Novelists, no matter how hard they try, cannot come up with a story more outrageous than "reality."

Under the leadership of those lunatics, anyone with a brain would know that they would not sit idly by in the face of the shogunate's impending "Chōshū Expedition"! They would definitely try every means to resist and struggle.

As the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi, who is in charge of military affairs, Toshizo Hijikata has been closely monitoring the situation in Choshu.

Qing Deng specially dispatched the Ninja Squad, which was already quite capable, to assist Hijikata Toshizo.

After a long and meticulous process of intelligence gathering, Hijikata Toshizo summarized the information and recorded it in detail—this is the "Chōshū Intelligence Summary" that Aoto just saw.

First of all, as expected, at the beginning of this year, Changzhou had just recovered from the setbacks of the Shimonoseki War and the August 18th coup when it issued an unprecedented mobilization order!

Despite being mentally prepared, Qing Deng couldn't help but frown upon seeing the scale of the mobilization in Changzhou.

The specific details of the military mobilization in Changzhou can be summarized as follows:

First, a comprehensive household registration survey was launched throughout the entire domain! All eligible men were registered!

Secondly, they sent martial arts instructors to various villages, forcing farmers to practice martial arts in their spare time.

Third, they implemented strict control over supplies, severely restricting the buying and selling of military supplies such as salt, sugar, grain, and fodder.

There are many more details about the "mobilization order," which will not be elaborated here.

In short—Chōshū is rapidly preparing for war! They are sharpening their weapons and training their troops, displaying a desperate attitude of "I'm not going to live like this anymore! I'm going to fight you to the death!"

Choshu was a powerful domain with a total koku of 36 koku, and it also possessed the Shimonoseki Strait from which it could extract huge profits every year, so its actual wealth exceeded one million koku.

If Choshu is determined to fight the shogunate to the death and massacre troops at all costs... then, with samurai and peasant soldiers, they could produce at least 2 troops...!

Such a large military force should not be underestimated!

At this moment, Hijikata Toshizo suddenly interjected:

"According to my investigation, Satsuma, Tosa, Hizen... all the domains in western Japan are carrying out military mobilizations of varying levels."

"It seems that the shogunate's recent assertive behavior has aroused the vigilance of the various domains in the western provinces."

"Everyone is storing and hoarding grain in preparation for war."

He paused for a moment, then chuckled dismissively.

"This is truly...like stepping back into the Warring States period! It's so exhilarating!"

Aoto gave a half-smile and handed the booklet back to Hijikata Toshizo.

"Let's leave Tosa aside for now."

“Even before the ‘Black Ships Incident,’ the Hizen Domain was enthusiastic about Western science, regarded ‘Japanese spirit and Western learning’ as a national policy, carried out a series of reforms, vigorously developed industry, and was able to produce its own guns and cannons, possessing unknown combat capabilities.”

"The Satsuma Domain is even more impressive. Under the leadership and reforms of the former lord Shimazu Nariakira, their national strength has grown day by day, and they have become the 'strongest domain in the land'."

"Not a single one of them is easy to deal with..."

Although Satsuma is now allied with the Shogunate, the Hatatsu Domain, and the Aizu Domain, no one takes this "fence-sitter" loyalty seriously.

Hijikata Toshizo chuckled a few more times, grinned, and uttered a famous historical quote:

“'No matter how many routes you come from, I will only go one way.'”

"Regardless of how others act, what we must do remains unchanged—continue to develop the national strength of the Hatazu Domain, enhance the fighting power of the Shinsengumi, and become a huge weight that will tip the scales regardless of which side it falls to!"

Qingdeng smiled:

"Yes, you're right."

After saying that, he picked up the teacup beside him and drank it all in one gulp.