I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Sui San, you've done a great job. Continue to monitor the Western Kingdom, and report to me immediately if you make any new discoveries."

"I have something to attend to, so I'll head out first."

Hijikata Toshizo raised an eyebrow.

"Why the rush? I was hoping to chat with you a bit more; we haven't talked in a long time."

Qingdeng chuckled to himself:

“I have to go to Kyoto. The ‘Kyoto Governor’ has arrived, and as his superior and host, I must host a banquet to welcome him.”

After hearing this, Hijikata Toshizo's face showed a look of understanding.

"The Kyoto Director... I almost forgot about that. Well then, go quickly and have a safe journey. Speaking of which, this newly appointed Kyoto Director seems to be someone you know?"

Qingdeng nodded:

"Yes. He was my former superior, a man who was very skilled with a long spear."

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Today is another day of 7 new chapters for Leopard! Leopard needs your support! I haven't received enough monthly votes lately! Four thousand Leopards get this few votes, seven thousand Leopards get this few votes too, it's seriously discouraging Leopard! (Crying Leopard head.jpg) Please give me monthly votes! Please give me recommendation votes! (Leopard head crying.jpg)

P.S.: I once considered writing a fanfiction featuring Hijikata Toshizo and a gender-swapped version of Ichimura Tetsunosuke. If Ichimura Tetsunosuke were a girl, they would be an absolutely perfect angst-filled couple! (Leopard_Hi.jpg)

Chapter 804 The Most Beautiful Woman in Kyoto Makes Her Debut!

The Governor-General of the Capital Region... Before explaining this position, we must first explain the Governor-General of the Eight Provinces.

The Eight Provinces Expeditionary Officer – officially known as the "Eight Provinces Expeditionary Officer of Kanto", or simply "Eight Provinces", was called "Lord Eight Provinces" by the common people.

Simply put, they can be understood as a rather special type of police officer.

They were responsible for constantly touring the eight provinces of Kanto to apprehend criminals and those with no fixed abode. They possessed the privilege of moving freely within the territory of Edo Prefecture, regardless of whether it was a royal domain, a temple or shrine domain, or a private domain.

Those who served as the Eight Provinces Control Officers were mostly lower-ranking samurai with a salary of 30 taels for 3 people or 20 taels for 2 people.

Although his identity is insignificant, his social status is quite high.

Their daily task was to patrol back and forth across the eight provinces of Kanto. Because of this, many novelists and playwrights were keen to create chivalrous stories featuring the Eight Provinces Commanders as protagonists.

The plots are largely the same: the Eight-State Envoy arrives in a new place and finds it rife with evil, with corrupt officials levying exorbitant taxes and Yakuza running rampant. With his powerful strength, the Eight-State Envoy suppresses the evil, promotes justice, and incidentally wins the heart of a young girl. Then, under the tearful gazes of the lovestruck girl and the grateful villagers, he leaves triumphantly, disappearing into the sunset, just like in an American Western.

Thanks to these literary and artistic works, the social status of the Eight Provinces Commander-in-Chief rose sharply.

Over time, the general public has come to hold a positive view of it.

After the "August 18th Coup", although the Choshu forces were driven out of Kyoto, the radical faction led by Kusaka Genzui did not give up.

Shortly after the coup, a large number of Choshu patriots... ah, no, a large number of madmen spontaneously sneaked back to Kyoto, determined to get revenge.

Since we can't win in a direct confrontation, let's launch a terrorist attack!

They harassed the shogunate and everything related to it in various ways, especially the Shinsengumi, Aizu Army, and Satsuma Army, which led them to their current predicament.

They might attack isolated soldiers; they might try to poison the military rations; they might throw torches into the military camp in an attempt to start a fire... and some even planned to assassinate Qingdeng!

To be fair, his ambition is commendable; he tackled the highest difficulty level right from the start.

Unfortunately, history has proven time and again that in the face of overwhelming absolute power, moral principles are useless.

Therefore, the assassin's farcical end was already sealed before he even began his operation—he was knocked to the ground before he could even get past the gates of the Shinsengumi headquarters.

To make it easier to refer to them, and also to express their contempt for them, Qing Deng and others jokingly called this group of terrorists from Changzhou the "Changzhou Madmen Group".

Although the Choshu Madmen were quickly suppressed by the combined efforts of Hatatsu, Aizu, and Satsuma, and these large-scale terrorist attacks were eliminated one by one, small-scale harassment operations, which were as insidious as "mosquito buzzing," have been repeatedly prohibited but not stopped.

Mosquitoes bite you a few times and suck your blood, which won't kill you, but the buzzing sound is really annoying! And the swollen, itchy bumps can be really irritating.

If we don't chase them away, these mosquitoes will become even more aggressive and take advantage of us.

Try to chase them away, but they run incredibly fast, and there's no way to hit or crush them!

Before the shogunate could fully stabilize the security of Kyoto, Choshu, like a dog that smells shit, jumped out again to disgust the shogunate.

After Choshu launched a general military mobilization throughout the entire domain, it actively prepared for war while sending countless spies and agents to Kyoto, ordering them to create as much trouble as possible for the shogunate, distract its energy, and deplete its resources while collecting intelligence.

Therefore, with the strong support of the Choshu government, since the beginning of this year, the "Choshu Madmen Group," which Aoto and others had finally managed to suppress, has gradually shown signs of resurgence, and terrorist attacks in Kyoto have increased again.

Today they burn down your house, tomorrow they send a threatening letter, the day after they assassinate a lone shogunate official... It's incredibly annoying! They're simply a bunch of hopeless terrorists!

Protecting Kyoto was the responsibility of Aoto, the governor of the capital region.

The resurgent "Choshu Madmen" group is causing destruction everywhere, seriously endangering the lives and property of the people of Kyoto. Aoto is naturally responsible for this.

After suffering numerous setbacks, the "Changzhou Madmen" have learned their lesson and become increasingly cunning.

They now completely disappear into the shadows, never easily exposed to the light of day, making them difficult to track down and consequently difficult to eliminate.

Simply relying on sheer numbers is no longer effective; in fact, it might even lead to being outmaneuvered.

Therefore, the best way to break the deadlock is to send out a sharp and discerning criminal investigator!

Gather intelligence, follow clues, find the base of the "Changzhou Madmen Gang," and then completely wipe them out!

However... although the Shinsengumi now possesses a formidable military force with numerous soldiers and generals, they are mostly muscular, brainless, rough men.

Sending them to charge into battle, kill enemy generals, and seize flags would be acceptable.

But it's better to forget about asking them to investigate the case and find the thief.

Although Shinpachi Nagakura, Sanosuke Harada, and others had served as Aoto's assistants and helped him solve many cases, they were mostly the ones who did the physical work, leaving the more intellectual tasks to Aoto.

In short, sending this group of rough men to investigate the case is no different from sending the chief to manage the accounts.

Ironically, the only person in the entire new selection group with knowledge of criminal investigation was Aoto.

Qingdeng now holds multiple positions, and every day when he opens his eyes, countless official duties await him to handle one by one.

It's obvious that he can no longer personally go to the front lines to investigate cases as he used to.

How can a dignified military commissioner of the capital region be doing the work of settling towns and returning to the same place?

Even if Qingdeng were willing to go, his retainers and generals would do their utmost to dissuade him.

Professional matters should be handled by professionals.

Since we lack criminal investigation talent within our ranks, let's seek outside help! Find a true expert in criminal investigation to fill the gap!

Thus, at Aoto's suggestion, Tokugawa Iemochi created a new position, namely "Kyoto Censor".

Judging from its name, it is not difficult to recognize that this position is modeled after the Eight Provinces Censor.

The primary duty of the Kyoto Governor was to patrol Kyoto and apprehend criminals.

Just like the Eight Provinces Censorate, the Kyoto Censorate had the privilege of moving freely within its jurisdiction, regardless of whether it was a royal domain, a temple or shrine domain, or a private domain.

As is well known, temple and shrine territories are managed only by temple and shrine magistrates, while territories are managed only by town magistrates.

Even when catching thieves, the two areas do not interfere with each other.

This creates the problem of the problem of the problem becoming too big to handle.

For example, if a prisoner escapes from the Heavenly Territory into the Temple Territory, then the officers and constables who are pursuing him can only stand by and watch helplessly outside the Temple Territory, letting the prisoner go free—they cannot interfere in the affairs of the Temple Territory.

If they cross the line to arrest someone, then they are "provoking trouble".

Faced with this situation, all the officers and constables could do was to notify the temple and shrine officials to take over the task and be responsible for the subsequent arrest operation.

If the prisoner is good at escaping and runs back to the capital from the temple or shrine, then the temple or shrine magistrate can only hand the task back to the town magistrate... passing the buck back and forth.

Countless criminals have escaped unharmed during this back-and-forth.

The privilege of "natural access to all territories" possessed by the Eight Provinces Governors and the Kyoto Governors corrected this drawback and greatly enhanced the efficiency of case handling.

In fact, Aoto originally wanted to directly entrust the Kyoto Magistrate's Office to help investigate the "Chōshū Madmen Group".

However... the Kyoto Magistrate's Office was rotten to the core!

To put it bluntly, every single official in the Kyoto Magistrate's Office was a scoundrel!

They are either greedy and corrupt officials or incompetent bureaucrats who hold positions without performing their duties.

Let alone putting them to good use, Qingdeng would be grateful if they didn't make things worse.

The Governor-General of the Capital Region has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the capital.

Even if they had the right to intervene, the Kyoto Magistrate's Office was already in a state of deep-seated problems, and Aoto would have no way to govern it.

To be honest, in Qing Deng's opinion, there was no other way to deal with the Kyoto Magistrate's Office except to "cut the Gordian knot".

How can we eliminate the "Changzhou Madmen Gang" while we're with these bastards?

Instead of wasting time treating this rotten wood that's decayed to the core, it's better to start afresh and cultivate a new shoot.

Both Aoto and Tokugawa Iemochi understood this well, which is why the "Kyoto Censorate" was created.

In terms of organization, the Kyoto Expeditionary Force was subordinate to the Kyoto Garrison Commander, under the jurisdiction of Aoto, and directly commanded by Aoto. The two were in a direct superior-subordinate relationship.

Today, the newly appointed "First Generation Kyoto Supervisor" will arrive in Kyoto as scheduled.

As his superior and host, Qing Deng should have hosted a banquet to welcome him back.

Perhaps this is fate—the other person happens to be an acquaintance of Qingdeng.

……

……

Gion, the largest geisha district in Kyoto.

Although people always think of geisha when they talk about Gion, in reality, setting aside the geisha factor, Gion is one of the most bustling areas in Kyoto.

From ordinary izakayas to high-class ryotei, they have it all.

Because of the large number of geisha here, coupled with the pleasant environment and convenient transportation, dignitaries often held banquets in Gion.

Today, the welcoming banquet prepared by Seito for the Kyoto governor is being held in Gion.

……

……

Kyoto, Gion, a certain high-end restaurant——