I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"For now, we just need to do our best and then wait for fate!"

At this point, he raised his gaze, swept it around, and looked at the faces of Hijikata Toshizo and the others.

"After gathering all captains and vice-captains, we will proceed to Kyoto in batches!"

"The meeting point is the Gion Clubhouse in Gion!"

After Aoto finished speaking, Hijikata Toshizo, Kondo Isami, and Yamanami Keisuke immediately sat up straight and shouted in unison:

"Yes!"

……

……

Once the military order was given, everyone rushed to their posts!

Who knows how many spies from the Protestant faction are closely monitoring the garrison headquarters in Ōtsu and the Shinsengumi headquarters in Mibu-go, Kyoto.

To ensure absolute secrecy, Qing Deng spared no effort.

First, everyone, including Qing Deng, concealed their identities, put on straw hats and cloaks, mounted fast horses, and headed to Kyoto in batches.

Since the patriots have put together a series of deceptive actions to confuse their judgment, Qingdeng will retaliate in kind.

He dispatched a large number of people, some heading towards Kanto, some towards Osaka, and some towards Nagasaki, all of whom concealed their figures and faces, so that the spies of the Zunyao faction could not determine what the Shinsengumi was up to, nor could they distinguish who these people who were heading to all corners of the world, in order to hide their true intentions.

In addition, he deliberately spread the news that "King Niou is going to watch the 'Yamahoko Parade' tonight and enjoy himself with the people," creating the illusion that "Tachibana Seito is complacent and unaware that something big is going to happen tonight."

After Aoto and his group secretly arrived in Kyoto, they did not go to the Mibu village camp—where the most Zunjo faction spies were located—but went straight to the Gion meeting place located in Gion to complete the assembly.

Qingdeng could not possibly take all his elite troops to Kyoto; he had to leave some people behind to guard Otsu in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Therefore, he left Yamanami Keisuke to guard Otsu, while also leaving Ito Kashitaro, Takeda Kanryusai, and others behind.

Finally, the list of personnel who will travel to Kyoto to participate in tonight's operation is as follows—

General Tachibana Aoto.

Deputy Chief: Hijikata Toshizo.

Director Kondo Isamu.

The captain and vice-captain of the First Division, Tsukasa Tachibana and Kai Shimazaki.

Second Division Captain and Vice-Captain: Nagakura Shinpachi and Nakajima Noboru.

The third division's captain and vice-captain, Saito Hajime and Nakazawa Sadagi.

The fourth division's captain and vice-captain, Serizawa Kamo and Tani Sanjuro.

The captain and vice-captain of the 5th Division are Niimi Nishiki and Tani Mantaro.

The captain and vice-captain of the 6th Division are Inoue Genzaburo and Soma Kazue.

Koto Nakazawa, the vice-captain of the 7th Division.

The captain and vice-captain of the 8th Division are Toudou Heisuke and Yoshimura Kanichiro.

The captain and vice-captain of the 10th Division are Sanosuke Harada and Tadashi Matsubara.

A total of 20 people.

Apart from Sanako, the captain of the 7th Division; Mai Tachibana and Susumu Yamazaki, the captain and vice-captain of the 9th Division; and Juro Abe and Risaburo Nomura, the captain and vice-captain of the 11th Division, all the captains and vice-captains of the Shinsengumi's divisions are participating in tonight's operation!

It's no exaggeration to say that this is undoubtedly the Shinsengumi's all-star lineup!

Since the August 18th coup, the Shinsengumi has not conducted any military operations of this scale!

The Kyoto gentry and commoners who were celebrating the Gion Festival, and the loyalists who were still kept in the dark, probably never imagined that—on this very day, the strongest and most skilled members of the Shinsengumi had quietly entered Kyoto and gathered at the Gion Club!

Gion Clubhouse – the government agency responsible for overseeing Gion.

The clubhouse is located in front of Jiseiin Temple, which is responsible for carrying out the affairs and religious ceremonies of Gion-sha, an area with few pedestrians.

Qingdeng specifically chose this location as the starting point for the attack!

……

……

That day, in the evening—

Kyoto, Gion, Gion Club——

Before he even arrived, Nagakura Shinpachi's booming voice preceded him:

"The armor is here! Everyone line up to get your armor!"

Nagakura Shinpachi, Shimada Kai, and Nakajima Noboru each carried a large wooden box and ran swiftly into the Gion Clubhouse.

Then, three muffled thuds were heard as they put down the large wooden crates on their shoulders without any difference in who was carrying them.

Open the box—it was filled with gleaming pieces of armor.

Chainmail, gauntlets, toenail polish, and headband—all were readily available and had just been secretly taken from the Mibu village office.

The crowd lined up in an orderly fashion, received their armor, and donned it neatly.

……

"Huff...huff...huff...huff...huff..."

Tenth Division Vice-Captain Matsubara Tadashi stood alone in an open space, legs spread apart and back bent. He swung his large naginata like a windmill, stretching his muscles and taking deep breaths to regulate his emotions and suppress his wildly beating heart.

Harada Sanosuke noticed Matsubara Tadashi's nervousness, smiled, and walked over, saying:

"Matsuhara, don't be nervous!"

"This mission is incredibly easy! There's no need to use your brain! Just kill any enemy you encounter, it's that simple!"

"Let's have a chat and relax."

"Do you know how I got this scar on my stomach? When I was still a junior official in the Matsuyama Domain of Iyo, some scoundrel called me a 'lowly official who didn't even know the etiquette of seppuku'..."

Matsubara Tadashi immediately wore a bitter expression:

"Captain, I've heard this story thousands and thousands of times..."

……

Saitoichi: "..."

Nakazawa Sadayoshi: "..."

The captain and vice-captain of the Third Division sat facing each other, silently sharpening their blades.

Just then, Nakazawa Sadaki, quite unusually, took the initiative to ask Saito Hajime across from her:

"Mr. Saito, do you think tonight's operation will go smoothly?"

Faced with Nakazawa Sadaki's question, Saito Hajime did not immediately answer, but instead said calmly:

"Nakazawa, don't talk while you're sharpening the blade. If you're not focused while sharpening, you can easily hurt yourself. Besides, I don't want to see your spittle on my knife."

"I'm sorry... I was being presumptuous."

Nakazawa Sadaki thought that this conversation would end there.

Unexpectedly, Saito Hajime continued speaking on his own:

"Nakazawa, you're overthinking it."

Whether tonight's operation went smoothly—that's not something we should be thinking about.

"We are swordsmen who wield swords to kill enemies."

"In that case, the only thing we need to do is to follow Mr. Tachibana's orders and, upon encountering the enemy, to unhesitatingly wield the sword in our hands."

"Everything else is not within our consideration."

Nakazawa Sadaki stared blankly at Saito Hajime.

In his memory, this was the first time he had ever heard Saito Hajime say so much—thankfully no one heard his reflections, otherwise that person would surely have exclaimed: In terms of being taciturn, you, Nakazawa Sadagi, are not much better. Where do you get the audacity to laugh at someone who is only slightly better?

About five seconds later, Nakazawa Sadaki slowly recovered from her surprise at "Saito Hajime can talk so much," and nodded solemnly:

"Yes, you're right."

……

Serizawa Kamo and Nishiki Shinmi leaned against the corner of the wall, drinking cool water to cool off while chatting idly.

“Serizawa, thinking about it carefully, the ‘August 18th coup’ was almost a year ago.”

"We've been doing nothing all year, with no major battles to fight."

"I feel like my body is rusting."

"Now we can finally have a real go at it."

As he spoke, Shinji Nishiki's face showed a complex mix of emotions.

Serizawa Kamo shrugged and gave a cold laugh after hearing this:

"Hmph! That's hard to say!"

As he spoke, he turned to look out the window at the sky that was gradually turning inky black.

"It's getting darker and darker, but the time and place of the meeting are still not confirmed."

"Whether we can wipe out that bunch of bastards in one fell swoop is still a question."

"To put it bluntly, we might end up empty-handed tonight."

……

"I am back!"

Sweating profusely from the heat, Todo Heisuke immediately removed the Sojuro headscarf he was using to disguise himself upon returning to the clubhouse.

Inoue Genzaburo went up to him and asked:

"What's the situation outside?"

Todo Heisuke smiled bitterly and said:

"There are more and more pedestrians on the street. There are people everywhere, and in some places it is almost impossible to walk."