I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The vast majority of samurai theoretically possess a piece of land inherited from their family through generations, which they received from the lord they served.

The rice produced on this fiefdom will be your family's livelihood.

If your fiefdom can produce 100 shi of rice, then your stipend will be 100 shi.

Samurai only held nominal ownership of the fiefdoms belonging to their families. The actual right to use them was controlled by the shogun and daimyo.

To put it simply: your fiefdom is under our control. But you won't be shortchanged on a single grain of rice.

Under the guise of "helping manage the land," generals and daimyo seized control of the land use rights of their samurai, and all the rice produced on the land was distributed to the samurai who owned it.

The rice produced on the fiefdoms was not all given to the samurai; it all had to be taxed. In the Edo period, the tax rate for both family stipends and official salaries was "four public and six private," meaning the government collected 40% of the tax.

As a lower-ranking member of the Goken (a type of servant), Aoto's family stipend was exactly 100 koku.

After deducting taxes for the "four public and six private" groups, they could receive a family stipend of 60 koku from the shogunate each year.

Regardless of whether Aoto loses his job at the magistrate's office in the future, as long as his samurai status is not revoked, he can continue to receive his family stipend—but the Tachibana family's family stipend is quite meager, and living on such a meager stipend would be very difficult.

Throughout Qingdeng's life... no, it should be said that no one in the Ju family for generations has ever seen what the fiefdom their family was entitled to actually looked like, or even where it was located.

This situation is not new. Because the shoguns and daimyo control the right to use all the samurai's fiefdoms, most samurai have never seen what their fiefdoms look like, and they just sit back and wait to reap the rewards.

As for salary, that's easy to understand; it's the pay for being an official. If you don't hold a position in the government, then you don't receive a salary.

Whether it's the unity of the Fengxing Office, the unity of the Yinwei Office, or the unity of any other department, as long as they are united, their annual salary after deducting taxes is basically 30 yuan for 2 people.

1俵是4斗，1石则是10斗，所以30俵换算一下就是12石。

"Support for 2 people" can be understood as an allowance. Every year, you will receive enough rice to feed two adults for a year.

The annual salary was only 12 shi (a unit of dry measure) plus a stipend for two people to support him... The income was extremely meager.

Therefore, the days of the Tongxin members in all departments were quite miserable—except for the Tongxin members in the Fengxing Office.

Because the samurai working at the magistrate's office also had an income: offerings.

Every year, daimyo from various regions and merchants from Edo would regularly pay a "gift" to the Edo Magistrate's Office, requesting that the office "take good care" of them in the coming year.

Because a portion of this "gift money" would also be paid to the shogunate, the shogunate had always turned a blind eye to this hidden income of the Edo Magistrate's Office.

Every year, the town magistrate would distribute these "gift money" to the officials within the magistrate's office according to their status, position, and political achievements.

The "hidden salary" that officials receive from the system is commonly referred to as "offerings."

This "offering" was the main source of income for the officials of the magistrate's office.

Take Arima as an example—Arima, being a yoki, received an annual stipend of 200 koku.

However, with the annual offerings they received, each member of the magistrate's office actually earned between 500 and 1000 koku per year.

Both family stipends and official salaries were distributed in three separate seasons.

One-quarter is distributed in spring, one-quarter in summer, and the remaining half is distributed in winter.

The offerings to the magistrate were distributed in four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

How much you receive each quarter depends entirely on your position and abilities.

In the past, when Qingdeng was still known as "Yuanju Qingdeng", his political achievements were so terrible that he received very little tribute each quarter.

But now—Qingdeng is no longer the "dumb Deng" it used to be.

Qing Deng's outstanding performance last quarter earned him an extremely high tribute this quarter: 51 taels of gold!

When Usui announced the amount of spring offerings that Seiden would receive this year, a series of low gasps erupted from the audience.

It is extremely rare for Tongxin to receive 51 taels of gold as tribute within a single quarter.

With the spring offering of 51 taels of gold, plus the 15 shi of spring family stipend, 3 shi of spring salary, and the allowance for "two people to support him," Qingdeng's purse swelled up again.

The second piece of good news is rather serious.

On the night Aoto's house burned down, one of the arsonists that Aoto and Okita caught together—the fat man—was immediately sent to the prison in Kodenmacho after his arrest.

Under the orders of the shogunate, the prison guards, who were specifically responsible for interrogating prisoners, subjected the fat man to all sorts of cruel torture methods day and night.

This fat man's will was surprisingly strong.

Whether it was the "stone-hugging torture" that caused excruciating pain, almost crushing one's legs, or the "ebi torture" that made one feel like they were living a life worse than death, he gritted his teeth and endured it all.

However... these torture methods of the prison are the "crystallization of human wisdom" created through thousands of years of accumulation and continuous improvement by generations.

You can endure these tortures for a while, but can you endure them for a lifetime?

Those who can endure such torture for a lifetime are one in a million—and the fat man is not one of those people.

After enduring nearly three months of torture and interrogation in the prison, he finally broke down and revealed everything he knew.

According to the fat man's confession, he belonged to an organization called the "Anti-Yi Group".

All members of this organization were radical anti-foreigners who were determined to drive all barbarians out of Japan.

A young samurai named "Kano Tatsugoro" leads this organization.

The fat man knew very little about the leader of their anti-foreign group; he had only met Shinno a few times.

My only knowledge of Jinno is that he is very serious, has a strong presence, and is very skilled with his sword.

Although the fat man had never seen Kamino draw his sword, he had heard that Kamino was extremely skilled in swordsmanship ever since he joined the Extermination Group.

According to the rumors that Fatty had heard, the reason why Jinno was able to become the leader of the Exile Group at such a young age was not only because he was a veteran of the Exile Group, but also because of his strong swordsmanship.

He was so powerful that many martial arts masters in the Extermination Group willingly submitted to his guidance.

Besides revealing the organization he belonged to, the fat man also disclosed two important pieces of information.

First: He admitted that the assassination attempt that aimed to kill the Angoulême family was carried out by their anti-foreign group.

Second: He confessed to the organization that regarded Qing Deng as a traitor and repeatedly sent people to assassinate Qing Deng, which was also their anti-barbarian group.

The fat man explained why they wanted to kill Anthony and Elodie—there was no particular reason, they just wanted to kill foreigners.

It doesn't matter what country this foreigner is from, what his or her status is, what his or her age is, or what his or her gender is.

In any case, any foreigner who sets foot on Japanese soil deserves to be killed.

The Angoulême family was simply unlucky—the Expeditionary Force learned through some channels that a French merchant family that was easy to bully would soon be traveling from Osaka to Edo via the Tokaido.

Their group for suppressing barbarians had previously focused on killing "traitors to the country," and this was the first time they had assassinated barbarians.

To ensure the most complete victory in this "maiden battle" against the barbarians, Kamino sent so many people to participate in the operation.

As for how the Extermination Group learned that the Angoulême family would be traveling to Edo via the Tokaido soon... the fat man had no idea.

The fat man was just a low-ranking member of the Extermination Group, so he knew nothing about the group's size, location of its stronghold, or any other important information.

That was all he knew.

Although they didn't get enough important information from the fat man, the information he confessed did dispel a lot of the confusion in Qing Deng and the others' minds.

The magistrate finally realized what organization had the ability and audacity to gather more than two hundred samurai to attack and kill foreign merchants.

Qing Deng finally realized which organization wanted to take his head because of the ridiculous reason that he had "worked at the American embassy".

The magistrate immediately compiled all the information about the anti-foreign group that the fat man had confessed to, and then reported it to the shogunate.

The shogunate quickly responded to the magistrate's office: eradicate this unusually large radical anti-foreign faction as soon as possible!

Upon receiving this stern order from the shogunate, the Southern and Northern Magistrates' Offices immediately took action.

Usui and Atsukawa (Minamibansho Town Magistrates) summoned town officials and town magistrates, instructing them to spread the word about the existence and dangers of the Exile Group in their respective towns, and to encourage townspeople to provide information related to the Exile Group. Any townsperson who could provide useful information would be richly rewarded.

For a time, the "Extermination Group" became a hot topic in Edo.

Wherever you go, you'll always hear people discussing this radical anti-foreign organization that the Edo magistrates listed as a "great enemy that must be eliminated."

The magistrate made slight adjustments to the allocation of resources and the focus of work—allocating a considerable amount of resources and manpower to investigate and track the anti-foreign group.

April is the season when cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

As early as March 25, cherry blossom trees planted throughout Edo began to bloom in succession, displaying their vibrant colors.

By March 27th, the cherry blossoms fluttering in the air had become a stunning sight in Edo.

Of course, the officials who were supposed to be "returning three times" clearly did not have the time or leisure to appreciate the first blooming cherry blossoms.

However, Qing Deng is an exception.

Because on March 27th, Qingdeng was finally given a long-awaited holiday.

The sheer volume of work and the immense pressure are causing Qingdeng to almost forget when she last had a holiday.

Even though it was a holiday, Qingdeng didn't have the time to admire the cherry blossoms.

Some time has passed since Okita asked Kiryu to help him find a few reliable people willing to act as his guides.

Aoto plans to take advantage of his rare day off to visit Senjiya and see how the request he entrusted to Kiryu is progressing.

……

……

The first year of Wanyan (1860), December 27th——

On a certain street in Edo—

"The weather is finally starting to warm up..." Qing Deng casually brushed away a cherry blossom petal that had fallen on his head, then raised his right hand and peered through the gaps between his fingers at the sun, which was radiating golden light.

Starting the day before yesterday, when the cherry blossoms in Edo were just beginning to bloom, Edo, which had been plagued by a cold wave, finally began to warm up.

Nowadays, when going out, there is no need to wear thick clothes, snow hats and scarves. Just wear a thin down jacket to keep your body warm.

Sunny and the temperature was neither too hot nor too cold—this was Qingdeng's favorite kind of weather.

Feeling the gentle spring breeze brushing against his cheeks, Qingdeng was in a great mood, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up slightly.

It was around 8 a.m. when Aoto led Saito toward the Senjiya.

As soon as they reached the door of the Senjiya, Qing Deng heard the clattering sound of an abacus coming from inside.

Aoto initially thought it was Kiryu, the shop owner, using an abacus, but upon opening the shop door, he discovered that the person tapping the abacus so loudly was actually Kinoshita Mai.

Kinoshita Mai, kneeling behind the counter, skillfully manipulated the beads on the abacus with her left hand, while her right hand held a brush and wrote something on a large book.

Upon hearing the sound of the shop door being pulled open, she quickly stopped writing, looked up, and saw that it was Qing Deng. A bright smile immediately appeared on Kinoshita Mai's cheeks.

With the changing seasons, Kinoshita Mai's outfits have become much cooler.