I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The title of Left Guard General remains an honorary one.

He had no soldiers under the imperial court's command, and even as the highest-ranking officer of the Imperial Guard, he was still a commander without troops.

In comparison, the shogunate's rewards to Seito were the real prize!

Tokugawa Iemochi granted Aoto an additional 10 kilos of land—this was not unexpected.

It was customary in feudal times to reward those who made great contributions with money and land.

However, it is worth mentioning that the lands newly granted to Aoto by Tokugawa Iemochi were all good lands adjacent to the Hatazu Domain, not remote enclaves or barren lands with scarce resources.

In doing so, he practically granted Aoto all of the shogunate's territory in the capital region!

[Note: Tenryo: Directly controlled territories of the shogunate]

Many of his retainers strongly opposed this.

If the capital region is granted to General Hatazu, wouldn't our shogunate's influence in the capital region be greatly reduced? Given time, will our shogunate still exist in the capital region?

However, Tokugawa Iemochi had only one attitude in the face of these people's questions: to completely ignore them.

Without the constraints of the "Hitotsubashi faction" and with the external support of his capable lieutenants, Seito and Katsura Rintaro, Tokugawa Iemochi is now exceptionally strong.

No matter how many people opposed him, and no matter how reasonable their questions were, Tokugawa Iemochi did not change his mind.

If "expanding territory" was still within everyone's expectations, then "promoting Qing Deng to Army Commander-in-Chief" truly left the world speechless.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy... the highest positions in the Shogunate Army and the Shogunate Navy! These can be directly understood as "Army Marshal" and "Naval Marshal"!

These are all newly established official positions by Tokugawa Iemochi, which are not subject to anyone's control and are directly under the command of the shogun.

Along with establishing these two new positions, Tokugawa Iemochi also implemented a series of reforms.

The most significant reform was the abolition of the previous system in which the army was organized with veterans and Chinese soldiers taking turns on duty.

Although Tokugawa Iemochi gave the reason of "imitating the Western military system" when creating new positions and eliminating malpractices, to outsiders it looked like he was creating positions based on personal connections!

Just as he had made unparalleled contributions in the past, and there was no reward to give, the position of "General of Heavenly Strategy" was newly created and bestowed upon Li Shimin.

Qing Deng is in a similar situation now. He has made too many contributions and has basically reached the pinnacle of being a subject. Therefore, the position of "Commander-in-Chief of the Army" was created to reward him.

Of course, these are all just outsiders' speculations.

What Tokugawa Iemochi was really thinking is probably only known to him.

Although Qing Deng's further promotion shocked everyone, they all said they were calm and could understand.

After all, Qingdeng's military achievements were genuine.

With such outstanding military achievements, no one would dare to say that "Tachibana Seiden is not qualified to shoulder this great responsibility."

Moreover, no fool would dare to provoke Qingdeng at its peak.

In contrast, the promotion of Katsura Rintaro to the position of Navy President has sparked considerable controversy.

Since the establishment of the navy, Katsura Rintaro, who was well-versed in naval affairs, had always held an important position in the navy.

In previous years, he was appointed as the Naval Commissioner (responsible for purchasing, building and training warships), and he built and operated the naval training center in Kobe, taking full charge of the construction of the Shogunate Navy.

It is no exaggeration to say that Katsura Rintaro was truly the "father of the Shogunate Navy".

He was the de facto number one naval officer, he just lacked the title.

Tokugawa Iemochi merely gave him a well-deserved official position, which was not inappropriate.

However, his decision still provoked fierce opposition from countless ministers.

"Katsurin Taro has not made any outstanding contributions like General Hatazu, so why was he promoted and given a higher rank?"

After listening quietly to the objections of his retainers, Tokugawa Iemochi remained calm and composed.

Then, he shut him down with just one sentence:

"In that case, gentlemen, I'd like to hear your opinions. Besides Katsura Rintaro, who else among the civil and military officials here is qualified to serve as the 'Commander-in-Chief of the Navy'?"

"..."

Silence fell instantly.

The White Academy, which was just making a racket a moment ago, is now completely silent.

[Note: Hakushoin: An important room in Edo Castle. The shogun usually issued orders from this room.]

Having been parasites for so long, they are good at nothing but passing the buck. How could they possibly have the ability to build a navy?

Even those who disliked Katsura Rintaro had to admit that he held an irreplaceable position in the shogunate.

Thus, despite the somewhat tortuous process, Katsura Rintaro was successfully appointed as the president of the Navy.

Thus, Tokugawa Iemochi's two most trusted confidants—Aoto and Katsu Rintaro—both stood at the pinnacle of the shogunate's army and navy!

With the titles of Army Commander-in-Chief, Governor of the Capital Region, and Commander of the Eighth Prince's Thousand Hearts—holding these three positions, Aoto had become the undisputed number one figure in the Shogunate Army!

This is what it means to be at the pinnacle of a ministerial position.

It is worth mentioning that as Aoto's status rose rapidly, Tokugawa Iemochi's power also surged.

Tokugawa Iemochi was Aoto's backer, but from another perspective, Aoto was also Tokugawa Iemochi's backer.

With the assistance of Tenshōin internally and the support of Seito and Katsurintarō externally, Tokugawa Iemochi of today is no longer the weak and powerless ruler he once was.

In fact, anyone with a discerning eye could see at a glance that Tokugawa Iemochi's promotion of Aoto to Army Commander-in-Chief was certainly partly a preparation for the subsequent "Chōshū Campaign".

Not long after the Summer Siege of Kyoto ended, Tokugawa Iemochi immediately wrote a long article criticizing Choshu's tyranny, which received a great deal of support.

Without a doubt, this was Tokugawa Iemochi building momentum for the subsequent "Chōshū Conquest"!

How could we entrust command of such a massive battle to outsiders?

Therefore, from any perspective, Qingdeng was the best candidate to take full charge of the "Changzhou Campaign"!

Giving Qingdeng an official position commensurate with his status as "Commander-in-Chief of the Conquest of Changzhou" in advance would be entirely beneficial, as it would facilitate his troop deployment and command of his generals.

The battles were over, and the rewards had been received... Thus, these two battles that directly influenced the course of history (the Battle of Ikedaya and the Summer Siege of Kyoto) finally came to a complete end.

Incidentally, Hijikata Toshizo, Kondo Isami, and others who made significant contributions in these two battles also received their due rewards.

Kondo Isami's valiant act of attacking Ikedaya with only Souji, Nagakura Shinpachi, and Inoue Genzaburo was favored by many storytellers, and the Battle of Ikedaya was quickly adapted into a storytelling performance, which was widely sung in the Kyoto area.

Upon learning of their lord's promotion, the Qin Jin Domain was filled with jubilation, and many even spontaneously held celebrations to congratulate him on his ascension.

Since being granted the title of Dajin, Qingdeng has implemented benevolent policies, cherished the people's strength, and never used his position to commit any foolish or cruel acts. Therefore, he is deeply loved by the people of Qinjin.

He treated the people with courtesy, and they naturally reciprocated in their own way.

Seeing that Seido was doing better and better and his status was becoming more and more prestigious, those who hated the shogunate and loathed Seido were naturally filled with resentment and helplessness.

Left with no other choice, they could only resort to ridiculous little tricks to vent their resentment.

Following "Qin Yao", "Hui Jian" and "Sa Zei", the patriots of Changzhou wrote Qing Deng's name on the soles of their shoes and deliberately stomped harder when walking, meaning "to crush Ju Qing Deng under their feet".

……

……

The first year of Yuanzhi (1864), December 30th——

Hatazu Domain, Ōtsu, Tachibana Residence, the garden Aoto frequented—

After taking a sip of tea, Qing Deng seemed to remember something. His eyes widened suddenly, he put down his teacup, clapped his hands lightly, and looked at Hijikata Toshizo, Kondo Isami, and Yamanami Keisuke beside him.

"Ah, I've got it! Let's name our son 'Tachibana no Masatomi' and our daughter 'Tachibana no Mako'. What do you think?"

Kondo Isami tilted his head:

"Mozi... that's a pretty nice girl's name, it's easy to pronounce."

Hijikata Toshizo picked up the conversation:

"Isn't this name too old-fashioned for a boy?"

Keisuke Yamanami added:

"It sounds like the name of a military commander from the Heian period."

Aoto, Hijikata Toshizo, Kondo Isami, and Yamanami Keisuke sat side by side on the veranda, enjoying the view of the garden while drinking tea and chatting casually.

The four highest-ranking members of the Shinsengumi gathered together... An uninformed person would probably think they were discussing something important.

In fact, they were just having a very ordinary chat.

Recently, official duties have not been so heavy, so Qingdeng invited the three of them over for tea and a long-awaited chat, nothing more.

Although today's tea party was just a casual gathering, meant to be relaxed, the group couldn't help but start talking about serious matters once they got together.

Gradually, no one knows who started it, but the four people who were just discussing "what names should be given to Qingdeng's children" suddenly started talking about the Zunrang faction.

"After this battle, the Zunrang faction has been severely weakened. We can finally catch our breath, phew..."

As he spoke, Kondo made a gesture of letting out a long breath.

"Oh, yes."

Yamanami Keisuke chimed in, nodding in agreement.

The Battle of Ikedaya resulted in the loss of important officers such as Miyabe Teizō and Yoshida Toshima.

In the Kyoto Summer Campaign, they lost a large number of core members, including Kijima Yahei, Maki Izumi, and even their leader, Kusaka Genzui, perished.

The two adjacent major battles resulted in heavy casualties among the core members of the Zunyan faction.

Given such a dire situation, anyone would think that the Zunyan faction is now in its twilight years and is on the verge of collapse.

At this moment, Qing Deng suddenly spoke up:

"...'A loss may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.'"

The sudden remark drew the attention of Kento Isami and the others.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Qingdeng took a sip of tea and slowly said:

"Although many key members were lost, this may well be a valuable opportunity for Changzhou."

There's a joke about this, isn't there?

"One day, war broke out on the country's border."

"The general went to the front lines to inspect in order to boost morale."