I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

There was nothing else we could do but ask again if anyone knew where Qingdeng had gone.

Kiryu and Kinoshita Mai, who only knew that Aoto seemed to be treating Nagakura and the others to a sushi feast, could only tell the young man this one piece of information.

So, relying on this single piece of information, the young man kept asking passersby if they had seen a very tall young man, while running around to various sushi restaurants looking for Qing Deng...

Fortunately, Qing Deng's height of 1.75 meters was a rather prominent physical feature in this era.

The young man was very lucky to ask a passerby who happened to brush past Qingdeng on the street and wouldn't give wrong directions, and finally found Qingdeng.

Feeling a little guilty that the young man had suffered so much in order to find him, Qingdeng took out some copper coins and gave them to the young man, inviting him to the teahouse for some good tea or sweet water later.

The young man happily accepted Qingdeng's reward.

After a hurried journey, the shadow of the Northern Barbarians' Office finally came into view for Qingdeng and the others.

"Lord Tachibana, Lord Usui instructed that upon arriving at the North Bureau, you should immediately go to his office!" the young man reminded him.

Qingdeng nodded vigorously.

After having Nagakura and the others wait outside the Magistrate's Office, he rushed straight into the Hokuban Office and headed to Usui's office.

Upon opening the door to Bo Jing's office, the first thing that hits you is a strong, unpleasant odor of sweat.

The rising temperatures have made the air in Beifan Institute gradually smell better.

The meaning of "three returns" – "mutual support" and "unity" – is all here, regardless of whether you have a day off or not.

"Ah, Tachibana!" Inoya, who was sitting in a corner of the room with Arima and Ushiyama, waved vigorously to Aoto, "Over here, over here!"

Qingdeng took three steps at a time and sat down beside his seniors.

"Tachibana, you've made it in time," Inugaya laughed. "If you hadn't come, we would have had to leave you behind and start the meeting."

"Lord Arima, Mr. Inoya, Mr. Ushiyama, what has happened?" Seito asked. "Why have you suddenly summoned us?"

“I don’t know either.” Inoya shrugged. “I’m completely clueless right now. Arima-sama seems to know what happened, but he won’t say anything.”

“It’s not that I’m unwilling to tell you,” Arima said in a deep voice. “I just think that once the meeting starts, you’ll know exactly what happened, so I feel there’s no need to go through all this trouble.”

Qingdeng glanced at the expressions of the others in the room—Tongxin was mostly bewildered, while Yuli was solemn…only Dongcheng was an exception.

Dongcheng sat slumped with a calm expression, his left hand gripping his enormous belly. After gripping his belly, he raised his left hand, wiped his oily face, and then stuck his left pinky finger into his nostril...

Since Arima had said that once the meeting started, they would know exactly what had happened, Aoto could only wait quietly.

Because Qing Deng was already late, he didn't have to wait long before he saw Bo Jing, with his plump, white body, enter the room.

Bo Jing pursed his lips and walked to the seat of honor in the room without saying a word.

Without any pleasantries, he glanced at everyone in the room to confirm that everyone was present, and then Bo Jing went straight to explaining why he had suddenly issued an "emergency summons order."

His first words immediately invigorated everyone in the room.

"This morning, we received intelligence that the Extermination Group plans to attack Ryogoku Hirokoji tonight and rob him of his wealth!"

……

……

This morning, an uninvited guest arrived at the Northern Frontier Office: a very young samurai.

The young samurai, who called himself Hirota Kozaburo, had come to renounce darkness and embrace light. He was a member of the Extermination Group, and after learning of their planned operation tonight, he found it too brutal and absurd. After a painful internal struggle, he finally decided to carry out the atrocities that the Extermination Group had exposed.

In the castle towns of the Edo period, wide avenues were built at various important locations to prevent fires.

These fire-prevention main roads are called "Guangxiao Road".

Because the streets of Guangxiao Road are very wide, they often develop into extremely prosperous commercial avenues.

In Edo, there were seven of the most famous and bustling Hirokoji streets: Ryogoku Hirokoji, Sugiwari Bridge Mimon-nai Hirokoji, Asakusa Mimon-nai Hirokoji, Eitaibashi Tozai Hirokoji, Shin-Ōhashi Nishinokata Hirokoji, Nakabashi Hirokoji, and Yokkaichi Hirokoji.

In terms of prosperity and liveliness, among these seven streets, Ryogoku Hiroshima Street is the most bustling.

Shops line both sides of the street, including many well-known brands that have spread throughout the country.

Numerous street performers showcased their talents, putting on a variety of wonderful performances for passersby.

To draw an analogy... Ryogoku Hirokoji Street is like the Champs-Élysées in Edo.

Such a bustling street must have shops that store enormous amounts of money.

The anti-barbarian group plans to attack this commercial avenue tonight and plunder the money of every merchant on the two countries' wide road, to be used as military funds for future expulsion of barbarians!

Upon hearing that the Extermination Group planned to carry out such a crazy plan tonight, everyone in the room, including Qing Deng, felt a chill run down their spines.

They directly robbed the Hiroshiroji of Ryogoku... That's insane!

But such a crazy plan is exactly what these extremely radical "anti-foreign" patriots would do...

Hirota Kozaburo only learned of the Extermination Group's insane plan from a minor leader in charge of him last night.

According to the foreman in charge of him, Hirota was sent to participate in the "logistics" of this plan.

After their comrades in charge of the "frontline battle" successfully completed their looting mission in the Guangxiao Road area of ​​the two countries, these "logistics" personnel were responsible for transporting the money stolen from the Guangxiao Road area in batches.

Hirota, whose thinking was not as radical as the others in the group, felt no matter how he thought about it, that it was utterly absurd to forcibly seize money from innocent people to fund the military.

After a sleepless night of agonizing thought, he finally decided to rush to the Magistrate's Office at dawn to report the atrocities committed by the Extermination Group.

Hirota Kozaburo stated that his rank within the Exile Group was not high.

He knew nothing about the fixed strongholds of the Expeditionary Force, the residences of its key personnel, or other valuable intelligence.

Normally, when meetings are held under the orders of Kamino, the leader of the Extermination Group, they are not held in any fixed location.

The meetings were held either in desolate wilderness or in abandoned houses where no one lived.

Therefore, naturally, he didn't know any further details about this crazy plan.

We don't know where the anti-barbarian group plans to gather its forces to attack the Hirokoji Road of the two countries, how they plan to withdraw after the operation is successful, or the exact time of the attack...

……

After listening quietly to Usui's account, the room fell into a deathly silence.

The crowd exchanged glances, each with a different expression...

"...Lord Magistrate." A voice from a secret chamber broke the silence of the room with a hesitant tone, "This Hirota Kozaburo... can he be trusted?"

"You're asking me this question? Who am I supposed to ask? Hirota only came to my North Zone Office this morning. How could I possibly know anything about him?" Usui glared at Tongxin, who had asked the question, with a hint of irritation.

“Attack Ryogoku Hirokoji tonight… that’s way too rushed…” Nishino, sitting opposite Aoto, frowned deeply. “We don’t even have time to verify the authenticity of this intelligence…!”

"Moreover, the information provided by that Hirota Kozaburo is far too little."

"Aside from knowing that the Extermination Group might attack the Kosho-no-ji Road of the two countries tonight, we know nothing else."

When he said this, Nishino deliberately emphasized the word "maybe".

"We cannot rule out the possibility that Hirota Kozaburo was sent by the Expeditionary Force to deliver false information to us."

“They deliberately gave us false information to trick us into focusing our attention on the small road between the two countries.”

"Actually, their target wasn't the narrow road between the two countries at all, but somewhere else!"

Nishino's remarks made the atmosphere in the room even heavier...

Given the current severe lack of intelligence and the limited time available to verify its authenticity, the information provided by Hirota Kozaburo... is truly difficult to fully trust.

Deliberately releasing false intelligence to lure the enemy and disrupt their judgment—this is a tried-and-tested strategy that has worked throughout history.

“Nishino-kun, how could I not know what you’re saying?” Usui sighed. “But it’s better to believe it’s true than not to believe it.”

"If the Expeditionary Force really attacks the Hirokoji Road of the two countries... we cannot afford the consequences!"

"I have already reported this matter to the Chinese elders together with Hou Chuan."

"The Chinese have issued a strict order to our Southern and Northern Barbarian Offices: do everything possible to prevent any atrocities that the Expeditionary Barbarians Group may launch."

At this point, Usui sighed.

“We cannot believe everything… but we also cannot completely ignore the information provided by Hirota Kozaburo.”

"Therefore, after discussion, Hou Chuan and I have decided that tonight we will join forces with the Nanfan Bureau and split into two groups!"

Bo Jing's face hardened, and his voice rose.

"The 'Sanhui' of the Nanfan Garrison will be stationed at the Ryogoku Hirokoji Road tonight! To prevent the Extermination Group from actually launching an attack on the Ryogoku Hirokoji Road!"

"Our 'Three-Way' units from the Northern Garrison are stationed in various parts of Edo, responsible for monitoring different areas of Edo, to guard against the 'attack on Ryogoku Hirokoji' being just a feint by the Extermination Group!"

After saying that, Usui picked up a large rolled-up piece of paper that was placed beside him, got up from his seat, walked quickly to the center of the room, and spread the rolled-up paper on the tatami mat in the center of the room.

This rolled-up large sheet of paper turned out to be a map of Edo period.

"This is the defense map for tonight that I worked with everyone this morning to draw up!" Usui announced loudly. "On this map, everyone's assigned defense zone for tonight is marked!"

The people who were sitting on the left and right sides of the room all moved closer together.

Qingdeng quickly scanned the map and found his name—it was marked in the northwest corner of the map.

"Your mission tonight is quite simple—keep an eye on your assigned defense zones! If you spot any trace of the Extermination Group within your assigned zones, report it immediately!"

At this point, Bo Jing paused deliberately, raised his eyes, and scanned the faces of the people around him.

Most of the people looked as if they hadn't yet woken up from their sleep.

It's not hard to understand why they would act this way.

After all, before this emergency meeting began, they were either on vacation or carrying out their work for the day in a routine manner.

Suddenly informed that a crucial operation was to be launched that night... completely unprepared, they all involuntarily showed expressions of disbelief and disbelief.

Usui, who had taken in the changes in his subordinates' expressions, sighed heavily.

"...I know this mission came suddenly and urgently." There was a hint of weariness in Bo Jing's voice. "But we have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it."

"The Nanfan Garrison, which is responsible for guarding the Guangxiao Road between the two countries tonight, has a heavy burden on its shoulders... Our Beifan Garrison also has a heavy burden on its shoulders."

"If the actual target of the Extermination Group is indeed elsewhere, and the 'plundering of the small roads of Ryogoku Province' is just a false message deliberately released by the Extermination Group to divert our forces and attention... then whether we can successfully detect and find the Extermination Group's real target depends entirely on whether we, who are responsible for defending various parts of Edo, can fulfill our duties!"

"If all the intelligence we have received is false, and the Extermination Group has no plans to take any action tonight, or if the Extermination Group backs down at the last minute, becomes cowardly after learning that our Magistrate's Office is prepared to meet them tonight, and cancels tonight's plans, then it would be best if Edo could remain peaceful tonight."

"But we can't be too complacent; we have to be prepared for the worst in everything."

"These lunatics, nothing they do is surprising."

Bo Jing raised his solemn gaze.