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Chapter 126 Tenshōin: "I want to marry the number one man in Japan!" [5600]

"To boost morale..." Tenshōin pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Alright... Special times call for special measures. We do need some role models to inspire the officials."

Seeing that Tenshōin supported his actions, Tokugawa Iemochi's brows furrowed with a faint look of delight.

"In less than three months, he has already made two great contributions... Tachibana Seito's current achievements are unparalleled among his peers." Tokugawa Iemochi slowly put away the scroll in his hand with a look of emotion. "I just hope that Tachibana Seito will not become complacent and stagnant because of the generous reward he received."

Upon hearing the words "outstanding among his peers," Tenshoin's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.

Perhaps it was this familiar phrase that touched him... A long-buried fragment of memory in Tenshōin's mind, covered in thick dust, was suddenly blown away.

This fragment of memory, now free of its old dust, quickly coalesced into a concrete image, flashing rapidly before Tenshōin's eyes—

……

……

"Yu Yi, why aren't you asleep yet?"

"Father... I have some trouble sleeping."

"Oh, you're just too nervous, aren't you? Well, it's your coming-of-age ceremony tomorrow, it's normal to feel excited and nervous."

"No, Father, I'm not nervous about tomorrow's coming-of-age ceremony... I'm worried..."

"Worried? Yu Yi, what are you worried about?"

"Once my coming-of-age ceremony is over, I will officially become a young woman who can get married... What kind of man will my future husband be? I can't sleep when I think about it."

"Hehe... I never thought that Yu Yi, who is usually so tomboyish and carefree, could be so girly! Hahahaha!"

“Father, please stop laughing! I told you all this because I wanted to confide in you! If you laugh again, I will never confide in you again!”

"Okay, okay, I won't laugh anymore. Are you worried about what kind of man you'll marry in the future...? So, Yu Yi, what kind of man do you hope your future husband will be?"

"Hmm... I hope my future husband will be the number one man in Japan!"

"N-Number one in Japan?"

"Yes! Whether he's his peers or seniors, no one can compare to him—Japan's number one man!"

"Number one in Japan... Haha, Yu Yi, you have quite the ambition. Finding a man like that might be a bit difficult."

……

"What did you say?! Say it again!"

"The lord of the domain wants to adopt Miss Yu Yi as his daughter, and then send her to Edo to become the new head of the shogunate..."

"The new shogunate's residence...? They want to marry Yu Yi to Tokugawa Iesada?! No way! I absolutely won't allow it! I won't allow Yu Yi to marry that mentally unstable cripple! What is the lord trying to do? Is he trying to sacrifice my daughter's happiness for the benefit of the domain?!"

"Coco, but... the lord has already given the order..."

"I don't care what orders Shimazu Nariakira gave! No matter what, using my daughter as a sacrifice is unacceptable! Prepare the palanquin! I'm going to the domain government right now to confront Shimazu Nariakira! What are you standing there for! Prepare the palanquin! Prepare the palanquin!"

……

……

"...My...Mother, what's wrong?"

"Hmm?" Tenshōin, snapping out of his reverie at Tokugawa Iemochi's call, blinked hard a few times and looked up at Tokugawa Iemochi, who was looking at him with worried eyes.

"Mother, what's wrong?" Tokugawa Iemochi frowned. "Why were you so absent-minded just now? Are you too tired?"

"Ah, it's nothing." Tenshōin smiled gently. "I was just... recalling some past events."

"The past? Mother, what kind of past can you tell me about?"

"...just some trivial old stories."

Tenshōin continued to smile gently.

However, a hint of bitterness lurked beneath the upturned corners of her lips...

……

……

At this very moment—

Edo, suburbs, somewhere—

A dark figure darted out from the shadows where the moonlight couldn't reach.

He looked around to make sure there were no outsiders nearby, then turned around and waved to the shadowy figure from which he had just emerged.

"Mr. Kamino, it's safe outside, you can come out now."

As soon as he finished speaking, the shadows began to "wriggle" – the expressionless Kamino slowly stepped out of the shadows.

Following Kamino out of the shadows were Kamino's close associates, including the one-armed samurai.

A thin layer of dark cloud was currently obscuring the strings, making the light quite dim.

Even in such dim light, the one-armed samurai and the others could still clearly see that Jinno's face was frighteningly pale... as if blue water could drip out at any moment.

Knowing that Jinno was in a terrible mood, everyone wisely kept their mouths shut, and no one dared to speak.

Jinno's current mood... isn't actually bad.

It's actually quite bad!

Recalling everything that had just happened, Jinno felt a pang of regret, as if a large rock was blocking his chest.

Tonight was supposed to be a perfect night.

The Tianzhong Party was a newly established organization that, like their anti-barbarian group, advocated "radical expulsion of barbarians."

Their group for suppressing foreigners and the Tianzhong Party had some dealings. Although their relationship was not particularly close, they were not hostile either, and they kept to themselves.

However, some of the recent misdeeds by the Tenchu ​​Party have angered Shinno.

These guys actually dared to poach his talent! They used money and women to steal several of Jinno's most talented men!

We didn't provoke you, but you've come to provoke us!

The Extermination Group was the brainchild of Kanna, and he had no intention of forgiving the Tenchu ​​Party for their undermining of him.

The strength of the Tianzhong Party is far inferior to that of the Taoyi Group. If a firefight were to break out between them, the Taoyi Group would be the sure winner.

However, Kamino did not want to retaliate against the Tenchu ​​Party through brute force.

Even though their Expeditionary Force has an absolute advantage in combat power against the Tianzhong Party, they will still suffer some casualties if they directly confront the Tianzhong Party head-on.

In order to devise a plan to cripple or even destroy the Tianzhong Party without firing a single shot, Jinye sent out several spies who pretended to defect to the Tianzhong Party to gather internal intelligence on the party.

Not long after, Jinno learned a very useful and important piece of intelligence from his scouts—in order to raise enough military funds, the Tenchu ​​Party decided to launch a surprise attack on Ryogoku Hirokoji that night and rob Ryogoku Hirokoji of his money.

Upon learning this intelligence, a plan to "drive a tiger to devour a wolf" quickly came to mind in Jinno's head...

His plan to "drive a tiger to devour a wolf" was not complicated—to find a way to let the magistrate know that the Tianzhong Party would launch a surprise attack on the Ryogoku Hiroko Road tonight, so that the magistrate's officers would help him cripple the Tianzhong Party!

The plan was set; all that remained was to refine the details.

To make the information that "Ryogoku Hirokoji will be attacked" seem more natural, Kanna sent someone to deliver false information to Hirota Kozaburo: their anti-foreign group was going to rob Ryogoku Hirokoji of his money tonight!

As for Hirota Kozaburo...Kano had long noticed that this junior member of their anti-foreign group did not have a firm determination to expel the foreigners.

Therefore, Kanno anticipated that Hirota would likely become fearful after learning that their anti-foreign group was going to do such a crazy thing, and then leak the information to the magistrate's office.

The reason why it was said that their anti-foreign group was trying to rob the money of the Kosho-no-kōji clan was simple: compared to an unknown Tenchū-dō, the anti-foreign group was obviously more likely to attract the attention and vigilance of the magistrate.

Jinno's initial goal was simply to take revenge on the Tianzhong Party and destroy it; he had no other plans.

But after he had completely finalized this "using one tiger to devour another" strategy... Jinno's ambition suddenly grew!

Kanna had always held a great prejudice against the Edo Magistrate's Office—in Kanna's eyes, the Magistrate's Office officers who had always opposed them, the anti-foreign patriots, were just a bunch of incompetent good-for-nothings and lackeys!

Why not... take this opportunity to thoroughly humiliate the Edo Magistrate's Office, which has been causing trouble for their anti-foreign patriots!

They deceived the Magistrate's Office into spending a lot of effort to defend the Ryogoku Hiroshiro Road. While the Magistrate's Office was dealing with the Tenchu ​​Party for them, they brazenly attacked the place they really wanted to attack right under the Magistrate's Office's nose!

They put a lot of effort into defending Edo, but the defenses were completely ineffective and failed to stop the enemy at all... There is no more humiliating effect than this!

To retaliate against the Tianzhong Party, destroy the places that the Anti-Foreign Organization truly wanted to destroy, and humiliate the Magistrate's Office—killing three birds with one stone!

So, with his ambition growing, his confidence growing, and his determination to kill three birds with one stone overnight, Kanno changed his plans.

The section on "driving away tigers to devour wolves" remains unchanged, but the content of personally leading a large force to attack the Tibetan scribes' office has been added.

The Institute for the Study of Foreign Books, which specializes in the study of Western learning, has always been a thorn in the side of their anti-foreign group.

Kamino had long ago listed the Banshu Institute as one of their must-conquer targets.

Since we'll destroy the Foreign Affairs Bureau sooner or later anyway, let's just raze this hateful place where traitors gather tonight!

To ensure the plan's success, Kanda added a segment involving "burning down Edo city to attract the attention of the magistrate's office."

The cause of expelling the barbarians is of paramount importance! To accomplish such a great undertaking, sacrifices are inevitable! Let the people of Edo suffer a bit! It is their honor to dedicate themselves to the cause of expelling the barbarians!

Tonight, Shinno's plan to kill three birds with one stone has been going very smoothly in the early stages.

The magistrate successfully dealt a heavy blow to the Tianzhong Party on the broad road between the two countries.

Their subsequent arson went smoothly, successfully disrupting Edo and diverting the attention of the magistrate's office.

The attack on the Fanshu Diaosu was going smoothly. The weak defenses of the Fanshu Diaosu were no match for them, and they swept through most of the Fanshu Diaosu.

However... there's only one last step left...

We were just one step away from bringing tonight's operation to a perfect close...

It's all because of that Tachibana Aoto...!

It was his sudden appearance that caused a glaring flaw in Jinno and his group's actions tonight!

The Bureau of Investigation and Statistics was not completely destroyed! The main force of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics arrived much earlier than expected, resulting in the capture of many of their comrades!

It is him again!

He was the one who got in their way when they attacked and killed that group of French merchants!

And now it's this guy who's ruined their plans for tonight!