I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Please don't let us down!

Yoshiki Ichihashi froze.

He remained suspended in mid-air, neither standing up nor sitting down.

The tall man continued to stare at Yoshiki Ichihashi, his eyes narrowing slightly, his gaze becoming meaningful.

The next moment, he said softly:

"Your Highness, do you still remember the ideal of 'cultivating oneself, regulating one's family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world'?"

These words struck Yoshiki Ichijo like a thunderbolt, making him shudder!

At the same time, his facial expression underwent a new change.

His expression remained dominated by intense hesitation. However, this hesitation gradually deepened and intensified, eventually transforming into a struggle!

Another moment of silence...

However, this silence did not last long.

Then, Yoshiki Hitotsubashi slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"……I see."

After murmuring, he suddenly opened his eyes, a fierce glint flashing within them:

"Then let's do as you say and kill Tokugawa Iemochi...!"

*******

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Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets! (Leopard crying.jpg)

P.S.: Yoshinobu Hitotsubashi is quite an interesting person. While researching his life, I discovered a major personality flaw in him, which I'll discuss in detail later when the time is right.

Chapter 973 Is Tachibana Aoto Going to Rebel? [4500]

The first year of Yuanzhi (1864), December 28th——

In two days it will be Lunar New Year's Eve.

The arrival of the New Year slightly eased the shadow of war.

The festive atmosphere gradually replaced the stench of blood in the air.

As people who had fled to avoid the disaster gradually returned, the lively atmosphere returned to this devastated town.

Shops opened one after another.

More and more pedestrians are appearing on the streets.

The shouts from vendors in the market grew louder and louder.

Mirror cakes, Tusu wine, and other essential New Year's foods have been put on the shelves.

Families with some financial means are displaying kadomatsu (pine decorations) and shimenaka (decorations) in front of their doors, making people feel the arrival of the New Year in a direct way.

The festive atmosphere of the New Year is pervasive, and everything seems to be returning to normal.

Compared to the deafening shouts and rivers of blood from a while ago, it truly feels like a different world.

The only noteworthy event recently was probably the Emperor's announcement of a change of era name.

So much has happened this year, with all sorts of major events coming one after another, leaving us breathless. We've almost forgotten that a series of major events, such as the "Ikedaya Incident," the "Summer Siege of Kyoto," the "Chōshū Campaign," the "Second Battle of Sekigahara," and the "Siege of Edo," all occurred within just a few months!

From summer to winter... in just half a year, the situation in the world has changed several times.

Looking back at the summer not long ago, Changzhou, which had suffered repeated defeats, was on its last legs.

At that time, everyone in the world felt that Changzhou was finished and no longer had the ability or qualification to contend for the world.

But when winter came, Choshu joined forces with the Hoju Party and launched a brilliant counterattack, pushing the shogunate to the brink of collapse!

Although they failed to capture Edo, they did deal a heavy blow to the shogunate, reversing what was originally a hopeless situation and turning a seemingly hopeless game into a viable one!

Immediately afterwards, the various domains on the front lines of the expedition kicked the shogunate while it was down, rubbing salt into the shogunate's wounds.

After fighting for more than half a year, the various forces have returned to square one—the situation in the world is unpredictable, and it is unknown who will emerge victorious!

Such a dramatic turn of events is both cruel and subtly tinged with dark humor.

Feeling that this year was a year of many troubles, the imperial court decided to abandon the existing era name "Genji" and change it to "Keio" after the New Year in order to bring good luck.

Apart from that, there are no other major events worth mentioning.

The people of Edo were busy rebuilding their towns and celebrating the New Year.

Everything was gentle, everything was peaceful.

……

……

Nihonbashi, somewhere—

"Kid! Get out of the way! I only want adults here!"

"I...I'm just as strong as an adult! Please! Let me work with you!"

"I'm still short three people! Three more people, please!"

"Me! Me! Me! Pick me! Look at me! Look at my build! I'm incredibly strong!"

"I'm not picky about jobs! Whether it's sifting sand or carrying logs, I can do it!"

"Huh? You're a samurai? We don't need samurai here!"

"Can't a samurai come and move wood?"

"If you want to move wood, take off that thing at your waist first! How can you work with a knife on your back!"

"As a dignified samurai, how can I not carry a sword!"

"If you're not willing to remove your sword, then leave! Go find another place!"

……

At this very moment, countless foremen are recruiting laborers in Nihonbashi.

Because it is the starting point of the "Five Streets", young people who come to Edo to work or find a livelihood will first stop at Nihonbashi.

That's why foremen who are desperately short of labor have all set their sights on this land where the fields stretch as far as the eye can see.

They stood in a prominent place, loudly announcing how many people they needed and what restrictions they had, and then picked out the people they wanted from the thronging crowd.

After recruiting enough people, they took the newly recruited laborers directly to the construction site and started working.

The brutal war inflicted profound damage on Edo.

The artillery fire of the Faki coalition destroyed more than 40% of the ground buildings in Edo.

Everywhere there are broken walls and ruins.

Everywhere there are buildings and roads in dire need of repair.

Construction sites are everywhere, waiting to begin.

Business opportunities are everywhere!

The civil engineering industry, which had been dormant for a long time, is booming again.

In Edo, foremen from all over mobilized and took on one large order after another.

This "cake" was so tempting that even foremen from other places were attracted to it.

Foremen from other regions joined forces, gathering a large number of men—most of whom were tattooed with dragons and phoenixes—and stormed into Edo, determined to get a share of the profits.

Anyone capable of engineering is rarely a pushover—this truth holds true throughout history and across cultures.

As expected, a fierce conflict broke out between the two sides, alarming even the Edo Magistrate's Office.

The magistrate dispatched a large number of officials to quell the fighting and mediate between the parties, finally suppressing the riot.

The end result was that all the out-of-town foremen were expelled, and the local Edo foremen were able to monopolize the lucrative "post-war reconstruction" pie.

Such results are not surprising.

It's only natural that outsiders can't beat the local bullies.

In any case, Edo's "post-war reconstruction" was finally put on the agenda and construction began quickly.

In an instant, construction sites sprang up everywhere.

The sounds of sand being sifted, clanging and banging, and hammering echoed throughout the construction site.

It is well known that civil engineering projects can boost the local economy.

Thanks to the hard work of these workers, the livelihood of people in Edo was able to recover quickly.

Many businesses saw this as a valuable opportunity and rushed to various construction sites to set up food stalls, specifically to make money off the workers.

Even honest people who don't usually do business started carrying loads on shoulder poles to sell simple food such as tea and glutinous rice balls to the workers.

As the saying goes, "Food and sex are human nature," so not only the catering industry, but also women in special industries are eyeing the wallets of these workers.

"They're getting paid today, so everyone should cheer up." — I've been hearing this kind of talk a lot from the nightingales lately.

[Note: Nightingale: A cheap prostitute who solicits customers on the street, mostly found around the main office, Samega Bridge, and Asakusa-do area.]

These scenes are like a reenactment of the "Mingli Reconstruction".

After the Furisode Fire destroyed two-thirds of Edo, the shogunate launched a massive "Meireki Reconstruction".

The impact of this reconstruction was so profound that it affected every aspect of Edo.

It's no exaggeration to say that its influence has not diminished even now.

While repairing the buildings, the shogunate made major adjustments to the original city plan, constructing a large number of wide roads specifically for fire prevention, known as Hirokoji.

Thanks to this series of ingenious new arrangements, Edo never suffered another serious fire, allowing the people of Edo to stay away from the wrath of fire.

The Meireki Reconstruction also gave Edo residents healthier and more complete eating habits.

To adapt to the heavy civil engineering work, the workers naturally ate more and better food, which directly promoted the development of the Edo food industry.