I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Are you French, miss? May I ask your name?"

As he spoke, he scanned the surroundings, his face full of curiosity as he examined Elodie's light blue haori.

Elodie smiled:

“You guessed right, I am indeed French. I am Elodie Angoulême. It is my honor to serve as your interpreter today. Please take good care of me.”

"If I may ask, are you currently working for the Japanese government?"

"That's right, I've served under Zuo Fu for many years."

Qing Deng added with a smile:

“Elodie is one of my most trusted companions. I don’t know what I would do without her.”

While there is some exaggeration involved, it cannot be considered a lie.

If Elodie leaves, the Shinsengumi's finance department will truly come to a standstill.

Brune clicked his tongue slightly upon hearing this, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

"A French woman holding an important position in the Japanese government...that's quite an interesting story."

After expressing his feelings, Brune turned his gaze back to Qingdeng.

"Master Zuo, I had heard rumors about you before I was ordered to come here. I heard that you alone are worth a thousand elite troops, and even our Emperor is very curious about you. I have always wanted to meet you, and today my wish has finally come true."

"It is my honor to be respected and loved by so many people."

Qing Deng subtly narrowed his gaze and gave Brune a deep look.

His first impression of the other party was quite good.

His resolute expression and methodical manner of speaking both exuded the demeanor of a soldier.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, as if they had agreed beforehand, Qing Deng and Brune both entered "serious mode".

Brunellesdon's expression turned serious as he spoke slowly and deliberately to Qing Deng:

“The Zuo family is not familiar with the situation in your country and will need your assistance in many ways.”

He was naturally referring to matters related to training the army for the "Northern Dynasty".

Qingdeng nodded:

"Of course. We will do our utmost to help. When will you be ready to assist me in training the troops?"

"It'll be tomorrow."

Qing Deng couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"Tomorrow? Aren't you planning to rest for a few more days? You must be exhausted after traveling such a long way."

There are no airplanes at present, and even the Suez Canal is not open to navigation.

To get from France to Japan, one must travel south to Africa by ship, round the Cape of Good Hope, and sail tens of thousands of nautical miles... It's not hard to imagine how arduous that must have been.

Brune shook his head:

Thank you for your concern.

"Thanks to God's grace, although we traveled across the ocean, we did not encounter any accidents or hardships, so my colleagues and I did not feel tired."

"For me, doing my best to fulfill His Majesty's entrustment and live up to his expectations is the highest priority and the most important thing."

The "Your Majesty" he mentioned above is none other than Napoleon III, the current emperor who rules France.

Upon hearing this, Qing Deng couldn't help but cast an admiring glance at the dutiful officer.

“In that case, I will respectfully comply. Mr. Brune, I would like to divide you into two groups. One group will go to Kanto to train the training corps, and the other group will go to northern Omi to train the Aizu Army.”

Brune blinked:

"Training Corps? Aizu Army? Are these the only two units?"

“That’s right, they are our main force, with a total strength of about 5000 men. You only need to train these two units.”

Brune nodded slightly:

"Understood. If it's only 5000 people, then it's not a big problem!"

Qingdeng had already made meticulous arrangements regarding how to use this hard-won French officer corps.

The quality of an army is more important than its quantity; weak and easily defeated soldiers are of no use at all.

In short, those old-style armies, lacking both discipline and fighting spirit, were simply not worth training or cultivating.

The Northern Dynasty had limited resources and could not afford to squander them.

Therefore, Aoto decided to concentrate all resources on three units: the Shinsengumi, the Aizu Army, and the Denshutai!

As long as these three forces maintain sufficient combat strength and morale, defeating the "Southern Dynasty" will be more than enough!

The Southern Dynasty and the Northern Shogunate were allies in cahoots.

When the Southern Dynasty rises up to attack, the Northern Shogunate will definitely send troops south to invade the capital region from the north and provide support from the side!

In order to cope with the pincer attack from both sides, Qing Deng used his authority as "Army Commander-in-Chief" several months ago to make the following adjustments to the defense of the capital region—

The training team remained in the Kanto region for further training.

The Aizu army was moved north to guard northern Omi, monitoring and containing the "Northern Shogunate"—the "Northern Shogunate" would have to pass through northern Omi if it wanted to attack the capital region.

The new corps continued to guard the capital region, ready to confront the main force of the Southern Court at any time.

After years of training and development, the Shinsengumi has become a modern army that has been fully Westernized, so it has no need for guidance from the French officer corps.

In comparison, it would be most appropriate to send the French officer corps to train the Aizu army and the training team.

Matsudaira Katamori's loyalty is beyond question, and his Aizu army is one of the few domain armies in Japan that currently possesses considerable combat power.

Having experienced the Kyoto Summer Campaign and the Choshu Campaign, Matsudaira Katamori had witnessed firsthand the power of modern firearms and the strength of the "Westernized" Shinsengumi.

As a result, he has always wanted to emulate Aoto and introduce Western equipment and military systems to comprehensively enhance the combat power of the Aizu Army.

He would surely welcome Brune and the others.

As for the training team—it's a newly formed army.

Its predecessor was the Eighth Prince's Thousand People United!

As early as when the "Battle of Edo Castle" had just ended, Aoto intended to reorganize the Hachioji Thousand Hearts Alliance.

The thousand soldiers of the Eighth Prince, united as one, made great contributions in this battle.

It is no exaggeration to say that their desperate struggle laid the foundation for the subsequent victory.

Even setting aside personal feelings, considering only the practical factor of "expanding military equipment to counter the 'Southern Dynasty'", Qing Deng had every reason to rebuild this meritorious army.

The original "half-soldier, half-farmer" military system of the Eighth Prince's thousand-strong united army is clearly outdated.

Qingdeng naturally had no intention of continuing this old system.

He planned to take advantage of the situation to reorganize the Thousand-Man Army of Hachioji into a new army, and adopt the Western military system in its entirety, just like the Shinsengumi!

To symbolize the "new look of the new army," Qingdeng recently gave it a catchy new name: "Training Team"!

Although the "skin" has changed, the "bones" inside remain the same, and its generals and soldiers are still only selected from good families in places like Hachioji and Tama.

According to Qingdeng's plan, the training team will consist of three branches of service: musketeers, artillerymen, and cavalry.

Two months ago, the training team successfully completed its first phase of recruitment, and currently has more than a thousand members.

We have the personnel and the equipment; all we're missing are the instructors!

Once all the instructors are in place, the training team can officially begin training!

Qing Deng is currently unaware of the abilities of Brune and the others, and does not know whether they can successfully complete the teaching task.

If all goes well, and if the teaching level of Bruno and others can meet Aoto's expectations, the Aizu Army and the training team will surely be transformed in the next few months!

……

……

February 10th, 1863 (Meiji 2nd year)

Satsuma Domain, Kagoshima Castle, a teahouse—

The ornately decorated tea room was filled with a number of people, and a strange, rather somber atmosphere permeated the air around them.

The reason for this is that everyone present has a resounding name.

Saigo Kichinosuke, Okubo Ichizo, and Komatsu Tateto of the Satsuma Domain.

Katsura Kogoro and Iwakura Tomomi of the Choshu Domain.

Shojiro Goto of the Tosa Domain.

Eto Shinpei of the Hizen Domain (one of the "Seven Sages of Saga").

The leaders of the four major powers of the "Southern Dynasty" gathered together!

These influential figures gathered together... even if they did nothing, just sitting there, the aura emanating from them was enough to make the atmosphere heavy!

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the aforementioned individuals, there were also people from other factions present.

For example, Orochi and Ōtakemaru sat side by side next to Katsura Kogoro.

As the host, Saigo Kinosuke personally prepared tea for everyone.

He skillfully whisked the tea, mixing the light green tea powder evenly.

Apart from the clinking of the tea whisks, there were no other sounds at the scene.

Everyone present was eerily quiet, a silence that was almost unsettling...

Although they are now in the same boat, none of them are willing to submit to the others, and none of them want to bring shame to the power they represent. So they all stand tall and solemn, disdaining idle chatter.

In this silence, the first person to break the silence was Goto Shojiro of the Tosa Domain.

"...Are you the Yamata no Orochi of the Dharma Extermination Party?"

He cast a scrutinizing glance at the Yamata no Orochi not far away.

Orochi raised his smiling face:

"Indeed, it is I!"