I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"These past few days, no matter where I go, I hear people talking about you."

"The Westerners in the settlement praised you as the 'hero of the settlement' who saved them."

"The common people of Edo also have great respect for you."

"It is believed that you not only eliminated the great scourge of the Extermination Group, but also that your timely discovery and reporting of the intelligence that the settlement was about to be attacked greatly prevented the fire from spreading and saved Edo from a fire disaster."

"The name 'Tachibana Seito' is now known to everyone in Edo."

"Haha, I'm already looking forward to what kind of reward the higher-ups will give you, and what official position they will promote you to."

In response to Inugaya's lavish praise, Seito smiled modestly and calmly, saying in a half-joking tone:

"I just hope that the common people will stop giving me weird nicknames. One weird nickname like 'Little Tengu of the Northern Garrison' is enough."

At this moment, Niu Shan, who was usually taciturn, surprisingly smiled and took over the conversation, asking Qing Deng a question.

"Mr. Ju, which government office would you personally prefer to be transferred to?"

“If I had a choice, I would definitely want to be transferred to a place where there is more money and less work.” Qing Deng still used a half-joking tone, “But where I am transferred to is not something I can control.”

At this point, Qingdeng let out a silent sigh, his expression filled with mixed emotions.

"I can only leave it to fate."

How many achievements did Qingdeng make on that night 10 days ago?

1. He rescued the young lady of the "Number One Family in the Martial Arts World," Sanako Chiba, who had been kidnapped.

2. They discovered the plot of the Extermination Group to destroy the settlement and promptly reported it to the government. This allowed the officials from the Magistrate's Office, the Fire and Thieves Bureau, and the Town Fire Extermination Bureau to rush to the settlement in a belated attempt to arrest most of the Extermination Group's thugs and prevent the fire in the settlement from spreading and getting out of control.

3. He single-handedly fought against more than sixty thugs from the anti-foreign group, saving the lives of many Westerners residing in the area.

4. He caught up with and successfully killed the leader of the Extermination Group, Tatsugoro Kanno.

Of these four achievements, only the achievement of rescuing Sanako is of slightly lower caliber; any one of the other three is a great achievement that would earn Aoto a generous reward.

Especially the second achievement.

They discovered the plot of the anti-barbarian group in time and reported it to the authorities... This saved countless lives.

Ten days ago, although it wasn't a windy night, there was still quite a bit of night wind blowing.

In Edo, where the buildings were mostly made of wood and the houses were arranged very closely together, any slight wind could cause a fire to get out of control.

Thanks to Qing Deng's timely intelligence report, the officials who ordered the town's fire to be extinguished arrived at the settlement before the fire had spread too far.

Thanks to the combined efforts of the town's fire-fighting officials and the local residents living near the settlement, the fire was eventually contained within a very small area of ​​the settlement and a few neighboring towns.

If the officials tasked with extinguishing the fire had arrived any later, the fire in the settlement might have spread... and the consequences would have been unimaginable.

It was almost a certainty that Qingdeng, who had made these four great achievements in one night, would be rewarded with money or treasures, have his family's salary increased, and be promoted to a higher official position.

They might even get a promotion, from their current status as "gokenin" to "hatamoto".

Although both hatamoto and gokenin were samurai directly under the shogun, there was a world of difference in their status.

In the Edo period, when "unless you were favored by someone of high status, the official position you could hold basically depended entirely on your family's social standing," if your family's rank could be raised to the level of a hatamoto, you would truly become a "superior person."

However, for Qingdeng, compared to things like increased family fortune and promotion, he was more concerned about where he would be relocated to afterward.

It would be absolutely impossible for someone not to care which new government office they would be transferred to.

But no matter how much Qingdeng cared about or concerned about his future official career, it was useless.

As he just said, this is something that he has no control over based on his personal will.

All he can do now is quietly recover from his injuries and wait patiently for his superiors to announce his rewards and career plans.

Qingdeng has made such a great contribution, and the people above will definitely review carefully and repeatedly what kind of reward to give him.

The Edo Shogunate, with its severe overstaffing, was never known for its efficiency.

Therefore, it would definitely take at least one or two months for Qingdeng to receive his reward and promotion.

"Nothing noteworthy has happened at the Magistrate's Office recently. But things haven't been very peaceful at the Shogunate lately."

Perhaps realizing that there was nothing more to talk about regarding "Aoto's relocation to the right", Arima steered the conversation back to the topic Aoto had just brought up: "What news has the Magistrate's Office been up to lately?"

Arima's sudden remark caught Aoto's attention, and he turned to look at Arima.

Aoto glanced at Arima to confirm. This gesture, of course, meant, "Has something major happened to the shogunate recently?"

Arima, sensing Aoto's gaze, pondered for a moment, carefully choosing his words, and then slowly said:

"The Hitotsubashi faction has recently intensified its pressure on Daiki, demanding that he quickly settle scores with Ii Dairo and that Prince Tenshōin remain behind the scenes."

Qing Deng raised an eyebrow and scratched the back of his head: "The 'One Bridge Faction' people are really persistent..."

As for what Arima just said, Qing Deng... no, it should be said that all the officials had already heard about it.

Ooki-no-Kou: A respectful title for the Shogun.

Since the Tokugawa clan, a "brain-dead shogun" with a pathological mental condition, no offspring, and infertility, came to power two years ago, the Edo shogunate has been divided into two political factions:

The "Nanki faction" supported Tokugawa Iemochi as his successor as shogun.

The "Hitotsubashi faction" supports Yoshiki Hitotsubashi as the successor to the shogun.

Since their inception, these two factions have been locked in a fierce struggle due to their differing political ideologies.

The leader of the "Nanki Faction," Ii Naosuke, relied on his iron-fisted methods to ultimately lead the "Nanki Faction" to overpower the "Hitotsubashi Faction" and successfully push Tokugawa Iemochi to succeed as the new shogun of the shogunate.

After the "Nanki faction" led by Ii Naosuke gained power, the shogunate launched a brutal crackdown on the "Hitotsubashi faction" under Ii Naosuke's leadership.

A large number of officials and related personnel from the "Hitotsubashi faction" were imprisoned or murdered, with the number of victims reaching hundreds.

Although Ii Naosuke's methods of suppression were quite cruel... the Hitotsubashi faction was only severely damaged, not completely wiped out.

The remaining members of the "Hitotsubashi faction" lay low, waiting for the situation to change.

And the dramatic change in the situation did indeed come their way—Ii Naosuke was assassinated outside Sakurada Gate three months earlier.

The leader of the Nanki faction died suddenly, leaving the faction leaderless... The Hitotsubashi faction immediately launched a fierce counterattack!

The political power of the "One Bridge Faction" has risen and developed rapidly.

As fortunes change... After the Hitotsubashi faction re-emerged and rapidly grew stronger, they began to put pressure on the Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi, demanding that he settle accounts with Ii Naosuke, who had persecuted countless "righteous people."

Meanwhile, members of the "Hitotsubashi faction" also demanded that Tenshōin remain behind the scenes and stop appearing in public, arguing that "women should not participate in politics" and "the Ooku should be dedicated to managing the Ooku."

What are the Hitotsubashi faction planning...? It's as clear as day.

Their aim was to reduce Tokugawa Iemochi's power and weaken the strength of the "Nanki faction".

Qingdeng had heard about all of these things more than a month ago.

More than a month has passed, and the Hitotsubashi faction has actually increased its pressure on Tokugawa Iemochi... It seems that they will not give up until they successfully take revenge on Ii Naosuke and force Tenshōin to retreat into the background.

"It's said that Lord Taiju is finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the pressure from the 'Hitotsubashi Faction'," Inoya said with a wry smile, continuing the conversation. "Judging from the current situation, Lord Taiju might actually succumb to the pressure and punish the Ii clan, thus forcing Tenshōin to disappear from the public eye..."

Tokugawa Iemochi was unable to withstand the pressure from the Hitotsubashi faction—a fact that was generally known within the government.

Tokugawa Iemochi has only been in power as shogun for two years. He is currently only a 14-year-old boy.

Tokugawa Iemochi was originally the lord of the Kishu Domain. He was brought in because the previous shogun, Tokugawa Iesada, had no children and was infertile.

Simply put, Tokugawa Iemochi was parachuted into the Edo Shogunate; he wasn't a "crown prince" who was groomed from childhood to become the next shogun.

A general who was parachuted in and whose reign was short-lived... Tokugawa Iemochi had virtually no foundation in the shogunate.

All he could rely on were Tenshōin, who served as his advisor, and the officials of the "Nanki faction" led by Ii Naosuke.

Now, the Nanki faction is leaderless and its strength has been greatly weakened due to the death of Ii Naosuke.

As a woman, Tenshōin could only offer limited support to Tokugawa Iemochi.

Therefore, it was only natural that the outnumbered Tokugawa Iemochi was put in a very difficult position by the pressure from the Hitotsubashi faction.

"Thinking about it carefully, Old Tree has really been working hard lately." Inoya continued, "While dealing with the pressure from the 'Hitotsubashi faction,' he also has to spare some attention to deal with the accountability from overseas powers."

Most of the buildings in the settlement were destroyed in the attack by the Expeditionary Force. Although many people were saved by Qing Deng's timely rescue, some were not so lucky and closed their eyes forever in the fire and thick smoke. After such an incident, the Westerners in the settlement would not simply let it go.

They united and demanded an explanation from the Edo Shogunate.

Given the egregious nature of the incident, the nations behind these Westerners could not simply ignore it. Consequently, the foreign powers intervened, demanding a reasonable explanation from the Edo Shogunate.

To quell the resentment and anger of the Westerners residing in the settlement and the countries they represent, it is essential to completely destroy the culprits behind this attack: the Extermination Group, and arrest and severely punish all those involved.

Therefore, during the time that Aoto was quietly recuperating at the Renyi Hall, the Edo Magistrate's Office, the Fire-Fuse Thieves Office, and other government offices were in complete chaos.

In order to complete the death mission assigned by the higher authorities—"to destroy the anti-foreign group as soon as possible at all costs"—the Edo Magistrate's Office, the Hitsuke Thieves' Office, and other government agencies were operating at full capacity every day, with officials running back and forth and working day and night.

Inoya's remarks reminded Aoto of the magistrate's office's recent busyness, so he asked in return:

"Lord Arima, how is the operation to annihilate the Extermination Group progressing?"

“It went very smoothly.” Arima smiled slightly and answered without hesitation, “Thanks to your killing of Kino Tatsugoro, the Extermination Group without Kino Tatsugoro’s leadership has become a bunch of rabble.”

"Kano Tatsugoro's prestige within the Extermination Group is far higher than we anticipated."

"Upon learning of Tatsugoro Kanno's death and seeing his body as displayed by us, the morale of many of our captured members of the Expeditionary Group immediately collapsed."

"These demoralized people have provided us with a great deal of intelligence. Thanks to the intelligence they provided, we have now cleared out a large number of the Expeditionary Forces' strongholds and arrested a large number of their remnants."

"At the current pace and speed... it will take at least half a month, or at most a month, to completely wipe out the Expeditionary Group."

After listening quietly to what Jinno had to say, Qing Deng let out a long sigh.

"I see..."

The muscles on Qing Deng's face slowly relaxed... and his relaxed expression gradually turned into a calm smile.

The long-time nemesis of his, the Extermination Group, is finally going to be destroyed—this is the best news Qing Deng has heard in recent days.

"Speaking of which, I just realized that." Qing Deng smiled and glanced at Arima, Inoya, and Ushiyama. "Arima-sama, are you all free today? What brings you all here to see me?"

"What a load of rubbish!" Inotani slapped his thigh in annoyance. "Do you think we could possibly be idle when the shogunate is issuing strict orders to wipe out the anti-foreign group as quickly as possible?"

"We all squeezed out some time from our busy schedules to come and visit you. We can't stay here long, as we have to go back to the Beifan Institute to continue our work soon."

Inugaya seemed to want to continue complaining about how busy they had been lately, but his words were interrupted by two sudden footsteps and knocks outside the door.

"Tachibana-kun, may we come in?"

It was Kondo's voice.

Qingdeng raised an eyebrow slightly and quickly said, "Yes, please come in."