I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The commander coughed lightly a few times while covering his mouth, then raised his head and gave Qing Deng a big, bright smile.

"I didn't push myself too hard; I feel pretty good today."

Aoto glanced at Souji's face... Indeed, Souji seemed to be in good spirits today; his complexion wasn't as pale as it had been recently, and he spoke quite clearly. This reassured Aoto somewhat.

"Mr. Tachibana!"

At that moment, Harada's voice came in.

"Although I don't quite understand the difference between the Fire-Fulfilled Thief's Modification and the Magistrate's Office's 'Three-Time' Assistance, in short: if you need to hire someone to help you again later, you can come to me anytime!"

"Yes." Qingdeng smiled slightly. "I will."

Compared to the "three times" of the magistrate's office, the manpower for fire-related thieves was much more abundant.

There are a total of 8 squads, each with 1 squad leader, 10 support members, and 50 comrades.

In addition, there is a "reinforcement" system—if there is a shortage of manpower, you can directly ask the first-hand archers and first-hand arquebusiers for manpower, which means that there are a considerable number of "temporary workers" available for use at will.

Therefore, the thief's office did not have the "gangyi" system like the "sanhui" of the magistrate's office.

Simply put—Aoto can no longer hire Okabiki to assist him; Nagakura, Harada, and Todo are all unemployed.

Qingdeng once told the three of them that if they were still willing to act as guides, he could introduce them to other "three-time" colleagues such as Zhu Gu and Ushiyama.

While working under Qingdeng, Nagakura and others demonstrated exceptional individual abilities, especially Todo.

A versatile talent like Todo Heisuke, who could handle both clerical work and swordsmanship, with no major flaws except for being too young and impetuous and lacking experience, was highly sought after in the perpetually understaffed "Sanhui" (a military unit).

However, all three of them explicitly refused Qing Deng's offer to help them with introductions.

Nagakura Shinpachi: "To be honest, I only agreed to become Okabiki because I admire Mr. Tachibana. If Mr. Tachibana is no longer here, what's the point of me staying at the Magistrate's Office?"

Harada Sanosuke: "Mr. Tachibana, let me tell you the truth: I hate working the most. I would never work if I were not forced to by life. I saved a lot of money while working for you, and I don't want to work again until I spend all of that money."

Heisuke Todo: My initial motivation for serving you, Mr. Tachibana, was simply to broaden my horizons by doing different jobs. Since you can no longer hire Okabiki, Mr. Tachibana, I'll take this opportunity to find a new job. I'd like to experience what it's like to be someone's bodyguard.

The three people declined for various reasons...

However, although these three could no longer serve as Aoto's guides, Nagakura and Harada continued to stay at the Shieikan as "guests".

The reason for this was not only because Shusuke and Kondo had developed a deep friendship with the two who had been staying at the Shieikan for a long time, but also because hiring the two as guests of the Shieikan did indeed have a positive effect on the recruitment of students for the sword-making school.

Everything went exactly as Hijikata had planned—the news that "Shieikan has successfully recruited two masters who have recently become somewhat famous in Edo" spread, immediately creating a very effective brand effect and a blind following effect.

Many recent newcomers have come here out of curiosity because they've heard that Shiwei Hall is a place where hidden talents reside.

Incidentally, besides Nagakura, Harada, and Todo, there is one more person who has lost their job.

That was Saito Hajime.

However, unlike Nagakura and his colleagues who experienced "passive unemployment," Saito's unemployment was "voluntary."

The group dedicated to killing Qingdeng was gone, and Qingdeng was no longer the ignorant boy who couldn't even hold a sword.

In terms of individual strength alone, Saito might not be a match for Aoto now.

Qing Deng no longer needs his protection. Qing Deng no longer needs his bodyguard.

In early October, Saito voluntarily offered his resignation to Aoto.

Among Shieikan's friends and family, Saito was one of the people who spent the most time with Aoto and fought alongside him the most.

Saito is leaving... Of course, Aoto is reluctant to let him go.

However, Saito was also a very stubborn and straightforward person.

He insisted that now that Qingdeng no longer needed his protection, it would be a complete rip-off to continue taking Qingdeng's salary as his bodyguard—he didn't want to accept such handouts.

Having no other choice, Aoto had to change his approach in order to retain Saito.

The training center has been thriving recently, and with the increasing number of new apprentices, the teaching staff is starting to become insufficient.

So Aoto and Kondo discussed it and decided to invite Saito to be their instructor at the Shieikan Academy.

Although Saito's swordsmanship style is non-traditional, there are many commonalities among different schools of swordsmanship.

For example, the stances for holding the sword in the upper, middle, and lower sections, how to draw and sheathe the sword, and how to perform blood strikes... these are all common to every school of swordsmanship.

Saito was perfectly capable of teaching these basic kendo techniques.

Shusuke, Kondo, and the others were also reluctant to part with Saito, so they all pitched in to persuade him relentlessly.

Ultimately, under the "saturation offensive" of Qing Deng and others, Saito finally gave in.

Thus—although Saito was no longer Seito's bodyguard, he continued to live in the Shieikan as a "diner and teacher's assistant at the Shieikan."

In the past, every weekday, Aoto would lead Saito, Nagakura, and Harada in a grand procession to work at the Magistrate's Office.

Now, the gang leaders are gone, the bodyguards have resigned, and he has to go to the yamen for the thieves alone—thinking of this, Qing Deng felt inexplicably lonely.

……

……

The air was filled with the refreshing scent unique to autumn.

Under the vast blue sky, Mount Fuji silently overlooks the people bustling about in the streets and towns of Edo.

Compared to summer, the sunlight that fills the streets in the early autumn air has a soft, whitish hue.

As Qingdeng walked at a leisurely pace, he took in the surrounding street scene with great interest, which was different from the familiar sights he had seen before due to the change in his commute.

Compared to other government departments, the Fire and Thieves Bureau has a rather interesting characteristic: the location of their offices is not fixed.

Generally speaking, whoever is the current commander-in-chief of the Fire Thieves Bureau, that person's residence will become the new headquarters of the Fire Thieves Bureau.

Except for a few very special cases, the commander-in-chief of the Fire Thieves Bureau is basically changed every year. Therefore, the government office in charge of the Fire Thieves Bureau also changes every year.

The yamen is located in the east of the city this year, but it may move to the west of the city next year.

The history of Huofu Thieves is only a little over a hundred years since its establishment.

As a result, in its mere hundred-plus years of history, the Fire Thief team has had over two hundred commanders-in-chief...

The commander-in-chief changes his clothes more often than the courtesan of Yoshiwara—but that's not even the most baffling aspect of the Fire Thieves' reorganized structure.

What's even more absurd than "frequently changing commanders" is that the commander of the Fire Thief mod is often more than one person!

Fire Thieves only have one Commander in very rare circumstances.

In most cases, a Fire Thief will have at least two supreme leaders.

The current Fire Thieves are simultaneously under two supreme commanders: Atsuyuki Kurosawa and Tadashi Okubo.

These two individuals are the 240th and 241st generation commanders of the Fire Thief mod.

These two people are completely equal in status, with no distinction between superior and inferior, and there is no detailed division of their functions. They both possess the same rights and obligations.

An army not only frequently changes its brains, but often has two or even three brains at the same time... This seems absurd at first glance, but it is actually full of insidious political wisdom.

Legend has it that Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun who founded the Edo shogunate, once said: "The secret to governing a country is to keep the peasants half-dead."

The shogunate structure built and continued by Tokugawa Ieyasu and his descendants can be said to have fully understood and taken this statement to its extreme.

During the more than two hundred years of Edo Shogunate rule over Japan, not only were farmers brought to the brink of death, but merchants, artisans, ordinary samurai, and feudal lords were also manipulated to the point of near collapse.

The fire-fighting thief reformation can be considered a microcosm of the shogunate's officialdom.

In fact, almost all the heads of agencies and departments in the Edo Shogunate were held by several people at the same time, and the turnover rate was extremely high, with one or even several changes per year being the norm.

The reason for doing this was to torment the officials and the samurai.

While redundant officials and staff can lead to extremely low administrative efficiency, doing so can make the throne of the Shogun quite stable.

When there are too many people in a department who can make decisions, disputes and buck-passing will inevitably occur whenever there is a problem, big or small.

The officials' energy and spirit were completely eroded by this endless buck-passing and passing the buck.

With the strength of each individual and department dispersed, it becomes difficult to unite and pose a threat to the Tokugawa family's rule.

Moreover, having a bunch of people in charge in each department can effectively alleviate the social pressure of "a large number of samurai having no official positions and becoming social destabilizing elements".

Whether it's frequently changing commanders-in-chief or having multiple commanders-in-chief... the purpose of these methods is simple and the same: to minimize the threat posed by the fire-fighting thieves to the Edo Shogunate!

If the commander-in-chief changes frequently, the soldiers will not know their generals, and the generals will not know their soldiers.

With more than one commander-in-chief, the internal divisions of the Fire Thieves will naturally arise, making it difficult for them to unite as one.

Therefore, these systems, which seem absurd at first glance, are in fact extremely vicious political games.

The Edo Shogunate was able to rule Japan for nearly 300 years and has maintained relative stability to this day. Almost no feudal domain has the strength to challenge the authority of the Edo Shogunate. This series of extremely troublesome systems and governing philosophies left by Tokugawa Ieyasu and his descendants played an indispensable role in this success.

The yamen for the thieves this year is the residence of Kurosawa Atsuyuki, located in the south of the city, quite far from the Shieikan.

Qing Deng was always a fast walker, but it still took him nearly 40 minutes to finally see Kurosawa Atsuyuki's residence... which was the former government office of the arsonists.

Atsuyuki Kurosawa's mansion was quite luxurious and imposing. Aoto looked to the left, then to the right—no matter which direction he looked, he couldn't see the top of the stone wall surrounding the mansion.

The spacious gate, which can accommodate four adults walking side by side, was now guarded by four soldiers dressed in black and carrying long sticks.

Qingdeng strode over, and the four sentries immediately raised their long sticks with tense expressions.

But upon seeing Qing Deng's squad leader uniform, their tension immediately turned into confusion.

"I am Tachibana Aoto, the captain of the Third Division, who has come to report for duty today!"

Qing Deng took the initiative to introduce himself to the sentries and lifted the hem of his haori on his right side to reveal a brand-new inro hanging from his right waist—a black inro with silver patterns symbolizing the captain of the Fire Thieves' Reorganization.

A small commotion broke out among the four sentries in an instant.

They whispered to each other:

"This is the 'Niou'... He's so young... He looks even younger than my sister."

“You read that right, ‘Niou’ is only 18 years old this year, which is indeed younger than your sister.”

"Hey, stop chatting, we need to get down to business."

These four sentinels must have received advance notice that "the new captain of the Third Division will be coming today," so after a brief moment of shock and confusion, they quickly calmed themselves down and came forward to verify Qing Deng's identity.

Just as Qing Deng was patiently waiting for his identity to be verified—

"Oh my gosh~~ Isn't this Niou? Long time no see~~ Do you remember me?"

A male voice, with each sentence trailing off and sounding extremely strange, suddenly rang out behind Qing Deng.

A familiar male voice... Qingdeng quickly turned around.