I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"To be honest, when I heard Takayuki's answer... my heart sank."

"Having served in the magistrate's office for so many years, I have seen far too many people fall into the abyss because of a moment of being blinded by evil."

"At that time, I regarded Longzhi as an incorrigible person who had given up on himself."

“But no matter what, Longzhi is my good friend and old subordinate, and I can’t just sit by and do nothing about him.”

"I joined forces with Pig Valley and Ox Mountain to brainstorm ways to bring Longzhi back to the right path."

"However... before we could figure out what was going on, we suddenly received news that Takayuki was seriously ill."

"What happened after that is self-explanatory."

"Longzhi had a persistent high fever, could not even speak clearly, vomited and had diarrhea, and frequently passed rice-water-like stools."

"The doctor said it's 'wolf dysentery'... there's no cure..."

Cholera is also known as tiger and wolf dysentery.

From 1817 to 1826, a cholera epidemic swept the world, and in 1822 it first landed in Japan via the Korean Peninsula or Java and Tsushima Island.

The Japanese call this disease "tiger and wolf dysentery".

The disease is called "korori" for two reasons. First, the violent diarrhea symptoms during a cholera attack resemble those of a tiger or wolf. Second, it is rumored that the disease is related to the rampage of foxes, wolves, and raccoons. The combined pronunciation of these three words is "korori," which is a homophone for "tiger and wolf dysentery."

To be fair, although cholera is highly contagious, it is not incurable.

Even in the Edo period, when medical standards were still very low, there were ways to treat cholera.

The human body can excrete Vibrio cholerae on its own, so it is only necessary to strictly isolate patients and quickly replenish their water and electrolytes until they excrete Vibrio cholerae on their own.

However, due to the lack of correct understanding of cholera among people in this era, cholera is now recognized in Japan as an incurable disease that cannot be cured by medicine, and people are terrified of it.

Cholera, if left untreated, can cause severe dehydration and lead to death within hours...

In other words, after contracting cholera, it takes less than half a day from the onset of symptoms to death...

In 1858, a major cholera epidemic swept through Edo. In the Edo region alone, as many as 30,000 to 40,000 people died from cholera. Throughout Edo, every household wore mourning clothes.

In the following two years, namely Ansei 6 (1859) and Ansei 7/Manyeon 1 (1860), cholera recurred.

Tachibana Takayuki died of cholera in 1859... It was perfectly normal for him to contract cholera in that year.

Not only did Takayuki Tachibana's symptoms resemble those of cholera, but his time of death also matched the characteristics of cholera—from the onset of the illness to his passing, less than a day had passed...

On the last day of his life, Takayuki Tachibana was so weak that he could hardly speak, and he couldn't even move his fingers.

And so, Takayuki Tachibana breathed his last without leaving a single word...

"Back then, it wasn't unusual to get tiger dysentery. You could hear about someone from another family getting it every day."

"But I never imagined... that I would actually witness my loved ones being afflicted by this terminal illness..."

Arima's words gradually took on a melancholic tone.

"Longzhi died of illness—I thought that was the end of everything."

"However, one day, about half a month after Longzhi passed away, a letter was slipped under the door of my house."

Qingdeng's thick eyebrows twitched at the corners of his raised eyes.

"……letter?"

Arima nodded slightly, then got up and walked towards the bookshelf behind him.

He searched through the vast sea of ​​books for a while and finally pulled out a yellowed envelope.

Arima handed the envelope to Aoto, indicating that Aoto should take it and read it.

Qing Deng said softly, "I apologize for my rudeness," and then respectfully accepted the envelope from Arima's hand.

The envelope contained only a clean, brand-new sheet of paper.

After the letter was pulled out and unfolded, Qingdeng's eyes widened immediately.

"This is……!"

On the large sheet of paper, there was only one simple sentence written—

(Tachibana Takayuki did not die of illness; he was murdered by a secret society called the "Hōshū-dō".)

The law must punish the party!

Long-lost vocabulary...

After his battle with the Kamaitachi, Qing Deng had no further contact with the organization...

Just as Qing Deng was still in shock, Arima's voice rang out again.

"When I saw the contents of this letter, I could hardly believe my eyes."

“‘Punish the Party’...what an outdated term that is…”

Upon hearing this, Qing Deng frowned deeply and quickly looked up from the letter in his hand.

"Mr. Arima, before receiving this letter, had you ever heard of the 'Law Extermination Party'?"

Arima shook his head.

“I don’t know much. I had only heard that 60 years ago, a political society called the ‘Hofuzhugumi’ emerged in the Keihan area. Its members included people from all walks of life, including men, women, and children.”

"They raised the banner of 'following the laws of heaven and earth to punish the wicked' and called on righteous people all over the world to overthrow the Tokugawa family. They were quickly suppressed by the Edo Shogunate and their deeds were never heard of again."

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Still recovering from illness, please forgive Leopard's short post today! (Leopard crying.jpg)

Chapter 401 Now it's Qingdeng's time to show off [6300]

—Did they start their activities as early as 60 years ago...?

Qingdeng's heart sank.

He suddenly realized that the secrets of this mysterious society, which called itself "the one that punishes according to the law," seemed to be far deeper than he had imagined.

"...Mr. Arima, do you know who sent you this letter?"

Qingdeng glanced at the letter in his hand a few more times.

The words and phrases used in the letter were almost entirely in Chinese characters.

The private education system under the Edo Shogunate was very well run, and temple schools were everywhere.

[Terakoya: During the Edo period, all private educational institutions were collectively called "terakoya," and students were accepted by people from all walks of life, including samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants. It is roughly estimated that there were over 2 terakoya during the Edo period.]

As a result, while not all the people under Tokugawa's rule were highly literate, they were still quite cultured, with a remarkably high literacy rate.

However, the characters that ordinary people know are mainly kana and some simple, commonly used kanji.

Only those who have received further higher education can read and write Chinese characters fluently.

As for barrier-free reading of Han Dynasty classics such as the Records of the Grand Historian and the Zizhi Tongjian... ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of it.

The letter was written entirely in Chinese characters, and the handwriting was neat and powerful... It can be determined that the person who wrote this letter must have received a very good education.

As soon as Qing Deng finished speaking, Yu Ma gently shook his head.

"I don't know who sent me the letter. I've tried to investigate, but to no avail."

"At first, I thought someone was playing a prank on me."

“Longzhi died right in front of me.”

"High fever, uncontrollable diarrhea, rice-water-like stools... his symptoms were exactly like those of a leper or wolf."

"Even the doctors who were hired at great expense concluded that Longzhi's illness was indeed tiger and wolf dysentery."

"Besides, even if we take a step back, how could Takayuki possibly have offended the anti-shogunate association?"

"Let's set aside the question of whether the 'Hyōju-gō' mentioned in the letter is the same organization as the 'Hyōju-gū' that was active 60 years ago. Takayuki is just a 'dōshin' who works at the 'Sanhui' of the Magistrate's Office. To put it simply... how could such a small fry like him get involved with such a terrifying and dangerous anti-shogunate organization?"

"I'm really full of doubts..."

"In fact, I seriously considered whether to burn this suspicious letter as firewood."

"But in the end, I couldn't ignore the letter, and I couldn't dismiss what it said as a pointless joke..."

"Throughout my life, I have always strictly demanded of myself to be upright, honest, and dignified."

"If I ignore a friend who may have been wronged, how can I talk about 'acting uprightly and sitting and standing straight'?"

"Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance, I will get to the bottom of Longzhi's death."

"If I were to fight alone, I would ultimately be too weak and isolated."

"So I brought in Pig Valley and Ushiyama to help—that was when you were 'three times' after you joined the company."

"Because I didn't know who was friend and who was foe, I didn't seek any other help after bringing in Pig Valley and Ox Mountain, who were absolutely trustworthy."

"Until tonight, this letter in your hand has been the biggest secret between me, Pig Valley, and Ushiyama."

"Pig Valley and Ushiyama once suggested that we bring you in as well."

"But after much consideration, I've decided that it's best not to let you know about this letter for the time being."

"Back then, you were still young and inexperienced, and you weren't ready to stand on your own."

"It's not necessarily a good thing to let you know such heavy things too early."

"I originally planned to wait a year or two, until you were more mature and had gained more experience, before telling you the truth."

"Heh, I didn't expect... you'd come looking for me first..."

At this point, Arima let out a heavy sigh.

A shadow of melancholy appeared between his once-refined brows.

"Tachibana-kun, I feel... so sorry for you..."

"Me, Inugani, and Ushiyama, the three of us were all very proud and declared that we would thoroughly investigate Takayuki's death and bring justice to your Tachibana family, but... after more than a year of investigation, we have no results whatsoever..."

Arima spoke in a self-deprecating tone.

"And I'm supposed to be a 'three-time' samurai with over a decade of experience... I'm so ashamed, I feel like I could disappear..."