Edo, Barrel Town, Little Chiba Sword House——

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sound of the bamboo sword piercing the air echoed rhythmically in the dojo.

Sanako, who was dressed in a kendo uniform with a white top and a blue bottom, stood in the middle of the empty dojo, repeatedly practicing the most basic technical movements in Japanese kendo: suzhen.

Under the skirt, a pair of bare feet with fair skin and full insteps looked very good.

The warm sunlight poured down from the window, illuminating the crystal beads of sweat dripping from Sanako's beautiful face to her pink neck.

She was like a perfectly programmed robot.

The strength of holding the sword every time, the height of raising the sword every time, and the range of swinging the sword every time, seem to have been carefully designed, and they are always so accurate.

Continuing Su Zhen without any mistakes... Sanako's solid swordsmanship foundation and profound strength background can be seen.

As time goes on, the shadow of the sun is deflected imperceptibly.

When sweat overflowed Sanako's collar and gradually began to wet her high protruding chest, she finally put down the bamboo sword in her hand because she had successfully completed the scheduled practice goal.

"Very good...in good condition..."

After mumbling like this, she walked to the edge of the dojo, took the water bottle and sweat towel, and while resting, she looked at the sky outside the window.

"It's really cold today..."

——Speaking of which... From today, Mr. Ju's New Year's holiday has officially ended, and he should be working intensely in the government office of Huo Fu Thief Kai. I wonder if he dressed warmer today?

As soon as this thought came out, Zuo Nazi was stunned for a moment.

Immediately afterwards, she shook her head vigorously as if trying to shake something off her forehead.

The high ponytail tied behind his head and hanging down to his waist floated away and flew up.

--Not good, not good! Chiba Sanako, why are you thinking wildly again!

Sanako said coldly in her heart in a third-party tone:

——Did Ju Qingdeng pay attention to keeping warm? What does this have to do with you?

——Abandon trivial thoughts, and continue practicing swords!

Sanako let out a long breath, and his expression and mood returned to calm.

She picked up the bamboo sword again, ready to return to the center of the dojo to continue practicing Suzhen.

But at this moment, hurried footsteps sounded outside the dojo.

"Zanako! Zuonako! It's not good! It's not good!"

Chiba Shigetaro pushed open the door of the dojo with anxious face and panting.

A shadow of displeasure appeared between Sanako's delicate brows.

The last thing she likes is someone interfering with her practice.

However, she also knew in her heart that Chiba Shigetaro ran to her anxiously, something serious must have happened.

So she quickly asked:

"Brother, what's the matter?"

Chiba Shigetaro swallowed hard, moistening his dry throat, a few drops of sweat almost dripped down her chin to the ground, and he didn't bother to wipe it off.

"Zonako! Tachibana, Tachibana-kun, he was sent to jail by the officials!"

Slap.

The bamboo sword fell to the ground.

Sanako's gaze, which was originally stable and firm, suddenly became hollow and dazed.

He seemed to be staring at something in front of him in a daze, but he didn't look at anything, and his expression was dull.

It took quite a while before Sanako regained the reservedness of a female warrior.

"Brother! What the hell happened?"

Sanako stepped over the bamboo sword at her feet, and rushed to Chiba Shigetaro with one stride.

"Why was Mr. Ju arrested by the officials?"

...

Similar scenes appeared in various parts of Edo...

...

Edo, Senjiya——

"Hmmmm~~"

Kinoshita Mai hummed a ditty that she composed as she pleased, while grooming the big orange cat a lot.

Crash.

Suddenly, the shop door opened.

"Ah, Mr. Kiryu, welcome back! Huh? Mr. Kiryu, why are you so serious? Has the price of vegetables and fruits in the vegetable market increased again?"

"...Young Master." Tongsheng calmly put the vegetable basket in his hand aside, "Listen to me calmly—"

...

Edo, the settlement of Westerners——

"What? Miss Leroy, are you telling the truth? The master has been thrown into prison?"

Regardless of the coldness of the floor, Elodie jumped up from the chair, and her pair of tender feet without socks stepped on the ground carelessly.

Seeing this, Leroy hurriedly said:

"Miss! The floor is very cold, you will catch cold, please go back to the chair or put on socks!"

"My body is not so weak that I will catch a cold just by stepping on the ground with bare feet! Don't worry about my feet, tell me quickly, what crime did the master commit? Why was he put in prison? "

...

Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi-cho, Shouweikan——

"Hey! Harada-kun, hurry up and clarify!"

The chief executive was impatient for a moment, subconsciously grasped Harada's lapel with both hands, and shook it vigorously.

Kondo, Hijikata, Saito, Yongcang...everyone in the testing hall gathered around Harada at this moment.

"Boss, calm down."

A big hand landed on the chief's right shoulder unexpectedly.

"You look like this, what do you want Harada to say?"

"Mr. Hijikata..." The chief executive turned his head, glanced at Hijikata behind him, bit his lower lip, and let go of Harada.

"Harada." Hijikata took a step forward and stood directly in front of Harada, "tell me everything you know."

"This..." Harada showed distress, "I don't know too much... I just overheard a few words from passers-by when I was out for a walk."

"It doesn't matter." Tufang said, "You can tell as much as you know."

"Then...Mr. Tachibana is currently being imprisoned in the prison in Kodenma Town. If I remember correctly...the charge seems to be 'abuse of power to kill soldiers in the team'."

"Abusing power? Killing the soldiers in the team in vain?" Hijikata mused, "In other words, Tachibana-kun was arrested by the government for taking someone's life... Harada, do you know the name of the person Tachibana-kun killed? ?"

"Ah, I have an impression of this, I remember that person seems to be doing something..."

Harada crossed his arms across his chest, concentrating on thinking, his face flushed from the suffocation.

"No... I can't seem to remember..."

Just when Harada was about to give up, out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the red feather on Saito's body.

In an instant, his eyes widened.

"Ah! I remembered! It's Akabane! The man killed by Mr. Tachibana is called Akabane Koichiro!"

...

...

Home confinement, exile, and the death penalty are the main penalties in the judicial system of the Edo shogunate. In principle, there is no "penalty penalty" for "how many years you are locked up".

The prison house in Kodenmacho was the largest prison set up by the shogunate.

After being briefly interrogated in the enforcement office, the arrested suspects were immediately sent to the prison house for further interrogation and investigation.

That is to say, a prison house is a detention center or detention center for prisoners who have not yet been sentenced.

But at the same time, there is also a torture room in the prison house. Therefore, in the process of interrogation and investigation, it can be said that it is punitive.

The prison house in Kodenmacho is divided into the East Prison and the West Prison, which are further subdivided into several areas, and the place of admission is determined according to the identity and gender of the prisoners.

Banner samurai was imprisoned in Yang House.

Royal family members, monks, priests and doctors were imprisoned in Yangwu.

Other ordinary townspeople, peasants, ronin, etc. were imprisoned in the east and west prisons, Erjian prison and Minmin prison.

Regardless of their status, women are locked in Yangwu in the west, so it is called women's prison.

Although all the suspects who have not been convicted of crimes are detained, life in the prison house is extremely difficult.

Due to poor sanitary conditions, many people died in prison after getting sick.

For ordinary people, the prison house in Kodenmacho is a "hell on earth".

...

...

Edo, Kodenmacho, Yoyashiki——

"Have you ever committed adultery with the proprietress of Kikutaya! Hurry up and recruit!"

"My lord! You are wronged! You are wronged! I am really innocent! The proprietress said that the drain in her house was blocked, so she asked me to go to her house to open the drain. I stayed in the kitchen of the proprietress's house that day and did not go I have never been to any place, let alone the lady boss's room! I really did not do anything despised by others!"

"Hmph! We found your loincloth in the room of Jutian House. The evidence is solid! How dare you argue! Someone, put another stone on his leg!"

"Wait, wait a minute! Don't! Don't! My legs are almost right, please forgive me ... ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah !!"

...

Screams, mourning, scolding, pleading, cursing...the "symphony" composed of these voices continued to permeate the air in the cell.

Qingdeng wanted to close his eyes and rest, but it was too noisy outside.

Restoring the spirit... definitely can't keep it going.

In desperation, Qingdeng simply opened his eyes and got up.

With the lifting of the eyelids, the strange ceiling suddenly came into Qingdeng's eyes.

"This tatami mat is quite comfortable to lie on..."

One of the major characteristics of a society with a highly solidified class like Edo is that "classes are everywhere in life"-even in prison.

The highest prison, that is, the Yangwushiki where Qingdeng lives now is dedicated to detaining Banner samurai, what a luxury!

Not only a single room, but also a clean environment and fresh air.

Tatami mats, futons, toilets... all kinds of daily necessities are available.

In comparison, the lowest level of the common people's prison...Qingdeng had been to the common people's prison several times when he was still in the "three times" of the execution office. To be honest, if you have been there once, you don't want to go there for the second time.

The air in the civilian prison seemed to be gelatinous, damp, sticky and smelly.

It is normal to lock up a dozen people in a cell, and it is nothing new to lock up 20 or even 30 people.

For the common people's prison, the shogunate adopted the management method of "treating prisoners with prisoners".

To put it simply, it is to choose a person to be the "boss" in each cell.

All the big and small matters in the cell are decided by this "boss".

The shogunate's approach made every cell in the common people's prison a small society.

Where there is society, there will naturally be hierarchy and bullying.

Refusing to flatter the "boss" in the cell, and then being humiliated and oppressed -- this kind of news is not uncommon.

Many people who died in the common people's prison did not die of illness but were tortured to death by other people in the cell.

From this we can see how happy Qingdeng is living in the comfortable and spacious Yang's house.

"Hey, little brother, I recognize you!"

At this time, Qingdeng suddenly heard someone calling himself.

He followed the sound, and saw a strong man with a strong physique in the cell diagonally opposite, staring straight at his face, while crossing his arms and saying:

"You are the 'King Nio' Ju Qingdeng, right?"

"That's right." Qingdeng readily admitted, "I am Ju Qingdeng."

"Aha! It's really you!" The brawny man exclaimed in surprise, "I've known you since you were sent in by the jailers, but I didn't expect it to be you!"

"Let me introduce myself. Shimomiyabe Kyotaro, please give me some pointers... Ah, sorry, I seem to have said something stupid. For a dying person like me, saying 'please advise me' is too ridiculous. gone."

"A dying person? What crime have you committed?" Qingdeng asked.

Although Yang Yashiki's living conditions are very good, but there is really a lack of entertainment.

The number of banner warriors is very small. The base number is not large, so the number of criminals in prison will not be much.

At least as far as Qingdeng could see, there were no other inmates except himself and the strong man who called himself Kyotaro Miyabe.

The only person who can accompany Qingdeng to relieve his boredom is this Kyotaro Miyabe who is talking to him now.

Anyway, idle is idle, let's chat with this person...Qingdeng thought to himself.

"It's not a big crime."

Miyabe Kyotaro shrugged his shoulders, his tone was calm, as if he was talking about someone else's business.

"I'm also unlucky. Unfortunately, I married an adulteress."

"While I was out, the adulteress invited three wild men into the house."

"After I broke the matter, the prostitute knelt on the ground and begged for my forgiveness."

"Hmph, forgive me? If I forgive her, where will my face be? Where will my warrior dignity be?"

"I ignored the adulterer's begging for mercy, and directly pulled out my family-heirloom sword, and chopped up the adulterer and her three adulterers."

Kyotaro Miyabe made a beheading gesture on his own neck.

"Originally, the sentence given to me by the shogunate was to beheaded for public display."

"Fortunately, with the help of relatives and friends, the punishment was finally reduced to seppuku. Hahaha, I am so lucky. I can die dignifiedly as a samurai. I have no regrets."

For the samurai, any execution other than seppuku was humiliating.

Therefore, the Edo shogunate's "order to cut seppuku" is the same in nature as the ancient Chinese "gift three feet of white silk"-the people above are merciful, so that you can die with dignity.

"Mr. Orange, what about you? What crime did you commit?"

Maybe he was tired from standing, but Kyotaro Miyabe fell short and lay on his side on the tatami.

Seeing that Miyabe Kyotaro was sitting so casually, Qingdeng no longer held his posture, and sat down directly on his buttocks, then turned his back to the sky, put his hands behind his head, stretched his feet, and raised Erlang's legs.

Look at Qingdeng's appearance, how can he look like he is in prison? People who didn't know thought he was on vacation.

"I haven't committed any serious crimes."

"Oh? Could it be that you also slaughtered adulterers and prostitutes?"

"That's not true. I'm not married yet."

"Then what crime did you commit?"

"It's just killing a **** who resisted orders in front of the battle."

"Huh? Beheading the disobedient people in front of the battle... Isn't this a matter of course and righteousness? What is the crime?"

"Yeah, but... the family behind the man I killed seems to have some energy."

"Who did you kill?"

"Akabane Koichiro."

"Akabane? Akabane Kotaro from the Akabane family?"

Miyabe Kyotaro sat up from the tatami, his eyes wide open.

"Mr. Orange, do you call this 'didn't commit any serious crime'? Killing Banner...you're in serious trouble!"

Just now, when he was surrounded by a group of officials and learned that he was about to be arrested, Qingdeng was extremely puzzled.

However, he was not wondering about "why he was arrested".

Instead, he wondered "what was the reason for the arrest".

Most outsiders didn't know about it, but Qingdeng knew in his heart that there were many reasons why the shogunate issued an arrest warrant for him.

For example: as a partner with the cat monk, engage in righteous thief activities as a "fox monk".

Another example: a few days ago, he openly beat Ruonianji's son.

Another example: in the "Battle of Kai Bandits" at the end of last year, Akabane Koichiro, who had been against him and dared to blatantly disobey the military order when the battle was most tense, was beheaded.

Although he and Mao Xiaoseng... that is, Kinoshita Mai became "Phantom Thieves and Heroes", but because the easy-to-handle Xiaoyu Xiaoxia had either been taught a lesson, or was intimidated by Kinoshita Mai's reputation, he escaped from Edo. It has been a long time since Qingdeng and Kinoshita Mai went to seek justice, so it is unlikely that the shogunate will find out that Qingdeng is Hu Xiaoseng in the near future.

As for the second point... that's also unlikely.

Qingdeng didn't think the Itakura family dared to challenge him.

So after much deliberation...the last one is the most likely.

After Qingdeng questioned the people who came to arrest him...it was so.

Sure enough, the Akabane family united with other Banner families to take revenge on him!

*****

*****

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