In the past few months since Matsudaira Sadanobu left Edo and went to Ezo, Hasegawa had been working day and night with far more energy than before.

For no other reason than Matsudaira Sadanobu, he was caught.

Hasegawa still vividly remembers the scene in Edo a few months ago. On the eve of Matsudaira Sadanobu's northward journey to Ezochi, he personally approached him and told him: I have learned that you misappropriated the funds used to pay thieves for speculation.

The secret is to earn money for running the airport by using coins.

At that time, Hasegawa's cold sweat had wet all his clothes...

Taking advantage of the funds allocated by the shogunate: this is not a small crime...

Being removed from the position of fire thief, changed to the position of commander, and losing the status of samurai is the most ideal and lightest punishment.

However, after he decided to rely on this method to earn money for running the yakuza, Hasegawa was already prepared accordingly. After his clothes were wet with cold sweat, he quickly calmed down and was ready to accept it calmly.

Matsudaira Sadanobu's anger.

But who knew that Hasegawa was already prepared to accept all punishments, and Matsudaira Sadanobu actually let him go.

As if nothing had happened, Matsudaira Sadanobu continued to let Hasegawa serve as the commander of the Hōfu Thieves Kai, and secretly promised Hasegawa to continue to rely on currency speculation to earn the operating funds of the training camp.

Hasegawa is no longer an idiot who doesn't understand politics. How could he not know Matsudaira Sadanobu's intentions? Matsudaira Sadanobu wanted to use this matter as a handle to seize Hasegawa's lifeline so that Hasegawa could continue to work for him and shine.

.

This act of Matsudaira Sadanobu can be described as a conspiracy. If Hasegawa does not want to lose his official position and his head, and if he wants to continue operating the pedestal, he must obey Matsudaira Sadanobu's words and work obediently.

If he doesn't comply, Matsudaira Sadanobu can capture Hasegawa at any time and plunge Hasegawa and his hard-working people into the abyss of eternal destruction.

Hasegawa had no choice.

In order to show his loyalty to Matsudaira Sadanobu and express his obedience to Matsudaira Sadanobu, Hasegawa has not dared to slack off at all in the past few months. In these few months, Hasegawa has hardly given himself a day off.

But this busy work is still rewarding. In the past few months, among the big thieves and big gangs with surnames, Huo Fu Thief Kai has arrested 2, which can be said to be a gratifying result.

Although it stands to reason that Matsudaira Sadanobu let him go, Hasegawa should be grateful to Matsudaira Sadanobu.

After all, it was Hasegawa who broke the law first, and no matter how Matsudaira Sadanobu dealt with him, it would not be too much.

The fact that he can continue to serve as the commander of the Huofu Thieves Kai without any punishment is all thanks to the mercy of Matsudaira Sadanobu.

However, although this is the truth, Hasegawa is really insensitive to Lao Zhong who has the handle on him and can kill him at any time, and he cannot like him...

If possible, Hasegawa would like to never meet Matsudaira Sadanobu again in his life...

But things are so unpredictable. Hasegawa never expected that Matsudaira Sadanobu would appear in Kyoto...

So at this moment, Hasegawa's mood is very complicated...

Matsudaira Sadanobu looked at Hasegawa deeply with eyes that seemed to be able to see through Hasegawa's body, and then said with a smile:

"After I just learned from Ota and Kamiyama that you are now at the prison in Kyoto, I couldn't wait to summon you."

"The reason why you came to Kyoto has been introduced by Ohta and Kamiyama just now."

"How? Have you found any clues about the Blood Mist Clan?"

The topic involved his own work, and Hasegawa's face instantly became serious, and his tone became passionate:

"We have now obtained the exact information from the informant that the Blood Mists are in Kyoto now."

"It has been confirmed that their stronghold is probably located in the western suburbs of Kyoto. It won't take long for us to confirm the specific location of their stronghold."

Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded lightly: "Well done."

"I just heard from Shenshan that several people in Kyoto have been killed by the Blood Mist Sect."

"Counting the people killed by the Blood Mist before, the number of victims is countless."

"Hasegawa, you must arrest these scum and bring them to justice as soon as possible."

"Yes!" Hasegawa said loudly, "We will definitely die in this place!"

As soon as Hasegawa finished speaking, the corners of Matsudaira Sadanobu's lips curled up slightly, and a smile emerged from the raised corners of his lips:

"I have seen all your achievements during this period. I am quite satisfied with your efforts and achievements. Thank you for your hard work, Hasegawa."

"It would be great if... every official in the shogunate could be as outstanding as you..."

At this time, a trace of loneliness flashed across Matsudaira Sadanobu's eyes.

"I remember that you seemed to have complained before that you went too far to pay the thieves and you didn't have enough funds, right?"

"I will make arrangements later to increase the allocation of funds for the reform of Huo Fu Thieves."

After Matsudaira Sadanobu finished speaking, Hasegawa was stunned for a moment, and then his face showed unconcealable joy and excitement.

"Thank you, Mr. Laozhong!" Hasegawa quickly bowed his head and thanked him.

Matsudaira Sadanobu smiled and nodded, then waved his hand:

"Okay, I'm relieved to see you are still so energetic. Please step back first."

"Ah, the sacred mountain." Matsudaira Sadanobu turned to look at the Kyoto mayor who was sitting next to him, "You should step aside for now, Ota will stay alone."

"Yes." Shenshan bowed his head.

…

…

Hasegawa and Kamiyama left the room one after the other.

After putting enough distance away from the room where Matsudaira Sadanobu was, Kamiyama said to Hasegawa in a half-joking tone:

"Master Lao Zhong's method of 'beating you and giving you benefits at the same time' has really become more and more skillful in using it. But it's good this way. He won't just force you to work hard, but he also knows how to give you benefits."

Hasegawa had long ago informed his good friend that Matsudaira Sadanobu had caught him.

After hearing this joke from Kamiyama, Hasegawa put on a complicated expression, smiled, and asked Kamiyama:

"Kamiyama, why is Mr. Laozhong here? Could it be that he...is really here to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor?"

As one of the officials of the shogunate, Hasegawa had long heard rumors that Matsudaira Sadanobu would go to Kyoto in person to apologize to the emperor due to his recent disastrous defeat in Ezo.

But rumors are rumors, and Hasegawa doesn't know whether they are true or false.

After all, his status in the shogunate was not high enough to know all of Matsudaira Sadanobu's actions.

"I don't know clearly about this." Kamiyama said softly, "After all, I am just a small cultivator in Kyoto town."

"Lao Zhong just called me over just now to ask me some questions related to the current situation and governance of Kyoto."

"But... I guess the reason why Lord Lao Zhong suddenly came to Kyoto is to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor."

"After all, apart from this reason, I really can't imagine what purpose Mr. Lao Zhong would have come to Kyoto all the way."

"...Forget it." Hasegawa shrugged, "Anyway, why the old Chinese came to Kyoto is none of our business. We can just do our own thing."

…

…

As soon as Hasegawa and Kamiyama left the room, Matsudaira Sadanobu let out a sigh of relief, and then said to Ota Shiai who was still in the room in a neither sad nor happy tone:

"Ota, I leave it to you to contact His Majesty the Emperor and arrange a meeting time. The time must be as soon as possible, preferably within the next few days, to arrange for me to meet with His Majesty the Emperor."

As the new Kyoto Press Secretary, Ohta has not even been in office for a year, but with his excellent ability, he has mastered all the tasks of the Kyoto Press Secretary in less than a year.

The shogunate only controls a quarter of the land in Japan, and the other three-quarters are divided among the various vassals.

Most of the land owned by the shogunate is in the east of Japan, so the shogunate has absolute dominance over the Eastern Kingdom.

But for the Western Kingdom, the shogunate's ruling power was much weaker.

Troublesome vassal states like Satsuma and Choshu, which were both strong in power but not in good terms with the shogunate, were basically located in the Western Kingdom.

In order to better monitor and manage the Daimyos of the Western Kingdom, the shogunate established two special official positions: Kyoto Shodai and Osaka Castle Daimyo.

The two cities of Kyoto and Osaka are very close to each other, and they happen to be located near the junction of East and West countries, which is almost exactly in the middle of Japan.

The first task of these two officials is to monitor the great names of the Western Kingdom.

However, in addition to monitoring the Daimyos of the Western Kingdom, the Kyoto Sheriff also had an important task, which was to monitor the Emperor and the court led by the Emperor, and serve as a communication channel between the shogunate and the court.

"Yes!" Ota shouted, "I will go and make arrangements immediately."

After arranging tasks for Ota Shiai, Matsudaira Sadanobu let out a deep breath again, then raised his hand to hold his forehead, his face full of tiredness.

…

…

Hasegawa had just returned to the temporary office he was currently using, and had just picked up the brush again when he heard the voice of the recently promoted newcomer Yamauchi outside the room:

"Hasegawa-sama! Hasegawa-sama!"

"What's wrong..." Hasegawa muttered, then said loudly: "Come in!"

Yamauchi stumbled into the room.

As soon as he entered the room, Yamauchi said quickly with excitement on his face:

"Lord Hasegawa! New clues related to the Blood Mists have been found!"
To be continued...