A militiaman armed with a musket - about a dozen of them - emerged from the bushes and stood on the road, blocking the way forward for the two of them in the blink of an eye.

This group of militiamen was not running around in disorder.

After occupying the road, they quickly formed a team and formed two horizontal lines, with the first row squatting and the second row standing up.

Immediately afterwards, they all raised the muskets in their hands, and the black muzzles were pointed directly at Hijikata Toshizo and Ichimura Tetsunosuke!

Seeing this, Hijikata Toshizo quickly tightened the reins in his hands and stopped the horse. Ichimura Tetsunosuke followed suit.

At the same time that the master and servant were reining in their horses, someone from this group of militiamen asked loudly:

"Who are you?!"

Faced with this sudden change and the terrifying muzzle of a gun so close at hand, Hijikata Toshizo was not afraid at all and remained very calm.

He calmly raised the sincerity flag in his hand and responded loudly:

"I am the deputy chief of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizo!"

"By order of General Tachibana, the President of the Army, I came to assist the Eighth Prince and thousands of people work together!"

"I dare to ask you, are you a soldier with a thousand people working together?"

Although he used a question sentence, his tone was affirmative.

In fact, after this group of militiamen appeared, Hijikata Toshizo saw through their true identity at a glance.

Hearing that the person coming was the famous "Deputy Commander of the Ghost", there was quite a commotion among the militiamen.

They looked at each other, you looked at me, I looked at you, and there were expressions of astonishment and surprise on each other's faces.

At this time, someone exclaimed:

"Hmm? Are you Hijikata?"

Hijikata Toisan followed the sound and stared straight at the other person's face. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly realized:

"Are you Ushisaburo?"

"That's right! It's me! I didn't expect you to still remember me!"

"Of course I remember! After all, you and I are participating in the 'Zhaoyu Sleeping' friendship together!"

Miscellaneous Fish Sleeping - One of Hijikata's most enthusiastic activities before he turned 3 years old.

To put it simply, this is an activity that is widespread in Japanese villages. The whole village, old and young, squeezes into the same room and sweats to their heart's content.

The young man whom Toshizo Hijikata called "Ushisaburo" put down the musket in his hand and called to his companions to quickly lift their guard.

"Quick! Put down the cannons! Don't hurt your own people! The opponent is indeed Shinsengumi Deputy Chief Hijikata Toshizo!"

Seeing the large Chengji flag in Hijikata Toizan's hand, and having it certified by Ushisaburo himself, the militiamen no doubt had it, and they all breathed a sigh of relief, put down their muskets, and lifted their alert.

In this way, the originally slightly tense atmosphere completely disappeared.

Ushizaburo took three steps in a row and then ran to Hijikata Toizo with a sad face:

"Suisan...ah, no, deputy commander! I finally got you here! We have been waiting for General Tachibana's reinforcements!"

Hijikata Toshizo said calmly:

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Who is the person currently responsible for commanding Thousands of People Together? Take me to see him quickly!"

The war situation was urgent, so Hijikata Toshizo flawlessly chatted with his old friends and got to the point directly.

Although Ushisaburo is a peasant who cannot read a word, he still knows what he should and should not do now.

He nodded vigorously, then, under Hijikata Tobizo's instructions, got on his horse, sat behind him, and guided him.

As for the other militiamen, they stayed here and continued to guard the place.

The horse that had just stopped for a short time moved its four hooves again and galloped away.

"Deputy Commander! After you leave this forest and run a short distance, you will find our large force of thousands of people working together!"

At this point, he paused for a moment, and then changed into a meaningful tone:

"Deputy Chief, you might not believe it!"

"The person currently responsible for commanding our thousands of people is neither an elder in the village nor a high-ranking official sent by the shogunate."

"It's the blonde girl who came over to check the accounts a while ago!"

Hearing this, Hijikata Toshizo was stunned on the spot.

"Goldilocks?"

He turned his head slightly and asked back, as if he wanted to confirm whether he heard correctly.

Ushisaburo nodded vigorously:

"That's right! It's her!"

"This girl is really amazing! She deserves to be General Tachibana's apprentice!"

"Thanks to her, we were able to stabilize the morale of the military!"

…

…

A few days ago——

Hachioji, a certain private house——

Click, click, click, click, click...

The monotonous sound of moving beads dominated the entire house.

Elodie bowed her head in front of the case, concentrating on her work. On the table were the account books that thousands of people had worked on over the years. She was manipulating the abacus in one hand and scribbling with a brush in the other.

After working continuously for an unknown amount of time, she gradually felt tired and had a clear lack of concentration.

Therefore, she silently put down the brush in her hand, and then stretched hard, and immediately there was a crisp sound of "click" and "click" as her bones stretched.

While relaxing her limbs, she turned to look at the sky outside the window - the bright sunshine covered the earth like silk.

——It’s a rest anyway, let’s go for a walk outside.

Just like that, she slowly stood up, moved her lotus steps with great interest, and walked towards the entrance hall.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw a majestic figure - Kui Shimada, who was standing outside the door, stood upright and said respectfully:

"Director, have you finished your work?"

Elodie smiled bitterly and shook her head:

"Not yet. How can the account books accumulated by thousands of people over the years be checked so quickly?"

"It will take at least 7 days to complete."

"I was a little tired, so I went out for a walk to relax."

Shimada Kui nodded:

"I see. Then, Chief, please allow me to accompany you!"

Elodie smiled helplessly:

"Well, this is your job after all, let's go."

She said and was about to take a step.

Suddenly, as if she remembered something, she turned her head and looked at Shimada Kui's left arm:

"By the way, is your arm okay?"

Shimada Kui chuckled and stretched his left arm in front of Elodie.

"It's no longer in the way!"

Seeing that the other party didn't seem to be trying to show off, Elodie smiled in relief:

"That's good! I'm really sorry for forcing you to do such a boring task. According to your ability, you should make contributions on the battlefield."

Hearing what Elodie said, Shimada Kui said hurriedly:

"Please don't say that! What an important task it is to 'protect the head of the room'! I feel honored to be fully responsible for this task!"

As they talked, the two walked towards the fields not far away.

Judging from the actual results, Shimada Kui is indeed an excellent bodyguard. He did not disappoint Qingto's expectations. He fulfilled his duty of "protecting Elodie" to the extreme.

When Elodie was working in the room, he stayed outside the door the entire time, strictly prohibiting any unauthorized intrusion.

When Elodie went for a walk or somewhere else, he was always by her side.

No matter when and where he is, his left hand always holds the sheath of the sword at his waist, and his right hand is slightly raised - an expert can tell at a glance that this person is always in a "ready state"! Once the situation goes wrong, he will immediately

Draw your sword and fight!

For such a tough-minded person, anyone with a bit of discernment would walk away knowingly and would never dare to come forward to cause trouble for Elodie.

In fact, Elodie was not treated unfairly after arriving at the Eighth Prince.
To be continued...