After ascending to the top floor of the North Precinct, Aoto and Others stopped in front of an imposing paper sliding door.
Arima announced his presence loudly from outside the door, and only after receiving permission to enter did he lead Aoto and Others into the room.
As soon as he entered, Aoto saw a fair-skinned, portly man—it was Usui Tadatsugu, the Town Magistrate of the North Precinct, who had seen off Aoto and Others, who were tasked with suppressing the Benevolence and Righteousness Gang, the previous night.
As one of Edo’s two “mayors,” Usui exuded an air of wealth in both his appearance and demeanor.
“Oh, oh!
Arima, you’ve arrived.
You’re the first ones here.” After a simple greeting to Aoto and his group, Usui gestured towards the tatami mats on the left side of the office, “Please, have a seat.”
Arima led Aoto and Others to sit properly on the left side of the room.
A short while later, the door to Usui’s office was pulled open again, and in walked…
a group of people that made Aoto and Others’ expressions turn strangely.
“Ah, ah…” Inotani muttered softly, “The faces of the Tojo Group’s members truly become more unpleasant the more I look at them…”
There were four new arrivals in total.
The leader was a middle-aged man, around 40 years old.
Compared to his body, this middle-aged man’s head seemed quite large, and his hair, which wasn’t styled in a chonmage, was messy, as if it hadn’t been tidied in days.
His originally decent features were slightly distorted by the puffiness of his cheeks.
His face was covered in grease, and a hint of eye boogers was faintly visible at the corners of his eyes, giving him the appearance of someone who had just woken up and hadn’t yet washed his face.
During the Edo Period, beards were not very popular in Japan, and most adult males habitually shaved their facial hair clean.
However, this uncle went against the trend—he sported a thick Naruseed, which was as unkempt as his hair.
He had a bulging belly, and the flesh on it wobbled with each step he took, inexplicably making one want to reach out and knead it.
Despite looking so slovenly, strangely enough, his gaze was remarkably clear.
Such a disheveled face, yet with such a pair of bright eyes…
it looked particularly incongruous, like two clear spring eyes bubbling up from the bottom of a pool of Sewage.
A middle-aged uncle who looked very messy, unkempt, and unremarkable—anyone who saw this middle-aged man would think so.
Tōjō Shintarō—that was the name of this middle-aged man.
This unkempt uncle was another Yoriki in the Kita-banshō sadame machi-ka, besides Arima.
And the three people following Tōjō were the three Doshin under Tōjō’s jurisdiction.
All members of the Kita-banshō sadame machi-ka were now present.
For ease of reference, the officials of the North Precinct had always collectively referred to Arima and Aoto and Others under his jurisdiction as the “Arima Group.” Then, Tōjō and the three Doshin under his jurisdiction were collectively referred to as the “Tojo Group.”
The Regular Town Patrol of the Edo North Precinct was “divided” between these two groups.
Infighting and competition are absolutely unavoidable in officialdom, even if this department, which is “divided,” only has eight members.
The “Arima Group,” to which Aoto belonged, and the “Tojo Group” had always been in competition.
The two groups often engaged in heated arguments over cases that were easy to boost performance—this was also one of the most common sights in the North Precinct.
The two groups often snatched cases from each other, so their relationship was naturally not good.
After the “Tojo Group” members entered, Inotani, the most lively one, immediately glared fiercely at them.
Ushiyama, usually taciturn, also stared at the Tojo Group members with sharp eyes.
Neither of the Yoriki from the two groups joined this “staring contest.”
Arima, who usually cared little for fame and fortune and rarely initiated disputes, sat respectfully on his knees, eyes downcast.
Tōjō, on the other hand, sat cross-legged, staring blankly at the ceiling, and while doing so, he used his right hand to pick at his right foot’s toes, and after picking his toes, he raised his right hand to blow his nose…
The two groups were glaring at each other—but Aoto remained aloof.
Aoto was currently looking with interest at the books on the nearby bookshelf.
Reading was Aoto’s biggest hobby in his previous life, besides fitness.
Although in his previous life he was a muscle-bound man who wished his brain could also grow muscles, his reading preferences were quite literary.
He loved reading poetry, especially Russian poetry, and his favorite poet was the famous literary giant: Pushkin.
As soon as he entered Usui’s office, Aoto’s attention was immediately drawn to the bookshelf filled with books on one side of the office, and he observed the books on the shelf with interest.
Japan in this era was still greatly influenced by Chinese culture, and no Edo Period intellectual did not read Chinese texts.
The books on the bookshelf in Usui’s office were mostly Confucian classics, such as: The Analects, and the Four Books and Five Classics.
While Aoto’s attention was focused on this bookshelf, another group of people entered Usui’s office.
This time, the group that arrived was from the Rinji-Mawari.
The Rinji-Mawari was a department formed by selecting elites from those who had worked long-term in the Regular Town Patrol, and its task was to guide and assist the Regular Town Patrol.
Its structure also consisted of two Yoriki and six Doshin.
Simply put—they were the Edo police force’s training unit, fire brigade, and all-purpose brick.
Wherever they were needed, they were moved there.
Because all members of the Rinji-Mawari were once elites in the Regular Town Patrol, they were generally older, with the youngest being around 30 years old.
“Ah, ah…” Inotani at this moment again let out a low sigh that only he, Aoto, and Ushiyama could hear, “The Rinji-Mawari members are indeed still so fierce…”
The elite-filled Rinji-Mawari was often dispatched to handle extremely troublesome cases.
This also led to an unusually high “dark circles under eyes rate” for the Rinji-Mawari.
Everyone’s eyes conveyed an irritable aura of “What?
I’m very busy!
Don’t touch me!”
After the eight members of the Rinji-Mawari also arrived, Usui’s office immediately became crowded.
Following closely behind the Rinji-Mawari members were two very young youths.
These two youths were the two Doshin of the Inmitsu-Mawari, the department with the fewest members in the entire North Precinct and no middle-level Yoriki.
If one were to use an idiom to describe the appearance of these two Doshin of the Inmitsu-Mawari, it would be—plain and unremarkable.
The work of the Inmitsu-Mawari was to carry out espionage activities throughout Edo, collecting intelligence for the Regular Town Patrol and Rinji-Mawari.
Therefore, the nature of this work required all members of the Inmitsu-Mawari to be people with unremarkable appearances and temperaments.
If they had an appearance that made them seem to have no presence, making people forget them after one glance, and impossible to find if thrown into a crowd, that would be best!
The eight members of the Regular Town Patrol fighting on the front lines, the eight members of the Rinji-Mawari who both fought on the front lines and served as all-purpose bricks, and the two members of the Inmitsu-Mawari responsible for espionage activities—all the police forces of the Edo North Precinct were here.
“It seems everyone is here.”
“To avoid hindering everyone’s work today, I’ll get straight to the point.”
Usui cleared his throat vigorously, then took a deep breath, gathered his strength, and loudly proclaimed:
“Ii Tairo has ordered: A large assessment will be held on March 1st!”
“To assess the performance of all officials of the Edo South and North Precinct’s ‘San Kai’!”
“Those whose performance is unsatisfactory—will be directly dismissed!”
As soon as Usui uttered these words, the originally quiet office immediately became noisy.
Everyone’s eyes widened, and they cast astonished glances at Usui.
“Ii Tairo is going to assess our performance on March 1st?” Arima, who was sitting directly in front of Aoto, was also looking at Usui with a bewildered gaze, his eyes never straying, “Constable, why so sudden?”
Ii Tairo—this was not a person’s full name.
The “Tairo” at the end is an official title.
The Edo Shogunate, as the government organization currently actually ruling Japan, naturally had a mature system of official ranks.
At the very top of the Edo Shogunate stood the “Shogun,” a position currently inherited by the Tokugawa Family through generations, similar in status to the Emperor of China.
Under normal circumstances, the official position below the Shogun was the “Roju.”
The Roju’s status was similar to that of a Chinese Chancellor.
However, in special circumstances, an official position with even higher status and power than the Roju would be established—that was the Tairo.
The official position of Tairo was not permanently established; it was only set up during special periods when extreme power was needed.
Therefore, throughout the more than two hundred years of the Shogunate’s history, the number of people who served as Tairo was very few.
And coincidentally—just two years ago, in Ansei 5 (1858), due to national unrest and the urgent need for a strong leader to take charge, among other reasons, the official position of Tairo was reinstated.
A strong man named Ii Naosuke was pushed into this position.
The “Ii Tairo” Usui just mentioned referred precisely to this Ii Naosuke.
The Tairo’s power was even higher than that of the Roju, who was similar to a Chinese Chancellor—one can imagine the status of Ii Naosuke, who was currently in the position of Tairo, in contemporary Japan.
His status was undoubtedly second only to the Shogun of the Shogunate, being “below one person, above ten thousand.”
“What else could it be for?” Usui twitched the corner of his mouth, showing an impatient expression, “It’s all because of those thugs who keep saying ‘expel the barbarians’!”
[Japanese History Classroom is now open~]
Although at first glance—Aoto and Others, who were responsible for catching thieves, seemed to be just a group of ordinary Constables.
But they were actually legitimate officials.
Within the official rank system of the Edo Shogunate, there were no grading titles like first-rank official or second-rank official.
Although the status of the “San Kai” of the Edo South and North Precinct was not high, their power was considerable.
The power held by Aoto and Others, these “San Kai” samurai, was actually much greater than the power generally associated with Constables.
The subsequent plot will gradually reveal what specific powers Aoto and Other “San Kai” samurai possessed.
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