I Formed the Strongest Swordsman Group-Chapter 5: Have You Ever Seen a Hellish Start Like This?

Seven years ago, in the sixth year of Kaei (1853), the American fleet knocked on the gates of Japan and then signed the first unequal treaty in Japanese history: the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States.
From then on, the great powers like Britain and France came one after another like cats smelling blood, each rushing to Japan to sign various treaties.
Two years ago, in the fifth year of Ansei (1858), Japan signed a new treaty with America: the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between Japan and the United States.
Under this treaty, Japan agreed to the United States dispatching envoys to Edo, officially establishing the American embassy in Japan.
These foreign embassies naturally became the prime targets of the radical "Expel the Barbarians" faction.
They launched countless harassments of varying scale and frequency against the embassies and those working within them.
At this time, the "Expel the Barbarians" ideology was spreading wider and wider, with more and more people joining the movement. Attacks on the embassies grew fiercer and more intense.
If the envoys or others inside the embassy were killed by the radicals, it would become a serious international incident, so the shogunate decided to increase security around the embassy.
However, recruiting guards naturally took time.
Therefore, during the period while waiting for the guards to be fully recruited, Tachibana Aoto was assigned to serve as a temporary guard at the American embassy a month ago.
Tachibana Aoto served as a temporary guard at the American embassy for a total of only seven days, and during those seven days, he didn't do much at all.
Every day, he just patrolled inside the embassy, but even so, he was targeted and hated by the radical "Expel the Barbarians" faction.
They considered helping foreigners an unforgivable crime.
He was a traitor to the country! Deserved divine punishment!
Just now was not the first time radicals tried to assassinate Aoto.
Ten days ago, they launched their first assassination attempt on Tachibana Aoto.
He was incredibly lucky.
At that time, he was surrounded by as many as four assassins and was almost beheaded when, just like tonight, some bystanders came to help.
The assassins, not wanting their faces exposed, quickly fled.
That time, Tachibana Aoto had truly come close to death.
The assassins raised their blades high while loudly listing Aoto's supposed "crimes."
Thanks to these assassins’ "thoughtfulness," Aoto finally understood why he had been targeted by the radicals.
"Alright." Kyūbei carefully inspected the hemp cloth he had applied to Aoto's wound, and after confirming there were no issues, he nodded. "Bandaged well. Young master, check if it’s too tight or too loose."
"The bandage is perfect, Kyūbei. Thank you for your hard work."
"Huh?" Kyūbei, confused, leaned his right ear toward Aoto.
Seeing this, Aoto helplessly smiled and moved his mouth closer to Kyūbei.
"I said! It’s perfect! Kyūbei! Thank you so much!"
"Ohhh..." Kyūbei nodded gently as if waking from a dream. "Good that you’re feeling no discomfort, no discomfort."
This elderly servant had served the Tachibana family for more than thirty years. Since aging, his hearing had worsened, and he had become forgetful.
Yelling at Kyūbei in a volume that sounded like he was shouting at an enemy had become a daily routine for the Tachibanas.
Aoto stood up and bounced a few times in place.
After confirming the leg bandage was fine and wouldn’t affect his movement, he looked up and sighed deeply.
Seeing this, Kyūbei hurried over.
"Young master, you’ve worked hard tonight, facing another attack from the ‘Expel the Barbarians’ faction. You must be scared."
"Yeah..." Aoto sighed again and scratched his hair. "I was really scared..."
— I almost got killed right after crossing over...
— So what kind of situation am I in now... just crossed over, and already targeted by terrorists...
That radical "Expel the Barbarians" faction was undoubtedly a bunch of terrorists from any angle.
Moreover, they were the kind of terrorists who refused to reason and were determined to kill you.
While Aoto was feeling dejected about his current predicament—
Knock knock knock!
Suddenly, there was a very rough knocking at the door.
This sudden knock was like magic, making Kyūbei’s face instantly turn pale.
"Coming, coming!"
Kyūbei replied anxiously and quickly rushed to the door.
Aoto, confused, followed behind him with a blank expression.
Crash...
The wooden door was pulled open.
Standing outside were three young men.
The leader wore quite plain clothes and a straw hat pulled low over his head.
Once Kyūbei opened the door, the leader immediately lifted the hat, revealing a face that was fairly delicate in features but ruined by a huge scar running from the left ear root to the right ear root.
"Good evening, Lord Tachibana."
The scar-faced man smiled warmly and greeted Aoto standing behind Kyūbei.
"As you see, I’m back. Have you saved up enough this time?"
— Saved money? Who are these people again?
Aoto’s face grew even more puzzled as he quickly searched through the memories of the original Tachibana Aoto.
While Aoto was desperately searching through the memories, a panicked Kyūbei hurried back to the inner room, then quickly returned.
When he came back, Kyūbei had a small paper package in his hand.
"Here." Kyūbei shoved the small paper package into the scar-faced man’s arms.
The scar-faced man opened the package—it was filled with money.
"Only this little this time..." the scar-faced man pursed his lips. "Too little, isn’t it?"
"Please be understanding." Kyūbei quickly pleaded.
The scar-faced man glanced at Kyūbei.
"…Alright then, I’ll make an exception this time."
Saying that, he fiddled with the money in his hands, quickly counted the amount, then took a small abacus from his waist.
"Hmm... deducting the repayment this time... Lord Tachibana, your father still owes 520 taels of gold in gambling debts."
After fiddling with the abacus, the scar-faced man smiled as he stuffed the money Kyūbei just gave him into his chest.
"The debt is now only 520 taels of gold left, congratulations, congratulations. Keep it up, Lord Tachibana."
The scar-faced man lowered his hat again.
"The money is received; I won’t trouble you any longer."
"I’ll come back in a while. Please be sure to prepare a more decent amount next time."
"The money you prepared tonight is far too little. Normally, I wouldn’t even bother collecting such a small sum."
"But since you’ve been trying to repay consistently, I’ll let this one slide."
"Next time, don’t come with such a paltry sum to fool me."
"Otherwise..."
The scar-faced man showed a very sunny, very warm smile to Aoto, his eyes squinting into slits.
"You probably don’t want to live a life where you can’t even sleep well at night, right?"
"Have a good night."
With that, he lowered the hat back down and waved his hand, swaggering off with the two young men behind him.
Aoto stared blankly at the scar-faced man’s departing back.
Just now, he had finally digested the original Tachibana Aoto’s memories about the "debt" and learned who this scar-faced man was.
They were the Yakuza!
In modern terms, that scar-faced man was a gangster.
Aoto, having graduated from police academy in his previous life, was familiar with the underworld.
When he studied at the police academy, a senior specializing in organized crime had explained Japan’s gangs to him.
Japan’s gangs trace back to the Edo period—the very era Aoto was currently in.
The origin of Japanese gangs was a group of low-class people in society during the Edo era who banded together for survival.
Gradually, these survival groups began to degenerate. They started to engage in illicit but highly profitable businesses like prostitution, gambling, and loan sharking to seek profits and strengthen themselves.
During the Edo period, there was no term like "gang" or "underworld." People contemptuously called those involved in underworld activities "Yakuza."
Yakuza is the transliteration of the Japanese word "ヤクザ," meaning "good-for-nothing" or "scoundrel."
By the 20th century, the Yakuza adopted the name "Gokudō" to polish their image.
Why did the Yakuza come to Aoto for money?
That story was quite long.
It was all because Aoto had a terrible father...
Aoto’s father, Tachibana Takayuki, had originally been a mentally healthy, optimistic middle-aged man with no bad habits.
But fate played a trick—he accidentally developed a gambling addiction one year ago.
People addicted to gambling all share one trait: they always believe they will win the next round and never leave the table until they have nothing left to bet.
Takayuki kept gambling and gambling... until six months ago, he suddenly contracted a terminal illness and died, finally stopping.
Though only half a year passed from the onset of his addiction to his death, Takayuki still owed an enormous gambling debt—600 taels of gold!
One tael of gold in this era was roughly equivalent to 128,800 Japanese yen in modern Japan.
Six hundred taels of gold equaled 77.28 million yen...
Converted to RMB, that was nearly 4 million...
[Note: The yen to RMB conversion uses the rate at the time this chapter was written by the author.]
Six hundred taels of gold was an astonishing astronomical figure.
During the Edo period, only the Yakuza would open and operate casinos. Ordinary merchants never touched the gambling business.
The casino where Aoto’s father owed debt was backed by the Yakuza group commonly known as the Shimizu Family.
Edo-era Yakuza used a family-centered organizational structure, so they were usually called the "XX Family" or "XX Gang."
The Shimizu Family was no ordinary Yakuza group.
Their power was immense, involved in and meddling with all industries in Edo. They were recognized as the largest Yakuza force in Edo.
The scar-faced man from earlier was a member of the Shimizu Family.
Takayuki actually had a decent social circle. Even after becoming a gambling addict, there were still a few friends who didn’t abandon him.
After Takayuki died, these close friends immediately banded together to find a way to get Aoto an official position so the Tachibana family would not perish from losing its income.
After some effort, half a year ago, they successfully arranged for Aoto to inherit Takayuki’s official post, becoming a new Dōshin in the North District of Edo.
Aoto inheriting Takayuki’s post was certainly a good thing.
But what Aoto also inherited... was the enormous debt Takayuki owed the Shimizu Family.
Takayuki died, and naturally, his gambling debt fell onto Aoto’s shoulders.
In the six months since Takayuki’s death, the Shimizu Family members came knocking every now and then to collect the debt.
Debt must be repaid, and a son inherits his father’s debts, a matter of course. Especially when the creditor was the Yakuza, who ignored laws and order...
Silently enduring and repaying for half a year, Aoto successfully reduced the debt from 600 taels of gold to... only 520 taels.
Snap!
Aoto slowly raised his head and suddenly lifted both hands to press against his cheeks.
— Not only targeted by terrorists but also the city’s largest Yakuza group...
— What kind of hellish start is this?!
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