The climate is very comfortable on the seaside in May, even in the middle of the night, it is not too cold at all.

In the small courtyard in front of the door, the sleepy-eyed and yawning Suzuki Kobei sat lazily on the horse, weak and exhausted, and the three soldiers in full armor beside him, each with a spear and his back against the wall, were lazy, and only two poor men who were unarmed and dressed as a man were busy carrying the utensils and not daring to relax.

After all, it's so late, and it's impossible for pedestrians to wander around here without anything to do.

The discipline team in the city has also been much lax since the Lord of the Pingshou Criminal Department set out on the expedition, and they will not choose to come out to patrol in the middle of the night.

Suzuki Kobei, a son of the Owari samurai family, a retainer of the Hirate clan, one hundred and thirty-five stones, a rough bow horse, a little literate in writing, now serving in the "Metropolitan Police Department" in Izumi, serving for the "Police Director" Hattori Haruan, specializing in supervising all kinds of prisoners, five private soldiers under his command, eight Yoriki, seven hired workers, plus himself, a total of 21 members of the department.

In everyone's general perception, the "Metropolitan Police Department", a newly established law enforcement department, is not an ideal "work unit". Purely engaged in civil security, although there is no danger, but the future and treatment are far inferior to the formal army, most of the members are from mud legs, not even a samurai, at most a rich peasant class child.

The few who had samurai status were too old or disabled to take a back seat.

So, how did Suzuki Kobei, an Owari samurai who is in his prime, be assigned here?

What do you say on the official face......

"I'm a brick in the flat house, and I can move it wherever I need to." "There is no distinction between high and low work, and they all serve the Lord." "Do a line, love a line, and contribute a meager force to the righteousness of the world."

In private, Suzuki Kobei has always been very resentful, claiming that he was "persecuted".

This has to start with the colleague called "Kato Kyoaki".

He was an outsider from Mikawa, and by chance, he was ...... with Toda Tadaji, Natsume Yoshinobu, Ina Tadashika, Honda Masanobu, and Honda Masashige and more than 200 people together, under the command of the tie.

The behavior of those outsiders after joining the gang varied. Toda and Natsume are alone and don't associate with people, so they can't cause any controversy. The Honda brothers and Ina Tadaji have their own abilities and stand out, and the rest can't help but be dissatisfied.

Only this Kato Teaching, who seems to have no outstanding talents and merits, looks mediocre, except that he is better at flattering accidents, he doesn't see any merits.

Suzuki Kobei's great-grandfather carried a gun and led a horse for Hirate Masahide, and the qualifications of four generations can be verified. He was assigned to a team with Kato Kyoaki and became a comrade-in-arms. As a child of a traditional martial arts family, I am very unaccustomed to this inexplicable outsider who has been blue-eyed, and I don't say a lot of sour words about yin and yang.

Later, as the identity of the main family soared, everyone also followed the chicken dog to heaven.

After successfully going to Luo, Suzuki Kobei was awarded the title of 100 stones by his qualifications and hard work, which was regarded as a small Guangzong Yaozu, but Kato Kyoaki did not see any outstanding achievements, but he received a generous gift of 200 stones.

Then he defended Yamazaki Castle, repelled Miyoshi's counterattack, and then entered Kishiwada Castle, and initially established a military system, Suzuki Kobei is one hundred and twenty stone fans, and has a command of 100 people, and Kato Kyoaki is 350 stones, and he is an acting general with 300 people.

Again, it was to pacify Izumi, to fight in Kinai, to conquer the four countries, to record the merits before and after, to seal the vassals, Suzuki Kobei became one hundred and sixty stones, and Ren Fantou was as original, and Kato Kyoaki was already six hundred stone of the official general.

In the end, Oda Dan was assassinated, and the Hirate Punishment Department took the opportunity to take off, and after several changes, the territory and army were greatly expanded, so Suzuki Kobei was promoted to the acting general of 180 stones, and was finally able to command hundreds of men; Kato Kyoaki was promoted to the rank of 800 koku, commanding nearly 1,000 people.

The gap is getting wider and wider, and this is not the most embarrassing.

The most embarrassing thing is that the "Bei" under the jurisdiction of Suzuki Kobei is temporarily subsumed into the "momentum" commanded by Kato Kyoaki.

In the early years, he ridiculed and suppressed the sad juniors, but now he has become a high-ranking direct boss. Obviously, it is very difficult for anyone to accept in their hearts.

I can't help but complain a few words, it's inevitable.

In the past, everyone's status was not high, Suzuki Kobei's words were disrespectful, and Kato Kyoaki took half a step back and laughed.

But this time is different, everyone is already a senior officer commanding a thousand people, so many subordinates are staring and watching, how can they do it without standing up?

Kato Kato's evaluation in the heart of Hite-ho Hide's heart is "loyal and silent". However, can a person who is really "loyal and silent" rise to this level step by step?

And so—

On the spot of the verbal conflict, Kato Kyoaki was unceremonious, sneered at each other, and criticized the opponent's untidy appearance and poor training in a high-sounding manner, and also accused Sang of scolding Huai and sarcastically, implying that Suzuki Kobei was a waste who was promoted purely by his father's ancestor.

This irony, but it is good, it just pierced the sore spot.

- It's true that I haven't had any work in the past ten years, but four generations of serving the flat family have also worked hard. You, a foreigner, have not done much more than me, and you are all right away from me, are you embarrassed to say?

Suzuki Kobei was immediately furious, and slapped the table on the spot to make a gesture to fight, but fortunately was stopped by his colleagues around him and did not really fight.

At the time of the incident, Hiratite was engaged in diplomacy in Kyoto, and he was anxious and dizzy every day, and after reading the briefing, he felt that it was not serious, so he was too lazy to personally inquire about the details, and ordered the military to "find out the truth and deal with it on his own."

In fact, Suzuki Kobei really didn't complain wrong. To a certain extent, that Kato Kyoaki is indeed a "golden horse bone" specially erected in a special period.

But because of this, this matter must not be exposed.

Unfortunately, Kawada Nagakin, who had a slight friendship with Suzuki Kobei, and Asano Nagayoshi, who was a friend of wine and meat, had already been transferred out of the post and was no longer in the center. After the two of them understood the specific reasons, the verdict was:

- Kato Kyoaki's words and deeds were frivolous, and His Majesty was derelict in his duties, and he was ordered to be grounded and cautious for seven days. Suzuki Kobei committed the following crimes, which is really a felony, and he is a first offense, so he will be dismissed from half of his salary and demoted to the head of the team.

Kato didn't dare to complain about this treatment, and accepted it honestly.

But Suzuki Kobei felt that the future was extremely bleak.

It is characterized as "committing the following crimes", which is the biggest taboo in the army, and its reputation will be rotten if it spreads.

We have an Owari spectrum, even if something happens, how can we let two outsiders try it? With such a heavy shot, it is obviously persecution, what else is there to talk about "thinking about the first offense"? Who is it for?

When Lao Tzu followed the lord to fight in the city, you Yancheng Youtong was still an important leader of the traitor and the three good ones! You Konishi don't know if you're weaned or not!

I can't live this day.

Suzuki Kobei really didn't want to accept the demotion, so after thinking about it, he found the old-timer Hattori Haruan, took the initiative to apply, and was transferred to the Metropolitan Police Department to work.

After all, the eldest brother of Hattori is reliable, righteous, without saying a word, he arranged a real job with treatment equivalent to the head level, and also interceded with Iwashi Yutong and Konishi Yuki: This person has been fighting for the Tieshou family for nearly ten years, and has not had a good life, and there is a large family to raise, if you strip off half of Zhixing, I'm afraid you will have to eat bran vegetables, I really can't bear it, you might as well be lenient to a quarter, how about it?

Iwanari and Konishi said that the wood had become a boat and could not be changed lightly, and Hattori Haruan smiled: "Half of the revolution is still the same, but you can use the name of 'taking the initiative to join the new department is worth encouraging', and the reward will come back!" ”

The offer was accepted.

Although he was not a "genealogical retainer" in the strict sense, although he had "taken a back seat" early, Hattori Harayasu was still easy to speak - just because he fought hard behind the tail of the main male horse for half a night in the narrow room, and broke an arm, this life was enough to rely on the old man to sell the old man and be proud - so Suzuki Kobei became an official of the Metropolitan Police Department, and kept an extra forty-five stones.

The new job is not satisfactory in all aspects, and the only good thing is that it is leisurely.

After all, the "Metropolitan Police Department" is a start-up organization, with only more than 200 members, and it only has a dozen or so brief rules and regulations that have been temporarily implemented as a program of action, and its style of handling affairs is quite rough.

Most of the bandits who murdered people and set fires and committed great treachery were killed on the spot, or they were killed at the end of the public trial by pretending to be in public, and there was no talk of detention at all. If there is no homicide in the second class, they will be secretly transported to sweatshops or mines for "labor ideological transformation" through several special procedures.

And ordinary petty thieves are generally too lazy to investigate, and occasionally they are lucky to run into it, and when they are arrested, they also confiscate a little money and release it, and they really can't afford to pay the fine, so they wave the board and beat it.

For economic reasons, the high-level officials of the "Metropolitan Police Department" are unwilling to lock up prisoners for a long time - consuming their minds is the second thing (anyway, it is a matter for the people below), and the key is that you have to take care of your food! The price of goods here in Hequan is not cheap, even if you buy the most inferior food, you will have to pay an average of three cents a day to maintain the survival of adults, plus the basic cost of space and clothing, it may cost more than two per person per year.

To hold 100 prisoners is more than 200 per year - why not do you have this money?

Therefore, Suzuki Kobei, the "warden", actually doesn't have to care about a few people.

Most of the prisoners came in and were locked up for less than a month, either killed or released. Only a small number of people whose identities are particularly sensitive, who are inconvenient to kill casually, and who dare not be released easily, will stay in prison all the time.

For example, last fall, Mitsuya Tarao, a member of the ninja group, arrested a bunch of people in Kyoto under the name of "Takeda Spy". After some torture and investigation, most of them were found to be spies, and they were secretly executed after draining their value. But there are still two or three who have never been identified, and it is very embarrassing.

"A total of 26 suspects were arrested, two of them had irrefutable physical evidence, seven could not bear the confession, four were confessed, five were accidentally killed, and the other eight ...... There's only a lot of space in Dorao, so I'll keep you in the house first, and watch it well, so you can't run away and don't get killed. ”

- That's how Haruan Hattori confessed.

Suzuki Kobei paid more attention to it at first, but as he came down day by day, he realized that the eight "key criminals" cowered and trembled and trembled, and they did not look like elites working behind enemy lines, and there were never suspicious characters around the courtyard to rob the prison, so he gradually relaxed.

Up to now, more than two months have passed, and there is no trace of an accident.

Everyone felt in their hearts that these eight people might indeed not be Takeda spies, but wronged.

It's nothing more than grasping good and risking merit, is this kind of thing still rare?

It's just that the matter of "catching spies" is a key task that the adults of the Pingshou Criminal Department have paid special attention to, and it is of great significance, and no one dares to jump out and say that his old man has done a bad job.