"Please go back!" Baosheng shouted at Sukezawa and Yushiro in a much harsher and louder voice.
While shouting at Sukezo and Yushiro, Hosho directed his sharp gaze towards Sukezo and Yushiro.
Sukezo and Yushiro were frightened by Baosheng's loud voice and sharp gaze, and they both shrank their necks.
Obvious emotions of fear, reluctance, pain, despair, and grievance appeared on their faces.
Looking at the changes in expression on the two people's faces, for some reason, fragments of memories that should have been long forgotten emerged uncontrollably from the depths of Ogata's mind.
…
"Hey ! Is anyone still alive?! Anyone can do it! Answer me!"
…
"master……"
…
"Makino, Sawamura..."
…
"Mikami-senpai...if you want to continue thanking me, go ahead...anything is fine, just tell me something..."
…
These fragments of memory emerged uncontrollably from the depths of Ogata's mind and were played back and forth in front of Ogata's eyes.
Sukezo and Yushiro hung their heads and slowly left the Hosho Sword Hall, led by a certain apprentice who was still in the sword hall.
As the two of them left the Takatsura Sword Hall, Obe said to Takatsura:
"Lord Baosheng, it's getting late now. I should take my leave now."
"Yes." Baosheng smiled at Ogata, "Mashima-sama, you have worked hard today!"
After exiting the gate of Hosho Kenkan, Ogata took a deep breath and looked up at the sky above him which was almost completely dark.
At this moment, there are bright stars hanging in the sky.
It would be more accurate to say that Ogata was looking at the stars above his head rather than the sky.
He pursed his lips, not knowing what he was thinking.
After a long while, Ogata finally moved his gaze away from the sky above his head.
Then he hurried in the direction where Sukezo, Yushiro and the others had left.
"Hey! You two!"
Ogata quickly caught up with Sukezo and the others.
"My name is Majima Goro."
"Tell me more about how your village is targeted by the wanderers."
…
…
In the Edo period, inns were also divided into four levels: Honjin, Wakihonjin, Hatago, and Kiyûjuku.
The Honjin was a residential facility that provided services exclusively for daimyo, court nobles, and high-ranking officials of the shogunate.
The wakihonjin, which was one level lower in rank than the honjin, provided services to the daimyo and shogunate officials of a slightly lower rank.
If you want to stay in the main camp or waki-main camp, not only money but also status is required.
No matter how rich you are, if you are not a noble or daimyo, or an official of the shogunate, you cannot live in the Honjin or Wakihonjin.
Hatago and Mokurenshuku were inns that specifically served ordinary samurai and ordinary people.
Hatago was a general accommodation facility that provided services to samurai and civilians, and usually provided meals.
The kind of travel cage that does not provide meals is called a "flat travel cage".
The lowest-level Kiyonokyo was the cheapest inn in the Edo period. Not only were the room types limited, the rooms were generally small and old, but they also did not provide meals or bedding.
Because the grade and service are the worst, the price of Muzuosu is also the cheapest.
The price of a night's stay in Mu Ren Inn is only about one-fifth of that in a hostel.
After all, Ogata and Atachi still have a considerable amount of savings.
The two of them are not the kind of misers who never spend a penny, and they never skimp on food, clothing, housing and transportation.
The inn where the two of them stayed in Kinno-cho was a standard Hatago.
Unlike Ogata who is busy from morning till night, Atachi is quite idle these days.
Kinnocho is not big, and Atachi has already visited every corner of Kinnocho.
With nothing to do, Ating could only stay in her hotel room every day and learn the Ainu language.
She never imagined that she, who couldn't even speak Mandarin (Kanto dialect), would one day learn Ainu.
A-Machi was a "semi-illiterate" person according to the standard of that era - he could only understand kana and could not recognize most Chinese characters.
This is a bit like only recognizing pinyin but not Chinese characters. And this kind of semi-illiterate people are quite common in this era.
Therefore, in order to make Atachi understand this teaching guide, Ogata had previously spent some time pronouncing all the Chinese characters in this teaching guide and marking the meaning of these Chinese characters on the side.
Since there was nothing to do except staying in the hotel to learn the Ainu language, Atachi's learning progress had long surpassed Ogata and he had mastered one sixth of the vocabulary in the "Guide to Teaching Common Ainu Language Phrases".
"Osoma...shit...Osoma...shit..."
Atachi, who was lying on the tatami with the teaching guide in her hands, was learning a new word - Osoma.
Osoma in the Ainu language means shit.
Because the sky outside had become completely dark, Ating had just lit an oil lamp and was reading by the light from the lamp.
After silently memorizing the new vocabulary, Ating, feeling a little tired, closed the teaching guide in his hand and stretched vigorously.
Then he turned his head and looked at the sky outside the window.
Looking at the sky that had already darkened, Ating murmured:
"You're so slow... Did something happen to you?"
At this time in the past, Ogata would have already returned.
However, until now, A-machi has not seen Ogata.
It was quite a coincidence - just as A-machi was wondering why Ogata came back so late today, she heard familiar footsteps outside the room.
"A-Ting, I'm back."
The door of the hotel room was opened - the person who opened the door was Ogata.
Before Atachi could ask why Ogata came back so late, Ogata spoke first:
"A-cho. Simply pack your luggage tonight, and we will temporarily leave Kinno-cho tomorrow."
"Leave Kinno-cho?" Atachi looked puzzled.
…
…
The next morning -
Ogata and Atachi didn't have much luggage. Their outfits were the epitome of "traveling lightly".
Their luggage consisted of only clothes, money, water bottles and other miscellaneous items.
Each of them could carry all their luggage by carrying a small cloth bag.
By the way, the clothes they bought for the wedding, such as the haori with monk's robes and white wedding gowns, were left with Uncle Kei, who was planning to settle down in Edo.
Both the Monzuki haori hakama and the Shiromuku are formal dresses. Apart from looking good, they are completely useless.
For Ogata and A-machi who were about to go on a long journey, these dresses were nothing but a pile of burden, so before leaving Edo, Ogata and A-machi deposited all these clothes with Uncle Qing for safekeeping.
With their luggage on their backs, Ogata and Atachi stood at an exit in the north of Kinno-cho.
In front of them stood a farmer with a weathered face—it was Zuzo.
Zuzo looked at Ogata in front of him and kept nodding and bowing to him:
"Master Samurai! Thank you so much!"
Yesterday, before visiting Hosho Sword Hall, Sukezo and his other companion, Yushiro, had visited samurai all over Kinno-cho.
Although the contents of the replies we received varied, the overall meaning was the same - we can’t help you.
Hosho Sword Museum was the last stop of their "Kinno-cho trip"...but they were still turned away at Hosho Sword Museum.
Before coming to Kinno-cho, Sukezan and Yushiro had visited other castle towns to recruit samurai - and they only managed to recruit one samurai.
If Hosho Kenkan was the last stop of their "Kinno-cho trip".
Then Kinno-cho is the last stop of their "samurai recruitment journey".
Regardless of whether they succeeded in recruiting samurai in Kinno-cho or not, they had to return home.
So when they came out of Hosho Sword Hall yesterday evening, Sukezo and Yushiro were in despair... They were already prepared to bring only one samurai back.
However, just when they were in despair, Ogata arrived.
After Ogata left Hosho Sword Hall, he caught up with the two of them and asked them only one question - how long does it take to get from Kinno Town to their village.
After learning that if they set out in the morning and arrived in the evening if they walked fast enough, Obe said something that made Sukezo and Yushiro couldn't believe their ears at the time: I understand, I will help you to the best of my ability.
When they were almost in despair, a samurai came to them and expressed his willingness to help. Although they didn't know how strong the samurai was or what his temper was like, Zusan and his men had already reached the point where they would desperately grasp at anything that looked like a life-saving straw.
Sukezo and Yushiro immediately agreed with Ogata on the departure time - to set off at dawn tomorrow morning.
Facing Sukezo who was nodding and bowing to him in thanks, Ogata said with a somewhat helpless tone:
"Don't thank me so much. I have already received your gratitude."
"Where is your other companion and the warrior you recruited earlier? Haven't they arrived yet?"
Hearing Ogata's question, Juzo stood on tiptoe, turned his head, and looked around.
"They are a little slow... Why haven't they come yet..."
When Ogata brought Atachi to the agreed intersection just now, he only saw Sukezo.
When asked where Yushiro was, Sukezo said that he went to pick up the samurai he had previously recruited from another castle town.
After looking around, Zhu San quickly ran to the intersection not far away and looked towards the end of the road.
When Sukezo ran to the side to look for Yushiro and the others, Omachi quietly walked to Ogata's side and whispered to him in a voice that only she and Ogata could hear clearly:
"Have you told Nishino-kun and the people at the sword gym?"
"Yeah." Ogata nodded gently. "I told Nishino-kun last night that I would be leaving Kinno-cho for a while, and I also asked Nishino-kun to tell the people at Hosho Sword Hall on my behalf."
After promising Sukezo and Yushiro that he would lend them a helping hand, Obe went to Minamoto Tachibana and found Nishino Jiro, telling him that he would leave Kinnocho for a while.
For the sake of convenience in explanation, Ogata did not tell Jiro Nishino that he was going to fight bandits. Instead, he told Jiro Nishino that he was a bit bored staying in Kinno-cho and planned to take his wife to visit other nearby towns.
At the same time, he also asked Jiro Nishino to take a message to the people at Hosho Sword Hall on his behalf, telling them that he planned to visit other nearby towns and cities to appreciate the scenery of the Northeast and come back after a few days.
A-Machi glanced at Sukezou who was looking for Yushiro not far away, and lowered his voice a little.
"Why do you suddenly want to help those farmers fight against the bandits?"
"Are you feeling bored staying in Kinno-cho and planning to stretch your legs?"
Ogata was stunned for a moment when he heard the question asked by Atachi.
Then he raised his hand and scratched his hair.
"The reason why I chose to help..."
A bitter smile appeared on Ogata's face.
When Ogata said this, Omachi noticed that there was a hint of reminiscence in the depths of Ogata's eyes.
Ogata seemed to be recalling something.
"I don't know how to explain it to you..."
"Ah! Samurai-sama! Yushiro is back!"
At this time , Sukezo pointed at the end of the street in front of him and shouted at Ogata and the other two.
Ogata looked in the direction that Sukezo's finger was pointing—and saw Yushiro jogging towards them.
And behind Yushiro, there followed a samurai.
She had a messy topknot that hadn't been taken care of for a long time. Because it hadn't been taken care of for so long, her hair was tangled in many places.
The clothes he was wearing were all torn and dirty, as if they had not been washed for a long time. They were so dirty that you couldn't see their original color.
Perhaps because he couldn't find suitable shoes to wear, he was only wearing a pair of wooden clogs, and his dirty feet were red and cracked from the cold.
The sword at his waist was in a similarly awful state. The scabbard was mottled, and the handle had lost a lot of its curls, making it doubtful whether the blade inside was still intact.
The above is the appearance of this warrior.
It is a very standard ronin .
Ronin are basically a group of people who have no place to live and have no fixed place to live, so most of them look no different from beggars.
Sukezan briefly introduced this ronin to Ogata.
The ronin's name was Tsuchiya Shinzaburo, and he was the only samurai that Sukezan and Yushiro had managed to recruit before Ogata agreed to assist them.
Tsuchiya is a very taciturn person, he doesn't talk much and doesn't have many expressions.
When facing Ogata and Atachi, he just said hello very coldly, introduced himself, and said no more.
The village of Sukezo and his friends was quite a distance away from Kinno Town. Even if they set out early in the morning, they would probably not arrive before dark if they did not walk quickly.
So after everyone gathered, Ogata and his group officially set off for Sukezo and his friends' village.
While on the road, Ogata and his friends chatted idly.
Through casual conversation, Ogata learned a lot of new information about Sukezo's village.
For example, there are 89 people in their village, which is a small village that cannot be any smaller. There are only 32 young and middle-aged people, and the rest are the elderly, the weak, women and children.
They were not originally such a poor and destitute village.
Before the "Tianming famine" broke out, their village had nearly 200 people, and the wealth in the village was neither too much nor too little. Although it was not a rich village, it was definitely not poor.
However - this was only the situation before the "Dawn Famine" broke out.
After the "Tianming Famine", a major famine that affected the entire country, the farmers were the ones who suffered the most.
What’s more, the Northeast region was the center of the “Morning Famine” and the hardest-hit area.
When famine broke out, they quickly ate up all the food that humans were supposed to eat.
After eating up all the food that humans should eat, they began to eat barnyard grass, rice bran and other foods that were not only unpalatable but also very bad for the body.
After eating all the barnyard grass and rice bran, they can only eat tree bark and grass roots...
When Sukezo and Yushiro described the tragic scenes when the "Tenmei Famine" broke out, they cried uncontrollably several times because they talked about sad things.
After the "Tianming famine" was over, the village, which originally had nearly 200 people, has now become a village of less than 100 people.
Most of the other one hundred people starved to death in the "Dawn Famine".
After finally surviving the horrific "Morning Famine" and recuperating for three years, they finally recovered some strength, but were once again targeted by ronin who had become bandits - it must be said that their village had a truly unfortunate fate.
The other samurai invited by Sukezo and his companions was Tsuchiya, who didn't talk much, but he briefly talked about his past while they were on the way.
He was from the Hachinohe Domain of Ou.
Hachinohe Domain was a relatively inconspicuous domain among the northeastern domains.
An important indicator to measure the strength of a vassal state is to look at the total rice production of the vassal state in a year.
The total rice production of the Hachinohe domain in a year was only 20,000 koku - less than that of Ogata's hometown, the Hirose domain.
The total rice production of the Hirose Domain was 30,000 koku a year.
Faced with the "Tenmei Famine", a natural disaster that occurred only once in decades, powerful domains like the Aizu and Sendai domains, which had an annual rice production of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of stones, were able to survive by relying on their strong financial resources.
However, a domain with little financial resources like the Hachinohe domain simply had no ability to survive this devastating natural disaster.
Famine was raging and the finances of the Hachinohe domain were no longer sustainable.
In order to ease financial difficulties, Hachinohe domain adopted a variety of measures.
One of the measures was to take action against the samurai within the domain.
Drawing swords on the samurai was no different from cutting off one's own arms - but at that time, the Hachinohe domain did not care about that in order to keep the domain alive.
It is better to break one's arm than to lose one's life.
The first cut - layoffs.
Many samurai in the domain were stripped of their jobs and demoted to ronin for various reasons.
The second move - all remaining warriors who were not laid off had their salaries reduced.
Tsuchiya was one of the many samurai who were demoted to a ronin in this first sword strike.
He was originally a low-ranking samurai with an annual salary of 40 koku.
Not long after the feudal lord decided to lay off employees, he was stripped of his job and demoted to a ronin.
The reason for his demotion was that his clothes were too shabby and damaged the image of a samurai.
This was basically the case for the samurai who were demoted to ronin - they were given a random reason and then abandoned by the feudal lord whom they had served diligently for half their lives.
According to Tsuchiya, many samurai burst into tears when they learned that they were demoted to ronin.
Almost all of them have served the Hachinohe domain for generations and shed blood and sweat for it.
There are many families that have served Hachinohe domain for generations since its establishment and have worked for the domain for nearly two hundred years.
They had served the Hachinohe domain since their ancestors, but in the end they were abandoned by the very people they had served for generations - it is not difficult to imagine how those samurai who were forcibly demoted to ronin felt.
It's a pity that no matter how they cried or wailed, the feudal lord whom they had served with their lives ignored them from beginning to end.
Tsuchiya did not say how he reacted when he learned that he had been demoted to a ronin.
It is only said that he left Hachinohe Domain after being abandoned by the lord of the Domain.
Because he had no parents, wife or children and was alone, he was considered one of the better ones among the many samurai who were demoted to ronin and lost their source of livelihood.
The warriors who have elderly parents and young children to take care of are the most miserable. They can't even go out and wander around.
After leaving Hachinohe Domain, Tsuchiya wandered to Kinno-cho, where he lived a semi-settled life.
Because he can do some handicrafts, Tsuchiya now makes a living by doing handicrafts. He lives a life of having food every day.
Tsuchiya explains why he agreed to help Sukezo and their village.
His reason was simple - he hadn't eaten white rice to his heart's content for a long time.
He wanted to eat all-you-can-eat white rice for the first time in a long time.
The reason is that simple.
…
…
Ogata and his group set out early in the morning, and when the sky was already half dark, they finally arrived at Sukezo's village.
They could have arrived sooner.
Maybe because Tsuchiya hadn't had a full meal for a long time, his physical strength was not enough. His physical strength was not as good as Sukezo and Yushiro.
In order to take care of Tsuchiya who was exhausted, Ogata and his crew took several rests along the way.
If it weren't for these breaks, Ogata and his companions should have been able to reach Sukezo's village before dark.
“That’s our village!”
Juzo raised his hand and pointed forward, and Ogata looked in the direction of Juzo's finger.
Because they were standing on a hillside, they could look down at the village of Zuzo and his friends not far ahead.
Ogata's first impression of Sukezo's village was that it was shabby and lifeless.
Although it was beginning to get dark and the light was dimming, Ogata could still barely see the houses in Sukezo's village in the dim light.
Without exception - all the houses were old and dilapidated.
I don’t know if it’s because the houses are too dilapidated, but from a distance, I can’t feel much vitality or atmosphere of life.
If it weren't for the fact that there was a restaurant nearby and smoke was wafting out of most of the houses, Ogata would have really doubted whether anyone was still living in this village.
"Let's go into the village." Zhu San said as he slid down the hillside along a path not far away with ease.
Ogata and his group followed closely behind, quickly descending the mountain and heading towards the village.
"Hello!"
When they were about to enter the village, Zusan put his hands to his lips and shouted loudly towards the village entrance.
“We’re back!”
"We've brought the samurai back!"
Yushiro at the side also started shouting.
They had not yet entered the village, and had just arrived at the entrance of the village, when something unexpected happened.
"Hey! You bastard! Stop right there!!"
An extremely loud voice suddenly rang out from the village.
The sound of this loud voice was so startling that even though Ogata and the others were far away, they felt that the shouting was ringing in their ears.
Except for Ogata who remained calm, Sukezo, Yushiro, Atachi and Tsuchiya were all frightened by the sudden loud voice.
As soon as the loud voice fell, Oobian saw a man who looked like a samurai rushing out of a house in the village.
To say that this man has a "samurai look" may not be quite accurate.
It should be said that he looks like a ronin.
This man looked similar to Tsuchiya - if he didn't have two knives on his waist, he would definitely be mistaken for a beggar.
The "beggar warrior" rushed out of the house, waving the knife in his hand and running away.
"Get out of here! Get out of here!"
Some people dressed as villagers seemed to want to step forward to stop this "beggar warrior", but after seeing the shining katana in this guy's hand, they all showed fear and dodged to the side.
“Stop right there!!”
Behind the "beggar samurai" followed a samurai who also looked like a ronin, and the loud voice that scared Atachi and others just now was made by this samurai.
The "loud-voiced warrior" had an extremely burly figure. He followed closely behind the "beggar warrior" while roaring.
But his speed was so slow that not only did he fail to catch up with the "Beggar Warrior", the distance between them was getting farther and farther.
I don’t know whether to say that the “beggar warrior” was fortunate or unfortunate.
Those who were chasing him couldn't match his speed.
However, at the end of the direction he chose to escape... stood Ogata and others.
"Get out of here!"
The "Beggar Samurai" raised the knife in his hand and roared viciously at Ogata and others who were blocking his way.
Sukezo and Yushiro turned pale with fear and quickly ran away.
After Sukezo and Yushiro, who were walking in front of Ogata and the others, hid aside, the person who faced the "beggar samurai" became... Ogata.