Ezo, somewhere in the north——
"…After my third petition was ignored by the Lord of Sendai Domain, by chance, I received news that Russia was frequently making various small moves in Ezo."
"After my investigation, I feel that if we ignore Russia, it will become a major concern ."
"I think we should live in harmony with the Ainu people, and then develop Ezo together with the Ainu people, and build Ezo into a frontier position to block the southward advance of the Russians."
"So in order to realize my political dream, eight years ago, I set foot on Ezo for the first time and began to personally survey the topography, landforms, resources, and culture of the Ainu people in Ezo."
Hayashi Shiping, who was sitting behind Ogata, was talking, while Ogata and Atachi were listening attentively while controlling their horses to trot forward.
The process of traveling is always boring.
While on the road, the only thing that can be used to kill time is chatting.
To kill time, the Ogata couple chatted with Hayashi Shiping about various things.
We talked about everything from what we saw while traveling to various things we had personally experienced.
At this moment, Lin Ziping was talking about his life so far.
Just now, he has briefly outlined his life from childhood to youth: a samurai from Sendai born in Edo, he was despised by others as a heretic since childhood. While his peers were studying Confucian classics, he was reading various miscellaneous books on history, geography, military strategy, economics, etc.
When he was young, he began to travel around to study. During his travels, he discovered the corruption and incompetence of the shogunate, and gradually began to worry about the future of Japan.
He wrote to the lord of Sendai Domain three times, suggesting that he reform internal affairs, enrich the country and strengthen the military, but all his suggestions were ignored by the lord.
And now, Hayashi Shiping is telling the story of how, after his third petition to the lord of Sendai Domain was ignored, he began to notice the threat posed by the Russians to their country, and then began to go to Ezo to conduct an investigation in person.
"Eight years ago, after a thorough investigation of Ezo, in the fifth year of Tenmei (1785 AD), I published a book on the military geography of Korea, Ryukyu, Ezo, etc.: A Comprehensive Map of the Three Kingdoms. Unfortunately, there was no response... No one was interested in my book..."
After saying that, Lin Ziping sighed heavily.
"Your book even includes articles about Korea and Ryukyu?" Ating interrupted, "Have you been to all these places?"
"Uh... no." Lin Ziping laughed awkwardly. "Except for Ezo, I have never been to other places. The records of Korea, Ryukyu and other places were compiled by me based on other people's books."
After saying that, Lin Ziping coughed a few times and used a stiff method to change the topic that made him a little embarrassed.
"Okay, let me continue."
"In short, after publishing the Illustrated History of the Three Kingdoms, the response was mediocre. No one, whether from the shogunate or the public, was interested in my book."
"The shogunate officials also scoffed at my proposal to build coastal defenses and work together with the Ainu to build Ezo."
"Perhaps they thought that someone like me who criticized the policy of isolation was too annoying. So some time ago, I was caught by the officials and imprisoned in the Edo prison."
"I seemed to have been sentenced to 'permanent confinement' by the government."
"Fortunately, not long after I was imprisoned, I was rescued by a group of people who came from unknown sources."
"That group of people seemed to want to invite them to work for them."
"I have no interest in being an official. When I was thinking about how to escape, the gang seemed to be attacked by their enemies. I was able to sneak out in the chaos."
"As soon as I sneaked out, I learned that the Lucia people were making more and more small moves in Ezo."
"I also felt that the part about Ezo in my book, A Comprehensive Map of the Three Kingdoms, still needed to be improved. So not long after I regained my freedom, I set foot on the land of Ezo again, preparing to conduct another in-depth investigation of Ezo."
"You all know what happened next. When I came near the Red Moon Fortress, I was mistakenly captured as a spy, and then I met you."
After listening to Lin Ziping's summary of his life so far, Ogata said with deep emotion: "You are also a person with a very rich and tortuous life experience... You just said that you escaped from prison with the help of others, so isn't it very likely that there are wanted posters all over Japan for you now?"
"Yeah." Lin Ziping nodded, "It should be. So now I am also considering how to avoid being hunted down by officials after I return to China, while continuing my academic research and getting the shogunate to adopt my opinions and start the shogunate reform."
"You are really amazing." Atachi said with genuine admiration, "If I were you, I wouldn't have the courage to write to the shogunate again and again, criticizing the shogunate for this and that."
"There's no way I can be like you, willing to travel around in this bitter cold place for the country... Maybe this has something to do with the fact that I don't have a good impression of the shogunate."
"I've only been in Ezo for a few months, but I can't stand it anymore..."
"I really miss tatami and the taste of miso soup..."
"I started traveling and studying when I was still very young." Lin Ziping smiled, "So I developed a pretty good physique. Therefore, when I was running around and investigating in Ezo, I didn't feel very tired... Hmm? Ogata-kun, look at the northern sky, there are large dark clouds floating over."
"Yeah. I saw it." Ogata nodded. "Shut your mouth and stop talking. I need to increase the speed of my horse. We need to build a hunting lodge before the blizzard comes."
After saying that, Ogata tapped the horse's belly with his heel and steered Radish towards a forest not far away.
After entering the woods, Xu Fang quickly found a large tree suitable for building a hunting lodge.
Earlier, when he followed the villagers of China Village to move to the Red Moon Fortress, Ogata had learned the practices of the Ainu people's hunting lodges.
After using a somewhat crude method to turn the big tree into a hunting lodge that could barely accommodate four people, the large dark clouds floating in from the north covered the entire sky and brought down snow and wind.
"Huh..." After rushing into the hunting lodge, Lin Ziping glanced at the howling snow outside and tightened his clothes. "Ezo is really a bitterly cold place... At this time, spring is almost here in other parts of Japan, but here it is still no different from winter."
"Luckily we built this hunting lodge in time." Ogata glanced at the snow outside, which was getting louder and louder. "If it was a little later, we would have been turned into snowmen by the snow."
"Looking at the thickness of the dark clouds, the snowstorm won't stop anytime soon." Lin Ziping sighed softly, "We can only wait slowly. I hope the snowstorm will stop soon..."
"How far is it from the village where that weird doctor He Ren lives?" asked Ating.
"It's Kantou Village." Lin Ziping smiled helplessly and corrected what Ah-Ming had just said, "The settlement where that weird Japanese doctor lives is called 'Kanttou Village'."
A-Ming: “What a hard name to remember…”
"It's still a long way to go," Lin Ziping replied. "If there are no unexpected events such as snowstorms, we have to continue walking north for another two days and first reach a settlement called 'Tohe'. Then the village of Kantou where the doctor lives is deep in the mountains northwest of Tohe Village."
“We still have to go such a long way…” Ating twitched his lips.
"Although it's still a bit far, fortunately the road is easy to walk on." Lin Ziping said slowly, "I actually can't quite remember where exactly Kantou Village is in that deep mountain."
"So when we get to Tuohe Village, we may have to ask someone from that village to help lead the way."
"Hmm? Are you familiar with the people from Toha Village?" Ogata asked.
Lin Ziping nodded: "I am quite familiar with it. I have been here several times before, so after a few visits, I have become familiar with many villagers in Tuohe Village."
"I'll ask those people I know to show us the way. I think they will be happy to agree."
"I see... I feel a little embarrassed..." Ogata said, "I have to trouble you to do a favor for that person from Toha Village."
Lin Ziping smiled: "Compared to the favor I owe you for saving my life, it's just a trivial matter that is not worth mentioning."
"If you hadn't repelled the shogunate's army, I would have died in the chaos."
"You two should regard what I have done as my way of repaying a favor and accept it with peace of mind."
call--!
At this moment, a very loud gust of wind suddenly blew outside the hunting lodge.
The extremely loud sound of the wind startled Ogata and others.
"The snowstorm seems to have gotten stronger..." Ogata murmured.
"Look at the intensity of the snowstorm. We probably won't be able to move in half an hour." Lin Ziping scratched his half-black and half-white hair.
"Let's do something to kill time." As Ah-Ming said this, he turned his attention to Lin Ziping. "Mr. Lin, can you continue to tell me your story?"
"My story has basically been told just now... There is nothing else to tell."
"Then how about you tell me about your experiences while traveling around? I would love to hear about that, too."
"I've seen and heard a lot while traveling around... Let me think if there's anything worth talking about... I've already talked about all the interesting things worth talking about in the past few days... Ah, did I tell you about the 'Yamada Asaemon family kidnapping people to make medicine' incident?"
Ah-Ming shook his head. "No. 'Kidnap people to make medicine'...? What is this?"
"The Yamada Asaemon family..." Ogata frowned slightly, "It's the 'executioner family' in Edo, right?"
"That's right." Lin Ziping nodded, "Since I haven't told you this story before, then I'll tell you about it in detail."
Lin Ziping cleared his throat.
"This is a story I heard in a pub when I was studying in Kanto. I don't know if it's true or not, but I personally think it's probably fake, so just listen to it as if you were listening to a storyteller and have fun."
"You all should know this, right? What does the Yamada Asaemon family, who were named the 'Shogunate's Official Sword Testers', do?"
"The people in their family have been the shogun's sword testers for generations. They are responsible for executing the death row prisoners at the execution ground and testing swords for the Yueqing Yunke led by the shogun."
"The title of 'Shogunate's Official Sword Tester' makes the Yamada Asaemon family extremely authoritative in sword appraisal."
"When a wealthy family acquires a new precious sword, they are willing to ask Yamada Asaemon's people to test the sword and determine the quality of the new sword."
"This is the famous 'business trip to test the sword' of the Yamada Asaemon family - a wealthy family invites someone from the Yamada Asaemon family to test the sword, and then the Yamada Asaemon family sends someone to test the sword."
"Some people from faraway places, such as some nobles in Kyoto, would often come to Edo to ask Yamada Asaemon's people to test their swords. So when the Yamada Asaemon family had some spare manpower, they would occasionally send people out to test swords for people from faraway places."
"Their family has been beheading people for generations. It is said that in a year, their family members can behead 200 to 300 people. Gradually, they developed a very profitable sideline: selling 'human gall pills' made from human gall."
At this time, Ah-Ming uttered a soft "Ah": "I know this medicine. It's the one that is very useful for treating lung diseases, right?"
"Yes. It's that medicine. After the Yamada Asaemon family kills the death row prisoners at the execution ground, the corpses will be left to the Yamada Asaemon family to deal with."
"They used the gallbladders of dead bodies to make 'human gall pills' which are very useful for treating lung diseases. This medicine is extremely popular and has always been in short supply. There is basically no stock of this medicine. As soon as one pill is made, it will be bought up quickly."
"And then - I'm going to get down to business now, don't get distracted."
"It is said that in order to solve the problem of the shortage of human gallbladder pills and to make a little more money, the Yamada Asaemon family often kidnapped and sold people."
"I kidnap those who no one would pay much attention to even if they were missing. For example: ronin, beggars, and eda."
"After abducting these people, we use their gallbladders to make new medicines."
As soon as Lin Ziping finished speaking, Ah Ting felt as if he had a chill all over his body and rubbed his arms: "I don't like this kind of horror story..."
"This is a story I heard from someone else. I don't know if it's true or not." Lin Ziping smiled, "But in my opinion, this story should be false. The Yamada Asaemon family is a gloomy family to ordinary people, so all kinds of messed-up stories are often attributed to the Yamada Asaemon family."
"The Yamada Asaemon family is not short of money. Even though human gallbladder pills are always in short supply, they would not kidnap and sell people to make medicine."
"So I think this story is probably fake. You don't need to take it too seriously."
…
…
In Edo, the mansion where the group of people from Gourd House lived—
"Senior Asai, there shouldn't be anything wrong with the way I look now, right?" Shimada raised his arms and showed his clothes to Makimura in front of him.
"Hmm... not bad." Mucun nodded, "It looks very presentable and stylish."
Today is the day Shimada decided to go home.
It would be disrespectful to go home in a sloppy manner, so Shimada borrowed some money from Lin and bought a new set of custom-made clothes embroidered with the Shimada family crest.
Even the scabbard at the waist was waxed and polished to a shine.
Shimada also fulfilled his promise - after deciding to go home, he asked Makimura, who had long wanted to see the face of the famous Shimada Soichiro, to accompany him.
Because he was going to accompany Shimada home, Makimura also changed into a very stylish outfit.
Makimura usually didn't have the habit of wearing a sword on his left waist, so in order to accompany Shimada home this time, he specially bought two new swords to wear so that he could look more like a samurai.
The two checked their clothes and confirmed that there was no problem. Then they finally turned to Lin and Mamiya who were standing next to them and seeing them off.
"My lord, I will try to go there and come back as quickly as possible." Shimada said seriously.
"It's okay if you don't have to come back so soon." Lin said, "You can come back whenever you want."
"Makimura, please don't cause any trouble." Mamiya said in a half-joking tone, "You are just like Master Genichi, you are also a troublemaker."
"When it comes to being a troublemaker, I think you're no less troublesome than Mamiya." Makimura hit back bluntly, "You're always causing trouble from time to time."
"But every time I get into trouble, I solve it quickly and beautifully." Mamiya's response was also very sharp.
"That's enough. Stop talking nonsense here." Lin interrupted the quarrel between Mamiya and Makimura, "Yahachi, Katsurokuro, now that you are ready, let's set off early."
Makimura: "Okay." Shimada: "Yes!"
…
…
Shimada and Makimura walked side by side on the road to the "high-class samurai residential area".
As we headed straight for the "High-class Samurai Residential District", the surrounding scenery kept changing.
The people passing by the two gradually changed from civilians to warriors dressed in bright clothes with swords at their waists.
"Shimada, let me confirm something - your father should not be a person who is very particular about etiquette, right?" Makimura turned his head and asked.
"My father is the typical person who is lenient with outsiders but strict with his own people." Shimada smiled bitterly, "If you did something inappropriate, my father might not say much. But if I did something impolite..."
Having said that, Shimada didn't say anything else and just gave Makimura a look that said "you know what I mean".
Maybe it’s because it’s still early in the morning, so there aren’t many people on the road.
Since the end of the "Imperial Trial", Edo no longer had a large influx of ronin as before, so the public security situation improved a lot.
The two of them walked smoothly all the way to a magnificent mansion.
Looking at the magnificent mansion in front of him, Makimura smacked his lips a few times: "It really is worthy of being a hatamoto samurai family with a household salary of 9,000 koku..."
"Okay, come with me. There's nothing to see in this shabby house. Let's go in." After saying that, Shimada walked towards the gate of the mansion on his own.
There are two guards at the gate of the mansion.
The two guards' eyes widened when they saw Shimada walking straight towards them.
"Young Master?!" the two guards shouted in unison.
"I'm back." Shimada smiled and nodded, "Is father home?"
"Yes, yes!" One of the guards nodded hurriedly, "Master, please wait a moment! I'll go and report to the inside!"
After saying this, the guard quickly dodged and rushed into the mansion.
After a while, the guard who had just left brought the old man back into the sight of Shimada and his men.
"Young Master!" the old man shouted excitedly.
"Hachibei!" Shimada's tone also became a little excited.
The old man whom Shimada called Hachibei came to Shimada in two steps and three steps: "Master! You are finally back!"
"I'm sorry to have made you worried, Hachibei."
"Master, who is this?" Hachibei looked at Makimura next to Shimada.
"This is my friend."
"Nice to meet you." Makimura bowed respectfully to Yabei, "My name is Makimura Yahachi."
"Ah, so you are the young master's friend." Hachibei hurriedly returned the greeting and introduced himself.
"Young master, come in quickly. Don't stand here anymore." Hachibei called Shimada and Makimura in.
After following Hachibei into this luxurious mansion, Shimada asked Hachibei in front of him:
"Yahbei, where is father now? Is he busy?"
"No. The master is not busy right now. He should be with the Yamada Asaemon family now."
"Yamada Asaemon?" Shimada raised his eyebrows. "Why are Yamada Asaemon's people here?"
"The master got a precious sword in Osaka before: Kashuzumi Fujishima Matashige. After returning to Edo a few days ago, he asked someone from the Yamada Asauemon family to test the sword. Today, the Yamada Asauemon family finally has a spare person to send over to test the sword."
"The knife test should be about to begin now."