I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

"Samurai-sama! Thank you very much!"

Yesterday, before visiting the Hosho Sword Gym, Suzo and his other companion, Yushiro, had already visited samurai from various places in Nishikino Town.

The replies received, although the content is different, but the overall meaning is that there is nothing to help.

Baosheng Sword Hall was the last stop of their "Tour of Nishino Town", but they still had a closed door at Baosheng Sword Hall.

Before Suzo and Yushiro came to Nishinocho, they had gone to other cities and towns to recruit samurai and only recruited one samurai.

If Baosheng Sword Gym is the last stop of the two of them's "Journey to Jinye Town".

Then Nishino Town is the last stop of the two of them on this "journey to recruit samurai".

Regardless of whether they succeeded in recruiting samurai in Nishikino Town, they had to go home.

So when they came out of the Baosheng Sword Gym yesterday evening, Suzuzo and Yushiro were desperate, and they were ready to take only one samurai back.

However, just when they were desperate, Ogata came.

After Ogata left the Baosheng Sword Gym, he caught up with the two of them, and then only asked them a question about how long it would take to get from Nishino Town to their village.

After learning that if the footsteps are fast enough, you can set off in the morning and arrive in the evening, Ookai said something that made Suzuzo and Yushiro couldn't believe their ears at the time: I understand, I will do my best to help you.

On the verge of despair, a samurai came to the door and expressed his willingness to help. Although I don't know the strength of this samurai, nor his temperament, but Suzuo and the others have already reached the point where they saw what seemed to be a life-saving straw, so they desperately grabbed it. situation.

Suzumi and Yushiro immediately made an appointment with Ogata to set off at dawn tomorrow morning.

Facing Zhuzo who was nodding and bowing to thank him in front of him, Ogata said in a somewhat helpless tone:

"Don't thank me so hard. I have received your thanks."

"Where's your other companion and the samurai you recruited earlier? Haven't they arrived yet?"

Hearing Ogata's question, Sukuzo stood on tiptoes, turned his head, and looked around.

"The two of them are a bit late, why haven't they come yet?"

When Ogata brought Ah-machi to the agreed intersection just now, he only saw Zhuzou.

When asked where Yushiro had gone, Suzo said that he had gone to pick up the samurai who had been recruited from another town.

After looking around in a circle, Zhu San quickly ran to the edge of the intersection not far away, and looked towards the end of the road.

When Sukuzo ran to the side, looking for Yushiro and the others, A-Machi quietly walked to Ogata's side, and whispered to Ogata in a voice that only she and Ogata could hear clearly:

"Have you told Nishino-kun and the people in the sword hall?"

"Yeah." Ogata nodded lightly, "I told Nishino-kun last night that I would leave Nishino-cho temporarily for a while, and also asked Nishino-kun to speak to the people at the Baosheng Sword Gym for me. "

After agreeing to Zhuzo and Yushiro, saying that he would help them, Oo conveniently went to Gentachibana House, approached Nishino Jiro, and told Nishino Jiro that he would leave Nishinocho for a while.

For the convenience of explanation, Ogata did not tell Nishino Jiro that he planned to hunt bandits, but told Nishino Jiro that he was getting bored in Nishino Town and planned to take his wife to visit other nearby cities and towns.

At the same time, he also asked Nishino Erlang to take a message for him to the people of Baosheng Sword Gym, telling the people of Baosheng Sword Gym: He plans to go to other nearby cities and towns to enjoy the scenery of the Northeast, and come back in a few days.

A-Machi glanced at Suzou who was looking for Yushiro not far away, then lowered his voice a bit.

"Why do you suddenly want to help those farmers deal with bandits?"

"Could it be that you are too bored in Nishino Town and plan to exercise your muscles?"

Hearing this question from A-Machi, Ogata was stunned for a moment.

Then he raised his hand and ran through his hair.

"Why did you choose to help?"

A wry smile appeared on Ogata's face.

When Ogata said these words, A-Machi noticed that there was a bit of memory in the depths of Ogata's pupils.

Ogata seemed to be remembering something.

"I don't know how to tell you in detail"

"Ah! Samurai-sama! Yushiro is back!"

At this moment, while pointing at the end of the street in front of him, Suzaku yelled at the two of Ogata.

Ogata followed the direction pointed by the three fingers of the assistant and saw Yushiro running towards them at a trot.

And behind Yushiro, followed by a samurai.

With a messy confinement head that has not been taken care of for a long time, due to the long time of not taking care of it, the hair is knotted in many places.

The clothes on his body were all torn and dirty, as if they hadn't been washed for a long time, and they were so dirty that they couldn't see their original color.

Perhaps because I couldn't find suitable shoes to wear, I only wore a pair of clogs on my feet, and my dirty feet were red and cracked from the cold.

The appearance of the saber at the waist is also unsightly.The scabbard is full of mottles, and the handle of the handle has fallen off in large numbers, making it very doubtful whether the blade inside is still intact.

The above is what this warrior looks like.

It is a very standard ronin appearance in this era.

Ronin are basically a group of people who eat their last meal and live without a fixed place, so most of them look like beggars.

Susandai Ogata briefly introduced this ronin.

This ronin was Shinzaburo Tsuchiya, the only samurai Suzo and Yushiro had successfully hired before Ogata agreed to assist them.

Tsuchiya is a very taciturn person, neither talking nor expressing much.

Facing Ogata and Atachi, he only said hello very coldly, and after introducing himself, he stopped talking.

The village of Suzaku and the others is a little far away from Nishino Town. Even if they set off early in the morning, if they don't walk fast, they may not be able to arrive before dark.

So after all the people arrived, Ogata and his party officially set off to Zusan and their village.

On the way, Ogata and the others chatted casually.

Through chatting, Ogata learned a lot of new information about Zusan and his village.

For example, there are a total of 89 people in their village, which is extremely small. There are only 32 young and middle-aged people, and the rest are old, weak, women and children.

They were not such a poor village.

Before the "Tianming Famine" broke out, there were nearly 200 people in their village, and the wealth in the village was neither too much nor too little.Although it is not that kind of rich village, it is by no means poor.

However, this was only the situation before the outbreak of the "Famine of Daylight".

After the outbreak of the "Tianming Famine" that spread across the country, the farmers were the most affected.

What's more, the Northeast region is still the center of the "Tianming Famine" and is the hardest hit place.

After the famine broke out, they quickly ate up the food that humans should eat.

After eating all the food that humans should eat, they began to eat food such as barnyardgrass and rice bran that were not only unpalatable, but also very bad for the body.

After eating the weeds and rice bran, they can only eat bark and grass roots

When Sumo and Yushiro were describing the tragic scene when the "Tianming Famine" broke out, they cried uncontrollably because they mentioned the sad place several times.

After the "Tianming Famine" passed, the village, which originally had nearly 200 people, became the size of less than 100 people now.

Some of the other 100 people basically starved to death during the "Famine at dawn".

After finally surviving the terrible "Famine of Heaven", after 3 years of recuperation, finally regained some vitality, and was targeted by wanderers who became bandits. I have to say, their village is really destiny ill-fated.

The other samurai that Zhu San and the others invited was that Tsuchiya. Although he didn't talk much, he also briefly talked about his past when he was on the way.

He was from the Hachinohe domain of Ou.

The Hachinohe clan is a relatively inconspicuous fan country among the clans in Northeast China.

An important indicator to measure the strength of a feudal state is to look at the total rice production of the feudal state in a year.

The total rice production of the Hachinohe clan in one year is only 2 shi, which is less than that of Ogata's hometown, the Hirose clan.

The total rice production of the Hirose clan in one year is still 3 shi.

In the face of the "Tianming Famine", a catastrophic natural disaster that has rarely been encountered in decades, powerful feudal clans like Aizu and Sendai, with an annual rice output of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of koku, can still rely on their strong The family is holding on.

And a clan with a weak family like the Hachinohe clan has no ability to survive this catastrophic natural disaster.

Famine raged, and the finances of the Hachinohe clan were difficult to sustain.

In order to alleviate financial difficulties, the Hachinohe Domain adopted various measures.

One of the measures is to operate on the samurai in the domain.

Using a knife on the samurai is no different from breaking one's own arm, but at that time, the Hachinohe clan couldn't control so much in order to keep the clan country alive.

It's better to break your own arm than to lose your life.

First layoffs.

Many samurai in the domain were deprived of their jobs for various reasons and demoted to ronin.

The remaining samurai who have not been laid off in the second knife will all have their salaries reduced.

Tsuchiya was one of the many warriors who were demoted to ronin in this first knife.

He was originally a junior warrior with a salary of 40 stone years.

Not long after the feudal lord decided to lay off his staff, he was stripped of his job and reduced to a ronin.

The reason he was demoted was that the clothes on his body were too worn out, which damaged the image of a warrior.

Those samurai who were degraded as ronin were basically justified in this way, and then abandoned by the feudal lord who had served half his life conscientiously.

According to Tsuchiya: At that time, many samurai burst into tears when they learned that they had been demoted to ronin.

Almost all of them have served the Hachinohe clan for generations and shed blood and sweat for the Hachinohe clan.

There is no shortage of families who have served the Hachinohe clan for generations since the establishment of the Hachinohe clan and have served the Hachinohe clan for nearly 200 years.

It is not difficult to imagine the feelings of those samurai who have been forcibly reduced to ronin by serving for the Hachinohe clan since their ancestors, but in the end they were abandoned by those whom their ancestors served for generations.

It's a pity that no matter how much they cried or wailed, the feudal lord they had been serving with their lives ignored them from the beginning to the end.

Tsuchiya did not say how he reacted when he learned he had been cast as a ronin.

It is only said that after he was abandoned by the lord of Hachinohe, he left Hachinohe.

Because he has no parents, wife and children, and is alone, he can be regarded as a relatively good type among the many warriors who have been relegated to ronin and lost their source of livelihood.

Those warriors who are old and young are miserable, and they can't do it even if they want to go out and wander.

After leaving Hachinohe, Tsuchiya wandered to Nishinohe Town and lived a semi-settled life in Nishinohe Town.

Because of being able to do some handicrafts, Tsuchiya now relies on handicrafts to earn a living.Live a life without a meal.

Tsuchiya said why he agreed to help the three of their villages.

His reason is simple. He hasn't eaten white rice in big mouthfuls 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 as simple as that.

Ogata and his party set off early in the morning, and when the sky was already half dark, they finally arrived at the village of Zhu San and the others.

They could have arrived a little faster.

Tsuchiya may not have enough energy because he hasn't had a full meal for a long time.Physical strength is not as good as Zhu San and Yu Shiro.

In order to take care of the exhausted Tsuchiya, Ogata and his party took several rests along the way.

If there were no rest time for these few times, Ogata and the others should be able to reach the village of Suzaku and the others before dark.

"That's our village!"

Zuo San raised his hand and pointed forward, and Ogata looked in the direction that Su San's finger was pointing at.

Because they are standing on a hillside now, they can just look down on their village of Zhu San not far in front of them.

Ogata's first impression of Zhuzo and his village was that it was dilapidated and lifeless.

Although the sky began to darken and the light began to dim, Ogata could still barely see the houses in Suzuzo's village through the dim light.

Without exception, all the houses are 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 anger and smoke.

If it weren't for the fact that most of the houses near the restaurant now had cooking smoke wafting out, Ogata really doubted whether there were still people living in this village.

"Let's go into the village." As Zhusan said, he slid down the hillside along a trail not far away.