I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

The wife holds the infant daughter in her arms.

And Ning Taro's two big hands tightly held the hands of the other three children, preventing them from moving.

Ning Taro has heard a lot of stories of "children accidentally ran into the car of a daimyo or some high-ranking official, and were hacked to death by the guards of the daimyo or a high-ranking official".

In this era, it is a felony for unrelated people to collide with the car of those "superior people".

If that "superior person" has a good temper, he may let you go.

If the "superior man" has a bad temper, he may instruct his subordinates to hack the person who hit the car to death without any punishment.

The people of the whole village stood on both sides of the widest avenue.

After standing until the legs of some people were sore, they finally saw a small procession appearing at the end of the road. There were many knights on horseback. In the center of this group of warriors on horseback was a very gorgeous cage.

After finally waiting for the unknown senior officials to arrive, the villagers hurriedly lowered their heads, watching their noses and hearts.

Ning Tailang's chin was directly on his chest, and at the same time, he asked the children next to him to lower their heads quickly, and they must not raise their heads before saying that they are allowed to raise their heads.

After a while, Ning Taro heard the sound of a lot of horseshoes and human feet coming from the middle of the road in front of him.

Because he couldn't raise his head, Ning Taro couldn't count how many people there were in the queue, and what the cage in the middle of the queue looked like.

Soon, the queue passed in front of the villagers, and then walked away.

This team did not stop at their village.

Just go straight through the widest road in their village.

After the team left their village completely, a petty official came on horseback and said to the villagers, "It's ok, thank you for your hard work, and you can continue to do what you should do in the future."

After leaving these words, the little official rode away on horseback.

Only the villagers are still dumbfounded.

"Which high official came to our village?"

"do not know."

"I thought some high-ranking official came to Weifu to inspect, but it turned out that he was just borrowing a way in our village?"

The villagers discussed in a hurry.

Ning Taro was not interested in the discussion of the villagers or the queue of high officials who did not know which one was there just now.

When the queue of high officials left and he was told that he could go on and do whatever he wanted, Ning Taro went straight home.

He just wants to make two more birdcages before going to bed, so that his savings can be more sufficient, and he can live a life full of meals as soon as possible.

The inns in the Edo period are divided into 4 categories: Honjin, Waki ​​Honjin, Hatago, and Wooden Rentals.

Honjin is a residential facility dedicated to providing services for daimyo, public officials, and senior officials of the shogunate.

The Waki ​​Honjin, which is one level lower than the Honjin, provided services for daimyo and shogunate officials with lower ranks.

As for the cages and wooden rentals, they are dedicated to ordinary samurai and ordinary people.The grade and service conditions of the wooden rented lodgings are worse than those of the cages.

This evening, a certain Honjin in Dewa became lively.

Because a senior official of a certain government stayed in this main formation tonight.

Who is the official of this government?

Except for the general manager of this formation, the rest of the staff are completely unknown.

But they could vaguely guess from the nervous appearance of their chief executive and the queue of this senior official that this senior official should have a lot of background.

The number of guards, attendants, etc. totaled hundreds of people.

Although the number of people is not very large, all the horses and utensils they use are of good quality. Officials who can use such good products must not be petty officials.

In fact, they should be thankful that they don't know who is staying in their main formation tonight.

If you let them know who is staying tonight, they will probably be so nervous that they can even walk trembling

"My lord."

Tachibana knelt on one knee not far from Matsudaira Sadanobu, and said respectfully to Matsudaira Sadanobu.

"Dinner is ready. Please have your meal."

Matsudaira Sadanobu was sitting cross-legged by the window at this time.

Right now, light snow is flying, dotting the already dark night sky.

Matsudaira Sadanobu just looked at the snow scene outside the window.

"Yeah." Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded gently.

Withdrawing his gaze from the window and sitting down in the room, several attendants brought a sumptuous meal into the room and handed it to Matsudaira Jonobu.

The food has already passed through layers of poison tests just now.

"My lord, this is Ou's specialty food Oma tuna, Kiritanpo, Inaniwa udon noodles and senbei soup. Please use it slowly."

"Oma tuna?" Sadanobu Matsudaira smiled, "It's been a long time since I've had pure Oma tuna."

After all, Matsudaira Sadanobu picked up the bowl and chopsticks and began to eat.

Matsudaira Sadanobu did not choose to go to Ezo by sea.

Instead, choose to go by land.

After arriving at the Tsugaru Strait along the official road, board a boat to Ezo.

It takes longer to travel by land than by sea.

But Matsudaira Sadanobu was not in a hurry to go to Ezo.

It will take a certain amount of time for the army and supplies to be assembled in Ezo.

Therefore, Matsudaira Jonobu, who does not need to rush to Ezo, has enough time to go north along the land line to Ezo at a leisurely speed.

And the reason for choosing to go by land is also for two important purposes.

The first purpose: Sadanobu Matsudaira wants to breathe the air of the Ou area after a long absence.

In addition to being the senior middleman of the shogunate, Matsudaira Sadanobu is also the current lord of the Shirakawa domain in the Ou area.

High-ranking officials like Laozhong and Ruonianji are basically served by pro-vassal daimyos or genealogical daimyos.

The Shirakawa Domain ruled by Matsudaira Sadanobu is one of the pro-fan daimyos in the Mutsu area.

After the current general, Tokugawa Iezai, ascended the throne and appointed Matsudaira Sadanobu as the new old middle school, Matsudaira Sadanobu left the Shirakawa domain, lived in Edo for a long time, and worked wholeheartedly for the revitalization of the shogunate.

Because all the energy in the past few years has been devoted to revitalizing the shogunate, they are unable to deal with the vassal regime of Baihe Fan.

The vassal administration of the Baihe Fan was basically handed over to the important officials headed by the elders.

Matsudaira Sadanobu himself hasn't been back to the Shirakawa clan for a while.

So Matsudaira Sadanobu wanted to take this opportunity to travel overland to Ezo, and take a good breath of the air of the Ou area, which is his birthplace.

If possible, Matsudaira Jonobu would also like to stop by the Shirakawa clan to see his hometown, which he hasn't been back for a long time.

It's a pity that no matter how the route is drawn, it is impossible for his queue to pass through the Baihe Fan unless it makes a big circle.

Therefore, Matsudaira Sadanobu can only give up with regret.

The second purpose of choosing to go overland is to see the people in the Ou area by the way.

After the outbreak of "Ten Ming Famine", the Ou area was the hardest hit place.

Three years ago, not long after the "Tianming Famine" ended, Matsudaira Sadanobu took office as the new and old middle school of the shogunate.

Many of the reforms he has made in the past three years are tailor-made for the "Tianming Famine" to "treat" the various harms caused to the country after the "Tianming Famine" broke out, and to prevent such a large-scale famine from recurring.

Matsudaira Sadanobu wanted to see it with his own eyes.

Look at how the hardest-hit Ou region is recovering now.

Matsudaira Sadanobu has always been adhering to the idea of ​​"farmers' safety, country's safety".

One of the easiest and most effective ways to know how the area is recovering from the disaster is to go and see how the farmers are doing.

So since leaving the Edo period, Matsudaira Sadanobu deliberately directed his team to every village along the way.

Matsudaira Sadanobu mainly looked at the faces of the farmers in the countryside.

Just by looking at their faces, one can get a rough idea of ​​how the farmers are doing now.

Whenever he wanted to pass through a village, Matsudaira Sadanobu would send officials under his command into the village in advance to inform the villagers to stand on both sides of the road.

And when crossing the road full of villagers standing on both sides, Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was sitting in a sedan chair, would observe the faces of the villagers.

Although the villagers all lowered their heads, it did not prevent Matsudaira Sadanobu from observing their figures and the expressions on their faces.

After quickly clearing away all the food on the table that needs to be chewed, Matsudaira Sadanobu picked up the warm soup and drank it in small sips.

While sipping the soup, he said to Tachibana who was waiting aside in a teaching tone.

"Tachibana, have you seen the condition of the villages you passed today?"

"I see." Tachibana Gong said.

"Tell me what you think." Matsudaira Sadanobu continued, "What do you think of the conditions of the villagers in those villages?"

"Yes!"

After Tachibana quickly organized his language, he said with a smile on his face:

"My lord, I think the villagers in the villages we passed today are in very good condition."

"What's the best way?" Matsudaira Sadanobu asked.

"They all look bad without exception." Tachibana replied immediately, "There is no doubt that they all don't eat well."

"But judging from their state, they are not hungry."

"The peasants are neither full nor hungry. It is the best state!"

As soon as Tachibana finished speaking, a faint smile slowly appeared on Matsudaira Sadanobu's face.

"good."

Matsudaira Sadanobu praised.

"It's not in vain that I have cultivated you for so many years."

Hearing Matsudaira Sadanobu's praise, Tachibana couldn't help flashing a bit of joy in his eyes, and then hurriedly said a few modest words.

"Tachibana, remember." Sadanobu Matsudaira said slowly, putting away the smile on his face, "We can't let the farmers live too well, and we can't let the farmers live too badly."

"The villagers in the villages we passed today are in very good condition."

"If the farmers in all the rural areas of the country are in the same state as the farmers in the few rural areas we passed by today, then our country will be able to enjoy long-term stability."

"Tachibana, remember this sentence firmly."

Matsudaira paused for a moment.

Then he said quietly:

"Letting the peasants half-dead is the secret of governing the country."

As soon as Matsudaira Sadanobu's voice fell, Tachibana nodded vigorously:

"Yes! Thank you, Mr. Zhong, for your teaching!"

"So far, the situation in each village can be regarded as satisfactory." Matsudaira Sadanobu continued, "I hope that every village I encounter in the future will continue to satisfy me."

After finishing speaking, Matsudaira Sadanobu drank the soup in the bowl in his hand in one go.

When putting the empty bowl back on the table in front of him, Matsudaira Sadanobu said softly:

"This bowl of senbei soup tastes really good, even better than any senbei soup I've had before."

"My lord, Mr. Kimura, who is in charge of managing this headquarters, specially asked his staff to choose the freshest ingredients to cook this bowl of senbei soup after learning that you will be staying here tonight." Tachibana replied, " Probably because of this, the taste of this bowl of senbei soup is more delicious."

"So that's how it is." Matsudaira Sadanobu said with a wry smile, "I really have a heart."

"But I don't much like welcoming me with such fanfare."

"Tachibana, go tell that Kimura now, and say: I thank him for his kindness, but don't do similar things again."

"Yes!"

Kanzheng two years, December 12th.