Speaking of which, Qingdeng——
From the perspective of modern legal science, Aoto's behavior of violently beating up the ronin who was trying to extort money was a very reasonable self-defense. However, in the Edo period, there was a famous law called "Noisy two successes or failure."
"Noisy" in Japanese means disputes and violent conflicts between two people.
This law first appeared in the Muromachi Shogunate era (1336-1573). For those who make noises, regardless of who is right or wrong, both parties to the conflict will be punished.
Both the Muromachi shogunate and the national division laws of the Warring States Period adopted the principle of "noisy success or failure" as the principle of arbitration.
After the Edo shogunate was established, although it was not explicitly stipulated in the royal decree, the law of success or failure still became a customary law and was passed down.
If a police officer really comes to our door and wants to hold Qingdeng and others accountable for "fighting with ronin in the street"... Although they don't want to see this situation arise, Qingdeng and his party will not feel bad about it.
fear.
There is no need for Tokugawa Iemo and Tenzouin to take action. Qingto's own energy and connections alone are enough to settle this small incident.
However, doing more is worse than doing less.
Therefore, adhering to the concept and mentality of "avoiding trouble if possible", Aomori and others did not stay in Nihonbashi for long.
Where to go next?
Tokugawa Iemo thought for a while and slowly spit out a place name that everyone in Edo knew and knew: Kanda.
To sum it up in easy-to-understand terms...Kanda is the only vegetable wholesale market in Edo.
Most of the vegetable merchants and vegetable vendors throughout Edo first purchase their goods from Kanda and then sell them everywhere.
Every day before dawn, a large number of farmers living in the suburbs of Edo would bring fresh fruits and vegetables to Kanda for sale.
The famous writer Ihara Saikaku, who once wrote "The Erotic Man", which was known as "Japan's Golden Lotus", once described the lively scene of the Kanda vegetable market in his book "The Use of the World's Breasts" (1692). He wrote:
"Every day, horses carry radishes. It looks like the farmland is moving on its own."
Qingden had never been to Kanda, and even in his previous life, he had never visited any fruit and vegetable wholesale market.
Therefore, after entering this lively area where the air was always filled with the fragrance of plants, he was immediately shocked by the novel sight in front of him and his eyebrows jumped slightly.
Looking up, you can see pits full of fresh fruits and vegetables.
"Eggplant! Eggplant! Does anyone want some eggplant?"
"Spinach! Spinach is sold cheaply!"
"Oranges are in season! Come and see! Oranges are in season!"
…
Stalls, large or small, line both sides of the main roads in Kanda.
A dazzling array of vegetables and fruits decorate the inside and outside of Kanda like a large farm.
Countless peasants in simple clothes shuttled back and forth throughout Kanda.
More than half of them can only rely on a stone back and a pair of iron shoulders to carry heavy fruits and vegetables.
Only a few people from relatively wealthy families had the financial resources to use livestock and use oxen and horses to transport goods.
If there are farmers selling vegetables, then there will naturally be merchants who come to purchase goods.
"Tsk...why are these eggplants so stale..."
"Hey! Why are your cabbages getting more and more expensive?"
"Hey, uncle, I didn't mean to lower the price! The recent market conditions are not good, and you know this too!"
…
Crowding, people jostling and horses barking - these two idioms seem to be the most suitable to describe Kanda, which is still bustling even during today's New Year's Day.
However, Tokugawa Iemo, who watched all this quietly, did not show any peace of mind or relief.
"So thin..."
The words Tokugawa Iemo muttered in a low voice formed into particles and passed lightly into Qingnobo's ears.
Qingdeng knew what this meant - because he happened to have the exact same emotion at almost the same time - almost all the farmers who appeared in front of them were too thin.
There is not even one person out of ten who has a ruddy complexion.
There are so many skinny people with few ounces of meat on their bodies.
There are countless people with swollen legs and feet.
Obviously they are the people who grow food.
It was obvious that they were carrying a large amount of delicious food on their shoulders and backs.
As a result, each of them looked hungry, and each one was thinner than the last.
The peasants under the Tokugawa family were thin - this is normal, but it would be abnormal if they were all strong.
The local tax stipulated by the Edo shogunate is "four public and six citizens", that is, 40% of the total annual income must be handed over to the government.
In addition to such high taxes, there are also a wide variety of handymen who weigh on the shoulders of farmers.
All in all, no matter in the shogunate Tenryo or in various vassal fiefdoms, more than 80% of the farmers are shockingly poor due to being exploited, and the economy is extremely fragile. If there is any natural or man-made disaster, they will immediately lose everything.
Only landlords and some rich peasants could afford to eat rice, while the rest of the peasants could only survive on tares and red rice.
Tares: Weeds used exclusively for livestock in modern times.
Red rice: A crop that tastes extremely unpleasant. Because the taste is so unpleasant, the government always emphasizes "no red rice" when harvesting grain.
If you eat these two things for a long time, you will have trouble if your body is not weak.
"Huh? Where are you going?"
Tenzōin looked at Tokugawa Iemo in surprise as he suddenly walked straight to a vegetable stall nearby.
"I'm not going anywhere." Tokugawa Iemo replied calmly, "I just... wanted to find someone to ask a few simple questions."
The vegetable stall owner who was patronized by Tokugawa Iemo was an old man around 50 years old. Like most farmers here, he could not afford livestock and could only use a pole thicker than his waist.
The two large baskets of vegetables in the previous circle were brought to Edo from the countryside where I lived.
Ayoto didn't know where this old man lived, but he knew that the nearest rural area to Edo was at least half an hour away no matter how fast he walked.
Lifting vegetables weighing at least 30 kilograms with a pole and walking on a rugged dirt road for half an hour or even longer... Such a difficult life is just the reality of the countless farmers who are bustling in the streets of Kanda right now.
Just a daily portrait.
"Ah! Takeshi, samurai master! Good day!"
Seeing Qingdeng and others approaching his stall, the old man was massaging his slightly swollen calves. He quickly stood up, stammered hello, and looked nervously and doubtfully at Qingdeng and others.
Qingdeng and his entourage were not dressed like businessmen coming to buy goods, so it was no wonder that the old man showed such expressions and eyes.
"Old sir." Tokugawa Iemo asked with a smile, "How is your business?"
As soon as Tokugawa Iemo opened his mouth, the old man was startled.
Good guy, a samurai uncle with a sword on his waist actually called him sir? He also used honorifics? A strong feeling of astonishment surrounded the old man's body.
The nervous look on the old man's face suddenly became exponentially more intense, and he didn't even know how to move his hands and feet.
He struggled to twist his tongue, which seemed to be tied up, and muttered:
"I, I, I, I, my business today is so good, so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so other so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so other so so so so so so so other so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so soud‐ud diceded, it, it was so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, too, so, so, so, so, so, so, too, too, too bad for," he said, "I didn't sell a lot of vegetables!"
"It's just so-so..." Tokugawa Iemo nodded slightly, then moved his eyes down and glanced at the old man's swollen feet, "Old sir, your body... doesn't look very healthy. Have you eaten well?"
"Ah...?" The old man's eyes were wide open, and he looked suspicious that he had heard something wrong.
Tokugawa Iemo had no choice but to repeat the question just now.
"Eat well...this..." the old man sneered a few times, "Master Samurai, you, you are really joking. I am just a humble farmer. I am very satisfied if I can have a mouthful of food without starving to death."
, I dare not ask for more..."
"So how is your current life?" Tokugawa Iemo continued to ask further questions.
Tokugawa Iemo's young face and kind attitude made the old man's nervousness melt away a lot.
The old man's demeanor gradually relaxed, and he became less nervous and stuttered when he spoke.
"The current life...is just like that."
The old man sighed heavily.
"It's not much better, but it's not so miserable that I can't go on."
"However, I am not dissatisfied with my current life. No matter how bad the life is... it is still better than the days when there was a natural famine..."
The Tenpo Famine is the great famine that swept across Japan more than 20 years ago and caused countless people to starve to death.
No one can tell how many people starved to death in the Tianbao Famine that lasted for several years.
When the famine was at its worst, not to mention tares and red rice, even the bark of the trees in the mountains was almost eaten up by the victims.
Later, the increasingly corrupt forms of disaster relief and the incompetence of the shogunate aroused the anger of the people, directly triggering the "Oshio Heihachiro Uprising" (1837) that shocked the country and still scares the shogunate to this day.
The brutal fighting between the government troops and the rebels left many traces of the war in Osaka today.
When he uttered the words "Heaven protects famine", the big man seemed to be recalling some unbearable past events. His face turned pale and his body shook hard several times.
After a moment, he sighed again.
"Master Samurai, I think you look like a kind person, so I'll tell you something heartfelt..."
"In recent years, there have been no major disasters, but life has become increasingly difficult."
"Things on the market are getting more and more expensive. Not to mention the luxury goods used by rich people, even salt, pots and bowls for eating... and other things that are necessary for daily life are all going up.
The price of land has gone up, but it has never gone down.”
"At this critical moment when money is needed more than ever, the rice and vegetables I have grown with so much painstaking efforts, as well as the cloth woven by my mother-in-law, are becoming increasingly difficult to sell."
"To be honest...if this continues, I'm really afraid that one day my family and I will starve to death because we have no money to buy food..."
"I'm just a rough guy, I don't know a single word, I don't understand the big principles, I'm a college student, and the only craft I know how to do is farming, so I don't dare to give advice to the officials..."
"Sigh... I just hope that the officials can quickly implement some benevolent policies so that the lives of poor people like us can be easier as soon as possible..."
Before he finished speaking, the old man laughed bitterly at himself.
"..." Tokugawa Iemo fell silent with a complex expression. He raised his gaze numbly and inadvertently cast his gaze into the distance, his cheeks filled with elusive emotions.
Why does the old man feel that life has become difficult nowadays?
Due to limited cognitive level, even in the West, where culture and technology are the most developed, the profession of economics has just begun. Therefore, let’s not talk about just a farmer, even if you look across the country of Japan, there are five people in the country.
Not many scholars or government officials with rich political experience can answer this question.
As a time traveler, Qingdeng, who had studied in middle school history classes the methods used by Western powers to exploit colonies and semi-colonies, roughly knew what the answer was.
The fate of countries and places invaded by Western powers is basically the same.
What the old man just said was actually wrong.
This country has not been without major disasters in recent years - just over 7 years ago, didn't that major incident known as the "Black Ship Attack" plunge this country into a state of great change unseen in a thousand years?
After Japan was founded, foreign trade surged.
Economic commodities such as raw silk, tea, silkworm seeds and cotton were exported in large quantities, causing prices to rise.
Let’s not mention other commodities, just take raw silk as an example: due to insufficient quantity and rising prices of raw silk, the silk weaving industry in various places, led by Nishijin in Kyoto, has become unsustainable.
The skyrocketing prices of export products have also affected general commodity prices. The price of rice has been rising year by year since a few years ago.
Because the price of gold in Japan is far lower than the international price, Western businessmen and embassy personnel from various countries took advantage of the difference to rob Japanese gold, causing a large outflow of gold and falling gold prices. It also prompted a sharp increase in the prices of daily necessities such as rice, wheat, and salt.
This caused further hardship to the lives of civilians and middle- and lower-level samurai.
In a nutshell - the semi-colonial and semi-feudal social environment has made the current Japanese economy go from bad to worse.
If we want to fundamentally solve this problem... it is far from enough to just rely on the so-called benevolent policies and the issuance of a few so-called policies and orders to benefit the people.
Aonto thought: Tokugawa Iemo should have roughly understood the crux of this problem, so he showed such an expression as if he had eaten a fly.
About 2 minutes later, Tokugawa Iemoji took a long breath, and then slowly withdrew his gaze to look into the distance.
"Old sir, thank you for your answer. Can you please help me pick the 10 freshest Chinese cabbages? I want to buy them."
Hearing that Tokugawa Iemo wanted to buy his food, the old man suddenly became excited.
He responded with a bright smile and said "Okay" loudly.
The old face covered with wrinkles and dust showed no trace of the anguish he had just described when he was describing the hard life he was living.
For the people at the bottom, happiness is so simple...and difficult.
…
…
Qingden and his party left Kanda without talking all the way, holding 10 cabbages in their arms.
After leaving Kanda, under the instructions of Tokugawa Iemo, they headed straight west to the next inspection site: Koishikawa Health Center.
Koishikawa Health Center - The Eighth Generation Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune, after receiving a petition from the Kam herbalist Ogawa Sasufune to put it into a Meian box (public opinion box), ordered the establishment of a health center for the poor in the seventh year of Kyōho (1722).
The medical facility, the Koishikawa Health Center, could initially accommodate about forty patients, and later increased to more than one hundred and fifty patients.
Until now, this old hospital with a history of hundreds of years is still the most famous charity institution under the Edo shogunate.
The biggest feature of Koishikawa Health Center is that you can receive free medical treatment.
For the poor people at the bottom who have trouble even eating, the Koishikawa Health Center, which can provide free medical services, is like a life-saving straw.
Tokugawa Iemo probably wanted to take an in-depth look at the operating status of this charity hospital, which has high hopes for countless poor people.
Except for the time when he first traveled across time, Qingto, who had never been short of money for daily expenses, naturally had never visited the Koishikawa Health Center, which specialized in serving the poor.
In Qingdeng's imagination, the entrance of this kind of charity hospital should be crowded with poor people waiting for treatment.
But who knew... After arriving at Koishikawa Health Center, Qingto suddenly realized how conservative his imagination was...
At this moment, an indescribable scene unfolded in the field of vision of Qingdeng and others.
Today's sunshine is so bright - but such bright sunshine, when it shines on the surrounding areas of Koishikawa Health Center, the light is instantly dimmed due to the influence of the environment.
The red soil road near Koishikawa Health Center is covered with a thick layer of variegated color that looks like grease.
The colors that make up this patchwork are: dark brown, burnt black, dark green... In short, all the ugly colors that can cause people's physical discomfort can be found here.
If you look carefully, you will find that these color blocks are actually living people.
There were men, women, old and young, and a rough visual inspection revealed that there were about a thousand people.
They gathered on the street, in the middle of the road, and on every inch of land around the Koishikawa Health Center.
A pungent stench composed of the smell of sweat, feces, urine, and body odor from not bathing for a long time permeated this crowded and heavy space.
Children's cries, feeble moans, comforting sounds with sobbing sounds, and screams that are unbearable to hear...these noisy sounds filled the ears of Qingden and others with an overwhelming sense of presence.
"Mom...my stomach hurts..." a little girl said angrily.
"Be good...you can see the doctor soon. Just bear with it a little longer...just bear with it a little longer..." The young woman holding the little girl patted the little girl's back with one hand and wiped it away quietly with the other hand.
Tears in the corners of the eyes.
Although she said, "You will see the doctor soon," there were still at least 200 people queuing in front of her... It was already afternoon, and if nothing else happened, it would be absolutely impossible for the mother and son to cross the border today.
Go through the gate of Koishikawa Health Center.
"Masters! I beg you!" A middle-aged man knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the people lined up in front of him with tears streaming down his face. "My mother... my mother is about to die of illness! Please
Come on, please! Give me your seat in the queue and let my mother see the doctor first! I beg you!"
A young man in front of him turned his head impatiently and scolded: "Your mother is going to die of illness, but my son is also dying of illness! If I give up my place in the queue to you, what will happen to my son?"
?”
With this young man taking the lead, others immediately joined in the condemnation.
"That's right! You can't be so selfish!"
"Your mother's life is life, but my daughter's life is not life?"
"I started queuing here before dawn! Are you trying to steal my seat with just one mouthful? What a beautiful idea!"
…
Facing the flood of accusations and abuses, the middle-aged man did not make any rebuttal.
He just continued to kowtow silently, and silently begged everyone to give him his place in the queue, silently trying to fight for as much life as possible for his mother.
Similar pictures and similar situations appear everywhere in this not-so-large space.
Looking at the scene in front of them, Qingdeng and his party showed different expressions, but the emotions contained in them were quite consistent.
Sha Zhong drooped the corners of her mouth.
Yae lowered his head and eyes.
Tianzhangyuan's eyes flashed with sadness.
Tokugawa Iemo remained calm, but his hands, which were naturally hanging down, were now clenched tightly.
As for Aoto...he has no expression on his face just like Tokugawa Iemo.
But in fact, his heart at this time was not unwavering.
At this moment, Qingdeng's mind suddenly had this thought:
——This is the true portrayal of the poor people at the bottom of the feudal era...
With this thought, an unknown strange emotion emerged from Qingdeng's heart...
Suddenly, an angry shout attracted all the attention of Qingdeng and his party.
"Hey! Why is there such a thing here? Hey! Smelly woman, get out of here! This is a medical center for treating people, not a place where you dirty dirty people should come! The evil energy in your body will
If you pollute this place, everyone will get sick!"
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