"Thank you for your hard work, Ozen."

"It's hard work to be an official."

Hearing such a conversation, it seemed like it was a conversation between a feudal lord who was in control and a court official, but in fact it was not the case at all.

This is a joke between the owner of the izakaya and his regular customers - "Gozen-like" means the guest in front of him, and "Toshi Renkan" is even more outrageous. The pronunciation of the craftsman's "Machi Renjian" is similar to "Toshi Renkan". The owner

The two were deliberately confused to retaliate against the guests' "god-like" teasing.

Iwasaki Yajiro laughed, he liked this kind of atmosphere, so he often visited this izakaya.

Murata Takahiro shook his head, feeling very helpless that his old friend was enjoying it so much. The environment and food here were both good, but the atmosphere was too frivolous. However, this is always the case with local residents' shops, and it is the same with other shops. It can only be classified as "where the soil and water support the other."

"people".

In the eighth year of Jiayong (1854), due to concern for his son Yingmin, Murata Xiaoyi finally moved his family here from Zhou Fangguo and became an orchid doctor at Bai Zhu Medical Center.

Originally, he planned to share hardships with his son, but the result was beyond his expectation - he didn't know about other places in the North, but apart from the longer and colder winter, Bai Zhu was very comfortable in other aspects, including food, clothing and housing.

Things are much better than before, but my old friends and neighbors are no longer here, and my son is often away from home, so it is inevitable to feel lonely at times.

But the situation got better the next year - the new neighbors Yajiro Iwasaki and his family also came to the White House to join their son. Yajiro was a person who couldn't bear loneliness and often took himself everywhere to have fun.

My son was taciturn and didn't have many friends. I just made friends with Yajiro with the idea of ​​making friends for him. However, as time went by, their friendship gradually deepened, and we got along surprisingly well, which made my life a lot easier.

At this time, Iwasaki Yajiro was in high spirits and did not notice the look on his old friend's face at all.

Two days ago, his son Yataro was promoted to the position of head of Shirozu Town. He was still so happy that he couldn't suppress his excitement. "I didn't expect that the Iwasaki family would still be here today. It's really a blessing from our ancestors!"

Although his wife Miwa told him not to show off outside, he still likes to go to places with many people like izakayas. "I can't say that I can't listen anymore" - every time he hears someone mentioning that the town worships Iwasaki-sama, he will snap up with joy.

Take a big sip of beer, it’s so cool!

Thinking of this, his throat felt a little itchy, so he quickly pulled Murata to sit down and shouted loudly, "Hurry up and bring the good wine and food!"

"Who is so rude?"

The guests all frowned, but when they turned to look at the two men's clothes, they were all surprised - they were wearing good Wu clothes, so they couldn't be offended.

"Straw sandals, cloth shoes, leather shoes, the feet are the identity; Wufu, short clothes, half-clothes, clothing can identify people."

These two sentences are widely circulated in Bai Zhu and are an important basis for everyone to identify their identity:

Leather shoes are the most popular in Bai Zhu, and most people will wear them after they become rich. One is for comfort, and the other is for convenience in work. When you see leather shoes, you will know that this person is an old man from Bai Zhu.

As for the half-garb, it is the standard uniform for the upper-level civil servants of Shirozu. Originally, they were all short-dressed uniforms. However, after the agency was promoted to the administrative office, the uniform was changed to half-garb. It is said that they were imitated in Edo.

As for straw sandals and Wu clothes, immigrants who have just arrived in Baichu usually wear dirty straw sandals on their feet and shabby Wu clothes on their bodies; but after a few days of resettlement, people look completely new. Cloth shoes and short clothes are the most popular customs.

It is distributed free of charge to both men and women.

However, some newly arrived immigrants are reluctant to part with their new clothes for fear of wearing out their new clothes, and sometimes wear the old Wu clothes they brought.

But those who wear Wu clothes are not all poor people who have just arrived here. After immigrants have money, most of them will buy a brand new Wu clothes to show off.

Usually at this time, everyone would smile, who has never been poor? However, wearing Wu clothes is not conducive to movement and work, so not many people usually wear it.

But this is obviously not the case for these two people, because the sleeves on their bodies are actually made of fine silk!

Master Zhixiu admires frugality, and he only wears cotton and linen. Therefore, Master Bai rarely sees silk clothes, and these two dare to wear them like this. They must be veterans of the Jiangchuan family. These people are weird and cannot commit any crime.

Bad luck!

In fact, this was a misunderstanding - Murata Takahiro's silk kimono was given by Naohide to show how much he valued Hidetoshi; while Iwasaki Yajiro's was purchased urgently before he came to the north, for fear that others would look down on him.

The identity of Tosa Goshi.

After a while, the food and drinks were served, and the cold beer was paired with delicious sashimi. Iwasaki shouted happily, and Murata's expression also relaxed.

August in the Western calendar is the hottest season in the North, but how hot can it get in the North?

But I don’t know what’s going on this year. In previous years, it’s just as hot, but this year it’s extra hot. According to the Yomiuri Waban, “The weather in Fuso is abnormal this year, and it’s probably caused by an earthquake.”

Last year, Yajiro was a witness to the Nankai Earthquake in November of the first year of Ansei (1854). He described the situation that day vividly, and people around him listened unconsciously, which made him even more proud, shaking his head and shaking his head.

But Yu didn't notice that Murata Takamasu secretly finished almost all the food and wine.

When he finished speaking, he found that the beer was gone, and when he asked for more ice cubes, he found that the ice cubes were gone again, which made him furious. The shop owner said, "The weather is hot, and the ice cubes in the cellar are sold out too fast. Please wait a moment."

, someone has been sent to pick it up."

There was no other way, so Yajiro had no choice but to make do - he loved what was in the cup, and it was impossible for him not to drink.

Moreover, this beer is said to be a specialty of the Northland. It is made from wild hops found in the Ezo region. It has a refreshing taste, which is very different from sake. It is Yajiro's favorite, ranking only behind his son Yataro and his wife Miwa.

Yajiro was an alcoholic, but his drinking capacity was limited, and he fell into a coma after a while. Murata Takaaki quickly settled the matter and asked the store clerk to help him go home - Yajiro liked to act like a drunkard, and Murata couldn't stand this.

, so it’s only right to go home quickly.

Watching the two people leave, the shop owner Horii Hanbei sent them out diligently. This Iwasaki-like person was a big customer. Although there were only new customers in the past two months, he was so diligent that he couldn't help but was willing to spend money.

Must be treated with care!

But as soon as Horii returned to the store, he found that the customers were running away. After being shocked, he discovered that there was a big business on the pier - Carrot House's whaling ship had a harvest and was entering the harbor, so everyone ran away

Go watch the fun.

Seeing that no one was paying attention, Horii curled his lips and said, "What's so interesting about this thing? It's just a big fish. Have you seen tens of thousands of seals? We have!"

After tidying up, Horii took his time and poured himself a cup of taro yaki, sipping it slowly, looking at his izakaya, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Don't be afraid of people leaving. After watching the whales, everyone will come back to brag, and the business will be even more prosperous. I remember when I said I would open an izakaya, I faced the opposition of my whole family. Now the business is booming, which proves that my vision is still as good as ever.

.”

Horii's real name was Taro, and he was born in Kuduo. He immigrated to Baichu in Jiayong (1851).

The original name of Huduo is "Piduo". They are people who engage in "unclean" activities, such as slaughtering livestock, tanning leather, burying corpses, executions, scavenging, etc., and are highly discriminated against.

Thinking of this, Horii chuckled. "Being discriminated against" is easy to say, but in fact it is full of bitterness. People who have not experienced it can't even imagine it:

No one wants to deal with you at all, and no one will sell you anything. You can only live in the remote Four Corners Village and fend for yourself.

"The identity of a low-level town citizen is only one-seventh of that of an ordinary town citizen. If six more bad boys are killed, only one low-class town citizen can be executed."

We are all raised by our father and mother, so why am I born inferior to others!

Therefore, even though Horii had a good life in Four Corners Village - he was good at butchering and tanning, but he heard that the White Lord was recruiting people, who were "too dirty to be considered human beings."

After giving the safe token, he immediately took his family on board the ship.

At that time, Naohide promised the Edo bulls and non-heads that "every strong man who immigrated would be paid three taels of gold, and accompanying family members would also be counted as money, regardless of men, women, old and young, and they would be paid at half the rate." However, the bulls and non-heads were afraid of offending Naohide.

As a result, this business without capital could not last long, so the requirements for "fitness" were tightened. "Old people cannot board the ship, and even if they have many children, it is best to be single, strong men and women."

As a rule, they have to give half of the money to the immigrant families - Kita Ezo is so remote, who would have thought otherwise?

Go, but the tall and strong Taro didn't want a penny, so he got on the boat smoothly.

To be honest, Taro was just desperate at that time. He just didn't want his children to sink with him.

However, the result was much better than he thought - Bai Zhu was in desperate need of people at the time, so as long as he was honest and willing to work, he could stay. Because Taro was physically strong, studied hard and practiced hard, he soon became an ashigaru and became a

The official rising warrior.

Speaking of which, due to the vegetarian culture and malnutrition, people at this time generally grew short, and because the butchers in Huiduoli could eat meat, if they were lucky, there would be some tall and strong ones - of course, most of the butchers in Huiduoli could eat meat.

Still living a very unsatisfactory life.

After becoming an ashigaru, Taro immediately changed his name to "Hanbei" to indicate that his family was a samurai.

But he was illiterate, so it was difficult to choose the Miao character, so Naohide gave him the name "Horii" - after civilians like Bai Zhu received the Miao character, most of them asked their superiors to give them names, because they were all retainers of the Hori family, so Hori, Horita,

Miao characters such as "hori wood" emerge in endlessly.

Once the wishes of more than ten generations came true, Horii Hanbei burst into tears and vowed to protect the Horii family for generations. He also worked conscientiously in the subsequent series of actions, and thus received a large amount of cash dividends.

In November 1851, Shirozu reorganized the system and required Ashigaru to be literate. This put Horii in a difficult position. He was not afraid of working hard, and he would not hesitate to kill for the head of the family. However, he was literate and had not recognized the characters since he was born.

Words, 2,000 words are really going to kill him.

As a result, at the end of 1852, after passing the examination with great difficulty, Horii retired. Horii was afraid that Master Shiro would increase the examination and cause him to lose his status as a samurai. At that time, Master Shiro encouraged farmers and businessmen, saying that he could retain his status as a samurai after retiring.

, Horii took the opportunity to propose retiring and doing business.

But later, Horii learned that "the shogunate stipulated that samurai were not allowed to engage in business unless authorized," but the deal was already done and he had no choice but to accept it - anyway, the rules of the Horii family were that samurai could do it, and they could manage as far as the north from Edo!

Horii was in awe of learning, and Bai Zhuxiang School had always opened the door for adults to study. After he retired from the army, he continued to study hard, and unexpectedly found a way out of him. He didn't know much about literacy, but he could basically read and write well, and he was able to

Quite talented in calculations.

So in 1853, he gave up the leather tanning business and opened Horiiya Izakaya instead. Leather tanning was a dirty business, and it easily reminded others of his original identity. He had long since stopped wanting to do it. As a boy

He had always wanted to drink in an izakaya, but he had been kicked out, so this time he took the opportunity to realize his dream.

Everyone had the same idea as him. Street performance was an inhumane job, so immigrants rarely returned to their old jobs. As a result, Bai Zhu had very little entertainment at that time, so the izakaya business was booming.

Horii laughed out loud as he thought about it. At this time, his children all returned from school in the countryside. Seeing his father giggling again, he turned to the kitchen to find his mother. The teacher said it was a mental problem.

Can't afford to offend but can afford to hide.

"You bastard is back, I want to check my homework!"

Horii Hanbei, who prided himself on being knowledgeable and courteous, yelled, and then began to frown. This child has progressed faster than himself, and now it is very difficult to check his homework. How can this be broken? Do you want to continue tutoring, but what about the store?

Okay, can my wife take care of it all by herself with an Ainu helper?

At this time, the crowd of people watching the whales returned to the izakaya, "It's a hard day off and we can't waste it. If we don't get drunk, we won't be sorry for the hard work of the previous four days."

It was busy until dusk, and the izakaya sent away its last guest - his wife didn't come to catch him, or he didn't find the right place.

At this time, Horii Hanbei also made up his mind to sell out the store and collect the rent himself, so that he would have time to study and continue to personally supervise his son to make progress. After he also passed the Ashigaru examination,

The Horii family is a true samurai family.

But what should I do if I succeed in studying and have nothing to do?

Let’s talk about it then. Anyway, the White Lord will not starve to death, so he will have to farm the land! You know, you can’t farm the land if you are dirty, but now that you are a samurai, there will definitely be no problem.
Chapter completed!