Ogata leaned down and shouted to the man squatting in the snow.
"How are you?"
After hearing Ogata's shouts, the unknown person squatting in the snow raised his head and looked at Ogata.
It was the face of a weather-beaten middle-aged man.
But for some reason, there was a bit of pain on his face.
"Samurai-sama..." The middle-aged man looked at the sword on Ogata's waist, "Please... can you help me..."
"I... I accidentally fell down just now and I think I hurt my foot..."
"I can't walk back to the village alone with my injured leg..."
"Can you help take me back to the village?"
"The village I live in is not far from here, please!"
"Send you back to the village..." Ogata looked the middle-aged man up and down, "I'm happy to do something like this that I can do. But before I help you -"
Ogata stretched out his hand and groped up and down the middle-aged man's body.
"Master Samurai..." the middle-aged man asked doubtfully, "What are you doing?"
"I'm just checking to see if you have any weapons like knives or poison on you."
After groping the middle-aged man's whole body, Ogata clapped his hands.
"Okay, you don't have a weapon on you. It seems that you are not planning to use dirty tricks to deal with my assassin."
"Master Samurai, you are joking." The middle-aged man smiled bitterly, "Why should I harm you for no reason?"
In response to the middle-aged man's words, Ogata showed a meaningful smile.
Ogata pulled the middle-aged man onto his back and carried him on his back.
"Hurry up."
"Okay, samurai-sama, thank you." The middle-aged man said in a sincere tone, "In this world, there are not many samurai with an ancient heart like you."
"You're welcome." Ogata smiled, "It's just a trivial matter to me anyway. Please show me the way. Which direction is the village you live in?"
…
…
Under the guidance of the middle-aged man, Ogata walked slowly toward the village where the middle-aged man lived.
What a coincidence - the direction of the village where this middle-aged man lives coincides with the direction Ogata wanted to go in the first place.
So Ogata dropped by to see this middle-aged man home.
When sending this middle-aged man home, Ogata chatted with him all the time.
Through small talk with this middle-aged man, Ogata learned that this middle-aged man's name is Yoshiro, and the village where he lives is called Sihe Village.
He left the village this time in order to find something to eat in the wild.
"Looking for something to eat?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, "In such a snowy day, how can there be anything edible in the wild?"
"Haha..." Yoshiro laughed helplessly, "So I'm just here to try my luck... maybe I can find something that can be eaten... My family and I have been waiting for a long time
I haven’t had a full meal yet…”
Having said this, Yoshiro let out a long sigh.
"Sigh... It's all the fault of the hateful Negishi family... If it weren't for them, our village wouldn't be what it is now..."
"The Negishi family?" Ogata asked doubtfully.
"It's the 'Yakuza' entrenched in this place..." At this point, Yoshiro let out a long sigh again, "The only thing the Negishi family knows how to do is to bully ordinary people like us."
"It is said that the power of the Negishi family extends to half of the Tatsuno Domain."
"All nearby villages, including our Four River Village, are the targets of oppression by the Negishi family."
"They send people to every village every month and ask for a lot of money from every household."
“They put it nicely that they charge ‘protection money’.”
"But it's actually a naked attempt to blackmail us."
"We ordinary people already have heavy taxes to pay."
"After paying the tax, we also have to pay a large amount of money to the Negishi family."
"If you don't pay the money to the Negishi family every month, you will be endlessly harassed by the Negishi family..."
"It's because of these bastards that everyone in the village is almost having trouble living..."
Yoshiro's tone was full of indignation and... grievance.
At the end of his words, Ogata could hear a hint of crying in his tone.
"Didn't you report it to the people in the domain?" Ogata asked, "The Negishi family is so powerful, and their people are so arrogant, so it's impossible that the people in the domain don't know about the existence of this group of people, right?
?”
"Samurai-sama..." Yoshiro showed a bitter smile, "If the officials can be so reliable... we common people don't have to go hungry anymore..."
"The people in the domain have long been colluding with the Negishi family."
"The Negishi family sends a large amount of money every month to bribe the officials of the feudal government."
"So the people in the domain have always turned a blind eye to the various behaviors of the Negishi family."
"It's not like we haven't tried to report to the officials and report what the Negishi family has done to the people in the feudal government..."
"We tried many times."
"But no matter how many times we try, the people in the feudal government ignore us."
"Just ignore us. They also told the Negishi family who will report to them what the Negishi family did today..."
"Because of the leaks from people in the feudal government, those who had the courage to report the Negishi family to the feudal government were beaten to disability or directly killed by the Negishi family members..."
"As time goes by, everyone dares to be angry but dare not speak out, and can only silently endure the oppression of the Negishi family..."
After listening to Yoshiro's words quietly, Ogata remained silent.
After being silent for a while, he sighed:
"These dog officials are really hateful..."
"Yeah..." Yoshiro slowly clenched his fists, "Those dog officials are really... so hateful...!"
…
…
When I was carrying Yoshiro back to his village, the originally heavy wind and snow gradually subsided.
Not only did the wind and snow subside, the dark clouds that had been squeezing the sky gradually dispersed, revealing the looming sunshine.
Without the obstruction of wind and snow, Ogata could walk more easily.
Carrying Yoshiro on his back, he kept walking forward along the rural dirt road covered with thick white snow.
Finally - Ogata saw many thin streaks of smoke ahead.
"Samurai-sama!" Yoshiro said excitedly, "We are here! My village is ahead!"
"Okay." Ogata lifted Yoshiro on his back, "Sit tight, let's speed up a little!"