Chapter 453 The Unclean Fast Using Japanese Swordsmanship[6500words]
——500 taels...
Ogata couldn't help but take another look at the wanted poster in his hand.
For some reason, at a certain moment just now, Ogata had the urge to surrender to the government!
At the same time as this impulse was generated, a big plan was born in my mind:
First, go to the government to surrender, sell yourself, and then let A-Machi receive the 500 taels of gold, and then figure out a plan to escape from prison.
Ogata felt that his plan seemed to be quite successful.
One day in the future, when we are very short of money, we might be able to come up with a plan that could benefit the government.
He previously participated in the "Imperial Trial" in Edo, and after working hard and with good luck, he finally earned 100 taels of gold.
As long as Ogata and the others don't mess around with the money, 100 taels of gold will be enough for Ogata and his wife to not have to worry about money for at least the next 10 years.
500 taels of gold - if you don't use it to buy antiques or other random things, this amount of money is really enough for Ogata and Atachi to use until the end of their lives.
At this moment, Jincheng on the side waved to Ogata, expressing that he wanted to see the pile of wanted posters.
Ogata was only interested in his own wanted notice, and had no interest in the other wanted notices.
Now that he had read through his own copy of the wanted notices, Ogata was no longer interested in holding the pile of wanted notices. Seeing that Jincheng wanted them, he simply gave them all to him.
Jincheng took the pile of wanted notices from Ogata's hand, looked through them casually, and said:
"I didn't expect you to be the kind of ronin who relies on bounties for a living. These bounty criminals must be very difficult to catch, right?"
"Of course." Huosaka shrugged, "After working hard for several months to track down, only to find out in the end that the criminal with a bounty is dead, or that he is chasing the wrong person, it is just a common thing."
"So my apprentice and I don't all make a living by catching bounty criminals."
"If we come across a job where we can make money and put food on the table, we will do it."
"Just like this job now."
Kawasaka grinned.
"Although I don't have any money to take, I do have white rice to eat, which can save me several days of food. And it's also very suitable for us master and apprentice. Apart from wielding swords, we don't have much else to do.
.”
Jincheng had already roughly flipped through the stack of wanted posters in his hand.
When handing the wanted order to Huosaka, Jincheng said softly:
"Thank you for the invitation. But after all, I am used to being alone and don't really like to hang out with others."
"That's it." Seeing that his invitation for Jincheng to join us as a bounty hunter was rejected, Kawasaka didn't show any annoyance and just smiled casually, "Forget it."
After returning the wanted order to Huosaka, Jincheng smiled, and then continued:
"I just looked at these wanted posters. Ogata Ittousai is really awesome."
"Among these wanted posters, only Ogata Ittosai's reward exceeds one hundred, and it's still a full five hundred."
"As expected of the shogunate's most wanted criminal right now."
"If anyone can catch Ogata Ittousai, his name will remain in history for the time being, and he will have enough food and clothing for the rest of his life. As long as you don't spend money recklessly."
"Ho ho."
Just as Jincheng finished speaking, Huosan suddenly sneered several times.
After sneering, Kasaka, who showed a sarcastic smile, suddenly changed the subject:
"Although 500 taels of gold is enough money for ordinary people like us to have enough food and clothing for a lifetime."
"But for those powerful people, 500 taels of gold may just be their fun money for a few days."
"I used to be a low-level samurai in the Mito Domain of Kanto."
"I have seen with my own eyes how luxurious the ordinary lives of the powerful people of Mito Domain are."
"Because Mito Domain is close to Edo, many dignitaries of Mito Domain would take carriages to Yoshiwara in Edo to have fun."
"In a gold-selling place like Yoshihara, it's common to spend dozens or hundreds of taels of gold in one night."
"After having fun in Yoshiwara, we will take a carriage back to Mito."
"Mito Domain?" Jincheng on the side raised his eyebrows, "You are from the male domain."
Mito Clan - together with Owari Clan and Kishu Clan, is known as the "Three Imperial Households". It is the vassal kingdom closest to the shogunate. They are all powerful vassals with a terrifyingly high number of stones.
As the Mito Domain has the lowest number of stones among the three royal families, with 350,000 stones, it is undoubtedly the most powerful domain.
"That's right. I am a samurai of Mito Domain, but I am only a first-level samurai."
Kawasaka shrugged.
"Before I left the feudal clan, I was a warehouse officer of Mito Domain. I was responsible for abacus, statistics and management of warehouse inventory every day. My salary was only a pitiful 50 koku."
Hearing what Kasaka said, Ogata couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Treasury officer—Ogata is familiar with this job.
"I took over the job of warehouse officer when I was 20 years old."
"When I first took over the job of warehouse officer, I worked very hard."
"Every day I work very hard to calculate the plan, keep the ledger, and work hard."
"But gradually, I realized something was wrong."
The sarcasm in the smile on Kasaka's face became even more intense.
I just don't know who the mocking look on his face is for.
"I work so hard every day, but I can't get any substantial reward."
"Just because I am a low-level samurai."
"You are all samurai. You should all know what being a lower-level samurai means, right?"
Everyone, including Ogata, nodded silently.
Ogata himself was a lower-level samurai of the Hirose Domain, so he naturally knew what the lower-level samurai represented.
It means that unless the ancestral graves are smoking, you will never be able to climb to a high position.
In the Edo period, when the Sekyō Seiro system was followed, one sentence could be used to describe the officialdom of the shogunate and each domain: "The upper-level samurai monopolized high-level official positions, and the lower-level samurai monopolized low-level official positions."
Unless he achieves some earth-shattering feats, even if he struggles for a lifetime, it is impossible for a lower-level samurai to achieve any high position.
"Those warriors with good family backgrounds will be able to reach high-ranking positions if they reach out."
"As for me, a low-level samurai from a lowly background, no matter how hard I try to plan, I will probably never be able to get promoted in my lifetime, and I will have to live a life of poverty."
"I feel very unhappy."
"So I gradually stopped working so hard to serve the public. Regardless of whether I work hard or not, the result is the same. I can only get such a meager salary, and there is no hope of promotion and a good life."
"However, I still complete my part of the job on time and within the quota every day."
"After I started to work less enthusiastically, my boss suddenly came to see me."
"Guess what he told me?"
Kasaka shook his shoulders and sneered again.
"He thinks I haven't worked as hard as before and worked too hard recently."
"I told him: I complete my work every day."
"Then he said: I know that you do your job well every day, but are you satisfied with just that?"
"As a warrior, you should serve the public wholeheartedly and serve your lord."
"Facing a job with a perfect score of 10, we should strive to achieve results of 12 or 15 points."
"Only in this way can we not insult the moral integrity of the samurai."
"I obviously did my job well every day, but I was scolded and lectured for no reason."
"The more I thought about it, the more angry I became."
"Serve my lord? When did the lord of Mito Domain show kindness to me? Why should I risk my life to serve someone I have never met before?"
"Besides, the person who doesn't talk about samurai ethics should be the lord, right? My family has been serving the Mito Domain from generation to generation since the shogunate was established."
"I have been serving the government for two hundred years, but because of my humble background, my salary has never been increased, and I have always been able to do inconspicuous jobs - is there such a thing as samurai ethics?"
"The more I thought about it, the angrier I became, so I went to argue with my boss the next day."
"Then I got scolded by my boss again."
"He said: As a noble warrior, how can you keep thinking about such mundane things as firewood, rice, oil and salt?"
"As a warrior, you should be indifferent to fame and wealth, serve your duty wholeheartedly, and always put your lord first... In short, you are telling me about warrior ethics."
"He also recited to me a sentence from "Ye Yin Wen Shu": 'When you pray from a distance every morning, you should worship the lord and parents first, and then worship the gods and Buddhas. Putting the lord first will not only make your parents happy, but also the gods and Buddhas.
You will also understand this intention. As a warrior, you don’t need to consider anything else except your lord. The stronger your ambition, the more you will be able to pay attention to the situation on your lord’s side and never forget it.”
Kasaka was reciting this famous saying from "Ye Gakuin's Book" and shaking his head, which looked very funny.
"Hagakure Wenshu" - a book written in the first year of Kobo (AD 1716) by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a courtier of Nabeshima Mitsushige, the leader of the Saga Domain, and written down by the samurai Tashiro Jinki over a period of seven years.
Its literary style is a typical "Analects of Confucius style".
It is a samurai training book, telling samurai what they should do and what they should not do in daily life, and what kind of samurai is a "real samurai".
Since the book was written, it has been hailed as a classic by many people. You can learn the true way of the samurai in this book. I think this is a must-read book for all samurai.
The sentence that Kasaka recited just now is a famous saying in "Hagakure Wen Shu".
"I was already very angry. I became even more angry after I heard my boss talk to me about samurai ethics and reciting the "Ye Yin Wen Shu" to me while shaking his head."
"I'm thinking about daily necessities, is there something wrong?"
"If you don't tell me something that can be seen with your eyes and something you can touch with your hands, just tell me some nonsense."
"I finally understand."
"All that samurai morality is bullshit."
"It's just more convenient for people like us who come from humble backgrounds to work for people like them, who have been born with high-ranking officials and generous salaries, and have no worries about food and clothing."
"Anyway, I can only eat enough for one person, so the whole family is not hungry."
"So I was so angry that I fled Mito Domain overnight and became a ronin."
"Although I no longer have a stable source of income, my life is happier than before."
"Everything I earn now belongs to me. No one will point their fingers at me anymore and tell me that I can't think about daily necessities and must be dedicated to serving the public."
Ogata and others have been listening quietly to Kasaka's story about his past.
Ogata was a time traveler and was not a samurai born and raised in the Edo period, so he not only had no affinity for the idea of bushido, but also despised it.
Therefore, when I heard Kasaka bluntly saying that "samurai ethics are bullshit," I didn't feel uncomfortable. I also felt that Kasaka was right and spoke of the cruel nature of samurai ethics - which rulers used to control samurai and rule the country.
tools.
Atachi didn't show any discomfort - she was not a child of the samurai family, so she naturally had no interest in the so-called bushido.
Also showing no signs of discomfort was Tsuchiya.
After hearing what Kasaka had just said, Tsuchiya had no expression on his face - I don't know if it was because he didn't talk much and didn't express much.
Only Jincheng showed obvious displeasure.
As soon as Huosaka finished speaking, Jincheng's expression changed:
"I won't ask too much about the feud between you and your boss, my lord."
"But you are a samurai after all. It's inappropriate to say that 'samurai ethics are bullshit', right?"
"And I think what your boss said is not unreasonable."
"As a samurai, if you always think about mundane things such as firewood, rice, oil, and salt, how is that different from civilians?"
"I just expressed some of my reflections on samurai ethics." Higasaka shrugged, "Kanejo, although you are Osuke, you are also from a Hatamoto family with a salary of 3,500 stone years."
"You shouldn't be able to understand the hopeless life of a lower-level samurai, right?"
The displeasure on Jincheng's face became more intense.
"...Forget it." Jincheng withdrew his gaze from Huosaka, "Everyone has his own ambitions, and I'm too lazy to argue with you anymore."
The conversation between Huosaka and Jincheng just now made the atmosphere at the scene suddenly become a little less harmonious.
At this moment, an unexpected voice sounded:
"Let's talk about something a little more interesting while eating."
The person who spoke was the taciturn Tsuchiya.
In Ogata's impression, this seemed to be the first time Tsuchiya had spoken since dinner.
Because Tsuchiya's mouth was full of rice when he spoke, his words were a little slurred.
As soon as Tsuchiya finished speaking, Huosaka stretched himself hard:
"You're right. We should talk about some relaxed and interesting things while eating. What I just told about my past was a bit too dull. I'm sorry."
“Let’s talk about something interesting!”
"Tsuchiya, judging from your accent, you are from Mutsu, right?" Kasaka turned his attention to Tsuchiya.
"Yes." Tsuchiya nodded, "I am from the Hachinohe Domain of Mutsu."
"Since you are from Mutsu, it's easy to handle." Kasaka showed his iconic grin, "Do you know about 'Bujusai'?"
Tsuchiya raised his eyebrows: "I heard a little bit about it."
"It's good that you know about impure fasting. Then have you heard about the trends of impure fasting? For example, who and so-and-so witnessed the impure fasting somewhere."
Tsuchiya shook his head: "I have only heard a little bit about Bu Jing Zhai. I am not very interested in Bu Jing Zhai. I never take the initiative to ask people around me about the traces of Bu Jing Zhai. I have never heard of any
Things related to impure fasting.”
"That's it..." A touch of frustration appeared on Huosaka's face.
Ogata, who had been listening quietly, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows after Huosaka said the word "Bujusai", which was a bit like a title.
After the conversation between Higasaka and Tsuchiya ended, Ogata interjected and asked:
"Is Bu Jing Zhai a title given to a certain person?"
"That's right!" Huosaka smiled and nodded, "Fujusai is the title of a very powerful warrior. Just like Ogata Ittosai's 'Ittosai'."
"Bujing Zhai? A very powerful warrior?" Jincheng said lightly, "Why have I never heard of this person?"
"It's normal that you haven't heard of him." Kawasaka said slowly, "Fujusai is famous only in Mutsu. Outside of Mutsu, almost no one knows this person."
"I only learned about this person after I wandered to Mutsu with Mizuno four months ago."
"I heard that Bujuzhai is a very powerful warrior."
"Good at wielding a Japanese sword."
"And the swordsmanship he used was the Japanese swordsmanship of Tang Dynasty."
"Japanese swordsmanship?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, with interest in his eyes.
Ogata had heard of the name of Japanese swordsmanship in his previous life.
Many people mistakenly think that Japanese swords are samurai swords, but this is actually not true.
A Japanese sword is a knife that combines the curved blade of a samurai sword with the hilt of a Chinese sword, allowing the use of both Chinese and Japanese sword techniques.
It is said that the founder of Japanese swordsmanship was Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty.
"That's right, it's the Japanese sword technique that is said to have been lost in the Tang Dynasty."
"I don't know where Bujingzhai learned the art of Japanese swordsmanship, and then practiced it to its peak."
"Anyone who is his enemy will be killed by his Japanese sword without leaving a trace."
"Because he is his enemy, after fighting him, the surrounding land will be stained by the enemy's blood, so he calls himself 'Unpure Zhai'."
"I have never seen what Japanese swordsmanship is like, so after I learned about this person, I have been looking for him and wanted to see Japanese swordsmanship with my own eyes."
"It's a pity that after searching for so long, I didn't even see the shadow of Bu Jing Zhai."
"Because Fujusai is famous only in Mutsu, so basically only people in Mutsu know about the existence of this person."
"Not only can I not find the unclean house, I can't even find out what the unclean house looks like..."
"It's normal that you can't find the unclean fast, and you can't find the appearance of the unclean fast." Tsuchiya said coldly, "After all, there was no news related to the unclean fast more than forty years ago.
Out."
"More than forty years?" Ogata exclaimed in a low voice, "Then the uncle is quite old."
"Yes." Tsuchiya nodded, "If Bujuzhai is still alive, he should be almost 70 years old this year."
"As far as I know, not long after Fujusai became famous in Mutsu more than 40 years ago, he suddenly disappeared."
"No one saw him again."
"Nothing related to him has been reported anymore."
"It's like the whole person just disappeared."
"So I think it is possible that Bu Jing Zhai died in an unknown place more than forty years ago."
"Even if he hadn't died, he would have been 6 or 70 years old this year, and he would have died soon."
Hearing Tsuchiya's words, Huosaka laughed and shrugged disapprovingly:
"What you just said is just your guess! Maybe Bu Jing Zhai is still practicing Japanese swordsmanship leisurely somewhere!"
"Anyway, I have a lot of time. I will keep looking until I am really sure that Bu Jing Zhai is dead."
"Japanese swordsmanship, a swordsmanship that originated in the Tang Dynasty but has been lost in the Tang Dynasty, would be a pity if you don't learn about it."
…
…
at the same time--
Located in a house in the center of the village.
At this moment, there are many people in this house.
All the people with higher status and prestige in the village gathered in this house at this time.
The owner of this house is none other than the mayor of this village - an old man with thinning gray hair.
The old village chief sat in the center of the living room of the house.
The rest of the people were sitting around the old village chief.
"...In other words, we have recruited a total of 5 warriors now..." the old village chief said in a hoarse voice, "5...the number is still a bit small..."
"We have tried our best to find samurai who are willing to assist us." The person who spoke was Suzo, "But... there are no samurai willing to assist us...either because they are too dangerous or because the pay is low..."
"Yushiro and I worked hard and finally invited two samurai..."
"...Village Chief." At this moment, a tall middle-aged man sitting cross-legged in front of the old village chief gritted his teeth, "I still think we shouldn't invite those warriors..."
"We can't tell whether the warriors we invited are good or bad, and whether they are reliable..."
"Look, didn't something happen today?"
"Qing Liu's daughter was almost violated by a samurai."
After hearing the words of the "tall middle-aged man", everyone present involuntarily lowered their heads.
Previously, after learning that bandits were interested in their village, they actually had a very heated discussion on whether to ask samurai for help.
Some people feel that they must ask samurai for help. It is more reliable to ask samurai to help than to ask the government for help.
But there are also quite a few people who feel that we should not invite samurai over. Inviting samurai over is no different from inviting a wolf into the house.
The reason is that samurai have a bad reputation.
Although the villagers in this village have not had much contact with samurai, they have also heard many bad rumors related to samurai.
For example: In order to test new swords, some samurai used innocent civilians to test the swords.
Another example: Some samurai were killed by the samurai on the grounds of "rudeness" just because their sabers were touched by others or other trivial matters. Then the samurai had the privilege of "killing the body to avoid immunity".
subject to any punishment.
All in all - many villagers feel that it would be terrible if a bunch of bad-behaved samurai were invited back.
The two factions quarreled fiercely, and in the end it was the respected old village chief who finally decided to invite the warriors to help.
In fact, quite a few people who support the samurai coming to help are also very afraid that the samurai who are invited here will do some atrocities.
It's just that the fear of bandits outweighed the fear of samurai.
When Sukezo and others went to nearby towns to invite samurai, the villagers who stayed at home hurriedly hid their money and food before the samurai arrived.
After Hosaka and Mizuno were the first to arrive in the village, those with young girls at home warned the girls not to go out.
It's a pity - something almost happened today.
That scumbag just arrived in the village this morning. In the evening, while Qingliu and his wife were not at home, he sneaked into their home and planned to violate their daughter.
If another warrior hadn't helped in time, I can't imagine the consequences.
The worry that these invited warriors would cause trouble came true - this made all the villagers feel worried, annoyed, and frightened.
They were afraid that the few remaining warriors might also have impure thoughts.
"The samurai named Kasaka who saved Seiroku's daughter was quite upright..." Sukezo said softly.
"What about the other samurai?" The "tall middle-aged man" who had just questioned the correctness of inviting the samurai back to the village chief said without thinking, "Are the other samurai trustworthy? Are they all upright people?"
Suzo lowered his head and fell silent.
"...Okay." The old village chief sighed softly, "Everyone has been invited back. There is no point in arguing here whether we should invite the warriors over."
"I can only take a gamble and see..."
"I hope the remaining five warriors are all kind-hearted people..."
"But we still need to take precautions."
"Everyone remember to hide all their money and food."
"Those who have young girls at home should take good care of their girls and do not let them be alone at home."