Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 21

Silent all night.

Early the next morning, after getting up and having breakfast, Katsu Kaishu left the room and joined Kuzang and Heitai at the gate of the inn.

According to what was negotiated before, the three decided to go to the street to buy a suit first.

After asking the inn clerk, Sheng Haizhou first went to the two replacement houses in the town, and exchanged the two small sentences for one cent of gold and some Kuan Yong Tongbao; then he went to a second-hand Wu clothing store.

Don't think about buying new clothes, they have to be made to order; most ready-made clothes are second-hand, usually bought by shopkeepers at low prices from pawnshops.

Sheng Haizhou bought himself a [-]% new kimono with small sleeves, a belt, a pair of yin (ancient long-term trousers), a pair of foot bags (socks), a pair of new cloth shoes, and then chose a Yuori (wearing outside the kimono) A crop top, which was fashionable at the time), and a silk-embroidered purse.

Kuzang and Heita, on the other hand, chose two pieces of small sleeves that were [-] to [-] percent new, two pieces of half-height feathers (half-length shorts worn by commoners), two pairs of thongs, and two pairs of straw sandals.Choosing such clothes is also very suitable for their entourage status.

The three bought clothes, shoes and socks, paid the bill, and asked the owner of the Wufu store to find change and write a receipt.After buying the clothes, you have to go back to the inn to take a shower before you can change them.So the guy in the clothing store carried two packages full of clothes and followed the three back to the inn.

After entering the inn, Sheng Kaizhou ordered the inn's staff to go to the street to find a shaving worker, shave and shave the three of them and trim their hair.After a long period of hard work, Sheng Haizhou simply took care of shaving his head. He had grown quite a bit of hair on his bald head, and there was also a bit of beard on his chin.

After the three of them had bathed and put on their newly bought underwear, the inn clerk had already called the shaved staff and was waiting outside Katsu Kaishu's room.

Sheng Haizhou didn't even enter the house, and let the barber dry under the porch.

When the three of them finished shaving their heads, shaved their beards, and put on their newly bought clothes, they looked completely new.Under the respectful gaze of the inn clerk, he came to the street of Matsushima Town again.

When they came yesterday, because it was too dark, they could only see a lot of refugees in the streets and alleys. But in the daytime, when they looked again, there were refugees under the eaves on both sides of the door of the roadside shops and by the walls.

The clothes of these refugees are in tatters, and many of them are rotten to pieces on their bodies.All of them have yellow faces and thin skin, sunken cheeks, and dull eyes.

"Oh, when the adults took me in, I was almost the same as them." Jiuzang looked at the refugees in front of him and muttered.

He was originally a mountain citizen of the Hirosaki Domain. After the disaster, his family who were digging wild vegetables were swallowed by a mudslide because they couldn't dodge in time. Jiuzang escaped because he went to the castle town to work as a coolie.When he was rescued by Zhao Xin, he had not eaten for three days.

Some refugees saw Sheng Haizhou and the three of them looking at them, and saw Sheng Haizhou dressed in gorgeous clothes and two followers standing behind him.So they turned around and pushed their girls in front of them, begging weakly in their mouths: "Master, master, as long as fifty wen, the child will be yours."

"Master, I only need Wuhemi, and this child will be taken away."

For a time, Sheng Haizhou was surrounded by refugees who wanted to sell their girls for a living, attracting the attention of many passers-by.

Sheng Haizhou looked at the refugees who were tortured by starvation, and the girls with tears in their eyes, skinny like firewood sticks. He sighed heavily.

"It can't be saved."

Sheng Kaizhou turned his head and saw that it was a middle-aged samurai.This man's hair is slightly gray, and Tsukiyo's head is meticulously groomed, and his beard is clean-shaven; he wears a light gray sleeve and a blue haori that has been washed a little whitish; katana and wakizashi are tucked into the waist; a pair of straw sandals on the feet.

"What did you say?" Sheng Haizhou asked after bowing his head.

"I said you couldn't be saved." The middle-aged warrior put his hands in his sleeves and turned to Sheng Haizhou sternly.

"But, but you can't watch them die, it's all human lives."

The young and hot-blooded Sheng Haizhou ignored the middle-aged samurai. He took out a dozen Kuan Yong Tong Bao left over from the clothes he bought before, and put a few of them in the hands of every refugee girl.

"Take it, go and buy something to eat for stuttering, I don't have any more." Sheng Haizhou said helplessly.

His current identity is just a young samurai who has traveled away from home, and to put it bluntly, a ronin.He didn't dare and couldn't give alms to the refugees on the street, that would attract the attention of people with a heart.

When Sheng Haizhou gave out copper coins to the refugees, a smile appeared on the middle-aged warrior's face.He himself took out a few Kuan Yong Tong Bao from his arms and handed them to a few refugees.

"Thank you sir, thank you sir!" Several refugees who received the alms bowed and thanked them.This time it was troublesome, and more refugees rushed over to see that someone was giving alms here.

"Follow me." The middle-aged warrior saw the refugees approaching, and hurriedly signaled to Katsu Kaishu.Several people quickened their pace, turned around and left.

The refugees who sold their sons and daughters followed Sheng Haizhou and took a few steps. Seeing that they had no intention of buying children, they turned back one after another and continued to beg other passers-by.

Katsu Kaishu followed the middle-aged samurai out on the street for a few dozen paces, and when he saw that the refugees were no longer following, he stopped and nodded to the middle-aged samurai in thanks.

"Over there..." The middle-aged warrior raised his head to indicate a direction in the distance, and continued with a heavy tone: "Hundreds of corpses are pulled there for burial every day, but hundreds of refugees still come here every day. "

He glanced at the rice shop across the street again, with anger on his face, and said in a low voice, "These black-hearted businessmen! The price of rice is rising every day."

When Sheng Haizhou heard this, he felt that the middle-aged warrior was not bad, so he formally bowed and saluted, and said, "I'm under Sheng Haizhou, I don't know your honorable name?"

The middle-aged warrior also bowed and saluted, saying, "Send the soldiers to the next mountain."

Sheng Haizhou looked at the shadow on the ground, it was already noon.So he enthusiastically said to Katayama Kanbei: "It's noon now, it's better for me to be the host and invite Your Excellency Katayama to the tavern for a chat."

Katayama Kanbei smiled and looked at Katsu Kaishu, who was gorgeously dressed and brought two followers.Embarrassed, he rubbed the top of his head a few times. After thinking for a while, he said, "Alright. To be honest, I haven't had a drink in a few days."

"I only came here yesterday, I don't know where there is a good wine shop?" Katsumi asked Kanbei for advice.

"Hmm. Please come with me." Katayama Kanbei said all of a sudden, while extending his hand, inviting Kasumi Kaishu to accompany him.

The name of the tavern, Takasakiya, is named after Takasaki Mountain in the northeast of Matsushima Town.

Katayama Kanbei opened the door of the tavern and opened the curtain to enter, with Katsu Kaishu following behind him alone.Ping Tai and Jiuzang did not follow, and the two went to a small rice stall next door.

"It's Katayama-sama, you haven't been here for a while."

The tavern owner who was greeting customers behind the counter immediately greeted Katayama Kanbei enthusiastically when he saw Katayama Kanbei, who seemed to be a regular customer.

The proprietress who was in charge of the reception graciously invited the two of them to sit down in a separate small room, and then said to Katayama Kanbei very familiarly: "You haven't been here for more than a month. Is everything okay at home?"

Katayama Kanbei smiled and replied, "Thanks for my concern, it's okay. Ever since I ate your grilled eel rice, I haven't eaten anything delicious."

"You are really good at complimenting you. Your wife will be sad if she hears this." The proprietress covered her mouth and smiled, then turned to Katsukai Zhou and said, "My family's grilled eel is very famous, and many people eat it. agreed."

"Then two servings." Sheng Haizhou said affirmatively, he hadn't eaten grilled eel for a long time. "Take another two pots of good sake and a few side dishes."

Katsu Kaishu felt that Katayama Kanbei spoke and behaved very well to his own spleen and stomach, so he wanted to climb up the friendship with the other party, so he instructed the proprietress generously.

"Okay~ the food and drink will be here soon." The proprietress said happily, and then said to Katayama Kanbei: "Oh, you are such a good friend." She said as she exited the private room.

"It's so embarrassing. It's the first time we met, so I made you spend so much money." As soon as the tavern owner's wife went out, Katayama Kanbei immediately thanked Katsu Kaishu.

"Don't be polite. It's strange to say that when I saw Your Excellency Katayama, I felt very cordial, as if I had known each other for many years." Katsu Kaishu hurriedly explained.

"Then let me introduce myself again. Kanbei in Shimokatayama, a native of Matsushima, is currently working as a concentric in Honmachi." Katayama Kanbei laughed, then sat cross-legged and said very seriously.

If Zhao Xin was present, he would definitely blurt it out, the police of the island country film!
"I'm in Shikasatsu Kaishu, from Omi Gamo County. This time I came here to practice martial arts and visit famous teachers. I heard that Matsushima is famous all over the world for a long time, so I came here to play."

"Hehe, the local scenery is indeed worth seeing." Katayama smiled, then frowned. "But you didn't come at the right time."

The two chatted for a while, Katsu Kaishu asked about the temples and scenic spots here, and Katayama Kanbei gave a general explanation.Soon, the proprietress brought wine and food.Among them, Katayama Kanbei mentioned the grilled eel when he entered the door.

Speaking of eel, don't look at how expensive it is to sell in restaurants in later generations.In the Edo period, it was a low-grade food, and the noble samurai and nobles did not eat it at all.The three luxury delicacies of the island country in this era are whitebait from the Sumida River, sweet fish from the Tama River and early summer bonito; while the seafood is octopus and scallops; and Yanagawa hot pot made with deboned loach, which sells for [-] bucks, [-] bucks ~~
As a low-level samurai, Katayama Kanbei, who had a small salary, rarely had such a big meal, and Katsu Kaishu, who was only a royal calculator (ordinary accountant) before, was not to mention.

This is where the family wealth system developed by the Tokugawa family is involved (the samurai's salary is not given to the samurai alone, but to his entire family.)
For example, for lower-level samurai like Katsu Kaishu and Katayama Kanbei, the annual salary is also "four or two servants", that is, four taels of cash and ten taels of white rice-please note that the white rice here is just unshelled brown rice, which is equivalent to five stones; And gold is not pure gold, but 65%-67% miscellaneous gold.

Zhao Xin can sell 10,000+ yen for a gold coin because he sells antiques instead of gold.

Yuanwen Small Sentence Gold is rated at 65% gold content at the time of issuance, so a 13.11-gram gold coin actually has only 8.52 grams of gold.

The annual salary of four gold coins, deducting impurities and other additives, is only a little more than 34 grams.What is the price of gold in the future?Even if it is calculated at a high price of 500 gram, it is only [-].

As mentioned before, a small sentence of gold worth one tael could buy two buckets of rice for one stone during the normal Edo period; according to the algorithm of two taels and one stone, "four or two servants" can be converted into eight buckets of nine stones of rice. .Then convert it according to the weight of this era, then it is about 8 kg, and if calculated according to the average roughness rate of 1274%, it is about 950-960 kg.According to a family of three, an average of 2.6 kilograms of rice per day seems to be enough to eat. Basically, the whole family eats brown rice every day, and then grows a la carte in their own yard. .

Wait a minute!As a samurai master, you must have a servant, right?If you don't have a house in the city, you have to rent a house, right?Drink tea, drink, smoke a cigarette?What about clothes and shoes?What about paper and ink pen and inkstone?This does not include the daily expenses of the wife and children.

So for a lower-level samurai, that little salary is actually not enough to support a family.

Not to mention the lower-level samurai, so do many Hajimoto samurai.For example, among the Tokugawa family's own samurai samurai, there are many people who work at night without quilts.

Not only was the salary set by the shogunate very low, but many samurai only needed to work two or three days a month, and some positions were even reserved at home, essentially having nothing to do.

Well, under such circumstances, the samurai began to actively carry out various side jobs and earn money to support their families.There are those who grow flowers, those who keep goldfish, those who keep birds, those who keep crickets and grasshoppers, and even the Koga and Iga groups (ninjas), who are the secret troops of the shogunate, have put up paper umbrellas and azaleas, respectively. sideline.

Under such a working system, Katayama Kanbei also had time to eat and drink with Katsu Kaishu at noon.

The reason is very simple, firstly, I have a rest today; secondly, someone treats guests, and the enthusiasm makes me unable to refuse (don't eat for nothing.)
(End of this chapter)