Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 9 Asking Hearts Late at Night ([-])

Zhao Xin took the hot water handed by Shino, took a sip, and didn't answer, he knew that Katsu Saburo had something to say.

Sure enough, Katsuzaburō took the water cup that Shino handed over, but put it next to him and didn't drink it.He waited for Zhao Xin to put down the water glass, and continued: "I went all the way south from Omi, if it weren't for the theft of my property, I might have left Edo early.

But it was also because of the few months I stayed in Edo that after the disaster broke out, those big businessmen began to drive up the price of rice, and many people couldn't even afford a liter of rice for a day's wages.why is that? !

After I decided to come to Mutsu to help the victims, along the way I saw that the feudal lords, big and small, were still desperately squeezing the people, regardless of the life of the farmers.Those farmers have gone bankrupt, but the magistrates are still forcing them to hand over the full annual tribute.

I don't know what's going on in this world.Since I was rescued by you, I can't stop thinking about this question. "

Sheng Saburo shook his head in pain, and clenched his fists with both hands, and the knuckles were pinched with a click.

"The Book of Five Rings says, 'The way of a samurai is to master the power of the weapon in his hand.'

But with the knife in my hand, how can I dominate those big businessmen, how... how can I force those feudal lords and senior middle schoolers to open positions for relief! "

Zhao Xin has read "Book of Five Wheels".The core of this work, which later generations is called "the world's three major art of war books", is actually about the use of timing.With the flexibility and quality of water, the offensive is like fire, and the fighting spirit is controlled at will to defeat the opponent.The ultimate state is to be able to be free from being bound by the truth, so as to enter the true way of nature.And all of this requires constant exercise in daily life.

However, in Miyamoto Musashi's ideological system, he still believes that the ultimate meaning of the samurai's practice of the art of war is to gain power and fame for the master through practice.Of course, this is the only way for the warriors in this era to get in.

Zhao Xin stared at Katsu Saburo, trying to figure out what the guy opposite was thinking about.

Sheng Saburo didn't care about Zhao Xin's gaze, he took a drink from the water glass, pursed his dry lips, and continued: "So, even if I have a knife, I can't save these refugees with my ability. .And after this riot..."

Having said this, he pointed to the wound on his head with a wry smile.

"Miyamoto Musashi fought a duel at Ichijo Temple back then, one person against 400 people and was able to break through the encirclement. And my martial arts can't even stop this small-scale riot.

My lord, what I want to ask you is, what are your plans for the more than 100 people in the camp?What do you want to do next? "

Zhao Xin's expression gradually became serious, and he suddenly realized that these people are not NPCs in the game, but living people!
He looked at Katsu Saburo and understood that the young man in front of him had lost confidence in the martial arts and knowledge he had learned since childhood, and had doubts about the life goals he had set before.

"Katsu Saburo, you must understand that ten or a hundred enemies can't even save yourself, only ten thousand enemies can save the world!"

Sheng Saburo's eyes lit up at Zhao Xin's casual words, and he knelt down in front of Zhao Xin and said, "Please teach me!"

Zhao Xin rubbed the back of his head a few times, thinking badly, this matter is getting bigger and bigger, why don't you do it right away?

Although he thought so in his heart, Zhao Xin said on his mouth: "There are a few places to go, but you need to take a boat to cross the sea."

"By boat? Crossing the sea?"

Sheng Saburo was a little confused, it was beyond his scope of thinking.

It is said that the great famine that occurred in the island country in history is known as the "Tianming Famine".This famine is also known as the "Hell of Ice and Fire" in later generations!
Since 1782, the second year of Tianming, disasters have occurred frequently in all parts of the island country due to abnormal weather. In the early spring, the weather in the Kanto region began to be rainy and rainy. Even in the early summer, most people still wore winter clothes. cotton coat.Gloomy skies and muddy swampy land herald a dark age to come.

In the second year of Tianming, the cold and wet northeasterly wind, known as the "mountain back", swept across the northeast of the entire island country, resulting in a freezing disaster that caused widespread failure of grain harvests.

A few years later, a Confucian scholar from the Hachinohe Domain of the Jiafei Kingdom recorded this real history as a survivor on the "starved to death for all souls offering towers" in Tsuishenyuan: "On April [-]th, the lightning flashed and the mountains rang out. From the back, it rained heavily until August, and it started to clear on September [-], and the crops in floods and droughts were always as green as the first sprouting."

In the third year of Tianming, Mt. Iwaki and Mt. Asama erupted one after another, especially Mt. Asama's volcanic eruption was extremely serious.A huge amount of volcanic ash flew to the east and southeast by the westerly wind, and even Edo, which was far away, dropped an inch of dust.

Because the volcanic ash was ejected into the stratosphere and blocked the sunlight, the sun was always bleak that year.This is tantamount to the fact that the frost disaster caused by the "back of the mountain" continued to make things worse, so many places in the northeastern part of the island country failed to harvest again after the previous year.

This great famine will last for six years, millions of people will starve to death, and the culmination of the disaster will be the "Great Edo Rebellion" that will take place four years later.Those refugees who have left their hometowns and live in the city have been oppressed, and once the dissatisfaction they have accumulated over the years erupts, it immediately ignites the entire public class, from a small dispute to a riot involving beating, smashing, and looting by countless city residents.

In the eyes of later historians, this riot was almost a dress rehearsal of the French Revolution in the Far East two years later!

The civic uprising was not quelled until four days later, leaving behind the devastated Edo castle town.

Since then, the island country has entered the era of the end of the Tokugawa period.

Zhao Xin did not dare to explain to Katsu Saburo what would happen in the future, he could only say: "In my opinion, this famine will last for a long time, and it will take at least five years to slowly ease."

He hesitated for a moment, and a slow, heavy voice filled the space inside the tent: "Millions of people will die."

"What?!" Katsu Saburo was taken aback.Rikichi, Shino, and Wanzao's wife, who were quietly listening to the conversation between the two, were also stunned.

"Five years?!" Shino was shocked.

"You mean millions?! This, how is this possible..." Katsuzaburō shouted out in shock.

"Yes, millions of people died, and the disaster may last for more than five years." Zhao Xin's tone was quite heavy, he looked at a few people and explained: "You have all seen what we have seen along the way. Katsu Saburo, you I came from Edo, and I believe you have seen a lot. How many villages have been destroyed, how many people have starved to death, and how many people have died on the road? Many villages have started to eat the dead, sooner or later. , I am afraid they will even eat the living.

And the vassals, oh, let's say Hirosaki, according to Li Ji, the disaster has passed for so long and no relief has been issued.The Tsugaru family is small, but no matter how small they are, how much food can they provide?As for the Edo side, you should know more than I do. "

Everyone in the camp of Zhao Xin's "Immortal Technique" saw it, and Katsu Saburo even secretly saw Zhao Xin's "immortal technique" disappearing out of thin air.Zhao Xin's act of helping these victims and providing food, clothing, and medicine made Sheng Saburo and others think that Lord Zhao Xin was the messenger of the Buddha and Bodhisattva, or even a Bodhisattva descended to the world.

Therefore, he instinctively believed what Zhao Xin said.

"Is there going to be so many people dying? It's too many..." The grief-stricken Katsu Saburo cried bitterly.He hated that he couldn't do anything in this disaster, hated those feudal lords, old middlemen and generals who were desperate for help; hated the hoarding behavior of those big businessmen in Edo Castle.

And himself, just an ordinary lower-level warrior, can do nothing.

Without the appearance of Zhao Xin, Katsu Saburo would be just a nameless corpse turned into a dead bone on the side of the road.

Inside the tent, several people burst into tears.

Wan Zao's son looked at the adults who were suddenly crying. He didn't know what was going on, and immediately began to cry.

Wan Zao's wife hugged her skinny son and buried him in her arms.The woman was sobbing, and tears kept falling on the mat.

"The food has been completely harvested! The dead in the village are dead, and the fleeing is fleeing. How can we live in the future?" Wan Zao's wife suddenly raised her head and cried.

A dull sobbing sound came from behind Zhao Xin. It was Wan Zao. He had been awakened by the previous voice and had been listening quietly.At this time, he buried his head in the quilt and cried in a low voice.

What everyone is thinking about is this hard time, when will it be over?Farmer, why is it so hard?
In this era, although the Tokugawa shogunate shouted "Scholar, Farmer, Industry and Commerce", it seemed that the peasants were ranked second only to the samurai, but that was when the peasants could produce and pay for food normally.Once the peasants fled the countryside due to famine and other reasons and began to go into exile, they were not human at all in the eyes of the rulers.

Since the 20th year of Kanyong (that is, 1643 AD), the Tokugawa shogunate has ordered various severe restrictions on farmers several times to prevent land mergers and control farmers' ability to pay taxes.

For example, it is not allowed to eat rice casually; not to buy alcohol, tea, or to drink alcohol or tea; to grow and consume tobacco.If women in peasant households drink too much tea or like to travel in the mountains and waters, they must divorce and so on.

But in the Meiji Restoration era after the fall of the shogunate, the output from the fields could no longer sustain the industrialization of the country, and the rulers sent many young women from peasant families to work as prostitutes in Nanyang.

You love it to the death, as long as you can send the money you earn back home!
"Those lords and generals don't care about our lives at all!" Li Ji, who became more and more angry, stopped crying, raised his arms to wipe his tears, and looked at Zhao Xin gratefully: "Fortunately we met you, otherwise... …”

"Leave! Stay away!" Wan Zao, who was crying under the quilt, lifted the quilt, rolled over and fell at Zhao Xin's feet, his hoarse voice made a desperate cry for help: "Sir, please show us a way to survive. !"

"Please, Lord, take us to find a way to live!!!"

Suddenly, a chorus of pleas sounded outside the tent.

Several people in the tent were startled, so Zhao Xin stood up and walked to the door of the tent, while Sheng Saburo rushed to open the curtain in front of Zhao Xin.

The ground outside the door was full of refugees from other tents.The people who were awakened by Katsuzaburō's shouts, dragged and hugged their children, and knelt on the ground together, and many people were crying in a low voice.

"Sir, please show us a way to survive!!!" Seeing that Zhao Xin didn't speak, the refugees continued to beg.

Zhao Xin has a big head. Although he hates the island nation of later generations, these are just poor people in the eighteenth century.Of course he wanted to go back to the Qing Dynasty to rescue his own people, but now that he has no identity and no helpers, is he holding a kitchen knife and a fake gun to rebel?This is too frustrating!

If these people don't help now, most of them will eventually die in the ditch, becoming a death number in the history books.Thinking of this, Zhao Xin couldn't bear it.

Forget it, help people to the end, and send the Buddha to the West.Let's take a step by step!

(End of this chapter)