"They're gone, they're gone," said the eldest ...... the elder, blankly, as if he didn't care about life or death, but his sons, daughters-in-law, daughters-in-law, and younger children, were terrified.

"Gone?" Matsuda Shihei was stunned, but he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

"In a few days, they will be back......" said a slightly younger young man, somewhat helplessly and sadly.

From the intermittent narration of this family, Lu Ning learned that the pirates who had plundered the Xida Temple and the surrounding villages had indeed left by boat, and in addition to plundering some women and girls, they also left a message that they would come back in ten days and ask the villages to prepare tribute.

For example, in this village, it is necessary to prepare 100 loads of firewood, in addition to preparing 10 altars of large plums.

The timber is because of the village here, and there is Mustard Mountain not far from the north, and the so-called big plum is a special product of this area, which is actually pickled plum.

Dongying has always been short of salt, even when the later generations invaded China, Dongying also lacked salt, although it is an island country, but the climate and environment make it can dry sea salt in very few areas, not to mention the Central Plains, salt production is mainly from salt wells.

Nowadays, Dongying is even less salt, of course, the Central Plains is also short of salt, but now in Lu Ning's eyes, the Central Plains is short of salt, mainly because of the small output of salt and the limited transportation conditions, the price is too high in many regions, the price of salt, can even affect the quality of life of civilians, buying salt, for civilians is a major event, not in later generations, the price of salt is quadruple, and it is not trivial at all.

The lack of salt in Toei is essential, and there is an extreme shortage of edible salt, and most of it has to be supplied to Kyoto.

The local "big plum", that is, pickled plums, is the use of a local coastal saline-alkali land, directly with the soil of the saline-alkali land, to pickle plums, the plum pickled particularly idle, most of the time, is the only meal, a bowl of brown rice, or two taro, plus a plum, you can fill your stomach, and I don't know how many outsiders, envy the local life that can eat a lot of salty food.

Of course, this comparison is also a comparison of the people who can barely feed themselves after paying the rent of the lord of the manor, and the people of those hungry regions think and think, which is another matter.

And the pirates ordered this small village to provide ten jars of pickled plums, the burden was very high, and it was obvious that this was only the first tribute, and the next time I came, I am afraid that the interval would not be too long.

The pirates also said that if they came to collect the tribute, they would burn down his house and kill his entire family when they came back.

In other words, unless you leave your homeland completely, you can only be enslaved by pirates.

The land, including this small village, originally belonged to the Kannon-in Temple of Todai Temple, and most of the successive masters collected fifty percent of the rent, and they didn't ask for it, but the pirates were afraid that there would be no skin left to scrape again and again.

However, if you really want to leave this fertile land, the villagers are reluctant, most of them want to see what will happen in the future, and who wants to leave their hometown if they are not at a dead end?

……

The Kannon-in Temple of Saidaiji now has more buildings than later generations and occupies a larger area.

Because the main structure of the temple is mostly wood, it is often burned down by fire, and then rebuilt, coupled with the problem of building quality, it is not to encounter the fire of war and not to catch fire by itself, and it also needs to be renovated and rebuilt every few years.

Lu Ning and the musketeers camped here for the time being, waiting for the pirates to turn back.

Although Lu Ning said no, Matsuda Sehei still recruited hundreds of ashigaru from Mino Castle to help.

Matsuda Sehei even ordered more than a dozen flags of Mino Castle to be planted on the embankment of the Yoshii River, hoping to scare off the pirates and not come again, and the matter could be resolved without bloodshed.

Lu Ning was just amused when he saw this scene, looking at these pirates, he knew that it was not easy to be a generation, and when he saw that there were officers and soldiers involved to prepare, he was afraid that when he came again, there would only be more people.

The guy who called himself the "Pirate Volunteer General" heard from the villagers that his name was Taro Uesaka.

Obviously, publicizing his name and giving himself a majestic title shows that this guy is not an ordinary person, and he has a faint idea of getting ahead in this troubled world, and he is by no means just a pirate and robbing houses.

"Kamisaka", there are too many place names in Toei, so it is difficult to tell where he came from.

But looking at his style, he will never be frightened by Matsuda Shihei and avoid it.

On the riverbank, the grass is green and the wildflowers are dotted, and unlike most of the Toei River, the Yoshii River is not as turbulent, and the more you get to the sea, the more stable the water is, and it is less than ten miles to the mouth of the sea, so it is easy for the pirates to swim upstream.

Sitting on the riverbank, watching the shiny jade belt of the Yoshii River meandering in the spring.

Lu Ning said with a smile: "There are many rivers in Dongying, but this Yoshii River reminds me of China." ”

On the side, Madong Ji sat with her knees crossed, her long black eyelashes blinking, looking at the distant scenery in a daze.

Looking at this beautiful girl in a red and white witch dress and red buttoned straw sandals, Lu Ning often had an illusion that she had entered the bizarre world in her dreams again, and she was the most successful witch beautiful girl in COS.

"Does Brother Ban miss his relatives?" On the other side, a delicate voice.

On the other side, Fuko is covered with a small piece of cloth felt, a pure black kimono Fuko, kneeling with a dignified posture, which is more noble and elegant.

And no matter what Lu Ning says, whether Fuzi understands it or not, he will respond politely.

Lu Ning smiled: "I must miss them, fortunately, it is estimated that it will not be long before I can go back." ”

Fuzi nodded lightly: "Brother Ban's relatives must also miss Brother Ban." ”

Lu Ning bowed his head, I have to say that Fuzi's gentle breath and nurturing temperament do make people feel very comfortable getting along.

"Brother Ban, I heard the villagers say, a few hundred steps upstream, there is a section of water that is particularly clear, it used to be a bathing place that only the mages of Guanyin Temple can use, but now naturally no one dares to go, I will go to see, in Guanyin Temple, it is very inconvenient to clean." Matohime stood up suddenly.

Lu Ning looked at the place where the river entered the sea in the distance, nodded and said, "Okay, there are still six days before the day that the pirates said, and it shouldn't suddenly come out." ”

Mayuhime turned her head and asked Fuko, "Are you going?" ”

"Ah, that's good......" Fuko could now feel that Mayuhime was not very friendly to her, and she was a little flattered that this was the first time she had been invited to do something with her.

She's never had friends of the same age, and I'd love to be good friends with her these days with Madonhime.

Lu Ning nodded: "Let's go, I'll go and stand guard for you." ”

Suddenly, I remembered that I had just come to this world and took Gui'er to the hot springs, and I couldn't help but feel a trace of warmth in my heart.