As a mid-level samurai with one hundred and thirty-five koku, Suzuki Kobei obviously couldn't afford to buy a clock from Nanban, and he couldn't even afford a carved one made by a local craftsman.

At the headquarters of the "Metropolitan Police Department", Hattori Haruan, there is also a delicate leaky clock worth 80 times as a timekeeping tool. The things of the Southern Barbarians are often very simple, and only the giants and wealthy merchants, and the daimyo of more than 100,000 stones, may be able to afford it.

Fortunately, people who are used to poverty have their own set of low-cost and affordable lifestyles. Observing the position of the moon, combined with the season of the quarter month, a rough estimate of the time is still a lot.

Suzuki Kobei held his eyelids strongly, looking at the sky in a daze out of boredom, all the way from the beginning of the lanterns, the candles and the flames, and finally to the moon and stars, and the night was dark and the wind was high.

The small prison doesn't have much staff, but it needs to be guarded 24 hours a day, so all staff have to work in shifts, almost every six days.

On average, the average staff member is on five night shifts per month, and the number of persons in charge is doubled.

After arriving at this post, Suzuki Kobei has always maintained a very ambivalent psychology: on the one hand, he feels that the future is already bleak, and he has entered the retirement life in advance, and no matter how hard he works, it is useless; On the other hand, he still regards himself as a "genealogy old minister", hoping that one day he will be remembered by the monarch and return to serve in the army.

So although he was lazy and perfunctory, he was not lazy and perfunctory to the extreme.

After figuring out the situation, Suzuki Kobei agreed with his subordinates on three rules for standing guard at night:

First: it is allowed to doze off and be lazy on the spot, but you must be on duty in person;

Second: There is no objection to bringing your own snacks, the type is not limited, but any alcohol is strictly prohibited;

Third: You can chat and talk nonsense, provided that you don't bring gambling equipment to work.

These three unspoken rules, which have been passed down by word of mouth and must not be seen on paper, are just in line with the spirit of pragmatism, which can not only prevent the low-level personnel from rising too much disgust, but also be able to fool the past under the inspection of the superiors, which fully demonstrates the political wisdom accumulated by generations as a grassroots samurai family.

Since then, everyone, including Suzuki Kobei himself, has spent the night shift half-asleep or even asleep.

Unfortunately, only those who are armed with knives, wear uniforms, and have the Hete's family crest embroidered on the placket can enjoy such treatment, and they have a formal establishment and will not be dismissed easily.

So, the three soldiers on the night shift with Suzuki Kobei tonight were all chewing rice balls, drinking miso soup, chatting while eating, and then yawning unabashedly, and after midnight they fell to the base of the wall and snored.

This is permissible, blatant malfeasance.

However, it is still a little strange that I was sleepy earlier than before, slept more deeply, had my armor unsolved, and fell asleep on the ground with a knife and gun in my arms.

Of course, if someone really dares to throw all the weapons far away and fall asleep, then Suzuki Kobei will definitely not be able to stand it and will reprimand him.

However, unbuttoning a few key points can still be ignored, and it is enough to make the body much more comfortable without being knocked by the hard and cold metal pieces.

Suzuki Kobei looked at the sleepy posture of his subordinates, and estimated that they might have gathered too much last night, and they hadn't recovered today, so they didn't think much about it.

He was still a little dissatisfied in his heart, but thinking about it, he also looked lazy, so he was embarrassed to say more.

Looking around, the three soldiers were immediately asleep, and the prisoners in the room had long since stopped making any sounds, except for the two ragged hired workers who were still busy with their work—in a small prison, did they really have so much physical work to do? I don't know if it's really busy, or if it's just a show.

In any case, these laborers, who sign temporary employment contracts and are responsible for complicated tasks, do not dare to be as arrogant as "regular employees".

The cash flow of the Hinoku family was more abundant than that of most of the daimyos, and most of the payments to the hired workers were full copper plates, and the salaries were good, and there were few arrears.

Come once every three to four days, work intermittently for seven or eight hours, and don't need to work too hard, you can get fifty dollars, and take care of two meals, although you often have to be scolded and even slapped by the samurai masters, but you can also be lazy while the old men are asleep, and the overall cost performance is far higher than that of the dock carrying bags - the head of the merchants, although they are amiable when they speak, and they will not beat people, but when they count the money, they are more than the samurai masters.

The toiling masses think that the more they are slapped, the more money they get, and that is a good job that they have to grab if they break their heads. This is especially true for those who fled last winter's snowstorm. There are only seven employment quotas in this area, and ordinary people can't apply for them, so they have to have a trivial relationship with the insiders, or stuff a red envelope of 800 Wen to the small official in charge.

How can people not cherish the jobs they find by pulling relationships and stuffing red envelopes?

……

If you look carefully under the lights, the old hired man has half a hundred hair, half a waist and back, and it seems that his legs and feet are not very neat. The little hired man had a vegetable face, and he was as thin as wood, as if a gust of wind could blow it away. The two of them walked one after the other, with a bamboo pole, carrying half a box of millet, gritting their teeth and slowly walking to the small warehouse on the side of the yard step by step, looking very difficult and clumsy.

After watching it for a long time, Suzuki Kobei suddenly felt pity and said: "It's so late, and it's hard for you to clean up in the afternoon, anyway, no one sees it, so it's okay to rest!" ”

Anyway, the salary is paid by the public, and I don't mind being generous to others at all.

Hearing this, the two men were suddenly startled and stood on the ground, not knowing how to respond. After a while, the older hired man, with sincere fear, put down his work, fell to the ground and kowtowed, and replied with a trembling voice, "Thank you for your concern!" The small ones and a little more of the oil that was carried in the afternoon, in case the amount is not right, it is a great sin......"

"Alright, you guys do it for yourselves!"

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! The little ones are going to do things......"

Although Suzuki Kobei clearly said that he could rest, the two hired men were still cautious, not daring to make a slight mistake, and hurriedly walked around the courtyard by the light, trying to show diligence and pretending to concentrate on their work.

I am afraid that if I am negligent and offended, I will be thrown away if I don't say a word.

Suzuki Kobei casually persuaded him and stopped talking. He knew that there must be greasy and gray areas in the recruitment process of low-level employees, but he was too lazy to care. As a samurai who knows and does one hundred and thirty-five stones, of course he disdains to introduce his relatives to do these fifty wen once in the post, let alone look down on the red envelope of one hundred and eighty wen.

That's right...... The two hired workers in front of him, one old and one young, seem to be a little angry, and they don't seem to be working here last month, right?

Recall, it seems that there was a "personnel change" five days ago, and two veterans who were "handy and foot bad" were dismissed, and two new people who fled were recruited, specifically by Okataro, who is now squatting in the corner and napping, and I don't remember the reason - what the reason was......

Anyway, it's just that the people below want to make a small fortune, and it doesn't matter.

Suzuki Kobei thought about it for a while, didn't bother to continue, got up from the maza, went to the fire, waved his hand to rebuke the hired workers who wanted to come over and pat the horses, and poured a bowl of hot soup from the special small pot that no one had touched.

He bought a large pot and a small pot out of his own pocket, and regularly brought some miso, radish, pickled fish, and the like, and instructed his hired workers to carefully stew the soup and eat it at night, which could not only fill the stomach, but also warm the body.

In the cauldron, there are more seasonings and strong flavors, but the side dishes are very coarse, and they are shared with the rest of the people. The three soldiers who didn't have a score every time they drank this and then lay down to sleep.

And the small pot is obviously specially supplied by the leader, and there are some dishes on the table in it.

Slowly finished this special "supper", and then sat in the haystack specially laid for the leader, and lay on the ground, his mind gradually became confused.

Feeling the satisfaction in his belly and the right temperature, Suzuki Kobei soon fell asleep.