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Edo, the heart of the Tokugawa shogunate. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Yoshida returned home with his tired body in tow, holding a small rice bag with two liters of grain in it, and the bottom of the bag was embellished like a small melon. It was his day's pay, and it was not white rice, not even brown rice, but a mixture of wheat, millet, weeds, and taro.

It's all he's got for a day's hard work!

In the mid-to-late 18th century of the Western calendar, the population of Japan was growing rapidly, and the number of samurai families was also rising in a straight line, but the number of samurai did not increase in the slightest.

In terms of 50 stones, a family of five is of course richer than a family of ten. Yoshida Shoichi is a low-ranking samurai whose family has exploded in population and is poor.

He and his younger brother Yoshida Shohei were the only laborers in the family, and the other two younger brothers, one of whom had died, and the other had gone to Nagasaki, where they had not been heard from for two years. But there are still seventeen people in the Yoshida family. Together, the two brothers had twelve children, which were already alive. They also have an elderly mother!

A life of poverty will crush Yoshida's backbone.

And the Yoshida family's 60 koku family now gets less than 30 koku of rice every year, which is the family's biggest source of income and the main source of expenses in a year. How can a large family of seventeen people live in a place as big as Edo?

As early as twenty years ago, the armor and katana of the Yoshida family were pawned by Yoshida Shoichi's father. This is a common thing in Japan today, as early as a few decades ago, many retainers and samurai of the Japanese feudal domains and even the Tokugawa shogunate itself were forced to pawn their own weapons and horse harness in exchange for money to supplement their families. But even so, many people are still struggling to make ends meet. By the time of the present era, the entire samurai class was in decline, and the atmosphere was declining, and it fell into a state of irretrievable poverty. It is also a well-known fact that the Japanese were generally poor, from the shogunate and the feudal domains to all the samurai.

In addition, under the financial crisis, the shogunate and the feudal princes also imposed a deduction of their salaries, and some people said that the retainers were "ruthless as fierce enemies", and some people even estimated: "The retainers who are gladly loyal to the lord are a few hopes."

Yoshida Shoichi's loyalty to the Tokugawa shogunate was now as pitiful as the grain in his hands. Since the Japanese samurai abandoned farming, young samurai and junior samurai served for only one year, and there were many people who did not think of the monarch, and the practice of substitute service prevailed, and the middle and low-level hereditary retainers of each domain became increasingly scarce. In his report to Xiao Jian, Tang Feipeng clearly wrote that Japan's officer and soldier structure is changing from a master-servant relationship to an employment relationship, which is the most direct phenomenon of the collapse of the military system under its subordinates.

Back at home, Yoshida saw several children playing in front of his house, and a sincere smile appeared on his tired face.

"Father is back......"

"Uncle is back......"

The children of the Yoshida family gathered around and hugged Yoshida Shoichi back to the house, and the eldest daughter in the room hurriedly poured a glass of water, and then took the rice bag that Yoshida Shoichi kept at hand. Not long after, Yoshida Shohei also returned, he was a little lower than his brother, his body was not as strong as Yoshida Shoichi, and his daily salary could only buy one liter of food.

Of course, the food of three liters and five is not enough for the whole large family, even if the children of the Yoshida family are not very old. The missing part is made up by the rice at home, and it is impossible for people to eat only dry rice, no matter how simple it is, it must have miso and salt. So much so that soy sauce bibimbap is a delicacy for the Japanese in this era, just like the bowl of 'lard bibimbap' that Dong Wei ate at the beginning!

Like China, the Japanese poor have little entertainment at night. Just as poor Chinese are reluctant to light lamps at night, so are Japanese. It's just that Yoshida Shohei didn't eat today and went back to the room to lie down, or hugged his wife to do exercise, but quietly touched Yoshida Shoichi.

The two brothers got up and walked outside the house, Yoshida Shohei whispered a few words in Yoshida Shoichi's ear, Yoshida Shoichi's face changed slightly, but immediately turned firm. The brothers walked out of the house and hurried towards a house not far away with two dead wind lamps hanging at the door. This family is also a samurai, but the conditions of this family are much better than the Yoshida family, in addition to the two air death lanterns at the door, there are two servants waiting, and the courtyard alone is larger than the entire Yoshida family after entering the door.

When Yoshida Shoichi and Yoshida Shohei were brought to the house by their subordinates, they found that there were already twenty or thirty people gathered in the entire house. All of them were poor lower-class samurai like the Yoshida family.

Another quarter of an hour of waiting, and those who should have come came. Aoki Nakaichi's sharp gaze scanned everyone present, his ancestor was a small surname of the Tokugawa shogunate, and he was 400 koku high, and he was involved in the business early. Although he was looked down upon by countless samurai families at the beginning and regarded as a contemptible scum, time was on the side of the Aoki family. Look at the current town, among the samurai families who have not yet been impoverished, the Aoki family is the lowest, and the best and richest. In this town, many families with higher salaries than the Aoki family have long since fallen to the dust.

The Aoki family's reputation has deteriorated in recent months, as Aoki has a deep connection to Tang Feipeng's firm, and the recent impression of China in Japan has been very unpleasant.

The Chinese were so powerful that they forcibly seized the fruits of the Matsumae Domain's century-long development, and very domineeringly established a city named 'Hokkai' in Ishikari Bay. And they insulted the emperor and the samurai of the entire island of Kyushu, the latter insulted the whole of Japan.

Although the samurai of this era do not have the slightest real respect for the emperor. However, this insult to national dignity and dignity has caused many people's impression of China to deteriorate rapidly.

Naturally, the Aoki family is a pond fish that has been affected.

However, Aoki Nakaichi was very bold, and in the past six months, he did not show the slightest intention of drawing a line with the Chinese, and now Aoki Nakaichi has paid off. This is also the reason why Yoshida Shoichi seemed a little hesitant after listening to Yoshida Shohei's words. But the heavy burden of his family and the impoverishment of life made him give up everything.

"I'm calling you here today for a very simple reason. You've all heard the news that the Chinese want to recruit samurai in Japan. The incompetent rice worms of the shogunate have not been able to come up with all the definite conclusions for such a long time, even if they are resolutely opposed. This makes me very disgusted. Aoki's remark clearly meant that the shogunate's 'hesitation' was to be feared of China's might. As he spoke, he carefully watched everyone's expressions, and Aoki breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that everyone below did not react to his remarks attacking the shogunate just now. That's good. "The Tokugawa shogunate could not give everyone a stable and prosperous life. In order to keep their families from starving, they had to sacrifice their dignity and physical strength to lowly merchants and even farmers. And when a great opportunity appeared in front of all the samurai, they had to close the door.

Without the recruitment of Chinese, would the Tokugawa shogunate be able to solve the problem of poverty for all samurai? Can they keep every samurai's family from going hungry, and if they get sick, will a doctor come to see them? Can they? ”

There was silence in the hall, but Aoki could clearly see that everyone was clenching their fists. No matter how humble a person is, he is dignified, let alone these people from samurai families? For example, Yoshida Shoichi, when he was unloading at the dock today, he was wantonly insulted by the foreman, and if he was given a knife by force alone, he could kill ten foremen. No, even without a knife, he could have killed five foremen. But today's Yoshida Shoichi can only put all his dignity in his pocket, otherwise he won't get his salary today, and he will have to find a new job tomorrow.

"You've only heard that the Chinese want to recruit samurai in Japan, so do you know the price given by the Chinese?" Nakaichi Aoki spoke in a seductive voice, and sure enough, he saw the longing in the eyes of everyone below.

"Two stones of rice. Every samurai who joined the Chinese security corps received a minimum salary of two stones of rice every month. If you kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions during the crusade against the natives of the South Seas, you can also get military merit points, which can be exchanged for everything you want. Milled rice, white flour, salted fish, jerky, gold, silver, and even permanent residency in China! ”

Aoki Nakaichi looked at the surprised faces of everyone below and smiled proudly, "Yes, it's Nanyang." The security forces are deployed in the South Seas, not in mainland China. You are Japanese, do you think that you can easily set foot on Chinese soil to fight or carry out missions? ”

"If you want to join the Standing Team, you must accumulate enough military merits in Nanyang. Otherwise, you can only see and see all sides of China as tourists, and within the prescribed time limit, you will be able to control the land of China. ”

Aoki Nakachi burst out with two mental terms, the security team and the standing team. The former will be deployed in the South Seas, and the target of the battle is only the indigenous people who are inferior to the Ezo people, and only when the latter is selected, they will be transferred to China mainland to fight or carry out missions.

Although Aoki Chuichi did not say how much the 'standing team' would be paid, Yoshida Shoichi knew that it must be higher than the security team's salary. The military salary of the security team is two stone of rice a month.

"To tell you the truth, I just obtained the right to form a security team from Mr. Tang." This is the 'reward' that Tang Feipeng gave him, an opportunity to change the fate of the Aoki family in the future. If Aoki Nakaichi can pull up twenty or thirty samurai, he can become a squad leader; If he could pull up eighty or ninety samurai, he would be the captain; If he can pull up more than 300 samurai, he will become the captain of the security team.

Aoki Nakaichi's eyes will not be fixed on the squad leader who went to fetch, he wants to become one of the first captains of the security team, this goal must be achieved, he hopes that one day he can become Chinese, and the Aoki family under the Tokugawa shogunate has no bright future. And Aoki Nakaichi can speak fluent Chinese. He also read the "Three Character Classic" and the "Four Books and Five Classics". And these people in front of him are his squad leader and squad leader.

"Every samurai who joins the security corps can apply for a salary of three months to one year. If you are wounded, maimed, sick or killed in battle in the South Seas, you will all receive a lot of pensions. It's just the pension standard of the security forces, so let's take a look. ”

Aoki waved his hand, and the two subordinates immediately took a pinched and printed bereavement standard sheet and handed it out to everyone present.

Half an hour later, Aoki saw everyone leave. Tang Feipeng gave him this right and gave him this opportunity, "I must grasp it." ”

Even if such a recruitment was not approved by the shogunate, but so what? In order to seize this opportunity, Aoki Chuichi can give up everything that his family has in Japan.

"Master, it's time for us to leave."

The carriage is ready, and after sending the people away, Aoki Chuichi will quickly leave the place. After all, he didn't dare to guarantee that among the twenty or thirty people he had found, there were no people who had brains in the water and were still loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate; I didn't dare to bet on the reaction of the Tokugawa shogunate.

"Let's go."

The carriage in which Nakaichi Aoki boarded. He didn't look back at his family's ancestral home. Because he had already made up his mind that even if he gave up all the honor and status of the Aoki family in Japan, he would not watch the opportunity slip away from his eyes.

"If things really go according to the worst......" In the carriage, Nakachi Aoki, who was leaning against the wall of the carriage, clenched his fists tightly, and everything he lost now was nothing, because he would definitely be able to regain it all in the near future. As long as he can pull up a 'brigade', then it is a sure thing for the Aoki family to get Chinese nationality, and when the Tokugawa shogunate dares to deal with a Shangguo person unscrupulously?

He thought of everything he saw in Fuzhou, such a powerful army, such a powerful sailor, only with the army in that place, they could directly defeat Edo, directly destroy the foundation of the Tokugawa shogunate's rule over Japan, the Chinese were much stronger than the incompetent shogunate.

Nakazu Aoki doesn't feel like a traitor to Japan at all. From the beginning of sending Tang envoys to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, more Japanese served the Chinese to death. Yes, his family is the Shogunate's Hachimoto samurai family, and the samurai's creed also requires the samurai to be absolutely loyal to the monarch. However, the Aoki family has been engaged in business for a long time, is such an Aoki family still considered a samurai? Even among the many families in the town, how many people still regard the Aoki family as samurai rather than lowly merchants?

Even if the Aoki family is still a samurai, it is not a 'samurai' whose words and deeds are exemplary for the samurai of the time. Aoki was more of a merchant than a samurai. Compared with the samurai creed like a fool in his eyes, he believed in Confucianism more: as a courtesy for a minister, he did not show his advice, and if he did not listen to the three advices, he would flee; The matter of the son is also pro, and if he does not listen to the three admonitions, he will cry and follow. If the father is unkind, the son is not filial; If the brother is not a friend, the brother is disrespectful; If the husband is unjust, the woman will not be obedient.

Compared with the Japanese samurai creed, Aoki Chuichi recognizes this Confucian set more. Monarchs, ministers, and ministers all have corresponding obligations.

The Tokugawa shogunate's rule was so incompetent that even his subordinates could not pay their salaries on time and in quantity, which in itself was the fault of the monarch. Where is such a shogunate worthy of his Aoki Nakaichi's service?

In the opinion of Nakaichi Aoki. He is now only fighting for his legitimate interests. It's the incompetent and rotten Tokugawa shogunate, the damned daimyo of Kyushu, and the cowardly emperor, it's these people who are blocking their path.

If you want to blame them, blame them for their incompetence!

They did the first year of junior high school, why can't they do the fifteenth?

If it is true that all the samurai of Japan respect the samurai creed and are wholeheartedly loyal to their monarch, then why is there still the Honnoji Revolution and the Sekigahara War? What did the Tokugawa shogunate rely on to get the shogunate?

The ruthless and bloody history of killing in Japan's Warring States period is evidenced by it, but it is not a set of "Hagakure" by Yamamoto Tsuneto, a so-called samurai creed can cover everything.

Matsunaga is rebellious and is about to kill the monarch; Saito Yoshiryu killed his father Michizo Saito; Imagawa Yoshimoto, in order to inherit the position of the head of the family, after the death of the eldest brother, killed the second brother and all his supporting retainers;

If everyone adhered to the samurai creed and was absolutely loyal to their monarch, would such a thing happen? Even the shogunate won't show up, right? Because the lord of Japan is the emperor, not some shogun. Since so many big people can't be faithful to the samurai creed, Aoki asked himself what could he not let go of such a small character?

Your own interests are the highest! (To be continued.) )