On the island of Kyushu, at the foot of Mt. Hyakukin, hundreds of miles southeast of Nagasaki, there is a jungle called Shomeiji Temple.

This is a jungle with a long history, and it was originally dedicated to the god of Tendo, but it was purchased by the Ichijo sect during the Heian period, and it became the only Ichijo temple in the Satsuma domain.

It is located at the junction of the Satsuma Domain and the Higo Domain, and it is not on the traffic tunnel, so it is very hidden and closed.

There is a small village around Changmei Temple, and there are only about 30 households, except for the guy named Mikimaru, the others are all untouchables who rent Shomeiji Temple Terada.

One of them was Ah Er, who was carrying a large basket on his back and was patrolling the road leading from Shomeiji Temple to the Kawauchi River, hoping to pick up a few pieces of manure from his livestock so that he could prepare the next year's compost for his rice paddy field, which was almost a town away. (Crab note: Machicho is a unit of calculation of land area in Japan, and 1 town is equal to about 15 acres)

There were only a few pieces of dry horse manure in the back basket, and Ah Er slowly walked on the empty mountain road, feeling a little lonely - Changming Temple is now more and more closed, and in previous years, there were monks or old men with knives from time to time, but this year there was often no one seen for several days. When no one comes, there is no livestock manure to pick up, so what should I do with the compost in my own town?

Ah Er has no name, and "Ah Er" is not a name, but it is just a name given to him by his father in order not to confuse his children - untouchables are not qualified to have a name, even if it is a name like Mikimaru.

Ah Er is forty-two years old this year, and his family has rented the fields of Changming Temple for three generations, but he is not as lucky as Miki Maru, and he can become the old man of Changming Temple, and then become the charter of Changming Temple Terada, and he has changed from a pariah to a commoner with a name. (Crab note: The canza is the person in charge of the kitchen and the dining hall in the temple, and in short, the logistics director.) PS2: Japanese monks can get married and have children)

However, Ah Er felt that he was no worse than Miki Maru, because he gave birth to three sons.

The second son is already sixteen years old this year, and because the family can't afford to raise it, he was sent to the eighth generation of Higo early and passed it on to his distant cousin who was a fisherman, and that guy never gave birth to a son.

Speaking of which, Ah Er still works very hard in the farm, but the elders of Changming Temple are too dark-hearted, and this year is only the fifth year of Kanyong, but the rent in the village has been paid to Kanyong for eight years. (Crab note: 1628 A.D. is the fifth year of Kanei in Japan)

This is not the end, I heard Miki Maru say that he has to pay another two years of rent this year, and if there is a temple that dares not to pay, he will have to chase the debt.

Everyone in the village owes the usury in the temple, and Ah Er owes less, but he also has three taels of silver. After owing for five years, the profit has been calculated, and now it has become 18 taels, which is still two years ago when Ah Er sold his youngest son to repay 5 taels of silver, or he would have to pay more.

But he is lucky, the village owes the most hundreds of taels, it is estimated that it is not over in this life, and he can only wait for the next life.

Thinking of this, Ah Er couldn't help but glance at the Changming Temple in the distance with resentful eyes, damn monks, if they don't do anything for a day, they can still eat fat heads and big ears; I drink wild vegetable soup every day, I can't even see a single piece of rice, and I have to farm hard to pay rent!

Buddha? Compassion? Pudu sentient beings? Phew!

It's better to be the Lord!

Ah Er looked around for a long time, and after making sure that no one could see him, he quickly drew a cross on his chest and reverently recited "Amen" in his mouth.

Yes, Ah Er was a Chezhidan, and was baptized only last summer.

Ah Er threw himself into the arms of God, and he had to start with his second son, who had passed away.

Although Ah Er's second son has gone out, he still has to come back once or twice a year to visit his biological father and mother. Every time he came back, the filial little guy would bring back more or less dried fish, pickles and even yellow sea salt, which was the only accompaniment to this extremely poor home.

At the beginning of last year, when the willow tree had just drawn a strip, the little guy came back again, this time he actually carried a small bag of rice, and sneakily stuffed them with a handful of copper coins from the Ming Kingdom, which frightened Ah Er and asked again and again, for fear that the little guy would do something that should not be done - in Ah Er's opinion, it is nothing to be poor, but if you steal chickens and touch dogs, it will really insult your ancestors.

The little guy didn't hide it, 1510 told him about his entry into the Chezhi Dan Sect, and said that many people before and after the fat had entered the sect, and every year in addition to receiving communion from the sect on Sundays, he could also get a lot of benefits, such as seeing a doctor and helping the emergency, and even the sect also distributed food and money to the disciples from time to time, and the rice and copper coins that the little guy carried back were distributed by the sect.

The little guy's words moved Ah Er's heart - is there such a good sect in the world?

He grew up at the foot of this Baiguan Mountain since he was a child, and the monks he has seen are exactly the same as those black-hearted monks in Changming Temple.

So at the instigation of the little guy, Ah Er went out for the first time in his life, saying that it was a far gate, but it was just a trip over Baiguan Mountain and Kasaki Mountain, and walked dozens of miles of mountain roads to the north, and arrived at Shimodashiro Village after Hihigo.

There, Aji met a monk named Heijiro Sato—a great man!

can have a surname, that is the eldest lord who Ah Er usually does not dare to look at at him, but this time, the eldest lord is very kind, without the arrogance and disdain that a master should have.

Sato explained a lot of things to Ah Er, and what impressed Ah Er in particular was that he, like Sato, was a lost lamb of God, and God used his blood and flesh to atone for their sins - although Ah Er did not understand what a lost lamb was, nor did he understand why God wanted to atone for his sins, he felt that it was an unimaginable honor to be on an equal footing with the great master.

What surprised Ah Er even more was that when Master Sato saw him off, he actually gave him a strange thing called "bread", as well as a small pinch of snow-white refined salt - yes, it was the refined salt that Ah Er rarely even saw! Sato pipes this is called "Holy Communion".

Naturally, Ah Er became a frequent visitor to Lord Sato, and was baptized into the Church before Ye Huang last year, becoming a true Chechi Dan.

As he learned more, he also understood that the current government did not allow them to join the religion, and once the Chezhidan disciples were discovered, they would suffer very terrible punishments.

But Ah Er still joined the religion without hesitation, because he had such a belief in his heart: In the future world, everyone will be equal, there will be no untouchables, no masters, and everyone will be the lamb of God!

For the sake of this equal world in the future, Ah Er is not afraid of any punishment!

"Dedicate ......"

The sound of horses' hooves sounded in the distance startled Ah Er, who had just finished drawing the cross, and when he looked up, a group of people on horseback galloped on the mountain road, and the leader was holding a flag with a big bellflower embroidered on it.

Ah Er Zhang Huang was at a loss and found an inconspicuous place on the side of the road, bowed deeply to the ground, and quietly looked up at these people who showed off their might.

Kikyo family crest, that's the Kato family, the lord of the Higo Domain!