The three who died were eventually placed in an unnamed cemetery at the foot of the mountain, where there used to be a temple, but it was abandoned at some point.

The cemetery near the temple has stone tombstones and small stone brick walkways, and most of the Tapo behind the tombstones are decayed, and only some of the newer ones seem to have been weathered for two or three years.

People have long gone to the dilapidated temples where the buildings are empty, there are no more monks eating Buddha chanting, and no one cleaning up the weeds. It seems that even the family that used to be buried here has disappeared, so there is no tomb sweeping and maintenance, and the stele is only weathering silently and slowly.

When the wind blows through the forest, the rotten and collapsed roof tiles make a "buzzing" sound like a dull flute, and the pieces of Ta Po bump against each other, making a "click" sound.

It's a somewhat creepy sound for Kazuto. But Henry, who was born in Rigal, and others did not feel much about it.

Fear sometimes stems from the unknown, but ignorance is fearless when it comes to fears that require familiarity with a particular culture.

- Words go back to the original place.

Even though the monks are long gone, and the family that originally buried their relatives here no longer exists, the people of the nearby village apparently still retain the function of the cemetery.

Different from the paved stone path, the simple earthen path is lined with tombstones of the deceased in the nearby poor mountain villages, and since there are no monks to pray for them, there is naturally no Tapo. And even the tombstones are rudimentary, some of the better ones have crooked and twisted words, and the worse ones are really just a few stones to build up, lest passers-by think that it is just a small dirt slope to trample on and desecrate.

The dead, including Nobukatsu, were buried in the graves and buried their belongings along with their armor and weapons. Narumi wanted to leave no tombstones for the time being, and when he went to the town to revise the tombstones for them, he would use the samurai's swords and helmets as tombstones, but Henry stopped him.

"If it's too different from the other tombs around, it's like showing people that there are belongings here. The sage said this, and the samurai leader was stunned for a moment: "Sir, are you saying that there will be tomb robbers?"

"Poor mountains and bad waters come out of the people, and they can't even afford the money for the carving of the tombstones of their deceased relatives. Henry's tone was calm, but the fact that he said made many of the samurai grit their teeth and clench their fists.

"The villagers I met on the way here...... "Old Qiao behind him wanted to speak again, they also met some villagers on the way down the mountain, although they were not as ethnic minorities as Hayato Village, but they were also relatively poor and mountain people.

"If those guys dare to desecrate the corpses of the martial artists' disciples!" the young warrior Ah Yong clenched his sword in anger, grabbing the reins and about to turn his head.

"What do you want to do!" Narumi shouted at him.

"My lord, I want to warn those—" "Warning what, don't you run to warn them and confirm their lucrative speculation here." "The leader of the samurai is worthy of his status, and it only takes a slight reminder from Henry to keep these things to his attention.

"That's it, according to Mr. Wang, keep the same appearance as the rest of the villagers' cemeteries, and then you can only do it. Narumi clenched his fists silently: "I hope these villagers will not make such indiscriminate acts." ”

The team fell silent again, and although the samurai and ashigaru had a lot to say, they had been tidying up for a long time, and in the end, only the sound of the forest wind blowing through the Tapo and the roof tiles echoed around them.

The short, silent lunch, made with a simple Japanese-style miso soup and yakiniku given by the Hayato village, was another great gift from the Hayato people to the samurai.

Chestnuts made from finely ground corn flour mixed with freshly picked nuts and kernels in the summer forest are drought-tolerant and do not require excessive moisture content for the land to eat for the common people in the remote areas of north-central Crescent – despite the abundance of rice fields in the Taizhou territory within half a month's journey, rice is still unaffordable for these poor families.

After the rice harvest in Taizhou, the first thing is to supply the garrison of the local and nearby territories, and more than 40% of the harvest is to be used as military rations. Secondly, it is provided to the Chinese and scholars in the nearby area, and finally it is the turn of the people in the consular province. The cultivation of rice requires more land than chestnuts, so in addition to the south, where there are many plains with abundant water systems, from the central to the north, more than eighty percent of the people of the Moon Country eat chestnuts and potatoes.

The low-cost grains that are easy to obtain are not as good as the rice that the samurai used to eat, but whether it is potatoes or cereals, starch-rich staples are always suitable for grinding into flour and processing them with creative thinking.

The dough that has been slapped and left to ferment overnight does not look very good, but the farmer's veteran master has mastered the heat well, and even if there is not much oil and water, there is a pleasant aroma.

The nut kernels mashed with stone mortar grass are no longer recognizable, and most of them are almonds, considering regional and seasonal factors. Although they could be finely minted, they were retained about half the size of a fingernail of a little finger. In this way, when chewed in the mouth, the dough is crispy in the shell and fluffy inside, and there is a layer of crushed nuts in addition to the pastry, which enriches the layer.

Lacking sugar and oil, all the seasoning is just a little salt in the dough. However, despite this, it was full of flavor, and the few Minhayato dough cakes and the popular soup formed a rare but unexpected pairing, and perhaps because of the similarity of the style to Rigal, even the missionaries who had always had a lack of appetite for the samurai's delicacies were able to eat it for the first time in a long time.

The bread was made overnight and handed over to the samurai before their departure this morning, and because there were not many ingredients, there was only enough for a meal this morning and lunch. When I ate it in the morning, it was still hot after it came out of the oven, and by this time it no longer had that aroma, but it was still appetizing.

Choosing such a light meal was largely for the sake of traveling, and the four ashigaru, who had buried the three dead but were still seriously injured, needed to be cared for, and they did not have the leisure to stop and cook slowly.

Narumi is an excellent leader, and although he shares the aesthetic and idealistic tendencies of a Japanese samurai, he is still able to make the right decisions decisively most of the time. The eight people who fled were in good health, and after spending some time searching but not finding them, he decisively abandoned them.

"If you are a little ashamed, you should have turned around and returned to apologize. Since he couldn't find it for several miles, he had already made up his mind. This passage from the great god is also the common point of view of other people, those people are not children anymore, and their health does not need to be taken care of by them. The fact that they could not be found in the vast search range means that they have been on the run for several hours, and the farther they run, the less courageous they are to come back and face their fallen companions.

Narumi's approach was somewhat heartless, as he directly gave the Hayato villagers all the equipment and rations left behind by the eight men, informing them that they could sell them to merchants in exchange for money to pay for the medical expenses of the wounded.

And after freeing up this part of the equipment, which is not small, I sorted out the baggage and made room to carry the wounded.

- He does not make any memorials or prayers for those who abandon his teammates and flee, and takes care of those who stay, even if the samurai usually treat them as slaves.

This kind of judgment of a good leader is always seen in Narumi, which is why he was able to convince the public to become the leader of the Aota samurai.

However, such an important minister, who was supposed to stay by the side of the head of the family, was sent out to travel. Even if Yajiro is the next head of the family and the act of traveling and hearing is crucial to his growth, the configuration of this team is still a little too luxurious.

Since they have not spoken, they should not search. Even if you do, some things are still good for silence.

"Do you pity the hearts of parents all over the world? The sage looked at the loyal old ministers who had been left behind, and at the burdens that were still numerous, and sighed in his heart.

The last section of the downhill road soon came to an end, and in order to gain time, the group did not take the auxiliary road again, but walked directly onto the lively main road.

The national highway is far more efficient than the auxiliary road, but in a matter of hours, before the long summer sunshine is over, the group is already in the destination town.

The province separated from Taizhou, which is an important town in the north, is called Zhangzhou, and compared to Taizhou, which has a large area of rice fields and distinctive characteristics, Zhangzhou has a relatively narrow territory like the most inconspicuous and inconspicuous small role in a group of people.

It was not an important grain producing area, and it did not serve as a warning vassal king in the north. Zhangzhou, which is located in the ring of the national highway, is like a roadside hotel, and it will be relatively convenient if you have it, but it is not a big problem if you don't.

It's just that the passers-by have settled here for a long time, and Xinjing has given it a territorial division and sent a special person to manage it. It's a matter of course, but it's an ordinary and featureless territory.

Because there is no food, handicraft and other industries here, and it is not a military station, most of the capable and ambitious Zhangzhou people have gone out to do business, and those who remain are naturally these unambitious, casual and free characters.

There is a saying among the people of the moon that "businessmen know that the Zhangzhou dialect is feasible in the world", which refers to how many Zhangzhou people are doing business abroad, and even from south to north, as long as they meet fellow traders, they can talk in the Zhangzhou dialect.

However, despite the fact that there are so many people who go out to do business, the reputation of Zhangzhou people in the Heren society is very ordinary. Shinong Merchant and Merchant are actually quite discriminated against in the distribution of the society of the Moon Country. The Qingtian family, as a Chinese general, was often belittled by other Chinese people as "a smell of copper", and ordinary civilians engaged in commerce were naturally even more despised.

Such a status, coupled with the fact that most of the people who remained in Zhangzhou were people who had no ambitions and just wanted to spend the rest of their lives in a state of confusion, further strengthened the impression that "most of the people of Zhangzhou were despicable, idle, opportunistic, and full of liars without honor" - even the samurai of the Qingtian family who came from the domain knew this, and Miss Doctor's trip to the north directly skipped Zhangzhou.

There is such a thing as regional discrimination in any country, although most of the time you will find it all nonsense when you actually come into contact with it, but this time the group just stepped into the town, and they did see such a scene.

"Poof, Lord Nagara, look at those country warriors, dressed in armor and ready to fight. Really, do they think they are living in "Heroes of Martial Arts". ”

The Qingtian samurai wearing armor and carrying the wounded directly bumped into the Zhangzhou samurai who were walking out of the restaurant in luxurious costumes, and it was still only 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but these people were all red one by two, and the smell of alcohol on their bodies could be smelled from a few meters away.

"Hold back. Narumi turned around and spoke, but it was too late. The inexplicable casualties, the treacherous partners who fled, the burial of their fallen comrades and the risk of tomb robbery, and the rush to run into these guys who started drinking in broad daylight without a samurai posture, there must always be an outlet for new and old grudges - so the young and vigorous samurai, Ayu, who was like Yajiro's brother, angrily retorted:

"You still remember the glory of the samurai, and you start drinking and having fun during the day. I waited until yesterday to defeat the evil spirits and pay heavy casualties, and looking at these seriously injured companions behind us, are you embarrassed to call yourself a samurai?Put away the ridicule just now, and apologize to us!"

He spoke loudly, conflicting but still modestly in terms of wording. Narumi sighed, but also looked at the samurai in front of him.

The Zhangzhou warriors, who were gorgeously dressed and full of wine, fell silent, and their faces were a little gloomy. Many people around stopped to watch, and the conflict between the samurai was also a rare drama in their ordinary daily life, not to mention that one of them was rarely riding a horse and ready to fight.

"Poof. The calm was finally broken by a sneer from the young warrior who spoke at the beginning, and then a whole column of Zhangzhou warriors burst into laughter.

"Demons, just you?"

"Puff ha, it's just a bunch of country warriors, I think you were ambushed and beaten by bandits. He was dressed so gorgeously, but he couldn't even pull out the knife and was beaten. ”

The drunken sergeants of Zhangzhou mocked loudly, and Ah Yong, whose eyes were wide-eyed, gritted his teeth and wanted to draw his knife and rush forward, but was grabbed by Henry next to him.

The sage's big hands were as solid as a rock, and Ah Yong looked at him with an angry face, but the gray-blue eyes under the hat were only calm.

"Don't be impulsive. Henry said this, and Narumi suppressed the other equally angry Aota samurai.

"Phew, after all, it's a bunch of lost dogs. What kind of bragging, don't have to coax it. The shaky Zhangzhou warriors spat without any image and turned away, looking at the whereabouts as if they were planning to drink again. When the civilians around them saw that there was no conflict to see, they all dispersed in disappointment.

"We are here to find a healer, even if these people have lost their martial spirit, it is not us who should treat them. Narumi opened his mouth to enlighten the others, but only those who knew him well could hear that the samurai leader's tone was also cold.

Anger does not always manifest itself in the form of passion, just as a person who grieves does not always weep bitterly.

For people like Narumi and Henry, when there is a crack in their calm and steady side, it means that the anger in their hearts is enough to make it impossible for them to maintain their usual sanity.

"Let's go, let's go to the doctor first. The sage spoke, and Narumi nodded, and the group officially entered the territory of Zhangzhou.