As April draws to a close, while summer begins to begin in earnest across the country, the weather in the northern territories is still relatively cool.

The townspeople of Qingzhi Town, where the bamboo industry is thriving, earn their income from sunrise, and the bamboo trade, which can be sold as far as Shinkyo, makes the lives of most people in the local people happy and prosperous. This town, which occupies a key point of waterway transportation, is blessed with a unique location, and even if it does not produce and sell bamboo, it can already develop very well just by developing commercial transportation just because of its geographical location as a gateway to north-south waterway trade.

The current head of the Chinese Qingtian family in Qingzhi Town is a well-known and capable person in the neighborhood. He single-handedly grew the town to its current size, and his vision for excellence was the initial basis.

The history of the Qingtian family is almost a model textbook for the "success theory" in the eyes of the small farmers in the neighborhood, but anyone with a little brain should understand that this is a success that is almost impossible to replicate.

And the business for generations has not been entirely smooth, and when the current head takes over, the town's prospects are not optimistic.

As the gateway to the north-south waterway, Qingzhi Town has had commercial contacts throughout the ages. As local Chinese, they have the power to levy customs duties on passenger and cargo ships, and the past few have been relieved to do so.

However, the situation in the northern land is special after all, and the relationship between the lords who have been demoted from the imperial family to the vassal kings and Shinkyo is not always harmonious.

Profit-seeking businessmen are often very sensitive to this kind of wind, and the slightest change in wind direction often leads to a significant drop in the flow of cargo ships.

When the current head of the family took over twenty-six years ago, it coincided with this tension: the Nanban people from afar were ready to move, and the foreign sects of the so-called Pure White Church had been wandering around trying to expand their followers—Xinjing had something else to worry about, and the vassal kings would not turn a blind eye to it.

He can't worry about national affairs, so he can only work hard to cultivate his own one-third of an acre. By integrating the small and scattered handmade bamboo industry in the local area, using the Qingtian family's own investment to expand the scale of production, and building various convenient measures to encourage people to engage in this industry, he created the pillar of Qingzhi Town's own. In this way, even if other merchants do not pass by due to various changes, the tree will not fall apart.

It has a unique advantage, which is far more reliable than simply relying on reliable external forces, and the operation over the years has made Qingzhi a well-known and wealthy territory.

Thriving is probably the best word to describe this town.

As the supreme ruler of such a territory, the morning of the Qingtian Mansion began at about five o'clock.

In summer, there are long hours of sunshine, and the days are always bright early. The roosters on the periphery began to crow as the sky gradually turned from blue to light blue, and as the sound sounded, the servants also got up one after another, and began to prepare in advance.

In a thriving family, even the number of servants will show its pride.

A group of 16 people are responsible for cooking the fire, washing rice, chopping wood, taking out the pickled radishes and cutting them into beautiful pieces and putting them on a plate.

After a brief wash, the servant did not eat of his own, and began to make his master's breakfast.

Because the mistress has the habit of bathing in the morning, someone needs to boil hot water. If the water temperature is high or low, it will be hit by the board. In addition, the water is exquisite: the water lifted directly from the river carries the fishy smell of the river, which always makes the mistress frown and look displeased. Especially after heating, even if it looks clear, there will always be a pungent smell.

Even if the servants use this kind of water for their own use, if they want to use it for the adults to bathe and wash and even make meals, it will inevitably make the honorable adults lose their appetite and ruin the good mood of the day.

Therefore, the water used by the Aoda family, the distinguished guests who lived in the mansion, and the high-ranking samurai in charge of the courtyard had to be brought down from the mountain. Fragrance with bamboo is best.

The spring is specially guarded, and the day in advance, it is brought back with a good wooden barrel, and it is transported from the place of Fuso, and it is fired in a huge black pottery water tank made of local magnetic black clay, covered with an oak lid, and quietly settled overnight.

When you drink the spring water directly, it has a clear and sweet taste, and after this method, it will have a refreshing taste.

The white rice is washed and soaked in this way, and then slowly boiled over a firewood fire, and once boiled, it is fragrant. Even if they had to wait for the Lord to finish eating the pot and the leftovers, the servants still looked forward to a meal that was more sumptuous than the brown and hard brown rice outside.

And bathing in such spring water, accompanied by various sun-dried flower petals, is the secret of the main mother's nearly 40 years old and still having girlish skin.

A constant stream of servants was running around, busy with their own business. And when they woke up, they had been busy for about half an hour, and the junior samurai and ashigaru who were in charge of the nursing home woke up separately.

The samurai's day began with tidying up their appearance, and even if the lower ranks of the samurai could only use clothes made of cotton and linen, it was their accusation that they were meticulously tidy.

The Moon Country is very humid overall, and if you don't maintain it daily, it's not uncommon for weapons to rust.

Brass blades can easily turn green and black if not wiped daily, and rust spots on blades that are usually polished like steel mirrors are noticeable. Checking one's weapon and other details every morning as a ritual is a compulsory course for both a countryman and a high-ranking samurai.

And the days of the armed retinue such as Ashigaru were not as leisurely and elegant as the samurai.

Not only do they need to take care of their own equipment and weapons, but they also need to clean and take care of the armor of the samurai masters.

Although the armor of the Land of the Moon is coated with lacquer and does not rust as easily as the polished plate armor favored by the Rigales, it is not completely immune to environmental influences.

If the storage environment is not good, the paint film will fall off under the erosion of moisture, or rust will bulge from the bottom of the paint like a pimple on the face. Therefore, wiping off the dust on the surface and keeping the environment dry is a must-do for ashigaru.

The Aota family had a lot of money, so most high-ranking samurai would have several sets of armor to suit different situations. And even ordinary townsmen will mostly have two sets of armor.

Except for the set that was placed in one's own home as a display of martial arts, most of the rest were collected and collected in the armory known as the armory room.

After waking up and tidying up and maintaining their things, the ashigaru people will enter the equipment room one after another and begin to maintain and clean up the equipment of the high-level samurai one by one.

Their burden is heavy.

Your equipment must be spotless and not rusty, and you must keep the armor of the samurai masters. No matter which side can't have a problem, if something goes wrong, you will be beaten and punished.

And perhaps the saddest thing is the fact that such days never end.

After the servants were busy for more than an hour, and the ashigaru people finished maintaining their equipment and began to enter the armor room to maintain the equipment of the samurai, and the low-level samurai elegantly and decently finished tidying up their appearance, wiping their weapons, and took out paper and pen and began to write some poems, the family of the lord of Qingtian Castle, those high-ranking samurai, and the disciples finally woke up.

At this time, the sky was completely bright, and the clear summer sky shone on the earth at about half past six, and although the temperature did not change much, it silently announced the passage of time.

It has been a long time since the uninvited guest from that foreign country arrived, and Yajiro set out with them in the name of experience.

Qingtian Town in general seemed to have no reaction to this, and the townspeople went about their lives, and although the lady sometimes sighed and worried about her distant children, it was not serious enough to affect the situation of the family.

With the servants and retinue already awake and prepared in advance, the early morning of the lord's family passed in an orderly and ordinary manner.

After washing or bathing and changing clothes under the service of the maids, the breakfast is served hot and fragrant. The process of eating with the nobles is always quiet and orderly, and without the big fish and meat of the nobles of Rigal, they seem to be careful to restrain themselves even for breakfast, not to make too loud noises, even if they chew with their mouths closed.

Unless there are special circumstances, such as a celebration of something, there will probably be no conversation at the banquet.

Just quietly and meticulously savoring the simple but delicious breakfast.

Rice soaked in mountain spring water and slowly cooked over a firewood fire, served with golden brown pickled radish cut into small pieces. The crisp texture and rich flavor are refreshing.

A bowl of rice with radish is eaten quickly, and then finished with a bowl of hot soup, leaving almost no one leftovers.

But this leisurely time only ends here, the Qingtian family is the head of a town, and there are many things that need to be managed every day.

Even after many years of operation, there are still merchants who refuse to pay the tariffs because they think they are too high, and even make trouble; a certain bamboo maker encroaches on the territory of another family and privately cuts down the bamboo that others intend to keep for a while for it to grow; and a certain merchant buys a batch of goods but refuses to pay for the goods.

Where there are bandits, and who is going to report something to the lord?

There are countless things that need to be dealt with every day in a prosperous town, and there are countless things that suddenly happen, and even if others have sorted them out, the final decision on many things still needs to be made by Qingtian himself.

If he notices that the people below have been fooled or bribed, and are vague in the report they have handed in, he must send a trustworthy person to get to the bottom of the matter, see what needs to be punished, and make sure that all the people in the town are doing the real thing.

Just like an old farmer who takes care of the vegetable field, he not only waters and fertilizes, but also always pays attention to cleaning up pests in time.

With his own ability, he laid the foundation of today's Qingzhi Town, and maintained the operation of the entire town with his own ability.

It's not that I didn't think about cultivating enough reliable help, but the country's almost unshakable class relations, although they gave the people below unconditional obedience to him, also made them lose the motivation to fight on top of it.

People near and far know the history of the Qingtian family, and many people keep saying that they want to become the next Qingtian.

But when the opportunity really lies in front of them, few people have the courage to really challenge the intricate and unshakable upper class.

Most of them will shrink back, muttering "what's wrong with being bland" and continue to live their old days.

This is probably the limitation of this country.

Every time he encounters a similar situation, such a thought will appear in Qingtian's heart.

Be a monk for a day and ring the bell for a day.

Don't seek merit but seek no fault, only do your own things, even if you see the rest of the things, even if it is just a gesture, you will not ask.

Even things that are within the division are often fooled by people.

All people seem to be insensitive and sluggish to the things around them.

Although these people all live in the same place, they all live in their own little world.

"Duty. ”

"Duty. ”

When I stopped writing, it was already noon. After processing all the paperwork, Qingtian shook his head and sighed.

"It's as if as long as everyone sticks to their duty, everything that happens will not exist, and the world will still be beautiful. ”

"Ahh

"Click-" The sound of armor clashing outside the door sounded.

"Lord, it's time for a feast. ”

Said an old samurai in a light armor with a gray beard.

His face is somewhat similar to Qingtian, but it is more like Qingtian Qiao, who is no longer here.

"Uncle, you really don't have to. The city lord did not show his identity, but said this to him in a very sincere tone.

"It's not just Xia, it's Linghai too. The old samurai moved out of the way, and there were a group of heavily armed samurai outside, not many in number, but judging from the momentum, they were all veterans of a hundred battles, but the average age was a little high.

"You guys. Qingtian sighed again.

"They are all old fellows who die without regrets, they have nothing to worry about, and the Lord does not have to worry. ”

The solemn-faced samurai wore light and practical armor, the ropes that tied the armor tightly, and the weapons were firmly hung.

"Looks like I can't beat you uncles, haha-" He turned his head and looked back at the empty room, where the attendants had already ordered the day off.

"Then let's go!" the lord of the city, who had already put on his fine clothes, stood up, and after a long absence, no one waited for him to put on his shoes, because of the wide clothes, he could not put them on for half a day.

"Let's get down—"

"What are you doing?"

Twenty or so men looked at the other side in unison.

The lady in the costume for going out looked at Aota with an angry face.

"Oops, it's exposed. And the lord of the city scratched his head and smiled like a little boy.

"I can't even wear my own shoes if I'm not there, really, why did I marry such a useless man. The angry lady seemed to have come all the way back, her face flushed, her hair disheveled, and her clothes clinging to her body because of her sweat.

"Do you want to leave me alone?"

"Don't even think about it. ”

While teaching the city lord a lesson, the lady squatted down to help him put on his luxurious cloth boots little by little.

"Can't you make me selfish for once? ”

"No, you can't. ”

"I've really got a great wife. ”

"Needless to say. ”

The silent old warriors watched the lord and his wife arguing, and when the lord's shoes had been put on with the help of his wife, he reached out again and helped her fix her hair.

"Yajiro will definitely be angry when he finds out. ”

"I have never been able to forgive you for entrusting him to the uninformed Nanban. ”

"But I also understand that this is the only option. ”

"Let's go. Qingtian smiled slightly.

"Go to the feast. ”

"Yes. And the samurai responded in unison.

————

————

At the end of April 1531 in the new Lamanite calendar, 4164 in the Moon Country calendar, Henry and others, who had already entered the south, were preparing for the next step, and most of the team members were unaware of it.

Aochi Town completed a power exchange.

The townspeople were vaguely aware of what was going on, but since there was no immediate impact on their lives at the moment, most of them chose to keep to themselves.

Something that had been in the making for a long time began to work quietly.

The entire system of the Moon Country, which has been running for a long time, is self-consistent.

This is where the disconnect begins.

。