Late at night in Matsushima Town, beside the fishing port.
During the Edo period, traveling at night was a hassle. There were no street lights on the streets at that time, so people had to rely on lanterns to travel at night. In particular, the shogunate prohibited going out at night without a lantern.
Katsu Kaishu was holding a lantern, followed by Heita and Jiuzang. They avoided the night watchman and made their way to the beach.
The little girl A Miao had already gone to bed in the inn, and Sheng Haizhourang had no intention of letting the child follow her.
In the calm port, there was no movement on several docked return ships.
The three of them waited for a long time. When Sheng Haizhou felt that the time was almost up, he heard a noise behind him.
Zhao Xin is here.
Katsu Kaishu turned around and held up the lantern to see who was behind him, when he heard the figure opposite whisper: "It's me."
"Lord." Sheng Haizhou was finally sure that it was Zhao Xin, so he whispered excitedly.
"Sir, you are finally here." Pingtai and Jiuzang were also very excited.
"Tell me about it. What's going on these days?" Zhao Xin asked Sheng Haizhou in a calm voice.
"Lord, let's go to the thatched hut over there. We've seen it in the past few days, and no one lives in that thatched hut." Sheng Haizhou held up a lantern and gestured in the direction of the other side of the port.
This is a very dilapidated thatched house, with sparse thatch on the roof, and the cold sea breeze passes through the house, making a whining sound.
Zhao Xin calmly opened the buckle of the gun holster tied to his thigh, so that he could quickly draw the gun and shoot in case of trouble.
The four of them arrived in front of the thatched cottage. Sheng Haizhou first entered the house with a lantern to take a look, and then signaled to Zhao Xin that it was okay under the light.
"Let's talk. Sheng Haizhou, you go first."
"Yes. The three of us and I stayed in the town for five days and found that there were many refugees in the town, some coming south from Mutsu and some coming from Ueno.
The Sendai clan's attitude towards these refugees was to ignore them and let them leave on their own.
On the second day after we arrived here, my subordinates got to know the officials of the local execution office. This person's name is Katayama Kanbei, and he serves as a co-worker in the execution office. This person has a good heart. Even though he is not rich, he will still give money to the poor.
The day before yesterday, his subordinates were invited to his home. During the dinner, they talked about whether there would be trouble if they bought some refugees and took them away. "
Zhao Xin asked: "He didn't ask you why you wanted to buy refugees?"
"My subordinate told him the truth and wanted to take the refugees to the northern islands to farm and survive."
In the darkness, Zhao Xin squinted his eyes.
"If you secretly allow citizens to flee, if you are discovered, this will be a serious crime of beheading."
Zhao Xin's voice was still calm. No one knew what he was thinking, but Sheng Haizhou felt a little frightened. So he swallowed his saliva and continued: "My lord, Katayama Kanbei is willing to bring his family to the island with us."
"??" Zhao Xin blinked in the darkness. His first reaction was that Katayama Kanbei was a spy from the shogunate. His second reaction was that this person was a spy from the Sendai clan.
"He left his family and career to become a wanderer and went into exile with us. Is he crazy?" Zhao Xin asked calmly.
Zhao Xin's suspicion is very reasonable in this era.
In these days, even low-level samurai like Kanbei Katayama lived in poverty and embarrassment. Sometimes they had no money and even had to sell their ancestral property and borrow money from merchants. In the end, if they couldn't pay back the money, they had to be visited by merchants to collect debts. But he was also a genuine Feng Gong man with a "Miao character and a sword"!
Starting from the seventeenth century, the daimyo of each domain had been in financial difficulties due to the shogunate's constant troubles. In the name of so-called "borrowing" (that is, the daimyo borrowed money from merchants), they reduced the salaries of their retainers, making life more difficult for samurai. Some daimyo gave merchants the status of retainers even if they could not repay the usury.
The Tokugawa shogunate was also very troubled. In order to rescue the samurai, it also issued a decree to legalize the samurai's default on debts. In the end, the matter was settled due to collective protests by businessmen.
But what is this era of ronin? Regardless of how impoverished the robbers in the sword and halberd films of later generations are, if a samurai does not have the opportunity to serve as an official, and at the same time cannot keep his face in business, he has no choice but to starve to death.
So even if low-level warriors are poor, there is no way for outsiders to suffer this.
Sheng Haizhou hesitated for a moment and thought about how to word it. Then he explained: "My subordinates have talked with him several times. He himself is very angry at the shogunate and the domain for not providing relief to the refugees, and he also cries bitterly about the miserable experiences of the refugees. I have met his family, and there is a child in his family." From the furnishings and clothes at home, it can be seen that the two sons are very poor. However, Kanbei Katayama has a very good reputation among the townspeople, which I also found out through chatting with merchants in the town."
"No." Zhao Xin shook his head in the dark, and continued regardless of whether the three people around him saw it: "Since you have become friends, there is a financial friendship between friends. I allow you to financially support this Katayama , But, Sheng Haizhou, you have to remember one thing."
Sheng Haizhou was frightened when he heard these words. Ever since he joined Zhao Xin, he had never heard such a harsh tone from Zhao Xin. So he hurriedly bowed and said: "I would like to ask my lord to make it clear."
"Leave aside the fleeing peasants, those merchants and samurai whom we have not yet got to know in depth must be cautious when dealing with them. And I know that the relationship between Sendai Clan and Edo has always been harmonious. How can you be sure of this? Isn’t this a spy planted by the Tokugawa family in Sendai Domain?
Since you have already told him about going to sea, I will not pursue him further. Let him help with the selection of refugees this time. Our ship can't hold too many people, so let him help you select refugees. Just tell Katayama that we will come again next year to reassure him. If you want to work with us, there are plenty of opportunities. "
The cold sea breeze blew through the thatched hut, but sweat broke out on Katsu Kaishu's forehead.
He knew that what his lord told him was right, but when he was chatting with Katayama Kanbei, he ignored the seriousness of telling the truth.
"I was still too rash!" Sheng Haizhou, who was only twenty years old in the new year, blamed himself in his heart. He handed the lantern in his hand to Jiuzang beside him, and with a "pop" he knelt on the ground of the dirty thatched cottage.
"Please punish me, my lord!"
Satisfied, Zhao Xin stretched out his hand to help Sheng Haizhou up, and helped him wipe the stains on his clothes, and then said slowly: "If you suffer a loss, you must remember it. Forget it this time, and you can't do it again next time."
When Jiuzang and Heita heard this, they suddenly knelt on the ground together. Pingtai lowered his head and said, "Sir, we have something else to do."
Zhao Xin's heart suddenly flickered, and he calmed down before asking: "What?"
"We took in a refugee girl who escaped from Mount Asama in Ueno. She was only nine years old. Everyone in her family was dead."
"What are you doing taking in a child?"
"We would like to find you a personal maid, my lord."
"Pfft" Zhao Xin's heart spurted out a mouthful of old blood. I wiped it. He has become more capable, and his subordinates know how to respect him.
"I don't need a maid yet. Since you have accepted it, take it with you and go back to work with Shino." Zhao Xin said coldly.
These three people have caused so much trouble just a few days after they were sent out alone.
"Katsu Kaishu, I'll give you two days, and ask Katayama to help you select strong-bodied refugees. Remember, don't accept anyone without a wife or children!"
Zhao Xin does not intend to have those bachelor refugees. Who knows how these people survived in the countryside. If they are brought back, they may be called unruly people in the camp.
"Yes. Then I will select twenty to thirty households of refugees."
"Okay." Zhao Xin nodded. "It will be this time the day after tomorrow. Mr. Liu and I will come to pick people up. It will be freezing any later."
"I have another question for my lord. How much money should we support Kanbei Katayama?"
"How much money do you have left that I gave you before?"
"There are more than eighty taels left."
"Okay, give him twenty taels. Tell him that we will come again after next spring and will bring more people with us."
After Zhao Xin finished speaking, the three people kneeling in front of him felt as if a gust of wind was blowing in front of them. When they raised their heads and held up the lantern, they saw that there was no one in front of them.
The three of them looked at each other in astonishment.
At noon the next day, in a single room of Takasakiya Tavern.
"Please accept this, Your Majesty Katayama."
Katsu Kaishu respectfully pushed twenty taels of small fines wrapped in mulberry paper in front of Katayama Kanbei.
"You, what do you mean?" Katayama Kanbei was stunned.
"Last night, I met my lord. After hearing about you, my lord valued you very much. However, my lord hopes that you can stay here to help us transport refugees to sea. In addition, my lord asked me to tell you that tomorrow In the spring, we will come back to transfer the refugees, and we hope to get your help then."
Katayama Kanbei looked at Katsu Kaishu in front of him seriously. After a while, a helpless smile appeared on his face.
"It seems that I have not gained the trust of that adult."
"No, no, your Excellency, you have misunderstood..." Sheng Haizhou explained quickly.
Katayama raised his hand to interrupt the other party: "I didn't misunderstand. After all, I didn't do anything. How can I make that adult trust you just by chatting between you and me? I understand everything, please don't worry, I We will do our best to assist in this matter.”
"Then please accept this, Your Excellency. This is also our lord's wish."
"!!!" In these days, people are poor but have short ambitions, and horses are thin and hairy. Katayama thought of his wife and daughter at home and the rice priced at one price a day. He helplessly touched his shiny shaved head and smiled awkwardly.
"Okay. It would be disrespectful for me to refuse." After saying that, Katayama picked up the mulberry paper bag and put it into his sleeve.
Seeing that the other party had taken the money, Sheng Haizhou felt relieved.
On the other side, Zhao Xin returned to the hotel residence angrily. Liu Sheng had already returned to China to find someone. The two of them agreed that Liu Sheng would come back the day after tomorrow, which is why he told Sheng Haizhou that he would take action in two days.
When Zhao Xin lay on the bed after taking a shower, he felt that his judgment might be arbitrary. After all, he could not look at the ancients the way modern people look at people and things.
After thinking about it over and over again, Zhao Xin fell asleep.
Two days later, Liu Sheng knocked on Zhao Xin's door at noon and brought good news.
"My classmate is Zhao Liang. After he was discharged from the army, he used his retirement pay to partner with others to open a metal processing factory. As a result, it was deemed by the local government to be backward in production capacity and the factory was closed down. All his retirement pay was also used."
"Continue." Zhao Xin was noncommittal, he wanted to know more.
"Pour me some water first. I'll get off the plane and take the Shinkansen all the way back without even breathing." Liu Sheng said as he leaned on the sofa like an uncle.
Zhao Xin chuckled, stood up and handed Liu Sheng the green tea he had just brewed.
This guy was really thirsty. He blew carefully and took several sips before saying, "I didn't reveal the secret. I just told him that there was an urgent need for a place, even if it was backward in production capacity, but it was far away from home." It's a bit far. Zhao Liang was tempted as soon as he heard it. He had no idea. He had been doing processing since he was discharged from the army, and he was not familiar with other industries. I guess I should ask him now, because he sold the equipment and went to people Gone as a bodyguard."
"What was he responsible for in the army before?" Zhao Xin didn't quite understand this.
"Fire support."
"Then let's talk to him." Zhao Xin was very anxious. Since the construction of the camp started, he felt a little powerless. He didn't understand many things about engineering construction at all.
"I've basically contacted all the comrades I met before. If things go well, I'll say a few greetings. If things don't go well, I'll talk more." Liu Sheng paused and said with a smile, "We made an appointment on New Year's Day. These guys decided to get together.”
"Bull!" Zhao Xin extended his thumb towards Liu Sheng.
