Early the next morning.
Just after breakfast time, a notice board was erected at the two gates of the formal residential area and the quarantine area, with a large notice written in traditional Chinese characters posted on it.
On the notice's header are the six characters "Recruiting Public Security Police."
Just after breakfast, dozens of refugees who were chatting in the camp gradually gathered in front of the notice and started talking.
"What's written on it?"
"Who, hey, Yajiro, haven't you been to a private school for a few days? Come over and help me take a look." A refugee shouted to a young man outside the crowd.
The onlookers turned around and saw a young man basking in the sun against the outer wall of the tent. Hearing the greeting, the young man stood up lazily and walked over. Everyone then took the initiative to move out of the way to let him in.
"Has he ever attended a private school?" a refugee asked curiously.
"No. I heard from his brother that his family was relatively wealthy before and could afford a private school, but within a few years it would no longer be possible."
Yajiro walked through the crowd and walked to the sign. He looked up and saw that he knew all the words on it, so he began to read the title word by word. "Recruiting vigilantes."
"What is law and order?"
"What is a police officer?"
"Are the adults here looking for followers?"
As soon as the title was read, everyone in the audience started talking. Except for the first two words, the remaining four words have no meaning at all.
"Shut up and listen to him continue." A few people standing under the sign were dissatisfied and turned around to scold everyone.
In fact, Yajiro doesn’t understand what a security policeman is. He knew every word in it, but what did it mean when put together?
At this time, everyone only listened to Yajiro continue to read: "Requirement, adult male, age from 18 to 30 years old. Good health, no bad habits..."
"I said, what is a bad habit?"
"It's just a bad habit!" Yajiro explained impatiently.
"Oh~~" Everyone suddenly realized.
What are the bad habits of these refugees? Isn’t it just a waste of money? First, we will not waste food, second, we will not smoke, and third, we will not drink tea. Bad habits have nothing to do with us idiots.
"...Salary, two kilo of rice or wheat flour per month!" Yajiro couldn't help but widen his eyes after reading, and he himself was shocked by the content on the notice.
"What?! Two stones a month, doesn't that mean..."
A refugee was counting on his fingers when a person next to him immediately exclaimed: "Twenty-four stones!"
"Oh my god, that's nearly seven liters of rice a day!!" There are people here who think faster.
What is the concept of seven liters of rice a day?
According to the "Ryuan Zabi" compiled in the late Edo period, a family of eight to nine people in Edo Castle at that time consumed fourteen koku and four measures of rice a year, with an average of 4.4 tons of rice per person per day (1 liter equals 10 pieces is about 1.3 kilograms; 4.4 pieces is about 1.14 kilograms, and when steamed with water, it can become more than 2 kilograms of rice).
(There is a scene in the Japanese drama "Jinyi" where the protagonist eats at a samurai's house for the first time. The samurai's sister brings a bowl of rice piled high, which almost scares the protagonist to death.)
Starting from the mid-Edo period, urban residents' food consumption increased significantly. One important reason is to change from two meals a day to three meals a day.
As the production and popularity of mustard oil increased, lighting a lamp at night was no longer a luxury. Many people have to work at night, and two meals a day are no longer enough. Interestingly, the popularity of tempura is also due to the large-scale use of mustard seed oil.
Although many farmers still insist on eating two meals a day, who doesn’t want to eat three meals a day! The problem is that I can’t afford it.
The onlookers were completely shocked. Don't worry about what this "security police" does, just the monthly treatment is scary. How much is the salary of a samurai master? Even if the whole family eats hard, how much can they eat in a day?
Currently, each refugee family in the camp only has five or six members at most. If you are so extravagant that you only eat rice and some pickled vegetables, your daily consumption will not exceed 30 tons of rice.
This "public security policeman" had seventy pieces of rice a day. Not to mention eating it himself, the whole family would be bloated.
So many people began to wake up. This is not recruiting followers and petty officials, this is clearly recruiting to be a warrior master! ! !
At this time, there were more people around, and some people eagerly asked Yajiro where they could apply. As soon as Yajiro told him the location, they immediately ran away.
"Don't worry, there are more down there." Yajiro said unhappily. He turned to look at the notice and continued reading: "The number of applicants is limited to fifty. The application location..."
Everyone waited nervously with their ears wide open.
These people all have the same idea. Fifty people are nothing. As long as I can run faster than you, then it is mine and no one can take it away!
At this time, Yajiro pretended to take a few steps back casually, so that the people around him could spread out a little and make it less crowded. While everyone was retreating, he used the corner of his eye to find the largest gap between the crowd.
At this time, his upper body leaned forward slightly, his arms and legs began to accumulate strength, his left foot was close to the ground, the front sole of his right foot was close to the ground, and his back heel was slightly raised.
It is said that this running posture was taught to him by his brother after he went to work as a guard. I heard from my brother that the adults had carefully told me that such movements could make me run faster.
"...Recruitment location..." Yajiro read slowly.
"Where is it? You can tell me! I'm so anxious." A young man on Yaichiro's left shouted.
"Big ship on the seaside~~"
As soon as Yajiro finished speaking the first word, he suddenly turned around and pushed away a few people blocking the way on the right, and rushed out of the gate in a flash. After he rushed out of the door, the next few words reached everyone's ears as his retreating figure.
"Huh? Why is he going?" A refugee said strangely, but he immediately realized that Yajiro was talking about the big boat on the beach!
If you don’t run now, when will you wait? The refugee immediately turned around and ran towards the beach.
"This kid is so bad!" Everyone onlookers also figured it out and cursed one after another.
Hula~~ The sound of footsteps suddenly caused a cloud of dust to fly, and hundreds of people ran away immediately.
"Mother, what are they doing? The person who ran out just now seems to be my second uncle."
Asaki and Yaichiro's wife were carrying two large buckets and had just returned from fetching water from the sink.
"Don't worry about him. You have nothing to do until you are full! You have just had enough food for a few days and you have to mess around."
Yachiro's wife walked towards the tent without looking back.
On the deck of the Thor, Zhao Xin, Liu Sheng, Katayama Kanbei and Katsu Kaishu had just met. A few people were about to go to the conference room in the cabin to talk about the morning interview in advance, when they heard a sailor on the deck exclaimed: "Sir, something seems to have happened!"
Upon hearing this, several people quickly turned around and stood on the side of the ship, following the sailor's fingers and looking towards the shore.
On the road 200 meters away from the pier, I saw a small refugee running towards this direction quickly; dozens of meters behind him, hundreds of refugees brought up a cloud of smoke and dust, and they were also running very fast.
The leading men were running and shouting: "Yajiro, you shameless guy! Stop right there!"
I'm stupid, you still want me to stop?
Yajiro, who was running wildly, couldn't help but think of his deceased father. If my father hadn't sent me to a private school in the town for two years against everyone else's advice, how would I have had this opportunity?
When Yajiro rushed to the trestle where the Thor was parked, he was stopped by the sailor on duty on the trestle.
"Stop! What are you doing?!" The sailor nervously held the sword in his hand and yelled at Yajiro.
"Yes, yes, yes." Yajiro put his hands on his waist, bent over and breathed while saying.
"Is that the group behind you too?" Sailor pointed behind Yajiro and said.
At this time, more than a hundred people had already run to the beach, crowding each other to rush to the trestle.
"Bang bang!!!" Two gunshots were heard in the air. The crowd on the beach immediately fell silent. Everyone was frightened by the sound; those with more knowledge knew that it was the sound of iron cannon being fired.
"I'll go!" Liu Sheng said.
Zhao Xin turned to Sheng Haizhou and said: "Sheng Haizhou, go find Mr. Wang and ask him to send a team of guards to maintain order. Have them line up, five at a time, to get on the ship to apply. Tell the people below who wants to If you dare to rush onto the trestle again, you will be disqualified."
Katayama Kanbei hurriedly said to Zhao Xin: "Master, let me go and help maintain it."
Zhao Xin nodded and said: "The guards will come soon, so you can come back to the ship to find me. After all, these first batch of people recruited will be under your control from now on. You have to take a look."
Katayama Kanbei bowed and saluted, and then went down to the trestle with Liu Sheng.
Half an hour later, Wang Yuanfang trotted to the beach with five classes of guards. Each of these guards held a wooden stick as a weapon and began to maintain order.
Soon, the timid refugees lined up in a queue, waiting to board the ship in order of five at a time.
Yajiro was placed in the first group.
(End of chapter)
