The third hidden line in the island country was quietly laid by Zhao Xin two years ago by Li Ji. It's not that he has any conspiracy, but a stool with two legs can never stand, only three legs can make it stable. Liu Zheng was the bright one in the island country, while Pingtai was the dark one. However, his darkness was limited, so Zhao Xin asked Li Ji to arrange the third wave of people.
There are only a few spies in this group, only about ten in total, and they are not subordinate to Liu Zheng. There were Koka ninjas sent by the shogunate to lurk in the past, and they surrendered to the security police because they were inspired; there were samurai from the Aoba Camp who returned to the Sendai Domain after their term of service expired, ostensibly serving the Date family, but actually working in Hokkaido. The town has been secretly naturalized; the other is a poor man who joined the Northern Navy and turned into a small businessman after returning.
On the morning of four days after Zhao Xin issued the order, five motor sailing ships carrying more than 2,000 island workers sailed into the dock of Ishinomaki Port. Those farmers from the island country who go to work in Beihai Town basically come back at this time every year. At the moment, these ships are only the second batch, and there will be the third and fourth batch later.
You must know that in winter in the outer Northeast, the temperature is often minus 30 to 40 degrees Celsius, and most projects have to be stopped. Rather than letting these laborers languish in their cellars, it is better to let them return to their hometowns to see their families.
Beihai Town does not treat these people unfairly. As long as they are willing to endure hardships, even if their salaries are ripped off by the Beihai Executive Office and the feudal lord, they can always save more than a dozen Beihai silver dollars. One Beihai dollar is equivalent to 4 taels per day, and a dozen coins are equivalent to 40 to 50 taels of bean silver. This is already great for the peasant families in the island country!
Due to the "Frugality Order" promulgated by Matsudaira Sadanobu, the leader of the shogunate, and the "Abandonment Order" promulgated the year before last, which led to widespread bankruptcies of Zacha merchants, causing prices in the island country to rise, workers generally arrive at Whale Port in advance. Buy grain, cloth, tobacco and other items well, so as not to be exploited by the acting officials after returning to your hometown with a lot of money. For Beihai Town, this is considered rotten in the pot.
A large number of returnees disembarked from Ishinomaki Port. For a time, the flow of people in various pubs and shops in the town increased significantly. People wearing felt hats and dark blue upper and lower workers' cotton uniforms could be seen everywhere on the streets. This also made Ishinomaki popular before the Spring Festival. The town is becoming more and more lively.
Quan San and his companions, who were also wearing work clothes, walked into a paper umbrella store called "Xiao Gong" after getting off the boat. After exchanging the secret code with the boss, they handed an envelope to him. Afterwards, the two of them changed their clothes in the backyard of the store. When they came out and walked on the street, they were no different from ordinary island citizens.
This mission of transmitting information was completed. Next, General Quan San and his companions made an appointment to meet back in ten days, and then parted ways, planning to return to their hometown for a visit.
It has been five years since Quan San left the island country. Back then, he was beaten by a bully and was left with half his life. If he hadn't encountered the Thor, even his bones and dregs would have been eaten by the fish. After arriving in Beihai Town, he stayed in the hospital for several months before he could go to the ground. Because he was illiterate and a loner, he first worked as a road construction worker for more than a year, and then went to work in the oil mine on Kuye Island for a year before he was naturalized and changed his name to "Quan Baocai."
Because he always wanted to return to his hometown for revenge, Quan Bao naturally signed up to be a soldier after naturalization; the Northern Navy dared to beat up even the Edo Shogunate and Satsuma Domain, and in his mind this was the most powerful backer.
However, as soon as the recruit training was over, he was sent to garrison Heilongjiang City, where he stayed for two full years. When the Northern Navy Intelligence Bureau was established to select personnel, Quan Baocai was already a squad leader. After being selected inexplicably, he went through intense training for another half a year. In the blink of an eye, it was already the end of 1791.
Quan Baocai's hometown is Udo Village in Nakamura Domain's Pyoye County, which is under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate's family, the Shouma family. During the Tianming famine, more than 10,000 people in the Nakamura clan starved to death, making it one of the hardest-hit areas.
It's not far from Ishinomaki Town to Udo Village. It's only over 200 miles by land. It's actually faster to take a sea boat. However, Quan Bao just asked a circle of people on the pier, and the fastest boat would not leave until the day after tomorrow. He didn't want to wait for a minute, so he found a random restaurant in the town to fill his stomach, bought a few rice balls, and then set out on the road carrying a heavy baggage.
During the Edo period, due to restrictions on the movement of people, civilians were not qualified to ride horses. The ban was not lifted until the Meiji period. Moreover, in these days, except for the warriors who delivered urgent reports, who could gallop on their horses, other horse riders must have followers to lead their horses, and they must not hold the reins themselves, otherwise it would be rude.
In addition, horse rental during the Edo period was based on mileage, which was very expensive and could not be afforded by ordinary samurai. On average, one mile is charged two hundred cents, and fifty miles is one stone meter, which is almost the same as taxis in island countries in another time and space.
Although civilians were restricted from running around, living people would not suffocate to death, and sneaking people around the checkpoints became a business. So Quan Bao spent fifty coins and sneaked into Soma Domain from Sendai Domain.
The closer he got to his hometown, the more Quan Baocai's heart pounded. How his parents were doing these past few years, and whether Abin was still around, all made him worry about him in every possible way.
He has already decided that no matter what, he must take his parents back to Beihai Town this time. If Abin can find them, that would be even better! Although A Bin may have become a prostitute, he will not dislike her. He wants to redeem A Bin and bring her back to Beihai Town for a glorious wedding.
As for the brothel owner and the village bully Hu Sanmo... Quan Bao decided to settle the score with him, and the pistol hidden in his waist was not for nothing!
Three days later at noon, when Quan Baocai saw the boundary marker of Niudu Village, he thought that he was finally home! He came to the Buddhist niche opposite the boundary monument and said with emotion to the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue inside: "I'm back!"
He wiped off the dust on the head of the stone statue with his sleeves, clasped his hands together in a salute, and then strode quickly towards his home.
Niudu Village is still the same. The villagers' houses are low and dilapidated, and the straw on the roofs rustles in the north wind. On the not-so-wide road, unmelted snow mixed with mud, coupled with frequent trampling and crushing, turned it into a big mud pond.
What surprised Quan Baocai was that there was no one on the street, and there was no sound coming from the houses on the roadside. It was deserted and there was no New Year atmosphere. You must know that in the Edo period, starting from the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, every family had to clean their homes and clean their shrines. If they had money or not, they would hang kadomatsu at the door in the hope that the "year god" would stop for a while when he passed by to bless his home.
When he was about to reach home, he saw an old man standing on an upside-down wooden barrel under a crooked tree on the roadside, tremblingly putting his head into the noose hanging on the tree. Quan Baocai was shocked and hurried forward. Just as the old man kicked the barrel down, he grabbed the other man's legs.
The old man was also startled. His neck had just been strangled by the rope, but he didn't feel any pain yet. Suddenly his body became light and he was lifted up, and then he stood on the ground. When he turned around and looked back carefully, he felt that the strong man in front of him looked familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was for the moment.
Although Quan Baocai had been away from home for many years, the scenery of his hometown was engraved in his heart. He looked at the wrinkled old man in front of him and was wearing rags, and he quickly recognized him. So he asked with concern: "Dad Yuzuo, what are you doing?!"
Seeing that the other party actually recognized him, Yosaku wiped the corners of his eyes with his dirty sleeves and carefully looked at the strong man in front of him. Suddenly his eyes widened and he said in surprise: "Kwon San? You're not dead?! You're still alive." !”
"I'm standing in front of you. What's wrong with you? What's wrong with you? My house is right in front. Let's go home and talk."
Yosaku lowered his head, twitched his lips twice, and cried with a grin: "Quan San, your parents are gone...I can't live anymore! Woo woo woo."
"What!" Quan Bao's head buzzed, he staggered a few steps, stretched out his hand to hold Yusaku's shoulder, and asked loudly: "Why not? Tell me clearly!"
"They took Agui away and said they would make her a prostitute to pay off her debts. I am just a granddaughter, how can I live without her..."
Quan Bao interrupted the old man's cry and said urgently: "Dad Yuzuo, tell me quickly! What happened to my parents?!"
"That year, the whole village thought you were dead, and I followed your parents to the beach to find the body for several days. In the second year, your family couldn't pay the rent, and the owner of the Kiso house forced you to pay off the debt. Your father In a fit of anger, he hanged himself. Later, they took away everything they could from your house, saying they wanted to pay off debts, and your mother also fell ill. Two days later, people from the village went to see her, but she was gone... .Your house collapsed due to snow last year. Without anyone to live in it, the house deteriorated quickly..."
Quan Bao's eyes were about to burst when he heard this, and he asked, "Where is he buried?!"
"On the hill to the west, our village..."
"Dad Yuzuo, go home and wait for me! I can help you if you need anything!"
Before Yu Zuo could finish speaking, Quan Baocai quickly ran towards the west. Yosaku stared blankly at the other person's retreating back, looked up at the rope hanging on the tree, hesitated for a moment, then picked up the barrel and swayed towards his home.
About an hour later, Yuzuo, who was sitting by the fireplace, heard footsteps coming from outside. He got up and went out to see that it was Quan San who was back. The other party's eyes were red and swollen, and his body and turban were covered with mud and weeds.
When Quan Baocai sat down in front of the hearth and took off his turban, Yosaku looked at the other person's short hair, which was about an inch long, and said in surprise: "Quan San, have you become a monk?"
After a while, Quan Bao shook his head slightly and said in a voice that became hoarse after crying: "Dad, what's going on in the village? You just told me about Agui. She is fourteen this year, right? "
Yosaku lamented, and then told the other party what happened. Quan Bao's face turned green after hearing this. This was almost the same as when he was beaten.
During the famine in the morning, one-third of the people in Niudu Village died, and only one granddaughter, Agui, was left in Yuzuo's family to depend on each other. The old man was reluctant to let his granddaughter work as a servant, so he took her to farm at home.
Most of the farmers in these days were sharecroppers. After harvesting grain every year, they had to hand over almost half of the harvest to the landlord, and the family relied on the remaining grain to survive.
Yuzuo rented five acres of land from the landlord. With good harvests in the past two years, he could get up to sixteen bags of rice, seven and a half bags of which were used as rented grain, and the remaining rice was used by the grandfather and grandson for a year. Farmers in the island country cannot afford rice, so they usually go to the "Mi Wenwu" to replace it with wheat or millet, and then add radish leaves, soybean leaves and mountain vegetables to barely fill their stomachs.
The problem is that in addition to eating, you also have to eat salt and exchange for some daily necessities. If there is a bad harvest, the rent will not be reduced at all. After all, the landlord has to pay annual tribute to the feudal clan. As a result, borrowing from landlords or loan sharks became inevitable.
As soon as the twelfth lunar month enters every year, there is a harvest feast for loan sharks. Faced with debts that carry compound interest and will never be repaid, the tenants can only ask for the next year's harvest to repay the debts, or they can only let pretty girls work as prostitutes; when will the usury money be repaid? Only by doing good can you be good.
Having said that, the vast majority of people are not finished yet. You must know that in addition to what has been accumulated before, there will be new loans. What's more, if you become a prostitute, you will contract a disease that even your family will hate, and you can only die miserably in the end...
The north wind howled outside, and the dry branches crackled in the furnace inside. Yosaku wiped away tears and choked up: "Last year, the harvest of my five acres of land was not good, but the owner of Kisoya said it was impossible without paying back the money, so they took Agui away and said they would let her work in a brothel to pay off the debt. "
Quan Bao's heart suddenly moved, and he immediately asked: "Dad, is Abin... okay?"
"Abin?" Yosaku sighed and said, "I heard that she is already the number one in the brothel and has become a cash cow for Tora San."
"Hu San!" Quan Baocai clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth.
When Yusaku saw it, he quickly advised: "Quan San, the Tigers are numerous and powerful, and they have seven or eight thugs under them. You don't want to touch an egg with a stone!"
Quan Bao nodded after hearing this. He was no longer the stupid young man he used to be. It would be easy to just rush in and kill people, but if you alert the government, you will cause a lot of trouble if you try to take Abin to Ishinomaki Port. His identity is a secret and cannot be exposed easily. It is better to find out the situation first before taking action.
"Dad, how much do you owe Kisoya?"
"I fell ill the year before last, and Agui borrowed two taels from the doctor to buy medicine... Now including interest, the total is eight taels and thirty-seven cents."
Quan Bao then opened the bag next to him, took out a roe deer skin money bag, took out a few bean silver coins exchanged in Ishinomaki Town, handed it to Yusaku and said: "Here are ten taels, you go and redeem Agui." come back."
Yosaku stared at the blackened silver in the other's hand in disbelief, and said excitedly: "Quan San, you are getting rich!"
"I went to Beihai Town to work in the past few years and earned some money. I originally wanted to honor my parents..."
"Beihai Town? I think I heard someone say that." Yuzuo took the money and said with a tearful smile: "You can stay at my house tonight! I'll let Agui cook the food later, and I'll buy some wine and have a good drink tonight!"
