Tianya Castle is located in the mountainous area in the northern part of Takashima County, and the surrounding territory belongs to Tianya Township.
The land inspection work and census took the lead here. After three days of hard work, everything began to go on track.
Numata Mitsuwa selected more than a dozen samurai from the surrendered retainers of the Tianya family as his own, and put the development of the territory on the right track.
In fact, the territory of more than 10,000 stones is not very big, it is probably the size of an ordinary town in the later dynasty.
There are nine villages in Tianwu Township. In addition to the five villages near Tianwu City, there are four other villages deep in the mountains and forests. Numata Mitsuwa and two people walked for two hours before finally arriving at a very inconspicuous small village.
"This should be here, right?"
Standing on a hillside, Numata Mitsuwa panted and pointed at a few thatched houses not far away.
Kasahara Kiyosuna, who was following Mitsuwa Numata, quickly took out a map from his arms. This was found from a room where various materials were stored in Tagaya Castle. It must have been drawn by someone from the Tagaya family.
"Based on the information on the map, the direction we took and the time, we should be right here!"
"The place where the place name is written is soaked with sweat, and the handwriting is blurred, so I can't read it clearly." After finishing speaking, Kasahara Kiyozuna pointed to a certain place on the map.
Numata Mitsuwa shook the folding fan in his hand vigorously a few times to bring some coolness to himself, "There don't seem to be many people in this village. Come on, let's go over and have a look!"
"ha!"
Kametaro is an out-and-out farmer who has lived in this unknown village for more than 40 years.
Kametaro remembers hearing his grandfather say when he was a child that the village was established more than a hundred years ago. Originally, the people in the village lived in Asai County next door, but due to the war and other reasons at that time, some farmers who could not survive there fled here to avoid the war.
It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and has no external roads. There are only several mountain springs that merge into a stream flowing down the river. A piece of vacant land has been used to build houses, and the remaining land has been reclaimed and become valuable land for the livelihood of more than 100 people in the village.
Throughout the Warring States Period, there were many people like Kametaro. And there are countless villages like this nameless village.
No matter where they are, population is a scarce resource, so both sides in a war often plunder the population from the other's territory. In order to avoid this phenomenon, once a war breaks out, farmers near the battlefield will take all their belongings and take refuge in the nearby mountains to avoid being affected.
And some people left their hometown forever, choosing to find another paradise and live a life without competing with the world.
"Are some samurai masters passing by here?" Looking at the tough men with swords on their waists in front of him, the honest Kametaro's legs were shaking.
Master Samurai, this is such a familiar yet unattainable title. Kametaro has only seen a samurai once in more than forty years, and that was the war that engulfed Omi thirty years ago.
It is said that a war broke out between a very powerful samurai and another very powerful samurai over the position of family governor. Kametaro was also mobilized to participate in the war as the young man in the village.
In that battle, a total of eleven young men were dispatched from Kametaro's village. In the end, one person was killed and two others were seriously injured.
The village had not experienced such losses for decades, so such casualties made the people in the village hate war even more. And today there was a samurai figure here again, which reminded Kametaro of the scene thirty years ago.
"We are not passing by, but we came here specifically!" Mitsuwa Numata shook his head, "Is there a village leader in the village? Ask him to come over!"
As a samurai, Numata Mitsukazu didn't have the time to waste time with the peasant in front of him.
As soon as Numata Mitsuwa finished speaking, Kametaro felt a thump in his heart, "Is this really the case? Are we going to fight again?"
"Returning to the samurai master, there are only twenty-five households in the village where the villain is located. Usually everyone gathers together to discuss everything, and there is no village head." Although Kametaro was uneasy, he was surprised by the samurai master's question. You still have to answer, otherwise what if the other party gets angry and cuts himself with a knife?
Hearing that there was no Murato, Numata Mitsuwa and Kasahara Kiyosuna looked at each other, which was a bit troublesome.
Generally speaking, samurai like Numata Mitsuwa do not need to deal with farmers at all. Even if they go to the village to do things, they only need to convey their orders to the village head, and then let the village head mobilize the farmers below, which saves time and effort. , and can ensure the smooth progress of the task.
"Is there a temple in the village?" If there is no village head, we can only pray that there are temples and shrines nearby. Sometimes the leaders of these temples can speak more effectively than the samurai.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Kametaro nodded quickly and said, "There is a Benqing Temple on Xianghua Mountain behind the village. It has been built for more than a hundred years. When I was a child, I heard my grandfather say that this temple was built more than a hundred years ago. After the wandering monk settled here, the villagers and the wandering monk built it together."
"Originally, no monks have lived here for decades, but a new master came to settle here two years ago. Most of the affairs in the village that cannot be decided are decided by the master!"
It would be easier if there is a temple. Although it is troublesome to deal with those bald donkeys, it is better than wasting time with a group of peasants who know nothing.
Following Kametaro's guidance, Numata Mitsukazu and others soon arrived at the Fragrant Flower Mountain behind the village. After walking on the mountain road for a while, a dilapidated temple gate appeared in front of Numata Mitsukazu.
"Numata-sama, please wait a moment. I'm going to call the door!" Kasahara Kiyotsuna quickly wiped a stone bench at the entrance of Honkei Temple and let Mitsuwa Numata sit down. Then he turned around and knocked on the door of Honkei Temple.
"Bang! Bang bang!"
"Duang!"
Just hearing a duang sound, as if special effects were added, the temple door that was intact just now suddenly fell down. A layer of gray rose up, making Kasahara Kiyosuna suddenly look disgraced.
"Bah, bah, bah!"
Before Kasahara Kiyosuna could dust himself off, a monk wearing plain robes and holding a wooden staff walked out of the temple.
"This Tan Yue (donor) is very rude. He broke down the temple door on his first visit. Does he still want to get the blessing of the Buddha after being so reckless?"
Kasahara Kiyotsuna raised his head and was about to say something, but after seeing the monk's appearance clearly, he was suddenly stunned. "Is the master the master of this temple? He is really young!"
Looking at the monk in front of him who was no more than 20 or 30 years old, Kasahara Kiyosuna was a little confused. How could he be the host at such a young age?
But then I thought about it, this guy is the only one in this temple. If he wasn't the presiding officer, who would be?
"The poor monk's name is Shun Lian, and he is the presiding officer of this temple!"
"It must be the first time that Tan Yue and I are here. Judging from your appearance, you must be people of extraordinary status. In this case, the poor monk has something he needs to talk to you about."
"What's the matter?" Kasahara Kiyotsuna blinked and didn't understand the meaning for a while.
Shun Lian spread his left hand and pointed at the empty temple gate with his right hand.
"Compensate!"
