Walking down from the continuous mountains, when the black forest that blocked the view was finally left behind, the three of them came to a half-slope and looked down. What they saw were neat villages and fields.
One side of the water and soil supports one side of the people. The staple food of people in the tributary basin of Yongchuan River is basically cold-resistant potatoes and chestnuts. Rice begins to be available near the main stream of Yongchuan River. So when they saw the crops grown in the fields, the three of them were generally convinced that they were still not too far away from Swamp Village.
Smoke is rising from every house. The village is not that big, with only about twenty houses covered with thatched roofs. A house in the distance is connected to a waterwheel. Judging from the direction, it seems to be the water flowing from the spring on the mountain.
"Teacher, look." The Luoan girl pulled the sage's clothes. He turned his head and looked to one side, and saw an aqueduct made of split bamboo and wood next to the waterwheel. The two worked together to make the village Water is available to most people in China.
Sakura was not here. She smelled a certain smell and her stomach was aroused. Suddenly she saw something and asked the two of them to wait where they were. Then she and Henry took the money and ran over.
The two of them were not worried about her running away like this. Although they had not known each other for a long time, they could understand that the former oiran of Swamp Village was not such a person.
Ten minutes later, Sakura ran back panting and handed each of them a mask.
"I see, I still have this hand." Because he hasn't been here for a long time, although he still remembers how to speak the language with an excellent memory, Henry has some insufficient understanding of the customs and customs of this place. With a native person helping them, they can do many things smoothly.
"The spring festival is coming soon. It's normal to wear a mask during the festival. Although this tall body cannot be covered." Sakura said this. If the faces of the two people are different from the local Kazuto, even if they are covered by masks, There are differences in clothing for tall people, and they can become more or less low-key.
"Then let's go." The oiran, dressed as a man's warrior, led the two of them down. There are not many travelers coming and going in this village, but there seem to be some, which further proves that it is a village near the Yongchuan River Basin, but it is far away from the river and located at the foot of the mountain.
The scattered fields and thatched houses reminded the Luoan girl of the rural areas of the Rigal continent to a great extent, but the lives of the people here were obviously much better than those of the dirty farmers on the east and west coasts.
“The Kingdom of the Moon is a closed country.” In the very few documents that ordinary people can read, the Lamanites recorded: “They are very restrained in foreign trade, and have no regard for many commodities and culture of the empire. Show due interest.”
This concept is obviously biased in the eyes of Mira today.
After all, it was written by the Lamanites who have high self-esteem. Many things of the Lamanites who occupy a dominant position in the Rigal continent are highly sought after and admired by other ethnic groups. Therefore, it is for this reason that they feel that they will be treated like this when they come to a foreign land. Treat it.
"Due to interest" showed the original psychological expectations of the Lamanites. After this expectation was not met, they called this large eastern country a "closed country", implicitly showing It means to despise the other party for being backward and not open-minded.
Those who do not follow the Lamanite civilization that touts their greatness are barbarians who are backward and unopen. Kazuto called the Lamanites Nanbarites, barbarians who had landed from the south, and the Lamanites responded unceremoniously. Once two very ancient civilizations come into contact, similar ideological struggles have always been fought between you and each other, and they have continued since decades ago.
Therefore, this evaluation of the Lamanites is obviously not completely objective.
Even though the Moon Country has a conservative external attitude, it is not completely backward and ignorant on the inside without commercial exchanges - the swamp village that has been burned to the ground is an example. Relying on the waterways extending in all directions, it has prospered as the center of commercial exchanges. But as we mentioned earlier, a few individual outstanding cases cannot be included in the overall picture.
To put it in layman's terms - even among the Lamanites, who are generally shorter than the Suomir people, there will occasionally be one or two big men with a height of two meters. But if you say from this that the Padrosi people are taller than The Suomir people are tall, so it is just as logical as looking at a prosperous swamp village to conclude that the Moon Country is commercially prosperous.
Look at the lower limit, not the upper limit.
If people in even the most ordinary mountain village are used to having business exchanges, then this country's internal business activities are still very developed at least.
And they don't buy into the Lamanite people's account. In addition to the people above carrying out a certain degree of control, the bigger reason is that the country has achieved a very complete cycle of self-sufficiency.
Many products from the Rigal continent across the ocean are not very attractive to the people of the Moon Country. They have their own food culture, their own aesthetic preferences, their own rich celebrations, and their own gods. Buddha.
Even if there are people who are interested in new things overseas in the short term, most of them are local powerful people who like rare treasures and have money and leisure.
The Lamanites could not see this. The White Church had been trying to promote its faith among the people for a long time according to the routine in Rigal, but it was not adaptable because they did not grasp the real point.
If your efforts are directed in the wrong direction, no matter how much you do, it will be useless.
Most Japanese, even commoners, live a happy and prosperous life. Besides paying taxes, they can still have enough to eat; even fishermen can read and enjoy bathing every day. There will be festivals and celebrations every now and then. They do not need to be like the people of many kingdoms in the war-prone Rigal continent, because they have no hope in this life and can only place all their visions on the next life.
The White Church's propaganda about the afterlife and atonement cannot make a single ripple in their minds.
People were laughing, and Mira and Henry, who walked into this ordinary mountain village wearing masks, received some curious looks. Although the fact that they were carrying weapons made some young men assume a vigilant posture, more people still Mind your own business.
The middle-aged farmers wore straw hats and tied the sleeves of their large clothes with cross ropes to their sides, bending over to handle the various crops planted for the first time in early spring. Children ran past the dirt road holding colorful paper windmills, while traveling merchants carrying bamboo baskets had a flag with square Moon Country characters written on them, indicating that they were selling medicine. Or selling jewelry.
It is only a small village with about twenty households, but during the festival, there are still many travelers who come to join in the fun or businessmen who want to take advantage of the large number of people to make a fortune.
The bright sunshine was shining on the ground, and the three people who looked quite outstanding walked directly towards the door where there were several sets of tables and chairs, which was obviously a shop.
"You guys sit here, I'll buy something to eat." In just a few days, the old look of sitting on a high chair and having to be waited on for everything was gone. Obviously, the reason why the oiran was able to climb to the second position in the swamp village as a woman was that her inner freedom and ease were also extremely important.
Mira and Henry sat on the chairs. Because the weather was getting hotter, the sage took off Claymore and wrapped his cloak around it to cover the shining blade.
The Luoan girl paid attention to this detail, just like when she went to Suomir, but this time only the blade was covered by her teacher. She remembered that she had seen two samurai swords with similar textures before. This surface texture seemed to be a characteristic of the Moon Country's fine swords, so in order to avoid attracting unnecessary prying eyes, Henry simply covered it up. .
If the white-haired girl asked about this kind of thing, Henry would naturally answer it for her. But getting standard answers directly from others is not only useless for cultivating your own learning and observation skills, but also very boring.
The sage's education has always been biased toward guidance. If the Luoan girl deviates from her path, he will intervene to correct the chaos, but most of the time he still allows her to grow freely.
He did not want to educate his disciple to be another taciturn Suomir great swordsman. Mira's next journey has to be decided by her own heart.
And the people and things she encountered as she traveled north and south of Rigar and came to a new continent, whether she took the initiative to come into contact with them or had no choice but to get involved, would affect her growth bit by bit.
What choice she will make in the end, even Henry Meyer, a sage, cannot answer. But the kind of person she will eventually become is definitely inseparable from her travels and experiences so far, as well as those she will have in the future.
After only watching the sage's busy work for a while, the Luoan girl turned her head to observe her surroundings. There are no warrior nobles in this remote village. Just like the rural areas in Rigal, once any problem is encountered, the farmers rely on the spontaneous maintenance of the village, or they flee to nearby cities.
This is a good thing for them, because they cannot give up their weapons, and while marching fully armed, if they encounter nobles who do good things and don't say anything else, there will probably still be some trouble.
The Kingdom of the Moon does not prohibit weapons, but it prohibits armor. Fortunately, few people could recognize the Brigandy-style plate armor worn by the sage. Its luxurious appearance looks more like some kind of attire than protection. The parts that were previously cut by the samurai have also been re-sewn. Although the loss is unavoidable, the overall strength has not been greatly affected.
The mercenary badges made of orange gems have now been put away by both of them. This item, which can be used as identification when walking on the Rigar continent, is of little use here. After all, there is not even a mercenary guild here.
There are many things to do, such as joining forces with Galeva and others, letting Lulu return to her tribe, and handing over the list of rebels to the upper echelons of the Moon Country, etc. But right now, they just want to take a good rest and enjoy the unique festivals of the Moon Country in this secluded village.
The lively sound of drums could be heard in the distance, and Sakura, who bought some specialties here, brought them back on a square wooden plate, and at the same time, she also picked up a small porcelain bottle and held three cups between her fingers.
"Take a few sips. No one will see us sitting in this corner." Sakura smiled and sat down.
"Is this wine?" Henry said a word that Mira couldn't understand.
"What is Sack?" The girl Luoan moved the fox mask to the side, and then blinked.
"It's wine," Henry translated.
"I want to drink!" Mira stood up.
"You should try this too. It's a specialty here. I like it very much. But the one here should be made with potato starch." Sakura handed over some kind of round food tied with a wooden skewer, with drippings on it. Some sauce.
"It's great with wine," she said.
The sound of frolics sounded from the other side, accompanied by the sound of drums, as if the joyful crowd was about to pass here.
After the deserted small fishing village and the swamp village that was burned down at a glance, this small mountain village finally showed Henry and Mira the country's rich material culture when they came to the Moon Kingdom.
Even though it felt like everything was about to be destroyed when the swamp village was being hunted, the peace and joy here conveyed this fact——
For a country with such a huge size, even a rebellion that has been planned for a long time will probably not be able to easily shake its foundation.
"Peace is so good." The white-haired Luoan girl sighed after taking a bite of the soft dumpling.
