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After Mira went back and invited Sakura over, through communication, it was officially determined that Saburo, who had only had a brief encounter in the feudal swamp village, was the enemy Ryunosuke was pursuing.
The remaining people who had confirmed that Ryunosuke's side was not hostile also joined them to receive some assistance and supplies. Although a certain distance was still maintained due to a series of accidents, the alert was lifted and there would be no tension.
And just when everyone thought that the coincidence was over, the ex-Chinese began to talk about the past, which made the face of the doctor lady in the team also darken.
Saburo is a scholar and has the same roots as Aya.
The Japanese society, which had been stable for thousands of years without much fluctuation, had a strict and clear division of labor. The royal family dominated the world, and the Chinese and the nobles served as the two arms of the royal family as the civil and military sides. The nobles firmly control the real power and form an unshakable class, while the people at the bottom work hard and work to support the entire huge empire.
There are only three professions that civilians can engage in in Heren society besides agriculture and breeding: industry and commerce, doctors, and scholars. Among them, the position with the highest status and the lowest cost is the last position of scholar.
The powerful Moon Country with its central government has promoted universal education with its huge national power, so that most ordinary people of the Ho tribe have basic literacy and writing skills. And if there are children from poor families who want to take a further step in this area, the state will also provide funding for academic education. However, once you decide to embark on this path, you must give up many things.
"Those who serve under the emperor's orders should work hard and serve as the face of the new moon. They are not allowed to marry or enter the secular world. They should abide by the precepts and read poems and books. Keep their minds pure and calm, eliminate distracting thoughts, and read only the saints." - In other words In other words, the scholars of Crescent Continent and the monks of the White Church in Rigal World are of the same status.
The Supreme Power takes control of the treasure trove of knowledge, centralizes it and makes it freely available to all who are willing to learn. Aspiring scholars do not have to worry about food and clothing. Although there is no big fish or meat, the state will ensure basic living needs so that they can study with peace of mind.
If you only look at it from the surface, it seems like a precious paradise that attaches great importance to the inheritance of knowledge - but just like the White Church, if you dig deeper into these things, you will always realize that the inside is not so beautiful and simple.
Those who became scholars were not allowed to marry and leave offspring, and apart from serving as staff and public servants for the Chinese people, they were also prohibited from leaving major academies for most of their lives. The Xinjing Tiange Academy that Aya belongs to is the largest and most prosperous in the entire Moon Country, but there are actually small-scale academies in various places.
On the surface, it eliminates distracting thoughts so that people who are dedicated to learning can focus on reading only the books of sages. In fact, it is a way for the royal family to firmly control the knowledge and not spread it to outsiders. The literacy rate of the Moon Kingdom is high. Because of the vast land area and the different accents of the northern and southern dialects, the spread of speech is not necessarily convenient. But the text has no accent.
Everyone recognizes the same words, which makes it easier for Xinjing to promote its own ideas, and the person who does this is the position of scholar. They are the face of the New Moon, the mouth and tongue of the God-Emperor. If you are not allowed to marry or leave any descendants, then naturally you cannot turn your knowledge into a family's private property and pass it on.
Knowledge is something belonging to the royal family. Once you learn it, you can't just walk away and want to make a name for yourself with this knowledge. All you learn can only be used to serve the royal family and the entire Japanese society.
And even this is still not considered enough by New Kyoto. The laws they have set up strictly stipulate that scholars are not allowed to interfere in social affairs. These knowledgeable people will always be aides, and they will always only have reference value, but no decision-making power.
This is a system that seems glorious, but is actually full of shackles.
Common people think this is an opportunity to get ahead, and the position of scholar does indeed hold a respected status in society.
But this respect does not come entirely from their knowledge and status, but from the people they serve. Scholars with high status can speak on many important occasions as staff, so in the eyes of the people, they are as if they are on an equal footing with the big shots.
Young girls who dream of becoming scholars and changing their destiny must have very complicated feelings when they finally find that the higher they climb, the more helpless they become.
They were not free to use what they knew, and even if the Chinese assigned to serve as staff were incompetent, their opinions would not be taken seriously.
Some scholars have ridiculed themselves that their own class is like a thick ancient book on the Moon Kingdom's four-thousand-year history, full of all kinds of strange experiences and magnificent history, but some people use it as a stepping stone to the table.
This situation of being full of knowledge but having nowhere to show off is precisely Xinjing's intention - they cannot let knowledge disappear, so they need someone to learn and someone to continue to innovate. But what should a person who is academically successful and capable have second thoughts about changing his career?
Xinjing does not allow the people to have their own thoughts. The scholars trained can only say what the people in power want them to say, and the people are only allowed to hear what they can hear.
They could not control the military, could not be involved in government affairs, could not leave any heirs, and could not even secretly pass on the texts in the academy. Everything is just for maintenance.
The eternal rule of this empire for four thousand years.
But after all, the scholar class is an existence that has read poetry and books. The more developed their minds are, the harder it is to control them. Although there are many people who are grateful for the opportunities given by Xinjing and are loyal to the royal family, there are always those who are willful and arrogant who rely on their talents. He believes that the Chinese people he serves are incompetent. If everything is controlled by someone like him who is well-read in poetry and books, wouldn't it be more efficient and brilliant?
Saburo's story probably has some of this color, but it is not entirely like this.
When he was talking about all this, the bearded Ryunosuke's expression was not full of hatred and resentment, he was a bit lonely.
Long Zhijie said: He used to be his staff. At that time, Pingshan County did not have more than 10,000 households, and he himself was only the county magistrate. Sanlang was also born in Pingshan County and returned after completing his studies. He had outstanding abilities and was a pretty young boy at the time. His speech was gentle and he often had a cheerful face. The assistant is full of scriptures and knows astronomy from above and geography from below. When he takes office as a staff member of Pingshan County, he is often surrounded by warblers and swallows.
Although scholars were not allowed to marry, they were still ordinary people and not eunuchs. It is inevitable that there will be love between men and women. Many people will want to go somewhere to become a lord's staff after they are successful in their studies. It is inevitable that they will have such an idea of love, not to mention that Pingshan County is Saburo's hometown. His father died young and his mother is still alive. He came from a poor family and became a scholar. Then he returned and became a staff member of the county magistrate. No matter how you think about it, he returned home in rich clothes and was very popular.
The Chinese and the nobles were out of reach, but Saburo was from a commoner and was highly respected. Even if they knew that they could not become a marriage partner, there were countless women who approached him with various intentions or simply being attracted to him personally. But precisely because of this, he developed an increasingly unsatisfied appetite.
Whether it was his true nature or an unsophisticated scholar who quickly degenerated under too much stimulation, Ryunosuke could no longer tell.
The basic salary for staff work is 6 taels of silver per month, which is equivalent to the income of ordinary people for most of the year. Although it won't make you rich, but with all meals and lodging included, there are basically no additional expenses. It is still possible to save a fortune with some frugality.
But the vast majority of scholars will spend all their money after buying it. The reason is very simple: they have no future.
Scholars who are unable to start a family have no descendants to pass on even if they accumulate assets, so most people choose to spend it all. After all, they do not need to worry about food and clothing. Even if they are dismissed by the Chinese and lose their staff jobs, they can still return to the academy to live in poverty. day.
Back then, Saburo was not much different from other people. Since his mother was still alive, he would allocate some of his salary every month to support her. And this is when things took a turn for the worse. After serving for more than half a year, Saburo cried bitterly and asked Ryunosuke for a salary increase on the grounds that his mother was seriously ill. Seeing that he had contributed to improving the local economy and was filial, Ryunosuke, who was the county magistrate at the time, also generously gave him a salary increase. He received a salary increase of 4 taels, making up 10 taels.
After that, Saburo did this twice more, and his salary was finally raised to 15 taels per month. Because he applied for salary increases too frequently, Xinjing only approved a salary of 11 taels. This shortfall was due to Ryunosuke from his own salary. marked out.
You must know that as a county magistrate, his monthly income is only 20 taels of silver, which is almost an income equal to his.
Even though it was later learned that Saburo did not give all his salary to his mother, but instead indulged in fireworks and willow alleys all year round and later contracted the bad habit of alcoholism, Ryunosuke still retained the greatest goodwill and only thought that he was because his mother was seriously ill. If you are too sad for a while, you will wake up after a while.
But things like this got worse and worse, and the 15 taels of salary only lasted half a month before it was all spent. In the end, I had to make advances every month, taking away 13 months of my salary in advance.
Although he owed such a large debt, Ryunosuke didn't care too much about him. However, the terrible thing is that Saburo's excessive alcohol addiction and excessive indulgence have ruined his body. His original fair and spring-like appearance gradually became slovenly, thin and with dark circles under his eyes, like a living dead, and he became more and more casual about work.
He skipped work for three days and drank too much. Ryunosuke, who regarded him as a friend at the time, went to visit him. Thinking that he was too worried about his mother at home, he asked him to leave the county government temporarily and return home. His salary was reduced to 30 taels a month in order to "care and care for him". In the name of "old and young", you don't have to act as a staff to take care of your mother at home and you can still get salary.
But who would have thought that such a proposal touched Saburo's sensitive heart. He almost roared and said that he was filial to his mother, so why should others hire money to do it? And how could he be tired of Ryunosuke's superior alms? Anyway, the county government would still run without him. The scholar without real power was just a decoration, and Ryunosuke just treated him as a slave and ordered him around.
The conversation ended unhappily, and Saburo didn't show up for a long time, and the county magistrate didn't look for him. If he didn't come to work, he wouldn't be paid his salary, not to mention that he still owed 13 months of salary. He cut off Saburo's salary. In this way, 3 days passed, 5 days passed, and a week passed. A full two weeks later, just when Ryunosuke thought that he would probably resign and return to the academy, Saburo, who had cleaned up, returned to the county government, knelt down and told Ryunosuke with tears in his eyes that he wanted to change his ways.
Ryunosuke gave him such an opportunity, and it seems that Saburo has indeed changed since then.
Originally only working as a staff member in the hall, he began to walk more in the countryside, giving up all the fireworks and drinking. He became the bridge of communication between the people of Pingshan and Ryuzhisuke, conveying public opinion to Ryuzhisuke so that he could modify policies according to the people's sentiments. After five years, the entire county developed and expanded, and eventually settled into a large and prosperous county with over 10,000 households. As a result, Ryuzosuke was promoted to county magistrate, and his salary and power increased.
Many people were grateful for Saburo's running, and when he showed a green smile under the praise of the people, Ryunosuke was also grateful from the bottom of his heart that he had such a friend.
But reality is not so naive. Saburo, who was running around, unknowingly had a higher reputation among the people than Ryuunosuke. People increasingly felt that compared to the magistrate who always stayed in the mansion and never went out to handle official duties, this staff scholar was a more charismatic existence. .
Not only that, but Ryuunosuke's wife, daughter, and family were also very close to Saburo due to their personal friendships. When he came back to notice when he was busy with official duties, he realized that his identity and status seemed to have been taken away by Saburo.
There are fewer and fewer common topics between husband and wife. Compared to Saburo, who knew astronomy and geography and was as young as a little boy, Ryunosuke, who was a model samurai at the time, was strict and harsh with his family. Even his own daughter is always smiling in front of brother Saburo, but once he appears as her father, she is so scared that she sits upright and dare not say a word.
When the samurai under his command reminded him that Saburo's actions had exceeded the limits of a scholar, Ryunosuke discovered that many affairs in the territory were inseparable from his hard work.
No matter how slow he was, he always noticed something was wrong. But after all, they had been friends for many years. Ryunosuke was worried that as a scholar, Saburo's too much limelight would attract bad reputations, such as that he was deliberately plotting chaos, so he sent his subordinates to send a message hoping that he would keep a lower profile.
But the country scholar didn't know how to yell at Sanlang in front of the villagers whether he had any rebellion intentions, and ordered Sanlang to kneel and kowtow from the road to the county government to prove that he had no second thoughts.
Such a big movement attracted a large number of people to watch, and rumors spread that the county magistrate was jealous of his staff's ability and therefore did such a thing.
A few days later, the news came out that Saburo, who had gone out at night, was beaten black and blue by an unknown person. It is said that when he was in coma, he only held the torn fabric in his hand, which was the silkworm brocade produced in Qingzhou from Pingshan to the south - an expensive fabric that could only be worn by warriors.
When something like this happened to Saburo, who was already highly respected, rumors spread and people were excited. A mob carrying farm tools broke into the county magistrate's office.
In the face of riots, the samurai naturally responded with force. But when he raised his knife and killed his people, Ryuzosuke looked back and saw his wife and daughter looking at him and looking at a stranger.
At that time, until this moment, he still couldn't figure out how all of this happened, how he ended up in such a situation where everyone was betrayed and separated from their relatives, and it was not until Xinjing issued a dismissal order due to poor management of the territory, and Saburo, who had finished recuperating, came to his In front of him, he finally realized that all this was his plan.
"Why, my lord, do I treat you like a biological brother?" The county magistrate looked at his former friend in disbelief, while Saburo's expression was full of grief, anger and ridicule: "After you cut off my salary, my mother could not renew her medicine and has passed away. for 5 years.”
"You don't know any of this, right?" The aloof scholar looked at the warrior kneeling on the ground with cold eyes.
This was what happened within those two weeks, but he didn't know about it until 5 years later.
He could blame Saburo for not saving money, spending too much money, and even advanced 13 months of his salary before his mother was seriously ill but had no money for medical treatment. From the perspective of others, he could also claim that his decision to cut off his salary at that time was the most benevolent thing. It was even a "kind heart" for him to quit drinking and promiscuity.
He could find many reasons to excuse himself, but it was the truth.
He doesn't know and doesn't care.
"All I value is his ability. I don't regard him as a living person." Returning to the present, the magistrate, who used to be a perfect samurai and never smoked or drank, took a deep breath from his pipe and said this as he exhaled.
"I have never treated other people around me as human beings."
"That's his revenge." He said.
Losing the identity of the county magistrate is not the end of Ryunosuke. Saburo's revenge is to make him lose everything he cares about. So he also took away his wife and daughter. The family members who had parted ways long ago also believed that everything was his fault for being cold and jealous. They sided with the amiable Saburo and wanted to follow him around the world. However, after abandoning Ryunosuke, they were immediately killed and dumped by Saburo. In the wilderness.
"You killed my mother, so I'm going to kill you twice."
Scholars and scholars cannot hold power, no matter how high they are among the people and how capable they are. If the class relations in the Moon Country are destroyed, he will only be besieged by other Chinese people around him if he takes the position by force.
Sanlang personally created the prosperity of Pingshan County. The last thing he wanted to do before leaving was to destroy this county. He would not give up his achievements to the people appointed by Xinjingxin, and he also understood that if he was found to be the culprit, he would be hunted down endlessly.
So with Ryunosuke stepping down, he incited the samurai who thought they were loyal to Ryunosuke to launch a riot. He also provoked Ryunosuke, who was in a rage because his wife and daughter were abandoned and killed by him. After being slashed with a knife, he faked his death. retreat.
But for all these years, the former county magistrate was convinced that the man was still alive.
"This is probably the only motivation that supports me to survive." After finishing his story, Ryunosuke lowered his head and just smoked a cigarette without saying anything. The firelight swayed his face and brightened and darkened, while others also listened after listening. They were silent for a long time.
