As someone who once worked in Xinjing, Qingshi has an extremely deep understanding of the importance of order.
No rules no standards. It is precisely because of the many rules and traditions that the Moon Country, which is such a huge and narrow territory, has been able to maintain overall peace and prosperity for thousands of years.
Everyone has a role to play in this society: farmers cultivate, merchants trade, and craftsmen make; nobles manage the territory with all their heart, and scholars guide them with wisdom to avoid going astray.
The witches and monks used religious precepts and the Great Moon Law issued by the royal family to restrain people's evil deeds and maintain social stability with laws in terms of spiritual beliefs and mortal punishment.
People of all classes perform their duties, and try to avoid the emergence of lazy people so that everyone can be useful, so that the country can be stable for thousands of years.
Even with so many precepts and codes, if there are still people who exceed them, it will be the turn of the ninja troops to take action.
Like many senior Jonin, Qingshi considers himself to be a gardener in the garden - cleaning up the wrongly grown branches and making the potted plants grow into ideal and regular shapes. It is not surprising that many ninjas have a hobby of growing bonsai.
Maintain a balance and clear away branches that are too fat and have grown crookedly, so that other places can get sufficient nutrition. They are not seen, hidden in the darkness, but they play an important role in bringing order and stability to this country - at least Qingshi and many ninjas think so.
The Moon Country is very large, and in order to be able to act in time, the ninjas must have deep enough and wide enough connections. They are distributed throughout the Crescent Continent, using izakayas, teahouses, hotels and other places where people come and go as strongholds to master information and pass it on through various covert means. In the eyes of ninjas, the entire Crescent Continent has no secrets. And since it may be too late to report the news in some cases, the ninjas have also been given the power to kill first and tell later.
Ninjas who were born as civilians had the same power of life and death as samurai warriors. This power comes from the secret decree "Fire Transfer Law" promulgated by Xinjing hundreds of years ago. Its content is very characteristic of the Crescent Island - the Japanese houses mainly made of wood, thatch and paper structures are very similar to sparks of fire. It is easy to burn into pieces, so the fire must be extinguished as soon as possible. Sometimes discovering a fire and reporting it all the way will eventually cause the disaster to expand to the point where it cannot be solved. Therefore, citing this allusion, the ninjas became the fire extinguishers in Xinjing's hands through espionage and assassination.
"Everything is for the imperial country, everything is for New Moon Continent."
"It was so good at that time." Thinking back to this day, Qingshi still can't help but sigh like this.
But the ninja has been destroyed, and that era is gone forever.
There are so many people who transgress, it is inevitable that someone will be affected by it. Lowly civilians had some of the same privileges as samurai. Sometimes even samurai were arrested or even assassinated by ninjas in the name of rebellion. Against the background of the intensifying conflicts between the two classes, as beings with privileges and masters of so many secrets, it is inevitable that some young people will become arrogant.
With the power given by Xinjing, he did not contribute to the imperial country but enriched his own pockets, and tried to expand his influence and seek more power. When this series of things were revealed, Xinjing naturally did not have any tolerance or tolerance for the rebels.
Qingshi hated those ignorant tribesmen, but in the end he still valued the lives of himself and his chuunin genin, and did not lead to the killing of the hunting troops sent by Xinjing.
He escaped, and was struck by lightning and stormed by ghost troops in Amagi, the base camp of ninjas. The assassins who had practiced their skills were torn into pieces without any achievements in the face of the overwhelming power, and the so-called assassin whom he gave birth to and raised When the city with its thousand-layer maze filled with institutions and various training equipment was burned to the ground, he turned around and fled without looking back.
There were many other ninjas who also fled, most of them fled to the domain because it was not under the direct management of Xinjing.
They hate those women who perform their tasks without mercy, they hate those rebellious nins who go overboard due to greed and ultimately bring destruction to their kindred, and they also hate themselves who have no choice but to abandon Xinjing and the empire.
The ninjas were still loyal, but the empire no longer needed their loyalty.
Many depressed ninjas indulged in drinking and ended their lives early, but Qingshi and other ninjas still maintained their own ideas - they must correct the chaos in this country, as long as they eradicate the dirty things, and If Order is brought back to make up for their mistakes, they will have the possibility of a comeback.
Therefore, finding a capable master to serve has become the approach of most ninjas.
Everything is for the Kingdom of the Moon, for this country that has lasted for four thousand years to last another four thousand years. He doesn’t care if his hands get dirty, and he doesn’t care if he is misunderstood and rejected by Xinjing. The only things that are unforgivable are those women who do not know the importance of their actions and the rebellious people who cause disasters, but as long as they are guilty and meritorious, as long as they make achievements that no one can ignore, these can be settled after returning to their previous status.
With this idea in mind, Qingshi served the new master loyally in the domain for 9 years. Even though there was turmoil in the domain, and some elite ninjas, including his own brothers, were killed in order to cover the evacuation of core personnel, his loyalty remained unwavering.
The rebels in the domain were abominable and disruptive to the order, but even if he came to speak out in his capacity, no one would buy it. So he was heartbroken, but he could only tell himself to settle for the status quo.
They fled the domain, but went south with a clear purpose. Some of the people who fled the swamp village were the nouveau riche of the domain who came to have fun that night, because suddenly the samurai of the Kaga family did not know of their existence and they did not receive the news. In order to survive, these people gave Saburo many amazing secrets in exchange for information and materials, and it was these secrets that led them to Zhangzhou where they are now.
The place where the gods fell.
Zhangzhou has stories and legends that are different from other places in Crescent Continent. The children's songs and folk tales here do not depict the most common Inari God and the highest-status Moon God, but the Dragon God who controls Fengyu.
But the dragon has fallen, and the huge dragon corpse is burning with fire and falling from the night sky, smashing through the ground and being buried deeply in the earth. Countless liquids flowed out of the Dragon God's corpse. The clear and sweet water allowed people to drink it and achieve eternal life. They had divine power and could control wind and rain like the Dragon God. But there is endless poison, which is the poison turned into by the hatred of the betrayers, cursing this land and making it forever filled with miasma.
Folklore has become fragmented over the years, and there are many contradictory guesses about who the betrayer was. But such stories are still deeply rooted in this land. Perhaps the real existence of the miasma makes this story more convincing, but in the "Founding Myth" spread in other areas, especially in places closer to the central and southern parts, the bridge between Sun Xiamen, the great moon god, and the unification of Crescent Continent is In the paragraph, this paragraph is just written in one stroke: "The lords of the earth dedicated their country to them and bowed their heads as vassals."
Saburo is not a person who believes in fairy tales. Although he was indeed born in Zhangzhou, he used to scorn this story.
But the fleeing feudal nobles showed them something unimaginable, although it was the opposite of clear and sweet and was not a liquid. But after he swallowed the black pill, he did transform in a short period of time from a fat, fair, powerless middle-aged man to a powerful warrior who could throw a heavily armored ronin with one hand. .
Before he was killed by Saburo's order, the man revealed everything he knew under the temptation of wandering girls and wine - even though he didn't know much.
The ninja leader didn't know what his master saw in it. Although he was a little surprised and saw the value of such pills - if they were there, he might be able to fight even ghosts and gods - but he just wanted to Stay safe and let everything return to order.
Saburo is a capable person, he can organize his own forces, and the area he controls does indeed have its own order - an order with him as the apex.
Although sometimes he would act on a whim, perhaps Qingshi's willingness to serve him for so many years meant that he was a master who met his ideals.
But all this began to shake during this period.
A force of thousands of people was stationed deep in the swamp, and they spread out under Qingshi's arrangement: just like what the ninjas did on the Crescent Continent in the past, they dispersed into several small camps, and the ninjas hid themselves Among the rogue bandits, grasp the surrounding trends.
All these things are done by him. Defense work, material circulation, and comforting people. Others might feel proud and complacent because of this kind of power control, but Qingshi just felt uneasy.
Since arriving in Zhangzhou, his master seems to have been completely obsessed with digging for the so-called sacred water that can grant divine power. Except for taking the few women who followed him when the swamp village was destroyed, as well as the local hunters and some ronin who were responsible for finding the divine water according to the legend, to find this legendary power, he didn't care about anything else.
Evil dragons eat people, and all-pervasive rats and ants eat away at the food rations. Wandering into the miasma by mistake has led to a reduction in the number of people under his command. It is even more common for rogue bandits to have internal strife and take advantage of the chaos in management to steal property and supplies and squander it. Qingshi's original intention was to restrain everyone in the swamp. They have enough supplies to last a month, and only a small number of people are needed to send them out to purchase.
But there is no order at all for these bandits. They ran out in a chaotic manner and exposed their existence to the surrounding villagers early on. If this continues, sooner or later they will be targeted by the government - but even if he reports this to Saburo, he will Appears not to care at all.
Then things took a turn for the worst.
Is it an evil spirit? Is it the curse of this land? The government finally sent out troops.
he does not know.
The only thing he knew was that some people had come nearby and that he had engaged the enemy. was attacked and defeated miserably.
After various outpost camps were attacked and fires burned one-third of their supplies and belongings, the impatient Saburo directly gave him "full control", so Qingshi chose to notify the troops to retreat to the main formation. .
And it was at this point that when he was counting the number of people, he suddenly discovered that nearly half of the bandits took advantage of the chaos to rob the treasure and then left.
There are only less than 600 people left, and what's worse is that a large number of people from the elite ninja troops and ronin troops who were close to them were killed or missing.
When he finally realized that the other party was accurately attacking the backbone of his troops, because without these personnel, the remaining bandits were in a chaotic mess with no fighting power at all. This person who had always been calm even when he lost his hometown and lost his brothers and many compatriots. The man who was not panicking was stuck in a daze for 10 minutes, unable to speak.
Has he finally become dull in the face of time, or is he so focused on serving his master loyally and maintaining order that one day he can return to the past that he has ignored a lot of important information.
Looking at the ninja force with only 7 people left.
The thought of "What is all this for?" emerged in Qingshi's mind. He clenched his fists and once again tried to report to Saburo and seek the opinions of this master who had always been very capable in the past.
Then when he came back to his senses, an unknown fire arose under the other party's cynical attitude, and he lost his usual calmness and drew a knife towards the master he was supposed to serve.
But the thin one-eyed dragon dodged his sword at an alarming speed, and counterattacked with a punch, sending the experienced ninja leader flying away.
His spine hit the thick central support pillar of the tent hard, and the back of his head dented the solid wood pillar. Blood began to flow. Qingshi was dizzy and sat there paralyzed with no strength at all.
"You." Saburo came over and poked his chest rhythmically with his fingers, saying, "Like most people in this country, you are too short-sighted."
“You only see what’s in front of you, and you just want to keep what you have.”
"How many years have the royal family been a royal family? How many of the samurai families have been passed down for thousands of years?"
"Yes, yes, it is glorious and has a fine tradition." Saburo took out the wine bottle and took a sip before smashing it to the ground. Qingshi, who could not move, watched the black liquid spilling out of the broken bottle mouth.
"do you know."
"The Southern Barbarians have wax ink, but there is more than just wax ink."
"Lamo is just one of the southern barbarian countries."
"A piece of land as big as Zhangzhou can be divided into several countries and several kings! A noble king! Noble but not unique. Their king was not canonized by the royal family, nor did he rely on the rich heritage passed down for thousands of years."
"I worked hard for it."
"Why!" Saburo, whose face was covered with veins and the remaining eye was bloodshot, roared and shouted to Qingshi who was sitting slumped: "Why can't we do the same?"
"The people in the feudal territory are going to raise a flag of rebellion against Xinjing. It's good to rebel! But I don't intend to choose any side."
"You must not understand." He poked Qingshi's chest again and again: "You only think about returning to the glory of the past, and you only think about the big men in Xinjing eating meat. I’ll reward you with a few sips of soup every now and then. Like a dog following behind a samurai master, you rely on your master’s majesty to show off your power.”
"It's time to reshuffle the cards. What I need now are ambitious people. An old antique like you can just sink." Saburo turned his head, while Qingshi felt that his eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, as if he was gradually losing weight. consciousness.
"Sir, how should we deal with it?" A person who had been following Sanlang asked him, his tone was as loyal as an important minister serving the king - this was his status. Even though his senses were getting duller and duller, Qingshi's heart was extremely clear at this time.
'Ah, it turns out I was already there'
'Excluded'
He seemed to hold an important management position, but in fact he had been squeezed out of the inner circle. Saburo no longer shared secrets with him - if he had ever - and just sent him to manage the cannon fodder that was delaying time. Just like the still loyal ninja who had to hide his loyalty in his heart and flee when he was being chased by Xinjing, the loyalty he has dedicated these 9 years has been.
It has no value in this man's heart.
"Throwing him into the pool should turn him into something useful." Before he completely lost consciousness, he heard Saburo coldly say these words.
