It's just a letter with no content. What's so fun about it? Western ambitions.
"Well...how should I put it..."
Ebina lowered his head and pondered, as if thinking.
At this time, Ichinose intervened:
"To put it simply - not long ago, we found out that a Kazashi named Phoenix House Yataro was having an affair with the Hoshino Party. And the handwriting of this Kazashi is exactly the same as the handwriting in this letter."
Whether it was intentional or unintentional, Ichinose changed into a contemptuous tone when he mentioned the word "Jashi".
The surname contains the word "house"...a very typical business surname.
"The Laws of the Wu Family" stipulates that children of the Wu family are not allowed to engage in business.
Those who do business are basically civilians or "former civilians" who have changed their place of origin to samurai through various means.
The vast majority of civilians do not have surnames, so businessmen with certain financial resources often regard the name of their shop as their family name.
Anyone with the surname "XX House" is basically a businessman.
Nishino's brows suddenly raised and he muttered:
"Zha Cha...?!"
Satashi - the collective name for a special type of merchants in Edo.
To the millions of residents of Edo...especially to the samurai of Edo, Sashimi was a terrifying being.
The salary of the samurai is called "lu".
According to different status, there are three types of "lu" - knowledge, support rice, and gold.
"Zhixing" - refers to the enfeoffed territory.
For example, "the knowledge and practice of one hundred thousand koku" means that the total rice production of the territory owned is one hundred thousand koku.
Those who can possess knowledge and practice are without exception high-ranking samurai who are in the top ranks, such as the feudal lord daimyo and daishenhamoto.
"Support rice" - basically the salary payment method for middle-level samurai. As the name suggests, this is giving rice directly.
Whether it is Qingteng, my grandson, who is a thief who has changed his position as a captain, or Nishino, who pursues the same goal, the salary he receives every year is support rice.
The distribution of support rice is not a one-time event, but is distributed at relatively fixed times three times a year.
Take a salary of 100 taels as an example: 25 taels will be paid in spring, 25 taels in summer, and the remaining 50 taels in winter.
This method of distributing money in installments is called "cutting rice."
Samurai who can hold rice are generally similar to the modern middle class.
The amount of support rice given is approximately between 30 taels and 400 taels.
100 taels of rice can be exchanged for about 18 taels of gold after paying taxes.
In other words, the annual income of a samurai who can receive support rice is between 5 taels of gold and 72 taels of gold.
In the Edo period, this was an income level that everyone envied.
"Give money" - just from the name, you can tell that this payment method is to directly distribute cash.
The samurai who received the payment were all lower-class samurai with lower social class.
The lowest status samurai can only get 3 taels per year.
One point is equivalent to 1/4 tael.
This kind of samurai, who could only get a meager salary of 3 taels and 1 cent a year, was despised as the "Trinity Samurai".
The living standards of the "Trinity Warriors"... can only be described as appalling. Not to mention getting married and having children, it is difficult to support themselves, and their living standards are basically the same as those of poor peasants.
The Trinity warriors, who were starved of food and barely clothed, even went so far as to eavesdrop on Yun Yu's affairs outside the walls of their dormitories (hotels) because they couldn't afford to go to the cheapest underground brothels. laughing stock.
The economy of the Edo period adopted the "rice standard", that is, the price of rice was the pricing benchmark for all commodities.
To put it simply, rice in the Edo period is equivalent to gold in the 21st century, a real hard currency.
Regardless of whether they are "knowing warriors" or "supporting rice warriors", they must convert tribute rent and lumi into currency in order to maintain their daily livelihood.
It is impossible to carry a rice bag every day and use rice to purchase daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil, and salt in the primitive way of "barter exchange."
Therefore, the warriors who had knowledge and received support rice naturally had to find ways to convert the rice into money, and then use the money to buy goods.
As a result, a special kind of merchants specialized in paying tribute to the daimyo and samurai salaries, such as the "Jazashi" in Edo, the "Kurayashiki" and the "Kakeya" in Osaka, etc. came into being.
"Zha" is the certificate for the samurai to receive Lumi. The name of the recipient is carved on a piece of bamboo with a knife. The word "cha" in Japanese means "stuff, insert", and the name "Zha Cha" has such a meaning.
This kind of merchants used money to collect rice from samurai, and then collected the rice and sold it to rice merchants.
Of course, when the samurai exchanged rice for money, they had to pay a certain handling fee.
Take the Edo sashimi as an example: the sashimi's rate for buying rice is 1 cent for every 100 tatami.
When Zha Chai sells rice to rice merchants, he also charges a handling fee. The rate is 2 cents per 100 taels of rice.
In other words, for every 100 taels of rice handled by the messengers, they can earn a handling fee of 3/4 taels - the so-called "huge profits", nothing more than that.
On the bank of the Sumida River near Asakusa, there are 51 large granaries of the shogunate. This is also the place where the shogunate distributes rice.
In order to facilitate transactions, Zhazai opened a shop called "Zangsu" in front of Zangmae.
"Zang" means warehouse in Japanese. Kuramae is also in front of the warehouse.
Zangzhu are lined up along the street near the shogunate's granary.
Every time when it comes to Froumi, the banks of the Sumida River are in full swing.
After the samurai received the rice, they could walk two steps to the nearby Zangjuku and exchange the rice for money.
These special businessmen who have monopolized the "rice trade" are the most typical and most despised privileged businessmen.
They can be called the financiers of the Edo period and the "big crocodiles of Wall Street."
Rice was the hard currency during the Edo period.
In any era, those who monopolize hard currency transactions... would be extremely terrifying.
Compared with ordinary civilians, samurai have a lot of expenses.
Maintaining a samurai sword, purchasing costumes, hiring servants, drinking and socializing...each of the above is a big expense.
Therefore, even a samurai with an annual income of dozens of gold would find it difficult to live a comfortable and luxurious life.
With a huge amount of hard currency in his hands and a wealthy Zha Zai, he would naturally not let go of this huge business opportunity.
As a result, this group of "Wall Street predators" used the annual tribute and lumi of daimyo and samurai as collateral, and also engaged in loan sharking, accumulating an exaggerated wealth of gold and jade.
Especially in the middle and late Edo period, inflation intensified.
Although the money the warriors exchanged for rice was still the same, their expenses were getting bigger and bigger. More and more samurai borrowed money by pledging Lumi to "Zha Chai", and some even mortgaged Lumi after two years.
In order to limit the expansion of Zhazai's wealth, the shogunate ruled that only 109 designated people could work as Zhazai for nine years (1724) and formed an organization similar to a guild. It was strictly forbidden to earn more than 15% of interest in a year.
However, the samurai could not do without Zhazai after all.
If you want to convert rice into money, you still have to rely on Zha Chai's connections and financial resources.
After the number of Zha Chai was limited, his status became even higher.
Although the shogunate limited the interest on loans, there were still ways to collect more money.
For example, when borrowing money, you need to receive an extra gift.
Or if the repayment is overdue, an extra penalty equivalent to one month's interest will be charged.
At that time, wealthy people who spent a lot of money and frequented theaters, Yoshiwara and other sensual places were called "tongren".
Most of the most famous "Eighteen Datong" are Zha Chai.
From this we can see how wealthy and extravagant the people in Edo were.
If you work hard for a year, you can earn more than ten taels or dozens of taels of gold. People spend more than a thousand gold in one night in Yoshihara, Xiyuanzi and other places of sensuality.
You are reluctant to ride a bicycle, but others stand up and pedal as hard as you can.
The female artist who looks ice-cold in front of you and can only be watched from a distance but not played with in front of you, is like a bird in front of others and is humble.
The samurai had no dignity at all in front of this group of privileged businessmen who took advantage of their strength to gain strength and walked on silk tapestry.
A penny makes a hero die - the status of the samurai slowly declined in the constant exchange of rice and money.
"Money" and "power" are twins that are inseparable.
There is no doubt that this group of privileged businessmen have always had a decisive social status since Tokugawa Ieyasu founded the shogunate in Edo.
Without their "rice-for-money" connections and the layers of exploitative loan sharking, more than half of the daimyo and samurai in the country would be in a difficult situation.
As a result, both the high-ranking officials of the shogunate and the daimyo of various local vassals were happy to make friends with privileged businessmen, and at the very least they would not offend each other.
The evil collusion between government and business... just happened.
Privileged businessmen bribed bureaucrats.
The bureaucracy provides various conveniences to privileged businessmen.
The rivalry between the two parties made the privileged businessmen seem to have become a new aristocratic class that was superior to the samurai class.
Even the officials have to sell privileged businessmen a little less, let alone ordinary people?
As privileged businessmen become increasingly arrogant, naturally what follows is the ever-widening gap between rich and poor and increasingly acute class conflicts.
In fact, the evil deeds committed by privileged businessmen have long gone beyond the low-end level of roaming the countryside and molesting women on the streets.
The peaceful and peaceful environment of the Edo period led to the rapid development of the commodity economy in major cities and towns, and the seeds of capitalism have sprouted in Edo, Osaka and other areas.
Affected by this, privileged businessmen are no longer simple classical businessmen, they have some characteristics of capitalists.
As long as they can increase the value of their capital, they will do whatever it takes.
Every time there is a severe drought, flood, or epidemic, privileged businessmen will inevitably appear in the market—of course, they are not kind or reliable figures.
They hoard supplies, drive up prices, and disregard the lives of thousands of people.
In their eyes, the "powers" that make people human rather than animals, such as laws and morals, are nothing more than insignificant restrictions.
Nishino has come into contact with countless cases related to privileged businessmen.
The final outcomes of these cases are extremely similar - they are either hastily closed or simply ended without any problem due to the intervention of some unspeakable "mysterious force".
Nishino has always hated this kind of barbaric behavior.
Facing the privileged businessmen headed by Zha Chai, he had only one thought - he felt sick when he saw their faces.
Because of this, he showed such a big reaction when he heard the word "Zha Cha".
Nishino lowered his head and scanned the letter in his hand a few more times.
"Handwriting? Isn't it too arbitrary to use this alone to identify the suspect?"
"No, no, no, not arbitrary at all."
Ebina smiled slightly.
"Look carefully. Isn't the handwriting in this letter particularly delicate?"
"Phoenixiya Yataro is a master of calligraphy who is proficient in 'wild marks', so his writing style is particularly easy to recognize, and there is almost no possibility of making mistakes."
The Japanese are used to referring to calligraphy as calligraphy.
Wild traces are the ink traces of Ono Daofeng.
Ono Michikaze was a famous calligrapher during the Heian period in Japan.
He formed his own "delicate" style based on imitating Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. He is the founder of "Japanese style" calligraphy and occupies a particularly important position in the history of Japanese calligraphy.
His original calligraphy works, such as "The Imperial Book of the Posthumous Title of Master Zhizheng", "Screen Draft", and "Thousand-Character Essay on Three Body Problems", are regarded as national treasures.
His ink marks are called "no mark", and together with calligrapher Fujiwara Saori's ink mark (sa mark) and Fujiwara Yukinari's ink mark (quan mark), they are known as the "three mark".
Hearing this, Nishino looked down at the letter in his hand again.
As Ebina said, the writing style in the letter is particularly elegant and graceful, and is quite typical of everyone.
Although Nishino knew nothing about calligraphy, he could tell that the person who wrote this letter must have deep attainments in calligraphy.
At this time, Ebina continued:
"Besides, there is no absolutely correct information in this world."
"The mere fact that the suspicion of Phoenix House Yataro has deepened is enough for us to intensify our investigation into him."
"…Indeed."
Nishino nodded slightly.
"So - what are you going to do next?"
As soon as Nishino finished speaking, a rude young male voice suddenly sounded:
"You still need to ask? Of course I kidnapped Phoenix House Yataro and then tortured him violently!"
The person who spoke was none other than the young man who always had a cynical expression on his face - Akutsu.
"Akutsu..."
Ichinose turned his head and cast a dissatisfied look at Akutsu, as if he was scolding Akutsu for being polite and not speaking so vulgarly.
Akutsu, who noticed Ichinose's gaze, immediately closed his mouth and stopped talking.
After Nishino glanced at Ichinose and Akutsu, he pondered to himself, thoughtfully.
At this time, my grandson suddenly said:
"Nishino-kun? How about it? We are going to have a 'talk' with that Phoenix House Yataro. Do you want to come with us?"
Nishino was stunned for a moment, and then said quickly without thinking:
"Of course! Take me with you, I also want to 'talk' to that Phoenix House Yataro!"
As soon as Nishino said this, everyone except my grandson, Ebina and others, looked surprised.
"What? I'm not welcome?"
Ebina quickly said:
"No, no, no, how could it be? We have been short of manpower here in Kanto for a long time. Nishino-kun, you are willing to help us. It's not too late for us to be happy."
Compared to Ebina, who was in high spirits, Nishino's expression remained cold.
"Don't get me wrong, I have no intention of helping you."
"I am just out of my obligation as an 'ally' to advance and retreat with you."
"Now that the matter has come to this, I can only move forward."
"No matter whether it is success or failure in the end, I will witness the ending."
Speaking of this, Nishino seemed to have remembered something, paused, and added:
"However, I still have to explain something in advance."
"I only temporarily formed an alliance with you because I couldn't sit back and watch the spread of the phantom deposits."
"In short, I only share common interests with you on issues related to Huanfu Lake."
"I don't care about anything other than fantasy deposits."
"As far as identity is concerned, I am still at odds with you."
"After everything is over, we will go our separate ways and not disturb each other."
Nishino's argument immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of "the grumpy old man" Akutsu.
Just when Akutsu was about to have an attack, Ebina reached out and held his shoulder.
Akutsu suddenly froze on the spot, like a toy that had its wind-up taken out.
He turned to look at Ebina next to him, and met his gaze.
Akutsu, be patient—Ebina said this silently with her eyes.
Seeing this, Akutsu silently swallowed back the words that were already coming to his lips.
"That's enough~"
My grandson grinned, showing his white teeth.
The raised corners of his lips and slightly narrowed eyes formed a friendly smile without any malice.
"When we choose our allies, we never care about the other party's age or identity."
"In this world, there are neither eternal friends nor eternal enemies, only eternal interests."
“There is no stronger bond than an alliance formed out of common interests.”
As soon as my grandson finished speaking, Ebina softly added:
"This is the precious experience that we...the Great Salt Party has accumulated bit by bit after more than 20 years of hard life like a street rat."
…
…
The Buddhist influence has been growing wildly since it was introduced to Japan. It once caused the Kyoto court, the Kamakura shogunate and other political powers to suffer a lot.
In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the previous dynasty, the Edo shogunate adopted a policy rich in political wisdom against Buddhism.
On the one hand, there was crazy suppression, such as prohibiting temples from raising private soldiers, and monk soldiers with a long history were reduced to a historical noun.
On the other hand, he tried his best to win over him and turned him into a tool of his own rule.
In the Edo period, there was the so-called "Tan family system". Everyone must register with a certain temple to become a Tan family. This kind of temple is called Thanna Temple or Bodhi Temple.
The list used for this registration is called the "Target Person Account". According to each family, the name, age, family member structure, etc. are recorded.
In addition, when someone passes away, it is also handled in the temple.
The deceased is deleted from the target's account and included in a register that only registers the deceased's name, called "ghost registration".
In modern Japan, the death of a person is called "enrolling as a ghost", which is based on this allusion.
In addition, the funeral after death is also handled by Thanna Temple.
There will be a cemetery behind Thanna Temple.
After performing rituals for the deceased, his body will be buried directly in the cemetery of Tan Na Temple where the deceased was born.
At this moment——
Edo, Hatchobori, a certain Tannaji Temple——
Qingdeng stared at the tombstone in front of him expressionlessly.
Inscribed on the monument are six neat Chinese characters: "The Tomb of the Tachibana Family of Genji".
There is only a zutaba stuck behind the tombstone.
I saw a string of names that were both familiar and unfamiliar to Qingdeng written on this relatively new Zutapow.
Tachibana Taka no Saki clan
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
Bao Baozi's parents will be back tomorrow, and then Bao Baozi will no longer have to work so hard to help look after the store. You can’t imagine the hard work Leopard Leopard has gone through these past few days (Leopard Leopard Head in tears.jpg).
Because Baobaozi's family owns a supermarket, I have to take advantage of the opportunity to collect money at the front desk and use my mobile phone to code out the chapters of the past few days...it's very inefficient, let alone my eyes. (The leopard head cries.jpg)
