Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 580 Quan San's Journey Back Home ([-])

The third dark line of the island country was secretly laid by Zhao Xin by Liji two years ago.It's not that he has any conspiracy, but a stool with two legs has never been able to stand, only three legs can be stable.Liu Zheng is bright in the island country, and Pingtai is dark, but his secret is limited, so Zhao Xin asked Liji to arrange a third wave of people.

There are not many spies in this team, there are only a dozen or so in total, and they do not belong to each other with Liu Zheng.There are Koga ninjas sent by the shogunate to hide in the past, who surrendered to the security police because they were influenced; there are samurai from the Aoba Battalion who returned to the Sendai Domain after their service period expired. The town has been secretly naturalized; the other is the poor who joined the Beihai Navy, and turned into small businessmen after returning.

On the morning of four days after Zhao Xin issued the order, five motor sailboats carrying more than 2000 island country laborers sailed into the wharf of Ishinomaki Port.Those island country farmers who go to work in Beihai Town will basically come back at this time of the year. Right now, these ships are only the second batch, and there will be a third and fourth batch after that.

You must know that in winter in the outer northeast, it is often three to forty degrees below zero, and most of the projects have to be stopped.Instead of letting these workers huddle in the cellar, it is better to let them go back to their hometown to see their families.

Beihai Town does not treat these people badly. As long as they are willing to endure hardships, even if their salaries are stripped by the Beihai Executive Office and feudal lords, they can always save more than a dozen Beihai silver dollars.One Beihai Yuan is equivalent to four taels, and a dozen of them are four to 50 taels of silver. This is already a big deal for the peasant families in the island country!

As the chief of the shogunate, Matsudaira Sadanobu, promulgated the "Decree of Thrift" and the "Decree of Abandonment" issued the year before, which led to the bankruptcy of Zacha merchants on a large scale, resulting in high prices in the island country, so the laborers generally go to Whale Harbor in advance. Buy good food, cloth, tobacco, etc., so as not to be exploited by deputy officials after returning home with a lot of money.For Beihai Town, this can be regarded as rotten meat in the pot.

A large number of returnees disembarked from Ishinomaki Port. For a while, the flow of people in various taverns and shops in the town increased significantly. People wearing felt hats and dark blue labor cotton jackets could be seen everywhere on the street. This also made Ishinomaki before the Spring Festival The town is getting busier.

Quan San and his companions, who were also wearing labor uniforms, walked into a paper umbrella specialty store called "Xiao Gong" after getting off the boat. After talking to the boss about the code, they handed over an envelope to the other party.Afterwards, the two changed their clothes in the backyard of the store, and when they came out to walk on the street again, they were no different from ordinary island country civilians.

The task of delivering the information was considered complete. Next, General Quan San made an appointment with his companions for ten days and came back to meet, then parted ways and planned to go back to his hometown to have a look.

It has been five years since Quan San left the island country.When he was beaten by bullies back then, half of his life was left. If he hadn't met Thor, he might have been eaten up by fish.After arriving in Beihai Town, he spent several months in the hospital before he could go to the field.Because he was illiterate and lonely, he first worked as a road construction worker for more than a year, and then worked in an oil mine on Kuye Island for a year before he was naturalized and changed his name to "Quan Baocai".

Because he always wanted to return to his hometown to take revenge, Quan Bao, who was naturalized, naturally signed up to serve as a soldier; the Beihai Navy even dared to beat the Edo Shogunate and the Satsuma Domain violently. In his heart, this is the most powerful backer.

However, as soon as the recruit training was over, he was sent to garrison Heilongjiang City, where he stayed for two years.Quan Baocai was already a squad leader when the North Navy Intelligence Bureau was formed to select personnel.After being selected inexplicably, he went through half a year of intense training, and in the blink of an eye, it was already the end of 1791.

Quan Baocai's hometown is Niudu Village in Biaoye County, Nakamura Clan, under the rule of the Soma family, the descendants of the Tokugawa shogunate.During the Tianming famine, more than 1 people died of starvation in the Nakamura clan, which can be regarded as the hardest hit area.

It is not far from Ishinomaki Town to Uudao Village, and the land journey is only more than 200 miles. It is actually faster to take a sea boat.However, Quan Bao just asked a group of people on the pier, and the fastest boat will leave only the day after tomorrow.He didn't want to wait for a minute, so he found a random restaurant in the town to fill his stomach, bought a few rice balls, and then set out on the road with a heavy burden on his back.

During the Edo period, civilians were not eligible to ride horses because of restrictions on the movement of the people, and the ban was not lifted until the Meiji period.Besides, in these days, except for the samurai delivering urgent reports, the horses can gallop, other riders must have an attendant to lead the horse, and must not hold the rein by themselves, otherwise it would be rude.

In addition, in the Edo period, renting horses was based on mileage, which was very expensive, and ordinary samurai could not afford to rent horses.On average, one mile is charged at [-] Wen, and a [-]-mile journey is one stone meter, which is comparable to the island country taxis in another time and space.

Although civilians are restricted from running around, the living will not be suffocated to death by urine, and taking people around the checkpoint secretly has become a business.That's why Quan Bao spent fifty coins to sneak into Xiangma Fan from Sendai Fan.

The closer he was to his hometown, the more pounding Quan Baocai's heart was.How his father and mother are doing these years, and whether Ah Bin is still there, all make him worry about it in every possible way.

He has already made up his mind, no matter what, he must take his parents back to Beihai Town this time. It would be even better if Ah Bin can find them!Although A Bin may have become a prostitute, he will not dislike her. He wants to redeem A Bin and bring her back to Beihai Town for a wedding.

As for the owner of the brothel and the bully of the village, Hu San, Quan Baocai decided to settle the score with him. The pistol hidden in his waist is not a vegetarian!
At noon three days later, when Quan Bao saw the boundary marker of Niudu Village, he thought he had finally arrived home!He came to the Buddhist altar opposite the boundary monument, and said to the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue inside with emotion: "I'm back!"

He wiped off the dust on the head of the stone statue with his sleeve, clasped his palms together and saluted, then strode towards his own place.

Niudu Village is still the same. The villagers' houses are low and dilapidated, and the straw on the roof rustles in the north wind.On the not-so-wide road, the unmelted snow mixed with the mud, coupled with the fact that it was often trampled and crushed, turned into a big mud pond.

What surprised Quan Baocai was that there was no one on the street, and there was no sound coming from the houses on the side of the road. It was deserted, and there was no New Year atmosphere.You must know that in the Edo period, starting from the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, every family had to clean their houses and shrines. If they had money or not, they would hang Kadomatsu at the door, hoping that the "Nian God" could stop for a while and bless themselves when they passed by.

When he was about to walk home, he saw an old man standing on an upside-down wooden barrel under a crooked-neck tree by the roadside, tremblingly putting his head into the noose hanging on the tree.Quan Bao was shocked, and hurried forward, and grabbed the opponent's leg the moment the old man kicked the barrel down.

The old man was also taken aback. His neck was strangled by the rope, but he didn't feel any pain. Suddenly, his body lightened, he was lifted up, and then he stood on the ground.When he turned around and took a closer look, he felt that the strong man in front of him looked familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was.

Although Quan Baocai has been away from home for many years, the scenery of his hometown is engraved in his heart. He looked at the wrinkled and ragged old man in front of him, and quickly recognized him.So he asked with concern: "Papa Yuzuo, what are you doing?!"

Seeing that the other party knew him, Yosaku wiped the corners of his eyes with his dirty sleeve, and carefully sized up the strong man in front of him. Suddenly his eyes widened, and he said in surprise, "Quan San? You're not dead?! You're still alive !"

"I'm standing in front of you. What's wrong with you? What can't you think about? My house is right in front of you. Let's go home and talk about it."

Yosaku lowered his head, his lips twitched twice, grinning and crying: "Quan San, your parents, you can't live without me! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo."

"What!" Quan Baocai buzzed his head, staggered a few steps, put his hand on Yuzuo's shoulder, and asked loudly, "Why not? Please explain to me clearly!"

"They took Agui away and said they would make her a prostitute to pay off her debts. I am just such a granddaughter, how can I live without her?"

Quan Baocai interrupted the old man's crying, and said anxiously: "Father Yuzuo, tell me quickly! What's the matter with my parents?!"

"That year, the whole village thought you were dead, and I followed your parents to the beach to find the body for several days. In the second year, your family couldn't pay the rent, and the owner of the Kiso house forced you to pay the debt. Your father In a fit of anger, I hanged myself. Later, they took away everything they could from your house, saying that they wanted to repay the debt, and your mother also fell ill. Two days later, people from the village went to see her, and they had already left your house last year It was crushed by the snow, and no one lived in it, so the house would break down quickly.”

Quan Baocai's eyes were tearing when he heard this, and he asked, "Where is the person buried?!"

"On the small hill to the west, our village"

"Father Yuzuo, go home and wait for me first! I'll help you if you need anything!"

Before Yu Zuo could finish speaking, Quan Bao quickly rushed to the west.Yusaku stared blankly at the back of the other party going away, looked up at the rope hanging on the tree, hesitated for a moment, then picked up the wooden barrel, and wobbled towards his home.

About an hour later, Yu Zuo, who was sitting by the hearth, heard footsteps outside, got up and went out to see that it was Quan San who had returned.The other party's eyes were red and swollen, and his body and turban were covered with mud and weeds.

When Quan Bao just sat down in front of the hearth and took off his turban, Yu Zuo looked at the short hair of the other side and said in surprise, "Quan San, are you a monk now?"

It took a while before Quan Bao shook his head slightly, and said in a voice that became hoarse after crying: "Father, what's going on in the village? You just told me about Agui, she is fourteen this year, right? "

Yosaku sighed, and then told the other party what happened before and after, Quan Baocai's face turned blue after hearing this, which was almost the same as when he was beaten back then.

During the Tianming famine, one-third of the people in Niudu Village died, and the only remaining granddaughter of Zuo's family, Agui, was dependent on each other.The old man was reluctant to let his granddaughter become a servant, so he took her to farm at home.

Most of the farmers in these days were tenant farmers. After harvesting grain every year, almost half of the harvest was handed over to the landlord, and the family lived on the remaining grain.

Yuzuo has rented five acres of land with the landlord. In the past two years, if the harvest is good, he can make up to sixteen straw bags of rice, of which seven and a half bags are used as rent, and the remaining rice is the rations of the grandfather and grandson for a year.Farmers in island countries can’t afford rice, so they usually go to the “Mi Wenwu” to replace it with wheat or millet, and then add radish leaves, soybean leaves and wild vegetables to barely fill their stomachs.

The problem is that in addition to eating, you have to eat salt in exchange for some necessities of life.If there is a poor harvest, the rent is indispensable. After all, the landlord has to pay the full amount of annual tribute to the feudal clan.As a result, it became inevitable to borrow money from landlords or usury merchants.

As soon as the twelfth lunar month enters every year, it is the harvest feast for usury merchants.Facing the ever-repaying debts with compound interest, the tenants can only beg to use the next year's harvest to repay the debts, or they can only let the pretty girls become prostitutes; Only then can we be good.

That being said, most people are far from finished.You must know that in addition to the previous accumulation, there will be new loans.What's more, if you become a prostitute, you will contract a whole body of diseases, and even your family will hate you, so you can only die in misery in the end
The north wind howled outside the house, and the dry branches were crackling in the hearth inside the house.Yusaku wiped his tears and said, "Last year, the harvest of my five acres of land was not good, but the owner of Kiso House said that it would be impossible to pay back the money, so they took Agui away and said they would let her work in a brothel to pay off the debt. "

Quan Baocai's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately asked, "Father, is Ah Bin okay?"

"Abin?" Yosaku sighed, "I heard that she is already the number one in the brothel, and has become Tiger San's cash cow."

"Tiger Three!" Quan Baocai clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth.

Yu Zuo took a look, and quickly persuaded: "Quan San and Hu San have a lot of people, and there are seven or eight thugs under them. You don't want to touch the stone with eggs!"

Only then did Quan Bao nod his head, he was no longer the dazed young man he was back then.It's easy to rush in and kill people, but if the government is alarmed, it will cause a lot of trouble if you want to take Ah Bin to Ishinomaki Port;

"Father, how much do you owe Kisoya?"

"I was sick the year before last, and Agui borrowed two taels to ask the doctor to buy medicine. Now including the interest, the total is eight taels and 37 Wen."

Only then did Quan Bao open the bag next to him, took out a roe deer skin money bag, took some bean silver that was exchanged in Ishinomaki Town, handed it to Yuzuo and said, "This is ten taels, go and redeem Agui." come back."

Yosaku stared at the blackened silver in the opponent's hand in disbelief, and said excitedly, "Quan San, you're getting rich!"

"I have been working in Beihai Town for the past few years and earned some money. I originally wanted to be filial to my parents"

"Beihai Town? I seem to have heard someone say it." Yuzuo took the money, broke through his tears and said with a smile, "You can stay at my house at night! Let Agui cook later, and I'll buy some wine to drink in the evening!"

　There is such a case in the Warring States Period.One day, Oda Nobunaga's uncle, Oda Shinji, the lord of the mountain castle, was hunting with his retainers when he saw a young warrior passing by alone on horseback.Shinji's retainers thought that the warrior's behavior was rude, so they took out their bows and arrows and shot them. When they got closer, they realized that it was their relatives, but Nobunaga's younger brother Hidetaka.

　　Oda Shinji was so frightened that he ran away immediately, not even guarding the mountain castle, and went as a ronin.Both Nobunaga and Nobuyuki loved this younger brother very much, and immediately sent troops to attack the Shoushan Castle, and burned the castle town.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)