Swallow Return

……

Upon arriving at Yokoyama Castle, they met with Kinoshita Tokichiro, exchanged documents, and officially took in hundreds of women and children.

Liu Yun apologized, saying that she had been delayed at home for a few days and was a little late.

Kinoshita Tokichiro gave a knowing smile and said, "I understand, I completely understand! I've heard that Brother Ryuun inherited not only the territory but also... hehe... of course he'll enjoy it to the fullest!"

Hearing this, Liu Yun felt that being regarded as a kindred spirit by this lecherous monkey was an insult to the noble character of a transmigrated protagonist. However, with the facts laid bare, he lacked the confidence to refute them.

I'm so annoyed!

Then Kinoshita Tokichiro whispered, "Actually, I've already settled things with three of those five hundred-plus women, and I'm preparing to bring them to live in the city... Cough cough, Brother Ryuyun, don't look at me like that. There was absolutely no coercion involved; they all came of their own free will. I've also discussed it with their families. You see, this isn't a bad thing for anyone..."

Liu Yun was both amused and exasperated, and had no words to respond.

Honestly, if I didn't know the original history, I would never have imagined that such a down-to-earth and vulgar person could become a household name.

Or, to put it another way, perhaps it was precisely because everyone thought he couldn't succeed that he was able to climb up the ladder so quickly, step by step?

Then Liuyun went to the temporary resettlement area in the castle town and officially took over the care of hundreds of women and children.

Previously, the person in charge was the sallow-faced, lean Maeno Nagayasu. During the handover, he yelled and complained, "Lord Ryuun, you're finally here! This bunch of women almost drove me crazy. If you yell at them, they burst into tears like they're about to be beheaded. If you speak to them nicely, they make all sorts of trivial demands..."

Liu Yun nodded, not taking it seriously, and asked, "Don't the warriors in the city have taken this opportunity to choose a few concubines?"

Maeno Nagayasu shook his head: "With so many people watching, how could we be so embarrassed? Everyone has to save face, so we'd rather go through other channels. It's just that Lord Kinoshita, well... he's like Lord Danjo (Oda Nobunaga), he has that... what you call the Kabuki-za style, he does whatever he wants and isn't afraid of what outsiders will say."

Look at this wording—

Liu Yun didn't know whether to say he was bad at speaking or too good at speaking.

In short, the handover is complete.

Liu Yun arrived at a corner of the town below Yokoyama Castle.

There is a small street with twenty or thirty abandoned longhouses on both sides, which is now bustling with activity and home to several hundred people.

The environment was dilapidated, crowded, and a bit cold, but fortunately, most of the women were hardworking laborers who kept it quite clean.

Twenty soldiers stood guard with long spears, preventing anyone from easily entering or leaving. A considerable amount of grain and pickled vegetables were piled up nearby.

Liu Yun thought to himself that Maeno Nagayasu must have been too impatient to find it difficult, and that these women should not be difficult to communicate with.

He took out a tael of silver and sent the dutiful soldiers to drink, while he led the "matchmaking team" into the alley.

Then he clapped his hands twice and said loudly, "Listen up, everyone! I am Sasaki Ryuun! I heard that most of you are homeless, so I brought a group of men with me. If any of you take a liking to me, feel free to make a move!"

As he spoke, he pointed to the "matchmaking team" he had brought.

However, when the women heard the noise, they came out of the longhouse and looked from a distance, but they all shrank back timidly and dared not speak.

Those who dared to stand at the front, when caught by Liu Yun's gaze, could only lower their heads and say, "We'll leave it to the masters to arrange; how dare we complain!"

"You can't say that," Liu Yun said in a friendly tone. "Forcing things won't lead to good results. Your opinions are very important!"

After a few gentle explanations, the women gradually relaxed their guard.

Gradually, people began to speak in hushed tones.

"As long as... as long as he's a reliable man, that's fine."

"I hope my family will at least not go hungry."

"Could it be an old man who can't move anymore...?"

"Can you please tolerate my child? Although he is a monk's illegitimate child, the child himself is innocent..."

"It's good enough that he doesn't have a habit of beating his wife..."

"My hands were beaten like this by that bad monk, and I can't even lift anything. Won't I be looked down upon?"

“My family used to run a business. They didn’t know how to farm or sew, so they would definitely think I was useless.”

"Me too... My parents were driven bankrupt and committed suicide by a bad monk... Waaah..."

The chattering sounds started, and at first Liu Yun didn't think much of it.

But then the discussion grew louder and more irrelevant, and he had to shout, "Quiet down! Let's get down to business!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the hundreds of women fell silent again, trembling with fear, huddled together, and dared not raise their heads.

Then came the cries of the newborns, and some women couldn't help but sob quietly.

At this point, Liu Yun began to believe what Maeno Nagayasu had said: dealing with them was indeed a bit troublesome.

Women's work in the old society was difficult!

At this scene, Eguchi Sukezaemon, Hayami Seibei, and their group could only stand there dumbfounded.

Even if someone has their eye on someone, they'd be too embarrassed to say so, as if it were like abducting a woman.

No wonder only Kinoshita Tokichiro had the audacity to hook up with three people.

Liu Yun thought that perhaps women's work should be done better by female comrades. Should he let Yi Zhi negotiate on his behalf? But Yi Zhi wasn't good at showing her face in public either.

I never expected that a casual remark would bring me such a troublesome little thing.

So what should we do?

I need to think about it carefully.

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Way of the Samurai Through the Lens of a Generic Character

After staring at each other for a while, Liu Yun decisively gave up on his plan to communicate directly with the 16th-century woman comrade.

This thing requires a lot of patience.

Liu Yun is not an impulsive person, but he is not a very patient person either.

Seeing that it was getting late, I decided to go eat and rest first.

Let's wait until tomorrow and let them choose some representatives who can speak clearly so we can discuss it further.

Liu Yun sent someone to make contact, intending to stay in an inn in the castle town for a few days to finish dealing with this matter.

As luck would have it, they encountered the town magistrate of the castle town on the way. The magistrate was greatly surprised and said, "I have been specifically instructed that if you are to stay overnight, you must stay in a superior residence near the palace in the main citadel. How can you condescend to stay outside the castle?"

Hearing this, Liu Yun felt rather bored and annoyed.

The superior lodgings near the palace in the main citadel are not necessarily better than the inns outside in terms of living conditions, and the service quality is often inferior.

It's just that being closer to the center of power makes them seem more prestigious in the eyes of the samurai.

However, Liu Yun didn't think this scenery was of any use.

It should be noted that the main citadel of Yokoyama Castle is located on the mountaintop, while the castle town is at the foot of the mountain.

Don't you find it troublesome to rest on the mountaintop every night and then come back to work at the foot of the mountain during the day?

So he didn't take it seriously and politely declined.

Seeing that the town magistrate was deeply worried and had a sorrowful expression, he tossed and turned several times before finally leaving with a dejected sigh.

The innkeeper, a small-time business owner who had never seen much of the world, was terrified. He was so nervous and fearful that he dared not accept the job, yet dared not refuse it either.

Look at this formalism, it really does people a lot of harm...

To avoid implicating these innocent people, Ryuun changed his mind and decided to accept Kinoshita Tokichiro's "kindness".

According to the town magistrate, a spacious and bright "Sasaki Residence" with its own courtyard, which can accommodate more than ten people, has been specially allocated in the Yokoyama Castle Honmaru for Ryuun's use when needed.

Moreover, it was less than two hundred steps away from the main hall where council meetings and offices were held. Next to it were figures like Takenaka Shigeharu and Hachisuka Masakatsu, demonstrating the close relationship and trust between them.

Kinoshita Tokichiro is indeed a man who goes to great lengths to win over capable people, though his methods may be a bit rough and clumsy, unlike the seasoned politician he is, but his attitude is certainly quite good.

Even this roughness and unfamiliarity, to some extent, makes it feel exceptionally sincere, without any pretentious routines.

As evening fell, Liu Yun led his entourage into Hengshan City.

This was his fourth or fifth time in the city. He knew the routes like the back of his hand, and the gatekeepers along the way all knew that there was a person named "Sasaki Ryuun".

Passing through the Outer Maru and the Third Maru, everything was quiet and ordinary.

People would often brush past him, greeting him with smiles—it seemed Liu Yun was now somewhat well-known. But he didn't recognize most of them, only offering a perfunctory reply as a sign of politeness.

However, upon reaching Ninomaru, they were blocked by two serious-looking samurai.

They seem to have ill intentions.

I wonder if they just happened to be there, or if they were deliberately waiting for them?

The two samurai were both very strong and powerful. One called himself "Miyata Mitsuji" and the other called himself "Oto Tomonori".

Liu Yun had heard these two names several times recently and had a vague impression of them. He vaguely knew that they were capable and efficient retainers under Kinoshita Tokichiro, and their rank was probably around three to five hundred koku.

However, the names cannot be accurately matched with the specific people.

It wasn't because they were of low status or lacked distinctive features, but because they were destined to never appear in the Koei Tecmo games of later generations.

Subconsciously, one won't consciously try to remember it.

If you were like Kinoshita Koichiro (who later became the Great Councilor Toyotomi Hidenaga), with an average ability of 70 or 80 and a bunch of useful skills in the game, you would be someone I would remember at first glance.

Even the worst is like Maeno Nagayasu. Although his abilities are very mediocre in the game, he has appeared in all the Nobunaga's Ambition and Taiko Risshiden games to accumulate seniority and build up a lot of impression points.

Mitsuji Miyata, Tomonori Oto... I've never heard of either of them.

At most, it just feels a bit like a generic extra from a certain Dynasty Warriors game... Who can remember a generic extra from a hack-and-slash game?

Now, the two men, looking menacing, blocked Liu Yun's path. They bowed in unison, exchanged a glance, and the samurai who called himself "Miyata Mitsuji" spoke first: "We have been practicing martial arts since childhood, without missing a single day. We consider ourselves to have achieved some success in swordsmanship and staff fighting. Of course, we have encountered many people stronger than us on the battlefield before, but those people either possessed ancestral clan power, or had supernatural abilities due to their demon bloodline, or some other strange power. We recently heard that you, Lord Sasaki, are incredibly strong simply through martial arts, so we have taken the liberty of asking you for guidance!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yun couldn't help but smile.

He could tell that the other person was asking for advice, but actually, there was a clear sense of dissatisfaction.

What was that all about? A typical example of a supporting character who overestimates their abilities and shamelessly sends themselves to the countryside!

He really is a generic extra...

So Liu Yun nodded slightly, feigning composure, and said calmly, "Alright. Let's have a little sparring with bamboo swords, and stop when we've reached our limit."

As soon as he finished speaking, the two people opposite him nodded immediately and then took out their bamboo swords.

The people around them stepped back a distance.

The retainers of the Sasaki family remained calm, with a hint of disdain, clearly having great confidence in Ryuun.

Meanwhile, in Yokoyama City, most of the onlookers who rushed to the scene were completely focused and extremely tense.