I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Kiryu raised an eyebrow: "What? You want to see him?"

"Of course I want to see him!" Makimura answered without the slightest hesitation. "He's the young master's favorite, so it would be strange not to be curious about him. I happen to be planning to rest in Edo for a while, so I'll take this rare opportunity to meet this lucky guy who is fortunate enough to be favored by the young master."

Are you planning to stay in Edo for a while?

“Yes.” Makimura stretched his arms overhead and yawned. “This trip to the Tohoku region has really exhausted me… I plan to relax in Edo for half a month before getting back to work.”

"Are you tired?" Kiryu laughed as if he had heard a very funny joke. "Makimura, don't make me laugh. What in this world could make the 'Dragon of Kyoto' complain about being tired?"

"Hmph." Makimura chuckled lightly through his nose, then replied half-jokingly, "Even dragons grow old one day."

Kiryu glanced sideways and met Makimura's gaze with a meaningful look.

"But the crimson dragon you carry has not faded; it still raises its head to the sky and roars toward the boundless heavens."

"Heh..." Makimura's lips curled into a playful smile. "Well, whether this trip to the Northeast was tiring or not... let's leave that aside for now. Let's talk about business first—Kuro, I've successfully gathered the latest intelligence on the Fazhu Party in the Northeast."

"Oh...?" Kiryu's expression instantly turned serious.

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Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets! (Leopard crying.jpg)

The author is currently adjusting to the disrupted sleep schedule caused by taking care of patients in the hospital, and believes that he will soon be able to return to his previous state of writing 7 to 8000 words a day!

So, after a period of updating at a pace of only 4 to 5000 words a day, do you suddenly realize how conscientious I was before?

Chapter 336 The Initial Awakening of Niou [5800]

Back to Qingdeng—

From the perspective of modern jurisprudence, Seido's act of beating up the ronin who was blocking the road and extorting money was a perfectly reasonable act of self-defense. However, in the Edo period, there was a famous law called "A quarrel would result in two defeats."

In Japanese, "喧哗" means a dispute or violent conflict between two parties.

This law, which first appeared during the Muromachi period (1336-1573), stipulates that both parties involved in a conflict will be punished regardless of who is right or wrong.

Whether it was the Muromachi Shogunate or the Warring States period's system of dividing provinces, both adopted the principle of "a dispute between the two sides resulting in victory or defeat" as the basis for arbitration.

After the establishment of the Edo Shogunate, although there was no explicit provision in the Imperial Decree, the principle of "two sides, one wins and one loses" still became a customary law that has been passed down.

If an official were to come knocking on their door and hold Qing Deng and his companions accountable for "fighting with ronin in the street"... Although they didn't want such a situation to occur, Qing Deng and his group weren't afraid of it.

There was no need for Tokugawa Iemochi and Tenshōin to take action; Aoto's own resources and connections were enough to resolve this minor incident.

However, it's always better to avoid trouble.

Therefore, adhering to the principle and mindset of "avoiding trouble if possible", Qing Deng and others did not stay in Nihonbashi for long.

Where to go next?

After thinking for a while, Tokugawa Iemochi slowly uttered a place name that everyone in Edo knew: Kanda.

To put it simply... Kanda was the only vegetable wholesale market in Edo.

The vast majority of vegetable merchants and vendors throughout Edo first purchased their produce from Kanda and then resold it elsewhere.

Every day before dawn, a large number of farmers living in the suburbs of Edo would bring fresh fruits and vegetables to Kanda to sell.

The famous writer Ihara Saikaku, who wrote "The Life of an Amorous Man," which is hailed as the "Japanese Jin Ping Mei," described the bustling scene of Kanda Vegetable Market in his book "Sekai no Soyō" (1692). He wrote: "Every day, radishes are carried by horses, and it looks as if the farmland is moving on its own."

Qing Deng had never been to Kanda before, not even in his previous life, he had never visited any fruit and vegetable wholesale market.

So, upon entering this bustling area where the air was always filled with the fragrance of plants, he was immediately startled by the novel sight before him, his eyebrows twitching slightly.

Looking around, one is greeted by fields and valleys overflowing with fresh fruits and vegetables.

"Eggplant! Eggplant! Anyone want some eggplant?"

"Spinach! Spinach is on sale at a low price!"

"Oranges are in season right now! Come and see! Oranges are in season right now!"

……

Stalls of varying sizes line both sides of Kanda's main roads.

The dazzling array of fruits and vegetables adorns Kanda, making it resemble a large farm.

Countless simply dressed farmers moved about in various parts of the sacred field.

Most of them could only carry heavy fruits and vegetables by using a stone back and a pair of iron shoulders.

Only a very few wealthy families had the financial means to use livestock, such as oxen and horses, to transport goods.

Where there are farmers selling vegetables, there will naturally be merchants coming to buy them.

"Tsk...why do all these eggplants look so stale..."

Hey! Why are your cabbages getting more and more expensive?

"Oh, sir, I'm not trying to lower the price on purpose! You know the market's not doing well lately!"

……

Shoulder to shoulder, bustling with people and horses—these two idioms seem perfectly apt to describe Kanda, which remains incredibly lively even on this New Year's Day.

However, Tokugawa Iemochi, who quietly watched all of this, showed no sign of relief or satisfaction.

"So thin..."

The words that Tokugawa Iemochi muttered softly formed into particles and drifted lightly into Aoto's ears.

Qingdeng knew perfectly well what this meant—because at almost the same time, he had the exact same feeling—almost all the farmers who appeared before them were really too thin and weak.

Of those with rosy complexions, only one in ten survives.

There were countless skinny, bony figures with hardly any flesh on their bodies.

Countless people suffer from swollen legs and feet.

They are clearly people who grow grain.

They were clearly carrying large quantities of fresh and delicious ingredients on their shoulders and backs.

As a result, they all looked hungry and were thinner than the other.

It's normal for the farmers under the Tokugawa family's rule to be thin and weak; it would be abnormal if they were all strong and robust.

The Edo Shogunate stipulated that land taxes should be paid in "four public and six private" terms, meaning that 4% of the total annual income had to be handed over to the government.

In addition to such high taxes, farmers also faced a multitude of miscellaneous duties.

In short, whether in the shogunate's territories or in the fiefdoms of various domains, more than 80% of the peasants were shockingly poor due to the exploitation they suffered. Their economies were extremely fragile, and any natural disaster or man-made calamity could immediately bankrupt them.

Only landlords and some rich peasants could afford to eat rice; the rest of the farmers had to survive on barnyard grass and red rice.

Barnyard grass: In modern times, it is a type of weed specifically used to feed livestock.

Red rice: A crop with an extremely unpalatable taste. Because it tasted so bad, the government always emphasized "no red rice" when harvesting grain.

Eating these two things for years... it would be strange if you weren't physically weak.

"Huh? Where are you going?"

Tenshōin looked on in surprise as Tokugawa Iemochi suddenly walked straight toward a vegetable stall next to him.

“Nowhere,” Tokugawa Iemochi replied calmly. “I just…want to ask someone a few simple questions.”

The vegetable stall owner patronized by Tokugawa Iemochi was an old man around 50 years old. Like most farmers in the area, he couldn't afford livestock and could only carry two large baskets of vegetables, thicker than his waist, from his rural home to Edo using a carrying pole.

Qing Deng didn't know where the old man lived, but he knew that the nearest rural area to Edo was at least half an hour's walk away, no matter how fast he walked.

Carrying vegetables weighing at least 30 kilograms on a shoulder pole and walking for half an hour or even longer on a rugged dirt road... This arduous life is just a true reflection of the daily lives of most farmers bustling about in the streets and alleys of Kanda.

"Ah! Good day, Samurai-sir!"

As Qingdeng and the others approached his stall, the old man, who was rubbing his slightly swollen calves, quickly stood up, stammered a greeting, and nervously and suspiciously looked Qingdeng and the others up and down.

The attire of Qingdeng and his group did not resemble that of merchants who came to purchase goods, so it was no wonder that the old man would show such an expression and look in his eyes.

"Sir," Tokugawa Iemochi asked with a smile, "how is your business?"

The old man was startled as soon as Tokugawa Iemochi opened his mouth.

Good heavens, a samurai old man with a sword at his waist actually called him "sir"? And he even used honorifics? A strong sense of astonishment enveloped the old man.

The old man's face instantly became exponentially more tense, and he didn't even know what to do with his hands and feet.

He struggled to move his tongue, which seemed to be tied in knots, and stammered:

"My business today was so-so, so-so, so-so! I didn't sell many vegetables!"

"So-so..." Tokugawa Iemochi nodded slightly, then his gaze shifted downwards, scanning the old man's swollen feet. "Sir, your health... doesn't seem very good. Have you been eating properly?"

"Huh...?" The old man stared wide-eyed, looking as if he had misheard something.

Left with no other choice, Tokugawa Iemochi had to repeat the question he had just asked.

"Eat your food properly... This..." The old man chuckled awkwardly, "Grandpa Samurai, you... you're really joking. I'm just a lowly farmer. I'm already very content to have food to eat and not starve to death. I dare not ask for more..."

"So how is your life these days?" Tokugawa Iemochi pressed on with further questions.

Tokugawa Iemochi's youthful appearance and kind demeanor eased much of the old man's tension.

As the old man gradually relaxed, he became less nervous and stammering when he spoke.

"Life right now... it's just so-so."

The old man sighed heavily.

"It's not much better, but it's not so bad that we can't go on living."

"However, I have no complaints about my life now. Even if life is bad... it's still better than during the famine caused by the Tianbao Incident..."

The Tenpo Famine—the great famine that swept across Japan more than twenty years ago, leaving countless people starving to death.

No one can say for sure how many people starved to death during the Tianbao Famine, which lasted for several years.

At the height of the famine, not only were barnyard grass and red rice scarce, but even the bark of trees in the mountains was almost completely devoured by the famine victims.

Later, the increasingly decadent disaster relief practices and the incompetence of the shogunate ignited the anger of the people, directly triggering the "Ōshio Heihachirō Rebellion" (1837), which shocked the whole country and still makes the shogunate shudder.

The fierce battles between the government troops and the rebel army have left many traces of war in Osaka today.