Chapter 2 2. Mingyue Jiahe
"Master Fukuoka's sister?" Ryoma put down his wine glass, reached for the knife on the alcove, picked up his luggage and stood up. "I'm going to sleep by the beach tonight."
The shopkeeper was a little overwhelmed.
"I'll deliver the food and drinks to the beach behind. Well, it would be best if you could lend me two mats, thank you."
"Are you angry?"
"It's the guest who is not good."
Longma went to the back of the inn in silence.
There are some rather large ships moored by the sea.Just resting in some shade.Soon, the shopkeeper and the maid brought five or six mats and a blue-dyed quilt, five dishes, and a jug of wine.
"If there is anything wrong with the little one, please forgive me, guest officer."
"Shopkeeper, you said that that person is Fukuoka-sama's sister, are you serious?"
"It's true."
"Her name is Tian He?"
"Oh, that's right, that's what the person who came to deliver the letter said. But, since you are a retainer of the Tosa Domain, young master, what are you afraid of?"
"I am not a retainer."
"Then you are..."
The shopkeeper is from Awa and does not understand Tosa's complicated hierarchy.
"It's a countryman."
"But just now I heard from the official at the ferry that the Sakamoto House under Tosa Kochi Castle is a well-known wealthy family, even we Awa people know it."
"Even so, they are only country soldiers. Sergeants can wear shoes on rainy days, but they are also samurai, so country soldiers can only go barefoot. You may not know that Tosa was the territory of Nagasoga during the Warring States period. We Tosa country soldiers used to be Nagaso's retainer. However, Keicho Five Years and Tokugawa Ieyasu..."
"Oh, Dongzhao has great power now." The shopkeeper corrected his address.
"It's fine to call Ieyasu. In that battle, Nagasoga was defeated by Tokugawa Ieyasu. However, Kazutoyo Yamauchi, a small daimyo who originally only had the 60,000 koku fiefdom of Kakegawa in Enshu, was granted the title of 24th because of his meritorious service in the Sekigahara Battle. Wanshi, who entered Tosa. At that time, the old ministers of Nagasoga were kicked out of the field and became peasants. The people brought by the Yamauchi family when they settled in Tosa became sergeants. This has been the case for generations. We are all the same people, but they look down on us. , do not sit with us, and do not want to stay in the same inn with us during the journey."
"That's why you are afraid and come out to live?"
"How can it be said to be jealous? The other party is the younger sister of the old Fukuoka Miyauchi of the Tosa family, and I am the son of a scholar from Fukuoka. Living under the same roof with a rich man is breathless."
A new moon rises over the sea.Under the faint moonlight, Awaji Island and Numa Island on the opposite bank are faintly visible.
Ryoma plunged his black-painted broadsword into the sand, pulled the food over and began to eat.He was very surprised, he didn't expect to live in a guest house with Miss Tian He.Fukuoka Prefecture is located near the inner moat of the city.In the area where the castellan's family and old family residences are concentrated, Fukuoka Mansion is the most spectacular, covering an area of 180 mu.There are rumors that Ms. Tian He built a study in a corner of Funan and lived with an old nanny.She was born weak and weak, and did not step out of the door, so the marriage was delayed.
The shopkeeper of the Naruto House said: "Miss Fukuoka is here to play, and I will stop by Arima Hot Spring for recuperation."
However, when Ryoma left Kochi to bid farewell to Fukuoka Prefecture, he did not hear about it.Of course, this is a matter of course for the Fukuoka family, and there is no need for them to tell the son of a villager about the family affairs.
I also heard that Miss is a beauty.Some people say that she is astonishing and stunning Tosa, and she is alluring, but in fact, few people see her true face.There is a little song circulating in the city.Ryoma couldn't remember the words.He heard from his sister Otome that the song was sung by a young samurai who fell in love with Miss Tianzuru.The samurai saw Miss Tian He somewhere under the city, and fell in love with her. "If I could see her again, I'd be willing to cut hara my heart on the spot."
After hearing what he said, a friend told him that Miss Tianhe's late nursing mother died on May 16th, and her Bodhi Temple was the Reality Institute of Zhulin Temple in Mount Wutai.
The samurai waited with his friends by the mountain gate of Shixiangyuan, and finally a female sedan chair with the Fukuoka family crest appeared on the bamboo forest road.
"A gentleman keeps his word, cut your belly."
"it is good."
The samurai drew his dagger and hid himself.The servant of the Fukuoka family took out sandals with a white belt, and Ms. Tianzuru stepped on them. Soon, her figure disappeared inside the mountain gate.But something bad happened outside the mountain gate.The samurai's friend held down the short knife that was stabbed into the samurai's abdomen, and rushed to the hospital for rescue in time. Only then did he save his life... Ryoma had already drunk enough wine, covered him with a mat and lay down.Although I prepared a quilt, I didn't need it.The residual heat of the sand made him feel warm.He is used to sleeping on the beach.Evening banquets on the sand are the habit of Tosa young samurai.When he was practicing martial arts at Hineno Martial Arts Hall, he would call friends to Guibin Beach every Obon Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.When I got to the beach, I took the rice sticks and drank all night.
Thinking of it, there is no such beautiful moonlight anymore.Cape Muroto to the east and Cape Ashizuri to the west embrace the three-hundred-mile ocean, from which the bright moon slowly rises.No matter where Ryoma goes in the future, perhaps he will never forget the bright moon at that time.At that time, the partner in the martial arts school sang:
At this time, Ryoma looked at the bright moon hanging over the Naruto Sea and thought: If he took a boat to chase the moon in Guibin, where would he go?In the midst of this childlike rambling, he fell asleep.
At this moment, two lamps were hung on the inner door of Naruto House in the shipyard.
The sound of footsteps stepping on the sand gradually approached.
"Miss, slow down..." A low voice came into Long Ma's ears.The visitor looked like a nun from the Fukuoka family.Ryoma was taken aback, and wanted to get up, but found it troublesome.
"There is a person lying here. Isn't this the young master of the Sakamoto family in Honmachi?"
"where?"
"It seems to have been drunk, the smell is very bad."
"Don't talk nonsense, it's the smell of the sea."
It was like Miss Tian He's voice, although it was low, it was mellow and charming.
"It's not the smell of the sea, it's the smell of the young master of the Sakamoto family."
nonsense!Long Ma was furious and didn't get up, and said, "Can you be quiet?"
The two women took a step back in horror.
"You're right, the one lying here is the kid from the Sakamoto family."
"Ah, it really is." Ms. Tian He raised her voice unexpectedly.
She sat on the sand with her knees bent.As expected of the elder sister of the Tosa family, she behaves dignifiedly.
Ryoma remained lying still.
"Is the son's honorable name Longma?"
"yes."
"Go to Edo to learn swordsmanship..."
"yes."
"I often hear my elder brother mentioning the matter of the young master."
The Fukuoka family and the Sakamoto family are not just the relationship between the elders of the feudal clan and the villagers.When the family is in short supply, the Fukuoka family often goes to the head of the Sakamoto family, Saitaniya Hachirobei, to play autumn breeze.Therefore, although the Sakamoto family is just a local family, they have a close relationship with the Fukuoka family.Every year on the twelfth day of the first lunar month, the Palace will personally lead the entourage to Sakamoto's house to pay New Year's greetings, give the head of the Sakamoto family a glass of wine, and present fresh fish to Saitani House.It's almost a routine.
Let me briefly talk about Longma's family background here.The ancestor of the Sakamoto family is said to be Mitsuharu Sabasuke, who rode across Lake Biwa on horseback.After the death of the Akechi family, Taro Goro, the concubine of Zuomasuke, fled to Tosa, where he lived in Saitani Village, Nagaoka County, and became the head of the Nagasogabe family.
A full collar is the unique military system of Chang Zeng's family. It refers to those who usually put their spears in the fields and wrap their legs around them to plow the land. , the person who goes to the battlefield to kill the enemy.In the last years of the Warring States Period, Yuanqin of the Changzengwo Division led such a group of sturdy and powerful men to conquer the entire territory of the Four Kingdoms.
During the Kanbun period, the fourth generation of the Sakamoto family, the governor of the eight soldiers, moved to Kochi Honcho 3-chome, opened a wine shop, and the family business prospered.During the fifth and sixth generations, he accumulated a fortune of tens of millions. In the seventh generation, he gave up the family property to his younger brother, bought the status of a villager, and became a warrior again, with a territory of 197 shi. The salary is ten stones and four buckets.The mansion and the original Caigu house are next to each other.The surname Sakamoto is rare in Tosa, and it comes from the fact that the ancestor Samasuke Mitsuharu once lived in Sakamoto Castle next to Lake Biwa.The family pattern is the sensible platycodon pattern.
"Mr. Sakamoto." Ms. Tian He said, "You lie in this kind of place, as if we kicked you out. I feel very sorry. Please go back to the room quickly."
Ryoma stared at the starry sky.Because of myopia, the stars are a little blurry. "Passed." He said suddenly.
"what?"
"meteor."
"I'm serious. How about, go back?"
"I'm sorry I can't live with you. I don't like restraint the most. It's the best to be able to be a quilt in this day and a mat on the ground."
Grandma Achu was irritated by this rude son of a countryman, and interjected from the side: "Miss, since this young master thinks it is so good to sleep between heaven and earth, leave him alone."
The next morning, when it was still dark, the ship set off.
Miss Tianzuru led Auntie Achu, her entourage, Genji Yasuoka, and Shikazo, into the middle of the passenger boat surrounded by cloth with family crests.
"Master Sakamoto, come and sit here too." Tian He spoke.But Ryoma only replied "No" lightly, and walked to the deck.He looked unhappy, as if someone had disturbed him.
Grandma Ah Chu whispered to Miss Tian He: "This kid is very weird. Didn't someone say that he doesn't know a few big characters?"
"Don't talk nonsense. I heard from my elder brother that once he held a copy of "Han Feizi" and read it for three days."
Ah Chu was very surprised, and said with a smile: "I can't even understand the words."
"No, I heard that his third sister, Otome, taught him to read and write. Although it is a font I created myself, I can still write."
"It's not too stupid to be hopeless." Mammy didn't like Longma.A countryman, he is ashamed in front of his elder sister.Maybe that made her angry.
"Nothing. I heard that after he watched "Han Feizi" for three days, Mr. Chi Tsusaku from Kokosaka Academy went to his house on the fourth day. He discussed it with him confidently. Mr. Chi was shocked , because the young master’s comments are words that he has never heard of.”
"That's because I don't know anything."
"No, it is an insightful explanation beyond the imagination of learned people."
"However, he often said that Chinese books are boring, and he really understands them."
"Probably talent. Some people faithfully learn the knowledge of their ancestors, and some people draw their own conclusions from the knowledge of their ancestors. Mr. Longma is the latter, and his mind is unfathomable. Brother said, this kind of portrait What about Cao Mengde. I've always wanted to meet this kind of hero in troubled times. But, this time I saw..."
"How?"
"It turned out to be tempting."
"Miss..." Ah Chu's eyes widened.
At this time, Ryoma was at the stern of the boat, facing the sea breeze, staring at the old man at the helm like a child.The old man was very surprised: "Young master, it seems that you like boats very much."
"Exactly."
The eyes of this "hero in troubled times" were too innocent.
"My lord, let me teach you how to steer the helm."
"No need to teach, just let me paddle by myself. Just stand aside and give me advice." Longma picked up the oar and became his disciple.
The old man at the helm of the Naruto was born in Nio, Sanuki, and his name is Nanazang.Qizang admired Longma's understanding.In half a day, Ryoma not only learned how to steer the helm, but also knew how to deal with headwinds and sails.The captain of the ship, Nagaemon, was quite surprised. "Knowing it is worse than liking it. It is indeed true. It seems that the young master's knowledge is not wrong."
"You can't rely on learning."
"Can't rely on it?"
"It's just not for me." Long Ma said with a straight face and angrily.He was naturally curt with people.
The captain of the ship, Nagazaemon, and Nanzo, who was at the helm, fell in love with the nineteen-year-old samurai and received him as if they were a young pirate leader.Does Ryoma have a magical power that can attract people?
That night, Ryoma did not go to Miss Tianzuru's curtain, but went to the stern of the boat where the night watchmen rested, and fell asleep under the straw mat.
Early the next morning, the old man Qizang went to the stern and saw that Ryoma was only wearing a crotch cloth, so he crawled out from under the mat. "Hey, Qizang, I look like this now, please help me find a way."
"What happened?"
Ryoma stood there straight.
"A samurai's clothes get in the way when I'm on a boat. But I can't do anything naked like this. I'll be fine with some old clothes the guys throw away."
Qizang took a piece of cloth made of linen and cotton, and wrapped it around Longma.After tying the rope, Ryoma asked, "How is it? Does it look like a sailor?"
"Like, like. But what kind of sailor is that? Although you are very young, you look like the boss of the ship. It's a pity to be a samurai. It's better to give up."
Originally the old man Qizang was just joking, but Ryoma took it seriously. After thinking for a long time, he stared at Qizang and said, "I've thought about it, but I still can't push the boat. Now I'm going to Edo to learn swordsmanship and become the best swordsman in the world."
"Okay, young master is very talented, even practicing swords can become number one in the world."
"No need to flatter."
"I'm not flattering you. If your son was born in troubled times, he would definitely be a pirate leader who dominates one side."
"Thief? Don't joke."
"I heard such a story in Takamatsu's tile. When Ishikawa Goemon was arrested, he said: What about a thief? Taiko Hideyoshi is a great thief who stole the world. If you want to steal, steal the world. It's a man's job."
"You are really knowledgeable."
The sky over Harima Nada was cloudless.
On the third day, the Naruto sailed into the waters of Osaka.With the sail slowly lowered, the ship dropped anchor at Tempozan Bay in Aji Kawajiri.The old man Qizang said: "We will see each other again today. You will be able to become the number one swordsman in the world if you practice martial arts hard."
Ryoma responded casually, and changed back to his original luggage.
Soon, the boats swarmed around the Naruto.These small boats are designed to transport guests to shore.One of them bore Tosa's Sanye Kashiwa clan flag.This was probably prepared by Tosa in Osaka for Ms. Tianhe.
Ryoma also took a boat.The boat first bypassed the mouth of the Shirima River, then headed north, and then bypassed the pine cape in Nakasu, Kujo Village. When it entered the Kizu River, there were already markets on both sides.
Ryoma, who grew up under Kochi Castle, looked at the merchants and shops on both sides of the river, which opened his eyes.This is the first time he has seen such a prosperous place.Ms. Tian He was also very excited, and said with emotion: "Mr. Sakamoto, you are indeed a place where wealth is gathered and distributed in the world."
At this time, the boat shook vigorously, turned east, and sailed into a canal-Nagahori River.After crossing the two bridges, the boat arrived under the Katsuoza Bridge.
A majestic mansion is surrounded by tiled walls on the shore.This is Tosa's feudal residence in Osaka.This area is called Shirafa Town, and the name of the town is taken from the Shirafa Mountain, the wood producing area of Tosa.The wood cut from Baifa Mountain was sent here by sea, and sold everywhere through the mansion.On both sides of the mansion, there are rows of shops selling bonito, paper and wood produced in Tosa.
"Master Sakamoto, it really seems to be back in Tosa."
"En." Ryoma thought to himself at this moment, he should say goodbye to Ms. Tianhe here.Ms. Tian He lives in the imperial palace in the mansion, where the nobles and important officials of the feudal family live, and a person of Ryoma's status cannot live there.As the dusk deepened, Ryoma stepped forward.
"Mr. Longma, where are you going?"
"Edo." Ryoma replied without turning his head.
"I know that. Rest here tonight."
Longma didn't answer.
"Why don't you speak?"
"The next one is the native land." Long Ma said with a smile, in fact, he wanted to say that the identities of the two were different.
About half an hour later, Ryoma had arrived at Koryo Bridge, and was about to go to the boat house in Tenma Hachiken's house.It was pitch black all around.Longma didn't have a lantern in his hand, so he had to hold on to the railing on the bridge and walked slowly.At this time, someone behind him suddenly lowered his voice and said "Hello".
The incident happened suddenly, and Longma couldn't help but stagger.He could feel the hakama's hem being scratched.
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