Chapter 10 10. The villain Yataro

There is a village of Iguchi in Tosa Aki County.The village is located in the middle reaches of the Aki River, eighty miles from Kochi along the coast to Cape Muroto.Although the scenery here is pleasant, the people are very rude, and they always resort to force in case of trouble.Especially when there was a dispute over the water source with Tuju Village, a neighboring village, even the village head, regardless of his identity, led the villagers through the night raids of Anyichuan, and they would come to gang fights several times a year, as if they were fighting. Men here not only have extraordinary courage and brute strength, but also have strategies and speak very viciously. "If there is trouble at the mouth of the well, the evil spirits will also flee." People in Jingkou Village are famous for their vicious words, and all Tosa people are afraid of them.

There are father and son in the village, the father is Yajiro, and the son Yataro, both of them are ronin with very bad reputation.The father and son have violent temperaments, and they will swear when they encounter problems, and once they start swearing, even if the other party faints on the spot, they will not stop.In Jingguchi Village, which is cast aside by everyone in Tosa, these two people are still regarded as poisonous insects by the villagers, and the violence can be imagined. When Ryoma set off from Kochi, he said to Kwon Ping: "I haven't been to Cape Muroto yet. This time I want to enjoy the scenery over there and go along the seashore to Awa."

"If you go to Muroto, you can go to Iguchi Village on the way and see Iwasaki Yajiro and Yataro father and son." Kwon Ping Road. The Iwasaki family and the Ryoma family are somewhat involved.Although Longma has never met them, he has heard about their affairs for a long time. "Father and son have a very bad reputation." "I heard that he was beaten to death again, and was put in the prison of the county magistrate." "Is it my son Yataro?" "No, it's Yajiro, a lot of age, nothing new." It turned out that the head of Jingkou Village held a banquet due to business, and all the dignitaries in the village were invited to drink.Yajiro drank too much and started making trouble. "Don't you know the underground ronin Yajiro?" This is the mantra of this old man.

"Underground ronin" is a samurai class unique to Tosa. Villagers sell their fame to others and become ronin, while those who live in the village are called underground ronin.Yataro's family has been underground wanderers for generations.The life of underground ronin is very poor, and people call them "poor ghosts with two knives in their waists". The old man Yajiro earns his living by weaving birdcages and selling them, but his airs are not small.At the village chief's banquet, he got annoyed because of the seat, got drunk, and scolded everyone present.The people present were patient at first, but Jingkou Village is Jingkou Village after all. When more than 20 people saw that the old man was drunk, they covered their heads with cloaks and beat him up.Yajiro was so beaten that he couldn't move, and was carried home by Hachi, a wrestler in the village.Of course he will not stop there, no wonder some people call him Yajiro Viper.

The next day, he crawled to the door of the village chief's house bit by bit, raised his neck like a snake, and shouted: "Village chief, I'm here. You all come out and see what I look like. I have two wounds on my body." More than a dozen green spots." It turned out that there were bruises everywhere on his bony and yellow skin. Beside him stood Yajiro's wife, Miwa, who was prostrate on the ground dragging a coffin, probably at his order.She is an honest woman, almost crying. "Meilun, don't just stand there, wipe the coffin for me. I am in unbearable pain. It seems that my internal organs are ruptured. I will die in less than half an hour. I was killed by the village chief. Nan Wu Great Master Bianzhao Vajra, after I die, immediately call Yataro of Edo, and tell him not to forget to avenge me. Although he is the son of an underground wanderer, he is still a samurai after all. You tell him, let him take the village chief and the village chief. Kill all the men."

The door of the village chief's house remained closed.It was just a fight during the banquet, and it was too much to call my son back from Edo.In fact, he just wanted to extort some money, and the village chief knew about this, so he ignored him. Soon, the lower-level officials of the county enforcement office were led by others to come out to hear the case. "Yajiro Iwasaki, don't be presumptuous." In this case, according to the practice in this area, the courtyard of the village chief's house was borrowed for interrogation.The villagers who were drinking at the village head's house were quickly called in. At this time, the village head had already colluded with them. "Did you hit him?"

No matter how the officials asked, they all agreed: "There is absolutely no such thing. Because of drinking on an empty stomach that night, Yajiro was so drunk that he passed out. I'm afraid he was dreaming." The official sent for a doctor from the village to examine him, but the doctor knew it in his heart and said, "These bruises are caused by drinking too much shochu." The official was in his arms, so he yelled and said, "Yajiro, you are too unruly. You got drunk at the banquet at the village chief's house but didn't appreciate it, and instead framed someone for beating you. You are the one messing around!"

"You guy, did you take money from others?" Because of this sentence, Yajiro was imprisoned.After being locked in, he still didn't change his vicious attitude. "Just wait and see. My son will be back soon and burn the whole village to the ground." Ryoma heard that his son Yataro Iwasaki was cruel and ruthless even more than his father.So, suddenly, his curiosity was burning, and he decided to meet that Yataro. After departing from Kochi, Ryoma arrived at Tanoura, where the administrative office of Aki-gun was located, in the middle of the night. There are only two simple inns in Tianoura, one of which also serves as a public post house, and the owner, Lihei, has bought the county executive office to do official business.

Ryoma called Toshihei to his room, and asked, "I heard that an underground wanderer from Iguchi Village named Yajiro Iwasaki was imprisoned in the prison. What's the situation now?" Libingwei sighed: "Ah, that viper." This man is really notorious in this area.Surprisingly, the boss said, Yataro was also put in prison. "I haven't heard of that. I only heard that Yataro was studying in Edo and came back so soon?" "Didn't you come back?" The boss said angrily.Locally, people have no good opinion of Iwasaki and his son. "It usually takes twelve or thirteen days along the Tōkaidō, but he traveled all the way day and night, and it took him eight days to reach Osaka. From Osaka to Awa, he ran out of money on the road, so he ate and slept in the open, begging all the way, and only It took me thirteen days to come back from Edo. It's like a rakshasa."

"Isn't that out of filial piety?" "God knows, the body is strong." "Why is this pure and filial son imprisoned?" "Young master, filial piety should be performed according to the occasion." Toshihei said, Yataro ran all over the village after returning home, thoroughly investigated the situation that night, and then went to the county magistrate to appeal for grievances.But the county administration had accepted the favor from the village chief and ignored him at all.Another reason why the county magistrate ignored it was that Yataro's complaint was too harsh. He demanded the release of his father and put the village head and villagers in prison.

Can Yataro say that?The village chief was very frightened, so he stepped up to bribe the county magistrate, and Yataro's situation became worse. But Yataro did not show weakness. He wrote a protest in large characters on the stones along the roadside along the west coast, more than ten miles east of the county administrative office: the current is fast and the fish can't hold back, and the politics can't hold the people.A few days later, he wrote two big characters on the doorpost of the county executive office: Officials are made by bribery, and prisons are judged by love and hatred.It means that the county magistrate decides the case based on money and personal feelings.The officials couldn't help it, so they immediately erased the words.But Yataro is still unyielding.He has a stubborn temper, and he will never look back if he recognizes it.He even wrote on the white wall of the county executive office that "officials are made by bribery, and prisons are judged by love and hatred." After that, he was arrested while hiding in Jingkou Village and put in a prison. "As expected of the son of Viper." Ryoma sighed.It is said that Yajiro likes to eat and is lazy, but Yataro likes to read books. "Boss, I just need to spend some money. You can play around for me and let me meet them." Ryoma grabbed some money and handed it to Ribei.Of course, this kind of money is only small money.Through the boss Libing guards to the cell boss, the people locked in the prison will be treated differently. "Boss, this is a trivial matter, you take it first." Long Ma gave him some more money. "This... so many..." It is said that money can make ghosts turn millstones, and this is true, Libingwei immediately thanked him like he was chopping rice.When he raised his head again, his expression was as loyal as that of a well-behaved retainer. "I'll show you the way." When he arrived at the county magistrate's office, Toshihei asked Ryoma to wait under the camphor tree in front of the gate. When he arrived at the magistrate's office, he circled around for a while, and when he returned to the gate and called Ryoma in, there was no one on the road to the jail.In this kind of place, usually the secretary, inspector, keykeeper, thug, interrogator, etc. gather together like ghosts in hell, but at this time there is no one.There were no guards in the prison either. "Rihei, you are really good at it." Ryoma admired him deeply. The prison has three rooms in one building, facing north, with few windows and no ventilation. Once inside, you can smell a pungent stench. "Look, Yajiro is the one sitting in that corner playing ton." "Napping?" "I woke him up." Ryoma stopped him. "It's okay. When he wakes up, just tell him that Gonhei Sakamoto sent someone to check on him. Where is Yataro?" "Here." Toshihei led Ryoma to the west cell.It was only when Ryoma was there that he saw the man on duty in the prison, but he turned his head away and pretended not to see it. "This is Yataro. Just go." Ryoma peeked through the grille, and there was indeed a man in the darkness.He sat there cross-legged, with a pair of piercing eyes under thick eyebrows, one could tell that he was not an ordinary person. "But Yataro?" Ryoma asked. He didn't answer.His appearance made people feel not like a warrior, but like a bandit leader, with a kind of fearlessness.And it's not just because he's unshaven. "I'm Ryoma from the Sakamoto family in Kochi Castle. Say something." "You are Ryoma? I heard that there is such a braggart in the city. What do you want from me?" Ryoma was very angry, but still had a smile on his face. "I heard that there is a villain named Iwasaki Yataro in Jingkou Village, so I came to this rural prison on purpose. It's really good. Looking at you, I know that you are hungry and even dare to catch mice and eat them. guy." "You fart!" Yataro swears in Iguchi village.Ryoma sounds a bit strenuous. "I'm in prison now, but my ambition is thousands of miles away." "Oh?" Ryoma looked at him as if appreciating a strange beast, and said, "Interesting. What is your ambition for a thousand miles? Can you tell me a little bit?" "Hush, whisper." Yataro covered his mouth with his hand, as if afraid of accidentally saying it. "Oh, it's not a big deal anyway." Ryoma thought of the aggressive method, and sure enough, Yataro was fooled and came to the prison door.It may also be that I have been locked up for a long time and I want to talk to people. "Yataro, I don't want to hear it." "I didn't say I was going to say." "Look over there." Long Ma gave a wink to the corner, and said, "It seems that there is another brother locked up with you." "That's my master." "Master? Even your master has been imprisoned?" "Where." Yataro smiled proudly, "He was already in prison. I only worshiped him as a teacher after I came in. Right, Taisuke?" "Exactly." The "Master" knelt down instead. "Is he a samurai?" "No, my master is a woodcutter, from Urarise Village. I have visited many experts in Edo, and I have not learned as much from this uncle in prison." Uryase Village is a mountain village located in the upper reaches of the Nabanishi River. Ryoma has also heard of this village.Most of the woodcutters there are generous. "Why is your master in prison?" "Stealing wood and selling it to merchants in Osaka." "Oh, that's a great crime." In the Tosa clan, whales, dried fish, wood, paper, and camphor were all sold by the clan government, and folks were not allowed to buy or sell them. "What did you learn from the assistant?" "Arithmetic and Commerce." Before that, Yataro Iwasaki, who only knew how to read and practice martial arts, was exposed to arithmetic for the first time, and it was at this time that he thought of doing business in the future to make a lot of money. "In this world, money is needed everywhere. Because my father and I had no money to bribe, the village head colluded with the government and put us in prison. In this world, only money is omnipotent, and poetry and swordsmanship are useless .In the future, I will make all the money in the world and let you see." "Interesting." Ryoma clapped his hands happily, it was the first time he saw such a samurai.He said goodbye to Yataro, and went on his way to Edo. Yataro in prison will be locked up for several more months.This Yataro and Ryoma met again, a few years after they both showed their talents in Nagasaki. Iwasaki would not have become the founder of the Mitsubishi Zaibatsu if he hadn’t been imprisoned at the Tanoura County Magistrate’s Office.Taisuke, the Urarase village woodcutter who taught Yataro arithmetic, was amazed by his memory ability. "It took me four or five years to learn this algorithm, and you memorized it in a month. It's amazing to be a poor ghost with two knives in your waist. If you do business, you will definitely make a lot of money." "Thank you for your kindness. If I wasn't in the prison, I wouldn't be able to remember so quickly. When I go out this time, I won't study and practice martial arts anymore. I want to do business. When I become the world's richest man, I will give you a big gift." A box of gold coins to repay the kindness of teaching today." "Haha, thank you so much. Remember this sentence, go do it." Of course, Taisuke just took his sentence as a joke.But later, when the old Taisuke fell ill in Urase Village and fell into poverty, he was surprised to hear that the owner of the Mitsubishi Corporation was Yataro back then, so he told the villagers about the past.The listeners said one after another: "Taizhu, don't take it as a joke, ask him for money." "I'm not a beggar." Taisuke didn't take it seriously. "So-and-so, I stopped when I couldn't do it, and I'm a different person." In the biography of Iwasaki Yataro, there is such an elegant sentence.Although Taisuke died silently in the end, it is conceivable that he was quite courageous.After Taisuke's death, the Iwasaki family sent a lot of money to his son as agreed, and repaid his kindness, which will be a later story. However, Yataro said that after he was released from prison, because he could not return to his original village, he built a thatched hut in Kamoda Village outside Kochi City, and taught the children in the village to read, write, and draw abacus to make ends meet.However, the down-and-out life in Yatian Village brought a huge turning point in his life. Not far from this village is a village called Changbin Village Tsuruta, where a sinner was exiled.He was Yoshida Toyo, the later dictator of the Tosa Domain.Yoshida is an out-and-out supporter of the Saba faction of the Tokugawa family. He is a well-known scholar and an extraordinary politician.He was promoted to be the elder of the Edo family and showed his talents, but then he missed for a while and lived in a small village. Yataro voted under Toyo's sect and became his disciple.When Dongyang was pardoned and regained power, he promoted all the disciples in Changbin Village to important political departments.Yataro was born as an underground ronin, and was not reused immediately, but later became the financial officer of the Tosa clan, in charge of financial power.It can be said that this was the beginning of his transshipment.Stop talking about gossip, back to the topic. Ryoma arrived in Edo in autumn.After taking a short rest at Kajibashi Domain, he returned to the Chiba Martial Art Museum in Otsucho.