Chapter 47 8. Twilight of Yuanzhi

In the early morning of this day, Ryoma hummed a song, took out the precious sword Mutsu Shoujixing, and polished the slightly blue blade.It was cold and rainy outside the window, and the days of sojourning in the Satsuma Mansion passed by day by day, and the year was coming to an end in a blink of an eye. "Ah, this rainy day, are you wiping your knife?" Mutsu Yonosuke came in and sat down, "Looking at the situation, Saigo-kun may not come back within a year." Entrusted by Tokugawa Qingkatsu, Xixiang Takamori has gone to Zhou Fangyan country to take over Changzhou.The negotiations between Xu Shi and Changzhou are quite complicated, and it is impossible to sort them out one by one within this year.

"Are we going to wait like this for nothing until he goes back to Osaka?" "It's impossible." Ryoma concentrated on powdering the knife.His serious actions seemed ridiculous to Mutsu.Ryoma is not obsessed with things, nor does he have much affection or interest in swords.Tokutsu Shoujixing is worn on his waist, so he has to take care of it carefully. "So, if Mr. Xixiang doesn't come back, our plan can't be implemented?" "That's about it." "It seems that Saigo has mastered the entire Satsuma." "It's not just Satsuma, he grasped the Changzhou issue, the sore point of the shogunate, and seemed to want to lead the shogunate by the nose."

"Anyway," Mutsu clasped his hands on his knees and said, "We are enjoying the rain scene while waiting for Master Saigo. The company's plan can only be put aside." "Well, still singing." "Huh?" Mutsu was a little surprised, "Mr. Sakamoto sang the ballad just now? What a surprise." "What's so surprising about this? My sister taught it, but I can sing it along with the shamisen completely." As he spoke, Ryoma began to sing while wiping his knife, and his voice was quite pleasant. Just as Mutsu was about to laugh, Spin felt that the current situation seemed to fit into this song.Isn’t Saigo the one who fishes in Urado Bay?But I don't know if the big man's clothes were wet by the rain.

After Mutsu left, Ryoma lay on his back on the tatami and listened to the rain for a while.Now there is one thing that makes him very headache.Last night, he received a letter from Otome from the feudal kingdom.The letter said: "I want to leave this home and become a traveling nun, or chant scriptures in the mountains, or travel around the world." With Otome's personality, it's not that she can't do this kind of thing.It seems that she and Shinsuke don't get along well, Ryoma thought.Otome has run back to her natal home more than once to force her husband Shinsuke to divorce her.Ryoma felt very heavy every time he thought about it.

I thought it was Otome who didn't want to implicate Shinsuke, but it seems that it is not the only case.Xinfu is romantic by nature, and her mother-in-law is notoriously difficult to serve in the village.These are all Ryoma heard from the elder sister Chizuru's husband Takamatsu Junzo, the doctor of Yasuda, Aki County.Perhaps this is the real reason why Otome wants to leave her husband's house. The Sakamoto family in Kochi Castle is the wealthiest villager's family in the city, and they live a very peaceful life.The eldest brother Kwon Ping loves to have fun.Although Otome is a woman, she likes swordsmanship and horseback riding, and Joruri's performance skills are not inferior to those of professionals.She also once put on a scapular over her burly five-foot-eight frame and performed a show.This is how she spent her girlhood.Otome had said that there was nothing she hated more than cooking and sewing.But her father and elder brother never blamed her.However, she married the Okakami family, whose family traditions are strict and frugal, so how can she match her in-laws' temperament?

Her mother-in-law, Ah Shuang, can't even miss more than three grains of rice when pouring rice water. She thinks this is a must-have for a woman. "Otome, three grains of rice can be forgiven. If you dump so many grains of rice like you, you will go to hell." In her heart, Otome looked down on her mother-in-law who criticized others for such frivolous things. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law disagree on the education of their son, Shetaro.When eating fish, the mother-in-law told Keitaro that even the bones of the fish must be exposed.Other things are fine, but Otome did not compromise on this matter. "Sage Taro, a samurai must maintain a noble heart. It is greed to eat fish so clean." She admonished her son.

When the guests come, Otome must bring refreshments to entertain the guests, and it is no exception for Keitaro's playmates. The mother-in-law complained: "There is no need to serve tea to the children." But Otome said, "Xai Taro is the eldest son of a samurai family. Anyone who is his friend, even a child of three or four years old, should be entertained as an adult." The snacks served must be red and white, two pieces each.If Xun Taro's friend reaches out to take it at will, Otome will stop him and tell him: "Please eat the white dim sum first, and then the red dim sum. Don't eat too much." The remaining pair of red and white dim sum, she will give to the child When I got home, I wrapped it up and let him take it away.Perhaps she wanted to use this method to let the children know how to obey the order.

"It's really a luxury." The mother-in-law couldn't help complaining.She told Xinfu fully about her dissatisfaction with her daughter-in-law. Shinsuke is not Ah Shuang's biological son, but an adopted son from Fujita's family in Shanbei Village.Because she is a adoptive mother, she is even more worried.Every time the mother-in-law finished suing, he would call Otome into the room and beat her up.Shinsuke was so hot-tempered that he sometimes even grabbed Otome by her hair and pushed her to the ground, beating her brutally. Shinsuke is short, but Otome is like a door god, and she is so strong that she can easily carry two bags of rice.Because of this, this scene is no longer comical, but very tragic.Otome never resisted, just endured silently.

Later, she finally couldn't bear it.The sister-in-law of her natal family passed away in the early years, and Kwon Ping never married.Otome began to ask Shinsuke again and again: "There is no housewife in Sakamoto's house, please allow me to go back." The tormented Otome wrote a letter to Ryoma, who was most likely to understand her in the world.When she went back to her natal home for business, she stopped by the tea room on the west side of the second floor that Ryoma had used before. When she saw the inkstone that Ryoma used when he was a teenager, she suddenly wanted to write a letter to Ryoma. A letter full of complaints and lamentations.

Now, this letter is being placed on the case of Ryoma in the Satsuma domain. Otome sister, you are really embarrassing me.Ryoma re-read it.Ryoma once wrote a letter to Otome: "My elder sister is famous in every domain, and people say that my elder sister is stronger than my younger brother." Such a powerful Otome, because she is a woman, has to marry, suffer, and complain darkly to her younger brother.Thinking of this, Ryoma felt infinitely sad.He pulled the inkstone and began to grind the ink.It is difficult for him to write, this is to comfort his first teacher, his sister. Writing this, Ryoma himself also found it funny.

As I was writing, Mutsu Yonosuke came in, and he entered the room without saying a word, and sat beside Ryoma. "I'm writing a letter. Please do what you want." Ryoma said without raising his head. He thought about it for a while, then started to write again, and began to teach the method of traveling for free to nuns. After the sarcasm was over, I thought again, my sister is so stubborn, maybe she will really learn Buddhist scriptures and travel around, so she wrote some threatening words. "What is this?" Mutsu Yonosuke asked, eager to peek. Ryoma glared at him, "I am teaching the method of traveling the world without spending a penny." "Haha, this is Mr. Sakamoto's specialty. May I ask who do you want to teach this secret skill to?" "What a nonsense." Long Ma added a few words at the end of the letter: Say hello to Mr. Haihua Shi. This refers to the niece Spring Pig.Now she has adopted her adopted son Seijiro, and has given birth to two daughters, Tsurui and Tumi, and she is already a mother. When the first year of Yuanji was about to pass, Nakajima Sakutaro, who had infiltrated Choshu, came back disguised as a cloth merchant. "How is the situation in Changzhou?" Longma asked impatiently. "It's a miasma," Nakajima replied.Going to Changzhou was the first major task he completed in his life, so his tone was very enthusiastic.It seemed that he had to take a bath and have a full meal before inquiring after he calmed down.Ryoma worried that he would not be able to make a calm and objective judgment after hearing the young man's passionate statement. "Sakutaro, let's take a bath together." "Sakamoto-san rarely takes a bath with other people." Sakutaro knew that Ryoma had thick black curly hair on his back, and he also knew that Ryoma didn't like to let others see these curly hairs, so he never exposed himself in front of people even in the dog days body, and never bathe with anyone else. "Well, it's a reward for risking your life to complete the task. I'll show you the curly hair on my back." "This reward is meaningless." There is a spacious bathhouse in the corner of the longhouse on the west side of the Satsuma domain.The two looked into the house from the window, and the chimney was emitting thick smoke, so they walked into the bathhouse against the cold wind. The Samos haven't come in yet. "This bath belongs to us Tosa people." Sakutaro jumped into the bath. "Mr. Sakamoto, I wrote a poem on the way." "yes?" "Let me read it to you." Sakutaro's deep voice echoed in the heat. "Sakutaro, stop reading." Ryoma said while washing his face in the bath.Sakutaro's extremely earnest youthful arrogance made him inexplicably ashamed. "People in the world say that the Tosa people are too eager to die, and there is a reason for that. Thinking about it carefully, almost all the Tosa people died. This poem is not good." "why?" "This poem praises death. It is no longer possible to keep up with the current situation only by being brave and brave without fear of death. You must have the courage and wisdom to mobilize the whole world alone. It is time to get rid of the mania and recklessness of the Tosa people." Nakajima Sakutaro reported to Ryoma that the situation in Changzhou was roughly as Ryoma expected. The three family elders were forced to cut seppuku.Not only that, in order to please the shogunate, the Changzhou feudal government also arrested seven loyal kings including Maeda Sonemon and put them in prison, and chopped off their heads like cutting carrots the next day.These people were still the big figures of the Changzhou Qinwang faction who were passionate yesterday, but today they were dubbed thieves and exposed their corpses in the execution ground. "It's too cruel." With his left hand in his bosom, Longma kept rubbing his face with his right hand.If he doesn't, he'll be overwhelmed by an outpouring of righteous indignation. "All the sergeants in Changzhou have become Saba sects. They wield long spears and swords in Hagi City and run rampant." "How's Gui?" "He escaped from the blazing capital after the Forbidden Gate Incident. Since then, there has been no news, and even the comrades of the feudal kingdom have disappeared." "As expected of a swordsman," Ryoma laughed, "knows how to escape." Longma has heard some rumors about Gui.It is said that after the change of the forbidden gate, he successively disguised himself as a blind masseur, a beggar, a bearer, etc., looking for opportunities to escape from Kyoto.He also secretly went to Sanppongi to find his lover Geisha Ikematsu, and pretended to be a blind masseur to solicit customers along the street, which eventually attracted the attention of the Aizu Domain inspection team.Gui pretended to have a stomachache, and the Aizu vassals had to find him a nearby latrine, and strictly guarded the door of the latrine.After thanking Gui, he went into the latrine and escaped through the excrement opening in a blink of an eye.Longma recalled the scene when he competed with Gui at the Jianyeqiao feudal mansion, and his heart was full of nostalgia. "Takasugi Shinsaku is still alive. This man disappeared, and later came to the headquarters of the guerrilla army composed of ronin and the wrestlers composed of wrestlers, and persuaded everyone to help him. I saw with my own eyes that he was wearing a protective gear tied with blue silk strings that I did not know where. , wearing a peach-shaped helmet." "What an interesting guy." Ryoma felt a little happier. "I've seen him once. When I went to visit Sanjo Mimi and Miss Tianzuru at Kozan Temple in Chofu, Takasugi Shinsaku-kun happened to be wearing that outfit to visit." "Oh?" "Mr. Sanjo was very surprised. Takasugi said that although the power has been taken away by those soft bones, he will take it back one day. Let's see the courage of the man in Changzhou. After speaking, he walked away. Later I heard that he Attacked Shimonoseki, drove away the officials of the Saba faction, set up the headquarters in the clubhouse, and then appeared in Mitajiri Port, and seized the warships in the domain." "Ha!" Long Ma seemed excited after seeing a volume of drawing stories, and slapped his knees and murmured, "Changzhou is so interesting." "This person is a genius. He can freely perform tricks, appear and disappear. These places are very similar to you, Sakamoto-san." "It's not like that at all." Ryoma was embarrassed when he heard Sakutaro comparing himself with Shinsaku Takasugi, "If it was me, I would definitely leave the small world of Changzhou and rush to the world." "It's too harsh to say that. Takasugi Shinsaku is different from Mr. Sakamoto. He has a prominent background and is favored by the father and son of the feudal lord. It is impossible for him to leave Changzhou, so his activities can only be carried out within the feudal domain. As Taro said, Takasugi is going to use the army to launch a coup. But will the Saba faction collapse as Takasugi wishes?" "Well, I'm afraid it will be very difficult. Even the Raiders took a wait-and-see attitude towards Takasugi-kun's actions." The Raiders were a mixed bag of businessmen, farmers, monks, god masters, warriors, etc. They were temporarily formed to fight against the barbarians. army.Because of this, they basically do not participate in the vassal administration, and set up their headquarters in the coastal areas to wait and see the changes. "If it were me, I would use that team." Long Ma said, "I would lead the team to occupy Changzhou, and I would support Wu Gongqing instead of the feudal lord." "There is already such a movement over there, and it is the Tosa people who are active. For example, Shintaro Nakaoka." In the coup in August of the third year of Bunjiu, seven radical ministers including Mimi Sanjo fled the capital.Later, Nobuyoshi Sawa participated in the Tajima Ikuno Rebellion and broke away from the seven people. Ryder Kinkoji died on the way to escape due to a serious illness.This naturally became the "five ministers".Headed by Sanjo Mimi, there are also Shijo Ryuka, Sanjo Nishi Jizhi, Tokushi Tsukihime, and Mibu Kishu. Changzhou treated them very preferentially. At first they were arranged in the Zhaoxian Pavilion in Mitajiri, and later they built a palace for them to live in Yuda, which has hot springs on the outskirts of Yamaguchi. The five ministers are all equipped with guards.Most of the guards were Tosa people, headed by Hijikata Kusuzaemon who escorted them all the way from Kyoto to Choshu, and there were also many ronin who had left the feudal domain. Since ancient times, Japan has respected blood, and it is not surprising that people who have left the feudal clan strive to give preferential treatment to the five princes. Choshu, however, has now bowed to the shogunate.The shogunate wanted to take the five treasures from the Changzhou domain, and ordered: "The five ministers are criminals of the imperial court, and their official positions and treatment have been removed. Hand over these five criminals quickly." Evidence of surrender.The wishful thinking of the shogunate is to escort the five ministers to Edo for punishment in order to show the powerful authority of the shogunate to the world. This order came to Tokugawa Qingsheng.Xixiang persuaded Qingsheng to temporarily delay the implementation, and changed the official document to "hand over the five princes to the five feudal clans of Kyushu, including the Kuroda clan of Chikuzen", in order to negotiate with the Changzhou clan.The Zumu faction naturally agreed to drive the five senders out of Changzhou. Sakutaro continued to introduce: "Nakaoka reorganized the guards of Wu Gongqing, called the Nanyuan team, and rejected the request of the Zuoba faction. This move made one person very happy, that is, Shanxian Youpeng. He is the military supervisor of the Qibing team , has determined to support the five princes and fight against the feudal mansion..." "By the way," Ryoma suddenly remembered, "How is Miss Tian He?" "Ah." Nakajima Sakutaro scratched his head, "I forgot to mention such an important thing. She is fine." "Is it in Changfu?" Ryoma asked.Now Wu Gongqing lives in Chang's Mansion, a small city twelve miles away from Maguan. "Yes. Gongshan Temple in Changfu is now the residence of Wu Gongqing, and Ms. Tianhe is also there. She sends her greetings to you." "Only these?" Ryoma had no other intentions when he said this, but just wanted to know if Ms. Tianhe asked him to help. "She said it, but I'm afraid it's not possible. She said she wondered if you could go to the Changfu. If you could, it would be of great help to them. She didn't say anything else." "I won't go." Ryoma refused straight away, "Isn't Nakaoka the leader there?" "Nakaoka is the leader, but in order to save Wu Gongqing, he traveled around Iwakuni, Chikuzen and other places, busy negotiating with Samoshi Township Takamori, Chikuzen Tsukigata Saizo and others. Mr. Nakaoka has now become a faction of King Qin savior." "What about Ikenei Zangtai? He also has general talent. I asked him to go to Changzhou with you precisely because I have expectations for him." "Ikeuchi Kota said that he found Mr. Takasugi's activities more interesting than Mr. Wu Gongqing, so he bid farewell to Ms. Tianzuru, and now he is Mr. Takasugi's staff. Alas, people with too much blood are really a headache." "Sakutaro!" "exist!" "You go back to Changzhou immediately. I have more important things to do here than Changzhou. I will call you back as soon as I have a clue. Before that, please stay with Ms. Tianhe." Early the next morning, Sakutaro set off again from the Osaka Satsuma domain, disguised as a cloth merchant.