Chapter 102 Chapter 12 The Pioneers

Motota Matahachi's mother came to Edo around the end of May. At this time the climate is extremely hot.It seems that this year is the dry rainy season again, and there is not even a drop of rain. "Why would anyone build a house in this overgrown wetland?" This is my grandma's first impression when she came to Edo. It took her nearly two months to come here after she left Otsu, the capital city.On the way here via the Tokaido, sometimes I fell ill, sometimes I went to a shrine to worship, and there were many things along the way.Looking back on the way we came here, it is as far away as "the capital is far away among the colorful clouds".

Street trees and Ichisatozuka were recently planted on Takanawa Kaido.This is the main road of the new city from the mouth of the river to Nihombashi, which is very convenient.Therefore, there are often bullock carts dragging stones and transporting wood, or carts carrying, repairing, burying, and sand and gravel on the road. "Ah! What is this?" She stared wide-eyed at a new house under construction. Laughter came from inside. It turned out that the cement workers were painting the walls.It just so happened that wall soil flew over and stained her clothes. Although the old woman is old, she can't bear this kind of thing.She took out the authoritative tone that she used to use in her hometown as an old senior of the Tian family, and yelled:

"You splashed wall soil on passers-by, and not only didn't you apologize, but you laughed. Is there such a thing?" If she spoke in this tone to passers-by or farmers in the fields of her hometown, the other party would definitely be overwhelmed by her. However, it seems that it does not work in the newly developed Edo. The cement worker who is mixing the concrete is moving the shovel scoffed. "What are you talking about? Strange old woman, what are you muttering about?" Ashanpo was even more angry. "Who was laughing just now?" "All of us!"

"What did you say?" The workers laughed in unison, which made the old woman even more angry. The passers-by who passed by saw it and thought that the old man did not need to be so fussy.However, with the personality of an old woman, she couldn't let her go. She entered the house without saying a word, and put her hands on the boards that the cement workers used to step on. "Are you guys laughing?" After speaking, pull the board away. The cement workers fell off their boards and were covered in mud and water. "Asshole!" The cement workers jumped up with fists clenched, as if to beat the old woman.

"Go, go outside." After the old woman finished speaking, she put her hands on her waist.There is no timidity of the old man. The workers were a little scared when they saw the old woman approaching fiercely.They did not expect such a fierce old woman.From the tone of her voice, she looked like a samurai's mother.If you act rashly, I am afraid the consequences will be disastrous.Everyone was somewhat apprehensive, showing fear on their faces. "If you are so rude again in the future, I will not forgive you!" The old woman walked on the road willingly now.Passers-by watched her majestic figure leave before they dispersed.

At this moment, an apprentice cement worker with mud and sawdust on his feet suddenly ran out from the construction house. "You stinky old woman." After speaking, he suddenly poured the cement in the bucket all over the old woman, and quickly hid. "What are you doing!" When the old woman turned her head, the prankster had already disappeared. When she found that cement had been splashed on her back, her brows were deeply furrowed, as if she couldn't bear it. "What are you laughing at?" This time she glared at the passers-by who were watching the joke.

"What are you laughing at? I am not the only one who is old and frail, and one day you will be old too. Not only did you not treat me, an old woman from a foreign land, well, you even poured cement on me, and even laughed at me. This is you Edo people style?" Grandma didn't seem to notice that the more she scolded, the more passers-by stopped, and the laughter increased. "Everyone in Japan is now talking about Edo and Edo. It seems that there is no other place comparable to Edo. What's going on? When I came here, I only saw you digging mountains and burying soil, digging rivers and filling the sea, and dust everywhere. There is no human touch at all. Your character is low, how can you compare with us in Beijing."

After speaking, Grandma left angrily regardless of the crowd who laughed at her. New buildings and walls can be seen everywhere in the city, shining brightly.In the open land, there are many reed roots growing from the soil that has not been buried.Dried cow dung is everywhere, almost suffocating. "So this is Edo?" She doesn't seem to be happy with everything about Edo.In the newly developed Edo, the oldest thing seems to be her own figure. In fact, almost all the people active in this land are young people.The shopkeepers are also young people. The public officials who travel by horses and the warriors, laborers, craftsmen, merchants, infantry and even generals striding past wearing bamboo hats are all young people. This is the world of young people.

"If it wasn't for looking for someone, I would never have stayed in such a place for one more day." The old woman was talking to herself, and stopped again.Here, too, was digging, and she had to make a detour. The excavated soil was like a hill, and vehicles were constantly transporting the soil away.Also, carpenters are building a house next to a burial of reeds and weeds.Before the cover is finished, there is a woman wearing white powder behind the curtain, brushing her eyebrows and makeup, selling wine, or hanging up signs for selling medicine, and sometimes sorting out kimonos for sale.

It used to be between Chiyoda Village and Hibiya Village.It was opened up from the field alleys of Ou Street.Near Edo Castle, there are many streets and alleys and houses opened up from Ota Dokan to Tensho years, forming a downtown area of ​​its own.Ashanpo hasn't gone to these places yet. From yesterday to today, when she saw the hastily developed new land, she thought it was the whole picture of Edo.Therefore, I feel that a heart cannot be calmed down. She saw a simple hut from the empty ditch bridge being dug.The hut is surrounded by straw mats supported by thin bamboo.A door curtain was hung at the entrance, and a small flag was planted on the door curtain.

The flag reads: bathhouse. The old woman handed a Yongle coin to the porter in the bathhouse, and went in to take a bath.She didn't come here to wash away the smell of sweat.She borrowed a clothes pole and hung the simply cleaned clothes next to the hut.Before the clothes were dried, she stood under the clothes pole in only her underwear, watching the passers-by. From time to time, she touched the clothes on the clothes pole with her hands.She thought the sun was shining and she should be able to do it soon, but she couldn't do it all the time. Grandma is only wearing underwear and a bathrobe, tied with a belt, waiting for the clothes to dry.The old woman, who was originally informal, was also very concerned about her attire. In order to avoid being seen by passers-by, she kept hiding behind the bathhouse hut. There were conversations on the road. "How many pings are there? We can negotiate if the price is reasonable." "The total is more than 800 pings. I have discussed the price just now, and there is no way to get it cheaper." "It's too expensive, and it's too extortionate." "That's not the case, and the cost of moving the soil is not cheap, not to mention that there is no other land along the border." "What? Isn't the ground still being prepared over there?" "However, when the area was still overgrown with weeds, it was already divided by everyone, and there was no remaining land waiting for someone to buy. If it is a riverside area near the Sumida River, there is as much land as you want." "This land really has 800 pings?" "Didn't I just say that if you don't believe it, measure it with a rope!" Four or five merchants are trading. Ashan Po was dumbfounded after asking passers-by about the price.Because of the price of one or two pings here, you can buy rice fields in dozens of districts in the countryside. Among Edo merchants, it is now a boom period for land sales.Scenes like this can be seen everywhere. "Why is land that can't grow rice so sought after in this town?" Ashanpo really couldn't understand. The group seems to have settled down.Clap your hands and let them go. "strangeness?" When Grandma was watching in a daze, suddenly a hand was inserted into her belt behind her back.Grandma immediately grabbed that hand and shouted: "Thief!" A man who looked like a construction worker or a bearer had already snatched the wallet from her belt and fled quickly on the road. "Thief!" As if her head had been stolen, Grandma chased after her, and finally hugged the man's waist. "Come here! There are thieves here!" The man slapped Grandma several times, but he still couldn't get rid of Grandma.When struggling, shout out: "Whispering!" And raised his leg and kicked Grandma's stomach. The thief simply underestimated the old woman.After being kicked, Ashanpo groaned and squatted down. Although she was only wearing a piece of underwear, she still carried a knife with her.She drew out her knife to fight back and slashed at the opponent's ankle. "Ah! It hurts!" The thief who snatched the wallet still fled for more than 20 meters with a limp.But seeing that he was bleeding profusely, he turned pale with fright and fell down on the road. The person who negotiated the land sale nearby just now is called Hanwamy Jibei.He also brought a follower. "Ah! Isn't this guy the Koshu who stayed at my house a while ago?" "It seems so. He still has the wallet in his hand." "I heard someone call a thief just now. It turned out that after he left my house, his hands and feet were still unclean... Oh! An old woman fell over there. I'm here to catch the Jiazhou people, and you help the old woman come over." After Banwa finished speaking, he grabbed the man who was about to run away and threw him into the open space like a grasshopper. "Boss, that guy must have taken the old woman's wallet." "I've snatched the wallet back, put it here first. How is the old woman?" "No serious injury, just a coma. After waking up, I still yelled for wallet, wallet!" "Is she still sitting on the ground and can't get up?" "The old woman was kicked in the stomach by that guy." "This bad guy." Ban Wa stared at the thief, and told his followers: "Chou, give me a stake." When the thief heard the stake, he was more afraid than being held to the throat with a knife, and trembled all over. "Boss, please don't do this, please forgive me! In the future, I will definitely change my past and start a new life." The thief knelt down and begged for mercy, but Ban Wa shook his head. "No, no." At this time, the entourage had already found two workers who repaired the bridge. "Put the stake here." The attendant signaled the carpenter with his feet on the ground. Two carpenters lay a stake. "Boss! Is this okay?" "Okay. Tie that bastard here and put a board over his head." "Do you want to write?" "That's right." Banwa borrowed black ink from the carpenter, used a ruler as a pen, dipped it in the ink, and wrote: "thanks." He returned the black ink to the woodworker. "Please, if you have any leftovers from your bento, feed them to him, lest he starve to death." Yajibei told the bridge builders and those working nearby. Everyone answered in unison: "Got it, we'll keep laughing at him." In business society, there is no sanction more cruel than ridicule.For a long time, there have been constant wars among the samurai families, and the rule of the people and criminal law cannot be implemented. In order to rectify their own order, the merchant class produced this practice of lynching. The emerging Edo regime already had a prefectural organization.Although the township system continues to use the strict job system or system in the past, the old habits of the people will not be reformed immediately because of the establishment of the above organization. The county government also believed that in the stage of new development, social chaos and the existence of lynchings were all right, so they did not specifically ban them. "Ah Chou, return this wallet to the old woman." After Banwa returned the wallet to Ashanpo, he said: "It's a pity that she's old enough to travel around by herself. What's the matter with her clothes?" "She had done her laundry in the bathhouse and was hanging there to dry." "Then go and clean her up and carry her back." "Are you going to take her back?" "Of course, we can't say that the thief has been punished, and leave the old woman alone. She may meet other villains again!" The entourage took the dried clothes, carried the old woman on their backs and followed Ban Wa and left.The onlookers also scattered like birds and beasts. It has been less than a year since the Nihonbashi was completed. Although colorful pictures are painted on the bridge, the wide river surface and the newly built stone walls on both sides, as well as the new white wooden railings, are more eye-catching. Boats going to and from Kamakura or Odawara shuttle on the river.Fishmongers on the river bank, smelling like fish, loudly beckon customers to buy fish. "...It hurts so much, ouch! It hurts like hell." The old woman asked her followers to carry her on her back. Although she frowned in pain, she still looked around at the crowds in the fish market. Banwa heard the moaning of the old woman on the back of the entourage, and turned to her and said: "It's almost here, please be patient. Your injury is not serious, so don't shout so loudly." Because the passers-by kept looking back, Banwa reminded the old woman. The old woman quieted down like a baby, and leaned her face on the back of her entourage. The city is divided into Iron Street, Gun Pao Street, Ranfang Street, Tatami Street, and the dormitory area for public officials.The house on Carpentry Street is a bit strange, everyone can see that half of the roof is covered with roof tiles. After a big fire two or three years ago, most of the houses on the street were replaced with wooden roofs.Before that, almost all the roofs were thatched, and the roof of Yajibei's house was only covered with roof tiles facing the road, so everyone called him "half tile, half tile", and he himself was quite fond of it. For pride. Yajibei emigrated to the early Edo period and was just a ronin.Because he was talented, chivalrous, and good at leadership, he started to go into business, building roofs as a career, and finally became the foreman of the prince's construction.In addition, he also deals in land, and now he only needs to put his arms around his chest and not have to do anything, and he can still win the special title of "Boss". Apart from him, the number of those who have the respectful title of "Boss" is increasing in the emerging Edo.Among these people, he is the boss with the widest range of people.Just like calling a samurai family a samurai, people on the street also respectfully call his family "male date".It may be because these people are at a disadvantage of the samurai family, so they have found a backer for themselves. After the man Date came to Edo, he had a huge change in customs and spirit, but he was not born and raised in Edo city.As early as in the troubled times at the end of Ashikaga, there were villains called "Ibaraki group".At that time, however, they were not yet called Male Dates. "The Story of Muromachiden" records: They were bare-chested, with several layers of brocade belts tied on top of their red belts.Three feet and eight inches of red sheath saber, the handle is one foot and eight inches long, and the blade is two feet and one inch long.The hair is scattered and tied with hemp rope; the feet are wearing black leather socks.There are often more than 20 people walking together, holding iron claws, axes and other things... As long as passers-by see this kind of person, they will fear and say: "The famous Ibaraki group is here, hurry up and avoid it quietly." Make way immediately and let them pass. This "Ibaraki group" is full of benevolence and morality, but they often say: "Looting is a samurai tactic." They often go out to loot property.When there was war in this city, they took advantage of the chaos and ignored moral integrity and took refuge in their own side and the enemy.Therefore, when the war subsided, he was cast aside by the warriors and the people.People with bad nature hide in the wilderness and plunder the property of passers-by.Those with backbone discovered the newly developed world of Edo.They advocate- Bones bring righteousness, flesh brings common people, belts justice and chivalry, and be an upright man! Emerging male Date, in all walks of life and all walks of life, began to emerge. "I'm back, come quickly! I brought a guest back." As soon as Banwa got home, he yelled into the vast room.