I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

The Kyoto Imperial Palace in Kyoto is synonymous with "mystery" even for locals in Kyoto, not to mention outsiders.

Because the Kyoto Imperial Palace is the emperor's bedroom.

It is the first forbidden place in Kyoto.

There is almost no real power in the hands of the emperor, and the daily routine can basically be described by the word "doing nothing".

If the shogunate in Edo followed the system of seniority and wealth, then the imperial court in Kyoto was even more so.

Almost all the official positions in the imperial court were hereditary and replaced by the She family, Tsinghua family, minister family, Habayashi family, famous family... and other families. The official positions that can be held or promoted are determined by family background.

This group of people who can be officials in the imperial court for generations is called "gongjia". The samurai who have been officials in the shogunate for generations are called "Samurai".

Although their privilege of being officials in the imperial court for generations seems powerful, they are actually just a bunch of mascots.

To be precise, there is only one mascot for the entire Kyoto court. Even the emperor who is in charge of the court has no real power, so what power do these officials have in the court?

They just have resounding official titles for nothing, and the only thing they can do every day is to recite poems and compose Fu, and to cling to elegance.

From the emperor to the court, ordinary officials can only do nothing every day, so as the emperor's bedroom, the Kyoto Imperial Palace has always been very quiet.

However, what is rare is that the Kyoto Imperial Palace is quite lively today.

The reason is because there are distinguished guests visiting today.

...

...

Kyoto, Kyoto Imperial Palace——

"Your Majesty." Dai Nayan, who was sitting in front of Matsudaira Sadanobu, said to Matsudaira Sadanobu in extremely standard elegant words, "Your gaffe this time really made His Majesty the Emperor extremely dissatisfied."

Dana Yan: The three official positions of the imperial court are the close servants of the emperor. They are responsible for reporting government affairs to the emperor, and are also responsible for promulgating the emperor's edict. This official position has been held by the Habayashi family, famous families, and half families for generations.

And the so-called elegant words,

It is a special speech tone used by the court ministers to show their status.

At this time, Matsudaira Sadanobu was wearing a black hat and an official uniform of the imperial court that he did not know when he wore it last time. He knelt down on the ground and said in a very standard elegant voice:

"This gaffe, I can hardly shirk my responsibility, and I will bear all the responsibilities."

For Matsudaira Sadanobu, who is a veteran of the shogunate, "speaking elegant words" is one of the skills that must be mastered.

There is a considerable difference between the official uniforms of the imperial court and those of the shogunate.

The official government of the shogunate is quite simple, compared with the official uniforms of the imperial court, which are much more gorgeous.

Almost a thousand years ago, when Japan initiated the "Dahua Reform", when they comprehensively studied the advanced systems and cultures of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, they designed their official uniforms for the Japanese court using the official uniforms of the Sui and Tang Dynasties as templates.

Since the millennium, the style of official uniforms of the imperial court has not changed much, so until now, some shadows of the official uniforms of the Sui and Tang Dynasties from thousands of years ago can still be seen on the official uniforms of the imperial court.

"My lord." Da Nayan, with white makeup, lipstick, and black teeth on his face, continued persistently, "Your Majesty, he is extremely puzzled by this defeat. Why did the 10,000-strong army Will he lose to a mere Ogata Yishi?"

"Also—why hasn't the villain Ogata Itsze been caught until now?"

In addition to speaking elegant words, court ministers often do one thing in order to show their status, and that is makeup.

Paint your face white, paint your lips red, and dye your teeth black—this is the standard appearance of court ministers.

In ancient Japan, whitening the face, red lips, and black teeth was a symbol of elegance and nobility.

"The defeat this time was not only due to the surprise attack by Ogata Itsuki." Matsudaira Sadanobu said slowly, "It is also because we underestimated the tenacity of the Eizu in the Red Moon Fortress..."

Matsudaira Sadanobu slowly told the whole story of the fiasco a few months ago to the person in front of him.

In front of Matsudaira Sadanobu, there is a curtain mat.

And behind the mat, sat a man wearing a ridiculously tall black hat.

Because this person has a curtain covering his face, people can't see his appearance clearly.

According to the regulations of the Japanese imperial court, the taller the black hat, the more prestigious the status.

Throughout the court, there is only one person who can wear such a tall black hat-the emperor.

The person sitting across the thin curtain mat from Matsudaira Sadanobu is the current emperor of Japan: Emperor Kanenhito.

In order to maintain the mystery of the emperor, when the emperor summoned others, he would sit behind a curtain so that outsiders could not see his face.

At the same time, the emperor basically couldn't speak, and when he wanted to speak to the people he was interviewing, he would let Dai Nayan, who was the emperor's close attendant, pass the message on his behalf.

While explaining the whole story of the defeat, Matsudaira Sadanobu has been quietly looking at the emperor behind the curtain.

Although there was a mat covering the face of the Emperor, Matsudaira Sadanobu could roughly guess what the Emperor looked like at this time—probably smiling smugly.

Sadanobu Matsudaira showed a smug smile for being able to successfully disgust him.

In fact - Matsudaira Sadanobu guessed right.

The emperor sitting behind the curtain did have a somewhat smug smile on his face.

He was gloating at Matsudaira Sadanobu outside the curtain.

...

...

Matsudaira Sadanobu entered the Kyoto Imperial Palace this morning to meet with the Emperor.

As a result, it was not until the afternoon that I dragged my tired body back to the temporary residence in the execution house.

As soon as he returned to the temporary living room, Matsudaira Sadanobu saw his nickname: Tachibana walked up to him in three steps at a time.

Tachibana is not qualified to meet the emperor, and at the same time, he does not need other people's attendants to meet the emperor this time, so Matsudaira Sadanobu kept Tachibana in the enforcing office and did not let him go with him.

"Tachibana." Matsudaira Sadanobu took off his high hat, "Is there any tea?"

"Yes!" Tachibana nodded vigorously, and then quickly brought a cup of hot tea to Matsudaira Sadanobu.

Matsudaira Sadanobu sat cross-legged on the ground in a more casual posture, and took small sips of tea.

Tachibana, who was kneeling beside him, quietly looked at Matsudaira Sadanobu's obviously tired face, and then couldn't help complaining softly:

"Whether it's His Majesty the Emperor or the ministers of the court, they don't understand your hard work, my lord..."

"His Majesty the Emperor must want to take revenge for the Zunhao incident two years ago!"

Songping Dingxin smiled at what his surname said, and then said slowly: "Just bear with their noise."

Although the emperor has no real power, he is the nominal head of state after all.

From a legal point of view, the Edo shogunate only borrowed the power to manage the whole country from the emperor.

Logically speaking, everything belonging to the Edo Shogunate and the vassal states, whether money or the army, belonged to the Emperor, and the Emperor had the power to take back the power of the country from the Edo Shogunate at any time—of course, it was only logically speaking.

Therefore, facing the emperor, some necessary face must be given to him.

Just like this time—the Edo shogunate suffered a major defeat that had never been seen since its establishment. Although it was not injured, it was completely humiliated.

He was actually defeated by an Ogata Yishi.

The emperor personally questioned the shogunate about this humiliating defeat.

In order to save face for the emperor, Matsudaira Sadanobu had to go to Kyoto in person to explain to the emperor the whole story and the reasons for the fiasco.

Matsudaira Sadanobu knew that a considerable part of the reason why the emperor would personally question this matter must be to retaliate against him.

The previous emperor: Emperor Hou Taoyuan died young, had no children, and the immediate royal family became extinct, so Prince Kanenhito took over as the current emperor.

Two years ago, Emperor Kanenhito wanted to grant his father the title of "Emperor Taishang", but Matsudaira Sadanobu tried his best to block it on the grounds of "violating ethics".

Because he could not reach the power of Matsudaira Sadanobu, the emperor had no choice but to give up in the end.

This incident is now known as the "Zunhao incident". Since this incident, the relationship between Matsudaira Sadanobu and the emperor has been extremely poor.

Now that he has finally come across something that can disgust Matsudaira Sadanobu, how could the Emperor just let it go?

He couldn't do anything about Matsudaira Sadanobu, but Matsudaira Sadanobu was disgusting, and he could still do it.

Even though he knew that the emperor's questioning this time must have bad intentions, Matsudaira Sadanobu could only bite the bullet and rush to Kyoto.

Today's meeting with the emperor, which lasted for half a day, was nothing more than the emperor's constant censure of Matsudaira, while Matsudaira kept bowing his head, saying that he would take full responsibility.

When there was only half of the tea in the cup, Matsudaira Sadanobu drank the remaining tea in one breath, and then handed back the empty teacup to Tachibana.

"His Majesty the Emperor and the ministers of the court don't need to pay too much attention."

Matsudaira Sadanobu said slowly.

"They can only open their mouths and say some noisy words."

"What they say, just go in one ear and out the other."

"Compared to them, the guys who are really troublesome are all in Edo."

Having said that, Matsudaira Sadanobu's expression became serious.

"After knowing the failure of the war in the north, those who hate me must be like cats smelling fish now..."

"These people who are waiting for the opportunity and ready to pull me off the horse at any time are the big threat and the big trouble."

"Tachibana, go and make arrangements tonight. By tomorrow morning, I will see that our team is ready to return to Edo at any time."

"Are you going back to Edo tomorrow?" Tachibana asked in surprise.

Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded: "His Majesty has already seen it, and there is no reason to stay in Kyoto anymore. Since there is no reason to stay here, then go back as soon as possible."

"Yes." Tachibana nodded vigorously, "I understand, I will make arrangements immediately!"

Matsudaira Sadanobu, who nodded slightly, was about to wave his hand to signal Tachibana to leave first, when a loud announcement suddenly sounded outside the door:

"My lord! Here is an urgent message from Dasaka Castle!"

The owner of this voice is one of Matsudaira Sadanobu's personal attendants.

"Osaka Joyo?" Matsudaira Sadanobu frowned slightly.

Osaka Castle Dai - one of the prominent official positions as famous as the Kyoto Suoji Dai.

Responsible for monitoring the shogunate daimyos who are weaker than the shogunate.

"Present."

"yes!"

The attendant opened the door, then quickly rushed to Matsudaira Takanobu holding a sealed envelope, and presented the letter with both hands.

Matsudaira Sadanobu took the letter, and after confirming that the seal was correct, he handsomely opened the envelope with one hand and pulled out the letter paper.

The urgent letter from Osaka Castle to the old middleman—if you think about it with your ass, you know it is definitely not a greeting letter to greet the old middle school and flatter the old middle school.

Tachibana wanted to see what was written in this letter.

But without the permission of the old man, he is just a mere surname, so it is naturally impossible for him to be qualified to read the content of the letter.

So Tachibana could only suppress her curiosity and wait quietly.

Matsudaira Sadanobu's reading speed was very fast, and he put down the letter in his hand after a while.

"... Tachibana, the formation of tomorrow will be changed." Matsudaira Sadanobu said flatly.

"Huh?" Tachibana was surprised.

"I won't be going back to Edo tomorrow." Sadanobu Matsudaira squinted his eyes slightly, and his eyes were shining brightly. "Tomorrow, I will change the route to the south, to Osaka."

...

...

The Kinki Plain, where Kyoto and Osaka are located, has been fully developed thousands of years ago. This area can be regarded as one of the most developed areas in Japan.

Ogata thought it would take them about 3 days to reach Osaka, but because the infrastructure between Kyoto and Osaka is so good that it far exceeds his imagination, there are straight roads everywhere, So in the end, it only took two and a half days to arrive at their destination—Osaka.

In Osaka, in a certain downtown——

"Is this Osaka..." Ogata raised the bamboo hat on his head slightly, and looked at everything around him.

None of Ogata, Acho, and Azuki have ever been to Osaka, and these three people are all looking at this strange city like a country bumpkin who has just entered the city. Go ahead and lead the way for both of them.

"Look! The latest Nanban glass beads!"

"Kumamoto's Tangerines! Kumamoto's Tangerines!"

"Soba in Edo! The most authentic Edo soba!"

...

Because it is in a downtown area, I let out a cigarette and looked at both sides of the street, and there are shops and merchants hawking loudly everywhere.

Because it was in Osaka, the most authentic Kansai dialect was passed into Ogata's ears, which made Ogata feel strange and inexplicable, as if there were many A-machi talking...

"As expected of 'the kitchen of the world'..." Azuki, who was walking beside Ogata, murmured at this moment, "Glass beads from Nanban, oranges from Kumamoto, soba noodles from Edo, crabs from Oshu...really You can see goods from all over the world in Osaka..."

As soon as he entered Osaka, Ogata felt keenly that although it is one of the "three major cities" as famous as Kyoto and Edo, the atmosphere in the air of Osaka is very different from the atmosphere of the other two cities. Obvious difference.

To be precise, it should be said that the atmospheres of the three cities are all different.

The reason why the atmospheres of the three cities are different is probably related to the different labels of the three cities.

If the label of Kyoto, the ancient capital of thousands of years, is culture, and the label of Edo, the ruling center of the Tokugawa shogunate, is politics, then the label of Osaka is probably economy.

Osaka is located in the Kinki Plain, adjacent to the sea, with extremely convenient waterway transportation, and it is just located in the middle of Japan. This unique geographical location makes Osaka a "distribution base" for collecting and distributing materials from all over the country.

In Osaka, you can see goods from all over the world, especially specialties from all over the world, so it is called "the kitchen of the world".

As a giant economic city, Osaka has also attracted and cultivated a large number of giant businessmen who can be said to be incomparably rich.

These giant merchants in Osaka are so terrifying that the folks have a common saying: When the merchants in Osaka are angry, all the princes of the world are shocked.

Due to the defects of the system, the gradual collapse of the small peasant economy and the emergence of capitalism, most of the vassal states have fallen into a financial dilemma to this day.

In order to get rid of the bankruptcy of the vassal government, a large number of vassal states had to rely on borrowing money from the giant merchants in Osaka-including the powerful vassals like Satsuma.

The total number of stones in the Satsuma clan is 770,000 stones, and it is one of the most powerful clans in the world, but in essence - the finances of the Satsuma clan have always been ugly, and they have always owed an astonishing amount of debts.

It is estimated that the Satsuma clan has already owed 5 million taels of gold to the outside world. Even if they don't spend a penny for the entire year, it will take hundreds of years to pay off...

It is precisely because most of the vassal states are now relying on borrowing money from the giant merchants in Osaka that there is a saying that "when the merchants in Osaka are angry, all the princes in the world are shocked".

If one day, all these giant merchants in Osaka stop borrowing money from the feudal states, then more than half of the feudal states in the world will directly collapse financially, and the feudal lords will no longer be able to afford porridge.

"How?" At this time, Fumo, who was walking in front, suddenly turned around and chatted with Ogata and the others, "Isn't the city of Osaka very lively?"

Ogata nodded: "Well, it is indeed more energetic than Kyoto and Edo."

"I have seriously thought about moving here in Osaka before." Fumo said with a smile, "Compared to Kyoto, I actually prefer Osaka, which is more lively. But in the end, my moving plan was due to various reasons. And let it go."

"I'm the opposite." Ogata smiled, "I like Kyoto more than Osaka."

"Oh? Why?" Feng Mo cast a curious look at Ogata.

"There is no special reason. How should I explain it to you... Simply put, I prefer the more relaxed and slower-paced atmosphere of Kyoto."

Having said that, Ogata changed into a half-joking tone:

"If one day in the future, I want to find a place to settle down, I might choose Kyoto as my place of residence."

"Hehehe. Do you live in Kyoto..." Feng Mo laughed again, "The prices in Kyoto are very expensive."

...

...

While talking and laughing, they finally arrived in front of an ordinary-looking carpenter's shop

This carpenter's shop is the carpenter's shop opened by Xianbingwei, Feng Mo's old subordinate.

Feng Moben was going to be invited by his old subordinate to visit his old subordinate in Osaka, and at the same time help Ogata to find the said to be very powerful swordsmith: Yuji.

So after arriving in Osaka, they planned to meet Xianbingwei first, and then go to find Yuer slowly.

Xianbingwei has excellent carpentry skills. Before Fuma Zhili was disbanded, Fuma and the others relied on paste umbrellas and wooden crafts made by Xianbingwei to subsidize the expenses of Fuma Zhili.

After Fuma disbanded Fuma Village, Xianbingwei took his family and moved to Osaka, where he opened a small carpenter's shop, which has remained to this day.

Ogata and Atachi: "Mr. Senbingwei, long time no see."

Ogata and Atachi, who had met Senbei in Kyoto last summer, saluted him after seeing him for a long time.

When Xianbingwei saw that Ogata came here with Fengmo, he was surprised at first, then quickly reacted, and entertained them very warmly.

Ogata and A-Machi had only met Xianbingwei who had visited Fuma in Kyoto last summer, and they were not very familiar with him, and Azuki didn't even know him.

So in order to avoid embarrassment, and to leave enough space for Fumo and his old subordinate to reminisce about the old times, Ogata, Acho, and Azuku briefly greeted Xianbingwei and left Xianbingwei. Carpenter's shop in my hometown, hang out in the streets to pass the time.

After a while, they passed a tea house that kept emitting a pleasant smell of tea.

The three people who were so saliva by the aroma of the tea got into the tea house, found a seat at random, ordered 3 cups of tea and a few plates of dim sum, and watched the streets with people coming and going outside the tea house, while having a Chatting with each other.

"I always feel that the people in Osaka are very enthusiastic and cheerful." Azuki said, holding hot tea with both hands and sipping it, "It's very different from the people in Kyoto."

"Perhaps this is the character of Osaka people." Ogata picked up a stick of glutinous rice dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth.

"The Kansai dialect spoken by the people of Osaka is quite different from my Kansai dialect." Because there were a lot of glutinous rice balls stuffed into his mouth, Ah-cho's speech was a little vague.

The three of them were all very interested in the city they visited for the first time. The three of them quickly drank the tea in their respective cups and cleaned up all the snacks they bought, and planned to continue to visit various places in Osaka.

But the three of them had just left the door of the tea house——

"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

The three of them heard the sound of wailing coming from the door of the teahouse.

The three people who were startled by the cry hurriedly followed the sound - the owner of the cry was a little girl who was only about 12 years old.

She hugged a big package, crouched by the gate of the tea house, buried her face in the big package in her arms, and cried loudly.

The girl's cry not only shocked the three of Ogata and the others, but also the passers-by around, but almost all of them turned their eyes away after glancing at the little girl, and continued to do their own things—— Except for Ogata and the others.

"Little girl, what's the matter with you?" A-Ming walked over quickly, bent down and patted the little girl's back.

Suddenly a stranger came forward, and the little girl was so startled that even her crying stopped for a moment.

Maybe it's because A-Machi is pretty, so she looks particularly friendly. Under A-Machi's kind words and persuasion, the little girl gradually explained the reason for her crying.

It turned out that the girl was an apprentice in a grocery store.

She got a task from her boss today: to sell the unsold batch of tooth powder in the store along the street.

The so-called tooth powder can be understood as the toothpaste of this era. Using tooth powder to wash teeth can not only clean teeth, but also freshen breath. But because in this era, the importance of tooth brushing and dental health has not yet been popularized, so not many people like to brush their teeth, so tooth powder is not a best-selling product.

The little girl held the dozens of packs of tooth powder that the boss gave her, and started to sell them along the street since early morning, but it was already afternoon, but only 3 packs were sold.

The delay in selling the tooth powder made the little girl very anxious—if she failed to complete the task, she would be scolded by her boss.

Extremely anxious, her psychological defense line collapsed, and she couldn't help crying loudly.

"...I can understand this kind of feeling." After knowing the whole story, Azhu cast a sympathetic look at the little girl, "When I used to practice under the guidance of my grandfather, I often failed to complete the orders given by my grandfather. I was so anxious to cry because of the task.”

Atachi, who was still patting the little girl's back, had a sympathetic light in her eyes—as a "hara ninja", she also understood the anxiety of not being able to complete the task.

Ogata does not have obvious mood swings like A-Machi and Azuki, and has always looked expressionless.

However, after the little girl finished explaining why she was crying, Ogata said something to the little girl that both Acho and Azuki couldn't help being surprised: "Don't cry. I'll help you." You sell these tooth powders so that you can deal with your boss? Anyway, I'm free now."

Acho, Azuki, and the little girl: "Huh?"*3

The three of them uttered a "huh?" very tacitly at the same time.

"Master Mashima." Azuki's eyes lit up, "Are you still selling things?"

——Itdaosai-sama is indeed a superman!

From time to time, Ogata can let Azuku see his powerful side besides swordsmanship, which also makes Ogata's image in Azhu's heart gradually become strange.

"No." Ogata replied honestly, "I've never sold anything. The only business-related skill I know is planning."

The skill point of abacus was given to him by "Ogata Hara". When he was the treasury officer of Hirose Clan, he spent more time with abacus than with swords.

"Selling things - you don't have to shout loudly along the street." After adding this sentence, Ogata smiled and raised his hand to touch the handle of Da Shitian's waist, "Someone once taught me to sell The secret to something."

"If all goes well, I will probably be able to sell all these tooth powders in just 2 or 3 sticks of incense."

...

...

"Miss Isshiki. Thank you for accompanying me to buy knives." A very handsome young man with a very neat crochet hair showed a handsome smile while looking at a woman walking beside him. The beautiful woman in light yellow kimono bowed to thank him.

"You're welcome." Yishihua said coldly, "The medicine you gave my grandma before is very effective, so I'm just giving you a favor."

"Miss Yishi, I recently bought a new batch of good tea from Tangtu West Lake, let's taste it together some other day."

"Well, good." Isshiki replied without thinking, and then added, "When I have time."

During the conversation, the two had come to an intersection.

"You can just send it here." Yishihua said in a very polite tone, "Beiyuan-kun, see you later."

"Miss Yishi, let me take you to the entrance of your sword gym." The handsome young man called Beiyuan said quickly, "The law and order in Osaka is quite bad recently, and there are many small thieves of all kinds."

"No need." Yishihua responded without thinking again, "There is no need to send each other off."

Seeing that Yishihua's attitude is so firm, Beiyuan is too embarrassed to say anything more.

Just when Beiyuan was going to leave this place according to Yishihua's intention, Beiyuan suddenly caught a glimpse - many people around were rushing towards a nearby intersection, and heard these people say in an excited tone:

"It seems that there is going to be a very powerful performance over there."

"What show?"

"I don't know. Go and see."

...

Listening to these conversations of the people around him, Bei Yuan's eyes lit up.

"Miss Isshiki." Kitahara hurriedly said to Isshiki, "There seems to be some very interesting performance going on over there. Before going home, let's go and see it together?"

*****

*****

Ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a monthly pass! Begging for a monthly pass while crying with a headache! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)

The foreign debt of 5 million taels of Satsuma mentioned in this chapter is not the author's nonsense, but the real history. For details, see the "Author's Words" below.

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