Chapter 1035 Five Years of Longevity, Suichiro Who Raises Horses, and Poor Villagers of Heguo

"Zukichiro, come over to eat porridge!...Have you finished feeding the horse yet? Hey! This Jurchen big horse is so edible?"

"Well, the head of the Watanabe team. This Jurchen big horse is very strong, even stronger than the owner's deer hair! It probably weighs a thousand catties, which is equal to ten people. It has to eat ten people every day. Twenty or thirty catties of grass beans!..."

"Buddha! This horse actually weighs a thousand catties? Can it eat twenty or thirty catties of grass a day? Tsk tsk, it's almost twice as much as a Honshu horse, right?..."

"Yes! It weighs twice as much as the Honshu Kiso horse, and it eats more than twice! It can eat twenty or thirty catties of grass and drink forty to fifty catties of water a day. But eating grass alone is not enough, I have to feed at least It has two catties of dry soybeans or dry peas... The food here is better than that of the villagers in the village! Fortunately, when I came out this time, I had already prepared to raise horses, and I brought more beans..."

The simple stable, built with wood, dead branches and leaves, stands beside the small ice river for easy water collection, and is almost the best building in the entire camp. A tall Jurchen horse and two smaller Yakut snow horses were nestled separately in a warm stable.

The strong Jurchen big horse occupied the middle of the stable, and had already displayed the majesty of the stallion, driving the two snow fillies to the corner, so that they could monopolize the small stove where the horse breeders were feeding. At this moment, it is lowering its head, chewing its mouth full of soybeans, and biting it slowly. Seeing Watanabe Masumi passing by, it just glanced sideways, snorted disdainfully, then flicked its tail, urging Suichiro to continue.

"Hey! This arrogant guy, look at my provocative eyes... Buddha! If Murakami didn't stop me, I would have to ride you hard!..."

The monk Watanabe Masumi licked his lips and greedily looked at the tall horse. He used to be a general of the Shaoer family, and he was born in the samurai lineage of the Ryuzoji family. Naturally, he also rode Kyushu horses and Kiso horses in the country. However, compared with this majestic Jurched horse, those dwarf Japanese and native horses are almost like a ten-year-old child, and compared with a twenty-year-old adult, it is not even a little bit worse.

"Buddha! The evil spirits invaded the Yuan Dynasty two hundred years ago, and they rode such a strong horse? By the way, it was painted in "Mongol Attack Painting Ci", which is such a tall and galloping horse! There is still a difficult resistance inside. , the Kyushu samurai who suffered heavy casualties..."

"Phew! Thanks to the blessing of the Buddha and the power of the gods, the evil Yuan Kou was buried in the sea of ​​blood in Jiuyou! ... And the lord, the Shaoer family, was granted the title of the shogunate by virtue of his military exploits in resisting the Yuan Kou!" Zhenxi was enshrined, and Dazaifu Dazai Shaoer was succeeded from generation to generation, and even from the guardian generation of Higo one country, it developed into Chikuzen, Buzen, Hizen, Higo, Iki, Tsushima... the guardians of Kitakyushu of six countries!  …”

"Ah! A real hero should ride a big horse, wield a sword, kill evil spirits, and make great achievements! Then boast of his family name, establish a foundation for generations, coerce the powerful everywhere, and be worshiped and respected by future generations!..."

Thinking of this period of dusty history, the monk soldier Masumi Watanabe's eyes flickered, and unstoppable desire and envy arose in his heart. It seemed that once he made up his mind to return to vulgarity, those desires for fame, delusion, and greed could not be stopped, and emerged from his ordinary heart for many years. However, thinking of the current head of the Longzaosi family, thinking of his fierce and ruthless younger brother...

"Hachiman Bodhisattva bless you! Stop, stop!..."

Watanabe Masumi pursed her lips, prayed in a low voice, smiled wryly and shook her head. Afterwards, he sighed, grabbed two handfuls of soybeans, and fed the other two Yakut mares while the big Jurched horse was sneezing dissatisfied.

"Hey! You can't ask for a big horse, and you can't ride it... But even if you ride such a middle horse, it's much better than a pony!..."

"Well…"

Seeing this scene, the head of Ma Kai's group, Ichiro Zuke, opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't dare to speak.

He was born as an ordinary villager in Ezo, although with his ability to raise horses, he worked hard to become the leader of a horse group. However, the gold content of this head of the Malai group is far inferior to that of Masumi Watanabe, the head of the sailor group who can command a group of North Korean sailors and decide on the purchase of goods.

The Oysterzaki family is full of calculations, but they are just five thousand stones, powerful and powerful, with a large number of people. And he, the so-called head of the horse group, has no warriors under him. To put it bluntly, he is a senior horse breeder! …

Therefore, in front of Watanabe Masumi, who was born well at first glance and had a background in the Myo Court, Suichiro couldn't lift his head at all, and shouted loudly or said something. After a moment of nonsense, he had to lower his head and reminded him softly.

"Team Watanabe, although there are a lot of soybeans on board, it still grows here in winter. After it snows, it will be difficult to collect forage, and Malaysia is a bit picky... The expensive soybeans and peas need to be kept close to the big ones. The horses eat first!... As for the two snow horses, they are used to the climate of the snow field and can eat lichen, moss and grass roots, so they will not worry about going hungry..."

"Um?"

Hearing this euphemistic admonition, the soldier monk Watanabe Masumi narrowed his eyes, his expression stern. He slowly fed the two handfuls of soybeans in his hand, and then affectionately touched the necks of the two snow horses. The two snow horses also approached affectionately, licked Watanabe Masumi's face, and gave two friendly low whistles.

"Law, law!"

"Ha! What a good horse with human nature! Sure enough, the middle horse is better than the big horse, and it is easy to come by..."

The monk Watanabe Masumi smiled happily, then turned his head and glanced at the bowed horse breeder Suichiro. He looked at the respectful smiling face of the other party for a while, gave a low "hmm", then retracted the hand feeding the horse, and asked aloud.

"Zukichiro, are you familiar with these big and middle horses from the mountains? How many years have you raised horses before?"

"Uh... Gutou Watanabe, I have been raising horses with my master since I was twelve years old. I have been raising horses for sixteen years! At the beginning, I raised Kiso horses in Honshu. Later, when my master got old and couldn't raise horses anymore, I just Take charge of the owner's few good horses..."

"Hey! I started raising it at the age of twelve and have been raising it for sixteen years... You are only twenty-eight years old?"

Hearing this, the monk Watanabe Masumi stared wide-eyed, looking ten years younger than him, but looking at the same old Suichiro, couldn't help shaking his head with emotion.

"Buddha! It looks like raising a horse is really hard work!..."

"Yeah! A horse eats and drinks dozens of catties a day, and it needs to be fed from morning to midnight, and it should be accompanied as much as possible. In addition to feeding, they have to trim their hooves, groom their skin and hair, and clean them every day. Stable, practice the command to run repeatedly... Those meticulous tasks are always busy and never finished, and it's not easy to get old if you don't have a longer sleep in a day!"

The horse breeder Suichiro smiled, saying that he was tired, but there was no trace of complaint on his face.

"But! No matter how tiring raising horses, the whole family can still be full. The old bean material that winter and spring horses don't like to eat can be brought back to the family to make ends meet... This is much better than the villagers in the village who eat leaves and grass roots. pinch!…"

"Uh! Old beans that eat horses? Villagers who eat leaves and grass roots?..."

Hearing this, the soldier monk Watanabe Masumi touched his nose, but didn't know what to say. He knew that what Suichiro said was right, the people of Wakoku had a long tradition of eating leaves, bark, grass roots, and even insects.

Of course, this is not because of the delicious food, but because the taxation in the countryside of Heguo is too heavy, almost four or five times that of the countryside in the Ming Dynasty. "Five publics and five people", "six publics and four peoples", and even the actual collection of 70% to 80% of taxes are all common things! However, there are few paddy fields in the fields, and the output of dry and mountain fields is very low. If you don’t eat these, you will definitely starve to death. If you eat them, you may starve to death two years later, or die from poisoning...

"Hey! Buddha blesses you!..."

As a former samurai, that is, a person who collected taxes from the villagers, the monk Watanabe Masumi lowered his eyes, prayed to the Buddha, and changed the subject.

"Sukichiro, I can see that you are a good horse breeder! How much salary do you get a year for raising horses for the Oysterzaki family?"

"Well, the Bodhisattva is merciful, and the owner of the house is also very kind! I have twenty shi a year, and I can get some old beans that horses don't like to eat, which is enough to feed me and my two younger brothers! Sanlang is still promising. The samurai who has no attendant also has a ten stone..."

"Well, twenty shi? Is it twenty shi for the rice, or twenty shi for the land?..."

"Team leader Watanabe, are you kidding me? I am a horse breeder, how can I get twenty shi for my salary? That is the treatment only for superior warriors..."

"Oh! Twenty shi of the land closure, 40% of the rice, is eight shi of rice... If a mouthful is a stone and a half a year, it is indeed barely enough to feed five people... No, there are three males in your family who can eat, and there are Parents, wives and children, where is this little rice enough?"

"Uh... Watanabe group leader, I haven't married a wife yet, and my father died early, and my mother can't eat much... The family plans to keep money and rice for the most promising Saburo, a good family who is a samurai! Maitreya Buddha blesses you! ..."

"...Is that so!..."

Listening to the hardships of these Japanese villagers, the monk soldier Masumi Watanabe blinked his eyes and fell silent. Afterwards, he glanced at Murakami Jitong not far away, who was concentrating on cooking porridge, and asked in a low voice.

"Suichiro, you raise horses for the Oysterzaki family, and that's all you'll do in your life... But if you come here, and raise these big horses from the Northland for the adults in the temple... I can make the decision on behalf of the great merchant, Kiyoshi Morino, and I promise you at least Five times the salary, 40 shi!..."

"Ah?! Maitreya Buddha! How much... how much?"

"40 shi for rice, 100 shi for land!..."

"hiss!…"

Hearing this unbelievable number, the horse breeder Suichiro gasped and was speechless in a daze. It wasn't until he finished feeding the soybeans in his hand that Jurchen Dama bit his palm twice in dissatisfaction that he suddenly came back to his senses and hurriedly took out the last handful of soybeans.

"Zukichiro? How about it? As long as you agree to come over, the rest of Xin Guanggong's side will naturally be agreed by the great business owner Morino Kiyoshi!..."

The monk Watanabe Masumi smiled and looked at the trembling horse breeder Suichiro. Shuichiro trembled, and after feeding all the beans, he pursed his lips and looked at the confident Watanabe.

"Watanabe... my lord..."

"Um?"

"Thank you Maitreya Buddha, thank you!..."

"Um…"

"I...I can't promise..."

"Um!…"

The monk soldier Watanabe stared at the horse breeder Zhuichiro with wide eyes. The other party flinched and shivered, but his voice gradually became firmer.

"Maitreya Buddha blesses me! I have to stay at home... I still have my mother and two younger brothers under the master's hand... I have to give my younger brother a good daughter from a warrior family. The master has already agreed! As long as I go to sea this time If I go back alive, let Murakami-kun help me agree!..."

"A good daughter of a samurai family rises from a commoner to a samurai..."

Seng Bing Watanabe pursed his lips and did not speak for a long time. For these low-level villagers, being able to become warriors in their hometown and obtain the family status of warriors is a real change in class and the fate of future generations! In contrast, working in a strange place, no matter how much salary you get, you are just a horse breeder, and you will still be a humble commoner until your death...

"Buddha blesses you!... Let's go!..."

After thinking through all this, Seng Bing Watanabe shook his head slightly, and didn't say a word of persuasion. He stretched out his hand, patted Suichiro's shoulder heavily, and smiled faintly under the uneasy eyes of the other party.

"Zuichiro, you've finished feeding your horses, and Murakami's venison porridge is ready! Let's go, let's eat meat porridge together! Haha! This is a really good thing. It is cooked with fragrant Yueguo rice. I'm afraid you have never eaten it before. I have eaten it!..."