Chapter 215: Rallying Samurai Comrades
The young man, having fallen into slumber, once again arrived in the world of his dreams. At the request of the prostrating peasants, he agreed to save their village, which was targeted by mountain bandits. He began gathering his comrades.
Including himself, he still needed six more people.
Shirou and the young Yukino, led by the four peasants, arrived at a structure made of wood and thatch. This was their temporary lodging—a dilapidated inn provided for outsiders to stay in.
There were no partitions here, not even a door to block the wind. At most, it offered shelter from a sudden downpour. The sleeping area was just the bare wooden floor. Other people were currently there too, each occupying a corner to sleep.
A samurai traveling the land is broad-minded. Accustomed to the slaughter of the battlefield, they have endured every hardship. Shirou's body felt no discomfort whatsoever.
However, the little girl beside him showed no signs of distaste, which made him look at her with some admiration.
Not only was the place rudimentary, but it was also a mixed bag, gathering some of the most destitute people in society: an old man playing the shamisen to earn a living, drunkards and gamblers living for the moment, rōnin (masterless samurai) who had lost their livelihood, and shifty-eyed pickpockets. Any traveling merchant with a bit of spare cash would not choose to stay here.
But one could stay by simply paying for the firewood. If one didn't start a fire or brought their own firewood, they could even stay for free. This was the only place these peasants could afford to stay.
It was learned that the four peasants had brought two sacks of grain here. They poured the rice into a jar, and one person was dedicated to holding it and guarding it day and night, as it was their only valuable possession.
Upon reaching this place, the four peasants said little, only telling Shirou and the young Yukino to sit and rest. They then started a fire to cook, wanting the samurai to taste the rice they had personally planted and sown.
Shirou noticed that these peasants served the white rice to him and Yukino, while they hid in a corner to eat de-husked barnyard millet.
Poor, desperate peasants, in search of survival, had sent their able-bodied young men, carrying one sack of rice and one sack of millet, to the city to find a samurai willing to help them.
Barnyard millet is a relative of rice and often grows alongside it, competing for the soil's nutrients. Therefore, once it grows to a certain point where it can be distinguished, it is removed.
Although barnyard millet resembles rice and looks similar to rice grains after hulling, it is not suitable for human consumption. The millet grains are very hard and can easily mix into the cooked rice.
If, while eating, one suddenly feels a painful crack on their tooth and hears a clicking sound, and spits it out to find a white fragment that is not a stone, that is barnyard millet. The tiny husks are like needles and can inadvertently pierce the skin of one's hand.
It is hard like tiny gravel, cannot be chewed, and swallowing it feels like eating sand.
In modern times, this barnyard millet would be ground into flour to make millet cakes or brewed into alcohol. However, in this era, it was often regarded by destitute peasants as their last hope for survival.
Yet, these four peasants swallowed the millet calmly and without complaint, all just to survive.
Who could blame them? They were the lowest-class peasants. Every year, after paying taxes and debts, eight or nine-tenths of their field's grain was handed over to the government and the landlords. But when mountain bandits came, no one came to protect them.
Written as 'peasant,' read as 'weakling.' In this era, where Imperial authority was virtually non-existent, the Shogunate was weak, and various feudal lords constantly fought and annexed each other, such tragedies were all too common.
"…" The young Yukino felt pity for them and wanted to share the rice in her bowl, but Shirou stopped her.
"Master?" The girl looked at Shirou, her eyes seemingly seeking an answer.
But there was no answer to this question. The original owner of this body, Muramasa, had never stopped pondering, but ultimately failed to find a way for all the common people under heaven to find happiness.
Shirou could only say this to the girl: "All we can do is fulfill our duty."
In ancient Japan, the class system was rigid, being divided into four classes: Shi (Samurai/Scholar), Nō (Peasant), Kō (Artisan), and Shō (Merchant). However, Japam maintained its consistent habit of introducing Confucian Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and then domestically bastardizing it.
The Shi in Japan referred to the samurai, whose status was earned through military merit, not through imperial examinations.
First came the ruling class of the Imperial Family and the Shōgun (Great General). Then came the nobility and the samurai. Below them were the merchants and artisans, and the lowest class was the peasants. The Bushidō (Way of the Warrior), which emphasized loyalty, righteousness, and valor, developed. However, their loyalty was not to the nation but to the Shogunate or the local Daimyō (feudal lord) who employed them.
This issue was reflected in the conflicts of later years between the Sonnō Jōi (Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians) faction, like Sakamoto Ryōma, and the Mibu Rō (Mibu Wolves)/Shinsengumi, who famously supported the Shogunate.
Although this world differed slightly from the history Shirou knew, as a world where samurai were active, the social rules were fundamentally the same.
The Imperial Family held the nominal Imperial authority for bestowing official ranks and the right to conduct ceremonies, but they had no real power and could only live decadently confined to the Imperial palace. The pinnacle of the samurai class was the Shōgun, who held military and administrative power and established the Shogunate.
The samurai of Japan were a general term for the Shi class that lived by the sword and had warfare as their profession. It was a profession passed down through families. They received training in tactics, swordsmanship, horsemanship, spearmanship, and archery from a young age, studying and training in martial arts. Upon reaching adulthood, they would go to the battlefield to fight.
During times of war, they would help the lord of their birthplace's castle to fight, seize other castles, and earn military merit. If they could gain the appreciation of a Daimyō or a castle lord and become a retainer, they might even be granted several castles and become a local feudal lord once they achieved fame and success.
The samurai class itself had worlds of difference. High-ranking samurai generally held military offices and were like nobles. Mid-ranking samurai were mostly retainer reserves who had started studying tactics and martial arts from a young age.
However, the samurai Shirou could find now would likely only be low-ranking samurai, similar to those he and Isshiki Iroha had encountered before.
These were the most destitute samurai, known as rōnin (masterless samurai), who had lost their lord, perhaps due to defeat in battle or dismissal. They could only become the bodyguards of merchants or soldiers conscripted during wartime—essentially, professional mercenaries.
Of course, there were also those who devoted themselves to training and traveled the world, or reclusive masters hidden deep in the mountains, but they were rare exceptions.
During the late Ming Dynasty, Koxinga, a Sino-Japanese general, repeatedly asked Japan for troops to fight the Qing, but the Tokugawa Shogunate refused. However, many rōnin actively participated.
Koxinga, a former pirate, gathered European artillerists and musketeers, African slave sailors and pirates, Japan rōnin, and other desperadoes, alongside professional weapons of war. Although a motley crew, they formed a very powerful fighting force, one that even the Dutch had to steer clear of in these waters at the time.
But Koxinga had the banner of great righteousness—to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming. What Shirou had was merely two meals of white rice a day.
As samurai, going to war usually involves two main wishes: one is to make a name for oneself, and the other is to achieve fame. If they win, establishing a name and career and becoming a feudal lord is the dream of almost all samurai who study tactics and hone their martial arts for battlefield slaughter.
If they lose, they must still carve out a formidable reputation on the battlefield. As long as they can achieve fame throughout the land, it is considered a worthwhile life for a samurai whose existence is based on martial arts and whose sacred duty is to fight on the battlefield.
In a situation like the present, where one only offers two meals of rice a day and expects a samurai to risk their life for peasants, it is simply not worth it, even though rice was a daily luxury for the upper class in this era.
If they won this battle, there would be no reward and no honor, due to their values. Samurai were warriors who pledged allegiance to the Emperor and the Daimyō and should not interfere with the affairs of the lower classes.
Protecting the peasants was the job of the tax-collecting government. However, with the country in turmoil, the Daimyō only cared about collecting taxes and not about the fate of the taxpayers. This could only be considered the peasants' misfortune.
For a samurai, fighting not on the battlefield, nor serving a samurai or noble household, but fighting for peasants, was a disrespectful act, a behavior that would degrade the dignity of the upper class. It would be like a dog that doesn't guard the house or hunt but runs off to catch mice.
Even if they won, no one would praise them; they would only be seen as meddling. If they lost, it would not only serve them right but also bring shame to the samurai class, warranting seppuku (ritual suicide).
Under these circumstances, trying to rally six reliable samurai as companions was not an easy task.
Fortunately, after traveling around this small town for a while, Shirou discovered that this was a Samurai Nation in a historically ambiguous era, where the number of samurai was much higher than in history. Even outside large cities like Kyoto or Osaka, there were plenty of skilled fighters on the streets.
The so-called samurai system gradually developed when the Emperor of Japan was unable to centralize power and confront local warlords on his own. A class of Shi was specifically
established, with warfare as their profession, allowing them to spontaneously oppose the local separatist forces.
In fact, Japan was able to conquer and annex its islands, such as Hokkaidō and Okinawa. These regions were spontaneously conquered by the military forces of the Shōgun or local Daimyō and belonged to these lords as private lands. It was only later, through historical changes, that they were incorporated into the map of Japan.
With a complicated mood, Shirou and the young Yukino finished their meal and gave some instructions to the peasants.
"I plan to take her to the bustling market to learn about the situation in this city. We will start looking for other samurai this afternoon. You can rest for a while now."
"…" The four peasants exchanged glances upon hearing Shirou's words, showing complex expressions of panic, tearful distress, and hesitation. They were afraid that Shirou would leave and never return, turning their hard-won hope into dust once more.
"If you don't trust me, then just send someone to follow us," Shirou said indifferently to them, then took the girl out of the lodging, walked to the right, and after a long, straight path, reached the bustling street area outside.
Two peasants followed far behind. Seeing that Shirou had no intention of leaving, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness, I thought this samurai would also run away after one meal. If that were the case, we might as well have eaten the rice ourselves," said a forty-something peasant, squinting and speaking with a troubled, relieved face.
"Idiot! Don't talk nonsense! This lord is different; his attitude when speaking to us is very kind. It's like a peasant talking to a peasant; he doesn't look down on us," scolded the other leading peasant, a strong man in his thirties.
On both sides were vendors selling various goods, as well as geisha performing on the streets and traveling acrobats putting on shows. Every now and then, one could see samurai walking by, holding a katana (long sword) in their left hand or carrying weapons like a yari (spear).
"Right, Yukino, do you know how many types of Japanese swords there are?" Shirou asked the little samurai with sudden interest, testing her knowledge while surveying the city's situation and experiencing the ancient folk culture.
"Specifically, Japanese swords include the tachi (great sword), ōdachi (large great sword), tantō (short knife), uchigatana (striking sword), wakizashi (side-inserting sword), naginata (pole arm), and nagamaki (long-wrapped sword). The legendary Sword Saint Miyamoto Musashi was a master of Nitō-ryū (Two-Sword Style), using one tachi and one wakizashi, and he created the Niten Ichi-ryū (Two Heavens as One Style) of tactics and swordsmanship. Tokugawa Ieyasu's loyal retainer, Honda Tadakatsu, used the famous spear 'Tombo-Giri'
(Dragonfly Cutter)," the young Yukino answered without hesitation, surprisingly knowledgeable for her young age.
"Hmm… Miyamoto Musashi, huh…" Shirou agreed with some hesitation. If it was the actual person, he would indeed be a very reliable assistant. But if it was the one from the cliffside, he would rather give up.
The right to carry swords, held by all samurai, generally included one long sword and a wakizashi tucked into the belt.
However, the concept of weapons in Japan differed from other places. For example, even though it was a katana, it also embodied the concept of a 'sword' (ken).
Moreover, the term 'tō' (blade/sword) was widely considered a general term for 'weapon.' Therefore, the samurai's right to carry a sword, in addition to 'ken,' included the 'naginata,' which has a long handle and a slender blade;
the 'nagamaki,' which is similar to a zhanmadao (horse-slicing saber) with a handle as long as the blade; and 'spears' (yari) and 'guns' (hō), such as Hīnawa-jū (matchlock guns), which could also be broadly referred to as Japanese swords.
Shirou then saw a group of robust women carrying various weapons and walking through the street together. It seemed that female samurai were not an uncommon sight in this world.
"Speaking of which, Yukino, there are surprisingly many female samurai here, and they are all very confident, with an aura not inferior to male samurai. Are there some very famous female samurai, too?" Shirou asked curiously.
"Master, if you're going to test me, you should ask some harder questions. There are many famous female samurai! For example, the God of War Sakanoue, the Honda Tadakatsu mentioned earlier, and the 'Dragon of Echigo' Uesugi Kenshin, and the 'Tiger of Kai' Takeda Shingen—aren't they all remarkable female samurai?"
'Not only is the timeline messed up here, but even the genders are confused?' Shirou broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead and asked again, "What about Miyamoto Musashi?"
"Of course the Sword Saint is a man!" the young Yukino replied as if it were obvious.
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