I formed the strongest swordsman group

It's just a letter with no content, what's so fun about it? Nishino thought.

"Well...how should I put it..."

Ebina bowed his head and pondered, as if thinking.

At this time, Ichinose interjected:

"To put it simply - not long ago, we found out that a messenger named Phoenix House Yataro had an affair with the Fazhu Party. And the handwriting of this messenger is exactly the same as the handwriting in this letter."

Whether it was intentional or unintentional, Ichinose put on a contemptuous tone when he mentioned the word "Sacha".

There is a word "house" in the surname... very typical business surname.

"Wu Family Laws" stipulates that children of the Wu family are not allowed to do business.

The people doing business are basically civilians or "original civilians" who have changed their native place to samurai through various means.

The vast majority of civilians do not have a surname, so businessmen with certain financial resources often use the name of the shop as their family surname.

But anyone whose surname is "XX House" is basically the son of a businessman.

Nishino frowned suddenly, and muttered:

"Zacha...?!"

Zacha - a general term for a special type of merchant in Edo.

To the millions of Edo's inhabitants... and especially to the samurai of Edo, Zacha was a terrifying being.

The salary of the samurai is called "lu".

According to different identities, there are three types of "lu" - Zhixing, supporting rice, and giving gold.

"Knowledge and action" - refers to the enfeoffed territory.

For example, "knowledge and practice of one hundred thousand shi" means that the total rice production of the territories owned is one hundred thousand shi.

Those who can possess knowledge and action are, without exception, all high-ranking warriors who are in the top ranks, such as the daimyo of the vassal state and the banner of the great body.

"Support rice" - basically the salary payment method for middle-level samurai. As the name suggests, this is directly to the rice.

Whether it's Qingdeng, who has become the captain of Huofu Thief, my grandson, or Nishino, who is united in his pursuit, the salary he gets every year is support rice.

The distribution of support rice is not a one-off, but three relatively fixed distribution times a year.

Take a salary of 100 俵 as an example: 25 俵 in spring, 25 俵 in summer, and the last remaining 50 俵 in winter.

This method of distributing in installments is called "Qiemi".

The samurai who can take support rice are roughly similar to the middle class in modern times.

The amount of supporting rice is about 30 to 400.

100 taels of rice can be exchanged for 18 taels of gold after paying the tax.

That is to say, the annual income of the warriors who can support rice ranges from about 5 taels to 72 taels.

This was an income level that everyone envied in the Edo period.

"Give gold" - just from the name, we know that this payment method is to issue cash directly.

The samurai who received the gold were all inferior samurai with a lower social rank.

The samurai with the lowest status can only get 3 taels a year.

One point is equivalent to 1/4 tael.

This kind of warrior who can only get a meager salary of 3 taels and 1 cent a year is called "Trinity Warrior".

The living standards of the "Trinity Warriors"... can only be described as horrible, not to mention getting married and having children, it is difficult to support themselves, and the living standards are basically comparable to poor peasants.

The Trinity warriors, who were starved of food and poorly clothed, even went to the outside of the dormitory (hotel) to eavesdrop on the cloud and rain because they could not afford to go to the cheapest place (underground kiln). laughing stock.

The economy of the Edo period adopted the "rice standard", that is, the price of rice was the benchmark for pricing all commodities.

Simply put, rice in the Edo period is equivalent to gold in the 21st century, and it is a real hard currency.

Whether it is "knowledge and practice warriors" or "support rice warriors", they must exchange tribute rent and Lumi into currency in order to maintain their daily livelihood.

It is impossible to carry a rice bag every day and use rice to buy daily necessities such as daily necessities in the primitive way of "barter exchange".

Therefore, the samurai who have Zhixing and receive support rice naturally want to find a way to exchange rice for money, and then use the money to buy goods.

As a result, a special kind of businessman specializing in daimyo tribute rent and samurai salaries, such as "Zacha" in Edo, "Kurayashiki" and "Kakeya" in Osaka, came into being.

"Zha" is the credential for the samurai to lead Lumi, and the name of the recipient is carved on the bamboo piece with a knife. The word "poor" in Japanese means "plug, insert", and the name "zacha" has such a meaning.

This kind of merchant used money to collect rice from the warriors, and then collected the rice and sold it to rice merchants.

Of course, the samurai had to pay a certain fee when exchanging rice for money.

Take the Zhacha in Edo as an example: the rate for buying rice in Zhacha is 1 cent for every 100 taels of rice.

When Zacha sells rice to rice merchants, he also charges a handling fee, and the rate is 2 cents per hundred taels of rice.

In other words, for every 100 taels of rice that messengers handle, they can earn 3/4 taels of handling fees-the so-called "huge profits", nothing more.

On the bank of the Sumida River near Asakusa, there are 51 large granaries of the shogunate, and this is also the place where the shogunate distributed Lumi.

In order to facilitate transactions, Zachaji opened a shop called "Zangsu" in Zangqian.

"Zang" means warehouse in Japanese. In front of Tibet is also in front of the warehouse.

One after another, they lined up along the street near the granary of the shogunate.

On the day when Lumi is distributed, the banks of the Sumida River are in full swing.

After the warriors received the Lumi, they walked two steps to the nearby Tibetan accommodation and exchanged the rice for money.

These special merchants who have monopolized the "rice transaction" are the most typical and at the same time the most despised privileged merchants.

They can be called the financial industry in the Edo period and the "predators of Wall Street".

Rice was the hard currency in the Edo period.

In any era, a person who has a monopoly on hard currency transactions... would be extremely terrifying.

Compared with ordinary civilians, warriors have a lot of expenses.

Maintaining samurai swords, buying ritual clothes, hiring servants, drinking and socializing...everything above is a big expense.

Therefore, even a samurai with an annual income of tens of gold can hardly live a comfortable and luxurious life.

With a large amount of hard currency in his hand and a wealth of wealth, Zha Cha will naturally not let go of this huge business opportunity.

Ever since, these "Wall Street predators" used the tribute and Lumi of the daimyo and the samurai as collateral, and also engaged in usury, accumulating exaggerated wealth of piles of gold and jade.

Especially in the middle and late Edo period, inflation intensified.

Although the money the warriors exchanged for rice is still the same, the expenses are getting bigger and bigger. More and more samurai borrowed money from "Zacha" as a mortgage for Lumi, and some even mortgaged Lumi two years later.

In order to limit the wealth expansion of zacha, in the 9th year of Xiangbao (1724), the shogunate stipulated that only 109 designated people could be zacha, and formed an organization similar to a guild, strictly prohibiting the interest rate higher than 15% for a year.

However, the samurai still cannot do without Zacha after all.

If you want to exchange rice for money, you still have to rely on Zacha's connections and financial resources.

After the number of Zhacha was limited, their status became even higher.

Although the shogunate restricted the interest on loans, there were still ways to charge more money.

For example, when borrowing money, an extra gift fee is charged.

Or in the case of overdue repayment, a penalty equivalent to one month's interest will be charged.

At that time, rich people who spent a lot of money who often went to theaters, Yoshihara and other sensual places were called "Tongren".

Most of the most famous "Eighteen Datongs" are Zhacha.

From this we can see how wealthy and extravagant the messengers of Edo were.

If you work hard for a year, you can earn more than a dozen taels of gold, or tens of taels of gold; people spend more than a thousand gold in a night in Jiyuan, Xiyuanzi and other sensual places.

You are reluctant to ride the bicycle, and people stand up and pedal hard.

In front of you, the female artist who can only watch from a distance but not be obscene, is a little bird in front of others and loses her self.

In front of this group of privileged businessmen who ride on their feet and walk on their feet, the samurai have no dignity at all.

Heroes who worry about dying for a penny—the status of the samurai slowly declined in the constant trading of rice and money.

"Money" and "power" are inseparable twins.

There is no doubt that this group of high-ranking and privileged businessmen has always had a pivotal social status since Tokugawa Ieyasu founded the shogunate in Edo.

Without their "rice for money" contacts, as well as the usury of layers of exploitation, more than half of the daimyo and samurai in the whole country will be in a difficult situation.

Ever since, no matter the senior officials of the shogunate or the daimyos of the vassal states in various places, they are all willing to make friends with privileged businessmen, at least they can't offend them.

The evil collusion between the government and businessmen... just happened.

Privileged businessmen bribe bureaucrats.

The bureaucracy provides various conveniences to the privileged merchants.

The rivalry between the two sides made the privileged merchants seem to have become a new powerful class above the warrior class.

Even officials and lords have to sell a bit of face to privileged businessmen, let alone ordinary people?

With the increasing arrogance of the privileged businessmen, what follows naturally is the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor and the sharper class conflicts.

In fact, the evil deeds committed by privileged businessmen have long surpassed the low-end level of rampaging in the countryside and molesting women on the streets.

During the Edo period, the peaceful environment of the world led to the rapid development of the commodity economy in major cities and towns, and the sprouts of capitalism had sprouted in Edo, Osaka and other areas.

Affected by this, privileged merchants are no longer pure classical merchants, they have some characteristics of capitalists.

They will do whatever it takes to increase capital value.

In every year of severe drought, flood, or epidemic, privileged businessmen will definitely appear in the market—of course, they are not kind and reliable figures.

They hoard supplies, drive up prices, and put the lives of thousands of people at risk.

Those "powers" that make people human instead of animals, such as law and morality, are nothing more than insignificant constraints in their eyes.

There are countless cases related to privileged businessmen that Nishino has come into contact with.

The final outcomes of these cases are all very similar—intervened by some unspeakable "mysterious power", the cases are either closed hastily, or simply die without a problem.

Nishino always hated this kind of outrageous behavior that covered the sky with one hand.

Facing the privileged businessmen headed by Zhacha, he had only one feeling - he felt sick when he saw their faces.

Because of this, he showed such a big reaction when he heard the word "Zhacha".

Nishino lowered his head and scanned the letter in his hand several times.

"Handwriting? It's too arbitrary to lock the suspect based on this alone, right?"

"No, no, not at all arbitrary."

Ebina smiled slightly.

"Look carefully, isn't the handwriting in this letter particularly delicate?"

"Yataro the Phoenix House is a calligrapher who is proficient in 'Noji', so his brushwork is particularly easy to recognize, and there is almost no possibility of mistaken."

The Japanese are used to call calligraphy as Shudo.

Wild traces, that is, the ink marks of Ono Michikaze.

Michikaze Ono was a famous calligrapher in the Heian period of Japan.

He formed his own "elegant" style on the basis of imitating the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi of our country. He is the founder of "He (Japanese) Style" calligraphy and occupies a particularly important position in the history of Japanese calligraphy.

His calligraphy authentic works "Zhizheng Master's Posthumous Title", "Screen Draft", "Three-body Thousand-Character Essay" are regarded as national treasures.

Its ink traces are called "Noji", and the ink traces of calligrapher Fujiwara Sari (Saji) and Fujiwara Yukino's ink traces (Quanji) are known as "Three Traces".

Hearing this, Nishino lowered his head and glanced at the letter in his hand again.

As Ebino said, the writing style in the letter is extraordinarily delicate and graceful, quite like everyone else.

Although Nishino knew nothing about calligraphy, he could tell that the person who wrote this letter must have profound attainments in calligraphy.

At this time, Ebina went on to say:

"Besides, absolutely correct information does not exist in this world."

"Just because the suspicion of Yataro Phoenix House has deepened, it is enough to constitute a reason for us to intensify our investigation."

"...Indeed."

Nishino nodded slightly.

"So—what are you going to do next?"

As soon as Nishino finished speaking, a rude young male voice suddenly sounded:

"Is there even a need to ask? Of course it is to kidnap Yatarou Phoenix House, and then torture him well!"

The person who spoke was the young man who had been putting on a cynical expression——Ajiujin.

"Akutsu..."

Ichinose turned his head and cast a dissatisfied look at Akutsu, as if he was blaming Akutsu for being polite and not to speak so vulgarly.

Akutsu, who noticed Ichinose's gaze, immediately shut his mouth tightly and stopped speaking.

After Nishino glanced at Ichinose and Akutsu, he muttered to himself, thoughtful.

At this time, my grandson suddenly said:

"Nishino-kun? How about it? We're going to 'talk' to Yatarou the Phoenix House next, do you want to come with us?"

Nishino was taken aback for a moment, then quickly said without thinking:

"Of course! Take me with you, and I'm going to 'talk' to that Phoenix House Yataro!"

As soon as Nishino said this, except for my grandson, Ebina and the others all showed surprise expressions.

"What? I'm not welcome?"

Ebina hurriedly said:

"No, no, how could it be? We have been short of manpower here in Kanto all year round. Nishino-kun, you are willing to help us. It's too late for us to be happy."

Compared with Ebina who was excited, Nishino's cold face remained the same.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to help you."

"I am only advancing and retreating with you out of the obligation of an 'ally'."

"The matter has come to this point, and I can only run forward all the way."

"Whether it is success or failure in the end, I will witness the end."

Speaking of this, Nishino seemed to think of something, paused for a while, and added:

"However, I still want to explain something in advance."

"I just formed an alliance with you temporarily because I couldn't sit back and watch the spread of the phantom deposit."

"In short, I only have common interests with you on issues related to the phantom deposit."

"I don't care about anything other than the phantom deposit."

"As far as identity is concerned, I am still at odds with you."

"After we're done, we'll go our separate ways without disturbing each other."

Nishino's remarks immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of "Irritable Brother" Ajiujin.

Just when Akutsu was about to explode, Ebina reached out and pressed his shoulder.

Ajiujin froze in place instantly, like a toy that had been unwound.

He turned his head to look at Ebina beside him, just in time to meet his gaze.

Akutsu, don't be impatient—— Ebina said silently with her eyes.

Seeing this, Ajiujin silently swallowed back the words that had come to his lips.

"Enough~"

My grandson grinned, showing his white teeth.

The upturned corners of the lips and the slightly squinted eyes form a harmless He Hexu smiling face.

"When we choose our allies, we never value each other's age or status."

"In this world, there are neither eternal friends nor eternal enemies, only eternal interests."

"An alliance of common interests—there is no stronger friendship."

As soon as my grandson finished speaking, Ebina added softly:

"This is the precious experience that we... the Great Salt Party have accumulated bit by bit after experiencing more than 20 years of hard life like street rats."

...

...

The Buddhist forces that have been growing savagely since they were introduced to Japan once made the Kyoto court, the Kamakura shogunate and other regimes suffer.

In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the previous dynasties, the Edo shogunate adopted a strategy of dealing with Buddhism rich in political wisdom.

On the one hand, it has been suppressed wildly, such as prohibiting temples from raising private soldiers, and the monks and soldiers with a long history have become historical terms.

On the other hand, he tried his best to win over and turned it into his own ruling tool.

In the Edo period, there was a so-called "Tanjia system", and everyone must register with a certain temple to become a Tanjia. This kind of temple is called Tanna Temple or Bodhi Temple.

The roster used for this registration is called the "Principal Account". The name, age, and structure of family members are recorded for each family.

Also, when someone dies, it is also processed in the temple.

The deceased is deleted from the other person's account and included in a register called "ghost register" that only registers the deceased's name.

It is based on this allusion that modern Japan says that a person dies, which is called "introduction to ghosts".

In addition, the funeral after death is also handled by Tanna Temple.

There will be a cemetery behind the Tanna Temple.

After finishing the rites for the deceased, his body will be directly buried in the cemetery of Tanna Temple where he entered Tan during his lifetime.

At this very moment—

Edo, Hatchobori, a certain Dana Temple——

Qingdeng stared expressionlessly at the tombstone in front of him.

Inscribed on the stele are six neat Chinese characters in block letters: "Tomb of the Tachibana Family of Genji".

Behind the tombstone is only a zuttava.

I saw a string of names that were both familiar and unfamiliar to Qingdeng written on this fairly brand-new Zuta Po——

Takashi Tachibana Sakimune

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Baobaozi's parents will be back tomorrow, and then Baobaozi won't have to work so hard to help look after the store. Leopard Leopard has worked so hard these past few days, you can't imagine (Tears Leopard Leopard Head.jpg).

Because Leopard Leopard’s family runs a supermarket, I have to aim at the gaps in collecting money at the front desk, and use my mobile phone to type out the chapters of these days bit by bit... It’s very inefficient, let’s not talk about it, just my eyes are getting tired (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)