Chapter 9: A Humble Way of Survival

Taro, who never liked to be wrapped in a loincloth, took the loincloth brought by his younger brother and wrapped it twice before he felt the feeling of falling was relieved a little. Then he picked up the chopped off kappa head with both hands, and walked with his brother with frog-like steps, bowing his head and carefully coming to ten meters away from Yan Xu. Without waiting for the foot soldiers who were surrounding him to put down their bamboo spears, he knocked them to the ground.

"I, Taro, and my younger brother Jiro, have brought you the head of a kappa. May your military career prosper!" Taro almost became a hatamoto once, so he had some experience. Therefore, he was more respectful to Yan Xu, because he could feel the other party's noble aura from a distance.

Needless to say, his height of 1.8 meters was a true giant in Japan. What really shocked Taro was the full body armor that looked strange but was actually very valuable, and the two magical weapons that should have been made by generals.

This was not a misunderstanding. In Taro's eyes, anything that could smash a kappa's head, which was harder than a rock, into pieces was not an ordinary weapon.

Add to that the neatly-armored foot soldiers and the farmer who looked very healthy, and it was obvious that this was a true noble man, the opportunity that the brothers had always dreamed of.

Although he didn't know the other party's origins, it was enough to know that he was very powerful. Taro was just a small figure, and all he wanted was a background, so he knocked his head to the ground and didn't move.

Of course Yan Xu could understand what the other party said. After all, he could transform into a living person, so online translation was naturally no problem for him. Not only could he understand, but what he said also automatically took on local characteristics.

"Well, you're good. Just stay and be a foot soldier." Yan Xu didn't give the other party a chance to choose, and Tarou Jiro didn't need to, because the fate of the lower class was originally decided by adults.

"Hey! I'm willing to die for you, sir!" Taro was so happy that he almost forgot about his injuries and knocked his head heavily to the ground again. His younger brother next to him was even more excited than him.

Yan Xu waved his hand and asked someone to take the two people downstairs to change clothes.

"Brother, look how thick this fabric is!" Jiro was younger after all, and as soon as he got the brand new clothes, he couldn't help but rub them against his face and said excitedly.

"Jiro, we are your subordinates now, and we cannot do anything to embarrass you. Otherwise, even if you are my brother, I will chop off your head and beg for your forgiveness." Taro said with a serious expression.

"Hey! I will never bring shame to you, sir." Jiro was influenced by his brother since he was a child. He attached great importance to reputation and class, even above his own life. If he really did something that would damage your reputation, he would rather be beheaded by his brother, so he answered firmly.

Taro was very satisfied with his brother's answer, because he knew very well how rare the current opportunity was.

But he was his own brother after all. He opened the rice dumpling leaves sent by the farmer, and the snow-white rice ball made him swallow his saliva.

In fact, this is a complete illusion, because the rice balls that Yan Xu gave to the people below were made of brown rice, so the color was gray and not white at all.

But with the ancient processing technology, it is considered good to be able to clean the rice husks, so the Taro brothers are so happy.

After eating the rice ball, Taro carefully ate the strange pellets sent by a farmer. Although it tasted bitter, his face did not change, because it was given by the adults. It was said that it could make his injuries better. In fact, it was an anti-inflammatory medicine that had been unpacked.
I don’t know if it was a psychological effect, but not long after taking the medicine, Taro felt that the feeling of heaviness and swelling was relieved a lot.

In fact, this is not an illusion, because Kappa can be used as medicine to treat bruises and injuries, and it also has a certain effect on reducing swelling and relieving pain. Combined with anti-inflammatory drugs, Taro is really fine. From now on, he no longer has to worry about hemorrhoids and constipation problems. At any time, he can go to the toilet within three breaths, that is, take off pants, middle, and put on pants.

At this time, Yan Xu was checking the village, and the village chief was kneeling beside him. When Yan Xu walked away, he quickly got up and followed him, then knelt down again, very respectfully and humbly. Daogu Village was not very big. There were dozens of simple farmhouses scattered around, surrounded by large tracts of farmland, but many of them had been abandoned, especially the paddy fields near the river, which were almost all abandoned.

As for the reason for the abandonment, you can tell why by looking at the fact that only old people and women are working in the fields. It is because of the shortage of manpower that they cannot even do anything to a kappa, and the good paddy fields near the river have to be abandoned.

In fact, Daogu Village was not like this originally. It was much better than it is now, but it lost its owner and protection.

The owners mentioned here do not refer to the village chief and villagers, who only own the farm tools that come with the land, but to the Yamada family.

The Yamada family was not a samurai family, but a landlord with some wealth. Therefore, in order to improve their status and complete the leap, they took all the adult men in their family and village to fight for the daimyo.

This behavior of bringing one's own dry food was very common in this era. If one performed well, the daimyo would grant him the status of a samurai in order to encourage this behavior, and the landlord could also use this to improve his status.

Unfortunately, the daimyo was defeated miserably, and the current head of the Yamada family was so stupid that he actually ran away to cover their retreat, but in the end, no one came back.

Not only that, because of the loss of their man, the Yamada family was also robbed by bandits and no one was spared, so now this land and village are ownerless.

This situation was not unique to the Yamada family. Many nearby villages were in similar situations. They all went to fight the daimyo, so even if they did not all die out, their strength was greatly reduced and it was difficult for them to protect themselves, resulting in the local area suffering from looting and killing by bandits and monsters.

Of course, this situation will not last too long. Once the daimyo decides the winner, they will begin to grant fiefs to the meritorious samurai, and the fiefs will be these ownerless lands.

Yan Xu didn’t care about these things. As long as he saw it was his, he would just ask to stay.

Unexpectedly, the village chief was overjoyed after hearing this, and respectfully led the way to the Yamada family residence.

Even though they had to pay heavy taxes and endure cruel exploitation after the land was owned by someone else, it also meant that they were protected.

Yes, that’s right, even though they live like dogs, happiness comes from comparison.

Compared with these starving villagers, the driven out untouchables and savages can only wail in the wild and may die at any time for various reasons. Even if they are lucky enough to survive, they live like wild beasts and cannot be called human beings at all.

Moreover, no one collected taxes before, but the defeated soldiers came to loot, the robbers came to plunder, the monsters came to eat, and the wild beasts came to hunt. Who could bear it? If it continued like this, the village would be completely deserted in no time. So it goes without saying what to choose.

What's more, Yan Xu knew at a glance that Yan Xu was of noble birth and powerful, which was exactly what he wanted. So when he heard that the nobleman wanted to stay, the village chief trotted all the way to lead the way, fearing that the nobleman would change his mind and stop exploiting and oppressing them.

It sounds a bit mean, but it is the helpless way of survival for the little people.

(End of this chapter)