Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 198: Respect Nohara-sama, respect Benzu!
It's the rainy season again.

The sky seemed to be covered by a huge gray curtain, pressing heavily on the earth. Fine raindrops fell like cow hair, weaving a hazy net that gently wrapped the whole world.

Raindrops hit the bluestone road, splashing small water drops and making crisp sounds. Pedestrians, either holding oilcloth umbrellas or wearing straw raincoats, hurriedly walked on the streets of Pingshan Town.

After all, this is the rice planting season, it is very busy and everyone is in a hurry.

However, Nabe Taro was sitting in a liquor stand on the street, looking at the rain leisurely.

He has been discharged from the army and has been assigned a new job as a small flag officer in Pingshan Town, which was built just over a year ago in the southern part of Chita Peninsula. However, he has not yet reported to the town office for work. He wants to take advantage of this free time to get together with his old brothers.

Well, the four brothers Pot, Pan, Pan and Pen have all retired from the army. Since he was an officer, he retired two years later, while Wanjiro, Hyosaburo and Bonshiro only became first-term non-commissioned officers - senior veterans who renewed their contracts for another two years after completing their compulsory service. Then, because the Wanjin Army began to focus on "good family boys" in recruiting soldiers, requiring them to have families, after Otaka Castle was "recaptured", these three bachelors were kicked out.

However, because the three of them had received "primary education" in the military camp, could recognize a few hundred words and knew some arithmetic, and had developed good obedience and discipline under the threat of beheading for a long time, the three of them were accepted by Wanjin's internal affairs system after they retired, and all served as "civil servants" in the southern part of Chita Peninsula.

Wanjiro works as a policeman in Nanbu Castle, Hyosaburo works as a clerk in the village office of Kizu Village, and Bonshiro is in charge of militia training in Xiaya Village.

Of course, this was the situation last year. Although Wanjin now has a postal system, sending letters is much more convenient and no longer has to rely on irregular deliveries by merchants, the four grown men are not that sentimental and would not send letters to each other unless there is something serious. So five months have passed this year, and Guo Taro has no idea what the other people are doing.

Anyway, he sent a letter, asking the three guys to come and see him, the big brother, but he didn't know if they could spare the time.

Guo Taro was waiting at the wine stall, watching the people hurrying on the street, enjoying the leisure and tranquility, and suddenly he missed the life in the barracks.

The Wanjin Army has strict military discipline, and they would drag you out and behead you at any time. But in fact, it's okay once you get used to it. As long as you don't plan to rape and plunder, don't be lazy when executing military orders, and don't be afraid of death in combat, you generally won't lose your head. Even if you make some mistakes accidentally in your daily life, the most severe punishment is to dig a manure pit or pull a manure cart. It's okay once you get used to it.

On the contrary, the income in the army is very high, and there are large allowances for marching and fighting, as well as various subsidies of various names, which can be several times more than the income of ordinary people. What's more important is that food, clothing, and housing are all taken care of during the march, and you don't have to spend a penny. Now that I have retired, I don't have such a good thing anymore, and I will have to eat my own food in the future.

He was a very frugal person by nature, and he felt somewhat regretful when he thought about not being able to get "Lord Nohara" for free in the future.

More importantly, he had become accustomed to life in the military camp, and to the people coming and going in rows and lines. Now, sitting alone in the rain, he felt an inexplicable melancholy.

To be honest, he still wanted to continue serving in the army.

It was glorious to be a soldier in Wanjin. He had often participated in disaster relief work in the past two years. When he occasionally went out on vacation, he was generally respected by the people. There were also children who followed him, looked at him with envy, and wanted to touch his military uniform. He actually enjoyed it very much. Unfortunately, he was too stupid and always learned things slower than others. He could not be promoted to the small flag, and he was not as good as the newly promoted small flag officers. In several military exercises, he either lost inexplicably or won by relying on others. He was not outstanding at all...

Guo Taiguo looked at the rain, listened to the sound of rain, and recalled the life in the military camp. His thoughts were all over the place, and the wine he drank was a little tasteless. At this time, a familiar voice came from behind him: "Brother Taro!"

Well, this wine stall was opened by the victims. It’s an open shed with people able to enter from three sides.

Guo Tailang turned around and saw the smiling Hyosabulang. He immediately stood up and greeted him in surprise: "Third brother, come and sit down."

They used to sleep in the same room for a long time, cleaned manure pits together under the pressure of military discipline, and fought for their lives on the battlefield together. Now they haven't seen each other for almost two years, and both of them were filled with emotion when they met.

Guo Tailang asked the stall owner to serve wine to Hyosabulang, and then asked with concern: "Where are the second and fourth brothers?"

He was previously stationed at the northern tip of the Chita Peninsula, while the three brothers were all in the southern part of the Chita Peninsula, so they had closer contact and could meet often.

Hyosaburo took a sip of shochu to warm himself up and said casually, "I don't know, it should be coming soon!"

"How are they now?" Guo Tailang filled Hyosabulang's glass with wine, and was very concerned about his old brother's recent situation. In a sense, these three, plus the stone Buddha, were his only relatives in the world.

"They are still the same!" Hyosaburo said happily, "The second one still wants to marry another and quarrels with his wife every day. The fourth one is always complaining and has failed in blind dates one after another, so he is trying very hard!"

Guo Tailang also laughed and scolded: "This guy Lao Er..."

Wanjiro has always been lustful and thought about women every day in the military camp. At the beginning, everyone in the Ninth Flag thought that this guy would be beheaded sooner or later for violating military discipline. Fortunately, when the Wanjin Army was first established, a group of people were killed, which completely frightened him. He only dared to complain about it, and he didn't dare to look at women until he was discharged from the army. That's how he survived.

Then he got married as soon as he was discharged from the army and had a daughter. However, he was not satisfied with his wife and daughter and wanted to marry a concubine. It turned out that his wife was also a powerful person and had brothers and income, so she was very confident. She quarreled and fought with him at home every day. Last year, Piao Sanlang and Pen Shilang mentioned this in their letters and ridiculed her severely.

This was the usual entertainment program for their group of five. Wan Jiro would keep thinking about women at night, and the three of them would laugh at him and make fun of him.

Hyosaburo talked about Penshiro's misfortune again, and then asked with concern: "Brother Taro, how is the stone Buddha?"

"Shi Pusa is still the same, and continues to be his flag captain." Guo Tailang mentioned this matter in his previous reply, but sighed, "But when I left, I heard that he was going to be promoted again, probably to deputy regiment commander!"

He also didn't expect that among the five of them, the one who was doing the best was the silly Shi Pusa. He came the latest but he had made progress every year. Now he was about to become a senior officer of Wanjin Army and was almost qualified to be in charge of a place. But he couldn't complain. Wanjin was now full of peasants. The capable ones were promoted and the incompetent ones were demoted. There was no need to talk about relationships. Shi Pusa was brave and daring. He was always at the front of the battle and had military merits. Although he was silly, he could often get to the heart of things and often won unexpectedly in exercises. He was still convinced.

At least he was convinced during the exercise.

Guo Tailang sighed, feeling that if he had the brains of Shi Pusa, he probably wouldn't be sent to the administrative system even if he failed the assessment. However, Hyosabulang didn't care about Shi Pusa's career and immediately asked, "I'm not asking about that. I'm asking... How is he and that widow doing?"

"That widow!" This topic was something the four of them used to talk about often. Guo Taro immediately said with great interest, "Last year, Shi Pusa used money to help her open a store. Whenever he had a day off, he would go over to help. I think the two of them are probably together."

"Did they really get together?"

"should be!"

"She is several years older than the stone Buddha, right?"

"The stone Buddha is still too young. If a woman wants to attack a man, the man can't defend himself."

"That's right!"

Guo Tailang and Piao Sanlang discussed for a while whether the young man Shi Pusa and the widow were in a casual relationship, and then Guo Tailang asked with concern: "What about you? Lao San, what are your plans now? Do you have a girl you like?"

Hyosaburo shook his head: "I have no plans to get married for the time being. I... resigned."

"Resigned?" Nabe Taro was surprised and asked quickly, "Why did you resign out of the blue?"

Working in the village office is a legitimate and good job. It is also a good job with "empire salary". Anyway, it is better than farming. Many people want to do it but cannot. He did not understand it for a while. Hyo Saburo sighed: "I don't like patrolling the river and mediating disputes all day long. I still want to go...I want to do business. I couldn't get away before, but this year I see nothing to do, so I just quit."

"Are you planning to sell candles?" Nabetaro nodded in understanding. Just like Banjiro used to save money to marry a wife, Hyosaburo had been saving money to start a business since he joined the army. At that time, Okegoro even boasted that he was ready to work with him, but Okegoro was later transferred to be a musketeer. In the Battle of Shinwantsu, he was shot in the left eye by an arrow from the samurai of the Imagawa family from under the castle, and died early.

"I'm planning to make lacquer wax. I've seen a growing demand for wax in the past two years, and I think I can make money." Hyosaburo wasn't going into business on a whim, and he answered confidently, "In two days, I'll be going to Shinwanjin, and I'll open a small workshop there. You still remember Kamenosuke from the third flag? After he retired from the army, he went to the iron workshop. Now the iron workshop has started to use wax to make investment molds, and wax is simply not enough. He said I can sell the wax directly to the iron workshop."

He had been planning this a long time ago, but when he retired from the army, he wanted to work as a "civil servant" to earn some money and see how the situation went. After all, he had been locked up in the barracks for several years and lacked understanding of the outside world. As a result, natural disasters occurred frequently in the Chita Peninsula, with wind and floods occurring for two consecutive years. Even if he didn't like this job, he was embarrassed to resign.

This was too much like being a deserter, and deserters were the most despised in the Wanjin Army. Even if he was discharged from the army, his self-esteem could not accept it. Moreover, Yuanye spent money to buy him, fed him well and raised him strong, taught him literacy and arithmetic, and kept his promise to set him free after he had served. He was unwilling to leave at such a difficult time. That would be too much like being ungrateful.

Guo Taro didn't think about all this, he just felt a little regretful - he had the best relationship with Hyosaburo, but he went south while Hyosaburo had to go north, and it seemed that they would not be able to stay together for a long time in the future.

However, as the elder brother, Hyosaburo wanted to pursue his "ideal", so he certainly supported it and immediately asked, "Is the money enough?"

If it was not enough, he could provide some support or invest a share. He had saved a lot of money after being a soldier for five or six years, but he had given up his "ideal". He did not plan to buy a piece of land and farm it properly. He was ready to work as a "civil servant" until he died.

"Enough!"

Hyosaburo also saved a lot of money from his military service, as did Wanjiro and Bonshiro. Otherwise, Wanjiro would not have wanted to marry another concubine. He had no shortage of start-up capital, and said confidently, "No, I'll go to Lord Nohara to borrow some money when I get to Shinwanjin. We agreed that if we wanted to do business, Lord Nohara would lend us money without interest. He always keeps his word."

"Lord Nohara is a good man, he will definitely keep his word..." Nabetaro sighed sincerely.

In his opinion, Yuanye was a great lord. In the past two years, there were frequent floods and storms, and there were all kinds of famines. Yuanye actively provided disaster relief, saving countless lives. Moreover, he had nothing to complain about these retired veterans. He arranged jobs for them and gave them all kinds of special treatments, as if he was afraid that they would starve to death. It felt that they had not sold their lives to him in vain, and it was worth it!
If it were the samurai nobles, they would not care about the lives of the common people. In fact, if they encountered disasters and famines, these samurai nobles would exploit them even more and find ways to make up for their losses.

To be honest, it was just that Yuanye thought he lacked potential and didn't want him anymore. If they were willing to keep him, he wouldn't mind fighting for Wanjin for a few more years.

"Indeed, Lord Nohara is a good man!" Hyosaburo also sincerely affirmed. In a sense, Nohara changed his destiny, gave him a future, allowed him to have enough food to eat, and provided him with the capital to realize his ideals - just the fact that he had enough food to eat was a blessing that he had never been able to ask for before.

He directly raised his glass and said: "To Mr. Nohara, to Benzu!"

The two Wanjin people clinked their glasses and drank them all, sincerely hoping that Wanjin would get better and better.

Only when Wanjin gets better and better, the people of Wanjin will get better and better!

Only then can you live like a human being!

(End of this chapter)