Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 38 He is who he is
Nohara sat on the donkey cart, Tao Rokuro led the donkey, Jing Shichiro carried a bow and arrow, and Aqing brought the little monkey with a stick for protection. They returned to Hibitsu Village just as they had come.

Although they did not obtain the true scriptures during this journey to the West - Japanese monks definitely do not have true scriptures, and Yuanye dared to guarantee it with his head, but they still gained a lot. They established friendly diplomatic relations with the Araki Maeda family, figured out the importance of Japanese monks in medieval Japan, and got a box of books for free. It can be said that they gained a lot.

Yuanye was very satisfied with this, but having learned his lesson the last time, he did not dare to be too leisurely on the road. Instead, he kept an eye on his surroundings in case someone suddenly had bad intentions and came to rob him.

The main reason is that he reflected on it afterwards and vaguely remembered that Oda Hidetaka seemed to be riding a horse on the road for no reason and was shot dead by someone. He was the legitimate son of "Owari Tiger" Oda Nobuhide and the younger brother of "Sixth Heaven Demon King" Oda Nobunaga. He died inexplicably in his own territory. Don't you think it's unfair?
Of course, Oda Hidetaka is most likely not dead yet, but this is enough to illustrate that when living in troubled times, especially when on the road, you must not be careless in the slightest, otherwise no matter how high or low your status is, or whether you are a time traveler or not, you still have to do what you have to do.

He was experienced this time and was always paying attention to any movement around him, but Aqing had lost some of his vigilance and was still recalling what happened not long ago - Okumura Iefuku obviously wanted to recruit Yuanye and offered good conditions, but Yuanye didn't hesitate much and politely declined.

This made Ah Qing feel a little sorry for him. After all, as long as he accepted it, Yuanye would no longer be a "wandering samurai", but would become a real samurai. He would have fields and houses, and would have a long-term and stable income in the future.

Even though she didn't like warriors at all, and even hated all warriors, she felt that this was not a bad thing for Yuanye - with Yuanye's kind, benevolent, and generous nature, even if he was to manage a small village in the future, he would not levy "additional land fees", "military rations", or "horse loan fees", and would not squeeze the villagers to death.

At the very least, he would certainly not lead people to chase and kill the refugees one by one, even children and pregnant women, just because the villagers fled because they could not pay the annual tribute and taxes.

She didn't understand what Yuan Ye was thinking. She held it in for a long time. Even though she had a cold personality, she finally couldn't help it and asked softly, "Why?"

"Why?" Yuanye was slightly stunned, not understanding these incoherent words.

"What happened before."

"Are you saying that the Araki Maeda family was planning to 'promote' me?" Yuan Ye suddenly realized it, thought about it again, and felt that it was difficult to explain to A Qing, so he smiled and said, "I didn't like it, so I refused."

He was not surprised that the Maeda family was planning to recruit him. Even if he was playing "Taiko 2", if he found a general with five-star medical skills, he would run across half the map to try to get him, for fear that a ninja would suddenly jump out and report: Your Highness, General XX died of a cold.

The generals I just recruited last month and just raised their loyalty to the maximum died the next month, and they died with all the treasures on them. No one can stand this, so I must have a retainer with high medical skills.

It was normal for Araki's Maeda family to want to promote him. He had thought about this possibility a long time ago, but after thinking about it, he found that he could not accept it at all.

The main problem lies in the "foster parent and foster child system". If the "foster parent and foster child system" is not easy to understand, it should be much more straightforward to replace it with the "foster father and foster child system".

For example, Liu, Guan and Zhang in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms all seem to have adopted sons;

For example, Lu Bu was said to have been adopted by several people, and "I am willing to be your adopted father" has become a meme;
Another example is Mao Wenlong, a famous general who fought against the Qing Dynasty. It is said that he had thousands of adopted sons to serve as generals at all levels of the Dongjiang Army. This is a bit exaggerated and is most likely false. But even if it is a rumor, I think he must have had seven or eight adopted sons.

In medieval Japan, these adopted sons were retainers, and had a loyalty relationship bound by "father is the leader of sons". They had no inheritance rights and were not the same as adopted sons. When the adopted son came to power, the adopted sons had to continue to regard him as their "king and father" and continue to be adopted sons, and their status and identity would not change.

Therefore, no matter how the "system of hosting relatives and children" is explained in the dictionary, and how it is explained that it is just a means of absorbing outsiders who are not related by blood, in fact, as long as the retainer is a retainer, the lord is the retainer's father. Even if the lord orders the retainer to commit disembowelment without any reason, under the feudal etiquette, the lord also has absolute political correctness, and even the retainer's escape is considered treason.

If the king wants his subject to die, the subject must die; if the father wants his son to die, the son dare not disobey.

In ancient times, this was no joke, and the two sentences of "retainer" are both related to it.

Even though Na Yuanye's biological father was a bastard, he never thought of finding a new father. He didn't want his life and death to be controlled by someone else's words, and he didn't want to kowtow to others - in this era, the first thing to do if you want to be someone's retainer is to kowtow to the ground and shout "I'm in charge of you from now on" to confirm the master-servant relationship!
As for the so-called "integration into the times" after traveling through time...

He cannot fit in. He can accept being employed, doing business with people of this era, and treating patients. These have nothing to do with principles, and there are many similar things in modern times. But he does not want to kowtow to others during festivals, nor does he want to kowtow to others when he holds a meeting. He does not want to be scolded like a son and have to bow his head and listen to him, trembling with fear and unable to even fart.

He is a person with personality. This is a complete negation of the education he has received in the past twenty years. It involves the bottom line of principles. Even if the conditions offered by Okumura Iefuku are not bad, he is willing to give him a big house in Arako Castle, a few towns of good paddy fields by the river, and a few families as his companions, the men can be used like cattle, and the women can be abused at will.

Okumura Iefuku even hinted that he did not need to take on too many military obligations. When a war really broke out, he would just have to shout a few words from the back and did not have to fight desperately. Rough work like charging into battle and fighting would naturally be done by other retainers.

But even so, Yuanye was still unwilling. Of course, this might be stupid. If it were in a novel, he would be a retainer and then use his intelligence and wisdom within a family, using modern knowledge to stir up trouble and shock the lord. It would be in line with expectations. It was okay to kowtow occasionally, but he really didn't want to kowtow to others and be someone else's "foster son".

If he was really forced to kowtow, he would rather carry his stupid son on his back and go to the mountains to become a savage. If his stupid son's condition was not serious and it was very dangerous to live in the wild, he would already be a savage in the mountains, wandering around in the mountains every day to see if he could return to the modern era.

Just think of it as his personal mental cleanliness. If someone else fell into trouble in Japan and was willing to be a retainer, he would not object. It can only be said that everyone has different aspirations.

But it was difficult to explain these things to Aqing, a girl who was born in the feudal era, so he could only be vague and say that he didn't like it and had no intention of becoming an official.

Of course Ah Qing still didn't understand, but considering her personality it was good enough for her to ask a question, so she just lowered her eyelids and said nothing more.

They wandered along like this and returned to Hibitsu Village smoothly.

The first thing Yuanye did when he got home was to check on his stupid son. Ah Man stopped Ah Qing outside the door, looked her up and down for a moment, and asked in a low voice, "Did he do anything bad to you?"

She was alone at home. Yuanye and his friends didn't come back that night. She slept alone and thought more and more that something was wrong. What if Yuanye was so thick-skinned that he took away Aqing? Wouldn't she be at a loss? She only took away Aqing's brain, not his body!

Ah Qing shook her head gently: "No, sister, he is a good man."

"Good people can also have lustful intentions! The better the person, the more they hold back, the bigger their lustful intentions become! Most of those who secretly buy pornographic pictures in the city are this kind of people. You don't understand, but I do!" Ah Man looked around at Ah Qing, but couldn't find anything unusual. He pondered and said, "He didn't even touch you? If he touches you, he will charge extra. You can't let him touch you for free!"

Ah Qing looked at her coldly for a while, unable to do anything to her, he tilted his head slightly and said in a light tone: "No, sister, he is a good man."

"Well, maybe he is indeed a good person. There are still good people these days..." Ah Man was a little disappointed, but immediately became positive again and turned to look for Yayoi. "You have worked hard all the way. I will ask Yayoi to stew a chicken and make something delicious so that we can have fun together tonight!"

"Wait, sister!" A Qing hesitated, pulled A Man, and whispered to her about Yuanye's refusal to take up an official position. She hoped that A Man, who was good at talking, would persuade him - Yuanye was a good person, and she hoped that Yuanye could live a better life, as long as he didn't bully the villagers too much.

Ah Man was shocked when he heard this: "What? There is such a good thing? Is he stupid?"

She left Ah Qing behind and went into the house to look for Yuan Ye. She didn't care that Yuan Ye was checking Meng Ziqi's pulse. She approached him and asked, "Why don't you want to be an official? It would be great to be a proper warrior! Wandering warriors are worthless. Don't you know that?"

Facing this wild child who looked like a modern friend, Yuan Ye was willing to speak his mind. He shook his head and said, "I don't want to kowtow to others, nor do I want to be ordered around, so forget it. It's good like this now!"

"Just for such a trivial matter? What's the big deal about kowtow a few times? Dung beetles kowtow every day to get dung balls to eat. Are your knees inlaid with gold?" Ah Man was more and more incredulous and stretched out his hand. "Kowtow a few times is really nothing. If you don't believe me, give me a string of coins and I will kowtow to you ten times right away! In the next month, I will kowtow to you once every time I see you. I will keep my word!"

"Get lost, I'm not you!"

"But you are so stupid. What are you going to eat in the future? You have already spent most of your money!" Ah Man did not give up and continued to persuade him earnestly, "You keep squandering money. You spend money on buying herbs to treat poor people, but you only get beans, buckwheat and radishes in return. They are not worth much at all. You can't sell them and you can't make back your money. You won't be able to last long! It's rare that someone is willing to take you in. You should go and ask again to see if they are still willing to take you in!"

If Yuanye didn't have a stable job and went bankrupt, she wouldn't have rice to stew chicken with, and she might have to go back to begging. She couldn't wait, and Yuanye was a pushover, so he probably wouldn't be a warrior. That was just right, because she could! She could teach him how to bully the villagers, bully men and women, and run rampant in the village, and she would guarantee that he would live a more comfortable life than he did now.

It would be a shame not to go!

"Come on, I know what's going on. You don't need to worry about me!" After taking Meng Ziqi's pulse, Yuan Ye found that he was stable, so he went to read a book. He didn't bother to pay more attention to her. "When the money is almost gone, I will naturally go and earn it. Then I will stew ten chickens a day. Sooner or later, you will be stuffed to death!"

He was just that kind of person. He didn't care about small matters, but no one could persuade him in big matters. He had been beaten since he was a child, and the more he was beaten, the harder his head became. Finally, at a young age, he turned around and broke the head of his alcoholic and domestic violence father, becoming a well-known "unfilial son". But even in this situation, he never bowed his head.

So let alone Maeda Toshiharu, even if someone like Oda Nobunaga, who is sure to become rich and powerful, came, don't expect him to bow his head to the ground and pretend to be a grandson and a retainer and be loyal.

Love whoever you want, he is who he is, that’s just the way he is, and he will be like this for the rest of his life!
(End of this chapter)