Chapter 172: He Likely Has Malicious Intentions!
Izumi Heiji received special treatment due to A Man, not being crammed into small boats like the new immigrants from Mino, packed like sardines and transported to the seaside. Instead, he could ride in an ox cart, slowly moving forward while his wounds healed, listening to A Man recount Yuan Ye’s rise to prominence and learning about Xin Wanjin, a new place that had just appeared in Owari Province.
Even so, upon setting foot on Xin Wanjin’s land, his first impression was one of novelty, as if he had arrived in a foreign country overseas.
In his memory, the Wanjin Army’s attire was already different from anyone he had ever seen. It was neither like the traditional Japanese kozode, hitatare, and ōhakama, nor like the magnificent robes of the Ming Dynasty, nor even like the strange Nanban attire. It lacked too many complex and useless decorative items—the Wanjin Army’s attire was overall very simple yet exquisitely made, with unique buttons on the cuffs and pockets on the tops and trousers, either inexplicably so or very practical.
The strange attire in Xin Wanjin might be explained as the peculiar habits of the “eccentrics,” where what the superiors liked, the subordinates would greatly emulate. However, with strange attire filling the streets, men uniformly sporting short hair, coupled with Xin Wanjin’s simple, angular, and peculiar architecture, at first glance, it truly resembled a foreign land.
At the very least, as an old hand who had traveled extensively for many years, Izumi Heiji doubted he was still within the Sixty-Six Provinces of the Realm.
A Man, however, paid no mind to his novelty and enthusiastically took him to visit various workshops, to see the lives of Xin Wanjin’s commoners, proving that she hadn’t lied. Yuan Ye was indeed an eccentric, but he was very good at making money, and Xin Wanjin was developing very well. Along the way, she continuously repeated what she had heard from Yuan Ye to her old man.
For instance, pointing to a large undeveloped wilderness to the north （ land belonging to the Oya Family ）, she stated that Yuan Ye planned to promote agricultural projects there in the future, with a tentative policy of exempting new immigrants from annual tribute for the first three years. After three years, the “three parts to the lord, seven parts to the people” annual tribute policy would be implemented, and soldier’s rations, horse rental fees, and other harsh miscellaneous taxes would be permanently waived. Supplies like feathers, wood, and bamboo would also not need to be paid, allowing farmers to focus solely on farming.
Izumi Heiji hadn’t yet recovered from the developed “handicraft” production of Xin Wanjin when A Man brought up a new topic. He couldn’t help but look towards that wilderness and murmured, “Three parts to the lord, seven to the people? No miscellaneous fees, taxes, or labor collected besides the annual tribute? If that’s truly the case, this is indeed the world’s foremost benevolent governance…”
A Man had objected at the time, thinking they shouldn’t be so polite to commoners; it was already generous enough not to arrest their daughters and abuse them day and night. But now, needing to show off for her old man, she naturally wouldn’t bring that up again, saying with some smugness, “Three parts to the lord, seven to the people is also temporary. I heard him say he plans to gradually lower it to one part to the lord, nine to the people.”
In fact, Yuan Ye had intended to implement a one-part-to-the-lord, nine-to-the-people policy from the beginning, meaning one *koku* collected one *to*. However, he later felt that this step was too large and could easily lead to problems, so he planned to start with the three-to-seven ratio and then gradually lower it to one-to-nine. After that, depending on the situation, he would begin agricultural subsidies or tax rebates—this was a long-term policy that might take over a decade or even decades, and it would be adjusted at any time based on actual circumstances.
“One part to the lord, nine to the people?” Izumi Heiji was speechless for a moment. Even a village head wouldn’t be able to collect so little, otherwise, the village couldn’t even organize basic defense. After all, even militia members needed to eat, and if they were always told to bring their own food, most people wouldn’t come.
“Yes, that’s all he plans to collect in the future.” A Man recalled what Yuan Ye had said before and began to parrot him, “He said something like ‘no industry, no strength; no commerce, no wealth; no agriculture, no stability.’ Agriculture also needs special attention. Reducing agricultural taxes can encourage… uh, encourage agricultural practitioners to actively reclaim land, and also enable them to reclaim land and expand production. It also allows them to have the spare energy and will to plant certain cash crops, further promoting industry and commerce, which is very profitable for Xin Wanjin’s long-term income.”
Although Izumi Heiji was a well-traveled old hand, he didn’t understand A Man’s words. A Man herself didn’t quite understand either, but she unilaterally trusted that Yuan Ye had his own plans and wouldn’t lose money—Yuan Ye had a complete development plan, a thick book of it. She had seen it herself, but lacked the patience to read it thoroughly.
She then began to suggest that Izumi Heiji secretly move all the people from his old home in Kōka over, to establish his village headship here. After all, Yuan Ye wouldn’t cheat him. She also tempted him, “A Qing and I have also accumulated quite a bit of military merit, and we have no use for it. If your village is established well, we’ll transfer all that military merit to you. Perhaps your village will be established instantly, directly implementing the one-part-to-the-lord, nine-to-the-people policy.”
Izumi Heiji remained noncommittal. Moving a village was a major undertaking that required careful consideration.
A Man didn’t care. In any case, she had fulfilled her filial duty. She continued to drag him around, trying to prove that Xin Wanjin was indeed a good place, and following Yuan Ye was definitely a hundred times better than following Saito Dosan.
As they passed a secluded spot, she pointed there and introduced, “That’s the public school, a place for teaching literacy and crafts. In the future, the children there can directly work in the workshops. However, it’s just starting now, so not many people have been recruited, and they only accept children under ten years old.”
“A school?” A Man was now full of new terms, and Izumi Heiji didn’t understand many of them. He walked over and looked a couple of times before understanding what a public school was. He asked somewhat curiously, “There are at least over a hundred people, that’s not a small number. How much does each student have to pay per year?”
In his opinion, Xin Wanjin was indeed quite prosperous. Although the people’s clothing was strange, they all looked decent, and their houses were also good. However, he hadn’t expected so many people to have surplus wealth to send their children to school.
“They don’t pay, and they even get a meal!” A Man knew this was a policy Yuan Ye was just beginning to try implementing, believing it was storing wealth for the future and reducing trouble. “There aren’t enough people yet. He plans to ensure that within three to five years, ninety percent of children can attend school for three years and receive a unified education. A small portion will be able to study for six years, becoming proficient in reading, writing, and calculation, to supplement… I forgot what positions they’re supplementing, but there will be such a group of people.”
Izumi Heiji looked at the public school, which currently seemed somewhat rudimentary—very simple compared to the grand workshops—and even the teachers were young maids in their teens. He fell silent for a moment, and after a long pause, he softly said, “This is also benevolent governance…”
“Of course, it’s the world’s foremost benevolent governance!” A Man looked at her old man, a sense of superiority welling up. She raised her Dou Dou eyebrows and asked knowingly, “Mino doesn’t have this, does it? The stingy bears of the Saito Family wouldn’t spend this money, would they?”
Izumi Heiji didn’t speak. Mino indeed didn’t have it. How could children from ordinary commoner families sit in a school? They didn’t even have enough to eat every day; if they had time to sit in school, they might as well go dig for food.
A Man still didn’t care about his reaction and continued to drag him around for sightseeing. Even when walking on the cement road, she would stomp her feet twice and ask Izumi Heiji if Mino had such flat and orderly roads.
Izumi Heiji’s eyes had been opened today. He let A Man wander around as she pleased, but after a while, he suddenly felt something was amiss. After recalling for a moment, he asked curiously, “Xin Wanjin… doesn’t have any temples or shrines? Have they not had time to build them yet?”
Not only were there no temples or shrines, but he hadn’t even seen a shrine or Buddha statue by the roadside, which was very unusual.
“We don’t have those things here.” A Man was waving to a vendor selling grilled dried fish, intending to treat her old man to a “Xin Wanjin specialty.” Recently, these snacks sprinkled with wormwood and refined salt were very popular and very cheap. She said casually, “According to 《 Xin Wanjin Provisional Public Order Regulations 》, privately establishing shrines and temples is punishable by penal servitude of one to five years; occupying public land to build shrines and Buddha statues is punishable by a fine of five hundred *mon* to five *kan*, or detention for three months.”
“How can such a thing happen?” Izumi Heiji was truly shocked and felt it was utterly inexplicable.
A Man bought the grilled dried fish and casually handed him a skewer, saying indifferently, “What’s so strange about that? Xin Wanjin doesn’t support idlers. Shrines and temples are useless and like to cause trouble; they have no place in Xin Wanjin.”
“Does no one oppose it?” Izumi Heiji’s gaze swept over the commoners coming and going, not believing there wasn’t a single believer among them.
A Man was currently in charge of the military police, and Xin Wanjin’s police department hadn’t yet been established or separated from the military police. Hearing Izumi Heiji’s words, her Dou Dou eyebrows immediately furrowed, and a hint of sternness appeared on her usually cheerful face. Her hand even went to the hilt of her sword, and she said softly, “Who dares?! Anyone who dares to oppose something explicitly forbidden will have to test if my sword is sharp!”
“It’s just shrines and temples…”
“If it’s not allowed, it’s not allowed!” A Man’s attitude on this matter was consistent with Yuan Ye’s. In Xin Wanjin, those who don’t work don’t eat; they didn’t want to support freeloaders.
Izumi Heiji was speechless for a moment but didn’t argue further with A Man. He simply looked at this strange town, lost in thought.
This place was already very different from the Sixty-Six Provinces of the Realm. It truly had a foreign feel. Even if it wasn’t strongly expressed yet, it seemed to be gradually separating from the Sixty-Six Provinces.
And this separation seemed to be deliberately carried out by the local lord. He intentionally refused to recruit vassals, intentionally changed the local attire, intentionally changed local dietary habits, intentionally prohibited the spread of local religions, intentionally unified education, and intentionally changed various traditions…
If this continued, this place might become a new country in the future, and even a new ethnic group might emerge.
Izumi Heiji looked at the novel and strange Xin Wanjin. Even though it was just a fleeting glimpse, a rough overview, he felt as if he had been contaminated by strangeness. Such strange thoughts involuntarily arose in his mind, and for a moment, he gripped the hilt of his katana, his hair standing on end, and a chill ran down his spine.
The lord here, Nohara Saburo Ieyoshi, very likely had malicious intentions and far-reaching ambitions, aiming for something great!
