Chapter 244: Empty Husk Insect Disaster
In this era, as summer drew to a close and autumn began, Wanjin was about to enter its harvest season.
The rice paddies were like a gilded scroll painting, with plump, drooping rice ears layered upon each other, dyeing the ridges into amber waves. A gentle breeze swept through, causing the rice waves to ripple with fine golden light. The rustling sound, carrying the unique sweet scent of new rice, flowed through the humid air.
Just looking at this scene, one could tell that this year would absolutely be a bountiful one for Wanjin.
It wasn’t easy. First, they endured two consecutive years of major and minor natural disasters, then they resettled a large number of veteran soldiers into the villages, replacing the status of local lords and samurai, popularized iron farm tools, actively promoted seedling cultivation and composting techniques, and organized water conservancy projects during the farming off-season. This year, with the household contract system, after four years of accumulating strength for a breakthrough, the results were finally visible.
The process was certainly difficult, with countless troubles big and small. From Yuan Ye downwards, countless people were worried sick, and there was even bloodshed and sacrifice, but it was all worth it in the end. The largest group on the Chita Peninsula was also slowly beginning to prosper.
Furthermore, Wanjin’s agricultural tax was not high, and most of the land use rights were in the hands of individuals. Miscellaneous annual tributes like bamboo and feathers were no longer collected, greatly reducing the burden on agricultural workers, and the Chita Peninsula was filled with joy.
Amidst this jubilation, the “international students” from Ezo Island were also sent over from afar. Yuan Ye warmly welcomed them, even fearing they would be too hot, and specially installed “earth air conditioners” in their residences and classrooms, so that they could comfortably begin their one-year, three-year, and even five-year studies, divided by age.
Incidentally, Yuan Ye also set up an “Ainu Language” class in Wanjin, with intelligence personnel transferred from Ezo Island and these “international students” acting as teachers, open to the public, to continue cultivating “foreign language” talent.
There will be many occasions in the future where Wanjin will interact with the Ainu people, so it’s best to prepare early.
A Man also wanted to return and had actively applied, but there were few people in Wanjin who could act as a “troublemaker” in such a distant place, so she had to endure staying there for a while longer.
However, with the graduation of Wanjin’s first batch of “junior high school students” (some were already in their twenties and thirties), Yuan Ye supplemented her with more personnel to teach the Ainu people and improve their technology. The Ainu people were indeed a bit weak, with their overall technological level having a pre-BC feel. Some tribes even looked like matriarchal societies, with very strange ideas, making cooperation with them troublesome.
They would also map the southwestern area of Ezo Island, look for minerals, and prepare for future road construction and port development.
The Wanjin Army’s military expansion and war preparation were also proceeding smoothly. The best of the best, over two thousand outstanding youths selected from the workshops, all completed their new recruit training and were assigned to various units. They were supplemented by over seven hundred active members selected from the militia system, increasing the Wanjin Army’s numbers to over fifty-six hundred.
The Wanjin Navy also continued to develop. Four “Large Ataka Copper Ships” were added, three of which completed sea trials and all training courses, initially possessing long-range combat capabilities. In addition, auxiliary combat ships like Kan-sen ships and Kobaya ships reached over one hundred and forty, and specialized ships like Ma-bune ships accumulated over twenty.
Everything was proceeding according to plan. Wanjin had amassed all its strength, waiting to deliver a powerful blow.
Yuan Ye had done all he could, with clear objectives, fully enhancing his own strength and secretly weakening his enemies. However, whether the saying “Victory in war goes to the side that has made more calculations beforehand” was true, would have to be tested in actual combat.
Now, he was just waiting for the Ise Peninsula to erupt.
…
The Chita Peninsula and the Ise Peninsula faced each other across the sea. The Chita Peninsula was about to enter its harvest season, and naturally, the Ise Peninsula was also preparing for the autumn harvest. However, unlike the jubilation on the Chita Peninsula, the atmosphere here was extremely somber.
“What is going on?”
Yasuda Katsuji was a Magistrate of the Kitabatake Family, primarily responsible for collecting the annual tribute from the villages belonging to Kijō and Ikeno in Suzugamine County.
Of course, as a close attendant samurai of the Kitabatake Family, he did not handle the specific miscellaneous affairs. He was only responsible for liaising with grassroots personnel like the village headmen. Normally, they would proactively communicate according to custom, but this year was different. When it was time to confirm the delivery date, not a single village came forward.
He found it strange. These two counties were the core territory of the Kitabatake Family; he didn’t believe anyone here dared to resist tribute payment – that would be pure suicidal. So, he directly left the city to go to the countryside to investigate. Upon seeing the situation, he was greatly shocked.
He had heard before that bamboo flowering could lead to natural disasters, and he thought it would be like a few years ago, with typhoons arriving early, sweeping across the land one after another, leaving no time for even a rushed harvest. However, after a period of anxious waiting, he found that the weather had been favorable this year, with at most a hotter summer than usual. It didn’t seem like a disaster was imminent at all.
He thought it was a rumor. After all, it was said that bamboo flowering would bring disaster, but few people had actually seen bamboo flower. These were legends passed down from the past, and only old farmers muttered about them. Perhaps… it was just a coincidence?
Most people in the Kitabatake Family thought similarly to him. When the bamboo first flowered, they were all a bit worried, and some even started stocking up on grain. But the weather had remained normal until now, and that trend had long since disappeared. Those who stored grain had instead become the object of ridicule for being timid.
But now, with the autumn harvest imminent, Yasuda Katsuji came to the village and found it in complete chaos. The rice had formed ears normally, but many of the rice ears were hollow and shriveled, with the grains inside dry, small, and dark in color, completely different from normal, plump grains.
There were quite a few such rice ears, two or three out of every hundred plants. Some rice ears were even malformed, filled with fibrous material, and had not developed any grains at all.
Yasuda Katsuji pulled up more than ten plants and was stunned. His mind couldn’t keep up. He angrily shouted at the village headman and the old farmers following behind him, “Speak! What is going on?! Why are the rice ears like this?!”
The people behind the village headman trembled. Everyone had a ashen face. The village headman was also somewhat absent-minded, muttering, “We… we don’t know, Lord. Before… before everything was fine. In early summer, there was a period of rice locusts. We stripped every leaf, replanted, and it was fine then.
Besides… besides, rice locusts only eat rice leaves. The rice ears… the rice ears shouldn’t have become like this.”
He truly didn’t know what was happening. There was no precedent for such a thing before, or rather, it had happened occasionally. Some rice ears would form empty ears, said to be caused by a very, very small insect sucking the sap from the rice stalks. But such unknown small insects had never been so numerous, nor had they ever harmed so many rice plants. This field was the most meticulously cared for and was considered relatively good. The disaster was not the most severe. In some fields, empty ears exceeded forty percent, and some symptoms were even stranger, with rice ears growing like scallion tubes.
“Don’t know? How can you not know?! It must be that you didn’t take care of it diligently!” Yasuda Katsuji pulled at the rice ears again, unable to figure out what was happening, but he certainly couldn’t take the blame.
This field was the Kitabatake Family’s “Directly Managed Fields.” Every grain of rice from here had to be given to the Kitabatake Family. And with the land survey methods of this era, regardless of the harvest, this field was assessed at 320 koku. If he couldn’t collect it, it was his problem, unless the higher-ups were willing to grant a reduction for the entire farm. Otherwise, he had to produce 320 koku of rice from this paddy field and deliver it to the city.
At the very least, before important figures like the head of the Kitabatake Family spoke, he absolutely dared not say anything like, “Since this is the case, there’s nothing we can do, we’ll take whatever we can get.”
If things went wrong, these commoners might be fine, but it would be his turn to be unlucky.
The village headman also understood this, but the disaster was an objective reality, and he truly had no other options. He could only plead, “Lord, we truly don’t know what’s happening. This year… can we this year…”
“No, three hundred and twenty koku, six to, two go, not a single grain less!” Yasuda Katsuji was unyielding. Even if he were willing to return to the city and explain the situation to his superiors, he couldn’t back down now. Moreover, similar incidents had occurred in the past when collecting annual tribute. These wicked commoners would claim they couldn’t produce any more, but as long as you were firm and hanged a few at the village entrance, these wicked commoners, under fear, would desperately try and find a way to gather the grain.
As for how they would live…
They could eat wild vegetables and wild fruits. After all, wicked commoners were never in short supply, and it didn’t matter if a few died.
Yasuda Katsuji was also an experienced collector of annual tribute. After a moment’s thought, he felt that even with the disaster, it wasn’t a big deal. He once again ordered the headman and villagers, “It was agreed before that the Directly Managed Fields must be paid in full. If you are short, you will make up for it yourselves.”
The villagers’ faces became even more dejected. Besides serving in the “Directly Managed Fields,” each household also had a tenant field, large or small, fertile or poor. But those fields had also suffered disaster, and it was barely enough to pay the annual tribute, making it difficult to find any surplus to cover the deficit in the “Directly Managed Fields.”
Moreover, they also needed to eat. Even if they didn’t get to eat rice, they had to use this rice to repay debts and interest owed to the temple from previous years, to cover the “rice for oxen” money from spring plowing, and to sell for money to buy daily necessities. They had even put all their effort into farming, and for items included in the annual tribute like feathers, wood, and fish glue, the villagers had no time or energy to gather them, so many had to be paid for with rice…
In short, there were too many expenses that required rice. Now, if these villagers were to take the little rice they had to make up for the deficit, they wouldn’t be able to survive.
The village headman’s expression changed a few times. As a retired Ashigaru, a stern look flashed in his eyes, and he couldn’t help but want to say some harsh words. But this was a small village, and he was just a Follower. Looking at the two swords at Yasuda Katsuji’s waist, and then at the squad of Dōmaru Ashigaru he brought, he could only lead everyone to kneel and beg, “Lord Yasuda, please, give us a way to live… these over three hundred and twenty koku will be short by over a hundred koku. These people truly cannot gather that much. This year, it’s truly not their fault…”
Yasuda Katsuji was not entirely heartless. After a moment’s hesitation, he said in a low voice, “I will speak to Lord Hirado when I return. Perhaps a little can be reduced, but the city also has many uses for rice and money right now, so the reduction won’t be much. The remainder… the remainder, you will still have to make up.”
After speaking, he thought for a moment and then pondered, “If that doesn’t work, you can also use miscellaneous grains to make up for a portion.”
Recently, the prices of miscellaneous grains like buckwheat, beans, and taro in the Suzugamine County area had also risen considerably. It was said that people by the seaside were purchasing these miscellaneous grains, and at the same time, they were also buying large quantities of commonly found rural goods like soybean oil and taro shochu. So, considering the plight of these villagers, he decided to do a good deed. He would go back and beg his superior to allow them to use beans, taro, and the like to make up the difference, then press them for oil and brew them into alcohol to sell by the seaside. He figured it wouldn’t lose much, and perhaps they could even make a small profit.
This was his final act of mercy. Otherwise, without rice, what would the samurai eat? What would they use to support their Followers and Ashigaru? What would they use to purchase Armor and Weapons?
Without military strength, they couldn’t defend these lands and would eventually fall into the hands of others. Therefore…
The annual tribute must be collected, and everyone must pay the annual tribute!
Yasuda Katsuji finally left after saying, “You know the consequences if you can’t make up the full amount. Take care of yourselves.” The village headman and the villagers behind him looked even more dejected, staring blankly at the fields.
