Chapter 71: Run, Hurry and Run, Run Far Away!
Yuan Ye walked back to his camp, with A Man dejectedly following behind him.
She had been the banker for a gambling session. She had won a little at first, but at a crucial moment, she gambled it all. She failed to roll a pair of eights and couldn’t complete the “Wild Boar with Matchlock Gun（ + Bench）” hand, forcing her to pay all the players and leaving her completely broke.
She was very sad about this, feeling that life had no meaning.
Yuan Ye glanced at her, but he couldn’t do anything about her. Their current relationship was more like that of friends. Even if she didn’t learn to behave and was a incorrigible wild child, Yuan Ye couldn’t spank her or point at her forehead and scold her. He could only take a slow approach—he planned to go back and report her to A Qing, and to further strengthen his supervision of the money she had on hand.
Then, he would spend some time, find an opportunity, and think of a way to see if he could completely cure her bad habit.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel at ease with a gambler by his side.
He made up his mind, withdrew his gaze from A Man, and looked at the current Inaba Land camp.
Oda Nobunaga and other samurai were celebrating their great victory in the Shogunate with lavish feasts and entertainment. The followers and ashigaru were also not idle; they lit bonfires in the open fields, gathered to drink cloudy sake, cook meat, gamble, and chat loudly. Some were even setting up stalls, loudly hawking various “spoils of war” they had looted, creating a makeshift “small market.”
Yuan Ye took a casual look and found all sorts of miscellaneous items: large painted screens, small pottery water containers, damaged kitchen knives, scattered clothing and accessories, and even chickens, ducks, and pickles. And this “small market” had quite a few visitors. Among them were a few “respectable individuals” wearing straight-collared robes and shoulder sashes, constantly taking out money to buy cheap goods—judging by their appearance, they resembled the fat shopkeeper from the Kikyōya in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”《.
Yuan Ye had been either treating injuries or sleeping, so he hadn’t noticed when these “shopkeepers” had arrived. He pointed at A Man and asked, “Who are they?”
A Man glanced at them listlessly and replied glumly, “They are corpse merchants.”
“Corpse merchants?”
“Corpse shovel is a type of wooden shovel used to bury bodies. Corpse merchants are naturally merchants who specialize in handling corpses.” A Man had just suffered a great loss and didn’t have much patience to explain such common knowledge to him, but she still managed to say, “After the war, so many people died, they smelled their way here. They’ll bury the bodies to earn some money from Oda Nobunaga, then strip the clothes off the dead, and look for damaged weapons and armor to sell. That’s about it.”
So that’s how it is!
Yuan Ye nodded. He had been wondering what to do with the bodies of the fallen soldiers, as leaving them there could easily lead to a major epidemic. He hadn’t expected that people in ancient times weren’t foolish; there were people who specialized in this line of work and had already come to do business—Japanese samurai really only cared about fighting, and others handled the rest, forming an entire industry.
It was of no use for him to know such people, so he didn’t ask further. However, he slowed his pace to observe this “stolen goods market.” He saw that many items still bore faint, uncleaned bloodstains, which made him feel slightly uncomfortable. But there was nothing he could do about such matters, so he could only watch.
Soon, they were nearing the end of this “small market.” The light gradually dimmed, and he saw a group of people tied together with straw ropes, men, women, and children, nearly a hundred in total. He couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Who are these people?”
A Man looked up briefly, then lowered her head indifferently and said, “Probably the townspeople from the castle town of Kiyosu, a bunch of fools who didn’t escape. Someone probably didn’t get any good loot, so they grabbed them on the way back, planning to sell them somewhere later and split the money.”
Yuan Ye: …
He thought he had already adapted to this terrible era, but he didn’t expect to encounter all sorts of terrible things that broke his limits. He figured there must be many more monstrous acts that modern people couldn’t accept in places he couldn’t see. He didn’t dare to think about it; it would make him sick. He really wanted to go back to the modern era.
Damn this transmigration!
He hadn’t done anything heinous, so why was he being punished like this?
He shook his head, sighed inwardly, and continued walking towards his tent. But after a few steps, he heard faint sobbing from the darkness. He paused, sighed again, and asked A Man, “Where… will they be sold?”
“Who knows. The women will probably be sold to pleasure quarters（ or liquor stores（ (which also double as pleasure quarters（), and the men will probably be sold to mine or clear mountains. These people aren’t very useful; they can’t fight, they can’t farm, so only their bodies and strength are worth some money.” A Man was indifferent; she had seen such things too many times. Only a young master like Yuan Ye would ask such a foolish question.
Yuan Ye was silent for a moment, shook his head again, turned to look around nearby, and asked a group by a bonfire, “Whose people are these…?”
The ashigaru who had been laughing loudly by the bonfire fell silent for a moment, then a man in his forties quickly walked over, bowed, and said, “Lord, they are ours. Have you taken a liking to any of them?”
Yuan Ye looked at him in the dim firelight. He saw that he was a common ashigaru, likely pulled from the fields during spring plowing to fight. His demeanor seemed somewhat honest and simple, with a touch of rustic innocence. A simple farmer, selling people without any apparent feeling, and looking quite practiced at it—it was a bit of dark humor.
He shook his head and asked, “How much in total?”
“You want them all?”
“How much?” Yuan Ye was in a bad mood and had no patience for his nonsense.
“Wait!” A Man realized that Yuan Ye seemed to be having another moment of madness, about to do something foolish again. She quickly tugged at him and asked, “A group of old, weak, sick, and disabled people, what do you want them for? You’ve just gotten some money and you’re already itching to spend it?”
“We need people for brewing soy sauce,” Yuan Ye said, making up a reason. “We’re doing it ourselves, and Yayoi and the others can’t handle it physically. It will cause problems in the long run.”
“Even so, you don’t need to buy these people!” A Man still felt it was wrong. “These people couldn’t even escape; they’ll probably be useless at work. It would be better to buy those captured Kiyosu Army ashigaru; they’ll definitely work harder than these.”
Yuan Ye sighed and shook his head, “I just happened to see them, so let’s take them!”
A Man looked intently at the group of “old, weak, sick, and disabled” and advised him again, “If it’s really necessary, only one or two out of ten can do heavy labor. It’s not worth it.”
“We’ll make do, it’s them!”
Yuan Ye had made up his mind and didn’t listen to any advice. He asked the old farmer ashigaru again, “How much?”
The old farmer ashigaru hesitated slightly, stole a glance at his expression, then looked back at his “villagers” and quoted a price: “Since it’s the Lord who wants them, then… a total of eighty-nine people. The children are a gift to you, Lord. Eighty kan of money will suffice. What do you say…”
Less than one kan per person? The price of less than half a donkey?
Yuan Ye felt uncomfortable seeing people being sold and was willing to spend some money to calm his mood, but he wasn’t trying to be a fool. He mentally calculated the price and recalled that A Man, who used to talk nonsense and spout rubbish at home, had once said that Yayoi was only worth four kan. So, looking at it this way…
While he was calculating in his mind, A Man was already very displeased. Yuan Ye, this prodigal son, was always having sudden whims and never listened to her “loyal and sincere advice,” insisting on buying these inferior goods. She couldn’t be happy. She was already depressed from losing all her money, and now she was even more angry.
The little pigtails on her head swayed, and she took the initiative to negotiate, to avoid further losses. She smiled and beckoned to the old farmer ashigaru, “Come here, come here… closer! Yes, a little closer…”
The old farmer ashigaru didn’t understand and inexplicably leaned his head over. A Man flicked her Dou Dou eyebrows, her dog-like face flipped, her smile vanished, and she raised her hand to slap him hard, cursing, “You dare to ask eighty kan for these old, weak, sick, and disabled people? You dung beetle, have you eaten too much shit and gone mad!”
She couldn’t control Yuan Ye’s reckless spending, so all her anger was directed at the overcharging old farmer ashigaru. The slap was very loud and powerful. The old farmer ashigaru spun around on the spot, his face swollen, his head buzzing. The ashigaru by the bonfire stirred slightly, many of them standing up with expressions of shock and fear.
A Man’s Dou Dou eyebrows showed no fear. She drew a short-handled axe and pointed it at them, cursing, “What, you’re not convinced? Believe it or not, I’ll come over and chop you all to death right now!”
After she finished cursing, she hit the old farmer ashigaru with the back of her axe. She lowered her head, her neat bangs falling, her eyes shadowed, and said menacingly, “Eighty kan? You’re dreaming! Thirty kan! Just thirty kan. You’ll each get over one kan, so be content. Don’t take us for fools!”
She turned hostile without any warning and was incredibly overbearing. The old farmer ashigaru was stunned by her beating, but looking at Yuan Ye, who was tall, expressionless, and seemed to be in a bad mood, and then at A Man’s sharp little axe and the ferocity in her eyes, he swallowed and looked timid. After a slight hesitation, he relented, “Then thirty kan it is!”
If they drove these people back to Nagoya Castle, they might sell them for more money, but it wasn’t certain. If there were further actions later, and the leading ashigaru leader found these townspeople to be a nuisance, ordering them to kill or abandon them, they would have wasted their efforts and lost even more. They actually preferred to loot things, but they didn’t get any good loot, so they captured these people to avoid coming out for nothing.
The other ashigaru were better off than their small group; they directly looted items and didn’t get into as much trouble as they did.
These common ashigaru submitted, and A Man was satisfied. She put away her small axe, looked at Yuan Ye, and after Yuan Ye nodded slightly, she kicked the old farmer again: “You’re lucky, you dung balls. Hurry up and bring them with us. We’ll pay you when we get there.”
These common ashigaru seemed to have a bit of a masochistic streak and responded well to this. Despite being kicked and hit by A Man, they still managed a smile and obediently herded the captured townspeople to follow A Man and Yuan Ye.
When Yuan Ye returned, he kept his word. He took thirty kan of copper coins and gave them to the ashigaru, letting them go. Then he instructed the somewhat bewildered Maeshima Hirōichi to temporarily house these unfortunate townspeople, give them some food, and also subtly reminded the townspeople, “Don’t escape tonight.”
For now, that was all he could do. He returned to his small tent, intending to sleep soundly to avoid thinking about these bothersome matters. But upon entering, he saw A Man quietly complaining to A Qing and Yayoi about him, saying his head had been kicked by a donkey again and he was wasting money.
He didn’t say much, but called A Qing over to report: “Your sister went gambling again today. She must have embezzled funds. Investigate her thoroughly.”
A Qing was stunned, her small face immediately flushed red. Feeling deeply remiss, she immediately turned to confront A Man.
Yuan Ye didn’t bother with what she intended to do and simply lay down, falling into a deep sleep.
…
The next morning, Oda Nobunaga ordered a return to Nagoya Castle. However, he seemed to have drunk too much the previous night and didn’t set off immediately, instead staying put in the camp.
Yuan Ye didn’t pay attention. After the main force set off one after another, he directed his subordinates to use ox carts to transport the wounded and slowly moved towards Nagoya Castle.
As for the unfortunate townspeople, Yuan Ye had them walk slowly at the rear of the procession, giving each of them a rice ball and a bamboo tube filled with water for them to eat and drink on the way.
A Man was somewhat uneasy. While supervising the ashigaru to work diligently, she went to the rear several times to check, fearing these people would escape. These people were now the property of the Yuan Ye Family; each person was worth 0.15 donkeys on average. If ten escaped, it would be equivalent to losing one and a half donkeys, which she couldn’t bear.
But Yuan Ye forbade her from going, assigning her a task to scout ahead, citing the reason of preventing an ambush. Even though A Man looked at him as if he were an idiot, he insisted she go.
This was all he could do. He didn’t even know if what he was doing was right, or what others would do in such a situation. There were too many such things, and he couldn’t manage them all. But if he didn’t do anything, he saw it, and his heart felt uncomfortable doing nothing, so he could only do this.
Perhaps, it was just spending a little money to make his mood a little better!
So, run, hurry up and run, run far away!
He didn’t even look back along the way, waiting for these townspeople to escape on their own. After walking along the Odaigawa River for a while, A Man, who had gone to scout, rode back on her horse and reported from a distance, “Old Maeda Toshiharu is kneeling ahead. What should we do?”
