I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"Hey!"

Ogata leaned down and shouted to the person squatting in the snow.

"How are you?"

After hearing Ogata's shout, the unknown person squatting in the snow raised his head and looked at Ogata.

It was the face of a weather-beaten middle-aged man.

But for some reason, there was a bit of pain on his face.

"Master Samurai..." The middle-aged man looked at the sword on Ogata's waist, "Please...can you help me..."

"I... accidentally fell down just now, it seems that I hurt my foot..."

"I can't walk back to the village alone with this injured foot..."

"Can you help take me back to the village?"

"The village where I live is not far from here, please!"

"Send you back to the village..." Ogata looked the middle-aged man up and down, "I'd be happy to do this kind of thing within my power. But before helping you—"

Ogata stretched out his hand and groped up and down the middle-aged man's body.

"Master Samurai..." the middle-aged man wondered, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just checking to see if you have any weapons like knives and poison on you."

After groping the whole body of the middle-aged man, Ogata clapped his hands.

"Okay, you don't have a murder weapon on your body, it seems that you are not planning to use dirty tricks to deal with my assassin."

"Master Samurai, you are joking." The middle-aged man smiled wryly, "Why should I harm you for no reason?"

To the middle-aged man's words, Ogata responded with a meaningful smile.

Ogata pulled the middle-aged man onto his back, and carried it on his back.

"Hold on."

"Okay, samurai, thank you." The middle-aged man said in a sincere tone, "In this world, there are not many samurai with an old-fashioned heart like you."

"you are welcome.

"Ogata smiled, "Anyway, it's just a trivial matter for me. Quickly show me the way, which direction is the village you live in? "

...

...

Under the guidance of the middle-aged man, Ogata walked slowly towards the village where the middle-aged man lived.

It was a coincidence that the direction of the village where the middle-aged man lived coincided with the direction that Ogata wanted to go at the beginning.

So Ogata also dropped by to send the middle-aged man home.

When sending the middle-aged man home, Ogata chatted casually with the middle-aged man.

Through chatting with this middle-aged man, Ogata learned that the name of this middle-aged man is Jiro, and the village he lives in is called Sihe Village.

He went out to leave the village this time to find something to eat in the wild.

"Looking for something to eat?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, "In such a snowy day, how can there be anything to eat in the wild?"

"Haha..." Jilang laughed helplessly, "So I'm just here to try my luck... Maybe I can meet something that can be eaten... My family and I have been together for a long time I haven't had enough to eat..."

Speaking of this, Jiro let out a long sigh.

"Hey...it's all because of the hateful Negishi family...if it wasn't for them, our village wouldn't be what it is now..."

"The Negishi family?" Ogata asked doubtfully.

"It's the 'Yakuza' entrenched in this place..." Speaking of this, Jiro sighed again, "The only thing the Negishi family knows how to do is to bully ordinary people like us."

"It is said that the influence of the Negishi family covers half of the Tatsuno clan."

"All nearby villages, including our Sihe Village, are targets of oppression by the Negishi family."

"They send people to every village every month to ask every family for a lot of money."

“They charged a ‘protection fee’ as they put it nicely.”

"But it's actually blackmailing us outright."

"We ordinary people already have heavy taxes to pay."

"After paying the tax, a large sum of money has to be paid to the Negishi family."

"If you don't obediently pay the money to the Negishi family every month, you will be endlessly harassed by the Negishi family..."

"It's because of these bastards that everyone in the village can hardly survive..."

Jilang's tone was full of indignation and... grievance.

At the end of the story, Ogata could hear a little crying from his tone of voice.

"Didn't you report it to the people in the feudal mansion?" Ogata asked, "The Negishi family is so powerful and their people are so arrogant, so it is impossible for the people in the feudal mansion not to know the existence of this group of people, right? ?”

"Master Samurai..." Jilang showed a bitter smile, "If the officials can be so reliable... we ordinary people don't have to go hungry anymore..."

"The people in the feudal government have long colluded with the Negishi family."

"The Negishi family will send a lot of money every month to bribe the officials of the feudal government."

"So the people in the feudal government have always turned a blind eye to the various behaviors of the Negishi family."

"It's not that we haven't tried to report to the officials and report what the Negishi family has done to the people in the feudal government..."

"We tried many times."

"But no matter how many times we try, the people in the feudal government ignore us."

"Just ignore us, they also told the Negishi family who will report to them today what the Negishi family did..."

"Because of the leak from the people of the feudal mansion, those who had the courage to report the Negishi family to the feudal mansion were beaten into disabilities by the Negishi family, or were directly killed..."

"As time passed, everyone dared not speak out, and could only endure the oppression of the Negishi family in silence..."

After quietly listening to Jiro's words, Ogata remained silent.

After being silent for a while, he let out a long sigh:

"These dog officials are really hateful..."

"Yeah..." Jilang clenched his fists slowly, "Those dog officials are really...too hateful...!"

...

...

When carrying Jilang back to his village, the originally heavy snowstorm gradually subsided.

Not only did the wind and snow subside, but the dark clouds that had squeezed the sky gradually dissipated, revealing the faint sunlight.

Without the hindrance of the wind and snow, Ogata walked more easily.

Carrying Jilang on his back, he walked along the country road covered with thick snow.

Finally——Ogata saw many thin streaks of cooking smoke in front of him.

"Master Samurai!" Jiro said excitedly, "We are here! My village is ahead!"

"Okay." Ogata lifted Jiro up on his back, "Sit still, let's speed up a little bit!"