Chapter 22

At 5:30 in the morning, the mechanical watch rang its alarm on schedule.

Roshi Zhengliang slowly opened his eyes, looked at the watch, and saw that the time was 5:50 on April 7, 2012 (regarding the year, since the watch did not have a setting for the year 1540, he had to leave it as it was). He closed his eyes again and recalled the events of the past few days. Counting on his fingers, he realized it had been eight days since he arrived in this era. He seemed to be gradually adapting to this time, sometimes even forgetting his original identity. But every time the familiar alarm of the watch rang, he felt as if he was back in his previous life, going to work every day. Loneliness, deep, bone-penetrating loneliness, was the most direct feeling Roshi Zhengliang had at that moment.

After calming down a bit, Roshi Zhengliang picked up the watch from the tray and examined it. Speaking of this watch, it had indeed brought him a lot of convenience. When he first arrived, he was very unaccustomed to the timekeeping methods here. Fortunately, with this watch, he had precise time assistance. Since he always wore it on his wrist, even though his clothes could cover his arm, his arm would still be exposed during training and work, which drew many curious glances. Out of helplessness, he had to say that this was a blessing from the Great Hachiman Bodhisattva, given to the lord as a divine messenger. As long as the lord wore it, it could bring blessings and protection to the people. However, this blessing was only effective for the lord; if anyone else wore it, it would bring a curse. Originally, this was just a lie he made up to avoid being disturbed, but it spread among the people and became more and more mysterious. In the end, the watch was upgraded to a "divine object," and the people became even more respectful and fearful of the new lord. He could only laugh bitterly when he found out about this but did not debunk the rumor, as gaining further respect and fear from the people was a good thing.

His thoughts returned to reality, and he stretched lazily before quickly getting up to tidy his clothes. The most important task was to tie sandbags to his legs. This was an additional training load he had privately imposed on himself. In this era, where strength was paramount, to protect his own life, he had to constantly train to enhance his self-defense capabilities. Just as he finished, Song Meizi's voice sounded from outside the door; she had come to deliver breakfast.

Song Meizi was a servant he had taken in two days ago (don't misunderstand, she mainly took care of the lord's daily meals, such as cooking and washing clothes). Seeing the mother and daughter, who were orphans, working alone on half a field (1 field = 10 acres), he had a moment of compassion and took them in as servants. Anyway, during this period, this 20-something young woman was taking care of his daily meals, and as the lord, there was no limit to the food supply, so he did not mind sharing a bit with the mother and daughter. Of course, it could not be too much, or it would cause dissent. Regarding the unlimited food supply, his original plan was to have the same standard as the other villagers, but Dōgo Heiji had subtly raised objections. He advised that, as the lord, the privilege of unlimited food supply was necessary to show the authority of the lord. After some thought, Roshi Zhengliang agreed, as equality was not suitable for this era.

Looking at the breakfast Song Meizi had brought, it was a bowl of mixed grain porridge (the few stones of rice in the domain had been strictly ordered by Roshi Zhengliang to be used as seeds and not for consumption), with wild vegetables and some meat strips mixed in. This was the food treatment for the lord. In fact, this was already the most sumptuous meal in the domain.

Looking at the porridge on the wooden stump (which Roshi Zhengliang temporarily used as a table) and then at Song Meizi, who had been kneeling with her head down since entering the hut and putting down the wooden bowl, Roshi Zhengliang couldn't help but laugh bitterly. Although having a beautiful servant was indeed a pleasant thing, it also brought problems. For example, the problem that immediately arose. According to his old habits, he would wash his face and brush his teeth before breakfast. So, when Roshi Zhengliang took the clear water Song Meizi handed him and picked up the toothbrush he had made from a branch, he was about to brush his teeth when a small head peeked out from behind Song Meizi. The child, with big eyes, looked at Roshi Zhengliang curiously and said in a childish voice, "Big brother, what is this?"

Hearing this, Roshi Zhengliang felt a headache and stopped his movements. In fact, after a few days of interaction, the little girl was no longer afraid of him and even started to cling to him. This was mainly due to the bread, which was such a delicious thing for a child that after eating it once, she would look at Roshi Zhengliang with big, pitiful eyes every time she saw him, as if asking, "Big brother, do you have any more of those delicious things?"

Unable to resist, Roshi Zhengliang was defeated by her innocent eyes and took out one of the two remaining chocolates and gave it to the little girl. As a result, a bigger problem arose. The little girl was very happy after eating it but did not forget her mother and friends, so she shared it with everyone. Roshi Zhengliang thought that was the end of it, but after eating, the little girl came back, followed by a group of friends, all looking at Roshi Zhengliang with big, expectant eyes. In the end, Roshi Zhengliang had no choice but to call Song Meizi to calm the children down.

Later, the little girl's friends never dared to approach Roshi Zhengliang again, mainly due to their parents' instructions (jokingly, he was the lord, and if they accidentally angered him and he killed their children, where would they go to cry?). But the little girl, Tian Meizi, was not afraid at all and would cling to him at every opportunity, asking curious questions. Yes, she was at the age of curiosity.

After organizing his thoughts, Roshi Zhengliang put down the clear water in his left hand and said to the little girl, "Tian Meizi, this is a toothbrush, used for brushing teeth." He then demonstrated the brushing action with the branch toothbrush in his mouth.

"Ha ha," seeing Roshi Zhengliang's strange action, the little girl burst into laughter. Song Meizi quickly stopped her and bowed repeatedly to apologize.

Roshi Zhengliang waved his hand to indicate that Song Meizi didn't need to be nervous, then frowned and said sternly to the little girl, "Tian Meizi, you should call me uncle or lord, not big brother."

The little girl laughed again and replied crisply, "Yes, big brother."

Roshi Zhengliang was instantly at a loss.

He was puzzled. As a 27- or 28-year-old man, he was always called "uncle" in his previous life, which made him very depressed. Did he look that old? But now, he was always called "big brother" by children, which made him depressed again. Did he look that young? Looking at his body more carefully, it seemed that his body had been rejuvenated during the transition, making his skin smooth and looking like a 17- or 18-year-old handsome young man. Bah. How could he be a handsome young man? He was a man of integrity. But the problem was that he now had the body of a 17- or 18-year-old and the soul of a 27- or 28-year-old. Sigh! What a mess!

Looking at the little girl again, he was defeated. He couldn't be serious with such a cute child. Thinking about this, he decided to use the last resort.

"Um, Song Meizi, I'm going out to work. Please clean up here," Roshi Zhengliang said, then grabbed his sword and hurriedly opened the door and left. Of the 365 strategies, the best was to run away.

"Lord, Lord, your breakfast..." Just a short distance away, Song Meizi's anxious voice sounded from behind.

Roshi Zhengliang stumbled, "Oh! I haven't had breakfast yet..."

......

When Roshi Zhengliang arrived at the training ground, the ashigaru (foot soldiers) were already assembled. He scanned the area and saw a total of 11 ashigaru (new villagers had a two-day adjustment period before joining the training), plus himself and Tsuda Masahide, making a total of 13 people. Without a word, under Roshi Zhengliang's lead, everyone quickly began the first training activity: a weighted morning run along the mountain path.

After half an hour, the weighted run was completed. Roshi Zhengliang then personally supervised the formation training, as nearly half of the people had not participated in training before. He had to spend some time to make the new ashigaru understand the requirements of formation training. After that, the remaining training could be handed over to the ashigaru who had been training for a few days and Tsuda Masahide. After giving some instructions, Roshi Zhengliang began to inspect his domain. It was the eighth day since he arrived, and this was his first comprehensive inspection of his domain.

Walking forward, he saw that the land along the stream and around the lake had already begun to be cultivated. According to the plan, Roshi Zhengliang intended to cultivate all the land between the original Komaki village and the original Ōnishi village (whether it was paddy fields or mountain land) within this month. Then, next month, he would start cultivating the land to the west and southwest of the original Komaki village, cutting down the forests to expand the farmland. There was also a small lake and several streams in the forest, with flat terrain and fertile soil, which could form an irrigation area. Finally, he would cultivate the land to the south of the original Komaki village, using the numerous streams and a larger river to form a paddy field area. As for the area to the west of the original Ōnishi village up to the exit area (which also had a larger lake) and the southwest exit area, he would not consider cultivating them for the time being to keep the domain's technology and military training secret.

After inspecting the land cultivation, he walked into the village. The new villagers' residences were almost complete, and he believed they would be finished by tomorrow. From the outside, they looked very simple, but in this chaotic era, for the hinin (outcasts) who had been forced to wander in the mountains, having a stable place to live was already a luxury.

At this time, everyone was gathered in a small open area in the center of the village. Dōgo Heiji and Ōnishi Kunitoshi were loudly reading the new domain requirements that had been determined the previous day. Roshi Zhengliang looked at the crowd and saw that, except for the ashigaru who were training, almost everyone was there.

After watching for a while at the back of the crowd, Roshi Zhengliang left the gathering and walked to the other side of the village. "Hmm? What's that?" Just as he walked to the edge of the village, he suddenly saw several bamboo racks set up by the lake, with several nets hanging on them. On closer inspection, they were fishing nets, but they were very old and worn. No wonder Dōgo Heiji could buy several nets for a few coins. He carefully examined the nets and found that they were mostly hand-held nets, which generally had a shallow draft and large mesh, making it difficult to catch large fish in shallow water. It would be better to tie all the nets together to form a deep-water long trawl net, similar to those in the modern era. When fishing, the net would be placed in the deep water of the lake and then pulled to the shore from both sides, which might catch more fish. Although he had not personally experienced it, he had seen many similar fishing scenes in his previous life. He immediately found Ōnishi Kunitoshi, who had just finished reading the domain requirements, and explained his idea. Ōnishi Kunitoshi had fished before and understood immediately, agreeing to organize people to make the nets and have the ashigaru try them out in the afternoon.

Returning to his residence, Song Meizi should have gone to work in the fields. As his servant, she did not need to participate in collective labor, but she insisted on keeping her half field.

Entering the small mud house, he walked to the backpack lying quietly in the corner. He gently rubbed the backpack that had accompanied him through the transition, feeling a moment of daze. After a long silence, he finally sighed and opened the backpack, taking out several items inside.

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