Chapter 359: Chapter 359

More than twenty miles northwest of Luzu Port, there is a large village called Matsuyama Manor.

This village is built against the mountain and faces the river with cultivated fields. It has over five hundred households and more than two thousand people, with walls, watchtowers, and other defense facilities, making it the most prominent village in the nearby area that ordinary bandits do not dare to target.

But in the face of a professional army like the Wanjin Army, it is certainly insignificant.

Especially since the Hokitate Family has been forced to withdraw into the concentrated area around Nongjin, this place has practically been abandoned. As soon as the Wanjin Army arrived, they voluntarily opened the gates and surrendered without even the thought of resistance, very obediently.

When Guotai Lang and his group arrived at Matsuyama Manor, they saw such a peaceful and harmonious village. All the villagers were ordered to stay indoors, doors tightly shut, not allowed to walk around freely, nor to shout loudly.

In short, the village was under martial law.

Guotai Lang glanced around, then showed his credentials to the guards and quickly met with the Flag Captain of the stationing troops. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs NovєlFіre.net

Martial law cannot last long; eventually, the civil administration system must take over. Guotai Lang and his team were here to take over the management work of Matsuyama Manor to free up the field troops.

Both sides quickly completed the handover, and this small troop could camp off and move forward, but the young Flag Captain looked at Guotai Lang’s group of only over twenty, including two women, and politely asked: "Group Leader Nan (the surname Guotai Lang gave himself), should I leave one or two small flags for another two days?"

"No need, we can handle it." Guotai Lang patted the Short-Handled Iron Cannon and the Armor on him and declined with a smile.

The Flag Captain nodded, said no more, quickly gave the order to depart, and the hundred-man squad loaded their things onto the "fort wagons," drove the pack horses, sang military songs, and pursued the main force.

Guotai Lang stood by the roadside to see them off, watching the Flag Captain leave, a little nostalgic for his own military camp life at the time—back then when he was closed off in the camp all day, it was quite boring, and for a while there, he counted the days on his fingers to see how long until he could transfer and retire, but after leaving, he missed that simple, fulfilling, and regular life immensely.

Moreover, today’s Wanjin Army is nothing like it was back then, now consisting entirely of sturdy lads around twenty years old, unlike before when they varied in age, height, and weight, many being quite undesirable.

This current Wanjin Army, just in terms of personnel supply, is several times better than they were back then.

He reminisced for a moment at the village entrance, then turned to his subordinates and said, "Now it’s our turn, unload the food from the vehicles, and prepare to distribute the rations!"

They didn’t come empty-handed; they brought a batch of beans, buckwheat, taro, and other grains that are difficult to store for long. During a disaster, nothing stabilizes people’s hearts more than a bushel of grain. As long as these villagers cooperate, they can receive rations enough to last until next spring’s plowing, preventing rebellion—a "Ikki" has yet to occur here, not because they don’t want to, but simply because the great army of the Hokitate Family was nearby, and these villagers didn’t dare.

Moreover, precisely because thousands of the Hokitate Family’s people were stationed nearby, this place is more short on grain than many other villages, as much of it was forcibly seized by the Hokitate Family.

Guotai Lang’s subordinates each received their orders and went on their way, while Guotai Lang began to stroll leisurely through the village.

Matsuyama Manor remained very quiet, with no one showing themselves, but after several years of "rural work experience" post-discharge, Guotai Lang could still detect the numerous people "peeking" at him and even discern feelings of hatred, confusion, and fear in their gaze.

Hatred, because they hated him for being a "Samurai"—he wore armor, carried a sword, bore an iron cannon, and was dressed smartly, looking like a Samurai;

Confusion, as the villagers were unsure about what would happen next, most likely unclear about who he was—some of these villagers might never leave the village in their lifetime, probably never even hearing of Wanjin;

Fear, out of worry that this "new Samurai lord" might seize and pillage, after all, they are, in a sense, the "defeated," and it is expected in these times for the victor to rob the vanquished, not robbing would be considered foolish.

Of course, these looks might be Guotai Lang’s imagination, but being a villager himself, once discharged, he was assigned to the southern castle and later tasked with rural work for several years, involved in land distribution, collection of farmland taxes, and a series of work, always dealing with various villagers, he understands them deeply, and believes these villagers currently think as such.

Therefore, he wasn’t bothered by these looks, fully confident in solving these issues, as Wanjin has tried and tested methods to draw on.

And precisely because of his experience, he, along with several hundred grassroots officials, were transferred over to quickly stabilize the Wanjin Army’s rear.

Indeed, there were many villages on the Chita Peninsula back then, and after Wanjin forcibly expelled the Samurai gentry, Harano also led people to take over these villages bit by bit, continuously adjusting policies and accumulating a lot of experience. Even the current situation in Matsuyama Manor resembles what Harano and others faced back then—a disaster of wind damage, drought, and flood, and one of pest disasters, both lacking rations, can totally employ a model, a very mature one at that.

Guotai Lang roughly surveyed Matsuyama Manor, had a bit of a grasp of the situation here, and felt that his task was quite easy, at least this was not the kind of village deeply brainwashed—those villages were the toughest to handle. Back then on the Chita Peninsula, when Wanjin demolished the Shrines and temples, they also faced armed resistance from brainwashed villagers, finally forced to break up the villages entirely and forcibly relocate individuals separately to quell that flame of zeal, making it quite troublesome to deal with.