The weather is very good today, there is no snow.

We didn't encounter any unexpected situations on the way.

So Ogata and the others arrived at the northern border of Matsumae Domain in the afternoon very smoothly.

After successfully delivering Ogata and Omachi to their destination, Nakahara said goodbye to them, and then drove the sleigh back to Matsumae Castle.

After watching Nakahara drive the sled back to the original place, Atachi turned his head and looked north, and then let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, now... we can only walk."

"Fortunately, we are very accustomed to walking." Ogata joked and took out a map from his arms.

This map was given to them by Soichiro Nishino on the ship.

This is a simple map of Ezo Territory.

But it's quite simple.

Only Matsumae Domain and part of the area north of Matsumae Domain are drawn.

In this map, there are some red dots drawn north of Matsumae Domain. These red dots are the settlements of Ezo.

Ogata planned to rely on this map to find these "red dots" one by one and collect clues.

Maybe some Ezo from one of the Ezo settlements would happen to bump into Xuanzheng, Xuanzhen and the others.

And maybe Xuanzheng and Xuanzhen are in some Ezo settlement right now.

"We are about to enter Ezo's territory." Ogata put away the map in his hand, and then said sternly to Amachi beside him, "Be cautious at all times."

Unnaturalized Ezo, Lucians, gold diggers... The Ezo land, where everyone is currently present, is not at peace. You must be extra careful. Ogata has heard similar reminders since he was still in Edo.

I don’t know how many times.

"I'm a kunoichi." Atachi smiled and said in a half-joking tone, "Saving lives is what we ninjas are best at."

…

…

2 days later

Today, Tang Shen was sitting behind his stall as always, waiting for customers to come.

Wooden cages holding various animals are neatly placed in front of Tang Shen and on both sides.

Tang Shen hugged his crutch, which was half the width of a bowl, and sat on the ground, with his head lowered and his eyes closed to meditate.

"Mr. Tang Shen, I haven't seen you for a long time. I haven't seen you for more than three months. You are still as energetic as ever."

A familiar male voice sounded in front of Tang Shen's stall.

After quickly opening his eyes, Tang Shen immediately looked towards the stall.

Standing in front of the stall was a middle-aged man who was quite familiar to Tang Shen.

This middle-aged man was looking at Tang Shen with a smile.

Looking at this middle-aged man, Tang Shen also smiled.

"Oh! It's Mr. Yamamoto! It's been a long time! Did you come to purchase goods so early this year?"

"Yes." The middle-aged man whom Yugami called 'Yamamoto-sama' shrugged, "The pets I bought from you last time were sold out quickly, and our furs are almost sold out, so

This year I have to leave early to restock.”

Yamamoto is this middle-aged man and is a regular customer of Tangshen.

He is a wealthy businessman from Kyoto who specializes in the fur business. He specializes in selling furs produced in the Ezo region.

Due to various reasons such as its vast territory and sparse population, the various wild animals in Ezo Land are not only numerous in number, but also have thick and dense fur to protect them from the cold.

Therefore, animal fur from Ezo has always been a best-seller.

In addition to selling furs, Yamamoto also works part-time as a "pet seller."

As a thousand-year-old ancient capital, Kyoto has no shortage of princes, nobles, and wealthy samurai families who have both spare money and spare time.

Cute pets have always been a best-seller among these "people on people".

The red foxes, pikas, red squirrels in Ezo, and other cute animals that can only be found in Ezo but not in Kyoto are extremely popular.

Therefore, Yamamoto is Yugami’s most important customer and the most frequent customer in Yugami’s business.

Every time Yamamoto came to Ezochi to buy furs, he would also buy these cute little animals unique to Ezochi from Yugami, and then transport them back to Kyoto for resale.

Yamamoto glanced at the wooden cages placed in front of Yugami.

"How many animals do you have this time?"

"A total of 32." Tang Shen responded, "5 red foxes, 14 rats and rabbits..."

Tang Shen reported the number of various types of animals one by one.

After Yugami finished speaking, Yamamoto said:

"The number of animals seems to be smaller this time."

"I'm getting older." Tang Shen smiled bitterly, "My skills are not as good as before."

Yamamoto leaned down and carefully examined the animals in the cage.

After selling pets for so long, Yamamoto also developed some discernment.

Yamamoto can tell which animals are healthy and which ones are sick at a glance.

After briefly checking the status of all the animals in the cage, Yamamoto nodded:

"Although the number is smaller this time, every animal is healthy."

Yamamoto straightened up.

"Okay. I want all of your animals. Please give me a price."

Yamamoto is not only the most important person to Yugami and the one who patronizes his business most often, but he is also Yugami's favorite customer.

Because Yamamoto is very proud, every time he comes to patronize his business, he will buy all his animals except those that look unhealthy.

Subsequently, Tang Shen and Yamamoto launched a brief "business war".

Although Yamamoto is an old customer of Tangshen, the price that needs to be negotiated and the price that needs to be repaid still needs to be negotiated and repaid.

After several rounds of bargaining, Yugami and Yamamoto finally negotiated a price acceptable to both parties.

After handing over the money to Yugami, Yamamoto immediately called his men and asked them to immediately move all the pets on Yugami's stall to the bed.

As one of the well-known wealthy businessmen in Kyoto, Yamamoto naturally has a lot of clerks under his command.

Soon, the wooden cages containing various animals that were piled as high as a hill in front of Tang Shen were emptied.

After all the animals were moved away, Yamamoto briefly chatted with Yugami and then said goodbye to Yugami.

Selling furs is Yamamoto's main business, so he still needs to be busy negotiating with local fur traders about purchasing goods.

After Yamamoto left, Yugami looked at the empty stall with joy on his face.

As a businessman, there is nothing more satisfying than having your products sold out.

"Looks like I have to go hunting again..."

Tang Shen muttered, while using crutches to support the ground, he slowly stood up from the ground.

Since the animals have been sold out, there is no need for Tang Shen to stay here anymore.

There was a trolley parked behind Tang Shen.

The owner of this trolley is Tang Shen.

Tang Shen used this pushcart to push his animals to the street connected to the port for sale, and then pushed the animals back in the afternoon.

Just when Tang Shen was about to turn around and push his cart home,

Bang.

"Hey! Don't you look at the road when you're walking?!"

Because all the animals were sold out, Tang Shen was so happy that he didn't notice a strong man walking very close to him.

Tang Shen, who was so excited that he was a little carried away, accidentally bumped into this strong man, making a slight sound of physical collision.

The thick and long crutch in Tang Shen's hand, which was half as thick as a bowl's mouth, also accidentally slipped out of his hand during the collision and fell to the ground.

The strong man who was accidentally hit by Tang Shen was wearing ordinary coarse clothes and had no sword on his waist. He was an ordinary civilian.

But he was obviously a person with a bad temper. After being hit by Tang Shen, he immediately cast an extremely displeased look at Tang Shen and shouted angrily at Tang Shen.

The frightened Tang Shen bowed and apologized to the strong man in a panic.

"No, I'm very sorry! Please forgive me!"

Looking at Tang Shen who was bowing and apologizing to him respectfully, the strong man felt a little less angry.

"Hmph!" The strong man snorted heavily, "Next time you walk, watch the road carefully!"
To be continued...