The first year of Wanyan (the seventh year of Anzheng, 1860), March 19——

Edo, Kinyanagi Town, a certain cloth shop——

Sitting cross-legged behind the counter, the store owner—a balding middle-aged man—was calculating with his left hand and scribbling on the account book with his right hand.

After a while, he let out a long sigh, closed the account book with a tired look, stretched out his right thumb and pressed hard on the frown between his eyebrows.

"Dad." The young daughter of the shop owner came over with a cup of hot tea, "The tea is ready."

"Oh..." The shop owner tried his best to smile at his daughter, "Thank you."

The shop owner took the hot tea from his daughter, blew it gently for a while and then sipped it.

Seeing the remaining sadness on her father's face, the daughter couldn't help but hesitate and said:

"Dad...the store's business...hasn't improved recently?"

"Ah...hahaha..." The shop owner paused to sip the tea, then sneered and put the tea cup in his hand on the counter, "It's improving... there's still a little improvement, it's not as good as the last time.

Yue is a little better."

After saying that, the store owner sighed forcefully.

"Sigh...how on earth did those barbarians manage to weave such good cloth and at the same time keep the price so low..."

Since the country was forced to open under the threat of Western countries and a large amount of Western goods poured into the country, the business of the shop owner's cloth shop has become increasingly difficult.

The shop owner still hasn't figured it out yet - why can those Yi people's cloth be so well woven and so cheap at the same time?

After seeing the cloth sold by the Yi people for the first time, the shop owner was so shocked that he almost forgot to blink.

His hands kept touching the Yiren's cloth, and he couldn't believe the touch he felt on his palms.

Such good cloth can only be sold for such a small amount?! With such a small amount of money, you can’t even make back the cost, right?

Foreigners' cloth is of better quality and cheaper than yours, so what can you do to compete with them?

As a result, the business of their cloth shop has become increasingly difficult...the income has dropped by more than half compared to before the country was opened.

"...Daddy." The daughter hesitated for a while, then took a deep breath, "Why don't you... let me find a job outside."

"I am 14 years old this year and can work."

"I happened to see a teahouse in the next town waving at the door yesterday."

The store owner was stunned for a moment, and then showed his daughter a touching smile.

"Don't worry too much about things at home." The store owner raised his hand and rubbed his daughter's head lovingly, "No matter how bad our business is, it won't make our whole family hungry."

Suddenly, there was the sound of the door curtain being lifted open and the sound of footsteps coming in from the door of the store.

"Welcome to the light..." The shop owner reflexively gave out a formulaic smile.

He was only halfway through saying "Welcome" when the rest of his words got stuck in his throat.

The only people who entered the store were four samurai with swords on their waists.

The hair and stubble of these four warriors were messy, and their bodies and clothes were quite dirty. They had not been washed for an unknown period of time.

Looking at these four samurai who all looked like ronin, the shop owner felt a bit of an ominous premonition in his heart...

He quickly motioned with his eyes to his daughter beside him to quickly enter the back of the shop - but unfortunately his daughter did not notice his eyes.

"Are you the owner of this store?" The leader of the four samurai, a middle-aged man with a big nose, asked the store owner loudly.

Big Nose's accent was very thick, coming from the northeastern Oshu region. The accent was so strong that the store owner could hardly hear what the man was saying.

"Yes, yes!" The shop owner hurriedly rushed out from behind the counter, with a flattering smile on his face, "I wonder if the guests are..."

Before the shop owner finished speaking, Big Nose interrupted him angrily:

"We are the people with lofty ideals to fight against the barbarians!"

"We are about to go to Nagasaki and join the rest of our comrades to annihilate all the barbarians gathered in Nagasaki!"

"But I am suffering from insufficient travel expenses at the moment."

"So I want to come and borrow some travel expenses and military expenses from your shop."

"After the great cause of resisting the foreigners is completely victorious, we will repay double the amount we borrowed!"

The flattering smile on the shop owner's face froze instantly.

His reaction was also very quick, and he quickly adjusted the expression on his face.

"Uh...this..."

The shop owner wiped the cold sweat from his forehead without leaving a trace.

"Ah hahahaha, it turns out that all of you are patriots who are determined to fight against the foreigners! It's amazing! I respect the patriots who fight against the foreigners the most!"

The store owner said a lot of nice things to these four people.

What about "you guys are so amazing" and "I have long disliked those barbarians"...

Big Nose and others were very impressed by the shop owner's praise, and they all showed proud expressions.

After coaxing these four people with the eloquence he had honed over so many years of business, the store owner changed the topic——

"Master Samurai, I also want to help you and contribute my share to the great cause of repelling the foreigners."

"But our store is just a small store... It is already very difficult just to support our family, and we don't have any money to borrow..."

As soon as the shop owner said this, the expressions of Big Nose and others who had just looked proud due to the shop owner's praise changed instantly.

"What?!" Big Nose frowned, "Don't you want to support our great cause of fighting the foreigners?"

"No, no, no!" The shop owner waved his hand quickly, "I didn't think so! I really want to support you, but I really don't have any money!"

"Boss, this is because you don't understand justice!" Big Nose straightened his chest, raised his head, and put on an awe-inspiring look, "Haven't you heard this sentence? Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world!

"

"Right now, the Western barbarians are wantonly desecrating the land of our Kingdom of God."

"At this time of national crisis, everyone should stand up, fight the enemy bravely, and serve the country with loyalty!"

"Think about those patriots who hold swords in their hands and are not afraid of hardships and dangers to fight with those barbarians and traitors."

"They can even forget about their own life and safety. Now they are just asking you to lend some money, and you are so nagging that you don't want to borrow money."

"It's not like we won't pay you back. Didn't I just say that? After the great cause of resisting the foreigners is completely won, we will pay you double the money."

The shop owner was now so anxious that he almost cried.

"Sir Samurai, it's not that I don't want to give money! But our family really has no money!"

"Ah!" At this time, a guy as thin as a hemp stalk standing behind Big Nose raised his hand and pointed at the shop owner's counter, "You guy, you are actually using foreign things?"

Ma Zhuo rushed to the counter and grabbed a Western pocket watch on the counter.

"Okay!" Big Nose raised his eyebrows, "No wonder you don't want to lend us money. It turns out you are a national traitor who uses barbarian things!"

Uh-huh—Big Nose pulled out the saber from his waist.

"Ah!" The store owner's daughter was so frightened that she took a few steps back, and the color on her face quickly dissipated.

The shop owner was also frightened by the knife gleaming in Big Nose's hand, but he still forced himself to be calm and said quickly: "Takeru, samurai-sama! This pocket watch was given to me by my friend, not bought by me...

…”

"So what if you didn't buy it?" Big Nose shouted, "Whether you bought this pocket watch or someone else gave it to you, if you use something from a foreigner, you are a traitor to the country!"

"Let me ask you one last question!" Big Nose glared at the shop owner fiercely, put the knife on the shop owner's neck, and pointed the blade at the shop owner's carotid artery, "Are you willing to support our great cause of expelling the foreigners?

"

Feeling the cold metal touch on his neck, the shop owner shook vigorously a few times.

The store owner does not dare to fight against these vicious so-called "patriots" any longer.

Shivering, he stumbled back to the counter, took out a small brocade box from the cabinet under the counter, and with slightly trembling fingers took out a handful of finely chopped copper coins contained in the brocade box. This pile of copper coins was mixed with

A few scattered silver coins.

Big Nose grabbed the coins from the shop owner's hand and stuffed them into his arms, then waved his big hand without even saying "thank you" and waved his three companions behind him to leave quickly.

After they hurried out of the cloth shop, they suddenly discovered that there was a lot of noise at both ends of the street.

He turned his head and looked to the left and right - Aoto led Saito and the heavily armed members of the Koyanagi Town's own ban, and came towards them in a mighty manner.

"Oops!" Looking at Qingden's waist and the ten hands tied with red tassels, Big Nose's expression suddenly changed, "It's the Tong Xin from the training center who's here!"

He glanced around anxiously, looking for a way to escape.

There are only two directions in which they can escape - the east intersection and the west intersection.

These two intersections are now blocked by Qingdeng and his men.

There are 12 self-banners in the west, and there are fewer people in the east, only 8 self-bangers, but the east is the direction where Aoto and Saito personally lead the team.

After weighing the situation, Big Nose gritted his teeth and charged towards the west. At this time, he and his companions all had their swords drawn and their claws bared.

The most common catching tools used by Okabiki and his own soldiers when capturing prisoners were long ladders and spurs.
To be continued...