Sawara is a small feudal kingdom that has existed for at least 600 years.Due to its unique geographical conditions, it has always been a place that is difficult to conquer and is unlikely to expand to the outside world, so the successive feudal lords of Sawara have always adhered to the concept of a corner of peace, and only want to protect their own one-third of an acre.The change of government from the outside world had little impact on Sawara, and although the shogunate did send people to contact them, most of the time they only needed to say that they "knew and acknowledged who the new shogun or emperor was."
What?
Do they have no taxes, you ask?
It's a bit complicated to talk about, but it can be summed up in one sentence: from the Kamakura shogunate to the Muromachi shogunate, and even to the Tokugawa shogunate in the back......
Taxation has always been a huge problem for the Japanese government.Do you think, the ancient Central Plains Dynasty, in the period when the agricultural industry was relatively stable, the currency was basically unified, the transportation was relatively developed, and the imperial court was very strong, often encountered various problems in taxation......
In a place where the land was basically mountainous, agriculture was not so developed, not to mention currency, even the language was a bit messy, and the daimyo lords in each region even had their own rights to divide land taxes, how much tax could their shogunate collect from outside the territory under their direct control?
With that kind of tax work, it is really better to spend it on foreign trade, and you may earn more.In short, for the people who live in Sawara, it doesn't make a difference whether it's the Kamakura shogunate or the Muromachi shogunate outside, as long as they don't interfere with their little life.As a result, the Sawara clan has ruled here longer than many dynasties.In the library of the feudal lord's residence, you can even find some documents describing local folklore and legends of the Heian period, and some of these records were written by the ancestors of the Sawara clan and kept separately from other documents as "clan secrets".And the source of these "secrets", which also seems to be the most bizarre "first" record, roughly tells such a story......
This happened more than 500 years ago.In that year, natural disasters in the Sawara area since the beginning of the year led to a sharp drop in the yield of crops during the autumn harvest, and seeing that winter was approaching and there was a shortage of food in the domain, the feudal lord at that time, Sawara Masahiro, quickly sent a transport team to go out with a sum of money to exchange food.However, because several nearby feudal domains were also affected to varying degrees, even if they were willing to exchange some grain for Sawara, the price would be ridiculously high, and the amount that could be exchanged in the end was still not enough, so the convoy could only go to the farther feudal domain to exchange grain.And what about their departure, it is more than half a month.Half a month later, the transport team finally returned to the vicinity of Sawara just after the pace of winter, but at this time, there was another snowstorm that had not been seen in a century......
Heavy snow closed the only road into the domain, blocking the convoy from Sawara.Although Masahiro Sawara in the domain had consciously saved a certain amount of grain reserves as early as the end of summer for emergencies, it was obviously a drop in the bucket to keep the entire domain through the winter.In this way, Sawara ushered in a terrible winter.At first, when people still had surplus food at home, they still had at least some strength every day to go out and collect some firewood to go home against the cold wind to ensure that there was a fire in the house to keep warm.However, as the days went by, and the food became scarce, people gradually realized that they would not survive the whole winter, so some people ventured out to fish in this bad weather......
But none of them who went out came back alive.After another half a month, just when the people ate about the same amount of food as the reserve grain distributed by the feudal lord, the snowstorm, which was slowly weakening, ushered in a second wave of outbreaks.Within three days, almost all the people of the clan could only hide in homes without firewood, shivering, and endure the double torture of hunger and cold.By the middle of the month, there were countless people dying of starvation in Sawara Kunichu, and even the Sawara clan, who was the lord of the domain, lived a life of only one meal a day, only a few mouthfuls of porridge and a few dried fish at a meal.In this case, it is not difficult to imagine what will happen next.When survival is at stake, order will inevitably collapse.If you look at your family, children......
Suffering from hunger, crying and telling you that he is hungry, and his body is getting weaker and colder, do you still care if you can do such things as theft and robbery?
Not to mention stealing and robbing, when the time comes, I'm afraid you will even dare to kill people or even eat people.In that era when material and technology were underdeveloped, the damage that a natural disaster could bring was so terrifying.At this time, Masahiro Sawara, who saw that his feudal kingdom was becoming a hell on earth......
Finally, he went crazy in despair.Already in a desperate situation, he began to pray for the power of the demons.One night, he secretly took his young son, who was less than a year old and had not even known his name, from his wife's pillow, then put on a fur, hid the baby boy in his arms, and braved the wind and snow alone to come to a valley in the domain surrounded by mountains on three sides, with water in the mountains, and the water was not up to his waist, like a lake but not a lake.There is a shrine in the center of the valley, but it is not a shrine that can be accessed by people, but it is a small shrine built on shallow water and used exclusively for worship.The water in the valley was frozen at this time, but Sawara Masahiro was good at martial arts, he held a lamp in his hand, stepped on the ice, and walked on the ground along the way.Before coming to the shrine, Masahiro Sawara put down the lantern, took out the baby from his arms, and took out the baby who had been frozen to a faint breath, he looked at his son with decisive eyes, and then coldly raised it above his head with both hands, in the dark night of the wind and snow."
Masahiro Sahara, I would like to present this son today!"
Heaven and earth, ghosts, gods, demons and Buddhas, if there is anyone who saves me Sahara, you can take it!"
He finished chanting these words in a trembling voice, but the roar was drowned out by the sound of wind and snow, and it didn't reach far even under the valley terrain.In the darkness of the night, he stood like a wilted tree, the little life on its branches that was rapidly withering, and he didn't even know if there was any point in doing so."
If you rescue me, protect me Sawara Changlong, after today, every twelve years, my Sawara clan is willing to offer a son, bones, blood, and flesh, all can be taken!"
Maybe he didn't get enough bargaining chips to negotiate with the ghosts, so he didn't get a response, and a few seconds later, Masahiro Sahara added another sentence.Unexpectedly, just when his voice landed, the change really happened......