Warring States Survival Guide-Chapter 362 - 250: Triumph Through Virtue
Guotai Lang was of unremarkable origin and ability. In his twenties, he was conscripted as an ashigaru and went to the battlefield, only to be defeated and captured, which was rather unlucky.
Theoretically, he was supposed to be sold off somewhere to continue working the earth. If he was unlucky, he’d be sent back to the battlefield to die; if lucky, he’d settle down, have a bunch of kids, and repeat his fate.
But fate had other plans, and he was sold to Wanjin, which changed his destiny. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
In Wanjin, he entered a workshop, then joined the army, and even went to a camp school. Although the competition was fierce and his training results and battle performance were quite average, far behind the smooth sailing of his younger brother, Stone Bodhisattva, through learning, he was no longer the ignorant villager he once was.
Later, due to a lack of grassroots management personnel in Wanjin, he was forced to change careers and worked in a small town in the southern city, taking charge of rural activities.
In this job, his performance was much better than in the army. After all, he grew up in the village, was proficient in farming, familiar with the villagers, and actually liked rural life. More importantly, although he was not particularly smart and his abilities were average, he was very obedient, had excellent compliance, and was willing to carry out Harano’s orders no matter how odd or undignified they seemed in this era.
In Matsuyama Village, he didn’t change his nature. He genuinely grabbed a hoe and worked with the villagers. His struggle in the army was mainly due to a lack of decisiveness and his reluctance to risk everything, but in rural work, boldness wasn’t important; it was his "big brother" charm that easily gained others’ trust and affection.
In just over ten days in Matsuyama Village, he led by example, working alongside the villagers, teaching them about reason and the future, taking care of the lonely and the elderly, and dealing harshly with certain troublemakers by rallying the villagers against them, delivering justice without hesitation when needed.
Alongside, they were a whole working group, each with their own role—some administering medicine and treating ailments to relieve villagers’ pain; some starting schools to teach the village children reading and writing; others surveying local specialties, planning to develop them next year to bring in some income for the village.
Everything was quite rudimentary, like the teacher who barely knew over a thousand kanji, could only do basic arithmetic, and used a dilapidated hut to conduct classes without worrying about misleading the children; the one treating illnesses was better with livestock than people, using mostly ready-made remedy pills from the Wanjin "death factory," seemingly endangering lives.
Yet, these efforts greatly shocked the villagers of Matsuyama Village.
They had never seen such methods in their lives. Were these the "samurai lords" they knew? Could these still be called "samurai lords"?
In just over ten days, more than two thousand people in Matsuyama Village were brought to submission, genuinely impressed and obedient, tirelessly following Guotai Lang and his companions without complaints.
Some even began to believe in the "bright future" promised by Guotai Lang and others—a future where the village wouldn’t have to pay all sorts of absurd tributes, where farm taxes would max out at "two for the lord and eight for the villagers," eating bitter wild vegetables would be a personal choice rather than a necessity, daily meals could include some variety, there’d be enough grain to eat, and yield could increase significantly by learning techniques like "composting" and "sludge burying," which could then be sold for money to buy many good things.
They couldn’t help but believe—surely Guotai Lang and his companions hadn’t traveled all this way to deceive them for fun?
If Guotai Lang and his team wanted them on the battlefield, they could do so by force, sparing themselves all this trouble.
As life began to show signs of improvement, many started to worry about the situation at the front lines.
Could the Wanjin Army hold the line? Would the Hokitate Family come back? We couldn’t just watch, surely we had to help.
And what about this "Lord Yehua" at the front line—isn’t it too dangerous for him there?
He can’t perish, for if he does and the good days end, the next lord might not be satisfied with just this much!
The seamless flag change in Matsuyama Village was alarming, primarily because "it’s not about recognizing value, but comparing it." The Hokitate Family treated them so harshly that they wished they could extract their bone marrow, while Wanjin, even just slightly more humane, saw Matsuyama Village’s villagers instinctively side with them, ready to take a chance with Wanjin to see if they could perhaps become part of the Wanjin people in the future.
No one wanted to be an Ise person, not even getting enough to eat; it was better not to!
In this current wave, and during the winter leisure period, the village labor force was organized without trouble, taking up transport duties and expanding roads; even the militia was organized, with over a hundred people drilling to ensure the village and surrounding area’s safety, and they even unexpectedly captured two spies from the Hokitate Family—reported by villagers.
Similar incidents were frequently occurring on the land between Luzhi Port and Anji City, with Wanjin deploying dozens of working groups like Guotai Lang’s, starting to snowball and transform the Hokitate Family’s power into Wanjin’s strength.
This was winning people with virtue.
......
Northwest of Matsuyama Village, Anong City.
Kitahata Giyou, dressed in monk’s robes, with prayer beads in hand, sat cross-legged, showing no signs of the "Sword Master" he once was, while the samurai who came to greet him stood expressionless, frozen in place.
