CHAPTER 330: CHAPTER 234: MAYBE, IT CAN REALLY BE TRIED!

Zair Tribe wintering ground, western hilly area.

Ah Man took off her cumbersome fur coat and climbed up a small hill with the old hunter Zapinon. From a distance, they could see a small river.

At this time, Yakushima Island was still in late winter, the river was not yet thawed, and some shivering Japanese commoners were dragging wooden sleds, transporting goods along the icy surface toward the riverbank.

All sorts of messy things were present, but most were clumsy goods such as taros, radishes, and tools for logging and digging.

There were also some Samurai Lang Faction at the riverside camp, carrying long bows and wearing chest armor, but their conditions for keeping warm were much better than those of the commoners dragging sleds, as they wrapped themselves tightly with various kinds of fur.

Ah Man observed cautiously for a while, then asked the old hunter Zapinon, "Are these... Japanese coming here to open up new land?"

Earlier, she had brought precious goods, but there were few people in the valley to greet her. After asking, she learned that nearby traces of the Japanese had been suddenly discovered, and the elders and able-bodied men in the valley were holding a meeting to discuss countermeasures. The old hunter Zapinon’s face also turned gloomy instantly, and he hurried over to investigate. She then followed him.

Looking now, it seemed to be the Lizi Family making use of the late winter river to quickly transport supplies for pioneering. Once Yakushima Island entered spring and the ground thawed, large-scale construction would commence, with timber and soil gathered on the spot to begin building works.

According to Samurai customs, they would probably first build a solid residence, to have a basic place to stay and defensive capabilities, then erect stockade walls around, burn the land along the river, clear wild animals, and open up farmland.

After a year or two, this would become a new settlement, which could then pay blood tax and annual tribute to the Lizi Family.

"Yes, these Japanese have come again..."

The old hunter Zapinon’s face looked even more unpleasant. He was very familiar with the Samurai practice of expanding their territory, and he even knew how those Japanese in the distance had come to be here.

As the saying goes, ’In a small temple, evil winds are strong; in a shallow pond, there are many turtles.’

The northeast region of Honshu Island was very poor, and at this time, its development was extremely low, but the various feudal lords such as the Nanbu Family, Anton Family, Tosawa Family, Hoshina family, and Kasai family were still engaged in endless wars year after year, resulting in a large group of destitute Rangers.

The Lizi Family seized this opportunity and offered terms: as long as a Ranger could gather a group of commoners and establish a settlement, the Lizi Family would recognize their land ownership and accept them as household retainers of the Lizi Family.

Thanks to this policy, in recent years many middle- and lower-ranking Samurai who could not survive on Honshu Island, for various reasons, fled to Yakushima Island hoping to make a comeback. They also did everything possible to coax commoners from Honshu Island to come and pioneer, offering the same condition: land—as long as the commoners were willing to move and develop the land, these local Earth Warriors would also share some land with them.

At this time, even a little land was enough for people to stake their lives on, and since the northeastern region of Japan suffered from constant warfare and heavy taxation, many farmers who couldn’t afford to pay annual tribute were also willing to take the gamble to see if they could change their fate.

As a result, every late winter and early spring, the Lizi Family would push their territory further east and north, with little loss to themselves, because even in failure, it was the outsiders—the Rangers and the tribute-escaping farmers they fooled—who died. The Lizi Family suffered no real harm and sometimes even made a profit, getting new people and property for nothing.

Now, the Japanese settlers’ new village had already advanced to a place not far from the Zair Tribe’s wintering ground. The two sides could barely be considered neighbors now; even though there was still some distance, at most in two or three more years, the new settlement would cross over the Zair people’s winter valley. For the Zair, the idea of coming back in autumn to store food, hide from the wind and snow, and spend a safe winter—forget it.

Worse yet, after large-scale burning and the opening up of farmland along the riverbanks, whether the Zair people could still gather enough berries and wild greens, hunt enough beasts and fish in this area would also be in question.

The old hunter Zapinon, as one of the aborigines who dealt most with the Japanese—often going to Japanese villages to trade furs and game for salt and iron—was considered a "Wise Man" of the Zair Tribe. Just thinking a little about the future, the rough hand that held his birch bow bulged with blue veins.

Ah Man felt detached, not particularly angry. From childhood, she had watched the Samurai robbing each other over and over; she was used to it, even came to see it as natural.

This mode of thinking, these marks left by history, even influenced later generations—modern Japanese seem very polite; individuals are courteous to each other, but this is only the surface. To ensure the survival of their "small collectives," they are capable of doing anything—a "small collective selfishness."

For example, to make more money for a company, they would "poison" food, cut corners in production for profit, dump wastewater straight into rivers and oceans just to save a bit of corporate money—even committing crimes didn’t matter...

So many things were like this, but those involved never felt any guilt, nor did they consider themselves committing a crime, because it was "for the group." It had nothing to do with the individual; a representative from the "group" would come out, bow perfunctorily, and that was the end of it.

Ah Man was quite used to all this and didn’t care. She just asked curiously, "What do you plan to do? Will you leave here?"

She remembered Harano having said before that these people had, over a thousand years, been driven step by step from Kyushu Island to the southwest corner of Yakushima Island. Now that they couldn’t stand firm even in the southwest corner, she guessed these people might continue fleeing east and north, deeper into the Yakushima Island interior.