"Ah? Buddha's blessing! Leader of the Deer Department, you want all three horses? Do you want to use this bronze talisman to trade with me?... That won't work. I will give you two horses at most. I don't even need to take anything from you, but you have to Keep the biggest one...wait! This feel, this weight?!..."
The snow was up to my shins, and the cold wind froze the rivers and seas. The two groups of men and horses held stone spears, copper axes, and iron knives from different eras, and wore different styles of leather armor, copper cloth armor, and ironwood armor. They seemed to have crossed a thousand years of history and met at the camp on the far north coast. At this moment, they were facing each other nervously, waiting for the results of the negotiations between the leaders.
Faced with Zuvaro's request to change horses, the ship's leader, Murakami Yimichi, had a sullen face and shook his head firmly. The Jurchen horse was to be handed over to the family leader, Xin Guanggong. If this group of Lubu came out of nowhere and asked for it, how would he explain it to the family leader? ... He held the golden "Bronze Talisman" in his hand and was about to hand it back to Zuvaro, but suddenly he was startled!
"No! No! This feel, this weight?... Such a small piece actually weighs a pound?... How can the copper one be so heavy?! Could it be that this piece of cake is..."
Murakami Jitong raised his head and saw Zuvalo smiling with a "simple" look on his face. He lowered his head again and looked at the strange carvings of the sun and birds on the front of the amulet, and the very familiar yet abstract tribal runes on the back of the amulet. He blinked and looked at these crooked marks that seemed to have been scratched by random hands. An unbelievable thought came to his mind, making him tremble all over in an instant!
"No...Buddha witnessed it! It's impossible, right? How is it possible..."
Murakami Jidong raised the golden amulet tremblingly, hesitated for a moment, glanced at the "simple" Shikabe leader, and bit the amulet hard with his teeth. Then, he lowered his head and looked at the obvious teeth marks on the surface of the guardian talisman. His pupils shrank suddenly, his eyes suddenly widened, and he even stuttered in his voice!
"Merciful Buddha!...Watanabe-kun...you...help me...see...is this...gold? Pure gold?!..."
"Um?"
Watanabe Masumi, the monk warrior, pursed his lips and took the amulet calmly. He first looked at the tooth mark made by Murakami Jitong, and then looked at the golden yellow with reddish color of the guardian talisman. Suspense suddenly flashed in his eyes. Then, he reached out and groped in his arms, and after searching for a while, he took out a small touchstone and used the amulet to scratch the surface of the touchstone.
This touchstone is polished from black flint, hard and delicate. He followed the advice of the great businessman Morino Kiyoshi and specially brought a piece to the Northland, but it was not put to use until now.
"Blessed by Hachiman Bodhisattva! Seven greens, eight yellows, nine purples, ten reds... Is this scratch a golden color that is more purple than red? Is it ninety percent gold? This is ninety percent pure red gold!"
Seeing the color of the scratches, Watanabe Masumi's fingers trembled and he almost lost his grip on the gold cake. He quickly grabbed the gold cake and weighed it, which weighed just over a pound. His expression suddenly changed, and his eyes were somewhat moved.
A pound of 160 to 90 percent red gold is of much better quality than 60 to 70 percent of placer gold. In a commercial house in Kyoto, it can be used as 80 copper coins! According to the price of rice in Kinki, which is 0.7 koku per koku, this half-palm-sized gold charm is worth 114 koku of rice!
Of course, Watanabe Masumi was a direct descendant of the martial arts family, and just a pound of gold could not make him shocked and lose his temper. But when he looked around and saw such a golden amulet hanging around the necks of those bronze-armored warriors...
"Buddha! Murakami-kun! Look, these Shika warriors have a golden talisman on their necks!!"
"What?! This...this...is impossible! Absolutely impossible!...How is it possible? How can there be so many!...Is it really possible? Those are really...all gold talismans?..."
The cold wind was blowing, but Murakami Jitong didn't feel cold at all, and even felt a little feverish. He looked at the golden light on these deer, his pupils shrank and dilated, and his heart was beating "thump, thump". In just a few breaths, countless complex emotions flashed through his eyes! From eyes full of disbelief, to a bit of self-denying doubt, then to heartfelt expectations, and finally to greed flashing in the eyes...
Two steps away, the exploration captain Zuvalo narrowed his eyes and watched the changes in the expressions of the two big bowmen, as if he was watching the most wonderful sacrifice performance! Facing the golden talisman, the behavior of these two people and their longing expressions were completely different from those of the mountain leaders, just as His Majesty predicted! ... He was certain in his heart, the smile on his face became brighter and brighter, and with some deep thoughts, he said "simple" again.
"Witness the Lord God! Leader of the big ship, I want to exchange all of your horses, three big horses!...What? Isn't this piece of gold cake enough?...Shi Jian, give me your talisman too!..."
Warrior captain Shi Jian took a step forward and walked to Zuvalo's side. Zuvalo gave a few instructions in a low voice. Shi Jian's expression changed slightly and he nodded gently. Then, he also took off the golden amulet from his neck and handed it to Masumi Watanabe next to him.
"O Bodhisattva! This piece is also 90% red gold!..."
Watanabe Masumi, the monk warrior, scratched twice more with the touchstone and couldn't help but let out a moan from his throat. He gritted his teeth and handed the second talisman into Murakami Jitsuchi's hands. The opponent's palm trembled and he obviously swallowed.
"Two pounds of red gold...160 strings..."
"Haha! God bless you! What? The leader of the big ship, aren't two pieces enough?... Well... What you meant by your gesture is, two pieces of gold cake, in exchange for a horse?..."
Zuvalo blinked and showed a simple smile. He first pointed to the two kilograms of gold cakes in Murakami Jitong's hand, and then pointed to the Yakut snow horse next to him, making a gesture of exchange. Murakami Jitong was stunned, thought for a while, and nodded vigorously.
"Buddha bless you! Bodhisattva appears!...This business is good and can be done!..."
At this time, in the late period of the Muromachi Shogunate, the currency value was relatively complicated. According to different regions, there were different gold, silver, and copper exchange ratios. But roughly speaking, one tael of gold = 50 (qian) silver = 4,000 Wen (4 Guan) copper coins. The price of a Japanese domestic horse, even in Kyoto, where horses are the most expensive, is only 2-7 taels of gold. In Ezo land, where there is no shortage of horses but gold, the price is half of that. According to the early records of the Tokugawa shogunate, even the best southern horses officially purchased by the shogunate were priced at eight taels of "Keicho gold Koban" after heavy kickbacks, and they were also called "high 8 信" .
As for this snow horse, which is taller than the local horses, if it is sold by the Uyizaki family to the big businessman Morino Kiyoshi, the maximum price is 7-8 gold, which is as high as the sky. And the stupid deer leader in front of me is willing to pay two catties and 32 taels of gold in exchange, so of course it can be exchanged! What's more, according to his original idea, he wanted to use this horse as a bribe gift to give to this aggressive deer leader who led a group of tribal warriors...
"Okay! The Lord God witnesses! Then hand over the gold with one hand and the horse with the other!..."
Exploration captain Zuvalo nodded with a smile and asked the kingdom warrior next to him to take the first snow horse and take it far to the back of the warrior team. Then, he took out two more gold cakes and pointed to the second snow horse.
Murakami Jitong pursed his lips and shook his head, which was filled with gold. He tried hard to control his inner greed and try to maintain the samurai's sanity. But after rational weighing, he still did not refuse Zuvalo's request and nodded again.
"Sukeichiro, bring the second snow horse over here!"
The horse breeder, Sukeichiro, looked confused and pulled the second horse over. After he clearly saw the four gold cakes in Murakami Jitong's hand, his eyes also changed instantly, and his throat also rumbled.
"Maitreya Buddha! Murakami, this is... is this real gold?..."
"Well, the Buddha protects the Oyizaki family! Suichiro, don't talk... I'm trading with this stupid leader, give him the horse!"
"Huh? He is...a person who specializes in raising horses?...These horses need to be taken care of by people who know how to raise horses? Yes! Yamabe raises deer and dogs, and there will also be dedicated reindeer and dog trainers ...And Mu Dog told me that horses are particularly difficult to raise and can die easily..."
Zuvalo's eyes flashed, thoughts in his mind were changing, and some original thoughts became stronger and completely took over. He smiled calmly, looked at Kaisuke Ichiro up and down, and kept it in his mind. After the warriors of the kingdom moved away the second horse, he casually took out two pieces of gold cakes, as if he were taking out a lot of copper coins!
"Witness the Lord God! The leader of the big ship, my friend!... These two pieces are for you! Give me the third big horse too!"
This time, the ship leader Murakami Jitong gritted his teeth and did not agree. He stared at the gold cake in Zuvalo's hand, licked his lips, maintained his last sense, and shook his head vigorously.
"No! Leader of the Deer Tribe, friend... This cannot be exchanged. This is a mount for the head of the family... This cannot be exchanged... Besides, the price of a Jurchen horse is more than two gold cakes!..."
"Huh? Not changing? Not enough? Not big enough?...Oh! Are you saying that the gold cakes are not enough, and the biggest horse needs more?...Haha! Don't worry! We have plenty of gold cakes in our hands!... "
Exploration Captain Zuvalo blinked his eyes and showed a simple smile. He didn't understand what Murakami Jidong said, but he roughly understood what he meant. Then, with a simple and honest look on his face, he waved his heroic hand and turned to Shi Jian and said.
"Praise the Lord God! Shi Jian, go to the warriors of the kingdom! Take off the golden amulets from their necks one by one and bring them to me!..."
Then, Zuvalo's smile remained unchanged, and there was no special expression on his face, but his voice was slightly lower and he gave instructions calmly.
"Witness the Lord God! Please remind every warrior to be...prepared...after I get all three horses in my hands and bring them over intact..."
"Yes! Don't worry, captain!..."
(End of chapter)
