Time came to February 11, the 13th year of Astronomy (1544), and a beggar was welcomed into the Imagawa Pavilion.
"Your Highness, there is a beggar at the door, saying that he is your old friend and must see you." Hayasaka Nao came to the castle tower and reported to Imagawa Yoshimotohui.
"Ah? Beggar? Old friend?" Imagawa Yoshimoto's first reaction was that he thought it was the orphans that Kira Usei left in Mikawa who came to the door, so he hurried to the door. However, after seeing the beggar "devouring" the water bottle and grains given by the guard, Imagawa Yoshimoto was shocked:
"Ichijo?" Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the ragged and miserable Kanamasa Ichijo, and didn't recognize him for a moment, "Why is it like this?"
"In order to deliver a message to you, I was robbed by thieves on the road. All the money and servants I brought with me were gone. I also managed to escape with great difficulty." Kanashi Ichijo was about to cry without tears, and kept stuffing stuff into his mouth. While eating, the handsome young man in the past still had no energy at all, "I thought I was going to die on the road this time! I have already thought of my death poem! But I have no way to write it without paper and pen! Those thieves certainly can't Write it down for me! What's the use of this thing? Now I'm starting to wonder, are those death poems left by the ancients written before?"
"You still have time to think about these things." Imagawa Yoshimoto was so amused by him that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He quickly instructed Hayasaka Nao to bring back Ichijo Kanamasa, "Why didn't you tell me before you came? I can send some people to pick you up."
"Why don't you understand this? I have officially informed you that my mission is about to start counting the time. If I don't go back for too long, I will be held accountable. That's why I wanted to sneak out early. I can be at your house How could I have imagined that I would encounter this if I spent more time eating and drinking!" Ichijo Kanamasa was so regretful that his intestines turned green, and he was so angry that he squeezed his thighs repeatedly.
"It's good if you can save your life..." Imagawa Yoshimoto originally wanted to pat Kanamasa Ichijo on the back to comfort him, but after looking at his dirty tattered clothes and the flies swirling around him, he put his hand again He shrank back and said, "I will arrange for you to take a bath immediately, eat something good, and take good care of yourself. We will discuss the canonization ceremony and etiquette later."
"What other rituals and etiquette are there? I've thrown away all the edicts and clothes, and you still canonize a ghost. Just think that this matter is over." Ichijo Kanemasa looked like he couldn't bear to look back on the past, "Everyone knows that you are Imagawa Haru. Now that you are in the ministry, don’t go through that troublesome process, just tell the people around you that you have been appointed as the senior assistant to the ministry from among the four subordinates.”
"Ha, that's okay, there's really nothing I can do..." Imagawa Yoshimoto himself didn't care. He just felt a pity that he had lost an opportunity to shave off his eyebrows and draw ink dots. "That's okay, you can have a good rest."
·
Just after returning to the castle tower, another message came from Hayasaka Nao - saying that a batch of goods had arrived at Kojin Port, and Imagawa Yoshimoto had to go and sign for it in person. Imagawa Yoshimoto didn't know why, and he didn't remember what he bought, but he could only ride towards Xingjin Port.
When they arrived at the place, they found that Xingjin Zhengping and many followers from Xingjin Port were surrounding a group of merchant ships, pointing at the dozens of boxes of goods brought up by the merchant ships and chattering about something.
"Your Highness is here." After seeing Imagawa Yoshimoto coming, Xingjin Zhenghe and others hurriedly saluted, and then led Imagawa Yoshimoto into the middle of the crowd. Imagawa Yoshimoto saw a dozen businessmen and nearly a hundred water thieves hired as bodyguards - no wonder Xingjin Zhengping felt like he was facing a powerful enemy, there were quite a lot of them. And between the two teams, there were twenty boxes of goods.
"Is this His Highness Imagawa Jibu?" A businessman headed by him took the initiative to greet him. His figure looked more like a martial arts practitioner, and he spoke Mandarin with a strong Kyushu accent, making Imagawa Yoshimoto almost unable to understand what he was saying. say what.
"Yes, may I ask your Excellency?" Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the martial arts merchant in front of him and confirmed that he had never seen him before.
"I am Sano Shinbei, a man from Satsuma, escorting the goods here for the merchants of Sakai Town." Sano Shinbei respectfully handed over his hands to Imagawa Yoshimoto and said: "There are 420 Tanegashima iron cannons in total, and I have prepared 20 more. I am afraid there will be some on the way. Please check the loss."
"Tiegun..." Imagawa Yoshimoto said this somewhat unfamiliar name and thought for a long time before finally realizing it - he bought this when he went to Sakai Town with Takeda Harunobu last year. Takeda Harunobu said it was amazing. The weapons are coming.
"Your family has paid a deposit of 3,000 yuan before, and the remaining
Please kindly settle the 17,000 pieces and inspect the goods. "Sano Shinbei looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto's expression tentatively, thinking that he didn't remember or wanted to default on his debt, so he whispered carefully.
"Oh, ok, no problem." Imagawa Yoshimoto arranged for Hayasaka Nao and Xingjin Zhengan to withdraw money from Xingjin Port's treasury, while walking towards the boxes, "How should I check? I don't understand this either. .”
"Um... I know how to use this kind of sub-island." Sano Shinbei was a little embarrassed when he heard this, and said honestly: "But I am working for a businessman, and it is not easy to speak ill of the seller..."
"Then I'll hire you to guide the Imagawa family's iron cannons and give you a salary, and then you can help me inspect the goods. How about that?" Imagawa Yoshimoto used his money skills like no other, "The salary is paid by Sakai Town. You get twice as much treatment as a samurai.”
"It's really hard for people to refuse." Sano Shinbei also understood clearly. He didn't have any moral baggage of a samurai. After all, he was just a ronin working for a businessman. Where could he go?
"It's just that I need to wait until you have officially lived in Imagawa's house for a period of time and been included in the household registration before I can give you a master-slave contract and salary, because there is a new article in the "Kana Catalog" that prohibits hiring foreign nationals who stay in the country." Imagawa Yoshimoto added very strictly, "But before that, you can perform your duties first and help me inspect the goods."
"Yes, Your Highness!" Sano Shinbei immediately accepted the order with his fists clasped. Under the surprised eyes of other merchants and water thieves behind him, he in turn began to inspect the goods he had delivered. He first opened the boxes one by one, uncovered the tarpaulins, and took out each iron cannon one by one to check whether there was any damage to the appearance. It can be seen that each iron cannon is well oiled and maintained - it is estimated that the merchants selling iron cannons in Sakai Town rarely see such a generous customer as Imagawa Yoshimoto. If they want to do a good job in the first business seriously, It’s good to cultivate a long-term customer.
After the preliminary inspection, Sano Shinbei brought flint, gunpowder and projectiles, and began to test-fire the iron cannon against the sea one by one to check its performance. The first time it was fired, the roar of the iron cannon really startled Xingjin Zhengping and others, and many of the timid followers lay on the ground with their heads in their hands.
"I thought it was the sound of a furnace exploding." Xingjin Zhengping stared at the black iron pipe that was still smoking with lingering fear, "Does this thing blow up people from close range?"
"No, this explosion will push out the lead shot contained inside, killing people from a long distance like a bow and arrow." Imagawa Yoshimoto explained for Xingjin Shohei, while Sano Shinbei on the side had already skillfully pulled out the second iron gun. Cannon inspection begins. With this "ping ping pong" sound all afternoon, Sano Shinbei finally tested all the more than 400 iron cannons, and finally 404 iron cannons were still usable.
"Back to Your Highness, I also need to remind you that this iron cannon has a number of uses. It will break if used too much. This is a normal phenomenon. It does not mean that we gave defective products." Sano Shinbei also did his best as a businessman. The mercenary's final mission was explained frankly to Imagawa Yoshimoto, "It's like changing the string of a bow after it has been used for a long time."
"No problem, it's human nature." Imagawa Yoshimoto agreed in a reasonable manner, and motioned to Hayasaka Nao to hand over the full amount to the merchants and send them away - Imagawa Yoshimoto also gave them the addresses of their joint shops in Sakai Town. , it will be convenient if you want to buy iron cannons in the future - but Imagawa Yoshimoto has no such plan yet.
"Your Highness bought so many iron cannons at once, are you planning to equip the army?" Sano Shinbei asked his new employer after the merchants left.
"Yes, I had this plan, but I just wanted to have fun at the time." Imagawa Yoshimoto rubbed his ears, which had been shaken all afternoon and were even a little numb, "This thing is used in the army, with hundreds of rounds of iron cannons Let's fire together, and after a few rounds, we will be deafened."
"It's actually okay once you get used to it." Sano Shinbei himself is obviously the best example.
"But..." Imagawa Yoshimoto, who is still relatively traditional, glanced at the dark iron cannons on the cart beside him, "There has never been a precedent for incorporating these things into the army... For thousands of years, samurai have relied on With swords and bows and arrows."
"This thing is imported from the Southern Barbarians. It is very easy to use. I see that every guard on their merchant ship has one guard per person." Sano Shinbei gestured to the Europeans.
"Hmm... it would be easier to use on the ship?" Imagawa Yoshimoto frowned.
After thinking for a moment, "The wind on the boat is too strong, making it difficult to aim an arrow. This thing doesn't seem to be afraid of the wind. But if a wave suddenly hits, won't it cause the match rope to fail to light?"
"I don't know about this, but I heard from the bosses in Sakai Town that the Nanman people would also use this when fighting on land." Sano Shinbei answered honestly.
"Huh? On land? How to use it? When defending the city?" Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the iron cannon suspiciously, "For a field battle, reloading once is too long. Others have already rushed to the front. Is it a field battle? Only hits it once? And like a bow and arrow, he can't stand behind friendly troops and shoot in an arc. Isn't this really a weapon that can only be used once in a battle?"
