Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 187

Yuxiduo had a very extensive trade relationship with Nawu. Before the gunpowder was monopolized by Li Dan's caravan, Yuxiduo traded iron cannons with famous knives, tools, gunpowder, matchlocks and Nawu.

The iron cannon looks very simple, but it is not something that ordinary blacksmiths can make. Although it is not to brag about the spirit of Japanese craftsmanship, the firearms made by Japanese blacksmiths at this moment are indeed larger than the Ming Dynasty firearms on the other side of the sea. Even 100 years earlier than Europe, the caliber of iron cannons was basically the same.

You must know that the merchants of the Ming Dynasty who smuggled at that time equipped their ships with a large number of Japanese iron cannons. When iron cannons were not taken seriously, iron cannon foundries were still unregulated like ordinary craftsmen.

As Oda Nobunaga occupied Omi Kuniyo, while vigorously developing the Kuniyo Iron Cannon, he imposed strict restrictions on these craftsmen to prevent them from going to other countries.

However, Ukido developed late and missed the bonus period for the development of iron cannons, resulting in no ability to cast iron cannons. After Hashiba Hideyoshi came to power, he continued Oda Nobunaga’s policy and monopolized the supply of iron cannons in Kinki. It has also become an important source of trade income for the Yuchai family.

It’s not that Hideka doesn’t want to realize the freedom of iron cannons, but even his father Hashiba’s family is unwilling to give up some craftsmen to make iron cannons for Yuki’s family, let alone craftsmen under other daimyo’s leadership. That’s why Bizen can only repair them. The reason why iron cannons cannot be cast.

However, there are iron cannon workshops around Sakaicho. These handicraft workshops cooperate with merchants in Sakaicho to sell the iron cannons produced all over the country. All craftsmen go back.

As the largest arms dealer in Sakaimachi, the craftsman only needs to discuss with Imai Zonghisa, and Hideka chose to dismiss Tsuda Zongji first.After all, the production of iron cannons in Sakaimachi was licensed by Hideyoshi, but if he knew, he might blame him and give Imai Sohisa a pair of shoes.

After Tsuda Zongji left, the Hide family took a sip of Tieguanyin and signaled the left and right guards to go out. Imai Zongjiu also wisely asked his clerk to leave for the time being, and put up a "closed shop" sign outside the house.

Hideka was also unwilling to delay with Imai Zonghisa, and made his debut with his own thoughts, "Our family has cooperated with Nawu for many years, and they have always cooperated seamlessly. The annual trade volume between the two companies is about 4 guan. I am right, Imai Zonghisa .”

Hideka called him by his first name here because there was a huge class gap between the two of them. If it was for a samurai, Hideka might call him Miao character + adult as an honorific, but facing Imai Zonghisa, Hideo The family should maintain a proper sense of distance.

"Your Highness is right. Bizen's armaments have always been loved by samurai. It is our Naya's honor to be able to contract the armament of the longship." Imai Zongjiu couldn't figure out Hideka's purpose, and simply followed his meaning Keep up the flattery.

"When I entered Sakaimachi, I saw a row of workshops on the north side of the city, and a thick column of smoke rose. It seems that the scale of the blacksmith workshop in Sakaimachi is not small."

On the southwestern sides of Sakai-cho are the mausoleums of emperors and dignitaries during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The most famous one is the mausoleum of Emperor Nintoku and his concubine, which is a national treasure of Japan even now.

In order not to disturb the rest of the late emperor, the handicraft workshops in Sakaimachi can only be built facing the north. Relying on the Yamato River, a row of large-scale handicraft workshop areas were built. Of course, there are not only iron cannons here, but also many pens, pens, etc. Commodities such as pine oil.

"It's a workshop that can't compare to Osafune." Imai Sohisa said modestly, "After Inuko came back, he kept telling me how prosperous Bizen was under His Highness's management, and how sharp and strong the swords produced by Osafune were."

"In fact, most of the weapons produced by the blacksmiths here in Sakai are for ordinary ashigaru and low-level samurai. The real masterpieces are all the long boat swords bought from Bizen Okayama. The famous long boat swords have long been famous overseas. Your Highness Don't worry."

Imai Zonghisa seems to have misunderstood Hideya's meaning. He thought that Hideya saw the size of the blacksmiths in Sakaimachi and was afraid that it would have an impact on his own arms trade, so he promised repeatedly that he would not reduce the purchase of arms from Bizen, and he also hoped to expand The idea of ​​buying volume.

The Xiu family couldn't figure out the way of Imai Zonghisa. He knew that Imai Zonghisa was a very good swimmer. For proposals that required risks, he was absolutely not proactive, slow to implement, and irresponsible. It's wishful thinking to make a proposal.

So the Xiu family could only get straight to the point, chatting with him about craftsmen, so the Xiu family first brought up the appetizers and said, "I think this Nanman body is very good. I wonder if I can mass-produce and equip my banner team?"

Imai Zongjiu shook his head and said, "The armor on the chest of Nanban is not as full as that of Serena Williams. It is made by beating a whole piece of iron. It must be made to order. I am afraid it will be difficult to mass-produce it."

"We produce 20 to 30 sets of Nanban meat in Sakai-machi a year. If there are more, we won't be able to make more. I will rush to make this set for Your Highness."

"Why don't you and our family cooperate? The most important thing we have in Bizen is craftsmen. I want to gradually transfer Pian Xiaozha's body to Nanban's body. I need a craftsman who knows how to beat Nanban's body to call us. When the long ship After mastering the technology of the Nanman carcass, the output will definitely increase, and it will not be a problem to supply you with more than a hundred sets a year."

I have to say that Xiujia's proposal is indeed quite attractive. With the current price of 300 guan for the Nanban carcass, the current selling price of 20 guan is only 6000 guan for a year. Great business.

The armor-making blacksmiths in any country are the most precious. Just like the Oda family controlled the iron gunsmiths in Kuniyu Village, the Hide family registered and controlled the craftsmen of long ships.

Even in order to prevent them from contacting the outside world, merchants are not allowed to go directly to the longship to purchase.The military equipment produced by Osafune is purchased by the Uki family, and then transported to Gangshan Town for sale.

If Nawu can borrow the craftsmen of the long boats to produce a large number of Nanban carcasses, it will be very beneficial to the two families. For the warrior class, horses, armors, and swords are indispensable. The samurai will refuse the temptation of the ornately decorated Nanban body. There are hundreds of thousands of samurai in Japan, how much money does this cost.

Both Xiujia and Imai Zongjiu can calculate the money account. They both aimed at the huge profit potential in the future, so they hit it off immediately. Imai Zongjiu will take the iron cannon and the blacksmith to Okayama after the Xiujia customized one is completed. , to help Yuxijia to complete industrial upgrading.

After chatting about the appetizers, Xiujia can finally make use of the topic and bring out the main purpose of today.

"The iron cannons of my Guannawu are very good. Our Hashiba family has many iron cannons that are damaged every month. I wonder if Boss Imai Sohisa can give me some craftsmen to help me repair the iron cannons?" Taking advantage of the east wind just now, Xiujia said along the way.

Imai Zongjiu listened to the Hide family's words, narrowed his eyes into a line, and said with a smile, "Your Highness will really make fun of me. The Hashiba family controls Omi Kuniyu, produces more than a thousand iron cannons a year, and has countless famous craftsmen. I'm looking for someone in Sakai-machi."

Hideka didn't believe it, and Imai Zongjiu couldn't understand what Hideka said was referring to his Uki family, but he still chose to talk about it. He explained that he was not interested in Hideya's proposal at the moment, just Due to affection, Xiu's family was given a step down.

The premise for Sakai-machi to be licensed to cast iron cannons is to keep the iron cannon craftsmen from leaking out. The same control measures are implemented on the craftsmen as Hashiba's family, and let him take the risk of angering Hideyoshi to smuggle the craftsmen out. Sohisa Imai didn't want to do this Losing business.

Hideka is unwilling to give up on this and wants to continue to fight, but Imai Zongjiu just bites his tongue, thinking about it, Imai Zonghisa and Yuki's family are both in trade deficit, and only the iron cannon business can make up for a little difference. Once you have mastered the skill of iron cannon, you will be completely reduced to a bulk cargo person of Yuxi's products.

When Xiujia talked about this, his mood was already extremely depressed, so he made a detour, went to Sakaicho to meet you, a businessman, in person, and threw out 2 kan as a stepping stone, but in the end, you still didn't give me face?

Perhaps because he noticed the serious face of the Xiu family, out of the idea that although the business could not be done with justice, Imai Zonghisa was very generous to wear off a fraction of the original payment for the Xiu family, as long as he paid 2 guan, and paid Xiujia asked if he needed other products.

The Xiu family's good interest has been exhausted by him, since Imai Zongjiu is not willing to let go, the Xiu family is not willing to spend more time here, rejected Imai Zongjiu's kindness of wanting to entertain him, and is ready to go to the next destination.

As soon as he came out of Nawu, he met Zhuang Zhiqing who was going to book a boat, and he came to report the results of the boat order to Xiujia.

"Your Highness, there is no room left for today's large merchant ships (remodeled ships similar to those of Guan Ships). I have booked a ship from several merchants for tomorrow's trip to Okayama. I have ordered 5 large merchant ships and 5 small merchant ships (Xiao Zao) Transformed ship), I think it is enough to use."

The Xiu family had just been angered by Imai Zongjiu, and Zhuang Zhiqing's report only nodded to show that he knew it, and then he led a large team to prepare to leave.

He was going to go to the money house first, exchange the copper coins for gold, and then go to trade with Nanman merchants.

The 2 12-pounder guns and 3 6-pounder guns purchased by Xiujia have been installed in the firearms. As they were widely used in the last Sanuki battle and used in daily training, these 5 guns have reached a certain level. service life, must be repaired or recast.

Bronze cannons are different from steel cannons. Bronze cannons are soft. Every time the gunpowder is fired, it will not only work on the projectile, but also exert pressure on the cannon wall. Over time, the rear of the cannon will expand outwards, forming a cavity.

This cavity will not only prevent the projectile from being compacted into the barrel, but may also cause a very dangerous situation in which the chamber explodes.

The method of repairing the bronze cannon is very simple and rough. After the rear part is burnt, it is re-sheeted, and a few circles of wheels are inlaid on the outside to fix the rear part. Many bronze cannon cultural relics in the world have circles behind the barrel. The copper hoop, that is to say, this artillery has undergone many rounds of repairs.

At that time, there was an upper limit to the repair of the artillery. No matter how many copper hoops were put on, the metal fatigue level inside the cannon could not be changed. Once the upper limit was reached, it had to be recast. Xiujia came here for this purpose.

Sakaicho has always been the base camp of Nanban merchants. Compared with Hirado, which is monopolized by Portuguese and Dutch merchants, Sakaicho’s Nanban merchants seem to be flourishing. From Spain to Italy, and even Turkish merchants can be seen in Sakaicho.

Unlike Hirado, most of the merchants in Sakaimachi were individual merchants based on a single merchant ship, and most of the big merchants gathered in Hirado to trade with the Japanese.

This also made Nanban Town in Sakai Town more like a market. Today you come here to set up a stall, and tomorrow I will go there to set up a stall. After the things are sold out, I have bought enough supplies to press the boat and then set off to return to Europe.

Hideka originally wanted to find Opes, the captain of the Spanish merchant ship "Anthony" that he cooperated with last time, but unfortunately, he searched all over Sakai-cho but couldn't find him. The "Anthony" with the same name that is currently moored in the port is an Italian merchant ship. His name was Francesco.

When Xiujia saw him, the people in charge of Gu Sakai Town said that the ship had been moored here for several months, and it was already winter, and it was the gathering of Nanban merchants returning from Japan, and he still chose to stay here. Here it seems a bit unusual, and Xiujia thinks this may be a good entry point.

But none of the people working there knew Latin, and even Xiujia only knew English and a little Spanish.

Fortunately, Latin is the sacred religious language in Europe. In order to ensure the sole interpretation of the Pope's religious power, the Bible was prohibited from being translated into other languages ​​for a long time, and could only be interpreted in Latin.

This makes it very convenient to find a missionary to translate. Tongxinzhong originally wanted to find a missionary to translate for Xiu’s family to the church in Nanban Town, but the captain Francesco said that there were people on board who could speak Japanese. Dow saves a lot of work.

Unexpectedly, what Francesco brought out was a drunk guy. Judging from his clothes, he did not look like a high-level talent who could learn a language school (in China, only the Holy See school can learn language and culture) teach, and those who can learn are the rich).

Just when Xiujia gave up planning to make gestures in person and slapped 10 gold coins on the table to start the performance, the drunken man suddenly regained his spirits.

He reached out and took the 5 gold coins on the table away, wanting to put them back into his pocket, mumbling in his mouth, "The purity of gold in Japan is still very high, as long as you are willing to give me these gold coins, I am willing to translate for you. "

But Xiujia firmly grabbed his arm and said, "This is not the price for translation, you have to make me feel that it is worth it."

Judging from the Japanese of that person just now, his pronunciation is quite standard, which is not common among missionaries studying in Japan, let alone an ordinary person, the Xiu family also chose to give him one because of his ability to speak Japanese. Opportunity, after all, for the Xiu family, as long as there is an excellent report, money has never been a problem.

(End of this chapter)