Pillars of the Wu family

Li Ding is wearing a long robe with long sleeves and a Confucian uniform with two beautiful mustaches on his mouth. On his dark face, a pair of bright eyes are shining with wisdom. His demeanor left Matsui Nobuyuki as a foil far behind.

Scholars of the Ming Dynasty will receive extraordinary courtesy wherever they go. Namioka Yoshibo, a self-proclaimed cultural man, likes to come here to compose poems and songs. Hosokawa Fujitaka also held many banquets in Niigata Town. During this period, reciting poems and painting felt very uncomfortable. If it wasn't for the idea of ​​returning to his hometown to make contributions in his heart, he would have a little idea of ​​settling here and never going back.

"Mr. Li, please take a seat at Matsui Hall! Come and taste the new tea picked on the Uonuma Snow Mountain this year. This tea is only found in a deep valley in the Uonuma mountains. It is said that it was passed by Master Rongxi hundreds of years ago. There are only a small amount of new tea that can be picked in a year for the tea seeds that were sprinkled later, and today I just happened to get a famous item bestowed by the owner of the hall, so come and invite the two of you to taste one or two!"

Mitsui Toraka’s tea ceremony in the Ming Dynasty was quite impressive. He cleaned the tea set with a bamboo clip. It took him a quarter of an hour to sit down and listen to the outside wind blowing the wind chimes. With the sound of ding-dong water, the whole quiet room presents a natural and harmonious sense of tranquility.

Tasting the clear yellow tea soup, Li Ding's expression is very satisfied. It can be seen that he enjoys life in this foreign country. It is interesting to be an unpopular scholar in his hometown. There is probably nothing more meaningful than doing some homework and meeting some friends before going home, and putting a wonderful note on your life.

From his point of view, Japan's agriculture is backward and even ignorant. They don't know how to select and breed, don't know how to fertilize and top-dress, don't know how to kill insects and prevent diseases, and burn the stalks of the autumn harvest. In his eyes, this is a backward and barren country. era.The agricultural level of the Ming Dynasty can easily crush Japan.

Under his teaching, the whole set of techniques from seed selection, breeding to soaking, the function and application of fertilizers, and even the improvement of pollination, grafting, transplanting and seeds, the improvement and use of production tools, etc. were all taught to him. The Kira family, as a reward, the Kira family will send a big gift every year and festival.

Basically, all the utensils in Li Ding's residence were given away, as large as sandalwood tables, chairs and benches.From huanghuali wooden beds to antique calligraphy and paintings, Yixing purple sand pots, Tang Bohu's paintings, Wen Zhengming's calligraphy, as long as they can be obtained through Kyushu Wangdan's line of art, they basically come to him.

At present, the Kira family has basically cut off contact with Wang Wufeng.This person claims to be the king of Jinghai, who often has the heart of separatism and hegemony, and in the Hirado Matsuura Party, the former overlord of the Western Kingdom, the Ouchi family, and the current overlord of the Western Kingdom, the Maori family, may be wiped out by the Ming Dynasty at any time. The Kira family is now far away from Gyeonggi and the It is also a kind of self-preservation for him to reduce the number of dealings. [

Li Ding knew that his identity was very taboo, and the best way to return home smoothly was to be next to the big tree of Kira's house.Otherwise, his reputation as a Japanese pirate will not be washed away, and he will probably go to prison when he returns to his hometown. Come back home with a pardon or something.

From the observation of an outsider, he can also see the unusual atmosphere in Kira's house. He also knows that this Japanese nobleman has great ambitions from his few contacts with Kira Yoshitoshi. It can also be seen from Japanese history books that he wants to do that. People like Minamoto Yoritomo and Ashikaga Takaji just don't know if they have the ambition to settle down.

Mitsui Toraka noticed that Li Ding was distracted.A coughing voice reminded: "Mr. Li, can the construction of this polder be accelerated? The owner of my house is pressing on the progress. How about solving the main attack on a few large polders first?"

"Is it that urgent?" Li Ding frowned, every time he heard the urging, he was always very unhappy, just when he was about to change his tone, he realized that his sleeve was pulled, and he saw Matsui Nobuyuki giving him a look.Thinking of Matsui Nobuyuki's explanation before, he bent down and lost the momentum he had just now.

"The reason for the relatively slow construction period is still waiting for the excavation of the earthwork piled up by Shinhorikawa. This is the preliminary work in the original plan, and now Shinhorikawa has basically been dug. The idle labor can start to build the polder after autumn. There are labor and earthwork It will be more convenient to build." Li Ding's waist is not weak, who told him that he just married Matsui Nobuyuki's younger sister, and the three uncles are all new descendants of the Kira family, so no matter how tough his brother-in-law is, he will Not suitable anymore.

A few times ago, his scholar's temper came up and he forced him to push back, making Mitsui Toraka, Matsui Yukan and even Hosokawa Fujitaka unable to get off the stage. When he returned home, his newlywed wife's eyes were red, and tears fell down. He, a seven-foot man, hurriedly I apologized and wrote a letter of guarantee, promising that I would never make this mistake again.

Li Ding has suffered a few times after being married for only half a year. Li Ding has realized a truth. A woman's tears are the biggest nemesis of a man, especially a woman who is just pregnant. His wife Sachiko Matsui is not noisy when she is angry Just cry all the time, and cry for one or two hours, if this temper can be tolerated, it won't take many years for his eyes to cry out, and Li Ding can still harden his heart to be a ghost.

Speaking of it, Li Ding is also very confident. In the past two years, he has deliberately delayed the construction period of Kira's house. The amount of time to accommodate people, how much he can carry in the big tree of Kira's family as a family member, depends on the importance and patience of his family governor. Doing pursuit is different from marching and fighting, and he can't get out in two or three years. As a result, can he, the supervisor, afford to wait?

If he can't afford to wait, even if he is scolded and neglected, he will build a polder for the Kira family. Afterwards, he will take a boat back to Kyushu. He Li Ding has done so much for the Kira family, and he will pay back what should be paid. who.

Now it seems that he can afford to wait, and he also saw that Kira Yoshitoshi was a patient person, so he started to attack Matsui Sachiko. The good girl of the Matsui family, the petite Xiaojiabiyu, who is gentle like Water, the Matsui family also had this idea long ago, and it took him several years to delay it. Now that they are married and happy, they naturally dare not stretch it anymore.

"It was my temper just now, it wasn't on purpose!" Li Ding silently gave Matsui Nobuyuki a look, meaning you can rest assured that I will do things, but his third brother-in-law seems to be a little uneasy.

"If the weather is good this year, this polder can be pulled up within half a year. Several large polders can be built first. I am not sure about the polders with seven or eight thousand steps. Last year, I built a few small polders to practice. Got it." Li Ding said truthfully.Mitsui Toraka also had to listen with black lines all over his head. A scholar who is full of theories can still figure out the method of polder construction from books. This ability should not be too exaggerated.

"In this way, my master can feel at ease! My master is very concerned about the progress of Mr. Li's project! I will personally intervene in every evaluation meeting, and I have been summoned many times, so please Mr. Li! But I will do my best to meet my needs, and when the project is completed, my lord will come to Niigata again."

"Is the owner of the museum here in person? That's great!" Nobuyuki Matsui's eyes lit up. He worked so hard to serve the scholar and even got the only girl in, because he had quarreled with his brother about it.

It is understandable that his second elder brother, Matsui Yumo, was so idle. The elder brother who was far away in Omi was very angry when he learned about this incident, and reprimanded him for disregarding the feelings of his compatriots. The parents of the four siblings are no longer alive.The three brothers all love the only younger sister very much. If they are in love with each other and marry the younger sister off, it would be too infuriating to mix in other intentions like betraying their own sister. [

The three brothers almost got into a stalemate because of this matter. Nobuichi Matsui insisted, Masaoyuki Matsui firmly opposed, Yuka Matsui was ambiguous, and the matter somehow got to Yoshitoki Kira.In the end, it was the governor who came forward to make the decision to give the only sister to Li Ding. Li Ding also knew about this trouble. If you want to talk about a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, marrying a foreign woman is considered high-sighted, but after he fell into trouble, he went to Ji Liang's house. This big tree is not qualified to take the accent, but has to accept Matsui Nobuyuki's great favor.

Matsui Nobuyuki has always hoped to do this well, and promoted Jin Shishu to serve as the full-time executive officer. Now his rank is equivalent to that of the Ashgaru general.The chief officials on the top are a group of executive officials including Mitsui Toraka, whose rank is equivalent to that of the generals of the reserve team. Among them, Hosokawa Fujitaka is a servant general and has the power to lead the general affairs.

After talking about the business, the three of them chatted and laughed while sipping tea, sharing anecdotes and anecdotes from all over the world. Li Ding's medieval Japanese was already very fluent.When he talked about his hometown and the interesting stories of living in Kyushu, he elicited a burst of applause.

After a long time, the tea soup was already cold. Mitsui Toraka tapped on the case table lightly, and a few surnames came in to pack the tea sets. After everyone withdrew from the courtyard, he said solemnly: "Mr. Li wants to ask Mr. Li. Are you interested in joining?" My Kira family? Now that Mr. Li is also in exile in another country, how about being the chief executive of my Kira family?"

Li Ding felt the surprised and excited eyes of Matsui Nobuyuki on the side, coughed and replied: "This matter... Let's think about it later."

Mitsui Toraka's attitude towards him is not surprising, the Ming Empire is rich all over the world, and the self-esteem of the heavenly kingdom is not so easy to dispel, he still smiled and said: "That's okay... the condition offered by my Kira family is that everyone will be honored by the chief officer." , Mr. Li, please think about it!"

……

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, a group of buildings was opened up in the northeast of Kasugayama Castle. It was the new imperial residence of Kira Yoshishi, including the original residence hall. The inner and outer passages were blocked by a high wall, and became the new home of Kira Yoshitoki and Tiger Hime.

He worked hard every day to practice spear skills, ate beef and mutton and drank milk, so that Kira Yoshitoki's stature was sprinted up. Now he is only a little shorter than Takigawa Keijiro's perverted guy, enough to look down on a group of 1.6-meter retainers and samurai. He didn't feel complacent because of this, and he always looked forward to one day personally going out to kill the enemy generals.

The fragrant Laba porridge floated into his nostrils, reminding him of the distant past. Kira Yoshishi’s eyes were full of memories. Hu Ji held a bowl of Laba porridge and asked curiously, “Your Highness, what is the meaning of this Laba porridge?”

The idiot Loli ate with porridge stains all over her mouth, and said with a smile: "It's really delicious! How can such a small bowl be enough to eat! So Chiyoko wants more!"

"Here you are." Zhihu passed his bowl over.

"Eh? Sister Zhihu doesn't want to eat it?" Mochizuki Chiyo's long eyelashes flickered, as if she didn't understand why she gave him such delicious Laba porridge.

"I'm not hungry." Naotora's style is still simple and bright. When he involuntarily glanced at Kirayoshi, he happened to meet his concerned gaze. His cheeks turned red, and he lowered his head and muttered: "You Let's eat first."

"Oh! Sister Zhihu is so kind, then Chiyo-no-chan is welcome!" The idiot Loli held the small bowl and started to eat spoonful by spoonful.

The light in Numata Tanxiang's wonderful eyes flashed away, and she said with a smile: "Your Highness! I have also heard the story of this Laba porridge!"

"Oh? Tell me." Yoshihiro Kira put down his spoon with an interested expression on his face.

"It is said that Laba porridge originated from the story of Yue Fei, the famous general of the Song Dynasty who fought against the Jin Dynasty. On the way, the generals and soldiers were hungry and tired, so the farmers along the way poured their own meals into a big pot, boiled them into porridge and distributed them to the generals and soldiers to satisfy their hunger and keep out the cold. That day happened to be the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, so it was called Laba porridge! How is it? Sandalwood is right, right?" Numata Sandalwood said proudly.

"Your Highness, is that so?" Hu Ji didn't care about Sandalwood's small movements.Looking at him full of admiration, he said, "That General Wu Mu must be very powerful!"

"Yes! It's very powerful..." He stopped at the beginning, coughed lightly to adjust his mood, and then said: "There is such a saying, but the origin of Laba porridge is the wax sacrifice. "Book of Rites" The Son of Heaven, Dawaba, and the Yiqi clan began to make wax, and the wax was also called. In the December month of the year, all things are gathered together and offered for food, and then wax sacrifices spread among the people and gradually became the custom of Laba porridge."

"Ah! So it's so long ago! It's amazing! Your Highness is so knowledgeable!" Amidst the compliments of several girls, Tan Xiang lowered her head in disappointment.

"Actually, Sandalwood is right. Laba porridge and rice are very traditional, and the wax ceremony that has been passed down for thousands of years is not well-known among the people, so it is not wrong to comfort General Wu Mu on the day of cooking Laba porridge."

"So that's how it is. Your Highness is really amazing!" Numata Tanxiang stared at the big watery eyes in surprise, and the young man's heart was dazzled by the trace of charm in the pure black eyes.

"Your Highness, Aju is here to see you!" Aju, who has become a woman of the Saito family, walked gently, accompanied by several maids. She still used her previous address, and she didn't think there was any problem in calling him Your Highness. That is to say, both Aju and Saito Chaonobu have careless temperaments, and if they change their husbands, they will probably be unhappy.

On Aju's head, she naturally wears a sapphire blue shawl, which is the standard dress for women of the Wu family when they go out.If you are going to worship Buddha or other public activities, you need to wear a veil or even a veiled cap. This kind of head wrapping shawl is very long and can hang down to the waist, and the head wrapping, which is similar to a bowl, protects the forehead.

Wearing a plain coat, her demeanor is completely different from her previous appearance. Now that Aju is a woman from the Wu family, it is not surprising that she has changed somewhat.

"It turns out that Sister Aju is here..."

Before Torahime could show her polite words, Mochizuki Chiyo rushed towards her.Excitedly said: "Sister Aju! Chiyo misses you so much!"

"Hmmm!" Yoshiki Kira reminded kindly: "Then what, Chiyo-no, don't rush around, be careful in case something goes wrong."

The idiot Lolita asked strangely: "Eh? What's wrong with jumping? Why? Chiyo girls used to jump like this before!"

"It's just that if sister Aju has a baby, she won't be able to stand your pounce."

"Ah! Is Sister Aju pregnant with a baby? Really?" Qiandai's eyes widened.Carefully rubbing it out of Aju's arms, lying on Aju's stomach and listening for a long time, he wondered, "Why can't I hear the baby's voice?"

"Oh! Your Highness is necrotic! How can you tell Aju's secret! How embarrassing!" Aju said shyly, covering her face.

"Eh? How did Your Highness know?" Hu Ji looked at him suspiciously, and Ji Liangyishi hurriedly distinguished: "It's not that guy Zhong Kui, I can't hide that thing in my heart, and it was in front of me two days ago. Turning around with a mysterious look on his face, he kept smirking, asked him what happened and beat him to death, and refused to tell him, but in the end he was tricked out by me."

"Oh! I know that guy is unreliable! I will definitely not tell him next time!" Aju covered her hot cheeks, and said to Mochizuki Chiyo, "I just got it, and I can't feel it now. You can hear it in a few months!"

"That's it! Sister Aju is amazing! She can conceive a baby! It's really amazing! Chiyo is going to give His Highness a baby!" Mochizuki Chiyo's eyes were shining brightly, and Kirayoshi stared at him with a chill down his spine.

"Stupid! How can you be pregnant at such a young age! Wait a few years!" Hu Ji slapped her forehead angrily and amusedly.

"Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Hu Ji was full of tic-tac-toe, but she also breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, and when she glanced at the stupid Kirayoshi shyly, the charm in her eyes could not be concealed: "Your Highness, I really want to massage or something for others. It has grown a lot in the past few years, and it is really necrotic."

"Idiot Chiyo." Naotora clutched her slightly plump chest.Her cheeks were as red as a dripping tomato.

"Huh! Mine is not too small!" Sandalwood covered the plump mountain angrily, showing her strength like a victorious rooster.

"Ah! Let's not talk about that, I always feel that everyone is weird. Today is the Laba Festival, so Aju has cooked a lot of delicious food! There are delicious pastries, Laba porridge, braised duck pieces, sweet and sour carp, and so on. There is delicious Kanto-yaki!"

The idiot Lolita clapped her hands and jumped up happily: "Ah! It's so good! It's great! Chiyonu just didn't have enough to eat. Sister Aju, come and eat too!"

"Aju has already eaten before coming here. I just came from Princess Ayahime to deliver food and snacks to Your Highness. I'm going back now! Your Highness, Aju is going back first. Welcome everyone to visit Aju's house when you are free." !” With a happy smile on Aju’s face, she waved at them and turned to leave.

Looking at the slowly leaving figure.Hu Ji snuggled into Kira Yoshitoki's arms: "Sister Aju is so happy! Your Highness, will we be so happy too?"

Holding the girl's cold little hand, Yoshiki Kira said softly, "Trust me, it will happen!"

……

After more than a year of prospecting and trial mining, Soga Taibei determined the ore veins of Beijinshan and Heziyinshan. In fact, what the Honma family discovered was the sub-vein of this Heziyinshan, which was discovered more than ten years ago. Legend has it that there is silver on the mountain.As a result, the Honma family discovered that this open-pit silver mine could not be mined and smelted, so they could only throw the silver ore back.

The open-pit silver mine is a sub-lode of Hezi Yinshan and the first mine to resume mining. It was mined at the beginning of this year. In April, the daily output of silver ore reached [-] shi. Mining of the main mine also started in April. In early October, the silver ore was more than [-] shi per day. With the support of the Kira family, there was a fixed gunpowder. After many experiments, the amount of gunpowder to explode the ore was found out.It has extraordinary effect when used in silver mining.

After confirming the mining status of Sado Gold Mountain, in May of this year, Soga Taihei rushed to Uonuma County in Chuetsu without stopping. This is a barren mountain belonging to Yamada Nagao's family. The place is remote and inaccessible. Fortunately, It is very convenient to be close to the Uonogawa waterway.

Suga Taibingwei mined the Nanyue mine here, and according to several years of exploration, it was determined that this was a copper-lead mine.All the mines in Echigo belonged to the lord of the country, so the Kira family unceremoniously marked down the mountain, and used the rich manpower and material resources of the Kira family to officially mine the Iifeng mine in early September.The mining method explored by using gunpowder works very well, and this process is also called mining pu.

The mined silver ore is firstly processed by manual beneficiation. Taking advantage of the difference in specific gravity between rocks and minerals, some stones that are easier to distinguish are removed from the ore by washing with water. The constant force of the hammer crushes all the ores, and at this time, the ore washing is carried out for the second screening, and the lighter inferior ore particles and gravel sand particles will float up.

The ore particles after two selections will enter the more important smelting step. Smelting is also called smelting, which refers to the process of roasting copper ore to remove sulfur. This process is first roasted in the smelting workshop located at the foot of the mountain. , This is the first roasting is to burn platinum, also known as platinum blowing.

The shape of this smelting workshop used in Xingpu is very special and somewhat similar to a shack. The roasting smelting furnace is surrounded by a person-high stone wall with a thatched roof. The smelting furnace is buried deep underground, and there is a thatched roof during the smelting process The roof can absorb rain and snow, and the low walls are conducive to the discharge of sulfur gas in the ore.

In the process of smelting, a layer of charcoal is laid on the bottom of the smelting furnace, and the selected crushed ore is stacked on it, and a layer of charcoal is piled on top of the crushed ore. In this way, four hundred stones of ore can be stacked at one time. A vent is left on the front, and a large amount of sulfur gas will be discharged during the platinum blowing process.

After the first smelting, the black copper will be boxed and sealed. It will be transported to Naoetsu through the Uono River and Shinano River by the return ship of the Kira Navy, and then sent to the nearby tributaries through the Sekigawa Waterway to be transferred to the southwest of Mount Kasuga. The copper house in the mountain depression belongs to the security area of ​​Chunri Mountain City. The Nagao family always maintains a rotating reserve team of thousands of people, stationed in the branch city outside the valley to take on defensive tasks.

There is only one exit in the entire valley. Several clear springs from Chunri Mountain flow into the valley along the mountain stream, forming a small lake in the valley and then flowing into Guanchuan. The navy will unload the copper ore at the small pier under the Chunri Mountain city , and then send these goods to the valley by ox-pulled flatbed carts.

The black copper that has been roasted for the first time will be roasted here for the second time. Beryllium is black copper, so this step is also called taking beryllium. First, put the black copper ore into the preset smelting furnace. Set up a sloped channel to remove impurities, and then use the built-in biogas to ignite, and the high temperature of the biogas can easily melt the ore.

The oxides in the painful ore form residues floating on the furnace surface at high temperature, and then flow out of the furnace through the preset channel. After all the residues are removed, the biogas is cut off and then sprinkled on the furnace surface. The high-temperature molten copper condenses into beryllium. Use iron pliers to shovel and peel it off, so it is called beryllium. This step has to be repeated many times until blister copper is extracted, so it is also called plain blowing.

Finally, the copper house is best at refining out impurities, pulling out silver and pure lead to smelt its own pure copper. The smelting of silver ore is simpler. It is also the ore dressing, washing, and then preliminary smelting and transportation to the copper house, and then heating with biogas Remove impurities, and then pull out pure lead.

With its own stable silver and pure copper, the Kira family’s money house can also get rid of the excessive dependence on Yongle money. Now the two counties of Omi earn as much as 40 guan of profit for the Kira family every year, and the money house and pipa house alone occupy For three-quarters of them, the profits are simply terrifying.

The taxes collected from Sakamoto are also very rich. This year’s various taxes and taxes amounted to more than 8 guan, plus the income from Sanheya and wine bars all over Kinai, accounting for a quarter of Omi’s total income.

Echigo’s taxation rights are now in the hands of the Kira family. Kasugayama Castle Town and Naoetsu Town can bring in [-] kan in taxes each year, mainly because Naoetsu used to collect high taxes for spreading and transporting goods, plus the monopoly The income from green ramie trade is very high.

This year's income is about [-] to [-] guan, and half of it will be handed over to Nagao Jinghu to arm the army. Wuwu customized standard weapons, equipment, flag seals and ration carrying plans for the Longtail Legion.

Because Nagao Jinghu has decided to expand the military service account to 5000 people, of which [-] recruits will receive professional guidance and training with the [-] recruits from Omi, and Tokiyuki Yamamoto will serve as the general manager of this new army. Instructor.