Pillars of the Wu family

The chaotic situation in Kanto is very powerful to the Kira family, especially the repeated mistakes of the Furukawa government, Ashikaga Fujimasa, which has brought a lot of convenience to the Kira family. Kira Yoshitoki immediately held an evaluation meeting to discuss matters related to going south to Kanto. Unexpectedly, with the continuous support of all the retainers, many samurai guarded the vicinity of Kasuga Mountain City for a whole year without fighting, and the sword in the sheath was already hungry and thirsty.

Yoshitoki Kira was very satisfied with the attitude of his retainers, and immediately announced the order to march south to the Kanto, appointed Terotora Uesugi as the general general to command more than [-] troops, and incorporated most of the samurai of Echigo and many generals of the Kira family into the army. During the battle, his task is to take advantage of the first heavy snowfall to go out immediately and rush into the Kanto region. His task is to go through Shinano Street to Saku County and enter Ueno Country to wait for a while. He will spend the winter in Hirai Castle and wait until next spring when the flowers bloom. Launch an attack.

Yoshitoki Kira himself temporarily sat in Kasuga Mountain City to wait for the opportunity. When the spring blossoms and the ice and snow melt, he brought two thousand red cavalry, two thousand horses and one thousand newly trained banner warriors to the south of the Kanto to supervise the battle in person. This will be the first battle where the Kira family used 5 people, and it will also be the first battle to declare the Kira family's dominance of Kanto.

It’s the end of the year, and the world is still routinely hit by wind and snow. This year’s rain and snow are particularly abundant. Uesugi Terotora led an army of [-] troops and just entered Saku County when there was a heavy snowfall. Fortunately, Kira’s army was prepared It is very sufficient. Each soldier wears a thick cotton coat, and the fur collected from hunting in these years is made into a cloak to keep out the wind and snow. Military gloves and thick-soled leather boots can ensure that the soldiers will not freeze their hands and feet during the cold march.

Cotton cloth is one of the smuggled trade products from the Ming Dynasty, but it is an important commodity that Japan does not produce and can only produce. In the Ming Dynasty, this thing was not new, but in Japan’s relatively hard-working society, cotton cloth is definitely rich. This batch of cotton cloth and cotton is worth as much as Echigo's profit from selling linen and other textiles for a year, which shows how profitable this business is.

But it is precisely because this urgently needed trade product is illegally trafficked in the forbidden sea of ​​the Ming Empire, and the purchase channel is too difficult to buy. Every product needs several times the price to buy it. The sea merchants watched helplessly. There is no way to make money from a purely profitable business, so it is no wonder that they will choose to do smuggling or even take the evil ways of Japanese pirates in desperation.

……

Snowstorms mean the year is coming to an end.Just when Kira Yoshito breathed a sigh of relief and thought about whether to take his family to Yuzawa Imperial Palace by boat for the winter, a Nanman fleet from afar suddenly visited Echigo. The tall sails were several times the size of the return ship and they were completely different. The styling of Japanese ships has attracted many people's attention.

Several merchants quickly ran into the wine room in the port and shouted loudly: "The Nanmans are coming! There are a lot of Nanbarians coming! There are Nanbarians with yellow hair and blue eyes, red hair and green eyes, and brown hair and brown eyes." The southern barbarians, they have a lot of people and are equipped with a lot of iron cannons and some strange things. They look so scary and look so fierce! We wanted to go over and take a closer look, but we were beaten back!" [

The quiet Naoetsu suddenly boiled.Several merchants and townspeople came out of their houses and gathered in front of the port, looking curiously at the group of merchants who came from afar. The elderly people were pushed out of the circle and looked around on their toes. After a while, they shook their heads and sighed: "I heard that the Nanman people are a group of Rumao drinking blood is extremely vicious, with green face and fangs and four hands, according to legend, he was suppressed by eminent monks with magic power and could not enter the Western Kingdom. My old man has never seen what the Southern barbarians look like!"

Kira Yoshitoshi, who was in Kasuga Mountain City, soon got the news, ordered two thousand troops to quickly disperse the crowd gathered at the port, and personally led five hundred banner warriors to the port to meet the Nanban merchants in person. There are dozens of ships of different sizes, and the most conspicuous of them is the three-masted Galen galleon.

This Galen galleon saw Kirayoshi very eagerly. There was a familiar but unfamiliar St. George's flag hanging on the mainmast, and Kirayoshi felt a lot more relaxed.The long-awaited business partner finally came back, and the appearance of the St. George flag meant that the familiar blond girl in memory also came.

Yoshishi Kira was the only one who could speak the Southern barbarian, and he took the initiative to identify himself to the crew members who were staying on the deck. The crew members were as big as a chimpanzee and couldn't hear clearly when they were buzzing. The dialect accent made him completely clueless about how to communicate, and the two of them stood on the pier and on the deck, just staring blankly.

"Hehehe...your English is much worse than before!" In the crisp laughter, a handsome man walked to the deck, explained a few words to the silly chimpanzee-like crew member, and then opened the cabin and landed .In less than half an hour, seven to eight hundred crew members from dozens of large and small ships filed out. They walked into the wine room to relax, laughing and walking shoulder to shoulder.

It wasn't until everyone was gone that Ji Liangyi came back to his senses and saw the young man on the side of the boat beckoning to him: "Get on the boat and talk! I know you haven't seen the Nanban Trading House here!"

"Oh... I'm coming!" Ji Liangyi waited to get on the boat in a daze, the samurai behind hurriedly followed but was blocked by the gorilla, and several banner samurai shouted anxiously, trying to rush over But he was easily held down by a strong man who was more than two heads taller than himself, and he was thrown back to the shore like a chicken.

Seeing the banner samurai draw out his sword with some red eyes.The chimpanzee snorted coldly and pulled out two oversized Arabian scimitars, staring at them with a pair of bull's eyes guarding the side of the boat and shouting at them, as if saying that you have the guts to come up and give it a try. The banner warrior said: "You guys just wait here! This is my friend. It won't hurt me!"

Following the young man into the cabin, he discovered that it was an exquisite drawing room. The walls of the room were brightly lit, and several strange world maps and nautical charts between various islands dazzled his eyes. Several navigators were sitting in a corner drinking coffee leisurely, and one of the young men saluted Kirayoshi friendly when he saw him.

Yoshihiro Kira remembered that this man was a navigator of the Argot fleet, and he had completely forgotten his name, so he could only nod to him in embarrassment, and then followed the young man into the drawing room with his mind full of doubts. It seemed to be the captain's office, and there was a 27-year-old young Caucasian man sitting in it.

The white man frowned slightly when he saw Kirayoshi, and then said: "His Royal Highness, is this Mr. Joseph, the distinguished guest from Asia you mentioned? Good afternoon, Mr. Joseph, I am John from Plymouth, and my father is William Hawkins, the great navigator, honored by Henry VIII."

"Oh! Hello! Your Excellency Hawkins, I am Joseph. Joseph of the East." Kirayoshi looked at the white man in surprise. It turned out to be the famous and notorious John Hawkins. The young man beside him was giggling.

The young man said to John Hawkins: "Don't John choose to go ashore to relax? Hasn't he been complaining about the pressure and need to relax since entering East Asia? I will give you half a day off to relax, and you will be back on time at [-] o'clock tomorrow morning." .”

"Okay! Let's talk slowly, I'll take my leave first." John Hawkins didn't seem to care about this kind of teasing, shrugging his shoulders, stood up and said with a gentleman's salute: "I wish you two a wonderful night. "

When the young man suddenly blushed and glanced at Kirayoshi, he was so frightened that he quickly shrank his head and pretended not to see it.With a chill in his heart, he thought to himself: "This duke is not gay, is he? I really don't like this! By the way, where did that little loli go, why haven't I seen anyone until now?" [

When John Hawkins left, Yoshiki Kira hurriedly said to the weird young man, "Is there a girl named Claudia on this ship?"

The young man turned around in astonishment, looked at him several times carefully, and said with great interest, "Huh? Why do you ask such a question?"

"Because I'm familiar with her, so..." Yoshiki Kira suddenly became tongue-tied.He cursed in his heart that he was so stupid that he was so stupid that he would reveal his own bad things in front of strangers. This level is only possible for a kid with no social experience.

Then think about the time from learning the news of the Nanban fleet to the time I made many serious mistakes standing in the cabin of this ship. I was so stupid that I obediently followed them into the cabin when I saw the flag of St. George, one flag for each. Acquaintances are too numerous to count, and who knows if that navigator will change his employer to attract an unknown nobleman to trade here.If this is really the intention, then wouldn't his actions just now be a way to give someone the right to take the initiative and even put his life in the hands of someone he doesn't know at all?

Fortunately, after his observation, it can be seen that this person does not look like a bad person. Otherwise, it only takes a few strong men and a bundle of hemp rope to catch Kira Yoshitoshi who is not carrying any weapons, kidnap him and blackmail him for a while. There is really no place to cry for a high ransom. Isn't this John Hawkins an expert in this field?Thinking of this really broke out in a cold sweat.

"Hehehe...Look at your frightened look, you are really stupid and stupid!" The young man suddenly revealed a female voice, took off his hat and let loose his long golden hair with a shawl.The delicate facial features that are slightly heroic can vaguely see the appearance of the last time we met in Sakaicachi many years ago.

Kira Yoshishi was so frightened that he didn't dare to recognize each other, and asked uncertainly, "Are you... Claudia?"

The young woman giggled again, nodded and said, "I am the first Duke of York, the court advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, and the current Governor of the Navy, Claudia Plantagenet."

"Uh... What a long title!" Quietly scratched her head and said in embarrassment, "Why are you so tall, you are almost as tall as me, I remember you were only this tall when you left... "

Yoshishi Kira didn't know how to deal with a girl he hadn't seen for many years.Some clumsy gestures about the size of the two when they first met, which caused Claudia to smile again. After a while, she seemed to think of something, said sorry, and left the room in a hurry, leaving Kirayoshi embarrassed. The wait was nearly two quarters of an hour.

until it appears again.She had already changed into a female costume of a court aristocrat, and her bright smile seemed to make the room brighter against the backdrop of her glamorous appearance. Claudia generously asked him to sit down, and brought a pot with a strong aroma drink to invite him to taste.

"Huh? Is this coffee?"

"Does Joseph also know this drink? Its name literally translates from the Ottoman language to coffee. This drink is very expensive and monopolized by the Ottoman Empire. I only bought some from special channels. I usually don't want to drink it. I will take it out for you to taste." Claudia's eyes were strange, and she was hairy when she stared at Kirayoshi.

"Coffee is a very good thing. You should have explored the New World! Planting coffee in the New World will bring you a lot of wealth. It is strongly recommended that you spend a lot of money to purchase some green coffee beans and transplant them to the islands of America. Try farming." Kira Yoshishi said without words, his head was empty and he didn't even know what he was talking about, Claudia just nodded with a smile.After chatting for a while, I slowly talked about my life experience in the past few years.

Since returning to the UK six years ago, she has returned to London to become an attendant of Princess Elizabeth who was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Because of her good education and extraordinary family background, she was soon favored by Princess Elizabeth, who was restricted in the Tower of London. , or a little girl who was tabooed by criminals and followed her into the Tower of London is the only person who can be trusted.

In the past few years in the Tower of London, she has been working with Elizabeth to receive education from the famous English Renaissance humanist Roger Askan, studying religion, classics, history, poetry and language.These years have had a huge impact on her. Before that, she was just a little girl who sympathized with Protestantism, but since then she has followed Princess Elizabeth to become a devout Protestant.

Until the death of Bloody Mary two years ago, Princess Elizabeth was appointed queen by the noble council. She also became the Duchess of York by virtue of her family background and the trust of the queen, but the queen was busy falling in love with her lover Robert Dudley.Constantly thinking of ways to facilitate the marriage between himself and his married man, he has no intention of managing this country at all.

This immediately caused strong opposition from many aristocratic groups who expected the Queen of the Protestant faith to bring good luck. Robert Dudley's political opponents also launched a series of framing and assassinations against him. The Duchess Claudia has naturally also become a figure disgusted by many nobles. When she saw that the situation was not good, she took the opportunity to go to the Far East to explore new sailing routes.

Queen Elizabeth I was very aware of her seafaring talents, and also knew that this little sister who had shared joys and sorrows in prison for several years was also very embarrassed. The queen was busy giving her lover a prince's crown.Temporarily having no time to take care of this little sister, he agreed to Claudia's request after careful consideration, and gave her dozens of ships and a group of excellent sailors for her to carry out ocean exploration operations that seemed destined to be meaningless.

Yoshiki Kira said proudly: "It's really a complicated experience! There are also thrilling court struggles. In comparison, my experience is lacklustre. I just fought a few wars and grabbed many territories. By the way, if we talk about titles In terms of land and territory, I can be regarded as a real brand duke."

England is not big, and Yorkshire is only [-] square kilometers.It is about the same size as the Echigo Kingdom. The Kira family also owns the territory of the Five Kingdoms. In addition to the territories of Omi and Mikawa, they may be able to form a territory of the Six Kingdoms. No matter what, it must be more than [-] square kilometers. This territory should be A duke is more than enough.

Claudia asked him about his specific experience in disbelief, and asked him to explain how he came to Echigo from Kyoto in these years. During the period, he inadvertently mentioned that he had married several wives and left a bunch of children .Claudia looked very upset: "Why is your country still insisting on such backward and uncivilized customs!

The sages once said that marriage is a lifelong union of one husband and one wife, a common relationship between divine affairs and human affairs. God created Adam and Eve to reproduce several human beings.Monogamy is the most sacred contract God has given us, but you have trampled on this sacred contract. Your performance really disappoints me! "

Claudia seemed very angry and ignored him for a long time. After a while, she saw her coldly saying to him: "Please Joseph go back and rest first, let's talk about business tomorrow!"

"...Okay, then I'll go back first." Ji Liangyi stood up and said goodbye in a somewhat depressed manner. When he walked to the side of the boat, he saw the gorilla who seemed surprised that he came out so quickly, and looked at his body as if saying, "You This guy's body is really bad enough, he just walked out in such a short time", which made Kira Yoshishi look baffled.

On the way back, he carefully recalled the words and deeds on the deck, which made him feel that the words of John Hawkins seemed to have a deeper meaning, but he couldn't figure out what the meaning was for a while, and Claudia's performance was also very It's not normal, I haven't seen her for six years, and suddenly she is already a tall and pretty girl when I meet her, and there is always a strange feeling in her words and deeds.

Kira Yoshishi's habit was to simply think about it if he didn't understand it. He remembered that Cronenberg and John were still in Echigo, so someone invited them over to prepare them to return to their hometown. John learned that he His compatriots came to Echigo, not to mention how happy they were. He thought that he would never have the chance to set foot on the land of his hometown in this life, and that he might end up dying in a foreign land. This news was like a booster, which made him extremely happy.

Cronenberg didn't seem to care much.When he told Kirayoshi, there were actually no relatives in his hometown. His own wife and two children died in the plague decades ago. He also left several scars on his face in that plague. Since then I have never been married and have been living as a widower until now. I have lived comfortably in Japan for the past few years and don't want to go home.

It was only then that Kirayoshi discovered that Kronenberg had been single all along. He thought that he would have a wife and children waiting for him when he was almost 60 years old, but in fact his wife and children did not have a lot of distant relatives.Cronenberg doesn't like those vampire-like distant relatives, and he doesn't plan to give them the wealth accumulated over the years, because these distant relatives only want to inherit his inheritance, so they won't serve him at ease until he dies. Inheritance, rather than being killed and robbed by relatives who do not know when, it is better to die in a foreign place.

When Kira Yoshitoshi thought about it, it was indeed the case.So regardless of Cronenberg's strict refusal, he searched for a young widow whose husband died to carry on the family line for him. No matter whether his heart died or he was widowed for other reasons, he must leave an official offspring. To prove that he did exist and leave traces.

Getting up early the next morning, Yoshitoshi Kira rushed to the port with fifty samurai, but he encountered a young man about 20 years old blocking his way.Tall and burly even taller than Kirayoshi, wearing a leather robe with a single-handed sword at the waist and hips, staring at Kirayoshi very politely while looking up and down.

Yoshitoshi Kira didn't know what this guy was doing, he wanted to go around but was blocked by him, so he said a little unhappy: "Please get out of the way, don't block other people's progress, thank you!"

However, this tall young man took off his white gloves and threw them towards Yoshihiro Kira, and said in an arrogant and disdainful tone: "I am Francis Drake. I propose to you for the beautiful Claudia Challenge! The losing party will forever give up the qualification to pursue Claudia."

"Challenge? For love? What's going on here?" Yoshihiro Kira stared at him absurdly and said, "Your name is Francis, right? I don't understand what you're saying, I'm saying this once, please get out of the way."

"Huh! How dare you do it and dare not admit it? Yesterday Claudia deliberately dismissed my cousin and the crew on the ship in order to have a tryst with you. I didn't expect that you didn't wear it for the night, and you were ashamed in just two hours." Running out yo, you must be an idiot who escaped shamefully and angrily after trying hard for two hours due to erection difficulties!

This kind of soft man is not worthy of being Claudia's man, and I, Francis Drake, will prove it with facts.Claudia made a mistake choosing you!You should go back to your little castle as lord, not set foot on the deck of the York. "Francis Drake's obscenities emerged one after another, which made the Banner warriors who didn't understand the Southern Barbarians feel that something was wrong.

A few clever warriors quickly drew out their swords and gestured to form a formation to attack the tall southern barbarian, but when they saw Yoshiki Kira, he waved his hand to stop their actions.Francis Drake folded his arms and said with a sneer: "Forget that you are sensible and didn't let these dwarfs do it, otherwise I will let them learn a profound lesson."

"You don't need to talk too much! Tell me, how to compare, I will take it!" Yoshiki Kira stared at the young man coldly, and said: "I don't care if you are that Drake, what you said You have to pay the price, your price is not enough to gamble with me, so I have to increase the price!"

"Oh! What do you want to add?" Francis Drake tilted his head and said, "Isn't it a bet like kneeling down and kowtowing? That's really ridiculous!"

"Don't worry! I'm a gentleman, and I won't be as vulgar as you are." Yoshiki Kira looked at the activist's neck and said with sinister eyes: "If I lose, I will give you five thousand pounds of silver and promise that I will never pursue restraint." Claudia will never touch her again, if you lose, you must always be loyal to Claudia as her loyal knight, and promise to never pursue Claudia and never touch her again."

"This chip is too heavy! Five thousand pounds is not enough..." Francis Drake was shocked, and when staring at Yoshiki Kira with a serious face in surprise, he said with some hesitation: "At least ten thousand pounds of silver!"

"Hmph! Do you think your life is worth [-] pounds of silver?" Kira Yoshihim ignored him, and the nearby English sailors also gathered quietly. Hearing this sentence, they all laughed together. Ten thousand pounds of silver is an astonishing amount of wealth. You can buy several large ships equipped with artillery and elite sailors. With this money, you may be able to become the overlord of a party in a few years.

Only then did Francis Drake realize that this proposal was stupid, but he still insisted unconvinced: "I have excellent sailing talent, and I will become a great captain in the future. With the help of my cousin, I will become even greater! As long as you Dare to bet [-] pounds of silver, and I dare to bet it for the rest of my life!"

When Kira Yoshishi saw that his goal had been achieved, he immediately added a sentence: "Okay! This is what you said, so it's settled! There are witnesses present to testify! God testifies! Swear!"

The so-called rush of words is a way of expressing the aggressive method, forcing you to say what you didn't intend to say. Francis Drake was originally just a joke about Kirayoshi, but he didn't want to be forced into the corner by a few words Here, I have to bite the bullet and swear in the name of God. Even the Rinzai believer in Kira Yoshishi also swears in the name of God. It seems needless to say which one is more effective.

After some discussion, he finally decided to reach out with fists and kicks. Francis Drake knew that he would have a serious discussion with Claudia next. It would be asking for trouble if he stabbed a big basket with a sword fight. Let this guy know that Anglo-Saxon men are not comparable to him.

Let him meet Claudia with a bruised nose and swollen face in the business negotiations later, not only can he hit his rival in love in front of his sweetheart, but also make Claudia lower his evaluation of this Eastern Joseph, By the way, you can also get a huge fortune from the bet. This good thing with multiple actions is simply picturesque.

Yoshiki Kira guessed some of the reasons from his treacherous expression, secretly thinking that this guy is only in his early twenties and has so many careful thoughts, no wonder he will become the all-powerful sea lord in the future, but it is a pity that he met this guy from Yoshiki Kira The freak, just relying on his Western boxing practiced in the field, is not at all an opponent of Yoshitoki Kira, who has undergone systematic martial arts training.

He was easily knocked down within a few rounds of the fight, but he stood up tenaciously and continued to fight relying on his strength and tenacity, but the strength of the two sides did not have an overwhelming gap. The advantage, seven or eight times in a row, finally made him realize that he was not an opponent, so he could only cover his swollen half of his face, give him a vicious look, and wanted to leave.

"and many more!"

"I will keep that oath! Hmph!" Francis Drake let go of a sentence and was about to squeeze out of the crowd. The sailors whistling weirdly made him very unhappy, and he waved his fists to express his displeasure. He hurriedly disappeared into the crowd.