The Iguchi Kiyobei picked up a pick, which was full of the gnats he had worked all night yesterday, and it was already autumn, and the townspeople in the market had begun to sell some songworms for the rich children to play with, and the gnats were just in time for the season.

If it weren't for the Chiba-style bun on his head and the ribs around his waist, just from the shabby clothes on his body and the clogs under his feet that were about to rot, where would he still have the appearance of a famous gunman in the Western Army back then?

As soon as he walked into the crowded market, Kiyobei felt that the atmosphere was a little abnormal. In the past, the owners of several shops who urged him to pay off his arrears quickly asked him with a smile if he wanted to buy some clothes? If you don't need it, do you want to buy some for your wife and children at home?

Qing Bingwei's wife has long since died, but there is an old lady above, two sons and three daughters below, and a family of six mouths is waiting for him. Where is the money left to buy new clothes for the winter? I don't know where the charcoal for the winter is!

Along the way, he kept being humble and polite, Qing Bingwei knew his current status very well, he was no longer the banner warrior in the Western Army, the samurai master who used to be four hundred stone sharp, but just a ronin with no land, no money and no master. Oh, compared to his former comrades, he seems to be stronger, at least, a little hobby in his childhood, weaving baskets, can barely let his family have a mouthful of multigrain rice and radish rice to eat. And those colleagues, after the defeat of the Western Army and the turmoil in Kyushu, could only wander around and run around like wild dogs. Theft and robbery.

Turning the mouth of the two alleys, there is the most lively stone bridge in front of him, just turning the corner, Qingbei couldn't help but twitch his nose a few times, greedily stirring the long-lost aroma of rice in the air.

"Alas! I don't know which townman is doing a happy event today, so expensive. ”

Although the shogunate implemented two systems of kyutaka and ishigaka in the aftermath of the Kyushu turmoil, and the rice from the Ming Kingdom was several times larger than in Japan, the strong aroma of rice could only be smelled when the townspeople and the daimyo or the families of the shogunate's important ministers had happy events.

With a bit of envy and curiosity, Qing Bingwei walked across the stone bridge with his burden under the strange eyes of everyone.

"Huh?"

On the bridge. There is a makeshift stove. The tongue of fire happily licked the bottom of the pot, and the heat continued to emerge from the pot, and bursts of white smoke dispersed the aroma of boiled rice. Not far in front of the pot stove, a flag was tied to the willow tree at the head of the bridge. What is written on it. Kiyobei couldn't see clearly. But his instincts told him that the matter seemed to have something to do with him!

"Inoguchi-kun!"

Someone greeted him politely and affectionately.

"San Lang-kun, over there. What happened? ”

"The lord from the Ming Kingdom and the Southern Barbarians are recruiting troops there! It's all former samurai lords like you! It's very good! Anyone who has passed the guò in the first instance can immediately have a full meal there! ”

Saburo of the Matsushita family, a hawker who set up a stall together, pointed with envy to the dozens of ronins who were squatting on the ground not far away and eating hard, dressed similarly to the appearance of Qing Bingwei, and looked at the sharp rice and salted fish and kelp stew in the huge sea bowl.

"Take care of it for me!"

Perhaps lured by the smell of food, or desperate to change his fate, Kiyobei put down the pick on his shoulder and immediately rushed over.

Under the flag, a long table was set up, and several Ming lords and Southern Barbarians gathered around the table to drink tea and talk. Seeing Qingbei coming, he immediately set his eyes on this guy who looked a little hunchbacked.

"Duh! Back off! This is the Nanyue Army and the Nanban Dutch under the command of Ning Yuanbo of the Ming Kingdom recruiting volunteers for the Kingdom of Portugal, you guy, see it clearly! There are only former samurai who have martial arts and know the art of war! ”

A Fusang general is a bit of a dog and reprimands Qing Bingwei.

"Jiro! Let him come! A Ming officer in armor scolded the Tongshi Jiro, and he keenly noticed from the posture of the Qing Guards running over that this guy with a wrinkled face must be a veteran oil.

Seibei looked at the armor on the officer's body, this breastplate, with the helmet and the battle robe inside, at least it must be said that the flag book around the daimyo can only be owned, and the colleagues of the volunteer team who participated in quelling the riots in Kyushu have such a piece, I don't know if it was ripped off from the dead body of the officer of the Shimazu family, and he regarded it as a treasure, and after oiling it, he wiped it carefully, and then wrapped it tightly in cotton cloth and fine cotton paper.

"Reach out!"

The officer's voice was low and decisive, and it was clear that he was leading the troops on weekdays.

Qing Bingwei stretched out his hands in a little panic and spread them out, allowing these Ming officers to observe carefully.

The calluses on the palm and the tiger's mouth silently illustrate the experience and identity of the owner of the hands.

"Former samurai?"

"The four hundred stone generals of the Shao Er family." Kiyobei answered the general's question with a little pride.

Several officers nodded to each other, watching Seibei write his name and the names of the former vassals and heads of the family on the register, and it was very certain that he was a former samurai.

"We are under the command of Ning Yuanbo, entrusted by the Dutch East India Company to recruit volunteers for the Portuguese Restoration Army. If you don't want to ask for white rice, you can also exchange it into cotton cloth or tongbao according to the price of Nanzhong, and immediately after signing the contract, you will be given 600 stone white rice as a settlement fee. Every year, there are four seasons of military uniforms, including three meals a day, and if you are beheaded on the battlefield, you will be rewarded! If he dies in battle, he will be given a one-time pension of 600 stones! ”

The officer probably spoke it a lot, and he spoke this set of words very fluently.

400 stones, 600 stones, 600 stones, 600 stones? This series of numbers caused a burst of exclamations from nearby onlookers. According to the living standards in Fusang at this time, even after Qing Bingwei left, his wife and several children could be fed and clothed.

If it weren't for the constant endorsement of the townspeople who did business with the merchants of Nanchu next to it, and the tempting aroma of the food next to it. Kiyobei was only afraid that he had met a liar. But when I think about it, I am relieved! I'm a small trader who is so poor that I can only sell baskets and baskets, what can others deceive me?

it! Let's have a good meal first!

took a pair of chopsticks handed over by the man, picked up the huge sea bowl, didn't care about the rice burning his mouth, and Qing Bingwei greedily picked up the rice in his mouth!

Although the Shao Er family is a relatively weak kind among the daimyo in Kyushu, since Qing Bingwei can mix with the grade of four hundred stone generals, he naturally has two hits in his hands. After the meal, when the officers recruiting volunteers began to test the ronins for the second round, whether it was to complete the speed of running three laps around the main city within the allotted time. Or lift a stone weighing one hundred and fifty pounds over his chest and over his head. The Qingbei guards all passed the level easily. At the end of the art of war, it is the specialty of Qing Bingwei, and his marksmanship is comparable to the seven guns of Zhiyue Mountain. But. Qing Bingwei despised the seven guys who betrayed Lord Taiko.

"That's it! You've passed! Come and sign the contract! ”

He signed the contract with the seal of the Ningyuan Bofu and the Tokugawa shogunate, and pressed his own bucket basket. Qing Bingwei was suddenly a little dazed. What are you doing here?

"This is the rice ticket for you to receive the settlement fee, you can get it at any rice store in Kyushu, and five days after receiving the settlement fee, you will gather in the main city of your daimyo and board the ship!. But. Sue you, don't have any bad ideas, if you plan to abduct and escape, if you see it, everyone here can report that you are a deserter from my Nanyue Army, and there is a bonus for reporting!? ”

"Also, do you have any weapons of your own? If you have weapons, take them with you in five days! Those who have weapons can fold an extra 150 stones! ”

What is the folding, Qing Bingwei couldn't figure it out in his groggy mind, he only knew to go home and tell the news to the old lady and his five children. By the way, make them a few meals of white rice to eat.

This scene is constantly being played out in several cities with a lot of ronin in Japan.

In Kyushu, an area that had just been snatched back from the Shimazu family, the Nanyue Army was invited by the shogunate to recruit thousands of ronin as volunteers at Kagoshima Castle.

In Edo Castle, thousands of people were also recruited. For a time, the public order problem of the ronin who plagued the shogunate and caused trouble everywhere was greatly alleviated.

"It's a pity that there are too few posts needed in the country!"

On the castle tower in Edo Castle, General Iemitsu of the Tokugawa family led the old middle Matsudaira Nobutsuna to respectfully greet Li Huaxuan, the third young marshal of the Southern Guangdong Army, and Zuo Tianpeng, the commander of the right-wing naval division, who came to the banquet.

The two uncles and nephews had been ordered to Fuso a month earlier to recruit volunteers for the Portuguese under the banner of the Dutch. In fact, everyone knows that this so-called Fuso soldier is just a group of cannon fodder, but for some reason they have to recruit in the name of the Dutch.

At first, Hua Xuan was also worried about whether any Fusang people would be willing to be this soldier, you must know that this soldier had to travel thousands of miles to fight thousands of miles away. Even if there is a good military salary, I am afraid that no one may be willing to go.

Unexpectedly, after approaching the shogunate, the effect of recruiting these dead soldiers was amazing. In less than half a month, 5,000 posts were recruited in Edo, Kyushu, and other places, and in addition to the prefectures directly under the shogunate, various daimyo also complained that the number of posts allocated to them was too small.

This is related to Japan's national conditions. Since the reign of Motowa Yanwu, especially after quelling the turmoil in Kyushu, the ronin of the devil has always been a problem in the heart of the Tokugawa shogunate. When the Shimazu family was completely quelled, a rough count showed that the number of ronins in Fuso once exceeded 300,000! How can this make Chiyo-san Takechiyo sleep peacefully in Edo Castle?

Although these guys don't have the owner to send them to Yulu, they can still carry knives to swagger around the market, becoming a hidden danger to public security.

Now that the Nanyue Army has come out to recruit soldiers for the Dutch, the shogunate will not care what will happen to these guys after they leave, and they wish they were all buried in the belly of the fish!

What's more, this time I came to recruit Fusang cannon fodder, oh, the dead soldiers, but the Nanyue Army gave the shogunate another benefit, that is, the exchange of military salaries, grain, and rice for these dead soldiers was handled by the shogunate, giving the shogunate a chance to get up and down and deduct leakage.

Although the current shogunate can be said to be unique in Japan, and its strength is enough to crush the daimyo of various foreign families, who will let go of any opportunity to control others to strengthen themselves?

In this way, for Li Huaxuan's diet and daily life. General Tokugawa Iemitsu served more than he was to his second Tokugawa general, Hidetada.

This can't be blamed on him, his ears and eyes vaguely heard that His Majesty the Emperor gave birth to a son, and the calculation of the day seems to be related to the eldest young master of the Li family on that day. The Tokugawa family doesn't believe in the statement that Amaterasu God descended from Takamagahara, those are all fooling others, if they really believe that the Imperial family is the descendant of the gods, they will not play with the public family so much.

However, if there is any private relationship between the public family and the Li family, this is the most feared thing for the Tokugawa family.

What's more, it was not easy for Takechiyo to become a general, and the Tokugawa family almost changed back then. He was born to the Tokugawa family's nurse, Kasuga. He was born to Asai E, who is recorded on the family tree. He himself can't say clearly, but after his family was born, he was raised by his nursing mother, Kasuga. So he gradually distanced himself from his biological mother, Asai Jiang. So there are legends. Iemitsu is actually the son of Hidetada and Kasuga Bureau. However, in order to hide people's eyes and ears, he waved the banner of Asai River.

And his younger brother Tokugawa Tadanaga (the one with the name Kunichiyo) who is also from Asai Jiang is deeply liked by his mother, and the more he looks at Takechiyo's son, the more unpleasant he becomes. And he kept blowing the pillow wind in front of Xiuzhong, which made Xiuzhong want to establish Kunichiyo, who was two years younger than Iemitsu, as his heir.

This is true between brothers. What's more, what about the constant and sometimes loud and sometimes small calls for the return of the government to the emperor?

So, Zhu Chiyo almost achieved the level of filial piety in the morning and dusk to Li Huaxuan, lest the third young master have something unhappy or dissatisfied, so he will make some small moves below to block himself.

Dressed in snow-white socks woven from Nanchu cotton thread, the master and servant respectfully welcomed Li Huaxuan, Zuo Tianpeng, and Shi Lang, the sentry officer, into the castle tower, which symbolized the power center of the Tokugawa shogunate, on tatami mats made of polished light-colored rush straw.

With the highest standard banquet of the Tokugawa family, of course, that human body Sheng did not dare to go again, but sent someone to Chinatown to spend twenty taels of gold to invite a few masters of Tang cuisine, ready to use the ingredients produced in Japan to entertain the third young master and his party.

The huge lobster, wielding crab claws, spreads its body and is almost the height of a child, which is carefully cooked by skilled chefs, and with the mellow hot rice wine, both the guests and the host are full of wine.

"The general doesn't have to worry, since ancient times, the soldiers have been fierce and dangerous, killing 10,000 enemies and losing 3,000 themselves. These 5,000 men were only for the Portuguese to capture Punggara. It is said that the Bang Ge Ra has always been a fierce people, but I am afraid that there will be little left after the first battle. At that point, we'll have to ask the Shogun for help! ”

Zuo Tianpeng has been with Shouhan for most of his life, and he has also seen a lot of storms in the southeast, northwest, and northwest, and he knows everything about the thoughts of these Japanese people, and with the help of the information given by the intelligence department, he can also speculate.

Hearing Zuo Tianpeng's assurance, the shogunate's officials breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts, as long as you are still fighting and recruiting dead soldiers in our country, then sooner or later, these ronins will have a day when they will be consumed.

"Alas! However, the small state of the country is barren, the domestic land production is very small, the population is increasingly large, and it is difficult to make a living. There are too many idle people, and this generation is bound to cause trouble. ”

Raising a wine glass, which was not much bigger than his thumb, Matsudaira Old Naka Shintsuna raised his forehead high above Hua Xuan's forehead and toasted the third young master with honorable etiquette. Others may have dealt with the Nanyue Army in vain, but he Matsudaira thanked the Nanyue Army from the bottom of his heart. If there was no support from the Nanyue Army to the shogunate in terms of materials, trade, financial resources, and troops, then there would be no old man who was in charge of trade and diplomacy with the Nanyue Army, and he would have become an old man under one person in Japan and above tens of millions.

The meaning of his words is very clear: Japan is a poor country with a small land area, but it has a large population, and there are few people who can arrange employment or farming, so there will be more idle laborers. If there are too many of these people, they will cause trouble. I have to help the old men in the country for this matter.

Zuo Tianpeng and Li Huaxuan exchanged glances, Li Huaxuan, who is only sixteen years old next year, naturally has no proposition about this kind of major event involving the national economy and people's livelihood, but just looks at Zuo Tianpeng with his eyes.

"Lord Matsudaira, although we are now entrusted by others to recruit only 5,000 men and horses, in addition to the soldiers, there must be countless civilians and auxiliaries in all battles. If the Shogun agrees, we can recruit some laborers all over Japan. went to the army to recruit Banggara, and carried grain, grass, gunpowder, and equipment for the army. ”

Shi Lang, the sentry officer who is now in command of a thirty-gun boat, is tearing at a lobster with great interest, and he is vague about his opinions.

Recruiting Japan's wealthy laborers and bankrupt peasants to Nanchu was nothing new, but it was the first time that he had gone to war as a civilian.

However, both General Iemitsu and Lord Nobutsuna consciously or unintentionally ignored the dangers, and they only saw the side that was good for them.

"I wonder how this generation is treated?"

Moving grain and grass, naturally there is no cannon fodder who fights in battle. But. The benefits are: The mercenaries were on contracts of only five years, and their employers were Portuguese. The contract of these people is ten years long, and the employer indicated on the contract is Daming Ning Yuanbofu.

Five days later, more than a dozen lucky boats were carrying 5,000 volunteers from the Portuguese Restoration Army. Began the expedition to cross the sea to the west.

And all over Fuso Castle Town. In the lively place, the banner of the shogunate recruiting people on behalf of the Daming Ning Yuanbo Mansion was erected.

But. At the banquet, Li Huaxuan once again threw an olive branch to the Tokugawa shogunate on behalf of the Ningyuan Bofu.

That is, the shogunate asked the shogunate to send someone who knew about accounting and was familiar with the degree branch to accompany the army to Punggara. Specially handle the matter of receiving wages and wages for these people.

To be honest, tens of thousands of people's wages and wages have passed, and this is a fat errand who can no longer be fat. Countless people in the shogunate, but those who thought they could manage the accounts coveted this messenger very much. However, when Zuo Tianpeng opened the chart and pointed out the location of Bang Ge Ra for everyone, he immediately made everyone lose the idea of going here to make a fortune.

"Originally, I thought that Manraka, Lijiapo, Java, Shizhou and other places under Ning Yuanbo's rule were already thousands of miles away from the Peerless Domain, but I didn't expect that this Bang Gela was even more Peerless Beyond the Peerless Domain!"

The golden pie, which was originally very tempting, immediately became a poisonous apple in the hands of Snow White's stepmother. Before, they also asked their connections to dig up the door, and even planned to wash their daughters and give them to the third young master to warm the bed, and immediately retreated from this matter.

"General Jiaguang, why don't I recommend someone to you?"

Shi Lang, the sentry officer of the sailor, was full of sincerity.

He said that a few days ago on the streets of Edo, he saw a shogunate arguing with the townspeople about the price of goods, dozens of odd things he had purchased, casually reporting them, and at the same time making it clear that the store gave a discount for each product. In an instant, the amount of Tongbao that needed to be paid to the store was clearly stated, and the shopkeeper who tried to fish and slaughter sheep in troubled waters was speechless.

"I think this person can do it!" Li Huaxuan finally gave the board.

Shi Lang said that this dedication, called Uchiyama Eimei, although he was a minister in the shogunate, but he was a very unpopular figure. The reason, he is similar to Wei Zheng of my Tang Dynasty, although the master and the current general Jiaguang are brothers born to the same mother, they are as powerful as fire and water! Yes, he originally worked for Tadashi Suruga. A few years ago, he was imprisoned in Takasaki in Ueno Province, and he also followed him to Fujioka in Ueno Province to live in seclusion, although he was called to work in Edo a few months ago, and his family moved from Ueno to Edo, but in the shogunate, he was still regarded as an alternative and alien.

Sending this pesky guy thousands of miles away to do something for the shogunate was the best of both worlds.

"Then let Uchiyama pursue the Yongming Dynasty, and I will conquer the general shogunate to serve in front of the Nanzhong Ning Yuanbo Mansion!" General Tokugawa Iemitsu immediately agreed to Li Huaxuan's proposal. A shogunate is a mere shogunate, and he is a remnant lackey of his younger brother Tadashicho, and this is the time for him to contribute to the shogunate, who will he not go?

Not to mention that Li Huaxuan asked Uchiyama Yongming to go, that is, Li Huaxuan asked Jiaguang's daughter to go to sleep for him, and Jiaguang would not hesitate to wash and dress up the princesses and send them to the third young master's house for the third young master to choose!

"In order to make him feel at ease to do things, his family members should go together." Zuo Tianpeng knocked on the nail and took the Uchiyama Yongming family away.

"It's up to you!"

The guests and hosts toasted together, and each laughed heartily.

Bringing Uchiyama Yongming's family back to Nanzhong was the only task that Shouhan gave to Hua Xuan, Zuo Tianpeng, Shi Lang and others.

Although Shi Lang and the others didn't know why, they still carried out the secret order to the letter.

If he knew what the other name of Uchiyama's three-year-old son, Shinsuke, was, he would have understood Shouhan's intentions. (To be continued......)

PS: Guess Shinsuke's name and the meaning of the pig's foot, and the reward for guessing is a shogunate princess!