On November 3, 1558, Suruga received its first snow of winter.

"It's snowing." Yu Qiuping and Imagawa Kaede stayed in Yu Qiuping's house, looking out at the snow through the half-open window. Yu Qiuping stretched out his hand, caught a falling snowflake, quickly retracted his hand, and watched the snowflakes melt quickly in the palm of his hand. The snow began to fall last night, and when I woke up early this morning, the streets of Sunfu were covered in white. On the road, on the eaves, on the fields in the distance, and on the paper red leaves of the back mountain, a layer of snowflakes is draped.

"It's been a long time since I've seen heavy snow." Yu Qiuping said with emotion. Since he moved from the north to the south, he hasn't seen a lot of snow. The memories of building a snowman with my parents as a child are a little blurry.

"Oh? Doesn't it snow in Mingguo? Kaede Imagawa asked, tilting his head sideways.

"It's down, it's just not that big." Yu Qiuping replied, "What beautiful snow! ”

"Of course!" Kaede Imagawa said proudly, "The most beautiful thing about our Suruga is the first snow of the year. ”

"No, the most beautiful thing about Suruga isn't the first snow of the year." Yu Qiuping turned around with a smile and faced Imagawa Kaede. She wore a white fur coat with a very light shade of blue today. A blue-blue belt was tied around his waist, and waist-length hair had passed the belt. Fair and delicate skin is better than snowflakes outside the window.

"What could that be?" Imagawa Kaede turned around inexplicably, but was suddenly embraced by Yu Qiuping. Imagawa Kaede snorted and struggled for a moment, trying to push away Yuqiuping.

"It's my snow princess." Yu Qiuping said softly. He indulged in stroking Imagawa Kaede's long silky hair, curling it on his hand from time to time. The girl in her arms quieted down, blushing and muttering, "Rhetoric." ”

Imagawa Kaede struggled to pull out his hand, and with his index finger and middle finger, he poked it on Yu Qiuping's forehead, but was grabbed by Yu Qiuping's big hand. "Alright, don't make a fuss," Kaede Imagawa said soothingly, in the tone of a child's speech, "let me go first, in the castle tower." ”

Yu Qiuping was about to let go, when he suddenly found that there were several marks on the fingertips of the fingers of his small hand holding Imagawa Kaede, and the wound had just scabbed. "Feng'er, what's wrong with your hand?"

"No... Not much," Kaede Imagawa explained somewhat incoherently, "grabbed a broom with a wooden thorn." ”

"Feng'er still sweeps the floor?" Yu Qiuping was even more surprised.

"Okay, let me go first." Kaede Imagawa muttered.

Yu Qiuping let go of his arm, and Kaede Imagawa took a step back, bowing his head to fix the wrinkles on his coat.

"This coat looks warm." Yu Qiuping said.

"That's right." Imagawa Kaede smiled, "This is a gift from Ieyan, bought from a Nanban merchant, and said that it was made of the fur of a bear in the very north. ”

"Polar bears?" Yu Qiuping asked in surprise, "Are Europeans going to the North Pole these days?" Didn't you? ”

"It seems like that's the name..."Kaede Imagawa muttered, "Ping, you're so good, you know everything." ”

"Haha, I learned it before." Yu Qiuping said with a smile. "Do you know that the Nanban you are talking about is not actually in the south."

"Oh? Didn't all their ships come from the south? Kaede Imagawa asked curiously.

"That's because they're going around Eurasia." Yu Qiuping made a few gestures, and found that it was difficult to explain clearly out of thin air, so he took out a pen and paper and began to draw a world map hastily. He first drew a small island in the center of the map, "This is Japan." Yu Qiuping smiled at Imagawa Kaede, and on the left side of Japan, he drew a behemoth, "This is Eurasia." ”

"Wow!" Kaede Imagawa looked at the astonishing size contrast, "Japan only... Is it so small? Where is Mingguo? ”

"Here." Yu Qiuping roughly outlined China at the eastern end of Eurasia, and added the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia to the southeast.

"These... What are they? Kaede Imagawa asked curiously.

"This is Manila and Batavia, and as for this," Yu Qiuping looked at Australia, "a continent that no one has been to yet." ”

"No one has been? What are you doing..."Kaede Imagawa looked at Yu Qiuping with some confusion, "You shouldn't be scribbling, right?" ”

"Not really!" Yu Qiuping immediately retorted, "I assure you, this is definitely not a scribble. Yu Qiuping made an oath gesture. He also drew the outline of Africa and the Americas on the western side of the Eurasian continent. Then, pointing to the top of Eurasia and the Americas.

"This is the North Pole. There's an animal called a polar bear living on it, and your fur coat is their fur. ”

Imagawa Kaede looked at the world map in a daze, and after a long time, he asked, "The world... Is that so? I've seen the globe brought by the missionaries before, and it's far less good than you can draw it. ”

"Hehe, I'll draw one for you another day." Yu Qiuping said with a smile.

He looked out the window. A gust of cold wind carried the snowflakes into the room, and the snowflakes fell on Kaede Imagawa's face, and they lost their color for a while.

"You're so pretty." Yu Qiuping muttered with emotion. Kaede Imagawa quietly turned around to prevent Yu Qiuping from seeing the dimples on her cheeks.

Suddenly, a scent came down the wind. Yu Qiuping sniffed hard, it was the smell of roast chicken.

"In winter, it's time to barbecue." Yu Qiuping suddenly became happy, "Feng'er, let's take you to your cabin tomorrow for a barbecue, isn't there a big stove in the cabin?" ”

"Barbecue?" Kaede Imagawa blinked, "What's that?" ”

"Huh! You've never had a barbecue before! Yu Qiuping was a little surprised, but when he thought of Japan's ban on meat, he understood, "It's just to skewer some food on bamboo skewers and roast it on the fire, it's delicious!" Yu Qiuping smiled and gave a thumbs up, "I'm a barbecue expert!" I'll show you a hand tomorrow! ”

At noon the next day, when Imagawa Kaede arrived, Yu Qiuping had already burned the stove. I have to say that this stove is really warm, and Yu Qiuping has to take off a few coats and fiddle with firewood in summer clothes.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Kaede Imagawa patted the snowflakes off his body, "I..."

"Overslept?" Yu Qiuping answered with a smile and looked at Imagawa Kaede with satisfaction.

"Now, it's so hot in the house." Kaede Imagawa had just come in from the cold outdoors, and he was choked by the heat in the house, "Why did Ping make the fire so small." ”

"If you want to barbecue meat, how can you cook it if you don't burn it." Yu Qiuping replied while brushing oil on the chicken thighs and beef skewers that were to be grilled later. After that, he pointed to the window, "I really can't open the window, but it might be a little slower." ”

As soon as the window opened, a cold wind poured in, and most of the fire of Yu Qiuping's barbecue was blown out at once, and Yu Qiuping hurriedly changed places and blocked the wind blowing in with his body.

"Huh! How can there be so much beef and chicken? Kaede Imagawa shook his head, "These are..."

"Oh, it's the meat ban that the emperor said before, right?" Yu Qiuping can't remember how many times he has been troubled by this meat ban, "Some say that it's because Buddhism doesn't advocate killing." Some say that meat is dirty. These are all fakes! Yu Qiuping said as he put a beef skewer on the grill, "Our Ming Kingdom, Lang Huaxia, the state of etiquette, has never had any ban on meat!" Why are you banning meat in Japan? These are very nutritious..."

Imagawa Kaede sighed, listening to Yu Qiuping's chatter, "It's those fallacies again." Kaede Imagawa muttered, picked up a skewer of grilled fish, and put it on the grill.

On November 6, Yu Qiuping asked Imagawa Yoshimoto and Imagawa Kaede for a leave of absence (in fact, the latter is more important) to return to the territory for more than ten days and take care of it. The troops finally deliberately did not use tossing back and forth.

When he returned to the territory in the morning, the troops were training. In the morning, there were still thunderous queues and disciplined training, and the slightest lack of obedience was fifty - yes, the price has now increased to fifty push-ups. For example, Fukushima Yasunari's group just now, the order was to slap themselves immediately, and one of the ashiki reactions was half a beat slower, and he was caught by the patrolling Amano Keitoku to do push-ups.

"Oh my God, when I first came up with this training method, didn't you all think it was strange that it couldn't be done? Why are they so skilled now? Yu Qiuping asked.

"There are no beads in the eyes before the next." Amano Keitoku admitted his mistake, "This training method of adults will definitely be able to train elite soldiers who obey orders." ”

"But the order to slap yourself... Wouldn't it be a bit too much? Yu Qiuping asked.

"I don't think so," Fukushima shook his head, "On the battlefield, it is even possible to give an order to die, and when the time comes, it will also require Ashigaru to obey unconditionally." If even the slap is to this extent..."Fukushima Yasunari looked at Yu Qiuping, who nodded, which could be regarded as approval.

"What about the others, how are you doing?" Yu Qiuping looked at several phalanxes in the distance.

"Except for the kid Nakahide Mizensaki, who is idle all day long, his soldiers are particularly free and casual when they are resting, and Ogawa Yudong is often drunk and absent from training, and everything else is fine." Fukushima paused, and added, "There is Charlie, who must practice archery by himself every day, and refuses to participate in training, only occasionally to instruct archers in their movements. However, everyone is very serious. ”

"Haha." Yu Qiuping smiled with satisfaction, "You all did a good job, I'm very satisfied." I will accompany you to train for more than ten days. But I'm coming back this time mainly to see the craftsmen. What about the pro-guards? ”

"The Guardian-sama is on the craftsman's side, and I'll take you there." Fukushima Anari got rid of Amano Keitoku to help him take a temporary look at the troops, and walked towards a corner of Nishimura Village with Yu Qiuping. From a distance, you can see that before you reach the hotel, there are several chimneys in the house, which emits black smoke. After Yu Qiuping walked to the neighborhood, he could see that there were twenty craftsmen, each with their own small workshop. He was holding all kinds of tools and pounding the weapons he was producing. Some are making spear tips, some are making armor, and some are making bows and arrows.

"Your Excellency, are you here?" When the guards saw Yu Qiuping coming, they hurriedly greeted him. The surrounding craftsmen also stopped their work and said hello to Yu Qiuping.

"How's it going, so many days, how much has been produced?" Yu Qiuping asked.

"Your Excellency," the guard arched his hand, and reported with some smugness, "there are eight carpenters and twelve blacksmiths. A total of 4 guns, 124 spears, 45 bows and arrows, and 412 arrows were produced. ”

"How's it going to be... So little! Yu Qiuping grew his mouth, and he thought that he could produce at least thirty bodies.