At the end of October, the first snow in the Hida Mountains has arrived.

The majestic mountains are shrouded in heavy lead-gray clouds, and after the first snowfall, traffic resumes on the Echichu road leading to Hida.

On the dirt road, horses' hooves throw a mixture of gray and white slush, leaving hoof prints of different shades.

Occasionally, the branches of the trees on the side of the trail snapped and the snow powder fell on the shoulders of pedestrians.

The riders in this row were wearing hats, and it could be seen that under the thick coats were samurai, and they immediately wore various weapons such as swords, ribs, spears, bows and arrows, which were clearly a line of samurai on horseback.

Rui Costa, with his thick coat and several layers of cotton clothing, crouched on his pack horse, trembling slightly.

The pack horse beneath him was struggling to pull its hooves out of the slush and re-step on the ground, which made the horse's back even more bumpy.

Everything made Rui Costa's mood even worse, and at the moment he couldn't help but curse: "This damn weather. ”

After cursing, Rui Costa raised the mask over his face a little to reduce the area of the wind.

At the same time, the mask also blocked the two brown mustaches on his lips, and only a pair of gray-blue eyes appeared on his face.

Rui Costa was a Portuguese navigator who, according to him, was to follow in the footsteps of the Portuguese pioneers Prince Enrique, Diaz, da Gama and set out to sea to explore the unknown world.

Well, actually, it's all.

Rui Costa grew up in poverty, first earning a living as a bellsmith for church bells, and like most seafarers of this era, it was in the midst of poverty and desperation that he wanted to go overseas to find opportunities to fill his stomach and try his luck.

Eventually, Rui Costa embarked on a Portuguese merchant ship called the Pharaoh on its way to the East Indies.

After more than six years as a seafarer, he became the second mate of the Pharaoh.

But unfortunately his luck was not good, and after the death of the captain of the Pharaoh, the original first mate became the captain of the Pharaoh.

He and the former first mate were very wrong, and they looked at each other unpleasantly, and Rui Costa was furious and immediately fell out with the captain of the Pharaoh.

The Pharaoh was anchored in Macau, and after parting ways with the captain, he was going to return to Portugal on another ship, but here he met Fr. Torres, a Portuguese Catholic friar, who was about to preach to the city.

Father Torres had just returned to Portugal from Libon and was accompanied by a young man of experienced seamen.

And Rui Costa, also in the spirit of seeing this eastern country, got on Torres's ship without saying a word, and followed him to Yuben.

Rui Costa did not know that Torres was a famous figure in the history of Catholic missions.

He is famous because he has followed, hailed by the Catholic Church as the greatest missionary in history, St. Francis. Xavier, one of the early Jesuit monks who came together to the mission.

St. Francis. Xavier is known as the greatest missionary in history by the Catholic Church because it was he who first spread the Catholic Church to Malacca, as well as to the Gospel Church.

When the Catholic Church first landed in Komoto, Xavier chose the Shimazu family in southern Kyushu as a contact, but the relationship between the two was not so harmonious at the time, and Xavier later moved to Hizen Province in Hirado, where he was welcomed by the local lord Matsuura Takannobu.

Takanobu Matsuura, motivated by the lucrative profits of trade with the Portuguese and his desire to confront the Ryuzoji clan in his neighborhood, allowed Xavier to preach here.

After Xavier left Hirado, he left Torres to serve as a missionary in Hirado, where he fell ill and died soon after.

Torres was very successful in preaching in Hirado, but was discriminated against by the local Buddhists, and the Portuguese fleet was attacked by the locals, and fourteen people were killed.

Dissatisfied with the final verdict of the daimyo Matsuura Takanobu, Torres returned to Macao by boat, during which time he had been preaching in Benpo for ten years.

When Torres returned to Macau, he decided to return to his mission because his missionary career had failed, so he took Rui Costa with him.

Rui Costa followed Father Torres to nearby Kyushu and saw the scenery of this book, which he was deeply nostalgic for.

Well, it's not so much nostalgia as infatuation, he deeply likes the gentle female surname of this era, but has been suffering from different words, unable to come forward to talk, so he is determined to specialize in the language, so he spoke fluently in less than two years.

Torres was devoted to the Catholic missionary cause, and after the rapprochement with the Matsuura family broke down, he moved to Yokoseura, which was in the Omura family's domain, to seek trade opportunities from Omura Juntada, the lord of the Omura family.

It is said that at that time, the Portuguese missionaries used the local daimyo to covet trade profits as bait and allowed the people in the territory to believe in religion.

So for the Portuguese it was trade for mission, and for the daimyo it was for trade.

However, Omura Juntada was very religious, not only allowing Catholicism to spread in the territory, but also believing in religion himself, becoming the first Catholic daimyo in the history of the Honhon.

But in fact, despite Omura's example, conflicts between Buddhists and Catholics in the territory were inevitable.

The riots, the bloodshed happened again, and Torres was furious and fled again.

But history took a turn here, when Echigo Uesugi Kenshin's fame spread widely in the Kohoni because of the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima with Takeda Shingen.

Naturally, Torres also heard about this daimyo who was very devout to Buddhism and claimed to be the embodiment of one of the protectors of Buddhism.

At the moment, Torres didn't know which tendon was wrong, and he was very disgusted by the Kyushu daimyo who was so greedy for trade and went against his religion. I think that this group of people are all good and have no faith, but I am moved by Uesugi Kenshin's actions of fighting for righteousness and not harboring a desire for profit.

It doesn't matter if the person is a Buddhist, I just let him convert to Catholicism, such a devout believer who does not miss is what we Jesuits need.

So Torres and Rui Costa landed by boat at Naoetsunocho in Echigo, and went to Harujoyama Castle to prepare for Uesugi Kenshin to change his surname to Catholicism.

The results speak for themselves, and the Catholic missionaries in this group did not even see the face of Kenshin Uesugi before they were blasted out of the mountain castle of Chunyu.

However, Torres did not die in his heart, and he heard that there was a daimyo called Owari Daisho in the local area, and he was keen to accept new students, so he decided to go to Owari to have a look and look for opportunities.

At that time, Torres decided to take the land route instead of the sea route, and with the intention of taking a look at the local scenery along the way, he decided to take the route from Echigo, through Echichu, and then through the Hida Highlands, from the Nobi Plain, to the final destination, Owari.

And Torres, Rui Costa, when passing through the town of Josei, happened to hear that the local daimyo was actually a man from the Ming Kingdom who became a samurai in the book.

Hearing the news, the feelings of the two people immediately ...... Suddenly, he was scorched by thunder, and his heart immediately felt 120,000 points, and he wanted to see Li Xiao.

Rui Costa, who was riding on a horse, raised his head and looked ahead, and the person who was sitting on a tall horse and walking safely was the legendary warrior Li Xiao from the Ming Kingdom.

Rui Costa still thinks of that meeting with Li Xiao, and still feels incredible.

At this moment, Li Xiao sat in front of the horse and walked side by side with Honda Masanobu, he pointed to the mountain with his horsewhip and said: "I heard that a year before the battle of Kawanakajima, Uesugi Terutora ordered Naoe Minoru to send troops to climb over the Echigo Mountains in winter and arrive at the mouth of Ueno Numata, I wonder if there is such a thing?" ”

Honda Masanobu controlled the pack horse and kept a distance of a horse's head from Li Xiao, and then said: "Yes, I happened to hear about this matter, at that time, Uesugi Teruhu set up a number of refuge huts in the deep snow area of the Kamietsu border in advance, stocked up on sufficient fuel and food, and sent people to guard them. When Naoe set out, he asked a local hunter to lead the way as a guide, and then crossed the snow-covered pass, which is impossible to climb in winter, and arrived in Ueno. ”

Li Xiao nodded and said, "Since Uesugi Huihu has a way to climb over the mountains of Echigo in winter, then we can do the same." I would like to follow the example of Uesugi Terutora by setting up an evacuation hut on the Hida-Takasendo Road to store fuel and food. Since then, there has been a connection between Joseijo Castle and Kamioka Castle to prevent any enemy from attacking the main house in winter. ”

After listening to Li Xiao's words, Honda Masanobu said: "The lord is high, this move can be prepared in case. ”

Li Xiao thought about it and felt that this matter could be done, so he asked Dao Shengmeng to deal with the matter afterwards.

Just as Li Xiao was thinking about it, he heard several violent coughs from Rui Costa behind him, obviously frozen by the severe cold.

Seeing this, Li Xiao stopped his horse, and when Rui Costa rode behind him, he took out a bamboo tube from his waist and said to him: "Take it and taste it a little, your body will become warm, and then apply it to your hands and feet, it will also prevent frostbite." ”

Rui Costa is very proficient in the Chinese language for the sake of picking up girls, and expressed doubts about Li Xiao's words, but he still did what he said.

"What is this, so magical."

Rui Costa tasted a little and said, "Well, it's delicious." ”

Then he wiped the things in the bamboo tube on his hand according to what Li Xiao said, and the place where he touched it was hot and hot, and the cold on his body was really reduced a lot.

Seeing Rui Costa's surprised appearance, Li Xiao said with a smile: "This is a cold house, Uesugi Kenshin's Uesugi army must take it after traveling through Echichi in winter, and the method is also very simple, the bright red pepper is dried on the snow in the harsh winter, and koji, salt, grapefruit and other substances are added, and the seasoning is made after fermentation." ”

Rui Costa was amazed when he saw it, and said: "Thank you, Lord Li Xiao, the oriental things are so wonderful, I really can't learn them in a lifetime." ”

After a pause, Rui Costa looked at Li Xiao and said as if he had made up his mind: "Lord Li Xiao, I have a reluctant request, I don't know if you can agree." ”

Li Xiaoyan said: "Please speak directly. ”

Rui Costa said: "I admire Lord Li Xiao very much, your erudition and bravery, I wonder if you can make me your retainer, that is, the Portuguese samurai of the Takeda family." ”

PS: It is said that the first Hirado daimyo to accept Xavier's missionary mission, Matsuura Takannobu, is not famous in this book, but it can be said to be famous in China.

Hirado Daimyo Matsuura Takannobu, the Kyushu Navy Matsuura Party, in Kublai Khan's attack on the Yuan, the Matsuura Party and the Yuan army fought, and later became the Ming Dynasty invaded the Ming Kingdom, Korea, and the Ming Dynasty in the history of the largest famous Japanese leader Wang Zhi, in the base camp of the Ming Dynasty is in Hirado.

The friendship between Wang Zhi and Matsuura Takashin should be regarded as a worship brother who changed posts.

Even Zheng Chenggong's biological mother, Tagawa clan, is said to be the adopted daughter of Matsuura Takanobu or the daughter of a retainer, but it is undoubtedly confirmed that Zheng Chenggong was born in Hirado.

(To be continued)