Walking on the dirt road, he suddenly saw such a scene, Xiao Xiangui shrank his neck in fright, pulled Li Tu and said: "Second shop official, there is something ahead, let's find another way to bypass, right?" ”

Li Tu did not agree with his idea. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Looking carefully at the samurai who was surrounded, Li Tu shook his head and said, "Lord, look at the family crest tattooed on the samurai's clothes, it is the cross pill of the Satsuma Domain, this is the samurai and young lady of the Shimazu family. ”

"The Satsuma clan is benevolent, and now that someone in other people's families is in trouble, we should draw our swords to help."

Xiao Xiangui looked at the two groups of people in the distance, and asked nervously: "It's okay to help them, I'm afraid that they will fight, and they won't kill our people in vain, right?" ”

Li Tu replied indifferently: "Look at the down-and-out appearance of those bandits, they don't have any ability at first glance. More than 20 of us, plus eight men over there, there were 30 of them, and the fifteen bandits were scared to death. ”

"Where do you need to fight?"

Hearing this, Xiao Xiangui suppressed his shock and said in a deep voice: "Then you will command the battle!" ”

Nodding, Li Tu pulled out his broadsword, raised his sword and shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen, the samurai and young lady besieged by thieves in front are from the Satsuma Domain. The Satsuma clan treated us well, and we went to save their people. ”

Xiao Xiangui also drew his long sword and shouted, "Let's go up to help and save the people of the Satsuma Domain." ”

There are few thieves and many people on their side, and the people are not afraid. Hearing Xiao Xiangui and Li Tu's words, everyone drew their swords.

Li Tu shouted "kill" and took the lead in rushing out. The other eyes and boatmen followed, and they went to the bandit with great vigour.

Seeing that there are many people here, where do the fifteen bandits have the courage to resist? The bandits were frightened and kept retreating. By the time Li Tu shouted loudly and approached five zhang away, the bandits had already shouted badly and fled one by one.

When the two samurai saw the bandits fleeing, they angrily pursued them. But the thieves ran fast, and they did not dare to leave the noble lady, and in the end they did not catch up.

In the blink of an eye, fifteen bandits escaped. Without much effort, Li Tu saved the Satsuma clan and his party.

was rescued by Li Tu, and the two samurai were very surprised on their faces. The two of them ran back and bowed to Li Tu, and said a string of Japanese aloud for the leader.

The general came over and translated his words:

"We are samurai of the Kajigi Shimazu family of the Satsuma Domain. Thank you very much for saving your life. ”

Li Tu replied indifferently:

"We are Daming maritime merchants who trade with the Satsuma Domain, and we feel the high righteousness of the lord of the Satsuma Domain, so we will help today."

Looking at the beautiful young lady who was protected by a few Ashigaru soldiers, Li Tu asked:

"This mountain road is not very smooth. What are you guys going to do? ”

The samurai translated Li Tu's words to the samurai, and every time he said a word, the samurai shouted "hi", showing full gratitude.

"In Shimosa Tatsunobu, the young lady we protect is Shimazu Sakura, the princess of the Kajigi Shimazu family. We escorted the lady to Fukuoka to visit her sick grandmother, but we didn't expect that the road had been uneven recently, and we encountered bandits on the road. ”

Hearing the samurai's answer, Li Tu asked curiously, "What is the relationship between the Kajigi Shimazu family and the Shimazu family, the lord of the Satsuma Domain?" ”

After another hiatus, the samurai replied, "The Kajigi Shimazu family is a branch of the Shimazu family, the lord of the domain, and is a vassal of the Satsuma domain, and the territory is in Kajigi, and the stone is 17,000 stone high. ”

The stone height of a Japanese feudal town refers to the annual grain output of a feudal town. The grain produced in the territory was generally distributed between the lords and the peasants in a five-to-fifty ratio. The Kajigi Shimazu family stone is 17,000 koku high, and he is probably a large landowner with an annual income of 8,500 koku of grain.

Hearing the origin of the other party, Li Tu nodded. Putting away his sword, Li Tu was leaving.

Seeing that Li Tu was leaving, the young lady of the Shimazu family stepped forward and said something to the samurai. When the warrior received the words, he hurriedly turned back and said to Li Tu:

"My young lady, please ask Your Excellency's name, he will be thanked in the future!"

Li Tu replied:

"Below is Li Tu, a sailor of the maritime merchant Xiao Xiangui, saving people is a gesture, and I dare not ask for extravagant rewards!"

"Farewell"

As soon as he bowed his hand to the warrior, Li Tu returned to Xiao Xiangui's side and continued to walk forward with everyone.

#####

After walking for another five days, Li Tu and his party arrived in Hirado.

Hirado is an island. From the northwestern tip of Kyushu Island, we crossed the sea by boat to Kawachiura, the port of the Hirado Domain, and saw a thriving trading city.

I saw that Nagang Town had a radius of more than ten miles, and there were about 40,000 or 50,000 residents, which was already a big city in this era. It's even more unusual that such a town is located on an island. Hanoi Puri is full of black-tiled wooden wall merchants, shops, inns, samurai houses, and entertainment venues. Not as simple as the humble houses, the architectural structure in this port town is decent and looks very prosperous.

Closest to Minato, there are even several three- and four-storey Catholic churches. The church is made of stone and is very grand. The walls with crosses appear in this Japanese town, and they are full of exotic flavors.

There are Chinese with Tang clothes and Tang crowns, Japanese with shaved hair, Dutch with blonde hair and blue eyes, and Spaniards with curly black hair. The largest number of them are Chinese, and at least half of them are Chinese. Everyone walked in the bazaar, and they kept hearing people speaking the official language of the Ming Dynasty.

It's the beginning of July, and it's time for the ship to sail downwind to Japan. At this time, there were hundreds of ships of all kinds moored on the wharf, and there were thirty or forty large ships with multi-deck oceans alone, most of which were Chinese-style ships with low fronts and high backs, as well as Dutch merchant ships with spacious bellies, an English Galen ship equipped with artillery, and a few Spanish galleons.

A large number of goods are piled up on the shore of the wharf. The guys of the various merchant halls were busy sorting out the transportation, shouting one after another, and they were in full swing.

With the exception of Li Tu, all the other sailors had already visited Hirado, and it was commonplace to see the prosperity of the area. Li Tu came for the first time and had a good look.

Familiar with the door, Xiao Xiangui led everyone through the market, and finally walked into a decently decorated Beitian dormitory, that is, the hotel owned by the Beitian family.

After settling everyone down, Xiao Xiangui took out a katana with elaborate exterior and handed it to Li Tu for him to hold. Xiao Xiangui took Li Tu out to visit Li Dan's disciples.

With Xiao Xiangui's power and identity, he could not directly visit Li Dan. Xiao Xiangui needed a referrer, and that was Zhong Bin, whom he wanted to visit.

Zhong Bin is also a maritime merchant, and his trade is much more expensive than Xiao Xian. He used to be Li Dan's subordinate, and later became independent to do trade on his own, and he was one of Li Dan's disciples.

His trading house is located on the edge of the pier in Hanoi.