Li Ding was dressed in a long robe and a Confucian suit with large sleeves, two beautiful mustaches continued on his mouth, a pair of bright eyes flashed with wisdom on his dark face, and his originally thin body became stronger and stronger, and he walked in the forefront with great strides to show extraordinary bearing, leaving Matsui Nobuyuki as a foil far behind.

Daming's Xiucai will get extraordinary courtesy wherever he goes, and the self-proclaimed cultural man Langoka Fangfang loves to come over and make up a poem or something, Hosokawa Fujitaka has also held a lot of drinking banquets in Niigata Town, during which he is uncomfortable with poetry and painting, if it is not for the idea of returning to his hometown to make contributions to his homeland, he has a little idea of settling here and not going back.

"Mr. Li, please take a seat at Matsuiden! Let's try the new tea picked on the snow mountain of Uonuma this year, this tea is only found in a deep valley in the mountains of Uonuma, it is said that it is a tea seed sprinkled by Master Eisei's high apprentice when he passed through Echigo hundreds of years ago, and only a small amount of new tea can be picked a year, and today it happened to be given by the owner of the museum, so please ask the two of you to taste one or two! ”

Mitsui Tiger high Ming Kingdom tea ceremony level is quite impressive, holding a bamboo clip to clean the tea set, from the treatment to the tea tasting several steps to sit down for a full quarter of an hour, listening to the wind outside the window blowing the wind chimes jingle, waking up the bamboo to draw water Ding Dong, the whole quiet room presents a natural and harmonious sense of tranquility.

Tasting the clear yellow tea soup, Li Ding's expression was very satisfied, and it could be seen that he enjoyed this foreign life very much, and it was interesting to stay in a foreign country to be an unpopular showman in his hometown, of course, home is to go back, do some homework before going home, make some friends, and draw a wonderful note on his life, there is probably nothing more meaningful than this.

From his point of view. Japan's agriculture is backward and even obscurantist. I don't know how to select and breed. I don't know how to fertilize and top dressing, I won't kill insects and prevent diseases, and the straw of the autumn harvest will be burned at will, in his eyes, this is a backward and barren era, and the agricultural level of the Ming Dynasty can easily crush Japan.

Under his teaching, a complete set of techniques from seed selection, breeding to seed soaking, the role and application of fertilizers, and even pollination, grafting, transplantation and seed improvement. Many techniques, such as the improvement and use of production tools, were taught to the Kira family, and in return, the Kira family would give a heavy gift every New Year's Day.

Basically, the full set of utensils in Li Ding's residence are sent, from sandalwood tables, chairs and benches, yellow rosewood beds, to antique calligraphy and paintings, Yixing purple clay pots, Tang Bohu's paintings, and Wen Zhengming's characters.

At present, the Kira family has basically severed contact with Wang Wufeng, and this person claims to be the king of the Pure Sea, and often has the heart of separating and hegemony. He was also in the Hirado Matsuura Party, the former overlord of the Western Kingdom, the Ouchi family. The current overlord of the Western Kingdom, the Maori family, is complicit, and may be wiped out by the Ming Dynasty at any time, and the Kira family's current stay away from Gyeonggi and the reduction of the number of times they deal with him is also a kind of self-preservation.

Li Ding knew that his identity was very taboo, and the best way to return to his hometown smoothly was to go to the big tree of the Kira family, otherwise he would not be able to wash away his reputation as a thief, and most of the time he would go to prison when he returned to his hometown, and the result of expelling the scholar family for 3,000 miles might as well wait for the big tree of the Kira family to grow, and then he would take the opportunity to ask for a pardon or something to return to his hometown.

With the observation of an outsider, he can also see the extraordinary atmosphere in the Kira family, and the few interactions with Kira Yoshitoki also know that this Japanese nobleman has great ambitions, and it can also be seen from the Japanese history books that he wants to be the source of the Yoritomo and the Ashikaga Honji-style person, but I don't know if there is a will to be a martyrdom.

Mitsui Hugao noticed that Li Ding was a little distracted, and coughed and reminded: "Mr. Li, can the speed of the construction of this polder be accelerated, my lord is urging the progress more tightly, how about solving the main attack on a few large polders first?" ”

"In such a hurry?" Li Ding's eyebrows furrowed, every time he heard the urging, he was always very unhappy, and he was about to take a little tone when he found that his sleeves were torn off, and he caught a glimpse of Matsui Nobuyuki handing him a look, and remembering Matsui Nobuyuki's explanation before, his waist bent down and lost the momentum just now.

"The reason for the slow construction period is still waiting for the earthwork to be dug up in the new Horikawa River, which was the preliminary work in the original plan, and now the new Horikawa River has been basically dug up, and the idle labor can start to build the polder after the autumn, and it is more convenient to build it with manual earthwork." Li Ding's waist is not soft, who called him just married Matsui Nobuyuki's sister as his wife, the three eldest brothers are all the new genealogy of the Kira family, and it is not suitable for him to be a brother-in-law no matter how hard he is.

The first few times his scholar tempered and forced him back to make Mitsui Tiger Tall, Matsui Yukan and even Hosokawa Fujitaka unable to get off the stage, and when he got home, his new wife's eyes were red, and tears fell down, and he, a seven-foot man, hurriedly apologized and wrote a letter of guarantee to ensure that he would never make such a mistake again.

He has suffered several losses in just half a year after being newly married, Li Ding can be regarded as understanding a truth, women's tears are a man's biggest nemesis, especially a woman who has just become pregnant, and he can't be messed with, his wife Matsui Sachiko is not noisy when she is angry, she just cries vigorously, and a cry is an hour or two.

Speaking of which, Li Ding is also very sure, in the past two years, he has deliberately slowed down the construction period of the Kira family, on the one hand, for the quality control of his first polder, leaving a good name, on the other hand, he wants to see the amount of people when Kira Yoshi, he is a homeless person, how much can he carry in the big tree of the Kira family, it depends on the attention and patience of his family governor, doing the pursuit is different from marching and fighting, two or three years can not produce results, can he, the family governor, wait?

If he can't afford to wait, even if he is scolded and neglected, he will build a polder for the Kira family, and then take a boat back to Kyushu, he Li Ding has done so much for the Kira family, and he has paid it back, and no one owes anyone in the future.

Now it seems that he can afford to wait, and he also sees that Kira Yoshishi is a patient person, so he started with Matsui Sachiko, the good girl of the Matsui family, the good girl of the Matsui family, the petite little family jasper, gentle like water, the Matsui family has long had this intention, and he has been delayed for several years, and now he is not happy to tie the knot, so he naturally does not dare to weigh it anymore.

"I lost my temper just now, but I didn't mean to!" Li Ding silently glanced at Matsui Nobuyuki, meaning that you can rest assured that I will do things. However, his third brother-in-law still seems to be a little uneasy.

"If it's a matter of weather this year. This polder can be pulled up in half a year. A few large polders can be built first, and I am not sure about the polders of seven or eight thousand steps, but I built a few small polders last year to practice my hands, and I think I am almost sure. Li Ding told the truth, Mitsui Tiger Gao also had to listen with black lines, a scholar Xiucai was full of theories and could still find out the construction method of the polder from the book, this ability should not be too exaggerated.

"In this way, the owner of my house can also rest assured! My lord is very concerned about the progress of Mr. Li's project! I will personally ask questions at each assessment meeting. I have been summoned many times, so I will ask Mr. Li! However, we will do our best to meet our requests, and when the project is completed, our lord will return to Niigata. ”

"Is the owner here in person? That's great! Matsui Shinyuki's eyes lit up, and he worked hard to serve this Xiucai and put his only sister in, because he had quarreled with his brother because of this.

His second brother Matsui Yu is understandably idle, and the eldest brother who is far away in Omi is very angry when he learns about this, and reprimands him for ignoring the feelings of his compatriots, the parents of the four siblings are no longer alive, and the three brothers are very fond of the only younger sister. If it's a love affair and marrying my sister off, it's too infuriating to mix other intentions like betraying your sister.

The three brothers almost had a fight over it. Matsui Shinichi strongly advocated, Matsui Masayuki resolutely opposed, Matsui Yu was idle, and the matter somehow stabbed to Kira Yoshishi, and finally the family governor came forward to give his only sister to Li Ding, this trouble Li Ding also knew, to say that the Ming Dynasty's Xiucai, marrying a Fanbang woman is also high-minded, but he is not qualified to take the tone of the big tree of the Kira family after he falls into trouble, but he has to accept Matsui Nobuyuki's heavenly favors.

Matsui Nobuyuki has always wanted to do this well, and he has been promoted to serve as the main officer, and now his rank is still equivalent to the deputy officer of the general of Ashigaru, and the chief officer above is a cadre of the chief officer including Mitsui Toraka, and the rank is equivalent to the general of the reserve team, among which Hosokawa Fujitaka is the general of the servant, and has the power to lead the general affairs.

After talking about the matter, the three of them talked and laughed and tasted tea, and all the anecdotes from all over the world were used to talk about it, Li Ding's Middle Japanese was already very fluent, and when he talked about the interesting stories of his hometown and living in Kyushu, he vividly attracted a burst of applause.

After a long time, the tea soup was cold, Mitsui Tiger Gao gently tapped the table, and a few young people came in to pack up the tea set, and only after everyone withdrew from the courtyard did he say solemnly: "The owner of the hall wants to ask Mr. Li, are you interested in joining my Kira family?" Now that Mr. Li is also in exile in another country, why don't you be the pursuer of my Kira family? ”

Li Ding felt the surprised and excited gaze of Matsui Nobuyuki on the side, and replied with a cough: "This matter...... Let's think about it for a while. ”

Mitsui Tiger Gao is not surprised by his statement, the Ming Empire is rich all over the world, and the self-esteem of the Celestial Empire is not so easy to dissolve, and he still smiled and said: "It's okay...... The condition offered by my Kira family is to invite the chief officer, please Mr. Li give more consideration! ”

……

On the eighth day of the lunar month, a building complex was opened up in the northeast of Kasuga Mountain Castle, which was the new imperial palace of Kira Yoshitoki, which included the original residence hall, and the original residence hall was transformed into the office space for daily government affairs of Kira Yoshitoki, and the inner and outer passages of the new palace were blocked by high walls, becoming the new home of Kira Yoshitoki and Toraki couple.

Every day, he worked hard to practice spearmanship, ate beef and mutton and drank milk, so that Kira Yoshitoki's size rubbed upward, and now he is only a little shorter than Takigawa Keijiro's perverted guy, enough to be proud of a group of one-meter-six retainers and samurai, he is not complacent because of this, and always looks forward to the day when he will personally go out to kill the enemy general.

The fragrant Laba porridge floated into his nose reminded him of the distant past, Ji Liangyi's eyes were full of memories, and Hu Ji held a bowl of Laba porridge and said curiously: "Your Highness, what does this Laba porridge say?" ”

The stupid Lori ate a mouth full of porridge stains, and said with a smile: "It's really delicious!" How can such a small bowl be enough to eat! So Chiyo still wants it! ”

"Here you go." Naotora pushed his bowl over.

"Huh? Doesn't Sister Naohu eat it? Chiyo Mochizuki's long eyelashes flickered, as if she didn't understand why such a delicious Laba porridge was given to him.

"I'm not hungry." Naotoka's style is still simple and bright, and when his eyes involuntarily glance at Kira Yoshi, he happened to meet his concerned gaze, and his white cheeks turned red. He lowered his head and said, "You can eat first." ”

"Oh! Sister Naohu is so nice. Then Chiyo Nu is welcome! The stupid Lori simply held the small bowl and ate it spoonful by spoon.

Numata Sandalwood's eyes flashed with light. Said with a smile: "Your Highness! The concubine has also heard the story of this laba porridge! ”

"Oh? Let's talk about it. Kira Yoshitoki put down the spoon and looked interested.

According to legend, Laba porridge originated from the story of the famous general of the Great Song Dynasty against Jin, the general of Wumu Yue Fei, it is said that the general of Wumu won the war against the invasion of the Jin, and was recruited back by the secretary of the imperial court with twelve gold medals, and the generals and soldiers were hungry and tired on the way back, and the peasants along the way poured their meals into the cauldron and boiled them into porridge to give the generals and soldiers to satisfy their hunger and keep out the cold. That day happened to be the eighth day of the lunar month, so it was called Laba porridge! What do you think? Sandalwood is right, right? Numata Sandalwood said proudly.

"Your Highness, is that so?" Hu Ji didn't care about Sandalwood's small movements, and looked at him with admiration: "That General Wumu must be very powerful!" ”

"Yes! It's very powerful......" stopped at the beginning of the words, coughed lightly to adjust his mood, and then said: "There is such a saying, but the origin of Laba porridge is the wax sacrifice. Suburban Special Sacrifice "The Son of Heaven is the Wax Eight, the Yi Qi family is the wax, and the wax is also Suo, the year is twelve. Gather all things and ask for food, and then the wax sacrifice flows into the folk and gradually becomes the custom of Laba porridge. ”

"Ahh It's been so long! It's amazing! Your Highness is really well-read and memorable! In the praise of several young girls. Sandalwood hung her head in disappointment.

"Actually, Sandalwood is also good, Laba porridge rice is very fixed, and the wax sacrifice that has been inherited for thousands of years is not well-known among the people, so it is not wrong to comfort General Lao Wumu on the day of cooking Laba porridge."

"I see, Your Highness is really amazing!" Numata Sandalwood stared at the big eyes of the water in surprise, and the pure black eyes were a little charming in the young man's heart.

"Your Highness, Ah Ju has come to see you!" Aju, who has become a woman of the Saito family, walked gently accompanied by several maids, she still used her previous name, and she didn't feel that there was anything wrong with calling him His Royal Highness again, that is, Aju and Saito Asanobu are both rough and sloppy, and if they change their husbands, they will probably be unhappy.

Ah Ju's head naturally wears a royal blue wrap shawl, which is the standard dress of samurai women when they go out, if they go to worship Buddha or other public activities, they also have to wear a veil or even a hat, this kind of wrapping shawl is very long and can hang down to the waist, a bit similar to a bowl to cover the forehead.

Wearing a plain coat is completely different from the previous bearing, and now Ah Ju is a woman of the martial arts, so it is not surprising that she has changed a little.

"It turns out that Sister Aju is here......"

Before Tiger Ji could make a polite remark, Chiyo Mochizuki pounced over and said excitedly: "Sister Aju! Chiyo misses you so much! ”

"Ahem!" Kira Yoshitoki kindly reminded: "What, Chiyo Nu don't pounce, be careful in case something goes wrong." ”

The stupid Lori asked strangely, "Huh? Fight the problem? Why? Chiyo used to pounce like this! ”

"It's Sister Aju that if she has a baby, she can't stand your pounce."

"Ahh Is Sister Aju pregnant with a baby? Are you sure? Chiyonu's eyes widened, and she carefully rubbed out of Aju's arms, and lay on Aju's stomach to listen for a long time, wondering: "Why can't I hear the baby's voice?" ”

"Oops! Your Highness is necrotic! How to tell Aju's secret! What a shame! Ah Ju covered her face and said shyly.

"Huh? How did His Highness know? Hu Ji looked at him suspiciously, and the frightened Ji Liangyi hurriedly distinguished: "It's not Zhong Kui's guy, I can't hide that little thing in my heart at all, two days ago, I turned around in front of me with a mysterious look and kept smirking, asking him what happened and didn't want to say it, and finally I cheated out." ”

"Oops! I know that guy is unreliable! I won't tell him next time! Ah Ju covered her hot cheeks, and said to Chiyo Mochizuki with a twist: "It's just there, I can't feel it now, I can hear it in a few months!" ”

"That's it! Sister Aju is so powerful! It's time to have a baby! It's really amazing! Chiyo Nu is also going to give His Highness a baby! Chiyo Mochizuki's eyes were shining, and Kira Yoshishi was staring at her with a chill down her spine.

"Stupid! How can you conceive a baby when you are so young! Wait a few years! Tiger Ji flicked her forehead angrily and funny.

"Woo...... Chiyo women are not stupid, Chiyo women are not small, you see that there are already two bags bulging! The stupid Lori held her chest up and said that she had grown up.

Put the tiger Ji angry with a head full of tic-tac-toe. But she also breathed a sigh of relief in her heart. A little shyly glanced at the stupid Kira Yoshitoki. The eyes were charming: "Your Highness is really, you have to massage someone or something, it has become a lot bigger in the past few years, it is really bad." ”

"Stupid Chiyo girl." Zhihu clutched his slightly plump chest, and his cheeks were red like dripping tomatoes.

"Humph! Mine isn't small! Sandalwood angrily covered the full mountains, like a victorious rooster to show his strength.

"Ahh Don't talk about that, I always feel that everyone is weird, today is Laba Festival, so Aju made a lot of delicious food! There were delicious pastries. Laba porridge and braised duck pieces, sweet and sour carp, and delicious Kanto grill! ”

The stupid Lori clapped her hands and jumped up happily: "Ah! That's great! Excellent! Chiyo Nu just hasn't eaten enough, so Sister Aju will also come and eat together! ”

"Ah Ju has already eaten before she came, and she just came from Princess Ayahime to bring food and snacks to Her Royal Highness, so I'm going back! Your Royal Highness, Ah Ju went back first, and everyone is welcome to come to Ah Ju's house as a guest! With a happy smile on her face, Ju waved at them and turned to leave.

Looking at the slowly departing figure, Hu Ji snuggled in Ji Liangyi's arms: "Sister Aju is so happy!" Your Highness. Will we be so happy? ”

Holding the girl's cold little hand, Kira Yoshitoki said softly, "Trust me." Definitely! ”

……

After more than a year of prospecting and trial mining, Suga Taibei determined the veins of the North Gold Mountain and the Crane Silver Mountain, in fact, the Honma family found the sub-veins of the Crane Silver Mountain, as early as more than ten years ago, it was rumored that there was silver on the mountain, but the Honma family found that this open-pit silver mine could not be mined and smelted, so the silver ore could only be thrown back.

The open-pit silver mine is the sub-vein of Hezi Silver Mountain is also the earliest mine to resume mining, mined at the beginning of this year, the daily silver ore output in April reached 500 stones, and the daily silver ore output in October exceeded 1,000 stones, and the main mine of Hezi Silver Mountain also began to be mined in April, and the silver ore per day exceeded 500 stones in early October.

After determining the mining status of Sado Kanayama, in May this year, Soga Taibei rushed to Uonuma Prefecture in Chuetsu without stopping, which is a barren mountain range belonging to the Yamada Nagao family, and the place is remote and inaccessible, but fortunately, it is very convenient to get to it close to the Uono River waterway.

Soga Taibei mined the South Vietnam mine here, according to several years of exploration to determine that this is a copper and lead mine, Echigo mines belong to the lord of the country, so the Kira family unceremoniously drew down this mountain, using the rich manpower and material resources of the Kira family, in early September in the rice mine officially mined, the use of gunpowder to find out the mining method is very good, this process is also called mining.

The silver ore is first artificially beneficiated, using the different specific gravity of rocks and minerals, some of the more easily distinguished stones are removed from the ore through water flow washing, and the rough ore is then milled by the water mallet driven by the water wheel, and the constant force of the water mallet will crush all the ores, and then the ore is washed for the second screening, and the lighter inferior ore particles and stone sand particles will float up.

After two selections, the ore particles will enter the more important smelting step, which is also called smelting, which refers to the process of roasting copper ore to remove sulfur, and this process is located in the smelting workshop located at the bottom of the mountain for the first roasting, which is the first roasting is to burn platinum, also known as platinum blowing.

This kind of smelting workshop for boiling is very peculiar, a bit like a shack, the roasting furnace is surrounded by a one-person high stone slab, there is a grass roof above it, the smelting furnace is buried deep in the ground, there is a grass roof in the smelting process to help this rain and snow, and the low walls are conducive to the discharge of sulfur gas from the ore.

In the process of smelting, a layer of charcoal is laid at the bottom of the smelting furnace, and the selected crushed ore is stacked on it, and another layer of charcoal is piled on top of the crushed ore, so that four hundred stone ores can be stacked at a time, and a vent is left on the front of the smelting furnace, and a large amount of sulfur gas will be discharged in the process of platinum blowing.

After the first smelting, the black copper was packed and sealed, and transported to Naoetsu via the Kira Suigun's roundabout ships along the Uonogawa River and Shinano River, and then sent to a nearby tributary through the Sekigawa Suido to the copper house located in the southwest col of Kasugayama, which belonged to the warning area of Kasugayama Castle, and the Nagao family always maintained a rotating reserve of 1,000 men, stationed in the branch castle outside the valley to serve as a garrison.

There is only one exit from the valley, and several springs from Mt. Kasuga flow into the valley along the mountain stream, forming a small lake in the valley and flowing down the river into the Sekigawa River, where the navy will unload the copper ore at a small dock under Kasugayama Castle and deliver the goods to the valley by ox-pulled flatbed trucks.

After the first roasting of the black copper will be roasted here for the second time, beryllium is black copper, so this step is also called beryllium, first put the black copper ore into the preset smelting furnace, the front of the smelting furnace is set up a slope channel for the removal of impurities, and then use the built-in biogas ignition, through the high temperature of the biogas is easy to melt the ore.

The oxide in the painful ore forms a residue floating on the furnace surface at high temperature, and then flows out of the furnace through the preset channel, and then cuts off the biogas and then sprinkles water on the furnace surface after all the residue is removed, and the high-temperature copper melt condenses into beryllium, and peels it off with iron tongs, so it is called beryllium, and this step must be repeated many times until the blister copper is refined, so it is also called plain blowing.

Finally, the copper house is best at quenching out impurities, pulling out silver, pure lead smelting out of their own pure copper, silver ore smelting is simpler, the same is beneficiation, washing ore and then preliminary smelting to the copper house, and then use biogas heating to remove impurities, and then pull out pure lead.

With their own stable silver and pure copper, the Kira family's money house can also get rid of the excessive dependence on Yongle money, and now the two Omi counties earn as much as 400,000 kan of profits for the Kira family every year, and the money house and pipa house alone account for three-quarters of them, and the profits are simply terrifying.

The amount of taxes collected from Sakamoto is also very rich, with more than 80,000 yuan in taxes this year, and the income from the Sanheya and sake breweries scattered throughout Kinai accounts for a quarter of Omi's total revenue.

Echigo's tax authority is now also in the hands of the Kira family, and the towns of Kasugayama Castle and Naoetsu can bring in 35,000 kan of tax revenue every year, mainly the high taxes collected by Naoetsu in the past for the transmission of transported goods, and the very high profits from the monopoly of the green hair trade.

This year's income is about seventy or eighty thousand, half of which is handed over to Nagao Jinghu to arm the army, and this money will be turned around in his hands and returned to Kira Yoshitoki's hands, and Biwa House will customize standard weapons, equipment, flag seals and military rations for the Nagao Army.

Nagao Keitori had already decided to expand the military service account to 15,000 people, of whom 7,000 recruits would receive professional guidance and training along with the 5,000 recruits who had arrived in Omi, and Yamamoto Tokiyuki served as the chief instructor of this new army. (To be continued......)