The chaotic situation in the Kanto region was very powerful to the Kira family, especially the mistakes made by the Furukawa Gongfang Ashikaga Tomasa again and again brought a lot of convenience to the Kira family, and Kira Yoshitoki immediately convened an evaluation meeting to discuss matters related to the southward movement to Kanto, and at the meeting, it was not surprising that all the retainers had been supporting, and many samurai had been guarding the vicinity of Kasuga Mountain Castle for a whole year without fighting, and the sword in the sheath had long been hungry and thirsty.

Satisfied with the attitude of his retainers, Kira Yoshitoki immediately announced a full-scale march to the south of Kanto, appointed Uesugi Terutora as the general commander to command more than 45,000 troops, and incorporated most of the samurai of Echigo and many generals of the Kira family into the formation, his task was to take advantage of the beginning of the heavy snow to immediately rush into the Kanto, his task was to enter Ueno Province through the Shinano Street through Saku-gun, and to spend the winter at Hirai Castle and launch an attack only on the day of the next year's spring.

And Kira Yoshitoki himself temporarily sat in the Kasuga mountain castle and waited for the opportunity, only when the spring flowers bloomed and the ice and snow melted, he took 2,000 red cavalry, 2,000 horses and a newly trained 1,000 banner samurai to the south of Kanto to personally supervise the battle, which would be the first time that the Kira family used 50,000 people in a big battle, and it was also the first battle to declare the Kira family's domination of the Kanto.

At the end of the year, it was still a routine snowstorm to fall on the world, this year's rain and snow were particularly abundant, Uesugi Terutora led 45,000 troops just entered Saku County and ushered in a goose feather heavy snowfall, fortunately, the preparation of the Kira army was very sufficient, each soldier carried a thick cotton coat, and the fur collected from hunting all these years was made into a cloak to protect against the wind and snow, military gloves and thick-soled leather boots to ensure that the soldiers would not freeze their hands and feet in the cold march.

Cotton cloth is one of the smuggled trade goods from the Ming Kingdom, but it is an important commodity that Japan does not produce and cannot afford to produce. But in Japan's relatively bitter society, cotton cloth is definitely something that only the rich can enjoy. This batch of cotton cloth and cotton was worth the profits of Echigo selling linen and other textiles for a year. This shows how profitable this business really is.

However, because this kind of much-needed trade goods could not be trafficked in under the forbidden sea of the Ming Empire, the purchase channels were too difficult to buy, and each commodity required several times the price to buy it, and the maritime merchants saw that the 300% pure profit could not be earned, so it is no wonder that they would take the risk of choosing to smuggle and even embark on the evil path of the Japanese Bandits.

……

The arrival of the wind and snow meant that the year was coming to an end, and just as Kira Yoshitomo was relieved to think about whether to take his family to the Yuzawa Imperial Palace for the winter, a group of Nanban ships from afar suddenly visited Echigo, and many people noticed the tall sails, the size of the roundabouts, and the completely different shapes of the Japanese ships.

Several merchants quickly ran into the wine house in the harbor and shouted, "The Southern Barbarians are coming!" There are a lot of Southern Barbarians at once! There are yellow-haired and blue-eyed Nanbans, and red-haired and green-eyed. There are also brown-haired and brown-eyed Nanbans, many of them are armed with a lot of iron cannons and some strange things, their appearance is so terrible and they look so fierce! We tried to lean over and take a closer look, but we were murdered back! ”

The quiet Naoetsu boiled all of a sudden, and countless merchants and townspeople walked out of the houses and gathered in front of the port, curiously looking at this group of merchants from afar, the old man was squeezed out of the circle and looked left and right on tiptoe, and after a while, he shook his head and sighed: "I heard that the Southern Barbarians are a group of Ru Mao who drink blood and are extremely vicious, and the green face and fangs are born with four hands, and the legend is that they were suppressed by the monks with mana and were not allowed to enter the Western Kingdom, and my old man has never seen what the Southern Barbarians look like!" ”

Yoshitoshi Kira, who was in Kasuga Mountain Castle, soon got the news. He ordered 2,000 troops to quickly disperse the crowd gathered at the port, and personally led 500 banner-based samurai to the port to personally greet the Nanban merchants. When I arrived at the port, I saw dozens of ships of various sizes, and the most conspicuous of them all, the three-masted galleon.

The galleon was very hot when he saw Kira, and a familiar and unfamiliar St. George flag was hanging on the mainmast, and Kira Yoshitoki's heart suddenly felt much lighter, his long-awaited business partner finally returned, and the appearance of the St. George flag also meant that the familiar blonde girl in his memory also came.

Kira Yoshitoki was the only one who could speak Nanban, and took the initiative to identify himself to the crew who were guarding the deck and did not come down, but the crew was comparable to the size of a chimpanzee, and he couldn't hear clearly, with a dialect accent that he didn't know where to communicate, and the two of them stood on the dock and stood on the deck just staring at each other stupidly.

"Hehehe...... Your English is much worse than it used to be! In the crisp laughter, I saw a handsome man walk to the deck, explain a few words to the stupid chimpanzee-like crew and then open the cabin and land, in less than half an hour, dozens of large and small ships seven or eight hundred crew members rushed out, they hooked their shoulders and laughed and walked into the wine house to relax.

It wasn't until everyone was gone that Kira Yoshitoki came back to his senses and saw the young man on the side of the boat beckoning to him, "Come on the boat and talk!" I know you haven't seen the Nanban Merchant House here! ”

"Oh...... I'm coming! Kira Yoshitoki was ignorant and waited for the boat, but the samurai behind him hurriedly followed but was blocked by the gorilla, and several flag warriors shouted in a hurry, and wanted to rush over but were easily held down by the strong man who was more than two heads taller than him, and threw back to the shore like a chicken.

Seeing that the flag warrior drew out the sword with some red eyes, the chimpanzee snorted coldly and pulled out two oversized arabian scimitars, stared at a pair of bull's eyes and stood on the side of the ship and roared at them, as if to say that there is a kind of you to come up and try it, Kira Yoshishi saw this situation and hurriedly said to the flag warrior: "You guys are waiting here!" This is my friend, and it won't hurt me! ”

He followed the young man into the cabin and found that it was an exquisite drawing room, the four walls of the room were brightly lit, several slightly strange world maps and navigation charts between various islands dazzled his eyes, several navigators were sitting in the corner leisurely drinking coffee, and one of the young men saluted him when he saw Kirayoshi.

Kira remembered that this man was a navigator of Argot's fleet, and he had completely forgotten his name, so he could only nod at him awkwardly, and followed the young man into the room in the drawing room, which seemed to be the captain's office. Inside sat a young white man of twenty-seven or eighteen years old.

The white man frowned slightly when he saw Kirayoshi. Then he said, "His Royal Highness." Is that what you mentioned about our distinguished guest from Asia, Mr. Joseph? Good afternoon, Mr. Joseph, I am John from Plymouth, and my father is William Hawkins, the great navigator who was awarded by Henry VIII. ”

"Oh! Hello! Dear Lord Hawkins, I am Joseph, the Joseph of the East. Kira Yoshishi looked at the white man with some surprise, it turned out to be the famous and notorious John Hawkins, and he didn't realize that the young man standing next to him was snickering.

The young man said to John Hawkins, "Didn't John choose to go ashore and relax? Haven't you been complaining about the pressure and the need to relax since you entered East Asia? I'll give you half a day off to relax, and I'll be back tomorrow morning at eight o'clock in time. ”

"Alright! The two of them chatted slowly. I'll take my leave. John Hawkins seemed unfazed by the teasing, shrugged his shoulders and stood up for a gentlemanly salute and said, "Have a wonderful evening." ”

When the young man's cheeks suddenly turned red as if he had inadvertently glanced at Kira Yoshi, he hurriedly shrank his head and pretended not to see it, and said secretly in his heart: "This Duke can't be a, right?" I'm really bad at this! Anyway, where did the little Lori go, why haven't you seen anyone until now? ”

When John Hawkins left, Kira Yoshishi hurriedly said to this strange young man, "May I ask if there is a girl named Claudia on this ship?" ”

The young man seemed to be surprised, looked at him carefully, and said with interest, "Huh? Why do you ask? ”

"Because I'm more familiar with her, so I ......" Kira Yoshitoki suddenly opened his mouth, scolding himself in his heart for being stupid. was stupid enough to shake out his own in front of strangers, and this level is what a hairy boy with no social experience can do.

Think about it again from the news of the Nanban fleet. Standing in the cabin of this ship and making many serious mistakes, he was so stupid that he obediently ran into the cabin when he saw the flag of St. George, and an acquaintance of a national flag could not be counted at all, and the ghost knew if the navigator would change his owner and attract an unknown nobleman to trade here, if this was really the plan, then wouldn't his action just now give people a handle, and put his initiative and even his life in the hands of someone he didn't know at all?

Fortunately, after his observation, it can be seen that this person doesn't look like a bad person, otherwise it only takes a few strong men and a bundle of hemp rope to catch Kira Yoshitoki, who is not carrying any weapons, and if he is kidnapped and blackmailed a high ransom, there is really nowhere to cry, isn't this John Hawkins an expert in this business? The thought of this made me break out in a cold sweat.

"Giggle...... Look at the way you look scared, it's really stupid! The young man suddenly revealed a female voice, took off the hat on his head, spread out his long golden shawl hair, and his slightly heroic delicate facial features could vaguely see the last time they met in Sakai Town many years ago.

Kira Yoshishi was a little frightened and didn't dare to recognize each other, and asked uncertainly, "Are you ...... Claudia? ”

The young woman chuckled again, nodded and said, "I am the first Duke of York, the court advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, and the current Governor of the Navy, Claudia. Gorse. ”

"Uh...... What a long title! Quietly scratching his head and saying with some embarrassment: "Why are you so tall, you are almost level with me, I remember that you were so tall when you left......"

Kira Yoshishi didn't know how to face the girl he hadn't seen for many years, and he was a little clumsy and compared the size of the two when they first met, which caused Claudia to laugh again, and after a while, she seemed to remember something and said sorry and hurriedly left the room, leaving Kira Yoshishi to wait awkwardly for nearly two quarters of an hour.

By the time she reappeared, she had changed into a court nobleman's female dress, and her bright smile seemed to brighten the room against the backdrop of her beautiful posture, and Claudia generously invited him to sit down, bringing him a pot of drink with a rich aroma for him to taste.

"Huh? Is this coffee? ”

"Did Joseph also know about this drink? Its name literally translates from the Ottoman language to coffee, this drink is very expensive and monopolized by the Ottoman Empire, I only buy some from special channels, usually reluctant to drink it, only when I meet you, I take it out for you to taste. Claudia's eyes were strange. When he stared at Kira Yoshishi, he was covered in hair.

"Coffee is a very good thing. You must have explored the New World! Growing coffee in the New World will bring you great wealth. It is highly recommended that you spend a lot of money on green coffee beans and transplant them to the islands of the Americas to try farming. Kira Yoshishi was speechless, his head was empty and he didn't even know what he was talking about, Claudia just smiled and nodded, and after chatting for a while, she slowly talked about her life experience in the past few years.

Since returning to England six years ago, she has returned to London to become a retinue of Princess Elizabeth under house arrest in the Tower of London, and because of her good education and extraordinary family background, she quickly won the favor of Princess Elizabeth in the Tower of London, whose freedom was restricted. Or that a little girl who has a taboo background and follows her into the Tower of London is the only person who can be trusted.

During her years at the Tower of London, she was educated by Roger Askan, a famous humanist of the English Renaissance, who studied religion, classics, history, poetry and language, and had a great influence on her, before that she was only a sympathetic little girl to Protestantism, but since then she has followed Princess Elizabeth to become a devout Protestant.

Until the death of Bloody Mary two years ago, Princess Elizabeth was appointed queen by the noble council, and she also became the Duchess of York by virtue of her family background and the trust of the queen, but the queen was busy falling in love with her lover Robert Dudley, and constantly trying to find ways to promote her marriage with a married man. I didn't even bother to run the country.

This was immediately met with a backlash from many of the aristocratic circles who expected the good fortune of the Protestant queen, and Robert Dudley's political enemies launched a series of frame-ups and assassinations against him. As one of the Queen's two favorite courtiers, Duchess Claudia naturally became a figure of dissent to many nobles, and as soon as she saw that the situation was not good, she took the opportunity to go to the Far East to explore new sailing routes.

Elizabeth I was well aware of her seamanship, and also knew that the little sister, who had been in prison for several years, was also very difficult, and the queen was busy bringing a crown of princely clothes to her mistress, and had no time to take care of the little sister, so she agreed to Claudia's request to give her dozens of ships and a good crew to carry out the seemingly meaningless sea exploration.

Kira Yoshishi said with some pride: "What a complicated experience! There are also thrilling palace struggles, my experience is lackluster in comparison, just a few wars and grabbed a lot of territory, by the way, if you talk about titles and territories, I can be regarded as a proper duke. ”

England is not big, Yorkshire is only 10,000 square kilometers, almost the same size as Echigo country, Kira family also has the territory of five countries, plus the territory of Omi and Mikawa, maybe you can make up a territory of six countries, no matter what, it must have more than 30,000 square kilometers, this territory is more than enough to be a duke.

Claudia asked him about his specific experience in disbelief, and only then did he explain how he had come to Echigo from Kyoto over the years, during which she casually mentioned that she had married several wives and had a bunch of children left, and Claudia was very unhappy: "Why is your country still insisting on such backward and uncivilized customs!"

The sages once said that marriage is a lifelong union of monogamy, the common relationship between gods and people, God created Adam and Eve to reproduce countless human beings, monogamy is the most sacred contract given to us by God, and you have trampled on this sacred contract, your performance really disappointed me! ”

Claudia seemed to be very angry, and ignored him for a long time, and after a while, she saw her and said to him with a cold face: "Please Joseph go back and rest first, and we will talk about business tomorrow!" ”

“…… Okay, then I'll go back first. Kira Yoshishi got up a little depressed to say goodbye, and when he walked to the side of the boat, he saw that the gorilla seemed to be surprised that he came out so quickly, and looked at his body as if to say, "Your guy's body is really bad enough, just come out in such a short time", and Kira Yoshitoki looked inexplicable.

On the way back, he carefully recalled the words and deeds on the deck, which made him feel that John Hawkins's words seemed to have a deeper meaning, but for a while he couldn't figure out what the meaning was hidden, and Claudia's performance was also very abnormal, which had not been seen for six years, and he was already a tall and pretty girl when he suddenly met, and he always had a strange feeling in his words and deeds.

Kira Yoshitoki's habit is to simply not want to think about it if he doesn't understand it. I remembered that Crumenberg and John were still in Echigo. So they were invited over and prepared to return to their homeland. John learned that his compatriots were so happy to come to Echigo, that he would never have the opportunity to set foot on the land of his hometown in his life, and that he might be reduced to the end of dying in a foreign land, this news was tantamount to a booster that made him very happy.

Krenberg, however, seemed unconcerned, telling Kira that there were no relatives alive in his hometown, and that his own wife and two children had died in the plague decades earlier, and that he had left several scars on his face from the plague, and had never married since then and remained in widowhood. I've been living comfortably in Japan for the past few years, and I don't want to go home at all.

Kira Yoshishi only found out that Cronberg has always been single, and thought that he was almost sixty years old that people must have wives and children waiting for him, but in fact, there are not a lot of distant relatives who have a lot of wives and children, and Kronberg does not like those vampire-like distant relatives, and does not plan to give them the wealth accumulated over the years for free, because these distant relatives only think about inheriting his inheritance in their heads, so that they will not serve him with peace of mind and inherit the inheritance after death.

Kira Yoshitoki thought that this was indeed the case, so he refused despite Kronberg's stern words. He was looking for a young widow with a dead husband to carry on his lineage, whether his heart was dead or for some other reason and he was widowed. It is necessary to leave an official descendant to prove that he actually existed and to leave traces.

The next morning, Kira Yoshitoki rushed to the port with fifty samurai, but he encountered a young man who was about twenty years old, tall and burly and taller than Kira Yoshitoki, wearing a leather robe and a sword at his waist and crotch, staring up and down at Kira Yoshishi very rudely.

Kira Yoshitoki didn't know what this guy was doing, and he wanted to go around but was blocked by him, so he said a little unpleasantly: "Please get out of the way, don't block the movement of others, thank you!" ”

However, the tall young man took off the white gloves on his hand, threw them at Kira, and said in a tone of arrogance and disdain: "I am Francis Drake, and I am challenging you for the beautiful Claudia!" The losing side will give up the pursuit of Claudia forever. ”

"Challenge? For love? What's going on? Kira Yoshishi stared at him a little absurdly and said, "Your name is Francis, right?" I don't understand what you're saying, I'm saying once please get out of the way. ”

"Humph! How dare you do it, don't you dare to admit it? Yesterday Claudia deliberately separated my cousin and the crew of the ship in order to have a tryst with you, but I didn't expect you to run out of the night without putting on your clothes, and you ran out in disgrace after only two hours, you must be a fool who failed to work hard for two hours because of erection difficulties and finally escaped in shame!

This kind of soft guy doesn't deserve to be Claudia's man, and I, Francis Drake, want to prove with facts that Claudia made a mistake in choosing you! You should roll back to your little castle as a lord and not set foot on the deck of the York. Francis Drake's foul language was endless, so that the flag warriors next to him who didn't understand Nanban also realized that something was wrong.

Several clever samurai quickly drew their swords and gestured in formation to make a move against this tall Nanban, but when they saw Kira Yoshishi, they waved their hands to stop their actions, and Francis Drake hugged his arms and sneered: "Even if you don't let these dwarves do it, otherwise I will let them learn a profound lesson." ”

"Don't be too full of big words! Say, how to compete, I'll take it! Kira Yoshishi looked at the young man coldly and said, "I don't care if you are the Drake or not, you must pay the price for what you said, your price is not enough to gamble with me, so I have to increase the weight!" ”

"Oh! What code do you want to add? Francis Drake tilted his head and said, "It can't be a bet like kneeling down and kowtowing, right?" That's hilarious! ”

"Don't worry! I'm a gentleman and won't be as vulgar and rude as you. "If I lose, I will give you five thousand pounds of silver, and promise never to pursue Claudia and never touch her again, and if you lose, you must always be loyal to Claudia as her loyal knight, and promise never to pursue Claudia and never touch her again." ”

"That's too much of a stack! Five thousand pounds is not enough......" Francis Drake was shocked, and when he stared at Kira Yoshishi with a solemn face in surprise, he said with some hesitation: "At least ten thousand pounds of silver!" ”

"Humph! Do you think your life is worth ten thousand pounds of silver? Ji Liang Yishi left a sentence and ignored him, and the sailors of England nearby also quietly gathered, and when they heard this, they all laughed, 10,000 pounds of silver is an amazing fortune, you can buy a few large ships equipped with artillery and elite sailors, with this money, maybe you can become a hegemon in a few years.

Francis Drake realized that this proposal was stupid, but he still emphasized unconvinced: "I have excellent seafaring talent, I will become a great captain in the future, and with the help of my cousin I will become even greater!" As long as you dare to bet 10,000 pounds of silver, I will dare to press it for the rest of my life! ”

When Kira Yoshitomi saw that his goal had been achieved, he immediately continued: "Okay! That's what you said, that's it! There were observers present to testify! God bears witness! Swear by it! ”

The so-called rush is a way of expressing the method of agitation, forcing you to say what you didn't intend to say, Francis Drake was originally just a joke when he grasped Kirayi, but he didn't want to be forced into a corner by three or two sentences, so he had to swear in the name of God, and even the Rinzai believers in Kira Yoshishi also swore in the name of God, and it seems needless to say which one is more effective.

After some discussion, it was finally decided to use his fists and feet to try to reach out, Francis Drake knew that he was going to talk to Claudia next, and it would be asking for trouble to poke out the big basket with a sword competition, and he would teach Kira Yoshitoki a profound lesson with his fists and feet, so that this guy would know that the Anglo-Saxon man was not comparable to him.

Later, in the business negotiations, let him go to Claudia with a blue nose and swollen face, not only can he hit his rival in front of his sweetheart, but also make Claudia's evaluation of this Joseph of the East and the East lower, and by the way, he can also make a huge fortune from the gambling contract, which is a good thing that is simply picturesque.

Kira Yoshitoki guessed a little reason from his treacherous expression, and secretly said that this guy is only in his early twenties and has so many careful thoughts, no wonder he will become a dominating sea overlord in the future, but it is a pity that he met the freak of Kira Yoshitoki, who relied on his hand to fight in the wilderness, and he was not at all the opponent of Kira Yoshitoki, a person who has been trained in systematic techniques.

He was easily put down after a few rounds of fighting, but he stood up and continued to fight with his strength and tenacious temperament, but the strength of the two sides did not have an overwhelming gap, and in terms of technique, he achieved an absolute advantage when he was Kishira, and he finally realized that he was not an opponent after seven or eight consecutive turns, so he could only cover the swollen half of his face and glared at him viciously and wanted to leave.

"Wait!"

"I'll keep that vow! Hum! Francis Drake was about to squeeze out of the crowd with a hateful word, and the onlookers whistled strangely, and he was so upset that he waved his fist and hurried into the crowd. (To be continued......)