A samurai who doesn't want to be a daimyo is not a good onmyoji

Chapter 154 The Iron Cannon Master
After returning to his hotel, Asai Nagamasa found Shimazata talking to a middle-aged man who looked weathered.

After seeing clearly the opponent's thick arms and the unique scars on them, Asai Nagamasa immediately felt happy, because he had seen similar scars on Qianzi Muramasa. He could almost Definitely, the other person must also be a blacksmith who has been exposed to stoves all year round.

Unexpectedly, Shima Sakon actually overfulfilled the task and directly invited Miyabe Tsurujun's blacksmith friend back?
Seeing Asai Nagamasa return, Shima Sakon and others greeted him one after another, and the middle-aged man who seemed to be a blacksmith also stood up uneasily.

It was only after Shima Sakon introduced both parties that Asai Nagamasa realized that he had a slight misunderstanding.

The other party was not the blacksmith Miyabe Tsurun mentioned before, but the blacksmith's friend, but he was also a master craftsman who was very good at forging iron cannons.

His name was Kuni Yubei. According to him, he and his friends were among the first blacksmiths in Japan to learn to forge iron cannons.

As early as more than ten years ago, the Shimazu family of Kyushu Island passed the iron cannon to Hosokawa Harumoto, the overlord of Kinki at the time, and presented it to the previous generation of General Ashikaga Yoshiharu. Later, Hosokawa Harumoto ordered Kuniyoshibei and others People researched and made Nibon's native iron cannon.

However, the general of the later generation fell out with Hosokawa Harumoto and was easily defeated by him, and funding for research on iron cannons was stopped.

Later, Hosokawa Harumoto's important minister Miyoshi Chokei suddenly emerged and successfully defeated his master by "subjugating superiors". Since the general and Hosokawa Harumoto had tried to unite against Miyoshi Chokei, Miyoshi Chokei's attitude towards the general after he gained power was Naturally, it will not get any better, and it will even be worse than when Hosokawa Harumoto was in power. The remaining power of the Hosokawa family has also become a plaything in the hands of Miyoshi Nagakei, and it is naturally even more impossible to support Kuniyoshi Bike.

Even though the previous generation of shoguns declined more and more and took the initiative to give up the shogunate position to his son, the current shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, this situation could not be changed.

So he had to make a living with his friend. Unlike him who focused on studying iron cannons, his friend at least had a blacksmith shop that could forge weapons and farm tools, which he could use to maintain his daily life.

When Shima Sakon went to visit, he keenly discovered that this was an excellent opportunity for him, because in addition to being a master forging iron cannons, he was also from Kunitomo Village, Omi Sakata County. Kunitomo Village has always had There are many professional blacksmiths, and he is one of them.

Sakata County happens to be one of the territories of the Asai family of Kitanomi. In theory, he is still a subject of the Asai family, but he has just been living in a foreign land for many years.

Of course, another reason is that his old friend, the Yaban Kinbei whom Asai Nagamasa originally wanted to find, will soon return to his hometown, Satsuma in the Kyushu region. He will soon be here. Really helpless.

After Asai Nagamasa heard the whole story, he immediately expressed his welcome to the other party to go home. If possible, he was even willing to recruit the other party and even the blacksmiths of the entire Kunitomo Village to forge iron cannons and other weapons for the Asai family.

There are very few master craftsmen in Nippen who can forge iron cannons, and there are even fewer masters like him who have more than ten years of rich experience. If he just misses it, then he would be too stupid.

Maybe you can't see it now, but within ten years, weapons like iron cannons will be absolutely indispensable in the armies of all the major forces in Nippon.

Kunibei immediately expressed his willingness to serve the Asai family. In fact, that was why he came. Otherwise, why would he follow Shima Sakon to see Asai Nagamasa?

In addition to forging iron cannons, Kunibei can also make corresponding ammunition. This is a great thing for Asai Nagamasa. An iron cannon without ammunition is just a fire stick. He does not want his future ammunition to be controlled by the Nanman or Nanman people. The wealthy businessmen of Jie Town.

Everyone was happy for a while, and Asai Nagamasa immediately called the store owner and asked him to prepare a sumptuous lunch as a celebration for this matter.

After the luncheon, Asai Nagamasa asked Shima Sakon to temporarily house the Kuniyoshi soldiers. He had no plans to leave Kaizhen immediately. When he returned to Otani Castle in a few days, he would take him back together.

Naturally, Kunibei had no objections. Although he was his friend, he actually felt that it was very inappropriate to have been dependent on others for so many years. As long as he thought that he would be able to return to Omi's hometown in a while, there he could start his latest career again. Forged by love.

At the same time, he also said that there was no problem with Asai Nagamasa's mention of enough money to buy iron cannons.

He and his friend have been forging iron cannons in Jie Town for more than ten years. Although there are many failed works, there are also many successful ones. In addition to selling some to businessmen in Jie Town, they are used to In addition to buying materials and daily expenses for forging iron cannons, they now have close to fifty high-quality iron cannons and a large amount of ammunition.

Even Kuni Yubei said that if possible, he could lead Asai Nagamasa to see those iron cannons now.

Asai Nagamasa was all right. In addition to wanting to see the difference between the Nanman iron cannon and the Nippon iron cannon, he also wanted to try the power of these iron cannons himself. Not only to make it easier to deal with the enemy in the future, he also wanted to see Let’s see if with my current strength, I can fight against the iron cannon, and how many hits I can withstand!

And since he saw with his own eyes in Qingzhou City that under the command of Oda Nobunaga, hundreds of iron cannons directly seriously injured the weak Sanmu Bamen, he also had a vague guess.

The power of iron cannons comes from the power of gunpowder, from the explosive power and hot fire, and then from penetrating damage and contamination from ammunition fragments.

For humans, the latter two are obviously extremely fatal, because even if they can survive the battlefield, if the wounds are not treated in time, they are likely to die due to infection and other reasons.

But when dealing with monsters, it is possible that the first two are more effective, because almost all monsters appear very weak in front of thunder and fire.

It's a pity that the iron cannon was introduced to Nippon for a short time. There was no such thing in Abe Seimei's time, so naturally there would be no corresponding records. To fully understand it, he still needs to do more experiments himself. Now It happened to be a very suitable opportunity.

But soon he had to change his mind, because Sannosuke, a small businessman from Tennojiya who had been rescued by him outside Kaizhen City, was specially ordered by his master Tsuda Sotatsu to invite Asai Nagamasa to go there. feast.

Although he has already established a relationship with the Nanman people and Qian Zongyi, and has also formed a special cooperation with the Izumo Shrine in Aguo, Asai Nagamasa is still happy to go to Tsuda Sotatsu's invitation. After all, the other party will be there very soon. It may play a big role.For the sake of business and profit, Tsuda Sotatsu can support the Rokkaku family, but for the sake of greater interests, he can also turn to support the Asai family.

Since there were military guards stationed near the island and the subordinates waiting for them from Izumo Shrine, Axiu and Ningning were not interested in this kind of gathering, so Asai Nagamasa took the little miko Kaga with him as usual.

The little girl was very smart. Although Asai Nagamasa could clearly feel her curiosity and eagerness for the spell she promised, she didn't mention it at all. She just served Asai Nagamasa wholeheartedly and didn't know. Her sister had warned her beforehand, or she had learned it herself.

But no matter what, Asai Nagamasa has very good senses for her. If she can maintain this appearance in the next two days, Asai Nagamasa will officially start teaching her spells. I believe that with her talent even Huanglong admits , she must be able to learn very well.

After thinking about it, Asai Nagamasa casually took out a bracelet from the antiques he got in the valley last time. He said before that he would prepare a gift for a visit, but now he has no time, so let's use it.

Tsuda Sotatsu is one of the well-known wealthy businessmen of Jiezhen, so he probably has a good reputation. He should be able to see the preciousness of these things, and he can be used as a tool to test the quality of these antiques.

After arriving at the location, Asai Nagamasa found a young man in his thirties waiting for him in the tea room with a smile.

"I am Tsuda Sotatsu from Tennojiya. It is a great honor for me to have Asai-sama come. Please take a seat. Please wait a moment while I order tea for Asai-sama."

Although he is a wealthy businessman with a rich family fortune, Tsuda Sotatsu does not have any airs and appears to be extremely kind.

Asai Nagamasa is not a person who doesn't appreciate compliments. He returned the greeting with a smile and sat down: "I have long heard that the owner of Tennojiya, Mr. Tsuda, is very hospitable and is also an excellent tea person. When I saw him today, he really lived up to his reputation. , I’m the one who disturbed you.”

As he spoke, he took out the bracelet from his arms and handed it to Sannosuke next to him, motioning for the other person to pass it to Tsuda Sotatsu: "Because I came in a hurry, I didn't prepare any gifts. I got this bracelet occasionally. Even if it’s just borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha.”

Although Asai Nagamasa had some contempt for Sannosuke before and thought that Sannosuke was not knowledgeable enough, now it seems that he is somewhat self-aware. When he and his master were sitting here, he stood aside knowingly and did not dare to say anything. , is to act purely as a waiter.

"How dare you trouble Mr. Asai to spend money? It really makes me feel bad."

Tsuda Sotatsu didn't pay attention at first. He was just surprised by the calmness, calmness, and unexpected maturity of the young samurai in front of him.

But when he glanced at it inadvertently, his eyes straightened instantly. He didn't care about being rude. He didn't even care about the steaming kettle. He just took the bracelet from Sannosuke's hand with a little eagerness.

He flipped it up and down several times, wiped his eyes, and then said with a slight trembling: "This, is this the work of Master Nitta during the Heian period? But, this should have been lost for a long time! "

Master Nitta, Asai Nagamasa and Sannosuke next to him had never heard of it, but when they saw Tsuda Sotatsu's appearance, they all knew that this bracelet was definitely not simple.

His throat moved several times, and he swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva with difficulty. Finally, Tsuda Sotatsu put the bracelet back in front of Asai Nagamasa: "Asai-sama, this gift is too precious, I cannot accept it."

Although businessmen value profits, they will not be rewarded for their efforts. Tsuda Sotatsu did not want to accept such an expensive gift from the other party when they first met, especially now that his Tennoji house still has trade relations with the Rokkaku family. If the other party wants to make some objections about this, It's not easy for me to deal with reasonable requests.

But despite this, from the other person's slightly absent-minded look and his slightly trembling hands, Asai Nagamasa and Sannosuke could see how much he desired.

Especially Sannosuke, who is a subordinate, knows that this is definitely not because his master is greedy for money, nor is he ignorant. In fact, when this rare treasure appears in front of him, the person who loves collecting the most. , he couldn’t control himself at all!

Asai Nagamasa also saw this, so he pushed forward: "Master Tsuda, you are so polite, how can you take back the gift you sent? What's more, compared to a mere bracelet, I value it more. My friendship with you, Tsuda-sama.”

Seeing Asai Nagamasa speaking so sincerely, Tsuda Sotatsu could only take a deep breath, and then saluted Asai Nagamasa: "In this case, it would seem that I am too tacky if I continue to be polite. Thank you, Mr. Asai, for the gift." .”

With such a good start, the rest of the conversation became very harmonious. Tsuda Sotatsu showed an enthusiasm that Sannosuke next to him had never seen before. When Asai Nagamasa tentatively invited the other party to open the chamber of commerce under Otani Castle, , Tsuda Sotatsuya agreed without any hesitation.

This immediately made Asai Nagamasa feel very satisfied. In his vision, he wanted to build Otani Castle into a prosperous place like Oda Nobunaga's Kiyosu Castle, and businessmen from other places were indispensable.

Although he also has the small businessman Michikawa Bei Saburo under him, his ability is not enough, not to mention that he has always believed that monopoly is not a good thing in this kind of matter, and only healthy competition can achieve higher results. Promote the development of commerce and castle towns.

In addition, his Tennojiya had previously set up a store in the Kannonji Castle of the Rokkaku family, and later set up a store under Otani Castle, which would definitely arouse the suspicion of the Rokkaku family. This was also a way for Tsuda Sotatsu to express his stance.

However, when Tsuda Sotatsu tentatively inquired about Asai Nagamasa's views on the Rokkaku family, Asai Nagamasa smiled and said nothing. He only said that the time had not come yet and asked him not to worry about it. Tennojiya would still be open for business as usual.

After chatting for a while, Tsuda Sotatsu finally couldn't hold back and asked Asai Nagamasa where he got the rare bracelet.

Asai Nagamasa smiled and asked seemingly casually: "I wonder what Mr. Tsuda has to say about the recent legends about monsters?"

(End of this chapter)