Yoshikawa Kosuke carefully protected the book in his arms with both hands, lowered his head and walked along the brick and stone sidewalk on the side of the road, he silently muttered in his heart: "After passing through an intersection again, I saw a pair of stone lions standing in the courtyard at the door, and I arrived at the accommodation..."

As he walked briskly forward, the passers-by who saw him on the road couldn't help but smile strangely.

Although in Japan, 17-year-old Kosuke Yoshikawa is often praised by those around him for his handsome appearance. But in the eyes of these pedestrians in the capital of the Ming Kingdom, Yoshikawa Kosuke, who has a weird shaved head and a pair of fat pants, and looks extremely short, looks more like a weird goose when he walks briskly.

For the eyes of these Ming people looking at him, Kosuke Yoshikawa completely took it as air, as if nothing was happening around him.

Unlike those samurai sent by the head of the family, he once worked as a wandering samurai with his uncle for a period of time, and he knew better what it was: people had to bow their heads under the low eaves. The truth.

The samurai sent by the head of the family to assist their uncle may have regarded the Ming Kingdom as Suruga Castle, or they did not want to lose the face of His Royal Highness Da Nayan in front of the Ming people, and they clashed with the Ming people as soon as they came ashore.

The reason was simply that the Akito asked them to walk on the right, and the samurai resolutely refused, believing that they were worthy enough to walk in the middle of the road. For this ridiculous reason, they even forgot about the mission of their trip.

Although this conflict appeared in time with the Ming officers and soldiers, and the uncle drank to stop, there was no bloodshed in the end. But their group was almost expelled back by the Ming people.

If the task entrusted to his uncle by His Royal Highness Da Nayan really failed for such ridiculous reasons. Based on his understanding of the Great Nayan, it is estimated that after he returns, his uncle and those samurai who caused disputes will be ordered to seppuku.

Fortunately, the owner of the ship who brought them here was more familiar with the Ming officials in the port. With his maneuvering, they paid a fine and left their swords on board, barely averting the crisis.

The two samurai who had caused the conflict were immediately driven back to the ship by their uncle, and they were not allowed to continue to accompany them into the capital. Kosuke Yoshikawa had a moment of silence for the two samurai, and when their deeds were reported back to Japan, it would not end well.

However, more time he felt excited, from the moment the boat entered the Tianjin River, everything he saw along the way made him feel new and inexplicable.

Although he was only a low-ranking samurai who had just come out of the ranks, he had heard a lot of strange stories during his wanderings with his uncle.

For example, the exotic deeds of the chief of Shikura Rokuemon who went to Europe, he once thought that some of the deeds were just the imagination of the people of the time.

It wasn't until he saw on the edge of the Tianjin River in the Ming Kingdom that the kind of house with three huge impellers erected, and the slowly rotating impellers made him feel as if he had walked into a legend, or something in a legend appeared in front of him.

In fact, he didn't know what the mission was, and he preferred to learn how this legendary windmill was built and what it was used for.

With full curiosity, Yoshikawa Kosuke followed the caravan step by step into the heart of the Ming Kingdom - Beijing. He thought he had heard enough rumors about the Ming Kingdom, but when he actually entered the city of Peking, he realized how poor and pale the well-informed storytellers of Edo City were.

What he saw in his eyes could hardly be described in the words of his mind, and the magnificent Osaka Castle, which he had once considered the best city in Japan, destroyed by the Tokugawa family, could not compare to the majesty of the capital of the Ming Kingdom in front of him.

Of course, there are some things about this city that make him feel weird, for example, in Japan, Edo Castle is a very young city, and in the few times he has been there, Edo Castle has influenced him, and the city and its inhabitants are full of energy.

As the capital of the Ming Kingdom, Beijing has a history of more than 200 years, even after deducting the capital experience of the previous dynasty.

It stands to reason that this huge city should be the same as Kyoto, where life is graceful and thousands of years old. Every grass, tree, flower and stone here should remain unchanged as it was more than a hundred years ago, as if the whole city was frozen in time.

Instead of what he saw with his eyes now, the area known as the Outer City, was full of new roads, new houses, and newly planted trees.

Several vehicles of different shapes run on the road, and there is even a huge vehicle running on iron bars.

He once secretly went to ride once, except for the people sitting next to each other in the carriage, whether it was the smooth performance of the vehicle or the comfort of the spacious carriage, it was definitely much more comfortable than the narrow and cramped two-wheeled carriage.

And those civilians of the Ming Kingdom, although they are not very gorgeously dressed, they are very refreshing. Many civilians from well-to-do families also wore incense on their clothes.

What surprised Yoshikawa even more was that the civilians living in the capital seemed to be more confident than the civilians in Tianjin.

These civilians in the capital not only dared to look at the sword-wielding samurai patrolling in official uniforms, but some even argued with these samurai with red faces.

If it were in Japan, such civilians would have been cut down by samurai with swords. But here, the samurai not only did not draw their swords, but sometimes nodded and apologized. This really goes against the worldview that Kosuke Yoshikawa has cultivated since childhood.

In this ancient capital, the vitality exuded by these civilians makes the city look much younger.

They were concentrating on building the roadside roadside; or walk on the road with a newspaper in your head bowed; or young people laughing at each other and going in a certain direction; Or on the railway, leaning against the window wall of the public carriage, closing your eyes for a while.

Kosuke Yoshikawa watched these scenes and always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't say it. It wasn't until after staying in the capital for a few days that he was so fascinated by reading that he didn't even notice that his uncle had walked to his side.

Of course, he was reprimanded by his uncle, but there was one sentence in it that made him suddenly enlightened, "... Shiro, as a samurai, how can you be so comfortable that you don't even have a sense of crisis..."

He couldn't see a sense of crisis in the civilians of the capital of the Ming Kingdom, whether it was Japan or the Ming Dynasty, the civilians of both countries were at the bottom of society. It stands to reason that they should always be vigilant to prevent themselves from running into a noble person and ruining their lives.

The civilians of the Ming Kingdom collided with the nobles, although they would not be hacked to death on the spot, but being beaten and humiliated was definitely inevitable. After all, Japanese etiquette is still learned from China, and in some aspects, the Ming people pay more attention to etiquette and etiquette.

In a society that attaches great importance to the dignity of the upper and lower and the etiquette is normal, the question of why these commoners in the capital dare to live such an unguarded life is quite perplexing for Yoshikawa Kosuke.

But he soon put this kind of question behind him, and when they first entered Peking, no one was allowed to go out without permission under the orders of his uncle, lest people should recognize them, and then the news would be transmitted back to Japan, which would be unfavorable to His Highness Da Nayan.

However, it is clear that the Ming did not regard them as private representatives of a Japanese daimyo but as representatives of ordinary merchants, which delayed the progress of the negotiations.

A few days later, my uncle, who was busy running around, also let go of the control of the entourage in the museum. Not only let them go out of the museum, but also let them inquire about the big and small affairs happening in the capital by the way.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yoshikawa Kosuke naturally traveled around the capital. What impressed him was not the majestic imperial city and the dazzling array of goods in the market. Rather, it is Yenching University, where new knowledge is displayed every day, and the Beijing Library, which is full of knowledge.

Yoshikawa Kosuke never imagined that Kiritan, who was accused by the shogunate of destroying people's hearts and minds, would be able to join forces with Akito to study so many refreshing new knowledge.

He began to linger in Yenching University, the library, and his residence. At this time, Yenching University and the library were extremely tolerant and open, although he was not a Ming man, he could still audit university courses and borrow some general education books in the library.

These days of study have not only made him understand the principle of windmill operation, but also some mechanical principles.

But what he learned was just a drop in the ocean. Yenching University's four faculties of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and nature can come up with many new theories every day, but they can also refute more old conjectures every day.

It was in this constant affirmation and denial that people began to understand the mysteries of the planet they inhabited.

Kosuke Yoshikawa never felt that his brain was so inadequate. He even thought that compared to the monsters at Yenching University, he was like the words that the students of the School of Nature loved to talk about attacking others, and they had not yet matured like apes.

This painful but fulfilling study career made Yoshikawa Kosuke feel that it would be good if he could live like this forever.

With the book in his arms, he shook his head and walked into the courtyard of his lodging. The courtyard is not large, but the environment is very quiet, and there is a clump of green bamboo planted in the front garden, which is very suitable for the Japanese people.

Kosuke Yoshikawa had just bypassed the bamboo bush when he was stopped by his uncle Matsuno Shigemoto. Shigegen Matsuno, who was standing under the porch, looked at his nephew who was walking towards him with a book in his arms, and his brows raised slightly.

"You come in with me, I have something to explain to you, don't go out these days."

Yoshikawa Kosuke's heart suddenly tightened, feeling that he had lost some treasure, he lowered his head and answered, and then asked in a low voice: "But has my uncle completed the task assigned by His Royal Highness Da Nayan?" ”

Matsuno Shigegen turned around and walked up the stairs towards the flower hall, after listening to his nephew's inquiry, he couldn't help but pause at his feet, and then nodded vigorously, and replied in a low voice: "Yes, I have completed the task assigned by His Highness, and I will return to Japan with the merchant ship of the Hamadaya family in the near future..."