In the first year of Koji, the climate was much colder than usual, with a heavy snowfall in mid-December, and it did not stop raging at the end of the month, intermittently for half a month, and in January it was the coldest time.

The mountains were silvery white, and the north wind was howling.

More than 100 years of wars have exhausted this ancient land, not to mention the sudden rise of the Date family, and they have no experience in governing large areas of land, and they cannot combine with local heroes in a short period of time, so except for the Bichu, Bizen, Bigo, Misasaka, Nishiharima, and Aki small parts are slightly better, the order in the rest of the area is quite chaotic.

It is the war of more than 100 years that has made the hard-won peace even more cherished, which is one of the reasons why the territory of Date is so quiet. In a certain way, although the rule of the Date family is unsatisfactory in some places, it can be said that it is the desire of the people.

Tsurushou Castle, which was destined to become the main castle of the Date family in the first year of Koji, is now bustling with people from the imperial court, the Kuroda family of Harima Province, the envoys of the Muromachi shogun, and the retainers of the Date family stationed in various places.

In winter, all the qiē came to a standstill, and after the last ship arrived at Kurashiki Port, it also stopped its operations and fell into a standstill. It will be sent again when the spring flowers bloom, and the messenger will obviously not be able to pass for a short time, and it will only make Tsurushou Castle and its surrounding towns more prosperous.

In recent years, the Date family has been fighting, either it fights others, or others fight it, it can be said that it has never stopped. Although it is a reckless force. However, I don't know how many samurai who have been killed by one sword have come to Date to try their luck.

The whole city of Heshou is busy welcoming the first year of Hongji and the New Year. Only the newly promoted Zhengzheng and Shaobi Zhengheng are still leisurely drinking tea. He doesn't like to drink, he doesn't like to write poetry, and he doesn't like Noh even more, and the interests of many famous heroes are completely different, but he loves books and martial arts, and drinking a cup of tea at leisure is the biggest leisure.

The head of the family, Noyama Masato, and the head of the diplomatic department, Miyahara Masashige, sat on either side. Also hold a cup of hot tea and take a sip every now and then.

Today, Masahiro needs to meet with the envoy of the Kuroda family from Harima Country, originally this kind of thing should have been met by Miyahara Masashige first, and then it can be ended by meeting Masahiro according to the situation, so there is no need to be so deliberate. It's just that Masahiro heard that the envoy of the Kuroda family came with Kuroda Kanbei, the eldest son of Kuroda Kanbei, to be honest, he was indeed a little curious about this military division Kanbei who helped Toyotomi Hideyoshi unify the Wa Kingdom in the future, and later had an excellent expression during the Battle of Sekigahara, and wanted to see what he was like when he was a teenager, and it was more of a bit of a bad taste.

In fact, Zhengheng's age is not very large. He has just turned twenty-one this year and was born in 1534. He is as old as Oda Nobunaga, the sixth heavenly demon king in history, three years older than Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and nine years older than Tokugawa Ieyasu, which is considered a generation, but he is too demonic. When Oda Nobunaga was still fighting for power with his younger brother, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was still working as a miscellaneous servant, and Tokugawa Ieyasu had to wait two years for a coming-of-age ceremony, he had become one of the most famous heroes in the world. It can be said that in terms of age, he can be compared to these guys who stir up the storm. But in terms of achievements, especially at his current age, he can be regarded as the predecessor of this gang of guys.

Zheng Heng put down the book in his hand, it was a return gift to the imperial court "Wu Zi", the legend was written by Wu Qi, a military master in the Warring States Period of the Central Plains, collected by the royal family, this one in his hand is still a manuscript, obviously the handwriting of a certain minister.

However, Mashiro did not intend to put it on the shelf, and already planned to print it and use it as a textbook for the Date family's newly established military academy outside Okayama Castle, which was also to prepare the next generation of the Date family.

Zhengheng said with a smile: "It is rumored that a few days ago, the Takeda brother of Inhata Province sent an envoy to deceive Yamana Yutoyo, and Yamana Yutoyo would believe that he was caught off guard by Takeda Takanobu's surprise army, so that the whole army was wiped out, and Yamana Yutoyo fled back to Tajima alone. ”

Dozens of chapters ago, it was written that Yamana Yutoyo wanted to take advantage of Date Masahiro and Niko Haruhisa to attack Misaku, and halfway through the fight with Takeda Takanobu, who had long been independent, at that time Takeda Takanobu also sent an envoy to Tsurushou Castle to ask for help, but at that time the Date family was exhausted, and they could only support something, but they didn't expect the two to fight intermittently for more than half a year and it didn't end.

Noyama Masaki pointed out the door and said, "Even we are so cold here, not to mention the mountain vagina, I am afraid that I thought that Takeda Takanbu finally couldn't stand it, and I didn't expect it to be a fraud." It is reported that more than 500 people were killed in this battle, including three generals, and there were more than 130 people in the outer cities. ”

Zhengheng didn't continue to laugh, and said: "Takeda Takashin's side is also damaged, he has been trapped for more than half a year, and he has been injured by frost countless times, and he is unable to fight again, but taking advantage of this big victory, he can suppress the country of Inaba." ”

Miyahara raised his head and asked, "Do you want to adjust the changes in Inaba and Tajima accordingly?" ”

Zhengheng smiled and took a sip of tea, and said: "No, it's good now, Yamana Yutoyo has been defeated like this, I'm afraid it will stop for a while, Takeda Takashin won't be able to pacify Inaba Country in a few years, which is conducive to our strategy in Harima Country." ”

Miyahara Masashige paused and said, "My lord, when Tsuda Soda was discussing the financial revenue for the coming year with his ministers a few days ago, he once talked to his ministers about one thing, saying that the secret envoy of the Yamana family had intended to buy a large number of iron cannons, but he didn't particularly care about it because of the anxiety of the war, but after this great defeat, he actually came to the door in person. ”

Well, Zhengheng frowned, thought for a moment, put down the teacup, and asked, "Tanba, did they come to Tsuda Soda to find Tsuda Soda in Heshou Castle?" ”

Miyahara nodded again and replied, "It's Yamana Yutoyo's younger brother Yamana Toyo who came. ”

Masahiro didn't expect that Yutoyo Yamana would come to Tsurushou Castle to find Tsuda Soda, but it was not surprising.

The current Yamana Yutoyo can be said to be sick and rushed to the hospital, after the fiasco, the first thing to ensure is his own rule in Tajima, after the loss of a large number of elites, the iron cannon is a kind of long-term training, as long as the training for a period of time can be a powerful weapon, is able to enhance the strength of the hand. It's an open secret that the boss behind Tennoji House is Date Masaki, who doesn't know that the backer behind Tennoji House is Date Masaki, with the rapid rise of Date Masaki, Tennoji House's status in the boundary town is getting higher and higher, even now under the growing tension between the Date family and the Miyoshi family, Tennoji House has no effect.

Zhengheng pondered for a moment and said: "Sue sù Tsuda Zongda, I only sold him three hundred iron cannons, if there is more, if there is less, I will not sell it, and I will double the market price, well, I only need the silver of the wild silver mountain." "Most of the iron cannons sold by Tennoji House were actually produced by the Date family, but due to the large supply of Miyoshi's rivals, especially the Rokkaku family in Omi, and the poor relationship with Miyoshi's family, the shipping was not very smooth, and the iron cannons produced could not be shipped.

Of course, the iron cannon that Zhengheng wants to sell to the Yamana family is not such a qualified product, and even if the qualified product cannot be sold, it can equip its own army.

What he wants to sell to Yamana is the so-called defective product, that is, if it is not cooled after firing three or four rounds, it is very likely to explode, which is also the biggest drawback of the iron cannon produced by the Date family, and there is no way to remove it for a while, but it can only be reduced as much as possible, and the sales of this defective product can be imagined.

300 iron cannons, plus the original price doubled, the current market price is generally between 30 and 50 yuan. Because the quality of the iron cannon in Tennoji House is not very good, the price is the lowest end of thirty kan, because of the low price, it has become the favorite of many small and medium-sized wealthy families, and it is enough to buy five or six rods to scare the countrymen. Thirty times is sixty pieces, 300 strokes cost 18,000 pieces, converted to silver costs 100,000 taels of silver, plus loss costs 120,000 pieces of silver.

In this way, it can be said that the inventory of Yamana was emptied all at once.

When Noyama Yichao heard that his lord actually intended to sell the iron cannon to Yamana Yutoyo, even if it was a defective product, it was also a powerful iron cannon, his face was slightly unsightly, and he asked in a low voice: "Lord, do you really want to sell the iron cannon to him?" Aren't you afraid that he will regain his strength and wave his army again in the country of Inba? ”

Zheng Heng smiled, waved his hand, and said, "Yamana Yutoyo can regain his strength with three hundred iron cannons, you are not joking." Iron cannons need to consume a lot of gunpowder, they don't know how to make earth-made saltpeter, even if they do, they can't fight a decent war without a few years of savings, just look at us, and the quality of earth-nitrate has not been improved. Once the gunpowder is depleted, the iron cannon is an iron rod and is of little use. ”

Noyama was swallowed and nodded. He is very clear about his own soil method saltpeter, knowing that if he really fights a big war, he is afraid that it will be consumed in a war, and the quality of the earth nitrate makes people vomit blood, and the power of the iron cannon has been stuck in this place and cannot be improved.

Zheng Heng suddenly put down the teacup in his hand, a smile appeared on his face, and said, "Look, our guest is here." (To be continued......)