Pawn Crossing the River

It is said that ninjas are divided into three levels, namely genin, chunin, and jounin. These ninjas who intercept and kill should be only genin. They are good at hiding their bodies and using various props, such as disguise, poisoning, shuriken, fire gun, etc. wait.

When Qi Xuansu entered the dense forest, there were many hidden mines buried in it, which also fell into the category of so-called "tools of ninja".

It is said that the chuunin and jounin who are above the genin are good at ninjutsu in addition to melee taijutsu, which is somewhat similar to Taojutsu, but essentially belongs to the category of magical powers.

Ninjas are somewhat similar to Sanjin in nature, they are good at everything but proficient in nothing. In terms of close combat, he is not as good as the samurai, and in terms of long-range magic, he is not as good as the Onmyoji. His only strength is the various stealth and hiding methods. He is a natural scout and spy.

Naturally, it is impossible for chuunin and jounin to exist in such a place, just like there is no possibility for gods to appear in Fengtai County. Heavenly beings either live in seclusion in a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters, or they live and enjoy themselves in a place with beautiful flowers and beautiful scenery. After an accident happened, it would take time for the Heavenly Man who was in charge of one side to get the news and rush over. Qi Xuansu and his party took advantage of the time difference to leave the place before the Heavenly Man arrived.

??????????????????After crossing this river, you officially entered the territory of Jiuzhu County. There is a formation house named Sen in Jiuzhu County, which means there is a banner here.

Before the Toyotomi clan, the shogunate held real power, and the flag moto was the cornerstone of the shogunate.

The so-called banner originally meant the guard warriors under the general, which was somewhat similar to the knight class in the West, between the nobles and the common people. Those whose territory was less than 10,000 koku, and those with more than 3,000 kō set up formations and managed them by themselves. Those with less than 3,000 dan were mostly entrusted to the management of acting officials and collected annual tribute. They can serve as court officials and have accompanying ministers. A small number of banners receive special privileges, and they can perform pilgrimage exchanges like daimyo, which is called Jiaoshuhe. Today, Fenglinzhou has more than 4,000 bannermen, including bannermen and imperial family members, known as "80,000 bannermen".

From this point of view, the Jinya is somewhat like a military camp or a garrison. Like the flag, it is also an important cornerstone of the shogunate system.

The general is the highest official position in the military family, and guanbai is the highest official position in the public family. There are two main reasons why Toyotomi chose to become guanbai instead of the general.

The first point is that the shogunate of the shogunate relies on a large and powerful lineage of retainers and relatives to rule. The Toyotomi clan is a commoner and does not have this condition. Without a lineage, it is difficult to establish an effective establishment with the empty title of shogun alone. 's rule. Without a prominent family background, it is impossible to confirm the hereditary leader of the martial arts family based on family background alone. He can only improve his family status through the public family, so he must not completely abandon the public family.

The second point is that it is indeed a good idea to bring the public and military affairs under one's control as Guan Bai, who comes from the Wu family, and as the emperor's first assistant to take charge of the apex of the public and military families. Moreover, the authority of the imperial court was declining day by day. In the name of the emperor's assistant, the Toyotomi clan had the righteous reputation of revitalizing the imperial court and crusading against unsubordinate ministers. From the imperial court's point of view, it was a way to restore authority.

For these two reasons, the Toyotomi family finally chose to become the regent Guanbai, and established the Prime Minister's Office following the prime minister system of the Central Plains, with the intention of realizing the integration of public and military affairs.

However, because he was from the martial arts family, the so-called prime minister's office was essentially similar to the shogunate's shogunate, which also had a large number of banners.

The banner of Jiuzhu County does not belong to the Prime Minister's Office, but to the Matsue Clan of Izumo Kingdom.

When Qi Xuansu and his party arrived not far from the Senzhen House, they saw a village entrenched on a hill, with a wooden structure as the main structure and a masonry structure as a supplement. The wooden piles at the top were used as walls, almost taking the shape of a city. There were billowing smoke that could be seen from a long distance away.

"Is it on fire?" Lu Yuting looked at the village with the pocket telescope she carried.

Tang Yongshui, who was born in Tianji Hall, could roughly tell the difference with his naked eyes. He shook his head and said: "It's not a fire, it's the thick smoke produced by the iron-making furnace."

The other people were startled: "Isn't it a formation house? How come it became an iron-making workshop?"

Qi Xuansu said: "It's not surprising. We rely on mountains to eat mountains, and we rely on water to eat water. In our Central Plains, there are also many squires who sold their ancestral fields to build large workshops. It seems that this flag man knows how to run a business. Instead of farming, he can't eat. It’s better to mine and smelt iron than to have enough food. However, an iron-making workshop of this scale cannot be supported by one banner, nor can it be monopolized by one banner. In the end, he can get 30% of the profits, which is good. "

"Why is it only 30%?" Han Yongfeng asked puzzledly.

Lu Yuting answered on her behalf: "Can you keep all the annual income of Liaodong Province? Are you going to hand over most of it to Yujing?"

Han Yongfeng understood immediately: "70% of them are from the top."

Qi Xuansu said: "It makes sense that if Yujing had no money, it would not be able to support so many flying boats and spiritual officials. It is impossible to delegate financial and personnel power to the local governments. The separatist self-reliance in the late years of the previous dynasty was essentially owned by the local governor." financial and personnel rights.”

"Deputy Hall Master, do you want to bypass this place?" Li Mingshan didn't care about this. He was more concerned about whether the group could get out of danger as soon as possible.

Qi Xuansu pondered for a moment and asked: "Mr. Tang, do you think the fire blunderbuss used by ninjas came from this place?"

Tang Yongshui was not surprised and immediately replied: "To be honest with the deputy hall master, I also have such suspicions, but whether it is specific or not, I need to see it on the spot to confirm."

Qi Xuansu said: "The Taoist sect has used Prime Minister Toyotomi's mansion to rule Fenglin Continent for nearly a hundred years, which is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. After all, it only took a hundred years for the Golden Horde to win the country. What do you think would be the attitude of this bannerman if we came to visit him?"

Li Mingshan did not agree, but he could not directly oppose his boss's opinion, so he could only say tactfully: "It is a pity that because of those Iga ninjas, we were not able to find out the relevant information about the Mori Jinya in advance, otherwise we would have been aware of it. "

Qi Xuansu didn't speak, not to express his dissatisfaction, but to fall into deep thought.

If there were not these wounded people, he would not ask for advice at all, but would choose to find out directly. He would be confident enough to escape unscathed. But with these wounded people, he had to seek advice and consider the possible consequences.

"What about you? What do you think?" Qi Xuansu looked at the others.

"I think it's okay. Whether it's the smelting technology our Taoist school gave to the Fenglinzhou court or the smelting technology passed down from the Western Holy Court, there are still differences in the details. You can tell at a glance." Tang Yongshui was the first to express his support.

Han Yongfeng said: "Old Han's life was saved by the deputy hall master. I, Old Han, will do whatever the deputy hall master says."

Lu Yuting hesitated for a moment and said: "As far as I know, Songjiang Domain is good at business and implements a monopoly system to increase income, including wood wax, ginseng, cotton and iron. By the time of the fifth generation of feudal lord Xuanwei, it was dominated by Tanabe, Sakurai and Itohara is fully responsible for iron production. His position is relatively neutral. According to our Taoist analysis, the Matsue clan is essentially biased towards the royal family. However, after all, Toyotomi Prime Minister's Office has been building power for a long time and has the Taoist sect's support. He is also afraid of the Prime Minister's Office. We will be liquidated in the future, so we have been sitting on the fence. On the surface, we are not very supportive of both parties. We are still in the wait-and-see stage. If we just go to see the leader of the Songjiang clan and there are no fundamental interests involved, then there should be no big problem. "

Han Yongfeng asked: "Friend Lu Dao, since Songjiang Domain is neutral, who sent the ronin, monk soldiers, and ninjas who attacked us earlier?"

Lu Yuting said: "Since they are monk soldiers, they are naturally under the command of the Fenglinzhou Buddhist Sect. In our Central Plains, although the Taoist sect is the largest, there are Buddhist and Confucian sects under the Taoist sect. On Fenglinzhou, in addition to the Shinto Tianmen, the Buddhist sect is also It should not be underestimated, and it is even more important than the Yin and Yang Dao. Therefore, there are Buddhist forces in various places, and they have a transcendent status. The ordinary daimyo dare not interfere with these Buddhist forces. Even many daimyo are Buddhist believers and the last one who dares to use force against Buddhism. The 'Buddha Enemy' is still the head of the Oda clan who is expected to unify Fenglin Continent."

"As for why we had to take the deserted path in the first place, to avoid these seemingly neutral feudal lords, the second priority is to avoid the ubiquitous Shinto Tianmen forces. And Fenglinzhou Buddhist forces, now it seems that our luck is pretty good, but we encountered the Fenglinzhou Buddhist forces and were attacked by monk soldiers and ninjas, but we did not encounter the Shinto Tianmen forces. "

Qian Daren couldn't help but sigh: "It's Buddhism again. It's really lingering. In the Western Regions, we fought with Buddhism. When we get to Fenglinzhou, we still have to fight with Buddhism."

Lu Yuting smiled and said: "Even if you go to Borneo or Posas Island, there are also Buddhist forces there."

"There is not even a single foot of pure land in the world." Qian Daren shook his head.

Qi Xuansu synthesized the opinions of several people and finally said: "This place is very close to Hita Castle. Even if there is support from chuunin or jounin, we can evacuate quickly, so let's go and take a look."

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After confirming their opinion, the group of people headed towards the Jinya, and happened to encounter a convoy of animal-drawn vehicles that were also going to the Jinya. There were about dozens of vehicles, all pulling full of iron ore.

When the person in charge of driving the carriage saw the Taoist group who were dressed completely differently from the people in Fenglinzhou, he didn't have much hostility, but was a little in awe.

As Qi Xuansu said, Dao Sect has indirectly ruled Fenglin Continent for nearly a hundred years and has a solid foundation.

Dao Men is the Supreme Emperor who hides behind Toyotomi Prime Minister's Mansion. He pursues his consistent purpose and does not directly participate in the management of people's livelihood, nor overly interferes in government affairs. Only the business of Fenglinzhou is firmly in the hands of Dao Men, so for the Prime Minister's Mansion There are many dissatisfied people, but not many people who truly hate Taoism. For many people in Fenglinzhou, Daomen is actually the God of Wealth. Many famous people benefited from Daomen's trade and supported Daomen. Many famous people could not get a share of the pie and were jealous of Daomen, so they opposed Daomen. This is also the main reason why the Zunwang Dao broke out but was not complete, all because money and silk moved people's hearts.

Before the outbreak of the Zunwang Dao, the iron-making workshop also had many contacts with Fenglinzhou Daofu and Shibotang. It was only after the Zunwang Dao swept through Fenglin Continent that the iron-making workshop did not have much contact with them. Therefore, these people were no strangers to the people from the Taoist sect who appeared, and they just thought they were here to discuss business.

The leader came forward to greet them. He actually knew some Chinese Mandarin and said flatteringly, "What do you think these mages are doing?"

Li Mingshan immediately introduced: "This is Qi Gaogong."