It is said that ninjas are divided into three levels, namely genin, chunin, and jounin. These ninjas who intercept and kill should be just 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 Taoist magic, but essentially belongs to the category of magical powers.
In essence, ninjas are somewhat similar to Sanjin. They are good at everything but not proficient in anything. In terms of close combat, they are not as good as samurai and others. In terms of long-range spells, they are not as good as onmyoji. Their only advantage is various stealth and hiding methods.
, is a born scout and spy.
Naturally, it is impossible for chuunin and jounin to exist in such a place, just like there is no possibility for heavenly beings to appear in Fengtai County. Heavenly beings either live in seclusion in a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters, or live and enjoy themselves in a place with beautiful flowers and beautiful scenery. After an accident occurs, it is responsible for
It would take time for the heavenly beings on 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 beings arrived.
After crossing this river, we officially entered the territory of Jiuzhu County. In Jiuzhu County, there is a battle house named Sen, which means that 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 flag book originally means the guard warriors under the general, which is somewhat similar to the knight class in the West, between the nobles and the common people. Those whose territory is less than 10,000 shi, and those with more than 3,000 shi will set up a battle house and manage it by themselves. Three thousand
Those below the stone level are mostly entrusted with the management of acting officials and collect annual tributes. They can serve as court officials and have accompanying ministers. A few banners receive special treatment and can perform pilgrimage exchanges like daimyo, which is called "Jiaoshuhe". Today, there are 4,000 banners in Fenglinzhou.
The remaining people, including Banner's accompanying ministers and imperial family members, are known as "Qatari's 80,000 cavalry".
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 based on the empty title of shogun alone.
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 as a member of the Wu family, Guan Bai, as the emperor's first assistant and in charge of both the public and the Wu family, is indeed a general.
It was a good idea to bring Wu Jun under his control. In addition, the authority of the imperial court was declining day by day. In the name of the emperor's assistant, the Toyotomi clan had a great reputation to revitalize the imperial court and fight against the enemy. From the perspective of the imperial court, it was a way to restore authority.
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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 Kuzu County does not belong to the Prime Minister's Office, but to the Matsue Domain 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 tell the difference with his naked eyes. He shook his head and said, "It's not a fire, it's the thick smoke from the iron-making furnace."
The other people were startled: "Isn't it a Jinya? 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 banner man knows how to run a business. Instead of farming, he can't live without food."
It would be better to mine and smelt iron to have a full meal. 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? Do you want to hand over most of it to Yujing?"
Han Yongfeng understood immediately: "70% of it is 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."
of 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 I still need to see it in person to confirm whether it is true or not."
Qi Xuansu said: "The Taoist sect has used Prime Minister Toyotomi's mansion to rule Fenglinzhou 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 conquer 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 well aware of it.
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Qi Xuansu did not 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, and would choose to find out directly. He would be confident enough to escape unscathed. But with these wounded people, he would ask for advice and consider the various possible consequences.
"What about you? What do you think?" Qi Xuansu looked at the others.
"I think it's OK. Whether it's the smelting technology our Taoist sect 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 implemented 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 controlled by Tabe, Sakurai and
Itohara is fully responsible for iron-making. His position is also relatively neutral. According to our Taoist analysis, Matsue Clan is essentially biased towards the royal family. However, after all, Toyotomi Prime Minister's Office has accumulated power for a long time, and with the support of Taoist sect, he is 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, and we are still in the wait-and-see stage. If we just go to meet the banner of 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 that 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 above the Yin and Yang Dao. Therefore, there are Buddhist forces everywhere,
With their aloof status, ordinary daimyo dare not interfere with these Buddhist forces, and many daimyo are even Buddhist believers with Dharma names and ordination names. The last 'Buddhist enemy' who dared to use force against Buddhism was the head of the Oda clan who was expected to unify Fenglinzhou."
"As for why we took the deserted path in the first place, avoiding these seemingly neutral feudal lords was second. The key is to avoid the ubiquitous Shinto Tianmen forces and Fenglinzhou Buddhist forces. Now it seems that our luck is pretty good.
, we only 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 a single foot of pure land in the world." Qian Daren shook his head and said.
Qi Xuansu combined 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."
After confirming their opinion, the group 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 Daomen 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.
Daomen is the emperor who hides behind Prime Minister Toyotomi. He pursues his consistent purpose and does not directly participate in the management of people's livelihood, nor interferes too much in government affairs. Only the business of Fenglinzhou is firmly in the hands of Daomen, so for the Prime Minister's Palace
There are many dissatisfied people, but not many people who really hate Daomen. For many people in Fenglinzhou, Daomen is actually the God of Wealth. Many famous people benefit from Daomen's trade and support Daomen. Many big names cannot get a share of the pie.
If you are jealous of the Taoist sect, you will oppose the Taoist sect. This is also the main reason why the Zunwang fights against the Taoist sect but it is not complete. It is all because money and silk attract 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 very concerned about the appearance.
He was no stranger to the Taoist sect, and he just thought he was here to discuss business.
The leader came forward to welcome 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."