After a few days, Erican was finally able to recover. Hearing that Du Fei was about to go on the road, he came out with a cane to see him off. He held Du Fei's hand and said, "Stay a few more days!"
"Haha, no. It has taken too long for us to go out to buy goods this time. The boss should wait at home." After Du Fei said goodbye to Ericaan, he turned around and asked Qingbei in a low voice: "It's time to buy something."
Have you bought the goods?"
"Master! We just happened to buy all of them at Elikan's store, and the prices he offered were much cheaper than elsewhere! It's really interesting! Now the boss gave us more money to buy goods." Kiyobei
His face was flushed with excitement and he spoke half-finished sentences. Miki beside him seemed to be hesitant to speak, as if he was holding back something he couldn't say.
"Are you saying that you don't want to give the extra money to the boss?" Du Fei glanced at them: "It's not my style to do things like this! It's better to put away this idea! I also advise you not to focus on this kind of thing.
Spend all your energy on serious things!”
The vigorous energy of the two people immediately shrank. At this time, Du Fei handed the two bags of money into their hands: "I give this to you personally~~It comes entirely out of my own pocket~~Thank you for your hard work along the way."
Kiyobei and Miki opened it happily and were stunned: there was actually a full fifty kiwan in it! It was equivalent to ten years of their salary!
Du Fei pulled up the two people who were kneeling on the ground and said, "I have something to deal with. Please help me bring the payment for the gold kapok silk back to the old man in Marugame Town, and then take the Nanban goods we bought."
Take it back to the boss. Remember! Don’t give the boss a penny less! Businessmen can only last long if they are honest! Learn more from Elikan!”
After bidding farewell to the two of them, Du Fei began to carefully calculate the money he had earned along the way: in addition to the one hundred guan he brought with him at the beginning, the payment for 10% of the gold kapok silk was a full 3,000 guan.
In addition to the 400 kan paid to the wild samurai and the rewards given to everyone, the town's advance payment left 1,000 kan.
It feels good to have some money in hand. Du Fei saw that the clothes on Kinoshita Tokichiro's body were already shiny and there were several small holes in his pants, and he looked very embarrassed and distressed.
Du Fei suddenly became serious and took Tokichiro into a Wu clothing store without saying a word.
In less than an hour and three, Tokichiro, who followed Du Fei out, had already changed his appearance, from a little clay monkey-like boy to a well-dressed warrior, even though he was a bit shorter.
"Oh! Your Excellency!" Tokichiro was still a little unbelievable: "Did you really buy this for me? Am I a samurai now?"
"No~ you still lack a sword~" Du Fei said and handed his tachi to Tokichiro: "I don't need this thing, so you should hold it for me~ Oh~~ By the way, I have to buy it for Hehezi
The body is as good as gold~"
He took the submissive Tokichiro and wandered around Kai Town. He visited several houses but couldn't find anything suitable. At this time, Tokichiro said to Du Fei: "Sir, if you want to buy gorgeous flat gold to wear for your woman, you'd better go to Kyoto."
Go! There’s everything there!”
"Okay!" Du Fei patted Tokichiro's bald forehead with his hand: "I will listen to you!"
Kai Machi is not too far away from Kyoto. Du Fei and Tokichiro rode their fast horses for half a day and saw the towering city walls surrounding Kyoto from a distance.
This was the first time Du Fei had seen a city wall built here. In fact, Kyoto was really the only city town in Japan with a surrounding city wall at that time. Because at that time, no daimyo had the financial and material resources to build such a large-scale city defense.
In terms of architecture, they preferred to build small fortresses and castles to protect their families. Only the emperor, who had the most power in the world in the past, had such great prestige and dominance to build such a huge project.
Du Fei and Tokichiro rode through the city gate. Du Fei suddenly discovered that the defense at the city gate was not tight. There were only a few elderly veterans standing there listlessly, as if they were about to fall asleep. To them
The two men holding weapons passed by without even looking at each other. There were no archers or fire commanders patrolling the city wall, but the capital city was so poorly guarded. Why? He couldn't figure it out! So he asked
Tokichiro next to him.
It turns out that Kyoto is the seat of the emperor, and it is also the only place under the direct jurisdiction of the emperor who has long been a puppet. But even in this only place under direct jurisdiction, the emperor does not have the right to levy taxes from merchants, and it is only a formal rule. The merchants will
Pay taxes to the actual rulers, the Ashikaga family.
Ever since the Fujiwara clan ousted him from real power hundreds of years ago, the emperor has been excluded from the real power class and has gradually become a symbol and symbol. Without real power, although he has been free, problems have arisen. In the powerful world
During the period when the shogunate was able to control the world's situation, the emperor and his ministers could still receive generous donations. But in today's troubled times, many daimyo themselves are precarious. Even the Ashikaga family of the former shogunate was struggling to survive. What would happen?
Do you have time to take care of him? So the emperor's life is not easy now. Whenever he hears that a powerful daimyo has an heir, he will send his ministers to take the initiative to give him an official position. If the official position given satisfies the daimyo, they will
Paying some money is money to buy an official position. To be honest, such an official position has no practical effect at all except slightly improving one's prestige, but the daimyo all have a kind of comparison mentality of "I have to have what others have".
So there is still a stable market. But there are only a few powerful daimyo. Although their harems are large and they are more efficient in giving birth to children, after all, there are only so many official positions, and they will be gone if they are sold back and forth, so the emperor is superficially prosperous.
, in fact, it is not as carefree as some minor celebrities. Some ministers in the court have other professions, some sell paintings, some sell calligraphy, and some even poor people sell their sons and daughters because they can't get rid of the blame. It can be said that
The worst official in the world.
"Because of this, the guards in Kyoto are so lax~because there is no money to support too many soldiers~" Tokichiro seemed a little embarrassed when he said this: "However, no one will attack Kyoto, no matter how greedy the daimyo are
They didn't dare to attack Kyoto, but the bandits often took advantage of Kyoto's lack of defense and took advantage of it. The emperor's pitiful guards couldn't resist it. As the shogun, the Ashikaga family had the obligation to assist in defense.
Nowadays, we are both internally and externally trapped and have no time to take care of ourselves, but we can still manage to drive away the thieves who are making trouble in the city. Therefore, Kyoto today has become a paradise for businessmen, thieves, and vagabonds. Sir, we must be careful with our wallets when we go in!"