A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

"You can indeed call him that, but he is just a humble hand, so he can't call himself that." Sukezaemon said to Heita Ko with a smile.

Hand generation? As Xiaoheita understood this position, he was already the main figure in a store. He was in charge of practical matters with sufficient qualifications and had strong ability to attract customers. In front of him, Sukezaemon, who was only 20 years old, actually took the position of hand. . No wonder he was arranged to be greeted and escorted at the door. He was quite powerful.

According to the situation in the Edo period, children of ordinary families began to prepare for their future livelihood when they were seven or eight years old. The children of farmers must have gone to the fields to do what they can, and the children of craftsmen must have begun to learn skills. Not to mention the children of samurai, most of them read the Analects of Confucius in full when they were seven or eight years old. Those who are ambitious will also learn arithmetic, Chinese, Dutch, archery and so on. In short, I have begun to walk on the path determined by my identity and family.

Naturally, for many children of ordinary townspeople, becoming store users is also a good way out. So seven or eight-year-old children will be sent to merchants' stores. The first one to two years is the observation period. They are called Huo Men, which means handymen. During this period, the owner of the store will observe whether he is open to learning, diligent and practical, and works hard without complaint. If they fail, they will be sent home or stay as servants for the rest of their lives.

Those who pass the test will become a novice monk at the age of ten. This does not mean a monk, but a trainee. At this time, you will be allowed to observe and check in the store. No one will teach you anything, it all depends on your own understanding. During the two to three-year internship period, actual store owners are also observing these novice monks. In the end, these people who have been eliminated in a group are eliminated again, leaving only those who are talented in business and have strong learning ability.

At the age of thirteen or fourteen, the best among the novice monks will be promoted to apprentices, and then they will become full-time employees and will be assigned to learn a certain job. Similar to purchasing and shipping, cashier accounting, greeting and delivery, as well as basic knowledge of literacy and calculation. Someone will teach them not to waste their youth.

At the age of thirteen or fourteen, in modern times, he is just a child. There is no such thing as financial independence or independent life. But in the Edo period or even earlier, there were already many people at this age who were working day and night, earning money to support themselves, and even earning a wife. The shop interns are the best representation of the busy life of ordinary civilians.

Store apprenticeships often last five to ten years or even longer. After a long period of time, if you master some or all of the business skills, you will be promoted to a salesperson. Normal people are almost twenty-seven or even thirty when they reach the age of tedai, but Sukezaemon was promoted to tedai ​​when he was twenty years old. Then the future is really promising, and he is worthy of being one of the five protagonists of "The Legend of Taige".

A nineteen-year-old of his own status is still digging in the mud, and his total income per year is no more than two guanwen. He also has to pay annual tribute and land rent. The poor and poor are not even eligible to die. At the age of twenty, he was just a low-level samurai with a salary of thirty years. He battled wits with Uncle Tsuna for a piece of pickled radish, and even eating rice every day was a luxury.

At the age of 20, Sukezaemon has already served as a store clerk. He has connections and resources, and may even have a small fortune. Presumably, he will be able to become the deputy chief or deputy chief in less than ten years, and he will be able to almost directly control the destiny of a store (which also means that he can control the marketing of certain products in one country or even several countries, causing trouble. If you kill him, I might give you a break). Sure enough, there are mountains outside the mountains, and there are people outside the people.

However, it is still a long time before Sukezaemon will accumulate huge wealth through Nanyang trade, so there is no need to flatter him.

Koheita pretended that he just admired him for taking up the position at a young age, and praised him repeatedly. Sukezaemon was indeed very proud of the position he had achieved through hard work. On the surface, you just smile, but on the inside, you may feel happy when you receive such praise from others.

Koheita explained the purpose of his visit and needed to buy a Nanman carcass. Sukezaemon was surprised that Koheita was well-informed. This kind of thing has just appeared in the eyes of the Japanese through foreign traders and missionaries.

Sukezaemon had also seen Nawu because of its trade relations with Kyushu.

And it is mainly used to defend against long-range attacks. After all, if it is a standard cold-forged Italian Milanese chest plate, then a British yew longbow at close range may not be able to penetrate it. The defensive power of the bow and arrow is almost 100%. Hundreds. The defensive performance of the iron cannon, that is, the matchlock gun, is also very good. It is often seen that the chest plate armor handed down from ancient times has pits on it because it was shot by lead bullets, but the defense of the plate armor was not broken. The Japanese use relatively more bows and arrows, and ordinary armor can also be used for defense. Although iron cannons appear on the battlefield, the scene of hundreds or even thousands of iron cannons firing at each other in the field has not yet appeared. This is also the reason why most warriors do not pursue the Southern Barbarian body equipment. They have no use for the time being.

Mrs. Xiaoping had the advantage of being able to travel forward and knew that Nanman's body equipment was really useful and effective, so she thought about it so much.

"My guest, your figure is slightly lacking, so it may not be suitable for Nanban crotch." Sukezaemon was a little embarrassed and ordered a waiter to get a Milanese chest plate that was obviously Italian style. (You can see the German Gothic plate armor by searching for pictures on the Internet. There are indeed differences in style between the two)

Xiao Pingtai understood after just one glance. What they said was right. These European plate armors were forged for white Europeans who were 1.61 meters tall. He himself was 1.4 meters tall and couldn't wear them at all.

What's going on now? Xiaoping is very desperate.

Sukezaemon also saw Koheita's embarrassment, but how could he let go of any business, "Samurai-sama, are you willing to wait a few more months?"

"Huh?" Xiaoping didn't understand what he meant.

"We can modify this according to your size, but it needs to be sent to Kyushu where there are skilled blacksmiths, so it will take a few months."

When Xiaopingtai heard that he could be saved, he was naturally very happy and agreed wholeheartedly. Sukezaemon immediately ordered someone to measure Heita's body size, then received a deposit of twenty taels of gold from Heita, and promised to help Heita purchase a bag and make skirt armor, shoulder armor and greaves. Of course, these will be paid together later.

Kodaira took advantage of the situation and invited Sukezaemon to come to his dormitory that also served as a bar for a drink in the future, as a thank you and to make acquaintance.

Sukezaemon thought for a while and agreed.