$ Chapter 94 18. Improved Nanman Carcass

"You can call me that, but I am just a humble hand-seller, and I cannot call myself that." Sukezaemon said to Koheita with a smile.

Hand-seller? Koheita knew that this position was already the main force of a store. Those with sufficient experience were in charge of practical affairs, and those with strong ability were good at attracting customers. Sukezaemon in front of him, who was only 20 years old, actually took the position of hand-seller. No wonder he was arranged to greet and see off people at the door. He must be very capable.

According to the situation in the Edo period, children from ordinary families had to start preparing for their future livelihood at the age of seven or eight. Farmers' children must have gone to the fields to do what they could, and craftsmen's children must have started to help learn skills. Not to mention the children of samurai, many of them read "The Analects" at the age of seven or eight, and those who pursued would also learn arithmetic, Chinese, Dutch, archery, etc. In short, they have begun to embark on the path determined by their identity and family.

Naturally, many children of ordinary townspeople would also be a good way out for being shop users. So children aged seven or eight will be sent to merchants' shops. The first one to two years are an observation period. They are called fire men, which means doing odd jobs. During this period, the owner of the shop will observe whether they are humble, diligent, and hardworking. If they fail, they will be sent home or stay as servants for life.

Those who pass the test will become monks at around ten years old. This does not mean monks, but interns. 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 years of internship, the actual store owners are also observing these monks. In the end, those who have been eliminated in one batch will be eliminated for the second time, leaving those who are talented in business and have strong learning ability.

At the age of thirteen or fourteen, the best monks will be promoted to apprentices, which means they become formal employees and will be assigned to learn a certain job. Similar to purchasing and shipping, cashier accounting, welcoming and seeing off, and the basic knowledge of recognizing words and calculations. Someone will teach them so that they don't waste their youth.

Thirteen or fourteen years old, in modern times, is just a child, there is no economic independence, independent living conditions. But in the Edo period or even earlier, this age has been working day and night, earning money to support themselves, and even earning money to marry a wife. The apprentices in the store are the best display of the busy life of ordinary civilians.

The years of store apprenticeship often last for five to ten years or even longer. After a long time, after mastering some or all business skills, they will be promoted to hand dai. Normal people are almost twenty-seven or thirty years old to become hand dai, and Sukezaemon was promoted to hand dai at the age of twenty. Then the future is really promising, worthy of being one of the five main characters of "Taikou Risshiden".

At the age of nineteen, I am still digging for food in the mud, and the total income per year will not exceed two kanwen, and I have to deal with annual tribute and land rent. The poor and poor can't even get a place to die. At the age of 20, he was just a low-ranking samurai with an annual salary of 30 kanmon. He had to fight with Uncle Tsunayoshi for a piece of pickled radish, and eating rice every day was a luxury.

At the age of 20, Sukezaemon had already served as a store agent. He had connections and resources, and perhaps even a small fortune. Presumably, he would be able to become a deputy chief or deputy head of a store in less than ten years, and he would almost be able to directly control the fate of a store (which also means that he can control the marketing of certain products in one country or even several countries. If you provoke him, you may be cut off from salt). As expected, there are mountains beyond mountains and people beyond people.

However, it will be a long time before Sukezaemon accumulates huge wealth through Southeast Asian trade in the future, so there is no need to curry favor with him.

Koheita pretended to admire him for being a store agent at such a young age, and praised him repeatedly. Sukezaemon was indeed very proud of the position he had worked hard for. On the surface, he just smiled, but in his heart, he must have been very happy to receive such praise from others.

Kobayata explained his purpose and needed to buy a Nanbando. Sukezaemon was surprised that Kobayata was well-informed. This kind of thing has just appeared in the eyes of the Japanese through foreign merchants and missionaries.

Sukezaemon also saw it because Naya itself had 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 breastplate, then the close-range British yew longbow may not be able to penetrate it. The bow and arrow defense is almost 100%. The defense performance of the iron cannon, that is, the matchlock gun, is also very good. It is often seen that the breastplate armor handed down from generation to generation has pits and bumps, because it was hit by lead bullets but did not break the defense of the plate armor. The use of Japanese bows and arrows is relatively more, and ordinary armor can also defend. Although the iron cannon appeared on the battlefield, the scene of hundreds or even thousands of iron cannons firing at each other in the field has not appeared. This is also the reason why most samurai do not pursue the Nanbando armor. They can't use it for the time being.

Kobayata had the advantage of a time travel, and knew that the Nanbando Armor was really useful and effective, so he was so obsessed with it.

"Your figure is a little short, so the Nanbando Armor may not be suitable for you." Sukezaemon was a little embarrassed, and asked a waiter to bring a Milanese breastplate armor that was obviously Italian style. (You can see the German Gothic plate armor by searching pictures on the Internet. There is indeed a difference 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.