Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Chapter 136 Moving to the City
The total koku of Tajima Province was 114,000 koku, and the three counties of Kinosaki, Izushi, and Asago occupied by Yoshishige had relatively more arable land, so the koku accounted for a larger proportion, totaling 57,000 koku.

Including the Kawato area of ​​Yabu and Keida counties, the total koku of the Tajima region occupied by Yoshishige was about 66,000 koku, accounting for 57% of the total koku of Tajima.

The total stone height of Yoshishige's current territory (before the land survey is completed) is calculated as follows:
Wakasa had 85,000 koku, Tsuruga had 20,000 koku, Tango had 111,000 koku, and Higashitajima had 66,000 koku, totaling 282,000 koku.

What does this scale of koku mean? If we compare it to the nearby Ritsu provinces of the Takeda clan in Wakasa, Tamba had 264,000 koku, Settsu had 360,000 koku, Harima had 359,000 koku, and even the small Yamashiro province had 225,000 koku!

From this we can see that although Yoshishige's current territory spans across four countries and seems very vast, in fact there are few plains and many mountains in the territory. Therefore, the total stone area is not as high as that of neighboring countries such as Tamba and Harima, and it can even be regarded as a slightly larger mountain city country.

Despite the support of ports such as Tsuruga and Obama, if the value of koku is converted into koku, the actual value of the territory in Yoshishige's hands could reach 380,000 koku, but this was only the size of a medium-sized daimyo. Not only was he inferior to powerful daimyo in Kinki such as Hosokawa and Rokkaku, he was even inferior to the newly-prosperous Miyoshi Toshinaga.

The Takeda Domain is not very high, but its shape is particularly narrow and long. Although the key passes are defended by fortifications, there is still a risk of being cut off in the middle, and the distance between the east and the west is very far, making it difficult to effectively govern or transmit information in time. Taking Eastern Tajima as an example, if it is attacked, the battle report will take more than two days to reach the Takeda clan's mansion at the earliest, which is undoubtedly a huge delay for the war.

After returning to the Takeda clan's residence, Yoshishige thought for a long time about the current issues of territory defense and governance, held many discussions with Yamamoto Shigeyuki, Unmine Ryuoki and others, and listened carefully to the opinions of local powerful families and people. He finally decided to take a number of measures to solve or alleviate the current package of problems.

In order to solve the problem that the road was too narrow from east to west, making it difficult to transmit information in a timely manner, Yoshishige first decided to reorganize and build a number of new roads. For example, he would appropriately widen and reorganize the Tango streets to make them more suitable for vehicles and horses. At the same time, he would build a number of new roads in the relatively plain areas of Higashi-Tajima and Nishi-Tango to facilitate the transmission and control of information in the new territories.

Secondly, it was decided to further dismantle the complicated checkpoints between various places within the territory to reduce travel time.

Finally, it was decided to carry out drastic reforms to the existing post system to improve the efficiency of information transmission while reducing the burden on the people.

The post system has a long history in Japan. Initially, post stations and relay horses were set up on major roads to convey imperial laws and orders. A relatively complete transportation system was established across the country to maintain the stability of Japan's Ritsuryo system. Its framework system has been used by later generations.

However, as a system that completely serves the public and those in power, it also has major drawbacks. For example, all official uses must be applied for, and in principle the use of post horses throughout the country must be reported to the emperor (ruler), resulting in very low official efficiency.

Moreover, although this system serves the rulers, its cost is not borne by the rulers but is apportioned to various states and counties, with local people providing horses and money, while the labor for breeding horses and porters for transporting goods are provided by the villages near the post stations. This is actually a disguised form of labor. While paying land taxes, the people also have to bear various miscellaneous taxes of the post stations and perform labor, which in disguise increases the burden on the people.

Yoshishige also saw the drawbacks of the current system. While continuing the post system that had existed since the Ritsuryo system, he decided to innovate on this basis, thereby improving the originally low transportation efficiency and making it more flexible and people-friendly.

For example, he promulgated a five-article document called "Godenma no Tsuyoshi" to merge the post station system and the post station system into the "post station system", which made the post station (inn) instead of the common people take on the responsibility of post station, providing the convenience of horse transfer, cargo transportation, food and lodging for the travelers. In return, part of the land tax of the post station would be exempted.

For example, he also replanned the villages around the post station to take on the responsibility of providing accommodation services. Compared with the original single-function post stations or post stations, these newly established administrative divisions provide more diversified services and more complete means to deal with emergencies. Therefore, these new areas are called "post station town". The development of "Rakuichi Rakuza" and new routes brought a huge source of customers to the post station town, and the resulting income far exceeded the expenses incurred by the post station system. Therefore, the post station system was quickly implemented in the Takeda territory and grew and developed simultaneously with the prosperity of commerce.

In order to solve the problem of internal defense, Yoshishige decided to select or build a city in each county, and the county representative would train a certain number of standing soldiers to be stationed in the city. In peacetime, they would be responsible for the defense of the city, and in wartime, they would be responsible for supporting the county or neighboring counties. This system could quickly assemble the army to respond to emergencies, and these standing soldiers were also seen as a typical example of "separation of soldiers from farmers."

However, in order to better adapt to the current surrounding environment and war situation, Yoshishige also made a major decision, which was to build a new main castle on the east coast of Maizuru Bay in Tango.

The reason for choosing this area to build a new castle was, on the one hand, that it was roughly equidistant from Higashi-Tajima and Tsuruga, which facilitated the transmission of information. On the other hand, it had a rare plain and excellent port in eastern Tango, which facilitated the formation of a castle town and the prosperity of commerce.

At the same time, it is located in Kasa County, the Tango territory first occupied by the Takeda clan. The surrounding situation is relatively stable, and it is close to Tanabe Castle, so it is possible to monitor the movements of Isshiki Yoshinobu and the Isshiki clan's former retainers in a timely manner.

Yoshishige entrusted the task of building the castle to Yamamoto Shigeyuki, a famous castle builder in Japan. Yoshishige believed that with his careful construction, this new castle would become a new starting point for the Takeda clan to grow and develop.

Yoshishige's series of major domestic moves caused as much shock to the outside world as the capture of East Tajima. In particular, the construction of roads and the new castle were seen by many surrounding forces as a significant move to launch a new war.

In particular, the relocation of the main castle to the shore of Maizuru Bay made Hatano Hidetada of Tamba, which was backed by Tango, feel uneasy and unable to sleep or eat.

He knew that Yoshishige had just completed his journey to Kyoto, mediated the conflict between Hosokawa Harumoto and Miyoshi Toshinaga, and was promoted to the shogunate's companion, making him a favorite of Ashikaga Yoshiharu and Hosokawa Harumoto. However, for the sake of Tamba Province and the interests of the Hatano clan, he still hurried to Kyoto and told Hosokawa Harumoto about his concerns.

At this time, Hosokawa Harumoto also knew that Yoshishige had divided Tajima into three parts with Yamana Suketoyo and Yamana Makotoshi, and surrounded Tamba Province from the north and west. However, he did not care about this, but believed that Yoshishige's westward advance could prevent the Niwa clan's influence from infiltrating the east and become an important protective shield for Kinki.

"Wakasa Takee resisted Asakura in the east and Niwa in the west, and he was an important pillar of the shogunate in the north. Moreover, although his territory spans across Shikoku, the total koku is actually less than 300,000 koku. You don't have to worry about me with me here." Hosokawa Harumoto comforted Hatano Hidetada, "But if you are really worried, I have a plan that can relieve your worries."

Let me explain here: the stone height used in previous articles are all based on the Keicho Go-cho and Shoho Go-cho (2200 to 2300 million stones nationwide). The advantage of these two is that they can know the stone height of each county, but the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, they are far away from the time when the novel takes place, and are not close enough to the reality at that time.

Therefore, after the advice of fellow book lovers and my own thinking, I decided to adopt the stone height during the Taiko land survey (1850 million, the Oshu figure is inaccurate, which will be explained later). As for the stone height of each county, it will be presented by comparative conversion, striving to be relatively accurate. Please be aware of this.

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(End of this chapter)