Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

"Didn't you build the post station very well?" Nobunaga probably hadn't quite grasped the situation yet. He had previously entrusted Shichibei with building the post station and stables, and he had done a good job.

"The main reason is that I don't have many subordinates." Shichibei didn't pretend and spoke the truth.

You see, Shichibei just told the truth, and Nobunaga didn't blame him. As long as you don't deceive or mislead Nobunaga, he's unlikely to be angry.

"Ah..." Nobunaga understood now.

Last time, when Niwa Nagahide was assigned to repair the main road from Komakiyama to Inuyama, and from Inuyama to Nakano, Niwa Nagahide was able to take on the task very easily.

The farmers who were conscripted for the common service were dispatched by the officials, while the project management was handled by samurai families within the Niwa clan. There's a district in Owari Province called Niwa District; it's easy to understand what kind of power the Niwa clan wields.

Even Nobunaga didn't know exactly how much territory their family owned, because the Niwa family had originally been retainers of the Shiba clan who had switched allegiance to the Oda clan. They were already one of the wealthiest families in Owari, and their joining the Oda clan was more like a small shareholder taking on a stake.

According to Shichibei's estimate, Niwa Nagahide should currently have a strength of 30,000 to 50,000 koku. He also has at least forty or fifty retainers, and two or three hundred foot soldiers and their associates.

With such a well-established management team, Niwa Nagahide was certainly capable of taking on the contract as the general contractor.

"My lord is wise." Alright, now that you understand, Shichibei will kowtow and leave.

For the road repair issue, you should contact Niwa Nagahide. Sakuma Nobumori is also a good option; they are both minor shareholders in the Oda Group and have their own teams.

"Why don't you try to summon your family and recruit retainers?" For some reason, Nobunaga's mind seems a bit off today.

"Your Highness, the Kawamura family only has 260 kan," Shichibei said, scratching his head as he reminded Nobunaga.

"Ah, this..." Nobunaga clapped his hands.

Yes, the retainers he just discussed the attack on Mino were all senior retainers with considerable influence. Sakuma Nobumori and Shibata Katsuie were both quite capable. Although they couldn't compare to the hereditary retainers of the old daimyo families, they were already a prominent and powerful clan within the Oda clan.

So Nobunaga also included Shichibei, who kowtowed before him, as a high-ranking retainer of the rank of Samurai-daisho or above. The Samurai-daisho, like the newly appointed Kinoshita Hideyoshi, was given 500 kan of credit. This amount was neither a lot nor a little, enough to support about twenty retainers.

In a sense, Shichibei is probably the samurai with the lowest salary who is currently serving Nobunaga directly.

“You come from a merchant family, so you know how to conduct yourself,” Nobunaga muttered.

Shichibei wasn't a samurai; he didn't wield swords and spears to fight people. How could he command respect and be granted the authority to govern Shichibei if he couldn't actually kill someone? It was like when Nobunaga gave Shichibei money during the construction of Sunomata Castle; no one objected. This was because Shichibei was from the core of Owari Province, and secondly, it was money he received, so there was no resistance.

If we add "Zeng Zhixing" to Shichibei's name, we'll see if anyone objects.

After all, Shichibei only funded the construction of Sunomata Castle, so rewarding him with enough money would suffice. But what would the other samurai, who risked their lives to fight, think if they were given territory as well?

"Your subject takes his leave," Shichibei interrupted Nobunaga's thoughts.

Don't even think about giving me a raise; it's unnecessary. I'm a businessman; I don't need all that knowledge. Just give me the exclusive rights, and of course, if Nobunaga really gets things going someday, giving Shichibei the tax-collecting rights would be nice too.

Whether it's agricultural tax or commercial tax, it's a windfall. With Oda Nobunaga's sword at his back, collecting taxes is a piece of cake. Nobunaga sets a quota, and anything over the top goes to Shichibei. It's hard not to get incredibly rich.

Although tax collectors are people whose hands are stained with blood, why should I feel guilty about oppressing others? Besides, if I don't oppress, someone else will. So I might as well oppress myself; at least we Shichibei still have a shred of humanity, we still look like human beings.

Look at those tax farmers in neighboring Egypt. As the most important grain-producing region in the entire Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt's population has been steadily declining year after year, and we really have to "thank" these tax farmers for their tireless tax farming.

When it comes to the skill of tax farming, the tax farmers of Egypt are definitely among the best of their time, worthy of being ranked in the top three.

Our Shichibei certainly wouldn't be scraping so hard. "Farmers are like sesame seeds; the more you squeeze them, the more oil they produce," is a saying the Japanese themselves used. Shichibei was confident, thinking he could do better than them.

Seeing that Shichibei had misunderstood his intentions and was about to kowtow and leave, Nobunaga immediately tapped the tatami mat beneath him with his folding fan, signaling Shichibei not to kowtow and to look up and listen to him. Hearing the tap, Shichibei naturally stopped and looked at Oda Nobunaga.

"How about this, you take on the role of the governor of Haidong County?" Nobunaga wasn't asking a question; his tone was more like issuing a command.

59. Distributed to twenty strong riders

Haidong County Dai?

Shichibei looked up sharply at Nobunaga, finding the appointment far too extraordinary. After all, Shichibei had never even held a regular post as a magistrate or had enough retainers to bolster the entire district for tax collection; there was no way he could be appointed as the acting governor of a district.

They were immediately silenced by this appointment. Generally, a prefectural governor should be a high-ranking general, and in times of war, he would have to summon all the local officials, local leaders, and public servants of the prefecture to fight.

In particular, Nobunaga will be gathering his friends and relatives in the next few days, including his uncles, sons-in-law, brothers-in-law, and maternal uncles, to beat up his good nephew. If Shichibei is appointed as the magistrate of Kaito District, he will inevitably have to lead the troops.

How could a novice like me lead the troops of an entire county into battle?

Kaito County is not large, but it has Tsushima Town as its gateway, so its mobilization capacity is actually quite high. With full mobilization, more than a thousand people can be easily mobilized.

Imagine Shichibei, such a novice, commanding over a thousand people—it's unimaginable; it would be an absolute catastrophe.

"You just focus on 'protecting the people,' Sakai Ukon will handle the deployment of troops," Nobunaga replied.

The duties of the so-called Kaito County Governor were divided into two: civil affairs were handled by Shichibei, while military affairs were handled by Sakai Masanao.

Sakai Masahiro was a wealthy landowner born in Owari Province. His powerful relatives were the Sakai clan, the chief retainers of the Kiyosu Oda family. Sakai Masahiro's family held considerable influence in Owari and had been allied with Nobunaga for some time, with many of his relatives serving under Nobunaga. For example, Nobunaga's magistrate, Sakai Toshisada, was a distant relative.

This man was quite brave in battle; during the Battle of Anegawa, Sakai Masahiro was the vanguard of Oda's army. Although he was eventually scattered by Isono Kazumasa, Shibata Katsuie and Kinoshita Hideyoshi were also scattered by kicks.

Going back to the term "protection," it's a rather outdated term that will soon be abandoned by the times, but since the Muromachi Shogunate is still alive, it's still in use.

What does this mean? Japan also had the Northern and Southern Courts, where people fought each other. The governors and their deputies in each region were essentially fighting for their own lords, and they were constantly at war. In order to wage war, they needed to raise funds for military operations.

At that time, the power of the emperor, temples and shrines, and court nobles in the provinces had greatly declined, and the governors-general were often the leaders of the country. As a result, the governors-general forcibly demanded that the emperor, temples and shrines, and court nobles implement a policy of "half-settlement" on their estates in the provinces.

In other words, half of the income from these manors is given to the guardians or their agents, and then the guardians take this money to fight wars.

Once the Northern and Southern Courts ended and the two sides were unified, the Muromachi Shogunate nominally controlled the entire country. Logically, this temporary taxation should have been abolished.

But as everyone knows, once money is in your pocket, you can forget about giving it back.

So this money was given a new name: "Guardianship Fund." Ostensibly, it was to protect the income of these manors by dispatching troops, and, when necessary, assist the manor officials in suppressing local rebellions.

Gradually, the system evolved into the daimyo directly sending people to manage these estates, only handing over a portion of the estate's income to the emperor, temples, shrines, and court nobles.

Well, within a few decades, even the Ashikaga Shogun's estates were brought under the jurisdiction of the Shugo (military governor). The Ashikaga Shogun's power throughout Japan was quickly usurped by the local Shugo and Shugo-dai (deputy governors).

Everyone knows the Hosokawa family, right? They were the most active in seizing the Ashikaga shogun's estates, directly "inviting" the shoguns' estates in several provinces within the Kinai region to serve as their "protectors." Then, they would symbolically give the shogun a small amount of money each year as income from the estates.

How much? One thousand strings of cash.

You read that right. The Hosokawa family paid the shogun 1,000 kan a year for their estates in four or five provinces within the Kinai region, and the Ashikaga shoguns had to accept the money with a smile. Otherwise, they would have had to kneel down and beg Hosokawa to give them the money.

By the way, in history, when Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, or Tokugawa Ieyasu returned manors and royal residences to the Emperor, court nobles, and the shogunate, it meant that they were paying the "protection fee" again.

This has absolutely nothing to do with returning the manor land to the imperial court or the shogunate. These shrewd people would never allow the old forces to directly control the land again, or the military force indirectly generated by the land.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Nobunaga gave the imperial court a large estate worth several thousand kan. In reality, he only gave the imperial court three to five hundred kan every year as a token gesture.

Who told the imperial court and the shogunate to be reduced to begging on their knees right now?

Nobunaga has now appointed Shichibei as the deputy governor of Kaito County, granting him administrative, judicial, and military authority over the county. Military authority has been stripped away and given to Masanao Sakai, leaving Shichibei solely to handle administrative and judicial matters. Judicial matters involve adjudicating local territorial disputes, inheritance disputes, etc., and Japan has a first and second instance system for these matters.

If Shichibei was dissatisfied with the first trial, the common people would go to Oda Nobunaga for a second trial. Once, when Takeda Katsuyori was bathing in a hot spring, farmers came to his door demanding a judgment. Takeda Katsuyori had no choice but to accept their complaint naked and adjudicate for them.

Therefore, judicial rulings are not a big deal, and there are generally very few judicial cases that require adjudication; minor matters are usually resolved locally within the village. However, disputes involving territory almost always escalate to Nobunaga's desk, and Shichibei's decision doesn't have the final say.

Ultimately, what ended up in Shichibei's hands was basically administration.

Simply put, it's about collecting annual tribute, that's all. We won't mention the annual tribute from Oda Nobunaga's direct territories, as that was already collected. However, the annual tribute from the old manor territories was accounted for separately.

Several years ago, when Nobunaga went to Kyoto, he attempted to obtain the position of Governor of Owari Province. One of the conditions he negotiated with Ashikaga Yoshiteru was the payment for the Governorship of Owari Province. "If you grant me the Governorship, I will renew my payment."

As it turned out, Ashikaga Yoshiteru was quite arrogant, so I didn't.

This sum of money for the protection mission was kept separately, with no clear destination. Not long ago, Nobunaga had the idea of ​​supporting Ashikaga Yoshiaki, so this money would have to be given to Ashikaga Yoshiaki. But now Ashikaga Yoshiaki has sided with Echizen Asakura Yoshikage and has not accepted Nobunaga's advances.

Based on this, Nobunaga decided to transfer the money to Shichibei as funds for Shichibei's official duties as the magistrate of Kaito District.

Then use this official budget to recruit and support samurai. Tell those ronin which village and which estate your stipends come from. Work hard for me, and if you do well, that village will eventually... hahaha...

To motivate people to put in the effort, you need to actually have a pie in the sky.

The only problem is whether this sum of money will be enough to attract ronin to serve Shichibei. Besides, this money essentially belongs to Nobunaga; once Shichibei stops serving as the governor of Kaito District, the money will be gone.

"Don't worry," Nobunaga gestured for Shichibei to come forward and sit down next to his tatami mat. Then, as Shichibei looked somewhat puzzled, Nobunaga readily said something.

I believe in you!

I don't sell my genitals!

Seeing Shichibei suddenly recoil, clearly due to anal tension, Nobunaga raised his folding fan and struck Shichibei on the head. "Looking like you, who would want you?"

Nobunaga's idea was simple: use the funds from Kaito County to place ten or twenty samurai, but these samurai wouldn't be recruited by Shichibei himself; instead, he would directly dispatch them to Shichibei's command as his assistants. Their official employment relationship would remain with Nobunaga, but their workplace would be Shichibei's.

In other words, this is called "sponsorship," where the head office sends people to the branch office to support the branch office's business.

"Hey, you should have said so earlier! If you had said so earlier, it would have been fine." Shichibei's anus finally loosened up, but just now, it had tightened and caught the loincloth, and with the hot weather, it was getting stuck in his crotch. This made Shichibei keep adjusting his buttocks, trying to move the loincloth out.

Seeing Shichibei's "awkward" behavior, Nobunaga thought to himself, "This kid's embarrassed. What's there to be embarrassed about? It's not like I'm really going to use my groin."

"Do it this way!" Nobunaga got up and left, thus conveying the order.

"Hehe." Shichibei was squeezing his crotch when Nobunaga was about to leave, so he had no choice but to immediately bow his head and loudly agree.

He hadn't even realized what was happening yet, he was too busy fastening his loincloth. It wasn't until he reached the entrance of the palace that he slapped his forehead and yelled.

I've become the township head!

The castle at Komakiyama Castle was certainly not a honeycomb briquette, nor was it like a tattered sack where any gossip could spread like wildfire. However, by the time Shichibei returned to Kawamura-ya, located below Komakiyama Castle, news had already spread that Shichibei had been appointed as the governor of Kaito District.

"Gyūdai, that's a high-ranking position that only a general can hold. How did Shichibei manage to become one?" This was the question on everyone's mind, including the senior retainers of the Oda clan.

By the afternoon, once the details were clear, Sakuma Nobumori sent someone to invite Shichibei to dinner. "Your chieftain is inviting you to dinner, are you going to eat?"

Still not fully recovered, Shichibei had no choice but to rush to the Sakuma residence for the banquet. Although it was called a banquet, a typical samurai meal these days consisted of only two dishes and a soup. Because Shichibei was invited, it became three dishes and a soup.

Sakuma Nobumori, who was waiting for Shichibei with a sake cup in hand, thought of something: Shichibei's fiancée was now the adopted daughter of Oda Nobuhisa, Nobunaga's nephew. Once the marriage was completed, Shichibei would become Nobunaga's grandson-in-law.

The relationship is quite distant, but the official status is real.

If this were just a single, isolated incident, it wouldn't prove anything. After all, the Oda clan has a very strong gene for prolific offspring; Oda Nobuhide had over twenty children and actively sought marriage alliances around the world. Shichibei hasn't even managed to have a proper daughter yet, he's far from it. Right now, he's not even the daughter of one of Nobunaga's cousins.

But first, he became Nobunaga's grandson, and then Nobunaga took care of him, giving him an additional twenty cavalrymen. It felt quite different.

When Kinoshita Hideyoshi was promoted to the position of governor of Sunomata Castle, he received the support of two powerful local forces, the Hachisuka Party and the Tsubouchi Party. This was a matter of course and a normal way of managing newly conquered territories.

Hachisuka Koroku and Maeno Nagayasu became Hideyoshi's allies, guarding Sunomata Castle with him. This strengthened the two factions' subordination to the Oda clan and also enhanced the castle's defenses.

But Shichibei is just a merchant, so why should he strengthen the power of his retainers?

By combining these two approaches, Nobunaga intended to cultivate another powerful retainer. In those days, power was determined by the number of samurai one had and the strength of the military one could mobilize.

When Shichibei arrived at the Sakuma residence, Nobumori personally stood at the bottom of the steps to greet him this time; previously, it was always Sakuma Nobueshi who had greeted him. Shichibei was perceptive enough to notice this difference, after all, he had just been appointed as the magistrate of Kaito District that morning.

The official reason given was to thank Kawamura-ya for sending hay again, but what was the reality? In reality, it was nothing much. Sakuma Nobumori merely inquired about what Shichibei and Nobunaga had talked about during the day.

They didn't discuss anything confidential or important. When Shichibei went to deliver the blueprints, Sakuma Nobumori and the others had just finished their meeting and even greeted him. The route plan from Komakiyama Castle to Tsushima-cho wasn't something that needed to be kept secret once Nobunaga began preparing the streets.

Hearing that the content was almost exactly the same as what he knew, Sakuma Nobumori felt that he sometimes really couldn't figure out Nobunaga's ways. There was nothing he could do but finish his meal with Shichibei and think about it carefully.

Today, I'll just focus on maintaining my relationship with Shichibei. I won't say anything else until I understand Nobunaga's intentions.