Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

And indeed, Oda Nobunaga was very pleased with the Hosokawa father and son's actions. Truly pleased, without a doubt. Nobunaga even publicly praised the Hosokawa father and son, commending their hard work.

Well, this has nothing to do with us anyway. We'll just thank Nobunaga and ask him about promoting everyone.

"Shichibei, you've become a father too. Do you think it's easy?" Nobunaga started chatting idly with Shichibei.

"Be a father?" Shichibei's main responsibilities were to find a good tutor, ensure their standard of living, and occasionally inquire about their studies.

To be honest, Shichibei never did any particularly meticulous work. For example, deciding on the child's shoe size or waist size. There's nothing wrong with that; it's just a division of labor within the family. In this day and age, the couple raises the child together, and Shichibei's responsibility is simply to ensure they are well-fed and clothed, and that they can also attend school and learn martial arts.

"Being a father is hard. You have to work hard and exhaust yourself. It's hard to watch your children grow up safely and healthily, it's hard to teach them to be upright people, and it's even harder to expect them to carry on the family business and make a name for themselves."

"My lord..." Shichibei paused, unsure how to answer, because there was no issue of succession in Shichibei's family, nor was there any difficulty in choosing a legitimate son.

“There aren’t many people who can keep up with me.” Nobunaga wasn’t dissatisfied with Shichibei’s inability to answer. Instead, he walked over and patted Shichibei on the shoulder.

516. The Zhixing family of Nongzhou is divided into five branches.

You didn't consult with me, how am I supposed to keep up?

Shichibei wasn't a sycophant who followed Oda Nobunaga's every whim. While he wasn't exactly a shareholder in the unification of Japan, he was a core professional who played a vital role within the government. He earned his living through his skills, and his loyalty to Nobunaga stemmed from a sense of duty and service to the emperor. Expecting him to stand there all day trying to guess Nobunaga's every thought? He might as well find a compliant eunuch.

Of course, Shichibei could also sense a hint of genuine emotion. It's probably true that old people are sentimental; just the other day, Sakuma Nobumori said that Nobunaga was an old man, and Nobunaga didn't seem to care.

After Nobunaga turned and left, having already patted him on the shoulder, Shichibei still hadn't gotten the answers he wanted to ask why everyone had been suddenly promoted in rank, and why the Oda clan had been completely incorporated into the court official system.

Well, it seems Nobunaga doesn't want to explain.

However, Shichibei gleaned a hint from Nobunaga's words: Nobunaga probably felt that none of his sons and nephews were particularly capable enough to maintain the family's power as a second generation. Therefore, in addition to choosing an heir apparent, he also arranged a fallback plan for the Oda clan.

If the Oda clan were to successfully unify the country and maintain...

If they held out until the second or third generation, then everything else would be forgotten, and they would seize power. If the Oda clan's rule was not peaceful afterward and they failed to achieve two hundred years of peace, then at least they could still integrate into the existing aristocratic system of Japan and live a comfortable life.

Moreover, judging from Nobunaga's demeanor, his confidence in completely suppressing the entire country and achieving long-term peace was not as strong as his confidence in reforming the Japanese aristocratic system.

Japanese nobles were indeed gradually taking on the shape of Nobunaga, especially since Nobunaga had already set a precedent by having a great prime minister in his ancestry, which was paving the way for this.

Given Nobunaga's current prestige, there would be virtually no resistance to him becoming Grand Chancellor. Even Prince Naruhito of the Crown Prince's side agrees to Nobunaga's appointment as Grand Chancellor.

Historically, Nobunaga first publicly went through the motions of relinquishing all three positions: Kanpaku (regent), Dajō-daijin (minister of state), and Seii Taishogun (shogun). He was about to reach the point of assuming the position of Taishoku (minister of state) when the Honnoji Incident suddenly broke out.

So what Nobunaga actually planned to do became a historical mystery, and later generations can only speculate based on various clues.

If he can integrate this well, it won't be a bad thing, at least for Shichibei. After all, Shichibei is from a humble background, and he's 100% capable of...

People without noble ancestors can now appear openly among the court nobles. Not only have they risen to the top, but according to Nobunaga's plan, their descendants will be superior to each other for generations.

These so-called nobles in Japan have been living a life of luxury for over a thousand years; they're practically Brahmins, passing down their good fortune generation after generation. Nobunaga's continued support of them was undoubtedly a calculated move to make good use of them.

Is it good or bad?

Muttering to himself as he returned to his temporary lodgings beneath the castle, an envoy from Iga arrived, reporting that the various armies, led by Yoshimasa Tomino, had breached Heiraku-ji Temple (later Iga Ueno Castle). The more than seven hundred monks and over three thousand Iga soldiers who resisted within the temple were all slaughtered, and Iga Pehei was annihilated.

Heiraku-ji Temple was built with funds donated by Taira no Kiyomori, who made a grand vow. In the remote and impoverished Iga region, it not only occupied a prime location on the Ueno Plateau, but also benefited from the surrounding rivers, which fostered a prosperous agricultural area and a small amount of commerce and handicrafts.

As the town in front of the temple developed, the Niki clan, the governors who entered the country during the Muromachi period, wanted to directly transform Heiraku-ji into a governor's office. The two sides engaged in open and covert struggles for over a century, ultimately leading to the downfall of the Niki clan. Heiraku-ji, on the other hand, became the meeting place of the Iga Twelve, effectively becoming the center of national politics.

Now look what happened, they're all dead, and it's said that Taira no Kiyomori's belongings were all burned.

They really won't turn back until they hit a brick wall; now they've run into the iron fist of the Oda clan, and they're all doomed. However, the envoy who came also asked Shichibei about how Iga Province should be divided.

Historically, Nobunaga attempted to send Yoshimi Niki into Iga to establish rule. However, Niki proved ineffective and failed to gain a foothold. Therefore, the Oda clan not only lacked any land survey data on Iga, but also had no prior knowledge of the local situation.

Nobunaga's decision to divide 100,000 koku of Iga Province between Watanabe Ryo and Goto Mototsugu was purely arbitrary, without even specifying how the division would be made. The approximate allocation, however, was clear: 50,000 koku each for the north and south of Iga.

It's simple. First, point out the land area. If it's roughly right, one person can accumulate 50,000 koku in two counties. Watanabe Ryōna-Hō and Nabari counties, with his territory in Nabari. Gotō Mototsuji and Yamada counties, with his territory in Iga-Ueno Castle.

One controlled Ise Road, and the other controlled Yamato Road, thus dividing the territory perfectly.

There's no need to ask about the exact amount. It's impolite to ask so many questions; look at Empress Tango next door. They managed to find 123,000 koku from that rotten land.

Only after killing the two hundred families, including Dan-go and Isshiki Yoshisada, was the situation barely stabilized.

He had a good time killing people, but now he was going to battle. He wanted to see how Hosokawa Fujitaka would manage to gather more than six thousand men who met the requirements for military service.

To put it bluntly, the soldiers were low- to mid-level officers. In a country like Tango where the separation of soldiers and farmers had not yet been completed, killing so many soldiers would leave them disorganized, even if there were still five or six thousand able-bodied men left.

Let's see how strong Hosokawa's fighting ability is after Nobunaga requests to go on an expedition.

Now that Iga has wreaked havoc, they still need to explain to Nobunaga that if they go to war within two years, Watanabe Ryo and Goto Mototsugu can each only send 2,000 men. Only after two years will it become 3,000 men each.

The military service records should be clearly written down; those who have rendered meritorious service should not be excessively criticized.

After receiving a clear reply from Shichibei, the messenger returned to Iga with the letter. The troops originally led by Nagayori belonged to Shichibei and had been temporarily lent to Watanabe Ryo and Goto Mototsugu. Now that Iga had been pacified, they were to be returned.

As for the remaining task of suppressing and pacifying the territories, Watanabe Ryo and Goto Mototsugu, those two ambitious young men, should be able to handle it well. Oh, and for one...

To ensure fairness, Shichibei also gave Watanabe two hundred fully armed foot soldiers, even paying them his entire year's salary before sending them off.

As for Kawamura Ryobei, he definitely has to treat everyone equally.

You're saying Goto Mototsugu has another daughter? Shichibei has so many daughters, more than a dozen. Watanabe isn't even in a hurry, so why are you?

After achieving further merits, wouldn't it be great if a man could marry one of Oda Nobunaga's daughters? Nobunaga has several daughters who are still unmarried or unengaged, so everyone will have plenty of opportunities.

Marrying the Kawamura family's daughter now is tantamount to giving up Nobunaga's daughter. Look at Takayama Shigetomo next door; his father was just a local tyrant with a few thousand koku of rice, but he became a daimyo with 268,000 koku of rice. All because he married Oda Nobunaga's daughter.

If you're going to become a "king of exams" and a "hard-working person," you need to have the mindset of a "king of exams and a hard-working person."

"My lord, Sakuma, no, Muneyu has been delivered to Narumi." After the envoy from Iga left, Todo Takatora came in again.

"Is there some kind of difficulty?" Shichibei had to ask Tōdō Takatora, who was followed by Kōyama Shigeharu and Tsuchida Chikakiyo.

After Sakuma Nobumori became a monk, his Buddhist name was Sōyū. Just like Sen Sōyū, Tsuda Sōki, and Takeno Sōgata, haha, they all belong to the "Sō" generation. However, Sakuma Nobumori's becoming a monk was merely a title. Anyway, he...

Now that you've been pardoned, don't go around complaining to Nobunaga anymore. You can stay home, have children, or socialize everywhere.

Now that he no longer holds military power, he can indulge in eating, drinking, gambling, and whoring as he pleases, and the bigger the gamble, the more at ease he feels.

“Sōsuke has already made a list.” Kōyama Shigeharu took out a letter from Sakuma Nobumori.

Narumi Castle no longer exists, so Sakuma Nobumori is now truly living in a temple, but surely a large mansion is still necessary. Even if you were on the next continent with 10,000 koku of land, you'd still need to build a large house in the village.

In addition, those who served him also needed to build several samurai houses around him. Nobumori himself didn't have any money, and this year's annual tribute was still a long way off. So Nobumori wasn't embarrassed at all and asked Shichibei to send someone to build houses for him, with all the money put on an account.

"He wasn't being polite at all." Shichibei took the heart and laughed.

"With a focused mind, everything is carefree." Sangshan Chongqing smiled as well.

To say that Sakuma Nobumori has completely abandoned all distractions would be a joke. But with such dramatic ups and downs in life, he should indeed be more willing to let go.

and many more!

Nobunaga's rise and fall must have been even greater than Sakuma Nobumori's, except...

Aside from killing the entire family of a traitor, something he had done before, Nobunaga has done almost nothing significant so far.

If we disregard the faction of Oda Nobunaga being entirely absorbed into the court noble system, then he essentially accomplished nothing. Surely he couldn't have simply given up? The entire country wasn't even unified yet, and he just gave up already?

Nobunaga might be planning something big, so Shichibei secretly noted it down.

"By the way, when I returned from Ogaki, I saw that Sakuma Jinkuro was going to his new post. The Nobi people were gathered inside and outside the castle. It would be difficult to settle down a governor with a salary of over 60,000 koku." Kuwayama Shigeharu mentioned what he had seen.

"So there are quite a few Nobi Rogues then?" Shichibei had no trouble understanding this.

Oda Nobutada's ragtag army, assembled over the past few years, numbered around 20,000 men, excluding the 6,000 cavalrymen from the Sakuma retainers. Of these, 2,000 to 3,000 died fighting alongside Kawajiri Hidetaka, Inaba Ittetsu, and others, while another 2,000 to 3,000 died fighting alongside Gamo Tomohide. Nearly 2,000 also died fighting alongside Nobutada himself.

This calculation shows that seven or eight thousand men were lost. The entire army's framework collapsed, making it difficult to reorganize in a short time.

Furthermore, since most of the mid-level officers, namely the loyal followers of Shinchō, followed...

After Nobunaga's death at Nijō Palace, those 20,000 to 30,000 men were impossible to muster. Nobunaga's direct troops in Azuchi, however, had by now largely been regrouped and had recovered to a force of over 10,000 cavalry.

The rest either died in battle or fled; once they were gone, they were gone.

Having lost the loyalty of their monarch and lacking a mid-level officer to lead and organize, the remnants of Nobi's forces were now in complete chaos. Hearing that the new generation of the three leaders of Nishi-Mino had been appointed, they naturally rushed to serve in the government.

"I wonder if the Right Prefect will step in to take them in?" Since they were all from the same hometown and it was a serious matter, Sangshan Chongqing asked.

"I don't know for now." Shichibei did not ask Nobunaga about the handling of the one million koku of Noo.

However, the speculation about this one million koku was something that everyone from top to bottom was asking about. The other day, Ito Sojuro came to Azuchi from Tsushima to visit Shichibei and said that it had already spread in Tsushima that Nobunaga was going to grant Owari to Kita-tomi Nobukatsu.

Right now, Shigeharu Kuwayama is also using the handling of Noo no Roshi as a pretext for his actions. Whoever takes over Noo no Roshi will need cannon fodder to fight and carry guns.

"That's a real pity." While Kuwayama Shigeharu wasn't particularly skilled, he was quite adept at analyzing tone and manner of conversation.

Touch and go.

"Gifu and Kiyosu are both ruins." Shichibei was simply stating a piece of news that was already somewhat public.

"What!" Not only was Kuwayama Shigeharu surprised, but even Toudou Takatora, who had only led the people in, was astonished.

Demolishing and abandoning the main castles of Owari and Mino would mean they weren't planning to establish large domains in those two provinces. What kind of castles do feudal lords with 10,000 or 20,000 koku of rice have? They just have landowner manors.

This is why, once Akechi Mitsuhide and Azai Nagamasa launched their rebellion, all the small lords in the Kinai region with only 10,000 to 20,000 koku of rice collapsed; they had no chance of defending their cities.

"That's enough for now. Torao, pick two decent men to go to Narumi and build a residence for Sosuke." Shichibei stopped talking about the matter and brought it to a halt.

"My lord, the Wakayama-dono of Kishu has quelled the rebellion of the Nemoto clan and has just sent an envoy to report the victory." Just as he was writing a document for Todo Takatora, Saegusa Morinao brought this news.

The three or four thousand men of the Nemoto clan, having been lured into rebellion by Akechi Mitsuhide, were now being suppressed by Oda Nobunaga, which was to be expected. They had to relinquish even their remaining temple territories and lose their privilege of not being imprisoned. Now they were truly just a roadside outpost, even with 21,000 men remaining.

Even Mount Koya is not as good as this stone.

With Negoro-ji Temple suppressed, the previously simmering unrest at Mount Koya will surely be forced to lie low. After all, the chief rebel who caused such a ruckus outside is practically hanging on Nijo Street in Kyoto right now; how could they dare to continue causing trouble?

With Kishu calmed down, the 500,000 koku of land in Kishu could be definitively determined through land surveys. The largest was Oda Nobuharu with 100,000 koku, followed by Toyama Jiroshiro with 60,000 koku, and then local lords like Tsuchibashi Morishige and Yasuda Munechō.

This place is not far from the Kinai region, and there is a history of the Saiga clan repeatedly coming to the aid of Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple. Nobunaga would definitely not grant it a large territory; it would most likely be divided into a large number of small domains.

"That's great." The 60,000 koku of rice that Jiroshiro Toyama owns is still under the management of Shichibei, so how could it be bad?

"There's another matter, which has only just come out of the city," Saegusa Morinaka said, composing himself.

"How is it?" What major event could have happened? The Kinai region has been completely pacified now. The Iga pacification army, formerly under Nagayori, will probably return to Azuchi and disband in the next day or two.

"Duke Wakayama has been commended for his past and present achievements, and has been recommended by the Right Minister for promotion to Junior Fifth Rank."

He was appointed Left Guard Assistant, and later granted a fief of 230,000 koku of grain.

Wow!

The three leaders of the Western Mino clan received 200,000 koku, Oda Nobuharu received 230,000 koku in the Central Mino clan, and the Mori clan received 70,000 koku in the Eastern Mino and Iwamura clans. Mino was completely wiped out.

517. Prefect of four kingdoms and two prefectures

That makes sense. Oda Nobuharu wasn't just a member of the Oda clan; he served Nobunaga faithfully for two or three decades. He was the main attacker on the right flank against Akechi Mitsuhide at Akutagawa-yama and Takatsuki, contributing significantly to the defeat of Mitsuhide.