Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

They traded in Hirado. Some also traded in places like Ōmura and Karatsu, and it is said that some even traded in Satsuma-bozu.

Nobunaga's intention lay here—Nagasaki.

In the eighth year of Tensho (1552), two years ago, Omura Sumitada, perhaps out of faith or to leverage the power of Christianity, surrendered Nagasaki to the church.

At this time, Ōmura Sumitada had fallen to a minor noble family with a few thousand koku of land. After the Kyushu Nōbirō Daissō, two-thirds to four-fifths of his territory was taken from these surrendered noble families.

The Tensho Boys' Mission had already been dispatched to Rome. In Nagasaki, they not only built a well-maintained port, but also established a Christian fortress and church.

Although Nobunaga held a friendly and exploitative attitude towards Christianity, he was still wary of the fact that the Christian church owned castles in Japan.

To facilitate future trade with the southern barbarians and negotiations with Christian forces, primarily those from Spain and Portugal, the Hizen Hiki district, including Nagasaki, was granted to Shichibei.

Nobunaga is currently busy with Prince Naruhito's succession to the throne and is receiving the Emperor during his visit to Azuchi with Nobukatsu. He will resume this work once he has finished dealing with matters in the Kinai region.

There will definitely be new orders coming.

Tsk, Nagasaki already has a Christian missionary castle and armed forces, this is really troublesome.

581. The First Meeting with the Two Elders of Jesus

Now that Nobunaga and his son Nobukatsu's decree on the allocation of territory had been issued, everyone was to proceed to their respective domains to issue the edict for the sword hunt. The armies of the feudal lords who had not obtained territories in Kyushu began to retreat one after another. The feudal lords who had been granted fiefdoms or transferred their fiefdoms began to relocate, bringing the families of their samurai to Kyushu.

Kagawa Nobusumi couldn't understand his uncle's sudden transfer of him from the Iyo-Matsuyama Domain to the Buzen-Kokura Domain, but he had nothing to say. He hadn't made any significant contributions in this battle; the transfer from 300,000 to 300,000 was simply an order from his lord, which he had to obey.

Chosokabe Nobuchika, however, said he could pay a certain amount of money to Kagawa Nobusumi, because it was only springtime and spring planting had just begun, and Kagawa Nobusumi would not receive any annual tribute until the relocation was completed.

So giving Kagawa Nobusumi a small amount of money as compensation is a way to establish goodwill. Historically, there have been instances where unripe rice in the fields was harvested before a transfer of fiefdom, which was quite a farce.

Kagawa Nobusumi appreciated his sworn brother's understanding nature and patted him on the back before agreeing to hand over Matsuyama Castle. The previous Yuzuki Castle had already been demolished, and Iyo now had three castles: Matsuyama, Ozu, and Uwajima.

In addition to issuing Nobunaga's decree, Okada Shigeyoshi also brought his own pots and pans and two hundred retainers, preparing to accompany Shichibei and Hachiya Yoritaka to their new post.

Hideyoshi wanted to wait for Nobukatsu in the mansion to finish up some final work, so he entrusted Chikuzen to Hashiba Hidenaga and Hizen to Hachisuka Koroku, and began the process of moving from Harima.

"Let's go. Todo Takatora is in Higo. Shichibei, along with Hara Nagayori who just had his head shaved in Chikugo, headed towards Hizen. They took over Ōmura Sumitada's Ōmura Castle and made contact with the Jesuits in Nagasaki."

Oh, and before leaving, Shichibei also saw off Tokugawa Ieyasu, Ukita Nagaie, Amago Katsuhisa, and others. Some were sons-in-law, some were friends; they'd be fighting alongside him to kill Hojo Ujimasa someday, so they should keep in touch.

Everyone was more anxious than Shichibei, asking when the red seals for the voyage could be issued.

When issuing the official seals, remember to consider the brothers' feelings. They'll all leave a few retainers in Kumamoto or Nagasaki. Once the issuance is confirmed, it's just 4,000 kan per seal, a small matter.

Oh, so that's where the brothers' enthusiasm lies. Shichibei can understand. While giving them a perfunctory reply, he assured them that he would definitely notify them as soon as the signing began.

After politely declining the hospitality of his fellow warriors, Shichibei finally set off for Hizen. His first destination was naturally Saga Castle, where the siege fortifications built by Miyoshi Nobutaka and Mori Terumoto remained standing, the devastation of the war immense. The surrounding area had been burned and ravaged by the Miyoshi army and the Mori clan, no wonder Hachiya Yoritaka was grumbling.

If it weren't for the additional 50,000 koku, Hachiya Yoritaka would most likely have resigned from his Saga Castle territory. Seeing the current situation, he grabbed Shichibei and asked to borrow 10,000 kan.

Everything needs restoration and rebuilding, including the city of Zoga. We also need to bring the farmers back for spring planting, even if it's just soybeans and barnyard grass.

Since Saga Castle was one of the main battlefields of the Oda-Ryuzoji War, there was nothing that could be done. Shichibei issued a receipt, instructing him to go directly to Kamiya Sōzan in Hakata to collect the money. Kamiya Sōzan would settle accounts with the Kawamura-ya in Hakata, just in time for the national trade fair to be held at the end of this year.

The Omura Sumitada and his son Kizen, whose territories had been severely reduced, along with Arima Harunobu, upon learning of the arrival of their new lord, immediately rushed to Saga Castle to pay their respects. No, it should be Saga Castle now; with a new lord and reconstruction underway, it naturally had to change its name.

The former lord's arrival wasn't to elicit sympathy or anything like that; it was mainly...

It all boils down to one thing—"talent intermediaries".

Taking Hachiya Yoritaka as an example, the Mizue Fusei and Natomi families, direct retainers of the Ryuzoji clan, were completely wiped out. However, about half of the Nabeshima clan's retainers remained, but they all lost their jobs due to the change of lord.

When a new lord arrives, he will definitely suppress and eliminate the former daimyo, as well as the senior retainers, families, and important officials of Takaroku. However, he will often adopt an incorporation approach towards the lower-ranking samurai who receive only 20 or 30 koku, 30 or 50 koku, or even those who do not have any official rank and only receive an annual salary of 8 or 10 kan.

A minimum income of about 100 koku is considered the threshold (it's said that the Shimazu clan required a horse for 60 koku). In Kyushu, a income of 100 koku would require a mounted samurai. New lords are generally less willing to accept older samurai above that level. However, they will readily accept those below that level.

This was both to quickly build up the domain's army and to prevent the largest group of lower-ranking samurai from causing trouble.

These people have nothing but flesh and blood and worthless lives. They are the most unstable social factors, and once they are incorporated into the territory, it is generally unlikely that any trouble will break out.

They don't have enough force to cause trouble, what's the use of dragging peasants to carry guns? The neighboring Chikugo tribe dragged over ten thousand peasants, and they were slaughtered.

Kill it like chopping vegetables.

Nabeshima Naoshige and his son Katsushige were sent to Kyoto to kowtow to Nobunaga. At this time, the Nabeshima retainers were in a state of panic. Hachiya Yoritaka borrowed money, five kan each, and incorporated more than 90% of the former Nabeshima retainers into his army. As for the remnants of the Ryuzoji clan, they were dealt with in the same way. Some were incorporated into the army by Hachisuka Koroku, who arrived at the scene, and some were incorporated into the army by Hachiya Yoritaka.

The remaining mid- to high-ranking warriors, just wait and see.

Seeing that the Oda clan was still following the rules, Ōmura Sumitada and Arima Harunobu, uncle and nephew, breathed a sigh of relief and submitted their respective vassal quota accounts. The Ōmura clan's official quota was 27,000 koku, and the Arima clan's was 40,000 koku, but their actual land holdings were both no less than 50,000 koku. Therefore, they only retained 5,000 koku of stipends to become the new daimyo's main body and power.

The samurai stationed on the territories they were stripped of would need to be taken in by Okada Shigeyoshi and Shichibei. No problem, they were just lower-ranking foot soldiers and cannon fodder. For Shichibei, good brothers who earned five kanmon a year were always a welcome addition.

Privately, Shichibei even asked Okada Shigeyoshi, since they were old buddies from Shimoo-Owari, if he had financial difficulties, he should just say so. If he really couldn't afford it, his old buddies would step in and cover it for him.

Okada Shigeyoshi, who indeed didn't have much money, praised Shichibei Makoto.

He was the most honest man in Owari, and indeed a fellow townsman from our Shimo-Owari region. After borrowing 2,000 kan from Shichibei, he recruited 380 Arima retainers. The rest were all taken by Shichibei, totaling over 800.

Ōmura Sumitada and Arima Harunobu, who had "sold off" all their retainers, breathed a sigh of relief. With no internal strife in their territory, they prayed for God's blessing and grace.

Shichibei suddenly felt a bit uneasy about these two prominent Christian figures. Gaining an extra 50,000 koku of land and 50,000 to 60,000 Christian subjects for no apparent reason might not be a good thing at all.

Upon inquiry, it turned out that neither Okada Shigeyoshi nor his son Shigetaka were Christians. Well, thankfully they were going to the Hinoe Domain. Arima Harunobu, though religious, wasn't deeply committed; his main purpose was to facilitate trade with the southern barbarians.

After converting to Christianity, Ōmura Sumitada first destroyed his family's ancestral graves, then dismissed all his concubines and mistresses, becoming deeply devoted to the faith. He first donated Nagasaki, and then donated the surrounding Mogi region to the Jesuits.

In contrast, Arima Harunobu was indiscriminate in his beliefs, taking wives, concubines, and engaging in trade with the southern barbarians. He taught me to believe, albeit selectively. In terms of both actions and intentions, Arima Harunobu is not comparable to Ōmura Sumitada.

Furthermore, the historical event of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's exile and banishment by Tomoyuki Banten has not occurred.

Even though there were not nearly 100,000 Christians gathered in Arima's territory, the Okada father and son could still manage the situation after they returned to their homeland.

The situation was different in Omura, where all 60,000 people were Christians.

There's not much to say, let's just call it a country. The Okada father and son went to Hinoe Castle and, without hesitation, decided to abandon the castle and build Shimabara Castle.

Shichibei did not immediately abandon Ōmura Castle, after all, his own domain was far away in Higo and Kumamoto, and communication between the two places depended on the navy. It was not safe to have no castle to rely on within Ōmura's territory.

Shichibei could only observe the local church with a detached eye. He had always been averse to religion; whether it was good or bad, as long as it didn't affect his interests, he would simply let things be.

After ordering Nagayori to lead his troops to take over the lower-ranking samurai of the Ōmura family and move them all to Kumamoto Castle, where they were housed in a rowhouse built for the foot soldiers, and after participating in the Kumamoto pilgrimage, Shichibei hurriedly went to Nagasaki.

Due to the mission of the Tensho Boys' Mission, the Jesuit Inspector General Alexandre Valianos and the Elder Francesco Cabral of the Japan District were both in Nagasaki at the time. Nagasaki was also the location of the most remote territory and diocese of the Jesuit East Indies, and was the missionary center of Japan.

Upon learning that Shichibei was the vice prime minister and finance minister of King Oda Nobunaga of Japan, and had become the lord of Ōmura territory, the two immediately greeted Shichibei and hoped that he could maintain the interests of the Jesuits in Nagasaki.

Previously, Ōmura Sumitada had already surrendered all rights and interests in Nagasaki to the Jesuits, relinquishing all judicial, financial, and administrative powers. Even the people within Nagasaki's territory are now considered Jesuit citizens, not Japanese citizens.

Of course, historically, Toyotomi Hideyoshi didn't care about this or that, and killed those who deserved to die. He didn't have the idea that Nagasaki no longer belonged to Japan.

Shichibei isn't in charge of this matter; he's only in Nagasaki to gather information. Ultimately, the decision rests with Oda Nobunaga. Valiant met with Oda Nobunaga in Kyoto and knows that Nobunaga holds an equal and tolerant attitude towards Christianity, but he doesn't know Shichibei's stance.

"I've come here merely to inform you that you will need a license to trade with Japan from now on," Shichibei said, having a ready-made excuse.

"That's all?" Varian asked, somewhat incredulously.

“Nagasaki belongs to the Jesuits and is not subject to Japanese law!” Karabul immediately retorted, indicating that Nagasaki’s affairs were none of Shichibei’s business.

"What!" Shichibei was also incredulous.

I came here not even prepared to do anything with you, and you're already being so forceful? You should know you're just a Jesuit, not a colony or a pioneering group.

We just saw Nagasaki's fortress, Shichibei. It's a town centered around a church, and the fortress isn't the same concept as a European castle.

Instead, it was a network of interconnected points surrounding Nagasaki Port or Nagasaki Town, forming a kind of modern city defense system. At its core was the stone Catholic church, which had been under construction for over a decade. Despite being called a church, it was practically useless against cannon fire.

Starting from Dapushan, a four-corner city wall was built with stone on the outside and rammed earth on the inside. When it extended to the flat land at the foot of the mountain, it was built into a smaller defensive structure.

It's not like the kind of Chinese city that encompasses the entire urban area, even lakes and farmland. Nor is it like the Japanese castle that uses layers of curved ramparts to wear down the attackers in a piece-by-piece fashion.

It seems the architecture was designed to maximize defensive firepower with minimal garrison strength. Although the buildings within the port town appear exposed to the elements, the presence of surrounding small fortresses...

Once the enemy enters the burning area, they will be met with a fierce attack and subjected to firepower from all directions.

“Nagasaki was already under Jesuit control before you attacked Ōmura. The Count of Ōmura’s surrender has nothing to do with trade or missionary work in Nagasaki,” Karabul further explained.

"Understood." Shichibei didn't come here to argue. You say your piece, and I'll listen to mine.

“Please don’t misunderstand, the Jesus Society actively praises His Majesty the King’s rule,” Valiano quickly explained, trying to cover up Karabul’s words.

"Hmm." These two seem to have different opinions.

Although it was only a few words, Shichibei clearly sensed that Karabul's attitude towards the Japanese was condescending, while Valiant was more pragmatic.

In fact, the Jesuit missionary work is inherently more universal than that of the Dominican and Franciscan missionaries who practice mendicantism. Of course, times have changed, and these missionary societies, due to their larger size, have many internal factions, so they cannot be compared in the same way.

But it's quite strange that these two people, both members of the Jesuit order, one an inspector and the other a district elder, have such drastically different attitudes.

When Macau or Kochi-Goa sent them to Nagasaki, did they not consider the political leanings of the two individuals at all? Even clergy need to engage with the secular world to exist.

How can they support themselves if they are not supported by church donations and do not pay church taxes?

"Thank you for your hospitality. I have already informed them." Shichibei realized that there were internal conflicts within the Nagasaki Jesuit order, and it was impossible to reach any consensus upon first meeting, so he decided to leave.

Valianno immediately stood up and prepared to escort Shichibei to the door. Karabul, however, merely stood up, made a gesture of invitation, and nodded slightly.

While such a farewell is certainly polite for someone you don't know well, Shichibei is, after all, the new lord of Ōmura. A little "flattery" wouldn't be unusual. He's out preaching, yet he's acting all high and mighty—what kind of attitude is that?

582. Nobunaga visits Kyushu Island

Shichibei didn't have any particular feelings towards the Jesuits, and given their considerable influence over Portuguese and Spanish merchants trading in Japan at the time, he had even considered having a proper chat with them. But judging from their current demeanor, they didn't seem particularly interested in a long conversation.

Furthermore, much like the rumors suggested, the shrines and temples originally located within Ōmura's territory had been demolished or abandoned, with many even plowed up to be used as farmland. The demolished building materials were then used to construct Ōmura Castle and various Jesuit synagogues.

Sure enough, there were no ordinary believers in gods and Buddhas in this place anymore; they were all Catholics, and recently converted, the more combative kind at that.

As Shichibei had said when dealing with the various sects in Kishu, in Japan at that time, this humble monk not only had to be proficient in Buddhism, but also had to be quite skilled in martial arts.

Without military support, sects and monasteries cannot spread their influence and may even be directly defeated, leading to their disappearance from the Japanese religious community.

In a sense, this is commendable; if he can fight one person who upholds the scriptures today, he can resist another person who upholds the scriptures tomorrow.

You Jesuits think you can fight, huh? Well, my Nichiren sect, with its peaceful existence, will give you a taste of what the Lotus Sutra Rebellion is all about. If the Lotus Sutra Rebellion isn't enough? Have you heard of the Jodo Shinshu Ikko-ikki?

Of course, unless absolutely necessary, the Ikkyu (Kobe) must still exercise restraint; it's just talk. This is merely an example to illustrate that even with the heavy hand of religion, daily life is subject to manipulation. Don't think that only your Jesuits are capable of such things; we have many sects here willing to launch a powerful attack to seize secular faith.

"Go," Shichibei said, turning to leave. He only instructed Ōmura Sumitada to draw a detailed map of Nagasaki and send a copy over. This map would then be submitted to Oda Nobunaga for review, to see if Nobunaga had any comments.

The Ōmura territory will temporarily suspend its sword hunt, focusing instead on completing the sword hunt assigned to Higo's territory before moving its troops to Ōmura to carry it out. Furthermore, since he has been ordered to rescue Higo, Shichibei must move his residence from Kishiwada Castle there.

Here's the problem: Lady Takaya was being held hostage by her eldest son, Hatakeyama Nobutaka, in the Kinai region, which is why she was staying at Kishiwada Castle. Now that Shichibei has moved to Higo, how can she follow him there?

Ii-sama in Kyoto would be fine, but I don't know if she'd be willing. The castle still needs a mistress to manage daily life. Next year, Shichibei will almost certainly be deployed to Odawara Castle, and there's a whole host of other things to deal with in Higo's new territory. She's unlikely to have time to take care of those mundane details.

Send a letter to Kishiwada, handing over Kishiwada Castle to the Moi-shu sent by Nobunaga to receive it. Also, Kii Province Iwamuro Castle must be handed over. Speaking of which, Shichibei asked Suzuki Shigehide if he wanted to continue as a priest.

Suzuki Shigehide said to continue serving, but Shichibei wasn't too moved and let him return to his former territory at Fujishiro Shrine in Kii Province. However, Suzuki Shigehide left his son, Suzuki Shigetaka, in Kumamoto to serve Shichibei as a musket general.

Sometimes, even our charm isn't that great; people just want to stay in their hometown of Jizhou and refuse to leave.