Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Mori Terumoto was content to be a quiet lord with 485,000 koku (Aki and Bingo). If he could also band together and possess strength exceeding one million koku, it would always be an eyesore to Nobukatsu in the central government.

For Mori Terumoto, moving Yoshikawa away was actually a good thing. With his uncle Yoshikawa Motoharu gone, the Mori family became the undisputed head of the local population in western Japan, and could also establish absolute power within the family.

Therefore, when this case was raised during the council of senior officials, Nobukatsu asked Terumoto Mori that very night, and Terumoto Mori agreed almost without hesitation.

The only dissatisfied person, Yoshikawa Motoharu, expressed his desire to retire to Oda Nobuo as soon as he arrived in Kyoto, saying that he was too old, had been through many battles, and was full of ailments, so he was really unable to manage his household.

It was obvious to everyone that this was just him venting his frustrations and expressing his dissatisfaction. But Nobukatsu not only comforted Yoshikawa Motoharu and granted his request to succeed him as head of the family, but also allocated him 10,000 koku of rice for retirement in Kawachi. This allowed him to retire peacefully without worrying about the affairs of the country's military and civilians.

This effectively shut down Yoshikawa Motoharu, who could only swallow his anger and follow Yoshikawa Motonaga to Shimotsuya to develop a new territory.

accurate?

I'm holding it in.

It's that simple. In a sense, Oda Nobuo handled things quite well. He satisfied the vast majority, but offended a small minority. While not everyone was satisfied, is there really such a thing as a universally agreeable outcome?

Moreover, Shichibei was a beneficiary in this matter, so he shouldn't say anything.

"But Yoshikawa Harubu doesn't have a legitimate son yet, does he?" Yoshikawa Motonaga is thirty-seven years old and still doesn't have a son. It's tough for him.

It's unclear whether this is related to his wife, Haruki Daifuku, being the daughter of his aunt, Goryūhime. If so, he could be considered a victim of Japanese-style marriage.

"I haven't even had a daughter." Hideyoshi was quite proud. Although his two sons died young, his two daughters were alive and well.

One was married to Hidekatsu Hashiba, and the other to Hideyoshi Hashiba, son of Hidenaga and nephew of Shichibei. In any case, there were no succession issues in the Hashiba family, and Hideyoshi himself was in good health. Apart from being darker and balder in his forties, he was otherwise in good health.

In this world, he failed to become the ruler of the world. Who knows if, in a few years, he will still be blinded by greed and become a cruel, demented old man.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Shichibei could only sigh, these days the extinction of noble lineages is indeed a problem.

In a country like Japan, where a son, regardless of whether he is born to the principal wife or a concubine, has the right to inherit the throne as long as he is the legitimate son, there are still so many feudal lords who change their lineage due to lack of heirs. For ordinary people, the idea of ​​their family line continuing for generations is probably impossible.

"However, his family has one advantage: at least they participated in the Osaka General Assembly for half a year." This was something that Shichibei was unaware of, as Hideyoshi mentioned.

Our Beijing office only sent back information about Yoshikawa Motoharu venting his frustrations and going into seclusion, but did not send back information about the Yoshikawa family receiving a half-service contract.

"No wonder he's not causing any trouble anymore." Upon hearing this, Shichibei realized that if he was only a half-commissioned officer, then it was indeed not advisable to cause any more trouble.

The so-called "half-service" means that those with a 200,000 koku of rice only bear the burden of general labor service as if they had only a 100,000 koku. Furthermore, since the eastern vassals contributed to the castle construction this time as a pledge of loyalty, they cannot draw upon the eastern vassals again for any major construction projects Oda Nobukatsu undertakes. In other words, if they contribute less to this major project, they will not contribute at all next time.

"The Battle of Osaka was extremely difficult," Hideyoshi exclaimed, as if he had witnessed it firsthand.

"Alas, this is the first time the Grand Chancellor has undertaken such a project." Shichibei didn't take it seriously. "Do you think we don't know who Oda Nobuo is?"

He loves grand gestures and extravagance, and when he gets things done, he acts impulsively, clapping his hands and rushing to get things done. It's only because his father, Nobunaga, left him the legacy of unifying the country; if he had been in the same situation as Nobunaga when he was twenty, he would have been finished long ago.

With his father's legacy, it wouldn't be a big deal for him to engage in some harmless "tyranny." The feudal lords of Japan feared his power but didn't appreciate his virtue. As long as Oda Nobukatsu didn't cause trouble for his forty sons-in-law in the western provinces, at least half of his territory would be stable. Not to mention his three million koku of land and the income from numerous mines.

"The weather is hot, and it is said that many people suffer from diarrhea on the construction site, but the work continues." Hideyoshi knew what kind of person Nobuo was, but he was not yet out of his mind and felt that there was no need to make things too ugly.

What is Osaka? It was formerly the site of Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple. The Ishiyama Ten-Year War, along with the suppression of the Saiga clan, the pacification of Kawachi, and the crackdown on Araki Murashige's rebellion, resulted in a brutal ten-year period of killing in the area.

Although Ikeda Tsuneoki was granted 100,000 koku of land upon entering Osaka, the fact that he only needed to send 2,000 men to fight in the end shows the extent of the destruction in the area. And yet, not much time had passed, and the local infrastructure was still inadequate.

The villages did not recover, and many fields lay barren. The only thing they could rely on was the castle town that the Ikeda father and son had managed to maintain, a castle town that Nobunaga had dismissed all the gunsmiths from.

A small castle town of only 10,000 to 20,000 people was suddenly filled with 20,000 to 30,000 townspeople from the Hojo clan, and tens of thousands more were quickly gathered to perform forced labor and hardship in the Osaka Great Construction Project. Food and lodging were problems, and even drinking water was difficult.

Osaka is located on one side of Osaka Bay, with the Kizu River flowing gently through it. Being near a river shouldn't be difficult to get water. The problem is, the river is there, but you have to go and fetch it to have water to drink.

Before his death, Ishida Mitsunari asked for a drink of water, which led to the anecdote that persimmons are a poison that causes phlegm. Where was he beheaded? Rokujo Kawara (or Sanjo Kawara, according to another account) in Kyoto.

The name itself suggests a sandy area carved out by a river, and indeed it is—a sandy land formed by the Kamo River at Rokujo. Because it was a notorious execution ground, there were no villages nearby, only wild persimmons to eat, and no wells.

You asked why we can't go to the Kamo River to fetch water?

The problem with Osaka lies precisely here: with 40,000 to 50,000 townspeople, 50,000 to 60,000 workers, and over 100,000 people gathering there, how many people would have to carry water? Not only were there people, but also a large number of cattle, horses, and other livestock, carrying stones and timber.

The end result was unclean drinking water. The vast construction site silted up the river and diverted its course, creating numerous puddles and ponds mixed with animal excrement. After a day's work on the construction site, people were already exhausted; they had no energy left to fetch water from the Kizu River. They'd just drink a few mouthfuls from the nearby mud pits.

It's water from a stagnant pool that's neither boiled nor sterilized. You can drink it. One person drinks it and then remains silent.

Nobukatsu was in a hurry, as this was the first castle he had built after ascending to the throne, the first large castle befitting his status as the ruler of the land. Recently, Nobukatsu, imitating his father Nobunaga, had a seal engraved with the words "威加海内" (meaning "power over the land"), which he used as a de facto imperial seal to affix to official documents.

His desire to catch up with his father Nobunaga was written all over his face. It was definitely a push, since the construction of Osaka Castle was also intended to weaken the eastern lords.

What does it matter to Nobuo that people from your eastern country have died? I only care about when my Osaka Castle will be completed.

To build Osaka Castle near the sea, it wasn't just a matter of compacting the ground; a large-scale earthen platform had to be constructed, artificially raising the foundation of Osaka Castle's main citadel. Thousands upon thousands of people were ramming the earthen platform, and many suffered from diarrhea, weakness, and even fever—the scene was extremely dire.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to do the job well, Sawai Takeshige was putting in a lot of effort to urge him on. It's said that there had already been several small-scale disturbances at the construction site, but that was because the Kinai region was the core area under Nobukatsu's rule.

Anyone who dared to cause trouble was slaughtered along with their entire family by Oda Nobunaga. If someone causes trouble at the construction site, someone will cause trouble today, and tomorrow someone will come and quell it with six sticks every second.

"Forget it, this has nothing to do with you or me." Shichibei wasn't exactly a saint either. If he insisted on getting involved, it would only make Nobuo unhappy. There was no need to get involved.

His father, Nobunaga, killed at least hundreds of thousands of people. It was truly a case of killing one person being a crime, but slaughtering ten thousand being a hero. He killed so many that the hilt of his sword was soaked with blood and he could no longer hold it. In the end, everyone in the world knelt at Nobunaga's feet.

The term "arbitrary and bloodthirsty" really depends on the time period and the context. At least in Japan today, it is not necessarily a completely derogatory term.

Treating people as less than human might actually help maintain a regime.

The two passed by the Osaka construction site and indeed witnessed the bustling construction day and night. At the same time, numerous shacks and thatched huts had been erected below the castle, where thousands of laborers were left lying on straw mats. They received little care; those who could endure lived, and those who couldn't died. The magnificent Osaka platform contrasted sharply with the workers struggling to survive beneath it.

Hideyoshi also came to take a look, but after a couple of glances, he quickly pulled Shichibei away, telling him not to even think about being kind. This thing looks like a contagious disease; we can't stay here.

As soon as Shichibei sat back on the tatami mat at Kawamura's residence in Kyoto, a retainer of Yamagata Masamitsu rushed to see him. He begged Shichibei to petition Oda Nobuo to slow down the construction schedule and improve the drinking water and accommodation conditions at the construction site.

Although Nobunaga entrusted Kai to Yamagata Masamitsu, it was partly because he was Shichibei's brother-in-law, and partly because he needed to quickly calm Kai down in order to face the threats from Honganji and other places. That's why he used a local.

Even when Shichibei took in Sanada Masaki, Nobunaga explicitly stated that he wanted these men to storm the castle first. Kai was destined to be severely weakened; not to mention Nobukatsu, even if Nobunaga were alive, he would have tormented the people of Kai without mercy.

Chapter 614 Persuading Ieyasu to Advise (Zhu Xiucai Sanjinguan)

You've entrusted yourself to the wrong person. Making trouble for Kai is a rule established during Oda Nobunaga's time. If it were anyone else, Shichibei could at least ask Nobukatsu for help. But to ask someone from Kai? Nobukatsu will immediately become furious.

Moreover, the Osaka Grand Project case was the first of Nobuo's three major initiatives upon taking office. He was determined to make a big fuss about it, and Shichibei, a veteran of the previous administration, could not dissuade him.

How about this? I'll personally sponsor your Kofu Domain with three to five thousand taels. You can go back and hire some laborers to go to the Osaka construction site and bring back all the people from our domain. Those who are sick can get treatment, and those who are healthy can rest.

If the money runs out and the project isn't finished, we'll talk about it again later. We're family anyway, and you're asking me for help with something like this, so asking for a couple of times' worth of assistance isn't a big deal.

Yamagata's retainers could only leave Kawamura's residence in bitterness. Shichibei would rather offer money than put in a good word for them, which shows that this matter was on Nobuo's mind and there was no way to persuade him otherwise.

In fact, the situation at the Osaka construction site gradually deteriorated after the onset of summer. Many people tried to advise Oda Nobuo, but most were blocked from reaching the three senior members of the inner court. Very few even reached the senior members in person, let alone Nobuo. It wasn't that channels of communication were blocked; rather, those who had the opportunity to offer advice to Nobuo knew he wouldn't accept it.

Besides, do you really think Nobuo doesn't know?

Xinxiong was a powerful figure with forty sons-in-law, how could he not know that?

So what if I know? I've already said that those who died were all from the East, what does it have to do with me, Oda Nobuo?

Let's see if anyone else is willing to risk their life to remonstrate. Shichibei, for one, has no intention of touching this nerve; he's not exactly playing the victim, and he's hardly a saint.

Because of the foundation stone laying of Tencho Shrine, feudal lords had to come to Kyoto to offer their congratulations. After returning to their homelands, they would rush back to Kyoto again within a few months. Fortunately, Kyoto is located in the middle of Japan, so the journey between the two places was not far. If this happened a couple more times, it might push for a system where two-thirds of the feudal lords resided in their prefectures and one-third in their provinces.

"Record in detail which lords arrive each day and report back to me," Shichibei instructed Ii Naokichi after a moment's thought.

"Understood." This is the territory of 100 koku of Ii-gaya. Kawamura Naokichi originally said that he would let his stepmother's younger brother inherit Ii Sankyu.

Shichibei could guess his thoughts; such a trivial matter didn't bother him. Tokugawa Ieyasu bestowed the Matsudaira surname everywhere, and Hideyoshi also mass-produced the Hashiba surname. From now on, you can still be called Kawamura Naokichi in official circles, but in private, you can simply refer to yourself as Ii. It's a wish fulfilled, since Ii Naokichi is going to marry Shichibei's daughter anyway—a truly authentic Japanese family.

Not long after Ii Naokichi left, he turned back and first submitted the list of feudal lords who had arrived in Kyoto to Shichibei for review. This is typical of someone who started as a head retainer—prepared and meticulous.

"Oh, by the way, when Young Master Edo arrives, remember to report directly." Shichibei thought for a moment and then added another instruction.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was also an honest man praised by Nobunaga, and within the Oda regime, he was now considered a very standard hereditary retainer of the main branch of the family. Logically, Tokugawa Ieyasu was even qualified to replace the chief retainer, but now that Nobukatsu had just taken power, stability was the priority, and even the three middle-aged elders had not been publicly established, let alone replaced the chief retainer.

If a replacement is to be made, it would have to wait until one of the current four elders passes away or retires to relinquish their position. Replacing an elder with a salary of 700,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) would actually be a bit too much in terms of power and prestige.

The most suitable candidates are those with around 100,000 koku of rice, who possess both status and position, and are effectively considered substitute elders within the Oda clan. They are also unlikely to wield excessive power due to their high level of knowledge and conduct.

The current elders are products of the process of pacifying the country. This generation will certainly not be sidelined, but in the future they will most likely become people with noble families and prestigious official titles, but unable to actually interfere in politics.

It's similar to appointing you as Grand Tutor or Grand Preceptor, but the actual prime minister is a younger person. In terms of position, that's the highest it can get. But in terms of real power, you really can't command more than a few people.

Who knows, someone might ask him to intercede with Oda Nobuo on his behalf. If he were to do so, Shichibei would be happy to play along and say a few words in his defense.

Emptying the wallets of the Eastern Kingdom's people is no problem, Shichibei thinks it's perfectly reasonable. Not only should it be done this year, but every year, so that the Eastern Kingdom's people will never have many coins left.

But torturing people like this to death, sigh...

"General Edo, good." Ii Naokichi bowed and withdrew, while Shichibei opened the list of feudal lords who had arrived in Kyoto and began to look at it.

Hey, how come Niwa Nagahide arrived so quickly?

"Someone come here." Shichibei immediately wrote a note, asking when Niwa Nagahide would be available.

Since he moved to Aizu, Shichibei hasn't been in touch with him. It's nothing major, just wanted to ask him what Aizu is like. We've never been to the place where the loyal spirit eternally guards the Eastern Lord, so we can only learn about it from him. We also wanted to see an old friend and catch up.

After the servant received the invitation, he sent it by galloping horse to Niwa's residence. However, a reply came in saying that Niwa Nagahide was unwell and was seeking treatment from a renowned physician, so he could not attend the banquet.

Oh dear, what's going on here?

Since Tokugawa Ieyasu hadn't arrived yet, Shichibei sent someone again to inquire if he could visit the sick man. After confirming the time, Shichibei hurriedly went to the door. "Brother, how old are you? You're already sick and have to come all the way to Kyoto to see a doctor?"

When Shichibei saw Niwa Nagahide, he didn't think there was anything wrong with him. His face was even a little "rosy," and he seemed to have gained weight.

Niwa Nagahide chuckled and said that he had been experiencing abdominal pain intermittently since the New Year. At first, he didn't take it seriously, but then it became more serious. He noticed a lump in his abdomen that seemed to be constantly expanding. This was why Shichibei noticed his "big belly" and, since he was in Kyoto, invited a renowned physician to treat him.

Ah!

That's right! Shichibei suddenly remembered that Niwa Nagahide died from tapeworms (a parasitic disease) in history. To put it simply, he not only ate raw seafood, but also raw river fish, also known as sashimi, and ended up with a stomach full of tapeworms.

It is said that he could not bear the pain and torment caused by the tapeworm parasite, so he cut open his belly with a knife, took out the huge parasitic swelling, and said he wanted to send it to Hideyoshi to see.

Whether it's true or not, it's obvious that Niwa Nagahide has contracted a parasitic disease. It's already started to develop and grow inside him; it was discovered way too late.

However, Shichibei remembered that Chen Deng seemed to have contracted this disease in history, and Hua Tuo or someone else treated him. He was cured at first, but then Chen Deng ate raw fish, and no one could treat him anymore, so he died.

Since there were people who could cure it back in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there should be people who can cure it now. So, after inquiring in the capital, is there any information available?

Seeing that Shichibei was even more anxious than he was, Niwa Nagahide was quite touched. He explained that it had been confirmed that there was worm in the abdomen, and there was still a possibility of treatment. He suggested medication to expel the worms, and if the treatment was appropriate, the worms might be expelled within the next few days.

Once it's expelled, everything will be fine, and you'll gradually recover.

Hearing this, Shichibei felt somewhat relieved. Historically, Niwa Nagahide was a daimyo with 1.2 million koku of rice; what kind of doctor couldn't he summon? How could he not have been cured?

Could it really be that, as "rumored," Hideyoshi Hashiba drugged him, not only failing to expel the worms but also promoting their growth inside his body, ultimately causing Niwa Nagahide to die from the pain?

tsk...

Since Niwa Nagahide has already found a good doctor who can treat him, Shichibei won't ask any more questions. He had originally wanted to talk to him about Aizu, but now he could only say no.

Returning to Kawamura's residence, after waiting for two or three more days, the feudal lords arrived in Kyoto in an endless stream. After presenting Nobukatsu with tamagushi (a type of precious stone), Nobukatsu gathered everyone together, and they marched in formation from Kyoto to Azuchi.

You ask why not just gather in Azuchi? If we gathered in Azuchi, how could we show off to the Kyoto court and the people there that Nobukatsu had the support of hundreds of feudal lords?