Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

"Alright, alright, give yourself some more responsibility; this is also a way to toughen yourself up." Nobunaga said this very casually.

It's as if you're just asking me to get a cup of tea or give me a leg massage. It's like you can get things done in no time, with just a few gestures.

"..." How should I respond if you call Shichibei?

"Don't look so glum, come have a drink with me." Nobunaga took out his folding fan, tapped Shichibei on the forehead, and, as if nothing had happened, invited Shichibei to stay for dinner.

Well, I should have just had Mori Denbei, or any other guy, deliver the documents. In the end, the documents arrived, but I didn't get any benefits, and I even got a construction project instead.

If this were in later times, Shichibei would have gone to a club and called all the girls to choose ten or eight good ones to sing all night. But now he can't even find a subcontractor, he has to do it all himself. He can barely spare the manpower, but he has to manage everything himself.

Takenaka Hanbei was hauling timber for Titonani in the Kiso River, Inase Yoshinobu and Nambu Sanenaga were at the house, and Mune Kotaro was helping us coordinate the horses.

No, we need to ask Nobunaga for another person.

As for the person, Shichibei had already chosen one when Nobunaga was scrambling to recruit soldiers from Mino Province to expand the samurai ranks for his retainers. He wasn't from a prestigious family, nor was he a particularly brave or elite warrior; his name was Tsuchida Chikakiyo.

Her father was named Tsuchida Chikashige, who had a brother named Ikoma Iesune, and his daughter was Ikoma Yoshino, Nobunaga's former concubine.

As for why the two brothers had different surnames, and why one served Nobunaga while the other served Tatsuoki, there's no need to explain further. These days, it's common for brothers to serve different masters; having different surnames simply means they became adopted sons-in-law or were adopted into a branch of the family.

At first, Shichibei didn't notice this person. It was only when Hideyoshi came to help transport the timber that he discovered that Ikoma Chikamasa had appeared by his side.

That's right, it was another one of the men Nobunaga assigned to him. Of the three senior members of the Toyotomi clan, apart from Horio Yoshiharu, the other two were both from Nobunaga's inner circle.

Upon seeing Ikoma Chikamasa, Shichibei asked him if he had any brothers who had not yet entered official service. Ikoma Chikamasa then introduced Tsuchida Chikakiyo to Shichibei. At that time, Tsuchida Chikakiyo was working as a clerk for Nobunaga with an annual salary of 20 kan.

Or to put it more bluntly, he was responsible for cutting paper for Nobunaga. Paper is made by scraping it from pulp using a screen; it comes in large sheets and needs to be cut into different sizes according to its intended use or requirements before writing. Tsuchida Chikakiyo did this job, with a meager salary, never even seeing Nobunaga, and no promising future.

When Shichibei asked Nobunaga for it, Nobunaga was looking around, completely unaware that he had such a retainer.

It's not surprising, firstly because of his lowly status, and secondly because he was newly appointed from Mino and Nobunaga hadn't gotten to know him yet. Since Shichibei had spoken, Nobunaga immediately ordered Mori Denbei to take the man away, and also to express his gratitude to Shichibei.

This year's quota has been used up; no more can be requested.

He had to distribute his favors evenly, giving some to one side and some to another. If he only strengthened the samurai corps for Shichibei, it wouldn't be fair, and the other retainers would definitely be unhappy.

Hideyoshi already had three: Makimura, Maru, and Ikoma. Shichibei also had three this year: Takenaka, Tsuchida, and Munekotaro, who was promoted to Nobunaga Naotomi and then reassigned.

Just tell me if there are three.

"Alright, give it to me." Mori Denbei turned around and brought Tsuchida Chikakiyo out of the foot soldier's house. It seemed that Ikoma Chikamasa had told him about it. He didn't think much of it and just bowed to Shichibei.

Then, with only a small bag of luggage, he followed Shichibei back to Kawamura-ya. He stayed at the inn, where bedding and other necessities were readily available. They ate together at the inn. Nobunaga would give him 20 kan, and if he joined him, he would receive an additional 10 kan as "hand money."

It's like an attendance bonus, or you could think of it as overtime pay. After all, he used to have a very relaxed job, just cutting paper, but now he's immediately giving me a handy job, going to Takenaka Hanbei's place to transport wood.

I'll give you ten days to familiarize yourself with the work of transporting timber, and I'll also give you fifteen more people to help you. After ten days, you'll be in full charge of transporting timber to Linden Valley.

Takenaka Hanbei and Shichibei, who were selected from the army, rode back to Owari and began calculating the cost of repairing the southern road. Once the calculations were completed, they were reported to Nobunaga. Takenaka went to repair the road, while Shichibei stayed at Komakiyama to continue allocating horses and, at the same time, began the annual tribute of rice.

Everyone has to work non-stop. Once you arrive, you have to start working. There's no way you can just sit around doing nothing. Don't worry, Nobunaga pays you generously, and so does Shichibei. As long as you do a good job, you'll get plenty of "cash."

99. Deposit your vast wealth at the counter first.

A steady stream of tribute rice, totaling 20,000 koku, was delivered to the main store of Tsushima River Village House. Moreover, it was already hulled and was all high-quality rice that Nobunaga had promised to entrust to Shichibei.

Of course, half of the ten thousand kan of rice had to be paid in cash to Nobunaga first. The remaining half was kept in Kawamuraya's account, and whenever Nobunaga needed to deploy horses or prepare supplies, he would use this account to pay for them.

Shichibei currently has 5,000 kan. Moreover, he has a clear account with Nobunaga; whenever Nobunaga asks for it, Shichibei will bring it to him.

However, Shichibei also had a little selfish motive. Before handing over the rice price, he first sent Nobunaga the quote for the construction of the streets, post stations, inns and stables from Kiyosu to Tsushima.

Nobunaga could easily see through Shichibei's ulterior motives; he simply looked at the price quote intently. Having risen from a lord of Nagoya Castle with only seven hundred soldiers to a powerful daimyo possessing a million koku of rice in Nobi, Nobunaga was well aware of commodity prices and construction costs.

He was not a weak ruler who had been raised by women in the inner palace, but a mighty ruler who had fought his way through mountains of knives and seas of fire, through wind and rain, and through countless battles.

Spending money is fine, but spending it recklessly is not.

After confirming that the offer was within a reasonable range, Nobunaga signed it, indicating his approval. Shichibei could then go to Murai Sadakatsu to collect the money and get to work.

"Has the annual tribute rice been transported to Tsushima?" Nobunaga didn't hand the signed form back to Shichibei, but instead asked about the annual tribute rice.

Tsushima is the largest port in Owari at present. The annual tribute rice was to be transshipped to the upper part, namely Sakai and Kyoto for sale, so it would naturally not be concentrated at Komakiyama Castle.

"Yes, the count is complete."

"You have such a big annex?" I've already said it, Nobunaga is a small-town youth from the village, everyone knows that.

"We've rented the storehouse from Boss Itō, and we've also arranged for a tawara-go-bune to be sent to Sakai." Shichibei doesn't need a rice warehouse; the rice is just taken directly to the upper floors for sale.

Those who need large rice warehouses for sales and storage are the big bosses of rice shops. They have this need, but Shichibei doesn't.

In fact, by the Edo period, the entire industry surrounding the annual tribute rice of the shogunate, including the exclusive purchase of rice, rice shop management and sales, rice ticket mortgage lending, ryōsai-ya (rice exchange shops), and na-ya (rice shop), was basically run by "one person".

Or perhaps it's not quite right to say that all these industries are concentrated in the hands of a single, powerful monopolistic tycoon. But to qualify as such a tycoon, one must consider their relationship with generals, senior officials, or high-ranking officials.

For example, when Yoshimune Yatsudai succeeded to the main branch of the family from a junior branch, Kii merchants gained control of the upstream and downstream rice industry in Edo. On the other hand, the second-best, Mitsui in Kyoto and Konoike in Osaka, maintained relatively stable operations for two hundred years.

After successfully leaving Kyoto, Mitsui continued in the same line of work, albeit under a new guise. He raised three million taels of gold to issue official documents for the Meiji government. He then transformed into Mitsui Bank, eventually becoming the Mitsui zaibatsu (financial conglomerate).

While Japan certainly hasn't yet seen the emergence of such a large and powerful capital conglomerate, a trend is slowly beginning to emerge. After all, powerful lords with ambitions to unify their regions are appearing in various areas.

In order to cope with the continuous wars, the daimyo unanimously entrusted these economic affairs to trusted "abacus samurai" or "merchant officers".

By the time of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, there had emerged merchants who could raise hundreds of thousands of kan in cash and two or three hundred thousand koku of rice in a short period of time to support an army of over one hundred thousand on a long expedition.

"How many days will it take after it sells out in Sakai?" Nobunaga asked leisurely.

"At most ten days." The tawara-ko-bune is fully loaded and goes to Sakai. The cargo is unloaded at the Tennoji-ya shop, where the owner, Tsuda, settles the bill with him, and then the ship returns to Owari. The whole process takes about seven to nine days.

Let's calculate it as ten days, with a day or two extra, just in case something goes wrong.

"So, you'll have 10,000 kan in ten days then," Nobunaga said, looking at Shichibei.

"Yes." It's all public information, the price of rice is crystal clear.

The only minor difference was that Shichibei bought Nobunaga's annual tribute rice for 500 sen per koku, while it was sold in Sakai for 620 sen. However, after factoring in the transportation costs, the porters' fees, the staff's wages and collateral, he only made a few dozen sen per koku of rice.

The reason why they thought it was profitable to monopolize the annual tribute rice was twofold: firstly, to strengthen their relationship with feudal lords, and secondly, because the lords would deposit their money with the imperial merchants.

Thousands upon thousands of dollars in cash are simply placed on your counter. You can use it for high-interest lending, investment, mergers and acquisitions, hoarding and speculation, or buying and selling—you'll instantly have capital.

Moreover, lords can negotiate prices and gain advantages when purchasing military supplies from merchants. Although the amount won't be much, it's stable.

"Aside from the money for street maintenance, there's no need to send anything else to Gifu for now." Nobunaga smiled, closed the folding fan he was waving, and gently tapped Shichibei's forehead.

"Ha!" Ten thousand strings of cash, ten thousand strings of cash indeed.

This money is enough to get Takeda Shingen to bring 25,000 men. Now we'll help you kill Rokkaku Yoshikata and his son in southern Omi, provided you provide them with food.

"Work hard, how could I treat you badly?" Nobunaga revealed a very charming look, which immediately swayed Shichibei's mind.

If I were a woman, I would definitely do it willingly tonight.

"Your Highness's kindness is unforgettable." Shichibei quickly bowed his head, almost burying it in the floor.

"Get up and get to work." Nobunaga wasn't going to offer him a meal today, so he sent Shichibei back to carry the heavy loads.

Shichibei naturally left out of gratitude, and then two more people entered. Shichibei didn't recognize either of them, but they would later become very famous: one was Hosokawa Fujitaka, and the other was Akechi Mitsuhide.

The two were dressed quite simply, or rather, old-fashioned, like those of the Muromachi Shogunate. If Shichibei saw them on the street, he would only think they were two poor ronin.

I'm not trying to criticize them, but Hosokawa Fujitaka is someone who has a habit of keeping a diary.

Although his diary was never published and no complete text survived, much of its content was passed down as a lost text after his family achieved great success and became daimyo with a stipend of 500,000 koku.

For example, Hosokawa Fujiko would sneak into a temple in the middle of the night to steal lamp oil from the temple's long-burning lamp. Or, when there was no food during a war, they would steal wheat from the villagers' fields.

When a powerful feudal lord tells stories of petty theft, people stop calling him a thief and instead praise his perseverance.

That's better than recording him as a page of Ashikaga Yoshiteru, someone who served Ashikaga Yoshiteru. The stories above have some merit, but being a page only brings disgust.

The two men came to Owari to pay their respects to Oda Nobunaga because Nobunaga now truly owed Ashikaga Yoshiaki a favor. Ashikaga Yoshiaki felt that he had risen to prominence and was now a respectable person with face in front of Nobunaga, so he inquired about it from Nobunaga.

Can you support me going up?

To be honest, after realizing that Asakura Yoshikage lacked the ambition to march on Kyoto and raise an army to defend the emperor, Ashikaga Yoshiaki's greatest hope was actually for Uesugi Kenshin. After all, Uesugi Kenshin had indeed led several thousand men to Kyoto and had indeed raised the banner of the shogunate.

If Uesugi Kenshin were willing to raise an army, Ashikaga Yoshiaki could persuade Shiina and Jinbo of Etsukuni, Hatakeyama of Noto, and the Ikko-shu of Kaga to give way. These forces, large and small, would all give the shogunate face, and once Kenshin's army of twenty to thirty thousand arrived, Yoshiaki believed he could command a large following within the Kinai region.

But Uesugi Kenshin simply couldn't come. Last year, he suffered a crushing defeat at Usui Castle, losing many soldiers and generals. That wasn't all; subsequently, Takeda Shingen captured Minowa Castle in Ueno, and Nagano Narimori committed suicide. Affected by this, Hojo Takahiro, the lord of Ueno's Masahashi Castle, unable to hold out any longer, rebelled and switched sides to the Hojo clan.

Echigo's path to Kanto was immediately cut off. Seeing that it was impossible to obtain the support of the Uesugi clan, the Satake clan, which also wanted to expand in Kanto, abandoned its alliance with Kenshin.

It can be said that in just two short years, from Eiroku 9 to Eiroku 10, the Uesugi family's situation in Kanto collapsed.

With the situation collapsing like this, Uesugi Kenshin wouldn't even have time to save Ashikaga Yoshiaki, let alone defend against Takeda Shingen's attack on Echigo or Hojo Ujiyasu's deep penetration into Oku-Kōzuke.

Even Uesugi Kenshin, the most likely candidate, can't come. Who can Ashikaga Yoshiaki rely on now? Looking around, there really is only Oda Nobunaga left.

The Mori clan was also in internal turmoil at this time. The deer swore to the moon that even if he suffered all kinds of hardships, he would reclaim the Yamanaka Castle of the Amago clan and seize the castle of Gassan-Toda. He gathered tens of thousands of troops and received support and reinforcements from the Yamana clan. He fought back and forth with the army of Yoshikawa Motoharu.

In this way, Nobunaga actually had some room to maneuver.

Or perhaps they could wait for a better price, since Nobunaga was truly the only one among the surrounding areas with the strength and willingness to march on Kyoto.

Last time, only Wada Koremasa came, but he couldn't persuade Nobunaga. This time, Ashikaga Yoshiaki is serious, sending Hosokawa Fujitaka and Akechi Mitsuhide, two eloquent and persuasive men. He hopes to convince Nobunaga in one go and return to Kyoto by the end of the year.

After briefly understanding their explanations, Nobunaga simply smiled. He knew what was going on and didn't want to make a decision so quickly. So he asked the two to wait in Owari for a while, allowing him time to think it over.

How many days will it take to think it over? That's hard to say.

Shichibei, who had just stepped out of the Sakuma residence, was unaware that they were discussing a momentous event—an uprising to march on Kyoto—and was clapping his hands with glee on his horse.

With a sudden windfall of 10,000 kan of operating funds, Shichibei was able to do many more things. For example, he set up a ryōkaya (a type of exchange shop) and began operating an exchange business between gold, silver, and copper coins in Owari and Mino.

In Noo, there were no dedicated pawnshops in this industry. Instead, businesses like Tsuchikura, which mainly operated pawn shops, or Tsushima Taisha and Tsushima Kaigoshu, also dealt in currency exchange.

The profits were substantial, but it hadn't yet reached its peak. The real money-making opportunity would come when trade with Japan from the east and west, Ezo (Japanese pirates), Ryukyu (Japanese islands), and even the southern barbarians (Southern Barbarians), with goods from all directions converging, and silver from the west and gold from the east needing to be exchanged.

The eighth shogun, Yoshimune, once dealt a heavy blow to the exchange rate rife with silver. Whenever silver from Iwami in western Japan and Sado in Sado arrived in Edo, they would lower the exchange rate between the silver and gold. The shogunate, in urgent need of money, generally had no choice but to accept their exchange rate.

The shogunate was full of people who had been fed by the shogunate's patrons, making it extremely difficult to punish them. However, when Yoshimune of the Kozuke clan arrived, he was served by a group of merchants from Kii Province. Yoshimune, who hadn't been fed, naturally started a massacre against them.

Alternatively, we could run our own rice shop, although the payback period is a bit long. Also, Owari hasn't developed a thriving rural free trade market; it's still at the level of a three-day market. If Nobunaga were to announce the abolition of the Rakuichi-Rakuza (a type of market in Owari), and the customs post were removed, people from outside would actively come to the Nobi granary to buy rice, making the business much easier.

Rice shops, by their very nature, had to be involved in shipping. Without convenient water transport, there would be no distribution channels for such a bulk commodity as rice. Ito, the big boss of Tsushima, was in the shipping industry. He was also a merchant under Nobunaga, the kind of person who served as a hereditary successor, making it inconvenient to exclude him.

In short, no matter what you do, having money makes you feel warm inside.

Humming a little tune, Shichibei returned to Kawamuraya and saw pairs of packhorses heading towards Gifu. He was no longer in a hurry. "If I have the money," he thought, "I'll buy another three or five hundred horses from Takeda Shingen. With the trade routes between Nori and Obi provinces now open, the flow of people and goods will be much faster. And with Tokugawa Ieyasu about to invade Tōtōmi, the entire route from Gifu to Hikima will be a post station at Kawamuraya."

No, we also need to repair the roads from Kiyosu to Tsushima, which shows that Nobunaga still intends to unify the eight districts of northern Ise. Therefore, the post station from Gifu to Anotsu will also be under Shichibei's jurisdiction.

Five hundred horses are not enough; we need a thousand, the more the better.