Owari Yumeki Golden Day

24. Build the Post Station with Care (titled by Zhu Xiucai Sanjin)

The candles burned out, and Shichibei hadn't finished. "I'm exhausted, let's stop talking and go back to bed. The street preparations will take all winter anyway, and we see each other every day, so a little while won't hurt."

Tsushima Kawamuraya's horse-drawn business has now come to a halt. How can they survive without pack horses?

Yesterday, Shichibei went on a long tour of Komakiyama Castle Town, but only managed to buy one horse. That was because the traveling merchant was short of capital. If he hadn't met him, he wouldn't have even bought this one horse.

It's really ridiculous to pass on the horse's head on the road. There is only one horse.

We did talk too much today, and Niwa Nagahide was also very tired, but he didn't say that he wanted to pull Shichibei to sleep with his feet together. He just slept however he wanted.

I'll get up early the next day, as official business must continue. The entire route was inspected yesterday. The forts and post stations on the north bank of the Kiso River will be discussed later. First, the post stations and roads within the Owari territory will be built.

Logically, Shichibei should have submitted a petition to Nobunaga, asking him to implement a widespread horse-transmitting system throughout Owari. However, Shichibei did not do so. Nobunaga's current war needs were far from the point of fighting day and night, turning into a deadly struggle, attacking Echizen one year and seizing Nagashima the next.

In normal times, he would respond to small-scale conflicts with his few hundred foot soldiers and small-scale soldiers, and they would be over after a few fights. If a large-scale military conflict really came, he would have to wait until after the autumn harvest, when he had both military rations and money.

Based on this, he did not have a wide range of needs for his retainers to live in. Other things like music markets and music seats were not even mentioned.

Moreover, Nobunaga still had to rely on the merchants in Tsushima and Atsuta to provide him with the monopoly of arrow money, dan money, and unjo gold. If this happened to the Rakuichi Rakuza, the money he needed to support his regular ashigaru and reserve officers would be immediately cut off.

Don't be pretentious. If you want to get in front of your leader, you have to consider the occasion.

The plan was set, so let's start implementing it. Since the store was not doing any business anyway, Shichibei simply summoned all his family members and employees who had nothing to do at home to come to Komakiyama.

Well, Nobunaga paid them. All the Kawamura-ya employees, including Shichibei, were paid daily wages. Shichibei's military service was only twelve days a year, so he'd have completed not only this year's but next year's as well. If you still want me to serve, you can only pay me to do it.

I do the work and you pay, that's only natural.

While Owari and Mino haven't snowed yet, there's nothing wrong with earning a living. Many of the employees at Kawamuraya signed seven-year contracts, with only food and lodging provided, and no wages at all. The same goes for Kotake at Itoya, who's been working for Ito Sojuro for over five years, a pure laborer.

Oh, if my sister marries him, she might not even have a place to live.

Get to work! Shichibei wasn't one to be lazy or unemployed, so Niwa Nagahide temporarily brought in over 40 peasants serving in the general labor service to help build the post station. The street and floating bridge were the work of a different group of people, and had nothing to do with Shichibei.

Post stations also served a certain military function. Given the intensity of Japanese warfare, post stations didn't need to be surrounded by walls. Rammed earth walls were too cumbersome, so they simply enclosed a plot of land and dug a two-meter-wide trench around it. Inside, a makeshift bamboo net was woven to act as a fence, and that was it.

But the fire-watching turret is a must. Of course, the fire-watching turret at the post station is not used to observe fires, but is mainly used to observe whether the next post station has set off signals such as smoke signals and flares.

During the Battle of Sekigahara, it is said that Ishida Mitsunari released smoke signals and flares three times to urge Kobayakawa Hideaki to come down the mountain. In the end, Kobayakawa Hideaki was hit by a round of artillery fire from Tokugawa Ieyasu, and then he came down the mountain.

Smoke or a loud noise can serve as a signal. Set off smoke during the day and firecrackers at night. The method is simple, as long as it works.

The fire-watching turret was simple: four logs buried a meter deep in the ground, with an observation post on top. It didn't even need a roof. That was the responsibility of the samurai who would take over the post station in the future. Shichibei was only responsible for its existence, not its decoration.

I'm just an employee, how can I have such a strong sense of ownership?

Oda Nobunaga conquered the world, could you give me half? It would be a great honor for the Kawamura family if I could become the leader of the two countries of Nobi.

However, the stables and long houses where people live need to be built a little more carefully, as horses are precious. Moreover, since it snows in Mino and Owari in winter and the temperature can reach minus five or six degrees Celsius, keeping warm is even more necessary.

Rural houses are built using traditional methods—truly traditional methods. They use wooden planks or logs stacked on either side, and the center filled with finely sieved earth. No tamping is required, just fill it up. These wooden-earth walls provide both insulation and heat preservation. In summer, you only need to open the windows, while in winter, you can seal them with wooden planks to prevent drafts and keep the indoor temperature from dropping below freezing.

Whether it is for horses or people, it doesn't matter. Of course, it is mainly for horses, after all, horses are more expensive than people.

Long house is easier to build. The frame is made of wood, the roof is covered with thatch, and the walls are made of wheat straw as "reinforcement". Mix it with red soil and paste it directly on the wooden boards. Just find a bricklayer to smooth it out.

If there is no bricklayer, Shichibei can do it himself.

The number of farmers who came to serve in the general service changed during the period. It is estimated that when they joined Nobunaga, their village chief negotiated with Nobunaga to reduce the general service to only 15 days a year. He was also a smart person who was able to protect the interests of his fellow villagers.

I wonder if he is like the old village chief in "Seven Samurai", full of the cunning and calculation of a small farmer.

After more than a month of construction, all four post stations within Owari Territory were completed. When the work was halfway done, Shichibei asked Niwa Nagahide for money to buy alfalfa and hire boats to transport the alfalfa to the various post stations.

In addition, salt, beans, bran, wheat and other materials need to be purchased by Niwa Nagahide himself, or he can entrust Shichibei to go to Tsushima to gather them. In short, as long as he has money, it will be fine.

As long as the money is in place, it's only natural that I would work hard for you.

Niwa Nagahide was forthright in paying the bill. While signing the invoice, he asked Shichibei how many days it would take to secure the horse feed. "It won't be long. Rent a few small boats from Boss Ito, and we'll have everything ready for you in two days."

Upon hearing the answer, Niwa Nagahide nodded slightly and said that he could definitely make it in time. So, why not wait until spring to get the road repaired before going after Saito Ryuki?

Anyway, he has completed his military service for next year and Kawamuraya has no more horses, so Shichibei is not curious about what kind of war he will fight next year.

"Nanabe, come with me to Kai." The answer given by Niwa Nagahide was far beyond Nanabe's expectations.

25. I laugh at Xinxuan’s lack of strategy, and Xinglong’s lack of wisdom

Kai!

Oh, Shichibei could guess what was going on. Wasn't it that Oda Nobutada was going to be engaged to Takeda Shingen's daughter, and Suwa Katsuyori was also going to be engaged to Nobunaga's adopted daughter?

After Nobunaga conquered Inuyama Castle and unified Owari, he became completely connected with his uncle, Toyama Kageto, and his brother-in-law, Toyama Naoyoshi. This indirectly brought him into contact with the Takeda clan, which had suppressed most of Shinano.

Following the basic political strategy of befriending distant nations and attacking nearby ones, Nobunaga, having already won over the Asai clan in northern Taiwan, now planned to woo the Takeda clan in Kai. This way, with the exception of the insignificant Hida clan in the north, the entire Mino region would be surrounded by Nobunaga and his allies.

By then, no one will be able to help you and you can only wait for death.

In history, after Saito Tatsuoki was defeated, he chose to flee to Nagashima. This shows that he really had nowhere to go, as there was not even a decent non-Oda force around him.

Wait, Oda Nobumasa was quite smart, fleeing the Takeda clan early, which was equivalent to paving the way for Oda Nobunaga. Also, there was no deep hatred between the two sides, and Oda Nobumasa even led the Inuyama clan's retainers to serve Nobunaga.

By the way, Oda Nobuyasu has changed his name to Tsuda Nobuyasu, which mainly emphasizes the relationship between master and servant. Only the members of the family and the family branch recognized by Nobunaga can use the Oda surname.

But what am I going to do?

You don't want to buy a horse?

Very good, Shichibei was persuaded by Niwa Nagahide's words, which was really touching. After completing Oda Nobunaga's official business, Shichibei still had to return to Tsushima to do the horse business, as he couldn't do it without horses.

If you want to buy horses in bulk, you can either wait until May or June of next year and find a horse merchant heading south, or go to the Takeda clan. All of Shinano's ranches are now under the control of Takeda Shingen. Only the Takeda clan can boast of a thousand galloping horses, a fleet of magnificent horses.

And it's not time to go to Kai now, as the mountains between Kai and Shinano are blocked by heavy snow. We should wait until spring arrives in February or March after the New Year, and then go to Shinano. The round trip will take about a month, and once we've negotiated the marriage with the Takeda clan, the roads will be open in May or June, the summer season, and the marriage will be completed, concluding the marriage alliance between the two families.

I just don't know if Nobunaga would have to spend thousands of kan to send his niece to the Takeda family in order to establish an alliance.

As long as the money isn't taken from us small merchants, it's fine. Takeda Shingen is a man who won't give up until he sees the rabbit. A few thousand or so kan won't buy him off. If Nobunaga doesn't give out a lot of gold, the marriage alliance will be in jeopardy.

In the eighth year of Yonglu, it is the spring month.

In the winter months, Shichibei completed Nobunaga's official duties and arranged for the carriages to be transported to Nakanō. He returned home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, and in February, he was ordered to lead a delegation to Kai to meet Takeda Shingen.

Naturally, Kato Nobunaga of Atsuta also came along, bringing with him over thirty men. Apparently, this old man had the same idea as Shichibei: after Nobunaga had swept away all the messengers, he was planning to use this mission to completely fill the gap.

Seven or eight families and a dozen servants from Kawamuraya were also mobilized. Last time, Nobunaga gave them copper coins, which were very broken. They had no horses, so they could only rely on manpower to carry them to Kai.

Tsushima Gyuto Tennosha was considered one of their own, so they exchanged twenty gold pieces for Shichibei, which ultimately amounted to just over a hundred kan. Owari's gold was quite "tide," but its gold content wasn't as high as that of the Kawa and Takeda clans.

Fortunately, gold was considered a weighted currency in those days, and when they arrived in Kai, the Takeda family had plenty of goldsmiths to purify the gold.

Nobunaga sent 200 soldiers as escort, and they took the Kiso Road, which was where Minamoto no Yoshinaka made his fortune. The Kiso family had already surrendered to the Takeda clan, and Kiso Yoshiyasu got the news years ago and sent people to meet the Oda clan's troops.

To be honest, the Nakasendo or Kiso Road is not a particularly easy road to travel on. The snow had not melted at that time, and soldiers still needed to shovel snow on some sections of the road. Fortunately, with the assistance of the Kiso family, otherwise it would take ten days to half a month just to walk to Kiso Fukushima.

Once we entered Suwa, everything became much easier. Takeda Shingen had a relatively strong grip on Suwa, having already secured the Suwa clan. Coupled with the need to dispatch troops to the Oku-Shinano region, Suwa's streets were well-maintained, and the snow had long since been cleared.

The person assigned to the Takeda mission was naturally Niwa Nagahide. Without him, no one would have thought to bring Shichibei along. By the time they reached Tsutsujizaki-kan, it had taken a full sixteen days; the journey was truly difficult.

"It is indeed a flat city." Shichibei carefully checked Tsutsujizaki-kan. This city did not have a very high defense.

There was a moat, but no stone walls. The limestone walls had also peeled in places, likely due to the heavy summer rains in the Kai Mountains. The castle couldn't be repaired daily, so it was left as is. More importantly, there were no small keep or large turrets at the gates or strategic locations.

Without even a single local defensive support point, both Shingen and Shingen, father and son, were truly confident in themselves. They were certain that no one could reach the Takeda clan's main castle, leaving only this weakly defended Heijo Castle to govern the entire Kai.

Like Komakiyama Castle, Tsutsujizaki-kan also had a castle town, but it was small, primarily due to a lack of water transport links to the outside world. This greatly limited the size of the castle town, and its primary commercial services were limited to the Takeda clan's retainers.

It's no wonder that Takeda Shingen could only brutally extort money from the common people, or fight with Uesugi Kenshin for control of Zenkoji Monzen-machi. Even trading hubs like Suruga Fuchū were ultimately poorly managed, and his ability to make money was inferior to Nobunaga's.

They would inform Shingen first before entering the city. Of course, Shingen would not immediately summon the Oda clan's envoys. After all, the Takeda clan and the Imagawa clan were now in a marriage alliance, and the Oda clan was the Imagawa clan's mortal enemy, so this relationship was quite delicate.

Takeda Shingen and Takeda Yoshinobu had probably already started to oppose each other at this time, and the Takeda family was in turmoil.

Given this situation, Oda and his entourage were relocated to the residence of Inuyama Tessai, located below the castle. This Inuyama Tessai was none other than Oda Nobumasa. With the castle gone, one must either commit seppuku or become a monk, a common practice among the military. Shichibei had been watching him flee earlier, and now he seems to be in good spirits.

Niwa Nagahide did not avoid Inuyama Tessai and asked him directly about the situation of the Takeda family and whether it was possible to reach a marriage alliance with Takeda Shingen?

The Imagawa clan is truly weak and incompetent, not known for their wisdom and might. Suruga is a rich land, boasting both the benefits of a gold mine and convenient trade, and it deserves a virtuous ruler. Previously, this virtuous ruler was Imagawa Yoshimoto, so of course there was no problem. But now...

Haha, Takeda Shingen thought he was quite virtuous, and Hojo Ujiyasu might not think he was less virtuous. When the Imagawa family was in internal strife, how did the Hojo family invade Suruga Province?

We are all in this business, and everyone knows that cooperation is temporary and benefits are permanent.

You guys talk, Shichibei's out looking for a horse. Unless Takeda Shingen and Takeda Yoshinobu immediately act like filial sons and sacrifice the heads of the Oda clan, the city should be quite safe. It's not a big deal.

There are two streets in total at the foot of the city, just a few steps away, and there is no one selling horses.

What's going on? Shichibei wanted to ask, but the strange thing was that the Japanese spoken with the Owari accent didn't match the Japanese spoken with the Kai accent at all. Especially the local dialect of the Kai mountain area, which sounded like bird talk, and of course, the same thing happened to Shichibei.

What should I do? I don’t speak the language and there are no horses on the market. All the hardships and hardships of traveling through mountains and rivers to get here would be in vain.

Walking back to Inuyama's residence dejectedly, Shichibei saw Kato Nobunaga returning with a similarly anxious look. Needless to say, he must have run into obstacles everywhere, just like Shichibei.

Spread your hands, close your eyes, kick your legs, and lie down.

When you are undecided, just sleep.

It wasn't that Shichibei had a good attitude; he felt that since Niwa Nagahide had brought us here, he couldn't just sit back and watch. Since we couldn't buy the horses ourselves, we could wait for the Oda and Takeda marriage to be finalized, and Shingen would naturally arrange for someone to sell the horses.

Kai's business was not prosperous. Shichibei and Kato Nobunaga both came with cash. Anyone who didn't make money was a fool.

After two days of lying in state, Niwa Nagashide finally received permission to enter the castle to meet Takeda Shingen. It's unknown what the two men talked about, but several men with less-than-heavy accents were sent from the castle to greet the Oda clan.

The clouds cleared, and Kato Nobunaga grabbed the man and asked about the price of horses in Kai and Shinano. Shichibei, however, was unhurried. He had the advantage of being an armed merchant. With Nobunaga's two hundred foot soldiers and a dozen samurai from the Niwa clan as guards, he wouldn't be easily robbed by bandits or pirates.

If I can make some money from this, it will be worth the trip.

The last time I was in Hubei, the business there was so prosperous and thriving that virtually every industry had a de facto monopoly. Kai was different. Kai's merchants were just a few, not even worth mentioning. They couldn't form a strong commercial guild, nor did they produce any truly impressive products.

Hubei even has specialty stores for mosquito nets, what about you, Kai?

The warriors from Kai naturally boasted about the abundance of gold and the quality of the wood in Ko-Shin, but seeing that Shichibei showed no sign of being impressed, they also said that my horse was famous throughout Kanto and was a top-notch horse.

And then what? Shichibei didn't want to know something that everyone already knew. Didn't your Daizen no Daifu ever think of developing some special products? These days, daimyo are constantly trying to "develop" their territories. Anything that could be used to pay for military support was developed accordingly.

You can't say that this is all you have, right? It's useless to keep saying it over and over again.

Shichibei looked like a scumbag who'd been around a lot, as if he'd seen it all before. He immediately silenced the several Kai samurai who had come to greet him. Kai was a poor kingdom. The small Fuchu Plain on the Kamashi River could only produce wheat and rice; the entire country couldn't even produce silk. It was so poor that people called it a mountain monkey.

"Everyone, don't you know the principle of living by the mountain and eating by the mountain, living by the water and eating by the water?" Shichibei felt that it was not right. They didn't even have anything to eat, so why didn't they use their brains?

"Of course! My lord controlled the water and built dams, which increased the paddy fields by thousands of kan." One of the warriors admired his Lord Shingen very much, and even had stars in his eyes.

Good man, you haven't slept with Shingen, have you?

"No, no, no, I'm not talking about this. Special products. For example, the green hemp from Echigo, the tea from Totomi, the paper from Izu, the cast pots from Sagami..." Shichibei sat up and taught these Kai warriors a lesson.

"Well..." These are all nearby territories, so of course they have heard of them.

"Not even one?" Shichibei scratched his head and asked himself in his soul.

"Yes, yes, there's horsetail!" A Kai samurai, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, called out a name.

Oh, this thing. Horsetail is used as a medicinal herb in China, but it's not commonly used. It's a perennial herb. Its stem is green, tubular, hollow, and noded; its leaves have degenerated into scales. Its rough surface makes it useful for polishing wood, bone, copper, and other objects.

"Yehangchuan·Utensils": If a knife is rusty, rub it with horsetail grass.

Boil horsetail grass lightly in water and use it to clean swords, effectively removing rust. This was a must-have item in Japan, becoming a staple for samurai during the Warring States period.

But this thing is not only produced between Jiaxin, it likes to grow in the shade and moist places under the forest on the hillside, and is easily found in riverside wetlands, streams or weeds.

If you want to use it, you can just go to the foot of the mountain or the riverbank and pick a few. There is no need to travel all the way to Kai to buy it. If this can be considered a specialty product, then Kai is really poor.

I laugh at Takeda Shingen's lack of wisdom and Sanada Yukitaka's lack of strategy. They have all the treasures in the world but don't know how to use them.

"Have you ever thought that the wax left over from cooking the fruits of various trees in the mountains, such as the wild lacquer tree, can be used to make candles?" Shichibei was quite helpless. Many things just lacked that little bit of window paper.

They knew that the fruits of those miscellaneous woods contained wax, and they also knew that candles were good things, but they just couldn't figure out the process of utilizing them.

"Huh?" Several Kai warriors were stunned.

"Forget it, just pretend I didn't say anything." Shichibei came not to help Takeda Shingen make a fortune, but mainly to learn about the products between Ko and Shin.

"Please explain in detail!" A Takeda warrior suddenly knelt forward and took Shichibei's hand.

"Hmm?" Qibingwei frowned. This is a bit rude.

"My name is Gorobei Nobutsugu Yonekura. Please be generous with your advice." Nobutsugu Yonekura immediately let go and bowed his head to apologize to Shichibei.

"Okay..." Shichibei simply poured out all the messy things he knew to Nobutsugu Yonekura, who was fascinated by it.

After turning back to the city, Nobutsugu Yonekura reported to Nobumasa Takeda about the handover process and conversation content with the Oda family today. When Nobumasa Takeda heard about the wood wax candle, he pondered for a moment, wondering what this thing was.

Unable to make a decision for a moment, Takeda Nobumasa naturally took Yonekura Nobutsugu to report to Takeda Shingen.