Owari Yumeki Golden Day

Because Shichibei was also present at the scene, he was summoned to the palace of Komakiyama Castle to serve as a witness and be questioned by Nobunaga. Of course, Nobunaga mainly questioned Sakuma Nobumori and Sakuma Nobutatsu, as they were the main responsible persons.

Who could have imagined that after more than two-thirds of their progress had been successful, they would encounter a naval attack from the Saito army? Besides, a naval attack like this was impossible to prevent, as the upper reaches of the Nagara River were under the control of the Saito army.

The "Sakuma Plan", which originally seemed very feasible, actually experienced huge deviations in its actual implementation and failed to achieve the expected results.

The point is that even if we bring tens of thousands of troops and thousands of peasants to meet the enemy in the front and build the city in the back, it is unlikely. After all, water attacks can be launched continuously, and the construction period will be so long anyway.

The construction site is so small, two or three thousand farmers are already the limit, you can't cram in 100,000 or 80,000 farmers. Everything has its own marginal effect.

One hundred thousand people? There's not even enough room to stand.

Unless they first captured Ogaki Castle and gained a fulcrum in Nishimino, they could then block the road from Inabayama Castle to Sunamata. Only then would it be possible to build a city in Sunamata and achieve success.

But I've already taken Ogaki Castle, so why would I build Sunomata Castle? Forget about the land on the south bank of the Nagara River; even the land on the north bank can be cultivated and developed without worry. Isn't this protected by Ogaki Castle?

There is nothing I can do for a while...

Nobunaga, figuring his own actions wouldn't change anything, simply offered Nobumori a few words of comfort before letting him go back to rest. Over twenty of the Sakuma army's men were unable to escape and ultimately died at Sunomata.

It was enough to keep Sakuma Nobumori heartbroken for two weeks. His family's samurai retainers had suffered a significant loss during Sakuma Morishige's desperate defense of Marugane Castle. If you think about it, that was only six or seven years ago, a time when children wouldn't have had time to grow up. Now, over twenty more had died. On his return home that night, Sakuma Nobumori was reduced to tears.

After Nobumori left, Nobunaga questioned Shichibei about certain points, and the answers he received were largely the same. Nobumori had truly dedicated himself to this, and there was nothing to criticize. Shichibei also answered truthfully. After all, with over three thousand people present, he could easily verify everything.

"Nanabe, well, forget it, you should go too."

Nobunaga raised his hand as if he wanted to ask Shichibei something, but after thinking about it, he immediately gave up.

But we have to give up. What's the point of asking Shichibei about fighting? Shichibei can lead dozens of horses, but he may not be able to lead dozens of men. If he can't even lead dozens of men, then what's the point of fighting a war?

After all, horses are easier to deal with, because if they don't obey, Shichibei can whip them with a big whip without any scruples. Of course, you can whip people, but you can't be sure they'll come and stab you in the middle of the night. A horse tied up in the middle of the night can't come and kill you.

The horse is good, but the man is bad.

Shichibei bowed to Nobunaga and stood up to leave. He glanced around and saw no sign of Fujikichiro. He wondered where Fujikichiro was at the moment.

He had just fled back to the city from Sunamata for his life, and the one guarding the city gate was not Fujiyoshiro. That was to say, it was not his turn to be on duty in the past ten days or this month. Naturally, he could not immediately know the situation and report his plan to Nobunaga.

Fortunately, the main store at Kawamuraya was in Tsushima, and the branch near Komakiyama Castle was staffed only by Oji and Kinoshita Koichirō, who had come to help temporarily. They had just heard that Sakuma Nobumori had returned from his defeat, and with Shichibei nowhere to be seen, they had been anxiously preparing to visit the Sakuma household to inquire about the news. Seeing Shichibei return, they were finally relieved.

The other sisters weren't at Komakiyama, so there wasn't much worry. Aci was still tugging at Shichibei's clothes, looking around. "Take them off quickly! They're half-dry. Wearing them for too long will give you a cold."

Yes, yes, yes. Early in the morning, without even having breakfast, I jumped into the water and then went on a long horseback ride. This set of clothes kept getting wet and dry, wet and dry, and I had to keep wearing it the whole time.

When he took it off, a large area of ​​his loincloth was wet.

He casually threw on a robe and relaxed, his stomach growling with hunger. As for the two guys, they had already collapsed on the haystack. They had run back on their own two legs, but it was a life-threatening situation.

There's still a bowl of leftovers from lunch. Eat them, you three. Ah Ci brought the rice and bowls, and Xiao Yilang brought a pot of hot tea. The three of them were like starving ghosts, so they didn't even bother to eat. They just shoved their bowls into the rice, taking whatever they had. They started with a couple of mouthfuls of cold rice to fill their stomachs.

"Koichiro, where is your brother?" Koichiro poured tea into his bowl, and Shichibei remembered to ask about his brother.

"Big brother went to find Xiaoliu." This was indeed the answer.

After the New Year, Xiaoliu from Hosuka went upstream to buy logs, but the workload was too huge to make thousands of wooden boards that could be quickly spliced ​​in advance, and he didn't know if he had completed half of them at this moment.

"Do you know where it is exactly?" Shichibei thought that the final task of building the Sunomata Castle would definitely fall on Fujikichiro's shoulders, so he had to take a look first.

Sakuma Nobumori's strategy was sound, and he executed it with great effort, but in the end, it still failed. Nobunaga must be deeply troubled by this.

"I know. I delivered some wine there once." Kinoshita Koichiro nodded naturally.

It's been said long ago that if Sunomata Castle is built, Tokichiro will definitely have the money to pay Shichibei back. If it fails, well, Koichiro will be sold to Kawamuraya as a son-in-law.

Shichibei thought it was worth it to spend a few hundred kan to buy Kinoshita Koichirō. After Koichirō and Aji get married and are sold to the Kawamura family, we'll have to change the surname as well.

Kawamura Koichiro Hidena.

"I'm away for a few days. What's going on in the store?" Shichibei nodded and said that he would go to the camp of the Hosuka Party when he had some time tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

"It's nothing. Someone from the Takeda family came and agreed on the date for this year's horse exchange, and asked us to prepare in advance." Xiao Ichiro thought for a while and said so.

Around May, the Takeda clan would bring the horses they were selling to Komaki Castle. Takeda Shingen would undoubtedly want to receive the horses in exchange for payment. It was only natural that he would send someone to inform Shichibei ahead of time.

"What rumors are there about Kai?" We were having a meal anyway, so we might as well chat.

"Yes, yes, yes." Speaking of this, Xiao Yilang suddenly became emotional.

It was reported that Takeda Yoshinobu was plotting a rebellion, but his plan ultimately failed due to the betrayal of Iitomi Genshiro. It is said that the Takeda clan elder, Iitomi Toramasa, had committed seppuku, while Takeda Yoshinobu was placed under house arrest in a temple.

The Takeda clan's important Iitomi family was cut off from its name, and Iitomi Genshiro inherited the famous Yamagata family in Shinano, changed his name to Yamagata Saburobei Masakage, and served as the Takeda clan's family elder.

As a result, the biggest obstacle to Shingen's invasion of Suruga in the Takeda family disappeared. The remaining major retainers were all promoted by Shingen over the years and were all loyal to Shingen's will. It was almost impossible for them to oppose Shingen's strategy.

"It's indeed a big deal..." Shichibei had finished his chazuke and was drinking tea to clear his mouth.

This kind of news didn't need Shichibei to pass on to Nobunaga. On Nobunaga's side, there was a special Toyama family responsible for negotiating with the Takeda family. If the Takeda family had any issues, they would directly report them to the Toyama family, and then pass them on to Nobunaga.

Suwa Katsuyori married the daughter of the Toyama family, who lived in Tsutsujigasaki Castle. Such a major event couldn't be concealed. Even a prominent Kai family like the Iitomi family was wiped out.

You must know that at that time, Iitomi Toramasa raised an army to oppose Takeda Shingen, and fought with Takeda Shingen, but Shingen was unable to cut off the family name of Iitomi.

Well, we have no right to interfere in the affairs of the Takeda family, so let’s just take care of our own family business.

The next day, Shichibei got up early and went to see Kinoshita Koichirō, planning to go see Fujikichirō and Hachisuka Koroku. Koichirō said that it would be wrong to go empty-handed and that he had to bring some wine.

Bring some wine to the Hosuga clan, and they'll definitely work even harder at shaving wood. Ordinary people don't really have many avenues for enjoyment these days; how many farmers dream of having a bowl of rice?

Drinking is a great enjoyment.

When they were happy drinking, they could work harder to carve wood.

That makes sense, so let's buy it. In the end, all the money will be charged to Kinoshita Tokichiro anyway. We don't need to do the "nine out, thirteen back" thing, but brothers have to settle accounts.

Xiao Yilang took the money and ran to buy some wine. Of course, there was wine for sale at the foot of Komakiyama Castle, and there was quite a lot of it. It was also easy to transport because the wine was transported in wooden barrels at that time, so there was no need to worry about the jars breaking.

As for the consumption tax on alcohol, you asked? That has nothing to do with us consumers. These days, the tax is levied based on the number of bottles in the liquor store. The tax is based on the number of bottles you own. As for concealment, substitution, and bribery, those are all transactions between liquor store owners and tax collectors, and have nothing to do with us.

Two ships of wine? That's a big deal.

Seeing the two ships of sake, Shichibei sighed that the quantity was too much. But then he thought about the hundreds of people in the Hosuka gang who were probably busy cutting wood. So buying a few dozen or a hundred barrels of sake didn't seem too much.

Since you've already bought so much wine, then...

After whispering to Xiao Yilang for a while, Xiao Yilang was delighted at first, but when he realized that he was in front of his brother-in-law, he quickly restrained his expression and pretended to be ignorant.

Okay, okay, stop pretending. We are all adults, why are you pretending?

Of course, there are promenades in the city, and where there are prostitutes, there are prostitutes. This industry has existed since the dawn of human civilization. There have always been people who have this need and this desire.

Although Shichibei had no idea about courtesans, after all, what kind of beauty could a country girl have? Previously in Iitomi Township, Yamagata Masakage had sent two foot-washing maids for us, and he had no idea what they were like.

However, Shichibei has high demands, but those country bumpkins in the Hosuka Party may not be so demanding. With wine and food, and beauties on both sides, that kind of life is probably something they have never dared to imagine in their lives.

This kind of thing had to be done quietly, so Shichibei hired three more boats. Taking advantage of the fact that there were few people on the street at noon, he pulled all the prostitutes who had just woken up onto the boats.

The mama-san at the arcade even demanded half the money upfront before she'd even go out on the job. Even Shichibei's intervention was useless. There were dozens of prostitutes out there, and what would you do if you abducted them all?

Okay, okay, you make sense.

By evening, the five boats had arrived at the camp of the Hosuka clan, in a place called Niuzi in Kakami County. Don't laugh, it's really called Niuzi.

I can only sigh, what a great name.

Niuzi is divided into West Niuzi and East Niuzi, the two villages separated by the Niuzi River. The river is completely covered by logs, and the water surface is almost invisible. It is obvious that the Niuzi Village is really cutting wood for Fujikichiro.

Outside the village, someone warned that entry was forbidden, but once Koichiro showed up, they allowed the five boats in. Everyone knew he was Fujikichiro's younger brother, so there was no need to be wary.

Then he saw Hosuga Koroku and Fujikichiro. Their faces were covered with sawdust and their hair was also covered with sawdust. He was wondering why Shichibei and Koichiro came.

Why?

All consumption today will be paid for by Mr. Fujikichiro!

Dozens of "flashy" prostitutes came down from the boat, and then the two shop assistants called on the people from the Beesuka gang to come to the boat to carry the muddy liquor.

Isn't rice wine brewed by farmers just muddy? Whose poem says, "Don't laugh at the muddy rice wine brewed by farmers. They're all just dirt. Why drink sake? Just enough." Sake is so expensive, and Hosuka's small wild boars can't eat fine bran.

Fujiyoshiro was such a smart man that without any explanation he turned around and greeted the hundreds of people from the Hosuka Party, saying, "Come on, come and drink and have fun. I'll treat you all."

Even if all the debts are hanging on his head, what does it matter? He has already given up. Too many lice don't itch, and too many debts don't worry.

As long as Sunomata succeeds in building the city, he will have fame, wealth and honor.

The group of country bumpkins from the Hosuka Party immediately cheered, all shouting Fujikichiro's name. Some of them couldn't wait to open the wine barrels and drink from them. Others were so impatient that they hugged the prostitutes without even washing their hands.

Unconsciously, Fujiyoshiro's popularity within the Hosuka Party rose to a new level.

After all, the Kawanami clan who made a living on the Kiso River only wanted to have enough food and clothing. If following Fujikichiro could provide them with food and clothing, they would not mind joining Fujikichiro, or Nobunaga behind Fujikichiro.

"It's great to be rich..." Somehow, Fujikichiro came over to greet Shichibei, and this was the first sentence he said.

"Haha, that's right. Money can move everything in the world." Shichibei agreed with this statement and just nodded.

So what's the situation now? Shichibei informed Fujikichiro of Sakuma Nobumori's failure to build the castle. Fujikichiro just nodded, holding his wine glass.

With Shichibei's financial support, the Hosuka gang abandoned shipping and road robbery and instead mobilized to cut wood. However, cutting wood was a laborious task these days, and it would take another two months to complete the tens of thousands of different planks needed for Sunomata Castle.

That means you can start building the city in two months?

49. Spending money to build a city today

Fujikichiro was truly unable to contain himself. Nobunaga once again consulted his Owari officials on how to build a fortress at Sunomata. Shibata Katsuie and Sakuma Nobumori had both failed, and Niwa Nagahide, returning from Yajima, didn't dare claim to have a successful plan.

The ministers were at a loss as to what to do. It was the spring plowing season and it was impossible to mobilize a large-scale army. Nobunaga was very distressed. If he had made suggestions to Nobunaga at this time, he would have been very happy.

But Fujiyoshiro just kept it to himself and refused to say anything.

According to him, he would have to wait until the Hosuka party prepared sufficient planks and logs before he would formally request Nobunaga to take on the task of building the Sunamata castle.

And if we suppress it a little now, maybe we can raise Nobunaga's expectations. Of course, this wasn't said by Fujikichiro, but Shichibei sensed it from Fujikichiro's tone.

Are you starting to control Nobunaga now?

Qibingwei suddenly understood why Huang Jin had to pretend to be a fool in front of Jiajing, a stupid, clumsy and useless goody-goody. Occasionally blame Jiajing, let Jiajing feel that you have true feelings for him, Jiajing will treat you as a treasure.

If you are smart and knowledgeable about everything, and in the end you know so much that there are beautiful women everywhere, you will end up violating Jiajing's taboo.

After resting for a day with Fujikichirō at Ushiko, Shichibei and his men returned to the foot of Komakiyama Castle. The castle grounds were quite peaceful. The failure of Sunomata's fortification was a matter for the daimyo Nobunaga and the high-ranking samurai. The common people and the spear-toting foot soldiers didn't seem to mind the shattering events.

They didn't understand the daimyo's strategic goals, nor did they need to understand them. They only needed to focus on production or fight hard.

The following time was quite peaceful, mainly because of two things related to Shichibei. One was that Katoya had also started selling alfalfa at the foot of Komakiyama Castle. His family had no horses or houses now, so they could only make a living by selling alfalfa.

It's understandable, and they weren't competing on price. After all, it was thirty coins a bunch of grass, how could they possibly lower the price? They couldn't just lose money to gain publicity. They all lived in Owari, there were no feuds, no past animosity, and harmony brought prosperity.

Another thing is that the owners of local arcades and taverns have been coming to Shichibei to settle their bills. Of course, Fujikichiro spent the money, but Shichibei had to pay the bills.

Originally, there was no such thing as a veranda, but Shichibei had given the Hosuka gang some foreign food, and now they're all clamoring. When he saw Fujikichiro going there, he asked if there were any prostitutes.

Is that reasonable?

But in order to continue to motivate them to cut the wood faster, they had no choice but to obey their wishes and continue to send wine and prostitutes to Niuzi for their happiness.

To the point that Fujikichiro himself felt embarrassed and started working as a waiter at Kawamuraya when he was not on duty. After all, the salary he was promised when he became Shichibei was 500 kan, but now it was more than 700 kan, not to mention 500 kan.

If Owari had not been unified, the horse-trading business would have been completely mixed into Shichibei's hands. Shichibei would have always had cash income, but he could not withstand Fujikichiro's continuous exploitation.

Well, let me give Fujikichiro a compliment. This guy is a hard worker, and he's a good hand. At least he helps out at the shop wholeheartedly. After the spring, with the spring rain and fertilizer, alfalfa grows fastest. The next two crops, the more you cut, the slower it grows. Fujikichiro came to help, and he almost went into the fields to cut alfalfa.

He is also good at farm work.

"Fujikichiro, take a break, sit down and rest." Shichibei couldn't stand it anymore. You are the head of a hundred-man foot soldier after all, and it's not appropriate for you to load people's trucks in the store.

"No need, we've only just arrived." Fujikichiro lowered his head and wiped the sweat off his face on the straw bale, not complaining about being tired at all.

"You're more capable than a horse..." Aci said this to Koichiro and Shichibei while holding a cup of tea.

"Nonsense!" After all, he is your fiancé's brother. Isn't it too hurtful to compare him like this?

That's what Aci said. If it were someone else, Shichibei would have hurt you XXX.

"He's as good as a cow." As a result, Xiao Yilang actually cooperated with Aci. The marriage has not even started yet, but his heart has already turned to his wife.

Well, you really don’t treat Fujikichiro as a human being.

"Have a drink of water." Shichibei couldn't do that, so he picked up a gourd ladle and poured some water to Fujikichiro.

"You sit down, you sit down." Fujiyoshiro hurried over to take the ladle, signaling Shichibei not to bother himself.

Good fellow, bringing your own rations and working like a slave, you, Kinoshita Tokichiro, are truly a master. It's me, Kawamura Shichibei, who didn't figure it out, so I'll have you working hard here.

"They drank so much, there must be an explanation, right?" In this case, Shichibei sat on the haystack and chatted with Fujikichiro who was moving hay below.

"It's almost there." Fujiyoshiro finished drinking the water and refused to stop working.

"How many people can they mobilize? Even if they don't dig trenches and only build rammed earth, it will take several hundred people, right?" Shichibei personally stayed in Sunomata for several days and knew the basic situation by heart.