Owari Yumeki Golden Day

After the excess military supplies were transported back to Komakiyama, Sakuma Nobumori returned to Kawamuraya's thirty horses. He also settled the bill with Shichibei, saying the horses were worth whatever they were worth. As vassals, we must also settle accounts clearly.

Since Sakuma Nobumori was here, Shichibei asked him whether Nobunaga would kill Ryuoki or not. It was not likely that he would not kill him, because the two most popular spectators, the Mikawa and Seino, had both dispersed and gone home.

Killing Long Xing is such a great shocking performance, but if there are no audiences with enough strength to watch, wouldn’t it be a waste?

Anyway, Long Xing was once the lord of Mino and a minister of the Muromachi shogunate. A chicken of this level cannot be caught and killed casually.

Sakuma Nobumori smiled but said nothing. Is this something you and I should inquire about?

He asked the servant to take out the money to pay the bill, left an unfathomable smile and left.

Another Riddler!

Kill him if you want, and don't kill him if you don't want. You can't just wait for Lady Nouhime to come from Komakiyama and plead for mercy. It's not impossible. Yoshitatsu killed his father and rebelled, so he should be beheaded immediately. Longxing simply inherited his father's family business. Although the family business was tainted with "original sin," Longxing didn't kill his father and rebel.

In fact, Shichibei guessed wrong, and Ryūshū was now making a decision. Nobunaga promised that if Ryūshū was willing to surrender, he would recruit the three generations of direct retainers of the Saito clan in Mino, and preserve the Saito clan's "high-quality" retainers of hundreds of people, and join Nobunaga and serve as Nobunaga's vanguard.

Then Nobunaga could grant Ryūxing a territory of 15,000 kan so that Ryūxing could place retainers there and rebuild his army.

But this territory definitely wasn't in Mino, not even Inuyama near Mino. He had to go to Kiyosu Castle, Nobunaga's old nest, surrounded by Nobunaga's die-hard supporters.

In addition, to show his sincerity, Nobunaga could also choose an adopted daughter of the same clan and betroth her to Ryūshū to become his principal wife. In the future, any children born to the two would be allowed to use the surname Oda and become a member of the Oda clan.

This was the condition, and it was actually quite generous. After all, the Oda family's wealth was expanding too quickly, and Nobunaga still hoped to absorb and utilize the retainers accumulated by the three generations of the Mino Saito clan as quickly as possible.

As we've said, samurai promoted from foot soldiers, general soldiers, townspeople, and farmers might be okay as foot soldiers. But to truly lead troops into battle and govern, they had to be samurai with two or three generations of experience, a family background of literacy, or exceptional martial arts skills.

Samurai are not something that can be found everywhere. Although there are many ronin these days, how many of them are truly talented (can kill people) and smart (have read books)?

There is a scene in "Seven Samurai" where the samurai are recruited, and Shimada has Katsushiro stand by the door and attack the samurai who come in. Some can be seen from outside the door, some can fight back immediately without being knocked down, and some are knocked to the ground by the club.

The level of ronin was truly uneven. Some, like Kikuchiyo, were just ronin or miscellaneous soldiers fighting here and there, but when they stole a family tree, they pretended to be a fourteen-year-old child.

To put it bluntly, Nobunaga was plotting against other people.

Ryusei was in a dilemma as to whether to surrender or not. With his city and army now broken, he had no bargaining chips to offer Nobunaga. The only thing Nobunaga valued was his position as head of the Mino Saito clan. This position would attract most of the Saito clan's samurai retainers to his side.

Hineno Hiro, who had previously glared at Nobunaga, urged Ryūshū to surrender to Nobunaga first and preserve his core retainers. As long as the core retainers remained, they would have the capital to overthrow Nobunaga.

Don't be fooled by Nobunaga's current splendour; that was merely a passing fancy. You, Longxing, are nineteen this year, twenty in age, while Nobunaga is already thirty-four. This fellow is fifteen years your senior, and will surely die before you.

As long as he dies, when we return to Minong, we will be able to get a lot of support from the people. Wherever our family and our army go, the people will welcome them wholeheartedly.

Nagai Michitoshi disagreed. First, Nobunaga stripped Ryusei of his Mino skills, shattering Ryusei's foundation with one blow. Second, he also wanted to marry Ryusei to an Oda woman. What did this mean?

It's very simple. As soon as this Oda woman gives birth to a baby boy, you, Long Xing, will fall off your horse and die, die from drunkenness, or even choke to death from eating a steamed bun or drinking water.

At that time, it would be natural for Nobunaga to use this baby boy, whose surname had been changed to Oda, to seize the core samurai group of the Saito family.

Most of the Saito warriors would accept their fate and eventually join the Oda clan in battle. This is a blunt, bloodless method of killing.

Even if he accepted Nobunaga's terms, he would only be able to live for another two or three years. He would also be giving away the Saito family's fortune, which had been passed down for three generations, to Nobunaga for nothing.

Even if we die, we can't let Oda Nobunaga get away with it.

Well, the two important ministers had completely different opinions, which made Long Xing very difficult. Anyone who could still follow him closely at this point must be a loyal minister. Hurting the feelings of either of them would not be a good thing.

What should I do then? Nobunaga couldn't wait too long, at most a day or two.

………………

"In this battle, Qibingwei deserves the greatest credit. He proposed the deployment of Longxing and captured Longxing and five others!"

Nobunaga, sitting in the main hall of Inabayama Castle, announced loudly. No one around him would object, as these were all genuine achievements, and no one would have any reason to refute them.

"Therefore, Shichibei Kana is granted a thousand kan of knowledge and action."

"I'm so terrified!" Shichibei thought it was only 500 kan, but he never expected that the two merits combined could give him 1,000 kan.

"Also, So Kotaro will assist in the new promotion to the Imperial Stables and be rewarded with twenty gold coins. Kawamura Shichibei will also be given two hundred kan of new rewards for his assistance." Nobunaga waved his hand to signal So Kotaro to come over and tapped his head gently with his folding fan.

He even apologized to So Kotaro in a voice so low that only the two of them could hear. After all, he almost kicked So Kotaro into the ditch.

"I will never forget your Majesty's grace." So Kotaro, who was still thinking about the 1,000-kan cash reward before coming here, was almost incoherent at this moment.

"Fujikichiro, you have done a great job. I will grant you 500 kan of Kasamatsu." Nobunaga waved his hand to let Sokotaro leave and pointed at Hideyoshi.

Hideyoshi had fought tirelessly in the attack on Inabayama Castle. Now that the castle had been taken, this was his due reward. As long as he worked hard for Nobunaga, he would reward him accordingly.

"Your retainer is also very good. Grant him 50 kan of salary to reward you for your hard work." Nobunaga was in high spirits at the moment and continued his announcement without waiting for Hideyoshi to thank him.

Yoshiharu Horio was still standing outside the main castle at this time, completely unaware that he had become a samurai with a kendo 50kan. He certainly knew he would be rewarded, but he didn't expect to receive the kendo immediately.

Just like So Kotaro, who thought he would get a large sum of cash, but ended up getting 200 kan of money. Nobunaga was indeed not stingy.

Others naturally received some rewards, such as Mori Kanari, who also participated in the siege. In addition, those who defended the main camp and killed the Saito army samurai during the Longxing night attack would also receive rewards such as gold, war horses, and precious swords.

One must demonstrate outstanding knowledge and action before being rewarded, which usually means giving money or things.

Or, for example, one of Nobunaga's foot soldiers killed a famous samurai from the Saito clan, and was promoted to foot soldier leader. A salary increase, an additional rice subsidy, or money, but it wasn't a one-time payment; as long as you carried a gun for me, your base salary would increase.

It is also a very good benefit. If you carry the gun for a long time, you will most likely get Zhixing in the end. Nobunaga is now the lord of two countries and a true millionaire. The only thing he lacks is someone willing to carry the gun for him.

"Finally, there is one more thing to announce."

Everyone was discussing enthusiastically and enthusiastically. It was almost time for Nobunaga's celebration banquet. It might be held at Inabayama Castle or Komaki Castle, but Nobunaga would definitely treat everyone to a meal.

Hearing that Nobunaga had something else to announce, everyone stopped discussing and waited for Nobunaga to speak. However, Nobunaga did not speak immediately, but waited for a moment.

A man walked in grandly from outside. He was a person that everyone was already familiar with and had met several times recently.

Saito Ryuki!

"Jibu will be transferred to Kiyosu Castle and will work with you all from now on!" Nobunaga's words immediately ignited the entire audience.

Yesterday you were still shouting for war and killing, wishing you could eat Longxing's flesh and sleep on his skin. Today, Longxing kowtows to you, and you two shake hands and make peace.

Long Xing did not show any obvious emotional fluctuations. He just walked in and sat next to Nobunaga. Nobunaga introduced them to each other, and the Oda retainers in the same hall got to know each other.

I don’t know whether to say that Oda Nobunaga is careless or brave. It’s a bit difficult to judge Shichibei.

87. New policy on public-private partnership

So Kotaro pulled out the twenty gold coins, roughly round in shape, which Nobunaga used as rewards. Each one weighed about two and a half taels and had a stamp on it, guaranteeing its value and reputation.

The distribution was fair, too: each of the nine people got one, plus one for the person who took action and one for the one who dived to rescue the victim. It was based on the principle of effort, and no one disagreed.

Nine people gathered in a circle, looking up at the sunlight to see the quality, then biting down to test the toughness. The warrior hunters were happy to win the prize, earning a gold coin at most. They had to secretly sell their weapons and armor for money, which was definitely not as satisfying as handing out cash or rice.

"Congratulations, Kotaro." Shichibei patted Kotaro's shoulder and said, "Brother, you have made it."

"I dare not, I dare not, I dare not, I dare not..." So Kotaro was so happy that his mouth was grinning, but he still didn't dare. It was not in vain that Nobunaga kicked him.

"It's like he's eaten bee shit." Shichibei muttered secretly. So Kotaro didn't hear it clearly and continued to laugh.

"Hey, Shichibei, Shichibei." As soon as he turned around, Hideyoshi ran over to greet Shichibei.

Now Hideyoshi is also a famous samurai with a thousand kan, and his status is higher, but Shichibei is not left behind, he is also a famous samurai with a thousand kan.

"Why, buddy, you're not going back to Sunomata?"

"I'll be back after the lord's celebration banquet is over." The person referring here must be the celebration banquet for Oda's trusted vassals.

It is said that in history, Nobunaga made his good brother-in-law into a wine cup, which was used at an internal drinking party attended only by the imperial stables, minor officials, and a few important ministers.

But I feel this statement is not very reliable. Killing a chicken to scare the monkeys, what are the trusted retainers trying to intimidate? The good brother-in-law's wine cup should be taken out and shown to those powerful people and the daimyos.

It works better when shown to Tokugawa Ieyasu than to Kinoshita Hideyoshi.

"It should be, indeed."

"Hey, have you heard how much information was given to Mino-no-Kami?" Hideyoshi leaned close to Shichibei's ear.

"What Mino-no-kami? He's just Saito Osamu." Shichibei patted Hideyoshi on the shoulder, pointing out his slip of the tongue.

"Oh yes, yes, it's Saito Jibe."

"It must be at least 10,000 kan, otherwise we won't be able to appoint many retainers." It's very simple. For example, Nagai Michitoshi has three or four sons.

He should take 500 kan for himself and 200 kan for each of his sons, otherwise he wouldn't be able to afford a warhorse, nor could he afford to produce a cannon, foot soldiers, or retainers. His family alone would need 1,000 kan to settle down. If it were less than 10,000 kan, Longxing wouldn't be able to accommodate so many Saito samurai.

"Kiyosu has 15,000 kan, almost the highest among all the retainers, and is also listed among the first-rank retainers." Hideyoshi immediately reported the number.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Shichibei smacked his lips several times.

Nobunaga was truly willing to offer a price, considering he was truly short of men at the time. When he destroyed the Takeda clan, he issued a direct killing order, forbidding any surrender from the Takeda samurai. Even the young Yamada Nobushige, who came to surrender, was chopped off by him. It was only because Anayama Baiyu surrendered early and offered to lead the way that he was spared.

This actually enriched Tokugawa Ieyasu, who gathered a group of capable thugs. There were dozens of daimyo who would become the future shogunate of Edo.

By the way, our acquaintance in Kai, Nobutsugu Yonekura, his brothers' descendants followed Tokugawa Ieyasu in history. In the end, he became the lord of the Minagawa Domain and Rokuura Domain with 15,000 koku, and continued to rule until the end of the shogunate. In the Meiji era, he even became a viscount.

"If we hadn't cut down a lot of people at the foot of Zuiryuji Mountain a few days ago, I'm afraid we would have to pay 20,000 kan by now." Hideyoshi was just a samurai with only a thousand kan, so of course he looked up to the family fortune of 20,000 kan.

"Well, how many people do you plan to summon?" With Shichibei's status, it's not enough to discuss such matters. Let's talk about what we can discuss.

"Use it to recruit 25 arquebusiers." Hideyoshi was not actually that short of samurai.

As in history, he also asked Nobunaga for the support of the Makimura and Maruge families. Since he already had samurai, it was appropriate to supplement the projectile firepower and prepare the iron cannon.

Just before the rewards were handed out, the minor clans and statesmen of Mino came to Nobunaga to surrender. Nobunaga appeased them one by one, accepting their offerings of precious swords and horses. Nobunaga immediately assigned the Takenaka clan to Shichibei (having pre-determined it), and Hideyoshi, observing this, seized the opportunity to speak out.

"That's convenient for you." Shichibei now had a new 1,000 kan, so he really had to expand his group of retainers to meet Nobunaga's expectations.

"What about you?" Hideyoshi was quite curious about this, because Shichibei's main responsibility was to protect merchants, not to be a samurai.

The Kaito County Commandery was assisted by twenty men assigned by Nobunaga. During battles, the Seven Guards did not need to lead the charge, nor did they need any bow-wielding or cannon-wielding foot soldiers.

I?

In fact, Shichibei now has an important task and is already preparing for it, which is the "Oyakata" mentioned by Nobunaga before.

To support Nobunaga's powerful influence, Shichibei had to provide at least 20,000 koku of tribute rice this year, gradually accumulating capital. Eventually, he would become Nobunaga's general commercial agent for Owari Province, responsible for all economic activities related to commerce.

However, money was the most important thing for this job, and manpower was secondary. After all, Nobunaga wanted money that he could withdraw and spend at any time, and he could give away all other business rights.

"Let me think about it later." Shichibei didn't have an answer right now, but he wasn't in a hurry for a day or two. He could just go back to Komakiyama and continue thinking about it.

We gathered our belongings and followed Nobunaga's group back to Komakiyama. We didn't know when Nobunaga would move to Inabayama Castle, so our branch office at the foot of Komakiyama Castle would have to follow suit.

If there were no large number of Oda retainers gathered in Komaki Castle, it would not actually be a key commercial trade node.

Passing by the Nobi border post, Shichibei happened to unload some of the military rations and horse fodder. These were to be stored at the post in advance for Nobunaga's future rapid marches.

The team stopped inside and outside the post station. Shichibei led the horses into the stable. They would be spending the night at the post station, so they had to settle the horses down.

While feeding the horses, two farmers passed by the stable, collecting manure from the manure pit behind. After the summer harvest, rice planting was still necessary, and the fields definitely needed fertilizer. Shichibei had previously agreed with the local lords surrounding the post station to collect manure regularly. This provided them with an additional source of fertilizer, saving the Oda clan from having to send people to clean up the post station.

The two farmers also asked Shichibei if they needed to sweep the horse manure tomorrow?

Of course we need it. Once our team sets out, you can come and sweep.

By the way, speaking of this, Shichibei wanted to ask. Why are you asking me this? Shouldn't you ask the post station manager?

The two farmers opposite laughed. This post station was built for His Highness to pass through for his troops. Normally, they didn't need it at all. They were all conscripted for labor. The family elder Niwa Nagahide signed a labor contract with the local village and sent someone to the post station to prevent fire and theft, stay at home to watch over the house, and occasionally feed the horses.

After all, there is food and horse fodder in the post station, so we need to send someone to sleep in the barn. As for the empty house, just make sure it is fireproof.

Ow...

It was indeed a common practice in the feudal era, to sign peasants around the post station to serve as postmen. The Inca Empire is said to have done this, and the Yuan and Ming dynasties next door also did this for a period of time.

However, their post stations also had attached plots of land for the postmen to cultivate and keep their horses, and if a horse died, the postmen had to compensate. The core idea was the same: to shift military or political expenses that should have been borne by the feudal government onto the peasants, letting them bear the burden.

Come to think of it, what good solution could Niwa Nagahide have? He couldn't possibly support two people guarding a rarely used post station. That would be such a waste. He could have used the money to hire an additional foot soldier.

and many more!

Since Nobunaga and Niwa Nagahide don't want to support him, can this job be assigned to Kawamuraya?

Setting up stables in various locations was ultimately Shichibei's business. Although Shichibei was a samurai, Kawamuraya was a general business unit. What if Kawamuraya's stables were completely tied to the Oda clan's post stations?

You dare to cause trouble? Attack the government!

You dare to default on your debt? Take my iron fist!

Since he had to work for Nobunaga anyway, why not try to tie his work to his own business? In the feudal era, all successful businessmen were officials.

Non-official businessmen could not survive and develop in the feudal era. They had to be tied to the government in order to become bigger and stronger and maintain the monopoly power obtained from the government.

Don't be afraid of being an official or businessman. If you are afraid, you will not be able to accomplish anything.

Now that the Seven Guards have received an additional 1,000 kan of money, they can use it to hire 100 foot soldiers at a rate of 10 kan a year. With 100 men, they can fully staff 30 post stations.

A groom, a clerk, and a guard.

The groom takes care of the assigned mules and horses and the barn, the clerk records expenses, passing people, local rumors, etc., and guards against fire and theft.