Owari Yumeki Golden Day

In peacetime, they maintained the operation of the post station and shared the office with Shichibei's stable. In wartime, one person would stay at home to guard the house, while the others would follow Shichibei into battle.

Even the trouble of sending foot soldiers to protect the small caravan was saved, and the guards at the rear post station could be directly used. Wouldn't it be better to save dozens or hundreds of foot soldiers in Nobunaga's main force?

With this thought in mind, Shichibei hurried inside and found Nobunaga enjoying dinner with Saito Tatsuoki, who had accompanied him in the retreat. Just a few days earlier, they had threatened to kill each other, yet now they sat together in perfect harmony, like a normal lord and retainer. The highlight was that they were enjoying chazuke (rice porridge) made from a pot of tea; otherwise, Tatsuoki wouldn't have been able to finish it.

Hineno Hiro stood outside the inn's main house, his eyes wide open, not sure what he could see. Had Nobunaga really wanted to kill Ryusei? Why would he go to all this trouble? He could have just killed him at Inabayama Castle.

"Nanabe? What's the matter?" Nobunaga was a perceptive man, and he asked as soon as Nanabe appeared at the door.

88. Select one hundred retainers (I don’t know what my name is)

"I have an immature idea."

Nobunaga had already called for help, so Shichibei had to sit down at the door and report loudly to Nobunaga. The post station built for Nobunaga had not actually played its full role.

For example, when Hideyoshi was in Sunomata, he sent a man on horseback to Mount Komaki to deliver the news to Nobunaga. The post station only fed the horses once along the way and did not provide replacement horses or personnel. Instead, they exchanged horses and men to deliver the news to Nobunaga as quickly as possible.

Before talking about personal matters, it is easier to start by using the excuse of serving the country and the people.

After stating the premise, Shichibei then expressed his idea of ​​combining public and private sectors, merging the stables and the post station together, and using his own salary to cover personnel expenses and ensure operations, which was much more subtle.

Given Shichibei's harmless, sincere demeanor, Nobunaga only briefly considered his intentions before accepting them. However, the messengers from the front lines to Nobunaga's main castle were often trusted members of the local samurai generals. It was impossible to change the messengers mid-transit, and sometimes the messages were only delivered verbally.

If they just exchanged horses, how would Shichibei settle accounts with Nobunaga?

Of course, we have to calculate it in the same way. It is impossible to grant all the post stations to Kawamuraya and mix the accounts with the annual tribute rice for unified settlement.

Well, it’s not impossible.

As long as it can save Nobunaga from having to come here, then everything can be negotiated. It depends on whether Qibingwei's offer can satisfy Nobunaga. I believe Qibingwei would not dare to take advantage of Nobunaga's pocket in such a matter.

Nobunaga nodded in agreement, and waved his hand to let Shichibei go to talk to Murai Sadakatsu and Shimada Hidemitsu. They agreed to write a message to Niwa Nagahide, and he would sign and seal it after reading it.

It seems that I want to focus my energy on military affairs.

However, Nobunaga didn't like micro-management, but rather he liked to charge in person. Not only did he not micro-manage, he also liked to add responsibilities. The more you managed, the better, and he would be responsible for assigning tasks.

Saito Tatsuoki, who was watching the conversation between Shichibei and Nobunaga, suddenly asked Shichibei about his background.

At the previous reward meeting, Long Xing had clearly heard that the scheme to trick him out of the city was proposed by Shichibei. And it was Shichibei's family who ultimately apprehended him. With such a scheme and such a brave retainer, how could he have never heard of it before?

In fact, he is also forgetful. In the story of Sunomata One Night Castle, there is a generous and charitable Shichibei.

that's me!

But when asked about his origins, Shichibei had no choice but to answer truthfully: he was just a royal merchant, not a famous family. Unless the Kawamura family could survive until the Edo Shogunate, waiting for Kansei to revise the family genealogy, then they could plagiarize and impersonate as they pleased.

At that time, Edo had a group of people who were proficient in tampering with and compiling family genealogies. The daimyo and hatamoto of each family respected them very much, hoping that these people could help them whitewash their family trees and make them look presentable.

In later generations, there were many people who specialized in this field, especially concentrated in Fujian and the Chaoshan area of ​​Guangdong, who were famous for their ability to compile family genealogies. Whenever a family tree needed to be compiled, people would go to these two places to hire people.

Hearing that he was from a royal merchant family, Long Xing showed some joy and anger, saying frankly that he had been captured alive by a small merchant. However, Nagai Michiri at the door signaled him to calm down and not mention the matter any further.

Nobunaga watched the short, good show, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, and told Shichibei to leave quickly. If he stayed here, Longxing would not be able to control his expression.

Without him saying anything, Shichibei could see that Long Xing's face was a little upset, so he quickly retreated. Long Xing was still young, after all, and his skills were far inferior to his uncle's. His uncle could smile, but when it was time to hold his face straight, he was probably much more tense than Weiwei.

The next day, when they returned to Komakiyama Castle from the post station, the troops were completely disbanded. Shichibei handed over the military supplies and fodder to Murai Sadakatsu to settle accounts with him.

Hadn't Murai Sadakatsu and Shimada Hidemitsu been sent to retrieve fifteen hostages from the Seino clan? Halfway through the battle, they led the hostages back to Komakiyama. So, this time, it was all Shichibei's job as the Kogara Bugyo who led the battle.

However, doing things on your own also has its advantages. At least the accounts are clear. Shichibei is both the owner of Kawamuraya, who provides services, and the magistrate of the Oda clan, who purchases services. Isn't it just a coincidence that he opened his own accounts and approved the loan.

It’s still a little refreshing.

After the price of the horses was settled, Shichibei sat down before Murai Sadakatsu and told him about the arrangement of the 100 post soldiers that he had discussed with Nobunaga the previous evening.

Clearly, Murai Sadakatsu was a feudal official who embodied the characteristics of the times, adhering to the motto of "simple administration and clear punishments." He pushed all government matters that could be handled by the people themselves. The less the government had to deal with, while maintaining the same level of taxation, the more "great governance" it was.

Seeing that Shichibei was willing to take the responsibility, he agreed without hesitation. Since Nobunaga had agreed anyway, he didn't have much to say.

Since we're going to have to staff the post station and be responsible for recordkeeping and maintenance, the cost will be settled at the end of the year. Or, to be more direct, deduct it from the annual tribute rice that Shichibei is responsible for. This is an internal matter for the Oda family anyway, so let's not make a fuss about it. Just leave it as it is.

Wow, brother, you are a lazy person.

You're just fighting for a salary, only a few strings of cash a year. Why are you working so hard? This isn't a matter of internal or external affairs. You know how much a horse costs, my brothers. It's just that much you earn year-round.

Well, then Shichibei directly falsely conveyed the imperial edict and asked Murai Sadakatsu to write a proposal and show it to me, and we would give it to Nobunaga for approval.

Even Murai Sadakatsu, who came from a civil servant background, did not refuse the task of writing copy. He said it was a small matter and Shichibei just had to wait and see the draft.

After both sides understood, Shichibei immediately sent people to Tsushima, Atsuta, Kiyosu, Komakiyama, Seki, Inokuchi, and other places to put up notices. He announced that he wanted to recruit 100 infantrymen, and those who could read and calculate, or were proficient in martial arts, would be given priority.

This time, with the recruitment process being large-scale, Shichibei had learned his lesson. Those admitted with ordinary qualifications were only given an annual salary of 10 kan (approximately 10 kan) plus a supplementary allowance of rice for one person. Those with exceptional talent were awarded 10 or 20 kan (approximately 10 kan) of knowledge and action, with no upper limit, depending on their ability.

If you were the "modern Zhuge Liang," I wouldn't have any problem sharing the salary with you as king and minister. Anyway, it's just bragging, just try to fool people first and then talk about it.

After the defeat of the Mino Saito clan, some low-ranking samurai were certainly dismissed or exiled. Those small powerful clan lords who fought against Nobunaga to the end, to put it bluntly, those who were not on Ando Morishi's list, would also be driven away by Mori Yoshinari who stayed behind in Seki Castle.

In any case, there will be a few more decent ronin warriors. As long as they are willing to work, Shichibei will definitely not treat them badly in terms of money.

The reason for this certainty was that Shichibei had clearly heard Ryūshō send people to Mino to recruit the scattered Saito samurai. With the territory suddenly reduced to 15,000 kan, all Saito samurai were required to reduce their salaries and serve in the government. Furthermore, those Saito samurai who only received salaries and had no prior knowledge or experience were not included in this re-enlistment.

To put it bluntly, as long as there are only some core retainers who have served the Saito family for three generations, the newly recruited Saito samurai can only fend for themselves.

During the Edo period, when the shogunate's finances collapsed, the first thing it considered was to lay off the samurai, the low-ranking samurai who received salaries in cash and rice. Sometimes, more than a thousand people were laid off at once.

Or, instead of clearing out the shogunate, they could simply disallow the shogunate from continuing to serve the emperor. That is, after the father retired, the bond between the ruler and his subjects ended, and the sons could do what they wanted, without the shogunate continuing to use them.

Knowledge and action are the foundation for consolidating the righteousness between the ruler and his subjects.

Long Xing openly said that he didn't want the samurai, so coming to us is better than going out and becoming a ronin. Anyway, the Saito family didn't grant them knowledge and action, and without the land knowledge and action to bind them, to put it more extreme, they are just temporary workers, so why should you maintain loyalty to Long Xing?

With a salary of eight or ten strings of cash a year, I can just stay here for now. I'll look for a job when I find one.

In those days, it was no longer fashionable to hunt down people across the country for escaping from their clan. The elder retainers and generals of the family would all flee and defect to other families, so ordinary warriors on foot would just leave.

Soon, Murai Sadakatsu finished writing and submitted the petition. Shichibei reviewed it, made some minor revisions, and then the two of them submitted it to Niwa Nagahide and Nobunaga. Nobunaga didn't even glance at it and signed it directly. Niwa Nagahide also just glanced at it and signed it.

The post stations, originally owned by the Oda clan and refurbished with the help of Owari farmers and funded by Nobunaga, fell into Shichibei's hands on the condition that he maintain and operate the post stations and ensure smooth communication during wartime.

OK OK.

Infantry recruited from various towns and cities also gradually arrived. They were mainly ronin from Mino who had lost their masters, and occasionally the second and third sons of wealthy Owari landowners.

To maintain the stability of their property (and status) and prevent it from being divided, wealthy landowners often passed their entire estate to their eldest son, with the remaining sons working for him. This system continued in many villages even during the reign of Emperor MacArthur, who implemented the nationwide land distribution program.

It's not surprising that the second and third sons, who have no family inheritance to inherit, would venture out to make their own way. If they succeed, they would become the main branch, while the eldest son, who inherited the family inheritance, would become a branch branch.

Whoever is successful is the boss, and this is true both in ancient and modern times.

A steady stream of people reported to the Kawamuraya branch office below Komakiyama Castle, and Shichibei interviewed each one. Many of the Oda retainers who had been promoted or transferred to other positions in Mino were also recruiting samurai.

The entire city is a huge talent market. After interviewing with the previous employer, some people will go to the next employer. Except for those who are decided to be retained on the spot, each ronin can have an average of four or five interview opportunities.

The Oda retainers, whose family business expanded rapidly, also adhered to the principle of accepting everyone, and any warrior with a little talent, even if the talent was as small as the light of a firefly's butt, would be selected.

89. Rice warehouse sends horses again

Wow, I never thought that I, Kawamura Shichibei Nagakichi, would ever command over a hundred soldiers. The procession formed, kneeling all the way from the eaves to the door of the shop. Young and old, great and small, hundreds of people saluted. It was truly a unique scene.

Except for a dozen or so samurai who were truly "outstanding" and could really write and calculate, and were good enough to be hired as waiters directly, and were granted the title of Zhixing by Shichibei, the rest were only paid a salary.

Some of them are only good at wielding swords and guns, but they are also quite good. In the future, they will serve as security guards for the cavalry. Usually they will guard the post station to prevent fire and theft. If there is any emergency, they can come to Tsushima to help Shichibei behead people.

In the previous case, the death penalty was a rare one, and Shichibei didn't even have a skilled beheader under his command. Now he finally has one, so he doesn't have to buy a knife and prepare food and wine for someone to do the beheading.

The other part was simple literacy, which was definitely not enough for an accountant or cashier, but it was no problem to be assigned to a post station and be responsible for simple record keeping.

It's not expensive anyway, only eight or ten strings of cash a year, and you can only hire someone of this level with this amount of money.

Moreover, Shichibei discovered that there was an additional "benefit" to this call for samurai retainers. Many of them had families with them, and although temporary placement was a major (shielding) problem, a reserve group of samurai retainers was already in place.

If they were sent to settle down at the post station, originally there were only three people left at the post station, but now there are more than a dozen people stationed there. In these days, every family has three or five children. They only need to wait a few years and there is no need to recruit more people. They can directly select and use them from the children of these retainers.

Recruiting these recently orphaned samurai was indeed better than simply recruiting ronin. Serving with families brought along was more reassuring, and it was also easier to cultivate a reserve force.

After a detailed registration of the retainers, over thirty of them were dispatched to the established post stations. The remaining women and children were placed in Komakiyama Castle, while the able-bodied men were sent to Okazaki Castle and Inabayama Castle to build stables and post stations.

In addition, Ogaki Castle and Iwamura Castle will also be equipped with stables. Before Nobunaga completes the consolidation of Mino Province, we must establish a preliminary post station and horse-carrying service system in Mino Province.

It is good for the horse-racing business and also for the transmission of information within the territory.

Meanwhile, the men and horses arrived. Takeda Shingen, who was raising funds for the war against Imagawa, sent hundreds of horses to Owari. For the first time, truly the first time, the number of war horses had broken through the single digits, reaching fifteen.

Obviously, Takeda was also short of gold. War horses could be trained slowly, but gold had to be spent immediately to bribe the powerful families of Suruga.

Perhaps because of the large number of horses this time, his old acquaintance, Nobutsugu Yonekura, had returned. He had come to deliver horses to Shichibei and a message to Nobunaga. The news of Nobunaga's annexation of Mino had reached Tsutsujizaki-kan via the Toyama and Kiso clans.

If a daimyo with a territory of more than one million koku suddenly appears next to you, if you were Shingen, you would also be anxious and come to inquire about it, congratulating him on the surface, but actually to see whether Mino is really submissive.

Shingen would definitely be happy if he could shelter and accept a few of Saito Tatsuoki's followers, or some of the family's elders and senior retainers.

Don’t you see that Inuyama Tessai is still alive and well in Kai? If Shingen turns against Nobunaga now, he can immediately take Inuyama Tessai and attack Owari.

Most of the Inuyama Oda clan's retainers were still under the leadership of Tsuda Nobuyasu, and they were still there to support Nobunaga. Nobunaga was not worried about Tsuda Nobuyasu rebelling, and he used them quite smoothly.

What a pity! Long Xing himself and three of his family elders and generals were taken away by a small merchant as a hunter.

When Yonekura Nobutsugu came to Owari, Shichibei had to treat him well, as he was an old acquaintance. He also brought Shichibei a gift, a paper made from reeds. It was a bit brittle and might need to be completely neutralized by adding the bark of some mulberry plants.

But according to Yonekura Nobutsugu, Shingen was very impressed. After all, in the winter of Kai, the mountains were covered with snow, and everyone was either out killing people and setting fires, or at home turning reeds into paper.

It's your choice.

Killing and arson are certainly fun and can earn you a fortune, but they also kill people. And whether you get rich or not depends entirely on luck. Making paper from reeds at home is much simpler. These days, there are no lazy people; those who are lazy would have starved to death. Almost everyone understands the principle of "no work, no food." Working is meaningless; having food to eat is the most important thing.

After the snow fell in late autumn last year, they set up two large paper mills and began producing paper. Cooped up at home for four or five months, they churned out thousands of rolls (each roll containing 100 sheets). Merchants from Odawara and Sunpu inspected the paper and said it was a bit brittle and only half the price of regular mulberry paper.

But even if it's half price, it's still a profit.

Besides, we have only built two paper mills. Once a few more paper mills are built under the city, it will not be difficult to earn three to five thousand strings of cash a year.

"You did a pretty good job." Shichibei looked at the reed paper and found it was indeed a bit brittle.

In fact, the next door Dai Ming also uses reed paper, but the purpose is different. The main sales direction of reed paper is "gold paper", or to put it simply, it is paper money burned for the dead.

If you look closely at the tinfoil, yellow coins and white coins, you will find that they are occasionally mixed with obvious straw or reed stems, and the fibers are also relatively coarse. Anyway, as long as they can be burned, that's all.

It has to be said that this thing has a truly huge market in China. After 30 or 40 years of changing customs and practices, it immediately revived as soon as the country opened up. The people really have this demand.

Anyway, it’s hard to say whether it should be burned or not.

"What material do you think should be added to it to make it less brittle?" Yonekura Nobutsugu asked Shichibei very directly. After all, it was Shichibei who taught them this thing.

"Paper mulberry bark is fine. If you don't have that, you can experiment with various vines from the mountains." Shichibei came up with the idea right away.

Papermaking simply requires raw materials with longer fibers. Paper mulberry bark is the most suitable, but if it is not available, you can go up the mountain to pick vines.

It's said that some Tang Dynasty imperial edicts were written specifically on "yellow rattan paper." While rattan is a very good papermaking material, it doesn't grow as quickly as paper mulberry. Therefore, considering all factors, paper mulberry bark is still widely used for papermaking.

Although paper mulberry bark is not the best material, it is the easiest, cheapest and most abundant material to obtain.

"What vine?" Nobutsugu Yonekura was also outrageous. He actually took out the small pen he carried with him and started to record.

All those days I spent teaching you were wasted. I told you to think outside the box, to experiment, to practice. But as soon as you saw Shichibei, you forgot everything and just kept asking for the standard answer.

"Ao vine, Kudzu vine...what did I tell you at the beginning?" Shichibei stared at Yonekura Nobutsugu.

It's like a teacher with twenty years of experience looking at his students who seem to be failing to improve no matter how hard he tries. Are you planning to stay in the third grade for three years too?

"Oh..." Nobutsugu Yonekura realized that he was indeed a little ungrateful, and quickly put away the small pen and notebook.

Let's calculate the price of the horses first. This is a huge deal. Those fifteen war horses alone are worth four or five hundred kan. Yonekura Nobutsugu has to watch Shichibei weigh the gold, and he has to see the full amount of gold in his pocket before he feels at ease.

Money is a small matter; I've already prepared for it. And as for war horses, Shichibei could just change hands tomorrow, add a few cents, and there would be plenty of people buying them. It's because Owari doesn't produce horses at all. Even if it did, they'd only be pack horses for pulling goods and steeds for plowing.

The horses in the village would be so scared that they would jump around in all directions just by hearing the crackling sound of bowstrings, let alone going into battle.

After a thorough negotiation with Shichibei about the price of the warhorse, Yonekura Nobutsugu agreed to pay for the pack and riding horses according to the usual rules. There was still some mutual trust in the business, and after counting the quantities and turning the beads on the abacus, Nobutsugu Yonekura simply nodded without even turning the abacus back.

The two men exchanged the gold, which Shichibei had exchanged in advance at the Gyuto Tenno Shrine in Tsushima. Back then, there were no money changers in Owari, so the only way to exchange gold was at the shrine itself. But they had the capital and reputation to guarantee the authenticity of the gold.

After the money was weighed, Shichibei saw that there was no one around, so he took out a big gold coin and stuffed it into Nobutsugu Yonekura's hand.

Yonekura Nobutsugu was startled at first, and subconsciously wanted to push it away, but when he looked down, he felt the gleaming gold was warm in his hands. Shichibei saw that he was "reluctant to accept" and quickly pushed his fingers down.

"Since you've come all the way from Kai, you should at least treat your colleagues to a drink." Shichibei didn't say anything like thanks or words of help, but just nodded at the Takeda samurai and grooms who delivered the horses.

"Hmm..." Nobutsugu Yonekura didn't refuse and just held it in his hand.

Shichibei patted his folded hands and gave him a smile.

Perhaps it was a rare opportunity for someone to give him a gold coin, as Yonekura Nobutsugu kept pulling his hand back into his sleeve, unable to get it into his arms. Finally, with great effort, he finally pulled his hand away and stuffed the money into his arms. It felt like it was stuck in the waistband of his loincloth, making it difficult for him to walk properly.