Owari Yumeki Golden Day

Even if they really wanted eight thousand guan, each of them wouldn't have more than a thousand. Why are they pretending to be poor? They're just bullying the samurai outside who don't understand economics and can't calculate their assets. If they really did calculate, they should have asked for twenty or thirty thousand.

"Well, then I'll make another trip for you guys." Shichibei pretended to be embarrassed.

"I will never forget the kindness of Lord Kawamura." When he heard that Shichibei was willing to turn things around, the man stopped crying, stood up, and shook hands with Shichibei vigorously.

The first meeting ended here, and Shichibei left like a flash.

It wasn't that Nobunaga was in a rush to see him; Nobunaga was still meeting with Kizuki Kumamoto. He also had to arrange for Nobunaga to marry the daughter of Nagano Fujisada. Incidentally, this Nagano woman had already been married to Nagano Kumamoto. Hosono Fuji Atsushi had expelled Nagano Kumamoto but kept this woman, perhaps having already had a plan for it, and they hit it off.

In other words, Kobe Nobutaka came early. If he had come two years later, his wife would have had to marry Seki Motoyoshi first, and then divorce her to marry him.

In aristocratic marriages, widowed women with generous dowries are definitely in high demand. Even in feudal Japan and Europe, men don't seem to mind marrying such widowed women.

Let’s first ask ourselves how much we have earned?

Thirty thousand!

That's right. When Shichibei and Inase Yoshinari sat down and talked secretly, they found that the original 13,000 kan had become 44,000 kan. In the rice warehouse in Annozu, there were still more than 1,000 koku of military rations left for Shichibei to do good.

Yoshinari Inase could not hide his excitement and joy at all. Not only in this life, but even in his previous ten lives, he had never seen so much money.

The amount was still within Shichibei's expectations. Inase Yoshinari then recounted the story of the unscrupulous rice shop owner in Anozuk and his price-fixing alliance. He explained that the shop owner had purchased the tribute rice in bulk at 450 sen per dan. In the end, he sold it at 4 kan per dan, making a profit of at least 20,000 kan.

The two of them attacked with all their might, and the powerful families in the north and the middle were severely damaged. But who would sympathize with the landlords? Anyway, whether they attacked or not, they would all be killed by Nobunaga.

Before beating them to death, make them spit out all their stolen property to prevent them from burying it in the ground or absconding with the money so that they can make a comeback in the future.

After listening to Inase Yoshinari's report, Shichibei felt for the first time that his brother-in-law was quite handsome, as handsome as a man worth 30,000 kan of gold. Previously, Shichibei had only thought that Inase Yoshinari was from Tsushima and knew his background well, so he didn't ask his sister to marry a wealthy man, but just to live in harmony with him.

Looking back now, the young man is at least obedient and honest, and a bit henpecked. He is simply the best choice to look after the family. Nothing bad will happen if we leave the house to him.

Okay, okay, while the people of Annozu are all focused on Nobunaga's "60,000-strong army", we will use the boat rented from Tsushima to take the money away overnight.

After the two of them had finished their secret discussion, Shichibei left the town and pretended to ask Nobunaga for a favor. In fact, he was just running back to Nobunaga's headquarters to prepare for the next month.

"Nanabe, congratulations on your fortune." Just as he was about to become invisible and find a tent to light a fire for the night in the camp of the small cargo team, Nanabe heard a familiar voice.

"How can I get rich? I'm so poor that I almost have to beg for food." Although she knew it was Nobunaga, she still cried.

It is safe to say that Nobunaga was not against Shichibei's wealth, but rather against Shichibei's lack of recruitment. Nobunaga probably hoped that Shichibei would continue to recruit people and greatly expand the number of his samurai and retainers.

It is precisely because of the continuous expansion of Shichibei's subordinates that he is able to take on many construction and logistical responsibilities and organize small porters for the army.

"Haha, what are you doing back tonight?" It was not a coincidence. Nobunaga watched with his own eyes the small caravan of Houjie as Shichibei bypassed the shogunate.

He certainly didn't know about the fortune before entering Ise. After entering Ise and taking the dog, he naturally knew that someone had made a fortune by taking advantage of the war in Ise.

Once we get to Inase Yoshinari, there's no need to ask about the rest. Inase Yoshinari's brother, Sukeemon, was Nobunaga's head errand boy, responsible for holding Nobunaga's horse stirrups and managing his straw sandals. He even had to squat down and help Nobunaga mount his horse, acting as a footstool when necessary.

If Inase Sukeemon had not been Nobunaga's head clerk, Shichibei would have been reluctant to agree to the marriage between Inase Yoshinari and Ai.

"Put on a full show and pretend to come back to beg for mercy from you, my lord." Nobunaga had already walked in, and Shichibei naturally stood up and gave the main seat to Nobunaga.

"Oh? So you are planning to bribe me?" Nobunaga was quite happy. He was not at all ashamed to talk about money.

Some people, once they've achieved power, think money is just a thing, that they've become noble, and that they shouldn't even talk about it, as it seems like a loss of face. But Nobunaga didn't care; he just talked about money. More money is better. Spreading military power throughout the world requires money, and the more money you have, the faster it will spread.

"Haha, I got it!" Shichibei suddenly felt that there was a better reason to make the Annozu people spit out the money.

I pretended to be Kawamura Shichibei, mediating and securing for them an audience with Nobunaga. There was absolutely no doubt about that. After all, Japanese society also looked down on merchants. While not as severe as in neighboring China, it was still difficult for a mere merchant to meet a million-koku daimyo like Nobunaga.

Unless you are a great tea connoisseur like Tsuda Muneyoshi, or Shimai Muneshige of Hakata. Hakata is the window of trade with Ming, with huge profits to be made, then the daimyo would pinch their noses to get to know a wealthy merchant for the profit of thousands or even tens of thousands of kan per ship.

"What can they give me?" Nobunaga was very interested. This meant that he wanted Shichibei to hint to the Annotsu people not to come empty-handed but to bring more gifts.

"You have to choose one of the famous sword and tea set." Shichibei didn't know what good things the Annozu clan had.

"Okay, bring them to see me." Nobunaga paused and tapped his thigh several times before making a decision.

The Anotsu clan were overjoyed when they received permission to meet him. After all, normally, a deity like Kitabatake Gukuni would never meet with a lowly merchant. Nobunaga's willingness to meet them was a sign of his great respect.

This alone makes them excited.

The gift itself was even more precious: a tortoise-skin teacup from the Jizhou Kiln of the Southern Song Dynasty, a wares on par with the Jian teacups from Fujian, known as "Oil-Dripping Tianmu Teacups." Recorded as a rare and precious item in the "Juntai Kan Zuoyou Zhangji," its creator, Noami, served both Ashikaga Yoshinori and Ashikaga Yoshimasa, a renowned cultural figure.

Nobunaga stroked the oil-dripped Tianmu. Although he was only mildly interested in the tea ceremony, since this thing was included in the collection list and passed down in an orderly manner, its value was self-evident.

Good things may not be able to be bought even if you have hundreds or thousands of strings of cash.

So Nobunaga waved his hand and raised the amount of arrow money and dobetsu money to 5,000 kan plus 2,000 koku of military rations. At this point, these wealthy merchants stopped crying poor and began to flatter Nobunaga, almost saying things like "I will serve you wholeheartedly and follow your lead until your death."

However, Shichibei would not look down on these people. There was no conflict between them crying poor and pretending to be dead in front of Shichibei and being magnanimous and open-minded in front of Nobunaga.

As we've said before, these days, if you want to grow and become strong, you have to be a government-run businessperson. Without the support of political and military power, it's impossible to make progress in business.

A successful merchant must have the support of a military regime, the imperial court, or even a temple. A vine clinging to a tree is like a vine; how can you expect it to straighten up and behave like a human being?

"You have been used by them." After this group of people left, Nobunaga put away the oil-dripping Tianmu and knocked on Shichibei's head.

"Ah?" Shichibei thought to himself that he had accomplished a task, so why would he not use it?

"Sometimes you seem clever, and sometimes you seem honest." Nobunaga didn't continue. He had a lot of things to do right now, and the fact that he mentioned it showed that he valued Shichibei very much.

Instead, Shichibei was left behind to recall the behavior of these Anotsu people. Did they intend to use us to get close to Nobunaga from the beginning?

109. Come forward to call the ronin

Wow, they are indeed a bunch of businessmen.

When Shichibei saw the Anotsu people running over and asking if they could buy the remaining food in the house at the price of two kan one koku, he already understood what Nobunaga meant.

They discovered that Shichibei could communicate with Nobunaga, so they acted pitifully and begged for mercy, using Shichibei's face to appear in front of Nobunaga.

If it weren't for Shichibei, Murai Sadakatsu would be the most they could possibly meet. Even offering the "Oil-Dripping Heavenly Eye" wouldn't do. Nobunaga would at best accept their generous gifts and offer a few soothing words.

In fact, Shichibei was still using his old tricks. They even knew exactly how much rice Shichibei had stored in their rice storage.

Everything went according to their plan and was executed very efficiently.

After all, they are the big businessmen and the autonomous associations of Mitsu-Shichimaru. In some ways, they are more adept at playing games than the small businessmen Shichibei had seen before.

The point is that they offered two kan (one koku) to buy Shichibei's rice. Now that the war was over, Nobunaga wasn't in a rush to get his army's rice. They could leisurely send people to Sakai to buy rice and then bring it back to Nobunaga.

What Nobunaga needed was an attitude of submission. Kneeling represented an attitude, as did giving money and rice. Once the attitude was there, Nobunaga was satisfied.

We had previously said we would offer these thousand dan of rice as a way to win over the Annojin people. Now, it's the Annojin people who are willing to pay three thousand kan to curry favor with Shichibei.

Anyway, these rice are all profits for Shichibei. They are given 3,000 kan for free. Even if they take advantage of Shichibei, he will not bear a grudge.

It's not revenge for his father's murder, it's just borrowing strength, and borrowing strength is worth 3,000 kan. According to Shichibei's personality, he would definitely welcome them to borrow every day.

When it comes to doing business and making friends with kings and princes, these old businessmen do have some tricks up their sleeves.

If we didn't have Nobunaga's appreciation and the foundation of being from Owari's core retainers, we might not be able to beat them if we really engaged in business competition.

Fortunately, it was a feudal society, and commercial monopoly rights, backed by military and political power, were widely and openly spread across Japan. Shichibei only needed to obtain the monopoly authorization and rely on the powerful military force of the Oda clan. There was no need to fight at all; he could just wait for them to come and curry his favor.

Isn’t this more than 3,000 strings of cash for buying rice their “goodwill”?

At least they wouldn't, nor would they dare to kick Shichibei out and go to see Nobunaga alone. They also knew that if they wanted to serve under the Oda clan, they would need a reliable spokesperson.

good……

The transaction went smoothly. To make it easier for Shichibei to carry, the gold and silver they brought were weighed. On the other hand, Nobunaga's gifts were primarily copper coins. This was because Nobunaga would be rewarding his men after the battle, judging their achievements. Even for the foot soldiers who participated in the battle, a reward of a hundred coins was a given.

So Nobunaga wanted change, and Shichibei didn't need any reward, so he just packed up the money and sent it back to Tsushima.

Unfortunately, Inase Yoshinari had already absconded with over 40,000 kan. Honestly, Shichibei wasn't completely unprepared. It was just that they were new to the situation, testing each other, and hadn't fully established mutual trust. But once he left, Shichibei was left with only 3,000 kan to accompany the army.

Nobunaga was currently arranging the marriage of his younger brother Nobuhiro to the daughter of Nagano Fujisada. Nagano Fujisada had died suddenly on the same day as his father five years ago, so powerful retainers from the branch family, such as Hosono, Branch, and Unrinin, attended the ceremony to represent the Nagano clan in surrendering to Nobunaga.

Like Nobutaka, Nobuhiro gained control of the powerful families and influence of Nakanohana and the Kudo family in Nagano. Nobunaga also assigned dozens of people to him as petty officials and imperial stables.

As a result, Nagano Nobukatsu also had a large group of samurai retainers, almost 500 people. Moreover, he was twenty years old this year, so he had the possibility of commanding his retainers independently.

The northern Ise samurai group was temporarily assigned to Takigawa Ieyasu, while the central Ise samurai group could be assigned to Nobukatsu Jiri. Perhaps this was also part of Nobunaga's arrangement, as the Nagano clan faced Kitabatake Muneo directly and needed to be constantly on the lookout. The Kobe clan had the support of the Oda clan and Nagano as a frontline force, allowing them to send their children into battle.

By the way, why is the envelope 20 years old? Because the New Year is just around the corner.

The Oda clan generals spent the New Year of 1568 in battle.

Although it is a bit troublesome to celebrate the New Year on the battlefield, at least Shichibei saved five kan of money this year and did not need to present the New Year's sword to Nobunaga. Isn't it just saving five kan of money?

Nobunaga seized eight counties of Ise, but he did not care about the five or ten kan of his retainers. At this moment, he was toasting with his younger brother Nagano Nobunaga.

(The five counties of Hokusei were surrendered to Nobutaka, with Takigawa Ieyasu taking over temporarily. The two counties of Nakasei were surrendered to Nobutaka, and one county, Suzuka, belonged to Seki Morinobu. After his surrender, he was able to settle down and became a deputy to Nobutaka/Ieyasu.)

Shichibei was also whispering to Hideyoshi below, saying, "We have been in Annozu these days. We need to find out how Nobunaga rewarded his meritorious ministers for conquering such a large territory."

Shichibei already knew that Takigawa Ieyasu was granted the title of Chigyo and served as Samurai-taisho, becoming Nobutaka's deputy. What else did he know?

"That great monk Shugen married Sakon's daughter, left the monastery, and changed his name to Takigawa Yuri." Hideyoshi glanced at Takigawa Ikki who was sitting opposite him.

Since they were all samurai generals, they naturally sat on the same steps, one on the left and the other on the right. Who would have thought that two months ago, Takigawa Ikki was just a mercenary leader, with no rank in the Oda family?

"It's him!" I don't know you if your name is Genjojuku Xuan, but I know you if your name is Takigawa Yuuri.

"He was also granted 500 strings of cash."

"Wow, I only had 60 kan back then." It really felt like the latecomer had surpassed the opponent. Shichibei might understand.

"I only had fifty kan back then." Hideyoshi felt a pain in his heart as the bitter wine went down his throat. After all, he was the son of an Ashigaru from old Owari, and his father had carried a gun for Nobuhide.

As a result, Hideyoshi was only paid 50 kan a year as a head of menial work. Later, he was promoted to the position of head of an ashigaru group and then to the position of head of an ashigaru group, and his salary was raised to 200 kan. Nowadays, people get 500 kan as soon as they start their official career, which is really heartbreaking.

"Where are the others?" Shichibei reached out, patted Hideyoshi on the back, and told him to forget it.

"Oda Ichinosukedono (Oda Nobunari, Nobumitsu's son) was granted 5,000 kan in Hokusei on the condition that Obata Castle was abandoned. Yokoi Masagakusuke was granted 3,000 kan, and Iinuma Kansuke (Chojong) was granted 1,000 kan..." Hideyoshi stopped drinking and reported the matter to Shichibei in a low voice.

Many people were driven from the northern Ise counties, including the Asakura clan, which was wiped out, including more than ten families of the Chomei clan. Only Nanbu Tadaaki was quick to surrender; the rest either died or fled. Nobunaga would not allow these territories to remain empty. His solution wasn't to inspect the land, but to simply assign it to someone.

Then someone will give me a surge of troops, until Nobunaga is satisfied. Anyway, Nobunaga doesn't ask how well you manage your territory, he only asks if you can give me a surge of troops.

Speaking of it, Nobunaga's territory governance model was very "violent". He conquered a place and appointed someone to a "position" in that place, and all power was delegated to that person.

Nobunaga didn't care about anything except demanding that this man send troops to fight. Hosokawa Fujitaka attacked Tango and slaughtered the Isshiki clan. Shibata Katsuie attacked Echizen and slaughtered them. At one point, there were 30,000 corpses outside Echizen Fuchū Castle. Nobunaga didn't care, so he let them do whatever they wanted.

After this "one-rank official" had pacified the local area, removed all the troublemakers, made the temple chiefs surrender, and made the local tyrants and bandits submit, Nobunaga would transfer this person to a larger territory.

For example, Hideyoshi was promoted from 120,000 in Odani to 400,000 in Harima and Himeji, and Toshiie was promoted from 30,000 in Echizen Fuchu to 200,000 in Noto. These were both substantial promotions. Even if the new territory was difficult and chaotic, such a large promotion was still worth the effort.

After the remaining territories were well managed, Nobunaga would either give them to his sons or relatives, or take them over himself and serve as their direct ruler.

The speed of expansion is faster than ever before. If you are not doing well in your position, don't even think about promotion or salary increase. It is common to move to a remote corner to retire or be directly dismissed.

For example, Hiromasa Ida was a prominent official who made great contributions at the Battle of Okehazama, discovered the location of Imagawa Yoshimoto's main force, and firmly supported Nobunaga's surprise attack. He was transferred from Owari to Kaga Daishoji with a fief of 70,000 koku, but he failed to perform well and was demoted to his position. Later, because he was from the old Owari family, he was given a stable seat with Nobutada.

With Nobunaga, you can be bad, cruel, or even vicious, but you absolutely cannot be a loser.

Food is the original sin!

As long as you are weak, Nobunaga will show no mercy when he starts fighting. Even if you are from the old Owari, old Oda, or old four counties, you will still be beaten.

"Brother, you didn't get any promotion?" Hideyoshi brought the Sunomata clan to join the war, so Nobunaga had to give him something.

"Combined with the previous territory, the total is 2,500 kan." When Hideyoshi said the number 2,500 kan, he was obviously a little unwilling.

Because Takigawa Ieyasu was worth 4,000 kan, otherwise there would be no way to accommodate so many miscellaneous soldiers of Takigawa's party. But Hideyoshi had worked for so many years and only had 2,500 kan, while Takigawa started with 4,000 kan.

Even though he had two great achievements in subduing the Kizoku clan and the Kobe clan, and was the famous successor of Kobe Nobutaka, many people would still feel dissatisfied.

"Not bad, at least it helps improve my knowledge and practice." Shichibei put down the wine dish, feeling a little touched, but not that much.

The main reason why Shichibei was a merchant was that he didn't need a large territory. What was important was the various commercial monopoly powers granted by Nobunaga. With more monopoly powers, he would have to go into battle and attack cities and kill people, but with commercial power, he only needed to provide Yongle Tongbao to Nobunaga.

Different positions naturally lead to different attitudes.

"You also participated in the negotiation, but there was no increase." Hideyoshi even stood up for Shichibei, but Shichibei was actually very satisfied now.

Because he had made a fortune of 35,000 kan, and had added another 1,000 and 2,000 kan to his territory, it would have taken him decades to earn back the money. Now, with the help of Nobunaga's conquest of northern Ise, he had achieved his goal in one go. What else could he not be satisfied with?

Shichibei was secretly laughing in his heart, and if there weren't so many people around, he would have laughed out loud.

"Hey, Shichibei!" I was laughing in my heart when I heard someone calling me.

Looking up, he saw that it was Nobunaga. Shichibei thought that he was just laughing wildly in his heart and couldn't help laughing out loud. He rubbed his face and ran to Nobunaga's side.

"Did you find any ronin gathering in Anotsu?" Nobunaga asked this question because he knew that Shichibei had just returned from Anotsu.

"Hiss, some people did escape into Anotsu." Shichibei recalled that Anotsu must have taken in some ronin warriors from northern Ise.

The samurai from the northern and central regions who were driven away by Nobunaga either went to seek refuge with Rokkaku Yoshiharu or Kitabatake Gukuni. After all, these were the only two places where they could find shelter and a chance to make a comeback.

But there are always those who are in a dilemma, and their first choice is to temporarily take shelter in Annozu, where the Oda army will not enter and the relative safety. They will stay in Annozu, observe the changes in the situation in Ise, and wait for the opportunity.

Why were the Ise Rebellion and Ikko-ikki so powerful? They killed so many of Nobunaga's relatives and retainers. Besides the suddenness of the attack, which caught Nobunaga off guard, another major factor was that a large number of defeated ronin from the northern and central regions joined the counterattack against Oda.