different warring states of japan

Chapter 2120: Borrowing Money to Fight a War

Ichijo Hideyoshi calmed down and said calmly.

"You said."

Kuroda Kotaka said frankly.

"They are transferring assets, such as gold, silver, copper coins and other easily transferable properties, through the Tokugawa territory to the Shiba territory.

The two conquests of Shikoku and Kyushu were too short in between, and had already emptied the savings of Oda's former territory. In order to obey your mobilization order, Oda's former retainers borrowed a large sum of money and grain from Sasaki Dokura as military supplies.

Now, the trend of the Sasaki and Ichijo families competing for the world is inevitable, and Sasaki and Dokura's behavior of aiding the enemy would be considered treason in any era.

But our saint did not agree with it. Instead, the Sawa Federal Reserve instructed Sawa Dokura to relax credit and lend money to the samurai of Nishijima Province at a more relaxed interest rate.

After the last Sakai Port crisis, Hokuriku stocks and Sōma real estate had hit rock bottom, so prices have recovered and grown rapidly in the past two years.

The samurai families in Shikoku and Kyushu were divided and ruled by you after their territories were relocated. They were terrified and inevitably had the idea of ​​hedging their bets.

Now that the country has relaxed credit and its assets have risen moderately, it is a good place to go no matter how you look at it.

It is no wonder that they would take all the gold, silver and copper coins that could be transferred to Sibo to exchange for food coupons, and even borrow money to invest in Sibo assets.

The interest rate for borrowing from Sibo Tucang is 10%, and the stock and real estate prices have increased by more than 15% in recent years. As long as you can borrow food coupons, you will make money anyway.

To be honest, even I am a little tempted.”

When Hideyoshi Ichijo heard this, his eyes flickered, and he sneered.

"Then why don't you go and buy it? Is it because you don't have enough money and food, or do you have no way to go to Siboling?"

Kuroda Kotaka looked at Hideyoshi Ichijo who was suppressing his anger and said seriously.

"Because I only want to assist you, the Chancellor, in achieving great things, and I don't want to become a food stamp slave for the Sasaki family.

No matter how much money was earned from the food coupons, it was just a piece of paper issued by the Sōma family. Those idiots in Nishijima actually treated the paper as real money.

It is easy to exchange their gold, silver and copper coins for food coupons, but will it be so easy to get real gold and silver back in the future?"

Ichijo Hideyoshi smiled with relief.

"I knew that Princess Kuroda was a smart person and would not be deceived by these petty gains."

Kuroda Takaka sighed.

“The world is full of stupid people, and the huge waves they stir up are terrifying.

The Sasaki family's conspiracy is to win people's hearts, and I have no good strategy to deal with it.

The only solution now is to go to war."

Ichijo Hideyoshi asked with a frown.

"You mean going to war with the Shiba family?"

Kuroda Takagao shook his head.

"Do not.

While the Kanpaku has been fighting wars in the past few years, the sage has been resting and recuperating, waiting for the opportunity to tire himself out. The chances of winning a war with the Sasaki family at this time are extremely slim, and a wise man would not do so.

However, the Kanpaku could not just sit and watch the samurai families of Nishijima continue to transfer their wealth to the Sasaki territory. The more industries they had in the Sasaki territory, the more they would be inclined towards Sasaki in the future.

In the end, it will be the Sasaki clan that will defeat the enemy without fighting, and the sage will happily take over the world.

So, we have to go to war, as long as we don't fight Spoelstra, we can fight anywhere.

Mobilize the samurai in Oda's former territories, western provinces, Shikoku, and Kyushu, so that not only do they not transfer their wealth to Sasaki's territory, but they have to borrow more money from Sasaki Dokura.

Use the borrowed food coupons to redeem supplies through the Tokugawa territory and use them as military expenses to fight for you."

Hideyoshi Ichijo thought for a while and nodded.

"Letting them borrow and exchange is equivalent to using the supplies of the Sasaki family to strengthen my army and expand my territory.

The loyal retainers of the Ichijo family need more fiefs and rewards, and my territory needs more population and land to have the strength to fight a decisive battle with the Sasaki family."

Kuroda Takagao nodded.

“Yes, this will also cut off the Nishijima Kingdom’s military family’s intention to join the Shiba family.

If the military families of Nishijima State were allowed to continue investing in the Shiba Territory, the more wealth they accumulated in the Shiba Territory, the more inclined they would be to Shiba, and sooner or later they would rebel and turn against the Shiba Territory.

But if they borrowed a lot from Shiba-Tokura, so much that they could never pay it back, that would be another matter. The more they borrowed, the less they could pay back, and in the end they could only use the wealth they gained from foreign wars to offset it.

The war gains gained through blood and tears have to be handed over to Shiba Dokura with both hands. Do you think they will be willing to accept this?"

Ichijo Hideyoshi laughed.

"I'm not just unwilling to accept this, I hate it so much that I want to rob and burn all the Shibado warehouses."

Hideyoshi Ichijo had already understood what Kuroda Kotaka meant. Sasaki Yoshigin's relaxation of credit to Sasaki Dokura was an open conspiracy, so the only way to deal with the open conspiracy was to use an open conspiracy.

Since Sasaki Dokura was willing to lend, and Hideyoshi Ichijo could not stop him, he simply absorbed the money, food and supplies borrowed by the samurai of Nishijima Province and used them for his own purposes.

The war consumed supplies and prevented the samurai of Nishijima Province from accumulating wealth in the Sasaki territory. Instead, they were made to owe a huge debt to the Sasaki family. However, the fruits of the war were happily accepted by Ichijo Hideyoshi.

As the ancients said, a peck of rice is a favor, a bushel of rice is a grudge.

Once the debt exceeds the threshold and cannot be repaid, the idea of ​​killing the creditor will come to mind.

Use the resources of the Sasaki family to fight foreign wars, expand territory, increase strength, and integrate the loyalty of the retainers.

He used the loans from the Sasaki family to oppress the local samurai families, causing them to become alienated from the Sasaki family. Eventually, he became united with the Ichijo family and became the vanguard of the Ichijo family in destroying the Sasaki family.

Ichijo Hideyoshi applauded and Kuroda Kotaka smiled modestly, neither of them considering the consequences of failure.

Although the Battle of Sōba-Ichijo will not happen for the time being, it will eventually have to be fought.

In the economic war outside the battlefield, no matter how ingeniously the two sides calculate against each other, the final outcome still depends on the war.

If you can't win, all strategies are a joke, but Hideyoshi Ichijo is very confident in himself.

As time passed, the East Island Kingdom under Shiba enjoyed peace for a long time, with both civil and military affairs enjoying peace and prosperity. However, the samurai under Ichijo had been honing their skills in battles and were ready to fight at any time.

Keep borrowing money, use the host country's materials to conquer all over the world, expand your strength, maintain the combat effectiveness of the army. When you fight on the battlefield in the future, it will be very obvious which side is better.

  As for the loans that you cannot repay, you naturally won’t have to repay them if you win the fight!

Ichijo Hideyoshi looked at Kuroda Kotaka and said solemnly.

"I have something to ask of you, Kuroda-sama."

Kuroda Takataka bowed in greeting.

"I am terrified. Please let the Chancellor know clearly."

Ichijo Hideyoshi said seriously.

"I intend to build a new city in Matsuura County, Hizen Province, Kyushu Island, as my residence.

I would like to ask Princess Kuroda to go to the local area to survey and design and be responsible for the construction of the city for me."

Kuroda Takataka prostrated himself and kowtowed.

"Dare to disobey orders."

Ichijo Hideyoshi stood up, patted his sleeves, looked at the desolate early winter scenery in the distance, and said with high spirits.

“Let’s call the new castle Nagoya.

When this city is completed, I will send envoys to the peninsula to ask the peninsula's ruler for permission to pass through the peninsula and invite her to join me in conquering the four hundred nations of Tian Tang!"

Kuroda Kotaka's body shook, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

The peninsula was a vassal state of the Celestial Empire and had admired it for a long time. How could they dare to do such a rebellious thing? When they received Hideyoshi Ichijo's envoy, they probably thought he was a madman.

What do you mean by using the peninsula as a transit point to plan great things? It is obviously using the peninsula as a transit point to attack Guo, with the goal of destroying the peninsula.

Kuroda Kotaka had long thought that the direction of foreign conquest would be either Ryukyu or the Peninsula, but he did not expect that Ichijo Hideyoshi was so ambitious that he directly talked about conquering the Celestial Empire.

Regardless of whether Hideyoshi Ichijo's words were just empty talk or he really had ambition, the peninsula was doomed to fail.

During the Tang Dynasty, the island country landed on the peninsula and fought a fierce battle with the Celestial Empire on the peninsula. After being defeated, it no longer had the desire to land and dominate.

Now Hideyoshi Ichijo controls the military forces of half of the island country. After a hundred years of war, there are at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have fought in the Western Island Country.

These elite soldiers who have experienced many battles have ignited Hideyoshi Ichijo's raging ambition. Since he can't do anything to Sasaki Yoshigin for the time being, he will use Sasaki Dokura's money and food as military expenses and take advantage of the weak points on the peninsula.

If the peninsula surrenders, it is not impossible to get more.

Hideyoshi Ichijo was immersed in the beautiful dream she had woven, but she didn't know that while the mantis stalks the cicada, there is an oriole behind it. Yoshikane Sasaki had already been sharpening his knife behind her.

The day when Ichijo Hideyoshi landed on the peninsula was the day when the loyal dog of the Celestial Empire, the Sasaki family, appeared.