A samurai who doesn't want to be a daimyo is not a good onmyoji

Chapter 90 Le City
After gradually getting deeper into Owari, which was ruled by the Oda family, both Asai Nagamasa and Axiu felt an extremely obvious change, that is, there were gradually more people on the road.

Especially when they arrived at Qingzhou City, they found that there was a small team of traveling merchants at the gate, entering the city in a certain order, which inevitably surprised Asai Nagamasa.

With so many small businessmen and this volume of transactions, how much money would Oda Nobunaga earn every month based on taxes alone?

While queuing up to enter the city, Asai Nagamasa casually pulled over a businessman in front of him and wanted to ask why they flocked to Owari Oda's house in such a large number.

The businessman who was dragged over originally wanted to get angry, but after seeing Nagamasa Asai's outfit clearly, he immediately changed his color and became much friendlier.

He was a traveling businessman who traveled north and south, and his eyes were very vicious. Even if the man and woman in front of him were dressed as ronin, ordinary ronin could not afford to wear such fine fabrics, let alone raise such a good horse.

It was probably a coincidence that this businessman was very eloquent, and it took Asai Nagamasa a rough understanding of the origin of the matter in less than 2 minutes.It turns out that Oda Nobunaga implemented a local policy called "Leshi", which was extremely beneficial to ordinary small businessmen and traveling merchants from other places.

In every city in Nibon, there are some privileged classes called "seats". They are basically equivalent to merchant guilds. If local small businessmen and traveling merchants want to do business locally, they must first go to them. Go to the pier there.

Certain items can only be sold with their permission, and they often take a cut of the sale.

However, those truly violent products are usually in the hands of the merchants present and will not be released easily.

The products that are released to the public either have small profits or require a lot of time and energy. This makes ordinary merchants work very hard and make more money than the merchants sitting back and enjoying the profits.

In addition, powerful businessmen will also lend usury, collude with temples, shrines, and even armed forces such as bandits and bandits, and set up checkpoints to openly collect taxes. In short, all actions are for the purpose of making money.

Although they are making a lot of money, it is actually very detrimental to the development of local business, and the local celebrities will not get much benefit.

The first step of the "Happy Market" promoted by Oda Nobunaga in Owari was to abolish the privileges of merchants. All merchants can trade freely, sell whatever they want, and sell it as expensive as they want.

In addition, he also abolished the checkpoints set up by merchants and rewarded merchants to settle here by exempting them from labor and rent. This series of measures greatly increased the enthusiasm of merchants and increased their income.

Compared with this, the price that the merchants need to pay is only the commercial tax, but it is undoubtedly much less than what they originally had to pay to the merchants, and overall it is a big profit.

That's why businessmen are so enthusiastic.

After letting the businessman go, Asai Nagamasa had to admit that Oda Nobunaga played a good game.

Those taxes were not in his hands in the first place, so even if they were abolished, he would not suffer any loss at all. On the contrary, he also got the commercial taxes into his own hands, which is equivalent to using nothing.

Traveling merchants and small businessmen also benefited from this, and the only ones who suffered were those businessmen who were once very prestigious in the local area.

However, the reason why the merchants were able to obtain such great privileges in the first place was entirely because of the support of the nobles who lived in Kyoto called the "public family".

It's just that the imperial power has long since declined. The emperor and the general are too busy taking care of themselves. The nobles who are dependent on their existence are in a state of disarray and cannot provide any help at all.

The only hidden danger is these businessmen. They have money and some power. Although they cannot compare with Oda Nobunaga as a lord, they can still stab him in the back at certain special moments. of.

But there are risks in everything you do, and compared with the profits gained, this risk is completely worth taking.

Asai Nagamasa could even predict that once they saw Nobunaga's gains, the entire Nippon daimyo would be jealous and follow suit.

While sighing, they followed the flow of people, but when it was their turn, they were stopped by a samurai with a full face and a shaved Tsukiyo head.

After asking a few questions and warning them not to cause trouble in the city, the samurai let them go. It seemed that they had received extra care because of their clothes and the long swords on their waists.

Asai Nagamasa looked back and looked around, feeling more and more the prosperity of the castle town, and there was a row of new wooden houses in the distance. Many merchants were going there. Could it be that they were specially built for them?

I took Axiu to visit the market together. Compared with Xiaodani City, this place seemed very prosperous, and there were many kinds of products. Although Asai Nagamasa thought they were all trivial gadgets, many locals But I like it very much and the sales are not bad.

Axiu also enjoyed watching them, but when Asai Nagamasa tried to buy them for her, she shook her head and refused. She just liked to watch them, but didn't really need them.After wandering for more than half an hour, the two of them were a little tired, so they turned around and left, planning to find a place to rest. Although their physical strength would not make them feel tired during the journey, they still needed to recuperate their spirits. .

After they left, two men in military uniforms came out of the street corner. One looked to be in his twenties and elegant, and the other looked to be a middle-aged warrior in his thirties.

The group of Ashigaru following behind them, as well as the many merchants who took the initiative to salute after seeing their appearance, seemed to explain their status in Qingzhou City from the side. They must be important ministers of the Oda family.

Watching the retreating figure, the young samurai couldn't help showing an interested look: "Master Yiyi, since my lord performed the music market, all the surrounding famous people have sent people to investigate, but the other party is so unscrupulous. Still the first one.”

Although both Asai Nagamasa and Axiu are dressed as ronin and don’t have any family crests or other things on their bodies that can indicate their identity or status, their clothes are so gorgeous, their style is so outstanding, and their skin is fair and tender, they don’t look like them at all. Those ronin who have to work hard to survive all day long.

Coupled with their extremely outstanding height, they really stand out in every sense here, and it is really impossible for people to ignore them.

Another middle-aged warrior couldn't help but nod: "Yes, Master Changxiu. And the other party actually brought a female family member with him. She looked like the stupid young man who just served in the Yuan Dynasty. I don't know which samurai he is." Is it the Saito family or the Imagawa family?"

The daimyo who are close to Owari and may have conflicts are probably these two.

Although the Oda family and the Saito family have entered into a marriage contract, after the new daimyo Saito Yoshiryu comes to power, whether he can continue to abide by this marriage contract is actually considered by many people. After all, the one who married the Saito family is Her sister, not his daughter.

What's more, for the Sengoku daimyos, even their own daughters are just tools, especially Yoshiryu Saito is the son of the sinister Mino Viper.

The young samurai named Changxiu smiled and said: "From the perspective of bearing, it looks a bit like the Imagawa family who claim to be from a famous family, but from the perspective of height, it looks more like the members of the Saito family."

The young samurai's full name is Niwa Nagahide, also known as Yonegorozuo. He has been serving as an official since he was a teenager and assisted Oda Nobunaga, who is about the same age as him. He is mainly responsible for internal affairs. He is deeply trusted because of his prudent behavior. He is Oda Nobunaga. confidant general.

The middle-aged warrior nodded: "Although it doesn't look like a big threat, you should send someone to watch it. If you dare to cause trouble, give them some color. Qingzhou City is not a place where you can let people run wild."

The middle-aged samurai is named Takigawa Kazuki. Although he is not a local samurai in Owari, he has already served as an official before Oda Nobunaga succeeded to the family governor. It has been almost ten years now. He is deeply impressed by his bravery and strategy. Trusted, he is also one of Nobunaga's generals.

It is worth mentioning that Takigawa Kazumasu is particularly good at iron cannons, which is still a very rare skill in Nippon at the moment. After all, most samurai have probably never even seen an iron cannon.

It is precisely because they are both confidants that Oda Nobunaga gave them the important task of patrolling the castle town and promoting the "Happy City", because for them, the success of the "Happy City" is crucial. It is extremely important to the Oda family.

They had anticipated the possible resistance before. After all, "Happy City" made middle- and lower-level businessmen smile and made the Oda family's wallets bulge, but for the merchants who originally had privileges, it was a huge loss.

Although they have a certain amount of force, they cannot compare with the power of the Oda family, but they are rich enough. If they use money as the price, they can do too many things.

For example, seeking military intervention from other daimyo.

Niwa Nagahide quickly thought of this, and he couldn't help but frown slightly: "Lord Takigawa, maybe we should pay more attention to it. Although he doesn't look like a spy at all, no spy would use such a conspicuous appearance, but we must not Don’t be defensive.”

The Imagawa family prided themselves on being of noble birth, so many samurai in the family were deeply influenced by their great name, Imagawa Yoshimoto. Sinian poetry, Waka, etiquette, Buddhism, etc. occupied a lot of their daily time.

The daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto himself deliberately imitated those princes and princes who lived a luxurious life in ancient Kyoto, wearing straight clothes, black hats, black teeth, eyebrows, makeup, poetry gatherings, and even raising newborn babies.

Although everyone loves beauty, under the influence of this situation, in the Imagawa family, samurai with good appearance are definitely more likely to be promoted and promoted than in other daimyo families.

Although the other party was accompanied by a female family and looked like a man with an imposing figure, not like a samurai born as a young boy at all, Niwa Nagahide still had to doubt the true identity of the other party.

"Could it be the Imagawa family?" Takigawa Kazuki thought thoughtfully, and then quickly said, "Why don't I send someone to test it out? If it is really the envoy sent by the Imagawa family, we must report it to the lord as soon as possible. Only adults are good.”

Niwa Nagahide was immediately overjoyed and quickly bowed to Takigawa Kazuki: "Then I'll thank Takigawa-sama!"

(End of this chapter)