Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Owari Yumeki Golden Day

Author: Edo-hime

Emerging like morning mist, falling like morning dew. Even a magnificent castle, as swift as the Nether Waves, can be easily destroyed by the power of money.

Volume One

1. I now enter Tsushima Island.

"What instructions did the Grand Bridge Master give you?"

Murai Minbu, who was taking notes, seemed to think of something, put down his pen, and instead of looking at the chest full of Yongle Tongbao coins, he quietly looked at Kawamura Shichibei.

"He only instructed me to deliver the arrows and lead ingots properly," Shichibei replied respectfully, bowing his head.

Since being transported to Owari with a "kucha~~", Shichibei has been spending two whole days there. He's transported, but his appearance is just unacceptable; why am I 1.42 meters tall?

Bah! How am I supposed to ever get ahead at 1.42 meters tall?

Naturally, they didn't realize the meaning behind Murai Sadakatsu's question. The person who had traveled from Tsushima to Komakiyama Castle to deliver the arrow money to Nobunaga must have been someone trusted by the Tsushima people.

The leaders of Tsushima were the four families and seven factions headed by the Ohashi clan, with Nobunaga's brother-in-law, Ohashi Shigenaga, at the helm. Relying on the Ohashi clan, the Oda family had already suppressed the Tsunekawa clan, the Hattori clan, and the Kawamura clan.

Even the shrine lord of Ushito Tenno Shrine on Tsushima Island began to accept the Oda clan's offer of refuge. Completely under their pressure, they submitted to Nobuhide and Nobunaga.

Murai Sadakatsu's inquiry about Shichibei was simply because he suspected Shichibei might be a member of the Tsushima clan, otherwise why would he take on such an important role? If Shigenaga Ohashi was a member of his faction, then naturally he should be treated with respect. If not, he would simply pretend he hadn't asked, and a few words wouldn't make a difference.

Clearly, Shichibei and Ohashi Shigenaga are not related by blood, otherwise, some kind of honorific would definitely be used.

“Alright, let’s settle this.” Since he wasn’t related to Ohashi Shigenaga, Murai Sadakatsu handled the matter officially.

Nobunaga built Komakiyama Castle, effectively suppressing the forces of Inuyama Oda Nobukiyo. As members of the Tsushima clan under Nobunaga's control, they naturally had a temporary obligation to pay the arrow tax. It depends on your perspective; in any case, the total tax was only 260 kan, no more, no less. Nobunaga also seemed to be pursuing sustainable, albeit exploitative, levies.

The "arrow money" tax was a temporary item; literally translated, it was "arrow and arrow money." Why would you need arrow and arrow money if there's no war?

As for lead ingots, there's not much to say; they were purchased from Sakai by the Ohashi family for Nobunaga and shipped along with other supplies. As an increasingly important military material, Owari does not produce them and relies entirely on imports.

There's no need to count the Yongle Tongbao coins; just weigh them. Once the weight is right, the money has arrived. After that, sign a receipt and have Shichibei return it to Ohashi Shigenaga.

The inspection of the lead ingots was handled by another samurai, whom Murai Sadakatsu called Kyuuemon. Shichibei, though newly arrived, wasn't a fool and quickly stepped forward to introduce himself. The samurai wasn't arrogant at all, introducing himself as Sugaya Nagayori, Nobunaga's retainer. Well, he was higher in rank than Shichibei, at least in terms of wealth and status.

Someone who could serve as Nobunaga's shinobi (a type of male servant in Japanese folklore) probably wasn't too ugly, at least by Japanese standards of beauty.

A lead ingot was immediately taken from the spot, melted over a fire, and dripped into a ball. Once confirmed to be correct, Shichibei's task was complete. He could now go home with a clear conscience, ask Ohashi Shigenaga for the horse fee, and have a good, heart-wrenching lament. Why is it that everyone else is at least 1.5 meters tall, while I'm only 1.42 meters?

"Are you the head of the Daochuden horse-drawn carriage in Tsushima?" Sugaya Nagayori asked casually after inspecting the lead ingots.

"Yes, I do indeed run a horse-riding shop." Shichibei is doing quite well this time.

At this time, Japan was still in the turbulent Sengoku period, and the scope of samurai in a broad sense was very large, far exceeding the narrow definition of samurai in later generations. For example, Shichibei, although a transporter, also owned 60 kan of Karitaka.

You might call him a samurai, but Shichibei doesn't need to be fully armored and charge into battle. You might also say he's not a samurai, but Shichibei meets almost every requirement of the later definition of a samurai.

The 60 kan of Karitaka was bequeathed to the Kawamura family during the time of Oda Nobuhide. As for its original owners, theoretically it first belonged to the Imperial Court in Kyoto, and later to the Shiba family, the governors of Owari Province. Several hundred years ago, the ancestors of the Kawamura family were grazing officials within the Owari Province's administrative territory.

He was specifically responsible for raising five service horses at a certain post station in Owari Province, and thereby managed the sixty kan of grassland and feed fields allocated to the national government. Later, as the Ritsuryo system collapsed, the emperor's horses and land inexplicably became the horses and land of the Kawamura family.

Thanks to Tsushima's thriving trade, the Kawamura family quickly became the "horse-riding leader" of Tsushima, thanks to their fleet of draft horses. Although they had not yet entered the core decision-making circle of the Tsushima clique, they were still a force that the four families and seven parties needed to win over.

If it weren't for Oda Nobuhide, the Kawamura family would have become a vassal of the Ohashi clan within one or two generations, and even a hereditary vassal.

Now things are much better. In theory, Shichibei is still Oda Nobunaga's direct retainer!

His father issued a petition to my father to settle accounts, and now he's issuing one to me. If this isn't a loyal minister, what is?

However, unlike the commonly perceived loyal subjects, Shichibei's "military service" was simply providing two packhorses, two grooms, and two young monks when Nobunaga was going to war. That was all.

Moreover, there are only twelve days a year.

Within twelve days, Shichibei had to cover his own food and horse rations. After twelve days, Nobunaga had to pay Shichibei for hiring horses and also provide horse feed and military provisions.

Hey, I wonder how that dead, cheap father of Oda Nobuhide negotiated with him back then. Nobuhide's settlement agreement and military service account were so clear that Nobunaga thought his father's account was too inadequate. If a war really broke out, he would ask Shichibei for fifty Yongle Tongbao coins a day to settle the military service account.

Therefore, Shichibei only needed to pay 600 sen per year and was no longer required to serve in the military. It's somewhat similar to the shield tax levied by the King of England on the nobles. This feudal system, regardless of East or West, really does have some commonalities.

"How many horses do you have?" There was more than one horseman in Owari, and each of them had a different number of horses and were responsible for different post roads.

"More than thirty, of which twenty-two are ready to be used." Shichibei has some wealth, but that's about it.

It is said that the Kato clan, the horse-head of the Michichuden in Atsuta, owned more than sixty horses, making them truly wealthy. Moreover, they were the merchant head of Oda Nobuhide and had once overseen the construction of Nagoya Castle.

“That’s quite a lot…” Sugaya Nagayori nodded.

"Thanks to you." What? You have work for me to do?

"Haha, you'll have plenty of business to do from now on." Patting Shichibei on the shoulder, Sugaya Nagayori left with a smile.

He also signed the receipt, his signature in a flamboyant, illegible handwriting that Shichibei couldn't decipher. But anyway, there was no need to understand the signature; a receipt was enough to settle accounts at home.

But what kind of good business is this guy talking about? What kind of business would warrant Nobunaga's nephew patting me on the shoulder? Using small pack animals to fight a war? What kind of good business is that? Besides, fighting Oda Nobukiyo might not even be a major battle.

They can just send a thousand or two thousand men from each side to clash, no logistics needed. They can set out from Komakiyama in the morning, finish the battle at noon, and still be able to go home and sleep in the evening.

It's less than twenty kilometers in total.

2. Where did the dowry of a hundred thousand strings of cash come from?

Returning to Tsushima along the post road, Shichibei found the atmosphere there to be more relaxing. In Komakiyama, we were the ruled class; in Tsushima, we were members of the ruling class.

Although Tsushima was controlled by four families and seven parties, Shichibei could still sneak in as an observer when the association held meetings. Being able to attend meetings was also a form of power manifestation.

Denma-monya, also known as Shichibei's shop, was located on the banks of the Tsushima River (Tenno River, Ushito Tenno), or rather, on the coast. The Tsushima of this time was vastly different from the Tsushima of four hundred years later. The Tsushima of later generations had long since moved away from the coast. Long-term land reclamation had not only extended the coastline forward but also filled in a large number of ditches and streams.

In the future, with highways and railways, transportation will naturally become less of a hassle. But right now, Tsushima relies entirely on shipping for both internal and external transport.

The real wealthy were the owners of the large shipyards on Tsushima Island. There's a game called *Taiko Risshiden 5* where the wealthy merchant Itō Sojūrō of Kiyosu town was involved in this business.

As for your question about "pyoko-sen" (俵子船), it doesn't have any complicated meaning. It's simply a transport ship whose carrying capacity is measured in "pyoko" (俵) of rice. Large ones are called "dapyoko" (大俵子), and small ones are called "kopyoko" (小俵子).

Ito was also one of Oda Nobuhide's trusted merchants at the time, just like Kato in Atsuta. They were renowned in Owari's business circles, serving as both samurai and merchants, and their position within the Oda family far surpassed that of many future lords of provinces and castles.

Sigh, what does it have to do with me? We Shichibei are lucky if we can keep our family's wealth of 60 kan.

The shop was a front shop and a back home. The front was a stall for raising packhorses and riding horses, the middle was a small open space with no garden or vegetable patch, and the back was a warehouse, woodshed, hay shed and Shichibei's house.

Shichibei's adoptive father accompanied Oda Nobuhide to Azukizaka to confront the Zen master Taigen Sessai. They lost, and the Oda clan suffered hundreds of casualties. Originally, nothing much happened, but Kokado and Gotsuke happened to be in the direction Sessai was attacking. How could they possibly come out on top?

He was shot twice in the thigh and back. If it weren't for the many horses around him, his good horsemanship, and the fact that the old horse knew the way, allowing him to grab the horse's neck and escape back to Owari, he might have even lost his life to the Oda clan.

The leg injury was easy to treat, but the back injury probably affected the internal organs, so his health deteriorated rapidly. He stubbornly endured it at home for four or five years, and finally coughed up blood and died.

Roughly speaking, he's been dead for eight or nine years. Later, Shichibei's mother encouraged him to keep going, working for eight years, but eventually succumbed to illness from overwork. Last year, the Nikko River flood triggered an epidemic, and he died.

Then he left Shichibei with five younger sisters!

That's right, she has five younger sisters!

It's hard to understand how the old man, with his internal organs damaged, could still father a child, which is why his youngest sister is only nine years old this year. If you include the two sisters who died young, Shichibei really has seven sisters.

It's a good name they chose; otherwise, why would they keep going up to number seven?

Seeing Shichibei return, the five younger sisters walked to the corridor one by one, knelt down, and bowed to him. Alas, how could they possibly afford the dowries for their five younger sisters?

In the battle of Azuki-zaka, the old man lost three horses in their prime. Later, medical treatment cost a large sum, and he bought two more mares. His adoptive mother, who hadn't really managed the business before his time travel, also lost a significant amount of money on the horses. By the time the horses finally came into Shichibei's possession, only about thirty remained.

It's not a warhorse. A decent packhorse would sell for five, six, seven, or eight kan, but this old horse wouldn't even fetch three kan. Yamauchi Kazutoyo's best horse, the most prized in the entire Oda clan, was only worth ten gold coins, which is about sixty kan.

A younger sister should have a dowry of at least twenty kan (a unit of currency), to be befitting the Kawamura family's status. Just thinking about this enormous sum of one hundred kan, I feel like I've jumped into a pit of fire and water the moment I transmigrated here.

While he thought about it, having many younger sisters had its advantages. At home, Shichibei could practically do nothing but sit down. All the chores were done by his five sisters: serving tea and water, changing clothes and taking off shoes. He didn't even have to wipe his face himself; his eldest sister would just hold up a towel and wipe it for him.

"Has anything happened at home these past few days?" Shichibei asked, picking up his bowl of ochazuke (rice with tea).

"Everything is normal." The younger sister who was leading the group was called Ayi. She was already sixteen, and if she didn't get married soon, she would probably become an old maid.

As for why she was named Ayi, the old man was uneducated; he named his first daughter after the homophone of "yi" (壹). Similarly, the second child was named Aci, because the pronunciation of "ci" (次) is somewhat similar to "er" (贰).

The rustic accent of Owari countryside is harmful! Why don't you pronounce it as "A-miao"? "Miao" sounds more similar to "two".

"Hmm." Shichibei started shoveling rice into his mouth.

The family members who had accompanied Shichibei on this trip, along with the shop assistants, also began to eat their ochazuke (rice with tea). The younger sisters poured ochazuke for them one by one, adding a couple of slices of pickled cucumber.

However, being in Owari does have its advantages; at least Owari produces a large amount of rice. How large? Owari is smaller than Kai in area, but it has five or six powerful clans that can be considered significant. Each of these clans might have started with a strength greater than Takeda Nobutora's—that's how powerful they are.

Naturally, there's plenty of ochazuke (rice with tea).

The prosperity of Tsushima was due not only to the blessings of the Tsushima Shrine, but also to the convergence of local products such as bamboo and timber from the upper reaches of the Kiso River, rice from Mino and Owari, and ceramics from the Chita Peninsula, which led to the formation of a large-scale town and its becoming one of the Three Tsushima and Seven Minato.

In a place with such a prosperous commodity economy, it's not difficult to earn a little money, but it's not easy to make a fortune of hundreds of strings of cash.

After finishing their ochazuke, Shichibei handed the bowl to Ai, who immediately poured half a bowl of tea into it. It served as both dishwater and mouthwash, and everyone drank it clean.

Since we're already here, let's just get used to it.

Many shop assistants slept directly in the shop, as they needed to be fed at night to ensure they were ready for work the next morning. Others were essentially indentured servants, signing contracts to "learn" at the shop for years. After completing their contracts, they were free to come and go as they pleased. Generally, they received no wages, only food and lodging.

If they keep them in the shop, they'll get paid properly.

These men were collectively known as "saddlers," and were all subordinates of Shichibei, the saddler-head. There were more than twenty of them in total, some so old they were hunchbacked, and some so young they were even shorter than Oda Nobunaga's tachi-no-naka.

Before going to sleep, Shichibei carefully checked the horses in their stalls one last time before finally going to bed. He'd been on the road for the past two days, and now that he was home, he finally had some private time and space to think things through.

This job of passing on horses probably doesn't lead anywhere. I'm afraid to actually carry a gun for Nobunaga, and working for someone else is out of the question. It's so frustrating.

3. Protecting official business is truly extravagant.

Ohashi Shigenaga-dono was unwell and unable to meet with Shichibei, so his son, Oda Nobuhisa, received him instead. This Oda Nobuhisa was not an overbearing person; after examining the signatures of Murai Sadakatsu and Sugaya Nagayori, he paid Shichibei.

He even inquired about Shichibei's situation at Komakiyama. Or to put it more directly, how was the strategy for winning over Inuyama Oda Nobukiyo going?

He was originally sent to serve Oda Nobunaga as a hostage, but gained Nobunaga's favor, which allowed him to use the Oda surname. If Ōhashi Shigenaga hadn't fallen ill, he wouldn't have been able to return to visit his father.

He's only been away from Nobunaga for a short while, yet he's already anxious about the military situation at the front. He seems to be a loyal retainer of Oda.

I wonder if I died alongside Oda Nobunaga at Honnoji.

Shichibei briefly recounted the news he had heard: Niwa Nagahide had been ordered to pacify the branch castles under Oda Nobukiyo's control, and it was said that some progress had been made. Many local samurai who had originally served the Inuyama Oda clan were beginning to waver.