Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

To put it bluntly, three-quarters of the year has already passed, and Iwanari Yutong hasn't made a penny yet.

Coupled with Niwa Nagahide's efforts to win them over over almost two years, Iwanari Tomomichi ultimately chose to side with Oda Ashikaga. Nobunaga and Ashikaga Yoshiaki welcomed his arrival, seeing it as a chance to dismantle the Miyoshi Triumvirate.

At this very moment, Iwanari Tomomichi has received a reward of 30,000 koku from six farms in the southern part of Yamashiro, and has been appointed as the deputy governor of Yamashiro. In a single act, he has completely whitewashed his image, transforming from a traitorous villain who attacked and killed the former shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru into a loyal retainer of the shogunate.

Because of Iwagatsu Tomomichi's defection, the Miyoshi Triumvirate, who were originally on the offensive, experienced widespread rumors and wavering. They all saw each other as traitors, and the fierce battle finally subsided, turning into mutual distrust and suspicion.

That's great!

Of course, this is a good thing. Nobunaga, who originally had to fight wars everywhere, no longer needs to put out fires on all sides and can take a break for two months.

"Eh, I remember that the Kuze Manor of the Akechi Palace is located within the Six Manors of the Southern Mountains, right?" Takenaka Hanbei suddenly remembered and asked.

If Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Nobunaga granted Kuse-sho to Iwanari Tomomichi, what would happen to Akechi Mitsuhide?

"Lord Akechi has been granted a fief of 55,000 koku in Shiga District, Omi Province," Kotaro So replied quickly.

"Tsk..." Everyone looked at Shichibei.

Enryakuji Monmacho, the largest town south of Lake Biwa, a key town controlling both the water transport of Hunan and the land transport of Kyoto, and the most quintessential area of ​​the Jiangnan region, which was preserved only after repeated pleas from Shichibei, was surprisingly granted to Akechi Mitsuhide.

"What?" Shichibei asked, seeing everyone looking at him, wondering what was so interesting about it.

It's good to let Akechi Mitsuhide deal with those people; Shichibei, anyway, doesn't want to have anything to do with them anymore. Even if it were just one son or son-in-law from their family seeking refuge with Shichibei and Nobunaga, instead of the entire clan going to Mount Hiei for "refuge," Shichibei would still think they're intelligent and capable of communication.

As a result, they all went up the mountain with their entire clans, which Shichibei thought was foolish.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, it's nothing..." Everyone waved their hands, not saying a word.

So what? Akechi Mitsuhide worked so hard for Nobunaga, killing people, and his salary went from 4,000 kan to 20,000 koku of real estate in Hisashi-sho, and now it's been increased to 50,000 koku in Shiga-gun. It's perfectly reasonable.

Hideyoshi has already granted Yokoyama Castle a fief of 40,000 koku. If he wants to be Nobunaga's army commander, he can't settle the samurai and retainers in various places without a fief of 40,000 to 50,000 koku.

However, Mitsuhide was not a rich man. Even if he was transferred from Yamashiro Kusesho to Omi-Shiga District and began to build Sakamoto Castle, where would the money come from?

Without tens of thousands of kan (a unit of currency), it would be absolutely impossible to build a Ōhei Castle capable of sheltering the entire Enryakuji Monmae-cho (town center). Borrowing it from Shichibei would be difficult.

Shichibei has the money, but with a total of 50,000 koku of land, he won't be able to pay off this debt in ten years.

Surely Nobunaga couldn't have built the castle for him, could he? Take Usayama Castle in Jiangnan, for example. Although it was granted to Mori Yoshinari, Nobunaga paid for its construction. But Nobunaga didn't pay for it in vain; Mori Yoshinari almost died defending the castle at Usayama.

Forget it, there's no point in thinking about it so much.

Because in addition to delivering a message, Kotaro also gave Shichibei an order from Nobunaga. This was because the town in front of Enryakuji Temple hadn't been burned down, and Enryakuji Temple itself had been defeated, so the territory briefly became Nobunaga's direct domain.

Before Akechi Mitsuhide was transferred to the capital, Nobunaga ordered Shichibei to collect at least 20,000 kan of bets and yasen from the entire Enryakuji Monzen-cho district.

Chapter 240 Getting a Fist of Iron and Getting Money Quickly

Yes, that's definitely Oda Nobunaga's style.

They've just killed your entire family or your relatives' entire family, and now they can come back without a care in the world and demand payment. It's really a case of "one thing at a time," and the past is the past. These days, as long as you pay a certain amount, it's considered good business.

Oh dear, this is truly the worst of the worst jobs. Although Enryakuji Monzencho is a city in front of a gate comparable to Ishiyama-Osaka-cho, squeezing out 20,000 kan is not a difficult task.

But that was during peaceful times. Now the townspeople have all fled, and the land is desolate. How can we possibly collect so much money for the main hall and the arrows? The main problem is that it has to be completed before Akechi Mitsuhide enters the country and assumes his fiefdom. Time is tight, and the task is too heavy.

These days, with efforts to recruit the dead and disperse the scattered, and to appease and pacify the people, only about ten thousand people from the tens of thousands-strong town of Daimonmae have returned. Many are still hiding in the mountains, or have fled to Kyoto, Otsu, and other places to hide, so it is impossible to bring them all back in a short time.

The key issue is that many of the "town owners" in Enryakuji Monzen-cho died or went missing in the previous fire and war. Without these "town owners", how can the money for collecting the building be collected quickly?

We've discussed the property tax before; a town lord is the owner of the land and houses in a town. The term "samurai daimyo" originally meant "daimyo landowner," with "daimyo landowner" being a remnant of a previous era, and "daimyo lord" now just a borrowed name.

If the actual owners of these houses, shops, and land cannot be found, how can we force them to pay taxes for the new owners one by one?

"My lord needs money everywhere in the capital. Regardless of whether everyone is present or not, let's collect some first so I can take it back to Luoyang." Zong Xiaotaro, being a small merchant himself, naturally knew where the money would come from and immediately suggested.

Although he came from the Kawamura family, he became Nobunaga's retainer and achieved a significant social advancement due to his great achievement in capturing Saito Tatsuoki. Now, he is merely working for Shichibei as a member of the Yorimitsu faction, and naturally, he can directly hand over the money Shichibei receives to Nobunaga.

As for why Shichibei didn't mention the advance payment? If Enryakuji Monzen-cho were Nobunaga's direct territory, then Shichibei would have advanced the funds and then gradually collected the rest from the local lords. But Akechi Mitsuhide was coming soon, and Shichibei didn't have the ability to collect money on Mitsuhide's territory.

"That's true." Rather than calculating here, it's better to just look at the name of the person in question.

We'll take whatever we can get, and if we can't get anything, we'll just compensate with a few coins. Anyway, the cost will ultimately come from the consumer, so it's best not to anger Nobunaga right now.

The authorities ordered notices to be erected in various towns and streets in Jiangnan, in front of Enryakuji Temple, and in Shichiguchi, Kyoto, demanding that the fleeing townspeople return immediately. If they did not return to complete the registration of town ownership, it would be considered that their entire family had perished in the fire at Enryakuji Temple, and all their land and property would be considered ownerless.

Once peace is restored, these properties and lands will become valuable. After all, this area will become Sakamoto Castle Town, still the largest town south of Lake Biwa.

Based on his previous experiences in Anotsu and Sakaimachi, these townspeople would definitely try every possible excuse and obstruction to reduce the amount of tribute. Shichibei would have to have a good showdown with them.

To everyone's surprise, as soon as Nobunaga put up the notice to collect money for the main hall and the arrows, people came in droves to pay.

Very obedient, very clever, very willing.

There was absolutely no need for Shichibei to send anyone to measure the width of the shop or building, nor to calculate the amount of land occupied; these people simply rushed over to deliver the money. Moreover, based on Shichibei's assessment of the typical shop's operating area and commercial value, the amount they paid was likely much higher than expected.

"Yes, the lord's sword is still the best!"

Seeing this, Kotaro immediately uttered these words. His words also instantly enlightened Shichibei.

In the past, Nobunaga collected the town's betrothal money and arrow money after victories, relying on his overwhelming military might. But this time was completely different, because this time he actually killed the entire families of the merchants of the town, and the fire on Mount Eizan burned for more than ten days before it was completely extinguished.

Thousands were killed; almost every resident of Enryakuji Monzen-cho witnessed the horrific execution of someone they knew by the Oda army.

A fist of criticism is far less effective than a fist of criticism!

When the iron fist truly struck, these people suddenly stopped being superstitious about gods and Buddhas, no longer believing that mountain priests were protected by gods and Buddhas, or that calamity would befall them if they weren't helped. After all, the calamity from the gods and Buddhas would come later, but Oda Nobunaga's anger arrived immediately.

Even those who survived the massacre of thousands by Nobunaga, filled with resentment and wishing they could eat Nobunaga's flesh and sleep on his skin, were utterly obedient in front of them.

I didn't believe in them before, thinking that Enryaku-ji Temple was powerful enough to protect them. Now that Nobunaga has actually cut my throat, I realize that all gods and Buddhas are just bullshit.

Their immense desire to survive and their extreme fear of being killed prompted them to immediately spend large sums of money to buy their lives.

“You’re absolutely right.” Shichibei never expected that he would receive such a huge sum of money, thousands of kan, on the very first day the notice was put up.

"You won't know how powerful your lord is until you suffer a little." So Kotaro was a man of this era, born in Owari.

Even in tiny Japan, people from Owari are considered "locals," while people from Omi are considered "nobody's business." It wasn't until the late Edo period that the concept of the so-called "Yamato people of all Japan" began to emerge. Even in the Edo period, when we Satsuma people fought against you Choshu people, we fought with all our might.

They had absolutely no sense of kinship or not, and believed that their resistance against Oda Nobunaga's army was a capital offense, something they deserved.

"How many people have been registered and recruited so far?" Shichibei was too lazy to scold these people anymore; he just wanted to know how much money had been paid.

“More than eight thousand kan, and there are still people returning.” Zong Xiaotaro picked up the ledger, glanced at a few pages, and checked the numbers.

"That's at least 15,000 strings of cash." With that much, even if it's to make up for the losses, not much will be needed.

"Twenty thousand kan should be enough. If it's not enough, just sell off those unclaimed town lands." Kotaro So closed the accounts and said this.

The person dies, but the land remains; at worst, we can sell it off cheaply.

The goal is to scrape together 20,000 kan to provide Nobunaga with sufficient funds for his expenses in Kyoto. The situation in the southern region is a complete mess, and Nobunaga will most likely launch another military campaign soon. It's just a pity that he can't immediately pursue the Asakura clan, giving Asakura Yoshikage time to return home and lick his wounds.

Although the Second Battle of Anegawa broke the backbone of the Asakura family, they were still a prestigious family with five generations and a hundred years of history. Perhaps, as Takenaka Hanbei said, they would be able to catch their breath in time.

Forget it, we don't understand war, let's get to making money.

In just three days, Shichibei, representing Oda Nobunaga, had collected 12,000 kan in various taxes. In addition, he also acquired a batch of miscellaneous valuables by scavenging.

The townspeople and farmers organized to collect and bury corpses also worked at Enryakuji Temple, collecting various scraps in addition to the body collection. As they say, in the countryside, even a blade of grass or a piece of firewood has its use.

Anyway, now that Prince Kakushu, the abbot of Enryaku-ji Temple, is in Kyoto, and the entire temple's spire has been burned to the ground, he has neither the ability nor the prestige to manage Enryaku-ji anymore. So, all the ruins inside the temple are now ownerless.

When Oda's army entered the mountains and set them ablaze, they also engaged in some looting, but mainly only took what was readily available. When the monks and laypeople fled, they took a considerable amount of valuables with them. In those days, monks, especially high-ranking monks, were among the richest of the rich, extremely wealthy.

First, there are the copper and iron parts. Even if they're burnt out, you can still sell them as scrap metal and someone will want them. The leftover material can be chopped up and used to make firewood. That's Enryaku-ji Temple, after all; it uses only the finest wood. Using it for firewood is a complete waste.

Furthermore, a large quantity of sake was discovered in the cellar, likely smuggled liquor brewed secretly by the temple using land rent collected from its own land. This was because the sake trade around Kyoto was entirely monopolized. The shogunate levied taxes based on the number of sake bottles sold in each sake shop.

Enryakuji Temple brews its own wine for private consumption, and might even secretly sell it to others, which could be considered a great source of income.

Finally, a secret chamber was discovered in the rear hall of the main temple. Because it was semi-underground, it was preserved. Inside were numerous utensils, Buddha statues, and scriptures. Shichibei couldn't quite estimate the value of these things; he'd have to wait and see if the escaped monks would offer money to buy them.

It's strange that Enryakuji Temple, which is clearly backed by some pawnshops, money houses and loan sharks in Kyoto, doesn't have a gold storehouse or treasury.

Everyone says the Tiantai school is a school of learning, a school for scholarly pursuits, but that's just talk. They talk about principles, but in their hearts they're all about business; it's the same everywhere.

After working in this manner for ten days, Akechi Hidemitsu and Mizono Shigeaki were ordered to take over Enryakuji Monzen-cho. They planned to demarcate the land and build a new town to control this Hunan trade route.

Oh?

Are we really going to build a city?

Where did the money come from?

Upon hearing this, Akechi Hidemitsu and Mizono Shigeaki bowed and inquired whether the remaining 20,000 kan collected from Enryakuji Monzen-cho had arrived. The previous 12,000 kan had been taken to Kyoto by So Kotaro and spent by Nobunaga. The remaining 8,000 kan, as expected, was to be given to Akechi Mitsuhide.

"Here, here, here. It's a small matter. It's Nobunaga's money anyway, why should Shichibei be stingy for him?"

Because these townspeople were very sensible, they had already paid the full 20,000 kan. Shichibei then handed over the town land registration documents for those towns without a registered owner to the two men. These towns could be sold later, which would also bring in a sum of money.

Sakamoto Castle certainly can't be built for 8,000 kan. I hope you can sell the land for several thousand kan. The two men were overjoyed and bowed repeatedly to Shichibei, thanking him profusely.

Oh, and remember to spend two hundred kan to build a small shrine or pagoda at the foot of the mountain.

Mitsuhide must have killed quite a few people on the mountain, right? Giving these dead some incense or something. It's not about feudal superstition, but these days everyone believes in this stuff, so at least we should make a show of it. From now on, Sakamoto will be your Akechi family's new territory, so pay attention.

Actually, there's not much to say. Historically, during the brief period after Nobunaga eliminated the Asakura clan and before Echizen was explicitly appointed to any particular general, Mizono Shigetomo actually served as one of the three Echizen magistrates, the Kitasho Magistrate, and one of the three junior officers under Nobunaga's command.

To be appointed as the acting governor of Echizen, a region recently conquered by Nobunaga, his abilities must be quite good. And now, Mitsuhide has also sent him to take over Enryakuji Monzen-cho.

After tidying up, Shichibei received the document Nobunaga had signed for Mitsuhide and handed over 8,000 kan. As for the junk found at Enryaku-ji Temple, he would take it to Kyoto if he could sell it, and leave it in Otsu if someone wanted it. He had worked for Nobunaga for so many days, risking his life before his child was even a month old; he deserved some compensation for his hard work.

According to Akechi Hidemitsu's message, Shichibei still had to go to Kyoto.

It's nothing too important. Shichibei is working with several hundred men in the town in front of Enryakuji Temple. Now that we're heading back to Gifu, we can take Oda Nobutada back with us.

Nobunaga himself would have to stay in Kyoto for a long time to have a good showdown with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, while dealing with the various changes in the Kinai region.

The shogunate's retainers also had to start courting the Oda clan. In his early years, Nobunaga hoped that Yoshiaki, with his own retainers numbering in the thousands, could independently maintain order in Kyoto. Therefore, he gave all the lands and estates within Yamashiro to Ashikaga Yoshiaki, even though he didn't want any of them.

Now things are really messed up. Yoshiaki has grown powerful and can now command several thousand men on his own. In any case, Nobunaga finds Yoshiaki increasingly annoying, as he's always stirring up trouble.

It would be best to reduce Yoshiaki's forces to only five hundred men, enough to guard the Nijō Palace. The defense of Kyoto can then be handled by Oda's generals.

Hearing that it was such a small matter, Shichibei readily agreed. Nobunaga, seeing Shichibei, said thank you for your hard work and then handed Oda Nobutada over to him. Not long ago, he was about to kill Shichibei, but now he's all smiles and pleasantries—that's Nobunaga for you.

Let him fight wits with Ashikaga Yoshiaki in Kyoto, and we'll take Oda Nobutada with us as well.

After Nobutada's coming-of-age ceremony, he had several dozen mounted retainers. This was his core force. As for his first battle against the branch castle of Kamajima Castle in Horihide Village, he fought very well, but his troops were all temporarily assigned to him by his father. Now that Nobunaga needed them, they were temporarily withdrawn.

The Oda Nobutada before him was both the young lord of the Oda clan and a direct retainer of Nobunaga, which could be understood as him becoming one of Nobunaga's high-ranking retainers. Nobunaga took him into battle, nurtured him, and trained him, but he himself did not have much actual military power.

Unlike Hideyoshi, Mitsuhide, or Oda Nobuhiro, who already had a large number of long-term dispatched troops, they had to fight alongside Nobunaga for several years and absorb his many battle experiences before they could gradually lead a large army.

There are many defeated soldiers of the Asakura army in both the south and north banks of the Yangtze River, as well as civilians who have gone on a killing spree. It just so happens that Shichibei is returning to Gifu, and traveling with several hundred people is relatively safe. This will only happen once or twice; afterwards, Nobutada will travel with at least several hundred to a thousand people.