Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

As for the condition of securing the territory, Shichibei could guarantee it if Ōki Kaneyuki were to defect if necessary. Although Shichibei wasn't the general in charge of this matter, the general in charge, Takigawa Kazumasu, was in Kyoto building a house for Nobunaga. Even if Shichibei intervened, Nobunaga wouldn't do anything about it.

They might even think it's done well.

After working on Tsushima for over a month, the various matters concerning the annual tribute rice were basically brought to a close. Nobunaga also managed to suppress the situation in the Kinai and Kyoto regions, and led 8,000 cavalry back to Gifu for the New Year.

Alright, let's all sit down and settle the accounts.

Upon hearing that accounts needed to be settled, the senior retainers of the Oda clan, who had been eagerly anticipating the New Year holiday, all wore bitter expressions. Why did they have to settle accounts during the New Year?

We agreed to settle accounts once we received the annual tribute rice. Are you going to deny it now? If you don't acknowledge it now, you won't have any quota to take advantage of next spring.

So, with no other choice, everyone could only sit down with long faces under the veranda of the Tondani Residence. The six employees of Kawamura-ya, holding account books and abacuses, knelt on the open ground outside the veranda.

When a high-ranking official's name was called, his heart skipped a beat. Those whose annual tribute rice sales were enough to cover the loan and interest naturally breathed a sigh of relief and could remain calm. Those whose annual tribute rice only covered the interest and part of the principal weren't in a hurry either, since they were all colleagues and could extend their terms.

Fortunately, there wasn't a case where the annual tribute rice couldn't even cover the interest. If there had been, we would have had to dig a hole and crawl into the ground on the spot.

Everyone congratulated each other. "How much do you owe?" "I don't owe him. He still owes me a thousand." "Congratulations, congratulations, really congratulations!"

As the year drew to a close, everyone was filled with joy. But then everyone turned their attention to Oda Nobunaga, who sat at the head of the table, warming himself by the brazier. Unlike these high-ranking retainers who could only borrow ten or twenty thousand taels of silver, Nobunaga spent money like water, starting with tens or hundreds of thousands, and two or three hundred thousand taels was not uncommon for him.

As for Nobunaga's accounts, Shichibei had to personally go to the palace and meticulously calculate everything for Nobunaga. Nobunaga squinted, never expecting that even after returning to his old stronghold in Gifu, he would still have such a difficult hurdle to overcome. He truly didn't know whether he should curse the bastard.

After a quick calculation, it turned out that, as expected, Nobunaga had sold all his annual tribute rice, first covering the interest, then settling the principal, leaving him with a debt of over 32,000 kan to Kawamura-ya. Two payments were particularly egregious: one was for 1,200 arquebuses ordered from Sakai and Kunitomo-mura, and the other was for 2,500 foot soldiers and 5,000 swords and spears ordered from Imahama, Ise-Ōminato, Kyoto, and Sakai.

Sakuma Nobumori and Hayashi Hideaki, sitting next to Nobunaga, each turned their heads away, not daring to speak. Niwa Nagahide peeked over at the abacus, swallowed hard, and said nothing more.

"Monogram!"

After a moment's hesitation, Nobunaga picked up his pen and signed the general ledger to indicate his approval. He had spent all the money himself and remembered it clearly. He used the arquebuses to kill six thousand of Asakura Yoshikage's men, and the foot soldiers, swords, and spears were used to support Mori Yoshinari, Hideyoshi, and Nobuhiro, as well as some for his own use.

Everything is documented with detailed accounts and delivery receipts, and the price has only increased slightly by 10% to 15%, with absolutely no hidden tricks. Anything truly shady would certainly not be involved in projects related to national policy or military affairs.

"My lord, you're in a hurry." Shichibei is dealing with this matter one by one; a ruler and his subject are ruler and his subject, and a debt is a debt.

"I'm anxious? What am I anxious about? You're the one who's anxious." Nobunaga was indeed anxious, but only for about half a minute before he calmed down and his mind cleared.

"What's there to be in a hurry for me? Do you think you can run away, my lord? Even if you run away, Gifu Castle will still be here." Shichibei looked at the signature on the account book and was extremely relaxed.

"Hahahaha..." Seeing that Nobunaga had come to his senses, the others burst into laughter.

"This Gifu Castle must be worth at least 50,000 kan." Nobunaga looked towards the castle tower atop Mount Inaba, which was completely out of sight behind him.

"It's worth it, definitely worth it." Shichibei thought to himself that the castle itself wasn't worth any money; the vast Nobi Plain beneath it was more valuable.

But now that even Nobunaga has made it through the New Year, everyone can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Stop looking so glum, come and have a drink!

The most important thing is to have a happy New Year. If we can get through this year, we can definitely get through next year. It's just a debt, what's the big deal? A lot of lice don't itch, and a lot of debt doesn't worry us. The important officials and elders present here have clearly already realized this.

Seeing that everyone was still reasonable, Shichibei was very pleased. Although Nobunaga was heavily in debt, the interest they had paid had already completely covered the debt, with more to spare.

In this era of constant warfare during the Warring States period, everyone spends most of their time on horseback. To be able to fight peacefully on the front lines without worrying about the cost of war is truly a wonderful thing.

Forget hating Shichibei for sucking their blood, they love Shichibei too much to even think about.

Just then, Shichibei also spotted Takigawa Kazumasu. As a legion commander who was practically defunct, Takigawa Kazumasu was also heavily in debt; his annual tribute could only cover the interest and a portion of the principal. He was currently drinking alone, his heart filled with bitterness.

With the meager income from the area around Kanie Castle in Owari, and the earnings he made as a mercenary, he still fell into debt after a year's famine, and life was indeed miserable.

Quietly approaching him, Takigawa Kazumasu assumed Shichibei was asking when the accounts would be settled, feeling a little awkward. Shichibei, however, wasn't in such a hurry; he was mainly curious about whether Takigawa Kazumasu's efforts in northern Ise had been effective.

Chapter 249 Shocking News of Jing Ren's Death

January of the third year of the Yuangui era (1572).

The situation in the country remained complex and chaotic. Oda Nobunaga, who had once shown signs of becoming the ruler of the country, was troubled by the messy situation in the Kinai region and failed to achieve his grand ambition of unifying the country by force.

Even after defeating their formidable enemy, the Asakura clan, the situation around them remained precarious. In particular, their conflict with Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki had reached the point of open division.

It seems that the hero who will unify the world has yet to truly emerge.

The heroes of the previous generation have gradually passed away, with Mori Motonari and Hojo Ujiyasu both dying last year. The western and Kanto regions, which had once presented a unified picture, have once again fallen into turmoil.

The hope that changing the era name to Yuan Gui would quell the continuous wars of the Yonglu era was truly difficult to realize.

However, these are all matters of great importance to the world, and have little impact on Shichibei, who is guarding his small family under Gifu Castle. Anyway, if the sky falls, there's a tall guy like Oda Nobunaga to hold it up; no matter how much it crashes, it won't hit the heads of us who are only 1.42 meters tall.

Back in Gifu Castle, while they were settling accounts for the year, Shichibei and Takikawa Kazumasu struck up a conversation. They discovered that his efforts in northern Ise were having an effect, and Oshima Jōken, the monk sent by Honganji to aid Ganshōji, seemed somewhat interested.

Jingxian was not from a hereditary monk family. His family were originally samurai from another region. Their ancestors were influenced by the Honganji Temple and became believers in Jodo Shinshu.

The Jodo Shinshu sect doesn't just preach to ordinary people; it also includes lower- and middle-ranking samurai in its missionary work. It's highly likely that Joken himself wasn't particularly interested in Jodo Shinshu, unlike his father who was a fanatical believer.

After being dispatched to Nagashima, he organized a monk-soldiers armed force, making him a capable monk-official. The reason he caught the eye of Takigawa Kazumasu was because his wife was from Kaito District in Owari Province.

She wasn't exactly the daughter of a respectable samurai family, just a foot soldier or village headman's daughter, more than a match for a monk official. These days, marriages were all about pairing up the best and worst, rarely exceeding social class or social standing.

It is said that the village chief claimed to be a descendant of the Miwa clan of Owari Province, which is doubtful, but it doesn't matter. These days, if someone claims to be a descendant, as long as everyone recognizes it, it's considered genuine.

Ieyasu just pretended to be Ryūtoku, right? He bought the court's approval for 300 kan. Anyway, if you traced it back more than ten generations, there was a chance of getting involved. It was about the same as what he said.

The reason why Jingxian was instigated by Takikawa Kazumasu was not only because his wife was from Owari Kaito, but mainly because the power of Nagashima Ganshoji Temple was expanding rapidly.

Generally speaking, in situations like these, internal conflicts are suppressed due to the enormous profits involved. After all, even if you can't get the meat, you can still get a sip of soup, right? As long as you have a sip of soup, it's a tangible benefit, and the faction tends to be more united.

But the problem with Nagashima is that they already have the cake in their hands, and then Ishiyama Honganji sent people to try to take a share. The local forces of Nagashima Honganji naturally felt that they should get the bigger slice, while the local lords of Kita-Ise resisted being incorporated.

It's because the spoils weren't divided equally!

Explaining it in too much detail would be a waste of time; it's purely a matter of unequal distribution of spoils. Since he was neither a local monk official from the Nagashima Yuanzheng Temple nor a confidant of the ward official sent by the Ishiyama Honganji Temple to support Nagashima, Monk Jingxian was the first to be excluded from the soup-drinking pool.

Having a wife from Owari already makes you practically a part of Owari, doesn't it? As long as you're from Owari, you can talk to anyone, and you can love Oda.

Ultimately, however, nothing is certain yet. Just as Shichibei couldn't be sure if Ōki Ken would open the gates for Oda's army, Takigawa Kazumasu couldn't be sure if the monk Jōken would betray Oda's army in the face of battle.

All of this was unfounded, but Takigawa Kazumasu did report it to Nobunaga. Nobunaga's idea was that if this kid could convert to Buddhism, stop being a monk at Ganshoji Temple, and confirm that his wife and children were indeed stained with the blood of Owari, then he would promise him a position like 2,000 koku in Kita-Ise, and try to win him over first.

Whether it succeeds or not depends on whether this kid has the life to take it.

There were quite a few who acted as spies beforehand, only to be discovered and end up with their heads blown off. In the Warring States period, lords and daimyo who weren't quick-witted were bound to be assassinated sooner or later.

Since things were progressing smoothly, Shichibei wasn't in a hurry to reveal Oki Kaneyoshi's trump card. In any case, Nobunaga didn't seem to be planning to attack the Nagashima Ikko-ikki immediately, and everyone could see that Nagashima Ganshoji was a treacherous rebel who was not worth worrying about.

Nobunaga viewed the intentions of the Ganshōji Temple as mere skeletons in a tomb, and never truly took them to heart.

The greatest enemy is still Asakura Yoshikage. This spring, the snow will melt, and Nobunaga will definitely have to take action and kill Asakura Yoshikage first. Otherwise, even a centipede, though dead, will not fall down. If he is not dealt with this year, and not killed next year, he will rise up again the year after.

Taking advantage of Yoshikage's current weakness, seizing his 750,000 koku of land in Echizen would instantly boost Nobunaga's strength by two levels. This would give him more room to maneuver later.

So, Shichibei isn't in a hurry anymore; he's content to stay home with his wife, kids, and a warm bed.

To be honest, since it was his first child, Shichibei was already starting to get a sense of what it would be like if someone posted online about how their friends' social media feeds were filled with pictures of the baby pooping, rolling over, and spitting up after having a baby...

The young general was the same way; he was happy to see the baby rolling around, and happy to see the baby burping from drinking milk from many different families. After all, this was his first child; he figured he wouldn't be so excited when he had four, five, six, seven, or eight.

Now, he spends most of his time looking after the kids, so he can do whatever he wants with Shichibei. I reckon even if Shichibei found two more kids outside right now, the young admiral would ignore it.

There was no other way but to go out and have some fun with his comrades. Unfortunately, apart from briefly returning to Gifu after Nobunaga's retreat, Hideyoshi quickly rode back to the siege of Kamajima Castle.

The same applies to Hanawa Naomasa; Kamajima Castle has been besieged for five months and remains unmoved. He attempted to break out of the castle twice during this period, but was repelled both times by the besieging Oda army. Now it seems he has settled into a defensive posture, waiting for Asakura Yoshikage to send troops to Edo again this spring to relieve the siege.

Haha, Yi Jing can still come to save you?

Even Yi Jing himself is in trouble.

With Hideyoshi absent, a large number of his men, including Hidenaga, Koroku, and Kazutoyo, were also away. As samurai, they all had to spend the New Year in the siege camp below the castle. However, Nene brought her daughter to visit the young general and presented him with a pair of pheasants.

By the way, one of Hideyoshi's concubines, one of the hostages he took in Kohoku, was pregnant, wasn't she? Last year, Nobunaga said he could give his son, Ujimaru, to Hideyoshi so that he could be adopted by Nene's daughter and become the legitimate son of the Kinoshita family.

As a result, the concubine gave birth to a baby boy, and with a son to inherit the family business, Oda Nobunaga put aside all other matters. There was no reason for a lord to "seize" the family business of a retainer with outstanding military achievements and an heir.

However, thinking about it, the arrow that Hideyoshi took at Asaka Castle probably didn't have much of an impact, since she was able to conceive. Judging from Nene's appearance, she doesn't seem to have any major problems either. But the couple rarely saw each other, as Hideyoshi was often away fighting for Nobunaga.

As Hideyoshi's principal wife, Nene was required to serve as a hostage at Gifu Castle while remaining at the residence. This is perhaps why the couple never conceived again.

Hideyoshi's sister, however, had already given birth to two or three boys. They saw Hideyoshi's mother, O-Naka, leading her family to the city for the New Year, a lively and joyous occasion with quite a few children. Hideyoshi's son, who could already speak, was chasing after O-Naka calling her "Grandma," making O-Naka extremely happy.

Anyway, Hideyoshi now has both a son and a daughter, and he also has backups for his older sister and younger brother. The wings of time travel seem to be flapping quite vigorously, so much so that Hideyoshi is not in any "crisis of not having eggs".

Aside from his large family, Oda Nobuhiro went to Kiyosu to guard Nagashima after the meeting. Shibata Nagakatsu had to stand guard for Nobunaga, working a fixed schedule, so he wasn't always available. His brother-in-law, Yamagata Genshiro, was also in Kai; Shichibei had already asked the Nagatani clan to bring him dried sardines, nori seaweed, and chestnut rice cakes from Owari to Tsutsugi-no-kan as a New Year's gift.

I wandered around outside for a while, but all my relatives were quite busy. It was convenient, but there wasn't even a single child setting off firecrackers on the street.

Sigh, time to go home. I can only sit down and brag a bit with Inase Yoshinari. Inase Yoshinari, on the other hand, is in high spirits because, according to the profit-sharing ratio of Kawamura-ya, as the owner, he received a considerable sum of money. Buying new clothes for his wife and children, and some Kyoto and Tang Dynasty goods, is a piece of cake.

However, since Shichibei had asked him to chat, he also had something to say to Shichibei.

Previously, when Shichibei was in charge of selling over 600,000 koku of annual tribute rice in Tsushima and Norio provinces, 50,000 koku of which were sent to Suruga, Inase Yoshinari reminded Shichibei of something.

He had learned about the situation in Kai Takeda during his conversation with Shichibei, and now that he had discovered this, he naturally felt compelled to offer a warning. Shichibei, of course, already knew that Suruga had not only purchased grain but also weapons and equipment.

Anyway, Shingen's intention to take action was expected. If Shichibei didn't sell it to him, he would find someone else to buy it. Besides, not selling it to him would only alert the enemy.

Furthermore, can a capitalist who wouldn't even sell a hanging rope be called a capitalist?

Those are pure trash, third-rate, idiotic compradors. The worst kind of compradors are those who are cowardly, incompetent, and shameless. They are the kind of morons who would rush headlong into feudalism if you begged them to do something capitalist.

As for Nobunaga asking about aiding the enemy afterward? That was all done by the people of Ise Ōminato. What does it have to do with my Kawamura Shichibei from Tsushima, Owari? With the criminal investigation methods of this day and age, if you have the ability to trace it back to me, Kawamura Shichibei, then that's not just impressive, that's incredibly shrewd, even more amazing than a fortune teller.

It's perfect.

Seeing that Shichibei understood perfectly, Inase Yoshinari had nothing more to say. He was just a merchant, and although his vision had expanded along with the expansion of Kawamura-ya, it was still limited. How could he possibly predict when Takeda Shingen might turn against him?

It was his mention of this that made Shichibei consider the reality of Nobunaga bringing up the challenge between Ashikaga Yoshihide and Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Ashikaga Yoshiaki was definitely urging Takeda Shingen to raise an army as soon as possible, Asakura Yoshikage was no longer a reliable option, and the Miyoshi Triumvirate had become just two members of the Miyoshi faction.

Mori Motonari died, and he went home to mourn. Uesugi Kenshin was too far away, so only Takeda Shingen had both the strength and the motivation to break out of the Tokaido and wade into the murky waters of the Kinai region.

It's unclear how far Shingen's preparations have progressed. Last year, with the death of Hojo Ujiyasu and the reconciliation between Kai and Kai, the troops that were originally guarding against Hojo were freed up and withdrawn to Kaifu. The military pressure on Kai from all sides was greatly reduced, creating conditions for Shingen to march on Kyoto.

Halfway through our conversation, the gatekeeper came in and said that he had just seen an envoy rush into the Tilia Inn below the city, and wondered what had happened somewhere.

It's the Lunar New Year? It definitely isn't Takeda Shingen.

Shichibei was certain of this; even if it didn't snow in Suruga, the snow in Kai and Shinano was plentiful. He remembered watching the anime "Chibi Maruko-chan," where the main character lived in Shimizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture. Winters there were only cold winds, and even when it snowed, it was the kind of snow that melted as soon as it hit the ground and couldn't be stored.

At this hour, the Takeda clan's main army is all hibernating at home. Forget about launching an attack; even communication with Suruga would be extremely difficult. If something were to happen, they'd have to shovel snow to get through.

Where could that be?

If a war were to break out in the Kinai region, Shichibei, with his two news gathering centers in Kyoto and Sakai, would receive the news at a speed that would be no slower than Oda Nobunaga's, and might even be faster.

After a moment's thought, Shichibei told his men to go to the Tondani Inn to inquire. If it was a major battle that had already taken place, it couldn't be concealed.

Hurry back, buddy, and I'll give you a string of cash.

Even the emperor wouldn't starve his soldiers. Going out to buy intelligence would at least cost the foot soldier captain a good meal and wine, and then give each of the foot soldiers a few dozen coins. It would usually be just enough, but if it wasn't enough, he could just come back for more. Anyway, it wasn't far, just a few steps away.

After waiting at home for a while, the news quickly came back. To be honest, it wasn't anything earth-shattering, but it was quite awkward to have it happen right now.