Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

His older brother, Kinoshita Tokichiro, came from a humble family of foot soldiers and only managed to join the Owari samurai group by marrying Nene. It was similar to how Zhuge Liang's marriage to Huang Yueying allowed him to infiltrate the Jingzhou scholar-official community.

The practice of dividing people into small groups based on factors such as region, reputation, and status has existed since ancient times. Shichibei is a typical veteran of Owari, Oda, and the four lower districts, which is an excellent status. Just now, Sakuma Nobumori defended Shichibei and did not kick him while he was down, precisely because, no matter what, Shichibei and he were both from the same group of samurai from the four lower districts of Owari.

Kinoshita Tokichiro was able to get close to the group, but the group wasn't very accepting of him. Now that Kinoshita Koichiro had seen Shichibei, who was related to him, he naturally wanted to curry favor with his brother.

He would work under Nobunaga from then on, and maintaining good relations with the Owari samurai would also benefit his brother.

Thinking that dying well is better than dying starving, Shichibei accepted Koichiro's invitation without a second thought. What's wrong with eating at his house? It's just a bowl of ochazuke (rice with tea), what's the big deal?

The two men followed along to the Kinoshita residence. It was actually the home of Kinoshita Tokichiro. As the head of Nobunaga's 100 foot soldiers, Tokichiro already owned a 200-tsubo (approximately 63 square meters) residence right below Komakiyama Castle.

With no fighting, no shifts, and no drills, Kinoshita Tokichiro was naturally at home. Seeing his younger brother bring a friend home, Tokichiro was happy and quickly asked who it was. He learned it was Denbato Shichibei from the Denbagawa family in the Tsushima clan, and he hurriedly greeted him with a smile.

This guy sounds like a veteran Oda, how could I not go in?

While settling Shichibei and the two men, Fujikichiro and Koichiro quickly whispered to each other and figured out Shichibei's identity. Shichibei was also observing Fujikichiro. Fujikichiro was mainly bald, and at only twenty-something, he was already quite bald. As for being ugly, he really wasn't ugly at all.

They're probably around the average level of samurai these days, maybe just a bit darker-skinned. But which samurai isn't dark-skinned these days? The whole Kai group is as dark as charcoal.

He married Ningning too, so he has to be compared to the warriors of the same era.

The former Shichibei looked at Maeda Toshiie, who was not much fairer, but looked a little more heroic, which was probably what Nobunaga liked. Who cares, anyway, Nobunaga looked down on people like Shichibei.

Oh, by the way, I'll take a look at Nene, one of the three ladies of the Sengoku period. I've already met Oichi Shichibei before, now I have the chance to see another one. Japan doesn't have such strict etiquette, and in just a short while Nene has already brought out tea to entertain Shichibei.

Emmm...

Anyway, she's not a great beauty, just average.

After waiting a while, Fujikichiro brought out the sake first, and he and Shichibei clinked glasses. They were both just lowly samurai, and having a drink was a joy in life.

After a few drinks, Fujikichiro naturally asked, "Aren't you in charge of horse transport? You're not planning to attack Mino after the summer harvest, so what are you doing here in the castle?"

What are you doing? You're trying to kill me!

"What?" Not only was Shichibei utterly shocked, but Kinoshita Tokichiro, who heard Nobunaga's order to inspect the land, was also extremely puzzled.

Why would they need to survey land when there's no village or shop in sight? While it's true that according to the customs of Japan's Sengoku period, after defeating Inuyama Oda Nobukiyo, who held power in Kami-Owari, a land survey was necessary, that should have been done by the chief retainers or magistrates, not by Shichibei, a mere messenger.

If this task were given to Fujikichiro, his first reaction would definitely be that Nobunaga must think I'm useless and want to find a reason to kill me.

"I don't know what to do," Shichibei said honestly.

Firstly, Shichibei has no idea how to inspect land, and secondly, he has neither the money nor the person to do so.

"Logically speaking, the lord shouldn't have given you such an order, right? Did you offend him?" Kinoshita Tokichiro, who came from a menial job background, was used to figuring out Nobunaga's thoughts.

"No, not really..." If he had angered Nobunaga by teaching the Takeda samurai how to make candles, Nobunaga would have simply ordered Shichibei to commit seppuku.

Moreover, judging from Niwa Nagahide and Sakuma Nobumori's expressions, they deduced that Shichibei hadn't actually offended Nobunaga, but rather that he felt Nobunaga was making things difficult for him. They wanted to play a trick on Shichibei and teach him a lesson.

"Hmm..." At this point, all three of them put down their wine glasses.

Firstly, Shichibei was born into the Owari clan and was a hereditary retainer. Given the obvious shortage of retainers in the Oda clan, he should have been given a more important position. Even Kinoshita Tokichiro was promoted to the rank of centurion, so it would have been reasonable for someone like Shichibei to be promoted to district governor or district deputy.

Secondly, Shichibei did not offend Nobunaga, and he served diligently, even helping Nobunaga repair his stables. Whenever Nobunaga summoned him for battle, Shichibei immediately brought all his belongings to follow. In terms of loyalty to his lord, neither of them had any issues.

Finally, Nobunaga was usually very generous, rewarding those who did good work and never being stingy with money. There was no reason for him to let Shichibei inspect the land without giving him a single penny, providing no money, or assigning any personnel. This was completely out of character for Nobunaga.

Considering how quickly he spent the more than 3,000 kan of Asai Nagamasa and the 5,000 kan of Takeda Shingen, he really wasn't a stingy person.

Then why am I so stingy with you?

Hey, this reminded Shichibei, it couldn't be that because I earned 180 kan last year, he wanted to punish me this year and make me spend all the "stolen" 180 kan.

But what good is money? With tens or hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of thousands of kan of land and property, even if Shichibei had money, he couldn't hire hundreds of officials and assistants who could read, write, and calculate and were familiar with the situation in Owari to inspect the land.

While money may seem like the key factor, human resources, especially those skilled in calligraphy and painting, are also crucial.

"It's not even summer or autumn yet. We can't even go directly to the fields to observe the rice flowers. How can we inspect the land?" Xiaoyilang also expressed his opinion.

Summer grains haven't even been harvested yet, let alone autumn rice. These days, to determine the value of a piece of land, you definitely look at rice production first, then wheat and other grains. If you can't even determine rice production, what's the point of even looking at it?

Don't assume that just because they're all paddy fields, each mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres) will consistently produce four or five hundred jin (a Chinese unit of weight, approximately 0.5 kg) of rice. If it were that easy to calculate, there would be no distinction between superior, middle, and inferior land, nor between fertile and infertile fields.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Having finally found two intelligent people who weren't stupid and could sit down and analyze the situation, Shichibei really wanted to loudly complain.

"Let's think about it another way. What you're doing now is all for the purpose of conquering Mino. If this land survey causes a rebellion, it's definitely not what you want," Koichiro said slowly.

Nobunaga's rambling, giving money to Asai Nagamasa and Takeda Shingen to stabilize the peripheral forces of Mino, was not just for the purpose of seizing Mino. All the things at the moment were not as important as seizing Mino.

Given this premise, how could Nobunaga possibly have inspected the land?

Land surveys will almost certainly cause discontent among local leaders and gentry. With just a little instigation from anyone, it could lead to a large-scale uprising. The neighboring Mikawa region just experienced a large-scale Ikko-ikki and Tokki uprising because Matsudaira Ieyasu made excessive demands on the locals. The lesson from that time is still fresh in our minds.

"You mean the lord doesn't want to survey the land?" Shichibei suddenly realized something.

They want me to inspect the land, but I don't want to inspect the land. This conclusion is so contradictory, it's hard to even explain.

"It's not the land inspection!" Koichiro thought of it faster than Shichibei.

"Huh?" Shichibei and Fujikichiro were both stunned. What the heck?

"Since conquering Mino is the top priority, what we need are nothing more than military strength and money. Money is secondary; consolidating the military forces in Owari is the main thing." Koichiro directly pointed out Nobunaga's idea.

After the war, some samurai abandoned their territories and fled, some followed Inuyama Tessai to Kai, some died in battle, and some followed Tsuda Nobuyoshi to join Nobunaga.

Therefore, the military situation in the Upper Owari region is currently in chaos, with no clear accounts for overall mobilization.

Therefore, this land survey is not the same as that land survey; Nobunaga only wanted a military service register corresponding to the existing land.

He didn't care whether the land had concealed its yield or whether the village had underreported its population; he only demanded a revised version of the Kamiowara military service register.

Even if only 5,000 people are booked later, having this account is better than not having it.

"I understand!" Shichibei finally realized that this was what Nobunaga meant.

No wonder they didn't give money or people; this matter didn't require any people or money at all, just notification to the local authorities was enough. This thing wasn't the land inspection as understood in later times, but rather the so-called "pointing out land inspection."

In other words, they do their own statistics and reports, and the higher authorities summarize and record the data, clearly defining the one-to-one correspondence between troop strength and land.

It's less about inspecting the land and more about rebuilding the military service tents. It doesn't matter if you conceal things, it doesn't matter if you hide them, I'm not going to argue with you now.

"Hahahaha..." Koichiro looked smug; he was indeed quite clever.

"Thank you so much, thank you so much! Koichiro, are you married yet?" Shichibei suddenly thought of this and stepped forward to grab Koichiro's hand.

"Not yet..." Koichiro's thoughts were naturally the same as his brother's.

He also wanted to marry a woman from a samurai family within the Owari samurai guild, so as to strengthen ties with the guild and further integrate into it. This marriage alliance continued from generation to generation, until by the third generation, the Kinoshita family would be considered standard Owari samurai, and no one would treat them as outsiders.

"Good, good, good, good!" Shichibei was overjoyed; this was definitely a great thing.

Aside from Kotake's sister, Shichibei has four younger sisters. Putting everything else aside, at least Kinoshita Koichiro isn't going to be a short-lived man who only lives to thirty-eight.

35. New Owari Division Account (titled by Zhu Xiucai Sanjin)

Upon leaving the Kinoshita residence, Shichibei immediately summoned five shop assistants, instructing them to bring writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. He also informed Sakuma Nobumori, requesting him to publicly convey, in his capacity as a senior retainer of the Oda clan, Oda Nobunaga's land survey order for the four upper districts of Owari.

Not only did they have to post notices at Komakiyama Castle, but they also had to use the horses they had previously recruited for Nobunaga to go from village to village in Kami-Owari Province to inform the landowners, or lords, of each village, to come to Komakiyama Castle to register their land ownership.

If you don't apply now, all the unclaimed land discovered during subsequent inspections will become Nobunaga's direct territory.

Shichibei never went to the countryside to inspect the areas, nor did he even review any documents; that required the wisdom of his successors. Now, Shichibei only needed to create a set of accounts corresponding to each location.

My office will be set up at the gate of Komakiyama Castle. After all, Nobunaga didn't even provide me with an office, so I'll just have to do my job at the castle gate.

When Sakuma Nobumori received Shichibei's report, he was initially incredulous. Why was Shichibei preparing to start this work? But when he saw that Shichibei was referring to land registration, he understood.

So that's what Nobunaga was thinking...

How come I didn't think of that? Shichibei's mind works incredibly fast. But that's secondary; the important thing is that he actually managed to understand Oda Nobunaga's temperament and thoughts.

Intelligent people aren't exactly rare these days; you can always find a few if you look. But those who can truly understand Nobunaga's thoughts are few and far between.

It's a pity, a real pity, that I don't have a daughter yet.

Well, the Owari samurai group clearly has a bright future now, so it's good to lend a hand to Shichibei and make a good connection.

Soon, Sakuma Nobumori obtained the land survey document with his signature from Nobunaga. The original was posted at the foot of Komakiyama Castle, and the transcribed attachments were witnessed by him and distributed to various places in the four districts of Owari.

The order states that all those in charge must come to the city to give an account within five days.

Land inspection? Land inspection is coming! The whole city is in an uproar. Throughout history, whenever the words "land inspection" are mentioned, there has never been a time when it hasn't caused a huge uproar. Some even went so far as to expel the guards, attack prefectures and counties, or even burn down the capital, demanding benevolent governance.

When they saw the notice and received the notification, they felt that this matter was inexplicable.

They won't even send anyone to the village; they want us to go to the city to apply for land ourselves? Is this what they call land inspection? It's like I can just apply for land anywhere.

It is not known whether he received a hint or figured it out on his own, but he wanted to show his loyalty to Oda Nobunaga. As soon as the announcement was issued, Tsuda Nobuyasu ran to the city gate with his retainers. Seeing Shichibei setting up two shields and working, he could not wait to step forward and identify himself.

Then he clearly stated how much land he owned in which village near Inuyama in Niwa District, and the surrounding area of ​​that land, including the area of ​​the land itself. Based on Shichibei's previous understanding, Tsuda Nobuyoshi might have even overstated the area considerably.

Because according to the normal mobilization price nowadays, the number of troops he reported was almost the same as the number of troops his father mobilized when he resisted Nobunaga in Inuyama.

It should be noted that over a hundred of them died in battle, and his father took several dozen with him.

More importantly, Nobunaga theoretically also confiscated a portion of their territory. The reason given was that Inuyama Tessai had fled with some of his men, and their household no longer needed so many treasury items.

After considering everything, this kid is truly loyal; he's willing to bring his own provisions and fight alongside Nobunaga.

Compared to him, the other nobles who came to the city walls to report their grievances seemed somewhat dishonest. Shichibei, after all, came from a small merchant background and possessed a certain ability to read people. He saw through their deceptions—some were lying, some were putting on airs.

As he was recording, Shichibei suddenly understood something.

Those who are now willing to honestly declare their land holdings to Nobunaga are at least as wealthy as those who owned land during Oda Nobukiyo's time. Regardless of their loyalty, they are at least outwardly submitting to Nobunaga's rule.

At this point, someone who's thinking of playing a game of cat and mouse with Nobunaga's land survey order? That's tantamount to not even outwardly submitting to Nobunaga; they're a complete traitor from head to toe, a double agent.

The difference in quality is immediately apparent.

Nobunaga didn't expect you to be absolutely loyal, but at least you should pretend to be a vassal. A simple report effectively divided the famous lords of Kami-Owari into three groups.

The most loyal will report more, willing to follow Nobunaga and achieve great things. Those who report the truth will naturally gravitate towards you, and others will follow them – a typical Sengoku period mentality, understandable. What we need to be wary of are those who underreport, whether they harbor ill intentions or have ulterior motives; the list is already prepared.

Of course, there is another type, the kind where Nobunaga would be sentenced to death the moment he had a chance to free up his hands.

That means secretly seizing those unclaimed fields and directly encroaching on Oda Nobunaga's interests—it's practically tantamount to betraying Nobunaga. In the Sengoku period, betrayal meant certain death if caught.

This is far worse than Shichibei's development of the sandbar.

At the same time, Nobunaga deliberately assigned Shichibei, a minor figure, to handle the land survey. This made outsiders believe that Nobunaga's entire focus was on conquering Mino, and that he only needed to make a casual registration and didn't care much about it.

To be fair, Shichibei's status was truly perfect. He was a hereditary retainer of the Oda clan, with an exceptionally privileged background. However, his stipend was low, he lacked a reputation for bravery, and he had not achieved any significant feats, making him easily looked down upon.

He was simply the perfect candidate for this task. If it were anyone else, the lords would have to think for three or five minutes to figure out if Nobunaga had any other intentions.