Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Have!

Shichibei is being fair and impartial: ever since Hideyoshi led 20,000 men to attack Tajima Province and drove away Yamana Sukeyoyoshi, his skills have steadily improved. He has accumulated considerable experience in both open field battles and siege warfare.

Previously, Shichibei accompanied Oda Nobutada to inspect the siege camp at Kamajima Castle. The entire castle was surrounded so tightly that it was impenetrable. Hideyoshi had truly mastered the art of siege warfare.

He was originally one of Nobunaga's preferred candidates for commander of the main army, and now he has repeatedly distinguished himself in battle. The only drawback is that Hideyoshi's background is slightly inferior. After all, Hideyoshi's father was merely a foot soldier under Oda Nobuhide, and Hideyoshi himself came from Nobunaga's humble origins.

So what? It doesn't matter how lowly he is, the important thing is that he's from Owari!

We Owari people may mutter about his humble origins, but that's our own business. To the outside world, Hideyoshi must be a core member of the Owari military and political group.

There was a group of people in the Japanese Army, from Field Marshals and Generals down to junior officers, who openly mocked Hideki Tojo as a private, never pretending otherwise. But this was just a joke within the Army War College. What do you think it was like after leaving the Army War College?

No matter how much you look down on Hideki Tojo, he was still a graduate of the Army War College. If any Japanese soldier who wasn't from the Army War College dared to laugh at Private Tojo, you'd see how those Army War College graduates would treat him.

Similarly, promoting Hideyoshi is no problem. We old Owari people can tolerate a few internal complaints, and Hideyoshi himself is easygoing. Who dares to complain outside? Anyone who dares to complain will be dealt with.

It really is.

These days, whoever has the biggest battle record has the loudest voice. Don't believe me? Let's go to the battlefield and see what happens.

"One more thing, if we take Echizen, Fujikichiro will need at least half of Echizen province." Since there was no one else around, Nobunaga didn't hold back his words.

“That makes perfect sense.” Shichibei nodded directly.

I just never expected that the Hokuriku army would become Hideyoshi's. That's good, at least Maeda Toshiie, who was sent to do military affairs, won't have to run away at the last minute.

"Hmm..." But Nobunaga hesitated.

"?" Shichibei craned his neck to get closer to Nobunaga and take a look.

"It's not ideal for Bizen to be stationed north of the river." Nobunaga said casually as he saw Shichibei craning his neck to come closer.

"Ah!" That one sentence froze Shichibei in place.

That's right. Now, the entire Omi Province, whether it's northern or southern Omi, is under Nobunaga's control. The Rokkaku father and son in southern Omi are all caged birds in Kyoto, Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei has been burned to the ground, and the Kitayama Ikki have been completely wiped out by Mitsuhide.

Hori Hidemura and Higuchi Naofabu in Jiangbei will most likely become wine cups. If you think about it carefully, in the entire Jiangzhou, only Azai Nagamasa is someone that Nobunaga cannot fully control or easily deal with.

Tired of shuttling between the Kinai and Gifu regions, Nobunaga seems to have set his sights on Omi, intending to establish his own castle there and bring the entire province under his control.

Therefore, it was inevitable that Azai Nagamasa would be removed.

However, the Asai family currently has a nominal income of 150,000 koku, and their actual net income is likely 200,000 to 300,000 koku. If they want to transfer Nagamasa to another fiefdom, they would need to grant him a territory with a nominal income of 300,000 koku, so as not to be seen as forcing Asai Nagamasa to rebel.

The total 490,000 koku of land in the eight districts of Echizen was not enough for Hideyoshi to transfer to another fiefdom.

The Asakura family claimed 750,000 koku, but that figure included parts of Wakasa and Kaga. In reality, if we only consider Echizen, the total was 490,000 koku.

"You understand?" Nobunaga knew that Shichibei understood when he noticed that Shichibei was thinking.

"Wakasa Naoro?" Shichibei thought to himself, "Isn't there still Wakasa? Let's say he gets 100,000 koku."

With Echizen and Wakasa, they would have 600,000 koku. Then Hideyoshi and Azai Nagamasa could each have half, 300,000 each, which wouldn't be a bad idea.

"Wakasa, Gorozae too..." Nobunaga naturally had a plan.

Niwa Nagahide had actually been in charge of the Settsu and Izumi areas for several years, but the Oda clan's strategies in this region were rather lackluster. As a result, Niwa Nagahide did not actually gain any new knowledge or influence in the area, let alone increase his strength.

Furthermore, in Settsu, Nobunaga has once again promoted his son-in-law, Takayama Shigetomo. Given the current chaotic situation in Settsu and Izumi, it's the locals like Takayama Shigetomo who are thriving.

However, Niwa Nagahide was also Nobunaga's son-in-law and a favorite general, so it was impossible not to promote him. Nobunaga's idea was to give Niwa Nagahide the unclaimed lands of Wakasa, as well as the existing nobles, to strengthen Niwa Nagahide's army.

Regardless of whether Takayama Shigetomo could make it big afterward, at least Nobunaga had a backup plan, and could serve as Takayama Shigetomo's successor if necessary, assisting the Takayama army in conquering Settsu and Izumi.

"That's not enough to go around." Shichibei finally understood why Nobunaga was troubled and even came to ask him for help.

So they only remembered me because there wasn't enough of this stuff to go around.

If you're asking for a loan, Shichibei might be able to help. But is Shichibei capable of handling this matter of the land's administration? The land is there; if you can't conquer it, you can't get it. Just sitting in the palace in Gifu Castle isn't a solution.

"Sigh..." It was extremely rare for Nobunaga to actually sigh.

Wow, you've finally met your match!

What else can we do but wait? We must prevent Hideyoshi from leading his troops to attack Echizen, so that Hideyoshi will not have any merit and will not need to share half of Echizen as a reward.

As for transferring Azai Nagamasa's fiefdom and completely turning him into a retainer, that's a story for another time. Even if Nagamasa only had 150,000 koku left, giving him 300,000 koku wouldn't necessarily make him leave.

Their family was the governor of Qianjing County in Jiangbei hundreds of years ago, with deep roots and extensive connections in Jiangbei. Once they are transferred to a different post, they will be nothing.

The most typical example is Uesugi Kagekatsu. After being granted 1.2 million koku of land in Yonezawa, he wanted to go back and incite the samurai of Echigo to rise up in rebellion, so that the generals of Echigo, Kozuke, and Shinano would not act rashly, and thus send troops to support Ieyasu. What was the result? Echigo basically didn't escalate into a rebellion.

As long as people are alive, human relationships remain; once a person dies, they are worse off than a dog.

How long has Uesugi Kagekatsu been gone? He's already lost face. He thought he could easily incite 8,000 to 10,000 men, plus Yonezawa's reinforcements, making a force of 10,000 to 10,000 easy.

They're not nouveau riche. The Asai family has been operating in Asai District, north of the Yangtze River for generations. If they can stay, they certainly won't choose to leave. Offering him a fiefdom of half of Echizen Province with 300,000 koku is probably out of the question. Giving him 490,000 koku across eight districts of Echizen would be more reasonable.

"Let's pacify Nagashima first." Shichibei actually wanted to reach out and pat Nobunaga on the shoulder, but Nobunaga wasn't a buddy, so he couldn't.

"Once Nagashima is pacified, it should be rewarded to Sakon." It seems that Nobunaga has indeed been planning and arranging these things recently.

"At least eliminate the problems at the elbows and armpits."

The matter of granting fiefdoms is a matter for later. It's good that you have a plan, but for now, you should focus on the present. Perhaps one day you'll kill Takeda Shingen and seize 1.2 million koku of land, then you'll have plenty of territory to distribute among everyone. Even your group of followers in their garbha robes could each receive a district.

"Too……"

"We can first order Fujikichiro to attack Echizen, capture Echizen, and then attack Kaga."

Kaga Province, with its 300,000 koku of rice, plus Noto Province, was enough to transfer Hideyoshi's fiefdom from half of Echizen Province. After Hideyoshi left, Azai Nagamasa would be transferred there as well. One step at a time, gradually transferring the retainers and samurai outwards. This would also allow Azai Nagamasa to act as Hideyoshi's henchman, and the two of them could fight together along the Hokuriku Road.

Who knows, after conquering Echizen, they might even be able to bestow the entire province of Echizen upon Nobunaga's sons. At that time, Nobutada would be in the center, the other sons would be assigned to key routes into the Kinai region, and the retainers would be on the outer perimeter. If the outsiders wanted to rebel, they would have to attack the retainers first, then the entire clan, and only then could they attack Nobutada.

"Let me think it over." Nobunaga was probably still in the stage of private communication and investigation, trying to understand the attitude of the core of the Owari military and political group.

Right now, they're asking Shichibei's opinion, but later they'll have to ask others. For example, Niwa Nagahide, and Sakuma Nobumori—these are all important figures in the Owari military and political group, and of course, Oda Nobuhiro and others. If Shibata Katsuie were still alive, he'd probably ask them too.

Chapter 261 A Big Premonition Is Coming

Then I heard that Hideyoshi had been summoned back from Jiangbei. I wonder what his talks with Nobunaga will be like. Perhaps they'll mention something about Echizen, after all, Nobunaga is a master at making empty promises. He'll promise you one day, and another the next, always offering high prices before the deal is done.

Before attacking Kannonji Castle, Nobunaga had promised Rokkaku Yoshikata peace in Jiangnan and that he would become the governor of the entire country. However, Rokkaku Yoshikata didn't take the bait, and no matter how well he promised, it didn't work.

Let's not talk about it anymore. I'm going home to hug my wife and kids.

It's all good. Besides Inase Yoshinari's son and Ryūō's daughter, Mitsuru, Shichibei's son is also making a lot of noise. And Ay is pregnant again. Despite the noise, having a large family is definitely a good thing right now.

"Go ahead and have children, it's not like we can't afford to raise them." But looking at the children at home, Shichibei thought of his younger sister, Midori, who had married far away to Kai. She married Hashiba Hidenaga and Shibata Nagakatsu; although she no longer lived at home, they were practically on the next street, and he could bump into her every day. Now that she had married into Kai, he might never see her again in his lifetime.

Write a letter to ask, and while you're at it, mention the good fabric we got from Sakamoto. Pick out ten or eight more pieces to make a couple of kosodes. We can't make up for Midori's emotional state, but let's give her more material support. In that poor mountain village of Kai, there's nothing we need; even buying a nice dress is a struggle.

Also, pack up some folding fans, lacquer boxes, rattan boxes, hairpins, and socks. Labor is cheap these days, so I'll have someone carry them all to Kai. The only good thing about Kai is that their carpentry is decent; they make good wardrobes and small closets locally. Otherwise, I'd have to have someone carry a whole lacquer cabinet there, the kind with nine or twelve pieces.

A-Lu replied to the letter quickly. Because she had not received a particularly good education and had only learned some writing while working in the shop, her reply was somewhat fragmented, written wherever her thoughts led her.

At first, I expressed my gratitude for the gifts sent by Shichibei. Kai is indeed not as prosperous as Tsushima or Gifu. The area around Tsushima has three-day or four-day markets, while Kai usually only has one or two markets a month, and the prices of goods are relatively expensive and the quality is generally not that great.

I heard that this scene didn't exist before. It was only because Kai started producing paper and candles that merchants from Kanto and Tokai would come to buy goods twice a month, which eventually formed a fixed market.

Later, with the addition of the Kawamura-ya, post stations, stables, and taverns were set up, gradually attracting servants from all sides. Even the Takeda clan sent their own followers to the market, and Shingen ordered that merchants trading there must reside in the post station town, both for ease of management and to boost consumption. A small market, not even open every day, unexpectedly provided Takeda Shingen with dozens more followers to support.

After saying this, A-Lu seemed to remember her pregnancy, saying that she was already four months pregnant. She occasionally felt unwell, and the other women in her family told her that this was normal, but she still wanted to ask her eldest sister, A-Yi, if that was true.

In the end, she wrote that after her husband, Yamagata Genshiro Masamitsu, instructed her to give birth to a legitimate son for the Yamagata family, he went out with her father-in-law, Yamagata Masakage, and most of the men in the family.

In conclusion, I am very grateful to Shichibei. I hope that the mattress used by my sister-in-law, the young general, during childbirth can be made into a birth belt and sent to Kai after I pray for her well-being.

Our little sister is really talkative, she can talk so much...

and many more!

Shichibei picked up the letter again and carefully reviewed the sentence about Yamagata Masamitsu urging Midori to give birth to a legitimate son. This was clearly a pre-battle prayer for his wife to bear a son, so as to prevent the family line from ending.

Furthermore, the Yamagata father and son have taken all the men from their household, which clearly indicates they are about to start a conflict. No, this has progressed to the point of assembling troops and dispatching generals.

O-Green came from a merchant family, and Shichibei almost never fought in battles; even when he did, he was in charge of a small pack animal unit. So O-Green didn't feel anything about it and was quite indifferent to it.

In reality, once war broke out, aside from the samurai himself, his brothers and uncles, those with official duties (leaving aside), generally served as apprentices, forming combat teams. Even ten-year-old sons of samurai had to go to the battlefield, even for menial tasks like fetching water.

The family groom remains a groom on the battlefield. The family cook prepares miso soup and rice for everyone on the battlefield. Every male member of the family, even those without skills, is dragged along to carry the flag and shout "666" from behind.

This is how it is when a samurai family goes to war. In the Crayon Shin-chan anime, the protagonist, Ijiri Matahei Yoshitoshi, is like this. His father died, his brothers died, and even the two sons of his servants died. When the war started, only the master and the servant were left.

When things get to this point, it usually means a fight is about to break out. The entire household consisted only of women; even a ten-year-old boy had to get involved.

Immediately send someone to make a birthing belt and some baby clothes for the child. Shichibei then summoned Noda Sanbei. He personally delivered the items to Midori, and while he was at it, chatted with her to see if he could find out where Yamagata Masakage was.

As a key general relied upon by Takeda Shingen, Yamagata Masakage's whereabouts likely indicate Takeda Shingen's military strategy.

Having followed Shichibei for so long, Noda Sanbei naturally knew what Shichibei was thinking. He grabbed his bundle, pretending he was going to Kai to deliver a reply, and ran out as fast as he could.

Oda Nobunaga and Takeda Shingen are now truly good in-laws, exchanging gifts during festivals and corresponding by letter.

Before the new year, Shingen had asked Nobunaga to do his best to achieve peace between Kai and Echigo, but it just couldn't be done. The conflict between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen couldn't be resolved in the short term.

We'll wait for a reply here, but Nobunaga won't wait for one. After a secret meeting with Hideyoshi, Nobunaga led 5,000 men to join Nobuhiro's 5,000 men at Kiyosu, and then the two moved their garrison to Tsushima.

After recruiting his brother-in-law, Kazunari Saji, and the naval forces of Yoshitaka Kuki, he focused on one main task: besieging Nagashima Island and severing its connection with northern Ise.

Instead of launching a large-scale offensive, they began a siege.

Although Long Island is a large sandbar at the mouth of the sea, its area is ultimately limited. The amount of rice grown on it is not enough to feed the entire city of Yuanzheng Temple until the rice ripens the following year.

Since the goal was to conquer Nagashima, Nobunaga would certainly employ every possible strategy. He would begin making preparations, and when the autumn harvest came, Nobunaga and his 10,000 men would likely be ready to raid Nagashima for rice.

As for your question about what to do if the people of Long Island starve to death?

You believe in Amitabha Buddha, right? Ask Amitabha Buddha to give you rice to eat.

If you believe in it so much, then you have to stick with it to the end, my dear.

This aligns with Nobunaga's character. Moreover, Nobunaga had already ordered control over ships in Ise Bay, meaning ships from places like Tsushima and Anotsu would absolutely not be used by Nagashima anymore. While building a castle on a sandbar would facilitate defense, it would certainly create major supply problems.

The ambush he suffered during his last campaign against Kiyosu and Nagashima had clearly taught Nobunaga a lesson. "You want to ambush me from all sides? I'll just cut off your supplies!"

The local lords of northern Ise are easier to deal with. The Kitabatake clan in the south is moving north, and the Oda clan in the north is moving south, so they can attack these local powerful clans from both the north and south. I don't believe we can't crush these troublesome underlings.

Once the territory of Kita-Ise is brought back under his control, even the fortified Nagashima Castle will be useless. He will be unable to obtain any supplies, and his own production will be insufficient to supply the entire island, resulting only in defeat and destruction.

So before Noda Sanbei and Midori could reply, Shichibei was taken to Tsushima by Nobunaga. It wasn't so much to manage logistics, but mainly to have Shichibei gather all the ship owners and boatmen in Ise Bay and reiterate the ban on contacting the Ganshoji Temple on Nagashima.

The Yamada Miho and Fukushima family—they were all beheaded, and their heads were even displayed on bamboo poles. You all should carefully consider the weight of your own heads; how many days could they possibly dry in the sun after being chopped off?

The shop owners and boat owners rushed over to hear the reprimand. With the lessons of the past still fresh, they all declared they would absolutely not support Long Island. Even at five or ten times the boat price, they wouldn't take any business from Long Island.

Oh?