Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

It is appropriate, reasonable, and correct.

A written agreement is essential. Although historical documents may not be of much reference value, having historical documents is better than having none.

"Yesterday, regarding what you mentioned, brother..." Shichibei had just seen Kuwayama Shigeharu and Todo Takatora off when he heard Hidenaga speak.

"What? Fujikichiro thinks it's inappropriate?" What's wrong with recruiting a whole group of retainers? Everyone does it this way; otherwise, there's no way to build a powerful vassal group with hundreds of thousands of koku of land.

"My elder brother has gone up the city wall to pay his respects to the Regent," Xiu Chang explained the reason.

With the death of Hideyoshi's son, born to a hostage in Kohoku, the matter of adopting Nobunaga's son, Utsumaru, was brought back to the agenda. If he adopted Nobunaga's son, the Hashiba clan would effectively become a "close vassal" of the Oda clan.

If Tsujimaru were to marry Hideyoshi's eldest daughter and succeed her as head of the Hashiba family, then the Hashiba family would be entirely part of the Oda clan, and even more so, a pure-blooded branch of the Owari clan.

Here's the question: Did Nobunaga want Tsujimaru to build his own faction, or did Hideyoshi gather a large group of influential but unfamiliar members of the Hashiba clan before Nobunaga came of age?

Some things you should always consider in advance.

Just as Nobunaga removed all of Noo's powerful retainers, leaving only the old, weak, sick, or those with limited strength and ability for Nobutada, he gave Nobutada ample room to maneuver, support his confidants, and build his own retainer group.

Now that Ujimaru has arrived at the Hashiba residence, should Hideyoshi give him space to build his own preferred group? After all, Ujimaru is Nobunaga's son, making his status exceptionally different.

Well, if you put it that way, it is indeed a problem.

If we consider this scenario, it depends on whether Hideyoshi accepts Ujimaru as his adopted son-in-law. If he does, he should indeed give Ujimaru space to develop his abilities gradually.

"It was an oversight on my part." Indeed, I hadn't considered that point.

In reality, the Hashiba family was effectively "taken over" by Ujimaru. In those days, even biological fathers and sons treated their hereditary retainers very differently, let alone adopted fathers and sons.

Brotherly love and respect, fatherly kindness and filial piety—those are exemplary models worth emulating.

"Let's see what the Executive Council thinks." Hideyoshi also felt that their family had far too few members, which was completely inconsistent with the status of a daimyo of a 120,000-koku lord.

However, he only had two sons and two daughters with Hideyoshi's mother, O-Naka. For a family of lower-ranking foot soldiers who also worked as farmers, it was quite remarkable that they were able to raise four children.

Shichibei's family was considered wealthy farmers, but even they had two younger sisters who died young. In an era when a simple cold could kill someone, there were things beyond human control.

What about your parents' brothers? There must be a few relatives in the village. Although most ordinary people probably don't even know what their great-grandfather's name was, we live in an agricultural society now. Unless there is a large-scale social upheaval, families with the same surname usually live together in close proximity.

Kato Kiyomasa's mother and Hideyoshi's mother, O-Naka, were cousins. However, their marriage was unhappy because Kato Kiyomasa's father died when he was three years old, and he had no siblings other than Kiyomasa.

Fukushima Masanori's mother was the younger sister of Hideyoshi's mother, O-Naka. His family was relatively normal; they had many children, of whom six survived to adulthood: two girls and four boys.

Although Hideyoshi's family were just ordinary foot soldiers and self-sufficient farmers, his mother's sisters had married either blacksmiths or coopers. These artisans held a certain social standing in the countryside, and their families were relatively well-off. Hideyoshi wasn't exactly from abject poverty, and he was more than capable of working as a menial laborer for Nobunaga.

Did all these people come here?

It's blowing.

Hideyoshi nodded very firmly, indicating that all the village children who were related to his father and mother, Ah-Zhong, and who had not been recruited by others, were all brought to his side by Hideyoshi.

Around this time, Ningning Kindergarten had already opened, and the eleven or twelve-year-olds were already learning to play on the battlefield. They were loading muskets, gathering hay, and carrying water. The younger ones ate at the Hashiba family's house to conserve their strength, so they wouldn't be too weak to wield their spears later.

That's alright. Hideyoshi did it without needing to be reminded.

"Our lord has already promised to adopt Yujimaru into the Hashiba family." As they were chatting, Hideyoshi swaggered in.

Kawamura-ya was located at the crossroads of the main street outside Gifu Castle, in the best commercial location. Hideyoshi came out of the Totani Residence and saw his younger brother's horse parked in front of Kawamura-ya.

"A son-in-law?" Shichibei hurriedly instructed a maid to bring Hideyoshi a cup of tea.

"Yes!" Hideyoshi was quite pleased.

Although he was still old enough to have more children, and indeed women had conceived for him, he was getting on in years. That morning, Sangshan Chongqing, knowing he was turning fifty, came to resign.

Let's do the math. Even if Hideyoshi had a son right now, by the time he's fifty, his son would only be twelve.

A twelve-year-old child could absolutely not command the thousands of troops of a feudal lord with an estate of 120,000 koku. Moreover, Hideyoshi also had a large number of regular foot soldiers under his command, and without some martial arts skills, how could he command these ruthless soldiers?

Judging solely from his status as a retainer of the Oda clan, it was indeed necessary for him to establish an heir at this age.

Of course, once he became the head of the household, things changed completely. The mindset of an employee and that of a boss are entirely different.

"That's good too." Shichibei was genuinely happy for Hideyoshi.

Ideally, Hideyoshi would stop having children after arriving here, then everything would be perfect. The key point is that Azai Nagamasa hasn't become a wine cup yet, and Lady Oichi is pregnant with Azai Nagamasa's child; the couple is living harmoniously.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Chacha, Achu, and Ajiang will either be betrothed to local powerful families in Hokuriku or to the warriors and heroes recruited by Asai Nagamasa.

It was absolutely impossible for her to be Hideyoshi's concubine, and she also could not possibly bear him a son.

Chacha seems to be seven or eight years old now, how about that? According to the customs of the Warring States period, and given the reality of Asai Nagamasa being transferred to Hokusho Castle, she might soon be betrothed to a powerful local lord from Echizen Province who is ten, twenty, or even thirty years older than her.

OK!

Chapter 321 Two Mines Begin Operation

Asai Nagamasa was the first to leave Gifu Castle, but Lady Oichi and her children remained inside. After all, Echizen had just been pacified, and there were 30,000 corpses to be disposed of on the Fuchu Plain alone. Lady Oichi was also pregnant, and it would be inappropriate to send her there.

So Nobunaga instructed Azai Nagamasa to leave his wife and children in Gifu Castle until he had completed the construction and defenses of Kitasho Castle, and finished sorting out the local population. By then, Lady Oichi would likely have given birth and could then travel to Kitasho Castle to reunite with her family.

As soon as he left, Hideyoshi was ordered to prepare to take his retainers to take over Odani Castle. However, Hideyoshi's journey was somewhat difficult because the Hachisuka Party and Tsubouchi Party, which were associated with Rikigawa, were not purely Hideyoshi's retainers, but rather local lords.

That depends on Hideyoshi's own abilities and whether he can wipe out their entire village.

Anyway, the final decision was that not all of them were removed; only those who were willing to fully convert to samurai and serve Hideyoshi were taken away. The rest remained in their original locations, engaged in timber transportation and processing along the Kiso River. As for engaging in some low-risk, water-based business? That was probably out of the question.

Nobunaga repeatedly issued prohibitions within his domain, banning not only private fights between villages but also between samurai. Even fights without any capital involved were considered private fights.

If you've kept your hands clean, you're unlikely to be reported. But if someone escapes and reports it to Nobunaga's deputy, it's no laughing matter.

"First published on 705u.com - Book Club"

Under the banner of "peace under heaven," Nobunaga, who sought to unify the land by force, was the founder of a new order. Regardless of whether this order was good or bad, Nobunaga was determined to maintain order.

At this moment, Hideyoshi was still arguing with the Kawanami clan. Since he hadn't left, Oda Nobuhiro lingered for a moment, currently distributing land allocations to the clan members.

Take, for example, Ieyoshi Hagiwara, who reportedly gained a new patron of 5,000 koku in Inukami District and was taken away from Owari along with Oda Nobuhiro. Clumps of Owari people were transplanted elsewhere, no wonder Owari was left with only weak soldiers afterward. Even vibrant local communities like the Kawakami clan were wiped out, leaving only the dutiful old farmers in Owari.

Of course, even the honest old farmers of the Warring States period weren't entirely honest.

Only Shichibei didn't need to go through all this trouble. With Tsuruga's territory, which was actually only 20,000 to 30,000 koku, there was absolutely no need to go to such lengths to move anyone there.

Firstly, the mobilization scale of Shichibei was completely mismatched with his own level of knowledge. Even a feudal lord with hundreds of thousands of koku could only support five or six hundred cavalrymen. Shichibei had such a force when he only had seven thousand two hundred kan.

Secondly, Tsuruga has become a major rear base, Wakasa has been given to Niwa Nagahide, and the front line in the Hokuriku region has already reached Daishoji in Kaga-Enuma District.

Besides, Nagayoshi has become Shichibei's right-hand man and is currently stationed in Tsuruga. With him there, the defense is more than enough. My own brother-in-law, how could he not be secure?

Therefore, Shichibei neither needed to recruit a large number of retainers nor to relocate his samurai.

Let's go back to the mine we've been talking about since last year. Tsuchiya Nagasu was specially invited back by Shichibei. The Kamioka Mine in Hida was previously taken over by Tsuchida Chikakiyo. Anegokōji Yoritsuna just wants to use this thing to get a position as a Junior Third Rank Middle Counselor, and make it a permanent appointment.

Shichibei didn't ask Nobunaga for any coins, but he wasn't going to be stingy. He immediately said he wanted to donate to the local shrine and pay for the land.

I came here to mine, and I breathe the local air, so I don't have to pay for it.

Anekōji Yoritsuna is easy to deal with; his family has struggled for three generations to barely achieve the status of the Anekōji clan. However, he still has people to beg for food, so he'll have to spend money on two of them. Shichibei always believes in maintaining harmony and making money when traveling. Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake; he'll worship the mountain god if necessary.

As for the Tada mine, the headman sent by Tsuda Munekichi had already made arrangements. The ore vein and the charcoal furnace were readily available. All that was needed now was to adopt more advanced smelting technology, recruit thousands of people, and carry out large-scale mining.

Where is the advanced technology? It's in Sakaimachi and Tsuchiya Nagasu.

Tsuda Muneyuki has already promised to take a share, which guarantees the smelting technology passed down in Sakai. Tsuchiya Nagasu is a retainer of Shichibei himself and will become the owner of Kawamura-ya in the future.

With things under control, Shichibei ultimately decided to set up the foundry in Sakai. Although this might conflict with the local silver and gold minters, Kawamura-ya had considerable influence, and since it was only for the time being the minting of copper coins, not the core business of gold and silver recasting, the Sakai guild discussed the matter and ultimately approved it.

The main reason is that the situation has changed. Shichibei is now the Sakai Daikan (a high-ranking official), and Nobunaga trusts Shichibei immensely, even leaving all commercial lawsuits to him and completely ignoring them.

Shichibei is both a big boss and a powerful local official; which big boss would dare to disagree with him?

These days, the mining industry, apart from skilled workers in smelting and other industries, is mainly manual labor. The biggest challenge is extracting and transporting the ore to the surface. Even in open-pit mines, once the ore is dug down 30 to 50 meters, transporting it to the surface remains incredibly difficult.

They had to rely either on livestock or on their own backs. The straight-line distance was only fifty meters downhill, but in reality, it was most likely a zigzag uphill slope. It would take five hundred meters to possibly transport the two hundred-pound basket of ore they were carrying to the surface.

They invented open-hearth steelmaking and converter steelmaking during the Han and Tang dynasties, producing tens or hundreds of thousands of kilograms of steel in a single batch, claiming their technology surpassed the world's best. But it was utterly useless. They couldn't get the ore to the source; they relied entirely on thousands or even tens of thousands of people, working day and night to transport it.

Moreover, once the ore arrives, it still needs to be crushed, impurities removed, and then beneficiated and screened. If there are places with the assistance of hydraulic machinery, that's manageable, but relying on manual labor for crushing is probably only feasible for gold and silver mines these days.

At this time, all the mines being mined are open-pit mines. If they were to dig underground mines, the dust, collapses, and water seepage underground would be a huge problem. In 1800, could the average working life of a British miner underground exceed ten years? Some say that it was a miracle for a miner to live past 19.

The claim is certainly exaggerated, but considering that before 1800, the average lifespan of a British nobleman was around 40 years old, miners underground certainly didn't fare much better.

Forget it, Hida definitely doesn't have many people, while Settsu does have a population, but if we have to start a big operation on both sides at once and recruit thousands or tens of thousands of miners, is that feasible?

Settsu faces no difficulties. Due to the ongoing conflict between Takayama Shigetomo and Araki Muramasa, most villages along their borders have been abandoned, and large numbers of farmers have fled. If they are provided with food and wages, they could easily gather tens of thousands, or even two or three thousand. If they also purchase various "prisoners of war" from Sakaimachi, restoring the Tada mine to an annual copper production of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of kilograms, would only take one or two years.

As for Hida, Mino and Owari have now settled down, and the idle rural population has long been plundered by Nobunaga and waves of powerful Owari samurai.

Then we can only recruit from Echigo. Last year, Uesugi Kenshin was still locked in a fierce battle with Shiina Yasutane. The two sides were evenly matched, and Kenshin only managed to suppress Matsukura Castle with great difficulty.

But who will go to Vietnam and China?

This is a problem. Tsuchiya Nagayasu claims to be an expert in mining and has accumulated ten years of experience managing the Takeda family's gold mines, but he's really unfamiliar with Echigo. The forces there are intertwined; you wouldn't dare go there without connections.

The Ikko-ikki of Echigo Province was a powerful local military group that killed Nagao Tamekage, the father of Uesugi Kenshin. Now that the relationship between the Oda clan and the Jodo Shinshu sect has been discovered, they'll be in serious trouble, if not dead.

The only thing he could do was send a letter to Yoritsuna Anekoji to see if he could help Kawamuraya recruit a few thousand men to start operations at the Kamioka mine. Shichibei wouldn't let him work for free; he'd treat him like a shady middleman, charging him by the head, giving him a few dozen mon as a commission for each able-bodied man he recruited.

Things that can be solved with money aren't really problems. Shichibei is wealthy and generous; he's not short of a little money. He'll spend two if he has to for the sake of future business expansion.

First, we need to restore the mine and increase production. Once the copper and zinc are in place, we can take a look at the samples produced at the Sakai-cho foundry before proceeding to the next step.

Seeing that Shichibei already had a plan, Tsuchiya Nagaoshi simply obeyed, indicating that he would send skilled technicians to reorganize and restructure the existing staff of the two mines to restore production as soon as possible.

Work hard, and if you do well, we'll become in-laws.

I bestow upon you the Miao name of Chuan Village!

"Wow," Tsuchiya Nagasu, who had initially just been obeying, immediately bowed. The main reason was that Shichibei's sisters were all married off, so there was really no way to conjure up another one. But he had many adopted daughters, so he could only prepare for the next generation's marriage.

Being in-laws and father-in-law and son-in-law are not that different, since we will all be family in the future, and we are all from the same village.

To be fair, Shichibei has managed to make empty promises. While he's still a bit less skilled than Nobunaga at it, he's at least capable of it. Now it's up to his underlings to see if they'll take the bait.

After seeing off the excited Tsuchiya Nagasu, and spending three days packing her bags, Ashikaga Princess finally came out to pay her respects to Shichibei. Having just lost her husband and son, even if she were to remarry, she would need a three- to five-month buffer period.

However, this time she didn't cry or sit there silently. Instead, she calmly told Shichibei that she had just lost her child and needed time to recover. She was very grateful to Shichibei for allowing her to stay at the Sakaimachi Villa temporarily.

grateful?

Forget it, Shichibei doesn't care about gratitude.

Princess Ashikaga came from a very noble family, and Shichibei had no intention of marrying a female college student once he became successful. He was content with having a wife who had shared his hardships. If he were to marry a younger woman, he would choose one from a humble background who wouldn't cause trouble and could stay at home peacefully.

It wouldn't cost much to support Ashikaga Princess; she can just be kept as a decorative object and placed in Sakai for now. Think of Hideyoshi; after Gamo Ujisato died, he actually demanded that Gamo Hideyuki return his mother, Princess Fuyuhime, to be taken hostage in Osaka.

Princess Fuyuhime was already thirty-eight years old at that time, and Hideyoshi was really...