Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Before he became powerful enough to overturn the table, Nobunaga continued to play chess diligently.

However, this also sowed the seeds of a very serious consequence. Because Nobunaga came from a humble background and later lost the shogunate's sense of national duty, he forcibly elevated the imperial lineage. The imperial court, which had previously sold a right horse head for only forty kan, suddenly became even more revered.

It should be noted that not long ago, the Emperor died without money for a funeral. The weather was so hot that his body swelled up and could not be put into the coffin.

Most of the court nobles also fled and sought refuge with the various daimyo who were willing to pay to support them. Some, like Saionji and Ichijo, even went directly to the villages to personally manage their territories in order to prevent themselves from starving to death.

If this trend continues, within a hundred or two hundred years at most, the entire Emperor and the Imperial Court will tend to collapse, or completely degenerate into a religious institution.

However, in order to gain a certain degree of legitimacy in the country, Nobunaga suddenly began to respect the Imperial Court. This gave the Imperial Court and the Emperor a much-needed reprieve. Coincidentally, it was Toyotomi Hideyoshi who later seized power, whose legitimacy was even inferior to Oda Nobunaga's.

This led Toyotomi Hideyoshi to show even greater respect for the imperial court, which in turn greatly enhanced the court's status, making it the entity that "bestowed" upon Toyotomi Hideyoshi the power to govern the entire country.

By the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate, this trend was irreversible. Although Tokugawa Iemitsu attempted to overthrow the Imperial Court, the court's prestige had been established, leading to a resurgence of power.

This laid the groundwork for the Emperor's miraculous return to power later on.

Sigh, this matter is truly a matter of timing and fate; there's nothing Shichibei can say. I'm just curious, is Nobunaga really planning to revise the ceasefire agreement with Tatsuoki, temporarily halting hostilities and allowing both sides to support their people?

Who knows? Kinoshita Koichiro certainly didn't. His older brother, Kinoshita Tokichiro, didn't know either. At this moment, no one could fathom Nobunaga's thoughts.

Just then, Aji brought over the tea, and Kinoshita Koichiro quickly reached out to take it, smiling like a sycophant. Sigh, Shichibei thought to himself, "This kid's got his eye on my sister. I wonder if she likes him back."

He glanced up at Aji and snorted at Koichiro. Koichiro immediately put on a fawning smile, constantly bowing and bending over, while stealing glances at Aji out of the corner of his eye.

The eldest sister is a hooker, and the second sister is probably a tsundere.

Tut tut...

After Aji left, Kinoshita Koichiro, who was holding a teacup, turned back to look at Shichibei. He felt a little embarrassed seeing Shichibei looking him up and down. However, since Shichibei had already tacitly approved of this, he just had to keep going.

"Shichibei, Koichiro, you really are here." Kinoshita Tokichiro lifted the curtain and looked inside.

"Fujikichiro's here, please have a seat." Upon seeing that it was Kinoshita Fujikichiro, Shichibei offered him a seat.

Those who are going to be in-laws should start being polite now. After Kinoshita Tokichiro sat down, he seemed to have some unspeakable trouble, as if he couldn't sit still and kept looking around.

"What? You want to buy hay?" Shichibei asked tentatively.

"Hmm, no, no, no, it's not horse grass." Kinoshita Tokichiro seemed to have made up his mind. After calming himself down, he turned to Shichibei.

"uh-huh?"

"Could Shichibei lend me five hundred kan?"

41. Sunomata's One-Night Castle Construction Plan

From the outside, the Kawamura family appears quite impressive, with a vast network of horse trading houses throughout Owari Province, hundreds of horses, and hundreds or even thousands of acres of arable land. They must be a wealthy tycoon with several thousand kan in capital.

In reality, only those who are family know their own situation; Shichibei currently has at most two or three hundred kan in his pocket.

This is only because of the sale of the four warhorses that Nobutsugu Yonekura acquired, as well as some of the riding horses, plus the income from the stables over the past two months.

However, if we wait a few more days and harvest this batch of alfalfa and barnyard grass, we can earn another hundred or so strings of cash. If we scrape together enough, five hundred strings of cash is not out of the question.

The main point is, what would you, a centurion with a salary of 100 kan, need 500 kan for?

And it's obvious you don't have the ability to repay!

Even without Shichibei questioning him, Koichiro's younger brother was shocked by Fujikichiro's idea. This isn't how you lend money. Is 500 kan really money? 500 kan could buy a whole city and force people to surrender.

Yes, that's right, I want to buy a city.

To their surprise, Fujikichiro's answer was to buy a city. However, not by simply spending money, but by spending money to win over people's hearts and minds, and to build a city based on those hearts.

ha?

Suddenly, a phrase popped into Shichibei's mind—Sunomata Castle.

However, he didn't show anything unusual on his face, simply waiting for Fujikichiro's explanation. As the head of the foot soldiers, Fujikichiro was supposed to take turns guarding the castle, and this time it was his turn.

To serve as a door god for Nobunaga.

After Hosokawa Fujitaka delivered Ashikaga Yoshiaki's letter, hoping for peace between the Oda and Saito clans and a joint effort to march on Kyoto, Nobunaga hesitated greatly. However, Nobunaga was not one to hesitate, and although he remained hesitant on the general direction, he still needed to make arrangements on the smaller details.

At this time, Oda's forces had already entered the area between the Nakano, Nagara River, and Kiso River, and were temporarily under Oda's control. However, to retain this territory, they had to build castles along the Nagara River to shield their new territories behind them.

Nobunaga was still hesitant about whether to continue fighting with Saito Tatsuoki, but he certainly wouldn't be willing to give up the land he had already acquired.

So what should we do? Regarding the issue of reconciliation, we should first, as Hosokawa Fujitaka requested, begin discussions with Saito Tatsuoki. However, the construction of Nagara River Castle also needs to be put on the agenda.

After this autumn harvest, there will be no more fighting. The money used to mobilize for the war will be invested in building a castle in the Sunomata area of ​​the Nagara River.

Money sitting idle in your hands isn't like giving birth to a baby; you have to take it out and spend it where it's needed to generate more money.

Holding fast to this belief, Nobunaga finally appointed Shibata Katsuie, hoping that this fierce general could go to Nagara River and build a small but sturdy military fortress for the Oda army.

However, after Shibata Katsuie was recruited, the strategy he presented to Nobunaga was very ordinary. Nobunaga gave him a sum of money, and he took the Shibata family's own troops, hired a large number of farmers after the autumn harvest, and went to the Sunomata region.

If Saito's army attacks, he will lead his troops to fight them. If there is no attack, it will take about ten days to build a fortress. After that, he only needs to repair and expand it properly, so he will always have something to rely on.

Overall, the plan seems to be working fine.

Of course, farmers in the Warring States period would build castles; they were always conscripted to do so. These are minor matters, and besides, the definition of a Japanese castle varies. Osaka Castle and Edo Castle—those are castles. The fortress that Matsudaira Motoyasu, a newcomer, speed-crossed in an hour and twenty-two minutes—that's also a castle.

With trenches, fences, and watchtowers, the basic elements are complete, which can provide soldiers with a place to defend themselves.

So it seems Shibata Katsuie's plan is feasible. Then why does Fujikichiro need to borrow 500 kan? Shichibei asked Fujikichiro, "You must have a reason."

Fujikichiro remained calm, stating that based on past performance, while the people of Mino might not be entirely convinced of the Saito clan's loyalty, they had been quite effective in repelling Nobunaga's attacks.

The simplest logic is that with Saito Tatsuoki around, they were highly independent local warlords. Even with Nobunaga's magnanimity and tolerance, it was impossible for them to further strengthen their independence.

Therefore, the people of Mino would certainly be inclined to maintain the status quo and jointly fight against the Owari invading army that wanted to change the status quo.

Shibata Katsuie's castle construction plan would take at least ten days. Since Nobunaga had allocated funds for the castle's construction, he had no money left for a large-scale military campaign. He could only wait until the castle was completed before leading his regular foot soldiers and pagemen into the castle for defense.

Otherwise, the expenses would be too high, and even Nobunaga couldn't afford it.

Raising an army of tens of thousands and sending them on a distant expedition to an enemy country would cost a thousand gold pieces a day, and that's no exaggeration. The standing foot soldiers don't require extra money; they only need to carry provisions.

Nobunaga was poor, but Tatsuoki was. After the autumn harvest, Tatsuoki didn't need to build a castle, so he could have been mobilizing his troops to prepare for an attack on Nobunaga.

Just then, Shibata Katsuie headed towards Nagara River, where he would almost certainly encounter a crushing defeat at the hands of Saito Tatsuoki's large army. It's possible that he, with only a few hundred men, would face Tatsuoki's thousands, or even ten thousand.

Do you think Shibata Katsuie will lose?

It's safe to say with 100% certainty that they will lose.

"So what if we lost? What does it have to do with you?" Before Shichibei could even ask, Fujikichiro gestured for him to hold back. He believed that if they wanted to build a castle in Sunomata, they had to do it quickly. Ideally, the castle should be completed within two days, so that Saito's army wouldn't have enough time to react.

After all, as we mentioned before, even if we mobilize the regular foot soldiers, it would take two days to reach the battlefield where the fighting is at its most intense. If the fortifications are completed within two days, then Saito's army will be able to launch an attack without any preparation.

Since ancient times, how can one easily capture a fortified city without ten times the number of troops? Once a stalemate is established, Nobunaga will be notified, and he will arrive with two thousand regular foot soldiers and pagemen.

You're done!

To build a castle in two days, one must prepare in advance timber and ropes sufficient to enclose the castle, at least three kilometers long, for a horse barricade. Also needed are shields behind the barricade, or planks for constructing the ramparts.

Both of these need to be purchased from the Kawanami Hachisuka faction and the Tsubouchi faction, who operate shipping and timber businesses on the Kiso River. Buying several thousand logs of roughly the same size, along with several thousand planks, is quite a challenge. Orders must be placed in advance so they can prepare them; only then is it possible.

Since it's an order, money is the most important thing.

"Could this be your own scheme?" Shichibei had already helped Fujikichiro connect the dots logically.

"Since Shichibei guessed it, you'll definitely get a place on the list of merits when the time comes," Fujikichiro said frankly and generously.

It's very simple. All of Kinoshita Tokichiro's current ideas are just his own words. Nobunaga appointed Shibata Katsuie as the general to build the castle, and Tokichiro had absolutely no connection to him. Therefore, it's natural that Tokichiro wouldn't receive a single penny.

Ordering goods requires money, but what if you don't have any? You'll definitely have to borrow from someone. Anyway, there's no way Fujikichiro could possibly come up with 500 kan of gold coins on his own.

When Shibata Katsuie's attempt to build a castle failed, and Nobunaga sought another contractor, Fujikichiro surprised everyone by volunteering to take on the task and quickly completing the castle's construction.

If Nobunaga were in his shoes, he would have greatly admired Fujikichiro.

Before arriving at Kawamura-ya, Fujikichiro was actually quite nervous, but he had just been observing his younger brother very carefully from the shadows outside the door.

Yeah, what a simp.

So he immediately made up his mind and asked his sister-in-law's family for money. Could that even be called a loan? At worst, I'll pawn my brother to your family and have him work for free for a few years. I'll be able to pay it back eventually.

Even as he lifted the curtain to enter, Fujikichiro had already calculated the "price" of his younger brother. He had heard that in large towns like Tsushima and Atsuta, the top-ranking merchants could even own shares, known in Japan as "coke." If a merchant owned one hundred cokes, the head merchant could own one or two cokes.

Some successful businessmen start as apprentices working for big bosses. Because of their skill, the bosses give them a few shares in the company. They use this to accumulate capital and connections, and eventually go out on their own and rise to prominence.

My brother selling fifty kan a year isn't much, is it? He could earn twenty kan a year carrying a spear for Nobunaga.

At most, ten years. At most, I'll leave my younger brother with Shichibei for ten years, and that'll be the end of it.

With Shichibei's money, Fujikichiro could persuade the Hachisuka and Tsubouchi factions to support him, and if he had even more money, he could hire them to participate in the construction of Sunomata Castle.

All the key nodes of the entire plan can be connected to form a closed loop. We just need to wait for the right opportunity next year to realize the plan to build a castle in Sunomata.

"I must say, your plan is quite bold." Shichibei nodded slightly, because it was definitely feasible.

The Kawanai clan of the Kiso River, as a local power, was someone who could be won over. Besides their shipping business, they also secretly engaged in low-risk businesses along the river. What did they have to do? With Nobunaga poised to unify the lower reaches of the Kiso River, joining him now would give them a head start.

It is said that Hachisuka Koroku, the leader of the Hachisuka Party, was an old friend of Fujikichiro. Of course, the Hachisuka Party had hundreds or even thousands of members, and old friends alone were not enough. They needed smelly copper coins and fragrant rice to persuade them.

“Even the best plan needs sufficient support to be realized.” Fujikichiro suddenly patted his younger brother, as if he were about to push him onto Shichibei.

“Hmm…” Shichibei hesitated for a moment.

"When do you want it?" That's when I made up my mind.

"No rush. I'm still on duty right now. I'll go see Xiao Liu and the others when I'm off duty next month." At least for now, Fujikichiro wasn't an anxious or rash person.

Shibata Katsuie hadn't even set off yet; his rush to do these things was truly ahead of his time. He should first test the waters with Hachisuka Koroku and the others to see if they were inclined to side with the Oda clan before proceeding to the next step.

What if Saito Tatsuoki also bribed Kawanami's men? Right, that's definitely a possibility. In battle, every tactic is necessary, and all sorts of strategies must be employed. Fujikichiro wasn't entirely certain that Hachisuka Koroku and Maeno Nagayasu would be willing to help him in this situation.

After all, if Kawanami's men assisted Fujikichiro in building the castle, they would be greatly offending Ryūgen and would certainly not have a good outcome.

"Just have Koichiro come and get it for you as soon as you need it!" Shichibei agreed immediately.

No collateral or signature from Fujikichiro is required; it's a gamble based purely on trust. If the gamble pays off and Fujikichiro receives Nobunaga's reward, he will surely repay Shichibei with interest.

Lost the bet?

If he loses, he'll just give me his younger brother as collateral.

Either way, you're not at a disadvantage.

When the two cunning old foxes, who had been plotting something, smiled and acknowledged each other, Kinoshita Koichiro finally realized, "Damn it, they've sold me out!"

But he couldn't find a single reason to object. So what if he sold it? Selling it to Kawamura-ya meant he could see Shichibei's sister every day. What difference did it make who he worked for? Fujikichiro was currently just a centurion, who could have imagined his future would be so bright? Jumping out to become a shop assistant at Kawamura-ya wasn't a bad thing.