Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Only a castle of over 3,000 square meters could possibly accommodate one or two thousand people, forming a small but sturdy castle that served as Oda Nobunaga's base for advancing into Nakano.

To build wooden city walls, watchtowers, arrow spurs, and city gates in a day and a night, you'd need at least a thousand people.

"Xiao Liu said there would be at least a thousand people, and he would do his best to persuade them."

“That’s enough… but once the castle is built, the Saito family will definitely send troops to attack.”

"The Hachisuka Party can also fight," Fujikichiro explained immediately when he saw Shichibei's confusion.

Even farmers in the Sengoku period would fall prey to samurai hunting, let alone the Hachisuka gang. Besides being involved in shipping, they also robbed on the road. Although their fighting strength was not as good as regular samurai and foot soldiers, they should be able to defend a castle without any problems.

If we can hold off Saito's army's first attack on the second or third day, then Nobunaga will arrive with his two thousand regular troops. Nobunaga's foot soldiers are a highly regarded force by Saito Dosan.

They launched a surprise attack on Okehazama, fighting fiercely against three generations of hatamoto samurai from the Imagawa clan, ultimately emerging victorious.

"can."

So is there anything else I need to do? Shichibei felt his mission was complete. After all, the money was spent, the Hachisuka Party was mobilized, the planks were all made, and all that was left was to build Sunomata Castle.

Whether it works out or not depends entirely on you and Hachisuka Koroku.

"Please take two hundred kan of copper coins and hurry to Sunomata!" This was Fujikichiro's instruction to Shichibei before he left that night.

So this is what you were waiting for? Shichibei almost fainted when he heard this. I don't have a drop left, and you still want to take more? Even if you pawned Kinoshita Koichiro here, you wouldn't get this much money.

With a dizzying spin, Shichibei nearly collapsed at the doorway of Kawamura-ya. Fujikichiro reacted quickly, grabbing him and Koichiro reached in from both sides, pulling him back and steadily dragging him onto the haystack.

Fortunately, Shichibei was young and healthy, and had never suffered much hardship in his life. The worst hardship he had ever experienced was being sent by his parents to collect horse manure when he was a child. If it were someone else with a weaker constitution, this anger and stress would probably have caused them to spit out profanities, no, to foam at the mouth.

The two of them were blowing air and fanning, while Shichibei just wanted to close his eyes, do nothing, think nothing, and kick the bucket.

But Fujikichiro couldn't let Shichibei die. First, he rolled Shichibei's eyelids, then he pinched his philtrum, but Shichibei still wouldn't wake up. So he grabbed his younger brother, Koichiro, and pulled him over.

It's time for you to be loyal to our old Mu family!

Quickly slap Shichibei twice to wake him up so we can go raise the money. Tomorrow morning, Fujikichiro will enter the castle to report his castle-building plan to Nobunaga. Without Shichibei's money, his chances of success are not high enough.

Koichiro simply backed away. "Do you think I can fight Shichibei? He's my brother-in-law; his sister isn't even married yet." Seeing his brother's disapproval, Fujikichi could only scoff and rub his hands together, preparing to take matters into his own hands.

"No, no, no, no..." With no other option, Shichibei had to wake up.

She pushed Fujikichiro away while dodging backward. It's just two hundred kan, is it really worth it? If I took that hit, I'd be either in excruciating pain or incredibly annoyed.

We're rich, my family is rich.

Seeing Shichibei "wake up", Fujikichiro immediately changed his expression, said goodbye with a smile, without saying anything more, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

As for Koichiro, he's long gone. Alright, I'll remember this. Shichibei will go find his sister and have a serious talk with her later.

Shichibei did have the money, but he had planned to hold off for a while. This year, they harvested 350 rice cakes from ten acres of safflower fields. According to the Tennoji-ya shop in Sakai-cho, each cake was worth 500 sen, but in Kyoto, the price was clearly more than 800 sen. Therefore, Shichibei wanted to wait until he found a more financially capable buyer before making the purchase.

But now I can't wait any longer. I have to sell it immediately, get some money back, and get this business with Mo Yu done.

The initial investment was too large, and now that we're at the final hurdle, if we back down, we'll truly lose everything. According to the sunk cost theory, if we lose this much, we'll be bankrupt.

Sell ​​it, sell it! Only by selling can we survive.

Sure enough, when Fujikichiro told Nobunaga that he could build a castle in Sunomata without a single soldier or coin, Nobunaga's surprise was palpable.

For the past two months, Nobunaga had been racking his brains, but to no avail. He felt it was simply impossible to build a castle in Sunomata. After all, a water attack could drown not just a few hundred, but tens of thousands. Even if he personally led the troops to build the castle, he would still be affected.

This is ridiculous! Someone actually jumped out and said that a castle could be built without a single soldier. If this person were an outsider, Nobunaga would have already killed him.

Are you here to make fun of me?

Before him stood his former head servant, Kinoshita Tokichiro. Surely this man couldn't have lied to him. Nobunaga felt he had shown Tokichiro considerable favor by promoting him from a commoner to a samurai; how could Tokichiro possibly deceive him on such an important matter?

Looking into Fujikichiro's very determined eyes, Nobunaga hesitated for a moment before asking Fujikichiro what he needed to do. "Do nothing. Just bring your troops to Sunomata Castle on the third day."

That's it?

Yes, that's it.

Alright, Nobunaga immediately agreed to Fujikichiro's request and promised that he would personally lead the foot soldiers to Sunomata to provide support on the third day after Fujikichiro's departure.

He didn't even ask about the methods of building the castle; he was simply taking a gamble. In any case, Fujikichiro hadn't asked for any support, so whether it succeeded or failed, Nobunaga wouldn't suffer any loss.

Full of energy, Fujikichiro immediately took Koichiro and Shichibei with him. One of them brought a few close relatives, family members, and fellow villagers, while the other brought two hundred kan of cash. They all rushed towards Sunomata.

Before news of Fujikichiro's request for the castle-building task from Nobunaga could even spread, the group had already left Komakiyama Castle. When Nobunaga gave the order the next day to mobilize the foot soldiers, page soldiers, and babishi, everyone was still asking where they were going to fight.

Sumama!

Hachisuka Koroku, who had made an appointment with Fujikichiro long ago, and Maeno Nagayasu and others from the Tsubouchi Party who finally agreed to join, led more than a thousand Kawanami followers, sailing on rafts and carrying a large amount of planks and logs, toward the Sunomata region.

Two thousand men gathered at Sunomata Island, and as soon as they set up camp, someone on the north bank of the Nagara River spotted the "enemy activity." However, having won two previous victories, the Saito soldiers on the opposite bank were not in a hurry. They simply lay in the grass, observing the movements on Sunomata Island.

The villagers, chanting slogans, pulled the logs and rafts, which had been bundled together in rows, ashore. Without even needing to disassemble them, they simply nailed them into the ground, creating a makeshift fence.

Of course, many people, after landing, began to build horse barricades, which were to be placed outside the wooden walls as obstacles. At least a complete circle of horse barricades was needed to effectively enhance the defenses of Sunomata Castle, which lacked moat protection.

The men from Kawamura-ya unloaded the money boxes from the horses one by one. Fujikichiro, without any hesitation, kicked over one of the money boxes, and the Yongle Tongbao coins inside tumbled out with a clatter.

Grabbing a handful in each hand, Fujikichiro shouted to the Hachisuka and Tsubouchi factions on either side that if they could build Sunomata Castle within a day and night, everyone would receive a reward of one hundred sen, and could also follow him to drink endless sake and embrace the flower girls in the promenade.

Countless coins fell through Fujikichiro's fingers, clattering as they landed on the ground. For a moment, they seemed to radiate endless luster.

Standing atop the pile of money, Fujikichiro seemed to have grown several times larger, becoming many times taller than Hachisuka Koroku.

That infectious, unrestrained laughter instantly spread throughout Sunomata Island. Thousands of Hachisuka and Tsubouchi party members looked at Fujikichiro, feeling that following this man would surely lead to success.

"Hahahahahaha..."

Perhaps countless days and nights later, everyone present will still recall this scene. Even the bald and short Kinoshita Tokichiro exudes an incredible aura of authority, revealing a chilling and unsettling appeal that transcends human nature.

At this moment, Shichibei, Kinoshita Koichiro, and Hachisuka Koroku, who were also standing under the money box, all became mere foils to Fujikichiro.

50. The Irresistible Momota Night City

Amidst Fujikichiro's infectious laughter, the Hachisuka and Tsubouchi factions roared in agreement. Motivational work like this truly requires professionals; some people can inspire hundreds or even thousands with just a few words—that's a skill that can never be learned.

He carelessly threw money on the ground, picked up a log, and joined the work of building the castle.

Two months ago, the shadow of Sakuma Nobumori's castle construction still lingered. The nearly completed moat around the previously designated castle site had simply been hastily filled in. As a result, there was still a lot of unused soil inside the castle site, resembling a grave mound, overgrown with weeds.

Fujikichiro had consulted Shichibei about the previous castle construction, and Shichibei thought the plan was excellent, but unfortunately, plans can't keep up with changes.

This time, when he came to build the castle, the first thing he did was to tie up the horse barricades that surrounded the entire castle and arrange them in a circle outside the castle. Saito's soldiers on the north bank saw that Oda's army had set up horse barricades on a large scale again and were probably laughing in their hearts, laughing at Oda Nobunaga's lack of strategy, that he could only play this one trick over and over again.

After watching for a while, Saito Jun even stopped pretending and stood up to look at Sunomata.

Discovering that Sunomata had very few fully armored samurai, and even fewer foot soldiers armed with spears, bows, and arquebuses, they became even more audacious. Hachisuka Koroku, unable to bear it any longer, raised his hand and fired a shot towards the north bank. Hearing the arquebus fire, several Saito soldiers jumped up and down, disappearing back into the grass.

The beauty of a musket is that it can kill almost anywhere it hits. Unlike some Japanese bows, especially the Maruki bows of foot soldiers, where someone might have dozens of arrows stuck in their body and still be shouting and fighting fiercely.

After confirming that the Oda army had indeed deployed horse barricades on a large scale, the group left the north bank and went to Inabayama Castle to report to Saito Tatsuoki.

There are no spectators...

"Fujikichiro, let's do it." Shichibei stood on a small earthen mound, which gave him a commanding view of everyone, and Fujikichiro was also there.

The two 1.4-meter-tall "generals" are doing the most passionate work. What Saito Jun previously mistook for simply erecting a fence is now quickly proving its worth.

Two logs are placed together, and four logs are inserted side by side, protruding about two and a half meters above the ground. The four logs form a slot, and the planks are simply inserted like toy building blocks, and a wall is built.

No matter how fragile he is, just say he's like a wooden wall.

In a sense, this was also rammed earth construction, only it was made of "planks" rather than "boards." This simple wooden wall didn't even qualify as the rammed earth wall commonly used by the Japanese, since it lacked firing ports, mud to protect against rockets, and a roof to shelter the arquebuses from wind and rain. But it was a wall, and it was erected quickly.

The work that followed was nothing more than repetition.

They kept erecting three-meter-long logs that had been carefully prepared, burying half a meter in the ground, and using the remaining part to hold the planks in place, so even if it shook, it wouldn't be a problem. Then they inserted two diagonal supports next to the logs, and that was it. It was a quick job; what could they do if they were picky?

The plank walls and barricades were erected almost simultaneously; wherever the barricades were set up, the plank walls were immediately put up. The tens of thousands of planks prepared since last year have been used efficiently and without any obstacles.

"Shichibei, look! How is it, Shichibei?" Fujikichiro ordered a huge bonfire to be lit and construction to continue without stopping for a moment.

The entire city of Suna must be rebuilt within a day and a night, along with more than ten fire-viewing turrets and iron cannon turrets around it, and a temporary granary for storing grain.

"What an incredible miracle!" Shichibei couldn't help but exclaim. If he hadn't transmigrated from another world, he would have been completely impressed by Fujikichiro.

"Hahahaha, this is the power of money. The most unshakeable thing in the world is the power of money. This wall was built with a thousand strings of Yongle coins. Even if another flood comes, it cannot be easily destroyed." Fujikichiro was extremely excited as he watched as two-fifths of the city wall was built in half a day.

What he said is correct. Sunomata is able to rise above the water and become a small island in the Nagara River because of its high elevation. Unless a dam is built upstream to release water, it is difficult for the entire island to be submerged.

Building a dam upstream to release water is only a temporary solution. How long can this water be released? Perhaps an hour, perhaps two hours, at most, it can't last any longer.

Sakuma Nobumori, who had no support, was bound to fail, but Kinoshita Tokichiro, who had a wall to rely on, was not necessarily going to fail.

It will probably take Saito's army about two more days to build the dam upstream. In those two days, Fujikichiro could dig a trench on the side of Sunomata Castle facing the upstream of the Nagara River and connect it to the Nagara River. This would greatly slow down the water flow and save Sunomata.

If they can withstand Saito's army's first attack on Sunomata, they can then gradually transport the soil used to dig the trenches into the castle, raising the foundation of the entire Sunomata Castle. With the foundation raised by half a meter, even if the Nagara River floods again, it will definitely not inundate the castle.

Nobunaga will be in an invincible position, able to attack when advancing and defend when retreating.

The women of the Hachisuka Party had prepared rice balls in advance, with rice soaked in salt water and a bag of seaweed, one large for each person, and distributed them everywhere in wooden basins.

It's a classic example of "the dirt doesn't matter, the food won't make you sick." Many people have their hands covered in dust and sawdust, and they eat rice with that, without any problems.

"Is this also the power of money?" Shichibei took a rice ball and turned to look at the oblivious Fujikichiro.

"If they didn't have money, why would they come? Why would they prepare rice balls? It's all because of money." Fujikichiro urged the Hachisuka party members around him to eat heartily, so that they could stay up all night building the castle.

“It really is, it really is, it really is…” Shichibei was unable to answer.

You're spending my money so happily, you must be quite something. The ability to utilize every available resource to your advantage and profit—that's a shrewdness Shichibei himself hadn't yet developed.

"This is also your power! You can gain even greater power from money!" A glint of light seemed to flash in Fujikichiro's eyes, making Shichibei unable to open them.

"Me?" Shichibei didn't quite believe it.

These days, those who have knives have it easy. With a knife, you can survive anywhere. As long as there's war, everyone else will forever be subservient to those with knives.

Unless the chaos ends and the world is unified, civil administration will prevail over military administration.

"Just you wait." Fujikichiro leaped down the earthen slope and landed next to a dozen men who were pulling ropes and setting up the fire-viewing oar, helping them to lift the wooden oar.

Hey hey hey...

The shouts continued, and the more than four-meter-high wooden frame creaked as it was erected. On the top wooden plank, only three people could stand side by side, not even able to turn around. But if shields were placed around it and an archer was positioned to command the situation, it would become a high vantage point that could decide the outcome of a small-scale skirmish.

Fujikichiro prepared more than a dozen of these fire-viewing turrets or arrow turrets in order to deal with the possible attack by Saito's army during the day tomorrow.

If we can hold out until tomorrow, Nobunaga's two thousand regular troops will arrive in Sunomata.

The crackling of the campfire was completely drowned out by the enthusiastic work chants on the construction site. Fujikichiro appeared here and there, inspiring and encouraging everyone, sharing their joys and sorrows. He seemed to have inexhaustible energy, always maintaining a high fighting spirit.