Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Therefore, Goto Mototsugu came to seek refuge with Awakawa Sadanobu.

Considering they are both from Higashiharima Province and have some distant family ties, they will temporarily take in his family. If they are willing to offer Goto Mototsugu a government position, that would be best. If not, Goto Mototsugu will look for another family, and he will come back to retrieve his family once he finds one.

"Goto Matahei?" Shichibei had been thinking of Matahei Taibei when he passed through Matahei Village.

As a result, the Matrika family line ended, and there wasn't a single male member left. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to Goto Motokuni's affairs, since there were Gotos in Japan, and it wasn't always easy to distinguish them. Now, suddenly there's Goto Matahei, which is truly an unexpected delight.

"Correct."

"Do you have any talents?" Shichibei couldn't show too much excitement; he still had to follow the usual Japanese custom.

If you can write and calculate, I'll give you a problem right now. If you're a master of martial arts, I happen to have Todo Takatora by my side; let's go down to the arena and have a real test of skill.

"He prides himself on his marksmanship." Tamaga Sadayoshi's current position is quite contradictory.

As someone who followed Bessho Yoshichika in his rebellion and even defeated Niwa Nagahide's 10,000 cavalry with a small force, his position within the Oda clan was precarious. At this time, the best course of action was to remain hidden and inconspicuous. He could wait for the storm to pass, rest for a couple of years, and then accumulate some merit before making a comeback.

To openly and ostentatiously take in ronin from Higashi-Harima now would be asking for trouble. It would easily invite criticism from others or arouse Shichibei's suspicion.

Having been removed from his position in Tamhe City, he lost his greatest support and now has to be careful in his dealings with others.

"Proud of your spear skills?" This question piqued the interest of Takatora Todo, who was also a general who was proud of his spear skills.

"Then bring him here." In this way, Shichibei could then proceed to bring him here.

At this time, the wars of conquest across the land continue, and there is a need for brave warriors to serve. If you are a brave man, you can receive a stipend of 1,000 koku under Nobunaga. However, to become a lord with a stipend of 10,000 koku, you must possess the ability to command and govern.

A tough guy can only be a pioneer, but a wise general can rise to the top.

Clearly, Goto Mototsugu was waiting outside the door. Upon hearing the order, he was led in. At only eighteen years old, Goto Mototsugu's face had already shed its childishness. He wasn't particularly tall, especially compared to the 1.92-meter-tall Todo Takatora. But looking at his strong legs, it was clear he was a trained fighter.

Before Shichibei could even utter a word of urging him to kneel and bow, Todo Takatora leaped down from the eaves and shouted, "Let's try it together!"

Goto Mototsugu said there was no reason not to, and a servant handed it to him, which the two then took, and they began to spar in the courtyard. At first, both seemed silent, each adopting a stance but barely moving, occasionally shifting their feet. Todo Takatora even let out a loud shout to intimidate Goto Mototsugu. But the actual fight often consisted of only two or three exchanges within a minute.

Looking at this, Shichibei suddenly thought of the protagonist played by Toshiro Mifune in the 1958 film "Hidden Man of the Sengoku Period," whose spear fighting against the enemy general was so simple and unadorned.

In the five-minute film, there were very few exchanges of fire. Both sides were constantly probing, maneuvering, making contact, and searching for weaknesses in each other's weapons until they managed to break the other's spear.

The fight between Toudou Takatora and Goto Mototsugu was quite evenly matched; both constantly shifted positions, and finally, Toudou Takatora parried Goto Mototsugu's spear with a single shot, using his experience to push him backward, revealing a deadly weapon on the battlefield.

The fight ended only after they found a weakness in each other's defenses.

"Impressive skills! I probably wouldn't have been this good when I was eighteen." Todo Takatora was actually only four years older than Goto Mototsugu.

But his experience with both large and small situations far surpassed that of Goto Mototsugu at this time. Both were skilled, with excellent fundamentals, so experience became extremely important.

"I heard a master marksman is coming. Where is he?" Before Goto Mototsugu could reply, Watanabe Kanbei ran in from outside.

This young fellow is a pure war creature who kicked human heads like balls during the siege of Long Island. Hearing that a tough guy came to join Shichibei and fought with Todo Takatora, he rushed over to ask.

When Shichibei went to war last time, his adoptive father, Watanabe, was getting old and unwell, so he stayed behind. He was quite aggrieved that Shichibei wasn't taken along.

"Kanbei!" Shichibei quickly called out to the hothead.

"Shichibei, your spear skills are superb. I'm offering you a salary of 200 koku. Are you willing?" Shichibei called out to the man and then turned to Goto Mototsugu.

"I am overwhelmed with gratitude, but I am willing to serve you." Goto Mototsugu was pushed by Todo Takatora to steady himself.

Having been appointed, what more could Goto Mototsugu possibly want? He could just keep working there. If he were still in the main family, he could only serve as a retainer of his older brother, Goto Motohide, or be adopted into another family, and he might not even get two hundred koku of rice.

"Bring the wine." Shichibei smiled and nodded, instructing his servant.

The servants quickly brought out the sake, and Shichibei rewarded Goto Mototsugu with it, and also distributed it to the other retainers, who must be thirsty after such a long battle. Drinking low-alcohol sake would quench their thirst just as well.

Only Watanabe was there, circling around Goto Mototsugu. He was only seventeen, a little over a year younger than Goto Mototsugu. He was anxious because he hadn't seen Goto Mototsugu and Todo Takatora's sparring match, and kept asking questions. He even said he would invite Goto Mototsugu to his house for drinks tomorrow.

He would have plenty of opportunities to meet and interact with his fellow courtiers in the future, but he was in a hurry.

Shichibei summoned Goto Mototsugu to his side. The great upheaval in Harima had essentially resulted in a complete reshuffling of the old power structure. The main retainers of the Bessho clan had all been removed, Kodera and Miki of Nishi-Harima had rebelled, and Sōyō Akamatsu had been eliminated by Hideyoshi. Only Tatsuno Akamatsu and Okishō Akamatsu remained, essentially dead bones in their graves.

You said Biesuo Changzhi is doing just fine, right? Yes, but it's undergone a complete transformation; the Biesuo family has been completely reshuffled. Except for still bearing the name of Biesuo...

The name was changed, but everything else was completely different.

Moreover, he had unknowingly become Oda Nobunaga's retainer, having previously served as his daimyo. With Miki Castle gone, the land ravaged, and more than half of his retainers scattered, he didn't even need Nobunaga's coercion; he himself considered that the branch castle complex should not be rebuilt, thus arousing Nobunaga's suspicion.

He disciplined himself and placed himself in the position of Nobunaga's retainer.

Speaking of this, Goto Mototsugu also sighed. Harima had been fighting for over a hundred years without any earth-shattering changes in the power structure. Yet, in just two short years, it crumbled under the infighting between the two major external forces, the Mori and Oda, and all the old order collapsed.

We can hear opinions about the current situation from people with a sense of national consciousness, such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Oda Nobunaga. But we haven't heard from the perspective of someone from a small country like Mototsugu Goto.

Living amidst the torrent of worldly affairs, Goto Mototsugu, who had just lost his family, must have had some unique thoughts.

Speaking of this, Goto Mototsugu let out a long sigh. Originally, his family was a clan with a staggering income of over 1,000 koku, barely considered "dominant" in the area. Their ancestors were the renowned Toshihito-ryu Goto clan in the Harima and Mimasaka regions, but the Mimasaka Goto clan fell, and now the Harima Goto clan has also fallen.

Going back one or two hundred years, when has there ever been such a drastic reshuffling? For example, the Yamagata clan has descendants in Mino, Aki, Wakasa, and Kai.

Don't underestimate the Yamagata clan. In the early and middle period of the Muromachi Shogunate, they were proper shoguns and key mid-level retainers of the shogunate.

And what was the result? They survived for three or four hundred years, and their branches spread to five or six smaller provinces, reaching as far as Oshu, with four or five families directly named Yamagata. They fought each other for two hundred years without ever being wiped out. In the chaotic Sengoku period of Japanese history, they were all exterminated not long afterward.

Of course, in the end, the Choshu Domain found someone to inherit the Yamagata clan of Aki, and a descendant named Yamagata Aritomo (whose grandfather, Nakamura Kizaemon, did not even leave his real name) also appeared, but that's another story.

Historically speaking, a family that was once a mid-level retainer of the shogunate and had the ability to spread throughout the country was wiped out in a short period of time.

"This is truly an unprecedented change in a thousand years." Although Goto Mototsugu was only eighteen years old, he felt it deeply.

"So, you think that the world situation has changed drastically and is no longer what it used to be?"

"Please forgive me, I don't understand at all, and I don't know where to begin." Unfortunately, Goto Mototsugu only felt that times had changed, but he couldn't clearly explain how times had changed.

"Haha, come and have a drink." Of course, Shichibei wouldn't blame him; how could a small-time tycoon understand such a thing?

Besides, he's only an adult and hasn't experienced any major ups and downs before. His whole family was sent to heaven right after his debut, so he has to rely on himself for everything.

To be honest, being able to kneel down and beg for help to find a way out for oneself takes a lot of mental fortitude. Whether now or in the future, there are plenty of teenagers whose families have fallen on hard times, who, due to a mix of pride and inferiority, end up on a path of self-destruction.

They feel like the whole world is against them. Give them money, and they think you're giving them charity; help them, and they feel mocked; ignore them, and they think everyone in the world is a beast. There's nothing you can do about it; there are just people like that. You can only say that their unwavering resolve is an extremely strong virtue.

"But I think the Mori family won't last long..." Perhaps worried that his answer would displease Shichibei, Goto Mototsugu still gave an answer.

"kindness?"

"In this land of the Western Kingdom, the powerful states each ruled their own territories and refused to submit to the local authorities. Even a powerful state like the Imperial Palace perished under the rule of the Tao family. A state that rose to prominence suddenly, with the governorship of eight kingdoms, could not escape its fate."

To put it bluntly, it's all about winning. You have to fight your way out of the competition. If you win, you're the leader, and we'll respect you. If you can't expand, it might be okay for a year or two, but if it goes on for too long, internal strife is inevitable.

Was the Ōuchi clan's downfall solely due to infighting between the civil and military factions? Of course not. The expedition to Izumo resulted in a complete loss, with Ōuchi Harumochi losing everything, which greatly accelerated the clan's internal divisions.

If Ōuchi Harumi had wiped out the Amago clan, the Ōuchi family's good days would have continued for a long time—at least another twenty or thirty years of glory, followed by another twenty or thirty years of decline. Who knows, the one coming to Kyoto to buy an official position right now might very well be Ōuchi Harumi's son.

"Is this idea unique to you, or is it common?" Shichibei wanted to hear Kogoro's thoughts.

"Although I don't socialize with many people, we all grew up eating rice, so there's no real difference," Goto Mototsugu said after a moment's thought, making a kind of analogy.

"Hahahaha..." That's right, we all grew up in the West, experienced the general social conditions there, and grew up sharing the same food.

Of course, there won't be a huge difference in their thinking.

"..." Goto Mototsugu didn't know why Shichibei started laughing, and even peeked at Awakawa Sadanobu and Todo Takatora.

The two simply nodded, one drinking a glass of wine, the other smiling.

426. The situation in Izumi Province is in turmoil.

He wouldn't be able to rest in Kyoto for more than a few days, but Shichibei still had things to arrange. He needed to settle Ii's sister-in-law in Kyoto and set her up in Kyoto. He had originally planned to give Ii's sister-in-law a formal title, but she refused, saying that she was over thirty years old and an "old woman" who had remarried. She was content to be a lady-in-waiting serving Shichibei.

Tsk, look at that level of awareness.

In 2025, a 38-year-old would still dare to call herself a young girl. However, since the formality of her status is eliminated, there's really no need for much fuss. Just find the Kyoto magistrate to allocate a plot of land in Kyoto, build a villa behind the riverside village house, and settle Sister-in-law Ii there.

Incidentally, his biological father is Saegusa Moritomo, but he inherited the mantle of two young boys from the Ii family, making him, in a sense, Shichibei's adopted son. This also includes Saegusa Morinao, who is now considered half a father to him.

How wonderful! Anyway, Shichibei wasn't going to be a biological father, and there was no empire for them to inherit. This perfectly resolved the conflict between Dorgon and Shunzhi. They got three burdens for free, one of whom was Ii Naomasa.

Since they weren't officially recognized as a couple, Shichibei focused on providing for Ii Naotora materially. Perhaps due to her fertile constitution, Ii Naotora was already pregnant.

We cannot go on the expedition.

He hired dozens of maids and old women in the capital, and could also recruit former retainers from the Ii and Mie families to serve him. With ample allowance and sufficient manpower, Shichibei finally left Kyoto with peace of mind.

There was no other way; after resting for less than a month, Nobunaga was urging him to attack Izumi Province, especially to recapture the important port city of Kishiwada Castle.

However, there was a point that Nobunaga and Shichibei discussed briefly. Izumi Province was estimated to have a yield of around 100,000 koku. Nobunaga had initially promised 50,000 koku for Awaji Province, but seeing Shichibei's lack of interest, he later said 100,000 koku for Izumi Province. This 100,000 koku was definitely not going to change; Nobunaga was adamant about his word.

As for the remaining tens of thousands of koku, whether it's 20,000 or 30,000 koku, Nobunaga has other plans for them, and he hopes Shichibei understands. Moreover, Shichibei can still conquer Awaji Province afterward, and any conquests will belong to Shichibei.

Specifically, the Ōtori District where Sakai Town is located, the Sennan District where Kishiwada Castle is located, and the Izumi District where the provincial capital is located were all granted to Shichibei. However, the southernmost Hine District, which is close to Kii Province, needed to be separated out.

To whom is the seal given?

Jiro Shiro Toyama.

Ah, I get it. Nobunaga is definitely going to completely wipe out Kishu, especially the Saiga party and other local warlords. Why wouldn't he use the existing Kishu governor, the Toyama family?

It just so happens that Lady Takaya and Jiroshiro Tomiyama are temporarily staying at Shichibei's residence in Sakai. Once Shichibei has pacified Izumi by traveling south from Sakai, we can simply have them take up their fiefdoms.

Nobunaga had nothing to be ashamed of; it was simply a matter of serving the emperor. He had already granted Shichibei the entire 100,000 koku of Izumi land, so it was understandable that he would use the remaining small, obscure plot to cultivate a righteous cause.

If the Saiga clan dares to resist, that is defying the imperial army, and killing their entire family would be legal.

After discussing this matter, Shichibei issued another military order: this time, Kunio and Riki would not be conscripted; only their own standing army, guest generals, and standing Riki would be mobilized. Furthermore, Hachiya Yoritaka and Hirate Nagamasa were returned to Nobunaga, and as expected, Hachiya Yoritaka was granted the title of lord of Shigetakayama Castle with a fief of 50,000 koku.

With Shigiyama Castle destroyed, Hachiya Yoritaka would certainly not be willing to continue governing from Shigiyama and would inevitably have to choose another location to build a castle. This is just a tentative suggestion; the specifics are up to Hachiya Yoritaka himself.

Hirate Nagamasa was reprimanded by his brother Nobunaga, but he hadn't committed any major offenses; he was simply reassigned to Nobutada's Mino army. Nobunaga also assigned the Takashima Seven Factions as reinforcements, namely the people of Koho-Takashima County, led by Kuchiki Motonatsuna.

good good!

awesome!

The three Sekigahara rebel squads are assembled!

Ogawa Yutada, Akaza Naoyasu, and Kuchiki Mototsuna finally all fell into Shichibei's hands.

However, these were all minor incidents. Before leading his troops out, Hachiya Yoritaka paid a visit to Shichibei, repeatedly expressing his desire to forge a good relationship. His rise from lord of Hida Castle in Jiangnan to lord of Ōwashi-Shigiyama Castle (worth 50,000 koku) was closely related to Shichibei. Now that Shichibei was poised to become the lord of Izumi Province, it was only natural that he wanted to cultivate a closer relationship with him.

Hachiya Yoritaka, who came from the same family as Nobunaga's mother, and Shichibei were mutually beneficial and could be each other's political resources in the future. Since they were both from Nobunaga's family, they should have more interaction.

The two left Kyoto together. Shichibei's troops did not assemble in Kyoto, but instead gathered in Sakai according to military orders. Was there a more suitable main camp than Sakai for the campaign against Izumi?

They could even go directly to Sakaimachi without bringing anything and make arrangements. In the blink of an eye, thanks to Shichibei's connections in Sakaimachi, they could get whatever they wanted and immediately assemble a large army.

Shichibei even built warehouses in Sakaimachi to store saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. He had tens of thousands of kilograms of saltpeter alone, all prepared for Nobunaga. Whenever Nobunaga needed it, he had to provide it immediately, and he even kept accounts of it.

Upon entering Sakai Town, members of the Sakai Association flocked to the scene.