Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

However, the 100 kan dowry that my two younger sisters had prepared seems inappropriate now. 500 kan each, so they don't think I, Kawamura Nagayoshi, am stingy, or that Kawamura-ya has no prestige.

Get things done, get things done, get things done.

Hideyoshi undoubtedly distinguished himself during the construction of Sunomata Castle, but Shichibei, who provided him with substantial funds to complete the preparations, also miraculously entered the legend. Based on this alone, Shichibei will likely be remembered in history, earning a brief mention of twenty or thirty words.

Since Shichibei was from the old Owari, Oda, and Shimo-ji districts, and was a hereditary retainer of the Oda clan, he was considered one of the most loyal and trusted members of the group. Moreover, he was a well-known tycoon, a major figure in the organization. Upon learning that Shichibei's sister was to marry Kinoshita Hidenaga, the Owari samurai guild showed him great respect, offering congratulations and gifts as appropriate.

After all, with the currently rising star Kinoshita Hideyoshi on the other side, there were bound to be many people adding to the glory. Even the senior retainers of the Oda clan participated.

The same applies to the marriage of Inase Yoshinari and Ai; after all, his older brother was Nobunaga's head servant. In front of Nobunaga, he was just a servant who led horses and carried straw sandals, but outside...

The mayor's nanny, aren't you going to be polite?

Moreover, Nobunaga will soon be the mayor of two cities. If you put him next door to Akira, he would be a circuit intendant or circuit intendant, a vice minister with the titles of deputy inspector or councilor of the provincial administration.

After several days of commotion, the two marriages were finally settled. Nobunaga was so happy that he even came to drink with everyone. Although he had already put on a powerful and imposing presence, Nobunaga was still a lord who could mingle with the people of Owari. He would only truly detach himself from the people of Owari after he moved to Azuchi.

Of course, Owari was given to Oda Nobutada. If Nobutada had successfully succeeded to the throne, history would likely have recorded various intimate moments between him and the people of Owari.

Wouldn't it be great to have a bunch of Owari kids following you around? So many Owari kids rose to prominence after becoming Nobunaga's retainers.

The feeling is the same throughout history and across cultures. Liu Bei even pointed to the big mulberry tree in his yard and said he would ride in a carriage with such a canopy. Didn't he also lead the children of his clan in games when he was a child? Later, those children from the village would definitely follow him to start their own businesses.

In the end, didn't they also establish a foundation that allowed them to control one-third of the country?

Since it was still the early days of the dynasty, this harmonious scene of ruler and his subjects would likely continue for several more years. According to Sakuma Nobumori, in the past, when everyone was drinking and making merry, Princess Oichi, who had already married and moved to Hubei, would even come out to play the drums, and Nobunaga would personally dance.

Otherwise, why would so many old perverts yearn for it?

Now that Nobunaga is the lord of the country, he's put on a bit of airs and won't dance for everyone. If the construction of Sunomata Castle were replaced by a battle during the unification of Owari, Nobunaga would be dressed as a woman tonight.

Women's clothing...

Hmm, I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to see Nobunaga in women's clothing again. Although I've seen quite a few cross-dressers in later generations, this is, after all, Oda Nobunaga. Imagine Nobunaga dancing in women's clothing, with Oichi and Nohime clapping hand drums behind him—what a scene of dazzling beauty!

Think about it and get on with your business.

Don't we have to build a post station on the south bank of the Nagara River? It's not difficult, the project is not big, and with the Sunamata Castle in front, we can do it slowly and there is no need to recruit thousands of people to fight hard.

After Saito Tatsuoki retreated, Fujikichiro was ordered to allocate funds and begin hiring laborers to dig a moat. With a four-meter-wide moat, even if Saito's army numbered ten thousand, Sunomata Castle could be well defended.

The excavated soil was used to build an earthen wall for Shichibei. This time it was truly rammed earth construction—filling the space between two wooden planks with soil and then compacting it. Nobunaga used this post station on the south bank as a garrison, so its defenses had to be upgraded. He couldn't just follow the example of those previous post stations, which were merely separated by a wooden fence.

Five hundred strings of cash are more than enough to handle this task. We're already familiar with the stables, stables, and feed warehouses. The foot soldiers' longhouses aren't the kind of longhouses where each room is a private residence in later times; they're real communal sleeping quarters. Inside a longhouse, people sleep at both the north and south ends, with the goal of cramming one hundred people into one longhouse.

Foot soldiers, well, they're just cannon fodder with an annual salary of five or ten kan. Having a roof over their heads is already a luxury; it's better than those European monarchs who not only owe wages but also lack even proper tents.

The only things that need improvement are the wells and latrines. Not only do the horses need a lot of water, but the water consumption of five hundred people will also be considerable. Although it is near the Nagara River, the possibility of being surrounded must be taken into account, so two large wells, one to the north and one to the south, need to be dug inside the post station. A well enclosure also needs to be built over the wells to provide shelter from the wind and rain and to prevent filth.

As for the latrine, that's easy to understand. If five hundred people were to settle there, the amount of urine and feces produced each day would be like a small mountain. A large pit would need to be built, and a canal would need to be dug to bring it in.

Arrange with the nearby villagers to have them come and collect waste once a month or every ten days. It's free; the price is cleaning the latrines. Since there's a ditch, it's easy to drain the water and wash the waste. If hundreds of people were trapped inside the city and couldn't dispose of their excrement, that would be a real disaster.

Neighboring China would take them to be boiled into gravy; rather than letting it rot inside the city, they'd heat it up and serve it to the besieging enemy troops. European castles were even simpler; their castles had special openings for dumping these things outwards.

Hideyoshi, who was stationed at Sunomata, even came to visit Shichibei. He was riding high on his success, smiling all day long. Besides, he and Shichibei were genuine relatives, so he didn't treat Shichibei like an outsider at all, and even asked Shichibei about his ideas for building this post station.

Although Hideyoshi built Sunomata Castle, he was not actually a natural castle builder. He had no expertise in constructing a magnificent castle.

In Shichibei's view, Hideyoshi's skill in building castles after that was likely acquired through experience gained from constantly attacking and dismantling castles in the western provinces.

Sunomata Castle was largely planned and prepared in advance, but its defensive design lacked any innovation or uniqueness. It was nothing like the future Osaka Castle, which caused Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was besieging the castle, a great headache, and ultimately led him to abandon the attack altogether, bombarding the castle tower and scaring Lady Yodo to death.

After demolishing and seeing a lot of things, you'll get the hang of it.

So, at this moment, Fujikichiro is still asking Shichibei, since Shichibei is actually building a post station according to the standards of a branch city.

Sigh, Shichibei doesn't actually know how to build castles, but that doesn't stop him from bragging. It's just about finding ways to increase firepower density and intensity. Looking at the whole world, any army willing and able to engage in large-scale melee combat is a truly formidable, top-tier army.

Regardless of whether they are Chinese or foreign, people generally prefer to use long-range weapons to kill enemy troops. This is not only more efficient, but also avoids casualties and maintains morale.

The Japanese approach is to build those oddly shaped "slits," either round or square, larger inside than outside, designed to prevent others from shooting at them.

Even in Pingcheng, it's best to establish multi-dimensional firepower. That is, while the enemy attacks the first wall, the defenders inside the second wall should also be able to attack the enemy.

What should be done about this? Certainly not like building a three-meter-high first wall and a six-meter-high second wall. Building a six-meter-high wall in Japan would be far too extravagant.

For key defensive locations, arrow towers can be built. For example, in the future Akashi Castle, several small arrow towers, each only two stories high, were built using the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches as their sequence.

Moreover, small oars were often added at the city gates, water gates, or corners of the first layer of city walls. Basically, oars were set up wherever the enemy was likely to gather, with the idea that even if I fired wildly, I could still kill them.

At this point in the conversation, Hideyoshi said that those kinds of cities are too big, what about a small city like Sunomata?

Hey, you're just a deputy of Sunomata Castle, why are you acting like Sunomata Castle already belongs to you?

But Shichibei wouldn't point out anything at this point. He pointed to the wall and told Fujikichiro it was simple. "For example, set up another false wall outside the wooden wall. Basically, hang a large wooden plank. Place a few logs with iron nails behind the plank. When the enemy crosses the moat or the open moat, you can cut the ropes binding the plank on the castle."

The false platform collapsed, and the rolling logs rained down directly on the enemy troops. It was unlikely that they would be killed on the spot, since they were only two or three meters high, but it wouldn't be difficult to kill them half to death.

The key is to disable the enemy's fighting capacity, which was considered a very important military strategy in World War II.

Anti-personnel mines are primarily designed to sever soldiers' legs, making legless soldiers a burden on the entire army, or even the entire country, rendering them unable to continue working or fighting.

Similarly, if you break an enemy soldier's hand or leg, it will have the same effect. Because samurai aren't like cabbages; it takes over a decade to train even one.

The mighty Kawa family, the greatest giant on the sea route, Ichino no Yuzuri, after killing several hundred samurai from the main camp of the Righteous Army, was wiped out by Nobunaga, immediately fell into a state of despair.

A log with nails in it can render a warrior unable to fight, leaving him with a missing leg or arm—that's a huge profit.

"That makes sense," Hideyoshi nodded repeatedly. He had struggled for over a decade, and in fact, studied for over a decade, to become a qualified samurai, possessing certain combat skills and domestic administration abilities. If his leg were broken, his life would basically be over; he might as well just hand over the family name to Hidenaga.

The two were chatting happily when a servant from the area below Komakiyama Castle came running to inform Shichibei that the Takeda family's horse deliverymen had arrived and that he should go home to settle the bill with them.

Oh yes, yes, yes, the Takeda clan notified us in the spring that they would come to sell horses in May or June, and that Shichibei should prepare cash.

It's 20 kilometers from Sunomata to Komakiyama. If you ride slowly, it's 5 kilometers per hour, and if you go fast, it's 10 kilometers per hour. Even faster isn't impossible. For the 600-li express courier service, each horse travels 30 li, and at the next post station, they change horses. The horses rest, but the riders don't. Legend has it that news from Guangzhou can reach Beijing in 17 days.

The Takeda family probably weren't in a hurry; it would be considered fast for Shichibei to run back to the castle in two hours. But when he got to the shop, guess what? It was an acquaintance.

Nobutsugu Yonekura.

"What brings you to Owari, kid?" Shichibei quickly greeted Yonekura Nobutsugu. Yonekura Nobutsugu was also very happy, saying that he had come to deliver a horse to Shichibei and that he was going to Omi to find Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

Selling the horses was simple; the shopkeepers had already counted the horses and confirmed their condition. This year, Shingen, as always, gave them face and sent five warhorses, along with more than two hundred packhorses and riding horses.

While fiddling with the abacus, Shichibei asked Yonekura Nobutsugu what he wanted to do with Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

It wasn't a big deal, actually. Takeda Shingen's wife, Lady Sanjo, was born in Kyoto, and her family had some information channels there. It was said that after Ashikaga Yoshiteru's death, the former Shinano shugo, Ogasawara Nagatoki, took dozens of his retainers and gang members and defected to Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

The current governor of Shinano is Takeda Shingen. Shingen fears that Ashikaga Yoshiaki, in order to win over Ogasawara Nagatoki, will promise to transfer the governorship of Shinano back to the Ogasawara family in the future.

Although Nagatoki couldn't possibly retake Shinano, the concept of a just cause is rather perplexing. What if Nagatoki went to join Uesugi Kenshin and then caused trouble in Shinano?

It's disgusting.

So, in order to resolve the matter once and for all, Shingen planned to send some money to Ashikaga Yoshiaki so that Yoshiaki could confirm once again that Takeda Shingen would serve as the governor of Shinano.

Black and white!

Give Yi Qiu a couple of coins, and express your support for his succession; that should be enough. Then you can take Yi Qiu's handwritten document and send a proclamation to Xinong, ordering the people to behave themselves.

After calculating the details, Shichibei realized that Shingen and Ashikaga Yoshiaki had already started their affair.

54. Yoshiaki went to join the Asakura clan.

In fact, Ashikaga Yoshiaki had already fled from Yashima in Omi Province by this time, because Matsunaga Hisahide and his son Hisamichi had switched their support to Ashikaga Yoshiaki. This led the Miyoshi Triumvirate to believe that Ashikaga Yoshiaki was a major obstacle to Ashikaga Yoshihide's succession, so they launched an attack from Settsu across the river to pressure Yashima.

Fearing for the general's safety, Wada Koremasa sent the general to Kuchiki-dani and then fled to Wakasa. Earlier, Nobunaga had wondered if Ashikaga Yoshiaki would pass by the Azai Nagamasa camp in northern Hubei, but unexpectedly, Yoshiaki didn't even submit to Rokkaku Yoshikata and went straight to the Takeda clan in Wakasa.

Takeda Yoshitomo's wife was the daughter of the late Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu. The Wakasa Takeda clan had been a significant force involved in the intrigues of Kyoto for decades. However, the Wakasa Takeda clan was now in ruins, far removed from its former glory.

By the way, Yajima is in Minami-Omi Province, which is indeed quite close to Kyoto. Who knows, the Miyoshi Triumvirate might resort to desperate measures and send a few hundred men to launch a sneak attack.

Wakasa was quite far away, beyond the reach of the Miyoshi Triumvirate. Wada Koremasa, who had previously assisted Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was based in Wada Castle in Koga District, southern Omi Province, where transportation was extremely inconvenient. That is why Yoshiaki was sent to Yashima.

"How is the war between your lord and Echigo going?" Shichibei finished setting up the abacus and showed the amount to Yonekura Nobutsugu.

“Of course, there is a good chance of victory. Uesugi Danjo will be captured by my lord sooner or later.” Yonekura Nobutsugu looked at the numbers on the abacus and nodded in agreement.

"And then what?" Shichibei smiled, seemingly completely ignorant of military and political matters, as he inquired.

They fought Kawanakajima five times, nearly killing both the Takeda and Uesugi families. Now that the Uesugi are no longer a threat, and Suruga and Sagami are allies, where can they possibly attack?

"The Imperial Guard has already set off for Kozuki." Nobutsugu Yonekura was still a little disappointed; without being able to go to the battlefield, he couldn't earn any merit.

"Oh, Minowa Castle strategy guide." So it seems that Koshu's yellow-spotted son, Nagano Yorimori, will perish in Minowa Castle this year.

Once this last thorn in his side is taken, Takeda Shingen will be surrounded by allies except for Uesugi Kenshin. Whether to continue fighting Uesugi Kenshin or turn to attack Imagawa is actually quite a decision.

"I don't have that much gold, do you want some silver?" Shichibei didn't ask any more questions and returned to business.

"Yes, my lord has instructed me to take three hundred kan to pay my respects to Prince Yajima." Nobutsugu Yonekura didn't notice anything different in Shichibei's tone and readily agreed.

Three hundred kan is the price of a hundred packhorses. If they were to be used as a gift for Ashikaga Yoshiaki, it would be a huge expense for Shingen.

"What about the remaining money?"

"You can give it to me when I return."

"understood."

In business, a certain level of trust is essential. Yonekura Nobutsugu and the other Takeda samurai carried 300 kan of copper coins to Ashikaga Yoshiaki to buy written agreements, while Shichibei returned to Sunomata to continue building the post station.

When Hideyoshi saw Shichibei return, he asked if the Takeda clan had sent any warhorses to Owari. Of course! What kind of relationship do I have with Takeda Shingen? He'd give me face, so he'd definitely send a few warhorses.

Previously, Hideyoshi didn't have much money, so he didn't think about buying warhorses. Now that he has become the governor of Sunomata Castle, his fief has suddenly increased to 500 kanmon, so he needs a warhorse. Riding a good horse, the generals of Nishimino whom he wants to win over will look at him with more respect.

As for the money to buy horses, Aji brought 500 kan in cash with her when she married into the Kinoshita family. With this 500 kan, Hideyoshi and Hidenaga finally had the initial capital to start their business. How they used it afterward was their business.

How about I pick out a big deer for you?

Forty-five strings of cash, received as a favor.

Brothers are brothers, business is business.

A warhorse costing thirty or forty strings of cash is a very reasonable price; otherwise, why would it be considered a warhorse? Otherwise, why would only major horse-producing areas have the resources to organize so-called "flowing arrow horses" (horses with large numbers of horses)? It's because only horse-producing areas can possibly gather enough warhorses; other places can't even find them.

Ordinary mounted warriors would ride their horses to the battlefield and then fight on foot. At best, they could be considered dragoons; expecting them to advance like a wall with iron spears and greatswords was wishful thinking.

After another ten days of work in Sunomata, the post station was ready, and Fujikichiro also moved the soil from the ditches outside Sunomata into the castle. He first raised the foundations of the main military facilities, such as the rice granary, foot soldiers' residences, gun emplacements, and battlements, by one meter.

Raising it by half a meter would actually be enough, but isn't that just Fujikichiro's way of showing off? Since the foundation has to be raised anyway, it's better to do it right the first time, to avoid any problems when Nobunaga moves into Sunomata.

The entire fortification project is a meticulous and slow process. The ultimate goal is to raise the entire 3,000-square-meter fortification foundation of Sunomata by half a meter. This winter, a general labor service will definitely be launched to ram the earth in Sunomata.

Goodbye, brother. I'm done with work and going home to relax.