Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Adding an extra step now means adding another excuse later. Although the law may not have much significance in feudal society, having one is always better than having none.

In addition, the costs of constructing Kumamoto Castle also need to be settled. Part of the stone wall construction was done by the renowned Kyoto craftsman Anata-gumi, at a considerable expense.

The castle tower wasn't finished yet, but it wasn't originally intended for living. Shichibei and Ii's wife lived in the Ninomaru Palace. Now that the young general and the others had returned to the Kinai region, the once full harem was now left with only Ii's wife.

Some locals even considered offering their daughters to Shichibei as concubines, hoping that if they gained his favor, they could eventually get close to the new lord. Unfortunately, as soon as they expressed their intentions, someone told them that their lord didn't like skinny, thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girls; he preferred plump, mature, beautiful women.

That's understandable; after all, people have different tastes, which is only natural. But what do you mean by "the beautiful woman whose husband died"?

Do I have to die just to deliver a beautiful woman to me?

So, no one has sent Shichibei any beautiful women yet. It's not that anyone in the harem is jealous or deliberately obstructing things. It's just that the search area is rather narrow, and it's not easy to find one right now.

Those who have given birth before are the best choice!

Speaking of this, Sister-in-law Ii still laughs. Although marrying widows was perfectly normal in Japan's Sengoku period, only you, Shichibei, could find pleasure in it.

Hey, how can you say that? It's all Oda Nobunaga's fault; he's the one who developed this for me.

After a pleasant bath, Shichibei and Ii's sister-in-law came out and saw her and Saegusa Morinao's two grown-up sons handing them towels and undergarments. They then realized that the two little boys were already almost young men.

Once they're ready for their coming-of-age ceremony, they can go and serve their elder brother, Kawamura Naokichi. One will inherit the Mie family name, and the other will inherit the Ii family name. After all, this has always been their family's long-cherished wish.

By the way, as I hinted to Ii-no-sister-in-law earlier, after Ieyasu is transferred to Kanto, I should try to secure the Ii-ya territory for her. Now that things are looking promising, Nobukatsu will probably treat it the same way he treated Ota Sukemasa, allocating 100 koku of rice to Ii-ya, entirely out of respect for Shichibei.

Chapter 612 Sado Changes Hands to Heaven's Rule (Zhu Xiucai's Three-Jin Crown)

Although it was only 100 koku, and it was entrusted to Ii's sister-in-law under the guise of cosmetics, 100 koku was still a considerable sum in Ii Valley. Like a fox returning to its den, many Japanese samurai families held this thought in mind these days.

With peace restored, it has become extremely difficult to achieve any military merits and thus be granted land. Historically, after the Tokugawa Shogunate quelled the Hizen-Shimabara Rebellion, the supreme commander Matsudaira Nobutsuna was only granted an increase in rank from 30,000 koku in the Musashi-Oshi Domain to 60,000 koku in the Musashi-Kawagoe Domain.

It should be noted that Matsudaira Nobutsuna was originally a page of Tokugawa Iemitsu, and Tokugawa Iemitsu did indeed have a penchant for male lovers when he was young, to the point that Tokugawa Hidetada was very worried.

Such a close relationship, even risking one's life on the battlefield, would only earn one an additional 30,000 shi of grain as a reward. It was indeed not as good as when the world was unified, when millions of states were destroyed, numerous vassal states were established, and several or even a dozen powerful families rose and fell in the blink of an eye.

Times have changed.

Emerging from the bathroom, early summer in Kumamoto was quite pleasant. But this pleasantness only lasted a few days; afterwards, it would become humid and hot. I vaguely remembered watching the anime "Crayon Shin-chan" in my later years; Misae was from Kumamoto. Her father sent Shin-chan's family a large box of raw horse meat, a local specialty. It seems that this kind of food hasn't become a common practice in Kumamoto at this time.

Furthermore, there was no large-scale breeding of horses for meat; horses were simply not suitable livestock for consumption. However, they were used extensively in Japan for military purposes, and during previous wars, large numbers of cattle and horses were indeed driven.

Nowadays, even samurai of a certain status must ride horses when they go out. Some domains already have a distinction between upper-class samurai who ride horses and lower-class samurai who do not. The lower-class samurai are largely composed of foot soldiers, which are combat personnel who were not previously considered samurai.

Oda Nobukatsu had not yet issued the "Status Control Edict," so there was still a chance to strive and join the samurai ranks. Once the social hierarchy of samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants was established, becoming a samurai would not be so easy. One might strive their entire life and only obtain the "privilege" of having a family name and carrying a sword.

I asked around and found out that there really aren't any particularly strange foods in Kumamoto. In fact, people aren't so averse to eating beef and black pork. This is probably related to the fact that there are a lot of mountain pastures in the area. Those mountains are unsuitable for farming, so they are perfect for serving as pastures.

Great, great! It's a pity there's no seasoning, otherwise we could have made a hot pot with freshly sliced ​​beef in winter.

"I feel refreshed. Kumamoto is indeed a good place." Shichibei swung his arms and walked back, preparing to have dinner.

"You seem to be in a good mood." Sister-in-law Ii had also finished getting ready. As the de facto mistress of Kumamoto Castle, she had to arrange dinner for Shichibei.

"That's natural."

Although Kumamoto wasn't Shichibei's birthplace, now that it had been granted to him, it was practically his home. From now on, all the Kawamura family members would be natives of Kumamoto. Being at home would certainly be more comfortable than being in front of Oda Nobuo or in the army.

"My lord, I have something to report," the attendant head, Hiratsuka Tamehiro, reported loudly from the end of the corridor.

"What is it?" He was so loud, it couldn't be anything secretive.

"The discovery of Jinshan in Hoshino Village, Ye County, after building a child."

"Tsk, Kobayakawa Nakataka is really lucky." Their family has a real connection with mining. They used to deal with mines in the western country, and now they have gold mines to come across in Chikugo.

"Therefore, Lord Liuhe hopes to go to Iwami to recruit mountain warriors." No wonder he notified Shichibei; it turns out it was for this reason.

Yoshikawa Motoharu, who originally controlled Iwami Province, was transferred to Shimosa Sakura with 200,000 koku of rice. Iwami was reclaimed and became Oda Nobukatsu's domain. Nobukatsu, just like his father, simply handed it over to Shichibei.

Shichibei and his father Nobunaga followed suit, inviting Tsuchiya Nagayasu over and handing over the Iwami Silver Mine to him. They also appointed him as the Silver Mine General Manager, stipulating that as long as he could pay 5,000 kan of silver to Sakai or Osaka each year, any extra would be theirs.

That's roughly equivalent to twenty tons of silver, or about five hundred thousand taels of silver. Luckily, Yoshikawa Motoharu was transferred away; otherwise, he would have continued to occupy this place.

After Tsuchiya Nagayasu sent Yasuhara Denbei, who had previously managed the Tada copper mine, to inspect the Iwami silver mine, he clearly stated that the Yoshikawa family's mining scale was insufficient, their workforce was inadequate, and their output was lagging behind. According to his estimate, producing 7,000 kan of silver annually would not be difficult.

After a quick mental calculation, Shichibei realized that Zhang Juzheng had changed the silver price from standard to standard because Japan imported over one million taels of silver annually. If the Iwami Silver Mine were developed on a large scale, producing thirty tons of silver per year wouldn't be difficult. Therefore, they wouldn't exhaust the resources; five thousand kan would suffice.

Without contributing anything, simply hand over the mining rights and sit at home waiting for 5,000 strings of silver to be handed over.

Nobuo is a respectable man, so let's split it 30/70: Nobuo 70% and Shichibei 30%. It's perfectly reasonable, and Shichibei doesn't see anything unreasonable about it at all.

Previously, Nobuo had readily agreed to appoint Tsuchiya Nagayasu as the General Manager of the Silver Mine, handing over the appointment letter to Shichibei in a wave of his hand, effectively relinquishing control of the territory surrounding the Iwami Silver Mine. He was settling on a clean salary of 3,500 kan at the end of the year—what could he possibly be unhappy about?

Three thousand five hundred strings of silver could fill an entire room.

Now that the Silver Mine is no longer under the Yoshikawa family's control and has nothing to do with Mori Terumoto, Kobayakawa Takakage can only consult with Shichibei first. In a mine like this, a mine machinist who knows how to find ore veins is far more important than a thousand laborers who only know how to swing picks and do hard labor. At the same time, the ore carried up by hundreds of miners can be used to start a furnace by a few smelters who know the ash blowing method.

So don't be fooled by the large mines like Sado Gold Mine and Iwami Silver Mine, which at their peak have nearly 100,000 people, the actual core workforce is probably only a few hundred. The rest are mostly manual laborers, along with the industrial service workers and their families who support them.

Laborers are easy to find in Japan, a country with a population of over ten million, but experienced engineers are not. To mine gold on a large scale, the only option is to hire experienced engineers in Chikugo.

"Return this to Kobayakawa Nakagami on my behalf, and also send my greetings and congratulations." There's no need for Shichibei to handle this personally; a simple official document can suffice.

"Understood." Hiratsuka Tamehiro nodded in agreement and went back to draft a reply.

Incidentally, Kobayakawa Takakage's official document also reached Shichibei's hands, openly recounting the matter without any secrecy, not even in an sealed envelope. To discover a gold mine so openly and honestly would require Oda Nobukatsu to transfer the fiefdom. But given the current situation, how could one easily reorganize such a large domain?

Furthermore, just because there's a gold mine doesn't mean you have to seize it. Some of Japan's gold mines might just be from a small eruption that happened a few hundred thousand years ago; at most, you wouldn't be able to extract two tons of gold from them.

On the neighboring mainland, a mine with two tons of gold that's still being mined would be considered a fantastic mine. In Japan? Well, sorry, some mines there can produce a ton of gold a year—annual production, you know.

Before the industrial age, a single mine could produce one ton of gold per year, which was quite impressive!

This refers to the Aikawa Gold and Silver Mine in Sado, which peaked at 1.5 tons of gold and 27 tons of silver annually after the Meiji Restoration. Since its development, the Aikawa Gold and Silver Mine has consistently maintained an annual gold production of over 0.4 tons, and has been mined for over two hundred years without ever running dry. This is the kind of mine worth holding onto.

By the way, the reason everyone's attitude towards Sado is so indifferent right now is because there are only two silver mines there, and their yields aren't very high. One is called Tsuruko Silver Mine, and the other is called Shinho Silver Mine. Uesugi Kenshin once sent people to manage the mining there. But because the yields were average, he didn't pay much attention to them.

The Daihoji and Ashina families, who previously supported Uesugi Kagetora, were respectively exiled by Mogami Yoshimitsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. What is the situation with the Honma family of Sado?

In his early years, Nagao Tamekage relied on the support of the Honma clan. He first endured hardship in the northeastern mountains, then launched a counterattack on Japan, at one point bringing the Honma clan under the control of the Nagao clan, and later the Uesugi clan. After Uesugi Kenshin's death, the Honma clan, like most of the powerful local lords in Echigo, took sides, with some supporting Kagekatsu and others supporting Kagetora.

The faction that supported Kagekatsu had long since collapsed, and those who remained were those who supported Kagetora, mainly led by the Honma brothers, Takashige and Takayori, from the Hamo Honma clan.

Previously, with Kagetora's support, they had defeated the Honma clan's direct descendant, a spurious Honma clan member, who wanted to seize real power. Therefore, when the Oda army besieged Kasugayama, the brothers sent a thousand cavalry to provide support. Of course, in the end, several hundred died in battle, and several hundred fled back to Sō; the specific details are indeed unclear.

Send someone to inquire. Our brother-in-law, Oda Nobuhisa, has now been granted the fief of Echigo Province. Logically, he should send troops to Sado Island to annihilate the Honma clan. This is a trivial matter that doesn't require Taira no Taira's personal instructions.

After Sado is pacified, given his current mere 20,000 koku of land, there will only be two outcomes: either he will be casually given to Oda Nobuhisa, or his territory will be incorporated into Nobukatsu's direct domain.

Tenryo is more likely, because Nobukatsu doesn't seem to like the "Two Lords of the Palace." Or rather, it's not so much that he dislikes them, but he's unhappy that these two are ranked higher than his second son, who was born after him.

It's understandable that historically, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa Gosanke (Three Houses of the Tokugawa Family), which consisted of the Tokugawa main family, the Owari family, and the Kii family. Later, Tokugawa Iemitsu was dissatisfied and changed it to the Owari family, the Kii family, and the Mito family. When Tokugawa Yoshimune came to power, he directly abandoned his former allies and established the Gosanke (Three Lords of the Tokugawa Family), whose succession took precedence over the Gosanke.

Of course, in the end, with so many households established, so much land and stipends spent to support the men of six families and ensure their continuation, the final result was that, combined, they had fewer offspring than the Mito family.

To prevent the state from being in peril, Nobunaga's idea of ​​establishing three branches of the family was still necessary. However, the actual implementation was left to Nobukatsu, who would most likely make adjustments after the birth of his second son.

The letter was quickly delivered to Kasugayama Castle in Echigo Province. The castle had been severely damaged in the previous battle, and its main keep had been blown into the air by the explosion that killed Kagetora and his wife. Therefore, after Oda Nobuhisa entered the province, he began constructing Taira Castle in Takada, relying on the Shinkawa River.

It wasn't easy. Suddenly being transferred from Shinano to Echigo, a major state with a population of 450,000 koku, required not only spending money to maintain stability but also building a new castle. Especially this year, he was ordered to contribute to the construction of Osaka Castle, with so many expenses piling up. It was indeed quite difficult for Nobuhisa, a boy of fourteen or fifteen.

Fortunately, the retainers left by his father were still quite capable, and many of them were now hereditary retainers. They loyally supported Oda Nobuhisa, but their constant spending meant they lacked the financial resources to launch a campaign against Sado Honma.

Just as they were fretting over this, a letter from Kumamoto arrived in Takada. They slapped their thighs in exasperation. Their late lord had left behind several sons-in-law, and Niwa Nagahide was busy in Aizu. Yoshikawa Hiroie only had 8,000 koku of rice; that wouldn't be enough. Their son-in-law, Shichibei, was the best; if they were really short of money, they could just ask him for some.

When they opened the letter, they found that Shichibei had come to inquire about the strategy for conquering Sado. It was like a godsend; with the help of his retainers, Oda Nobuhisa wrote a heartfelt reply, explaining that due to being newly granted a major power and undertaking numerous large-scale construction projects, expenses had increased dramatically.

I am determined to be a vanguard for the Grand Chancellor and pacify Sado. However, I am somewhat lacking in funds. I hope my sworn brother can lend me a hand for the sake of my elder sister.

They didn't explicitly say they were borrowing, but rather offered assistance. Who knows, our son-in-law might just casually hand over several thousand taels for us to spend as we please. This isn't unusual; during the Edo period, the Uesugi family supported the Takagi and Kira families, essentially giving them money for free. Of course, this was related to the Uesugi family head's kinship with the Kira clan.

If Oda Nobuhisa could suddenly acquire several thousand taels of silver, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. He could either use Echigo ramie or wait for this year's autumn harvest of tribute rice to make ends meet.

Haha, the letter was quickly sent back to Shichibei. Shichibei understood Oda Nobuhisa's meaning just from the reply. He was willing to give some money, but there was one thing that needed to be made clear. After the conquest, he wouldn't want the 20,000 koku of land isolated off the coast; he'd just claim it directly from the emperor.

Those two little silver mountains above aren't anything of great value.

Rather than speculating on ownership, it's better to let Oda Nobuhisa relinquish it directly. If he voluntarily gives it up, Oda Nobukatsu naturally won't force him to grant him additional territory. After Sado Island is conquered, everything else will be easier to discuss.

He quickly wrote back, Shichibei promising to pay for the expedition to Sado, but Oda Nobuhisa had to write to Nobukatsu explaining that he was giving up. That was his only condition, nothing else.

On the surface, their real intention is those two small silver mountains, but in reality, well, haha.

After some back and forth, a deal was quickly reached. Oda Nobuhisa organized over three hundred ships and five thousand soldiers to attack Sado. Facing five thousand elite troops who had long been locked in a stalemate with Uesugi and Hojo, the rotten potatoes and rotten eggs on Sado Island had little chance of putting up a fight.

In no time, the Oda army routed them, and Sado Island fell into Oda Nobuo's hands.

Chapter 613 Hasty Construction Leads to Death

Because of the groundbreaking of Tencho Shrine and the establishment of a temporary administration office for the Sado territory, Shichibei must go to Kyoto to visit Oda Nobuo and attend the ceremony.

After the world was at peace, this back-and-forth handover pattern basically began. The feudal lords needed to manage their territories and assist in major policies, so they were constantly running back and forth.

Of course, the main issue is the drain on the feudal lords' resources, but right now, the feudal lords are simply setting off for Kyoto with a small number of guards; it hasn't yet escalated to the point of competing and showing off. It should be noted that when Date Masamune went to Kyoto, he directly covered the pointed hats of his soldiers with gold leaf.

It's true that once there's no more war and no more places to spend big money, these feudal nobles start playing this game.

Unfortunately, Nobuo, a rich second-generation, is someone who loves grand gestures and lavish ceremonies. Take, for example, Hashiba Hideyoshi, who lives next door to Shichibei. He wasn't a rich second-generation, but he was self-made. After becoming rich, he needed to compensate for some of the traumas he experienced in his childhood, adolescence, and youth. So, after arriving in Hakata, Hideyoshi took several concubines.

She had to be a concubine from a noble family in Kyushu, and the better her birth, the better he preferred. Incidentally, his procession to Luoyang was incredibly lavish, providing all his soldiers with brand-new equipment, and the flags and drums were also pristine. His magnificent horse emblem, with its thousand-tiered gourd basket, was especially dazzling.

Seeing Shichibei's ordinary entourage, why say Shichibei is so shabby? They are all powerful lords with more than 500,000 koku of rice; such shabby behavior is undignified.

Hey, Hideyoshi managed to persuade him. Shichibei isn't exactly a spendthrift; he rode his bicycle to the bar, knowing when to save and when to spend. He just gave his brother-in-law Oda Nobuhisa eight thousand ryo, and he still has reimbursement to make up for it later, so he'll probably have to spend another eight thousand.

Earning money isn't easy, so you have to be careful with your spending.

"You're just too shrewd. You're so good at manipulating the abacus beads, oh right..." Hideyoshi seemed to have thought of something.

"Ok?"

"Have you heard? Yoshikawa Minbu was dissatisfied with the transfer of his position to a lower-ranking official, so he went into seclusion and gave his title to Yoshikawa Jibu." Shichibei had also received news of this matter from Hideyoshi a few days ago.

Yoshikawa Motoharu's transfer of his fiefdom from Iwami-Oki (above 150,000 koku) to Shimosa-Sakura (above 200,000 koku) was approved by Mori Terumoto, but it may not have pleased Yoshikawa Motoharu.

As mentioned earlier, the output of the Iwami Silver Mine under the Yoshikawa father and son was less than half of what Tsuchiya Nagasu estimated, amounting to about 100,000 koku or a little more. His actual territory's koku output should be around 250,000, or perhaps even higher.

After all, Iwami Oki hadn't experienced land surveys, so the data was vague. This reassignment is essentially a reduction in land grants, but it can't really be called a complete reduction.

The total land area allocated to the chief inspector was 390,000 koku, Yuki Haruta 110,000, Tagaya 70,000, Ashikaga Yorijun 10,000, Mizutani 20,000, leaving 180,000 koku available. Adding the total of 20,000 koku, the total land area was 200,000 koku.

However, his potential for development was considerable; by the end of the Edo period, he had become a major power with 700,000 koku of grain. With proper farming, the Yoshikawa family could have become a feudal lord with 400,000 koku of grain in the Inner Court. Silver mountains will eventually dry up, but the produce of the land is perpetual.

When Nobunaga made peace with the three Mori families, there was an agreement that the Kikkawa and Kobayakawa families would receive the same treatment. Now, because the Kobayakawa adopted Nobunaga's son, they possess a fief of 300,000 koku. Meanwhile, the Kikkawa family, after the change of dynasty, was reassigned to a distant fief of 200,000 koku.

Even with great development prospects, some dissatisfaction is inevitable.

Although this displeasure was primarily internal to the Yoshikawa family, for Nobukatsu, completely dismantling the three Mori clans—who might pose a threat and potentially band together—served his needs for rule. He had already amassed immense prestige through the Mori Campaign in western Japan, the Kyushu Conquest, and the Hojo-Odawara Campaign.