Owari Yumeki Golden Day

"Tsk, you're a little timid. So let it be. Also, your family's security certificate needs to be reissued." Nobunaga actually sneered, but his tone was still good.

"I understand." Shichibei lowered his head quickly.

The reissue of the certificate of land ownership is understandable, as Shichibei's sandbar actually generated income. Nobunaga's willingness to reissue the certificate of land ownership was a public acknowledgment of Shichibei's ownership of the sandbar. This document was more effective in Owari than the previous land ownership document issued by Sakuma Nobumori.

As long as Owari doesn't experience any major events like the collapse of the heavens and the collapse of the earth, or the change of dynasties, this land will always belong to the Kawamura family. Unless the Kawamura family dies out, then Chixing will be taken back by the master family.

With Nobunaga's order, the letter of reassurance was quickly delivered to Shichibei. He was given 260 kan of silver from Kaisei County, and his military service was changed to six horses, six grooms, and six monks.

Although military service increased, the increase was not significant, and the sandbar was completely in the hands of Shichibei, so at least he could have a peace of mind.

The principle of equal rights and obligations should remain unchanged, but it is hard to say what it will be like in the future.

In addition, a letter of exemption from the horse-carrying service throughout Owari was also issued. With this piece of paper, Shichibei could smoothly set up horse-carrying houses and deploy personnel and horses at various key transportation nodes in Owari.

After working in the foothills of Xiaomushan Castle for almost half a month, I was finally able to return home after completing my duties. Back home, everything was fine, as usual. After all, I had both my hometown and Aiyi at home, so I was able to do things smoothly.

When the news that Kawamuraya was ordered to set up carriage houses throughout Owari was announced, everyone in the room was shocked.

Not to mention such a large-scale expansion, how to prepare manpower and deploy horses, just how to deal with Katoya in Atsuta requires some careful consideration.

First of all, let's talk about the horses. Yonekura Nobutsugu and Iitomi Genshiro had previously promised Shichibei that as long as Shichibei needed a pack horse or a riding horse, they could buy it for him if they had one.

Forget about war horses, they are just pack horses, but they can still boast about them.

Nobunaga's adopted daughter, Toyama-hime, was about to be sent to Kai. Nobunaga would definitely send Shichibei, or at least hire Kawamuraya's horses, to carry the huge dowry worth 5,000 kanmon to Kai.

Then, we can contact Nobutsugu Yonekura and his team to purchase horses from them, whether it's a one-time deal or a long-term partnership.

Once Nobunaga conquers Mino and becomes a powerful hegemon, his expansion will accelerate. After that, Shichibei will only complain about the lack of packhorses, not the abundance.

The first crop of alfalfa and barnyard grass must be harvested this year. Once we harvest them, we'll have money, at least a hundred kan. Add to that the dowries that Shichibei saved for his sisters, and it won't be difficult to buy a hundred draft horses.

Well, that's right. One day I have to find a way to get Aci and Kinoshita Koichirō to meet.

Although Kinoshita Koichirō was only a vassal, his brother was a legitimate ashigaru. If the dowry was less than 100 kan, Shichibei probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

There's no rush. Even if we meet tomorrow, whether it works out or not, we'll have the money after the next rush harvest. Then I can get married, and a dowry of one hundred strings of cash won't be too little.

After secretly noting this matter, Qibingwei continued to make arrangements.

The issue of manpower wasn't that difficult to resolve. Shichibei had eight retainers, eight vassals. It's unclear when these men became retainers of the Kawamura family. However, when Shichibei's adoptive father was still alive, these eight retainers had already been serving the Kawamura family.

If Shichibei could make it big in the Hachinohe family, he would probably be praised as something like "Kawamura Eight Riders" or "Kawamura Eight Divine Generals".

But now, they are all ordinary horse herders. Of course, they can also write and calculate, and they all come from horse herders.

There were also a dozen or so waiters, all of whom were adults who had "graduated" and were retained in the shop, capable of independently handling various tasks, such as accounting, tending horses, and preparing materials.

The remaining dozen or so were "young monks," the kind of child laborers mentioned earlier, signed on for seven or nine-year contracts. These weren't considered "boys," as they were all learning by doing odd jobs in the shop. Only those who could excel could "graduate" and be retained, or be given a stipend to start their own business.

In fact, Kawamura-ya has a strong backbone staff, a solid reserve team, and a reasonable personnel structure.

Tsushima Town, one of the "Three Tsu and Seven Minato" major port towns in Japan, has a population of over 10,000. If you include the backpackers who come to worship and the merchants who travel by shipping, the population may be as high as 20,000 to 30,000.

In a town like this, recruiting dozens of servants was no problem. Just select a few families to take charge of the stables that would be set up later, and then add the familiar servants and newly recruited servants to the mix, and you'll have enough to set up the basics.

The trouble is indeed with Katoya in Atsutacho...

Let me think about it. Setting up business throughout Owari requires at least waiting for the horses from Kai to arrive. Once the horses from Kai arrive, everything will be easy. If we can't buy the horses, setting up business in Owari will be in vain.

Before Nobunaga marries his daughter, we should do two things: one is to recruit men, and the other is to harvest alfalfa and barnyard grass.

Get moving, get moving. Shichibei is a busy man who doesn't even have a moment to spare. After serving Nobunaga, he has to take care of his family affairs.

Rest one day, then head to the sandbar the next. The backpackers hired by the shop are already harvesting alfalfa. While the weather's good, they'll spread it out on the ground to dry for a few days, then baling it for dry material. I wonder if we'll still need to hire small boatmen to haul thousands of bundles to Atsuta this year.

On the other side, barnyard grass was harvested more easily: it didn't need to be dried in the sun. It was harvested, bundled, and shipped to Tsushima. One of the reasons it later became a malignant weed was that it could be threshed earlier and more easily than regular rice.

Once mature, tares quickly fall to the ground, making it difficult to dig them out. One seed this year, one weed next year, and hundreds the year after. It's just how vicious they are.

So it's not necessary to wait until the barnyard grass is fully mature before harvesting. It's a somewhat delicate, yet not quite so delicate, job. Except for one barnyard grass field, where a pregnant mare is released to graze on her own, the rest is not dried in the sun but brought directly to Tsushima Town. The grass is bundled and left in the yard or shed. Simply spread a straw mat on the ground and let it dry naturally for a few days, and the grains will fall off.

Horses also enjoy eating barnyard grass, and of course humans can eat it too. Ordinary people who don't have white rice often eat barnyard grass. In "Seven Samurai," it's said that ordinary people ate barnyard grass so much that they became blind at night—quite pitiful.

The land planted with weeds this year must be turned over and planted with alfalfa next year. Sandbar soil is inherently poor, so it needs to be rotated. If it's planted entirely with weeds, it will become barren in just three years.

I told my family to come over and record every plot of land. Actually, such a small matter didn't require instructions; we were all farmers and horsemen, so how could we not know? But as a leader, I always had to find something to talk about when I came, otherwise how could I show off my status?

After a series of discussions with Shichibei, he decided to ask if they wanted to expand their safflower plantings next year. If they did, they would have to allocate land previously used for alfalfa to build a dam, which would allow them to adjust their land plans for next year.

Oh, yes, there are two acres of safflower.

When Shichibei came back from Kai, the old man who grew the safflowers said that it was almost time to pick the flowers. At this time, Shichibei had even finished the land inspection in Kamiowari, so he guessed that the safflowers had been picked this year.

As we boarded the boat, we heard the familiar barking of dogs. The old man's dogs were indeed quite alert, but upon seeing Shichibei, two of them immediately lowered their heads, whimpered softly, and tucked their tails. Apparently, the kick from the shop assistant last time had been quite severe, and they'd learned their lesson and recognized Shichibei.

The old man would come out naturally when the dog barked. Next to the original thatched hut, another one was built. Outside the hut, there was a drying yard, all made of bamboo poles, with bamboo baskets stacked layer by layer.

Needless to say, the flowers inside should be the safflowers picked every morning, and they are probably being dried in the sun now.

Seeing Qibingwei and Laojia coming, the old man hurriedly called them over. He was holding a basket in his arms, and it was not convenient for him to walk through the red flower field where some flowers were still blooming.

What?

Safflower cake.

The production method is somewhat complex, and it's difficult to describe it in just a few words. All you need to know is that it's a cake made from processed safflower, weighing less than half a pound. To use, break off two cloves, then clarify with straw ash water to release the red pigment, allowing dyeing to begin. Fixing the color is another matter entirely, requiring the dyer to perform a separate operation.

Shichibei was quite disappointed that he hadn't witnessed the production process himself. But now was not the time to be disappointed. How much was this thing worth?

The old man shook his head. He was an indigo dyer, making purple robes for consumers in Kyoto. He had worked with red dye and even grew flowers to make cakes, but he had never sold safflower cakes.

Okay, then how much safflower can be produced from one acre of land, and how many safflower cakes can be made?

After a quick mental calculation, the old man's figures weren't ideal. One mu of land would yield about ten pounds of dried flowers, which could then be made into thirty-five to forty safflower cakes.

Since there was no control group, Shichibei was not sure whether this was good or bad. Anyway, he felt that only this much dried flower could be produced, and it would take another half a year.

The safflowers planted in Xinjiang in later generations were well managed and fertilized in moderation. In the long-term rotation plots, some were even able to maintain an annual yield of more than 50 kilograms per mu for ten consecutive years.

Of course, the sandbar land of Shichibei is relatively thin, and it has just been planted. It is managed by the old man alone, and the fertilization is not very good. It is good to have more than ten kilograms of dried flowers.

After a brief moment of thought, Shichibei let go of the thought of how much he could grow. As long as he could grow something, that was good. The old man now had sixty safflower cakes in his hand, and the rest were still being made. It would take about half a month for the entire flowering and production period to be over.

Send someone to take this safflower cake to Sakai or Kyoto and ask at a specialized store.

To tell whether it is a mule or a horse, you have to take it out for a test to know whether it is good or bad.

After accepting the two samples, Shichibei asked the old man how many acres of land he could take care of. The old man said that since he had to look after the land and make bread, ten acres was the most he could manage. Unless he could bring back all the Christian townspeople who had been exiled.

Hey, how could Shichibei dare to take in Christians? Forget it.

He then turned around and told his family to hire someone to build another ten-acre dike next to the old man's dike. The purpose of building the dike was simply to keep the land inside it dry. After all, red flowers love dry sandy land, but they also need ample irrigation.

On the way, we went to Nakanosuke, the place where Oda Nobunaga and Saito Ryūoki were fighting, and recruited a few farmers. I didn't care about anything else, just followed the old man to learn how to grow safflower. Ten acres of land was no big deal, but I could only sell a few dozen safflower cakes a year, which was not enough to bother me.

At least one or two hundred acres of safflower should be planted to achieve a certain scale in order to make a profit.

Seeing that Shichibei refused to take in his Christian family, the old man sighed slightly, but he had no objection to teaching other farmers the safflower cultivation techniques. Of course, whether or not to teach them the safflower cake making techniques would require a serious discussion with Shichibei.

Shichibei wasn't stingy and gave the old man five hundred coins. While the agreement primarily covered food and lodging, at least he'd helped us make the safflower cakes. Whether or not he made money was another matter, but if the old man was truly doing his job, a five hundred coin bonus was a good thing.

Now that he had some money, the old man asked if he could be taken ashore with him so he could buy some small things. The children were on the sandbar, naked every day. It was okay now, but it would be difficult in winter, so at least they could get some linen to cover themselves.

37. Rumors of Yonglu's treason

Perhaps worried that Shichibei might be abducted by Takeda Shingen, Nobunaga didn't send Shichibei along to escort Toyama-hime to her wedding. Instead, he hired fifty horses from Kawamuraya, along with the Oda clan's own packhorses, to carry the 5,000 kan dowry to Kai.

There was nothing I could do. I just had to go. Shichibei told his family in Kai to continue buying horses and to reach a tacit agreement with the Takeda family. Later, when selling horses, they should sell them directly to Shichibei instead of looking for anyone else.

It was a good idea to establish a supply channel. We could discuss it later when Nobunaga and Shingen fell out. At least in the past few years, we were able to purchase all the horses needed to establish the Owari and Mino horse-training networks.

There are two parts to this: the matter of settling Kai, and the matter of Sakaimachi.

The old man on the sandbar made two safflower cakes and gave them to Shichibei as samples. The old man himself had never sold them, and neither had Shichibei. He didn't want to let the other big bosses of the Tsushima clan know, so he took them to Sakaimachi and asked the textile boss there.

Since Shichibei was appointed by Nobunaga as the chief of the entire Owari Road and the chief of 260 kan, he officially became a member of the Tsushima Kaiheshu and was no longer just a candidate with the right to attend.

As we've mentioned before, feudal commercial guilds like the Tsushima clan were uniformly xenophobic. They were able to maintain a high degree of unity when facing external threats. However, internally, mergers, exclusion, and backstabbing were commonplace.

Everyone has to speak in Tsushima Town based on their ability, and only those who stand out can become members of the Tsushima Association.

Therefore, it is better to keep the fact that Shichibei has already made safflower cake a secret for now, and wait until the day when Shichibei actually makes it before discussing it.

Becoming a member of the Tsushima clan also has its advantages. At least you can approach the big bosses of the Sakai clan on a relatively equal footing and avoid being robbed by others halfway.

They are all big bosses from the "Sanjin Qimao" group. They see each other every day and jointly run the entire Japanese shipping commercial trade system. There is cooperation in competition and competition in cooperation.

After writing the document indicating the identity of the Tsushima clan and adding his seal, Shichibei handed the letter and two safflower cake samples to his subordinate Jia Lai, and asked him to take a boat to Sakaimachi to find Tennojiya.

At this time, Japanese junks were practically sailing daily. After all, as long as the wind was favorable, there were numerous ships sailing up and down the river. They sailed from Sakai to Ōminato, Tsushima, Atsuta, Suruga, Odawara, and then on to Oshu. Once the goods "upper" in Kyoto were sold out, they would return to Sakai, laden with gold, horses, timber, medicinal herbs, red rice, and kelp from Oshu.

The term "Kamigata" became fully established during the Edo period, referring to goods produced in Kyoto (including Osaka in most contexts) that were shipped from Kamigata, where the shipping ships departed, to Shimota, Edo.

During the Edo period, Edo was a purely consumer city, with a population of one million, of which 600,000 to 700,000 were samurai and 200,000 to 300,000 were employed in the service industry. The true manufacturing cities were, on the other hand, Osaka and Kyoto.

In fact, it is similar now. The main manufacturing cities are Sakai and Kyoto, and almost all conceivable handicrafts come from these two places.

As a result, the ships heading for Sakai above naturally became like clouds.

With the second matter settled, Shichibei could use his boat to pull alfalfa and barnyard grass to Komakiyama Castle to sell. Barnyard grass is essentially a type of grass seed, and the grass-fed horses on the grasslands are made from grass seeds. If they only ate grass, their horsepower wouldn't be able to keep up.

Hundreds and thousands of samurai and foot soldiers, including Nobunaga, kept thousands of war horses, all of which were very valuable. They not only wanted to buy alfalfa, but also barnyard grass, which was also very good.

As usual, Shichibei first sent alfalfa and barnyard grass to Sakuma Nobumori's home. Sakuma Nobumori even invited Shichibei to his home for dinner, saying that it was all for the sake of the imperial court and that it was not easy.

As he said this, he introduced his legitimate son, the future Nobuyoshi Sakuma, to Shichibei.

It's quite strange that Sakuma Jinjiurō, who is nine years old this year, didn't become Nobunaga's nickname. He doesn't look ugly and has developed well. I don't understand.

But that was all Oda Nobunaga's idea. If they wanted to play with the Mori kids, that was their business. Shichibei should just mind his own business. We're too old to be Nobunaga's juniors anyway.

After delivering the crops to the Sakuma family, Shichibei sent some alfalfa and barnyard grass to the homes of Niwa Nagahide and Murai Sadakatsu. After delivering these crops, he openly sold the remaining crops.

Last month, with Nobunaga's permission, Shichibei had acquired a 200-square-meter plot of land at the foot of Komakiyama Castle. He hadn't built a house, so he had erected a makeshift wooden hut. The rest of the land was just a thatched shed, now filled with dry materials.

Back in Kiyosu Castle, going out in the autumn to cut thatch for their horses and dry it in the sun was a daily task for many samurai servants. Now, with Shichibei's cheap alfalfa supply, they saved themselves the trouble and the samurai's horses were also guaranteed a stable supply.

"Nanabe, you are the 'abacus warrior'." Sugaya Nagayari also came over to buy horse feed, and greeted Nanabe when he saw him.

"Isn't Lord Kyuemon's ability to eat also part of the calculation?" Shichibei and Sugaya Nagayaori had a good relationship and could joke with each other.

A magistrate, especially one in charge of internal affairs, must be very good at calculating. If they couldn't even calculate the accounts reported to Nobunaga, they would have been kicked out by Nobunaga long ago.

"Must-see." Then Sugaya Nagayasu moved a bead downwards on Shichibei's abacus.

10% off.

"Thank you." Of course Shichibei agreed. For this kind of business, don't think about making money. Just treat it as making friends.

Outside the huts were servants and their wives. The servants came to carry the weeds home, while the wives paid the bills. Some samurai were uncouth, practically pigs, incapable of fighting but unable to do anything else, leaving their wives to manage the household. It was said that some samurai were so addicted to alcohol that they couldn't even afford rice cakes for New Year's.

Thinking about the business of 200 strings of cash a year, it is still easy to do. After all, there are wars every day these days, and people are still willing to spend money on life-saving things like war horses.

The profit is small. You have to hire people to cut the grass and hire a boat to transport the grass. Although it is not expensive, you have to spend your own money in the end.

Another point: As expected, someone came to ask if Kawamura-ya had horses for sale. Not just any draft horses, but war horses. Even during World War I, war horses were still a valuable military resource; that was undeniable. The samurai, perhaps hoping to try his luck, said he'd been introduced by Yamauchi Kazutoyo.

Well, forget about Yamauchi Ichitoyo, even if his wife introduced him, it wouldn't work. Shichibei only has one warhorse, and he's already bought it. Where else could he get one?

Takeda Shingen didn't manage the sale of draft horses, but he was very strict about war horses. Just ask his neighbor Uesugi Kenshin if he was the same way.

You can buy any pack horse, but getting a war horse depends entirely on luck.

Come back in two weeks and see if the Takeda family has sold the warhorse to Kawamuraya. If Takeda Shingen doesn't sell it, then I can't do anything about it.

The visitor could only sigh and leave, muttering about having nowhere to buy horses. Actually, there was no need to rush. Once Nobunaga conquered Omi and unified the northern and southern markets of Omi, he could establish direct contact with the Oshu merchants returning north for trade. By then, Nobunaga's supply of war horses would be relatively abundant, and the Oshu daimyo's control over war horses would not be particularly strict.

After all, Oshu's harsh cold weather meant little rice was cultivated, relying on dry rice to maintain production. There weren't many valuable local specialties to trade with merchants up north. Therefore, Oshu's relatively readily available horse resources had to enter the trade and circulation process.

Anyway, Oshu is a vast country with a sparse population, many pastures, and good resources. There are a large number of semi-wild and semi-captive horse herds, which are sold out every day, so the number is not too small.

"I'll send someone to deliver it to your door." Shichibei saw Sugaya Nagaya out of his bamboo shed. The dozens of bundles of grass he bought could only be pulled twice on an ox cart.

"Then I'd be remiss to refuse." Sugaya Nagayasu naturally would not refuse and left with a smile.

"Boss..." Just as I was seeing off Sugaya Nagayasu, a man came running over and called out to Shichibei.

Shichibei asked him to wait, couldn't he see that he was seeing someone off, why was he shouting, no matter how big the matter was, it wouldn't cost him a minute to see someone off.

However, Sugaya Nagarai smiled and told Shichibei to go back to the shop if he had any business. Everyone was in Owari, so it didn't matter if they saw him off or not.

"Okay," Shichibei said, turning around, "this family looks so familiar. Of course, they look familiar." After calming down, he suddenly realized that this family was the one he had sent to Sakaimachi.

Why are you back so soon?