Great name!

Chapter 284: Warring States Version of the Whip Method, Samurai Hierarchy
The tenants below started to talk a lot. Narita Miyoshi on the side had a very serious expression on his face, but he was very happy in his heart. If the matter got out of hand, it would be difficult for Watanabe Toshinaga to explain. In the end, wouldn't he have to be asked to solve it?

Oh, you are just a young boy. Even if you are a dragon that has crossed the river, when you come to me, a dragon has to coil up and a tiger has to lie down.

He looked around at them, gave them a look, and then shouted, "What are you arguing about? The most important thing now is to cooperate with Lord Watanabe, otherwise the masters above will investigate and I can't protect you!"

Look at what he said. It seems that Watanabe Toshinaga, who is in power, is speaking, but in fact he is just adding fuel to the fire and shirking his own responsibility. He even said, "I want to help you, but the Tsuda family is too powerful, and I, Narita Miyoshi, can't do anything to help."

These local tyrants are all shrewd people. The heads of the families that have survived the chaotic Warring States period and have survived the extinction are all slippery loaches.

But Watanabe Toshinaga was not a samurai from a small place. He had seen much bigger scenes than this, and the noise of these tenants did not scare him.

Watanabe Toshinaga put down his pen, stood up and looked at the tenants who were leading the riot. His eyes were very calm, but with a hint of murderous intent.

When several tenant farmers who were leading the riot saw Watanabe Toshinaga's cold eyes, they instantly lost their courage and quickly lowered their heads.

When Narita Sanyoshi saw this scene, he secretly cursed these tenants for being useless.

Watanabe Toshinaga saw that everyone had quieted down, then sat down and continued to register population details.

What happened to Watanabe Toshinaga was very common among the samurai stationed in the village, but under the heavy pressure from the Tsuda family, no one dared to jump out and rebel.

After all, the blood of the Araki family has not yet coagulated.

After counting the population, the next step is naturally to inspect the land, a task that will take some time to complete.

During this period, Nobutora also took new actions. He issued the Samurai Law to strictly manage the samurai in various places. At the same time, he also marked the differences between the samurai and divided them into classes.

Although local samurai like Narita Miyoshi had their own territories, because they were in the countryside, they were all classified as lower-level samurai, and the taxes paid by the lower-level samurai were unified as four public and six agricultural taxes.

This policy is based on land inspection. After the land inspection, the land inspector will estimate the gross production value of each piece of land. This total value is updated every three years.

The taxes paid are also based on this total value. For example, if the total production value of this piece of land is 2,300 coins, then according to the four public and six agricultural taxes, the farmers need to pay 920 coins.

Lower-level samurai only needed to serve on time and did not need to pay taxes to the Tsuda family. If they participated in labor service multiple times, they could be exempted from taxes.

In peacetime, lower-ranking samurai did not need to serve in the army, and they could pay a fixed amount of money to be exempted from labor.

This is the rule for lower-ranking samurai.

A mid-level samurai was one who received a salary of more than 100 kan and held an official position, but had no fiefdom. The families of mid-level samurai were required to pay personal taxes.

If the annual income of a middle-class samurai family was 150 kan, he would have to hand over 15 kan to the Tsuda family.

As for the upper-class samurai families, they own castles and fiefs of more than 3,000 koku, as well as samurai who are direct vassals of the Tsuda family and have territories. The upper-class samurai families need to pay 30% personal income tax.

According to this samurai code, the pyramid structure within Settsu became more obvious.

The top class was naturally the Tsuda family, followed by Iitomi Nobumasa, the Yamauchi brothers, Maeda Keiji and other retainers and Nakagawa Kiyohide. The remaining middle class was mainly the samurai brought by Nobutora, and the original group of people from Settsu were all classified as lower-level samurai.

Among the several classes, the middle-level samurai and the lower-level samurai were the most favored. However, the lower-level samurai and the middle-level samurai were not allowed to offend the high-level samurai in their daily lives. As for the high-level samurai, they were willing to work like slaves for the Tsuda family for the sake of their fiefdoms.

As for the common people, there are naturally laws as well, including the public security law for common people, tenants, etc. The public security law protects their daily lives to a certain extent. If the samurai oppress common people and tenants without reason, the maximum penalty is beheading in public.

Although the common people and tenants were like cattle and horses and were not worth much, they could steadily produce more value for the Tsuda family, so the Tsuda family had to protect the basic interests of these people and let them work hard for the prosperity of the Tsuda family with peace of mind.

In addition, there is the commercial law formulated by Nobutora himself, which not only maintained the overall business environment of the Oda family, but also increased the official macro-control of the business environment.

In other words, it is sheer fantasy for the wealthy merchants to become a force that can dominate policy like Sakaimachi.

Although such a commercial law would certainly affect the operation of business and cause some merchants to flee to other places, it might also promote business in Sakaimachi.

But for Xinhu, if these big businessmen ran away, they would run away. If they ran away, there would naturally be other businessmen to replace them.

He will not ignore future development because of the loss of immediate interests.

Anyway, Settsu is now in the process of breaking down and rebuilding, so Nobutora simply ignored the pains and implemented his own policies.

Of course, the diehards whose interests have been harmed will not give up easily.

They are waiting for an opportunity.

And Xinhu personally gave them a chance.

At Narita-sho, Watanabe Toshinaga once again summoned all the people and tenants and announced an important news to them.

He looked at the people below and said loudly: "I will now read out a decree issued by the Jingzhao Yin Palace. From today on, the Jodo Shinshu sect is listed as a heresy and is prohibited for the samurai, common people, and tenants under Settsu to believe in it.

All the established Jodo Shinshu temples are engaged in obscene worship. From today on, all the temples and altars will be demolished and must not be rebuilt!

If anyone is found still serving the Jodo Shinshu sect, he will be killed without mercy."

When Watanabe Toshinaga said that Jodo Shinshu was a cult, the crowd began to riot, because many of them had believed in it for many years, and even several generations of their family had believed in Jodo Shinshu.

Everyone has their own complaints about this decree.

But after hearing what happened later, I found out that they even wanted to destroy the temple, secretly offer sacrifices and even kill people?
This is too much!

"If we don't believe in Buddha, we will fall into hell after we die."

"I've had such a hard life, I just want to be born into a better life in the next one!"

"That's too much! This doesn't give us any hope at all!"

The crowd below was excited and the tide was surging. It only took a little spark to start a raging fire.

Miyoshi Narita, who was standing aside, was delighted in his heart. He did not expect that the Tsuda family would actually attack the people's faith. This was truly courting death!

Narita Sanyoshi was still gloating, but Watanabe Toshinaga remained calm and shouted, "The Jingzhao Yin Palace said that this matter must be carried out to the end. In short, the existence of the Jodo Shinshu sect is not allowed in Settsu. If you insist on your wrongdoing, the Tsuda family is not afraid of killing you!"

"Asshole, the Tsuda family is so hateful!" "Bastard, we can't give up the Buddha!"

"Get out of the village, get out now!"

When Narita Mikichi saw this, he quickly advised Watanabe Toshinaga: "Sir Watanabe, I'm really worried that you will be hacked to death by everyone in this situation. Leave here quickly while there is still time."

Watanabe Toshinaga snorted and looked at Narita Miyoshi and warned him, "The Jingzhao Yin Palace had already anticipated such a thing. Do you think he is unprepared?"

As soon as he finished speaking, teams of Tsuda troops came in and surrounded all the people and tenants on the open space.

Then Watanabe Toshinaga took out a flag, which was the advance and retreat flag of Honganji Temple.

He pointed at the flag on the ground and said, "Just step on it and tell everyone that Honganji is a cult and that Xianru is a demon."

Faced with the gleaming blades all around, everyone was a little hesitant.

Watanabe Toshinaga looked at Narita Mikichi and said, "Mr. Narita, you should be a role model."

"What, me?"

Narita Miyoshi was confused. Why was I involved in this? If I did this, Honganji would definitely kill me.

He hesitated and didn't go up.

Watanabe Toshinaga immediately drew his sword, and his cold voice reached Narita Sankichi's ears: "It seems that Lord Narita is also a believer of Honganji? The Jingzhao Yin Palace has ordered that all Honganji believers must be killed without mercy."

When Narita Mikichi saw that Watanabe Toshinaga was serious, he stepped forward and stepped on the flag, then shouted, "Kenyo of Honganji is a demon!"

Watanabe Toshinaga smiled coldly, and then urged the other members of the Narita family. These people followed Narita Miyoshi, stepped on the flag and cursed Xianru.

However, an old warrior was unmoved. He glared at Watanabe Toshinaga and said, "You will be punished by the Buddha. You will go to hell after death and be a slave in the next life!"

Watanabe Toshinaga shouted angrily: "How dare you! Since you want to die, I will grant your wish. Kill!"

Several spearmen rushed forward. The old samurai drew his sword to block a spear, but was immediately stabbed by several other spears. He cried out in pain, fell to the ground, and soon bled to death.

As the old warrior was killed, the others began to loosen up. The timid common people and tenants stepped forward to trample on the flags and cursed Xianru, but there were still a few people in the open space who remained unmoved.

The old man in the lead put his hands together and began to silently chant "Namo Amitabha".

Watanabe Toshinaga waved his hand, and the foot soldiers rushed forward and stabbed the believers to death.

"Now you stay where you are. I will lead people to search each house one by one and burn all the things related to Honganji."

Soon, all the wooden signs or Namo Amitabha flags that were found were piled together and burned.

Narita Miyoshi looked at the fire with an uncertain mood.

The Tsuda family's purge of Honganji believers was not just a one-stop operation at Naritasou. It was a top-down cleansing operation. The believers who were hanged outside Arioka Castle were hung on the roadside with burning flags below.

Takatsuki Castle, Ibaraki Castle, Amagasaki Castle, etc., all places were being cleared. The closer to the Ishiyama area, the more civilians and tenants were killed.

In just three days of cleanup operations, dozens of samurai families were destroyed and more than three thousand believers were killed.

Tsuda Nobutora's bloody deeds in Settsu were nothing compared to Oda Nobunaga's.

In other words, only forces that were opposed to the Oda clan, such as the Honganji Temple and the Mori clan, would condemn Tsuda Nobutora.

Of course, the Tsuda family's actions also gave Honganji new hope.

Samurai like Narita Sankichi, who were already dissatisfied with the Tsuda family, ran to Honganji Temple to complain to Kenshin. Kenshin naturally comforted them: "Tsuda Shintora is a fierce general under the devil Oda Nobunaga. It is not surprising that he did such a thing. The Buddha will definitely punish him."

After Xianru pacified these people, he immediately discussed the matter of Settsu with the monks.

Before, Shimomama Nakataka had no way to deal with the situation in Settsu, but now, after carefully calculating Tsuda Nobutora's actions in Settsu, he felt that he had an opportunity to take advantage of.

Moreover, these days, he has reflected carefully on the painful events and has gained a lot of insights into the repeated reactions to the Battle of Wakayama.

He looked at Xianru and said with a wise attitude, "Master, I have something to say."

When the other monks saw that Shimomiya Nakataka had spoken, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what the situation was, they decided to put the blame on Shimomiya Nakataka.

When Xianru saw that it was Shimomana Nakataka, he hesitated a little. After all, he had destroyed the main force of Honganji. However, when he saw that no one else spoke, he had to say, "Xingcheng, you go ahead."

Shimomama Nakataka said quickly: "Although Tsuda Shingen is invincible on the battlefield, he is average in domestic affairs. The series of new policies he is promoting now have caused great dissatisfaction in Settsu. I think this is an opportunity to deal with Tsuda Shingen."

Xianru said with some concern: "You also know that he is good at fighting. We can't send troops to Settsu."

Shimomama Nakataka quickly explained: "Master, what I mean is that there is no need to send troops. We can use the conflicts created by Tsuda Shingen in Settsu to deal with him."

When Xianru heard that it was not about sending troops, he smiled and said, "Tell me in detail."

Shimomama Nakataka said: "This time, Tsuda Shingen went on a killing spree in Settsu, causing complaints from all over the country. We can send people into Settsu and organize various groups to disrupt the order in Settsu and destroy Tsuda Shingen's governance in Settsu."

A monk asked, "What's the use of this?"

Shimomama Nakataka smiled and said, "The reason why Oda Nobunaga appointed Tsuda Nobutora as the lord of Settsu was because Tsuda Nobutora patted his chest and said that he would stabilize Settsu and take down our Honganji Temple. Oda Nobunaga believed it and appointed Tsuda Nobutora in Settsu.

Now we don't fight Tsuda Nobutora head-on, but use our strengths to develop followers, and fight with Tsuda Nobutora in Settsu. After a long time, Oda Nobunaga will definitely doubt Tsuda Nobutora's ability. At that time, Tsuda Nobutora will be held accountable by Oda Nobunaga just like the exiled Sakuma Nobumori. Even if he doesn't die, he can't be the lord of Settsu. "

When Xianru heard this, he thought it was a good idea. He immediately said, "Xingcheng, this matter is left to you. You must immediately organize people and go to Settsu. We must tell the believers that the Buddha is with them, the Honganji Temple is with them, and I, Xianru, am with them!"

Shimomama Nakataka was overjoyed. He was determined to avenge his previous defeat and defeat Tsuda Nobutora!

(End of this chapter)