Pillars of the Wu family

The main force of Kagotsu, Yang Beizhong, was defeated by the Kira family in one battle. The original leaders of the anti-Nagao family, Honjo Shigecho and Kurokawa Kiyomi, surrendered one after another. , Kaji Haruna, Yasuda Nagahide and others are also hardcore Nagao faction leaders, plus Xiaoguo Laijiu, Kanetsu Yoshizuo's wooing, and the same dismantled and irreversible unity.

In the past, the two major samurai groups that were able to arm-wrestle with the Nagao family have disintegrated one after another. Coupled with the fact that the strength and status of the Nagao and Kira duo rule are constantly increasing, the absolute gap between the two sides is already very obvious. Trying to provoke the authority of this law that can be shaken.

Under the effect of the powerful ruling body's continuous strengthening of centralization, it still caused a lot of rebellion among the local lords. Since last spring, it has lasted for the entire spring and summer. In the long period of nearly half a year, the Kira Army has successively marched out more than 20 times , Successively wiped out many Chinese lords who were stubborn and stubborn.

The lords who are unwilling to accept the abolition of the privilege of guarding envoys, as well as those temples, shrines and ministers who have taken refuge in the lords of the country and cannot bear the abolition of the privilege of not entering all taxes, have been confiscated one by one, which greatly deterred the unruly people in Echigo Therefore, the construction of many public facilities can be started smoothly. The irrigation ditches near the two rivers were also dug successively during the same period.

"The situation in Echigo is not bad. The temples and shrines such as Gochi Kokubunji Temple, Yahiko Shrine, Juta Shrine, and the last shrine of Chunr Taisha Shrine are not strong, and the manor of Gongqing is far from as many as Echizen, and most of the income has been taken away by Echigo. The people of the country hold back, as long as a letter promises to give these public officials a quantitative compensation every year, it is also very convenient to approach Jiang Sakamoto for the account." When Yi Xin Duo was being used by Kira Yoshi, he gradually figured out how to use it, and listened to the explanations of the followers while thinking about it It is also a last resort. [

"...about [-]% of the excavation of Shinhori River has been completed. According to the total amount of the project, it can be completed before the end of the year. The progress of land improvement is slow, mainly due to the serious shortage of manpower. At present, only the main construction of the three major polders has been completed, and the other polders have been completed. It is still in the preliminary construction process, and there is still a long way to go before it is fully completed.”

In their mouths, the canal became Shinhorigawa, which roughly means the same as Shinhorigawa in Sakaimachi. The newly dug branch of the river runs from the Shinano River to the Agano River. The average width of the river is 32 meters, and the deepest point is about [-] meters. Cooperating with several tributary outlets scattered to several dry outlets is enough to ensure the flood discharge needs of the two rivers.

"...Using the river water of the Shinhori River to wash the dry lagoons and saline-alkali lakes and swamps is an original creation of my Kira family. The source of the dry lagoons is the hoop zone where the sediment accumulated by the influx of sea water. The initial plan is to use the river water to wash the dry lagoons and gradually clean up the sediment. In the future, dams will be built before the dry floods to leave a few water gates as outlets, and then dams will be built to fix the river course, and the dry floods can be turned into polders.”

Yoshihiro Kira held a large stack of materials and pondered for a long time, then held his chin and asked carefully: "How long will it take for this plan to be realized, how will the specific steps be arranged, and how much money will be invested?"

Tomo Matsui coughed leisurely, took a sip of hot tea to moisten his throat, and gestured to Takashi Hosokawa, who was rubbing his temples, to signal him to rest, then continued to explain: "The construction of Shinhorikawa is very fast, and it can be basically completed within two years. , It will take five to eight years for the river to wash away before the next step of embankment can be built. The overall construction period will take more than ten years, and the initial investment has been included in the original budget, so there is no need to increase the budget for the time being.”

The followers of the Kira family each hold a notebook and record something with a quill. Each person has one or two ink bottles next to each of them, which store ground oily ink. It is said that every qualified follower Every day, more than [-] words of various material reports are recorded, and proficient mastery of shorthand skills has become an indispensable link.

The disciples of the Nagao family have been in the stage of intensive learning, and the entire Echigo disciples are older and weaker. For example, Shino Honjo, Fujiko Nakajo, and Fujikage Nagao are all old people over fifty years old. Okei Nobu, Nagao Masakei, and Saito Asanobu are also in their prime in their thirties, and their ability to accept new things is obviously much worse than that of the Kira family.

Shino Honjo also had to frown and keep turning the pages of the materials, the fast pace of the new-style shogunate meeting, the large content input of the new-style data distribution, the new sacrificing work method and other new things, constantly impacting the Echigo samurai Simple yet stubborn head.

If he is just a lord, there is no need to listen to these complicated and obscure professional explanations, he can reject all new things that he does not understand, but he is not only an ordinary lord, he is also the genealogy of the Nagao family. The family adheres to the chiefs, and swallows even the most difficult bones.

A few young people sitting behind him listened carefully and made quick recordings. This technology has also spread rapidly to the Nagao family's institution within two years. In recent years, the important task of cultivating the new generation has also been mentioned to Cheng Shan. Echigo can't just rely on them, the veterans in their 50s, to work hard. Sooner or later, the future career must be passed on to young people.

Kira Yoshitoki dropped the information and said: "All siege progress must be accelerated under the premise of ensuring quality and quantity. If it can be completed in one month, strive to achieve it in 25 days. If it can be completed in five years, strive to achieve it in four years. It's been too long, we're just fighting for the day!"

"Obey!" All the adherents bowed and saluted in unison: "I will try my best to do it later."

"There is one more thing to report to the owner!" Hosokawa Fujitaka rested for a while, then forced himself to say: "The plan to withdraw and merge the new villages has already begun, and the current plan is to gradually withdraw the villages in Echigo within three years. And become a bigger village, the specific operation method will be done according to the vision of the owner of the museum..."

"Well, it is necessary to withdraw and merge the new village." Yoshihiro Kira nodded, glanced at the followers of the Nagao family, and said slowly: "In the future, those earthen cottages in Echigo will also be gradually demolished, a broken cottage It occupies a small area and not many people are stationed. It was enough two or three hundred years ago. In the era of iron cannons, gunpowder and galleons, this old-style Tulou cottage has fallen behind the times! What is the use of holding him? It is inevitable to dismantle one after another."

"Withdraw and merge the new village, demolish the walled city? What does this mean?" Honjo Shino quickly glanced at the few people around him, and saw surprise and wonder in the eyes of Nagao Masaki, Nagao Jingxin, and Saito Asanobu , Nagao Fujikage, Nakajo Fujisuke, Naoe Mitsuna, not to mention the surprises shown by Usami Sadamitsu, Sensaka Keiko, Hirako Fumasa, and Ishikawa Shigeji, who are among the members of the worship group, are all frowning Silent.

Naoe Mizuna hesitated for a while, and decided to be the first to stand up: "Isn't it appropriate? As the lord of the country, he has many powers, such as litigation, prosecution, tax collection, and military service division. Building a walled city is a matter of course, right?"

"Yamato Mamoru is right! The lord has the right to defend the land and build a city, which is not wrong at all! But my family has just said that the function of earth buildings and cottages is small, occupying land and wasting resources. Every family builds an earthen building as a residence, and then builds some messy small villages for their own families and retainers, and finally tears the good land to pieces. The whole Echigo is full of small towns and small villages. What is the benefit of Echigo's development?"

Naoe Mitsuna murmured, "This is really a problem..."

"But you can't arbitrarily demolish the castles of the lords, right?" Fang Zheng Pingzi stood up impatiently, and it was obvious that several of his allies were looking forward to his performance. [

"It's not arbitrary, but planned and orderly demolition. The family will give equal compensation to the lord who demolished the city, such as building a new residence with good defense. It can be built in the new village after the withdrawal and merger. The rights of slavery, defense and domination of the land shall not be violated."

"So how should the new village be withdrawn and merged?" Nagao Tengjing grabbed his goatee, his old face was tangled up, as if some ideas were colliding fiercely in his head.

Ina Tadashi's family saw all this in their eyes, and thought that these people really did not shed tears when they saw the coffin, and said in a flat tone: "The initial plan is to gradually cancel and merge the small villages with a population of less than 500 into several nearby villages. , to ensure that the population base of each village is not less than 3000, and then according to the population level, it is divided into small villages with 3000 people, middle villages with 5000 people, and large villages with 8000 people.

"A village of 8000 people? It's impossible, isn't it?"

"Why not? The total population of Echigo has been pushed to 50! Nakamura, Omura, and even the village are within reach!" Usami Dingman only felt his eyes light up, and he was sure: "It's just that, farmers The time to go to and from the field will become longer. My home is too far away from the land. What should I do if there are wild animals or human disturbance? There are also farm tools, livestock, and grain piled up. The larger the village, the more land it manages. Farming is too far away and it’s inconvenient, so how should we deal with it?”

"Hehe... what you think of, of course my family also thinks of it. The way to deal with it is the division of labor in agriculture!"

"What is the division of labor in agriculture?"

Ben Duo was closing the materials in his hand, and said with a smile: "Simply put, it is to divide labor and cooperate in every link from plowing, seed selection, sowing, fertilization, weeding, pest control, harvesting, drying of grain, storage, etc., to serve in Sulaodi. Under their leadership, they can complete the division of labor in batches, and farmers who do what they should do can save more time to do side jobs and pay for general labor."

"Cultivate the land for others? This is absolutely impossible!" Usami Ding jumped out and continued to deny without even thinking about it.

Shi Chuan retorted again: "Why not? We plow for others, and others plow for us!"

Ignoring Hirako Fangzheng's gaze, Usami Dingman sneered and said: "But how can you ensure that others will work hard for you? What if the seedlings lack fertilizer and they forget to fertilize? What if there are too many weeds and they don't weed in time? What to do? What if there are too many pests and they can’t kill them?”

Hirako Fangmasa and Sensaka Kage were sweating profusely, and Usami Sadaman's big activity was not so popular. The original plan was for Sensaka Kage to perform a performance, and then to praise Kira Yoshishi's strategy to attract attention At the same time, he can stand in the camp of the Kira family with dignity.

Now Usami Dingman suddenly appeared, and the original plan was cancelled, and everyone was staring at him performing at the evaluation meeting alone. What if he overacted and offended Ji Liangyi?The two understood the same meaning from each other's eyes, and they couldn't help cursing the lunatic secretly for not doing enough for what he did, but for not doing enough for what he did. The two made up their minds to part ways with Usami Dingman after that.

Mitsui Toraka replied unhurriedly: "So supervision is required. Each division of labor has its own group number. After completing the division of labor on time and as required, inspection will be carried out. According to the completion of each group, the effect will be scored. If a certain group completes The inefficiency of the production will affect the grain production, and it will be deducted from the grain you should share when you settle the grain production after the autumn harvest."

"It looks like the seams, but in fact it's like a bamboo basket that only draws water. In the end, it's nothing." Usami Dingman smiled secretly, staring at her with old but bright eyes without any discouragement, and continued to ask: "How do you do this?" Isn’t it fair? What if there are special circumstances such as floods, droughts, locust plagues, and wind disasters?”

"Suruga Mamoru also said that there are special circumstances. Of course special circumstances must be treated specially." Honda Tokimasa is now 19 years old, with a lot of fluffy beard growing on his mouth. Facing the well-known Echigo master of military strategy, he is a little bit Not afraid.

"Does this mean that a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, or should it be called a wave behind the Yangtze River?" Yoshiki Kira smiled suddenly, which made Usami understand it as a mocking smile.

"Are you mocking the old man for overreaching himself and grandstanding? Huh!" The 68-year-old man has a different temperament. Facing the strange eyes in the room, he chose to continue to push back: "The withdrawal of the new village will cause more troubles." The contradiction between the large area and the long distance has not been clarified yet!"

When all the followers hesitated for a moment, they all turned their attention to Yoshiki Kira, but as the family governor, it was impossible to get out of the battle and argue with the retainers. As a last resort, Hosokawa Fujitaka stood up: "Otherwise, set up temporary temporary residences every [-] steps. , rest in the residence during the busy farming season, and return to the village to rest when the farming is off.”

"Isn't that still the old village? What's the point of withdrawing and merging with the new village?" Usami felt that he had already guessed all kinds of things, and he was sure that the followers of the Kira family who couldn't do it this time would definitely stumble.

Ben Duoshi was quite quick-witted, and he thought of an idea as soon as he rolled his eyes. He glanced at Usami Dingman, who was old but straight, from the corner of his eye, and said with a smile: "Of course, the withdrawal and merger of the new village has its significance! You must know Temporary settlements are not villages, and the functions of the two are completely different! The former does not have the problem of living for generations, it is more like the work sheds built by the villagers when they were in charge of general labor, and it is stronger and warmer than the simple work sheds!

Farmers only need to use a flatbed truck to bring their bedding to live in. After 20 days or a month of work, they can bring their own things back to the village to live in. They only work for one month all year round. The time and manpower saved can be invested in Go to work more, so that the same manpower can cultivate more land. If you are the lords, why not do it if you have such a good plan? "[

Usami Dada's face turned pale, his clenched fists trembled uncontrollably, his forehead was covered with beads of sweat unknowingly, the disciples of the Nagao family changed from surprise to contemplation and then to approval, but at this time they still Unwilling to admit defeat, Usami Sadamit continued to argue: "How to deal with the huge time-consuming weeding and pest control? How to store food, livestock, and agricultural tools?"

"Is this complicated? Even I can see it." Saito Chaonobu, who has been wandering around the world, also interjected at this time: "Is it difficult to weed and insects as long as you give rewards? Who is Echigo now? Didn’t you know that the Palace of Martial Guards is rich?”

Saito Asanobu's exaggerated expression made people laugh. Facing such an invulnerable guy, Kira Yoshihime could only helplessly shake his head and remain silent.

Although the Langgang House doesn't understand agricultural things, it understands the function of rewards and punishments, so he put away his folding fan and said with a slight smile, "Hire children to do weeding. For every stone of weeds harvested, you will be rewarded with twenty Wenyongle money, and the money will be collected from the surplus of each village." Take a part of the total income of the family as a budget, and train the children to have a pair of hardworking hands since childhood, and get a little reward, which is also called labor income! Of course, this needs to be supervised by the old servants throughout the process, and the weeds outside the field are randomly pulled. Don’t count, these old servants in this village are small lords, and they will draw from their own income, so they must be very careful!”

"Hahaha... that's for sure!" Everyone smiled, imagining that these local servants took money out of their pockets to reward wild children in the countryside, they would definitely say very sadly.

Honda was giving a thumbs up to Namioka for a while, and after taking over his topic, he added: "As for pest control, it's also very simple. Chickens are raised in dry land, ducks are raised in paddy fields, and when pests are encountered, chickens and ducks are driven to hunt in the fields. Put up a fence and raise two native dogs to watch the poultry. Chickens and ducks that grow up eating insects have bright feathers, and the eggs and duck eggs they lay are also bigger. In autumn and winter, the feathers can be made into down jackets, and the bones of chickens and ducks can be stored as fertilizer."

"Is the storage of agricultural tools still a problem? Of course, the harvested grain must be transported back to the threshing ground in the village by a horse-drawn flatbed truck for drying and storage. Such a simple question still needs to be asked?"

Usami Sada's face turned blue and white, and he staggered back a few steps and nearly fell down. Even so, Kamijo Raifa, Yamamoto Temple Sadacho and others who were closest to him didn't intend to reach out to help, Chisaka Kage , Hirako Fangzheng simply turned his face away from him.

"So I've already betrayed my relatives?" Usami Ding's hands trembled with anger, and finally held back the anger in his chest, and bowed with a stiff expression: "Wuweidian's intelligence is extraordinary, I Dingman is far behind! I'm not feeling well in ** Please leave first!"

Kira Yoshitoki's expression remained the same, and he said a few vague words of comfort: "Is Suruga Mamoru unwell? Then please go back and take care of yourself!"

"I'm in the next meeting! Resign!" Usami Dingman got up and walked out of the evaluation room, passing by his former allies on the way, with a sneer on the corner of his mouth that made several people feel chills all over their bodies.

"A group of short-sighted people who have destroyed the last foundation of the Echigo Uesugi family little by little, after abandoning Nagao Masaki, Okuma Asohide and me, let's see who you will abandon next!" Usami decided to leave the evaluation without looking back. between.

After the evaluation meeting, Kira Yoshishi’s affairs are still busy, except for a lot of information that needs to be familiarized one by one, and consult the devotees in the city at any time, and usually will not leave the castle tower until evening.

After a while, a little surname hurried in and whispered a few words to Iwazuru Maru. The latter nodded and sent the little surname away, and then walked over and whispered: "My lord, the news that Dingxin received , It is a piece of information that has been circulated among Nanban merchants."

"Nanban businessman? Tell me what it is?" Yoshihiro Kira put down the information and turned his attention to him.

"Last autumn, the Nanman merchants who traveled across the ocean from the Nanman brought a piece of news from afar. The Nanman fleet ambushed a red-haired Nanman fleet. It is said that the merchant guild where the fleet is located is called the Agot Chamber of Commerce... "

"What? The Agot Chamber of Commerce was ambushed?" Kira Yoshishi was startled and angry, and asked anxiously, "What's going on?"

Iwazurumaru was taken aback, and stammered, "Yes...it's like this..."

In the early summer of last year, Spain deployed a new fleet in the western Indian Ocean. This was another attempt by the increasingly powerful Kingdom of Spain to extend its claws to the Portuguese-controlled area. Unfortunately, the Argot Chamber of Commerce happened to be unaware of this information. Spain And the Portuguese businessmen were just as happy they stumbled.

So last fall, an Indian Ocean fleet led by Major General Juan Gonzalez successfully ambushed the unsuspecting Argot Chamber of Commerce in the waters near the Cape of Good Hope, and successfully sunk five and captured eight merchant ships, occupying the entire ship. A small half of the team, the Argot Chamber of Commerce was hit hard.

Fortunately, they reacted very quickly, abandoning the injured ships to stop the attack of the Spanish fleet, so that the greedy Spaniards finally gave up their pursuit, and then they were able to lead the main force to escape by chance and fled back to Amsterdam in a hurry.

"Sol xng's loss is not too great. Their flagship was not captured. Frank, Ronald and his son, as well as Hans and Rupert, should also be safe. But in this way, the overseas trade of our family may end here. That's it." Yoshitomo Kira guessed the dire consequences without much thought.

Spain is the suzerain of the Netherlands, and the current king Philip II is the eldest son of Karl V. In September last year, the great emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was once again defeated by the alliance of German princes whom he despised. Finally, he had to sign in humiliation The Treaty of Augsburg.

After this major blow, Karl V decided to give up his throne, and gave up the emperor's throne and the territories of Austria and Germany to his younger brother Ferdinand I. Large areas such as Spain and the Netherlands were handed over to the one who gave up the throne. His son Philip II.

The new ambitious young king has a natural hatred for the Protestantism that defeated his father, and the most terrible thing is that the king is still a devout Catholic, and he has a natural hatred for the "Blood Edict" issued by his father. One can imagine how terrible things he would do to the Netherlands.

It only needs a little analysis, and it can be concluded that this trade route that conducts stable trade every two years and brings huge income is likely to be interrupted. It is absolutely impossible to say that it is not sad, but in the face of this force majeure, This is something he has no way of controlling. .

Yoshiki Kira rubbed his temples in distress: "I can only hope for Claudia! I hope that Bloody Mary can tide over the difficulties under the protection of Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth!" (To be continued...)