Pillars of the Wu family

The heavy snowstorm since the beginning of winter has brought huge troubles to Echigo. It is not as warm and comfortable as Owari, which is located in the East China Sea. A heavy snow that lasted for two months has crushed many houses. Take up the responsibility of patrolling day and night, and urge the citizens to clear the snow from the roofs and streets.

Heisaburo's family was the householder of Xinchuanzhuang near Sekigawa. The small Xinchuanzhuang was revoked because of the decree of the Lord Echigo, and then merged with several nearby villages to form a larger Xinchuanzhuang. With a good hand in carpentry, he moved to a town near Naoetsu to work as a craftsman. In the past few years, he worked hard day and night in Naoetsu Town, and finally saved enough money to open a house, and became a successful person among the new generation of townspeople.

Just halfway through the twelfth lunar month, the weather is still very cold. Heizaburo’s younger brother brought a stone of rice, a few pheasants, and a few fish to give him New Year’s goods on a flatbed cart. Farmers in the countryside live a simple life. Sending some food to relatives is not flattery. It means that the life of the villagers has been smooth these years, and the grain harvested in the fields can't be eaten up. It is often seen that farmers push small carts to the town to deliver things to relatives.

Heisaburo's younger brother is named Heigorang, a man in his 30s with a bit of a pedantic temper. He dragged his elder brother and moaned about the parents in the country. , the neighbors are disturbed by the peaceful and peaceful countryside, and the rogue scumbags who were cast aside in the village in the past profit from it. Share a portion of the same food as everyone else.

The honest farmers never thought that these Lai Han would be so shameless. The villagers accused Lai Han of being lazy for three days of fishing and two days of drying nets on weekdays.Lai Han have resorted to the ability to play tricks.He just said that he worked hard to do the work.When the two parties had a dispute, they would go to Su Lao's underground man for arbitration, which caused Su Lao's underground man to worry about it for a long time.

There are many such stories, and two or three out of ten incidents are always unclear. The villagers are clumsy and tongue-tied, but they can't tell the cunning rogue, and they don't want their food to be robbed by these lazy bastards. As a result, many major cases that killed people were caused, and many farmers who took risks were severely punished by the followers. Although this action complied with the law, it also hurt the reason.The villagers dared not move for fear of being captured by the fierce warriors.

Fortunately, the police were dispatched to interrogate those rascals, and it was verified that more than a hundred false accusations had a very bad impact on the society. Adherents then reduced the crimes of some special cases as appropriate, and the villagers desperately paid for their own food. Unfortunately, it is also reasonable to reduce the punishment appropriately.

"It's been a few months since the autumn harvest, and now there's a commotion in our village again, saying that we have to find out who did more and who did less this year, and the food needs to be redistributed. A bunch of scumbags from Songtianzhuang are not convinced because the merged village is called Xinchuanzhuang. They deliberately came to find us uncomfortable!"

Heigoro didn't dare to criticize the rules set by the lord, he heard that they were the oral instructions of the general who guarded the mansion.That man is the noble Genji in the legends, his noble status makes people look up at the mountains, only His Highness Gongfang from the Kanto can compare. Where have the villagers of Echigo seen such a noble master? Kowtow to salute upon seeing him, this status is extremely high.

Hearing Heigoro's complaints, Heisaburo mumbled a few perfunctory words and didn't say anything more. The two brothers chatted about kombu and pickled vegetables and drinking wine all afternoon. At the end, Heisaburo handed over ten copper coins to his younger brother. He said it was to subsidize the family, but Heigoro declined but thanked him for a long time before going back in embarrassment.

As the sky gradually darkened, Heisaburo asked the apprentices in the store to close the door, and he went to the small room behind to write a string of papers that looked like ghostly symbols, rolled them up and stuffed them on the civet cat, which was his hidden identity. , a peripheral member who provides intelligence to Hattori Ninja.

Peripheral information like this is transmitted from Echigo to Kasugayama Castle at a speed of dozens every day. Since the end of the Kawanakajima War, Riyoshi Yoshitoshi has received thousands of pieces of information about agricultural cooperation in the past two months. The unfavorable evaluation, the practitioners also complained about it, how could they be happy if they increased a lot of workload for nothing.

Hosokawa Fujitaka has become more mature and capable over the past year, and has managed to stabilize the hearts of the people even when the main force of Echigo is not in the old nest. He also has to do various research and research in Kasugayama, Naoetsu, and Niigata towns in two months. He submitted a document to abolish agricultural cooperation a few years ago. The general idea of ​​the document is to re-analyze the summary report of Echigo's agricultural development in the past few years. The focus is on the obvious differences in the data of the pilot agricultural cooperation.

"According to the current autumn harvest statistics, Echigo's total grain output is 220 million shi, an increase of only 13 shi compared with the same period last year. This increase is far lower than our psychologically expected goal of 260 million shi. After various demonstrations According to the survey and research, there are three main reasons. First, the summer floods and water damage have an adverse impact on agricultural production. Second, after the withdrawal and merger of new villages, there are many unhealthy atmospheres in various villages that damage agricultural development, which to a certain extent discourages farmers. Labor enthusiasm , The disadvantages of the third agricultural cooperation are undoubtedly exposed, and various labor disputes and many problems brought about by egalitarianism have caused me a lot of headaches!" Hosokawa Fujitaka said very euphemistically and implicitly, and he could not accuse him of being too serious in front of Kira Yoshitoki. It is not practical, it is enough to point out the current difficulties.

This evaluation meeting is the last evaluation meeting before the arrival of the New Year, so retainers and samurai from all over the world came to Echigo Kasugayama Castle one after another, including most of the people in Shinano and Ueno. They were surprised to find the location of Nagao Jinghu He actually moved down the position that symbolized the country's lord, and only Yoshitoki Kira sat alone in the entire Dahiro room.

Nagao Jinghu caught a glimpse of the astonishment of the people of Echigo and Ueno, and said calmly: "Everyone should know that I, Kasuga Yamashiro, just left a minister who is the head of the Tsinghua family. Mr. Qingji, the purpose of Imide Chuan Yaxiang is to announce the new appointment of the imperial court. From now on, the Zhenfu Palace will be promoted to three ranks. .”

The samurai in the hall were startled by Echigo's words.After a short period of panic and panic.Murakami Yoshiki, Ogasawara Nagatoki, Takanashi Masahiro, and Nagano Izumi rushed to worship with samurai from both countries.Even Uesugi Xianzheng, who was living under the fence, hurriedly bowed down and shouted loudly: "I will pay my respects to the Lord of the Town! I wish Gongfangdian good health and long-term martial arts luck for the Uesuo Ashikaga family!"

"From now on, Yu is also a public servant!" Yoshishi Kira's eyes were blazing with flames, he calmed down for a while, and said softly: "All the lords are loyal ministers of the shogunate, please do your best for the shogunate's EMI foundation! The Gongfang Palace of the Shogunate of Yu Dynasty thank you all.”

All the samurai were shocked and said loudly: "We are willing to do our best for the shogunate!"

When they came back to their senses, the eyes of many warriors looking at Nagao Jinghu changed.In addition to being surprised, it is more of admiration. The great achievement of defeating the Ueno country almost by himself is willing to be a subject. This decision is not something ordinary warriors of the Warring States period can do. No wonder there are rumors that when Ji Liangyi To support Nagao Jinghu as the leader of the Kanto, and then turn to look at Uesugi Constitution's respectful expression, it turns out that all this is not groundless.

The Echigo dual-headed political system, which was once ridiculed by the Kanto and even the world's samurai, abruptly became the standard Warring States daimyo who ruled the three kingdoms of Echigo, Ueno, and Shinano during Kirayoshi. The first battle shocked the entire Eastern Kingdom, and the Battle of Shuiwei Mountain once again shocked the world with an army of [-] to more than [-].The Kamiso Ashikaga family quickly rose to become the number one daimyo in Kanto with an almost unstoppable upward momentum, and it was only then that people woke up like a dream.It turned out that the Echigo miracle that had been underestimated has really become a shocking "miracle".

The biggest problem with Echigo lies in the instability of the duopoly system, and this is why people are not optimistic about him. There is only so much power. Give one more power and the other less. Before that, there was only Echigo one country. It's not obvious yet, and the Echigo people can still dawdle about it vaguely.

But now it is no longer possible to maintain this vague rhythm of dawdling, from one country in Echigo to mastering the three countries, the people from Shinano and Ueno can only recognize one country leader, and will not consider imitating the subtlety of the Echigo people. Vaguely admit the two giants, so one of them must make a concession.

Regardless of status or strength, it is absolutely impossible for Kamiso Ashikaga to make concessions, so the one who concedes is this brother-in-law Nagao Kagetora. Fortunately, the serious illness a few years ago once retired, which made Echigo no Ryu's desire for power great. Unexpectedly, he chose to give in. He had long ago expressed his unwillingness to continue to maintain duopoly politics. He rarely spoke at the evaluation meeting and did not like to interfere in government affairs.

Maintaining a very high right to speak in the military is limited to this. When the leader of the military and political power is still Ji Liangyi, including the decision-making power to deal with the formulation of the Echigo encirclement strategy, it is his brother-in-law who decides, and he chooses a lot. The time is used for recuperation and meditation. This semi-retired state leaves enough time and space for the people of Echigo to choose.

Except for the disappointment of the family members of the Pudai generation, most of the Echigo people showed a happy expression. The result they fear most is that each will not give in and it will evolve into a rhythm of confrontation. Two tigers compete with one dead and one injured. If Nagao fought a civil war in Echigo, it would be a catastrophe, even if the victor would have to pay a heavy price, and Echigo's prosperous scene would come to an end.

The people of Echigo breathed a sigh of relief, and the samurai of Shinano and Ueno countries also relaxed. Looking back at the young ministers in high positions, their hearts were filled with endless awe. What kind of concept is it to become the three ministers at the age of 17? According to legend, only The sons of the public family whose family status is above the minister's family are eligible to become the three ministers at that time. In the Wu family, apart from the current shogunate government, Kira Yoshishi was the second to serve as the three ministers.

The law of the imperial court, three or more people can be called public, and the title of the public is also derived from this. Starting from the great general Ashikaga Takaji, the Ashikaga family has obtained the privilege of being called the public from generation to generation. Since then, the Kanto Ashikaga family has official positions. Not enough, but relying on the fact that he is the Ashikaga shogun’s family, the royal family called themselves the Kanto government, and gradually formed the samurai culture of the Muromachi shogunate for 200 years.

Not to mention anything else, just looking at the qualifications of this town government official, he is very powerful, and he is also of noble birth and military exploits, and has a high reputation. Behind him is the strong support of Ashikaga Yoshiki, the shogunate. From the tone of his voice, it can be seen that the Shangso Ashikaga family has quite good connections in the court. There is really nothing to be picky about such a nobleman with extraordinary background and great influence as the supreme leader.

"Back to the topic, the disadvantages of agricultural cooperation have been basically clear to me. The model of farmer cooperation seems to be very good. But Yu still ignored the most important change in people's hearts. People are not gods and Buddhas have greed. Be brave, some people are greedy and lazy, and those who can work harder will earn more, and it would be against the definition of fairness to force the gap between everyone, so Yu decided to abolish agricultural cooperation.”

Yoshiki Kira's enlightened statement made many samurai believers breathe a sigh of relief. What they fear most is that Yoshiki Kira will not take it seriously, disapprove or deny his policy mistakes. According to his current prestige, even if he ends up causing anger and hatred.It is mostly the samurai in the middle class who are responsible for the blame. The people's admiration for Kira Yoshitoshi is almost superstitious. How can they believe that the town government official made a wrong tune?

"This lesson tells me that governance is not a matter of feasting and chatting without the slightest bit of falsification. Every time a samurai daimyo administers a policy, he must walk on thin ice with trepidation. A wrong policy will lead to the loss of the country's leader and the loss of people's hearts. The three points mentioned above, the first countermeasure is to strengthen the construction of river defenses and lake embankments, and conduct detailed inspections every year before the rainy season. Establish a day and night patrol system during the rainy season. In addition, the construction of polders should be accelerated. Yu knows that this is urgent. But still try to shorten the construction period!

The second point is the countermeasures for the adverse effects brought about by the withdrawal and merger of new villages. Drinking milk requires many trips to the countryside to meet the old underground people and villagers. It is necessary to find out the reasons for the discord among the villagers. It is impossible to hold more meetings. The small assessment will hold a joint consultation to gather the benefits of all talents and resolve the current unfavorable situation, but we must pay attention to the means and methods, and we must not be eager for quick success and quick benefits to destroy the simple and kind folk customs in the village.

The third point is that after the abolition of agricultural cooperation, it is necessary to actively collect statistics on the labor force and farming conditions of farmers in each village and town, and divide the fields according to the labor willingness of each household and the area of ​​​​the field that can be afforded, so that there is no need to worry about greedy farmers. If he is able to farm, it is not a bad idea for one person to give him five steps, but the premise is that how many years of tribute should be paid for the grain that is harvested twice a year. If the fields are barren and the family's agricultural plan is missed, then I will punish him with the law of my Kira family!No matter how many years they owed tribute and taxes, they had to use unpaid labor to pay back the grain. If one year was not paid off, it would be two years, and if two years were not paid off, it would be five years. They were not allowed to be released until they were paid off. "

The samurai were overjoyed when they heard this, and finally looked forward to making a greater decision in Kirayoshi's time. After thinking about it carefully, the policy was perfect, and they quickly flattered them loudly: "The town government is a great plan! Advocate those who are able to work harder and encourage more varieties of food. , if this strategy is implemented in less than two years, the trend will definitely change! The town government is not only good at commanding troops in combat, but also has such a powerful internal policy strategy, which makes us really admire the whole body!"

Dozens of samurai from other countries flattered the sky, and finally hoped for the promise of Kira Yoshishi: "Shinano and Ueno will implement the Echigo strategy in an all-round way, and I will appoint a follower to calculate and count the land area, land fertility and Shi Gaoyi, please cooperate with me in this land inspection operation, and in the future, you will not hesitate to reward you if you have meritorious service."

"I will swear allegiance to the Duke of Zhenfu to the death!" This is the end of a colorful appraisal meeting. The three years of Hongzhi gradually come to an end, and the next step is to welcome the arrival of the new year.

At the end of the third year of Hongzhi, a major event happened in Kinai. The protagonist of this incident was the second-hand governor of the Hanoi Hatakeyama family, Hatakeyama Takamasa. However, the Hanoi Hatakeyama family had serious conflicts. An Jianzong's imitation of Kizawa Nagamasa and Yusa Nagayo's monopoly of power caused dissatisfaction with Hatakeyama Gaozheng, so the house governor and housekeeper once again confronted each other.

This time his luck was really bad. The pedigree of the generation of genealogists was full of disgust for this second-hand family governor. The former guardian You Saxinjiao was full of negative emotions towards Hatakeyama Takamasa because of his father's death. As a result of this confrontation, Anmi Zongfu successfully exiled the family governor just like the previous ones, and Hatakeyama Takamasa fled to Sakaicho for refuge in embarrassment.

Ashikaga Yoshiki really wanted to help him, but he couldn't stretch out his arm yet, and Yamashiro Kingdom could only look at it and sigh. What's the situation with Rokkaku Yoshin?He is busy with two things, the first one is to appease Kita Omi Asai's family, Asai Hisamasa's son-in-law Saruyasha Yuanfu, Rokkaku Yoshihide bestows the word Asai Kenmasa, and adopts Hirai Jotake's daughter as an adopted daughter to marry Asai Kenzheng strengthened the centripetal force between the two parties.

According to common sense, this method is relatively normal, just like when Yoshimoto Imakawa wanted to use his adopted daughter to fool Yoshiki Kira, the dominant daimyo always wanted to maintain his dominance, but Kenmasa Asai, a young man, did not follow the routine Playing cards, he seemed to feel that Rokkaku Yoshiken looked down on him, and it would be insulting to marry a minister's daughter to him, so he has been making trouble in Xiaogu City for the past few months. .

Another thing is the harassment and infiltration of Shiga County. It has been longer and longer since Kira Yoshishi left Kinai. The so-called people go to cool tea is almost what it means. Very good, Shiga and Takashima counties don't really need it, so why don't you just give it back to me.

The frequent harassment of Otsu and Sakamoto in the past few years is based on this reason. A piece of fat is placed in front of you, but you can see if you can’t eat it. Kira Yoshishi came back with a carbine, and now your Kira family is trapped in Echigo and cannot extricate itself, so it should give me a chance to turn around.

So Yoshihide Rokkaku was busy intensifying his military preparations and planning to seize Shiga and Takashima County by armed forces. He didn't care about the life and death of Hatakeyama Takamasa at all. Anyway, it wasn't his own bad luck. Turning quietly, 1558 is just around the corner. (To be continued..)