A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

In the castle town of Yamauchi Prefecture, taking advantage of Yamauchi Yoshiharu's efforts to expand the castle town, Natsuya helped Zaemon build a fairly large Haobao market. Now Natsuya's Yamauchi branch has eight doors, three bays wide and one high. The pergola is two feet long.

In front of the door are horse-bolting posts, horse-standing stones, and sedan pavilions. Seven or eight users who are being welcomed to and sent off stand at the door. The ostentatious banner of the Nawu store number was hung under the eaves, and the flow of people coming in and out was extremely lively.

Of course, today's Nawu is even more crowded, with hundreds of porters and handymen at the door, and dozens of miso merchants and salesmen from foreign countries inside the store.

"Is the manager of the Sukezaemon store here? I've been waiting here for several days. I always excuse myself by saying that I'm not here. How can you Niya do things like this?" A small businessman jumped to his feet anxiously.

As mentioned before, the road traffic conditions in the Eastern Kingdom are really poor, and large-scale shipping cannot be carried out like the Western Kingdom. They all rely on packhorses and porters for transportation. The settlements in the hilly and mountainous areas can only ship goods in this way.

These porters and packhorses don't care whether they pick goods today or not. They are hired by their owners from far away Shangzhou, Jiazhou, Wuzhou, and Yezhou, and their wages are calculated day by day. How can a small businessman with a small profit can bear such dragging every day? s expenses.

"I'm really sorry. The shopkeeper went north to buy new wheat today. I really can't get back for a while. Please go back and wait for two days. The shopkeeper will notify you as soon as he comes back." The user in the shop was smiling and perfunctory. The intersection of miso merchants.

Seeing that today was another wasted trip, the merchants looked depressed and anxious, and chattered together to go to the opposite dormitory.

This is so exciting that the lodging houses near Nawu are full of guests every day, supply exceeds demand, and business is extremely booming.

Several businessmen from Ueno worked together and were unable to do anything.

"If it doesn't work out, let's go to Zenkoji Temple!" One person said angrily, crossing his arms on his chest.

"Forget it. In previous years, I always went to the gate of Zenkoji Temple. But last year, the defense of Murasaki and Takanashi Shinano had a fierce battle, and all the harvests of Mizuuchi, Takai, Saraga, and Zenkoke were lost. At the beginning of the year, the leader of Kasugayama sent troops to pass Zenkoji again. , even Daquanjin was burned and looted, Zenkoji Temple must have no supply. "

An old man with a weathered face and gray hair was obviously well-informed. Zenkoji Monzen Town, the trading center of Northern Shinano, had been hit by military disasters, droughts, and man-made disasters, so there was no possibility of miso.

"Is it possible that you are waiting here to be pinched and rounded by the house owner! How can you swallow this breath? In the past, five yuan a liter was already too expensive. Today we are offering a price of twelve yuan a liter, and the house owner is not satisfied! It is too much to bully people. !”

The merchant sat down heavily and shook the pottery bowl from which he drank, causing a lot of cold water to splash out.

In the accounting room of the Nawu store, it was obvious that Sukezaemon, who had purchased new wheat at Beixin, and Koheita, who had been raising pigs for more than ten days, had excuses.

"It's already twelve coins today, you can try the water." Xiao Pingtai took a sip of water.

"How about a thousand koku first?" Sukezaemon made some calculations and smiled knowingly.

"Okay, let's check the wind direction with them first."

…

"Everyone, Na Wu played a card worth twelve cents a liter and put out a thousand shi of miso. We are starting to plant it. Go quickly!" A businessman who went out to the field held on to the door frame and shouted breathlessly.

"A thousand koku? Who are you fooling!" The angry Ueno businessman from before was cursing, but at the same time he hurriedly took out the money, greeted the waiter and ran to the house barefoot.

"I want one hundred stones!" "Give me two hundred stones!" "I came first!" "Give it, let it, don't squeeze!"...

"Everyone, there are still 700 stones. How will you allocate them?" A representative from Nawu signaled everyone not to quarrel.

"Bah, it was only a thousand stones just now, why did it become seven hundred stones again! What's going on!"

"The person who reported to you just now has opened the Yuzha, paid the money, written the ticket, and withdrawn three hundred shi."

"That brat Son Bingwei acted too quickly. He actually took the goods himself and then notified us!"

"What's the matter with seven hundred koku? Let you shop owners come out. Seven thousand koku, seventeen thousand koku, twenty-seven thousand koku are all close to us." Someone shouted Sukezaemon's name.

At this time, a tall man with a big body and a round waist, about 1.6 meters tall, which is rare among businessmen, squeezed through the surrounding businessmen and took off the bamboo hat on his head. Wiped the sweat with his sleeve.

"Excuse me, I heard that miso is shipped here! How much is it? How much is the price?"

"Yes, yes, there are still 700 shi today. One shi is always 200 yuan, twelve yuan per liter. You'd better discuss how to divide it with the people in front of you first."

"What are we discussing? I'll take it all!" "What's wrong with you!" "Where did you get that bastard from!" Do you understand the first-come, first-served rule? "...

As soon as the Zhi Zhi Cheng finished speaking, the people around him began to curse, and a group of businessmen around 1.4 meters in height raised their heads and pointed at him.

Zhi Zhicheng snorted, "Who has any objections? I buy the goods for thirteen yuan per liter!"

The other merchants were frightened by his aggressive expression, and were shocked by his initiative to increase the price.

"Okay, Jiro will draw the cards, and Koichiro will sign the yuza! I will buy 700 koku of miso today, and the price will be 910 kuen." Nawu's hand agent shouted the price loudly.

The waiter named Zhi Zhi Cheng and his family immediately crowded in. The porter picked up a whole basket of Yongle coins, one basket containing fifty guanwen. Then Zhi Zhi Cheng took off his coat and uncovered the cloth strip from his chest. One by one, he took off the gold medals that were stained with sweat and body odor.

The man who delivered the house did not dislike the dirty smell of gold at all. He skillfully took out a small scale and weighed the gold pieces bit by bit into pieces that looked like gold, but the actual weights were different.

"Okay, four hundred and fifty-five taels of gold! Is there any mistake?" "Yes, yes, that's a lot!"

Zhizhi Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was a tall man and had dozens of porters, he still felt uneasy walking outside with such a huge sum of money.

There is no need to count the remaining Yongle money, just weigh it on a large scale, and you will never go wrong.

After the money was paid, the cashier at the house respectfully handed the receipt for payment of the goods and the Yuzha for picking up the miso to Zhi Zhicheng, and then sent a waiter to lead Zhi Zhicheng to Xiao Pingtai's granary.

"I have been away from Iwaki for more than half a month, and finally my trip was not in vain. Everyone, bear with me, bear with me, hahahahahaha!" The man waved his hand to the other merchants in the store, and went out laughing.

After everyone had gone far away, the merchant in the store came out of the shock just now. It exploded with coaxing and rushed towards Nayateshiro.

"I also pay thirteen yuan a liter!" "Pay in cash! Pay in cash!" "Let the goods be released!"...

"I'm sorry. It's sold out today. We will transfer the goods from the countryside tomorrow. Please come again."

Wherever the merchants were willing to leave, some would just sit on the ground without saying a word, acting like a fool.

Witnessing this scene from behind the bamboo curtain, Sukezaemon and Kodaira both showed a despicable smile as if their plot had succeeded.