On April 12, the Kira family's Naoezu went north along the coastline. Along the way, he saw a desolate land on the coast, which was completely uninhabited sandy land and dense forests. When he entered the mouth of the Shinano River, he went upstream. We discovered large lakes, swamps, sandbanks, and large areas of wild birds and animals.
"These are the two sides of our Niigata Town. A new town will be built east of the Shinano River and the Agano River." Hosokawa Fujitaka said, pointing to the land where swamp forests gather.
"How to manage the new fields here? Look at those lakes, swamps and sandbars. There is absolutely no way to deal with them!" Honjo Sano shook his head and said they couldn't understand. In their eyes, this area has been an abandoned land since ancient times. It is said that the kappa monsters gather here. , there are only a few Chinese people living in scattered settlements within a radius of dozens of miles, but this piece of land has become a god-given land in the eyes of the Kira family.
Li Ding, who was wearing a scholar's robe and a scholar's hat, looked like a typical scholar of the Ming Dynasty. He stood on another boat and praised this land: "What a great place! It's just the perfect place to experiment with the polder fields passed down from our ancestors." Law!"
Matsui Nobuyuki, who has frequently visited Omi for advice on farming issues in recent years, could barely understand the scholar's Jiangnan accent, so he couldn't help but ask: "What is a polder field?"
He has been determined to apply what he has learned since he was a child. He has always been eager to show off what he has learned. Being able to see large tracts of pristine water and swamps in a foreign country, Li Ding was in a particularly good mood, so he patiently explained: "Polders are areas surrounded by low-lying lands. The paddy fields that are surrounded by dikes and waterproofed should be equipped with sluice gates on the elevation. The gates are usually closed to keep out the water, and the gates are opened to release water into the fields during droughts. Therefore, droughts and floods are not a concern. In the future, this large area of swamps and sandbanks can be turned into thousands of hectares of fertile farmland and saline-alkali land by the sea. You can also change it gradually according to this method."
This person is a scholar from the Ming Dynasty hired by the Kira family with a high salary. His surname is Li Mingding and his courtesy name is Wenju. He is originally from a well-known maritime merchant family in a county in Zhejiang. Since he was admitted as a scholar at the age of 18, he has been focusing on farming, water conservancy, etc. rather than studying. I have been studying miscellaneous studies for seven or eight years now.
Because he did not seek advancement, his status in the clan was low. In the past few years, Wang Wufeng, the "King of Jinghai", led Japanese pirates to ravage Yingtian Mansion in the south of the Yangtze River. Kyoto was shocked and sent a large army to encircle and suppress the Japanese pirates. The Li family was also found to be in collusion with Wang Wufeng. Being implicated in an old debt in the smuggling business, the scholar had to flee to Kyushu with his family for refuge.
"Why do my family look down on me? Agriculture is a matter of life and death for the people, why don't they understand? Why don't they pay more attention than a foreign lord? Can the golden gold and silver be used as food? Shouldn't we eat whole grains?" Li Ding asked. The anger accumulated in my heart was released fiercely, and my whole body felt comfortable and relaxed.
Matsui Nobuyuki didn't hear Li Dingqi's fast speaking speed, and he didn't know what he was talking about. He was surprised that the scholar had lost his mind and gone crazy? So he asked with some worry: "Li Xiucai..."
"I'm fine." Li Ding waved his hand to indicate that he was fine, and coughed and said: "I also mentioned this polder. Although the polder is good, it cannot cure all diseases. For example, the contiguous Hu Ze area where the two rivers meet is the most dangerous. In previous years, the two rivers were often Is there flooding?"
"Yes! What Li Xiucai said is absolutely true! The Shinano River and Agano River overflow every few years. The floods rush out of the dams and destroy farmland and villages. The water damage is especially serious, and drought is the most serious!" Come here! Matsui Nobuyuki had done enough homework before and knew that there would always be a lot of water damage in places where rivers gather, so he didn't stutter much when talking to scholars.
"That's right!" Li Ding scolded Fang Qiu excitedly, with the intention of giving some pointers: "Did you know that polder fields will help increase flooding? If you blindly build fields without knowing this, it will only harm farmers on both sides of the strait. By then, your
The lord is in trouble!"
Matsui Nobuyuki was startled and shook his head quickly: "What? Will it happen again? Then it's better not to build this polder!"
"Haha! Look how scared you are! How can you calm down the water damage without building a polder?" Li Ding glanced at him with a slightly mocking look, and said confidently: "I am sure that I can build a polder and calm down the water damage at the same time. Just follow my method.
There must be no problem!”
Matsui Nobuyuki didn't care about Li Ding's eyes at all. People from the Ming Dynasty came to Japan with more or less colored glasses, claiming that the country looked down on them as foreigners. As an excellent executive officer, he naturally understood this better.
This kind of thinking, he has long been used to it.
Knowing that the scholar was trying to hide his lies again, he cooperated and asked: "How to calm down the flood? Didn't Li Xiucai just say that the polders will contribute to the flood? What's going on?"
"If you want to know why polder contributes to flooding, you must first understand the role and impact of polder. My hometown is similar to this land in terrain, but it is much warmer than here. The climate is about the same as Kyushu!" After a brief recollection,
Li Ding coughed lightly and said: "This kind of area with crisscrossed lakes and waterways often faces the problem of frequent flooding. Encircling the lakes to build fertile farmland will inevitably occupy the river channels where the river water flows. The narrower the river channel, the higher the river water will rise."
, the problem was not obvious when it was first built. Over time, the sediment washed away by the river accumulated on the polder dam, making the river channel narrower and narrower. Once there is a major flood..."
"That's a disaster! The polder dam was the first to be washed away, destroying farmland and villages, right?" Matsui Nobuyuki couldn't help but tremble in the atmosphere.
"So we need to find a place to discharge floods. The construction of polders should be built at the same time as the canals that divert water and carry floods. Having more water outlets can reduce the burden of flood discharge. The specific place to divert water needs to be carefully considered." Li Ding thought.
He frowned at the details and said thoughtfully: "It seems that I need to stay here for a few years to design a plan for land creation and flood drainage, so that I can show my talents when I return to the countryside one day."
Kira Yoshitoki's fleet was only on a general tour. At Li Ding's suggestion, an observation station was set up on the east bank of the Shinano River. Li Ding, along with dozens of Omi's assistants and local farmers in Echigo, planned a long-term
Stationed here, he planned to spend half a year researching a complete plan.
Kira Yoshitoki said impassionedly: "The future of Echigo is in Nitta, and the future of Nitta is in Niigata. From now on, this place will be called Niigata. It will be the largest granary of Echigo, and it will also change the old, remote and poverty-stricken Echigo."
Appearance... You are doing a great charity that benefits the public. Your hard work will be remembered forever by Echigo, and your achievements will be recorded in history. I would like to thank you in the name of the Kira family!"
At the end of his speech, amidst the enthusiastic cheers and applause of hundreds of advance team members, he waved and boarded the ship with a smile on his face. Hosokawa Fujitaka, who had been waiting for a long time in his suit, came over and handed over a proposal document, and patiently explained: "
The number of new fields allowed to be developed within a year has dropped to 5,000 steps, and the geographical location is not good and the transportation is inconvenient. It is recommended to abandon development in the short term and focus on the development and construction of new fields in Niigata."
After a few cursory glances, Kira Yoshi shook his head and objected: "You can't put your eggs in one basket. New fields in Niigata must be built, and remote new fields must also be built. This year, there will be more refugees coming to Ueno Country. Come in, go back and make an emergency plan and give it to me."
"Yes!" Hosokawa Fujitaka took over the rejected proposal and asked: "The construction of the Niigata temporary shelter will be initially completed within a month and a half. The completed Shinmachi will be able to accommodate a thousand people. There is a proposal for Muzashi Dochi Block it and ask the master of the museum whether we should mobilize troops to defend the new town."
"Well, the logistical supplies need to arrive as soon as possible. In addition, Kanjin Yijiu is asked to mobilize 500 troops to station in Niigata. All the refugees who do not have any skills will be transferred to Niigata. More labor will be needed here."
Taking advantage of the monsoon blowing from the southwest, the fleet left Shimotsu and returned to Naoetsu. Not long after the fleet left Niigata, they encountered a fleet appearing on the sea. Their flag was the navy of the Sado Honma family. The ship The team was intercepted without paying much attention.
Kuuki Shigetaka, who was serving as the escort, saw the Honma navy with more than 30 Kozaya and three ships, and smiled coldly: "I probably saw that there are very few frigates in our clan, and I want to see if there is any oil or water available." Are you going to fish them out? Go over and scold them to leave quickly."
Because the fleet's duty is to transport materials and personnel, and they are very mobile, there are only a few ships to escort them, which makes them mistakenly think that they are sure to capture this fleet.
"What are Sado's navy going to do?" The samurai of Kira's navy shouted impatiently: "Don't you see our flag? Get out of the way quickly!"
The Honma family's sailors didn't seem to listen and were still cruising around. After a while, a seki ship came over and a samurai walked out and shouted: "We are the Sado Honma family, you all listen to me." ! Hand over 20% of the things on board! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude!”
"Which Honma clan are you from? Don't you know who we are? Open your eyes and see the flag clearly!"
"I don't care who you are, hand over the goods, otherwise you will all die here!" The warrior was very arrogant. He waved his hand and dozens of bows were lightly stringing their bows and aiming at the fleet.
Kira Yoshishi was also alerted by the noise. He walked to the deck and took a few glances before ordering: "Tell them that our fleet has no cargo and returned with empty warehouses. Let them please take it back!"
The young man went out and yelled for a long time, but the Honma family navy on the opposite side refused to retreat. This made the samurai on the ship very angry and shouted that they would attack and destroy them. Kuuki Shigetaka hurriedly came over and asked for instructions: "Master, we Should I give it a beating?"
"Let's fight." Kira Yoshihi looked up at the sunset, and added: "Just scare them away! The sun is not far away from setting."
His answer and Kuuki Shigetaka's inquiry were very clever. It was not appropriate to let the other party know who was on the boat at this time. No one on the vast sea could say whether there were reinforcements from the Honma Navy. If they fought too hard and delayed time, It would be very bad to attract reinforcements from the other side, not to mention it was getting late. If we couldn't get back quickly, we would have to sleep out at sea.
After a while, a burst of intensive iron cannon fire came, sometimes mixed with vicious curses and painful wails. If the other party dared to surround us without fear, they would have to pay the heavy price of being attacked by concentrated fire.
The sound of the ping-pong-pong-pong-ping iron cannons gradually stopped. After a while, there was a burst of curses, which seemed to indicate that the conversation had broken down. Then there was another dense burst of iron cannon sounds. This time the sound was longer and sporadic. The sound of cannons lasted for two quarters of an hour, and then the fleet began to move slowly.
Kuuki Shigetaka's son, Kuuki Yajiro, ran over panting and said: "Master, the Honma army has retreated. My father said that they may come to retaliate. I would like to ask if I can escort the master back to Naoetsu first."
"Yeah! That's it!" Kira Yoshihiro said with a smile as he sent away the boy from Kuki's family: "In the blink of an eye, this little guy is no longer young, and it's time for Gengoro to become a Yuanfu."
He didn't feel that it was inappropriate to call a boy who was one year younger than him "little guy". Fortunately, Hosokawa Fujitaka, who was sitting next to him, was lost in thought and said incoherently: "Yes! Your Highness.
We are already married, but I still have to wait a few more years. How tragic this is!"
Kira Yoshishi joked: "I miss your little first wife? Her name is Musk, right? Speaking of which, we are still related!"
Hosokawa Fujitaka was not afraid of his jokes. Anyway, the matter had come to this, and the two were destined to be brothers-in-law, so he was not afraid of his jokes, so he said with a sad face: "The owner of the hotel cannot understand the pain of not being able to get married. I am already twenty-two years old, but
Musk is only twelve years old, and it will take two years at the earliest before we can get married, which is really painful!"
"Hey! Why should a man worry about not having a wife? There are so many women, do you want me to give you a kunoichi bed warmer?" Kira Yoshiki leaned over and said with an ambiguous expression: "A girl ninja of sixteen or seventeen years old has not been raped yet.
Even if you have children, you don’t have to worry about the inheritance of the fresh fruits that have been touched by humans. Think about it?”
"Uh... let's forget it! I am obsessed with musk. Even if the mountains are empty and the rivers are exhausted, I will never change my original intention!" Hosokawa Fujitaka casually recited a Yuefu poem, and his high-level atmosphere covered up the hesitation at that moment.
and shaken.
"Why do I feel that this sentence is a bit familiar...Forget it, let's continue studying land improvement."
After being restrained for a while, Hosokawa Fujitaka couldn't help but asked curiously: "Master, what about the Sado Honma navy?"
"You want to know?" Kira Yoshi raised his head and glanced at him, then lowered his head and read the information and said: "Don't worry about them... they will pay the price."
At the evaluation meeting in early May, Kuuki Shigetaka suddenly launched an attack and listed various illegal behaviors of the Honma navy, including wantonly intercepting passing ships to rob goods, and robbing people to work as slaves in the island's mines. More importantly, they actually
The ship that intercepted Kiragi was so audacious that he did not know whether to live or die.
Honjo Minoru realized the seriousness of the situation immediately and hurriedly suggested: "The Honma family were important ministers during the Jinggong era. They supported Jinggong when he returned from Yuezhong, and fought all the way to Xiayue to surround the Kanto governor Uesugi Tosada.
The army has made great contributions... Moreover, Honma Gaoxin is Jinggong's niece and son-in-law, so it may not be appropriate to be related by marriage!"
Nakajo Fujisaki also joined in and said, "The Honma clan has always been respectful, so a rash attack may make the people of Sado dissatisfied. Please think twice before taking action, please Takeiden!"
Nagao Kagenobu wanted to say something but suppressed it because he saw Honjo Minoru winking at Nagao Kagetora, and the Echigo no Ryuu who had been silent finally spoke, "Yoshitoki, this Honma Takanobu is
We are relatives of this family, so let’s let them go.” (To be continued.)