The main force of Shimotsu, the Yangbei Zhong, was defeated by the Kira family in a single battle. Honjo Shigenaga, the original leader of the anti-Nagao family, and Kurokawa Kiyomizu surrendered one after another. The original territory was taken over by the Kira family, and Nakajo Fujitsu
, Kachi Harutsuna, Yasuda Nagahide and others are also die-hard leaders of the Long Tail faction, coupled with the small country Yorihisa, Kanezu Yoshiki's wooing, they were also torn apart and lost the unity of the past.
The two samurai groups that could compete with the Nagao family in the past have gradually disintegrated. Coupled with the strength and status of the dual rule of Nagao and Kira, the absolute gap between the two sides has become very obvious. At this juncture, no one can go.
Trying to provoke this unshakable ruling authority.
Under the influence of the powerful ruling body's continuous strengthening of the central government, it still caused a lot of backlash from the local lords. Since last spring and lasting throughout the spring and summer, almost half a year, the Kira Army has successively launched more than 20 battles.
, successively wiped out many Chinese lords who were stubborn and stubborn.
The lords who were unwilling to accept the abolition of the privileges of protecting guardians, as well as the temples and shrines that relied on the lords of the country and could not afford the abolition of the privileges of tax exemptions, had their territories confiscated one by one, which greatly deterred those with evil intentions in Echigo.
Therefore, the construction of many public facilities could be started smoothly. Irrigation ditches near the two rivers were also excavated at the same time.
"The situation in Echigo is pretty good. Temples such as Gochi Kokubunji Temple, Yahiko Shrine, Uta Shrine, and the last shrine of Kasuga Taisha Shrine are not strong. The minister's estate is far less than that of Echizen, and most of the income has been given to the people of Echigo.
To retain them, all it takes is a letter promising to give these public officials a fixed amount of compensation every year, and it is also very convenient to approach Esakamoto with the accounts." Kira Yoshi gradually figured out how to use Dual-tasking, listening to the explanations of the devotees, and thinking about it.
A last resort.
"...About 50% of the task of excavating the New Horikawa River has been completed. According to the total project volume, it can be initially completed before the end of the year. The progress of land improvement is slow, mainly due to a serious shortage of manpower. Currently, only the main construction of the three major polders has been completed, and the other polders
It is still in the preliminary construction process and there is still a long way to go before it is fully completed.”
The canal became the Shinhorikawa in their mouth, which is roughly the same as the Shinhorikawa in Sakai Town. The newly dug river branch leads from the Shinano River to the Agano River. The average width of the river is 32 meters, and the deepest point is about 10 meters.
, coupled with several tributary outflows that are scattered to several dry rivers, it is enough to ensure the flood discharge needs of the two rivers.
"... Use the river water from the Shinhorikawa River to wash away the dry lagoon. The saline lagoon is an original creation of our Kira family. The source of the dry lagoon is the intertidal zone where the sediment accumulated by seawater intrusion is. The initial plan is to use river water to flush the dry lagoon and gradually clean up the sediment.
In the future, we will gradually build dams in front of the dry flood to leave a few water gates as outlets for the sea, and then build dams to fix the river channel, and then the dry flood can be turned into a polder."
Kira Yoshishi held a large pile of information and thought for a long time. He held his chin and asked carefully: "How long will it take to realize this plan? How will the specific steps be arranged? How much investment will be required?"
Matsui Yuzhen coughed, took a sip of hot tea to moisten his throat, and gave Hosokawa Fujitaka, who was rubbing his temples, a signal to rest. He took over the conversation and continued to explain: "The construction of the Shinhorikawa is very fast, and it can be basically completed within two years.
It will take five to eight years for the river to flush before the next step of embankment construction can be carried out. The overall construction period will take more than ten years. The initial investment has been included in the original budget, so there is no need to increase the budget for the time being."
Each of the followers of the Kira family holds a notebook, picks up a quill, and writes down something. There are one or two ink bottles next to each person, which stores ground oil fume ink. It is said that every qualified follower
, we have to record various material reports of more than 10,000 words every day, and mastering the shorthand skills has become an indispensable part.
The followers of the Nagao family have always been in the stage of strengthening their studies. The entire Echigo followers are older and weaker in terms of devotion. For example, Honjo Mino, Nakajo Fujishi, and Nagao Fujikage are all elderly people in their fifties.
Okage Nobu, Nagao Masakage, and Saito Asanobu are all in their prime of late 30s, and their ability to accept new things is obviously much worse than the Kira family's.
Honjo Mino also had to frown and keep turning the pages of the information. The fast pace of the new policy meeting, the large content input of the new data distribution, the new way of working and other new things were constantly impacting the Echigo samurai.
A simple yet stubborn mind.
If he was just a lord, there was no need to listen to these complicated and obscure professional explanations. He could reject all new things that he didn't understand. But he was not only an ordinary lord, he was also the genealogy writer of the Nagao family. Nagao
The family follows the leader, and must swallow even the toughest bones.
Several young people sitting behind him listened carefully and took short notes. This technology also quickly spread to the Nagao family's institutions in two years. The acceptance ability of young people is far greater than that of middle-aged and elderly people.
In recent years, the important task of cultivating the new generation has also been put on the agenda. Echigo cannot only rely on veterans in their fifties to work hard. Sooner or later, the future career will be passed on to young people.
Kira Yoshitoshi threw down the information and ordered: "Under the premise of ensuring quality and quantity, all siege progress must be accelerated. What can be completed in one month should be completed in 25 days, what can be completed in five years should be completed in four years, and what can be completed in ten
The year is really too long, let’s seize the day!”
"Yes!" All the followers bowed and saluted and said in unison: "We will do our best to do it."
"There is one more thing to report to the master!" Hosokawa Fujitaka rested for a moment, then braced himself and said: "The plan to evacuate the new villages has begun. The current plan is to gradually evacuate the villages in Echigo within three years.
To become a bigger village, the specific operation method will be done according to the owner’s vision..."
"Well, it is necessary to evacuate the new village." Kira Yoshi nodded, glanced at the followers of the Nagao family, and said slowly: "In the future, those earthen building cottages in Echigo Kingdom will also be gradually demolished.
It occupies a small space and has not many people stationed there. It was enough two or three hundred years ago. But in the era of iron cannons, gunpowder and sailing ships, this old-style earth building cottage has lagged behind the times! It is a fortress that can be broken down in one hit.
What's the use of keeping him? It's inevitable to dismantle him one after another."
"Withdraw the new village and demolish the walled city? What does this mean?" Honjo Sano quickly glanced at a few people around him, and saw surprise and confusion in the eyes of Nagao Masakage, Nagao Kagenobu, and Saito Asanobu.
, Nagao Fujikage, Nakajo Fujisaki, and Naoe Mitsuna, not to mention the surprises expressed by Usami Sadamitsu, Chisaka Keichika, Tairako Bomasa, and Ishikawa Shigeji who became a member of the group, all frowned.
Silent.
Naoe Mitsuna hesitated for a while and decided to be the first to stand up: "Isn't this inappropriate? As the head of the country, he has many powers such as litigation, judgment and disposal, collection of taxes, division of military service burdens, etc., but each lord is within the territory. Is it natural to build a walled city?"
"Yamato Mamoru is right! It is not wrong at all that the lord has the right to defend the land and build a walled city! But I have just said that the earth building castle is of little use and takes up land and wastes resources. There are more than a dozen large and small houses in a hundred machibu land. The land servants, each family built an earthen building as a castle, and then built some random small towns for their own family and retainers. In the end, the good land was torn into pieces. The whole Echigo was full of small towns and small villages. This became more and more important to me. How will post-development help?”
Naoe Mitsuna murmured to himself: "This is a problem..."
"But we can't arbitrarily demolish the lords' castles, right?" Hirako Fumasa stood up impatiently, and it was obvious that several of his allies were looking forward to his performance.
"It is not arbitrary but planned and methodical demolition. Our family will give equal compensation to the lords who demolished the walled city. For example, building a new residence with good defense capabilities can be built in the new village after the withdrawal, which is enough to ensure the military strength." The rights of servitude, defense and land management shall not be violated.”
"So how should the new village be evacuated?" Nagao Fujikage tugged at his goatee, his old face was tangled up, as if some thoughts were colliding fiercely in his head.
The Ina Tadashi family saw all this and thought to themselves that these people really didn't shed tears until they saw the coffin. They said in a calm tone: "The initial plan is to gradually eliminate the small villages with a population of less than 500 people and merge them into several nearby villages. It is ensured that the population base of each village is not less than 3,000 people, and then divided according to the population level into small villages of 3,000 people, medium villages of 5,000 people, large villages of 8,000 people, and towns and cities with more than 10,000 people are established as townships. gathering place.”
"A village of eight thousand people? This is impossible, right?"
"Why can't you do it? The total population of Echigo has already reached 500,000! Nakamura, large villages, and even rural areas are just around the corner!" Usami Sadami's eyes lit up, and he said with certainty: "It's just that in this way, farmers can go back and forth to the fields. The time on the land will become longer. Your home is too far away from the land. What if there are wild animals or human disturbance? There is also nowhere to store farm tools, livestock, and grain. The larger the village, the more land it is responsible for, and the distance is If farming is too far away and it’s inconvenient, what should we do?”
"Haha... Of course I have thought of what you guys have thought of, and the way to deal with it is the division of labor in agriculture!"
“What is the division of labor in agriculture?”
Honda closed the document in his hand and said with a smile: "To put it simply, it means division of labor and cooperation in every aspect from tilling the soil, selecting seeds, sowing, fertilizing, weeding, pest control, harvesting, drying grain, storage, etc., to serve in Su Laodi Under their leadership, they complete the division of labor in batches, and farmers who do what they need to do can save more time to do side jobs and bear the burden of labor."
"Farming the land for others? This is absolutely not allowed!" Usami Sada jumped out and continued to deny without thinking.
Ishikawa retorted again: "Why not? We farm for others, and others farm for us!"
Ignoring Hirako Fumasagi's gaze, Usami Sadamitsu sneered: "But how can you guarantee that others will farm for you carefully? What if the seedlings lack fertilizer and do not grow well and they forget to fertilize? If there are too many weeds, they cannot weed them in time. What should we do? What if there are too many pests and they can’t kill them?”
Hirako Fumasa and Chisaka Keichika were sweating profusely. Usami Sadamitsu's great activity was not that popular. The original plan was for Chisaka Keichika to put on a show and then praise Kira Yoshitoki's strategies in order to attract attention.
At the same time, he plans to stand in the Kira family's camp openly.
Now Usami Sadami suddenly shows up, disrupting the original plan. Everyone is watching him perform alone at the evaluation meeting. What if he overacts and offends Kiragi? The two of them can understand each other's eyes.
Seeing the same meaning, they couldn't help but secretly curse this lunatic for not succeeding more than failing. The two of them made up their minds to part ways with Usami Sadamitsu after that.
Mitsui Toragao replied unhurriedly: "So supervision is needed. Each division of labor has a group number. After the division of labor is completed on time and as needed, inspections will be carried out. Scores will be based on the completion and effectiveness of each group. If a group completes
The poor efficiency will affect the grain output and will be deducted from your share of grain when settling the grain output after the autumn harvest."
"It seems to be perfect, but in fact it is like a bamboo basket that only collects water. In the end, it is all in vain." Usami Sadamitsu chuckled secretly, stared at it without any discouragement with a pair of old but bright eyes, and continued to ask: "This is not fair.
Right? What should we do if we encounter special circumstances such as floods, droughts, locusts, and wind disasters?"
"Suruga Mamoru also said that special situations must be treated specially." Honda Tokimasa is now nineteen years old, and his hairy beard has grown a lot. Facing the famous military masters of Echigo, he can
Not afraid at all.
"Does this mean that a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, or should it be said that the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead?" Kiragi smiled silently, which Usami Sadaman understood as a sarcastic smile.
"Are you mocking me for not overestimating my capabilities and trying to please others? Humph!" The now sixty-eight-year-old man has a different temperament. Faced with the weird looks in the room, he chose to continue to bully: "The withdrawal of the new village will cause
More contradictions about large area and long distance have not been explained clearly yet!"
When all the ministers hesitated for a moment and turned their attention to Kiragi, as a household governor, it was impossible for him to go down to argue with his retainers, so Hosokawa Fujitaka was forced to stand up and said: "Otherwise, temporary settlements will be set up every 100 steps.
, rest in the settlement when farming is busy, and you can go back to the village to rest during slack farming."
"Isn't that still the same village as before? What's the point of withdrawing from the new village?" Usami Sadaman felt that he had guessed everything, and he was sure that the all-powerful followers of the Kira family would definitely fall into trouble this time.
Honda was quite quick-witted, and an idea came to his mind as soon as he rolled his eyes. He glanced at the old but straight-backed Usami Sadamitsu with his peripheral vision, and said with a smile: "The annexation of the new village certainly has its significance! You 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, and is more like the work sheds built by the villagers when they were asked to support the general labor service. It is sturdier and warmer than the simple work sheds!
Farmers only need to use flatbed trucks to bring their bedding to live in. After twenty days of hard work and one month's work, they can return to the village with their belongings to live in. At the end of the year, they only work for one month, and the time and manpower saved can be invested.
To do more work, so that the same manpower can cultivate more land. If you, as lords, have such a good plan, why not do it? "
Usami's face turned pale, his clenched fists began to tremble uncontrollably, and beads of sweat were unknowingly covered on his forehead. The followers of the Nagao family went from surprise to contemplation to approval, but at this time they were still
Unwilling to admit defeat, Usami Sadamitsu continued to argue: "How to deal with the huge time-consuming weeding and pest control? How to store grain, livestock, and farm tools?"
"Is this very complicated? Even I, Asanobu, can see it." Saito Asanobu, who has been wandering around in the world, also intervened at this time: "As long as you are given rewards, you are still afraid of weeding. Is it difficult to get rid of insects? Who is Echigo now?
Don’t you know Wuweidian is rich?”
Saito Asanobu's exaggerated expression made people laugh. Facing such an invulnerable guy, Kira Yoshitoki could only helplessly shake his head in silence.
Although Langgang Toutang was not familiar with agricultural matters, he was familiar with the role of rewards and punishments. So he put away his folding fan and smiled slightly: "Hire children to do weeding. For every stone of weeds harvested, you will be rewarded with twenty Wen Yongle coins. This money will be collected from the surplus in each village."
A part of the total income is used as a budget withdrawal. It trains the children to have a pair of hard-working hands from an early age, and they can also get a little reward, which is also called labor income! Of course, this requires the supervision of the old land servants throughout the process, and it is not necessary to pull out the weeds outside the fields.
Do the math, these old servants of this village are originally small lords, and they will definitely keep an eye on them with extra caution when they draw from their own income!"
"Hahaha... that's for sure!" Everyone smiled, imagining that these servants would take money out of their pockets to reward wild children in the countryside. They would be very sad to say.
Honda was giving a thumbs up to Nangokang Souphouse, and took over his topic and added: "As for pest control, it is also very simple. Raise chickens in dry fields and raise ducks in paddy fields. When encountering pests, drive the chickens and ducks to the fields to hunt for food."
, just build a fence and raise two local dogs to watch the poultry. The chickens and ducks that grew up eating insects have bright feathers, and the eggs they lay are bigger. In autumn and winter, the feathers can be made into down jackets and chicken and duck bones.
Can be stored as fertilizer.”
"Is the storage of farm tools still a problem? Of course the harvested grain must be transported back to the threshing floor in the village on horse-drawn flatbed trucks to dry and store. Do you still have to ask such a simple question?"
Usami Sada's face turned green and white, and he staggered back a few steps and almost fell down. Even Kamijou Yorifou, Yamamotoji Sadada and others who were closest to him did not reach out to help him. Chisaka Keichika
, Pingzi Fangzheng simply turned his face away from him.
"So I have betrayed everyone?" Usami Sada's hands trembled with anger, and he finally suppressed the anger in his chest. He bowed with a stiff expression and said: "Wu Weiden is extremely talented, and I am far behind! I feel unwell in the body.
Please resign first!"
Kira Yoshi's expression remained unchanged, and he gave a few vague words of comfort: "Is Suruga Mamoru feeling unwell? Then please go back and take care of yourself!"
"I'll meet later! I'm sorry!" Usami Sadamitsu stood up and walked out of the evaluation room. He passed by his former allies on the way, and the sneer on his lips made several people shiver all over.
"A group of short-sighted people are destroying the last foundation of the Echigo-Uesugi family bit by bit. After abandoning Nagao Masaki, Ohuma Asahide and me, let's see who you will abandon next!" Usami Sada left the evaluation without looking back.
between.
After the evaluation meeting, Kira Yoshito was still busy with things. In addition to a lot of information that needed to be familiarized one by one, he consulted the followers in the city at any time, and he usually would not leave the castle tower until evening.
After a while, a young man hurriedly walked in and whispered a few words to Iwakurumaru. The latter nodded and sent the young man away, then walked over and whispered: "Master, the new one received from Sakai Town.
The news is a piece of information circulated among Nanman merchants."
"Southern barbarian merchant? Tell me what's going on?" Kira Yoshihide put down the information and turned his attention to him.
"Last autumn, the Nanman merchants who came across the ocean from the Nanman brought news from afar. The Nanman fleet ambushed a red-haired Nanman fleet. It was said that the chamber of commerce where the fleet was located was called the Agot Chamber of Commerce...
"
"What? The Agote Chamber of Commerce was ambushed?" Kiragi was shocked and angry, and asked urgently: "What's going on?"
Iwakuru was startled 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 into the Portuguese-controlled areas. Unfortunately, the Agote Chamber of Commerce happened to not know this information. Spain and
Portuguese businessmen were also happy for them to fail.
So last autumn, an Indian Ocean fleet led by Major General Juan Gonzalez successfully ambushed the unsuspecting Agote Chamber of Commerce in the waters near the Cape of Good Hope, and successfully sank five merchant ships and captured eight merchant ships, occupying the entire
A small half of the fleet was destroyed, and the Agote Chamber of Commerce suffered heavy losses.
Fortunately, they reacted quickly and abandoned the injured ships to block the attack of the Spanish fleet. The greedy Spaniards finally gave up their pursuit and were able to lead the main force to escape and fled back to Amsterdam in a hurry.
"The simple loss is not too big. Their flagship was not captured. Frank, Ronald and his son, Hans, and Rupert should also be safe and sound. But in this way, our overseas trade may come to an end."
." Kira Yoshiki guessed the terrible consequences without much thought.
Spain is the suzerainty 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 once again lost to the alliance of German princes that he despised, and finally had to sign the humiliating
"Peace of Augsburg".
After this major blow, Karl V decided to give up his throne and gave up the throne of the emperor and the territory of Austria and Germany to his brother Ferdinand I. Large territories such as Spain and the Netherlands were handed over to the emperor who gave up the throne.
His legitimate son, Philip II.
The ambitious young king who succeeded to the throne had a natural hatred for the Protestantism that defeated his father. What's more, the king was a devout Catholic and had a natural hatred for the "Bloody Edict" issued by his father.
With such a good impression, one can imagine what terrible things he would do to the Netherlands.
It only takes a little analysis to conclude that this trade route, which carries out 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 control over...
Kira Yoshishi rubbed his temples in annoyance: "I can only hope for Claudia! I hope that Bloody Mary can survive the difficulties under the protection of Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth!" (To be continued.)
