Echigo had another great harvest, and the brilliant achievement of 2.1 million koku once again proved that this was not a meteor streaking across the night sky, but a star that was constantly emitting heat, reaching Uao in the east, Hokuriku in the west, and Hokuriku in the south.
A legend of Echigo is quietly circulating in the vast land of Kanto.
Legend has it that if you grow food on the land there, you will definitely have a good harvest. On the contrary, the land can grow seven or eight kilograms of food. The lord there is very kind and willing to accept farmers from other places. Many landless refugees due to disasters or other reasons are moved, no matter what they grow.
How much grain is there, just being willing to accept farmers from other places is a great thing, enough to make them clap their hands happily.
In this era, many lords are very repulsive to foreign refugees, especially small wealthy families, local servants and local village groups hate them even more. The total amount of land is limited. The more you give to outsiders, the less you will get, even if there is more land.
Even if you don’t finish your crops, you can still produce sons to breed for future generations. It is unreasonable to give them to outsiders anyway.
It was an exciting event that the Kira family could break this precedent and attract refugees from other places to enter Echigo, so many refugees immediately rushed to tell each other, and soon they gathered in small groups and rushed to Echigo.
Echigo's bumper harvest has also spread to Kinai, including Kira this year. Nagao's impressive record of complete victory in two military operations has also become a hot topic in Kinai, but Ashikaga Yoshiteru, who lives in Nijo Imperial Palace in Kyoto, is very popular.
Annoyed and angry, His Highness could only use bottles and cans to vent his anger.
The promise he initially regarded as perfunctory actually had a high chance of success. It only took three years for Echigo's unfavorable situation to completely open up. Who can tell what it will be like in another three years? Remembering that time a few years ago?
The impulsiveness destroyed the friendship between monarch and minister. Ashikaga Yoshiki could only be angry with himself for being too impulsive. He could only vent his anger by smashing things.
The Miyoshi family in Kinai finally stopped. There was no new action in the two years after the Harima expedition. Miyoshi Nagakei himself also focused on domestic affairs. By learning and imitating the policies of the Kira family, he organized the castle towns in Kinai and even Shikoku Honto, imitating Sakamoto Raku.
A simplified version of the city order was quietly implemented at Utatsu Port.
What is even more surprising is that the Miyoshi family has reorganized its military service system, perfected and fully implemented the foster care system, and began to quietly re-establish military service. In the past two years, both Miyoshi Changqing and Miyoshi Yixian have been working hard.
Prepared the Separation of Nations Act and actively strived to transform into a full meaning of Warring States Daimyo.
It is not all smooth sailing in Kinai. An unpleasant incident occurred in the Otsu area of Shiga County this summer. The cause was that retainers of the Rokkaku family intercepted ships at the mouth of the river near Otsu and forcibly collected taxes. Before that, Lake Biwa led to the Uji River.
Export has always been in the hands of the Kira family, and Otsu's boss is responsible for tax collection.
This behavior that obviously crossed the line angered Nakajo Tokihide. In his view, this was a further intensified version of the repeated harassment by the Rokkaku family in recent years. If Rokkaku Yoshihide's expanding ambitions could not be curbed in time, both Otsu and even Omi counties would be affected.
will fall into his hands.
Therefore, after receiving complaints from merchants, Yodogawa Mitsunaga led the Kira navy to mobilize in large numbers. He immediately arrested the Rokkaku family's tax officer and seized the collected taxes. He confiscated the ship that caused the accident and sank the Rokkaku family's ship that came to rescue.
After a few ships, Yoshihide Rokkaku did not want to suffer this loss, so he launched a military confrontation with the Kira family. As a result, Nakajo Tokihide pulled 10,000 troops to Otsu to prepare for the confrontation, and the Rokkaku family suddenly retreated.
Dare to take the lead.
Rokkaku Yoshihide, who was embarrassed and lost points, was unwilling to let it go, so he took the matter to the shogunate and asked for a ruling. The shogunate only had the Qingshui Yamen without authority, and the status of Nakajo Tokihide and Rokkaku Yoshihide were not equal. Rokkaku Yoshihide
Xian thought that he would definitely take advantage of the situation later.
As a result, Ashikaga Yoshiki hit fifty points each with a stroke of his pen. The Rokkaku family was wrong to usurp Otsu's tax rights. The Kira family was also wrong to sink the Rokkaku family's ship. The Rokkaku family was sentenced to be banned from taxing the Uji River export near Otsu in the future.
The Kira family compensated a few ships and settled the matter hastily.
After this incident, Nakajo Tokihide wrote to Kira Yoshitoshi, strongly requesting on behalf of the retainers group to increase the military service of Omi and the two counties. Since the two counties of Omi have a population of nearly 200,000, they only have 6,000 standing troops. With the addition of the Doshins,
The Ronin Regiment only has 10,000 people and cannot effectively protect the security of the two counties.
After some discussions between Kira Yoshitoki and Yamamoto Tokiyuki, they decided to agree to the request for increased military service. However, the requirements for increased military service were also very demanding. The number of additional military services was set by Kira Yoshitoki at 5,000. These five thousand people
They must be selected from the population of Omi, and then take a boat to Echigo to receive personal guidance and training from Yamamoto Tokiyuki.
The training period is tentatively set for one year. I believe that the Rokkaku family will not find trouble again within a year. In addition to the confirmed increase in military service, the Tongxinzhong and the Ronin Regiment can expand from two thousand people each to three thousand people.
The recruitment power of this semi-military organization is given to Nakajo Tokihide, and Hattori Yasuchō will be responsible for monitoring the entire process and will prepare a report and submit it to Echigo.
In this way, Omi's armed force will exceed 12,000 people. Including the 5,000 troops trained by Echigo, there will be 17,000 people. This number of armed forces is still very impressive. Considering the actual situation of Omi and the two counties,
Due to the circumstances and food burden, we can only support an armed force of about 20,000 people. One soldier for ten people is already an extremely high military service, and any higher would be excessive.
There are no large-scale planting of new grains in the two counties of Omi. There are three reasons. Firstly, the land is scarce and raising cattle and horses requires less farming. There is not so much fertilizer to support planting, and the effect of planting will be very poor. Secondly, the climate temperature and precipitation are different from each other.
The difference between Echigo and Echigo is great, and the effect of planting will also be very different. The effect is not as good as traditional rice planting. The third and most important point is that the people in the Kinai have many hybrids and new grains can be easily circulated, so they are not afraid of being caught.
People secretly learn from others because they are afraid that they will not be able to do it and they will suffer misfortune.
For example, the Takeda family, the Hojo family, and the Echuchu, Kanto, and Uyo nationals who were unwilling to fail, obtained many new food seeds through various channels, and began to secretly plant them last year. As a result, they lost their ability because they did not understand the high-temperature composting method.
Without fertilization and pollination, the plants grown will be short and the yield of new grains will be astonishingly low.
If you want to grow potatoes, pumpkins, corn and even all high-yielding crops well, the most important thing is to have sufficient fertilizer support. If you don't know and don't know how to apply fertilizer, you can only rely on the original soil fertility of the land to support the growth of new food. As a result, new crops will grow after planting.
Not much can be harvested during the autumn harvest. Moreover, the fruit grains are small and ugly. They are much worse than those in Echigo. What’s worse is that the soil is exhausted. If the barren land is left fallow for two or three years, nothing can be grown.
.
This has deceived many Chinese people. Although they carefully tried to plant a small amount of land, mosquitoes are still meat no matter how small they are. After being deceived once, the Chinese people from all over the country who are not rich will no longer dare to think about new crops.
, such powerful names as Takeda, Hojo, Mogami, and Ashina generated greater interest. He tirelessly probed and studied the agricultural development of Echigo.
A war delayed many things. The wedding of Saito Asanobu and Aju was postponed until October 20th. The wedding date was set as September 20th as early as last year.
Saito Asanobu was still busy in Ueno, so he had no time to prepare for the wedding. The wedding date could only be postponed to more than a month. At least the wedding had been prepared for half a year. At most, the guests would be delayed by more than a month, which did not affect the quality of the wedding.
As early as more than a year ago, after the two parties finalized the wedding date, Kira Yoshitoki and Aki held a small adoption ceremony. Atago Kikuhime, who was born in Murakami Genji's Kyuga-ryu genre, became Kira Yoshitoki, who was born in Kawachi Genji's Ashikaga-ryu genre.
Adopted sister. This move also pioneered the recognition of adoptive relatives.
So Yoshitoki Kira came to watch the ceremony as a member of Aku's natal family and attended this noisy and festive reveal party. Seeing the happy smile of his adopted sister who was nine years older than him when she married Saito Asanobu, Yoshitoki Kira finally gave up.
With a knot in my heart, I secretly prayed: "Mother, sister Aju has found her own love, and my son has also found his own love. You can enjoy happiness in heaven with peace of mind!"
As Aju's natal family, the Atago family sent her brother to watch the ceremony. This noble prince came with nothing, spent more than a month eating and drinking in Kasugayama Castle, and then happily attended a lively wedding. He was indeed not too thick-skinned.
Echigo's samurai could not compare.
Whether it is the samurai of Echigo, the people of Northern Shinano, or the people of Ueno, they all send envoys to send a congratulatory gift. Whether it is a few guan of money, some swords, souvenirs and the like, it is always a matter of friendship, and the gift is not as important as the gift.
The principles are consistent in ancient and modern times.
Before leaving, the young master of the Atago family also received two hundred gu Yongle money as a gift from his brother-in-law Saito Asanobu. In addition, Yoshitoki Kira also gave him another 200 gu Yongle money, making the Sanjuro think he was still a tycoon.
The face of the young man who was not a councilor was almost deformed when he smiled.
…
In the golden month of October, the gentle autumn wind blows a bit of coolness on the body. Compared to Uonuma County, which is already covered with ice and snow, the vast land of Shimogoshi still carries the autumn feeling that has not yet dissipated. Echigo faces the Sea of Japan and accepts
Baptized by the ocean, the lowest temperature in winter is minus 34 degrees Celsius, and the highest temperature is only 245 degrees Celsius. There are few clouds and little rain in April and May every year, and there is abundant rain and snow from June and July to February of the next year.
Taking into account weather factors, the progress of projects in the Shimotsu Niigata area has always been slow. The progress will slow down when there is more rain and snow. The excavation of the Shinhorikawa has been delayed for nearly two years. After hundreds of days of wind and rain,
Day and night, the rough river channel was finally dug out, using 300,000 laborers during the period. With the supervision and incentives of the followers, the construction period was shortened by nearly a year. It will be possible to blast and surround the entire river early next year.
river course.
This new Hori River, which is 12 meters deepest, will be responsible for the connection between the Shinano River and the Agano River. There are also several other tributaries of the Hori River that are still under construction. It is expected that it will take another two years to initially complete the vast Niigata area.
With its water network, this area will become the agricultural center of Echigo, and its future prospects are limitless.
Compared with the rapid excavation of rivers, the speed of polder is much slower. The speed of projects under Li Ding's control cannot be improved. In addition, rain and snow often come and slow down the speed. Li Ding once said that the key point of polder is
As for the quality of the water gates and polder dams, a polder is considered qualified if it can withstand a major flood that occurs once in thirty years. Many polders in their hometown have been stable for hundreds of years. They would rather sacrifice speed to ensure the safety and stability of the polder.
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As the executive officer of the polder project, Mitsui Toraka comes to Niigata almost every day to sit for half a month, holding several documents and quickly reading and approving them. One of the important tasks he has to supervise is the payment of each payment. For review and approval, purchase reports of more than 50 pieces must be forwarded to the agency for review. Fujitaka Hosokawa will come over once a month to check the accounts, and Matsui Yukan will also come to check the accounts from time to time to verify the plans and funding sources of all projects.
The paper door was gently pushed open, and a little head poked his head in to look at what was going on in the room curiously. The little boy was about twelve or thirteen years old. He had a handsome smile with two small dimples. He saw Mitsui Toraoka still immersed in his approval. , then quietly sneaked in and approached the tall desk to look at his vigorous writing.
"Gensuke! Gensuke...where have you gone?" The faint shout in the distance made the little boy tremble in fright.
"Are you scared?" The rich man's voice reached his ears. Xiao Gensuke nodded subconsciously, and then suddenly turned his head in surprise to see Mitsui Torako looking at him with a smile.
"Father! I was wrong!" The little boy realized that he had done something wrong, and he lowered his head and did not dare to say a word.
Mitsui Torakaka liked this legitimate son very much. He was smart, cute and clever, just like when he was a child. He patted him on the shoulder and said: "Don't be afraid, come sit here! Tell me what you have been studying recently?"
"Yes! Recently, Mr. taught us the "Thousand-Character Classic", let me recite it to my father! The sky and earth are black and yellow, the universe is primitive, the sun and the moon are waxing, the stars are arranged, the cold comes and the summer goes, the autumn harvests the winter, and the remaining years are the law of Lu Tiaoyang. ..." The little boy spoke Chinese with a Jiangnan accent and slowly read aloud his enlightenment readings. This was a great pleasure for the scholar Li Ding to teach a few children to pass the time when he had nothing to do.
A young man quietly pushed open the paper door. Seeing the happy scene of the father and son, he leaned down in a panic and said, "My lord, Mr. Li and Matsui-don are here."
"Please come in, please." Mitsui Tora rubbed Gensuke's little head and warned softly: "You are already a big child. Remember not to be too naughty and make your mother sad. Go back and see your brother as soon as possible!"
"Yes!" The little boy nodded obediently, as if he was remembering something again, and asked curiously: "Father! Can Brother Yoji also become a samurai in the future? Will he be my retainer?"
Mitsui Tora heard this with a stern look on his face and said, "Why do you ask that?"
"Because I heard that my younger brother will be my elder brother's retainer in the future. They are all my mother's children. It must be very pitiful to be my retainer at such a young age!"
"Don't listen to their nonsense. Our Mitsui family is the direct minister of the Zhenfu Palace. Your brother will also be the direct minister of the Zhenfu Palace in the future. You brothers will be ministers of the same palace in the future, so you must love each other and not be alienated by others. You must keep these four words in mind, 'not close to each other', do you remember it?"
"Remember!" The little boy nodded as if he understood, then stood up and walked to the door and smiled at Mitsui Torakaka: "Father, please don't worry, I will definitely take good care of my brother!" (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, novels are better and updated faster!
ps: Today is Christmas Eve, Wu Mei is here to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
