Chapter 170 13. East and West Try to Connect
The next day, since Yamanouchi Yoshiharu came to Ejiri, he had to inspect the territory. No matter how much he disliked these Ejiri local nobles in secret, he still had to smile and ask about their well-being on the surface.
This was just a common phenomenon in the Warring States period. Kiso Yoshi had led his troops to invade Kai Province in those days and caused trouble there for a while. When Takeda Harunobu came, their Kiso family surrendered, but both sides still smiled on the surface, and Takeda Harunobu even had to pay a biological daughter to go in. Marriage to win over these local nobles so that they can follow you.
After the national nobles have been following you for two generations, think of a way to put the extra sons of your family into their families. This will take at least three or four generations to completely digest a national as your retainer.
Or use radical means to uproot the whole family, including the retainers and samurai, and then send heavy troops and capable ministers to guard it, so that this place can be digested in ten or eight years. But the cost is too high, and you will lose eight hundred of your own for every one thousand enemies you kill. Seeing how fierce you are, other people will resist you even more fiercely. It may take you a lifetime to unify a country.
So no matter how much you hate these people and powerful families, as long as they are still following the Yamanouchi family. At least on the surface, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu still looks trusting and gracious. Let's deal with them this way first, and see who can live longer in the Warring States period.
The national heroes are all "dragons and phoenixes among men", and it is no problem to say that they are smart. The Shirakawa family has been dead for so many years, but they can still jump around in the Ejiri territory. None of them is stupid, and they are all smart.
They all know the current situation very well. Now the Yamanouchi family is thriving and there is no sign of defeat, so of course they are willing to follow them. It is clear that as long as the Yamanouchi family does not fall, they are all unparalleled loyal subjects of the Yamanouchi family.
The "human elites" heard that Yamauchi Yoshiharu had arrived at Ejiri Castle early in the morning, and they endured all night. Who was willing to give up this great opportunity to show loyalty? They all came to pay their respects, and then a group of hundreds of people went along the Tokai Street to inspect the towns and villages of Ejiri.
Yamauchi Yoshiharu was definitely not wandering aimlessly. Of course, it was different from the current leaders' advance rehearsal of going to the countryside. He just determined the route in advance, and the specific place he went was also based on his mood. However, according to Yamauchi Yoshiharu's serious and meticulous character, he first went to Futamata Castle to inspect the city defense and military preparations. When he saw that it was the father and son of the Yamauchi family, the hereditary hatamoto Iwase, who were holding on in the city, he encouraged them and felt relieved.
According to the genealogy, the Iwase family is still a big brother of Takeda Harunobu, but they are still loyal to follow Yamauchi Yoshiharu. The dual identities of the two hereditary hatamotos are still very guaranteed. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also a family background, and they also have a set of skills in defending the city and fighting. Arranged in the position of Futamata Castle, he is definitely a candidate that everyone thinks is no problem.
As for the northeast of Futamata Castle, it is the Kakegawa Castle of the Imagawa clan, which is facing it from a distance. Asahina Taishin and Asahina Taisho, father and son, guard the castle firmly. On the contrary, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu has a complicated mind. The battle of Tenryu River was just a breath away, otherwise the whole Totomi Province might be his.
After watching, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu did not forget to use both kindness and power. He pretended to squeeze and force these national heroes of Ejiri casually, using the excuse that the wooden bridge on the Tenryu River was damaged, and then asked these foreigners to contribute money, manpower and effort to prepare the Tokai Street along the Ejiri line.
This does not cost too much money, and road repair is good for everyone. In addition, it was Yamanouchi Yoshiharu who asked for it himself, so what can these people do? Yamanouchi Yoshiharu is still the kind of easy-to-talk among the daimyo, and he did not inspect the land or increase military service. In the end, everyone had to smile on the surface but swear in their hearts and agree to the labor and materials. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu was considered to be a bad guy for Koyata.
As for Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu, he was sent to work by his father. He went back to Yamanouchi without stopping after breakfast in the morning to dispatch capable people. There was no free time for the Warring States samurai.
Koyata met with Sukezaemon again. Koyata took the opportunity of his visit to Ejiri to discuss something with him. I went to the inn to find him. He was really a good businessman. He didn't sleep on the warm quilt and soft bed in the inn, but stayed in the haystack on the ship for a night, guarding the goods entrusted to him by his boss wholeheartedly. Just for this, it was indeed not in vain that he finally succeeded.
This time, Sukezaemon brought some indigo and safflower to Ejiri. Kai, Musashi, Shinano and other places already had a certain degree of raw silk industry and silk weaving industry. Local merchants purchased white silk spun by families from scattered farmers. They needed various dyes to dye ordinary white silk. If they added a certain degree of embroidery, they could sell it for a lot more money.
Of course, at this time, the main business of Naya was guns and cannons. In addition to the iron cannons produced in Sakaimachi, they also acted as middlemen for Portuguese and Spanish. Although the Portuguese matchlock guns were not necessarily better than the iron cannons produced in Japan, the worship of foreign things was a common problem in every place from ancient times to the present.
In addition, there were also specialties such as pig iron and ceramics from the West. This time, it was just because Sukezaemon happened to go to Yamauchi to deliver Nanbando Gusoku to Kobayata. As a businessman, he couldn't go in vain. He took advantage of the good relationship between Imai Munehisa and the upper echelons of the Miyoshi family to pull a batch of indigo from Sanuki to sell, and he could earn as much as he could.
After serving as the governor of Ejiri Castle, Kobayata not only arranged personnel to handle various affairs, but also wanted to take advantage of this gap to go to Kyoto and Sakai. Sukezaemon was considered a middle- and senior-level manager of the Naya. Their Naya had a high profile in the western countries and could know a lot of news in advance. After all, businessmen had to be well-informed to make money, and they could always get the news one step ahead of others. (Anton Aiki was the first person in the entire Mutsu to know that Oda Nobunaga died in Honnoji, because he paid attention to regularly sending merchants to Kyoto for trade, which also provided him with a time advantage to get close to Toyotomi Hideyoshi later.)
Kobayata always had to pull Sukezaemon's line and let him slowly pass on the news from the western countries. Kobayata knew about the introduction of the national collapse cannon and the Shimazu clan's attack on Ganfu, but he was not familiar with the specific years. Even the Shimazu family unified Satsuma when they were drinking and getting close to the masses when they went to Kyoto last time. They didn't have such a good memory.
There is also the cheap uncle Tsunayoshi in Kyoto. Although he is not a top-ranking noble, he is a big man who can be promoted to the third place in his family. He has a wide network of connections and is well-known in Kyoto. Moreover, the turmoil in Kyoto is related to the overall situation of the world. After all, it is the capital of the entire country in any sense. It is the place where the emperor and the public officials are located, and it has unparalleled political significance in the world.
If these two lines can be stabilized, Xiaoping will at least not be completely in the dark about the future trend.