In the winter of the end of the 20th year of Astronomy, in Shinano, there were two people who had a reputation far and wide, one was the reputation of Shinano's guardian Ogasawara Nobukata for kindness and generosity, and the other was Kai's reputation for protecting Takeda Harunobu for fair trade and money.

Since Yokota Takamatsu's advice before his death, and Komai Takahakusai's advice, his attitude towards the Shinano people has begun to change.

However, because the Shin side knew the importance of public opinion warfare, reputation, and popular support, Takeda Harunobu's soft policy in Shinano did not have much impact, and people still had a hostile attitude towards the Takeda family.

In the end, it was Kansuke Yamamoto's discussion of people's hearts that made Takeda Harunobu change his mind and use his family's strong finances to buy off local wealthy families with money.

First of all, Takeda Harunobu is particularly interested in the construction of military roads, because it is as fast as the wind, and Takeda Harunobu is particularly interested in the speed of army assembly, the speed of expeditions, and the speed of intelligence transmission.

After the first capture of Suwa, he built roads in Suwa and reached Kai Fuchu, a wide avenue.

Since taking Kitachikuma-gun this fall, Takeda Harunobu has asked Baba Nobuharu to build three roads, all of which lead to Ueko-gun.

Therefore, because of the construction of roads, the Takeda family needed a large number of workers, and if it was a few years ago, Takeda Harunobu directly went to war and captured a large number of people as slaves, so as to save money.

Now, Takeda Harunobu is spending money to hire people in the Shinkata territory to build roads, which is a lot of wages and a meal.

At that time, the letter side was poor, borrowing money to fight, and he could only look at Takeda Harushin's method, and finally had to comfort himself, thank Takeda Harumobu for cultivating a group of road construction workers for himself.

If you want to build roads first, you don't build roads because you are poor, and when the winter passes and the weather warms, you have to recruit workers to build roads, and you also have to build Ueda Castle in the Ueda Basin.

This castle is the castle that was later built by Sanada's father to deceive Tokugawa Ieyasu's trust, and Tokugawa Ieyasu suffered a lot because of this city, and at the same time achieved Sanada's father.

This can be described as a real loss of the lady and the loss of the army.

Ueda Castle is located in the middle of the Ueda Basin, and it was built on the Chikuma River in Ni-fuchi, making it more convenient for transportation and of greater military importance than Toishi Castle.

The economic development of the late Warring States period made political power far more necessary than force, and it was considered absolutely necessary to control the local economy.

As a result, the natural hazards in the mountains became meaningless, and the city began to change from a mountain city to a flat city, and it became more and more important to control the area that was as convenient and economically developed as possible.

The location of Ueda Castle can be said to be an excellent combination of natural risk and convenient transportation.

Katsuo Castle, where the Nobukata now lives, is no longer safe, and there was still Toishi Castle as a barrier in the east, but now the west is exposed to the Takeda family's soldiers.

As expected, in the first half of next year, the Takeda family will build three passages, followed by an attack on Ueko-gun in the second half of the year.

As a result, the defensive line built by the Nobunaka in Oyama and Saku-gun was completely ineffective.

Therefore, Nobukata did not intend to regard Katsuwei Castle as his residence, he wanted to choose a better castle as his residence, and he must not let his residence become his weakness.

Why did Murakami Yoshikiyo fall in history more than a year after the fall of Toishi Castle? It is because there is no security in the city, and people's hearts are scattered in an instant. The hearts of the people were scattered, and the team was not easy to lead, and Murakami Yoshikiyo could only run away.

The location of Ueda Castle was also recognized by Sanada Yukitaka, but of course he didn't understand why Nobukata wanted to build a flat castle, and Nobugata could only explain that it was for the sake of a larger castle town.

After the letter party carried out about ten days of condolences to the countryside, it will be Xinchun in a few days.

At this time, Katsumi Castle became even more lively.

As time passed, Chinese New Year's Eve soon arrived, the last night of the twenty years of astronomy.

Nobukata wears a thick fur feather, which is made by his men who went into the mountains to drive the bears and hunted them. The letter still has weight on the body, and it is very warm.

Chinese New Year's Eve also requires a lot of preparation, first of all, before welcoming the "New Year's God", first of all, the shrine, Buddha Tan and the room at home must be cleaned. Every corner should be swept to remove the dust accumulated during the year, and the "god of the year" should be greeted cleanly, so as to pray for more blessings from the "god of the year".

In order to welcome the "god of the year" into the house, without "getting lost", people usually place and hang various ornaments as signs at the door of the house, and the door pine is one of the main signs.

Pine trees are also regarded as auspicious trees in Japan, and legend has it that pine trees are trees where the gods lodge, so Japanese people like to plant pine trees in their yards.

Therefore, pine trees are also placed at the door of the house as a New Year's ornament, usually divided into "male pine" and "female pine", and one (branch) is placed at the door.

After that, there is the Suren Rope, which is a kind of straw rope used for sacrifices, and is another sign to greet the "Nian God", which is usually hung on the door along with the Suren ornament, both of which are intended to mark the sacred place to welcome the deity.

Note: The rope is regarded as an "enchantment" that connects the divine realm with the human world, and prevents "impure" things from entering. There are many forms of ornaments, and they are often made into beautiful floral ornaments.

After the end of the New Year, people take the New Year's ornaments such as the Suren rope, the Shiren ornament, and the Kamatsu to the shrine and burn them.

Then the family gets together to eat, and when the soba noodles appear, everyone gets together for a bowl.

On the first day of the first lunar month, the believer would take his family and retainers to the Iizuna Shrine for the first prayer, which is the first prayer of the new year.

After doing this, Nobukata would return to the castle tower with his retainers and discuss with the retainers and the people of the wealthy clans in the new year.

The large wide room in the castle tower of Katsuwei Castle is not big enough, so those who can't get to the castle lord's position can only be in the corridor or courtyard, so a shed was built early, and the snow has been cleared and a mat is placed.

Sitting on the throne, Nobukata first recited a New Year's message and then said the family motto of the Ogasawara family.

Then he said: "At the beginning of the new year, everyone must not relax, the war with the Takeda family is not over yet, everyone must be vigilant, even if the snow has not yet begun to melt in February!" ”

The ministers immediately bowed down and answered, but not one of them objected.

Xin Fang was a little excited in his heart, he was the one below before, and later, there were finally more than a dozen people shouting for the lord in the big room, and now there are nearly a hundred people lying down, this feeling is really exciting.

He felt it a little, then cleaned up his mood and said, "Everyone, please excuse me, there are a lot of things to discuss next, and they are all very important." Kotaka, let's announce it one by one. ”

After he finished speaking, he leaned back on the table behind him, which would make him more comfortable.