The Kiso River is one of the most important water systems on Honshu Island, starting from the tip of the Ueno Mountains and the five provinces of Hida, Shinano, Mino, Owari, and Ise.

Before entering the sea, the river joins the Nagara River and the Ifi River, converging and rushing down, washing out the delta of the Nagashima area. Sitting on the benefits of fishing and salt sea trade, and there is a natural barrier to isolate external influences,

Fifty years ago, the youngest son of the eighth generation of the sect, the master of the Shogunate Renru, took advantage of the decline of the shogunate and the chaos in the world, and came here to open the foundation of the temple in the name of the temple family, and spread the preaching to the surrounding Ise, Owari, and Mino, all the way to take root and sprout, vigorously growing, at its peak, claiming to have more than 100 dojos and 100,000 disciples, which can be seen on a par with Ishiyama.

Of course, this figure is bragging, but to have the confidence to boast like this shows that it is somewhat dry.

Later, the Oda and Saito families rose to power in the domain, and the power of the temple gradually weakened due to the loose superstructure and disagreement with the disagreement. Regardless, the heart of the estuarine delta remains firmly in hand.

The disciples must be far less than 100,000 now, and roughly estimated to be between 2 and 30,000.

As long as the upper-class monks do not have the luxury of "crusading against the enemies of the Buddha and promoting the Dharma" and other great ambitions, and calm down and enjoy life in peace, life will still be very good.

But as a powerful party, how can he have no desire to expand at all?

coincided with the sudden death of the feared Oda Nobunaga, and the Hete clan, the in-laws of the Ichimusu, ascended the throne.

The homes and owners of Long Island couldn't help but start to liven up their minds.

……

"Everyone! Everybody! Be quiet, please! Listen to me! The monks of the Nagashima Prayer Temple have already agreed, as long as from next year, they will be offered 300 stones of brown rice and 1,000 catties of pickled fish to them every year, and they will immediately send someone to repair the bridge and repair the embankment! In the future, we will continue to be responsible for water control affairs! In other respects, it will keep us safe! This result is definitely the most favorable! ”

At the intersection of the Ifi River and the Nagara River, the elders of the five villages on the shore, rich peasants, and more than half of the men in the prime of life have gathered, and hundreds of people are discussing measures against the disaster caused by the flooding of the river in the summer and autumn of this year.

There was a lot of discussion, and there was a lot of disagreement, and there were constantly electrons that were put forward and quickly vetoed.

In this generation, the hydrological situation of the three major rivers has always been very complex, and it is said that it is a delta, but it is actually a large area composed of multiple islands of different sizes, and flooding is the most important thing that affects people's livelihood.

The middle-aged man who proposed to seek help from Nagashima Kanshoji Temple was shrewd and skillful, named Nakano Marutaro, and had four towns and eight antis (about 70 acres) in the paddy field.

He waited until the previous methods were all abandoned, and everyone was anxious, and then threw the cards in his hand, intending to make a splash.

Immediately, a strong man with a blue cedar retorted: "Of course it doesn't matter if you believe in the Ichijo sect yourself, I believe in the Nichiren sect, how can you pay tribute to the temple?" Are you embarrassed to go to the temple in the future? ”

Nakano Marutaro had already calculated, and sneered: "Then you should go to the monk of the Nichiren Sect!" That group of monks only accept gifts and do not do things, and the annual incense money is not as good as raising a dog, and the dog can also help prevent thieves! ”

The strong man of the blue cedar was furious when he heard this, but he knew that he was at a loss and was speechless.

After a while, the white-haired old man shook his head and said: "I heard that the former lord Oda Nobutaka has come back to gain power, and their family has been in the past dynasties, and they are not very good at dealing with the Ichizong sect." ”

Nakano Marutaro replied with a smile: "But you don't know, the most powerful person in now is Lord Hirate, and Oda also has to listen to the Taute, and the Hirate clan and the Ichisho clan are in-laws!" Do you know about the newly built Seta Castle in the east of Kyoto? It was the young master of the Hirate family who started construction specifically to marry the eldest lady of Ishiyama Honganji! There are still two or three months to estimate, and when I have time to go there to have a look, I know that the Heite clan has a close relationship with Honganji Temple, and it is unbreakable. ”

The white-haired old man pondered for a while, and reluctantly nodded, indicating that it was acceptable.

A thin boy with a mustache questioned: "In our villages, 2,000 stone of grain and 5,000 catties of pickled fish is not a big problem. In addition to the tribute tax, it can also meet the requirements of the temple. But is Long Island really all there is to it? Nothing else? ”

Nakano Marutaro was immediately displeased: "What you say, it seems that I am deceiving!" You don't know what the monks do? I have always had documents as proof, and when I compare them, I will know how many specific numbers there are, am I blowing nonsense! ”

The mustachioed boy smiled, touched the back of his head and lowered his head embarrassedly.

All the people, you look at me, I look at you, in principle, there is no objection.

But the specifics are clearly up for debate.

Some people expressed material worries: "If you have an extra offering, you will not starve to death, but your life will be sad." However, this flood has to be eliminated, and our manpower and material resources are really insufficient. ”

Some people focus on the rituals: "If you do what you say, then it will be equivalent to paying taxes to the Oda family and paying tribute to the temple, and once the lawsuit starts in the future, I am afraid that it will be confused." ”

Some people focused on the issue of the distribution plan: "The tax paid to the Oda family is calculated for each of the five villages. But does it have to be counted together for the Wishing Temple? That's a deuce? Or is it per capitation? Or by land? ”

There are a lot of questions in front of him, and more than half of them are not answered clearly by Nakano Marutaro.

After all, he can only get in touch with the middle-level monks of the Nagashima Prayer Temple, and the real upper level can't get along at all. When it comes to sensitive issues, it is also unclear.

But this guy has always been half a bottle of water dangling in Japan, relying on the fact that he has studied in the temple, is a good teacher in the village, pretends to know everything, and has already accumulated rich experience in fooling, but he is not in a hurry.

I saw Nakano Marutaro smiling calmly, making a bamboo in his mind, learning to preach to the senior monks, waving his hand calmly, and said loudly: "Don't mess around, if there are problems, come one by one!" Believe me, after answering them one by one, you will realize that only Nagashima Temple is the best savior! ”

When he spoke, his tone was firm, his expression was serious, his hands were raised, and his body was full of the brilliance of salvation, which calmed most people at once.

The loud discussion and questioning suddenly disappeared, and after a moment of silence, someone cautiously and politely stepped forward to ask questions.

Nakano Marutaro's face was pleased, and he was about to hear the question clearly and show his skills again, when suddenly a voice came from the side.

"Oh no, no!"

"People from the Oda family!"

"Announcements have been posted in Taiping Village and Dafu Village!"

"Come to us right away!"

"It's better to spread out and not be seen, wow!"

When everyone listened carefully, it was all a crisp girl's voice.

Looking sideways, it was a few village girls who had not left the pavilion jumping and running over.

"Hey, aren't these the five daughters of Uncle Nakano's family?"

"It's obviously five adopted daughters...... Ah, no, stepdaughter. ”

"Hehe, it's impossible for a biological daughter to be five years old!"

"Hey, don't you care what they say?"

"That is, when you see a young woman, you forget your soul, and look back carefully......"

In a few moments, five little girls ran up to them panting.

Nakano Marutaro was dumbfounded: "One flower, two no, three jiu, four leaves, May?" What are you doing here? What's wrong? What did the Oda family announce in Taihei Village and Daifuku Village? ”

"Ahem, that's right...... The Oda family announced that they would repair the bridge and embankment to deal with the flood. But—" Kazuka Nakano cleared her throat and pretended to be calm.

"That's a good thing!" Nakano Marutaro was puzzled.

"But they say, for this purpose it is necessary to take an inventory of the estate and enter it into the books! Too bad! Go on the scamp! Nakano Erno crossed his hands on his hips and gritted his teeth.

"What? That's ......," Nakano Marutaro was shocked.

"It was the government that made the announcement, and he, a local, may be more deadly than the outsider Oda Nobutaka." Nakano Mikushi has a small voice and seems to be a little shy, but he is unexpectedly familiar with the affairs of the samurai.

"—I'll go back and find out about that." Nakano Marutaro is still lucky.

"Also, it has always been forbidden by the sect, or something. Neither are our men allowed to go in. It is said that it refers to Long Island. Nakano Shiba didn't match the preface and afterword, but fortunately, the meaning was still expressed.

"Is it so disgusted with Yizong?" Nakano Marutaro frowned.

"Odosan, you have to find a way, otherwise next year, you won't have enough to eat...... It's never because I'm eating too much! Nakano raised his small fist and swung it twice in the air.

The people who were shocked by this incident had no time to feel the loveliness of the five sisters, but just looked at each other, as if they were facing a great enemy.

Inventory of the property and entry into the account books is a bolt from the blue for the villagers.

At present, due to historical reasons, the centralization of power in the North Ise area is too low, and the tribute tax is mainly based on "underground invitations", that is, people declare their own tax payments in their individual capacity or in private organizations.

Of course, the previous lords were not stupid, and they knew that they were tired, but their strength was limited, and they did not have the conditions to go deep into the grassroots, as long as the number was not too different, they would live to accept it.

For example, the "Nakano Village" where Nakano Marutaro is located, after years of colonization and development, actually has 80 or 90 households, and the grain output is more than 500 koku, but the claim only says that it is 40 households, 200 koku, and more than half of them have escaped.

Otherwise, with his real estate, it would be a bit difficult to feed and clothe his five stepdaughters.

Correspondingly, the previous lords refused to take public obligations when they didn't receive much money, they never did anything to repair bridges and embankments, and they didn't care much about crusading against thieves, so they had to make up their own money to find a way.

Nakano Marutaro has repeatedly served as a "representative of public opinion" and asked Nagashima Temple for help with gifts.

The current Oda Nobutaka is obviously a relatively strong lord.

Although he doesn't have much hard power, just because he has played mud with the young master of the flat family, this soft power is not ordinary.

It is only natural that a strong leader will take stock of the estate and enter it into the books.

But the villagers could not accept it.

It's your hard-earned money involved! What problem in the world is greater than money?

After pondering for a long time, Nakano Marutaro resolutely decided: "Don't panic! I'll find out if it's true or not! If it's true, then I'm just looking for a relationship with Nagashima Prayer Temple and trying to solve it! ”