The time came to the fourth day of the first month of the fourth year of Yonglu (1561).

In the days of the Chinese New Year, every household in Yuqiuping's territory is celebrating, thanking God for giving them a good harvest in autumn. Tokibanbei's subordinates are also happy that they have a place to stand again and that their families are reunited. Naoe is the only one who still works at the desk every day - because there are so many things to do.

How many men and how many people are there in each family, how much land should be allocated, and where to be settled; the number of villagers in the original territory; Inventory of documents, title deeds, and household registration of the original land; whether to build a new dwelling city; repair of fortifications; preparation of grain and grass and spring ploughing; how to make the judge and the Imagawa family implement the local authority and gain authority; the assignment of surrogate; The implementation of the individual income tax system implemented before Yu Qiuping... There are too many things waiting for Naoe Tadahei to deal with.

The Yeli Prefecture, where Yuakihei's fief is located, is the smallest county in Owari Province, with a stone height of only 14,000 koku. And Yu Qiuping's fiefdom alone has nearly 8,000 stones, more than half of Yeli County. Although Yu Qiuping is not the county dynasty of Yeli County, there are no other important ministers or fiefs of the wealthy family in Yeli County, and basically Yuqiu Ping has the final say.

However, this is not a good thing. Located in the northwest of Owari Province, the shape of Haguri is almost a long and narrow one, and it is attached to the border between Owari Province and Mino Province. The length of the border between Haguri and Mino Province alone accounts for nearly one-third of the entire border between Owari and Mino. In other words, Yu Qiuping will take on nearly a third of the burden of border defense in the future – and this is without the help of other major ministers. If the Saito family does invade, Akihei's territory will bear the brunt, and he must hold out until the Oda family's reinforcements are assembled. However, during this time, it is estimated that his territory will be severely damaged. And the closest unit to him turned out to be the Inuyama Hall that was inseparable from Oda Nobunaga's appearance-Oda Nobunaki. Expecting him to come in time to reinforce Yu Qiuping can be described as a fool's dream.

The long and narrow terrain of Yeli County is also not conducive to defense. If a county with no depth to speak of, if it wants to defend the whole county from invasion, it has to spread its forces evenly along the border. Yuqiuping had a total of more than 200 soldiers, and the total length of the border was about 60 miles. On average, there can be 3 soldiers in a mile... This is clearly not feasible.

The largest castle in Oguri is Kuroda Castle, where Naoe Tadahei now houses his family and Tokiwabi. It was a medium-to-small castle, about the size of the Great High Castle. It has Ninomaru and Honmaru, as well as a three-story castle tower. Kuroda Castle is a castle built on flat ground, and there is no special castle defense structure, so the defensive ability can only be said to be unsatisfactory. Eight miles northeast of Kuroda Castle, there is a large forest and hilly area. And Kuroda Castle itself is only seven or eight miles away from the border.

The geographical relationship between Owari and Mino is about the fact that Mino, in the state of a thick crescent moon that is half enclosed, encloses Owari on the south side. Owari is shaped like a small tadpole, with one side of its head pierced into Mino and one side of its tail on the Chita Peninsula. The border between Owari and Mino, on the other hand, is bordered by the Kiso River in between. The Kiso River originates in Mt. Hamori in the Shinano Mountains and flows from east to west, spanning almost the entire Noo Plain, but it makes a right-angled bend seven miles northwest of Kuroda Castle, where Yuakihiri Castle is located, and turns south into Ise Bay. This Kiso River has always been the key to the contention between Mino and Owari. Defenders can use the Kiso River's obstruction to build an effective defense and delay the attacking side.

However, these are not the things that Naoe Tadahei is most concerned about at the moment. Because of the rush of time, he must have had no time to levy conscription and build fortifications in the spring ploughing. If the Saito family really fights, they will definitely have to retreat in Kuroda Castle to defend.

"Let's come one by one..."Naoe Tadahei sighed, looking at the dense list of matters that needed to be dealt with on the paper, but he didn't know how to start. Every task requires manpower, costs money, takes time, and even some tasks are the premise of others, but the manpower and money he has at hand are very limited.

"If only His Highness were here..."Naoe Tadahei muttered in a low voice. He still vividly remembers the scene in Zhili City three years ago. At that time, time was also pressing, and a large amount of urban defense restoration work was waiting to be completed, and manpower and material resources were very limited. But Yu Qiuping used a strange method called "linear programming" to complete a series of arrangements. If His Highness is here, he will definitely be able to come up with a good way to solve everything.

It seems that I am still far from His Highness. In the future, I still have to learn more from His Highness in order to become His Highness's right-hand man.

While Naoe Tadahei was distressed, an attendant knocked on the door.

"What's the matter?" Tadahei Naoe asked.

"My lord, His Highness Lin asks to see you." The squire whispered.

"Nani?" Naoe Zhongping was stunned for a moment, "His Royal Highness Lin? Which His Highness Lin, His Highness Lin Zuodu? ”

"Exactly, already waiting at the city gate." The squire replied.

"Why don't you hurry up and invite His Highness to come in, and let the Bitou family wait at the door, what kind of system is it?" Naoe Tadahei hurriedly put down the brush in his hand, helped his blindfold, and hurriedly got up, "I'll go to greet you personally." ”

·

"His Highness Lin! Keeping you waiting for a long time is an oversight under it. Naoe Zhongping personally ran to the city to open the city gate for Lin Xiuzhen and a few of his guards, and hurriedly knelt down to make amends to him.

"Haha, it's fine." Lin Xiuzhen shook the snow off her body and said she didn't care. "I have heard for a long time that the army is strictly disciplined, and when I see it today, it is worthy of its name. Even if the guards at the door recognized the old man, they still had to inform Lord Naoe before they would open the door. ”

"Your Highness..."Naoe Zhongping's face flushed, "His Royal Highness Lin has praised it falsely, and I've caused you trouble." ”

"The old man has no false praise." Lin Xiuzhen smiled and shook her head, "If it weren't for the talents of Chang Panbei and His Royal Highness Yuqiu, the old man would not have let the Yuqiu family come to garrison the border town, and for this reason, he also transferred a lot of small wealthy families." ”

"Huh?" Naoe Tadahei was stunned for a moment... Wasn't Oda Nobunaga's appointment decided by Oda Nobunaga himself? Could it be that Lin Xiuzhen appointed it? However, Yu Qiuping had said privately before that Lin Xiuzhen was not a particularly talented person, and she was basically an ornament in the Oda family.

However, Lin Xiuzhen didn't seem to care much about Naoe Zhongping's gaffe, but spoke: "His Royal Highness Yuqiu is busy taking care of that unfortunate eldest son at home, and the official business of moving the territory has fallen on Lord Naoe, so it must not be easy." ”

"Your Highness is aware that there is some burden." Naoe Tadahei echoed.

"Then don't delay Naoe-sama's time, let's talk as we go." After that, Lin Xiuzhen signaled Naoe Tadahei and walked towards the castle tower with him.

After arriving at the castle tower, Naoe Tadahei immediately arranged for the attendants to serve tea and warm Lin Xiuzhen's body. Lin Xiuzhen didn't make much excuses, and tasted tea very atmosphericly.

"It's only the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, I don't know if His Royal Highness Lin made a special trip from Qingzhou City to brave the snow, what is the so-called matter?" Naoe Tadahei asked puzzled.

"I'm here to help Lord Naoe," Lin Xiuzhen said as she looked at one of his guards. The guard immediately took out a leather bag from his bosom and respectfully handed it to Naoe Tadahei. Naoe Zhongping was stunned for a moment, took the leather bag, opened it at Lin Xiuzhen's signal, and found that it was a thick pile of paper inside.

"This is..."Naoe Tadahei looked at the paper suspiciously, and said silently: "There are a total of forty-two villages in the territory of Yeli County..."

"It's!" Naoe Tadahei was stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted, he quickly flipped through the pages of the paper, which was a brief summary of the household registration records of the 27 villages belonging to the Yuqiu family territory among the 42 villages in the territory of Yeli County, the harvest of previous years, the main people of the country and the local wealthy families, the results of the land inspection, and the registration vouchers of all the land deeds and documents that had been issued, and a brief summary of hydrology.

"Is this the Oda family's material?" Naoe Tadahei sighed in surprise.

"No," Lin Xiuzhen shook her head, "When the old man was young, he was ordered by the ancestor to conduct a secret investigation here, and he continued to record later. Now that Naoe-sama might use it, I'll give it to you. ”

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Naoe Tadahei was sincerely grateful, and immediately leaned over and made a big salute. Lin Xiuzhen's information helped him a lot. Not only did he obtain complete information on the villages in the territory, saving him the trouble of re-counting, but also provided a reference and basis for him to prepare for spring ploughing, levy and distribute conscription, and divide the land under Jobanbei's subordinates. A large number of things that had bothered him were solved at once.

"Your Highness!" After the end of the joy, Naoe Zhongping came back to his senses and looked at Lin Xiuzhen cautiously, "Your Highness's great kindness, the Yuqiu family must be unforgettable!" I don't know what the Yuqiu family can do to repay His Highness! ”

"Haha, the old man is not here to help Yuqiu's family," Lin Xiuzhen laughed and got up, signaling the attendants to prepare to leave.

"What does Your Highness mean by this?" Naoe Zhongping got up suspiciously, wanting to give Lin Xiuzhen a ride, but Lin Xiuzhen waved his hand and refused at will.

Lin Xiuzhen looked at Naoe Zhongping's puzzled eyes, and did not answer directly, but said with a smile: "It's very hard to be a courtier, or a deputy." ”

"Your Highness?" Naoe Tadahei blinked inexplicably.

"Only those who often do it can understand how much work it takes to deal with a lot of chores at home that seem to be inconsequential and have no merits," Lin Xiuzhen shook her head and said indifferently: "But doing these things well is regarded as a matter of responsibility, and there is no outstanding merit, and it is not as good as those warriors who are arranging vertically and horizontally and attacking the city." ”

"However, you have to understand," Lin Xiuzhen's gaze suddenly sharpened, but after a while, it became indifferent again: "If a family wants to achieve hegemony." With that, he turned and walked out the door.

"There must be someone who has no fame, no merit, and is willing to handle these chores behind the scenes."