August 12, 1567, the tenth year of Yonglu, was the busy season for farming. The peasants were busy working in the fields, and the ashigaru were all dismissed to help the farmers, so the samurai and lords had a little leisure when there was no war.

On this day, in the mountains and forests near Inabayama Castle in Mino Province, the important ministers of the Oda family were holding a huge safari, and all the lords with names and surnames were called out by Oda Nobunaga, including Muggles like Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Yuakihei, who knew nothing about hunting.

"Senpai-senpai is a good archeryman!" After Sen Kecheng hit a deer with an arrow from afar, Yu Qiuping, who was sitting on the stone next to him, immediately shouted excitedly.

"Momiji," Sen Kecheng laughed when he heard this, "don't sit still, come along." Hunting is a must-learn skill for martial artists. ”

Sen Kecheng, who is usually silent and expressionless, has often been smiling in the past few months. The reason is simple, after Oda Nobunaga defeated Mino, he was finally able to return to his hometown. Oda Nobunaga gave him a total of 70,000 koku territories in Toki and Kore and the surrounding areas, allowing him to return to his homeland.

"Senpai Sen, don't expect Momiji to hunt!" Ikeda Hengxing, who was standing on the sidelines, shot for a morning, but now he has shot two bunnies. But Yu Qiuping was still very active when he laughed, "Even if that guy learns for ten years, he won't be able to learn half of my skills!" ”

People are in good spirits on happy occasions, and Ikeda Hengxing also gained a lot from the recent evaluation meeting. After Sen Kecheng transferred to Mino, all the 32,000 stone territories around Inuyama Castle were given to him, and he also became the lord of Inuyama Castle, an important town.

"Half the ability? Do you mean shooting a rabbit in half a day? Maeda Toshiya on the side proudly pointed to the small pile of prey he had hit, and taunted Ikeda Hengxing: "Don't brag, you kid! When he became the lord of the city, his tail was going to reach the sky? ”

Maeda Toshiie's mood hasn't been very good lately, so there is a bit of anger in his words. This time, the whole world celebrated the sealing conference, but the Maeda Toshiya got very little sealing. It's not that he has made less credit, but because as the head of the Maeda family, he already has a lot of territory. If he is further sealed, it will exceed Maeda Toshihisa's own territory, which is not very appropriate.

"Cut, I see you just can't eat grapes and say grapes are sour!" Ikeda Hengxing scolded him angrily, and at the same time patted Kinoshita Hideyoshi's shoulder, "Fujiyoshiro, are you right!" ”

Because of his outstanding performance in the past few years, Kinoshita Hideyoshi is now also the lord of the 15,000-stone territory, which can be said to have completed the leap from a peasant to a high-ranking samurai.

"How is my territory compared to several highnesses?" Kinoshita Hideyoshi saw that the Maeda Toshiya seemed to have a tendency to burn their anger on their heads because of Ikeda Tsuneko's words, and hurriedly said: "Compared with Momiji, Senpai, His Royal Highness Niwa, His Royal Highness Shibata, where can they look at my territory!" ”

Also, Kinoshita Hideyoshi's 15,000 stone collar is said to be a lot less, and it is really not much to say more. Niwa Nagahide, Shibata Katsuie, Sakuma Nobumori and other old ministers, this time the sealed territory has nearly 80,000 stones. And Yu Qiuping also received the territory around Sumamata Castle and the territory of the four small wealthy clans as a reward, and also became the lord of a 70,000 stone territory.

However, Yu Qiuping was still a little uncertain about how to digest the 32,000 stone territory inherited from the four small wealthy clans, and it was also something he had been worried about these days. If according to the traditional Japanese Warring States rules, the four small wealthy families are the retainers under Yu Qiuping's rule, and the family governor will become Yu Qiuping's family elder. They have their own territory, and they usually give Yu Qiuping a certain amount of taxes, but they also have a large autonomy, and Yu Qiuping cannot interfere in the governance and justice of their territory. When they set out on the expedition, they would lead their own troops to follow Yu Qiuping on the expedition. However, this model made Yu Qiuping very unhappy, which meant that he had no right to intervene in the training of their army, and he had to bring hundreds of miscellaneous soldiers with him when he fought - a far cry from the level of Chang Panbei. And whatever these little lords want to do, they will be powerless to interfere.

Moreover, such a situation will also cause dissatisfaction among Yu Qiuping's old subordinates - Yu Qiuping has not divided any territory so far! Why can these foreign guys have the qualifications of the family elder and so many territories as soon as they come! Because he traveled from China and has been influenced by the governance model of China's professional bureaucracy (that is, the bureaucratic system), he does not like this kind of feudal system. Not only is it inefficient, but it also leads to a decrease in the cohesion of the troops. If he really divided the 40,000 stone territory under his own direct jurisdiction to his retainers, then when the time came to fight, it would be his subordinates who each brought half a platoon, two squads, and miscellaneous troops together. Ashigaru only listened to his direct leadership, and there were many gangs in the army, and it was no longer possible to form the strict discipline of Chang Iwabei.

Therefore, he prefers the current state of governance in his own realm. All the territories are owned by the Yuqiu family, and all subordinates are directly responsible to the Yuqiu family, and the Yulu is uniformly distributed by the Yuqiu family, without layers of affiliation and fragmented territories and small wealthy clans. The troops are also not owned by the lord, but belong to the Yuqiu family, and are uniformly trained by the Yuqiu family, and his subordinates only have command rights and no ownership. All the taxation and judicial systems were also controlled by the Yuqiu family, and the acting officials and judges stationed in the territory were only temporary bureaucrats, who had administrative power but did not own land. Such a centralized system is what he thinks is the most efficient way to do it – certainly better than the Japanese model.

How can I take their territory back? It's almost impossible. In this day and age, they value territory more than life. For example, the Shibata family and the Mori family also have a large number of small wealthy families in their newly sealed territories, and they basically get along with them according to the old pattern, how can I make an exception?

What should I do?

·

Just when he was in a fugue, Maeda Toshiya had already walked in front of him and knocked him the head, pulling Yu Qiuping back to reality.

"What do you think, boy! Your eldest brother will talk to you again! ”

"Huh? Yes! Yu Qiuping came back to his senses in a daze, and after seeing the vicious eyes of Maeda Toshiya, he replied casually: "I'm wondering where the lord has gone!" ”

"Oh?" Maeda Toshiya was stunned when he heard this, and looked around, but he really didn't see Oda Nobunaga's figure. On the other side of the hill, Shibata Katsuie and Sakuma Nobumori were hunting, while Niwa Nagahide and Takigawa Kazuyi were talking about something with Hayashi Xiuzhen, but Oda Nobunaga was nowhere to be seen.

"Where else can I go? If you go back to Inabayama Castle, you'll definitely have to pass by us, and it's impossible not to see it. Maeda Toshiie muttered to himself while shaking his head, and suddenly locked his eyes on a hill in the distance, "Will you run into the mountain?" ”

"How can the lord have such leisure and elegance, and still go to see the mountains?" Ikeda snorted disdainfully.

"Didn't the lord come with a high monk this time?" Yu Qiuping scratched his head and recalled, "What does it seem to be called Master Huize?" Could it be that he ran to the mountains with that high monk to talk to each other? ”

"What are you talking about, our lord has always been cold to bald donkeys." Ikeda seems to have no respect for the profession of a monk. However, as soon as the words fell, on the far mountain road, I saw the figures of Oda Nobunaga and the Venerable Hui Ze slowly appearing, followed by more than a dozen mothers. They slowly descended the mountain road, as if they had just finished looking at the mountain.

Ikeda's face turned red all of a sudden, causing Yu Qiuhei and Maeda Toshiya to laugh.

·

It didn't take long for Oda Nobunaga to order all the people to gather on the hill to make a fire and cook together and enjoy the game they had caught. After the bonfire is lit, all kinds of prey that have been washed with dehairing and water are put on the fire to roast. There is a rare opportunity to break the ban on meat, and everyone will not miss the opportunity to eat meat. Ikeda Hengxing, Maeda Toshiie, and Sawaki Yoshiyuki have already eaten with their mouths full of oil, but people like Shibata Katsuya and Niwa Nagahide, who rely on their status, are a little more reserved.

When everyone was almost finished, Oda Nobunaga clapped his hands as if he couldn't wait, signaling everyone to be quiet. Although Ikeda Hengxing and Maeda Toshiya did not enjoy it, they could only put down the deer leg in their hands stupidly.

"Everyone." Oda Nobunaga slowly got up, and the jet-black cloak behind him was blown up by a gust of wind and fluttered in the wind. He followed the direction of the wind and pointed to the towering Inabayama Castle not far away.

"Master Yu and Master Hui Ze climbed high and looked far away, discussed for a long time, and decided to change the name of this Inaba Mountain City!"

Although Oda Nobunaga's words made everyone slightly stunned, they were not too surprised. Oda Nobunaga, a new human being, has always been very high-spirited, and it took more than ten years to finally lay down Mino, and he will definitely not stop if he doesn't make a fuss.

"Yu officially announces that from today onwards, the main castle of our Oda family will officially travel from Cheongju Castle to this new city-"

Oda Nobunaga dragged out his tone and watched with satisfaction as everyone looked surprised. The Oda family has been based in Owari for decades, and this is the first time that they have moved out of Owari and out of their home area. If a family already owns more than one country, it is not a problem to move the city to a central or more prosperous city. However, the prosperity of Kiyoshu Castle is not at all worthy of Inabayama Castle, and it is still the foundation on which the Oda family started, so how can it be said that it will be changed?

Oda Nobunaga saw everyone's doubts, and laughed at the wind: "Because Yu's eyes are by no means limited to these two countries!" Yu's goal is, the world! How can you live in Owari without thinking about making progress! Isn't this a great place for us to go west into? ”

"This new city will be named Gifu City! Take the allusion of the Western Zhou Dynasty 'Fengming Qishan' in Chinese history! Oda Nobunaga clapped his hands as he spoke, and motioned for the mother-clothed people to hand out a wad of paper to the important ministers present.

"From now on, the seals used by the rest will also be changed to this seal, and the seals of the past will be abolished! This is also the goal of this family and the future! ”

Yu Qiuping took the paper handed by the mother, lifted it slightly, and looked at the paper through the sunlight. I saw four big angular characters printed on it:

The world is full of martial arts.